Chapter 25:
Felicity couldn't help but smile she spotted Sara in the corner of the room. It had been a long time since the two of them had spent any real time together and when Sara had mentioned going to lunch Felicity was happy to agree.
"Hey." Felicity greeted her friend with an enormous smile and bear hug.
"It's good to see you too." Sara laughed hugging her back.
They took their seats.
"I was worried you wouldn't want to see me after everything that happened with Laurel." Sara confessed.
Felicity took her friends hand and shook her head. Sara and Laurel may be sisters but they were two very different people and Felicity could never blame Sara for her sister's mistakes.
"Never." Felicity promised.
Sara squeezed her hand.
They were both silent as a waiter came to take their order. Years in team Arrow had taught them to be careful when it came to speaking in public places.
"For what it's worth I am sorry for what she did." Sara added as the waiter walked away.
Felicity gave her friend a sad smile.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." she promised her friend.
"But I appreciate the gesture." Felicity added.
"So what's been going on with you?" Felicity asked eager to change the subjected. Thoughts of Laurel still made her mad.
Sara smiled.
"Nyssa and I are doing well." Sara told her proudly.
Felicity couldn't help but be happy for her friend. Even though Felicity hadn't known Nyssa long she had instantly like her and could tell she made Sara happy.
"I am glad." Felicity told her honestly.
Felicity took a sip of her wine.
"It must have been hard leaving." Sara stated slowly, ever since things had got back to normal Felicity knew all of her friends wanted her to talk about her time away and they were just waiting for their opportunity.
Felicity nodded.
"It was." Felicity said absent-mindedly. Talking about leaving just filled her with regret.
"Not only was I leaving the love of my life but I was leaving the only family I had ever really known." Felicity confessed.
"You should have told us." Sara told her.
Felicity looked at her friend. There was no judgement in her friends eyes just sorrow.
"I know that now." Felicity promised her friend.
"But back then all I could think about was my baby and I couldn't risk it, I wouldn't risk it." Felicity added.
Sara nodded her understanding. Felicity knew just like the others Sara understood but none of them had like her decision to leave.
"Raising Katya alone must have been difficult." Sara commented.
Felicity nodded. For the first five years it was hard but after Felicity met Elle Baxter and as Katya grew older it wasn't so hard any more.
"For a while yes, but it wasn't because Katya was a difficult baby because she wasn't. If anything she was too good." Felicity told Sara.
"Everyone says Katya is just like me but when I look at her all I see is Oliver." Felicity continued.
"She has his quite nature, his determination, his pride. All she has from me is her brain." Felicity added.
"And your eyes." Sara pointed out.
Felicity laughed.
"And my eyes." Felicity agreed.
"But raising her alone got easier?" Sara asked bringing Felicity back to her originally story.
Felicity nodded.
"When I met Elle Baxter." Felicity replied.
"Jays mum?" Sara confirmed and Felicity nodded.
"She was like me, on the run from our pasts." Felicity told her.
"I wanted nothing more than to be invisible and get through each day until it was safe enough to come home to you guys but when you have children like Katya and Jay that is pretty much impossible." Felicity explained.
"They became friends?" Sara guessed.
"Jay was two years older than Kat and the only person Kat had ever met that didn't mind that she was smarter than them, if anything Jay encourage her to be as smart as she could be." Felicity continued.
"Elle was the same." Felicity added.
"So you and Elle became friends?" Sara wondered aloud and Felicity nodded.
"Working in team arrow had taught me to help those who needed it and Elle needed help just as much as I did, then once I got to know Elle I couldn't leave her and I would not separate Jay and Kat." Felicity admitted. Right from the very beginning Katya and Jay had always had a special bond.
Sara nodded her head and smiled in understanding.
The waiter arrived with their food and Felicity hungrily tucked in.
"Thea said you book a date for the wedding." Sara said changing the subjected.
Felicity laughed as she remembered Thea pinning her and Oliver down and refusing to let them leave until they confirmed a date for their wedding. It wasn't that they didn't want to get married, neither of them wanted anything more but they wanted their wedding to be happy time and with the way things were between Katya and Jay they weren't sure it would be. But Thea had simply stated that the wedding was about them and not Katya, and Katya would understand them wanting to get on with their lives.
"Thea wouldn't leave until we did." Felicity explained and Sara smirked.
Thea was right and they had settled on a date just three months away. Both she and Oliver didn't want to wait any longer than they already had. But Felicity still held out hope that Jay would be back by then and everyone would be happy.
"That's great." Sara said after Felicity told her the date.
"You'll be there right?" Felicity questioned, after all Sara was forever back and forth with issues from the league.
Sara gave her a look that said she was an idiot for even asking.
"Great, then would you be a bridesmaid?" Felicity asked.
She had already asked Katya to be her maid of honour and Thea to be her other bridesmaid.
"I would be honoured." Sara told her happily.
"Good." Felicity squealed in delight.
Oliver really hated board meetings. Board meetings meant a bunch of people getting together just to tell him what he was doing wrong with his company. He sighed deeply as he left the board room. QC was doing well but someone always found something to complain about. Oliver knew he was not his mother or father and he was nowhere near as good at his job as Walter had been but he was doing his best and he just hoped that was good enough.
Oliver smiled at his assistant Charlotte as he entered his office. Charlotte stood up quickly as Oliver moved towards his desk.
"Mr Queen?" Charlotte called softly.
Oliver looked over at her and Charlotte pointed towards his sofa. Oliver frowned as he looked over. Katya was sound asleep on his couch.
"How long she been here?" Oliver questioned, Oliver loved seeing his daughter but he hated seeing her sad and currently she always seemed sad.
"About an hour." Charlotte replied.
"I offered to come and get you but she said she would wait." Charlotte added.
Oliver walked slowly over to the couch. Someone, he guessed Charlotte had put his coat over Katya to keep her warm.
"She was only in here about ten minutes before she fell asleep." Charlotte continued.
Oliver nodded.
Katya had wrote to Jay twice but she was yet to receive a reply and it was starting to worry her so much it was affecting her sleep.
"Thank you Charlotte." Oliver said, dismissing Charlotte.
Diggle mention that is wasn't unusual for someone in Jay's current position not to reply.
"He might not have even received any of her letters yet." Diggle had pointed out.
Oliver crouched down next to Katya and gently stroked her head.
"Time to wake up sweetheart." Oliver told her gently.
Katya shifted in her sleep.
"Daddy?" she called tiredly her voice full of sleep.
Oliver smiled. He loved her calling him daddy. Being called dad or daddy was something Oliver had never imagined would happen but now he had heard it, he couldn't imagine his life without it.
Katya opened her pretty blue eyes and looked at him.
"Daddy." She said again, shifting so Oliver could sit down.
Oliver sat down on the couch and Katya tucked herself into his side.
"What's going on?" He asked softly as he wrapped his arm round her.
"Nothing, I just wanted to see you." She mumbled into his side.
Oliver knew it was a lie but sometimes it was better just to let some things go. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to do everything in his power to make his daughter happy.
Diggle waited by the car as Oliver walked Katya to her dorm room.
"What's on your mind?" Diggle asked as Oliver walked back towards the car.
"You still got contacts in A.R.G.U.S?" Oliver questioned.
It had been a long time since either of them had dealt with A.R.G.U.S. but Diggle still had a few contacts. Diggle nodded.
"Good." Oliver said as he opened the car door.
"Cause we are going to need their help." Oliver added as he got in the car.
Diggle let out a deep breath as he walked round the car to get in the driving seat. A.R.G.U.S were never a good idea.
"What's your plan?" Diggle questioned.
"I am going to talk to Jay." Oliver said simply.
Diggle frowned because Oliver's plan was far from simple.
"You do realises that Jay is god knows were doing something only need to no people have the information about, finding him will not be easy Oliver far from it." Diggle pointed out.
Oliver sighed deeply.
"But it can be done." Oliver clarified.
"For the right price A.R.G.U.S can do anything." Diggle admitted reluctantly.
Jay winced as he sat down on his cot. His whole body hurt and he couldn't for the life of him remember the last time he had slept longer than four hours.
"I never thought I would be so happy to see a dusty old cot in my life." Carter rejoiced as he collapsed into said cot.
Jay laughed tiredly but he couldn't help but agree. Almost three weeks on the road and this felt like heaven.
"I know what you mean." Jay mumbled as sleep begun to claim him.
"Baxter you got mail while you were away." Some called from the tent and Jay instantly shot up in his bed.
"Holly shit did compass girl finally get back to you?" Carter asked from the cot next to him.
Jay walked over to the solider who held his mail, he had seen the man around before but couldn't remember his name.
"Thanks." Jay mumbled absent-mindedly as he took his mail.
He had three letters. Two without doubt were Katya's writing.
Jay took a deep breath and sat down heavily on his cot.
"By your reaction I take it as a yes." Carter commented but Jay wasn't listening to him.
Katya had replied not just once but twice which meant she had to know the truth. His future depended upon her words. He had been waiting for the last seven months for an answer but now it was here Jay wasn't sure he was ready for it.
Jay opened the third envelope and pulled out a single piece of card.
"You are hereby invited to the wedding of Felicity Meghan Smoak and Oliver Jonas Queen." Jay read aloud and he couldn't help but smiled.
He was glad that Felicity was finally getting her happy ending.
"There is something written on the back." Carter said, pulling Jay out of his thoughts.
Jay turned the card over.
You are the closet person I have to a son, so you better be there to give me away. Be safe and come home soon. F xxx
Jay bit back his emotions. He was honoured that she would ask him to give her away and Jay was going to do everything in his power to make it back home to do just that.
"What did she say?" Carter asked.
"I don't know, I haven't opened the ones from her yet." Jay replied.
Carter raised his eyebrow.
"Since I met you all you talk about is hearing from compass girl, why are you putting it off?" Carter demanded frustrated.
Jay sighed, he was right. He slowly pulled open the first letter.
Jay,
I have wrote and re-wrote this letter with that feels like a hundred times sometimes I would start with why and other times I would start with I miss you. But I know why and missing you shouldn't even be a question for you because whenever you are not here I always miss you.
Part of me wishes I could be mad at you for keeping the truth from me but I understand it because if I really think about it I am pretty sure I would have done the same thing if the tables were reversed. We protect each other that has always been our way, probably always will be.
These parts months without you have been some of the hardest of my life and apart from those moments of getting to know my dad and the rest of my family I have not once been happy and I couldn't understand why until I really thought about it. Every happy moment of my life has always been with you by my side.
So I can't tell you I don't love you and I don't think I could ever let you walk away because we need each other to truly be happy.
Even before I knew the truth ignoring your letters, trying not to wait for you is the hardest thing I have ever done so don't ever worry about moving on from me because I don't think I could ever move on from you, or want too.
There is so much I want to say to you, so much we both should have said a long time ago. So tell me when you will be home and I will be waiting.
Be safe.
I love you forever and always,
You're Kitty Kat. xxx
Jay couldn't help but smile.
"She will be waiting." Jay told Carter smugly.
Carter laughed.
"I never really doubted she wouldn't be." Carter replied.
Jay looked at him with a questioning glance.
"From what you told me about her I figured she loved you just as much as you loved her." Carter commented.
Jay's smile just got bigger. He ripped open the second letter.
Jay,
It's been a week since I sent that letter and you haven't replied. Uncle Diggle said I shouldn't worry, that sometimes mail doesn't always get to you right away and that sometimes they have a hard time finding their recipients. But I can't help it.
When I think of you I worry. So I try not to think of you but that just makes me think of you more.
So as soon as you get this write back to let me know that you are safe. Let me know that you know that I am waiting for you, because I am Jay and I always will be waiting for you.
Be safe.
I love you forever and always,
You're Kitty Kat xxx
Jay stood up instantly and grabbed some paper from his bag. He hated that she was worried. He would write back to her and hoped it would get her soon so she wouldn't worry as much.
"Baxter you're wanted in the communications tent." The solider from before called.
Jay looked over at Carter who shrugged his shoulders. Jay had no idea what it could be but followed the solider nevertheless.
"What's going on?" Jay asked his old TO the moment he spotted Jackson in the communication tent.
"You've got a call." Jackson informed him with a frown.
Jay nodded and followed Jackson over to a computer screen.
"Make it quick Baxter we leave at first light and you still need to catch up on some sleep." Jackson ordered.
"Yes sir." Jay replied, saluting him.
Jackson left just as Skype turned on and Oliver Queen's face filled the screen.
"Oliver?" Jay called in surprise.
He had no idea communications this far out were possible, let alone whether it was allowed.
"How you doing kid?" Oliver asked.
"How the hell did you get permission for this?" Jay demanded.
Oliver smirked.
"Old favours come in handy." Oliver commented, still giving nothing away.
"I don't have long." Jay mentioned.
Oliver nodded.
"Me either, so I'll make this quick." Oliver replied and Jay nodded for him to continue.
"Do you love my daughter?" Oliver asked bluntly.
"More than anything." Jay told him honestly.
"Then make this your last tour." Oliver ordered.
Jay shook his head.
"I want to be with Katya but I won't give up who I am." Jay replied.
"I am not asking you to give up being a hero Jay I am ask you if you would consider being a different type of hero." Oliver replied.
Jay frowned now he was interested.
"What do you have in mind?" Jay questioned.
Oliver smiled.
"How would you like to be the next Arrow?" Oliver asked.