"Oliver I know you don't want to hurt this girl, and you did not have any choice in telling her who you was, but you are asking her to get involved in some pretty serious stuff" Diggle said.
"We can protect her" Oliver said sincerely. He received a glare from his team mate who rolled his eyes and retreated away from him. "What?" Oliver questioned annoyed.
"She is a single mother with a baby …. Need I go on, this girl Oliver, we can't put her in the centre of your firing line" Diggle answered.
"I won't Dig, the moment I think she is in too deep I will let her go, but we need her, we need her skills, but I swear that I will protect her" Oliver said in a determined tone.
"Ok" Diggle nodded his head and then left the lair.
Felicity Smoak had learned that Oliver Queen, her boss who just returned from being shipwrecked on an Island for 5 years was the Hood. She had found him bleeding in the back seat of her car, he had trusted her and she had gone to his secret lair and had saved him. Well Diggle helped. Felicity was driving back home, the stench of the blood filled her nostrils; she had just agreed to help Oliver until they found Walter. To be honest, she did not know why she had agreed to help even with Walter, something inside her was screaming that she needed to do this. She had to find him; he was kind and nice when no one else was. He had been understood especially when he had found out that she had a baby.
When Felicity got home, she could smell food, she looked at her mother who was in the kitchen stirring what looked like sauce with her beautiful baby girl on her hip. "Hi baby girl" Felicity cooed, her daughter recognized her immediately and quickly reached her tiny hands out for Felicity. Felicity quickly took hold of her and cradled her closely to her chest as she rubbed down the back of her back and placed kisses on her head. Yes, Felicity Smoak had a child. She had found out she was pregnant in college, she moved away to Starling City, had a baby and her mother had moved in with her to help her. She was lucky that she found a job immediately, she had worked up until she was almost 9 months, went on maternity, however, despite being allowed the maternity leave, she went back to work immediately. It had been difficult as she went to work straight after her daughter was born. But she had too. She could not afford to pass that opportunity, nor could she afford to not move forward in a career and ensure that her daughter had everything in life. You see her supervisor had left for another job, she and the other employees were all pretty much on the same stage in their careers and all pretty new. She had gone back with hopes of applying for the supervisor role. Despite going back to work after having Arizona, she had not gotten the job. She then had wished she had not bothered and she had just stayed home with her baby girl.
"What had you so late?" Her mother asked.
"One of the computers crashed" she said in a baby voice as she swayed with Arizona in her hands. She had been blown away about how easy a lie came to her. Felicity looked at her daughter; she was coming up to 6 months old. She had entered the babbling faze and Felicity absolutely loved it. She loved her daughter more than anything and although it was terrifying to go and work for the Hood she needs to. She has to find Walter; she has to do the right thing and she needs to be a hero in the eyes of her little girl.
During the Dodger case after having a bomb collar on, she had been terrified. She had thought it was going to explode and kill her. She had thought two things at that time, one everyone had to step away, if she was going to be blown up she would rather no one else died with her. Her second thought was of Arizona. Despite Ari being in her mind she had to push it to the side and guide Oliver to find the Dodger. Once the collar had been removed she had never been more relieved in her life. That night they had gone for drinks, they had ditched the party and had gone to get a round in. After they finished Oliver walked her home. It was the first night that he had officially met Ari. She had mentioned her all the time and shown him and Diggle pictures.
Oliver had walked her to her door and her mother had come out nosy as always and had wanted to meet her new friend. Of course she happened to have Ari on her hip at the time. Oliver had come into her little town house and had officially met her. He even went as far as to hold her hand when she balled into a fist.
The second time Oliver had met Ari was after Helena, he knew that Felicity had been ok but he had wanted to check up on her. When he got to her house it had just been Felicity and Ari. Her mother had gone to work for a late night shift. He had come in and when Ari had thrown up on Felicity, she had cleaned her up and handed her to Oliver so she could change. It had felt awkward in the beginning. He had looked at her and did not know what to do or say. The baby had merely smiled, giggled and babbled and it was that moment when Oliver had truly smiled back since he had returned. As Felicity had ordered in some food he spent the whole night holding Ari until she fell asleep on his shoulder. Felicity had watched and had only allowed herself to dream.
The third time was after the discovery of the manmade earth quake machines. He had rushed over to her home with tickets booked for Felicity, Ari and Donna to get onto his private jet and leave the Glades. Felicity had of course refused. She wanted to stay and help, help to stop the machine and save lives. Ari and Donna had gotten on the plane and she had stayed behind. It killed him that she did, however, he knew he needed her and it was much easier knowing Ari had been safe.
Since returning from the Island a second time and with Felicity's promotion to his EA, he had spent a lot of time with Ari. Sometimes when he would have to do late nights at the office she would bring Ari and stay with him. He loved those times. It normally consisted of him holding Ari whilst Felicity typed or read aloud the documents they were going over. Ari had been just over a year old and had started to walk slowly and loved to crawl around on the floor. When she would arrive at his office he loved how fearless she was, crawling around everywhere and was shocked to see that she had no fear when it came to pressing herself close to the windows which over looked the city. For some people the sheer fact of looking out of the window was scaring considering how high they were. Yet she would press her face against the glass and look outside and every so often screech with excitement when she saw a bird. Oliver knew there were rumours of him and Felicity. Especially since word got out that her child was with him a lot of the time. He did not care. He did not need to explain the situation to anyone. He loved Ari. He had never told anyone but he was sure everyone knew. He was so smitten by her.
It was the count had taken Felicity and he took her home that Ari had said her first word. "Dada." It had scared the hell out of him and Felicity. Felicity laughed it off saying she had read in a book that the letter d was the most common and easiest way for a baby to start speaking. They did not mention it after that.
The Slade fiasco had everyone on their feet. Despite having asked Diggle to watch for Felicity he would sit on buildings and constantly check in on her. It still surprised him every day that despite being a single mom to a baby and having only agreed to help him because of Walter, it still amazed him that she had wanted to stay on the team. She had told him that she felt that she was making a real difference. And she was. Oliver had always denied and pushed away any sort of romantic feelings he had. He had not believed or thought he felt anything for her until Barr Allen came on the scene. It was that moment when he realized that he had fallen for her.
The lie to fool Slade had not been a lie.
After Slade was put away the two got close during those 6 months. He was practically living with her since he had lost everything. And by practically he was sleeping on the couch. He loved those times together, he would wake up make food, he would tend to Ari in the middle of the night. Felicity would wake up and frequently find him and Ari snuggled up on the couch. The little girl had been two and was very talkative although it was sporadic you could have a conversation with her. She called Oliver "Ollie" she would always hug him. One night after Felicity had kissed her good night and told her that she loved her, Ari's response was love you Mama and Ollie. Oliver was beaming and it was something that had become a thing between them.
It was Diggle's conversation and the whole domestic life that they were living which made him ask her out finally. When the explosion happened and he decided he could not be both, he realized that he had let himself get dragged into a life which could never be his. He had moved out and tried to cut ties with Felicity and Ari by keeping his distance. It had been hard, Ari was constantly asking for him and whenever a situation had arisen where Oliver was in the same place as Ari that little girl would run straight into his arms. How could he deny her. Or reject her. He would always hug her back tell her how much he missed her.
Ray Palmer. Ray Palmer had come along and to say Oliver was jealous was an understatement. He realized he had messed up real bad at Lyla and Diggle's wedding when Ray and Felicity had shown up with Ari. They looked like a family and they looked happy. Well that's what he thought. It had turned out that Felicity had only just introduced Ari to Ray. Diggle had said something about her not wanting to confuse her daughter. He could not help but rub it into Palmer's face when the girl had let go of his hand and ran straight into him. His first dance since coming back from the Island had been with a 3 year old little girl.
Felicity and him were finally together. He had asked her to go away with him and to take Ari was them. She had never been so happy. Ari had never been so happy. During their 6 months away they did everything, they were a little family. Oliver had surprised Felicity when they had settled into Coast City with papers to adopt Ari. She had been so happy and Ari had finally had a father. Since then Ari had addressed Oliver as daddy and he absolutely loved it. He was going to propose to Felicity and they were going to be a real family.
Until the doorbell rang!