'Already awake?'

Tommy was stood by the door as he observed the obvious, greeting me while I brushed my hair to the side.

'I thought you'd be fast asleep, with everything that's been happening to you,' Tommy carried on with his comments. 'And, you were so worn out yesterday.'

'I recharged at the hospital,' I informed him, quickly turning to him. 'And today is just another day, as that clichéd saying goes. I've been through worse than being in hospital, Tommy.'

'But you lost your home,' he pointed out, sounding much more concerned than he needed to be. 'It blew up right in front of you.'

'Do you not think I know that?' I remarked coldly, before experiencing brief regret. 'Sorry, it's just, I'm not here for your sympathy, or support, or whatever. I'm here because your dad offered me somewhere to live, before I find a new place to go. Starling isn't the most popular city to live in, I'm sure I'll find an apartment soon enough.'

'You don't have to worry about that, not just yet,' Tommy told me, sounding very sure of himself. 'No matter what you think, you have been through a lot, and you do need to heal. Trying to find an apartment will just make you stressed, and you can't recover when you're stressed. You keep trying to pretend you're okay, but you don't have to pretend around me, Aria.'

'I don't think there would've any point acting like I'm okay around you, because apparently you can see right through me,' I smirked at him, Tommy now sat on the end of my bed and I perched on the dressing table stool opposite from him. 'You know Tommy, you're a really good friend. I don't think I have told you that, not really, but I should have earlier in our relationship, because it's true. We may have fallen out with each other a few times, but we always seem to be able to make up for it. And I have been a real bitch sometimes.'

'Hey, I thought we weren't going to talk about the past,' Tommy rolled his eyes at me comedically, making me laugh. 'But friendship goes both ways, so Aria, you need to cut yourself some slack. You're your world's worst critic, so listen to me when I tell you that you're not that bad.'

'Not that bad?' I repeated him with a snicker. 'Is that all you've got?'

'Oh, you know what I mean,' Tommy shook his head at me this time. 'It turns out that you're my world's worst critic too.'

'Aw, how touching,' I commented, Tommy foolishly grinning at me, just like old times, in the same room I had been in the last time I had lived with the Merlyns.

When Tommy and I were a couple.

'Sorry, I have to... Get my daily caffeine hit, before I go to the club,' I quickly excused myself from Tommy's company, not knowing what to do.

I didn't want to fall for my friend a second time.

'I'll take you to Jitters, if you want?' Tommy offered, but I just declined him with a shaking of the head and leaving the room.

I found myself in the Arrowcave only half an hour later, deep in thought about the last few days. The explosion has consumed my thoughts ever since it had happened, and I had a horrible gut instinct that it hadn't been an accident. Had someone been trying to sabotage mine and Elliot's mission, destroying all the evidence we had on Unidac Industries? I was all for investigating the lab where the Markov Device was being assembled again, but I was too unfit to defend myself after the injuries I had sustained from the blast, Elliot in a much worse condition than I was. I didn't even have my vigilante suit anymore, for I had taken it off shortly before the explosion in the hideout.

But why would someone go so far as to rig a secret, underground hideout with explosives? And, more importantly, who? A few years ago I would've immediately suspected Malcolm, but I could cross him off straight away after he had offered me accommodation and proved to me that he had recently changed, and drastically, with his promise to make Starling great again. Perhaps the Prometheus guy was behind the incident, but I was sure he wasn't connected to Unidac Industries. I had so many questions, but I could never seem to answer them.

'Why are you... Down here?' Oliver interrupted my solitude. 'I thought you were supposed to be resting, at Tommy's.'

'I can't just waste my life away, Oliver,' I told him ratter flippantly. 'It's not like I'm ill or anything, and I have been through far worse than aches and pains.'

'You don't understand the seriousness of what happened, do you?' Oliver started to get annoyed at me for some strange reason. 'You nearly died, Aria!'

'No, Elliot nearly died!' I shouted back, tears in my eyes. 'I was fine, but he, he's not. He's never going to be able to walk again, not on his own legs anyway. And it wasn't an accident.'

'How do you know it wasn't an accident?' Oliver challenged me. 'Not everyone's out to get you, Aria, it's not all about you!'

'I just know it was, okay?' I retaliated angrily. 'It was because of something Elliot and I... Found out. It's why I called you last night, before the explosion. Unidac Industries, Dr Markov, or whoever a in charge of the project, are making this machine that can cause an earthquake.'

'You're crazy,' Oliver scoffed, not believing one word of what I had said. 'Earthquakes are disasters caused by things like... Tectonic plates and... Geographical activity, not by a machine.'

'I saw their plans, at Unidac, when Elliot and I...' I tried to argue, but didn't know how to tell Oliver that we had broken into the lab.

'You broke into Unidac Industries?' Oliver finished my sentence, astonished. 'They haven't done anything wrong, they're just a science company!'

'No, they have done something wrong, they're going to destroy the city!' I exclaimed in despair. 'And lives, thousands of lives, could also be destroyed.'

'And can you prove your theory?' Oliver raised his right eyebrow at me.

'All the evidence was destroyed in the explosion,' I sighed, defeated. 'Which was very coincidental, don't you think?'

'So now you think they're trying to cover up their killing machine by blowing you up?' Oliver was quick to judge in his loud outside voice, before attempting to back out of this one. 'Which luckily didn't happen.'

'I kind of wish it did, so I didn't have to see your judgmental face again!' I had run out of patience with this man who claimed to be my friend. 'You don't care about what I have to say or what I found, even though I really care about you, Oliver. This is serious, and unless we stop Unidac and whoever gave Dr Markov this awful idea, ours and the people of this city's lives could be destroyed.'

'Are you... Taking Vertigo again?' Oliver asked me quietly, lightly holding my wrist to calm me down. 'Are you having... Hallucinations?'

'Wow,' I quickly slipped my wrist out of Oliver's grasp, truly amazed at him. 'I didn't think you could get any lower than when you were cozying up to Laurel while we were getting attacked by a serial killer, but I was so, so wrong. You have said a lot of things, Oliver, but pretending you care about me and that I am a drug addict has really taken the cake.'

'I was being serious, Aria,' Oliver remarked weakly. 'I care about you.'

'No, you don't,' I shook my head at him, slightly laughing at his hypocrisy and just everything he had done to upset me. 'You care about Laurel. You care about keeping this image of fighting the corrupt one-percenters of the city, but not the real criminals. Criminals like Deadshot, and the people behind Unidac. Not that I wanted you to, but you didn't even ask me about who was behind that group, the Renegades, who kept attacking me and trying to oust you. You have this obsession with that book your dad gave you, but you're not obsessed with the real problems this city faces, only your dad's List or whichever criminal is next person who might possibly harm Laurel, your One True Love. You're still that immature, rich kid who was on the Queen's Gambit, and I was just your back-up while Laurel was available. And now, since Tommy broke up with the love of your life, I won't be at your disposal any longer.'

'What point are you trying to make, Aria?' Oliver growled, my words like poison seeping into his veins and killing him drop by drop.

'Since you won't help me actually save this city, I won't help you,' I told him outright. 'I'm done with you and the team, as of right now.'

I left without another word, a flick of my hair and a loud slam of the door.

---

The Merlyn household was empty when I returned after my short-lived desire to spend time in the Arrowcave, Tommy and Malcolm both working side by side at the top of the Merlyn Global Group empire. Talking about jobs, I wasn't sure what I was going to do about mine. I couldn't stand Oliver, not anymore, and there was no going back after I had spoken that brutally honest monologue. But all this meant I needed to get a job, and fast, before I didn't even have a job to call my own.

Before I could think about anything, the sound of the doorbell ringing chimed through the house. There were no security guards at the Merlyns, as Malcolm could obviously take care of himself very well, so the the person at the door could've been anyone. I was just hoping I wouldn't have to fight them, with the resting I was supposed to be doing.

'Felicity?' I questioned my friend's presence as I saw her stood at the door I had opened. 'Why are you-?'

'Here? Well, why are any of us here?' She sparred back at me in her usual way. 'But specifically, I'm here because Oliver is too scared to come over himself.'

'I literally just quit the team,' I said in a puzzled tone. 'Half an hour ago. How do you know so quickly what happened?'

'I heard you fight with Oliver, actually, at Verdant,' Felicity explained. 'And since I agree with you more than Oliver this time, I came over to see if you're okay.'

'I am fine,' I let her know without any fuss. 'I actually feel a lot better now that I'm away from him. It's a shame it means I won't be able to see you as much either, Felicity.'

'Hey, I get it,' she accepted graciously. 'And it is a shame, I'll really miss you. It's weird, without you or Dig there, just me and the great Oliver Queen.'

'Diggle still hasn't returned?' I asked Felicity, she verifying what she had said with a nod. 'I don't blame him, to be honest; he has a better reason to stay away than I do.'

'But I'll see you in the club, won't I?' Felicity checked, I not knowing what to answer having not decided myself what I was going to do about my job.

'I don't know,' I shook my head sadly, at a loss. 'I really don't. But for now, I can't go back there, not even to the Verdant part of the building. Please just tell Oliver that I need some time to... Think.'

'You're quitting, aren't you?' Felicity assumed just as sadly as I was. 'I'll let Oliver know.'

'I'm sorry, Felicity,' I apologised, hanging my head briefly. 'I wanted to carry on working with you, I really did, but I can't trust Oliver to be on my side or believe everything I have to say. And, I can't work with someone who treats me like that, or puts a select few above everybody else.'

'I understand,' Felicity smiled genuinely at me, squeezing my hand.

Now practically unemployed, I just laid on the sofa, not really knowing what to do with myself. Tommy had so kindly given me the job at the club shortly after I had been kicked out the SCPD, and now I had just disrespected that kindness by quitting the same job. The only thing that made me feel less guilty was the fact that Tommy had recently left the club too.

My sadness wasn't only because of quitting Verdant; I was still upset about mine and Oliver's break up. Although it wasn't a long or a very close relationship, I still had romantic feelings for him, and I knew that if we had been more compatible, we could've been together for a long time. I had always liked Oliver, and loved him both as a friend and a partner, but he really did get on my nerves. Maybe not as much as Tommy did, but all the emotions we had both gone through had been too intense in a small period time.

I thought nothing could me pulled me out of my sorrow, but then my phone rang.

'Aria,' Tommy started the conversation. 'I called the phone at Verdant, but no-one picked up. You okay?'

'Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask?' I replied quickly, rubbing my eyes and slightly sniffling.

'I thought you went to work this morning,' Tommy reminded me on a puzzled tone. 'What happened?'

'I, er, I quit,' I explained both vaguely and teary. 'It wasn't really... Working out.'

'Oh,' Tommy uttered. 'Well, I just might be able to 'cheer you up', Aria, as you Brits would say. I have an... Idea. Put your best dress on and meet me at the door in half an hour, no exceptions.'

'Tommy, what are you-' I tried to ask him, but he ended the call before I could continue.

Whatever Tommy was planning, it sounded like I had no choice but to go along with it.

---

I was greeted by a coffee cup from the Grind and Jolt Cafe, somewhere I hadn't been in a long time, especially since I had lost my job at the SCPD, the cup held in Tommy's outstretched hand.

'Coffee at four o' clock in the afternoon?' I questioned him, both confused and humoured. 'Isn't it a little late for caffeine?'

'It's never too late for a cup of coffee, Aria,' Tommy grinned at my reaction.

'But, why go all the way across the city for a cup of coffee instead of the shop that's like, ten minutes away?' I quizzed him further; Grind and Jolt was near the precinct and the Glades, whereas Starling Mall, where Jitters was located, was much closer to the Merlyn household.

'Well, Grind and Jolt was where we had our first coffee together, remember?' Tommy explained smoothly. 'And, it's where I first saw you after you returned from the island.'

'I had no idea you were so sentimental, Tommy Merlyn,' I smirked at him, but inside I was moved by his kind gesture.

He had definitely cheered me up.

'But, why did you tell me to wear my best dress to drink coffee?' I raised an eyebrow at him, suspicious. 'What have you planned?'

'This way, m'lady,' he joked, bowing and gesturing where to go while keeping eye contact the while time just to make me laugh. 'Step inside.'

He had taken me to one of his very expensive-looking cars, he driving for once instead of some chauffeur behind the wheel instead.

'I forgot that you could actually drive,' I commented with a slight chuckle. 'Was your driver too ill to pick us up?'

'Actually, I thought that I should drive tonight,' Tommy informed me. 'I'm getting so lazy in my old age.'

'Back at it again with the sentiments, I see,' I really laughed this time. 'What, are you going through a mid-life crisis or something?'

'I just thought that... Life's too short,' Tommy answered as he concentrated on the road amongst the rush-hour traffic.

'Oh, so you think you're going to die?' I spurted sarcastically. 'Sorry, your maturity just shocked me, because you are never mature, and you definitely weren't when you drove your own cars.'

'I want you to remember that immature Tommy who never worried about important things like a twenty-something should've,' Tommy harked back to his past self. 'Because I remember him, and I remember what you were like when you got here. You were so carefree and happy back then, and you managed to bounce back whenever something awful happened to try and throw you off the right path. Of course, we didn't know that the Gambit was going to capsize, or that you would be this kickass, awesome and pretty scary vigilante you are today, but back then we had nothing to worry about, with me being the rich kid and you being supported by my dad. And, I think we need to try to be like them to not become depressed or overwhelmed by that horrible thing called life.'

Tommy still didn't know that Malcolm had put me through a whole lot of stress and complications even before I had been shipwrecked on Lian Yu, but it was better that way; the Merlyns were getting on now more than ever, and I refused to be the one to break that beautiful relationship.

'That was... Profound,' I remarked, stuck on what to say. 'And very true. We do need that spark we used to have that carried us through each day, and although that was probably because we were younger and more energetic than we are now, we have lost the happiness we used to have, you especially.'

'Hey, we're here,' Tommy suddenly announced, parking up in some lot, a valet opening the door for the both of us.

I thanked the man as Tommy joined me, feeling his fingers slip between mine, the action sending me back about seven years. And it felt right.

Walking towards the almost white, stone building near us, I spotted a vertical banner with the title 'Becoming Picasso' subtly plastered on it. We were at Staring City's only art museum, but why? Tommy hadn't been interested in art ever since I had met him, Oliver being the only one who knew a tiny bit of art history due to the art collection the Queens had.

As we climbed the vast, marble staircase that led into one of the grandest buildings I had ever seen, I turned to Tommy with a yet again puzzled expression, not really knowing how to approach asking him why we were there. Had Tommy done this just to be 'sentimental' again? But if he had, then what was the meaning behind it all? Or had he just decided to take me for the sake of it and I was over analysing things like I always did?

'You look confused,' Tommy corrected noticed once we had walked through the golden-shrouded doorway and ushered to a gigantic lobby area where the upper-class sector of Starling gathered, each one of them dressed in fancy evening gowns or dapper suits.

'Now I'm just amazed at how all these people can afford such expensive clothes,' I said open-mouthed as I eyed a particularly sparkly diamond necklace. 'I feel so out of place right now.'

'Well, you should get used to this again, you were fine talking to one-percenters before the island,' Tommy slightly smirked at my childlike wonder. 'Actually, you do talk to them now, but while threatening them with a gun pointed to their chest.'

'Did,' I corrected Tommy, still feeling somewhat sad at my departure from Team Arrow.

'You left the team?' Tommy asked me, surprised. 'Well, I can't blame you.'

'Yes, that saga is over, officially,' I nodded. 'But, a new part of my life is just beginning. I know it wasn't in the best circumstances, it never is, but we're friends now, you and I, and I'm back to living with the Merlyns and finally being happy for once. This, whatever you've planned, is more than I could ever dream of anyone doing, and I feel like my life is normal again, like that hopeful girl who used to love to draw in her spare time to her emo playlists and not have to care about anything else in the world. And that's all because of you, Tommy. But, why exactly did you bring me here?'

'Like you said, being here makes you feel like that person you were before you had to deal with problems most people never will,' Tommy answered almost immediately. 'Art was something you were interested in, and you probably still are because I know you still have that part of you there. This exhibition is basically about that expressionist artist-'

'Impressionist,' I corrected Tommy again in fit of giggles, laughing the longest I had in a long time. 'Sorry, go on.'

'Anyway, there's loads of paintings from when he first started out, which is why it's called 'Becoming Picasso',' Tommy explained in more detail. 'I hope the dude's as good as everyone says he is.'

'Trust me, he is,' I confirmed with a grin. 'And I think if you'd called one the greatest painters of all time a 'dude' in front of an art critic, you would be in trouble.'

---

After one too many glasses of wine and Tommy being confused at every painting we looked at, he took me down one of the side streets that led off the exterior of the museum and into the centre of the city. My friend stopped outside an especially quiet restaurant, the faint sound of music and low chatter reaching my ears from the ajar door of the establishment. Looking at the printed letters on the striped awning, it read 'Corrado Italian Bistro', somewhere I vaguely remembered from quite a few years back.

'Do you remember this place?' Tommy started, I refraining from shaking my head in anticipation of what he would say next. 'Corrado's was somewhere we were trying to book for ages, and we never actually got to eat here.'

'I remember now,' I nodded, thinking back to when I returned from the island. 'You told me you were going to take me here, but instead you all decided to throw a surprise party for me.'

'Well, I might've been able to book a table for us tonight,' Tommy grinned ecstatically, I copying him in excitement and throwing my arms around him. 'What was that for? It's... Only food.'

'It's just, Tommy, you've thought about this, a lot,' I breathed, sounding a bit corny. 'And I just can't believe you're doing all this, for me. You've put so much thought and time into making this evening perfect, and I really love you for that. But, why? Don't get me wrong, it's lovely, and I know you said it was because we needed to remember the past and everything, but... Why?'

'I thought, since you haven't had the best few months, that you needed to take your mind off everything for a night,' Tommy explained with a wide smile. 'One beautiful night, where nothing can stop you from being happy, like that art-obsessed girl you use to be.'

'But I wasn't expecting any of this,' I said, welling up. 'You didn't need to impress me with a grand gesture. All I needed was you, with me, drinking coffee at Jitters or in a booth at Big Belly Burger.'

'Is that the wine from the art gallery talking?' Tommy joked, but I knew he understood me really. 'I did all this because you really do deserve it, Aria. Now, we need to get inside, before our table goes to someone else.'

As we did, our fingers interlocked, the both of us tightly holding hands for what felt like the first time in forever. And I felt closer to Tommy than ever before, his grand gesture making me question many things I had tried to bury away.

Did I still love Tommy after all?