Short on Time

Chapter 126

~*~

Lucia

"Aren't you a cute baby, yes you are!" I said to Henry as I watched my siblings while Esther was helping Ralph. "I wish you were this agreeable in the future," I muttered to myself, and then there was a bright flash of light. 

"So help me, Esther-" I began, but then I was somewhere Mum had only ever told me about.  

"Dad?" I heard next to me, and I turned to see my best friend. 

"Oh, my God," another voice said, and I saw Mum's godson walking forward to hug Oliver Queen. "Dad?" 

"Lu?" Someone else asked, and I turned to see Connor. 

"What's going on?" I whispered to him as William hugged Oliver Queen. 

"W-William? William?" Oliver Queen questioned. "Hey. Mia?" 

"Dad!" Connor said. "Well, you're so young."

"Dad? What is this? How did we get here?" John Diggle asked.

"I'd like to know the same thing," I said. 

"I-I don't know," Oliver said. "Those are my kids."

"Your kids," Dinah asked from behind us. Aunt Dinah, oh, Mum is gonna freak. 

"Are you-are you okay?" Oliver asled. 

"H-How is this real?" Mia asked, and I noticed the blood on her shirt. 

"Good question," Dinah said. "The last time I checked, you didn't have an adult daughter or any daughter."

"We had a daughter," Oliver said. "And we named her Mia. Felicity gave birth a few months after we left Star City."

"How? I-I didn't even know she was pregnant," Dinah said. 

"We didn't tell anyone," Oliver said. "We wanted to keep her off the grid to protect her."

"That was only a few months ago," Dinah said. 

"This is Novu," Oliver said.

"What?" I asked sharply.

"Who are you?" Dinah asked.

"Lucia Allen," I said.

"You're Barry and Ginger's-" Oliver began, "you're their daughter. I thought-"

"Nora's gone," I said evenly. "Esther and I stayed to help Mum. She just had Georgie, she hasn't had me yet." 

"You called me Dad," Diggle said to Connor. 

"You adopted me," Connor said. "Remember? It's Connor."

"No. No," Diggle said. "I... I-I haven't."

"He hasn't because he hasn't yet," William said. "Look."

"What are you talking about?" Connor asked. 

"I think we're in the past," William said. 

"That is insane," Mia said. 

"Not in my family," I said. 

"Look at this place," William said. "It's new, and them! No gray hair, no wrinkles, and we are staring at our dad alive instead of at his tombstone. I'm sorry. What year is this?"

"2-2 uh, it's 2019," Oliver said. "What year is it supposed to be?"

"2040," William answered. 

~*~

"I missed you," I said to Mia as she crushed me in a hug. "I mean, Esther is great and all. But I can only take so much of her, you're the original badass."