Greetings, dear readers! You bunch of adorable bastards, you! I thought I'd take a moment to thank everyone who's reviewed, favorited and followed. THANK YOU! Also, I'm sorry for the ongoing angstfest, but this fanfic likes to do its own thing. Can I just blame the show? Because there has be ZERO Olicity fluff (the light kind) since the Odyssey. For me to change that now would be inconsistent.

Felicity woke to the scent of sweat, leather, and… hmm. She wasn't sure what the third thing was, but it was familiar. Lazily snatching her glasses off the bedside table, she turned to her right to see a man sleeping next to her.

Justice. The third scent was justice.

The Hood was asleep beside her, his mask mostly wiped off. His jacket, bow, quiver, pants and boots were on the chair next to the window. He looked so vulnerable.

Not that it quelled her anger.

Sitting up, she took her pillow in her hand and thought about hitting him with it. Or maybe, you know, suffocating him with it. How dare he! After everything… after reeling her in and pushing her away, after knocking her up and costing her Prince Charming, he had the balls to sneak into her apartment again. And get in bed with her. And be… adorable. She'd never seen him asleep before (unconscious, yes, but never asleep) and he looked so cuddly. So very, very cuddly. She wanted to put her pillow down and hold him—NO! No giving in! That's what got her pregnant in the first place!

Her pillow hit his head with an almighty THWACK.

A second later she was pinned to the mattress, his hands at her throat. Bad, idea, bad idea, bad idea, she thought as she gasped for air. His fearsome expression softened once he realized who he was choking.

His hands released her immediately, his eyes wide and remorseful.

Felicity inched away, watching him. The faint sunlight illuminated his numerous scars, along with the bruises and cuts from last night. But what stuck her most was his expression; he thought he was a monster. She could see it on his face.

Suddenly the resentment that had been percolating inside her vanished. All this time, she'd been reminding herself to be patient with Oliver and remember that he wasn't well-adjusted; that hadn't made her really believe it, though. In spite of the frequent reminders, the idea had never taken hold. She was still angry with him, and getting angrier by the day. But seeing him now… There was no justification for the growing bitterness. This man was broken and battle-scarred, hollowed-out and hurt. How could she expect so much from him?

"Ollie?" she said gently.

He reluctantly met her eyes. "The sun was coming up. I didn't have enough time to—"

"It's okay," Felicity moved to put a hand to his face, but then changed her mind. "Um… I'm sorry I hit you."

Oliver looked away from her, a pained look on his face. "You okay?"

Felicity wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to hold him—so, so badly—but it felt like too much. What if he didn't want her to? What if he moved away, or shrugged her off? She didn't want to make him feel more uncomfortable. And she didn't want to feel more rejected, either.

"I'm fine, really," She hesitantly placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm not mad."

Oliver glanced at Felicity, her expression suggesting she was talking about more than what he had done just now.

He stared at her for a moment, and then shook his head. "I should go." Oliver said as he slipped out of bed.

Felicity felt a pang in her chest as he turned his back to her. "But it's daylight—"

"I can still hide," he countered dismissively, zipping up his pants.

Felicity bit her lip to keep it from quivering. She watched as he sat down to put on his boots. Unable to hold back, she crawled over to him and wrapped her arms around his midsection, her cheek resting against his dragon tattoo. She felt him sigh.

"Felicity, get off."

Slowly, she let go of him. "Sorry,"

He stood up and pulled on his t-shirt. "Remember to lock the window behind me."

Felicity nodded, reminding herself that he wasn't being mean on purpose. He did care about her. "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?" he asked, zipping up his jacket.

"You can tell me." she said quietly, quoting what he had told her only a few nights ago.

His expression softened. "Of course,"

"It works both ways, so you know," she replied, avoiding eye contact as she picked at a loose thread on her comforter.

She felt a gloved finger tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll keep that in mind."

When she looked up, he was gone.

Felicity woke with a start at the sound of her alarm clock, the details of the dream blurring and fading. She hit the button and tried to remember what happened before she lost it. The dream was something she had needed, even if it hadn't been entirely pleasant. She had never wanted to grow bitter, but with everything that's happened, it was difficult to avoid. The dream had reminded her not to hold Oliver to normal standards. What good did it do anyone if she resented him? It wasn't only his fault; she didn't resist him, even though she had known it probably wouldn't work out. And she didn't ask about protection, either; clearly, he had assumed she was on the pill. And shouldn't she have suspected, knowing they didn't use contraception? Things with Ed wouldn't have gone as long as they did if she'd taken the tests earlier. Somehow, placing blame on herself actually helped.

Maybe it was because she loved him. If she really loved him, it'd be for who he really is, right? She would accept him for all his flaws, and not push him to act a certain way just to make her happy. She was the one who wasn't broken. It was her responsibility to be patient and give him what he needed without expecting something in return. Even if he ended up with someone else in the end, it's not like he'd be leaving her with nothing.

She sighed and patted her still-flat tummy. Good morning, Baby Hood. She smiled, remembering what she read about her baby's development last night. She was nine weeks along, so Baby Hood was about the size of a grape right now. The illustration on the sight looked like a big-headed bean with four little flippers.

Next week was the beginning of the fetal period. The baby would start kicking then, but she wouldn't be able to feel it. And her doctor had her scheduled for an ultrasound next week, because the heartbeat would be detectable. Buddabuddabuddabudda… It would be rapid like a machine gun, and she couldn't wait to hear it.

She breathed a breath of relief as she remembered that she still hadn't outgrown her clothes. She'd only gained three pounds. It was perfectly normal to gain so little weight in the first trimester, and that made her happy. It gave her more time to keep her secret.

Oh, and it seemed her symptoms were getting better! Yes, there were headaches still, and some fatigue, but her nausea was getting better. She hadn't thrown up in a whole week! Her doctor said it wasn't common for nausea to lessen instead of increase at her stage, but it happened. She grinned at her incredible luck.

One thing she was worried about was the mood swings. They were supposed to be common right about now, so she wasn't looking forward to that. Oh, well. If she had an outburst, she could just blame it on her period.

I should really be getting up now. Time to get ready for work, my little grape.

Sunday, April 14th

Felicity was having one hell of a weekend. Friday night, she turned on the TV and found out that the Count had escaped the mental institute. When she went to the Cave to show Oliver and Dig (They were there. Of course they were there. Why wouldn't they be? They clearly love it down there.), Oliver was pissed. He flipped a table. He just turned around and flipped a table. It scared the hell out of her. She wondered if it was because that might be his reaction if he ever found out her secret.

The next night, Diggle went out to buy vertigo with money they could track. Felicity had offered to go instead, just to be nice, and Diggle laughed at her. Oliver, not so much.

At seven o'clock, just a few hours ago, there was an incident at the aquarium. A guy hopped up on vertigo was waving a gun around. He shot out the security cameras moments after Felicity accessed them. Instead of rushing off to do his hero thing, Oliver started making tea. He said it was made with some special herb he brought back from the island and it'd probably counteract the vertigo. Amazingly, he didn't plan on killing the guy. Oliver didn't think he deserved to die; his sister Thea didn't deserve to die when she took that garbage. "He didn't fail the city… The city failed him." Oliver thought he failed him, too. Felicity tried to convince him it wasn't his fault. He stopped the Count the last time, didn't he? No use. Oliver argued that it hadn't been enough to stop the Count from coming back to hurt more people. Felicity pushed again, trying to make him see that he wasn't to blame. He blew up at her, just like he always did. She steeled herself, refusing to flinch. As he walked off with the antidote-filled arrow, he turned around. Their eyes met and for a second she thought he would say he was sorry. He didn't, but she could see an apology in his eyes, and it was enough for her. Before leaving, Oliver told her to call Diggle; he would need backup at the aquarium. She did, but Diggle didn't pick up. It worried her, but she left him a message and trusted he would be there for Oliver.

Now Felicity sat on her couch, still in her clothes from earlier. She loved her outfit, but she wondered if it had been a subconscious attempt to get Oliver to notice her. Leather boots and an A-line floral-print skirt weren't what she usually wore.

Chewing her lip, she tried to focus on her show. She was watching "The Empty Child," Jack Harkness' debut episode on Doctor Who. She'd really needed some Jack Harkness. He was good for the soul. Felicity giggled to herself when she realized watching Jack Harkness' first appearance meant watching the episode with the line, "Are you my mummy?" The creepy little boy in the gasmask roams around looking for his mother, a woman who had hidden her pregnancy and had been pretending the child was actually her little brother.

Jack Harkness was hitting on Rose when Felicity's phone rang.

"Get to the club." Oliver said when she picked up.

She was about to answer back when he hung up on her. Thank God for that dream she had a few nights ago. It was the reminder she'd needed, especially during times like this.

Felicity glanced down at her stomach. I think your daddy is preparing me for how to deal with you when you're fussy, she thought as she turned off the TV.

Felicity's song: "Make You Feel My Love" by Adele.

Sorry for the wait! And I'm sorry it's short. I had writer's block. This last episode didn't conflict the story, but it didn't give me a ton to work with, either. Hey, can you believe that five episodes have worked so far? I wonder how many more will. Oh, and I wanted to point out a couple of things concerning the show (not my story)

Oliver's behavior towards Felicity. "Dodger" is where he stops smiling, laughing, and joking around with her. Yeah, he can be himself with her now, but then why does he still joke with Diggle? And does it mean that his behavior before was totally fake? He never genuinely laughed or smiled at her? What's the show's reason for all of that?

Oliver DID NOT want Felicity to meet Helena. But why, exactly? Helena only kills people who get in her way. Oliver and Helena both heard Felicity say that she could hack the FBI database. If she had been allowed to help, it would've all been over quickly. None of that stuff with the vans or breaking Helena out of the police station. Oliver had made things way harder by keeping Felicity out of it. Why would Helena think to hurt Felicity, anyway? She's too useful. What threat did she pose? Helena would've had no reason to hurt her in any way. Unless… didn't Helena say that she knew to apply leverage? That the way to get what you want is to exploit weakness? Is that what Oliver was afraid of? Had his greatest weakness walked into the Arrow Cave that night, and was he terrified that Helena would figure out how much he cared for Felicity if he allowed her to stay and help?

Spooky, right? I think my fanfiction is starting to feel like a fan theory.