A/N: One of the only drabbles in this collection that is connected to the previous one. This is a companion piece to Season 3 Drabble #11 although it's not necessary to read it to understand this story.

Set post 3x07- Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

"You heading out again, Ms. Smoak?"

The friendly voice of the security guard called out to her as she left the elevator and headed for the exit, brain still fuzzy from the kiss she'd exchanged with Ray before he'd disappeared without another word leaving her more confused than ever and beginning to wonder if maybe the common denominator in her terrible luck with men lately wasn't her.

"Yes, and this time I plan on staying away for at least six hours." she replied with a forced smile.

"Big day today...never thought I'd be wearing a badge that didn't have the word 'Queen' on it though, but...times have to change I suppose." he gestured down to the brand new badge that said 'Palmer Technologies'.

She paused mid-step, guilt flashing through her for some reason she couldn't quite understand, "Uh, yes, I suppose they do. We can't live in the past," the words felt like sawdust in her mouth and all she could hear was Oliver as he once again told her how he couldn't be with her.

"True, true. Still...sad about the Queens, no one deserves all that. You saw Mr. Queen, right? I saw him on his way out, but he didn't look too happy, maybe trying to get a look at the place on more time, you know."

Her stomach dropped and a cold flush rushed over her skin, "Mr-Oliver was here? When?"

"About twenty minutes ago, I can pull up the camera feed if you want," he offered, already moving towards his bank of monitors.

"No!" she exclaimed, too loud and too fast and he gave her a strange look in return, "Sorry, no, but thank you. I know exactly when he left."

She didn't need the security feed to tell her when Oliver arrived and why he left so quickly. All she cared about was finding out why he'd come in the first place.

Numb feet propelled her forward, the grip she had on her clutch almost painful as she resumed her exit.

"You okay Ms. Smoak, you look awful pale if you don't mind me saying."

"I'm…" the word 'fine' became lodged in her throat, "It's just been a long night. I'll see you in the morning."

The drive to the lair was unnoticed and she didn't even wince when her hip ran into the door in her haste to enter the lair. The pounding of her pulse, and the way she couldn't seem to take a deep breath told her that something important had happened. Her heels clattered noisily on the stairs as she ran down them as quick as she could, but no one was there.

The clicking of her shoes slowed as she approached her computers, "Oliver!" she called out, in case he was hiding in the shadows somewhere, but all she heard in return was her own echo.

One of the equipment tables had been cleared of its supplies, bottles, and tubes strewn about the floor and she crouched automatically to pick one up, looking up to see the fern right in front of her, the one she'd given to Oliver when things were good and hopeful between them.

As she stood she looked around, but there was no other damage, no other signs of a fight or break in and as she sat the bottle back in it's proper spot she spied two distinct hand prints on the stainless steel.

A strangled half sob tore from her throat as she ran for her computers, knowing she had to find Oliver. Digg's words resonated within her, how much this was affecting Oliver and how dangerous that was. And even though she'd been putting up a brave front and standing her ground the last thing she ever wanted was to be responsible for him being hurt.

She pinged the GPS on his phone, not knowing if she'd find him at Thea's or on his way out of Starling, but she hadn't expected to find him at Digg's.

A relieved exhale left her dizzy as she slumped into her chair knowing he was safe. But she still needed to know why he'd come to the office.

Not caring how late it was she hurried back to her car, her sole focus on getting to Oliver. She didn't know what she would say. She didn't know if she'd be angry. She didn't know if he would even talk to her. She just knew she needed to see him.

Her stomach churned when she knocked on the door, fingers twisting with each other in front of her as she waited.

Digg opened the door in one swift pull, his large frame blocking the entire doorway as she stared up at him, "Is he still here?"

He just let out a long suffering sigh and stepped to the side, revealing Oliver who was slowly walking towards her while holding baby Sara.

The twisting in her gut intensified as she stared at them and once their eyes locked she couldn't look away.

She saw him try and hand Sara over to Digg but he held up his hands and backed up, "Nope, keep her. You can't yell if you're holding a baby," he said with half a smile and made his way back to the couch where Roy was still sitting, looking on with eager interest.

Oliver's eyes slid shut in frustration, his jaw clenching and she knew he didn't want to talk to her just then. But when he looked back, his face was neutral and he remained silent as he stepped out to join her in the hallway, pulling the door shut behind him.

She couldn't help reaching out a hand to trace over the soft hair on the back of Sara's head. She looked so tiny laying against Oliver's chest, her small hands clutching his shirt as she slept peacefully, unable of the turmoil that surrounded her.

"How'd you end up holding her?" she asked before she could think, her hand falling back when she saw how tense he was.

"Lyla had to take a phone call," he answered, voice clipped and short and she knew he'd seen them.

"Why did you come to the office?"

A storm of emotions crossed his face, flickering from one to another until they landed on hurt before switching to anger.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does!" she replied emphatically, cringing when Sara jerked at the noise, but when Oliver's hand came up to soothe across her back she slept on.

"Yes it does," she tried again, this time quieter, "I heard what you said on the comms, okay. I know where you stand. I know where we stand, or at least I thought I did. So I need to know why you came to the office."

He looked up at the ceiling before turning his head away from her, but when he looked back she saw the pain, "I just want you to be happy. And...it looked like you were."

Hot, angry tears pricked her vision and she wanted to hit him and wrap him in a hug at the same time and she didn't know what to do with that, other than she knew she couldn't do either.

"God, Oliver...you can't...you can't keep doing this to me!" she hissed, "You can't say you can't be with me and then not be okay with it. Do you know how I would feel if something happened to you because you were too much in your own head! You told me being distracted was why we couldn't be together in the first place and yet here we are, not together, but you're still distracted."

His mouth opened to reply, eyes glinting in the low light of the hallway, but instead of speaking he just shook his head and shut his mouth so hard his teeth cracked.

"Yes, Oliver, Ray kissed me! And I don't know how to feel about that! Because...dammit he's not who I want, but you're being too nobly stubborn to realize that this isn't working and I told you I wouldn't wait around for you to die. But if you're not going to live with me you're going to have to let me go or this is going to kill both of us."

He looked stricken...destroyed, and she saw her hand raise to give him comfort and only just drew it back in time.

"I can't give you what you need right now. I thought…" he was cut off by Sara's muted fussing as she began to wake, rooting her open mouth against Oliver's chest.

"You deserve to be happy, too," and this time she did step forward, laying her hand lightly along the arm that held the baby.

"Felicity…" he more mouthed than spoke and a tiny spark of hope fluttered in her chest.

"You make me happy. You're who I want. We've always been better together."

His head dropped at that, a sharp exhale jostling Sara who whimpered at the disturbance and both their hands came up at the same time to lay across her back.

The breath caught in her throat at the contact but neither of them pulled away.

"If-" he began and she shushed him, fingers drawing a soothing pattern over Sara's back and the back of his hand in a steady rhythm.

"Together," she reminded him, bolstered by the fact that he hadn't pulled away.

"I love you," he breathed out, and she shook from the intensity in his voice.

"I know. I have never doubted that," carefully she shifted closer, free hand coming up to rest along his waist, and when he didn't protest she gently laid her head on the opposite side of his chest, staring at the baby.

She trailed a finger across her plump cheek, smiling slightly when she turned in her half awake state and searched for what she thought might mean food.

Tentatively Oliver's other arm encircled her, thumb stroking over her hip as she pressed herself closer, wondering if she dared believe the hell they'd been living through was almost over.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair, and a tingle of electricity shot down her spine when she felt his lips brush her skin.

"Don't be sorry, just promise to stop pushing me away," she countered, tilting her head back and up so she could see him.

"I'll try," he replied, but she could see the tension around his eyes had already eased.

"No try, Oliver," she reminded him and he nodded.

"It's hard."

"I know. I know you've lost more than anyone should have to endure. But you did, you survived. And there are still good things in your life," she looked down to see Sara, wide awake now quietly listening, "Like this little munchkin."

"I can't lose you."

"You won't, unless you keep pushing me away."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and she lifted on her toes, but just as her lips moved against his jaw Sara let out a wail causing both of them to freeze before Felicity stepped back already trying to shush the baby.

"Take her," Oliver said almost desperately, and if she hadn't just watched him go through emotional torture she would have enjoyed the experience of witnessing him trying to calm an upset Sara.

Instead she took pity on him, their hands overlapping as he transferred the baby from his arms to hers.

The door whipped open to reveal Lyla on the other side, "She's due for a feeding, sorry, John shouldn't have left her with you." she said by way of apology as they reentered the apartment.

"It's fine," Felicity assured her, "And I'm sorry for dropping by so late."

She was so busy trying to gently bounce Sara in an attempt to get her to stop crying that she missed the looks Digg and Roy were shooting her or that Oliver was at her heels the entire time, hand low on her back as she followed Lyla into the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it. With the hours we all keep, time is relative."

She didn't seem at all phased by the now screaming infant as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle. "Give her your finger to suck on, it's usually enough to keep her satisfied until the bottle warmer has done its job."

Willing to try anything Felicity teased the open, quivering lips with the tip of her pinky, surprised when Sara immediately latched on and the cries quieted.

"Wow! That's...that's impressive," she exclaimed at the strength of the suction.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Lyla said with a wave towards her chest and Felicity cringed in sympathy while Oliver seemed to choke on his own spit and had to turn away to cough.

Less than a minute later Lyla was offering the bottle, "You want to feed her? I had wine tonight so she's not getting it straight from the source."

"Uh, sure," she replied, trying to figure out how to let go with one hand to take the bottle when Oliver took it for her.

He guided her into the living room where for the first time since she walked in she saw Digg staring at them with an approving look. He tipped the neck of his beer bottle in their direction and followed it with a nod.

As she settled into a chair Oliver perched on the arm, handing her the bottle when she was ready and she made the switch between finger and bottle so quick Sara didn't seem to notice.

With a contented sigh she shut her eyes and began to drink, one of her hands coming up to rest over Felicity's.

Roy tossed a pillow to Oliver who shoved it behind her back and carefully she let herself relax.

Lyla approached from the other side to drape a cloth over her shoulder, tucking it down near Sara's face. "Don't want you to get anything on that dress, it's gorgeous."

Felicity just shrugged and lifted her eyes to look at Oliver who was staring at her and Sara with such want it took her breath away. "It's okay, it's just a dress."