Chapter Eight: The Bitter Pill

Lance awoke to Oliver Queen's arms around him. He remembered an awkward moment from the night before. After their amorous activities, he had offered to go back to sleep in the guest room while Oliver stayed in the master bedroom. Neither of them had been fond of that idea.

Thus, he was more surprised by the fact that sunlight was streaming through the windows than by his companion. He had slept until morning. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand, but it was particularly unhelpful, flashing twelve o'clock as no one had reset it after the power came back on. (When did the power come back on? he wondered. They must have been preoccupied at the time.) Oliver's cell phone was right next to the clock, though, and proclaimed that it was just after eight in the morning. How…? He couldn't remember the last time he had had a full night's sleep.

Neither could Oliver. For once he had had a night free from both vigilantism and flashbacks. That was unheard of for him.

"Good morning," Oliver grinned, as the two made eye contact.

"Morning," Quentin replied, hoping to keep embarrassment at bay. Why should the most fantastic night he had had in years embarrass him anyway? Embarrassment was out and so were regrets.

They got out of bed; threw on clothes, and headed to the kitchen for breakfast. Everything was fine and (nearly) comfortable, but Quentin couldn't help wondering what the recent turn of events meant for them. They had acted on their attraction to each other, obviously, but was there more between them than lust? Were they dating? Oh Lord, was Queen his boyfriend now?

Ugh, not a thought to be faced before coffee—or ever, really. He'd just as soon do without labels that hadn't flowed off his tongue since his years as a teenager. But he did have to know…

"How do you feel about me?" Quentin finally managed to ask. The billionaire, finished eating, put down his fork and thought for a moment before answering.

"You, Quentin, are a detective to love," Oliver smiled, before taking his plate to the sink.

A detective to love… What does that even mean? Quentin wondered. It sounded like the sort of thing one would say when in love… But then, why not just say 'I love you'? Unless Oliver didn't love him, which was perhaps too much to expect after only one night… and he was overthinking this.

It was a beautiful day and Quentin was not going to spoil it by worrying.

~PB~

The day had been pleasant. Following Quentin's check-up, they'd spent time strolling along the beach before dinner.

If anyone had cared to look, the reprogrammed clock would have announced that it was three minutes 'til nine when Oliver's phone rang that evening. That was when the world went to hell.

Lance noticed Oliver's face fall as the younger man listened to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"Tommy's father's been murdered," Oliver told Quentin after the call ended.

"Malcolm Merlyn? What happened?" the detective asked.

"I don't know. He was receiving a humanitarian award at some ceremony and he was shot while making the speech…

"Looks like I'm the one that failed the city tonight," the vigilante's voice sounded hollow; not stoic or impervious but flat, dead, as if he'd taken one of his arrows to the heart.

"Whoa, hang on; you're not going to blame yourself for what happened!"

"Why shouldn't I? I let myself get distracted," Oliver stared somewhere over Quentin's shoulder. "I have a responsibility to this city and I was shirking it. And because of that, my best friend's father is dead! God, if Tommy knew, he'd never forgive me…"

Not that he had had any plans for telling Tommy about his secret identity. He had thought, wistfully, that it would be nice if he could confide in his oldest friend, but it was the same way that he wished he could tell the truth to his mother or his sister (he'd even wanted to tell Laurel). But he knew his longings weren't practical and, apparently, neither was having a social life.

"You're not the one that killed his father!" Quentin barked, trying to get through to the other man. "And you're not a cop; it's not your job to protect—"

"Quentin, unlike you, I may not get paid to save lives, but that doesn't make me less responsible for them! Look, I have to go. And I won't be coming back here afterwards." The vacation was well and truly over. "I'll call Diggle; have him give you a ride back to your place. You'll be alright on your own?"

"Yeah, fine," Quentin nodded. He had seen Dr. Magnarelli that afternoon. The doctor had cleared him for going back to work on Monday. No reason he couldn't go back to his apartment now.

"I'll call you, alright?" Oliver asked.

"With or without the voice modulator?" Quentin snarked.

~OQ~

Stupid; Oliver had been so stupid! What had he been thinking, delegating the Hood's duties to Diggle? Starling City was his responsibility. Oliver should have been on top of things, he should have known Guillermo Barrera was in Starling, should have intercepted him and found out what he was up to before it was too late, damn it!

He couldn't put being the Hood on hold, not for anyone. His duties had to come first; he knew that now.

He made his first trip to the lair beneath Verdant in almost two weeks, chastising himself for staying away so long as he suited up. As the Hood, he tracked down Barrera. Unable to intimidate the man into speaking, he left the assassin, bound, for the SCPD to take into custody.

Unlikely to be of further help as the vigilante that night, he changed his attire and went as Oliver Queen to offer comfort to his friend.

Tommy hadn't attended the awards ceremony because he had been angry with his father. Oliver predicted that his friend would still be angry, but also grieving and feeling bad about how he had left things with his father.

He did not predict that he would find Laurel there.

It turned out that Laurel had been with Tommy when they both received the news about Malcolm. Tommy appreciated that Oliver had come to offer his condolences, but it was a terribly awkward way for Oliver to find out that his ex-girlfriend had moved on with his best friend. Not being in any position to throw stones, he wished them luck.

~OQ~

"Forgive me; I have failed this city," Moira Queen spoke into the microphones.

Oliver hadn't even realized his mother had called a press conference at the manor before it started. Now he stood on in shock as she confessed to hiring the assassin that had killed Malcolm Merlyn. She explained her involvement in the plot to destroy the Glades using technology developed at Unidac Industries (one of Queen Consolidated's subsidiaries!) and claimed that she had seen killing Merlyn as the only way out.

Once the press conference drew to a close, the police escorted Moira away.

Oliver really didn't know his mother at all, did he? Though, admittedly, he hadn't wanted to know what she was hiding from him. So his parents had both been part of some secret league corrupting Starling… What other secrets were being kept from him? Was Thea going to start wearing long underwear and a cape next?

It was too much for him to process. His mother had ordered the hit on his friend's father. Tommy is never going to speak to me again, Oliver fretted.

Speak of the devil, Merlyn walked in. All of the reporters and officers had cleared out earlier in the day.

"Tommy!"

"I quit," Tommy announced in lieu of greeting. He did not look happy.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"You'll need to find another manager for Verdant. They," he grimaced, "the official announcement hasn't been made yet, but they want me to be the new CEO of the Merlyn Global Group."

Oh; Oliver supposed that made sense, in a nepotistic way.

"Do you even have any experience working for the company?" Oliver asked.

"None whatsoever," Tommy admitted. "I can feel the stock plunging already." He paused before going on. "I saw your mom's press conference earlier. You know the first thing I thought? 'It couldn't be true'—what she'd said about my dad. I mean, we'd had our disagreements, but there was just no way he could've been planning to slaughter everyone in the Glades." He cleared his throat; his eyes pricked with tears.

"And then, I took a look in his office. And I found some things—a recording, from his cell phone, from the night mom died in the Glades. She left him a voicemail as she lay dying; god knows how many times he must have listened to it."

"Oh, Tommy—"

"It gets worse. His office led into a secret room, full of arrows and equipment and… I think my dad was—what did the press call him? —the Dark Archer."

Oliver had not seen that coming. How was he supposed to help Tommy deal when he was still struggling to digest everything that had come to light?

"You want a drink?" the blonde offered.

"I'd love one."

~PB~

"I'd have thought you'd be happy about coming back to work," Detective Hilton said to his partner on Monday morning. Quentin had been staring at his desk, glaring at his phone. He looked up at his friend and tried to school his expression into something less tense.

"I am, ecstatic…It's just…" Oliver's not returning my calls. I haven't spoken to him since leaving the beach house Thursday night, and if he wants to break up with me, he could have the decency of saying so…

And if we are going to keep seeing each other, I have to resign as the head of this task force because I don't want to be the one to arrest him next time.

"Just?" Lucas prompted.

I'm worried about Oliver.

"What happened during your sick leave?" Lucas asked when the other man didn't say anything.

There was a short hesitation before Quentin replied.

"I fell in love with my daughter's boyfriend."

Author's Note: Chapter title is from Queen's "Life is Real."

In this timeline, although Felicity did discover Oliver's secret, Walter was never kidnapped. Without Walter being kidnapped, Felicity never joined Team Hood. Thus the computer whiz never warned Oliver or Diggle that Barrera was flying into Starling; Ollie doesn't discover there's an assassin after Malcolm, the hit takes place… voilà. The Undertaking is interrupted before the devices are finished.

Thanks to Tris Holmes for reviewing! And thanks to those who have added the story to your list of alerts!