A/N: For FF#21 – Three Reasons. First of all, thanks for reading this collection and for all of the kind thoughts about it. It's weird that I'll most likely be saying goodbye to both of my drabble collections this week. My first idea for this was a big, horrible, angst fest and I just couldn't end on that note, so instead you get a little angst mixed with a healthy dose of fall holiday cheer. And of course, I went over an hour again, couldn't be helped.

Happy Thanksgiving, Felicity Smoak

Felicity's doorbell rang – exactly on time. She frowned. Since Diggle had officially become a family man no one on "Team Arrow" was ever on time for anything that didn't actually involve thugs and super-villains. Pulling off the oven mitts she'd been wearing to remove a batch of homemade (ok, so out of the freezer section, but close enough) rolls from the oven she turned and went to answer the door.

Pulling it open she froze. Oliver stood there, bottle of wine in one hand and a paper wrapped bouquet of flowers in the other, giving her the little fidgety head tilt that signified he was nervous. "Am I early?"

She blinked quickly. She had invited the whole gang after all, she just hadn't quite believed that Oliver would actually come. "No!" she said quickly. "No, of course not. You're on time. Which for you is sort of like being early…not that you don't have reasons for being late." She took a deep breath and repeated. "Anyhow…very punctual today."

He gave her a tiny little smile. "That's no good for my reputation." He stuck his hands out. "These are for you."

Felicity took the wine and the flowers, shaking her head. The bouquet was a collection of mums in fall colors with sprigs of dried berries – pretty, but clearly not romantic, and she had to sweep that thought out of her head. "I told you – you didn't need to bring anything."

Giving a little shrug he said, "You go to someone's house for Thanksgiving, you take something. My mother did manage to teach me a few manners." A shadow passed over his face then and Felicity remembered why Oliver was probably standing at her door. With Thea gone he had nowhere else to be for Thanksgiving.

Standing back she tilted her head toward the living room. "It's very thoughtful. Come in."

He stepped inside her apartment, and Felicity saw it suddenly through his eyes. A long borrowed table running down the length of the living room because her dining room was far too small, a bright yellow tablecloth she'd bought on clearance at Target, and her mismatched white dishes that she thought were cute but…

Suddenly uneasy she said. "I'm sure it doesn't compare to what you're used to, but…"

To her surprise he reached out and put a hand on her arm. He rarely touched her these days. "It looks like you – which is never a bad thing."

She couldn't help but look at him in that moment. There was a warmth and a gratitude in his face that made her go wobbly for a moment. "Oliver…I know that we…"

The doorbell rang again and Felicity jumped. Oliver dropped his hand, and shoved it quickly in his pocket, taking two steps back from her. When she looked at his face a pleasant mask had replaced the glimpse she'd see earlier. "I'll get it," he offered easily. Nodding at the flowers he said, "Why don't you get those in some water."

Felicity couldn't help but watch as Oliver went to open the door. Oliver answering her door on Thanksgiving. She got a sudden image of the exact same action in a much different set of circumstances – where this was their home…their Thanksgiving. Her eyes were wet before she could cut her imagination off and Roy gave her a funny look as he came in with Sin in tow.

"You okay?" he asked, handing her a can of cranberry sauce. Apparently Roy's mother had stuck in some manners as well, whoever she was.

Felicity nodded. "I cut onions earlier, residual effects."

"Uh-huh," He nodded, but the look he shot over his shoulder at Oliver made it clear that he had an idea of what had really caused those tears. However, before he could say anything else they were distracted by the arrival of Digg and Lyla with their ridiculously adorable baby.

For the next hour, Felicity successfully pushed away the bittersweet thoughts Oliver's "early" arrival had generated. For the first time in her entire life, she had an apartment bursting with people she loved and good food she had somehow managed not to screw up. This was what Thanksgiving was supposed to be about.

Then as they passed around pies that had come from the best bakery Felicity could find in Starling, Oliver cleared his throat. "Umm…can I uh make a suggestion?"

The uncertainty in his voice brought everyone to a halt. They were used to Oliver giving orders, not making suggestions. She saw Roy and Diggle glance her direction, clearly waiting for her to answer.

"Of course, sure," she said.

He cleared his throat and stared at his plate. "In my family…" he paused and Felicity felt tears threaten again as she saw his jaw tighten. "In my family we had this tradition. At the end of Thanksgiving dinner we all went around and told each other three things we were thankful for." He glanced up then and his eyes swept around the table. It had been a hard couple of months, with things going from great to extremely difficult in so little time they all had emotional whiplash. "I don't know about you, but I could use the reminder right now."

"It's a good idea, boss," Digg said. Felicity gave a tiny smile at Digg's use of "boss." He no longer actually worked for Oliver of course, but it was a gentle reminder that they still considered him the leader of this crazy little team of theirs. "Should I go first?"

Oliver nodded quickly, flashing Digg a grateful smile. "If it's okay with Felicity."

"Yes, sure, of course," she said quickly, gratified by Oliver's deference to her house and her invitation.

Digg looked at Lyla and their lovely little daughter and Felicity knew what John Diggle's first thing would be before he even said it, "I'm grateful for my family," he said. Then he looked at each one of them, ending with her, and Felicity felt her eyes get damp for an entirely different reason. "All of it. In all its forms." Then he grinned, "And the invention of the disposable diaper and, he paused, obviously thinking. "And any night when I get more than two hours of sleep."

They all laughed. Lyla and Sin's contributions were less effusive and Felicity knew they didn't feel quite as comfortable voicing their feelings in this crowd. Still Felicity had to smile when Sin ended with, "And for Ambercrombie, even though he's a pain in the ass."

Roy took his turn, and Felicity tears threaten again when after casually starting with "Pie and clean socks," he looked at Oliver and said, "For the Arrow, who keeps saving my life."

She realized that it was her turn, and suddenly wished she'd insisted on going first. "Who doesn't love pie," she said as her brain and mouth tried to deal with her scrambled emotions. "Um…and like Digg said, family." Wiping away the first tear that had managed to escape, she let herself look around at each person at the table, though she skimmed quickly over Oliver's piercing blue-eyed gaze. "I've never had very much of that in my life, and to have you all here is completely amazing, so thank you for that."

Then she was stuck and there was a long, slightly charged moment of silence before she finally decided to be honest. Looking up she met Oliver's gaze. "And like Roy I'm thankful for heroes, especially the ones that sacrifice so much of what they want so they can help others."

She watched Oliver's expression break then, and she realized she wasn't the only one fighting tears. It was such a difficult thing to see, that she almost regretted what she'd said. Then he cleared his throat and flashed her a small but very genuine smile. "So I guess it's my turn," he said.

He paused for a minute and when he spoke again his voice was steadier. Felicity had a feeling Oliver had prepared what he wanted to say and she found herself holding her breath.

"I'm grateful we've all made it through the last few months to be here together," he said. Everyone at the table nodded solemnly. With what they did, that was always going to be something to be extremely grateful for.

"And I'm grateful for food and heat and clean water… because I didn't always have that," he said quickly. His eyes got a faraway look for a moment, and Felicity had flashes of the cold jungle of Lian Yu in her own mind.

Then he shook his head, and when he looked up, directly at her, she felt for a few seconds like they were the only two people in the room. "And I'm grateful for Felicity." For a moment he looked like he was going to say something else, but then he looked back down at his plate. "Yeah, for Felicity."

There was a small heavy silence in the room, and finally Roy muttered. "Aren't we all."

Everyone laughed, and nodded, and for a few seconds Felicity didn't bother to stop the tears that fell. Yes, things were hard, and complicated, but there was no doubt in her mind that she had far more than three things to be grateful for.