Discovery Devotion Destiny

Just A Guy

"Protecting your family is every person's basic instinct, it is why we would do everything to make sure the ones we love stay safe and out of harm's way."
-Unknown

Oliver Queen felt like public enemy number one in the Queen household. Fine, he's probably being a bit over-dramatic, but since Russia, and Robyn's health scare, it really felt like everyone in the house hated him.

He understood the reason behind their feelings. They needed him and he wasn't there, and he felt guilty about that. Now he just had to win them back over. It had been a few weeks since then and Oliver felt like enough was enough. This morning, he was going to make breakfast and they were all going to sit around the table and just be a family again. At least that's what he was hoping for. Once he was done cooking he had the plates and food all set on the table.

"Someone's up early." came the voice of his sister. Oliver turned to her with a smile. "And you made breakfast."

"I did." Oliver said turning back to the table to make sure he didn't forget anything. "Just another step to getting at least one person to not hate me in this house." he let out a sigh before turning to his sister. "You included."

"I don't hate you. No one in this house hates you. We're all just a bit..." Thea sighed. She actually got the call about Robyn sooner, but got stuck at the airport trying to get back home. She spent the majority of her stay in the airport trying to get in contact with Oliver who no one seemed to be able to get a hold of. With her frustrations with being stuck in a stuffy airport, her niece was seriously sick while Oliver was off in Russia, yeah, she left some pretty colorful voice mails for him. "It's just going to take some time."

"I get that, just like I get that I messed up." Oliver said walking over to her. "My daughter was sick, in a hospital and Katie had to deal with that alone and I hate myself for not being here, but I can't change it. As much as I wish I could, I can't. What I can do is prove that I am here and that I will be here whenever you guys need me."

"History has proven otherwise." muttered Ari who came into the dining room her eyes on her phone. She glanced up to Thea and Oliver before glancing over to the table of food.

"I thought we all could have breakfast together." Oliver said walking around to the teen. "A lot has been happening, and I thought a nice family breakfast could be a nice change from it all."

"I'm not hungry." she said glancing back down to her phone before looking over to Thea. "And I'm driving myself to work, so you don't have to wait around for me." the girl turned about to head back up to her room.

"Ari, wait," Oliver said and Ari let out an audible sigh before turning back to him. "You're upset with me, I get it, let's at least talk about it."

"There's not much to talk about."

"You quit the team."

"Yeah, well it's not that big of a deal, I mean no one has called or texted me to try to convince me to stay, so I'm guessing they don't really care." she said with a shake of her head before looking back down to her phone and because it was really annoying him that she wasn't even trying to have this conversation, Oliver reached forward and took the phone from her hand. "God, you're so-" she groaned turning her back to him.

"Ari, no one has called or texted you because I haven't told them that you quit." Oliver said and the girl turned back to him with a quirked brow. "I was hoping for a chance to change your mind." she shook her head. "You said you couldn't do this, because I wouldn't let you and a part of that is true. You have to understand that your safety, the safety of Katie and Robyn, that is my main priority."

"When you're around, anyway." she muttered, but he heard her.

Oliver sighed. "Ari, I will apologize as much as you would like for not being here when Robyn was sick. Believe it or not, I hate myself a lot more than anyone ever could for not being here for her, or for you and Katie. I know I should've been here, that you all needed me and I broke my promise. That promise that I would always be here when you needed me."