olivia_queen | Fit for a Queen

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heart to heart

Fit for a Queen

Why did she still feel so lousy? Michael was a nice enough guy, she could talk to him, have fun with him...he was totally hot. So why was it she felt more miserable now than ever? Olivia Queen was debating this as she came home from her date, keys dropped to the dish by the door, jacket tossed carelessly on the back of a chair. She went right for the fridge. She wasn't hungry but for some reason she craved comfort food.

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Ollie walked up from the stairs to his 'Arrow-Cave', in the sub-basement, looking for his belt. He could never seem to find the damn thing when he needed it. He rooted around, checking his room, the couch, all the usual places he'd remove it. He poked his head in the kitchen as he heard the fridge door open, "Hey Livvy, have you seen my-", he stopped for a moment. The slumped shoulders, the fact she was grabbing nutella and marshmallows from the fridge. Something had her bugged. And since Dinah wasn't around he was going have to do that parenting thing wasn't he?

She was about to make a modified fluff sandwich when the voice of her father caught her by surprise. That never should have happened. Dad was not exactly the sneakiest guy in the world and she should have noticed him way before now. she pulled back and dropped the fixings to the counter with a thud.

"Hey dad." No enthusiasm there, and though she would never admit it she completely adored her father, so that made the lackluster greeting all the more out of sorts.

"Something wrong, sweetie?" He asked, concerned for his daughter. He sat down at the counter next to her, she only ever got out the nutella when things were going great, or going completely crappy. And since she isn't exactly walking on sunshine, it's probably the latter.

"Nope, everything's great." The practiced Queen lie, he should know it, he perfected the damned thing. She turned away to grab a knife and the bread, expecting him to be gone when she turned back.

"Livvy ..." He said, not really knowing what to say. He wasn't great at this, and normally would flail and hide. But she needed him. He didn't budge.

He must have learned that tone from mom, because it worked. Her shoulders slumped and she turned back, slapping the bread to a piece of paper towel and scooping out nutela to spread on it.
"I don't know what it is. I just feel...I don't even know. It's like I hurt but i don't know why and I feel empty and like I lost something" It made no sense and she knew it, but it was all she could do not cry. She kept her head down and reached for the fluff.

"Well, what happened? Why do you think you're feeling like this?" Ollie asked in his best imitation of a fatherly tone. He's no good at reading between the lines like Dinah could, but if she could be straight forward with him, he'd help as best he could. He thinks he already knows the answer though, and he was kind of afraid to talk about the subject.

"I don't know what's causing it!" She slammed her fist to the counter top and sent things flying. As if she hadn't been trying to figure it out? How stupid did he think she was?

No, he was trying to help and her temper was flaring again. She sighed, "Sorry Dad. I just mean I've tried to figure it out but I don't know what it is. Everything has been fine, great even. We had our first really big fight as heroes and we kicked ass. The team worked great, we all survived and everything. Brandon has this girl.met this really nice lantern girl and things are going good for them. I have kinda been going out with Michael Choi. He's a good guy. Henry and Brandon even made peace a little, everything's good so why am I so messed up?"

Oh god, it is as he feared. Boy troubles. His every instinct told him to try and weasel his way out of this, this was a job Dinah could do way better than him. But he had made up his mind to be there for his daughter, and the only thing he was more than irresponsible, was stubborn.

"Well, ... It seems to me like maybe you'd rather be going out with someone other than Michael." Ollie swallowed and said in the awkward way he talked about these things. Note to self, remind Mike to 'look, don't touch'.

She gave him a funny look, sort of completely shocked by his reply. "Like who? Micheal's cute, he's a great fighter, he's a total gentleman. He's smart, funny, built like you wouldn't believe. He's pretty much a perfect guy." But even as she said it the tone spoke of something else. Something she didn't even see. She was not lying about her admiration and attraction to Michael, she was completely honest in her evaluation. But there was something else that was missing.

"Yeah, but there's something missing, isn't there?" Ollie said, eating a spoonful of nutella. Holy shit. He's actually parenting. Feels ... odd. "Think back to what you said a minute ago, half of it centered around who?"

How was he doing this? Could he always do this?

When he said it back to her she could see it, it made more sense than she wanted it to. There was something missing. Michael was a great guy, a fantastic one really and she had a good time with him. But she didn't get butterflies in her belly over him. She wasn't thinking about him all the time or missing him when they weren't together. she didn't have all the 'classic' signs of mooning over someone.

When he asked the second part she had to actually stop and think. She'd unloaded a lot emotionally and now he expected her to remember what she said? "Umm I was talking about the fight, and Henry...wait a second! No! Henry is like my brother. There is no way in HELL I could ever see him as a guy." She looked at her father as if he was crazy for even hinting at the idea.

"You mentioned him once, Livvy." Ollie said, dryly. She was really a lot more like him than either of them would care to admit. She was showing the same sort of hide your true feelings crap he had done for the longest time. She wouldn't say it, so he'd have to. Even if his protectiveness for his daughter around guys screamed for him not to, "Brandon. I'm talking about Brandon."

"B'?" She seemed as though she'd never even given the idea thought before. She stood there, shocked by the notion, knife in her hand idly pointed to her father as if she could just as easily dismiss his notion of Brandon as she had Henry. But for every point in her mind there was a counterpoint.

There was the fact that she'd practically grown up with him. But over that time she'd grown closer to him.

He knew everything about her. But he'd seen her at her best and her worst, and always accepted her.

He was her movie buddy and sparring partner. But he'd always been there for her, forsaking dates to spend time with her.

He'd dated. But hadn't she driven off girls she knew weren't worthy of him? He himself had said often enough how she had to vet any girl he might be interested in.

He was her best friend. But she never realized how she felt until he found his equal.

It was clear on her face as she shot down her own arguments and reached the conclusion that...as much as she didn't want to admit it, she was in love with her best friend.

It might have been a reason to be happy if not for the fact that he was quite possibly in love with someone else.

"Oh God...Daddy!" She collapsed against her father, crying openly for being a stupid, prideful idiot. "I never told him...I never realized and now he's with her."

Ollie was surprised by this reaction, almost falling out of his chair as she flopped on top of him. Soon as he regained his balance, he gave Livvy a good long hug. "Sweetie ..." He said softly, his voice trailing off, he wasn't sure what to say. He'd never seen her like this before. After a few moments of hugging in silence, except for Liv's sobbing, he came to a realization. He'd stayed at first to prove to himself that he could. Now, he was here for her.

"Liv. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did. I love your mom, just like you love Brandon. But because I had my head so far up my own ass, I couldn't see that for the longest time. But if there's one thing I am aside from prideful, and stupid, and a bastard, it's stubborn. I don't give up, and I didn't give up on trying to make things work with your mom. And you know what, I've never seen you give up either."

Her dad had made plenty of mistakes. Hell he'd fucked up, a lot. But int he end he'd done right by mom,more or less. Sure they still had their periods where they would fight or argue over things. Hell even now they would have blow of fights where one or both would leave for a while, it was how Liv had wound up spending so much time at with Uncle Ted. He knew the history between Dinah and Ollie and knew that even if they hated each other one minute they would love each other forever. That was what kept them married, it wasn't the time they were apart it was what they had together.

Like her and Brandon, he was like the other half of her. She did get butterflies in her stomach of him. She did miss him when they were apart. All those things that she was thinking she didn't have....well she'd just been trying to find them with the wrong person.

"You're right. I love him. I must have been some kind of idiot for not seeing it before." She half laughed, straightening and wiping at her eyes. She even smiled a little and made a hiccup sort of laugh between the slowly ebbing tears.

"And I am a lot like you. So I think I know what I have to do.Thanks for the talk Daddy," she kissed his cheek. "It really helped." Oh yeah, she did. she was in love with a guy who had someone, that made things pretty damned clear.

It was time for this little bird to leave the nest and take flight.

Ollie smiled at seeing her brighten up a bit. "I'm glad I could help." He said, and he damn well meant it. Maybe he wasn't such a fuck-up after all, at least as a dad. Maybe she'd have things even better than he did. Guess that's all he could wish for.

"I've gotta find my belt for tonight." He said after giving Livvy a hug. He walked out, and when he was upstairs, he let out a relieved sigh, slumping against the wall. He smiled, and let a few happy tears roll out.

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Fit for a Queen

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