He meant to tell her, he really did, but after they found out she and the baby were going to be okay, things started to become complicated.
He stayed by her side until she was discharged, which was pretty quick thanks to the healing spell Constantine placed on the group before they left, then held her hand as they walked to the waiting room where Moria was sitting, her head rested against her arm and her eyes closed.
Oliver shook her shoulder and whispered, "Hey, Mom?"
Moria jolted awake, looked around the room confused, then cleared her throat and pulled at the ends of her skirt.
"Oh, Oliver." She pulled him into her arms, then cast her gaze to Sara, who was a few feet behind Oliver.
"Mom, we can explain."
Moria shook her head. "Hmm…I'm sure, but not here. Sara needs to be resting. So, why don't we all go home, and we can discuss things there?"
She didn't wait for a response. They followed her to the exit and sat in awkward silence as she drove them home.
As soon as they opened the door, Mei screamed, "Mommy, Daddy!"
Oliver crouched down and let her run into his arms. He gave the top of her head a kiss then helped her lean over and hug Sara. Sara closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Yes baby, we're home for good."
Mei pulled back with wide eyes and a hopeful smile. "You mean forever?"
"And ever and ever and ever," Oliver said holding her close and swinging her in a circle.
The floor creaked as Thea made her way over to the family. "Hey, ah, I don't mean to interrupt but, Sara, how are you alive?"
Sara looked at Oliver, her eyes growing heavy. He squeezed her hand.
"We will explain everything in the morning, but right now Sara and Mei need to rest."
Thea was almost bursting at the seams, trying to get any information out of them that she could, but nodded.
Oliver took them to their room and closed the door behind them. He turned to Mei, whose head was on his shoulder. "Hey, I think you should probably have a bath before bed."
She perked up and smiled. "Okay. Can I play for a little bit?"
Oliver rested his forehead against the girl who'd just saved her mother's life, along with countless others' lives. "Mei, you can play for as long as you want."
She threw her arms in the air and shouted, "Yay."
Oliver and Sara played with Mei in the bath, letting her splash them as much as she wanted, and then when she was done, Sara covered her in her favorite towel with the owl hood then carried her out of the bathroom.
Sara helped Mei into her cat-boy pajamas, before Oliver picked her up and threw her on the bed.
She giggled and sat up. "Daddy, you're so silly."
Oliver and Sara climbed on either side and Mei snuggled in between. With her parents surrounding her, Mei had no problem getting to closing her eyes, and was soon snoring with her head resting against Sara's chest.
Sara brushed a hair behind Mei's ear and started to tear up. Oliver frowned and grabbed her hand.
"What's wrong?" Sara shook her head.
"Nothing, everything is perfect." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "This is everything I've ever dreamed of. I never thought I'd get to have this."
He brushed his thumb against her wrist. "After everything happened on the island, I didn't either, but I am so happy that I was wrong."
They leaned in and pressed their lips together until they heard a high-pitched giggle erupt from between them. They pulled apart to Mei looking up at them with her big, innocent eyes. Oliver raised his brow.
"Oh, you think Mommy and Daddy kissing is funny, huh?" he tickled her side, making her giggle grow. "You think kissing is silly?" He looked up at Sara and winked then both parents leaned down and covered her head with kisses.
The next morning, they were awoken by Mei jumping on the bed, singing, "Wake up. Wake up."
Oliver playfully groaned, before pulling at Mei's ankle, making her topple between them, laughing. He looked at Sara whose eyes were struggling to open. Mei climbed on Oliver's stomach and patted his face.
"Daddy, I'm starving." She tilted her head and gave him her best pout.
Sara scooted closer and sighed. "As much as we want to prevent today, we can't let our girl go hungry."
"Okay then," Oliver said as he climbed out of bed, "Let's go." He picked up Mei and threw her over his shoulder, making her flail around giddily.
Sara rolled out off the mattress, grabbed Oliver's robe, and followed them to the dining room, where Moria and Thea were already sitting, eating breakfast. They dropped their forks and stared at Sara, before Moria cleared her throat.
"Raisa, please bring Oliver, Mei and Sara their breakfast." Raisa walked into the room with three plates of pancakes, bacon, and eggs, and placed them around the corner opposite of where Moria was sitting.
"Thank you, Raisa," Oliver said as he sat Mei down in her seat. Raisa smiled politely, but couldn't help looking at Sara for a moment, before scurrying into the kitchen. Oliver sat at the end and Sara sat by his side, her shoulders tense as she reached for her fork.
Moria pressed her napkin against her lips. "So, what is everyone's plans for today?"
Thea groaned. "Seriously?" She turned to Oliver. "Are you guys serious? We're just going to pretend this is normal?"
"Thea," Moria said, but Oliver interrupted.
"No, she's right." He grabbed Sara's hand under the table. "We do plan to explain things, but we only want to do it once. So, we're going to invite Lance and Laurel over to explain it all." That satisfied Thea enough to finish her breakfast.
Oliver arranged for Laurel and Lance to come over during Mei's naptime, to avoid having to explain everything with a four-year-old in the mix. When the doorbell rang, Oliver answered, wanting to prepare the two so Lance wouldn't have a heart attack.
"Hey, thank you both for coming."
Lance shrugged. "Any excuse to hang out with my granddaughter."
"Right." Oliver cleared his throat. "Well, she's actually asleep right now."
Lance's smile slipped from his face. "Oh, okay. Well, not to be blunt or anything, but why did you ask us to come here?"
Oliver leaned in and tried to figure out the best way to explain things. "There is something you both need to know. When I let you in, you have to promise to sit and let us explain everything."
"Us?" Laurel asked.
Oliver sighed, before pushing the door open, revealing Sara, shaking like a leaf in the foyer.
Both Lances inhaled sharply. Quentin placed his hand over his mouth and shook his head, while Laurel let out a sharp cry before running into her sister's arms.
Tears streamed down both sister's faces as they clung tightly to each other.
"How is this possible?" Laurel asked.
"It's a long story," Sara said. When they broke apart, Sara took a step towards her father, but that only made him take a step back, shaking his head.
"No, it can't be," he whispered. "You're dead. They told me you were dead."
"I know. Daddy, please come inside and Oliver and I can explain everything to you."
Lance turned to Oliver and gritted his teeth. "You lied to me," he said, storming towards him while waving his finger in Oliver's face. "You told me she was gone. I've spent the last five years thinking my baby girl was dead, and you knew she wasn't."
"No, Daddy stop, please," Sara said as she stepped between them. "He didn't know. Please believe me."
Lance looked her up and down for a moment, trying to figure out if this was a dream or not. He opened his hand and lifted it to the side of her face. When it touched her cheek, his lower lip wobbled. "Sara?"
She nodded then wrapped her arms around him. He stayed still as a statue for a moment before his shoulders slumped and he returned the hug.
"My baby girl." He kissed her cheek. "I missed you so much."
They gathered around the living room and listened to a somewhat truthful summary of what had happened over the last few years. They told them about being tortured on the Island, how Sara was "kidnapped" and some of what they had to do to survive but left out The League of Assassins and The Arrow. There was not a dry eye left in the room.
"So yeah," Sara said, "I've been back for a few months, but I couldn't tell you guys because I didn't want you have to go through losing me again if we weren't able to stop the people that were after me."
"But you did stop them? They're gone? For good?" Lance asked. Sara grabbed Oliver's hand and nodded.
He and Thea had been the only listeners to ask questions during their explanation, and even Thea had stopped after they'd mentioned what had happened on the island. They wanted to share their other news but wanted to let their families process everything else first.
"Does anyone have any questions?" Oliver asked.
Thea, who was twirling the end of her skirt, looked up for just a second before biting her lip and looking back down, but Oliver caught it.
"Is there something you wanted to ask, Speedy?"
She looked to her mother, who was only slightly less prim and proper while large tears rolled down her blotchy cheeks.
Oliver gave her an encouraging smile and couldn't help but notice how young she looked, sitting crouched over in her school uniform.
"Were you really tortured?" she asked, barely above a whisper. Lance, Laurel and Moria turned to her, but Oliver nodded.
"Yeah, there were some people already there who didn't like strangers coming onto their land."
"What about…What about Mei? Is that where she got all those scars?"
The air in the room grew stale. No one dared to speak as Sara squeezed Oliver's hand. He cleared his throat again.
"Yeah."
Lance closed his eyes as his back hit the cushion. Laurel tried to brush away the tears, but they were coming too fast. Moria dropped her composure and Thea stared at the ground, trying to comprehend how anyone could hurt a child.
"Daddy? Mommy?" Everyone turned to Mei who was standing at the entrance to the room, her head tilted to the side and her hair pointing in every direction. Sara held her arms out.
"Come here baby." Mei ran into her mother's arm and sat on her lap. She looked around the room at the group of teary-eyed adults.
She looked up at Oliver. "Why is everyone so sad?"
"Because we were wanting to play with you, but you were napping." Oliver tickled her foot until she laughed.
"Well, we can play now," she said through her fit of giggles.
The Lances stayed for dinner as they spoke about lighthearted things to keep things from getting heavy in front of Mei. Oliver and Sara figured they had over a month before the pregnancy became obvious, so they kept it to themselves. Lance gave Sara at least fifteen hugs before he left, and only did so after she promised they would meet up the next day at the park.
After Mei was in bed and Moria and Thea were in their rooms, Oliver and Sara collapsed on the couch, arms wrapped around each other and noses nuzzled together. Oliver didn't want to ruin the moment, but he knew the longer he waited, the more upset Sara would be that she kept it from him.
"Hey," Oliver said with a sigh, "We need to talk."
Sara frowned as the skin around her eyes crinkled. "What is it?"
Oliver pulled away and readjusted himself, so his knee was facing her. "About a year before the island…I was with a woman named Samantha Clayton."
"When you were with my sister?" Oliver gave her a pointed look. "Right, anyway what about her?"
He scratched the back of his neck. "A few months after we were together, she came to me and told me she was…pregnant."
Sara's eyes widened. "Are you serious? You're telling me you've had a kid out there this whole time and you didn't tell m-"
Oliver waved his hands. "No, no, no. A week later she told me she had a miscarriage."
Sara deflated. "Oh."
"And I thought she was being truthful."
"Thought?"
"Yeah. Apparently, she didn't lose the baby."
Sara rested her back against the couch and leaned her head back, rubbing her forehead. Once she calmed down, she turned to him. "Okay, so I'm guessing she had the baby and told you when you got back?"
He looked down at her knee. "Not exactly. Yesterday, before you got back, the police showed up and told me," he looked up at her. "Samantha was in a car crash and she didn't make it and apparently she wrote my name on the birth certificate, so if I want, I can get custody."
"Is that what you want? To have custody?"
Oliver's eyes shined with tears as he gave her a sad smile. "I don't think I could keep going, knowing I had a kid out there who didn't know who I was, but I don't know if bringing him into this life is good for him and isn't that what's important? What's right for him?"
Sara brushed the tears away from his cheeks. "I can't imagine what you might be feeling right now, and I can't make this decision for you, but if you do decide to get custody, I will treat that child as though they were my own."
He squeezed her hand. "I am so lucky. I don't know what I did I do to deserve you."
She kissed his lips then said, "Oh, I think I am the lucky one. Do you have a picture of him?"
Oliver shook his head. "No, just a name, William."
She smiled. "William. Cute." She looked to the corner of the room for a moment before getting off the couch, grabbing a laptop and opening it beside Oliver.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"How many mother's these days don't post at least a few pictures of their children on social media?" She pulled up Facebook and typed in Samantha Clayton, scrolling down the list until Oliver pointed at the screen.
"There she is." Sara clicked on the profile and scrolled past a few wordy posts before finding a picture of a small, light brunette-haired boy with big, blue eyes.
"Wow," Oliver said as he stared at his son, taking in every detail he could get from the low-quality picture. "He's beautiful."
"Yeah, I can see the resemblance."
"Really?" Oliver asked with a crooked smile.
"Definitely and he looks a little like Mei too. Same eyes."
Oliver could definitely see the resemblance of him and Mei, making him much less concerned about having any biological relation to William.
"I think I wanna try and get custody," he finally said after minutes of staring at the photo.
Sara leaned her head against his. "Then that's what we'll do."