6 Canon Arrives, Finally!

"Where have you been Isaac!!" Moira yelled. Isaac could hear she had been crying, his heart broke knowing she had been alone with all of this.

"I'm sorry mom, I was in the shower. I just saw the news, how are you holding up?" Isaac asked, genuinely concerned.

"I-I-I d-don't know. I just can't believe it. He was out there this whole time, and I stopped looking Isaac, I'm supposed to be his mother!!"

"Stop!" I interrupted. "You need to stop thinking like that. There was nothing to indicate that anyone survived that crash and blaming yourself is only going to make it impossible for you to be there for him now. We have no idea what he's been through, and he is going to need us, now more than ever. You need to pull yourself together and stop the self-flagellation, this isn't your fault. Now where is he?"

"The coast guard just brought him in, he's headed to the hospital now."

"Ok, then we'll head there now, I just need to put on some clothes." Isaac finished, suddenly very aware of his state of dress, or rather his lack of it.

"No Isaac, as much as I want you there, I need you to stay with Thea and take her to the Manor. I'll bring Oliver home as soon as the doctors release him. She needs you right now and I can't take her to see him when I have no idea what condition he's in. I can't do that to her. Please." She pleaded. Isaac knew Moira was right plus Thea was in no condition to go anywhere right now anyway. He looked at his still frozen sister, her arms still around him, tears still falling from her eyes and held her close.

"Ok. I'll take her home as soon as I can, she's still processing this."

"Thank you Isaac. Take care of her and I'll text you any updates."

"Sounds good, and mom be careful with your expectations, Oli has more than likely been through some serious trauma and is going to need a lot of time and our support. Don't rush things! Love you." Isaac added.

"Love you too." Isaac hung up the phone and turned off the TV, even that didn't get Thea's attention, and turned toward his sister.

"Thea?" Isaac called as his hands shook her shoulders. When she didn't respond after the third time, Isaac took a more drastic measure. Isaac carried his sister to the still running shower, turned the handle all the way cold, waited a moment and then placed her in. In less than 10 seconds all Isaac could hear was, "AHHHHHH!!!!"

"What the fuck Isaac!" Thea roared as she glared up at her older brother. Isaac just grinned, happy his sister was back.

"Welcome back Speedy." Isaac said as he lifted her wet figure out of the shower and turned it off. "You had me worried for a moment there." Thea's face went wide at that, her eyes filled with tears.

"Is it true Isaac? Is Oli really alive?" Thea practically begged. Isaac looked down at her gently and nodded.

"Yea sis, he's alive. Now go dry up and get dressed. I'm gonna take you home and we'll wait for him together, ok?" She nodded her head and ran out the door.

Oliver didn't come home for another week; the doctors ran multiple tests on him and were treating him for severe dehydration and numerous other injuries. Moira never left the hospital in all that time, she was a mess, Isaac had to make sure to have food sent to her or she'd have never ate. Thea wasn't any better; the girl practically climbed the walls waiting for Oliver to get home. In the days before Oliver's return home, Isaac did his best to take Thea's mind off of Oliver's delayed return, including taking her and her friends shopping (it was a tough day for him).

Soon enough, though not for Thea, a week passed by and on Monday morning, a car dropped off Moira and Oliver from the hospital. Isaac was upstairs in his room meditating. When Oliver was gone, Isaac often did this to reach out to either Sara or him, to help them mentally. Even at that moment, Isaac was reaching out to Sara's mind, trying to ease the guilt and self-hate she felt towards herself for everything she had done. Isaac was never obvious when he did this, he couldn't be or he'd have been discovered, Isaac tried to just be a whisper in the back of their mind.

"Ding Dong" The doorbell suddenly rang. Isaac woke from his trance but didn't move, he already knew who it was, he did hear Thea run out of her room though. After he heard Thea greet their brother, Isaac headed down himself to say hello. As he walked down the staircase he saw Thea squeezing the life out of Oliver, "Ease up Thea, he can't breathe," Isaac joked. They both looked up at him, Thea released her brother sheepishly, Oliver had a slight smile on his face, but Isaac could see how shielded his brother was.

"It's been a while Oli; you were supposed to be home ages ago." Isaac lectured smiling, he moved closer and embraced the prodigal son, happy to have him back. Oliver blinked through his unshed tears and grabbed his younger brother tightly. They stayed like that for a bit before Isaac realized that this was probably a lot for Oliver to handle at the moment and pulled back. Isaac kept his hands on Oli's shoulders, looked him in his eyes and said, "Welcome home big bro."

At that Oliver truly smiled. The family stayed together that whole night, there were no awkward family reveals (like a new husband) or insensitive questions (Thea), they all just told old stories and laughed. Though the Queen women never did leave Oliver's side that night, not even for a moment, it was as if they thought he'd disappear if they did. Nighttime eventually fell, all too quickly for the Queen women, and Isaac had finally gotten Thea to go to sleep before he went to check on Oliver.

"I figure it'll probably take you a while before you're even remotely comfortable with all of this again." Oliver turned around at that; his body tense.

"I didn't hear you come in. You're not wrong though, this will definitely take some getting used to." Oliver sighed out. Isaac thought he looked weary, not much of a surprise given what he knew Oliver had been through.

"I know it's been a long day for you, but can I give you a piece of advice Oli?" Oliver looked at Isaac warily but nodded.

"I can see that whatever you've been through has left its mark on you, but Mom and Thea they won't see it, they can't. You need to be honest with them," before Oliver could interrupt Isaac added, "Not about what happened, that comes when, or if, you're ready. You need to try to be honest with them about how you're feeling, if they're pushing you too hard, or moving too fast, or even if you need space, you need to tell them. I figure if you can try to do that, then you can get the space you need to take care of yourself without any unnecessary pressure or expectations. It'll also keep you from getting too stressed out." Oliver stared at his brother, unsure how to respond.

"Just trust your genius little brother for once and try it, you'd be surprised how far a little communication gets you." Isaac joked.

"I'll try," Oliver sighed, "And for the record I do trust you, this is just.." Oliver struggled, frustrated.

"Harder than you expected?" Isaac asked. Oliver's eyes widened a fraction.

"Yea, how did you know?"

"You do remember I'm a genius right? Don't fall into the trap of expecting everything to be fine just because you made it home. You still carry the weight of your experiences; they don't magically disappear just because you got home. You have an advantage now though; do you know what it is?" Isaac asked. Oliver thought for a moment before he gave up.

"No what is it?" He questioned.

"Us," Isaac stated simply, "Your advantage is your family and friends. It doesn't matter if you don't tell us everything you went through, we can still help you carry some of that weight. You might struggle with reconciling who you are now with who you were. No one can go through something like you did and come out unchanged, it's not possible, and that is ok. Give yourself some time and try to be kind to yourself. We all love you and all that we want is to be here for you." Oliver looked shellshocked. Isaac knew he had touched on some of Oliver's biggest insecurities and fears, it helped that he had seen Oliver's life played out on his TV. Oliver was always going to feel disconnected from his original life, he wasn't that person anymore. Acknowledging that and telling him that it was ok if he wasn't the same person anymore was huge, emotionally, for Oliver.

After he said his piece Isaac left, without Oliver ever responding. It stormed that night, as Isaac had expected, he was waiting for Moira to show up so that he could be there for Oliver's PTSD moment. Isaac only had to wait another 10 minutes before he heard footsteps outside his door, Isaac followed them quickly.

"Thea!" Isaac whispered harshly.

"Ahh!" Thea yelped. Her hands grasped at her chest in fright, "Damn it Isaac, you scared the crap out of me!" Isaac chuckled a bit at that, his sister wasn't as amused.

"What are you doing out here?" Isaac asked firmly.

"I wanted to see how Oli was doing, it's his first night back after all."

"Fine, but I'm going with you."

"Ok." At that, they both went off to see their brother. Oliver's room was around the corner from Isaac's so it was a quick trip, they could hear the storm that ragged outside before they even entered. Thea tried to rush in, but Isaac held onto her arm and pulled her behind him. Isaac saw the window open as he walked in, Oliver was asleep on the floor, water splashed all over him from the open window. Isaac motioned for Thea to stay behind him as he closed the open window, when he moved back he noticed his sister had knelt beside Oliver without him realizing it. Isaac tried to stop her but was too late, she had already shaken him.

"Ahh!" Thea cried out; Isaac had yanked her back viciously. Luckily he was just in time as not, but a second later Oliver's hand sliced through where Thea's head had previously been. Oliver leapt up and whipped his leg at Isaac's head. A loud smack echoed in the room; Isaac's forearm held back Oliver's strike. Before Isaac could even try to wake Oliver, his hands moved in a flurry. There was no reaching him, Oliver seemed to think he was under attack. Isaac dodged the first few quick jabs before he lashed out with a lightning-fast leg kick and thumped against Oliver's inner thigh, Oliver wobbled. The pain seemed to bring Oliver back to reality as he stopped his attack and looked around his room, confused. When his eyes landed on Thea, sprawled (out) on the floor, scared, he stumbled back wide eyed, "I-I-I'm s-so sorry," Oliver whimpered out. Isaac moved in close.

"It's ok Oli you didn't hurt her. She is safe. You didn't hurt her." Isaac repeated. He gently grabbed Oliver's arm and sat him on the bed.

"It's not your fault. We woke you up, you must have been having a nightmare and just reacted. That's normal Oli, you only just got home, your instincts still think you're on the island, it will take time to get them under control. Until then I'll make sure I'm the only one that wakes you up ok?" Isaac held his brother for a moment, ignoring the scars and various injuries that littered his body. Oliver sighed, his body loosening, and nodded. "See no harm done. Now try to get some more sleep, it's the middle of the night. I'll get you a sleeping bag until you get used to the bed, sound good?"

"Thanks Isaac." As Isaac got up to leave Thea finally snapped out of it and rushed at her eldest brother, Isaac watched as she gave Oliver a bone crushing hug and whispered, "I'm sorry," to him over and over again. Oliver's mouth dropped, shocked, it took him a minute, but Oliver finally wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.

"It's ok Speedy. It's ok." He breathed out. They left Oliver's room a minute later. As Isaac walked his sister to her room she finally spoke to him.

"Thanks Isaac. For you know saving me. How did you know that Oliver would do that?" She asked. Isaac turned to her and said, "I didn't know exactly what he'd do, just that it would be dangerous to surprise him while he was sleeping." He took a breath and continued, "Speedy, he has been alone, fighting to survive for five years, his body adapted to that, if it didn't he wouldn't have made it back home. Those instincts don't just go away overnight, it's going to take time before they ease a bit." Thea looked like she understood, Isaac hoped this would put things into perspective for her.

"Isaac, did you see his chest?" Her eyes teared up at that. Isaac watched as she wiped at her eyes furiously.

"Yea Speedy I did." Isaac sighed out.

"What, no who the hell did that to him! Those scars weren't all from animals, some of those looked like they came from a knife or something." Thea exclaimed wildly.

"Thea!" Isaac said firmly, "Don't mention those scars to anyone, not even to Oliver. He doesn't realize we saw them; I know you're worried and curious, but you'll only make things worse by bringing it up before he's ready. You saw him just now, and he is not ready to talk about what happened to him and we need to respect that. Please, you need to be patient and just give him some space, let him get used to all of this before you ask any questions." Isaac left Thea in her room to think about what he had said and headed back to his. Isaac was surprised by the scars for a different reason entirely, they were different from the canon one's, and he had more of them too. Isaac knew that the changes he made to the timeline would mean that things would go differently than the show, hell he wanted that.

This was just the first time that he saw the negative aspect of that, sure Oliver only got a few more scars but next time it could be so much worse. Isaac knew he couldn't give up trying to change things because of this, he just needed to come to terms with it and remind himself that this is his life now not a tv show. He wasn't going to stop living his life just because it would change what he saw in a piece of fiction.

The next morning Isaac made sure to warn the staff and Moira about not waking Oliver up suddenly or surprising him, at least for a while. When they asked why Isaac simply told them it was private and to do as he asked. However, with Moira Isaac just told her about the previous night's incident so she would understand and be careful. He also reiterated his earlier warning to her about giving Oliver plenty of space and support and not pressuring him into anything. Things had been quiet for a few weeks since Oliver's episode when suddenly the police showed up one day.

Apparently Oliver's kidnapping had finally happened, Isaac never knew when exactly it happened in the show so he was genuinely surprised when they showed up. Detective Lance and his partner, Detective Lucas Hilton, sat in the living room and gave the family his update.

"Moira, I'm sorry to say that none of the men had any fingerprints or IDs, even their weapons were clean, these were clearly professionals. Besides the descriptions Oliver gave us of his 'savior' we have no leads. Whoever hired these guys didn't want anything pointing back to them."

"I understand Quentin, thank you both for your help." Moira said and walked them both to the door. Isaac made sure his brother was ok before he went to Moira on his way out.

"I'm heading out, just wanted to see if you needed anything before I go?" Moira's shoulders sagged, Isaac pulled her into a hug, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"He's ok Moira. He doesn't have a scratch on him, it's ok." He whispered, rubbing his hands on her back. She just nodded into his chest before she straightened herself up and whipped her eyes, it was like her moment of weakness never happened.

"Sweetheart I'm ok. Thank you though." Moira kissed Isaac's cheek and went to leave.

"Oh, by the way is Thea staying at my place tonight?" Moira stopped and thought it over.

"Sure, why not, just be careful and take care of her." She pleaded.

"You know I will." Moira smiled at that and left. Isaac spent the rest of the morning running errands and checking up on his family's, and his, investments, many of which were doing outstanding. He then stopped by Queen Consolidated to work on a few of his projects, one of which he used to get close to the IT girl that many Arrow fans loved to hate.

"Felicity that code won't work, try this one. We need to make sure everything is perfect if we want this device to take over the market, we can't afford to have any issues." Isaac leaned in over the blonde's shoulder as he corrected her work, he enjoyed watching her tremble when he got close. Felicity made the necessary changes and continued to work, Isaac hoped to get the project finished within the next week or 2. This was going to be the world's first high end smart phone, in this world Apple had only made iPods and laptops and Samsung didn't exist so there was no real competition yet. Isaac used his previous world for inspiration when he designed his prototype, like the idea for facetime. Bringing in Felicity only helped speed things up, though Isaac did have ulterior motives for approaching her, like she looked even better than her canon counterpart.

"Good work." Isaac added, when he saw Felicity's corrected work.

"Thank you Mr. Queen." Felicity beamed. They spent the next several hours working on the final additions for the device before they ended for the day.

"Knock, Knock" Isaac turned at the noise and saw the breathtaking view of Ms. Laurel Lance. She swayed over to Isaac, her hips drew his eyes as she walked over, and planted a scorching kiss on him, on instinct, Isaac grabbed her ass and lifted her up.

"Woah!! Down boy. We have an audience." Laurel said, breathlessly. Isaac's mind cleared up as he looked back at Felicity, her face flushed with embarrassment. Isaac turned back to Laurel unbothered, his hand still on her ass, and told her, "Don't tempt me then, or next time I won't stop." A loud smack echoed in the room as Isaac slapped Laurel's ass as he walked out of the room.

"Good night Felicity and go home." Isaac yelled from outside the room. After a quick dinner where neither of them kept their hands to themselves, Isaac drove Laurel to his place on his red and black Ducati Multistrada S motorcycle.