AN: I'm BACK! :) I hope you all didn't go too crazy waiting for me to come back. :) My goal for this fic is to update at least once a week. I will do my best to stick to this timeline.
I won't spend too long on the formalities so here you go:
1. Thanks to WolfOfHiddenMoons for your amazingly quick beta on this as well as for your input! I greatly appreciate it!
2. I do not own Arrow. It belongs to the CW.
...
"Welcome home Mrs. Queen." Oliver smiled.
"Welcome home Mr. Queen." Felicity answered with a smile of her own as she placed her hand on her stomach and thought about their future, and the appointment that she needed to make.
They were home!
…
Chapter 1 - Home
"Oliver! Felicity! You're back!" Roy stated from where he hung on the Salmon Ladder.
Roy had just reached the top of the Ladder and had paused for a moment to catch his breath when he noticed the newlyweds standing on the stairs. He quickly jumped down from and headed towards the couple just as Thea and Sin noticed that they had company.
"Oliver, Felicity, Diggle, Lyla, welcome home." Andrew greeted the group as he stood from his place at Felicity's computers.
"Ollie!" Thea squealed as she ran to embrace her brother in a tight hug before turning to her new sister-in-law. They had only been gone for six weeks but she had missed them dearly. "I'm so glad you're home."
"Hey Speedy." Oliver held Thea close for a moment.
"It's not Speedy anymore Ollie." Thea laughed as she pulled away from her brother.
"No?" Oliver asked curiously. "What is it then?"
"The Phoenix." Roy answered as he shook Oliver's hand in greeting.
Oliver took a moment to think that over. He realized that it was very fitting, and Walter apparently knew that when he called Thea a Phoenix not long before his wedding. He was glad Thea had found a name that she liked.
"Phoenix it is then."
"Felicity how are you? How was the honeymoon? Did my brother treat you well? Where did you go? What did you see? What foods…." Thea asked, the questions coming out at a hundred miles an hour.
"Thea!" Roy interrupted her rambling. "We're not playing fifty questions here. You'll have a chance to get all your answers in due time." Roy laughed, noting Thea's pouty lip.
"It's okay Roy, she just missed us." Felicity answered as she pulled Thea into a hug. "I am amazing. Yes, Oliver is treating me great. He's wonderful! As for the rest, I'll fill you in later." Felicity winked at Thea and gained a laugh from the young woman.
"Welcome home guys." Sin said as she joined the rest of the group. "I'm glad you enjoyed your honeymoon."
"Thank you Sin." Felicity smiled as she gave the younger woman a hug as well. She didn't want anyone to feel left out.
"So, what are your plans for tonight? Are you joining us on patrol?" Roy asked as the group made their way further into the Lair.
"Yeah, I'm ready to suit up again. It's been a while." Oliver admitted as he glanced at the case housing his green leather.
"I bet. What about you Digg? You going out with us?" Roy turned to the other man.
"Yeah. Vacations over, it's time to get back to work." Diggle replied with a smile.
"Well, since you two are back I'm going to take the evening off and spend it with Nyssa before she leaves town. Call me only if it's urgent." Sara instructed as she grabbed the keys to her bike.
"Have a good evening Sara." Felicity gave the other blonde a quick hug before she disappeared.
"Well, fill us in. What's been going on since we've been gone?" Oliver asked as he turned to Andrew.
"Not much. We've mostly been just keeping the peace. We've been stopping a string of robberies, the occasional breaking and entering. Not really anything to be too worried about." Andrew answered as he gestured to Felicity's computer chair, offering her seat back to her.
Felicity gave Andrew a small smile of thanks before sitting down in her chair and facing her computers. Her smile grew as she looked at the pictures on the desk. The first was a group shot of the Team from the wedding. They were all smiling and laughing, something that didn't happen for Team Arrow very often. The second was of Oliver and Felicity. Felicity was standing in front of Oliver with her left hand resting on his chest, showing off her wedding bands, and they were gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. The way Felicity was positioned in the picture you could make out just a hint of her dragon tattoo and she took in a deep breath as it briefly brought back the memories of when she had received it. She and Oliver hadn't really talked about it until their honeymoon and she hoped that he really was okay with it now as he had said he was.
"Those were our favorite pictures. You can change them if you want to." Thea commented as she noticed Felicity looking at the new pictures on her desk. "We thought it would make the place feel just a bit more like home."
"They are perfect choices Thea. Thank you!" Felicity said with all sincerity as she offered her sister-in-law a smile. "So, what are we doing tonight? Just routine patrolling?"
"Yes. I want to train for a bit first then we can go out at dusk." Oliver answered as he placed a hand on the back of Felicity's chair.
"That sounds good to me. Andrew can catch me up on things here while you train." Felicity answered, gaining a nod of agreement from Andrew.
"Perfect." Oliver smiled before going to change into his workout gear.
Oliver moved to the Salmon Ladder first after he changed into his loose fitting workout pants. As he moved up the Ladder he could feel his muscles stretching and warming up. It felt incredibly good to be working out again.
Felicity watched Oliver ascend the Salmon Ladder and realized that she had missed watching him do this. Watching him as his muscles rippled with the effort of moving up the Ladder, seeing his body become covered in sweat, his abs being on display for her to ogle. She was so entranced with watching Oliver on the Ladder that Andrew had to call her name three times before she shook herself out of it.
"I upgraded a couple of your programs while you were gone. They started to run a bit sluggishly so I did a bit of work with them to help them run faster." Andrew started to explain. This led into a discussion about what he had upgraded, why, and how it was boosting the speed of her system.
It was half an hour later, while Oliver and Diggle were sparring on the mats, that Felicity finally approached Roy. The young man was checking his gear in preparation for the evenings patrolling when she walked up to him.
"Hey Roy." Felicity greeted him as she stood next to the case with his red leather.
"Hey. How does it feel being back?" Roy asked as he offered her a small smile.
"Really good. Hey, I wanted to talk to you for a minute." Felicity started to explain why she had approached him. "I never really had a chance to talk to you before, you know, between the Dealer and the wedding."
"Felicity…" Roy started to respond before being interrupted.
"No, let me talk." Felicity interjected. "Since you've joined the Team you've become like a little brother to me. When the Dealer took you, what he did to you, it made me sick. I wanted to talk with you after, to make sure you were okay, but things were just so busy. I'm so sorry I didn't check in with you."
"Felicity, I'm fine. I promise." Roy told Felicity. He could see that this had eaten at her for a while and he hoped that he could put her mind at ease. "We were both busy. I was still healing from my injuries and you were neck deep in last minute wedding details. Not to mention that Thea was stuck to me like glue the whole time."
"That's no excuse not to make sure that you were okay." Felicity stated.
"Maybe not. But what does matter is that you do care and that you are asking me now." Roy placed his hand on her arm comfortingly.
"How are you really doing Roy?" Felicity asked after a moment.
"I'm doing okay. I still have nightmares once in a while but they aren't so bad if Thea is with me." Roy said honestly. "The first couple of weeks were the hardest. I found myself jumping at the smallest of sounds sometimes, always checking my back, constantly checking in on Thea and Sin to make sure they were okay." Roy paused for a moment. "I had a long talk with Sara and she told me that my reactions were completely normal for someone that's been though the things I've been through. It's really helped having her and Thea here to talk to, not to mention that I've been able to get to know my brother a lot better."
"Roy, I'm so sorry we weren't here for you." Felicity said softly as she pulled him into a tight hug. "We should have been here for you!"
"No Felicity, you were right where you needed to be. You and Oliver really needed to get away and spend some time together, just the two of you. I don't hold any hard feelings. In fact, I'm really glad you two got away." Roy told her as he rubbed small circles in her back. It was then that he remembered her tattoo.
"Hey Felicity, did you and Oliver ever talk about the tattoo?" Roy asked cautiously after a moment.
Felicity pulled back so that she could talk more easily.
"Yes, we finally did." Felicity answered as she glanced over to the mats where her husband and Diggle were training. "It was about a week and a half after the wedding and we were at the beach. My bikini showed it off quite effectively. That evening I asked Oliver why he had been brooding on our honeymoon. Turns out that seeing it reminds him of Shado and brings all that pain back to the surface. He keeps beating himself up over the fact that he couldn't protect me from it, that I was still captured, hurt, and branded."
"It's not his fault." Roy commented softly. He knew Oliver well enough to know what his mentor had thought.
"That's what I told him, but he argued in typical Oliver Queen fashion." Felicity laughed. "I told him that it bothered me too, knowing that I bore the same marks that another woman that he had loved bore, a woman who is now dead. It hurts me to know that every time he sees it he thinks of her. But then I realized something."
"What's that?" Roy asked when Felicity paused and turned to look at Oliver.
"It's not so much a branding to remind him of what he's lost in the past, but to remind him of how far he's come." Felicity explained as she followed Oliver's easy movements on the mats. "I told him that when he sees the dragon on my shoulder he should remember that he is no longer the man that he was when he was with Shado. He's something better, someone better."
"Did he go for that?" Roy asked curiously.
"It took a while to get it through his thick skull but yeah, he finally did." Felicity smiled, remembering just when it had sunk in. He had been a much lighter person after that and the benefits of being married were so much sweeter that night. In fact, if she were a betting woman she would bet that that was the night that things changed for them, for forever. I still need to call and make that appointment. She thought suddenly, the reminder of that evening bringing to the forefront of her mind the reason why she needed to make that appointment.
"Are you two going to stand there and chat all evening, or are we going to suit up and get to work?" Oliver asked from his place across the room on the training mats.
"I'm glad you two talked." Roy whispered as he smiled and stepped back.
"I'm glad you and I talked too." Felicity replied with a small smile.
"Yeah, me too." Roy turned to head towards the training mats. "We can suit up if you want, but I kind of thought I'd hand your ass to you on the mats first." Roy answered Oliver.
"A little cocky now are we?" Oliver asked with a smile as Roy joined him on the mats.
"Why don't you find out?" Roy taunted.
"I'm glad you guys are back." Thea commented quietly as she came to stand next to Felicity as they watched the guys sparring on the mats.
"Me too." Felicity smiled.
"He's been training with Sara. He's gotten pretty good at a few new moves." Thea said proudly as she watched Roy sweep Oliver's feet out from under him. "Unfortunately I don't think it will be enough to keep Oliver down."
Both women laughed at that, and the fact that mere seconds after Oliver was swept off his feet Roy was the one pinned to the mats.
…
It was only an hour later that Arrow, Arsenal, Overwatch, and Phoenix were out on patrol. As Felicity sat behind her computers she took a deep breath and smiled. This is what they were here for, what they did best. This was home.
"How are things looking on your side of town Arsenal?" Oliver asked over the comms as he and Diggle made their way around the city.
"All's good here Arrow. What about your side?" Roy responded, he was happy that the Team was complete again, even if they weren't all out in the field tonight.
"Clear here. What do you say we wrap it up early and head home?" Oliver replied.
"Sounds good to me!" Thea agreed.
As the Team bantered over the comms the Arrow's phone rang in the lair. Felicity checked to see that it was Detective Lance before patching him through the comms to Oliver.
"Oliver, I have Lance on the line." Felicity explained to her husband before she put the call through.
"Detective." Oliver answered in typical Arrow fashion.
"So the rumors are true, you are back from you trip." Lance stated, Oliver could tell the man was smiling from his tone of voice.
"Where did you go Arrow?" The Captain asked, letting Oliver know he was on speaker.
"A friend needed me. What do you need?" Oliver changed the subject, not wanting to have to come up with a believable story for the Chief and Detective.
"We heard rumors that you were out tonight. We wanted to verify, and let you know that it looks like we are going to have a case that we will need your help with soon." Detective Lance explained.
"We don't have all the information together just yet, but we wanted to make sure you were in town before we reached out." The Captain stated.
"My Team could have handled it." Oliver replied, slightly irritated that SCPD still didn't completely trust his Team.
"We're going to need all hands on deck for this one." Lance told him. He knew that Team Arrow could handle anything even without everyone there. But, for this guy, they were going to need all the help that they could get.
"Call me when you have the information and my Team will meet you." Oliver told the Officers before then hanging up.
"What was that all about?" Thea asked curiously.
"I guess SCPD will be needing our help before too long." Diggle answered as he and Oliver headed back to the Lair.
It was only a short while later when the Team entered the Lair under Verdant. Each member took turns changing out of their leather and putting their supplies away. As Thea waited for her turn to change she made a very obvious observation.
"Man, this place is getting crowded. Not to mention we could seriously use more changing rooms."
Oliver looked to Diggle and Felicity before nodding his head in agreement.
"You're right Phoenix." Oliver agreed. "We shall see what we can do."
...
AN: Thank you all for coming back for more of my crazy! I hope you have enjoyed it so far! Please leave me a review to let me know what you think!