A/N: I don't own Arrow or its characters. Please R & R :)
Thea wakes up alone. At first she thinks Felicity and Oliver must be downstairs, but then she sees the bathroom door is cracked, light spilling out.
She tiptoes to the door, knowing she's snooping but not really caring. She's the little sister; it's her job to snoop.
She stiffens when she hears someone crying. At first she thinks it's Felicity, but then she hears her making soft shushing noises, and Thea realizes with a squirmy feeling in her ribs that it's Ollie.
"I want to kill them," she hears him sob angrily.
"Oliver," Felicity says.
"I want to kill them! They hurt Thea."
"I know," Felicity says softly, and then it's quiet except for the sound of Ollie crying.
Thea backs away from the bathroom door and goes downstairs.
Roy's sitting at the kitchen table, his hands wrapped loosely around a cardboard cup of coffee. He looks awful, pale with red eyes.
"You came back," she says.
He raises an eyebrow. "You thought I wouldn't?"
She shrugs, staring down at her bare feet.
"Thea," he says, and pushes away from the table, coming to stand next to her.
She stiffens, ready for him to tell her he's done, that he can't handle this.
"I'm sorry," Roy says softly, and she looks up in surprise.
"Why are you sorry?"
He shakes his head. "I knew something was wrong. You kept saying you were fine, but I just had a feeling...and then when you told me I acted like an asshole."
"No you didn't."
Roy's mouth twists. "The thing is...I've never really loved anyone besides you. Other than my mom I guess, but that's different. And when I found out that they had hurt you like that..."
"Roy," she whispers.
"It hurt," he says, his voice cracking. "I didn't know it would hurt like that."
"I think that's called empathy," she says wryly.
"Yeah, well, I suck at feelings. Obviously."
Thea gives him a small smile. "Welcome to the club, Harper."
Roy's hands come around her waist. "I'm sorry I didn't handle it better. But I'm here now."
She kisses him.
"Thea," he says softly, brushing his lips against her cheek.
"I love you," she says, hating how desperate she sounds.
Roy kisses her eyelashes, making them flutter. "I love you, too."
Thea rests her chin on his shoulder, sighing when his hand comes up to play with her hair.
"So what now?" she asks him.
He tugs gently on her hair. "Now I buy you breakfast."
xxx
She and Roy walk three blocks to a little diner. He sits next to her in the booth instead of across from her.
He doesn't let go of her hand.
They order blueberry pancakes with lots of whipped cream and make a mess of it. He kisses whipped cream off her nose. She licks syrup off his lips.
The waitress gives them a dirty look and Thea gives her one right back.
"Should we talk about last night?" Roy asks.
"Do we have to?" she says weakly.
"You kind of freaked out when we...you know." Roy gestures with his hands.
Thea shivers. "Yeah, I don't know really know what happened. It was like I was with you and then..." she trails off, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
"Then what?" Roy pushes.
"And then I wasn't. And I didn't have any control over it."
Roy frowns, leans forward to brush a curl away from her face. "What can I do?"
She shrugs. "I don't know if there's anything you can do."
He sets his jaw. "That's an unacceptable answer."
"Roy-"
"I'm not going to let some douche bags ruin sex for you," he says hotly. "You love sex. There has to be something I can do."
"Okay," she says, raising an eyebrow. "Go for it."
"I'm going to," he says seriously.
When she starts to laugh he dips his pinkie in the whipped cream and smears it all over her mouth.
xxx
When Thea and Roy get back to the loft they both freeze in the doorway, because Oliver and Felicity have moved downstairs and they're screaming at each other.
"I cannot believe you!" Felicity is yelling. "We've talked about this."
"This is different! This is Thea," Oliver retorts.
"I understand that."
"She's my sister."
"What are you going to do, break into their jail cells, where the police put them when you worked with Lance to get Thea back, and put arrows in their chests?"
"Sounds good to me!"
"Oliver!"
"They deserve to die for what they did," he growls.
"Oliver Jonas Queen, if you walk out that door I'm calling off the wedding!"
Thea's jaw drops.
"You wouldn't."
"Don't tell me what I wouldn't do!"
"We're getting married in two days!"
"Then you better get your head out of your ass, because you getting arrested for being a murdering vigilante does not fit in with my timeline of the next thirty-six hours!" Felicity says hysterically.
"Felicity, what do you want me to do?"
"God, don't you get it? I want you to not do anything dangerous for like, one week. And can you handle that? No!"
"You signed up for this! You knew who you were marrying."
"And you promised me you wouldn't do anything risky before the wedding."
"Felicity, it's for Thea."
"Stop using Thea as an excuse! You're doing this for yourself."
"Excuse me?"
"You want to kill those men because you feel guilty, because you put her in the field."
"Whoa," Roy whispers.
"Of course I feel guilty."
"Oliver, you can't kill someone just because you think it will make you feel better."
"Felicity...I don't know what else to do."
There's a long, worrying pause.
"I can't tell you what to do. You have to figure that out for yourself."
Her brother doesn't say anything and Thea can imagine him standing there, hanging his head.
Felicity sighs. "I have to take a shower and then I have to pick up my fucking dress."
Another long silence from her brother.
"Fine," Felicity huffs, and Thea hears the stomp stomp of her heels up the stairs.
Roy and Thea stand there awkwardly for a few minutes but it sounds like the fight is over.
"Dude, what do we do?" Roy hisses.
"I don't know!"
"Should we like...come back later?"
"I can't believe they're fighting right now. They're about to get married."
"They'll be fine, fighting's like foreplay for them."
"Gross."
"I know you're out there!" Oliver shouts.
Roy and Thea both wince.
"What do we do?" Roy mouths.
Thea grips his hand and they walk into the loft. Oliver's sitting on one of the couches in the living room, head in his hands.
"Go on up," Thea tells Roy. "I'll be there in a minute."
Roy squeezes her hand and goes up the stairs. Thea plops down next to Oliver on the couch.
"Ollie," she says finally, when he doesn't say anything, "what are you doing?"
"Nothing," he says sullenly.
Thea stretches her feet out on the coffee table. "It sounds like you're about to screw up the best thing that ever happened to you."
"Yeah, I'm good at that."
"Ollie." Thea grips his arm. "I know you're just trying to protect me, but you don't have to do this."
Ollie rubs his eyes. "Thea, they hurt you."
"You can't kill everyone that hurts me, Ollie. I'm going to get hurt sometimes. That's just life."
"I still think of you like a kid, I guess. Always trying to protect you."
"Ollie...it can't be like this. Not with us. This can't be us, okay?"
He blinks rapidly. "Thea-"
"There has to be another way, Ollie," she pleads. "I can't do this. I can't be afraid to tell you things because you might go on a rampage."
"So what do I do, then? Nothing?"
She leans her head on his shoulder. "You could stay here. You could get married. I would really like to watch you and Felicity get married, Ollie. It'd be nice to have something good for once, you know?"
He sighs. "When did you get so smart, anyway?"
Thea smiles sadly. "I grew up."
"Nope." Ollie ruffles her hair. "You're still my baby sister."
"And you're still my dumb big brother."
"Your dumb big brother loves you more than anything."
"I know." Thea kisses his cheek. "Stop being an idiot. Stay here. Get married. Have lots of freaky genius superhero babies."
He rolls his eyes. "Someone wants to be an aunt."
She tweaks his cheek. "Make my dreams come true, big bro."
Ollie snorts. "Let's see how this weekend goes first."
When she goes back up to her room she finds Roy spread eagle on her bed, fast asleep.
xxx
Thea is sitting on the edge of her bed while Roy sleeps, sketchbook balanced against her knees, when Felicity barges in. She's freshly showered and ponytailed, wearing a peach and cream patterned sundress and a pale blue leather bag hanging from her shoulder.
"Hey, Thea," Felicity says loudly, and then winces when she sees Roy passed out on the bed.
"Sorry," Felicity mouths, and Thea jumps up, putting her sketchbook down.
"What's up?" she whispers.
"I need you to run some errands with me."
"Okay," Thea says easily, because Felicity is using her no-nonsense mom voice and she looks stressed out as all hell.
They meet with the wedding planner at the hotel. Thea curls up on a couch with headphones on and sketches while Felicity spends an hour approving napkins, table settings, chair designs.
Thea jumps when Felicity taps her shoulder.
"Are we done?" Thea asks hopefully.
Felicity shakes her head. "Not even close."
"I'm hungry," Thea pouts. "This is boring."
"Buck up kid," Felicity says, pulling Thea off the couch. "This is crunch time."
They pick up their dresses from the tailors. Felicity's dress is a froth of snowy white silk carefully wrapped in plastic. At Felicity's insistence Thea tries her dress on in the case it needs last minute tailoring, which it doesn't, but the dress is so pretty she doesn't mind.
It's ice blue chiffon, vaguely Grecian in design, the fabric flowing in a simple column and tying around one shoulder.
"Oh Thea," Felicity says softly. "You look amazing."
Thea twirls in the dress. "Yeah?"
"Definitely."
Thea smiles. "Wait 'til Ollie sees you in your dress. He's going to die."
"Assuming he makes it to the wedding at all," Felicity deadpans.
"Hey." Thea touches Felicity's arm. "I know my brother can be a total idiot but he'd never miss your wedding."
"He better not," Felicity says darkly. "He spent a freaking fortune."
xxx
Thea frowns when Felicity turns the car deeper into downtown Starling City instead of turning west towards the loft.
"Where are we going?" she asks.
"One last stop," Felicity says, and pulls up in front of a large professional building.
"I didn't know I had an appointment," Thea says.
"I called this morning and scheduled an emergency session," Felicity explains. "I hope that's okay."
"I guess," Thea shrugs. "I don't really have a choice, anyway, do I?"
"You have a choice," Felicity says. "But I would highly recommend taking this one."
"Ollie always takes me," Thea comments.
"Oliver's with Dig," Felicity says apologetically. "He needed some guy time. He asked me to take you."
"You have to get me ice cream after," Thea says, like a kindergartener about to get a shot. "That's the rule."
Felicity nods seriously. "Ice cream. Got it."
Thea opens her door but stops when Felicity grabs her wrist.
"Hey," Felicity says. "I love you kiddo."
Thea gives her a hug, laying her cheek on Felicity's shoulder. "I love you too."
"Thea," Felicity says softly. "I want you to go in there and tell the truth. You tell her what happened, and you tell her how you feel. Okay?"
Thea nods, suddenly feeling nervous. "Do you ever feel like...some things are just better left alone? Like if you don't talk about them maybe you can pretend they didn't happen."
Felicity sighs. "You can pretend. But it would all be a lie. It would eat you up inside. I think you know that."
Thea's chest tightened. "Why is talking about it so scary?"
Felicity cups her cheek. " You can do it, girl. Be brave. "