Well here is my first foray into the Arrow fandom. This plot is fairly similar to a Primeval story I wrote, but time travel fics are a serious love of mine so there's bound to be some overlap… :-P Also, I think this is better/longer/more serious/not so cracky…
Should say now (since it will become very obvious anyway!) I know very little about The Flash and any descriptions of his powers were purposefully kept to a minimum for that reason. Please excuse any glaring mistakes.
Also, beware of spoilers for the beginning of season three.
Flashback
At 9.13pm, Barry Allen, alias The Flash, appeared in the middle of the Foundry.
To be honest, Oliver wasn't all that surprised by his sudden presence - he moved so fast that he was practically invisible, and more than once he'd seen him run through a solid wall without slowing down, which would explain how he'd got in.
No, the surprising part was that he wasn't alone - Laurel was on one side of him, her hair dishevelled and her face a picture of annoyance, and Felicity was on his other side, her hair pulled back in its usual ponytail and her face a picture of… well… nausea.
Digg jumped to his feet from where he'd been sitting in front of the computer bank. Roy froze in the act of putting on his red leather jacket. Oliver just stared, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
Laurel was in Central City - or rather had been - taking a deposition for a big case. So, feasibly, Barry could have bumped into her there and… run her back? What had happened? And why had he needed to pick up Felicity on the way? Felicity, who was supposed to be… elsewhere… tonight. She was going to be pissed that her evening had been interrupted.
Oliver's hand hovered over his bow on the table next to him. Clearly, something was going on.
Barry was winded, and leant forward with his hands on his knees to try and get his breath back. As he dropped his arms, Oliver saw that they'd been around the women's waists - he'd been running them along with him. Felicity immediately leant back against the medical table behind her, looking rather green… which was odd, because that one time that Barry had had to run Felicity away from that car crash, she'd been fine. Maybe they'd come further this time…
"It's… okay... we... lost him," panted Barry. Oliver looked back at him, more closely now, and noticed that his suit looked different from the last time he'd seen it - like it was made from a different material. He'd also never seen him out of breath from using his powers before.
Laurel made a little growling noise that had Oliver snapping his attention to her instead, and that was when he realised how… different… she looked. Her hair was shorter for a start - only falling to just below her shoulders. She was wearing Sara's leather jacket, like she often did these days, but the black outfit underneath was also more like something her sister would wear than her usual, and to top it off she was holding a collapsible spear like Sara favoured too.
He'd seen Laurel handling spears like that in her training when Sara was in town, but why the hell would she have one with her on a work trip to Central City? In fact, he knew without looking that the spear she'd been training with was hanging on the wall behind him, and he was fairly sure she didn't have another one.
So both Laurel and Barry looked different - at least Felicity looked the same as always. Except… well, she was wearing pink yoga pants and a loose-fitting vest top, and Oliver was pretty certain that that was not what she had planned on wearing on her… outing.
His eyes narrowed and he brought his hand down so it was actually resting on his bow.
Laurel pressed a button to make the spear she was holding collapse in on itself, and then slammed it onto the table behind her. "God I hate speedsters," she said angrily. She quirked an eyebrow at Barry. "No offence."
Barry snorted. "None taken." He stood up straight, his breathing coming a bit easier now, and looked up at Oliver for the first time since they'd arrived. He looked nervous.
Laurel was also looking around, and her annoyed expression melted into one of pure confusion.
"Wait a – we haven't actually…" she stammered, her eyes skittering around the room and between Digg and Roy. She frowned at Barry, who looked like he was bracing himself for something. "But we – you…" Laurel's annoyed expression came back, and Barry swallowed.
"Have we gone back in time?!" Laurel exclaimed. "Barry!" She aimed a punch at Barry's shoulder - a powerful one - but he dodged it with ease and then took a step back, out of range of her fists.
"We needed to get out of there and time jumping is a more unusual trait among speedsters so I figured it was the best bet!" He explained quickly, holding up his hands. "And it worked because only one of them followed us but he wasn't very good at it and when I jumped back further he couldn't keep up and –"
"Wait, wait, wait," Laurel said, frowning again. "How far back have we come?"
Barry looked nervous again. "Er…a few years?"
"Years?!"
"Yeah… I'm not sure exactly wh-"
"It's December 2014," said Felicity quietly.
Laurel and Barry both turned to look at her. "How can you tell?" Laurel asked.
"The hardware," Felicity said simply. "I replaced the server in October 2014 when we got the club back and then we got that monitor-" she pointed to a monitor in between Digg and Roy "-in November and got rid of that one-" she pointed to one on the wall to her left "-in January 2015 so it must be around December 2014."
Barry grinned. "Nice deducing, Sherlock," he said.
Felicity grinned back and straightened up from the table. "Well you know how – woah." Felicity swayed on the spot, her balance completely and wildly off.
"Felicity!" Laurel exclaimed fearfully.
Oliver started to take a step forward, but Barry was at her side inside a split second, and he put his arm around her to steady her. Laurel turned around and grabbed hold of the closest chair, and wheeled it over to where they stood.
She put her hand on Felicity's shoulder and gestured to the chair. "Here, sit down," she said softly.
Felicity gave her a weak smile. "I'm okay –"
"Sit," Laurel repeated in her stern don't-argue-with-me-I'm-a-lawyer voice.
Felicity rolled her eyes but allowed Barry and Laurel to help her forward, and sat down on the chair. She was pale and still looked nauseated, and was taking slow, deep, deliberate breaths. Laurel crouched down next to her, took hold of one of her hands and used her other hand to smooth back Felicity's hair, and Felicity gave her another weak smile.
Oliver watched with raised eyebrows. It wasn't like Laurel and Felicity didn't get on with each other in the present - they certainly respected each other's abilities, and recently they'd started banding together to tease Roy quite a lot, but this easy familiarity was something way deeper than they currently shared.
He then realised that he'd just thought the phrase in the present. They were from the future. His ex-girlfriend and his… Felicity… had just been brought back in time a few years to his underground secret lair by a masked hero with time-travelling superpowers. How the hell had this become his life?
Oliver didn't really have much time to wonder at the situation though, as Laurel's next words brought him back to the present with a bump. She looked up at Barry and raised an eyebrow at him. "Ollie's going to kill you."
Barry looked almost pained. "We were trapped!" He exclaimed. "We needed to get out of there, and we did."
Laurel looked unimpressed. "He's still going to kill you."
Barry cringed. "We could just not tell him," he said hopefully.
Laurel stood up straight again, but kept hold of Felicity's hand. "Barry, he's right there," she said, pointing at Oliver. With her words, the three of them seemed to really notice Oliver, Digg and Roy for the first time, and all turned to look at them.
"Hi, by the way," Laurel said rather sheepishly.
"Er, yeah, hey," said Barry, determinedly looking anywhere but at Oliver.
There was a silence as the trios stared at each other, and then Roy spoke up.
"What the hell am I seeing right now?"
"Good question," said Digg, folding his arms and giving Laurel a pointed look.
Laurel seemed to take the hint. "Long story short, Felicity and I were pinned down in the lair by a gang of speedsters and Barry came for us but instead of just running us out of there decided to bring us back in time four y-"
"For speedster reasons," Felicity said suddenly, cutting across Laurel. She raised her eyebrows at Laurel, clearly trying to tell her something without words, and Laurel shrugged and didn't say anything else.
Barry pulled off his mask and stepped forward. "Look, we were outnumbered and those speedsters would have just followed us straight out of there if we'd just run for it, plus we wanted them kept contained," he said. He looked straight at Oliver, and his voice took on a pleading tone. "So I time jumped instead – I was only gonna go back a few days, just to get clear, but one of them could time jump too and he followed us and so I had to outrun him and so I just pushed us a bit further and we've ended up here. Yes it's a bit further than I intended but let's not freak out, okay?"
Oliver wasn't sure why Barry seemed to think he'd be angry about what had happened - sure it was weird as hell, but it sounded like Barry hadn't really had a choice… why would he want to kill him, as Laurel had suggested? Why did Barry look so nervous?
"Time travel? Seriously?" Roy exclaimed. Oliver looked round at him and guessed that he and Digg were experiencing the same what the hell moment he'd had already.
Barry just shrugged.
"Did you know this was going to happen?" Laurel asked Felicity.
"No! No clue. Did you know?"
"Nope," said Laurel, looking over at the other three rather accusingly. "They never said a word."
"I've found that with time travel it's best to not talk about it too much anyway," said Barry.
"So… can you get back?" Digg asked after a moment.
"Yeah, no problem," Barry said dismissively. "Just let me rest up a bit first. And I really need to eat something." He turned back to Laurel and Felicity. "Also, we should probably change locations before jumping back, just in case they're still around."
Laurel nodded her agreement, let go of Felicity's hand and leant back against the medic table, folding her arms. "Since I don't remember this happening, I assume we're not here right now? Felicity and I?"
"No - you're in Central City for work and Felicity's…on a date," Digg answered her. Oliver heard the slight hesitation in Digg's voice before saying where Felicity was and knew it was for his benefit - both he and Roy had been tiptoeing around Oliver on the subject of Felicity's date with Ray for the past few days.
Oliver realised his hand had closed around his bow on the table, and he quickly released it and folded his arms instead.
"Thank god," said Felicity. Then she pulled a face. "Not that I'm on a date," she hastened to clarify "-though, well, yay me… but just that we're not here." She smiled. "That would have been too weird."
"Whereas this is an okay amount of weird?" Laurel asked her with a grin.
"For us?" Felicity said, spinning round in her chair to look at Laurel, who was slightly behind her. This was clearly a mistake, though, because as soon as she started to spin she swayed in her seat and looked like she was going to throw up.
Barry and Laurel both crouched down next to her.
"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Barry asked her worriedly.
Felicity took a deep breath. "I'm fine, Barry, honestly," she said. She reached out and squeezed his hand. "Thank you for getting us out of there."
Laurel stood up and headed for the kitchen, but Oliver kept his eyes trained on Felicity's face. She already looked better, but still quite pale.
He cleared his throat. "Felicity, what's wrong?"
Felicity looked straight at him for the first time since arriving, and gave him a big - and completely false - smile. "Nothing, I'm just dizzy," she said too quickly and too brightly. "You know, from the time jumping. We travelled pretty fast to get here."
Oliver frowned, but Roy beat him to his next question. "But Laurel isn't -"
"Yeah, well, it's like car sickness - some people have it, some people don't," Felicity answered abruptly, still in the same overbright way. "I do. That's it okay? I'm fine. Let's drop it. So, 2014. How's that going so far? You know except for Moira dying and Thea leaving and the city being attacked by Slade and oh my god it would have been great if you could have stopped me sooner." That last part was directed at Laurel, who had walked back over with a glass of water for her.
Felicity took a sip of the water and grimaced, and Laurel crouched back down next to her again.
"Maybe we should we get a doctor to take a look at you…" she said, looking at Felicity's pale face with concern.
Felicity gave Laurel a Look. "I do not need a doctor," she said firmly.
"But maybe –"
"And what would we tell them?" Felicity asked sardonically. "'I've just been dragged back through time by The Flash, can you prescribe me some iron supplements?'"
"Oh my god," said Digg suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him - he was staring at Felicity in shock. "You're pregnant."
Oliver's head snapped back round to Felicity - she looked like a deer in headlights, and Laurel and Barry looked no better either side of her.
"No I'm not," she said quickly.
"No she's not," Laurel and Barry said at the same moment.
All three of them were terrible liars.
Digg was shaking his head. "Lyla had to take iron to help her dizzy spells," he said. "You're pregnant!"
Felicity stared Digg down for a few seconds but she looked away quickly. She sighed, and glanced at Oliver for the briefest of moments. "Okay, fine, I'm pregnant," she said.
Voices bounced off the walls of the Foundry as Digg, Roy, Laurel and Barry started talking all at the same moment.
"You're kidding!" Roy exclaimed, before advancing on Barry. "And you did your Flash mojo on her?! Is the-"
Barry wasn't paying attention to Roy - he was still crouched next to Felicity. "Felicity seriously I'm really sorry I didn't think about how it could-"
Digg moved forward towards Felicity as well. "Are you alright? They didn't hurt you did they? We can-"
Meanwhile Laurel put her hand on Felicity's shoulder and gave her another worried look. "I really think that we should go and see a doctor. We don't have to tell him why you're d-"
Oliver didn't say anything. He didn't even move. Because as soon as Felicity had confirmed her pregnancy, his eyes had instinctively fallen to her stomach - and that was when he'd noticed the wedding rings on her left hand.
"Oh my GOD!" Felicity suddenly yelled, making everyone jump. "Will you all just back off? I'm fine." She shook off Laurel and Barry's hands and stood up - slowly, but without swaying again. "Being pregnant isn't an illness you know," she said, glaring round at the four people gathered around her. "Yes I felt a bit dizzy but I'm fine now, see? Standing up and everything. So chill the hell out."
They all mumbled apologies and backed up a bit - Felicity rolled her eyes and took another sip of water before putting the glass down on the table.
"Honestly, I'd say it was men not being able to handle pregnancy, but you're just as bad," she said to Laurel.
Laurel shrugged, not looking at all repentant. "I take my godmother duties seriously," she said. Then she smiled and put her hand back on Felicity's shoulder. "But if you say you're okay, I believe you."
There was another brief silence, which was eventually broken by Barry clearing his throat. "So… food?"
An hour later, they were all seated in a booth at Big Belly Burger, picking over the remains of their meals while Barry demolished his third burger. Oliver knew his metabolism was pretty high and so he needed more food than the rest of them, but still. It was gross.
Oliver kept watching though, because looking elsewhere was too weird.
He, Digg and Roy were sitting on one side of the booth, opposite the - and he still couldn't really believe this was happening - the visitors from the future. Barry had been doing nothing but eating since they'd arrived, but Laurel had cheered up since their first appearance in the Foundry, and was happily chatting away with Digg and Roy about fighting technique.
Fighting technique. Laurel.
As for Felicity, she was pretty quiet. She was sitting directly opposite Oliver, and had just ordered a hot water with ginger and honey, presumably because she still felt nauseated. Nauseated, because of being pregnant. Felicity was pregnant. Pregnant and married. She currently had her hands under the table and out of sight, but he knew what he'd seen - she was wearing a wedding ring.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Oliver supposed he should be more shaken by the fact that she was going to be a mother than by the fact that she was married, but it was the latter he found himself focusing on. She had a husband.
Really, he shouldn't be that surprised. It was Felicity, she was amazing, of course she was married. Any guy with two brain cells to rub together who was lucky enough to be in a relationship with her would propose at the first opportunity. Unless, of course, he was a secret hood-wearing vigilante by night and so couldn't in good conscience put her in greater danger than he already did by pursuing a romantic relationship with her.
He didn't think he was wrong in his decision - it sucked, but he still stood by his reasons for ending things with Felicity. Too many people already associated her with the Hood… if they got wind that the two of them were more than colleagues, she would be targeted, simple as that. Slade had already proven that, and that had only been a ruse.
With this in mind, Oliver had kept his distance as much as he could, tried to treat Felicity with nothing more than friendly professionalism (he hadn't realised how much he'd been flirting with her until he brought all flirting to a sudden stop), and had been nothing but encouraging when she'd decided to move on… as she had been perfectly within her rights to do.
Even so, meeting this future version of Felicity forced Oliver to admit that he'd been lying to himself these past few months - he hadn't let her go. Somewhere in the back of his mind he'd still been thinking that one day - someday - they could be together. That at some point the Arrow wouldn't be needed, the city would be safe, and he and Felicity would finally get their happy ending. He'd been content to bide his time, working hard every day to improve the city just that little bit more and bring himself another step closer to being able to leave the Arrow behind. He'd stood aside and not said anything when Felicity started to date other guys, even when she said yes to dating Ray - perfect Ray - because he'd assumed it was the same for her too; that she was just biding her time and waiting for him as well.
He'd been accused of being arrogant before, but this time he knew he'd been arrogant and unbelievably naive. Felicity wasn't waiting for him - and nor should she. He'd hurt her badly when he'd called things off after their one and only date, and for weeks afterwards he'd seen that hurt in her eyes every time she'd looked at him. She deserved someone who wouldn't hurt her like that, and could put her first, all the time.
He should be glad that she had found someone who treated her that way (and he was sure she had - he was positive Felicity wouldn't have settled for anything less). He just hoped that his future self was able to be happy for her - because at the moment he felt like he'd swallowed glass.
Oliver's eyes kept straying back to her despite himself, cataloguing small details and then looking away again. At first glance she seemed the same as she did in the present, but there were subtle differences. Her hair was slightly darker - still blonde, but with more of a honey shade to it. Her glasses were different as well - chunky frames but slightly narrower than her current pair. She was wearing a pretty pendant necklace that he'd never seen before. On the walk over to the diner, Oliver had (hopefully surreptitiously) looked for a sign of a baby bump, and couldn't see anything - but then, her top was very loose, plus she'd been wearing Roy's coat… he assumed she was showing at least a bit, because she didn't usually wear yoga pants unless she was, well, doing yoga. Most unsettlingly of all, he'd noticed the edge of a scar she certainly didn't have now peeking out from under the shoulder strap of her top.
He determinedly kept his eyes on Barry after that, while he finished his third burger and then ordered a triple fudge sundae from the slightly revolted waitress.
Laurel offered Felicity one of her remaining fries, and Felicity declined with a grimace. Unfortunately for Oliver this brought the attention of the table onto her.
"So, what were you even doing down in the Foundry?" Asked Digg with a teasing smile. "There's no way Oliver let you down there in your condition. He tried to kick me off the team while Lyla was pregnant…"
Everyone around the table chuckled apart from Oliver. He was used to Digg's ribbing him for his (slight) over-protectiveness - but up to that moment hadn't even stopped to consider the point he was making. The shock of discovering that Felicity was married and having a baby - to say nothing of the shock of her and the others appearing from the future - had wiped all thoughts except for his turbulent feelings aside. Now though, he thought about it from a more objective point of view - how would he react, as the de facto leader of 'Team Arrow' (as Roy liked to call it) if (well, when) Felicity became pregnant?
There was no way in hell she would be allowed in the Foundry, or anywhere near anything to do with Arrow work. Digg was one thing, Felicity… there was… she… no way.
Felicity gave Oliver a sly smile, as though she knew exactly what was going through his head, and then turned to answer Digg. "We have an understanding - I understand that I mustn't do too much, and he understands that I'm in charge of deciding how much is too much," she said, turning back to Oliver for the last part of her sentence and raising an eyebrow at him in a decidedly challenging manner. Clearly, they'd discussed this a lot in the future.
"And anyway, he can't keep me out - I built the security system," she added with a grin.
Everyone else laughed again, but Oliver was too stuck on the idea of Felicity and her baby being in the Foundry. Why had he let them in the Foundry?
Felicity caught Oliver's eye again and gave him another, completely genuine smile. "Seriously though," she said, more to him than anyone else, "no way am I going in the field while I'm pregnant, and after this I'll probably remove myself even further - I'm not an idiot. A lot of what I do for the team can be done from anywhere. Also, Laurel has basically assigned herself as my personal bodyguard, so I think we'll be fine." She bumped her shoulder against Laurel's, who gave her a fond and fiercely protective look.
Oliver shook his head and looked away again.
The waitress returned with Barry's sundae and conversation moved on, but Oliver sat staring at a spot on the floor, lost in thought. It was all too much for him to get his head round right now.
"You're very quiet."
Oliver looked back at Felicity to find her studying him across the table, leaning slightly forward with her elbows propped on the table. Her left hand was dangling over the edge so he still couldn't see her rings, and he quickly looked away, hoping she hadn't noticed her looking.
She was just looking at him, waiting for him to speak, and so he shrugged and answered her truthfully. "I'm not really sure what I'm meant to say in this situation," he said.
She smiled. "Yeah, me too." She took a sip of her water, and then pulled a face and quickly put it back down. "Ugh, it's amazing how quickly you just go off things when you're pregnant."
Oliver steeled himself against the hollow feeling trying to consume him, and cleared his throat. "Do you want something else?" He asked.
"Can I have some of your soda?" She asked brightly.
Oliver's eyebrows shot up. "Er, sure."
"Thanks!" Felicity grabbed hold of his glass and started gulping it down without even the least hint of self-consciousness - he didn't think the present day Felicity would be so blasé about stealing his drink. Food, maybe, but he couldn't remember them ever sharing a drink.
She put the (now empty) glass back down and only then did she look sheepish. "So far my cravings seem to be centred around stealing other people's food…" She said.
Felicity was looking at him, clearly waiting for him to say something in reply. Oliver signalled to the waitress to bring over another soda, before turning back to her. "So… how's… being pregnant?" He asked, well aware of how awkward he sounded.
She just smiled. "It's been okay - I've had normal amounts of morning sickness and I feel pretty tired but other than that," she said. Then she shrugged. "I found out today that travelling in time doesn't seem to agree with me…"
"How, um, far along are you?"
"I'm in my first trimester - I probably shouldn't be more specific than that. I've seen enough time travel movies to know you shouldn't tell people in the past too much about the future," she said, winking at him before grinning.
Oliver couldn't help but return the smile, glad that she was comfortable enough to joke around with him in the future. He was glad to know that they were in that kind of place, and the way she'd talked about him earlier to Digg definitely implied that they were still friends. Which was a relief, to say the least. It was one thing to know that she was married and starting a family with someone else… it was quite another to know that she was doing all that and he wasn't even a part of her life anymore.
He just hoped his future self had managed to get over what might have been, and that it wouldn't take him too long to do the same...
"What?" Felicity said suddenly, and Oliver realised he'd been sitting there staring at her with a stupid smile on his face for the past minute.
He blinked and looked away briefly as Laurel, Digg and Roy laughed at something Barry said. Then he looked back at Felicity and shrugged again.
"I'm just glad you're still part of the team," he told her.
"Of course I am," she said at once. She tilted her head to one side. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well… you're married and you're expecting a baby-" Felicity's eyes narrowed and Oliver, sensing danger, was quick to clarify "-you've clearly got a lot going on outside of the team and…"
His voice trailed off. He didn't think that now was the time to tell her how much he wished things had worked out differently. He'd clearly missed his chance. So he just gave her a small smile and shrugged again. He was shrugging a lot today.
There was a moment of silence and then Felicity reached across the table and put her hand on his arm. "I'm your girl, remember?" She said softly. She gave him a small, kind of sad smile, and rubbed the back of his wrist with her thumb.
Her words, her smile, her touch - it was all so intimate, too intimate for Oliver, and he looked down at the table, unable to hold her gaze. Much good it did him - as she'd leant forward, she'd placed her left hand on top of the table, and there were her wedding rings on full display.
The wedding band was a simple, plain silver one, but the engagement ring was anything but. It was silver as well, but not a simple circle - the band didn't meet, but instead swirled up and down around a glittering sapphire, nestled between two diamonds. The sapphire was a perfect match for Felicity's eyes… in fact, the whole ring was a match for Felicity. It was elegant, a little quirky, pretty without being flashy, timeless and… and… very familiar.
Oliver's breath caught in his throat. He knew that ring, though he hadn't seen it in years. Felicity was wearing his grandmother's ring.
Oliver looked back up at Felicity, his eyes wide. She stared back at him, obviously confused by the wild-eyed look he was suddenly giving her. His eyes flicked back down to the ring, needing to make sure he wasn't imagining things, and this time her eyes followed his. When he looked back at her again, her eyes were even wider than his.
She snatched her hands away and hid them under the table again. For a few moments they continued to stare at each other, then: "Time to go!" squeaked Felicity, jumping to her feet.
Laurel stopped talking mid-sentence, and everyone turned to stare up at her.
"What?" Said Barry. "But I wanted another sundae…"
"No time - we need to leave," said Felicity, still in a rather high-pitched tone. Her cheeks were flushed a bright red and she was looking anywhere but at Oliver. "Come on!" She poked Laurel in the shoulder to try and get her moving.
Oliver swallowed. Hard. "I-"
Felicity grabbed Laurel's jacket from where it was draped over the back of the booth and practically threw it in her face. "Come on," she said pleadingly.
Laurel slid out of the booth slowly, frowning. "Felicity, what's wrong?"
"You know we can spend as much time here as we want, right?" Barry said, not moving from his seat. "It won't affect when we get back."
"Really Barry?" Said Felicity fiercely, stepping around Laurel and glaring at him. "You're denying the pregnant lady? Really?"
Barry leant back slightly, looking alarmed. "Alright alright! Let's go."
Oliver was pushed out of the booth by Digg and Roy, but apart from standing up he was pretty much frozen in place, staring at Felicity as she fended off Laurel's questions and shifted impatiently from foot to foot as she waited for Barry to get up as well. She still wasn't looking at him, and he noticed that she was keeping her left hand behind her back.
She was wearing his grandmother's ring - a ring that he knew was currently locked safely away in the Queen family vaults. There was only one reason why Felicity would be wearing it, and it was enough to make Oliver's head spin.
At some point in the near future, he was going to marry Felicity Smoak. She was going to be his wife. And they were going to have a baby.
Oliver started to grin.
There were so many reasons why it was a bad idea for him to pursue a relationship with Felicity, but clearly they either didn't exist in the future or they'd found a way to make it work anyway. Objectively, he supposed it was actually a bit limiting, knowing who you were going to marry and not having a choice in the matter, but he felt the opposite - he felt so incredibly… free. Team Arrow was obviously still operational where they'd come from, but he didn't have to worry about how they managed to balance their relationship with vigilante business - it was enough to know that they did. They would make it work because they had made it work.
Time travel was complicated. He didn't care.
Digg raised his eyebrows as he slid out of the booth after Roy. "What are you so happy about?"
Oliver shook his head, still grinning. "Nothing, nothing at all," he said. Felicity glanced at him, saw his wide smile and grew even more flustered. She started to shoo Barry and Laurel out of the diner, her cheeks still bright red, babbling at them as she went. Oliver found he was struggling not to laugh as he pulled out his wallet and paid for the meal - he didn't even mind that half the check was Barry's food alone… buying the guy dinner was the least he could do, considering he'd saved his wife.
Oliver did laugh at that, a short, sudden laugh that he just couldn't contain. He shook his head at himself and threw some notes on the table.
Digg was waiting for him by the door, and the look on his face clearly spelt out that he thought he was acting very strangely. Oliver just clapped Digg on the shoulder and, still grinning, followed the sound of Felicity's voice round the corner and into the alley next to the diner.
"Right, okay," she said to Barry. "Are we ready then?"
"Wait a minute, I have to give Digg back his stuff."
Barry was wearing some of Digg's workout clothes over his suit - he started pulling them off and handing them back to him, still looking grumpy about not getting his second sundae.
Felicity caught Oliver's eye and saw how widely he was still grinning, and she let out a little groan. "Oh god," she said, covering her eyes with her hand.
"Seriously, Felicity, what's wrong?" Laurel demanded.
Felicity shook her head and dropped her hand. "Nothing, honestly, I'll tell you later," she said. She glanced at Oliver again and then grimaced. "Just… so much of my life suddenly makes sense."
Laurel looked incredibly confused but seemed to accept that Felicity wasn't hurt or anything. Barry had shed all of his borrowed clothes and now put his mask back on before stepping in between the two women. Felicity put her arm around his shoulders, and Laurel pulled her collapsed spear out of her jacket pocket and held it ready in her hand before doing the same.
Oliver's smile faded at the sight of them ready to leave - not only ready to leave, but ready to jump back into a potentially dangerous situation. It was going to make Felicity ill again, and who knew what effect it might have on the baby… but they had to go. They couldn't stay.
He suddenly realised why Barry had been so nervous about his reaction to the time travelling. Well, he wasn't going to kill him… as long as he got them back safely.
Roy and Digg both said their goodbyes, and then he cleared his throat. "Be careful with them," he told Barry firmly; he gave him a serious nod in reply. Oliver looked back at Felicity, who met his eyes this time - she gave him a small, rather embarrassed smile, and he returned it. "Call me when you get there," he told her.
She raised an eyebrow. "Knowing you, I won't have to," she said.
Oliver grinned again, Barry put his arms around Laurel and Felicity's waists, there was a brief moment when it seemed the three of them would run into the others, and then they were gone.
"I'm gonna need, like, ten beers after this," said Roy, shaking his head.
"I'm with you on that," agreed Digg. The three of them started out of the alley and headed to a bar a couple of doors down from the diner. Roy entered first, and Digg paused in the doorway to talk to Oliver.
"You okay, man?" He asked him.
Oliver grinned again. "Oh yeah."
"You sure? That can't have been easy - and you've gone kind of crazy eyed."
Oliver just laughed. "I'm sure," he said. "It's very liberating, to know what the future holds."
Digg raised an eyebrow. "Riiight," he said.
"I'm gonna go - I have somewhere to be."
"Oh come on - you definitely need a drink after that, don't tell me you don't."
"See you tomorrow Digg." He gave him a jaunty wave and set off back to the club, to his motorbike, with a spring in his step. Felicity would be getting home from her date soon, and he was going to be there to greet her.
After all, he couldn't have Perfect Ray trying to put the moves on his future wife.
THE END