Choices

An: I do not own Arrow.

I don't understand why Thea was apologising for what she did. Oliver was right she knew what she was doing. The point of the whole plan was to discredit Susan Williams so Thea saying she didn't know it would go that far made no sense. She needed to own her decision. You made it stand by the consequences.

Summary: A little drabble where Thea points out that Oliver is being a hypocritical idiot. It starts after Oliver sits down to talk to Thea about her choice.

"I'm very worried about my baby sister," he said taking a seat in front of her. It was clear he wanted to talk.

Thea felt guilty that she caused her brother pain. He had been through a lot in the last ten years with virtually no support from her. He had been alone for five years and even when he returned to them he was still alone until Diggle and Felicity joined his crusade. There were so many burdens that he carried on his shoulders that she had been ignorant of. If she had been a little bit more open perhaps they might still own Queen Consolidated. If she had been more supportive of him, maybe Roy would still be here. It was only when she became Speedy that she felt that she could finally support and protect him the way he has always done for her.

During her short time on Lian Yu she caught a glimpse of what her brother would have had to do to survive. It wasn't hard to realise how the island had changed him. She knew what he faced in the Mayor's office and she knew what he faced on the streets at night. She remembered last year when he snapped a man's neck because the man knew his secret. The guilt she felt quickly evaporated and was replaced with red hot anger as she remembered that Oliver had killed in the past to protect his secret. Why didn't she have the right to protect said secret as well?

"I take it back," she blurted out suddenly.

"What?" he asked with that confused look on his face.

"I'm not sorry for what I did to Susan. I'm going to be the first Queen to stand by her choice. If I had to do it all over again, I would make the same choice," Thea admitted stubbornly. She looked her brother in his eye and dared him to challenge her.

"Thea," Oliver said in a disappointed tone.

"In fact Ollie, you should be thankful that I made the choice that I did. I could have taken a page out of your own book and silenced her by breaking her neck or putting an arrow in her. She's alive to continue her life, not dead, which I think would have been so much worse than what I did choose to do," Thea pointed out.

"Thea it's not the same thing. That man was a criminal, a man who was going to derive pleasure from torturing me. Susan is nothing like that," Oliver replied hotly.

"I see, its ok for you to judge who can be redeemed but I can't take matters into my own hands to protect our family," Thea replied angrily.

"Thea, I am the tainted one not you. I do the things that I do so that no one else has too," Oliver told her seriously.

"Please Ollie spare me the bullshit. The fact remains she knew your secret. We had to protect you," Thea said before cocking her head to the side slightly in thought, "In fact, it's not just your secret anymore is it? It's everyone in Team Arrow's. It's certainly not a stretch to connect, me, Diggle or Felicity to the Green Arrow once your secret is out. Whatever you get charged with, we also get charged as accessories and poor Felicity will probably have double the charges for hacking as well. Do you want to see us behind bars? How long do you think Felicity will last in jail? Your decision to date Susan Williams put all of us at risk Ollie," Thea argued.

"Susan isn't a bad person. You can't say for certain that she would have released that information to the public," he countered.

"No I can't," Thea admitted, "But I can tell you that she started investigating you before she started sleeping with you. The investigation didn't stop when you started dating and she started asking you direct questions about the Green Arrow. Surely you can see how unethical that is! She lied to you Ollie. You say she's different to the man that tortured you but I don't see a difference. I see a woman who would have gotten pleasure from writing an article that would have ruined your life. I see all the innocents, a number far greater than the number of people that the man you killed would have hurt, that die because the Green Arrow isn't there to protect them. I can see the end of Star City if we aren't here Ollie but it's good to know that if the article was published, while you sat in jail and watched Star City fall, you would have been happy that Susan was a good person who was just being a good reporter by sleeping with you," Thea said caustically.

"Thea that does not change the fact that what you did to Susan was wrong," Oliver started.

"Ollie stop. I don't want to hear anything idiotic. I know it was wrong. I know it was a horrible thing to do but Karma's a bitch. What goes around comes around. She was going to ruin us so we did it first. What I am sorry for is not being a good little sister. I should have asked Felicity to run a thorough background check on her the minute you showed interest in her. I knew she wasn't trustworthy but I should have looked for proof. She had that photo of you for a long time Ollie. I could have nipped this in the bud before you started to care for her," Thea admitted.

"That's not your responsibility," Oliver told her.

"I'm your sister Ollie and though I may not be an active member, I am still a member of the team and we protect each other, particularly when someone is doing something stupid and you, brother dearest of mine, have done some stupid stuff lately," Thea said packing up her things for the night. She was exhausted and didn't want to continue the conversation any further. "I suggest you examine why you are so focused on what we did to Susan and not how Susan got the information she has because if she knows your secret then others do too," Thea said standing up and walking to the door.

Her brother didn't even flinch at her words and she wondered how he could not feel betrayed by his girlfriend.

She stopped in the entrance way and turned to her brother, "When Roy lied to me, I felt betrayed and hurt. I find it truly remarkable that you're able to just accept what Susan did as part of her job. I wanted nothing to do with her after she stabbed me in the back but you are still trying to call her. It makes me wonder if you truly care for her or if you're fooling yourself into thinking you care for her because you've given her the title of girlfriend. But I guess it's as you said, whatever happens with Susan Williams, happens with Susan Williams."

With those last words she left her brother alone in her office.

An: I actually disagree with Thea's and Felicity's course of action in this episode. I think it was a bit short sighted. I think they should have showed the file to Oliver first. He needed to feel betrayed by Susan so he wouldn't defend her so much. There's also the fact that Felicity acknowledged that it came from an external source and I would think the priority would be to find the external source because if Susan found the information, someone else can. I mean what's to stop Susan from anonymously sending the information to another reporter? Or anonymously sharing it online?