AU – idea: Oliver with a kid

PROMPT: " i asked you to babysit one time and now my child keeps asking when you will spend time with them again "

Summary: Oliver Queen thinks he's got it all: a good life, good job, and most important of all, an amazing daughter. But when he meets Felicity Smoak he soon begins to understand just how much has been missing from their lives and how much better one person can make it.


I.

The morning everything changed started home in a downtown apartment in Starling City.

A father and daughter getting ready to leave, standing next to one another in front of the bathroom mirror. Oliver trimmed his stubble while his daughter combed her dark blonde hair. When both were done they quickly grabbed their things out in the hallway.

"You got your backpack?"

"Uh huh," she nodded, presenting the purple backpack. "Two books, one to read and one for arts and crafts, pencils, snack box, and…"

"Hailey. Is that a flashlight?"

"… yes. But only a small one."

"Why do you have a flashlight in your backpack?"

"Dad. Duh. So I can always turn on the light." She wiggled the small green flashlight. "Dumbledore, remember?"

"Pretty sure Dumbledore used a candle."

"We don'thave any. I looked." Swinging the backpack onto her back, she started for the door. "And if you don't stop talking, we're gonna be late."

Oliver slung his own backpack over his shoulder and followed Hailey out the door. As she pressed the elevator up, he locked the door. When the elevator doors opened the operator inside gave Hailey a big, bright smile.

The young woman turned to Hailey after they got in. "So, kiddo. Where you off to today?"

"I'm going with Dad to work. We're going to Central City!"

The operator, with cropped auburn hair and a red jacket, smiled down at Hailey. "You sure you can keep up with your dad at work? Seen him push a lot of papers. Might get pretty boring…"

"I'll be okay. Got some stuff with me." Hailey tapped her backpack.

"Sitter called in sick," Oliver explained as the elevator hummed and vibrated beneath his feet. "For the sixth time this month…"

"Sounds like a real keeper. You know, in Opposite Land."

"Yeah," Oliver snorted. "You could say that."

When the doors opened on the bottom floor Hailey jogged out. She turned in the entrance and waved back at the operator who told them to have a great day, and then, with Oliver's arm around her shoulders, Hailey followed her dad out into the car he drove them both in to Queen Consolidated.


Twenty minutes later Oliver and Hailey found themselves in another elevator—one taking them up to Hailey's grandmother's office in Queen Consolidated. When he noticed Hailey shuffling weight back and forth between her feet, Oliver looked down, before tapping her shoulder. She looked up at him.

"You sure that backpack's not too heavy?"

"Dad. I'm fine. Seriously."

Oliver smiled one sided, one dimple deepening. "Just so you know, if you fall over, I won't help you up. I'm going to leave you lying and tell every single passing person they have to tickle you."

Hailey frowned. "You wouldn't do that…"

"Oh, but I would."

Oliver was joking—clearly. He knew that, at some level Hailey knew it too, but for a moment she looked so doubtful, so full of uncertainty that the memory of all the pain she'd experienced already in her young life came to the forefront of what Oliver saw when looking at her. It was more than his heart could take. He put an arm around her, dropping down to kneel next to her.

"I'll always carry you, Little Tiger. Don't you ever doubt that, not even for a second." He waited until her lips softened before kissing the top of her head. "Come on. Let's go."

Moira's secretary knew they were coming, but when Oliver and Hailey arrived they could see through the transparent windows that Moira was on the phone. Documents were stacked next to her on the desk. Oliver stopped in the waiting room and picked Hailey up, hands beneath her arms, setting her down in the couch. From the tall windows behind them daylight shone in brightly, making everything lighter.

"Wait here just a moment," Oliver told his daughter.

Hailey reached for the Newton's cradle on the table and set it in motion. With the sound of even tick-tocks behind him, Oliver gave a polite, brief smile to Moira's secretary and moved for the office door. He was joined by a blonde girl with a ponytail coming up from behind him. He held the door open, let her pass through and together they walked into Moira's office. When the blonde saw Moira on the phone, she pushed the documents against her chest and stepped to the side, waiting in the capacious office.

Moira looked between them. She put a hand over the phone receiver and spoke in a low voice to Oliver. "You brought Hailey?"

"Her sitter called in sick this morning and school doesn't start til next week. What was I supposed to do?"

Moria's stern masked nearly slipped a second before she finished her phonecall. When she was done she waved the blonde over.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mrs. Queen." The young woman turned and looked at Oliver from, what he noticed, a pair of bright blue eyes. "And Mr. Queen too, since I'm kind of interrupting both of you…"

"Miss Smoak," Moira called. "What is it you wanted?"

She quickly handed over the documents. "These are the files you requested from the IT Department. And, since my boss was 'out of office'—" Bunny ears came and went, "—I've checked the numbers myself. Everything should be in order."

Moira nodded, getting out of her chair and focusing back on Oliver. "Honey, you know how much I care about Hailey. But a full day at the company, including a corporate trip back and forth to Central City? It's simply too much. I'll have to go alone."

"Mom," Oliver gritted out, "this is my deal. I've worked it for more than a year. I'm going."

Felicity knew about the deal.

Or, rather, she knew about the project they made the deal for. She'd spent the last hour checking through the financial statement they were bringing with them from the IT Department. She also knew that for the past year Oliver had lead a project – his first project with a leadership role after having shadowed executives in various departments of Queen Consolidated for the past years – for the Medical Research Division QC started two years ago. The project was on developing equipment for cytotoxics, cancer treatment, and today they were headed to Central City to finalize negotiations to buy the patented system that would be integral for the compounding equipment used to produce cytotoxics. Moira already had a meeting with O'Neill Enterprises' CEO scheduled, so they decided to kill both corporate flies with one Queen-made stone.

Queens, who were now looking at each other like waiting out a storm. Moira already mounted the next argument in her mind; Oliver looked back with determination. The storm of the argument began rising between them, but before either got a word in—

"I can watch her."

Both Oliver and Moira stared at Felicity.

"I used to babysit when I was in school," she explained. "It's how I earned spare money for computers."

Oliver turned to her. "No offense Miss Smoak, but I don't even know your first name."

She held her hand out. "Felicity Smoak. MIT class of '09."

Oliver's lips softened. "Oliver Queen. College drop-out, but been busting my ass off trying to catch up the past four years."

Moira went to them. "Felicity was personally hired by your father. If you two will excuse me, I'm going to go say hi to my granddaughter."

Oliver blew out a long breath after his mother left. On one hand, they were travelling to Central City to finalize negotiations for a project he'd worked on for over a year… he'd been the one to propose developing equipment for cytotoxics to the Medical Research Division, kept pushing for research funding, the one who found out O'Neill Enterprises developed a patented system that fit their compounding equipment… long story short, it was hisdeal. He'd been there every step of the way and knew it like the back of his hand.

On the other hand, he'd just met Felicity Smoak. Could he really trust her with Hailey, the most important part of his world? But there was something about Felicity… an air, something steady in her eyes and the way she looked at him. He found himself thinking she had eyes you couldtrust.

Felicity bit her bottom lip. "If you're worried I'm going to child-nap your daughter, or I'm a convicted criminal or something, I can assure you I'm not. Please, check me out."

Felicity winced.

"What I mean is I'm in your company record. You can check my record out."

Oliver was unable to tame his smile; it reached from his mouth up into his eyes.

Moira returned to the room, hand in hand with her granddaughter.

"Felicity," Oliver started, "this is—"

"Hailey." She extended her hand to Felicity, glaring at her father. "I have words, you know."

"You're also eight," he countered.

"And a half."

"Hi, Hailey. I'm Felicity Smoak. Nice to meet you."

Hailey readily shook her hand. "Felicity. I like your name." She observed Felicity's curly hair. "Can you teach me how to do braids? Dad braids my hair for me sometimes… but he's not very good at it."

"What are you talking about?" Oliver protested. "I'm the best."

Hailey shook her head at Felicity. "He's really not."

As Moira went over to her computer to fetch a couple of documents needed for the trip, Felicity crouched next to Hailey.

"I'll show you how to braid your hair." She fisted her hand; Hailey bumped it. "Hey Hailey. What's your favorite animal?"

"Only one? Uh… I really like dogs. And horses. I like rabbits, bunnies, cats…"

"Tell you what. How about you and I visit Starling City Zoo? After that we'll grab a bite to eat and maybe catch a movie. I've been wanting to see the new Pixar for ages."

"Me too!" Hailey turned to Oliver, whose eyes rapidly flipped between them. "Can I, Dad? Please?"

Oliver looked from his daughter's pleading face to Felicity. "Are you sure you're alright with this? We might not be home until late tonight…"

"Absolutely. I mean, assuming my boss is too. Give me a minute and I'll call him… if I can get a hold on him, that is."

Moira looked up from her desk. "Miss Smoak. You can take the rest of the day off. If anyone has anything to say about it, direct them to me."

Moira's cell phone went off, sharp and clear, and she told them she'd be outside taking the call. As she walked out, Oliver dug his keys out of his pocket and unhooked one, handing it over to Felicity.

"This goes to our place. The fridge is stuffed. Everything else, Hailey should be able to show you. She knows where everything is."

"Except for candles," she chirped.

Oliver huffed out a breath. "Go out and say bye to your grandmother."

Oliver handed Felicity some money after Hailey jogged out. "If you need more I promise I'll pay you back when I get home."

Felicity looked at the cash in her hand. "Do you always hand the sitter $500?"

"Apparently not often enough, considering this was the sixth time this month she stood us up."

"Yikes." Felicity grimaced. "Uhm… I'll text your phone. That way you'll have my number and you'll be able to reach me."

From the other side of the transparent glass, Moira tapped her phone on the window, indicating to the watch on her wrist. They had a plane waiting on them; it was time to go. Hailey smiled next to Moira, waving at both of them. Oliver and Felicity joined them out by the elevators, where Felicity let Hailey know she needed her things from her downstairs office before they could leave. Oliver settled his knees on the floor and hugged Hailey before he joined his mother.

"Just, behave. Alright?" he asked, turning in the elevator.

"I will," Felicity answered. "Proper food and we'll both brush our teeth before bed."

Oliver smiled in a way that lit his eyes and brought out his dimples. "I meant Hailey."

"Oh."

Felicity looked down; Hailey smiled adorably up at her.

"You're cute," Hailey told her after the elevator doors closed.

"So are you." Felicity tapped Hailey's shoulder. "So. What do you want to do first?"

"Uhm. Everything?"

"Right." Felicity pressed the elevator button. "Everything sounds like a good place to start."


All the way to Central City Oliver kept wondering if he'd done the right thing. He'd pretty much handed his daughter over to a stranger. Sure, a stranger with a good record, but what was she like as a person? He knew nothing about her. However, he did remind himself that Felicity Smoak had been hired personally by his father back when he was still running the company, and, adding to that, his own mother hadn't objected to leaving Hailey with her. That alone spoke volumes.

Then he reminded himself of other sitters he'd had and how he'd come by them: by recommendation, from people who they'd worked for before. He interviewed them, then he'd usually let them meet Hailey and observed how they got along; if Hailey approved they tried it out for an evening and saw what happened. Despite her age, Hailey was a better judge of character than he was. And she'd seemed to like Felicity. He trusted his daughter; she was a hell of a lot smarter than he was. He didn't know how he'd been lucky enough to have such a clever kid.

As the private plane went in for landing, Oliver smiled to himself remembering Felicity's verbal slip-ups. How she seemed so genuinely flustered was completely endearing, and he still remembered her eyes, deep and clear and true.

Maybe things would turn out alright after all…


"I haven't been here in years," Felicity admitted, entering the zoo.

Hailey and her walked under the brick-made beams into the actual zoo, where the park opened up to a path of different directions. Early spring clad the trees in a green that sparkled when sunlight hit the ferns; the wind had lost its biting chill. Twenty feet in the sounds of animals and children came through: in the distance they could hear goats bleat, the scratchy sound of zoo workers raking the path outside the barn left of where they stood, while children's shouts and laughter colored it all.

Hailey looked up at her. "Did you come here a lot when you were a kid?"

Felicity shook her head. "I didn't. I moved to Starling City six years ago. But when I moved here, I wanted to get to know the city, so I went to all the museums, the library, the zoo…"

"Like what they make us do in school."

"Yeah," Felicity chuckled, "A bit like that."

The two of them followed the graveled path leading out past the icecream parlors near the entrance. Felicity looked up at the rays of sunlight streaming through the ferns above. Spring was modest still, sweater weather and maybe a light jacket, but seeing the slow return of green felt a lot like hope.

Hailey looked up at Felicity again. "You work with computers, right?"

"I do. I can pull them apart and put them back together. I also really enjoy working with software - the codes that tell the computers what to do. That's what I'm doing right now at your family's company. I'm creating a new security system."

"Sounds like a lot of work."

"It is, but I like it. How about you? What do you like?"

They walked past a large pot of recently planted pink and purple flowers; the color matched Hailey's backpack, currently resting on Felicity's back.

"Uhm. I like reading? And animals, I love animals. Also, I like icecream. Chocolate's my favorite.What's yours?"

"Mint chocolate chip."

"That's Dad's favorite, too." Hailey pushed hair back behind her ear. "I like watching movies with him. I like when he takes me to the park on weekends. I also like going to my friend's house - her name's Estelle and she's got this big suitcase of scented erasers she collects, and I like going through that. They also have two dogs. I really like animals."

"Seems we've come to the right place, then." Felicity stopped at a fork in the path. It lead out into several different directions of the zoo, different parts with different animals. "Where do you want to start?"

Hailey looked at the map next to them. Her eyes grew larger. "They have snow leopards here. Wow."

Felicity smiled, holding her hand out. "Come on. Let's go."


Oliver couldn't shake the dull worry in the pit of his stomach throughout the day. Well aware there was little he could do, 600 miles away, the lack of knowing what happened and how it happened still managed to get to him. He told himself he'd call Felicity after lunch, but the meetings drew out past noon and Oliver's opportunity to call them escaped him.

Now, hours into afternoon, they were going over details. As their VP went out to fetch contracts from his corner office, Oliver's phone buzzed in his pocket. Others around the table were busy talking, including his mother, so Oliver used the moment to fish his phone out.

He opened the message and a picture appeared: Hailey and Felicity standing either side of a goat. The caption read:

George sends his regards. We do too!

Oliver smiled. He attempted hiding his growing smile behind his hand as he zoomed in on the picture. Hailey was smiling wide and all of her radiated; she looked like she was having a world of fun. On the other side of the goat, Felicity radiated too. She was beautiful, actually. Full smiling lips and a glow to her he'd missed this morning. She was lovely.

Oliver adjusted in his seat and typed out a reply.

Glad to see you're having fun. Say hi to George from me.

Sliding the phone back down into his pocket, Oliver focused back on the meeting as the VP returned to the room. He refocused feeling relieved and reassured things were going well back in Starling City.

The image of two smiling girls and a goat named George got him through the rest of the afternoon.


An hour after midnight the door of a downtown apartment in Starling City gently creaked open.

Ahead of Oliver the apartment loomed silent. The hallway lamps surrounding the mirror were on, but with the light turned down low. Down the hallway Oliver could hint the living room enveloped in the same low light. Everything was quiet.

With his backpack slung over his shoulder, Oliver locked the front door quietly. He dropped the backpack on the chair by the hallway mirror. Passing Hailey's door, not entirely closed but left ajar, he paused. The little light that gleamed in fell across her bed, letting him make out the soft rise and fall of her stomach as she slept. He considered going in and kissing her goodnight, but seeing her calmly sleeping face he let her sleep. There was someone else he needed to check in with too.

He found Felicity in the living room, asleep on the couch with a book across her chest. The dimmed light of the lamp behind the couch cast her in a soft glow. Oliver let himself stand there a moment before he walked over and gently touched her shoulder.

She opened her eyes slowly. She blinked, the waters of her blue eyes calm. "Hey..."

"Hey back."

"What time is it?" Felicity asked, slowly putting the book on the table and her feet on the floor.

"A little after one."

Oliver watched her moments of wakening, the way her eyes were a little smaller behind her glasses, how she had an imprint from the cushion on her right cheek, a soft line, like drawn on with a thin charcoal pen. How all of her looked so soft, so warm. He had to look away, a glance at the floor, to remember himself.

"Sorry I got home so late. The meetings went on for longer than we thought and I couldn't get home any sooner."

"That's okay," she yawned. "How'd the meeting go?"

"Good. Damn good, actually." He smiled. "We closed the deal. The patent is ours. Now Medical Research Division has to implement the software to the equipment they developed, which might take a while but… we're on our way."

Felicity's tired eyes lit. "That's great, Oliver."

Oliver looked at the video game console pulled out in front of the TV. "Did you and Hailey have a good time? She wasn't a complete rascal?"

"We had a great time," Felicity assured. "We went to the zoo, the movies… she beat me at Mario Kart like seven times. I tried actuallywinning against her, and let me tell you, not as easy as I thought. She beat me seven times out of ten. Actually beat me."

"If it makes you feel any better, she usually beats me nine out of ten." Oliver angled a shoulder at the console. "Kids these days are born with those things."

"Hey. I grew up with Super Mario and assembled my first super computer at seven, and still. Hailey basically beat my butt right out of here. Which reminds me… I should get going."

Stretching her arms above her head, Felicity finally got up onto her feet. She grabbed the book from the table and handed it to Oliver.

"Do you mind returning this to Hailey tomorrow?" She glanced at the cover as he grabbed it, smiling a little. "It's been years since I read this."

Oliver's lips stretched. "You really read this?"

Felicity put a hand on her hip. "Oliver Queen. Are you mocking me for enjoying Harry Potter?"

Oliver held up both hands, including the book. "Absolutely not. Wouldn't dare."

"You better not. Those books are great."

A glint appeared in Felicity's eyes; Oliver's tired ones met it. She went on to grab her purse from the hallway and when Oliver joined her, he came walking pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You alright?"

"Yeah… just a headache. A full day spent in meetings and drinking a gallon of coffee will do that to you."

Felicity nodded. "Try a little cold water with lemon squeezed in it. Helps me when I've been staring at a computer screen all day. Well, that and eye drops."

Oliver smiled. "I'll try that."

Funny how he was smiling again. He seemed to do that a lot around her.

He walked Felicity to the door. He started wondering things, things like how he best told her how much he appreciated her saving his and Hailey's day; if it would be too much to thank her and also tell her how pretty she was; how even though he didn't know her he liked the person she seemed to be. He thought about things he wanted to ask her, get to know about her, things like, so where do you come from? or dare himself to ask do you want to get a cup of coffee someday?

But he didn't ask any of those things. Instead he stood by the door, one hand on the frame as they waited for the elevator to ascend. He stood there, feeling indecision constrict and claw at him, until, finally, he said what he at the very least should say.

"Felicity… thank you for taking care of Hailey."

"You're welcome." She glanced past him to the bedroom door. "She's a great kid."

He smiled proudly, eyes crinkling. "She is."

Felicity walked into the elevator. Holding her purse against her chest, she waved a little before pushing back her hair. Like a thirty year old dork, Oliver waved back, feeling his chest warm like thaw after winter. He recognized that warmth, the hum of his heart from within.

After the doors closed, Oliver only knew one thing.

He couldn't wait to see Felicity Smoak again.