Oliver splashed his face with cold water from the basin and took a deep slow breath to make sure he was real, that all of this was real. Looking back into the bedroom confirmed it when he saw the princess fast asleep in his bed, naked and with a sheet draped over her. This was real and last night really happened and he allowed it to.

Scratch that, The Arrow allowed it to happen. Last night he was still The Arrow and not Oliver Queen when they made love but at the time he felt like he didn't care. Felicity had been his completely when she accepted him and loved him like no other. The Arrow and Oliver Queen…he decided that right now was not the time to think about it and wondered how he was going to do the whole 'morning after' thing. As far as Felicity knew, he was The Arrow and how would that look if he was in bed and still wearing his hood in the morning light? Felicity would expect to see his face at least after last night. How was he going to do this?

When Oliver came to a decision he hated himself but knew it had to be done. He would leave a note and then leave her to wake up herself. Oliver made a call to Diggle to bring the car around and hurried around the bedroom to find paper and a pen. Felicity stirred sleepily when she felt him accidently bump the bed, Oliver froze instantly as she lazily called out to The Arrow but then fell back asleep again. Oliver put on his leather pants and Arrow hood but didn't put it up as he sat down at his desk and began to write.

The sleeping woman opened her eyes slowly, feeling happier than she had in a long time. Since long before her wedding in fact. Felicity sat up in bed and smiled when she saw The Arrow sitting at his desk, he was writing something and was already dressed. Felicity pulled the sheet around her and silently got up from the bed and looked at The Arrow again…he had his hood down!
Felicity almost couldn't believe it! Was The Arrow ready to tell her who he really was?! Felicity squinted as the morning sun blazed through the window hitting The Arrow from behind making him look like a silhouette but with the slightest amount of green. Felicity walked closer and reached out to him.

Oliver heard her behind him and quickly turned on his voice modulator "Don't come any closer" he said softly trying not to scare her "please" he stopped writing and put his hood up before standing "how did you sleep?" he asked turning to face her and smiled when he saw the colour return to her cheeks after being pale for so long.

"I slept well, thank you for asking" Felicity nodded awkwardly "uhh what're you writing?" she gestured to the note and watched as The Arrow scrunched it up in his hand

"It's nothing" The Arrow had now taken on a more formal tone that made him cringe inwardly "you can shower in there" he pointed to the bathroom "anything in the fridge is yours, my partner will be waiting out the front with the car to take you back to the palace"

"Where will you be going?" Felicity asked as The Arrow made his way to the door

"I need to go back to Starling, the Prince is returning soon and he'll want to know about what's going on here and I also need to check on the water supply here and see if Starling can help with that too"

"Just like when our power went out" Felicity smiled thankfully "but I…I don't want to go back home"

"Princess, it's best if you do, your husband will be wondering where you are and we both know what he'll do if you keep him waiting any longer" The Arrow nodded towards the shower "I have come up with an alibi for you as to where you have been"

Felicity nodded sadly and went to the bathroom to shower. The hot water soothed her greatly and the towel in there was soft and warm. The Arrow was going back to Starling? How could he leave her? Didn't he know that she needed him to get through the day!? Scolding herself for sounding like some dim-witted girl from a romance novel. The Arrow had to look after his kingdom and Oliver and that was what was most important to her.

Slade was pacing his large office up and down as he listened to the news reporter talk about the recent problems with the water systems and growing illness in Arkham. His plan was going well, everyday there was more dirty, yet clean looking, water being drank by the people and more and more were getting sick. A few more days of this and then just when the kingdom was about to lose hope their allies around the world would jump in to save them.

A knock sounded at his door and he gave an order for whoever it was to enter, he smiled when he turned to see his wife "Darling, I missed you today and last night" he hugged her before kissing her passionately

Felicity did her best to kiss him back and then explained "Just a simple dinner alone and I got in late, I also had a doctor's appointment early this morning"

"Good, good I hope everything is okay?" Slade looked like he didn't care as he looked back at the TV and flicked the channel away from the news

"I went to the hospital to see what I could do to help" Felicity said brightly "this water situation is getting pretty bad, don't you think? I was wondering if The Arrow could help but he is nowhere to be found" Felicity sighed "I think he's gone back to Starling"

"Good, we can finally breathe without him showing up everywhere" Slade smiled and hugged his wife absentmindedly and the came up with an idea to keep her occupied and out of his hair for a few days "why don't you start a charity for the families and people who have been affected by our bad water? I hate to see you like this baby. You haven't done one of your…galas in ages. It'll be good for you to take your mind off of Prince Oliver and Starling for good."

Felicity thought that was a great idea and silently started to make plans as she kissed Slade goodbye and got out her phone and began to call everyone and quickly began to organise a gala in a few days' time. The gala planner Felicity usually used was ecstatic at planning another gala for the Princess again. Together they spent hours making up plans for invitations, food, music and venue. By that night the invitations were sent out to everyone of importance in Starling and a public invitation was printed in the papers. Felicity opened up her tablet and pressed the email icon, pasted a copy of the invitation in a blank email, typed in the address and sent it off with a huge smile on her face.

Slade was going to regret not looking over her shoulder now.

Queen Moira and King Robert welcomed their son home with open arms after he got back from his trip, they didn't press him with questions because they knew why he left. A broken heart was never easy to recover from. They prepared his favourite meals for dinner and left him alone until dinner time knowing that their son needed time alone to heal.

The Prince welcomed the solitude when he and Diggle made it to his room and began to make plans for Arkham and Starling "I'll arrange for Starling to share our water with Arkham until we get to the bottom of this water situation, I know Slade is behind this but we don't know his whole plan"

"I'm sure the Princess will appreciate it but I'm not sure about Slade" Diggle raised a single eyebrow, a buzzing from the Prince's pocket interrupted them and Oliver took out his phone "what is it?"

"An email…from Felicity" a small smile appeared on his face as he read through the email and scanned the invitation briefly before handing the phone to Diggle for him to read "this is the perfect time to tell Arkham that even though we aren't allies anymore, Starling still has their back. I will announce Starling's involvement at the gala right in front of Slade. I can't wait to see his face"

"Or the Princess's face again?" Diggle asked suggestively as they walked out to see the King and Queen and tell them of their plans.

"We will be there too Oliver" Queen Moira smiled and held up her electronic invitation "we all got one"

"That's fantastic! We can all go to Arkham and take part in the Princess's gala" King Robert said happily and quickly set about to make arrangements for the whole family to travel to Arkham "we still have a few days to pack and organise everything"

"That's good Father, because I actually have a plan for Arkham and Starling. Their water situation right now is really bad, I read about it…while I was in Paris, and I want us to share our water with them until they get back on track" Oliver pleaded his plan to his parents and waited for them to respond.

Robert looked to his wife with sympathy "Son, although we like your enthusiasm to help the people of Arkham I don't think it would be appropriate"

"You are Princess Felicity's ex fiancé and for you to do this might…might…bring up feelings that are best left in the past" Moira added smoothly "I'm sure the Princess would appreciate the thought nonetheless"

"Feelings? Mother, they need our help!" Oliver nearly roared but kept his voice in check "Arkham needs help and we are going to give it to them! Who cares who I used to be to the Princess, we're still friends and you have your friends' backs no matter what"

The King and Queen gave each other a look as they contemplated the idea.

The gala started right on time, there were cars and flashing lights leading up to the royal palace in Arkham. All guests were greeted by the Queen, the Princess and her husband either at the door or inside where there was more room. Princess Felicity was right in her element, shaking hands with everyone and even stopping to take pictures with some guests. Paparrazi took note of her gown and hair jotting it all down so it could go with all the pictures on the papers tomorrow.

Felicity wore her hair half up and half down, curled beautifully with a backless dark green dress that sparkled in the light of the cameras. Slade had picked out a different dress for her but some wine has 'spilled' on it right as she was about to greet her guests and had to change at the last minute into her new favourite 'Arrow-green' dress (as she secretly called it) in a last bit of rebellion to Slade.

The Princess was so caught up with smiling, taking pictures and shaking hands with guests that when she finally had time to get to the food table and reached for a fork she didn't notice when a hand reached for the same mini-quiche as her. Their hands touched and Felicity pulled her hand away and apologised "I'm sorry, you take it Mr…?" her eyes travelled up the persons hand and her mouth went instantly dry as she recognised the arm, body, face and eyes of the love of her life smiled down at her "…O-O-Oliver?!" she managed to stutter when everything started to feel wavy and Oliver started to look shimmer and then she fainted into Oliver's arms.

A/N: Yes. Yes I know this has been a long time coming, they're finally reunited! I'm not too happy with this chapter but I am happy with where this is going! This was mostly a 'filler' chapter and more juicy stuff is coming i.e a dance, a hushed conversation, a near kiss and great jealousy!