Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

                CHAPTER 1                 

The first sign she got was six weeks after that infamous night at the bunker.

Felicity was checking the police reports, but so far, it seemed to be one of the calm nights and Star City’s bad guys were finally giving them some rest. She sneaked a peek at Oliver, who was working his way up the salmon ladder. Shirtless, of course. Because why would he put on a shirt when he could torture her, right? But, oh, such a sweet, sweet torture it was.

Things between them have been awkward since the night they slept together, but both of them pretended all was good. They acted as if it had never happened. They still never talked about it or had that conversation regarding the reason for their break up. She wasn’t ready yet and he didn’t push her, which she was very thankful for. Curtis noticed something happened between them, but he knew better than to ask. Clearly, his matchmaking plan didn’t work the way he planned. But tonight he was off, it was Paul’s birthday and he left early, so it was just her, Oliver and this awkward tension between them.

She heard him jumping out of the salmon ladder and walking to the shower. She was so lost in her thoughts while working on the project she and Curtis started this morning, next thing she knew, he was already leaving the room he now called his bedroom. He was all cleaned up, dressed in a suit and her favorite shirt, looking as handsome as ever.

“Oh. Not chasing bad guys tonight, I guess.” She concluded, eyeing him up and down. The man really looked incredible in a suit.

“I didn’t think there was anything happening that needed our attention, did something come up?” He took the steps up to her station, checking one of the computers.

“Nope, probably the slowest night ever since we came back to the city.” She creased her forehead, thoughtfully. “It freaks me out a bit. This silence and peace.”

“Maybe even the bad guys need a night off.” Oliver turned away from the computers to look at her, staring longer than he should when he noticed the dark shadows under her eyes. “You should go home early too, you’ve been here all day, you must be exhausted.”

“I really should. I haven’t been sleeping well lately.” She sighed, leaning back on her chair and closing her eyes. “I didn’t even leave this tech station today but I feel like I ran a marathon. Curtis and I are trying this new program, but so far, it’s kicking our ass.”

He smiled at her little pout. He wanted to ask why she wasn’t sleeping well. He wasn’t either, but his reasons were probably different from hers. He couldn’t even blame it on the uncomfortable cot they had there in the bunker because he’d slept in way worse places. But he missed holding her at night and even her soft little snores - even though she’d never admit she snored. He once even recorded it to prove it to her, but when he got his phone to show her in the morning, the file had disappeared. Mysteriously. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out sooner than you think. You always do.”

“Right,” she noticed he was struggling with his tie and got up to help him. “Are you meeting Thea for dinner?” Her hands automatically went to his tie, fixing it until it was perfect, the way she always did whenever they had some event to attend that requested a suit and tie. She didn’t want to ask who he was having dinner with. She shouldn’t ask. She had nothing to do with it. It was absolutely none of her business. But curiosity got the best of her.

“Thanks,” he touched her hands, his eyes catching hers for a moment. She held her breath, until they remembered where they were and what they were doing, and he let her hands go. “No, actually. I’m having dinner with Harper Anderson, the journalist from Star City Daily.”

“Oh,” suddenly she felt her stomach turning upside town and her lunch coming up her throat. She remembered Ms. Anderson from the last time she went to City Hall to talk to Oliver about a new development she’s gotten on a case they wore working on. The woman was tall, gorgeous and the one who came up with the “Mayor Handsome” moniker. Felicity had noticed the way she was looking at him while they waited for Oliver’s meeting to be over. Not that she could blame her, he was a sight for sore eyes. Still, Felicity did not like her, for whatever reason.

“She wants to do an article on the changes we are planning to do at SCPD, the recruiting of the new detectives... It’s not a date. It’s just work.” He noticed that her face went ghostly pale. “Are you okay?”

She took a deep breath and shook her head, wanting to tell him that she was fine. That had not been a good idea. Shaking her head just made her feel even more nauseous and her knees started to buckle. Before she knew what was happening, Oliver was there holding her, making sure she wouldn’t fall.

“Felicity?”

“I’m fine.” She assured him, taking a step away. “I guess this is my body’s way to say I should really get some rest. And eat something. Curtis ordered those burritos we love from that Mexican restaurant in the corner for lunch, but it didn’t sit well with my stomach so I didn’t eat anything else for the rest of the day.” She flinched at the memory. The burritos tasted amazing and Felicity had been dying for some spicy food, so she probably had exaggerated a little with the hot sauce. “I’ll eat something when I get home.” Though, the mere idea of eating anything made her stomach turn. But she knew Oliver, he’d never let her go if she didn’t promise him she’d something to eat get as soon as she got home.

He stared at her warily as she grabbed her coat and her purse, ready to leave for the night.

She didn’t look fine.

“I’ll take you home.”

“What? No!” She looked at him as if it was the craziest idea in the world. “You have your dinner. And I have my car. I’m fine, I promise.”

She knew he wanted to disagree with her, but he knew better than to push. Maybe in another time, but that was not them anymore.

“Okay,” he said, still following her as they left the bunker and walked to their cars. “Call me if you need anything, okay?”

“I won’t need anything.”

“Felicity…”

“Okay.” She smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She turned on her car. “Goodnight, Oliver.”

*

Dinner was going well, as far as Oliver could tell. Harper was a nice and intelligent woman and she seemed actually interested in what he had to say about the city. If she tried to flirt with him, he pretended not to notice. But as nice as dinner was going, he was unable to fully focus on the woman in front of him, his mind kept going back to how tired Felicity looked at the bunker and he couldn’t help but worry about her. She was spending way too much time working since she had been fired from Palmer Tech and promised herself she’d get the company back. She’d arrive at the bunker early in the morning and work all day on her projects with Curtis. Then, she’d stay till late at night with him doing Arrow business. No wonder she wasn’t sleeping well, if the woman got five hours of sleep a night, it was a lot. He also almost never saw her eat, and when he did, it was usually those burritos she mentioned earlier, some chips that came in huge packages and that she adored so much or Big Belly Burger. She was terrible in the kitchen, she was doing them all a favor staying away from it and not intoxicating anybody with her cooking or worse, burning up her apartment, but he wished he could still cook for her. She loved his food and he loved cooking for her. Ending his nights at the loft with Felicity sitting on the kitchen counter with a glass of wine in her hand and telling him about her day while he made their dinner was his favorite time of the day. He missed it.

He missed her.

It’s crazy how much you could miss someone, even when you were still seeing them on a daily basis.

“Oliver?” Harper called out, a crease on her forehead and Oliver realized belatedly it was not the first time she had called his name.

“Sorry…” He looked at her, remembering he was supposed to be helping her with her article. “What were you saying?”

“You’re bored,” she smiled.

“No… I just… there are a lot of things on my mind. Please.”

“I was asking you about the-“

His phone rang, interrupting her. His hand immediately went to grab it from his pocket. Only one person would call him at this time of night.

Felicity.

His heart skipped a beat. She never called him lately unless it was something Arrow related and he knew she was not at the bunker anymore. She wouldn’t call him unless something terrible happened.

“I’m sorry, I have to take this,” he told Harper and got up so he could have some privacy. “Felicity?”

“Oliver?” Her voice was so weak he felt a pang on his chest. He signaled the waiter for the check. “I’m so sorry to interrupt your dinner, but Curtis is out with Paul for his birthday and-“ he could hear her emptying the contents of her stomach on the other side of the line. “Frack, I’m sorry. Could you please stop by the drugstore and get me some Pepto and Tylenol after you leave? I mean, if it won’t be much trouble...”

“I’m on my way to the loft already.” He went back to the table, where Harper was staring at him with a confused expression. “I’m sorry to cut this short, something came up and it needs my immediate attention. I think you got everything you needed for the article, right?”

“Yeah-“ Harper nodded, curiosity in her eyes, but not questioning him. “Anything else I need I can ask your Chief of Staff.“

“Great!” He threw some bills at the table and with another apologetic gaze, he ran out of the restaurant.

“Oliver, no-“ He could hear Felicity breathing in and out on the other side of the line. “I can wait. Don’t leave your dinner because of me-“

“I’m on my way, Felicity.”

*

Oliver grabbed his key to enter the loft. He hadn’t used it in a long time, the memories hitting him like a ton of bricks as soon as he got inside the place they used to live together. She didn’t really change anything since he moved out. There were still some books on the table near the couch - he never knew how she could read all those books at the same time and not get confused. He used to tease her about that, but she would just say that was how her brain worked. He felt his heart tightening as he remembered those lazy nights when she’d lie down on the couch, concentrated on her book and with her feet on his lap while he watched whatever game was on TV.

It was funny how people took those little moments for granted. That was what he missed the most about their relationship, those intimate moments when they were happy just to be spending time together.

The lights were on in the living room, he could see a box of take out on the counter in the kitchen, but Felicity was nowhere to be seen.

“Felicity?” He ran up the stairs looking for her. “I’m here, where are y-“

Before he could finish his question, he heard her hurling again and ran to their suite. Her suite.

“Oh, God,” He rushed inside. She was sitting on the floor, both hands holding the toilet bowl. Before he knew it, he was there behind her and holding back her hair. When she finished emptying the contents of her stomach, he sat on the floor besides her.

“I didn’t even know I had anything else left in there.” She closed her eyes, leaning back on his chest without even thinking, she was feeling so bad, she was just craving any kind of comfort.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He brushed her hair away from her face and wiped the sweat out of her forehead. She was cold and shaking. “I’m here.”

“I’m never letting Curtis order food from that place ever again.”

“You can’t live off of burritos and potato chips forever, Felicity.” He held her closely, trying to stop the shaking.

“Well, I also eat burgers, pizza and occasionally a salad.” She pouted.

“A leaf of lettuce and a slice of tomato on your burger is not exactly salad, honey.” The moniker slipped out of his mouth, but neither of them paid any attention to it.

“It’s not like I have Mr. Masterchef himself to cook for me everyday anymore.” She shrugged and closed her eyes. “God, I miss your food.”

“I’ll cook you something.”

“I don’t think I can eat anything right now.” She winced just thinking about it.

“You’re dehydrated and you need to eat. I’ve brought you some medicine and Gatorade.” He said softly, his fingers running through her hair.

She was still pale, but her color was finally coming back. He put one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her bridal style and carrying her back to the bedroom. Her arms automatically wrapped around his neck and her head leaned on his shoulder. He hadn't seen her this exhausted in a long time.

“I’m gonna grab you some water, you think you’re going to be okay for a sec?” He placed her carefully on the bed.

She nodded and a few minutes later he was back with two glasses of water, her toothbrush and a bowl.

“Here, it will make you feel better if you brush your teeth.”

She did what he asked, already feeling better without the horrible taste in her mouth.

“Now drink some water.”

She took one sip, seeing if it would settle in her stomach before taking another gulp. “Thank you,” she looked up at him apologetically. “I’m sorry for ruining your dinner, but I didn’t have anyone else to call and I haven’t felt this bad in forever, I couldn’t even get out of the floor-“

“Felicity,” he kneeled down next to her bed and grabbed her hand. “You never have to thank me. Ever. You know that.”

“But I’m not your responsibility, we’re not together anymore and-“

“Hey.” He made sure she was looking at him before talking again. “I’ll always, always be here for you. No matter what happens between us, I’ll always care for you. You’re still my best friend. Okay? I’m going to make you some soup.”

“Thank you, Oliver.” She smiled sincerely.

“It’s nothing you wouldn’t do for me.” He smiled back.

“That’s true.” She leaned back on her bed, grabbing the green blanket they used to share whenever they watched a movie together. “Well, except for the soup. I wouldn’t want to make you even more sick than you already were.”

“I can’t disagree with that.” He chuckled. “Now rest, I’ll be right back.”

*

He stared at the closed refrigerator door for a full minute before opening it. The magnets that Thea gave them as a Christmas gift the year before with the photos from their summer trip were still there. They looked so happy. What he would give to go back to those carefree days, filled with nothing but love, laugher and sunshine.

Oliver sighed as he looked inside. It had a bottle of water, an apple, a half drank bottle of wine, a small piece of cheese and a bottle of ketchup he was pretty sure was there since the time he was still living with her. Thankfully he remembered to stop at the little grocery store near the loft to grab some things to make her dinner. It took awhile for the soup to be ready since he made it from scratch, and when he went back to her bedroom, Felicity was already fast asleep.

He put the tray on a table and went to her. He hated to wake her up, she was finally looking peaceful and not in pain anymore, but she had to eat.

“Hey,” he said softly, brushing her hair out of her face. She groaned. That brought out a laugh out of him. She hated to be woken up. Some things never change. “I know, you need to sleep, but you also need to eat or you won’t get better.”

“’tired…” She whined, pulling the blanket closer to her.

“I know, honey, I’ll let you sleep as soon as you eat, I promise.” He tried to lift her up a little. “Come on, I made your favorite.”

She complained a little more, but sat up in the bed. He brought her the tray with the chicken soup, the Gatorade and the pills.

“Hmmm… it’s really good.” She moaned as she tried the food, gazing at him from above the spoon. “It’s really a waste that you’re the mayor and not a chef, you know that, right?”

He laughed. “I’m glad you like it. Now eat and take your pills. It will make you feel better. I’ll finish cleaning the kitchen.”

*

She finished the soup and thankfully, her stomach seemed to have settled. Maybe it was its way to say it missed Oliver’s cooking and it was striking against all the junk food she’s been feeding herself in the past few months.

“All good?” He asked leaning on the doorframe.

“Yep,” she smiled and patted her tummy. “I guess my stomach loves your food. I’m afraid it will refuse anything else for the foreseeable future.”

“That’s good.” He grinned, only noticing now that she was wearing one of his old t-shirts. She used to sleep in them when they lived together, claiming they were so soft and still smelled like him even after they washed them many times. “Nice shirt.”

She looked down at her shirt.

“I’m not giving it back.” She shrugged.

He shook his head amused. She looked adorable. As if he would ever take it back.

He sadly realized she was now fine and he should probably go home. Well, not home. Back to the bunker, where he’d been sleeping since their breakup. Home was here, with Felicity. Except it wasn’t anymore. Because he was an idiot and messed up the best thing that ever happened in his life and ended up losing not only Felicity, but also his son. “I should go and let you rest…”

She frowned. “Can you stay? Just until I fall asleep?”

“Of course.” He opened the brightest smile and felt his heart racing when she nodded at the bed, asking him to join her there.

He laid down next to her and the next thing he knew, she was snuggling up to him, resting her head on his chest and sighing deeply. He felt her cold nose rubbing on his neck, something she always did before they fell asleep. He closed his eyes, embracing her body and just for a moment, pretended that everything was okay again.

*

When Felicity opened her eyes the next morning she felt great, as if all the throwing up and nausea from the night before had just been a bad nightmare. But then she remembered the way Oliver took care of her and smiled softly. He didn’t think twice before coming to the loft to check on her. Maybe things would go back to normal. Maybe they didn’t ruin everything when they slept together again. She still wasn’t ready to talk about their relationship, but she was thankful to have her best friend back. If she learned anything in the past months was that she needed him in her life, if not as her boyfriend or fiancé, at least as her friend.

He wasn’t there anymore when she woke up, not that she expected him to be. It probably would have been awkward and maybe she shouldn’t have asked him to stay, but she couldn’t make herself regret it. She hadn’t slept this well in a long time. And they were finally taking some baby steps towards some kind of normalcy.

When she got down to the kitchen after taking a shower and brushing her teeth, ready to start making her beloved coffee, she opened up her refrigerator to find over a dozen meals he made that would last her at least a week. She smiled. Yes, maybe things were finally getting better again.

*

The second sign she got was four weeks later, when she put on her favorite skirt and it refused to zip all the way up.

She was getting ready for a meeting with an investor who seemed very interested in hers and Curtis’ new security program and she was so excited about it. If this guy decided he liked it, it would be the first step towards getting her company back.

She had planned the perfect outfit, but seemed like it would not go the way she wanted, since her skirt appeared to have shrunk the last time she washed it.

She frowned at it.

There was no way she had gained weight. She’s been eating more healthy than ever since that day she ate the bad burrito and thought she’d die of intoxication until Oliver got there to save the night. He had built up an entire kitchen in the bunker so he could cook for them every day when they were working there. He said it was because he missed cooking and eating real food, but they both knew it was so she could start eating better too. She was not going to complain.

She threw the skirt away and put on a dress, making sure to be more careful next time she did her laundry.

She could not afford to keep losing clothes like that.

*

The third sign she got was two weeks after that.

She was on her morning run to get her coffee when she tumbled upon a guy, the folder he was holding falling open and papers flying everywhere in the coffee shop .

“I’m so sorry!” She got down to the floor to help him pick everything up.

“It’s fine.” He smiled at her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I don’t know where my head is sometimes.” She apologized. “Your coffee is on me today.”

“That’s not necessary,” he got in line in front of her. “What would you like to drink?”

“One large caramel macchiato and a double shot of espresso. Maybe three. I think I’ll need it to get through today. If I got four hours of sleep last night was a lot-” She stopped when she realized she was babbling. “Sorry, my brain does not function very well before my first cup of coffee, as you might have noticed.”

He chuckled and gave her the coffee. “There you go.”

“No! I told you your coffee was on me, not the other way around!”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m Billy, by the way. I just got transferred from Coast City and they recommended me to this coffee shop.”

“Felicity.” She smiled. “And they recommended you very well. Dorothy here makes the best coffee in Star City. I come here pretty much daily first thing in the morning.”

“That’s good to know,” he noticed one of the tables on the corner just got available. “Would you like to sit? I don’t know anyone in the city yet, I’d love to get some tips about where to go and what to see...”

“Oh, you’re going to love it here. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a nice city to live in. What are you working for, if you don’t mind me asking?” She sat down, blowing on her coffee so she wouldn’t get burned.

“SCPD.” He took a sip from his coffee. “The new mayor is making some changes in the department and recruited us. We are getting a good raise, so it’s not bad at all.”

“That’s good to hear. The new mayor cares more about the city than anyone I know,” she drank from her cup and as soon as it touched her tongue, she spat the liquid back. “Oh my God!”

“What’s wrong?” Billy looked at her confused.

“There’s something wrong with my coffee.” She stared at it, took another sip and yep, there was definitely something wrong with her coffee.

“It’s a caramel macchiato, two shots of espresso, that’s what you asked, right?”

“Yes… Dorothy, did you make my coffee differently today?” She asked the older woman sitting behind the counter.

“No, Felicity, I did it just as you’ve always liked it,” Dorothy frowned.

“Weird…” Felicity whispered and put on two extra packets of sugar to see if it would make it taste any better. “Okay, I guess this is better.” Dorothy probably just forgot to put sugar on her coffee. “So, what were you saying?”

“You were telling me about the mayor,” he said.

“Oh, yeah. That’s Oliver.” She smiled at the mention of him.

“You know him?”

“He’s a good friend of mine.” She took another sip of her coffee. Oliver was way more than a good friend of hers, but he didn’t need to know that.

“It’s good to know the city has someone who will govern thinking about the people and not about his own interests. God knows it’s a rarity these days.” He looked at her shyly. “Hey, would you like to have lunch sometime? Maybe dinner? I really don’t know anyone in town so-”

Felicity’s stomach chose that exact moment to decide it really didn’t like Dorothy’s coffee that morning and she had to run to the small restroom before she threw up in the middle of the cafeteria, which would definitely not be a pretty sight.

What the hell?

She took a deep breath, washed her mouth and went back to the table, where Billy was waiting for her with a worried look. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” She said, drinking the water Dorothy gave her as soon as she left the restroom. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me today… oh my God, look at the time. I have to be in a meeting in 5 minutes.”

She started grabbing her stuff and remembered she forgot to answer Billy’s question.

“And you can have my number, of course. If you need anything in Star City, just ask. And maybe we can have that lunch someday,” she said with a friendly smile. She had no intentions to date anyone right now, she barely had time to deal with her day job and her night job, much less have a boyfriend. Besides, she wasn’t ready to date anyone else anytime soon.

She gave him her number and said goodbye. She hoped Dorothy’s coffee would be back to normal tomorrow.

She could not go all morning without her caffeine.

*

The fourth and final sign happened a few days later when she was cleaning her cabinet and saw an unopened box of tampons. One that had been there for months.

Granted, her period had been a mess since she got shot, so she didn’t pay that much attention to it. It was not as if her life hasn't been turned upside down lately, between getting shot, seeing her father again, getting fired from the company she owned and breaking up with Oliver, it was no wonder her hormones went crazy. But her period always did show up at some point. It never went missing for months at a time. Was something wrong with her? Maybe there was something with the chip on her spine that was messing up with her hormones.

She was not taking the pill anymore because it was not like she was having sex often at the moment. Or any sex at all, if she’s being completely honest. So why would she need it?

Except.

She felt like she was going to faint.

She did have sex. Very good, very drunk unprotected sex.

Exactly 12 weeks ago.

And she was not taking her pill.

With her heart in her throat, she grabbed her phone to check the app she used to track her period. And there it was, telling her her last period had been almost four months ago.

Four. months.

My God.

She could not be pregnant. Not now. Not when her life was the way it was. Not when she’d broken up with Oliver because he decided to send his kid away without ever asking her opinion because he thought that would be the best way to keep him safe.

There had to be some other explanation for this.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 2

There was no other explanation. 

The five positive pregnancy tests staring back at her were the reason why she hadn’t had a period in almost four months, why her stomach seemed to have an aversion to her favourite burritos, why she could only drink her coffee black lately - which is a criminal offense - and why her clothes did not fit her anymore. 

She was pregnant.

With a baby.

A small human who was completely dependent on her. 

A small human half her and half Oliver.

Oliver .

How was she going to tell him? When he had just sent his son away? Would he want to send her and this baby away too? They’ve never talked about kids. She’d always thought it was a possibility, way down the road, when they’d have settled and decided to leave the vigilante life. And even that was a big maybe . She didn’t know anything about children, she was never one of those girls who played with dolls as a kid and babysat her way through college. Since she was little, she was more interested in playing with computers than playing house. Growing up, it was always just her and her mom, there were no little siblings or even cousins to practice for parenting skills. The only baby reference she had was baby Sara, and she loved that little girl with her whole heart, but it did not give her a lot of experience on the matter. Most of the time she was with Sara either Lyla, John or her own mother were there with her.

HER MOTHER.

She couldn’t even begin to think about her mother’s reaction when she’d find out. Unlike Felicity, the woman adored babies. Felicity was certain that if their circumstances were different, Donna would definitely have more children. And as much as her mother’s reaction to being a grandmother frightened her a bit, she really wished her mom was here with her right now. Maybe she would tell her it all was going to be okay, because at the moment, nothing seemed to be okay. Everything seemed the farthest away from okay.

How could they have been so irresponsible?

Not that they were thinking in their right mind that night. They drank at least two bottles of wine. Probably more. 

Oh my God, she had been drinking wine. And coffee. She even had sushi at the bunker with Oliver the week before. She didn’t know much about pregnancies, but she knew those things weren’t good for the baby. 

She put a hand on her stomach, for the first time acknowledging that there was, in fact, someone growing in there. Did she hurt her baby? A fierce wave of protection surged through her, surprising her that even though bringing a kid to the world right now was the last thing she wanted, she already loved this baby with everything in her. 

How could she not know she was pregnant until now? It’s been months ... how much of a mother was she going to be if she couldn’t even notice all those changes in her body till now?  

She didn’t realize she started crying until she felt the tears dropping on the hand still cradling her belly. She felt alone. And worried. She was finally taking a step forward with the Palmer Tech issue, but now she was pretty sure those misogynistic fools would see a pregnancy as another obstacle to give her position as the CEO back. 

But she would make it right. She’d prove them all wrong. She’d been working more than ever in the past few months, even with the nausea and weird sense of taste and all. She’s a Smoak, her mom raised her alone and look at her now. She turned out fine, didn’t she?

Unplanned pregnancy, unemployment and bad break-up aside, she was a healthy, smart, accomplished woman. 

She would be fine.

Besides, she was not alone. Or at least, she didn’t think she was. She had Oliver.

Unless, of course, he decided he was too dangerous for them and sent them away the way he did with William and Samantha. The way her mom did with her, running away from her dad so they could be safe. Having grown up without her father, Felicity’s heart broke for that little boy who barely had a chance to know his father, it broke for the man who sent his son away because he loved him too much, but never thought he would be enough for him. And it broke for this baby growing inside her too, who might never get to know its dad and big brother. They all deserved better than that.

She would tell Oliver, of course she would. It was not like she could hide the pregnancy much longer, even if she didn’t want him to know about it. She just couldn’t tell him yet, not until she knew everything was okay with the baby and not until she was sure he would not send them away at the first sight of danger.

*

Felicity didn’t go to the bunker for the next two days. In fact, she barely left her couch after learning there was a baby in her womb. If she wasn’t feeling that much nauseous before, it seemed like as soon as she realized she was pregnant, she started feeling the symptoms all at once. The only things that didn’t make her want to throw up were pink lemonade and crackers, so that was pretty much all she’s been eating in the past forty-eight hours. 

Oliver called her everyday wanting to know what was going on and why she didn’t show up at the bunker, but she just told him she was having one of those days and he didn’t ask anything more, thankfully. 

She tried to work on some papers regarding Palmer Tech, but it was impossible to focus on anything other than the fact she was bringing a child to this crazy world in less than six months. 

Dr. Google told her that she was, actually, fourteen weeks pregnant already, since she found out that you start counting your pregnancy from the first day of your last period and not from the day of conception. Her baby was already the size of a nectarine and moving inside her, although, to her disappointment, she couldn’t feel anything yet. It was funny how as worried and freaked out as she was about the pregnancy, she couldn’t help feeling excited about the miracle that was having a little person growing inside her. At this stage, her baby already had hair and fingernails and they might be able to find out the sex when she got her sonogram done. She made an appointment with her doctor the following week, but no matter what happened, she knew she had to tell Oliver about the baby before her first ultrasound. It didn’t feel right to see their baby for the first time without him there with her, or at least, without him knowing about his or hers existence. Who knew how he would react when he’d find out. Maybe he wouldn’t want to get attached if he decided they’d be better off without him endangering their lives, which was absolutely ludicrous, but she knew that was what he thought and that was one of the reasons she couldn’t go back to him just yet. Oliver needed to learn to love himself first and realize he was amazing the way he was. He needed to accept the fact that he could not erase the past, but he could and should change his future. He deserved to be happy and his life should not be just about penance. Because unless he did all of that, he’d never be able to give his heart away fully. To her or anyone. 

Felicity also learned that she’s already on her second trimester and by now she was supposed to have moved past the nausea, but so far, it only got worse since she found out. Lucky her. 

“There you are,” Oliver said, surprised to see her sitting on her usual chair that morning. Since she was fired from Palmer Tech, she’d been working on her side projects from the bunker. “I was starting to get worried.”

“No need to worry, I just needed a couple of days off,” she avoided his eyes and took a sip of her giant bottle of ice cold pink lemonade. It was delicious. “Women issues, you know. But it’s all good now! Totally ready to tchick tchick again!” She mimicked throwing an arrow at him.

“That’s good to know, I can’t go arrowing without the other half of team Arrow here to help me out.” He winked at her. How come Team Arrow became just the two of them, with Curtis occasionally there to help? Soon Felicity would have a child to take care of, how was she going to spend all her nights at the comms with a baby demanding her full attention? Could they put a playpen and a crib in the bunker? Not to mention all the point things they had there… Oh God, there would be a lot of things to babyproof on that lair, starting with all of Oliver’s arrows.

“Maybe we should try to recruit people…” She mused.

“What?”

“For Team Arrow. So it’s not just the two of us. I mean, we can’t leave the city to crumble if something happens to one of us and honestly, Oliver, I’d like to take a vacation every once in a while…” She daydreamed. “Oh, what I would give for a week in Belize or Aruba. To lay on the sand, bathing in all of that sunshine, those deep blue waters...”

“Do you think John will be away for much longer?” He interrupted her reverie.

“I don’t know… I hope not, but we can’t count on that.” She sighed. The man missed his friend, she did too, but she knew they could not go on much longer the way they were. Especially not now. “For the past five months you’ve been waiting for things to go back to the way they were. But they are not, Oliver.” More than he could ever imagine. “You need to move forward.”

“I like when it’s just the two of us… we work well together.” 

“That we do, but I worry about you all alone out there.” 

“I’m not alone. I have you with me in my ear all the time.”

“Yeah, but I can’t really shoot a bad guy who is attacking you from my computer in the bunker, Oliver.” She looked up at him, pleading. “Please? Can you at least think about it?”

“Okay.” He nodded. How can he say no to her when she looked at him like that? “I’ll be back around noon, I can cook us something.”

She was about to answer him when her phone vibrated with a new message.

Everything good for lunch today? 12:30pm at Azteka?

Oh, Frack . She’d completely forgotten she’d promised Billy she’d meet him today for lunch at her favorite Mexican restaurant when he asked her out a couple of days ago. Before she knew about the whole pregnancy thing, of course. But she’d feel horrible cancelling it now, only hours before. Besides, she’s been craving mexican food so much lately and so far her stomach seemed to be giving her a break. Thank God for small blessings. Going out for lunch with someone outside her bubble would also be a great way not to freak out as much about the baby thing. 

“Oh, I won’t be here for lunch today, I promised to meet someone.” She hated missing Oliver’s cooking, but honestly, she felt a bit uncomfortable being here with him and not telling him about the baby, but she still didn’t know how to tell him that his life was about to turn upside down again.

“Someone?” 

“A friend.” 

“Huh.” 

“He’s new in town. He doesn’t know anyone so I’m being the nice Star City citizen that I am and helping him a bit.” She offered. 

“So it is a guy.” He looked down at his fingers, seeing suddenly interested in his fingernails.

“Yes,” she frowned. Was he jealous? “He is one of the detectives you’ve recruited from Coast City. We’re going to Azteka.”

“The mexican restaurant? I love that place.” He raised his head, looking at her longingly. “It’s pretty close to City Hall.”

“Are you fishing for an invitation, Oliver?” She narrowed her eyes at him, fighting a smile.

“Wha- well, it would be a good opportunity for me to meet the new people we’re getting for the department, don’t you think?” 

“O-kay... if you want, why not?” She shrugged. It’s not as if she was going out on a date with the guy. At least, that was not the way she saw it. Maybe Billy saw it different, but if he thought they might have a romantic future, she’d make sure to tell him there was not a chance of that happening. It felt cruel to lead the guy on when she knew dating anyone at the moment was beyond the realms of possibility. “We’re meeting there at 12:30pm”

“I’ll be there!”

*

Oliver was late, which, of course, was par for the course. But she was chatting with Billy and the guy was really nice and friendly. In another life, one where a handsome blue eyed broody vigilante did not exist, she might actually have dated him. He was sweet and funny. But alas, it was this life, so even if she had caught a bit of flirting from Billy’s side, she did not encourage it. 

“I hope you don’t mind, but I invited Oliver to meet us here.” 

“The mayor?” He cocked one eyebrow at her, not expecting someone else to join them.

“Yeah, I told him I was meeting you for lunch and he thought it would be nice to meet one of the SCPD new detectives.” She grabbed a nacho from the appetizer plate. It was really delicious and she was starving. 

“So, you guys are really close,” he leaned back on his chair, fishing for more. 

“We work together,” she said, without thinking. Then she remembered their work together was not really something she should share with anyone, especially not with a detective. “I do some stuff for the City Hall. You know, computer stuff.”

“Is that all?” he asked. At that moment, the door of the restaurant opened and a hugely pregnant woman entered, as if Felicity needed a reminder of her condition. Ever since she found out about the pregnancy, it seemed that everywhere she looked she saw pregnant women and small babies. 

“Yeah, why?” She lied, looking away from the woman trying to make her way to a table but having trouble with it because of her large baby bump. Soon that would be her, she thought with a tightening on her chest. Billy did not need to know anything else about her relationship with Oliver. 

“Well, the thing is, I really like you, Felicity, you’re smart and funny, not to mention, very beautiful.” He beamed at her. “Maybe we could go out to dinner one of these days? You know, on a date? Just the two of us. I heard about this incredible Italian place at-”

Felicity could not finish listening to what he was saying and tell him she could not and would not date him, because suddenly, she felt the nachos making their way back up her throat again. What was it with her stomach acting up anytime this guy tried to ask her out? It was as if the baby knew and did not like that idea at all. Well, of course. It’s just like Oliver’s baby to try to ruin the chance of her going out with another guy. She’d laugh if she wasn’t about to barf in the middle of the restaurant. Not that she would accept Billy’s invitation, as nice as he was, she was not at all in the mood for dating, not to mention, of course, the tiny fact that she was pregnant with her ex-fiancé’s baby.

*

Oliver looked down at his watch, he was running late. He was supposed to meet Felicity at Azteka five minutes ago, but he was stuck in a meeting with his new district attorney. Adrian Chase wanted to talk about a new drug that was out there in the streets, supposedly even more dangerous than Vertigo. Oliver already knew about that, it was old news for him, he and Felicity had been trying to catch the people behind Stardust, the drug, for a while now. But, of course, he couldn’t tell the man that. 

“We were almost done with a deal with one of the drug dealers who was going to help us take down the entire thing, but then a vigilante killed our source.” Chase went on. He was pissed his entire case went back to square one because of a vigilante.

“A vigilante? That doesn’t sound like something the Green Arrow would do.” 

“It wasn’t the Green Arrow, it was a man with a hockey mask.”

Oliver knew who the man was. He had put an arrow on his leg just the week before. For some reason, people were being inspired by the Green Arrow and wanted to make justice with their own hands, but they were complete amateurs, and instead of doing good, they were just meddling with not only the police department’s work, but also Team Arrow’s.

“I’ll make sure to look into it.” He guaranteed Chase. “I’m sorry, Mr. Chase, but I have somewhere else to be, I promise I’ll contact you as soon as I get more information on this case.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Chase said. Oliver was closing his laptop when the man talked again. “You won’t remember this, but we actually met twelve years ago”

“Really?” Was that guy really trying to make conversation right now?

“You tried to pick up my girlfriend,” the DA said with a smirk. 

“I did a lot of things back there that I’m not especially proud of.” Oliver said, checking his watch again. He was ten minutes late already.  “But I’m sure she ended up with the better man.”

“Hell, no. She went home with you.” He let out a humorless laugh and Oliver took a deep breath, couldn’t the man see he was busy? “It’s okay, I don’t hold grudges.”

“I’m really sorry about that.” He apologized, meaning it. “I’ll talk to you as soon as something new comes up. Have a good afternoon, Mr. Chase.”

*

Oliver could not find Felicity when he got into the restaurant. He was looking around searching for her when someone called him.

“Mr. Queen?” A blonde guy sitting alone at a nearby table asked him.

“Yes?” He turned to look at him. Who was this man? Then, of course, he remembered he wasn’t only meeting Felicity for lunch, he was meeting her friend too. Felicity had been spending all her time at the bunker ever since everyone left and they started rebuilding it together, he wondered when she even had the time to make new friends in the city. Not that it was any of his business who she was friend’s with. 

“Hi, I’m Billy Malone.” He extended his hand. “Felicity told me you were meeting us for lunch. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, right. I’m Oliver.” He shook the man’s hand, a little tighter than necessary. “Is Felicity not here yet?” He looked around, still not seeing her. 

“She is, we were talking, but then suddenly she got very pale and ran to the restroom.” He pointed in the direction she went. “This is the second time this happened-”

Oliver was running in the direction of the restroom, not bothering to let Billy finish that sentence. Something was going on with Felicity, he knew it in his soul. He needed her to tell him what was wrong, because by now, he was getting really worried about her.

“Felicity?” He knocked on the door. “Please, open up. It’s me, Oliver.”

A few seconds later, the door opened and there she was, still looking a little green.

“What’s going on with you?” He eyed her up and down then cupped her face on his hands, stroking her cheek softly with his thumb. 

“It was the nachos, l don’t think my stomach agreed with it.” The nausea hit her again just at the mention of it. Sometimes she wondered if this baby hated her. First coffee, now the nachos. What was next? Mint Chip ice cream? 

No , she shivered. She couldn’t even bear the thought of that.

“This is not normal, Felicity. This is not the first time you felt that sick in the past few weeks. You haven’t gone to the bunker in days, you’re not yourself lately...” He said, worry obvious on his face. “Maybe I should take you to the doctor-”

“No!” She cried, taking a step away from him. She did not need a doctor, at least not to tell her what was wrong with her. She knew why she was feeling this way. “I’m fine! I promise, Oliver, you don’t have to worry.” She grabbed his hand to assure him. “I just think I should avoid Mexican food for the foreseeable future.” She added sadly. She loved mexican food. 

Oliver was not convinced, but he let it go, for now. 

“Okay.” He nodded. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

“I can’t... Billy-” 

“I’m sure he won’t mind, seeing as you’re obviously not feeling well.” He grabbed her hand. She really didn’t feel like staying at the restaurant. Now even the smell inside there was making her sick. Staying here chatting with Billy sounded like torture at the moment. Nothing against the guy, she was just feeling awful and he was not the person she wanted there with her right now. “Let’s go, I’ll call Thea and let her know I’ll take the afternoon off.”

“Oliver, no, you don’t need to do that. I promise I just need some water and rest. I’m feeling a little better already.” As soon as she said that, another wave of nausea hit her.

“Yeah, I can see that…” He rolled his eyes as he held her close. “I’m taking you home and I’ll take care of you. That’s not up for debate.” He took a deep breath and looked at her, pleading.  “I’m really worried about you… please? I can make you a lasagna and we can watch one of those silly movies you love so much.”

“They are not silly! They’re funny and beautiful. There’s nothing silly about happy endings.” She frowned and he smiled at her. She might not be quite ready to talk to him about the baby yet, but she could not deny that an afternoon at home with Oliver’s lasagna and then a movie was all she wanted at the moment. Maybe she could even steal a little snuggle on the couch. God knew she needed that. This pregnancy business was not a walk in the park. “Okay. Let’s say goodbye to Billy.”

*

The lasagna was incredible, as always. She’d even gotten a second serving and her stomach was behaving nicely so far. It was unfair how great of a cook Oliver was. If only the man did not lie to her about his son and then sent him away without even asking her opinion on the matter… he would be just perfect. She had changed into one of his old shirts and boxers he had left there when they got home, those were the most comfortable clothes she could find on her wardrobe, seeing that pretty much everything else she owned was now starting to feel a bit tight. If Oliver had noticed something about her outfit, he did not say anything about it. He had also changed from his suit and bottomed shirt to a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt she found on the back of her closet. They were now lying on the couch, her legs up on his lap, like in the good old times. She was feeling one hundred times better already. They were watching Legally Blonde, Elle Woods had just shown up to court for her big scene, but Felicity’s mind was somewhere else. 

“Do you ever wonder about William?” She looked away from the TV to watch him. 

“What?” The hand that was rubbing her feet froze.

“William… your son?” She sat up on the couch. “Do you wonder where he is, or how he is doing?” 

“I don’t know if I have that right.” He closed his eyes, not really wanting to talk about it. Of course he thought about William. He thought and worried about him every single day since he found out about his existence. But he had made his choice and so far, it seemed to be the best thing he could have done for his kid.

“He’s your son, Oliver.” 

“And what good did that do to him? His life was normal, he was a happy and healthy kid, until I showed up and ruined it all. He was kidnapped because of me. He had to leave everything and everyone he ever knew and loved because of me and what I do for a living. He’s better off without me in his life.”

She did not agree with that. She did not agree at all. 

“Maybe you should give him a choice in that.” She said with a little snark on her voice. 

“He’s ten years old, Felicity. He was living his life just fine thinking I was dead.” He snapped. “Maybe I should have stayed that way. All I bring to people’s lives is dark and pain… people like me… we don’t deserve good things. Everyone I love ends up hurt because of me. My mom… Thea… William… you.” He looked at her sadly, then looked away. “A child is better off without me bringing all this darkness to his life.” 

She got her legs out of his lap and got off the couch.

“Well, I think you’re wrong… I just wish you could be able to see that too.” She said sadly, walking to the bathroom, her bladder begging for release. Before she was out of the room, she turned back to add, “and please, don’t ever again say you should have stayed dead.” With that, she left for the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Well, that went well.

It seemed like he did not change his mind about that situation at all. He still thought he was a burden to people and that he was doing them a favor staying away from their lives. 

She wiped away the tears from her cheeks. She had to tell him about the baby. She rested a hand on the small bump hidden behind the loose shirt. She would tell him. But not today. Not when he still thought the best answer to protect his loved ones was to send them somewhere not to be found.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 3

Felicity smiled as she walked out of her ob/gyn. Even though she wasn’t feeling very well when she woke up that morning, she’d had a rough night struggling with anxiety and nightmares, going to her doctor’s appointment and learning more about her pregnancy and her baby lifted her spirits. Her doctor confirmed she was now fifteen weeks pregnant and besides the fact that she was a little bit anemic, everything else looked pretty good so far. She also assured Felicity the pregnancy would not affect the biochip on her spine and she didn’t need to worry about it, which was one of her biggest concerns. Knowing she didn’t have any reason to fear something going wrong with it because of her soon to be growing belly and the baby stretching her from the inside took a lot of weight from her shoulders. 

That same morning she had noticed her little bump seemed to have popped overnight and now it was clear that it wasn’t just a “I ate a little too much at lunch” belly but really a tiny baby bump. Since she hadn’t told Oliver yet - she promised herself she’d tell him this week - she was wearing the only pair of jeans that still fit her and a loose shirt that did a good job covering her stomach. She’d soon have to go shopping for maternity clothes. Wow, just the thought of that made everything seem so much more real. It was just easier to avoid something when it was not staring at you in the face. 

Her first sonogram was scheduled for the following week and she couldn’t wait for it, because not only would they be able to see the baby for the first time, they would also hear the heartbeat and maybe even find out the sex. 

To say she was excited was an understatement. 

She had just left CVS after buying the vitamins her doctor prescribed when she walked by a baby store. There in the window was a mannequin of a baby wearing jeans and a little green hoodie. Her eyes teared up a bit. She didn’t know if she was having a girl or a boy, she really had no preference, but regardless of the gender, the kid would look ridiculously cute in that hoodie. She wondered if the baby would take after her or Oliver. Would they brood like their dad when they were upset? She’d never tell him, but she found Oliver adorable when he did that. She imagined that expression didn’t look much different when he was a little boy and his mother did not allow him to do something he wanted. 

She smiled, picturing their baby in her head. Chubby cheeks, blonde hair and blue eyes, most likely. She hoped they’d get his dimples. She loved his dimples. People didn’t get to see them often, but when they appeared on his face, oh, that was a sight to behold. 

Without thinking twice, Felicity entered the store and purchased the little hoodie, the very first thing she bought for her baby. 

*

“How was your appointment?” Oliver asked when he got to the bunker early that night. She had told him she had a doctor appointment, he had been nagging her about going to see a doctor for days, she just didn’t specify which kind of doctor appointment it was. She was planning on telling him about the pregnancy later tonight, when he was back from patrol. She doubted it would be a good idea to tell him he knocked her up that night they pretended never existed right before he went out to catch bad guys. 

“All good.” She turned her chair to face him. “The doctor said I have a little bit of anemia, but nothing that a few iron supplements and vitamins can’t fix.”

“And some green vegetables.” He pointed out, already thinking of all the iron-rich meals he was going to prepare. He’d been cooking daily for them and when she was not at the bunker, he made sure she had something to heat up at home. He lost count of the amount of times he sent his assistant to take her lunch to the loft. There was probably a lot of gossip going around City Hall about their relationship. Both their engagement and break up were everywhere in the Star City media. He didn’t give it much thought though, he was just incredibly happy to still have her in his life and that was enough for him. It had to be. He got a sample of how his life was without Felicity and he didn’t like it one bit. “I’ll make sure to add them to my grocery list, they work the best against iron deficiency.”

She winced. “Maybe the vitamins she prescribed will be enough. It’s really not that bad.”

“Felicity, you’ve been getting nauseous and lightheaded often. Eating healthy will make you feel better and you’ll recover in no time.” 

“Okay,” she couldn’t deny a change in her diet was needed. It wasn’t just about her anymore, she had a child growing inside her womb to think about too. She’d been eating way healthier since he started cooking for her again, but she knew she still could do a lot better regarding her eating habits.  “But no broccoli,” she added quickly, pointing a finger at him. “You know I hate it,” she made a disgusted sound. “And since you’re putting greens on your grocery list, please add a few pints of mint chip in there.”

“I don’t think mint chip ice cream is iron-rich…” He teased, raising an eyebrow.

“No, but it’s chocolate-rich and that’s good enough for me,” she turned her chair back to the computer. “Okay, enough about me. There’s a drug exchange that is supposed to happen in a couple of hours at Starling Port. El Loco is one of the men supposed to be getting a new shipment. I doubt he’ll be there himself, but we might get closer to catching him for good.”

“El Loco? Really?” He cocked his head, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

El Loco the name she came up for the crime lord involved with the Stardust drug that they’ve been watching for the past month. Twice they almost got him, but the son of a bitch escaped. If everything went well tonight, though, they might finally get closer to catching the man and sending him to jail the rest of his miserable life. 

“Look, I’m not Cisco. I don’t come up with the names. It’s either that or El Chupacabra.” 

“Isn’t that some goat sucking animal?” He creased his forehead.

“Awww, so you really did pay attention during the X-Files marathons!” She put a hand on her heart, actually touched. It took her months and a few naughty bribes to convince him to watch all seasons with her. Still, she was pretty sure he was only there for the snuggles. She’d even caught him napping a couple of times.

“Can we discuss this another time?” He let out a sigh. He knew if they went on that tangent, she’d probably convince him to rewatch a few of her favorite episodes and before he knew it they’d be watching TV and thoughts of thugs and drug dealers would be completely forgotten. As much as he would love that, stopping this guy was more important at the moment. And, of course, that was not something he and Felicity did anymore. She let him take care of her those days she was feeling ill, but that was it. She was back at keeping him at arm's length for the past week.

“Alright, El Loco it is then... where was I? Oh, yes. I don’t think you should go there alone, though, because we’re expecting a lot of bad guys who can’t wait to get their hands on their ride to la la land and I’m pretty sure they’ll be loaded with guns in case someone, you know,” she mimicked shooting an arrow, “tries to stop them.” 

“I’m not afraid of a bunch of thugs, Felicity.” He dismissed it as if it was not a big deal. What were a bunch of thugs when he fought against Mirakuru soldiers, the league of assassins and literal villains with magic powers?

“Of course, because you’re invincible.” She rolled her eyes. “No offense, Oliver, but I’m not comfortable with you going out there tonight without backup. I mean, not that I don’t have complete faith in your archery skills, you obviously are amazing, fantastic even, if I can say so myself, but those bows and arrows were used by humans long before record history, I think I might even have seen some used on an episode of the Flintstones-” Oliver just stared at her, mouth agape. “Okay, you’re offended, but the point is, there will be plenty of them with powerful weapons and only one of you with your bow and arrow. The man works with a crew, Oliver, and in case you haven’t noticed, we’re a little short-handed here. I don’t think those odds work in our favor.” 

He didn’t say anything, he just stood there, glaring at her with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Ouch, she’d really hurt his feelings. Well, that’s too bad. It was still a suicide mission going out there alone tonight. She had way too many things to be worried about lately, freaking out because Oliver was being stubborn about this was not something she wanted to add to that list. 

“I’ll handle them.” He said finally, walking away.

Big, dumb, stubborn, pine tree.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna sharpen some of those prehistoric arrows.”

*

“Those are a lot of gummy bears for one tiny person to inhale in such a short amount of time.” Curtis eyed the big package of candy laying on Felicity’s table. He got there an hour ago and they were doing some progress with the new security software they were developing. Yesterday she had a meeting with Mr. Cunningham, one of the few members of the board in Palmer Tech that had her back back in the day and she might have gotten him to convince the rest of the board to give her another chance if she took this software to the company. Maybe she could even convince them to sponsor a new branch, focused entirely in home and cyber security. If they got Archer to work the way they planned, it would be revolutionary. So far, they still have some glitches to fix. 

“I didn’t eat them all.” She said innocently, slowly biting onto another one, like a child who just got busted doing something she shouldn’t, but not really willing to give up her snack.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. What did the red gummy bears ever do to you?”

“I can’t stand the taste of them.” She shoved the bag filled only with red bears on his lap. “There. You can have them.”

“Oh, thank you. That’s so thoughtful of you!” he said sarcastically, but still popping a couple of bears in his mouth. 

“What? I know they are your favorites!”

“Uh-hum.” He chews on his bears, watching as she stared at her computer in silence for a minute, not doing anything. “Hey, are you okay? You’ve been a little off lately.”

“I’m fine… just tired. There is just… you know, so much going on in my head. And last night I had another nightmare, so I didn’t get much sleep. And then when I finally got back to bed, my alarm woke me up because I had a doctor’s appointment this morning.”

It was true. Ever since that day she changed the destination of Dahrk’s missile from Monument Point to Havenrock, she had been fighting nightmares. It had been a while since she had one, but she thought that with everything that was going on in her life, it wasn’t surprising that her anxiety and new fears would bring them back in full force. Deep inside, she knew she didn’t have a choice and what she did saved millions of people, but thousands still died and she wasn’t able to save them. She’ll always feel guilty about that, even though the rational part of her knew she did everything she could possibly do. But a big part of her would never stop feeling guilty about the fact that she was the one who ended up having to choose where the missile would hit. 

“Havenrock?”

She nodded, not really wanting to talk about it. 

“You have to know it’s not your fault, you know that right? Dahrk was the one who sent that missile, Felicity, not you. What you did saved millions of people.”

“I know that… doesn’t make the fact that I typed that new location the missile would hit any easier though.”

“Have you talked to Oliver about this?”

“Ha.” She snorted, shaking her head. “Oliver and I don’t have that kind of relationship anymore, Curtis, you know that.”

Things between them were getting better a few days into the bunker restoration. They’d even flirt some times. That was why Curtis decided to give them that little push that led them to sleep together and taking fifteen steps back, ending up in a worse situation than they were when she called off their engagement. There was still so much left unsaid between them, so many things they never talked about and were not ready to talk about yet. So many wounds that were still fresh and open. So sleeping together just made everything even more difficult. She couldn’t even begin to think what this pregnancy would do to their still so frail relationship.

She never missed Oliver more than on those days she woke up in the middle of the night, shivering and sweating, only to realize she was in their apartment, completely alone. She knew that if he was there, he’d find a way to comfort her. He always did. His presence alone was enough to calm her. She’d go on his embrace and listen to his heartbeat until hers was beating in synchrony with it. Then he’d bring her a glass of water and hold her in his arms until she fell back asleep. She swallowed a sudden need to cry. If dealing with all of that plus her break up wasn’t enough, her pregnancy hormones and her fears about this baby and how Oliver would react when he found out were making everything even harder. 

She turned her chair back to her computer, “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about that, let’s go back to Archer…”

Felicity shoved an empty bottle of pink lemonade aside so she could work. When she got to the bunker that afternoon after her appointment, she found the fridge filled with bottles of the sour beverage. Oliver obviously had noticed she’d developed a slight obsession with it lately and made sure to add it to his grocery list. 

“Felicity, it’s time to go.” The broody man walked up the stairs and placed a stainless steel bottle in front of her.  “Can I count on you on the comms?”

“What’s this?” She pointed at the bottle.

“Freshly squeezed orange juice. An excellent source of vitamin C, folate, and potassium. Drink it.” He was bringing her food, but she could see he was still mad at her.

He went to check a computer on the other side of her and she took a big gulp of the drink. She was getting a little hungry and freshly squeezed orange juice sounded amazing to her ears. As soon as the liquid touched her tongue, she winced a little, taking off the lid to check inside the bottle. “Did you put kale in this? Please tell me you did not put kale in this.” 

“It’s one of the best sources of nutrients,” Oliver said, not even bothering to take his eyes off the computer. The sneaky bastard put it in a bottle thinking he could fool her about the kale. As if she wouldn’t notice.

“Why would you ruin a perfectly good orange juice throwing kale in there?” She whined, frowning at the juice.

“You can barely taste it there, Felicity, just drink it. Think of it as if it was medicine.” 

“You’re sick?” Curtis asked, immediately worried.

“I’m not-”

“She’s anemic. She hasn’t been feeling that great lately. That should make her feel better, though.” He pointed at the bottle still on her hand, which she drank reluctantly, even though she had to admit it, it wasn’t half bad. It was pretty good actually. “So, about the comms?” 

“Are you really going there by yourself?” she asked again, hoping he had changed his mind.

“Yes.” He zipped up his hood. “SCPD will be there too, Quentin will give them an anonymous call as soon as I clear the area and give him the signal. It’s going to be fine.”

“If you insist.” She was still not convinced and something inside her hated that he was not listening to her on this matter. “For the record, I really think this is a terrible idea. And you better come back to this lair without a single scratch on your body, because I have a few important things to discuss with you.” 

He growled, certain it was going to be another chat about recruiting a new team. She’d been obsessed with that idea lately. He did not want a new team. He liked his old team. He still hoped everyone would come back.

“I should be there in ten minutes, please send me the coordinates.”  He grabbed his bow and quiver and ran out of the door without paying them any more attention.

“Who pissed in his cheerios?” Curtis asked, watching the man stomp out of the bunker.

“I might have hurt his feelings a little bit earlier today.” She was already working on the computer, sending Oliver’s phone the exact location the exchange was supposed to happen.

“What did you do?” He narrowed his eyes at her. He’d never seen Oliver act so short with Felicity before. 

“I kind of said archery was a bit outdated and it would be dangerous for him to be out there alone tonight without backup, since there are going to be a lot of drug dealers loaded with big guns and only one of him with his arrows.”

“Girl, you didn’t!” 

“What was I supposed to do, Curtis?” She threw her hands up in the air. “It’s just the two of us now. He keeps waiting for John to come back, but we know he’s not. At least not anytime soon. He refuses to recruit more people. Thea hung up her hood months ago and I think she quit the vigilante business for good. We’ve gotten some close calls already. I can’t afford him to get hurt. Especially now.” 

She felt a tightening in her chest and her breath caught in her throat. Just the thought of losing Oliver made her head spin.

“Hey, nothing is gonna happen to him, Felicity,” he took her hand, trying to calm her down. She was clearly shaken. “That man is not going to leave you anytime soon. Why this sudden fear?”

“Nothing.” She took her hand back to wipe a stubborn tear that dared to escape. “I just worry about him, that’s all.”

“God, I can’t believe he still made you that freshly squeezed juice to guarantee you’d eat something other than gummy bears for dinner even after you fought.” He sighed. “That’s love, baby.”

She ignored him.

“Overwatch, I have eyes on the target! Do you copy?” Oliver’s voice said on the comms.

“Copy that.” Her posture changed immediately and she snapped right into Overwatch mode. “I see two guys at your three o’clock. The path to your left seems to be clear.”

She saw him moving on the monitor. “First transaction is going to happen at Pier 11, I see El Loco there,” well, that was a surprise. She really wasn’t expecting him to be there. “He has three men with him. They are all armed.” 

Felicity was keeping her eye on El Loco, when she caught him smirking at one of the cameras. This was not a good sign. “Green Arrow! Do you copy?”

“Over-” She couldn’t hear what he was going to say because his line went dead.

“Green Arrow!” She tried again, her heart on her throat. “Green Arrow, please, do you copy?”

“We lost his signal!” She typed furiously at her keyboard. “They must have changed the frequency in that area. They knew we were going to be there!”

New satellite images popped on her monitor. Her heart skipped a beat. 

“ Frack! ” She hit the table with so much force the juice bottle fled to the other side of the room. “We got it wrong! Those are not drugs in those shipments, they are bombs. This is an ambush! If Oliver shoots one of his explosive arrows to disperse attention, everything is gonna blow up in seconds, there won’t be time for anyone to escape, including him.”

She had to do something. She was not going to let him die. She’d save him and then kill him herself for not listening to her. She knew something wasn’t right with this mission, she had worried about him going alone all day, it was like her heart tried to warn her. 

“What are you doing?” Curtis was shocked looking from Felicity to the monitor. She was grabbing a gun, shoving it on the back of her jeans. 

“I need you to give me their exact locations from here.” She passed him a headset. Those should work on the new frequency. 

“Felicity! You can’t go there by yourself! It’s too dangerous!”

“He’s going to die if I don’t, Curtis! I have no other option! He’s there all alone. I need to warn him about the bombs before it’s too late. El Loco has been trying to get him for a while now, we should have known this was an ambush.” How could they have been so stupid?  

“But what if you don’t make it to him on time? You’re going to die too, Felicity!”

“Then we better hope I make it on time.” 

*

Oliver knew something was wrong the moment he lost the signal. He hated that they’d fought before this mission, he hated fighting with Felicity. But this seemed so simple and if they caught El Loco’s men, it would be much easier to get their leader and stop the Stardust trafficking. The man was a monster and Oliver wanted nothing more than to send him to rot in jail for the rest of his life.

“GREEN ARROW, NO!” He heard Felicity shouting. What the hell was she doing here? She was running towards him, already going out of breath. She must had come the moment he lost his signal. Why would she do this? He had everything under control.  “DON’T SHOOT! THEY HAVE BOMBS IN THERE!”

Oliver noticed someone suddenly showing up a few yards behind Felicity. He was wearing all black from head to toe and his head was also covered with a hood. When Oliver saw the man raising his bow and pointing it at the crate near her, he nearly lost it in fear. 

“NO! FELICITY! GET OUT OF THERE!” 

But it was too late. Before she could do anything, the crate exploded loudly, sending her flying. 

“NO!” He jumped down from the crate he was, needing to get to her. 

Soon, explosions were heard all around Starling Port.

Oliver couldn’t see the man anymore, but at the moment, he couldn’t care less about him, El Loco or the rest of the thugs. He just needed to find Felicity. He needed her to be okay. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to her.

She was laying on the floor, hidden behind a trash can. “Felicity!” 

He put his bow next to her, not caring that there might still be other guys around them. He’d sent Quentin the signal already, SCPD was probably on the way. He checked for her pulse and let out a relieved sigh when he found it. “Felicity, come on.” He pulled her to his arms. “I need you to wake up. Come on, honey, open your eyes.”

“Oliver? Are you there? What happened?” He heard Curtis’ voice coming out of her comms.

“Curtis, She’s down! Felicity is hurt!” He shouted at him, “I need you to come get us here, now!"

He was desperate, her face was drained out of color. 

“Honey… please. Stay with me.” He leaned his forehead on hers. “Please stay with me. Curtis is on his way. We’re taking you to the hospital. You’ll be fine.” He put a trembling hand on her cheek and kissed her head. “But I need you to stay with me.”

He heard a small moan and his heart skipped a beat. 

“Ol’ver?” 

She tried to move, but immediately winced in pain. 

“I’m here. You’re going to be okay. Please stay awake. We’ll be at the hospital soon.” He kissed the top of her head again. “You’re going to be just fine.”

He saw her putting her small hand on her stomach. 

“Oliver… the ba-” Her voice was just a whisper, he almost couldn’t hear what she wanted to say, she was having a hard time trying to breathe. “The baby… I’-I’m pregnant… You need to tell them that I’m pregnant.”

Oliver barely had time to contemplate her words, because as soon as they left her lips her eyes fluttered close and her body went limp in his arms.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 4

Pregnant.

Felicity was pregnant. 

That was all he could think ever since the doctor assured him Felicity was going to be okay. 

Curtis got to the port to rescue them in record time and he was very grateful that the man thought of bringing him some regular clothes, since it would be quite the scene if the Green Arrow walked into a hospital with his blonde partner passed out in his arms. He did not want to leave Felicity’s side even for a second since he found her hurt on that floor. On their way to the hospital he rode on the backseat of the car holding her the entire time, only letting go when they got there and he had to change out of his Arrow suit.

The doctors worked fast, she was still unconscious when they got to the emergency room, but thankfully, she only had a mild concussion and everything seemed fine with the baby. Since she was still in the early stages of the pregnancy, it was well cushioned and protected inside her womb. 

The baby. 

She was having a baby.

He didn’t even know she was going out with someone again. Was that Billy guy the father? The thought of that alone left a bitter taste in his mouth. Why didn’t Felicity tell him about this? She was his best friend, she should have known he’d always be there to support her, no matter the situation. Okay, fine, the fact that they used to be engaged and that he lied to her about his son might have played a part in her decision of keeping the pregnancy a secret, but he thought she knew she could tell him anything, even if things weren't as good between them lately. 

Did the guy leave her? He felt his blood boiling. He’d kill him if he found out the idiot hurt Felicity. But she didn’t have to worry, he’d make sure to tell her that he’d help her with everything she needed, that he could be there for her and her baby. He’d take care of them and make sure they were both safe and well-fed. He had to start searching for baby food recipes. He could not leave that poor kid to fall victim to Felicity's cooking. No one deserved that, much less an innocent baby. He thought of that child, Felicity’s child, his heart aching with longing when he pictured a little girl who was the spitting image of her mother. Even if he was not the father, he already loved this baby, because he or she was a part of Felicity and he didn’t think he could ever not love anything that was a part of her. 

He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard a little groan coming from the hospital bed. Felicity was waking up, finally.

He got out of the couch, his knee protesting as he stood up, he’d spent the past three hours sitting in the same spot watching over her, and hurried to her side.

“Hey,” he said softly, grabbing her hand and stroking her knuckles with his thumb. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” 

“My head...” She winced, lifting her free hand to her forehead. “... it hurts.”

“You got flung from an explosion and hit your head quite hard on the concrete floor, but don’t worry, it was just a concussion, the doctors wanted to keep you here overnight just as a precaution, once everything is clear, you should be discharged tomorrow morning,” he told her. He could feel the moment she remembered the pregnancy, because her expression went from pain to horror in the span of a second, her hand flying to her stomach.

“It’s okay. Your baby is okay,” he told her softly. “The doctor guaranteed it’s fine. He said the baby is well cushioned and protected there.”

He nodded to her belly, her still flat stomach, he couldn’t begin to imagine a child, her child , growing in there.

Felicity eyed him surprised. “You… you know about the baby?”

“Yeah…” He pulled a chair to sit next to her bed. “You told me, even though you were barely conscious. Seems like those maternal instincts are already kicking in.” 

She just stared at him quietly and he wondered what was going through her head. Did she want someone else here with her? Maybe the baby’s father? His heart clenched at that possibility, but he had to ask. If she wanted the other guy here with her, Oliver would just have to accept defeat and leave. 

“You want me to… call the father?” He looked away, afraid of her answer.

“The father?” She looked at him like he grew a second head. “What do you mean about you ‘calling the father?’”

“Your baby’s father. I can get him if you want, I’ll just need a phone number or some other form of contact-”, he offered, but she just kept staring at him, like she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about and that maybe she had not been the only one to hit her head tonight. He continued, “if he’s not in the picture, I want you to know that you can count on me for everything. I’m always here for you, you don’t have to do this alone.”

“Well, you better be, since the father is you ,” she said with a little snark and sitting up on the bed, her head spinning a little at the movement. Damn, she did really hit it hard. 

Who the hell did Oliver think got her pregnant?

“What the hell, Oliver? How could you think anyone else would be the father? We’ve been together almost twenty-four hours a day, every single day, ever since everyone left. When did you think I’d have time to find someone to knock me up?” she paused, taking a deep breath,  “well, unless you thought it was Curtis…” she snorted at the thought. “God, you’re ridiculous.”

He looked at her like a fish out of water, trying to catch his breath. It would be comical if she wasn’t absolutely terrified by how he would take the news.

"But... how…” He was the father of her baby? His heart started pounding in his chest. Was he having a heart attack? He might be. 

"You know how," she rolled her eyes and gave him a pointed look.

"But, we didn’t… we've been… it’s been eight months… how is it possible?” He held his breath. Wait . There was that one time, the one he sometimes wondered had been just a very detailed and vivid dream, because they never mentioned it ever again, silently agreeing it was a mistake that should be forgotten and they should pretend never happened.  “...the bunker?"

“ Bingo! ” She said but then sighed sadly. “Yeah, apparently, it really only takes one time,” she cocked one eyebrow at him, “as you should know already.”

“Well, technically, it was three times. I’m quite certain it was three times that night, that is, not counting- ” He stopped when he noticed her deadly glare at him.

“I’m just saying!” He put his hands up in defense.

She rolled her eyes again.

“This is all your fault, you know…” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“My fault?”

“Yes,” she bit the inside of her cheeks.

“You were the one who kissed me first that night, Felicity!” He said exasperated. What the hell? He even made sure that was really what she wanted before he even kissed her back. And God knew that took a lot of self-restraint on his part.

“You were flirting with me the entire night! And you brought the salmon ladder into it.” She snorted at the audacity, “the salmon ladder, Oliver! You know the salmon ladder is my kryptonite when it comes to you!” She accused him. 

“ Want to try doing the salmon ladder, Felicity? I can help you, it will be fun , he said,” she changed her tone in a poor attempt to mimic his voice. “‘Let me get there to hold you and help you do a chin up’. And then you were there, with all those nice muscles and that stupid pretty face of yours. My ovaries were probably dancing and just waiting for the perfect moment to act.  Boom , pregnant! Mission accomplished,” she crossed her arms again, huffing. “It’s your fault.” 

He bit his lips, trying to hide his smile. She was adorable even when she was mad at him.

“Felicity,” he looked at her, his heart in his eyes. “Does that matter now? We are having a baby.”

Wow . 

Now that really made the situation feel very real, actually saying it aloud. They were having a child. That night in the bunker resulted in this little person who was theirs to love and cherish. As much as they wanted to pretend that night never happened, Felicity could never regret it. Not only because it gave her this baby - which, yes, was completely unplanned and unexpected and she thought she’d have an aneurysm when she found out about it - but because that was the first time they made love after she fully regained the feeling in her legs. That night wasn’t just about sex. Oliver had been so careful and tender the first time they went for it, wanting her to feel him everywhere and taking his time reconnecting to her body, she felt so very loved. The other two times, though, it was raw and passionate and everything she missed about them. 

But none of that mattered now.

“I’m scared, Oliver,” she said in a small whisper.

“Why?” He creased his eyebrows confused. “Why didn’t you tell me? How far along are you, by the way?”

“Fifteen weeks,” she looked down at her belly then back at him. “Can you believe it? My doctor said I’m due in the first week of May. Now I’ll have not only one, but two bullheaded, stubborn taurus in my life. Lucky me! ” She threw her fist in the air in a mocking celebration.

He chuckled at her, but then his expression turned serious. “You’ve been to the doctor already? How was it? Is everything okay?”

“Everything is great, despite that little anemia thing I already told you about. I still didn’t get a sonogram, I have one scheduled next week,” she paused, “I was planning to tell you tonight when you came back to the bunker, I did not want to see the baby for the first time without you there with me. It didn’t feel right.” 

He felt her hand grabbing his and giving it a little squeeze. He was glad she didn’t go to the sonogram alone and was waiting for him, he wanted to be there with her every step of the way. Then, something hit him. “So, all that nausea and dizziness…”

It all made sense now. It would explain why she was feeling so terrible lately. He sighed relieved. He was starting to get worried she was actually sick and in danger. 

“Yup.”

Fifteen weeks. Almost four months. That’s almost halfway through the pregnancy already. She looked so chill about it, so comfortable talking about the baby.

“Were you ever going to tell me? You must have known for a while,” his tone changed. 

“Oliver...”

“I mean, you come running towards a bomb, also something else we will be discussing, and you got yourself hurt, only having enough time to tell me about our baby before losing consciousness. So, were you ever going to tell me? Did you even want to tell me?” 

“Of course I did!” She snapped, then continued as patiently as she could manage, “I’d like to say, for the record, that if we had a team, if you had backup like I’ve been telling you for weeks now, I wouldn’t have run into danger head first to save you!”

“Noted,” he got up from the chair, put his hands on his waist, and looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath. 

“I was going to tell you. I wanted to tell you,” she uttered,“I just found out about it a little over a week ago. I never even thought about the possibility of being pregnant until I saw an old box of tampons and realized I didn’t have a period in months.” She still couldn’t believe it took her so long to find out. “And I didn’t tell you before because I was terrified you would decide to send me and this baby away too. I didn’t tell you before because now I am even more scared of you dying out there and leaving me to raise this child alone.”

“I’m not leaving you, or our baby,” he promised, but he could see she was still doubtful. 

“Not even if you think it will be for our best?” 

“I promise you, if the circumstances arise in which I think having you away will protect and keep you both safe, we’ll talk about it before taking any drastic action. And then we’ll decide what to do… together,” This was different from the situation with William. He and Felicity had chosen this life and even if they were not together anymore and had so many issues to resolve, they were still partners. They still had each other’s backs. They would find a way to make this work. They had to, because he couldn’t bear the thought of losing them too. “We will figure it out, but don’t you ever think you’ll have to do this alone.”

*

“Are you guys ready to take a peek at the little one?” A doctor said after knocking twice on the door, startling them. They’d been silent for the past couple of hours, Felicity pretending to be asleep, not wanting to keep arguing with Oliver and dealing with the situation the way they've been dealing with all their problems lately: avoiding it. 

The doctor pushed the wheeled table with a large monitor inside the room.They thought it would be better to do a sonogram before discharging Felicity, because even though everything seemed good so far, she did have a big fall and they didn’t want to take any chances.

“How are you feeling, Miss Smoak?” He asked, setting up the machine.

“Like Wile E Coyote after he got hit in the head with an anvil, but other than that, I’m fine,” she told him. “I’m really excited about seeing the baby, though.”

“I see in your records you’re fifteen weeks along?”

“Yes, this will be the baby’s first ultrasound.”

“That’s nice, at this stage, we’ll be able to get a better look at the baby,” he smiled and plugged the monitor.  “and… all set! Can you please pull up your shirt a little?”

Felicity did as he asked, lifting her shirt and right there, behind the fabric, was a small mound on her lower abdomen, still tiny, yet undeniable. Oliver was completely mesmerized, unable to tear his eyes away from her little baby bump as the doctor applied the gel and pressed the ultrasound wand on her belly, searching for the baby.

“If the little one cooperates, we might find out the sex, I mean, in case you don’t want it to be a surprise,” the doctor, Dr. Harris - Oliver read the name on the coat - said as he focused on the screen.

“No, no surprises! This baby's existence was already big enough of a surprise to last a lifetime,” she said, “unless… do you want it to be a surprise?” She looked over at Oliver. She really hoped he didn’t, because she didn’t know how she’d cope not knowing what they were having for the next five months. She was way too curious for her own good.

“Yes? I’d like to be surprised, I mean. Come on, how many chances we’ll have to have another good surprise in life? It will be worth it. ” 

“What? No!” She could not believe he said that. “Finding out now will be just as good of a surprise! And then, when the baby is born, we’ll have another good surprise. We’ll see him or her in person for the first time, don’t you think that’s already the best surprise ever?” 

He tried to keep his face straight, but he couldn’t help bursting into laughter at her horrified expression. Part of him would like to keep it a surprise, but he knew Felicity Smoak, not knowing would drive her crazy and by extension him . Finding out is the best option for them, but didn’t mean he couldn’t tease her about it. 

“I’m kidding,” he grinned, “I just wanted to see your face when I said it. I can’t wait to find out either.”

“Asshole,” she mumbled, but he could see the smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“As if you’d be able to keep it a secret.” He had no doubt she’d hack the hospital to snoop at the records and find out the results as soon as she got an electronic device in her hands, which meant she’d know half a minute after they left the appointment.  

“As a matter of fact-”

tum.tum

tum.tum

tum.tum

tum.tum

They both went silent as the repetitive sound filled the walls of the room.

“Is it…” Felicity gasped.

“Your baby’s heartbeat?” The doctor grinned. “Yes, it is. And by the measurements I’m seeing here, you’ve got a sweet, healthy little baby growing there. Everything looks perfect and going exactly as expected at this stage of the pregnancy.”

Her eyes, blurred with tears, searched for Oliver.

“Oliver”, she reached for his hand as a sob escaped her throat. 

He grabbed her hand, as amazed as she was by the sweetest sound he’d ever heard. 

“That’s our baby,” she uttered.

“That’s our baby,” he kissed her knuckles and smiled at her with teary eyes. She smiled right back at him, looking more beautiful than he’d ever seen her before. At this moment, it didn’t matter that the status of their relationship was still a big question mark. They were just two parents, enchanted by seeing their child for the very first time.

They just stood there staring at each other's eyes in silence, listening to the baby’s heartbeat until the doctor exclaimed, “A-ha, there it is! Kid tried to play hide and seek with me, but I’ve been doing this way too long to not win this game.”

There on the screen was the profile of a baby, the most perfect thing they’ve ever seen. They could see sweet pouty lips and a little stuck up nose. 

“Did he just flip?” Oliver gasped, eyes glued on the screen. “Did you see that? I’m pretty sure he flipped!” 

“Yes, she did,” Dr. Harris replied with a grin.

“ She? ” Felicity opened the biggest smile. “It’s a girl?”

“Yes, it is. Definitely a girl. A very active baby girl. Congratulations.”

“A very active baby girl, already doing somersaults in the womb. Of course, she’s Oliver Queen’s daughter,” she cackled. “Color me not at all surprised,” she added, wiping away a tear, her voice full of affection for this baby that, while completely unexpected, was already so very loved. “I’m in for a ride, aren’t I?” 

“A girl, Felicity!” Oliver said, his voice shaken. “We’re having a baby girl,” his voice was so soft, his happiness so obvious, Felicity went in for a hug before she thought against it. They held onto each other for a bit longer and a bit tighter than necessary, while they both laughed in wonderment. 

“I’ll give you two a moment alone while I print some pictures for you to take home. Congratulations again.” They pulled away from their hug.  Dr. Harris passed Felicity a few sheets of paper to clean the gel out of her belly and left them.

Felicity was wiping away the last drop of it when she noticed Oliver gazing wistfully towards her stomach. She knew what he was looking at, she had that same expression on her face just that morning when she noticed her belly had popped. 

“You can touch it if you want,” she offered timidly.

“Can I?” he finally took his eyes away from her stomach to look at her, silently asking for permission. She nodded.

She held her breath as his shaking hands cradled her stomach gently, with so much tenderness that her eyes filled with tears all over again. He hadn’t touched her in such an intimate manner ever since the night that landed them in this situation. Sure, he held her when she was sick and carried her in his arms, but this was different. She felt this touch in her soul.

“ Wow,” he was in complete awe, tracing the small curve of her belly. 

“Crazy, right?” She watched him, feeling like an intruder in this moment between a father and his baby, but she was unable to look anywhere else. “It wasn’t there last night. I swear it popped overnight. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it there this morning.”

“It’s amazing,” he lowered his face a little, almost touching her belly with his lips, but not quite. “Hi, baby,” he whispered, so lowly Felicity barely heard him, her heart tightening in her chest. 

She let him have his moment with their child. Sometimes she forgot he didn’t have time yet to contemplate the news the way she did. God knew what a complete mess she was those first couple of days after getting all those positive pregnancy tests.

“Can you feel anything yet?” 

She shook her head no, having difficulty finding her words. “Not yet,” she sighed, “I mean, besides heartburn, I’ve been getting those a lot.”

“Are they bad?” He frowned. 

“I won’t say they are comfortable or anything, but no, they are not that bad. At least, not yet. Google told me it usually gets worse by the end of the pregnancy. I’m also supposed to get swollen feet, back pain and apparently will basically lose complete control of my bladder by the thirst trimester. Sounds fun, right?” Not to mention, some other very displeasing things she’d rather keep to herself. 

He caressed her skin one more time before taking his hands off, not wanting to overstay his welcome. 

She immediately missed the warmth of his touch.

“I’m sorry.” He shot her a sad smile, putting his hands on his pocket to not be tempted to touch her again.  “I wish I could feel some of those so you wouldn’t have to. It’s really not fair that the woman has to do all the heavy lifting.”

“Huh,” she lifted one shoulder in a shrug, “I’m pretty sure it will all be worth it when I get to hold her in my arms… wow… her… I’m having a daughter… I still have to wrap up my head about that...” she looked down at her hands, suddenly very interested on her fingernails, “but you know,” the corner of her mouth turned up in a smirk he was well familiar with, “I will never say 'no' to a foot rub or back massage, just saying.”

He let out a laugh. “I think I can help you with that. Word out in the streets is that I’m the best unlicensed masseur in this city.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 5

Felicity woke up in a cold sweat. She was having nightmares again, but this time, they were getting worse. It wasn’t only Havenrock now, it was her running away from the bombs with her screaming baby daughter in her arms. She ran and ran and she just couldn’t escape the fire. When she finally found a door to a place they might have a shelter, there was someone already inside, an archer, wearing all black with his face covered by a mask and a hood, pointing an arrow straight at her and the baby, saying “this is all your fault” before shooting at them.

It had been a week since the attack at the port and she’d been doing home rest. She was fine, her doctor assured her she had no reason to worry, it was just a precaution, because she had been under a lot of stress and her fall wasn’t something to be dismissed as nothing. But after the week was over, she could go back to her normal life. 

There were a lot of casualties during that attack, including El Loco and his men. She was so glad both she and Oliver were able to make it out of it without any serious injuries. They still couldn’t figure out who was behind it or who the man was who shot the arrow that made the crate explode and nearly killed her and by extension her baby. That has been on her mind a lot and she hasn't gone to the bunker since then, so all the searching she could do was from her apartment. It just wasn’t the same, she didn’t have the same resources she had in the bunker. She hasn’t seen Oliver since leaving the hospital either, they were still walking on eggshells around each other since he found out about the pregnancy. They talked everyday, though, he wanted to know how she was doing and he made sure she had nice food to eat for every single meal. 

She was happily surprised by his reaction to the news and even though they still have a lot to discuss, she considered this their best case scenario. He was going to be there for her and assured he wouldn’t make any harsh decisions before talking to her. For now, that’s more than she could ask for. 

Felicity looked at the clock on her side table. It was almost five in the morning and she knew there was no way she’d be able to fall back asleep. The week her doctor asked her to stay home was over and she decided now was a good time as ever to go to the bunker and try to do some work. She wasn’t able to work on Archer at all this week and she did have a presentation at Palmer Tech coming. 

She got in the shower, put on her most comfortable jeans, a big sweatshirt and a cute pair of pink sneakers and went on her way to the bunker.

She had just finished eating a chocolate chip muffin she got at the tiny kitchen when she saw Oliver, walking out from what was supposed to be to his bedroom, looking disheveled and like he had just rolled out of bed.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up? I tried to be quiet, but you know how clumsy I can be in the kitchen.” She apologized, licking some remaining chocolate off of her finger. 

“No… I’m…” He creased his forehead and rubbed his eyes. She’d obviously woken him up, she knew he usually was up till late at night. Felicity had no idea how the man could function with only three or four hours of sleep a night, but he’d been like that ever since they met.  “What are you doing here?”

She tried not to smile at how adorable he looked with his hair spiked up in the back. “I just got here. I’m trying to do some work on the program Curtis and I are developing, since I had to stay at home this week, it took us a little behind schedule.” She hadn’t told him yet that she decided to call her new security program ‘Archer’ . When she was coming up with names, she couldn’t think of a better one for a system that was meant to protect people than Archer. 

“Felicity, it’s five in the morning. It’s still dark outside.” He looked so confused.

“I couldn’t sleep.” She said, not getting into it. 

“Is everything okay?” 

“Yeah, I just had some bad dreams and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I thought, why not come here and actually do some work?” She shrugged it off as if it was nothing, but by the look on his face, he didn’t buy it.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He offered.

“Not really,” she took a sip of her pink lemonade and looked at him, staring at his pajama pants and naked chest, such a delicious combination with that bed head. It’d been so long since she had that nice view of Oliver Queen right after he had gotten out of bed, she took her time savoring it. “I can’t believe you’re still living here at the Arrow Cave. Don’t people think it’s weird that the Mayor lives in a supposedly abandoned building?”

“Don’t call it the Arrow Cave...My name is still on the lease of the loft,” he said shyly. 

Oliver had a right to have security detail now that he was the Mayor, but he somehow convinced everyone he didn’t need it. Well, more likely he got rid of them so many times they all just gave up on him. So it wasn’t like people were actually going to check where he lived.

“But yeah… now with the baby coming, I might have to start looking for a new place. This isn’t exactly baby appropriate, I’ll need a real home for those days she’s going to be staying with me.”

They hadn’t talked about what they would do when the baby came. Felicity had the loft, of course, and she planned on turning the guest room into a nursery, but they never talked about custody and child visitation or anything like that. Just thinking about it made her heart ache. She was the one who broke up with Oliver and she still stood by her decision. He didn’t trust her, and she just couldn’t be in a relationship where one of them didn’t trust the other. Having a baby together didn’t change any of that. But still, picturing her daughter and Oliver spending their days without her, having a life completely separated from hers made her heart ache in a way she was not expecting. To be fair, she hadn’t given that much thought until now.

“You’re right… I mean, with all those weapons and pointy things… we’ll definitely have to baby proof this place a bit anyway, I will have to bring her here with me sometimes.”

She could see Oliver didn’t love the idea of their baby being there, but what could he do? It was not like they had an option. It was only the two of them and it wasn’t like they could just leave the vigilante life. Especially now with this new creep out there.

“By the way, I’ve been doing some research on people we can recruit for the team. I’ve brought you some possible options. Curtis has been helping me with it, there’s a couple of guys he checked that have really great potential.” Since she was on bed rest, she used her free time to look up some candidates. 

“Felicity, I said I don’t want a new team,” he crossed his arms on his chest.

“For heaven’s sake, Oliver!” She got up from her chair, suddenly all fired up. She was not expecting to have this debate so early in the morning, but now was as good of a time as any.  “We can’t keep going the way we are. Soon it will not only be just the two of us on Team Arrow, we’ll also have a baby. Those little things are quite demanding, in case you didn’t know. They cry, they need to be fed and they get dirty diapers. I won’t be able to come here as much as I do, or at least, not stay here as long as I do. And neither will you, because I don’t plan to take care of this kid alone.”

“I know! But Felicity, we still have months before the baby is here, and John-”

“We can’t keep waiting for John and Thea to change their minds! We are running against the clock, Oliver!” She shouted. Thank God the bunker was soundproof and isolated, otherwise, she’d be afraid they’d wake up their neighbors. “Unless you want to retire from the vigilante life.”

He knew they couldn’t. At least, not right now. The city was doing better, with him as Mayor taking care of things in the day and as the Green Arrow at night, he wished soon Star City would be free of crimes and a safe place for his children to grow up in. But for that to happen, they couldn’t quit Team Arrow. Not yet. And he still needed to find this dark archer who was responsible for the attack at the Port. He’d been trying to find more information on the man, but without Felicity there at the bunker to help him, he didn’t get much farther on his search.  

 “Felicity-” 

“Don’t ‘Felicity’ me, You know that I’m right, Oliver.” She was so tired of his resistance on this. She also wished he wasn’t shirtless for this discussion, it was very distracting. “You could have died that night.”

“Having someone there wouldn’t have changed anything. We got in trouble because we lost signal on the comms, not because I was out there by myself.” He remembered how he almost had a heart attack when he saw her there and realized that he wouldn’t be able to save her from the explosion. “And what were you even thinking going there, Felicity? My God, you could have died . Something could have happened with the baby!”

“You didn’t leave me a choice!” She raised her tone. How dare he guilt her into saying she put their baby in danger? “See? Like I said, this is exactly why we need more people on the team, I wouldn’t have to run there to warn you about the bombs if we had someone else working with us!” 

She was right. If Curtis hadn’t been there at the bunker that night, he didn’t even know how he was going to take her to the hospital and if something had happened to her or their baby, he would never be able to forgive himself. “Okay.”

“Okay?” She stopped moving, surprised. Well, that was too easy. She thought they’d have to argue more. Well, she was not going to look a gifted horse in the mouth. You just thankfully accept small miracles and go on with your life.

“Yes. You’re right.”

“Wow, one ‘okay’ and one “you’re right’? Are you okay? Do you have a fever or something?”

He glared at her.

“We can start working on that. But no promises.” He let out a long sigh, resigned. “Let me see what you’ve got there.”

Felicity passed him a dossier. She really, really wished he was wearing a shirt and did not smell so good for someone who just rolled out of bed. 

“Wild Dog?” He raised his brows as he read the name at the top of one of the files.

“Yes, Wild Dog, because of the shirt he wears,” she explained. “Silly Dog does not have the same ring to it.” Oliver tightened his lips. She knew he wanted to laugh. “Stop making fun of the codenames I come up with.”

“Why do I need a dossier on him?” He started reading the files. “Wait a minute. Didn’t I put an arrow in this dude?”

“You did. But well, I’ve been thinking, why not instead of putting an arrow in him, you might consider bringing him into the fold? I know it’s not the most enticing of recruitment pitch plans, but there are plenty of candidates willing to compensate for our ineffectual slash corrupt police department.”

“Being a vigilante is not just putting on a mask and thinking up a codename, these people are amateurs, Felicity, you really think they are going to replace Thea, or Dig or Laurel? They couldn’t do that if I wanted them to. And I don’t want them to.”

“They are already out there, Oliver. Because of you. Inspired by you.”

He sighed.

“This won’t be easy. It can’t be just anyone and it might take a while until we can trust them.”

“I can work with that.” She smiled. “Now, where is the air conditioner in this place?” She rubbed her arms up and down her arms to prove her point. “How are you not freezing like that, shirtless and all? I mean, I know you’re like a furnace, but-”

“I’ll just go take a shower. I have a meeting at seven. Maybe I can make it on time for once.” 

*

Oliver called Diggle later that night after Felicity went home. He felt like he needed his advice about this recruitment thing. Deep inside, he still hoped his friend would come back soon.  

“Hey, man.” Diggle said as soon as the video call connected.

“Hey, buddy! How is it going there?” He smiled, happy to see his friend. It’s been a while since they last talked. 

“Well, besides feeling like I’ve had the worst case of deja vu ever, not bad. How about you, you’re still the Mayor?”

“Yeah…” He said. “Trying my best to help the city, it’s been a lot of work, but we’ve already done a lot of improvements.”

“Well, now that’s nice to hear.” Diggle crossed his arms. “I got your message, you alright?” 

“I just need your perspective on something…” he started, “Felicity thinks it’s time we put together a new team.”

“And you wanna know if I think it’s a good idea.”

Oliver nodded.

“I think it is,” He noticed his friend sighing. “Wasn’t exactly the response you were looking for, right?”

“Not really. I need to make peace with the fact that things are not going back to the way they were.” Oliver pinched the top of his nose. “I just don’t love this idea of a new team.”

“And by your tone, I imagine it’s been bringing up issues between you and Felicity.”

“She’s worried about me going out there without backup.” That was the thing they argued the most about. “She’s been looking for potential candidates already.”

“Wow, so she’s really decided then.”

“Something happened the other day. I thought we were doing okay, with just the two of us in the team, Curtis has been helping too sometimes, he and Felicity are working together on a project, so he is often around, but then last week something went wrong on a mission and she had to go find me herself,” he paused before adding, “she got hurt.”

“Oh, God. Is she okay?” Diggle straightened up on his chair. 

“Yes. She was fine, thankfully. But if something had happened to her, I’d never be able to forgive myself.”

Diggle noticed that was more on this than Oliver was letting on. 

“Oliver… what aren’t you telling me?” He asked, waiting as Oliver pondered how to answer him.

“Felicity’s pregnant,” he said finally. 

Diggle was silent for a moment, obviously surprised. 

“You?” He raised one eyebrow.

He nodded.

“Wow, man. Are you two back together?”

“No…”

“Do you think you will?” 

“I don’t know… I hope so… It’s weird, John.” He rubbed his face with his hand, he was so tired. The team was dismantled, he didn’t know what his relationship with Felicity was right now, and if it wasn’t enough, they now added a baby to the equation. He didn’t know where his son was or how he was doing and he felt guilty for being excited about his daughter while not being there for his son. He also missed his friend a lot, especially in moments like this.“I just know I want nothing more than to fix things between us and raise our daughter together, as a family.”

“Daughter?” A small smile appeared on Diggle’s face.

“Yeah, daughter.” He smiled back proudly. “It’s a girl.”

“Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak having a child, huh? I don’t think the world is ready for that kid.” He grinned. “That will be one smart, stubborn little girl.” 

“That she will be.” Oliver chuckled, shaking his head imagining a mini Felicity, bossing them all around, having all the big bad vigilantes wrapped around her little finger, just like her mother did.

“Congratulations, brother,” he smiled sincerely, “you and Felicity are going to make things right. If not, it wouldn’t be you.”

*

Oliver decided to go patrolling that night after talking to Diggle. He couldn’t sleep and maybe someone in the city might be in need of his help. He was just driving his motorcycle near the loft when he saw a familiar blonde in a ponytail leaving the twenty-four hour mini-market at the corner.  What the fuck. Without even thinking, he parked his motorcycle and ran after her.

“Felicity!” He hissed from behind her, startling her so badly she almost dropped her bag.

“Oh, my God, Oliver! You almost gave me a heart attack,” she put a hand over her chest. As she calmed herself down, she noticed he was dressed up as the Green Arrow. “What are you doing here?”

“I was out doing patrol. What are you doing here?”

“I woke up craving pickles and could not go back to sleep unless I had some,” she said, with a frown, “which is ridiculous, because I hate pickles. Why am I craving pickles, Oliver? They’re gross!”

“Why the hell didn’t you call me? It’s two in the morning, Felicity! Don’t you know how dangerous it is out here at this time of night?” She would give him a heart attack one of those days. Dead at thirty-three. Cause of death: stubborn genius blonde who didn’t think of danger.

“It’s only a block away from the apartment, Oliver,” she shrugged and opened the jar of pickles, because she was really craving them and now was as good a time and place as any to eat them. She took a bite of one and winced. “Wow, this is disgusting,” she said, but still kept biting on the pickle. “This kid has such a bad taste in food. Couldn’t she want a piece of chocolate or maybe some pizza? No, of course not. Your kid would want some healthy thing. Typical. Too bad I’m her way to get it.” 

“Felicity, you should have called me,” he sighed. 

“Why?”

“So I could bring it to you! So you wouldn’t have to walk out here in the middle of the night. That’s what expectant fathers are supposed to do.” It killed him that he couldn’t be there for her, twenty-four hours a day.

“Well, yeah, but that’s not us anymore. I didn’t want to bother you,” she looked at her shoes, still nibbling on the pickle, “besides, I’m an independent woman, I don’t need a man to fulfill my needs.” As she got further into her second trimester, though, there were some needs that a man, especially him - only him, really, if she was being honest - could fulfill for her, but she couldn’t tell him that. It would just make everything between them even weirder and they had to think about this baby now. Having sex just because she was feeling horny as hell would just bring them more problems and they couldn’t afford that. Their relationship was as fragile as it was already. She’d just have to deal with that little issue on her own.

“Felicity,” he closed his eyes, letting out a sigh, “just because we’re not together anymore, it doesn’t mean I’m not here for you for everything you need. Especially if it’s something you need because you’re pregnant.”

“I just-”

He raised up a hand, silenting her.

“Promise me you’ll call me next time you crave something, or need something. Anything. I don’t care if it’s pickles, pizza or mint chip ice cream. I don’t care what time it is, or how silly it sounds, you just call me and I’ll bring it to you, okay? It’s the least I can do. You’re already dealing with everything else in this pregnancy, please let me do this for you.”

“Okay…” She nodded. “And ugh, why did you have to mention the mint chip? Now I need it!” She threw away the rest of the pickle in her hand, muttering “gross” as she did it.

“Do you want to go back to the mini-market?” He smirked.

“No, I have some at home. I always have some at home now,” she started walking towards the loft. “Besides, I don’t think you getting there dressed like that would be a very good idea.” She huffed out a laugh. 

“Right.” He bit his lip, looking at his Arrow suit, trying not to laugh too. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”

“I can’t believe I’m being escorted home by the Green Arrow!” She exclaimed as they walked side by side. Yeah, she had to admit this was much better than doing this completely alone.

*

“Felicity, I’m on my way to the gala, I should be there in five minutes-” Oliver said as soon as he picked up his phone to answer her call. For once, he was on time. Tonight they had a fundraiser gala to attend. He had to go because he was giving a speech as the Mayor and Felicity wanted to be there to do some networking, since most of the board of Palmer Tech would be there too. Neither of them liked those parties, but it was a part of the job, so they were glad they at least would have each other there, along with some of their friends.

“Oliver, I need you to come here to the loft right now. It’s urgent.” Felicity didn’t even give him the time to reply, hanging up on him before he could answer.

“Felicity?” He pulled the phone away from his ear to check it. Yeah, she definitely hung up on him.

She didn’t sound nervous, only pissed off, so he was trying to keep his calm as he made a u-turn in the direction of the loft. For the past week, he’d been more times in that apartment than in the past eight months they’ve been broken up altogether.

“Felicity? I’m here!” He shouted as he closed the front door.

“Bedroom!”

He followed her voice, taking the stairs two steps at a time. When he got there, he caught her in a short black dress with a nice cleavage. She looked absolutely stunning. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked when he found his voice.

“None of my dresses fit me anymore!” She whined. Olivers took a look at her bed, which was completely covered by dozens of dresses Felicity probably tried on before choosing the black one she was wearing. “This is the only one that kind of fits me, but I can’t even zip it up on my own.”

She was tearing up and he had no idea what was the right thing to say. If he said the wrong thing, it might be enough for her to go into full meltdown mode. 

“I’m growing boobs now!” She groaned, looking down at the offensive pair.

Oliver couldn’t help checking her out, his eyes going right there as soon as the words left her mouth.

“I think your boobs are perfect.” It left his mouth before he could stop himself. 

“I’ve always had small boobs and I was fine with that, Oliver!” She whined. “I was very happy with them! I was always okay being more of an ass girl. You know how freeing it was not having to wear a bra all the time? It was marvelous . But now they are getting bigger and I don’t have anything to wear! Not to mention how sensitive they became and not in a good way!”

She plopped herself down on her bed, lying on her back above a mountain of discarded dresses. “If it wasn’t so important for me to go, I’d happily stay home with my pjs that would never betray me like that and my best friends Ben and Jerry.”

“Come on,” he said and he motioned her to turn around when she got up from the bed. The dress was fully opened on her back, the zipper ending just above her butt. His breath caught at the sight of her naked skin and he had to control himself not to touch her there. 

With a lot of effort on his part, he zipped up the dress. “All done.” 

Felicity turned around to look at herself in the mirror, turning from one side to the other to check all angles. He wanted to tell her she was absolutely perfect, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Do you think I’m showing yet?” She looked at him over her shoulder, her hand resting on her still mostly flat stomach. 

“I think you look exactly the same,” he smiled softly, staring at her reflection. “I mean, I know there’s a little baby bump under that dress, but this dress covers it up pretty well. No one will be able to tell, unless you tell them.”

“I just… Do you mind if we keep this to ourselves just for a little while? It’s still early and I want to wait a few more weeks before telling everybody.”

“Of course…” He looked down, then away. 

“Oliver?” Felicity narrowed her eyes. Busted.

“I kind of….” He started. Would she get mad at him? He should have asked her, but he was so desperate to talk to someone about it and he really needed his friend’s advice. “I told John last night.”

“Oh,” she sighed relieved. “That’s okay, I guess. It’s not like Dig will tell anyone, we can barely talk to him ourselves and if there’s someone who can find her way to get a connection with people anywhere in the world, that’s me...”

“He’s very happy for us,” he grinned, remembering their conversation, “he said he can’t wait to see how stubborn she will be.”

“Oh, God, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, she’s still growing her ears," she eyed him. “Who am I kidding, we can’t stand a chance against that, right?”

“Probably not. Stubbornness runs in both sides of her family, I’m afraid,” he chuckled. “Thea is going to be at the gala tonight, by the way, so if we want to keep this a secret, we gotta be careful, you know she’s very perceptive and as subtle as a flying brick.”

“The moment she knows, everyone will know," she agreed.

“She’s going to be so excited.” 

“I know, and I want her to know. I just… I want to keep this between us just... for a little while. It’s not as if I can hide it much longer," she pointed to her bed, her clothes confirming her body was already changing.

“It’s totally okay, Felicity, we can wait as long as you want.” He assured her. “Now, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, let me grab my shoes, we’re already late!”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 6

“Felicity?” She felt a hand on her back, turning around to see who it was.

“Billy! Hi! I was not expecting to see you here!” She said, genuinely happy to see the guy. She was a bit embarrassed about being sick in both other times they met, but tonight she was feeling great, so, hopefully, no trips to the restroom would be necessary.

“Yeah, all of us in the new unit were invited. How about you? Are you here with the Mayor?” He looked around, trying to find him. Oliver had just left her side to get her a canape she saw someone eating and just suddenly needed it too, but when the waiter got to them, the tray was empty already. She was so upset that Oliver thought she was going to cry, so he went on a mission to find her one. Or three. Those things were so little. 

“Yes… no… well, kind of.” She’d come with Oliver and he was taking her back home at the end of the night, but they had so many people to talk to during this event that besides the canape moment, they didn’t really spend much time together.  “I’m here because I’m trying to get my company back and the old dudes holding me back are here tonight, so…”

So far, she talked with Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Johnson and it had been very productive, she also saw Mr. Dennis, who just looked at her with that sour face of his. He obviously was not happy with the possibility of her going back to the company.

“Ah, Palmer Tech, right? I remember you telling me about it.”

“That would be it.”

“I heard you and the Mayor used to be engaged,” he raised one eyebrow at her. 

“Oh.” Well, it was not like their previous relationship was a secret. Their engagement picture was everywhere in the city. “We were.”

“Seems like you’re trying to make things work again by the looks of it?” Billy said. He probably saw them together a while back.

“Oliver and I… no, we’re not back together, we’re just friends, we used to be friends before we got together and we still care for each other so we’re still good friends... but… well, it’s complicated.” Hell, how was she going to explain it to him when she couldn’t explain it to herself?

“So, I guess asking you for a date now is a no-go?” He said with an impish smile.

“Sorry,” she pursed her lips, honestly sad. Billy was a nice guy and he deserved someone who still had a heart to give him. Felicity gave hers away a few years back and never got it back. And if she was being honest with herself, she didn’t want to take it back. “But what I said still stands, if you need a friend in town, you can always count on me. Oh, and I may have a couple of friends who I can set you up with.” She winked.

“Thank you, Felicity.”

“You’re a nice guy, Billy,” she took his hand to make her point, “if things were different I’d love to go out with you, really. But believe me, it’s really not a good time for me to get involved with anyone. I know this sounds like the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ cliché but trust me, in this case, it’s really me.”

“Felicity!” She turned around to see the grinning face of one of her favorite people.

“Thea! Hi!” Felicity went to give her friend a tight hug. 

“It’s been a while, I missed you!” With Thea working at City Hall with Oliver and Felicity focusing on Archer, they didn’t have much free time to meet and catch up lately.

“I miss you too, although, I think there’s only been two weeks since we last saw each other?” Felicity pondered. There were so many things happening the last few weeks she completely lost track of time.

“Which is way too long without seeing my favorite sister-in-law,” Thea pouted.

“You mean almost sister-in-law,” she gave her a pointed look.

“I don’t care that you broke up with my idiot brother, you’re still my sister,” she shrugged.

“‘Can’t argue with that.” Not only because she felt the same, Thea did become the little sister she never had, but she knew better than to try to argue with Oliver’s sister when she made up her mind. It was fighting a losing battle. “Thea, this is Billy Malone, he’s one of the detectives Oliver hired for his new unit of super cops. Billy, this is Thea Queen, Oliver’s sister and his Chief of Staff.”

“Oh, nice to meet you, Detective Malone,” Thea offered up her hand, eyeing the man up and down suspiciously. 

“Likewise," he shook her hand, smiling friendly at the younger woman. “Well, excuse me, ladies, but I gotta go to talk to my boss. It was lovely talking to you, Felicity. I hope I’ll see you around.”

“Bye, Billy,” she said as the man walked away. 

“Hmmm… he was cute.” Thea commented as she watched him go. Now wasn’t that interesting?

“He’s a nice guy. He doesn’t know anyone in town, we met at the coffee shop the other day.” Felicity explained. 

“He seemed very interested in you,” she added, with a raised eyebrow. 

“He’s just a friend, Thea. This is actually only the third time we’ve seen each other.” She knew this was probably not the last Thea would say about this subject, but thankfully, she was saved from more questioning when a waiter walked by them with a tray of champagne.

“Oh, look at that! Rosé! That’s our favorite,” Thea didn’t even ask if Felicity wanted one before grabbing two flutes, giving her one. Felicity never said no to rosé, so she knew she didn’t have to ask. 

Except.

This time she should not be drinking rosé.

Hmm. Now what would she do? She was gazing at the bubbly drink, her mouth watering, when Oliver showed up behind them.

“Thea, there you are! I was looking for you!” He said, passing four canapes to Felicity. 

“Ohhhh, thank you!” She didn’t waste time before trying one. Yep. Delicious.

“Took me a while, but I accosted the man as he walked out of the kitchen,” he whispered and then he noticed the flute on her hand. "Oh, rosé! Look at that! I was dying to try this one.” He grabbed the flute out of Felicity’s hand and chugged it all in one gulp as both Felicity and Thea stared at him flabbergasted. “Hm, it’s just as good as you told me it was.”

“Ollie!” Thea scolded him, “Felicity had just gotten that! She didn’t even have time to sip it yet. That’s so rude!”

“I’m sorry, I was so thirsty and Felicity had just told me a few minutes ago how great this rosé was, I couldn’t resist.” 

“But you didn't… even taste it,” his sister said, completely confused.

“It was great. Now, Thea, I really need you, it’s time for the speech.” 

“Fine.” Thea let out a huff and said to Felicity. “Let’s grab lunch sometime, okay? I really miss you.”

“It’s a date! Text me anytime this week, I’ll make it sure I’m free to meet you”

*

“What was that?” Thea accused her brother as they walked to the stage.

“What?” Oliver played dumb. He knew the scene looked ridiculous, but what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t let Felicity drink that champagne and he knew she wanted to keep the pregnancy a secret for now and if she didn’t drink it, he knew his sister would be suspicious, so he didn’t really think, he just acted.

“Ollie, you just chugged down that champagne flute like it was a shot of tequila during a spring break party.” 

“I said I was thirsty,” he shrugged.

Thea did not buy it.

“Is it because of Felicity’s new boyfriend?” She raised one eyebrow at him, noticing his breath catching.

“Felicity’s new boyfriend?” He played it cool. “What are you talking about, Speedy?”

“The new detective? I just saw them talking. He couldn’t take his eyes off her,” she watched his expression at this new information. Her brother crossed his arms defensively. Interesting. Very interesting. 

“He’s not her boyfriend,” he frowned, jealousy getting the best out of him. That dude was trying really hard, wasn’t he? 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure.”

“Do you think she would tell you if he was her boyfriend? Maybe she’s trying to protect your feelings,” Thea digged. Damn, his sister should be working for the FBI, not the City Hall.

“They are not together, Speedy!”

“But how can you be so sure?” She put her hands on her waist. “Wait, are the two of you back together?” Hope shone in in her eyes.

“No!” Well, why did he have to say that so quickly? He took a deep breath. “But… just trust me on this, okay? She would tell me.” 

Thea did not seem convinced, so he thought it was better to change the subject before he said too much.  “Also, I have something to tell you.” She looked at him waiting. He gulped. “Felicity wants us to recruit a new team… are you okay with that?”

“Yeah...” She creased her eyebrows.  “Why wouldn’t I be? I quit, Ollie.”

“Yeah, I know, but there’s a difference between leaving and being replaced.”

“Awww, it’s really cute you think I can be replaced," she pinched his cheeks.

“It’s not what I meant,” Oliver rolled his eyes.

“I know. But I actually think it will be really good for you to not be out there solo anymore. Plus, it will mean you’ll have more time to actually be at City Hall.”

“That’s the idea.” And for him to have more time to be with Felicity and the baby. “But it’s going to take a minute to get these new kids up to speed. Now, we have a speech to make and then I have to take Felicity home. She's been complaining about her feet hurting for the past hour, I told her not to wear those high heels, but does she ever listen to me? No, of course not.”

Thea smirked. “Are you sure you’re really not back together?”

*

Felicity watched from afar as Oliver talked with a long legged brunette before doing his speech. Harper Anderson, she recognized the woman. It was the same journalist he had dinner with the other night. She was standing way too close to him, her hand touching his shoulder as they made conversation. Oliver said something and the woman threw her head back in laughter. What was that about? Oliver wasn’t even funny. Hot, handsome, cute, sweet? Sure. But definitely not funny. So why was she laughing? 

Felicity wanted to run over there and take the woman’s claws off of him. But she couldn’t do that, of course. They were not together, she had no claim on him anymore. This was her choice, wasn’t it? They had a baby on the way, but she told him herself that it didn’t change anything about their relationship. Was he dating Harper? He said he wasn’t and he did promise not to lie to her anymore, but how could she be sure? If he wasn’t dating the woman now, he could very well start to soon. Why was he smiling so much? He looked comfortable around Harper and he was free to date whoever he wanted. She tried to picture him out with the woman, taking her out to go to dinner, cooking Felicity’s favorite meals for her, snuggling up with her while watching a movie, making love to her after a long tough day at work. Her stomach turned. Would he marry her? She imagined Oliver and Harper living together, in the new place he was going to get, her daughter spending time with them and the journalist playing stepmom. A perfect family. One she wouldn’t be a part of. Felicity felt like throwing up all four tiny canapés she ate earlier. 

“Hello,” a man called from behind her, bringing her out of those horrible thoughts as Oliver finally said goodbye to the woman and walked up the stage to speak. It seemed like she was quite popular tonight. “I don’t think we’ve met yet. Adrian Chase, Star City’s new district attorney.”

“Felicity Smoak," she shook the hand he offered, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the man, even though she couldn’t exactly tell why. 

“Nice, party, eh?” He tried to make small talk. She wasn’t really in the mood to talk anymore. She was tired, her feet hurt from her new shoes she insisted on wearing tonight - soon she’d not be able to wear her beloved high heels, so she was trying to make the best of them while she still could, and despite the nausea she felt a bit earlier she was still starving, those rich people parties always had those minuscule food that did nothing to cease her appetite. “People seem to love the new mayor.”

“Oliver is giving his best to make Star City thrive,” she said, not giving him much attention.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” he commented. “from what I heard, you and Queen have a complicated story.”

Felicity creased her forehead. Who was his man and why was he so interested in talking to her?

“Oliver is my friend," she watched as Oliver gave his speech. He was such a natural and very charming. Everybody was loving it.

“Would you like a drink?” Chase interrupted her again, taking two flutes from the waiter. What was it with everyone giving her drinks tonight? “It’s non-alcoholic.”

Felicity hesitated, looking at him confused. Why did he say that like he knew something? There was something about this man that gave her chills.

“I can get you a glass of champagne if you would prefer.” He added when she didn’t move.

“No, I’m good, thank you... actually, I’m leaving,” she looked at Oliver, who was approaching them after ending his speech.

“Mr. Chase,” he shook the man’s hand, looking from him to Felicity, wondering what this was about.

“Mr. Mayor. I was just talking to this lovely lady about how the city loves you.”

“I’m just trying to do my job," he shrugged, putting his hand on the small of Felicity’s back, a move so natural for them that they didn’t even notice how couple-y it made them look. “Ready to leave?”

“Oh, yes,” she sighed relieved. “My feet are killing me.”

“It was nice seeing you, Mr. Chase. Have a good night.”

*

“What’s this about your new DA?” Felicity asked as soon as she got into his car after leaving Big Belly Burger, takeaway bags in their hands. She begged him to make a stop there after leaving the party, her stomach growling in agreement. So now she had a bag filled with a Double Double, extra fries and a chocolate milkshake. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on them.

“What do you mean?” Oliver said, turning on the car.

“I don’t know… I just got a weird vibe from him.” She popped a french fry in her mouth. So much better than those tiny canapés . When she was back as Palmer Tech’s CEO she’d make sure to have french fries and mini burgers included in the catering of their parties. “He offered me a drink and made sure to say it was non-alcoholic.”

“You think he knows about the baby?” Oliver took his eyes off the road to look at her, confused. 

“Of course not, right? How could he know? We haven’t told anybody and you said it yourself I’m not showing yet.” She wasn’t so sure though, the way the man said it made her feel he knew more than he was letting on. She did not like it.

“He was probably just telling you the drink wasn’t alcoholic in case you wanted something else.”

“Right…” She took a bite of her burger. Yep, she was definitely including those on Palmer Tech’s next gala. 

“Thea thinks you’re dating Detective Malone.” 

“What, why?” Felicity almost choked on the burger and reached for her milkshake.

“She said he couldn’t take his eyes off you,” he said nonchalantly. 

“We’re just friends, Oliver, I barely know the guy. You know that. Also, the whole reason you’re getting new detectives is to clean SPCD from corruption and Billy seems like a really nice and honest guy, don’t you think it would be good to have someone there who could give us info if I can’t dig it up in their systems?”

“I think he wants to date you.” Felicity noticed how he clenched his fist on the steering wheel. 

“In case you haven’t noticed, Oliver, I’m pregnant. With your kid. I don’t exactly think this is a good time for me to actually date anyone, you know. All the vomiting, the large baby bump and the mood swings might keep men at an arm's length.” Then she was reminded of something else, “I saw you talking with that reporter though.”

“Harper?” He creased his eyebrows. He chatted with the woman for a little while before giving his speech, but he did not even remember what they talked about. 

“She seemed very interested in you. Very touchy.” Oliver turned his head to look at her, but Felicity avoided his gaze, her lips pressed into a thin line. What was this about?

“We were just talking about work," he assured her.

Felicity seemed not convinced. “She seemed to think you’re hilarious.” She took an aggressive bite of her burger. “What did you even tell her? I don’t remember Oliver Queen being the joking kind.”

“Felicity, I swear, there’s nothing going on between Harper and I. It was just work.” He knew he didn’t owe her an explanation, but he needed her to know it was the truth anyway. He was absolutely not interested in any other woman. How could he be? His heart skipped a beat though, was Felicity jealous? Could he still have hope for them? “If you can’t date because of the baby, I think it’s only fair that I don’t either.” It was not like he even wanted to date anyone else. There was only one woman he wanted, and she was pregnant with his child and still mad at him. “Same with the coffee and alcohol. I did stop making coffee at the bunker, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“I did notice, because apparently this baby hates me and now I can’t even smell coffee without wanting to throw up. How can this kid be made of half my DNA? Why would my own flesh and blood betray me like this?” She threw the empty french fry box in the take out bag. “And you did drink alcohol tonight.”

“To save you! You know Thea would be suspicious if you never drank that. She knows how much you love your bubbles.” He gave her a side look. “You said you didn’t want to tell people yet.”

“Just for a little bit” she yawned after finishing her meal. “God, I’m tired.”

“You can take a nap if you want. I’ll wake you up when we get to the loft.”

“No, it’s fine. I can wait,” she said, but she was already closing her lids. “I’ll just… rest my eyes for a little bit.”

By the time they made it to her apartment, Felicity was fast asleep and snoring softly. She looked so adorable it took everything in him not to kiss her. She was exhausted and she didn’t even move when he tried to wake her up, so he got out of the car and made his way to the passenger seat to pick her up.

“Oliver?” She murmured as they made their way to the elevator.

“Sorry, I was trying to not wake you up,” he looked down at her as her hands made it up his neck.

“I can walk,” she whispered, but she still did not open her eyes or make any move to get out of his arms, the opposite actually, wrapping both hands around his neck and nuzzling her cheeks against his shirt. It was so soft.

“It’s okay, we’re almost there. You said your feet hurt and you’ve been carrying our baby all day, let me carry you both for a minute. It’s the least I can do.”

“The baby currently weights about four ounces, Oliver, I weigh a little bit more than that.” He saw a little smile on her face. 

“Shhh,” he silenced her and she just snuggled up more against him. Why did he have to smell so good?

They made their way inside the loft and he carried her all the way up the stairs to the bedroom, carefully putting her on the bed. She missed him almost immediately as his arms left her. She heard him going through her drawers and walking back to the bed.

“Here, I got you your pjs,” he said, showing her an old “I hate mornings” Garfield shirt. “Do you want me to open your dress?”

There was no second intention in his offer, he remembered she needed help zipping up the dress and she was so exhausted he couldn’t even allow dirty thoughts to go up his head. Felicity nodded, still not opening her eyes, just giving her back to him and throwing her arms up.

Oh, Jesus.

He carefully zipped down the dress and took it off her, immediately putting the Garfield shirt on her. 

“There you go,” he smiled. She was already snuggling up with her pillow and he covered her with her favorite blanket.

“Thank you, Oliver,” she murmured, barely awake anymore.

“Anytime, honey,” he kissed her forehead before walking away. “Goodnight, Felicity.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 7

“So, I need to RSVP your attendance to that fundraiser tonight, can I send a confirmation?” Thea walked into his office, phone in hand.  

“Thea! Hi!” He said surprised, closing the new contract he was reading. “No, I won’t be able to make it this time.”

“May I ask you why?” She wrinkled her forehead. Her brother had been acting weird lately, very distracted and she knew for a fact he hadn’t been doing a lot of his Arrow business in the past couple of weeks.

“I, uh, promised Felicity I’d go to the bunker tonight, we have some things to resolve about the new recruits and I think she wants to tell me how her meeting with the Palmer Tech board went…”

Since he found out about her pregnancy, they’ve taken a little step back from Team Arrow, Felicity taking it easy for the past few weeks, after being discharged from the hospital. The doctor guaranteed them there was nothing to worry about, but they didn’t want to take any chances. Besides, it seemed like the city was doing a lot better since he made the changes in SCPD. 

“I don’t want to snoop, but I have to ask, what is going on with the two of you?” Ever since Felicity broke up with him, Oliver had been broody and a bit morose, but he’d been much lighter lately. “Did you finally get back together? I know you told me that day at the gala that you didn’t, but you don’t have to hide it from me...”

“No.” He wished his answer would be different, but Felicity being pregnant didn’t really change the status of their relationship. He’d been walking on eggshells around her lately, afraid he’d say something that would push her away and they’d go back to that uncomfortable awkward tension between them like when they first broke up. He was glad she seemed to want him there with her for the pregnancy and she definitely wanted him to be a father for their child. But he knew she still was holding herself back because of what happened with William. They didn’t get to talk about it yet, he wasn’t ready and thinking about William still hurt so much. He worried about him and he missed his son everyday, but he still knew in his heart that being away from him and letting him live a regular life was the best thing he could do for William. 

He could say it should be the same with his daughter with Felicity, but their situation was completely different. Felicity was also a vigilante and as much as he’d like to change her mind and keep them guarded in a safe house, knowing for sure they were safe, he knew it would never happen. Felicity loved what they did, it gave her purpose, keeping her out of it would be impossible. Damn, the woman was working behind his back even when they were on a paradise island in the Indian Ocean. Besides, he knew he needed her. There was no Green Arrow without his Overwatch. They still didn’t know what they would do about that after the baby was born, but they still had a bit of time to figure that one out. Since Felicity pretty much only worked from the bunker, stressful situations aside, she’d be safe doing what she always did. The point was, their daughter would come into this world in that environment already and they would find a way to keep her safe. No matter how his and Felicity’s romantic relationship went, he knew they’d always have each other’s back and be in each other’s lives. 

William, on the other hand, grew up thinking his father was dead. He grew up with his mom living a pretty normal life. His son was a beautiful, healthy and happy child. He never had a father, it’s not like he would miss something he never had, right? His heart ached in his chest. He felt selfish barging into his life and bringing all his issues to the boy’s life. He was doing great with his mom before he came to their lives. And even if he ignored all of that and thought he was worthy of being a father to him, his relationship with Samantha was a whole different story. They only had a one-night-stand and the woman was obviously not a fan of him. He’d never be able to protect them the way he could do with Felicity and their daughter. He was with Felicity pretty much every free hour of his day, even after they split up. 

Oliver raised his eyes to look at his sister, who was watching him with curiosity on her eyes. He could see the wheels turning in her brain. 

“Felicity is pregnant,” he finally admitted. 

Silence reigned in his office. Thea was definitely not expecting that.

It felt good to finally tell his sister about the baby, it’s been a few weeks, the baby was healthy and Felicity said he could tell her if he wanted to. 

Thea was shocked. 

“Wait, what? Please rewind and say it again, because I just thought I heard you say Felicity is pregnant.”

He smiled. “You heard it right.”

“Felicity?” She sat down on the chair in front of his table. “Your ex-fiancée, tiny but scary, adorable blonde genius extraordinaire, Felicity Smoak? That Felicity? ”

“That would be the one,” he chuckled.

“And going by that stupid smile on your face, I assume you’re the father.”

“I am.”

“But… how? You just told me you’re still not together.” It didn’t make any sense. Thea knew the two idiots still loved each other and she thought they'd already be back together at this point, but she did not expect them to bring a baby into their mess before solving their issues. Then again, her brother and Felicity were never ones to do things normal to begin with.

Oliver looked away from her and she grinned.

“Of course… I knew you would slip-up sooner or later. No way you could spend all those nights together in the bunker and not let it go for a moment,” she sighed, then smirked, cocking an eyebrow at him.  “Was it only once or- ”

“Thea.” He warned. 

“Come on, Ollie. Life has been so boring, please, at least let me have this,” she pouted. She also wanted to know because they’d had a bet going on about when the idiots would get back together, and with this new surprising development, she might have to change a few things. “Fine, but please don’t tell me you did it on that training floor, because ew, gross,” she grimaced, then added, “why aren’t you two together again?”

"Thea?" He raised one eyebrow at her. 

"I'm just saying, you're having a baby, but you're not together?” She sighed. Those two were so tiresome. “You were engaged."

"It’s more complicated than that, Thea." 

"But Ollie..."

"I am not going to discuss this with you." 

“I know you still love her.” She insisted.

He turned away and took a deep breath, giving her his back as he looked outside his window. 

"You and Felicity haven't talked about this have you? You want to get together, but you are afraid to talk to her about it."

"I don't wanna rock the boat okay? Things are going well right now." And they were. They are still taking baby steps, but at least they are talking to each other and acting somewhat normal again. 

"Ollie, you're having a baby with her, you can't leave things in limbo like this forever.” He stayed silent, a frown on his face. She would not get anything else out of him today. “Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “Now, tell me more! When did you guys find out? When is the baby due? Oh my God, I have to think about the baby shower and are we doing an announcement? You’re the mayor and this is a big thing.”

“Felicity is almost five months along. The baby is due in May.” 

“Five months already? Wow! How come you kept this a secret for so long?”

“It hasn’t been that long. We’ve only learned about it a few weeks ago. It’s all still very new.” He paused, and knowing the next piece of information would make his sister even more excited, his lips turned up on the corners, unable to hide his own excitement, “it’s a girl.” 

“A girl?! Oh, my God, Ollie! Congratulations!” She stood up from the chair and went to the other side of the table to hug him. “Ha! I love this.” She chuckled. “You’ll stand no chance with that kid. Felicity’s sass and your charm? That baby girl will have you wrapped around her little fingers.”

“Tell me about it… I’m screwed.”

“I love that you don’t even try to deny it.” Thea smiled. “I can already see the headlines ‘Big Bad Vigilante, taken down by a toddler ’.” She noticed the grin on his face. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?”

“I am.” He smiled back. “Even though this situation is far from perfect. I feel like I can’t be completely happy without feeling guilty, not only because my relationship with Felicity is still undefined, but because it feels wrong to be happy and excited about this baby while I sent my other child away.”

“It’s different, Ollie,” she took his hand on hers, “William did not grow up with you—”

“I think one of the reasons Felicity still pulls away is because I sent him away. She thinks he deserves me in his life, but what good would I bring to him, Thea? For the few months I spent with him, all I gave him and Samantha was grief.”

“Maybe she has a point there,” Thea said. “But you’ll never know for sure what her opinion on this is if you keep avoiding to talk about it.”

*

When Felicity got to the bunker that night, Oliver was already there, training on his biceps. Damn, this view will never get old. She’d seen the man shirtless millions of times, and yet he still made everything inside her tingle when she looked at him working out like that. That was one fine male specimen. She’d been feeling way better now, she was not feeling as tired and her nausea was pretty much gone. But as she made it almost halfway through her pregnancy, she started having many other issues arise, for instance, her hormones were going completely wacko (she cried the other day when she saw a kid playing with his dog at the park and just the other night, she went full on sobbing when she saw that Curtis had ate the last of her Mint Chip ice cream - Oliver went out to get some more and prohibited Curtis to touch anything from the fridge and told him that from now on he had to bring his own food), her breasts are very sensitive lately and while she always was attracted to Oliver, keeping her hands to herself was a huge challenge. The man had never looked better. 

“Hey!” He greeted her and got a towel to wipe up his face. 

He was shirtless and his chest was glistening with sweat. She felt every nerve of her body come alive. He looked so hot and lickable. She shook her head, wishing those dangerous thoughts away. They were doing so well lately, almost back to normal, well, back to their normal before they were together, when they were just friends and partners. Except, of course, for the fact that now they were having a baby together.

“I left some chicken alfredo for you in the kitchen,” he said, “you just have to reheat it.”

“Oh, thank God! I’m starving!” She walked to the small kitchen they had at the bunker and her stomach growled at the sight of her dinner. “Ohhh, you’re an angel on Earth, Queen.”

Oliver smiled. “I’ll go take a shower, I’ll be back soon.”

She was almost done with her second serving when he came back, hair wet and smelling absolutely delicious. She felt hungry again, but for very different reasons. 

Felicity was busy ogling him when he brought her out of her reverie.

“I told Thea.” 

“Uh?” 

“About the baby,” he played with the end of his shirt. “I hope it’s okay.”

“Sure, I told you it was okay,” she was almost five months pregnant now, they still haven’t told anyone, but she knew that would have to change very soon. She got up to take her plate to the dishwasher. “I don’t think we can hide it for much longer anyway.”

She lifted her shirt to show him her belly, if it was just a small mound that day at the sonogram, it was now a full on baby bump. She’d been wearing loose clothes that hid it well, so it was the first time he was seeing it since that day at the hospital. He also hadn’t touched it since that day and seeing her belly all round, filled with their baby, made his heart ache with want. She was just so beautiful . He shoved his hands inside his pockets to avoid the temptation to touch her, the last thing he wanted to do was ruin everything between them because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself and then make them take three steps back. “Wow, it’s gotten bigger.”

“Right? Now none of my clothes fit me anymore!” She told him with a huff, poking her belly. She was so cute he couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe now that Thea knows I can ask her to go with me to do some maternity shopping. I miss having some girl time.”

“I bet she’ll love it. Just beware, she might want to make you buy the entire store.”

“Ugh,” she huffed, pulling the shirt back down and plopping down on the couch. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“I just remembered I still have to tell my mother.”

“And why do you have that frown? She’ll be thrilled.”

“That's the exact reason for my frown. I’m afraid she’ll want to come back to the city and stay with me until the baby is born.” She whined. “I love my mother, Oliver, you know I do, but I can’t go through this pregnancy with her living here with me. I won’t make it.”

She was so dramatic, resting her head on the back of the seat and hiding her face with her arm, that he had to laugh. “Maybe you can convince her to wait to come when the baby is here, I’m sure we’re gonna need an extra pair of hands. Especially if it’s someone who already has experience with newborns.”

The last baby besides Sara that Oliver held was Thea, and his sister was 24 years old. Needless to say, he was way out of practice. He’d bought some books on pregnancy and parenting and was trying to learn as much as he could, but he knew each baby was different and you mostly had to learn it as it goes. 

“Wish me luck,” she sighed. 

Then, Oliver remembered something.

“I looked into your guy.”

“Wild Dog?” Felicity straightened up and sat on the couch. 

“The dossier says his name is Rene Ramirez.”

“Yeah, but Wild Dog is much scarier,” she made claws with her hands and growled. “So by saying you were looking into him…”

“I’m thinking of recruiting him. And that girl Evelyn Sharp. If I can get them to agree about joining the team, we can start training next week.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Woohoo! I’ll get the room upstairs ready!”

*

“Baby girl!” Donna Smoak’s voice echoed in Felicity’s bedroom. She was sitting on her bed, laptop placed on her ever growing baby bump. 

"Mom, I'm looking at your shoes, flip the camera around...no mom you just took a picture of your shoes....press the other button." 

Felicity saw the ceiling, the TV - it seemed like her mom was watching an episode of the Bachelor, her bedside table and lastly, a very close up of her mother’s nostrils.

"There you are!" Donna finally got the camera right and Felicity could see her mom’s face. She was hesitant about telling her mother about the baby, anytime they talked she wanted to know how things were going between her and Oliver and now with the baby, she didn’t want to give her mom too much hope that things had changed regarding their relationship. She still had no idea if they were ever getting back together again. At the moment, they were still just two friends having a child together. But now, seeing her mom there, looking at her with a bright big smile, Felicity felt herself softening and wishing she was talking to her in person. 

"Hi, Mom," she waved at her.

"Oh, honey, you are looking a little puffy, is everything okay?" Leave it to her mother to notice that right away. She was actually feeling a bit queasy.

"Just a bit tired lately, which is to be…” Felicity rubbed her eye with the back of her hand. Her phone rang on her side table.. “Mom, let me just get that, it might be Oliver. I’ll be right back."

"Oh, you two finally kissed and made up?” 

Her mother sounded so hopeful and once again Felicity was ready to back out of telling her yet again. Maybe she could just wait and visit her with the baby after she was born. She’d be so focused on her brand new grandchild that she probably wouldn’t even remember to ask about her relationship with Oliver. Who was she trying to fool? Of course she would still remember, it was her mother, after all. 

She lifted the laptop from her lap and placed it on the bed next to her, then she rose to her feet to grab the ringing phone on her side table. She was about to send Oliver a message saying she’d call him later when a loud squeal came from her laptop screen.

"FELICITY MEGAN SMOAK. STOP RIGHT THERE."

Felicity looked down at her exposed baby bump, momentarily forgetting the crop top she was wearing, which was now directly in Donna's line of sight on the laptop screen.

Busted.

She angled the laptop screen so that her mother could see all of her and smiled sheepishly. "Surprise?"

“Is that… is that…” Her mother stuttered, pointing at her with one hand while the other was shakily covering her mouth in surprise.

“A baby bump?” Felicity teased with a smile, moving from one side to the other to give her mother a full view and then caressing her belly. “Congratulations, mom, you’re going to be a grandma.”

Felicity was afraid the cops would bust into her apartment at any moment now after the loud scream that came out of her mother. It went on for so long that Felicity started to worry the woman would go out of breath. “Mom, breathe.”

“Please, tell me you’re not kidding,” she begged, a sob coming from her throat. 

“I’m not kidding, Mom, in about four months you’ll finally get that grandbaby you’ve been begging me to give you since I can remember,” she smiled. 

Her mother started to sob for real and again she wished she was there in person to hug her. “MY BABY IS HAVING A BABY!”, she threw her hands in the air and did a little dance.

“I am.” Felicity laughed, feeling lighter than she had in a long time. “And it’s a girl, too.”

“A girl?” Another loud squeal. She was pretty sure her mother would wake up without her voice in the morning. “I can’t believe it... my baby girl... is having a daughter,” she sniffed. “So... you and Oliver?”

Felicity pursed her lips. She was hoping that with the news of the baby, her mom would forget to ask about her and Oliver. But how could she? After all, she wouldn’t be in this condition if it wasn’t for him. 

“It’s Oliver’s right?” Her mother sobered up. “Please, honey, tell me Oliver is the daddy.”

“Yes, Mom, he's the father,” she sighed. How could it be anyone else’s? 

“So you did make up…” 

“No, actually, we didn’t.” Felicity played with a loose thread on her shirt, wishing she didn’t have to talk about this with her mom.

“You didn’t?” Donna eyed her daughter confused. “You’re having a baby together, Felicity. And since I know you’d have given birth to my beautiful granddaughter already if that child was conceived when you were still together, please explain to me how the two of you are not together?” 

“Mom…” She didn’t want to talk about this. How could she tell her mother why they weren’t together when she questioned that herself every hour of the day? “Look, it’s complicated, okay?” 

She looked at her mom, begging for her to let it go.

“It’s not complicated. You two love each other, anyone with eyes can see that, and now you’re having a baby. A beautiful and smart little baby. Oh, honey, she’s going to be so adorable!” Donna gushed and then sighed. “It’s the farthest thing from complicated. It’s actually the easiest thing in the world, honey.”

Her phone started ringing again. Saved by the bell.

“Mom, Oliver is calling again, it must be important, I have to take it.”

“Okay.” Donna sighed again, resigned. Felicity knew her mom wanted to ask a million other questions, but thankfully, she knew not to push her.

“I’ll send you some pictures we got at the sonogram,” she offered, trying to soften the mood.

“You will?” Her eyes lightened up. “I’ll print them all and hang them everywhere around the house!” She teared up again, putting a hand above her heart. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a grandma.” 

“I love you, mom." Felicity said softly, getting emotional herself.

“I love you too, honey.” Donna smiled. “You’re going to be the best mama in the world.”

“Well, I had the opportunity to learn from the best,” she winked. “Bye, mom, I really have to go.”

With that, she shut the laptop close and looked down at her rounded belly.

“You better buckle up and get ready for your grandma, kiddo. She’s a force to be reckoned with.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 8

“How does he do that? It’s impossible!” Curtis exclaimed as they watched Oliver go up the salmon ladder once again.

“It’s really hot. I mean not,” Felicity tried. “Who am I kidding? it’s obviously super hot. Who can blame me for getting pregnant after seeing that? No one, that’s who.”

She’d told Curtis about the pregnancy a few days ago and her friend, like everyone else, was confused as to why she and Oliver were still not together.

“Curtis, if you think this is hard, wait until I actually start training you,” Oliver said as he jumped out of the ladder and walked towards the two of them. Curtis had asked to join the team too when he heard they were recruiting new people and they told him they would start training this week.

“What happens then?” He asked suspiciously.

“The last guy got an arrow in his leg before it even started.”

“That’s Roy right?” Curtis asked Felicity.

“Also Roy, but I’m talking about Wild Dog,” Oliver said as he wiped his face with a towel. 

“And you did put two arrows on Barry Allen’s back,” Felicity added, being ever so helpful.

“I’m starting to sense a pattern,” Curtis narrowed his eyes, rethinking his decision to join the team. Did he really want an arrow in him? No, he really did not.

“Don’t worry, his bark’s way worse than his bite,” Felicity assured him, glaring at Oliver. 

“And you’re going to get it worse than anyone.”  

“Oliver!” 

“Maybe I should stick to computer work? That’s good, right? Felicity will need help once the baby gets here.” Curtis offered. He never really wanted to go to the field. He was always terrible at physical education, really. He was much better at math and physics. 

“Even if you only work from the bunker, we still need to get you trained, we never know what might happen and you need to know how to defend yourself,” Oliver continued. If Curtis wanted to join his crusade, he needed to know he’d have to take it seriously, it was not child’s play. 

“Okay, sir.” He nodded.

“Don’t call me sir.”

“Okay, Oliver.”

“Don’t call me Oliver either, especially in front of the recruits, we don’t know these people and they can’t know us.” The training with the recruits would start tonight and he was already wary as it was.

“Whoa, whoa. Hold up. You’re wearing a mask when you’re training our recruits?” Felicity asked.

“Yes, and so are you.”

“I only wear a mask once a year, and that’s if my halloween costume calls for it,” she snorted. She was not wearing a mask.

“This is not negotiable, Felicity,” he told her seriously. “We don’t know those people yet, we don’t know if we can trust them. Especially with you in your current condition.” He nodded to her growing belly, today hidden behind a red jacket. “I’m late for a budget meeting. I'll be meeting the recruits later tonight. Curtis, you better be ready”.

“Yeah, you know, I’m sure that kicking things off by lying to everyone is an awesome idea…” Curtis said when Oliver left.

“Well, the original team started off with Oliver lying about his identity.” 

“And everyone who is not dead or presumed dead quit.”

“Well, I’m still here.”

“Yeah, but that’s because you love the man.”

“Curtis…”

“Don’t try to deny it, Felicity, I can see the way you guys look at each other. Damn, the man looks at you like a lost puppy,” he snorted. “For heaven’s sake, you two are having a child together!”

“And since none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for your meddling ways, I hope you know you owe us at least five years of free babysitting,” she reminded him. That night only happened because Curtis pretty much set them up with the wine and takeout food. He knew what he was doing. Okay, they probably would have slipped up sooner or later, had Curtis set them up or not, but she would still always blame him for this.  She really needed those free babysitting hours.

“It’s not like I placed you on his lap and forced you to two to have sex.” He rolled his eyes and then felt her deadly glare at him. “I just… gave you the little push you needed. And I don’t remember hearing either one of you complaining.”

“Of course, we both had agreed that that night was a drunken mistake that should never be mentioned again. But alas, this kid had other ideas,” she pointed at her belly. 

“And I love her already for that. You can leave the little munchkin with Uncle Curtis anytime you need, I’m great with kids, I babysat all my nieces and nephews.” He smiled proudly.  “Besides, if I didn’t set you up, I’m pretty sure this bunker would have caught fire with all that sexual tension in the air,” he shrugged, “but since you keep saying I played such an important role in this child's existence, you better know I expect nothing less than be her godfather.”

“That will depend on the babysitting thing,” Felicity said as she walked back to her computers. “And… you might have to fight John for that position.”

“But… he’s not even here anymore!”

*

“Rene Ramirez?” Felicity asked the man leaning on the wall and wearing a sour expression on his face, obviously not really happy to be there.

“Yeah. It figures there’d be more of you. Robin Hood needs his band of merry men, right?” He spat. 

Yeah, Felicity was not really a fan of his attitude.

“Well, I’m just here for moral support,” she explained.

“She means she's here to make sure that the Green Arrow’s training technique doesn’t kill us,” Curtis added. 

“He’s not going to kill you!” Felicity glared at him, the last thing she needed was to send the recruits away before they even met Oliver.  “I’m just here to make sure that the horrible maiming stays at a minimum.”

“I’m Curtis.” Her friend told the girl sitting on the stairs and observing their interaction.

“Everlyn Sharp.”

“So, wait, there’s training? I’m out.” Rene was starting to walk away when an arrow hit the wall just a few millimeters from his face. What the fuck .

“Pretty early to quit, Mr. Ramirez.” Oliver growled, fully dressed in his Green Arrow suit. 

“I can’t quit something I haven't started,” he snarled.

“You think you can do this on your own?”

“I’ve been doing this on my own for five months now.”

“And if you were getting it done on your own you wouldn’t have come here.” Oliver continued, but the guy wasn’t having any of it.

“I’m out of here.” Rene turned to walk away. 

“No mask?” Oliver whispered to Felicity.

“No chance,” she snorted.

“Felicity!” He shouted at her, but she was already leaving what she knew would be their training area.

“On the line!” He yelled at the recruits.

“Wait, I thought there was gonna be, I don’t know like, an orientation?” Curtis asked, confused. He did not prepare for this!

“Is that what the brochure promised?” Oliver said sarcastically, then pointed at a huge bell on the other side of the room. “This is simple. Get past me and ring that bell.”

“So we’re playing games now? Fine. I’ll play.” Rene crossed his arms, ready to show them all he did not need any of this bullshit. 

Felicity watched them from up the stairs, a bag of chips in her hands. It didn’t take long for Oliver to take all of them down, yelling for them to get on the line again.

“Oh, at least he’s not shooting them,” she whispered to her belly, covering it up with her hands, as if it would protect the baby from seeing all that violence.

The blood bath continued, well, there wasn’t any blood really, but there was no doubt Oliver was kicking those poor guys and girl asses and the tension in the room was getting way too high for her taste. She had to do something about that. She picked up her tablet.

Suddenly, Stop started blasting from the speakers.

Stop right now thank you very much

I need somebody with a human touch

Hey you always on the run

Gotta slow it down baby, gotta have some fun

Do do do do

Do do do do

Do do do always be together

Ba da ba ba

Ba da ba ba

Ba da ba stay that way forever

Everyone stopped fighting, turning their heads to look at Felicity, who was standing up there dancing in the rhythm of the music and with a smile on her face.

“Felicity!” Oliver roared. “What is this?!”

“That would be Stop, by the Spice Girls, a 90’s classic, don’t tell me you never heard of it,” she sassed him. 

“Oh, so she is the actual boss around here then?” Rene smirked as he watched them.

Oliver only grunted.

“And don’t you forget that, Wild Dog!” She shouted at the recruit. 

“Stop calling me that!” 

“Sorry, can’t, that’s your official name now. No take backs.” She shrugged, not feeling one bit sorry about it.

“But I never wanted to take it in the first place!”

“It is what it is, it’s better to just accept it and move on. And I thought we all needed to spice up our lives a little to relieve a bit of all this tension. Phew .” She sighed loudly. “Green Arrow, can I talk with you for a second? Now ?”

Despite the lightheartedness in her comment, Oliver could pick up the edge in her tone and knew she was anything but happy with him at the moment. He looked back on the recruits one more time before going up the stairs to talk to her. 

Yep, she was definitely the boss there.

“You know, I thought we could hold on the criticism for a little bit,” he told her as he got there.

“Oh, yeah, no problem, because there’s a lot,” she pointed out. “You need to have patience with them.”

“They think they are invincible, Felicity! They are not taking this seriously! They have no idea how dangerous it is out there. I don’t want to be responsible for more people losing their lives.”

“You will not, because you’ll train them to be the best. Now go back down there and have a little patience, okay?”

He took a deep breath and sighed before going back to the recruits. It was not working, and soon he was shouting at them again, all three down on the floor.

“You need to calm down!” Felicity yelled.

“This is not going to work because you are reckless!” He shouted at Rene. “And you are just a little girl who should be doing something better with her life.”

Evelyn looked up at him, obviously pissed.

“I really hope you never have kids,” Rene spat at Oliver, “I’d feel sorry for them.”

“Okay, that’s enough pep talk for one day, Green Arrow, a word, please?” Felicity groaned.

“You know I don’t have a bedside manner,” he said before she started yelling at him again.

“There’s having no bedside manner and then there’s being physically and emotionally abusive,” she pointed out. He was better than this. 

“It took me five years in hell to turn into someone capable of going out there. You know who didn’t have five years? Laurel Lance. And now she’s dead.” He crossed his arms.

“Oh, were those five years just full of pain and suffering or did you have someone who taught you?”

“I had a few people who taught me and I’m trying to teach them,” he whined, looking like a little boy who just got scolded by his teacher.

“What? To take a punch? An insult? You keep expecting them to do what you’re telling them to do and you’re not giving them any reason. You just keep jabbing them with a cattle prod, expecting them to perform!”

“Well, I’m trying my best here!”

“Then you should try better!”

*

The recruits quit, which was a surprise to absolutely no one. Felicity told Oliver it was his fault and he shouldn’t have treated them so harshly. Oliver retorted saying the reason he wanted them to do that exercise was so they could learn how to work together as a team. An exercise they obviously failed.

“We don’t trust you,” Curtis told them the next day.

“That’s on you,” Oliver replied.

“No man, that’s on you . Because you don’t trust us, because you don’t want us.”

“Ok, this is a setback, we can salvage this.” Felicity was desperate. She was counting on this working, she would not accept defeat yet. “They’ll listen to you, Curtis, can’t you just tell them how Oliver usually approaches things and-”

“I tried that. I told them all about how you and Speedy and Spartan were a family. And even though you were tough and scary and even a little abusive, they clearly trusted you because they stood by you. But then it hit me. No they didn’t. They left. And now I know why. You don’t respect people,” he accused Oliver, “you don’t know how to have partners. You don’t build people up, you tear them down. I thought I could trust you, we could trust you. I was wrong. And that’s why I’m out too.” He sighed, disappointed at him. Before leaving the bunker, he turned back to Felicity,  “that doesn’t change anything in our project, Felicity, you don’t need to worry about that. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

*

It was later that night when Felicity found Oliver gazing at the old costumes, still hanging on the mannequins.

“I figured I’d find you here,” she said softly.

“You were right.” He didn’t turn to look at her, ashamed. 

“Wow, as much as I love hearing those 3 little words, gloating right now would be like kicking a puppy.”

“I failed those recruits as a leader.” He turned his head down.

“Well, that’s because you’re not a leader. In your defense, you never set out to be. You never planned on doing this with partners. Though, I don’t think you really had a way around that one.”

“How so?” He finally looked up at her.

“When I got to know you, the real you, I was in awe. I had never met somebody so passionate, so focused and determined to make a real difference. But the recruits didn’t get to see the real you because all you showed them was this angry guy in a mask, like scary angry.” 

“I just thought that if they didn’t know who I was it would make things easier.” He rubbed his face. 

“How would that make things easier for them?”

“For me. Easier for me. When I was in the Bratva...” He started and Felicity opened up her eyes, surprised.

“You never talk about your time in Russia.”

“Nobody in the Bratva uses their real names. Nobody knows anything about anyone’s life before they were Bratva.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“It’s effective. They teach you that the only person you can trust is yourself, that without personal attachment, there can be no loss.” He looked at Felicity, his eyes not leaving her. “Laurel, Thea, Dig, even Roy. I let them into my crusade, I let them in…”

“Then they left,” she nodded, understanding what he was trying to say. 

“I was protecting myself.”

“I just think you’re missing something.”

“Only one thing?” He smiled at her.

“The reason the original team worked so well was because of the trust and respect that everyone had for Oliver Queen, not the Green Arrow. Oliver is the one who makes a good leader, he’s the one who runs a good team. He’s the one I chose to stand by and I continue to choose to stand by.” She put a hand on his forearm. “You should let them see him too.”

He nodded. She was right, of course, Felicity was always right. 

His expression changes when he remembers something Rene said earlier.

“What’s with the frowny face?” Felicity frowned too. “I don’t like that face. What’s wrong? What aren’t you telling me?”

“This thing Rene said… about hoping I do not have kids…”

“He said that because he was mad at you, Oliver.”

“What if I ruin them, Felicity?” He asked, looking in so much pain thinking about it that it broke her heart. “What if I fail this baby the way I failed William?”

“Well, I can guarantee you we are going to make plenty of mistakes. And see how I used the word “we”? Because you know, that’s what being parents is. We’ll try to do our best and what we think is right, but we are going to fail sometimes, Oliver. And it’s okay. And about William, you know what my opinion on that is, but I don’t think this is a good time for us to argue about that.” She looked at him, her eyes soft and full of understanding. “Besides, we both know you’re actually a total softie inside and there is way more bark than bite in you. This kid should probably be way more worried about my loud voice than her Green Arrow Daddy.”

“Hey, I can be harsh.” 

“Yeah, I can see you being able to reprehend a cute little toddler with a pouty face saying ‘i’m so sorry, Daddy’. You don’t stand a chance, buddy.” She pat his shoulder sympathetically absolutely tickled at the idea of Oliver in a staring match with their toddler. “I’ve seen you with your sister and baby Sara,”  not to mention how he was with her, but she kept that part inside.  “We’re going to be just fine.”

*

“Thank you all for coming,” Oliver said the next morning when the recruits were back.

“I only came because Blondie said there would be an apology.” Rene crossed his arms, annoyed seemed to be his standard mode.

“Well, Blondie made a good point,” Oliver replied. “You’re not joining up with the Green Arrow. You’d be joining up with me.”

When no one said a thing, Oliver took down his hood, showing them all who he really was behind the mask.

“The Green Arrow is the Mayor?” Evelyn gasped.

“I hope you don’t think I’m going to apologize for the trash I talked about you,” Rene commented.

“No more than I’m going to apologize for the tough training. But I understand that you all need to trust me. This is as far as I know how to go.”

“You’re sort of asking without asking if we want to come back, right?” Curtis asked, looking from Oliver to Felicity.

“That’s exactly what he is doing,” she confirmed.

“Okay, good. Then I’m in,” Curtis smiled.

“Me too,” Evelyn agreed.

“Wild Dog?” 

“I’ll fight any war as long as I trust who’s leading me into battle. But we got to rethink this codename,” he said, offering up his hand.

“No chance,” Oliver smirked as he shook his hand. He nodded at Felicity and both left, leaving the recruits alone at the training room.

“Damn, the man is really whipped, isn’t he?” Rene snarled as they watched the two of them go.

“Totally, but don’t let him hear you say that,” Curtis confirmed. “Besides, they are not even together.”

“Say what?” Rene turned to him, obviously shocked. 

“Dude, it’s a very long story and you don’t even know half of it...” Curtis let out a laugh. It was not his story to tell and he would not even touch the part of the pregnancy, since his friends were keeping that a secret for now. “Just know that they were together once and about to get married, but then she broke up with him because he lied to her. And don’t piss Felicity off if you don’t want to see Oliver’s real bad side. I guarantee what you’ve seen is nothing compared on what he’ll do to you if he thinks you’re hurting Felicity’s feelings.”

“But they still work together everyday? That’s bullshit.” Rene did not understand any of it. “Besides, it’s obvious he totally still has the hots for Blondie.”

“They are still best friends.” Curtis shrugged.

“Best friends alright… nah, no way they don’t slip up here and there.”

“I think they are cute,” Evelyn commented.

“Get on the Olicity wagon, girl. Line forms behind us. There’s even a bet going, if you guys want in. Just please don’t let them know about it.” Curtis said. “Oh, and don’t you ever touch those mint chip ice creams we have there in the freezer, no matter how tempted you are. That will release a wrath you don’t want to see. Just trust me on that one.”

*

The waiting room was empty besides the other two largely pregnant women waiting for their appointment. Oliver felt a little out of place, but he didn’t want to miss another doctor’s appointment. She was now twenty weeks, exactly halfway through her pregnancy and this was one of the most important appointments so far. They’d check Felicity’s placenta, make sure everything was going well even after her fall, her amniotic fluid and the baby’s size. And the best of everything, they’d get an even better look at their daughter. 

“Why am I the only man here?” He whispered to Felicity, who was calmly reading a magazine. 

Felicity raised her head to look from him to the other women in the room. “Their partners probably couldn’t make it here, or maybe they’ve chosen to be single mothers.”

As much as things between them were still far from perfect, Felicity was so glad she had Oliver there with her for the entire pregnancy, caring and spoiling her with whatever she needed. Sometimes he was a bit too overprotective, but she wouldn’t change it for the world. 

“Excuse me, I’m sorry if I’m being intrusive, but aren’t you Mayor Queen and Miss Smoak?” One of the women, who seemed to be in her early twenties, asked them when the other one was called for her appointment.

Felicity opened her mouth and closed, not knowing what to say. When Oliver didn’t move to say anything either, she said, “yes?”

“ Omigod ! I thought you guys had broken up!” The woman covered her mouth in surprise. “I was so upset when I heard the news because you were like, totally couple goals! We even created a hashtag on twitter saying #olicitywillriseagain because we just knew a love like yours couldn’t end abruptly like that!” The woman noticed Felicity’s baby bump. “Oh my, oh my… so not only the two of you are back together, but you’re also having a baby? This is the best news ever! Just wait until I post it on twitter! People will go nuts !”

“Oh, no, no, no, please, don’t tell anyone yet,” Felicity pleaded. Thea was going to release a public announcement about the pregnancy in a few weeks and they really didn't want word going out about it before that. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Hellen. I’m such a big fan of you guys, I mean, talk about a power couple!” Hellen sighed. “How far along are you? I’ll be thirty-eight-weeks tomorrow and I have to say that I can’t wait to have this baby out of me.”

“Hellen, we’d really, really appreciate if you could keep this a secret for a bit longer, we did not make an announcement yet and I’d really be so thankful if you could just wait and keep it between us for now, do you think you can do that?”

“Oh… of course…. I guess.”

“Thank you! And I’m twenty weeks,” Felicity smiled.

“Twenty-weeks? Oh, those were good times. Very good times . How are you dealing with all that horniness? My boyfriend thought I’d kill him, but oh, those orgasms were so worth it.” Hellen sighed nostalgic. “It’s getting harder now that we’re getting to the finish line, but those days definitely will be missed. They’re like God’s gift to us for all that nausea and discomfort we have to go through on the first trimester.”

“Hm… I’m not-”

“Ms. Smoak?” Lucky for them, Felicity was called for her appointment and they didn’t need to keep chatting with the woman.

Still, Oliver couldn’t stop thinking about what she had said. He had read about how women's sexual appetite increased in the second semester, but so far, Felicity did not give him any hint of that. Well, why would she? They were not together. They haven’t even kissed since the night they conceived their baby. But just thinking that she might be horny and that he was not able to fulfill her needs...

“Are you… having those needs? I mean- “ He asked as they drove back from the doctor’s office. Thankfully everything was perfect with the baby, Felicity’s anemia was gone and she couldn’t have a healthier pregnancy. They got to see their daughter once again and Felicity insisted the baby had his nose, but he was pretty sure she also had her mother’s mouth. The doctor also made sure to assure them that sexual activities are not only perfectly safe but actually beneficial for both mother and baby, because it can help the expectant mother sleep better, lower her blood pressure and since orgasm release oxytocin, it might help easing some pains and discomforts she might have. Needless to say, there was a bit of awkward tension between them after that.

“No…” She cut him off. She knew what he was asking. “Actually, yes… but Oliver, you know we can’t. It would never be just about sex.”

“It never is.” He sighed. 

“No, not between us.” The last time they slept together, she ended up pregnant. That alone said a lot about them. “We are in a good place right now, aren’t we? I don’t… I don’t want to mess that up. We have this baby to think about now.”

“You’re right.” He looked away from her so she couldn’t see the hurt in his eyes.

“In case those needs get too much...I’ll just... deal with it myself.” 

She turned on the radio, an upbeat pop song that didn’t at all match the mood in the car, and pretended to look at something important on her phone.

“Are you ready to… you know… talk? About us?” He asked after a while.

“I’m… no.” Was she? She wasn’t sure.  “I’m still not ready. I’m sorry.”

She wanted to be ready, God, how she wanted to. But despite the fact that they got closer and Oliver was being there for the pregnancy and promised to always be there for them, she still had doubts and fears she didn’t get through yet and when they talked, she wouldn’t have doubts anymore. It might end up being great, but it could also go completely downhill and ruin them forever. So not knowing is better. She could live in denial. For now. 

“I love you,” he said, startling her. She was not expecting that. “I…  That will never change. I just wanted you to know that, I don’t expect you to say it back.”

She felt a flutter in the pit of her stomach and swallowed, nodding her head and looking outside her window, not knowing how to answer that, so they just drove quietly the rest of the way to her place, a lone tear running down her face where he couldn’t see it.

Chapter Text

The following week, Oliver trained the recruits every single day. Things were getting better, but Felicity was still worried if it would work. Oliver still did not trust them at all and she suspects the same could be said for the recruits. The team, if you can call them that, was not going to get anywhere if Oliver did not try. 

Besides that, Lyla came to them to ask for help, because John was sent to military prison and she wanted to break him out. Felicity didn’t like the idea, because if they broke him out, he’d be a fugitive forever and that was not a good way to live. She believed they should get him out the legal way, but Oliver was set on getting him out now. As if that all wasn’t enough, the throwing star killer, the person responsible for the explosion at Starling Port, who they now found out called himself Prometheus, attacked again and they still didn’t have anything on the man. Needless to say, it has been a stressful week.

That morning, she received a signal that Palmer Tech was being invaded, one of their techs was stolen and to her surprise, it was none other than Mr. Green Arrow himself sneaking in there to steal a device. When he got to the bunker that night, Felicity was waiting for him, expecting a good explanation.

“So was it you in Palmer Tech earlier today?” She asked. "Before you answer, remember that your phone has GPS. But if you are thinking of lying, know that I do admire your consistency." She couldn’t keep the snark out of her voice, she was obviously still not over him lying to her about William, if there was any doubt about it.

“Felicity, it’s John! I need to help him.” 

“He doesn’t want that, Oliver! It’s too risky and he’s going to be a fugitive for the rest of his life. Why do you always have to go and make decisions for people?”

First William, now John. She was pretty sure he’d do the same for her if she allowed it. 

Which she definitely wouldn’t .

And what if something happened to him there? What if Oliver didn’t come back? Did he think about that? Did he think that if he didn’t come back, she’d be left alone with their child?

John not wanting to be broken out would not help their situation at all. If Lyla and Oliver got there and John wasn’t willing to go with them, chances of them getting captured and thrown in jail were high. 

“I’m going to stop John from making a decision he’s going to regret,” Oliver replied, already packing his bag.

“I can’t help you with that,” she said sadly. 

“I’m not asking you to.” He looked at her and she knew he respected her decision. “Lyla and I have everything under control.”

“Oliver…” She begged, “please be careful.”

*

“I didn’t think he’d actually hit you guys,” Felicity frowned when the recruits came back to the bunker that night.

She had sent them to stop Oliver. In hindsight, she should have realized that this was a bad idea, but she was desperate and hormonal and wanted someone to make him see reason. 

Yeah, so sending the recruits was clearly not one of her best ideas. She blamed her pregnancy brain.

That said, she really didn’t think he would physically stop them. Also something she should have predicted.

This pregnancy is messing with her, first her coffee now her brain . She needs her brain.

Okay, now she could also add dramatic onto the endless list of pregnancy symptoms.

“You know what really sucks? Knowing in all those training sessions he was kicking our asses he was taking it easy on us.” Curtis walked past her, pulling her out of her rambling thoughts.

“Remind me to not ever, ever get on his bad side,” Evelyn whimpered in pain.

“I think that would imply that he has a good side. And you know, Blondie, could you explain to me again how you thought this was all gonna go down?” Rene complained.

“I thought if he saw you guys all united against this crazy plan he’d reconsider,” she pouted. Hearing it out loud makes her realize how wrong she was. It was her only hope.

“Right, because Oliver Queen is known for thinking things through and taking input from others,” Curtis remarked dryly, at Felicity’s look of annoyance he pointed to the direction of the bathrooms, “you know what? I’ll just take a shower, Paul is waiting for me for dinner tonight.”

“Right,” Felicity snapped.

“So, if Curtis is married, what’s the rule on dating while vigilanting?” Evelyn asked Felicity as Curtis walked away.

“The short answer is: don’t .” 

“You’re pregnant with your ex’s baby and you still work together every day.” Evelyn raised one eyebrow and pointed at her belly. They’ve told the recruits about her pregnancy a few days ago, it was just impossible and pointless to hide it anymore. 

“Which is a good enough reason for you to see how bad that can go. Please be the smart girl I know you are and learn from my mistakes,” she sighed.  “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I already love this kid more than I thought I could possibly love someone I have never even seen, but I wish it had happened under better circumstances.”

She never really thought much about having kids, having a childhood so unstable and with all the trauma she went through with her parents, the only thing she did was promise herself that if she ever had kids, she’d do better. She’d be better for them.

She also could not see herself having children with anyone else, though.

“Oliver seems to really care about you. He’s always checking on you,” Evelyn pointed out. 

“Sometimes I wish he was a little less overbearing,” Felicity rolled her eyes. “I think I’ll also go home earlier today, this girl is exhausting me.”

*

Felicity was looking at her refrigerator, trying to decide what she and the baby were going to have for dinner when her doorbell rang. 

She looked at her watch, it was almost nine. Who was visiting her at this time at night? Without even calling first? Oliver was out of the country... oh God, please don’t let it be her mother doing a surprise visit . She looked at the peephole and sighed relieved as she saw Thea’s smiling face.

“Thea!” She opened the door and greeted her friend. “What are you doing here? Is everything alright? Why do you have your bow and quiver?”

Thea had a wheeling suitcase and a big bag Felicity knew she used to carry her bow, quiver and arrows whenever they went away on a mission.

“Hi, sis!” She walked into the apartment, giving Felicity a kiss on the cheek. “My dear brother asked me to stay here with you while he’s gone on his mission. So I’m inviting myself over. I was told to check up on you, not to tell you he is being a worrywart and I’m not allowed to ask you about your relationship with him. I also brought you some home cooked food.” 

She lifted a paper bag she had placed on the top of the suitcase.

Felicity smiled. There could be a lot of worse things than having a girls’ night with Thea. Besides, she was not feeling very comfortable about staying alone after Prometheus attacked again.

“I will take the food and the company but I agree with your brother about the questions. If you are willing to meet those demands... then you are welcome to stay for as long as you want,” she winked.

“I can’t even ask one little question about you two?” She pouted.

“Nope.”

“Fine…” She sighed, accepting defeat, for now . “So, how is my favorite niece doing?”

“She’s doing great! It’s been a whole week since I threw up, so that’s a big win.” Felicity showed two thumbs up. “I can also now smell coffee and not get nauseous, that’s another win. We had a new sonogram the other week, this girl is getting big!”  She rubbed her belly affectionately. 

“Ollie showed me the pictures, he’s so proud, it’s so cute. I swear he was showing it to everyone in the office and saying she looks just like you, although, how he can see that on that bad ultrasound picture is beyond me. Probably just wishful thinking.” Thea smiled. “Though, you better hope that kiddo really doesn’t take after him, I remember mom telling me he was almost eleven pounds when he was born. Imagine that .” Her eyes went huge.

“What?” Felicity yelped, imagining an eleven pound baby coming out of her. Nope, no can do. Nuh-uh.

“Yep, mom said she never thought she’d recover after him. That’s why it took so long for her to have another kid. It was that traumatic.” Thea shuddered. 

“Thanks a lot, Thea. That did not frighten me at all.” Felicity whimpered. “But… he was a boy… girls are usually smaller, aren’t they? She’ll be smaller, right? I’m small, she probably will take after me...” 

“We better hope so. But can you imagine all those adorable rolls if she takes after him and is a little chunkster, though? Adorable!” 

“She can get all her rolls and become a chunkster after she comes out of me. I was a good, normal, healthy seven pound baby when I was born. And that’s already big enough for something coming out of my lady parts, if you ask me,” Felicity winced. “Can we not talk about a human the size of a watermelon coming out of me, though? It’s scaring me. I think I’ll just avoid it until it’s time to push. I can do that, right?”

“Of course you can!” Thea chuckled. “Now, I brought us Oliver’s famous chili. He told me you’ve been craving spicy food. Oh, and he also made sure I brought some pink lemonade. How is your stomach surviving all of this?”

“Don’t ask me, it’s what this kid wants and what settles the best in it. I’m not going to fight it.” She waved a hand and opened one of the boxes. “It smells delicious.”

“So, this was supposed to be a secret, but as your favorite amazing little sister, I should warn you…” Thea said, taking a seat. “Your mom is planning a baby shower.”

“Oh, no.” Felicity froze while getting their plates. 

“Oh, yes, she’s very excited.” Thea couldn’t help grinning. Donna was quite something and Thea adored her.  “She wants my help, since she’s in Vegas and all and I’m still here. She is planning it for the end of February.”

“Please, please, please tell me you are in charge of the decorations.”

“Well, well, sister dear. I’m trying my best, but just so you know, although she is actively planning your baby shower, she secretly pulled out all your wedding stuff and started working on that too,” Thea said as she got herself some of the chili. “Oh my God, this is so spicy, how can you even eat this?”

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Felicity begged and tried Oliver’s food. “Hmmm, this is not spicy at all, it’s actually perfect.” She took another bite as Thea almost drowned herself in her glass of water. “We are not even together anymore, how can she be planning a damn wedding?”

“Well, in her defense, sis, we all know it’s just a matter of time,” Thea smirked as Felicity glared at her. “ Ooops . Sorry. I forgot it’s a forbidden subject tonight.” She mimicked herself zipping her mouth. 

“Thea… this baby shower… just think of my engagement party… it will be like that, but a million times worse with extra glitter and pink everywhere.” She frowned. “I swear I still find glitter in this apartment and it’s been over a year since that party.”

“Worry not, I promise you’ll get the best baby shower ever. If there’s one thing I can do is throw a party. I’m Moira Queen’s daughter, after all.” Thea said proudly. “Ugh, I can’t eat this thing. Do you have something else in here? I think I’ll order some pizza.”

*

While Oliver was away, Prometheus attacked again, this time killing four people, apparently, for no reason and with no connection to each other. Things were getting harder and panic was starting to set in the city. The recruits couldn’t find anything and as Felicity ran her program in hopes to find something she might have missed, the elevator opened and there came Oliver and Diggle, looking tired but safe and sound and with no obvious wounds.

Before she knew it, she was engulfing Oliver in a hug, holding him tightly towards her. 

“I’m so glad you’re okay.” She murmured against his neck.

“I told you I would come back, didn’t I?” He smiled and put both his hands on the curve of her stomach, his thumb brushing gently against her bump and she knew it was his way of greeting their daughter with company around . When their eyes met her heart skipped a beat. Worrying aside, she really just missed him . She looked away from him to look at her friend who she hadn’t seen in months.

“John!” She almost tackled him down. “I missed you so much!”

“Hi, there, Felicity.” He chuckled and hugged her back. He took a step away, wanting to get a good look at her. “Now let me see you! Look at that big belly!”

“Right?” She patted her baby bump. “I can’t even blame this one on Big Belly Burger anymore, although I've been eating a lot of those lately.” She could feel Oliver’s stare on her back and added “...along with tons of very healthy things.” 

“It looks like it got bigger while I was away.” Oliver commented. He hadn’t seen her in just a few days, and still, it looked like she changed so much in that time.

“It did! Thea and I went shopping for maternity clothes yesterday, because the one outfit that still fit me went bye bye .” She sighed and turned to John. “So, how is it going to be now? You’re staying here?”

“Apparently, yes. Just until I clear my name, which I hope won’t take that long. I hope it will be easier with me here in the country.” He explained. “I can still go out as Spartan, though, I heard you guys could use another pair of hands.”

“Tell me about it… and about that… Prometheus attacked again last night… four victims.” She told Oliver. “Curtis and I are trying to find something, but so far, we have no idea what his goals or intentions are, all those killings seem so random.”

“Felicity! I think I’ve got something!” Curtis cut their reunion short, the shock on his face telling them whatever he found was important. “Oh, hi, Oliver. John! Welcome back. You might also want to see this.”

Curtis ran back to the computers, the other three following behind him.

“So... the four victims are not random,” he started and went on to catch Oliver up on everything that happened the past days, “Felicity and I think Prometheus is using the names of the victims as anagrams to spell out other names.” He pointed at the computer as their pictures popped on. “Tobias Church, Sam Conahan, Peter Meld and Gay Eked.”

“Adam Hunt, Ted Gaynor, Palmer Cokes, Sachi Beech,” Felicity concluded with worry on her face. 

“Those names are supposed to mean anything to us?” Rene asked from behind them, she didn’t even notice they were also there.

“They do to him,” John pointed at Oliver. “I’m John Diggle, by the way.”

“Spartan.” Evelyn nodded. “We heard a lot about you. I’m Evelyn Sharp, codename Artemis, and that one is Rene, aka Wild Dog.”

“I can’t believe I’m really stuck with that name.” Rene whined. “If we are going on the dog theme, couldn’t I be Pitbull or Rottweiler?”

“No,” Oliver, Felicity, Evelyn and Curtis said at the same time.

“Care to enlighten us about those names and how they relate to Oliver, please,” Evelyn asked.

“Those names are on the list,” Oliver said, running his fingers through his hair.

“What the hell is the list?” Rene asked, something was really not shared with the rest of the class. Surprised, he was not.  

“A list that my dad gave to me before dying. It was in a notebook that belonged to my father and when I was first starting out I thought it was my way to save the city.” Oliver explained.

“Let me get this straight, you got a ‘to kill list’ and I’m the out of control one?” Rene snorted.

“I haven’t used that list... I haven’t even looked at it in four years.” Oliver sighed, what the hell is going on?

“Wait, four years? I thought that was some other guy in the hood.” Curtis questioned.

“No, that was Oliver. The Hood, the Arrow, the Green Arrow, all him.” Felicity waved a hand at it. 

“Well, I think we now know the message Prometheus is trying to send.” Curtis creased his forehead.

“You do? Because I don’t. Do you guys?” Felicity looked from one person to another.

“He’s saying you’re the serial killer.” He looked at Oliver.

“Harsh. But feeling pretty accurate.” Evelyn agreed.

“I was trying to help this city. Prometheus isn’t.” Oliver said between his teeth.

“Seems pretty personal to me.” Rene blurted then nodded his head to Felicity. “You might want to get Blondie and little Blondie under protection. Anyone knows that the best way to get to you would be attacking them or your sister.”

Or William. But the recruits didn’t know about him. Hopefully Prometheus didn’t either.

Felicity’s hands went straight to her belly, holding it protectively. If something happened to her now, they would not be able to save her baby. It was still too early in the pregnancy. She had to be careful. The thought of something happening to her child made her heart ache in a way it never did before. 

“I need you to analyze the names on the list against Star City’s population because that should point us towards Prometheus’ next targets.” Oliver told Curtis and Felicity, then, he touched her shoulder, whispering,  “I need to talk to you, in private.”

Felicity nodded her head, already knowing what it was probably about.

“Rene is right.” He said as soon as they got into his room, rubbing his forehead. Felicity could see he was as anxious and worried as she was. “I can’t let you stay by yourself in the loft.”

“If you think I’m going to disagree with you, I will not.” She’d been through enough to know the apartment wasn’t as safe and impenetrable as they thought. No matter how hard she tried, those damn evil people still found ways to break into the security system. Hopefully with Archer that would change, but until then, she was not comfortable staying there alone, not with Prometheus out there in a crazy killing spree apparently to get to Oliver. Not when she was five-months-pregnant and more vulnerable than ever. 

“I will move back to the loft, at least temporarily, until we catch Prometheus. I can stay in the guest room, I think the loft is big enough for the both of us.”

Felicity nodded. It was bigger than she would like too. She feared something would happen to him and she’d not even know, her room being on the other side of the apartment. She might not have Oliver’s fighting skills, but she was an irreplaceable member of this team and knowing he was near her also gave her a sense of peace, knowing she could help him too if needed.

“What a welcome home that was, ugh?” She tried to be funny, but neither could break even a smile. They needed to find Prometheus. Fast.

*

She was running again, the night was dark and the rain was pouring on her face. Prometheus was right behind her, until she came to a stop in a dead end street. 

“Please, don’t kill me!” She threw her hands up in the air.  “I’m pregnant!” She begged between sobs. “This child is innocent!”

Oliver was laying down behind the masked man, a pool of blood around his body, his face lifeless. 

“You must die.” He said before shooting directly at her belly. 

“NO!” She screamed, waking up with tears running down her cheeks. She breathed in and out, trying to calm her racing heart. She put both her hands on her belly, not being able to control her sobs. “You’re fine. We’re fine, it was just a nightmare.”

“Felicity?” Oliver hurried inside her room. Her screams probably woke him up. “What happened?”

“Oliver…” She gasped, choking on a sob, her body shaking even more. 

She was in his arms in seconds, holding onto him like her life depended on it. 

“Are you hurt? Please, Felicity, talk to me.” He was holding her back, desperate to know what was going on.

“It was Prometheus…” He stiffened at her words.

“He’s here?”

Felicity shook her head. “No… I- I had a nightmare. He killed you… and he was after me. And then he- he shot the baby. I couldn’t save her, Oliver, I couldn’t-”

She broke down again in his arms, covering his shirt with tears as she couldn’t stop crying. 

“It’s okay,” he rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head, “you’re okay, I’m here, the baby is okay… please, honey.”

“I can’t lose you, Oliver,” She whispered against his neck. “And if something happens to our baby-”

“It will not, okay? I promise you. I won’t let him touch either of you.”

“You?” She sniffed. She was not worried only about herself and their baby. If something happened to him, it would kill her. 

“Or me,” He said, kissing her forehead. “I promised you, remember?”

He felt her nodding and tried to pull away a little, to look at her, but she wouldn’t let him. “Please don’t break that promise.”

He held her there for what felt like hours, but could have been just minutes, until he felt her relaxing and stop shaking. He thought she was asleep again, but when he tried to let go of her, she held his shirt on a deadly grip. 

“Stay, please, ” she muttered. “Please, don’t go.”

There was nothing he wanted more than to be exactly here, holding her in his arms with their child protected between them. Carefully, he pulled the blanket and covered them both, leaning back on the bed he spent so many wonderful moments in, closing his eyes as she snuggled even more into him and truly falling asleep for the first time in what felt like months.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Oliver woke up before her, feeling more energized and relaxed than he’d felt in a long time. He took a while before getting up, wanting to enjoy the feel of her in his arms for as long as he could. Unfortunately, he had to be at City Hall in less than an hour, so he gave her a kiss on the forehead and one on the belly and started getting out of bed. A small groan stopped him.

“No…” Felicity said, eyes still closed and her hands reaching out for him. “It was so warm…”

“I’m sorry…” He said, unable to keep the smile from his face. “I have to go to work. Believe me, I’d much rather stay right here.”

“Ugh,” she pouted. “I should get up too, the presentation at Palmer Tech is on Friday and I promised Curtis we’d focus on finishing it.”

They had breakfast together and he dropped her off at the bunker before going to City Hall. That night, she asked him to watch a movie before bed and he ended up sleeping in her bed again. The night after that, he was going to the guest room after dinner when she called him out shyly. 

“Oliver?”

“Yes? You need something?” He asked worried.

“I just… Do you mind sleeping in our, I mean my, bedroom again?” She looked down at her foot. She was wearing pink flannel pajama pants covered in little bulldogs and one of his old white shirts, her round belly now the size of a soccer ball, and looking like the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. “It’s just… I’ve been having a lot of nightmares since Havenrock and now Prometheus and since that first night you got in there with me, I hadn’t had one good night of sleep in a long time. But with you… I feel… safe.” She raised her eyes up to him, who was looking at her slightly shocked. “I’m sorry, it’s just too weird… we’re not together, forget that I aske-”

“No! I mean, of course I can sleep there with you,” he said. “I… I sleep better when I’m with you too.” He admitted. “Are you having nightmares often? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s just… well, since Havenrock,” she avoided looking at him. “It’s usually just me running from the explosions and people yelling that I killed their loved ones… except since I found out about the baby, she is now there with me too and sometimes Prometheus appears and I can’t run away… I can’t save us.”

“Felicity… you know Havenrock was not your fault, right?” He walked closer to her, her pained face pretty much killing him.

“Yes… I mean. I guess. Rationally I know Dahrk was the one who sent that missile, I know Dahrk is responsible for all those deaths. But it doesn’t change the fact that I was the one who changed the final destination. I knew I did what I had to do to save millions, but I couldn’t save those thousands of people,” she sniffed and he hugged her.

“It was not your fault," he repeated. “We can’t win all our battles, Felicity, as much as we want to and give our best, sometimes we lose. We just have to accept it, get up and keep fighting. You’re a hero.”

“I don't feel like one when I think about that night,” she murmured against his chest.

“Felicity, without you none of us would be here right now. Star City would have crumbled during the Undertaking and whatever lasted of it would be gone when Slade and his army got here. And don’t even get me started on Ra’s and Dahrk… honey, you are a hero.” 

“Thank you,” she said, taking all her strength to let go of him. In times like these, especially since he had been so amazing and sweet with her after finding out about their baby, it was hard for her to remember all the reasons why they shouldn’t be together. Each day that went by, it was getting harder and harder to keep him at arm's length. That invisible wall she put between them was slowly losing its stance brick by brick and soon she would realize the only thing stopping her from being with Oliver is herself. 

“Come on, it’s late,” he said. “Let’s get you and Chip to bed.”

“Chip??” She raised one eyebrow.

“Well, we haven’t decided on a name for her yet and Mint Chip is all you want to eat since you found out you’re pregnant, so... ” He shrugged.

“We’re not calling her Chip.” 

“Why? I think it’s cute!” He pouted. “Like the little teacup in Beauty and the Beast .”

“I’d never think there would come a day when I’d hear Oliver Queen talking about Beauty and the Beast . The world really is full of surprises, isn’t it?” She teased him and he blushed. He was adorable.

“Well, I do have a baby sister and she’d make me go through all those movies when she was growing up and you know how it’s just impossible to say ‘no’ to Thea when she’s decided on something.”

“Did she make you dress up as the Beast and dance with her?” She bit her lips, trying not to laugh. Though, just the thought of it brought a pang to her chest. It was something she would do with her father when she was little, they’d watch those movies and then dance when her favorite songs started, her small feet on his shoes as they swayed around their living room. Back when she had a normal life, before her father left them and broke her heart. She never got to see those movies the same way again, it hurt too much. Maybe her daughter and Oliver would change that.

“No…” He looked away from her.

“Oh, my God, she so did! That’s adorable!”

“Not as the Beast, okay? She always wanted me to be Lumiere. Be Our Guest was her favorite song,” he confessed, blushing even more.

Felicity’s heart melted picturing teenage Oliver, playboy extraordinary, pretending to be Disney characters to entertain and make his baby sister happy. 

“Baby Chip is so lucky her daddy knows all about Disney already. Remind me to thank Thea for that.” She winked and nodded her head to the bedroom. “Let’s go to bed.”

*

The next day, Prometheus attacked again, and once again, they’d got nothing on him. To say Felicity was frustrated was an understatement. 

“Ugh… it’s just not possible.” She slapped the table, almost knocking the keyboard to the floor. “How come we still haven’t got anything on him?”

“Doesn’t he leave some of his throwing stars on the crime scene?” Diggle asked.

“Yes, but so far, SCPD got hold of all of them,” she sighed. 

“Well… if only we knew someone working there…” He raised one eyebrow at her.

“What do you mean… Billy?” She wrinkled her nose. She hadn’t seen him since the gala.

“Oliver told me about your detective friend,” he shrugged. 

“We’re not really friends, John, we only saw each other a couple of times. He was new to the city and okay, he might have wanted more than that at first, but as you can see, that wouldn’t have gone anywhere,”she pointed at her belly. 

“Yeah, sure, the only reason it wouldn’t have worked is because you’re pregnant.” Diggle let out a laugh. “What I mean is, it would be a lot useful if we got ahold of one of his weapons, it might at least give us a lead.”

*

I can’t believe I’m doing this , Felicity thought as she walked into the precinct with a cup of coffee in her hand. She might have not followed John’s suggestion, but she found out none other than Billy was the one responsible for Prometheus' case. It was way too much of a coincidence to not give it a try.

“Americano, did I remember it right?” She said as she placed the coffee cup on his desk. He better like it, it was torture having to smell it all the way here knowing she couldn’t drink any of it.

“Felicity?” Billy asked, surprised. “Hi! Now this is a surprise. Don’t get me wrong, but what are you doing here?”

“I need your help,” she chewed on her lips. “Can we, uh, talk in private?”

“Sure…” He puckered his forehead. “Come this way…”

“The interrogation room?” She let out a laugh when they got there. 

“It’s the most private place in this building,” he chuckled. “So, what did you want to ask me.”

“Okay… this will sound weird and it’s a long story…” She started. “I need some of the evidence you have on the Prometheus case.”

“Wait… what? How do you even know about that case?” He looked at her completely confused. That was classified information.

“You have to promise you’ll keep this between us.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“I work with the Green Arrow,” she blurted out, her heart racing inside her chest. Please tell me I wasn’t wrong about you, please. She opened up her coat. It was getting really hot inside here.

“You… what?” His eyes went huge.

“I work with the Green Arrow. We’ve been trying to find Prometheus for a while now but without evidence, we’re not going anywhere. But I promise you, if there’s anyone who can take that monster down, it’s us.”

“I’m-” He stopped when he noticed her belly. “You’re pregnant?”

“Yes…” 

“So, let me get this straight. You’re pregnant. And working with the Green Arrow.” He ran his fingers through his hair.

“See? I told you the problem was not you, it really was me,” she reminded him.

“Felicity…” He took a deep breath, this was so not what he expected when he saw her coming into the precinct.

“I know… it must be hard… you’re a detective and I know I’m kind of a criminal-”

“Kind of a criminal? Felicity, you are a criminal,” he accused her. “I could… I should arrest you right now.”

Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Was he going to arrest her? Oliver was going to kill her. She did not tell him she was coming here, much less that she was going to reveal her secret to Detective Malone of all people. But she felt like she had no other choice. Prometheus was trying to get him, she needed more information so they could take him down before he hurt anyone else. 

She thought she could trust Billy. Granted, she didn’t know him much, but usually she was really good at reading people. She really hoped this pregnancy wasn’t messing that much with her brain.

“Will you?” She gulped. Was she going to give birth in prison? She’d never be able to see her daughter grow up, or see her first steps, her first word. Her eyes started to well up with tears.

“No…” He sighed, shaking his head. “You are a criminal. But… you do it for a good cause.” He motioned to the chair, asking her to take a seat. “So how did it start? Why do you need my help?”

“Believe me, I wouldn’t be here if I thought we could find another way, but you have evidence that might give us the lead we are missing,” she explained, relieved she would not be sent to jail. “We have reason to believe his attacks are connected to the Green Arrow.”

“So, you know the Green Arrow? You know where he lives? What does he look like without a mask? Is his face all scarred?” He seemed so excited, it scared Felicity a bit.

“Billy-”

“Sorry, I’m curious.” 

“Well, like I said, it’s a long story…”

“Is it his? I mean, your baby,” he pointed at her belly. “Ar- are you pregnant with the Green Arrow’s baby? Is that why he still allows you to help him, because this way he can keep an eye on you? Oh, my God! No wonder Mayor Queen and you couldn’t work it out. Imagine competing with the Green Arrow for a woman… that guy is lucky he never got an arrow in his heart,” he said, feeling like he missed a bullet, or in this case, an arrow, when Felicity turned him down. 

“The Green Arrow does not shoot innocent people and he never killed anyone unless it was strictly necessary in many years,” she felt like she needed to defend him. “Anyway, this is not about me. Billy, this Prometheus, he is way more dangerous than you think. SCPD will not be enough to stop him. You have to believe me.” She begged him.

Somehow, he believed her. More than that, he seemed to trust her too. “Okay, so tell me what can I do to help you…”

*

“What’s all this?” Oliver pointed at the table in Felicity's living room later that night. It was covered by unwrapped boxes. Felicity called earlier and asked him to come home instead of the bunker tonight, saying she had some good news to share and it called for a celebration.

“Those are pacifiers,” she lifted a purple one, covered in rhinestones, wincing as the light hit it and almost blinded her for a second. “I just got those packages from my mother. She had them custom made for the baby.” 

Donna also sent onesies, tutus and a few bottles. Oliver took two more onesies out of one of the many boxes. One was pink with “ Pick my diapers, I’m going to Bubba’s ” written on the front, the other said “ My grandma never runs out of hugs and kisses ”.

“Good luck with that, kid,” Felicity scoffed and lifted another one, it said “ I get my attitude from… well, pretty much every woman I’m related to. ” “She’s not wrong, this kid is not even born yet, but I can already tell she’ll be a spitfire.”

“Daughter of Felicity Smoak, granddaughter of Donna Smoak and Moira Queen, niece of Thea Queen? What did you even expect?” Oliver chuckled.

Felicity shook her head, putting that one back in the box to take it to the office that soon would become the nursery. “Between my mom and Thea, we won’t need to buy this kid’s clothes until she’s at least eight years old.”  

“They are excited,” Oliver smiled softly, still looking through the many onesies until he found one that took him aback. “ Best Oops Ever ?” He raised a brow at Felicity, clearly amused.

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t even ask.”

“How was your meeting with Palmer Tech?” 

“It went great!” She beamed, putting the pacifier back in the box and clapping her hands together. “They reinstated me! You’re looking at Palmer Tech’s CEO. I’m back, baby!”

“No way! Really?” He opened a huge smile and pulled her in a hug. “Congratulations! You and Curtis have been working so hard on that project. They were idiots to let you go in the first place.”

“Yep. They were very impressed by Archer,” she grinned. “They didn’t even blink an eye at the fact that I’m pregnant and will need to go on maternity leave in a few months. They were that interested.”

“Archer?” He raised one eyebrow.

“Yeah… that’s the name of our new security system,” she smiled shyly. “I couldn’t think of a better name for something that is supposed to protect people.”

“I-” He didn’t even know what to say. She named her biggest project, the one she was calling her other baby, after him. He put a hand on his chest, really touched. “Thank you.”

She just smiled at him, their eyes holding for a minute.

“So…” she finally looked away, “there’s something else I need to tell you.” She bit down on her lip. “But I need you to promise me first you won’t get mad.”

“Felicity?” 

“I told Billy I work with you,” she wrinkled her nose and closed her eyes shut.

“ What ?” 

She opened up one eye, then the other.

“Well, not you you , the Green Arrow,” she explained.

“Wh-” He was at loss for words. “Why would you do that? He’s a detective, Felicity!”

“I knooow! But the search for Prometheus was going nowhere and John suggested-”

“ John suggested it?” He’d have to have a talk with his friend. What on Earth was he thinking?

“Don’t be mad. I found out Billy is the one responsible for his case. He has access to all the evidence we need to look further into Prometheus and you know I could never hack into SCPD to get the info on it because we know they won’t look into it the way we do. They don’t have the tech or the expertise we do.”

“He could have arrested you, Felicity!” His face was turning so red, she was about to offer him a glass of water.

“Well, he didn’t… he won’t,” she assured him. 

“How can you be so sure?” Just the thought of Felicity going to jail made him almost lose his mind. Especially now that she was having their baby. Did she lose her mind?

“Because he told me.” Felicity could see he didn’t have much faith in that. “And… he seems to be a big fan of yours. I think he might even have a crush on you.”

“I- what?”

“The point is, he decided to help us, Oliver. I left the computers at the bunker running with everything he gave me, John will let us know if something new comes up.”

“You better be right about that…” He let out a sigh. “So, what do you feel like eating tonight?”

*

“You look exhausted,” Oliver commented after they finished their dinner and sat down on the couch to watch a movie.

“And I feel that way too. I’ve been nauseous all day. I thought I was past that, but apparently this little spawn you put inside of me had other ideas.” She patted her belly affectionately. “Twenty-two weeks old and already giving her mama trouble.”

“I’m sorry,” he frowned. He hated that she felt bad and there wasn’t really much he could do to help her.

“God help us all when she hit her teens,” she froze. “Oh my God, let’s hope this kid takes after me. Goth phase aside, I was a pretty easy teenager. I can’t even begin to imagine all the trouble you gave your mother.”

“I wasn’t that bad,” he said, a little offended.

She shot him a knowing glare.

“Well, if it’s up to me, I really hope this baby comes out 100% Smoak. I won’t mind having a little you running around. Now, if that’s the case, I’ll be the one in trouble if we end up with a little Felicity. If I already have a hard time saying no to you, can you imagine how it will be with your baby version?” He said, suddenly actually worried. He was so screwed. Though, just the thought of a little girl who was a miniature of her mother made his heart explode inside his chest.

She huffed. “You say that as if a little Oliver charming his way around would be any easier. Or in this case, a little Olivia. Olivia! I’ll add that one on the list of potential names.”

“Olivia, really?” He cocked his head.

“I think it’s cute,” she shrugged.

“Well, you have no trouble putting me in my place and calling me out when I do something wrong,” he snorted. “This kid will have no chance against your Loud Voice.”

“I won’t need to use my Loud Voice with her because she will be a perfect angel, right baby girl?” She said to her belly, then she looked at Oliver, both cracking up at the same time. Yes, there was zero possibility of this girl being a perfect angel being the amalgamation of their DNA. Kid would have a strong personality, there was no doubt about that. But you know what? They wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Did you know she can already recognize voices at this stage?” She asked him.

“Really? I remember reading something about that in the book, but I didn’t remember, it’s going by so fast.” Since he found out about her pregnancy, he ordered all books on that theme and had been reading them in his free time.

“Oliver Queen reading pregnancy books. Who could ever imagine, huh?” She smirked.

“My mom would be shocked, that’s for sure,” he let out a laugh, becoming a little sad when he thought of his mother.

They went quiet for a while, Felicity rubbing her belly thinking about her daughter and how their lives were going to change in a few months. She was startled out of her thoughts when Oliver leaned down to get closer to her baby bump.

“Hi, baby girl! This is your daddy! How is it going in there?” He said softly to her belly, covered today in a bright purple top. “I just learned you can hear me now! Isn’t that great? I read in a book that if I talk to you while you’re still in there, you’ll recognize my voice when you’re here on the other side, so bear with me, because I’ll probably be talking to you daily from now on.”

“You’re really going to talk to my stomach every day, aren’t you?” She rolled her eyes, but he could see that she was smiling. “It might answer you sometime, it’s growling a lot these days, but I assure you it’s not the baby talking back.” 

He shot her a look.

“Sorry, go on… I’ll just take a little nap in here while the two of you have your little chat.” She leaned her head back on the couch and closed her eyes. 

“What was I saying? Oh, yes, your mom told me you were giving her a little bit of trouble today. I know it must be pretty tight in there and if you’re anything like me, you can’t wait to be outside, but you just hang in there, okay? You still have time to grow in there before we finally meet. Your Mom and I are always gonna be here, so take all the time that you need to grow big and strong. So, please do not scare us trying to come out early just because you’re bored and anxious to see us. I know, I know… you’ve been listening to your mom this entire time and by now you must know how awesome she is and probably can’t wait to meet her-”

Felicity snorted. “The poor kid will probably decide to come out early just because she is so tired of hearing me babbling all day long.”

“Weren’t you going to take a nap?” He teased. “And I love your babbles.” 

“Well, you don’t have to listen to them twenty-four hours a day, everyday.” She pointed out, lifting her head to look at him “Sometimes I wish I could take a break from myself. If you think it’s bad on the outside, you have no idea how it is inside here,” she pointed to her head,  “a mess, that’s what it is. It’s so tiresome, no turn off button, unfortunately.” 

“Shhhh, I’m talking to our daughter now, so be quiet,” he said in mocking anger, getting an adorable giggle out of her, but she did what he asked and closed her eyes again, relaxing against the couch. “So where was I? Oh, yes, your mother. She’s amazing, and so very smart, so I’m warning you, think carefully before you try to fool her, because I’ll tell you, baby girl, she can see right through everyone, she has that talent and you do not want to have a conversation with her Loud Voice. Just trust me on that, okay?” He looked up to sneak a peek of Felicity, but she was still quiet and her eyes were closed, maybe she did really fall asleep. She’d been doing that a lot lately. “And if you ever see her trying to cook anything, you come and call me immediately, you hear me? Because that usually only leads to chaos, fires and sometimes intoxication and we do not want any of that, right?”

“I heard that.” She said, still not moving or opening her eyes.

“...but more than anything, baby girl, you just have to know we both love you so, so much.” He leaned closer to her belly, whispering, “now go to sleep, because your mommy is tired, carrying you all day is no easy job, little one, so now I’ll take her to bed so she can sleep too. I love you.” He gave her belly a kiss. 

He was about to sit back on the couch when Felicity jumped, startling the hell out of him.

“Oh, my God!” She put both her hands on her belly, mouth agape.

“What’s wrong???” His heart went to his throat. Did he do something?

She lifted her shirt, offering him a nice view of her bare rounded stomach, and grabbed both his hands, placing them on her warm skin. His breath caught on his lung. “What is going on?”

As if the baby heard him, he felt something move below his hand. 

Felicity gasped, mesmerized. “Did you feel that?”

“Was that the baby?” He opened the biggest grin at her. Just as he talked again, there was another kick, this time even stronger. “Oh, my god!”

“I think she likes your voice,” Felicity murmured, her eyes getting wet with tears. “I’ve been feeling some movements for a few days now, but that was the first time I felt it so strongly.” 

“This is amazing,” he let out a laugh, love shining in his eyes. He was so happy, so beautiful and he'd been so great and kind to her, that she just ignored everything her brain was saying and let her heart lead this time.

“Oliver,” she said in a whisper.

He looked up at her, both hands still caressing her stomach with so much tenderness that she wanted to cry. She placed a hand on his cheek and he leaned his head against it, craving for her touch as much as she craved his. They stared at each other for long seconds,  their eyes catching fire and their breath quickening. Before she could talk herself out of it, she pulled his face towards hers and pressed her lips onto his.

Chapter Text

It took him a few seconds to respond to her, as if he couldn’t actually believe what was happening, that this was really real. He felt like their relationship had turned a switch when he moved back to the loft. They were sleeping in the same bed again and everyday he woke up with his arms full of Felicity and their daughter beneath his hands, protected inside her mother’s belly. He couldn’t feel happier about that. They flirted and bickered and they talked about their day over dinner. It was just like when they were together, except they didn’t kiss nor had sex. It wasn’t like he didn’t want more, oh, how he wanted more. But he was happy with the way things were, he was grateful he had gotten her back, that he was able to be there for her everyday. He would give her as much time as she wanted. Now that he was back here, he couldn’t even bear the thought of leaving her - them - again. Just the thought of getting a new place to live, away from his girls, made his stomach turn.

But now… now Felicity was kissing him .  

Suddenly, it felt like everything changed. Once he realized she was actually kissing him, it took him no time to kiss her back.

The kiss started slow and they took their time savoring each other before deepening it. Her hands went from his face down to his chest, grabbing him by the shirt to make sure he would not escape. As if he’d ever do that. He pulled her closer to him, smiling against her lips when her belly got a bit on the way. Felicity didn’t waste any more time and soon she was on his lap, straddling him. 

“God, I missed you,” she moaned against his mouth, her hands going under his shirt and caressing his abs. “I really, really missed you,” she smiled as she noticed he was already hard, twisting her hips just a little to provoke him.

“Felicity-,” he closed his eyes, his hands grabbing her hips and enjoying the sweet torture. “Uh, I missed you so damn much.”

Soon his shirt was lying on the floor, a classic Felicity move that made him chuckle. She let go of his lips for a second to take off her shirt too, leaving him breathless when he saw her in all naked gloriousness. Her belly was so round already with their baby and her breasts really went at least two sizes up.

“Quite a difference, uh?” She smirked, enjoying that it took him a while to find his words. 

“You’re perfect,” he cupped her face and pulled her back to him to give her another kiss, “you were always perfect.” His hands were going from her face to her back, looking for the clip of her bra and ready to free her breasts when he stopped suddenly and she took her lips from his for a second to stare at him. “Ar- are you sure you want this?”

“Oliver, I swear to God that if you stop this right now I’m going to kill you.” 

“Just… wanted… to… make… sure,” he hissed as she grabbed his dick through his pants to make her point clear. “ God… ”

Soon his mouth was on her neck, kissing her down her throat as he worked on her bra. The moment it fell to the floor, his hands went to grab her breasts, his thumbs teasing her nipples lightly and making her moan. “Does it hurt?” 

She shook her head, “they are so sensitive now, but this is really, really good.” 

“Oh, yeah?” He smirked mischievously before grazing his lips on one as his hands snaked down her back and into her pants.

“So… many… clothes,” she took all her strength to move away from him to take off her pants, quickly going back to him to work on his, her hands opening his buttons as his hands gave her ass a gentle squeeze. “Those should go… now .”

His pants were soon on the floor next to hers and all that was left were his boxers and her panties. His hands found their way inside the thin fabric as she nibbled his jaw, finding her already so ready for him, making her moan against his neck as he stroked her lightly there. 

Her hand was pulling down his boxers when his phone started to ring. 

“Oh, no. No. no. no no,”  she rested both her hands on his chest to look at him. Please don’t stop this. Please.

“Let’s… ignore it,” he groaned and kissed her. He was going to kill whoever was calling him at this moment.

“Excellent idea,” she smiled against his lips before deepening it, her fast hand grabbing him and giving it a little squeeze as his hand worked on her. “I… need you.”

She’d been ignoring her needs for way too long, she wanted him, she needed him. She wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do at the moment, they still haven’t talked about William nor Oliver’s trust issues, but right now, this felt way too good, way too perfect to be wrong. Oliver had just grabbed her hips to change their positions when her phone started to ring too. They both stopped, panting heavily, and Felicity touched her forehead to his, closing her eyes. “I will kill whoever that is.” 

“Not before I do,” Oliver sighed, already hating this. “We have to take it, it might be important.”

He stroked her back one more time and gave her one last kiss before she climbed off his lap so he could get up to grab his phone. She whimpered, already missing his touch. They were so close. 

“Rene?” He asked the moment he answered the phone. She was going to kill that mutt if he didn’t have a very good reason to interrupt them. 

“Oliver! Finally, I’ve been trying to get to you for a while,” the other man sounded agitated.

“What happened?” Oliver grabbed his pants and pulled them up his legs. 

Felicity pouted as she realized their night really wouldn’t go the way she wanted. So close.

“It’s Curtis. He was out with Paul celebrating the Palmer Tech deal and when they left the restaurant they were attacked.” 

“Prometheus?” He asked, sending Felicity a worried gaze. She was already putting her clothes back on. 

“Yes. He escaped before any of us could get there.” 

“How is Curtis?”

“At the hospital. The police are on their way to talk to him and get their statements,” Rene explained and then after a pause he continued, “Oliver… I talked to Curtis for a while, he regained consciousness a few minutes ago, he told me Prometheus said that this is all your fault… that... everything you touch dies. That every death from now on is going to be in your hands,” he gulped. “Curtis said he is alive because of your training, but also because he thought Prometheus wanted him to send you this message.”

“I’ll meet you there at the hospital,” Oliver said, ending the call and pinching the top of his nose. Who was behind that mask? People kept getting hurt and losing their lives and they couldn’t figure out who he was or why he hated him so much.

“Oliver?” Felicity asked, already dreading what he was going to tell her.

“It’s Curtis, Prometheus attacked him and Paul. He is at the hospital. I’m going there,” he was grabbing his shirt when he noticed she was also already dressed and putting her shoes. “What are you doing?”

“Getting ready to go?” She raised one eyebrow.

“You’re not going, Felicity.” The last thing he needed right now was worry about her. He needed her safe. 

“You will need me at the bunker, Oliver. You will never find Prometheus if I don’t help you,” she stated. “Do you want me to stay here? Alone?”

She had a point. He needed her if he wanted to catch this guy. He didn’t even know where to start looking for him. He ran his hand through his hair, he never felt more helpless. And Felicity was right, the loft wasn’t as safe as the bunker and he’d feel a lot better knowing she wasn’t alone.

“Fine.” He sighed.

“Hey.” She walked to him, placing her hand on his cheek. “It’s going to be fine. We’ll find him.”

He closed his eyes and nodded, resting his forehead on hers before kissing it and grabbing her hands. “Let’s go.”

*

It had been two hours since Oliver went back to the bunker after going to the hospital and so far, they’ve gotten nothing concrete, but Felicity was working on a new lead. The police got Curtis’ statement and she hacked into SCPD to see if they’d found something new. The results of the tests she ran on the throwing star Billy gave her had substances that led to this old warehouse. A warehouse she knew Oliver had been years before. It was the place he killed Justin Claybourne the year he got back to Star City. That was the only lead they had so far. 

She sent the results to Billy, telling him Prometheus was probably related to Claybourne. She felt like she needed to give him something, after all, if he hadn’t given her the evidence, they wouldn’t know any of this. She also asked him not to go there, it was too risky and they didn’t have anything yet.

Still, one hour after that, her phone got a new message from Billy, it only said Found this at the Claybourne’s house, maybe it will help and it included a baby picture. She replied only with a ‘get out of there!’.

Felicity had no idea why that picture might be important, but when she ran Claybourne’s background, she found out the man had a bastard son he didn’t tell anyone about. 

Was this his son?

Could Prometheus be his son trying to avenge his father’s death?

Felicity got the picture and sent it to her computer, running it through a program that aged children and was usually used to find missing kids. It was not perfect, but it could give them something. 

She popped a gummy bear from the jar Curtis got her with not even one red gummy bear in sight. They were all spoiling her so much and she was loving it. Evelyn was always bringing her water to make sure she was hydrated. Even Rene got a pint of Mint Chip ice cream on his way to the bunker the other day because he remembered they were running out of it. She’d always known that one was way more bark than bite and an actual softie on the inside. 

When the program finished working on the picture and gave her what that kid might look like today, she stopped breathing. She knew that face. It gave her chills since the first time she saw him.

“OLIVER!” She yelled and soon he and Thea, who Oliver made sure was here at the bunker after he found out Curtis was attacked, were behind her chair. They called Diggle too, but the man was in a safe house visiting Sara and Lyla. He was on his way, but it would take him a while to get there. Felicity pointed a shaking finger at the monitor. “Look…” 

“Son of a bitch!” Thea cursed.

“It’s Chase,” Oliver fumed, already going to the back of the bunker looking for his arrows. How could he not have seen it before? He was actually starting to see the man as kind of a friend!

“Oliver! Where are you going?” Felicity shouted.

“I’ll talk to him,” Thea said, running after her brother.

She was dressed in her old suit and he had his back to her when she found him. 

“You can’t go out there like that, without even knowing where he is. We need a plan, Ollie.” 

“I thought you weren’t suiting up anymore,” Oliver said as he turned to face her. 

“Well, he’s after you and the people we love,” she shrugged. “Figured all hands.”

“Speedy, are you about to tell me after everything that’s happened and everything that’s happening that this isn’t my fault?” People had died, his friend was hurt, Chase was after his family. All because of what he did in the past. 

“Do you remember when Tommy and I went to the US Open and you tried to land a helicopter on the grounds because Tommy wanted to impress Maria Sharapova and then made dad blow that huge acquisitions deal?” 

“Because he had to bail me out, yeah.”

“Pretty sure that was the most disappointed he’s ever been in you.”

“I’m not seeing the relevance, Speedy.”

“My point is dad wouldn’t be disappointed in who you’ve become. Mom and Dad would be proud.” Thea knew her brother, he was beating himself up and taking all the blame for this, when none of this was his fault. This was Prometheus' fault. He was the one out there murdering and hurting innocent people.

“They might not be proud if they knew that I created something like Prometheus.”

“There’s two types of every legacy, two versions of what we leave behind. There’s the good and there’s the bad. You just really have a lousy habit of focusing only on the bad,” she touched his shoulder, hoping to make him see. 

“I need you to stay here. With Felicity,” he closed his eyes and sighed.

“I’m not letting you go there alone, Ollie!”

“I mean it, Thea! I need you here with her. You and Felicity are the people he’ll come after first. I can’t take any chances. Please .”

“Ollie…” She tried again, but he was already going back to Felicity’s workstation.

“Did you find him?” He asked Felicity.

“I think he’s at the warehouse where you killed Claybourne,” she said, typing away on the keyboard, not taking her eyes from the monitor. “I’ll call the team.”

“We don’t have enough time. Chase wants me. I’m going to deal with it alone.”

“Oliver… please. It’s too dangerous. Just wait a little bit, Dig is already one his way,” she turned on her chair to face him. 

“Felicity… I’ve dealt with worse. You know that. This is between Chase and me. I’m done having people hurt because of me. I’ll come back to you, I promise you.” 

“You better, because I swear to God, Oliver, if you don’t come back, I’m going to find you no matter where you are and I don’t think you want that,” she poked him on the chest, but she was trembling with worry. She added in a whisper, “we have unfinished business, don’t you forget that, you hear me? You better finish what you started tonight.”

He stared at her for a while, trying to save every part of her in his memory. Then he rubbed her belly, kissed her softly on the lips and whispered “I love you” before leaving them behind.

“Oliver!” She shouted. Despite their previous exchange she still felt unease about this, him going out there on his own. She shouted his name again, ready to convince him to stay but he was already gone. “Why don’t men ever listen?”

“Tell me something new…” Thea rolled her eyes. “Now sister dear, tell me all about that kiss…”

*

Oliver drove his bike like a madman on his way to the warehouse. Chase got Curtis, but he knew it was just a warning to him. It was his way to let him know who he was and what he did, who he worked with. Curtis was not his final target.

Felicity.

Their baby.

Thea.

William.

He pressed on the gas. He remembered Felicity telling him he approached her at the gala and that she had a bad feeling about him. He should have paid more attention to her intuition. Did he know back then about the baby? It didn’t matter, if he didn’t know then, he knew now. It was not a secret anymore.

“You won’t remember this, but we actually met twelve years ago.”

“You tried to pick up my girlfriend.”

“It’s okay, I don’t hold grudges.”

“He offered me a drink and made sure to say it’s non-alcoholic.”

“You killed his father.”

“He’s saying you’re the serial killer.” 

This was all his fault. This is his penance for his killing spree when he came back to the city. And his family and innocent people were going to pay for his sins.

He thought of Felicity and him earlier that night, sharing a special moment with their daughter. Then she’d kissed him, finally. After months and months of waiting, it seemed like she was opening up the door to him again. To them . He thought that maybe his life was taking a turn for the better. Maybe things were changing, maybe he could have good things. Maybe he could be a good father for his daughter and even for William. 

He was just fooling himself.  He didn’t get that. He didn’t deserve good things. 

He got to the warehouse, jumped out of his bike and got inside. 

“Took you a long time to figure it out, Oliver.” Adrian Chase was standing in the middle of the room, sans mask. Of course. He knew that they would have found out his identity already. “I thought your little blonde genius would guess it earlier. I guess the pregnancy might really be messing up with her brain.” 

“What do you want, Chase?” He yelled, not wanting to chit-chat.

“Now, you don’t need to yell, Oliver.” 

“This needs to stop! Stop going after innocent people! You want revenge? Kill me . Your problem is with me . Leave them all alone!”

“This is about much more than revenge,” Chase let out an evil laugh, “I’ve studied you, Oliver Queen. I know everything… who you love, who you trust, who you’ve hurt... do you know how easy it will be to turn them all against you?”

Adrian dropped his weapon and Oliver raised his bow, ready to shoot. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You hurt me, your little friend at Starling Hospital dies. I’m ten steps ahead of you, Oliver. Don’t you forget that.”

“I’m going to kill you ,” Oliver spatted.

“Will you? You might…  after all, you are not a hero. You’re a killer . And I’m going to show them that. I’m going to show them how everything you touch dies,” he walked closer to him. “Four years I’ve waited to make you answer for your sins."

Something hit Oliver from behind and he felt a pang on his neck, his knees wobbling, his vision blurring and his bow falling from his hand as he hit the ground.

“I’m not going to kill you, Oliver. I’m going to make you wish you were dead.”

Chapter Text

“Felicity, you need to rest,” Diggle commented for the millionth time since Oliver disappeared. He was very worried about his friend. Oliver had been missing for six days and since then, Felicity did not stop searching for him and Adrian Chase. The woman was spending every waking hour in front of her computer and Diggle was pretty sure if it wasn’t for the child growing in her womb, she wouldn’t even eat or sleep at all. 

“I will rest when we find Oliver and he’s back here and safe,” she replied coldly. She was pregnant, tired, sleep deprived and worried beyond measure. She knew Oliver should have stayed and waited for backup. When his GPS stopped working, Thea went to the warehouse immediately, but when she got there the only thing she found was his bow. Since then, all they did was look for him, but so far, they got absolutely nothing. And as time went by and they got no clue about his whereabouts, the more anxious this was becoming. 

“This is not good for you or the baby, you know that.”

“You know what’s not good for me, John? Not knowing where the father of my baby is. Not knowing what that monster is doing to him. Not knowing when he’ll come back. That’s what’s not good for me.” Felicity didn’t dare to say “if” he’d come back. She didn’t allow her mind to go there. Oliver was alive. She knew that. She’d know if he was dead. 

Diggle looked at Thea with a look of unease. She was carrying a tray with a glass of juice and a sandwich.

“Hey, can you at least eat this?” She offered her softly.

“I’m not really hungry,” Felicity replied weakly. Just thinking about eating made her want to throw up.

“I know, but you need to eat, you know that. For her , please.” Thea insisted, pointing at her belly. That wasn’t fair, but she knew right now that was the only thing keeping Felicity going. Thinking about her baby made her feel even more guilty. Ever since Oliver went missing, she didn’t feel her little girl move much, it was like she knew what was going on and that something wasn’t right, but every time Felicity was about to lose it, she’d feel a strong kick, like her daughter wanted to remind her she could not give up. 

Oliver would not give up. 

Not when he promised her he’d come back. Not when he knew they had a baby on the way. Not when they were finally making their way back to each other.

Why couldn’t anything ever be easy for the two of them? 

Everytime Felicity thought she’d have a moment to breathe, something happened. 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had to be strong. And Thea and Diggle were right, she needed to eat. She needed the energy to keep looking for Oliver.

“Okay.” She said, grabbing the sandwich and taking a tiny bite.

“We’ll find him, Felicity,” Thea assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “My brother would never let that asshole keep him away from you now.”

“It’s been six days, Thea,” she said with a lump on her throat.

“He was gone for five years once, don’t forget that. And he came back to us.”

“Please, don’t say that. I can’t go on like this for five years,” Felicity whimpered. 

“You won-”

Thea stopped suddenly, her eyes going huge as she looked at the entrance of the bunker. 

“What?” Felicity turned to see what happened to shock Thea like that and when her eyes lied on the injured man slowly walking towards them, she dropped the sandwich on the floor, tears filling her eyes. “Oliver? Oh, my God! Oliver!”

She was up and running towards him before Thea or Diggle could stop her. Oliver didn’t move as she approached him, his eyes lost and his face broken. 

“Oliver?” She weeped, lifting a shaking hand to his injured face. He had cuts, bruises and dried blood all over him. He looked tired and she could see he had lost a lot of weight. He flinched as her hand touched him, taking a sidestep and avoiding her eyes. “Oliver?”

“It’s over,” he blurted.

“Oliver, what’s going on?” Her voice was shaken, her eyes looking all over him like somehow that would explain what happened to him.

“I killed him. You’re safe. You’re all safe. He’s not going to hurt anyone anymore,” Oliver said, no emotion coming out of him. It was like his body was there, but Chase had taken his soul with him. Felicity was frightened. “And this… it’s- it’s over for me. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m shutting everything down.”

“Oliver, what happened?” Diggle asked.

“What do you mean by shutting this all down?” Thea said, going to stay by Felicity’s side. 

“Oliver... I really think that you should be checked out by an actual doctor,” Felicity stuttered when she finally found her voice again, his face blurred by the tears in her eyes.

“The only thing I need is for all of you to go home.”

“Oliver, we’re not going anywhere,” Diggle crossed his arms.  

“Not a suggestion, John.”

“Don’t you think you at least owe us an explanation?” Thea asked.

“The explanation is simple. Chase was right. Everyone that is, uh, down here, around me… well, they either suffer or they die,” he stated.

“Oliver, I can’t imagine what you’ve just been put through, but you have to know that Chase was wrong.” Felicity was desperate. She’d never seen him like this. 

“I don’t think that he was and I can’t… would you just go, please?” He closed his eyes, as if he’d like everyone to be gone when he opened them again.

“Can the two of us give us the room, please?” Diggle asked the others. Thea looked from Oliver to Diggle and nodded, but Felicity didn’t make any move, so she grabbed her hand and pulled her a little.

“Hey.”

“Thea…” Felicity fretted.

“Let the two of them talk, Felicity, you know he listens to Dig… come on,” Thea insisted, giving a reassuring squeeze to her hand and Felicity finally gave in, following her to the other side of the bunker.

“It’s just you and me now, Oliver. And you don’t need to talk to me if you don’t want to, but I don’t think you should be alone,” Diggle said when the girls were out of sight.

“I think I should.” Oliver looked at his friend. “John, I want you to leave.”

*

“I’ve never seen him so broken and I’ve seen him at his lowest,” Felicity cried as she looked at Diggle and Oliver from the armchair they had near the kitchen. Thea gave her a glass of water but she didn’t take a sip yet, she couldn’t, not with the lump in the middle of her throat. “He- he didn’t even look at me, Thea.”

“I don’t know what that jerk did to him, Felicity, but I’ll guarantee you, we’ll find a way to fix this.”

Oliver walked away from Diggle and to his old bedroom at the bunker. John shook his head at them, silently saying whatever he tried to tell him didn’t change anything. 

“Thea, you can go with John. I’ll talk to him.” Felicity stood up from the chair.

“But Felicity…”

“He’ll talk to me.” She would not give him any other choice. “I promise I’ll call you if I need anything.”

“Are you sure?” Thea grabbed her hand, letting her know she could stay if she needed her. Felicity nodded. “Okay.”

Thea gave her a tight hug and left with Diggle. Felicity took a deep breath and wiped away her tears as she walked towards Oliver’s room. This would not be easy, but if Oliver was stubborn, so was she. And if there was one thing she was certain of, it was that she’d not let Adrian Chase win, not even after his death.

“Oliver, let’s go home,” she said firmly. He had put on an old shirt and was sitting on the bed there, elbows on his knees and hiding his face on his hands.

“I’m not going,” he muttered, not bothering to even look at her.

“I’m not asking you to go, I’m telling you we’re going.”

“I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I already did, Felicity.”

“Well, you’re hurting me very much right now, so what about you listening for once? I swear to God, Oliver, if you don’t move in the next five seconds I’m calling John, Curtis and Rene back here and I’ll make them take you home with me and don’t you dare say you’ll fight them.” She was starting to lose her patience. Talking to him wasn’t working, so she’d have to up her game. She was not above guilting him into coming with her. He once told her that she knew him better than he knew himself and right in this moment Oliver needed rest. She needed rest, and the only way they would both get what they needed was if they went home and got some rest. She needed him just as much as she knew he needed her, and if she had to use their baby for him to see through the current fog of guilt he was navigating so be it. “I’ve been looking for you non-stop for the past six days, I barely slept, I barely ate, I felt sick the entire time and I don’t remember ever feeling this drained and exhausted. I’m not leaving this bunker without you, so I’m asking you to please cooperate with me right now and get your ass out of here so we can go home and freaking rest.”

He finally put his hands down and looked at her, actually seeing her for the first time since he came back to the bunker. Her breathing was ragged, the shadows under her eyes darker than he’d ever seen and she looked like she hadn’t brushed her hair in a week, which was probably exactly what happened. As much as he was disgusted with himself at the moment, he knew Felicity, she wouldn’t rest until he followed her home and he loved her way too much to keep her from getting some much needed sleep, especially after all those days she’d been looking for him. 

He nodded silently and stood up from the bed, walking out of the bedroom and waiting for her to follow.

*

The ride home was silent. Felicity drove as Oliver looked out of the window, not even glimpsing at her. She felt that lump on her throat again, tears running down her cheek as she thought about what might have happened to him while he was away, what kind of torture Adrian Chase put him through. Things were finally good between them and now Chase put them a hundred steps back again. She parked the car and he limped to the elevator, again ignoring her. 

“Bathroom, now,” she told him and watched as he slowly took the stairs to their bedroom. 

Felicity sighed, she was so, so tired. But she had to be strong now, whatever Chase did to Oliver hurt him deep and if there was anyone who could bring him back from the darkness, it was her. She grabbed a glass of water for herself, filled one to take him and grabbed a couple of pills .

“Drink. Take small sips so you won’t feel sick.” She told him when she got to the bathroom. He was sitting on the toilet, still fully clothed and his gaze faraway. He took the glass and took a sip, putting the glass back on the sink. “Take these too, they’ll help you with the pain. You should probably eat something too.”

Taking medicine on an empty stomach wasn’t ideal and she was certain he hadn’t eaten much in the past week, but he nibbled at a protein bar she had in the car and practically forced him to eat, so she hoped it would be enough for now. 

“I’m not hungry,” he said, popping the pills on his mouth without fighting. 

Ok. One step at a time.

“You’ll need to help me take off your shirt.”

“I’m fine,” he murmured. He wanted to be alone. He didn’t want to taint her anymore than he already did. 

“Yeah, I can see that. You’re great, alright,” Felicity replied sarcastically as she leaned down to grab the hem of his shirt, which was now covered in red spots of dried blood from his open injuries. If she didn’t clean and disinfect the wounds, they might get infected and the last thing they needed now was for him to get sick. She pulled the shirt up slowly, being careful not to hurt him. “I need you to put your arms up.”

He did as she asked and stayed quiet and immobile as she worked on his wounds, not even wincing when she applied medication to them. 

“I still think you need to see a doctor, but I think this is enough for now.” His injuries weren't as bad as she thought they were. Fortunately, none of them needed stitches. The biggest wounds were definitely on his heart and inside his head. Whatever damage Chase did, it was way more mental than physical. As she finished cleaning the last one, she got up to turn on the shower, steam quickly filling the room. “Come on, you’ll need to help me here, Oliver. I can’t lift you by myself.”

He stood up and took his clothes off, getting inside the stall without a word. He stood there naked under the hot water, not making any move, just letting the water hit him in hopes it would wash away the pain. Soon her clothes joined his on the floor and she stepped inside the stall too, grabbing the shampoo bottle. Olive tilted his head towards her, allowing her to carefully wash his hair. It was a small indication that he was not only here with her, but he was also slowly letting her in. His eyes closed and she saw the tears among the drops of water, but she didn’t say anything, letting him wash the shampoo off while she worked on her own hair, she was also in very much need of a shower.

“Hey,” she said as she tenderly applied soap on his torso, stroking his skin as she cleaned away everything the past week put on him. He still didn’t make any move and refused to look at her. She didn’t stop her own tears anymore and she stroked his jaw as she whispered, “it’s okay. You’re okay, Oliver. You’re home.”

That made him let it go and start full on sobbing. She stepped closer, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face to his chest, wanting him to know she was there, that she wasn’t going away. The water kept falling from above their heads and she felt the baby moving inside her. She knew he could feel it too, because he suddenly went completely still. He didn’t make a move to hold her and every minute that went by made her feel more desperate. But she continued to cling to him, and continued to show him that she was not going anywhere.

“Please, talk to me,” she murmured against his chest, pressing little kisses near his burnt scar. “Talk to me, baby.”

“I’m sorry.” It was all he said, his body shaking as he let the sobs go. 

“Normally I would relish an Oliver Queen apology, but this sudden admission is making me even more nervous,” she said trying to joke and ease the tension but her voice cracking gave away how scared she truly was.

He shook his head, “I need you to know the truth.”

“What are you talking about?” She grabbed his face and made him look down at her. “Oliver, I need you to tell me what is going on. What happened?”

“You think I didn’t tell you about William because I didn’t trust you...It was not because of you or lack of trust. It was because of me. I’m not the man you think I am, Felicity.  I’m not the man you fell in love with. I put the hood to right my father’s wrongs, but the basis of it, the- the foundation of it, and what you did, and what Dig did, and what the team did in my name, it was all based on a lie,” he tried to get away from her as Chase’s words hit him again.

“You infect every life you touch and now do you realize why? It’s because your crusade was based on a lie. You used your father’s memories to justify a killing spree. There’s a price to be paid for that, Oliver. Your mother paid it, your friend Tommy paid it. Laurel. Do you really want to tell me that John Diggle and Felicity Smoak’s lives are better having known you?”

“What are you talking about? ” She repeated. He wasn’t making any sense.

“Chase… he showed me when he held me hostage that I didn’t do what I did to be a hero. I did what I did because there was a part of me, a bigger part than I would like to admit… I did it because I enjoyed it. I enjoyed killing.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s not about not trusting you. I will always trust you, Felicity . ” His voice faltered as he opened his eyes to look into hers and right there, she knew he meant it. There was so much pain and suffering in his eyes, she just wished that she could just talk it all away from him. “I don’t trust myself… I’m… I’m a killer. I’m a monster. All I do is bring darkness and pain. Everyone I love ends up suffering because of my sins. You deserve better than me… you deserve so much better than me. So does our baby...” He choked as he looked down at her growing belly, not daring to touch it. “And so does William.”

“That is crazy, Oliver,” she trembled.  “How can you think that? You’re not a monster.” She grabbed his face again, waiting until he opened his eyes again to talk. “You’re a hero .”

He shook his head again, obviously not agreeing with her.

“I killed him, Felicity,” Oliver said, his mind going back to the last moments he spent with Chase.

“You said something when I brought you here. About your friends being your strength now.” Chase took a pair of glasses from his pockets. Felicity’s glasses. “She didn’t even know I was in her apartment.” 

“I swear to God if you hurt her...” 

“You will do absolutely nothing, because you’re here.” Chase let out a laugh, now showing him a picture. It was William, probably walking to school, unaware he was being watched. “Nice kid, I have to say. Smart too. A genius, from what I saw. Funny, right? Who would ever think the guy who dropped out of four schools and just played around would have such a studious kid? Too bad he’s going to have to suffer for his father’s sins. The father he doesn’t even know exists.” 

“Adrian!” 

“And what about this little baby?” He showed Oliver a sonogram picture from the last sonogram he knew Felicity kept at the refrigerator along with one of the sparkly pacifiers Donna sent them. “Sad, isn’t it? Cursed before she was even born… All because she’s a part of you. I will make them suffer, Oliver. I will make their life hell. And you? You’ll have to watch it. And you won’t be able to do anything about it.”

That was all he could take. By the time Adrian had finished that sentence, Oliver had been able to get himself free and he didn’t waste any time before he killed the man. He just acted, he didn’t even have to think about it. All he knew was that he would not allow that man to touch anyone he loved. 

“I broke his neck,” he confessed. “And I never felt more relieved than when I saw his lifeless body lying there on the floor.”

“Oliver…”

“He said… he said he’d hurt you. William. Our baby,” he closed his eyes as he re-lived that moment. Felicity placed her hand on his chest, grounding him, reminding him he is no longer in that room but here in their shower with her. “He had pictures of you, he knew where William was... I couldn’t… I would never… there was no choice to make. So I killed him and I’m glad I did. It made me feel good. I don’t regret it. He said I liked killing. He was right.”

“Oliver, he was torturing you!” Felicity all but shouted, her anger towards Chase rising with each breath she takes. “He has been playing with us for months! He was going to hurt you, he was going to hurt us. Adrian Chase is the monster, not you.”

He didn’t look like he believed her. 

“Oliver, you saved so many people’s lives. You saved my life. So many times.” She begged him to listen to her. “You saw me when I was trying to hide from the world. You gave me purpose and strength. You made me feel like I belonged and more than anything, you made me feel loved .”

He tried to pull away, but she wasn’t having it. She cupped his face, forcing him to look her in the eye, the water still cascading around them. “You said that I don’t know the kind of man that you are. Baby, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with you or wanted to marry you if I didn’t know exactly the kind of man that you are. Chase tortured you for a week. You’re the toughest person I know, but anyone, anyone would have admitted to being a tap-dancing flamingo after what he put you through.”

“Adrian Chase didn’t make me a killer.”

“No, five years in hell did that. Five years dealing with the city’s worst did that. You have spent a decade dealing with horrors that most people don’t even realize exist and the fact that didn’t turn you into a monster proves exactly the kind of person that you are.”

“I don’t know the kind of person that I am.”

“You’re Oliver Queen. You’re the Green Arrow. You’re a hero. You’re the man that will put his life in line a million times to save people and as much as that scares the hell out of me, it’s one of the many many reasons I fell in love with you,” she said softly, “you’re the man I love, the man I chose to love and the man I’ll always love.”

“Felicity…” 

“You’ve been through so much in the past decade. You suffered. You lost so much of yourself, people you love. You did your penance, Oliver. Now is time for you to live your life. It’s time to start living your life without letting your past hold you back,” she insisted, her hands never stopping touching him. She needed him to understand. She needed him to see . “I wish… I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. I need… I need you, Oliver. Not only because I can’t even begin to imagine raising this child without you by my side, but because you make my life worth living. You can try to push me away all you want, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m glue, baby.”

“I love you,” he wept, finally giving in and wrapping his arm around her, holding her close and tightly, hiding his face on her neck and smelling her in. “I love you so much.”

“I know,” she nodded and kissed him on the lips. “I love you, too.”

It was like a fire ignited inside of him and he crashed his mouth onto hers, showing how much he loved her and needed her with his lips. She kissed him back with everything in her, pulling him closer and only stopping when she felt him wincing in pain. In their heated passion, they ended up accidentally opening one of his wounds. 

“I’m sorry,” she frowned looking at the wound. 

“It’s okay,” he smiled at her, cupping her face on his hands.

“No, you’re hurt. Come on.” She grabbed two towels and gave him one. “Let’s fix that and then let’s go to bed.” She noticed his eyes darkening at the mention. “To rest . We’re both exhausted and we need sleep.” She went on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. “We have all the time in the world.”

Chapter Text

“You’re staring at me,” Felicity whispered, her eyes still closed. Oliver smiled, tenderly caressing her face with the tip of his index finger. 

He’d woken up over half an hour ago and even though his body was still a bit sore from the injuries from his kidnapping, he never felt better. He just couldn’t get himself to move, to move away from her, and to be quite honest, he didn’t want to. So he just stayed there, watching her as she slept and wondering if this was real or if he was still with Chase and hallucinating. Felicity looked so serene and peaceful, it felt wrong to wake her up. 

“I’m just trying to convince myself this is not a dream.”

“This is real,” she slowly opened her eyes and grinned when she saw how close he was to her. She raised her head a little to kiss him softly on the lips. “Good morning."

“Good morning,” he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her closer to him. “How did you sleep?” He brushed her hair out of her face, still amazed this was real, that they were real. Felicity was here in bed with him, their baby growing inside her belly, she believed in him and she told him she still loved him. He didn’t know what he did to deserve this, but he was glad it brought him here, to this moment. 

“Better than in a very long time, what time is it?” She raised her head to look over his shoulder at the clock on the bedside table, gasping when she realized how late it was. “It’s 1pm? Did we sleep over twelve hours?”

“I think we needed it, don’t you?” He sighed. 

“We really did.” She was raising her hand to his face when she winced. “Ugh.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked, immediately worried.

“I need to pee,” she whined. “I can’t believe I made it to twelve hours. Lately I can’t even make it to an hour without a trip to the bathroom. Your daughter seems to love sitting on my bladder.”

“Why is she only my daughter when she’s being mischievous?” He pouted and she cocked his head at him, raising one eyebrow. “Ok, fine. I know I was not a saint, but I was a nice kid.”

“Thea told me you were eleven pounds at birth,” she grumbled as she got out of the bed. “She better not take after you on that, because I swear to God, Oliver, I don’t think I can push a giant out of me. I can’t believe you made your poor mother go through that.” 

“I was a healthy cute kid!” He shouted as she went to the bathroom, the smile refusing to leave his face. It felt so good to be back here in their bedroom, knowing they were making their way back to each other and bickering the way they always did. 

“I’m scheduling a c-section!” She yelled back and he laughed at her dramatics.

“I’m going to make us some breakfast, are you craving anything this morning?”

“Do you want my honest answer or…” when she opened the door she looked him up and down, her lingering gaze leaving no doubt about what she meant.

“Felicity, you have to eat. We didn’t have dinner last night and you’re growing another person, we have to feed you before anything else.”

“I know, I’m just kidding,” she smiled and then frowned when she looked at his chest, covered in bandages. 

“You shouldn't overexert yourself, you’re still healing,” she touched his chest lightly. “I can make us breakfast, or lunch, since it’s so late already. Though, I really feel like eating pancakes, we can have breakfast for lunch, can’t we?”

“I’m fine, those are just superficial,” he kissed her lightly on the lips, “and I’m definitely well enough to make us something to eat, the last thing we need right now is you burning down the apartment trying to make us pancakes.”

“Hey!” She slapped him lightly on the shoulders. “That was mean!”

“You know I love you, honey, but we both know cooking is not one of your many, many talents,” he smiled at her pouting face.

“You’re right. I’d much rather eat your cooking than mine, anyway. John brought a lot of fruits for me while you were away, there should be some in the refrigerator. They should go nicely with the pancakes,” her stomach growled. That sounded really, really good now that she thought about it. “Hmmm, I’m starving.”

“Let’s get it ready, then,” he said. “I can’t let my girls starve."

*

Oliver and Felicity were laying on the couch watching a movie after finishing breakfast. They had pulled out the couch and had yet to move back to their bed, and by the looks of it, they weren’t moving any time soon. She had her back to his front, both his hands caressing her round belly. Their daughter was very active that morning and each kick brought chuckles out of both of them. Oliver held Felicity a bit tighter, breathing her in, thinking of how close he came to losing both of them and not wanting this moment to end. 

“I want to find William,” he said after a few minutes of silence. He was almost sure she had snoozed off.

“Really?” She turned her head to look at him, completely surprised. His involvement -or lack there of as the case may be- in William’s life was still one of the subjects they had not discussed and it bothered her a lot. She had every intention of bringing it up once Oliver had settled after his ordeal with Chase and she is grateful that he was the one to bring it up first.

He nodded. “When I was there with Chase and I thought I’d not make it out alive, all I could think about was that my son would never know how much his father loved him. We… We spent some time together, but he never knew...he never knew who I was…to him.”

“You can change it now,” she gave him an encouraging smile. “He deserves to have a loving father in his life, Oliver. And you deserve to have your son in yours too.” 

“Will you help me find him?” Oliver asked nervously, he knew there was nothing he couldn’t ask her, but after everything they had been through and the fact that he hid William’s existence from her, part of him will always feel guilty for now asking for her help. Or maybe the guilt was just stemmed from the fact that if he had come to her in the first place, they could have avoided the few months of pain and lies. Then again, who knows where they would be now, and if their daughter would even be a thought. He couldn’t keep thinking about the what if’s or the past. Felicity, their daughter and William were his future now and that was all that matters. He made a mistake and Felicity forgave him, it was time he forgave himself. Point was, he wanted William in his life and Felicity, and now the baby, would always be part of the package.

“Of course I will,” she put a hand on his cheek. “You have no idea how happy this makes me, Oliver.”

“You know, when I found out about him… one… one of the reasons I didn’t tell you was because Barry went back in time when we were in Central City. He told me you broke up with me when you found out about William in that other timeline.”

“What?!” She sat up straight on the couch, completely startled. How could Barry tell him that?  “Oliver, you have to know, our break up had nothing to do with William or the fact that you have a son. Our issue wasn’t with that innocent boy’s existence. He’s your son, Oliver. That’s reason enough for me to love him. What made me break up with you was the fact that you hid him from me even after other people knew the truth. And the fact that you decided to send him away without ever asking my opinion on that. It made me feel like you couldn’t trust me with one of the most, if not the most important thing in your life. We were about to be married and yet you chose to hide the existence of your son from me.”

“I know… and I’m so sorry about that, Felicity.” He closed his eyes, leaning back on the couch. “And you were right. I was being selfish. I never thought about how William would feel about all of this. I thought I was doing what was right, that keeping him away from me would keep him safe, but Chase found him anyway. I was keeping my boy away, under a different name, hiding from the world, for nothing .”

“You thought you were protecting him,” she grabbed his hand, hating to see how much this pained him. She knew him, knew the kind of man that he was. She was hurt by his actions but she knew he only did it because he thought it was the best way to keep his son safe. Oliver would have never done this to be spiteful towards her. As with everything he does, he just wanted to protect his family. “But we can protect him here, Oliver. We can keep him safe the same way we’ll keep this little one safe.”

“Do- do you think he’ll want to know me? He’ll want me as a father?”

“We’ll never know unless you talk to him,” she said encouragingly, “but, if I have to make a bet? He’ll be happy to know he has someone else in the world who would do anything for him. Someone else in the world who will always love him no matter what.” 

“Thank you,” he pulled her back to his arms and she went willingly. “I still don’t think I deserve you, but I’m glad you are giving me another chance.”

“Ah, you’re not that bad when you’re not keeping secrets from me.” She waved a hand, smiling at him teasingly. “I mean, you have some very redeeming qualities, like that pretty face of yours, your cooking skills and those really amazing abs,” she stroked his abs to make her point. Wow, she really missed those abs. “But really, Oliver, your biggest quality is your big stupid heart,” she placed her hand over his heart, mindful of the fresh scars, “you’ll do anything, anything for those you love, even if it means breaking your own heart.”

“I love you so much,” he said, putting a loose streak of her hair behind her ear.

“I know,” she grinned, leaning in to kiss him. It felt so good to kiss him whenever she wanted now, which, admittedly, was pretty much all the time. He immediately kissed her back with all he had, pouring all his love into that kiss. They started slow, both taking their time with each other, but it didn’t take long before things got heated. Soon Felicity was laying on her side on the couch and her hands going under his shirt and all over his chest. His shirt flew away and hers followed soon. Before they knew it, they were both only on their underwear.

“I really missed you,” she moaned as his hands grabbed her ass and pulled her even closer to him, leaving no doubt of how much he wanted her. Her hands went in search of him, but she froze when she remembered he still had injuries and they weren’t fully healed yet.

“Are you okay with this? Does anywhere hurt?” She asked softly, leaning her forehead on his, trying to catch her breath. She really hoped he was, because just the idea of stopping this now made her want to cry. 

“I’m perfect,” he smiled into another kiss, not wasting any time pulling her panties down her legs.“I’ve never been better,” he murmured as he kissed down her throat, “you’re all I need.”

*

They were lying in bed, wrapped around each other after yet another round of amazing sex. They didn’t leave their bed for the past couple of hours, besides getting up to go to the kitchen to grab food and to go to the restroom (mostly Felicity, in this case, since their daughter did not care about the fact that her parents had a lot of time to make up for). 

“Oh, this was incredible,” Felicity sighed, giving his naked chest a kiss. “Bless you, Oliver Queen, and bless the pregnancy hormones. I wish we didn’t take so long to go back to this, what was I thinking?” 

“I messed up pretty badly and you needed time. But now we are here and we have the rest of our lives to make up for lost time,” he said as he flipped them, being careful not to crush her stomach. “Whatever you need, anytime you need, all you have to do is ask.”

“I like the sound of that,” she grinned and pulled his head down for a kiss, “I might be needing you a lot though, those pregnancy hormones are no joke.”

“I’m happy to please, my love.” He kissed her back. “Anytime, baby. Anytime .”

Their kiss was interrupted by a kick so strong that Oliver felt it on his own belly, making both of them chuckle. 

“Someone is feeling neglected,” he put a hand on her belly. “Hi there, sweetheart.”

“We need to decide on a name for her, we can’t call her baby, sweetheart, little one and Chip forever,” Felicity said, running her hands up his arm.

“We really do… Do you have any ideas so far?”

“I’ve been brainstorming some baby names,” she placed a hand of his on her belly and looked down at their intertwined fingers. “What do you think of Emily?” 

“It’s lovely, but…” he looked away shyly, “I dated a girl in high school with that name.” 

“Okay, so not that one,” she pursed her lips, trying to remember all the names she liked when she was doing a little research. She had spent a lot of time on baby names websites and looking up their meanings. Naming another human being was not an easy job, the kid would carry it for the rest of her life. “Oh, what about Hazel?” 

“Uh...” Oliver looked at the window, hoping a bird would show up and help him with this one.

“Hannah?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Well....” 

“Penelope?”

“...”

“Okay, how about you give me a list of all the girls you slept with and we can call that the veto list…” She rolled her eyes, “you know, assuming you remember their names.” 

“Now, that’s mean,” he leaned back on the bed, looking like a kicked puppy. He wasn’t proud of his past, but he was pretty sure he remembered the women he slept with. Well, at least most of them. Some of those times he was way too drunk to remember his own name. He was so glad he left that life behind, so glad Ollie Queen was not who he was anymore. Most of the time, he felt like his life before the Gambit was someone else’s. 

”I really liked the name Emily, Oliver!” she crossed her arms.

“It wasn’t that many, you know…” He said, but then decided not to argue when he saw the glare she was currently giving him. “Fine, what else was on your list?”

“Well, I like Leia,” she said, rubbing her belly affectionately. 

“No,” he replied quickly. He knew where this was going. 

“But-”

“Felicity, no.”

“We can spell it L-E-A-H, L-E-A or even L-I-A,” she suggested. 

“Still no.”

“Well, just so you know, if the baby was a boy, he’d definitely be named Lucas,” she huffed. “I’ve always said I’d name my son Lucas ever since I was eight years old. Baby Luke,” she tried the name out loud,  “it’s cute, right?”

“It is, but we’re having a daughter, so we’ll talk about boy names when the time comes, let’s focus on the girl names for now.”

“When the time comes? What do you mean when the time comes?” she turned to look at him, her eyes huge. “How about we have this one baby first before thinking about adding any more to the bunch, hm?”

He grinned at the fact that she didn’t completely veto the second baby all together, not at all lost to him. One thing at a time, Queen. “Any more names on the list?”

“I like Arwen,” she offered with a smile.

“No sci-fi names, Felicity! Are all your suggestions from your favorite movies?”  

“ Lord of the Rings is not sci-fi! It’s fantasy !” She replied quite offended. She made him watch all three movies plus The Hobbit when they were first together, she thought he’d know that. Why would anyone think Lord of the Rings was sci-fi ? There aren’t even any machines in it! She needed to have another movie marathon with him, he was obviously still very uneducated on that matter. 

“Daenerys is out of the run, too,” he added before she tried that one. When she opened her mouth to disagree, he added, “so is Arya.”

“You’re no fun at all,” she pouted, crossing her arms again over her growing belly and looking so cute he couldn’t help kissing her on the cheek. He smiled when she snuggled up closer to him, playing with his fingers that were placed on her belly. “And Arya is adorable, by the way, but I wouldn’t name my child after one of the biggest resorts in Vegas.”

“Any other one?”

“Not really, you disappeared and I had to take a break on the name thing. I had other things on my mind...”

“I’m sorry…” he held her tighter. “Maybe we could ask people for suggestions, I bet your mom would love to give us some ideas,” he offered and she scoffed.

“No, thank you.”

“Well, she named you ‘Felicity’ and it’s really beautiful, I can’t think of a better name for you,” he kissed her temple, “you are light and happiness.”

“Aw, aren’t you sappy today?” she couldn’t resist pinching his cheek and smacking a kiss on his lips. “I’m glad I got Felicity as my name, my mom was eighteen and living in Vegas when she had me, I’m really thankful I did not end up with a name like ‘Cherry’, ‘Rainbow’ or ‘Candy’. Believe me, those were some of the options on her list.” 

He laughed, not doubting her a bit, “we’ll find a perfect name, don’t worry.”

“I hope so, this will be difficult from what I’m seeing, because you had too much fun in the last two decades of your life and now I can’t choose a name for our daughter!” 

“Touché,” he winced. “But… I can promise you that from now on the only fun I have is with you, my love,” he teased, kissing her pouty lips.

“You better, mister,” she leaned her head on his shoulder. “Let’s just call her Felicity Jr. and be done with this,” she sighed loudly.

“Oh,” he stiffened, actually giving the idea some thought.

“I’m kidding, Oliver!” she nudged him with her elbow.

“Okay, how about we both make a list with five of our favorite names and then we compare and see if we find any that we both like?”

“That might work,” she agreed, “we also need to start settling up her nursery. We have only a little over three months to go, can you believe it?”

“Wow, I really can’t.” So much happened to them in the past few months, he couldn’t wait to leave it all behind and just enjoy his family and have their daughter in his arms. “Three more months and little Felicity Jr. will be here with us.”

“We’re not calling her Felicity Jr., Oliver!” 

“Maybe not officially,” he teased, unable to keep the smile from his face.

“I hate you,” she snarled.

“No, you don’t,” he smiled, pulling her back to his arms. “Now come back here, we still have a lot to make up for the lost time.”

*

“Are you sure you guys don’t want any help?” Felicity asked from the armchair in the corner of the room, throwing the spoon back on the pint of ice cream in her hand to fill it up again. She was sitting there watching Curtis and Oliver try to set up the baby’s crib for the past hour. So far, the crib was winning by a landslide.

“We’re fine,” Oliver growled, once again dismantling whatever part of the crib he was trying to set up. “How can this be wrong? It’s exactly what the instructions said!” He pointed at the paper next to him, very frustrated. He was the Green Arrow, dammit. He took down crazy villains and metahumans, he would not let a crib get the best of him. 

“I don’t know, man. Many of those pieces don’t make any sense.” Curtis frowned at the many different screws in front of them. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be a genius or something?” Oliver asked.

“I am, but I work on computers not carpentry,” he sighed, “couldn’t you guys have chosen a normal crib? It’s not like the kid will be sleeping here a lot anyway.”

“What do you mean? She’ll sleep here a lot. That is the best crib they have in the market, I did my research. It’s perfectly comfortable and safe.”

“Well, when my niece was born, she was up so much at night that she had to sleep on my sister’s bed till she was two.” 

“Well, this little one and I have been talking and we agreed she’ll sleep through the night from the beginning, right, kiddo?” She patted her belly.

“You still haven’t decided on the name?” 

Felicity sighed. “No, it’s hard to find a name when the baby’s father has slept with the entire female population and vetoed all the other names I suggested.”

“I did not sleep with the entire female population!” Oliver felt like he needed to defend himself. “ And Felicity wanted to name her ‘Leia’!”

“That’s a beautiful name,” Curtis said, “plus, Princess Leia was a badass.”

“Thank you!” Felicity smiled triumphantly.

“I should have known the nerd would take her side,” Oliver muttered. “It’s still vetoed, though.”

“So is Felicity Jr., by the way,” she snarled.

“Oliver wants to name her Felicity Jr.?” Curtis grinned. “That’s so adorable. And so many fathers name their kids after themselves, it’s just fair women do the same. Nice one, dude,” he put his hand up for a high five, which Felicity slapped down before Oliver could high five him back. 

“Haha, no . We’re not naming her after me. I also suggested Olivia, but he vetoed it too, so don’t even try with Felicity. I really loved Olivia, though, Liv is such a cute nickname,” she sighed dramatically. “We finished our lists last night but we still haven’t compared them, maybe you can help us, let me grab them.”

Felicity was out of the room and back in less than five minutes, waddling into the nursery carrying both lists on one hand and a brand new pint of ice cream on the other.

“Oliver’s list has Ada,” Curtis said after sitting down and looking at the lists.

“Ada Lovelace was the name of the guinea pig I had with Cooper in college. She died a few days after I graduated,” she pouted, “she was such a perfect, sweet pet.” She then looked at Oliver, her eyes full of affection, “you really wanted to name our baby after the world’s first computer programmer?”

“I thought you’d like that,” he said shyly and her heart grew two sizes bigger. The fact that he actually looked it up because he knew it was something important for her made her love him even more. 

“Okay, so I guess ‘Ada’ is out,” Curtis continued. “Oliver’s second choice is ‘Clara’.”

“Clara… it’s okay, we can keep that one on the list,” Felicity said, “although, Clara Queen is kind of a mouthful, so probably not.”

“Let’s try Felicity’s list then,” Curtis said, “she has ‘Imogen’.”

Oliver winced, “I don’t think so.”

“We can call her Immy for short,” Felicity suggested.

“Immy Queen?” Oliver raised one eyebrow at Felicity. “I’m a Queen? No.”

“Katniss?” Curtis snorted at the second name on her list.

Oliver cocked his head at Felicity.

“What?” She looked at him innocently, but he wasn’t buying it. “Fine, I put that one as a joke.”

“Oliver’s list has Harley,” Curtis said.

“Are you kidding me?” Felicity looked at Oliver as if he was crazy.

“What? I saw a little girl with that name in the store the other day and she was adorable!”

“Harley Queen, Oliver? Seriously ?”

“Oh.” When she said it outloud he understood why she was so against it. It was the same name as one of the woman on the Suicide Squad. He definitely did not want to name his innocent daughter after her. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Oliver also has ‘Rose’,” Curtis kept reading. “Cute.”

“Beautiful, but the first thing that comes to my mind is the fact that she should have shared that damn door with Jack,” Felicity said. “I love that movie, hate that ending.”

“‘Lucy’?” Another one from Felicity’s list.

“That’s my obnoxious second cousin from my mother’s side,” Oliver winced, “she used to be awful to Thea.”

“We’ll never find a name,” Felicity sighed defeated, “we’ll just have to call her Baby Girl for the rest of her life.” 

“Wait! I found one that is on both lists!” Curtis exclaimed excitedly.

“You did?” Felicity set up straight. Miracles did happen. 

“Yes! ‘Mia’ ,” he smiled. “Oliver says on his list that it’s after his mom. Felicity says it’s after the Princess of Genovia?”

“Princess of Genovia? Where even is that?” Oliver furrowed his eyebrows. 

“I can’t believe you don’t know about Genovia!” Felicity’s jaw dropped. “And here I thought Thea had trained you well!”

“I’m-”

“How come you’ve never seen The Princess Diaries ?” She put her hand on her waist, staring at him. “I’ve watched those movies a million times and read all the books. They’re a classic .” 

“So you’re naming her after a character?” He crossed his arms and tried to hide his smile. He knew she’d find a way to name their baby after one of her favorite characters. Plus, she looked ridiculously adorable with her hand on her waist, a big baby bump hid inside one of his old shirts, a pair of flannel plaid pants, a messy bun on the top of her head and the pint of ice cream on her hand. She even had a little bit of it on her cheek. He reached his hand to her and tried to wipe it off, but she slapped his hand away, moving her hands as she went on about the princess of Genovia. 

“ Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, aka Mia! She was my childhood hero! A quirky nerd living with her single young mother who dated her math teacher and was a total outcast at school until one day she finds out she's the princess of an European country? Please, I was so disappointed when I turned 18 and my Julie Andrews look-alike grandmother never showed up at my front door,” she snorted. “Anyway, it’s not just because of the character. I really love the name ‘Mia’. Not Amelia, just Mia.” She smiled, picturing her baby, an adorable little girl with a big personality. “It’s sweet… and fiery .”

“And it means ‘wished for child,’” Oliver added, smiling back at her.

“It’s perfect,” she agreed.  “Oh my God, did we finally settle on a name?”

“I think we did,” he chuckled, pulling her towards him to give her a kiss and put his hands on her belly. 

“Do you like it, baby girl? Are you a Mia?” Felicity looked down at her belly and felt a strong kick, bursting into laughter. “I think she agrees with the name.”

“Hi, Mia!” Oliver said softly, rubbing the baby bump. 

“Phew, that’s great. I thought I’d have to suggest ‘Salmon’ after the salmon ladder, given how important it was for her history...” Curtis commented, only to have them both roll his eyes at him. “I’m just saying!” He threw his hand up in defense. “Mia is a beautiful name.”

“We should go back to the crib,” Oliver said and right then, the alarm from Felicity’s phone startled them, announcing a new message. Felicity jumped out of his arms and ran to grab her phone.

“What’s that?” he asked worriedly when she gasped at what she saw on the screen.

“I found William.”

Chapter Text

“Yes, mom, Thea already talked with the caterer,” Felicity sighed into the phone and tried to get the last of the mint chip ice cream on her bowl. Thea and Donna were planning her baby shower, which was supposed to happen the following week, and talking on the phone with her mom about it was making her need for the heavenly desert twice as much as her pregnancy normal. Felicity wasn’t that excited about the party, she knew her mom and her friend, they could go a bit over the top sometimes, but she knew better than to try to stop them. It was just easier to accept and go with it. “Mom, it’s just us and a few of our close friends, we don’t need to rent furniture, we have enough seats in the loft. And no, we’re not sending people popping invitations again, last time was enough. Oliver still talks about finding glitter on his scalp... Of course he washes his hair often, he does it every day! You know he smells fantastic!”

Felicity thanked God when she heard the front door opening.  “Mom, Oliver is back, I have to go, I’ll talk to you later, okay? But please, remember I want it to be small and discreet .”

She had just ended the call, hanging up on Donna’s kissing noises when Oliver leaned down to greet her with a kiss. She loved her mother. She really did. But sometimes she was just… a lot . 

“Hey, how did it go?” she smiled up at him. It’s been two months since they found William and after a lot of talk with Samantha, he was able to convince her to let him see the boy again. They’d moved temporarily to Star City and Oliver had been meeting his son at least once a week. Things hadn’t been perfect per se so far, William was still skeptical about him, but they were making small progress every time they saw each other. 

“It was good,” he sat down next to her on the couch, putting his arm on the top of it so she could lean back on his chest. “We went to the movies, just the two of us, and then we had dinner at Big Belly Burger.”

“That’s nice, you can’t go wrong with BBB,” she said, pouting a little because now she wanted a double double.

“I brought you your favorite and extra fries,” he smiled. He knew her too well.

“My hero!” She planted a kiss on his lips. “Have I told you I loved you today?”

“Just once.” 

“I love you,” she grinned. “And not just because you bring me food.”

“That’s good to know,” he chuckled. “I love you too, baby.”  

Then he noticed the huge empty ice cream bowl sitting on the table. “Are you sure there’s still space there for Big Belly?”

“Are you kidding me, Oliver? I’m growing a whole other human being, if you haven’t noticed. This big belly can hold many, many Big Bellies,” she patted her belly to make her point. “And now I need my burger, because I’m starving.” She got up from the couch to go to the kitchen.

Oliver laughed and shook his head as he watched her go, knowing better than to ask how she could be starving after just eating that much ice cream.

“So, what movie did you watch?” She said as she waddled back, popping a french fry on her mouth. 

“The new Star Wars one,” he told her and pulled the table closer to them so she could place her food there. 

“No way! Was it as brilliant as I imagine it is?” She’d been wanting to watch the new movie for a while now, but with work at Palmer Tech, the pregnancy and Team Arrow, to say she didn’t have a lot of free time was an understatement. 

“Eh… I was kind of confused, it was a bit boring if I’m honest, but William seemed to love it.”

“Oh, no, you didn’t! You didn’t just call Star Wars boring!”

“William said the exact same thing,” he laughed. 

“Well, I can see he is a very smart little boy. Good to know he didn’t inherit your defective brain. Seriously, Oliver! It’s Star Wars ! It’s incredible even when it’s bad!”

“That sentence didn’t make any sense,” he frowned. “Anyway, I told William you’re a big fan. I think you two would get along very well... I think it’s time he meets you,” he said and she stifled a little, her burger stopping half-way to her mouth. When they found William, Felicity told him he should see him alone first, it was already too much change in the boy’s life and he had just gotten his father back in his life, he should have some alone time with him so they could get to know each other before introducing anyone else. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah… he’s a nice kid and he loves computers and all the nerdy stuff you love too,” he grinned at her. In fact, the boy reminded him so much of Felicity it startled him. “I told him about you and Mia.”

“You did? How did he react?” This was another thing that had Felicity worried. The kid had just gotten his father back and in a couple of months there would be a new baby in his life too. A baby Oliver would get to raise since the very beginning. The last thing she wanted was for William to think the baby was more important than him because of that. He had to know he would be just as loved as his sister. 

“He said he always wanted a sibling.” He touched her now gigantic belly. “He really is a wonderful kid, Felicity. I can’t wait for you two to meet.”

“Well, and I can’t wait to meet him,” she smiled. It was true, as much as she was a bit scared of his reaction, she did not want to think she was taking his father away from him and she did not want to feel like an intruder in his life, she was so excited to meet his son officially. All she knew about him was what Oliver told her and so far, he seemed like a really special child.

“So, how was your day? Did little Mia give you a lot of trouble?” 

“Ugh, this kid is getting more and more active every day, you better prepare, mister. I don’t remember sleeping more than two hours straight without having to get up to pee in recent history. When this girl is out of me, baby night duties are on you,” she poked him on the chest.

“Sounds fair,” he chuckled. He knew how the pregnancy was getting harder for her as time went by, especially now that was back in Palmer Tech and work seemed to be endless. At thirty-four weeks, she was almost at the end of her pregnancy and she wanted things to go smoothly at the company when she took her maternity leave. But his girl was incredible, and she never complained about work or the pregnancy. And he still hadn’t been able to convince her to switch her heels for flats. Stubborn woman . At the end of the day, he was always there to give her some much needed foot rubs anyway. It was the least he could do. “Did you talk to your mom? Is she really coming next week?”

“Yes,” she sighed, defeated. “She wanted to come this week, but I convinced her to wait until next week, I told her how crazy things are with work and how I wouldn’t have much time to spend with her anyway. She complained about me working too much yadda yadda yadda, but accepted it when I promised a full spa day when she gets here. She wanted more glitter invitations and magician presentations, Oliver,” she whimpered.

“She’s excited, honey.” 

“She’ll drive me insane.”

“It’s just for a night.”

“You say that because you haven’t seen all the party games she and Thea are planning to do,” she sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. 

“It will be fine,” he kissed her temple.

“I’ll remember you that you said that in a week.”

*

The bunker was silent when Oliver got there with William. He’d promise his son he’d take him to the Green Arrow’s secret lair and the boy couldn’t be more excited about it. William loved the Flash and had become a fan of the Green Arrow when he saved him the year before. When Oliver told him his secret identity, he could almost see the kid’s brain exploding. He was so excited and asked a million questions about him, the villains he defeated and his loyal sidekicks. And surprising literally no one, the one sidekick he wanted to meet the most was Overwatch, because like her, he loved computers and technology. Oliver didn’t tell him who was who yet though, thinking it would be more fun if he figured them out as he met his friends. 

“Wow,” William exclaimed as they walked out of the elevator that led to the bunker. His head moved back and forth like an intense tennis match as he tried to take in every inch of the lair on entering. Oliver couldn’t help but grin at his son’s enthusiasm. “This is awe-some!”

“It’s cool, right?” 

“Overwatch built all that?” William pointed at the computers in Felicity’s station.

“Yes, she did,” he confirmed proudly. 

“She must be really smart.”

“She’s a genius. I’d be dead a million times over if it wasn’t for her.” 

Oliver stopped and put a hand on William’s chest to keep him from walking. He heard a noise coming from the computer’s station and there wasn’t supposed to be anyone else here. He was slowly walking towards the station, making sure to grab a weapon on his way when he heard a “Ouch!”

Soon he noticed a pair of bright pink flats that belonged to the perpetrator under the table.

“ Felicity ! What are you doing there?” He exclaimed, running to her and going on his knees. She was lying on her side, a bunch of cables around her.

“Oliver! Phew . Thank God it’s you! I thought it was Thea,” she tried to sit down, but the huge baby bump was making the moviment difficult. “I’m hiding from her and my mother. They were driving me crazy, Oliver! Cra-zy !”

“How did you even get there?”

“The computer started being a bitch and I had to change some cables, but then I got stuck down here because I can’t get up by myself,” she grumped.  “Help.”

Oliver shook his head and carefully pulled her up.

“Don’t even start. I’m fine,” she sighed.

“What if I didn’t come here? What would you do?”

“Well, I guess at some point someone would come here or maybe someone walking on the street would hear my stomach growling because I’m starting to get really hungry...”

Oliver cleared his throat and that’s when she realized he was not alone. Besides him was a young boy that looked like a mini-version of her boyfriend, staring at her with wide eyes. “ Oh !” 

“You… you’re Overwatch?” He asked, completely amazed.

“That I am!” She smiled, turning to Oliver for help. What was she supposed to say? She was not expecting to meet William right now. She didn’t prepare a speech or anything. What if he hated her?  “And you must be William?”

He nodded, not taking his eyes off her. 

“Aren’t you a handsome little guy?”

“You are very pretty, too,” he said shyly.

“Oh, my heart. I love you already. To say that even when I have this whole basketball thing going on here, you’re a sweetheart,” she pointed at her huge baby bump. She placed her hand on her chest utterly smitten by the young boy, professing her love for him on meeting him and she knew she was one step away from reaching out and squeezing his cheek. 

Oh god, she’d turned into her mother.

“He’s not wrong, honey.”

“Oliver said you’re very smart,” William said. He still hadn’t called Oliver ‘dad’ but Oliver did not want to push anything. All in its time. Baby steps.

“He is right,” she winked.

“You’re my favorite superhero,” the boy told her and for a moment she thought her jaw hit the floor. 

“Your favorite superhero?” She raised an eyebrow to Oliver. What was he talking about?

“Yep! I mean, the Flash is cool and the Green Arrow is pretty badass, but Overwatch is the best of them all. Oliver told me about some of your adventures! You’re really able to hack everything?”

“I might…”

“Can you teach me?” William asked eagerly.

“Hm, sure, I mean, no. I mean, it’s not actually legal and I’m not sure how your parents would feel about that,” she looked at Oliver, asking for help, but he just shrugged. “Your father also told me you love computers. And Star Wars !”

“I do! But he doesn’t,” he pointed his thumb at Oliver and rolled his eyes. “Can you believe he thought Star Wars was boring?”

“Oh, yeah, he told me. I almost broke up with him because of that. I can’t believe I’m procreating with such a doofus!” She snorted.  “But… seeing how great and smart you turned out gives me hope that this kid will take more after me.”

“Oh… so you’re Felicity !” William exclaimed, finally connecting the dots.  “Oh my God! Wow .” He turns to look at his father. “Overwatch is your girlfriend? That’s so cool! You’re like Iron Man and Pepper Potts!”

“I don’t know who that is, ” Oliver stated in confusion with a furrow on his eyebrows.

Felicity and William groaned at the same time. 

“I swear I made him watch the movie already, but he never pays attention,” she shook her head. “How can you not know the glorious Tony Stark?”

“Oh, he was the billionaire super hero who was in love with his executive assistant. I remember now.” Oliver smirked. “I can see how Will thought we were alike.”

“Was Felicity also your executive assistant?” 

“Unfortunately,” she sighed dramatically. “Worst CEO ever. Sorry, Oliver.”

“She did most of the job, I’m afraid. But now she’s the CEO of her company, so everything worked out fine in the end.” 

“Trust me, your dad is much better in the city hall as Mayor. He’s brilliant at that.”

“If he was so bad and you didn’t want to be his EA, why didn’t you quit?”

“Oh, I tried,” she sat down on her chair. Standing up for a long time was now almost torture, she could feel her feet burning already. “Oh, how I tried. I graduated early at MIT, with masters in computer science and cyber security and Oliver Queen wanted me to be his glorified secretary. Nothing against secretaries, it is a very respectful job and they are invaluable to the company, but it was not what I had in mind after graduating. But I had to accept it, because by then I was already all tangled up with Team Arrow and that was the only way we could see each other all the time and keep our secret identities.”

“But didn’t you see each other all the time anyway if you were his girlfriend?”

“Not back then. Your dad was pretty slow on the uptake. I suspected he loved me, but he didn’t realize it.” Felicity sent Oliver a teasing wink at her comment and Oliver could only huff out in reply, because of course she was not wrong in her deduction.“ Terrible taste in women too. Well, Sara was great, but don’t get me started on Isabel Rochev...”

“Felicity…” Oliver cleared his throat. 

“Sorry, just thinking about that woman still gives me shivers,” she shuddered. “Yeah, we were not dating back then. So we had to use our day jobs as our covers.”

“That is so cool .” Felicity grinned at William’s enthusiasm. The heartache at the time was certainly not cool, but she could admit it makes for a great story. William looked at her eagerly clearly wanting to hear more. It warmed her heart to know that Oliver’s son had the same enthusiasm to learn everything about his father as Oliver wanted to learn about him. “I can’t believe you’re real life superheroes. I wish I could tell my friends at school, but don’t worry, I won’t. Your secret is safe with me.”

“I really like you, William. I can see this is the beginning of a great friendship.”

“That’s from Casablanca .”

“A boy after my own heart!” She put a hand over her heart. She really already loved the kid. Not that she had any doubt she would, he was Oliver’s son after all. “See that, Oliver? And he is just eleven!”

“I was on an island for five years,” Oliver muttered.

“ Casablanca is from 1942, you can’t use the island excuse for everything, you know?”

“I know Casablanca , I just don’t remember the lines,” he defended himself. 

“My mom loves old movies,” William said.

“I can see she raised you well,” she smiled. “And well, since you love computers and I’m your favorite superhero...” She looked at Oliver, a teasing grin on her face. “Do you want to meet my babies?” She opened a wide grin.

“Your babies?” William asked confused, looking from her face, to her baby bump, to Oliver and back to her again. “Oliver said… there was only one in there.” He creased his eyebrows. “Do you have more kids?”

“Oh, no. Definitely only one in here and let me tell you, this one alone feels like three already, kicking my ribs and pushing my kidneys all day long…”

“Felicity means her computers. She calls them her ‘ babies ’,” Oliver explained.   

“Because they are! I created them, built them from the start, they are my children too.”

“I started building a computer last year, but mom got mad when I grabbed some screws from her hair dryer to use on the machine. She didn’t even use that hair dryer,” he groaned.

“Well, if you want, we can make one here. I have more than enough screws and whatever you may need for the computer.”

“For real?”

“For real,” she nodded. She loved seeing how much this little boy was already passionate about computers. “Come on, let me show you around.”

Oliver watched as Felicity walked around the bunker, a hand on his son’s shoulder, patiently explaining him everything, how the suits were made, how the comms worked, how she had to learn how to do stitches even though she hates seeing blood and how she is always upgrading the computers to make sure they’re always the best out there. It warmed his heart to see how quickly those two bonded, already acting like they knew each other for years. Makes him feel even worse for keeping his son a secret from her at the beginning. But there he shouldn’t think about that anymore, that was in the past and everything worked out in the end, now he had a very exciting future waiting for him. 

He looked down on his watch, frowning at seeing the time and hating to interrupt his two favorite people.

“Now, we should go home. I promised Samantha I’d take William back by 6,” he said.

“Already?” William pouted. “Felicity was about to show me her Harry Potter collection she keeps in here for the times you pull on a long night.”

“She can show you another time. I promise you’ll have plenty of opportunities,” he assured him. “She also has the same collection at home.”

“Of course I do. It’s Harry Potter ,” she shrugged. “But Oliver is right, if he promised your mom to take you back at 6, we should respect that. And you’re welcome here and at our home whenever you want, okay? And if you need anything, you can always text me, or call me, whatever you prefer,” she smiled. “But you’re coming tomorrow for the baby shower, right?” She asked. “I mean, I understand if you don’t want to, I wouldn’t go myself if I had a choice, but I’d really love to have you there to celebrate this moment with us. Mia is already a very lucky girl for having you as a brother.”

“Sure, if it’s okay with you,” William agreed.  

“Of course it is! Just please keep in mind that my mother and your Aunt Thea can be a bit… overwhelming. But I promise you they have good hearts.”

“Felicity…”

“Just so you know, my mom wants us both wearing pink tomorrow. I am not wearing pink, Oliver. I’ll look like Peppa Pig with this gigantic belly. I refuse !” She pointed a finger at him.

“She’s cute. Sara loves her,” Oliver pointed out, ever so helpful.

“She’s a pig , Oliver!” Felicity shrieked. “With a penis head!”

William tried to hide his laugh. His father and his girlfriend were quite amusing. 

“Oh, sorry!” Felicity brought her hand to her mouth, a look of horror in her face. “Ugh, I have to get better at watching my language.”

“It’s okay, I’m eleven, I’m not a little kid. And you’re funny,” William chuckled.

“You’ll look perfect no matter what you wear, honey,” Oliver said softly. “But you can wear whatever you want, you’re the star of the show tomorrow.”

“You too, don’t think you can escape, mister. You have as much participation in making this kid as I do.”

“It will be fun, I’m sure of that.”

“Yeah, famous last words.” 

*

The loft looked like an unicorn threw up on it. There was pink everywhere, little tiaras and castles decorations, hundreds of balloons and glitter anywhere you looked at, Thea and Donna really were taking the royalty theme they were going for very seriously. “She’s a little Queen, Felicity, there was really no other choice to make” , her mother had said. The entire day there were people going in and out of the loft and at some point it became so overwhelming she had decided to go back to her room to start getting ready a while ago.

Oliver had left to pick up William from Samantha’s place and Felicity stared at her image in the mirror. She had to admit Thea did a wonderful job with her hair and makeup. She convinced her and her mom that she was wearing a simple yet elegant nude dress that really flattered her new figure (she was really not going to wear the cotton candy pink colored one her mom insisted was so adorable). Her hair was beautifully styled in large curls and she had a cute headband on. She felt very pretty, almost like royalty indeed.

She walked out of her bedroom and stopped on a halt when she noticed the gigantic picture right in the middle of her living room. It was definitely not there when she went back to her bedroom to get ready for the party.

“Moooooom! What is that ?! Where did it even come from?” She pointed with a shaking hand to the image of her and her large pregnant belly in profile printed so large it pretty much covered her entire wall.

“Oh, my baby! Look at you! You look absolutely gorgeous!” Her mom walked towards her, cupping her face in her hands, her eyes a bit teary. “And look at that adorable belly!” She started peppering kisses arounds Felicity’s baby bump, being careful not to touch her dress and stain it with her bright pink lipstick. 

“Mom! The monstrosity!” She nodded her head to the picture.

“It’s not a monstrosity, Felicity. It’s a wonderful picture of you and my little grandbaby,” Donna huffed. “Oliver was a sweetheart and sent it to me.”

That was it, she was going to kill the man.

“I don’t want people entering my apartment and seeing a huge picture of my face,” she grunted. It wasn’t that the picture wasn’t beautiful, it was a very nice one. She just didn’t want her face that big all over her wall. “When did it get here? It wasn’t there when I went to take a shower.”

“It was just delivered a few minutes ago. We need it to play ‘ Place the Baby in the Mommy ’,” Donna explained. 

“The what?”

“It’s a game, like pin the tail on the donkey, but in this case the tail will be the baby and you’re the donkey.”

“I’m the d-” she started, but then thought better of it. “You know what? I won’t even ask.”

The front door opened and Oliver walked in with William following right behind him.

“Wow, that’s huge ,” he commented when he saw the picture. 

“Isn’t it, Oliver?” She crossed her arms on her chest, raising one eyebrow at him. “I wonder how my mom got that picture.”

“I-”

“You’re going to pay for this, Queen,” she pointed a finger at him.

Oliver knew when to accept defeat and just mumbled a quiet ‘sorry’, then he looked at her from head to toe and let out a whistle. “Wow, you look so beautiful.”

“Don’t try to win me with pleasantries, you’re still in the dog house for the foreseeable future,” she huffed and then put a big smile on her face, changing her entire demeanor  to greet William.

“William! Hi!” 

“Hi, Felicity!” He put a hand up and waved. “I brought this for Mia.” He handed her a beautifully wrapped gift.

“Oh, that’s so sweet!” She grabbed it and went in to give him a hug. “Thank you!”

He eyed her expectantly, as if it was important for him that she opened it, so she did. She let out a “ awwww ” when she saw an adorable little stuffed bunny inside. The plush was very soft and the little bunny had long ears. “It’s so cute, Will!”

“I had one when I was a baby. His name was Benny. I took him everywhere with me. I still have him, but now he is mostly on my shelf,” he said shyly. “I asked my mom where she had gotten him so I could get one for Mia too. Do you think she’ll like it?”

Felicity teared up, her heart going two sizes bigger. Oliver’s son was so precious. 

“William… that’s so thoughtful. I’m sure she will love it.” She gave him a watery smile but couldn’t help pulling him towards her to give him another tight hug. “Mia is really a very lucky girl for having you as a brother.”

“I’ve always wanted a sibling. But my mom always told me I was enough for her and that she didn’t really think about having any more kids,” he said. “So I’m really excited that you are having a baby and I’ll have a little sister.”

“And I’m really happy you guys will have each other,” she squeezed his hand affectionately. “I was an only child too and sometimes I felt really lonely. I get to see your dad and your aunt Thea, how much they love and care for each other, it’s really a gift to have a sibling.” 

She noticed Oliver was beaming as he watched them and smiled back at him, turning to look at her mother.

“Mom, this is William,” she put a hand on his shoulder. “Will, this is my mom, Donna.”

“Oh, hi, honey!” Donna said with an excited grin. “It’s so nice to finally meet you!”

“Hi, Mrs. Smoak,” the boy smiled.

“Oh, please. No need for ‘Mrs. Smoak’. You can call me Donna. Or better yet, Bubba, like little Mia will do. You’re Oliver’s son so I already see you as my grandchild too. I’m sure we’ll be family officially soon, I’m just waiting for those two stubborn kids to finally get married.”

“ Mom .” Felicity warned.

“I’m just saying, honey! It’s just a matter of time,” she shrugged. 

“Oliver, why don’t you show William the room we’re planning to turn into his bedroom and see if there’s anything special he wants to get in there?”

Oliver nodded, taking the hint to avoid an uncomfortable conversation. They haven’t talked about marriage yet. Ever since they got back together, they both just assumed that they’d be together forever, but they never brought the marriage subject up. It was still a sensitive topic for them, since they were engaged when they broke up. Oliver did not want to bring it up now and ruin the nice thing they had going. He wanted nothing more than having Felicity officially as his wife, but as of now, he was more than grateful for having her in his life as it is. It was a bit awkward thinking about what they were right now, though. Technically, she was his girlfriend, but it felt weird calling her that, because Felicity was way more than his girlfriend. She was his partner, they lived together, they loved each other, they vowed to be together forever and they had a baby on the way. They were already married in every way but on paper. And he really, really wanted to have her officially as his wife, but he would not push it. He already had more than he could ever imagine. He could wait as long as she wanted. 

Guests started to arrive for the next hour and before they knew it, the apartment was filled with their friends and family. Donna had asked everyone to bring baby pictures of themselves to put on a wall and they were all having a lot of fun trying to figure out who was who. Everyone gushed seeing pictures of baby Oliver and baby Felicity, wondering who baby Mia would take the most after but agreeing that no matter who she looked like, she was definitely going to be a beautiful little girl. 

Oliver was talking to Diggle and William was helping Thea prepare the games. The boy had met his aunt a couple of weeks before when Oliver invited her to have lunch with them. The two of them connected immediately, which didn’t surprise Felicity in the least, William was a sweetheart and Thea was the definition of the cool aunt. Felicity made her round around the loft, stopping to talk to the guests, grabbed baby Sara - that wasn’t much of a baby anymore - to try to steal some snuggles, but the toddler wasn’t much into getting trapped in anyone’s arms anymore, much to Felicity’s sadness. She’d have to remember that, to get as many snuggles as she could while her daughter was a little baby, because apparently, they did grow out of it, unfortunately. 

She wanted some pink lemonade and somehow on her way to the kitchen she found herself talking to her mother about birth plans and was kind of hoping to feel one of those fake contractions just so she could have an excuse to escape this conversation.

“Well, there are a lot of options these days,” Donna went on, “I brought you a few pamphlets if you want to see. The water birth seems pretty nice.”

“Mom, Oliver and I are not sitting in my own filth while I give birth to our daughter. Pass. No, thank you.”

“No home birth either then, I guess,” Donna sighed. 

“Nope. We’re definitely going to the hospital. I need a guarantee that we’ll have everything we need if something goes wrong. Starling General’s maternity ward has the most advanced tech in the world. I made sure of that when Palmer Tech made them a donation a month ago,” Felicity said, grabbing Oliver’s hand and pulling him towards her when he walked by them. ‘ Please save me ’, her eyes begged him. “All I know is that I want the one with drugs. Gimme all the drugs. I don’t really deal well with pain,” she whimpered. Thinking about the birth was not something she gave a lot of thought yet. She knew she should, but it scared her a lot. 

“You do know the needle for those drugs are like, the size of an arm, don’t you?” Donna raised one eyebrow. 

“Thanks a lot for reminding me of that, Mom. I’m still getting the drugs.”

“I was in labor with you for thirty-six hours and it was worth every second because I got you, but phew , it was painful.” Donna remembered. “If you take after me, maybe it’s really a smart idea to get the epidural.”

“An eleven pound baby on one side and a thirty-six hour labor on the other,” Felicity groaned. “I guess I’m really scheduling that c-section.”

“Oliver, what do you think?” She threw the ball to Oliver’s lap and he opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of the water, knowing that if he said the wrong thing, he would be in big trouble. Especially after the whole picture thing. 

“Felicity is the one in charge here, I'll support her in whichever birth plan she chooses,” he smiled down at her and gave her hand a little squeeze. “I just want her and the baby to feel as comfortable and safe as possible.” He kissed the top of her head.

“Honey, you really need to put a ring on this man,” Donna sighed, looking at the two of them. They really made such a perfect couple. And so beautiful too. Her granddaughter would be the prettiest baby in the world, she was sure of it.

Felicity rolled her eyes at the remark. She had lost track of how many times her mother was able to not so subtly suggest that she and Oliver should get married.  “Mom, I’m kinda in the middle of growing his child, I’ll worry about that later,” she implored her not to push.

“Felicity! It’s time for us to start the games!” Thea interrupted them, looking very excited.  Felicity was just happy to have something to distract her mother from the wedding talk yet again. “We’re starting with ‘Place the Baby in the Mommy’!”

And with that, Felicity was saved from that conversation, but now she was in the center of pretty much every game. William slayed ‘ Place the Baby in the Mommy ’, pinning the baby exactly in the right place on her belly. She should be still mad at her mom and Oliver for that huge picture of her, but the boy was so excited about winning that she was now glad they did it. Next up was Drink Up, Baby , in which the guests had to drink apple juice from a baby bottle and who drank faster was the winner. Rene won that one. Felicity put her foot down and refused to do Guess the Mother’s Measurements , so they were now playing Sloppy Diaper Relay game, where they had to change the baby doll’s diaper while blindfolded. Oliver was nailing it and got it right every single time. Meanwhile, Felicity was way behind everyone and when she realized it, she started crying. 

Oliver was by her side in seconds. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t even change a doll’s diaper, Oliver, how will I take care of our daughter?” She sniffed.

“Felicity, you were blindfolded, the real thing will be completely different.”

“I’m already a terrible mother.” She hid her face behind her hands dramatically and Oliver sat down next to her, pulling her to his chest. 

“Honey, you’re already the best mother our child could have. And I promise, you won’t have to worry about it, okay? I can change them all the diapers,” he offered.

“Okay...” Felicity sniffed again and wiped her tears away, suddenly all sadness gone. “Can we get that in writing, please?” 

“I’m… Felicity !” He shouted when he realized he walked into a trap. The little sneak.

“I have to push her out of me, Oliver!” She crossed her arms. “You should get diaper duty for compensation.” 

“She’s not wrong, big brother.” Thea agreed.

“I-” 

“We have witnesses now, you can’t back out. You said all diapers. Curtis, you got that on camera, right?” Felicity nodded at her friend, who gave her a grin and a thumbs up.

“Felicity, it doesn’t work that way.”

“Well, tell that to my lawyers.” 

“Your law- Felicity !” Oliver ignored the chuckles coming from behind him, focusing on his sneaky very pregnant girlfriend. If only she wasn’t so adorable… 

“Honey, come on, you just proved yourself right here, it would be a shame to waste so much talent,” she patted him on the chest and looked at him with her cutest expression. Yeah, right. As if he could resist that. He was going to change all their baby’s diapers.

“We’ll discuss this when the time comes,” he offered.

Thea and Donna had a couple more games under their belts and by the end of the night, everyone had their bellies hurting from all the laughter. Felicity had to admit she had a lot of fun in her baby shower and she could feel all the love everyone had for her baby already.

“Thank you,” she told her mom when she sat down next to her on the couch, exhausted after the last guest left. “I had a lot of fun tonight. I’m sorry that I was being such a cranky pants about it.”

“Aw, you’re welcome, honey,” she said softly, pulling her daughter in a hug. “All I ever want is to see you happy.”

“I love you,” she hugged Donna tighter. “But that huge ass picture of me still has to go.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, honey, I already have someone coming here tomorrow so I can ship it back to Vegas.”

“You what ?” Felicity let go of the hug. 

“It will look wonderful in my living room. I’ll get to see my baby’s face and my grandbaby in her belly every day.”

“ Mom! You can’t have a gigantic picture of me in your living room!”

“I sure can,” she grinned. “You’ll understand me when you have your baby.”

Donna reached out to the table in front of the couch, which had plenty of baby pictures of Felicity and Oliver. She grabbed one of her and Felicity, her daughter no more than two years old, crazy blonde curls framing her round face, her little hands on her mother’s cheeks, both gazing at each other with so much love in their eyes. Donna stroked the photo and smiled, “you were such a loving little girl, always bringing happiness whatever you went. I couldn’t choose a more fitting name for you. And while you were so smart and advanced for your age and so much like your father, you were always so attached to me. I used to call you my little shadow, because I couldn’t go anywhere without you.”

At that moment, Felicity promised herself to call her mom more often. “Even more after dad left… I was terrified of losing you too.” She remembered how difficult those first months were, she didn’t want to go to school anymore because she was scared her mother would not come back to pick her up. She’d cry and grab Donna’s clothes, begging her to not leave her there, that she would be good and stay quiet while she worked. Donna would always promise she’d come back, that she would never, ever leave her. And she never did. She always came back and at some point, Felicity calmed down a little and going to school was not frightening anymore. Felicity picked up another picture, one when she was about nine years old, both of them with ice cream all over their faces. She remembered that day. It was her first birthday after her father left and Donna made everything to make sure she had a great day, taking her to the mall to shop for new clothes, then they both had their nails done, grabbed lunch at her favorite restaurant and finished the afternoon at the ice cream parlor. 

“You’ll never get rid of me, baby. Not for as long as I’m alive,” she promised, taking Felicity’s hand. “You can try as much as you want, I know I get under your skin sometimes,” she let out a laugh, “but your mama will always be here for you.”

“Do you think I’ll be a good mother?” She sighed, leaning her head on her mother’s shoulder.

“The best mommy in the entire world. You already are. You care so much and love so deeply. You’re always taking care of everyone you love, ever since you were little. With your baby it won’t be any different.” Donna kissed the top of her head and put one hand on her daughter’s belly. “And if you ever need anything, all you have to do is call me.” 

“I love you, mama,” she said softly, playing with her mom’s fingers. “You know that, right? Even when you get on my nerves and when I’m being a little bitchy,” she added with a smile, making her mother chuckle.

“I know, honey,” Donna held her against her chest. “I love you too. More than anything else in the world.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 15

“Are you sure that’s going to work?” Curtis asked doubtfully as he watched Felicity squatting once again. Or trying to, since her huge belly was making the task quite difficult.

“Who the hell knows, Curtis! I just want this baby out! They say exercise helps, so exercise I will,” she said, going down again and losing her balance this time. Fortunately, William was hovering around her like a hawk, ever his father’s son, and held on to her before she fell on her ass.

He helped her up again and walked her to a chair, where Felicity began to wimp. “Why doesn’t she want to leave? Doesn’t she want to meet us?”

It was already the night before Oliver’s birthday and Felicity was almost two weeks past her due date. Her doctor told her if the baby did not make her presence known in the next three days, they’d have to induce labor and that terrified her a little.

“I’ve tried everything already! I can’t stand the taste of pineapples anymore and I can’t eat anything spicy. And I can’t even look at Oliver anymore without scaring the man away. I’m afraid I’ve ruined our sex lives forever,” she went on to a full on sob.

Did she mention that she was just a tad bit over emotional as well?

Then, she realized that it wasn’t only Curtis that was staring at her without knowing what to do, but also poor William. The boy was at the bunker tonight because he said he needed help with his math homework, but Felicity was pretty sure it was just an excuse to be there to watch her, if she knew him and his father at all. “I’m sorry, Will, you did not need to hear that!”

The boy scrunched his nose, “you’re pregnant, Felicity, it’s not like I don’t know where babies come from.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“Nothing you do can ever scare that man away from you, Felicity,” Curtis reassured her. “You’re stuck with him for the rest of your life.”

“You didn’t see his face last night, Curtis,” she sniffed.

“Dad loves you,” William tried to ease her worries, bless his heart. No kid, almost teenager, would want to hear how his Dad’s new girlfriend thinks she’s unattractive and just downright crazy. But like his father William is a trooper and rolls with the punches, placating her crazy and overall supportive. She really does not deserve these Queen men.

For the past two months, William had been staying more and more at loft with her and his father and nothing could make them happier. He and Felicity shared a love for computers, video games and junk food and his dad started teaching him how to cook. He called him “Dad” for the first time two weeks after the baby shower and it was the first time he saw Oliver cry. “And I’m sure Mia will be here in no time at all.”

“You’re such a sweetheart. I bet you were born exactly on your due date. Leave it to me to have the stubborn, bullheaded Queen kid,” Felicity sighed. “And I can’t even blame this all on Oliver. I mean, you’ve met me. And my mother. Us Smoaks aren’t much better. Don’t tell him that, though.”

“We’re on site,” they were interrupted by Diggle’s voice from the comms. From then on, all baby thoughts were forgotten for a while while they helped the team through tonight’s mission.

All was going fine until one of the thugs surprised Oliver and hit him from behind, making him fall from a big height and lose connection for a while.

“Green Arrow!” They heard Diggle’s voice as the man ran to help his friend.

“Oliver!” Felicity screamed into the comms, codenamed be damned. “John, what is going on? Where’s Oliver?”

“He lost consciousness, but his pulse is good,” he tried to reassure her.

“Oliver!” She yelled again, knowing his comms were still open and knowing he could hear her. “You better wake up, do you hear me? I’m not having this baby alone! Don’t you dare die on me!” She went on, desperately. “You have to wake up and bring your ass back here because you have a son, a daughter and a future wife waiting for you.”

“Felicity…” he gasped out and she suddenly remembered how to breathe again. “Did you just propose to me?”

“Don’t you scare me like that again!” She cried out pointedly ignoring his question.

Did she really just propose to Oliver? Over the comms with the entire team and his son listening? Did she propose to him when she thought he was dying?

“I’m fine, I just hit my head a little, but it was nothing, I promise,” his soothing voice calmed her. “Rene and Evelyn got the guys, we’re heading to the bunker soon.”

“Okay,” she nodded, even though he could not see her.

“See you soon, baby,” he said, his voice soft and slightly strangled and she knew that her earlier words are still playing on his mind, much like it is currently on repeat in her own head. She turned off the comms and sighed, she closed her eyes, breathing in and out trying to regulate her breath.

Surely those emotional roller coasters were not good for the baby, but well, the kid might as well get used to it. She opened her eyes again to find William staring at her with a worried look.

“What’s wrong, Will?”

“Is Dad going to be okay?” He asked in a small voice.

“Yeah… he’s going to be fine,” she reached out a hand to him, she gestures to him to take a seat. “I know I freaked out a little, but we have to remember that this is what he does best and nobody does it better. What your dad does, it’s very dangerous. And heroes don’t always make it home. I never forget that.” She realized they never really talked much with William about how they came to be with Team Arrow, so she nodded at the chair next to her so he could sit.

“But, you know, I’ve loved your dad from the first time he brought me a bullet-riddled computer. That was a long time ago, which means I’ve loved him for a long time which means I’ve worried about him for a long time. And he hasn’t always been truthful; he’s lied, he’s kept secrets, he’s not perfect. This life, it’s not ideal. But he makes his sacrifices, so we have to make ours. I sometimes think to myself that that’s what makes this love deeper than other kinds of love. It does, because we can’t take things for granted. We have to live with the fear and the uncertainty that everything can be taken from us in an instant. Everything he does he does for a good reason. Or, what he thinks is a good reason. So you can worry about your dad, but you have to believe that he’s going to be okay, ‘cause that’s the only way that this works.”

“Okay,” he nodded and she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and then squeezed it a bit too hard because she felt a sudden sharp pain on her stomach, followed by a wet feeling between her legs.

“Uh oh.” She looked down at her legs and up at William with huge eyes before getting the comms back on. “Green Arrow?”

“Overwatch, anything wrong?”

“Nothing wrong. I just think it’s better if you meet us at the hospital.”

“Honey, I told you I’m fine, I did not hurt my head that hard…”

“Well, the hospital is not for you, it’s for me. My water just broke,” she explained, unable to keep the smile off her face. Finally. “See you there, honey!”

She turned off the comms again and turned to William who looked positively freaked, his eyes were wide, his gaze shifting from her face to the small puddle at her feet.

Yea, someone is gonna need to clean that up, and they might have to look into therapy for the poor kid as well.

“Come on, let’s get Curtis to drive us to the hospital. Leave it to your father to scare me into labor.”

It’s time.

*

“Mom, I don’t care! Stop touching my face! Unless it’s a cool rag, I don’t want anything by my face,” Felicity tried to slap her mother’s hand away from her as she tried to apply some make up. She had no idea how her mother made it to the hospital before Oliver.

“You’re gonna thank me later, honey, trust your mama,” Donna said, brushing her daughter’s hair out of her face with her fingers softly.

“And Curtis, don’t you dare come close to me with that camera! Arrrrghttt,” Felicity yelled as another contraction hit. “Where the hell is Oliver?”

What was taking him so long? She felt like their daughter would be making her entrance soon and the last thing she wanted was to do this without him by her side.

“John just texted me they should be here in five minutes.”

“Hey, Donna, I’m really hungry, do you mind taking me to the cafeteria real quick?” William asked and Felicity didn’t think she could ever love that kid more than she already did. “I also saw a 24 hour store that sells those cute balloons in the lobby, why don’t we go see if we find some to make them a surprise?”

He added in a whisper loud enough for Felicity to hear. If the empty stomach didn’t convince her mother to go with him, the shopping suggestion surely did.

“Do you think you’ll be alright for a few minutes, honey?”

“Oh, yeah, mom. You go with Will. This kid waited too long already, she probably is going to make me suffer a little longer. And you heard Curtis, Oliver is almost here.”

“Ok, then. Call me if you need me! We’ll be quick!”

“Don’t worry, mom, take your time,” she said and when her mom turned around, she mouthed a thank you to William, who smiled back at her.

Five minutes after they left, a flustered Oliver entered the room, running to her side. “Felicity? How are you? Are you okay? The baby?”

“Hey, I’m fine. We’re fine. Better now that you’re here,” she smiled up at him, relief running over her body knowing that she wouldn’t have to bring their baby to the world without him by her side.

“Where’s William?”

“He’s at the cafeteria with my mom. She was driving me crazy and he being his angel self saved me from her for a few minutes… ughhhhhhh” she grabbed his hand as another contraction hit.

“What’s wrong?”

“It was just another contraction. They’re getting closer and closer now,” she panted, trying to ease the pain.

“Can I do anything to help you?”

“Can you give birth to her in my place?” she whimpered.

“You know I would if I could,” he said softly. “I hate to see you in pain.”

“It’s not that baa-aaaaaaaaarrrrrghttttttt,” she was saying, only to be interrupted by yet another one. “Where is that damn epidural?”

“Curtis, can you go see if you can find her doctor?” Oliver asked and their friend nodded, leaving the room as William and Donna made their way back.

“Oliver, honey! You’re here!” Donna ran up to give him a hug. “Can you believe Felicity went into labor just in time for your birthday?”

“I wasn’t sure what to get you for your birthday, but I figured this would do,” Felicity quipped. “How am I ever gonna top this next year?”

“You know… it would be a crime for me to only have two grandbabies.” Donna pouted.

“Mom, I didn’t ask you!”

“I’m just saying, honey. Look at you two, so beautiful. And look at William here, such a handsome, sweet little man. It would be such a shame to not give the world more little Queens.”

“Can you wait until at least after I push this one baby out of me before you start asking about more, mom? Please?” Felicity cries out in pain again.

“We’re not having any more babies” Oliver said as he watched her. It killed him seeing her suffering like that and being unable to do anything to help.

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?” Felicity said between breaths.

“Where’s that damn doctor?”

The door opened and the doctor finally came in.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Smoak, but you’re way too dilated now. There’s no time for the anesthesia, you need to start pushing,” she said after checking her.

“What? She is almost two weeks late and then she decides to come in just a couple of hours?” Unbelievable.

“Seems like that. You have one strong willed little girl in your hands,” she smiled.

“God help us all.” Felicity whimpered.

“Ready to meet your baby?”

“It’s baby time!” Donna squealed.

*

Despite everything, Mia’s birth ended up being very quick after the doctor told everyone but Oliver and Felicity to leave the room. Exactly five minutes and three pushes later, a little squealing healthy baby girl made her appearance to the world.

“Happy Birthday, Oliver.” Felicity said, taking her eyes from her perfect baby to look at him with so much wonder in her eyes.

He smiled and kissed her head and then their daughter’s. “Happy Birthday, Mia.”

“Can’t you believe we made her?” He asked her, still not believing how that precious little girl was theirs.

“On the bunker floor, no less.” Felicity cracked a smile and he smiled back, both again watching their perfect creation in complete fascination.

“We can name the next one Lucas,” Oliver said, finally.

“I thought you said there wouldn’t be a next one…”

“I did but… look at her… it would be sinful not to populate the world with more little Smoak-Queen babies, don’t you think?” He grinned. “Your mom is right.”

“I can’t believe I’m agreeing with my mom, but yeah… but let’s maybe let my lady parts recuperate from today first before planning any more little Queens, okay?”

“Sure… and maybe let’s make everything official before the next one? I heard I have a future wife waiting for me…”

“Oh, so you heard that-” She said shyly.

“Yes, I did.” He kissed her softly. “And nothing in this world will make me happier than being your husband. Will you marry me, Felicity Smoak?”

As if she needed time to think. The past months had been the happiest of her life and she loved him, she loved William, she loved Mia, she loved their little family. They might not be traditional and their lives and their futures be completely unpredictable, but whose future wasn't? They had today and they had love, so much love, and that was bigger and stronger than anything they might ever face. And if something came in their way? They would fight it. Together.

“Of course I will.”

THE END