3.

"Hi," murmured Felicity, her voice barely audible.

Oliver blinked as he took in the surroundings around him. "Felicity?" he said hoarsely.

She flung her arms around him. "I've missed you so much," she cried out. "I've been a mess, Oliver- I was so close to losing my way and crashing but... I... oh, why?!" her voice trailed off, a tear trickled down her cheek and she suddenly couldn't go on. There was time. They had time now and she'd get her chance to tell him everything.

He blinked once again. "W-water," he croaked, gesturing to a bottle. He wouldn't be able to keep up with her if his throat continued to remain so dry. Felicity could talk a lot and he wanted to hear every single word that left her mouth. He'd been dying to hear her voice, however, as much as he wanted to re-live it all again, he couldn't do it when he was completely out of his senses- completely drained.

"Of course!" she instantly poured some into a paper cup and watched as he downed it in a single gulp.

"This is unnecessary," he complained a moment later, pulling at his IV. They had no reason to sedate him. But they had. So much for wanting to head back to civilization...

Felicity sighed. "At least some things haven't changed," she said under her breath, knowing how Oliver always hated hospitals. He detested needles. Once he'd been sick and the doctors needed to run a blood test, and his little sister had held his hand, or so he'd told her, one night, lying in her bed, while the two of them shared stories.

Oliver slowly ran his thumb along Felicity's jaw, stroking at it softly while wanting to bury his face into her hair- familiarize himself with what he'd craved so badly over the last few years. It was surreal. Unbelievable. "You kept me going," he said. "I missed you. So much."

"I didn't have any hope," confessed Felicity. "I didn't believe –"

He looked at her.

"I thought you were dead," she said, her voice laced with guilt, as she looked at him. "I shouldn't have believed it so easily..." She sounded miserable, he noted, hating that she would think that way. "I should have searched and searched and...made sure before watching an empty coffin, with your name engraved on the headstone, being lowered into the ground."

"You couldn't have known."

"I wish I did." Her pain was evident on her face. So much time – wasted, thought Felicity.

"How've you been?" he asked lightly, casually lifting her hand in the air, as if looking for a wedding ring.

Felicity's eyes widened at that. She'd dated- maybe even loved someone in some way for some time.

She tried to move on but on a whole, it hadn't worked. She couldn't forget him when he had been such a significant part of her. Of Amelia.

All of it was wrong.

"F, it's okay," he said slowly. "As much as it's killing me to imagine you with someone else, you deserve to be happy." He truly meant it. The last few years had taught him a few things. He'd finally learnt the meaning of pain, suffering and sacrifice. "That doesn't mean you have to remove your rings to spare your suddenly-resurrected-ex-boyfriend's non-existent feelings. I don't think your husband would appreciate that."

"I'm not married."

"Engaged?"

"No." She'd refused the only proposal she'd ever received. How could she love Ray Palmer the way he loved her when she was still hung up over her child's father?

They both deserved more.

"Dating?" he said, restraining the urge to spit. He was a different man now but that didn't mean he was a saint too. The idea of his girl being with anyone made him sick.

"Oliver, I'm single." 'I'm yours' – is what she actually wanted to say.

"Really?" he made a face, although his insides finally started to relax. She was being honest. He knew her well enough and his Felicity couldn't lie to save her life but then again, this Felicity wasn't his Felicity. She'd changed just like he had.

She opened her mouth to respond when a doctor popped in, a clipboard in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. "Oliver Queen," greeted the matronly woman.

Oliver waved in her direction. "What's the verdict, doc?" he asked.

"You'll live."

"I gathered that much," he said, restraining himself from rolling his eyes. "Being shipwrecked isn't enough to take me down, eh?"

"Clearly not," was Dr. Cameron's reply. "You're a very lucky young man."

"That I am," nodded Oliver.

"How's Amelia?" inquired the doctor, as if finally noticing Felicity's presence in the room.

"Who?" asked Oliver, interest apparent on his face.

"She's great. Thanks for asking," Felicity murmured a string of curses under her breath. This wasn't the right way to tell a man he was a father, was it? Certainly not. No, not at all. What happened to not mentioning emotional/personal matters in front of your patient? Well, not as if Dr. Cameron had outright told Oliver he was a father but she'd made him curious about something. Or more specifically a someone; a someone that belonged to him and her- someone that was theirs even if she often felt as if this someone was more his than hers.

Amelia looked just like him.

"I was getting there, Ollie," said Felicity; his old nickname escaping her lips with a sigh, once the doctor had left them on their own. "Amelia is my daughter."

"Oh," he said dumbly, concealing a flurry of emotions that were ready to burst. He'd been expecting this. On a subconscious level. Not that he wanted it to be reality. Of course, Felicity would move on.

"Our daughter, actually," she completed a second later.

"Huh?" He couldn't have heard her properly. What had she just said?

"Congratulations!" she said weakly. "You're a daddy."

Giving him a few minutes to digest her announcement, Felicity dug into her purse, only to extract her wallet – which contained a picture of her baby girl. "Here," she said, handing him a recent picture taken by Thea, over Christmas. "That's her." She wrung her hands together nervously. "Amelia."

"Fuck," he swore under his breath. Wow. This was too much. Too surprising. Too unimaginable. When he'd envisioned her with children, he'd seen her with a kid or two that she loved (and he loved by extension too) but never had he thought that he'd come back home to find out that she was the mother of a child that was his.

He was a father. To a little girl.

Amelia.

"I'm sorry to break it to you this way. I should've waited but Dr. Cameron asked about her in-front of you and I –"

"She's mine, huh?"

"Her fifth birthday is next week," said Felicity as a form of confirmation, staring at his face for a reaction.

"She looks like you."

Felicity shook her head. Amelia was Oliver's mini-me. "Not at all. Amelia Olivia Queen looks just like you."

"Olivia?" he raised an eyebrow in amusement at the female version of his name. "Queen?"

"A tribute to you," she shrugged. "I was okay with Amelia Queen. Tommy thought it was a nice idea to give her a middle name. Said that connected her to you. For someone who likes to pose as an idiot all the time, he's really smart. Has good ideas too."

"She has my name."

It was a statement.

An observation.

"I couldn't deny her that, could I?"

"F, I don't know what to say."

He really didn't. He was perplexed.

He knew he'd get to see Felicity and if he were lucky, would get to hold her in his arms; to breathe her scent in. To temporarily forget what he'd seen and done and been through. He planned to see her. Hold her. Then let her get on with her life, while he tried to follow his father's instructions and do something big that would require him and his dedication.

This 'something' was going to take over his life.

Or so he had planned.

But this...

This discovery threw his whole world off its axis.

"So don't say anything," she answered. "It's a lot to take in, trust me."

"Tell me about her..."

"Oh, she's a trouble maker," began Felicity, her eyes lighting up in adoration. "Tommy is her godfather. Laurel's godmother. Moira adores her, dotes on her. Amelia and Thea are as thick as thieves. If we left the two of them together, I'm sure the Queens would end up bankrupt." She smiled a watery smile. "Her grin is identical to yours. Her very aura exudes trouble but Oliver, she's got a heart of gold and maybe I'm biased, seeing how I gave birth to her, but she's gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful."

"Just like her mother," came Oliver's reply, staring at Felicity's face as though he were a blind man watching the sun for the first time. He was so fucking glad to be alive.

"You're biased too."

"I'm allowed to be..." he paused."I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"For ever setting foot on the Gambit."

"I'll second that," she said. "I'm sorry for ever letting you leave."

"I'm never going to leave again," he vowed, his expression hardening over the mere thought of ever being gone again. "I know I have a lot of time to make up for, but I'll do it. We'll do it. We'll make it work, won't we, F? Against all the odds?"

"Yes, that's us..." came her resolute reply."I'm never letting go of you again."

"I'll hold you to it," said Oliver, beckoning her to come closer. Ignoring the burning sensation in his back, he sat up straight to place his lips against Felicity's forehead. "I thought of you, every day. When things got tough, I just imagined that you were there with me and whatever shit I was in didn't seem so bad. It was fine. It seemed bearable. The fact that I knew you were safe and sound at home, in Starling City, I was okay. I was okay and-"

Felicity didn't allow him to complete his sentence as she pressed her lips against his. "I love you."

Running a thumb along her face again, Oliver half-smiled. "Doesn't everybody?"

That earned him a swat on his left shoulder. "Ollie!" she reprimanded, bursting with joy over having him intact and alive, with her. He was still her Ollie, as damaged as he was now. He was still her Oliver and even though everything had changed, that was something that remained the same.

"I love you too, F," he replied, rubbing a hand up and down her back. "I love you too."

"Hate to break the reunion guys," said Tommy, entering through the door, one hand covering his eyes. "Is the coast clear? I really don't want to see anything I shouldn't be seeing –"

So, my daddy isn't in heaven?" questioned Amelia, stuffing both her hands into the pockets of her yellow dress, which her mother had bought for her the previous week.

Laurel smiled. "He's going to be with you and your mommy now." She snuck a peek at her watch, only to see that it had been an hour since Tommy had accompanied Felicity to Starling General.

"Is he going to live with us?" continued the little girl.

I guess so, thought Laurel, but she didn't voice it out loud. With Oliver and Felicity, anything was possible and she preferred not to a make comment on their future plans in front of the daughter Oliver had yet to meet. "That your mom can tell you, baby," she replied, easily scooping up the blonde into her arms. "She's with Uncle Tommy and your daddy at the hospital right now."

"He's sick?" the alarm in Amelia's voice was evident.

"It's just a precaution," replied Laurel. "It's just in case..." She leaned over to fix Amelia's hair. "Uncle T said everything's going to be fine."

Amelia grinned at that. "That's good!" she said in delight. "Now Mama won't cry over him."

Laurel suppressed a grimace at the statement. "You've heard her cry?" she asked softly.

"Yep," Amelia's voice was solemn- strange for a four year old girl. "She puts me to my bed and gaves me a kissy-kiss."

"Gives you a kissy-kiss," the older woman couldn't help but correct.

Amelia made a face. "Then she goes to her bed and sometimes I wakes up at night to pee-pee and go wake up Mama cause I needs her sometimes and her eyes go all red!"

"How many times has this happened?" asked Laurel guiltily. What kind of friend was she if she wasn't aware of the turmoil Felicity was enduring after all these years? Thinking back to the day when Oliver introduced her and Tommy to the latest female in his life, she'd scoffed and wondered how long the blonde (aka MIT college girl, Felicity Smoak) was going to remain in his life. She'd given it a week. Tommy, on the other hand, had a different line of thought.

He believed this relationship was different, to which, Laurel had burst out laughing. She'd known Oliver ever since she was a kid and liked to think of him as her best friend even though she'd never admit it to his bratty face.

She'd dated him in junior year of high school too, she remembered in disgust. That hadn't been smart. But that was beside the point.

She hadn't been sure about many things in her life but one thing that was clear to her was that Oliver and Felicity weren't going to last.

'I sure as hell got that one wrong,' she thought wryly. They did last... until they were thrown apart, that is, and she was confident that Felicity was the only woman Oliver had ever loved.

/

"You're in love with her, aren't you?" yelled Tommy, slamming his glass of wine against the table counter.

Laurel nudged his elbow, urging him to quiet down.

"This is important, Laurie!" exclaimed Tommy, looking between the brunette woman seated next to him and then to Oliver, who was pacing across the private bar. "Are you fucking with me?! You, Oliver Queen, are serious about a chick? A nerdy blonde chick, for that matter? This is a joke right?" He looked towards Laurel again.

Oliver snarled. "Shut up, Thomas," he replied, rolling his eyes as he walked towards the counter, only to raise Tommy's long forgotten glass to his own mouth. "Your input isn't needed here."

Tommy's jaw dropped. "He's serious," he said, turning to Laurel. "Holy fucking shit." He paused. "You've dated him. You said he was never going to be serious- about a girl or anything…"

Laurel huffed in annoyance. "Do you actually believe that he's serious about this girl?" she arched an eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe, Tom. He's been with her for what, three weeks? So, he's broken a record or two and hasn't been cheating – or chasing anything that possesses boobs – but that doesn't constitute as love. Not in my book, at least."

Tommy disregarded what she'd just said. "Wow, this is fucked, man. Truly fucked," he whistled. "I never thought I'd be unfortunate enough to live to see the day my wing-man would be head over heels over a chick. Holy shit! Does this mean you're growing up?!"

Oliver's fists clenched and for once, he wished he had another set of friends; friends who took him serious every once in a while. "I care about her," was all he offered.

Laurel stiffened. "You care about her?" she repeated, turning her glare onto him. "Ollie, I get it that you're into the whole innocent slash sexy librarian look these days and trying to live your fantasy, fetish or whatever it is, but you need to be realistic. Felicity's completely different from what you usually go for."

"That's why she's special," came his reply as he slung his jacket over his shoulder and headed out of Tommy's bachelor's pad.

"I need another drink!" moaned Tommy. "I can already see it now. A few months from now, our boy is gonna show up at my doorstep, requesting my presence as Best Man. For his wedding."

Laurel punched him in the chest. "You might be right," she said, shocked to her very core. "But hey, wait? Didn't you justsay you could see her remaining in his life for a long time?"

"I don't know, woman. I was probably drunk." Tommy shrugged and reached for a bottle of Merlot.

/

"I want to meet her," said Oliver eagerly, his voice showed his desperateness.

"I've already asked Laurel to bring her here," replied Felicity, pulling out her phone, to type a quick text to the woman in question. "I'm sure they're on their way."

"You are friends with Laurel?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" asked Felicity, a hint of a smile playing out on her face.

"Uh, yes."

"She's changed, Ollie," she explained. "We've all changed. Come on, who would've thought Tommy would ever give up the playboy life to wear a suit and go to work every single day? Who would've thought Laurel would learn to to loosen up a bit and not be so uptight?"

"Uptight isn't the word I'd use."

"You'd use bitch."

"I wouldn't be so blunt about it."

"Oh, yes, you would."

"Maybe."

There was a pause. A moment of silence engulfed them until Felicity spoke up again. "Tommy...is in love with her," she confided.

"I didn't see that coming," replied Oliver.

"No one did," answered Felicity, "but I don't know about Laurel. She's with someone. But I don't know. There's just something about her and Tommy…" she trails off, lost in her own train of thought.

"Anyone I know?"

"Some guy named Barry Allen."

Oliver snorted. "Barry?"

"You know him?"

"No."

"Then?!"

"He's not good enough for her."

"And Tommy is?" shot back Felicity.

"There's no one better than him and I'm not saying that as his best friend, F. I'm saying that as the observant guy who was marooned on an island and isn't dumb enough to ignore the truth." It had only been fifteen minutes or so since Tommy had departed the room, making an excuse about making a call to his assistant about a meeting but then again, he could have been lying. He did hear that Laurel was on her way. "He cares about her."

He always had.

"Caring about someone isn't enough."

"It starts out that way," said Oliver, a reminiscent gleam making itself known to his face. "A small spark can ignite a fire, F."

"Since when did you get so wise?"

"Since I got stuck on a god-forsaken island, I guess."

"Oliver..." Felicity bit back another round of tears.

"It's alright," he continued. "I'm back now, aren't I? I have a renewed purpose- a new life to live. This'll be my chance to make use of my new-found wisdom, in the best way possible."

"What do you mean?"

Oliver almost smiled. "I've got a lot to take care of now."

So many responsibilities now lay on his already burdened shoulders and Starling City needed to be saved, didn't it? Just because he had a kid now, didn't mean that his plans had to be canceled.

He would just have to be extra careful. He'd keep his family and his work separate. He'd take care of them. He'd take care of the city.

Oliver Queen may have been a broken man but he was a fighter.

And he was going to put up one hell of a fight to do the right thing.