Sleeping Arrangements
An: I do not own Arrow.
Summary: Commander Oliver Queen has been able to sleep under any condition that was until he met Her.
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Commander Oliver Queen stared up at the ceiling of their quarters. He had been trying to sleep for the last hour but was failing miserably. He knew exactly why he couldn't sleep. It was because she wasn't there. Since there was nothing he could do about it other than take a knock out pill which he was firmly against, he decided to trace when this particular sleeping problem began. He slept well as a child, or so his mother told him. As a teenager though, he developed a habit of partying into the wee hours of the morning. He would then fall asleep anywhere. He had once woken up on a dining room table in a Mansion that wasn't his. He had also woken up with many random women sharing his sleeping space but they never affected his ability to fall asleep.
When his parents determined that he was a lost cause, they forced him into the Space Core. The late night partying disappeared and six am wake calls to a blaring intercom unit in zero gravity became the training during the day left his body so exhausted that by the time he was allowed to return to his sleeping quarters he passed straight out. They loved to train new recruits in 2G, normal gravity wasn't had to make sure you were strong enough to serve in the Space Core. After getting you in a routine to wake up at 6 am everyday they then threw you into all night training sessions that caused you to be going to sleep at 6am instead of waking up.
Six months after he had finished basic training, he had been assigned the usual run of the mill assignment to escort a supply ship to an asteroid at the edge of the galaxy. He was part of a team of eight single manned combat spacecraft that took up a diamond shaped pattern around the supply ship. Half way to the asteroid, they were attacked by pirates. The supply ship was taken and his own fighter ship was damaged. He managed to get away from the pirates and crash land on a nearby planet.
He was stranded on the plant for five years before a passing freighter happened to scan the planet and find him. Surviving on the planet had been tough. There were storms, aggressive creatures, food issues and his own mental problems of dealing with the isolation. Oliver barely slept during the first few days on the planet. It was only when he had found a safe shelter and a steady food supply that he finally allowed himself to relax and sleep for a few hours each day.
On reintegration back into the military, his sleeping pattern remained the same; he would sleep for a few hours and then wake at 6am. It slowly started to change when he met her. Felicity Smoak had been assigned to his team as the Tech Specialist. The moment he laid eyes on her, he knew things were about to change. She babbled away about tech and made some very inappropriate innuendos. The rest of the crew wrote her off as a weird tech girl but she soon showed her inner strength. She openly protested his sometimes excessive use of force and encouraged him to find other ways. He thought the planet had turned him into a monster, she thought otherwise.
Oliver obviously hated escort missions with a passion so when his team was again assigned to such a mission he was in a foul mood but Felicity used her loud voice on him and forced him into a semi-pleasant mood. That was, until history seemed to repeat itself again but this time, he made sure he had a bigger ship with better guns. He also had Felicity this time and they managed to apprehend the pirates and make it to the asteroid. Their ship had been severely damaged during the fire fight and they had to stay a few weeks at the asteroid while they used parts from the pirate's ship to fix their own.
The quarters they were provided was small with two bunk beds to accommodate a crew of had been working over time to get everything up and running. Somehow in her exhaustion she had collapsed on the bottom bunk that Oliver had been occupying, not even realising he was there. She was asleep as soon as she hit the hard mattress. Oliver would have given her the bunk but that required him to climb over her because she had effectively pinned him against the wall. She looked so exhausted; he didn't want to wake her up. He figured he could do with a few hours rest himself. After all he had just lain down and he didn't see any harm in just sharing a mattress. He had not anticipated that she would shift and snuggle into him and he definitely didn't think that he would enjoy cuddling so much. He never had before. He woke up at the same time that Felicity did. She turned beet red, mumbled an innuendo and then disappeared.
48 hours later, he was just drifting off to sleep on the top bunk when the door opened and he saw Felicity heading to the same bunk bed but this time it was occupied by their Science Officer, Barry Allen. Something within him violently objected to her sharing a bed with Allen. He reached over and easily scooped her up to the top bunk. He placed her between his body and the wall to prevent her from falling off the bed. She tried to protest but the minute he wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her flush against him, she sighed and accepted it. When they awoke a few hours later, he kissed her.
They never stopped sharing a bed and it progressed quickly to more than just sleeping. After six months of their commanding officer trying to guess which room they were in, he moved them into one of the quarters designated for couples. The Core had long since stopped trying to separate couples. It was too expensive to move people to new teams and retrain teams. Instead they put a simple rule in that if you let your relationship interfere with team missions you were to be court marshalled. Missions always came first, then your personal relationship. It seemed to solve most of the issues.
Felicity was eventually offered the opportunity to build the next generation of space craft out of a special dwarf star alloy. Oliver followed her back to Space Core headquarters where he taught in the space academy while she worked on the spacecraft. When the craft was officially finished, they would be running the test missions in it. They had been in their room for a year now but they made no move to make their relationship permanent yet. Oliver had been thinking about it though. The more time she spent around people like her, the more he worried that he might lose her. She never faltered in her love for him though.
The reason he was the only one in their bed at the moment was because she was angry with him. They had had a huge argument that morning about one of his cadets, Carrie Cutter, who Felicity felt was manipulating him into giving her extra attention that she didn't need. The argument had been brutal. Usually he would see or hear from her during the day but she hadn't contacted him at all. It told him that she was very angry and needed space to cool off. That was the funny thing about living in the same space together. When you had arguments you had to sort it out in that space. There was no retreat point to go to. He wondered if she planned on coming to sleep at all that night.
After another half an hour of staring at the ceiling, the door to the quarters opened. A few seconds later, the bed shifted as she sat down on the edge. She lay as far away from him as she could get with her back facing him. She was still angry. He closed his eyes. Even though she wasn't in touching distance, he would still be able to get a little bit of sleep now that he knew she was near.
Just as he was drifting off, he felt her cold feet first as she tucked it into his followed by the rest of her calf and knee as she entwined her legs with his. After a few minutes, when that wasn't enough for her, she pulled the rest of her body to his side, wrapping her hands around his chest and burying her face in his neck,her cold nose rubbing gently against the side of this neck. She was mumbling something about not being able to sleep without her 'pillow'. He knew he was the couldn't help the smirk that adorned his face. She needed him as much as he needed her.
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The next morning, he awoke when Felicity's alarm went off. She must have set it to wake them up knowing that having gone to bed so late they might oversleep. She was tucked into his side and didn't even budge. He decided to wake her up the way he did every morning, with a kiss. Her body responded automatically. When he pulled away she protested.
"It's time to get up," he told her.
"That's never stopped you from continuing before," she pointed out.
He chuckled, she was still half asleep and hadn't remembered that she was angry with him yet. He only had to wait a few more seconds before it clicked and she shoved him away and headed to the small bathroom to get ready. He couldn't help the proud smile that settled over his face. Despite her anger, she still loved him very much. He just needed a way to make up for his idiocy.
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He was pleased with the progress his cadets were making. His group was surpassing all of the others. He had trained them hard today adding a few advance sequences that they handled well. He had just dismissed them when he noticed Cadet Cutter approaching him in the corridor. Oliver cringed. She was the cause of his current domestic situation and he was harbouring some angry thoughts towards her. In the time he had to reflect since his fight with Felicity he realised that she was correct. Cutter had been manipulating the situation to her advantage and he was going to put a stop to it. No one was allowed to come between him and Felicity.
"Commander Queen," she said walking quickly to catch up to him in the corridor. "Sir, I haven't quite mastered the Arrow formation you were teaching us and I was wondering if..."
Oliver didn't wait for her to finish choosing to cut her off mid-sentence instead, "I suggest you ask Cadet Lawton. His skills are quite good and I believe he mastered it already."
"But," she tried to protest. He knew she wanted him to teach her one on one.
"It's time you learn to rely on your own team. I will not be around to help you," Oliver said.
"Sir, I plan on requesting assignment here," she said with a smile. She was sure she would graduate in the top 5% that got to choose where they wanted to serve.
"I won't be here," he lied.
"What!" she said in a panic.
"I'll be moving to Saturn Station," he told her with a straight face. It was a half truth. Felicity was testing part of the new ship design out there next month and he was escorting her. It would take one week and then they would be back.
Cadet Cutter ran off without a parting salute. Oliver didn't care; he had plans to enact and grovelling to practice because his girlfriend needed to forgive him immediately.
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One month later, Oliver was seated in the training hall with Felicity. The area had been converted for graduation. There was a small stage that overlooked lines of chairs where the cadets sat. The teachers were seated on chairs off to the side. His students had the highest average score for their year group and he was quite proud. He had several bets with his colleagues that his group would be the best group and he couldn't wait to collect after the ceremony.
As the names of each cadet were called, their next posting was also announced. When it came to Cadet Cutter, it was announced that she would be posted to Saturn Station. Felicity's hand squeezed his bicep. He glanced down at her hand to see the diamond ring sparkling on her ring finger and he was immediately flooded with warmth at the reminder that in a few months, she would officially be his.
"I thought she wanted to stay here?" Felicity asked him referring to Cadet Cutter.
"I might have told her that I was moving to Saturn Station," he admitted to her.
She arched her eyebrow at him and he elaborated, "I told you I would take care of it and I did."
Felicity smiled widely at him, "Have I told you today how much I love you?"
"Yes but you know I prefer it when you show me!" he said with a lascivious grin.
"Don't worry, I have something very special planned for my fiancé tonight," she told him with a seductive smile.
Oliver suddenly couldn't wait for the graduation to finish. His sleeping arrangements that night held more interest than gloating over the success of his cadets.
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An: I know I've been absent for a while. I've been very busy and I've had hardly any time to write. I managed to get an hour free today to finish off this one-shot and let everyone know I'm still around and still writing. I hope to start posting more regularly soon.