Knowing

For Amaya. Queencest with some Team Arrow and even some Roy hate.

Clang, clang, clang. The sound of the bars echoed off the walls as Oliver worked his way up the ladder, his muscles straining as he rose. It hurt but it was a good pain. He was mulling over everything they'd learned in these past few days. Between his mother, the Undertaking and his conversations with Laurel and Tommy, it was all converging on him. He was soothed by the familiar clacking of Felicity's fingers as she tried to hack into the Merlyn mainframe.

He thought about how much had changed in so little time. Just a few months ago he'd been all alone in his Arrow cave, now he couldn't be in here without Felicity swirling around in her swivel chair moving from screen to screen or Diggle working out on the punching bag. The three of them were a team. Since he'd come back from the Island it was the closest he'd come to being fully honest with anyone in his life.

As he finished the last two levels, Diggle strode into the lair with food. "Are we in yet?"

"You know, seeing as how I'm the only one who can do this, you two make my job awfully hard," Felicity retorted in her usual bubbly yet sassy manner.

"Chow mein?" Diggle offered contritely.

"Don't bat your puppy dog eyes at me. Just because your pecs are bigger than your head don't think I'll swoon for you … not that I've been looking when you and Oliver are working out … or whenever."

"Food, Felicity," Diggle replied. "Put something in your mouth other than your foot for once."

"Alright," she said sheepishly. The two of them were eating when Oliver finished his work out.

"General Tso's Chicken?" Felicity offered.

"Not hungry. I'm going to go home." Oliver said taking a swig of water. "I want to take care of some things before we take on Merlyn. Call me the second you find out anything." Diggle nodded and Oliver headed for the exit but not before leaning over Felicity to grab his t-shirt. "Checking out my pecs?" he whispered, before heading towards the door.

"I meant that platonically!" Felicity called after him.

Oliver arrived home to what seemed like an empty house but when he rounded the corner, he found Thea sitting in the dark living room illuminated only by the moonlight streaming through the windows.

"Thea?" he said quizzically. "What's going on?"

"Walter left," she replied blankly. As Oliver came closer he could see the streaks where tears had run down her face. He kneeled down in front of her, cradling her cheek in his hand.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. They wouldn't talk about it." As she said it she started to get angry. "No one in this house ever talks about anything!" She reached out to push him away and Oliver grabbed her hands.

"Thea, calm down."

"No!" she said louder. "I'm sick of the secrets and the lies and the obsessions!"

"What are you taking about?" Oliver asked. He knew there'd been a lot of secrets and lies in this house. Ones he was only beginning to uncover but, obsessions? "Thea," he said, pulling her close. "What are you talking about obsessions?"

"Roy broke up with me."

"What?"

"Or I broke up with him. I don't know. He' s obsessed with finding the Hood. I told him if he didn't stop, he was going to lose me."

"Thea, Roy's an idiot. If he can't let go of this thing he's got for finding the Hood, especially if you want him to, he's not the kind of guy I want you with anyway." Earlier he'd told Roy that he was Thea's "disapproving older brother" and in truth he was far more than disapproving. This kid was a thief and if he hadn't been dealing with a bigger psycho, Roy might've ended up on the wrong end of his arrow. He didn't like him and he especially didn't want Roy around Thea.

"It's not like that," Thea said backpedaling. "I understand why he wants to find him, but he's just become so focused and it's like he's looking right through me. And then I got so mad when -," Thea broke off and Oliver was immediately suspicious.

"When what? Did he hurt you?" Oliver was already contemplating how he should have left that low-life to die in that train car and whether he could recreate the scene and change the outcome.

"He – he called you a wimp!" Thea finally blurted out. There was a moment of silence and then the two of them burst out laughing. It felt good to laugh with her. It was almost like when they were kids until Oliver realized that Thea's laughs had turned into sobs. He pulled her to his chest and held her tight. "Why does everyone leave?" Thea cried her tears soaking the fabric of his shirt. Oliver lifted her easily and carried her up the stairs to her room.

He laid her down on the bed and headed to the bathroom to get a damp cloth for her face. By the time he came back, Thea had stripped down just a tank top and underwear and climbed underneath the covers. "Here Speedy," Oliver said as he wiped her face with the warm cloth. Without her makeup and in her barely there clothes she looked much more vulnerable and more like the Thea he remembered.

He started to turn down the lights and leave when she grabbed his hand. "Can you stay here until I fall asleep?" she asked. He knew he should head back to his room and prepare for whatever was going to go down with Mr. Merlyn but looking at her face, he softened and sat back down on the bed.

"Okay," he said. She parted the covers and scooted over and he stretched out beside her in his sweatpants pulling off his tearstained t-shirt. He looped his arm loosely around her waist and she laid her head on his chest, listening to the familiar rise and fall of his breath. It was quiet in the room and Oliver couldn't help but notice the way her body curved against his. Her fingers danced along his bare skin tracing the scars and marks he didn't care to hide from her. To distract himself, Oliver spoke. "So Roy called me a wimp?"

Thea smiled into his chest. "Yeah. And I called him an ass."

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Speedy."

"He doesn't know you like I do. You were always the toughest," Thea said. She looked at the scars on his chest which were proof of what she'd always known. "I knew if anyone was going to come back it was going to be you."

"I'm glad you thought so. There were … let's just say I wasn't always so sure Id make it off that island."

Thea reached up and ran her hand down the length of his jaw, tilting Oliver's head until they were looking each other in the eye. "I knew you'd come back to me," she said with conviction. "I know who you are. And you would never leave me unless you had to." Thea slid her arm around his waist and curled her body into his. "Goodnight Ollie," she said. She closed her eyes knowing he wasn't ready to hear the one thing they both knew. He'd said it to Roy. The vigilante is a psychopath and anyone near him gets hurt. So Thea choked back the words she was thinking. The words that had been weighing on her for weeks. The reason why she'd led Roy's search down dead-ends and stray paths. The words she knew would break Oliver's heart. I know who you really are, she thought to herself and she listened to his heart beat as she fell asleep.

fin?