A/N: A big thanks for anyone who takes the time to read, favor, follow, or review this story. It is very much appreciated! There is more of Thea and Roy in this chapter and you'll find out something shocking that Connor already knows, who is beginning to speak more! Hope you all enjoy!
"How could you just leave me here, alone, to fend for myself against the board of directors, without any warning?" Henry asks loudly, irritated, as he barges into Felicity's office almost scaring her.
After the whole Mia incident Felicity had decided that it was alright for her to go back to her office, seeing as it wasn't something too bad. Oliver and her still agreed to meet for lunch in about four hours.
"Well hello to you too Mr. Sunshine," Felicity greets sarcastically as she takes her eyes off her screen up at him. "It went that bad, huh?" She asks more seriously, disappointingly.
"No! They freaking loved me!" He says in a matter-of-fact kind of way as he takes a seat.
Before she can even open her mouth to ask, Henry is already talking again. "How's Mia?" He asks becoming less heated as every second passes by.
"Fine." She states. "Mild ear infection." She tells him.
Henry nods, a look of relief making its way across his face. "That's good news."
"So, what happened in the meeting?" Felicity asks thinking he would have answered her question by now. "And I was shocked you called me instead of Jerry."
"You told me to charm them…so I did," he finally says. "And as I was practically searching the building for you I found Jerry in the snack room and he said I could just use his phone book to call you since he was gonna be awhile."
Felicity nods understand the last part. Jerry often enjoys his snacks. She gives him a look, "So…I won't be getting a call from any of the board members telling me to fire you, effective immediately?" She jokes.
"Of course not, you gave me a job and I did it," he tells her. "And I did it good," he adds.
"Well I'm glad to know I can actually depend on you for things…" she smiles at him before turning to her screen.
"You always can," he says softly.
"Especially today, that hasn't really started off very well," she sighs, probably not even hearing what he had just said. "First I watch the news for the first time in forever and the first thing I hear is that a young couple died, leaving an eleven year old orphaned. Then the whole Mia thing…it's just been a rough morning."
Henry doesn't reply. He just stares into space at hearing the words 'car crash' come out of Felicity's mouth.
"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have brought that up," she begins. "You probably already knew that anyway and –"
"Felicity," he smiles. "It's fine, but I don't make a habit of watching the news so I didn't know. Was the accident here, in Starling City?"
"No actually, it was in Central City, two days ago," she informs him.
After a few seconds of not hearing his response she turns to look at him once again. He's staring at her but not actually seeing her.
"Henry? What's wrong?" She asks waving a hand in direct view of his gaze.
He quickly snaps out of whatever trance he was in, "Huh?"
"I told you about the accident and you didn't say anything…you just kinda blanked out again." Felicity tells him.
"Oh yeah," he says waving it off. "I'm fine." Felicity doesn't believe him for a second.
"I just need to get back to work," he says as he gets up.
"Oh…kay…" she says to herself as he begins to walk away.
Before walking completely out of sight he walks back into her office, tapping his fingers on her desk to get her attention.
"Oh and if you're really exhausted, you can always take a nap on the couch in the snack room," he says with a smile. "It's actually a more comfortable couch than what you'd think," he winks before turning to walk away.
Felicity waits until he is actually gone before laughing to herself.
…
As he walked out of her office he couldn't help but wonder…could it be?
Henry stopped just outside of his office door and causally looked around before he pulled his phone out. He looked through his calls to see if he'd missed any. He hadn't. That was a good sign right? If it were who he was thinking of, he would have gotten a call by now.
He scrolled through his contacts and stopped once he reached it. The name "Charlotte K." appearing on his screen. He stared at it thinking.
"No way," he says quietly to himself.
If something as bad as that had happened he would have definitely gotten a call by now. He hesitantly puts his phone back into his pocket and walks into his office to continue his work.
(Oliver's Office: Four hours later)
He was typing his last report; ready to go have lunch with Felicity when he looks up and see's Thea practically dragging a tired looking Roy by the arm. He sends the report just in time before she reached his office door.
"Hey Speedy, what are you –" he begins as they enter his office.
"Don't 'Speedy' me Ollie!" She practically shouts angrily. "How could you not tell me?"
Oliver turns his attention to Roy who just shrugs.
"What are you talking about?" Oliver asks confused.
"About Mia! I had to hear she went to the hospital from Roy!" She crosses her arms.
"How did Roy know?" Oliver asks staring back at him waiting for an answer.
"Blondie and Dig were talking on the phone, Dig mentioned it to me, said he might come check up on you guys, make sure everything was alright. I made the terrible mistake of letting it slip," Roy says completely annoyed with the whole situation.
Thea points back at Roy using her thumb and nods angrily, "Even Roy knew before me! How could I, your beloved baby sister," she adds in sarcastically, "–be the last one to know?"
Oliver sighs, now clearly understanding Roy's tired face. He probably hasn't stopped hearing about it since the moment she found out.
"I tried telling her it was probably nothing to get all worked up about," he begins, "but you know how she gets," Roy tells him. Oliver nods in understanding.
"I didn't call you because it wasn't anything," he says calmly. "She just has an ear infection." He gets out of his seat to stand in front of her. He places a hand on her shoulder, "If it were anything really bad, trust me, you'd definitely be the first to know."
Thea smiles. "That's all I ask for," she tells him.
Oliver can't help but chuckle.
"What?" Thea asks.
"Nothing…"
"What is it Ollie?" Thea asks again more loud this time.
"I just – I can't believe we practically have a gossip circle. Everyone knows everything. It's actually kind of nice how close we've all gotten."
"Sure you think it's funny," Roy chimes in from behind them. "You don't have a yappy girlfriend."
Thea quickly turns her gaze at him, giving him both a look of surprise and anger. Roy just gives a forced exaggerated smile.
"Try yappy Fiancé," Oliver jokes.
Thea switches her gaze between both of them, "Both of you! Shut up!" She laughs, punching both of them on the arm.
"Speaking of the yappy Fiancé, look who's here," Roy says staring at Felicity who is too busy staring at her phone to realize they are there.
Thea and Oliver both stop laughing and turn to look at Felicity who only puts her phone away once she reaches Oliver's glass office door.
"Oliver, you ready for…" She finally looks up, "What are you two doing here?" Felicity asks as the door behind her closes.
"I still don't even know," Roy says.
"I'm not talking to you." Thea pouts closing her eyes.
"Okay…" Felicity awkwardly walks past them towards Oliver, kissing his cheek, "Oliver, why is your baby sister not speaking to me? And why does Roy look like he's in some deep need for caffeine right about now?"
"She found out that Mia went to the hospital and she's pouting," Oliver looks past her to Thea, "because you told John first and not her," he says looking back at Felicity now.
"I only told John because he called me earlier to ask how my day was going," Felicity turns to Thea trying to emphasize the fact that Thea rarely ever calls to ask about her day.
"Well…I guess I could call more often," Thea says innocently, letting her arms fall back to to her sides in the process.
"Great, can we go now?" Roy asks looking to Thea. "I want to go back to sleep."
"Back to sleep?" Felicity asks confused. "It's twelve in the afternoon."
"Although some have the luxury of going home early," Roy says exchanging looks with all three of them, "I actually have to work and I stayed until closing last night at the club."
"Hey, I offered to let you go early but you didn't want to," Thea says as she walks over to give him a peck on the lips.
Thea turns around, her and Roy's hands now connected. "We'll see you guys later," She tells them as they head for the door.
"Wait," Felicity quickly says. "Would you like to join us for lunch now that you're both here?" She asks.
Thea and Roy stop and both turn around. Felicity quickly turns to Oliver, "If that's alright with you, I mean."
"Of course," Oliver tells her. "What do you guys say?" He asks turning his attention to the young couple.
"I'm in," Thea says cheerfully. "What about you?" She turns to Roy.
"Free food, why not?" He shrugs.
They all smile and head down to the elevator. They walk across the street to a small restaurant.
(Charlotte's Apartment)
"Was it good?" Charlotte asks as she watches Connor put the last spoon full of macaroni and cheese into his mouth.
He nods and puts the spoon on the plate and pushes it forward. "Thank you," he says before getting up to go to his toy treasure box that had all of his toys in it.
Charlotte picks up the plates and puts them in the sink to clean them. As she is cleaning she feels something hit her bare feet. Charlotte looks down to see a green toy remote car. She smiles to herself as she puts the dishes to dry. She walks into the living room to sit on the floor next to Connor. He doesn't look at her as he is too busy controlling his car.
"Hey, school gets out next week right?" She asks him playing with his hair.
Connor had missed Thursday and Friday of school but he had to go back to finish the last week. She was going to go back to work this Monday but ask for hours that allowed her to take and pick Connor up from school.
"Yes." He nods.
"What do you say if after school is out I take you to that place your mom talked about in her letter?" Charlotte asks cautiously.
"The one mom said I probably wouldn't like? With the person I probably wouldn't like either?" He asks looking up at her.
"At first." She adds.
"If she knows I won't like it then why do I have to go?" He asks.
Because there is someone there you have to meet and who has to meet you."
Connor puts down his controller. "You mean my real dad?"
"What?" Is all that can leave Charlotte's mouth as she hears Connors words.
"I heard them arguing about it before we came here. Mom said that I had every right to get to know my real father. Dad said that he was scared that if I knew the truth I wouldn't see him the same, that we wouldn't be a family anymore."
Charlotte doesn't say anything. He knew. She knew he was a smart, intuitive, young boy but to understand something so difficult…it amazed her.
"You wanna know something else?" He asks her, interrupting her thoughts.
"What is it?"
"I loved him like a real dad," he says. "That was enough, right?" He looks up at her.
"Of course it was honey. Adam knew you loved him very much, and I'll tell you something else."
"What?" He asks.
"If you don't like the place I take you to, even one bit, I'll bring you back with me."
"Promise." He puts his pinky up in the air.
Charlotte hooks her pinky with his. "Promise," she says.
She kisses his head. "Only on one condition though," she tells him. "You have to stay there the whole summer and you have to behave. If even by then you don't want to stay, I'll quickly come pick you up."
He nods in understanding and she kisses his head and wraps her arm around him, hugging him tightly.
What did you think of that small Henry scene I added after Felicity told him about the accident in Central City? Hope you all have an amazing week!(:
