Author Notes: So this was supposed to be a Christmas gift, then New Years, Ha, ha, it got a bit out of control, but I'm going to tame this beast.

BABY BLUE

Chapter One:

When he was on the island the only thing on his mind was survival, when he got off the island he wanted to fix his city. feelings for Laurel got in the way on an occasion, but ultimately he stayed with his mission. He never planned on forming a team, he had all plans of doing it alone, but admittedly he had needed some help, so he let Diggle in. And he had went to Felicity, only planning on going there on at rare moments, he supposed he could have pick different techs, but she was the best. So of course, in due time he had recruited her as well. And what was temporary, turned into a permanent friendship. There were so many things he did not plan for, things he never thought about. Nothing of course took him by surprise more than this moment now:

Blue eyes gazed up at him belonging to a small babe wrapped in a blue cloth. This small wonder, had changed everything once more, and again Felicity had surprised him, because he never thought of a family of his own. He never thought about how a little hand would grasp tightly at his finger could render him so weak and make him strong at the same time. He never thought he could feel this happy in life, again. It never occurred him. More so was the beauty of the woman who held the baby, a baby that was not theirs, but oh how he wanted it to be. As he watched that unnatural blond hair flow down in front of the baby's face and how she rambled random things to the small child.

Part I:

Felicity let her fingers fly across the keyboard, "Ah ha," She said gleefully, "Totally a fist pump moment," and she did as she said. "Not that you guys can see it."

"Felicity," Oliver's voice contained its usual deep firmness as he made up the gray stairs, avoiding the security cameras with graceful ease.

The blonde who was at the base, just pumped her fist real quick and adjusted her glasses, and told herself to focus. She repeated the mantra of concentration a couple of times.

"Okay, I broke through the security, Diggle you got the back door, right?" She scrolled through the screen, "Okay what you need should be stored on the third floor in the Research Lab, well that's kind of a duh I guess, but the vile you want should be label under #32-2. Wow that's kind of scary considering how times they must have tried to improve this thing."

"Found it," Oliver pushed a couple of guards down with swift movement of his hands and the extra aid of using his bow to gain leverage in applying pressure. Diggle was coming up from behind and nodded as the Arrow made his way to the keypad, "Password."

"One second." She sped up on her typing, going through various codes that might match up, "It should be 0728."

His gloved fingers quickly went to work and he walked right through door to a room full of various metal tables covered in plastic tubes, refrigerator boxes which held all the different versions of Miraku, he guessed, and computers. He did not take in the room for long because he was then greeted by a couple of buff men that he and Diggle took down with a couple swift moves. The challenge was the woman, who in mere seconds knocked his partner down at the ankles with a swift kick.

Oliver stared up at the lean thin, tanned woman with long black hair in a bun. She pulled out two long pins, releasing the strands of her hair and using the pins as weapons.

"Destroy the tubes," he ordered in his gruff voice to Diggle, as the woman dove at him. He jumped up avoiding what he believed to be poisoned needles.

"You're good." He couldn't help but admire.

"No I'm better." She replied confidently, as she knocked his bow out of his hand and tried to pin him in the neck. He quickly pulled away, and they continued their hand to hand. Their bodies turning and twisting in a dance of power.

Diggle went over to where all the tubes where kept, searching for the right one. He grabbed a sample of #32-2 and wrapped it up, then stashed it in a pouch, "I got it!" He yelled.

"Oliver," the IT girl called. "What's going on? Why do I hear fighting, there shouldn't be anybody else in there." She had checked the files earlier and everyone had clocked out hours ago.

"Well there is," the man in green replied.

"Are you talking to the voices in your head?" The lithe woman in black leather inquired as she gave him another swift kick with a grin.

"Hey what's that?" Felicity wondered as she swore she could hear wailing. "Oliver, I hear something."

"Just a minute, Felicity."

"It sounds like a..."

"HOLD ON." He ordered.

"Hey girl, focus I need the code to destroy this poison." Diggle interrupted looking over at the main computer.

"Right," She sounded worried but regained her focus.

"He is holding up, I promise." He assured her as he began searching for the right screen.

"Right," She agreed. "Okay," she accessed the screen, "Did you find the screen containing the list of all the different versions created."

"Yeah," He stared at all the different codes, "and yeah, they ran a whole bunch tests trying to improve this thing."

"Well, I'm going to set them back."

"I don't think so." The woman snarled as she broke from Oliver for second, she threw a needle which Diggle ducked to avoid. It hit the back of the computer, a spark sprung to life and suddenly nothing was on the computer.

"She destroyed the computer." The bodyguard concerned, if they could not get into the files, they could not get rid of the tubes safely.

"Very sharp steel," The woman gleefully said. "Now where we?" Oliver grabbed her by the neck, "Oh yeah," She twisted around.

"She didn't completely destroy it," Felicity replied, "not for me, gave me a minute." She had the once black screen back on the right page in mere seconds.

"I don't know how you do it, girl, but Oliver owns you some more wine."

"You bet."

Oliver finally got enough grasp to cause the woman to faint, in a few moments he had her tied up. They would call the police afterwords.

"You took a little long don't you think," his bodyguard teased, underneath the hood, the Arrow glared back.

"Do you hear that?" He finally was able to take a moment to address his IT girl.

"Yeah, I own you another bottle," he could not help but grin, one time he promised her wine and didn't pay up. So after she joined the team officially ,ever time she did something extra amazing he have to buy her another bottle. She probably had her own winery by now.

"No," she replied, "Well yeah, but listen..." They were quiet and there was a soft but clear cry in the distance.

"Is that?" Diggle could not believe the sound he heard. The two men followed the noise to the back of the place where there was a tiny room with a crib stashed in it.

Oliver leaned over the rickety barely held together crib. There was something wrapped in blue wiggling around, crying. It was so tiny. He had rarely saw a baby before the island and now only caught glimpses on TV for the most part. There had been the occasional baby on the street, but he barely gave them a glance. Now though he timed to study the fragile thing, and he could not stop his wonder at a such thing. He had heard babies were beautiful and now he knew it to be true. He stuck one finger in the crib, barely daring to touch it.

"Why would they have a baby in the lab?" Diggle wondered as he looked over to the entranced Oliver. The bodyguard put his hands into the bed and without much effort pulled the babe out of the crib, wrapping him in the raggy blanket. The blue eyes stared up at the bodyguard. "Hello little one, we'll get you somewhere safe I promise." Then he looked over at Oliver, "You should call social services. Tell them somebody abandoned a baby at the club."

"Yeah," He still could not believe that any human being could ever be that small, that innocent, let alone once him.

"Let's get out of here, why don't you check the place out and make sure there is nobody left behind." Diggle suggested. Oliver turned around to do just do that.

"She's gone." He noted staring at the table that now just had a pile of rope.

"Who's gone?" Diggle followed his line of sight, "How did she..."

"I don't know, but with the way she fought me. I shouldn't be too surprised she was able to get out of that. Who knows what she is trained to do? Well, worry about her later." His partner agreed with a nod.

Diggle had gently carried in the baby while Oliver laid down his bow and arrows. Felicity almost tripped over the chair trying to make her way to Diggle. She straightened herself up and looked up with her bright eyes, "Oh please let me hold the baby." She held out her arms and both men stared at her.

"What!?" She shrugged her shoulders, "Everyone loves babies, only creepy people don't like babies. Or people who don't know how to handle them," she noted Oliver who still stared at the baby like it came from another planet, not wanting to insult him for various reasons. One: being he was her boss, Two: She...She shook her head, and then took the little one from Diggle, "So what are you guys going to do?" She gazed into its eyes and began to talk about some random computer jargon. As she wiggled her finger.

"I don't know, I tried calling social services but they are so book up because of the Glades," Oliver flinched a bit, the guilt washed over him for a second. Diggle noted it, while Felicity just continued on a one-sided conversation about hacking into FBI servers with the baby. "And the Holidays are coming up. "

"Oh you poor precious thing, are you a boy or a girl? Oh... a bouncy baby boy, yep for sure." She pushed the blanket back down then gazed back up, "I'm not so sure if handing him over is such a good idea anyway." She looked back down, "It will be okay. A baby really! Who does that? There are some things that shouldn't be allowed in this universe."

"Felicity," Oliver normally would be happy to hear Felicity odd babbling after a mission. This time though...there was something different. "It is not allowed."

"No, I mean like that it can't possibly be done, like it is against the universe, like fighting gravity." There was something in her voice that Oliver did not catch because he was just too...seeing Felicity with a baby pacing the floor did something to him he could not describe. She looked so beautiful, he had no other way to put it. Also it was amusing how the baby found her ranting soothing, but it might have helped how she talked in a low voice. He guessed it didn't matter what you said as long as you say it in the right tone to one who can not understand. He was fascinated by her behavior and he should not be. He did not know why, he felt like he should not, because if he unlocked that door, he was not sure he could walk out of it. Yet, at this point he was not sure if there was a way to stop it, as he watched her gaze into the baby's eyes, "Though, it would not be a good idea if hacking was against the universe, because I couldn't help the hood. Though I think that shouldn't be illegal anyway, well for some people I guess."

"Anyway she's got a point Oliver if somebody took him they may come back, maybe even to get rid of the evidence. We need to find out why he was kidnapped." Diggle replied. "In the mean time I'm not sure what we can do now.

"This isn't my forte," The hood admitted finally tearing his eyes from her, but it did not last long as she made her way over to him.

"Here," She handed the baby to Oliver who was still dressed in green.

"What are you doing?" He was surprised as she maneuvered his hand to support the small head of the little boy.

"Didn't you ever hold Thea, you got a few years on her?" She asked quietly and curiously.

"Once or twice, but I was..." He did not have as much blood on his hands back then and now... "Smaller."

"Well, I trust that if you can slip into a window without making too much noise, you can hold a baby without breaking it. You better anyway," She gave him a fake glare, "I got to make a call." Her pony tail bounced as she went to her bag of goodies to pull out her cell.

The big bad vigilant was frozen still with a tiny thing wriggly in his arms, "Why don't you take him Diggle he seems to like you." He tried pushing the baby on the bodyguard because he might not have been not crying very loudly but he made a fussy face as he tried to sleep.

"What's the problem Oliver? You are not scared of babies." Diggle asked amused as he refused to take the little one with his arms crossed. He briefly glared at his bodyguard. "Hehe...You're doing fine."

"You know I just never had much experience with infants, even with Thea we had a maid and mom. I only held her a couple times, and you don't see a lot of babies at a Queen party, there tends to be too much alcohol. He is so small." It still was disbelieving to him.

"Yeah, babies tend to be." Diggle gazed passed him to look at the blond chatting on the phone. He was more amazed at how natural Felicity seemed to be. It's not that he did not think she would not be good with kids, it's well she seemed to love her computers more than anything, so he never thought of her that way. Than he looked back at Oliver who was holding a baby more awkwardly than he ever seen someone in his life. He bet the Hood never thought about her in that way, either, in many ways, ways that was probably obvious to the whole world.

"I'm sorry to have called you so late at night." Felicity told her friend.

"No, you're not," June replied, "You like interrupting my beauty sleep you were always so jealous of my good looks."

"Nope, but whatever helps you sleep better at night. Actually I'm calling you for a favor, somebody left me a baby...well not me, it's my boss's baby, well not my boss's baby, as in not our baby. Well it is a baby that was left outside of a club not that I'm clubbing, I mean I work here, well not here. I work at Queen's office, I was doing some computer maintenance..."

"Can you cut to the short version? I just got three hours left to get up for work."

"There is a baby here and he needs a home."

June sighed, "Why didn't you just call Social Service directly, instead of me,"

"Well that's were the favor comes in, this is one of those situations." She whispered lowly.

"Oh you mean the ones where you want something from me but you can't tell me why."

"Exactly! June I'll own you big, but I need you to make sure nobody catches on if I have to mess with a few files on a kid."

"Felicity, you're great with kids, but we are talking about a baby. I can't let you take him. He needs things that you can't get on your budget."

"What if I had somebody fit the bill...oh God that's sounds bad, not like that."

"What's going on?" Diggle wondered.

"Oliver I need a favor." She looked over shoulder to her boss who was still holding the boy.

"Oliver?" June inquired, she knew it would take her friend only a minute or two to figure out who she was talking to.

"What kind of a favor?" He hesitated to ask. Felicity looked at him pleadingly with her fingers doing that please motion along with her pouty lips. Who could resist? He looked down at the baby, knowing full well nobody else was going to help him out with whatever she was about to ask. She asked for things so rarely and when she looked at him like that...well Malcolm would not have stood a chance.

"Queen, Oliver Queen," her friend interrupted probably becoming very awake and very aware of the situation her friend was in. "You're boss, Cici, what have you been up to!?"

Oliver watched Felicity's face drop from pleading to pure concern. He looked down at the tiny thing in his arms, again "You need me to help you with the baby."

"Yes, he needs things, I can't afford. Oh God I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but..."

"You want to stay with me?" He finished off her sentence, it was a skill he was mastering around Felicity.

"YOU BEEN DATING OLIVER QUEEN AND NEVER TOLD ME." Her friend exclaimed, Felicity held the phone away.

"Calm down June... Will that work? Not the dating part, the staying with Oliver and watching the baby while he foots the bill. You trust me don't you?"

"I don't know, the Queens don't really have a good reputation right now, but...it is late and I trust you, uh...yeah, I'll gave a few days before I have to let my supervisor know, and hopefully you find his home or bring him to us, okay."

"Yeah,"

"Okay... well honestly with this kind of notice and the holidays, this is probably a better situation than I could have hoped for, so yeah, I'll look the other way, but only for a few days, maybe a week or two at most. This is my job, you know."

"I know, I would never intentionally put you at risk, okay." She ended the call and turned to Oliver who was still holding the baby, "Well, I guess I'll go home with you tonight." She half smiled.

"Yeah, mom's probably asleep, but Thea...she's upstairs." He just recalled.

"What are we going to tell her?" The blonde was concerned, both of them weren't always the best liar. They looked over to Diggle.

"Don't look at me," He replied. "You got yourselves in this mess."

"I don't know," Oliver stated as he watched Felicity once more wrap the baby in her arms.

"Hey guess, we'll take care of you until we can find your real parents. I bet they miss you so much." This time even Oliver caught on to something in Felicity's voice, a sort of despair, from loss, but what from?

Author's Commentary: I had this idea for awhile and I been working on it for awhile, this is the first edit part. I have more confidence and love for this piece than another piece which I ended up removing, because I didn't write it like I should have in the first place and it turned into a mess, but I love this piece so far.