A.N.: Since picking this story up I've had to revise it's length several times, and now I see it'll likely extend (once again) bit more than originally estimated. I do still plan to stick to Tuesday/Friday updates; it's just likely we'll run well into January.

As for this chapter - I seem to have switched around the timeline of Thea's breakup and the courthouse attack, but let's just say that the events have been in a tossup since the start and the story while featuring canon events for the end of S02 will shift and bend around them.

Enjoy :)

27. Girl talk

"I still think we should have gone with something other than beige," Thea grumbled and ravenously bit into her hotdog.

"Like hot pink?" Laurel smirked, fishing for tissues in her bag. She had already wolfed down her meal.

The refurbishing of their garage was in full swing. Walls had been reinforced with sound isolation; new floors were halfway done. Windows were yet to be changed and painting finalized. They'd even had the plumbing upgraded and electricity rewired. As Mrs. Martinez wasn't charging rent, Laurel was more than happy to upgrade the space.

"Well, red. Green. Blue. Black, anything," Thea shot back once her mouth was mostly empty.

"This way it'll still look like half-way a garage if anyone pokes their head in."

Thea wrinkled her nose, "It's boring."

Laurel was about to say something back when she noticed someone near the back entrance to the club, "Is that woman waving at us?"

The walk between their garage and Verdant with a stop at the hotdog stand was now a routine. But this was the first time someone tried to flag them down upon return. Thea shrugged, "We open after eight, sorry," she called forward, raising her voice.

Felicity winced, pulled her coat closer around herself and walked towards them. "I'm not interested in the club, Miss Queen," she said.

Now that they were face to face, Laurel frowned between Thea and the unknown woman, "And you're interested in…?"

"You, actually," Felicity shot back. Winced, and nervously pushed her glasses up her nose. "This is going to be awkward."

"More awkward?" Thea quipped and took a tissue from Laurel to clean her mouth from hotdog leftovers.

"Oh, yeah," Felicity gave a strained smile. "I know who you both are. And I know what you did," and inwardly she winced. "I'm not trying to threaten you!" she hurriedly added when she saw the change on Laurel's face. "My name is Felicity. Felicity Smoak and I'm the IT girl at Queen Consolidated, well, I used to be and ... I'm explaining this really badly."

"Okay," Laurel sighed – for a moment when Felicity said she knew what they had done, Laurel's mind had flashed back to Chile. "How about we go inside and try to start from the beginning, Felicity Smoak," she suggested. "Starting with – how do you know us?"

Thea exchanged a glance with Laurel – a shared suspicion passing between them before she moved to unlock the back door. "Yeah, let's go. I have a strong feeling I might want something to wash down whatever you're here to say."

Felicity winced again and shuffled in after them. After all they had no idea, she had her own keys. As they all perched on the bar stools around the bar island, Felicity tried to start again, "So I used to work in IT at Queen Consolidated and then I was promoted to executive assistant and it's still pretty ordinary, except sometimes as I help my boss, I get more unusual requests… Oh, this sounds so bad."

It had been weeks since Laurel and Thea returned. Even longer since the whole thing had started for her, and Felicity could no longer keep it inside. It felt wrong to know something about Laurel that Laurel didn't know she knew. In fact, it felt dirty. She felt like a voyeur, especially since she had ended up telling a whole slew of people about what she knew. She felt like the least she could do was tell Laurel herself.

But wanting to do it, hadn't really been much of a plan. It had taken a while for her to figure out her story without revealing any of Oliver's or Sara's secrets. And by now Laurel's and Thea's appearances at Verdant were regular enough that she just needed to time her exit and return carefully to accidentally run across them.

"Unusual how?" there was an incredulous note in Thea's voice.

"Not like that!" Felicity startled. "Like… There was a …. A few weeks ago, Laurel went missing. Or, well, I was told she was missing."

"By who?" Laurel demanded.

Felicity bit her lip. She hated to throw Oliver under the bus, but without mentioning him at all her story had no substance. "Well… Oliver was worried about you, and he wanted to know if I could find you as his executive assistant and… someone quite good with computers."

"Spying?" Thea spat, her annoyance at her brother at a new high.

"Continue," Laurel in turn felt like she knew exactly where this was going. Oliver always did as Oliver wanted.

"Well, not spying, more like… being concerned. Anyway, I found you," Felicity glossed over all the details about how difficult it had been and how many systems she had had to break into. "On a bridge."

Laurel closed her eyes, sagging in her chair.

Thea was confused. "Wait…" and then it clicked. "Was that?" but Laurel's posture told her everything. "Fuck," and then, "And you told Oliver?"

Felicity was full of apology, but Laurel wasn't even looking at her, "Well, to tell the truth by the time Oliver reached back out to me, he had heard from you," she motioned at Thea.

Laurel looked up, "So he doesn't know?"

"He knows," Felicity's voice was quiet. "I'm sorry, he knows. John told him."

"Who is John?" Laurel asked frowning.

"Oliver's bodyguard," Felicity replied cautiously.

"What the fuck," Thea cursed. "So – you know, this John knows, Oliver knows…"

For crying out loud… Being confronted with the fact that somebody else knew what she had attempted all those weeks ago had been terrifying. But as moments passed – Laurel realized that that feeling also passed. She wasn't entirely at peace with what had happened, but she was nowhere near that place. That bridge. To tell the truth, the person standing there was almost a stranger to her now. She sighed.

"Did you also post it in the newspaper?" Laurel couldn't keep sharpness entirely from her voice. She felt like a puppy whose nose is rubbed in the mess she'd made. She wished she didn't feel ashamed of that night but wishing didn't make it true. Not yet anyway.

"No, no, I'm sorry, I know… It's a horrible invasion of privacy, but… There's really no 'but'¸ not an actual butt, but you know the word 'but', to excuse it, but…"

Watching the other woman blunder through her confession made something melt in Laurel. "What's the butt in this then, Felicity?" there was a hint of amusement to her tone. Because as terror and shame wound down Laurel could face the fact that she was being told at all.

"I don't want you to die," Felicity blurted out. "Nobody wants that! You're Laurel." Felicity paused and with less enthusiasm and more raw pain said, "I was asked to find you, because Oliver was worried about you and when I did… I didn't know what to do. And I was afraid if I did nothing, that that would be even worse."

Neither Laurel nor Thea really had anything to say to that. Thea looked to Laurel as this seemed more her judgement call, but… It was increasingly uncomfortable to watch Felicity squirm in her self-flagellation.

Felicity bit her lip as she averted her gaze to the floor. "None of it excuses any of it, and I'm here if you want to – I don't know. Do whatever. I'm guilty. I'm sorry. Please don't die and I'll never do that again."

"Did you tell anyone else?" Laurel finally got past the air that seemed stuck in her throat to ask.

Felicity winced and they all knew the answer before Felicity said, "Yes." She looked back up at Laurel as she confessed, "Your sister, Sara, was in the room too."

Oh. Laurel felt like a bag of bones on the chair. Well, Felicity's confession certainly explained Sara's attempts at reaching out. Oh, God, our mother… She wondered how much Sara had told their mother to get Dinah to come to Starling and pester Laurel. I hope she didn't tell dad. It also explained Oliver… "When did Oliver find out?"

"Recently," Felicity promptly supplied.

Laurel nodded. It explained Oliver's reaction the last time she'd seen him. God, if that's because… She hadn't wanted that. None of it. She didn't want to pity herself; she did not want to feel guilt for the fallout. Yet she could already feel it gnawing at her.

Laurel found she couldn't contemplate the enormity of what Felicity had said so she turned her attention to Felicity herself. "So, you're Oliver's assistant. He made you find me," those were facts. "You did and now apparently everybody knows…," that I tried to kill myself. She tried to say it out loud, but it wouldn't come. Not yet. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked instead. "I would never have known if you hadn't told me, and you don't owe me anything."

Felicity winced as if slapped. "But I do. I…, "and this was the part she hadn't rehearsed, because it still felt like a cut that went too deeply, "I used to have a friend. I didn't find him when he needed me. And I couldn't help. So… I couldn't do nothing now. And I might have done the wrong thing, but one thing is clear – I did, I mean I do owe you. I at least owe you the truth of what I did. And an apology."

Laurel nodded. "Thank you," she wanted to take it in stride, but frankly the whole thing felt like a landslide coming her way, "for telling me." She tried to take deeper breaths to ground herself, but what she felt like she needed was to just scream.

"I'm sorry," Felicity apologized again. "I think I better go now," it was obvious that there was nothing more she could expect from Laurel now. "Here's my number," she put her business card on the table. "If you want to ask me something or just need me to apologize again, or to fix your cable to atone, I'm your girl."

Laurel pressed her lips close tight. She nodded, strained, but couldn't find it in herself to give voice to words. Felicity flashed another remorseful look her way and left. As soon as doors clanged shut in the distance, Laurel dropped from the chair and a scream broke out of her – screeeeeeee.

The free-standing furniture got thrown back. The nailed down couch was jostled enough that nails broke out. And she was holding back so much.

To Laurel the scream always felt like … falling down – like escaping a trap and rising to fly at the same time. Rather like going on a rollercoaster – the drop and the rise. Two distinct feelings that meshed together and felt like home and freedom. As she came out of it, she pressed her elbow against her knee and rose to her feet. And winced as she saw the mess, "Sorry."

Thea kept a deadpan look on her face, "Wanna go again? I'll make Roy clean it up."

Laurel glanced back at her, incredulous. Thea was holding back a laugh and Laurel let hers sound out. "No, I think I'm good."

There were no words for the warmth that bloomed in her at Thea's unquestioning acceptance and understanding. It seemed that for Thea there wasn't even a question about reacting - being upset or destructive or just plain not perfect. Thea just took it all in stride. Always had. "But tonight, could be a good night to have a go outside."

Thea's eyes lit up, "Really?" They'd gone to the Wildcat Gym a few times now. The owner still didn't seem to believe their story about extra self-defense, but he still trained them. Thea flexed her arm, "I have been practicing that punch Ted showed me."

IKYWT

Thea was sitting on a pile of floorboards – not yet laid out for the new flooring and Laurel perched on a small stool with a laptop balanced on her knees. Even in the middle of renovation the garage had already became their haunt. Laurel hadn't yet dragged any of her things from storage here since it was so busy with workmen during the day, but this already felt like their spot. A safe place.

"Maybe we should just pick something from the news?" Thea asked and played with the remote. There was a brand-new TV mounted on the back wall – as it had been finished. It still had the protective film on it. She turned the TV on and flipped channels.

"I'm not sure that we'd be ready for that," Laurel noted. "Besides there's this thing… As everything started spiraling down for me, I found something. About Sebastian Blood. I had no proof, so even the Arrow didn't believe me, but… I know what his mother told me. I know I am not crazy." It had been quite a while since she'd thought of the mayoral race and its candidates.

Thea switched her attention from TV to Laurel. "What do you think he did?"

"Killed his mother? Because she told me he killed his father and put her in the mental hospital. Killed a cop. Who knows what else? That is exactly the question," it felt like so long ago when she'd been on this. But Sebastian was still running for mayor. And it chilled her blood to think what would happen if he won the race and was exactly who she suspected him to be.

"Casting doubts on people's sanity seems to be his thing," Thea said as she digested the information.

Laurel frowned, and then said quietly, "I did abuse both the drugs and alcohol."

"Doesn't make you wrong," Thea replied quietly.

"No, it doesn't," and it chafed to realize that nobody else had given her that much leeway. Just that little bit of reasonable doubt. Or rather reasonable trust.

"Just a bit wild," Thea smirked, lightening the mood. "So, you have any idea from which angle to take him on now?"

Laurel snorted at Thea's statement. Wild, indeed. However, on the topic of Blood, "Well, he had this paper record we never found, and the only witness willing to talk is dead, so…"

"Breaking news. Starling City courthouse under siege by the Huntress! Hostages have been taken, among them the new DA Susanna Bray as the trial of alleged mafia boss Frank Bertinelli takes a dark turn…" came from the TV.

"We have to go," Thea said even as she barely processed the thought.

"They will have the police there," Laurel argued, the lawyer in her first on the response line. "We will just get in the way…" She'd been taught all her life that law and its enforcers were the right way to protect the world. It jarred with the reality she had experienced – with her work with the Arrow, with the violence she had been subjected to, with… Chile.

"The police can't do what you can do," Thea argued.

Laurel dithered between the desire to play devil's advocate and argue that they would get nowhere close and the fact that it was her courthouse – she knew it inside out. And maybe it was just like her power – just let it go. "Those masks you bought better fit."

Thea grinned.