The night before had been hard. Ray didn't think he was normally one to be anything more than happy and peppy in front of most people. He tried to save any other feelings, especially negative ones for when he was home and in his bedroom. Worrying the girls was just never something that he felt that they needed to do. So, he and Felicity really tried not to get into anything anywhere the girls could see, but emotions had been high after the attempted kidnapping of Alex and Liv.

The good part of it all was that Quentin had taken in the two men and they'd apparently talked, but he hadn't shared any information yet. All Ray had been told was that Quentin didn't feel like they needed to worry any more and that they were taking care of things. That, of course, wasn't going to stop Ray from worrying (or Felicity for that matter), not until they knew WHO was sending people after their family and WHY. Until those questions were answered and the people responsible saw justice, none of them were going to rest any easier.

He'd gotten up and taken the time to work out. Ray had actually missed Oliver crashing on their couch, he'd gone to the hotel to meet with John once everyone had left, and being his work out buddy. During that time, he'd realized that he really didn't have a life outside of their little family and work. That was all fine, he loved his family and he was passionate about his work, but there was something nice having other people you could hang out with. Maybe he'd have to try to convince John and Lyla to move back, since Oliver was staying now.

"Ray?"

"Yes?" he called back. He'd just entered the bedroom and Felicity had just gotten out of the shower. Ray leaned in the doorway, just watching her towel off. "You know…I would have helped you shower…or…distracted you from the shower if you'd waited for me."

She smirked at him and wrapped the towel around herself. "We have to BOTH go in today and get stuff done, so I didn't want to risk you throwing off our schedule for today…and I figured that we probably needed to make a public family appearance somewhere."

"Quentin didn't say that they caught the ring leader who is behind targeting our family, Felicity," Ray said seriously and a bit upset. He didn't like the idea of any of them being put into unnecessary danger, especially not after the day before.

"The girls WANT to go to school, we can't keep keeping them home and I thought the trip was off? At least for a couple of weeks?" Felicity asked as she moved to brush her teeth.

"The girls can do work from home…I will happily give them one of the credit cards and they can order for the entire selection at every bookstore in the surrounding area be bought and then have an assistant bring them the lot of it if that'll keep them home, safe, and happy," Ray told her and he was dead serious. "And if we're BOTH going into the office, then who is going to be here? To mind the children?"

"The girls are going to school and Liv is coming to work with me," Felicity told him. "It'll be fine… I already figured it out. It's been a couple of days, you've seen the papers… We've got to make a public appearance. We'll walk the girls to school and then walk over to Palmer Technologies with Liv. It's something we do ALL the time, but I'm sure people will be snapping pictures and posting it all over social media…we won't have to call in the media."

"There are still people out there that want to kill us," Ray reminded. He didn't like this. Not one bit. He left the doorway to retrieve his phone. If they were going to do this, then he wasn't going to do this alone. They needed backup, even if Felicity didn't think they did. Ray liked plans and he liked having well thought out ones.

"Yesterday, you were practically pushing me out the door," Felicity reminded as she joined him in the bedroom. "Are you changing your mind about things just because of what happened?"

"Do you blame me?" he asked her as his head looked up at her.

"No," Felicity said gently and sat down next to him. "It was terrifying…but you were right. We can't just hide away—"

"No, I mean," Ray said and he turned his head so that he was looking right at her. "Do you BLAME me for what happened yesterday? Because I made everyone leave?" The guilt hadn't weighed on him until that moment. Yesterday, he hadn't seen blame placed with anyone except the people who were after his family. He hadn't blamed Oliver or Felicity…or even himself, but now…now he was wondering if HE was really the one who should be blamed for almost losing their precious baby girl.

He loved all four of their girls, but all he suddenly kept thinking was 'what if'? Liv was their little surprise. They hadn't been trying when Felicity had gotten pregnant, she'd just happened…like she knew that she'd been welcomed with open arms into their family and accepted without a second thought…and she had. She looked just like Felicity and somehow that made it harder…that made it hurt more…

"Ray," Felicity breathed and cupped his cheek. "No… No, I don't blame you. Of course not. You were right. We all needed to get out." She sighed and stroked his cheek with her thumb. "We can't live in fear…that's why we fought for this city…and that's why we continue to do so…and that's why we fight for our girls…" She smiled at him. "Some of us use arrows, some use guns, some use keyboards…or our minds…"

"I just…I'M supposed to protect her…them…our daughters…you…"

"Ray—"

"I sent you out there…and Oliver…Oliver was the one who protected Liv," Ray told her. He felt inferior, which he knew wasn't true, but he still felt it. In all honesty, he didn't know why he was beating himself up. Felicity had done the same. He wondered if he was a bad father. He'd promised to love all four girls the same, but did he love Liv more because she was his own? Or was it just because she was the baby? Or was it simply because her life was the only one that had been snatched? Alex had been protected by Felicity… He was quiet as he swallowed hard and then looked over at her. "Maybe the ATOM shouldn't be in that glass case…"

Felicity stared at him. "We're not having this conversation right now," she told him quickly. "You are going to breathe and believe in us…in our family…we're going to bury all of our worry…and we're going to walk the girls to school…we're going to walk to Palmer Technologies with Liv…and everything is going to be just fine." She leaned in and kissed him and then was thumbing his lip, he assumed to remove excess lipstick.

"How are you so sure?"

"We have back-up."

Ray just stared at her for a moment, opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it as he thought again. As far as he knew, they didn't have back-up. Lyla and Sara were in town, but he assumed that they'd be with John and that they'd all be resting. Donna had been kicked out of the penthouse, at least as far as spending the night went (and she'd definitely known that Quentin wasn't the one who had requested it), but she wasn't really back-up. Quentin was working the two guys that they'd caught the day before who had been involved in the attempted kidnapping. So that just left… "You're talking about Oliver?" Ray asked.

He really wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse about things. He sighed and ran the palm of his hands roughly against his face. Ray knew that he wasn't a man like Oliver, he wasn't a fighter…at least not in the physical sense. It had just really never been part of his life, he reacted in unexpected life or death situations…but that was it. He didn't really have any formal training. Ray was wondering if maybe it was something that he should look into.

She smiled at him. "I almost wish that I could say that he was going to be the Arrow…that he'd just be watching us from above in that green hood…" Felicity shrugged. "But…you DID offer him a job…so I asked him to do this…today…as a trial day…so, he'll be wearing a suit…one that I'm assuming isn't green."

It wasn't jealousy that hit him, but almost like he suddenly understood so many things. Felicity had kept the Foundry intact, she'd kept all the suits in glass cases, and she'd told the stories to their children…all she wanted was to believe in heroes…and to allow their kids to believe in them too. "I mean, if he can only do it in a green suit…I'm sure my tailor could make him one," Ray teased with a bright smile. There was actually something suddenly soothing about knowing that they wouldn't be alone.

As much as he'd doubted being able to take care of his family, he absolutely knew that their safety was paramount. His life didn't matter, but theirs…theirs did. Felicity was so much better at running the company than he was and seemed to excel at making all of the tech work that he couldn't. Alex, Clara, and Etta were absolutely brilliant and had so much ahead of them in their futures; Ray was certain that they'd end up taking over the company and changing it, the city, and the world for the better. Then there was his sweet little Liv, she was so tiny but he knew that she had as much heart and intelligence as Felicity…she was bound for things that Ray couldn't even imagine right now. His wife and children needed protection and he was more than happy for that to mean that it was Oliver. Oliver wasn't just someone who loved his wife, but he was trained and had proven that he'd do anything to protect their family…he was loyal and above all…he was driven by love and a vow.

"You're okay with it, right?" Felicity asked. Oliver as their security HAD been his idea. He could see the concern all over her face, but all he could think was that things were going to be better again. Somehow, all Ray's brain could calculate was danger in their lives plus Oliver, Diggle, Lyla, & Sara somehow equalled their lives almost resetting to normal plus extra friends.

"Are we calling in Thea and Roy?"

"I was going to talk to Oliver about that…"

"Do you really think you can convince him? He didn't want to even reveal himself to you…let alone the rest of the world…"

"If not, then I'll make the choice easy for him," Felicity said as then winced, her hand clutching her abdomen.

"You okay?" he asked, concern suddenly hitting him. Ray immediately wrapped his arm protectively around her. Felicity was strong in a lot of ways, but Ray knew that she was really in pain for her to react like that. "Do you need to take something?"

"It'll pass…just give me a second," she whispered as she just breathed. "You need to get a shower…"

"I'm not going to leave you when you're in pain…"

"Leave the bathroom door open, take a quick shower," Felicity told him as she nodded in the direction of their bathroom. "I won't move from the bed until you get out."

He knew better than to argue, even though he wanted to. "Okay," he whispered and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Ray hated to leave her there, but he knew that she was right. He needed to shower, get dressed, and they needed to get on with the day. Most times, her pain DID pass. That never kept him from worrying. "You call out for me if it gets worse…" She nodded and then Ray was stripping out of his work out clothing as he made his way to shower.


Flashback - Four Years Before

"You know, I really don't feel so helpful down in here," Ray half complained as he looked around the Foundry. He'd been apart of what Felicity called 'Team Arrow' and always in a sad tone in a year and a half. He'd only been out in the field a handful of times and now it was when they basically absolutely needed him. He wasn't a fighter, not in the field sense of the word. He'd tried to get Diggle to teach him, but Ray always ended up on the mat.

"There's still work you could do to make the city a better place," Felicity reminded as she slowly spun in the other computer chair.

Everyone else was out in the field except for them. They were doing better. The police were backing them. It seemed like there was a light at the end of the tunnel as far as cleaning up the criminal activity went. Felicity was right, though. He had projects. Many projects. "Wait. Are you talking about Star City?"

"Well, you said you were going to do it…so far…you're slacking on that front…though, to be fair…that's the ONLY front…"

He smiled at her as she continued to spin in the chair. It had been a hard year and a half for Felicity. Ray had tried to give her space, but they'd still been in this weird dating limbo. She was mourning a man that she'd loved, a man that she'd lost…someone he thought she could never have been with. That wasn't an easy thing. She was still a light in his world and he liked to think that their relationship…whatever status it was…that it was getting better, stronger day by day. "I was thinking…"

"New update for the ATOM suit?"

"No," he said as he tilted his head to the side, really studying her. Ray's foot stretched out until he stopped her chair from spinning anymore. "I was THINKING that I'm going to Central City this weekend to see my sister and her family…"

"Right," Felicity said slowly, but also it was obvious that she was confused. "You already told me that."

"I was thinking that maybe YOU could come with me."

"Me?"

Ray shrugged. "They asked if you were coming…" He paused for a moment. "I apparently talk about you…a lot…"

"Uh…I hope all good things…"

"Of course…" He smiled brightly at her. "Please? Come to Central City. Do something normal with me…"

"Meeting your family? Not sure if that counts as normal."

"Clara and Etta will certainly let you hide away with them," Ray offered. "They read a lot…"

"And that's supposed to appease me?"

"Safe place, right?"

Felicity just smiled back at him. "How do I know this isn't some kind of test?"

"A test?" Now he was smiling in response. "What kind of tests?" He paused for a moment. "I feel like it doesn't matter WHAT kind of test you THINK it is because you generally just seem like you do well no matter WHAT the test is…"

It was true.

Felicity was brilliant.

"Seeing if your family approves of me?"

Ray was suddenly confused. "No. I mean, we're not… Do we even have labels? Should I have changed my status on social media?" His rambling didn't stop there. "I mean, it's not that I don't want to label what we have…it just didn't seem necessary…or…or like a thing that needed to be done immediately…" He paused for a moment. "Though, let's be honest…who doesn't approve of Felicity Smoak? Let alone fall in love with her instantly?"

Her head tilted just slightly as she toyed with a blue pen. "You make it sound like I have some kind of seduction superpower."

"I'm still deciding if it's possible you have one and you don't know it."

Amusement colored her face even more. "You're a huge sweetheart… The girls are all older, right? This isn't some test to see how good I am with kids?"

Now Ray was amused. Felicity Smoak was the most intelligent, beautiful, and adorable woman that he knew. "They're like nine and six… They both read chapter books… I sent them tablets this last Christmas and apparently they hate them… How can someone hate tablets?"

"Maybe they prefer actual books…it's a different experience…"

"That's what my sister said…" Ray said and was still completely confused by that in general. He still didn't understand how people could hate tablets. "But you use one ALL the time…except when we're here…though you use it here too…just not for crime fighting business…"

Felicity reached out and held up her tablet. "You're right."

"But you don't read on it…"

"I read e-mails…and Palmer Tech stuff…but no, not books…" Felicity smiled and set down her tablet. "I really don't have time to read, though… I bought 'Outlander' because I saw a promo for the show they're doing or HAVE been doing before I passed out…but I haven't gotten past page four."

"When did you buy it?"

"Last year."

Ray frowned. "I guess you are pretty busy…"

"Not that I'm complaining," Felicity said quickly. "I'd much rather spend my free time sitting down here with you…and hanging out with Diggle, Roy, and Laurel…which also tends to be down here…" She looked around and it was almost like reality was hitting her. In the last year and a half, Ray had spent a lot of time down there…underground…but he wouldn't give it up. Not a moment of it. He knew that that meant that Felicity had spent a large chunk of four years…going on five down there…trying to make things better. Maybe she was right. Maybe he really needed to push himself towards his Star City initiatives. It wasn't just like it would benefit random people in the city, it was going to benefit the ENTIRE city…which also meant all of them. It meant that they could have lives outside of the Foundry and out from behind masks and secret (or not so secret as it seemed in Felicity's case) identities.

"So…" Ray said slowly. "I guess I'll work on things that I should have been working on…but if I'm stuck, can I have you look at it?" He smirked at her because he knew how it worked between them. "Or do I have to wait two weeks for you to figure it out in two seconds?"

She was beaming. "I'll take it easy on you…just because I don't want you to have that hurt puppy dog look…"

"What? I don't look like that…"

"Oh," Felicity said, beaming even more as she turned in the chair again. "You definitely do…"

"No, I don't…"

"Next time, I'll be sure to snap a picture of the face you make," she teased brightly.

Ray frowned, he didn't think he made a weird face like that. Though, if anyone could make fun of him in any and every way and not make him upset at all…it was Felicity. It was obviously also part of her super power. He grabbed his tablet, which was nearby, and opened up his projects that he knew that he should have been on top of, but it just hadn't been his priority. Sure, some of the stuff had automatically gotten done, but the overall plan hadn't…which meant that he was going to really have to dig in, in order to keep up with his original timeline.

"That! That's the look!"

/Flashback


Hesitant really wasn't the right word. It was more than that. Ray was practically terrified, but it wasn't because of the threat to his family, but with the fact that the pain he'd witnessed Felicity being in only an hour before was still heavily weighing on his mind. He'd wanted to talk about it, to urge her to make another doctor's appointment, to see if they could get answers…but they'd been behind time because he'd kept stopping getting ready because he'd felt the need to really assess that she was okay.

"See," Felicity said brightly as she walked with him, Liv in the middle holding both of their hands as they walked. "Everything's fine…" Even though she'd been in enough pain to warrant him taking her to the hospital only an hour before, she was absolutely radiant and from the outside…she didn't look like anything in the world was wrong. Felicity's hair was perfectly curled and down, she'd down her make-up, put on her glasses, put on jewelry, and had a black dress that fit tight at the top and the skirt had white polka dots on it that hung loosely from the empire waistline to a bit above her knees. Nothing about her radiated feeling sick or pain or anything…

Ray just smiled back at her, knowing that he could bring up this conversation later on. Right now, their goal was to get Etta, Clara, and Alex to school without a problem. John and Lyla had apparently already stopped by the school an hour before and had touched base to ensure that security would be where it needed to be. The three girls were so excited and had been dressed in their school uniforms and ready to go first thing. They'd lectured him the whole elevator ride down to the lobby about how long he'd taken.

Etta turned back, a huge smile on her face. "You know what would have been more fantastic about today? If Sara got to come to school WITH us!"

"I think that might be a little confusing," Felicity told her. "She's never been to school before. She's homeschooled at home. From what I hear, she SHOULD be in first grade, but she's actually in second and getting close to jumping to a third grade level for reading and math."

"But I thought our academy is basically GENIUS school," Alex said as she looked back and then just started to walk backwards. "I mean, it's probably JUST her speed…" She looked between Etta and Clara. "Something MORE awesome…if they just MOVED here…"

"Oh my God! YES!" Clara enthused and started to bounce a bit. She started to loose her footing, but Alex caught her and stopped Clara from falling over. Clara was definitely the 'klutz' out of the group of girls, though Felicity kept telling him that she'd outgrow it, that she'd just grow into her lengthening limbs. "PLEASE! PLEASE! TELL THEM!" Clara was now bouncing as she begged with her hands grasped in front of her as she attempted to walk backwards.

"Shouldn't we be begging her parents?" Etta questioned Alex and Clara.

"They're not here OBVIOUSLY…or we would be doing just that," Alex told Etta.

It really would be nice if everyone returned back to Star City, but the whole reason why John and Lyla didn't live there anymore was because ARGUS had them stationed overseas. If they were looking for jobs, then Ray would already be jumping at giving them one, he didn't care if he had to buy out another company in order to get them employed in Star City. It wasn't only the kids that would enjoy having them closer…but also Felicity…and himself.

"Maybe think about it today…and then when you see them later for dinner…BREATHE before going into that idea with them," Felicity suggested.

"There's totally going to be a presentation," Alex told them.

Ray let the girls get excited about that concept and bounce it off Felicity as they continued to walk, not much further to go. Oliver was a few feet to the side of them, walking about the same distance in front as the girls. He looked over to the other man and just studied him for a moment. It was clear that Oliver and Diggle did things similarly. They both always seemed like they were on the look out for an ambush, in this case…that was obviously what needed to happen…but they also did it even when there was no threat. It was just how they were wired. Ray in some ways wished he was like that, but deep down he was fairly sure that that would just drive him crazy with paranoia. Him being paranoid wouldn't get anyone anywhere.

They were nearly to the school when Ray spotted the media. Normally, their strict rule with social media was that their locations could not be tagged (at least not without permission - special events like charity events were the exception to the rule) and they couldn't be specific about where they were going. This morning, though, they'd given them the green light to tweet that they were excited about returning to school and had tagged the school in the tweet (though, everyone with a camera knew where they all went to school, their routes, their home, and where they worked…it really wasn't THAT top secret). The whole idea of today, though, was for them all to be on camera and for the media to get their pictures so that they knew that everyone was safe and that the hit men hadn't done anything.

Being in the media was something that he'd gotten used to over the years, but normally they really tried to shield the girls from it when it was in a day to day capacity. It was one thing for their pictures to be online in the paper after attending a charity event, but that was normally it. The girls knew that when paparazzi, even ones that they'd sort of invited to be there, where there on the street that they were to ignore them and act like nothing was different, so that's what the girls did.

"We've got it from here," Alex told them. She ran over to Felicity and hugged her before moving on to Liv and then finally him. The girls followed in succession. "We'll see you all later…we'll plot for Uncle John's move back here while at school…"

"I think you're supposed to LEARN things in school," Ray told her.

Etta smirked. "World domination…"

"Which can also be related to putting together a concise proposal to convince and plead our case to Uncle John and Aunt Lyla…" Clara said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We'll have it done before nutrition."

"We'll plot world domination after," Alex teased and then the three girls headed up the stairs and into their academy.

Ray didn't miss the boys who seemed to converge on his daughters almost immediately once they were halfway up the stairs. He looked over at Felicity, who was looking at him quite amused. "Why didn't we send them to an all girls school?"

"What if they like girls?"

"Valid point," Ray said as he looked over to see that Oliver had followed after the girls a moment after and had disappeared into the building for just a minute. "I guess boys are just more intimidating to me as a father…"

"Girls aren't innocent."

"Well, OURS are."

Felicity just grinned. "Let's head to work…"

"What do you think Oliver was doing?" Ray asked her as Oliver made it back down the stairs.

"Doing what you had wanted to do without the cameras picking up on it."

"He obviously deserves a raise…"

Felicity picked up Liv a moment later when she started to whine about walking. Normally, Liv was all for walking. The journey from their penthouse to the girls' academy to Palmer Technologies really wasn't that far, but perhaps this was a day where they should have brought the stroller along. Felicity held Liv on her hip and they walked on like normal. "Or you know, that green suit you were talking about…"

"I think it might have to be BOTH," Ray told her. He'd thought about asking her to let him carry Liv, she wasn't THAT heavy, but thirty some odd pounds was heavy especially for someone who was in pain not long ago. Ray, though, knew from being married to Felicity for how long they'd been married that she'd brush it off and she'd scold him about suggesting such a thing. That didn't mean that he wasn't going to watch her like a hawk, though.

They were nearly to Palmer Technologies when Ray caught Felicity's arm before she could really trip. Oliver was right there to take Liv from her, it was clear to Ray that Felicity had had another bout of severe and debilitating pain. They were close to the office AND they were close to the press, who would be expecting them to come in together.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," she told him in a very much not okay tone as she tried to push herself completely upright even though she was still clinging to him.

All his instincts told him to scoop her up and to hail a cab and get her to a hospital, but he knew that wasn't what she wanted and that once they were in the confines of their offices that he could insist that she take it easy and for a doctor visit be brought up. "Okay, I'm going to walk with you," Ray said as he moved so that it would look natural and just very loving of them to walk side by side, the entire time Ray holding Felicity upright. "We're almost there."

Felicity nodded. "I'm fine. I am."

"You're lying…" he whispered. Ray started to walk with her and noticed that Oliver had Liv, he set her down and they started to walk right along with them. To anyone outside of their family, they might think that Oliver was a bodyguard or just a friend that was holding Liv's hand. Right now, Ray really didn't care about the media or what they looked like to the public. His concern was with his wife.

"We're almost there," Oliver said quietly, yet firmly with a nod.

It was like they were on some mission. To Ray, it was ridiculous, but he KNEW why this was so important. It wasn't just important to Felicity…because really it wasn't important to Felicity…it was because she knew that it was important for the image of the company. Felicity understood how it affected the board's thoughts about both of them as well as a 'brand' as well as how it affected the stock points. Ray could care less about all of that. Their company could lose every single stock holder and he wouldn't care, just as long as Felicity was okay and his children were safe. Health and safety, that's all that mattered to him.

"John's going to meet us at your office in ten minutes," Oliver spoke up as they hit the media waiting right outside of the building.

Ray could feel Felicity straighten a bit more and try to pull from his hold, but he kept her tight against him, his worry for her falling over outweighed anything she could argue at him once they hit the elevator. There were questions thrown at them, but Felicity just smiled in response while Ray requested that they all submit questions for them to respond to in a more thorough form. This of course, was his way of procrastinating while at the same time trying to protect his wife.

They were in the elevator in a matter of seconds and Oliver had made sure that it was only the four of them, quickly holding down the close door button and then while still holding it, he pressed for the specific floor until it started to move. It wouldn't stop, not once, Ray knew that and he was thankful for it. He relaxed his hold on Felicity and looked at her, studying her.

"I'm fine," she whispered, but didn't look at either of them.

"You don't look fine."

"Mommy okay?" Liv asked with concern in her little high pitched voice. She looked up to them both and her big blue eyes pleaded for her answer.

"Mommy's fine, Sweetheart," Felicity immediately assured.

Ray just watched her the entire time. She was leaning back against the elevator wall with her eyes now closed. He looked over to Oliver, who seemed worried as well. It dawned on him that Oliver had no idea why Felicity was in pain, no clue whatsoever, but this wasn't really the time to bring it up. He knew that it would just dredge up things for Felicity and that wasn't something he wanted. It was something he could bring Oliver up to speed on later when they were alone. It was something that Oliver needed to know and he needed to know what to do if the pain returned when Ray wasn't around.

"We don't have to stay the whole day," Ray brought up. It was the nice part of being in charge of things, they could work from home. Felicity, especially, good work at home or somewhere else. She was the one who normally just needed her tablet and wifi and she was good to go. "We could just check e-mail and—"

"There are NO important meetings today?" Felicity questioned.

"I suppose that depends on your definition of important," Ray countered.

"Ray—"

"I'm not making a big deal of things…I just think that we should leave ourselves open in case we need to leave today for any reason because of security with the girls AND I thought we were going to pick them up after school's out?"

The elevator doors opened and Felicity grabbed hold of his arm, leaning on him for support as they exited. The clear walls of their offices showed them that John Diggle and his family were already waiting for them. No matter what she needed, Ray was going to be there for her and to do anything and everything she needed.

"Did they have a kid that I forgot about?" Ray asked when it was obvious that Sara wasn't the only child in the office with Diggle and Lyla. There was another child and from what Ray could see, it was a boy who was just around the same height as Sara.

"Not unless I forgot too…" Felicity whispered.

The group closed the distance between them and the Diggles in no time. Liv ran to Sara and was immediately hugging her. The girls didn't get to see each other in person that often, but there was generally Skyping between the older girls and Sara at least once a week and Liv would always pop in on those conversations.

"You my best friend," Liv told Sara as she hugged her.

"Did we miss a Christmas card and a whole bunch of birthdays?" Ray finally asked , a bright honest smile in place, once he was hugging Diggle again. There was just never enough hugging when good friends were in town.

"We actually have a LOT of announcing to do," Lyla said.

It was then that Ray realized that not only did they have a little boy with them, but Lyla was also quite visibly pregnant. "Oh…wow…should you be traveling? How far along are you? Why didn't you—" he started to ask as he turned to Diggle who just patted his shoulder.

"Just breathe," Diggle told him.

Ray watched as Lyla embraced Oliver and they gave him a few moments to see how big Sara was. He realized that Oliver and gone missing not long after Sara had been born. Ray had been part of Sara Diggle's life more than Oliver had. He wondered if that was weird.

"So, we wanted it to be a surprise…but we have a new addition to our family and we WILL be having a new addition in a couple of months," Lyla announced. "This is Mateo…he's been living with us for the past few months since his parents went missing in the field. So, even though we have different last names…he's still very much part of the family."

"He's TWO months younger than I am," Sara announced.

"And how are you liking being a Diggle?" Felicity asked him as she crouched down to be at the kids' level.

"We go on a lot of trips," Mateo responded. "And I don't go to school at school…"

"While on that subject," Felicity said as she looked towards Lyla and Diggle. "Our girls have hatched his plan that there will be a presentation at dinner in which to persuade you to move back here…"

"You sure that those girls aren't biologically yours?" Diggle teased.

Felicity smirked. "Not unless this is some kind of 'Doctor Who' episode…and this is all some kind of timey whimey thing that I don't yet know about…"

"You have kids that aren't yours?" Mateo asked.

"Well, it's a long story—" Ray started.

"They technically aren't ours…but they ARE ours…we adopted them…but that doesn't mean anything, it's the fact that we're a family and that we love each other that means that they're ours," Felicity explained quickly. "We don't love them any differently than we love Liv…but I know that it takes time to feel like you belong…"

Mateo just nodded.

As Ray watched her talk to the little boy, all he could think about was how good Felicity was with kids and what a good mother she was. He knew all those things, but it hit them that they'd never really discussed children while they were dating, engaged, or marriage. When the girls had needed to be adopted, it had just be a no brainer. He remembered Felicity had been like 'well, of COURSE you HAVE to adopt them' and then she'd gone on about how he could do it and how she'd be right there with him the whole time. They were engaged shortly after that and Felicity really had stepped in as their mother since day one and had never stopped, she'd been there for them for anything and everything. Liv had been a surprise to both of them, she hadn't been planned, but they hadn't precautioned against pregnancy either once they were married…but they couldn't have loved her any more.

It really wasn't until his family had slowly come together on its own, in its own time, that Ray had even realized how much he had WANTED a family. The truth was, he'd give it all up…the money, the company, Star City, and even his tech for his family… He'd live on a farm with no electricity or anything modern like that if he had to, just as long as he had his family. Of course, he didn't think he'd do well on such a backward place. Felicity was right, he wouldn't survive long during the zombie apocalypse unless he learned to adapt to the world around him instead of making the world adapt to his will.

"We didn't think we'd see you until dinner," Felicity said as she moved to sit in a nearby chair.

"But then Oliver texted," Diggle spoke up.

Now Felicity was looking at him. He knew that she didn't want to be fussed over. He knew that she didn't want a big deal made of what had happened, but he couldn't just ignore what had happened. "Right, so…I was thinking that maybe you guys could go off…hang out…catch up…I'll take care of things here," Ray said as he slowly made up what should now be done as he stood there.

"Ray—"

"When have you had the chance to see Oliver, John, Lyla, and the kids?"

She stared at him.

He knew it wasn't fair.

"Plus, I'll just ask you to take it easy here," Ray pointed out. He was going to have a hard time not being able to actually keep his own eyes on her, but he knew that she'd be in good hands. "I can disable the wifi…"

"I can hack your files from my phone…WITHOUT wifi," she countered.

"There's a park not far from here," Diggle pointed out. "I promised the kids that we'd let them play…I'm sure Liv would love to run around for a bit…then we can go back to the penthouse? We can order lunch and then plan what we want to make later?"

"It's a good plan," Ray said quickly and a bit too enthusiastically. He couldn't help the enthusiasm though, it came naturally and he just couldn't turn it down. "Park?!" Liv shouted. "We go to park?!" The little two year old was bouncing now. Her blonde ringlets bouncing with her, her big bow clipped in her hair was the only thing keeping the curls out of her face as she continued to excitedly bounce. A jump even came into play.

Felicity sighed in response.

"Jerry is already rescheduling every meeting," Ray told her. "I gave him the head's up over an hour ago."

She wasn't pleased, but she wasn't arguing either.

"Great…it's settled then!"

"What about the girls?" Oliver asked.

"We'll figure it out when we get closer to that time…" Ray said slowly and he could see that Felicity was staring at him. Neither one of them liked not having a plan, a solid plan. The first day the girls started school in Star City, they had itineraries for every single part of the day, just to make sure that they'd have a buffer and would get the girls on time. They'd even come up with back-up plans in case the girls needed an earlier pick-up for whatever reason.

He didn't miss the wince that crossed Felicity's face and her hands covering across her abdomen. Ray noticed, though, that she was really trying to keep quiet about it with everyone there. They were all family, but he knew that she didn't want a big deal made of things…but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to make a big deal of it. It would just have to be in private. "Could you guys give us a minute?" Ray asked.

"Yeah, of course," John responded without a second thought.

"Come here," Ray said as he grabbed Liv and spun her around before kissing her and hugging her thoroughly. "Daddy's going to miss you."

"I in charge?" Liv asked.

"Of course," Ray told her. "Do you think you can watch everyone?"

Liv nodded.

"Good girl," he whispered before kissing her again. "I love you…be good, okay?"

"Love you too," Liv replied as he set her down before hurrying out after everyone else. "Be good, too, Daddy!"

Ray let out a short laugh before he turned to Felicity and let out a low sigh. They really didn't have that much privacy in their offices because of the glass walls. His idea of tinting glass was sounding better and better by the minute to him. He kneeled down in front of her as he took her hands in his.

"I'm fine," Felicity said before he could say anything.

He was worried. There was no way that that wasn't clear to his wife. "It's one thing to have one bought of pain…but this is three in less than two hours, Felicity…"

"It's not as bad as it looks."

"I'm worried that it's worse…"

"Ray—"

"Just please make an appointment with your doctor? It doesn't have to be today, but I'd love it if it were… I understand you wanting to spend time with John, Lyla, and Oliver all together." All he honestly wanted were assurances that his wife was still okay. They'd known that there could be almost like phantom pains since the accident, but this was something more. "I know you say you're fine, but just think of it as appeasing my worry?"

"Okay," Felicity replied quietly.

"We should tell Oliver."

"I will…" she assured. "Just…let me find the right time?"

"He KNOWS that there's something wrong."

"But he's not going to press me for information while I'm at the park," Felicity explained. She paused for a moment. "Or at least, I don't think so…"

Ray smiled at her and touched her cheek. "He cares about you, Felicity. I'm sure he's going to be waiting for ANY opening to ask the question and voice his own concern for you…and he doesn't even know about this morning or likely what I just saw in this office." When she looked down, he knew that she was having a hard time. He was trying to make it easier for him. If it had just been them, if everyone wasn't in town and their world wasn't chaotic…then he would have called the doctor that morning and he would have driven her to the doctor himself or have just taken her straight to the ER. He knew that she wasn't a child, but that didn't mean that he didn't care and love and treasure his wife.

Trust.

Sometimes trust was hard. He just had to trust that Felicity would take care of herself and KNOW when she really needed to go into the doctor or the hospital. Ray just couldn't help his worry for her. There were times like these where Ray wished that he could bottle up exactly how he felt about Felicity. It wasn't just about love, the unconditional love. It was the worry, the fears, the joy, the potential, and every other emotion he felt about her. If he could just SHOW her exactly what he meant to her.

Words just weren't enough.

"I'm afraid."

Her words couldn't have been more honest.

The tone was heartbreaking though and Ray took a moment as he stared at her, with her gaze downward, to swallow the lump in his throat. "I know," he whispered. They'd been acting like things were fine. They'd been acting like everything would work out. They didn't know that. Not for sure. Ray paused and spoke gently and nearly a whisper. "I'm not going anywhere, you know that…"

"I know…" she whispered back as she looked up at him.

Ray leaned in, wiped away the tears, kissed her, and then kissed her forehead. "We're going to get through whatever is put in front of us, like we always do…together…" He held her, he held her until he knew that she was reminded that he was there for her and until she relaxed. Only then did Ray know that Felicity was really ready to go with everyone. He kissed her again for good measure before she finally left him.

As Ray watched them all go, an idea hit him.

The ATOM.

The nano technology.

Why had he been so blind all this time?

It was a good thing that he'd asked for all of their meetings to be cancelled for the day because he was going to be far too busy working on his new project. He was determined to adjust the nano tech for his needs. Ray just hoped that it worked. With no knowledge of what Felicity's doctors would say about her current condition, all he could do was to hope that his nano tech could be fashioned to combat anything that they might come back with.


"Ray?"

"Five more minutes," he muttered.

"What are you doing up here?"

"Working." Ray's response was matter of fact and to the point of being uninterested. All he cared about in that moment was finishing figuring out how to get the nano tech working the way that he needed it to. He hadn't looked up from his project since he'd started on it. All he wanted to do was to figure out how to make the nano tech work for Felicity. There were so many possibilities, of course, because she didn't have an up to date scan or doctor's report or anything like that, but Ray felt like adjusting the tech programming could be done easily enough since it would be all in the same ballpark.

Quentin sighed. "Please tell me that there's a GOOD reason why you're here?"

"There's ALWAYS a good reason for everything I do, Quentin, you know that."

He sighed again. "Ray, can you just stop a minute and actually look at me? I think you and I have got to have a talk."

"I can't," Ray said and moved to type in a new equation into the main computer screen. He had to have the coding just right because it would be a delicate procedure. It wasn't something so easy as destroying a blood clot, this was a much larger medical issue. "I have to finish this…"

"This is important!"

"So is this!" Ray snapped and finally looked up at Quentin who seemed shocked at how he'd spoken to him. Sighing himself, Ray rubbed his face roughly. He was exhausted. He'd stripped out of his blazer, button-up shirt, and tie and had exchanged it for the STAR Labs shirt that he owned that just seemed to always make its way to his workshop. He'd just needed something more comfortable. It was clear to himself in that moment that he was exhausted to the point that he just felt raw physically and emotionally. "I'm sorry," he said slowly.

"You going to tell me what you're working on? What's so important that you're here instead of with your wife and girls?" Quentin asked a bit roughly.

Over the last five years, Ray had learned slowly that Quentin Lance was very protective of Felicity. He cared for her as if she were his daughter. Normally Ray appreciated that. Quentin had always been a good grandpa to their girls and 'father-in-law' to him. Right now, though, he didn't really appreciate his judging. It wasn't like this was an on going thing. "I need to finish this project," he responded calmly. As much as Ray respected the man, he really didn't need Quentin judging or questioning his relationship (just like Donna). "It's important. It's for Felicity."

"She doesn't know anything about it. We've all been trying to call you."

He hadn't even heard his phone and when he tapped the screen he was not only shocked to see the multitude of calls he'd missed or the texts messages, but what really surprised him was the time. "I—"

"She pinged your phone and figured you were working on something," Quentin said. "Felicity didn't seem worried once she saw you were still in the building…but she's not feeling well… She says she's fine, but—"

"But she's not," Ray finished and couldn't be angry at Quentin. He really hadn't been in the first place. It had been all from a place of frustration. "I didn't realize how late it was…" He motioned to his surroundings. "I used to lock myself up here for days…weeks even…and I just shut out the world…I won't even realize how much time has passed or that anyone's trying to get ahold of me…" He paused. "it's been a really long time since I've done it."

"I'm still waiting for the good reason."

He deserved to know.

"Please don't say anything to Donna," Ray requested before he'd give anything up. He knew that Felicity didn't want her mother to know, for many reasons, but mainly so she wouldn't worry.

Quentin seemed to understand suddenly and shook his head. "This is about that accident last year, isn't it? I thought the doctors said she was okay?"

"There's so much that happens inside the human body that we can't predict…so much that you never know if it's going to heal correctly…what's going to grow…what's going to spread…" Ray held up his tablet to Quentin to show him what he was working on, though knew that he was going to need a more verbal explanation of it. "This is nano tech that I had invented…it's already being used in SOME places for certain minor things…it's still deemed experimental and tends to be used only in extreme cases. I don't know why, it's proven itself to be safe."

"Okay, so what? You inject Felicity with these tiny robot bugs and they fix things?"

"Basically," Ray said. "I have to program them to do the correct job, though."

"Why didn't we think this up last year?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "It was a lot. I thought I was going to lose her…"

"We all did…"

"I thought I was going to lose everything."

"So, this…this'll work?"

Ray shrugged. "I mean, in theory…yes."

"And in reality?"

"I need her to go to the doctor's. We need to know EXACTLY why she's in pain. What's going on inside of her. I need scans," Ray rambled. "I need every single thing that I can get my hands on in the way of data, so that I can make sure that these things are perfectly programmed."

"That's why you've been here all day?"

Ray nodded.

"Well, crap."

"I hate seeing her in pain…and I kept thinking about what it could mean," Ray admitted. "I kept thinking about how I could lose her…and how I don't think I could handle that. How could I live without her? How could I take care of the girls without her? They need a mother. They need a mother more than they need me. How would the company continue? I just—I can't—I need her," Ray kept trying to push out exactly everything that had crossed his mind and every single feeling he could think and feel compressed together.

"We're not going to let anything happen to her," Quentin said confidently. "Though, I have to ask…why haven't you said anything to Donna? She knows about the accident, she came to town then…"

"Felicity's afraid that somehow she'll be letting her mother down if she knows what all of this could mean…"

"Donna LOVES her."

"It's Felicity," Ray whispered. "We all do."


Flashback - Four Years Before

"What are you working on?"

"Something on my list."

"Ooooo THE LIST," Felicity teased a bit, but he could hear the smile in her voice without even looking up at her.

"I've got to get back on track for this Star City plan."

"How many things did you check off today?"

Ray frowned deeply. "None."

"I thought we were moving forward?" Felicity questioned.

He looked up at her and sighed. "How many hours have I been here?"

"Nearly two days," she supplied as she set food in front of him. "And you're going to shower and sleep…"

Ray looked back down at what he'd been working on. It felt like he'd only been working on it an hour, maybe that was because he hadn't gotten as far as he would have liked for two days' worth of work. "I just don't know if I can really get through this…AND run the company—"

"Newsflash," Felicity said. "I'M running the company whenever you hide in here…"

That was true.
Looking up at her, Ray smiled. Suddenly, he was beaming. "That's an excellent idea."

"Wait. What?"

"YOU should run the company."

"I have been for the last two days," Felicity told him. "You need the sleep to comprehend what I'm telling you."

"No! No, I'm thinking perfectly clearly," he insisted. The problem was that he wasn't quite perfectly getting his meaning across to her. "I'm saying that YOU should run the company instead of me…ALL of the time."

Felicity just stared at him like he was crazy for a moment. Silence hung between them before she finally spoke up. "No."

"What?"

"No."

"Felicity—"

"You do realize that right now my life is Palmer Technologies AND Team Arrow…I don't have time for all of your extra paperwork and meetings and everything else that comes with being CEO," Felicity told him. "I'll stick with being VP if that's okay."

"You sure? Because I think you're a better CEO than I am…"

"You know," Felicity said quietly as she leaned against his work table. "When I first started to work at this company…back when it was called Queen Consolidated…I was just some lowly and lonely IT girl who would have never in a million years thought that I would have come so far…"

"Lowly IT girl? I have never seen you in that way, Felicity. I'm surprised you were JUST an IT girl back then," Ray admitted. He'd seen Felicity's background. Everything about her, especially her educational background he knew. "I might have hired you for VP right off the bat."

Felicity beamed at that and shook her head. "I was a different person back then."

"You've always been Felicity."

"I lived in this little sphere…"

Ray just stared at her for a moment. This was a woman who had steered him onto a completely different path than he had originally thought possible. The ATOM. Nothing with Palmer Technologies was exactly where it was supposed to be headed…at least, not in the direction it was going now (which wasn't a bad thing). Because of Felicity Smoak, Starling City would be Star City and a much better place to live.

"You brighten the entire world," Ray insisted. "I don't think that's a new thing. You change people…for the better."

"Not so sure about that."

"I am."

Silence.

Felicity was the first to break it. "Well, that can be debated later…after you eat, shower, and sleep…and in THAT order."

Ray sighed. He couldn't argue with her. Her points were all too valid, even though he hadn't heard them this time around. There was fair certainty that he had the entire lecture memorized. "Okay…"

"And I'll see if there are any checkboxes on your list that I can cross off while you're in the shower…"

"You're an angel…"

"You flatter far too easily."

"You make it easy," he told her as he just stared at her. Ray moved closer, touching her cheek gently before kissing her. God, he had no idea how his life would have been if he'd never met her…or if their lives hadn't gone as they had…his life wouldn't have been quite so adventurous.

/Flashback


Ray rode home with Quentin, even though it was a quick walk home, it was nice to have the chance to talk about some things. It wasn't often that just the two of them got to talk, of course…unless Ray had lost track of the time and Quentin had to lecture him and then drag him home. Though, that pretty much never happened…just like them having the time to talk together, just the two of them. Quentin spoke up when they were about halfway home. "Now…that we've discussed WHY I went to find you… I wanted to tell you that you can breathe easy now."

"What?"

"As far as the assassinations are concerned."

"They talked?"

"We might not get a lot of crime anymore here in Star City, but that doesn't mean that we still don't know how to do our jobs," Quentin told him a bit gruffly. "I questioned them and finally got a name out of them, which led me to threats that had been received by the company—"

"We've received threats before, but this one was different—"

"And this bad guy is different…"

"Different how?"

"Metahuman."

"Really?"

"Apparently he was blaming Palmer Technologies for what happened to him," Quentin continued to explain. "Or well…Queen Consolidated."

"I still don't understand," Ray said slowly. Nothing that Lance was saying made sense to him. "STAR Labs was responsible. The particle accelerator… I mean, I can see people not all connecting the dots with that…"

"He wasn't in Central City when it happened."

"Another one?"

Quentin shrugged. "So, I called in reinforcements. They've already got him in their off the grid prison."

"If he was a metahuman…why didn't he just come after us?" Ray asked. He was even more confused now. He knew about STAR Labs, the particle accelerator, and Team Flash. They were his buddies. Central City really wasn't THAT far away. It had been some time since they'd seen each other in person. At least a year. Ray missed them. He'd wanted to steal away Caitlin and Cisco and give them jobs, but they just wouldn't leave Barry or Central City, that was their mission and he respected that. Of all the metahumans that he could think of, they could all use their powers in a negative way…even if they didn't. "Why did he hire assassins?"

"He apparently tried to get his answers from Queen Consolidated's PR office at first and then had apparently talked to you and Felicity directly. At least that's what I'm being told. I haven't gone through and checked your visitor logs or had your footage put through one of Felicity's facial recognition programs," Quentin told him as he parked. "The guy used to be a star athlete, but was also extremely intelligent…and the particle accelerator apparently made him a quadriplegic and he can't verbally communicate. So, since he can't act out his own plans, apparently he can push thoughts into people's heads. It was a hell of an interesting way to confine him and get him to Central City."

"So…he could convey plans, but he couldn't just like get Felicity and I to do what he wanted?" Ray asked even more confused.

"Hey, I'm not an expert in this field," Lance said. "But maybe he did try to use his abilities on you two and you didn't give him what he wanted…because you were actually honest. He hadn't factored that in. He didn't know any better." He shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that they said that they weren't sure if that was his only ability."

"Man, I thought that

"Cisco actually posed the idea that perhaps he knew to threaten your entire family because he KNEW that it would elicit a response."

"Well, I guess at least we know WHY…and WHO…and maybe he'll finally get the answers he wanted?" Ray threw out there. He knew that the whole goal of Team Flash's imprisonment of the metahumans they took in was to rehabilitate them; they were supposed to learn about their powers, how to control them and when, and how to live as part of society (the non-criminal side). "At least everyone's safe now…and he'll get help…"

"Well, if he accepts it…"

"Right."

"Either way, good news for my family…that's all I care about right now," Quentin said. "And I didn't say anything about Oliver…though…Cisco kept bringing up that apparently there was something on social media about a vigilante being back in the city…"

"You just kept changing the subject, didn't you?" Ray asked as he looked over at Quentin. He knew how Cisco worked, he was genius but he was also curious, and he also knew how Quentin avoided things. There was a reason for him to do it, though, it was obvious that Oliver wasn't okay with everyone knowing that he was back…that he was alive.

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"They're going to call Felicity."

"Hopefully tomorrow."

"Hopefully," Ray echoed with a smile and a bit of a huffed laugh.

Quentin looked directly at him. "Now, I know that you and I don't have the longest relationship…and you don't know Oliver Queen like I do…but do you have ANY idea if he's going to actually see any of the other people that had been in his life?"

"You mean Thea?"

"Thea. Roy," Lance said and tilted his head to the side. "Laurel. Not that I want him and her…together…because I just always feel like that's a bad plan."

"Isn't she seeing someone?" Ray asked with the biggest smile on his face. "I thought she's very happy being Mrs. Mayor?"

"Oh, she is…" Quentin sighed. "Am I being dramatic? Aren't you the least bit worried of Queen stealing Felicity from you? Messing up things?"

"No."

"How are you so confident?"

"Felicity."

Quentin sighed again. "I know Donna and I have both voiced our concerns, but it's only because we love you two…and the girls…we're just concerned. You get that, right?"

"Yeah, but it's not necessary."

"I see how they look at each other. They love each other."

"They do."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"I loved a woman before Felicity…"

"That's different."

Ray frowned. He really didn't want to get into this conversation, but here Quentin was wanting to have it anyways. Maybe if he had it with him, then he would get Donna to drop it with Felicity. He could hope anyways. "You were married…don't you still love her? Your ex-wife?"

"Dinah," Lance supplied and groaned before covering his face for a moment, tilting his head before dragging his hands down his face. "Yeah…okay…so? I don't think I'm ever going to get over her."

"I don't think Felicity and Oliver are ever going to really get over each other, but that doesn't mean that he's going to steal her away," Ray explained. It was all common sense to him, he didn't get why people worried so much. "He's a part of her life that I can never erase…and I'm not going to try."

"So, your plan is to bring him in closer?"

Ray shrugged. "I'm going to do whatever makes Felicity happy."

"Happy wife, happy life?"

"It's not such a bad saying."

Quentin smirked. "It's actually quite true…"

"So, you said that you're never going to not love Dinah…is that why it's so hard for you to make the next move with Donna?"

"You kids with your vigilante identities…your baffling technology…and your inability to keep your noses out of other people's own personal business."

Ray was the one smirking now. Maybe he and Quentin needed more of these moments, it was nice. "She loves you. We all see it. We just want you to be happy."

A moment later, Quentin was pulling a ring out of his blazer inside pocket. He was grinning like crazy. "I've been carrying this around since the last time Donna was here…it just never seems like the right time, you know?"

"Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"Then just tell her…and ask her…" Ray smiled, he knew that they might not all appreciate Donna being so close ALL of the time, but it was always nice to have family nearby. "You know everyone will be happy for you both…"

"Maybe now that the dark cloud of assassination isn't hanging over your heads, Donna and I can find the right moment…" Quentin's phone chimed and he groaned when he looked down at it. "I guess we were already spotted and we're expected to make our way upstairs in a timely fashion."

Ray smirked. "Maybe they just pinged your phone."

The two of them headed up to the penthouse to find everyone still there. No kids in sight, but Ray was fairly sure that that meant they were all in his kids' bedrooms playing and making up for lost time. Felicity wasn't in sight, but that meant nothing. It was late, she could be bathing Liv or putting her in bed for all he knew. It was when he realized that Donna wasn't around either that made him worry. Sure, she could be with the kids, but he couldn't stop himself from going immediately to a place of concern and worry for his wife. "Sorry I lost track of time…" Ray apologized as he moved in farther. Oliver, John, and Lyla looked like they'd been having a good time, likely catching up. "You know how I am when I'm working on a project…"

"Felicity is normally the one who has to pry you away from it."

Ray laughed. "You're right…and she usually locks me out of…well…everything until I do what needs to be done…like sleeping, eating, and showering… I guess it's been a while since that's happened…just got wrapped up with things."

"It happens," John said and seemed to shrug it off.

"You did miss some really good chicken and eggplant parmigiana," Lyla told him. "Pretty sure that there are still leftovers in the kitchen though."

"If you're lucky."

Ray just smiled at them, his hands on his hips. He was actually pretty bummed that he'd missed this dinner, it looked like everyone had had a really great time. "You guys are staying for a while, right? This wasn't like the ONLY family dinner I missed out on?"

"We already received our presentation on the many reasons why we should stay," Lyla spoke up with an amused smile. "The girls are extremely thorough…"

"They're going to be dangerous," John told her and he sounded serious.

"Still not sure that settling down is really going to happen, though," Lyla said.

Oliver let out a laugh. "You guys are about to be a family of five…are you really going to keep moving wherever ARGUS sends you? I mean, at least if you guys lived here…if you needed to go on a mission, then you have family to take care of the kids…"

"He's not wrong," Quentin chimed in.

"I told the girls that we'd talk about it…and think about it…and we WILL be here for at least a couple of weeks…" Lyla said. "You guys will likely all be sick of us by then."

"You know what would make this visit even better?" Ray brought up. It was something that needed to be said. He knew that Felicity said that she'd talk to Oliver about it, but maybe it would be better if it was a thought announced to the ENTIRE group. After all, Thea and Roy were people that he and Felicity as well as John and Lyla considered family. The fact that Thea was also Oliver's sister was really just a bonus in the grand scheme of things. "We should invite Thea and Roy…it's been a while since we've ALL been together."

"I don't think I'm exactly ready—" Oliver started to wind up an excuse, but Lyla interrupted him before he could get the entire thing out.

"I think it'd be great! I think I have their satellite number in my phone," Lyla said as she started to reach down to try to fish her phone out of her purse.

"By the way," Ray said slowly. "Where are Felicity and Donna?"

"Felicity wasn't feeling well," Oliver supplied. "And Donna insisted on making sure she got into bed okay…" The happiness faded from Oliver's face and it was instantly replaced by worry, a worry that Ray knew well.

His smile faded a little and he just pressed his lips tightly together before giving a nod. "Well, I'm going to go and check just to make sure that everything is okay…" He excused himself and moved down the hallway, he peeked into the girls' rooms as he went. His three older girls were all together while Liv, Mateo, and Sara played in Liv's room. There was just so much happiness between those three rooms, he was a little afraid to find discord at the end of the hallway.

Weirdly, he found himself knocking on his own bedroom door before peeking inside. It was more because he didn't know what exactly he going to be walking into. When it involved Donna Smoak, anything was possible. When he looked in, he found Felicity in bed and Donna sitting on the edge of the bed who was also signaling him to be quiet. So, he was. Quietly, he closed the door behind him and moved towards Donna.

"She wasn't feeling well," Donna said, but didn't look at him.

Felicity was curled up on her side, pillow under her arm and another against her back keeping her in place. She looked peaceful, like she was fast asleep, but he knew that she hadn't felt well earlier so he tried to keep that in mind. Obviously she'd felt bad enough to go to bed leaving the others up. Liv was even up still and wasn't tucked into bed…Ray didn't even think that she'd been bathed since he was fairly sure that she wasn't in PJs yet.

"Thank you…for taking care of her…" Ray responded quietly. He didn't know what else to say.

"Something's wrong, isn't it?"

"Donna—"

Donna Smoak looked back at him and seemed sad. Maybe he shouldn't have kicked him out of the penthouse, but he really thought that it was for the best as far as sanity and stress went. "Everyone else just seems to know…or maybe it just feels that way, but I don't know why Felicity would want to keep something serious from me."

He wanted to tell her, because Ray DID think that she should know but at the same time he felt like he should really respect Felicity's wishes…at least for now. "She wasn't feeling well earlier," Ray covered. "I'm going to make sure that she sees her doctor tomorrow…there was just a lot going on today with John and Lyla being in town."

"I can watch Liv tomorrow while Felicity goes to her appointment if that'll help? Or if she wants me to go with her?"

Smiling, Ray moved over to her and wrapped an arm around her, half hugging her, before kissing her temple. "I'll make sure she knows, okay?"

"I just worry about her…" Donna told him as she paid all her attention to Felicity as she brushed hair out of her face. "I know I upset her the other day…but I mean well, I do… I worry about her. She's such a good girl… She's always been so smart, but she has such a huge heart. It's all good, but she always takes care of herself last."

"I think you just surprised her."

Donna looked back at him. "You do WANT kids, right?"

"We have four."

"I meant more."

"I am perfectly happy with our family how it is," Ray explained. "But I would also be open to expanding it. Ultimately, that's a decision that Felicity and I will make."

"You sound like Felicity."

"We talk."

Donna smiled at him. "Okay, Sweeties." She leaned down and kissed Felicity's cheek. Getting to her feet, Donna turned to him. "Now, do you need some help getting the girls into bed? I could bathe Liv?"

Normally, he'd thank her but pass on her offer. Not tonight. "That would actually be great, Donna…"

"Why can't I get you ever call me Mom?"

"You just never look old enough to be my mom."

That lit up Donna's face like the sun. Her hand patted his shoulder for a moment. "Oh Ray, if you weren't married to my Felicity and if I weren't head over heels in love with Quentin…well…well, things might just be different…or creepy…" She tilted her head. "I'm not quite sure which one it would be…but I'd be swooning over you…"

He took that as a compliment since he was sure that was how Donna had intended it. "Thank you for helping… I'm just going to take a couple of minutes and then I'll be back out. I'm sure that Mateo and Sara are probably getting sleepy…it's past my girls' bedtimes so I would think it's past theirs too."

"I think they were waiting for you to show up." She patted his shoulder again. "I get Liv started."

"Thank you," Ray said as he watched her go. "Mom."

She looked back at him, a huge smile on her face.


Donna and Quentin had been the last ones to leave. Donna had bathed Liv, put her in one of her princess nightgowns, and then had read five books to her. Ray had read her the final book before she'd finally fallen asleep. Liv had kept asking for mommy, but luckily she'd fallen asleep. Ray's 'Plan B' was going to be putting the two year old in bed with Felicity. He watched her sleep for another moment. She was curled up with her zebra, whale shark, and baby doll.

Eventually, he made his way in to check on the older girls. Etta was already asleep in her bed, apparently she'd been the first one to shower and to turn in. Clara and Alex, however, were still up reading…which was pretty much normal. They were the two that sometimes they'd have to threaten to take away their current reads in order to get them to go to sleep. "Time to sleep," he told them.

"Five more pages?" Clara asked sweetly.

Alex tilted her head and frowned a bit. "One more chapter?"

"Aren't you two reading the same book today?" Ray asked. He swore that he'd seen them both reading the same thing, in fact…he was certain that Etta was reading it as well. "School book?"

"School book," they said in unison.

"What page are you two on?"

"Seventy-three," Clara said.

"Seventy-five," Alex responded.

"Almost done with the chapter?" Ray asked as he sat down on the bed between the two girls and took Alex's book from her to inspect how many pages were still left. "Clara, catch up…and I'll read the last few pages aloud."

"Oooooo you're going to read aloud? Lucky us!"

As he waited, he thumbed through the book to see exactly what they were reading about. It was definitely a heavy topic and he wasn't sure how he felt about his girls reading about it. The reading level for the book was easy enough and he could understand why Etta was reading it, too, but Ray almost wondered if perhaps this was a book that they shouldn't be reading until they were sixteen or even eighteen.

"Done," Clara announced several minutes later.

Ray started to read and made sure that he looked up every now and then to see how the girls were enjoying things. They seemed to be drawn in by every word. The content still concerned him, but it was something to talk to Felicity and possibly the girls a different day. "Okay, that's the end of that chapter."

"One more chapter, please?" Clara asked in a sugary sweet tone that Ray often had a hard time resisting.

"Bed," Ray told them firmly. "Now."

Both girls whined before kissing his cheek before getting into their respective beds. He made sure that they were both tucked and lights were off before he finally made his way back towards the master bedroom. He hadn't heard anything from the room, so he assumed that Felicity was still fast asleep. The room was dimmed and he found Felicity still in bed, fast asleep. He watched her for a long moment before turning to the bathroom, for a quick hot shower, before he finally turned in for the night.


Ray, like most nights, had dreamed of many things. Some of his dreams were spent dreaming about putting together new inventions while others were about Felicity and their girls. That night, though, the only thing that Ray remembered when he woke with a start was the fact that he'd dreamed all night, trapped in a nightmare worrying about Felicity.

"Ray! I need you! You've got to get up! It's Felicity! We've got to call nine-one-one!"

The voice had scared him, not because he didn't know it, but it wasn't one that he expected so early. The words, though, as they hit him…it was like he'd woken into his nightmare. At first, Ray didn't believe them, but then he looked over and saw that the other side of the bed was empty.

Oliver.

He had been the one who had rushed into his bedroom.

Throwing the covers off of him and not caring what little he was wearing, he hurried out of his room and down the hallway to where he found Oliver Queen hovering over his wife, who was on her back, on the ground. Could he still be dreaming? Was that possible? The last he remembered, Oliver had left with the others the night before. How was he in the penthouse then? How had HE been the one to find Felicity?

"We have to call for an ambulance," Oliver told him as he just stood there, still trying to figure out how the other man had gotten in their home. "She's breathing, but she's not waking up…" Oliver was just staring at him. "Has this happened before? It might have something to do with the pain she's been experiencing."

The pain.

God.

Guilt hit Ray like a truck and he realized that he should have insisting on her going to the ER, the hospital, to the doctor…anywhere the day before in order to get Felicity looked at. It was then that he snapped out of it and hurried to the kitchen to grab their phone and dialed emergency immediately. He knew that Oliver wanted answers and he deserved them. He deserved to understand what most everyone else had, but no one had spoke of.

"Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?"

"My wife," Ray pushed out as he looked back to where Oliver was hovering over her. "She collapsed…we just found her on the floor…she's not responding. We need help. Please."

"Is she breathing, Sir?"

"Yes."

"Can I have your name?"

"Ray Palmer."

"I have your location, Doctor Palmer. I'm dispatching emergency services now to your residence. Do you want to hold the line?"

"Just tell them to get here quick," he said before hanging up. Ray moved to where Oliver was. "How did you get in?" he had to ask.

"Diggle gave me his key, since I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be here this morning to escort anyone anywhere… I knew Felicity didn't feel well last night and I figured that if I made breakfast, that might make things easier on all of you…" Oliver explained. "What's wrong with her?"

"Last year, she was in a bad car accident," Ray explained. He was glad that Donna had helped Felicity into bed because she'd gotten into her pajama bottoms with the nesting dolls on them and was wearing a purple tank top. He stared down at her for a moment, even though right now she looked like she wasn't in pain, he knew better. Slowly, Ray pulled her shirt up to her belly button to reveal a splattering of scars, they'd done their best to make them as small as possible, but there were too many. "There are more…but you understand," Ray said. "Her doctors have painted her a picture she's just not ready to accept…but I don't think we should have to. There's internal scar tissue from the surgeries she had to have…it seems like a lot…we've tried everything to alleviate it…" There were so many things that he wasn't telling Oliver, but he just didn't want to get into it right there. Maybe he and Felicity had been living somewhere other than reality these last few months, but none of it was life threatening…it was more life changing. Felicity was only thirty years old and everything that her doctors had thrown at her…at them…it had been too much. There was so much in life that they wanted and they'd turned the whole thing to black and white until one morning where Felicity had told him that they were going to just live life normally and ignore them. She'd started going to acupuncture, deep tissue massage, deep heat therapy, and pretty much anything that she'd seen online where people had said that they'd had any kind of progress in online message board communities.

"She's going to be okay though, right?" Oliver asked.

"She has to be," he whispered.

"Dad?"

It was like the world came to a halting stop once again. Ray looked over his shoulder to see Etta standing there, dressed in her uniform for school, she looked absolutely terrified. The sound of sirens wasn't going to help things, but it comforted Ray as they got louder that help was coming. "She's going to be okay," Ray tried to sound as confident as possible as he looked back at Etta. It was then that he realized that he needed to make another call. "Quentin. Donna. Someone. Someone needs to stay here with the girls," he said, trying to make sense.

Inside, Ray felt like he was barely holding it together, but as he looked at Oliver he didn't know how he could be so calm. Maybe it was because Oliver didn't know everything, know exactly what this could mean for them…for their family. Maybe it was just because Oliver was better at hiding his emotions and coping with things like this. Ray didn't know, but he was glad that there was someone so calm there with him in that moment.

"I'll stay," he said. "I'll ask John and Lyla to come over… Donna and Quentin should be at the hospital with you."

There was a loud, hurried knock at the door and the other two older girls appeared in the hallway. Oliver must have let them in, because they were at Felicity's side and telling them that they both needed to move out of the way to give them space. Ray felt so helpless and useless and so much guilt. How could he let this happen? How could it happen to them?

"You just found her like this?" one of the medics asked.

"Yes," Oliver responded before he could. "She hasn't been feeling well."

"I was going to take her to the doctor today," Ray said, feeling like he was almost in a trance or shocked state. He didn't know what it was, but he felt like he was trapped in his nightmare and it was all just so hard to cope with. He didn't feel like his mind was his own. "Last year she was in a car accident, had surgeries to repair all of the damage, and there's scar tissue…it was fine until yesterday…we thought it was fine…like it was just flaring up…"

"Has this ever happened before?" a medic asked.

Ray shook his head. "No."

"Can he ride along?" Oliver asked.

It wasn't that he didn't want to, it was that he was worried about leaving the girls. They'd just met Oliver and though the older girls would be fine, Liv was used to him and Felicity being there when she woke. Ray couldn't think straight to really think about what Felicity would do if the roles were reversed. The only thing that kept circling in his head when it came to Oliver was that Felicity trusted him.

"Go throw on clothes, Ray," Oliver said and nudged him towards the hallway as one of the medics left and headed downstairs, apparently to get something else that they needed. "I'll make the phone calls."

He just grabbed and didn't care about matching or if it was publicly suited, right now it didn't matter…he just had to get on that ambulance with his wife and be there at the hospital to talk to the doctors. Ray was about to walk out of his room after grabbing his cell phone when he paused at the door and looked over at his tablet sitting there.

The nano tech.

His entire day he'd spent in his workshop.

Ray grabbed it and headed out to find three very worried daughters waiting for him. "Are you going to be okay staying here with Oliver until Uncle John and Aunt Lyla get here?" The girls nodded quickly. "If Liv wakes up before they get here—"

"Don't worry," Clara said quickly. "Just go. Text us when you know something."

"And tell Mom that we love her," Etta added a moment later.

That was enough for him to feel like leaving the girls with Oliver was going to be okay. They had Felicity on a gurney and were ready to wheel her out by the time he made it back to where she'd been on the floor. "Thank you," he said completely sincere and absolutely grateful that the other man had been there earlier than anyone had expected anyone to show up. A moment later, he looked back, feeling like the world was shattering again. This was how Felicity had felt the other night…and how they'd both felt so many months before…it was like the color had been sucked from the world and that there was no hope left…

There was hope, though.

Ray followed the medics into the elevator and kept holding onto the happiest thoughts of Felicity. His thoughts of them. His thoughts of their family. His thoughts of every single thing they had to celebrate in life.


TBC…