"So when's Felicity coming home with the baby?" Connor's voice was low as he turned to face his father.

"Tonight," answered Oliver. "Diggle's there with them both right now."

"Great," muttered the ten year old boy, rising up from his seat at the table and heading towards the back door of the Queens' estate.

Puzzled at how his son had left his plate half full, Oliver followed the boy out into the garden, only to locate him seated by the small pond that contained a few ducklings. "You okay?" he asked, as he approached Connor, voice firm, as he crouched next to him.

"Why wouldn't I be fine?" shrugged Connor, avoiding eye contact with Oliver all of a sudden.

He certainly didn't look fine, if his clenched fists were any indication, thought Oliver in concern. "You don't look fine to me, buddy," he commented.

That caught his son's attention. "Surprised you even noticed," he said under his breath.

"What's that?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing."

"Didn't sound like nothing to me."

"Well."

"Well." Oliver folded his arms across his chest. "I may be new to this whole dad thing, Con, but even I know when something's wrong. And right now you're upset and I need to know why so I can fix it."

A snort escaped the boy. "Why do you care?" he said. "You don't care about me. You didn't care about my mom. I'm...I'm nothing to you!" His voice got louder by the second, morphing into shouts. "I'm just a mistake. She told me I was. She..." 'she' being the woman who gave birth to him and raised him till the point he arrived at Oliver's doorstep..."She said she told you about me and you didn't want me because I was an accident and you told your mom and she made her go away!" A tear cascaded down a pale cheek. "She didn't want me either!"

Oliver paused, stunned at Connor's out burst. "I'm sorry," his head hung low. "Things were different back then. More complicated. Hard to understand. Your mom...I...I didn't know her at all." He struggled to find the right words to explain the situation, without outright mentioning the words 'one night stand' and 'broken condom'. That wasn't the kind of conversation he ever wanted to have with his son, regardless of how true they may be and considering the boy's age, it would be highly inappropriate. Completely wrong.

"But you told her to get rid of me!" said Connor miserably, tears flowing freely at this point, while he furiously rubbed at his eyes.

"I wasn't ready to be a dad," he admitted. "And I was wrong. To not want you. Because now that I do have you, I'm never letting go of you. Ever. You're my son. You're my kid." He paused for another moment. "There's nothing that I can do to fix what I did, and how things played out, especially for you, but I promise that I will always be there for you. Because I do love you. No matter what."

"Damien's lucky," mumbled Connor, making a reference to the new addition to the Queen family. "He'll have you from the start and he'll never know what it's like to not have a dad and there's also the fact that Felicity is his mom and she isn't crazy and she's loved him from the moment she knew of him...She never hated him."

Oliver swallowed bile that was slowly rising up his throat as he thought of the girl-the woman- who gave birth to Connor and gave him such a shitty life. Not that he was up for father of the year anytime soon but still, he'd thought she'd taken care of it. He thought his mother's involvement was a solid confirmation of that. Little did he know that Moira Queen took one too many secrets with her to her grave and being angry with a dead woman just didn't feel right, thought Oliver. Unable to form a proper reply, he remained silent as he sat down on the grass, legs crossed (just like Connor's) and pulled said ten year old boy close to him. "I'm sorry," he said finally.

Connor shook his head. "I don't care."

"I do," replied Oliver, "and so do you." His mind went back to eight months ago, when Felicity found out she was pregnant. That she didn't have a stomach bug. That she was carrying his child.

He remembered feeling ecstatic- utterly overjoyed- at the prospect of being a father. For what he thought would be the first time. Not even for a second did his mind go back to another blonde with a pregnancy test and a different set of circumstances, that included him and a completely different (angry) reaction from him.

And then BAM- two weeks later, a social worker showed up at Queen Consolidated, looking for a Oliver Queen, with a Connor Hawke in tow.

To say that Starling's vigilante had been shocked would be an understatement. But nevertheless, Connor became part of the Queen family. Adjusting to his arrival was difficult for all parties included (especially Felicity, who was pregnant and had to cope with the news of her husband already having a child from a previous relationship. It was difficult and it was hard to cope but over the months, progress was made and although Connor was angry and confused and unable to adjust to his new life, he learnt how to. He learnt how to appreciate motherly love and concern that Felicity poured onto him. He learnt how to deal with having somewhat of an emotionally stunted father who tried hard again and again and again to get permission to get into his heart.

Adjusting to change was never easy and entering a situation where another baby was on it's way? Talk about a recipe for disaster.

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to make it up to you," said Oliver, "but I won't stop trying. You and Damien are the same to me. No more and no less. You both are my sons. Felicity's boys too." His arms tightened even further around Connor's shoulders. "You know how much she loves you. She wants to be your mom, Con. Maybe you aren't ready to have her as your mom but she's ready for it. Desperate for it. She'd do anything for you and you know it."

Connor's eyes widened slightly. He loved Felicity. He really did. But never had even thought that she might want to be his mother. Never had he thought that she would choose to make him her son. If his own mother hadn't loved him-

how could Felicity love him just as much as her own baby?

Why would she love him just as much when he hadn't been that great to her at the beginning?

"You're a part of me," Oliver interrupted his son's line of thoughts, "and she'd never be able to not love you. Give her a chance. To prove herself. Give me a chance as well. We'll be your parents; your mom and your dad. Now that we've had you, we can't lose you." He ruffled the kid's hair. "We need you and so does your little brother. You're ours."

"He'll love me too?"

"Of course, he will. You're his big brother. Who else is gonna show him the ropes in life?"

Connor bit his lip hesitantly. "Is this the point where I can call you Dad then?" he asked, "and Felicity as my Mom?"

Oliver's heart swelled. "Only if you want."

"We'll be a real family? All four of us?"

"We already are."

*o*o*o*

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I'll be writing/posting quite a few Olicity fics (including Connor too) so lemme know if you have any ideas/concerns/feedback.