"No way!" Thea said through her teeth.
"Thea." Roy started, looking up at her from his position leaning against the metal examination table.
"Don't Thea me. You're not running an op when you can barely breathe properly." She snapped, voice rising an octave.
"Tia." Connor whimpered. Oliver hushed him softly and shifted him against his chest, kissing the top of his son's head. Connor leaned over his mom's computer monitor, reaching for the arrow rack. Oliver absently grabbed one off the desk and held it for him while the toddler marveled at it. Felicity glared at her husband fleetingly, quickly turning back to the computer screen. Oliver winked at his son and ignored the silent warning from his wife.
"The kid's right Harper. You can't fight." Dig interjected.
"Guys." Felicity hedged, leaning back but keeping her eyes on the screen. "He's on the move." She said.
"Oliver's going to go after Osborne's partner alone. Really." Roy retorted, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes at his wife.
"He went at it alone for years!" Thea shot back.
"Not against Saphires." Roy took a deep breath to keep his fading calm.
"He faced Cyrus Gold!" Thea shouted.
"And barely made it out alive!" Roy finally snapped sharply. Thea wasn't fazed.
"Dig can go with him." She countered. Roy sighed tiredly and rubbed both hands over his face.
"Diggle's watching AJ." Roy glanced up from his hands to look at Diggle for confirmation.
"Carly's got a wedding to go to." He nodded affirmatively.
"Well then take me for God's sake!" Thea shouted exasperatedly. Roy laughed incredulously.
Connor glanced up from the green arrow he was examining closely and blinked at his aunt and uncle, looking up at his dad. Oliver sighed and sat Connor down in Felicity's lap. He didn't sit still for two seconds before he slid off her lap and toddled after his dad.
Oliver put one hand on his three year olds head, ruffling his blonde curls. He fixed his brother in law with a daring glare that he so often gave his victims during his you have failed this city speech.
"Can you fight?" he asked simply, knowing his tone would elicit an honest answer. Roy nodded sharply then pushed off the table quickly, grabbing Thea's arm gently as she turned to stalk off.
"Thea." He murmured her name pleadingly, willing her to look at him.
"You're an idiot." She whispered, shoving his shoulder lightly.
"So you've said." He muttered back. "Come on, Queen."
"It's Harper, to you." She sighed, meeting his eyes and kissing him hard on the mouth. He kissed her back, praying he could repress the reaction his body wanted to act on in response to the pain for Thea's sake.
"Running low on time Oliver." Dig warned. Oliver nodded once and picked up his bow in one hand looking down when he felt something tap against his leg. Connor held out the arrow he had been holding onto, waiting until his dad took it to drop his arm.
"Go getted da bad guy, daddy." He told Oliver seriously. Oliver smiled tightly and kissed Connor's forehead, looking to Felicity who had gotten up from her chair.
"Go get em." She smiled sadly, standing straighter to kiss him quickly before leaning over to lift her son up. Oliver nodded once and smiled back, tightening his grip on his bow and looking at Roy who tipped his head in acknowledgment, pulling his arms away from where they had previously been wrapped around Thea.
"Be careful out there." Dig called to them, squeezing Felicity's shoulder.
"Always am." Oliver smirked in response.
"Bye!" Connor called to Roy and Oliver, waving his hand back and forth quickly.
"Take care of the girls for us, little man." Roy winked at him and followed Oliver out the door.
"Don't cry." Connor ordered softly, frowning at his aunt's teary eyes. "Roy tolded me to make you smile." The three year old pouted, leaning towards her in his mom's arms to give her a sloppy kiss on the mouth. Thea forced a smile and he grinned proudly. "Why you sad? Daddy and Roy always come home." He stated confidently. "Right, momma?" he looked at Felicity.
"That's right baby." She smiled and kissed his forehead.
"See?" he looked back at Thea, tilting his head innocently.
"You're right, CJ." Thea smiled before turning away from the toddler and folding her hands over her stomach.
"I've got to take off, ladies. And Connor." Dig ruffled the kid's hair. "You know where I am if you need me." Diggle grabbed his coat off the desk and crossed the concrete floor to the staircase. "Congratulations, Thea." He added. She smiled at him after hastily scrubbing her face clean of tears.
"See ya, Dig." Felicity called just before the door closed on him.
"Down, momma." Connor interjected, kicking his mom's thigh gently to get her attention. Felicity kissed her son's cheek again before setting him down and watching him as he toddled off in some direction of the recently relatively kid proof lab. He dragged a box out from the corner of the room, pulling his second nerf bow and arrow set out of the cardboard container and started firing at the target Oliver had set up for him. Felicity laughed in adoration as Connor made his own sound effects and hit the middle of the target almost every time no matter where he stood.
"Like father, like son, huh?" Thea chuckled, looking at her godson just as Felicity sat down at her computer to help the boys if they needed it.
"You have no idea." The mother hummed lowly in reply.
"Felicity." Thea warned, eyes widening as she glanced over at her nephew.
"Connor Jonathan Thomas Queen." Felicity scolded, eyes flashing angrily to cover up the near humor she felt at the sight. Connor glanced at her sheepishly, looking a little like a deer caught in the headlights. "Put your father's bow down." She hissed. He looked so small trying to hold the sixty eight inch recurve bow in his small hands.
"Yep." Thea laughed. "Just like Ollie."
"Thank you, baby." Felicity sighed in relief when Connor returned the bow to its place on the table that he could barely reach. The computer started emitting rapid beeps, causing Felicity to spin her chair back around to face the monitor, wasting no time putting the comm in her ear.
"Daddy?" Connor wondered worriedly, letting his hand and the bow in it fall to his side.
"Come here, kid." Thea called to the child, holding one arm out to him. Connor hurried over to his aunt, holding his arms open to her so she could lift him. When Thea had Connor in her arms, the little boy leaned his head on her chest, plucking the string of his nerf bow while Thea studied the screen intently.
"Oliver?" Felicity whispered into the comm device, typing frantically on the keyboard.
"Felicity, we followed him to the train station. Can you get a visual?" Oliver replied quietly, one arm wrapped around a pillar to steady himself.
"Seven years and you still have to ask." She replied absently. "How's the kid holding up?"
Oliver glanced at Roy beside him. The younger man was breathing heavily, one hand braced against his ribcage, eyes narrowed in pain as he tried to focus through it in an effort to remain on the rafter they were both perched on.
"As far as Thea needs to be concerned?" he started through a tense jaw. "He's holding up just fine." Felicity sighed and didn't reply to that comment, knowing the kid's wife was listening closely.
"Saphires just bought a one way ticket to Central City. He's on his way to the fifth platform now." She informed him quickly.
"You are remarkable Felicity." Oliver muttered habitually as he nodded sharply at Roy and grabbed onto a higher rafter to pull himself up. He hung there for half a moment, letting his body swing long enough to gain the momentum he needed to launch himself across the space between where he had been perched and the next rafter.
"Thank you for remarking on it." Felicity smirked at the computer, studying the footage. She took the comm out of her ear and rolled her chair away from the desk, standing up.
"Momma." Connor whimpered, reaching for the blonde. Felicity smiled at the boy and held her arms out for him. Thea handed him over instantaneously, wrapping her arms around herself once he was lifted out of her arms. Felicity tangled her fingers in Connor's blonde curls and swayed back and forth. Felicity glanced up from Connor to look at Thea who looked tired to say the least and nodded at her chair.
"Sit." She ordered shortly. Thea sat down without a word, tracing the outline of the computer absently. Within a few minutes, she was drifting off and Felicity was helping her out of the spinney chair and leading her blindly across the floor to the corner of the room a cot had been set up in, covering her with the thick pile of blankets before hurrying back to the monitor, fitting the comm into her ear and pulling her son into her lap.
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