A Dangerous Love: Athena and Prometheus (An Arrow: Season 5 Fanfiction)

Chapter 16: Back To Normal... As It Were

Brittany Snow, the news woman, made her report on television as Quentin Lance, Oliver Queen, Thea Queen, and their other sister Evelyn Queen, watched the television. 

'Former District Attorney Adrian Chase faces multiple counts of capital murder among other charges. SCPD spokesperson Alison Rou credits the Green Arrow with bringing the man known as the Throwing Star Killer to justice.' Thea switched off the television and turned to the three of us. 

'Well, it looks like the Green Arrow is a hero again, whoever he is,' Thea said. 

'Yup,' Quentin spoke up, popping the "p", 'and the mayor ain't doing too bad either.' He tossed a newspaper on the table. 'The "Sentinel" has got your approval rating back up to 70%.' 

'What?' Oliver asked, looking at it, brows furrowed. 'Was it ever that high?' 

'Hmm, no, it wasn't,' Quentin shot back. 'Anyway, listen, if you'll excuse me, I got to go find Rene and remove his head from his ass.' 

'Wait, what?' Thea and I asked in unison. Oliver spoke up. 

'Rene missed a hearing about possibly getting his daughter back.' He looked up at Quentin, who was about to leave the room. 'Hey, Quentin?' 

'Yeah?' 

'If you need any help with that, just let us know, okay?' 

'Yeah, thanks. Will do.' He was almost about to go out the door, then he turned. 'Oh, by the way, I'm sorry. I almost forgot. Happy Birthday, Mr. Mayor.' Oliver let out a chuckle. 

'Thank you.' Thea sidled up to Oliver. 

'We - the three of us,' she said, 'we should go out for a drink tonight. We haven't celebrated your birthday in - I can't remember how long.' 

'I remember the last time we celebrated yours,' Oliver said with a grimace on his face. 

'Oh God,' Thea groaned. 'We decided we would never talk about that again.' I chuckled from beside them. 

'She's right, you know,' I piped up without looking at them. 

'Four years?' Oliver asked. 'You've changed a lot, Speedy.' 

'All three of us have,' Thea replied. 'I'm just not sure I have for the better.' I looked up as Oliver said, 

'I'm sure. Look, Thea, being happy doesn't mean you don't have issues. It just means that you're working on them.'

'When did you become all zen-like and well adjusted?' Thea questioned. I let out another laugh. 

'Believe me, I've been asking myself that same question, Thea,' I said. 

'Well...' Oliver said, trailing off. 

'We should celebrate that tonight, as well as your birthday,' Thea said. 

'I appreciate that, but I already have plans,' Oliver said, walking out of the room and into his office. 

'With who?' she pressed, walking very quickly after him as I followed behind. 'Please say, "not Susan Williams".' 

'Um... no. Uh - with Felicity.' 

'As in a date?' Thea asked. 

'As - as in I - I don't know if it's a date.' 

'He's skirting the question, Thea. It's definitely a date. He definitely doesn't stutter like that around that bitchy journalist,' I piped in. 

'Evelyn,' Oliver said with a sigh of reproach. 

'Can't say it if it's not true,' I said, not looking at my two siblings as I was going through my phone. 

'But you're hoping that it is?' Thea asked him. 

'It's dinner... people go to dinner.' She laughed and turned around to face him as he grabbed his jacket to head out the door. 

'See, I don't believe you, but I find it incredibly cute.' He gave her a stare and left, leaving Thea and I alone in the office. I looked up at her. 

'I've gotta go. Take care of some things.' I began to leave, but then Thea caught my arm. 

'Hey... how you holding up? With this whole, Chase thing? I know you two were - and maybe still are, I just - I -' 

'I know what you're trying to say. Save it. I'm okay.' I gave her a smile, but it didn't quite reach my eyes. Gently pulling my arm out of her grasp, I walked out of the room. 

That evening... 

Oliver walked into the building. As Curtis walked past, he grabbed him, slinging him to the ground, and about to punch him, when Felicity, Thea, Diggle and I yelled out, 

'SURPRISE!' He looked at all of us, and we all had a collective cringe from the moment. 

'Everything - everything hurts,' Curtis gasped from the floor. I let out a quiet chuckle. 

Oliver blew out the candles on the Green Arrow cake, and Felicity clapped her hands excitedly. 

'I love the cake,' Thea remarked. 'Where did you get it?' 

'Lord Mesa Bakery.' 

'What's up with the number 6?' Diggle asked, coming to stand next to Curtis, who was holding an ice pack to his head. 'Is that for the number of members of the team?' 

'It's cool,' Curtis piped up. 

'Actually, I ordered the cake for a 6-year-old, because I wasn't sure that I could order a Green Arrow cake for a grown man.' Curtis let out a fake laugh. 

'I mean, well, hey, Oliver's a child at heart, right? That is the concussion talking. Yeah, for sure.' 

'I'm really sorry about that, Curtis,' Oliver said. 

'Nah, it's okay, but you should know that if I had my T-spheres, I would've -' 

'Would've what?' Oliver asked playfully. 

'I would've still been on the floor.' 

'I'm very sorry,' Oliver repeated. He gave a smile to Felicity and walked away, and opened two beers for both him and Diggle. 'Lyla couldn't make it?' he asked John. 

'She and JJ are visiting her sister in Chicago,' John replied. 

'Oh.'

'We're good, man. We'll patch things up.' The two of them looked over at me, as I was sitting on the couch, not really interacting with the party. 'How's Evelyn holding up with everything?' John asked Oliver. 

'I - I don't know, Dig. It's hard to tell sometimes with her moods. But this whole thing with Chase, I can tell it's made her sad. She's tried to see him as much as she can, but John - she's, she's spiralling.' 

'You should try and talk to her, man.' 

'Thea told me she tried to talk to her, but Evelyn brushed her off. She's been doing that a lot lately.' Just then the doorbell rang, and Thea opened it to see Quentin standing there with a wrapped present in his hands. 

'I'm late, aren't I?' he asked. 

'That's all good,' Thea said. 'Didn't miss much. Just Oliver flipping Curtis over his shoulder.' He entered, turning to Thea. 

'I told you a surprise party wasn't a good idea.' Thea chuckled. 

'How was Rene?' she asked. 

'He's not home. And there's a couple days worth of newspapers piled up outside his apartment.' 

'You're worried about him,' she remarked. 

'Yeah, well, you know, Rene may come across as an irresponsible idiot, but that's - you know, it's just 'cause that's what he wants people to think of him, you know?' 

'Yeah.' 

'Yeah.'