A/N: I don't own Arrow or its characters. Please leave a review :)

Ollie comes back into the living room with his jaw clenched. "Malcolm wants to see you."

Thea sighs and gets up from the floor.

"Thea," Ollie says, "you don't have to talk to him."

"If I don't he's going to keep coming back."

She threads her fingers through her brother's and follows him to the door.

"What do you want?" she says sharply.

"Really, Thea?" Malcolm says, observing the way she stands just behind Ollie, his hand curled protectively around his. "You need a bodyguard to talk to your father?"

"You're not my father," she spits. "You're just my sperm donor."

"Thea," Ollie says softly.

"I don't want to talk to him," she says angrily. "Why is he even here?"

"Well you see Thea, you are my flesh and blood. I had a certain concern when you were kidnapped."

Thea glares at Oliver. "You called him?"

"He's your father," he mutters. "He deserved to know."

"Imagine my surprise when I found out what happened to you was because you were doing work for the Arrow." He gives Oliver a withering look. "You're supposed to protect her."

Oliver's hand clenches around hers. "I am protecting her."

Malcolm snorts. "You dangled her like a kitten in front of a terrorist."

"I'm not some dumb animal!" Thea protests. "I've had training. You trained me! I'm not a weak little girl that you can manipulate anymore."

"You got caught. I trained you better than that."

Thea shrinks under her father's gaze. He's right.

It's her own fault she got captured. She's weak.

"I think that's enough," Ollie says firmly. "You should leave."

Malcolm nods and gives Thea a look that makes her squirm. "I'm glad you're not dead."

She scowls. "Wish I could say the same."

xxx

She spends the rest of the day on the couch with Roy, watching bad reality television. Felicity and Oliver disappear to their room after Malcolm leaves, mumbling something about last minute wedding plans. She doesn't get suspicious until Oliver comes back down a few hours later and asks to speak to Roy.

"Dude, I'm hanging out with my girlfriend," Roy says, nuzzling Thea's neck.

"It's about your suit," Ollie says tightly.

"Huh?"

"For the wedding. I need to talk to you about your suit."

"Okay..."

"In my room," Oliver says. "I need to talk to you about your suit in my room."

"Oh my god, Ollie, just say its Arrow stuff. It's not like your excuses are getting more believable." Thea rolls her eyes.

"Fine. Roy, we're having an emergency meeting in my room."

"See?" Thea says brightly. "That wasn't so hard."

"I can see you're feeling better," Oliver says dryly. "Roy, come on."

Roy rolls off the couch and follows Ollie up the stairs, grumbling the whole way.

Thea figures out something's going down when the three of them come down the stairs an hour later. The guys are in regular clothes but the dead giveaway is Felicity, dressed in tight black jeans and a black leather jacket zipped all the way up.

"You're going out?" Thea asks in disbelief. "Tonight?"

"We don't have a choice," Oliver explains. "That Vertigo is out there. We have to destroy it before hits street level dealers."

"You're leaving me here alone?" she asks in a small voice.

"Of course not," Ollie says.

There's a knock on the door and he nods, heading to open the door. "That's her."

"Who?" Thea yells.

Ollie comes back to the living room with Laurel Lance, carrying a briefcase in one hand and a pizza box in the other. Thea wilts, wishing she could disappear into the couch.

"Hi, Thea!" Laurel says brightly, like she's not talking to the person who murdered her sister. "I brought pizza."

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Thea asks Ollie, ignoring Laurel altogether.

"I'll go get some plates for us," Laurel says calmly, patting Ollie's shoulder before wandering into the kitchen.

"What is she doing here?" Thea hisses.

"What?" he asks mildly. "She used to babysit you all the time."

"Yeah, when I was five."

"I can't leave you home alone, you're coming down from a very high dose of Vertigo. I need someone to watch you. She's the only one I trust."

"Why can't Felicity stay with me?" she whines.

"Because I need her to run tech for me."

"This sucks, Ollie."

"Thea." He perches on the edge of the couch and lays one of his hands over hers. "I know you feel weird being around Laurel but it's going to be fine. Laurel loves you. She's not going to torture you while we're gone."

"Being alone with her is torture."

"She's not angry at you, Speedy, you know that."

"Ollie..."

"Laurel's family," he says sternly. "You're going to have to figure out a way to feel comfortable around her."

"How do you feel comfortable around someone whose sibling you killed?"

Ollie sighs heavily. "I know this is still hard for you but I need you to try, okay? Just for tonight."

She pouts and gives him puppy dog eyes. "Don't leave me."

"Stop." He leans down and kisses her forehead. "You'll be fine. You don't even have to talk to her."

Laurel comes back, setting two plates on the table.

"Don't worry," she says knowingly, holding up her briefcase. "I brought work."

xxx

Laurel is the one to break first.

"Are you really not going to talk to me?" she asks, after they've finished the pizza and watched three reruns of Darlings of Starling City, a reality show that follows four local young socialites do thing like brunch, and get drunk and fight, and then re-hash the fight at brunch the next morning.

Thea bites her lip and looks determinedly down at her hands. Her wrists are still red. "They go to Verdant in the next episode. Great press, right?"

Laurel bites her lip and gives her a smile that could be construed as condescending but is probably more like amusement.

"Sure, Thea."

Thea sighs, picking at her nails.

"Hey," Laurel says. "You know you can talk to me, right?"

"Sure," Thea says hollowly.

"Thea," Laurel says gently. "Sara wouldn't want to you to feel guilty."

"You don't know that."

Laurel's hand finds Thea's and she squeezes it. "Yes I do. She loved Ollie and she loved you. Sara..."

Laurel trails off and clears her throat. "Sara lived a dangerous life. She knew that. She accepted that she could die."

"That doesn't make it okay."

"No." Laurel shakes her head. "It's not okay. It was inevitable."

"That's terrible," Thea whispers.

Laurel sighs. "It was her choice. I'm sorry that you were...involved."

Goddamn Laurel Lance, graceful in every situation.

"Please," Thea says, "please don't apologize to me."

"I don't blame you," Laurel says. "What Malcolm did to you...I'm angry that Sara's dead, but I'm angry for you too. It's not fair. But it's not your fault, okay? You didn't know what you were doing."

Thea swallows. "You got dosed with Vertigo one time, right? Right after Ollie told me he was the Arrow?"

"Yeah." Laurel shudders. "That was rough."

"What did you see?"

Laurel's face twists. "I saw Sara. I thought she was angry with me. It was horrible."

Thea nods, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

Laurel looks sideways at her. "What did you see?"

Thea blinks and presses her thumb into her wrist, the sharp stab of pain making her focus.

"I saw my mother."

xxx

She wakes up to being carried up the stairs by Ollie.

"How'd it go?" she mumbles, pressing her face into his chest.

"Everything's fine," he whispers. "Go back to sleep."

"Is Roy okay?"

"Everyone's fine, Thea."

"I was worried."

She gets lowered into her bed and feels the covers get pulled around her shoulders.

"Goodnight, Thea."

"G'night Ollie."

Soft lips brush her forehead. "I love you."

She opens her eyes long enough to give him a sleepy smile. "Love you, too."

xxx

It takes three days for Thea to escape the loft.

Oliver and Felicity stay home with her during the day, and Roy comes over every night. They treat her like she's come home from war, like a fragile damaged girl who could break at any moment.

Thea feels like she's suffocating.

The hardest part about keeping a secret is being surrounded by the very people you're trying to keep the secret from. They've all asked her to talk about what happened at the warehouse, and every time she makes an excuse to leave the room.

Thea makes it clear she doesn't want to take about it.

She doesn't cry. She doesn't shake. She doesn't have nightmares.

She's strong. She doesn't break.

What she does is tiptoe out of her room Wednesday night after Roy falls asleep, slip her car keys into her palm, and drive to the foundry.

The pills in the glass case are now safe behind an electronic lock. Thea stands on the counter, palm of her hand over the glass. She has no way to get into the case, unless she breaks the glass. Which would no doubt set off some kind of alarm that would have Ollie running down here in a minute flat.

She sighs and sits down on the ledge of the counter, pulling her knees to her chest. She curls her body up as tight as she can, like if she can get small enough there won't be any room for all the pain.

She's not all that surprised when Ollie shows up anyway.

He strolls in with his hands in his jacket pockets, sees her perched on the counter, and nods his head.

"How'd you know I was here?" Thea asks, picking at a hole in her jeans.

Oliver swings up to sit on the edge of the med table across from her. "Felicity hacked your phone."

"Of course she did."

He shrugs. "You didn't give us a choice."

"I just needed some space."

"Then leave a note," he says tightly.

"Sorry," she mutters.

"What are you doing here?"

"I didn't know where else to go."

Oliver looks up above her head at the cabinet.

"I didn't take any," she says.

Oliver exhales and nods, like he doesn't really believe her.

"Ollie, I didn't," she says again.

"I killed a drug dealer once," he says casually.

Thea stares. "What are you talking about?"

"It was while I was gone. When you were younger."

She frowns. "You met a drug dealer on the island?"

Ollie looks down. "I wasn't always on the island."

Lies, lies, always more lies. She's so used to it by now it almost doesn't hurt.

"So where did you go?"

Ollie flinches just a little. "It doesn't matter."

"Ollie, why are you telling me this?"

"This dealer," he says. "I saw him sell drugs to a girl at a party. This girl...she was beautiful, and young. But she was so sad, and you could see it, in her eyes. He could see it."

"Ollie."

"I found him. I told him to stop. He saw my face." Oliver's face twists. "He threatened me."

"What do you mean?"

"I had to kill him," her brother whispers brokenly. "I snapped his spine and threw him over the balcony."

Her brain spins. She knows this. She's seen this.

"That was Tommy's birthday party," she says shakily. "I wasn't supposed to go, but I went anyway. I bought pills from a dealer. He fell over the balcony. I thought it was an accident."

She feels nauseous. "That was you?"

He blinks rapidly, nodding his head.

"You were here? In Starling City?"

Her brother inhales. "Yes."

"You saw me that night?" she whispers in disbelief. "Ollie, I don't understand."

"I couldn't talk to you. No one was supposed to see me. I thought that once I was back I could figure out a way to stay, and I could tell you I was alive. But... I couldn't."

"Why not?"

He twitches. "It's complicated."

"I can't believe this," she breathes. "Tommy said something to me earlier that day. He caught me trying to buy pills, he was mad at me. He said that he was glad you were dead, because seeing me like that would break your heart."

"Thea," Ollie says softly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asks, her voice cracking. "Why haven't you told me about what happened while you were gone?"

Ollie shrugs, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know this sounds stupid but...I guess I thought you wouldn't love me anymore. I was afraid you wouldn't look at me the same way."

"That's not stupid," she whispers.

Ollie hops off the table and walks towards her, resting his hands on the counter next to her feet.

"You know I love you no matter what, right?" he says, kissing the top of her head. "I would do anything for you."

She hears the subtext loud and clear. I will kill for you. Die for you.

She pitches foreword and rests her cheek on his shoulder. He's warm and solid under her skin and she breathes in, pretending she's just a kid again and he's just Ollie.

"I'm so tired, Ollie," she whispers.

He pulls her head up and cradles her face. "I know you are. You have to fight, Thea. Okay? You can't stop fighting."

"I'm so tired of fighting," she says, blinking back tears. "Don't you ever get tired?"

"Come on," Ollie says. "I'll take you home. We can stop and get ice cream."

"Can I get sprinkles?"

Her brother gives her a teary smile. "You're my sister. You can get anything you want."