#anyway getting ready to get down by josh ritter just came on. i like this song a lot

[smoakingskye]

So Runs The World Away Ch. 3: Just Set the Course North

Read on AO3 // from beginning

Rating: Teen

Chapter Summary: Felicity fights to get home. Oliver fights to find her. 

Chapter title from Josh Ritter’s Another New World

The guards have turned away as she finishes the algorithm. They chat about something in the corner of the room, neglecting their duty to watch her, to watch the screen, and to take her away when her work is done. It’s been a long day, and she doesn’t blame them. She almost feels sorry for them, before remembering where she is and what these people have done to her.

Her eyes flick across the room. Another man, another prisoner looks at her and nods just enough for her to see. She takes a deep breath and counts to three. The man collapses, the guards rush toward him, and she turns back to the computer.

She knows she has to act quickly, but she’s ready. She’s been waiting for this moment for too long, over 3 years too long. With a flick of her wrist, she types something in, breaking through a barrier designed to contain her work within this system in mere seconds.

A few more seconds, and she’s left her mark. Small, barely noticeable, but hopefully traceable. That’s all she needs: for it to be traceable. ARGUS will trace it. She knows they can. They will find her and she will go home.

Swiftly, she covers up what she’s done, replacing the barrier, hiding her mark. Hiding what she’s done as best as she can and still allow it to be traceable. She hopes it is enough.

It’s not.

They come for her that night. It’s not the first time they’ve beaten her, but she hopes it is the last. If they found out about what she did, maybe ARGUS did too. Maybe they found it in time. Her captors torture her for information, but she doesn’t say a word.

She’s determined to go home.

March 29th, 2024

“Oliver?” Diggle’s voice breaks through muddledness in his brain that comes from hours of staring at a computer screen. “Isn’t it about time you went home?”

He looks up blankly. “What?”

“It’s late, Oliver. You need to go home.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Oliver struggles to remember what their plans were for the evening. “Donna’s there tonight, with Meg.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you can overwork yourself here. What are you doing anyway?”

He rubs the back of his neck. “Working on things.”

Diggle sighs. “What ‘things’, Oliver?”

Oliver doesn’t look at him. “Take a guess.”

“So, not QI work at all.”

Oliver does not respond, turning back to the computer.

“You’re searching for her. You’re trying to find things that might lead you to her. Watching that damn security footage over and over again, looking for clues that aren’t there.”

Oliver slams his hand on the desk, allowing a brief moment of anger to show through. “What do you want me to say, John? That I’m not? That I’ve given up?”

“Oliver…”

“This is Felicity we are talking about. My Felicity. My wife. I will never give up. Not until I know.”

Diggle softens slightly. “Why tonight, Oliver?”

He leans back in his chair, looking up at the man he considers a brother. “You know I look every chance I get.” Cisco had set up the best scans he could on their systems. Curtis was working with him on setting up an even better system. Not as good as Felicity could have done, but it’s something.

Diggle scratches the back of his neck and sits on the back of the couch. “It’s different tonight,” he observes, clearly expecting a response.

Oliver sighs. “Today is show and tell at Meg’s school. Specifically, Dress-Like-Your-Hero day.”

“I know. You sent me the picture.”

“Yeah, and what did you notice, Digg?”

Digg gives him a look. “She dressed up like Felicity, Oliver,” he says patiently.

“She dressed like Felicity. Now keep in mind that Meghan has no good memories of her mother. She only knows what I’ve told her, only seen her in pictures. But Felicity is still her hero. And if there is a chance that I can bring her home, I am going to.”

“Ok, Oliver. But tonight, your daughter probably wanted to tell you about her day. You need to be there for her. You know she doesn’t sleep well unless you tuck her in.”

Oliver deflates slightly. He glances at the clock, telling him it’s after 9pm. He’d nearly forgotten about Meghan, and Green Arrow-ing hadn’t even crossed his mind. “Roy’s and Thea going out on patrol tonight?”

“Their day of the week. Looks like it’ll be quiet though. Go home, please.”

Oliver sighs, shutting down the computer. He’d said it before, and he’d say it again: Felicity was the only one with enough expertise to find someone who’d gone missing like this. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to stop trying.

Meghan hasn’t gone to bed yet when he arrives home, and Donna sits with her, reading storybooks. When Donna leaves, Oliver asks if she wants one more story before bed.

“No. I want you to tell me about Mama.”

Oliver expects this question now, but it still hurts sometimes. He’s told Meg something about Felicity almost every day for the past three years. He’s showed her all the videos and pictures they have, wishing there were more, and the little girl soaks it up for all it’s worth.

“What do you want to know, baby?”

She considers this, leaning back against her pillows and hugging her teddy bear to her chest.

“Did Mama ever get scared?”

Images flicker through his mind. Felicity in the underground casino on her first undercover mission, a gun to her temple. Felicity standing on a landmine on Lian Yu. Felicity behind the Count’s needle, Slade’s sword, Cooper’s gun, the prison doors in Nanda Parbat. None of them are memories he can share with his daughter.

“Yeah, baby, everybody gets scared sometimes. But your mom never let that stop her from doing the right thing, the brave thing.” He sighs, pretending to think hard. “I think the time I saw her the most scared, though, was when you were almost three months old.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” he snuggles down next to her on the little bed. Not all of the stories he tells have Meghan herself in them, but the ones that do seem to be her favorite. And he’s not lying either: as terrified as Felicity was when facing their biggest foes, this was the moment she was most scared of all.

“You got really sick one night. At first you were just crying a lot, really fussy, and your Mama was a little irritated because she was tired and didn’t know why you wouldn’t go to sleep. You didn’t want to eat anything and your diaper was dry. There was no reason at all why you should be crying.”

“What was wrong with me?”

“You had a bad ear infection. We didn’t know that for a while. Mama tried to put you to bed, and you just wouldn’t stop crying. Eventually, she went to get you and came back worried. You were rubbing your ear and you were breathing very quickly but not very deeply.”

“She was really scared then?” Meghan’s blue eyes are wide, much like Felicity’s had been on that night over five years ago.

“Not quite yet. She was a little worried, but not badly scared yet. She tried feeding you again because you hadn’t eaten much but you wouldn’t take your bottle. So she decided to take your temperature since your skin was really warm, and a few minutes later came running back into the bedroom because your temperature was very high. We decided to go to the hospital even though it was almost three o’clock in the morning. It’s a good thing we did, because the infection was pretty bad. They had to give you oxygen in a tube and an IV for fluids and antibiotics to fight the bacteria.”

“And that’s when she was really scared.”

“That’s when she was so scared she could barely breathe.” Oliver smoothes his hand over Meghan’s messy hair, smiling down at her. “The doctors were even a little worried about you, and your mom was crying and shaking and wouldn’t calm down. She was so afraid that she had done something wrong and we were going to lose you. This wasn’t something she could fix by typing on a computer. She had to sit there and watch you fight to breathe, this tiny little baby surrounded by great big machines and hooked up to lots of tubes and things.”

“But I was ok.” Meghan brightens, knowing that she (obviously) made it through that night.

“Yeah.” Oliver taps the tip of her nose, making her giggle. “Your mom didn’t sleep for nearly two days straight, until we knew you were going to be alright. She was exhausted, but she wouldn’t leave your side, because she was afraid something would happen while she was gone. When the doctors finally told us the antibiotics were working and you had made a turn for the better, she collapsed right there in the hospital room, sobbing uncontrollably. I promised to stay with you and Uncle Digg took her home for a few hours to get some rest. He told me she fell asleep in the car and slept for almost 12 hours before coming back to the hospital.”

“But she wasn’t scared anymore? Because I was better.”

“Oh, she still worried. For a long time after that, she was very protective of you if you were extra fussy for any reason. Whenever you got a cold in the next six months, she would fuss over you and fret unnecessarily. You were always fine, but she worried.”

“Because she loved me?” Meghan cuddles her teddy, knowing the answer but needing Oliver’s confirmation.

His throat tightens with tears, but they aren’t all sad. “Yes, Meghan. Because she loves you. She would do anything at all to protect you.”

“I’m glad she’s my mom. Even if she’s not here right now.”

Pulling Meghan close, Oliver lets a few tears fall, kissing his daughter’s head. “I’m glad too, baby. I’m so glad too.”

December 17, 2021

Oliver turns the rings over in his hands as he sits on the edge of his bed. The tears flow freely tonight, dripping down his face onto his shirt, but he doesn’t care.

Eleven Months. Eleven months since his Felicity, his light, his love, his light, was abducted. Almost a year, and all he has of her are her wedding rings.

“Oliver?”

Donna Smoak knocks lightly on the door. He looks up and nods for her to enter. Moving toward him, she offers a small smile that he doesn’t return.

“How are you tonight?” she asks, placing a comforting hand on his back as she sits beside him.

“I could ask you the same question.”

She scoffs lightly, causing him to glance at her. “It’s not my wedding anniversary, Oliver.”

Scrubbing a hand over his face, he draws a shaky breath. “I dreamed of this night. For the last eleven months, it’s been a personal delusion of mine that somehow she would find her way home today. That she would come back, whole and safe and unharmed and we would celebrate.”

“Oliver.”

“I know. It’s stupid. She’s not coming back. Ever. Especially not tonight.”

“Oliver, it’s not stupid. I have dreams like that too.”

He turns toward her, his wonderful mother in law. She smiles softly. The last year has subdued her vibrant personality slightly, but now more than ever he can see where Felicity got her strength.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” he admits, brokenly.

She rubs his back gently. “Oliver, you aren’t alone.”

“I know. But Felicity was… she brought out the best in me. I don’t want to fail as a father, as CEO, as the Green Arrow. I need her.”

“You know what she would say, if she were here?”

He shakes his head. The ache in his chest is making it hard to breathe.

“She would tell you that she believes in you. You are good, you are strong. Yes, she compliments you well, but you are a good man with or without her. If I’ve learned anything over these last few months, Oliver, it’s that you love wholly and selflessly. You’ve done that for Felicity, and you can do that for Meghan, if nothing else.”

“I don’t want to fail her.”

“You won’t Oliver.”

“How do you know that?”

She places her hand on his cheek. “Because I know you, Oliver. And I know my daughter. She trusts you, and so do I.”

April 10th, 2024

“Green Arrow, turn left on 9th Street.”

Oliver spun the bike left, tapping the com. “I have no visual. There’s too much traffic.”

“Six cars ahead of you. Black vehicle,” came the reply. Oliver could hear typing as Digg tried to get better visuals himself. “There’s a stoplight coming up. Swing right and take the alleyway to 10th.”

Oliver complied, hoping that Digg knew what he was doing.

“Speedy, you there? Take your next right and you might be able to cut her off.”

“Copy that.”

Oliver could hear the roar of Thea’s bike through the com as she sped toward them from the other direction. He skidded to a stop in the alley, cut off by a mess of dumpsters and no way over them. “Spartan, I’m held up. Speedy, do you think you can take this one on your own?”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

Oliver jumped off his bike, shoving one of the dumpsters closer to the wall, where it was supposed to be. It took him a few seconds only, but by the time he’d gotten back on his bike and through the alley, the car was gone.

“Losing the signal. Speedy?”

“I don’t have a visual yet. Do you know which car it is?”

“I didn’t get a clear reading on the license plate. Trying to enhance…”

“Spartan, I think we lost them.” Oliver pulls to a stop on the side of the road. “Give it up, Speedy.”

“You sure?”

Oliver sighs. “Yeah. She was just a low-life criminal anyway. If she pops up again, we’ll get her, but for tonight I think it’s lost.”

“Sorry,” Digg sighs. “I just don’t know how to do all this tech stuff right. I’ll call Cisco again and see if Curtis is free tomorrow to run me through it one more time.”

“Sounds good. We’re headed back.”

No more criminals pop up that night, and they turn in early. Oliver hopes the police caught their thief, but nothing comes in. It’s a small loss, but Oliver can’t shake the feeling that he’s had the last few years: without Felicity, team Arrow is just barely keeping its head above water.

April 12th, 2024

“Mr. Queen? You have a call on line one.”

Oliver barely suppresses his groan. His last meeting of the day had gone over by almost 45 minutes and his head is throbbing. There is a mountain of paperwork left, and all he wants to do is go home and spend some time with his daughter. With Thea and Roy on patrol again tonight, a relaxing evening in had looked promising.

Nodding at his secretary, he answers the phone, his tone clipped and annoyed, unprepared for the breathless voice on the other end.

“Oliver, we have a lead.”

His heart catches in his throat, even as his mind races to catch up to what the man on the other end of the line is saying.

“What? Who… Captain Lance?”

“We found something. Something came up and we found something. Well, ARGUS found something. I don’t want to get your hopes up quite yet but it might be her.”

Lance sounds like he’s running, making his words hard to hear, not to mention he’s speaking very fast. Oliver frowns.

“Her? Quentin, slow down. What are you saying?” He holds his breath, waiting for the answer. Lance has never given up on the search for Felicity. He’d liked her, a lot, thought of her as another daughter of sorts, and even after the SCPD dismissed the case, he’d continued pushing and searching as hard as Oliver had.

“Don’t get too excited, but ARGUS might have a lead on Felicity’s case.”

“A lead. What does that mean?” He can’t breathe. The throbbing in his head is drowning out all rational thought. Looking down, he realizes his free hand is shaking.

Lance pauses. When he speaks again, it is soft and clear.

“Lyla thinks she might have found the men that took Felicity.”