This is part one of a three part fic. I'm not sure when the second part will be posted, but I hope you enjoy this!
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"Felicity Smoak?"
Felicity glanced up from where she was nervously wringing her hands together. The waiting room was empty except for the receptionist and the nurse standing in the doorway.
"Yes!" she chirped, jumping to her feet. "That's me."
The woman smiled warmly, gesturing for Felicity to follow her. "The doctor is all ready to go."
A shiver went up Felicity's spine. Why did they always keep doctor's offices so cold? Were they purposefully trying to make the patients uncomfortable? Shouldn't doctors be all about making their patients comfortable? A doctor's office seemed like the type of place you'd want to be comfortable in.
The nurse led her into a room and handed her a blue paper dressing gown. "Get undressed and the doctor will be in when you're ready."
"Yup." Felicity smiled. It was stiff and forced, but it was the best she could do, what with the butterflies currently racing around in her stomach.
The nurse's sympathetic smile had her feeling caught.
"Everyone's nervous during this part," she said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You'll be fine."
With that, the woman left and Felicity stared after her a moment before quickly stripping off her orange dress and tugging on the thin paper one. She was folding her outfit neatly and tucking it beside her purse when the door opened again.
"Felicity?" a kind voice asked, and Felicity glanced up to see an older woman in a white coat enter the room. Short gray hair framed her thin face, and her gentle smile instantly calmed the nerves Felicity had been feeling all morning.
"Dr. Madigan." Felicity smiled in greeting. "Hi."
"It's nice to see you again. How are you?" Dr. Madigan asked, placing a clipboard down on the counter and pulling a stool closer so she could flip through the paperwork.
"Nervous," Felicity admitted with a laugh and the doctor grinned.
"That's understandable. Artificial insemination is always a little scary, but for someone in your position it's a little more nerve inducing." The woman stood from her stool and gestured for Felicity to take a seat on the exam table. "Being a single mom takes courage. But you have the means, you have the financial stability. You've decided that this is what you want. Are you really going to let a few nerves stop you now?"
The paper on the table crinkled as Felicity hopped up, letting the doctor help her position her feet in the stirrups.
"No," she said, voice firm. "You're right. I want this. I've planned everything, been over all the pros and cons. I have a good job, a nice savings, and I'm ready for this. That's more than you can say for a lot of couples who get pregnant."
The doctor smirked, pulling a tray of supplies closer to the exam table. "Not to mention some of the best people I know were raised by single mothers. Myself, included."
Felicity leaned back, closing her eyes. "Me, too," she whispered, letting Dr. Madigan's words wash over her.
She wanted this. She'd thought it through for the past two years. She was prepared. More than prepared. Hell, Felicity had even started a college fund.
She'd never wanted anything more than to be a mother. She wanted a good job and an impressive career, as well, but the last few years she'd been considering having children. Her last boyfriend hadn't been interested, it was why they'd broken up despite the fact that he was kind of perfect for her.
"We're too young," he'd said. And maybe he had a point. Felicity was only twenty-six and despite her job being financially satisfying, it wasn't the job she'd always dreamed of.
No, being Oliver Queen's executive assistant wasn't exactly what she'd gone to MIT for, but the money was good, her boss was one of her best friends, and it came with the promise of upward mobility.
"Please, Felicity. Just for a while, just until I get the company on its feet again, then you can have any job you want. I promise."
It was a nice offer, but ultimately not why she'd taken the job. She'd said yes because Oliver's father had just died, his mother was practically catatonic from the loss, and Oliver was left trying to fumble his way through a trial by fire to learn how to run a multi-billion dollar company that he had never wanted to run in the first place. She couldn't have said no if she'd tried.
The first few months had been rough. She'd been frustrated with the new job, resentful even, but eventually they'd found their groove and everything had started to work itself out. Felicity discovered that being a glorified assistant had its perks, like getting to help Oliver make ground breaking changes to the company. She'd discovered that she was actually pretty good at this whole corporate business thing. She was socializing with the big wigs on the board and they'd even implemented some of her ideas.
But, still… There were plenty of people—inside and outside the company alike—who looked down on her for the job. People who didn't understand why she would demean herself with a job like that, or why she would still be in said job two years later. The company was certainly doing better now. If there was ever a time to move on, it was now.
Truth be told, Felicity wasn't sure why she was still there. She'd had plenty of job offers from big name tech companies. If she wanted out she'd had plenty of opportunities, but she hadn't taken one yet.
Whenever she considered it she would think about Oliver and how lost he would be without her. Say what you will about Oliver Queen, but he always appreciated her opinion, which is the only reason she allowed herself to become his secretary in the first place.
Her ex, Cooper, hadn't understood why she was so loyal to Oliver. He also hadn't understood when Felicity's biological clock started chiming for a baby. It wasn't part of his life plan, at least not yet, but Felicity wanted it. She wanted a family, like she'd never gotten. And now, seeing her friends with their families… Oliver with his mother and Thea. Diggle and Lyla and baby Sara. Felicity was just sick of being alone. She was sick of going home to an empty apartment every night. And she was sick and tired of men leaving her. So she wanted a baby; a perfect little person that she would make sure never felt abandoned. Ever.
After Cooper left, Felicity started to play around with the idea of artificial insemination. It was just a joke at first, something she'd mentioned to Lyla once over drinks. But the more she thought about it, the more logical it started to sound.
She thought and she considered and somewhere along the way it stopped being a joke and started becoming a plan. And now here she was… Feet hooked up in stirrups as her doctor turkey basted her with the sperm she'd spent an entire three weeks picking out of the donor catalogue.
So, yeah, Felicity was nervous. But she was also excited to be starting on this new chapter of her life.
###
She couldn't take it anymore.
It had been three weeks since the insemination and one week since Dr. Madigan confirmed that it had worked and Felicity was pregnant. And in that time Felicity had told… her mom.
Who, in her defense, had been extremely excited about the whole thing—there may have been screeching involved—but Felicity wanted to shout it from the rooftops not just to her mother on Skype. She decided not to say anything to her friends in case it didn't work or in case anything went wrong, but she was dying to share the news with someone. Which is how she found herself excitedly scurrying into Oliver's office that morning.
"I have news!" Felicity said, jumping onto the corner of Oliver's desk. He was leaning back in his chair reading his email—more like funny animal slideshows Thea sent him—but tilted his head towards her, a worried furrow in his brow.
"What news? Did Palmer offer you a job?" He leaned forward, his chair jerking upright as he did. "Dammit! I knew that guy was going to try to lure you away the second he met you at that House the Hungry charity thing."
"It was House the Homeless and no," Felicity smirked, "Palmer is not trying to lure me away. Though, he did mention an opening at Palmer Tech when we were talking…"
Oliver narrowed his eyes and her smile widened. He was so easy to tease sometimes.
"Calm down," she said, swatting a hand in his direction. "I'm not going to leave you for Ray Palmer."
The visible relief her words brought Oliver was not something she wanted to think too much about, because one day she would leave. Not for Palmer Tech, but hopefully for a better position within QC. For now, though, she had more important things to discuss. If she could only figure out how to start this conversation.
This had seemed so easy in her head, but staring into his eyes… Where should she begin? She took a deep breath and decided to just jump right in.
"I'm pregnant."
The tiny upturn of Oliver's lips dropped along with his jaw as he stared up at her. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he snapped it shut.
"I…" He shook his head and glanced toward the wall of windows, looking out onto the city below for a long moment. "I didn't know you were seeing anyone."
"I'm not," Felicity said. And there it was. The moment of truth. This wasn't a plan she'd discussed with anyone. Her drive to be a mother wasn't something she'd talked about with anyone except Cooper and now she was a little scared that people would judge her. Oliver had no right to judge anyone about life choices, but still… She was nervous that he'd look at her differently once he found out about the artificial insemination.
"Oh." Oliver blinked twice before looking down at his hands. "Oh. Well, I'm… here, if you need anything or you want to talk things over…"
Felicity frowned at his response. "Talk things… Oh! Oh, no! No, I'm not…" She gestured in a circle, indicating her stomach. "I got pregnant on purpose."
"On–on purpose?" he stammered, looking at her like she had two heads. Just like everyone else would once they found out.
"Yes, Oliver," she snapped, hopping off the desk and stomping around the other side to glare at him. "Mature, responsible adults can want to have kids, you know. Getting pregnant isn't only something you do by accident when you're wasted and sleeping with women whose names you've never bothered to ask."
She knew she was being unfair, but she was feeling defensive. Sue her.
He stood and stepped around the desk, closing the space between them. "I just… I'm sorry, okay? You said you weren't seeing anyone so I just assumed. I didn't mean anything by it."
"I know," she admitted quietly, glancing down at her hands, watching them fiddle around in front of her stomach. Her soon to be rounded-with-a-baby stomach. "I might be a little defensive, but… Artificial insemination isn't exactly the normal way to get pregnant and you're the first person I've told—"
"I am?" Oliver interrupted, an adorably surprised look on his face.
"Well, after my mother, of course."
Oliver grinned, his eyes twinkling at the thought. "What did Donna have to say about it?"
"Oh, pretty much what you would expect. Pterodactyl noises, a few 'I'm gonna be a grandma's." Felicity would never dare tell him that the first question out of Donna's mouth was, "Is it Oliver's?" No one needed to know that Donna's one wish in life was for Felicity to make grandbabies with Oliver Queen. It was mortifying just thinking about it.
"Why haven't you told anyone else?" Oliver asked, watching her with a small smile.
"I'm only a couple weeks in," she explained. "I probably shouldn't have said anything yet, but I was going crazy. I just needed to tell someone."
"And you picked me?" he teased, his smile turning to a full on grin. "Because I'm your best friend?"
She laughed. "Hold up right there, buddy. You know John Diggle wins the best friend award. Trying to keep you in line has created an unbreakable bond between us."
It was true. Ever since she met Oliver five years ago when he stumbled into her office in the IT department asking if she could fix his laptop after he spilt a latte on it, his bodyguard leaning in the doorway, laughing as she gave the billionaire a lecture about liquids near technology, the three had had a bond unlike any Felicity had ever experienced. She didn't have any siblings, but she imagined her relationship with John was similar to that of a brother. Her relationship with Oliver was definitely not brotherly—she may not have siblings, but she knew you didn't think about your brother the way she occasionally thought about Oliver—but they were still totally platonic friends. And if, on occasion, she enjoyed staring at the outline of his muscles through his dress shirts, well… no one had to know about it.
"I can't compete with that, I guess." Oliver laughed, and it sent a happy trill through Felicity, before he sobered. "I'm glad that you chose to tell me," he added quietly, his eyes warm and serious.
"You don't think it's weird?" she asked, biting her lip.
"I think it's brave," Oliver said, reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"You do?" At his nod, she smiled, feeling her excitement build. "This doesn't mean I don't still want a promotion, btw. I mean, I'll be taking some time off for maternity leave, so you'll probably want a new assistant by then anyway. And when I come back I was thinking of looking for something in Applied Sciences. I'd really rather stay at QC, because we have an excellent daycare program—"
"Felicity," Oliver laughed. "Whatever you want. As long as you're staying. I will not lose my Girl Wednesday to Ray Palmer or anyone else."
"It's Friday," she corrected with a shake of her head. "And… thank you, Oliver."
Oliver reached out like he might touch her again, but changed his mind, dropping his hand back to his side. "I'm here for you, Felicity. You might have decided to do this on your own, but…" He took a small step closer, his voice soft as he said, "You're not alone."
Felicity felt warmth blossom in her heart and, yeah, okay. Oliver might be a lot closer to the role of best friend then she'd let on.
###
Felicity felt totally prepared for pregnancy.
She'd read almost every pregnancy book written before she'd decided to get artificially inseminated, asked Dr. Madigan what seemed like hundreds of questions judging by the woman's soft sighs. She had created a budget, a nine month plan for work and even started taking meetings with the head of Applied Sciences who was more than happy to be stealing her away from Oliver.
"Genius like your's," Mr. Kapoor had said in their first meeting, "should not be wasted answering phones and planning schedules."
She'd taken a little offense at that, but not much since it was true. She was too smart to while away her days behind a desk on the executive floor. She needed to get her hands dirty, so to speak.
Four months into her pregnancy and everything seemed to be going to plan.
The one thing Felicity hadn't taken into account when she'd decided to have a baby? That everyone in the company would assume it was Oliver's.
There had always been some gossip about the two of them. Nothing that Felicity couldn't ignore. It was nothing but talk, so what did it matter? But now? Now that Felicity was pregnant, with no husband or boyfriend and with Oliver doting on her? It was becoming a point of frustration for her.
"Can you stop it?" she hissed at him as he chased her down in the lobby, trying to pull a stack of folders from her hand as she walked to her car. "I'm pregnant, Oliver, not an invalid."
"I know that." He blinked at her, then tugged the folders away from her anyway. "I just don't want you overexerting yourself. What are you taking all this home for anyway? It's Friday."
Felicity huffed an annoyed laugh. "I'm taking all this home—" she gestured at the folders he was now holding "—because I need to finish reading all the fine print, unless you want to accidentally sell your soul in the deal with Kord."
Oliver rolled his eyes like she was being dramatic. "That's what we have lawyers for, Felicity."
By now a small group of employees were gathered near the elevators, pretending not to watch their boss and his assistant argue over who gets to carry a stack of folders. Felicity shot them a dirty look before shifting it to Oliver.
"Yes, and the lawyers sent these over with a note that said 'please read and return by Monday', which is actually your job, mister. So you know what? You want to carry them so bad, they're all yours. Have fun."
With that she stormed off towards the lobby doors, feeling her cheeks heat faintly when she saw one of the security guards smirk in her direction. Well, screw him too, she thought, pushing through the doors and out onto the street. Her car was parked in the garage, but she was too frustrated to drive home just yet. First she was going to get a cup of coffee. She'd been waiting all day to have it, but got too busy earlier, so now she was going to go across the street to the cafe, sit down in a booth and enjoy the quiet as she savored her daily allotment of caffeine.
Or so she thought until she went to push open the cafe door only to have Oliver and his stack of folders get to it first.
"Are you serious?" she groaned, tilting her head to the side in exasperation.
"I'm sorry, okay?" he said, shifting the folders awkwardly in one arm. "You're right. Since you became my EA I've taken advantage of you and your willingness to help me with things that I… well, suck at. Like reading contracts. So, here's my offer. I buy you a cup of coffee and you keep me company—and maybe answer a few questions—while I read through some of this, then I'll do the rest this weekend and have it back to the lawyers by Monday morning. Deal?"
Felicity watched him for a long moment, before a small smile crossed her face. "You'd willingly read hundreds of pages of legal documents just to make sure I don't, what did you say? Overexert myself?"
Oliver's eyes took on a slightly panicked look. "Hundreds?" He gulped.
Felicity grinned, patting his chest as she walked by him and into the cafe. "Don't worry. It's not so bad. They marked the things they want you to look at. Plus, it's a skill you'll need once your new EA starts." She scanned the place for an empty booth—she was becoming a real fan of cushioned seats these days—and decided on one in the far corner, away from the busy counter. Oliver would need at least relative quiet to understand the legal jargon in those documents. "Speaking of," she said, leading Oliver over to it, "have you made any progress on that stack of resumes I gave you?"
"I skimmed it," he said, noncommittally, as he placed his folders in the center of the table.
"Oliver, you only have a few months left, and I don't want you backing yourself into a corner with this." She wanted—no, needed—to make sure his new executive assistant was capable before she left, which meant hiring someone before she had the baby that way she could train them for a week or two. She didn't want to leave Oliver with a stranger and just hope for the best. She was positive nothing good would come of it.
"I won't," he said, placing a warm palm on her shoulder. "I'll go over the resumes and narrow it down to a few I want to interview. You can even make final pick if you want."
"I just don't want to abandon you…"
"You're not," he assured her, his thumb brushing a soft circle into her blouse and causing a tingle to run down her arm. He'd always touched her a lot, but ever since she'd gotten pregnant his touches were softer, more intimate, and that caused feelings Felicity would really rather not think about if she was being honest. "You're moving on to better things, but we're friends. I'll miss getting to work with you everyday, but we'll still see each other. I told you I'd be there for you if you needed it and whether that means making sure you don't overexert yourself—" he smirked "—or changing diapers when you're exhausted and need a break, I'm going to be there. So get used to it, alright?"
Felicity bit her lip, nodding slowly, and Oliver gave her shoulder a light squeeze before walking off to buy her that cup of coffee she'd been dreaming about.
So… maybe she could understand where the people at QC were coming from when they whispered about Oliver being the father. To be honest, with all the doting, there were times when Felicity nearly forgot he wasn't.
But no, they were just friends. Really good friends, but still just friends. Besides, Oliver wasn't really the father type. He was still having fun as a playboy bachelor, running around the city getting into trouble with Tommy Merlyn and being photographed with models hanging off his arm. Oliver Queen and baby diapers didn't belong in the same sentence.
When the baby came, as much as she appreciated his offer, she wouldn't be counting on him to actually follow through with it.