Hey Guys, thank you so much for the kind words and all of the encouragement, here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy!
"So, when do we get him back" Oliver asked and Sara responded with a cringed look, "well that's easier said than done." "And why is that" Oliver asked again. "Because the ship may or may not have gotten damaged on the way back here" Sara said.
"Great so how long are we talking here 1…2 hours…. days…. weeks" and when Sara still didn't answer Felicity pressed on with disbelief "months" she asked in shock. "I don't know" Sara finally said "I have absolutely no idea, the damage is pretty crucial." "Well isn't that just wonderful Felicity responded with sarcasm.
"So, what are we supposed to do while you fix your ship" Felicity finally asked after a moment of content silence. "Well I think the main priority is keeping Tommy safe" Sara said. "We can do that" Oliver responded with a heavy sigh.
"Alright, well now that that's settled, I better go check on the ship and I promise to let you know as soon as I know anything." And with that Sara stood up and went over to Tommy and ruffled his hair a little and said "be good kid" to which he just responded with a distracted smile as he continued to play with his Flash & Green Arrow toys, and made her way to the exit. But before she could get in the elevator Curtis finally spoke up, "so we're just going to pretend that Oliver & Felicity having a kid from the future is not weird at all". And Sara took a quick glance at Curtis and pretended to think about it and said "nope" and left.
After Sara left, they all sat at the table in silence for a couple of minutes, before Felicity remembered something, "Oliver don't you have a meeting at City Hall in an hour" she asked. Once Oliver realized that she was right, he slowly stood up, and turned to make his way to the back to get his suit, when all of a sudden, the little boy said "daddy", which baffled everyone except Felicity. "Yes Buddy" he said turning back to the small boy, without thinking. And to the acknowledgement, Tommy held up his Green Arrow action figure towards the glass case behind Oliver and simply said with a smile "Reen Arrowww". And Oliver couldn't help but smile as the small boy before him struggled to pronounce the hero's name with pride. "Yeah that' the Green Arrow" he said with his smile still plastered on his lips and a nod, and with that Oliver left.
After a long day at the office, Oliver goes back to the lair hoping to get a long hard work out in, to process the day. When he arrived he immediately noticed that nobody was there, which brought a sense of relief to him.
After about an hour he heard the doors of the elevators open, and he caught a glimpse of Dig holding a couple of bags in his hands. Once Dig was sitting by the computers, Oliver hopped down from the Salmon Ladder and grabbed a towel and walked over to him.
"So, how's fatherhood treating you" Dig asked with a grin. "Ha Ha, very funny" Oliver responded with a look of sarcasm. "Well, Oliver I must say I never thought I'd see the day" he said with a soft chuckle, "the big bad vigilante a father, and not just any type of father, but a softie" Diggle finished in a soft whisper.
"You and me both Dig" Oliver responded with a soft smile and chuckle, and pulled up a chair across Dig, and took a seat. "I mean when I found out about William, I was shocked and happy, but it didn't feel … real. I mean don't get me wrong I love William, but he didn't even know who I was, who I am" he finished softly. "But now this little boy doesn't just know who I am but he looks at me like I am his entire world" he said with astonishment written all over his face.
"It's a great feeling isn't it" Dig asked with a knowing grin, "the greatest" Oliver responds with a genuine smile. "I don't know, I guess I just never imagined that I would get, this" he said mostly talking to himself.
When he focuses back to the present he decides to change the subject. "So, what's in the bags?" "Oh" Dig says as he sits up and picks up the bags "I thought that the boy could use some clothes" he says as he starts ruffling through one of the bags. "Dig" he says with a sigh, "you didn't have to do that". "No, no it's fine I figured between you and Felicity, you too wouldn't have time, let alone have the idea cross your mind to get him some necessities, I mean what did he even wear last night?"
When the words hit Oliver, he was about to object but then he realized that Dig was right, and with a huff and an eye roll, he quietly said "one of my shirts", "exactly" Dig responded with a smirk. But then it finally dawned on him, him and Felicity don't know the first thing about taking care of a kid, and he finally said "thank you". "You're welcome, but you owe me" Dig responded with a pointed finger and false serious look, that made Oliver laugh, "of course".
After about an hour of going through the necessities Dig bought, Oliver thanked his friend again and made his way back to the Loft. When he arrived at the door he stopped and hesitated, did he knock, or did he just go in. After contemplating for about a minute he finally decided just to go in.
When he opened the door he immediately was welcomed to a bright and sweet scented room illuminated with candles and soft light. He stopped in his tracks taking in the room and letting his mind embrace the memory of walking in some nights when Felicity decided to come home early and just relax.
As he continued to think about the happier days, two figures walked down the stairs and spotted him. "Daddy" the little boy said half way down the stairs and tried to carefully walk down the stairs quickly, when he reached the last step he ran to Oliver, who dropped the bags he was carrying and kneeled down to give the boy a big hug. "Hey buddy" he said as Tommy held onto him tightly. When he opened his eyes, he spotted Felicity slowly walking towards them, making sure she didn't interrupt the moment the father and son were sharing.
"Hi" Oliver finally said letting go of Tommy and stood up, "I'm sorry I didn't know whether to knock or just come in, so I just came in" he said rubbing the back of neck and continued to look between her and the closed door. "It's ok" she said shaking her head a little bit and said "you can come in whenever you want, I mean it's still "technically" your place, well technically it was Thea's and then it was yours and now I'm going to stop talking" she said as she closed her lips together, and Oliver couldn't help but give a bright smile and soft chuckle, and before he could respond, he felt Tommy pull on the hem of his shirt, "daddy, dinner time" he asked in a soft voice. "Yes" Oliver said as he looked down at the small child beside him.
"Wait, why did you ask him" Felicity asked with curiosity but already knew the answer, "because mommy you can't cook, you burn things" with the same innocent voice, and with that honest answer Oliver gave a huge laugh and looked at Felicity who just responded "wow I really must be the world's worst cook." "No, it's just that not everyone is meant to be in the kitchen, and your specialty is in here" he said softly touching her forehead without thinking and she just closed her eyes enjoying the innocent touch. And before the moment could get awkward Tommy pulled on Oliver's hand said "daddy, dinner" and Oliver said "right, dinner" and they made their way to the kitchen.
After sitting down at the table and eating Oliver's famous Chicken Cordon Bleu, Felicity finally threw her napkin on the plate and sat back satisfied. "Oh, how I've missed this" she said without knowing it as she closed her eyes. As she was clearly enjoying it, Oliver dared to steal a look at her and smiled and for a second forgot about their complicated relationship and just thought about how much he loved the woman before him, but the moment was quickly over when she opened her eyes. "I said that out loud didn't I" she asked with a sigh, and before Oliver could say maybe, Tommy quickly said "yes mama" like he said that frequently, and went back to trying to finish his chicken Oliver had cut for him.
After a moment of comfortable silence Felicity eyes landed on the bags by the door and asked "what are those". Following her gaze Oliver saw the bags that she was talking about and instantly replied "Oh, Dig bought Tommy some clothes and other necessities". "Oh, wow that was really nice of him", "Yeah" Oliver said as he caught her eyes.
After about a minute of each of them gazing into the others eyes trying to recapture what they had, they were interrupted when Tommy stood up on his chair and proudly said "all done" which made both Felicity and Oliver break their eye contact and look at the bold little boy and Tommy finished with saying "bath time" while looking at Felicity. At the look that the small child gave her, she was caught off guard and sputtered out "what" and he only responded by saying again "bath time". Which only caused Felicity to repeat the phrase softly to herself over and over again, until Oliver finally said, "I think there is some bath stuff in one of the bags over there" before getting up and clearing their dishes. "You give him a bath and I'll finish up down here" Oliver said as if it was the easiest thing that has ever grazed his lips and Felicity only nodded her head softly and said "yeah" with uncertainty lacing her tone, and then stood up and said "yeah" again with a little more confidence.
After getting the little boy out of his clothes and gently placing him into the warm bubbly water she rocked on her heels and watched as he grabbed the rubber duck that Dig had bought, and started laughing and playing with it. When he realized that it squeaked he looked at it with bewilderment and then turned it toward Felicity and squeaked it again but this time it squirted water at her and landed on her top, which caused her to squeal out of surprise. And Tommy wasn't the only one who heard the squeal but Oliver did as well, which caused him to sprint up the steps and into the master bedroom with worry until his eyes landed on the scene before him.
When he saw, Felicity sitting on the ground looking down at her shirt while Tommy laughed at her, which only made her join in the laughter, he couldn't help but smile with happiness. Something he hadn't done in months. After standing in the shadows for another couple minutes watching the little boy splash the water everywhere, which resulted in more water hitting Felicity, he finally went back downstairs and finished cleaning up the kitchen, as if it was a regular night, at least that's how he treated it.
Once they both put Tommy to bed in his new arrow patterned pajamas, which Oliver had to remind himself to talk to Dig about, the two adults made their way down back to the living room. When they reached the sofa in front of the fire they both take a seat and gaze into the flames, all while Felicity leans her head back against Oliver's extended arm on the back of the of the sofa.
"Well our lives have literally flipped upside down in a matter of" looking at her watch "48 hours" "Uh huh" Oliver agrees still looking at the fire. "What are we going to do, Oliver" Felicity asks with a sense of hidden fear behind her tone, as she slightly turns towards him to look into his eyes that are still entranced by the light. When he notices that she is looking at him he turns his head to meet her gaze and responds "we do the one thing we can do" "and what's that" she asked when he left the sentence hanging. "We be there for Tommy, keep him safe but more importantly we"
"Love him?" she asks when the words die in his throat, "Yeah love him" Oliver responds with a small smile while making sure his eyes never leave hers.
After about another minute of deeply staring into each other's eyes, Felicity finally breaks the contact and looked back at the fire, but Oliver's eyes never leave her. "Well" she said with hesitation, "if you want to you can stay" and then quickly adds "because I clearly don't know the first thing about kids let alone raising one" she said. "You know more than you think. You'll get there" he tells her and then quietly adds for himself as he looks back at the fire "we both will."
And with that Oliver thought about what the future held for them and how hopeful he was for that future. Before he knew it, he felt something hit his shoulder, and when he looked down he saw a sight that he had only dreamed of seeing for the last couple months, Felicity's sleeping head on his shoulder. And before he could process what he was doing he laid his head on hers and finally closed his eyes knowing that he had to embrace the little moments because at the end of the day those were the ones that mattered.
I just want to say that I had a lot of fun writing the scene between Oliver and Dig, it's what I imagine if Oliver ever had a kid. That they would sit in the lair and drink Vodka and talk about fatherhood "sigh". Anyways I hope you enjoyed this and please keep bringing the comments coming, I love to hear what you have to say!
