Italics- Lydia's voices
Lydia
Lydia had fallen asleep on the computer chair in an uncomfortable position. She was shivering, so Oliver gave her a blanket. He had been watching her as she slept. Every once and awhile, she would flinch; a bad dream.
He stopped his research on psychics and he figured he'd just ask her when she woke up.
Lydia finally began to open her eyes. The first person she saw was Oliver. He was wearing his regular clothes but she noticed the vigilante suit on the table.
"Good morning," he said softly. "Where am I?" Lydia asked. She got up quickly but Oliver motioned her to sit back down. "How do feel?" He asked. "Confused, but it makes sense," she replied. "Your the vigilante, aren't you?" She asked. "Yes."
She let out a laugh, getting up and walked around. She touched her hair that was damp, finally noticing she was in a robe, barefoot, with a blanket wrapped around.
"This always happens," she whispered to herself. "Are you psychic?" Oliver asked breaking the silence. She spun around and looked at him trying to figure out what to tell him. "You can say that," she pursed her lips.
"From the vigilante's first appearance, you were there," Oliver said. "Well you kill people and leave their bodies, I find them," she explained. "So how did you know I was here?" He finally asked. "I followed the voices," she said.
Lydia walked over to the computer, feeling his eyes longer on her and sat down on the chair, reading the screen that had searched 'psychic' on it and typed on the keyboards. "That's what I am," she said pointing on the screen. Oliver read the description and saw the picture. "A banshee." He said. "Yeah."
"I have to go home and get ready for work," Lydia said. "Will you keep my secret?" Oliver asked. "You know mine. So, we're even," she said. "Let me take you home," he offered, remembering she was half naked.
Diggle picked them up a block away from the warehouse to hide the suspicion and drove them to Lydia's apartment. "I'll see you later," she told Oliver.
Lydia got into her apartment and cringed. At least she wasn't fully naked like last time. She hated it when she wanders. But at least she learn something new; Oliver Queen, the vigilante. She definitely wasn't going to tell Detective Lance.
Oliver
"So what happened between you two?" Diggle asked Oliver in the car. "Sleepwalking," he said, which made sense to Diggle. "You can't keep leaving me Oliver," Diggle told him. "Fine," he responded. "Can you take me back home?"
When they arrived, Diggle took Oliver inside. "Hey Ollie," Thea greeted. "Tommy's inside the living room." Oliver walked into the living room and gave Tommy a hug.
"Hey. What do you need?" Oliver asked calmly. "Are you okay with me and Laurel together?" Tommy asked with nervousness in his tone. "Yes. You don't need my blessing," Oliver told him. "Why do you ask." "Because I'm going to take Laurel out for dinner," Tommy said. "Hey, you should bring the therapist. It will be a fun double date. I'm nervous I don't want to be alone," he confessed. "I'll ask," Oliver said.
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Lydia
A knock on the door and Thea opened it. "Hi, Dr. Martin," she welcomed her in. "Call me Lydia," she said, entering the foyer. "Hey Lydia," Oliver said coming down the stairs. "Alright bye," Thea waved, leaving them.
"Can we do this in my room?" Oliver asked "It's more private." "Yeah sure," she nodded said.
Oliver led her upstairs into his room. They entered and he pulled out a chair for her to sit beside his bed. He laid down to get comfortable as she started the session. Now that she knew more of him, she could ask better questions.
Lydia started writing down his emotions as he answered. "Why did you start this life as a vigilante?" she asked. "When my father died, he asked me to write his wrongs in this city," he explained. "If you were on the island 'alone' how did you learn to fight and shoot an arrow?" She asked, knowingly was a valuable question. "I wasn't on the island alone. There were people who tortured me," he said softly. He pulled up his shirt and Lydia's eyes filled up with water. "May I?" She asked. He didn't bother as her hands grazed his scars.
Slice. Groan.
She took away her hand quickly and took a deep breath. "Are you okay with what they did to you?" She asked. "No. I don't feel the same as before," he said. She wrote down a few other things to finish up the session.
"We're done," Lydia said happily to lighten the mood. "Would you like to have dinner with Tommy, Laurel, and me?" He asked suddenly. "What time?" She asked. "Seven." "Okay sure," she said. "I'll pick you up," he told her.
Lydia left the room and went downstairs as Diggle escorted her out.
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Getting out the shower, Lydia started to get ready. She blow dried her hair to put in a braided crown, curling the strands she left out to complete the look, put on light makeup with red lipstick, wearing a dress that matched her lips and black heels.
The doorbell rang and Lydia went out her room, opening the door. Oliver was standing in front in a black suit. "You look great," he said, bending his arm for her to grab. They walked out to the car and Diggle took them to the restaurant.
When they arrived, it was an Italian restaurant. They walked in to see Tommy and Laurel were already at the circular table as they sat down. "Hi Lydia," Laurel greeted. "Hi," she said back.
The people in the restaurant were in small chatter as the four of them ordered their food. When the waiter came, he was nice and said he would be back with their food. Lydia read everyone's emotions just from their posture and face expressions. Tommy: nervous, Laurel: comfortable, Oliver: tense. She felt the same with Laurel, calm.
"So what do you do Lydia?" Laurel asked as they waited. "I'm a therapist," she said drinking her water. "Oliver's therapist," Tommy blurted out. It got silent as Oliver and Laurel thought it was an incentive joke but Lydia laughed it off and they joined.
"What about you Laurel?" She asked back. "I'm a lawyer," she said with confidence. "I'm thinking about opening a club," Oliver pitched in. "What's it called?" Tommy asked. "Verdant," Oliver said. "Is there a theme?" Laurel asked. Oliver hadn't already thought it through and he sat there thinking. "What about green," Lydia said with a big smile on her face looking at Oliver. "Yeah, why not," he said understanding the look from her.
The server came with their food. They began to eat when Laurel began, "Speaking of green, what do you guys think about the vigilante?" "The guy's a joke," Tommy snorted. "Well I think his Robin Hood act of taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor is a good thing, but the way he goes about it is wrong," Lydia said honestly and Oliver really thought about her words.
"So where you from?" Tommy asked. "Beacon Hills," Lydia said. "Woah," Oliver said. "Have you been there before?" She asked. "No," he replied. "Aren't there a lot of animal attacks there?" Laurel asked. "Yeah, a lot," Lydia said with a smile on her face.
They finished eating as they talked some more. The restaurant began to get empty as it was almost closing time. "We should play a game," Tommy said. "What game?" Lydia asked. "Not here. We should go to my place," he said. "Okay," Oliver said. They all left the restaurant and got into the car Tommy and Laurel came in.
The four of them arrived at Tommy's mansion and went inside. Tommy took off Laurel's coat and hung it on the rack. Oliver motioned to do it for Lydia but she had already taken it off. "Let's go over to the bar," Tommy said leading the way.
They reached it and Tommy went behind it and got out tequila and some shot glasses. "We're going to play Never Have I Ever," he said. Everyone began to laugh as they were excited to play. "Never have I ever...gotten drunk," Tommy began. All of them except for Lydia drank to that. "You've been drunk?" Oliver asked. "Nope." "Well tonight, you are." Tommy said.
"Never have I ever... thrown a massive party," Laurel said. They all drank to that one. "What party," Tommy asked Lydia. "Birthday bashes," she said happily. "I remember you told me you used to be a party girl," Oliver said. "I was," Lydia said. It was her turn and she thought about a good one.
"Never have I ever... drugged a whole party." They all looked at her surprised and she was the only one who drank to that. "What did you put in the drink?" Laurel asked. "Wolfsbane," she said. "Where did you get it?" Oliver asked. "Well since there were animal attacks, there were hunters and I stole what they used to put down the animals. The people at my party were hallucinating," Lydia explained. "I think she won the game," Tommy said.
"I haven't went," Oliver said. "Fine, go," Laurel said. "Never have I ever... been kidnapped," Oliver said with a straight face. Tommy drank to that but Laurel didn't do anything. Lydia drank more than one and Oliver took the whole bottle. "Damn, are you guys serious?" Tommy asked and Laurel had a look of concern on her face. "Yeah," Lydia said softly.
"Are you drunk yet?" Tommy asked? "No. It takes a while," she said. "New game. What is your biggest fear," Tommy said. "Mine is getting kidnapped," he started. "Well, falling is mine," Laurel said. "You guys might think it's dumb but, big field stadiums with the lights," Lydia said. "Really?" Oliver asked. "Well mine are boats," he said. "Tell that to my sister," Laurel said sourly.
Lydia looked at her confused. "Oliver cheated on me with my sister, took her on the Queen's Gambit, and she died. You should probably write that down for Oliver's problems," Laurel said with a shaky voice. She took a last shot and walked out of the house to go home.
Lydia was shocked. "Well you guys can see yourself out," Tommy said going after Laurel. Lydia looked at Oliver, waiting for him to say something. "I don't want to talk about it," he said quietly. "Let's go."
They went outside and waited for Diggle to drive up. He dropped them off in the Glades a few blocks from the warehouse. When they got there, they went inside. "Just sit here and watch," Oliver told her. "During dinner, you said your opinion. So let me show you." Oliver put on his suit with the green grease paint and arrows and left.
He had set up the street camera on the computer for her to watch. Lydia sat through most of it when she saw someone behind Oliver. It was Diggle. He had probably followed him to where he was going.
Lydia got up and began to walk around. She saw the arrows laying on the table and picked one up. Even though they were green, they brought back memories of archery. She walked over to Oliver's crate and touched it. She didn't want to open it but she couldn't stop herself. When she did, there was a bottle of alcohol, a bag of herbs and a blanket. Next to the crate she saw a book. When she opened it, there were names on it. She flipped through them and some of it had names crossed out.
Gunshot.
Lydia heard the noise and dropped the book. She turned around and didn't see anything. The ringing in her ears left her shocked. After waiting in silence, Oliver came back. But he wasn't alone, he had Diggle under arm. Him following Oliver led to him getting shot. That's what she had heard, Diggle getting shot.
Lydia reacted quickly and pushed the crate off the table letting Oliver put Diggle's body on it. Lydia noticed he was sweating unnaturally and touch his forehead, "He's burning up," she told Oliver. He went into his crate and got the herbs that were in there. He mixed them with water and gave it to Diggle to drink.
After a short moment, his wasn't sweating anymore. Oliver took out the bullet from his shoulder and put it into a pan. He began to stitch Diggle up when Lydia grabbed the pan. She cleaned up the blood from the bullet and held it in her hand. Oliver walked over to see what she was doing and was confused. She dropped it onto the metal table.
Curare. Floyd Lawton.
The whispering from the bouncing of metal left Lydia startled. Oliver looked at Lydia for an answer. "He was shot by Floyd Lawton who laces his bullets with curare," she said.
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The dinner was great but Laurel just had to ruin it. Lydia told half the story about animal attacks and the hunters. Her fear she said was very surprising to everyone else.
Oliver's arrows reminded Lydia of Allison.
The Verdant is almost done being built as the cover the vigilante.