He Lied
Chapter 2 – William
An: I do not own Arrow. Sorry this chapter just broke away from me and went in a different direction than I intended.
Oliver always hated waking up after being sedated. It was number one on his lists of the worse ways to wake up but it was quickly bumped down to number two when he reached for Felicity and was forced to remember that she was no longer by his side in the morning. Waking up with no Felicity cuddled up next to him and knowing it was because he screwed up was far worse than any of the bad mornings he had previously had. Despite the sheets and blankets he was buried under he felt very cold. Only a few months ago he had told Barry he didn't get cold. He may have to retract that statement. Letting go of Felicity's pillow which he had trapped in his arms, he headed for the shower.
Even after a hot shower the coldness was still there. He did his best to ignore the closed closet doors that belonged to Felicity. Thea must have closed them last night after she sedated him. His sister had told him he needed to rest if he was to attempt to apologise to his girlfriend and get back in her good graces. When he insisted there was no way he could sleep, she sedated him.
He arrived downstairs to discover his sister was sleeping on the couch in the living room. She had several white boards set up throughout the loft and must have been up all night writing on them. He didn't wake her, instead heading into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. He nearly broke down when he took the eggs out of the fridge. Felicity's attempts at cooking omelettes in Ivy Town were the first thing to pop into his mind. Even though they had moved here she still tried to surprise him with omelettes in the morning. She had never given up on trying to cook for him. In all fairness she was getting better at it. The eggs were no longer as burnt. A few more months and she would have a passable omelette.
He put the eggs on the counter and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes the loft was exactly how it was the seconds before he closed his eyes. Felicity hadn't taken everything when she left. The pictures of their travels were still there, the laptop on the desk remained, and her pink fuzzy slippers to walk around the loft when it was cold were still by the couch. He tried to picture a loft without her but he could only imagine a dark damp cave bereft of warmth. He could not go back to living like that. He needed her back in his life and he was going to do everything in his power to get her back.
S-2
Thea slowly became aware of her surroundings. The first thing she registered was the delicious smell coming from the kitchen. She propped herself up and looked over the back of the couch into the kitchen. Some of the white boards she set up were blocking her view leaving her with no choice but to head towards the smell. She found her brother hunched over the stove with three frying pans going at once. He had eggs in one, bacon in another and pancakes on the back burner.
"Someone's become a master chef," Thea commented dryly.
"It's the only thing I can do without Felicity," he responded.
"About that, I got her to agree to meet with you tonight," Thea said.
Oliver's head snapped to her, "you spoke with her?"
"No I spoke to Santa Claus," Thea said before smacking her brother in the back of his head, "Of course I spoke to her you idiot."
"How is she?" Oliver asked.
"I would say she's as bad off as you. She fell asleep on the phone crying/talking to me last night," Thea revealed.
She saw the guilt in her brother's expression. "Feel guilty later, we have a lot of ground work to cover today. I let Alex know you're not coming in, again."
Oliver pulled out two plates, quickly platting breakfast and garnishing with some fresh herbs he had cut up.
"This is really good Ollie," Thea said as she tasted a forkful of omelette. "I may need to move back into the loft."
"What about the incident," Oliver asked inclining his head towards the area where Ra's had run her through with his sword.
"This food can make me forget that," Thea said blissfully.
When they were finished eating breakfast, Thea decided to clean up while she sent Oliver to read the white boards.
"What is all this?" Oliver asked.
"This is what I'm feeling which I can tell you is just a fraction of what Felicity is feeling. If you're going to win her back, you need to understand how she's feeling and since guys don't do feelings, I'm going to be your translator."
S-3
An hour into his preparation with Thea, his phone started ringing. The caller ID indicated that it was Samantha. She was the last person he wanted to talk to at the moment but he knew he needed to take the call.
"Put it on speaker phone," Thea demanded
Oliver hesitated,
"Speaker phone now Oliver, I don't want this woman bamboozling you anymore than she has done already,"
"Ok," Oliver relented.
"Hello," he said keeping the phone very close to his mouth hoping Samantha won't realise she's on speaker.
"Hi Oliver, can you come back to Central City. William is refusing to leave his room,"
"Samantha, I thought he was alright last night?" Oliver said.
"He was but now he says he's angry that I kept the truth from him for so long. He googled you last night and discovered you've been back for over three years. I think he wants to know why he hasn't had his father sooner," Samantha admitted.
Oliver felt like he was back at the beginning stuck between choosing between his son and the love of his life. He was supposed to see Felicity in a few hours and win her back. He couldn't do that if he went to Central City to talk to his son. He was essentially being forced to pick between his son and Felicity.
Thea handed him a piece of paper that instructed him to ask to speak to William on the phone.
"Can I speak to him over the phone?" Oliver asked.
"Oliver what part of he won't open the door, do you not understand," Samantha snapped angrily at him.
"Then put the phone on speaker mode!" Thea commented. She did not look to please.
"You have me on speaker phone!" Samantha shouted outraged into the phone.
"I'll call him directly then," Oliver said ending the call to avoid a fight with Samantha.
"You see that, that right there is why you're in this position!" Thea explained. "You don't want to confront this woman on any matter."
Oliver ignored her, dialling a number he knew by heart.
The phone went to voice mail after six rings. His son was ignoring him. Oliver redialled. The same thing happened. The third time was a charm and his son picked up.
"What do you want Oliver?" his son asked angrily.
"Your mom says you haven't come out of your room since I left buddy,"
"I didn't exactly feel like going to school after I discovered that the father I thought was dead was actually alive and he's been masquerading as my mother's friend, which my friends said were code for boyfriend. You've been alive for three years and you never once came back to Central City. Even though it's not my best subject, I did the math, you would have known that mom was pregnant with me before your ship sank."
Oliver did not know what to tell his son without making things worse.
"Hello William," Thea said.
"Who are you?" William asked.
"I'm your dad's sister so that would make me your aunt," Thea said cheerily.
"Did you know he was my father too?" William asked.
"Nope, just found out about eight hours ago. In fact at the moment, the only people that know are you, your parents, me and Felicity,"
"Felicity? Who's Felicity?"
Thea sighed, "the answer to that question is complicated at the moment. Tell you what, why don't you come to Star City and we can talk in person. I really want to meet you and it sounds like your mom really wants you to leave your room. It's a win-win situation. You get a trip up here to find out more about your dad and your mom gets you out of the room,"
"Thea I don't think that is what Samantha had in mind," Oliver said.
His sister stuck her tongue out at him. Over the phone they heard William talking to his mother through the door. He was demanding to go to Star City or he wouldn't ever come out of his room. After a few more threats, William successfully negotiated a trip to Star City.
"Hi Oliver, we'll take the next train up. See you in a few hours."
The phone call ended and Oliver stared angrily at Thea.
"Why did you do that?" he asked her.
"I wanted to meet my nephew," Thea said defiantly. "This way saves me a trip to Central City."
"It's dangerous here."
"And Central City isn't dangerous?" Thea responded. "The last time I checked there was a man called Zoom threatening the city, who Barry had no clue how to defeat. It's not any different to Star City."
"The difference Speedy is that here he would have a target on this back. What if one of Darkh's contacts sees him with me?"
"If you truly felt like that then you should never have introduced yourself to him. You think HIVE is only in Star City? You think none of Darkh's companions won't see you in Central City? Heck forget HIVE for a moment, you're Oliver Queen. Kendra who wasn't even from Central City knew who you were. How long do you think you could go before word spreads that Oliver Queen is regularly in Central City? How long before the press gets wind of your son? Could you imagine the headlines? It's a good thing you guys told William now. I can only imagine what would have happened if he found out from school gossip."
Oliver opened his mouth to respond but found he had no rebuttal for his little sister.
"Good now that that is settled, you need to come up with a nice eloquent way to tell Felicity you've been a jerk, you are a work in progress and you promise to try harder to be a decent boyfriend."
S-4
They picked up Samantha and William at the train station. His son openly glared at him, giving both him and Samantha the cold shoulder.
"Hi, I'm Thea," his sister said introducing herself to William.
"I'm William," he responded. "So what do we do now?"
"Whatever you want to do, we're basically free until your father has to meet up with Felicity."
"Is Felicity his girlfriend or something?" William asked.
"Hopefully," Thea responded, "You see she didn't know the truth either and she's rather upset with your father right now."
"Great we can form a club. Mom is always saying I should join more clubs at school. I'm in the soccer club." William said.
"You have got a lot of spunk mister!" Thea commented. "We are going to get along just great. Now in preparation for your visit," she said dropping her voice down to a whisper, "I pulled out your father's childhood albums. There are some pictures in there that will cheer you up."
S-5
Oliver was busy in the kitchen preparing a late lunch while Thea, William and Samantha sat on the sofas with Oliver's album open on William's lap. The white boards still littered the apartment.
"William did you know that Star City has its own set of heros like Central City?" she asked her nephew.
"I heard something about a guy that shoots arrows but the Flash is way cooler. Oliver has met the Flash, have you met him as well?"
"I met him recently. He's great but I think our band of superheroes is much cooler. I mean there's Speedy, she's totally the coolest one of them all and the best dressed. Those pants of hers make a statement."
"Is she the one dressed in black?" William asked.
"No red," Thea replied.
"I don't think I heard of her," he replied honestly.
"Huh! We must right this travesty. I will tell you all about the cool things Speedy has done."
Oliver called them to lunch and threw a caution look at his sister. He didn't like her choice of topic.
On the way to the bar stools at the kitchen island, which was where Oliver set up lunch, William studied the white boards curiously.
"Why is trust a repeated theme on all of these white boards?" William asked.
"Because trust is very important in any relationship and your father broke that in his," Thea said glaring at Samantha.
"How could he have broken her trust? Unless she out right asked him in the last month or so if he had a child?" Samantha remarked.
Thea's glare intensified, "Oliver's and Felicity's relationship is built on trust. The moment you came into his life Samantha, Felicity knew something was wrong. We are a very close knit family now, we could all see something was bothering Oliver. Last year Oliver handled a matter by himself when he should have handled it with his family. We thought he learned his lesson but here he is again, handling it by himself instead of with his family."
"There's no rule that says that. There are times when you need to do something by yourself. I raised William by myself," Samantha said adding her own opinion on the matter.
"That is something you chose to do. Don't punish Oliver for it."
"I'm not punishing him. It's not my fault that his girlfriend left him because she found out he had a son."
"I made her leave?" William asked looking up at the adults.
"That is not what happened," Thea hissed before turning to speak to William.
"Felicity did not leave Oliver because of you. She is not that type of person. She would have welcomed you with open arms because you are Oliver's son. She would not have held it against Oliver. What she is upset about is that Oliver has a son he didn't tell her about. He kept a secret from her and that is what is hurting her. William, secrets can be very destructive. Secrets tore the Queen family apart."
William stared off into space for a little while but Thea recognised that he was processing what she just told him. Oliver tended to do that as well.
"I want to meet Felicity," William said.
"What! Why?" Thea asked panicked, her brother was not going to like this.
"I need to inaugurate her into our little club."
Thea realised a little too late that she had gotten herself into some very hot water.