Felicity sighed as she made her way down the hallway and towards where she hoped to find Thea or someone to occupy her for the time being. She'd even thought about going outside and looking at the space that Oliver was going to renovate for them. She just needed a distraction. Oliver and Diggle were out at Queen Consolidated and so she knew that she wouldn't be finding them in the house.

Her phone sounded, but she ignored it as she made her way outside. She didn't want to talk to anyone yet. She needed to settle her nerves and just have a moment to really breathe. She knew this day was coming and she knew that she shouldn't be so surprised by it being so soon, but it was still hard for Felicity to bear.

She made it into the little house. Felicity closed herself into it and moved into one of the back bedrooms. She sat down in the far back corner and tried to keep her calm. It wasn't possible. Tears fell down her face and she looked down at the phone screen. Oliver had called her and now there was a voicemail.

They knew that Dinah Lance was coming, but she hadn't expected her so early. Maybe it was just hard because Moira Queen had been home and had practically banished her from the nursery. Felicity knew that Moira wasn't very pleased with her, so that really didn't give her any hope for Moira to say nice things to Dinah about her. Felicity knew that this visit wasn't about her, but Lucy, it was still hard though.

Her phone rang again.

Oliver again.

She stared down at it as she wiped the tears from her face. Felicity accidentally knocked her glasses from her face, but didn't care. She put the phone up to her ear to answer. "Hello," she said with the best voice she could manage.

"Hi."

"Dinah Lance is here early," she got out. So far, she felt like she was pulling off somewhat calm.

"I know, that's why I was calling… I wanted to make sure you're okay… I can't leave yet. There's a meeting I have to be here for."

He sounded apologetic.

"I'm fine," she whispered. Her voice broke and she closed her eyes. Felicity's hand came up to her face and she sighed. "I will be…"

"I'm—"

"No! You stay…"

"Felicity, if it's—"

"I'm out in our house," she said, changing the subject. It was sort of nice using the terms 'our house'. "I'm just going to work on putting all the furniture in one room and maybe cleaning…or something… Maybe I'll think about paint colors…"

"I can reschedule."

"It'll be good for me to focus on this project for right now," she told him. Felicity didn't want to sound crazy or hysterical or like she was broken. She just wanted Oliver to do what he needed at QC so he could come home to her.

"How about if I send Diggle home?"

"It's not—" she started to say. Felicity was going to tell him that it wasn't necessary because it wasn't. "Maybe that wouldn't be so bad." She had a feeling that it would be a good compromise for both of them. Oliver could manage with just QC security watching him for one meeting, after all he was Arrow, and Diggle did make her feel better.

"Okay, he'll be there soon…"

"Don't worry about me, okay?" she asked. Felicity didn't want him to be distracted the whole meeting. She wanted him to be focused and at the top of his game. They needed things to fall back into place. They needed it for so many reasons, but right now Felicity was focused on making Moira Queen happy in any kind of way. "It's just hard… Things are so complicated..."

"Sometimes complicated is good."

"And sometimes they're just harder," she told him. It wasn't their relationship. It was their relationship in conjunction with Lucy. How Felicity fit into that family dynamic and for people to accept it. Felicity knew that it really might be too soon and she'd told Oliver that, but that hadn't helped how she felt about Lucy. No matter what, Felicity had a connection with Lucy Queen, she'd taken care of her for so long…and no one could take that away from her.

"I can't wait to hear your thoughts about the house when I get home."

She smiled. She really liked the thought of that. "Are you going to be home for dinner?"

"I was hoping that we could have dinner at the house and then you, me, and Lucy could go to the Foundry… Just to get away from the mansion and my mother… See how it works with Lucy there…"

"I would actually really like that," Felicity told him.

To get away from the Queen Mansion.

That really would be heaven for her right now.

. . .

"You know, I could assign someone else to watch Oliver until everything straightens out," Diggle told her.

Felicity smiled at him. "You're the best, you know that, right?"

He pulled her in with one arm and held her there. Diggle gave her a good squeeze before releasing her. "We all do our part, right?" he asked as he smiled at her.

"Right."

"You know I could even sleep here for a couple of days…so I'm close by…"

He was beyond sweet. You shouldn't have to do any of that because of me," Felicity told him. "Plus, won't it look odd if Oliver is at Queen Consolidated with someone else? Moira will be the first to pick up on that and say something."

"When do you care what Moira Queen says?"

"I've always cared. She just never talked to me before I started living here…" Felicity told him matter of factly. "Crap. I live here. Don't I?"

"Is that a problem?"

"No, no…it's just that…well, I never really even expected to ever be inside of the Queen Mansion, let alone to live inside of it."

Diggle chuckled. "Will it help when you're just living on the Queen Estate grounds?"

"Maybe," she mumbled and then turned her head until her face was buried into his shoulder. She did really feel silly about having him there, but deep down inside she really wouldn't mind having him there with her for a few days until things settled down. She hoped that things settled down.

"He loves you, Felicity."

"I know," she breathed as she straightened up again. Felicity stared straight at him. "I love him too. When I first met Oliver, I had never—"

"We never intend to fall in love with the people we do, at least not most of the time," Diggle told her. "Sometimes you just have to wait for the right person to come along…and it's usually when you least expect it."

"I never thought that I'd deserve to be loved by someone like Oliver," she whispered and then stopped. She hadn't meant to say that out loud. She was glad that she'd said it to just Diggle rather than Oliver overhearing it as well. "I—I didn't mean—"

"It's okay," he told her as he held up a hand. "I won't say anything to Oliver."

And she knew that she could trust Diggle. Though she and Oliver probably both confided in Diggle, he was a man of his word. The only reason he'd ever give up something he was supposed to keep secret was if it was absolutely needed. She didn't know how that would ever come about. "Thank you," she whispered.

"But for the record, Felicity, you deserve so much… I'm not sure if Oliver is good enough for you," Diggle told her all too seriously.

Felicity just smiled at him. "Sometimes I wonder, John… If I really deserve so much… If things had been different… It would be Laurel in that house with Oliver…with Lucy…and who knows how many other kids by now… Moira Queen loved Laurel… She would have accepted her into the Queen clan with no problem."

"I honestly don't think things would have worked out so perfectly… We didn't know Oliver back then," he said. "We just know what we've read or what was on TV back then. He wasn't the same man that he is now…"

Felicity was quiet.

"You spent time with Laurel."

She nodded.

"What did Laurel say about Oliver?"

"About what?"

"About anything?" he pushed.

"Oliver didn't know about the baby…" Felicity said slowly. Though, of course, he already knew that. "Laurel told me that it was a mistake… She and Oliver—"

"Oliver's said the same," Diggle chimed in.

Felicity sighed. She knew what Diggle was getting at. "She said that Oliver loved me…"

"He does."

She just smiled at him. Felicity thought about it for a long moment and then paused. "But Laurel loved him too…"

"You can't keep holding onto that and holding back…or put either of your futures on hold because of that," Diggle told her. "Laurel and Oliver's actual relationship was a while ago…before the island…before he met you… He might have still been clinging to it, but that doesn't mean that it was real. She's always going to be part of his past and both of your lives, but you need to figure out how to cope with that…without comparing yourself to her." He pulled her close into a hug again. "Whether you see it or not, Felicity, you are an amazing woman. You are intelligent, smart, and beautiful… It's why people like Isabel don't like you…"

"Now you're just trying to cheer me up," Felicity teased. She smiled though and stayed in the embrace, wrapping an arm around him as well.

. . .

"She's gone…"

"I figured."

"Are you going to come inside?"

Felicity shrugged. She'd known that he was there, but she'd felt like hiding out for a bit longer. She and Diggle had moved furniture all into one room and had even worked on cleaning things, at least dusting…and airing out the place. She honestly wasn't sure if Oliver had plans to knock down walls or if they were just talking about putting up some fresh paint. Diggle had pointed out that the floors probably didn't need to be redone, but just heavily cleaned.

"You know you can talk to me," Oliver said quietly as he sat down next to her. The little house was currently only lit up with candles here and there. Diggle had left when he'd texted that he was there. "About everything and anything…."

"It's stupid—"

"I'm sure it's not."

Felicity looked at him. Handsome, strong, seemingly perfect and yet flawed Oliver Queen… She loved him. "I know that you're Oliver Queen and that the Queens have a lot of money and everything, but all I can think about is what if they want Lucy? What if they want to take you or us to court for custody of her? I mean…we're not the best candidates for parents…"

"That's not true," Oliver argued.

"You're supposed to be CEO of Queen Consolidated and I'm supposed to be your assistant… You work long hours at QC and then there's our night jobs… That's a lot of time where we're not home," Felicity pointed out. "Our lives aren't exactly normal…or stable…or even safe…"

"But we're still a family…"

"We've always been a family," Felicity countered a moment later. She sighed. "I guess I'm just worried about how it'll look…if it were to happen…"

"First of all, you're right. We have the money and the lawyers that will back any case that comes at us," Oliver told her. He was softer suddenly. "But on another note… We can make adjustment to work… To everything. We could figure out how to have Lucy at the office some time…or both of us not work as much… And it's not like we don't have support in one form or another… And Lucy is going to be safe. Between you, me, Diggle…and my family. No one's going to hurt our little girl… I don't want you to worry about that."

"I know," she whispered honestly. But it had gone through her head just the same. Oliver had always made sure she was safe… If she'd gotten herself into trouble, he'd always come for her…or Diggle.

"But Dinah Lance isn't going to do that. She lives in Central City. She's going to try to come and visit as much as she can. We're going to be accommodating… We might even take Lucy to Central City here and there. We'll send her pictures and Skype or whatever else we have to do for Dinah to feel like she's included…"

"And what about us?"

"We're still figuring that out, right?"

Felicity nodded, slowly at first.

"So, let's not dwell on it… Dinah can't hold us having a relationship or our relationship with our daughter against us. It benefits Lucy…and I don't think it's really going to ever hurt her relationship with her granddaughter if we're including her in Lucy's life."

And it made sense.

Why was it that she just felt so out of touch with things since she got back? Felicity didn't think it was a horrible thing, but it did concern her a bit. She was overly emotional, but at the same time she'd always been an emotional person. She felt like that gave her certain advantages when it came to the team, at least for them as a whole. They each brought something to Team Arrow.

"I guess I'm just terrified to lose her," Felicity finally blurted out. She looked up at Oliver, a bit in shock that she'd come out and just said that out loud.

"You're not going to lose her," Oliver said. His lips pressed against her temple as he pulled her into his arms. "And you're not going to lose me…or your family…" He was quiet for a moment. "We're going to get through this together."

. . .

Felicity had fallen asleep in the rocker and had woken up in her bed. She'd woken up to the sound of something on the monitor. Sitting up, she looked over to see that Oliver was sitting in a chair not far from her and seemed alert most likely from the sound as well.

"Did you hear that?"

She nodded. "I don't know what it sounded like though."

"It sounded like someone in the room."

Felicity got to her feet and was right behind Oliver. "It could be your mother," she said as she tried to think of reasons why someone might be in Lucy's room. They were hurrying and her heart was beating in her chest and in her ears.

Pounding.

Deafening.

Panic raced through her as they made it across the hall. She could see Oliver's hand on the doorknob. Felicity couldn't help but worry though. What if it wasn't Moira? Thea… But what if it wasn't Thea? She didn't think that Thea would have just come into the Queen Mansion randomly so late.

The door opened and they hurried through only to come to a quick halt. When they entered the dark room, they could see a figure standing over the bed, only lit by the light streaming in through the window. Felicity held her breath, but released it once Oliver hit the light switch.

Her heart started to slow and she felt like she could breathe.

"Sara…" Oliver said quietly.

Felicity honestly hadn't expected Sara Lance to have snuck into the Queen Mansion in the middle of the night in order to see Lucy. She knew logically that Sara had to stay out of sight because she was supposed to be dead to the world. Moira and Thea couldn't see her. But she felt like maybe Sara could give them a head's up. She looked at Oliver and then suddenly wondered.

Had she?

Did Oliver know that Sara was coming?

Sure, Felicity had guessed that Sara would come, but she hadn't thought that both Dinah and Sara Lance would be by to see Lucy in less than twenty-four hours. "You scared us," Felicity said suddenly.

"Sorry," Sara said as she looked to them before looking back to Lucy. "I had to see her…" She was quiet. "She's beautiful."

"Her name is Lucy," Oliver spoke up.

"Lucy," Sara said.

Felicity wondered what she thought of the name. She also suddenly felt like she didn't belong there. She'd met Sara once before, but that was it. They'd had a moment where Felicity felt like maybe they'd be friends if they'd had more than moments here and there. Sara and Oliver had a past. Sara and Diggle seemed to have bonded over being soldiers.

"I should let you—"

"Don't go," Sara said quietly as she turned back to face them.

Felicity froze.

"You were with Laurel…"

She couldn't find her voice at that moment. So, Felicity just nodded. She honestly didn't know what to think Sara might think of any of it. Did she know any of what had happened? Had she found out? Felicity knew that one thing she should know was to fear Sara if she was upset at all with her…if she blamed her for anything. Sara was fierce and definitely someone to fear.

"Before she died, did you tell Laurel…" Sara said and then paused. "Did you tell her that I was alive?"

Tears immediately filled her eyes. Felicity looked down. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She sucked in breath and told herself that she needed to focus on the words. "I was going to tell her everything," Felicity whispered. She looked up, first at Oliver and then Sara. "I was going to tell her that I knew Oliver was coming because he's the Arrow…and I was going to tell her that she had to live because she had to see you, Sara…" Sobs overtook her and she couldn't look at them. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I didn't—" She struggled to get more words out. "I didn't think she was going to die…not then…"

Oliver's arms were around her and she clung to him. She buried her face into the crock of his neck. She didn't care how it might look to Sara. All she wanted at that moment was that comfort. Felicity froze when she heard Lucy stir and whimper. She held her breath and then wheezed out a sob.

"Laurel was strong, there was no way that you could have known," Oliver said.

When Felicity finally felt like she could speak again, she looked to Sara. "She was at peace…when she passed… Laurel was happy… I didn't understand it…" She still didn't understand it. But really, what was the other option? For Laurel to hate life for taking her from it? Maybe there was just clarity at the end…

"She wasn't alone," Sara said. "And I'm thankful for that… I just wish that my father hadn't been the cause of it all…"

"He wasn't right."

"Even if he's not right," Sara spoke up. There was sadness thick in her voice.

"Your mother saw her earlier," Oliver spoke up after some time.

"Good… I'm glad that you reached out to her."

"Of course."

Sara was silent for a while and looked down at Lucy. "I hear you two are together…"

"We haven't—" Oliver started to say.

"You two are good together and Lucy is lucky to have you both," Sara said quietly.

Felicity felt a huge weight being taken off of her shoulders. It was almost as if Sara were giving them permission, though Felicity was sure that Oliver would point out that they didn't actually need Sara's permission. It was still nice to hear as far as Felicity was concerned. She loved Lucy as much as if she were her own child, after all she'd cared for her since she was born…

"I'm sure your mom is overjoyed, Ollie," Sara said a few minutes later.

Oliver smiled down at Felicity for a moment before turning his attention to Sara. Even though Felicity had been terrified because they'd thought someone could have been potentially breaking into the house (at least, someone they didn't know) and of Sara herself…it really had gone a lot better than she'd thought. And she was happy to have that moment over with.

"She is," Oliver said quietly. "Thea acts like it's always been her dream to be an aunt…"

"Babies are good for people…"

"I hope you're going to stay for at least a few days," Oliver said. "I'd tell you to crash here-"

"But your mom might see me," Sara finished.

Oliver just nodded.

"We were going to bring Lucy to the Foundry though…" Felicity said and then stopped. She thought about how horrible that sounded for a moment. "We're just going to try it… See how it works… If it'll work…"

"We're trying to figure out how to structure things so that Felicity and I can spend as much time with Lucy as possible," Oliver explained.

"Can't you take leave?" Sara asked.

"I could…but Isabel Rochev is really hell bent on trying to take over Queen Consolidated. I wish Walter was still around at the office, so that I could… But I just might have to move around what hours I'm in the office."

"We'll figure it out," Felicity said a moment later.

"I'm sure you will," Sara told them. "But I wouldn't mind hanging out with my niece at the Foundry…if that's okay? While I'm in town?"

Felicity found herself nodding. "Absolutely…"

"We should get back to bed," Oliver said suddenly.

"Right."

"I'll just stay for fifteen more minutes and then let myself out," Sara told them.

"Okay," Oliver said.

"I'll try to keep quiet," Sara said with a smile.

Felicity was a little worried to leave, but Oliver guided her out. She knew that the baby monitor was on and that they'd be able to hear anything, but she felt weird leaving the room with Sara there. At least now maybe she'd be able to sleep a little more before Lucy got up. Okay…whom was she kidding? Felicity wasn't going to relax enough to sleep until she knew that Sara wasn't moving around the nursery.

Oliver sat on the edge of her bed. It was a big comfort to have him there. She knew that Oliver would be able to hear if there was anything wrong, baby monitor or not. Oliver would also help her relax, just by his mere presence. She sat down beside him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"You don't have to worry," he whispered.

"I know," Felicity told him. "But I honestly can't help it."

"Do you want me to tell you when she goes?"

"Yes, please…"

"You need sleep," he told her.

"I'm still going to hear her through the monitor… It's only a few more minutes," Felicity said quietly as she closed her eyes. A few more minutes. Felicity just concentrated on Oliver's warmth and how nice it felt to close her eyes for a minute. It was enough to really let her just drift off…

. . .

TBC…