Title: A Sisterly Bond
Words: 2294
Pairing: Laurel/Thea brotp
Genre: Angst/Comfort
Status: Done

Summary:
Thea is having a hard time because her family is lying to her. So she remember she used to have a big sister and go talk to Laurel.

Oliver was lying to her, she knew it. He and mom were being weird. And weird spelled secrets in the Queen household, but she couldn't get either of them alone for quite long enough to get some answers out of them. She kicked on the side of the road as she burrowed her crossed arms closer to her body.

When did it come to this? She thought to herself, walking the streets of Starling. Roy would have told her that she was crazy for being out here, but it was the middle of the day and she needed some air. He was so overprotective sometimes.

She stopped and looked where she was. Laurel's building and she shook her head. Well, if there was anyone who could help her get to Oliver, it was Oliver. She had heard her mom muttering about the IT girl that Oliver spent some time with, but she knew her big brother. The stupid was in love with Laurel. He always was. Before the island, he wasn't sure how he could show it, but when push came to shove, he'd dive in front of bullets for her.

She knew that Laurel went to AA, but she didn't know exactly when the meetings were. She hesitated before pushing the buzzer button, "Hello?" Laurel questioned.

"Hey," Thea said and let out a sigh, grateful for the fact that Laurel was home and she didn't have to look like an idiot being out here. "Can I come up?"

Laurel waited a second, probably trying to figure out who it was. "Thea?" She asked.

"Yes," Thea smiled. "Laurel, it's me,"

She didn't respond with words, instead, the door buzzed and she was let up. Oh, thank god.

She briskly walked up the steps, skipping a couple at a time. And in no time, she was on the third floor, in front of Laurel's apartment. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Laurel's big smile, "Hey, I didn't expect to see you. What's up?" Laurel asked as she was ushered into the apartment.

That was exactly the question. What was up? "Oliver and Mom are keeping something from me. And I just wish they would trust me to let me in on this. But they won't. And I'm frustrated. And my feet brought me here. Back to the big sister I never had," Thea said as she sat on the couch by Laurel and rested her head on Laurel's shoulder.

Laurel turned and took Thea in her arms. Moira and Oliver always claimed they were doing the best for the family, but what they were doing by keeping secrets was the best for them. Not Thea. Not the one person they both claimed to care about and did a fantastically bad job showing that they actually cared. "We'll figure this out together, okay? We're gonna make sure you know exactly what is going on, little bear. I promise it."

She meant it. She wanted to get to the bottom of this. Oliver told her that she wasn't the only one with family problems, but it sure the hell sounded like she was the only of the two of them that had at least worked toward solving her family's problems. No, Oliver was about to get an earful, ext time she saw him.

For now, Laurel held Thea in her arms and remembered how good it felt to have her little bear again. Sara was her little sister, but after five years, it was understood that they had a different relationship. With Thea, she got to experience the good parts again. They had pain to share that no one else could quite understand.

Since the trial and Sara coming back though, she hadn't really had much time to care for Thea and that was on her. "I'm gonna make you some food, okay?" Laurel asked Thea, breaking the silence between them.

"You're gonna cook?" Thea asked with a little bit of a laugh.

Laurel didn't laugh, but she admitted to cracking a smile. Her lack of talent in the kitchen was apparently legendary. "Well, what do you want since my cooking is so bad."

"Could we go to Big Belly?" She asked, her eyes nice and bright. This was definitely not the girl who walked into her apartment.

Laurel nodded. "Let me get my shoes and purse, kid." She went to her bedroom and got a pair of heels, a sweater, and her normal purse and put everything on. It looked okay. "Ready to go, little bear?" She asked as she came out.

"Always," Thea smiled.

They walked down the stairs side by side and smiling. Laurel remembered when she would do this for Thea every week. Thea even sometimes stayed over on the weekends. Her father, never supportive of it, asked her why she did it once. Because I need to. Because we need to stick together. I didn't just love Ollie. I'm not losing more people to some stupid boat. She remembered saying it all and she remembered her father shaking his head every time Thea was over with her, but he never complained, after that. Just accepted that she wasn't letting Thea not be part of her life.

They told silly stories as Laurel drove to Big Belly and they stumbled in and all eyes were on them. Not that there were many. There actually weren't. But the eyes that were there were important eyes. They didn't even notice till they looked up. Felicity and Oliver. Well, fuck.

Laurel's eyes narrowed at Oliver and she shot him the deadliest of death stares and he scurried to the outside, through the door on the opposite side. While Felicity stood in line waiting for their food.

"Hey," Laurel said as she opened her purse. "Get what you want, bear. You know what I like. I'll be back in a minute," She gave her the wallet and zipped up her purse.

Her heels clacked on the vinyl flooring of Big Belly as she exited the door and found Oliver.

Oliver looked horrified when he saw her and almost thought about running away.

"Oliver Jonas Queen!" Laurel said in a voice that commanded authority. "You are keeping secrets and it needs to stop. Especially to Thea. You think you're keeping her safe, but you're not. You're hurting her. You and Moira are hurting her. Whatever it is, you guys have always stayed together before, your bond can weather anything."

"Laurel, you don't know what you're talking about," Oliver said through gritted teeth.

Laurel put her hand on his and made him look into her eyes, her eyes full of rage and hurt that he was keeping things from his sister. "You need to stop being such a hypocrite and do what's best for Thea. Not what is just best for you and Moira. You know what's best for her. But you are suppressing it and it's hurting her. You are the reason for her pain right now. And I'm gonna fight for my bear if it's the last thing I do. So either you and Moira tell her or I'm gonna figure out exactly why you're keeping secrets. And trust me, you're not gonna like it."

"Laurel, I hardly think you could get that information. I mean it took Felicity at least a week to put that together." Oliver said with a bit of wisp of air blown out of his mouth and then he realized what he said and the grin on her face. "Laurel, no. You can't do this."

"Why not, Ollie? Thea deserves some family who won't lie to her." Laurel said as she reached for the door and looked around. Felicity was at a table. Not exactly an ideal place for asking all of the Queen family secrets, but she supposed if she had to question her right there, she could.

Oliver sighted. "You're never gonna give this up, are you?"

"She trusts me, Ollie. I know how much trust means exactly shit to you, but it means a lot to me, especially now." She told him. "If you won't tell me, I'm gonna corner Felicity and get her to tell me what she told you and then I'm gonna tell Thea. Now, that's gonna make both you and Moira look like really bad people and I don't want to do that, but I'm stopping the lies. Right here, right now."

He sighed. She was serious about this. Nothing suggested she wasn't. Her love for family did not just stop with her own, he saw that in action. Hell, he'd been on the lucky side of it more than once, but this, now this was not lucky. "I'll tell her tomorrow. She's gonna hate me though. She's gonna hate me and she's going to hate our mother," He admitted to her.

She took his hands in hers, "You need to let her be angry. And know that she will always have somewhere to come. I refuse to let little bear be alone." She told him and nodded.

He took her in his arms and cried for a minute and Laurel knew better than to question it. He needed her sympathy because whatever it was that he was hiding, it was huge. Huge enough that he thought he might lose Thea to it.

She closed her eyes and rubbed his back, "You're gonna be okay too. I'd never hate you, if it means anything," She told him in a whisper. "But if you chicken out on her, I'm going to make sure that you regret it," She told him. He felt her evil smile and he knew she was deadly when it came to that smile. That smile was question my authority and I will release hell's fire on you. Laurel released him from her arms and let him go.

She walked back in and saw Thea at a table with a bounty of food, half of it untouched, hers, but all of the fries were in the middle for the both of them to share. "So what you guys talk about, lioness?" Thea asked as she put a fry in her mouth.

Laurel smiled to her. "We talked about you. And how he's gonna tell you his secret tomorrow or he will be in a lot of pain." She put her purse on the side and started unwrapping her burger which looked delightful. She was glad that Thea knew her so well.

Thea beamed at her big sister in Laurel Lance. Some of her friends didn't get Laurel and thought she was a bitch who was overbearing, but this Laurel, she loved her. Laurel always cared one hundred percent, it was never her style to love any less. "Do you know what it is, the secret?" She asked, a little curious.

Laurel shook her head "No, I didn't make him tell me. He needs to tell you first, besides if I knew, I'd tell you right here and Oliver knows that. Because little bear, you have been through so much. And I'm not gonna betray your trust by lying to you," She said as she tucked a piece of Thea's hair behind her ear, "Now come on, we have a bounty to eat," She smiled.

Thea laughed and they went into overdrive mode, talking, eating, and laughing. It was everything she needed after feeling for so long that no one could tell the truth.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, okay?" She asked Thea and Thea nodded as she looked at the fries. "Finish up, Bear." She told her as she ruffled the hair on her head.

"Hey, I thought you were going to the bathroom, Lioness,"

She grinned, "I am," She went into the bathroom and a stall opened and it was Felicity. Oh. Knowing that she knew the secret that was Thea's to know and not Thea made her a little resentful for Thea. She pushed that down and instead put that energy into washing her hands.

"You and Thea seem happy," Felicity said in that awkward way that she did.

Laurel smiled into the mirror. "Well, Thea's gonna learn the secret Oliver's keeping from her tomorrow, so yeah, we're both happy,"

"He's gonna tell her about Merlyn?!" Felicity gasped.

Laurel connected the dots. "Merlyn? You mean Malcolm. And you mean that he's her father." She said, coming to the realization. And then her eyes narrowed at this, "How did you learn this?"

"I may have tracked down the doctor who delivered her and the dummy account that paid the doctor off when Moira announced she's running for Mayor and connected the dots in the timeline," She told Laurel, embarrassed. "I was the one who told Oliver,"

"That wasn't your secret to tell." She said, looking into the sink. Really, she wasn't mad at Felicity who was just the messenger, except with the fact that she told Oliver who had to keep this with him. No wonder he was saying he was having family problems. "And it's potentially gonna rip them apart because Moira was saving herself and her children. Robert was the only father Thea ever knew. Bear needs to know, but she doesn't deserve to think she was ever related to a man like that. You didn't meet him. She was better with Robert, her dad." She was trying not to cry about this.

Felicity put a hand on Laurel's shoulder. "You call her Bear?" Felicity asked.

Laurel let out a sad gasp, "Yeah, it was a nickname I gave a long time ago. Because she was so strong and ferocious and she just had all of the good qualities of a bear."

"She's lucky she's got you as someone who cares. Someone who's family," Felicity said.