Chapter Text
October 8th, 2012
It's the middle of the night when they get the news.
Oliver Queen is alive. A phone call or a page in the middle of the night is not as uncommon as Felicity would like, and as such she barely moves when Tommy bolts awake to answer the call.
However, when he stops talking Felicity simply rolls over to hug him lazily and asks if he has to leave. “No, just Oliver.” Tommy numbly lies back down and presses an absentminded kiss to her forehead before drifting again into sleep.
A couple of minutes later he’s up again, however very much more awake and agitated than before. “Was that a dream? Felicity!” He turned to his wife who was still in his arms, just trying to sleep. “Honey, did I just answer the phone?”
“Mmm yeah, think so Tommy, why? S’there’s somethin’ wrong?” At this last part she started to sit up in bed, she looked at him blearily and full of concern. “Is it Thea? Did you say Oliver?”
Tommy shook his head haphazardly, almost unbelieving. “H-he’s back! Can you believe it! I thought he was - that I’d never -”
“What?” Felicity sits up completely, trying to tear herself completely from sleep’s grasp. “How? Tommy?”
“Oliver! Oliver Queen!” Tommy rushes back to his wife, his stomach feeling as if he’d just been dropped from the highest building in Starling City. “Moira’s gone to Hong Kong to bring him back, they’ll be here by tomorrow night.”
“Tommy, that's incredible...” Felicity reaches towards him, stunned and hugs him. Her mind is filling with things to consider, what condition he might’ve been found in. “That’s unbelievable! And he’s okay?”
“I- I don’t know. But he’s alive, and that’s what’s important. My best friend’s not dead.” Tommy tightened his arms around her, wondering how it was possible to have so many blessings in his life. Oliver. Alive.
Morning came and with it an invitation for dinner at the Queen manor. “You should come with me.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Tommy. He’s been gone five years, then he comes back from whatever awful place he was in and you want to ambush him with your wife?” Felicity shook her head, “it’s bad enough that his mom got married, don’t add to it.”
Tommy started putting his books into his backpack, making sure he had everything ready for class. “I don’t think lying is the right way to welcome him back home, darling. Plus, he’ll find out eventually, and I don’t like the implication of hiding you, as if my life has been the same all this time.” He zipped it closed and walked to where Felicity was nursing a cup of coffee. “You are my life.”
“If he asks, tell him, of course I don’t want you to lie, but maybe try choosing a different place and time for that. Let him adjust a little, first.” Felicity smiled softly at him and raised up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss.
“I don’t like it, isn’t honesty the best policy?” Another kiss and a slightly quirked brow are his answer. “Mhmm, alright, you’re wiser than me.” He raised his left hang and waved it in front of his face, “but I’m not taking my ring off. If he notices and asks I’ll answer.”
“Of course, Tommy.” She squeezes his hand softly and smiles. “Now go to the hospital, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
Tommy leans down to kiss her and they both murmured a soft: “love you.”
As he was riding to the hospital, he got another call from Thea. She kept it simple: "It's really him."
He sighed, more at peace with the truth. "It's really him, Thea. You'll see your brother soon."
"Mom will hide her marriage to Walter." A pause, Tommy didn't know what to say to that. He'd just considered doing the same. "She'll ruin everything."
"Hey, you don't know that. Your mom thinks that's the best way to handle it and we've got to respect her choice."
"But it's a terrible choice! Tommy, it's-" he can picture her in his mind, pacing, making a fist as she deals with her frustration. "She's trying to protect him as if he were a little kid!"
Ah. Of course Thea would find the crux of the matter. Both for hers and Oliver's relationship with their mother.
"I know. I have heard that parents can have a hard time accepting their children becoming adults. Have you tried talking with her?"
A scoff is his answer. Or as much of one as he's going to get.
"Well, then. There you have it, nothing else you can do about it, Speedy."
"I just wish-" a sigh, "I wish I could prevent this, it's so stupid!"
Tommy nods sagely, "yes, I know. Everything will work out for the best, I'm sure."
Thea made a noncommittal sound and told him she had to go and that she'd see him soon.
He just hoped he'd spoken the truth.