Thanks so much to those who are reviewing, I'm so glad to hear people are enjoying this! There are definitely some theories flying around as to what's going on... The mystery deepens here, but I promise before long you (and Felicity) will start getting some answers. :-)

For the next two days, I did my best to keep myself distracted from the shooting at the house and the impending horror of a weekend with Reggie, Malcolm, Tommy, and Thea. Thankfully, it turned out that distractions were easy to come by at Merlyn Manor. Though the temperature still fell to freezing at night, I took full advantage of the patchy sunlight and comparatively milder temps during the day.

I started by doing a full survey of the grounds, notebook in hand as I calculated the position of the sun, logged plants and animals – mostly birds – spotted on my treks, and envisioned how I might better use the land that had been cleared before. Oliver was with me for most of these treks, though he tended to keep his distance; there were times when I forgot he was there at all. For the most part, I was grateful to know someone was keeping an eye on me given the events of the first day, but before long the idea that I might never be truly alone again started to wear on me.

"There hasn't been any sign of someone since the shooting," I said to him during my walk on a cold but clear Thursday morning. Oliver walked a couple of steps behind me, silent and omnipresent.

"That was only two days ago," he pointed out. "It hardly means you're in the clear."

"I know that," I agreed. "But do you really have to be here all the time? I mean… Not that I don't appreciate your dedication to the job, but you must have other things to do. Don't you?"

"Not at the moment," he said, in typically terse Oliver fashion.

"You don't ever want to be alone?" I asked. "You don't even have someone to relieve you if something comes up. What if your family gets sick or something?"

"I don't have any family."

If I wasn't sober enough, that certainly did the trick. "None?" I turned to look at him on the path. He shook his head. His face remained impassive, though his eyes seemed darker than usual.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I know how that is – not having anyone. There were foster families for me growing up, but none that stuck for long. Case workers come and go in the foster system, so it wasn't like there was any consistency there either."

"I'm fine," he said, though with a surprising softness to the words. His smile – slight as it might have been – warmed his eyes. I nodded.

"Right – of course you are. No offense, Oliver, but you seem like the kind of guy who's always fine…until you're not fine, and then God help us all."

He chuckled a little. "Well, for the moment it's true. I'll give you fair warning if anything changes."

The finality of his tone told me that was all he was willing to say. The conversation effectively over, I continued walking.

There was a man-made pond on the south side of the Merlyn property that got full sun during the day, surrounded by marshy wetlands that would be a haven for wildlife once the spring thaw got fully under way. The pond was at least five acres across, easily large enough to justify bringing a kayak out for leisurely afternoons. I spotted a dozen nesting red-winged blackbirds among the reeds, and knew it wouldn't be long before the nights were filled with a chorus of frogs searching for mates for the upcoming breeding season. That morning, I sketched the area until my fingers were too frozen to do any more, and returned to Merlyn Manor with Oliver trailing, as always, just a few steps behind.

Friday morning, I woke earlier than usual. It was still dark outside, just past five a.m., and the knowledge that the family would soon descend was not something I looked forward to. Thea really did seem nice, and I obviously had never had a cousin before; there were possibilities there, as long as her father didn't poison her against me. But Reggie, Malcolm, and Tommy were all clearly unhappy to have me around, and one – or all? – of them was presumably responsible for the bandage on my temple and the recently repaired window in the Merlyn study.

When I got up, Oliver's bedroom door was still closed and the house was quiet. I went downstairs to the kitchen, which was just as dark as the rest of the house, and was surprised to find no sign of Oliver or Quentin. I was usually up by six, and it seemed at that point like both men had been up for hours. I debated knocking on Oliver's door, but he didn't seem like the kind of guy who usually slept in; he could probably use the rest.

Ignoring any qualms I might have had, I left the house alone. The pond had become a favorite destination, and this morning I was looking forward to catching the sunrise over the water. With long johns beneath my jeans and a parka Quentin had gotten me to ward off the cold, I hit the trail. The sun was just coming up on the horizon when I arrived, the sky streaked with pink and gold.

I paused at the edge of the woods and lifted my binoculars to my eyes. Three deer waded in the shallows, while a heron fished on the opposite shore. I held my breath. Deer were a problem out here, since the lack of predators and a small gene pool meant genetic abnormalities and a population that quickly got out of control. A few years ago, the locals had solved this problem by hiring someone to come out and kill every last one of them. These must have swum over from a neighboring island. Watching the trio that morning, I vowed never to let that happen again.

My attention shifted to the heron. How many other species would I find here before the year was out? Quentin had asked if I wanted to put a dock in, maybe restock the pond for fishing. I told him definitely not – not that I'm against fishing, but I preferred the grounds like this: wild, untamed, and as untouched by man as possible. His smile had reassured me that we were on the same page on that count.

The sound of a branch breaking behind me pulled me from my reverie. The deer looked up, ears twitching. I turned, half-expecting Oliver to be there. I was wrong.

I froze, as a massive black Newfoundland – almost as much fur as flesh – walked sedately along the path. He spotted me at roughly the same time I saw him, and a huge dogged grin broke across his woolly face.

Before I could make a move, he bounded toward me. The deer fled; the heron flapped its massive wings and lumbered away.

The dog pounced, nearly knocking me over when his giant paws hit my chest.

"Baron!" a familiar voice called, and the name echoed in my head. A great black puppy appeared in my mind's eye, rolling in the grass in ecstasy.

Rose, you'll ruin your clothes. Get away from that thing.

And Rose's familiar voice in reply: I won't. I'd rather lie with the dogs than be stuck in the house with you all. Just leave me be. Baron needs company.

I shook my head, clearing it of the visions as I gently pushed the Newfoundland away. He bumped against me, furry tail waving as Ray appeared and tried to pull him off. My heart sped up at sight of the man I hadn't seen apart from bizarre – and sometimes uncomfortably intimate – visions late at night alone in my room.

"Sorry," he said. "He's usually better behaved than this."

"It's no problem. I love dogs."

"Still, I didn't mean to disturb the wildlife and turn your morning upside down."

"The deer will be back, Ray," I said, unable to hide a smile. Our eyes held. All those voices seemed to echo at once, Rose's by far the loudest, whenever I spoke his name. "They're used to having the run of the island with no predators – I'm sure they're as tame as petting zoo fawns at this point. Your dog doesn't seem that scary, anyway."

"I don't know if the deer feel the same way, but I'll take your word for it."

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Baron."

I stared at him for a beat or two, confused. The puppy in my vision had also been Baron, but that had been over a century ago.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I just… I knew a puppy named Baron once. I think."

"Did you?" he said. The question seemed loaded, his dark eyes intent on mine. I struggled to refocus. It turned out not to be that difficult once I paid a little more attention to the man before me. He wore jeans and a long wool jacket, a checkered brown scarf around his neck that made his eyes seem that much darker. I could hardly look away.

"I'm sorry – I know I'm on your land out here," he said, when the silence between us started to get awkward.

"Don't worry about it," I said immediately. "The Merlyns may have a problem with you, but I just found out I'm a Merlyn – I don't share their grudges. As long as you and Baron are civil to the wild things out here, you're welcome to visit whenever you like."

"Oh, we always are," he assured me solemnly, a playful light in his eyes.

"Then you're welcome to take advantage of the place whenever you like. Or…" I bit my lip, debating before I continued in a rush, "…you could join me sometime, if you wanted. I'm here most days." I didn't mention that I was usually here with Oliver three steps behind, since it seemed like that could kill the mood.

"That would be nice," Ray said. "I may take you up on that."

Cheeks heated to the point of bursting into flame, I tried not to grin like a complete idiot. "Good," I managed.

We walked on in silence, occasionally pausing so I could snap a photo or jot down a note in my notebook.

"You're quite the naturalist," Ray observed after we'd been walking for some time. "Is that what you studied in school?"

"Environmental science and architectural landscaping actually," I said, and soon found myself telling him about working in landscaping back in Portland, and some of my favorite jobs while I'd been there.

"Maybe you could do something with my place," he said, almost casually, once I finally stopped chattering about myself.

"The glass mansion on the mountain?" I said.

He stopped walking and turned to me, smiling as he studied my face. "You've seen it, then?"

"It's pretty hard to miss."

"I suppose so," he agreed. "You'll have to come up sometime – the view is extraordinary. And I really would love some advice on what to do with the grounds."

That got me off on another tangent, but I got the feeling Ray wasn't actually listening and eventually I faded out, content to just walk with him. Baron walked alongside me, so close that he occasionally bumped his big body against my thigh. Ray walked on the other side of the dog whenever the path was wide enough to allow it, which was worlds different from the way Oliver accompanied me, seemingly going out of his way to be invisible when we were together.

We had almost made it all the way around the pond when Ray stopped abruptly on the trail. He grabbed Baron's collar before the dog could take another step, signaling for me to stop as well.

"Wait," he said quietly. "Look over there."

He nodded toward an oak tree, one giant limb dangling – no doubt a casualty of the winter winds. I raised my binoculars to my eyes, scanning the trees.

"At the top of the dead limb," he said. He shifted my body, his hands warm on my shoulders, and I flinched automatically at the contact. I didn't back away, though.

I couldn't.

Your shoulders need to be back. Honestly, Rose, you'll be a hunchback before you're thirty, Ray said. The Ray of my dreams – or visions. Or whatever this was. The Ray of old.

I don't see why I need to learn to waltz anyway. It's so old fashioned.

Because I'll want to waltz with my wife on our wedding day, he said. I watched as he leaned down and kissed her quickly, stopped by the light in both their eyes.

I stepped away from Ray, trying to push past the visions at the same time.

"You were married to her," I said, the words coming out before I could stop them. Not him, I reminded myself. I wasn't seeing him in these visions. How could I be?

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Married to whom?" A haunted edge touched his eyes.

I shook my head, continuing to back away. A great horned owl swooped from the dead limb – the thing Ray had been trying to point out, no doubt.

"Felicity," he said quietly, though there was no mistaking the urgency in his tone. "Look at me. Married to who?"

"No one," I mumbled. I started to walk away but was stopped by his hand on my shoulder, turning me to face him.

I saw him and Rose kiss, something desperate in the embrace; saw Ray kneeling on the ground beside Mara Merlyn, cradling her young, broken body. Saw Lucy – the girl who would have been my sister – gasping for breath in the swirling ocean before something came crashing down on her head.

I gasped, trying to pull myself from the memories.

Not memories.

These couldn't possibly be memories.

"Felicity, listen to me," Ray said. His voice pulled me back. I was on the ground, sitting up with my knees curled to my chest. Ray hovered close, though he seemed afraid to touch me. Thank God, I added silently. I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take.

"You knew my name the other day," he said, those dark eyes never leaving mine. "You knew me. How?"

I shook my head. "I'm not – I don't know. I heard people talking about you."

"No," he insisted. "You knew me. How do you know me, Felicity?"

I pushed myself up, gathering the notes that had scattered around me when I fell, and then backed away. "The family is coming today, for the weekend. I need to get back."

If possible, his expression darkened even further. "Which family?" he demanded, like I had six other clumps of long-lost relatives waiting in the wings somewhere. "Reggie? Malcolm?"

Before I could answer, Baron started barking beside us. The sound of footsteps and crashing undergrowth came closer; there was no doubt in my mind this time who it was.

"Felicity!" Oliver said. He shot a glare at Ray, with enough violence behind it that I stepped back. "What happened? I saw you go down—"

"You saw?" I asked. "How long have you been back there following us?"

"It's my job to follow you," he reminded me, unnecessarily as it happened. "You seemed fine, I was trying to give you some privacy. But then—"

"I'm all right, Oliver," I said. "I just…tripped."

Ray grimaced at that, but he didn't argue the point. Instead, he remained focused on what we'd been talking about before Oliver interrupted.

"The Merlyns are visiting this weekend?" he demanded, this time directing the question to Oliver.

"I have it under control, Ray," Oliver said.

"Like you did the other day?" he demanded. "She was shot—"

"Wait." I practically squeaked the word. "You knew about that?" I turned to Oliver. "How did he know about that?"

Oliver didn't even look at me. "I didn't know the threat level then," he said, in that dangerously even tone that made the hair on the back of my neck come to attention. "I know it now. I've got this."

Ray tore his gaze from Oliver's and shifted to look at me, concern in those beautiful brown eyes. "Be careful," he said. He studied me. Despite everything, I found myself pinned by that gaze once more. I stepped closer, almost against my will. "Your return to Merlyn Manor is a threat to a lot of people. Watch yourself."

He hesitated before he reached into his pocket and took out an expensive-looking leather wallet. For a brief, completely bizarre moment, I thought he was going to hand me cash. Instead, he gave me a business card. Written in a neat, old-fashioned script were the words,

Ray Palmer
Video Game Development

I stared stupidly at the card for a second.

"If you need anything at all, I can be at the manor in fifteen minutes. Or less, depending on circumstances. Day or night, you can call me."

I glanced at Oliver, curious how he was taking this. He stood off to the side, his jaw tensed and his eyes averted.

"Thank you," I muttered.

"I would like to see you again, Felicity," Ray said. His eyes searched mine, and I remembered the near-desperation in his voice when he'd spoken before. How do you know me? "I would like to finish our conversation."

I nodded, my mouth gone dry. "Just… After this weekend, maybe? Give me a little bit of time. I don't… I'm not really sure what's happening."

"Of course," he agreed. He looked disappointed. You're mine, Rose, I heard the old Ray say. The words – and especially the intensity behind them – stopped me. Now and forever. "Whenever you're ready, you know where to find me."

I left him without checking with Oliver first, only vaguely aware of Baron woofing after me or the fact that Oliver didn't immediately follow. He and Ray were talking about me again, I had no doubt, but this time I couldn't find the will to hang around to find out what they were saying. Did I even want to know?

I didn't slow down until I was safely back at the Manor once more.

"Felicity, wait!" Oliver called after me.

I didn't wait, though. I burst through the front door and slammed it shut behind me, willing my heart back to a normal rhythm. I leaned back against the solid wood frame, gasping for breath.

"Well, well, well," Malcolm said to me. He sat in a leather armchair by the fire, Tommy in the chair opposite him. "Look what the cat dragged in."

I'll be back tomorrow with another new chapter, that one with more of Oliver and Felicity. See you then, and don't forget to drop a line/review if you're enjoying things. I'd also love to hear any theories people have about what's happening!