A/N: Just a shorty of a chapter - there will be another full chapter update on For Blue Skies tomorrow! Hope this tides you over and that everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Oliver slipped out of the room as soon as Roy had started to bounce that damn ball. The kid meant well, no doubt, but three bounces in and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to hold back his comments.

He briefly pondered where the hell his self control went. He prided himself on it, generally; his control had gotten him through the island, his control was responsible for his skill with the bow, and his control had enabled him to live two separate lives thus far. Yet a kid bounces a ball a few times and all of that went out the window and he wanted to arrow him through the hand to get him to stop. Figures.

He drove to Verdant mindlessly, well aware that he probably should've taken at least one security detail with him. His mind wasn't in the game. He wasn't aware of his surroundings, his control was hanging by a thread, and for the life of him, he couldn't remember Felicity's room number. He wasn't sure which of these facts bothered him the most.

He let himself in through the front doors of the club, a welcome change of pace for him. The house lights were up and he could see various vendors bringing in crates from the back. Thea sat at a high top table, papers in front of her and a pen in her mouth. The vision was so very Felicity that it actually gave him pause.

"Ollie!" Thea looked up and saw him standing there, just watching her with a curious expression on his face. "What are you doing here? Don't you have a job?"

"Wanted to come see you." He finally regained his bearings and crossed the room to where she sat, giving her a hug and a kiss on her forehead. He felt better after touching her, after confirming that she was real. That she was healthy.

"If you're looking for Roy, he's not here. He's been acting kind of weird lately; and not like typical Roy weird. He's been looking...sad. Do you know what's been up with him?"

Thea spoke fast, again, not unlike Felicity, but her words were measured, precise. She let her guard down around Oliver more so than around others, willing to show her vulnerability when it came to Roy, but he still noted that while confusion painted her face, the real hurt was in her eyes. To anyone else, she would've looked only slightly put out with her boyfriend's behavior, but Oliver could tell that she was questioning it deeply.

"Yeah, I think I do. It's what I came to talk to you about actually."

"Oh? What's up?" Again, a forced lightness to her words as she indicated for Oliver to sit across from her. He felt out of his depth suddenly, and he briefly wondered if he should have let Roy do this for him. But Thea's eyes were wide and she looked for a moment like the little kid he had left behind before the island and he knew he had to be the one to tell her. But all of his lies and half-truths had built up in their relationship, and he found himself unsure of how to tell her something so serious, so true. His instincts were to protect her, to lie, to say that it wasn't anything big, to minimize it, but he knew he couldn't do that to Thea or Felicity.

"You know Felicity?"

"Yeah," Thea drawled. "I'm vaguely aware of your EA that is by your side at every minute of every day."

"There's something...she's in the hospital."

"What happened? Is she okay?"

He had no idea how to answer that and it must've shown on his face, because Thea put her hand over his, resting them on the table. He looked up, his eyes searching the rafters for the right words to say, finding none.

"She's sick."

"Sick? What kind of sick?"

"She has cancer."

Thea's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes instantly welling with tears.

"Ollie…"

"She's in surgery today, before she starts treatment." He could do this, he told himself. He just had to keep it clinical and detached and he could do this.

"But she - she was fine! I saw her the other day! She looked fine!"

He envied Thea at that moment. Not because of the situation he had just put her in, but because everything she said, every emotion she expressed, was exactly what Oliver craved to do. He wanted to rant, to break things that weren't just drywall, he wanted to question how it was even possible, but he couldn't. He had to be strong for Felicity. Strong for Team Arrow.

"So, Roy…?"

Oliver nodded. "We found out the other day. Felicity told me this morning that it was okay to tell you. She's sorry that couldn't be the one to do it." Thea put her head in her hands, elbows propped on the table. She couldn't even comprehend it. "We're keeping this under wraps Speedy, do you understand? I don't want mom to know, not yet."

"Okay," she wiped her eyes, gathering her strength before giving Oliver a curious look. "What are you going to do, Ollie?"

It was the first time someone had asked him what he was going to do to get through this. He had focused so much attention on Felicity in the past few days, making sure that she was doing what she needed to be, that the doctors were doing what they needed to be doing, that he didn't realize that someone might have the same questions about him.

"I've taken a temporary leave of absence from QC. Walter will be the CEO in the interim and I will take on more of an advisor role until I can return."

"Well that's great but that's not really what I was talking about." Oliver's face wrinkled in an unspoken question. "She's Felicity. Your Felicity. Are...are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Thea. Just worried about her."

"You look like you haven't slept in a year. And this...this is a big deal."

"I had noticed that."

"Okay." Thea dropped it and focused on her shoes, succinctly making Oliver feel terrible. He knew that this had to be hard for her; she had already been through more than she ever should have to go through, and while Starling City held so many dangers, it seems like this one, insidious disease, had never truly been counted among them.

"I'm sorry, Speedy," he stood, pulling her to her feet and into his arms. "This is just...unexpected. I'm still trying to come to terms with it. I got her a private room at the hospital, I took time off from QC, but it's just - I haven't had time to really sit and process it. It's been a hell of a week. Do you want me to let you know when she's out of surgery?"

Thea nodded against his chest.

"You're more than welcome to come down after, too. I know she'd love to see you."

"I don't want to intrude." She pulled away then and he watched as her own personal mask fell over her face, smoothing out her features and hiding whatever feelings lurked behind her eyes. "Keep me updated?"

"You could never intrude. But I'll make sure either Roy or I text you updates, okay? And hey," he lightly cupped her chin, hoping to be as sincere as possible. "She's going to get through this. She's strong, and a fighter, and she can do this. I promise you."

He wasn't sure who the words were actually comforting at that moment, but he gave a tight smile to his sister as she straightened up and took a deep breath.

"You're right. Besides, she's kind of a pain in the ass. I'm sure cancer didn't know what it was getting itself into when it chose her."

A genuine smile spread across his face at that. "I'll be sure to tell Felicity you said that."