CHAPTER TWO: AFTER THE STORM
And after the storm,
I run and run as the rains come
And I look up, I look up,
on my knees and out of luck,
I look up.
Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won't rot, I won't rot
Not this mind and not this heart,
I won't rot.
And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we lived for.
And there will come a time,
you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart,
but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see
what you find there,
With grace in your heart
and flowers in your hair.
It was the first snow she had ever seen. She watched as she snowflakes came twirling down onto the ground, the earth finally cooled off enough to let it stick. Her breath left a foggy spot on the window as she pressed her nose up against it. It was Christmas eve, the first of many she got to spend with the Queens. The family had traveled to their cabin in Aspen, lying atop one of the mountains with a beautiful view of the valley. The minute they got there, Oliver and Felicity had completely forgotten what they had been bickering about, probably on the matter of 'who gets the last cookie'. He showed her all the fun things the house contained, like the home theatre, the indoor swimming pool, the recreational room, with all kinds of brand new tech stuff and arcade games. The cabin did have that signature Moira Queen-feel, but much more rustic and with a lot more wood in the exterior and interior. It still looked luxurious, though, with its expensive fabrics and impressively big windows and rooms. It probably wasn't even that much smaller than the mansion.
The last place Oliver showed her was by far her favorite, the library. Even though she was only five, five years, ten months and twenty one days if you asked her, she already had developed an inextinguishable passion for books. She had loved listening to her mother telling her stories, and not just the children's books, no, Shakespeare. The tone of her voice always soothing her, and the compelling way the words would flow together into a sentence never seized to amaze her. She didn't understand much of it, of course, but she loved it nonetheless.
Moira had taken it upon her to read to her sometimes, the Queen library having quite the range to choose from. Even Oliver took the time to read her something when she couldn't sleep, and maybe he wasn't such an experienced reader and mostly read her children's books, she didn't enjoy it any less. She seemed to grow particularly fond of 'Guess How Much I Love You' by Sam McBratney. Besides the stories, Felicity also loved the smell of all the books in one room, and the way it never seems to be cold in a library.
The first few days in Aspen were spent playing with the toys they thought they didn't have at home. Truth is, everything is just more exciting when you're in a new place. Now, Felicity and Oliver were putting on their coats and winter boots and corresponding accessories to go out and play in the snow. Well, actually, only Oliver was because Felicity had been ready to go out even before the first snowflake touched to ground.
"Come on, Oliver! We're wasting time!" She called from the window, without taking her eyes off the snow to look at him, fumbling with the buttons of his coat.
"I'm coming alright!"
Moira came walking into the room, carrying a small wooden sled in her arms. She put it down next to Felicity and handed her the rope it was attached to so she could pull it along.
"I want you two back inside before it gets dark out, okay."
Felicity nodded and gave her a hug.
"Alright, now have fun."
A few seconds later he was at her side and pushed open the glass door leading into the backyard. Oliver took her hand and pulled her outside. She laughed as they ran up the hills, pulling the sled after her. Panting short huffs of air, their breath immediately condensing in the cold, they reached the top of the hill. They looked at each other for a moment, nodding simultaneously with big grins on their faces. Felicity pulled at the sled and placed it horizontal on the ground. She sat down on top of the sled, Oliver behind her.
"Ready?" He asked.
A chuckle escaped from her lips and she nodded. "Yes!"
Oliver started pushing off against the ground, getting them closer to the slope. "Here we go!" He yelled before the one final push that sent them flying down, speeding up, dashing through the fresh snow. Felicity squealed in delight, Oliver's arms wrapped around her protectively until they slowly came to a stop.
"Again!" Felicity exclaimed. Oliver laughed and pushed himself off the sled and took her hand to pull her up as well. Together, they climbed back up the hill, only to slide back down again. After a couple more sleigh rides Felicity let herself fall backwards into the snow, making a snow angel with her arms and legs. Laughing, she let Oliver pull her up, and together they admired her work.
"It sucks" she said as she looked at the slightly deformed angel in the snow.
"I like it." Oliver said with a smile.
"LIAR!" Felicity yelled and she gave him a nudge with her shoulder and spurted off. Scooping some snow up in her hands, she attempted at making a ball of it and throwing it in Oliver's direction. He took his revenge very seriously. His arms carrying as much snow as they could, he chased her down until she was too tired to run. He caught up with her, throwing the snow at her, covering her completely. They both fell down laughing, Felicity rubbing the snow off her face. But, Oliver wasn't done yet, finally rolling over and tickling her until she was begging for mercy. Her breath still evening out, she sat up and hovered over him.
"Do you wanna build a snowman?"
Oliver raised an eyebrow at her.
"It doesn't have to be a snowman, it can also be a snow car, or a snow boat, or maybe a snow fort!"
Oliver chuckled and sat up.
"I'd love to build a snowman with you."
Felicity clapped happily, and made a little fist pump. It had started getting darker when they were satisfied with their creation. They stood in front of the snow man, examining it like art-critics at a gallery. Felicity cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips.
"It's…something." She said, turning her head to look at Oliver. He couldn't stifle the laugh that escaped from his lips. It turned into a louder laugh and then he was simply having an attack of the giggles.
"It looks ridiculous." He laughed.
Oliver's laughter seemed to be contagious, because not a second later, Felicity burst out into laughter too. Taking her hand, they hurried back to the cabin, where Moira was already looking out of the window, waiting for them to return.
"Look at you two! You're soaking wet." She said when the two of them entered the warmth and comfort of the cabin. Felicity suddenly felt very cold with her wet clothes and wet hair. Her teeth started chattering, and Moira hurried over to the shuddering girl.
"Oh sweetie, let's get you dried up and warm."
They quickly disposed of her boots and soaked-through coat, as did Oliver. Moira took Felicity's hand and hurried the two kids upstairs and into their bedroom to change. Oliver plopped down on his bed, across from Felicity's. He took a deep breath and sighed, taking one of the towels his mother handed him to dry his hair. Letting Moira help her, Felicity quickly disposed of all the wet clothes. She took the sweater Moira handed her, a cream colored one with a puppy on it, her favorite. A few minutes later, she was all dried up and starting to warm up again, dressed in her sweater, comfy, plaid pajama pants and fuzzy socks. Oliver, dressed in similar attire, climbed onto her bed to sit next to her.
"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Moira said, turning around to look at her son.
"Why don't you go downstairs and tell your father about your day."
Oliver looked at Felicity, silently asking her if she would like that. The girl smiled brightly, her lips still a little blue from the cold and she nodded.
"Alright." Oliver said, turning back to his mother and hopping of the bed. With Felicity's hand in his the two of them hurried down the stairs and into the living-room where a fire was crackling in the fireplace.
Robert was pacing through the room, talking on the phone, clearly upset about the topic of conversation.
"I honestly think that's not such a good idea." He said, turning to face the window, crossing his arms in front of him. He was silent for a moment, listening to whatever it was the person on the other end of the line had to say. Oliver and Felicity looked at each other, not sure if this was the right time to interrupt. Frowning a little, Oliver dared to step closer.
"Dad?"
Robert whipped his head around to see the two kids standing in the doorway, his expression softened.
"One second, son." He said before turning back around, holding up a finger. Nodding, Oliver stepped further into the room and sat down on the sofa, gesturing to Felicity to come join him.
"Are you really willing to put her through that again?" They overheard Robert say, even though he was speaking in a hushed voice now.
"Fine." The man muttered and he turned around and walked over to the couch Felicity and Oliver were sitting on. He bent down in front of Felicity and gave her a sympathetic look.
"Felicity, sweetheart, it's your father. He wants to talk to you."
Felicity's eyes widened and her mouth fell open a little. She turned to see Oliver frowning, and then to Robert, who was holding out the 1993 cell phone to her. She swallowed to took it from him, holding it to her ear.
"Daddy? Is that you?"
"How are you sweetheart?"
"I'm fine, daddy. The Queens are really nice and Oliver and I have lots of fun."
She heard a soft chuckle on the other end of the line and smiled a little.
"That's great to hear. Merry Christmas, pumpkin."
She sighed, already knowing that this meant the end of the conversation.
"Daddy, wait, please don't go. When are you coming back? Why didn't you say goodbye?"
She had been burning up with all these questions since the day she moved in with the Queens. Since that day, she had gone through several emotional stages, first there was hurt, then came anger and incomprehension, and then the cycle repeated itself. After this phone call, she would hate him for denying her the answers she needed so badly.
"I don't know, baby. I don't know."
She was silent for a moment, closing her eyes and opening them again to hide the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks.
"I love you, pumpkin."
Felicity swallowed. "I love you too, daddy."
And then Malcolm hung up the phone. Without a word, she handed the device back to Robert. He took it from her and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it softly. Felicity shut her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to get rid of the tears.
Later that night, Oliver and Felicity safely tucked into their beds, Moira asked Robert about the phone call. Moira was rather upset that he had given Felicity the phone.
"We're not her parents, Moira! We don't get to decide. We can't keep him from talking to his daughter, you know that."
Moira nodded slowly. "Does he know how much it's tearing at her. Did you see her at dinner, poor thing barely said a word."
"I think he knows. But, what are we supposed to do about it? It's not like we can take all her bad memories about him away from her."
"I know." Moira said, stepping forward and taking her husband's hands in hers. "That's why we'll make her new ones. With us."
It was cold down here, he was still in the same pajama's he was in when he had gone to bed that night. Wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm, Oliver examined his surroundings. He couldn't see anything except the concrete floor that seemed to stretch on into oblivion. There weren't any walls, or a ceiling for that matter, everything just faded into black. Never had he ever felt so cold, and alone. It started raining. Not just a drizzle, no, full hair blowing, wind howling, pouring down rain. Shivering, he was about to sink down to his knees, not knowing what to do or where he was when something flew past him. Thwick. And again. Thwick. Thwick. He couldn't see what it was, flying to fast for him to see anything but a blur, but it sure scared the hell out of him. The noise stopped for a second. Whipping his head around, still not seeing anything other than darkness, he started running in the opposite direction that the scary things had come from. But there wasn't anywhere to go, so he just kept on running and running, the sound returning and making him run even faster. Until his legs gave out and he tripped onto the hard concrete. He took a moment to catch his breath, slowly cracking open an eye. He screamed when he saw what, or rather who was hovering over him. A man, dressed in all black, the lower half of his face covered, the black hood falling over his eyes, covering him in darkness. The man was holding a black compound bow, aiming the knocked arrow at Oliver's head. He screamed. And screamed again. He screamed until his lungs gave out.
Felicity awoke to hearing Oliver's struggle. She didn't exactly wake up because she hadn't been sleeping, really, but when she heard Oliver tossing in his bed, muffled groans coming from his throat, she started to worry. Sitting up, she looked over to his bed, he lay there, rolling from side to side, pulling on the comforter, burying his face in his pillow. She pushed herself off the bed and padded over to the other end of the room, to Oliver.
"Oliver?" she whispered, not getting a response, only muttering and more tossing.
She hauled herself up on the edge of his bed, carefully wrapping both of her hands around one of his, clenched into a fist, holding onto the sheets. She eased his hand free and tangled his fingers with hers, her other hand flying to his shoulder. She shook him carefully.
"Oliver. Oliver, wake up."
Suddenly, he went still, very still, if it hadn't been for his chest rising and falling, she might have thought he was dead. His forehead glistened with sweat in the moonlight falling through the window. She shook him again, this time a little harder.
"Oliver."
His eyes flew open and he lunged forward, sitting up. Eyes wary, breathing heavy, he turned to see Felicity sitting beside him. He tightened his hand around hers and tried to steady his breathing.
"Nightmare?" she asked. Oliver nodded. He hadn't had nightmares in ages, it seemed like forever ago since he had woken up drenched in sweat. It really hadn't been that long, but in a child's life, everything seemed like an eternity ago. In truth, he hadn't had nightmares since Felicity moved in. He had been doing better at school, more talkative and overall just happier over those past few months, all because of getting a better night's sleep, they said. And it wasn't a lie, he was more well-rested, but his new friend also played a huge part in it. Before she moved in, the mansion had been empty and hallow, and he had spent most of his time watching the hours tick by, or occupying himself with making alterations in his treehouse. He may have built it with his father, but that didn't mean that Robert spent any time with him up there, playing board games or anything, really.
"What was it about?"
"I don't remember" He rubbed his eyes, trying not to think about it too hard. When he looked back at her, she was yawning.
"Did I wake you?"
She shook her head. "No, I couldn't sleep."
"Wanna talk about it?"
Felicity was quiet for a moment. Sighing softly, she averted her gaze and started fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
"I can't stop thinking about my dad." She mumbled, staring straight ahead, out of the window, watching the snow twirl down.
Oliver sighed softly. He knew this was the answer that he would be getting. Felicity hadn't quite been the same since that phone call. She hadn't said as much as she normally would and she'd barely eaten, even though roasted salmon was her favorite. He squeezed her hand a little, running his thumb over her knuckles.
"It's gonna be okay."
Felicity sniffled, and wiped away the tears that she finally freed. She turned to look at Oliver, cheeks already tear-stained and eyes red-rimmed.
"You think so?"
Nodding, he smiled at her. "I know so."
A chuckle escaped from her lips, and she furiously wiped away the stupid tears. Sniffling again, she threw her arms around his neck. His hands rubbed her back in soothing circles. They stayed like that for a while, until she pulled away, blushing a little.
"We should go back to bed."
Oliver nodded in agreement, but frowned when she moved to hop off the bed. He reached for the hand that was lying atop of the comforter. Handholding had really become their thing
"Please. Don't go."
She looked up at him through hooded eyes, the exhaustion already pulling at her.
"Nightmares?" she asked. He nodded and then she nodded and scooted further onto the bed, climbing to the other side and slipping under the covers, never letting go of Oliver's hand. They fell asleep within minutes, and naturally, Oliver didn't have any more nightmares that night.
The sunlight came seeping in from their bedroom window, warming her cheeks. As she drifted into consciousness, she became more and more aware of the warmth and brightness, and she desperately wanted to stay in that blissful place of no worries. She was, rudely in her opinion, pulled out that state by Oliver tugging on her hand, and whispering her name.
"Felicity. Felicity wake up." She heard the sigh that escaped from his lips.
"Come on, it's Christmas morning!" He was becoming impatient now so she carefully cracked open an eye, only to see a wide-eyed, brightly smiling Oliver hovering over her. She opened her eyes and smiled back at him.
"Alright, Alright, I'm awake."
"Finally. Come on, I wanna go downstairs to unwrap our gifts!"
He jumped up a little and hopped of the bed, reaching for the fuzzy socks that were lying on the ground and put them on. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Yawning, she took her pair of socks that Oliver had already retrieved for her. She kicked her legs free from the comforter and put the socks on, Oliver hopping impatiently from one foot to the other. When she was finished he offered her his hand and she gratefully took it, hopping off the bed. Together they headed downstairs and to the Christmas tree.
Felicity's eyes went wide when she saw the stack of presents underneath the tree. Never had she ever seen such an impressive stack. Now she was getting excited.
"It's Christmas!" Oliver laughed.
Thank you for reading! I hope you guys like the little Frozen easter-egg I put in there!
Love, Carolina
