A/N: First I want to thank each and every one of you who have commented or left a kudos! Please know that it makes my heart smile. I came into this not sure what what my reception would be and y'all have been most welcoming. Thank you! I cherish the feedback!
Second a massive thanks to my very busy beta, she is a AMAZING, despite having a billion things to do she somehow finds time to get my works whipped into shape. Bkworm4life4 you are truly a rockstar!
Lastly, so my niece is obsessed with the show, and we saw where some of the case (Oliver, Felicity, Diggle, & Malcolm) wouldn't be too far away (about 5 hours) so my extra auntie self bought us tickets and a couple of photo ops and away we went last weekend BEFORE the Savannah trip (why yes I am a glutton for punishment, lol)! She had a blast and invited Stephen Amell, Emily Bett Rickard's, & David Ramsey to her Arrow themed 10th birthday party, lol. (She dislikes John Barrowman because of the whole evil Malcolm Merlyn, lol.) They were freaking awesome! Like so sweet to my very shy niece and made a big deal out of her inviting them to her party! Anyways enough of my babbling, onto the show!
Felicity came back in the room, "I am so ready to dig into that food now, I didn't realize how hungry I really was!" She took a couple of bites, "Okay you weren't kidding when you said that your housekeeper, Raisa?" She asked around a mouthful , at Oliver's nod she continued, "Is an excellent cook."
They ate in companionable silence for a while. Then Oliver asked, "Can I have one of the ultrasound pictures?" Felicity looked at him a questioning look on her face. "I want to keep it with me in case I get temped to do something stupid." He shrugged, feeling unsure of himself, "You know as a reminder that I want to be a good example for this kid."
Nodding Felicity tore the bottom two off at the edges. "Your mom will want one too I bet." She handed the two pictures over. "Speaking of doing something stupid, can you please tell me the story of why you stole a taxi? You had to have known that you can just pay the driver to take you wherever you want." She continued eating.
"Really?"
"Yep," Felicity popped the p in the last part of the word, grinning at Oliver around a forkful of dessert.
Shaking his head Oliver said, "I'm going to wait till you meet Tommy to hear that one, he was there and tells it so much better than I do."
"You've mentioned this Tommy before." Felicity had just about cleaned her plate and was reaching for the dessert.
"Tommy's my best friend. We've been friends since before I could remember. His mom and mine were friends." Oliver explained.
"I wish I had a friend like that." Felicity said and smiled wistfully.
Oliver looked at her realizing that he didn't really know that much about her, "So Felicity Smoak, tell me about yourself. Any siblings? Favorite color? Favorite school subject?" Felicity grinned around bites of her dessert, "No, blue, and computer science, of course." The two chatted getting to know each other until Moira stuck her head in again. "Felicity the jet is waiting to take you to Vegas if you are ready to leave."
Looking at her watch Felicity exclaimed, "Oh shoot, I better scoot if I don't want my mom to send out a search party."
Oliver stood up with her, "Are you feeling better?"
She beamed up at him, "Tons, thank you." She leaned in and gave him a hug, pausing briefly he pulled her into his chest then let her go. She grabbed her two ultrasound pictures and was out the door. Moira escorted her to the door and returned to the drawing room a few minutes later.
Oliver had sat back down and was looking at the ultrasound when Moira walked back in. Feeling his mom sit down beside him he let out a deep sigh. "Felicity told me about the money you offered her. At first, I didn't want to believe it, but I thought of all the other trouble you and Dad have made go away over the last few years and it made sense."
"Oliver," Moira started, but Oliver cut her off.
"Mom this isn't something you can make go away."
"I know that now." Moira said quietly. She took Oliver's chin and turned his head to face her. "I thought that this was something that you weren't ready for, and I should protect you from it. But tonight, you and Felicity both proved me wrong."
"You are right Mom, I'm not ready yet, but by the time my baby gets here I will have to be ready." Oliver stood up.
Moira smiled at her son, "My beautiful boy I am so proud of you and for once I am glad to be proven wrong." She stood up and gave him a hug.
He halfheartedly returned the hug, still upset at his mom's underhanded actions, and grabbed the second copy of the ultrasound and held it out to her, "Felicity wanted you to have this." She took the copy. "Now I've got a few things that I need to take care of if you'll excuse me." He didn't wait for her to answer, but headed up to his room.
Sitting in his office chair Oliver put his copy of the ultrasound in his wallet to remind him of what he was working towards. Knowing he had two calls to make, to both Tommy and Laurel, he tried to delay the inevitable and decided to call Tommy first.
"Hey buddy!" The jovial voice of his best friend greeted him. "You ready to party? I can swing by and pick you up or we can just meet at the club."
"I'm not going out tonight." Oliver responded not quite knowing how to start with his news.
"Oh, man! Don't tell me you're grounded again?" Tommy said. "Wait! No! Please tell me that your parents haven't found our drug stash!"
Oliver chuckled at the thought of his Mom checking his room for drugs. "It's safe, but you're going to have to move it."
"OK," Tommy paused thinking. "Does this have something to do with why you've been so withdrawn lately?"
"Yea," Oliver answered.
"Spill it all out to Dr. Tommy."
Rubbing his face Oliver shook his head, "You're ridiculous, you know that? You remember me telling you about that goth chick that I hooked up with during spring break?"
"Totally, I was pissed that my spring break didn't start till later and missed the show. She must have been pretty hot if you're bringing her up again." Tommy paused, "Don't tell me that you and Laurel broke up again."
"You'd like her, she makes me smile. And no, we haven't." He paused for a second then added, "Yet," Oliver answered honestly knowing it was only a matter of him telling her about Felicity.
"Not yet? Oliver what did you do this time? Did the paparazzi catch you doing drugs with this chick?" Tommy's voice had turned from happy to downright serious.
"If only," there wasn't an easy way to say it. "Instead I knocked her up."
"You what?" Tommy said his voice rising. "You know it's not April Fools for like eleven more months, and that shit ain't funny."
"I wish it was an April Fool's joke, but she's definitely pregnant."
"I have only one question," Tommy said seriously.
Only one Oliver thought, if it was the other way around he would have about a thousand. "What?"
"Do you want an open or closed casket funeral? Laurel's going to kill you." It was said as a statement of fact.
Oliver sighed and cradled his head in his hand, "I know. I'm going to call her as soon as I get off the phone with you."
"It's your funeral pal." Tommy said some of the mirth back in his voice. "You know Thomas is a great name if you have a boy, Thomasina if it's a girl."
Oliver snorted a laugh, "I'll let Felicity know we've got the name covered." They were both silent for a bit letting the information sink in.
"Text me after you get off the phone with Laurel so I know that you've survived."
"I might survive Laurel, only to be taken out by my Dad. I'm not sure if Mom's told him yet, and he's supposed to be back tonight or tomorrow, I'm not sure."
The misery in his voice came through loud and clear to Tommy, "Ouch, so what kinda songs do you want played at the funeral? I'm thinking something a little more upbeat and nothing churchy cause you haven't been in who knows how long."
"Bye Tommy," Oliver said hanging up to his friend's laughter.
He sat there staring at the phone his heart in his throat knowing that he needed to make the call and dreading it. He took a deep breath and hit Laurel's number, she quickly answered the phone. "Hey babe, we going out with Tommy later?" Before he even had a chance to reply she continued, "Oh and before I forget I found us the cutest apartment! I think that you'll love it." The excitement in her voice made Oliver's gut twist with shame at what he was about to tell her.
"Hey Laurel, I have something important to tell you." Oliver almost whispered. While he was waiting for a reply his bedroom door opened, and his father poked his head in. Seeing Oliver was on the phone Robert mouthed 'my office'. Oliver nodded and Robert slipped out.
"Oh god," Laurel snapped, the happiness in her voice fading away. "Who is it this time? Do I know whatever tart you screwed?"
"You don't know her," he said quietly. "And I didn't cheat. It happened while we were broken up during spring break."
"That was just a break, not a complete break up." She was quiet a minute. "So what newspaper or magazine am I going to see 'Oliver Queen Cheats on Girlfriend, Again' as the title?"
"None of them," Oliver answered honestly.
"Then why are you telling me that you cheated, again." Laurel accused.
"I didn't cheat on you! You were the one that said we should take a break after I questioned if it was wise for us to move in together!" He answered heatedly.
"I said, that maybe we should cool off during spring break. Not break up!" She breathed angrily for a second, trying to calm herself down. "But the question remains why are you telling me? I know you and you never confess to anything unless you have to." This time her voice was level.
"Because I got her pregnant." Oliver said quietly knowing that it was going to break Laurel's heart.
"You what?" She hissed, fury in her voice.
"I'm sorry, you know that I love you." He apologized his voice breaking.
"No!" She barked, then paused a second. "No, if you really loved me you wouldn't have had sex with other women while we were together." Oliver could hear the tears in her voice. "I forgave you more than once, Ollie, but this is it. We're done."
"Laurel," Oliver started to say.
"Don't! Don't talk to me! I don't want to see you, I don't want to hear you, just go away." The phone went dead. Oliver could feel the tears slipping down his face. He hated the misery he was causing Laurel, he did love her, he thought miserably.
Wiping his face, he remembered his dad sticking his head in the door and knew that he would be waiting for him in his office. Oliver thought he might as well get it over with and ducked into the bathroom to wash the tears from his face and then headed to his dad's office on the ground floor. With a soft knock he opened the door, and saw his dad sitting behind his desk flipping through a small leather book which he quickly tucked in his desk as Oliver opened the door. With a sigh, he flung himself in one of the plush armchairs situated in front of the massive oak desk. It felt like one of the many times he had been called to the headmaster's office in school. His dad got up and went to where he kept the good scotch and poured a finger in each of the two glasses.. Sitting down he placed one in front of Oliver while he held the other one in his hand.
"Oliver," Robert said.
"Dad," Oliver replied. Taking a sip of the scotch he placed it back on the desk. "I guess Mom's already told you the news."
His dad looked at him evenly, "Maybe but I want to hear it from you."
Looking down at his lap Oliver mumbled, "I got a girl pregnant."
"Look at me please," Robert commanded. Oliver looked up expecting to see his anger in his fathers' face, but was met with what looked like sadness instead. "Tell me again."
With a sigh, he straightened up and looked his dad in the face, "I messed up and got a girl I barely know pregnant."
Robert nodded and took a sip of his scotch, "What about Laurel?"
"At the time I thought we were broken up, but we totally are now. I was on the phone with her when you popped in to let me know that you wanted me to come down here. She never wants to see me again." He could feel his eyes filling up with tears.
Unexpectedly his dad came around the desk and sat on the chair beside him and place his warm hand on Oliver's knee grounding him, "Son, we all make mistakes, some worse than others." He paused and stared off into the distance. "But what matters and what is most important is how we handle the situation." He reached across and knocked back the rest of his scotch in one swallow. "I've badly mishandled some situations, but I'm hoping to do better and I hope that you will too."
Oliver nodded, "I want to Dad. I told Felicity that I want to be a part of this baby's life."
Robert smiled, "Your mom told me that you guys got to hear the heartbeat today. I remember when we first heart your heartbeat and saw your ultrasound." He smiled at his oldest, "It was a special time for your mom and I. Now have you given any thought as to how you are going to be a part of the baby's life?" Robert questioned leaning back in the chair.
"A little," Oliver shrugged. "I'd thought about seeing if you could help me get back into Harvard so that we would be in the same city, but that's about as far as I got."
Nodding Robert said, "You know we have a subsidiary of Queen Consolidated there."
"Dad you know that I don't want to take over the company." Oliver didn't want to rehash the old argument they've had a hundred times.
"Having a child is not about what you want or what is best for you. It's about what is best for the child." They were both silent for a while before Robert got up. "I've got a trip to China in a couple of days and I'm planning on taking the Gambit. How about you come with me, and we get a game plan together."
Nodding Oliver thought that sounded perfect. It would keep him away from Laurel, and give him a chance to get his head clear and concentrate on what the future held for him. "That sounds good Dad. When are we leaving?"
"We will leave the day after tomorrow. That way you can take tomorrow and pack, today's been a long day for us both." Robert came to stand in front of his son putting his hand on his son's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "I'm proud of you for taking responsibility for this child."
Oliver stood up and hugged his father, "Thanks Dad."
As he left his father's office his phone dinged with a text from Tommy, "You still alive?"
He responded, "And kicking, going with Dad on the yacht in a couple of days.Business trip." A few minutes later Tommy replied, "Yachts suck." With a laugh Oliver went back to his room to get ready for bed. He was just about to go to sleep when his phone dinged, then dinged again. The first text was from Felicity, "At my Mom's, night." Oliver sent back, 'night.' The other one was from Sara, Laurel's younger sister who he had fooled around with when Laurel wasn't around, 'Is it true?' He just sent back, 'yes', then shut the phone off for the night.
A/N 2: Let me know what you think!