An unmistakeable lull had blanketed Arkham and there was no trying to hide it no matter what Queen Donna did. Gala's still went ahead (although many noticed without the Princess's 'touch' on some things), the Queen hosted fundraisers in order to help rebuild the part of the kingdom that was destroyed in the explosion and set up a charity for those who were in hospital with injuries from it. The Queen was trying desperately to fill her daughters shoes but with all of this going on she was going to lose track of what money was going where, where she was meant to be and who was asking for what.

Donna had sent for another advisor to help lighten her load when a pinging sound came from her tablet and she picked it up, pressed a button and her daughters face lit up the screen "Mother!" she smiled happily and waved

"Felicity darling! How are you? Did you get to Starling alright?" Donna asked and sat down

Her mother hadn't heard about her arrival to Starling yet, Felicity bit the bullet and told her about her driver going through The Glades, the attackers and The Arrow saving her. The Queen acted as The Princess thought she would: full of worry and concern for her daughter and a bit dramatic "Mother, I'm fine. The Arrow made sure I got to the palace in one piece, Oliver and I are still getting married"

"Ah, so your saviour didn't totally sweep you off your feet?"

Felicity blushed at her mother's comment and tried to change the subject "How is everything going there? Are you doing all the fundraisers and charity things? How the hospital going?"

"Dear, I have no idea how you managed to do it all by yourself! It's a lot of work but your people really love you for what you do for them, it's hard trying to fill your shoes! I'm going to run myself ragged soon!" Donna sighed heavily and fanned herself

Felicity looked behind her mother and saw a figure in a grey suit approaching her, one look at his face made her own go stark white "Mother behind you!" she pointed uselessly

Donna swung in her chair and stood up, she squealed in delight and hugged the new comer "allow me to be of assistance Your Majesty" a warm voice said smoothly and Slade's face came into view on the screen. Felicity was frozen in fear as Donna hurriedly asked where he had been and if she was alright "I tried my best to stop the explosion…" he began his story yeah, you tried so hard! Felicity thought angrily as he went on "…I knew it was too late, so I ran. The explosion caught me and I was knocked out and horribly burned, a chunk of burning wood scorched my eye and I can no longer see out of it" he feigned sadness as The Queen stood there and drank up his story, gasping as he told of his escape when he finally came too and his friend Isabel helped him to a private estate where he could recover fully.

"I would have gone to the hospital but I didn't want you or Princess Felicity to see me like that, so I waited until I could get back to you better than ever before" he smiled warmly at Donna before turning his attention to the tablet in Donna's hands "and what's this I hear about you and Prince Oliver getting married?"

"Yes, two weeks from today" Felicity said a little too firmly, Slade stared back and hid his emotions with a warm smile

"I am happy for you Princess" he nodded his head and added "…I only want what's best for you" the Queen was so excited that Slade was back that the emphasis of the comment was lost to her. Slade endured another excited hug from the Queen, smiled and said goodbye and that he had a lot of work to catch up on "I'll do my best to rebuild this kingdom to its former glory" he smiled at the Princess, she shivered as his eyes bore into her, and gave the tablet back to the Queen.

Donna smiled excitedly at Felicity "I can't believe he is back! Now I can balance the work load a little"

"Yeah, I'm happy he's back too Mother" Felicity shifted in her chair and searched for a way to end the conversation "I'm really sorry but I have to go, I'm looking at wedding dresses today" she quickly shut off her own tablet and set it down on the table. The Princess could feel goose bumps rising on her skin, anxiety bubbled up in her stomach as she held herself and tried to come to terms with the fact that the man who destroyed her kingdom was still alive.

Slade was alive. Slade was alive. Felicity covered her mouth with her hand as tears threatened to fall as she thought of Slade, the man who destroyed her kingdom and who had looked at her with such angry hunger as he did so was alive and well.
A tap on her shoulder made her yelp and jump up, she turned to see Oliver standing there with a smile on his face "I'm sorry I…I didn't mean to scare you Felicity" he now really looked at her face and saw that she was upset "are you alright?"

"Yeah…I was just talking to my mum…you remember my advisor? Mr Wilson?"

"Yeah, I think so" Oliver nodded and waited for her to continue while his insides were boiling with anger and confusion

"Well it turns out…he has been found and he's alive. He is going to help my mother run the kingdom" Felicity smiled and tried to look happy, she didn't want Oliver caught up in her drama. She began to think of ways to find The Arrow and let him know "I just…" she wiped tears from her eyes "…can't believe he is alive"

Oliver hugged her close, knowing why she was crying but not being able to comfort her for it was torture, instead he smiled into her hair "I'm so happy for you, your mother and yourself must have been close to him, I'm glad you have him back" he let her go and turned to leave "what're you up to today? I heard something about wedding dresses?" he smiled at the thought of her in a gown

"Yeah, I'm going to look at wedding dresses, hopefully I'll find one without going to a billion stores" Felicity smiled and an image came to her mind: her in a white dress with Oliver standing in a nice black suit waiting for her and kissing him.

"I'm sure you will and I can't wait to see it" he smiled as she walked out with her bag calling out for Moira. As soon as she left Oliver took out his phone and dialled for John and told him that Slade was still alive "we can protect her, we just have to keep Slade away as much as possible until we find out what he wants"

It was dark when Felicity and Moira exited the sixth wedding dress store finally with a dress in hand as they walked to the car "Again Moira, thank you for this"

"It's your wedding, I'm just sorry that your mother couldn't be here and I hope that I filled a little of that void for you in my being here" the Queen hugged Felicity and they both smiled as they got into the car; both completely oblivious to the fact that they were being watched.

A figure on the roof top opposite them looked down at the two women. The Arrow had crouched there for what felt like hours, following them around and sneaking looks at them through the large windows of various dress shops. At the final store Felicity was trying on a beautiful flowing dress that hugged her upper body and was covered in sparkling crystals and then fell into a beautiful flowing train to the floor. The Arrow felt his mouth water as he thought of watching her walk down the aisle towards him, thought of kissing her after their vows and then when the sun went down the delicious thought of slowly freeing her body from the material and kissing every inch of her and hearing her moan.

The Arrow watched the car drive away and raced off to the palace.

Felicity sighed happily as she walked into her room and hung the dress on the door, her computer buzzed and sang signalling that she was getting a Skype call. The Princess sat down and took the call "Mother! I got my wedding dress!" she said happily

"You did!? Well, let me see!" The two women both giggled and talked and fawned over the dress how it was perfect for her, the way it was made and how it fit her body "Oliver won't be able to keep his eyes off of you…or his hands!" both women laughed again as Felicity rehung the dress and went over to sit down again.

"So, how's home? How is everything going?" Donna told Felicity all that was happening in Arkham and all the money that was raised, Felicity wanted to know every detail of everything going on.

Just when Donna was explaining the fundraiser, their connection went fuzzy and Felicity could hardly hear her mother "Mum? I can't hear you…bad connection I think"

Donna tried to get through to her daughter but all Felicity could get was "Fundraiser…money…lot's of people…Slade…helping…so nice and we all miss you here…" the connection was cut and the screen on Skype went blank saying that was a low or non-existent connection.
Felicity checked her power and the internet connection and everything was fine on her end, something was disrupting the power in Starling.
Felicity called for her mother but nothing came back.

"Princess"

Felicity squealed in her chair and saw The Arrow standing in the shadows of her room; he had turned her lights off. Felicity stood up and went over to her dress suddenly not wanting him to see it and zipped it back up in its protective bag "Uhh…hi"

"Was I interrupting something?" The Arrow asked in his deep modified voice

"Just talking to my mother about my wedding dress…it's good that you're here actually, there's something I need to tell you" Felicity took a step forward "that night when you saved me from the explosion…my advisor…I thought I lost him"

The Arrow said nothing

"Well…it turns out…he's still alive and back home with my mother and…"

"Are you alright? Has he tried to contact you?" The Arrow asked protectively and took a step toward her too only keeping his face hidden

"No, no he hasn't but I'm just scared that he will and he knows you're The Arrow, I mean who doesn't know you're The Arrow? Green leather head to toe and a bow kinda gives it away…I'm babbling" Felicity looked down and counted to three

The Arrow smiled under his hood before facing her "Slade won't come near you at all. I'm placing you under my protection. No one will talk to you or touch you without my watching. If something happens I'll know straight away and come for you"

"Even in daylight?" Felicity asked hesitantly

"I would risk people seeing me in the daylight if it meant it would keep you from harm"

"What about my friend" Felicity stammered and corrected herself "…my fiancé Oliver? You'll be watching even when I'm with him?" her cheeks burned at the thought

"Until this threat is gone consider me your shadow" The Arrow smirked as he saw her cheeks turning red "if you can offer any information about Slade I want you to use this" he handed her a phone "and we'll meet here as soon as I can"

"Thank you for this" Felicity said as she watched The Arrow walk over to her dress, unzip it a little and had a peek "do…do you like it?" she asked

"You'll look remarkable. The Prince is a lucky man" without even looking at her The Arrow turned, opened the window and stepped out. The Princess stared after him cheeks still pink and her hand white from holding the phone so tightly.

A/N: I wanted this scene to go differently (the one with The Arrow and Felicity) but am still happy with how it turned out. Slade is back and with plans for the kingdom that involve Felicity, power/electricity, water and money. Scenes with Slade and Felicity to come! Can't wait to right those and scenes with The Arrow and Felicity AND a sweet scene I have in mind for Oliver and Felicity.

The scenes with Slade and Felicity will be so charged and sometimes heated! I can't wait!