I Can't Make You Love Me (If You Don't) Chapter 1: Laurel, an arrow fanfic

A/N: It's been a while, but once again I heard a song on the radio and thought of Olicity. This is a 4 shot; will be told from the viewpoints of Laurel, Ray, Felicity and Oliver. Typically I get to write at about 2 in the morning, so forgive my mistakes since I don't have a beta either.

Anyhow, my standard disclaimers apply...they aren't mine, I'm borrowing them; the song belongs to its rightful owners (that isn't me) read at the least, review at the most!

Turn down the lights
Turn down the bed
Turn down these voices inside my head
Lay down with me
Tell me no lies
Just hold me close, don't patronize
Don't patronize me

She doesn't know what happened. Looking at it all now, it was crystal clear of course. She didn't see it at first, because all she saw was that Ollie was hers, there were no secrets between them, and things were good.

She knew he was the Arrow, and they even worked together as much as her newly revived career would allow. She didn't spend much time in the hideout, meeting really only with Oliver. She had him to thank for the career revival; the truth about Sebastian Blood had come out, and vindication about her suspicions had been swift, her drug use seen as her being set up and rehab was simply the PC thing to do.

It was good; they meshed well. Now that she knew his secret and they worked close so often, it had been easy to fall back on what they knew...their love. Ollie was attentive as much as he could be; she knew he was working to get QC back, plus his nighttime personae still took up a lot of time. She wasn't worried, surprisingly, about him being hers. She'd overheard the blonde (Felicity?) muttering "gorgeous Laurel," "of course" and "true love" in various combinations on the few occasions she'd been down to the hideout.

She believed that for a while. Looking at him now, she's not sure when she began to realize Ollie wasn't, in fact, hers. He belonged heart and soul to another.

It may have been the mission where she gave Oliver the course of action she thought was best, only to learn later he'd ignored it in favor of one Felicity gave. It was one of the few fights they'd had, her and Oliver. She was hurt, of course, she knows Oliver better than anyone, so why would he take some IT girl's word over hers?

Except Felicity wasn't just some IT girl. Though perhaps she should have realized that after Slade, she didn't. But after that mission, Laurel made a point to spend more time with the team...and almost immediately wished she hadn't.

It wasn't just that Felicity was the brains of the team, it was Oliver. There was a relaxing of his entire being when he was around his team. A relaxation she hadn't seen from him since he got off that island. He was comfortable taking his shirt off in front of his team, where it was clear to her he wasn't that comfortable taking his clothes off in front of her. He never answered any questions about his scars either, no matter how often and gently she asked.

It may have been the way they would touch each other. Platonic touches if you weren't seeing, and it happened less and less frequently the longer that she was around. Still, it was like they were magnets to each other, and those small, nothing touches seemed downright compelled.

It may have been the way that Laurel could only describe his irritation at Felicity dating as jealousy. At first, she thought it was irritation that the man Felicity was dating had been the one to try and take QC. But when he bristled at the mention of Barry Allen in conjunction with Felicity, she didn't have a logical explanation other than jealousy.

It may have been the silent communication they'd perfected, and the easy way Felicity stood up to a man that not only should have intimidated her but was technically her boss.

Cause I can't make you love me if you don't
You can't make your heart feel something it won't
Here in the dark, in these final hours
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power
But you won't, no you won't
Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't

She doesn't know when she started noticing all these things. Laurel does know, however, the exact moment she knew for sure Oliver Queen belonged to Felicity Smoak.

It was a night like most of their others. She arrived to find him and Felicity deep in conversation, presumably about the bad guy of the week. Neither noticed her arrival. Felicity said something, and Oliver Queen smiled and laughed. A genuine smile, followed quickly by a full bellied laugh. It was a sound Laurel had never heard before. It was happy, joyous even. And she wasn't the one to cause it. Her, Ollie's supposed love. Seeing the two of them at that moment, they looked every inch the couple in love. And she had to say, he never looked at her the way he was looking at Felicity right now.

That night wasn't long ago. Seeing the two of them like that put her in a quandary. She loved Ollie, and she believes he thinks he loves her too. But she was not Felicity, and after being forced to see how the two of them were together, she thinks Ollie is more in love with the idea of what they used to could have been.

I'll close my eyes, then I won't see
The love you don't feel when you're holding me
Morningwill come and I'll do what's right
Just give me till then to give up this fight
And I will give up this fight

So as he loved her now, she decided it'd be the last time. She may love Ollie, but he deserves to be with the one he really loves. More importantly, she deserved to be loved by someone that loved her just as much as she did them. She just hoped Tommy hadn't been her only chance.

When morning came, he wasn't there, not that he ever really stayed all night. Wrapped in her sheets, she walked over to her window to survey the city Ollie was trying so hard to save. Looking over it, and knowing that things with Ollie were over, she had to concede to herself she wasn't as hurt as she probably should be. So what did that say about her feelings about Ollie?

And when she ended it, there was no fight from him. Surprise, to be sure, that she ended it. He wished her happiness, and success; she wished him the same and agreed to keep working with his alter ego. Laurel could tell that he was sincere, which caused her to feel a stab of sadness, because he was obviously so much greater than the boy he'd been when he snuck off with her sister. It didn't last long; it was obvious other hands had long been guiding him, and she was still picking up her own pieces if truth be told.

And so it was with guilty relief on both parts that the end of Laurel and Oliver arrived.