Felicity knows she has a "deer in the headlights" expression on her face. She wasn't expecting an "I love you" and starts thinking of an excuse that will get her out of the room before she does something stupid.
Ray squeezes her hand. "Look, I'm not expecting you to say it back. It's okay if you're not there yet." He smiles sweetly and Felicity can feel the tears building up. He was always so sweet. "But I'm not gonna take back what I said. I do love you, Felicity."
She smiles through her tears and leans in to kiss him. "Thank you."
She doesn't love him. But she knows that with enough time, she will love him. She's still in love with Oliver and Ray clearly knows that. But she doesn't want to be in love with Oliver.
When she initiated that second kiss, a part of her just wanted to forget about Oliver Queen and Ray was a nice distraction.
But the more time she spent with him, the more she liked him. He made her laugh and smile and she never feels insecure or nervous around him. She feels like she can tell him anything and be herself for once in a very long time. She doesn't have to simplify her tech speak or suppress the urge to talk about all the nerdy things she loves. Ray appreciates her computer skills and her intelligence and never dismisses an idea or opinion of hers. He treats her like an equal.
She's trying to figure out what to say when she catches a glimpse of what's currently going on in Starling. Ray looks at her. "Go on. They need you."
"But what about—"
"I'll be fine. Now go." He smiles. "Just stay safe."
She smiles back and kisses him again before hurrying out of the hospital room.
By the time everything's been sorted out, it's been over 48 hours since Felicity has gotten anything more than two hours of sleep. She's exhausted and just wants to sleep.
She waits impatiently in front of Ray's front door as she waits for him to answer it. When he does, she immediately throws her arms around his neck to hug him.
He chuckles and wraps his arms around her, pulling her close to him. "Hi."
She smiles into his chest. "Hi," she mumbles back shyly.
"Did everything work out okay?"
All she can do is nod. His arms are so comforting. He picks her up bridal style and starts walking towards the bedroom. Along the way, she leans up to kiss him and says "I really really like you, Ray."
He smiles at her. It's not an "I love you", but it's a start.
A/N: I'm sorry, did you think this might be an Olicity fic? Well too bad! AtomicSmoak, mothafuckas! Anyway, after the shit ending for "Public Enemy", I needed to write this because you can't just build up this sweet, serious Ray/Felicity romance and then have her go back to Oliver! NOT COOL, WRITERS! So, hope you enjoy and are just as pissed about how that episode went down as I am.
Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow. I own quite a few Atom comics because he's my favorite superhero but he belongs to DC. The title is a Social Distortion song.