Part 12

Ollie winced at the sound of the bedroom door opening but didn't open his eye's..desperately trying to soak a up little more of the relaxed dream like state he was in..The patter of two sets of little feet on the floor sounded, and he suppressed a grin..He was sure Dinah had put the two little mischief makers up to this..He felt the bed give a little as a small body climbed up and scrambled towards him..A gentle hand began stroking the top of his head and he knew without even looking that Lian was sitting beside him, the little girl amazed him, she was bright as a button and gentle and compassionate..it seemed impossible to Ollie that she could possible share DNA with the little boy who suddenly leapt on to the bed and began a vicious attack of eye gouging in an attempt to prise his eyelids open.

"Alright..alright I'm awake you little ruffian!" The archer said as he suddenly sat bolt upright and pulled both children into a hug, before tickling the boy's ribs soundly..laughing at the squeals of surprise that came from the child.

"He's a bully sometimes." Lian said frowning.

"He can be that all right." Ollie replied releasing the little boy and pulling the little girl back in to another hug and kissing her cheek "Not like my little princess." he added.

Lian smiled broadly. "My Daddy used to call me that." she said, as she leaned against Ollie's side, watching as Roy began jumping up and down on the bed...Her smile faded and she turned sad eye's towards Ollie's face. "I miss my Daddy...I mean I miss him being big."

Ollie hugged the little girl tighter. "I know you do honey..And we're trying real hard to get him back the way he was." he replied.

"But when you make him big again..then I'm gonna miss him being little." Lian added confused..she was really starting to like having 'Boyo' around..he was naughty sometimes, but he was a lot of fun and she found trying to think of him as a smaller version of her Dad was just too confusing..to her they were like two different people.

Ollie sighed, this was becoming so much more complicated than he initially thought it was going to be..it had been almost a month now and there was still no sign of them being any closed to finding a solution to the problem..and the longer things stayed this way, the more difficult things became...not just for Lian, but for everyone else as well..Having Dinah nearby had become almost a necessity for him...yes Connor an Mia were there..but they had their own lives to live and were frequently absent..which meant he and Dinah were together most of the time..and that in itself posed problems, he had always been and always would be undeniably in love with the woman..he regretted completely and utterly the times he had failed her and let her down and would give anything to undo the hurt he had caused her..it was becoming more and more difficult to have her so close..yet not be able to completely relax around her.

"I know it's hard sweetheart..no matter what happens it's going to take a lot of getting used to..But we're all in this together, and we'll all need to help each other learn to deal with what ever happens..As long as we stick together everything will be okay in the long..."

Ollie broke off as a little body came hurtling towards him, slamming into his chest and giggling madly before turning his attention to Lian, knocking her backwards and wrestling with her boisterously.

Both children erupted into squeals and laughter as they rolled around on the bed for a moment, until Lian managed to roll the boy off her and knelt over him tickling him, and laughing louder as the boy squirmed and giggled breathlessly trying to wriggle out of her grasp.

"This time I get to be the boss of the tickle attack!" she said proudly as she released him..Her father had always had the upper hand when it came to tickle attacks, but for once it was her turn to rule at the game.

Ollie laughed and jumped out of bed, scooping a child under each arm and headed for the kitchen with the giggling pair. "Breakfast time you two little hooligans!" he declared happily.

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"I just don't think it was a good idea Dinah, that's all" Ollie said as he ran an agitated hand through his hair.

Dinah smiled, she was nothing short of amazed be the way Ollie had begun to change..in only a month he had become much less blase about things and a whole lot more switched on then she had ever seen him be before..she had to wonder how long this sudden surge of maturity would last. "Ollie..they'll be fine, Mia and Connor won't let anything happen to them, you know that..Roy's left Lian with them heaps of times and nothing's ever gone wrong." she said reassuringly.

"That was Lian... Lian could almost look after herself, she's such a bright little kid..but Roy?..He's the one I'm worried about..hell that kid could give Clark a run for his money, not even super speed and super vision could keep up with that boy at times." the Archer replied still looking worried..he knew it was a bad idea to let Connor and Mia take the kids out for lunch..he should have gone with them, that's what he should have done..but he hadn't thought about that at the time, he mentally cursed his stupidity, even if he had been outvoted he should have stuck to his guns and refused to let them go.

"They'll be fine." Dinah repeated.

"What if they're not?..What if he gets lost again or something?" Ollie worried again.

"Ollie!..Stop worrying!" Dinah replied looking up at him,giving in to the urge to give the archer a reassuring hug.

Ollie looked down at her..their eye's locking for a moment..aware of the sparks of desire that instantly flashed between them..his heart beat increased and a warm flush of emotion flooded through him...he resisted the urge to wrap his arms around her waist and draw her closer..swallowing nervously as he looked at her.."Um..this is really not a good idea." he whispered hoarsely.

Dinah who had felt the same sudden rush of emotions as she looked into the archers eyes, mentally scolded herself for being so foolish..she knew how easy it could be to fall into the trap of loving this man again..of opening her heart to more hurt. She stepped back."You're right I'm sorry..I didn't think." she replied a little breathlessly as she attempted to get her own racing heart to slow down...her mind registering surprise that Ollie hadn't simply attempted to take advantage of the obvious physical attraction that still surged between them.

"'S'okay." Ollie mumbled..mentally cursing himself for not taking advantage of the obvious physicall attraction that still surged between them. "But what if something does go wrong?" he asked, quickly putting the subject back on track.

"Then both Connor and Mia have cell phone's that they know how to use...I'm sure we'd hear from them if something happened...Now stop worrying you big oaf and go and make some coffee..I think could use a cup and I know you can." Dinah said, laughing at the archers one mindedness.

end 12