Chapter 3 - And here I thought you are a gentleman

As he crossed the short distance between where he had parked his bike to Big Belly Burger he couldn't help but think back to the first time they had met in that exact same spot to discuss Walter's notebook. Whereas then Oliver had been the first to arrive and choose a place to sit with maximum view over the whole burger joint, this time Felicity had arrived before him, and by the looks of the empty plate in front of her, well before him.

He sat down opposite from Felicity, who shoved the last two fries into her mouth. "I hope it's okay I already ordered," and ate, Oliver thought to himself, but kept the pleasant smile on his face anyway, no need to anger the pregnant lady, even he knew one shouldn't do that, "but I was starving," she said by way of explanation, after having swallowed the last piece of her meal. "But in my defense, they weren't kidding about that whole eating for two thing." She neatly stacked her empty plates and pushed them to the side to have enough space for her milkshake.

Oliver shook his head in disbelieve. How could someone as tiny as Felicity eat all that? "It's really not a problem, Felicity." He eyed the empty burger plate. "No Big Belly Buster today?" Normally the onion always got to be too much for her and she put them on the plate, but not today.

Felicity sighed and put her hands on her belly. "No Big Belly Buster for me in the foreseeable future." She shrugged her shoulders. "Apparently you shouldn't eat too spicy or too belly busting during pregnancy. Fun times ahead."

When Oliver just continued blinking at her confusedly, she gave in to her need to babble in the face of silence. "Seriously, I read all those articles, and let me tell you, some of the stuff…" She waved her hands as if to say, I'm surely not going to tell you all about in relieve the horrors that are internet birth stories, thank you very much. "I'm still surprised that women nowadays voluntarily want to have a baby," she paused, "or more than one." She shuddered involuntarily and a smile played on Oliver's lips. "Honestly, there was this woman, and thinking about it makes me rethink that whole having a baby thing, because-" Felicity looked up and stopped gesturing with her hands. "Why are you smiling like that?" She leaned forward and put a hand to his forehead, as if to measure his temperature. "Are you sick? Do I need to call Dig?"

He playfully batted her hand away just in time for Carly to get their order. "Can I get your order?" she asked, smiling at the pair in front of her, wondering if she had to up her wager with Diggle, about when they'd finally get their act together.

"The usual, please," Oliver said, not bothering to look at the menu. By now all of Team Arrow, not that they called themselves that, only Felicity, Roy and Diggle did, knew the menu by heart.

"With extra fries," Felicity added.

"With extra fries," Oliver told Carly.

"And a milkshake."

"And a milkshake."

"Chocolate," Felicity made sure Carly knew.

Carly shook her head. That boy was smitten and he probably didn't even realize. "Anything else?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow, looking at Felicity questioningly. He only wanted hi usual, she had decided to divert from the norm.

She grinned sheepishly. "I think I'm good for now."

For now. Who know how long her hunger would be sated with the extra fries and the second milkshake they had ordered. Probably not long, judging by the loud growl coming from her stomach.

She mustered him suspiciously. "You are still looking at me like that." This time she restrained herself and didn't touch him. No need to tap against his forehead with her fingers. At least not in public. She still had some dignity left. Some. They'd see how long that lasted. "What's going on in that stubborn head of yours?"

He chuckled under his breath. "You are calling me stubborn?" Only her.

"Well, it's the truth." Oh the headaches he had given Diggle and her over the years… "I bet you could put your head through the wall without hurting yourself because you are so hardheaded."

"Actually…" he started.

"Please don't tell me that actually happened." Her eyes went wide behind her frames. "You are kidding, right?"

Again he chuckled."Yes, I'm kidding, Felicity." The things she did to him… and the things she could do to him if he wasn't careful. He took a deep, sobering breath. No need to let himself be distracted by her colorful personality. At least not more than he already was. "Now, how about you tell me why we are here?"

"Oh, yes, of course." She started rummaging around in her seemingly bottomless purse. "Now, we are here because I was hungry-"

"I can see that," he couldn't help but cut her off.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't interrupt, Mister. I was hungry and Big Belly Burger is the only thing the baby apparently likes enough not to send me praying to the porcelain Gods." Whenever she found herself - yet again - on the knees in front of her toilet, or the other day, embarrassingly enough, in front of the foundry toilet within earshot of Roy, who would never let her live that down, she prayed that the not-so-morning-sickness would soon stop, seeing as she was past the 12th week of pregnancy.

She had finally found her tablet in the depth of her purse. "Now, remember how you were all vague talking about wanting Thea to come home without actually asking me to track her down?"

"Yes."

"Well, I just did what you didn't really ask me to do." Because of course he couldn't just ask her to do it. It had been painful to watch, really, at least according to Diggle and Roy, the resident experts in watching their two friends talk to each other, but not really, more likely talking about unimportant things while hoping they conveyed enough subtext to discuss the important things. Like finding Thea. He hadn't outright asked her to help him, but rather talked about the importance of family and how he wanted her to come home.

"I tracked her down for you," she said softly, not wanting to spook the proverbial deer.

He took a deep breath, his face serious. "You found her?" As if he didn't want himself to hope.

"Why do you always sound so surprised? It's not like Thea is some kind of genius computer wizard who can hide her trail very well." Not that they knew of, at least.

"So you found her?" he asked again, needing to be sure, needing to hear the words, Felicity realized.

"Oh, yes. Yes."

Before she could explain further, Carly arrived with their food. And while Oliver didn't touch his, Felicity distracted herself with her fries for a minute. "You probably won't like what I'm about to tell you next."

"What is it?" he asked and for once not rubbing the tips of his fingers together, but rubbing his hands against his thighs nervously.

Felicity set her second milkshake down and finally explained. "She was never in Europe. The whole time she's been on Corto Maltese."

"Corto Maltese?" Oliver echoed unintelligently.

Felicity rolled her eyes and opened an app on her tablet. "Yeah, smallish island off the coast of-"

Again Oliver interrupted her.

"I know where Corto Maltese is. We used to have a beach house there."

And Felicity felt the need to roll her eyes again. "Of course you did." Billionaires. More money than was good for them. Who needed a beach house in Corto Maltese? "Now that makes sense."

"So, Corto Maltese," he tried to get her back on track, seeing as she was busy with her tablet.

"Yeah. As far as I was able to find out, she's working at a café there." She handed her precious tablet to him, mindful that he hadn't yet started eating and therefore wouldn't grease up her precious piece of tech. "I pulled this off of a surveillance camera," she explained.

Oliver traced the picture on the screen with his finger. "She looks happy."

"She does," Felicity confirmed with an indulgent smile. "And she's totally rocking that bob."

Oliver stared at her.

"What, I'm just saying," she defended herself. Just because Oliver had no sense of style when it came to his hair, oh yes, she had seen enough pictures of Ollie to last a live time, didn't mean that everybody else also didn't.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet." She heaved a deep sigh. "You haven't heard all of it yet." Why couldn't things be simple for once? Just once. They deserved to catch a break every once in a while. After the thing with the Undertaking, then Slade…

"What else is there?" He tiredly rubbed his hands over his face.

"So," Felicity started gently, "seeing as your family had a house there it's not too far fetched to think that a certain former family friend turned assassin turned terrorist has some assets there as well."

"Merlyn," he groaned.

"Yeah. I haven't been able to trace him there, but that doesn't mean anything." Felicity worried her lower lip between her teeth, seemingly disappointed in herself that she hadn't been able to find anything to proof her suspicions.

"So she could be there with Merlyn," Oliver voiced her suspicion and probably his greatest fear.

"I'm sorry." She reached across, taking his hand, trying to give him some comfort. "That's not what you wanted to hear." She really hated being the bearer of bad, or semi-bad news.

"At least now I know where she is." For once in his life Oliver decided it was best seeing the glass as half full.

"What are you going to do?" Felicity asked after minutes of silence in which Oliver had only picked at his food (and she had stolen maybe one or two fries. Or six.)

He stared out of the window, silently chewing and mulling over the possible solutions in his brain.

"I'll go there," he finally decided.

"Want a piece of advice?" Felicity asked, pushing the empty milkshake glass out of the way and so she could lean forward with the elbows on the table and not having to worry about her hair meeting the milkshake.

Oliver mimicked her position, pushing the remaining fries in her direction. "Do I have a choice?"

"Well, no."

Of course he didn't. Stupid question. When had she not told him what she thought he should do. (And when had she not been right?) Probably never. (On both accounts, not that he'd ever tell her that, not even under the threat of torture.)

Looking around the room, making sure that nobody was listening to them, she said, "Tell her about your little secret."

He didn't outright refuse her suggestion. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" But he didn't accept it, either. Felicity - and Diggle and Roy, and whoever else you asked - was most certainly right about him being more stubborn than was good for himself.

Again she took his hand in hers, drawing his attention back to her. "Oliver, what was the reason she left? The reason she was so angry with you?"

"I…" He took a deep breath and looked away again. Another topic he wasn't too fond of talking about. "She didn't like being lied to." And wasn't that just ironic? "She was angry because we kept things from her." He should have listened when the tiny voice in his head he usually refused to listen to, told him that it was probably the right thing to do, to tell her. "But it was for her best." At least that was what his mother thought. What he thought. And look at where that got them. His mother was dead and Thea was in Corto Maltese, worst case scenario with Malcom fucking Merlyn.

"Oliver, you didn't just keep from her that you once forgot to buy your mom flowers for mother's day, you kept something important from her, something that concerned her," she implored, making sure to look him straight in the eyes. "It doesn't matter if you thought it was in her best interest, some things shouldn't be kept from the people it concerns."

He remained silent, but broke eye contact, something that showed Felicity that he probably understood her reasoning. He'd better, if he knew what was good for him. There was no telling what how angry of a tech person she'd become if her dearest vigilante refused to listen to her, again.

"She is the only blood relative you have left." That should count for something. "You miss her." Despite how much he tried to hide it, not only Diggle had noticed him checking his phone seemingly every five minutes in the hope that Thea finally told him she'd come home. "What are you so afraid of?"

He pulled his hand away from her. "I killed people, Felicity. As the Arrow, the Hood, before that…" He didn't need to look at her for her to see how much self loathing there still was in him and would probably always be.

But she wouldn't be Felicity if she let him get away with it. "She is your sister, Oliver." Granted, she didn't have any siblings, but wasn't that how it worked? "She loves you." Even behind the angry veneer you could see that. "I'm sure she's smart enough to understand why you did it." At least Felicity hoped it was the truth. Nevertheless she implored once again, "But she can only do that if you tell her."

She let him digest all of that, letting him look out of the window, watching the people passing by, not knowing that the vigilante watching over them at night sometimes needed someone to watch over him and his feelings as well.

"I am not saying you have to bare your soul to her, but, maybe, think about letting her in on the big green secret."

Gathering the last of her resolve and trying to just take the chance, she added, "Not only for your sake, but Roy's as well."

With that he looked at her again, nodding slightly.

"Any more unsolicited advice?"

"Oh, yes, plenty." Not all was well, but maybe they were on the right track.

"Think about taking Roy with you." Oliver grimaced. "Oh, no," Felicity chided. "Think about it before you flat out refuse." Seriously, why would he never think about a decision and looking at it from every point of view. "Even as Thea's older brother you have to realize that he really loves her." He grimaced again. "And it wasn't one sided." A frown appeared on his face. "Your secrets not only influenced your relationship with Thea but his also." And finally he sighed again, so she knew she had probably convinced him. Hopefully. "And he's taking it really hard, even if he tries not to let it show and would probably kill me if you tell him I told you that." No really, but… "Take him with you."

Oliver leaned back, silently seizing her up. "When did you get so wise?"

Ah, they were back on lighter topics. Ish. "Oh, you know, motherhood changes lots of things." Lots and lots. "Now, most importantly, do you still want some of those fries or can I have them?"

"Help yourself."

She didn't need to be told twice and withing record breaking time the last few fries had found their end.

They stayed a bit longer, even after Felicity had finished the fries, enjoying just talking to each other, about everything and nothing, no life or death situation.

"You know that I would have told you and Dig if there had been a serious relationship, right?", Felicity just wanted to be sure that he knew that.

"I mean, Roy only found out by accident and because he can be a pest," she felt the need to explain herself, again, this time to Oliver, not trusting Diggle to pass on everything she told him. "I didn't mean to keep anything from you, but there really wasn't much to tell and I don't think that you or Diggle want to think about how I spent my nights after we've finished with our little side business and-"

He finally interrupted her, really not wanting to hear were her ramble would take her. "Felicity, it's alright. I know," he assured her. "As long as you know that you can talk to me, Dig or Roy if there is anything bothering you, or if you need to talk about your day." He smiled at her. "You are entitled to not having to share everything. We all have things in our lives we rather not talk about."

"Oh, you sound very grown up now," she couldn't help but tease. "I'm impressed."

"Well, even I can grow as a person every now and then." He winked at her and her heart might have or might have not skipped a beat or two.

"There might still be hope for you after all."

"Come on, let's go before they run out of fries."

For that she punched his arm with all her might. "And here I thought you were a gentleman!"

And because he was a gentleman at heart, and on accord of slowly getting control over Queen Consolidated back he also paid their bill.

"Oliver?" She stopped on the way to her car.

"Hm?"

"You know that, all joking aside, I think you are a good person? A good man?" He refused to look at her. Apparently the cracks in the pavement were more interesting than her. "And I understand if you don't want to talk about your past even if it were so much less frustrating if you shared vital information with us, your team, before it came back to bite us in the ass." Yeah, despite all her best intentions and understand why it wasn't easy for him to do so, she sometimes couldn't help but think about how much less dangerous some of their adventures would be, if he just learned to open up and warn them in time. "But if you ever want to talk about something, your day, or, I don't know", she shrugged her shoulders, "want to gloat about kicking Dig's ass in training", that finally got him so smile, probably remembering a specific incident, "or if something's bothering you, my door is always open?"

"I know," he told her. "Thank you."