The Emerald

Chapter 42 - Determination

Thea sat at the bar in Verdant and simply stared at the wall. She wasn't listening to the conversation around her, she wasn't paying attention to what the other women were doing, she was simply staring - remembering. She replayed recent events over in her mind, trying to figure out if there had been a way for her to help Roy that she hadn't realized. She had felt so useless. The only reason she was there was to torture Roy and Oliver even more because there had been nothing she could do to help.

"Thea, are you okay?" Sara asked softly as she sat on the stool next to the younger woman. She could see the play of emotions that had gone across Thea's face and wanted to make sure that she would be alright.

"No." Thea whispered, all her emotions evident in her voice. "I was only there as leverage, to get Roy to talk. The only reason they took me was because I was weak, unable to fight back, and they knew they could use that against Roy." Thea turned to look at Sara, tears threatening to spill out. "I don't want to be that girl anymore. I don't want to be the one used to hurt people I love. I want to learn to fight back!"

"Are you sure?" Sara asked, noting the determination in Thea's eyes.

"Yes." Thea stated simply. She had made her decision. "Will you train me? You and Ollie?"

"I can't speak for Oliver, but yes, I will help train you." Sara answered with a small smile. Oliver's going to love this. She thought to herself. "Just know it won't be easy."

"Sara, nothing in my life has been easy. Nothing except loving Roy. Why would I change that now?" Thea asked.

Sara gave Thea another small smile. Thea was obviously determined to see this through. She knew that that determination could turn Thea into quite a warrior if she had the dedication to go with it.

"Okay." Sara commented as she placed a gentle hand on Thea's shoulder.

"Thank you!"

"Hey, what's up?" Sin asked as she walked up and sat down on the other side of Thea.

"Sara just agreed to help train me too." Thea told the other woman. "I'm tired of being helpless. I'm ready to be able to stand up for myself, defend myself."

"Cool, we can train together." Sin commented with a grin.

.....................................................................................................

Felicity and Caitlin sat at a tall table near the bar in silence. After a couple of minutes Caitlin finally met Felicity's eyes and spoke.

"He really is going to be okay you know. He'll just need to be sure he doesn't go out in the field, or do anything even remotely strenuous for a couple of weeks, and even then he'll have to take things easy. He should heal completely and be perfectly fine after a month or so." Caitlin told her friend. "His lung didn't actually collapse so it's not as bad as it seemed."

"The challenge will be keeping him out of action for a couple of weeks." Felicity told the other woman with a small laugh. "He's like Oliver in that respect. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to start training again next week."

"If he trains or goes into the field too early he could set himself back farther, maybe even puncture his lung again." Caitlin explained.

"I guess we have to find a way to keep him resting for a while then." Felicity commented quietly.

"How do you do it Felicity?" Caitlin asked after another moment of silence. "Knowing that every time they leave the Arrow Cave they might come back injured, or even not at all."

"It's definitely not easy." Felicity said softly, almost sadly. "But I know that Oliver, Roy, Diggle, and Sara all have someone to come back to. That's what keeps them motivated in the field. It's also what keeps me motivated in front of my computers. If I don't do my job then people I care about could get hurt or killed. It keeps me focused. If we all do our job then things go much smoother."

"That makes sense." Caitlin stated.

Both Felicity and Caitlin turned when Diggle entered the club.

"Barry picked up a ton of Big Belly Burger. You guys can come down and eat if you're hungry." Diggle informed the women.

"Is it okay?" Thea asked as she went to stand in front of Diggle.

"Yeah. Roy's as comfortable as can be and still resting." Diggle informed the younger Queen, knowing that Oliver had told her Roy deserved some privacy and that was what she was referring to. "Come on. You need to go eat something."

Thea nodded her head as Sin stepped up next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, let's go check on Sleeping Beauty." Sin commented, trying to encourage Thea.

Thea smiled at her friend before following her back down the stairs and into the lair below. She stopped for a moment and took in the sight of Roy on the medical table yet again. He was still pale but the blood had been cleaned from his body, his wrist now sported a brace, and he was in his favorite pair of workout pants which Thea was pretty sure was much more comfortable than the leather that Roy had previously been in. She also spotted the man sitting on a stool next to her boyfriend. Andrew, Roy's brother. She could see from the look on his face that he was still worried for his younger brother and Thea couldn't help but hope that maybe he would stick around and Roy would be able to get to know his real family.

"Andrew." Thea called his name quietly as she came to stand next to Roy. "Thank you!"

"For what? It's my fault he's here after all." Andrew admitted, still feeling guilty for what he had allowed happen to Roy. "I never should have gone to work for him."

"You didn't know what the Dealer had planned, much less that you had a brother." Thea said softly as she placed a hand on Andrew's shoulder. "He wouldn't want you to sit here and blame yourself for something that wasn't even remotely your fault."

Andrew turned and looked Thea in the eyes. She seemed determined to make him see that he was wrong, that it wasn't his fault. If only she knew.

"I'm the one that helped that maniac find this Team. I helped him wire the warehouse to block all signals. I should have gotten him out of there sooner!" Andrew argued.

"NO!" Thea raised her voice, causing the rest of the group to look at the two of them. "You are not allowed to blame yourself. There was no way you could safely get anyone out of there without the backup from the Team. Did you not see the pile of guys that they took out on their way to us? Andrew, you are the reason we got out of there. If you hadn't contacted Felicity and given her the coordinates then Roy would probably be dead right now, at the hands of the man that was his father. You didn't cause this, you stopped the torture and freed your brother." Thea said emphatically. She needed Andrew to see that he had done everything within his power to help them. She was utterly determined not to allow him to beat himself up further.

"She's right." Oliver said quietly from the other side of the medical table. "We owe you our lives Andrew. Thank you!"

Andrew looked between the two Queen's and then at the rest of the group in the lair. They all seemed to agree with Thea and Andrew realized that maybe, just maybe she was right. After a moment he nodded his head, letting them all know that he understood and that he would work to stop blaming himself.

"I would feel better if he would just wake up." Andrew commented quietly.

"I know, I would too." Thea commented as she looked back to Roy, but not before Andrew saw the sadness in her eyes.

Thea pulled over one of Felicity's computer chairs and sat right next to the medical table where Roy lay. She reached out and gently took Roy's right hand in hers, rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb as she stared at his face.

"Come on Roy. Wake up. Please." Thea pleaded.