Felicity glared at Captain Lance. This prick of a guy who dared tell her what to do and how to do it.
"Yeah, no. Sorry." She said, smirking slightly, with an edge to her voice. "I don't do what douchebag future step fathers tell me. Especially when they insult my intelligence." Felicity brushed past him, heading towards the door.
"Felicity!" She could hear the warning growl in Lance's voice. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."
Felicity flipped around, anger gnawing at the bit. "News flash: I'm not a child. I am an adult, with a college degree. I can do whatever the hell I want." She glanced past Lance to see Oliver retreating into the shadows. She had noticed he was good at that, hiding in plain sight. Perhaps he knew Captain Lance? Oliver grew up in Starling, so the Captain probably knew him.If Felicity knew who he was, then the Captain surely did.
She focused back on Lance as he said "Felicity, please. Your mother misses you and is worried sick. At least let her know you're safe."
"Why can't you do that for me, since, you know, you're going to be my new dad and all." Felicity couldn't curb the sarcastic retort.
"Felicity, that isn't why you're upset." Lance walked towards her, hands held out in a peace gesture. Felicity involuntarily took two steps back.
He tried again. "You're mad because… well… we got off on the wrong foot."
That was the wrong thing to say. "Wrong foot? Wrong foot? That is such an understatement! You come into my home, I thought 'oh this is just another one of my mother's boyfriends' and was prepared to write you off as such. Then, you compliment me on my computer but then proceed to correct me on the operating system! The operating system. The very one I had improved from it's original Linux OS, which, as all programmers know, is the only truly functional operating system. Who's the one who graduated from MIT with a master's degree in Cyber Security and Computer Sciences? Not you for sure! And to top it all off, my mother informs me that she's marrying you! A cop, who lives in Starling City! Right before she admits to lying to me all these years and telling me my father was a maniac! I mean, this whole situation is messed up, and I refuse to be the one to clean it up!"
Felicity was huffing by the time she was finished with her rant, four pairs of eyes looking at her like deers in blaring headlights. Thea was the one who took a step forward.
"Felicity…" The pity that was held in those four syllables had her turning away from her new found sister and storming out the back door. Tears poked at her eyes because she was so frustrated. Why did her mother have to marry him?
If Felicity stopped and thought about it, perhaps out of all the boyfriends her mother has had throughout the years, Captain Lance may be the best. But to spring it on Felicity, with her not really liking the Captain at the moment was outrageous.
If she was honest with herself, she was probably the most mad at her mother. Her mother who kept secrets from her daughter all her life. Her mother had given her no warning about their decision, not even given Felicity a chance to get over being offended.
She had barely met him a month ago. And it was probably her fault at getting so upset at his ignorance and stubbornness that he was right. Felicity had the same temper, the difference knowing that she was right and he was wrong. Felicity could have totally handled the situation in a different way, one that would not have caused her to take such drastic measures as running away.
So, in a way, everything was her fault.
The guilt started eating her up, tearing at her stomach, clawing to be released somehow. Felicity let the tears flow, sinking down the wall until she was on the dusty concrete, head buried against her legs.
Vaguely, she heard the door open and close.
Then she was gathered up in two strong arms, encased in his warmth, feeling safe and comforted and just understood. She buried her face in his jacket and cried, soaking his shoulder. His hands just soothed up and down her back, strange words being muttered above her.
When she began to quiet, Oliver pulled her away from him, grasping her face in his large, rough hands, and looked at her. His blue eyes bore into her, not letting her look away. He read all of her emotions, and like last night, interpreted them correctly.
"It's not your fault, Felicity."
"Yes it is," she grumbled, just to argue and to justify her guilt.
"No, it's not. You are not responsible for the actions of others." He was still staring at her, sincerity shining behind his eyes.
"How do you know?"
"I've spent a lot of time staring at the mirror. I know a guilty expression when I see one and your's is the paradigm of all guilty expressions. "
Felicity half sighed, half sobbed, a kind of whining sound. "If I had just…"
"Just what? Not stood up for yourself and your brilliant mind? Not protested a marriage that would affect you with no say in the matter? No, you were right to do what you did. But it's up to you to decide what to do next. You two are going to be family whether you like it or not.
"I'm not the best person to say this, since it probably makes me a hypocrite. Don't run away from these things. In the end it hurts you more. Just these few moments with my sister reminds me of the importance of family. They should be the first line of forgiveness. Thea didn't have me o turn to when she found out. But when you're angry at each other, it's a gnarled knot that tightens the more you poke at it. It's best to just let it go."
Felicity mumbled a muffled 'okay' as she buried herself back inside Oliver's warmth. He picked her up and set her on her feet, running his thumbs under her eyes to clear the salt stains.
"Better?" She gave him a small shaky smile.
He smiled back, a sad one. "Better." Oliver led her back inside, one comforting hand heavy on her shoulder blade.
Thea and Roy had disappeared and Captain Lance was sitting at the bar, fiddling with a coaster. He rose when he saw them.
As she stepped out of the shadows cast by the overhead balcony, Oliver's hand fell away as he refused to leave the shadows. She let it be, for now.
Both her and Captain Lance spoke at the same time.
"I'm sorry-" "Felicity, I should have-"
They both stopped simultaneously as well.
"You go first," Felicity gestured.
Lance gulped, before pulling his hat down from his head and scratching it, wringing his hat. He was nervous but quickly spoke.
"Since we're going to be family and all that-"
"And all that" she couldn't help but echo. She bit her tongue when she heard a cluck of reprimand from behind her. Captain Lance didn't notice.
" I guess what i'm trying to say is I'm sorry. I was trying to impress your mother and by trying to do that, I insulted you. I mean it's like trying to win two women at the same time. I'm making this worse." He halted, blew out a breath and placed the cap back on his head.
"I see that what I did a month ago was a mistake and I'm sorry. If I'm the reason that drove you away then I hope to fix it somehow, if I can."
Felicity was torn between hanging onto the hate that had fueled her pride or letting his apology get to her. Knowing that the anger would fuel the guilt that was eating her alive, she took the second option.
"It seems we're good, Captain Lance. But for future reference, when it comes to computers, I know what I'm talking about."
He nodded in affirmation. "I learned my lesson that day. I will leave such matters in your very capable hands, Miss Smoak. Now, back to business. Your mother called in a Missing Persons. As you are a legal adult you have two options. Stay missing, as is your right or comfort your mother's nerves and let her know you're alright. It's up to you."
Felicity smiled, a genuine one since that morning. Then she grimaced. Her mother would give her her hell for this stunt. She quickly made a decision. "I'll go back but… not yet."
Captain Lance looked chagrined all of a sudden. "I may have told her you were here… and she may have caught a flight an hour ago… and she maybe landing in an hour."
No. Felicity was not ready to deal with the repercussions that would follow when her mother confronted her. It would be another shouting match and she had had so many twists and turns today that she was done. Panicking, she grabbed the first thing in reach to play with, in an attempt to calm her nerves. The thing she grabbed, however, was her scarf.
"Felicity. What the hell happened to you?!" Captain Lance strode over to her, tilting her head up so he could get a better look at her neck. She had totally forgot about the bruises.
"It's a... " she couldn't think of anything except the truth. And it wasn't hers to tell. "It was an accident." Her mouth came up with the perfect words. It was true, but not the entire story.
"An accident?" he questioned incredulously? "You have strangle marks on your neck and you say it was an accident? You should report the person who did this to you, Felicity, not protect them. That bastard does not need your protection."
"It was me." Oliver spoke from the shadows, creeping out into the light. Lance gaped at Oliver, blinking his eyes rapidly.
"Blimey." Lance's mouth worked up and down in astonishment. "If it isn't Ollie Queen. You, sir, are supposed to be dead."
Oliver took the accusation in stride. "Apparently, I'm not." He spread his hands innocently. A mask was up, what Felicity perceived to be his public personae, the one and only Ollie Queen, playboy extraordinaire. Felicity alone knew what was hidden beneath it.
A man in pain.
"Don't get cocky with me, son. You're still on my dirt list, resurrected or not. This-" he pointed at Felicity's neck, " is physical assault. Would you like to file a report?" This was directed towards Felicity.
"No! It wasn't his fault! Lance, you don't know what he's been through. It was an accident okay? I was too close and he reacted on gut instinct. Lance, you know how veterans get. The flash of the past. Please, let this go."
She was hanging onto Lance's wrist, standing protectively between the two men. Captain Lance looked furious, his face turning red and his jaw clenched hard. Looking behind her, she could just make out Oliver's defeated expression. He was blaming himself, as always.
No, not 'as always'. She couldn't say that having only been around Oliver for less than twenty four hours. But the phrasing felt right, as if the past hours had been years, rather than minutes.
It was scary how they clicked like that.
"Fine." Lance snapped shortly. "But I'm still going to have you checked out. We won't dust you for finger prints, this time. Mark my words, Queen, this happens again, and I'm raining hell on you for this, PSTD or not."
Lance took Felicity by the hand, and she went willingly, glancing back over her shoulder at Oliver whose gaze never left her face even as she went out the door.
Two hours later, Felicity had been checked by a doctor and was sitting in the police precinct, waiting for Captain Lance to return from the airport with her mother, dreading the upcoming confrontation. She wouldn't have Oliver this time to cheer her up though. The thought dragged her down.
She stared at the linoleum, trying to block all apprehension from her mind, the butterflies her her stomach making her nauseous. Two black boots obstructed her view of the floor, followed by two familiar haunted blue eyes. She reached out and poked him. He was real, not a figment of wishful thinking.
"Why do you always show up when I need you?" She asked unthinkingly. Felicity immediately clapped a hand over her mouth. "I did not mean to say that."
His mouth ticked upward slightly. "Yes you did. You always say what's on your mind." There is was again. That persistent always. They didn't have an always. They couldn't. It was illogical.
She glanced up right into a flash of bright white. Paparazzi.
Now she was going to be all over the magazines. Just what she wanted. A headline on a police computer caught her attention. The officer was looking at an article below the main one, something about a shooting in the North Side. But the headline, similar to the one Lance had shown her earlier was "Oliver Queen is Alive".There was then an accompanied picture of Oliver outside Queen Consolidated.
"You went to Queen Consolidated." It wasn't a question. He nodded.
"It seemed like the best time to let the world know I'm back." His expression darkened suddenly, Oliver delving into whatever black thoughts he was thinking.
"Hey." She cupped his cheek, trying to bring him back. Eventually, his eyes lost their hardened look. "Stay with me. Where did you go just then? And be honest please. It's the only way I can help you. Diggle did this too. He would try to block me out, try to protect me from the darkness."
"I don't want to... " He trailed off. " I can't… Felicity. I've experienced a lot of bad things."
"Oliver, it's-"
"You'll think badly of me. If I tell you, you won't look at me the same. You don't know what I've done!" He whispered harshly, looking around at the surrounding police.
"I'm not asking you to, not right now. You thought something, though, that took you somewhere, somewhere in the past. Why?"
He looked down, still crouched in front of her. "I was supposed to be dead." She could barely hear him over the bustle. "Now the world knows I'm alive. People that I've pissed off. People that know my name and want revenge. I wasn't just a soldier, Felicity." He stopped. Then so faint she strained to hear him, guilt and shame very apparent in his voice. "I was worse."
Felicity didn't know how to respond to that. She could see Oliver breaking down in front of her, trying so hard to hang on to his control, that she gestured to a detective, pointing towards the man with the camera. The detective got rid of the invader, while she held Oliver as he sat down cross-legged on the floor, staring like she had at the sealing cracks in the floor. He had told her something, which was progress. One baby step forward.
He had delved into the darkness again and Felicity knew that if she tried to force him out again, he would spring back in harder.
He had to find his way back alone.
Minutes passed, Felicity combing through Oliver's hair as he hugged her legs, forehead braced on her knees. Eventually, he loosened his grip, lifting his head.
"Thank-you." He said seriously. He unfolded himself and stood just as a blonde whirlwind came sweeping in, a cry of joy following behind her.
"Felicity! Oh my precious precious girl! Where have you been! I was so worried that you had been kidnapped! Don't do that to me! You have no concern for my nerves or my looks. That much worrying is bound to take a hold of my complexion."
Her mother. Donna Smoak.
Oliver turned to her mother and stopped in what Felicity could only describe as shock. Then Felicity became flabbergasted when Oliver and her mother embraced.
"Donna. It's so good to see you."
"Oliver. How you have grown. The last time I saw you was when you had that dreadful haircut! Oh how the time has flown!"
Felicity looked back and forth between them. "Mom? What-how do you know Oliver?"
Donna appeared affronted. "Why, Felicity, don't you know? He came to see me years ago. Him and Tommy."
This was news. Felicity gaped at her mother. "You met Tommy?!"