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emilyhotchner-olicity-bethyl : Glad you liked it, hopefully this will help ;)
- Anchored To The Tide, Pt 2 -
The phone call came on a Thursday, about two months after they left Slade Wilson in Lian Yu, while she was dozing off at the foundry on a slow afternoon. Oliver was taking a shower, one of the only perks of the new foundry, compared to their old basement bound lair in Verdant, when his official phone rung. As per usual, Felicity answered it, still acting as an EA to manage the life and holdings of one impoverished Queen heir.
Though Felicity was charitable enough to never say anything to him, the former golden boy was having a laughable go at things, having been cocooned his whole life, with someone always on hand to do the common work in his stead. He was ill equipped to handle day to day stuff common mortals were used to, like doing his own laundry or paying his bills, and Felicity would be lying if she said it wasn't funny to see him trying to make sense of those things. Up to the point where she could see him frowning at something, his frustration written all over his face.
He had needed her before, as his partner, in his public and hidden life alike, and that had not changed with his bankruptcy. His need had perhaps even amplified, now that he could not rely on his money to accomplish certain sensitive tasks on his behalf any longer. He was reluctant to ask for help, proud as he was, but Felicity was determined to provide it nevertheless. Come hell or high water, he would let her be of assistance, in any way she possibly could, she would make sure he wasn't alone to shoulder his burden. She was a bit harsh with him, he had survived five years on a hellish island on his own- well almost- but tended to get frustrated too damn easily when arrows weren't involved. So she had taken it upon herself to help him get back on his feet, offering him a double of her apartment key in case he wanted to sleep in a real bed for a change, instead of an inflatable mattress thrown on the floor of their new lair. So far he hadn't come by once, but she wasn't losing hope he would come to his senses.
Oh she was still angry with him, sometimes giving him the silent treatment whenever he would ask about her love life. As if he was stupid enough not to know he had broken her heart that night. She was not going to crumble before his eyes, she wasn't that type, but she couldn't avoid the endless loop running through her mind with his words, those damn words he just had to say. And then, like an asshole, he just had to bear and grin, tell her they had 'sold it together'. The nerve of the man, she wasn't gonna high five him for a job well done, so she ruminated quietly, but never said another word on the subject. She wasn't a teenager, and grown women didn't stoop to such low levels. At least not this one.
So, she put her best poker face on and ignored the big, bright, pink elephant in the room- no reason she shouldn't follow his lead, right?
"You're gonna get that, Felicity? I would, but I'm still just his black driver," Diggle teased, winking at the distracted blonde. She glared, snorted at their running joke and answered the ringing device.
"This is Oliver Queen's phone, how may I help you?"
"Hello, I'd like to speak with Mr Queen, please."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but he's not available right now. May I take a message and your number, so that Mr Queen is able to reach you whenever he has a moment in his schedule?"
"Of course, he's busy," retorted the elderly voice in a polite yet clipped tone, she gave her contact information to Felicity, before adding snidely, "make sure he calls back, it's about his daughter. Have a good day, dear," and she hung up, leaving Felicity to gasp out loud, drawing Diggle's attention to her as she put the phone back on the table.
"Felicity? What's it?"
"Oh Dig, he's...Oh my god," she whined to the ex military man who put his hand on her arm.
"Breathe, Felicity," he told her as she felt the anxiety surging through her veins.
A child. Oliver had a child. Holy freaking fudge, he had a little girl. She had trouble wrapping her mind around the last nuke thrown in their backyard, as if life wasn't hard enough for him, now this? Felicity started to think about every last one of their conversations, to see if the man had ever given him any hint of his parenthood to her, she wondered but didn't want to believe that he could know and never tell her, much less forgo a relationship with his child. Then again, he had been stranded on a purgatory island for five years...well, minus his time with Amanda Waller and God knows who or what else he had encountered these years on or off that god forsaken island.
She believed in him, Oliver was a good man, she had to trust he wouldn't let his own flesh and blood grow up as a fatherless child, much less without knowing his dad was back from the dead. That wasn't the Oliver she knew. Her Oliver, the man who gave his blood, sweat and tears to better the city that saw him grow up, the one who spent his nights ticking off random names in a worn out notebook to right his beloved father's wrongs, that Oliver would never do that to an innocent child. He was not like her absentee father, he wouldn't be that cruel to his own daughter, probably an innocent little darling, leaving her to wait for a sign to explain what she did wrong to make her daddy leave...
"Felicity?" Oliver shook his hand back in forth in her vision line though she failed to react, offering nothing to the worried, shirtless man trying to get her attention. He turned to the third member of their team. "Dig? What the fuck happened? What's wrong with her?"
"Don't ask me man, she took a call on your phone," he retorted to Oliver as he shook the stoic woman on her chair, she seemed to space out, removing herself from the current situation to seek asylum in her own mind.
"Felicity, what the hell is going on?"Oliver snapped his fingers twice in front of her face.
Snapping back to reality, Felicity shook her head off, focusing back on the confused man she knew so well, wondering how the hell she was going to break it to him. It would be the second time, already, that she had to be the bearer of bad news for the damaged vigilante she loved. She was perfectly aware that she could never hide it completely from him, but she hoped, for their sakes, that she did a decent job enough burying her feelings for him on a regular basis. Loathing to tell him what she learned, knowing well enough how much it would hurt him, she had to drop her stare to their feet, avoiding his eyes while she prepared to break his heart. All over again.
"I...erm...There was a call, earlier- on...on your phone? I answered, since you were still in the shower, obviously, otherwise you would have probably...erm picked it up yourself, right? I mean, that would be the polite thing to do. But- but...when you think about it, there is only two way it could have ended. It's a phone, ringing, Oliver, I'm sure even you can only do two things. Either you pick it up, or you let it ring, right, so, of course I-"
"Felicity? Short version, please?"
"Right, I'm doing that thing that I do all the time, aren't I? And you know I do it, when I'm..." Felicity trailed off, moving her hands to make her point, coughing embarrassingly as her cheeks reddened. "I'm sorry, I'm just- maybe you need to sit down?"
Oliver watched her carefully, following her finger as she pointed to the chair, silently assessing the clues she was sending him. Wild eyes, check, panicked look, check, over use of hand gestures, check, and if need be he might as well add the obvious tell, her endless babbling, check. His girl Friday was anxious. Whatever or whoever rather had been on the other line of that phone call, it had clearly frazzled her. She was rattled but tried so hard, he surmised, to rein it in. She was always so eager to be seen as a tough gal, a true partner in their endeavors, a part of their team, that she wouldn't allow herself to be any less than what they all were.
No matter that Dig was ex military or that Sara and him had been put through hell in order to toughen up, no, Felicity wanted to be an equal to them. And she was, she brought much more than raw strength to the table, though she had those in spades too, she just sometimes forgot that it didn't necessarily meant muscles. She was the heart of their team, that little slip of a girl held them in check when they failed, geared them towards new successes...He wouldn't be half the hero he tried to be today without Felicity Smoak. Of that he was certain.
"I need to tell you something, Oliver, please, sit down," she said softly as she guided him to her vacant seat.
"I don't need to sit down, Felicity. Whatever it is that you have to tell me, just say it," he assured the struggling blonde who bit on her lip, nodding her agreement.
"OK," she sighed heavily and looked in his eyes. "On the phone, earlier? It was a woman, she wanted to speak with you and she left me her name and number-"
"So what? No problem, I'll do it-"
"Oliver, she said you had a daughter."
Each time she had to do this to him, it took its toll on her soul, this once not excluded. She watched him crumble down before her eyes, squeezing his fist against his chest, with his eyes wide open. Felicity heard the pain in his voice as he asked for more, trying to wrap his head around the news, his brain unable to process the fact that he was a father, to a little girl out there, somewhere he wasn't. It wasn't the Arrow, nor Oliver Queen in the foundry that night, but a shattered man, howling his anguish in the dark, at the unfair cruelty the Universe seemed so keen to throw in his face time and time again, despite his efforts to be a better man. It seemed he was condemned to repeat his father's pattern and fail miserably all those he loved. No matter which angle he tried to consider, no matter what course of action he decided upon, his fate seemed sealed with darkness and pain, the only constant sequence he could run his life through these days.
