Ghosts That We Knew

by Its Physics Magic

Thea Queen wasn't going to let her brother leave her behind on what was meant to be the trip of a lifetime but she'll soon come to regret her decision. AU in which Thea Queen finds herself on the Queen's Gambit on the fateful night that it sank.

4. Honor Thy Father

|Ghosts That We Knew|

Honor Thy Father

A/N - Happier with this chapter compared to the pilot, also had to write 2/3's of this with a cat on my arm (Got a kitten and she likes to sleep on me and my laptop at the worst possible times.)

I wrote the present day parts before the flashbacks hence the later than intended update and because when I wrote it I saved it then shut down my laptop which deleted all of the text (Annoying and my computer doesn't let me recover the file which is annoying, I had been up to the 'final' confrontation with Somers and it deleted it back to the point of their first one. So that was annoying as I had to rewrite most of the chapter and it took me longer as I had to try and get it back.)

Also is it a week inbetween episodes or are all the timings different for each episode?

---

. . .

Emerging from the shadows Oliver listened to the confused and panicked voices of Marcus Redmond and his guards, "Who's that?" He quickly made his way towards that guard and fired an arrow towards the man chest - he fell to the ground, dead by the time he hit it.

"Where'd he come from?" Another voice called out as he started to fire his gun towards him.

He jumped to the right to avoid the bullets and took out another guard.

Marcus started to flee, "Get the chopper back now!"

The Hood hurried after Marcus Redmond, the man had stolen money from some of Starling City's most vulnerable. He fired off an arrow towards one of the guards and lunged towards another one, using his bow to knock the man unconscious - movement behind him caused him to fire off another arrow towards a guard that had been about to tackle him.

He surveyed the roof again, checking for any possible threats. It seemed that it was just him and Marcus now, he quickly jumped down from where he was onto the lower roof. He walked over to the crumpled mess that was Marcus and grabbed his arm. Slamming him into an air conditioning unit with a thud.

Using his weight and bow combined to pin the man against the unit he used his free hand to press the man's skull towards the fan - the man cried out desperately as the fans threatened to tear at his face, "No! No! Please...please no!"

He hated the satisfaction that washed through him as he heard the man's cries, "Marcus Redmond...you have failed this city."

"Please! Please...no!" The man continued to beg, weakly trying to escape the vigilante's grasp and push his head away from the fan. "Please don't hurt me! Please!"

"Cell phone," He ordered, "Inside pocket...call your partner...tell him to give those pensioners back their money."

Marcus struggled weakly, "No! Please don'!"

Oliver bristled at that, he was giving the man a chance to walk away unharmed and instead he kept begging, "Do it now."

"Okay..okay!" The man called out, making a show of reaching towards his phone.

He stepped away from the man, if the man didn't follow through with what he had ordered him to do then he was going to pay the man a second visit. And unlike this one he wasn't going to walk away unharmed. Silently he jumped down from the lower room and disappeared into the darkness - leaving a terrified Marcus Redmond behind him.

. . .

Oliver shot her an amused look as he sat down on the leather chair in front of the television, the Hood was currently on the News alongside a sketch of him and Thea's alter egos. Apparently the Hood had coerced a confession out of another criminal, she smirked at Oliver knowingly. She knew that he'd been out last night but as it wasn't a big job she'd let him go it alone, if he went after a heavy hitter then she'd definitely have had some choice words about it.

"This guy gets more airtime than the Kardashians, right?" He was more dressed up than she had seen him before, ready for their court hearing. She was too and it felt strange, her Mom had insisited that she wear a skirt which was making her feel all kinds of exposed - plus it was harder to hide a knife whilst wearing a skirt compared to jeans.

Thea snorted and shook her head at her brother's comment, "And of course you know who they are."

"Five years on an Island and somehow he didn't forget." Tommy called out with a smirk, "Glad to see you can't forget a pretty face."

"Well it's nice to see how much our culture has improved since we've been away." Oliver called out dryly.

Moira shook her head at the news, Thea winced at the way she was looking at the sketches of herself and Oliver - not that her Mom was aware that it was her children behind the masks, "The city used to be different...people used to feel safer.."

"What's the matter Mom?" Thea questioned, "Afraid we'll be next, you've just got us back...we aren't going anywhere."

Thea looked up and smiled at Walter as he entered the room, "Do either of you have any questions about today? It's just a simple court hearing...a proof of life declaration." He assured them as he straightened his jacket and dusted off some specs of dust from his suit.

"And that's it?" Thea questioned, unlike her brother she hadn't exactly been in a courtroom before.

Walter nodded, "Oliver will read out a brief, prepared statement to the judge, and then your death's-in-absentia judgment will be voided."

"It's fine Walter." Oliver muttered, "I've been in a courtroom before." He traded a conspiratal smirk with Tommy at his statement which caused their Mom to shake her head ruefully.

"Four times!" Tommy called out, "By my estimate at least." Smirking he began to rattle off the apperances and count them on his fingers, "You know, there was the DUI, the assault on that paparazzi douchebag, stealing that taxi, which was just awesome, by the way, and who could forget peeing on the cop?"

"I wish everyone would forget about that incident." Moira murmured, she had had to pay off many people to deal with that paticular incident.

Tommy chuckled, "I still don't get why you couldn't just pee in the alley like a normal person."

"Or better yet wait until you actually got home." Thea added, her brother had certianly been a different person then.

Walter turned his attention to Tommy, "You don't have to accompany us if you don't want to Tommy, if you have other plans that's perfectly fine." He offered.

Tommy clapped Oliver and Thea on the back, "My best friend who's basically my brother and the girl who's basically my baby sister are about to get legally ressurected." He grinned, "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Right." Oliver muttered before turning to face Thea with his playboy smile in place, "Ready to get ressurected?"

Biting her lip slightly she nodded in affirmation, smiling at her Mother when she placed a hand on Thea's back - "I guess so."

"Mrs Queen?" Diggle's voice called out, "The car's ready"

Quickly fixing her hair in the reflection of the window Thea straightened up and followed her family outside.

. . .

Vultures, the lot of them. Thea shook her head in distain at the mob of reporters that had gathered outside of the building, all clamouring to get a look at the two former castaways. She wondered if that was how all the celebrities and socialites that she used to obsess over felt whenever they had been followed by the paparazzi because for her she had only run into them a couple of times and she already hated them.

It wasn't a shock to her that Oliver had ended up punching one of them.

She wasn't sure how she was meant to suppress the urge to stab them.

"Stay close to me Miss Queen, Mister Queen." Diggle said as he eyed the mob warily, she nodded at him and looked at her Mom, Walter and Tommy who all smiled at her in reassurance.

As soon as she and Oliver stepped out of the car the press surged forwards, microphones and cameras being shoved in their faces. She moved closer to Oliver and allowed him to shield her whilst Diggle covered him from the front.

Tommy, Mom and Walter were at their rear.

She forced herself to stay calm as every fibre of her being wanted to attack the people around her, it was too busy, too claustraphobic for her. Oliver squeezed her arm in an attempt to comfort her but Thea could tell he was struggling too.

"Mr. Queen, can we get a comment, sir?"

"Miss Queen! Miss Queen! What does it feel like to have spent your childhood on an Island?"

"...return to civilisation after five years!"

"-can we get a comment!?"

She looked up to see Oliver fighting to keep himself in control, his expression kept tightening. She saw his fingers twitch, a nervous tic he had developed over the years where he'd reach out for his bow.

"Mr Queen!"

"Tell us about the accident!"

They wouldn't even let them get past, the press forming a human blockcade around them. She grunted slightly as she, Diggle and Oliver pushed their way through.

"Miss Queen!"

"-Five years on an Island!"

The voices all merged and blurred together and she allowed Diggle and her family to guide her and Oliver through the crowd. She briefly looked back to see the disgust on her Mother and Walter's face and the barely suppressed anger on Tommy's.

When they finally arrived inside she leaned against a pillar and took a deep breath, momentarily closing her eyes in an attempt to aliviate the tension and ignore the adrenaline surging through her body.

"You alright?" She opened her eyes to see Tommy looking at her with concern.

Slowly she nodded, "Yeah...I am.." sighing she faced the rest of her family and shot them all a small smile "Let's get this over with."

. . .

Thea Queen stood alongside her brother in the courtroom facing the judge with a carefully blank expression, to her chagrin they both had to make the statement as it was the both of them that were being ressurected.

Their laywer, a friend of their Mother's, was sat next to them whilst her family waited in the stands.

"There was a storm," Thea began, they had agreed that she'd talk about that and let Oliver address the Island and their time on it, "And the boat capsized, the Gambit sank, Oliver pulled me into a liferaft and we were the only survivors."

She hesitated before speaking again, "Our Father didn't make it...I thought that we wouldn't either."

"We spent so many days drifting before we found that Island," Oliver continued giving Thea a small nod in a silent attempt at praise, she recognised his blank expression and tone and realised that he was probably on autopilot as of now. "When I reached it I knew that we'd have to live for him...survive...and that I was going to make sure that I brought Thea home...for him."

Clenching his fists he brought up his gaze to meet the one of the judge's, "For five years that single thought was what kept me going."

The Lawyer looked at her emotionally drained charges and took that as her cue to stand up, "Your honour we move to Your Honor, we move to vitiate the death-in-absentia's filed after Oliver and Thea's disappearance at sea aboard the Queen's Gamut five years ago." She paused tactfully, "Unfortunately we will not be requesting that the declaration of death filed for the petitioner's father, Robert Queen, be rescinded. It appears the Queen family isn't entitled to that miracle I'm afraid."

The Judge nodded at the Lawyer.

Thea turned to look at her family behind her, her Mother looked pale and teary eyed and Thea wondered if their statements had really affected her that much - Walter had helped Oliver write it afterall.

Tommy looked more serious than she had ever seen him, his eyes looked misty and she wondered if he was about to cry. That sent a jolt through her as she realised the last time he had cried was his Mother's funeral. That alarming realisation reminded her that their five years in Hell hadn't been sunshine and rainbows for those they had left behind.

Sighing she looked over at Oliver, he looked as blank and stony as ever but she knew that the hearing would have been hard on him. That reliving their Father's death couldn't have been easy for either of them.

. . .

Thea made her way out of the courtroom behind Tommy and Oliver, "Now, onto the offices. Everyone is waiting to meet you there." Their Mother said to Oliver with a smile, the previous week he'd told her that he wanted to get back to the offices and the company, which had surprised everyone who overheard.

"Uh," Oliver began, "Mom that was a little bit heavier than I was expecting it to be...could we do that tomorrow, please?"

Their Mother's expression morphed to one of sympathy as she and Walter exchanged glances, a silent conversation passing between the two of them, "Of course." Oliver shot them both a grateful smile as they walked off.

"Last week you couldn't wait to get to the company?" Tommy questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Tommy, I'd just spent five years away from civilization." Oliver reminded him, "I wasn't exactly thinking straight." The trio made their way down the staircase and Thea looked around curiously, this was her first time in a courthouse and she could admit that the building looked impressive, nicer than she'd expected.

She was jerked out of her thoughts when Tommy and Oliver came to an abrupt halt, "I-Hi." Her brother managed to stammer out and Tommy faintly echoed it.

Deciding that the tension was a bit too much Thea chose that moment to chime in, "Hey Laurel." She called out with a small wave, hoping that Laurel's hatred didn't extend to her.

Laurel's expression softened slightly and she gave Thea a small thin smile, "Hi Thea." Turning her attention back to Oliver she folded her arms across her chest, "What are you doing here?" She asked cooly.

"Being brought back from the dead-" Oliver winced and Thea raised an eyebrow at the fact her brother's speech seemed to fail him. "Legally speaking of course, the whole death in absentia thing."

Before he could dig himself into an even bigger grave she shot her a curious look, "What are you doing here?"

"My job." Laurel explained, "I assumed Oliver would have told you...I work at CNRI...legal aid."

"She basically does the DA's job." A girl behind her added with a grin.

Oliver looked at the nervous girl behind Laurel and extended a hand out to her, Hi.."Oliver Queen." He introduced and waited for her to introduce herself.

Hesitantly she took the offered hand, "Emily Nocenti."

Laurel watched the exchange with an unimpressed expression, "Oliver here just got back from a deserted Island...Before that, he was cheating on me with my sister. He was with her when she died." Emily's eyes widened at that, "And last week, he told me to stay away from him." Thea frowned at her brother, not remembering him having mentioned that "It was really good advice."

"It was nice seeing you again Thea, Tommy." She gave them both a small nod before pushing past them, "Excuse me."

Emily hovered for a second smiling nervously at Oliver, "It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah, let's go." Laurel's friend muttered and she and Emily moved away from the trio and after Laurel.

Tommy let out a short breath before clapping Oliver on the back, "Come on, buddy, shake it off." He nodded at Thea, "Let's go."

Hesitating Thea looked off towards where Laurel was and called out to Tommy, "I think I'll stick around here."

Oliver shot her a questioning look but didn't otherwise say anything whilst Tommy just nodded.

"Laurel!" Thea called out as she hurried towards Laurel and up towards the stairs, "Hey! Sorry...I was just wondering if I could sit in and watch you in action? I haven't gotten a chance to actually see you yet."

Laurel tilted her head in curiosity at Thea before finally nodding, "Sure...the public gallery is over there, alright?" Thea nodded in understanding, "And for the record I don't blame you, if you want to talk or drop by sometime I'm fine with that Thea." And it was true, Laurel had missed Thea - like Tommy the girl had been like a younger sibling to her.

Murmuring her thanks Thea hurried towards where Laurel had pointed to and made her way into the gallery.

. . .

Thea was impressed, as she watched Laurel maintain control in the courtroom. It was strange seeing what the girl who had taught her to do hair and makeup and had helped her study for tests had become.

"How much is a life worth?" Laurel spoke addressing the jury, "A life of a man, a good man, a stevedore on the docks of the city in which we live. "

Thea noticed that Emily was sat in the court, she realised that she must be Laurel's client. And she winced in sympathy at Laurel's next words, "A Father." She knew what it was like to lose a Father.

"A man with a daughter." Laurel added, Thea assumed she was trying to humanise the victim, "The plaintiff will prove by a preponderance of evidence that Victor Nocenti learned that his boss, that man sitting right there, Martin Somers, was taking bribes from the Chinese Triads to smuggle drugs into our city."

Her eyes widened at the mention of the Triad, her last encounter with them hadn't exactly been a pleasant one. She, Tatsu and Akio had been attacked in the Yamishiro's home and then they had been forced to go to Starling in an attempt to apprehend one of their members.

Maybe she and Oliver would have to pay the man a visit later, judgying by the type of man Somers was - a vampire who drained Starling City for money - he was probably on the list.

"And when Victor Nocenti threatened to tell the police," Laurel paused, "He had him killed." Thea noticed Emily's flinch at that.

"Mr. Somers is very well-connected, and has friends in the District Attorney's office." Thea wasn't surprised, crime pays and when crime pays it allows people to pay off the people who would be arresting them. "Which is why, if Emily Nocenti is to get justice for her father's death, if Martin Somers is to get justice for his crimes, then someone is going to have to do it for them."

Thea nodded her head in agreement, someone was going to get justice for Emily - one way or another.

When the court adjourned she changed her plans, she had intended to spend some time with Laurel afterwards and see how she was doing - a part of her still felt guilty about Sara's death, Oliver kept telling her that it wasn't her fault but she disagreed.

Sara would still be alive if it wasn't for her and so the least she could do was try and be there for Laurel. Plus she had missed the elder Lance sister whilst she'd been away.

Making her way towards a more private exit she tried to work out the fastest way to get to the old factory from where she was.

. . .

Thea walked into the steel factory and then into their makeshift base and was greeted by the sight of her brother climbing a rope, shirtless, she paused momentarily at the sight of all of his scars - she knew about all of them and yet the sight of them still caused her to pause and freeze.

It was a reminder of the hell he'd been through.

"Martin Somers!" Thea called out, "I think we need to pay him a visit."

Oliver droped down from where he had been and landed on the ground with a heavy thud, she tossed him a towel from the chest she had filled with basic things they may need, he caught it silently - practically pulling it from the air and dabbing at the sweat dripping from him. He made his way over to his desk and skimmed through the list. "He's on it." Oliver muttered before turning his attention back to her.

"Laurel's going after him," As she watched her brother stiffen slightly at the name she rolled her eyes, "If he's as bad as that court case painted him then the court's aren't going to go after him on their own."

"We need to give them a helping hand." Oliver murmured as he thought about what Thea was saying. She gave him a bit to browse the internet and research Somers, whilst he was doing it she checked on their weapons.

"The city's police and the D.A. can't stop him, or won't." Thea let out a harsh laugh at the city's idea of justice, "Laurel thinks she's the only one willing to bring him to justice. She's wrong."

Oliver nodded in agreement and moved towards her, "Then let's prove it." He grabbed his equipment and gestured for her to follow, "It'll be dark out soon...then we can strike."

. . .

Thea Queen, decked out in her vigilante gear, stood in the shadows of Somers Warehouse. Once again she was providing the distraction whilst her brother took out the guards, she didn't mind as long as she got a chance to go for the big guy.

To go for Somers.

"You, listen up." Somers pointed towards his goons,"The longer this goes on, the more likely the media is gonna crucify me. You shut this trial down, do you understand me?"

Her fingers twitched as they reached for her bow, she knew what he meant by 'shut this trial down' it meant he was planning on taking out either Nocenti or Laurel. She fought to stop herself firing an arrow at him, she could probably get it right between the eyes.

But he deserved a chance to right his wrongs, earn his chance at redemption. She and Oliver had gotten their chance and she was fairly certain that their sins were worse than most.

She cut the lights, it was simple enough - Waller had taught her how to do it in Hong Kong, they flashed on and off and she watched as the guards fell one by one.

The grunts of the guards and Somers echos of confusion as his men fell down beside him echoed throughout the warehouse. He looked in horror at his fallen men, "Oh god...oh god.." He muttered to himself as he realised what exactly had just happened.

His head swiveled around wildly as he tried to work out what was going on.

She jumped down and aimed an arrow at his chest, "No...no...no!" He muttered and whilst his attention was on her he failed to notice her brother emerging from the shadows and wrapping a rope around the man's neck.

"You can be the one to carry him." She called out with a smirk once she was sure he was unconcious, Oliver merely grunted in response as he threw the man over his shoulder.

Thea chuckled, "I saw somewhere on the roof where we can hang him, let him swing a little while in the breeze." There had been scaffolding and rafters on the roof, plenty of space to string Somers up and leave him out to dry.

. . .

Thea Queen stood in front of an upside-down Martin Somers, he was swinging in the breeze and she chuckled at the sight. She watched as he slowly regained conciseness and his arms jerked and flailed as he tried to work out what had happened.

"Martin Somers-" Her brother began, his voice-modulator turning his voice into a disguised snarl.

"Who the hell are you?" He called out in what was meant to be a threatening tone, she might have been intimidated if he wasn't currently hanging upside down.

"-You've failed this city." The Hood notched an arrow causing Somers to cry out in alarm and sent it flying towards Somers purposefully missing. She watched as it lodged itself in a beam.

"You're gonna testify in that trial." Her brother growled, "You're gonna confess to having Victor Nocenti killed."

Thea chose that moment to chime in, her own voice-modulator turned on, "There won't be a second warning." She frowned as she thought about the pensioners and notched an arrow in her bow, sending it flying towards him he cried out and she watched with a sense of satisfaction as it skimmed across his cheek and left a red cut behind.

The man started to cry out in pain and she rolled her eyes at him, using it as a distraction for her and her brother to exit.

. . .

Thea winced as her Mother's voice rang out through the Mansion as they entered it, her brother had given her a ride on the back of his bike and idly she'd wondered if Diggle had tried to find them or he had just given up.

She felt bad for the man, he hadn't asked to babysit them.

"I hired you to protect my children." Moira sighed, her tone verging on one of annoyance "Now, I'm not a professional bodyguard, but it seems to me that the first requirement would be managing to stay next to the people you're hired to protect."

"With all due respect Ma'am...I've never had a client that didn't want my protection, nevermind two of them." Diggle replied, Thea was pretty sure that if he could he would have sounded annoyed. She didn't understand how he hadn't snapped at the both of them yet.

"I hired you." Moira replied in a clipped tone, "That makes me the client. Now where do you think my children are going on these chaperone-less excursions?"

"Miss Queen is with a Miss Lance and Mr Merlyn assured me she'd be safe with the daughter of the Detective. " Diggle replied before letting out a sigh, "And as for your son, I truly do not know." Thea hoped that they wouldn't bump into Laurel and ask her about their fictional time together.

Oliver chose that moment to enter and she followed close behind him, "And he truly doesn't."

"Then perhaps you'd like to share with me, you know, where exactly it is you run off to." Their Mother turned to him with an expectant expression.

Oliver chuckled and Thea watched as his playboy persona was put firmly in place, "I've been alone for five years."

"I know that Oliver," Mom opened her mouth as if to start talking again.

"Mom-" He cut her off, "Alone." Oliver replied as he stressed the last word, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Thea could see the disaproval radiating off of their Mother, "I see.."

"I promise to introduce her if it ever gets to the exchanging first names stage.." He trailed off with a smirk.

"No, I'd rather you promised to take Mr. Diggle with you on your next rendezvous." Their Mother retorted, she paused and her tone softened "It's not safe, you've already been abducted once. There is a maniac out there, hunting the wealthy."

"That maniac saved Oliver, Tommy and me when we were kidnapped." Thea called out with a frown, "If anything you should be worrying about the psycho that kidnapped us." She noticed how her Mother stiffened at that and idly wondered if the police had made any sort of headway in their investigation. She'd have to ask Laurel.

"This isn't a game. " Their Mother snapped, "I lost you both once. And I am not going through that again."

"Okay..." Oliver raised his hands in mock-surrender and shot Diggle a grin, "Dig's my guy."

"Thank you." Moira murmured with a sigh before leaving the room, leaving Thea with Diggle and Oliver.

Thea smiled apologetically at Diggle, "Sorry about ditching you."

Oliver nodded in agreement and echoed her sentiment, "I'm sorry that I've been giving you so much grief."

To her surprise Diggle let out a bark of laughter at that, "I served three tours in Afghanistan...you don't come close to my defintion of grief." Diggle picked up his coat from the coach and turned to face them with a serious expression, "I tell you what though...ditch me again and your Mother won't have to fire me."

They watched as Diggle walked away from them and Thea sighed, "I feel bad for that guy."

"Well we don't have much of a choice but to ditch him...he'd only get in the way and blow our cover." Oliver muttered.

"He's ex-Army...maybe we could bring him on?" Thea suggested.

Oliver shook his head, "The less people that know the better."

Sighing she shrugged, "I have online classes I need to do...Mom still wants me to get my GED." Rolling her eyes she headed out towards her room.

"Yell if you need any help with that." Oliver called out after her.

She appreciated the offer but Oliver hadn't paid attention at school or tried, that wasn't to say that he was an idiot but he hadn't tried at school and had passed because of Laurel and Tommy.

She just hoped that she'd pass, Algerba was making her regret agreeing to the idea of Online classes.

. . .

The next day Oliver made his way through the Queen Consolidated building, his playboy smile was firmly in place as he nodded and greeted the various employees. It was what people would expect 'Oliver Queen' to do, before the Island he only cared about three things; Money, women and alcohol.

It would be best for everyone if that appeared to be unchanged.

His Mom chuckled as she led him out of the elevator and watched as he winked and greeted three of her employees, they giggled in response, "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Yes, I am." He replied quietly with a smirk.

Walter led them towards his office, his Dad's former office, "I remember when your Father used to bring you here when you were a boy." The man chuckled, "You were always so excited."

Oliver smiled at the memory, "Dad let me drink Soda in the office." When he was younger his Mother had gone through a 'healthy eating' phase and so they had been forced to only eat and drink organic food. Thankfully Mom had given up after a year of him constantly begging.

"Ah," Moira chuckled as she wrapped an arm around Oliver and started to guide him to the office, "So that's why you enjoyed coming."

Walter turned around to face him as they stepped inside of the office, "The Queen Consolidated's success of late is a result of its targeted diversification." Oliver made sure to nod in all of the right places, although he did think that what the company was doing sounded good "We have been making impressive inroads in cutting-edge fields like bio-tech and clean energy."

"That's neat." He replied and then stiffened as he felt his Mother start guiding him towards the chair, he jerked himself out of her grip and turned his attention to the woman sitting outside of Walter's office, "Excuse me? Can I get a sparkling water, or something cold, please?"

"Sweetheart, Oliver, Walter and I have something to discuss with you." His Mother called out in an attempt to get his attention, she gently guided him towards the couches "Come, please sit."

"Mom.." Oliver forced out a chuckle, "It makes me nervous when you ask me to sit down."

"The company's about to break ground on a new site for the Applied Sciences division, and we would like to honor your father by dedicating the building in his name." Walter said, eyeing Oliver carefully to watch his response.

"Nice." Oliver muttered not sure about why they were making it a big deal, that was a good thing right? A part of him stiffened slightly as he waited for the 'but' that was inevitably coming.

"And we'd like to make an announcement at the dedication that you will be taking a leadership position in the company." His Mother finished, looking at him expectantly.

It didn't take him more than a second to respond, "No." He knew that his Mother had been wanting him to join the company, she had been dropping hints ever since he had gotten back.

"No?" His Mother echoed, clearly unhappy with his response, "Your-" She cut herself off with a sigh, "Your company-"

"No, I don't want to lead anything." Oliver cut her off, he didn't want to run the company, he didn't have the time for it and he didn't want to. He needed to focus on the list, that was what his Father would have wanted. "Besides, Walter is doing a very good job here." He turned to face the man with a smile.

"You said that you wanted to be a different person." His Mother began, "You are Robert Queen's son."

He froze at that, "I don't need to be reminded of that." He felt his shutters going down and his body went rigid, he clenched his fists to try and stop the flashes of his Father's death going through his head.

He knew who his Father was, that was why he was doing what he was - why he was going after the people on the list. Everything he was doing was for his Father, he didn't need a position at the company or his Mother to remind him of that or who he was.

"Well, obviously you do." His Mother retorted and he tried to keep himself from snapping at her, it wasn't her fault - she didn't know.

"Everyone here understands that this transition is really difficult for you-" Walter cut in, trying to ease the tension and whilst he appreciated the effort the sound of the voice - the sound of his step-Father - caused him to loose it.

"Thank you, Walter." Oliver said, his tone cold and full of steel "Which part, though? Everyone fantasizing that I got my MBA while I was on the island?" His voice rose along with his anger and he couldn't stop the biting comment slipping out, "Or the fact that my father's CFO now sleeps down the hall from me?"

All traces of sympathy and warmth left Walter's eyes and Oliver couldn't blame the man. He opened his mouth to apologise but couldn't bring himself to say it.

He watched as his Mother started to walk away as she shook her head at him and what he had said, she spun around and stared at him with a disapointed expression "You know...five years ago your irriresponsibility was somewhat charming." She frowned, "It is a lot less so now."

He wished that he could explain everything, tell her why he was doing what he was, tell her why he couldn't join the company but he couldn't. It was safer for everyone if he let them think he was the same stupid, rich playboy.

Walter glanced at him before the man hurried after his wife.

Oliver sighed and allowed Diggle to lead him out of the office and towards the elevator, he was certain that Thea or Tommy were going to give him a lecture later. Though judging by the expression on the man's expression he half expected him to.

. . .

The reporters all shoved and clamoured to get near him, to get a photo or a statement. The cameras clicked and the flash somewhat blinded him, he got into the car with Diggle close behind him.

The man slid into the chair next to him and they sat in silence, "The driver will be here in a minute or two."

"Okay." Oliver murmured as he stared out of the window, not paticularly wanting to talk to him, especially about what had just happened.

"You know, I spent the first 27 years of my life in Starling City, and the next five in Afghanistan." Oliver sighed and waited for the lecture, "You want to know what I learned?"

"There's no place like home." He replied sarcastically.

"No, just the opposite." Oliver perked up slightly at the response and stared at Diggle with a curious expression, maybe Diggle wasn't about to give him a lecture. "Home is a battlefield, back home they're all trying to get you." Diggle noticed he had the young billionaire's attention and continued, "Get you to open up, be somebody you're not sure you are anymore."

Oliver looked out of the window, deep in thought and listened as Diggle continued "Or I could be wrong." Dig looked searchingly at Oliver, "Maybe after five years alone, you're not as messed up in the head as you have every right to be."

. . .

Meanwhile

Thea Queen tapped her foot against the chair inside Doctor Pressnall's office. Tommy was waiting outside the room for her, she was grateful for both the company and moral support, he had offered to come with her and had suggested that the pair of them could spend some time together after her appointment.

Thea stared at the diploma on the good Doctor's wall, she wondered how long it had taken for her to get that. She wondered if she would have gone to college if she hadn't ended up on the Island.

A painting on Pressnall's wall drew her attention away from the diploma, she was fairly certain that the woman was talking to her but she didn't feel like responding. It was the Odessy and she flinched as the name flashed through her mind. It reminded her of the Island, of the people she had hurt, Oliver included.

All because she was a stupid kid.

It brought back memories of Yao Fei and his death and then of Slade and their escape attempt. She clenched her fists and dug her nails into her palms, using the pain to distract her from the unwelcome thoughts.

"Miss Queen!" Doctor Pressnall called out, more firmly this time "I'm assuming you didn't listen to anything I just said?"

Thea shook her head, "Sorry...I was admiring your paintings."

For some reason that made Pressnall perk up and Thea hoped that the woman wasn't about to psychoanalyse her taste in art - even if she was technically right about the fact that it was making her think of the Island "I didn't realise you liked art Thea?"

"My Mom and Dad have-" She shook her head, "Had a large collection of art and they had a couple of the Odessy paintings."

"Your Father?" Doctor Pressnall ventured, "He died on the Gambit? Do you want to talk about it?"

Thea paused and frowned as she thought about it, "Not really."

"You need to talk to someone Miss Queen," Pressnall said as she leaned back in her chair.

Thea huffed, "I thought I asked you to call me Thea."

"Sorry," Doctor Pressnall murmured, "Thea...you do realise you need to talk to someone...these appointments aren't meant to punish you or make you feel bad they are to help you cope with what happened."

"I have my brother." Thea muttered.

"You need to open yourself up to people other than him," Pressnall replied smoothly, "If you remain dependant on eachother you'll both only get worse."

"I'm fine." Thea replied and went back to daydreaming and paying attention to everything but Doctor Pressnall. Her mind wandered back to the Island and her attention was drawn back to the painting; The Odyssey - Odysseus escapes the lure of the Sirens. 1859-83. Friedrich.

Her Mother had taught her a lot about art when she was younger.

. . .

After Thea's session Tommy and Thea had went to big belly burger and talked about everything but the elephant in the room. Tommy wanted to try to talk to them about what they had been through but he couldn't find the words.

Then he'd gotten a text from Walter asking him to come back to the Mansion and talk to Moira which in turn resulted in him being asked to talk to Oliver. Moira was upset about Oliver's refusal to accept a position in the company and Tommy didn't know how to feel about it. He was fairly certain that if he had spent five years on an Island the idea of sitting in a boardroom and listening to reports on taxes and stock would be the last thing he wanted to do.

But Oliver didn't explain that to Moira, he had just lashed out. And now he was on his way to his friend's room in an attempt to finally talk to him.

Tommy Merlyn shot Raisa a small smile as she headed out of Oliver's room, she had left the door open and so he hurried straight in - unanounced but it was technically now his home too so he didn't feel much of a need to knock.

He and Oliver had always just walked into eachothers rooms unanounced and the pair hadn't really had a concept of privacy or boundries, they were like brothers.

So Tommy didn't think that him walking into Oliver's room would be a problem, until he laid his eyes on his friend's torso. A strangled gasp escaped his lips and he saw Oliver spin around to face him. "Don't you knock!" Oliver called out.

"The door was open.." Tommy murmured as his eyes were drawn back to his friend's body, "O-Oliver...what the hell-" He cut himself off and stormed over to his friend. Oliver tried to shove on a shirt but Tommy grabbed at the shirt and pulled it opened as he looked at the scarred mess that was his friend's torso.

Moira had told him that there were scars, on both Ollie and Thea, but he had imagined a couple of animal bites and two or three scratches from falling down a hill or a mountain. Not this.

There were burns, something akin to a shark-bite, cuts that looked anything but natural and two tattoos. He frowned at those, he was fairly certain Oliver hadn't had tattoos before the Island.

His hand reached out of it's own accord towards the tattoo on his chest, "Don't." Oliver practically growled and Tommy whimpered as his hand shot out and gripped his wrist.

Oliver had gotten freakishly strong on that Island, "Ollie..." he looked at his friend and nodded his head towards his wrist.

He watched as his friend went rigid and dropped his wrist, he seemed to have frozen and just looked at Tommy with a blank expression - and how Tommy hated that damn expression. It had been Oliver's favourite since his return and everytime Tommy saw it a part of him broke because he used to be able to read Oliver like a book and now it was like there was a stranger in front of him that just happened to be inside of his friend's body.

"What happened to you?" Tommy questioned sadly as he rubbed his wrist, it was red from where Oliver had grabbed it, he took a step back and watched as Oliver buttoned up his shirt.

"Nothing good." Oliver grunted.

Tommy shook his head, "Oliver...I can't imagine what you went through but this-" He gestured to his friend's scars, "Isn't something you can just bottle up...how the hell did you survive this?"

"I had help." Oliver muttered, "And I had Thea...I wasn't about to leave her on her own."

"Help?" Tommy echoed, surprised by the fact Oliver had actually answered his question, "I thought you were alone on the Island."

"I lied." Oliver said shortly and Tommy could practically see the shutters going down, "Bad things happened Tommy...I got these keeping Thea safe."

Tommy, "You protected her." He couldn't help but let a bit of pride slip into his tone - Oliver had been through hell and still managed to make sure that they both came out the other side.

"And I always will." Oliver replied and Tommy flinched at his friend's tone, it was steely and Tommy couldn't help but hear the underlying threat. Oliver shook himself and plastered on a smile and it was with a jolt that Tommy realised how fake it was, when had Oliver gotten this good at pretending? "What did you want Tommy?"

"I-I wanted to show you something...your Mom told me about the office and I came to try and talk to you." Tommy murmured not exactly wanting to accept the change of topic, "Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah," Oliver nodded and grabbed his jacket off of his bed.

"Good." Tommy muttered, "Then I have something to show you." His brain was still focused on his friend's scars and it had left him with more questions than answers.

. . .

Oliver frowned as Tommy led him out into the garden, "I used to come out here all the time..." Tommy called out as he led him towards a secluded part of the Queen Mansion's gardens - surrounded by trees and foliage.

He froze for a second when he laid eyes on the graves, three tall granite gravestones - all identical barring Thea's, hers had a small white angel engraved onto the gravestone. He moved next to Tommy and turned his attention to his friend, silently asking why he had brought him here.

"Your Mom didn't cope well," Tommy shrugged, "How could she...her children and husband were dead and all anyone seemed to care about was either getting a story from it or the Company...no one cared about Moira just 'Moira Queen'...she had already been like a second Mother to be...after mine-" He cut himself off and sighed, "She stopped talking and going out...so I'd come here...sometimes she'd talk to me other times she wouldn't and I'd come out here and talk to you and Thea." He scoffed, "Stupid stuff."

Tommy turned to face him, "Those five years were hell for everyone and whilst they weren't as bad as whatever happened to you-" He gestured to Oliver's torso which was now hidden behind the shirt, "Things weren't all sunshine and rainbows here...at first I got into hard drug...fights...the press loved it...my Dad threatened to cut me off and ship me to Rehab...I couldn't leave your Mom alone...so I stopped...became obsessed with bringing you two home to her."

Oliver frowned and wondered if Tommy was about to mention Hong-Kong, he stayed silent and let his friend continue - Tommy seemed to need this.

"I begged you both to not be dead...I wanted my siblings back...for mine and your Mom's sake." He let out a heavy breath, "She lost everything and so did I...things got better when she found Walter but for me it wasn't the same...I know you don't want to be a part of the Company but you need to see where she's coming from...she lost everything Ollie and she just wants what she thinks is best for you...instead of lashing out and insulting Walter try talking to her and telling her the truth...who knows maybe QC won't be as bad as you think."

"Just give her a chance," Tommy muttered before walking away, Oliver didn't follow after him and he knelt down in front of his Father's grave as the thought about what Tommy had told him.

. . .

Thea Queen anxiously drummed her feet against the floor outside of Laurel's apartment, Diggle had agreed to wait outside to give her a bit of privacy. She needed to talk to someone and for some reason Laurel was one of the first people that popped into her head, when she was younger Laurel had been a big sister to her - teaching her how to do her hair, gave her advice on how to deal with problems and had taught her how to fight back against bullies.

Tommy and Oliver had just kept threatening to beat the bullies up instead of telling her how to deal with it herself.

Laurel had always been good at helping her with her problems, she only hoped that hadn't changed whilst she'd been on the Island.

She raised her fist and knocked on the door, paper bag in the other hand. When Laurel opened the door she noticed the surprised expression on her face and shot her a nervous smile, "Hello? Are you okay...I saw two cop cars outside and I was worried."

"They're there per my Dad's orders." Laurel said and awkwardly gestured for Thea to come inside, "I missed you after the court session."

"Yeah," Thea apologised, "I was going to come find you but it was too busy and I freaked out and wanted to go home." She shrugged, "I would have texted but I don't have a phone...Mom's sorting it for a tech person to show me and Ollie the ropes."

"Ah," Laurel chuckled at Thea's tone.

"This place hasn't changed in five years..." Thea murmured as she looked around Laurel's apartment, "It's nice."

"Well I haven't exactly had much time to decorate." Laurel muttered, frustration seeping back into her tone.

"Look...I'm sorry about Ollie...before the Island he was a jerk and now he's a damaged jerk but he probably wasn't trying to be a jerk...he's trying to protect everyone...pushing them away-" Thea reasoned, weakly trying to defend her brother, she understood why he was doing what he did and his sudden change of heart probably had something to do with their visit to Adam Hunt.

"He pushed me away right after I offered to be there for him, be there for someone who I have hated and been angry at for five years, I was prepared to help him and be a friend." Laurel muttered, "Instead he pushed me away...I appreciate the effort Thea and I understand you want to protect him but please don't."

Thea nodded to show her understanding and raised her paper bag towards Laurel, "I didn't come here to defend Oliver...I wanted to do something with you and ask you for some advice."

"What's in the bag?" Laurel questioned.

Thea pulled out a tub of ice cream, "Ice cream...cookie dough...I missed a lot of things on the Island and for some reason ice-cream was pretty high on that list...I bought some and wanted to try it with you." She was telling the truth, she'd missed Ice cream and hadn't gotten a chance to try it in Hong-Kong and Russia was cold enough without it.

Laurel chuckled and headed towards her kitchen, "I'll go grab some spoons and bowls."

"Or we could eat it out of the tub?" Thea suggested with a grin.

"You heathen..." Laurel called back with mock-disgust.

Thea laughed and headed over to the couch, "Five years on a desert Island!" She defended with a smile, enjoying the playful easygoing atmosphere. It was a nice feeling.

Laurel hurried back over with the spoons and bowls and sat down on the couch, Thea leaned against the arm of the couch on the opposite end to Laurel - she chuckled as Laurel used a knife to open the tub. She could have easily done that for her.

"This is as good as I remember." Thea said as she ate the ice-cream, the pair ate companionably in silence. "Mom wants Ollie to join the company...'take his rightful place.'"

"Funnily enough, I can't see Oliver as master of the universe." Laurel said with a grin.

"Pressnall wants me to 'reach out' to people...make new friends...talk about the Island." Thea blurted out suddenly as she stabbed her ice-cream with her spoon, it was why she had gone to Laurel's and what she had wanted to talk to Laurel about but actually broaching the topic was making her nervous. Her words came out in a rush and she refused to look at Laurel as she said them.

"It might help," Laurel replied and Thea could tell by her tone that she was firmly in 'big sister' mode, "And she's right about reaching out to people...you can't just isolate yourself."

"I'm not!" Thea protested, "I've reached out to you...I talk to Mom and Walter and Tommy-"

"But not about the Island." Laurel reasoned, "You keep that bottled up and I can imagine why but Thea...that kind of trauma isn't something you want to bottle up...you can't bottle up feelings like that...my Dad did and it cost him his marriage."

"I'm sorry-" Thea began, she hadn't known that Quentin and Diana were divorced.

Laurel shook her head and cut her off, "That wasn't me trying to make you feel bad or ask for sympathy Thea..I just think you need to talk about what happened and if that is with your Therapist then do that."

"I have Ollie...if I want to talk about that." Thea muttered.

"Who's as damaged, if not more so, as you." Laurel said, "Talk to someone...me...or your Therapist...Pressnall is there to help you and whilst it might not seem like it she's there to help you...I understand that you and Oliver had been through hell together but you aren't him or responsible for him...just because he pushes everyone away doesn't mean you should follow in his footsteps."

"How is talking about the worst time of my life meant to help me deal with it?" Thea said, meeting Laurel's gaze.

"I don't know." Laurel shrugged and Thea looked at her in surprise "I don't have all the answers and I'm not a psychiatrist but you won't know until you try."

"Thanks Laurel." Thea murmured, "And I am really sorry about...everything." She couldn't bring herself to mention Sara.

"You've already apologised...besides you have nothing to apologise for...you were a kid when you went on that boat and had nothing to do with Oliver and Sara." Thea winced at that, she had plenty to apologise for - most of it to do with Sara, not that she could talk about it. Oliver had already told Laurel that Sara died on the Gambit.

Not two years later on the Amazo.

The pair lapsed into a comfortable silence as they ate their ice-cream, Thea frowned as a low thud echoed through the room - she noticed that Laurel hadn't seemed to have heard it. She froze and felt the adrenaline start to surge through her and a feeling of unease settled around her, five years had taught her to trust and rely on her instincts and senses - she wouldn't have survived without her senses.

Five years of hell had honed them to be more delicate than most people's.

"Did you hear that?" Thea questioned quietly, already trying to work out a plan.

Laurel shook her head, "What?"

Another noise caught her attention, a soft footstep.

There was someone coming for them.

"There's someone on the fire escape." Thea murmured and reached over towards the knife that was lying on the coffee table, it wasn't an ideal weapon but it was the best she had at the moment.

She hadn't brought her knives with her as she hadn't felt the need, Diggle was with her.

Diggle. Where was he?

"Hey.." Thea whispered urgently as she grabbed Laurel's hand and got up, "Come on! Come on.." She dragged Laurel towards the front door and ignored Laurel's confused mutterings.

A man kicked down the door and she jerked backwards as the wood splintered everywhere, she kept a hold of Laurel's hand and the pair ran back towards Laurel's room - Thea remembered that it had a window.

Windows were good as escape routes.

She heard Laurel scream as bullets flew through the air, aimed towards them.

Fire escape. Thea froze as they reached Laurel's room, she had heard someone on it. She muttered a curse and started to turn backwards as another man jumped through Laurel's window - brandishing a gun.

This was a planned attack, Thea desperately tried to come up with a plan - she couldn't take out two attackers whilst Laurel was there without revealing herself.

Silently she begged Diggle to hurry up, the man was out of the army and had a gun. She had a kitchen knife.

Then another figure appeared, entering through the fire escape, Thea's eyes widened as she took in the person's appearance. White hair. China White. The woman was the reason that she and Ollie had been forced to work for ARGUS, the reason behind Fyers and his men.

She twirled the knife in her hand as she braced herself for a fight, hopefully Laurel could hold her own - the woman was the daughter of a cop afterall.

Before she could make a move Diggle stormed through the door, Thea felt herself sag slightly with relief, in four quick motions he had taken out the two armed attackers and she watched as China turned her attention to him.

The woman was one of the triad's best and Thea hadn't seen Diggle fight before. Internally she struggled about whether to risk it, she couldn't let Laurel or Diggle die but she didn't want to reveal the fact that 'Thea Queen' could fight.

It would raise too many questions.

She eyed up Laurel before running towards the room opposite where Diggle and China were fighting, she watched as the fight started to swing in China's favour and when the woman raised her knife as if she was about to stab Diggle she chose that moment to strike.

Throwing the knife towards the knife she hoped it would be strong enough to disarm China and give Diggle the chance to gain an upperhand.

China ran, Thea assumed she didn't want to risk loosing the fight, Diggle grabbed his gun and looked over at where China had fled.

Thea ran towards Laurel and allowed the older girl to pull her into an embrace, using the close contact to check Laurel for any injuries - she let out a couple of choked sobs. She felt herself growing tired as the adrenaline started to wear off, Laurel stroked her hair in an attempt to comfort her and Thea smiled slightly at the gesture.

"Are you hurt Miss Queen?" Diggle called out as he assesed the situation.

"No." Thea called back.

Diggle seemed to not have heard or believed her, "Are you hurt Miss Queen!?" He yelled again.

"No!" She yelled back, "Laurel's fine too...I think."

He let out a low chuckle, "This is why it's a good idea to have a bodyguard."

Thea grudgingly admitted he was right, even if she didn't like it she currently owed both her and Laurel's life. She sighed and looked at Laurel, the woman looked pretty shaken up - although she wasn't surprised, someone had just tried to kill her.

"I've called the cops...they should be here any minute." Diggle called out as he made his way over to them.

. . .

The cops arrived in record time, although she was pretty sure who Laurel was had to do with that, they took their statements and began to start taking photos of the crime scene. Diggle leaned over to her and murmured, "I've called Oliver...he should be here any minute."

She nodded and looked up as Quentin Lance entered the room, he looked around madly before rushing over and embracing Laurel.

"Daddy!"

A pang of saddness welled up inside of her, the scene reminiscent of her and her Father.

"Oh, thank god." Lance muttered as he hugged his daughter, "Thank god...are you alright?"

"I'm okay." Laurel reassured him, she pulled herself from her Father's grip and hesitated before speaking again "Those cops that you put on me.." She trailed off uncertainly and Thea felt herself straighten up at that.

She had forgotten about the cops waiting outside, they hadn't shown up - only Diggle.

Quentin sighed and ran a hand over his head. "They.." He trailed off with a heavy breath not wanting to break the news to his daughter.

"I went outside to ask for a light," Diggle called out and shook his head sadly, "They were both dead in the squad car."

Laurel gasped and let out a strangled cry, Thea winced in sympathy, being the daughter of a Detective meant that she would know most of the men on the foce. She covered her mouth as she held back tears.

Quentin stepped away from his daughter and hurried over towards Diggle, giving the man a grateful look for breaking the news to his daughter "It's okay...Mr Diggle thank you! Feel free to run as many red lights in the city as you want." Thea noted the smile on his face and the warm tone of voice, well as warm as Quentin Lance could get anyways.

"I was just doing my job sir." Diggle said humbly in response.

Quentin shook his head and his expression clouded over, "No..your job is protecting her and her brother." He jerked his thumb towards Thea and she frowned, "It seems like whenever a Queen is with a daughter of mine they get hurt...I had hoped you wouldn't be following in your brothers footsteps Thea."

"Dad!" Laurel called out, clearly outraged at the way her Father was talking to Thea.

"Mr Lance!" A voice called out from the door, Thea turned to see her brother in the doorway, "I'd appreciate it if you could leave my sister alone...she's just had a rather traumatic experience."

Quentin walked straight over towards her brother with an angry expression, "You and your sister need to stay away from my daughter's...you already got one killed...don't cost me another." He practically growled out the last part of his statement, "Stay away from Laurel or I swear the next time you disapear it'll be permanent."

"Dad!" Laurel reprimanded and Thea glared at the Detective.

"No..Laurel..." Quentin retorted but Oliver cut them both off.

"It's okay..." He said quietly as he raised his gaze to meet the Detective, "I understand." The Detective stared at him for a second or two before stepping away and nodding.

Diggle looked at her and gently pulled her towards the door, "Let's go Miss Queen." She felt Oliver squeeze her shoulder and looked at him anxiously, Quentin had every right to be angry and she hadn't expected anything less but watching him tear into her brother had been hard.

She leaned in towards him once they were in the car, "China White was there."

He froze and went rigid and she saw the colour drain from his face, "You sure?"

"Yeah," She sighed, "I saved Dig from her..." At his questioning look she explained, "Disarmed her by throwing a knife...we're going to need to come up with an excuse to cover it."

He nodded and leaned back towards the window, his eyes on Diggle, as they drove back to the Mansion.

. . .

Thea watched as Diggle sat on the couch in the hallway, she had tossed over some bandages and watched as he patched himself up. She had offered to give him a hand but he'd said he had it.

Oliver had disapeared on a quest to grab some ice, she had chuckled at the image - Raisa didn't like people going into the kitchen and taking things as it was firmly 'her domain' and she always used to give Tommy and Oliver hell for their frequent midnight raids on her pantry.

"How's your hand?" Thea questioned and nodded her hand towards the injury.

"I'll live." Diggle muttered in response, catching the icepack and towel that Oliver tossed towards him as he rentered the room.

Oliver looked at Diggle with a grateful expression, "I'd say thank you but I don't think that would cover it."

"Well, like I told your cop friend, I was just doing my job." Diggle replied with a shrug, "Besides, I think it should be Thea that I'm thanking."

She and Oliver exchanged a look at that and wondered where exactly Diggle was going to go with this. Thea shot him a faux confused look, "What for?"

"The knife." Diggle replied with a searching expression.

"Oh..the Knife," She shrugged, "I got lucky."

"That was a kitchen knife..it wasn't even weighted properly and you threw it with accuracy across a ten foot room?" Diggle retorted with a raised eyebrow, not believing her for a second.

Oliver chose that moment to intervene and shot Diggle a cheerful smile, "Guess the Island did pay off..." At Diggle's look he continued, "Well we had to hunt for food...didn't have anything apart from rocks, makeshift spears, sticks and whatever happened to wash up on the ocean...we got good at throwing things from a distance."

"Eventually." Thea chimed in with a grin.

Diggle watched the two of them with an unimpressed expression and Thea internally winced, he didn't seem to be falling for it, "I'm not the kind of man either of you want to take for a fool, you understand me?"

"Yes." They both replied.

"And I think I'm just beginning to understand the kind of people the pair of you are," Diggle continued with a thoughtful expression.

Thea grinned and jerked a thumb in his direction, "Shouldn't be that hard...he's a shallow playboy that likes to drink and sleep around with random woman." She let out an exaggerated yawn, "And I'm a very very tired teenager who has online classes to flunk."

She walked away from the both of them and waved, "Goodnight Diggle...Oliver."

Diggle just smirked in response, "Goodnight Miss Queen...Mr Queen."

. . .

Thea waited ten minutes before sneaking out of her room and towards the garage, she noticed that Oliver's bike was already gone and realised he must have already went to the Foundry. She wasn't surprised, Somers had sent a Triad assasin China White after someone they cared about.

He was going to regret that.

She was going to make sure that he regretted that.

Thea looked towards her brother's old bike, it was small enough for her to use and thanks to Oliver she had learnt how to drive a car and ride a bike during her time in Russia. Anatoly hadn't appointed her an 'offical' member of the Bratva so during his initiations she had had a lot of time to kill.

She grabbed a helemet off of the rack and kicked the bike into gear, she just hoped that it wouldn't be loud enough to wake up her Mom, Walter or Tommy.

. . .

Her brother was already ready when she got into the foundry, dressed in his vigilante gear, his expression was stormy and she could see the anger brewing in his eyes. "He's going to pay for attacking you and Laurel."

Thea grabbed her bow and put on her domino mask, she had already changed into her gear, "He'll still face justice though, right?" She wanted Somers to pay just as much as anyone but she didn't want her brother to outright kill the guy.

Her brother let out a dark chuckle, "He'll face justice alright...it'll just be a different kind." She watched as he pulled up the hood and she tried to ignore the hairs that stood up on the end of her neck, Somers was about to pay.

And she wasn't sure how to feel about that.

. . .

They made their way to Somers warehouse, she watched from the shadows as Oliver jumped down and took out two of his goons. She followed after him and got her bow ready, an arrow ready to fire towards anyone who came too close.

Somers voice rang out through a radio, Thea looked to see that Oliver had taken a radio from one of the men's belts, "Triad bitch screwed up the hit on Lance." She bristled at that - so it had been Somers, she watched as Oliver stiffened and she knew that he was thinking about many different ways to make the man pay.

All of them bloody.

"Now, the Triad is gonna erase every ounce of evidence of their smuggling operation, including me." Somers mutterings could be heard, "Except that's not gonna happen..tell Wallace to get the boat ready...I'm leaving tonight."

"Wallace? Wallace, you copy? Wallace?" They shared a look as they realised Wallace must be one of the men currently lying on the floor of the warehouse.

"Wallace isn't here." Oliver spoke into the radio, his voice modulator turning it into a robotic growl "But I am."

"We need to move, now." They heard a thud and assumed the radio had been dropped, vaguely they could make our Somers panicked tone, "Move!"

"Sir, we've got six men up there."

"It's not enough. Move it!"

Thea smirked at that, taking out a couple of armed thugs was going to be like child's play. Somers was right about that, nothing was going to stop them from taking the man down.

. . .

Thea watched as 'The Hood' jumped down from the balcony where he had been engrossed in a fight with one of Somers men. She loaded and fired a bow off towards one of the men on the ground, killing him before he could fire at her or her brother.

She ignored the sound of gunfire around her and focused on trying to pick out Somers in the crowd, her eyes searched for Somers amongst the chaos whilst Oliver killed yet another guard.

A part of her felt a pang of guilt as she looked at the scene around her, so many innocent lives taken. Although were they really innocent? They worked for Somers and knew what he had done, what he tried to cover up.

"Look out!" She yelled as a man ran up the stairs towards her brother, he turned around and fired the man in the chest - sending him over the railing and crashing down to the ground. Jumping down from where she had been watching the scene she landed next to her brother and took out another goon with her bow, "Can you see him?" she muttered.

He shook his head, loading another arrow into his bow as he got ready to fire.

They were both on edge.

"There!" Oliver called out and they both jumped down from their position, landing on the ground with a hard thud. She ducked and rolled to soften the impact whilst her brother just landed on two-feet.

Loading another arrow she sprinted after the man, allowing her brother to cover her, Somers wasn't about to get away from her. Not this time. Not after sending an assasin after Laurel and nearly getting Diggle and herself caught in the crossfire.

She could feel her brother close behind her and they both stopped as soon as Somers came to a dead end, she fired an arrow towards the box he had found himself standing in front of "Somers!" She growled.

She smirked as the arrow went through his suit jacket and pinned him to the box, she fired off another one and watched as he struggled to get himself free. Turning to her brother she gestured for him to take charge.

"I want the truth about Victor Nocenti!" Her brother called out as he fired off an arrow that landed just above Somers head.

Somers shook his head and whimpered slightly, "I-I can't...t-the triad...the triad will kill me."

"The triad's not your concern right now." He snarled as he fired off another arrow and moved closer to Nocenti, "Tell me!"

"All right! All right...all right!" The man stammered out, sounding hysterical "It wasn't me that killed him! It was the Triad!"

"Acting on whose instructions." The Hood fired off another arrow that landed milimeters away from the man's skull, a part of Thea was hoping that her brother would miss and that Somers would find himself with an arrow inside of him.

It was no less than he deserved.

When the man didn't respond he fired again, "WHOSE?!" He yelled, his tone reducing the man to a snivelling mess.

"All right, all right." Somers called out, pleading for The Hood to stop, "It was mine. It was mine, all right? Nocenti said he was gonna testify against me." Thea shook her head, the man had killed Emily Nocenti's only family and he had been about to get away with it.

The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up and she turned around to face China White. The woman looked the same as she had two years ago.

"Líkāi tā, [Move away from him]" The woman ordered her and Thea smiled slightly - she didn't recognise her. It wasn't surprising, she wasn't exactly dressed the way she had been back then.

"Ràng wǒ, [Make me]" Thea taunted - grateful for the fact that Shado and Tatsu had helped her become fluent. She wasn't about to let China stop Oliver from getting justice, from making Somers pay.

Hoping that China would be too focused on her to remember Oliver she lunged towards China, firing off an arrow towards her before using her bow to try and push the woman away from her.

China was skilled with a knife and hand-to-hand but Thea knew that bow's could be just as deadly at close range as they were from a distance.

It seemed that both she and China had improved since their last enounter, Thea barely had time to dodge each of China's blows after she landed one of her own. She noticed midway through the fight that she wouldn't be able to take down China, only defend herself from her.

She blocked China's knife with her bow but she stumbled slightly as she put too much force behind her block, China used that to knock her off balance.

Thea fell to the ground with a groan as China knocked her onto her back, she tensed up as China raised her knife and vaguely wondered if it would hurt as much as it had last time - stabbing was the way she'd rather not die.

Only if it was quick.

Before she could make a final wish or before Oliver could pull China off of her the sound of sirens caused the three of them to free, "This is the police! Drop your weapons!" A voice intoned over a megaphone.

She watched as China ran back into the shadows and she accepted Oliver's hand as he pulled her up from the ground and the pair of them sprinted in the opposite direction of China.

They come to a storage unit and she watched as Oliver climbed the unit and was about to follow after him when she heard an all too familiar noise, the sound of a gun clicking - the sound of the safety being turned off.

"Freeze!" A voice called out and she groaned as she realised who it was, of course Quentin Lance would be the one she came across, "You twitch and you're dead." He ordered "Bow down, hands up."

She was about to reach down when she heard Oliver fire off an arrow towards the man, taking that as her chance to escape she grabbed Oliver's hand and pulled herself up onto the storage container.

They both jumped off of the other side and fled, she could hear Quentin cursing behind them. "Son of a bitch!" She exchanged a smirk with her brother, it appeared that Quentin had found Somers confession.

Whilst it had probably been a lot less bloody than Oliver would have liked, and she had also wanted to see Somers walk away with a couple more bruises than he currently had, she was at least content with the knowledge that they had taken another name off of the list.

And that Emily would get justice for her Father's death.

All in all, it was a pretty productive night.

She grinned and got onto the back of Oliver's bike and listened to the sirens as they rode back to their base.

. . .

"One down..." She murmured as she placed down her bow and took off her domino mask, "By the way...what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Is now really the time?" Oliver questioned as he placed his bow onto the table and lowered his hood, they had gotten the confession to the police and so they needed to find another name. But Oliver really didn't feel like talking about this situation now.

Thea met his gaze, "Tommy talked to me...we went to big belly burger after my Therapy...Mom text him-" She trailed off uncertianly, "She really wants you to join the company?"

"I can't." He replied, stressing the last word. "What we're doing here is more important," He gestured around at the foundry, "This is how I'm going to honour Dad...I can't join the company...I wouldn't know how and do you really see me sitting in an office all day and taking phone calls?"

"No." She admitted, "But you could have handled the situation with more tact...instead of pushing her away and snapping at Walter."

"Tommy's already lectured me." Oliver bit back.

Thea ran a hand through her hair, she wasn't trying to start a confrontation she just wanted to know where his head was at. "I'm not trying to have a go...I just want to understand why you can't do this for her...for our Mom."

"Dad asked us to right his wrongs," Oliver began, "How am I meant to do that if I'm joining the very people we're meant to take care of...to deal with...I don't want to be a businessman or be a part of the Company...I never have...I just want to try being Oliver Queen." He shrugged, "I don't want to have to lie anymore than I have to and not joining the company will allow me to do that."

"Okay," Thea murmured, "On your head be it."

. . .

The next day, or the next morning, Thea was sat at the podium next to her Mother and Step-Father. She watched with a small smile as Tommy talked to Laurel. She thought that they were making it obvious that something was going on between the pair of them, and she was happy for them, she raised her eyebrows at Tommy as he came and sat next to her.

"You and Laurel, huh?" She whispered and shot him a knowing look.

He flashed the press a smile and placed an arm around her, taking the chance to reply "I've got no idea what you're talking about Speedy."

"Mhmm." She murmured as she copied him and waved to the cameras, Oliver was noticebly absent and she could see the tension radiating off of her Mother. The whole purpose of the ceremony was to honour her Father and introduce Oliver as the new heir but judging by their conversation last night he wasn't planning on following in their Father's footsteps.

She didn't know what he was planning but she doubted it was going to be anything good.

Her Mother's smile was strained and Walter also looked stressed, she knew that they were debating on whether or not to start the ceremony. The press were getting impatient and she could already hear people murmuring about the absensce of the Queen's scion and heir.

"Where is he?" She heard her Mother mutter and watched as Walter tried to reassure her. Walter seemed to come to a descision as he shook his head and took a step towards the microphone.

"Good afternoon." Walter began smoothly, giving them all a warm professional smile, his golden shovel in hand. "And thank you all for coming." He gestured to the building behind him, "Welcome to the future site of the Robert Queen Memorial Applied Sciences Center."

He paused to allow the crowd and media to applaud, Thea grabbed Tommy's hand and he shot her a reassuring look. She understood that she had to be here but the crowd and noise was making her apprehensive.

Especially since Oliver had gone AWOL.

"Now, this is a building that will stand as a monument to the man whose company and vision are his greatest legacies." Tommy squeezed her hand at Walter's statement.

She heard the crowd break into whispers and murmurings and as she looked up she noticed the source of the distruption, her brother - who appeared to be swaying slightly.

She watched as Tommy frowned and squinted at him and she heard numerous people in the crowd mutter about how he was "Drunk," and how he appeared to be "Back to his old self."

Thea bit back the retorts and ignored the part of her that wanted to run over and slap her brother for what he was about to do and the other part wanted to hug him because she knew that this was probably taking it's toll on him.

But she knew that he wasn't drunk and that this was his attempt at making sure that their Mother wouldn't force him into a position at the company.

Her brother had changed, but it seemed he wasn't prepared for the world to know that.

"Woah..woah.." Oliver called out, or more accurately slurred, as he grabbed a glass of champagne and drank it all in one. "What about me...right?" He let out a burst of laughter as he made his way towards them.

"I'm a legacy!" He called out as he stumbled past her, "Hey! Thanks for warming them up Walt!" He clapped Walter on the back, he pretened to nearly drop the shovel that was handed to him and Thea thought that he deserved an oscar for his current performance.

He grunted as he made his way to the podium, "I got it." Placing his hands on the podium to steady himself he shot the crowd a smile before turning back to Walter, "I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I got it. I got it." He stage whispered.

Oliver leaned into the microphone and tapped it once, "Some of you may not know me. My name is Oliver Queen." When no one said anything he chuckled and gestured aroud, "Watch some television, read a newspaper, I'm kind of famous right now." He pauses as the cameras clicked and flashed, "Mostly, though, I'm famous because I'm Robert Queen's son."

Thea watched as Walter and her Mom both seemed to wilter as Oliver continued to talk, "Uh, but as Walter, who's my new dad... Huh?" He fake cheered and waited for a reaction, "Who is..." He turned to Walter, "Sorry." Thea didn't know if he was apologising for the new Dad comment or the trying to get a reaction.

"As Walter was saying, I'm not much of a legacy, per se." Her brother exaggerated each word and paused inbetween them, a childish pout flickering across his face as he tried to think of what to say.

Thea thought it was eerily close to the old Oliver when he was drunk, "Oliver, you don't have to do this." Walter tried to intervene but Oliver was having none of it, the man placed a hand on Oliver's back and tried to guide him away - it was as close as he could get to ordering Oliver to stop in front of the press.

"No, sit. Sit!" Reluctantly Walter sat down and Oliver grinned, "Gosh." She watched as he straightened slightly and she sensed he was getting to the point of his little speech, "See, I was supposed to come here today, and I'm supposed to take my rightful place at the company." He gestured around grandly, "Prodigal son returns home and becomes the...the... the heir apparent." He shook his head, "But I'm not my father."

His tone became serious and bordered on angry as he turned to face her, Walter, Tommy and their Mother. " I'm not the man he was...I'm not half the man he was..I never will be." Oliver shoved the shovel into the dirt and faced the press, "So, please, stop asking me to be."

Oliver walked past them and briefly clapped her on the back before jumping down from the podium and stumbling over to Diggle, he clapped the man on the shoulder and the two walked away from the crowd.

The press burst into chatter and cameras flashed madly as they tried to document the event, she watched as Oliver walked away with a sigh before turning to asses the damadge he had caused.

Their Mom looked mortified whilst Walter looked exhausted and disapointed. They were probably both worried about the press and the impact it would have on the company, either way the board of directors would now be strongly against Oliver joining the company after that display.

Tommy looked thoughtful and she thought she saw a bit of pity flash across the man's features.

Thea sighed, she hoped that Oliver was making the right choice.

. . .

'Breaking News' New evidence incriminates Somers. Martin Somers has confessed to being the one behind the hit on Victor Nocenti. His only daughter and surviving relative has won the court case thanks to Attorney Laurel Lance. There has been speculation over the involvement of the Starling City Vigilante's.

"Survive."

Thea remembers her Father's final declaration, final statement, his last will and testament. She remembers it all vividly, the way his hand fell as the shot rang out and his head tilted back, the sound of the bullet and hers and Oliver's cries. How she'd stared in horror at her Father, who had been happy and jovial and warm and alive mere days before.

She remembers Oliver grabbing her, a weak attempt to shield her from the sight, his strangled voice telling her to keep his eyes closed as he choked back sobs. The way she heard rustling and looked, what felt like hours later, to see that her brother had wrapped their Father in a makeshift shroud. Using the canopy of the life raft to do so.

Leaving them alone, on a raft, in the middle of the ocean surrounded by the dark abyss that had claimed everything and everyone from them days ago.

She closes her eyes to try and block out the memories as she kneels in front of his grave, it isn't his real one - his real one is on the Island with Shado and Yao Fei, but she would have to make do.

Kneeling down in front of it, looking at hers and Ollie's graves with a small sad smile, she began to speak "We're home..we came back...for you.." Her voice broke slightly, "I wish you hadn't made us do that...do this..what you put on Ollie wasn't fair..." Her brother was older than her and Thea had always seen him as the adult out of the two of them but looking back she knows that Oliver had been a child himself - barely out of his teenage years when the boat had sank. And their Father had decided to put the weight of his sins onto his son's shoulders - a final request that they couldn't deny.

A part of her hated him for it, for his role in what Oliver had been forced to become. "He'll put on that damned hood and save the city...because you asked him to...and he won't stop...and I'm scared-" She clenched her fists, "I'm scared because there's only me to stop him and I'm scared that one day I won't be enough."

It helps, she realises, confessing and spilling her secrets to the wind. On the Island she had visited her Father's grave when she could, had even left some wildflowers there, but she hadn't spoken to him. His death had seemed too raw, too close - knowing that he was lying under those stones and she wasn't.

Sometimes she wishes that it had been the other way around.

"He's pushing everyone away...whatever he's planning on doing at the ceremony...it's not going to end well...Mom's going to hate it." Sighing she pulled herself up, grateful to Tommy for telling her where to find his grave, "Bye Dad...try not to get too mad at Ollie...he's just trying to make you happy."

. . .

Thea Queen made her way to her brother's room, she wasn't surprised to find Oliver there. He was sat at his desk and she sighed as she entered the room. "Mom's mad." She called out finally, "Walter hasn't said anything...the press are eating it up."

"Thought they might," He murmured, "At least this way I don't have to join the Company and Mom doesn't have to keep trying to talk me into it...like the board would let her hire me after that."

"It's freaky how easily you did that," Thea said, "It was just like the old Ollie...probably why everyone believed you."

Oliver looked up at her, "At least we've gotten another name crossed off of the list." He grabbed a pen and flicked through it to find Martin Somers' name, he paused for a second before handing it over to her.

She accepted it with a smile, surprised by the gesture, and crossed off Somers name from the list. She ran a hand through her hair, "There going to take down Dad's grave...I already talked to him...Walter told me to tell you to go say goodbye now if you want to before they take it down."

. . .

Oliver Queen knelt down in front of his Father's grave, it was an empty one and his mind flashed back to the one on the Island - he closed his eyes as he thought about him and what he had told them. His death was what had started it all, he had started their crusade with his final words, his last request. He had the man's list in his hand.

He made sure to keep his voice low, not wanting the workmen to overhear him. "All that time on the island, plotting my return, I didn't realize how hard it would be." Oliver winced as he thought about it, trying to ignore the guilt welling up inside of him. "To reconnect with Mom, Tommy, Laurel." He sighed as he thought about how he'd pushed them all away or hurt them in the short time he'd been back.

"Okay, I didn't... I didn't know how painful it would be to keep my secrets." Oliver didn't know what to do, he was doing what he thought was right but there was still that nagging doubt in the back of his mind telling him that he was wrong. "How painful it would be to make Thea keep them...she's still so young and she's throwing it all away for this." He let out a harsh chuckle as his eyes went misty, "She's still so young...so good...she still has a good heart...despite everything." Shaking his head he continued, "And I'm going to ruin that."

"You asked me to save the city." A part of him hated his Father for it, hated him for placing such a large burden on his and Thea's shoulders. They were both children at the time - she was twelve and he had been seventeen and he had chosen to task them with righting his wrongs. "To right your wrongs...I will...I swear." He let out a heavy sigh, "But to do that, I can't be the Oliver that everyone wants me to be, which means that sometimes...To honor your wishes... I need to dishonor your memory. I'm sorry."

He could feel himself holding back tears as he finally let everything out, he stayed there - crouched in front of the grave for a few more minutes, in silence.

Finally he got up and walked back towards the workmen, nodding at them and gesturing towards the grave, "Take it down."

. . .

A/N - So...hope that went alright...Tommy's suspicious and Thea is divided-ish. Not sure about the "emotional/heart-to-heart" bits or the Therapy sessions as I felt they were a bit forced but who knows maybe you disagree. The flashbacks will be different from here as Thea and Oliver have quite a different experience when it comes to Fyers and his men and Yao Fei. The flashbacks in episode two are quite short and not very action-y.

Sorry this took so long but the chapter deleted itself, I turned my computer off without closing the document (it was saved) and it somehow corrupted the file and caused it to go blank. (Not blank but the text was unviewable)

Thoughts? Still too close to canon? Too boring? Forced? Occ? I'm curious and want to improve.

Not sure if I'm moving too fast with certain things, like Tommy and I might edit certain bits to fix them but hopefully you all enjoyed this! Next chapter should be Wed/Thursday if all goes well.

Thanks for reading!

DELETED SCENE(s) -

1. Tommy confronts Oliver

Tommy Merlyn watched as his friend walked away with something akin to horror, he knew a drunk Oliver when he saw one and Oliver hadn't been drunk. He had been putting on a good act to the point where he had nearly been fooled himself but he knew Oliver wasn't drunk. The press seemed to have eaten it up and judging by the raised cellphones and mutterings of the crowd everyone else had eaten it up and he wouldn't be surprised if it was already trending on twitter.

He glanced over at the expressions on Walter and Moira's faces and that sent a surge of anger through him, he hurried after his friend and grabbed his arm. "Hey!" Tommy called out, "What was that?" He gestured behind him towards where the conference would be.

Oliver jerked himself free of Tommy's grip, "G-go away Tommy." He slurred and Tommy resisted the urge to slap his friend.

"Cut the crap Ollie," Tommy hissed, "I know you're not drunk...seen you plastered plenty of times and right now you aren't."

Oliver's body sagged and he met his friend's gaze, "I'm sorry." He ran a hand through his hair, "I needed to get my Mom off of my back...needed to get her to stop trying to make me take my 'rightful' place at the company."

"And you thought you'd do that by embarrassing your family?" Tommy asked disbelievingly, "Instead of just talking to her?!"

"I tried!" Oliver muttered back, his eyes darting to Diggle who was watching the fight silently in the background. "She didn't listen."

"Yeah, I bet you tried real hard Ollie." Tommy scoffed, "That was too far...I get it alright? You've been through hell and the last thing you want is to be tied down to an office job...but your Mom would understand that if you gave her a chance." He shook his head and a grimace flashed across his face, "That-" He waved towards where Moira and Walter were, "That was too far...seriously...I think you went too far Ollie."

Oliver opened his mouth to protest but Tommy found that he didn't want to listen to his friend's excuses, otherwise he'd end up decking his friend or saying something that he'd regret. Turning on his heel he walked away and left Oliver behind him.

2. Deleted Scene, Laurel confronts Lance instead of Oliver

Quentin shook his head and his expression clouded over, "No..your job is protecting her and her brother." He jerked his thumb towards Thea and she frowned, "It seems like whenever a Queen is with a daughter of mine they get hurt...I had hoped you wouldn't be following in your brothers footsteps Thea."

"Dad!" Laurel called out, clearly outraged at the way her Father was talking to Thea, "Stop it!"

Quentin looked at his daughter with a shocked expression, his gaze shifted between her and Thea. "Her brother is the reason your sister is dead!" He jerked a finger in Thea's direction, "Everytime a Queen shows up someone from our family dies...or leaves...I'm not going to lose you too...I'm not going to let another Queen cost me another child!"

"Thea did not kill Sara! Oliver did not kill Sara! Hell, Sara didn't kill Sara!" She yelled, letting out everything she had bottled up for months, "It was a freak accident! And yes she screwed up and so did Ollie! But it was a freak accident! I'm with Thea because she's my friend and like a little sister so me..." Her tone softened and Thea had to strain to hear it, "I'm not going to lose another one just because you can't get past the fact that you blame yourself! You blame yourself and so you blame them...it wasn't your fault Dad...it wasn't anyone's."

Quentin opened and closed his mouth several times before shaking his head and storming off leaving a shocked Thea and an emotionally exhausted Laurel behind him.

"You didn't have to do that." Thea murmured.