He Lied
An: I don't own Arrow. This story was inspired by my disappointment in Oliver and I think I kind of wanted to make him suffer before I fix their relationship.
Summary: Felicity discovers the secret that Oliver has been keeping. Spoilers for 4x08. Angst.
She was lying in bed snuggling into the last of the warmth Oliver left behind before he went for his shower. His phone on the bedside table started to ring causing Felicity to look at the bathroom door. It was closed and the shower was running. She wasn't sure if she should answer his phone. She looked at the caller ID and realised the number was from Central City. It wasn't Star Labs or Barry but that didn't mean it wasn't someone from Team Flash. Thinking there was an emergency, she answered his phone.
She was immediately graced with the sound of a woman's voice talking frantically about an accident that William was in and how he wanted Oliver and Oliver needed to come to Central City to soothe his son. The phone dropped from Felicity's hand at that point. Oliver had been going to Central City quite a bit lately, each time with some flimsy excuse. He was also taking some calls in private now. Felicity thought he was keeping a secret from her. She dropped hints every day that he could trust her with whatever was bothering him. Now she knew what it was.
Oliver had a son. A son who lived in Central City, a son he had never told her about. She realised that he probably discovered the truth when they were in Central City. He had left the farmhouse a few times investigating something on his own. By why wouldn't he tell her? Did he think she would be angry with him or maybe he wanted to do the right thing and marry his son's mother. A sharp pain went through Felicity's stomach, Oliver might want to do the right thing which meant his relationship with her was over but he probably didn't know how to end it yet.
The bathroom door opened and Oliver walked into the room with only a towel riding low on his hips. Usually Felicity eyes would be glued to him but now she found it hard to even look at him.
"What happened to my phone?" Oliver asked.
Felicity looked down on the ground where the phone was lying with a cracked screen. It represented her relationship with Oliver, broken.
"Do you have a son?" she asked him softly.
She heard his sudden intake of air.
"Oliver?" she asked, her head rising to finally look at him. She could tell he was preparing himself to lie to her. "Don't lie to me,"
"It's complicated," he settled on as a response.
"Only you could find the truth complicated," she spat at him. "Your son's mother called. He's in the hospital after an accident and wants to see you."
Oliver hesitated before heading into his closet. When he emerged in his grey Henley, leather jacket and jeans she knew the truth. Oliver did not dress like that to go into the campaign office but for a quick trip to Central City, those clothes were perfect.
The tears started to fall. Felicity angrily started to swipe at them.
"Felicity," He said.
"Don't Oliver. I'm done with being lied too."
Oliver tried to walk towards her but she moved away, darting around him to lock herself in the bathroom. She turned on the hot water, leaned against the wall in the stall and slowly sank to the floor in tears. It was only after the water had gone cold and she started to shiver did she step out. By that time, Oliver was gone. Felicity walked to her closet, she took out her suitcase and packed her clothes. She could not stay there any longer. Not in the home of a man she could not even look at any more.
S-2
Felicity was in the lair looking at pictures of Samantha and William Clayton. It had been easy to find them after she hacked Oliver's phone records. She pulled up the last number that called his phone and it traced back to Samantha. She then found pictures of them, William's birth records, his hospital file indicating he fell and broke his hand that morning and her personal favourite, CCTV camera footage of Oliver visiting them.
The elevator doors opened, signalling it was time for her to look at something else. She knew it wasn't Oliver. He was still in Central City. The voices of Thea and Laurel drifted towards her.
"Can you believe, Oliver took another day off!" Thea said angrily.
"He probably wanted some hanky panky time with Felicity," Laurel responded to which Thea snorted in disgust. It was a well know fact that Thea did not talk about her brother's sex life.
Felicity ignored them and pretended to be looking through the SCPD feed.
"Oh you're here, where's Oliver?" Thea asked looking around.
Felicity shrugged, not even looking at her friends which was a big clue to them that something was wrong.
"Ok what did Ollie do this time?" Laurel asked.
Felicity turned around to face them. Laurel was in her usual stance with her hands crossed in front of her. Felicity debated what to tell them. It would be very obvious that they broke up. She knew the team would want to know why. Also Thea had a nephew. She deserved to know. She turned around and pulled up the picture of Oliver with his son. She was going to have to get accustomed to seeing that.
Confusions fluttered over her teammates faces.
"Meet Oliver's future wife and his son," Felicity clarified for them.
"What? Is this some alternate universe or something?" Thea asked confused. The only future sister-in-law she knew of was the one sitting in front of her.
"No, that is Oliver's son," Felicity stressed. "They live in Central City."
"No that's not possible," Laurel said. "He's looks like he's eight,"
"He was born while he was on the island," Felicity told her while pulling up William's birth records for them to see.
A range of emotions played over Laurel's face, while Thea was doing the math out loud,
"So Ollie knocked this girl up before the island but wasn't he with..." Thea said pausing as she turned to look at her roommate who looked very pissed.
Felicity realised it would be hard for Laurel to hear all of this. It was a reminder of the way Oliver treated her. It was physical evidence that Oliver had never been faithful to her, even when they were supposed to be moving into an apartment together.
Laurel pulled out her phone to call him and Thea snatched it away. "Oh no, this is a face to face conversation. Just wait until I get my hands on him."
S-3
It was late when the train pulled into Star City. He decided to go straight to the loft. He brought a new phone in Central City and put his previous sim card in it. He had missed calls from Alex and Thea in the morning, both probably commenting on his absence from the office that day and a missed call from Diggle but no calls from Felicity. That worried him the most. They rarely ever went so long without talking. He found that even though he was sitting in that hospital room with William while he was getting his cast, he needed her. Every bone in his body was aching for her to be there with him. He told Samantha what happened. He told her that he was going to tell his sister and his close friends. He couldn't continue lying to them. They told William the truth before Oliver left to come home.
The loft felt cold and empty when he entered it. He saw no sign of his blonde girlfriend downstairs. He knew she was probably at the lair, hacking her frustrations away. He headed up to their bedroom. The first thing he noticed was that her closet doors were wide open. He sank down on his knees in front of her empty closet. Reality sunk in, she left him. She had enough of his secrets and she walked out. It was all his fault, all of his bad decisions have come back to haunt him. He curled up in a ball in front the closet and cried. He doesn't even know how to fix the mess he's created for himself. The world just looks too black to even try.
He can't imagine living in this loft without her. She's invaded every part of his life. His passion for cooking is because he loves to cook for her. He looks forward to going to bed because she is there with him. She soothes him from his nightmares, she takes care of him, she supports him. He cannot go back to living without her. She has become as essential as air, water and food for his survival.
S-4
In the early morning hours Oliver hears his name being angrily called by his sister. He knows at once Felicity told her the truth. He's still in front of Felicity's empty closet. He doesn't have the strength to move.
"Do you never learn!" she shouts angrily at him when she's found him in the bedroom.
She goes on for what feels like hours. Pointing out how every secret Oliver and their parents ever kept hurt their family. She talks at length about Slade about the undertaking, about who would be alive if the secret had been revealed. He sits there and he takes it. He knows he deserves her anger.
Finally she calms down and looks at him, "it is only because you are my brother and I love you that I'm going to help you fix this mess and help you get your girl back because," she says looking over the broken man on the floor in front of her, "there is no Oliver Queen without Felicity Smoak. Now start talking."
And suddenly, Oliver's world no longer looked so black. The story comes easily and his heart practically jumps out of his chest when Thea declares it's fixable.