Please forgive me! I wanted to have this done on Sunday, but finals week has been busier than I expected. Also, there may be some inaccuracy when it comes to the pregnancy. I don't know what all goes on at a doctor's visit and little things like that. That might not bother some people, but I like to make things as accurate as possible.

April 24

"I had a dream a tadpole followed me home. And I was driving a gondola. Is that what you mean by weird symptoms?"

Felicity lounged on the exam table, jittery with nervous energy. Her doctor was putting that jelly stuff on the handheld ultrasound thingy. She was finally going to hear her baby's heartbeat!

"That sounds normal, actually," Dr. Whetstone said with a smile. "So there's nothing odd that you've noticed?"

"I'm not sure I've gained enough weight."

"You've only gained three pounds, but that's still normal. Don't worry about that until the second trimester, okay?"

Felicity was thankful Dr. Whetstone was so patient with her. She was the only person Felicity could talk to about her pregnancy.

The doctor squirted the jelly onto Felicity's exposed stomach then pressed the ultrasound wand to it. She worked it around slowly.

"You told me last time that you weren't keeping it," she started conversationally.

Felicity swallowed hard. It wasn't something she liked to think about. "Adoption is the best thing I can do for my baby. I thought I should wait until the second trimester before contacting an agency."

"Being a single mother isn't impossible, though. Or maybe the father would like to help?" Dr. Whetstone gave her a comforting smile. "Does he still not know?"

"I don't think he should ever know."

Her doctor glanced away abashedly. "I'm sorry. That was rude of me."

"That's okay," Felicity didn't mean to make her uncomfortable. "You're like my second mom. Not because you're nosy; you're my mom's age. Um, not that you're old—"

"It's alright, I get it," she said, her sweet smile coming back.

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM…

Felicity gasped. It was louder than she'd expected, and different from the two-note sound of her own heartbeat. And… wow. She knew there'd be the picture on the monitor, but she hadn't expected to recognize the picture as a baby. But when she finally looked at it…

It really looked like a baby. It had a little head and a little body and little limbs. And it wasn't some generic picture on the internet or someone's ultrasound on YouTube: this was her Baby Hood, moving in real time on the monitor beside her. Her tiny, perfect baby.

Dr. Whetstone handed her a tissue. Felicity dabbed at her eyes, careful of her makeup.

Happy crying. Humany wumany. Felicity thought as she fought to save her mascara. She knew she'd have to give up her baby when the time came, but right now she had it all to herself, and it was enough.

High on mushy-gushy maternal thoughts, Felicity hummed "What a Wonderful World" on her way home.

April 27

"When it comes to complexity, I grade on a curve." Oliver said as he left the lair. Felicity sat in her chair and stared blankly ahead while the words repeated in her head, making her angrier and angrier. She couldn't believe he had said that. It was almost as bad as that "slim pickings" quip he said two months ago. That idiot. That insensitive idiot—

"Felicity," said Diggle, nudging her. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" she couldn't hide her irritation. She'd had to hide a lot of things lately, so she figured she could forgive herself this time. "What's wrong? Did you hear him? Did you hear what he said?"

Diggle gave her a sympathetic smile. "Yes, I did."

"He grades on a curve?" Felicity stood up too, her chair rolling back and hitting the desk. "The hell he does." She started pacing. "That idiot."

"Seems Oliver has struck a nerve."

Felicity glanced at him. He was curious to hear what was troubling her. That was understandable. They had been talking less since she found out she was pregnant, and Deadshot's reappearance hadn't helped, either.

"He said he grades on a curve!" she yelled, stomping her feet in a brief tantrum.

"Yeah, I heard," replied Diggle, being patient and trying not to laugh.

"Oliver could date the cop who was hunting him down and that wasn't complicated," she growled through clenched teeth. "And he can go on a lunch date with his ex-girlfriend who's dating his ex-best friend and that isn't complicated, but do you know what he told me?" Felicity looked ready to cry hot tears of frustration.

"What'd he tell you?" Diggle said gently, realizing that she was still hurting after what Oliver had done several weeks ago. Felicity dating Ed must not have helped as much as he thought.

"He told me we couldn't be together because our involvement shouldn't get too complicated." she grumbled. "It doesn't make any sense! This is torture! I want to punch his stupid, punchable face! He's so—"

Diggle grabbed her arm and pulled her in for a hug.

"Ew, you're sweaty."

"Do you want a hug or not?"

"Yeah,"

"I'm sorry we haven't been talking as much. I've been so focused on Lawton—"

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

Diggle didn't respond, which made her wonder if he believed her. Then he changed the subject.

"Oliver's being friendlier to you," he said as he rubbed her back. "Have you noticed?"

She smiled. "That blonde joke was the first joke I've heard from him in a while. I'm guessing you talked to him?"

He chuckled. "I hit him with a stick and told him to be nice to you."

"Thanks," she said as she pulled out of his embrace. "I'm gonna need you to let go before you crush me in your big meaty arms."

"You're right," he admitted with a smirk, dropping his arms to his sides. "Wouldn't want to snap you in half."

"Do you wrestle grizzlies in your spare time?"

"Yes," he managed to say with a straight face.

"Cool. Hey, can you train with me? I need to hit something."

April 29

The sound of the door slamming shut made Felicity flinch.

"Where the hell is he?" Diggle roared as he stormed in.

"He… he didn't show up?" She gulped as she caught sight of the gash above his left eyebrow.

"No, he didn't! Four agents died and I got coldcocked!"

Felicity took a deep breath as she took out the first aid kit. She shouldn't have told Oliver about Rasmus. But how could she know he would see him as a greater priority than Deadshot? "You're bleeding a lot. I need to clean that up."

Diggle sat on a stool and she started dabbing at the cut with a cotton swab, a penlight in her other hand to illuminate the wound.

"What could've possibly held him up?"

She was reluctant to answer. "Rasmus… the guy who ordered the hit on that family… he was fleeing the country. Oliver wanted to catch him."

He was silent for a moment, absorbing the information. "If he was running, how does that make him a greater threat?" Anger was creeping into his voice. "How the hell does that make any sense?"

"I guess he wanted it done with." she answered, trying to calm him.

Diggle shook his head. "He wanted to protect Laurel. This is about her. He didn't need to go after Rasmus; he just wanted to because of her."

Felicity added rubbing alcohol to the other end of the swab and started to carefully clean the wound. The blood was congealing and only pulling the dry end apart. "Maybe it's because of the little boy."

"No, it's not." Felicity could hear the fury he was trying to contain and was thankful he wasn't taking this out on her. "It's about Laurel. He promised me we'd catch Deadshot, but the moment Laurel was put in danger, he put her first. The danger's not even immediate, and yet he bailed on me. He didn't even call to let me know. I could've died tonight. Deadshot had two guns pointed at me. He would've killed me if he was getting paid for it. Lucky for me his pride only lets him use his skills for a fee."

"I'm sorry, Dig," she said quietly.

"You've got nothing to feel sorry about. This is all on Oliver."

Felicity opened her mouth to speak, wondering if she should try to vouch for Oliver. "Is it possible he assumed you could handle it?"

Diggle sighed. "He better not have."

"I'm just wondering if that's why."

"Felicity, he made a snap decision to help Laurel. He will always choose Laurel. I'm glad it was just me he let down. What if it was you?"

Felicity froze. "What do you mean?" She knew what he meant, but she still wanted to ask.

"What's he going to do if he has to choose between you and Laurel?" Diggle looked at her with concern. "I can at least defend myself, but what about you? What's he going to do when you need him but he's off protecting Laurel instead?"

Before she could even think of an answer, they heard the door open. Diggle scowled, and Felicity knew this confrontation wasn't going to be pretty.

It wasn't. Diggle didn't let Oliver off easy. He didn't pretend to be understanding, he didn't act like it wasn't a big deal. Good, Felicity thought as she watched, her expression impassive. Diggle even brought up Oliver's thing about Laurel. Felicity agreed that "everyone else be damned" was a fairly accurate description of his feelings towards his ex. When it was over and Diggle had left, Oliver asked if she had something to say.

Well, there was a lot, actually. She wanted to call him a jerk. She wanted to point out that his mother was probably part of the Undertaking. Oh, and there was that whole thing about her being pregnant with his baby. But why would he want to hear any of that?
"Nothing you want to hear." She responded, the first aid supplies and turning around to put everything away.

Oliver had screwed up. Badly. He knew it, too. He knew it would be stupid to let Laurel back into his life, but he needed someone. Diggle said that he was still on the island, and it was true. Oliver's first thought was to talk to Felicity, but he couldn't do that; not after working so hard to push her away. Even being playful with her seemed too risky; if Diggle hadn't mentioned that his dismissive attitude was hurting her feelings, he never would've changed. And that was hard enough even to consider, so actually opening up to her seemed like an even worse idea.

But there was Laurel. He still loved her. Not the way he loved Felicity, but still, his feelings were strong. He had once been able to talk to her. He didn't see Laurel ever wanting him back—she had Tommy—so she'd only want to be friends. He knew it would be awkward, but he thought it'd be worth it.

Unfortunately, it seemed that all his buried feelings for Felicity were being transferred to Laurel. He was suddenly letting himself feel again… all that fear for Felicity's safety… seeing Laurel in danger and knowing what he could do about it… He acted rashly. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew.

Now Diggle quit the team, and, ironically, all he had left was Felicity.