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Felicity sat on her couch listening to the comms while searching the necessary information out on her computer. She had needed a night in, despite the fact that she was still working with the team. After spending all day at the offices stuck in meetings for the company she and Curtis owned, all she had wanted was her pajamas and pint of mint chip.
“Feliss,” William said tapping her on the shoulder. “Can I head out? Some of the guys wanted to meet up at Big Belly Burger.”
Muting her end, Felicity glanced up and smiled at her step-son. “Of course. Just Big Belly Burger, right?”
William rolled his eyes. Something he was doing more and more lately now that he hit his teens. “Yes,” he muttered in exasperation. He was well aware she could easily track him so he hardly ever asked to be anywhere he really wasn’t. William had already tried to push those limits before only to have the Green Arrow drag his butt home in front of his friends.
Felicity smiled at the memory because it ended with William slamming his door shut in anger saying he would have so much explaining to do at school the next day. Oliver had stood there banging his green covered head against the wall in frustration, cursing teenage boys. Felicity had found herself doubling over in laughter because she knew that part of Oliver’s head-banging stemmed from the fact of the unknown. Earlier that day, the two of them discovered that Felicity was expecting their first child, which could easily be another headstrong male Queen, or worse, a female one.
Without thought, Felicity rubbed her swollen belly. “Go. Your father will be late tonight anyway.”
Concern lined William’s face. “You know, on second thought, it’s been a while since we’ve had a rematch.” William nodded toward the television where his game system was set up. “If you could take a break, we could play and order in some Chinese food.”
“Nice try.” Felicity knew exactly what he was trying to do. Oliver thought she didn’t know he had asked William to look after her when he was not there since she was so close to her due date. “I don’t need a babysitter. I’ll be fine. There’s still a whole month before this baby is due.”
“You sure?” William rocked back and forth on his heels. Felicity knew he really wanted to go. Oliver had his own nervous habits when he was ready to leave. She knew her boys well.
“Go,” Felicity told him again nodding toward the door. With one last concerned glance, William bolted. She was about to yell at him for leaving the front door open when she realized someone was there. Felicity’s first instinct was to turn on the comms and cry for help before reaching for her computer to use as a weapon. Too many times they had villains show up to their home. Only this was not some super villain. It was Donna Smoak. “Mom? What are you doing here?”
“Look at you,” Donna squealed as she entered, closing the door behind her. When she turned back her eyes were watering as she raised a hand to her red lips. “Oh, baby, you’re so big.”
Felicity pushed herself up off the couch. “That’s what happens when you are this far along.”
Donna toddled over on her sky-high heels and wrapped her hands around Felicity’s distended belly. “My grandbaby.”
“Mom. Mom.” Felicity tried to get her mom’s attention back on her and not on her burgeoning stomach. “Why are you here?”
“It’s Hanukkah,” Donna told her as she raised her blonde head to meet her daughter’s eyes.
“It is?” Felicity had completely forgotten. Then she wondered how she had managed to do that. But it hit her that things had been crazy of late. Meta-humans had shown up in swarms the last few weeks. Even Barry and his team, as well as Supergirl, had all been called in to assist. All part of the reason Oliver was not currently at home. Was it any wonder all of them had forgotten about the approaching holidays?
“You forgot,” Donna said while looking around the house. She make a small sound of disapproval. “You haven’t even decorated.”
“I did forget. And except for tonight, I really haven’t had any time to process the holidays were even here. Plus, I hardly have any energy anymore.”
“Well, that’s going to end because I’m here now,” Donna told her with a smile.
“How…” Felicity took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “How long are you staying?” Honestly, she already had sneaking suspicion of the answer.
“As long as you need me, baby. Oliver thought it would be a good idea if I came over and helped out with the baby coming and all.” Donna waved her hand dismissively, as if Felicity should have already realized all of this.
“Of course he did.” Felicity fisted her hand but held onto the smile she gave to her mother. “Did he know you were coming now?”
“Well, he did say something about in a few weeks, but I thought it was the holidays and they can be stressful.” Donna swiped a piece of hair from Felicity’s face. “I didn’t want you to stress out and have to do it all by yourself.” Donna shrugged. “With your jobs and Oliver’s own work, I just thought now was as good a time as any.” Donna cradled Felicity’s belly again. “I want my grandbaby to be the healthiest little girl who ever existed.”
Felicity held back the scream that bubbled in the bottom of her throat. But the scream she did hear was not her own. It came over the comms and made her jump.
“Honey?” Donna glanced up at her in concern. “Is everything okay? Is it the baby?”
Tapping the comms back on, Felicity was determined to find out the answer to the first question. “Is everything okay, Green Arrow? Spartan?”
“We’re fine,” Diggle assured her. “Can you tell us how many people are still in the building?”
“Sure. One second.” Felicity pushed her mom aside and raced as fast as she could toward her computer. Sitting down, Felicity pulled the computer onto what remained of her lap. She tapped away to pull up a heat image. “I’m reading five heat signatures outside of the team. Two in the Northeast side of the building and three in the south.”
“We’ll take the south,” Dinah said. She was with Wild Dog closest to the south side entrance.
“Spartan and I will cover the front,” Oliver told her. “Overwatch, how are you doing?”
Felicity glanced over at her mother who had perched on the other end of the couch, primping into a mirror. She let out a sigh before responding. “Let’s just say that we’re in for a long discussion when the mission is over.”
She heard Digg let out a strangled laugh while Oliver groaned. Felicity bit back a smile at their response. “Oh, it’s so much worse than that, buddy.”
“Do I need to come home?” Oliver asked.
“No. Not yet. Do what you need to do, but I’m signing off unless you think you’ll need me.”
“Overwatch is out,” Oliver informed the team. “Mission is our own.”
OQFSOQFSOQFS
Felicity sat across from her mom at the nearby Italian restaurant where she and Oliver liked to dine whenever they had a free moment. The ambiance was not exactly the same when your dinner partner was your mother.
“I like this place,” Donna said as she glanced around. “I think Quentin brought me here once.”
“When are you going to admit that the two of you are so much better together than apart? I know you tried to get back together with Noah, but c’mon.” Felicity stared down her mother. “You and Quentin, you’re meant to be.”
“How long did it take you and Oliver?” Donna deflected her mouth drawn up tight.
“Good point.” Felicity raised her sparkling water in her mom’s direction.
“Oh! I almost forgot.” Donna turned sharply and pulled a small box from her coat pocket and laid it on the table between them before reaching in her purse to extract an envelope. She slid both across the table toward Felicity. “Happy Hanukkah. The box is for the baby and the envelope is for you.”
Felicity reached for the envelope first feeling completely guilty that she had forgotten the holidays and thus had not done any shopping. In fact, the only shopping she had done lately was to prepare for the baby’s arrival.
Opening the envelope, Felicity found a certificate for a spa day. She glanced up questioning. Spa days did not seem like a good thing when she was this far along, even if she needed one desperately.
“It’s for the both of us,” Donna told her. “I thought you’d like a day to relax before the baby comes.” When Felicity opened her mouth to protest, her mom shook her head. “Don’t worry. They are aware that you’re pregnant and I contacted your OB-GYN and she thought that it might be a good idea to lower your blood pressure.”
Having nothing more to say, Felicity went with, “Thank you, mom.”
“Open the other one,” Donna said with almost uncontained glee. Her eyes sparkled in her excitement as she practically bounced in her seat.
Felicity reached for the overly pink box wrapped in a light pink bow. Pulling the latter off, Felicity slid the lid off and gaped at what was inside. “It’s gorgeous.” Her eyes lifted to meet her mother’s. “And too expensive.”
Donna only giggled with happiness. “You like it, then? I thought since your husband was pretty much born with a silver spoon in his mouth, that your daughter could have no less.” Donna flipped her hair. “Actually, I wanted better for my grandbaby.”
“This is definitely not less,” Felicity said as she pulled out the golden spoon with a handle studded with pink crystals. “Is this real gold?”
Donna nodded. “And Swarovski crystals.”
“You can’t afford this,” Felicity told her in concern. She placed it carefully back in the box. “You should return this.”
“No. It was a gift from a client of mine at the casino.” Donna smiled and fluffed her hair. “He called me his lucky charm. He won big three nights in a row whenever I was nearby. So, he gifted me with that.” Donna tapped on the open box with the spoon. “He said he planned to give it to his granddaughter when she was about to be born, but she was stillborn and he hasn’t been lucky enough to have another granddaughter. Plus, he also tipped me enough to pay for my ticket here.”
“Wow!” Felicity was utterly speechless. She stared down at the spoon. “That guy must have been pretty rich already.”
Donna waved casually. “He was some sheik from somewhere. I don’t remember. He told me to call him Sam. And he wished you all the best for the baby.” Donna took a deep breath and her face that had been so animated fell. “It kind of took my mind off the latest fight I had with your father.”
It was Felicity who shook her head this time. “I don’t know why you even still try. You and Quentin did so much better.”
“Thanks.” Donna glared at her before reaching quickly for her wine. She tried to hide the fact that a tear fell down her face by taking a large drink.
“Sorry,” Felicity apologized. She knew Quentin was a tough subject for her mother. They really did work out when they wanted it to. Only her mother ran every time things got a little tough because she panicked thinking that Quentin would turn out to be another Noah. Which was irony because when she ran she always seemed to search out Noah. It was a horrible cycle that needed to be broken. Felicity could only hope that soon it would. Noah had hurt the Smoak women enough through the years.
“I still feel bad that I forgot about the holiday,” Felicity told her mom after she allowed her time to compose herself.
Donna patted Felicity’s hand. “Don’t worry about it, baby. I’m here now to help you out.”
However, it did bother Felicity. All through dinner and back to her house after dropping her mom off at the hotel that she insisted staying at. Kicking off her shoes at the door, Felicity rested against it for a moment. She closed her eyes to decompress from her mother’s surprise visit.
“You okay?”
Felicity opened her eyes and noticed William peeking out from his bedroom door down the hallway. She smiled at him. “I’m fine.”
“Okay.” William nodded and began to close his door again, but then opened it again to address her. “Oh! I noticed you didn’t have your menorah up this year. I asked one of the guys to go with me to the storage place and we brought over the box. I hope that’s okay. I put the box in the kitchen for you. I didn’t want to set it up, I figured you would want to do that.” He came out of his room and approached. His face was lined in concern as he took in her pose, much like his father’s would have been had he seen her. “Do you want to rest? I can unpack it for you and you can light it later.”
“I can do it. Thank you, though.” Felicity pushed off the door, sliding off her coat before wrapping her arms around William for a quick hug. It was all he would allow lately. “But, I wouldn’t mind if you helped me hang this up.”
William took her coat from her and went to hang it up in the closet. He was as much of a neat freak as his father. Sometimes it drove Felicity insane. Today, Felicity was appreciative.
He followed her into the kitchen and Felicity noticed the box as well as a small one next to it. Turning so she could face her step-son, she picked it up. “What’s this?”
William’s cheeks turned pink. “Just a little something for your first day of Hanukkah. It’s not much.”
Felicity didn’t care that he didn’t want to hug anymore. She dragged him into her arms for a tight hug. Her cheeks became wet from the tears that she could not hold back. Her fracking pregnancy hormones. “Thank you. I feel even worse now that I forgot the holidays.”
William shrugged out of her hold. “It’s okay. You’ve been busy. Plus, Christmas is a week away, so you’re good. Amazon delivers pretty quickly,” he told her with a wink.
“Yes, they do,” Felicity said with a soft, watery laugh. She wiped her face with her sleeves.
“With all that you have on your plate with the company, working with dad at night, and the baby, I’m surprised you remember to eat sometimes.”
“That’s all on your dad.” Oliver hovered constantly making sure she rested and ate. And the later in the pregnancy it became, the more he managed to show up places to check in on her. It was only because of him that she was still functioning at this point.
“Open it,” William said nodding down at the package that was still in her hands.
Felicity lifted the lid of the small box and transferred it to the bottom. Separating the tissue paper, Felicity’s eyes began to tear up again. She seriously needed to buy stock in a tissue company if she ever became pregnant again. Pulling out the delicate chain, Felicity held it up and read what it said, leaving out the hashtag. “Number One Cheerleader.”
William smiled at her. “I couldn’t find ‘best step-mom ever’, so I thought this was just as good.”
“Aw, William.” Felicity reached out to draw him into another hug, but he side stepped her this time. William tended not to hug very often lately. Felicity blamed his teenage hormones. That would change soon enough when he found a girl he was interested in. “It’s perfect.”
Shoving his hands into his pockets, William rocked on his heels, signaling that he was over her overt affection and ready to leave, though he looked pleased that he had done well. “Tomorrow I have a test before Christmas break. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to head back to my room to finish studying before I head to bed.”
Felicity nodded, swiping the tears that seeped down away. “Don’t stay up too late.”
“I won’t,” William promised already retreating toward his room.
Felicity took a seat on one of the stools and carefully set the necklace back down in the box. She never expected to have such a great relationship with William, especially after the fiasco when Oliver tried to hide him and then send him away, all without Felicity’s input. It all worked out in the end, even though all of them would have loved for Samantha to still be in the picture, despite all the awkwardness that would have ensued. However, it would have meant the world to William for her to still be alive. And for that alone, Felicity wished things would have been different.
Opening a nearby drawer, Felicity pulled out a pair of scissors so she could open the larger box that lay before her. She’d have to ask Oliver to bring all the other decorations home at some later time. Plus, he’d probably want to go with William to pick out a Christmas tree.
Felicity finally had everything arranged and lit the first candle watching the flame flicker when she heard the front door open. Oliver was home.
She heard his feet shuffle around as he took off his coat and probably put both her and his shoes into the closet. Then he seemed to head towards William’s room to check up on him. She heard Oliver tell him good-night. His concern over his son was palpable even with him in a separate part of the house. And then he was there, next to her. Like he could sense exactly where she was the second he opened the door. His arms wrapped around her and she sunk into his embrace as his head rested atop her own.
“You got it out,” Oliver noted. His head seemed to bob in the direction of the menorah.
“William did.” She sighed and shifted slightly so she could look up at him. “Is it so bad that I forgot? I’ve never forgotten before.”
“No.” Oliver pulled her up and out of the chair and cradled her face. “It’s the pregnancy and the fact that you’ve been busy. You tried walking out of here the other day with no shoes and in your pajama bottoms.”
Felicity chuckled at the memory. She had. It was so sad.
Oliver kissed her gently and Felicity buried herself into his chest. He held her there and they both stared at the candlelight. “I thought about reminding you but you were so busy and then things got crazy and hectic with the meta-humans who showed up. It slipped my mind. I’m glad William remembered for you.”
“I am too.” Felicity understood why Oliver had forgotten as well. He had a lot on his plate as well. Oliver was in his second term as Mayor. And with him also leading the team at night, he barely had any spare time. What time he did have, he spent making sure William was happy and that Felicity was taken care of.
“But, I did manage to get this.” Oliver slipped an envelope into her hand. “Happy Hanukkah, Felicity.”
“What’s this?” Felicity stared up at him instead of looking inside. Apparently even Oliver had managed to sneak out and grab something all the while she had been completely oblivious to the fact the holidays had even arrived.
Oliver smiled down at her and wrapped his arm around her burgeoning waist. “Just fulfilling a promise.”
“Really?” Felicity glanced down at the envelope and began to open it. He mouth fell open when she pulled out a couple of tickets. Plane tickets to Bali. “Bali? You do realize that I’m about to have a baby, right?”
“They’re open ended tickets. I still owe you a proper anniversary gift. And I talked to my sister and you mom and both have agreed to take the kids the second we’re ready to leave.” Oliver turned her so that she faced him and slid the tickets from her hands to place them on the counter. “I love you, Felicity. I will always love you. Happy Hanukkah, honey.”
Felicity cried, no she balled, even as she kissed him. For a holiday she managed to forget about, it ended up being one that she would remember forever.
Then, the holidays became even more spectacular a few days later when Felicity went into labor and her daughter was born on the last day of Hanukkah, the day after Christmas. Thomasina Moira Queen had decided to be there to share in all the special celebrations while everyone was still gathered together.
“Tommy always wanted to be a Queen,” Oliver told his little girl. “Now, through you, he gets to be.” Oliver hummed some sort of off-key song to the pink-wrapped bundle.
Felicity smiled softly despite the tiredness that invaded her to her very marrow. She wouldn’t have missed this moment for the world.
“You’re as beautiful as your mother.” Through rapidly closing eyes, Felicity saw Oliver wink at the newborn and lower his voice conspiratorially. “You might be a bit more beautiful, but don’t tell mommy.”
“I heard that,” Felicity murmured before letting out a jaw-cracking yawn.
“What?” Oliver tried to look innocent. It didn’t work.
“You told our daughter she’s more beautiful than me.”
Oliver walked over, carefully cradling their daughter, and sat next to Felicity. He gently swept a piece of hair from her face and studied her before a soft smile appeared. Leaning down, Oliver placed a kiss on her forehead and then her chapped lips. “I will always tell our daughter how special she is because she came from you. But never, never, believe that I don’t love you more than anything.” Oliver squeezed her hand and laid it over his rapidly beating heart. “This is yours forever.” He placed her hand back on her own chest. “Now get some rest, honey. I’m going to show the baby off to everyone waiting while you sleep.”
“Criminals must be having a field day,” Felicity whispered as she began to drift off. The entire vigilante team and majority of the mayoral staff all awaited meeting their daughter in the hospital’s waiting room.
“Let them,” Oliver told her. “Our daughter is much more important. We’ll get them tomorrow.” Oliver winked at her. “Sleep.”
“Take care of her.”
A huge smile invaded Oliver’s face. It was the last thing Felicity saw before her eyes would no longer open. “Always.”