= December 2016 =
= Starling City =
"You know, I do like when we have breakfast together like that," Felicity said as Ray walked her to her office. They'd been dating, which was still sort of weird. They'd dated before, but she still found herself thinking of Oliver. Felicity had found it incredibly difficult to let him go and to move on, but Ray had been so patient with her and willing to be whatever she needed him to be.
In her office, Felicity found it festively decorated. She stopped and looked around in awe. She hadn't decorated or really had planned on celebrating Hanukkah or any winter holiday really. Ray hadn't really ever seemed into any winter holiday, so she hadn't thought it would be an issue. Sure, Palmer Technologies in general would be decorated just like the city...but Felicity had left her menorah at home and had decided not to bring it in.
"I was going to get a tree, but I was told that that's not actually correct," Ray said. "But I had help."
"You had help?" Felicity asked.
Out of nowhere, the all too familiar squealing scream of her mother rang out and she was suddenly hugging the life out of Felicity. "Oh my precious girl! I'm so glad that we get to spend the holidays together!"
"We are?!" Felicity asked as she looked towards Ray, her mother still wrapped around her.
Ray just shrugged.
"Of course we are!" Donna beamed. "How long has it been since we've celebrated together?!"
"I-I don't know…"
"Exactly!"
Maybe part of not wanting to celebrate the holidays, she thought suddenly, was that this would be the LAST holiday in which all of Team Arrow would spend together. Their operation to change over Starling City to Star City would be made real with the New Year. She and Ray would be the only ones left. Thea and Roy in Europe, John and family would be wherever ARGUS took them, and Laurel would be in Central City.
"Aren't you excited I'm here?" Donna asked her.
Felicity just needed a moment to breathe. She needed to think. "No, no...I am. I promise, I just…" She took a breath and then pushed it out. "It's unexpected…"
"Why do you seem so sad?"
"Everyone's going to be leaving once the New Year comes around."
She could tell that Ray hadn't expected that and he was running his hands through his hair. "Right...but we're going to celebrate until then," Ray told her. "It's going to be new beginnings for us all."
And that was TRUE.
"He's right," Donna told her hugging her a bit tighter before finally letting her go, though still with her arm around her. "New beginnings are important...how about you two?"
"We're...you know...going to both still be here," Felicity said slowly and when she saw the look on her mother's face, she knew where she was going with this. But before she could say anything, her mother was already talking.
"But you two...you know...you're such a cute couple...and I'm not getting any younger," Donna told them quite seriously. "I expect grandbabies…"
"Mom," Felicity practically yelped her name and suddenly felt a bit faint. She and Ray hadn't been dating AGAIN for THAT long. Sure, things were good between them, but they hadn't gotten to the point where either of them were discussing marriage. Well, they'd thrown it out there after drinking a few glasses of wine, but then the conversation would end up being dropped when she'd sober up thinking about everything that was about to change.
It was a lot to take in.
The change.
Losing the life she'd grown so accustom to.
Maybe her mom was right, it was a time for new beginnings. Maybe that did mean moving on and doing it in big ways. She wasn't sure, but what she was sure about was that none of that needed to be decided in that moment. Right now all they needed to do was to enjoy the time they had remaining with their friends still being in the same city. None of that made her mother's visit less stressful though.
"How about a grand...puppy?" Felicity suggested. It was all she could come up with in that moment.
Her mother looked quite seriously at her. "No."
"No? Really?" Felicity asked and was a bit disappointed. It wasn't that she really needed a reason to get a dog, it was more that she was hoping that perhaps that would be a good way to get her mother to drop the need for grandchildren so soon. Felicity just simply wasn't ready. One step at a time.
"How about I let you two go and have your day together?" Ray suggested.
"My mom and I…" Felicity said slowly as she motioned to her mother and then herself. She'd JUST gotten to work. Felicity had planned a day of catching up on all of the paperwork and e-mails that needed to be done as well as prepping for a meeting later in the week. Taking the day off wasn't something that she had expected or intended her day to be like. "But I-and the e-mails...and the meeting-and-and-"
"I've got it handled," Ray told her with a wave of his hand.
"Come on, Ray will be fine…" Donna told her daughter. "We've got a big holiday party to plan."
"We do?" Felicity questioned.
"This is the last year your friends are going to all be around for the holidays, so we might as well make the most of it, right? What better way than a party?"
Felicity wasn't sure about it, but her mother was like a force of nature. Now that she'd decided that they needed to do this holiday party, there was just going to be no stopping her. "Gifts?"
"Well, we'll do that too."
"Are you sure? It's a bit…" Donna tilted her head as she spoke. "Different...isn't it?"
"That's what makes it fun and festive," Felicity told her mother, beaming a bit. She hadn't really been super into the idea of having this big holiday party and going out and buying a Christmas tree and lights and everything else. It wasn't because she didn't like the other winter holidays, she was just really not in the excited mood that her mother had seemed to be in. Then when she'd been in the fifth store with her mother, it had hit her exactly what they needed to do.
They were having the party at Ray's place and Felicity had the keys. She'd stopped at her place and grabbed some things before heading over to his. Slowly, but surely she'd organized their books together in such a way that they formed a rather large tree on the left side of the room they'd be celebrating in.
"I still can't believe that these aren't ALL of your books...I mean, Ray still has a whole bunch and YOU still have a whole bunch...you could make an entire other tree!" Donna went on in astonishment.
"I just wanted to make sure that I had enough of the larger books for the base," Felicity explained. "It's not done…"
"It's not?"
"No," Felicity told her mom and smiled. "We bought lights, remember? We also have decorations to put up."
"You're going to decorate the books?"
"The book...tree."
"Right," Donna said and then shrugged. "You're the genius, Baby."
It wasn't horrible.
"You did a beautiful job," Ray whispered into her ear.
It was actually fairly nice because it was super casual. There was no worrying about getting ready on time, well not to THAT extent, though she swore her mom had forgotten about the 'causal' part since she was wearing a rather sparkly blue dress that exposed quite a lot of flesh.
"It wasn't just me."
"This," Ray said as he motioned towards the book tree. "This was all you."
That was true.
She'd taken the idea of a Christmas tree and made it more personal. It was a book tree that was trapped in multicolored lights, multiple fandom trinkets adorned the 'branches' to work as ornaments, and the TARDIS lit up the top of it. It was filled with everything from a sonic screwdriver to a snowy owl to a golden snitch to a flurry of various starships attacking each other. The entire thing was made even more magical, by Felicity's opinion, by the LED candles and glittery snowflakes that she'd set up hovering over that section of the room using clear fishing line. It hadn't been easy, but she swore it was worth it.
Her mother had gone on a roll making sure that their Jewish heritage was also well represented throughout the room. Even though representing different holidays of winter was important to the Smoaks, Felicity was just glad that they were going to get to have this time together. She had hated planning and especially shopping for the party, but she knew it if passed by without her celebrating...then she'd regret it.
She'd didn't want to miss that time.
She didn't want anymore regrets in her life.
It was time to celebrate.
She and her mother had wrapped presents in blue and silver wrapping and set them near the book tree. The real fun part had been shopping. Of course, Little Sara was who she was going to miss so dearly not being able to be in the same city watching her continue to grow up. Felicity really loved spoiling the two year old and even more this holiday. Missing the Diggles was likely going to be the hardest for her. She, Diggle, and Oliver had been together since the beginning…
"Try to have fun," Ray whispered.
Felicity just smiled. "I am...I just will miss this…"
"We'll still have this."
"They're all going to be gone."
"They'll come back."
Felicity sighed and his arms wrapped around her. She placed her hands over his. "No, they won't."
"Just wait...this isn't going to be our last winter holiday celebrated together…"
"Ci-ti-cee!" Sara shouted.
Pulling away from Ray, she was immediately picking the two year old up. How she adored the littlest Diggle. Not only did she absolutely LOVE Sara, but Felicity had loved her namesake too and there was something so nice seeing Sara Diggle growing up this happy little girl who was so loved. "How's my favorite clever girl?"
"TARDIS!" Sara proclaimed as she pointed to the top of the book tree.
Felicity beamed with pride. She had been teaching her as much as she could about all kinds of things, amongst them...the TARDIS and how it was a marvelous thing. Normally, Sara just liked to run around with the sonic screwdriver making it light up and emit sounds.
This might be the last winter holiday that they celebrated together like this, but she wasn't going to let any of them go. She was going to call, text, e-mail, skype, and harass in general every single one of them. She'd keep tabs on them, especially Thea, because they were her friends...her family...and Thea, because Oliver wasn't there to watch over her anymore (not in THAT sense anyways). She'd just have to do things differently...anywhere ARGUS sent the Diggle, she could send mail, right? If not, she'd figure out how to get some drone to deliver packages to Sara because even distance wasn't going to keep her from spoiling the precious little girl.
"I'm just saying...you look GOOD with a baby girl in your arms," her mother whispered as she came up to her.
Felicity just sighed and shook her head. She wasn't ready. They weren't ready. The city hadn't even been changed over to Star City yet officially. She hadn't yet started the life that would come after Team Arrow and that part of her life had vanished. She needed that time. She needed time to figure out what she really wanted in life, to really consider if Ray was still part of it, and if she DID want a family.
"Also, who is that HOT man standing with Laurel?"
"That's Quentin LANCE...Laurel's dad."
"Is he single?"
Felicity was going to die. "Mom...it's Laurel's dad."
"That doesn't mean that I can't go TALK to him, Baby."
"He's divorced."
"He's not seeing anyone, is he?"
"I don't exactly talk to him ALL the time, Mom!" she whispered and was really dying about the prospect of her mom and Laurel's dad together. "He's the police chief-"
"I bet he looks good IN and OUT of uniform…"
"WHY did you have to even SAY that?" Felicity asked and was quickly moving away from her mother. She just couldn't handle it anymore. She looked at Sara. "Just be lucky that you don't know what ANY of that meant…"
"I get to have a present?" Sara asked her.
"Oh, don't worry...Auntie Felicity made sure that you definitely have a haul of presents."
TBC...
