Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow.

A/N: So, this story has kinda been in the works for a few days, thanks to a conversation between Ray_Writes and Lyco in the Lauriver Discord about an idea they were both working on, where Diggle tells Laurel the truth after Deadshot escapes. This is my own take on the idea.

Dinah Laurel Lance was still struggling to understand the way Tommy had broken up with her after the Rasmus case when there was a knock on her door. Puzzled, because she certainly wasn't expecting any visitors unless Tommy had come to his senses, Laurel got up from her couch and went to her door, swinging it open. Her eyebrows rose. "Mr. Diggle?" she asked cautiously. "What are you doing here?"

John Diggle stared at her impassively for a long moment, making her a little more nervous than she would care to admit before he spoke. "I don't know what it is about you that drives him to do the things he does," Diggle said, "but if you're going to reap all of the benefits of having his help, it's time you took the risks, too."

"I'm sorry?" Laurel asked quizzically.

"Oliver Queen is the Hood," Diggle told her, and Laurel jerked in place, her mind rebelling against this information even as memories that didn't quite make sense slid into place. "I know what you're thinking. He was at the mansion when the Hood was spotted across town. That's because he talked me into joining his crusade and I wore the hood to throw the cops off his trail. I thought he was doing what was best for this city. But it's not. He throws everything away when he thinks that you need him, betrays his word when you're in danger. The Hood isn't about fighting crime and corruption in Starling City. It's about his ego, and his love for you."

"Mr. Diggle, you can't just come here, tell me something that sounds crazy, and expect me to believe it without proof," Laurel said, getting ready to close the door and making a note to tell Oliver his bodyguard was making unfounded accusations and seemed to have snapped under the pressure of the night.

"1-0-0-5-1-2," Diggle said. Laurel blinked, confused. "It's the code to the basement level of Verdant. You'll find your proof there."

"I've already been to the basement level, Mr. Diggle," Laurel said. "It was being used as a stock room."

"That's what Merlyn made it look like, to protect Oliver, even though he didn't like what he's doing," Diggle replied.

For the first time, something Diggle said clicked together with things in Laurel's memories. Oliver and Tommy had been tense with one another lately, Tommy had been so secretive, and now he had broken up with her out of nowhere. All of this had started… when the Hood had talked Tommy into doing a blood transfusion to save his father. Tommy wouldn't have trusted a random vigilante; but his best friend? "You're telling me that one of my best friends, my ex-boyfriend, is the city's vigilante, and that my other best friend, who just broke up with me, has known for weeks?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, Miss Lance," Diggle said. "And I'm not surprised Merlyn broke up with you. He must have realized the same thing I did earlier tonight. You will always come first in Oliver's world. When push came to shove in catching my brother's killer and taking down Rasmus for you, he chose you. You want your answers? Go to Verdant. See the truth for yourself." With that said, Diggle turned and left Laurel standing in the doorway of her apartment, trying to assimilate what she had been just told.

Slowly, Laurel closed the door and returned to her couch, her mind swirling with confused thoughts. Ollie was the Hood? Diggle had pretended to be the Hood to protect Ollie all those months ago? Laurel thought of the prison, where the Hood had savagely beat Ankov when he was strangling her. The savagery the Hood had displayed had made no sense for a complete stranger, but for one of her best friends, a man who, based on the kiss they had shared not long afterward and Diggle's words tonight, clearly still loved her despite knowing they could never be together, as he had said in his own words? Yes, the savagery made sense. It also made sense why the Hood would choose her out of all of the lawyers in Starling City, and all those who worked at C.N.R.I., to approach about the Declan case.

It had been her request for aid that had brought the Hood back after he disappeared following the Christmas hostage situation. Laurel remembered how Oliver had been hospitalized for a motorcycle accident. Whoever had taken the hostages must have beaten him pretty badly for him to be hospitalized. That must've been why he had stopped. The Hood had come to her aid again and again, even after they stopped communicating, and it had always puzzled her why he seemed so dedicated to helping her. But now it all made sense. Oliver was the Hood. Laurel didn't need to go to Verdant and intrude on Oliver's sanctum. She would keep his secret because she believed in what he was doing. But she had too much she was already dealing with, such as finding out the real reason that Tommy had left.

*DC*

Despite herself, Laurel found herself drinking a cup of really bad coffee at Verdant the next morning. She heard the doo leading to the back, to where Oliver's apparent lair was located, open up. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world…" Oliver said with a smile on his face as he came out and moved behind the bar, "she walks into mine."

"This coffee's terrible, Oliver," Laurel said, wondering if she should tell him that she knew.

"That's what you get for ordering coffee at a bar," Oliver teased, and despite herself, Laurel's lips quirked up into something resembling a grin before remembering what had driven her here in the first place. The smile faded and she looked down. "You look tired," Oliver said. "Too much work?"

"Too much crying," Laurel admitted. "Tommy broke up with me."

"What happened?" Oliver asked.

"I have no idea," Laurel said, and it was true; she still had no idea why Tommy had broken up with her. The only thing she could think of was that he didn't want to keep lying to her about the secret about their best friend's life. "Things were good. They were… great, and then suddenly he's packing up his things and telling me that it's over." Laurel noticed Oliver look surprised, thoughtful, and a bit hopeful before he buried all of those emotions. "Did he say anything to you?" Laurel asked Oliver, just in case there was something, anything that might give her a clue as to what was going on.

"No," Oliver said. "Tommy and I haven't talked very much since he quit. But he'll come around," Oliver added comfortingly. "It's probably just cold feet."

Laurel glanced at her ex-boyfriend, feeling something stir inside of her that she hadn't even let out since that moment they kissed the night of his 'prison party'. She ruthlessly squashed it down; she shouldn't be thinking of things like that when she just barely broke up with Tommy. "Like it was with you?" she asked. "Oliver, you don't sleep with your girlfriend's sister unless you're looking to blow the relationship up."

Oliver hesitated, as if he wanted to say something else, then said, "If you still want to be with Tommy, do what we should have done." Laurel straightened, looking at him questioningly. "Talk to each other and be honest." Laurel considered his words, and not just regarding her relationship with Tommy. Should she come clean, tell Oliver that she knew he was the Hood? Before she could make a decision, the door leading into the room from the back hallway opened again and a blonde woman in glasses appeared.

"Oliver, I need to show you what-" the woman began, stopping when she saw Oliver wasn't alone. "I just totally walked in on a thing, didn't I?"

"I'm sorry, uh, who are you?" Laurel asked, in part because she doubted that this was a fling if Oliver was still so hung up on her as Diggle claimed.

"Nobody," the woman said. "I mean, I'm not nobody. I'm someone, obviously. And so are you. You're Laurel, right? That Laurel. Gorgeous Laurel."

"This is Felicity," Oliver told Laurel, cutting off Felicity before she could babble even more and make things even more awkward by exposing the fact he still had feelings for Laurel, feelings he could never act on so long as his mission was in play. "She's setting up my Internet-"

"Router," Felicity jumped in. "And I need to show Oliver something very important related to it."

"I'll let you go, then," Laurel said calmly. "Thank you for the coffee and the advice." She slid off of the bar stool, heading for the door while musing that if that conversation had happened without Diggle telling her about Oliver, she would have probably thought Felicity was his latest bimbo with that awkward, stumbling excuse she had given to get him alone. As it was, it was obvious the younger woman was a tech whiz, and the Hood had to be getting tech support from somewhere.

Now, it was time to follow through on the advice Oliver had given her. It was time to find Tommy and talk to him.

*DC*

Laurel got off the elevator and moved into the office, seeing two assistants walking away from Tommy, who was clad in a business suit. "Wow, you really look like your father," Laurel told him. "I never thought so before, but just now, I saw him in you."

"What are you doing here?" Tommy asked shortly.

"We need to talk," Laurel said plainly.

"I've said everything I have to say," Tommy said.

"Well, I haven't," Laurel said. "Tommy, I love you, and I think that you still love me so whatever problems that you think that we have, I know that if we face them together-"

"You don't understand," Tommy said.

"Then help me understand," Laurel begged him. "If our relationship is gonna end, at least let it end with honesty."

"Okay, Laurel," Tommy said, circling around the conference he had been sitting at, so they were barely a foot apart. "Honestly? You belong with Oliver."

"Is this because he's still in love with me, or because he's the Hood?" Laurel asked, and Tommy reeled back in shock. "Mr. Diggle came to me last night. He told me that Oliver chose to help me over him because he still loves me, and he told me how to confirm what he was telling me. But I didn't need it, because everything I've found odd about the Hood slipped into place when I thought about it."

"Yes," Tommy said. "It's because he's the Hood. It's because I knew, if you knew who he really was, what he's become, you would choose him, because he is everything you could ever want. He does exactly what you do, he throws himself into danger for strangers just like you have. He is there for you every single time you need it, as himself and as the Hood."

"Do you really think so little of me, that you think I would throw away what we had because I found out Oliver was the Hood?" Laurel asked, eyes watering. Tommy looked uncomfortable at the sight. "Tommy, despite my reluctance, I gave us a chance at something more than just hooking up when we needed to blow off some steam. Maybe if that had been all we were doing, and I discovered this, it would be the case, but it's not. We had something, Tommy, and if you honestly think I would throw away what we had because my ex-boyfriend is Robin Hood, then I guess we really didn't know each other as well as I thought. I would never have thrown away what we had, and I never would have thought that you believed me to be so shallow." Laurel took a deep, shuddering breath. "We've been in each other's lives a long time, Tommy, and-"

"Yes, we have been in each other's lives a long time," Tommy said. "Ever since you moved to Starling City with your family, you've been a part of mine and Ollie's lives, and the takeaway from all of that, Laurel, is that you and he are drawn together likes moths to the flame. Don't try to tell me that there aren't times when you have thought about him in that way. I've seen the look you get sometimes when you hear him being discussed, the way you light up when he's around. You may not want to recognize it out of a sense of loyalty to what we had, but Oliver's not the only one whose still in love. You're still in love with him, too, and I'm done trying to fight the inevitable. So, there's the honesty you were looking for, Laurel. You belong with Oliver, because the two of you are the same." Tommy closed up his briefcase and left her standing in the conference room.

*DC*

It was still the middle of the afternoon, and Oliver was at the Queen Mansion when there was a light tapping that was oh-so-familiar on his bedroom door. "It's open, Laurel," he said, closing down the search windows he had up and standing as Laurel entered the bedroom. "Twice in one day," Oliver said. "I have to admit, that's not what I expected. I figured you would have patched things up with Tommy by now."

"I don't think there's any patching things up between us, Ollie," Laurel said. "I did talk to Tommy. But this is a lot bigger than I thought. It's not cold feet. It's us."

"Us?" Oliver asked with raised eyebrows.

"Ollie, Mr. Diggle came to me last night," Laurel said, and Oliver couldn't help the way he stiffened. "He told me about you. About what you really do when everyone thinks you're partying your way through the night. He told me that when it came to a choice between him and me, you chose me, chose to go after Rasmus for me. He told me how to get into the basement at Verdant. But I didn't do that, Ollie, because I didn't need to. Everything you've done for me over the past six months, everything I found odd, every time I questioned, 'Why me?' It all became clear with what Mr. Diggle told me. I don't know why he told me, because I don't think it was to give me that clarity. He was angry when he told me, so it wasn't for my benefit, or for yours." Oliver remained silent. "Please, say something."

"What does this have to do with you and Tommy?" Oliver asked.

"Tommy says you're still in love with me, and he pointed out things I've done the past six months that tell him that-that I'm still in love with you," Laurel said. "He also said we're the same, and I can see what he means. We're both drawn to help the people of the city. We're both willing to put ourselves in danger to do that. And… we're both still drawn to each other. The fact we've shared so many lunch and coffee dates is proof enough of that. We can say it was just as friends, that I was with Tommy and nothing was happening between us… but can you honestly say you weren't hoping, even in secret, that things would change?"

Oliver was silent for several long moments. "It doesn't matter what I want, Laurel," he said finally. "Because of what I do, because of who I am, I can never be with you. That's why I encouraged Tommy to do right by you. I'm sorry that he can't seem to understand that there's no chance."

"Why is there no chance?" Laurel asked. "Because you're the vigilante? Ollie, I don't care about that. I told you; everything you've done for me as the Hood makes sense now. Coming to me about the Declan case, what you did at the prison, answering my calls, coming to protect me and Taylor from that hitman… these aren't the actions of a stranger. These are the actions of someone who cares about me, and cares about me a lot. Maybe I'm finally willing to admit that I still care about you, too."

"So, what now?" Oliver asked. "We just find the balance between our busy lives to do normal couple stuff?"

"I don't know," Laurel said. "I-I still need to come to terms with all of this, Oliver. But I wanted you to know that I knew, and that I accept who you are, all of you. You have helped so many people, not just me, in the past six months. You're not just a vigilante to me, Ollie. You're a hero."

"I'm no hero," Oliver said.

"No?" Laurel said. "A hero throws themselves into the line of fire, knowing they'll be in danger, but doing so because it's the right thing to do. That is exactly what you've been doing for six months, Ollie."

"Sounds to me like I'm not the only one in this room who fits that definition," Oliver said, giving her a small smile. "You might not do what I do, but you throw yourself into danger to help others, too."

"Then I guess we'll have to learn how to be heroes together," Laurel said softly. "I still have to deal with all of this, but I want this, Ollie. I want us."

"I want us, too," Oliver finally admitted.

"Then we'll find a way to make it work," Laurel said. "I should go. I'm sure you have plans for this evening."

"You could say that," Oliver said grimly, thinking of the plan to have Felicity infiltrate the underground casino; he wasn't particularly happy about it, but it was the only chance to get at Alonzo.

There was no big moment where the two declared their undying love for one another, or where they shared a passionate, all-consuming kiss, but from that moment on, Oliver Queen and Laurel Lance were partners in every way that counted. Oliver would refuse to let Felicity Smoak convince him to bring John Diggle back into the fold, since Diggle's angry revelation to Laurel could have backfired had it been to Lance, and eventually, after Walter was rescued, Felicity would leave Oliver's service as well, having done what she came to do, save Walter. Oliver was forced to rely on his wits when he faced the Dark Archer again, in a duel that would decide the fate of the Glades, during which A.R.G.U.S. searched for the earthquake device and found two of them, transporting them out of the city before they could unleash the Dark Archer's horrific vengeance.

Oliver would begin training Laurel to give her more skills to defend herself with, knowing she was going to keep doing what she did because that was who she was, who they both were. Eventually, Laurel joined Oliver in vigilantism, calling herself Black Canary in memory of her sister after Oliver told her the truth about how Sara died. Their partnership would continue to grow throughout the campaign of terror Slade Wilson unleashed on their city and every other adversary that rose up to challenge Oliver and to take advantage of the crime and corruption Malcolm Merlyn had sown into the D.N.A. of Star(ling) City. Eventually, when the city was on the mend, the two would finally marry, having proven they could face any threat so long as they had each other.

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed the one-shot.

For those wondering, in this AU, Sara didn't survive the "Amazo". Slade crushed her throat before throwing her into the whirlpool.