The next day after Laurel's welcome home party was Thea's going away party, since in the end, she and Roy had decided to leave Star City.
The team plus William were all down in the bunker having a goodbye party for her.
William double checked to make sure no one was looking before taking a quick swipe out of the frosting on the cake.
"You'd be in so much trouble if your dad saw you doing that. You're lucky you have such a cool aunt, you know, who approves of bad behavior." Thea said as she walked over to her nephew.
"I'm gonna miss you." William said as he hugged his aunt.
"And I'm gonna miss you, too. Just promise me that you're gonna watch over your dad, ok?" Thea aske.d
"But he's the Green Arrow." William pointed out.
"You know, before he was the Green Arrow, he actually used to be really afraid of the dark, and he needed a nightlight in his bedroom till he was, like, what, six-16?" Thea said with a laugh, since this was the last time she'd be able to embarrass Oliver in front of his kid, so she wanted to make the most of it.
"It was not a nightli- I was- it was not a nightlight. I couldn't sleep with it being pitch black. By the way, I did see that. Go get a fork and a-and a plate and get yourself a reasonable slice of cake." Oliver said, both defending himself and telling off his son at the same time.
"Yes." William said as he walked away.
"Thank you for doing this. It's actually pretty cool." Thea said.
"Why do you sound surprised?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah. I-I don't know. I just thought that maybe you would- you'd be a little more anti me going." Thea explained.
"I'm the one who encouraged you to go follow your heart." Oliver reminded her.
"I know, I know. It's just that now that it's all real, I just-I I thought that maybe you would be, like, a tad less supportive." Thea said.
"I am completely supportive of anything and everything that makes you happy. Speaking of which, I did tell Roy that the two times that I shot him with-with arrows would be nothing compared to what would happen to him if you end up unhappy." Oliver said and Thea laughed as they looked over at Roy, who was talking to Laurel.
"Ollie, before I leave, do me one favor?" Thea said.
"Sure, what?" Oliver asked.
"Promise me that you will see where things go with Laurel. Before you try anything, I think that if Felicity were here, she'd want you to be happy and I think that no one aside from her has made you truly happy besides Laurel." Thea said and Oliver smiled.
"I will take that advice under consideration." Oliver said as Laurel and Roy walked up to them.
"You guys sure you don't want to stick around a little longer. Now that I'm finally cleared for field duty, it would have been nice to have one more mission with the old team back together." Laurel said and Thea smiled.
"While that does sound nice, I think that Roy and I both want to get out of the city before someone realizes that the Arrow is alive and walking around, something that does not need to be advertised, especially with your trial coming up." Thea said and Oliver nodded.
"Still, I know I've said it a thousand times and while I'm supportive of you Thea, I'm still gonna miss you. I'm really gonna miss both of you." Oliver said as he looked at Roy, once again feeling guilty about what this man had to go through for him.
"Well, I'm sure you'll come and visit us once we get settled somewhere." Roy said.
"Where exactly do you thing that's going to be?" Oliver asked.
"Well, we don't really know exactly, but that-that's kind of the best part. I mean, we're gonna figure it out as we go along." Thea said.
"Oh. That's so spontaneous and romantic." Laurel said with a smile.
"As long as we're together, that's really all that matters, right?" Roy asked.
"Couldn't have said it better myself Roy." Oliver said as Thea and Roy kissed.
John and Quentin were standing by the computer station as they looked over at the others.
"So, how's it feel to have her back, for real this time?" John asked.
"Even though it's been a few weeks already, it still feels incredible. Not only do I feel blessed that I have my daughter back, but it also feels like there's this weight of guilt that's been lifted from my shoulders." Quentin said and John nodded.
"I know what you mean. It almost feels too good to be true." John said.
"That's why I'm not questioning it, I'm just enjoying it." Quentin said and John nodded.
"Yeah, and considering that Diaz got away last week, it's good that Laurel's finally ready to get back in the field since with Thea and Roy leaving and the others still not being fully trustworthy yet, it'll be good to have another body in the field." John said.
"I see a- ahem-work conversation, so where are we with the SCPD?" Oliver asked as he approached them.
"Well, uh, Dinah, Rene and Curtis, they're growing a list of possible cops on the take, but that could end up being the least of our worries." Quentin said.
"How so?" Oliver asked.
"The D.A.'s office refusal to drop your case without Roy's testimony, that doesn't sit right with me. Laurel's already convinced that the SCPD isn't the only part of the city's power structure Diaz has on his payroll and now I'm starting to think she has a point." Quentin said.
"Oliver, you let me worry about Diaz, why don't you go spend some more time with your sister before she gets out of here?" John asked.
"And you think this guy's gonna stop worrying about things all of a sudden?" Quentin asked.
"Well, ever since he trusted me to take over." John said and they could feel the underlying sense in that statement.
"I'll take that as my cue." Quentin said as he walked away.
"John, I thought we talked this out?" Oliver asked.
"We did. And I'm sorry, I guess there's just still a bit of resentment there for you stringing me along like that." John said.
"I understand that, truly, I do and I'm sorry. But can we please not have that now?" Oliver asked John, nodded.
