⚖ laurel lance | arrow

[prosecutorial]

	✔ Cʀᴏssᴏᴠᴇʀs/AU ✔ Aᴄᴛɪᴏɴsᴘᴀᴍ ✔ Pʀᴏsᴇ	✔ Pɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛs ✔ Oᴛʜᴇʀᴡᴏʀᴅʟʏ ✔ Sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇʀs	♥ F/M, F/F ⏰ Uᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ, ᴏᴘᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴏsᴛ-s4 AUs

Comments

[prosecutorial]

[Laurel ... doesn't exactly do letting go well.

She's stubborn and she stews and she has all the drive that makes her a good attorney, but when she tries to handle that drive in the rest of her life, she only seems to make a mess of things. She wants to hold on to her sister's memory and fire but the more she tries, the more she feels like things are slipping away from her. She can't leave her sister dead and buried in the ground, not when she deserves to be alive.

She deserves more of a life than the one she lived and if Laurel has to trade the life she has to give her that, then she'll do it, no matter the cost. She never imagined, however, that the cost would be Thea. Thea is a cost she also isn't willing to pay and she doesn't know how to save them both.

That's probably the point. She can't have it both ways, and it isn't fair to sacrifice the living for someone who's already dead. She stays in Thea's hospital room and waits with her, and while she isn't sure if she's waiting for Sara or trying to protect Thea, the point remains that she isn't going anywhere.

She's not losing anyone else. Not if she can help it.]

[withasouvenir]

[ it takes her a while to stir and it's preceded by a cough, crackling and rough on her bruised throat. after a moment her eyes flutter open, licking her lips and wincing as she swallows. automatically, she tries to push herself up but finds herself lacking some of the strength to do so.

jesus, sara had kicked her ass. ] Hey.

[prosecutorial]

Hey.

[There's a small smile as she moves to inch her chair closer, reaching forward to give Thea's hand a squeeze.]

How are you feeling?

[withasouvenir]

Like I'm finally going to have to retire from my dream of professional wrestling because I really don't do well with being choked out.

[ sometimes she's really good at fighting, sometimes it's against sara and it's game over. ]

Coffee table's ruined. Again.

[prosecutorial]

Room's better without it.

[It's a half-hearted joke, but she's trying not to dwell too much on the fact that Thea makes a habit with this.]

I've been meaning to get rid of it anyway.

[withasouvenir]

[ well, thea dwells on it. ] Why is it always the innocent living room furniture.

[prosecutorial]

[Laurel gives a small shrug.]

Because it's handy to slam people into at the time? And at least it has a little give - better than a brick wall.

[withasouvenir]

I might take the brick wall. [ that's because you're lowkey suicidal, thea. ]

[prosecutorial]

[She grimaces a bit at that, before shaking her head.]

Don't worry about it now. Just get some rest and get better.

[withasouvenir]

Yeah... [ there's a pessimism to her tone that doesn't match the reassuring smile she tries to give laurel. ] You don't have to hang around here. When was the last time you ate or slept?

[prosecutorial]

Diggle brought me a doughnut and coffee a couple hours ago.

[Laurel, that is not food.]

And we've been taking shifts.

[Laurel, that is a lie.]

[withasouvenir]

Donuts aren't food, Laurel. You taught me that.

[ so thea is not taking that as an acceptable answer. ]

[prosecutorial]

They're comfort food. Not good for long term sustinance, but good enough when you need to eat your feelings.

[And honestly, that's been what Laurel has been going for for the past few hours. She still doesn't know if she did the right thing when it came to Sara - even if it feels like it was, but she didn't mean to put Thea in this danger in the first place.]

[withasouvenir]

Laurel. [ she twists her hand under laurel's, curling her fingers weakly around her friend's hand. ] All that guilt is going to crush you if you let it.

[ she lets out a soft laugh, looking down at the hospital blanket, already becoming too familiar. ]

When I, when I first woke up, after I stopped trying to kill Ollie, once I was me again. All I could think about was... what if we used the pit on Tommy? [ she scratches her nose to hide the way it wiggles, telltale sign of oncoming tears. ] I mean, he was better than all of us. If anyone deserved a second chance, it was him. [ and it was entirely selfish, thea just wanted her brother back, wanted a chance to know him as her brother, wanted a chance to finally have a family when she keeps losing everyone. ] But Dad would never let me and part of me... Part of me wants to believe that he's with his mom and you know how much he missed her. But Sara's entire life is still here, a life she deserves to live. We'll figure this out somehow. I promise.

[prosecutorial]

[Laurel looks up at her and she knows that sign. She takes a moment to focus on Thea's hand like it's an anchor, before shaking her head a bit.]

Maybe she does. But she would never forgive me if it came at the cost of people she loves.

[And she does love Thea. Laurel knows that much.]

[withasouvenir]

I killed her.

[ it's what she's stuck on. if sara is coming after her it's because thea deserves it, because thea killed her. no matter how many people tell her than it wasn't her fault, that she was drugged and it was malcolm's fault, that no one could blame thea...

thea still blames thea. ]

[prosecutorial]

[Laurel is ready to launch into just that when she realizes that no amount of reassurance is going to help in that department.]

You did. But letting her kill you isn't going to make that wrong right again either.

[withasouvenir]

It could, we don't know that. She'll be okay after that.

[ stop being so self-sacrificing, thea, it's bad for your skin. ]

[prosecutorial]

No, she won't. She wouldn't be okay with the cost.

[And Thea is not the kind of cost Sara would be willing to pay. Neither is Laurel.]

[withasouvenir]

We don't know that!

[prosecutorial]

Yes, we do!

[Laurel says firmly.]

Because the Sara that she was before she died was trying to stop taking lives. She wouldn't want to take the life of someone she loves, even if it was to save herself.

[withasouvenir]

That's why she doesn't get that choice, I do. [ she knows that she's being deeply hypocritical, but thea can't cope with her guilt. she can't pack it in and move on like oliver does or ignore it like other people, she let's it drown her because she thinks that's what she deserves. and she fully believes that if the choice was between her and sara, sara is the one that deserves a chance. ]

[prosecutorial]

[She shakes her head.]

No. That's not fair - to either of you. You don't deserve to die and Sara doesn't deserve to have to kill you. We'll find another way.