The other Lance girl

Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, I'm not sure if I can even lay full claim to this story idea because there are an awful lot of Oliver and Felicity knew each other before the island stories out there, this is just my take on it.

Summary: Felicity Lance had not always been a Lance; her life began as a Smoak. She was adopted when she was nine and had lost everything. She went from being an only child to having two amazing Sisters. Laurel was always perfect while Sara was a free spirited wild child and Felicity; well Felicity was just the other Lance girl. When tragedy rocks not just the Lance's but Starling City as well Felicity has no choice but to step up and become the woman she never thought she could be.

AN: Thank you for all the nice feedback guys, I hope you continue to enjoy this story as it is so much fun to write. Just a word of warning there is some sad talk during the flashback in this chapter. It is a discussion about loss, how it feels and how some people cope with it. I don't personally feel that it gets too sad but I just wanted to give you guys a heads up any way.

Chapter 9

Honour thy Father part 4

Thea Queen was not a girl that was plagued by her conscience often but when that sucker raised it head it struck with a vengeance. Guilt had been sitting heavy in her gut for the last few hours and she just couldn't take it anymore. She had been beyond horrible to Oliver the other night and she needed to fix it. She didn't think just saying sorry would be enough but she had to start somewhere.

When she walked into her brothers room without knocking Thea had been ready to all but beg for Oliver's forgiveness, instead they almost ended up in another fight.

Oliver was covered in scars, someone had given them to him, someone had hurt him badly but he wouldn't open up to her. He refused to let her in and that like almost everything else he had done since coming home hurt.

Thea wanted to scream and storm away but she didn't, she needed to get through to her brother and tantruming like a child was not going to do it so with a deep breath she tried something else.

She took Oliver out back to the place she had long ago claimed as her own. A beautiful stretch of green that held two head stones, each one marking an empty grave, one for him and one for their father.

She told him about talking to his grave, how he had comforted her when no one else could, about how she had begged him to come home and how much it hurt now that he was. He was here with them but she had felt closer to him when she had believed him dead.

"Look I know it was hell where you were" she told him "But it was hell here too and I never would have made it through if I didn't open up to someone, so you have got to let me in Ollie. Please if not me them someone, anyone, just don't keep it all locked inside, please" she pleaded with him. This wasn't about him telling her his secrets; it was about him finding a way to do more than just survive, she needed him to see that.

"Who did you let in?" Oliver asked softly even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer already.

"Felicity" Thea said confirming his suspicion "Only I didn't let her in, not really. It was more like she forced her way in and refused to leave" she explained with a mirthless laugh.

***FLASHBACK***

Thea Queen was only twelve years old but she was pretty sure her life was over. It ended with the death of her Father and Brother.

Her once happy home that had been so full of life and laughter was getting quieter and quieter as the moths passed. Thea's whole world was crumbling in on her, there was nothing she could do and no one seemed to care, not even her own Mother.

There was only one place Thea found comfort these days and that was with her Brother and her Father she sat huddled between their grave stones and talked to them until her mouth was dry and her throat hurt. It was a cold and often lonely place to spend her days but she didn't want to be anywhere else.

"Thea" a familiar voice called out to her. She looked back towards the house and saw her Brothers best friend Felicity. For a long time Thea had thought of Felicity as one of her best friends too but she had been Oliver's first and that thought made Thea's heart hurt.

Felicity was carrying a coat in one hand and a thermal flask in the other. "Your Mom told me I'd find you out here" she said holding both items out to Thea. "It kind of chilly out so I have a winter coat and hot Coco" she explained.

She handed to coat to Thea and opened up the flask. "Personally I would have preferred Coffee but your Mother said you're not quite old enough for that yet" Felicity ended her stamen with an almost perfect impression of her Mom, it was so good in fact that it normally would have gotten al laugh out of Thea but she hadn't laughed in months and she didn't think that would change any time soon.

Thea slipped the coat on while Felicity poured the Coco into two mugs she had pulled out of the pockets of her own coat. "You Mom said you come up here a lot" she comment as she handed one of the mugs to Thea before settling down beside her on the damp ground.

The wind rustled Felicity's soft brown hair and Thea was hit by a sudden memory of her and Felicity's younger sister Sara trying to convince the girl to dye it blond. That had only been days before the gambit went down. That was why Thea tried so hard to avoid people, people came with memories and memories hurt.

"I'm surprised Mom even noticed I had left the house" Thea told Felicity she wasn't being dramatic she genuinely meant it, she didn't think anything registered with her Mom anymore she was too lost in her own sadness to notice anyone or anything else.

"She notices more than you think she does Thea" Felicity assured the younger woman. "She cares about you and worries about you more than you could possibly know, she just not able to act on it right now, not the way she normally would anyway. Grief does strange things to people, sometimes it turns them into someone you never thought they could be" she explained softly

"Well that's so comforting" Thea snapped catching the warm cup to her chest "not only are Ollie and my Dad dead but now my Mom is turning into someone I don't even know, your real good at these pep talks Flick, did you know that?" she spat at the older girl.

"I'm not here to give you a pep talk Thea" Felicity told her sadly "I'm here to tell you some things, you're not going to want to hear them but they are important" she said. Felicity's tone was apologetic but determined and for the first time in a long time Thea found herself really listening to what someone had to say.

"I have been where you are Thea" Felicity began softly and Thea had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. "Right now you are hurting and you feel like the whole world is lying to you" Felicity continued completely ignoring Thea's blatant look of disbelief.

"Everyone is telling you that the way you're feeling right now will pass. They're telling you things will get better with time but you know the more time that passes the more you will miss your Dad and Oliver. You know in your heart of hearts things won't get better they'll get worse. You can't imagine how your life will ever be good again, so everyone must be lying and you want nothing more than for them all to just stop and let you be sad for a while"

Thea was shocked, Felicity actually sounded like she knew what she was talking about but that was impossible. Felicity was a Lance and the Lance's were perfect and happy and losing Sara was the first bad thing to ever happen to them, so how could Felicity possibility understand what Thea was going through.

"What would you know about how I'm feeling?" Thea snapped angrily at Felicity hoping it would scare the girl away like it had her other friends.

"You would be surprised" Felicity sighed sadly "Did Oliver ever tell you that I wasn't always a Lance?" she enquired softly. Thea just shook her head in shock.

"You were only a year old when I moved here, you don't remember me ever not being around but Starling city was not always my home. I had a whole other life and I have been through more than you would ever expect" she explained with a watery smile.

"What are you talking about?" Thea demanded falling back in to angry mode; it seemed to be her default setting these days. Part of her was still hoping that she could drive Felicity away but the girl just carried on talking in that soft sad tone that Thea was starting to hate.

"For the first nine years of my life I lived in Las Vegas and my name was Felicity Smoak, I didn't come here until the Lance's adopted me".

"Why didn't I know this already? Why did no one ever tell me" Thea asked felling shocked.

"Probably because I normally don't like to talk about my life before Starling and I guess everyone figured it wasn't their place to tell you, it's mine" Felicity sighed.

"And are you going to tell me?" Thea asked she knew she was asking a lot and Felicity could refuse to answer but she couldn't keep herself from asking.

"My Mom died in a car accident just after my ninth Birthday, my Dad had left us years ago and no one knew where he had gone" Felicity said, she was struggling with her words but not in the way she normally did. Usually with Felicity it seemed like too many words wanted to come out at once but now she was fighting to get each one out.

"My Aunt was barely out of her teens and could only just look after herself so there was no way she could take care of me" she swallowed and Thea knew this was genuinely hard for Felicity to talk about but she was doing it for her and that made Thea feel loved in a way she hadn't for moths.

"It looked like I was going to end up in care but then Quentin Lance came to my rescue" Felicity smiled slightly at the mention of her Dad. "He and my Mom grew up together and I had spent some time with his family a few years before, so he swooped in and saved me. It took a few mouths for everything to become legal but as far as he was concerned I was a Lance as soon as I set foot in their house. I should have been grateful, I knew that but I was just so mad at everyone. It took me a while to realize just how lucky I was to have the Lance's, so believe me when I say I know what you are going through and remember that you and your Mom are not the only once going through it" she said sadly.

Thea was suddenly reminded that Oliver and her Dad were not the only people that had been on the gambit when it sailed. There had been a crew of men whose families were in mourning too. Felicity had lost her Sister and she was still sitting there trying to help her. A rush of guilt filled the girl and that was the final emotion that broke Thea's dam, she just couldn't keep them all in any more.

She hadn't cried since the funerals but she was now, with huge gasping sobs she just let go. It felt good to finally give into her emotions. It felt even better when Felicity wrapped her arms around her and let the pre-teen cry in her shoulder.

Thea told Felicity everything that cold afternoon sat on the soggy ground. She poured out her every thought and feeling and Felicity never judged she just held her and listened.

It wasn't until Thea had cried herself out that Felicity spoke again "I know you are probably sick of hearing this but the world isn't lying to you things really will get better. Not any time soon I'm afraid but one day you will be surprised to find it doesn't hurt as much as it once did" she confided in the young girl.

"Thank you Felicity" Thea said and for the first time in a long time she meant it "and I'm sorry for your losses, all of them" she added quickly.

"Thank you Thea" Felicity smiled softly and gave her one last warm hug. "If you ever need someone to talk or hang out or anything else remember I'm here for you, just call and I'll be there I promise" she assured her young friend.

A lot of people had broken a lot of promises to Thea lately and she didn't put much stock in that word anymore but she couldn't help but believe that Felicity truly meant to keep hers

***END FLASHBACK***

"I know it's not always easy to share Ollie" Thea assured her brother "particularly when you think what you are going to say is going to change the way people see you" she said with a shaky smile "but I promise you Oliver nothing you could ever tell me could make me love you any less, your my Brother and nothing will ever change that" she swore

"Thea" Oliver sighed he knew what his Sister was trying to do, she wanted to be there for him and he appreciated it but he could never tell her about the five years he was away. She thought she could handle it but he knew she couldn't. She could never know what a monster he had become, she would never forgive him the things he had done, no decent person would.

"I get it" Thea cut in "to you I will always be the twelve year old you left behind and there is no way she could bear to hear about what you have been through over the last few years" there was the tiniest trace of bitterness in her tone but Oliver couldn't blame her for that. "I can't be the person you need" she continued astounding Oliver with her insight "but you do need someone, Please Oliver you have to let someone in before your secrets eat you up inside" she was almost begging him and Oliver couldn't help but cave.

"OK" he sighed "I will find someone I can talk to" he agreed.

"I can recommend Felicity from experience" she offered in a slightly lighter tone "she's the best"

"Yeah she is but we both know I don't deserve her and it's only a matter of time before she figures that out" he says tossing Thea's own world back at her.

"I shouldn't have said that" she admitted regretfully "I was hurt and angry and it was mean of me to throw something like that in your face"

"Your right, it was mean" Oliver agreed "but you were also right, I don't deserve Felicity, I'm never going to and it is only a matter of time before she realizes it" he finished in an almost bitter tone.

"Hey don't talk like that" Thea scolded him softly. "So what if you don't deserve Felicity, neither do I but that doesn't change the fact she has chosen to keep us in her life even when it would have been easier for her to just let us go. The way I see it you can either fight as hard to stay with her as she has to keep you or you can make a clean break and walk away but you can't keep pushing and pulling her, it's not fair". Oliver hated to admit but Thea was right.

"OK" he sighed "so how do I fight to keep my best friend when she and her family have every reason to hate me?" he asked.

"You've just got to rebuild some of bridges that you burnt that's all" Thea told him encouragingly.

"Oh is that all" Oliver couldn't help but laugh "you do remember we are talking about the Lance's right, they could kill me and the SCPD would cover it up for them"

"My advice would be to start with Laurel" Thea told her Brother linking arms with him as they began to make their way back to the house, she was glad the previously sombre mood seemed to be lifting.

"She is far more forgiving than her Dad and much less likely to kill you" the brunet made her stamen sound more like a matter of fact than just her opinion. "Plus that way the two of you can work through all that messy sexual tension you have got going on and move on to the people that you were always meant to been with from the start" Thea was sounding far too worldly for Oliver's liking.

"I don't want to know how you know this stuff do I?" he questioned

"Probably not" Thea agreed with a bright, genuine smile "but seriously Ollie you have got to fix this" she added sternly "I hate seeing my two favourite people so sad" she admitted softly.

"I'll do what I can" Oliver promised and just like with Felicity all those years ago Thea was sure he meant to keep it.

Fun fact: this story has been almost three years in the making at this point and the seine between Felicity and young Thea was what started it all. That idea popped into my mind as I walked home from work one day, my walk is 2.5 miles so I had plenty of time to think about it and by the time I had reached home the other Lance girl was mostly all planned out in my head. So there you go now.

Thanks for reading, I would love to know what you think and I will be posting more next weekend.

Thanks again Millie xXx