The man on the screen…The one who looked suspiciously like Oliver. Now, I understood why they were so alike. Is it me? Do I just know a lot of twins? Is it something in the water? Or is there more to this story than I'm seeing here? When I heard him speak the other day, I never thought I'd actually speak to him like this. Then again, I doubt that Oliver would let me speak to him directly.

He and I had never met before. Not that I knew anyway. Something tells me I'd remember him. Yet, he looked at me in such horror. Not like he was afraid of me…but as if he pitied me, "Oliver, what have you done with her?"

"Amelia," Oliver leaned over to me, "Do you remember me telling you about him? Because I have."

I did, "Is he the bad man?"

"Yes," he pulled me into his shoulder, "This is my twin brother Arthur. I know. It's hard to believe he and I share blood, let alone a birthday, too. Arthur, I assume the whole council is there, yes?"

"All of us are here," Arthur confirmed.

"Show me," Oliver ordered, "Spin the camera around. It's been a while since I've seen everyone and it'd be nice to see their faces again."

"Fine," Arthur panned around the room at the rest of the people in the room with him. And a few familiar faces happened to be there. It's too bad Ivan couldn't be here, though.

"Hello, everyone!" Oliver chimed.

"This isn't the time for pleasantries, Oliver," Arthur scolded him.

"It's always the time for pleasantries!" Oliver insisted, "You always were the bitter one, weren't you, Arthur? Fine then. If you're going to be that way, shall we get down to business then?"

"Please."

"Alright then," Oliver ran his fingers down the back of my arm, "You see, brother dear, I know why we're here. You know why we're here. Everyone on your end and mine alike know why we're here. All except for one. And that one is the reason why we're all here. Rather ironic, isn't it?"

"Oliver," Arthur growled.

"You really aren't in the mood for pleasantries today, are you?" Oliver dropped it, "Fine. I've grown rather attached to little Amelia here. Honestly, could you blame me? Look at that precious little face and try not to fall in love."

"You know you can't keep her, Oliver," a new face showed up on the screen. Holy shit…This guy looked like Francois if Francois took better care of himself. I bet I know who you are.

"Francis!" Oliver sang, his smile only growing, "Ever the concerned mother. I don't know why I should be surprised. If it's been a day, it's been forever! How are you? How are things with you and my brother?"

"I don't know, Oliver," Francis stood his ground, "How are things with you and my brother?"

And there it was. Oliver's biggest sore spot. The biggest button that could've been pushed. And Francis dug into it, "That was uncalled for, Francis. All I asked for was some light conversation away from this and you had to play dirty."

"You know why I played dirty," Francis brushed him off, "Can we get back to the task at hand?"

"Heaven forbid we speak to each other on a civil, human level," Oliver moved on, "Look. Amelia's fine. I'm not keeping her or anything silly like that. I think that's Arthur getting in your heads. I've been taking good care of her in your absences. Tell them, Amelia. Tell them all about how well things have been going for us since you willingly moved in."

"I want to see Alfred," I didn't hesitate. I didn't want to play into whatever bullshit Oliver was trying to feed them. Right now, I was a simple girl with a simple need. And that simple need caught Oliver by surprise.

"Amelia," his tone got a little darker, "Tell them."

"But I want to see Alfred first," I demanded.

"Amy?" There it was. A familiar face to put me at ease. That's all I really wanted.

"Hi," I smiled a bit, "You have no idea how nice it is to see your face, Alfred."

"Ditto," Alfred agreed, chuckling to himself, "Are you ok?"

"Ok-ish," I admitted, "Things have been better."

"And they've been better since you moved in with me," Oliver added, "Isn't that right, Amelia?"

"What do you want, Oliver?" Arthur came back on screen.

"I've already told you, Arthur," Oliver explained, "Even those born in the shadows can crave the warmth of the sun. And I'm not the only cold shadow, brother. We all are. Most of you ignore our very existence. Like Francis, for example. If he paid a single scrap of attention to…him…He never would've been in the dark places he's been in."

"He refuses my help, Oliver," Francis jumped down his throat, "You know that as well as I do."

"There was a point where he'd refuse my help, too," Oliver remembered, "But did that stop me from trying?"

"And you wonder why he escaped you…"

"And Alfred," Oliver ignored Francis' backhanded comment, "Do you know where your brother was the other night?"

"Yeah," Alfred's eyes burned angry, fully prepared to go at Oliver's throat. It's a good thing there's a screen between us, "He went out with Amy."

"And?" Oliver smirked, "Last I heard anything, he had gotten incredibly drunk, along with Amelia."

"And he called me that night, looking for a ride home," Alfred defended, "Allen's not stupid. Besides, he had my car. He knows better. I was supposed to give Amy a ride home, too, but according to Allen, she got a ride home in the back of a cop car. You wouldn't have had something to do with that, would you, Oliver?"

"Of course I did," Oliver gasped, "I'm insulted that you'd think that a bad thing."

"I never said that," Alfred argued.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, Arthur," Oliver came clean, "We want control of the world council. Complete and total control. Effective immediately."

"You know we can't do that, Oliver," Arthur turned him down, "We're the ones who take care of the world council."

"Come now," Oliver dug his fingers into my skin, his grip getting tighter and tighter. Damn…I didn't think he had that kind of strength in him, "You wouldn't want to see her hurt, would you?"

Without hesitation, Arthur jumped into action, "Where are you, Oliver?"

"I'm in the living room of my cottage in the country," Oliver loosened his grip, "You know, you don't deserve her, Arthur. She's so wonderful and so cute. Granted, she has a little bit of a rebellious streak in her, but I'm sure that with some proper guidance, we can take care of that, can't we? As far as I'm concerned, Amelia is mine. And you're not taking her from me."

Fuck me…Out of nowhere, my head gained at least fifty pounds. I could hardly keep it up. My neck muscles were nonexistent and the room couldn't stay still for longer than a few seconds. I might throw up. No. I'm not going to throw up. I'm ok. But I could stand a nap. I slinked down in Oliver's lap, fighting sleep tooth and nail, "Alfred…"

"Yeah, Amy?" Alfred showed up on the screen again. Hi, Alfred.

"I…" Another dizzy spell hit me. What the fuck, Amy? Stay strong, "I'm so tired."

"I know, darling," Oliver cradled me, holding my cheek in the palm of his hand, "I know. It's getting late and your new medicine is likely kicking in by now. I know you're tired and I promise I'll put you to bed soon. We just need to finish dealing with this first, ok? Then, we can get you ready for bed."

As much shit as Oliver has put me through in these last few days…Hell, possibly even these last few months, one thing remained. He really did care. And his heart was in a good place. He cuddled me a little closer, making it even harder for me to stay awake. But I had to. Fortunately, Oliver's display of affection was enough to add fuel to the fire already burning in Alfred.

"Keep your hands off her!" Alfred snapped, waking me up a little.

"Alfred," Oliver scolded him, "So angry. I'm doing nothing wrong. Honestly, weren't you raised better? I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were brought into this world by absolute savages."

"I wasn't…!"

"Alfred," Arthur stopped him, "We'll handle this. Go sit down."

"But Ar…!"

"Alfred," Arthur reiterated, his tone a bit sterner this time around, "Go. I told you we'll handle this. If we need you, we'll let you know. For now, go sit."

"Alright," Alfred backed down, sitting at the table behind Arthur next to Francis and someone else. That had to be Mattie. Alfred told me about him once and if we're looking at the patterns here, he kind of looked like Matt. It wouldn't surprise me.

"You can't have the world council, Oliver," Arthur assured, "Do you realize what kind of chaos the world would fall into if it were you and the others?"

"We're tired of living in the shadows!" Oliver snapped, scaring the hell out of me, "We'll have the world council, Arthur. I can promise you that. Even if that means taking it by force."

"But Oliver," Arthur had to play dirty, too, "Amelia…You love her, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Oliver hugged me tight, afraid that someone would take me, "I'm the only one in this world who can keep her safe from your corruption. If you were to just leave well enough alone, could you imagine the perfect young lady she'd become? She'd be the very epitome of grace and civility."

"You're keeping her from her family," Arthur glared through him.

"I'm all the family she…"

"Her true family," Francis stepped in, "And you know it. Keeping her like this isn't love, Oliver. It's a hostage crisis."

"Oliver, please," Arthur begged with a tear in his eyes, "Please…Let her come home. You know as well as I do. This is not right."

Oliver thought it over for a moment or two. But I got to thinking, too. What did Francis mean by my true family? And why was Oliver trying to keep me from them so much? I don't see how they could possibly "corrupt" me. Not when I've been through my own corruption plenty. But that streak is out of me. It has been for a while now. In all the work I've done, this regression that Oliver has put me through may have done more harm than good.

"You're right, Arthur," Oliver nodded, "She is home. I hope you realize that you've had your chance and it's been wasted. You could've gotten what you wanted if I would've gotten what I wanted. Oh, well. It was nice seeing you all again! Kuro, cut the feed."

Kuro turned off the laptop and Oliver laid down with me. That may have taken more out of him than I thought it would. Luciano stepped in, "So, what do we do now, Oliver? Because I know a few guys that could do a little something, something to them. All it would take is a phone call and BAM! We don't have to deal with them anymore. The world council is ours and you get to keep your little sidepiece."

"I could make a call or two, too," Kuro added, "I know some people. The more, the merrier."

"Don't you ever call her that again," Oliver growled, ready to tear Luciano's throat out, "And we're not using your underground mafia connections, Luciano. And no yakuza either, Kuro. It wouldn't be right. Not that I'd have a problem with a little bit of bloodshed for the sake of this mission, but it's not the way to do it. It lacks a certain style."

"You could just send me," Viktor suggested, his voice rattling in my chest, "I walk in, scare der'mo out of them, and world council is ours."

"I appreciate the effort, Viktor," Oliver slid the swear jar across the coffee table, "But that's too…I don't know…Cut and dry. Your efforts are all appreciated and I apologize if I'm coming off a bit short. I'm just a little stressed. That's all."

"Oliver…" I spoke softly.

"Yes, love?" Oliver sat up, immediately tending to whatever I'd ask, "What is it?"

"What did Francis mean?" I bit the inside of my cheek.

"About what?"

"About my true family," I wondered, doing my best to stay strong. Because damn, I was tired. I was so tired.

"Oh, Amelia…" Oliver cradled me, "I don't want to do this, but I see it's going to be a necessary evil. Xiao…Oh, goodness sake, someone wake Xiao please."

"XIAO!" Viktor growled at him.

"WHAT?" Xiao sat up, "You said I could sleep through this meeting, Oliver!"

"I did," Oliver confirmed, "However, if you could recall, that did have a stipulation."

"Yeah, yeah," Xiao got up from his cozy chair and went over to the big ass trunk in the dining room, "I brought a few doses of it. Do you know how to administer it?"

"Can't say that I do," Oliver shrugged, "I don't normally play around with…things like these."

"Hold her arm down," Xiao ordered. Hold the fucking phone. Hold whose arm down?!

"What is it?" Oliver wondered, grabbing my arm.

"This is three milligrams of Lorazepam Intensol," Xiao explained, pulling out a needle. Oh, hell no. That's not going in me, "It's usually to treat anxiety, but it'll knock her out pretty well, too. Give her too little, it won't work. Give her too much and she'll OD. But because I'm so nice, I got a few syringes of it already prepared. If and/or when she starts to develop an immunity to it, do not, and I can't stress this enough, do NOT give her more than one syringe of this at a time. When that stops working, come see me again and you can move up to the big boy stuff."

"And what's that?"

"Midazolam," Xiao went on, "Those are fun. But a side effect of midazolam? It can cause amnesia, memory loss, things of the like. That's one that we use in as low of a dosage as we can. I mean, unless you want to squeegee her memory clean."

"Well," Oliver thought it over, "A clean slate with her wouldn't exactly be a bad thing, would it?"

"Excuse me?" I squeaked, slipping out of Oliver's grasp, "No! No, no, no!"

"Viktor," Oliver asked, "Could you hold her down please?"

Shit…I wish my fighting skills were a little better than a limp noodle. Viktor grabbed a hold of me, forcing my arm down onto the coffee table. Flavio winced a bit, "Look, Oliver, I'm all for experimenting with chemicals every now and then, but is this really necessary? She already said she was tired. Couldn't you just put her to bed?"

"I wouldn't want her faking it," Oliver saw through me. In all honesty, I really was tired. Whatever Oliver has been giving me is kicking my ass to the moon and I wanted to go to bed. But if I'm going to be asleep, it looks like I'm going to stay that way until tomorrow morning. At least I hope that's all it'll do, "I really don't want to have to sleep you, darling, but soon enough, we can build some more trust between us and we won't have to do this anymore."

My head got even heavier. Along with the rest of my body. Lorazepam Intensol, huh? I'm glad Xiao gave names. Maybe I have more allies amongst the masses than I think I do.