Chapter 2: Movie Night
"When is the last time we sat down and just watched a movie?" Thea asked pleasantly, pulling a fluffy crème colored blanket from the back of the couch and tucking it securely on one side before holding the other side up offering Oliver to join.
Oliver gave a slight shake of his head to decline the blanket and Thea proceeded to drop the remainder next to her. "I'm glad you had the time for me," Oliver said in a serious tone at odds with the gentle smile he directed towards his sister.
Thea scrunched her forehead as she met Oliver's gaze, tilting her head to the side in an unspoken question. Oliver quickly dropped his gaze as he settled onto the couch next to Thea. Seeming to realize she wasn't going to be getting any additional answer to her unspoken question, Thea said casually, "Always!" and then pulled up Hitchcock's "Rear Window" on her and Laurel's TV. Upbeat orchestral music played from the television set as the camera began to slowly pan over the comfortably set brick buildings and up to a dozing Jimmy Stewart.
Oliver did his best to be present as the movie played on in the comfortable living room, but he was finding it a challenge. While he had balked at disclosing it when asked by Felicity, there was no doubt that the horrors of Earth 42 were hanging deeply on Oliver. His conversation with Felicity just made it clear that he wasn't hiding it well and that it was obvious to his entire team. Felicity was worried. Thea was … maybe annoyed? With how Oliver had been treating her with kid gloves. And even Diggle and Laurel had taken a stand against leaving Thea out of patrolling the night before.
After finishing her slice of pizza, Thea placed her plate on the coffee table and readjusted her seat to position herself closer to her big brother, dropping her head on his shoulder. Oliver lifted his arm over his sister's shoulder. The nearness of a very much alive and well Thea was causing an ache in Oliver's chest and Oliver found himself having to coach himself to keep from spiraling. Breathe in. Breathe out. Remember what Tommy had said. "Hold her. Cherish her. Protect her." Oliver's breath stuttered as memories of the articles chronicling Earth 42's Thea's abuse hanging on the wall of Tommy's workroom appeared unbidden in his mind.
She was twelve. She had been just twelve years old when the abuse started. Oliver remembered Thea at twelve. That Thea, the Thea he left behind when he boarded the Queen's Gambit, was every bit as fixed in his brain as the grown Thea snuggled into his side. Thea, with her little dimples, her hair perennially pulled back into a ponytail or braid because she was always outside on her horse or exploring the family's woods. The way she always used to huff, "OL-LIE!" in two distinctive syllables when he teased her. The way she loved drama class and hated the group of boys who always made fun of her when she got good grades because they said she was being stuck-up. She was a kid. Just a little kid. And no one protected her.
Since returning from Earth 42, Oliver kept replaying a conversation he had once had with Walter Steele soon after Oliver's return from Lian Yu. Walter was well aware that Oliver felt Walter had dishonored Robert Queen's memory by pursuing Moira so soon after the Gambit and so had attempted to clarify his relationship's timeline.
2012, Queen Manor
"I know you are not particularly fond of me." Walter noted in his typical straight-forward manner.
Oliver scoffed. "I wouldn't say that."
"You are displeased by my relationship with your mother."
"You were my father's best friend. It seems to me in poor taste to pursue a woman when her husband's body has barely cooled in the sea, particularly when you professed to care about him."
Walter paused, then nodded, releasing a brief sigh. "I did care for your father, Oliver. Very much. He was one of my dearest friends. I certainly did not make any designs for your mother for some time."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"If I thought you cared enough to, I would advise you to speak with anyone who was present during our courtship."
"Well, you are right about one thing. I don't think that I really care all that much."
"Understandably so. For what it is worth, it was well after a year following your father's passing before I saw more than brief moments of your mother. I was in charge of Queen Enterprises and during the entirety of that first year, your mother only briefly corresponded through email when there were business needs which demanded it."
"I am sure." Oliver responded petulantly.
"I became reinvolved with your family through no plan of my own. A member of your family's manor staff sought me out to express concerns that a teacher was behaving inappropriately with your sister. When I attempted to direct them back to your mother I discovered Moira was in no state to address their concerns. Upon confirming their concerns were founded and handling it, I made a point of attempting to draw your mother into more business dealings to get her reengaged with the world. A romantic connection began naturally as we spent more time together."
Oliver had been unimpressed with Walter's defense at the time and, wrapped in his own pain and vendetta as he had been, Oliver had never given thought to Walter's statement that Walter had handled a teacher behaving inappropriately with Thea. How had he never stopped to think about what that meant? Oliver would love to excuse himself by imagining that he had just thought Walter had meant a teacher giving Thea poor grades or picking on her in class, but the truth was Oliver didn't think he had given the story even a moment's thought.
Oliver's blood turned cold again. Twelve years old. Twelve when the Gambit went down. Earth 42 Tommy said that Tommy's Thea had been groomed and in a sexual relationship with her teacher from the age of twelve. Walter said that it was over a year after the sinking of the Queen's Gambit when he made a concerted effort to have Moira rejoin society, following his handling of an inappropriate teacher. Could Thea - not just Earth 42 Thea, but his Thea – have been abused?
Movie long since forgotten, Oliver peered down to inspect the top of Thea's head leaned against his shoulder. Thea had said often in the first year that Oliver returned from Lian Yu that a lot had changed in the five years that Oliver was gone. That she had changed. That just as he had secrets, so did she.
Oliver had always read into this the obvious. Thea had grown up, from a twelve-year-old child to a seventeen-year-old young woman. She seemed sharper, quicker to anger and offense, nothing Oliver had considered abnormal for a teenager. She experimented with drugs and sex and alcohol, but so had Oliver when he was her age.
But what if that wasn't what she had meant? Surely she had meant only that she had suffered in his and his father's absence, grieving and finding ways to parent her shut-in mother. But had she also meant-?
Mind made up, Oliver pulled his arm back from his sister and sat upright, forcing Thea to shift her weight away to sit on her own. "Ollie?" Thea asked confused. Thea pulled her legs up and crossed them on the sofa, turning to look Oliver full in the face. She reached a gentle hand out to rest on his arm. "Are you okay? What's going on?"
Oliver closed his eyes, took a long breath in, and released it. He opened his eyes and met Thea's concerned gaze.
"Everyone has been asking me about what happened on Earth 42." Oliver stated seriously. When Oliver paused and seemed like he was struggling to continue, Thea nodded encouragingly.
"It's hard for me to talk about." Oliver started again. He caught Thea's gaze and gave her a funny little upturned half smile. "I saw Tommy." Thea's eyes widened. "You and he knew you were siblings there. He loved you, very dearly." Thea's eyes began to sparkle with emotion.
"But Tommy was lost, Thea. He was planning the Undertaking, not Malcolm. I convinced him to stop." Thea gasped and covered her mouth in horror.
"I don't understand. Tommy would never-" Thea started when Oliver raised a hand to stop her.
"He wasn't our Tommy, Thea. None of them were ours. Everything was so much like our world here, but … it wasn't."
Thea nodded quickly, "I get that, but I'm not sure I can imagine a world where Tommy could ever become like Malcolm. What could possibly have happened for him to want to do that?"
Oliver closed his eyes. Flashing through his mind, the horrific narratives of child sex trafficking from Earth 42 Thea's diary, the unbelievable quotes from the trial printed in the papers. The forensic photos of Thea's body tucked into her bed on the morning of her eighteenth birthday. Oliver could feel his throat burn with emotion. "Ollie?" Thea's concerned voice prompted. Eyes still closed, Oliver began to slowly shake his head. It was now or never.
Eyes reopened and desperately met Thea's worried ones. "It was you, Thea. Or … it was his Thea." Thea shook her head to show her confusion.
Oliver couldn't meet her gaze and looked at the wall over Thea's shoulder. He began to relay slowly, brokenly, "The Thea from that world, she … she was abused, horrifically, by a teacher. She spoke up, took him to trial. She was trying to protect another kid. The tabloids got involved and hounded her relentlessly." A broken pause while he gathered his memories. "She did it, got him imprisoned, but. She … she couldn't live with it. She killed herself." Oliver's eyes darted quickly to inspect Thea's reaction and found his sister impossibly pale. "Tommy, he … he couldn't deal with the guilt. The guilt that the abuse had gone on for so long and he hadn't protected her. That he hadn't stopped the paparazzi from hurting her more. That he hadn't made sure she was okay."
"My god," Thea whispered into the long silence. "I …"
"The thing is," Oliver resumed quietly, steadily, "that in trial, that world's Thea said her abuse started when she was twelve. After the Gambit went down." He paused and looked at her, his eyes soft and watering. "And I remembered … Walter, he once said … He once told me that a member of our staff had asked him for help for you. That a teacher was behaving … inappropriately … towards you. Walter said he 'handled it'."
Thea's eyes were wide as they met Oliver's. The silence was so deep it felt like neither were breathing. Thea finally managed to whisper, "What are you asking me?"
Oliver could read the panic in her eyes and his heartbeat felt as though it would pound out of his chest. His mouth felt dry. What he meant to come out in a normal tone came out as hushed as a whisper. "Thea-" Oliver licked his lips, trying to find some moisture to make his words clear. "What happened to that Thea … were you… did a teacher … hurt you?"
It was as if a gate came crashing down, the change in Thea's face was so abrupt. Thea stood up quickly, the blanket falling to the ground. "I'm grabbing something to drink. Do you want something?"
Oliver was floored by Thea's change of demeanor. "What? Thea, I-?"
Thea strode purposefully into the kitchen, wrenched open the refrigerator door, and began to quickly list off the drinks available.
Oliver turned to look over the back of the couch at Thea in the kitchen. "No! Thea, I don't want anything."
"Okay, but you can't change your mind and ask me once I'm sitting down," Thea ordered seriously, face still buried in the refrigerator. Oliver stared on in shock and tracked her trip back to the couch in confusion and concern. Once seated, Thea grabbed the remote and turned the sound up several points.
"Thea-" Oliver started.
"Don't ask me again." Thea bit out, her gaze locked on the TV like her life depended upon it.
"Thea, I'm worried about you." Oliver said softly, his voice low and thick with emotion. "I've been absolutely sick over this. Please, talk to me."
Thea offered no response. Her body appeared stiff and unrelaxed as she continued to stare at the TV. She looked like the slightest noise would send her flying into the air like a swing twisted in one direction as far as it could wind.
Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart began to argue on the screen. The two siblings sat in silence watching but not really watching. Every minute felt interminable. Then the sound of a key in the apartment lock.
"Hey Ollie! Hey Thea." Laurel said brightly carrying in a stack of books and a loaded briefcase from the office. "Oo, pizza," she said happily, failing to sense the tension between the Queen siblings. Laurel dropped her bag onto the floor and her pile onto the counter and in a smooth movement had a slice of pizza in one hand held over a plate in the other. Looking at the television she said, "Oh, Rear Window. Good choice."
Laurel's entrance seemed to shake Oliver from his stupor and he stood up abruptly. "You know what, I should be heading back to Felicity. I didn't realize it had gotten so late." Oliver paused and glanced down at Thea who had still failed to move or direct her glance away from the TV. Oliver said softly, "Goodnight, Thea." He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her hair. "I love you." Thea didn't acknowledge him. Oliver's shoulders slumped and he made his way past Laurel who was beginning to realize something wasn't quite right. "Goodnight, Laurel," Oliver said politely.
"'Night Ollie," Laurel said softly as Oliver was already halfway through the apartment door. Once it had closed, Laurel took a step towards the couch. "Thea?" Laurel said trying to rouse her roommate's attention. "What was that?"
The earlier tension had left Thea's body but her only response to Laurel's question was to shrug without turning from the screen.
"Thea." Laurel stated more pointedly, making her way to sit on the couch next to Thea with her body facing Thea. "What's going on?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Thea groused, sounding cross.
Laurel looked every bit as determined to get answers as Thea was to avoid them. "Are you and Oliver fighting?"
"No! It's fine." Thea stated heatedly.
Laurel's eyes narrowed, trying to guess at the nature of Thea and Oliver's argument. "Did he talk with you about Earth 42? He hasn't been himself since getting back," Laurel noted.
"In a manner of speaking," Thea admitted darkly.
Laurel seemed eager for the first details about Oliver's time away. "What did he say about it?"
"Just that it turned him into a paranoid know-it-all hypocrite who feels the need to stick his nose into other people's business when he won't even share his own." Thea said bitterly.
Laurel looked bewildered by Thea's peculiar response. "Thea, I have no idea what that means."
Thea darted a glance over at Laurel, then returned to stare at her hands clutching the blanket in her lap. "It means that the Thea on that world was abused and so Ollie has decided that that means something must have happened to me too."
Laurel could have sworn her heart stopped for a moment. Laurel tried to catch Thea's gaze, but it was firmly affixed on her lap. "Thea…" Laurel began slowly. "Did something happen to you?"
"It wouldn't matter if it did," Thea muttered softly. "It was a long time ago."
Laurel recognized the openings of a confession, something common in her line of work. But a confession with a client felt nothing like being on the other end of a disclosure from a friend. Laurel took a deep breath and said calmly, "Of course it matters, Thea. You matter. What happens to you - if something hurts you, even if it was a long time ago, that matters."
The room was silent. Then Thea whispered, "Sometimes I like to pretend it didn't happen. It was easier to do when no one knew."
Laurel let out a sympathetic hum. "Thea, can you tell me?"
"You can't tell Ollie," Thea said seriously. "I really think it would kill him." Laurel nodded seriously, understanding the trust Thea was placing in her.
"I've never told anyone this. Anyone." Thea whispered. Laurel stayed quiet, giving Thea the space to share.
"When Dad and Ollie … when the Gambit sank … mom was okay for a little while. There was paperwork to do, funerals to arrange, things to sign. After all that was done and the visitors were gone, mom just stopped. She wouldn't get dressed, she barely left her room. Raisa and I would try to coax her to eat. I went from having two loving parents and a big brother to having no one at home." Laurel could feel herself being pulled into memories of her own tumultuous household after the Gambit and their loss of Sara. Laurel could only imagine what that felt like to a young Thea.
"School wasn't any better. I thought I had friends, but it turns out that 6th graders aren't great at dealing with death. When I didn't want to goof off like I used to or when I wanted to talk about the crap happening at home, my so-called 'friends' stopped wanting to be around me. I started eating my lunch in the school bathroom." Thea took a long pause as she drew in a deep breath. "That's when he showed up." Laurel felt a chill go through her body at the way Thea said "he" and a pit formed in her stomach.
"He was a teacher, one I had never had in class. He found me in the bathroom. Told me he had lost his dad when he was my age and he understood what I was going through. Told me that the next time I decided to not eat in the cafeteria, to eat in his classroom with him instead. So I did. And it was really nice for awhile. He was the only person who listened to me. And he, like, really listened. He didn't think what I had to say was stupid and he acted like my thoughts were important." Laurel nodded slowly, showing she understood.
"Then one day he kissed me. Like. Really kissed me. You know, like with tongue and groping and everything. And I was shocked and I didn't know what to do, I just froze. He pulled away and apologized over and over. Told me it was an accident, it would never happen again. So I stayed. And things went back to normal. I didn't tell anyone. God, who would I have even told, my mother? She couldn't even speak a full sentence to me." Laurel's heart broke for Thea.
Thea's voice broke. "I should have told someone then, but I swear, I didn't know what would happen. A few weeks later he starts talking to me about how the kiss wasn't a mistake, because I had the 'soul of a woman' and he connected with me like he never had with anyone else before. He told me he was falling in love with me, and he had thought that our kiss was wrong before, but it wasn't actually wrong because we were connected. And then … then he…." Laurel reached out and grabbed Thea's hand, offering silent support as tears fell from Thea's eyes.
"He told me he knew I wanted it too. That we were in love. That if anyone knew, they would tear us apart and they would hate me, and then where would I be? Because no one cared for me like he did." Thea was quiet for a moment. "And he was right. I hated it so much, but I also couldn't stand the thought of losing the only person who wanted me. Like, if that was the price to pay for someone to care about me …" Thea trailed off.
"Thea," Laurel said, breaking the silence. "How old were you?"
"I was twelve," Thea whispered.
"When did it stop?" Laurel asked, gently rubbing circles on Thea's hands clasped in Laurel's with her thumb.
Thea shrugged helplessly. "One day I showed up for school and he was just … gone. Without a trace. No one would tell us where he went." Thea closed her eyes and sighed softly. "Just now Ollie told me that Walter got involved. That someone told him that they were worried about me and he just … handled it."
"Thank god," Laurel whispered softly.
"Yeah, I really need to thank him," Thea mused hollowly, lapsing into thoughtful silence. She cleared her throat and continued. "Ollie said … that on Earth 42 no one ever stopped it. And it screwed that me up so much that I – she – killed herself." Laurel's eyes closed as she felt the weight of Thea's meaning. "Ollie could barely talk about it. The Tommy on that earth was so upset he was going to cause the Undertaking. That's why that earth's Laurel brought Ollie there, to get Ollie to stop Tommy."
The two women fell into silence. Laurel rubbed Thea's hand to draw her attention and this time Thea raised her eyes to meet Laurel's. "Thea … thank you. For telling me. Trusting me." Laurel gave Thea a gentle smile. "I know how hard that was for you and I am so proud of you for the incredible woman you have grown into in spite of everything you have survived."
Thea's eyes filled and Laurel felt her heart break at the sight. Laurel quickly drew Thea into a hug and Thea's shoulders began to shake as one sob disintegrated into almost hysterical, heart-broken tears into Laurel's shoulder. Laurel felt her own eyes fill and then tears drip down her cheeks as she held on to Thea tightly as she cried. Laurel whispered, over and over, fighting to keep her voice from breaking "I am so proud of you. I am so proud of you."