best served cold
(FFN Link) is an Arrow fan fic AU by Nyame, author of To Hell and Back (Arrowverse), The Hurricane, and moral of the story (Nyame).
It is an AU beginning pre-Season One, where Laurel attends a party at Tommy's house three months after the sinking of the Gambit, and learns a startling truth: Malcolm Merlyn deliberately sabotaged the boat, sinking it and killing all aboard. This revelation shakes her out of her emotional numbness and bitterness in favor of anger, and she decides she's going stop Malcolm's plans and get justice for her sister and her boyfriend — by any means necessary.
Five years later, Oliver returns to Starling and faces many changes, but none more so than in Laurel, who has inexplicably married the father of his best friend. Despite this, and despite their messy history, the two still find themselves drawn to each other. As a result, Laurel finds herself juggling between her longing for Oliver and her burning desire for revenge.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Job Change: Thanks to her relationship with Malcolm, Laurel does not work at CNRI but rather as a defense attorney at a powerful firm focused on corporate and criminal law, as there is no way Malcolm will allow his wife to work for a legal aid office located in the Glades. At the end of the story, she outright quits being a lawyer altogether and goes into charity work, fully expecting to be disbarred due to her involvement in Tempest and having become disillusioned with the law due to her time as a criminal defense attorney.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- Laurel and Tommy never start a sexual/romantic relationship due to Laurel finding out about Malcolm's part in the Gambit, causing her to obsess over taking him down and deliberately ignore Tommy's advances as a result. Then, when she decides that she needs to get into Malcolm's good graces by joining his family somehow, she outright rejects Tommy as a suitor because she can't bear to hurt him like that, instead choosing to go after Malcolm after realizing he's attracted to her. The second chapter reveals that this decision completely ruined their friendship, with Tommy openly despising Laurel under the belief she used him to get to his dad and claim the Merlyn fortune for herself. They do reconcile their friendship after Malcolm is arrested and the truth about Laurel's involvement with him comes to light, but it's quite clear whatever romantic potential they once had between them is dead.
- Laurel's relationship with the Queen family also notably cooled after her relationship with Malcolm came out. Moira in particular holds enmity towards her due to their shared membership in Tempest.
- Ironically, Laurel's marriage to Malcolm improves her relationship with Oliver, as watching her seemingly be happy with another man forces him to recognize his faults and mistakes in their relationship sooner and be more honest about his feelings with her. In turn, Laurel isn't nearly as hostile to Oliver as she was in canon, as she has Malcolm to focus her anger on. The two ultimately renew their relationship after the birth of their daughter Olivia and reaffirm their love for each other at the end of the fourth chapter.
- Sara and Laurel's reunion goes much better because Sara has less reason to fear Laurel's reaction to her return while Laurel herself is in a much better and healthier mind space than she was in canon. Notably, Oliver is able to convince Sara to meet with Laurel once he realizes she's the Canary, something that took months in canon and only after circumstances forced the situation.
- The Baby Trap: Tommy accuses Laurel of doing this to Malcolm, ignoring the fact that they were already married by the time she fell pregnant. In reality, Laurel is the one who didn't want the baby (she wanted children, just not with Malcolm), but agreed to have it so as to not piss Malcolm off so soon before she was supposed to finally turn on him.
- Best Served Cold: Laurel spends five years dating, marrying and seemingly having a child with Malcolm for the sole purpose of gathering enough evidence to turn on him and ruin his life for sinking the Gambit and killing Sara and Oliver.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Laurel's admiration for Moira takes a major hit after Moira continues to bow to Malcolm's whims even after the Gambit's sabotage is discovered by the FBI, giving her a perfect out from the conspiracy.
- Laurel's own reputation with her loved ones went down drastically after her relationship with Malcolm was revealed (and, in the case of Moira, after she joined Tempest). The only person this doesn't apply to is Oliver, who is too confused and guilt-ridden to really have an opinion of his own.
- The Cameo: When Oliver makes a deal with Waller to help get Malcolm out of prison to trade to the League, the leader of the team that retrieves Malcolm is "Colonel Flagg", likely Colonel Rick Flagg of Task Force X/the Suicide Squad.
- Completed Fic
- Dead Guy Junior: Laurel initially intends to name her baby Rebecca Sara Lance, in order to honor both her (presumed) deceased sister and redeem the name of Rebecca Merlyn, whose memory was shamed by Malcolm's actions. She changes the first name from Rebecca to Olivia after finding out Oliver is the biological father, and while her daughter's middle name is still "Sara", it becomes less in homage to Sara when her sister is revealed to be alive.
- Driven by Envy: Malcolm decides to disregard his and Laurel's initial agreement to wait until after the Undertaking to try for children because of Oliver's return, with Laurel suspecting he just wants to make a "claim" on her so Oliver won't get any of ideas.
- Everyone Has Standards: While Tommy still doesn't like the idea of killing people, when Laurel suggests trading his father to the League in exchange for Sara's freedom, Tommy has no problem with that plan even though the League will almost certainly kill Malcolm for his actions, observing that Malcolm is going to be executed soon anyway and at least this way they get something good out of his death.
- Evil Is Petty: Malcolm, as lampshaded by Laurel. The first chapter alone has him forcing Moira to dismiss a petition to give the steelworkers their rightful compensation just because the majority of them come from the Glades. It's then revealed that Malcolm is the real reason why Robert never gave them their severance packages, to drive some kind of point to his best friend.
- I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Laurel ultimately chooses not to pursue Tommy as her way into the Merlyn family because of this reason. While she acknowledges she cares for Tommy and might even enjoy dating him, she can't bring herself to use and manipulate him like that knowing how hurt he'll be when he finds out the truth. While her relationship with Malcolm also ruins their friendship, there's at least a chance of reconciliation once the full truth about the situation comes out.
- Inadequate Inheritor: One of the reasons Malcolm married Laurel is because he wanted more children due to both Tommy and Thea being ill-fit to inherit the "empire" he was trying to build.
- Gold Digger: The general perception of Laurel after her relationship with Malcolm came out, aided by the fact that she had been dating another billionaire prior to him.
- Guile Hero: Laurel. While she does know how to fight, thanks to Malcolm training her, she accomplishes most of her goals mostly through her wits rather than with her fists. It's justified because, as she's starting the fic as a broke college student with basically no resources, her smarts are the only thing she can rely on when she decides to take on Malcolm.
- Honey Trap: A rare heroic example. After finding out Malcolm is responsible for the sinking of the Queen's Gambit, Laurel decides the best way to take him down is to seduce him, marry him, and then use her new position to collect all the information she possibly can before turning on him.
- Last-Minute Baby Naming: Played with. Laurel initially already had gender-dependent names picked out for her baby by the time of the birth. After learning the father is Oliver, not Malcolm, however, she decides to change her daughter's first name from Rebecca to Olivia to both honor Oliver and spite Laurel's ex-husband.
- Lie Back and Think of England: Laurel does not enjoy sex with Malcolm in the least, which is unsurprising considering he's almost twice her age and the man who murdered her sister and boyfriend, and only manages to put up with because it's key to her plan to take her husband down. She even finds a rough quickie with Oliver a million times better than every night she's spent with Malcolm put together.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Invoked when Laurel gives birth and realizes that the baby's blonde hair doesn't work if Malcolm is the father, and a DNA test confirms that Oliver is actually the girl's father from a quickie they had when Oliver was under house arrest.
- May–December Romance: Subverted. Malcolm and Laurel's relationship is portrayed like this to the public, and Malcolm certainly believes it's genuine, but in reality, she hates him and only marries him so she can take him down. It's also a major source of In-Universe Squick for the rest of the cast, with Oliver at one point stating Malcolm is no better than a cradle robber for marrying a girl he's known since she was a child.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Moira is horrified when she learns Laurel's real agenda in marrying Malcolm is basically because she realized Moira wasn't going to do anything about Malcolm's planned Undertaking herself, so Laurel would need to be the one to take him down.
- My Greatest Failure: Moira sees refusing to turn on Malcolm even after the FBI discovered the Gambit to be this after she learns that this was what caused Laurel to embark on her plan of seducing and marrying Malcolm just for the sake of taking him down.
- One-Night-Stand Pregnancy: Olivia is born from a quickie Laurel had with Oliver at his party while he was still under house arrest for (supposedly) being the Hood.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: When Team Arrow and allies agree to hand Malcolm over to the League of Assassins in exchange for Sara's freedom, Laurel takes the opportunity to dig the metaphorical knife in further by revealing that her baby is Oliver's rather than his.
- Pragmatic Hero: When Sara returns and Laurel suggests they trade Malcolm to the League of Assassins in exchange for Sara's freedom, even Tommy affirms that he has no problem with that, reasoning that Malcolm's dead whether it's the League or the death penalty and at least this way his death helps them.
- Revenge is Sweet: Laurel makes no bones about how much she relishes ruining Malcolm's life once she finally turns on him.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Laurel's experience with Malcolm helps her realize that Oliver is the vigilante based on the increased muscle mass he's gained since she last saw him, but she obviously keeps this secret from Malcolm and doesn't even tell Oliver that she knows the truth so her husband won't find out and kill Oliver for it.
- Ship Sinking: Laurel openly rejects Tommy as a prospective suitor in the first chapter despite Tommy's growing feelings for her. While she acknowledges that dating Tommy wouldn't be all that bad, she can't bring herself to use and manipulate him for her plan of revenge.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Discussed. After realizing it's too late to get an abortion for her and Malcolm's baby, Laurel is terrified of the possibility she won't be able to love her own child despite them being innocent simply because of who their father is. By the time of the birth, she's decided to do her best anyway, and if she can't bring herself to love them even after that, she'll find someone who will. Thankfully, this is all rendered moot after a Daddy DNA Test reveals her daughter is actually Oliver's, not Malcolm's.
- Spanner in the Works: Walter's own side investigation into the List and the Undertaking is this for Laurel's plans, as Malcolm kidnaps him to prevent him from investigating any further and as a hostage against Moira. As a result, Laurel can't turn on Malcolm yet either because she knows Malcolm would be petty enough to kill Walter immediately after.
- Spotting the Thread: How Laurel figures out Oliver is the Hood. Her first encounter with the Hood sees him make multiple faux pas, including addressing her by her maiden name and asking her to represent a condemned man when she doesn't do pro bono work. All of this points to a man who personally knows Laurel and her previous desire to be a Crusading Lawyer but is unused to the person she is now — a description that fits Oliver perfectly. Malcolm similarly sees the connection and allows Laurel to be Oliver's attorney after he's officially accused of being the Hood so she can confirm their suspicions. Naturally, once Laurel confirms it for herself, she outright lies to Malcolm in order to keep Oliver safe.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: During Oliver's "Get out of Jail" party while he's under house arrest, Laurel cheats on Malcolm with him after an emotionally charged moment. It's played sympathetically, as Laurel is only married to Malcolm so she can be in a position to take him down and stop the Undertaking, and is quite clearly still in love with Oliver. As further proof, when people learn that Oliver is the father of Olivia and not Malcolm as a result of this, many either brush it off or even express outright relief over it.
- Unknown Rival: Malcolm is completely unaware that his second wife despises him and has every intention of turning him into the feds the first chance she gets.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Malcolm beating Oliver within an inch of his life during their confrontation at Christmas convinces Laurel to move up her timetable and turn on him sooner. It's only Walter's kidnapping soon after that stops her, forcing her to wait until Walter is rescued by Oliver before proceeding any further.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Oliver throws up after finding out Laurel married Malcolm.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Weaponized by Laurel, who convinces Moira to turn on Malcolm by guilt-tripping her, blaming her for Laurel's own decision to seduce and marry Malcolm, the man who murdered her little sister. It works, so effectively that by the time Laurel is done, Moira is left a sobbing wreck.
