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It was Christmas Eve in the Queen household, and all was not as peaceful and quiet as the stories told. Felicity was still one present short as the clock ticked closer and closer to midnight. She was confident that she had purchased it, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember where she had last seen it even to know where it was hidden.
Making her way through each room in the apartment, Felicity dug through every drawer, cabinet, nook, and cranny that she could find. One of those placed had to be where she may have possibly left the last present she had bought for William, but continued to come up empty-handed. She rounded the last corner of the house to make her way down the hall towards Oliver's office and found a sign attached to the door.
"Do Not Enter. All caught snooping for presents will forfeit three of the presents located on the other side of this door. Even when you think I'm not watching, I am."
Felicity rolled her eyes and reached for the doorknob, attempting to turn it to open the door. She tried turning it from left to right and right to left, but the doorknob would not budge. Why was it locked? The door to the office was never locked.
"Oliver," she called out, walking back down the hall towards their living room. "Where are you?"
"In the kitchen," he called back, continuing with the hot chocolate that he had been cooking on the stovetop. "What were you doing at my office door?"
Rounding the corner into the kitchen, her jaw dropped at his comment. "How did you know I was at the office door?"
"I could hear the rattling of the doorknob," Oliver replied, stepping away from the stove to place a gentle kiss on her cheek before returning to the pot on the stove.
"It wasn't that loud," Felicity insisted, biting the side of her lip. She thought about what he had said momentarily and came to a realization. "Wait a second. How did you know it was me? It could have been William."
"He's at Thea's. She's bringing him back in like an hour for the annual Queen family Christmas Eve viewing of How the Grinch Stole Christmas," Oliver replied, chuckling softly. "So unless there's someone else living here that I'm not aware of, you are the only culprit of the rattling doorknob."
Felicity stuck her tongue out at Oliver as she hopped up to sit on the counter beside the stove to watch him cook. Inhaling sharply, her nose was filled with the wonderful aroma of mint and chocolate. She looked down at the pot on the stove and realized that Oliver was making his family's secret hot chocolate recipe. For as long as she had known Oliver and celebrated holidays with his family, this was the tradition for Christmas Eve.
Tonight the entire Team Arrow would gather at the Queen apartment to drink hot chocolate and eat Christmas cookies while watching Oliver and Thea's favorite movie from their childhood. The two of them could quote every single line while the film played, and if ever the DVD player wouldn't read the disc, Felicity was sure that Oliver and Thea could act the entire movie out for everyone's enjoyment.
This was the first year that everyone would be together for the holiday celebrations. Just a few days ago, everyone was together to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with Felicity since her mother would not be in town for the celebrations. Each evening, Oliver and William would join her in lighting the Menorah for a few hours after dinner before they all headed to sleep for the night.
It was a wonderful feeling to have a loving family gather together to celebrate the two holidays as they coincided. The fact that everyone was willing to learn about Felicity's Jewish heritage made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, which made her even more excited to celebrate the Christmas traditions that Oliver and the rest of the team were raised with.
"What time is everyone getting here?" she asked, grabbing a spoon out of the drying rack on the sink and dipping it into the pot of cocoa. Before Oliver could snatch the spoon out of hand, she popped it in her mouth and moaning at the delicious taste of the drink. It made her taste buds water for more, but she knew that she wasn't going to be able to sneak anymore right now, and she would have to wait until everyone got here.
"Seven," Oliver replied, plucking the tasting spoon from her hand and placing it in the dishwasher out of sight so that Felicity couldn't get any more bright ideas about tasting the hot chocolate. He knew if she were left alone with the pot, there wouldn't be any left for when the team arrived.
"Why is the door to your office locked?" Felicity asked, crossing her ankles as she leaned up against the wall from her perch on the counter.
"Did you read the sign on the door to the office?" Oliver asked, raising an eyebrow as he stood in front of her and placed his hands on her hips.
She nodded her head and leaned forward, draping her arms around his neck as she scooted forward to wrap her legs around his waist. "I did, but that doesn't answer my question."
"Yes, it does," Oliver replied with a laugh. "I've got Christmas, and Hanukkah presents in there, and I don't want anyone sneaking around to figure out what they are getting this year."
Felicity rolled her eyes. "I don't sneak around to get a peek at what I'm getting. I was trying to find a present that I misplaced, and I wanted to know if it was somewhere in the office."
"Are you sure you didn't wrap it already?" he replied.
She thought about it for a second and shrugged her shoulders. "It's a possibility, but I really don't think that I did. I hadn't started wrapping William's gifts yet. That's what I was getting ready to do when I realized one of the big ones was missing."
"None of your gifts for William are hidden in the office," Oliver said, leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers. He smiled as he felt her melt into the kiss and wrap her arms and legs tighter around his body. He wrapped his arms around her waist, picking her up off the counter and walked them over to the couch. Dropping down onto the couch with her still wrapped around him, they never broke the kiss.
They continued their make-out session on the couch for a little longer before being rudely interrupted by the ringing of their doorbell. Sighing, Felicity pulled away from the kiss and rested her forehead against Oliver's for a few seconds before pushing herself up off his lap.
"I thought William had a key," she mumbled, making her way toward the front door.
"Thea has one too," Oliver called out. "William probably just left the key here and didn't realize it until they got here."
"Probably," she replied, grabbing hold of the doorknob and pulling it open. She was greeted by the smiling faces of her sister-in-law, soon to be brother-in-law and stepson holding a massive mountain of presents in each of their arms. "Come on in! The tree is in the living room."
Oliver looked over at the crowd that was coming through the door. He pushed himself up off the couch and shook his head as he walked over to his sister. He took a few presents out of her hands, offering to help her get them to the tree. "How much Christmas shopping did you do this year? It looks like you bought out half a store with all these presents."
Thea shrugged as she followed her brother to the living room and placing the last of the presents in her arms on the floor. "I felt like spoiling everyone this year. The new club is doing really well, and I wanted to make up for missing last Christmas."
"Well, I'm glad you're here, Speedy. The holidays aren't the same without you," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her in for a hug.
While Thea, Roy, William, and Oliver made themselves at home, Felicity looked down the hall at the office door. What on earth could he have had hidden back there that she wasn't allowed to see? She already had the engagement ring, and their wedding was the event of the century. She had everything she could ever want sitting in that living room.
Her curiosity was getting the best of her, and she had to know what was on the other side of the door. She glanced around the corner to the living room and noticed that no one was paying attention to her, so she tiptoed down the hall and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair.
Her time at MIT had taught her many things. One of which was how to pick any lock with the bobby pins she wore in her hair. She knew she had to be quiet, so she knelt in front of the door and set to work. It took her a few minutes to get the pin into the lock, so long, in fact, she thought that Oliver had changed the lock so that it couldn't be picked. She wouldn't have put it past him, but she would have been entirely in shock if he had.
Oliver looked around the living room and realized that Felicity never came back from opening the door. He pushed himself up off the couch and lifted a finger to his lips. He didn't want anyone to say anything out of the ordinary because he had a pretty good idea what Felicity was up to, and he wanted to catch her in the act.
As he rounded the corner, he saw precisely what he had suspected was going on. He found her on her knees in front of the door to the office, meddling with the doorknob and the lock attached. He thought about waiting to see how far she could get with the lock, but at the same time, he didn't want her to get inside and ruin the surprises for tomorrow morning. He knew his wonderful wife wasn't the best keeping secrets and was not one of her best skills.
"What are you doing, Felicity?" he asked, leaning up against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest as he waited for her to turn around with the guilty look on her face, knowing she had just been caught.
"Uhm, nothing," Felicity replied, a forced smile pulling at the corners of her lips.
"It doesn't look like nothing," he replied with a laugh. "It looks like you are trying to get into the office where your Christmas and Hanukkah presents are hidden."
"I told you, I thought one of William's presents are in there, and I just want to make sure," she insisted as she pushed herself up off the floor and walked over to Oliver.
"I'll check for it later after everyone else has gone to bed," he said, wrapping her up in his arms as he dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Let's go back to the living room. The others should be here soon."
"Okay," she mumbled, wrapping an arm around his waist. They slowly made their way back to the living room but were stopped by a sudden outburst of Thea telling them to freeze and lookup.
"Mistletoe," they said in unison.
"When did that get put up there?" Oliver asked, glaring at Thea as she fell back into the couch, laughing maniacally in the process. He rolled his eyes as he pulled Felicity flush against him and lowered his lips to hers, capturing them with a smile on his face. If he had to be trapped under the mistletoe with anyone, then he was delighted for it to be her.
After a few moments of kissing and some disgusted sounds coming from the couch, the couple was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. The rest of their guests had arrived for the evening. With a sigh, they pulled apart, and Oliver walked over to the door to let the rest of Team Arrow inside.
Zoe ran straight past Oliver and Felicity to claim her spot on the couch next to William with a big smile on her face. Oliver and Rene looked at one another and shrugged. It was better to have their kids be friends rather than have them hate each other.
The rest of the adults joined everyone on the couch as Oliver distributed the treats and beverages for the evening. Holding up his mug of cocoa, he asked everyone to lift their mug as well.
"Thank you all for being here tonight for the Smoak-Queen family traditional viewing of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I'm so happy to be able to extend this tradition to the friends Felicity, William, and I have been lucky enough to call family. Merry Christmas, everyone!"
They all bumped mugs together and took a sip. Oliver took his spot beside Felicity and draped his arm over her shoulder. He turned to place a soft kiss on her cheek and rested his head against hers.
"Maybe if you're good, I'll let you into the locked office before we go to bed tonight to check for that present," he whispered in her ear. "But only if you're good."
"But it's so much more fun being bad, and besides, maybe snooping for Christmas presents can become a new Smoak-Queen family tradition," she replied, tucking her head in the crook of his neck as they leaned back into the couch to enjoy the movie.