Hello everyone! So this chapter has got to be one of the longest I've ever written and I'm hoping that everyone likes where it goes. It's one of those chapters that end up writing their own endings.. I'll let you see for your own.

As always, thank you so much for your amazing response and support for this story and every other one I wrote. I have to say that the Olicity fandom has got to be one of the best fandoms out there, so thank you.

Enjoy!

Do I look like I own a huge network's show to you...

In the span of six years, Oliver Queen had had a lot of time to dwell over the words he wanted to say and the ones he never had a chance to. They were usually the same ones.

In all of those years, he had imagined this encounter with Felicity a hundred different ways and in none of them was he speechless. To his utter disappointment, however, words had decided to ditch him. He stood silently, waiting for the words to come.

Felicity, which stood a few feet away, crossed her arms and glared at him. He thought that he'd rather be facing off the Bratva.

It took him a few tries but he eventually settled for the three dominant words in his head.

"I am sorry." He caught her look of surprise. "I know that I'm a few years too late," he recalled Digg's words "and that I don't have the right to ask for forgiveness but.. that doesn't change the fact that I'm sorry, and that you need to hear it more than anything." Felicity's face had flushed and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears but she still stood tall and with her chin jutted out.

"No," she shook her head slowly. "No you really don't have the right to ask for anything, let alone forgiveness," One tear made its way across Felicity's cheek but the woman's voice never wavered. "What did you think that you'll come back to find, Oliver? You thought that I'd still be the blabbering mess of a girl, hanging onto your every word? The idiot who loved you? And worse yet, the one who thought you loved her?" her words had been deadly calm so far but they started gaining momentum. "What the hell did you think you'll find? You're sorry? Well good!" Her voice broke at the last word but she pushed on and kept talking. Oliver felt every word pierce his heart. He knew he deserved it.

"You should be because I cared about you and I was there, Oliver, for years I was there when no one else was, and you… you just walked away. Just turned around and left me with –" she took a shuddering breath and stopped herself. Her nails dug into her palms and a look of anger passed over her face but this time the anger was directed inwards. Oliver could almost hear the internal war she was having.

After a few beats of silence, Felicity looked up at him with tired eyes.

"Well, you just left," she shrugged, her voice gaining back its calmness and her shoulders sagging in defeat. "And that's the point. I never meant anything to you, and you made that clear a long time ago." Oliver winced at the accusation as it hit him. He opened his mouth to protest but she raised a hand to stop him.

"Don't," she said warily then looked around with a frown, causing him to do the same. "Was I shouting?" She murmured softly and it took Oliver a second longer to realize that several neighbors of Felicity's now stood in windows and porches to bear witness to the ordeal. Some of them even seemed to recognize Oliver.

"Should we go somewhere else?" He asked hesitantly. She obviously had an image to uphold in her neighborhood and if this is what it took to get her to say more than three words at a time, then he'd take the shouting –and the pain- anytime, anywhere.

As he spoke she turned around without a word and started for the door which sent him reaching for her arm. A jolt of heat went through him at the first contact with her in years but he ignored it.

"Wait, we still need to talk. You can't walk away. "

"No, that's your job." He physically flinched at her answer, causing his hand to drop.

Felicity looked guiltily at his pained expression then let out a sigh. "I'll just get my daughter and car keys," her tone was softer than before. "And we'll go somewhere. We may as well get this over with."

He didn't know what to make of her last words and the former ones were too painful to dig up while he stood waiting on a porch. He knew that he'd have enough time to twist that rusted knife later, so for now, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to make this right.

Felicity watched as her daughter collected fallen leaves and threw them up in a shower of orange and yellow. She smiled when the kid looked over and waved her on to run and play as she pleases, but the smile slipped whenever Clara turned away. She felt exhausted and drained from her match with Oliver but she still steeled herself for the next round.

Felicity had no idea where he was going with this and wondered if it'd stop at an apology. But then again he would have had no reason to follow her here if he didn't have more to say. She had driven her car to a nearby park and watched as his car followed close behind.

Now they both stood silently watching Clara as she played. Her red dress matched the autumn colors and her joy seemed to momentarily push aside the unspoken words between them. For a moment she could almost pretend that they were normal parents watching their kid as she plays. But she still knew better than to let the pretense survive longer than a few seconds because pretending was dangerously close to hoping and hoping only led to disappointment.

"Why are you back?" her voice was so soft it barely carried over to him. She reckoned that a gust of wind could have blown the words away and he never would have heard them. He didn't answer for a long time and she started to think that maybe he didn't hear her after all. She thought that she should ask again but this time, it'd be one of the questions she really wanted an answer for.

Are you staying? Why come back now? Did you ever love me?

"The same reason I left," His voice held a sad quality and his eyes looked into the distance. "I wanted to visit Thea. It's been so long and I've never been at her.. grave." He cleared his throat and Felicity ached to reach out and comfort him. She clenched her hand into a fest. "Not since the service. I thought it was about time." He paused. "The mansion, Verdant, even the companies were all secondary matters. I was supposed to visit her then leave unnoticed." He gave her a guilty glance then carried on. "I didn't even think I'd see you again but with the news, that I was in town leaked, well, I thought I may as well check on you. From afar."

Felicity's heart ached so much at the mention of Thea that she felt weariness creeping over her. She wished she could stop being angry after so long. She wished she could tell him the truth.

"I found your street address," Oliver carried on, oblivious to Felicity's struggle. "I thought I'd just pass by but then –" his face was caught somewhere between a smile and a frown. "I met the little one." He gave her a sidelong glance and Felicity steeled herself for the next part. "She instantly looked familiar."

Felicity merely nodded for him to continue. Her eyes averted to his hands. She wondered when he last held a bow.

"How old is she, Felicity?"

"Diggle said you already knew that," Her tone when she spoke was flat. Her nerves hidden well behind her indifferent glance. "you shouldn't have bothered with research, you know. You could have just asked me."

Oliver had gone rigid beside her and the calmness he showed before was quickly dissolving into disbelief. He shook his head then turned fully towards her.

"I know what you're thinking, Oliver. What you're here to ask." Felicity didn't wait for him to ask. "And the answer is no. Clara is mine alone. She has nothing to do with you. You can let your heroic sense of responsibility rest." Her last words held some bitterness.

"Whose daughter is she then?" She could tell that he was only playing along. It'd take more to convince him.

"Just some guy.. a fling I had," she had told the story so many times that she didn't have to think about it anymore. "it was a one night thing and he didn't want anything to do with us –her- after that." Clara giggled a few feet away and Felicity's heart clinched. She prayed that she was doing the right thing.

"You don't do one night stands."

"Obviously, I do." She gave him a withering glare and he had the grace to look ashamed for a few seconds but he soon recovered and continued pushing.

"If she's mine –"

"She isn't!"

"I want to help; I want to take care of her. I was wrong to leave you like that," He wouldn't look at her but his desperation bled through. "I know that now. Hell, I even knew it back then."

"We don't need your help, Oliver. Clara is my daughter. Mine."

"I know what a person hiding a secret looks like, Felicity." He flexed his jaw then turned to look at Clara once more. "And in the past few days, my only two friends told me nothing but lies."

"Friends?" She scoffed but left it at that. "I can get you a DNA test if it'll put your mind to rest." She could easily hack into a laboratory and alter the results.

"You could easily change the results." His lips twitched at her shocked expression.

"I'd never –" she started incredulously but was cut off by Clara running towards them.

"Mommy, mommy," the little girl panted. "there's ice cream right there," she pointed excitedly at a man in a pink van with a huge cone on its top. "can I get one mommy pleeeeeeease?"

"You'll catch a cold," Felicity was aware of Oliver watching the exchange. "it's already getting colder and you shouldn't be having ice cream." She determined.

"But in winter you say it's too cold and now it's only a little cold and it's gooder than eating ice cream then."

"Better," Felicity smiled then reached for her bag. Which wasn't there. "Oh. We left in a hurry, baby girl, I didn't get my wallet." Clara pouted. "I'll get you ice cream later, okay?"

"Or we can get her ice cream now," volunteered Oliver. We. "since I have mine on me."

"Yes!" danced Clara.

"No!" Felicity gave her daughter a warning look then turned a glare on Oliver. "We can afford our own ice cream, and we'll get some later."

"But I want it now!" Whined Clara with her lips jutted out and her eyes giving their best puppy impression.

"Come on, Felicity." Sighed Oliver. "I'm only getting her an ice cream, not a car." At her hesitant look, Oliver let a smile slip then grabbed Clara's hand. "Felicity Smoak, may I please buy your daughter some ice cream?" His hopeful expression mirrored Clara's perfectly and if he were to look at the young girl just then, he'd have had all the proof he needed of her being his daughter. Felicity ended up giving him a resigned nod.

She stared at their retreating backs for a while then went through the past hour. Her thoughts started carrying her way back and she moved to sit on a bench.

She recalled the night she found out she was pregnant in vivid detail. She remembered the fear and the excitement. The hope and the doubt. And most of all, she remembered trying and failing to contact Oliver. She had made the decision to tell him only a week after finding out. She thought that no matter his actions, he still deserved to know, and his kid surely deserved a father. So, she went to Diggle and told him everything. By the end he was seething and she was crying but they had both agreed to find Oliver regardless, and so they started their search. It lasted an entire year. A year, in which, Felicity learned that Oliver Queen can be a ghost when he desires to be.

When they finally found him, Clara was already a few months old and Felicity had completely changed her mind. Being pregnant and having a baby all on your own tends to put things into perspective. Hers was simple. The man who walked away didn't deserve her daughter.

Convincing Diggle of hiding things from Oliver had proved to be far harder than expected, and Felicity had to resort to every trick in the book to talk him into it. She threatened, begged and sworn to never look at him if he uttered a word, and still he was decided to tell the truth. A few days before the two men met, Felicity went to Digg and told him that she'll take her baby and leave the city if need be. She told him that she'll change their names and create new identities and that she'll truly have no one left then –not even him- and that there'll be no one but him to blame.

When he came back, he told her that he had punched Oliver but never mentioned the baby. Although he made his disapproval clear. In the next few years, Felicity had converted Carly to her side and whenever Digg went to meet Oliver, both women would spew threats and arguments at him until he swore to remain silent.

Felicity now questioned everything she did. Maybe she should have listened to Diggle and let him tell Oliver all those years ago. Maybe she was mistaken.

It wasn't that she had softened towards Oliver or that her anger of years had vanished. It's just that the sight of Clara with any father figure tended to break her mother's heart, and now with Oliver holding the girl's hand and smiling at whatever she said, Felicity felt a physical ache in her chest.

How was she to take this away from her daughter?

Clara may be Felicity's but she's equally Oliver's, and at some point, the dragons and stories won't cut it anymore and the girl would demand to know her father's identity. Felicity had dwelled over those facts many times before but never had she felt as lost and helpless as she did now. She feared that she may break and tell Oliver the truth. She also feared that her resolve would stay and that he'll buy her lie.

Felicity squeezed her eyes shut and rummaged through the various arguments she usually gave Diggle.

He left us behind. He left me behind, she had meant. He wouldn't want her. He obviously did. We're better off. Clara needed a father. He never came back. He never knew.

Felicity listed the reasons one afteranother then shot them down with more reasonable arguments. She was a woman of logic and numbers and she could see that her arguments, although true to an extent, were also flawed. All those arguments centered on herself and Oliver, but never on the right person. Never on Clara.

Felicity realized now that she had been selfish by keeping her daughter to herself. Oliver may not be forgiven but he's slightly justified, and whatever problems Felicity had with him, shouldn't result in Clara's misery. She was a better mother than that.

And so, she found herself with a choice to make. The nearing figures only served to highlight that fact. She knew that if she didn't let it out now then she never will. She'll talk herself out of it. She'll pretend that Clara doesn't need her father in her life. She'll let this moment of selflessness fade and reclaim her daughter as hers only.

She stood on shaky legs then resolved to walk steadily. Oliver and Clara were only a few steps away when Felicity waved her daughter away.

"Go play a bit more, sweetie." Felicity said with a false smile. "We'll be leaving soon." With a grin at both adults, Clara flew back to where she played minutes ago. Ice cream in one hand and fallen leaves in another.

"Felicity?" Oliver saw the change in her. He seemed to glimpse the determination in her eyes and steel himself for whatever came next.

"I need you to understand that whatever I tell you now, changes nothing between you and me," she clutched her coat too tightly. "It doesn't change what you did or how I feel about it but this isn't about me and it never has been. It just took me this long to figure it out," She was completely on edge. Two parts, equally strong, were screaming at her. One told her to keep silent. The other urged her to speak. "So I'll tell you this.. truth, or whatever, but you have to understand that whatever you decide to do next will have to go through me first, and that I don't care if we argue or if you break my heart again," She winced at the implications that held. Damned mouth. "But so help me, Oliver Queen, if you hurt your daughter, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself."

At his stricken expression, Felicity gave a long exhale.

"Yes, you heard me." And then the words she spent years trying to avoid. "She's yours."

A/N: The ending of this chapter was rewritten no less than three times. I had so many options with Felicity, and denial of Oliver's rights was the most obvious choice, but it just didn't seem right. Felicity in general is a good person who always thinks of others and tries to help, and it felt like any other action on her part would be selfish to Clara, and so she ended up telling the truth. Basically, despite the internal war I had to go through along with Felicity, I decided at the end that what matters most is Clara. And that Felicity would eventually choose the selfless approach and put her own dignity and heart aside.

I hope you liked where the ending went, and if you don't agree then I'd love to hear what you guys think. Your reviews are always appreciated and they honestly make my day, so, tell me what you think.

Thanks for reading. Stay awesome!

P.S: I haven't forgotten about Roy, you'll hear from him soon.

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