Chapter 10:
Katya was the in the zone, she had multiple programmes searching for her mum at the same time. She was faintly aware of people around her but she paid no attention to it. All that mattered was finding her mother. She typed in the code for her last programme, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Katya jumped and looked over her shoulder to find Jay looking down at her.
"I'm going with Roy to grab some food." Jay told her.
Katya nodded, then it hit her she would be alone with her father and when she was done typing in the last of the code there would be nothing to do but wait.
"Jay..." Katya started.
Jay looked down at her a knowing smirk plastered on his face.
"We will find your mum I promise you." Jay said softly.
Katya looked at him doubtful.
"But in the meantime give him a chance." Jay ordered gently turning her chair round to face her father who was working on some arrows.
Katya sighed heavily, he was right. For years all she had waited for was this very moment. The moment she got to know her father but now it was really here that very thought scared the crap out of her.
"Ok." Katya whispered.
Jay smiled at her before gently squeezing her shoulder.
"Be back soon." he told her before taking off.
Katya looked back towards her screen, she could feel her father looking at her, her mother always said he had never been one with words and she smiled at how in the short amount of time she had known him, she knew those words to be true.
She was seven the first time she ever asked about her father. Her mother had sat her down and told her all about his life; his family, his jobs both night and day, his friends. She cherished the stories of her father the superhero who was too important to leave his city to be with them, when she was younger but as she got older she believed them less and less. It wasn't until she did her own investigation into Oliver Queen that she finally believed her mother's words.
"She always said you weren't very good with words." Katya said looking over at her father and smiling softly.
He smiled back at her.
"I'm not but Felicity always made up enough for the both of us." he pointed out.
Katya laughed lightly, she remembered her mum's babbling.
After she finished laughing she looked over at her father as she watched her closely in silence.
"I'm sorry," he told her.
Katya frowned, unsure on what he was sorry for.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." Katya assured him.
He got up from his seat and walked closer to her, he stopped just a few feet in front on her.
"I don't know how to do this." he told her pointing between the two of them but Katya looked at his face still confused.
"I don't know how to be a father to you." He told her honestly.
Katya nodded, she couldn't blame up until recently he hadn't even known about her existence and now here she was.
"If it makes you feel any better neither do I." she added with a smile.
Oliver smiled back at her.
"I really want to get you know you Katya." Oliver said and Katya nodded.
"I would like that too." she replied.
They stared at each other in silence.
"What do we do now?" Katya asked generally unsure.
"We take this day by day." He told her instantly.
Katya nodded she liked that idea.
Felicity closed her eyes tight, as if by closing her eyes she could somehow get herself out of this situation. She had been so careful. She kept their lives private to the point of being paranoid, but still he found them and no she was stuck in a dingy cell that smelt of wee and sick. If she had known all those years ago this would have happened things would be so different. She would have gone to Oliver that day instead of leaving. If she could go back she would. But you can never go back and she knew that more than most.
She prayed that Katya was safe. She knew by now Jay had to be back and that gave her some comfort at least. And sooner or later Jay would get her to Oliver and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that Oliver would keep Katya safe. When she came up with this plan she needed to keep them delayed she needed a chance to fix this mess herself so she changed the contingency letter. That letter was a lie, she knew that eventually he would receive the other letters and eventually he would found out the truth, they all would but she hated lying to him. Enough people in his life lied to him and up until the day that everything change she kept that promise. Lying to him was hard for her and lying to Katya was somehow worse. At least they would find out the truth together she was sure of it, she hoped they didn't hate her too much.
She braced herself as she heard the lock to her cell door open. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as his footsteps got nearer and nearer.
"When you open your eyes the situation will still be the same." He promised, sick amusement filled his voice.
Felicity gritted her teeth but made no moved to look at him let alone answer him.
"This could all go away if you tell me where she is?" he spat.
Felicity laughed without humour and he grabbed her hair and dragged her back.
Felicity grasped against the pain as she chair she was chained to fell backwards, hitting the floor with a thud.
She opened her eyes to find him staring down at her. He was just like his father cold and cruel. She wondered briefly if he had always been this way. She knew that he was trying to use his build to intimidate her, but he was underestimating her ability to stand up to big men after all she had spent years around Oliver and Dig and she never back down then and she wasn't about to this time either.
"Where is she?" He demanded.
Felicity remained silent.
He sighed heavily before pulling the chair up quickly.
"You honestly expect me to tell you where my daughter is?" She asked in disgust.
"I could make you." He spat.
Felicity glared at him.
"There is nothing in this world that will make me tell you where she is." Felicity replied.
He grabbed her chin with his bruising hand and Felicity tried not to wince in his touch but was without success.
"Then what is the use of you." he spat.
Felicity had been waiting for this moment, when he realised that she would move heaven and hell to keep Katya safe.
His fist came into contact with her face quicker than she ever imagined the force sending the chair flying, she felt his kick to her gut before her head hit the floor with a crack and everything went black.
Jackie felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked away from Jane's tensed body.
Doctor Winter looked down at her with warm eyes.
"She's dreaming." He told her softly.
For the last week or so Jane's brain activity improved, which was a good sign in the long run.
Jackie nodded but somehow could help but think that maybe Jane was having a nightmare.
"Right that's enough." Jay said suddenly pulling her chair away from the desk.
"What?" Katya spluttered looking up at him from her seat, surprised.
Jay narrowed his eyes at her, but Katya glared right back at him. Jay sighed.
"Have you or have you not entered all possible information about Felicity Smoak into this computer?" Jay asked and Katya nodded.
"Have you or have you not set up all searches to contact you phone when they find something?" He asked and instantly she knew where he was heading with this.
"Jay..." Katya started but Jay glared and she stopped speaking.
"Have you or have you not had less than six hours sleep in the last two days?" He asked.
"Jay..." Katya tried again but Jay shook his head.
"No Katya." he said firmly, he only ever called her by Katya when he was either angry with her or being completely serious.
"Were going home and you are going to sleep and we will come back tomorrow." he promised.
"Jay, I can't just leave." Katya argued.
Jay bent down so he was eye level with her.
"What else can you do?" He asked but they both knew he already knew the answer.
"Jay..." Katya open her mouth.
"I have to do a few things to do here tonight so I'll keep an eye on your searches." Her father offered.
Katya and Jay both looked over at him having forgot her father and uncle were still in the same room as them.
"But..." Katya said trying her best puppy dog look of her father, who smirked and shook his head.
"Jay is right, there is nothing you can do for now and you need sleep." Her father replied.
Katya sighed in defeat.
"Fine." she said.
Jay smiled over at Oliver.
"You sure you don't mind keep an eye on the searches?" Katya asked.
Oliver shook his head.
"It's fine." He replied.
Katya nodded and stood up.
"Ok I'll see you tomorrow?" Katya had meant to say but it ended up being a question.
Oliver smiled and nodded.
"Definitely." he promised.
After waving goodbye to her Uncle, Katya followed Jay out of the lair.
Oliver watched them leave as they bickered between themselves. He still wasn't sure about what was going on between the two of them but it was clear that Jay cared about Katya a great deal and Oliver would always be grateful for that.
"It's scary how similar she is to you and Felicity." Roy said bringing Oliver out of his thoughts.
Oliver frowned at him, sure he had seen a lot of Felicity in Katya but he couldn't see anything of himself in her.
"You think?" Oliver asked.
Roy smirked and nodded.
"Sure she's got Felicity's brain and ridiculously bright eyes but she has your intensity and your smile." Roy told him honestly.
Oliver smiled to himself.
"But she like both of you when it comes to the people she cares about." Roy added and Oliver couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Oliver and Felicity were different in many ways but when it came to the people they care about there is nothing they wouldn't do to protect them.
Roy sighed.
"Well I'm going to head home unless you want some company?" Roy offered.
Oliver shook his head.
"No, I'll be fine." Oliver told him.
Roy nodded before heading off.
Oliver walked over to the computers he checked that the searches were still running before logging back into the email account, more determined than ever to get to know all the things he had missed about his daughter and to try and understand why Felicity did what she did.
He read for hours, reading about meeting Jay and his mother. Learning about Felicity's accident and how scared she had been about the thought of leaving Katya alone. He laughed at the adventures of Katya and Jay as kids, his head going through a whirlwind of emotions. He felt proud and it was clear that Felicity felt the same as he read about Katya achievements in school and hacking. He laughed at every one of Felicity's babbles.
It still hurt that Felicity had kept his daughter from him and he still was mad and deep down Oliver knew he would be for a long time yet, but no he was furious he was he believed, no he had to believe that Felicity had done it for a reason. He closed the last email and just like Felicity had promised a new one popped up, ten things to know about Katya. He opened the email.
Oliver, by now I am hoping that you have met Katya and have seen just how amazing our daughter really is. But I bet you also freaking out, so unsure what to say that you don't say anything at all. Eventually you will get through all of these emails and you will find the courage you need to connect with her but in the meantime here is ten things you need to know about Katya.
1. Just like me Katya is allergic to nuts. There isn't much I really need to add here is there. You had this one pretty much covered from the moment I told you I was allergic to nuts. You kept anyone on our floor at QC from bring nuts into the office and bound it completely from the lair. Thank you by the way. How did you do ban nuts at QC by the way? I mean it's not like you could fire them if they did. Oh my god Oliver you did, didn't you.
Oliver smiled to himself that was exactly what he had done. He had seen what nuts could do to her on one unfortunate incident, that luckily for all of them she had survived and he would have do anything not to see that happen again.
2. She loves the colour green. Even before I told her about you being the arrow she decided it was her favourite colour. I am starting to think that liking the colour green may be a genetic thing in your family.
3. She is scared of spiders, to the stage that they paralyse her fear, if she just freeze there is probably a spider around someone. Be the sweet gentleman I know you to be and get rid of it for her.
Oliver briefly remembered that Felicity hated spiders he wonder how she managed to deal with them.
4. When she has her headphones in, it's because she is in the zone on something to do with school work or she is hacking something. Don't judge me about teaching her to hack, she is far too smart for her own good and picked up most of it herself. Anyway when she like this, it's like what I did when I got into one of those really difficult hacks. Anyway you have to make sure she eats and drinks because often she often forgets.
5. She hates people seeing her cry, so if she cries in front of you and she is looking at you, hug her tightly and tell her you love her. If she is crying but she turns away from her don't touch her, sometimes you just need to wallow in self-pity give her a couple of hours and she will be fine again.
6. Katya loves watching Disney films, especially frozen, tangled and beauty and the beast. If you ever need to cheer her up put a Disney film on they always make her happy.
Oliver smiled; Thea, Laurel and Felicity were exactly the same in that respect, did watching Disney films cheer all women up.
7. She wants to be a doctor, she has always had this need to take care of people and she said that becoming a doctor just seem the right choice for her. I always thought there was more to it but whatever the reason I couldn't more proud that she wants to be a doctor.
Oliver couldn't either.
8. You can call her Katya or Kat never kitty Kat that right is apparently reserved for Jay, it was something his mother used to call her and after she died, Katya couldn't bare anyone else calling her it but Jay.
9. She is more determined then both of us put together so when she gets an idea in her head then there is no hoping of changing it, unless your Jay which brings us to 10.
10. This apart from the nut fact is the most important factor on this list. No don't get mad or over protective because Jay is an amazing man and he would do anything to keep her safe including giving over his life so keep that in mind. I really hope it never comes to that. Anyway fact number 10 Katya is undoubtedly in love with Jay Baxter and he in return is completely and utterly in love with her. I am not completely sure she knows it herself yet but it's true. Jay is aware of his feeling for her but he would never push her and I am pretty sure he would wait an eternity for her if he had too. I really hope he doesn't have to wait that long. Jay makes Katya live, he makes her enjoy life and when it comes to keeping her safe, other than me Jay will be your greatest ally. Keep that in mind.
Look after her Oliver.
Love always
Felicity.