Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Please see my A/N below for further information. Warning this is where the AU really kicks off.

Thanks to new reviewers: The CherLloyd; Black Diamond; Pally the Second

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Chapter 25 – Assassin and Amazon

Felicity sat back in her chair, watching the meeting that was currently taking place in Oliver's private conference room. Although she knew that her other half was fully supportive of his mother's plan to campaign for mayor of Starling City, she was the only one who knew that he thought it was not the wisest of plans – especially as they both knew that she should have been convicted at her trial – something they both still had a hard time trying to come to term with.

It was not the only thing that was on her mind though – there had been an alert on the ARGUS system (something she was still not telling anyone she had hacked into following their trip to Russia) regarding the arrival of one Nyssa al Ghul and she knew there could only be one reason for it – especially as she was currently hiding out in the Foundry.

And as was normal for these types of things, there was the notification from the Tempest account Walter Steele had asked her to look into before his kidnapping a year ago and surprisingly, that was the incident that was actually worrying her the most.

She closed her eyes for a moment and on opening them she noticed that the tall Englishman had just come out of the conference room to check his phone. She couldn't help but smile at the familiar look on his face, it was one she had seen often growing up (not that either of them would ever let anyone else know that the reason they trusted each other was the fact that Walter Steele was one of the few people in the city who knew exactly who she was – thereby explaining the real reason why she had been so anxious when he had disappeared).

So when he lied to her (and Oliver watching her over his mother's shoulder from the conference room noticed her sudden tension and concern), she watched his receding back for a second before moving back to her desk. If there was one thing that she disliked intensely, it was being lied to by the people she loved – Oliver's little white lies aside as they had long dismissed them as being a part of their flirting ritual pre-memory return.

The irony hit her that she herself was also lying in a way by withholding the fact that a certain heir to the Demon had just arrived from those she trusted the most – especially when she knew that a certain other blonde was so worried at being found by the League.

Before she could even consider what she could do, all thought of the assassin was thrown out of the window as Oliver suddenly appeared at her desk, took her arm and drew her into the elevator with him. As soon as the doors closed, he pulled her into his embrace and buried his face in her hair as she immediately wrapped her arms around his waist, offering reassurance.

"Lance just called, Sara found her just in time." He rested his head on her's. "She's being flown to the hospital and he wants me there."

She sighed, wondering for almost the thousandth time (at least that's what it felt like) why the Lance family could not deal with their problems without pulling Oliver in and tightened her hold around his waist. "Just keep me informed; I'll go to the Foundry as soon as your mother and sister leave."

It was all that he needed to hear and seconds later, she found herself being kissed in silent thanks and reassurance because he knew how much she hated the fact that the elder Lance daughter just would not let him go – and because of that, neither would the detective.

However, she merely caressed his cheek and sent him on his way. She may not like the elder daughter but she did like the father and if Oliver being there would help Quentin Lance, she would not make any objections – at least out loud where anyone could hear them.

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He almost automatically went straight to Felicity's side on entering the Foundry, ignoring the woman going up his salmon ladder and as if sensing it, she immediately ran her finger over his cheek before cupping it then reached up on tiptoe to place a reassuring kiss on the corner of his mouth. It earned her the smile that was hers alone but it was clear that both were reassured by each other's touch.

Behind them, Diggle merely shook his head and moved to sit on the edge of Felicity's desk. She had told him what was going on and he had quickly realised that this was one of those times when making fun of their need to touch each other when they had been separated for a merely space of time was not the place or time.

Felicity then nodded over her shoulder to Sara. "She's been doing that for the last hour," but before he could reply, Sara was standing in front of them, drying off. "You saw Laurel, is she going to be alright?"

"You saved her life, Sara. You should be proud of yourself." Both Diggle and Felicity were quick to pick on the fact that Oliver had not answered her question regarding her sister.

She started to dress again when she turned to look at him. "How did you find me? I mean, I never..." However Felicity's raised, knowing eyebrow stopped her in her tracks. "Oh! Of course, I should have known."

"Yes, you should have." Felicity replied simply even as Oliver squeezed her waist.

"Did you really think we would let you go that easily?" He added. "I couldn't have done that, Sara, not knowing you were alive."

"And I wasn't going to let him lose you again." Felicity continued. "So I bugged you, learn to live with it because I would do it again and before you even mention the LOA, I bugged you and it's not the kind of bug mortals can trace."

Both Diggle and Oliver looked down at her with that newsflash – they knew that she had been keeping an eye on the other woman, it was the kind of thing she would do but neither man had not realised that she had been doing it, well, an Amazonian way – there was really no other way of putting it. They had just assumed she had put a bug on Sara's Black Canary costume or weapons somehow.

Sara also stared at her, realising that this was one argument she was never going to win (and she didn't even want to bring up the fact about the League of Assassins tracking her, especially with the casual way she had even referred to them!)

Oliver immediately turned to Diggle, filling in the silence that had swiftly fallen. "Do me a favour and dig me up a copy of Laurel's blood tests, would you."

"Oh goody, time to test Digg's hacking abilities," Felicity murmured with an impish grin considering the situation.

He mock-glared at her even as he replied, "Sure, what are we looking for."

"I'm not sure, I just need to look." Oliver replied even as he took the phone that Felicity was handing him with Detective Lance's picture on the screen. "Detective..."

"Put my daughter on, I know she's there."

Even as Sara shook her head frantically, telling him silently no, Oliver held out the phone to her as Felicity moved to her side, putting her arm around her shoulders in silent encouragement. Realising that she was not being given a choice, Sara took the phone.

"Hello dad."

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Knowing even as she did so that there was a fair chance of Oliver coming up against Nyssa al Ghul that evening, (and her curiosity raised as to why the heir to the Demon herself would come looking for the younger Lance girl), Felicity had chosen deliberately not to go with him that night as he followed Sara to her meeting with her father.

Instead she was standing in the lobby of the Queen Mansion, waiting to see his mother instead. There was something about the movement of the money from the off-shore account that felt decidedly wrong and she knew that this would be one of her only chances to speak to the older woman without Oliver or Thea being present.

Even though she had never said anything, Felicity was well aware of the fact that Moira Dearden Queen did not like her. She especially did not like the role that she had in her son's life and the conversation she was about to have was going to bring what had been an under the table war out into the open.

Five minutes later, hearing what the other woman had to say and the extremely subtle threats that she made, Felicity started to walk away and then stopped, turning to look at her, her head on one side.

"Is there something else, Ms Smoak?" Moira looked at her, that casual 'I'm not doing anything wrong' look in her eyes, sure that she had gained the upper hand.

"You really have no idea of the relationship between me and your son, do you, Moira." There was a note in Felicity's voice that the other woman had never heard before and she began to seriously reconsider her thought about having the upper-hand. "Do you know why I know Oliver will never hate me?"

Moira shook her head. "I have never really considered the matter. My son's temporary relationship with a girl brought up in Las Vegas has never really concerned me."

"No, and in that you will find you have made a serious error in judgement, although I am glad to know that you did receive the background I so thoughtfully created for occasions such as this." Felicity replied as she started to leave again. "I would explain it to you but I do not respect or trust you enough to do so. Just be warned madam that Oliver will be informed of the truth before your announcement as a mayoral candidate, whether by me or by you but he will be informed."

With that, she left Moira looking thoughtfully after her, completely unaware that she had left the other woman with the realisation that she had not been talking to someone that the elder woman considered beneath her but someone that was not only her equal but was above her – in more ways than she knew or had even considered.

And when that opponent happens to be an Amazonian princess, it is more than likely that you will find that you have lost before you have even begun.

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Still fuming at the fact that they had lost a lead to Dinah Lance, Oliver stepped back into the lair fully expecting to find it empty at that time of night, placed his bow back in its case - and turned to find his girlfriend curled up on the truckle bed she had recently insisted be brought in, a resolute look on her beautiful face.

He closed his eyes – he had known that there was something wrong when he come back to the lair earlier to find her so silent before everything went to bedlam. Seeing her now, every thought of the current situation went out of his mind and he literally sprang to her side, pulling her into his arms as he took her place on the bed.

"Felicity..." His voice was soft as she curled into him, her head on his shoulder, face buried into his neck. "Tell me what wrong?"

"I found out something that you need to know and it is going to hurt you." She pulled back slightly and looked into his eyes, her hand on his cheek. "Your mother has been keeping a secret from you – from you and Thea."

"Tell me." He said it simply, knowing that she would not do this if she was not already sure that it was the truth - so she did and when she had, he closed his eyes again, pressing her head back to his shoulder as they tightened their arms around each other.

"You were right to tell me." He said eventually as he settled into a more comfortable position on the bed.

"Your mother won't believe so." She replied softly but the note in her voice was more the princess than the IT Genius. "Now fill me in on the Lance situation."

The following day from her position across the lobby, Moira Queen watched the tall form of her son as he stood talking with Diggle, his arm around Felicity Smoak's waist and was sure that the younger woman had not told him the truth about Thea's paternity – a thought she believed until he arrived hand in hand with Felicity on the podium.

And all it took was two words to turn her world upside down. "I know."

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Sighing almost in relief, Felicity stepped into the lair only to race to the evidence table. "Oliver, the viper venom, it's gone!"

"She found Nyssa!" He ran his hand over Felicity's shoulder and she looked back at him. "Your tracer..."

"I'm on it." She covered his hand for a moment, and then headed for her computers.

"Oliver, why do we care if she kills one assassin?" Diggle asked, it has to be said only because even though he had heard of the League, he half-believed that the stories that he had been told had merely been fairy-tales.

"Because if Sara was to kill Nyssa, we would all have to pay the price," Oliver said simply but it was the way that he said it that convinced the former soldier that the stories may not be the legends he had thought they were.

"But not if I have anything to do with it." Felicity murmured under her breath so low not even Oliver with his island-sharpened hearing could hear it. As she activated the tracker, she also sent a text message to another phone only for it to beep a reply a moment later.

And so it was that as Nyssa al Ghul release Sara from the League of Assassins, an Amazon slipped out of the shadows and into the centre of the warehouse, sirens wailing around them. A second later, the Arrow slipped away from Sara's side and dropped to her side, slipping his arm around her waist allowing her to murmur in his ear. "Follow me."

To the amazement of the watching Lance's, Assassin, Amazon and Arrow disappeared into the dark of the warehouse and it was as if they had never been there.

In a warehouse nearby, Amazon faced Assassin with the archer in green at her shoulder. "Your father will be most displeased by your actions this day, will he not?"

"I will explain what happened; her death did technically fulfil the terms to end her association with the League."

"Then allow me to add to that." The Shadow held out her arm and in the slight light, a familiar bracelet sparkled.

"Amazon."

"Then you are aware..." The Amazon held her arm against her so that the bracelet remained in view. "That there is another option."

"I am."

"It is chosen for her. You may inform your father that it is endorsed by both daughters of the Queen."

"So be it." With that Nyssa slipped away into the shadows leaving behind the couple.

The moment she was out of sight, Oliver pushed his hood back and pulled Felicity into his arms, kissing the Hades out of her. She ran her arms around his neck and put her everything into the kiss in return before they parted, resting foreheads against each other, "Felicity?"

"Sara's safer than she would have been if she had merely been just released from the League." She replied simply as she ran her hands through his hair and pulled his hood back on his head. "Consider her an associate Amazon."

"Shadow, have I told you that you are remarkable." He said as he took her hand, raising it to his lips to kiss the back.

"I may have heard it before but thank you for remarking on it." Her smile lit up her face as she ran her fingers over his shadowed cheek.

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Moira sat watching her press conference, with a glass of scotch in her hand but her thoughts were not of the events of that but on her son - the son that was standing in the doorway looking at her, the familiar form of Felicity Smoak standing in the corridor behind him.

"Oliver, I know we need to talk but does Ms Smoak really need to be here to hear."

Oliver held up his hand to stop his mother from speaking again. "Her I trust, you... I need to listen."

"I've stood up for you this past year, fought for you because I wanted to believe that you weren't... this monster..." Felicity moved up behind him and rested her hand on his back. "I wanted to believe that I still had a mother."

"You do, Oli..." Moira walked to wards him, hand rising to touch him but he stepped back.

Stepped back into Felicity's waiting arms as she slipped them around his waist from behind and he covered her hands with his own as he held up the other to stop his mother moving closer.

"Oliver, I only lied about Thea to protect her from Merlyn." Moira held out her hand to him, pleading.

"No you lied because that's what you do, Mom." He shot back. "That is who you are, mom, lies and now you've made a liar out of me because Thea can never find out about Merlyn..." He felt Felicity flinch at that and knew that it was her only sign of disagreement she would make in Moira's presence, "...and she can never know the truth about us which of right now we have no relationship."

At that statement, Felicity moved round Oliver to stand at his side and he pulled her under his arm, holding her closer. "I'll keep up appearances for Thea's sake, publicly I will support your campaign but I'm telling you now, any suggestions that Felicity not be with me will not be taken well."

He looked down at Felicity before he continued. "But privately, you and I, we're done."

"Oliver." Moira's voice trembled as she stepped towards him but Oliver pulled back swiftly, taking Felicity's hand in his as he pulled away from his mother and out of the house. He walked away from the woman who had born him with the woman who loved, honoured and trusted him.

With his jacket wrapped around her, Felicity sat curled up on the truckle bed, watching as Oliver took out his anger with his mother on one of the dummies. She never said anything but waited patiently for the time when he would need her and she knew he would need her.

When the door of the lair opened, she looked up and on seeing Sara come down the stairs; she rose to her feet and moved towards her. "Sara..."

"She hates me, Felicity, my sister hates me!" Sara looked up and on seeing the open arms waiting for her, threw herself into the waiting embrace with enough force to send them to the floor.

Oliver was at their side in a flash, checking and then cradling Felicity against his bare chest as she held the other blonde in her embrace. "Give it time, Sara; you have to give it time, she's hurting."

Sara shook her head, burying her face against her. "She hates me." She repeated in a muffled voice.

Felicity looked over shoulder at Oliver who shook his head slightly as he mouthed, 'Exhausted."

So for fifteen minutes they waited until they sensed that she had fallen asleep in exhaustion. Oliver then moved around his girlfriend, removed the sleeping girl then rose and carried her to the pile of blankets where she had made a bed for herself.

He returned to Felicity and found her still on the floor, "Felicity?"

"My legs have gone to sleep." She looked up at him, eyes rounded and doe-eyed. "Carry me."

Smiling softly for the first time that day, he bent down and pulled her up into his arms, "Only you my princess." Carrying her like a bride over to the bed, he lay down with her still in his arms, moving so that they were both resting on the bed with her head over his heart. "This has not been the best of days." He murmured softly into her hair.

"But at least we ended it together." She replied as she pressed a kiss over his heart, snuggling into him as he pulled a blanket over her.

"Arrow and Amazon."

"Always." She yawned as her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

"Always," He repeated as he fell into the sleep he only fell into when with her.

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From here on out the differences between S2 and AU:AAA should be even more obvious so I really look forward to seeing what you have to say.

I took over ten hours writing and rewriting this to make it work so I hope it does. As always new reviewers will get an honourable mention in the next chapter ;op