"Come on inside everyone else is already here," her mom said as they grabbed their stuff from the car and followed her into the house.
"I'm gonna get you!" They heard as soon as they stepped in the doorway and a group of kids came rushing past them as they chased each other through the house. Oliver reached down and grabbed the little girl before she could collide with him.
"Careful there."
"Emma this is Oliver, Oliver my niece Emma." Felicity said making the introductions.
"Hi," the little girl said shyly. "Is he your boyfriend Aunt Lissy?"
"Yes he is." Oliver glanced over at her and the two shared a knowing look before following her mother into the living room.
"Look who's here everyone."
Oliver placed the little girl back in the ground as everyone in the room turned to stare at him with mouths gaping. And he instantly felt nervous. No one said anything at first and the room was completely silent except for the sounds of the kids. "Ah Felicity aren't you going to introduce us to this young man here?" Her Aunt Cathy said from her spot in the la-z-boy.
"Um everyone this my boyfriend Oliver Queen." Felicity said hoping they wouldn't see through her lie.
"Queen as in the heir to Queen Industries...the guy who disappeared for years?" Her sister Taylor asked rubbing a hand over her expanding stomach.
"Yes that would be me," he answered seeing the look on Felicity's face.
"Well have a seat, this could make for an interesting conversation." Her dad said patting the empty spot beside him on the couch.
"I didn't know you were seeing anyone?" Her sister Anna asked.
"Well we just started dating actually." Oliver said as Felicity sat in the chair beside him.
"How did you two meet?" Her mom asked setting out a tray of snack foods.
"We met at work. You know I've been working for Queen Consolidated." Felicity told them.
"Yeah I went down to the IT department one day because I spilt hot coffee all over my laptop. I was hoping someone there could fix it or at least salvage my files from it." Oliver added as Felicity gave him a look about the "coffee." They both knew that wasn't what really happened.
"What's the look for?" Anna asked seeing what passed between them.
"Oh um... Well Oliver here had his CD drive opened at the time and the coffee got inside as well, so you see there was no way to fix it. I spent hours trying to see if I could retrieve anything off it. But I'm a pro so it was simple as pie." She rambled on nervously.
"Felicity dear. Remember to filter, rambling is not a admirable trait." Her mom chided her.
"I dunno I think it's kinda cute when she does it," Oliver said with a small smile as Felicity blushed at his comment.
"Well Oliver you've already met my mother, Amelia. This is my Aunt Cathy," she said pointing to the older lady.
"It's nice toy meet you ma'am."
"Oh darling you can call me Aunt Cathy." She said winking at him.
Felicity continues and points to her oldest sister, "And this is"
"Hi, I'm Anna and this is my husband Brent. And please there must be a better story then you spilled coffee on your laptop. I mean your Oliver Queen. Why didn't you get a new one or why did you even go to someone as low as Felicity."
"Anna, the eldest brother, Eric scolded, "I'm sure he has his reasons. Just because he is rich, does not mean he wanted to go out and buy a laptop." Eric smiled towards Oliver and offered a hand, "Hi, I'm Eric the eldest and this is my wife Rebecca."
Oliver took Eric's hand and shook it, "Nice to meet you."
Anne sighed, "Oh please Eric, like Oliver wouldn't want a new laptop. I mean I just read last week in Starcity Weekly that he bought a new car. If he can do that, then why not just get a new laptop?"
Brent groaned. "Anna, knock it off. I'm sure Oliver has his reasons, which is none of our business."
Anna sniffed pointedly, "Well it's not like he is spending it on her wardrobe."
Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver watched as Felicity slid into the couch while looking down at her hands. He reached over to take one of them and squeezed it in reassurance. She glanced over and gave Oliver a small smile before taking interest in her hands again.
Amelia spoke up, "Well I'm going to go see about finishing up supper." She gave a pointed look at Anna, "Would you come and help me dear?"
Anna, looking chastised, got up quietly to go with Amelia in the kitchen.
Just before she disappeared, Amelia turned back and looked at Felicity, "Oh and Felicity dear, please do try and sit up straight. That position is quite unbecoming a lady."
Felicity just groaned and hit her head against the couch. Oliver couldn't help but chuckle, she really did look cute when she did that. Felicity threw Oliver a dirty look.
Taylor shook her head, "Don't pay any attention to her Felicity." Taylor smiled as she turned her attention to Oliver.
"Hi, I'm Taylor the second oldest sister."
Oliver smiled politely. "Nice to meet you"
The man beside Taylor spoke up as he bounced a two year old on his knee, "And I'm her husband David and this little man is Ethan."
Oliver was about to respond in turn when the sound of running little feet could be heard coming into the living room. Everyone turned and watched as the tallest boy was leading the pact of what looked like three other children with Emma taking up the rear.
Rebecca scolded the tallest boy first. "Christian! What did we say about running in the house?"
Christian sighed, "That it was not allowed."
"That's right."
"But Mom, Emma said she was bored!"
Eric spoke in turn. "It does not matter what your sister said, you obey your mother young man. The same goes to you too young man." Eric looked at the child standing between Aiden and Emma.
He sighed. "Yes Sir."
Rebecca gasped and turned towards Oliver, "Oh I'm sorry Oliver. These are my children. Christian who is nine. Aiden who is seven, and I believe you already met Emma who is six."
Emma giggled and hid behind Aiden causing everyone to chuckle at her bashfulness.
"And these two rascals," Brent said as he stood to pick up the two smallest boys and placed them on the couch, "Are Braedon and Brennan; twins and four years old."
At this point Kyle finally spoke up. "Yeah who would have thought at four years old, these two would be getting into so much trouble. I know I never did.
"Oh I don't know," Felicity said with a gleam in her eye, "I seemed to remember that one time…"
Kyle groaned, "Felicity! You said you would never speak of it."
"I didn't speak of it. Just reminded you of it."
Everyone in the room laughed, leaving Oliver to only smile and feel like he missed something.
Once she calmed down Felicity began to speak again, "Oliver this is the youngest in the family, Kyle."
Kyle gave a wave from his seat, "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," said Oliver.
And as everyone broke off into small conversations, Oliver began to feel nervous about how he was ever going to remember all of their names…let alone pulling off this charade he had with Felicity.