Prodigal Son

Chapter 13

Author's note: I found this chapter very satisfying. I hope you do as well.

Chapter Text

On Friday morning, Felicity peeked out her front door and watched with mixed feelings as Oliver drove away. She hadn't spoken to him since yesterday after the conference call when he dropped her back at the townhomes. She'd stayed at home while he left again just minutes later, returning early in the evening. And then as far as she could tell, he'd stayed in the rest of the night, only taking off again now. Not that she was spying on him or anything.

She could have spied if she'd wanted to. Pinging his phone would be incredibly simple and with a little extra effort, she could enable his microphone and listen in. So paying very close attention to his comings and goings was practically nothing. Not that she was obsessed with knowing what he was up to or anything. No, she was just at a sensible level of curious like anyone else in the situation would be.

Oliver had been strangely evasive about his plans on Thursday. Really, he'd been off that whole morning. And "off" was too vague a term. An old school grouch, that's what he'd been, to the point of making Oscar from Sesame Street seem positively delightful. She'd never heard Oliver so negative before about her company. With the way he'd been going, if Thea hadn't interrupted to steal his coffee, he'd have ended up wearing it.

At least he unbent to at least try to be there for Thea's opening night. Felicity wasn't exactly certain what she was supporting, but it had been important to Thea, so she would be there. Oliver's promise was the only encouraging thing in an otherwise increasingly frustrating situation.

Felicity regretted promising Thea she could be the one to tell Oliver her past. Almost two weeks had gone by and still Thea hadn't said a word. With Oliver trying hard to ignore his sister—something Thea couldn't abide even in strangers—instead of the communicating, her visits veered off into theater, Thea saying outrageous things that Oliver couldn't ignore and then leaving. Maybe that was her plan. To wear him down to his new reality.

She'd give Thea through the weekend to tell him; after that, she was butting in.

Yesterday she'd come home and changed out of her barely worn knit outfit into sweats and then she'd spent the day catching up on her coding. In the evening, Curtis came over and they brainstormed—unsuccessfully—together. It had been too short notice for him to also take Friday off, so today, Felicity was using her day off on laundry and the other household chores she'd let pile up.

At noon, she started going through the mishmash of take-out containers in her fridge. Felicity was just deciding between reheating some beef chow fun or cold pizza when her phone rang. The caller id said Queen Consolidated so she assumed it was Curtis checking in on one of the programing changes they'd talked about or possibly Priya again with a question about Moira's schedule. It was the later, though not with a question about her schedule but a contribution to it. Moira was "requesting" her to join her for lunch at The Library in half an hour.

Felicity knew a command engagement when she heard one. After a mad dash through the shower, she tossed on yesterday's sage green, knit, top/skirt combo and drove downtown. Five minutes late, she pushed open the door to The Library to the sound of a tinkling bell. The warm aroma of fresh bread and other savory options hit her when she entered.

The Library, a Literary Café, was not home to Starling City's repository of books but a charmingly eclectic amalgamation of a used book store and a locally sourced, market to table, bistro. The ever changing menu was eclectic and fluctuating, taken from and inspired by all walks of literature.