A/N: So glad everyone is responding well to this story. Thanks so much for all the great reviews, and for being so eager to read more.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
When Felicity woke up five hours later she was fully convinced the Queen family bassinet contained magical properties because that was the longest Alice had slept since they'd had her.
Feeling almost like a normal person she squinted at the clock to see it was still early. She tiptoed into the nursery to peek and saw that the baby wasn't fully awake yet. If she hurried she'd have enough time to make a bottle and get back before she started screaming the house down.
Hoping Oliver had left what she needed in the kitchen she headed out the door, not bothering to change out of the tank top and shorts she'd slept in. She was halfway down the hallway before she realized she had no idea where to go.
She took a wrong turn before she had to turn back and go the other direction. As she passed a door that was slightly cracked she wondered if it was Oliver's. Not wanting to intrude, but also not wanting to spend minutes she might not have searching for the kitchen she pushed the door open slowly until she could make out a masculine looking bedroom.
The shirt Oliver had worn the day before was tossed over a chair near the entrance and she felt confident she had the right room.
There was enough pre-dawn light coming through the large windows that she could make out the bed and a form laying in it.
Swallowing heavily she padded across the floor. Oliver was on his back, head turned away from her. She took a moment to look at him, she rarely got to see him so relaxed and at ease.
Face flushed she shook her head, reaching a hand out to brush across his bare arm before she could get caught staring at him.
She didn't have time to scream, or yelp, or do anything really. One second she was trying to wake him, the next she found herself on the bed, one of his hands grasping her wrists above her head, the other wrapped around her throat.
It didn't occur to her to be frightened. But as the hand on her throat tightened, and she looked up at him she began to worry that he was somewhere else right then and may hurt her by accident.
There was a wild frenzy flashing through his eyes she'd never seen before. When she struggled and tried to get her arms free his hold got tighter. She made an attempt to throw him off, but he had straddled her hips, pinning her to the bed, unable to move.
"Ol...Oliver," she choked out until she couldn't make a noise any longer due to the pressure on her throat. Panic set in as she could no longer take a breath and spots began to dance before her eyes.
A terrified sound escaped her chest. She saw him blink once, and look at her in confusion, and then horror.
The pressure let up immediately and she was left gasping for air. She lowered one of her now free hands to her neck and rubbed the bruised skin as she coughed and tried to take a deep breath.
Oliver had pushed himself to the end of the bed, shock and self-disgust splashed all over his face.
"I'm okay," she managed to croak out, pushing herself into the pillows, trying to sit up and look like she was fine.
He didn't seem to hear her.
Felicity approached him as carefully as she could, sliding across the sheets until she was only a foot from him. She reached a hand out and then drew it back. "Oliver," she said, louder this time, waiting until he turned towards her to say it again. "Oliver, look at me." she directed and ever so slowly he raised his eyes to her.
Her hand was on his cheek before she could stop it. "Hey, it's okay. I shouldn't have surprised you. I should have knocked or something. I'm sorry." she'd say anything she had to in order to get that look off his face.
He was silent but his hand wrapped around her wrist and lowered it so they weren't touching any more. She curled her fingers into her palm and dug her nails in, trying not to feel rejected.
"Oliver," she said again, "What happened?" she thought maybe if she could get him talking he'd pull himself out of where ever he was trapped.
"I was dreaming." he said roughly.
"About what?" she asked, hoping she wasn't pushing him too hard.
He scrubbed both hands across his face, before sitting in a more natural position. He no longer looked like he was going to bolt at any second. "The island." he answered and she couldn't hide the gasp she let out.
"I haven't done that in a long time." he admitted, still not looking at her.
"It's...it's understandable. You're under a lot of stress..."
She stopped abruptly when his head whipped towards her, "That doesn't excuse almost killing you." he growled.
Her hand was back on his cheek in an instant. "Oliver, you didn't do it on purpose. I know you'd never hurt me." she said as gently as possible.
The look in his eyes told her he didn't believe her, but whatever he was going to say was lost when a throat cleared loudly from the doorway.
"I suppose it's not that complicated after all." Thea said.
Felicity froze for a second before drawing her hand back like it had been burned. She knew exactly what this looked like. Felicity in her brother's bed when it was still dark out, him without a shirt, the sheets rumpled. Mortified she scrambled off the far side and stood wringing her hands in front of her.
"It's not...it's not what it looks like. I just..." but Thea held her hand up to stop her.
"Don't care. But the kid is crying her head off and some of us in this house are used to a normal amount of sleep." She rolled off the frame and disappeared into the hallway.
"Oh god, Alice! Can you go get her a bottle. That's what I was doing before I came in here, I didn't know where the kitchen was and I didn't want to go searching, and..." she trailed off as he came to stand right in front of her.
His hand came up and coasted over her neck. She was unable to suppress a shiver. "I'm sorry," he said throatily, thumb tracing over an area she was afraid was going to show a bruise later.
"I'm okay." she assured him, hating how affected her voice sounded. "Now, we should...go and do the things...I'm just...yeah..." and before she could say anything more embarrassing she almost ran from the room.
Alice's wails led her back without losing her way, she was a few doors away when everything went silent. Felicity hurried her pace and entered the nursery to see Raisa holding Alice, murmuring something in her ear.
"Sorry," Felicity said with a wince as she approached, "I was going to get her a bottle but I didn't know where the kitchen was, and..."
Raisa just shook her head and smiled, "It is no problem. I've missed having babies in this house."
Felicity felt a pang of guilt that they were deceiving someone who obviously cared for the Queen's. "I should change her."
"I can do that." Raisa said,
Felicity began to protest but she was cut off, "First rule of motherhood. If someone offers help; take it."
"Um...ok then, I guess a shower would probably not be a bad idea. If you're sure? And Oliver will be here any minute with her bottle so he can take over." she didn't want him to think she was pawning the baby off on the staff.
"Miss Felicity, we'll be fine." and made a small shooing gesture with her hand.
Felicity took the hint and headed through the door when Raisa called out, "And thank you, Miss Felicity."
She turned to look at the woman, at a loss for what she could be thanking her for.
"You brought Master Oliver back to us, and now you've brought us Miss Alice. Thank you." she said it with such feeling and deep conviction Felicity couldn't stop the tears that sprung to her eyes.
She had no words, all she could do was nod once and shut the door behind her, leaning heavily into the solid wood and letting out a long breath.
The bathroom attached to the room she'd stayed in was nicer than most hotels she'd seen. Not wanting to take too long, she took what she dubbed a 'prison shower', and was dried off and getting dressed in under ten minutes.
When she peeked into the nursery Raisa was gone and Oliver stood by the massive window, stiffly holding Alice as he fed her.
Felicity purposely cleared her throat and made a noise with the door handle as she walked in. She'd avoided the mirror for the most part while she'd been in the bathroom and hadn't looked at her neck, she hoped her leaving her hair down and lose would provide some cover.
Oliver's head turned slightly as she walked up behind him. She briefly wondered if her making sure he heard her had been obvious and if it would make him self-conscious.
"Sorry, Raisa insisted she wanted to take care of her. I don't want you to think I was taking advantage." she explained as she joined him.
He mouth actually turned up slightly. "Raisa is very happy to help. You'd have hurt her feelings if you turned her down."
Alice looked tinier than she normally did in his arms and Felicity had to resist the urge to dab away the little trickle of formula that was running out of her mouth.
The silence between them was heavy and she knew he was still dwelling on what had happened earlier. She had no idea how to convince him she wasn't upset at anyone other than herself.
"Felicity,"
"Oliver,"
They said at the same time, and she turned away suddenly nervous.
"I need to go in to the office today. There's an investor meeting that can't be postponed, and..."
"And you've got the board meeting at three. I know. I put it on your calendar." she finished for him, trying to sound like everything was fine since he was clearly choosing to not talk about it.
"I was thinking maybe you could take the week off. It would give us a chance to get our story straight, maybe meet with the lawyers, PR, HR...whoever else we need to see and settle how we're going to announce this to the public." He'd been thinking about this for awhile she could tell.
"Oh, well...I had a few projects going that needed my attention, and I'm usually in those meetings with you but...I suppose it's ok. If it's only for this week." she said carefully,
"I'll be here as much as I can. I won't leave everything to you. You're already doing more than I should be asking." his gaze never wavered from the window as he spoke.
She opened her mouth to protest, to tell him once again this was her choice, but she decided not to. He'd hear her when he was ready.
"What about the lair?" she asked hesitantly, not sure how she'd react if he told her to take a week off from that as well.
A muscle in his jaw ticked, "I don't know yet. Digg can put on the hood and patrol some. Unless we get a hit on Barerra from any of your searches we'll put him on the back burner for now."
She honestly had no idea how they were going to juggle taking care of Alice and their 'night' job, and she had a feeling he didn't either.
"I can monitor some of that from here, but you know I don't like doing anything outside the lair, not after what happened last year." she told him.
"I know. We'll figure it out." his voice was clipped, and she knew he wanted this part of the conversation to be over with.
"Maybe it'll be a quiet week." she said, giving him a smile.
This finally made him turn his head. All he did was lift an eyebrow at her. There were never quiet weeks in Starling City.
Tilting her head in agreement she took the empty bottle from him and grabbed a burp cloth before holding her hands out. "Give her up, you need to go put on an insanely expensive suit and act like a billionaire CEO for the day."
"But I am a billionaire CEO." he deadpanned as he passed her the baby.
She suppressed a laugh, glad to see he was at least pretending like things weren't totally spiraling out of their control left and right.
Oliver returned after he'd changed, and she wasn't going to complain that he was wearing three piece suits more often than not these days. It was a look he pulled off well.
"Call if you need anything. I..." that guilty look she knew so well crept back in.
"We'll be fine. I'm sure I can get some work done here while she's sleeping." she assured him. "In fact, we'll walk you down because I really need to get the lay of this place."
Oliver led the way. "Raisa will be more than happy to show you around."
Thea was rushing down the stairs behind them when they reached the foyer. "Care to give a sister a ride in?" she asked, slightly breathless.
"Sure, I didn't think you'd need to be at the club yet." he replied.
"Delivery day. And Tommy's system is still taking some getting used to." Felicity could see the flash of pain that crossed her face, a reminder that Thea had lost someone close to her as well.
Oliver just nodded stiffly. "Yeah, that won't be a problem."
"Have a good day." Felicity called after them.
Thea stopped in the doorway and turned to Oliver with her eyebrow raised, "Aren't you going to kiss your baby girl goodbye, Ollie?"
She was already turning to exit so she didn't see how rigid he went, or the way his face froze. With Thea waiting he didn't have an choice.
His large hand came out to cup the back of Alice's head, and then he brushed the barest of kisses over her hair. Felicity didn't dare look at him.
"What about your other girl?" Thea called saucily, tongue trapped between her teeth as she grinned at them.
Now it was Felicity's turn to freeze. She raised wide eyes and waited for him to act.
He moved forward with a wave of soap and the ever present smell of leather. His lips coasted over her cheek so quickly it was over before she could register it was happening. "I'll call you later." he promised, and then they were gone.