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Oliver's third tour took him away from his family for longer than he'd wish on anyone. Ten months, he'd been gone, stationed in Afghanistan and then moved to Kandahar and back to Houston for some time at the base. Luckily, he was able to visit them on leave for two weeks. That didn't really make his the remaining time easier, but it sure reminded him of what he had to live for.
He heard her giggles before he could actually see the tiny blonde girl running through the crowd, looking for him. He smiled, tears of happiness welling up and he couldn't care less. It had been a long six months and he had missed his daughter each and every day he'd been gone.
"Daddy!" She squealed when she spotted him, waving around a piece of paper.
Oliver dropped his duffel bag without even thinking about it and stepped towards the four year-old. She sprinted into his arms, wrapping her little arms around his neck as tightly as she could when he scooped her up into his arms.
"Hi, Pumpkin! I missed you so much." He said, closing his eyes and burying his face in the blonde curls.
"I missed you too, daddy!" She squirmed out of his hold, holding her arms as wide as she could and stretching up on her toes. "This much!"
"I missed you even more. To the moon and back." He whispered, taking her soft little hand in his callous one. Her eyes went wide.
"What've you got there?" He asked, gesturing to the paper in her hands.
"I made you this." She held up her finger-painting. "That's you and that's mommy and that's me." She pointed out each individual person.
"Ohh it's beautiful! I'm gonna hang it up on the fridge, alright?"
Amelia nodded and let Oliver scoop her up into arms. He stood back up so they could go look for her mother. He pulled the duffel bag over his shoulder, whispering to Amelia as they made their way through the crowd of reuniting families. He spotted her almost immediately. Her back was to him, but he would recognize that sunny blonde ponytail anywhere. His sister saw him first, a wide smile appearing on her lips as her eyes met his.
Thea tapped Felicity on the shoulder and jerked her head in his direction. She started turning around and Oliver stopped dead in his tracks. Amelia giggled in his arms as he examined his wife's expanded torso. She was glowing even more than usual, one hand protectively wrapped around her polka-dot clad stomach. Slowly, Oliver put Amelia on the ground, the little girl running towards her mom, wrapping her hand around Felicity's.
They stood there for a moment, just staring at each other. For the first time in months, there's nothing separating them, no whispered 'I love you's' to computer screens, no promises made during crackly phone conversations. And it seemed Felicity had quite the surprise for her husband. She was wearing a fitted dress, the fabric clinging to her beautiful curves, making it impossible to hide that she was very, very pregnant. Oliver could see she was having a hard time containing her emotions. Her bottom lip started trembling and it didn't take long for the first tear to spill over her cheek.
He was in front of her in mere seconds, hands ghosting over her cheeks like he was scared to touch her, that she might break when his violence tainted hands mixed with her innocence. She was the one who closed the distance between them, reaching for his hand and holding it to her cheek, turning into the touch and softly kissing his palm.
And then he pressed his lips against hers and all was right in the world. He was extra careful and gently put his forehead against hers when they parted.
"You're back." She whispered, voice trembling.
"Like I promised." He replied "And just in time, it seems."
Felicity chuckled softly and the sound was like coming home all over again, music to his ears.
"I wanted to surprise you."
"Well, you did." He said, kissing his wife once more.
She hummed against his lips, tightening her hold on him.
"How far are you along?" Oliver asked.
"7 months and three days." Felicity answered as Amelia was tugging on her dress, wrapping her little arms around her father's leg. Putting a hand on her small head, Oliver smiled and crouched down next to his daughter.
"Daddy! Feel mommy's tummy, you can feel her kick!"
Oliver looked back up at Felicity. "Her?"
"I don't know yet, I wanted to find out with you. Amelia is just very excited about the prospects of having a little sister, aren't you baby?"
Amelia nodded, letting her dad scoop her up into his arms as he stood back up, one of his hands finding its way to his wife's expanded stomach. Felicity put her hand over his and moved it a little to where the new member of the Queen family had been making their presence known. Oliver smiled, tears welling up in his eyes as he felt the soft kick against his hand. Lacing their fingers together, Felicity pulled him in for a hug, her head finding her usual spot on his shoulder. Oliver pressed his lips to her forehead when a flash went off. He blinked and looked into the direction of the bright light.
Thea was wiping tears from her cheeks, camera in hand. "Oh gosh! Sorry, I didn't want to disturb you're moment, but you guys looked so sweet, I had to take a picture."
Oliver smiled softly, putting Amelia back down and holding out his arms. "Speedy."
Rolling her eyes at the nickname, Thea sprinted towards her brother, wrapping her dangly arms around him in a bear hug.
"I'm so glad you're okay." She whispered in his ear.
"Me too, Thea. Me too." He said, squeezing her tightly once more before something in his peripheral vision caught his attention. He let go of his sister, hand lingering on her shoulder as he smiled at the man walking up to him and his family.
"John!" Felicity exclaimed happily, hobbling forward to hug the man.
John Diggle had been Oliver's mentor on his first tour to Afghanistan. If it wasn't for him, Oliver wouldn't be there that day. They were brothers and Felicity and Amelia were just as important to John as they were to Oliver. Just as John's wife and kids were his family too. They had promised each other that if anything were to happen to one of them, they would take care of each other's families.
"Damn, Mrs. Queen!" Diggle exclaimed. "Looking good!"
"Always the charmer!" Felicity laughed, closing the distance between them for a hug.
John Diggle's hugs were the epitome of a bear hug. With his arms the size of bowling balls, there was no way you wouldn't feel small next to him. His hugs were truly one of a kind.
"I'm glad you're okay." Felicity said softly.
"I insist you, Lyla and little Sara and Andy come join us for dinner tonight." She demanded when he finally let go of her.
John laughed and nodded. "We wouldn't miss it for the world."
The first time Oliver got deployed, he and Felicity had just gotten engaged. She was 19 and he was 21. They'd been high school sweethearts and one of the rare cases in which your first love was also your last love and your true love.
Felicity wasn't able to go to college because her mother had gotten sick with cancer and someone needed to keep the flower shop they owned running. Oliver was her rock and saying goodbye to him for 9 months was almost too painful.
She really didn't want to say goodbye. Oliver meant the world to her and if something were to happen to him, if she would lose him, she would be crushed. With her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders, she let her tears flow, staining his uniform with black splotches of mascara.
They held each other for a long time, as long as they could. before he had to go board the plane to Houston, where he would spend some time on an army base before leaving for Afghanistan.
"I'll come back." He'd whispered into her hair.
"Promise me." She'd whispered back to him, tears staining her cheeks.
Those words became a tradition. It would be the last thing they'd say to each other before the inevitable departure, a searing kiss locking their promise.
She launched herself at him when she spotted him in the mass of troops that came walking through the hall, hurdling towards him like a hurricane in a pink dress. They were surrounded by families reuniting and she yelled apologies at people as she pushed her way through the crowd. To him.
She jumped into his arms, making him stumble back a few steps to regain his balance. His duffle bag dropped forgotten on the shimmery tiles of the arrival hall as he wrapped his arms around her.
They were together again, that was all that mattered.
They got married about a year after he got back, a lot later than they had initially planned. Oliver had suffered a lot of pain and had seen terrible things, lost fellow soldiers. It took him a long time to overcome his PTSD. John Diggle was there to help him, always by his side, guiding him the right way.
Their wedding also wasn't the big, extravagant wedding Felicity had always dreamed of. Her mother was dying and her last wish was to attend her daughter's wedding.
So, they held a small ceremony in their backyard with a thrifted white lace dress, flowers from the shop and a homemade dinner for the reception.
Instead of a honeymoon, they planned her mother's funeral.
The second time Oliver got sent to Afghanistan, Felicity was pregnant with Amelia. He was gone for one hundred and eighty eight days. Felicity moved in with her in-laws. The sadness of the all too quiet house without Oliver there, the grief over her mother and the pregnancy too much for her to handle alone.
She skyped with Oliver as much as his schedule would allow. She'd keep him updated on the progress of the baby, show off her bump and even found a creative way to tell him they were having a girl. She sent him letters and sonograms by mail when the internet connection faltered, wishing and praying every day that he would just come home to her. Come home to his family.
She cried for hours after Amelia was born. She held this beautiful little girl in her arms after an exhausting amount of hours in labor. The pain was finally gone but the ache in her chest, the longing for her husband to share this special moment with her was so much more hurtful. Amelia slept quietly as her mother cried, tiny little hand resting over Felicity's heart.
That's when Felicity realized that she wasn't alone. She would have this little girl, this tiny part of Oliver with her no matter how far away he was.
He met his daughter when she was two months old. Like the last time, Felicity was waiting for him in the arrival hall, the chubby little bundle wrapped in pink squirming in her arms. A few feet away from them, Oliver had stopped, staring at his girls in awe.
Felicity smiled brightly at him, happy tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked down at the baby in her arms and then he was closing the distance between them, slowly, careful not to frighten his daughter.
"She looks a lot like you." Felicity whispered when he was within earshot, stepping closer.
Carefully, Oliver reached out, eyes watering at the huge smile his daughter flashed at him. He lifted her out of her mother's arms and into his own, gently rocking her side to side, pressing kisses to the little girl's forehead.
With tears in her eyes, Felicity joined in on the embrace, sharing a passionate kiss with her husband as their family was whole again.
Oliver was present for their second child to be born. A son. They named him Tommy, after a brother lost in battle. He was a happy little boy, bringing so much happiness into their lives. Bringing their family together.
Amelia was more than ecstatic to meet her new playmate and Oliver was over the moon to hold his child for the first time, seeing him so small.
A clean slate, not yet corrupted by the world around them. Oliver would never admit it but he totally cried.
They had a happy life. Oliver traded deployment for domestic service, allowing him to spend time with his family at home. They moved a couple times when Oliver got stationed at different bases but that was better than being without him.
Thea took over the flower shop Felicity had been managing after they first moved, making sure the legacy of her late-mother would live on.
Felicity herself got her chance to go to college, studying from home so she could keep an eye on the kids and once she graduated with flying colors, she started her own Cyber Security company.
Their life was good.
After many years of domestic service, Oliver got deployed again. He'd fought his way up the ranks, making it to Lieutenant General but the country was in crisis, and all troops were needed abroad. He left behind his wife, a sixteen year-old daughter and a twelve year-old son to fight for what he believed in.
Felicity had whispered their promise into his greying hair as they said goodbye. "Come back to me."
He was welcomed back a hero, saving hundreds of civilian lives on a rescue mission, risking his life for his country and his brothers.
His wife was given a folded flag in his honor.