Disclaimer – I do not own Arrow.

Chapter I – The Past That Haunts

"Oliver".

The urgent yet achingly familiar voice brought him out of the sleep induced haze that he was in quickly. He moved off the cot, planting his feet firmly on the cold concrete floors of the foundry, scanning the area for any threats before turning his full attention to Felicity.

"What..."

His voice trailed off as he took in the stricken look of panic on her face and the way that she clutched at the phone in her hand, her knuckles turning white from the deathlike grip she had on it. He moved toward her, his hands automatically reaching for her face in an effort to calm her before he could stop himself. His mind had no say in the matter.

"Oliver..."

His heart shattered when she ripped her face out of his hands as she moved away from him, but he continued to watch as she paced before her computers. He tried to give her the space to gather her thoughts, tried to give her the time that she so obviously needed to sort through the emotions that were raging inside.

They weren't together. He loved her more than words could describe and he wanted her more than he had wanted anyone or anything in his whole life but they weren't together because he was stupid and stubborn and quite possibly making the biggest mistake of his life by pushing her away from him. So he had no claim to her, couldn't force her to accept the comfort that he craved to give to her. Comfort that she looked like she desperately needed.

"I...oh God, Oliver. I can't even...how? Connor? And all this time... and she..."

"Felicity, whatever is going on you know I'll help but you need to give me more than a few sentence fragments". His voice was patient, as if he was taking to a child that he feared would burst into tears at any moment.

She looked back up at him then, the azure depths penetrating his very soul.

Taking a deep breath in she uttered the words that would change their lives forever.

"Detective Lance just called. He...there was a car crash last week. Sandra Hawke died instantly. Some drunk driver ran a red light..."

He leaned towards her but didn't move to touch her again. The woman's name seemed to tug at a memory that was long buried in his past but he couldn't place it just yet.

"She has a son Oliver. Her will was read this morning. He's your son. Connor Hawke is your son".

"What?"

"Oliver, do you remember a Sandra Hawke?"

His mind flashed to his pre-island youth. To the days that were spent sleeping and the nights that were filled will alcohol, illicit substances and girls that threw themselves at him. Whether it was for his money or for his looks he had never been sure but it was a fact that he took full advantage of all the same. There was never a shortage of girls when Oliver Queen went looking for one.

His thoughts drifted to the one time that he had honestly thought he had become a father. The girl's name had been Sandra, he remembered that for sure, but as far as he knew she had said she lost the baby. She had disappeared after the whole debacle and he hadn't heard from her since. Was it possible that she kept the baby and just never told him? He had been too stupid and too high on the feeling of freedom at the time to be concerned with checking whether she was telling the truth. But surely his mother had checked? But that was a whole issue in itself. He wouldn't put it past the great Moira Queen to pay off a girl to leave her one and only son alone.

Moira Queen knew how to make problems go away.

"Yes I did".

"Did you by any chance remembering getting her pregnant?"

Felicity Smoak didn't need to hear his choked "Yes" to know that it was true.

The man that she loved beyond thought and reason was a father to another woman's baby.

She watched as he staggered back towards the foundry's cot, falling onto it until he sat with his face between his hands.

"She said she lost it. It was about a year before the island. I was terrified and we went to mum..."

He looked up at her then, his face filled with so many emotions that her own heart flooded with yet another wave of pain.

"She said she lost it Felicity..."

He was crumbling. She could see his carefully crafted facade tearing at the seams. After everything that he had been through, everything that he had survived, surely he deserved a little light in his life? A pause from the secrets and mysteries that plagued him every single day?

Evidentially karma still hasn't given up on making him pay for his younger years of strife and debauchery.

She moved towards him, not listening to her head but following her heart, her hand reaching out until it landed on his shoulder.

"We'll sort this out Oliver, we'll do what we always do; we'll fix this. Together".

She wasn't expecting for his head to move forward until his face was buried in her stomach but she thanked every single deity on earth that she hadn't worn a dress that exposed her midriff like so many of the others she wore. She didn't think her body or her heart could handle such intimate skin to skin contact.

That didn't stop her hand from moving from his shoulder to his head, her fingers burying themselves in his hair as her short fuchsia painted nails scraped his skull in an unconscious movement to provide some form of comfort.

She moved her other hand that was still clutching her phone up to her ear, fingers already dialling the second number on her speed dial.

"Hi Felicity".

Oliver let out a sigh as he recognised the voice on the other end of Felicity's phone call.

"John, we may have a problem. Well not a problem per se, just a complication. God we need to stop having complications, our life is just one big complication..."

"Felicity..."

Oliver almost snorted at the other mans response. They both had long ago learned that the best way to stop one of the famous Felicity Smoak rambles was to gently interrupt what she was saying with just her name.

She let out a long suffering sigh before continuing.

"Right. Sorry. How soon can you be at the foundry?"

"Give me twenty minutes".

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Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter...lots more to come...