The Soufflé Incident
An: I do not own Arrow
Summary: What if Thea takes Felicity's soufflé while Oliver's distracted by their sudden arrival.
It took all of Oliver's self control to remain calm during dinner. Felicity was already suspicious. He had taken great care to make sure every detail of the night was perfect. The table was laid just the way she liked it, he had served the perfect pinot noir to go with her favourite meal. She was absolutely happy and that made him happier. The last course of their dinner was in the kitchen, a soufflé that he had worked hard to perfect over the last month.
After the last round of questions from Felicity, Oliver made his way quickly to the kitchen. He placed the soufflés on his serving dish and added the last garnish to Felicity's, a beautiful diamond ring. A bubble of excitement formed inside of him along with a stray thought of doubt. He quickly cast the doubt aside. He knows she's going to say yes. He just has one final hurdle to go, the proposal itself. He takes a deep breath and heads back in the direction of the love of his life.
As she comes into view he quickly realises she's not alone, his sister and ex-girlfriend are there. Felicity's saying something but he's not really comprehending what's going on. He's too busy concentrating on the fact that his perfect proposal, the proposal he had spent the last month making sure every detail was perfect, has been ruined. Great timing, he thought sarcastically.
He places the soufflés down on the table. Laurel is talking about a threat to Star City and he knows he needs to pay attention to make a decision. Instead he looks at Felicity who's completely engrossed in Laurel's explanation about the well trained men they're fighting in the city. It's the first time he realises that she actually misses what they used to do. He's so caught up in the revelation that he missed his sister sneak past him and grab one of his desserts.
"Hmmm, this is great? Can we swing by the bakery where you bought these before we go home?" Thea asked.
"Oliver made them," Felicity says proudly. She's beaming at him.
At first Oliver basks in her praise until he realises that his sister took a bite out of the one that was supposed to be Felicity's. She's reaching for another bite when Oliver roughly grabs her arms.
"Just excuse us a moment," he says, dragging her towards the kitchen.
He's too late though because while he was dragging her, she took another bite of the heavenly dessert.
"Ow!" she says, "There's something hard in this,"
"Good, I hope you broke a tooth!" he said dragging her over to the sink. "Spit it out now,"
Thea does what he commands and he immediately begins splashing water on the disgusting blob of soufflé and saliva. The gasp his sister lets out as a diamond ring appears from within the blob does nothing to calm his anger.
"You were going to propose," she says.
He turns around and glares at her.
"I'm sorry Ollie. If I knew we would have come later or tomorrow. It's just things are getting really bad and we really need your help."
He ignores her and continues cleaning the ring.
"You know I could help you plan another better proposal. The ring in the soufflé is so cliché. Besides did you want Felicity to choke?"
"She would not have choked, she would have seen it before she took a bite," Oliver said.
"Really, like how I saw it,"
Oliver points his index finger at her to protest but she has a point.
Thea's voice softens, "Oliver, it's time to come home. The fact that you're ready to take the plunge with Felicity is an indicator that you've found what you were looking for."
He ignores her plea, in favour of drying off the ring and pocketing it safely away. They return to the living room where Laurel is eating the other soufflé. His anger returns at his ruined proposal.
"This is amazing Ollie," Laurel said.
"Not as amazing as it was supposed to be," he replied bitterly.
Felicity's hands found his and she squeezed. She knew he was disappointed by the interruption to the romantic night he had planned for them.
"Oliver," Felicity said softly, "They really need your help,"
He sighed. He could see that Felicity really wanted to go. As he looked into her eyes, he realised one scary thought, he would never be able to deny Felicity anything again. He relented and soon Felicity had some bags packed for them to head back to Star City.
On the plane, Felicity and Laurel switched seats briefly so Thea and Felicity could catch up.
"I'm really sorry," Laurel said. "Had we known, we would have waited a bit longer,"
Oliver glared at the back of Thea's seat. She just had to open her mouth. Now he's in the awkward position of discussing his plan to marry Felicity with the woman who had wanted him to marry her. The last place he ever expected to be that night was sitting next to Laurel on a plane bound to Star City. He should be with Felicity basking in the afterglow of their first round of love making. She would be babbling about how pretty the ring looks on her finger and he would be itching to make love to her again.
Laurel squeezed his hand to comfort him but it had the opposite effect causing the tension to increase in his body. She's was doing it all wrong. "Don't worry, Thea and I will fix this,"
"It's ok Laurel, I'll come up with something else," he says in what he hoped was a calm tone. The last thing he needs is his baby sister and ex-lover trying to plan his proposal. He didn't want to imagine the disaster that would turn out to be.
Laurel smiles at him and returns to her seat but he knows that look, that's the determined look. He's going to have to plan a new proposal to Felicity quickly before they come up with anything. His girlfriend soon returns to him, her hand automatically finding his and giving it a light squeeze. All the tension left his body, now that, was the way it should be done. He could tell she was happy to be going back.
Soon they were on the ground and collecting their bags. They walk out to Thea's sleek black BMW.
"Still using Malcolm's money I see?" Oliver commented dryly.
Thea shrugs, "I tried living the poor life. It didn't suit me. Now get in and no sex in my back seat!" she says winking at her brother.
He rolls his eyes at her. He's definitely going to have to propose as soon as this mission is over. A week later, the new CEO of Palmer Technologies is spotted with a ring on her ring finger sending the gossip magazines into overdrive.