I do not own Arrow or Mutant X but wanted to get them to play nice together.
AN: much faster update this time thanks to tealrose as we shared writing this chapter. Tealrose took on Thea and I wrote Oliver and we shared all other characters. I hope you all enjoy. I have the main outline of what's going to happen from now until the finish and plans for a sequel. Hello and thank you to all of the new followers and those that favourite and a special thanks to everyone that reviewed.
AN2: So those of you that read the last chapter 18 well the first part is exactly the same BUT where I left of to start the next chapter my muse decided I wasn't finished so I've added it in here please read and thank you all for hanging in there everything will be slow up to xmas as I am making orders for people.
Chapter 18 - Secrets Out
Oliver didn't know when he had drifted to sleep or how long he had been asleep but he was startled awake by the sound of Thea's voice.
"So, you are the Arrow. Why did you lie to me? Where did you learn to do all that, cause I sure as hell know you were nothing like that when you left!" Even though she was glad that her brother was there, and that Felicity was safe, she really needed to know. It angered her that her brother, whom she had looked up to for so long, had left, died, come back, changed drastically, and kept such a huge secret from her - had never told her. That, and now that she had these somehow superpowers, it was too much. She really needed to get some of it resolved. She was not going to let him keep her in the dark anymore.
Oliver released Felicity's hand to rub it over his eyes. It brought him some thinking time. He had completely forgotten about getting changed and now he was busted by not only his sister but a gifted lie detector. Raking his fingers over his eyes he sat back in the chair taking Felicity's hand then looking at Thea he met her eyes briefly then looked down at his and Felicity's joined hands. "Yes." Was all he answered. He didn't want to lie to his sister but he was only just believing he could reveal his story to Felicity.
"Yes? Thats it?" Thea was flabbergasted, but really, she mused, reminding herself that he had just woken up, too - not to mention what ever had happened to get Felicity back. Stopping herself from saying something she shouldn't, she muttered, "Could really use some coffee," and Oliver chuckled, as she never was cheerful when first waking up.
"I don't think caffeine is a good idea. Adam mentioned you had increased brain activity and something to do with you passing out. I'm not sure caffeine will help. It might explain a few things about you Speedy." Oliver's voice broke slightly on his nickname for Thea. He loves her dearly and hates himself for lying to her but he's gotten so good at it that telling the truth seemed impossibly hard. "Felicity will be okay." He tactfully changed the conversation subject and attempted to distract his own thoughts.
Thea couldn't help it, she pouted; the thought of no coffee made her feel petulant, and to have her favorite morning beverage suddenly taken away from her just...oh so wrong! And yet she could see the truth and safety in both his and Adam's act of taking it away from her.
She too was nervous about this new ability, even if it was super cool. Now she understood why she had always been so passionate about someone lying to her, or glad when someone was honest with her. It still hurt, though, to realize that her own brother was unsure of how to speak with her about all of this. Suddenly she stilled as another thought hit her, and it scared her. "Oliver, is what Malcolm Merlyn said true? Did our dad, I mean, your dad know I was not his daughter? Am I his daughter? Could Adam do a blood test to check both of us?" Thea had too many more thoughts hitting her, and she was now scared; who was she?
Oliver's shoulders slumped in all the events he had almost forgotten that little detail, Thea was his half sister. He raised his head and eyes to meet hers, he could see hurt and insecurity there and it broke his heart. "I don't know if dad knew but I know he loved you. You are Merlyn's biological daughter but our dad raised us and loved us." He replied as honest as he knew. He loved Thea as his full sister nothing had changed in his mind except he was more scared than he'd ever admit to of losing her. He reluctantly released Felicity's hand and moved closer to Thea's side, kneeling on the floor and taking her hand in both of his. "I love you, you're my sister I'm... I'm sorry that I haven't been completely truthful in the past." He let his love and fear enter his voice hoping Thea heard it and understood it was as close as he would get to opening up at least for now.
Thea closed her eyes; she could feel his truth, even though she also could tell he was scared to tell her more. Not in the way of another part of her ability, but because she could tell by looking into his eyes. Those eyes she had looked up to for all these years showed more pain and agony than she could even imagine. Pain and agony that had made him into what he now was - in just five years. Just by looking into his eyes, she was no longer certain she wanted to know everything that had happened to him. She remembered back the day she had walked into his bedroom and saw the plethora of scars. She had to fight back a shudder, not wanting him to think she was afraid of him. She knew what she needed to she opened her eyes again to gaze into her brothers shattered ones, and looked past the Arrow, past the pain. In those eyes, she found her brother still there, begging him to love her as he was. Sighing, she smiled, "I love you, Oliver, my brother. Now, please, tell me, what happened to Felicity, and what is happening in this city, and how can I help?"
Oliver felt relief flood through him and his body leapt forward pulling Thea into a huge bear hug. He really had believed he'd lose her if not from the truth of her parentage from his alter ego, thankfully she seemed to have forgiven all the lies and looked past it. One lone tear streaked down his cheek, the first time he had cried since the island.
As he pulled back from the hug he skillfully raked his hands over his face in a sign of his exhaustion, really he was removing the evidence of his tear. Remaining on his knees between the two most important women in his life he stared lovingly at Felicity. "I wasn't alone on the island, I made allies and enemies while trying to survive. One allie became my enemy and I thought I had stopped him." Oliver paused before finishing, he hesitated with the word kill on his tongue not wanting to admit his murderous past to Thea even though she now knew. He took her hand and Felicity's in his grounding him to the present from the past. "He had vowed to destroy all that I loved blaming me for something that had happened. He made himself known a few weeks ago, Slade Wilson took Felicity and he wants to hurt everyone I love and care for. I thought he had you too, we, Felicity uncovered emails from him to Isabel Rochev detailing a plan to kidnap you and take the company."
"Isabel Rochev, the b**** who has been trying to take over dad's company? Do you think she will try to take all of our assets, including my, I mean our club?" Thea was incense; to think that they may have everything that her family had worked so hard for, and now this! She had been loving working the club; it had given her a new respect for the clubs she had been in when she had clubbed, and because she also knew the tricks she had used to sneak things in. That had helped to keep drugs and other things out so they would not get shut down. Now she was worried. "Ollie, what else is wrong? Is something wrong with the company, with our inheritances? Do we have enough money?" Damn it all, she used to never care about what or how much money she had, and now she realized that all of her spending may have cost them, as well as all of her shenanigans as a teen. She was scared now; would they have to sell the family home? But then, it was so huge...but wait, what about their art and other collectibles, could they auction them off? They were expensive! She voiced this to Oliver.
"It'll be fine Thea we will all get through this. As soon as I know Felicity is okay I'll sort out Isabel and the company." Oliver moved back onto the chair and dug his mobile from his jacket pocket. The screen illuminated showing him it was tuesday afternoon. No calls had come through which Oliver thought was a little strange, he had a board meeting with Isabel booked for the morning surely she would have rung angry that he had blown it off. There was a knock at the door Oliver swivelled in the chair and stood heading over to open it.
He was greeted with Adam, Roy and Diggle. "We thought you might like the privacy but I need to check Thea over and we have lunch for you both." Adam revealed their presence. Oliver stepped back from the door opening it wider and allowing the 3 men to enter the room. Adam and Roy went to Thea's side while Diggle hung back and spoke to Oliver. "How is she?" He asked motioning his head towards Felicity. "She'll pull through according to Adam but I'm waiting for her to wake. I just need her to wake up." Oliver answered. "She will, she's a fighter." Diggle tried to comfort Oliver he rested his hand on his shoulder. "How are you?" Oliver replied with a question changing the subject. "Fine the last aches now." Both men turned to watch the commotion taking place around Thea's bed.
Roy gently kept hold of Thea's hand, half afraid that the anger that he was fighting to control would take over and hurt her. She squeezed his hand, grateful that he was there as Adam, at least, she thought she remembered his name right, checked her vitals. Adam questioned her, "How is your head feeling, Thea, any lasting dizziness, coldness, strange sensations?" Thea only shook her head as she watched everyone around her; Roy especially. He was jumpier than usual, and his grip on her hand was strange. "What is wrong, Roy? Please, something is bothering you; I can tell you are scared about something!" She tried to ask softly but her fears were again getting away from her as she watched him physically flinch and pull his hand away. "I'm afraid I will hurt you, Thea...I've been injected with something called Mirakuru that is hard to control, and it...well, it affects my temper I'm constantly angry. It enhanced my strength, and its hard to not destroy what I touch. Shalimar from Mutant X here is trying to help me focus to keep it back, but it's going to take time. Adam is working on developing a cure for me." Thea listened, aghast at what her boyfriend had been hiding from her. She remembered when he had disappeared, but had not expected that!
Thea turned to the other's, "How bad is this stuff?" Oliver's face darkened; it was just like when she had first seen him after he had returned home. Even Diggle closed his eyes at her question. Adam was the one to speak, "It is bad I won't lie. I am currently analysing samples taken from Slade directly I am close to identifying the damaged DNA and rewriting the new code which should alleviate the adverse effects of the serum. Thea nodded at this, almost afraid of what else they had not told her about what was happening with Roy. Hell, she was scared, period, and fought to hide it.
Emma entered, carrying a tray of food, and set it down next to her bed, and shooed the rest from the room. "Ok, men, out, go do guy stuff, girl talk needed here!"
Adam was first to leave followed by Diggle and more reluctantly Roy after his parting message to Thea, "I'll go sort the club out, Sara is doing extra hours to help. I will see you after closing." Oliver stood in Arrow protective mode refusing to leave, he made to get closer to Felicity but Emma put a stop to his advances, "Go take a shower and change, there is lunch in the chill out room for you. Have a break, any changes I'll call straight away." Emma ordered. Oliver considered challenging her but as he prepared to argue the pulsating light appeared on Emma's forehead. "Leave on your own accord or I will have to force you to go." She threatened. Feeling intimidated by the knowledge of what Emma's new mutancy power is he left the room and headed to the chill out room.
With the men gone, Emma internally sighed as all she had to block eased away from her. Thea could not help but stare at what she had seen on Emma's forehead, and Emma chuckled, "Yeah, took me a while to get used to it; I actually freaked out each time I looked in a mirror for a while, wondering when it was going to stop; you should have seen me when it started!" Thea grinned at this, stating jokingly, "Yeah, think I'll keep my hot and cold spells; that would freak me out too." The two young women grinned for a bit, then Thea sobered. "So, you can read minds and emotions? Could you tell me about..." Thea was halted by Emma's stern look. "I'm an empath so just emotions. As much as I understand that you want to know more about your brother, and what happened to him, I can't and won't do that to him. He is..." Emma hesitated, and then added, "He does not trust us fully, and I understand why. However, I cannot tell you even the reason for that loss of trust. You must wait for him to be able to tell you, as it is his story to tell, and no one else's."
Thea closed her eyes, wondering if her brother even trusted her, as the things she had said and done since he had come home had been to hurt him. She had wanted for him to feel as she had when he had gone, and yet she had had their mother - well, mostly. He had had absolutely no one. Turning her head and looking at Felicity, she asked Emma, "Does he love her? Will she be good for him? Is she, ah, one of you?" At these questions, Emma grinned, then stated, "The two of them need to work that out on their own; as to the last question, yes, she is a telecybernetic, she can transfer her conscious into digital technology. It is what helped us to find her, as she basically wi-fied her own consciousness to us momentarily for us to track." Thea gasped in amazement, staring at Felicity and giggled, "Oh, now that sounds like fun, to search the web in your own mind! Shopping in my own mind!"
A groggy voice interrupted the two of them, and Felicity, with her eyes still closed, muttered, "Not when it gives you a headache that is still not wanting to go away, but then it could just be from the pain that is coming back," she sighed, still feeling exhausted. Emma muttered Adam's name. Thea quickly set the food she had barely touched to the side and went to Felicity's side. Grasping her hand, Thea stated, "Wish I had a healing ability, then you wouldn't be hurting at all." Emma quickly charged a hit on her forehead and released it at Felicity, the blonde woman sighed again, this time in relief. "Thanks," she murmured, and fell back to sleep. Thea turned to Emma, who smiled, affirming, "Yeah, I can influence emotion, but I can't do so forever. Her body needs the rest to heal faster, and drugs are slower acting." Thea cocked her head at her new friend, thoughtful, then asked, "Could you block other things, like rage? Like for Roy?"
Emma received a reply from Adam, Felicity's vitals were stable and he would be by shortly. At Thea's latest train of thought Emma felt sorrowful, "I could help short term but his condition is very complex, Adam will devise a long term solution for him. You however are more of an immediate help to him, he cares a lot for you and you ground him."
The men and Shalimar were all in the chill out room sat on the floor around the coffee table filled with trays of food. Adam had been explaining his findings from Slade's DNA samples. "I think the key trigger in activating the serum is death and revival however that is fundamentally flawed. Death causes brain damage which is the major factor in the cause of the rage instability. The Mirakuru works by repairing what's there but if it's firstly activated with a damaged system it keeps the system like that. To reverse the adverse effects I need the original DNA code of both you Roy and Slade."
After a few moments to process Adam's words Roy spoke up first, "I used to get in trouble with the police and one time they booked me I had a hair sample and cheek swab done. Would that be any use?" "Fantastic!" Adam excitedly cheered. "I'll get right on it we have access to the police department databases."
Oliver let the conversation go quiet again slowly picking at his food. He had changed before eating, Brennan had loaned him some jeans and a vest top, although baggy he was a little relieved to be out of his leathers he felt a little ashamed now Thea knew his secret and the darkness it held. "Slade was Australian and deployed on Lian Yu by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service." Before Adam could answer Jesse jumped in, "It's worth a shot, military organisations don't usually keep DNA but I can dig around."
The group fell into companionable silence while they continued and finished eating. Adam excused himself first disappearing towards the lab. The rest of the group broke up to go their separate ways. Roy headed out to the club to open up and fill Sara in. Jesse went to track down Roy and Slade's old DNA samples. Shalimar eventually convinced Oliver to do some sparring before returning to Felicity's side. Diggle and Brennan followed to join in.
A few hours had passed since Thea woke. Adam had visited briefly to check on Felicity and afterwards he and Emma left. She decided that lying and sitting around was too boring and went in search of Ollie, surprised that he hadn't rushed back to Felicity.
As she slipped out the room she could see into the lab and Adam hunched over a microscope. Deciding to go left she ventured down the corridor. A few paces she noticed that the corridor was getting noisy, it sounded like people grunting and loud thudding. Thea picked up her pace for a few more steps until she found herself in the doorway to a huge hall. Inside she couldn't believe her eyes.
Her brother was dueling with a blonde woman, a tall dark haired man and his bodyguard Mr Diggle. He was holding his own against the men but the woman managed to land hits to him. Watching the woman take her brother down to his knees struck a protective nerve in her and she was about to dive into the room when she noticed her brother was shirtless. He appeared comfortable with his state of undress unlike the time she walked in on him after he returned home. The marks his skin bore made bile rise in Thea's throat imagining what could have caused them. Then she noticed the brighter pink ones and horror struck as she realised they were more recent and from his time being the Arrow. Mom shot the Arrow in her office before the Glades was destroyed, she thought, a shocked gasp left her mouth before she could clamp down on it.
Oliver spun to face his back at Dig before using his arm to throw him over onto the floor. Next he sought out Brennan and exchanged jabs before he placed a solid hit to his abdomen causing Brennan to stumble backwards clutching the area. Before he could engage Shalimar a sound caught his attention and turning towards the source he saw Thea in the doorway, horrified look on her face. He instantly froze worried about his appearance and the effect it was having on his sister. Uncharacteristically his mind forgot about the current fight and before he could make a move towards his distressed sibling he was on his back with Shalimar stood over him and her foot on his chest. "Totally beat you again." She triumphantly jeered.
Oliver only had one thing on his mind and brushing aside Shalimar's leg he rolled up to sit and continued until he was standing and went straight to Thea. Just inside the doorway was his shirt which he grabbed and started to dress.
Thea didn't want him to hide, she had never seen him fight and the natural confidence he had compared to now as he was hurriedly trying to dress. She threw herself forward and hugged her brother tightly letting her fear and love for him pour into it. He had been through so much and she selfishly had been unruly and ignorant of it to gain attention for herself. "I'm sorry." She whispered.
Just as Oliver slid his head into the shirt hole he felt something hit his front and wrap around him tightly clinging as though life depended on it. As he pulled his head through and looked down he saw Thea's hair and heard her whisper 'I'm sorry'. He wrapped his arms around Thea hugging her back, confused at her behaviour. "You have nothing to be sorry for." He replied.
Thea looked up into his eyes, "I was selfish when you came home I resented you for hurting me by dying and I lashed out by rebelling. I should have been happy you came home, I hated you being secretive over your scars and time away instead I should have been proud you fought so hard to survive and come home. Please don't hide from me anymore I am proud you're the Arrow and fight to save the City. Your fighting is totally kickass." She explained how she felt ending on a lighter note.
Oliver was completely taken aback, his little sister really was so grown up, a young woman. Words completely escaped him so he did the next best thing he could and removed his shirt before hugging her once more. He heard the others in the room moving around and made a snap shot decision. "Let me just shower and we can sit down and talk some more." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Okay." She replied.
Breaking away he turned Thea to meet the others in the room who had resumed fighting each other. "Hey." He shouted up grabbing everyone's attention. When they stopped to look over he introduced Shalimar and Brennan to Thea. "I'm just going to go shower." He informed. "No worries, we can entertain Thea for a while." Shalimar replied with a wicked smirk and a flash of her eyes. Thea took a sharp breath at the display. "Don't worry honey, I'm a Feral new mutant. I won't hurt you I'm very protective of family and friends." Shalimar cooed sensing Thea's fright at her display. "Don't worry Thea she jumped of a building headfirst to show off to me." Oliver quipped back. Scoffing Brennan joined in, " Yeah you should have heard him scream like a little girl." Thea giggled almost uncontrollably at the image. "Seriously she's just found out I'm the Arrow and you say that. I have street cred I got to live up to." Oliver replied mocking hurt and gangster bravado to encourage Thea's laughter. It brightened his darkness to hear those closest to him genuinely laugh he really needed to lighten up more especially for his sister, it felt good.
"You need to leave before you do any more damage to your 'street cred' honestly a big bad vigilante if I hadn't seen it I sure as hell would never believe it." Thea joked back gently pushing Oliver towards the door. "Alright alright I'm going." And he exited the hall.
Half an hour later Oliver found himself standing watching Thea with Shalimar copying her movements. The very same movements he and Roy had learnt not that long ago.
Oliver was startled from his thoughts by a distressed sounding Diggle. "Come on man!" Looking to the left of the hall he witnessed Brennan flying towards a hoop with a basketball in one hand and the other lying at his side emitting a blue glowing beam.
"Whoa! You can fly!" Thea screeched excitedly her focus completely forgotten as she stared wide eyed at Brennan. The blue glow vanished as Brennan went to dunk the ball in the hoop and gracefully he landed at the foot of the goal. "I win." He boomed turning to face the room. "Nah you cheated it was an even match." Diggle argued. Brennan scoffed, "What can I say I got the gift." Diggle tutted but had a bright smile on his face. He enjoyed this team, he understands being in the crime fighting vigilante game wasn't any joking matter but they seemed to be so relaxed and fun with their training and downtime compared to Oliver it was refreshing.
Looking at Thea he answered her observation, "Yes but it's not really flying, my mutancy is Elemental based I can create and control electricity. Watch this." Brennan passed his hands over the other in front of himself and created a charge within the space between his palms. It arcked and sparked about between fingers and as he stretched his hands apart the electricity grew. It made a mesmerising display that had all entranced. The gap grew until his arms were full outstretched then in a fast movement Brennan brought his hands together cancelling the electric current.
"Wow." Was all that Thea could manage to say to the amazing display. Shalimar's giggling could be heard, "Show off you think you're such a ladies man." "It got your attention." He shot back as he brought his cupped together hands to his mouth and when they reached his lips they parted slightly and he blew. Out of the small gap emerged beautiful sparkling blue dust. Thea was never really the fairies type of girl but that sure as hell made her inner child do back flips.
Shalimar gracefully prowled up to Brennan's side and wrapped herself around him. "Thanks for the show." Thea finally found her voice, "That is such an awesome power. I feel like I've jumped into the X-men comics." "Different state." Was the reply that she got from Brennan that confused her but before she could ask her brother spoke. "Come on Speedy before I change my mind." He half joked.
"I'm going to head back to Lyla I think one night missing is more than enough to have to grovel for." Diggle informed Oliver of his plans. "Sure thanks Dig, I'll keep you posted." He replied. "You better man otherwise you'll have me to deal with." "Yeah you wish." He threw back chuckling.
Oliver and Thea linked arms and headed out the room. "Thanks guys." Thea shouted over her shoulder but if there were replies she never heard them as her brother guided her back to the room and the awaiting answers she desperately wanted from him.
Settled down on the bed Oliver propped up in the corner at the head of the bed eyes on Felicity's sleeping form. Thea was lying down propped against her brother under his arm that was draped down her side. She wanted to see his face but after he settled down and pulled her down to lie against him this way she decided not to argue, he was willing to talk that was more important.
Thea bit her lip, trying to think of a better way to ask, and Oliver noted her tension. "Spit it out, Thea," he sighed sadly, wondering if she was still angry about him for something. "Why did you go after mom as the Arrow?" she blurted out, turning her head to see his face at least a little bit. She saw him close his eyes in pain at the memory, and she fought to not say anything, wondering how bad it really was. Oliver sighed, knowing he was going to hurt his sister more. "Mom was working under Malcolm. Diggle found some inconsistencies in her schedule and after following her he got her voice speaking to who we now believe was Malcolm talking about..." he hesitated, his face paling at the remembered recording, and what his mom had said. "What? What did she say, was it truly that bad, cause right now you are scaring me, Ollie," she whispered quietly, her body now turned so she could see his whole face. She really needed to know what had utterly freaked out her older brother, what he was fighting to not tell her. He choked for a second before he got out, "Mom knew that the boat was sabotaged. She knew we were going to die," he whispered hoarsely, keeping his eyes closed as he heard Thea's gasp, she knew that he spoke the truth. "No, mom? Oh nonononononono..." Thea was sitting up now, rocking in pain as Oliver's arms wrapped around her, holding her desperately to him. "I didn't understand either, Thea," he whispered brokenly as he let her cry.
After her sobs came to a stop and her hiccups faded they relaxed back but this time Thea clung to her brother as if he might disappear. "Maybe I should..." He started to speak but Thea cut him off. "I need to know Ollie please. I can handle it." She pleaded. Sighing heavily and resigning himself he waited for the next question. "Do you get hurt often?" She whispered, it was a stupid question but she felt the need to ask it. "No" he lied trying to avoid her worrying too much about him. Thea felt the cold and shivered before smacking her brother for his reply. "Don't lie remember I know if you are now." He pretended to be hurt from the smack before answering, "I don't want you worrying, its always nothing really, most of the time I'm perfectly fine a few scrapes and bruises." He replied. The coldness remained in Thea. "Seriously Ollie." She whined back. "Okay. I may have had a few close calls but Diggle and Felicity look after me. It is dangerous but I can handle it." The warmth finally flooded her body and she accepted his answer even if it was vague she would leave it be, it would probably give her nightmares knowing fully.
Thea hated asking another hard question, but she knew she wanted, no, needed to know. "Oliver, who is my father, Malcolm, really? I mean, I know he is a bad guy, but what, where?" She didn't truly know how to ask this, especially after asking about her mother, and that part had truly hurt. To think that she had chosen to kill their dad (Yes, he was their dad, damn it!) and her brother...
She shook her head, forcing herself to keep thinking on what she wanted to ask. "Who is he, and how is he alive?" Oliver hung his head now, remembering the pain that Malcolm had done to their family, and even him before he had realized that he was the other arrow guy that was just as good at fighting as he was. "Do you remember that other archer wearing black, the one who shot black arrows?" At her shaky nod, he continued, "And you already knew that he was behind the undertaking. Well, apparently he had gone somewhere after his wife died and learned to fight as well, and decided that the Glades needed to be exterminated because of his wife's death there." Thea nodded, remembering this as well, then looked up at him in surprise, "Wait, he was the other arrow guy? He was..." She shook her head, trying to wrap around how twisted her biological father was. Pale now, she asked, "Did Tommy know? Did he know who you were, and who his father was?"
"Yes." Oliver closed his eyes in an attempt to block out the pain of remembering Tommy. It had been painful to lose his best friend to the knowledge that he was the Arrow but also knowing that he was responsible for his death. "Malcolm was another curarie target and I knew how to save him but Tommy wouldn't believe the 'Hood' at the time. I revealed it was me so he would listen. It drove him away from me for a time but he did help cover up my hideout from Detective Lance." His voice broke slightly from the emotion barrelling through him. "He went to get Laurel out of the Glades after he found out who his dad was, I had to stop Malcolm first. It was my fault he died I should have been there. I was too late he... he died in my arms. I couldn't save him I'm sorry Thea. He was your brother too." He held back a sob ,he thought he had gotten over the pain of his death but it still stung.
Thea thought on the new fact that Tommy had been her brother, and she almost wanted to run out and vomit, as she remembered that she had flirted with him, had tried to break him up with Laurel. Oliver must have noticed a change in her facial expression, because he suddenly looked concerned, "Thea? Hey, are you alright? Are you feeling sick?" Thea just looked at him, stricken and nauseous, whispering, "I flirted with my own brother, I tried to date him! Oh, God! My mother knew, she...I am pretty sure that she knew I had a crush on him, but she never said anything!" Oliver paled at this as well, but then shook his head, stating firmly, "Nope, no, I never noticed it until recently, and that was at the clubs and when ever we all met up. Mom never knew, Thea. If she had realized what you were feeling at that time, she would most definitely have found some other way to keep you away from him. Mom is good at manipulating people" he finished grimly, and she nodded sadly at that.
As much as Thea loved her mother, she also was truly incensed right now. Oliver too was reliving his remembrances of when they all met up. "Thea, Tommy never saw you as anything more than a sister because he and I were like brothers as well as best friends. I remember him saying once that he would always take care of you as a little sister. Remember when he took you home so you would get there safely, even if it dug into his clubbing?" She nodded at this, remembering too Tommy's insistence to her that his feelings were purely as a sister. "So, even though he didn't know, he still felt a connection. Probably as we were always together, I always followed you both around." Oliver chuckled, "You sure did, Speedy," and she smirked back at him.
They were silent for a while, just enjoying each other's presence finally after how much they had gotten through. She cuddled up to her brother, and he hugged her close, suddenly chuckling. At her quirked eyebrow, he stated, "My two favorite girls, right here." She smiled at this even as she said, "I never saw you with Laurel, nor with Sara." He froze at this, and immediately, she narrowed her eyes. "So it was true, you cheated on Laurel. Oh, Ollie..." Oliver closed his eyes as Thea continued, "I really hope that you have gotten that out of your system, mister, cause if you hurt Felicity..."
At the mention of hurting Felicity Oliver mouth kicked in before his brain. "I would never hurt Felicity, she's my light, she makes me feel happy." As his brain caught up he suddenly shut his mouth with a sharp snap he didn't want his sister knowing how messed up he really was. He was a killer and had done so much that he would be repenting for a very long time but when he met Felicity her belief in him almost made him forget the bad. She could challenge him toe to toe and make him rethink something stupid into a sensible plan. She stopped his mind from going back there to Lian Yu.
Thea gave him an escape she was recognising when he didn't want to talk further. Her question brought him out of his thoughts. "How did Diggle and Felicity get into it? The whole vigilante thing, I mean, before you changed and became the Arrow?" Oliver had to chuckle at this, remembering back, yet sighing as well as he remembered how Diggle found out. "Dig, well, he didn't really like me that much at first, but I liked him he had this no nonsense quality and he could spot my lies. I checked him out and everything, and hoped that I would be able to breach the subject of asking him. But when the shooter that tried to kill everyone at that auction came into play..." he hesitated, remembering all the subterfuge back then. Continuing, he stated, "Turns out the killer missed me and got Dig, and I had to save him, resulting in him finding out, as the bullets were curare poison. I had an antidote in my lair, so I took him there." He almost grinned at that, remembering how Dig had taken a swing at him, leaving, and a few days later had joined up just before he had gotten arrested by Detective Lance.
Thea prodded him, knowing he had gotten lost in thought, saying, "And? Hello, sister waiting for story here!" Both of them chuckled at that, and he continued, "Needless to say, Diggle wasn't happy with me being the vigilante, and yet I could also tell that he was struggling inside for wanting to do the same. He was a soldier, after all. A few days passed before he accepted, and well, you remember the day I was arrested for being the vigilante." Thea jerked in surprise, "He was there talking to you that day! That was why all of a sudden he was hanging around you, and had taken his job back! I just figured that you had given him a raise or something!" Oliver grinned, "Yeah, the 'or something' that has had us in many scrapes together. He has saved my life a few times, and I have saved his." He grew quiet at that, remembering when the ex-commander of Diggle's had turned out to being not who Diggle remembered.
"Soooo, when did Felicity come into the mix?" At that, he grinned, "Oh, she was in it the whole time, she just didn't know it until she turned around in her car the day mom shot me." "WHAT?" Thea almost shrieked, quieting when she remembered where they were, and glanced down quickly to see if her shout had startled the still sleeping Felicity. "Wait, wait, wait a minute, back up, what do you mean by in it the whole time? Explain, brother of mine," she begged, feeling like she was foolishly waiting with baited breath for a long bedtime story.
"I took a bullet riddled laptop to Queen Consolidated's best IT expert and she accepted my lame excuse for why I needed the information it. I said I had spilled my latte on it and my coffee shop was in a bad neighbourhood hence the bullets. She believed me." He explained. Before Thea could question more a new voice joined the conversation. "She never believed your lies, she just played along until the truth came about." The voice was like music to Oliver ears. He slipped out from his spot on Thea's bed and down to kneel next to a waking Felicity. "Hey." She said opening her eyes to meet Oliver's. "Hey yourself, how are you feeling?" Oliver asked genuine concern very evident in his voice. "Sore, but nothing a vacation won't fix." She joked, truthfully it was a little more than soreness but nothing she couldn't handle.
Thea heard the lie but kept quiet she didn't want to interfere and Felicity needed to catch up she didn't know about her new mutancy yet.
Felicity carefully tried to sit up, "You should lie still until Adam checks you over." Oliver tried to insist but Felicity took no notice, "I've been lying down since Slade took me I just want to move. Moving is good it gets the blood flowing and the brain working." She babbled on. Oliver shrugged and resigned himself to helping her to sit up. He perched on the edge of the bed next to her wrapping his arm around her. She winced as her injured leg moved but it was much better than before, gingerly she flexed it around. While she did that her mind wandered until it landed on what Oliver had been saying to Thea. "Finally." Was what emerged from her mouth even though she was still thinking of what to say.
"Finally?" Oliver echoed and then chuckled as he too thought back on the conversation. "Yeah, I got to admit, my excuses to you for each time we needed your help were not very good...I guess because I really wanted to tell you, so I just went with whatever came out of my mouth. You wouldn't believe how much Dig ragged me about each and every terrible lie I came up with." Felicity burst out laughing, even though it hurt a bit to do so, but she couldn't stop it. "Yeah, especially when you brought me the needles full of that drug from The Count..." Thea broke in, staring at them both, "You were...wait, which time? When I was in jail?" She stared at her brother. "You went after him because of me?" The two of them looked at Thea as Oliver affirmed, "Yes, Thea, I honestly went after him because of you. Also because when I realized how addictive it could be. I had to end it when he got out the second time, as he had Felicity," he cuddled Felicity closer when he said that, and Felicity squeezed him back gently. She reminded him, "Hey, don't beat yourself up about that. You had no choice, we both know that." Thea had caught a bit of cold in the midst of that, but couldn't fully tell where from. She wondered if it just meant that Oliver had switched part of the story, or because part of him had truly wanted to kill The Count. She decided to ignore it for now.
"Did Slade get both of us?" Felicity asked, she now had to fill the gaps of information left from her capture. She felt sorry about asking when Oliver tensed under her body but the answering voice was not his. "No Malcolm Merlyn kidnapped me. Apparently I'm his daughter and he now decided that he wants to be a father to me." Thea answered Felicity but her voice seemed laced with disgust aimed at Malcolm. "Oh. Hang on I thought..?" Felicity trailed off not wanting to say what he had supposedly done to Merlyn in front of his sister. "I know it was very convincing." Oliver ground out, it hit a nerve that Merlyn had survived after everything he had done.
"What really happened?" Thea tentatively asked her curiosity spiked. Oliver sucked in a deep breath, Felicity felt the tension and wrapped her arm across his front strategically placing her hand over the area where she knew the scar was on his shoulder. "He is a stronger fighter than me, trained by the League of Assassins. I was stuck in a choke hold, and the only weapon I had left was an arrow on the floor. I stabbed him through me." As Thea listened she watched how protectively Felicity placed herself over her brother and her hand worried on his shoulder. She guessed that that was where it happened. She felt the truth in his words even him admitting someone was stronger than him surprised her.
"We will stop him together if he tries anything this time." She vowed with him. Oliver didn't want her involved with his alter ego but hearing the steely determination in her words he couldn't seem to fight it, deep down he was glad she now knew and could stand by him. "You have to do as I say no going behind my back I can't protect you if you do. We all work together." Felicity snorted in a fit of giggling, "Yeah the team works together and Arrow does as he pleases if its not his way." She translated his rule to Thea. Thea giggled too that part still sounded like her Ollie, "Yeah I can do that." She eyed Felicity as she replied and both giggled together.
There was a knock at the door and Adam walked in, he observed the scene of the two women giggling and tried to hide his own smile at seeing Oliver's pretend offended face. He had heard a part of the end of the conversation, and was glad that things were getting better for the three of them.
"So, Felicity, how are you feeling?" Adam asked as he checked her vitals. She just smiled, but when he raised his eyebrows, waiting for a verbal affirmation, she sighed, "Ok, so I am hurting a little bit, but really, its not..." Thea broke in, "She's lying, Adam. Jeez, Felicity, you have me freezing here!" Thea was rubbing her arms, feeling awfully cold now, and Oliver looked at her in concern as he threw a blanket at her, which she took gratefully, and then turned to Felicity and noted how she was sitting stiffly now. Adam got out some pain killers, which he gave to Felicity.
Felicity, on the other hand, was eyeing Thea, as she saw the blue lined eyes. "What? Ahhhh, ok, that looks a lot like...oh my goodness, you could tell I was not telling the truth, which would make you like a lie detector! Oh God, I can so believe that when your brother was telling you things brought out all sorts of lies, didn't it? And there goes my mouth again, so 3...2...1." Oliver chuckled at this, grinning, as did Thea. "Yeah, there were some instances that he had a bit of trouble, but there were things that I am pretty sure we needed to get out."
Oliver moved away from Felicity and put his hand on his sister's shoulder, nodding as he stated, "And I need to remember that my sister is no longer a little girl, and is much stronger now." Thea nodded at that, "Damn straight!" Felicity grinned at them both, then said to Adam in a plea, "I really need coffee." Thea frowned at this, and wondered if she could get any of it, as she really wanted some. Adam caught her look and shook his head, adamantly stating, "None for you yet, Thea. Your brain activity is highly irregular its the cause for the blackouts I'm still monitoring at the moment."
Before Thea could ask Felicity jumped in first, "So, what exactly is happening to Thea, and why no coffee?" "The prefrontal cortex." Adam indicated the front part of his head showing Thea where he was talking about, "Is where the brain creates lies and detects the truth to the information heard. Lies require a lot more brain power to create than telling the truth and detecting them is difficult too. So for you Thea your brain is trying to identify the truth or lie in everything you hear and that is a lot of work. Caffeine is a drug used to excite the brain receptors into working mode, your brain is already in overdrive and adding caffeine to it may do more harm. Water and exercise will help but as you are the first polyempath I don't know how things will develop. I'm hopeful things will settle down as the changes are accepted in the body but only time will tell I'm afraid." Thea pouted even though she understood, "Damn it..." Oliver hid his grin. He had a feeling she would try to sneak some sooner or later.
"Felicity I repaired the damage to your leg, it will feel sore and I suggest keeping of it until the morning the soreness will pass in a few days." Adam said, Felicity looked down at the pills in her hand. "It's not that bad I can manage without." She started to protest and both Oliver and Adam gave her disapproving looks. "I suggest you take this and get some more rest. Sleep is the best healer." Adam suggested as he picked up the glass of water from the table between the two beds. Enforcing his suggestion. "Okay. I cannot be held responsible for the rubbish that escapes my mouth while drugged." She said just before chucking the pills in her mouth and swallowing them with the water.
Thea looked puzzled at Felicity while Oliver tried to hide his knowing smirk at remembering the last time Felicity was on pain meds after taking a bullet. "I will see you all in the morning." Adam said as he left the room and the group to the rest of the night.
Oliver noticed Felicity's eyes take on a distant look in them and decided to draw a close to the night before she said anything they both regretted. "I think we should get some sleep. There is a lot of work to do tomorrow." Thea groaned wanting to protest feeling like a young teenager again with a curfew but her wise inner voice reasoned that Oliver was right.
Shifting of Thea's bed Oliver knelt next to Felicity's so he was almost at eye level with her, "I..." Was all he managed before arms were wrapped around his neck and Felicity's face snuggled into the crook of his neck. "I thought muscles this big would be really hard to lie against but they are really snuggly, which is a good thing. If they were hard we couldn't cuddle and I like cuddling." Felicity mumbled her babble into Oliver's shoulders. He couldn't completely stifle his chuckle and Thea caught enough of Felicity's babble to join in. "Now what she said makes sense." Thea said between giggles.
Slowly rising Oliver clutched Felicity to himself while he climbed onto the bed settling himself up in the corner. Thea shuffled about her bed and retrieved the blanket from earlier and threw it over Felicity before settling down herself. "Goodnight." She yawned. "Night Thea." Oliver replied and Felicity lightly snored.
AN: okay so again sorry for the chapter alterations but I hope it makes sense that Oliver and Thea's talking go together for now so we can move on to the main chase now. And please hang in I will be slow until after xmas but this is my first year with my own little business :)
PS reviews and comments are appreciated