The mansion was as quiet as a mausoleum when Felicity entered the foyer. It usually unnerved her to roam the mansion at night, but she was too distracted by her thoughts.
That fact that Nyssa was murdered was what made the whole situation even more terrifying. The massacre at Nanda Parbat, sure, that was cause for alarm. But Nyssa was such a complete badass that it was hard to process her being killed by someone. She killed Ra's Al Ghul (an even BIGGER badass) and took over the League of Assassins. Who could possibly manage to get the slip on someone like that? Who the hell was her shadow?
The stairs creaked as she climbed them, the atmosphere feeling like a suspenseful scene in a horror movie. Even the old paintings contributed to the vibe. Not that she noticed.
Why should she even care at all? Sara had explained it perfectly. They didn't need to know who the dissenters were, did they? Was it really that important? But how could a dissenter get so close to Nyssa? And why were they all dissenting anyway? Was it a general hatred of authority? Probably. And what about that guy, though? What about that damn shadow? Okay, so maybe he fell for Nyssa, pledged fealty or whatever, and she ended up breaking his heart? That almost made sense. She totally would've realized he was into her, though. That would've made her alert, right? So she would've been careful around a guy like that. So who the hell was this guy?
Felicity gasped quite girlishly as something brushed past her leg. Then a huge pair of glowing eyes stared at her from about five feet up the wall.
Dammit. Jelly Donut was climbing the curtains again.
"Bad kitty," she whispered as she pried him off. The tiny, flat-faced, fluffy potato thing that Penny had found in an alley let out a wheezy hiss before complying and curling up against Felicity's shoulder. After walking a few feet, she set him down and he sprinted off to either take a nap or kill something.
A soft blue glow was coming from under Tommy's closed door. It was a Sunday night, technically Monday morning, and a thirteen year old should not be up so late. She carefully opened it to see that he had only left the computer on. He was sleeping like an adorable, drooling angel. The blue glow was just enough light to show a bruise on his eye; he said he'd gotten it from training, but she had her doubts. She closed the door and continued on her way.
The hinges whined softly as she opened the door to her own bedroom. Oliver was fast asleep, his silhouette outlined by the soft twinkle lights from the backyard. She did her best not to wake him as she crept to the master bathroom to get ready for bed. When she was finished, he still hadn't moved. Carefully, she slipped into bed, moved to take off her glasses—
"Eeep!" she squealed as Oliver's muscular arms pulled her close, his short white beard scratching as he nuzzled her neck.
"What kept you?" he asked quietly as she snuggled into his embrace.
"Fury duty,"
He tickled her side and she giggled. "I need details. You were gone longer than I'd expected."
"Are you torturing me for information?"
"Mm-hmm," he kissed her cheek. "Especially since Sara let me know you dropped by."
Felicity took a moment to peck him on the lips before answering. "And she didn't tell you why?"
"Nope."
She took in the sight of her husband, still gorgeous and ripped at nearly fifty years old. "But if I tell you, it'll ruin the mood."
He beamed. "Tell me in the morning, then?"
She nodded, and they went at it like teenagers so loudly that the noises would've traumatized their children had they been awake.
Tommy rested his head on the dining room table, wincing as his bruise hit the mahogany. He was exhausted, but he couldn't fall asleep because he had to leave for school in a few minutes. Stupid parents. They should've let him soundproof their room.
The sound of his cereal bowl sliding across the table caused him to look up. He turned to see his sister crunching remorselessly on his stolen Lucky Charms.
"Mine," he said groggily.
She smiled and pushed the bowl towards him. "I'll ask Digglet to stop at Starbucks on the way to school."
"You're an angel," he mumbled, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses.
"So when is Daddy taking you to get your tux for prom?"
That woke him up a bit. He rolled his eyes. "I still don't think you need to go with me, especially when every guy in school wants to be your date."
"But no one else would go with you!"
Tommy slumped in his chair.
"Sorry. I know it's been tough being a thirteen-year-old junior. All the other girls think it'd be too weird to go with someone so much younger—"
"I could still go with Rosie," he argued. "I know she's older than me but she's still only a freshman."
"Trading in your sister for your cousin? I don't think that'll help much. And I doubt she could keep your bullies at bay as well as I could."
"I can handle them just fine by myself." he grumbled.
"Sure you can," she replied, poking his bruise.
"Ow,"
"Seriously, just let me at 'em,"
"None of us is allowed to fight as civilians. You know that."
"Otherwise they wouldn't be bothering you at all."
"I can deal with it." he said through a mouthful of tiny marshmallows. "Just leave it alone."
Her bubblegum-pink lips curled into a smile. "I think they need a visit from the Scary Canary."
"Penny, no."
"Then go to prom with me."
Tommy sighed. "Promise to take a real date to senior prom?"
"Absolutely."
"Fine. Just quit bugging me and let me fight my own battles."
Being the silly girly-girl that she was, Penny giggled in triumph as she bounced in her seat.
Then Tommy got a really good idea. "Actually, let's sweeten the deal a bit."
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she adjusted the pink, rhinestone-covered bow in her hair. "What do you have in mind?"
"You have to take Damian to senior prom."
Penny's jaw dropped. "That little shit you call a best friend? But he's the same age as you are. I thought you wanted me to take a real date."
"First of all, you're not allowed to curse unless you have your mask on." Tommy pointed out, because he was also a little shit. "Secondly, he's not related to you and he'll be fourteen and a half by then. I'd say he qualifies."
"Is this some kind of revenge? Because I just wanted to make sure you didn't miss out on prom."
"This is a favor to my best friend, who has a massive crush on you."
Penny's overtly beautiful face twisted in confusion. "That little asshole—ugh, that little jerk has a crush on me? When did that happen?"
"Probably when he met you, but I think it really hit him when you spent last summer in Gotham. He was furious when he was telling me about you kissing Tim."
"Which was the best first kiss ever." Then the guilt settled in. "I totally had no idea. Know what? Fine. We have a deal. But his punk ass better be gentlemanly, you got that?"
Tommy had stopped paying attention though, because their father had entered the room.
"Morning, peanut," he greeted, kissing his daughter on the top of her head.
"Morning, Daddy,"
Then Oliver turned to Tommy, who was glaring at him. "You don't look like you slept well last night."
"A ruckus woke me up."
Oliver tried not to smile; this wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation. "A ruckus?"
"Yeah. So please do me a favor and either soundproof your bedroom or stop screwing Mom on school nights."
"Soundproofing is a potential safety hazard and the other thing is impossible, so how about we move you to a room farther away from ours?"
"Works for me," he said with a shrug.
Then Oliver noticed what his daughter was(n't) wearing. "Penelope Violet Queen, why aren't you wearing a shirt?!"
"Chill out, Dad. It's not a bra, it's a bustier. It counts as a shirt."
"I don't like it."
"Yeah, 'cause you're a good father. Unfortunately, the paparazzi expect Penny Queen to be a flirty, somewhat rebellious airhead. I have to give the lemmings what they want in order to keep up appearances."
Appearances were very important in the Queen family. "Let me see the rest of it,"
Penny stood up, and Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Along with the pink lacy thing she insisted wasn't a bra, she wore light pink, floral-print denim shorts that barely covered anything and five-inch stiletto pumps that she couldn't possibly run in.
Oliver took a deep breath and exhaled. "Do you have any of your civilian weapons just in case?"
Penny popped open her purse that totally looked like a cupcake and pulled out what apparently wasn't a tube of mascara. "Emergency bow staff Tommy made me last year."
"Good. Now go to school before I change my mind."
She nodded. "Bye, Daddy," Penny pecked him on the cheek before scurrying out of the room, her gold bracelets clinking faintly. Tommy hugged him and raced after his sister. A second later, he poked his head back into the room.
"Dad, did I really hear Mom call you 'Killer Lime' last night?"
"Go to school, Tommy."
Felicity was descending the stairs when she saw her children heading out the door.
"I don't get a goodbye?" she called after them.
With surprisingly little grace given their shared hobby, the kids spazzed their way back into the foyer and raced to their mother.
"We assumed you'd be sleeping in," Penny said, hugging her.
"And not just because you got in late." added Tommy.
Ignoring his comment, Felicity held him close and looked at her daughter. "I'm so sorry about the—"
"Mom, seriously. It's okay. Grandpa wouldn't let you get called in unless it was crazy important. Anyway, I got to spend time with Digglet, who should be here any second."
She wished her kids a good day at school and watched them walk out the door.
"You look lovely this morning," Oliver complimented when he entered the foyer. Felicity wore a fitted, soft pink knee-length dress with matching kitten heels, an outfit that went well with her hair pinned to the side.
"And you fill out that suit better than you should," she said as she straightened his tie.
He freed a strand of hair from her dull pink lipstick. "So, do you want to tell me what the Furies wanted?"
She told him everything, including what happened with the Allens and her conversation with her cousin afterward.
"I doubt Nyssa had a boyfriend," he commented.
"I know, right? The only man she had any kind of relationship with was her father, and she killed him to usurp his power. I really don't know who her shadow could be."
Oliver was quiet for a long moment, deep in thought. "Could Nyssa have ever been a mother?"
Felicity burst out laughing. "Did she really strike you as the motherly type?"
"Nearly two decades ago? No. But we hadn't seen her since then. Maybe she changed."
She wasn't convinced. Like, at all. "So Nyssa might've been killed by her adopted son?"
"Or test tube baby." His smirk let her know he realized the incredulity of the idea.
"Right. Yeah, this whole 'son' thing isn't clicking for me at all."
"Ask Sara about it when you get the chance. Or Damian, if the Furies allow it."
"I'll be sure to do that,"
"Ready to go?" he asked, reaching for the door.
"You can go without me," she replied, "I have a few more things to do."
Oliver wasn't fooled by her tone. "If you're going to do what I think you're going to do, then I want to go with you."
She blushed a little and looked away, knowing she'd been caught. "You really don't have to. In fact, I probably shouldn't. Let's just go to work." But her husband gently grabbed her arm before she could reach the door.
"Felicity," he breathed, making eye contact. "It's okay."
Hesitantly, she took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's go, then."
The grass was wet as they silently strolled towards the big oak tree with its three tombstones beside it. The simpler ones were for Oliver's parents. Beneath the tree was a smaller one with a life-size marble angel. Her white curls hung carelessly as she wept into her folded arms, which rested on top of the stone as she knelt beside it. The inscription was intentionally ambiguous:
Robert Oliver Queen
Taken from us the day of his birth
October 9, 2013
Even after five years, Felicity still hated that stupid fucking tombstone; not for its design, but for its purpose. She and Oliver had been pressured into commissioning that damn thing when Robbie was fifteen. Some PR bullshit about closure, or at least appearing to have closure. It had been long enough, and it was starting to look bad, blah, blah, blah. So Felicity and Oliver acquiesced. They were so sure he was dead? Fine. Then he was getting one hell of a tombstone.
Felicity wrapped her arms around her husband's waist, and he hugged her close.
"Another nightmare last night?" he asked
"In a way," she rested her head on his chest. "It was one of those happy ones that make me cry when I wake up." her eyes were beginning to water. "He was out here, playing with Penny and Tommy the way Connor does."
Oliver kissed her forehead. "I had a nightmare before you got home last night. The same kind I've been having since we got this tombstone."
She looked into his eyes. "How bad was it this time?"
"I've had worse." He sighed, trying to smile but his lip was quivering too much. "Robbie was stuck on the Lian Yu, like always, and it was dark and cold and he had no one to help him…" Oliver took a moment to regain his composure. "And he was freezing because the wood was too wet to start a fire and he kept saying over and over that he had to survive so he could get home."
Felicity wiped his tears as she felt her own run down her cheeks. "You could've told me last night."
"I didn't want to bother you with it."
"I guess that's why you were so cuddly and wanted sex."
He chuckled. "You got me," Oliver used his pocket square to dab at his wife's eyes. "By the way, have I mentioned how much I hate that fucking tombstone?"
She grinned briefly. "I know how you feel. Unfortunately, it hurts more to look at the ultrasound."
Oliver almost started crying again. "That's true,"
After they had cleaned each other up, they went back inside, back to pretending their pain had faded long ago.
Back to ignoring the gaping hole in their lives.
"Dream On" by Aerosmith