Felicity looked up from her computer screen, glanced over at Diggle who was sitting off to the side watching Roy and Oliver spar. "You feeling left out?"
Diggle's face upturned into a half smile. "No. Just watching Oliver use someone else for a punching bag."
"Don't sell yourself short. You can handle yourself against anyone." Felicity said before adding sheepishly. "Speaking of which, I really do need to get back to my self-defense training, but I am not doing that with an audience." Felicity nodded in Roy and Oliver's direction.
The sound of a rapid succession of blows to the wooden statute filled the end of the liar. "Roy, that's enough for now."
"I can keep going."
"Roy, you need to take a break." Oliver said leaving no room for discussion.
Oliver tossed over a water bottle. "Driving yourself to exhaustion isn't going to prove anything."
"I want you to know that I am willing to work hard."
"One thing I have noticed about you is that you're a fighter. You wouldn't have survived this long if you weren't."
A silence fell between them for a few moments.
"Thea, said you told her about our talk." Oliver said. "She looked like she took it well. What exactly did you tell her?"
"I told her that you made me realize what was important. I didn't want to lose her. I promised not to keep stuff from her. How do you keep this from her? How does she not know?"
"You're not going to be able to keep that promise, Roy. " Oliver said. "You will find the hardest thing to do is not jumping off a building or fighting some low life. It's lying to the ones closest to you. But, you it's necessary to protect them."
"That's what I want to do. Protect people."
"Did you tell Thea what happened when you were kidnapped?"
"No, way. Are you how I got home that night? I remember being taken and drugged and then the next thing I remembered was waking up in bed."
"Yeah."
"And those guys that kidnapped me? Are they ...?"
"Yeah, but I want you to know that I have stopped that."
"Why? When there are people out there who want to destroy the city."
"To honor a friend I lost during the quake." Oliver said.
"Killing somebody is not something to be taken lightly." Oliver said. "How did you feel when you nearly killed that guy."
"I was scared to death." Roy answered.
"Keep that feeling and you'll be okay."
"I think that'll be enough for today."
"Okay. Mind if I hang out here for a little bit?"
"That's fine."
"One more thing." Oliver said. "You are going to have to act normal around me from now on."
"I think I can do that."
Hope you enjoyed this.
