This is a big time jump. I wrote this a day after the last chapter update. I was really excited about the chapter. Sorry if you don't like when I jump but this is how the story goes. Hope you like it.

The time had just gone by so fast. It felt like only yesterday Oliver had been forced onto an examination table by doctors to poke at him. He could remember the feeling of anger and frustration that overcame him as they forced a procedure on him that did utterly nothing. In some crevices of his damaged heart he blamed felicity. But he couldn't really, she had just been worried about him and the voices he had kept hearing.

After an exploratory surgery the doctors told him he should be fine, and so at every follow up,he said he was just that. But the truth was the voices and images he saw and heard never went away. Oliver after all these years on occasion still heard the voices. All he wanted to do was tell Felicity, after all these years though after the surgery he kept lying, it was for her own good. That was what he had to keep telling himself. They had enough problems. The city was going to hell.

He couldn't think of that though, not on a day like this. It felt like the years had just flown. Maribor looked as if she had grown up in a blink of an eye. She was already 14 years old. Oliver couldn't believe it as he saw her walk out of her room for her first high school archery tryout. She was only a head shorter than him already, her blonde straight hair fell just passed her shoulders, her contacts emphasized her blue eyes, she was just like her mother, with her father's personality and strength.

Her school was lucky enough to have an archery club that competed against other schools in the area. And since she was her father's daughter, she gained an interest in archery when she was barely three. When she was eight he got her her first real arrow package. Felicity insisted she be at least that age to handle the real weapons. The moment she put them against her bow she hit the target; she had been practicing for years. Now it was finally time to show off what she could do.

Oliver was stressed as it was. The company was falling apart along with the city and there was nothing he could do about it. Crime was a big part of it, but it wasn't all. It was the people. It was the lack of caring really. No one needed the city anymore, companies began moving away when new cities were offering more than Starling ever could. However, there was nothing in the world that could tear him away from helping his daughter practice.

"Good morning." She said greeting him with a smile, her arrows in tow. Oliver smiled and brushed his hand through his turning hair.

"You're gonna nail it, Mar."

They went out to the yard, which most would classify as a field. They went to the trees Oliver had marked over 15 years ago. The paint had warn in time and there were more punctures than you could count, they just kept painting over it. There were five trees each with a target painted on it. Oliver pulled out an arrow from his back and set up the bow at the same time Mar did. Then waited, and watched.

Effortlessly Maribor set her bow, aimed, and fired within three seconds. It hit the tree just a centimeter away from the bullseye. She smiled anyway and watched Oliver. He set his bow with a smile and fired at the same tree and got bullseye. It was the best feeling in the world, for him, the bow helped him think. Maribor smiled at him.

"Nice for an old man." She yelled teasing him.

Oliver coughed out a laugh. His hair was just barely gray. He wasn't even close to getting old, his hair was just aging faster than he was. "Oh please," he teased back, "I'll be impressed once you hit the bullseye kid."

Before he could blink Maribor had shot another arrow at the second tree, perfectly at the bullseye. She put her hand on her hip and smiled, cocky as hell. "The first one was to make you feel better about your old age." She stated. Oliver starred at the tree with a wide mouthed smile. He was so proud of his daughter, although, he could easily beat her in any archery competition.


Every once in a while Felicity didn't go to visit Oliver every day. It was hard, but sometimes she needed time to clear her head. Especially on a day like this. The day marked two months remaining till they cut off Oliver. It had been one month exactly since he had fallen into his coma.

Felicity was sitting on the Starling pier. She was more angry than sad, but she didn't know at who. The only person who seemed to be able to wake up Oliver was Oliver, so why wouldn't he just wake up? She kept thinking this for the entire month as she watched him degrade and suffer. She had to think of what he was dreaming about, if he was really dreaming at all. "What the hell were you doing, Oliver?" She said under her breath.

The truth was no one knew exactly what Oliver was doing on the night of his accident. They knew he was going after the triad, but he hadn't contacted either her or Diggle until he already left. He was chasing the triad, but for what reason? What had they done that had provoked him; what were his intentions?

Diggle had arrived on the scene only to catch the last few minutes of the chase. Which meant he also saw his fall. How terrifying it must have been to witness, Felicity didn't know what she would have done. She wouldn't have acted so well that was for sure. But the question still remained. What was he doing that night, really?

It was getting cold outside and the sun was setting soon, but Felicity waited on the bench looking over the water. She was waiting for someone she hadn't seen in a while. She just needed someone new to talk to. Her friend had called her when he heard of Oliver's accident a week before, but Felicity wasn't strong enough to handle anyone else coming into her life at the time.

She smelled spiced coffee under her nose and looked up. Barry's hand was holding a Styrofoam cup above her head. His face gleaned her a smile and she couldn't help but smile back. It was very good to see him. He seemed just as boyish as she remembered him to be, which she liked. He wasn't like Oliver, he was free spirited and a fast thinker.

"You got here fast." She said opening up the conversation and accepting his coffee. "Did you come here on the train again?"

"No, on foot." She said flashing another smile.

Felicity snorted a laugh. "You walked all the way to Starling from central city, on foot. Well that was fast."

He nodded and gulped down almost half of his coffee trying to avoid responding to her inquiry. "I really wanted to see you... and see Oliver, of course." He continued after an awkward pause. Felicity blushed. "You called. Of course I'd come."

"Technically, you called me." She said trying to make the conversation as technical as possible, and trying to block out all old feelings she had; but that was hard. "But I'm glad you did." She said coughing on her coffee.

Barry looked at her kindly, the same way she always felt Oliver was trying to portray. "I owe Oliver a lot. You know he visited me three months ago in Central? He was telling me I was destined for great things. And I want to thank him for that. But that's not the only reason I'm here."

Felicity was all ears for the continuation of his story, but instead of his lips making words, they made their way onto hers for a kiss. He was there too quickly for her to react. He was too fast for eyes it seemed sometimes. She didn't react the way she thought she would, she kissed back, for a long time as the sun fell in front of them. She didn't want to stop. Then Oliver crept into her mind, and the thing Dig told her. And she had to withdraw. Barry looked surprised. "I'm sorry, I-" He started, but this time it was Felicity who was the fast one.

"No, no." She interrupted. "Trust me. It's not you. If it was two months ago I would do this, a lot more of this. But it's Oliver, Barry. It's Oliver. I need to know what's going on with him, before anything like this happens."

Barry looked even more surprised now. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you and Oliver were together!"

"We're not!" She answered quickly. "Why would you think that? Uh, no not me and Oliver, not me and anyone. I, just want to know where he stands. Whether he's going to be alright or not. And until then I just can't focus on anything. Especially this." She rambled, and felt like this was a good excuse. There were elements of truth in her story but she didn't want to add the fact that Oliver did in fact have feelings for her. She wasn't ready to address her own yet, not for Oliver or Barry. "Do... do you still wanna see Oliver?" She asked him sheepishly. Barry nodded with a smile on his face, but it was a defeated smile. She had really hurt him and she knew it, but he did understand. "Come on, I'll take you in my car."

Barry hesitated. "Car? Oh, okay." He said and follows her. The truth was he hadn't had much need for a car in a while.


Oliver and Maribor walked back to the house together, their bows over Oliver's shoulder. He liked just being with Maribor and the long walk to the house gave him a good excuse to talk to her. Unfortunately he had a lot for in common and frankly a lot more fun with her than Tommy. He and Tommy had their good days but most of the time they were doing their own thing.

"Do you remember those stories you used to tell me as a kid? About the arrow." Maribor asked. Oliver coughed at the sudden inquiry, but he nodded wearily. "Were those really true?" She asked. Oliver was confused. His 14 year old daughter shouldn't be asking about whether or not fairy tales were real. However, it wasn't a fairy tale to him.

"Umm, that's a difficult question to answer, Maribor." He said trying to dodge the question. He was still struggling with his hysteria, he didn't want to drag her into it too.

"Was it a part of that other place you thought you came from?" She asked quietly.

Oliver stopped and stopped her with him. "How the hell do you know about that?" He asked her gritting his teeth.

"I heard you and mom talking about it as a kid, and every once in a while since then. Did you really live that life? Did you really lose five years of your memory?" Maribor asked.

He took hold of her shoulders and sighed. "I lost, years of my memory. And it was replaced With another life I thought I was living in its place. And it took me a while to straighten everything out. My memories made up the arrow I'm pretty sure." He said rubbing his face. He never wanted to have this conversation with Maribor. "That's all." He let her go.

"Oh." She said. Oliver started walking again. But Maribor stopped again. "Do you think you could make it true?"

"What?"

"In the stories you could do all the things I know you can really do. You're capable of all the things the arrow could do, even though you are older now. Could you be the arrow now?" She asked timidly. She was never timid.

"Why would I want to do that? Why would I ever want to do that?" He asked lowering his voice slightly aggravated; he hated this conversation.

"Because the city is going to hell, daddy. Just like in the story and the arrow saved it. He saved the day every time. I loved those stories. And we need the arrow in Starling right now." She said waving her arm towards the city scape.

Oliver bit his lip. His calmed himself a bit and tried to think of something to say to her. "Mar, I probably couldn't. I'm not the arrow, it was a story. That's all it will ever be. And even if I could it doesn't mean I would want to. In my memory I hated being the arrow. The arrow killed people, Mar. The arrow took something from me, and when I woke up to find that your mother was my wife, and found that the arrow wasn't real, it was the biggest relief I'd ever felt. And to know I was good enough for your mother made me feel that much better. It was those two things that gave me the strength to let go of that other life."

"What if it was the other way around? What if all this time this was the dream? What would you choose?"

It made Oliver sad to even hear something like this come out of his darling daughters mouth. However, he did pause to think of his answer. It was an interesting question. And for a moment he didn't know the answer; but then he looked to Maribor, now terrified to hear his answer, and he wouldn't choose the alternative. "You. I'd choose you every time. Never forget that Maribor. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "No more questions. And no telling Tommy, or your mother especially about this conversation. Let's get to the house and eat breakfast. You have a big day. And you are going to be amazing!" He told her. It lifted her spirits and they walked home.

After they came home from school and had dinner Oliver closed the door to his room with Felicity and him inside it. It was late and both if their children were already long asleep. He looked at Felicity. She hadn't aged a day in nearly eleven years. She had cut her hair and that was basically all. Now her hair went only just passed her neck and she usually wore it down. Her hair was the same beautiful blonde while his was slowly turning gray. Granted she was five or so years younger than him, but she looked amazing.

She was at the mirror combing out her hair as he came up behind her to inspect his. "Looking a bit more gray today I see." Felicity joked. Oliver hung his head down smiling on the inside. Felicity stood up and brushed her hand through it. "I like it, it adds a bit of distinction to you. It makes you look established. And besides that it makes you look sexy." She giggled. "Men seem to get better looking as they age." And she walked towards the bed. Oliver grabbed her and towed her back to him kissing the back of her neck. She seemed surprised but accepted it happily. His sudden show of affection was a welcome change. "What?"

"I just want you to to know how happy I am with you. Sometimes I fear you forget." He said kissing her again. Felicity turned and faced him, embracing his face.

"I've never forgotten. You are a good man, as a husband and a father. You, never forget that." She replied. Oliver smiled.

Their marriage was far from easy. Oliver was an especially difficult man to deal with despite felicity telling him he was good. The fact that she had put up with him all these years and loved him just the same just showed how strong she was. He was grateful for that.

Oliver took her arm, kissing her on the lips harder and harder. She kissed back as if it wasnt hard enough. Reluctantly Oliver removed his lips from hers and traveled down her neck as she rolled her head from one side to the other. His lips moved down further down her neck till he reached her collar bone. Felicity wrapped her arms around her neck and lifted her up from behind. With that Oliver lifted her up from behind and she wrapped her legs around him hissing his again on the lips. He led them to the bed with no intention of sleeping.


Felicity took Barry to see Oliver. As always Oliver looked at least content. Barry stood over his bed, with an expression felicity had never seen on him before. Then she realized what it was. He was cringing; Barry had been in a coma too. He knew what it was like. Felicity had some how forgotten that little fact about him. And suddenly felicity felt the same way. She couldn't imagine what Barry was thinking at that moment. She didn't know what kind of coma he had had or what had happened during it. Frankly she knew nothing about it, he asked her not to ask and he didn't tell. But for this situation she couldn't stop her mouth from running.

"Was it like blinking? Or a long dream?" She asked in a low voice.

His eyebrows raised as of he didn't know what to say, or didn't want to say. "Umm." He started. "I don't remember anything. Nothing. It wasn't quite a blink but it was close. That was what it was like for me. But my coma was different, Felicity. It could be anything for him."

Felicity bit her fingers trying to hold back her emotion. Barry wrapped his arm around her knowing that she'd probably immediately reject it. She didn't though. She welcomed his arm around her and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Two more months."

This is the longest chapter I have written for this story, just pointing that out because strangely enough this was the easiest chapter for me to write. I loved writing this chapter because I've been holding on to these ideas for a long time. I got the idea for this story from a star trek episode actually. I used to watch it with my dad ages ago. I really hope you loved reading this chapter just as much as I loved writing it. Please comment about what you think and about what you want to happen; I read every comment and want to implement what you have to say into the story. Follow and favorite if you want. Thanks for reading.