FELICITY'S CHOICE

Felicity decides it's time to move on from her unrequited feelings for Oliver and take a chance with Oliver's old friend. Just when she had finally made her choice, Oliver realizes he can't live without her and is determined to fight for her.


A/N: My very first Arrow fanfiction, although I have written some others for TVD/TO. I just had to start this one as this has long been stuck in my head.

I hope you like it, will love some reviews and comments.


Chapter 1

"Oliver, you have a meeting with Taylor King for lunch," Felicity told Oliver exasperated.

Oliver just stared at Felicity with an undecipherable expression on his face for a minute before nodding. She was standing by his office door with one hand on her hip, after he nodded she just turned around and went back to her office muttering something that he couldn't hear.

For the whole week, she had deliberately just talked to him if she needed to and usually with only clipped responses. She never babbled anymore, at least not with him. It was frustrating for him knowing that he had made it impossible for them to interact the way they used to by his action or rather inaction a week ago.

They had been in the foundry that night and he had been especially tense after a nightly patrol that had almost gone array, he had been nicked by a bullet. Luckily it had only been a scratch but more than his injuries, he had been overwhelmed by the feeling of once again being helpless when Felicity was in danger. He had agreed to use her again in an operation as bait. Well, he didn't really agree, more like she used her loud voice on him again and in no time he found himself shouting a clipped 'fine' back at both her and Digg and now for maybe the millionth time, he cursed her again for wanting to put herself in danger. If he had not gotten to her in time, the bullet would have surely hit her squarely on the chest. Her reaction was even more infuriating, her "I knew you would save me in time," gave him a feeling of pride that she continued to have that much confidence in him but at the same time he wanted to lock her up permanently for her complete disregard for her own safety and determination to put the mission above her own wellbeing.

So as they reached the foundry, he did what he did best, he ignored her and just said in his growly voice, or at least that is what she calls it, "you are never going on a mission again, and that's final. You belong inside here."

Felicity as usual countered, not one just to take his word as law, "my life, my choice. You can't decide for me. We are a team, we work as a team. We do what is needed based on the situation. You can act all bossy with me when we are at the office but here, you are not the boss of me here."

He almost ran to her as he grabbed her shoulders roughly after her statement, "I need you to be safe, I can't do what I'm supposed to be doing if I have to worry about you on top of everything."

Felicity's breath hitched for a second, but she was determined just to take his statement at face value and not try to read anything beyond what it was, "you don't have to worry about me. I'm not a little girl. I made my choice, I know what I'm doing. I want to help. And the way I can help," she unconsciously placed her hand on Oliver's cheek, "sometimes its outside, you and Digg both trained my, I have skills that are not just limited to my magic fingers, I mean the things I can do with my fingers, oh god," her brain finally caught up with her mouth as she face palmed, "1…2…3…, you get what I mean…"

Oliver gently clutched Felicity's hands from her face, he had a mild grin on his face and he said in his gentle voice reserved only for her, "I get it, but I don't like it. I will never like it when you will have to leave the security of this place and put yourself in danger," he let go of one of her hands to gently rub his thumb across her cheek, he looked at her again, "I need you safe," while Oliver was looking at her, Felicity chose to train her eyes straight ahead, that meant staring at his neck, which was her eye level so when he lowered his head and his lips touched her temple while he still had one hand rubbing her cheek and his other still holding her hand she just stood frozen for a few seconds. Then as he slowly leaned back again she recovered from her stupor and looked up at him capturing his eyes and searching for something, anything that would tell her what he was feeling at that moment.

At her gaze, Oliver's eyes darkened, his chest constricted and he felt his heart beat quicken. As if Felicity found what she was looking for, she determinedly placed her free hand on his shoulder, put her weight on her tippy toes as she stretched to capture Oliver's lips to hers in a timid kiss. It was Oliver's turn to be stilled for a few seconds before he took the lead removing his hand from her cheek and brought it to the back of her head to angle her as he pushed his tongue gaining permission to enter her mouth. Very quickly the kiss went from timid to passionate to mind-blowing. For a few minutes Oliver let everything but his brain do the thinking for him, his hands were suddenly wrapped around Felicity bringing her closer to him, they were lost it each other until repeated ringing of a phone broke them apart. Both panting, Felicity leaned back on her desk as her feet suddenly were to rubbery to carry her weight, Oliver for his part was unusually disoriented searching for the source of the sound until he spotted his phone on the training mats together with his arrows which he had dropped unceremoniously earlier. With one last look at Felicity, he sauntered to his phone only for it to stop ringing, picking it up, he saw it was his sister Thea who called him. He pocketed his phone before he strolled back to Felicity who was suddenly busy doing a lot of things on her desk as she turned her back on him.

"Felicity," she pretended she couldn't hear him so he tried again as he edged closer to her but not close enough to be in her personal space, "Felicity, please turn around," Oliver pleaded.

Felicity slowly turned around but not before exhaling a noisy breath as if dreading the conversation to come. She determinedly kept her eye on a point to the right shoulder of Oliver. Oliver lifted her chin forcing her to look at him, as he said quietly "this is dangerous, this can't happen again."

Felicity found the strength to push against his chest, "Why, why can't this happen again. It is because you don't feel the same way I do? Oliver, I'm not dumb, I've even been described as a genius several times. I see the way you look at me, I see the way you try to hide it from me. I know you know the way I feel about you, so I don't know why this can't happen," when Oliver tried to speak, she put up a finger to stop him, "no, no, it's my turn to speak. You know how I feel about you, I never tried to hide it. Well, I tried to hide it but I think you know anyway how I feel." She placed her hands on his chest, "we've skirted around this too long, it's time to decide. And don't give me reasons like it's dangerous, it might get me killed and all that. I face danger everyday, and it's not just because of what we do here. I won't, no I refuse to put my life on hold anymore, I choose you. And…now it's your choice, if you say no, then we don't speak of this again, ever. I move on, we still continue with what we are doing with me as part of the Team and also as your Executive Assistant but that's it. You owe it to me, because I can't do this anymore."

Oliver was shaken, he was trembling. He knew, he knew how she felt about him, had known it for a long time, but he always thought they had forever to figure things out. When he was ready, he realized he was selfish that way, but she never really demanded anything else from him. But now, she very clearly was ready and he couldn't think clearly. And in typical Oliver Queen fashion, he took two steps back and retreated to the comfort of the foundry showers without saying anything at all. He spent almost an hour in the shower trying not to think at all, just determined to stay as long as possible in his bubble. By the time he was done, dressed and out of the shower, she was gone. And he instantly felt regret, a regret that pierced his heart.

So during the next few days, as she said, they continued their routine, spending their days at the office acting every inch the CEO-Executive Assistant to each other, just like before, but without the warmth and camaraderie that they have always shared, the one that people mistook for a deeper relationship between them. She was every inch the professional she was, making sure he got the documents he needed, went to meetings, reminded him of events he had to attend. It was frustrating to say the least, but he couldn't, shouldn't complain, since by walking away, he had made that decision. It was even harder at night, when they had their Arrow activities, here she almost totally ignored him, when usually after a night of patrol she would be the first to check if he was injured, if he was ok. Now, she would be gone every single time before he came back to the foundry after his patrol. If this was how a week of them acting 'professional' was, he didn't know how long he would last.

The fact that she deliberately amped up her wardrobe, which had not gone unnoticed by him, and started to flirt back with whoever would usually flirt with her when in the past she would not even acknowledge them was really working on his nerves. But he knew, now more than ever, he had no right. No right to feel even remotely jealous. Jealousy, he admitted it to himself, he felt it now more than ever, but his resolve to himself was also strong, if he was in her life, she would be in danger. She deserved better, better than what he could offer. Even if his heart was screaming for her as hers once screamed for him. He wondered, if it was really that easy, if she could just move on from him that easily.

So when she had approached him and reminded him once again of his lunch appointment with Taylor King, she was once again purely professional. Unfortunately the lunch meeting was in one of the meeting rooms of Queen Consolidated and included Felicity who as his Executive Assistant prepared presentations and was required to sit in on meetings, requiring her to actively participate not only because she was respected for her input in relation to IT related matters but generally because she actually had a hard-nose for good business.

So as Emily, the executive floor receptionist knocked on his door a few minutes later, Oliver looked up from where his was pretending to read some documents, "Mr. Queen, Mr. King and Ms. Smoak are already in the meeting room, Ms. Smoak ask me to tell you to join them when you're ready."

Oliver stood up to button his coat, "Thank you Emily," before striding out of his office. He took the short walk from his office he tried to recall the information he would need in his mind for the meeting. As he reached the door of the meeting room he was confused to hear laughter echoing from inside and as he peaked in, he was off-balanced to see Felicity with a wide smile on her face as Taylor King gestured animatedly. Taylor King was a high school classmate of Oliver, he at one point was as close to Oliver as Tommy was but they had drifted apart. Taylor just like he was heir to a construction conglomerate, King Consolidated was the leader in high-rise buildings in Starling City, providing luxury residential and office condominiums as well as commercial complexes. Like Oliver, Taylor King was a billionaire and from the little he had kept up to date with, Taylor was still single and unattached. The easy atmosphere between Felicity and Taylor was unnerving him so he was unusually callous as he entered the room.

At the opening of the door, Felicity returned to an air of professionalism once again, "Oliver, Taylor and I already introduced ourselves to one another so that's out of the way."

He eyed Felicity and Taylor before muttering, "I'm sure you did."

Not even the pointed look of Felicity could get him out of the mood he suddenly found himself in as several times during the lunch meeting he chose to act petulantly, like a spoiled child and so unlike the CEO persona he usually adapted. At one point Felicity had leaned closer to Taylor to show him a specific graph on her computer and as Taylor leaned in Oliver noisily palmed the table earning a 'what the hell' look from Felicity and a confused, "are you alright" from Taylor.

At the end of the meeting they had agreed to run up some numbers for QC to finalize the proposal to provide the modern equipment for King Consolidated or KC and to finalize plans for next week for a final presentation for its next building projects. He failed to hear Felicity the first time when she said, "Oliver, Taylor and I can finish up here, you had a meeting in fifteen minutes so you have to prepare for that."

Of course if he had been thinking clearly, all Felicity was doing was once again be the excellent Executive Assistant that she was and reminding him that he had a next meeting to attend to, but he being him, he saw it as Felicity and Taylor wanting to be alone and him picturing several tortured scenarios of why they wanted to be alone in his brain. At the very obvious pause, Oliver once again looked at Felicity as if daring her to physically remove him from his perched position and stubbornly just stayed where he was until Emily knocked on the door and told him that his next meeting was already waiting for him. It still took him a few seconds before he finally stood up, reached out a hand to Taylor who told him they should get together sometime to catch up to which his reply was a hard nod and fixed Felicity again with a glance that she couldn't quite fathom after which he strode away.

"Wow, the guys' a little intense, I never recalled Ollie to be quite like that before," Taylor brisked.

Felicity smiled, "he's not really, I mean his not usually like that. It's just been a long week coupled with the stress of running a company. I'm sure even you have those days."

Taylor grinned, "you know I'm supposed to be an effective CEO, I should be astute at reading people, and the way the two of you act around one another, it's as if you were having a lover's quarrel. You know, even if I don't really subscribe to gossip, even I have heard about the rumors about you two."

Felicity was momentarily speechless and as she recovered she snorted, "well Oliver and I are not or ever will be nothing more than co-workers and occasional friends. What people usually mistake for a…..deeper relationship is actually just him and me just really having a working understanding of one another, one brought about by the amount of time we work together. But nothing more," Felicity wanted to laugh out loud, even she believed what she said. She after all said it to his face, time to move on.

Taylor for his part nervously rubbed his neck, "well, in that case, I would like it very much if you would have dinner with me, maybe tomorrow night?"

At her frowning expression he quickly added, "I know we just met, but there is something about you that….well, I just wanted to get to know you more. I don't mean to overstep some boundaries here. You are single right, no boyfriend, no commitments elsewhere?" At Felicity's slow nod, "and I am not married, no girlfriend, not in any kind of relationship at all."

He went further as if challenging her, "one date, that's all I'm asking."

She eyed him, quickly filtering her resolve through her brain to move on and move forward with her life, "fine, one date," lifting a finger, "one."