Title: Cries
Author: Katie
Story Summary: After fawning over Ray, Felicity goes to the Lost with Oliver to check on Thea.
Spoilers: During 3.19 – Broken Arrow.
Ratings: PG
Pairing: Pre Oliciy at best.
Authors Note: This is my first Arrow fic, please read/review
Distribution: Please! Just let me know.
Feedback: Please…Please!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything…at all…
They're walking down the hallway of the complex, not too far from the loft in a silence that is not quite comfortable, so Oliver asks how Ray is doing – mostly just to break the silence. Felicity tucks her hair behind her ear, exposing a soft smile, and nods a little, quietly telling him that Ray is okay.
"Good" Oliver responds simply, not sure of what else there is to say. Felicity opens and closes her mouth a few times, searching for words that she can't seem to find. She's determined to say something when Oliver stops short and her eyes dart to his face.
The door to the loft is unlocked and leaning idly in its frame, "I'm sure it's nothing" Oliver says to her, but the reassurance is undercut when he moves in front of her – placing himself between her and the door. She stands on her tip-toes, her hands hovering over his shoulders, trying to see around him (he smiles despite himself).
He really does think it's nothing – their problems are many, but this doesn't feel like the time or the place their enemies would look to solve them. He's making a mental note to chastise Thea for the millionth time – Just because you can take care of yourself doesn't mean you should be reckless (he can see her rolling her eyes in his mind, hear her trying to keep the smile out of her voice as she answers, 'okay Ollie').
Oliver has heard his baby sister cry a million times before; when she was a baby and cried constantly for attention – already knowing she wanted to be at the center of everything. When she was four and lost her first baby tooth, she'd cried for hours, convinced that she'd needed it, no amount of logic or bribery from their parents calming her until Oliver came in and explained the Tooth Fairy to her. When she was seven, she cried for hours because their mom wouldn't get her the sparkly pink dress she'd seen in a store window (their father made sure it was hanging in her closet the next morning). He's sure she'd cried in the five years he was gone but he hadn't been there to hear it. He did hear her cry when he returned, when their mother was murdered, and a thousand times in between. None of that comes close to what he hears now.
He hears Thea cry out from inside, he spares a quick glace behind him to Felicity before pushing through the door and moving inside. The surprise of seeing Lance on the couch next to his sobbing sister shocks him into stillness just long enough for Felicity's small frame to slam into him (he hears fear in the sharp intake of breath that comes when she sees Lance and Thea's face). He opens his mouth to ask what is going on but Thea speaks before he can, "Roy is dead". Her voice fills the room, small and broken, leaving him cold and shell-shocked in its absence. He doesn't have time to recover before Lance is in his ear, harsh and accusatory, telling him that his friend's death is his fault. He closes his eyes for a moment, trying to center himself – he's vaguely aware of Lance leaving and Felicity squeezing his arm lightly before taking a step back before Thea's shaking body slams into him.
Felicity wants nothing more, in this moment, but to tell them. Tell them that they fooled Lance and that they should break into a happy dance. But she takes a deep breath and she steels herself with the fact that she cannot; as she watches what's left of the Queen family grieve, she knows that she must let this happen. Tears fall from her eyes, warm and salty, with the idea that their plan might have failed them. She couldn't give Roy back to these people only to take him away again. Instead, she drags her hands over her wet cheeks and backs into the hallway.
She wasn't expecting to see Lance finishing up a phone call and turning towards the stairs, but when she does, her anger takes over in a way that she's never experienced. "Lance!" She calls out, moving towards him before she has time to think about what she's doing.
He turns towards her looking surprised; he's never heard that kind of anger from her before – probably didn't think she was capable of it. He sighs, holding one hand up in a 'stop' gesture before he speaks "Felicity, lo-"
"Don't" she cuts him off, "don't stand there and talk to me like what happened to Roy wasn't your fault" He shakes his head and opens his mouth like he's going to respond, but she finds her voice first, "You didn't just tolerate the Arrow, you needed him, you begged for him. When masked men attacked the city by the dozen you had no hope without him. When the police, your police, pulled out of the Glades and the Arrow was gone, the city fell until he returned to pull it back up". She gasps for air, pulling in ragged, angry, breaths. She's quieter when she speaks again, "We all loved Sara, and I am so, so sorry that she is gone" she shakes her head again, her anger abandoning her in favor of sadness and exhaustion. She drags her index fingers under the rim of her glasses to pull away tears that are immediately replaced. "It doesn't justify what you're doing, this…" she pulls in a deep breath, looking up into his eyes, "This is despicable".
He is preparing to answer, but she knows that she is just barley keeping it together – she needs, so badly, to know that Roy is alive, so before Lance can speak she turns on her heels and tries to keep her steps even and controlled as she walks back to the Loft.
She presses her palms against the door and pushes a little, creating a crack just large enough for her to peak through. She sees Thea and Oliver on the couch; Thea is openly sobbing, her body shaking and all of its weigh against her brother. Oliver's arms are around Thea's small frame, one hand rubbing circles on her back while silent tears run from his already red eyes.
She doesn't know what she'd say to them, and doesn't want to intrude without reason, so she closes her eyes and steadies her breath before backing up into the hallway and leaving. Heading outside and walking towards Verdant.
Hours later, after Roy let her hug him so hard it had to hurt while Diggle laughed behind them wiping at his eyes, she texted '911' to Oliver in order to get him to the basement they definitely don't call The Arrow Cave without having to explain why until he arrived.
At the Loft, Oliver let Thea's sobbing give way to small, hiccuping cries until she finally fell asleep and he laid her down in her bed, kissing her forehead softly and slipping out of the Loft. He made his way to Verdant, hoping that whatever Felicity found would give him something to take his anger out on.
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