A New Beginning

"Wohoo, would you look at that? My brother is going to have a hard time keeping his pants on."

Felicity looked at Thea and rolled her eyes. The young Queen surely had a way to make Felicity's cheeks turn the same colour as her dress, a deep scarlet red. Felicity admired the deep cuts of the dress and they revealed her back in a slightly arousing way. The front was equally exotic with a cut revealing her stomach.

"You don't have to bother about your brother's pants. He will have them on, believe me. Tell me where you are going, again?"

Felicity saw Thea walk up to her and stand next to her in the mirror looking at their reflections. She waved her hand at their reflections.

"You see that, Felicity? You dress in a sexy red dress then pants are definitely down whereas you dress in dreadful old jeans; like me; when you go on a normal date. So I am just going to have dinner with Roy. No pants scenes here."

"Fine, but be back by 11. A minute late and you are grounded."

"Oh please, Lis. You are not going to be home today; I know my brother. He is not going to let you go but I will make it back by 11, I promise."

Thea placed a kiss on her cheek and picked up her bag but before she could walk out Felicity stopped her in her tracks.

"Thea, about Merlyn; I want you to know whatever decision you make, I will be behind you."

Felicity was taken aback as Thea simply embraced her and after giving her a slight nod she went to answer the raging door bell.

Felicity walked in after a few minutes to see Oliver and Thea sharing a hearty laugh and those sounds made her stop in her tracks. It was finally over. She had a family, a family in which she belonged. She wasn't the daughter of a cocktail waitress in Vegas anymore. She was Felicity Smoak who was adored upon by people she loved. Sure, her family was a little unconventional than the rest but it was for moments like these people endured and suffered. Felicity could now feel Oliver's eyes on hers so she wiped the droplets of water skirting at the edge of her eyes with the back of her hand and walked up to him.

Oliver placed a tender kiss on her cheeks and Felicity could see his eyes taking all of her in. Oh boy, she was going to enjoy their date. She picked up her shoes and strapped it on while Oliver kept his hand tightly around her waist.

"Ready?"

"Yup. Let me just grab my keys."

"It's okay, Lis. I will lock up. Have a lot of fun especially afterwards. Brother, be careful. She is a wild one."

Felicity heard Oliver chuckle as she pinned Thea with a threating glare. She would have had her say if it wasn't for Oliver leading her away towards the parking lot.

"Oliver, why are we in the parking lot?"

"I am not going to pick you up in a cab. It's our first date, it has to be special."

"Oliver, you don't have a car, remember. You are sort of broke now."

"That's true. But that doesn't mean I am not Oliver Queen. And as for the company, I will get it back as long as I have you by my side."

"Woah, since when did Mr. Growly Bear become Mr. I- am-the-God-of-cockiness?"

"Let's just say coming up with the most ridiculous reason to win the attention of a certain blonde has made me a bit more confident."

Felicity stopped walking making Oliver look at her with a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong, Felicity?"

Felicity looked into Oliver's eyes and she felt him tense beneath her hands on his arms.

"Our first meeting wasn't a coincidence, was it? Am I right, Oliver?"

"You had better sit down."

Four years ago, Hong Kong:

Oliver Queen could only run. He had learnt how to shoot an arrow but now, in the crowded streets of Hong Kong, Oliver ran. He needed to get away from Amanda Waller. He needed to get home, to his family. But it was again in vain. His running stopped as he was brought to his knees in front of Amanda, again.

"There is no use running, Mr. Queen. There is a certain flair to your resistance but believe me, when I say this, you are not going anywhere."

"I am not going to stop running away from you."

"And I am going to catch you each time. Instead, we can save all of us some trouble if you comply with our request."

"Your request? You want to train me and turn me into your personal killing machine. You want me to be a murderer."

"There, there. Mr. Queen. You are forgetting that you already are a murderer. You have killed. Sure, you have regrets but a part of you has enjoyed the blood. Don't convince me otherwise, Oliver. You were glad to drive that arrow through Slade's eyes. What I offer you now is a chance at redemption. You kill only the ones who deserve to die."

Oliver had protested and fought but two years later he had been trained to be a killing machine. His arrows never missed their mark and when it was time for Oliver to serve his purpose Amanda had let him leave.

"You are letting me leave?"

"Yes, Mr. Queen. I am, but I need you to do something for me first."

Amanda placed two pictures on the table. One was of a man holding a beautiful baby girl in his lap and the other was of a girl with hair as bright as sunshine. She placed a nervous hand on her glasses as she smiled for the picture. Oliver noticed her eyes were a mesmerizing shade of blue.

"Who is she?"

"Her name is Felicity Smoak; MIT graduate class of 2009. She currently works in your company, Queen Consolidated, in the IT department. I need you to protect her."

"I take it the baby girl in that photo is her?"

"Yes and the man holding onto her is her father, John Fox. He was a geneticist who was kidnapped by Japan to perform experiments for the creation of soldiers with sub-par human strength. John was oblivious of the fact. He thought he was creating a drug to heal cancer. But when he came to know of their true intentions, he put a stop to the whole ordeal and stashed away the drug on a submarine. Before he could escape, he was captured and killed ruthlessly. That submarine was the one you found on Lian Yu. And the drug came to be known as Mirakuru, the drug you injected in Slade."

"Where does she fit in?"

"Before John died, he left a letter with his friend in Japan. That was me. He said that the cure to the drug is his blood which runs in his daughter's veins. Do you understand, Mr Queen? She is valuable in many ways. So you have to protect her at all costs."

Felicity didn't know when her knees gave out as she listened to Oliver. She could feel the tears running freely now as she sat in the backseat of Oliver's borrowed car with the doors open. Oliver kneeled and placed his hands on her knee.

"Felicity, I need you to know that my feelings for you don't change. When I first met you, I was a killer. But you made me smile, you made forget and you made want to be different. So I fell for you, in more ways than you can imagine."

"Why didn't you tell me? Why? You could have told me something. You even begged a cure from STAR Labs even though you knew it was me."

"When Slade came back, I panicked. I knew that you were his destruction and I couldn't let Slade hurt you. So I asked STAR Labs for a cure. I could never have imagined he already knew about you. You have to understand, Slade was hell bent on destroying me. And if I kept you too close, he would have known that you were the one I truly loved. If anything would have happened to you, I would never have forgiven myself. So I pushed you away."

"Did you just say you loved me?"

Felicity put her head up and looked at Oliver. There was a slight smile playing through his lips as he gently placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

"Of course, I love you. There was never Laurel, Sarah or anyone else. There was and always will be you."

Felicity felt her tears dry as she smiled and asked the question that was playing in the back of her mind.

"Since when did you love me?"

"Since the day I first saw you chewing on the poor pen as you worked on my bullet holes lathed laptop. I saw your bright lipstick and all I wanted to do was kiss you. But I didn't know you were the only one for me till I came close to losing you. I wanted to say so many things but I was always scared-"

Oliver never got to complete his sentence because Felicity's lips were on his as her hands slowly laced through his hair.

THE END

I know I am majorly late but I had hit a roadblock on the way to this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks everyone for all the love you have given to this story. I still have to tie many loose ends which I might if I write an epilogue. Thanks for reading everyone. It was lovely writing this fic. I am in desperate need of a new story line, if anyone has anything in mind, let me know. For more drabbles and fics, follow me on tumblr. My user name is oddfurball. I hope I have given this story a satisfying end.