The next morning, Oliver wakes up still pressed against Felicity's chest with his arms around her stomach. Looking up, he sees a crease between her eyebrows, indicating that she's uncomfortable.
A sense of guilt immediately overcomes him and he sits up. Holding his head from the sudden dizziness, he looks around the room and takes into account the mess around him.
Shattered glass and papers littered the hardwood floor. Moving his hand, it comes into contact with a broken picture frame of Tommy, Felicity, and himself. Letting out a deep sigh, he slowly lifts himself up and looks at Felicity's form. Her back is arched, and her legs are spread out like they were cramped.
He slowly bends down and lifts her effortlessly. Leaving his office, he immediately sees his son running down the stairs.
The first thing he notices on the tot's face is the glint of excitement in his eyes. Before he can utter a word, Oliver puts his right index finger to his lips. The little boy presses his lips together and mimics his father with his finger to his lips.
Nodding in acknowledgement, Oliver silently goes up the stairs, while Tommy runs down them.
Once he reaches the master bedroom, he gently lays Felicity down on the bed, pulls over the covers and gets her comfy. Laying a kiss to her forehead, he slowly stands up and lets his fingers linger in her blond locks.
After a moment his senses catch up to him and the first thing that hits him is the smell of cinnamon rolls.
Confusion paints his features as he walks down the stairs following the sweet aroma.
The scene that meets him when he arrives in the kitchen, makes him stop. His mother is cutting up pieces for her grandson.
"There you go Tommy."
Looking up she sees Oliver standing at the entrance of the kitchen looking shocked.
"Good morning Oliver, are you hungry?"
He is at a loss for words.
"Mom… you cook?"
Turning to start making him a plate, she says,
"I may have picked it up over the years. Come sit down." He sees everyone's eyes on their plates, and Moira sets down a plate with 2 cinnamon rolls and some scrambled eggs in
front of him. "I made it the way you like it, extra cinnamon."
Giving her a kind smile, he says "Thank you mom." What he didn't know was that all four of them had heard his meltdown and saw him sobbing in Felicity's arms.
After breakfast, Tommy is playing with Moira and was plenty occupied.
Going upstairs, he checks on a still sleeping Felicity. The wrinkle in her brow, has vanished since the last time he saw her, indicating that she is no longer in pain. Deciding he
doesn't want to bother her, he softly closes the door and goes down to the garage.
When the door clicks shut, the only thing accompanying him is the silence. Standing in the middle of the minimalistic space, stood his motorcycle.
20 minutes came and went when Barry showed up. Seeing that Oliver is lost in thought working on the engine, he takes slow and cautious steps.
"Hey."
At the voice, Oliver stops the motion of the wrench and puts it down.
"Hey."
"How are you?"
"Fine. Any news on the Slade front?"
"None, Cisco's still working on that."
Oliver only nodded, still looking away.
"But that's not why I'm here. I'm here because of what happened yesterday."
"I really am fine, Barry. At least as much as I can be after killing an innocent person" he mutters.
"Oliver it was an accident."
"I still did it and that is unforgivable" he says turning abruptly.
"I know that I can't say anything that will make you feel better, but you're always telling me that sometimes we have to make unforgivable sacrifices. It's part of the job."
"It's still not right."
"I know."
After a minute in silence, Barry finally accepts that he won't get through to Oliver and that he just needs space.
"Hey just let me know if there is anything I can do, ok?
Oliver meets his eyes.
"Yeah, ok. I will."
When Barry is satisfied with the answer, he nods once and leaves.
-
Later that night, Oliver is walking the grounds of his backyard with his little boy.
"Daddy, will I be a hero like you?" he asks skipping and holding his father's hand.
"Someday."
"Daddy look its mommy" Tommy says pointing excitedly to Felicity who is smiling at them from the porch.
"Go" he says chuckling.
And without another thought, the little boy runs to the porch doors and into his mother's arms. Watching the woman, he loves, pick their son up and kiss his head and cuddle him into her shoulder, brings a whole new level of love to him.
As they disappear through the doors of the house, he starts walking to catch up, when Laurel stops right in front of him.
"Laurel" he says stunned.
"Why Ollie?"
"Why what?"
"Why her?"
Sighing Oliver realizes that the conversation he has been dreading the most has finally come.
"I mean what could have possibly happened that would have made you trade me for her? I don't understand, Ollie, we were perfect together. We had plans, we had dreams. What
changed?"
Taking a deep breath, he finally let's his heart say the words he couldn't fathom 20 years ago.
"Laurel look, we weren't perfect, in fact we were far from it. I cheated on you… multiple times and somehow you Always took me back-"
"Because I loved you."
"No, because you loved the idea of me, my life, and the life we could have had. Laurel you wanted it all, the big house, the wedding, the kids, and at the time that terrified me,
because I didn't want that."
"And yet you got it, all of it."
"Laurel, I didn't realize this until years later, but when the time came, I finally realized why you held on for so long, why I held on for so long. You held on because you had this
vision of me taking over my father's place in the company and us living this glamour's life of fame and fortune. But while you were so stuck in this fantasy, you didn't even see what I wanted. Laurel, I am not proud of my past, but I couldn't be the man you wanted me to be, so I did the one thing I did best, I rebelled. I thought that if I slept around, that you would get the picture and you wouldn't want anything to do with me, but I couldn't have been more wrong, you kept taking me back again, and again."
"So why did you hold on Ollie?"
"Because you were all I knew."
"Then why am I not the one in that house right now? Why her?"
He knew the question was coming and he couldn't tell her the whole truth of why she isn't in that kitchen, so he goes for the emotional truth.
"Because she's my partner, not just in our marriage, but in life. If Felicity has taught me anything, it is that you can't win a mission if your partner's not in it. She sees me for the
good parts and the bad, she inspires me to be a better man for her. She loves me for who I am, rich or poor, good or bad. If I'm being honest with you, if I had to live the rest of my life without her, I don't know if I could do it. She's the light of my life. Laurel I need you to understand, that I will always love you, that you will always have a special part in my heart. But at the end of the day, I am not the person you were meant to be with, and if I'm being honest, we would've never worked out in the long run, because we both wanted something different."
Laurel looks down absolutely heartbroken, and it kills Oliver to see the woman who gave up everything for him, so broken. She deserved happiness, especially now that he
shattered all of her dreams, and without thinking, he says the one thing he thinks will cheer her up.
Taking her hands in his, he says, "I may not have been your guy, but Tommy is."
"What?"
"You were meant to be with Tommy, and I screwed that up. That is one of my biggest regrets, because deep down, I knew that we wouldn't work, but I was my selfish ass of a person and took advantage of you anyways. Tommy deserves you. I don't."
She pulls her hands out of his and shakes her head in confusion.
"I don't understand. What do you mean Tommy and I were supposed to be together? He never showed interest."
"He always showed interest, but you were to blind to see it. My point is, Tommy loves you."
Taking in the information that just attacked her, Laurel takes a deep breath, looks down, and walks away towards the house without another word.
Oliver watched as she left, and soon went in himself. When he reached the master bedroom, he sees Felicity brushing her hair at her vanity.
"Hey" she says happily.
"Hi" he says a bit sullenly.
"Are you ok?" she asks slowing her arm.
"Um… I just told Laurel that Tommy is in love with her."
"What? Why?" she asks turning to look at him.
"She cornered me and started asking me why I didn't love her and then I told her that Tommy was in love with her."
Felicity has put down her brush down and given him her full attention. He is pacing at this point.
"Well what did she say?"
"Nothing. She looked down and then walked away."
"Well I mean, we've already told them everything but your big green secret so I think you're fine."
He stops in his tracks and looks at her.
"I just feel like it shouldn't have come from me."
"I know, but at least now she knows the truth."
Sighing, all he says is "I guess."
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he looks at his hands.
"So, how do you feel now that the woman who has been in love with you all of her life, knows you're not?"
"Honestly? Relieved. I feel like that was the one secret I've been keeping from her all of our life. And now that I know there was someone who loved her unconditionally, makes me
feel better."
"Well you did the right thing" she says getting up and walking between his legs. She caresses her finger to his cheek, causing him to bring his head to her chest. Laying a kiss to
the crown of his head, they stay in that moment of bliss.
-
The next day the sun is shining in the late afternoon, casting upon two figures on the living room floor. Little Tommy is happily building a 'city', as he keeps calling the many Lego buildings surrounding him and Moira. After putting a final Lego on a building, he grabs two action figures.
"Here, you can be the Flash. William usually plays as him, be he's not here, so you can play with him."
Her eyes go wide as he speaks a mile a minute, and without knowing it, her lips turn up into a small smile.
"But, who would you be?"
Without warning, he raises up the other figure in his hand.
"The Green Arrow" he says excitedly.
"Ooh the Green Arrow" she says matching his excitement.
"Yeah!"
Looking around, he whispers,
"Do you want to know a secret?"
"What's that?" she asks leaning towards him.
"My dad's the Green Arrow. That's why, I always play as him."
Thinking that this was just another thing a toddler says, she plays into his secret and gasps.
"Oh really? She asks continuing to play along.
"Yeah, I want to be just like my daddy when I grow up."
Not knowing what the confession means, she brushes it off and just admires how much this little boy loves his father.
"Ok, so what do I do?"
"There's people in trouble, we have to save them" he says in hysterics, only a 3-year-old can.
"Ok, then let's save them, Green Arrow."
Later that night, Oliver is sitting in his study, looking over documents when there is a light knock on the door.
"Come in" he says not looking up from the paper.
The door opens and Laurel walks in.
Looking up, his eyes go wide in shock.
"Laurel. Hi" he says sitting up and pushing the documents to the side.
She opens her mouth and nothing comes out. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath.
"You know, I came in here expecting to yell and lash out all of my anger on you, but now all I feel like saying is… thank you."
"You're… welcome? I don't understand, what are you thanking me for? If anything I should be apologizing because telling you about Tommy was out of line and-"
"No, it wasn't. In fact, I'm very grateful that you told me. I'm not saying that I'm happy you married and built a life with another woman, but it's nice to know that there is someone out there who loves me."
Giving a shy smile, Oliver looks down and then back at her.
"Honestly me too."
Standing up, he goes around his desk and stands in front of her.
"And it also gives me closure. So… thank you."
"Laurel, I need you to know that I will always love you, just not the way you want."
"I know."
And without another word, she turns around and exits the room. Leaving Oliver to replay the scene that just occurred before him.
After Laurel leaves Oliver's office she passes the kitchen. Felicity was drying the dishes. She was drying the last one when the white dish towel, slipped from her grip.
"Damn" she mutters under her breath.
Before she could even attempt to bend over a figure picked it up and held it out to her. When she looks up, she sees Laurel.
They both don't speak a word, and simply stare within each other's eyes with conflict and confusion.
"Thank you" Felicity eventually whispers, grabbing the white towel.
"You're welcome." She says clipped, then quickly adds, "I'd hate for you to get all the way down there and not be able to get back up."
"Yeah been there, done that, it's not fun."
They share a small chuckle, and Laurel nods once and walks out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
Felicity watches her every step and thinks about what just happened. Looking down at the towel, she can't help but think that this white towel, meant more than just picking it up
to finish the final dish. But as a white flag; a truce. She can only hope that the latter option was it because while a lot has happened over the course of a couple days, one thing
remains, she misses her friend. And while she knows they will never be friends, she likes to think that if they could be on good terms, that is win in her book.
