The sound of voices in the hospital hallway interrupts the conversation Thea is having with John, and they both look up expectantly at the newcomers. Felicity is first, and she's by Thea's side in a flash, hugging her.
"Great to see you too, Felicity," Thea says, and she grins at John over Felicity's shoulder.
"I'm so glad you're awake," Felicity says, patting her cheek, and when she steps back Thea sees Ollie with his hands on the shoulders of a small boy of about ten.
"Hey, Speedy," Oliver says softly. "You guys, uh, haven't officially met, but this is William."
"Hey there, buddy," Thea says with a smile, and William takes a tentative step towards her. "I'm Thea."
She's not sure whether to extend her hand for a handshake, or open her arms for a hug, but after a second William makes the decision for her, putting his arms around her.
"I wasn't sure I'd ever get to meet you for real," William says.
"This is actually not my first time in a coma," Thea says, and she tries to say it lightly but her voice is edged with fatigue. Not for the first time she inwardly curses whoever it is that is deciding her fate.
He pulls away for a moment, looking disconcerted. "Really?"
"Yeah, there have been a few times now," Thea says with a sigh.
"You've been through a lot, Speedy," Felicity says sympathetically.
"But I'm okay now," Thea assures her, and William too, and he hugs her again.
"Thank you," he says into her shoulder.
"For what?"
"For trying to save my mom."
"I'm sorry I couldn't," Thea says quietly as she moves away and can't quite meet his eyes. "And I'm so sorry you lost her. She deserved better."
"Hey, you did everything you could," John interjects.
William nods. "Yeah, Mr Diggleis right. It's not your fault, Aunty Thea. I don't blame you. Especially because you risked your life for her."
Thea reaches out, finds William's hand. "Not just her. You too. We're family, William. And I want you to know - if you ever need anything, anything at all, or you need to talk, or you just want to play video games with me, just ask me, okay?"
"Okay," says William, squeezing her hand, and he adds, "Dad sucks at video games."
At this Thea laughs. "Yeah, he does. Always has done."
"I'll have you know, Speedy, that I let you win," Ollie says, trying and failing to look affronted, but there's this sparkle in his eyes that looks like contentment and Thea's so glad her brother seems happy for once.
Later, when Oliver, John, Felicity and William leave and Quentin arrives, she's surprised to find at his heels is a little girl of about eight, and behind her is none other than Rene Ramirez. The girl is carrying a bunch of flowers and Rene is bearing what looks like a box of chocolates too.
"Quentin, hey," she calls, and he comes over and gives her a hug.
"I have missed you, Thea," Quentin says, and Thea notices that Rene is standing back, holding the little girl's hand with this quiet kind of smile on his face.
And it hurts her to ask, but she would be a fool not to. "How are you? Have you -"
"- fallen off the wagon?" Quentin says. Thea nods, and to her immense relief Quentin shakes his head. "No. There were times that I came close. Because of, uh, stuff. A lot of stuff. But no. It hasn't happened."
"I'm glad," she says sincerely. "And I'm proud of you."
"Thank you."
Quentin steps back, then, enough for Thea to get a good look at the little girl. Then she looks up at Rene, raising her eyebrows.
"Is she -"
"I'm Zoe," says the little girl before Rene can say anything, and she steps forward and hands Thea the flowers.
"Hi, Zoe," Thea says warmly, putting the flowers on the cabinet beside her bed. "Thank you for these. So I take it Rene is your dad?"
"The one and only," Rene says with a grin as Zoe nods. He copies his daughter, moving towards the bed and handing her the chocolates. "How are you doing?"
"Considering I've been asleep for six months, I feel pretty exhausted."
He seems to take that the wrong way, though, and says hurriedly, "Uh, in that case, we'll get out of your hair in a minute. I just wanted to - I wanted to see you," he says quietly, and Thea can't help but smile.
"Come on, Zoe, let's go and get a hot chocolate," Quentin says quickly.
"Sure, hoss," Zoe says cheerfully, and Thea chuckles.
"Wow," she says once they've left the room. "Like father like daughter. Don't tell me she wears a hockey mask too."
Rene shrugs, then says, "Well, yeah, she does, but that's because she's in her school's hockey team. I don't wear mine in the field anymore. I got my suit upgraded in the meantime."
"Ah, Cisco made it more badass, huh? I bet he offered to give you a better codename as well."
But at this he shakes his head. "Nuh-uh. He thought it was a great name. But I can see why he wanted to rename you. Speedy kind of suits his other red friend more than you."
"I actually wanted everyone to call me Red Arrow at first," Thea admits. "But, uh, it's been my nickname since I was a kid. So Ollie told everyone to call me Speedy, and he and Laurel grew up together, so they had always called me that anyway. And when it was just me and John and Laurel in the field, they just kept calling me Speedy." She laughs. "And I guess it just stuck."
Rene considers, furrowing his brow. "Red Arrow does make more sense."
"You never told me you had a daughter," Thea says after a moment. "She's great, by the way."
"Thank you," he says. "She is… the very best part of me. By a long shot. But I, uh, didn't say anything about her to you because it's kind of - complicated."
"As in, 'you're not with her mother anymore' complicated, or -"
"Her mother died, actually."
"I'm so sorry," Thea says automatically.
"Yeah, it messed me up, big time."
"Losing the person you thought you'd spend your life with tends to do that."
Nodding, Rene sighs. "And after this - accident, Zoe got taken into foster care. But now I do get to visit her. And her foster mom was kind enough to let her spend Thanksgiving with me."
"That's good," she says. "I'm glad. And who knows? Maybe one day she'll get to come home to you."
"One day," Rene echoes. For some reason he seems to be hesitating, and then he says, "Gotta say, I kind of expected you to be more -"
"- judgmental?" Thea says with a slight smile. "Kinda hard to be when you've gone through four dads in your life. And when one was so shitty the bar was literally underground."
He raises his eyebrows. "Four?"
"Oh yeah." She counts off her fingers. "First was Robert Queen, the guy who I thought was my dad until I was nineteen. Apparently he knew I wasn't his and still loved me anyway. And I wish that made up for the things I know he did now… but it doesn't."
"Yeah, I remember a lot of crap went down last year because of that."
"Then Walter Steele, my mom's second husband, who remains the most decent human being on the planet by, like, a long shot."
"Oh yeah, Oliver said he visited a couple of times," Rene says.
"Really?" And she doesn't expect to, but tears appear in her eyes at that, blurring her vision. Quickly she looks away, impatiently wiping her eyes. "I, uh, hadn't heard from him in a while before Lian Yu happened," she says faintly, not quite able to meet his gaze. "We kind of… lost touch. After my mom died. But before that, even when I was being the worst stepdaughter ever - he was always there for me."
"Sounds like a stand-up guy. What about number three and four?"
"Three was... Malcolm Merlyn." And even now, just saying his name triggers something in her; it's like she's back on that horrible island and she can hear the click of that landmine under the heel of her boot and the blast of the explosion as she ran away leaving her father to die. "And I know it's stupid, because he hurt me in so many ways that he doesn't deserve to even be on this list."
"Hey," Rene says softly, tentatively putting his hand on her shoulder, "I'm not going to pretend that I understand even half of what went on with you and Merlyn. But I know he was your dad. And I know you hated his guts. And, uh, I want you to know, Thea… you don't have to forgive someone to miss them. And you don't need anyone's permission to love someone you hate."
And now she can feel the tears welling up in her eyes but she still meets his. "You think so?" she whispers.
"I know so," he says firmly.
She's not sure why, exactly, but she leans forward, and he meets her halfway for a hug.
"Thank you," she says quietly.
"Anytime." After a second she releases him, just as Quentin and Zoe come back in. Rene turns around, looks at Quentin. "So does that make you dad number four, hoss?"
"I mean," Thea says when Quentin looks confused, "growing up, Quentin was just my friend's scary cop dad. But since then… things have changed." And now she reaches out for Quentin's hand, and after a moment Quentin steps forward and takes it, squeezing her hand back. "Now - I know him. I've seen what he's been through. And I'm proud of him. In fact, I could not be more proud of him if he were my own dad."
"I'm proud of my daddy too," Zoe pipes up, and Thea beckons for her to come to her bedside as well. "He works with the mayor. He's really important to the city."
Thea nods, her gaze moving from Zoe to Rene. "Yeah, you're right, sweetie. He is."
"Is Daddy your friend?" she asks, and Thea looks up at Quentin and they share a grin.
"Something like that," Thea says. "Thank you for visiting me, Zoe. It means a lot."
"All right, we should get back to my place," Rene says. "Don't want to miss the game."
"Please tell me you're at least a Rockets fan," she says, and she punches the air when Zoe nods eagerly. "Good. I'm glad. Well, I hope I see you again someday. Keep being awesome, okay, and do I get a fistbump?"
She sees Quentin smile over Zoe's shoulder as Zoe bumps fists happily with Thea.
"I'm gonna stick around for a bit, Rene, keep Thea company," Quentin says. "You two enjoy your thanksgiving."
Rene's eyes find Thea, and the usual playfulness she expects to see isn't really there. Instead there's something soft and kind that she doesn't quite recognise as he pats her shoulder. "Goodnight."
"'Night."
He turns to leave, his daughter leading the way, and Quentin moves towards her and presses a kiss to the top of her head. Rene is almost out of sight when for some reason Thea calls out, "Rene?"
And of course Rene turns back immediately. "Yeah?"
"It's - it's really good to see you."
When he smiles back, says it's really nice to see her too, she wonders why her heart skips a beat.