AN: So this happened after I saw a post on tumblr and I guess is set somewhere between the season 3 finale and the season 4 premiere. I feel pretty confident with how this turned out so I chose to go ahead and post it.
Disclaimer: I don't own arrow or these characters, I'm simply borrowing them. Though the writer's can't have them back until they learn how to treat them properly.
Another day, another sleepless night.
Thea's walking downstairs towards her kitchen for a glass of water and tries not to glance towards her living room, where there's still a dull red tint to her carpet. A sign that she almost died in her own home haunting her, taunting her, causing a lump to form in her throat whenever she passes.
She's spent hours at the stain of her own blood on the carpet, trying to clean it, trying to erase it but nothing she does seems to work. So she's just taken to trying to avoid it as best as she can.
It's nothing new….the apartment hasn't felt comfortable since that night. She hasn't felt like she's coming home when she crosses the threshold in weeks.
Ever since they returned from Nanda Parbat she's had trouble sleeping, memories she'd rather not remember plague her mind, feeling her with remorse and guilt.
She hates this bloodlust and what it makes her do, how it makes her feel. Thea wants nothing than to feel normal again but she doesn't believe that she can. A small part of her wonders if she'll ever find a way to control it without actually killing people, but she has to, right?
There has to be a way.
She sighs and runs a hand over her face, trying to shove the thoughts away, to no avail.
She eventually gives up, like she does every night and makes her way towards the front door. Thea slides her feet into her shoes and slips her arms through her jacket sleeves before exciting the loft. She doesn't have to think as she crosses the city, her body moving on autopilot as she takes the path she's taken every night for the past few weeks.
Like always Thea doesn't bother with the front door and finds herself scaling the side of a building to get to Laurel's window. The window that, like always, is unlocked. Laurel's taken to leaving it unlocked in case Thea wanted to make a nighttime visit, as if Laurel was starting to expect the younger girl.
Sometimes Laurel's asleep but sometimes the blonde is still awake.
Tonight though, Thea finds Laurel hunched over casework files that are scattered across the coffee table. Laurel steals a glance at the younger girl standing in front of the open window in her living room. "Your paints are all set up," she tells Thea nodding in head towards the easel that's set up near the window.
Thea had taken up painting again and had dragged her supplies out of storage and set up a place in Laurel's apartment. Laurel hadn't minded, glad to be someone Thea could lean on, someone she could trust.
The two share a small smile while Thea sheds her jacket and her shoes and they set to work; Thea with the sunrise landscape she'd started a few days ago and Laurel with trying to read over a case before having to be in court the next morning.
Usually the two sat in silence, with only the sounds of flipping papers filling the air. Though it's always a comfortable silence so unlike the unnerving silence in Thea's loft. Ever since that night she's hated being alone and she's glad Laurel's allowed her space in the lawyer's apartment.
The brush strokes that are almost a second nature to her and the presence of someone who she's come to see as the older sister she never had is comforting to Thea. These nighttime moments where Thea's painting and Laurel is just there make her feel at ease, makes Thea finally feels like she can breathe and relax.
It's like this between them until the sun starts slowly peaking over the horizon and Thea finally falls asleep, though Thea's still coherent enough to feel herself being lifted from the couch or whatever surface she manages to fall asleep on and carried through the small hallway to the second bedroom.
A small part of Thea feels a little guilty at the fact that Laurel stays up with her, that she loses sleep because she cares that much about Thea's wellbeing. Though every time Thea brings it up Laurel just shakes her head.
"Really Thea, it's not a big deal," Laurel always says, usually when she's on her third cup of coffee. "I'm just glad to be here to help."
It does little to dwell the nagging voice in the back of her mind, so there's always food and a fresh pot of coffee waiting when Laurel gets home at the end of the day before they have to head down to the lair.
"You know since you're already here every night," Laurel says one day, slipping her jacket from her shoulders once she drops her messenger bag on the couch. "Why not just be my roommate?"
"Like move in?" Thea says, leaning against the counter top.
"You practically live here already," Laurel says with a shrug walking back towards the front door and placing her jacket on the coat rack. "So why not?"
Laurel's not wrong, Thea does already practically live here, she sleeps on Laurel's couch and wakes up in the spare bedroom, some of her clothes are already in the drawers and the closet and Thea seems to spend most of her time here when they're not patrolling the streets.
"I guess it does make sense," Thea agrees with a small smile, a real genuine smile. A type of smile that hasn't crossed her face in weeks and she learns that she's missed the upward turn of her lips, the joyous feeling in her heart knowing that there's something to look forward to, that there's a reason to smile, something to be happy for.
Thea feels content and at peace knowing that there's someone there to catch her when she falls. Though she's not surprised when Laurel offers, the woman's been there for Thea for as long as she can remember. Laurel's the reason she escape jail time, the reason for her job at CNRI and has been a friend and a sister when Thea's needed someone.
Out of everyone in her life, Laurel's the only one who hasn't left her. Her father died when the Queen's Gambit went down, Tommy was killed and she never got a chance to know him as her brother, her mother risked her life saving her from Slade, Oliver left town and is off doing who knows what with Felicity, Roy faked his death to protect Oliver's secret and had to leave town and her real father is insane.
Everyone's either left or disappointed her – everyone except Laurel.
Thea's just so tired of being left and being alone so the next day she's packing up the rest of the clothes and a few of her favorite books with Laurel's help. The two even got John to help them move the boxes from one apartment to the other.
"Thanks John," Thea says when they've finally got the last of her clothes settled in Laurel's apartment with her swearing that she'll organizing them later. Maybe.
"Just why do you have so many clothes?" John responds, a lite teasing tone to his voice. "Do you even wear them all?"
Thea shrugs, just the slightest movement of her shoulders before glancing over at him, her lips pursed. "You know, I actually don't know. Maybe I do?"
John chuckles and mumbles something that Thea thinks is queens which has her smiling in response. This witty banter between the three of them has come so effortless over the last month from all the time they've spent together; whether it be spontaneous movie nights in Laurel's living room, home cooked meals at John's at Lyla's insistence because even vigilantes need to eat and of course their nightly patrols of the city.
They've easily managed to become this tight knit group, with banter and inside jokes – almost like a family of sorts and Thea couldn't be happier that she's found something like this. For the first time in a while, Thea finally feels like she belongs somewhere and she wouldn't trade it for anything.
"We're kind of a mess, aren't we?" Thea tosses back with a grin.
"Perhaps," Laurel says with a slight shrug.
"I think we're the only ones who can deal with us," John responds, glancing between the two woman standing in from of him.
"That could be true," Laurel agrees.
There's more talk about dinner plans, again at Lyla's insistence – though Thea doesn't really mind. She's glad there's someone there making sure the three of them are being feed because if she's being honest, there have been times when she's forgotten to eat. And she's sure that Laurel has too. There's also discussion about plans for surveillance over the next couple of nights ending with Thea telling him to say hi to Lyla for her when John finally makes his way towards the door.
Thea then decides on taking a long, hot shower and changing into more comfortable clothing before returning to the living room to finish her new painting. She finds Laurel curled up on the edge of the couch, closet to the easel with a blanket and a book.
"You know, I really want to hang one of those paintings someone in the apartment," Laurel says, conversationally as she glances at Thea.
"Yeah…we could hang it somewhere easy to see," Thea suggests, knowing that just seeing one of her paintings could bring those feelings of peacefulness washing over her. "Who knows, maybe a couple of them…we could even hang one up in the lair – well maybe."
"Maybe," Laurel responds. "Might make it a little more cheery anyway."
The two fall into the same comfortable silence that's become so necessary for Thea over the past month, something she's grown accustom to and something she looks forward to. Sure the meaningful and deep conversations she and Laurel sometimes have in the wee hours of the morning are great and all and she does treasure those; she savors moments like this as well, where nothing is expected and it's just two people who enjoy each other's company.
"Thanks Laurel," Thea says, breaking the silence and glancing over at the blonde, dropping her gaze from the painting.
"For?" Laurel asks, quirking an eyebrow and closing her book.
"For everything," Thea sets her brush in the small cup of water and turns to face the older woman. "For being the only person in my life who hasn't left." For being a sister and a friend to me when you didn't have to.
The edges of Laurel's lips turn upwards. "You know I'm always here for you."
"I know," Thea responds, stepping away from the easel and settling onto the couch. "You've been there for me through a lot when you didn't even have to and I appreciate it."
Thea lets the blonde pull her into a quick hug and Thea knows that the road ahead of her isn't going to be an easy one because when has her life ever been easy? But she knows that she doesn't have to do any of it alone because she has Laurel and now John and by extension Lyla and baby Sara. She may have lost one family in one way or the other, but she's gained another one.