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“I’m not weak.” She says one morning over cereal. Voice still rough and groggy from sleep and a crease from her pillowcase visible on her cheek. “Or helpless.”
“Yeah, we know.” Ollie says easily, shrugging, as he eats the sandwich he made himself for breakfast, Roy’s pretty sure there’s corned beef hash on it, his mouth is full- yet another rejection of those table manners he’d tried to teach Roy all those years ago. Do as I say, not as I do and all that.
“Then why are you so damn nice to me.” It’s not a question, it’s an accusation and Roy senses Ollie tense beside him. Knows from years of working together, even after all this time, that it’s the same tensing that comes before he draws back his bow.
“Well jeez kiddo, maybe it’s cause nobody else has been.” Roy’s watching Ollie’s face carefully as he says it. It’s that kind of practiced ease, the face he makes when he’s prepared for Roy to yell at him for something they both know is long forgiven, the face Ollie makes when he knows he’s been pushing Hal’s buttons, when he’s trying to hide something.
Mia slouches in her seat and crosses her arms. “Well why can’t you be nice and let me do what I want?”
Ollie sighs, and then glances at Roy. His father’s eyes can’t linger on him for more than a second, but it feels like a lifetime- just another reminder of the painful past, as if Ollie’s following words aren’t enough. “I’ve learned that that’s not always the best thing for a kid your age.”
Mia looks at him then, and oh , isn’t that something? The same intensity of Ollie’s stare with eyes the same shade as Hal’s- it’s unsettling. “Never heard of a case by case basis?”
Ollie sighs, world weary and heavy, and not for the first time Roy wonders what it was like for him, being dead. If he views it the same way he views the island- as a respite. “Mia, we've talked about this.”
“Why can’t I be like him?”
Roy blinks in surprise when she says it, can’t help it when the first thing out of his mouth is. “Trust me, you don’t want that.”
Ollie shakes his head, and if his eyes look sad Roy’s not going to acknowledge it. “You deserve to be a kid Mia, you never got to have that. Let me keep you safe.”
“From myself, because you’re worried I’ll do something stupid.”
“You’re not the one I’m worried about.” Ollie says, frustration clear in his voice.
Mia pushes out from the table, and huffs, storming upstairs. “I’m going to get ready for school.”
Roy bites his lip and bounces his leg under the table. “What’s she asking you for?”
“She wants to be Speedy.” Ollie rolls his shoulders and his back cracks, it’s a move that feels all too casual for the bomb he’s just dropped.
Roy’s mouth goes dry. “Oh.”
“I keep telling her no.”
Somehow that’s not a comfort. He wasn’t that much younger than Mia when Ollie took him in and he worries. Wonders if Ollie’s learned to think beyond a “sure why not?” when it comes to taking in teenagers. Wonders how long it’s going to take before he relents and gives away his nickname. “Good.”
“She deserves to be a kid for once.”
Roy nods, but his chest feels tight, thinking about how that wasn’t a concern when he was Mia’s age
(but it was, it was- and he’d raged against it)
. “Yeah…. It’s…. Good to see you finally figured out the dad thing old man.”
Ollie looks hurt. “Roy-”
“No, no- really. I’m glad that she and Connor get the new and improved version. I’m gonna go pick up my daughter from Dinah’s. I’ll…. Call you?”
“Yeah. I’d like that. I’ve missed you.”
Roy nods, and goes to leave. He glances back over his shoulder as he opens the door, and sees Mia, dressed in red and yellow. He lets the door swing shut behind him and hears Mia ask, “Where’s he going?”
He doesn’t catch Ollie’s reply, but it sounds like it could be a, “Reminding me that I still have work to do even though he’s grown.”