Summary: Thea's secrets are finally out in the open and she and everyone she loves will have to learn how to deal with the fallout. Sequel to "Revealed in Time".

Queen sibling fic. Thea Queen, Oliver Queen, Laurel Lance, Felicity Smoak, John Diggle, Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow, Iris West, Roy Harper, Quentin Lance. Cannon Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, eventual Thea Queen/ Roy Harper. Trigger Warnings: sexual abuse, grooming, discussion of chronic illness and medical treatment, depression, and non-graphic depictions of grooming and sexual abuse.

Author's Note: This is AU. Technically, for Team Flash, this story takes place canonically directly following Flashpoint. Which is fine, but I am not turning Sarah Diggle into John Jr. - I'm attached, and I won't do it! For Team Arrow, this is a super AU, completely unattached to the actual show season 5. In this story I have sought to explore how chronic illness, particularly one with a poor prognosis, can affect an entire community and that anticipatory grief is both crippling and very real. I will be updating weekly!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor or medical professional. I am not offering medical advice. If you have your own concerns regarding treatment or medical advice, please consult with a physician.

Chapter 1: Fallout

Thea turned towards the lit fireplace, covering her face with her hands.

"Thea, please – taking these men to trial – it will upend your entire life. You won't have the future you've always wanted. You have been through so much. You deserve to have a life filled with good things."

Thea, her back still turned away from Oliver and Felicity said in a watery voice, "I don't have a future."

"Thea – what?"

"I have HIV. And I am in treatment failure."

The words seemed to ring in the subsequent stillness. Felicity and Oliver were silent. Thea turned around so she faced them, but she couldn't raise her eyes off the floor to look at them.

Instead, she continued on, her voice breaking, "I don't get to have a future. I'm not going to college, or getting married, or having kids. What I have right now – this is it. My business, you guys, Arae – that's all I get." Thea barked a painful laugh. "I'll be lucky if I make it to 25, much less 30. So no, I don't care about my reputation. That kind of … of banality is behind me now. And with my last breath, I swear, I am going to take down every single person in that journal that I can."

A loud silence fell over the room. Thea finally dared to raise her eyes to her brother and saw that his face looked completely blank. Almost as soon as her eyes met his, she saw something shift behind his eyes. Oliver turned on his heel and strode out the Loft's door, slamming the door shut behind him.

Thea stared at the closed door, adrenaline from her fight with Oliver and subsequent rant leaving her system and she slowly grasped what she had just done. Thea's eyes darted to Felicity, which immediately made Thea feel worse.

Felicity was staring back at Thea, her eyes red, face crumpled, looking like her world had just ended. Tears welled up and began to trickle down. "Felicity," Thea whispered in horror, it sinking in further that she had just dropped a bomb on two people she loved. Oh god, she had so fiercely defended her secret for months to keep them from being hurt, only to crush them with it just because she got in a fight with Oliver.

Heart thudding in her chest and stomach twisting, Thea took a timid step towards Felicity, holding out a cautious hand. "Felicity, I am so sorry, I -" Felicity stepped towards Thea and clutched her into a hug. Thea gasped at the strength of Felicity's hold, tears springing into her eyes. "Felicity," Thea tried to say again, but felt one of Felicity's hands cup the back of her head, cutting her words off. Thea gave up and just let Felicity cling on.

Finally, Felicity drew back, holding onto Thea's arms to look Thea in the face. Felicity slowly shook her head, tears in her eyes. Thea asked timidly, "Should we go after Oliver?"

Felicity let go of Thea with one hand, bringing the other to swipe at her nose as she sniffled. "No, leave him," she said in a wobbly voice. "He needs a moment." Felicity studied Thea's face, eyes darting back and forth, as if trying to absorb everything about her. "Are you okay?" Felicity asked.

"Not really," Thea said. "I shouldn't have done that – I can't believe -"

Felicity shook her head quickly, denying it. "Don't apologize, Thea, you should have told us." Felicity sniffled quickly. "Telling us in the middle of a fight was maybe not the best way, but let's be real, what is a better way to tell your family you're dying?" A shock went through Thea's system at the words that she had only said to herself in her head. Felicity's eyes went wide. "Should I have said that? Because you never said that, and now I'm thinking that I shouldn't have…?"

Thea shot Felicity an unconvincing half-smile. "It's uh – nothing I haven't said to myself, so …"

"Look, can we talk? I think we need to talk." Felicity stepped back, sniffling. "Come on, come over here," Felicity said, taking Thea's arm in hers and leading towards the couches. As Thea sat down heavily, Felicity seemed to think of something. "Give me just one minute. I'm going to call Digg." Thea slowly drew her legs up and tucked them beneath her on the couch as she listened in.

Felicity pulled out her phone and paced a few steps away. She seemed unable to control her voice and it quivered as she said, "Digg? Look, something big just came up and Oliver left the house really upset. Do you think you can find him and keep him from doing anything stupid? Okay, thanks. If I find out where he's going, I'll text you. Okay, thank you."

Felicity sniffled again looking off towards the kitchen, before she turned around and returned to the couch. Felicity gingerly sat next to Thea on the couch and turned to face her. "Okay," Felicity said, her eyes still red, but focusing on Thea again. She reached out and laid a hand on Thea's crossed leg. "How long have you known?"

Thea squinted a little, trying to make sense of the question. "Do you mean … how long I have I known I've had HIV? Or how long I've known I've been sick?"

Felicity shook her head, clearly confused that there was a difference. "Either – both?"

Thea let out a little phlegmy laugh. "Well, I was diagnosed when I was thirteen." Felicity's eyes widened so Thea plowed on, "But I was really stable for years." Thea took a moment to think and then said, "I took my first downturn in January and it's been getting worse since. I've kind of burnt my way through most of my treatment options. And what we're doing now is just borrowing time, not really … fixing anything."

The answer didn't seem to make Felicity feel any better. "Who knows?" she asked, gently.

Again, Thea seemed to struggle to interpret the question. "Um … who knows I have HIV, or who knows it's bad?"

Felicity again seemed floored that there was a difference. "Both, I guess?"

"Oh, well," Thea said, sighing and tucking her hair behind her ears. "Like I said, I was really stable, like – full remission, undetectable viral load – for years. But I still made sure to let the people I was seeing know, so Roy. Alex." She shrugged a little. "Alex suspects something more is going on. We were still dating when my viral load went up for the first time. I broke up with him at the same time, so he keeps worrying about it, but I've never really confirmed it." Felicity barely responded, but a tear did trickle down her cheek. Thea continued, "Beyond that, just my medical team and Caitlin Snow."

"Caitlin?" Felicity asked in a stuffy voice.

Thea laughed a little, "Yeah, Caitlin's kind of a triple threat: she's wildly intuitive and super supportive while also happening to be a doctor." She thought about her friend, thankful for the events that led to Caitlin stumbling onto Thea's secret.

"When I was in Central City, we came up against this meta-human – Cisco called him Death Dancer – who could sense disease and infirmity and was hypnotizing and killing sick and disabled people. He attacked me. When the team found out about the trafficking stuff from the journal, Caitlin put two and two together." Thea thought back to Caitlin staying by her side a month ago: attending her appointment, staying the night to check on her, and taking her to and from her port placement. "She's been … great, actually. She even came to one of my recent clinic appointments and stayed while I had a minor surgical procedure. Which was great. It's actually been a lot to deal with by myself," Thea admitted quietly.

Felicity looked at Thea with damp eyes like she was trying to search into the deepest parts of Thea. She gently squeezed Thea's leg. "So you're … you're really sick?"

Thea's eyes filled a little at the question and the worry behind it. "Um … it's not good. I'm not going to die tomorrow or anything, but – I'm just really vulnerable because my treatment options are really limited." She shrugged a little helplessly. "At this point, it's not going to get better – it's just going to keep getting worse. Until -"

A tear dropped down Felicity's face and she nodded like she was trying to come to terms with it. "Okay," Felicity said, voice shaking. "Okay. Tell me everything."

Oliver pounded on the door. He waited impatiently and, when he could hear movement inside but the door remained firmly closed, he pounded again.

An unamused Quentin Lance finally pulled open his front door. He must have noted something in Oliver's stance and expression indicating his present state of mind, because Lance's expression changed from annoyed to wary. Oliver's eyes narrowed on Lance. With a little huff, Lance groused, "Well, come on in, then," and held the door open. Oliver stepped inside the foyer, allowing the door to shut behind him.

He fixed Lance with a piercing stare. "Did you know?" Oliver demanded, his voice low and booming with anger.

Lance looked a little nervous in the face of the fury wafting off of Oliver. He asked, confused, "What, you mean about Thea's trafficking?" Oliver continued to stare menacingly. Taking silence as affirmation, Lance stumbled, saying, "I mean, yeah, if she told you. She and I have been working to ID these guys."

"And her HIV?" Oliver asked, studying him.

"What?" Lance asked, floored. "No! Wait, is – is she okay?"

The stumbling, useless question only served to agitate Oliver further. "No, she's not okay!" Oliver boomed. "She's dying, Lance!"

Lance's face paled and he shook his head, running his hand across his forehead. "Well, shit. She kept pushing me on this case, acting like we were running out of time. I just kept telling her it wasn't a race and we had plenty of time. I mean … shit!" Lance looked nauseous at Oliver's revelation, no longer even looking at the man taking up the tiny entryway of his home.

Oliver was unmoved watching Lance's epiphany and was growing quickly irritated. His entire body was crying out for him to keep moving, to not stop. Oliver ordered, voice harsh, "You have names. I need them."

From searching the room with his eyes like it held some kind of answers on Thea, Lance met Oliver's fierce stare, finally understanding the purpose of Oliver's visit. Slowly, purposefully, he shook his head no. "No. I won't go behind Thea's back like that." Oliver's eyes narrowed at the denial. Lance added, "Besides, what do you think you're going to do with the names anyway?"

"What do you think I am going to do with the list?" Oliver asked, his voice rumbling fiercely. Lance stared Oliver down, refusing to be intimidated. "GIVE ME THEIR NAMES!" Oliver roared. Lance didn't take so much as a step back as Oliver stepped forward, into his space. Oliver said in a low, vicious tone, "These men raped my sister and have left her with a death sentence – I will not sit by a second longer so long as they are out there alive. Now GIVE ME THEIR NAMES!"

Lance's eyes looked sad as they met Oliver's. He shook his head slowly. "No, Oliver. Look, I have been working by Thea's side for months and I know what she wants – she wants justice, not vengeance. I'm not gonna ruin that for her just because her brother can't keep his shit together."

A knock rattled the door at Oliver's back. He continued to glower at Lance, even as Lance stepped forward and pulled the door open, revealing Diggle. "Oliver," Digg acknowledged. "Felicity sent me to get you. I'm supposed to keep you from doin' something stupid."

Oliver glanced at Digg and then back at Lance. He dropped his voice and made a promise. "I'm going to get those names, no matter how you try to protect them." With that, Oliver turned around and strode out of Lance's house.

Digg called out, "Where are you going, Oliver?"

"You're here as backup, right?" Oliver called over his shoulder. "Then let's get moving."

Minutes later, Oliver stared out the car window, watching as the city blinked by. He could still feel the immense, hot anger burning in the pit of his stomach, but the quiet of the car and the dark city had pushed his roiling thoughts down, leaving him blank.

"Where to?" Diggle asked quietly. He hadn't asked for an explanation from Oliver or told him what reason Felicity had given for being Oliver's overseer in the dark of the evening. Oliver was grateful.

"The Bunker," Oliver said in a low voice. "We have work to do."

Without questioning further, Diggle drove on. Upon reaching the security of the Bunker, Oliver slammed the computers in the Hub to life and pulled out his cell phone. He pulled up his contacts and the phone rang. Barry Allen's bleary voice answered, "Hello? Oliver?"

"Barry," Oliver said pointedly, conveying with his tone that this was no social call. "I know that Cisco vibed a list of names for Thea and Lance. I need those names. NOW."

Silence followed at the other end of the line while Barry got his bearings. "Um, how do you know about -" Barry started, then stopped. His voice came out elongated and wary, "Why do you need the list?"

Oliver snapped, "Use your imagination, Barry!"

Barry breathed in like he was summoning courage. "I'm sorry, I can't give you that list," Barry said staunchly as Oliver felt the anger flare up in his head from the denial, vision darkening before clearing. "I don't even have it – it was Cisco's vibe. And even if I did, Thea was pretty clear that she was keeping you in the dark to protect you from yourself. She was afraid you would start killing again."

The savageness in Oliver's chest built up and he gritted out, "The situation has changed. Thea's dying because of what those bastards did to her," Oliver's voice rose in volume and picked up speed, "and I will be damned if I will stand by for even a second while they breathe the same air as her! So you are going to wake Cisco up and you are going to get those names and you are going to give them to me! Do you understand?"

"Oh, man," Barry said, sounding distressed. "She's what? I'm – god, I'm so sorry, Oliver. Thea's great, I can't believe-"

"I don't need your sympathy," Oliver seethed. "I need your help. Are you going to help me?"

Barry stumbled and said, "No – I'm sorry, I can't-"

Oliver disconnected the line and slammed his phone to the desk in front of him, fuming at Barry's unwillingness to get him what he needed. In a fit of rage, Oliver grabbed the chair Felicity used as Overwatch and shoved it to the side, overturning it.

He stood, his entire body shaking with adrenaline without direction. He breathed in and out, each breath acting like a bellows, fanning the fire within him.

"Thea's dying?" John's voice asked from behind him.

Oliver turned around slowly to face his friend. "Phillips was the tip of the iceberg," he said in a low, tight voice. "He was selling her – pimping her out to other perverts. They gave her HIV. And she said her treatment is failing. That she won't live to thirty."

"Damn," John said, stunned.

Oliver fixed Diggle with a fierce look. "They tortured and sentenced my sister to death. They don't get to walk away from that." Oliver looked at his bow hanging in its case. "I made an oath never to kill again in honor of Tommy," Oliver mused. "But I'm positive Tommy would pick up a bow with me if he were here."

Oliver was gratified to see in Diggle's a matching fire to the one that was in his own eyes. "You know I've never had the same qualms you've had about taking out the trash," John said gruffly. "Where do we start?"

"Thea, Lance, and Cisco have a list of some of the men they've been able to ID, but none of them are willing to give it up. Phillips is locked up in Central City. I think it's time we pay him a visit."

"That's an eight-hour drive, Oliver. Don't you think Felicity's going to notice you've left town?"

"Do I look like I care?"

"Look, Oliver, we've got to be smart about this. Collect the information we need and be smart about how we take them down. We can't draw attention to ourselves like you first did with the Arrow."

Oliver clenched his teeth. "I need to do something now, Diggle. Not tomorrow, not this week, NOW."

"I get it. So channel that towards protecting your city tonight. Then we start tomorrow."

Felicity paced slowly through the open Loft. It was nearly 2 am. There was no sign of Oliver. And Diggle wasn't answering his phone.

Felicity had managed to convince Thea to stay overnight in the Loft's guestroom, pleading with her to stay so that the three of them – Felicity, Thea, and Oliver – could talk more in the morning. But maybe that had been foolish of her. Because clearly her husband had melted into the earth like some sort of Wicked Witch of the West.

Felicity felt wrecked. She was deeply, profoundly sad. Thea was her family. As if learning that she was trafficked wasn't enough, to find out that they were losing her was … inconceivable. Felicity had dug into herself to find a way to be supportive of Thea, but she was pretty sure she had failed. She was too upset.

And then Oliver had to vanish into the night to do who knows what. He would get himself killed, or arrested, and then where would Felicity and Thea be?

Felicity heard the scrape of the keys in the lock and rushed over to the door as it swung open. John Diggle hauled a well-beaten Oliver into the Loft. Oliver had a swollen eye and was holding a bloody rag against his nose. He was limping, which explained why Diggle was taking so much of Oliver's weight.

"Oliver," Felicity cried out, horrified as Diggle hauled Oliver through the entryway. What had Oliver done?

"I'm fine," he soothed quickly as Diggle helped him drop onto the couch. Oliver groaned and leaned back so his head rested against the top of the seat, closing his eyes. Felicity got a clear view of the reddened, bulging skin around Oliver' right eye.

"Don't tell me someone is dead," Felicity said, fear in her voice. Oh god, Oliver was going to jail. Lance would descend on their home any minute now -

Diggle rooted around in their freezer, pulling out a pack of frozen peas. "No one's dead," Digg confirmed making his way across the room, handing the bag to Oliver who gratefully dropped it onto his eye. Diggle continued, "Just some typical Green Arrow business. Except that Oliver forgot to duck." Diggle grinned a little like he found it amusing. Felicity, on the other hand, did not.

"Why do I feel like somehow this was intentional?" Felicity asked in a hiss, purposefully lowering her voice. Oliver just had to make his internal angst external, didn't he?

"Why are we whispering?" Oliver asked in a stage whisper, seeming just a little too amused and pleased with himself.

The mocking incensed Felicity further. She explained in a hissed whisper, "Thea is asleep upstairs. Which is what I would like to be doing, except I couldn't because my self-destructive husband fled our home to ensure his face looked like a rotten apple." She gestured a hand at Oliver's face.

The amusement faded from Oliver's face and his eyebrows drew together. "Why didn't she go home?" Oliver asked.

Why didn't she - "Because we need to talk, Oliver! Thea is -" Felicity cut herself off, looking suddenly uncertainly at Diggle, realizing she had almost broken Thea's confidence.

"It's fine, he already knows," Oliver told her.

Felicity froze, eyes wide with horror. Because Thea had told Felicity that she had told no one in her life about her extremely personal, private medical information. "Oliver?" Felicity asked slowly, trying to keep the panic from her voice. "Who have you told?"

Oliver studied her and then squinted his eyes like he was thinking. He said slowly, "Digg … Lance … Barry."

"Oliver!" Felicity cried out, horrified and unable to decide if she wanted to grab the throw pillow on the couch to launch it at Oliver or to scream into. How would Thea even respond to Oliver just disclosing her secret to anything that walked within 2 hours of her revealing it? Suddenly, she caught a whiff of stench and Oliver's laissez-faire attitude began to make sense. "Wait … are you drunk? Don't tell me you got into a bar fight?" Oliver seemed to shrink back into the couch at the onslaught. The anger fell out of Felicity's every pore as she exclaimed, "Oliver, you are the mayor of this city – that is going to be all over the news tomorrow!"

Diggle stepped forward, drawing Felicity's attention. "He really did get beaten up doing Green Arrow business, Felicity," Digg assured. He grimaced a little and explained, "The punching didn't clear his head enough, so he had a bit too much to drink back at the Bunker. But nothing happened in public that's going to hit the news."

"Super," Felicity said, tears clouding her vision. "This is just great. I have had the night from hell trying to support your sister and I am so sad, right now. Just, deeply, painfully sad - but I can't even talk about it with my husband because he's toasted like a marshmallow on fire!" she spread her hands wide, indicating Oliver splayed out across their couch, nursing his swollen face.

"Maybe you'd feel better if you drank something," Oliver suggested sleepily from the couch. Oh, if he was trying to get her to strangle him, he was sure going about it the right way – the absolute gall …

"No, Oliver!" Felicity hissed, eyes flaming as Oliver failed to react to her ire. "Because one of us has to be the adult here holding everything together. Because this isn't about you, or me, it's about your very ill sister."

Felicity felt a hand on her arm and Digg said softly, "Go easy on him, Felicity. He's not doing great."

Felicity swung around to look at Digg with wild eyes. "And you know who else isn't doing great? Me, and I'm not beating people up or getting drunk! I've been here, trying to make sure Thea's okay! And Thea, she's not doing great and she's been dealing with all of this on her own for a long time. So, sorry, but this idiot is just going to have to find a way to pull his head out of his ass." She shook her head angrily and told Oliver, "You can stay down here tonight. I'm going to bed." She turned back to Digg and said roughly, "Thank you for bringing him back alive. And keeping him off the front page of the tabloids. And out of jail."

Digg nodded and with a quick glance towards Oliver, Digg retreated out the front door.

Felicity tossed a blanket at Oliver's form on the couch, not stopping to pull it over him. "If you start aspirating on your own vomit tonight," Felicity groused, "don't."

With angry steps, Felicity climbed the stairs to their room and stopped just short of slamming the door when she remembered that Thea was supposed to be asleep on the other side of the Loft. Once inside, Felicity fell on her and Oliver's bed. She began to cry low, guttural sobs. Tears dripped onto the covers leaving a wet patch while Felicity's cries became more hysterical. She felt so isolated in this sudden grief - she couldn't further burden Thea with her own emotions when Thea was struggling with her own, and Oliver had made it abundantly clear that she wouldn't be able to turn to him for support.

Even though 24 hours ago, she had fought with her mom over Thea, her mom was the only one she could think to turn to right now. Oliver said he told Lance, so her mom must also know. It was 2 am, but Felicity couldn't wait. She grabbed her phone and dialed out. When Donna picked up, Felicity wailed out brokenly, "Mom."

"Oh, baby -" Donna said quickly, instantly hearing the pain in her daughter's voice.

"It's Thea," Felicity said. "I just – you don't need to say anything, but I'm just so sad right now and I can't - Can you, just, stay on the phone with me, please?"