A Long Life Together

PART 5





I have been negligent in keeping this story going. But I can’t let go of it. Lots of things going on in my life that has kept me away from the computer. I started to think that maybe Arrow has been over for too long now and that the fanfiction audience has moved on to other interests. But I still offer this short installment anyway, because I haven’t moved on.









Oliver and Felicity’s flight was an hour outside of Logan Airport in Boston. Oliver had used the six hour flight to gather in his thoughts and anxiety’s over his reunion with William. One prevailing image predominated all the other memories and feelings he harbored while in his cell at Slabside—he and William’s last conversation in that holding room. As if he felt that he was never going to have that moment again, Oliver had told his son that he would always be in his father’s heart. It was a sort of cleansing as he told William about his deal with Agent Watson. He tried to make him understand that what Oliver was doing through his sacrifice was ensuring that William had a safe, normal life.

Felicity had fallen asleep in the seat next to Oliver. He looked over at her and had another predominating image fill his contemplative mind—Felicity walking up to him as he came out of the prison that had separated them for all those long months. When she reached up and cradled his bloody face in her yearning hands, Oliver released all the turmoil and violence he had just gone through. Her touch brought that special calm that only she could instill into his complicated life. Flying across the country with her next to him made the flight seem more meaningful somehow. He couldn’t have made it without her. She knew what Oliver was going through mentally but she didn’t try to pry it out of him. During the past three months since his release, they did not really talk about William. Yes, he was always in the back of his mind, but it took him the past three months to decompress from the mental and physical traumas he experienced inside Slabside, and he focused mostly on that. He lost himself in Felicity’s love for him, disappeared inside the healing stretch of her arms and the softness of her body.

Now, as they were approaching Boston, Oliver wanted to tell Felicity how much he needed her with him. He wanted to tell her about his fears over seeing William again. He wanted to tell her about the uncertainty he felt when he thought about his future, who he would be now, after all the years of violence and growth he went through as the Green Arrow. But mostly, he wanted to talk to Felicity about what happened with William’s grandparents. Their deaths were still fresh in his mind. Having to start their lives as father and son over again; it was not what Oliver wanted to open with when he stood before his son. The closer they got to their destination, the more Oliver’s anxiety grew. He did not know how he was going to tell William that his life was about to change once again.

“Oliver,” Felicity suddenly spoke next to him. “What’s going on? I know that brooding look when it lands on your face. Tell me.”

Oliver broke out of his troubled thoughts and looked over to his wife. An uncontrollable smile stretched across his face. “You always do that,” he replied.

“Do what?” she smiled back.

“Break through my perimeter and capture my heart.” He reached over and touched her face. “I don’t deserve you, my love.”

“Come on Oliver. We’ve been down that road before. It’s not about what we deserve; it’s about what we need. We need each other. And right now, you need to tell me why you look like you’re not comfortable with this trip.”

Oliver sighed and gave into the inevitable. “Felicity, I guess we need to talk about William and how I’m going to tell him that I’m the only family he has now.”

Felicity reached over and took Oliver’s hand. “Okay love, let’s talk about that. You go first.”

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