A/N: So, not to say that none of these chapters will be long, but for now - Oliver's story is so entwined with Felicity's, there's really not a ton of time by himself. In case you were wondering why this is short(er). But anyway - here's a little glimpse into Oliver...and Thea! Yay.

Oliver's mind never strayed too far from Felicity. Even before her diagnosis that much was true, but now with it on the tip of everyone's tongue, he felt like he at least had solid reasoning for it. Which is why even now, when he knew she was with the more-than-capable Detective Lance, he still found himself wondering what she was doing and what they were talking about and what if she told Lance things that she would have told him, had he been there?

Never mind the fact that Felicity herself had kicked him out of her apartment, claiming that she wanted this Wednesday morning to be coffee with her and Lance like always. She hadn't felt up for going out, having been home for only a few days and still settling back into her life, trying to figure out what kind of life she even had when she wasn't always at Queen Consolidated, but the good detective had stopped and showed up at her doorstep at 9am with two brightly colored cardboard to-go cups, and Oliver had promptly been shoved out the door.

He had some errands to run anyway, so he wasn't too put out with his hasty exit from the apartment, despite putting up a pretty big fight to her anyways, but that was mostly to see her smile. He was going to go grocery shopping as step one in his grand plan to introduce Felicity to life outside of her apartment. They were going to do a dinner at her place the following night, and if nothing went wrong, she'd try coming in to the Foundry that weekend. Fridays and Saturdays were some of the busiest nights for his side business, and he could tell she was getting a little restless in her own little bubble. He thought it'd be good for her to go out and be part of the world, but he also knew that she was feeling nervous at the prospect. For all of her restlessness, Felicity had yet to mention leaving her apartment, almost as if she felt like she couldn't.

Oliver, after some coercion by Dig and Roy, decided to do a dinner for her. A group dinner away from the hospital and away from treatments and away from everything. If that didn't get her feeling happier and more self-assured, he wasn't sure what would.

But to do that, there was one person he needed to see first.

"Busy?" He asked, poking his head around the corner.

"Hey, stranger!" An easy smile spread across Thea's face and Oliver knew that an answering one was on his own face whether he liked it or not. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see you."

Thea had stopped going through her closet when Oliver walked in but immediately resumed her previous activity, throwing dresses into a pile on the floor. He didn't know what kind of organizational system she had, but he assumed it was beyond his basic fashion sense.

"To what do I owe the honor?" Her back was to him and if he hadn't become so good at reading people, he might have missed the tension that was coursing through her small frame.

"I know I haven't been around much…"

"I saw you last week," she tossed over her shoulder. "When you were packing a bag."

"Still," he pressed. "I've been feeling bad."

"I get it, Ollie, trust me. No need to feel bad. At all. Mom and I can manage on our own, you don't need to come check up on me."

"You could always come visit me."

There was no mistaking the distinct pause Thea had before almost furiously resuming her search through her closet, slamming hangers to the side, ripping dresses off them and throwing them into the growing pile.

"Yeah, the club's just so busy lately and we got a new DJ and it's just been a huge mess. I'll make sure to come by once everything has cooled off, you know?"

"You haven't seen her since I told you she was sick."

He didn't know what was going on with Thea, but he was determined to find out. He might have believed that she was busy for the first few days but he knew that she could have made time in her schedule to stop by for a brief visit if nothing else. Not only that, but Roy felt as if she was blowing Felicity off deliberately every time he invited her to accompany him to the hospital.

Thea and Felicity weren't close, not like Sara and Felicity were, but they had shared a camaraderie and an easy friendship, the foundation being built upon how much of a pain in the ass it was to deal with him. He knew they did lunch together and he would occasionally do a dinner with both of them, pretending to be frustrated when they ganged up on him but secretly enjoying seeing two of his favorite people get along so well. Knowing this was why he couldn't fathom why Thea had been going out of her way to not check in on Felicity. He had seen the tears in her eyes when he told her about the cancer. He knew she was shaken, but he didn't know why that was keeping her away, especially when it was obvious that this meant a lot to him.

"I will." The promise rung empty in Oliver's ears.

"We're doing a dinner at her place tomorrow. I'll see you there then."

"Tomorrow? I don't know, Thursdays are kind of when the club picks up-"

"It's at 6. More than enough time to get to the club after."

"Ollie, I just don't know if I'll have time-"

"She wants to see you, Thea." Oliver gave up trying to be obtuse but kept his voice deliberately soft. "What's going on with you? Why won't you come see her?"

"I've been busy." She turned around but wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Bullshit." That had gotten her attention. "You've had weeks to come see her, Roy says that you barely show an interest when he invites you-"

"You talked to Roy about me?"

"Roy thinks you're blowing her off intentionally and I said that there was no way my baby sister would do something like that to someone she cares about! So I'll ask you again, Speedy: what is going on with you?"

Her mouth opened and closed but words refused to flow out.

"Whatever it is, Thea, you can tell me."

"She's going to think I hate her," she got out, her voice timid and weak. "I don't, Ollie. I promise."

"No one thinks you hate her. I can promise you that. But you've got to tell me what's going on in that head of yours; I'm not a mind reader."

Suddenly, whatever barriers she had constructed to keep her emotions at bay for the last few weeks collapsed, and Oliver watched as his little sister visibly sagged in front of him.

"I just - I don't know what to do or say, Ollie! And I don't hate her but I'm just so stupid and scared and nothing like this has ever happened before and I don't know what to say or do and I feel so bad that she's going through this…" Tears streamed down her face and she wiped them away hastily. "And you're scared too and I don't know how to be there for either one of you and I feel so useless and horrible-"

"Okay, okay, okay," Oliver soothed as he gathered her in his arms, her hands clutching him tightly. "It's okay. You're not useless or horrible, Speedy. It's okay to be scared. We're all scared, you're right. Felicity's scared, I'm scared, Roy's scared. I don't even remember what it's like to not be afraid anymore," he confessed in a rare bout of honesty. "But pushing her away, pushing me away, it isn't going to help anyone. You can't just push people away because you're afraid you'll lose them."

As soon as he spoke the words he felt like the world's biggest hypocrite. Hadn't that been exactly what he was doing to Felicity ever since he met her? He kept her at arm's length to guarantee that he didn't get too close. That she didn't get too close. He didn't have any guarantees, any promises that neither one of them would leave before their time. If anything, this whole ordeal had reminded him that it wasn't always just the danger you know that was the threat. In this case it was the danger that had no face, a danger that had no way of being put down by him.

"Is she mad?" Thea's voice interrupted his erratic thought process, and for a moment he was struck by how many memories just that simple phrase and the sound of her voice brought back. It was slightly muffled from her face pushed into his chest and tears clogging her throat, and he was instantly taken back to when she'd run to him after she had gotten yelled at by their parents. He'd hug her and reassure her that they weren't mad at her, just disappointed, the typical parent trope, and that most importantly, he wasn't mad at her either.

"She's not mad. No one is mad. But I think she misses you." Thea pulled back, her face questioning. "She's only had me, Dig, Roy, and Detective Lance these past few weeks. I think a female presence would be appreciated."

"That's a lot of testosterone," she agreed.

"I'm not mad at you either, Thea." She tried to look away but he kept her eyes trained on his. "I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't tell me about this though. I know I haven't been here lately but I will always talk to you. Always."

"I know. I do. And I didn't - I don't…" She shrugged. "Is she okay?"

Oliver nodded, letting her off the hook momentarily.

"She is okay. She looks good. She actually looks healthy, which I think is throwing everyone off. I think it'd be good for you to see how well she's doing. This isn't going to keep her down for long, Speedy. So what do you say to dinner tomorrow?"

"Okay. I'll come. What do I wear?"

"I have no idea how you ever find anything to wear in this place," he drawled, taking in the huge pile of clothes on the floor and the overflowing drawers and hangers that surrounded them. "Is this you organizing, or…?"

"Get out," she laughed, half-heartedly shoving him towards the door of her walk-in. He paused before he left her though, debating the merit of his next sentence before deciding to bite the bullet.

"You know, if you don't think you can talk to me...you can always talk to Roy, if you feel the need. He wants to be there for you if you'd let him."

Thea felt her jaw drop. "Are you feeling okay? I just never thought I'd hear those words come out of your mouth, suggesting that I talk to Roy."

"I'm trying to remind myself that people need to talk to someone other than me at times."

"Oh yeah? How's that working out for you?"

Oliver glanced at his watch. "I've got three more hours before I can interrupt Felicity and Lance with some sort of excuse. Wanna get brunch?"

"Sure." Thea dropped the dress in her hands where she stood. "I guess my organizing can wait."

"Organizing? It looks like a bomb went off in there," Oliver joked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, leading her downstairs.

"You're just mad because you don't understand my system."

"If you can call throwing everything everywhere a system…"