AN: So, I have lots of ideas for Oliver, but I like the relationship Oliver and Thea have, so this is what came out.
Saturday Night, 12:30 pm.
Thea lies on her bed gazing at a stack of textbooks. She needs to get her Gov and AP lit homework done sometime this weekend, but she can't concentrate. She needs to sleep too, but that not likely to happen anytime soon. She still can't believe Oliver had the gall to chastise her for doing drugs, not when he used and abused for so many years.
But then, somehow, someway, she likes that Oliver, her older brother, wants to protect her. Her mom never noticed, and if she did, well that's something Thea doesn't want to think about.
Thea rolls over on her bed and buries her face into her pillow. Her hands find something hard and smooth, and it takes a moment to realize that she had put Oliver's reconnecting stone thingy under her pillow. For luck she isn't sure where Mr. Party Hard Oliver had learned that the stone meant what it did, but that's okay. He remembered she existed, and that's what mattered.
"Everything okay Speedy?"
Thea jerks her face up from her pillow and frowns. "What are you doing here?"
"May I," Oliver gestures and Thea shrugs a shoulder, looking back down. Walking over, he sits down by her feet and leans his elbows on his knees and looks over at her, while Thea scoots up so she sits Indian style on her comforter.
"What, Oliver?"
For a moment he continues to look at her, like he's trying to re-memorize her face, and maybe he is.
"You've grown so much in five years, you know that right? I've missed so much."
Thea presses her lips together, and stays silent.
"I know you might think me hypocritical," he says when she doesn't speak, "And you are perfectly justified to do so, but-."
"But?" She says quietly.
"But I was incredibly stupid, and you are not." He reaches over with kind eyes and shakes her knee.
Thea crosses her arms, and frowns.
"You know one pep talk isn't going to make things all better," she says.
"Speedy, I spent five years on a deserted island stewing over my mistakes. I know. And I can't let my own sister follow the same path I did."
Thea stares with hard eyes, and tries not to let her emotions make things more difficult. When the news had broke that Oliver and Dad had died, Thea had barred her door, curled into a ball in the corner of her room and had sincerely wished to share their watery grave. Now her brother, back from the dead, was still the only person who cared enough to keep her safe.
Oliver leans over and takes one of her hands in his.
"You're not alone in this anymore Thea."
She swallows hard. "I missed you so much." Her voice is choked, and with a sad smile Oliver opens his arms.
"I am so sorry you had to grow up without a brother and father. More sorry then you can imagine," he tells her once her sobs quiet and she just lets him hold her.
Thea buries her head into her big brother's broad shoulder, and finally, finally, feels safe.
