Chapter 34: Arrow ~ Thanksgiving ~ Part Three
***
Dig looked up from what he was doing when the door to his room opened, and he frowned when Oliver entered. "Come back for round two?" he asked sarcastically.
"No," Oliver shook his head instantly. "No." He closed the door behind him, then said, "Back to apologize. You said you put my family in front of yours. You did. Then I asked you to put on the hood to make things better with my son, and I . . . " He sighed. "I didn't give proper consideration to yours. I'm truly sorry."
Dig nodded slowly as Oliver sat down. "I was thinking about William today," he said. "A lot. And you getting arrested in front of him . . . how's he doing?"
"Oh, he's fine," Oliver smiled. "He's a tough kid." Dig smirked at that. "But he is very grateful and thankful that you are the Green Arrow so I don't have to be."
"Don't know how much longer I can keep doing that," Dig admitted. "Especially in the short-term."
"You get your test results back?" Oliver asked curiously.
"Yeah," Dig took a deep breath, sitting down across from Oliver. "The nerve damage in my arm spread to my back. And because of the steroid use, I caused permanent damage. If I continue out in the field, I could end up paralyzed."
"Oh, John," Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. "I . . . I really wish you hadn't have gone to these lengths for me."
Dig chuckled softly. "Well, now it's my turn to apologize to you." Oliver frowned in confusion, listening as his friend explained. "I should've never said that I was doing it for you. You remember last year when the Dominators put us into this alternate Star City?"
"Yeah," Oliver smirked. "Kind of difficult to forget."
"That's right," Dig chuckled. "You have one hell of a story to tell in the case of How I Met My Girlfriend."
"Yeah," Oliver said slowly, nodding. "I sure do."
Dig frowned, wondering what that response meant, but continued on. "We got to see what our perfect life would be. Mine was being the Green Arrow. So you asking me to take the mantle was not selfish. It was giving me the one thing in the world that I never knew I wanted."
Oliver shook his head, hiding a smile. "Wow."
"Now," Dig leaned forward. "Your perfect life is looking a bit different than it was advertised."
"Yeah, just a little bit," Oliver chuckled, a fond smile on his face. "I loved Laurel – this Earth's Laurel – and a part of me always will . . . but Kara . . . " He shook his head. "I see her with William, and I see just how good she is, and I always wonder if I'm good enough for her. You know what kind of scares me, John?" He tilted his head, and Oliver looked right at him. "There's nothing I wouldn't do for her. The only other people I've truly felt that way for are William and Thea."
"You love her, Oliver," Dig smiled. "That's not something to be scared of." He leaned forward. "You also reacted when I said How I Met My Girlfriend."
"Yeah," Oliver nodded slowly before turning to him. "Keep a secret, John?"
"Depends on the secret," Dig tilted his head. "What's wrong?"
"Absolutely nothing," Oliver shook his head, leaning forward as well. "I just don't plan on calling Kara my girlfriend much longer."
Dig blinked once, then twice, then abruptly grinned. "You're serious, man?"
"Completely," Oliver smiled.
"That is a secret I can keep until you ask her," Dig agreed at once. "Good for you."
"Save that for if she says yes," Oliver said dryly.
"If she doesn't say yes, I'll eat my suit," Dig deadpanned.
"That's a wonderful image," Oliver winced.
"Yeah, it is," Dig nodded in agreement. "But, speaking of suits . . . what's going on with the team?"
"They think that Cayden James is going after Starling Stadium," Oliver answered. "There's going to be thirty-five thousand people there tonight."
Dig blanched. "You're the mayor. Shut it down!"
"I tried," Oliver sighed. "Getting arrested is not doing a lot for my credibility."
"What are you going to do?" Dig asked worriedly.
***
"We've been working on a probable location for Cayden's thermobaric bomb, but Starling Stadium is massive," Felicity walked over to where the team was gearing up.
"We'll have to split up," Rene sighed.
"Still, who's going to be calling the plays out there?" Curtis looked around.
"Do I get a vote?" Alex asked, looking around. When everyone nodded, she pointed at Slade and Malcolm. "One of those two."
"Us?" Slade raised an eyebrow.
"The children?" Laurel asked at the same time.
"Hey!" Malcolm glared at her.
"Well, they've been at this longer than most of us," Alex defended her opinion. "And they keep their heads in the game."
"Honored you nominated us, Alex, but we don't know Star City as well as the rest of the team," Slade shook his head. "Can't exactly go walking around without someone recognizing our faces."
"Since two of us are supposed to be dead," Malcolm agreed.
"What about Dinah?" Felicity pointed at her.
"She has the least field experience of all of us!" Rene squawked before looking at her. "No offense."
"She has super powers, tactical training, and police experience," Felicity pointed out.
"It's all right, Felicity," Dinah held up her hands. "It's all right. We just cannot have a repeat of what happened at Amertek."
"Well, if anyone has any suggestions about how to do that, we need to hear them," Laurel folded her arms, just as the elevator doors opened.
Everyone turned around, surprised to see Oliver walk out, Kara behind him. "I have a suggestion or two," he gave a small smirk as Kara removed her glasses.
***
Slade, Alex, Rene, Curtis, Dinah, and Laurel ran into the shadows of the stadium, looking around. "We're on site," Dinah reported.
Oliver and Malcolm grappled down, Kara flying to join them. "Any luck locating the bomb?" Oliver asked.
"We're running a code to find the building's weakest architectural joint," Felicity answered as the group of nine ran into the stadium. "Well, targets of opportunity, so stand by."
"And we're still trying to get into the venue's security system," Winn said. "But Cayden still has us frozen out."
"Couldn't we pull the alarm here, evacuate the stadium that way?" Dinah asked as they took cover behind equipment.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone