Chapter Text
Love & Vows
The morning of the wedding was rainy. Both the bride and groom fussed over details. There were nerves but nothing too worrisome. It seemed to take forever for the guest to all arrive and settle.
Then finally, Oliver watched Thea, Sara, and Iris make their way down the aisle. Thea broke into a short laugh when she looked at him. Then she stepped up to get to her place and she said just loud enough for Oliver to hear, “Relax. You look constipated.”
Oliver sucked in a strained breath. He was just about to sass her back when William nudged his side. He looked down to find his son curling his finger at him to come closer. Oliver bent over and William quietly said, “Happy day, remember?” Oliver closed his eyes for just a moment before he smiled down at his son then turned back to the bridesmaids.
Sara sent him a wink which he rolled his eyes at, but he still felt his cheeks heat up. Iris dramatically took a deep breath and gave him a look that told him to follow along. Lincoln held Sara Diggle’s hand as they walked down the aisle. Halfway, Sara dumped her entire basket of flowers onto the floor. The chorus of laughter startled the toddler.
Oliver smiled wide before chuckling as Lincoln picked up a handful and tried to chuck the flower petals further down the aisle. He did this several times before little Sara started to cry. Lyla stepped out of the audience, scooped her daughter up and leaned down to whisper to Lincoln. Link smiled at her and together the three walked down the aisle. Lincoln darted over to stand next to the bridesmaids while Lyla and Sara went to speak with Oliver.
“She’s been a handful all day, I’m so sorry,” Lyla apologized.
“It’s fine, Lyla,” Oliver said with a smiled. “Go sit down you can take her with you if you want.” Lyla thanked him, winked at Diggle who behind to William, then went to sit down in the audience.
There was a moment before a gentle wedding melody started. Oliver felt his heart leap into his throat. He kept his gaze locked on the door leading into the ballroom. Those few moments felt like hours passed before he spotted movement.
Felicity walked forward her arm linked with Donna’s. She had a bouquet of pink and white flowers and one of the prettiest smiles on her face. Her dress was draped with lace, and she looked beautiful.
By the time she reached him, Oliver didn’t know how to breathe. Felicity’s eyes were wide with worry at Oliver’s nervous face. He finally took a deep breath and laughed nervously with his bride. Felicity took his free hand and squeezed it. There was a heartfelt speech, but neither of them would recollect it as they only had enough attention for each other.
Eventually, their officiant said, “I know you both wanted to write your own vows.” They both nodded. “I also heard you both wanted to make vows to your new sons.”
Felicity looked down at William when he gasped. She tilted her head to the side and smiled at him. Oliver caught Lincoln’s eye and winked while the boy stood mouth agape beside his mom.
“Now, Lincoln, William, please step forward.” The boys hesitantly looked for guidance then shuffled forward. “Felicity, will you start us off?” The officiant motioned toward the glowing bride.
Felicity tucked her lips inward before releasing a breath and looking at her new son. “William,” the boy’s blue eyes widened, “I love you. I’m so grateful you let me be in your life. As a parent and as a friend. Over the past year, I’ve watch you grow both in inches and in maturity. You are still the same boy who gets excited over baseball and science projects. Now you love tech design, and your coding skills are astonishing.” William’s cheeks flushed. “I call you my mini-me because you are my son. Whether it’s on paper or not, whether you are my blood or not, you are my son without a doubt. I vow to love you unconditionally, support your decisions, guide you as best I can, sneak you chocolate when your dad’s not looking, and never give up on you.” She took a moment to really catch his gaze before promising, “I will always want you as my son, William. That will never change.” Without prompt William sprinted around his father and collided with his new bonus mom.
“Thank you,” he gasped just loud enough for her to hear. Felicity closed her eyes and squeezed him tight.
“I love you,” she whispered back.
He murmured the sweet phrase back and squeezed her extra tight. After a moment, William pulled back just to whisper in her ear, “I’m glad you’re my bonus mom.” Felicity choked on her tears. William pulled back from her embrace and went back to stand next to his father after a shy glance at their audience.
“Oliver?” the officiant prompted.
Oliver cleared his throat and turned to Lincoln. “Link, you are one special kid.” Link’s smile was blinding. There was a faint sob from the audience. Oliver peered toward the crowd to find Donna crying into Quentin’s handkerchief. By the state of her makeup, she had silently cried throughout Felicity’s vows to William.
Oliver turned to his new son who had also been looking at his grandmother. They shared an exasperated look that had Felicity breaking into laugher. Oliver put his sole attention on Lincoln. “The day I found out you wanted to call me Dad, I’m pretty sure my heart cracked open and grew ten times bigger. I love you, kiddo. I love watching you experience new things like learning to love eating vegetables for an appetizer.” That got a laugh from the audience, especially once Link wrinkled his nose and gave Oliver the side eye. Oliver laughed and felt the tears growing.
“I’m beyond grateful it was you that befriended my son and asked for my phone number. I can’t imagine my life without you, Lincoln. I vow to try and be the best Dad I know how to be, to always be there for you, to protect and guide you, and to love you unconditionally.” Oliver squatted down. In a blink of an eye, Lincoln was in his arms. Oliver pressed a kiss to his head and hugged him tight. After a moment, Link pulled away and slowly walked to stand beside his mom.
Oliver turned to his bride and took her hands. Her eyes were glossy with tears, but she smiled brightly at him. He squeezed her hands tight as he smiled back taking a moment to just watch her.
“Vows for the couple?” the officiant asked. The couple zoned out everyone else. It became just the two of them in that ballroom with a chuppah overhead and their hands linked together.
“Felicity Megan Smoak,” Oliver let out a breathy laugh, “before I met you, I never thought I’d be here, getting married. I had made peace with the fact that my biggest and only love would be my son. Then you… fell into my life.” Felicity let out a short laugh. “You showed me how to love more than I thought I could. You opened my heart in so many ways. With you, marriage was never a question. It was a matter of when. Because you bring out the best in me. You… are the best part of me. You make me a better person just for loving you.”
Felicity smiled widely her eyes glistening. She breathed out a shaky breath. Oliver squeezed her hands three times. She squeezed back the same.
“Oliver, the moment you walked into my life everything changed.” She smiled brightly with a hint of tears in the corners of her eyes. “You brought out the very best version of me. I became a person I didn’t know I was capable of becoming, because of our love. Our love has showed me that I can live a life I didn’t know I could have. You said,” her voice wavered, “I am the best part of you? Well… we are the best parts of each other.” She squeezed his hand. She took a readying breath, “I promised you forever once, and now I’m promising forever on paper. I love you so much.”
Oliver’s eyes swam with tears. The officiant gave them a moment before continuing with the ceremony. “Rings?” he looked to Lincoln.
Link picked up the pillow and raised it over his head. Oliver chuckled as he carefully untied the rings.
“Do you, Oliver Jonas Queen, take Felicity Megan Smoak to be your wife, to love, cherish, and protect her, for richer or poorer, in good times and bad?”
“I do,” Oliver’s voice was deep and comforting. He grabbed Felicity’s hand with slightly shaky hands. Never in his life did he had shaky hands, but there’s a first time for everything.
“Repeat after me, I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”
As Oliver slipped the wedding band onto Felicity’s left ring finger, he looked into her eyes and softly said, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”
Felicity felt her sob get caught in the back of her throat. She pressed her lips together but smiled at him. Oliver tilted his head just slightly. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them to look back into his.
The officiant repeated the vows. Felicity smiled brightly at Oliver and in a strong and elated voice said, “I do.” Felicity took Oliver’s ring carefully off the pillow. When he squeezed her hand, she squeezed back. She beamed at him as she pushed his ring on and said the words, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”
They stared lovingly at each other as the officiant announced, “Oliver Jonas Queen, Felicity Megan Smoak, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.” The small crowd burst into cheers, but the newlyweds only had eyes for each other.
Felicity wrapped her arms around his neck, tightening them to pull herself closer to her new husband. Oliver’s hands cupped her face, thumbs caressing her cheekbones. Their lips met in the middle with the ease that comes with loving your partner. Oliver tipped his new wife backwards just a smidge. Felicity yelp of surprise was muffled by their joined lips. They pulled away from their kiss with huge smiles. Oliver’s hands fell to her waist as hers dropped to his shoulders.
The new spouses turned to the crowd of their loved ones, hands twining together. They stepped a few steps into the aisle before they shared a conspiring look and turned back around. Felicity reached a hand for her new son and Oliver mimicked her. Both of their boys’ faces brightened with shock and joy.
They both ran to their parents barely missing a collision between the two. Felicity gave William a one-armed hug before taking his hand. He looked up at her with a broad grin. Lincoln jumped at Oliver. He let go of his wife’s hand to catch his son. Lincoln hugged him tight, and Oliver hugged back before placing him back on the ground. Lincoln snatched Oliver’s free hand allowing the man to wrap an arm around his wife.
As a family, they walked down the aisle. Felicity leaned on her husband and Oliver gladly embraced her. She looked up at him just as he looked down. Without any thought they paused in the aisle and kissed once again. Their audience whooped at them. The newlyweds broke into giggles when they parted. Link and Will tugged them down the aisle.
They parted from the boys when they got into their car. Iris and Barry were on babysitting duty on account that they wouldn’t drink during the reception as Barry had sworn to not drink during Iris’s pregnancy. A fact that Felicity freaked out over in the best of ways.
As soon as the newlyweds were on the road, Oliver asked, “Did Will spoil my vows?”
“What?” Felicity’s attention flipped off the buildings passing by and onto him.
“Your best part of me comeback seemed prepared,” Oliver said.
Felicity smiled and laughed softly. “No. That was completely on the spot.”
“Right, I married a genius.”
Felicity laughed freely at that. Oliver was ordered by Thea to take the long route, so he held his wife’s hand and drove through every beautiful part of the city he could think of. By the time they arrived, their guests were waiting. There were congratulations and cheers and toasts to be made. Once dinner was served, speeches began. William grabbed the microphone from the stand and climbed onto his chair.
“Dad, Felicity, everyone else,” William’s voice was shaky, but he stood tall on his chair. “I’m the best man, as you may have seen. I wasn’t in charge of the bachelor party, thank God! All I know about bachelor parties is that you drink a lot of alcohol, something I cannot do, and go to grown up clubs, a place I can only enter with a very good fake ID.” The crowd let out a large chorus of laughter and William visibly relaxed.
“But I’m not here to talk about the bachelor party. I’m here to talk about my Dad, and my new mom.” He swallowed slightly nervous. Felicity smiled tearfully at him, something he had grown to understand was an excellent thing. “I remember the day Dad told me he was dating Felicity. Well, more like he was dating someone. Then three days later we went to lunch with Felicity and Link, and Dad and Felicity told us they were dating. Like I didn’t know,” he scoffed, “I knew! It was so obvious! They looked at each other all the time. And they whispered and laughed and hugged.” The audience laughed softly. William looked at them seriously and said in a matter-of-fact way, “Dad doesn’t hug people.” The eruption of laughter had William preening.
He grinned when his father grumbled. William added, “Okay, he hugs family. But friends? Not until Felicity. It was so obvious! At the time, I thought the hugging was such a big deal. I was so wrong! Now, they kiss, they hold hands, and they’re always touching.” The crowd snickered at his disgusted tone. “It’s like they’re in love or something!” Will cracked a smile at that. “I knew Felicity was the one. From the moment she showed me how to create complex pulley systems. And by ‘the one’ I mean perfect for me. I didn’t think Dad would change much. And he didn’t change but he got happier and funnier and not so grouchy. Felicity did that. Not only is she making my Dad a better person, his words not mine, but she is so nice to me. She talks to me, checks my homework, does science experiments with me, and gives the best hugs.
“The day Dad told me he wanted to marry Felicity, I wasn’t surprised. I knew they were going to get married. That’s a thing people in love do. But when he told me that, everything became real. I got scared because we were going into new territory,” he looked at Felicity and she smiled tenderly at him. “But Felicity told me she was scared too but being scared is good. It means you have something to fight for. Dad and Felicity didn’t give up. They showed me that we would be a family forever and no one would be left out. So now I’m happy. Because I’d get Felicity hugs the rest of my life. I’d always have a science partner but more importantly I’d get another mom. Knowing she’ll always be my family makes this the best day ever.” He turned to the newlyweds. “Welcome to the family, Felicity. I’m glad you chose my grouchy Dad and me.” The speech ended when William pressed a kiss to Felicity’s cheek, Oliver smiled a little offended, and there was a loud round of applause and laughter from the audience.
Felicity hugged Will tight and kissed the top of his head. “I love you,” she whispered.
“Love you too.” Will grinned at her. He turned and walked over to Iris, the matron of honor. Iris gave him a high-five and whispered how great he did.
“Don’t think I can beat that speech,” Iris nervously announced to the audience after Will handed her the microphone. William grinned massively. “Actually, I know I won’t beat it, and I don’t want to. So, here I go…
“As many of you know, Felicity amazing. She’s been my rock for a little under a decade. She’s the one that pushed me toward my husband. She’s the one that showed me how to be a good mom, something I’ll be very thankful for in a few months.” There were some chuckles from the crowd as she placed a hand on her small belly. “She’s strong and stubborn and loving. I knew she would find someone one day, someone that opened her heart and made her want a lifetime with them. And I’m so grateful that person was Oliver. Over the past year, I’ve heard so much about him and the past few months I’ve gotten to really know him. He’s the good guy I knew Felicity deserved. He’s a loving father, a devoted friend, and what some people call a handsome mayor.”
Oliver coughed a laugh and looked at Felicity, who simply covered her face in embarrassment as she whispered, “I can’t believe I told her that.”
Iris smirked at the happy couple before continuing, “The more I get to know him, the more I realize he complements Felicity well, in traits and words.” There was a light chorus of laugher. “Not only is he also strong, stubborn, and loving too but he checks off the athletic box. Something we all know Felicity secretly loves.” Felicity rolled her eyes. “He isn’t afraid to speak his mind and he prefers to do all the cooking. He doesn’t put up with BS well and he loves hearing Felicity talk.” Oliver kissed a pink Felicity. “He can read her better than I can now. They are in tune with each other. Like two halves of a whole. They are… the epitome of love. They challenge each other in the best ways, don’t give up on each other, and have made it through thick and thin. I am in awe of this relationship they have built the past year. What takes most decades, took them a little over a year. That’s not to say they won’t have issues. Every good marriage has those. But these two will fight for each other. In the best of ways. Which means, it is my pleasure to toast to the New Mr. and Mrs. Smoak-Queen.” She raised her glass and there was a round of applause.
Iris started to put the microphone back when Sara appeared out of nowhere and took it with a sweet smile. Sara cleared her throat into the microphone and grinned at the crowd.
“Since I’m the only one who was around the moment these two met, I figured it’d be okay for me to tell you exactly what happened.” There was tremendous amount of clapping and whooping. Sara raised a hand to pacify them then continued, “It was a usual weekday morning. Oliver and I were at the gym sparing. Eventually, Felicity walked in. She was cute. I figured one of us would get her number.” The crowd laughed. A blush spread across Felicity’s cheeks and Sara grinned teasingly at her. “I knew my chances were out as soon as Oliver took his shirt off and her eyes would not leave him. So, I was determined for Oliver to get her number, as the good wing-woman I am. I got him to face her, hoping he’d see her and make conversation or something. Well that plan was quickly scratched. As soon as she saw his abs, she fell off the treadmill.” Felicity cringed deeply at the roar of laughter. Oliver chuckled along, before kissing his wife’s head. She tucked herself into his side. “I’ve never seen Oliver sprint that fast for anyone. He helped her up and she did her usual nervous—”
“Oh God, no!” Felicity bemoaned. She tucked her face into Oliver’s chest. He laughed brightly.
“Okay, okay. If you know Felicity, you know what happened.” When Felicity pulled her face back from Oliver, Sara winked at her. “I went to go get ice for her hip, leaving them alone. See, good wing-woman.” Sara smirked when Oliver rolled his eyes. “I come back and they’re chatting. But I didn’t leave them alone long enough. No one exchanged numbers. I was about to make up an excuse and leave, but Oliver goes and pulls me back to spar leaving Felicity alone. Honestly at that point I was ready to ask for her number for him. We finished our workout, Felicity finished hers. I mentioned that we were around, trying one last time to get them to admit the obvious attraction.” Sara rolled her eyes the barest bit.
“I leave, thinking it’s the end. And a few hours later, I get a text from Tommy Merlyn that Oliver’s got a coffee date with her. I didn’t get a lot of details. If you know Oliver, you understand.” There was a series of nods and hums of agreement. Oliver looked slightly offended before Felicity laughed at him. They whispered to each other for a moment as Sara continued, “A week later, I learn Lincoln was the one who asked for Oliver’s number. So, in the end neither asked. But boy is Link the best wingman ever.”
Link giggled so hard he rolled off his chair. Oliver helped pick the boy up, reached a hand out, and they loudly high-fived each other. Sara leaned over and got one from the boy as well. The rest of the night was spent full of laugher and dancing.
At the end of the night, Felicity finally dragged Oliver away from their guests and up to their hotel room. But there wasn’t any real dragging, she asked, and he went without a second look back. He’d follow her anywhere.
The moment they were alone, they came together like magnets, meeting in the middle. Forever drawn to each other. Forever loving each other.
The End