Chapter Text
Olivia
A bell rang as the front door opened and Thomas Queen stepped into his sister’s warm bakery, which felt great after the chill of being outside in December. As the shop was currently closed most of the lights were off and the only two people in the dining area were his sisters.
“Are Mom and Dad here yet?” He asked as his long legs quickly brought him over to where his sisters were sitting at a table.
His older sister, Olivia, known to family as Liv rolled her eyes and asked, “Has Dad ever been on time for anything?”
“According to Mom he was on time for my birth!” Tom replied with a rueful grin as he plopped down in a chair at their table.
“Also, according to Mom, he almost didn’t make it to mine,” Mia added. She was the youngest out of the three siblings and the owner of the ‘Sweet Queen Bakery’, the shop that they were currently sitting in “But that was due to his,” She paused for a second. “Night job.”
“That makes it sound so dirty.” Liv laughed. “You know that you can say that Dad was the Green Arrow, it’s not like anyone can arrest him now.” She shrugged, “Plus Captain Drake would get any charges thrown out in a heartbeat.”
Tom leaned towards his sisters with a questioning look on his face, “So, tell me. How old were you guys when you found out that Dad was the Green Arrow and that the rest of the family was involved?”
Liv glanced at her phone, sent a quick text and then put it back down. “Uhhh, I think I was about 12 when I figured it out.”
“Wait you figured out who Dad was?” Mia asked eyebrows raised in surprise.
“Yep,” Liv grinned, and teased as her siblings both rolled their eyes at her “Don’t forget I’m the smart one. Anyway, this is how I found out.”
2019
“Livy, Tom!” Felicity Queen called from the kitchen. Twelve-year-old Livy sighed and put the arrow that she had been about to fire at the target back into her quiver. Turning to her five-year-old little brother she said sarcastically, “I bet that you can’t get all my arrows in a minute.”
“I bet I can!” Tom exclaimed, not understanding that his sister was being sarcastic, “I’m as fast as the Flash.”
“Sure, you are!” Livy said as her brother took off for the target picking up all of her arrows.
He quickly made his way back to her huffing and puffing, “See, I was like super-fast! Just like the Flash!”
“Totally!” She concurred. “Let’s hurry up, I think Dad has supper ready.”
“I hope that it’s Dad cooking tonight. Everything Mom makes is icky.”
Livy had to agree. She didn’t know how she had survived before her dad had come back into their lives and taken over cooking duty, she guessed it was Raisa and take-out that had kept her alive. It most certainly wasn’t her mother’s cooking. She set her quiver and bow down beside the door and walked into the kitchen where her parents were waiting for them. Stopping abruptly with Tom beside her she looked from one to the other and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Both of her parents were grinning, which was weird. Normally Mom was the smiley one and while her dad always said that he saved his smiles for special occasions. “What’s up with you two?”
Felicity smiled up at Oliver, “Well…” She started, but then her eyes got big, “I can’t think of what to say! Me, Felicity Queen speechless, who’d a thought it.” She turned to her children looking lost.
“What your mother is trying to say is that you’re going to be having a little brother or sister.” Oliver interceded.
“Mommy’s having a baby!” Tom cried excitedly.
“I’m not going to have to share my room, am I?” Livy asked worriedly.
“No. No sharing of the rooms.” Felicity said, giving Livy a quick hug and quickly calming her fears. “I’m going to move my office down into the room that was your Grandpa Queen’s old office and then turn my current office into the baby’s room.”
“Am I getting a brother or a sister?” Tom asked as he pushed his way in for a hug as well.
“We don’t know yet,” Oliver started to say, but he was distracted by the ringing of his phone. Answering, he moved off to the side where he had a quiet conversation with the person on the other end. He hung up the phone and then whispered into his wife’s ear, and gave everybody a kiss, bid them good night and quickly left the room.
“Okay, kids let’s hurry up and eat supper, I’ve got a meeting that I have to get to.” Felicity said as she put Tom’s plate in front of him at the table. Liv went to investigate what they were having for dinner and was glad to see that it was her dad’s famous taco fiesta. She piled her plate up high and joined her mother and brother at the kitchen table.
“Mom, why do you always have to go to meetings at night? Davy says that his daddy don’t do meetings at night, he just gets home really late and sometimes stinks.” Tom asked as he wolfed down his taco and guzzled his chocolate milk.
“Honey, you need to slow down, you’re going to choke yourself.” Felicity admonished as she brushed Tom’s bangs from his face. “Sometimes the people that I have to talk to live really far away where it’s in the middle of the day instead of the evening like it is here. You know, you’re going to need a haircut soon.”
“I don’t want no hair cut!” Tom exclaimed, covering his hair with his hands.
Felicity sighed, “Just finish your food. Since you had a bath last night, I’ll let you go to bed early and watch one show.” Tom cheered and went back to shoveling food into his mouth. Felicity then turned to her daughter, “How was your day, sweetheart?”
Liv shrugged, “It was fine I guess, classes are easy enough, but some of them are just way too dramatic for me. Did you know that Lyric is already talking about what type of car his parents are going to get him, and that Journey thinks that she will be getting a brand-new Land Rover. Like who in their right mind is going to let a sixteen-year-old drive a car like that?” She sighed, not understanding some of her classmates.
“Never change sweetheart.” Felicity said grinning at her daughter,
“Okay?” Liv agreed her brow furrowed with confusion. Her phone dinged, but she ignored it as her parents had a strict rule about not having phones out at the table during dinner, though she was dying to know who texted her. She hoped that it was her best friend Lily or maybe even the cute, new boy in her class, Waylon. As soon as she was done eating, she kissed her Mom and then went up to her room to see who was texting her and to finish her homework. A couple of hours had passed before Felicity poked her head to check on her as Liv was getting into bed.
“Night, sweetheart. Do you need me to check your homework?” Felicity asked as she stepped into the room to press a kiss on her eldest’s head.
Liv snuggled down into her bed, hiding the tablet reader that she wasn’t supposed to have after her bedtime, but the book she was currently reading on it was just too good to put down. “Nope, it was easy.”
Sniffing back tears, Felicity sat down on the side of Liv’s bed and swiped at the tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe that my baby girl is already in eighth grade. Those fracking pregnancy hormones are already making me cry.”
“Mom, it’s not like I’m going to a different school next year Starling Academy is Pre-K through twelfth grade. I’m doomed to be incarcerated with all the cousins until I go to university.”
Felicity smiled and shook her head fondly as her purple tipped blonde bob shook around her face. “You get some sleep.” With that she rose and went to the door where she paused before leaving the room, “Don’t stay up too late reading.”
Liv sighed, she thought that she had been stealthy and that her mother hadn’t seen the tablet. Shrugging she pulled the tablet out and was soon engrossed in the unfolding drama of her favorite series.
When she finished the book a few hours later, the ending had left her a wreck. The hero had died to save everybody and her only solace was that in death he was able to be reunited with the love of his life, but it had taken him over half of the book to get his act together and to see that they were meant to be. Liv set her tablet on her nightstand and rolled over trying to get to sleep. After tossing and turning for a bit she looked at the clock and realized that it was past 1:00 am and she had to get up for school in a few hours. But the ending of the book with the two reuniting in the afterlife kept going through her head and was keeping her from falling asleep. Sighing, she decided to try Dede’s old family recipe of warm milk to see if it would help her calm her mind down so that she could fall asleep.
She could see the light coming from under her mom’s office door as she quietly crept down the hallway. Her curiosity got the better of her so she paused and listened at the doorway to see what her mom was doing and how her meeting was going. Her voice was muffled, but Liv could have sworn that she heard her mom say Green Arrow and Arsenal. Maybe the foreign people were fascinated by their local vigilantes? Or maybe they were worried about investing in business in the city and her mom was reassuring them that if the police couldn’t handle the situation that they would. She tried to listen even closer, but it sounded like Felicity was giving directions. A yawn forced its way out, so she decided to head down to the kitchen for her milk before she was caught listening at the door. As she drank her warm milk all thoughts of the book she had just read were banished and were replaced with trying to figure out what her mom had been doing. She hated not knowing something. A trait that her dad said she shared with her mom.
Going back upstairs after finishing her milk she found that the light in her mom’s office was off and the door was closed, she debated about going in and looking around, but she was tired, and she didn’t want to get caught snooping. Laying down in bed, her eyelids drooping, she thought that she heard the sound of a motorcycle outside but was soon fast asleep.
The next morning, she groggily got up as her alarm went off. She so should have not stayed up so late last night reading. As she pulled herself out of bed her dad pounded on the door, “Hurry up if you want breakfast.” She groaned and headed into the ensuite bathroom to get ready for the day. The only good thing about going to a private school was that she didn’t have to decide what to wear each morning. Throwing on her uniform, she quickly styled her hair and put on the little bit of make-up that she was allowed to wear, waiting to put on the gloss until after she had eaten and brushed her teeth.
Downstairs in the kitchen it was the usual rush of people with everybody trying to get breakfast before the mob headed to school. The TV on the counter was playing the local news. Her mom always said that it was to watch and see what the weather was going to be like, but Liv secretly thought that her mom had a crush on the hot weather guy. Tiredly, Liv took her spot at the table between her brother and her cousin, RJ. Her dad brought over a plate for her piled high with fresh pancakes while Aunt Thea handed her a glass of milk. The news changed to the exploits of the Green Arrow.
“Last night The Green Arrow, took down a major gang leader. We have this exclusive footage of the vigilante dropping the gang leader off at the back of the police department.” The anchor turned to show the footage of a bound guy with duct tape covering his mouth tied to the top railing of the steps up to the back entrance of the police department. The Green Arrow was visible as he pulled an arrow out of his quiver shot it and sailed away from the scene, a few seconds later a motorbike with Arsenal driving roared through the scene. The footage ended and the anchor took back over. “The citizens of Starling can breathe a bit easier tonight knowing that he is off the streets. Now to Alex for the latest in sports.”
“The Flash is cooler!” Tom said as he shoved eggs into his mouth.
“Nuh-un,” RJ said. “The Green Arrow is the coolest!”
“But the Flash is the fastest!” Tom countered.
“But the Green…” RJ started to argue.
“Boys eat your food,” Roy interjected. Then with a rueful smile he said, “We all know that Arsenal is the best.”
“Dad!” “Uncle Roy!” Both boys exclaimed simultaneously.
Liv would have normally joined in their debate by stating that the Canary was actually the best, but something about the way that the archer had shot his bow was familiar however she couldn’t put her finger on it and that bothered her.
The sound of a door opening alerted everybody to the fact that the Diggles were arriving. Every morning Mr. Diggle brought his twins over so that everybody could ride to school together. The Diggle twins had received a scholarship to attend Starling Academy with the rest of the kids, but the real secret was that it wasn’t Gran who paid the scholarship, but Liv’s Mom and Dad.
“Morning, anybody want pancakes?” Oliver asked as the twins, Sara and J.J. sat down in chairs at the table.
“I do!” J.J. said excitedly.
“J.J., don’t be greedy. Momma already made us breakfast.” Sara responded as she nudged her brother.
“But I’m still hungry and Uncle Oliver’s pancakes are da bomb.” J.J. said with a grin.
“Da bomb?” Felicity mouthed to Dig and raised her eyebrow.
“He’s been watching a lot of old ’90’s shows.” Dig said shrugging.
“Everybody, time to get finished, the Harper bus is pulling out of here in fifteen minutes whether you are ready or not.” Roy announced. The three couples took turns taking the kids to school, and this week it was Roy and Thea’s turn. Liv knew that once the kids were at school, her Mom, Dad, and Mr. Diggle would head into the Queen Consolidated offices, while Aunt Thea and Uncle Roy would head back to bed for a nap as their nightclub Verdant didn’t open till much later.
She didn’t pay much attention during her classes that day as she tried to figure out what it was about the Green Arrow that was bugging her. She absolutely knew that he was familiar, but she couldn’t place where she knew him from! Was he one of the coaches that she had seen from her meets? It was driving her crazy trying to place him. The day dragged on until after school when she went to practice for the school’s archery team. She lined up with the other archers and practiced shooting at the targets. It was when she was preparing to take her second shot that she realized with a start what is was that had been bugging her about the Green Arrow. She was so startled that her arrow went wide of the target almost hitting the target next to hers. Her dad shot just like the Green Arrow!
“Queen!” The Coach yelled, “Don’t get sloppy.”
“Sorry Coach,” She called back. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the targets that she was supposed to be shooting, but her thoughts were swirling around her mind as things were becoming clear to her and she was making connections and she couldn’t understand how she had never realized it before. Dad limping in the morning after being perfectly fine when she had gone to bed the night before, how he sometimes wouldn’t be able to play because something was hurt but she never knew what had caused the injury, how he would always corrected her shooting stance, not to mention how he could expertly hit the target every single time. Then she thought about her father leaving during important events, how he wasn’t always where he said that he was going to be. All of that only made sense if he was the Green Arrow.
Before she realized it, archery practice was over, she had gathered her equipment and was starting to head back into the school building when she heard the Coach call her over. “Queen come here.”
“Yes Coach?” She asked.
“What’s up with you? You’re on the varsity team, despite only being in 8th grade, and people on my varsity team do not shoot like that.”
“Sorry Coach, I’ve got a lot on my mind today and I didn’t sleep that great last night. I promise that I’ll do better next time.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Coach asked as a worried look crossed his face.
One of the reasons that everyone wanted to be on the school archery teams was that the coach was a good guy who knew his stuff and cared about the students. “No, sir.”
He looked at her a second and then patted her shoulder. “Okay, but if you do need to talk you know where my office is.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay then, hustle off and be sure to get some sleep tonight.”
With that she was off to get her backpack and to see who was picking her up today.It was a rotating roster of who would be waiting to take her home. She never knew if it would be her Mom, Dad, Uncle Roy, Aunt Thea, Uncle Tommy, or very rarely Aunt Laurel picking her up. Leaving the school, she saw Uncle Tommy’s Land Rover, so she hustled over and climbed into the passenger seat.
“Hi Livy!” Robby said waving excitedly from the back seat. Her little cousin was almost three and she thought he was the cutest thing.
“Hey Robby!”
“Daddy, we play Tom?”
Tommy looked over at Liv, “Who’s house are we headed to? Yours or mine?” Once Felicity and Liv had moved out of their house and into the mansion full time Tommy and Laurel had moved into the house that Felicity had, so Liv often liked hanging out at their house until someone picked her up.
“Yours please.” Liv requested as she buckled up.
“No!” Robby cried, “Play Tom!”
“Hey Robbie, if you stop crying I’ll play with you. You can even pick what we play.” Liv cajoled the little boy.
“Kay,” he agreed, sniffing.
“So how was school?” Tommy asked as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.
“It was fine.” Liv said shrugging, and then lapsed into silence as she stared out the window, still trying to come to terms with the knowledge that her Dad was the Green Arrow. She opened her mouth to ask Uncle Tommy if he knew that his best friend was the Green Arrow, but then remembered that Robbie was in the car. Besides what if he didn’t know that his best friend was the vigilante, how could she be the one to tell Uncle Tommy?
“Liv?”
“Huh?” She jumped in her seat, startled to hear her name.
“Is everything okay? I’ve said your name several times.” Uncle Tommy glanced over at her worriedly.
“Keep your eyes on the road old man, you still haven’t gotten me the pony that you promised.” It was an ongoing joke in the family that one day he was going to buy her a pony.
“I wanna pony.” Robby added from the backseat.
“Ask your Uncle Ollie,” Tommy told him smirking. “He would love to buy you a pony.”
“Yeah, a toy pony.” Liv said snorting. For her tenth birthday she had been convinced that Tommy was going to get her a pony, only for it ending up being a My Little Pony. She had not been a happy camper at the time.
“And I totally already got you a pony, that Mustang when you were two.” He said and laughed at the unimpressed look on her face.
Pulling into the driveway of the Merlyn’s house Liv got Robbie out of his seat and they went to play until Felicity pulled into the driveway to pick her up. Liv walked Robbie back inside said goodbye to Uncle Tommy, then grabbed her backpack and archery gear and hopped into her Mom’s old Mini-Cooper, a vehicle which her mom loved, but her dad called a death trap.
“How was your day sweetheart?” Felicity asked as she started to back out of the driveway.
“Fine,” Liv answered distractedly. Her mom left her alone to stew in her own thoughts, knowing that when Liv was ready she would talk. They were almost home when she couldn’t hold her questions in any longer and blurted out. “Mom, is Dad the Green Arrow?”
The car suddenly swerved, but Felicity quickly righted it. “What makes you ask that?” She asked, her voice sounding unnaturally high like it did when she was nervous and trying to hide it.
“Is he?” Liv wouldn’t be put off.
Felicity sighed and shook her head, “You are so my daughter. Wait until we get home and all three of us will talk. Is that okay?” She asked as she reached over and grasped Liv’s hand.
“Yes, ma’am.” Liv answered quietly. Her mom’s response had basically given her the answer. The rest of the short drive was quiet with only the radio playing softly in the background providing a distraction.
Liv followed her Mom into the house and dropped her archery equipment in the hallway when Felicity stopped to change out of her heels into her favorite panda flats. “Mom, why do you wear the heels if they hurt your feet?”
Felicity smiled down at her eldest, “They usually don’t hurt that much, but with the pregnancy it’s making my feet do funny things. But I enjoy wearing heels because they make my legs look good, and even though I’m not that short I do enjoy the extra couple of inches that they give me, and did I mention how cute they are?”
While they had been talking they were making their way back to the kitchen, where Oliver had started working on supper. “Hey Babe,” He greeted his wife with a kiss.
“Can you ask Raisa to finish supper? We need to talk to you.” Felicity asked quietly.
Quickly realizing that something was up by how his wife and daughter were acting, Oliver stepped away from the stove and walked over to where Raisa had been cleaning dishes and spoke to her in Russian. “You know it’s not fair when you speak Russian.” Felicity complained.
“All Dad said was ‘If you wouldn’t mind, I’m using your recipe so I know it will turn out even better than if I had made the beef stroganoff.’” Both of her parents looked at her in surprise. “What? I’ve been practicing on DuoLingo and Uncle Anatoly’s been tutoring me when we talk.”
Oliver pressed a kiss to the top of her head, “You continue to surprise me. Where are we headed?”
“My office.” Felicity answered as she headed to the stairs with Oliver right behind her, Liv slowly bringing up the rear.
“I’m going to drop my backpack off in my room first.” Liv said as she passed her mother’s office and headed to her room. Her parents nodded and entered the office.
After she had dropped off her backpack, she braced herself and entered the office where she saw Felicity was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs in front of the desk, while Oliver was leaning on the desk leaving the other seat open for her. Olivia closed the door and slowly made her way over to the chair where she sat down and just stared at her hands.
“Oliver, Olivia has a question that she wants to ask you.” Felicity prompted gently.
Liv didn’t look up from her lap and continued staring at her hands.
“Liv?” When he got no response Oliver went and knelt in front of her, grunting slightly at the discomfort due to his bad knee and then because the knee he sat down on the floor in front of her so that he could look up and see her face. “What is it honey? You know that you can talk to me about anything.” His tone was gentle and reassuring, and Liv knew she could talk to both of her parent about anything, even embarrassing puberty questions. Which, funnily enough, it was actually easier to talk to her Dad about those questions than to listen to her Mom ramble while her face turned an interesting shade of red.
Oliver waited patiently while Liv fidgeted quietly in her chair. Finally, she worked up the courage to ask quietly, “Are you the Green Arrow?”
No one spoke for a few minutes. And then Oliver asked her, using his stern voice, the one that he always used when it was a serious discussion. “You understand that that’s a very serious question, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir.” Liv whispered.
“Why are you asking?” Oliver asked as he sighed.
Olivia recapped the night before and what she had heard as she was walking by the office and then told him that she recognized the Green Arrow’s technique as his technique on the news that morning.
“You understand that once I answer this question, your life will never be the same again. Are you okay with that?” Oliver asked gently.
“I understand, Dad.” And then looking up and into her Dad’s eyes, Liv said with certainty, “I know that you’re the Green Arrow.”
“Yes, Sweetheart, I am.”