Chapter 3: Truths (Part 3)

Truths – a truth so close to the heart has the power to change so many things.

Last part of Chapter 3! Sorry for the delay, but I made it extra long to make it up to you!

How will team Arrow react to the shocking news? Will things become worse or will they manage to pull through as they have so many other times? It might be time for all the hidden truths to come out…

Let me know if you like it and what you think/hope will happen!

'Felicity?' Diggle asked a few minutes after seeing what Roy was showing them coming out of a daze.

What the hell is going on? He thought to himself. How could Felicity have been involved in this? What was she hiding? The shocking thing was that Felicity was never good at lying to them. The truth was always stamped across her face

The others looked at him with expressions just as puzzled as his – none of them had any idea what was going on. They couldn't talk, what were they supposed to say anyway? The shock had literally rendered them speechless.

Oliver stared off into the distance, somewhere behind Diggle, clearly lost in thought. He was a man of action, his 5 years away teaching him to make decisions quickly and stick with them unless he wanted to end up dead. But this –this was beyond anything he ever expected- and that said something for a man who had done and seen some unspeakable things. His face was contorted into what looked like curiosity mixed with pain, but Diggle could see anger slowly slip in and take over.

Roy was busy staring at the screen again, his fingers running across the keyboard. Not as fast as Felicity, Diggle thought with a smile before his buffled expression returned as he remembered that she was involved in whatever this was. His head was hurting, things were becoming increasingly complicated and he just wanted to lie down and forget about everything.

'Roy just stop' Oliver's warning tone was suggesting he was reaching his limits. No wonder Diggle thought.

'Wait! I think I've figured out…' Roy's voice was barely audible as he stared intently ahead. 'I think…' What now? Diggle wandered.

'I just have a feeling… Felicity mentioned something about coffee the other day. I need to check something to make sure…' His voice trailed off.

Diggle frowned as he leaned forward to look at the screen yet again 'Roy you are not making any sense'.

'Just give me a sec will you?' Roy mumbled, still typing.

'I don't think you are going to like this…' He continued.

'What?' Oliver growled. He was becoming increasingly agitated and Diggle couldn't say he blamed him. From all the people he expected something like this from; Felicity was definitely the last one on the list. Not that she wasn't smart, because she was smarter than all of them. And not that she wasn't strong, because she could hold them every time they fell apart, every time they hit a brick wall. But because…because they were family… Diggle thought to himself and he felt his hands clench as they rested on the table infront of him.

'The other day I picked Felicity up from Palmer Tech…Queen Consolidated!' Roy mumbled quickly seeing Oliver's expression. 'She was holding a cup of coffee that Palmer brought her from this place by his house and she was saying how great this place was and that we should go….'

'What does coffee have to do with ANYTHING?' It was Diggle's turn to become angry.

'That coffee shop?' Roy swallowed and continued quickly holding his hands up for them to wait for him to finish. 'I remembered that it's right here' he said pointing at a place just off the screen suggesting it was next to the building the man was flying round.

'Anyway, so I checked. That's Ray Palmer's house.' He finished quickly; now showing them the building the man landed on sending another shock their way.

Anger had completely taken over Oliver now. He jumped up as soon as he heard what Roy said, the chair rolling away behind him.

'Where are you going?'

'To find him' Oliver answered, contempt clear in his voice. 'He needs to explain what the hell is going on. Is he trying to play superhero? Stupid man! What was he thinking? And dragging Felicity into this.' His eyes were brighter than usual, ablaze with a fire ready to consume anything that got in its way.

He moved towards the glass case that was holding his hood, his quiver already in his hand. Clearly it would be the Arrow that would be visiting Mr. Palmer and not Oliver Queen. Oliver wanted to scare Ray into telling him everything. Both Diggle and Roy, however, stayed where they were.

'Oliver wait.' Diggle's voice boomed around the lair as he stood up to be at the same eye level as the other man crossing his arms infront of him.

Oliver turned his head round without removing his hands from the hood, continuing to get ready.

'You can't just go running after Palmer! We shouldn't rush into this; we need to think this through first man.' Diggle argued. 'Maybe it's not her; maybe it's just someone that looks like her. The picture is not that clear anyway' he continued, not even himself convinced by the argument he was putting forth.

Oliver's hard look shut him up 'I'm going, I need to stop him' he said. But Roy wasn't giving up the argument as easily.

Roy was feeling anger coursing through him. Why was his mentor so damn stubborn sometimes?

'That's bullshit!' He almost yelled it, barely managing to control his emotions.

'We need to stop him NOW.' Oliver shouted back at him, the tension in the lair becoming palpable.

'YOU KNOW BETTER THAN ANYONE THAT YOU CAN'T JUST GO RUNNING INTO SITUATIONS WITHOUT PLANNING AHEAD AND KNOWING ALL THE FACTS.' So now he was yelling. Trying to calm himself down Roy continued 'That's what you've been trying to teach me all this time! You put arrows through Barry till he learned that! So bullshit!'

Roy's outburst seemed to have caught Oliver's attention. He looked at him with a glare that would have scared anyone into backing off and turned his gaze towards the stairs. Digg was right there, however. He stood with his arms crossed infront of him – his usual stance during all the crazy conversations they seemed to be having in the foundry. He couldn't stop Oliver if he wanted to leave, but he had to try and make him listen.

'Fine' Oliver said seeing there was no escaping this, before sitting down, his bow still in his hand.

Diggle noticed Roy giving him a look over Oliver's shoulder. Yes it might actually be the best time to talk to Oliver…

'I'm not saying you shouldn't find Palmer and make him talk. I'm just saying let's think this through first.' Diggle started as both he and Roy moved closer to stand closer to Oliver.

'First we need to talk to Felicity. You need to ask her what's going on – perhaps there's a reasonable explanation.'

'No'

'Oliver Felicity obviously knows – if you talk to her…'

'I have nothing to say to her.'

'You want to know what I really think? Diggle was getting exasperated.

Diggle plucked the courage to continue.

'I think this has nothing to do with her' mimicking Oliver's avoidance of Felicity's name. 'yes she's hiding something and yes we need to figure out what's going on with Palmer. But you are only getting so angry with her because you are always trying to control everything and you right now you can't.'

'Diggle, when I started I was going to do this alone…' Oliver interjected.

'Yeah man I know you've said it before. But it doesn't mean it's not true. You are trying to control everything and when you can't do that – just like with Laurel joining and fighting alongside us without asking your permission – you panic. Oliver, Felicity has stopped following your plan and now she's done this – whatever this is – without telling you or asking for your help and you realise you have no control over it – over her - and you are panicking.'

By now Oliver's eyes had become darker and he started to look murderous.

'I know you had to rely only on yourself for a long time and relying on others can be difficult to get used to. But Felicity is our friend, she's proved that time and time again' Diggle continued before he lost him, 'and we need to trust her. And if she lied, there might be a reason she did. What if she's in trouble and we make everything worse by just barging in without thinking it through?'

Oliver all of a sudden lost his colour. What if he had put her in danger yet again?

'At the end of the day Felicity is her own person and she makes her own decisions' Roy added.

'You mean Palmer?' Oliver added with a sneer all thoughts of protecting her forgotten again.

'Yeah Palmer. You told her you can't be with her and then you snap because she moved on. Make up your damn mind!' Diggle was not a person to easily lose his temper, but in that moment in time he was having trouble being his collected self.

'What did you expect? That she'll stick around waiting for you to get through your thick skull that you were wrong to let her go? That she'll beg? She'd hit you over the head if she was here if that's what you think! She's moving on and what she's doing, her relationship with Ray, is now none of your business. You chose this path, you need to live with it. If you want her back you need to tell her. But if not you need to let her be.' Diggle fumed. Felicity was like his younger sister and he felt that she'd suffer enough.

Oliver's eyes had narrowed and he looked like he was about to take off again.

Diggle took a deep breath before continuing 'All I'm saying Oliver is that who she chooses to be with is her own business. It doesn't mean that I agree with the way she went about it. It wouldn't be fair to anyone to find out that the person they love is now helping the person that took so much from them. And worse to find out that they are in a relationship now, by anyone other than her. SHE should have told you. But what you are doing it's no better…'

'You mean the man that probably has gotten her in trouble and has made her lie to us?'

'No Oliver, if she lied to you it's probably because you pushed her away! She is first and most importantly your friend, but you won't even listen to her. And then on top of that you tell her that you can't be together, that she needs to stay away, but you won't stop telling her you love her. Heck even after you promised me you'll stop' Diggle was referring to the conversation they had right after he asked Oliver to be his best man. He continued 'you punish her for having someone else in her life. If you truly love someone Oliver and you want them to be happy you set them free. And…and if they come back to you…if they do… they are truly yours and if they don't they never truly were.'

Diggle took a breath before continuing 'But do you know what you are doing? You are just keeping her at a distance, neither letting her in nor letting her go. So you are practically FORCING her to take a step back. To leave you. And if she does, Oliver… I don't think you'll see her ever again.'

The room was plunged in silence for a few minutes as the three of them processed what had been said, Oliver staring down at his bow.

'It doesn't matter anyway. If I take Ra's offer it won't matter – she'll be free, you'll all be free.' Oliver said all of a sudden.

'What do you think it's going to happen if you go to Ra's Oliver?' Diggle asked.

'You can go back to…'

'Yeah because you think it's so simple! After everything we've been through together, after we thought you died but kept going, you think it would be as simple as that?'

'Fine Diggle. You can keep watch over the city, you can protect anyone who needs you, just make sure Laurel stays out of the field, she's not ready' Oliver said and Diggle understood that by anyone he meant Felicity and shook his head. 'If I go I can make sure you are never hurt again…' Oliver insisted.

'You think you are protecting us? Protecting her? Did you even listen to her?'

Oliver frowned as he remembered her words '…You don't get to hurt me again. If you want to die Oliver you don't get to pin it on me this time. This time it's because you chose to die, you chose to let go. You don't get to blame it on me.' Was she right? In his attempt to shield her from all the bad things that were going on around them was he the one causing her so much pain?

'When you ended up on that island Oliver you had left Starling a spoilt child, and it made you grow up. When you departed from your purgatory you had become a good man, a broken, but good man. You took responsibility and you started helping others that needed you. But when it comes to emotions and love and friendship I don't think you are there yet… getting shipwrecked on that island took away almost everything you loved and cared about and now you are hiding what you are feeling under lies that you are protecting us.'

'At the end of the day, Oliver' Diggle's voice had grown tired, but he pushed on, 'You have convinced yourself that all you are doing is protecting her. To make sure that she never gets hurt because of you. But now it's gone beyond that and all you are doing is protect yourself. You realised that she had managed to mean more than you ever thought was possible after the hell you went through without you even comprehending it. And you almost lost her and you can't handle it. So now you want to become Ra's al Ghul, you want to run halfway across the world and not have to feel anything. You are shying away from the one thing you really cared about because you Oliver are scared of ever feeling broken again.'

'All I need is for her to be safe' Oliver said finally with fake conviction in his voice.

'That's a lie and you know it. When did you become a coward?' Roy responded all of a sudden wanting to speak up.

In the blink of an eye Oliver had stood up and raised his bow straight towards him, an arrow ready, his hands clenching it tightly. He was angry, he was more than angry, he was furious. Both Roy and Diggle had tensed, but did not moved away.

'It's the truth!' Oliver yelled looking at the two of them.

'Then why are you yelling at us?' Diggle asked his eyebrow raised.

Oliver had a deadly look on his face, but his voice was quiet when he talked again.

'Tatsu' he started and Diggle remembered that that was the woman that had nursed Oliver back to health. A woman that Oliver had known from before and who although he did not talk much about, Diggle knew that Oliver respected and listened to her advice.

'Tatsu told me that if I want to succeed in this…quest I need to let her go. I need to let everything go' His eyes becoming glassy as he remembered his friend telling him he needs to let go of whatever he is holding most precious – her, his team, his life.

'And where is your friend now Oliver? She's lost everything and everyone and what has she accomplished?'

'I can't do it!' He almost cried out. I'm darkness and she's the light.'

'You can't fight darkness with darkness, Oliver. You need the light, else it will swallow you whole.' Roy finally said with wisdom before his years before giving him a hard look and walking slowly away and Diggle remembered that the kid had had a rough life.

Oliver had lowered his quiver and seemed to be appraising what Roy had said but he still seemed doubtful.

Diggle thought they might have accomplished something tonight, but he had one thing left to say before he gave him time to think 'Look it's late. We'll figure out what to do with Ray Palmer tomorrow, but in the meantime Oliver you have a lot of things to deal with and you need to do it now. Before it's too late for all of our sakes. You are ruining everything, spiralling out of control. You've reached a point where you need to deal with everything that's been going on and instead you are running away from it. Only you don't realise that the only thing you are running from is you. And the more you run the faster everything is catching up to you.'

Diggle sighed to himself and followed Roy to the back of the lair and the two of them continued training. He had left Oliver with his mouth hanging open, his last attempt to deny everything yet again, left unsaid.

Diggle wished he could shake his friend until he saw the truth that was right in front of him. Oliver always made bad choices, Diggle knew that, but he always had Felicity to guide him back towards the light. He smiled thinking how appropriate that was. She was his Felicity or his 'Intense Happiness' as her named meant, but Oliver couldn't see it yet.

But now that his bad choices were turned towards the team, towards her it seemed that he was taking the light straight out of her, killing her bit by bit. Oliver couldn't see it yet. Their words had shaken him and for the first time since September he seemed to be seeing his decisions in a different light. But he wasn't there yet and Diggle didn't know if he'd get there fast enough. Fast enough before he lost her, before he drove her straight into Ray Palmer's arms - whatever his plans are - completely. Or worse, before he broke her beyond repair so she was no longer the Felicity they knew, the Felicity that was one of the most important people in Oliver's life.

He was worried about them yes, but after Felicity's reaction he had a new appreciation for their petite friend. Maybe – if Oliver wasn't too late - there was hope she'd pull him back into the light still.