A/N: So I am a big Arrow fan and I am an even bigger Olicity fan. So this New Year I thought I would try some me Olicity. I thought of writing just an one-shot but quickly it started getting out of hands and now I will be presenting it in two medium chapters rather than one extra-big chapter.
This is my first Olicity fic and I hope you will like reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And if you don't know what Arrow and/or Olicity is, you are missing out on some really good stuff.
Also I should mention, if any of you Arrow fans are reading it, there are some amazing writers who write some equally amazing stuff. Tarafina, anthfan and MrzKitty are few of them to start mentioning and even though I don't know them personally or even fically (I mean through fan-fiction, I am just a reader of their wonderful stories), I love their writing and if you haven't read them, go do it, NOW !
You can now go ahead with the story. Let me know how you liked it
Disclaier: I sadly don't own Arrow or any of the characters. They entirely belong to CW and DC.
The Queen's New Year eve Gala was the talk of the town. Anyone who was someone was going to be there and though Felicity didn't feel like she should be in the list of guests, she was. Being Oliver's EA by day and IT genius by night there was no way around it.
It was her third New Years party with the Queens and she was not looking forward to it. Thea had dragged her with herself from shop to shop to get each of them the perfect dress for the gala but Felicity's heart was not in it.
It had been three years since the Glades fell and since Tommy died. Once Oliver came back from the island the second time, the team got closer to each other, the bond was stronger. A lot changed over the time, their Arrow Team, as they liked to call it now, got bigger with the addition of Roy and Thea to it.
Though Roy was not over the moon to find out that the guy he worshipped was none other than his girl-friends disapproving big brother, he was satisfied to atleast be in on the truth. And once he joined the team and met Felicity and Diggle along with the real Oliver sans his different masks, he was happy.
Thea on the other hand was not at all what everyone expected her to be. Once she got to know that the Green Arrow was her own brother, she didn't freak out like everyone thought she would, instead she came down to foundry with everyone else and asked what she could do to help. Since then Thea and Felicity had become quite close being the two girls in the team.
The group was inseparable from then on. They spent most of their times together. In the day when Liz as Thea had started calling her, along with Ollie and Digg would be in QC, she would drop by with Roy. Sometimes with some new information they had acquired from the streets or just for a quick chit-chat.
Their nights were spent in the foundry. Thea would walk around the club along with Oliver for sometime before they got back to the lair where the guys hooded up to go for missions or just to patrol around the city while Felicity and Thea would help them with technicalities. She had picked up quite a lot from the IT girl with time.
Last holidays, Oliver had gifted Roy with an outfit similar to his but red in colour. He had started to being getting called as the Red Arrow now since that's the colour he used for his arrows unlike Oliver's green ones. The look on Roy's face when he saw the gift was priceless and he had hugged Oliver on impulse which was returned much to everyone else's surprise and relief.
This holiday though Felicity was not feeling the festivity. Her mom as usual had called her to come home for the holidays and like every year she said no. Its not like she didn't go home ever. She would go home for Hanukkah and be back in Starling City before Christmas.
Her mom had called her again last night to tell her how another cousin of hers, who was younger that Felicity, was getting married next month. She reminded her that Felicity was not getting any younger and that all the 'good catches' will slip out if she didn't get married soon.
Every time her mom called, it was for the same reason and she was fed up of it. Within the last week she had called her 4 times and that was reason enough to dampen her festive mood. It did not help that while she was home for Hanukkah, her mom had set her up with a guy from her high school, who was a jerk to her back then and the night had ended in a disaster and she had left for the city before she was intended to.
Her group members had asked her why she was back early or why her mood was off but she just shrugged it off saying her parents were going out for holidays. She wasn't sure how many of them believed her lie since she couldn't lie to save her life but was glad that none of them pushed her any further for the truth.
On 31st Thea had come to her apartment early in the morning to find her asleep and woke her up. She had gotten both of them an appointment at one of the best spa's in the city and then with Thea's and now even Felicity's personal hair and make up stylist.
By 10 o clock they were out of the apartment on their way to the spa. The stopped for quick caffeine fix in front of Starbucks and got themselves their coffee in to-go cups.
Once in the spa, Felicity relaxed as she was given a full body massage and then they did her facial, pedicure and manicure and by 2:30 they were done. They got themselves a light lunch before going over to their stylist at 4 to get ready.
By 6:30 both of them were ready, their hair and make up done perfectly to match the dresses they were going to wear tonight. Felicity had gotten a dark green gown with sweetheart neckline and Thea got a red off shoulder dress. They both changed quickly and then left by 7 to make it to the party in time.
By the time they reached the Queen manor Felicity had started to feel much better than what she was feeling just 24 hours ago. She saw Roy standing with Digg and Lyla and walked up to them along with Thea to say hi.
She got herself a glass of champagne while they were talking and was looking around but she could manage to see everyone except the one she wanted to. She stopped by to talk to some of the people she had gotten to know over the years, either from such parties or from the office and greeted them with a smile.
"Hasn't come down yet, still in his room" came a familiar voice from beside her.
She turned to see Roy looking at her expectantly and rolled her eyes.
"And young Mr. Harper, how would you know what or who I am looking for?" she countered which only made the boy roll his eyes at her.
"Like we don't see anything!" he scoffed and she raised her brows. "Why cant the both of you just stop playing this cat-mouse game and admit facts. Anyways, I am not getting in between this thing, do what you want, I am just telling you that he is in his room. Now whether you admit that you were looking for him and go see what's taking him so long or not is totally up to you. I am gonna get myself another glass of this" and with that he walked back towards the bar.
She thought over what Roy had said for a moment and then she was walking up the stairs to the first floor where his room was. She took a deep breath and then knocked twice before opening the door slightly.
"Oliver?" tentatively she walked two steps in. She had been in his room before this but not on her own. Especially right now when it was all dark, no lights, totally opposite from what the whole house looked like at this moment.
"Out here" came his quite voice from the balcony of his room.
She saw him standing with his hands bracing the railing once she reached there.
"What are you doing in here? There is a party going on downstairs, people are expecting you and you are standing here in the dark. Is something bothering you? Is something wrong?" she asked and she heard him sigh before turning towards her.
Since he was in the balcony it wasn't that hard to make out his features though Felicity was pretty sure that she wouldn't exactly need light to acknowledge him anytime. She would know him anywhere.
After-all she had been in love with him for more than three years now. She had realized it when they had finally found Walter but she couldn't walk away from the team, Oliver, even though that's what her initial plan was.
Before she could go on deeper with her musings she caught herself. This was not the time to think about the feeling she harbored for her boss, not when he was standing right next to her looking like this.
Oliver was wearing a tux tonight, every single part of it crisp and sharp. He looked deliciously delectable if you asked Felicity.
"What?" she heard Oliver ask and her face burned red when she realized that her brain to mouth filter had gone off the rails, again.
"Nothing!" she said quickly, looking anywhere but him. After taking few deep breaths and when she was sure she wasn't as red as a tomato, she looked back up at him.
"So, why are you here?" she asked again.
"I have been thinking" he said and she rolled her eyes.
"Could you not be that cryptic all the time?" she was irritated but her voice became soft when she saw him. "Tell me, what is it?" she asked, one of her hand now on his arm, squeezing it gently, as if reassuring him that she would always be there to listen. In these last three years they had come very close and touching one other was a way of showing their care for each other or in her case, her love for him. Again she had to catch herself before her thought could stray any further.
"Why did you come back early from home during Hannukah?" he suddenly asked, catching her off-guard.
"I … I old you, my mom and dad went out for holidays so I came back early" she told him the same lie again but this time she knew he wasn't gonna fall for it. Not that he didn't know she was lying earlier but right now, unlike before, he was not gonna let it go.
He didn't say anything to her, he just kept looking at her in that Oliver like look, the one which she or any other human in this planet for that matter, was not immune to. That look where he would just look at her and the whole truth would come tumbling out of her mouth and that's exactly what happened this time, again.
"My mom, she has been pestering me to get married. She reminds me everyday that I am not getting any younger with time and that most of my friends back from high school already have a family. When I went back home this year, she had outdone herself. She set me up with one of my high school guy, who was a total jerk to me by the way and it ended disastrously, just like I knew it would. That night we had a fight and I didn't stay longer for her to try something like this again so I left the next morning.
"She has been calling me non-stop from then, reminding me of what I already know. I know I am awkward, I know I am not normal like most girls my age. While they go out clubbing or on dates with guys I sit back in my home watching reruns of Castle or Game of Thrones. In my free time I don't go out with friends for drinks or shop, I sit in front of my computer and write codes for new software's or tinker with wires.
"Last night she called again to tell me that my cousin, who is younger than me, she did not forget to mention that, is getting married in two months and that I am still single and doing my 'plain IT job'. What she doesn't know is that I love what I do, that I topped my class in MIT and that I help this city getting better, getting free from crimes by being in your team or our team or you know what I mean." She sighed.
"I just don't understand why she cant just let me be. I am happy with who I am and what I do, why cant she just be happy for me too. Is marriage that important? I mean, it is important, its not like I don't want to get married but its not something I think about the whole day or even once a day. That cousin of mine who is getting married did not even go to college" she huffed. "I am a successful woman, I do stuff that they cant even think of. I can start a nuclear war between countries with just a few strokes on my keyboard and all she can think about is how 'plain' my life is. Not that I would start a nuclear war, that would be terrible. And I wont be able to do it even if someone held a gun to my head.
"But I can surely block my mothers credit card and then she wont be able to shop or I can even deactivate her phone, yes, I think I am going to do that. Then she wont be able to call me, pestering me to get married. I just don't want to get married to the guys she thinks I will be happy with. I will be miserable with them and I have been talking for so long that my throat is almost dry now and I am sure you don't want to hear me moping and rambling about how I don't want to get married so I think I am going to stop now."
All this while, Oliver didn't even make a single sound. He kept listening to her ramblings without a word. He did not even try to stop her when one time she got off track and started talking about starting nuclear wars. He just listened to her, watched how her face changed with every flicker of emotion she felt, not once interrupting.
"So I think we have been here longer than necessary and people were already asking about you when I came up. Yeah, so I think we should go down. Your mom and sister must be wondering what you are doing up here on you own, and now even I am up here with you. So before anyone else comes up looking for you or me or both of us, we should go down to the party and I was babbling again" she ended with a sigh.
She waited for him to say something but when he didn't she turned to go back down to the party. She had only taken two steps when he spoke again;
"We have known each other for a little over three years now, haven't we?" he asked but she knew it was only a rhetorical question, he wasn't actually expecting her to answer this. But what she didn't know was why he was saying this to her now.
"In these three years we all have grown quite close to each other. Since joining the Team, Thea and I have become close again but she doesn't really know what goes on with me all the time. I would say Roy understands about stuff more than she does." He said with a chuckle.
"Digg knows few of my incidents from there; he is a soldier like me so he can relate to the traumas I face. He understands some things I have gone through and he knows me pretty well too but no one knows me as well as you do. Even though you don't know much about my island days, you know me.
"You came in like a wrecking ball in my life and then nothing was in its usual place anymore. You disturbed the semblance I had created in my life, all of it, but then you came and I was not the same person again.
"And now it has become too much for me, I can control anything and I have no idea what to do anymore. You have messed everything up and now I cant do anything about it. Every part of my life, you are there, hell even my mom likes you. Digg behaves like your overprotective big brother and Thea, you two are best friends. And lets not even talk about Roy, that kid adores you.
"Oli…" she didn't know what to say! She had no idea why he would bring up all of these now, suddenly. Have I really made it worse rather than better for him? I mean, I thought I helped him with his missions and in the office when things went out of hands with any of the investors or most of all Isabel Rochev. I thought I was being a friend to him. Have I really messed up instead of doing some good like I thought?
"I…" she tried again. What do you say at a moment like this? "I am sorry." Her eyes had welled up and she just wanted to leave the party and go back home to cry on some Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
"uggghhh …" she heard him groan and her eyes snapped up to look at him. He looked so pained. Both his hands were clenched into fists at his sides like he was to rein himself in.
"Do you … do you want me to leave?" she asked quietly. And she knew that he knew that she didn't just asked about now, from his room or the party. She was asking if he wanted her to leave altogether, from QC, from the team, from his life.
"I … I am sorry if I made it so hard for you. I was just trying to help, I had no idea and you never said anything to me before. I will leave now and I really am sorry" she said, her voice breaking with every word.
She was leaving but stopped for a second and turned back towards him. His head was cast down and his eyes weren't closed. She knew he could see her, he was looking at her. And though it hurt her so much, with as much courage she could muster, she smiled at him, the smile that was all Felicity.
"Happy New Year, Oliver. I wish you get everything you have ever wanted." He was looking directly at her now and she couldn't take it anymore. She knew she would break down into sobs if she stayed any longer. Without another word she walked out of his room and probably out his life this time.
Silent tears were streaming down her face but her feet kept taking her forward. She couldn't stop now, if she did, she knew it would just break her completely.
She had to leave, for once and all.
A/N: Sorry for the cliffy. Hopefully you are not half-bored from the story already. Please don't tell me you are fully bored coz this is just the first half of this story :P
Anyways, the next half will be up soon since I have already written it. I just need to look over it once more before I upload it.
Till then keep reading and I hopefully will get some reviews on how you find this story.