Rose couldn’t help thinking it was about fucking time for that bar Thea had talked about opening on the 11th became a reality, mostly because it would be nice if she only had to walk up a flight of stairs to get a damn drink or blow off some steam. She was feeling restless tonight, which she partly blamed on the anticipation of a new mission, and Martian’s Merit seemed to be a hell of a lot farther than she wanted to travel, but that’s where she was headed anyway.
Walking didn’t bother Rose much. She had the constitution to make it farther than most people would think just looking at her and it gave her time to think, to clear her head. Every time someone familiar to someone else was woken up, she had to swallow back her jealousy. How long had she wished the next pod would hold Dimitri or Lissa? Her parents? Hell, even Christian, much as he was a pain in the ass, probably would have been a welcome sight. She’d started wearing the engagement ring Dimitri had given her around her neck after the first year and a half, but it’s weight was still a frequent reminder of the life she’d left behind. Now, five and a half years later, she wondered if he’d even recognize her. She was still Rose Hathaway, but she’d been in this world for so long that she knew she’d changed.
Slowly, she’d stopped expecting the next pod to be someone she knew. They hadn’t opened that many in the beginning, anyway. When they’d started opening a larger number at once, she’d been on Mars, but she’d tried to keep tabs on who was being woken up when she could, her hope that one could hold a familiar face renewed, at least for a few months. Pod after pod was opened to reveal someone from some other world and by now? Well, Rose figured she was just meant to be alone here. Might as well accept it and appreciate the friends new she’d made.
Even lost in thought, Rose’s senses were on high alert. She heard the footstep just before feeling a hand on her arm and in an instant she’d spun around, lashing out with her fist without thinking. Sneaking up on a dhampir in the dark was never a good idea.
Oliver had no idea where he was going. He had visited New York in the past and was no stranger to large cities but this wasn’t the city he remembered and he was trying to find a landmark so that he could find his way back to the building he’d come from. He had cut down an alley, seeing a busier street on the other side, thinking that might be a good place to start and was looking around him, trying to memorize landmarks and not looking where he was going. Normally Oliver was always on guard, he never let himself get distracted, but at the moment he was still reeling from space travel, time changes, everything that happened today and he didn’t notice the woman in front of him until he stumbled on a piece of broken pavement and bumped into her.
Rose’s reflexes were quick, but not quick enough to stop her from punching the guy in the face even if she’d realized immediately that he wasn’t trying to abduct her or attack her or whatever. It was already dark out, she’d felt a stranger way too fucking close for comfort and she’d reacted.
Maybe, maybe she’d feel bad about that later. Right now, though, she was running on adrenaline and instinct as her first connected with the man’s face.
“Fuck!” he yelled as she hit him. Instinct nearly took over and he almost hit her back but he didn’t. Obviously he’d surprised her and she was a woman in an alley so he could have been some kind of psycho for all she knew. She definitely knew how to throw a punch though. “What the hell?”
He was really lucky the worst she’d done was punch him. And that she hadn’t hit harder. “What the hell?” she said at about the same time. Even if she didn’t hit him again or follow the punch up with a good kick, she was still in a defensive position. Her glare intensified when she realized he’d asked the same question. “Me? I’m not the one trying to grope women in dark alleys!”
“Grope women…..are you nuts,” he cried. “I was just minding my own business, cutting through here and okay so I wasn’t paying attention but that’s my fault.” Oliver couldn’t believe this and he shook his head. “All I did was bump into you, I wasn’t trying to grope you or grab you or anything else you might have thought I was doing.” He rubbed his jaw. “That fucking hurt.”
Rose rolled her eyes at his ranting. “You bump into a woman in a dark alley and you think you’re the victim? Wow, you’re a real prince,” she bit back. “You don’t want to get punched, don’t creep around alleys at night, watch where the fuck you’re going and keep your hands to yourself.” If he was trying to convince her she should feel bad about hitting him, he was doing a really shitty job of that. In fact, he was kind of making her want to punch him again just for being a dick.
“I apologize,” he said. “I think you startled me as much as I startled you. I should have been watching and for the record, I don’t stalk women in alleys.” Which wasn’t entirely true but when he did they were criminals and he had a reason to be following them. He wasn’t about to say that however. “I just got here today and I don’t know my way around. I was actually trying to get back to the apartment building that I’m staying in. I’m Oliver Queen by the way.” He might as well introduce himself, maybe she’d be less inclined to hit him again if she knew his name.
Rose’s eyes widened when she heard that name and there might have been an internal “holy shit” moment that she was careful not to articulate because Thea was going to flip out as it was. After all this time, her fucking brother was here. And Rose had just punched him. Ooops.
“Rose Hathaway,” she said, holding out her hand in a much more friendly way. Sighing to herself, she figured she wasn’t getting that drink tonight. “I can show you the way back.”
Oliver took her hand but kept an eye on her just in case she might decide to punch him again. “Thanks, but if you can just point me in the right direction, I can get there. I mean you were obviously heading somewhere, I don’t want to keep you.” He meant the words but there was also a part of him that wouldn’t mind if she showed him the way because he was very curious about her. Especially how she had learned to fight like that.
“And risk you getting lost again?” Rose shook her head. As much as she’d wanted a drink and the chance to blow off some steam, she couldn’t let some clueless newbie wander the streets of New York by himself. “Come on, it’s this way,” she said before turning to walk in the opposite direction than the one she’d been heading just moments ago.
“So, you just got here and you thought going out in the dark was a really good idea?” she teased him as they walked.
Oliver laughed. “Going out in the dark is kind of my thing, I guess you’d say. I did the crime fighting thing so being out at night in strange places doesn’t bother me. I figure I can handle anything that show up except apparently you,” he looked over at her. “I’ll remember not to come up on you without telling you I’m there next time. I really am sorry that I wasn’t paying attention. I let my guard down and I don’t usually do that in a new place but this has been a really weird few days.”
“Crime fighting, huh?” Rose teased as if she didn’t know exactly who he was. She’s been friends with his sister for more than 5 years, but given that Thea didn’t want anyone to know her real last name, she wasn’t about to say anything that might give her away. “What, are you like a superhero or something?”
“That’s what some people say but no I don’t think so. To me a superhero would need powers and i don’t have any. I’m good at shooting a bow and arrow, I’ve got a lot of skills in the martial arts but it’s not like I have super strength or I can fly or anything. The cops just think I’m a pain in their ass.’
Rose grinned at the pain in the ass comment and shrugged. “I don’t think powers are what make a hero,” she said. “It’s what you do with what you have. If you fight for others and for what’s right, that’s the part that matters.” Not that she was the expert on superheroes or anything. She wasn’t exactly a comic book nerd.
“That’s a good way to look at it,” he said thoughtfully. “I try to do the right thing but sometimes I don’t always do it the way people think I should.” Most of the time, he didn’t do things the way others thought he should but he couldn’t help being impulsive, he always had been and probably always would be.
“Where’s the fun in doing what people think you should do?” Rose asked with a smirk. She might have grown up a lot, but she still liked to defy expectations whenever possible. Rose had always had a rebellious nature and she’d been in more than her fair share of trouble.
He was enjoying the conversation even if it had started with a punch. “I’m heading back now that you’ve pointed the way. I’ll let you go on to your plans for the evening.” Oliver found himself wondering if she had a boyfriend and then pushed the thought away. Good lord, some habits never died. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around,” he said.
“I’m sure you will,” Rose agreed, with a quick nod as they parted ways.