Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own arrow or it characters.
The Importance of You:
Connor Queen always knew he couldn't function without is EA Jenna Holiday but a series of advents leads Connor to realise just how important Jenna is to him and he will do anything to keep her in his life. Next Generation. Sequel to 25 things to do before I die.
Chapter 1: Next of Kin
Jenna Holiday loved her job she really did, but it was days like today when Connor was acting like a two year old that she was really regretting accepting the position as his executive assistant.
Jenna rubbed her forehead, she could already feel a headache forming.
Connor Queen was an amazing boss he really was but when he got bogged down in a problem with QC he forgot everything else making her job ten times harder.
When she applied for the position she didn't think she would get it. His step mum Felicity Queen was legendary at QC not only for her rise from the lowly IT girl to co-CEO of Queen Consolidate but also for her intelligence and the amazing changes she made to make a good company great. Mr and Mrs Queen took care of their employees and everyone knew it. But Mrs Queen was very protective of her boys which is why she conducted the interviews for their personal staff personally. Rumours said she could look into your eyes and no if you were lying, but Jenna new Mrs Queen's knowledge came from her incredible computer skills and simple observation skills.
Jenna new she was a dam good EA but after a morning from hell her first interview with Mrs Queen had been a nightmare and she honestly believed she blew it but Mrs Queen had called her the same afternoon to invite her back for a second interview this time with Connor himself. Jenna liked Connor from first sight he was handsome, smart and at the time so incredibly in love with his girlfriend that she didn't worry about wondering hands or inappropriate comments. She knew he would make the perfect boss and she really wanted to be his EA. He had a calming effect on her and in the second interview everything went well. So well that Mrs Queen offered her the job right then and there. She had accepted on the spot and that had been the start of the two almost three year job that have become her life.
Jenna sighed at the memory maybe she should have said no and then she wouldn't have the last twenty minutes trying to get Connor out of his office. He had a meeting and if he didn't leave now he would be late.
Jenna knocked on his office door again. If he looked up he would see her through the glass of his office walls glaring at him. But Connor was so interested in hard-drive he had been working on all morning that he wasn't paying attention to anything around him.
"Connor." Jenna called her voice loud enough for him to hear her.
Jenna let out a frustrated breath before walking over to his desk.
"Mr Queen." She repeated this time more forcefully.
Connor looked up at her then. A frown scowling his handsome features. He hated it when she called him Mr Queen especially ever since she had told him that he was her friend.
"I told you not to call me that." He grumbled glaring at her.
Jenna glared back.
"Well if you answered me the first time I called you then I wouldn't have called you Mr Queen would I." Jenna pointed out.
Connor features soften. The only good thing about Connor obsessions with work was that he seemed to know how bad he could be.
"I'm sorry." he told her, giving her his best smile.
Jenna folded her arms across her chest attempting to remain mad at him but they both knew he was already forgiven. Connor had a smile that did things to her that it really shouldn't, especially considering the fact he was her boss.
Connor Queen liked working, both at QC and behind the scenes as the Arrows IT backup. Liking work didn't make him a workaholic, no matter what anyone said. So it had been a contributing factor in the end of his relationship with Katie Grant. So it meant he got little sleep. So he sometimes forgot to eat. He enjoyed working and that was all that mattered right?
Connor eyed Jenna. She stood with her arms across her generously sized breast. Glaring down at him. He couldn't help but smile. She was pretty when she was mad.
When he first met Jenna he thought she would be completely wrong as his EA. He considered himself to be laid back and she looked so uptight. Her long auburn hair hung so tight in a ponytail it looked painful. Not to mention how beautiful she was, would have upset his girlfriend at the time, but Felicity had sworn she would be special and Felicity was rarely ever wrong. Felicity had been right and within a week Connor found himself wondering how he ever coped without her. Even Katie despite how pretty Jenna was had seemed to like her, especially since Jenna made sure he was never let to meet her.
Jenna never minded his weird hours or that he sometimes disappeared at the drop of the hat for Arrow business that she knew nothing about and she always made sure he had everything she needed.
In the two almost three years that Jenna has worked for him it was only the past year that they become close. His relationship with Katie had got difficult and he found himself talking to Jenna because she was always there no matter what. But in the last six months and since in his breakup with Katie, Connor realised that Jenna was more than just his EA she was his friend.
Connor meet her beautiful hazel eyes and gave her his best smile. He hated it when she was mad at him, especially when she called him Mr Queen because she was his friend now and he didn't want to lose that closeness they shared.
"I'm sorry." He told her.
Jenna sighed and when her features softened, he knew she had forgiven him.
"You have a meeting and if you don't leave now you will be late." She told him.
Connor looked down at his watch and cursed. She was right he was cutting it fine.
"Thank you." Connor told her he gathered his belongs.
The phone rang on Jenna's desk.
"Do you mind?" she asked pointing to his phone.
"Go ahead." he told her.
She leant across his desk before pressing a couple of button and answering the phone.
"Queen Consolidate, Connor Queen's office?" She answered.
Connor waited in case it was important.
Jenna frowned.
"This is she, how can I help you?" Jenna asked she flicked her hand towards the door indicating he should go.
Connor sighed and walked towards the door. Jenna gasped and Connor froze.
He turned to look at her just as the phone slipped from her fingers.
Jenna sighed as she picked up the phone. She knew Connor would wait to see if it was important making him even later then he already was.
"Queen Consolidate, Connor Queen's office?" She answered.
"Hello, I was wondering if it was possible to speak to a Miss Jenna Holiday I was told she worked for a Mr Connor Queen." A soft spoken women said the other end.
Jenna frowned.
No one called for her on the work line it was unprofessional.
"This is she, how can I help you?" Jenna asked, she flicked her hand telling Connor to go.
He sighed and walked towards the door.
"My name is Detective Helen Matthews I am really sorry to have to tell you this but you Brother Eli and his wife May were in a car accident this morning." The soft spoken women said.
Jenna gasped.
"I am really sorry Miss Holiday but your sister-in-law was pronounced dead on the scene and you brother died a few moments ago." Detective Matthews continued.
The world around Jenna stopped and the phone slipped from her fingers.
Jenna's relationship with her brother was never easy but he was her big brother but she loved him and she knew he loved her. They hadn't spoken in a couple of months because she was mad at him for setting her up on blind date. He just didn't understand why she didn't want romance. She had been hurt to many times for that. Eli just kept saying he wanted her to be happy.
A hand on her face dragged her out of her thoughts.
"Jenna?" Connor called his voice filled with worry.
Jenna looked up and met his eyes. His hands cupping her face. Whipping away tears she hadn't even felt fall.
"What is it?" he asked.
How could she explain? Her brother the person despite how much they fault she loved most in this world and his beautiful, kind wife were dead. What about her niece and nephew?
Jenna gasped. How could she forget to ask about them? Jenna shoved Connor from her and dived for the phone.
"My niece Sage and my nephew Ben what happened to them?" Jenna asked, dread filling her every bone.
"Miss Holiday you niece and nephew weren't in the car. They were with a babysitter at the time. We have been trying to get in contact with you." Detective Matthews told her.
Tears slipped down Jenna's cheeks. She was glade they were safe but she knew it was going to be so hard for them. Sage was only 14 and Ben was barley 6, they needed their parents.
"As their next of kin we was wondering if you knew if your brother and sister-in-law had a plan if something like this ever happened on what would happen to their children." Detective Matthews asked.
Jenna closed her eyes. May was an only child and her parents were elderly. Jenna and Eli's dad was dead and Eli's mum had enough trouble looking after herself let alone anyone else.
"Me." Jenna whispered.
She knew she was the only one Eli and May trusted with their children. The most precious things in either of their lives.
"Where are they?" she asked.
"Starling City general." Detective Matthews replied.
She couldn't take the place of their parents but she couldn't put them through the care system either. Eli and Jenna had the same dad but a different mum, their dad had an affair with her mum and when Eli's mum Carol found out she gave their dad a choice her and Eli or Jenna. He chose them. She hadn't even know Eli existed until she was 14 when Eli barley 18 came crashing into her life. He drag her from the darkness of the care system her mum had left her too and into a life he tried to fill with love.
Jenna shook her head. She would not let Sage and Ben go into care.
"I'll be right there." She told Detective Matthews before placing the phone back on the receiver.
Jenna whipped a hand over her face. How the hell was she going to do all this alone?
"Jenna?" Connor voice called.
Jenna looked up and meet his eyes. She could see the worry in his eyes and for the first time in all the time they had worked together she knew she would break in front of him if she didn't get him to leave now. Connor was a good man with a good heart. He was too good for her. She had a past so full of crap and she was struggling to breath and now she would have two children too.
"What happened?" he asked softly.
Jenna shook her head.
"You're going to be late for your meeting." Jenna reminded him.
She would leave him a note telling him that she had family emergence when he had gone before going to the hospital. She knew if she said it to his face he would never let her go.
Connor gently but firmly took her arms in each of his hands.
"I don't give crap about the dam meeting Jenna, all I care about is you." He told her and every wall Jenna had ever built around herself broke.
Big ugly sobs erupted from her body. Nobody but Eli and May had ever cared about her like that.
Connor arms wrapped around her, he held her tight as she cried.
Connor held onto Jenna's hand as his driver Max drove them towards the hospital. He looked over at her as she stared out of the window saying nothing.
Her older brother and his wife were dead. Connor was ashamed to admit he hadn't even known she had a brother. But then again, he really didn't know anything about her.
"I don't know how to take care of children." Jenna mumbled beside him.
He was pretty sure in the shock of everything had her saying her thoughts out loud. He wanted to tell her everything would be ok but it seemed so wrong considering everything she had just lost.
"Tell me about your niece and nephew." he said.
Jenna looked over at him and smiled sadly thought tears.
"Ben is 6, he has his mother's dark hair and bright green eyes." Jenna said her tears clouding her eyes.
She blinked.
"Sage..." she started her voice breaking with tears.
"She's like Eli. Golden blonde hair and bright green eyes." Jenna told him.
"Oh god, how am I going to cope alone?" She cried.
A sob ripped from her throat and Connor dragged her into his arms. He couldn't watch her cry it was so dam painful.
"You will never be alone." He promised and he meant it.
Jenna looked up at him. Even with red and swollen eyes she was still so beautiful.
Connor shook his head. She need him to be her friend now.
"Please don't promise something you can't keep." She begged and Connor understood why she had all her walls.
Someone had hurt her. Someone had broken her trust.
He met her eyes.
"Whatever you need, whenever you need it I will be there." He promised.
She watched him closely as if she was working out if she could believe him or not and nodded slowly.
"Thank you." she whispered before burying herself into his chest.
Connor would keep that promise no matter what.
Jenna stood up and braced herself. She had to be strong. Sage and Ben needed her and she was not about to let them down.
"You ready?" Connor asked next to her holding out his hand.
Jenna met his eyes. She knew he wanted to keep the promise to always been here for her but she also knew that no one ever did. Eventually people always left.
"Yeah." Jenna told him nodding slowly.
She knew she would struggle alone and while Connor was still willing to help she would take as much as she could get.
She slipped her hand into his and they walked towards the hospital.
Jenna asked at the front desk about her brother and sister-in-law and she was directed to the visiting lounge. As she approached she could hear Ben asking where his mum and dad where.
Jenna stopped just outside the room. She couldn't cry, she needed to be strong for them.
"No matter what." Connor whispered, his words giving her the strength she needed to push open the door.
"Aunty Jen." Ben cried running into her arms the moment she opened the door.
Jenna gathered him into her arms and he cried into her shoulder.
She looked over at Sage. Sweet beautiful Sage trying to be tough. Trying to be strong, so much like her dad.
"Everything will be ok." Jenna promised.
"How do you know that?" Sage asked her voice breaking.
Jenna held out her other hand.
"Come here." Jenna said.
Sage's lip trembled before she barrelled into Jenna arm.
"I don't know how yet but somehow everything will be alright." Jenna promised. She kissed both their heads.
She would keep that promise no matter what.