Smoak-Queen Family One-Shots: Our Hearts Lie with the Ones We Love

Never Too Late For Love

Author's Note: This one-shot takes place towards the very beginning of Arrow season six before Felicity comes to live with Oliver and William.

Hope you all enjoy!

"Okay, this is your chance to finally spend the night with your son without having to worry about the city getting attacked by some criminal," thought Oliver Queen, nervously to himself as he adjusted the collar of his gray t-shirt in the mirror, seemingly ignoring the many wrinkles that covered the old shirt.

Nervous used to be such a foreign emotion to the strong-willed vigilante known as The Green Arrow, especially when it came to fighting bad guys such as the formidable Malcolm Meryln or terrifying Adrian Chase. But raising a kid was most certainly the hardest challenge he'd ever faced.

And that includes when Ra Al Ghul threw me off that mountaintop, though both situations cause a similar feeling.

The mayoral office had been so packed full of requests suggesting improvements for their city that Oliver had barely even gotten a moment's rest for himself before being called away for another task.

"We need you in the office for an emergency meeting!" were the constant words that rang loudly from his cell phone every morning at two a.m. as he and Felicity moaned in annoyance at their peaceful sleep's interruption in her apartment.

I swear, I got more time for myself when I was The Arrow than I do as mayor.

But this wasn't the time for complaints about his job (I can do that once Felicity gets home later), today was about having a nice time with his son, William.

Oliver took one last heavy breath before exiting the master bedroom, hopefully leaving all his stress behind the room's locked doors.

William might know that I'm The Green Arrow, but that doesn't mean he needs to know where I keep my weapons, for both our sakes.

Oliver spent the next two hours cooking a large meal consisting of foods varying from creamy mac 'n' cheese to an entire turkey topped with fresh rosemary twigs that he'd hand-picked from Curtis' garden several days prior. The air was now filled with all the delicious smells of a cook's job well done.

He stepped out of the dirty pot-strewn kitchen, finally having finished placing the last of the dishes on their oak made kitchen table (building furniture was one of his favorite hobbies).

Oliver suddenly realized how overboard he may have gone with the outrageous amount of food that currently covered every inch of the table.

Oliver sighed deeply, swinging a soggy wet dish towel over his shoulder. He was ashamed to admit it, but he didn't honestly know what William liked to eat. More importantly, he wasn't even sure if he would want to eat dinner at all, especially if it involved actually spending time with his father.

I wouldn't blame him if he said no after everything I've done.

Oliver was the reason William had lost his mother in the massive explosion that destroyed Lian Yu, just like what Chase had wanted all along. He knew the memory still gave William nightmares ten months later, even if he never talked about them.

That kid is so much stronger than I was at his age. He deserved better than what happened to him, I just wish I could actually get him to open up for long enough to talk about it.

The one thing that had been made exceedingly clear to Oliver over the last few months is that his son had unfortunately developed a high tendency for quietness, much in contrast to Oliver's "wild" personality as a kid, to say the least.

This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, if Oliver wasn't so bad at emotional conversations, himself.

First, I need to learn to do that myself before I can expect him to do it.