Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Note: Since this show started, I've always wished there were more scenes with Laurel and Thea. The few scenes they do have together make me believe that they do have a decent friendship, especially after Thea starts working at CNRI. And considering that they both lost siblings when the Gambit sank, I feel like they were perfectly equipped to help each other deal with that. Although the whole issue with Oliver cheating on Laurel with Sara does complicate things. I've wanted to write something about Laurel and Thea for a while, so this story has been slowly putting itself together in my head. I finally decided to post it because I found the season three premiere to be extremely traumatic, but I want to wait to write about that particular tragedy until I can first see how the show handles it. So in the meantime I decided to start posting this instead as a roundabout way of dealing with the extreme feels. Like the summary says, this story will look at each anniversary of the Queen's Gambit sinking and how Laurel and Thea always seem to run into each other on that day. It will mostly be exploring how their friendship, and their grief, evolved through the years to the point where it is in the show. It's not exactly the most plausible scenario ever, but it wouldn't get out of my head so here it is. There is one slight continuity issue in this chapter. In the show, the tombstones honoring Oliver and his father are on the Queen property, but for purposes of this chapter I have them placed in a cemetery instead. Everything else should line up with the show. Enjoy!
Year One
It's been one year to the day since The Queen's Gambit went down. One year since Sara died at sea. Logic says the pain should be easing by now, but to Laurel it still feels like it happened yesterday. She can't decide what hurts more: that her sister is gone forever or that she died fooling around with Laurel's boyfriend. The combined loss and betrayal has all but destroyed her, not to mention her family.
Some part of her had been naïve enough to think that maybe she and her parents would go to the cemetery together today and pay their respects to Sara like a real family. But the truth is that they haven't been a family for a while now. Her father is spending today at the bottom of another bottle and only God knows where her mother has disappeared to. To be perfectly honest, Laurel isn't entirely surprised. But that doesn't make it hurt any less.
She drives to the cemetery by herself. Thankfully it's some kind of national holiday, so she doesn't have to bother with going to work and pretending she's okay. She leaves the radio off as she drives a route she has come to know by heart. The sky is covered in dark clouds, which seems oddly appropriate.
The cemetery is practically empty when Laurel arrives. Most people have stayed inside because of the inclement rain. The sensible part of Laurel says that she should too. But another part of her needs to do this. So instead she pulls a collapsible umbrella out of the glove box and hangs the strap around her wrist. Then she heads through the cemetery gates, her hands jammed firmly into the pockets of her beige trench coat.
It's a short walk through the cemetery. A light chill hangs in the air, but Laurel hardly feels it. She has a hard time feeling much of anything lately.
A simple tombstone marks Sara's grave. Her name is written across it in a script that reminds Laurel of a typewriter. Sara's birth and death years come next with the words "Loving Daughter and Sister" written beneath them. There is a small bouquet of white roses lying in front of the stone.
The sight of the flowers twists something in Laurel's stomach. White roses are her mother's favorite. Apparently she came to see Sara too. Only she did it alone without even telling Laurel. Ever since Sara died, their mother has been slowly distancing herself. She's pulling away, and there is nothing Laurel can to do stop her.
"I don't really know why I'm here," Laurel tells the tombstone. Then she shakes her head. "No, that's a lie. I'm here because... because I miss you."
A sudden lump rises in her throat and she swallows hard against it.
"Everything is falling apart," she continues. "Dad has started drinking. I'm really worried about him. And Mom... She's never around anymore."
She falls silent for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts.
"I didn't just lose you that day," she says softly. "I lost everyone."
Tears are welling in her eyes now. She reaches up and wipes away one that has managed to escape.
"I miss you so much," she whispers.
The tombstone gives no answer. She isn't really expecting one. Instead she just stands there in silence, staring down at the piece of rock that is now the sum total of her sister's life.
People have always thought that Laurel is the talented girl in the family. They're wrong. Sara had been the truly talented one. She had always succeeded at anything she cared to try. But like many talented individuals, she had been bored by life and preferred to spend her time having fun instead of applying herself. Laurel, on the other hand, works her butt off constantly. Maybe that's why Ollie preferred Sara in the end. Because they were so much alike.
The thought of Ollie opens a completely different can of worms. But Laurel is saved from that mental turmoil by the feeling of rain hitting her nose. More raindrops quickly follow, and then suddenly a light downpour is dousing the cemetery. Laurel pops open her umbrella, using it to shield herself from the falling moisture. She's said her piece. It's time to go.
She forces herself to turn away, meaning to head back toward the metal gates. She only makes it a few steps down the dirt path before something catches her eye. There is a person sitting on the hard ground in front of another tombstone a short distance away. Laurel's jaw clenches as she realizes it's the grave of Oliver Queen. She almost turns away and continues walking. But then she realizes with a jolt that she recognizes the person sitting there.
It's Thea Queen.
Laurel takes a look around, expecting to see Moira or Raisa or at the very least a driver standing somewhere close by. But there's no one else. She and Thea are the only living beings in the sea of tombstones that mark this place as the domain of the dead.
The sight of Thea sitting there alone with her knees pulled up to her chest is too much for Laurel. She adjusts her course and begins walking toward the girl. It doesn't matter whose daughter or sister Thea is. She's only thirteen. She shouldn't be out here alone.
The gentle rain masks the sound of Laurel's quiet footsteps. It isn't until she shifts her umbrella to shield Thea from the falling rain that the younger girl finally looks up at her.
"Hey," Thea says softly. Her voice is scratchy and her eyes are red. Laurel has a feeling that the moisture in her cheeks isn't entirely from the rain.
"Hey," she replies. Thea looks away, clearly unsure of what to say. Laurel isn't entirely sure herself. Her father has made no secret of the fact that he blames the Queen family for his daughter's death. Even now, a year later, the tension between the Lances and the Queens is thick enough to cut with a knife.
But even without all the messy circumstances that put Sara on that boat, Laurel and Thea have just never been close. Sure, they've seen a lot of each other over the years. But while Laurel is deeply fond of bright little Thea, she's always just thought of the youngest Queen as Ollie's kid sister. And as a result, the relationship between the two of them has never really gone deeper than surface level teasing. Now, as she does her best to shield the broken girl in front of her from the steady downpour, Laurel suddenly wishes she had made more of an effort to get to know Thea, if only so she would know what to say right now.
"You shouldn't be out here alone," she finally says, breaking the awkward silence.
"My mom won't care," Thea tells her. She sounds defeated as she continues looking at the tombstone. "She probably hasn't even noticed I'm gone."
For the briefest second, Laurel suddenly finds herself stepping into Moira Queen's shoes. She lost both her son and her husband in the same accident. If Sara's death is wrecking this much havoc with Laurel's own parents, she can only imagine what the double loss is doing to Moira. And, by extension, to Thea.
"Come on," Laurel says as the idea suddenly strikes her. She transfers the umbrella to her left hand so she can hold out her right. "I'll take you home."
Thea looks up at her with a hint of confusion in her eyes. Laurel watches the younger girl's face as she tries to weigh whether the offer is genuine. Then Thea slowly reaches up and takes Laurel's hand, letting herself be pulled to her feet. Laurel wraps her arm around the younger girl's shoulders, both as a means of comfort and to pull her close enough that they both fit under the small umbrella. Thea leans into her without a word.
They don't speak as they walk back to the cemetery gates. The only sound is the rain as it hits the grass and the top of the umbrella. A few minutes later they reach the car, and then they're driving down the road toward the Queen house. Once again, neither of them speaks. The silence should be awkward, but it isn't. In fact, Laurel actually feels less alone sitting next to Thea Queen than she has around her own family for the last year. Maybe because Thea is clearly hurting just as badly as she is.
It seems only a moment later that they're pulling into the driveway of the Queen mansion. Laurel is almost disappointed. Then she sees the familiar house and she has to swallow the bile that suddenly rises in the back of her throat. There are too many memories in that house. Memories she isn't ready to deal with yet.
Thea unbuckles her seatbelt and then hesitates, playing with the buckle.
"Thanks for the lift," she says. Laurel nods. She doesn't trust her voice right now. Thea offers her a weak smile before pushing open the door and climbing out of the car.
"I, um," she begins, suddenly turning back around. "I found some of your stuff in Ollie's room after... I put it all in a box, but... I didn't really... know what to do with it. I can go get it if you want?"
Laurel forces herself to nod.
"Sure," she says, finally finding her voice.
"Okay," Thea says awkwardly. "Just, um... don't go anywhere, okay?"
She closes the car door and turns around, running up the steps in the light rain. The large wooden door at the top opens and closes behind her. And then Laurel is all alone in the Queen family driveway. She taps her fingers against the steering wheel as she watches rain droplets run down her windshield. The last time she was here was the night before Ollie and his dad left on their trip. The night before The Queen's Gambit sank.
Suddenly being here is too much. She almost puts her car in gear and drives off. But then the front door swings open again and Thea is coming down the steps with a small cardboard box. She opens the car door, setting the box down in the passenger seat.
Laurel leans across the middle of the car and takes a quick inventory of the box. A movie she leant to Ollie, a shirt she thought she had lost, a college notebook that she had known was there but had never worked up the courage to go retrieve. There are a few little odds and ends as well, mostly things she had forgotten about.
"I think that's all of it," Thea says almost apologetically. "If there's something missing..."
"I'll let you know," Laurel tells her. The truth is she that she had completely forgotten about most of what's in the box. And even if she does remember something, she highly doubts that she'll actually call the Queen residence to mention in. The fence between their two families is completely beyond fixing. But Thea is doing what little she can, and for that Laurel is grateful.
"I should be going," Laurel says. She doesn't really have anywhere to be today, but she can't stay in the Queen family driveway forever. "Thanks for the box."
"Sure," Thea says. She starts to close the car door, but something stops her. "Laurel?"
"Yeah?" Laurel says. Thea hesitates a moment as if searching for the right words.
"Thanks," she says finally. It's clear from the look in her eyes that she doesn't just mean the ride home.
"You're welcome," Laurel says sincerely.
With another weak smile, Thea allows the car door to close. Laurel puts the car in gear and pulls around the loop. Then she's headed back down the driveway away from the Queen mansion.
As she pulls up to the front gate and waits for it to slide open, Laurel looks up at her rearview mirror. She's surprised to see Thea still standing on the steps in the rain. The younger girl's shoulders seem to slump a little as she turns and slowly heads inside.
Laurel's mind is pulled back to her car by the vibrating of her phone. It's a text from her father wondering where she is. Apparently he's sobered up enough to type a grammatically correct sentence.
"Great," Laurel mutters as she pulls out of the driveway. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."
So how was it? Hopefully it didn't seem too AU or OOC. If you could leave a review and let me know what you thought, that would be awesome. And keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter, which will go up sometime in the next few days. Thanks for reading!
