Chapter 25

Oliver was free.

Captain Lance was not happy with what happened, but with the appearance of the vigilante in Glades when Oliver was in house arrest, he had nothing else to do but release him.

Oliver was happy.

He wouldn't say that he was happy only because of the fact that he was free. It has a lot to do with a certain blond woman who accepted him for what he was.

He was circling in their living room looking at their family photos. He was smiling for a change.

"Oh my god!" Oliver turned at Thea's squeal.

He smiled at her.

"What is wrong with your face?" she asked with a frown.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"There is something weird on your face. Something with your mouth… like a smile." She said.

He grinned.

"That's cute."

"So why are you grinning?" Thea asked.

"I took your advice, with Felicity, to be myself." He replied carefully.

"And…" She prompted.

"It's helping." He concluded,

"I got mad relationship skills, bro. Let me know when you plan to propose her again. For example, I would never have advice you to give her Isabel's ring." She said in a hushed voice.

"I think you are getting a little bit ahead of yourself, Thea. A little bit…" He joked.

She waved her hand in dismissal and returned to her room with a smile on her face.

….

He went to Felicity's home that morning. Diggle was accompanying him as his bodyguard. Diggle replaced Roy after his obvious lack of interest of keeping Oliver safe.

Oliver felt like he and Diggle now had some kind of trust in each other. Diggle was going to help him with his crusade. That was good. That was very good.

"Daddy…" William came running to his arms when he entered the house.

"Good morning buddy. Did you wake up early today?" Oliver asked while taking him into his hands and giving him a kiss on his cheek.

"Yes. I am an early riser. Mommy hates it. I jump into her bed and wake her up at six." William said in a very proud voice.

Oliver chuckled.

"How do you know it's six?" he asked.

"Her alarm goes off at six and she turns it off and tries to sleep more. I listen to the alarm sound and run to her room at once." William said matter of factly.

"You are very brave, Will. I never thought there will be anyone who is brave enough to take her on before her morning coffee." Diggle patted William on his back and gave Oliver a knowing look.

"She can never get angry at me. She says I'm too much charming." William said.

"I'm not surprised at that. She never could resist that smile and blue eyes. That was her fatal flow." Diggle muttered.

Oliver knew it was aimed at him. It seemed that Diggle has still some bitterness at him.

He kissed William again and took him into the living room.

"Did your mommy go to office, buddy?" Oliver asked him.

"Yes, she went to the office. She said that Uncle Barry will be there today. He came from Central city to see mommy and me. He is taking us out for dinner today." William said in a chirpy voice. He got down from Oliver's arms and ran to the kitchen yelling to Raisa about Oliver's arrival.

Oliver frowned at his son's words. Uncle Barry. This Barry person has too much place in his son's life.

"This Barry is from Central city. Isn't he?" Oliver asked from Diggle.

"Yeah. He was Felicity's neighbor." Diggle replied with an inquiring glance which Oliver decided to ignore. He wanted to know about this Barry.

"I thought he was from her office there." he said.

"Yes. That's true. But he was her neighbor first. They became very good friends and he had good skills at managing business so she offered him a position in her office. Now he is managing her office there. She has a good team there." Diggle replied. This time with a smirk.

"Does he visit them often? This Barry?" He asked.

"He visits once a fortnight. Felicity misses him like no one. They used to go out for dinner often. William loves Barry. He was the one of people who couldn't resist Will's pouting and puppy dog eyes. He helped Felicity Raising Will. And often got in trouble with Felicity for spoiling Will."

Dig replied with fondness in his eyes. Probably he likes that Barry a lot. Oliver thought.

"Daddy, would you like to have breakfast with me?" William popped his head from the kitchen and asked.

"Yes Buddy. I will have breakfast with you. Diggle too." Oliver replied for Diggle as well.

They had breakfast and left for the QC. Will wanted Oliver to spend the day with him. But Oliver had to leave, for he had a very important meeting at the QC. So he left. Will was not happy.

It's getting too hard to leave Will after spending time with him. Oliver realized.

He loved his son too much.

…...

He got a call during the meeting. It was Felicity. Oliver cut the call and put the phone in silent mode. He had to put office and business before everything. He had to prove that this time he is not going to run away. He had put QC in very difficult position when he ran off in Gambit. This time he is not going to put his mother in that position again.

So he ignored the light signal from his phone which indicated that he had received a message from Felicity.

After the meeting, he had to attend a presentation session of the Applied Science Department. It was late afternoon when he set his feet out of the board room.

Diggle brought lunch and they had it in his room.

"Oliver, why aren't you answering your phone? I called you 05 times." Moira entered the room.

"Oh, it's on silent mode. I forgot to check it." Oliver replied.

"Felicity called me. She couldn't contact you. There has been an accident. William is hurt. She said it is not bad. But Will is asking for you." Moira said hurriedly.

Oliver felt his breath stopped. He got up and Diggle was already taking the car keys out. They left the room with Moira following them.

Once he was in the car, Oliver checked his call log. There were 08 missed calls from Felicity and 02 from Tommy. Then there was a message from Felicity. He quickly opened it.

'Oliver, William has been in an accident. Don't worry. It's not serious. But he is asking for you. Come to Starling city hospital as quickly as possible. – FS.'

Shit.

He cursed himself. He should have taken her call at once.

He looked at Diggle.

"Why didn't she call you?" He asked from Diggle.

"I had forgotten my phone at home today." Diggle said.

Oliver didn't know how many Traffic signals they broke. Moira was also tensed beside him. He tried calling Felicity but the call went to her voice mail.

Once the car stopped at the entrance of the hospital, Oliver got out of it quickly and ran to the reception desk.

"William Qu.. Smoak. A five year old child. He has been in an accident." He asked from the receptionist.

"Second floor. Room no. 22." She replied after checking the computer.

He ran towards the elevator.

He opened the door and found Felicity, Tommy and a guy looking like a boy standing beside William's bed. The child was sleeping and the unknown guy was holding Felicity's hands in his hands. Tommy was in a call.

They all looked at the opened door.

"What happened?" Oliver asked from Felicity. He tried to ignore the fact that the unknown guy didn't let go her hand.

Felicity smiled warily.

"He had fallen from the stairs. Raisa called me and I brought him here at once. His hand is broken and his head has a little bump. He was crying all along the way and we had to sedate him before adjusting the hand right. He has been asleep for a few hours now."

Felicity said.

"I was in a meeting. I had put my phone in silent mode. I didn't see your calls or message." Oliver tried to explain.

"It's okay Oliver. I was scared and upset. I left the office even without telling Barry. But, fortunately he had seen me rushing towards the car and followed me home. We brought Will as quickly as possible." Felicity said.

So, this is Barry. Oliver thought.

The guy smiled at Oliver and murmured something in Felicity's ear and turned towards William. He caressed Will's hair and patted Tommy's back and left the room.

Moira and Diggle entered the room at the same time. Moira hugged Felicity and Felicity melted into her embrace.

"Don't worry dear. He will be okay." Moira placated her.

"Doctor said we could take him home. We were waiting for him to wake up." Tommy said.

"How did you know about this?" Oliver asked him.

"Felicity called me on the way here. I was near, so I came here before them and arranged the room for Will."

"Tommy was a great help." Felicity told Moira.

Oliver felt like a stranger here. Everyone has left what they were doing and ran for William. He was his father, yet Oliver had ignored the phone calls and even had forgotten to check the phone. He should have known that Felicity wouldn't call him if it wasn't important. He should have taken the call. At least he could have let Diggle to answer it. Instead he focused on business and now he had failed his son. He had failed Felicity.

….

They brought William home and Oliver noted that Felicity is avoiding talking to him. William had all but jumped into his arms when he woke up finally. Oliver took his son into his arms and held him on his lap until they reached home. Felicity and Moira came with him and Tommy had returned to MG. Barry followed them to home.

"Liz, I called Iris and let her know that I'm returning tonight. I think we have to postpone our dinner until next time. Will should rest. He went through a lot today. I will bring his next plane model next time. Then we can go on dinner and celebrate your birthday as well." Barry told Felicity. Oliver tried to not feel elated by the fact that their dinner plan is cancelled.

"Thanks Barry. I will hold you to that." Felicity kissed Barry's cheek and he squeezed her hand.

Oliver was observing their interaction. They seemed to be very close. He thought to himself.

Felicity ignored Oliver again and went to kitchen asking Diggle to help her there. Diggle went behind her and Oliver frowned. He didn't like this Felicity. She was behaving like he had deliberately let her down.

After Diggle left for the night, Oliver was still there. He was sitting beside William's bed and relating a story to the kid.

Felicity brought Will's pills and helped him have it.

After Will fell asleep, Oliver left the room to find Felicity in the living room.

"You are avoiding me." Oliver stated.

"No, I'm not." Felicity returned.

"You are and don't try to deny it Felicity. You think that I deliberately ignored your calls."

Oliver said in a firm tone.

Felicity looked directly at him with her blazing blue eyes.

"I don't think that you did it deliberately, Oliver. But, what happened today has made me realize some things." She said.

"What things?" He asked.

"It has occurred to me that I can't let my son to suffer what I had suffered in my childhood. I have to protect him from everything, including the people who claim to love him."

"What do you mean?"

"My father left me when I was seven. That was the reason we shifted from Vegas. I waited for a long time for him to return. But he didn't come. I couldn't understand why he left me. He said he loved me. He said I was the reason for his happiness. Yet he left me. I have spent a lot of nights trying to figure out what is wrong with me, that the people who I loved, who claimed to love me left me without even looking back. I don't want Will to face that Oliver."

"I won't.."

"When you told me that you wanted to be a part of William's life, I asked you to think thoroughly. Because I didn't want a dad for him, who would not turn up when something happened. I didn't want him to go to sleep crying for his dad. I certainly don't want him to think that he comes second in his dad's priority list. It shouldn't be like that, Oliver."

"Felicity…"

"I was okay when you did that to me Oliver. I'm okay that you ignored my calls. But I'm not okay with you hurting him. You are a father now. Fatherhood is not easy. It has its perks. You can play with him. You can read stories to him. You can take him on trips. But it has some responsibilities attached too. I agreed to raise him with you. It means that I can rely on you some times. I need to be sure that you will put our son in first place in you priority list."

"I have failed you. I screwed it up. Didn't i?" Oliver asked in a small voice.

"Yes, you did. But it doesn't mean that I don't trust you Oliver. I know you love William. It's just that I need you to be there for him, not Barry or Tommy or Diggle."

"I know."

"And no, you haven't failed me, at least not yet. You know that I don't give up on people easily. It's just that you had a bad start and it doesn't help the fact that you are known to run from responsibilities and commitments. I'm trying my best to not hold our history together against you Oliver. Please don't make it so hard." Felicity said.

Oliver stepped closer and took Felicity's hand in his.

"I promise Felicity. I won't let you down. I know it is hard to believe me when I had hurt you so much. But I won't leave William. I won't repeat the mistake your father did. I'm sorry that I wasn't there today, when you needed me. it won't happen again. I promise." He promised her.

She smiled.

"I believe you. And I believe in you, Oliver."

Oliver felt his heart open up a little bit more. He knew she believed him. It was so overwhelming. Her trust on him never wavered. Even when he had done nothing but given her reasons to doubt him. She was truly remarkable.