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Laurel isn’t entirely sure what she had expected when Oliver asked for her to stop by, even with the fact he had sounded like he had a bunch of different emotions he was dealing with right then. Someone was hurt? Maybe. The thought of her getting dumped flitted across her mind too. Which is absolutely ridiculous of course, and the thought was shoved away as quickly as it appeared. So plenty of possibilities either way though. However, she definitely was not expecting to see a little girl, around Thea’s age, hiding behind her boyfriend and clinging to his leg almost.
“Laurel hey!” Oliver says, that fond, adoring smile appearing on his face as soon as she walks in. She loves seeing it so much. She can’t help but smile back. There is something in his eyes though, something she can’t quite place. But it seems off somehow. Which, given how he sounded earlier, makes sense.
“Who’s your adorable little friend?” She asks after walking over to give him a quick kiss. Oliver glances down at the little girl with a small smile and a hand on the girl comfortingly.
“This is Emiko. Emiko, this is my girlfriend Laurel, wanna say hi?” He says, and the girl shakes her head but does at least offer a tiny wave.
“It’s nice to meet you Emiko!” She hums softly, bending down to be closer to eye level with the girl.
Before anything more can be said, mainly any explanation as to why the girl is currently here, the telltale sound of the other little Queen can be heard sprinting down the hall upstairs, yelling. “LAURELLLLL!”
Laurel starts laughing loudly and Oliver can’t help but join in as Thea runs down the stairs and launches herself at her. She nearly knocks Laurel over when she does, and the girl barely manages to catch Thea and stay upright.
“Hi Laurel!!” She chirps happily.
“Well hi Thea! You have so much energy today!” Laurel laughs, swinging the girl playfully.
“Yes!! I have a new sister, this is the best day everrrr!” She cheers, and Laurel’s eyebrows shoot up immediately as she looks at Oliver. He nods and mouths he’ll explain it in a bit. Well that explains Emiko a little at least.
“That’s super cool Thea! I’m sure you’ll be the best big sister ever!”
“Maybe! But probably only second best. Sara says that you are the best big sister ever. And you are!” She says in full sincerity, and Laurel’s heart soars once again. She can’t help but wrap the girl in another quick hug.
“Thanks speedy!” She smiles and lets the girl out of her embrace. Thea turns back to Oliver.
“Can I go play with Emiko nowwwww?”
“Sure Thea, as long as Emiko wants to,” Oliver chuckles and looks down at the dark haired girl who’s been quietly watching it all. She nervously nods after a moment and Thea shrieks happily and grabs the girl's hand, already chattering away about plenty of things.
Thea and a wide-eyed Emiko run off, or more accurately Thea practically dragging the other girl up to her room. Laurel can’t help but laugh, they’re so adorable. And Thea seems absolutely over the moon to have Emiko here now too.
“Don’t overwhelm Emiko too much Thea! We’ll come up to hang out with you guys in a bit!” Oliver calls before letting out a heavy sigh, and his shoulders sag a bit. Laurel looks back to him, and now she sees how he’s really feeling. He looks tired, stressed, just drained a bit maybe.
“Ollie?” She asks, slipping her left hand into his right, giving a reassuring squeeze. She’s definitely curious about what’s going on, and why Oliver suddenly has another little sister. But she’s not going to push him, clearly he brought her here to talk about it after all.
“So Dad had an affair,” He says simply, wasting little time in getting into it. Laurel isn’t entirely surprised by what he says either. She loves this family but there’s certainly flaws, but who doesn’t have some kinds of flaws anyways. Oliver has mentioned things before, mistakes and issues from his parents and so on. So yeah, she’s not incredibly surprised. Also, the sound of the other two Queens arguing is definitely something she’s been hearing from somewhere else in the mansion off and on since she got here.
“So Emiko is your half sister then yeah?” She questions and he nods. She’s just about to ask her next question, mainly what, or more so how, the girl has now ended up here at the Queen mansion when he speaks again.
“And apparently…her mom was murdered.” Oh. Oh shit. So that’s why Robert brought the girl here. God. Laurel’s heart can’t help but ache for Emiko at the information. She’s so young too. The one sliver of positivity about this situation though is the fact she knows that even with how this all came about, including the girl’s existence itself, that she’ll be well taken care of and loved here. Thea clearly loves her, as does Oliver given the way she was clinging to him earlier. And she really doubts the elder Queens are arguing about her living here, more so about the reason she exists. Which is definitely understandable, even if it’s not exactly helping things calm down for anyone just yet.
Oliver talks about it a bit more, and Laurel listens attentively. She has been periodically squeezing his hand while they’ve been talking, now pressing her lips to the back of it too. She knows this is a lot for him to deal with, and so suddenly too. But he’s a wonderful person and sibling, which is why she knows it’ll be okay, and why Emiko will be okay too. Plus Laurel will be here as well, so between the pair of them and Robert and Moira it should be okay in the end.
She lifts a hand to his face to make him look at her, steely determination in her eyes mixing with fondness. “Hey. It’ll be okay Ollie. It’ll work out, Emiko will be alright. You guys will be too. And if what I already saw is anything to go by, she definitely feels safe around you already.”
He half smiles at her words, nodding a little. Knowing him he doesn’t entirely believe it, but hopefully he’ll listen to her and let it be proven. Either way, for right now he really shouldn’t stress himself out about it so much. There’s nothing he can do really in regards to where they are at now, plus it isn’t his fault in the first place.
“So…wanna head upstairs and make sure Thea hasn’t given Emiko a heart attack yet?” She laughs, changing gears to help him stop dwelling on it so much.
“Yeahhh that’s probably a good idea. Plus I’m sure Speedy is dying to rope us into playing something with them.”
“Oh absolutely.” She nods, smiling as the pair make their way upstairs, hands still intertwined.