"Arrow": Forbidden Desires

In any case, Oliver walked into the mansion and moved towards the living room. He couldn't help but smile as he saw his little sister watching the television, with a bottle of wine in hand. Despite the inappropriate physical desires he regretfully suffered from, it was such a relief to see someone who unconditionally loved him after such a harrowing ordeal with that unfeeling psychopath. It was time for him to switch gears: to stop thinking about the hate and horror of monsters like Zsasz and focus on the love and caring of someone like Thea.

"Hey there, big brother," Thea said to him with a smile as he entered the room.

She obviously had imbibed a few drinks by this point, but Oliver didn't mind. True, she wasn't 21 yet, but Oliver's main concern with her drinking was in regards to the fact that he didn't want her to be at a wild party where some sleazy jerk could take advantage of her. But he was more than happy to get drunk with her at home in a controlled environment.

"Hey-o, Speedy. Sorry I'm fifteen minutes later than I said I would be home, lots of stuff I had to deal with."

"No worries, Ollie," she said with a smile as she looked up at him. "By the way, Tommy stopped by the office today and asked me to remind you to give him a call back regarding his selection of DJs for your club."

Ah, crap. He had totally forgotten about that. If he was going to use "working on plans for the club" as a cover, he would have to pay more attention to details like that. He put a reminder on his phone to call Tommy tomorrow.

Exhausted, he slowly lumbered towards the couch and sat down on the opposite side of Thea.

Walking in, he had paid no attention to what she was actually watching on TV. As he sat down, he suddenly noticed. She was watching some sort of debate on the local news. And the topic the anchors were talking about was the Starling City vigilante. Himself.

"Jessica, you are absolutely insane," the male correspondent heatedly said on the TV. "The vigilante is a criminal, no better than any of the crooks he's supposedly taken down. He's killed people before, and interferes with police work."

"Oh, 'police work,' you say?" the female newscaster said with a fury in her voice. "And tell me, where was this so-called 'police work' when Victor Zsasz was murdering innocent people for the last two years? The police couldn't touch him. The vigilante was able to stop him, saving countless lives. You would dare to condemn the potential victims of this psychopath to death just because of a strict by-the-book obligation to the legal system in terms of who exactly is allowed to bring an end to his reign of terror? Even forgetting the vigilante's previous deeds, apprehending Zsasz alone has saved the lives of dozens of innocent people. How could you dare argue against the fact that the vigilante is a force for good? What if Zsasz had gone after your family next, Eric? I'd bet you'd be pretty happy about the vigilante's interference in that case."

"You are out of line, bringing my family into this discussion," the male correspondent said with anger. "You don't know what you're talking about. The vigilante..."

Oliver grabbed the remote and turned the TV off with feign-disgust.

"God, I have heard more than enough arguments regarding that freak show," he said with mock distaste. Deep down, he was filled with plenty of self-doubt, and seeing the female correspondent display the reasons that he is making a difference in the city and saving lives warmed his heart. Still, he couldn't share that with Thea, for obvious reasons, and had to pretend to be against the vigilante to help remove all suspicion.

"Who do you mean by freak show? You mean the vigilante?" Thea inquired. She walked over to their kitchen to grab a glass for Oliver that she could pour the wine into as she continued to converse with him. "I don't know about freak show, I think he's been doing some good for people."

"Thea, the vigilante is breaking the law. He's a murderer. There's no justification for his actions."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Thea said in response as she walked back with a glass and poured Oliver some wine and handed it to him. "I mean, you heard them talk about it. He stopped this serial killer guy who was killing innocent women. If this Zazzafraz guy..."

"Zsasz," he quickly responded in correction, immediately regretting it for fear of giving himself away.

"Right, Zizzazz. You have such a good memory!" she replied, still getting the pronunciation slightly wrong but he wouldn't dare correct her further. "Anyway, if this Zizzazz guy went on to kill someone else tonight had the hood guy not stopped him... you would still have a problem with it? I mean, the police couldn't touch him."

Oliver began to drink the wine she had handed him before responding. "Regardless, that work is handled by the police, and the vigilante has no business interfering," Oliver replied sternly.

"Oh, really?" Thea said as she sat up straight and looked him in the eyes. "Ollie, that killer liked to prey on innocent woman, and kill them. What if his next target...was me? Wouldn't you be happy for the vigilante stopping him in that case?"

Oliver sat up straight as well, with a stern look in his eyes. "Thea, don't you dare joke about that."

"I'm not joking. What if I was his next target? Wouldn't you be..."

"I don't want to ever think about that in a million years," Oliver replied sadly. "Why would you even bring that up?"

Thea could sense the hurt and sadness in him, so she moved towards the other end of the couch and gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry, Ollie. I just wanted to present a possible argument."

"Well," he said as he stroked her hair, "I don't want you to make me think about such things again."

"Agreed," she said as she detached herself from him and sat back down. Instead of going to the opposite side of the couch, she stayed seated in the middle cushion on purpose in order to be closer to him. "Still, Ollie...I have a little bit of a confession for you regarding this matter."

"Oh yeah? And what might that be?"

"I know this is irrational and dumb...but..I dunno...is it wrong that I think the Hood Guy is...kinda sexy?"

Oliver shuddered for a moment.

Thea smiled. She was looking for a reaction from him, and she got one.

Oliver regained his composure from this comment and replied. "Thea, you can't be thinking such things. He's dangerous. He's a vigilante and a murderer, you can't be thinking..."

"He's a hero, Ollie. I mean, don't get me wrong, I would never be dumb enough to actually get involved with him or anything, I just think the idea of a hunky guy fighting crime and risking his life for the good of the city is super hot. You can let me have my fantasies, right?"

Fantasies. Her using that word made him shudder again. His little sister was having "fantasies" that, unbeknownst to her, were about him.

Finally, he composed himself and replied. "Thea, listen. Even if you think that this guy is some sort of force for good, he's still dangerous. Laurel has gotten involved with him, and it's put her in danger. Twice!"

"What do you mean, twice? He saved her life both times!"

"The second time, she was only in danger in the first place because of her involvement with him."

"But he came and saved her that second time, still! He could have just left her to die. He has a heart, he cares about people...and besides, I know he would never hurt me."

"Oh yeah?" Oliver replied with amusement. "What makes you so sure about that? He's hurt plenty of other people. Killed them, even."

"Oh, please, Ollie. He's only killed bad guys that were shooting at him and trying to kill him! He would never come after someone like me...besides, I think he's trying to protect me..."

"Protect you?" Ollie said with some mock anger. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, after I was caught with the drug Vertigo and put on trial...well, almost immediately after that, he went after the head guy dealing the drug and stopped him. I don't think it's a coincidence. I think the vigilante is looking out for me."

It was hard for Oliver to maintain his faux-anger when everything that she said was completely correct. He supposed that going after the Count immediately after Thea was put on trial was a risky decision, but given the fact that she was here and not in prison it was a decision he wouldn't change for the world. In any case, it seemed like she wasn't on to him at all. After all, she did say that she was attracted to the vigilante, something she would obviously never say if she suspected it was her own brother. In any case, he decided to needed to bring an end to the discussion.

"Well, Speedy, I think that's a dangerous way to think, but it seems to me that you're rational enough to know not to engage him if you actually come in contact with him," he said with a smile. He moved his hand over to grab her upper leg and shook it slightly. "Now, let's forget it and get down to brass tax. I believe my pop culture advisor has something else to help me catch up on today's popular media."

"Sounds like a plan. We can table this discussion. I do have plenty to show you," she smiled.

Having accomplished her initial goals, Thea smiled back at him and agreed to postpone the vigilante discussion for the time being. She booted up the On-Demand portion of their cable box, and moved the menus towards her intended destination.

"Okay then, Ollie. Today, I'm going to show you the first few episodes of a TV show. One of the most popular TV shows of the last few years. It's a fantasy show, so it's kind of hard to understand at first because it's so complex, but I'll explain the details and such to you to help you understand everything that's going on and whatnot." Thea continued to fiddle with the menus as she attempted to reach her destination.

"Sounds good. What's the show called?"

"It's called 'Game of Thrones,'" she replied, hiding her smile so that Oliver couldn't see it. Finally, she found what she wanted and brought up the first episode of the first season. She pressed play.

She leaned back down in her seat and draped her right arm over her brother's shoulders as the first episode began to play. He put his arm around her in turn.

"This should be interesting," she thought to herself excitedly.

With their arms around each other, the two siblings watched most of the episode. Occasionally, he would ask her to pause to explain the various "noble houses," characters and relationships and whatnot to him -- after all, it was a very intensive and complex fantasy world, and very confusing to a first time viewer. She was happy to explain all the nuances.

Eventually, the first scene she was looking forward to came on screen. A scene where the character Viserys groped his sister Daenerys's naked body. Thea could sense a sort of discomfort in Oliver. While he still had his arm around Thea, this scene caused him to slowly inch himself towards the opposite end of the couch, away from her.

Good. This was just the beginning, she knew. The best part is yet to come.

Throughout the rest of the episode, she had explained the various houses of Westeros to him and their relationships and politics. He seemed to understand, to at least some degree. He still had some of the characters and plotlines confused, but was relatively close to an understanding.

As the first episode drew to a close, she waited in anticipation for the moment she couldn't wait to see his reaction to.

Bran Stark crawled up the walls of Winterfell. And then, he witnessed Queen Cersei having sex with her lover. Her lover pushed Bran out the window, and then the episode ended.

Thea could tell that Oliver enjoyed the episode a great deal, but was still slightly confused. He had a hard time keeping the world of Westeros and all the different characters straight, as did most first-time viewers.

She could tell he didn't quite understand what happened at the end of the episode. He didn't exactly remember who the Queen's lover was, or what the scene had meant. So of course, he asked her.

"That was pretty interesting. I couldn't quite keep track of all the characters and whatnot, but I see the potential, definitely. I have a few things to ask you to help clarify it, though."

"Sure, ask me anything," she smiled. "I've seen it before and understand it pretty well."

"Well," he asked,"I have a hard time keeping track of the characters. So when the boy saw those two people having sex at the end...the woman he saw was the Queen, right? The fat guy's wife?"

"Yeah, that's right," she said, in anticipation of the next question.

"Okay, so, who was that dude she was having sex with at the end? I sort of remember him from earlier, but don't remember exactly where."

"Oh, that guy? That's Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. He killed the previous king. Also," she stopped for a moment to reflect. She blushed as she said the next sentence. "...he's the Queen's brother. Bran caught the Queen having sex with her brother, which is why Jaime pushed him out the window."

Oliver sat there in dumbfounded silence for a moment. He vaguely remembered the character being introduced earlier in the episode as the Queen's brother, but thought he must have missed something, or was in denial to some degree. But no, he hadn't missed anything.

Given the choice of any movie or TV show in the world, his sister chosen to show him a show that depicted incest between a brother and sister.

He tried to rationalize it. The show had good production values, and was obviously a big hit. It was set in medieval times, and things were different back then.

But still, he couldn't get over the fact that his sister had chosen to show him a television show depicting a brother and sister engaging in incest...and she was sitting only a few inches away from him, while she was clad in only a night gown and pajama shorts.

"So, did you like it?" she smiled. "Ready to watch the next episode?"

"Definitely," he replied. "Seems like an interesting premise. I'm excited to see what happens next."

The two siblings watched the second episode of the show, and then the third, but as they continued to drink they couldn't help but slowly doze off. Thea, having seen the show before, slowly lost interest and began to close her eyes. She lowered her head onto her big brother's shoulder, and her eyes closed as she began to sleep.

Oliver, tired from an exhausting day, felt like he was starting to doze off as well. He noticed that Thea seemed to be knocked out cold, and had fallen asleep in his arms.

He slowly slipped out from underneath her warm body to stand up besides the couch.

Cursing himself again for being attracted to the unfamiliar beautiful woman she now was, he hated himself for sexualizing such an innocent act. She loved him, in a purely platonic way. In a way that would last forever. And his disturbing thoughts were perverting it. She shuddered to himself, then decided he at least owed it to her to take her up to her room.

Oliver turned off the TV and the light, and used his arms to pick up Thea by the legs and torso as she slept on the couch. Her being so small, carrying her was no effort at all. As he picked her up and held her in his arms, she began to nestle towards him, cooing and burying herself in his body.

Oliver walked up the stairs with Thea's sleeping body in his arms. He opened the door to her room, and gently placed her on her bed.

"Good night, Speedy," he said with a loving voice as he kissed her on the forehead.

He slowly walked out of her room, stealing one last glance at her, and then moved away. As he entered his bedroom, he took off his clothes until he was only in his boxers and nothing else. He crawled under his covers, hoping for a restful night's sleep.

Oliver began to shut his eyes again and drift off. Even though he'd been back for months, he still wasn't fully used to sleeping on a comfortable bed. As they did so often after he closed his eyes, the bed he was sleeping on slowly transformed into the leaves, grass and dirt he had grown more accustomed to in his mind.

------------------------------------------

In his head, Oliver was transported to four years prior. He had been on the island for a year, and he and Slade Wilson were preparing for the next plane that would potentially be their rescue.

It was dusk, and Oliver was standing over a fire, holding a picture. Holding the only thing reminding him of home.

Most of Slade's training had been physical -- combat techniques, outdoorsmanship, survival.

But on this day, Slade was trying to teach him something much more emotional. Something much more personal.

"Gid on with it. Drop it in the fire."

Slade was attempting to tell him to burn the one thing he had left that reminded him of home. His picture of Laurel. The one thing he had clung on to. He continued to hesitate.

"Burn the bloody thing already," Slade insisted. "I think I've shown you I know what I'm doin' by this point and you're best off takin' my advice."

Oliver looked at the former Australian Secret Intelligence Service member with some sternness. "This is the only thing I have left to remind me of home. To remind me of who I really am."

"If you want to survive you need to look forward, not wax nostalgic about the past. You need to think about the future."

This was the hardest thing Slade had ever asked him to do. But he knew Slade was his only hope of survival, and he had to do what he said.

With a sigh, he dropped the picture of Laurel in the fire. He hoped he wouldn't forget what she looked like. Oliver stared at the picture as the flames burnt it.

Later on that night, the two castaways shared rations of cold beans. Oliver could hardly stand to look at Slade right now.

Slade eventually broke the silence. "You going to finish that, or what?" he said, referring to Oliver's bean can that was still half full, which he apparently had stopped eating.

Oliver moved it towards him. "I'm not feeling particularly hungry. You can finish it."

"I wasn't asking because I wanted to eat the rest, you twit. I was telling you that you've got to finish it yourself. You need your strength."

Oliver slowly looked down and tried to force himself to eat the rest. Finally, he shook his head and couldn't hold his emotions in any more.

"My ONE reminder of home. My ONE thing to hold on to. You seriously couldn't afford me that? Just one little picture?" Oliver yelled in anger.

Slade chuckled in response. "Ah, so the truth comes out."

Slade got up and walked towards his bag. He pulled something out of it, and slipped it in his pocket. "I've got something for you, Oliver. Something I was waiting to give you until you burned that bloody picture."

"What is it?"

"Give me a moment to explain, first," Slade said as he sat back down next to Oiver. "You see, Oliver, I'm not without sentiment. I know that in order to have the motivation and the drive to survive in situations like these, you need to think about your loved ones. To think about reconnecting with them."

Oliver narrowed his eyes in anger. "Really? Then why did you tell me to burn the picture of my girlfriend?"

"Will you let me finish? As I said, you need to think about the future. Not the past. And your little girlfriend? Well, brother, she sure as hell is a relic of the past. When you look at her picture, you're not thinking about the joy you'll receive when you reconnect with her. You're thinking about the past, about mistakes you made, about how you want to turn back time. Because the harsh reality is, when you get back to America, Laura-"

"Laurel."

"Right, Laurel, whatever. Stupid name, anyways. Anyway, from what you've told me, I don't think your Laurel is going to be particularly happy to see you again. You cheated on her with her sister, and that led to her sister getting killed. When you see her again, she's going to be rightly pissed and tell you to bugger off. When you looked at her picture, you weren't being inspired. You weren't thinking about all of the true love and hope that you're going to see in her eyes when she sees that you survived. You're waxing nostalgic about the past, about the mistakes you made, how you want to go back in time and fix them. That simply won't do. If you want to survive, you need to look forward, not backward.