Six Years Ago:

Club Nova raved with party life within its high walls. The DJ played all the right songs to keep the crowd dancing all night without straying off to another club in the city. Multicolored lights were strategically placed all around the building, flashing down upon the dance floor. The vibrated beneath everyone from the booming EDM music and over-the-top bass.

Hensley Merlyn's hands were thrown in the air as she danced her worries away. She discovered last year Club Nova was the perfect place to de-stress after school and her life overwhelmed her. Everyone warned her senior year of high school would be the worst and, so far, they all seemed to be correct.

Every night, she was slammed with piles of homework from all of her classes and the stress of sending in college applications before she graduated in six months.

A pair of calloused hands slid across her hips and pulled her against the chest of a dark haired guy. Their bodies moved in sync as they danced to the loud music. A smile grew on Hensley's lips while she focused on the music and danced with the young guy, no older than nineteen.

They were in the middle of the second song when the boy was abruptly yanked away from her body. She whirled around at the sudden loss of his warm hands on her hips, instantly rolled her eyes when she spotted two familiar men chase the boy away from her.

The two men angled their bodies toward Hensley, purposely ignoring everyone who accidentally bumped into them while they stood in the middle of the dance floor. Her hips continued to sway to the beat of the song blaring through the speakers.

The men— both in their early twenties— glowered at the young girl in front of them. The darker haired one wore a pair of dark pants and a blue, buttoned up shirt with a dark jacket while his friend wore a similar look; dark washed jeans, maroon plaid shirt under a black leather jacket.

The brunet narrowed his sapphire blue eyes onto Hensley's face with an irritated look etched on his facial features. "What are you doing here?" Tommy Merlyn folded his arms over his chest.

Hensley flashed a bright smile at her older brother. "Dancing!" She yelled back, happily. She playfully poked his chest. "It's one of the many things you can do at a club."

Tommy glared at her and tilted his head to the side. "You're seventeen, Hensley. How did you even get in?" He shouted over the music.

Her right hand dipped into the back of her jean pocket. A form of identification was handed over to the two of them, pinched between her fingers. Tommy and Oliver peered down at the card, taken aback when they saw her picture printed on it along with her actual birthdate. They shared a look with each other before they turned back to the teenager.

"This isn't even fake," Oliver realized in a perplexed tone. "How did you use your real ID to get in?"

"I know people, Ollie." She grabbed the small card back and slid it back into her pocket. "I guess having the name Merlyn really helps. They love me here, especially the guards."

Tommy pressed his right hand to his face, stressed out. "Hensley, you need to go home."

She shook her head in response. "No, I don't think so." She continued to dance as a new song came on and the crowd cheered with excitement. "I had a really long week. I deserve to be here and I'm not going home when it's not even midnight."

Loud groans erupted from their lips when Hensley easily slipped into the mass of people on the dance floor right before their eyes. She ducked down and squeezed between couples without being caught by them.

This wasn't the first time Tommy and Oliver had caught Hensley in a club. She started to sneak into clubs when she was fifteen years old. She bounced from club to club until she tried Club Nova, quickly learning the security and bartenders allowed her access after she turned seventeen. Perhaps, being one of richest and well known families of Starling City allowed you a little bit of a VIP treatment to certain businesses.

She glanced over her shoulder, lowly chuckling under her breath at Tommy and Oliver when she spotted them through the throng of people, attempting to find her once more.

Tommy and Oliver were only four years older than Hensley. She had always been close with her brother, even when they were kids. Their parents expected the two to eventually grow apart, yet it never happened to them. She was often seen hanging out with them whenever they went somewhere, except when they went clubbing, due to their refusal to allow her to follow when her birthday was still two months away.

The bar on the other side of the club came into view as she weaved through the crowd and leaned agains the counter, patiently waiting for the bartender Jason to catch her eye. She glanced back at the dance floor and chuckled with laughter at a group of girls swarmed around Tommy and Oliver.

Oliver smiled at the girls until Tommy yanked on his elbow and forced him out of the girls' clutches.

A tall drink glass slid across the counter with a pretty pink liquid inside with small ice cubes. Jason smiled further down the counter when they made eye contact with each other. Hensley had a good bond with all of the workers in Club Nova. She was a popular customer and was known to bring a crowd to the club after casually talking amongst friends of hers.

A few sips were taken before Tommy and Oliver stormed over to where Hensley stood by the bar. Her brother's eyes instantly narrowed on the glass in her hand.

"Seriously, Hens?" Oliver groaned when he saw the drink. He waved a hand at the drink, worriedly glancing around the club to make sure no one witnessed a seventeen year old drink alcohol.

Tommy snatched the glass out of her hand and took a small sip. His face screwed up at the bland taste, surprised. He set the glass back down on the bar with a confused look on his face. "It's not alcohol," he realized.

Hensley rolled her eyes. "You're right. It's sparkling water."

"You're not drinking?" Oliver rose a brow in disbelief. He grabbed the drink as if he needed his own reassurance that the drink didn't contain liquor.

"No, and I really wish you would trust me more," she answered with a pointed look at her brother.

Oliver took a casual sip before he set it back down. "Why is it pink?"

Her head nodded at Jason further down the bar, setting up a row of tequila shots for a young group of guys. "He occasionally adds food coloring to it, so it looks cooler and I don't feel so left out."

"Oh," Tommy realized his mistake. His blue eyes snapped back to his sister's figure. "You still shouldn't be here, Hens. You're underage."

"Tommy, I only come here to dance," she pointed out with a swift roll of her eyes. Her hand waved toward the dance floor. "Security loves me and we made a deal I could come here as long as I didn't drink. Jason makes sure I don't and I wouldn't want to anyways. I finally have a good club to go to. I'm not going to ruin it."

Everyone in Starling City knew Hensley Merlyn had her brother wrapped around her finger. Tommy felt protective of his younger sister and loved her to the end of the earth. Oliver Queen, known as Starling City's playboy, grew quite the soft spot for his best friend's little sister, ever since he became friends with Tommy at a young age.

The part that amused Hensley was how Oliver's own younger sister wasn't allowed to hang out with the two older boys. Which naturally made sense. Thea was ten years younger than the two of them and six years younger than Hensley. At this age, Thea was far too young to even care about hanging out with her older brother.

"Please let me stay," Hensley begged her brother with her bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

Tommy sighed, "Does Dad even know you're here?"

She pursed her lips at the question and peered down at the dirty floor beneath their feet. "No," Hensley muttered under her breath. "I told him I was staying at Alicia's tonight for a girl's night."

Tommy ran a hand through his thick hair and released a second sigh.

Hensley clasped her hands together in front of her body, perching her chin on top of her fingers and peered at the two boys. "Tommy, Oliver, please," she begged. "All of my friends from school are super immature. Besides, hanging out with you two is so much fun. At least, let me stay with you. You can keep an eye on me and I can still have fun. It's a win-win."

A moment of silence fell upon the group. Hensley silently watched them internal decide on what they should do with shared looks. She patiently waited with the tiny straw of her drink between her lips, secretly amused because she knew it was only a matter of time before they agreed to let her stay. They were perfectly wrapped around her finger and she knew it.

The boys had a conversation amongst each other without uttering a single word. Their friendship began when they were seven, allowing all the years of secret looks and understanding each other give them the ability to make decisions without announcing it to anyone else.

No one would expect anything unusual if the three were spotted hanging out on a Friday night. Both of them knew that.

"Fine," Tommy caved. "But—"

A squeal of happiness flitted from the teenager's lips as she sprung forward, latching her arms around her brother's neck for a hug. "Thank you, thank you!" She jumped in front of Oliver to hug him next. "You two are the best!"

"But," Tommy emphasized the word once more to gain her attention. "No drinking and you don't leave our sides. Dad would kill me if anything happened to you."

Her head bobbed with agreement before her motions ceased to ask a question. "Does that mean you're gonna follow me to the bathroom? That's kind of weird, guys."

Her brother cracked an amused smile. "You know what I meant."

"I know," Hensley chuckled. She took a large sip of her water before she moved to stand between them. "Okay, well, now that's figured out..." Her hands latched around both of their wrists and dragged them back to the dance floor. "Let's dance! Especially you, Oliver! Your dance moves are weak."

"Uh, I think you meant amazing," he corrected me. 

XXXX

Hi. If you got a notification for this story for this chapter, I rewrote it. I actually rewrote it awhile back and was waiting to post the rewritten chapters later on when I finished the others, but I decided to post it now. I watched the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover yesterday and the whole time I imagined Hensley in the midst of the chaos. 

I missed writing about her. That's what brought me to posting this rewritten chapter and hopefully working on future chapters when I have the time. I am still going through a lot at this time in my personal life. There's a post on my profile if you scroll down enough to find it.

Hope you enjoy this rewritten version. Nothing has really changed. Just wrote it better and gave more details.

So, yeah!