"Nyssa?" Sara stage-whispers across their suite. "Nyssa, come here, quick."

Nyssa emerges from the bathroom, her stride a few paces quicker than usual and her hand surreptitiously slipping towards a knife in the small of her back.

Sara shakes her head, dispelling Nyssa's tension, and it's only with curiosity that Nyssa approaches Sara at the edge of Damian's bassinet.

"Look at them," Sara actually whispers this time.

In the bassinet, which is pulled up to the side of the bed they share, Damian partakes in his afternoon nap. The surprising part, however, is that Rocket is curled up with him, her little head at the top of his, her long body next to him. They are roughly equal in size and weight and capacity for surprisingly loud volumes in proportion to body mass.

"When did this happen?" Nyssa asks.

Sara shrugs.

"Best one of us takes him out when it's time… I wouldn't want Umm Saleem losing a finger. Sarookh can be quite vicious."

Sara grins. "Do you think they're okay to leave like that?" she asks.

"As long as we keep an eye on them, yes," Nyssa assures her, but Damian doesn't give them a choice, instead screwing up his face and letting out a sob well before he even opens his eyes.

Nyssa grabs him up as Rocket begins to stir. The tiny dog's eyes pop open, sitting up sharply, only relaxing when she sees her young charge is in safe arms. Sara laughs and scoops up Rocket.

"Who's hungry?" Sara asks, directing it towards Damian. Rocket's ears perk up. "Not you, silly, I know you already had breakfast and stole table scraps from your aunts."

Sara watches Nyssa bounce Damian with an increasingly natural rhythm and feels her heart swell with warmth, even as the baby continues to cry. Rocket attempts to sit up in her arms, narrowing her focus on the squalling newborn, as if to say "The puppy is unwell. See to him." (Yes, in her mind, Rocket has adopted something close to Nyssa's syntax.) She scoots around the bassinet and pushes up to kiss Nyssa softly.

"We should feed him. Or change him. Or both," she says after her lips leave hers.

"Both," Nyssa smiles. "But in the opposite order."

Sara grins back. "Good point. We'll go get the bottle. You can be on diaper duty."

"You leave me the most glamorous of jobs, habibti."

"Hey, you make diaper duty look good," Sara teases, pressing a final kiss on Nyssa's jaw, just under her ear. "Okay, D, I'll be back once Khala's made you less stinky. Try not to pee on her again." She pauses on her way out the door. "At least not until I get back to watch."

The small stuffed giraffe hits the door frame and not the back of Sara's head, and Sara looks back and smiles.

"I know you did that on purpose."

"Indeed. My aim is as good as Damian's."

Sara laughs her way out the door.

"I hope I'm not boring you," Felicity says, pushing her glasses up her nose. She really likes Nyssa, but being alone with her is still pretty intimidating. Even dressed down, out of the armor, a baby suckling on a bottle in her arms as she gently rocks him, she makes Felicity nervous.

"Not at all. I'm quite impressed with what you've done. I'd trust none other to do such a thorough job."

Felicity grins as Damian lets out a gurgle against the bottle. They're in Nyssa and Sara's absolutely gorgeous quarters. Lounging on a sinfully comfortable sofa with laptop and tablet at hand, it's the most comfortable hacking Felicity's ever done.

"Well, this thing should basically alert you whenever anything human-sized or bigger is within a twenty-mile radius. Downside, you'll definitely know where every dolphin, whale, shark, or even just super big fish in the area is. Or maybe that's an upside? Depends on how you feel about sea life."

Nyssa smiles fondly at her, and Felicity blushes.

"Sara has understandably mixed feelings about oceans and islands, but I am fond of them."

"Oh right. Ship-wrecked twice'll probably do that to you," Felicity realizes.

Nyssa nods. "Are you nearing completion? You are allowed some measure of relaxation; we didn't bring you all the way out here simply to work."

"Well, honestly, this kinda stuff is pretty relaxing to me? But yeah, I'll do some final tweaks before we leave, whenever that is, but for now, I'm basically done."

"Excellent."

"Wow, he's a good eater," Felicity notes as Damian gulps down the rest of his bottle and Nyssa sets it on the side table next to her armchair.

"Very."

"I'll burp him," Felicity offers, because she is so far from wanting babies in her own life but god does she love snuggling sweet-smelling Damian while she has the chance. And then handing him back to Sara and Nyssa when he's smelly, loud, etc.

Nyssa hands him over willingly, which Felicity takes to be a sign of trust, because Nyssa is very choosy over Damian's caretakers.

Sara finds them twenty minutes later discussing the pros and cons of different coding languages (Nyssa is just ridiculously well-read about everything) as Felicity holds a sleeping Damian in her arms and Nyssa types away at the computer while they play with a few settings.

"Hey nerds," Sara greets them warmly. Felicity looks up and grins.

"She's pretty good at this. I don't know why you needed me."

"Nyssa's pretty good at everything," Sara says, bumping Felicity's shoulder with her hip, a very light hello, but not enough to jostle the baby.

"I'm well-versed in the basics of many things, habibti. An expert in very few."

There's a note of innuendo in the look the two share that has Felicity blushing all over again.

"Not in front of the babies," Sara says, playfully holding hands over Felicity's and Damian's eyes. She pulls her hands away and squeezes Felicity's shoulder before sitting down beside them.

"He's out cold," Felicity says. "He's got a full tummy."

Sara grins as she stretches out to her left.

"Soooo," she says meaningfully. "How's Oliver?"

Felicity bites back a groan. Nyssa scoffs without looking up.

"She thinks you can do better," Sara explains.

"I know so."

Sara rolls her eyes.

"Feel free to ignore her."

Felicity wonders how many times someone has said that about the Heir to the Demon.

"Oliver's fine," Felicity sighs.

"Are you two…?"

Nyssa huffs again, even though she is still staring at the screen.

"Not yet," Felicity answers. Damian wiggles a little in her arms before letting out a great sigh (being Grandson of the Demon is very stressful it seems, even at six weeks old) and settling back to sleep. "Come on; you know you'll get an update if that ever changes."

"Likely multiple updates," Nyssa comments dryly. "Your sisters and Thea may even beat Felicity to the job."

Sara is still grinning.

"He's not still being all paternalistic and overbearing, is he? I thought I effectively cut off most of that influence." She draws her thumb across her throat. "Also, Nyssa will be happy to fly to Starling and knock him around a little more."

"Quite happy," Nyssa notes.

"I think Laurel's got you covered on that one. They're actually a really good team."

"Good. Someone must help you and John Diggle keep him in check," Nyssa comments, closing the laptop, meeting Felicity's eyes with some seriousness. "I do believe that you deserve someone more worthy, Felicity Smoak. But I also understand that the heart wants what the heart wants."

"Aw, thanks babe," Sara jokes.

"I think I will go see about the progress of dinner," Nyssa announces, standing. She crosses and leans to kiss Sara's cheek briefly. "I'll see you then?"

"You know I never miss a meal," Sara teases. "I'm gonna stay here and grill Felicity about her love life until then, while she's trapped by the baby."

"Save me!" Felicity calls after Nyssa.

"You should know that I am powerless to subvert the whims of Taer al Asfer," Nyssa apologizes.

"It's way beyond amazing here," Sin grins, looking up at the myriad stars in the sky, brighter than anything she's ever seen before. Her hands are tucked behind the back of her head, and Rocket's warm, soft body lays across her ribcage.

She doesn't even have to look to know that Sara is grinning at her, as they lay on soft silk blankets spread across the cool sand. Her belly is full of wonderful food and wine she's only recently old enough to drink, not that she ever really followed those rules. Also the drinking age is probably different here in paradise.

"Do you… Do you think you might want to stay?"

Well, that does take her by surprise. She swallows the shock and tries to play it cool.

"Is this like that time you asked me to be your live in dog nanny?"

Her hand finds the ears of the dog in question, scratching lovingly. Rocket lets out a contented sigh.

"We can always use an extra set of hands," Sara says warmly, "But like that time, I really just want to have you around."

She'd be a fool to turn it down. Paradise in a lavish house full of world class cooking and probably her favorite person in the world. Turn a blind eye to the how and why they live like this, and it is literally heaven.

"I don't think I can, Sara."

Fool it is.

Sara pushes herself up, her turn to be surprised.

"Really?"

"I kinda love my job?" Sin says, even as she tells herself what a complete moron she is being. "I mean, god, up 'til a year or so ago, if you'd given me the option to leave Starling to go anywhere I would have taken it in an instant. To live in a freaking tent in the Sahara would've been better. But like, I'm really making a difference, Sara. For kids just like me. And I like living with Laurel. It's not quite as fun as living with you guys, but there is 97% less of a chance of walking in on her doing it on the kitchen counter, so it balances out. She's teaching me to do a lot of awesome stuff and help a lot of people. And I even feel like I'm part of the whole Team Arrow/Team Canary thing now. I'm in a really good place."

Sara's quiet for a moment, then she smiles, soft and sweet and wonderful in the moonlight.

"You went and grew up on me."

"Sorry?"

Sara shakes her head, still smiling and maybe even a little teary, nudging her bare foot against Sin's.

"Tell me about your work."

"Oh, um. We've got a whole gender neutral, under twenty wing set up, with counselors and stuff. I guess I'm basically in charge over there. We teach 'em job skills and everyone has chores, which I guess isn't that different from the men's and women's and family areas, but they don't have to deal with harassment and shit. Oh! And we do like, homework help and GED. Stuff I'd've totally rolled my eyes at, but we manage to make it kinda not terrible, I think? I'm taking my GED next month."

"No way! When?"

"15th. Laurel's helping me study."

"Awesome."

"Afterwards she thinks I should take some basic management and business shit at the community college. If I want. Don't worry; I tell her when she's being an overbearing big sister."

"Well thank god someone's there to."

Sin grins.

"You're gonna be the coolest mom ever," she bursts out, apropos of absolutely nothing.

"Thanks?" Sara laughs.

"No, really. You've got the biggest heart, Sara. You saved my life. I mean, literally, of course. But you also gave me a home, and a family, and… a purpose, y'know?"

"Hey, we gave you a job. You figured out your own purpose."

Sin feels a dopey grin spreading across her face and a blush rising up her cheeks.

"Hey, I'm trying to give you a compliment here."

"Sorry, sorry," Sara jokingly apologizes. Sara lays back down beside Sin, also looking up at the stars.

They lay in the most comfortable silence Sin has ever experienced; it's always been this easy with Sara, and Sin doesn't know how she ever got this lucky.

"Uh, Sara?" Sin asks after several minutes have stretched on.

"Yeah?"

"If I decide this was the worst decision I've ever made, can I, uh, change my mind?"

"The door is always open."

There's hugs and tears as the same helicopter gets loaded up a week after it arrived. ("We really can't stay any longer," Laurel confessed. "We left Thea and Roy in charge, and Thea's gonna need a break.")

Dinah has to be convinced to hand her grandson back over, and she promises to visit soon, and Nyssa and Sara also promise to visit when they can. Rocket jumps onto the helicopter with Sin, but returns when Sara calls her, despite Sin's efforts to bribe her to stay.

They move out of the courtyard as the helicopter begins to warm up, shielding Damian's little ears (and Rocket's big ones), but they wave from the doorway as it lifts off, a sweet little family in a way none of them ever expected.

"So…" Felicity says into the headsets they all wear. "That just happened, right?"

No one's sure who snorts out the laugh first, but soon they're all, Dinah, Sin, Laurel and Felicity, practically bent over with laughter while their silent League pilot takes them away from this secret island and back to Starling City.

fin