A/N: Upload 3 of ?

"Felicity?"

Felicity wiped the tears from her face and straightened up as Thea's steps drew closer. Dammit, she thought. She had lost track of time. Her intention in coming here had been to set up a search for Brick's base of operations. It was supposed to be an in-and-out visit. But as she passed the stairwell, a vivid memory of Oliver's amused face after meeting her mother blindsided her, and she had crumpled to the floor in tears. Now she was caught by Thea crying on the steps, without a reasonable explanation for her presence at Verdant.

"What are you doing here?" Thea continued. "And what's wrong?"

Felicity mustered a half-hearted smile. "Would you believe me if I said I came here for an early afternoon drink?"

Thea crossed her arms and looked at Felicity with skepticism. "No."

Felicity looked down at her hands and laughed. "It was worth a shot."

Thea sat down next to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing a fresh bout of tears from the blonde. "What's wrong?" she repeated.

"What is with you Queens and shoulders?" Felicity muttered under her breath.

Thea's hand moved down to rub circles on Felicity's back. "What do you mean?"

Felicity looked up at the ceiling and thought very hard about her next words. Should she lie, make something up to spare Thea from pain? Or tell her the difficult truth? And if she went with truth, how much of it should she reveal? Oliver never wanted her to know about his secret life. But Oliver wasn't around, was he?

Telling Thea her brother was dead would eventually lead to questions of why, which meant telling her that Malcolm forced her to kill Sara. How the hell was she supposed to break that to her? Yeah, sorry, you're brother's gone forever, oh, and by the way, you killed Sara? Somehow she didn't see that conversation going down very well.

The door opened and Roy and Diggle walked in. Whatever conversation they had been having stopped when they saw the two women on the steps. They both froze, trying to assess the situation, looking at Felicity for their cues on how to proceed.

"Roy?" Thea looked back and forth between all three of them with confusion. "Diggle? What…" She, too, turned to Felicity for answers.

Felicity sighed with frustration. Since when was it up to her to be the leader? Oh right, when Oliver died, that's when. She stood up in a huff. "You know what," she bit out defiantly. "Screw it. Thea, you deserve to know the truth. Follow me." She was halfway to the Foundry door when she finally heard the sound of rushed footsteps behind her.

When she punched in the code, she vaguely heard Thea protesting about this area being locked off, but Felicity was too angry to answer her. She pushed the door open and strode down the stairs, feeling relief as the cold, rational headspace of Arrow duty descended, distancing her from her grief. Her first stop was to set up the search algorithm like she had intended. She sat at her computer, letting the familiar task of coding settle her mind, when she felt Diggle approach her. He leaned against the desk with his arms crossed.

"I thought you said you were done."

She glanced up at him briefly before returning her eyes to the screen. "Yeah, well, we all say stupid things sometimes."

He huffed a quiet laugh and nodded. "Good. We wouldn't have gotten very far without you." He glanced up at Thea, who had stopped just outside the main area to stare at everything. "What exactly is your plan here, Felicity?"

"I'm going to set up facial recognition for every criminal that was released, track their comings and goings and see if there's a pattern. We may not be able to take them down right away, but we'll at least know where he's hunkering down."

"I meant about Thea."

Her fingers paused mid-stroke, but then continued after a beat. "She'll figure it out. And when she comes out of her shock and starts asking questions, we'll answer them."

"Are you sure about this? Oliver didn't—"

"Oliver's not here," she hissed, turning to glare at Diggle. "She deserves to know."

He held her determined gaze for a long minute, trying to read her emotions. Then he simply nodded, and said, "You're the boss."

She shook her head and retorted, "'I'm not the boss."

"You are the boss," Roy chimed in.

She threw a glare in his direction. He raised his hands in defense and took one step back. She huffed in frustration before returning to her task.

She kept one eye on Thea as she did so, watching as she walked into the main area, looking at the different cases that held the weapons and the suits. She didn't seem distraught, just curious. She came to a stop in front of the Arrow suit. She laughed out loud, and Felicity stopped what she was doing to give her attention to Thea.

"This makes so much sense now," she remarked, staring at the suit. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's kind of mind blowing. And, hello? My own brother attacked me?" She barked another laugh as she turned to face them, lost in her thoughts. Her eyes widened as another memory struck her. "Oh my god! He attacked Mom! What? And Mom shot him?" She covered her face as she doubled over in laughter. Diggle and Roy both stepped forward to reach out to her, worried about her manic reaction. Then they recoiled as she straightened up abruptly to point at Roy. "My brother shot you! Oh my god!" She paused to wipe tears from her eyes. "And then he came into my room and took the arrow out of your leg! The arrow that he put there!" She doubled over again, lost in her manic glee. Roy rolled one of the chairs over and helped her into it. He tried to comfort her, but she waved him off. "I'm fine. Really." She took a deep breath and sat up straight, gathering herself. "So? Where is he?"

She was greeted with somber silence. Diggle and Roy looked down at the ground, and Felicity looked at her with compassion. She was the first to speak up. "He's…not here. He's gone, Thea."

"Gone where?" The amusement left her face and was replaced with a look of dread.

Felicity shook her head, and repeated it more slowly. "He's gone, Thea."

Thea just blinked at her, and stared in confusion. She shook her head. "I don't understand."

No one said a word. They just waited for the inevitable explosion.

Thea stared at each of them, still shaking her head. "What are you saying? No, that's…that's impossible." She jumped out of the chair. "Are you telling me he's dead?"

No one would make eye contact with her.

"No!" She started pacing, and when Roy attempted to comfort her again, she recoiled from him. "Don't touch me! That's…he can't be!" She rounded on Felicity. "What makes you so sure? They told me he died once, but he didn't! He came back to me! He can't be dead. What makes you so sure?"

Felicity stood up slowly and went to retrieve the sword. She placed it on the desk in Thea's line of sight, and then pulled up the blood analysis on the computer, showing a match for Oliver's blood to 99.997%.

Thea shook her head again. "I don't even know what I'm looking at! How does that prove anything?"

Diggle spoke up this time. "A week ago, Oliver went to face off against Ra's Al Ghul, one of the most dangerous assassins known to man, at a location known only to the League of Assassins. Your father was one of them. He retrieved this from that location, saying that Ra's often leaves the instrument of death as a memorial to the fallen. The blood on that sword is Oliver's."

She stared at the sword, but her mind seemed to be processing Diggle's words. "My father…I don't understand. He told me he didn't know anything about my brother."

"He lied," Felicity spat bitterly. "That's what he does, Thea. He lies and manipulates."

"He's my family!" Thea retorted. "And if Ollie's gone, then he's the only family I have left!"

Felicity stood up, getting in Thea's face. "He's the reason Oliver is dead!"

Diggle and Roy stepped in to calm them down, not wanting to see any violence between them. Thea shrugged out of Roy's grasp. "What are you talking about?" she shouted.

Felicity was about to respond but Diggle turned her to face him, looking her in the eyes to reach her. He knew she was reacting out of grief, but Thea was not the enemy, and if she was going to be told what really happened, she needed to be told gently. Felicity saw all of this in his gaze, and took a deep breath to calm herself down. He was right. It was going to be hard enough to tell her she was a murderer. She didn't need to be told harshly. She sat back down and faced her computers, letting Diggle take over where she couldn't.

"Thea, sit down," he began gently, but she stood her ground.

"Just tell me, Diggle."

He studied her defiant stance, and the fire in her eyes, and decided to give it to her bluntly, but with a gentle tone. "Thea, your father drugged you, and then manipulated you into killing Sara." He paused to let that sink in, and watched as the innocence in Thea's eyes slowly slipped away. Tears welled up and spilled over onto her cheeks, and she stared at Diggle with horror.

"What?" Her voice shook, and Diggle's heart broke.

I'm sorry, Oliver, he thought to the universe, hoping Oliver would forgive him.

"I killed Sara?" She began to tremble, and Roy ran over to hold her. She didn't push him away this time. "I killed Sara?" she repeated, unable to comprehend what he was telling her.

"You were being controlled, Thea," he tried to reassure her. "Malcolm killed Sara."

"Oh my god," she squeaked, her voice cracking with emotion. "I killed Sara!" Her knees buckled and she crumpled to the floor. Roy followed her down, holding her the whole way, and she began to weep openly as memories seeped into her mind. "I shot her…with arrows…oh my god…"

"It gets worse," Felicity muttered, but Roy held up his hand to stop her. He shook his head at her vigorously.

"Not now," he warned with a glare.

Felicity bit her lips and nodded. He nodded his appreciation, and turned to speak quietly in Thea's ear. Felicity exchanged glances with Diggle, and they both got up to give Roy and Thea some space.

When they got upstairs, she returned to her spot on the steps, and Diggle joined her. They sat in silence for a while before he spoke.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

She pushed her arms out in front of her, feeling the stretch in her back. She let herself enjoy the sensation before she answered him. "I don't know," she replied with a shrug. "Most likely not. When Cooper died, I did a 180. Changed my hair, my entire look, my personality. I can't really do that now, too much invested in this persona. And who would want to? I'm cute, dammit."

Diggle laughed. "You are cute," he agreed.

"And I really like wearing designer clothes. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. I didn't think I'd be one of those people, but dear god I understand it now. It's kind of an addiction. I'm addicted to clothes. And shoes. Oh god, my collection of shoes is getting out of control. I have a problem. Is there a Shopaholics Anonymous? I bet you there is. Maybe I should ask Lance?"

"Felicity," Diggle ejected as soon as she took a breath, trying to reel her in.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Usually Oliver just touches my shoulder and I stop right away, or says my name kind of like you just did, but it sounds different coming from him…" She recalled the many different ways Oliver said her name, and pain crept into her heart as she realized she would never hear it again. She crumpled into Diggle's side as the tears came back, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, holding her as she grieved.