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Post by Tommy Merlyn on Apr 13, 2014 18:26:19 GMT
His wealth did come with a theater in his father's mansion, although he didn't really want to have to use it. He loved it here, loved the home, loved the wealth and everything inside, but he was better off here alone. By no means did he want Laurel around with his father. It was awkward enough that he didn't want her to have to deal with him too. He wished things were better between them, but wasn't going to be the one to try to fix things. But then again, he didn't even know what to "fix". It went so far beyond that.
He turned and mirrored her, putting his legs on the chair, beside hers. "Look, I didn't know." he told her. It was the truth, he really didn't know about Oliver and Sara, "I mean, I might have had some suspicions that Oliver was doing something else behind everyone's backs, but I would never have thought it would be Sara. I probably should have said something to you, but I never did. Maybe if I'd voiced my suspicions, Sara and Oliver could still be her..."
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Post by Laurel Lance on Apr 13, 2014 18:48:11 GMT
Hearing Tommy admit that he didn't know, Laurel found herself releasing a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding. For so long she had wondered if everyone else around her had known before the news of the sinking, if everyone was just whispering behind her back while she was strung along and believed all the lies. "Thanks Tommy." She meant it, it made her feel better to know that she wasn't the only person Oliver had kept secrets from.
"Hey, don't do that. They were going to make their choices whether you or I or anyone else said anything. I would never be angry at you for what happened, so I think you should let yourself off the hook too. It was tragic, but two people were in a place they shouldn't have been in, and it's not because of us. We can't be someone else's conscience for them. I just needed to know that I wasn't the only one who didn't see it coming."
"Tonight then, we should do dinner. Maybe order in some Chinese and argue about who got the best fortune, though I'm pretty good at being persuasive." Turning around completely, Laurel leaned back against Tommy so her back was against his chest. "I'd offer to cook, but whenever I do you suddenly don't feel very good and aren't hungry anymore." Laurel knew she wasn't the best cook in the world, though she was proud to say she hadn't poisoned anyone yet.
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Post by Tommy Merlyn on Apr 13, 2014 18:55:10 GMT
He was glad she wasn't angry. If their positions had been reversed, he wasn't sure how he would take the knowledge that she knew something had been going on, but not told him. He hadn't wanted to worry her, and at the time, he didn't have these feelings for her. They were friends, yes, but Oliver was his best friend, so he hadn't wanted to betray Oliver. He had never expected to care about Laurel like this, or to be worried about what Oliver had decided to spend his time doing.
"I still have to wonder what would have happened if I'd voiced my suspicions to you," he told her. She might have figured out it was Sara, might have just confronted Oliver, might have stopped him from going on the Gambit. Tommy had never thought he played a part in his friend's death, but now that he was thinking of this again, it felt like he might have held some responsibility.
"Ok, anyway, yeah. Let's get some Chinese, get a movie or something, and just put this behind us and move forward." He wasn't going to argue with her persuasion, although he had talked his way into the pants of girls before, so he figured he had some persuasion, but this was entirely different, so he figured he was out of his depth. He was also happy she realized her cooking wasn't the best. He didn't want to tell her that, so he was really happy she confirmed it herself. That might help in the long run.
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Post by Laurel Lance on Apr 13, 2014 19:12:04 GMT
"Nothing would have changed. I would have yelled at Oliver and he would have gotten mad and stormed onboard that ship to get away from me. And Sara would have done the exact same thing. She once made a big deal about me trying to give her life advice and not to do it." It wasn't Tommy's job to intervene, and Laurel wasn't sure it would have made her feel any better if he had. If he had told her, she would have probably been angry at him instead, because he was the one there and present. Being angry at someone who wasn't around, that was a lot harder.
Grabbing one of his hands, Laurel pulled his arm around her. "I'm sorry I brought it up, but maybe it did some good. With everything out in the open, we can put our energy into us now. That's what's really important now. I'll even let you pick the movie to celebrate tonight, because I'm very generous." Laurel closed her eyes as she smiled. "I'm glad you called today, even if you are trying to bring me over to your evil pool-lounging ways."
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Post by Tommy Merlyn on Apr 13, 2014 19:18:13 GMT
"I'm sorry, but this pool? No, this one is good. This isn't an evil pool, and it would be hurt to hear you say that. If it could hear. And the lounging is a reflection of the pool, so yeah..." Ok, bad attempt at joking. He circled his arm around her better, gaining some control instead of having her do it for him. He understood that she's have been angry with him, more or less. He never really had been, but he got the idea of how people would be.
"Ok, so I have an idea. Let's not bring up those certain past events anymore. It's better for both of us to just forget about it and stop talking about it. Or, well, not forget, but you know what I mean." It was going to be easier this way, of that there was no doubt, "I'll try to find us a good movie, then. I hope you'll be this generous more often," he smiled. He enjoyed just being able to plan with her, talk like this. Just this was new, and it was fantastic.
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Post by Laurel Lance on Apr 13, 2014 19:38:54 GMT
Laurel chuckled slightly and shook her head back and forth slightly. "Have you seen the DA's pool? He has a waterfall, that's a pretty good pool. Though I can't say I'm shocked I've never seen you at his annual Christmas party." Tommy wasn't exactly a favorite among the heroes of law that Laurel found herself surrounded by. Tommy wasn't a villain, more of a prankster with bad self control, but still ended up on the wrong side of the law more than a few times.
It was going to be an interesting conversation with her father, telling the detective about their relationship. Laurel and her father didn't speak much outside of work, they had forgotten how to be a family after the divorce and the alcohol. But he was still her father, and he was bound to find out, best it be from her.
"Another idea that isn't completely horrible. You know, this new thinking things through side of you is working pretty well. Keep it up Merlyn and you'll be running the company in a year." An only child, it was no secret or speculation that Tommy was directly in line to take over his father's company, his future was set. "Depends on the movie you pick. If you ruin this night with a football-themed movie or something, then you never get that kind of power again. It'll be all chick flicks and no action for the rest of time."
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Post by Tommy Merlyn on Apr 13, 2014 19:49:14 GMT
"To be fair, I would never have guessed the DA could have something like that. Seems out of the price range. I'd assume." He had no idea how much the DA actually made or anything, or how that money system there worked. Could there be some dirty politics involved? But he figured Laurel was smart enough to figure that out, and just assumed then that the money was legitimate and that the position did offer that much, or at least a decent amount of money.
Tommy hadn't thought of her father at all. He'd thought of his, and he didn't plan on telling Malcolm anything, really. He never bothered telling his father about his personal life. It was none of his business. This was no different. He hadn't really thought of any possible issues that this could present, he just looked to the bright side.
"I don't care about sports, just betting on them. Sometimes. Not anymore." It was illegal, so he decided not to tell her that he did it still. Sometimes. He wanted to make it sound like that was the past, and just to be safe, he was going to stop. There, technically not a lie. "I'll make sure not to ruin it with something you wouldn't like."
He purposely avoided talking about the family company. He didn't want to think about it, and when the time came, he figured he'd probably just appoint someone else to run the day to day operations while he just got to enjoy life. He loved his life, and he wasn't going to think about work, or succeeding his father. It was just something that bothered him to think about.
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Post by Laurel Lance on Apr 13, 2014 20:20:24 GMT
"He probably makes about $100,000 a year. I would consider that pretty good, but I suppose it's all relative." Laurel could only hope to make that kind of money one day. She wasn't a corporate lawyer making half a million dollars just to keep some CEO happy with business, she was at the bottom of the totem pole. Heck, she didn't even have her own office, she had a desk in a room full of other desks. Tommy however, was the complete opposite. He had never worked a job in his life and had access to an amount of money that Laurel couldn't even begin to imagine the sum of. His car alone was worth more than her salary...for six years at least.
Leaning against Tommy, everything felt good. Tommy had a way of making it seem like everything was going to be okay, no matter what happened. It was an optimism that Laurel greatly admired in him, wishing she could hold an attitude like that. Nothing ever seemed to bother Tommy, because everything always turned out okay. It wasn't quite the same way for Laurel, she had a lot of realistic truths she had to be conscious of, mostly the disappointment or the joy from the clients, based solely on how well she could do her job.
"I have an idea, how about we don't discuss anything less than legal activities. So I'm going to pretend you were referring to a poker game with your friends. That way if you ever need my help, I can actually help you without breaking the law." Tommy hardly needed Laurel's help, his bank account more than paid for the best attorneys in the city, but that didn't mean Laurel wouldn't at least try to help him out if he got himself into some legal trouble.
Dropping the subject of his father's company, Laurel wasn't surprised that Tommy didn't respond. It wasn't the first time that this subject had come up, with no answer. One day Laurel would confront him about it and what he was actually going to do with his future, but definitely not today. They had talked about enough unpleasant things today, enough that Laurel was likely to go home and sit, staring at that picture of Sara with her old canary.
"I suppose this means we have to get up."
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Post by Tommy Merlyn on Apr 13, 2014 20:31:48 GMT
"Probably," he said, "Doesn't mean I want to get up, though. I'm perfectly happy right here." He really was. This contact, her against him, it felt nice, intimate, and what he wanted. He wanted to be there with her, and this sort of contact was nice. He didn't care about something like this with other women, because he hadn't really felt anything with them. No, this was so much different.
"I don't know, $100,000 a year sounds high to me, for what is essentially a government employee. I mean, that's what the DA technically is, right?" He didn't know this sort of stuff, but that's what he figured. That made sense to him. That price range made more sense for private lawyers and people who worked in larger firms, or so he figured from some shows that he watched and stuff like that. DA just didn't make a lot of sense to him like that.
"Like I said, I used to. I don't anymore, so you should never have to worry about me getting into trouble with that." He did enjoy betting on games sometimes, but he really didn't feel the need to, not anymore. There was really no fun, just put down money on something, wait, either win money or lose money. He wasn't the sort who needed to win more, so whatever.
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Post by Laurel Lance on Apr 13, 2014 20:56:21 GMT
"I am too." Laurel could just hear Joanna's voice in her head, teasing her about this when Laurel went back to the office tomorrow and told her what had happened. She told Joanna everything, and Laurel's best friend had been urging Laurel to find herself a new relationship that wasn't at her desk. "There will also be more days like this, it's not the last."
Mentally, Laurel was telling herself to remember to remind Tommy not to discuss money at the next Christmas party. She wasn't interested in working with the DA, but she didn't want to burn any bridges either, which would certainly happen if Tommy seemed suspicious about the DA's home. "Well, yeah, but he's also the DA. He spends half his time with the mayor and the chief of police and everyone else, he's a public figure who works on the toughest cases because it puts him in the public. He gets paid to look good for Starling City, and to make the justice system look good. His ADAs beneath him, they don't get much, not even half of what he gets. he looks good to the public, and public opinion matters." The DA had to stay happy, which Laurel assumed the money helped with. An unhappy DA was a liability for the city, something the mayor would never dream of allowing. Overall, he was a good person, which was what Laurel cared about, even if he was attempting to poach her from CNRI.
"What should I have to worry about with you then?" Laurel wasn't being serious, she had never known Tommy to be a bad person. A bit misguided and blinded by wealth at times, but that was hardly bad. "I trust you. I just want you to know that you can come to me if you need help. If you come to the office, I can even be in full lawyer mode and not girlfriend mode."
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Post by Tommy Merlyn on Apr 13, 2014 22:54:29 GMT
"I'll make sure it's not the last. I'll do everything I can to keep you happy, and to keep things good between us. I would never want to burn any bridges with you, not by any means." He listened to her talk about the DA and nodded. He was smart enough not to bring up money if they went to a party or something. He had tact, and even if he was suspicious, he wouldn't voice it like that. Well, if he was drunk he might, but he'd keep himself under control.
"You have to wonder though, where is the money coming from? So what if he's friends with the police and mayor, that doesn't really answer where the money is coming from. Though I should probably drop it, it's far from important right now, and not something I can do anything about." If there was some level of corruption though, he would care, he just couldn't do anything about it, that was where the problem was. He'd have preferred the officials to be non-corrupt, but that might be asking for too much.
"You can be in whatever mode you want when," not if, "I come by. I'll work with either one. And if you ever need anything, you can come to me. That includes money." He knew she wouldn't use him for his money, but figured he should at least make an offer to be able to help her if she needed it.
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Post by Laurel Lance on Apr 14, 2014 0:58:13 GMT
"You're sweet Tommy, thank you. I don't want to jump too far ahead, but being around you has been good for me. You're always so certain things will work out, and carefree, it makes it hard to be pessimistic around you. I think we've been doing pretty well so far, and I promise to do everything in my power to keep my father from shooting you when I tell him. If he does though, I know a lawyer you could call." Stretching her legs out in front of her, Laurel relaxed against Tommy. It was just so easy suddenly, to sit there with him. It wouldn't last, no relationship was ever that easy, there would be tough moments, but for now it was just simple.
Looking up, Laurel craned her neck up to look at Tommy. "You make it sound corrupt. Part of his salary is all about how well he represents Starling and the values of the city. And being friends with people in power is helpful when it comes time to vote on raises. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's not exactly corrupt either. It's a shame we can't all get paid half a million dollars to be in-house council for large corporations, but that's the way it goes." Lowering her gaze to look in front of her again, Laurel tried not to think much of it. The people who did the most good just weren't the ones who got the money, that was it worked.
"Thanks Tommy, but I don't need your money. Lunch could be useful though." It seemed lately that all of Laurel's lunches were whatever she could find in the vending machines and stale coffee. The Adam Hunt case took up all her time and once she got engrossed in the injustice of the whole situation, she couldn't pull herself away to go get food. "It's been a really hard case the last few months. It'll be years of litigation before my clients even see a penny of what they deserve and it's not right."
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Post by Tommy Merlyn on Apr 14, 2014 2:17:06 GMT
Except things don't work out. Tommy knew that, he'd had enough experience of that in his life. He didn't want to say that, and he didn't want to believe that this relationship would fail, but he just knew things didn't work out. His mother's death, his father leaving, those things hadn't "worked out", but he had faith that his relationship with Laurel would be one thing that would work out. Of course, he guessed Oliver figured juggling both sisters would too, and look where that got him...
"I'm really hoping your father takes it well. I don't think he will, but I'd like to hope there's no thought of a firearm. At all. Actually, can we arrange for you to tell him when we can be sure of that? I really don't want to take any risks on that one." He'd changed, but he doubted her father knew that, would listen to that, or care about that. To Quentin Lance, he was probably always going to be like Oliver, and Oliver had gone and gotten one of his daughters killed...
"I will gladly supply you with lunches. Hell, I can supply everyone at CNRI if I have to, if you want me to. You do such good work, I'd gladly support not only you, but everyone. And I promise, I won't go over the top with any sort of extravagance or try to impress anyone with it."
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Post by Laurel Lance on Apr 14, 2014 7:32:31 GMT
Chuckling, Laurel could understand Tommy's anxiety regarding her father. It wasn't like his father, who probably wouldn't even blink at such news, Malcolm didn't seem like that kind of guy to care, not from what Laurel could tell. Her father though, that was different. "Tommy, he's a cop, he sleeps with his gun. I could teach you how to disarm him, but I think that'd only make him angrier. If it makes you feel better, if he shoots you, I'll never talk to him again." The whole day had kind of been full of awkward conversations, but this was just one more that Laurel would need to have. If she didn't tell her father, if he found out on his own, that would be even worse. "I don't need his blessing, but I don't want to be estranged from him either." No doubt Tommy would get an unexpected visit at some point by Quentin Lance, but there wasn't much Laurel could do about that. There was always going to be that usual threat of death if Tommy did anything to hurt Laurel, except it was a tad more extreme and serious in Quentin's case.
"How do you always know the right thing to say? I'd suggest law school, but you don't like desks, or writing endless case notes. At that point in the day, we'd be thrilled if you walked in with just a pizza. At CNRI, we are not picky about where our donations come from. But it's not your job to feed everyone, you don't need to feel obligated. It would be a lot more helpful if the restaurants that delivered around there had great food, but I guess we can't be too picky about that." Taking money from Tommy was never an option for Laurel, she wouldn't even consider asking. She didn't even ask her father for money, not that he had any to give. Food was another story, Laurel was not too proud to accept food in the middle of a long work week.
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Post by Tommy Merlyn on Apr 14, 2014 14:58:42 GMT
Tommy sighed a little, "Well, I'm just going to have to hope that he's a good cop and isn't going to just shoot me. But I imagine he won't, I think he values his duty too much. I'd hope, at least." Of course, he had a duty to family as well, and Laurel was his only remaining child, so...ok, that might not go well. "You know what, nevermind about that. I don't know if this is going to go well at all. I'm just going to have to have some hope." He sighed again and rubbed his forehead. He wasn't looking forward to it, but the sooner it was done, the better.
"Knowing the right thing to say is a skill. It comes with time, and practice, and...maybe some personal charm. Anyway, I'll make my visits at CNRI worthwhile for you and everyone else. I'll make sure you're all fed well enough and all. It's probably going to be better than pizza, at least, I can assure you that much." He wasn't quite sure what yet, trying to find a good medium between something like pizza, and not going over the top with any of it. He was sure he could find something good enough, though.
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