In The Distance

Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here and this takes place after 'Cold? Nah!'. I'm kinda tempted to turn these particular chapters into its own little fic.

Summary: While Oliver had some quirks that were easy to deal with, some of those like the times he would seemingly stare off into the distance with his eyes glazed over were among the more harder to deal with.

While Oliver's friends and family had come to learn of the quirks that became a part of him after his return from the island of Lian Yu. A few that they even actually liked like his Chili for example, there was one main quirk none of them cared much for as they didn't have any real clue as to how to help him. Aside from Diggle thanks to his time in the Army. It made Moira honestly prefer the theory about his having nerve damage that allowed him to withstand the cold temperatures. The quirk in question being the times he would end up seemingly stare off into the distance, his eyes glazed over, lost in a flashback of some kind. Flashbacks from presumably his time on the island. Something Thea wasn't sure of why they would be so bad for him. Which made a few think she was possibly in denial about the fact he had clearly been tortured there due to some of the scars that had been seen on him. Thea had also learned the hard way to never touch her brother when he was having one of those moments.

As the first time, she'd ended up slammed on her back rather hard, his hand firmly gripping her throat with a cold look in his eyes. "Who are you!?" Growled out her big brother dangerously.

"Wha? Ollie! Its, its me! Thea!"

"Liar! My sister's a 12 year old girl! Did Waller send you!? Or was it Fyers!? ANSWER ME!"

Tears were coming out of the terrified girl's eyes as she tried to get him to see that she truly is Thea. Many at the event were quite horrified by what they were witnessing. Walter, their mother, and Tommy's attempts to get him to stop weren't doing anything until Mr. Diggle and Detective Lance had been able to force Oliver off of her much to her relief. Dragging him away as he kicked and screamed in an attempt to get free. Moira and Walter held the crying Thea tightly to them while Laurel could only stand and watch in utter horror. She had noticed how her ex had been just standing where he was, looking at something. Likely a pretty girl with how his eyes were glazed over but never in a million years did she have a clue as to what was going on. Something she'd confess to her father later that night. "I… I just don't understand daddy. Ollie's never been a violent person."

"You said you saw him just standin' where he was, right? Eyes glazed over while lookin' at somethin'?"

"Yeah?"

"That's… Sweetheart, the punk's got a bad case of PTSD. I've seen it with men on the Force who've been around a long time."

Laurel looked at him in surprise over that. "But I've seen those with PTSD before and they never looked or acted like that!"

Lance sighed as he looked to his eldest and remaining daughter. "Sweetie, you've only ever dealt with those who've got a smaller case of it. Those who haven't clearly gone through whatever Hell he did. Hell that includes those scars I've read about. And I can tell you for a certainty that those are NOT self inflicted."

"Shouldn't he be in therapy then? Or a Ward for his and everyone else's safety?" Laurel asked in concern as while she still didn't have a great amount of love for him, she didn't want to see him accidentally do something to someone he cared about and would regret doing for the rest of his life.

A snort came from her dad. "I'd be all for that but I'm guessin' Moira doesn't want to do that cause then it'd be admittin' her baby boy has a problem." Said the man with a sneer.

"Daddy!"

"Hey, I call 'em like I see 'em."

Laurel shook her head, knowing arguing with him wasn't going to do much good where Ollie is concerned. Nobody would see or hear from Oliver for three days after that incident and when they finally did, it led to a rather tearful reunion between himself and Thea. Who didn't even give a crap if he was soaking wet. She told him she refused to be frightened of him, as he was her big brother. As being frightened of him was basically like rejecting him in her view and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Hearing all that had helped out Oliver more then she knew, even if he was still greatly frightened of hurting her like that again. Though she would make certain to never touch him and thought that saying anything wouldn't be a good idea either. The whole thing would also force Moira to see that trying to get him to join the company would not be a good move.

As he was not ready for such a thing and any attempts to try and get him to see a therapist didn't go well. As Oliver stubbornly felt he was just fine on his own. There would also be occasions when he would stare off into the distance with that glazed look in his eyes where he would be heard muttering in Russian or Mandarin as Walter helpfully explained. Even having whole conversations with unseen people he must have known in those two languages and as well as English. A lot of those conversations weren't ones any of his friends and family liked either considering how horrible and heartbreaking they tended to sound. They also hated the occasions when his moments had him acting out entire scenes from horrible moments in his time away. Tommy and Lance even had the misfortune to be forced into one or two of those moments as Oliver wouldn't be able to recognize them at the time due to how into his flashback scene re-enactments he was. But regardless, everyone would be there for him no matter what.