Growing Pains

"Dad, I'm fine I promise," she said to her fretting father who handed her the open water bottle.

"You almost passed out Hope, that doesn't seem fine to me," he glowered at her.

"Like I told you, I stood up to fast, it happens when you're pregnant. The increase in blood flow to your uterus and blah, blah, blah." She said shrugging while taking a sip of water.

"I think we should just go home," he said.

"Um, no. We're going to finish this Christmas shopping and then we can go home."

"Hope, maybe we should just order everything online instead."

"Dad, stop it. We have a few more weeks until Christmas, please," she said placing her hand on her swollen stomach.

"Okay, fine. But promise me you'll take it easy."

"I will I promise, now are you ready?"

"Yes."

For the next couple of hours they walked through the mall and through the different shops ordering and buying everything on their lists for Christmas. After eating some lunch at the bistro which Oliver tried hard not to smirk at her request for extra pickles and a chocolate milkshake they were on their way home. The driver of the car had turned on some Christmas carols for her and she was softly humming. They were at the red light waiting for it to change. Before they could move four black SUVS pinned them in, she looked at her dad and he looked at her.

"Baby, don't do anything just let them take us okay? Promise me no heroics."

"Okay, daddy?"

"I love you."

"I love you more."

"Mr. Queen, I've activated the transponder as soon as I saw them close in."

"Thank you James."

The SUV's doors opened and men with assault rifles stepped out, Hope clutched her necklace knowing the tracker would help. A man in a black suit stepped out and buttoned his jacket. She noticed her father bristle upon seeing him. She looked at him with fear in her eyes. He squeezed her hand her eyes fighting the tears that were forming, her other hand covered her bump protectively.

"Mr. Queen, step out of the vehicle and no one will be hurt, I promise."

"I love you Hope."

"I love you too," she says tearfully. Oliver opens the back door and quickly closes it behind him and leaves his hands up as a man searches him for weapons.

"He's clean," the man checking him says.

"Good, Mr. Queen. We have some business to discuss."

"What sort of business," Oliver says.

"You've been bad for business, well my business at least."
"What is your business in Starling?"

"Trafficking," he sighed looking up at him. "I believe you "took care of" one of my associates a few months ago? You think you would've learned your lesson when we kidnapped the women, no excuse me, the whores in your life. I hear that two of them are expecting."

"You leave them out of this, whatever this is," Oliver motions between the two men "is between us not them. You leave them out of this."

"I would've considered that but you see, he was my wife's favorite nephew."

"He hit my daughter, threatened to rape her repeatedly to show her and to break her."

Hope sat still looking through the window at this man and her father, her breath ragged. She hoped that her father could hold them off as long as they could until the team could get there. She could tell both men were aggravated, the vein in her father's neck was bulging, he was really angry. What happened next was something that she would only remember bits and pieces of, her father would remember all of it.

Time slowed down, as he turned to look back at the vehicle. Gunshots rang out and a small explosion was heard, he went to run to her but was being held back. The cavalry had arrived but not in time to get her safely out of the SUV. He realized that after they began to shoot at the vehicle that it was bullet proof they had set an explosive charge to the front passenger side door. They were going to hold her as leverage, there was screaming from both men and her. She went ballistic, he saw her take a man's gun and disarm him and use another to shoot another man.

He couldn't fight being held back by six different men, before he could yell out a man with a black gun shot at her, the dart hit her in the back and she waivered. She turned and shot him before gripping the car door and falling to the ground. There were more gunshots in the air, someone was screaming her name, and the next thing he knew was the sharp prick in his neck and everything going black. His last thought was of Felicity and of Hope.

A faint pain in her side and her lower stomach is what was making her fuzzy mind focus. She tried to blink but that was hard to do, she was definitely drugged. Wherever she was, seemed to be sterile, too sterile, scary sterile. The smell of bleach and alcohol were fervent in her senses. The small bright light was obnoxious in the corner, a slow beeping could be heard in the room. Looking down she seemed to be in a hospital, handcuffed to the bed and with an IV in her arm and multiple bags coming into her. Soon the darkness took her down again and dragged her down without much of a fight.

"He's coming to," he heard a man say. He was more awake than they thought. He was fuzzy but not as fuzzy as they thought he was. He tested his bonds but knew he wasn't going to be able to get out yet.

"Hmm," he said slowly opening his eyes.

"Welcome back Mr. Queen," the man sitting across from him said.

" 'Ope?" Oliver asked.

"Oh, the pregnant one? We have a lot of cliental who love certain women, she'll be taken care of." Oliver fought against his bonds as he fully registered what the man had said.

"Hurt her and it'll be the last thing you do," Oliver said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, Mr. Queen, you have no idea what I plan to do to your 'precious family'," the man gloats drinking out of teacup.

"Do you have them?" Nick asked into his cellphone.

"He's stopped moving, she's still moving. You're going to have to take two teams Nick," Felicity replied.

"I'll get them back, send me everything."

Jonathan and Slade went with their group to get Oliver back. Nick and John and his team were going to get Hope back. Nick was a great strategist and so was Jonathan. Nick was determined to finish this today, his thoughts were on his wife and child's safety but also revenge. They were too late, seeing her get hit with a tranquilizer after taking out the people trying to kidnap her was a sight for sore eyes but when she hit the ground and the men taking her were returning fire, they couldn't risk not hitting her.

"We're in position," he heard Nick say over the communication system.

"Copy, in position, on three breach," Nick replied. He took a deep breath and said a quick prayer.

"One, two, BREACH!" he yelled as they each stormed both locations.

She was dreaming of Nick and their baby, the one that they said they were going to wait to find out what it was when it was born. They had names, Analeigh for a girl and they had still were arguing about boys names. But Analeigh was sweet, it was in honor of her grandfather Anatoly. They were in a swing, Nick with his arm around her and their baby bundled up in her arms as they relaxed and basked in the nice spring air.

The swing shook, and then shook again, the dream was gone. She knew she was heavily drugged but the instinct to fight and to protect was strong. She needed Nick, she needed her dad. She felt like a failure and couldn't even open her eyes, sleep sounded good. Yes, she should go to sleep. With that the darkness took her again.

"Room's clear," John said.

"Two to your left," Felicity said.

"They're down now," he said after shooting both.

"I show three heat signatures upstairs guys, one is not moving the other two are. Be careful," she said. "I need to switch to the other channel."

"Okay."

John and Nick made their way up the stairs and to the door that was closed. On three they broke the door in killing the men on either side of the bed. Nick froze for a minute there on the bed was a woman, not his wife hooked up to IV lines but not his wife.

"FELICITY!"

"Nick, is she okay?"

"She's not here, a woman is in the bed with an IV she'll need medical. Where is she."

"Let me check her tracker," he heard her clicking away. "It shows she's at that address. I see five more heat signatures, there must secret paneling, tunnels something. They keep looking up," she said.

"Copy," Nick said. A groan from the floor had him picking up the man from his collar. "WHERE IS MY WIFE?!" the man smiled, coughing blood.

"You'll never find her, she's hiding."

"Tell me, now," Nick growled.

"She's hidden, the walls, hidden."

"How do I get in?" The man just smiled dumbly at him and his head rolled back.

"They're in the walls Nick, tell the crew to break the walls."

Nick gave the command and soon reports were coming back that they couldn't get in. Behind the drywall was a layer of tough metal. Where she was they couldn't get her out without help.

"I got him Jon, he's gonna be okay. How are you on your end?"

"I have the shmuck, dad's going to have a field day with them. Any word from the other team?"

"Not yet."

"John," he heard Felicity say.

"Felicity?"

"A word?"

"Yes, Jonathan I'll meet you downstairs." Once the comms were secure she muted everyone except John and her. "What's wrong?"

"They need all the help they can get at the other location."

"Why? What's happened?"

"They have found over twenty women hooked up to IV's, John they've been heavily drugged. Hope is drugged, they have hidden tunnels in the house that are protected by metal and some type of reinforced steel I assume. It's bad, we need to get to her sooner than later. God knows what they are drugging her with or what it's going to be doing to my grandchild."

"On my way, I'll need my red bag can you have someone meet me there?"

"Yes, I'll have William meet you. Oliver?"

"A little battered, he's had worse. He'll be with me. You know he'll want to be there. Can you patch me through her to Nick? I need to get an idea of what's going on."

"Sure."

"Nick," John said.

"John, I need help. It's reinforced all around. I, I can't do anything."

"We're on our way. Describe what you see."

"Metal John, it's not aluminum, we've shot at it and it's bounced back."

"Okay, I know this is difficult but we're on our way we can handle this Nick. We're going to get her back."

"John, I can't survive without her."

"I know."

"What do we do? They know we're in here," the one guard said.

"We wait for reinforcements," the other guard said.

"It's been a while, no one is coming to help us. What do we do with the girl?"

"Kill her?"

"No, she's our only bargaining chip. Try to communicate with them somehow?"

"How?"

"The exterior communication, where is that machine?"

"Somewhere in one of the cases," the one guard said moving around.

Both men started searching the boxes and found a device to plug into the phone jack. Pressing the button it dialed one of the house phones upstairs. They waited and no one answered. They tried again and someone did.

"Hello," the voice said gruffly.

"Are you in the house?"

"Who wants to know?"

"We have the girl. You get her back if you let us leave."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes."

"Let me talk to her."

"The guy in white put something in her IV, she's been asleep for a while. I don't know where he went. I have a baby on the way, we didn't know. We've only were asked to watch the women. We're sorry please. I want to meet my daughter."

"I promise you that you will meet your child. I need to get to my wife, please."

"Okay, if you go to the master bedroom, the purple room, move the bookcase there is a secret door. It's locked."

"How do we get in?"

"There's a panel, we know there's codes to it but we don't know them. They never told us that stuff, we just got hired a month ago man. We were just trying to make money for our families. Alex has two kids and I have one on the way, we just got out of the joint a few months ago and no one would hire us, this guy came up to us and said he would and pay us under the table."

"Listen, we will discuss this as soon as we get the door open. I give you my word that you will not be harmed. Now, we're coming in as soon as we get this door open. Place your weapons on the floor and we will not harm you."

"Okay." Nick hung up and went up to the room and moved the bookcase.

"Felicity, can you see this?" Nick asked into his comm link.

"Yes, oh this is going to be child's play. Wait for John, he has something I can use."

Twenty minutes later John arrived with Oliver who seemed a little banged up, but standing on his own holding his ribs on his right side with his left hand. John took something out of his bag and it plugged into the system. Within minutes Felicity had it opened. They made their way through the tunnels where the men were on their knees with their hands on their heads. Hope was motionless on the bed, still hooked up to the IVS. John, Oliver and Nick made their way to her.

"They are to be kept safe until I speak with them, understood?"
"Yes sir."

"Oh God Hope," Nick said putting his hand on her bump, the baby kicking him hard. "I know daddies here."

"Let's get her out of here, John."

John quickly removed the IV's from her arm and Nick carried her out with John carrying the bags with him. Once upstairs they got her into an ambulance and made their way to the hospital. Nick was with her the entire time, he vowed that nothing would happen to them.

Waking up she blinked rapidly a few times, regaining the room she was in was a little dark but not pitch black. There next to her was Nick asleep, the door to the room closed. She reached out and touched his hand, he woke instantly and smiled down at her.

"Baby, you're awake. How do you feel?"

"Tired, what happened?"

"They brought you to basically a brothel and were going to sell you off to the highest bidder. We got there in time and actually gained some more guys for our teams. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, I thought you would've wanted that. Are you in pain?"

"No, I'm fine the baby?"

"Very healthy, they did an ultrasound and everything looks great."

"Good, dad?"

"A few cracked ribs but nothing like what happened to the man who kidnapped the two of you. No one's ever going to find him. I forgot how brutal your dad could be," he joked.

"You have no idea. Everyone is okay though, you promise?"

"I promise, get some rest."

"Okay."

Waking up on Christmas morning at her parents' house still seemed strange but it brought back memories. She looked beside her to see Nick still sleeping peacefully, she smiled and got up and used the bathroom. She grabbed her robe and tied it on and slipped out of the room quietly and made her way down the staircase do one of her favorite things. The twelve foot Christmas tree found it's place near the fireplace in the living room, she moved presents out of the way and slowly positioned herself so she lay on her back and look up at the tree with the lights on. Something she had done ever since she was a little girl. A small chuckle had her look to see her brother standing there.

"Oh come on, you know you want to," she giggled.

"I do, Nora's still sleeping."

"So was Nick. I blame this on mom, she was always up at the ass crack of dawn on Christmas trying to make us breakfast which always ended in disaster."

"That's true, make room," he said coming down to lay next to his sister. "Ah, this is the life."

"That it is," she said.

A while later that's where the family found them whispering and laughing. Nick and Jon-Jon helped Hope up and gain her balance again as they made their way into the kitchen where Oliver was already putting the cinnamon rolls in the oven. She sat on a barstool as the whole family laughed and carried on. Her back leaned into Nick's chest feeling the love radiate off of rolls were eaten with ice-cold milk and coffee for some, they went to open presents. It would be one of her favorite Christmases yet.

Okay, so I'm sorry for the delay. There has been some absolute craziness where I live. Most of you know that I live in Western North Carolina where most recently we have had a huge series of wild fires. With that said I've been a little distracted helping everywhere I could. People have lost everything. I'm thoroughly blessed that our house and property was not affected.

With that, others were not so lucky. I was horribly sick, I have asthma on top of my PCOS so dealing with a code yellow, then red, and then purple air conditions really messed with me. Then while taking a girlfriend of ours who is a single mom who is due this month we found out that my doctor, the doctor who I trusted with my PCOS and to help with my hormones has had her permissions revoked from every hospital within an hour radius.

To say that I was upset was an understatement. I went through a small depression spell because I thought all my hopes and dreams and the faith I had in my doctor were all gone and wasted. So, I now have a new doctor who know has me on the better track and now I feel soooo much better.

I'm planning on going back to my weekly schedule but please bear with me. We have a new kitten that we rescued, to add to our broad of three corgis and two cats. At first we weren't going to keep him and just foster him. Well, the little guy is less than eight weeks old and fits in the palm of my hand and is the cutest thing in the world.

So, for our anniversary my husband said we would be keeping him….so welcome…Oliver Beary. He also is in love with our 81 year old grandmother who was going through her own bout of depression. I haven't seen her this happy in a while. So since she watches Arrow with me every week she's named him Ollie (HA!). They have quickly become best friends.

So that is the update on life and again I apologize for the long delay and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Merry Christmas, I will see you all in the New year….babies are coming people! Love all of your faces!