Felicity decided to head home to their temporary apartment near the Diggles about 6:00 am so she could see William off to school and then grab a couple of hours of rest. She hadn't slept since Oliver had gone to prison, but she didn't expect a quick answer from the President's aide tonight. She knew they would be desperately trying to trace the demand and prayed she was as good as she always said she was.
John had come back to the bunker and offered to drive Felicity back home. She gratefully agreed, switched the computers off and was ready to take her heels off and rest. Nyssa had texted she was watching Black Siren and would let them know where she went that morning before she went to "work." She agreed with Felicity that Black Siren was up to no good. Sighing as the car pulled away from the building, she glanced up, saying a silent prayer that soon, Oliver would be by her side.
As soon as Felicity entered the Diggle's apartment, she was greeted by William throwing his arms around her. "Felicity, when I got up and saw you gone I was so worried!"
"Will, everything is fine, well as fine as it can be." Felicity said, hugging him tightly. "I was working to get your Dad back home to us."
"Felicity, I woke up and you weren't here. You said you would be here!" Will cried out, sounding much younger than normal.
"Will, look at me. I am sorry. I didn't expect you to be up before 630am! I am just fine, I literally sat in the bunker all night long. I didn't even do anything dangerous! I swear!" Felicity said firmly. She was so glad to know that Thea and Roy were on their way over with breakfast. Having his aunt home would help him so much. "But, I do have a surprise for you!"
"What?" Will said, shrugging his shoulders and holding on to Felicity a little longer. He knew she wasn't his Mom, but she treated him like a son and she was the only thing stable in his life right now. He wanted Diaz in jail and his family back together, other than that, nothing would help him.
"Where is my favorite nephew?" He heard from the doorway.
"Aunt Thea!" William ran to her, hugging the tiny woman tightly. He couldn't believe she was here now. He had really missed her and was always happy to hear from her over the last several months.
"William! You have grown a foot since I was here! What is your Dad and Felicity feeding you?" Thea teased.
"Well, Felicity still can't cook, but before Dad left he cooked health food all the time!" William said softly.
"William! I am not that bad of a cook... Felicity said sheepishly. "I do know how to ORDER healthy foods anyways!"
Thea smiled as she glanced up at Roy. "Roy and I wanted to come by and check on you, Squirt. I know this is crazy right now, but we will fix this mess, okay?"
"Crap, William, you only have a few minutes to eat before school!" Felicity said glancing at the time.
"Do I have to go now? I would like to spend time with Aunt Thea!" Will whined. He hated going to school now with the kids picking on him about his Dad. This could be a great excuse to get out of going today.
"William Clayton, go sit down and eat! You have to go to school!" Felicity said adamantly. "I know its been tough, first with the trial, then with Oliver telling the city who he is, but you have to go to school. Diggle will be there the entire time to make sure nothing happens to you, okay?"
"Alright. I just hate dealing with them all." William said, shuffling to the table.
Roy and Thea quickly laid out pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs from the diner down the street and everyone sat down to eat quickly. Lyla and JJ came downstairs and joined them and they tried to make small talk, but William was not participating. He hated everything about school right now and dreaded dealing with the snotty looks from the kids and the whispers from the teachers.
"Felicity, I know I am supposed to go to the science lab Friday, but can I skip that field trip?" Wiliam asked softly. "You can teach me everything that stupid teacher knows and I just want to stay home."
"But Will, you have been looking forward to this for months! I am still going with you, you know that right?" Felicity said surprised.
"Oh, Felicity, I don't want you to have to do that. With everything going on, its a lot to deal with…" Will stammered, nervous that everyone was looking at him.
"William, is there a problem at school?" Felicity asked, her eyes flashing angrily.
"No, no, of course not." William practically shouted.
"William, I need you to tell me the truth." Felicity said steadily. She had expected it to be hard for him, but hadn't anticipated how bad it could be. Oliver hadn't even been in prison for a week! She had hoped that the press and the fools at school would let it die down for William's sake.
"Okay, the teachers are always staring and whispering. The kids are worse. They push me around, ask me where my bow and arrows are. They keep asking how it feels to know Dad is a killer. I hate them all. Dad risked everything to protect them and they don't care!" William shouted. He was angry, angry with his Dad, angry with his school, just plain mad!
"Oh William, I am so sorry!" Felicity said jumping up from the table and rushing to him. She pulled him up into a hug. "This isn't fair to you at all. I swear I am doing everything I can to fix this. Your Dad isn't a bad man, he has risked everything for this city and its people." Felicity soothed. She was raging mad and was desperately thinking of a way to make this better for him.
"Felicity, I am sorry I didn't notice it!" Diggle apologized. He had seen the looks from the staff, but he had been keeping his distance from William to allow him to converse with his classmates.
"Mr. Diggle, it isn't your fault. They have been whispering about me for months, it's just worse now that Dad is in jail." William said, embarrassed he said anything to them.
"No William, this isn't right and I will put a stop to it right now." Felicity said, reaching for her keys. "Come on sweetie, we are going to school."
"Felicity, what is your plan here?" Diggle asked nervously. She had been acting rashly the last few days and he was worried what she would do.
"I am simply going to remind these small minded, gossip hungry teachers that William is MY son and that if they want to gossip about him, it had better be nowhere near him or so help me God I will make it my life's work to shut them down and leave them with no job, no life, nothing! Oliver made sure that they got all the funding that they asked for and then some. I personally donated THOUSANDS to ensure their STEM program was up to date!" She raged, putting her heels back on.
"And if another student approaches you, I want their names. I am DONE with this city ranting about shit they don't even understand. Oliver nearly died a hundred times over, bled for this city, for these people and I will be damned if they run their mouths about us!" Felicity said, urging William to grab his stuff. She slammed the door behind the two of them, leaving the group speechless.