WHAT WAS MY DADDY LIKE?

Chapter 3: WILLIAM

A/N: This one takes place in my head, between 7x15 and 7x16, because I want more off-screen bonding time between William and Mia. Although I was glad that the Arrow writers did not let the angst between Felicity and Mia drag on and resolved their issue by the end of 7x16, I feel like Mia needed time and a lot of realizations based on facts before she could be able to get over her deep-seated resentment against her parents' choice to become heroes that put the safety and well-being of others before their own family's. I wanted this conversation between the siblings to help with that.

Mia's gaze shifted from her half-brother's frowning face to the micro cassette tape that he was staring at, like it meant the whole world to them. She was thinking it, but she would never admit it to him or to anyone. She really wasn't sure if she wanted to hear her mother's voice again. She missed Felicity, but she also hated her mom for more than one reason.

She did admire her mother even more for her brilliance after she and William found the obsolete tech inside the Rubik's cube. A cube in a cube in a cube. Felicity had drilled this stuff into her brain until she had memorized the trick and could do it with her eyes closed. Apparently, she wasn't the only one that her mother had forced the seemingly random trick upon; it was good to know that her half-brother had learned it, too. It was pure genius that Felicity intentionally used the very same mind game that only the two of them knew about, in order to keep whatever it was that needed to stay hidden, hidden. To the untrained eye, the Rubik's cube that William found in the dilapidated Smoak Technologies office in Star City was merely a toy. Now, however, they understood that whatever Felicity had recorded on that micro cassette tape was so confidential and sensitive that she would entrust the information only to her two children. Moreover, Felicity had also chosen to save the message using technology that was hack-proof, which was another evidence of her mother's intelligence. Nevertheless, what meant more to Mia after she and William had come back from outsmarting Felix and retrieving the mini cassette player that her brother had already paid for was this: her mom knew that the only way they could finally listen to the message on the tape was for them to work together – William's brains, which he takes after his step-mom, and her brawn, which she takes after their father. The mission demanded nothing less.

"Are you just going to stare at it all night?" Mia asked William.

"No."

"Then what are you waiting for? Just play it," she ordered her older brother. Patience was definitely not one of her virtues.

"I don't know. What are you waiting for?"

"Fine." She picked up the little cassette tape and tried to stick it into the player. But she couldn't figure out how to work the thing because she'd never had to use such an outdated piece of tech before.

"Maybe I should do it," William interrupted her, standing up and coming to stand beside her.

"It's not as easy as it looks," she protested, excusing how she was fumbling with the archaic device.

"Just give it to me," William said, taking the uncooperative item from his half-sister's hands.

It was a good thing that he had seen an answering machine from his grandparents' house all those years ago. He easily slid the tape into the casing and close it shut. Thinking about what his step-mom wanted them to hear wasn't as easy though. He hasn't heard Felicity's voice in twenty years, and he wasn't sure that he was ready for it. Mixed emotions were swirling in his chest, so he hadn't noticed that he had shared his musings out loud for Mia to hear.

"Look," she told him, "whatever she says on there, it's clear she wanted us both to hear it… together." She was too engrossed at the thought of hearing a message from her mother to notice the budding feelings of affection that were beginning to grow in her heart for her long-lost sibling, prompting her to reach out and wrap her hand around her brother's wrist. She had first learned of his existence when she discovered her mother's secret lair in the safe house in the woods. The picture of him with her mother had told her that he was someone her mother held dear just like her dad, and she had immediately surmised that the boy in the life-size picture had to be family.

Mia sighed and said, "Let's just get this over with." She pressed the play button and waited.

"William and Mia…" Felicity saying their names together in one sentence was strange yet profoundly endearing. This reality of having a sibling was starting to grow on her, and it gave her a warm, light-hearted feeling – something that she thought she'd never feel again since she left home and forged her own path in this crazy, dying city. But she pushed the feeling away, thinking it was a sign of weakness that she could not afford to show.

They listened intently to their mother's message. They knew it was really Felicity talking because the rambling was so her. Yet, three things caught their undivided attention. First was her apology. Felicity hadn't asked for their forgiveness, but she had apologized mostly for keeping each other's existence from them, for keeping the two of them apart all these years. Second was her justification for that action – which was to protect them - and her the confession that the decision to do so had been made by both their parents on the basis of love. Of course, the third detail of importance was the coordinates that Felicity was entrusting to them to pass on to the team of vigilantes that used to be Team Arrow. Mia welcomed this, because it made her refocus her mind on a mission instead of on her painful childhood and complicated family history. As for Felicity's clear-cut directive that they get out of Star City and not come looking for her, she was glad that she and William were in agreement about ignoring it altogether. Mia felt all the more drawn to her brother this way; it seemed he, too, had a rebellious streak, and she felt less alone in this life than she had in the past couple of years.

After she showed him where she believed the coordinates Felicity gave led to, they went back to her dirty, cluttered, abandoned little room in the second floor office of Max Fuller's former club, which she had made her home for the past months. She had always known that her mother knew exactly where she was, especially after she had run away from home the second time. She knew there was no place on earth she could hide in where her mother could not and would not find her. But she appreciated that Felicity had left her alone as she wished, and only contacted her through secure means only for reasons that were of utmost importance.

In her dimly lit room, Mia and William made the most of an old, uncomfortable couch and the floor in order to retire for the night. They needed to rest. Tomorrow's mission demanded that both their mind and body were in tiptop shape. Neither of them could sleep, however, and somehow they both could sense it.

Without moving from his position, William spoke without even opening his eyes. "You really did remind me of our dad back there at the market… when you were fuming over Felix. I could totally picture you in dark green leather with a hood over your head and a mask on your face. You really know how to throw a punch. Such a badass. Dad would be so proud."

"You think?" Mia asked in response. She didn't move either. She kept her tattooed arm across her face, covering her eyes.

"Yeah," William replied. "I used to think if he was ever proud of me. I couldn't kick ass like you do now. Still can't. It didn't help that I chose to live with my grandparents instead of sticking it out with him and Felicity. I've lived most of the past twenty years vacillating between regretting the choice I made and resenting them for never coming for me or that I never heard from them again."

Mia huffed and remarked, "Good to know that I wasn't the only Queen spawn with a messed up childhood."

There was silence between them for a minute, and then Mia spoke again. "What was he like? Our dad?" This time, she sat up and faced William, who turned to his side to face his sister. "I mean, you've already confirmed what Mom used to say… that he was a real hero back then. But what was he really like… as a person… as a father?"

"Oliver Queen was a gentle, caring person," William replied with certainty. There was also nostalgia in his voice that matched the small smile that formed on his lips, which all the more piqued Mia's interest. Deep down she was beginning to envy him a bit. She never had a chance to make memories with her father. She had been too young when Oliver disappeared from their lives.

William went on to say, "I could never really reconcile the fact that he scared the living daylights out of his enemies and the criminals he put behind bars, and the fact that he could be as gentle as he was to me and to Felicity and to the people he cared about. When he was mayor of Star City-"

"Wait, what?" Mia interrupted her brother. "Our dad used to be the mayor here? Get out!"

"He was," said William, "and if you ask me, he was doing a really good job at it. I never really understood what drove him to confess publicly that he was the Green Arrow. He explained to me that he was willing to go to prison to make sure that Felicity and the entire team would be free to live their lives. The deal he made with the Feds was supposed to keep us safe from a guy named Diaz, but… that's a long story that I've never enjoyed telling. So, going back to what I was saying…"

Mia chuckled, breaking his train of thought.

"What?"

"I find it completely amusing that you are not actually biologically related to Felicity Smoak, because you babble exactly like her," Mia told him, laughing mildly in an attempt to tease. "Anyways, you were saying…?"

William simply shook his head and then picked up where he had left off. "I was saying that our dad was actually a very loving and caring person. I remember him being touchy-feely, actually. He wasn't like that with just me; I saw him like that with Felicity, too. He loved to hug her. He liked to give me a pat on the back or rest his hand on my shoulder. Simple gestures, but they meant a lot. He also liked to show how much he cared by doing little things for them, things that might not mean much to an average person, like… like cooking for them. He was really fantastic in the kitchen."

"Can't say the same about Mom."

"I won't argue with you on that," he said. "Dad used to make those terrific snacks that Felicity and I loved, especially when we were staying up late doing homework."

"Monte Cristos! I loved those sandwiches."

"Oh… So Felicity did learn how to make those eventually."

"Guess she did. She's probably not as helpless in the kitchen as she used to be. I mean, I never went hungry growing up. I hated the fact that she lied to me about certain things, even if she only meant to protect me, but she…" Mia paused, contemplating whether or not she should reveal her innermost feelings about her mother. After a brief moment, she ended up saying something that was kind of cathartic, not realizing that she had said it out loud. "She has always been a… pretty good mother."

"I know what you mean. Felicity had been there for me during the toughest time in my life," William said.

"When my real mom died on that island, I had a really rough time. I was scared, scared of what the future had in store without her. Suddenly I had to live with a father I barely knew. There were so many drastic changes happening in my life. It was a crazy time. Dad was patient with me… even when I blamed him for many things, which I knew were beyond his control. He gave me the time and space I needed, though, and eventually, I came around. I even reached a point when I hated that he had to put on a mask and fight to save the city, because it took away the normalcy of my childhood. I was barely a teenager, but I had already been kidnapped more than once. Later on, I realized what it meant to have a hero for a father."

William looked at Mia, who was quietly staring at some random hole on the torn-down couch. He knew she was trying to make sense of the things he was saying, but he wasn't sure whether or not she agreed with his sentiments.

"And what did it mean for you?" Mia asked, staring straight into his eyes.

William's response was quick and confident. "It meant having to share him with others who needed the kind of protection that he could help provide. It meant believing that after every dangerous mission where he put his life on the line for others, he would come home alive. It meant accepting that I wouldn't have the normal life that every other kid had. Because I wasn't like any other kid. Because my father wasn't like any other dad. My dad was a hero." William dropped his gaze. With sadness in his eyes, he finished what he wanted to say. "I'm just… sorry… that I never got a second chance to tell him how proud I was of being the Green Arrow's son."

Mia decided that she had heard enough for one night. Her heart couldn't take any more of these heart-warming tales. She was an undefeated cage-fighting champion; she didn't need to get these warm-fuzzy feelings to make her feel better. She thought she was doing just fine on her own dark, lonely path. She hadn't intended to become vulnerable to her half-brother, but she had been, and she thought she had made a mistake. She was fighting the urge to care about the eye-opening things that William was saying, because those same things were beginning to prove her wrong.

"We have a long day tomorrow. We should get some sleep," Mia told William, without acknowledging a word of what he'd just said. She lay down on the floor and turned her back against him.

"Good night, Mia."

"Yeah."

A/N: What did you think of this chapter? The next chapter takes place after 7x16. It will focus on Mia and Connor's relationship, but it will still tackle the main question of this fic.