𝑨𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑳𝒊𝒍𝒚

Felicity blinked through an eye, careful not to be caught in case the kids wanted to surprise her with breakfast in bed. They did something sweet like that from time to time. She never would want to ruin it for them.

Instead of the kids – unsurprisingly actually since the kids were sweet but they usually failed to be quiet enough for Felicity not to hear them before they had even stepped into the bedroom – Oliver was sitting on the free side of the bed. He was resting with his back against the headboard, looking at her with a soft smile on his lips. He was holding a mug of coffee in his hand. With her eyes on him now, he lifted it to his lips and took a appreciative sip.

“Mean.” Felicity frowned, propped herself up onto her elbow and reached out for the mug. “I need that.”

Before her fingers got hold of the porcelain where the delicious smell came from, Oliver held it out of her reach though. He turned away from her, and she could hear him putting the mug to the nightstand.

“Mean,” she grumbled again and yawned. “I need that.”

“Oh, I know.”

Oliver chuckled and reached down next to the bed. Felicity considered leaning over his back and stealing his coffee from the nightstand. The thought had barely crossed her mind when Oliver already straightened up again though, lifting a tray with a large mug of coffee, some croissants and some pieces of fruits and vegetables onto the bed.

“But I thought you needed a little more this morning.”

Felicity perked up an eyebrow at him, already reaching for the mug of coffee. Usually, when Oliver would say something like that, it was because they had made love all night and he wanted to make sure that she got a good breakfast after a workout like that. Since they had both fallen into bed early last night, just snuggling close to each other right before falling asleep, there had to be some other reason.

“Are you planning on keeping me in bed all day?”

Oliver grinned. “Most of the day, I’d say.”

Felicity hummed, sipping at her coffee. “And what will I owe that pleasure to?”

Gasping for breath dramatically, Oliver held his hand to his heart. “I cannot believe you would forget.”

Felicity perked up her eyebrows a smiled innocently. “Forget what?”

“You are a terrible wife.” Oliver leaned over and brushed his lips against hers briefly. “You are lucky I love you so much and cannot be mad at me.”

“Lucky me.” Felicity smiled and took another sip from her coffee. “So? Why do I get breakfast and a through workout in bed today?”

“Because,” Oliver said and tapped the tip of his finger against the tip of her nose, “this is our fifteenth anniversary.”

Felicity frowned. “No, it isn’t. It’s-“

“-been fifteen years since we have first met when I showed up at your office while you were chewing on a pen.”

A soft smile spread on Oliver’s lips, realizing that he was right. Exactly fifteen years ago, she had been working on some tech issues when a warm voice saying her name had changed her life forever. It had been the first time Oliver had visited her, showing her a laptop that had clearly been damaged by bullet holes despite his claims that he had just spilled a latte on it. He had come to her with the most absurd stories after that and the rest was just history.

“Fifteen years,” Felicity said reverently and grabbed his hand, “can you believe it?”

Oliver linked his fingers with hers and stroked his thumb over the back of her hand. He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he allowed himself a moment of silence to think about it.

“I can’t believe it’s only fifteen years,” he said eventually, “given everything we have been through and everything we have built together. I can’t imagine a future without you, and I can’t really remember a past without you either.”

Felicity smiled softly, cocking her head. She remembered a time when Oliver hadn’t been able to talk about his feelings at all. Now he was so good at talking about his feelings that Felicity was sure that he was better at it than she could ever be.

“I’ve got a present for you,” Oliver said, filling the silence that her speechlessness had created, “and I think you want to open it before enjoying this delicious breakfast.”

Oliver pulled an envelope out of the back pocket of his sweatpants and held it out for her. Looking at him sternly, she put her mug of coffee away and took the envelope from him. Oliver chuckled at that.

“Why the grumpy face?”

“Because I didn’t get you a gift.”

“You being here with me despite everything I have put you through is my gift.”

Felicity sighed, a soft smile spreading on her lips against her will. “There is nothing you could have done that would have ever kept me away from you. I love you too much not work through everything we have to go through.”

“I feel the same way.” Oliver leaned over and kissed Felicity gently. “That is why none of the problems we went through ever stood the chance to really get between us. Now open your gift.”

“Someone’s eager.”

“To see your reaction? Absolutely.”

Felicity puckered her lips, wondering what he had gotten her. He had surprised her with quite some vacations during their marriage. He had translated a message into binary code once too. His nervousness told her that he had tried something new though, so she opened the envelope quickly and hurried to take out the one piece of paper inside.

There was a date written on it. December 7, 2027.

Frowning, Felicity turned the paper from in her hands again and again, trying to find some clue about the date’s meaning. But that was it. There was only the date, nothing more.

Felicity tried to remember if that date had some meaning to them too, but there was nothing that came to her mind. Oliver was much better with dates though. He would remember the smallest developments in their relationship by date. For a long time, remembering details had been a necessity to survive. Now it was just a habit that was hard to get away from.

“I don’t want to risk admitting that I forgot about another big event in our life,” Felicity said slowly, “but what exactly are we celebrating on December 7?”

“We are celebrating,” Oliver whispered, making a pause to increase the tension, “Mia’s adoption.”

Felicity felt her mouth go dry and her heart making a couple of stumbling beats.

For weeks, she had feared that Mia would never again be part of their family. She had missed her like crazy. She had felt like a piece of her had been missing. She had thought she could never be consoled. CPS had decided to place Mia back with them though, and now she had been with them ever since and it was great.

Still, Felicity had never really dared to think about a future when Mia would be truly theirs although they had talked about it to Mrs. Wheeler already. She just hadn’t dared to think about a future when nobody could just take her away from them as easily as she had been taken from them before.

She didn’t dare to speak, afraid that her voice would break and the tears that were burning in her eyes already would fall. So she just looked at Oliver, holding her breath, and waiting for him to confirm what she couldn’t allow herself to hope.

“It’s the date for our court hearing to adopt Mia.” He nodded his head. “I have the verbal confirmation already, and I was promised that we’d get a written confirmation by the end of the week. I just wanted to tell you already and not wait.”

Felicity nodded her head, breathing against the lump in her throat. She still didn’t really dare to speak, but she felt like she needed to. She needed one more confirmation.

“We are really going to adopt Mia?”

“Yes.” Oliver smiled, taking her hand and squeezing it. “We are going to adopt her this year already. She will be lawfully ours as she is our in our hearts already.”

It was a little corny, but Felicity couldn’t even care about that. They were going to adopt Mia, and she was going to be a legal part of their family. That was all she could think about.

With slightly trembling hands, Felicity pushed the tray with breakfast away to the foot of the bed. After only a beat of pause to really process this new piece of information, she threw herself at Oliver. Her arms wrapped around his neck tightly as she squeezed her upper body against his as close as possible. She had thought that a deep sob would come from her when she did so, but instead, what fell from her lips was an excited squeal.

“I cannot believe it!”

Oliver chuckled, turning them and letting himself fall into the mattress. Felicity used that new position to climb into Oliver’s lap and just pepper his face with thousands of kisses.

“I was a coincidence I got to know about it already. I ran into the judge’s assistant at City Hall, and she told me that she would send out the letter this week. I called the judge just to make sure, and he confirmed it. December 7, nine a.m.”

Felicity put her hands next to Oliver’s head and propped herself up onto her arms. She looked down on Oliver, who raised his hands to tuck her hair behind her ears.

“I know that we have talked about adopting her, but I always thought it wouldn’t happen. I don’t know, it felt so far away. And now…” Felicity said with a smile and sighed, “now she will become a legal part of this family before the end of the year.”

“It’s great, isn’t it?”

“It’s better than great. It’s perfect or even better than that. There needs to be a new word for how perfect this is.”

Oliver wrapped his arms back around her waist and tightened them around her body. He placed a gentle kiss to her jaw before looking at her once more.

“I love you,” he whispered.

Felicity nodded her head. “I love you too.”

Oliver dipped his head back, and Felicity put her hands to his cheeks. She let her fingertips brush through his short stubble gently. She knew how much he loved that feeling, and she couldn’t deny that she loved it very much too. Still smiling, she angled her head forward and brushed her lips against Oliver’s then.

The kiss started out slow and gentle. It held all the love they felt for each other. It was a symbol of cherishing this moment and the big change that would come for their family.

When their lips parted, Felicity couldn’t help but shift in Oliver’s lap though. She pressed herself more against the hardening bulk between his legs and moved her nose against his.

“I remember a time,” Oliver said slowly, letting his hands moved under the shirt she had been wearing for sleep and scratching his fingertips over her sensitive skin, “when the thought of having a baby join our family would make you very unwilling to have sex with me.”

Felicity hummed, puckering her lips. “I remember a time when having a baby made you very unable to have sex with me.”

Oliver pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek and cocked his head. “That’s not gonna happen this morning.”

“You better be right.”

With that Felicity captured Oliver’s lips in a searing kiss. Desire rushed all through her and made her move closer and closer to Oliver like she wanted to melt with him and become one. If there was a right way to celebrate that upcoming change in their life, she thought, it was that. At least for now.

→ → → → →

Once chased by the police, now chasing with the police.

The people behind the masks.

From murderer to hero.

The Hood. The Arrow. The Green Arrow. Our Hero.

One man for Starling City. Starling City for one man.

The world of Green Arrow and his team.

Oliver smiled softly, skimming some of the headlines that were painted in big letters on the wall of what had used to be his campaign office. Although the rooms were still recognizable from their structure, they didn’t resemble what they had looked like during the time of him running for mayor at all. At least not today.

Thea, who had been assigned head of the newly built Department for Vigilante Affairs, had created what the campaign office had turned into for the next couple of weeks. Accepting that position had been her way of leaving the street-duty permanently now and using her insight on the job to be the contact person at City Hall for matters concerning the new collaboration between the team, the city and the police. Her first action had been opening the doors of their hideout for the public, so the old campaign office and the hideout Felicity had set up years ago held an exhibition today. The city should once more reflect on the long way they had had come, and an exhibition like this also allowed the team to fulfill their promise of being more transparent.

With an almost reverent smile, Oliver looked at the first poster the SCPD had published when they had started investigating against the Hood. He had been faced with a lot of problems back then, problems that felt like they had been in another lifetime, especially regarding his relationship with the police. He could barely remember those days now that every police station in the SCPD had an own unit or at least a an authorized officer to manage the cooperation with the vigilantes.

There were new problems now, different ones. He wouldn’t say that they were easier, but he was lucky to have friends and family by his side. Facing those problems together made a lot of things easier.

Since Oliver had already visited the exhibition yesterday before it had been opened for the public, he turned away from the exhibition pieces and let his gaze wander to find Felicity in the crowd of people. He wasn’t surprised not to find her. He knew her too well not to assume that she was down in the bunker to explain some of her their tech features to some visitors.

Deciding to join her there, Oliver took the elevator down into the bunker and smiled when he found her right where he had been sure she would be. She was sitting in her chair on the platform, calling up the footage of some surveillance camera in the city on one monitor and all possible data she could call up about herself on another one. When a child in the audience raised his hand to ask a question, she only smiled and told him to ask away all he wanted.

When Felicity had suggested abandoning this hideout for safety reasons, Oliver had thought that it had to be hard on her. Back when he had been forced to turn himself in a couple of years ago after they had been blackmailed by that horrible reporter Susan Williams, they had been forced to give up their previous hideout. Felicity had been the one to design this new place under the campaign office. It had been a lot more efficient than their old place because they had already known what they needed. Oliver hadn’t truly known that when he had set up the hideout under Verdant yet.

The truth had turned out different though. Felicity had been kind of excited to set up something new. She had immediately pulled up plans and ideas. After presenting them to the team, they had made some minor changes, and she had gotten right into work. It would take a couple more days until everything was truly set up, a time during which they would have to improvise a little, but it would be great then.

Her plan was to use one of the abandoned subway stations as a new hideout. Thanks to the railroads the subway station was easily accessed from City Hall, Queen Incorporated, Green Doors and even some of their homes. Felicity was even installing some kind of small self-driving cars, so they could get their easily. She had been all fired up when she had been talking about the plans.

Oliver watched Felicity, once more feeling his heart warming for her in a way only she could do. He had sometimes wondered how his life would have gone if she hadn’t come to the loft he had shared with Thea back then and hadn’t just decided that they were together, no matter how many doubts he might have about it. He might have pined after her and regretted never being with her, but he probably would have cut his heart out before he would have asked her to be with him and deliberately pulled her into the darkness that had surrounded him back them.

Or maybe he would have just admitted that he had been powerless when it came to his feelings for Felicity. Who knew? The thought made a smile spread on his lips.

When Oliver noticed a movement at his side, he turned his head briefly to find John stepping next to him. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and followed Oliver’s gaze with his own eyes.

“I have just taken a look at the new hideout,” he said quietly, not looking at Oliver, “and it’s barely believable what was built there, considering how we started.”

“We started poorly. Felicity’s update was the first of many steps to the functional hideout we have now.”

“Crazily functional,” John said with a nod of his head, “and surprisingly well hidden.”

Oliver grinned. “Felicity will be happy to hear that. She wants to challenge Bruce to find the hideout.”

“That would certainly give us an idea of how secure the location really is. Lyla suggested the same for A.R.G.U.S. by the way.”

“Wouldn’t hurt to have more than one entity set on finding that hideout.”

“I’ll tell her tonight.”

Both men nodded and continued to stand next to each other in silence. They both watched Felicity still interacting with some visitors.

“I was lucky to find you and her,” Oliver said eventually, still not looking at John, “because none of this would have been possible without the two of you.”

The corners of John’s lips twitched, but he bit back on any humorous comment. He just nodded his head quietly and puckered his lips.

John had been put through a lot when he had been hired as Oliver’s bodyguard. No wonder that he had quit after a short time, especially after Oliver had basically just dumped his secret on him. He had saved his life before that, just to be fair, but it certainly had been heavy on Johne nonetheless, so it hadn’t been surprising that he had first rejected Oliver’s suggestion to join him on his crusade.

“I think we were lucky to find each other,” John said quietly, “all three of us.”

Oliver smiled at the kind words. For a long time, he had believed that he would infect everyone he let into his life with darkness. He had believed that all the bad things that happened to the people close to him were on him. He had believed that everyone was better off without him.

John and Felicity had proved that that wasn’t the case. They had showed Oliver that teammates, friendships, love and family were well in his reach. They had offered it to him, and he had taken it. And surprisingly the world hadn’t gone down.

“All of this” – Oliver looked around the room and the visitor briefly – “wouldn’t have been possible without you and Felicity. You helped me give my crusade more purpose. You helped me to give my life purpose.”

Now John turned to Oliver fully, and Oliver did the same in response. He looked in John’s soft eyes and saw nothing but truth there.

“So have you for me and surely for Felicity too. We gave each other’s life a purpose. You might have had the most issues when we first got together in all of this, but we all needed saving in our different ways. We gave that to each other.”

John – like so often – reached out his hand with a smile that told Oliver he knew exactly how he was going to react to it. Oliver spread his arms and they two embraced each other in a brief but firm hug.

As much as Oliver appreciated everyone on the team, Oliver was sure that he wouldn’t be where he was now if John and Felicity hadn’t been the first people to join his team. If it had been anyone else, his life would be different in uncountable ways.

He’d be grateful forever.

→ → → → →

“And what exactly are we going to do there?” William asked judicially and tightened his hold on Millie’s and Addie’s hand. “Because going to the rooftop of a skyscraper at night with four kids under ten years doesn’t sound like the best idea.”

While Felicity only bit back an amused grin, Oliver turned around to William and cocked his head at him. A heavy sigh fell from his lips.

“You are too sensible for your age. When I was your age, I-“

“Oh, don’t remind us of all the things you did when you were his age,” Felicity intervened now, shooting Oliver a long look back over her shoulder, “please.”

A silent conversation happened between their eyes. Felicity enumerated all the things Oliver had done when he had been about William’s age in her head, including sleeping with sisters, punching reporters and peeing at a patrol car. The last was her all-time favorite, she guesses. Oliver puckered his lips in response and admitted defeat.

“Just relax and have some fun,” Oliver said instead, squeezing William’s shoulder for a moment, “and everyone else remembers always to have one hand in one of the adults’.”

Oliver himself tightened his arm around Mia, but she was tightly tugged in her baby carrier and almost half-asleep. She certainly wouldn’t be able to go anywhere tonight. With his free hand, he quickly grabbed Tommy’s hand. Tommy quickly moved closer to Oliver, clinging to his side, and Oliver squeezed his hand reassuringly in response.

Felicity unlocked the door to the rooftop of the Queen Incorporated Tower. With the hand on the doorknob, she held out her other hand to Emmy. She hesitated only briefly before she put her hand into her mother’s.

Felicity and Emmy led the way outside onto the rooftop. William followed with Millie and Addie. Oliver, joined by Tommy and Mia, went last. They stood at the door for a moment before looking at each other reassuringly and eventually stepping closer to the edge. They stopped roughly five feet away from the edge, all standing next to each other.

When Felicity linked her arm with Oliver’s, he shot her a brief glance. He knew that she was afraid of heights. He had known since that moment in the elevator well when she had stood next to him, shaken. The memory brought a smile to his lips. Felicity, hold onto me tight. – I imagined you saying that under different circumstances. Very platonic circumstances.

Rolling her eyes, Felicity elbowed his side. She probably remembered this moment too because she did her best to bite back an amused grin. Oliver, knowing her as well as he did, noticed it nonetheless.

Taking in a deep breath, Oliver turned his head back to the city. It seemed to be a quiet night. There wasn’t much noise from the traffic. There weren’t much noises at all. It was indeed as quiet as it could possibly be. Most people seemed to be asleep already. There were barely any lights in the windows. The only light that was to be seen came from the streetlights. They traced the road network, drawing an outline of the city.

For so long this city had been damaged. There had been a rift between its people – between people in and beyond the Glades, between rich and poor. Oliver doubted that a rift like that could ever be truly closed, no matter the history of a city. But Starling was on a good way to build a real community where people helped each other, no matter where they came from and what they had. The night of Blood Rose’s attacks had brought them closer. Now they just needed to keep embracing that connection.

Even after Emmy and Tommy had been born, there had been moments when Oliver had thought this city was unsavable. He had thought hat nothing he or anyone could do would bring the people here closer together. The Undertaking and everything that had happened to make it come so far would have been too much to ever overcome.

Now that was different. Although everyone in this city new now that he was the Green Arrow and that he had been the Hood and the Arrow before that, he didn’t feel unsafe. He didn’t feel unsafe for his children. He knew that the people of the city wouldn’t let anything happen to them if they got a chance to prevent it. The city was on his side now.

Of course there were still criminals out there, but they knew that he knew they were there. Within these last weeks they had kind of come to an unspoken agreement. As long as they played by some rules by not endangering innocent people and by keeping their crimes away from children and other vulnerable groups, they wouldn’t be chased down by the Green Arrow and his team.

Oliver had come to the conclusion that no city would ever be truly without crime. There would always be drug dealers. There would always be robbers. There would always be people joining in petty-criminal activities. Every city had to deal with it, Starling City would be no exception, but the crime rate was so low that the police – with the help of the city’s heroes – would be able to handle it without an entire neighborhood of the city falling into darkness.

This was a city that he could raise his kids in and that he could give to his children eventually because he knew that the Queen Family would always have to carry a certain responsibility when it came to this city. His parents had made sure that the Queen Family would always owe something to this city, and he had made sure that this city would always owe something to them. Even if neither their family now Starling City would see it that way.

“This isn’t going to be a The Lion King moment, is it?” Emmy asked, looking at Oliver with a frown.

“A what?”

Emmy rolled her eyes, something she loved to do lately. “The moment where you tell us that everything the light touches is going to be ours one day.”

Oliver opened his mouth to reply, but be closed it again, unsure what exactly to answer to that. He had kind of planned on making sure that the kids knew this was their city too – that they would be protected by them as long as they helped protecting it too.

“You had planned something like that.” Emmy grinned. “I knew it.”

“Smartass.”

“Like mom.” Emmy’s grin widened. “So you love it.”

Oliver unwrapped his arm from Mia’s body for a moment, so he could smack the back of Emmy’s hand playfully. She only chuckled in response and leaned against his side for a moment.

“I doubt that I can promise you this city if we don’t really owe this city.”

“True.” Emmy puckered her lips and nodded her head. Angling her head back, she frowned at looked at Oliver again. “But?”

Oliver chuckled. Of course Emmy would detect the unsaid ‘but’ that was in his words.

“But,” he continued pointedly, “I thought it was right to come here and use this moment of all of us alone together to really come to realize that this is our home. There were moments when I felt like it wasn’t, but that’s over. I couldn’t imagine living our life together anywhere but here.”

“How about Bali?” Tommy asked.

“Well,” Oliver said slowly, “maybe there too, but that’s a whole different story.”

“I like Bali,” Millie said.

“Me too.” Addie sighed. “I miss Bali.”

“Oh yes! When are we going to Bali again?” Emmy asked.

“Soon,” Felicity replied, “I have already planned something, but it will take a little while longer and-“

“Guys, guys.” Oliver shook his head until everyone stopped talking. “Wrong moment to discuss Bali. This is a moment to think about Starling City and be grateful for how far it had come and the peace it offers all of us to live a safe and happy life here.”

“I’d be grateful if it was a little warmer,” William whispered, “like on Bali.”

Oliver glanced at him with pretended annoyance, and William turned to look at Starling City with a grin. One by one, all of the children turned to look at Starling, and Oliver watched his kids truly take in the city for the first time it seemed. Of course they couldn’t remember what the city had been like forty, thirty or even just fifteen year ago, but they knew more about its history and the darkness that had covered the city for quite some time than some adults probably did. They had watched the city change and experienced the changing views there had been on vigilantes too. So they knew how far this city had come.

While the kids were still watching their hometown, Oliver felt a gaze on him and turned his head to find Felicity’s eyes on him. She was smiling at him softly, and he knew exactly what she was thinking.

It wasn’t only the city that had come this far. They – as individuals and together – had come this far too. They, just like the city, had changed in ways they had never thought possible twenty or even thirty years ago.

Changing the city had changed them. To the better.

And right now, right here – although it seemed unthinkable – Oliver knew that they would change the city to become even better, so that they could become even better. He didn’t know how or when, but that didn’t matter. They had become the best versions of themselves just by being together, and Oliver was hopeful that they would still have a long future together to embrace that dynamic further and further.

As long as Felicity was with him and they had their kids and all of them had this city, Oliver knew that every challenge in life would only drive him to become a better hero, a better mayor, a better person, a better husband, a better father.

That, he thought, still looking at Felicity, wasn’t only his promise to Starling City, but also to all of the people he loved so much that were here with him now.

This entire journey had started with a promise. So, he guessed, it should end with one. And that was it.

THE END TO A STORY

* * *

I don't think I will ever find the words to describe what all of your support meant to me. Maybe one day soon I will find a way to let all of you know how much this story and all of you joining me on this loooong ride, especially since Arrow hasn't been on air for quite some time now...

As long as I can't, just let me say this:

Whether you read the whole damn thing or just read some chapters every now and then,

whether you liked and/or commented and/or reblogged some of it or not,

whether you followed from the start or joined in somewhere inbetween,

whether you told me your headcanons for these characters, suggested some ideas for the story or not,

this story wouldn't have grown into what it was if it wasn't for you.