She was beautiful, she was the most beautiful, stunning girl Oliver Queen had ever laid his eyes on – and Oliver Queen had seen many beautiful women in his lifetime. But she was the most beautiful, she had been ever since she was born.

Born with a head of dark hair, striking blue eyes, and a cry that sounded just like a laugh, Thea Queen was the most beautiful baby a ten-year-old who had no interest in being a big brother could have ever seen.

Even in all her pudgy faced, beanie-clad, and blanket-swaddled glory, even though she resembled a little baby lamb yawning, Oliver could have sworn he had never seen a more beautiful girl.

Because from the second she was born Thea was the same girl she was nineteen years later. She was loud, and she was dramatic, and she was happy, and she was kind, and she was so damn pure that it killed Oliver a little every time he realized that she actually knew what sadness was.

But most of all Thea Queen seemed to possess this incredible ability that nobody Oliver had ever met had, and Oliver had met a lot of incredible people. He knew Laurel Lance – who carried with her all the forgiveness in the world. And he knew Sara Lance – who carried with her all the hope in the world – even if she didn't quite know it yet. And he knew Felicity Smoak – who carried with her all the light in the world. And the list went on, and on.

But none of those three women, no one he had ever met in his entire life possessed the one ability Thea did, not a single damn person.

Thea seemed to have this ability to love everyone who crossed her path, she saw redemption where others saw insanity, she saw faith where others saw obsession, and she saw the good where everyone else saw the bad, and it wasn't because she didn't see the bad, it was because she seemed to have this uncanny ability to take the bad with the good despite how much she freaked out.

She had this ability to see the bad so clearly, that she was blind to everything but the good.

And to Oliver – who had a hard time seeing anything but the bad – that was the most beautiful quality anyone could ever have, it was a beautiful quality that no one but Thea could have.

Because nobody could ever be the woman that Thea had become, because nobody would ever live through the same circumstances that she had.

It had taken Oliver a long time to realize, it had taken Oliver loss and pain and misery to finally come to an understanding about Thea that he had never had before, she was the most typical of sisters, she was everywhere, and she was nowhere, she was loud, and she was dramatic, and she was annoying, and she was the best damn thing that had ever happened to the Queen family.

It had taken him a long time to realize that underneath all that loud, and dramatic, and annoying, and that thing that he couldn't name but just made her such a little sister, Thea had suffered more than any of them.

She had suffered more than him.

She had suffered more than Sara.

She had suffered more than Roy.

She had suffered more than every damn person Oliver knew.

Nobody ever acknowledged her pain because to them she was just the little girl who was being raised by a single mother, except she was the one who had been scarred possibly beyond repair.

Yet somehow she was still the little girl that used to chase after him like he was the most important person in the entire world, like there was no wrong that her big brother could do.

Oliver wondered briefly if she still thought that, because the truth of the matter was the last time he truly knew Thea was when she was twelve years old and she had thought blue eye shadow was the most incredible thing in the entire world, and her ponytails were ridiculously high, and she wore shirts with store's brand names plastered across the chest.

And now – despite the fact that Oliver knew nothing about makeup – he knew that Thea was very good at it, and her hair always fell in the perfect loose waves that he was beginning to suspect was her natural hair, though he couldn't quite know for sure, and her outfits reflected the person she had turned out to be.

A classy nineteen year old who ran a club that had grown up way too fast.

But standing there now on the fire escape of the shoebox of an apartment that Thea was staying in like a the total creep that he was slowly turning into, he felt like he knew who she was for the first in forever, but maybe that was because for the first time since he had gotten back from the island, he saw the little twelve year old girl who he had waved goodbye to that day before getting on the Queen's Gambit.

"Don't be nervous."

That was the last words Oliver had said to her before he had lost all contact for five years, such pointless, meaningless words. She had woken him up the night before he had left complaining all about how much she hated that her seventh grade English teacher was making them present their projects.

Even Thea Queen got nervous around crowds.

And he had remembered telling her that she was "being stupid and should try not to suck." And then he had remembered feeling guilty about it the next day, and had made the slightest of efforts to make it up to her by telling her not to be nervous.

He was supposed to have more time with her, to call her more names, and reassure her of more things, and then he just didn't, and when he had come back, she was a teenager in all her glory.

She didn't want help with her problems because she liked creating them, and she didn't want anyone to fight with, because she caused them herself. She was the product of a privileged life with no one to look after her, because everyone was so buried in their own grief that no one bothered to think about the little girl who had suddenly found herself all alone in the world.

And there was something in him, maybe the part of him that would always be the big brother that he was before he had gotten on that boat, that was telling him that he was staring at that same little girl again.

She was taller now, and even more beautiful, and she was strong, and she was pure, and she was tainted, and she was skeptical. And she was everything that a world full of lies, and rage, and dishonesty, and passion, and life, and humanity had turned her into.

She was a fighter, but she was the best kind of fighter there was, not the kind that Oliver was, or Sara, or Diggle, or even Felicity, she was the rawest, truest, most human kind of fighter that there was.

Thea was the tiny little warrior that he left behind seven years ago, and had never gotten the chance to meet.

He knew that Thea had single-handedly taken care of the shattered pieces of the family that Oliver and his father had left behind, he had heard the stories, from her, and even from their mom. He knew exactly how much growing up Thea had done, how much she had endured, but somehow he never could wrap his head around it.

Because in his head she was still the little twelve year old girl who ran into his room thinking he could solve every problem in the world.

But standing there now, he could finally see it, he could finally see who Thea had been all those years when she had had to take care of her family.

She was strong, and she was kind, but most of all she didn't feel anything. Her movements were practice, unhesitant, her movements were her simply going through the motions, doing whatever it took to get to tomorrow. She was everything that Oliver had never associated his baby sister with.

"If I was your sister," Felicity's voice filled his ear through the com, quietly and carefully – two traits that no one would ever dare to associate with Felicity Smoak, "I would want my big brother, not the Arrow."

"She hates me."

"She wants to hate you," Felicity corrected, "She wants to hate you just as much as she wanted to hate your mother for everything that happened during the Undertaking, but you and I both know that while your sister is incredibly good at going all hell hath no fury, there isn't a person in this world your sister is capable of hating."

"There's a first time for everything."

"My dad left me."

"I know," Oliver said quietly.

"No, I mean my dad picked up and just left me, and I hated him for so long for doing that to me, and I don't know if anyone will ever be able to understand how badly he damaged me when he did that, but the thing is Oliver, if he walked into my apartment tonight, I would be so freaking pissed, and I wouldn't be opposed to slapping him, but I also wouldn't hesitate to run into his arms, and tell him I love him like a little kid."

"This is different," He said, "I'm not Thea's father."

"Aren't you?"

"No I'm not."

"Oliver," She sighed like he was missing something important, "Her father is Malcolm Merlyn, your dad – can we be honest for a second? He didn't raise her, nobody raised Thea, Thea Queen raised herself. Since you've come back from the island when has she come to your with her problems? Besides when Roy was taken, when has she ever come to you?"

Oliver thought about it for a second before he realized something, "She hasn't."

"You're the closest thing she has to a dad, you are the closest thing she will ever have to any sort of authority figure."

"She's nineteen, Felicity," Oliver sighed, "She doesn't need raising, she doesn't need someone to give her a curfew, or ground her, or tell her to do her homework. She's a grown woman."

"And an emotionally stunted teenager."

"So what do you suggest Felicity? Do you want me to just barge into her apartment all guns blazing? In case you don't remember, a man held her and my mother at gunpoint, after kidnapping her, and then killed our mother right in front of her eyes. And then, I left her all by herself to deal with the aftermath of that. I left her all alone." He said heatedly.

"Exactly," Felicity said angrily, "You left her all alone, Oliver. You left her all alone. Just like you left her when you got on that boat, just like your dad left her when he got on that boat, just like your mom left her the second she decided to take part in the Undertaking, just like Walter left her, just like Roy left her, just like Tommy left her. Everybody leaves her."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" He asked in a tight tone. Felicity was notorious for giving Oliver the truth and nothing less than it, no sugar-coating, no nothing. However, that didn't mean her honesty was always appreciated, like in this particular circumstance, where he already knew everything she was telling him, he just didn't want to hear it.

"Yes, show her you're aren't leaving this time, Oliver," She said like it was obvious, "She's still a kid, and you are still the closest thing she has to an adult figure in her life. Show her that you are here to stay this time, that you aren't taking no for an answer. Do what you haven't done since you got back Oliver."

"And what's that?"

"Isn't it obvious? Be her big brother again."

"What if I can't?" He asked his biggest fear betraying him, "What if I can't be her brother again? What if I'm more emotionally stunted then she is? What if I'm more damaged then she is? What if I just do more bad then good?"

"We both know that isn't true, Oliver."

"When did you get so mean?"

"When did you start needing a kick in the ass to man up?"

Oliver almost smiled. Almost.

"Felicity," He said slowly as he jumped off the fire escape and landed neatly on his feet, so he could get rid of his Arrow gear, and hopefully be Thea's brother again, "This is going to sound stupid-"

"A lot of the things you say usually do."

This time he did smile.

"Just stay on the com with me, okay?" He asked glad that she couldn't see his face as made his way to the apartment building and took the stairs instead of the elevator simply because it would waste more time.

"Always."

"Oh," Thea's face reflected surprise as she pulled open the door to find Oliver standing there with a cautious look on his face, and just as quickly as her features had screwed up with surprise, it morphed into anger, "What are you doing here, Oliver?"

Ouch, she had just full named him.

"Can we talk?"

"We tried that. You ditched me remember?"

He did remember, so once again, ouch. Thea was going all hell hath no fury in all its glory.

"I do," He nodded drawing his lips into his mouth for a brief second, "Can I come in?"

"No."

Oliver nodded awkwardly, what the hell was he supposed to say now? He was just about to turn on his heel and walk away just as abruptly as he came when Felicity's voice hissed into his ear.

"Don't you dare turn around Oliver Queen; what did we talk about? Do not take no for an answer."

"Right," He said both to Felicity and himself, "Well that isn't an option, Thea."

"Right," She said part mockingly, part disbelievingly, "Well I'm going to go back inside, and you can go back to whatever hole you crawled out of, because you don't get to dictate what happens anymore. You don't get to tell me what is and isn't an option."

Okay, so his kid sister was actually kind of terrifying, was it okay to awkwardly leave now?

"She's nineteen, she's a kid, Oliver, she's like a fetus," Felicity said as if reading his mind – he briefly wondered if the coms could do that, "And you are the Arrow, you don't let anyone tell you what to do. Especially not little girls with an attitude and the cutest closet I have ever seen."

"Right," Oliver said for the second time as he moved forward and tossed Thea over his shoulder in one swift moment as kicked the door shut behind him, "Would you be quiet? You have neighbors you know."

"Good," Thea shrieked as she pounded on his back with her tiny little fists, "Then everyone can know what a bastard you are."

"I think I liked you better when you're favorite adjective for me was 'jerk.'"

He smiled to himself at the memory of twelve year The Queen stomping her foot and screaming, "You're such a jerk, Ollie!" every time he did something to piss her off, as a kid she was just too easy.

"You are!" She cried as he put her down on her two feet, "You are a lying, manipulative, self-centered jerk, who doesn't care about anyone but himself!"

"Oh yeah?" Oliver raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah," Thea nodded crossing her arms over her chest, "And you know what? You're a terrible brother. You spend more time with your bodyguard and your assistant than you do with me; did it ever occur to you that I needed you?"

"Ouch," Felicity muttered the one adjective that seemed to suit everything.

"No," He said honestly, "It didn't."

"Good," She said heatedly, "Because I don't need you, Oliver! I didn't need you when you came back from the island and you had this brilliant idea that I needed parenting, and I don't need you now."

"I don't know what you want me to do."

"I didn't want you to do anything!" Thea cried throwing her hands up briefly, "Why don't you get it, Ollie? I don't need you for anything, and I don't want you near me, I can save myself! I don't need a hero anymore, I don't need a big brother anymore, you aren't my hero, you aren't even my brother – you're my half-brother –, and I don't think you can do everything anymore!"

"Okay, that was harsh," Felicity mused, "But, she called you Ollie, that's definitely progress."

Oliver almost wished Felicity could read his mind, he was actually incredibly grateful for her run-on commentary, she was acting like she was watching some soap opera, and for some inexplicable and odd reason it was helping him focus on Thea, and what she needed and didn't think she needed from him.

"Well that sucks Thea because I am here."

"For how long?" Thea scoffed shaking her head, "I don't know what you were looking for when you came here tonight but understand this, I don't want to see you, Ollie, because when I see you, I see everything that has ever gone wrong in my life. I see every terrible thing that has happened because you got on that boat."

"You blame me," Oliver said quietly, "You blame me for everything that has happened."

"No," Thea said quietly at the same time as Felicity did – though her tone was filled with a hollow sorrow.

His girl Wednesday had figured out the one thing that was driving Thea to this, that was driving her to keep Oliver away from her, that was fueling every bit of anger in her tiny little body.

"Oliver, she blames herself."

"Thea Dearden Queen," Oliver said quietly and firmly as he grabbed her upper arms with his hands forcing her to look at him, "If I ever even catch wind of you being so stupid as to think that this is your fault ever again, I promise you little sister, I will kick your ass."

Thea stared at him for a second, and for a brief moment Oliver wondered if it had been that easy to get through to her, but when her blue eyes hardened, Oliver knew that was just wishful thinking, "I'm just your half-sister, Ollie, there's no need to get so worked up over the mass murderers' child."

'She's your little sister, you don't want to hit her. She's your little sister, she's your little, kid, baby, sister, and you do not want to hurt her.' Oliver repeated the words over and over again in his head like it was a mantra, hoping that somehow it would help him resist the urge to do just that.

"Can we put an arrow in her?" Felicity asked in a conversational tone.

God, could they? Oliver was seriously going to consider it if his stupid, brat, of a sister ever referenced them as half anything ever again. They were brother and sister, and that was it, but more than that right now, they were a severely pissed off big brother and severely oblivious baby sister.

She could call herself the mass murderers' daughter all she wanted, but he wasn't going to put up with this half bullshit.

"Who taught you how to ride a bike?"

"What?"

"Answer the question, Thea." Oliver said through gritted teeth his hands letting go of her upper arms out of fear that he would grip them too tight if she continued to test his patience.

"Dad."

"And who taught me how to ride a bike?"

"Dad."

"Who taught you how to walk?"

"I don't know, Mom?"

"And who taught me how to walk?"

"I wasn't even alive, Ollie, probably Mom."

"And who helped you with your math homework?"

"You."

"And who helped me pick up girls?"

"Me."

"And whose room did you sleep in every night from when you were six to eleven years old?"

"Yours."

"And who told me that they would never judge me almost every night when they thought I was asleep?"

"Me."

"So then tell me," Oliver said almost threateningly as he stepped forward, "What exactly is half about that?"

"That was hands down the best speech ever," Felicity said as he and Thea stared each other down, "It was even better than Izzie's speech on Grey's Anatomy about believing and that speech was the mother of all speeches."

"I don't forgive you," Thea said quietly, "You should have been there at Mom's funeral, you should have been home that night, you should have been there for me. I needed you Oliver, and maybe you're scared to admit it, but you needed me too."

"I'm not asking you to forgive me."

"But," Thea said softly her bottom lip trembling as her blue eyes blinked up at him wide, and trusting, as she stared at him with the same look she used to give him every night before crawling into his bed because there were "witches" in her room, "I don't want to hurt anymore, Ollie. I don't want to be sad anymore."

And because Thea had managed to sum up everything Oliver was feeling in two seconds, he pulled her into a tight hug with no intentions of letting go, no matter how hard she fought against him. Eventually she would come to realize that this time he meant it when he said he was going to stick around, there was a certain blonde IT girl who was going to make sure of that.

"Hey Oliver?" Felicity said quietly, "I'm kind of freaking proud of you."