A/N: I don't own Arrow or its characters. Please Leave a review :)
She wakes up to explosions. There's smoke everywhere, she can't see much of what's going on. There's a man in front of her brandishing a gun, but he can't possibly see more than a foot in front of him with all that smoke.
An arrow whizzes through the air, and the man in front of her goes down, the arrow sticking out of his thigh.
Thea looks up and through the blur of tears and smoke she sees the silhouette of her brother high up on the ledge of a wall, bow in hand.
"Ollie?" she croaks.
He jumps, and disappears. She cries out, "Wait!" but her voice is drowned out by police sirens.
Within minutes the warehouse is swarmed by cops and she's cut loose from the chair. Thea tries to stay awake, tries to explain, but whatever she was injected with earlier is strong, and she falls asleep in the arms of a policeman before he can even put her in a car.
xxx
Thea wakes up in the hospital. She sits up, gasping for air, her brain struggling to put the pieces together. Her memories are blurry, fragmented: Robins, the gun, the men in masks, the needle in her arm, all swirling around in her brain.
She feels dizzy and it aches between her legs.
"Shh, it's all right." There's a nurse next to her, easing her back down on the bed.
"What's happening?" she croaks.
"You're in the emergency room," the nurse says gently. "Everything's going to be okay."
"Where's my brother?" Thea asks. "Did you call him?"
"I did." Captain Lance steps into her room.
"Thank you," Thea says softly, shrinking back on the bed at the determined look in his eye.
But he only leans down to kiss her gently on the forehead and pat her hand. "You alright, sweetheart?"
She nods tightly, her throat full of tears.
"I'm going to need to ask you a few questions, Thea."
"Can't that wait? My sister was just kidnapped."
"Ollie!"
Oliver strolls through the door and pulls her into his arms, cradling the back of her head.
"I'm so sorry," he whispers brokenly. "I'm so sorry."
He turns to Lance and she watches the two men shake hands.
"Thank you," Oliver says, and she almost snorts at his false sincerity.
"My pleasure." Lance glances at Thea. "Bring her down to the station when she's ready, and we'll do a proper interview."
"Of course," her brother says. "Thank you. Really."
Lance nods, clapping Oliver on the shoulder, before leaving.
Oliver turns to the nurse. "Can I take my sister home?"
"We did some tests but everything has come back clean so far," she tells them. "I'll find her doctor; he has to sign off on discharging her but then she should be free to go."
"Thank you," Ollie says, giving her a full-blown Queen smile.
The nurse blushes as she exits the room, leaving Thea alone with Oliver.
"Why did you leave me there?" Thea blurts out angrily. "Why didn't you take me with you?"
"I couldn't," he says, looking down at the floor. "The cops were almost there. I'm sorry."
"Ollie," she says, trying to steady her voice. "How long was I gone?"
He looks at her and for the first time she sees how red his eyes are, how tired he looks. "Eighteen hours."
"Where's Roy?" she asks. "Why isn't he here?"
"He's tying up some loose ends for me. He'll meet us at home."
"Okay," she says, trying not to look disappointed.
"Thea," he says softly. "Are you okay?"
She nods, unable to look at him. "I'm fine, Ollie."
The lie tastes bitter in her mouth.
xxx
Ollie gives her clothes to change into that he picked up at the loft for her, worn skinny jeans and a cable knit ivory sweater that she stole out of Felicity's closet last month. She puts her dress in the trash. She never wants to see it again.
In the mirror her skin looks pale and creased. Her curls have gone limp. Suddenly her stomach rolls and she bends over the toilet, heaving bile.
"Thea?" Ollie bangs on the door. "The doctor just signed your discharge papers; let's go."
"One second!" she calls out. She holds her hair back with one hand and rises her mouth from the tap.
"Okay?" he asks when she comes out of the bathroom.
"Yeah," Thea swallows. "Let's go home."
"Hey." He wraps his arm around her shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay? You're acting weird."
"Is there a normal way to act after being kidnapped?" she jokes weakly.
"Thea."
"I'm fine," she murmurs. "I'm just tired."
He frowns. "How long you were knocked out for?"
"Ollie, please, I just want to go home."
He rubs his lips, a sign that he's upset, but he just sighs. "Okay, Speedy. Let's go home."
xxx
Thea almost trips on Felicity's suitcase propped against the wall in the hallway when she walks into the loft.
"Whoa," she says as the walls start to spin, and she wobbles into Oliver.
"Hey, easy there," he murmurs, catching her at the waist. "Okay?"
"Just a little dizzy. You didn't tell me Felicity came home early."
"Are you kidding?" Felicity says, coming around a corner. "I got on the first flight out of Vegas."
Felicity wraps her arms around Thea and she chokes back a sob.
"Thank you," Thea whispers. "Thank you for finding me."
Felicity rubs her back. "You should thank Oliver, he did all the manual labor."
"Thea, why don't you sit down?" Ollie suggests edgily.
He's not even trying to pretend he isn't staring at her. She's sure he's cataloging everything she's doing, what she says and how she moves, trying to piece what happened to her.
Like she's a puzzle he has to complete.
"I'm fine," she murmurs, wandering into the kitchen. "Are you cooking something?"
"I made you mac and cheese," Felicity explains. "I thought you could use some comfort food."
Thea's stomach turns. "I'm not hungry."
Felicity ignores this and spoons pasta into a bowl. "You haven't eaten in almost twenty-four hours."
She hands the bowl to Thea and cups her cheek. "Please sit down before your brother has a coronary."
Thea turns back to Ollie, who looks ready to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder.
"Okay," she sighs, rolling her eyes.
She takes the bowl over to the couch, burrowing into a corner. Felicity sits down next to her, pulling Thea's feet into her lap. Oliver sits down on the coffee table in front of them.
"Thea, we need to talk about what happened," he says heavily.
His face is riddled with guilt; she can't even look at him. She can never tell him what happened at the warehouse. It would crush him.
"I'm fine," she mutters. "Just drop it."
"Thea."
"Oliver," Felicity says softly. "Let her eat. She's exhausted. We can talk in the morning."
"Fine," Oliver says tightly, and moves to sit on Thea's other side on the couch.
Thea leans against Felicity's shoulder. "How was Vegas?"
The older girl laughs. "You were just kidnapped, and that's what you want to talk about?"
"Please," Thea says. "I could use a distraction."
"Only if you eat that," Felicity tells her.
Thea huffs in frustration but forces herself to take a bite, and opens her mouth to prove that she's swallowed when Ollie makes her.
"Seriously," she says, "even for you, this is excessive."
"Eat your damn food," he mutters. "Your blood sugar is probably in the toilet."
"Stop micromanaging me, I said I was fine," she snaps.
"I think my mom's new boyfriend is a pirate," Felicity blurts out, no doubt trying to diffuse the tension.
"What?" Thea giggles.
"His name is Captain," Felicity says.
"No."
"Yes. He has a skull and bones tattoo on his arm. And he calls everyone matey."
"Oh my god."
"And she wants to bring him to the wedding. Classy as hell, my mother."
The front door opens with a bang and Thea jumps off the couch, the bowl clattering to the floor.
"Thea." Ollie's hand is heavy on her shoulder.
She's standing in fighting stance, feet planted, hands curled defensively into fists.
"It's just Roy," he reassures her.
A red hoodie blurs across the room and then Roy is holding her, his arms banded tightly across her torso. She shudders at the full body contact, squeezing her eyes shut so she doesn't cry.
He cups the back of her neck with one hand and rests his forehead against hers. "Don't ever scare me like that again," he says shakily.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, and then she does cry, hot tears streaming down her face.
"Shh," he soothes. "You're home. Everything's okay now."
It's not, she wants to cry. It's not okay. But she doesn't. She can't find the words.
He strokes her hair, wipes tears off her eyelashes with his thumbs.
"Did they hurt you?" he asks carefully. Like he's afraid to know the answer.
She thinks about Ollie, lying and lying to her in a misguided attempt to protect her, and thinks, I understand.
"No," she lies. "They didn't hurt me."