Chapter8- The Lost Boy
Felicity twiddled her thumbs in her lap as the elevator ushered herself, Thea and her guards upwards. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Thea smiling back down at her, the nervousness she had been trying to hide must have been more apparent than she'd hoped. Felicity returned the smile and tried to act brave, but inside she was groaning.
"What are you so nervous about Smoaky?" Thea inquired, "It's just our apartment."
"I don't even know to be honest, I guess I'm just worried about him."
"It seems our roles have switched then," Thea chuckled. "Back at your office I was the emotional wreck and you were the brave rational one, now it's the other way around. Are you always this flip floppy with your emotions?" The girl inquired with a smile.
"Not usually," Felicity replied looking back down at her lap. "Or at least not to this degree."
"Ah, so it's just my brother that gets you all worked up like this eh?" Thea chirped. "I knew there was something special between you two."
"Shhh not so loud!" Felicity shushed, she turned to the guard to her right and he looked down at her. "Not a word," Felicity order and pointed up at him, the guard brought his fingers up to his face and zipped his lips in response, his mouth curved into a small smile. Everyone turned to face forward but out of the corner of her eye Felicity could see Thea lightly bouncing on the balls of her feet. "What's that for?" Felicity asked with a hint of sarcasm.
"Oh, no reason."
"Liar," Felicity accused as she fought back a smile and failed. A sharp ding rang out as the elevator slowed to a stop, after a brief moment the doors slid open revealing the hallway on the other side. Felicity turned to her guards as everyone exited, "You two can wait here," she instructed.
"Ms. Felicity I'd be more comfortable if at least one of us went with you," one guard spoke up.
"I'll be fine Beck, really." Beck gave her an unsure look, "Come on we're on what, the twelfth floor?" She turned her head to Thea who nodded to confirm. "You two'll be guarding the only way up, I think we'll be okay."
"I'll take really good care of her, I promise!" Thea exclaimed and gave Beck a wink.
Jackson Beckman had been a part of Felicity's security team and a personal friend for several years. Felicity first met Jackson through John, they had served together in Afghanistan. After they both received honorable discharges the two men returned home, for John it was a joyous occasion, unfortunately for Jackson it was the exact opposite. Upon arrival John and Jackson were met by two police officers, they pulled Jackson aside and informed him that his wife had died in a terrible car accident the night before. There had been mix ups when SCPD tried to contact him and no one had been able to reach him. With his wife gone and no children to speak of, Jackson Beckman, war hero, returned home that night to an empty house.
Under these tragic circumstances someone else might have fallen into a deep depression, but thanks to the help of john and other friends and family Jackson recovered as best he could. After taking time to mourn Jackson began looking for work and his friend Dig was with him every step of the way. When john eventually took over as Head of security for Felicity Smoak and Smoak Technologies he knew just who he wanted by his side, he brought the idea to Felicity and she jumped at the opportunity to help. Before Jackson knew it he had a job, a new friend and a new family almost over night.
Felicity even offered to help Jackson out with his bills and pay for a weekly therapist out of her own pocket just to make sure he had all the support he needed. Needless to say Jackson was incredibly grateful for everything John and Felicity had done for him and as time went on they all grew closer and closer. Jackson Beckman, or Beck as Felicity liked to call him was fiercely loyal, dependable to a fault and at times a bit over protective, but in a good way. There was no one else Felicity would rather have as John's right hand man.
The tall muscular man let out a large sigh, "alright then," he conceded still not one hundred percent convinced. "But if I hear or see anything, anything at all that could mean danger, I'll break that door down faster than you can blink Ms. Felicity."
"And I'll love you all the more for it Beck," Felicity rubbed his forearm to reassure him before Thea grabbed her chairs handles and pushed forward.
"We'll be at the end of the hall!" Thea turned back to the men and smiled, "If we aren't back in twenty minutes come running!" Thea chuckled, she heard a small growl escape Beck's throat as she turned back to Felicity, "He knows I'm just messing with him right?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't get on his bad side if I were you," both women giggled. Felicity lowered her head and tried to keep her composure as the apartment door grew closer and closer. With each passing moment an alarm sounded off in Her head, Felicity could almost hear her mother's voice sounding off, trying to convince her to turn around, that this was too dangerous. Felicity drew in a deep breath and held it, she couldn't turn back, not now, not after all that Oliver and his sister had done for her. However unexpected it may have been, both Queens had worked their way into Felicity's life, and into her heart. Although the depth of her and Oliver's feelings towards each other was not yet entirely clear to Felicity one thing was, he and Thea were family now. If nothing else Felicity Smoak was never one to turn her back on family. Felicity released the breath as her chair came to a halt.
"Ok here we are," Thea spoke up as she fumbled through her pockets for her keys. "Sorry these jeans pockets are so small I can't get anything out easily, don't know why I even where them," Thea chuckled trying to lighten the mood.
Felicity looked up at her appreciatively, "Because they make your butt look good that's why!" She joked and nudged Thea's hip, both women smiled and laughed.
"Here we go," Thea finally managed to retrieve her keys and unlocked the door. "Welcome to casa de Queen."
Felicity looked around tentatively as Thea wheeled her through the doorway. It was a charming little space with a somewhat open floor plan, not nearly as cramped as many of the other apartments in Starling City these days. Felicity thoroughly enjoyed not feeling claustrophobic the second she crossed the threshold. The walls were adorned in a pleasant shade of beige with a few red accent walls scattered around. Over all it felt very cozy, but the lighting and placement of the windows kept the space from getting too dark. It was a perfect balance in Felicity's opinion.
"So?" Thea walked around to face Felicity, "What do ya think? I know it's not the penthouse flat or the presidential suite that you're probably used too, but it's home," she exhaled and smiled brightly.
"It's beautiful Thea," Felicity replied and returned the smile, "Really."
Thea placed her hands on her hips and sighed in satisfaction. "Ok then, I was thinking I'd go back and check the bedrooms and bathroom, you wanna stay out here and cover this area?"
"Sounds good," Felicity chuckled.
Thea leaned down and placed her hands on Felicity shoulders, "Thanks so much for coming with me Felicity, it means a lot."
"Of course," Felicity replied. "Ya know between the two of us Oliver doesn't stand a chance, he couldn't hide from us even if he wanted to." She smiled mischievously.
Thea laughed, "I can't argue with that," she stood back up and tossed her keys on a nearby table before reaching back down to Felicity who stared at her open hand in confusion. "Hands in!"
Suddenly recognizing the gesture, Felicity chuckled and complied. Together they chanted, "Three Two One, break!" And laughed out loud before Thea retreated down the hall.
Once she was alone Felicity continued taking in her surroundings, she wheeled herself into the living area and found all of the usual suspects. There were a couple of arm chairs and a leather sectional couch along with a coffee table. Looking closer she could see a couple of issues of Tech Insider, the go to source for all things technology in Starling City, other than the internet that is. Felicity herself had been featured several times and made the cover twice, she smiled when she discovered that both of those issues sat before her on the table. "Has Oliver been keeping tabs on me?" A part of her secretly hoped that he had. Felicity then looked up and chuckled when she came face to face with a large flat screen TV mounted on the wall in front of her, "Well he's got his priorities straight."
There was a mantle under the TV and several picture frames sat on it. Felicity wheeled herself closer and pushed her glasses up on her nose, she could see that the first few photos were of Oliver and Thea. In one they were on some sort of vacation, in the next they were both standing outside the apartment building holding up keys and smiling, "That must have been right after they moved in," Felicity smiled. The last photo was different however, it was old and faded and looked like it had been taken with an outdated camera. It was apparent that the photo had been folded a few times and parts of the paper had begun to crack.
With out a second thought Felicity reached up, took the photo down and placed it in her lap to get a better look. There were four people in the photo, a young man stood proudly with his arm around the shoulders of a older blonde woman. An older man kneeled down in front of them and smiled from ear to ear as a young girl wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek. Felicity smiled realizing that this was a young Oliver and Thea, with their parents. "They look so happy." Felicity suddenly found herself pressing a finger to the glass and running it along Oliver's face, "You've been through so much," she whispered. "When will you get to rest?"
"Find anything yet?" Thea's voice rang out from the hall way.
Felicity shook her head and quickly returned the photo to where she'd found it, "Uh no, not yet!" She called back. "Hey where was it you found Oliver's phone?"
"On the floor near the couch!" Thea responded.
Felicity searched the area but found nothing.
"Hey Smoaky, come here a sec!" Thea suddenly called.
"Where are you?"
"Ollie's room!"
Felicity's eyes shot wide open, "Uh I don't…er…I don't think that's such a good idea Thea," she called back.
Thea walked out into the kitchen with an annoyed look on her face, "Felicity come on, it's not like he's in there naked or anything."
"Hey!" Felicity exclaimed flustered.
"Not that you'd mind that," Thea muttered under her breath as she walked over.
Felicity smacked her arm, "Watch your mouth!"
"Oh stop," Thea chuckled, "I jest." Thea hurried around and grabbed the wheelchair handles, she pushed Felicity through the kitchen into the hallway and made the first left.
After several moments of darkness and silence Felicity finally gave in and slowly opened her eyes. Oliver's bedroom was very neat, everything seemed to have its place and nothing seemed out of place. The reds and browns of the furniture in the living room were traded for blacks and grays. The hardwood floor from the rest of the apartment was carried through, but most of it was covered in a large rug that looked so soft that you wouldn't have been able to tell. Felicity turned her head to the right and caught sight of the closet, she was shocked to see Oliver's suit from the night of the party hanging on the door. It was still stained with blood. "Why did he keep that?" Felicity asked surprised.
Thea followed Felicity's gaze and sighed when she saw the suit. "It's his only one, it's his favorite. Your party was the first time he'd worn it in years. I told him to it's a lost cause but he's determined to find something to clean it."
Felicity stared at the grey dress garment in confusion, "what makes it so special?"
Thea paused a moment and let out another sigh this time with some sadness behind it, "It belonged to our dad."
"Oh Thea I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to…"
"It's ok," Thea interrupted, she gave Felicity a reassuring smile then looked back to the closet. "That was our dad's lucky suit, or at least that's what he called it. Dad would wear it to every job interview he got when we were younger, whenever dad put that on he exuded confidence and strength, even when he didn't get the job he would always come home with a big smile on his face. When our parents died Ollie and I each chose one thing of theirs that we would keep forever and always to remember them by. I chose mom's jewelry box, it's one of the few fancy things she had, it was passed down from her great grandmother, I can show you later if you'd like.
"I'd like that," Felicity smiled up at the younger woman, then turned back to the closet. "Oliver chose your dad's lucky suit."
"Yep, and it's been bringing him luck ever since. He wore it to his job interview at the power plant, and to his interview at Smoak Tech, and…"
"And?" Felicity gave Thea a confused look.
"He was wearing it the night he met you silly!"
Felicity scoffed, "Yeah don't know how lucky that really was for him, he got shot."
"Oh I'm sure he considers it one of the luckiest nights of his life," Thea winked playfully.
Felicity smiled and rolled her eyes, "I think we're getting side tracked here don't you?"
"You're right, I guess we've got to find Ollie before you two can share anymore super awkward flirty moments huh?"
"Ok Ignoring you now!" Felicity blushed from embarrassment and scanned the room, for a moment she was stumped, again, nothing seemed out of place. Then Felicity noticed that there was an empty pill bottle on one of the bedside tables, "There," she pointed. Thea stepped over and picked up the empty bottle, "Crap he ran out of his medication? I should have been keeping better track of that!"
Felicity pulled out her phone and began typing, "Aha! There's a twenty-four hour pharmacy nearby, Starling RX, is that who you guys go to?"
"Yeah," Thea replied. "Let me call them, maybe he went to pick up some more medicine."
Felicity sat in silence as Thea dialed and placed the phone to her ear. As they waited for someone to answer Felicity's mind began to wonder. As embarrassing as Thea's poking and prodding was Felicity couldn't help but feel like part of herself agreed with the younger woman. Being away from Oliver these past few weeks had stirred up some feelings that Felicity hadn't seen coming. Sure there was the gratefulness, concern and appreciation that one would expect given the circumstances, but under that there was something more. Felicity genuinely missed him, she missed their long talks in that hospital room, she missed the laughs they had shared, and yes even though they were incredibly cringe worthy she missed those awkward flirty moments that made her turn red as a tomato. Felicity missed it all, she missed Oliver Queen. Felicity found a part of her heart hoping, dreaming even, that once this was all over and done she could muster up the courage to find out if he'd missed her too.
Thea let out a large sigh as she lowered the phone from her ear, "No luck."
"Ok, well, let's not lose hope, Oliver can't have just vanished into thin air, especially when he's still recovering from a gunshot wound.
Thea began to get frustrated, "I thought there would be something here to tell us where he's gone, but we've searched the entire place and found nothing! What are we gonna do Felicity?" Thea's breathing quickened and she began to pace back and forth.
"Maybe it's time we called the SCPD, don't you think?"
"But what if he's not missing? What if he just went out and forgot to tell me? I don't want to freak him out and call the cops on him if he's just out getting a burger or something." Thea ran her fingers through her hair and continued to march
"Thea, Thea." Felicity tried to get her attention but had no luck. "Thea!" Felicity wheeled over and grabbed Thea's forearm, "Take a breath, slow down."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just…"
"I know," Felicity finished for her. "I'm worried about him too, but we're not gonna get anywhere if we can't calm down and focus. Ok?"
Thea drew in a deep breath and let it out, "Ok, what should we do next?"
Felicity gave her a sympathetic smile, "lets go back out into the living room. You can try to get ahold of the detectives and I'll look around a bit more, sound good?"
"Yeah," Thea agreed through deep breaths. "Thanks smoaky, I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here with me."
"What are friends for?" Felicity chuckled.
"Girl, after all this you've earned BFF status for sure."
"Why thank you Thea I'm honored," Felicity chirped
As they exited the bedroom and returned to the living room the two women joked about a certain someone's simplistic taste in home décor.
"Oliver prefers a very Toned down style when it comes to his room doesn't he?" Felicity asked.
"Oh absolutely, it's dreadful. I keep asking him to at least throw a couple posters on the walls to break up the monotony but he just won't take the hint."
Felicity chuckled.
"But hey!" Thea continued as she brought Felicity's chair to a halt, "If all goes well then you'll probably be spending a lot more time in there," Thea nudged Felicity's shoulder as she walked around to face the blonde. "I'm sure your womanly touch could brighten the space up a bit!" She winked.
"Oh my God will you stop it!" Felicity exclaimed as she blushed and failed to fight back a shy smile.
"I'll stop, when you two stop being so perfect for each other."
"Call the precinct for fraks sake!" Felicity chuckled.
"As you wish," Thea rolled her eyes and dialed the number.
Felicity sighed and took one more look around the apartment, she rolled herself into the living room while Thea remained in the kitchen. Wanting to be thorough Felicity rolled to the far side of the room and flipped on a lamp that had been off earlier, as she did Thea called out.
"Hey it's like three AM, will Detective Lance even be awake at this hour?"
"He works the grave yard shift a lot, he'll probably be there." Felicity turned herself around as she answered, out of the corner of her eye she got a glimpse of an open cabinet door in the entertainment center that she had somehow missed earlier. Giving it her full attention Felicity could see a DVD player with an open tray, like it had been used recently, she rolled closer to get a better look. Sure enough an unlabeled disc sat in the tray, Felicity gave her new BFF a quick glance but Thea was busy speaking into the phone and wasn't paying attention. Felicity turned her attention back to the disc and stared at it a moment. "Eh, why not," she thought to herself and used a finger to push the tray back in. She quickly found the remote and turned the TV on.
"What's going on over there?" Thea asked.
"Not sure yet, I'll tell you in a sec."Nearly a minute passed as the DVD loaded
"I'm on hold, apparently detective Lance is in the middle on an interrogation." Thea called from the kitchen and rolled her eyes. "Who the heck needs interrogating at three in the morning?"Thea tilted her head and placed the phone between her ear and her shoulder, she started picking at her nails to pass the time.
Finally the loading screen vanished and the DVD began to play, moments later Felicity's hands shot up to her mouth, "Oh my god!" She gasped under her breath, "oh my God!" With each passing second Felicity's fear grew, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "How could this have happened? Why did this have to happen? Why now?" Felicity tore her eyes away from the screen and turned them to Thea, "Put the phone down."
Thea looked up from her primping in confusion, "Wh-what was that Smoaky?"
"Thea, I need you to put the phone down now."
"But, this was your ide-"
"Just do it now please!" Felicity pleaded.
Still confused Thea lowered the phone from her ear and set it down on the counter. "Felicity what's wrong?" She asked but Felicity ignored her and turned her eyes back to the TV. As Thea walked over to join her she followed Felicity's gaze and the same fear that Felicity felt began to rise up in her as well, "What the- is that, who I think it-"
"Mhm," Felicity replied through pursed lips.
"Oh my god Felicity, is this real?"
"Looks real enough to me," Felicity responded with dread in her voice.
"Wha-what are we gonna do?" Thea inquired.
The two women turned there heads and stared at each other, "Thea, I have no idea."
A/N-Hello everyone, I'm so glad to be posting this new chapter. I'm sorry that it took so long, I've been so busy lately that most days I just come home and pass out early. I'm going to try to write more often though and may even have another story idea or two floating around in my head that I might start toying with soon. A quick heads up, I'll probably end up changing this story's rating to M in the coming chapters because the violence will be more prevalent. There will not be anything too bloody and no gore. Nothing inappropriate, I'm just changing the rating to be safe. Also, if you're trying to picture Thea and Oliver's apartment I drew inspiration from Laurel's apartment in the show, I know I don't always give the best descriptions haha. Thanks again to all my readers, you're continued support is very much appreciated!