ITALIAN NIGHT

Oliver Queen entered the loft he shared with his sister, Thea, and was greeted with silence. Thea was spending the night in Central City with her boyfriend, Roy Harper. They had recently rekindled their romance and decided to take a trip to spend some quality time together. Oliver was actually looking forward to a quiet night since his alter ego, the Arrow, and his team, had been very busy protecting Starling City over the past week.

After changing into more comfortable clothes, Oliver made his way into the kitchen and found a note stuck to his favourite cereal box. It read,

Ollie,

Don't you dare eat this cereal as your dinner tonight! Being the loving sister that I am, I left some pasta in the fridge for you to warm in the microwave and eat.

Love Thea

He couldn't help smiling as he read the note and knowing that she would be on his case if he didn't do as instructed, he put the pasta into the microwave. While he waited, the doorbell rang. As he made his way to the door, he wondered who it could be since they rarely had visitors coming to the loft. He didn't have to wonder long since he heard her voice before he reached the door and he immediately smiled.

"Oliver, open up. It's me, Felicity."

He opened the door for her and she walked in without waiting for him, still talking.

"I come bearing gifts. Specifically pizza and wine, not the great stuff you usually have but it is a decent bottle of wine. Thea told me she and Roy were going out of town and well, knowing you, you were probably going to have a bowl of cereal and then sleep, which is just not cool."

Finally given the chance to talk, he sarcastically replied, "Clearly, the women in my life think I am incapable of feeding myself. You both have forgotten that I survived being stranded on an island."

Rolling her eyes at him, she went to set down the pizza and wine on the coffee table.

"You can pick out a movie for us to watch while I grab the pasta Thea left for dinner and everything else we will need from the kitchen."

When Oliver returned, Felicity had settled down on the couch and had their movie ready to go.

"So what are we watching?"

"Well, since we are having more or less an Italian-themed dinner, I felt that the perfect movie to watch is none other than The Italian Job."

"You sure it's not your love for Mini Coopers that's motivating your choice to watch this movie again?"

"Of course it is. Plus Mark Wahlberg is quite easy on the eye," she added with a wink, "Now shush, it's starting."

Halfway through the movie, Felicity was half asleep with her head on Oliver's lap and her feet on the other end of the couch, but she fought her tiredness just to watch her favourite scenes. Oliver, on the other hand, had stopped watching the movie a long time ago. He was now watching Felicity react with different emotions based on which scene was playing and he smiled every time that she quoted some of her favourite lines.

This night off had been long overdue for all of them and nothing made him happier than seeing Felicity so relaxed and carefree. To think, it wasn't that long ago, when he had almost lost her for good. It had taken her almost leaving him to help Ray be the Atom that finally put things in perspective for him.

They had been arguing during one of their missions and before he knew it, he let his jealousy of her dating Ray, seep into the argument and yelled at her to just go and be Ray's crime fighting partner. Oliver regretted it right from the second the words left his mouth and it broke his heart to see the hurt in her eyes. To her, it had felt like the final rejection from every part of his life. She was already not working with him every day at the same company and now he was asking her to leave not only her night job, but also the family she gained with their team.

As much as he had always insisted that she was better off without him in her life, it was at that moment when he was faced with reality of actually living without her, that he realised that he couldn't do any of this without her in his life. So he begged and grovelled and spent weeks after that convincing her that his sudden change of heart was not a temporary phase. He was committed not only to his crusade as the Arrow but also to building a life together with her.

Now, months later, here they were at his place, enjoying dinner and a movie, like a normal couple. Oliver was happier than he had been in a very long time. Crime had dropped in Starling City and even if some new villain decided to stir trouble, he was confident that his team would be able to rise to the challenge. From what started with the original three members of Diggle, Felicity and himself, he has grown to rely on the extra support provided by adding Roy, Laurel and now Thea to Team Arrow. As much as he disliked asking for help, he knew that he could always count on his fellow allies like Barry Allen as the Flash and Ray as the Atom.

"Mr Queen. What's got you lost so deep in your thoughts?"

The movie had finished a few minutes ago and Felicity turned her attention to Oliver and found him distracted.

"Just thinking of how far we have come since it was just you, me and Diggle in our team."

"We've certainly accomplished much together over the past few years," she said, "Anyway, I'm just going to clean up here quickly before I go home."

She got up from the couch and gave him a quick peck on his lips. However, just before she was out of his reach, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to sit on his lap. He leaned into her and whispered, "Stay the night."

She turned to look at him in surprise, "Are you sure that you want me to spend the night? It's a big step for us as neither of us has slept over before. Not that I don't mind sleeping with you. And by sleeping with you I meant actual sleeping, not ..."

Smirking at her babbling, Oliver interrupted her with a kiss, "Felicity, I'm sure. I would love to actually sleep next to you, among other things, of course," he added with a wink, watching her begin to blush as his words sank in.

"Well, in that case, who am I to argue, Mr Queen."

Later, while lying in bed with Felicity asleep in his arms, Oliver couldn't have asked for a better ending to this night. With that thought on his mind, he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

THE END