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They had been in 2019 for two days now, and Mia and William had already interacted with her younger self. They had tried to get her to leave the old foundry, that was home to her the first couple years of her life with Team Arrow. But she insisted that she stay undercover, and they seemed to drop it, up until now.
Footsteps get louder and louder, as two people walk down to the foundry.
“He knows we’re hiding something.”
“Mia’s right, dad isn’t completely trusting us, which I can’t blame him, we are his children from the future. And at the moment he only knows one of us.”
“Alright Golden Boy, no need to wipe it in my face that I didn’t get to grow up with our father.”
“I wasn’t implying that at all-” William says raising his hands in surrender.
“Don’t think I won’t punch you in that pretty face of yours.” Mia says sizing her brother up.
“That’s enough” Felicity says quietly for the first time. “I’m almost done destroying Archer and we will be on our way.”
Mia takes her eyes off her brother and turns to her mother. “Mom, why won’t you see him? I’ve seen the way he treats you, the way he looks at you; he really loves you.”
Never taking her eyes off her monitor, her only gesture is the way her chin drops to her chest as she takes a deep breath to keep the tears at bay.
“Mom?”
Noticing Felicity’s closed off demeanor and knowing how hard it would be to see her husband, he steps in. “Mia, maybe we should-”
“No! Mom, what are you scared of? You have another chance, take it.”
“Mia, let’s go get something to eat.”
“But-”
“Go Mia. I’m almost done.” Felicity whispers.
With that Mia turns and goes up the stairs, hating that her mother wouldn’t open up to her. They always talked to each other, and now she felt like her mother was a completely different dimension away.
When the door shut, Felicity finally let the tears coast down her cheeks. She swore to herself that this mission was strictly just that, a mission. She would destroy Archer so that no one would get a hold of it in the future and that was that.
She was so lost in thought, that she didn’t even notice the shadowy figure in the corner of the room.
“So, you’re the big secret they’ve been keeping” he says in wonder.
The voice startles her, causing her hands to go over her heart.
“Oliver” she says startled and then stops and realizes what she just said.
“Felicity?” he asks in that soft voice that was only meant for her.
“Oliver” her face has gone completely pale, she was staring at the man she hadn’t seen in 20 years. The love of her life.
“You haven’t changed a bit.”
“These lines would say otherwise” she says rubbing her forehead in nervousness.
“I don’t believe that. You look just a beautiful as the day I met you.”
“You were always one with words” she says in awe.
He walks closer to her and she stands, just as he reaches her. Still not truly believing that he’s really here, she slowly lifts her hand to his face and when she makes contact, her whole body engulfs shudders in sobs. “Oliver”
Seeing her in this distraught state, he immediately takes her in his arms and bring her head to his chest and runs his fingers slowly across her back. These actions make her bawl harder, realizing that she hasn’t had this type of comfort in so long, the comfort she has longed for two decades.
“Hey, hey, it’s ok. I’m right here. You’re ok” he says not understanding what had caused her to get so upset.
“What’s wrong? Did I say something?”
Finally bringing her head up from his chest, she meets his eyes.
“No. You’ve done nothing wrong, it’s just so good to see you.”
Continuing to see the turmoil in her eyes and composure, he knows something very bad has happened.
“Felicity, what happened?”
Not wanting to say anything, in fear of changing the future, she stays quiet. But the little voice in her heart tells her something completely different. She wants to tell him. Because there is a part of her that is still angry with him for leaving her.
He waits, until he notices the way she stands taller and takes herself away from his body. Feeling the warmth leave the room, makes him know that something terrible happens.
“Which part do you want to know?”
“The part that has left you so..”
“Broken?”
“I wasn’t going to say that.”
“No, but it’s true. I am so incredibly broken, that there is no hope of me ever being mended back together.”
“Felicity, don’t say that-”
“You left.”
That statement stops him in his tracks. “What? No, I would never- I would NEVER leave you.”
“Maybe not in the way you think, but you still do.”
“I still don’t understand-”
She turns around and faces the space that once housed the infamous salmon ladder. “Were you ever going to tell me? About the deal?”
“Deal?”
“The deal you made with the Monitor. The one where you sacrificed your life for Barry and Kara.”
Finally understanding what she’s talking about, he goes stock still. His world has stopped”
“I-”
She turns slowly to see his face in confusion, terror, and complete sadness.
“How did you find out?”
“That’s all you have to say? After everything we’ve been through, that’s the one question you want to ask?”
“I- I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“ANYTHING would have been better than finding out through Barry, that you were never coming back. That you chose them, over your family.”
“Felicity, it wasn’t like that” he says desperately.
“Really? Because it sure felt like you decided, YET AGAIN, if I might add, that you didn’t deserve this life.”
“Because I don’t” he says crestfallen.
“Oliver, I never understood, why after all these years, you still see yourself as that man that was alone on the island. You are not alone, you were never alone.”
Tears are streaming down his face at this point. “There was no other way”
“There is always another way.”
“Not this time. Felicity, Barry and Kara were going to die, and then what? This world would have lost two of the greatest heroes that have ever lived. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“No, but you could let your family suffer without you.”
“Felicity-”
“Let me ask you this, if he had made this proposition three months later, would your answer still have been the same?”
He hesitates, really thinking of the answer.
“I don’t-”
“You do know.”
“Felicity, they are the heroes this world needs, I’m not.”
“I don’t know why I bothered coming back, it’s not like I can change your fate or anything. Mia keeps asking me why I didn’t come see you and this is why. Because now I’ve gotten my hopes up only for them to be shattered. Do you want to know why I will never be mended? It’s because I will never love again, I haven’t loved or been loved in two decades. But it doesn’t matter because our daughter, she is a light in my life that I never thought I’d ever need. But even she doesn’t fill that gaping hole in my heart.”
“I am so sorry.”
“Leave. Get out of here. Just go.”
He closes the large gap between them as she shouts her pain out to him. When he reaches her, he encases her in his arms once more and holds tight.
“I’m so sorry, Felicity. I love you. I love you so much.”
They both are sobbing their pain and regrets away, in one another's arms.
Neither notice the door opening and the two siblings walking into the painful reunion for their mother.
“Felicity, I am so sorry, and I understand why you hate me.”
She pulls back at that revelation.
“Oliver I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. I just don’t understand why you’d leave me. I thought that we were supposed to be happy. That we were supposed to be a family. We’d get our new beginning.”
“What if you could?”
The couple pull away from each other and turn to the new voice.
“Mia” Felicity says wiping away her tears.
“This is why you didn’t want to see him, wasn’t it?”
“Mia” she says trying again.
“Mom, I meant what I said earlier, we have second chance, let’s take it.”
“Mia, it’s not that simple-”
“Yes it is, we just stop him from dying, and everything will work out.”
Oliver’s body completely deflated.
“Mia, I think there’s more to the story that they're not telling us.” William says for the first time.
“What more is there?”
“Mia, you can’t save me, my death... it’s imminent.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean.”
“It means that I made a deal with the devil, and I can’t get out of it.”
“You what? No. No, you die in a battle, a noble battle. Right mom? Tell him. Tell him!”
“I didn’t lie about the battle part, I just didn’t realize until later that it didn’t matter what the outcome was. You weren’t coming back regardless.”
“So your telling me, that you lied to me my entire life. That my dad isn’t a hero, he’s just a coward.”
“MIA! Your father is a hero” she meets his eyes, “he has always been a hero and he always will be.”
“There has to be a way to get out of this.” William pipes in, not wanting to accept with his sister that this was the end for his father.
“There isn’t William.”
“I just don’t understand, why you? Why not anyone else?”
“Because I’m the balance the universe needs. I represent the good and the bad.” Turning to look Felicity back in her blue eyes, he continues. “Which is why I couldn’t let Kara and Barry die, they are so good.”
“And so are you.”
“No Felicity, not like them.”
Felicity is about to protest when Mia responds desperately.
“What about the bad guy? What’s her name? Em, something.”
“Emiko, and no.”
“Why not? From everything that you said about her, she seems like she deserves that fate far more than you do.”
“Mia, I made a deal and I can’t go back on it.”
“Then the failure that they call Star City and this family is all your fault. Why can’t you choose us for once? Please. I would give anything. ANYTHING. To have you in my life, dad, please.”
Seeing the tears stream down his daughters cheeks, changes something in him. His need to be her father. He realizes in that moment that he needs to choose them over everything else. There is no other choice to make.
“I’m not sure he’ll take her.”
“It’s worth a shot right?” William says.
“Yes. Yes it is.” He says looking Felicity in the eyes.
He had made up his mind, then and there, he was going to do things right this time, he was going to choose his family first.
--------
And that’s exactly what he did. After he defeated Emiko days later, he somehow found a way to speak to the Monitor after summoning him.
“This was not the deal.”
“I know, but some wise people reminded me that my time has not come yet and they need me.”
“So you bring your sister to me?”
“Hers has. I’m not sure if she is the balance you seek, but-”
“She’ll do.”
At that statement alone everything falls away and hope feels every cell of his body.
“But Mr. Queen, you must know, everyone’s time must come.”
“I know that, but mine hasn’t yet.”
“Agreed. You are noble man, Mr. Queen. Never forget that.”
And with one final nod, he disappears from the Monitor for good. Opening his eyes, he is met to Mia, William and Felicity.
“So? Did it work?” Mia asks anxiously.
“Yeah, it did.”
After everyone hugged him in excitement and appreciation, it was time to go home.
Felicity stayed behind for a second as William was preparing to open the portal.
“Thank you” she says cupping his cheek.
“No, thank you. I would have never been able to do this without you.”
“And NEVER forget that.”
With a smile and a final kiss, his future family disappears, for the better.
------
2040
When Mia, William, and Felicity open their eyes, they are in the home in the woods.
“We’re home?” Mia asks.
“Yeah, and it seems different.”
“Hey guys, did you hear me? Dinner’s ready. Lucas is already getting a head start, so I’d hurry if I were you. Don’t want to miss out on my famous meatballs.” he says with a wink.
When none of them move, Oliver tries again.
“Are you guys ok?”
“Dad” Mia asks with emotion.
“Hi Mia. Come here” he says opening his arms, and she crashes into his chest, and William soon follows.
“It actually worked” William says in awe.
“You sound surprised.” he says letting them go.
“No, it’s just really good to see you.”
“You too. Now I wasn’t kidding about Lucas eating all the meatballs, you better hurry up.”
And with that they head towards the kitchen.
“You’re here” Felicity whispers.
“Where else would I be? Is this everything you’d hoped for?”
“So much better”
And with a long lingering kiss, they embrace, and Felicity finally feels like she’s home.