Six months had passed since she had last seen Oliver. Slade had made them leave the home that he had locked her up in originally. She had thought the last place we very isolated. Isolated was an understatement for this new place that he had locked her up in. Felicity had tried several times to make a run for it. However, she never got far. It was pretty much a desert and she could not risk her health- the baby's health. Therefore, she had made the decision that she needed to stop trying to run off and believe that Oliver would find a way to get her back. She thought about him and Connor every day. She thought about them every minute of the day. She wondered what they were up to, were they missing her. Had they lost hope?

She had slowly started to think that they had given up. It had been six months, she was less than 2 months shy of giving birth. This had been something which caused many nightmares and was the trigger of her biggest fear. So far it was not bad, her baby was well protected inside of her. She feared what would happen when the baby arrived.

Her time with Slade was not bad. He did not treat her badly, he did not hurt her or scare her. In fact he had been nothing but kind, caring, considerate, he was treating her like a princess. He still called her Shado, he talk about his past with Shado and look to her for agreement. He had never touched her inappropriately nor attempted to be physical with her. They slept in different rooms, he would massage her feet, talking themes for the nursery and even started to discuss names. He had always brought a doctor to the house to check her over and run the ultrasounds. She had convinced him that she did not want to know the sex of the baby as she wanted it to be a surprise. The truth was she did not want him to be excited, to push color schemes, clothes and any other baby items down her throat. Of course she wanted to know the sex of her baby, in hindsight, with everything going on it would be comforting to know what she was carrying.

Felicity found herself feeling sorry for Slade more and more. Despite everything he had done to her family she often felt heartbroken for him. It was in those rare moments when she saw just how excited and full of glee he was in regards to the baby. The first time the baby had kicked he had asked if he could feel. She did not know why she had allowed him but she remembers nodding her head. He had cried happy tears. In these moments she was so angry with herself that she worried he would be left devastated when Oliver finally comes for her. He would be left alone. Yet again, he deserved it. He did not ask to be injected with the mirakuru, he did not ask for any of it. However, he made chose to make the decisions he did. He chose to hurt people, to kill people, he chose to kill Moira, he chose to kidnap her and Connor and he now chose to keep her hostage. His choices are what has led him to this. His need for vengeance, overtook everything else.

It was such a shame as Felicity had come to notice things about him. Glimpses of who he was, a man who enjoyed ice cream. A man who liked to read books. A man who liked to listen to really classical music. A man who would follow a recipe in a book. A man who spoke with nothing but love and passion when he referred to Shado and the baby.

She wished in another life that he had made a different choice. That he chose to leave the island, move on with what had happened to Shado and find happiness again. She wished he had not spiralled out of control as she had witnessed glimpses of a man a woman someday would be lucky to call him a boyfriend or a husband.

Regardless, he made his choice, too much had happened now for this man to be redeemed.

Felicity sat on the outside porch on the swing looking off into the distance thinking of her family like she had done for the past 6 months. Slade walked outside towards her with a bottle of chilled water always reminding her how important it is to keep hydrated in this heat.

"Here you are" he said as he handed Felicity the bottle.

"Thanks" she whispered as she took it from him and drank some. He had been right about keep hydrated it was so hot. It was hot to stay inside and it was hot to go out. Felicity nervously waited for him to say something. The past week or so had been different, he had seemed a little more distant than usually and she could not remember a time when he had called her Shado.

"You want to go home" he stated in a matter of fact.

Felicity's head quickly shot up and looked at him. She was shocked at what he had just said. Her eyes searched his, searching for a different meaning behind what he had said.

"For the past 6 months I have called you Shado, I have …. I did it all in hopes that something would happen between us. My Shado is dead but you remind me so much of her." Slade looked away sadly.

"I thought maybe in time you could love me… that we could be a family. I know the baby is not mine, but I would love him or her no matter what." Slade continued. "I'm sorry. My truck is in the garage, the keys are on the table in the kitchen, I have written down instructions of how to get to the nearest town." When Slade finished he walked away leaving a stunned Felicity in complete silence.

Felicity needed to pinch herself to ensure that she was not imagining things. That the heat had not gotten to her and had started to send her hallucinations. To double check she quickly went to the kitchen where she matter of fact spotted the keys left on the table with a detailed route to the next town. Felicity quickly took them and headed towards the truck in fear that he would change his mind. She reached the truck and quickly got in getting ready to speed off. She had not bothered to take anything with her, she didn't need anything, what she needed was to get home to her family.

As she started to drive off from her mirror she could see a broken Slade barely holding himself together. She put her foot on the brake slowing down and then ultimately coming to a stop. She got out of the car and walked towards him.

"I'm sorry for what happened to Shado, I'm sorry that this is the hand that you were dealt. If it is forgiveness that you are looking for, I cannot forgive you. Not after Moira and this. What I will say is… do not let the tragedy you faced bring your whole world down. You by no means deserve to be happy … I don't not forgive you" she stated as she turned back around and headed to the car, before he could change her mind.

Felicity drove for the next 4 hours, she had managed to get onto a main road, however, she had not seen a single car go by. She continued down the path, she knew it had to lead to somewhere as she was now finally on an actual road. After another hour driving she had seen cars and a sign which indicated a small town was up ahead. She sped up so she could quickly get to a phone and call Oliver.

Finding a gas station she stopped and parked the truck, getting out and going inside. "Excuse me do you have a phone I can use?" she asked the cashier.

The man gestured towards the back where a phone sat, she noticed that she needed coins and she didn't have any. "Excuse please I have no money I need to make a phone call" she said with urgency.

The man glared at her, "if you don't have money then that's your problem" he said, going back to clearing some of the cabinets at the front.

"Please … Sir… I really need to make a phone call, please" she begged him.

"Excuse me" Felicity turned around to see an older woman. "Here you are sweetheart, make your phone call" the woman said to Felicity handing her a bunch of coins.

Felicity battled tears that had formed, she took the money, "thank you so much" she whispered not knowing if she could hold herself together. Felicity then went to the phone putting the coins in she dialed Oliver's number.

Oliver had just gotten Connor to bed, since Felicity had been taken, he had done nothing but search for her, using any contacts and favors he was owed. Nothing had turned up, it was as if she had disappeared off the face of the planet. The worst thing about what happened was coming back home and telling Connor that despite talking with his mom, she was not with him. The boy had not understood and the two had butt heads very often. In the beginning the boy had refused to listen to Oliver and everyday had become a constant battle between them. After several weeks when Connor realized that Felicity was not coming home, he stopped fighting with Oliver.

After realization hit him, he had gone into Oliver's room and snuggled next to his father. He had apologized over and over again and told him that he loved him. Oliver never stopped searching, he had hired men to look for her in Australia and had sent photos of Felicity out everywhere he could think of. It had become easier for him since he and Connor were no longer arguing. The last thing Oliver had ever wanted to do was shout at his child. However, Connor had refused to talk to him, had refused to eat, blamed him and constantly called him names. The day Oliver broke down was the day Connor had said that Felicity was dead. He knew that she wasn't he just did. But, hearing his son say it loud, kind of hit some home truths that even if she was not dead, she might as well be as he would never see her again.

He never let go of hope continue the search, he knew that he would always keep looking until he finds her. When he had gotten Connor to sleep, who since realizing Felicity was not coming back refused to sleep on his own, he went downstairs to pour himself a drink.

He sat down in front of the fire place thinking, consistently finding himself in this spot it helped him think about everything. His phone started to ring, he rolled his eyes not bothered to answer it. When it stopped he let out a sign of relief, he was not interested in speaking to anyone. However, when the phone started to ring he sat up and answered it. "Yes"

"Oliver…"

Oliver stood up his heart beating wildly, was he dreaming, had he had too much to drink? "Felicity?"

"Oliver.. he let me go I'm in a gas station and…"

"Felicity" he said again, unbelieving that it was her on the other end.

"I know Oliver … I know but please there is no time… please come get me, it's me Oliver" she said in between sobs.

Shaking out of the standstill coma he had going on he answered back, "Felicity, where are you tell me, I will come get you."

She did not answer and he could hear her asking someone where she was, once she told him the address he told her to get back in the truck hide in it and come back to the gas station in 13 hours. He promised to be there.

"Ok, I love you … I love you both" she cried.

"I love you too, I'm coming … I'm coming" once they hung up he called Diggle immediately and then arranged for his jet to be ready in 20 minutes. He then ran up the stairs and woke Thea up telling her what had happened and asking her to stay and look after Connor. He made Thea promise not to tell the boy anything, he did not want to get Connor's hopes up.

He met Diggle a few minutes later and the two men then found themselves sitting on the Queen jet heading to Australia.

Felicity hung up the phone and started to make her way back to her truck when she was stopped by that older woman again. "Are you alright sweetheart?" she asked her.

"Yes" Felicity simply nodded.

"No you're not, if you are in trouble let me know" she continued. Felicity didn't want to get into it with her, she couldn't trust anyone. "Listen, instead of staying in your car until that person you spoke to arrives, me and my husband own the local motel, here is my card you can stay with us, get a meal into you" the woman smiled. Once she handed Felicity the card she left.

Felicity went back to her truck and drove away from the gas station remembering where it was so she could return in the next 13 hours. Finding somewhere safe to park Felicity tried to get comfortable in the truck, being almost 7 months pregnant was not comfortable on a bed let alone in a car seat. She contemplated taking that woman's offer but she was so close to freedom that she thought against it. She continued to look at the time on the radio counting down the hours until she met Oliver.

13 and half hours later, Oliver and Diggle landed and quickly jumped into the car they had organized to take them to the gas station where they would meet Felicity. Oliver could not sit still, his knees where shaking, he needed the man to drive faster.

Once they arrived he barely waited for the car to stop before he jumped out and searched his surroundings looking for her.

"Oliver" she called out. Oliver turned to see a pretty heavily pregnant Felicity get out of a beat up truck. Her bump extremely noticeable, big, her clothes looked worn out, a huge black t-shirt which looked like it belonged to a man and some sweatpants. Her hair had lost a lot of the blonde colour that it had, her glasses were missing, she looked tired but yet beautiful.

Oliver ran to her engulfing her in a hug as best her could with a bump in between them. She immediately leaned into him and started to cry. His hand went to the back of her head as he started to massage her scalp. He too started to cry, relief that he had found her, happiness that he had found her. "Felicity … I've got you" he whispered, he pulled back and took hold of her tear stricken face. She looked so scared and vulnerable despite him being there. He kissed her softly, stroking her cheek, he moved her hair back clearing her face.

She could not say anything as the sobs continued, it didn't matter he did not need her to say anything, he lifted her up in his arms bridal style, taking her towards the car. Once inside he felt her sink into his embrace closing her eyes as sleep descended on her. He didn't mind, he didn't need her to speak, to talk about what had happened, why he had let her go, he was just glad to have her back. They quickly drove back to the jet, he did not want to spend another minute in Australia, only wanting to get her home. He watched her sleep and was amazed at how big her bump had gotten, out of everything he had thought about the past 6 months it had never crossed his mind that her bump would grow. Of course it would grow but it was not something that had been on his mind. Of course he wanted the baby to be ok and healthy, he wanted nothing more but in terms of her bump getting bigger it had never crossed her mind.

He looked at the bump again, smiling he placed his hand above it wanting to feel his baby. The moment his hand touched her stomach she flew up and slapped it away. "Don't touch me" she yelled.

"Hey… hey it's just me" he called out holding his hands up to show her that he meant her no harm.

Realizing that it was only Oliver she remembered where she was, she sunk back down looking up at Oliver. "I'm sorry" she whispered as sleep took over once more.

For the majority of the journey home she had slept, she had been more tired than she knew she was. When she woke up she was informed there were due to land in half an hour, that's when she reached her hand out for Oliver to take so he could go and sit next to her.

"Hi" she whispered.

"Hi" he smiled.

"I missed you"

"I missed you too"

"How is Connor?"

"Misses you like crazy" he answered as she plastered a big smile on her face.

When they got to the mansion she was told that Connor and Thea had gone for ice cream and were headed back, she was glad to hear this as it would give her time to have a shower and change. She did not want to see Connor for the first time looking like a dirty hobo.

Once she had showered and had dressed into some real maternity clothes that Raisa had prepared for her for the first time in a long time she felt like a human. She stared at herself in the mirror telling herself she needed to dye her hair as soon as possible as goldy brown really did not look good.

She was nervous to see Connor, it was ridiculous to feel nervous when he was her son. She put her hair up in it's usually high ponytail and put on a pair of spare glasses that she had left at the Manor. When she heard the door she left her room and headed towards the foyer. She saw her son, her beautiful son who had grown taller, his hair longer. She immediately started to cry as she called out his name.

"Mommy" Connor screamed as he ran towards her. Felicity took a seat on the steps as she embraced her son tightly, running her fingers through his hair, then moving her hand down to rub his back. "Mommy" he said again as he too began to cry.

"I'm here … I'm here, I missed you so much baby I love you so much" she said as he kissed him all over like she used to and rubber her nose against his.

"I missed you too" he giggled, "I love you Mama" he continued to giggle when Felicity rubbed her nose against his.

Oliver moved towards them and embraced them together, his family reunited.

A couple of months later Felicity gave birth to a baby boy. Their family was complete. When they had brought home baby Thomas they had placed him in a crib in their room not wanting him to be too far away. They were a happy and loving family. A few months later Oliver had proposed and this time Felicity had said yes.

One night Slade had made a reappearance, it was not to hurt them he just looked through the window to see how happy the family was. Felicity was lying on the couch breastfeeding as Oliver and Connor played a video game. He was happy for his old acquaintance, yet sad that he had never got the chance of that life.

The End.