Title: Volunteer
Fandom: Arrow
Rating: PG
Length: 775
Content notes: Warnings for mentions of domestic abuse and sexual assault (the characters are opening up a Women's center for people who have experienced domestic abuse, but no individual case is discussed in detail)
Author notes: For fan-flashworks.
Summary: Thea/Sin. Set post-S2. Sin thinks Thea should volunteer with her at the Women's Center.



Thea had been back in Starling City for a few months. After her time training with Malcolm, she was glad to find that she wouldn’t have to give up her pursuits when she came back; Sara was in town, and she agreed to be Thea’s new teacher. According to Sara, Thea’s progress was excellent.

Of course, being around Sara all the time usually meant being around Sin too. Which had turned out even better than Thea had hoped.

Of course there were times when it was hard for Thea to live a normal life, after the grueling training from Malcolm – the danger, the adrenaline that Sara, wisely, Thea knew, kept to a minimum during practice. Thea had worked her ass off to – finally – be strong, to not be helpless. She had learned to fight but also to think like a warrior. Hell, just for practice, Malcolm had made Thea break out of prisons, fight gun-toting soldiers with nothing but a staff, and plan assaults on highly defended buildings. It chafed to try to fit that new mind and body into her old life.

Somehow, admitting that she was a little bored, a little unfulfilled, to Sin didn’t turn out as she expected. Luckily, Sin wasn’t hurt, and didn’t interpret it as being bored with her – which Thea could never be. But somehow, Thea had gotten roped into volunteering at Sin’s friends’ new Women’s Center. Not that it wasn’t a worthy cause – the Center was housing people who have been subject to domestic violence, men and women both, despite its name. SO it was definitely something she could get behind. But Thea didn’t see how it would help her overcome the dissonance between acting like the old Thea Queen and not being like the old Thea Queen at all.

When they got there, Sin introduced Thea to everyone and then told Thea the inside scoop on each person working there.

“Maria, the woman you just met?” Sin whispered. “Runs the place. Super smart. Started this center because none of the other shelters take abused men, and also because a woman at the other shelter in town had to leave because her husband is a cop and pulled strings to find the location.”

“That’s awful.”

“Yeah. She’s also really into history and activism. I made the mistake of saying how awesome it is that lesbians are starting a women’s shelter and she told me all about the 1970s and how lesbian communities were vital to starting abuse shelters, rape crisis centers, and pretty much every other kind of activism – everything from animal rights to HIV prevention.”

“Cool. I didn’t know that.”

“Me neither. And that over there is Sandy. She might give you a hard time about being bi.”

“Why?” Thea asked.

Sin shrugged. “She just thinks that bisexual women aren’t really gay enough or something. Like we’re all going to marry men anyway and so we don’t ‘count’ as really part of the community. Just tell her to kiss your ass if she brings it up.”

“Okay,” Thea laughed.

“She’s cool once she shuts up about that, though. And she volunteers, like, so many hours, it’s unbelievable.”

“Okay.”

“And Teena’s the coordinator for the volunteers. She recruits a lot of them from the university, from all sorts of places, and she trains the support volunteers too. And Alli is the child care specialist, since a lot of people have kids.”

“That’s great.”

“And I assist Teena mostly in the training, and when it opens, I’ll work two nights a week here. Right now, though, I’m helping Alli decorate the kids’ playroom. I’m thinking a giraffe motif. Like, giraffes everywhere.”

Thea smiled. “Sounds good. Is that what I’m doing? Or do I have to stuff envelopes or file things? Envelopes I don’t mind, but I’m telling you right now, I hate filing.”

Sin raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Yeah, four times a year, we do the big mail campaign and every single person who works here has to stuff envelopes. But that’s not your main job.” She gestured for Thea to follow her to a small room in the corner.

There were blueprints on the desk, order forms for surveillance equipment, and files on every reported breach of security at every domestic violence center in the country. Sin pointed at the desk and said, “You’re the new head of security. Maria wants a detailed plan for building modifications and security protocols by the end of the week.” Sin grinned at her.

Thea looked down at the blueprints and noticed 17 vulnerabilities that would need to be corrected. There was a sharpness to her gaze, a steel to her spine suddenly, that felt familiar, that felt right.

Thea smiled back. “No problem.”