Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to Lauriverfanboy1, happy birthday to me. Yeah it's my birthday today and even though it's my birthday, here's a gift for you, chapter 9 of Second Chances: Arrow, hope you like it.

That night, when Oliver returned to the mansion, he found Laurel waiting for him.

"Hey, how was your day with my mom and Jasmine?" Oliver asked after they shared a quick kiss.

"Let's just say that I think we need to put your mom on a budget when it comes to Jasmine so she doesn't end up spoiled like you were. But she had a blast with Grandma Moira. How'd the community center location hunt go?" Laurel asked.

"That part was fine, but one of them were really ideal for turning into a base of operations." Oliver said.

"Well, maybe before you start looking for a place to store your arrows, we should find our own place to live." Laurel said.

"That's probably a good idea. We can go apartment hunting tomorrow." Oliver said, only to see the look on her face.

"What is it?" Oliver asked.

"I've been thinking and while I love this city, I'm not sure I want to raise Jasmine in an apartment. Especially considering how easy they are for people to break into and for our enemies to attack us." Laurel said.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're telling me this because you already found something else." Oliver said as he sat down on the couch, though he did agree with her.

"Because I did some looking online before you got home and I saw this ad." Laurel said as she pulled out her new laptop, yes, she got Moira to buy her a few things too, and opened it to reveal an ad for a ranch on the outskirts of Star City.

"A ranch?" Oliver asked.

"It's been decommissioned for a few years, but the house is still in perfect condition and honestly Ollie, I think this would be perfect for us. Our own place that we're not renting or anything like that, we'd actually own it, so we can make any improvements we want, including an Argus grade security system to keep Malcolm out, along with it being away from the city, meaning some actual privacy from the press and I think that Jasmine would love all that extra space." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.

"And I think a place like that might solve more than one problem for us." Oliver said.

"What do you mean?" Laurel asked.

"How would you feel about us putting our new base on that property?" Oliver asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. While I can see the appeal, it seems kind of dangerous to put what could potentially be turned into one big bomb under our house." Laurel said.

"I'm sure there's a way we can work around that. And we might not even have to do it at all. But I do think that we should check this place out tomorrow and see if it would at least make a decent living place for us." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.

"That's why I already contacted the real estate agent and set up an appointment tomorrow morning." Laurel said a smile and Oliver just chuckled, not surprised by that in the slightest.

The next morning found Oliver and Laurel driving up to the ranch house Laurel had shown her boyfriend last night, since they'd asked Moira to watch Jasmine, since they didn't want to get the little girl to get too excited in case they didn't get the ranch. Not because they couldn't afford it, but because they decided it wasn't for them.

"Wow, whoever the previous owner is really went all out on the security, since this gate is impressive." Oliver said as they got out of the car to find a huge gate blocking them from entering the property.

"Yeah, whoever built this place must've really wanted to keep people out." Laurel agreed as the realtor she'd spoken to on the phone walked up to them.

"Yeah, you could say that. The previous owner had this whole place built because he was a bit paranoid." the realtor said.

"Paranoid?" Oliver asked.

"While Mr. Kellton was a great man, he was also one of those extremely paranoid apocalypse preppers. He had this entire estate built so that when the alleged end of the world came, he'd be prepared to survive it in style." the realtor said tiredly.

"Really." Oliver said, thinking that alone could definitely work in his favor.

"Yes, apparently it ran in his family. This estate is the result of three generations of the Kellton family preparing for the end of the world. His grandfather started it, his father continued it and then Mr. Samuel Kellton finished it a few years before his death and unfortunately, he had no next of kin, so when he died, his assets were used to pay off his family's death and this place was put for sale to also help cover the debt, though not a whole lot of people are interested in a ranch house that's not near anywhere and has a two story bunker built directly underneath it." the realtor said and Oliver smiled, since he was liking what he was hearing and it was clear by the look on Laurel's face that she was too.

"Well, let's take a look around shall we." the realtor said as she punched in the security code to the gate to let them in to take a look around the house.

"Okay and the first stop on our tour is the kitchen." the realtor said as she presented the room to them.

"Wow, this is a nice kitchen." Laurel said as she and Oliver took a look around.

"Yes, but I think we both know that you will not be using it for anything that can't be microwaved." Oliver said.

"Very funny." Laurel said to Oliver, taunting her over her inability to cook.

"Anyways, this room has a very nice setup, including a walk in pantry and hook ups for a new fridge and freezer." the realtor said as she continued showing them around the house, which was just as nice. The next place she showed them was a living room with a small bar attached perfect for small parties if need be and it was all set to have a state of the art entertainment system installed. There were a couple of other empty rooms on the main floor that Oliver and Laurel were both quick to find uses for. One of them would be Laurel's office for her to work from home when she needed too, since she wanted to be home for Jasmine and not just leave her with a nanny, while Oliver had picked another one to be his study for similar reasons, they'd also selected one of the larger rooms to be their dining room and the final unused room on that floor besides the laundry room that was connected to the garage, they'd decided to turn into a playroom for Jasmine, though it was likely they'd turn it into something else when she outgrew the need for that.

The second floor had a master bedroom, in addition to the other bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom attached and while Oliver and Laurel would obviously take the master bedroom, they decided that they'd let Jasmine pick which room she wanted, since they weren't just going to choose it for her. The previous owner had even built a pool into the deck, in addition to a very spacious patio that overlooked a small lake near the property. The last thing the realtor showed them was the home theater in the basement. Clearly this guy not only thought that the world would end, but that he'd have a family to share this ridiculously luxurious house with, though he was clearly wrong about that.

"So, is there anything you'd like to see?" the realtor asked.

"Yeah, you mentioned a bunker of some kind and we were wondering where it was, so that if we do get this place, we'll know where not to let our daughter go until we can have it closed off." Oliver said and the realtor nodded.

"That barn you see outside is nothing more than a cover for the entrance, Mr. Kellton really went to some extreme lengths to keep people from finding it." the realtor explained and Oliver nodded, thinking that was perfect.

"So, is there anything else you wanted to ask?" the realtor asked and Oliver and Laurel both looked at each other before nodding at each other.

"We just want to know how much you want for this place, because we'll take it." Oliver said and the realtor looked both surprised and thrilled.

"Wait, are you serious?" the realtor asked.

"Completely." Laurel assured her.

"Oh, thank god, I was beginning to worry, I've been trying to unload this place for months and I was worried I'd lose my job if I couldn't soon." the realtor said and Oliver smiled.

"Why don't we go sit down in the kitchen and get everything sorted out." Oliver said and the realtor nodded in agreement, since she was thrilled about this.