Title- Let There Be Light
Author- Kim
Summary- What if Green Arrow responded differently when he found out about Speedy's drug addiction?
DC owns all characters.
Notes- Some quotations in the beginning are direct from the Green Lantern/ Green Arrow story "They Say It'll Kill Me But They Won't Say When" which of course belongs to DC
Part 5
Ollie leaned against the door frame watching the boy sleep, the light from outside shining through and highlighting teenagers pale face and emphasizing the dark rings that had formed under the boy's eye's, making him seem younger than his sixteen years and far more vulnerable than Ollie could have imagined. It had been two day's since they had returned from Arizona, and whilst Roy was through the most aggressive stages of withdrawal from his addiction, he was still not feeling completely well.
Dinah came up and stood near him and Ollie twisted slightly reaching back to put his arm around her and pull her to his side. She had been staying with the two of them, helping Roy to cope, providing the motherly touch that the sick boy had needed which Ollie knew he was not able to provide, not that he hadn't wanted to, but it wasn't in his nature to show the depth of feeling that Roy needed at the moment and if standing aside to let Dinah provide that nurturing touch helped Roy to cope, than that's just what he had to do.
"He's a tough little cookie isn't he?" Dinah asked, not really seeking an answer.
"Tougher than I gave him credit for...I never realized what these kids have to go through to get that crap out of their system no wonder it's so hard for them to stop." Ollie sighed and reached out to close the door.
Dinah grabbed his hand to stop him "Leave it, I don't want him waking up disoriented in the dark like he was last night, if the doors opened at least we'll hear if he wakes." she said.
Ollie sighed as he turned to walk into the living room "See Pretty Bird, thats way I'm no good at this stuff, I wouldn't have even thought about that...I never thought raising a kid would be so damned hard." he said running a hand through his hair.
Dinah walked over and put her arms around his waist, hugging him "It's not an easy job Ollie, but you've got another chance here a lot of parents faced with similar circumstances aren't so lucky, they don't get second chances just a grave and a headstone."
Ollie held her close "I just don't want to stuff this up any more than I already have." he said.
Dinah gave him another hug before breaking away and heading for the kitchen "I'm not going to let you stuff up..You're a good man Ollie, I know that and I know you never saw this coming, very few parents would have...but now it's all in the open we all need to learn from this and make sure it doesn't happen again." she said as she put water on to boil for coffee.
Ollie nodded, sighing again as he picked up the bow that he'd left on the table, he'd restrung it earlier and hadn't put it away yet...he ran his hand down the curve of the weapon, admiring the smooth feel of it on his skin.
Dinah watched smiling "Go on, I know your itching to get out there and crack some drug pushing low life heads...Get outta here."
Ollie grinned "Ya read me like a book Babe...You sure it's ok?" he asked.
Dinah nodded chuckling affectionately as Ollie kissed her quickly and dissappeared into his room to change.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roy awoke early the next morning, he was still plagued with the headache that had bothered him for the last couple of days, but he'd had the best nights sleep that he'd had in months. Stretching and sitting up he was relieved to find that the usual bout of dizziness that normally greeted him on any sudden movement seemed to have settled.
Rubbing his still watery eye's Roy stumbled into the kitchen to find Dinah already up and cooking breakfast. The smell of scrambled eggs and sausages made his stomach flip, he pushed the feeling away and sat at the table.
"Hey Boyo, your looking a little better today..Want some breakfast?" Dinah asked cheerfully.
Roy rapidly shook his head, the mere thought of eating enough to turn his stomach again.
Dinah frowned, "What about toast and a cup of tea?" she asked.
"Yeah..but just plain toast nothing on it." Roy replied, maybe, just maybe he could keep that down "Where's Ollie?" he asked.
"Still sleeping, he went out to work last night." Dinah said as she placed the cup of tea in front of him.
Roy stayed silent, and sat staring at the tea, concerned Dinah asked "You ok kiddo?"
"Yeah..I guess.." his voice trailed off and he looked away.
Dinah approached the table and sat down beside the boy "It's going to be okay you know...You've both got some work to do but it will be all right in the long run, you know that don't you?" she asked reaching out to brush a lock of red hair away from the boys eye's.
Roy shrugged "I've let him down, I wouldn't blame him if he never forgave me." he said quietly.
Before Dinah could respond Ollie approached from behind the pair, dropping something on the table with a thud. Roy stared at the objects..a mixture of joy at seeing them again and horror at knowing that Ollie now knew what he had done with the bow and quiver that lay on the table in front of him. Reaching out he tentatively picked the bow up, before turning to glance up at Ollie.
"Already forgiven." Ollie said, giving the boys shoulder a squeeze. "But when your feeling a bit better we're gonna need to have a serious talk." he added as he walked over to help himself to the breakfast Dinah had cooked.
Roy sat quietly for a moment "Yeah, I guess that's unavoidable." he whispered.
end 5