Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow or DC Comics. Obviously.

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You're Banging My Bedroom Wall

XXX. Dinner with the Family

Felicity clutched at her boyfriend's arm as they followed their mothers through his parents' house. "Explain to me how this happened again," she demanded.

Oliver pressed a reassuring kiss against her temple, reaching up to clasp her hand tightly in his own as his other arm moved to wrap around her waist. "Everything is going to be okay," he tried to reassure her, but she could tell that he couldn't even convince himself.

After having a late lunch with Sara and Leonard at Sara's favorite authentic Chinese cuisine restaurant to make up for inviting Leonard to lunch in the first place, Felicity had gone home to wait for everyone to return. She only had to wait an hour before her mother had breezed back in through the door, excitedly announcing that they were going to have dinner at Queen Mansion, while Oliver and Barry followed her in at a more subdued pace.

Donna had convinced Oliver to give her a tour of Verdant after predictably attempting to ask him about their sex life and Barry putting an end to that before she could even get the words out of her mouth. They had only been there for about five minutes when Moira had shown up looking for her son. And somehow, someway her mother and his mother had immediately hit it off upon meeting each other and Felicity didn't have the slightest clue as to how that could have happened.

Barry snorted on her other side. "Who are you trying to convince? Her or yourself?" he murmured just loud enough for them to hear, shifting the container in his arms.

Felicity grimaced, holding tighter to Oliver's hand. "Something's going to happen tonight. I just know it will."

"Aren't you glad I was able to talk Aunt Donna into sticking to the rest of our plans for tomorrow?" Barry asked as they stepped into the kitchen after their parents.

"Barry, you can just put that on the counter there, dear," Moira told him, indicating to the space behind her. "And dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes, so you kids can go wait in the parlor with Robert if you want while Donna and I chat."

Oliver and Felicity shared a look at her last words before turning and shuffling back out of the kitchen with Barry on their heels.

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"That announcement Malcolm made at his son's engagement party about the Palmers really seemed to take effect earlier this week," Robert said about halfway through dinner. "Many of the employees who worked with Raymond at Palmer Tech have been flocking to QC and Kord Industries."

Felicity nodded. She'd heard the same through the grapevine at work. "I heard," she responded. "Mr. Martin and Dr. Loring are celebrating, but you didn't hear that from me." She and Robert shared a laugh as Moira finally gave up interrogating Oliver about Thea's potential new boyfriend and focusing back onto Donna, Barry, and Felicity.

"You three are such a close knit family, Donna," Moira observed with a smile.

Donna looked across the table at Felicity and Barry with a smile of her own, happiness glittering in her eyes. "Oh, yes, we are," she agreed. "I suppose we had to be, though. Felicity's father had passed away when she was still a baby and then my sister and her husband died in a horrible car accident when Barry was nine. It was just the three of us after that." A grin suddenly spread across her face as she let out a small laugh. "I think I made myself involved in their lives so many times when these two were growing up that they didn't know what to do other than to let me in."

"And you'd be right, Mom," Felicity said with a laugh of her own. "When I went off to college and Barry was starting his final year of high school, he called me so many times just to let me know how angry he was that I'd left him alone with her."

Her mother flashed him a smile. "But you love me anyway," she cooed.

Barry grinned, ducking his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I do, Aunt Donna."

"Robert and I used to be just as close with Thea and Oliver when they were little, but then Oliver went off to college and Thea had her friends and they forgot all about Mom and Dad," Moira said with a teasing smile directed to her son as Robert chuckled.

He leaned back in his seat and grinned at his son. "It used to be a fight to get Oliver to come join us for an occasional family dinner," he told Donna, "but then he met your lovely daughter and was over here almost every other night telling us all about her."

"Oliver's usually very tightlipped about the girls he's interested in, but with Felicity he wouldn't stop talking about her," Moira added with a wide smile. "So much so that I had started to think she didn't exist, but then I finally met her." Her smile turned fond as she looked upon the young couple. "And I saw just exactly why my son was absolutely enamored with your daughter."

Oliver's cheeks turned a deep pink as he blushed and Felicity met his gaze with a soft smile. They'd had a rocky start, there was absolutely no denying that, but after they decided to start over with each other everything between them was absolutely perfect. There'd been the occasional fight between them of course and a few random encounters with girls from Oliver's sordid past, but it hadn't been anything that they couldn't overcome.

She reached out and clasped the hand that rested on the table between them tight in hers. "So you're enamored with me, huh?" she softly teased him.

A smile broke out across his face and he nodded. "Yeah," he murmured quietly, "I am."

"Aww. You two are just so cute," Donna cooed. "I bet when you get married one day, you'll have that same look in your eyes you do now and everything will just be one big blur except for each other."

As her mother spoke, Moira had turned her gaze onto Felicity and Oliver, and Felicity swore she saw a glint of calculation in her eyes before it quickly disappeared. Oliver must have noticed too because his hand immediately tightened around hers.

She leaned forward in her seat with a smile as she intently looked between them. "I know it's a little early to be thinking about wedding bells, but I just know it will be beautiful when the time comes," she was saying, completely oblivious to what they had just seen. "I'll do the cake and—"

"Dessert!" Barry suddenly said, cutting her off and startling everyone. "I think it's time for dessert." He stood up from the table and stood behind Felicity and Oliver's chairs, hands coming down to rest on their shoulders as he came to their rescue. "Felicity made those devil's food cupcakes you like for your birthday, Aunt Donna. They're in the kitchen, so I'm going to go get them." He gently squeezed their tense shoulders, silently telling them to relax. "Be right back."

Donna gasped excitedly, completely forgetting about the imaginary wedding she was planning for Felicity, and reached across the table to grasp her daughter's hand. "The ones with the cream cheese filling topped with milk chocolate ganache that you'll never tell me the recipe to?" When Felicity nodded she squealed, turning to Moira and Robert with a wide smile. "Oh, you two are in for a treat!"

Barry stepped back into the dining room a moment later with the container containing the cupcakes and carefully distributed them to everybody before sitting back down beside Felicity.

"Thanks, Barry," Oliver said quietly from her other side.

"You're welcome," he muttered out of the side of his mouth while Donna and Moira oohed and aahed over how cute the little confections were. "You two looked like you were about to have panic attacks."

"Not for the reason you're probably thinking," Felicity whispered back. She forced a smile onto her face that gradually turned real. "Happy birthday, Mom!"

"Happy birthday, Aunt Donna," Barry echoed with a smile of his own. "I hope this year's better than the last."

Donna met her children's gazes and grinned, her eyes soft as she looked at them. "I know it will be."