Unravel Me | Arrow [ COMPLETED ]

chapter two

It was almost unnoticeable, the way Walter stiffened. Cali caught it, and she knew Oliver did too. Perhaps that's what he'd been looking for. Whatever the reason, she knew that Oliver had proven whatever point he'd wanted to make to himself.

Walter looked briefly at Moira, then back to Oliver, his wine glass poised by his lips. "There's plenty of time for all that. I'm sure your doctors would prefer you take some time. Queen Consolidated isn't going anywhere."

The tension returned, thick and heavy and cloying. Cali took another drink of water. "Oliver," she said gently, and his attention drifted over to her. "You don't have to prove anything to us."

His lips quirked, his smile slipping. Genuine appreciation shone in his eyes, but it faded before she could even be sure that was what it was. "I know," he responded, voice soft and lilting. He was putting on a mask. "I'm just trying to...figure out where I fit back in to everything."

Raisa returned with the bowl of pears Oliver had requested earlier. She smiled at him, and glanced at Cali. The look cost her - she stumbled after setting the bowl down on the table. Tommy tensed, but Oliver was already loving to steady her.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Queen," Raisa said, flushing.

Oliver smiled softly, and it was the first time that Cali had seen him genuinely soften. He obviously had a sweet spot for Raisa, and relief washed over her in waves. As long as he had someone.

Oliver said something in what sounded like Russian, his voice getting lower and more guttural as he switched between languages. It took a moment before he looked back at them. Cali was the only one who wasn't staring.

"Dude," Tommy said, dumbfounded. "You...speak Russian?"

Oliver shrugged minutely, and Walter smiled. "I didn't realise you took Russian in college, Oliver."

And then Oliver said what he'd obviously wanted to say since the dinner started. "I didn't realise you wanted to sleep with my mother, Walter."

Cali felt like freezing water has been tipped over her. Of course, of course, they didn't think of that. Of course Oliver would have found out, would have brought it up, would have wanted to know.

She knew that the Oliver Queen that came home to them is not the same Oliver Queen that had gotten on that damn boat.

Moira sent Thea a glare, but Thea held her hands up. "I didn't say anything." She didn't look ruffled by the situation, but Cali knew that it was the drugs. When they wore off, Thea would implode. She'd tear herself apart, only for Cali to patch her back up, and then Thea would take more drugs and the cycle would start anew. It was the same thing every time.

Cali was tired.

She tuned out the conversation, the explanations, the tip-toeing around what everyone wanted to say. She just stared at her glass, at her hands, at the way her plate seemed to ripple before her eyes. Exhaustion ripped through her - the specific kind of tired that kept her confined to bed for days at a time.

Tommy nudged her foot. She didn't look up at him.

"I understand," Oliver was saying when she tuned back in. "May I be excused?"

Oh. The dinner was coming to an end. A disastrous end for disastrous event. What a poetic moment in time. Tommy pointed at Oliver again. "Hey, don't forget about tomorrow, buddy."

But Oliver was already halfway out the door.

Cali brought a hand up to her forehead, rubbing at her temple in an attempt to assuage the headache that was building there. Her eyes felt gritty and sore, and her entire body ached as if she were covered in bruises. Tommy kicked her foot again.