#this is from chapter 3 because I’m planning ahead for 2024 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

smoakingskye · 8 years ago

Text

So Runs The World Away

Chapter 2: “Time, Love” is up!

Chapter Summary: Felicity fights to come home. Oliver tries to figure out how to live without her by his side.

Read the whole story on AO3

Darkness. Pain.

Felicity shivers in the cold. She’s done something very brave but very stupid and she’s going to pay. She knew that it was a possibility, but she had to try.

She has to get home.

They come for her, and she wonders if this torture is as bad as the torture Oliver endured in those five years away. She wagers it’s not, but it feels bad enough. She’s lasted for so long, she can only hope that it was worth it.

They still need her, though, and so she doesn’t die. Not today, anyway. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Torture in the morning, strictly guarded hacking in the afternoon. She can’t keep her hands from shaking as she types, praying that the threats against her family, her wholefamily, are just threats.

Oliver won’t have stopped looking. He was gone for five years—even with the low odds of finding someone after so long, he won’t give up. She knows he won’t until he has solid proof that she’s dead.

And she’s most certainly not dead. Not yet. Hopefully, her time doesn’t run out before they find her.

March 29th, 2024

He still imagines her blonde hair spilling over the pillow in the mornings. She lies next to him in his dreams, in the moments between sleep and wake, and he can almost smell her. Sweet and soft and whole, he envisages her rolling toward him, blinking lazy eyes up at him and nuzzling into his side as she fights for five more minutes of sleep. But his hand reaches out for her and he touches only air, the dreams dissipating into the morning light as a familiar, dull ache settles in his chest

The door to the bedroom creaks open softly and little footsteps patter across the carpet to the bed. A small hand finds his arm and taps it. “Daddy. Daddy! Wake up!”

Oliver groans playfully and rolls over, grabbing his daughter around the waist and hauling her up onto the bed with him.

“Now why would I do that?” He grumbles into her neck.

She giggles as he tickles her, squirming around on the bed. “It’s dress up day at school today, ‘member?”

“Ah. Yes, I remember.” He wraps her in a bear hug and plants a kiss on top of her head. She giggles again, wiggling in his hold.

“Come on!” Pulling away, she grabs his hand to haul him from the bed. He lets her drag him to her room, where her carefully planned outfit waits. “I need you to help me with my ponytail.”

“Ok. You get dressed, I’ll make the coffee, and then I’ll do your ponytail.” He drops another kiss to her head and leaves to start breakfast. Meghan doesn’t usually get up quite this early, but today is a special day.

Their girl is Felicity’s mini-me. Everything she does reminds Oliver of his wife: they way she argues with him, how she bites her lip when she is concentrating, her rambling talk that makes sense to almost no one. She’s inherited Felicity’s brains as well, and it keeps him on his toes. He wonders (not for the first time) if it would be a good idea to let her skip a grade. She’d entered Kindergarten early, and is finishing 1st grade now, at age 5. Her endless questions are too much for him to handle, even with Donna living in town, Thea and Roy over almost every day, and Diggle and Lyla’s family always around. Barry even runs over whenever possible, Caitlin is on the phone often, answering hundreds of little girl questions, and Sara and Laurel stop by whenever possible. They are getting by, at least.

“Daddy, you’re daydreaming again.” His daughter’s voice pulls him from his thoughts as she patters into the kitchen, and he smiles at her. Light brown wavy hair and brilliant blue eyes, she is the perfect mix of the two of them, physically. He isn’t sure if he is glad or upset that her hair has darkened. She looks so much like Felicity some days that it made his head spin, and blonde hair probably wouldn’t have helped that.

“Sorry, Megsie. Let’s get that hair done, huh?”

He helps her pull it up into a high ponytail and hands her the plastic lens-less glasses that sit on the counter. She puts them on and grins at him.

“How do I look?”

Oliver swallows hard before answering. “Perfect, Meg. Just perfect.”

Meghan eats her breakfast with the toy glasses on, swinging her feet beneath her. Oliver is letting her wear her fancy shoes to class today, since it is a special occasion. She talks around bites of food, pointing out the birds feeding on the tree outside the window.

“Joey tried to catch a bird at recess yesterday. We built birdhouses and he gets as close as he can. But I think it would be funny to catch a bird with your bare hands, don’t you? The bird would probably be scared and it might start pecking you and that would hurt. But it might be cool to catch a bird.”

“How would you catch it?”

“Maybe I’d build something. I mean, we kinda already caught them, when they’re in the houses. We just don’t get to see them up close. You could build a clear birdhouse with that plastic stuff or a cage or something and then you can see them but Ms. Beckers says that the bird would be sad because it would miss it’s family if it was in a cage all the time.

“Yeah, I don’t think birds like cages much. They like to fly and be free.”

“I bet people don’t like cages either.”

“No, I’m sure they don’t.” Oliver wonders where that thought came from, but he doesn’t have to wonder long.

“I wonder if they keep Mama in a cage. I mean, not a birdcage; that would be too small. But like, a room sized cage. Or even just a room. I don’t think she’d like that much. I wouldn’t.”

“No.” Oliver’s heart constricts slightly, and he breathes around the lump of tears in his throat. The image of Felicity in a cage is not altogether new for him, but it’s even more painful coming from his daughter. An innocent child shouldn’t ever have to imagine their mother in a cage.

“When we find her, she’ll be so happy to be out of the cage, she might sing like a bird that gets set free.”

Oliver nods and swallows hard. When we find her. He knows Meghan has never given up hope of her mother coming home, and because of that, he hasn’t either. Turning to blink away tears, he pours a second cup of coffee into a traveling mug and grabs his phone as Meg caries her cereal bowl and spoon to the sink. “Let me get a picture of you, OK? Nana and Aunt Thea will want to see your outfit.”

“Uncle Digg and Aunt Lyla and Sara and JJ and Uncle Roy, too.”

“Yeah, them too.”

She grins for him, then grabs her bag from the chair next to her and bounds out to the car. Once awake, she’s a ball of energy that can’t sit still, and since she loves school and learning, nothing seems to be able to slow her down. Not a day goes by that Oliver doesn’t wish Felicity were there to help him answer all their daughter’s thoughts and questions. And, much like her mother might have, Meghan rambles the whole way to the school, turning from birds and cages to the main topic of interest that day: hero costumes.

“Ms. Beckers said that the bestest heroes are the ones that didn’t seem like heroes right away. She said we got a lot of heroes in this city, but not all of them run around with arrows at night. I thought Mama would make the bestest hero out there. Moms are good heroes but mine is the best because she protected us. Isn’t that right, Daddy? You said that she was protecting us and a lot of other people when those bad men took her, and she’s probably still protecting us today, wherever she is. Even if she is in a cage.”

Oliver grips the steering wheel a little too tightly. His knuckles turn white and he has to force his fingers to relax. “That’s right, baby.”

The security footage of Felicity being taken still haunts his mind. He’s scrubbed through it hundreds of times in hopes that there will be a hint, a clue that could lead him to her. But the most important thing is that Felicity had just finished encrypting several security codes when she was taken, security codes that protected their family, that protected the city. She stopped a group of pseudo-terrorists from killing a whole lot of people, and paid for it with her freedom.

Meghan’s right, her mother is quite possibly the biggest hero out there, even bigger than the Green Arrow. And no one will ever know.

He walks her to the door of her classroom, smiling at the other outfits. Spiderman and Captain America walk alongside little boys and girls in green or red hoodies, girls in full outfits of black, complete with blonde wigs.

“Daddy?” she tugs at his hand to stop halfway across the playground.

“Yeah, baby?”

Looking up at him, she bites her lip, then looks away, suddenly shy in a very uncharacteristically Meghan manner.

“Hey.” He drops to his knees. “What’s the matter, Megsie?”

She turns back to look him in they eye, tugging at her skirt. “Do you think… do you think she would like it?”

“Oh, baby.” He pulls her into his arms, tears clogging his throat. “Oh, Meghan, she would love it. Just like I do.”

Like that, her fears are gone. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

She enters her classroom, head held high and a smile on her face.

With a heavy heart, Oliver heads to the office. Like always, he has a long day ahead of him. When Felicity was taken, the company took a little hit, but he’s mostly gotten it back and running again. He thinks she’d be proud of the decisions he’s made over the last 3 years. Steeling himself, he walks through the door and puts on his game face. He has a meeting to get to.

January 8th, 2021

The thug screams in pain as Oliver twists his arm behind him. He’s begging for mercy, but the Arrow is not feeling generous tonight.

“I’ll give it back, I swear. I’ll give it all back. Please.”

It’s almost humorous the way he grovels, a grown man blubbering in the dirt of the alley, but Oliver doesn’t feel like laughing much. Suddenly, everything feels so empty and pointless. He drops the man onto the concrete.

“See that you do,” he growls. The man is still sobbing, cradling his arm. Oliver stalks away. He wants nothing more than to put an arrow in the guy, which doesn’t make any sense. He’s just a common street criminal, barely worth Team Arrow’s time.

But that’s the problem. They have too much time right now. Too much time, and yet not enough. Because Felicity has been missing for nearly three days now and they have absolutely no leads.

None. Nada. Zilch. ARGUS is on the case (discretely). The SCPD is on the case. Star Labs is on the case. And no one can find even an inkling of where she might have gone.

Been taken, he reminds himself. Anger bubbles in his throat. She was taken. The thought makes him want to punch something. Preferably another criminal.

His comm. cackles, and Digg’s voice cuts across the static. “Oliver? Are you there?”

“Do you have something for me?”

Distraction is the only technique he can find. During the day, he throws himself into projects at QI, and at night he finds every criminal he can and beats them to a pulp. He knows logically that it won’t bring her back, but he doesn’t know what else to do.

He’s wearing thin.

“Oliver, please just come home.”

“I can’t,” he grinds out. She was his home, and now she’s gone. His hands begin to shake, and the compassion in John’s voice nearly breaks him down right there. Instead, he closes off his emotions, clenches his hands into fists, and growls his response. “Don’t wait up for me.”

It doesn’t take long for him to find another criminal. It never does, in the Glades. This one’s a looter, probably just some random drunk guy whose buddies sent him on a dare. Oliver doesn’t care, though. He has no remorse for anyone tonight.

The guy is on the ground with his first punch, but Oliver doesn’t stop there. He kicks the man in the side. A few other guys run up, telling him to “ease up, dude, it was just a joke,” but Oliver doesn’t listen.

They’re all on the ground in seconds, only one actually trying to hold his own against the Arrow. He has the guy in a headlock when red and blue lights start flashing, but he doesn’t stop.

Policemen are shouting things, but Oliver doesn’t really hear them. A cop shines a light in his face, trying to take the man from him. Oliver drops the looter, shoving him forward so he ends up on his knees.

Someone puts a hand on his arm. Oliver jerks away, the ringing in his ears getting louder.

“Go home, son,” says a familiar voice, cutting through the haze. Oliver lifts his eyes too see Lance watching him with a sad expression.

“I can’t.”

He knows the other man understands what he means. Lance looks away for a moment before stepping very close to him. “Oliver, go home. Go back to the lair, go to your house. I don’t care, just get off the streets for a few nights. She wouldn’t want this for you.”

“Don’t tell me what she would want!” he yells. One of the other nearby policemen flinches backwards, but Lance doesn’t move an inch.

“Oliver,” he says very patiently, “If I hear of the Green Arrow taking down any more criminals for the next week, I will personally come and put you in jail until you cool off. Go. Home.”

Oliver glares at him. His hands itch to punch something, even if it is Lance himself.

“Do I need to take you there?” the Police Captain wonders aloud, reaching for his handcuffs. Oliver growls and stalks to his bike.

Digg is waiting for him in the lair. Oliver glares at his friend and strides past him. When he’s changed out of the suit, Digg is still there.

“John.” Whatever the other man has to say, he doesn’t want to hear it now.

“Oliver. You need to go home to your daughter.”

“Thea’s with her.”

“She needs her father,” Digg replies calmly. It’s the kindness in his tone that sends Oliver over the edge.

“And I need Felicity!” he explodes, exhaustion of the last few days catching up to him and causing the anger to boil over. All he can see is her frightened face in the security footage, her panicking eyes in the tape they left him.

It’s too much. He screams in anguish, overturning a cart in the room, smashing a chair against it.

Diggle watches him overturn the entire lair. When his energy is finally gone, Oliver collapses in the center of the room, burying his head in his hands. He wants to scream some more. He wants to cry.

“Please, go to Meghan, Oliver. She misses you. She needs you. And you need her.”

He raises his head slowly. “How do I move on from this? How do I live without her, Digg? She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“And she believed in you. She knew that you were good enough on your own, Oliver, if only you believed in yourself. You know that. The only reason she married you is because you finally figured that out. So you do it for her. You live how she would have wanted. You make her proud.”

“What if I can’t?”

“You try anyway. And if you try, I know she’ll be proud anyway. She loves you, Oliver, and that alone can give you strength. Besides, you aren’t alone. I’m here for you. Lyla and Thea are here for you. Sara and Laurel and Barry and Team Flash and Roy, we are all here for you.”

Oliver slowly stands to his feet.

“Besides, if you don’t, Donna might just come down here and drag you there by your ear, if her texts and phone messages are any indication.”

It’s an attempt to lighten the mood, but it only makes Oliver feel worse. Here he is, wrapped in his own grief, and Donna’s out there having lost a daughter. His heart seizes at the thought of losing Meghan and he knows just exactly what Donna must be feeling right now. He makes a mental note to call her in the morning, bidding John goodnight. It’s time for him to go home to his baby girl.

Notes:

I know this time jump probably isn't what you all were expecting, but that's just the way the story formed in my head. Hopefully it will make sense later. I know there's not a lot of Felicity yet, but that will come with time. Also, the flashback happens before the start of the first chapter, where Oliver is going through the anger stage of grief before the depressive state we saw him in. I've dated everything, but I know sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle.

In this timeline, Oliver is the CEO of QI. Felicity changed the name from PT after they were married. Oliver took over after she left, temporarily at first to keep things running while she was gone, but it's possible Thea made him take some business classes as time went on to improve his skills (so Felicity wouldn't have to do to much damage control when she returned). I think Curtis will show up at some point too now, though I haven't worked him in quite yet, and it will be some sort of tech company (instead of whatever QC was supposed to be??).

As always, Thanks for reading!

#so runs the world away #mine #arrow fic #olicity fic #my fic

5 notes · View notes