Thriving

Welcome Back

Amber knew that her father was back. How could she not? Every news station in the world was focused solely on the miraculous return of billionaire playboy Oliver Queen. But Amber didn't really care. Or maybe she did. After all, she grew up with his last name but not his presence.

If she was honest with herself, Amber might have felt nervous about meeting her father for the first time. Instead, Amber let herself get caught up in the confusion of it all. Not that she wasn't entitled to feel uneasy.

So, on the day that Oliver came home from the hospital, Amber made sure she had a reason to stay out as long as possible. If she could put off meeting her father, Amber was going to do it. Which greatly disappointed Moira.

"Your room is exactly as you left it," Moira informed as she opened the front doors to the Queen's mansion. "I never had the heart to change a thing."

"Oliver." An older British man greeted. "It's damn good to see you."

Oliver didn't respond. He only looked the man up and down with a suspicious gleam dancing in his eyes.

"It's Walter." The man said as he shook Oliver's hand. "Walter Steele."

"You remember Walter." Moira jumped in on the awkward interaction. "Your father's friend from the company."

Oliver held on to his silence, walking past Walter and greeting the Russian maid, Raisa. "It's good to see you, Raisa." He smiled.

"Welcome home, Mr. Oliver." Raisa returned the smile before looking over at Mora and Walter. "Mr. Merlyn phoned. He wants to join you for dinner."

"Wonderful," Moira said. She glanced around. "Is Amber back?" Oliver furrowed his eyebrows at the unfamiliar name.

"Not yet," Raisa shook her head.

"Will you let me know when she is then?" Moira asked in an assuming tone.

Raisa nodded politely. "Of course."

Before Oliver could question who Amber was, he saw his sister. He walked over to the bottom of the staircase. "Hey, sis."

Thea's smile grew huge as she jogged down the stairs. "I knew it." She said. "I knew you were alive!" She wrapped her arms tightly around her brother. "I missed you so much."

"You were with me the whole time," Oliver told his sister.

* * *

"Stop that." Jessica, Amber's stepmom, swatted the girl's hands away from her mouth, scolding her for biting her nails.

"Sorry," Amber mumbled, slumping back in the passenger seat.

Jessica sighed. "He's gonna love you."

"What?"

"Oliver. Your dad. The reason why you've been avoiding the mansion all day."

"He's not--" Amber started to speak but cut herself off when she saw the knowing look in Jessica's eyes. "There's a reason why mom never told him about me," Amber admitted.

"Yeah, she was sixteen." Jessica reasoned. "I get that you're scared--"

"I'm not scared." Amber interrupted. "I'm just... nervous."

"Fine. Nervous." Jessica relented. "The point is, Oliver is an adult now. It might take some time for him to adjust to all the changes but I promise you, he's gonna love you." She said as she pulled up to the Queen Mansion.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I love you," Jessica stated. "And we're not even biologically related, and I don't even like kids all that much."