The train station was quiet and lonely. Felicity had been sitting in the same spot for a while, just waiting to get to Central City. She was happy that she got to see Barry again, especially now that he finally woke up.
When she had called Caitlin to tell her that she was coming up for a few days, she had said that she was actually about to call her with the news. It seemed almost like perfect timing.
But, still... It felt like Oliver was just pushing her away, yet again... And she couldn't help but to feel like the city was once again taking first priority in his life. She didn't know how to feel about it. She knew that he was worried about her safety, but it was almost like he was completely oblivious to her feelings. Why couldn't he see that she would be alright as long as they were together?
She felt her phone buzzing in her pocket.
Felicity quickly grabbed it, hoping that it was Oliver. But, it was Caitlin.
"Hello?" She answered.
"We're at the station waiting for you when you get here." Caitlin answered immediately, and Felicity could hear the smile in her voice.
"Who is we?" Felicity asked, suddenly excited that Barry might be there.
"Me, Cisco, and yes.. Barry is here, too." Caitlin responded, laughing.
"What? How-really? He should be resting!" Felicity laughed.
"He insisted! Wait-Stop, Barry! I'm talking to her-" Caitlin suddenly gasped, and then there was shuffling on the phone.
Felicity was just laughing when she heard his voice, and then she went silent.
"Felicity!" Barry's voice rang through the phone.
"Oh, it is so good to hear your voice." Felicity sighed, tears brimming her eyes.
"Are you starting to cry on me, Smoak? There's no need for that!" Barry exclaimed.
"You were in a co-sleeping. It... It was bad there for a while. I-I never thought I would see your eyes open again, let alone hear your voice. It's just... It makes me happy to hear you, that's all." Felicity laughed, letting happy tears streak her face.
"Well, you'll see me soon enough, ya cry baby." Barry laughed from the other end, but she could tell he was joking, and actually really happy to hear her and see her soon too.
"How far away is she?" Felicity could hear Cisco ask Barry, and she instantly smiled.
"I'm about ten minutes out." Felicity smiled, answering Cisco.
"Oh, thank God." Cisco laughed out loud, and Barry shushed him.
"What's he thanking God about?" Felicity laughed, asking Barry, but suddenly realized now that she was on speaker phone.
She could hear shuffling and laughter, and Barry's cries of annoyance before she heard Cisco's voice clear on the line.
"Barry's been dying to see you. It's actually quite cute." Cisco laughed into the phone.
Felicity blushed at that, not knowing how to respond.
"Don't talk like I have a crush on her!" Barry yelled, laughing.
"Oh, shut up, Barry. We know that Iris has your heart. It's just cute to see you pining for someone other than her." Caitlin laughed.
"Oh, good grief. This is ridiculous." Barry huffed, and Felicity laughed.
"I'll be there... Well, hey. It looks like we're early." Felicity smiled, looking up to see that she had arrived at Central City.
"Ooh! Yay. Okay, see you in a jiffy!" Cisco yelled, hanging up.
Felicity giggled at her friends, and shook her head. They were a nice distraction from everything that was going on with Oliver. She wished that she could tell them about Oliver, the real story. But, she couldn't. All they knew was that Oliver was alive.
And, they were probably going to ask her question after question regarding why she wasn't with him. And, it was going to kill her to lie to them.
She shook her head, ridding of her mind of negative thoughts, and smiled at the fact that in a literal minute, she would be able to hug all of her friends, and she would especially be able to hug Barry again.
God, it had been too long.
She gathered her things, and quickly got off of the train. She frantically searched for her friends, and when she saw Cisco's head bobbing, she took off sprinting towards them. When she saw Barry standing there, awake, tears started pooling in her eyes once again. She threw her suitcases and purse on the ground as she jumped into Barry's arms.
Before she knew it, she was crying happy tears.
"Oh, Felicity. Don't cry." Barry whispered into her ear as he tightened his arms around her waist.
"It's just so good to see you." Felicity cried, nuzzling her head further into the crook of his shoulder.
Felicity pulled back, looking at his face. She couldn't get the stupid smile off her face. Barry reached for her face, and wiped a tear away.
"It's really good to see you too." He smiled, putting his hand back on her waist, now holding her once more.
"Where's our hugs?" Cisco asked, acting offended.
Felicity laughed, pulling out of Barry's arms to hug Cisco and Caitlin.
"It's really good to see all of you." Felicity sighed, after she had hugged everyone and they were heading to Caitlin's car.
"So this thing with Oliver? How are you?" Caitlin asked, now that they were walking alone to the car with the guys talking in front of them.
"It's been really difficult to accept, especially when he really doesn't want much to do with me right now." Felicity laughed humorlessly, looking down at the pavement as they walked.
"Why do you think that? I'm sure he's thrilled to see you... It's just been hard for him, ya know? Coming back to a life when you've been alone for so long. He's not the same person mentally or physically or even emotionally. Being stranded for three years, it changes a person. Just give it time." Caitlin smiled, rubbing Felicity's back.
Felicity nodded, knowing that Caitlin was right. But, how much time did Oliver really need? He said that he still loved her, but his actions showed otherwise. He loved the city more right now, or at least enough to make Felicity leave it.
She instantly sighed, wishing that things were different.
"You ready to see the new and improved STAR Labs?" Cisco asked, interrupting Felicity from her own thoughts as he wiggled his eyebrows at her.
Felicity just smiled and nodded, "The technology up to date?"
"Oh, the technology we have isn't even available to the public." Cisco laughed.
Felicity lifted her eyebrows at that and laughed.
"Then, yeah I am."
~•~•~•~•~•~
"I still can't believe it's Merlyn."
Oliver nodded at Diggle's words.
They had been trying hopelessly to track him down since Felicity left. But, so far they hadn't found anything remotely useful. It was almost as if Merlyn was a ghost.
"Have you told Tommy?" Diggle asked, and Oliver just stared at him, dumbfounded.
"And what would I tell him, Diggle? 'Oh, hey... Yeah, I know you and I are already on pretty bad terms and all, but did I also happen to mention that your father is The Dark Archer?' Yeah, Diggle. Good plan." Oliver sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Don't get your big boy panties in a twist. I was just asking." Diggle looked at Oliver, with a sly grin on his face.
Oliver chuckled at Diggle's choice of words before shaking his head at him and looking back at the computer screen. Felicity had left them a trail to follow, but it led nowhere. It wasn't her fault, it was Malcolm's.
He didn't want to be found. So, they couldn't find him.
"We need Felicity." Diggle exhaled, looking over Oliver's shoulder to stare at the screen.
"She needs to be away from this, Diggle." Oliver shook his head, sighing.
"Don't you think that's her choice to make?" Diggle asked, countering him.
"I think she needs to be protected at all costs. And, I'll gladly make that choice."
"You're so difficult." Diggle exhaled, chuckling.
"Well, we all knew that."
Diggle and Oliver turned around to see Tommy there, shaking his head at both of them. Oliver quickly shut out everything on the computer, and tried to play it off, but Tommy just gave both of them sideway glances.
"Tommy, what are you doing here?" Diggle asked, raising his eyebrows at him quizzically.
"What? Am I not allowed on Team Arrow anymore?" Tommy asked, raising his eyebrows too.
"It's not that... You just haven't been here in so long. We weren't expecting you." Oliver laughed, getting out of the chair to greet him.
"What are you working on that you don't want me to see, Oliver?" Tommy asked, suddenly serious as he was stepping towards the computer.
"Tommy-"
"No, Oliver. Show me." Tommy interrupted him, stepping in front of the computer.
"Listen, if I show you... You can't jump to conclusions. Understand?" Oliver asked, getting serious as well.
"How bad is it, Oliver?" Tommy answered, ignoring his question.
"Don't jump to conclusions." Oliver growled, repeating himself.
"How. Bad. Is. It?" Tommy asked, enunciating every word.
"It's about your father." Diggle interrupted their 'showdown,' causing Tommy to look at Diggle wide-eyed.
"What about my father?" Tommy growled, threatening.
Oliver just shook his head, and stepped to the computer, and brought up everything they had. Tommy just stared at it, unresponsive. Then, he started backing away from the computer, shaking his head.
"This doesn't make any sense!" He shouted, pointing at the computer.
"It doesn't make sense to us, either. But, it's true. Malcolm is The Dark Archer." Oliver sighed, closing his eyes.
"How? Why?!" Tommy yelled, clearly more upset than angry.
"That's what we're trying to figure out, Tommy. All I know is that he is. He admitted it to me when he took Felicity and Diggle captive." Oliver sighed again.
"He... He admitted it? He... He kept you guys against your will?" Tommy stuttered, blinking his eyes, and trying to sit down.
He stumbled back into a chair and put his head in his hands. It was a lot to take in, and he didn't know what to believe. It was his father... How could he do this? How could he be this... murderer?
"I'm sorry, Tommy." Diggle apologized, putting his hand on Tommy's shoulder.
"No... I need to know this for sure." Tommy shook his head and began to walk out.
Oliver and Diggle went to stop him, but when Tommy began to walk out and opened the door, Laurel was standing there, hand ready to knock.
"La-Laurel?" Tommy asked, stepping back, surprised.
"I-I followed you... You've been acting strange since Oliver came back, and-and I just wanted to know where you were going..."
Laurel stopped mid sentence when she saw Oliver and Diggle looking at her wide-eyed. She looked around them to see Oliver's suit in the glass case behind them, and she audibly gasped.
"Oliver... You're-you're-" She shook her head, widening her eyes.
"Laurel-" Tommy started, but she looked at him with hurt in her eyes.
"You knew!?" She demanded, tears pooling in her eyes.
"I told him to keep it a secret, Laurel. He wasn't even supposed to know." Oliver shook his head at her, suddenly wishing that Tommy never knew in the first place.
"Why? Why do you do it?" Laurel asked him, shifting her attention to Oliver.
"I'll tell you about it later, but right now... I need to focus on this Dark Archer." Oliver waved his hand at her, dismissing the discussion, and walking back over to the computers.
"Dark Archer? You mean the guy that's been copycatting you?" Laurel asked quizzically.
"What do you know about him?" Tommy asked her, arching his eyebrow.
"Just that my dad never believed it was the Arrow, so he called it a copycat archer. But, the captain of the force wanted to keep it in wraps and pin it on you to keep the public from overreacting." Laurel shrugged.
"What can you get your hands into at the precinct?" Diggle asked Laurel, while Oliver just looked at him wide-eyed. He knew exactly where Diggle was going with this question.
"Well, I'm the Assistant DA. I have access into almost anything." Laurel answered automatically.
"No." Oliver said, shaking his head at Diggle.
"Why not? She could help us see if Merlyn is really him-"
"Merlyn? You mean you think Malcolm is The Dark Archer?" Laurel asked, interrupting Diggle.
"I know it's him." Oliver growled, suddenly reminded of what he did to Felicity.
"How?" Laurel cocked her head at him.
"Can you find where he is or not?" Oliver changed the subject, challenging her.
"I can try. I'll get started on it now." Laurel nodded, walking away from them and back towards the door.
"Laurel..." Tommy pleaded, walking to her.
"Tommy, just... just give me some space, alright?" She sighed, turning around to face him with hurt eyes once more.
Tommy just shut his mouth and nodded his head.
She nodded back, and walked back out of the door.
There was silence when she left, at least until Oliver's phone started buzzing. It was Felicity. He picked it up instantly, and walked outside to talk to her in private.
"Hi." He breathed.
"Hi." She responded, sighing.
"Everything okay?" He asked, with a hint of worry in his voice.
"Yeah, yeah. It's okay. I just... I miss you. That's all." She exhaled.
"I miss you too." He responded automatically.
"I don't want to be mad at you anymore. I don't want to fight." She confessed, as if letting a huge weight off of her shoulders.
"I don't either, Felicity. I hate it when we fight." Oliver said, closing his eyes.
"Then let's not fight anymore, okay?" Felicity responded.
"Okay." He smiled.
"How's it going with Malcolm?" Felicity asked.
"It's not... We've barely scraped the surface. But, fortunately we have Laurel now." Oliver nodded.
"Wait-what? Laurel knows?" Felicity asked, surprised.
"Yeah, she followed Tommy here. So, now another member has joined 'Team Arrow' as you like to call it." Oliver chuckled.
"Oh... Wonderful." She sighed.
"What is it?" Oliver asked, confused.
"I just... After I thought you had died, after you disappeared, she just... She gave me so much-so much grief about it. Like, I wasn't right for you? I don't know. I know she's trying to be friendly now and everything... But the history between you two is still there, and I just-I don't know. I'm not her biggest fan." Felicity babbled.
"Well, you have nothing to worry about. I'm a fan of blondes." Oliver chuckled.
"Her hair is getting lighter..." Felicity thought aloud.
"Felicity." Oliver laughed into the phone.
"Stop laughing at me!" She laughed into the phone, and it was like music to his ears.
"Okay, okay. I'm done." He laughed once more before clearing his throat.
"Okay, well I think Barry made dinner. Mm. Yepp. It smells glorious." She said, and Oliver's jealousy started creeping in.
"You're with Barry?" He asked, the jealousy creeping into his tone.
"Oh, hush. I prefer vigilantes anyway." She whispered, giggling.
"Well, let's hope Barry isn't hiding anything from you then." He chuckled.
"I'll let you know if he meets the requirements." She laughed.
"And, then I'll let you know when I beat his ass." Oliver countered.
"Oliver Jonas Queen! He just woke up!" She squealed.
Oliver just chuckled, shaking his head.
"I really have to go, though. Or my dinner is going to be cold. I'll talk to you tomorrow?" She asked.
"Of course. I'll call you." Oliver responded.
"Good. Nighty-night, vigilante." She whispered.
"Night, blondie." He laughed, and waited until she hung up.
Oh, he couldn't imagine a life without his blondie, Felicity Smoak.
Sorry about the short chapter and the wait. It's been one hell of a time finishing finals and preparing for this mission trip to South Africa. Just bear with me, okay?
You know that I'm usually on top of things, so just continue to cut me some slack. :)
I liked this chapter. It was cute.
Gif of frustrated Oliver. ;)
More drama coming soon.
-- Alayna. :)