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Pressing her eyes shut, Felicity turned onto her left side, her husband's arm lying heavily over her waist. Turning her head, she saw that he was deeply asleep, his mouth slightly open, a snore leaving his mouth every now and then.
The unmistakable squeaking of a door had woken her up, years of practiced hearing of a mother not failing her today.
The soft tapping of footsteps coming closer to her bedroom told her that it was definitely Lily who was coming.
Peeking one eye open, she looked at the alarm clock on her nightstand. 1:34 am. Maybe she had a bad dream.
It has been a while since the 10-year old girl had found her way into her parent's bed after a nightmare and Felicity was glad that she was still seeking their comfort.
She was still their little girl, even though the stubborn whirlwind didn't appreciate her parents calling her that. In her opinion, she was old enough to do a lot of stuff by herself now, always refusing their help. After all, her little sister Sophia Queen who just turned 5 years old last week was the youngest in the family.
At least for another three weeks or so, Felicity thought, placing her hand over her round belly.
They hadn't planned on having another baby after Sophia, being more than happy with their two children. They found out shortly after Oliver's birthday in August last year and they were both happy about it.
Concentrating on the footsteps once more, she heard them stop as if Lily hesitated to push the door open.
Felicity gently shook Oliver's arm, waking him up. “Oliver.”
His hand moved to her swollen belly, brushing hers and she felt his head lift up. “What's wrong? Is it the baby?”
His voice was laced with concern and anticipation and she knew that he could hardly wait for the latest addition to their family to be born. Well, maybe not more than she did, because as much as she enjoyed being pregnant, those last few weeks were just killing her.
Between her back that was constantly hurting and her feet that were always swollen, she had to use the bathroom almost every half an hour. She was more than ready to push this baby out of her. Him to be exact.
They were having a boy this time. Oliver was excited, finally another male person in their household. Between her and their two daughters, there were just Thea and his mother who had remarried two years ago.
Lily chose that moment to enter their bedroom, closing the door behind her, stopping at the door. “Mommy?”
Oh, something was definitely wrong. Lily never called her mommy except when she did something she wasn't supposed to or she wanted something.
“Lily, what's wrong, sweetheart?” Felicity questioned, pushing herself into a sitting position, which was not easy with the soccer ball-sized belly she had. She felt Oliver lean on his side, his hand sliding onto her hip.
A tiny sob left her daughter’s mouth and fear spread through Felicity's veins.
Oliver reacted first, jumping out of the bed and running to their daughter. He quickly checked her over, before pulling her close to him, walking back to their bed.
Felicity switched the lamp on her nightstand on, leaning her back against the headboard as Oliver settle down next to her, Lily pressed to his chest. She was crying now, tears running down her face.
“Baby, you have to tell us what's wrong,” Oliver pleaded.
Felicity heard the concern in his voice and she scooted closer to them, leaning against his shoulder.
“Daddy is right, baby girl. We can't help you if we don't know what's causing you to be this upset,” she reasoned with her, stroking her long blonde hair. “Did you have a nightmare?”
Lily shook her head, sniffling quietly. “No.”
“Then what is it, sweetheart? You're scaring me, Lily,” she confessed, wiping some tears off her daughter's face.
“You're safe here, Lily. Take a deep breath,” Oliver instructed her, taking a deep breath himself. “In and out.”
He breathed with her for a while and it seemed to help their daughter calm down. Her tears faded and she started to breathe normally again, a sniffle leaving her mouth every now and then.
Felicity was once again thankful for her husband's calm nature. Even though he worried about their children too, he stayed calm and reasonable all the time, sometimes making decisions she wasn't able to make in her worried state.
It especially helped her during the birth of Sophia. When she went into labor, there were some complications. The baby wasn't turned around all the way yet and she panicked. Oliver had talked her through, promising her that he wouldn't leave her side and in the end, they agreed to a c-section. Sophia Queen was born in the middle of the day, healthy with all five fingers and toes.
Felicity looked back at her daughter, seeing that she had calmed down now. Oliver was still holding her close, combing through her hair.
“Do you wanna tell us what's wrong now, Lily?” She asked, placing her hand on her daughter's cheek.
The 10-year-old hesitated, her eyes dropping down to the comforter Felicity was clutching to her belly.
“Whatever it is, you can tell us, sweetheart. We're not going to be mad,” she assured her.
After a minute of silence and more worried looks between Oliver and her, Lily began to speak.
“Yesterday, Sophia and I looked through the photo albums you made when we were babies. It wasn’t the first time we did, but it's the first time I noticed that daddy wasn't in any of the pictures until I was a few months old,” Lily confessed quietly and Felicity swallowed hard.
Her daughter was smart and Felicity knew that she was going to find out about her origin one day.
She saw Oliver tense, his gaze meeting hers. It was filled with fear and horror and she placed a reassuring hand on his cheek.
Lily, who was still curled up in his arms, continued talking in a quiet voice. “I never thought about it but it seemed weird. When it was my time on the tablet today, I googled daddy's and my name.”
Suppressing her tears, Felicity felt something wet hitting her hand.
It wasn't the first time she saw her husband cry, but it was certainly the first time the cause of his crying wasn't a happy one.
She wiped the tear off his cheek, concentrating on her daughter. She had to be the strong one today.
“What did you find, Lily?” She asked softly, pushing a few strands of hair behind her ear.
“It said that daddy didn't know me until I was 8 months old. And it said that you met in Boston when you were in college” Lily told her, looking at her with a confused and fearful look. “Whenever Sophia and I want to hear the story of how you met, you tell us that you met in a coffee shop here in Starling City.” She paused again. Big eyes looking at her mother. “Is daddy not my real dad?”
And there it was. Why was her daughter so damn smart? Of course, they planned to tell her about Oliver not being her biological father at some point. Maybe they had pushed it away for far too long already. They always argued at what age she would really understand the meaning of everything that happened.
They hadn't talked about telling her the truth in a while, living in a world of pure bliss. It honestly didn't matter for her that Oliver wasn't her real father; she had stopped thinking about that a long time ago. He loved her just as much as he loved Sophia and she had never questioned his love for Lily.
Leave it to her daughter to figuring out this lie they spun, thinking it was bulletproof. Over the years, nobody had ever questioned Lily's heritage. The only ones knowing the truth were Oliver's family, Tommy, Sara, and the Diggle's. She hadn't even told her own mother.
Looking up to her husband who was taking a few deep breaths, not wanting to startle the girl in his arms by crying, she searched his eyes for approval. He silently nodded and Felicity took his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.
“Lily? I want to tell you another story,” Felicity started, leaning her head against her husband's shoulder, facing her daughter.
She was sitting in her father's embrace quietly, clutching his shirt in one hand as if she was afraid that he would disappear.
Felicity felt sorry for her daughter, wanting to ease her fear and pain. She must be feeling like her entire world was changing.
“Well, you already know how you're father and I met. The story we've been telling you is true, there is just one part that is slightly untrue," Felicity explained, taking a deep breath.
"I wanna tell you about a young woman who was going to college in Boston. She was young and carefree, dreaming about owning her own company when she was older. She had a boyfriend who she loved and she was very happy. One day, she found out that she was having a baby. She was very scared because she was still young and not finished with school. She told her boyfriend and he wasn't very happy," she stopped, unsure how to continue. They had the baby talk with Lily sometime ago, but this was something completely different.
"He left the young woman and she got even more scared. She was hurt that he had left her, but she never regretted having her baby. She decided to move to Starling City, where she started working in a little coffee shop right after she had her beautiful baby girl. They lived in a small apartment together and the young woman loved her daughter very much.
"One day, while the young woman worked in the coffee shop, a handsome young man came walking in. He tried really hard to get the woman's attention and after a while, they started to have coffee together. The young woman liked him very much and she was afraid to tell him about her beautiful baby girl, fearing that he might leave her too. So, they became really good friends.
"After a while, they had an argument and the young woman finally told him about her daughter. At first, she thought that he would leave her, but he never did. He kept coming back to her and they started to fall in love with each other.
"On a rainy Sunday, the young man met the beautiful baby girl. He brought her a present, a little stuffed tiger, her favorite stuffy until now. From that day on, he spent all his free time with the young woman and her daughter, loving them both.
"Then one day there was an accident and the little baby girl got hurt and had to go to the hospital. Her mother was really scared and she called the young man, who rushed to the hospital in fear and worry. The doctors wouldn't let him see the baby girl, so the young woman told the doctors that he was her father.
"From that day on, the young man was the only person the baby girl always recognized and loved as her father and he loved her very much in return. He was always there for her, watching her take her first step, crying when she first called him daddy and tugging her into bed at night. She was daddy's little girl and that never changed.
“The young woman and man couldn't tell anybody that he wasn't the baby girl's real father, because you're not allowed to lie about something like that. So, they told everyone that they met in Boston and nobody ever questioned their story.” Felicity finished her story, taking a few calming breaths.
Lily had sat silently through the story, looking up to her and listening carefully. She was a smart girl, and Felicity could tell that she understood the whole story.
Oliver was looking at her with tears in his eyes, breathing heavily. She gently stroked his cheek, gazing into his eyes.
“I know this must be confusing you, sweetheart,” Felicity started, focusing back on Lily. “But nothing is going to change, alright? The only people who know are your grandmother, Aunt Thea, Uncle Tommy and Uncle Dig and his family."
"Can I ask you something, mommy?" Lily sounded up, sitting up in her father's embrace.
Oliver seemed frightened, tightening his arms around his daughter, not wanting to let her go. She didn't seem bothered by it, looking at her mother.
"Of course, sweetheart. You know you can ask me anything," Felicity encouraged her, hoping to help her confused mind.
"Why did he not want me?"
Felicity had feared this question, knowing how it would upset her husband. He was protective of his daughters; anybody who dared to hurt them, verbally, mentally or physically, was going to face his wrath.
"It had nothing to do with you, my sweet girl," Felicity comforted her daughter. "He just didn't realize what a beautiful, smart, little girl you were going to be. He wanted to concentrate on finishing college. In some aspects, we were very much alike, he always dreamed to make it big in his life. Whereas I'm not sure if our love for computers was the only reason we were together in the first place, I never regretted it either, because in the end I had you and you were the best thing that happened to me."
She knew that Oliver was more than just mad by now. He didn't like Cooper at all. She'd never heard from him again, which told her that he also believed that she had an affair with Oliver. It had hurt her that he thought so little of her, but on the other hand, she was more than just a little bit relieved. It erased another complication in her life and she didn't have to fear that he would take Lily away from her one day. In the end, he was the one, who left her pregnant with his child.
And here she was sitting now, protecting him from their daughter. No, she wasn't his daughter. The only thing Lily inherited from Cooper was some of his DNA, she was nothing like him. Oliver was her father and Lily was their daughter.
Lily nodded her head, pressing closer to Oliver. "Will he ever come and take me away from here?" Her voice was laced with fear and tears were gathering in her eyes.
"Never!" Oliver declared, beating Felicity to answer. "He will never take you away from us, Lily. I'll always protect you. You're my daughter and I love you just as much as I love your mother and your sister. Nothing is ever going to change that. You'll always be my little girl, baby. Do you understand?"
His voice was fierce and if anybody else heard him, they wouldn't dare to look him in the eye in this moment. It made Felicity feel proud and she shuffled closer to her husband and their daughter, joining their embrace.
"Daddy is right, Lily. Nobody will ever take you away from this family. You're a Queen and nobody will ever say anything else," Felicity reassured her too, pressing a kiss to her head.
Lily relaxed a little, looking up to her father. "I love you, daddy. I'm glad that you're my daddy."
Tears polled in Oliver's eyes and he pressed a kiss onto his daughter's head. "I love you too, Lily bear."
Their daughter snuggled closer to him again, her eyes fluttering shut from exhaustion and all the news she had to take in today.
"Thank you, Felicity," Oliver whispered, pressing his lips against her forehead.
"I should be thanking you, Oliver. You're the one that accepted Lily as his own," she answered, looking up to him.
"You're the one who gave her to me in the first place," he replied, leaning his forehead against hers. "And Sophia and our son."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Their lips came together in a gentle kiss.
"Let her sleep here today, I think she needs it as much as we do," Felicity told him, turning off her bedside lamp and lying back down.
Oliver nodded, placing Lily in their middle, before lying down too.
She knew that at some point, Lily would have more questions, but she was glad that today was not that day. It was hard enough to tell her all that she had told her today.
It was hard for Oliver too and she looked over to her husband who had settled down again. He was lying close to Lily, his front pressed against her back. Scooting as close as she could get with her big belly, she placed her hand on his, interlacing their fingers.
His grip was tight and she gently squeezed his hand. "Goodnight, Oliver."
"Goodnight," he whispered, leaning over to her, and pressing a kiss to her forehead.
In the end, they were a united front, battling their wars together, and Felicity was never more thankful for the great man she married.