Zero Hour - Sunday, June 25, 2000, 6:35 PM ------------------------------------------ The restaurant is named 'The Belfry' and for apt reasons. It is annexed to the remnants of an old Gothic church which was long ago abandoned. A level below is the bar, 'The Choir'. The main level seats Gotham tourists, gawking up in awe at 'The Church'. It is a five star dining facility. Not many stars make it to the top. A lone woman sits in moonlight shadow of a stained glass window, the candle on her table throwing hear features into soft beauty. The blonde picks up her wineglass, examines it, then sips carefully. Her eyes flick to study the window. A moment later an older blond man is escorted to the table by the head waiter. He is wearing a simple dark blue suit with matching tie and looks very uncomfortable in it. He has several days worth a beard growth, but it somehow makes him look more rugged than sloppy. His face is just a little bit thinner than the last time you saw him; he approaches you with the heavy steps of a condemned man approaching the gallows. Finally, when he reaches the table, he looks down at you and smiles weekly. "Hell of a place for a guy to get his last meal, pretty bird." Blue eyes slant up at you as Dinah's mouth twitches. Finally she tips back her head and laughs, shaking her tousled mane of blonde curls. "Oh Jesus Ollie. Quit acting as if it's last rites. I think we're both beyond that now." With one brow sleekly raised in high amusement, she peers over her wineglass as she takes a sip. "Okay. I got your message. You're back. That's why you're here. Is there anything else I should be concerned about? CIA spooks? Fyers...?" Oliver Queen shakes his head as he takes a seat. "That's all cleared up... and I've had the good fortune to not have seen Fyers in longer than I've seen you..." he says with a wry grin. "I dunno... I figured I had more to worry about from you than the other way around... how did you find out I was in town, anyway?" Canary levels a look at you, a dimple pressing at the right corner of her mouth. "Oliver. Please. You...really don't think you're SLY after all these years?" Just then the waiter comes, asking for an order. Canary folds her menu. "I'd like the fettuccini with vegetables, without any sauce, and lemon and vinegar--on the side. I'd also like a dry baked potato, no butter, no nothing." She nods to her companion. The waiter tries not to sneer as he pencils the order down. He then peers at Oliver with a squint. Oliver Queen nods at the waiter as he picks up the menu and fumbles it for a second. "Hmm.. Cajun chicken salad with Italian dressing" he says eventually. It seems the waiter finally approves at something. He grins broadly under his mustache at Ollie, then nods somewhat stiffly to Dinah and skulks away. Dinah Lance picks up her glass. Her eyes are amused, detached, and hold just a hint of lethalness. "So you thought you'd just hang out in Gotham and I wouldn't notice?" Oliver Queen hmms. "I don't know.. I figured that a nameless drifter living in an alley wouldn't get much notice... especially in Gotham. Do you know how much the homeless population of this city has increased in the last year alone?" He grins a bit. "Besides... you can't blame a guy for trying." "Yes. I do." Dinah leans back in her chair. "I also know most of their names and why they prefer pavement to goose down. But that doesn't explain you." Her fingers twirl her winestem. "Has HE noticed you yet?" Oliver Queen grins. "You and I both know that he more than likely has. He knows EVERYTHING, remember... and if you found out, I can guarantee that he knows I'm here... I've already run into Huntress twice and Catwoman once... I'm just wondering why he hasn't bothered to come and tell me to get the hell out of Dodge City, yet." The cool blonde pauses, and looks away, then slants a grin back at you. "Maybe he was just graciously waiting for me to take first dibs." She sets her glass down and leans forward, spine straight, her toned arms folding as she looks at you earnestly. "Ollie? Get the hell out of Gotham." Oliver Queen doesn't even blink. "You couldn't have waited until dinner gets here?", a smug smirk sliding over his lips as he too leans forward. "Aren't you even going to bother asking why I came back?" Dinah Lance gazes at you with cerulean chips of ice reflected in her eyes. "No." Oliver Queen raises an eyebrow. "So much for any hope of a polite dinner. Must have been trying to get me to lower my guard and then... WACK!" he thinks to himself. "So why invite me here out to dinner then? Make sure there's a crowd around and that you're in something tight and restrictive so you don't kill me?" He keeps up the smile, but it's obvious that's a half joke at best. Dinah Lance looks at you with complete honesty, her chin raised. "No, Ollie. It's not about that at all. I thought this was neutral ground where we could both meet each other on equal terms of self-respect." Her chin lifts a notch higher. "I'm not the co-dependant you once knew. But this is also not Seattle. I've left those days behind." Oliver Queen nods. "Yeah... we've both left that behind us. And neither of us wants to go back to that." he says as the smile fades. "You're right... let's just forget the cheap shots and try to just talk." You say "So. How are you, Dinah?" Dinah Lance looks at you directly. "I'm stronger, harder, meaner and faster than I've ever been in my life. I feel like I finally have a purpose. I'm independent and yet I have an incredible safety net, which include your sons." She looks at you with clarity. "There was a point that I searched for you, and then I mourned. And then I got over it. All in all, I'm doing pretty damn good." She's not rubbing it in. She says this with honesty, and yet with the gentleness she's famous for. And suddenly, the entire smiling, "isn't this nice" mask drops as Ollie sighs and nods. "Well, I'm very glad to hear that at least one of us has what we want..." he says calmly as he looks at you. "You look fantastic, Dinah." This finally breaks through the iceberg. Her cheeks flush a slight pink as she looks away, glancing at the window. "Thank you for the compliment, Ollie. I know you're supposed to say it, but it means something at least. I've worked hard to overcome my demons." For an exquisite second she looks back at you with that light of love shining in her eyes. Then the shutter snaps down and they fall flat. "They include you, though I will always be your friend and back-up." The waiter delivers the food discreetly, sensing touble, and slips away. Oliver Queen shakes his head. "Demon... glad to know I've moved up from Antichrist." he says somewhat likely. "And I didn't say that just because I'm supposed to... since when have you EVER known me to do anything I was supposed to do?" he says as his eyes close. "How are the boys doing, by the way?" Dinah Lance picks up her fok hesitantly, and then her face transforms into a genuine loving smile. "Oh, Connor's on sabbatical from teams meditating and withdrawing into his own flat, but it's just a phase. As for Roy? You know him. Breaking hearts from here to Metropolis. Last I heard he was dating that Wonder Girl he used to run around with in his teens, but that may be over now. And Lian? Oh--she's just ...BIG! Every time I see her she grows a foot!" Dinah's eyes widen with excitement as she looks at you then urges gently "Go visit. They all love you." She forks a bit of fettuccini in her mouth. Oliver Queen sighs. "I doubt it.. I've been a pretty lousy grandpa and an even worse father.... That's part of why I've come back here." he says lightly, as he opens his eyes. That's when you see it. His eyes are moistening up a bit and and all signs of that steel he shows as Green Arrow are gone. It's that same tender look in his eyes that he always got after you made love... whenever you went to the zoo... the first time he saw Lian. He sighs a bit and picks up his fork. "There are a lot of reasons why I disappeared and kept on hiding from you all... you know that, don't you?" Dinah Lance's breath catches for a moment, and then she looks down flustered, playing at her food. Moments pass. "No. I think we all understand and forgive it, but none of us can truly accept it. I would have thought differently for me. I'm used to it. But the other two? Especially Connor? It's a personal rejection. You have your work cut out with them." Oliver Queen sighs. "The other three... there's... well, I'm not sure where that stands..." he says as he looks into your eyes. "Dinah... I've been thinking and I think that after Hal saved me... something left me... unwell... I don't know how to explain it but... did you think I was acting... oddly the last times we met? After the plane?" Dinah Lance's jaw sets stubbornly as she looks away, staring hard at a pair of chalices. "No. I don't think you were acting odd at all. You were the same self-serving chauvinist selfish bastard I've always known you to be and then some. You kept asking for second chances? Third? Fourth? I kept throwing them like pearls..." She looks at you defiantly, her gaze bright but not spilling over. Just tough. "No more foreplay." Oliver Queen sighs. "Dinah... I think something happened to me... I had to get away one more time to figure out what it was... but... it's like I was dead Dinah... I felt dead... that was why I hid from everyone the first time. Everyone thought I was dead and I felt like I was too... I don't know why, but I did..." he sighs. "I came back after I started feeling alive again...." Dinah Lance looks at you, and for precious few moments she believes. Then the mercenary steps in. The voice of reason, often given by Oracle. "I don't doubt that, Oliver. I really don't. And if you've got that lifeblood back in you...whatever it was that you've kept losing since Panama--GOOD. Give them hell." She raises a hand to the waitstaff and casually places a few bills on the table. Then Dinah pins you with a direct stare. "I know for a fact Roy and I have re-created ourselves. Connor's come a long way too. Don't get me wrong: I'm happy you're alive..." She rises from the table, then leans over. "But this is your only warning. IF you stay in Gotham and IF you hurt either of them, I'll make whatever hell Fyers could deliver look like a tea party. Are you on my twenty babe?" Oliver Queen nods. "You read my mind... BABE. That was what I figured out..." he motions for you to sit back down. "Because of Panama... everything since then... I lost everything I ever really wanted..." he says. "And I've gotten a lot of it back since then... and then I lost parts of it bit by bit... but this is the last time I'm disappearing, Dinah... for better or worse, I'm not going anywhere anymore... I came back so that I can do everything I should have done a long time ago... but that wasn't why I disappeared this last time." Dinah Lance sinks back down reluctantly, brows furrowing and eyes flashing. "No? Let me guess. You had a pressing stone-raising in Wales? Bison-hunting in Africa?" Oliver Queen shakes his head and looks at you, eyes serious. "No... and as much as I can't believe I am the one saying this, could you PLEASE try and be serious for a minute?" Dinah Lance bites her tongue and folds her arms across her chest, sitting back in her chair. She simply stares at you. For long moments. "Yes. Can you?" Oliver Queen nods as he stares back at you. "Yes." he pauses. "I knew before I left that everyone was changing... I saw the change in you the very first time. Roy too. He's really growing up and he's a lot better father to Lian than I ever was on my best day." He closes his eyes and tries to avoid his gaze. "And I heard about Connor getting into the JLA for that short time..." Dinah Lance nods solemnly, saying in a soft voice "He holds his own and then some." Oliver Queen sighs as he looks down a bit. "As silly as it is, I saw how great things were without me around... and I was afraid that you and the rest of the world wouldn't want me back...." He sighs briefly and continues.. "Connor was an honest to God JLA member... Roy was better than he was in years..." He then looks up into your eyes. "And you were happy..." Dinah Lance looks at you with an unfathomable gaze, tilting her head and saying nothing, waiting for you to continue. Truthfully, she can't speak. But you couldn't tell. Dinah Lance lifts her chin and says huskily, "And now?" Oliver Queen sighs. "It's like John Wayne said in that one movie... a man can run and run for years until he realizes what he's running from is himself. Well, that's what I was doing... running away from what I should have been. Well, I'm done running Dinah... right now, whether you want me or not... I'm here and I'm going to try and do right by all of you... be the man I should have been years ago. He smiles a little sadly and reaches across the table taking your hand. "Dinah, I wouldn't dream of asking for another chance... you've already given up to much over me... but I'd like to ask.. if you could help me try and become as good as I want... as good as you all deserve...." As soon as you skin makes contact with hers, a surge of ...love, desire, comfort? Who can define precisely the touch of another? All those emotions race through the petite blonde's breast as her hand is enveloped in Oliver's larger more capable one. Dark brows tug up. "Ollie, I..." She closes her eyes and gathers her wits, resting her own free palm on top of yours. "I will always be your friend and supporter. If you ever need a place to stay, mi casa es su casa. I'm glad you're focused again." She looks at you. "Focused on Connor and Roy. Because right now I can't be the giving person you knew in Seattle. I'm different. And I'm really selfish. I can't allow you to hurt me again. I can't afford it." He leaves off the unspoken thought. "Then maybe once I've changed... maybe, just maybe we can afford it." Dinah Lance's lips tilt in a sad smile. "You've had all the space in the world. I've been caged too long not to know it's wrong to keep others captive." Her hand slips from yours as she rises, her eyes diamond bright with emotion. "But for the record you're wrong. I will always love you." The check paid for, the Bird of Prey swoops down to allow an indulgent kiss on your lips, eyes shut. Then she rises breathlessly and flits from the room. Obviously terrified. An astute man would judge she's afraid of her own emotion. After she leaves, the waiter takes the check and payment and looks at Ollie. "Would you like a mint? It's wafer thin..." Oliver Queen looks up at the waiter, half suddenly realizing where he is and looking at his untouched dinner. "Actually... no... can I get a doggie bag for this.. I'm really not feeling hungry all of a sudden." he says as he glances at the departing blond.