NEVER TOO LATE
Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow or the characters in it. I only wish I did.
Chapter 1
Oliver was proud of himself. It was the first day of the first semester of the academic year, and he had arrived five minutes before his class was supposed to start. He tried to hold back a full-blown smile as surveyed the amphitheater-like classroom and picked a front row seat that was almost directly in front of the teacher's podium. He took off his jacket, draped it over the back rest of the chair and began to set up his laptop on the table.
As he sat down and got settled, more students came flocking in. He couldn't help but observe their faces. Half of them were smiling and appeared excited to embark on an educational adventure while the other half looked either unhappy about commencing another semester of academic torture or just too apathetic to care, or maybe it was simply because theirs was an early morning class that forced them to get out of bed on a Monday morning. Whatever their reasons, Oliver was sure of how he felt that morning. He was happy.
He was happy to be back in school. At 43. He could have been embarrassed that in a room full of college seniors, he looked like he could be everyone else's father. He could've been ashamed, but he wasn't. In fact, he was thrilled that he was finally getting the chance to pursue his desire to finish a bachelor's degree in business, his twenty-year-old dream of making his family proud.
Billionaire-playboy Oliver Queen had been on his senior year at Starling City University when his years of debauchery and moral decadence all throughout adolescence had finally caught up with him. He had been kicked out of the varsity hockey team because of a scandalous brawl brought about by a rumor that he had gotten a teammate's girlfriend pregnant. When the rumor turned out to be a fact, his real girlfriend, Laurel Lance, broke up with him upon learning that he had cheated on her with one her fellow-cheerleaders and endured the disdain of all their so-called friends
His father, business tycoon Robert Queen and CEO of Queen Consolidated, practically forced him to drop out of school, man up to his new responsibility of fathering a child, and marry the girl. Robert Queen had wanted his son to shape up and learn from his mistakes the hard way, so even if his mother Moira pleaded and begged for her husband to reconsider, Oliver was sent to Central City with his pregnant young bride to start a new life together, without the luxuries and conveniences that he'd been pampered with growing up. His father had set up a medium-sized apartment for them in Central City. Period. The rest had to be earned through hard work, determination, and sacrifice.
In the beginning, Oliver and his wife Sandra underwent tough times. Between sleepless nights of bottle-feeding, diaper-changing, occasional bouts of Connor's troublesome colic or teething, bed-wetting in the toddler years, and grueling days of kitchen duty and waiting tables in a downtown diner, alternating with occasional shifts at a nearby gasoline station, Oliver had felt like his life was a living hell. He had never been so miserable and unhappy in his entire life. But because he knew that it was all his fault, he couldn't and didn't complain. Not out loud. Sandra had appreciated that, and although she had felt that Oliver didn't love her then (which made family life doubly difficult and painful for her), she too had suffered in silence while dutifully carrying out her roles as wife and mother.
This was why Connor Queen had a pretty healthy childhood, better than what his dad had growing up in the Queen mansion. Sure, Oliver had everything he needed and, of course, everything he wanted, except the security of a loving home built on a solid marriage relationship – his parents having lost whatever spark it was that made them Starling City's power couple in their younger years, at a time when Oliver was going through the adjustment period of puberty.
Robert and Moira knew they couldn't blame Oliver for everything that had happened to him because they hadn't been the best role models of a happy marriage and of responsible parenting, so they didn't abandon their son entirely. They had visited him in Central City during holidays, with his younger sister Thea in tow, and they'd even stay for a few days during summers, checking in the nearest five-star hotel because Oliver's apartment was just too cramped to accommodate them. In the first several years, their hearts had ached each time they visited, seeing how their son and his young family struggled to make both ends meet, but they stood their ground because year after year, Oliver seemed to have been changing for the better.
And he had been changing for the better. By the time Connor was ten, he and Sandra had saved up enough money to venture out on their own business. Banking on his experience of working in the diner and everything he remembered in business school, he rented a commercial space in the business district of Central City and put up his own coffee shop. Over the years, the coffee shop had been a success and made a name for itself such that, by the time Connor was in junior high, Oliver and Sandra had been able to buy a house in the suburbs. When Connor graduated from senior high, Oliver had afforded to send him back to Starling City and take up management in what would have been his alma mater. Life had been going well for the younger Queens.
Until tragedy struck in the middle of Connor's sophomore year. Sandra was killed in a bank robbery cum hostage situation gone wrong. She was one of three victims that perished that day, together with the two robbers who refused to surrender to the police. Connor was devastated; he was unable to finish the semester that spring and had to take summer classes just to catch up with some of the courses he was unable to complete. Oliver mourned Sandra's passing. For almost two years he struggled with grief, terribly missing the woman who had stayed with him through thick and thin for twenty years, the woman who had put up with his immaturities and idiosyncrasies and had "grown up" with him through the hardships of life. He and Sandra started married life with the weight of guilt and regret on their shoulders, but having endured through tough times had deepened their relationship, and Oliver was sure that sometime over the past two decades, he had truly learned to love his wife.
Oliver knew his son needed him in Starling City when Sandra passed away. So he promoted his most dependable employee to shop manager and left her in-charge of the business in Central City, and he opened a branch of Connor's Brew in Starling City right across the university, just one block away from the apartment that he rented. Thea helped him manage the coffee shop from time to time, learning the ropes of the business from the bottom, so to speak. She was the one who finished a degree in accountancy, but seemed to be more interested in the food business like her brother rather than running a Fortune 500 company. But one of the things that Robert and Moira had learned from Oliver's experience was that they shouldn't expect their children – much less oblige them – to follow the career path they that had chosen years ago. So, they let Thea learn from her brother's business, realizing that she was bent on opening her own branch of Connor's Brew on the other side of the city someday soon. Robert and Moira had been proud of their son and everything he had accomplished, and that without a college degree.
Which was what Oliver now intended to remedy.
He sat in a classroom full of energetic young people, recalling the night Thea and Connor was helping him close shop. His son and sister finally managed to convince him to do something about his educational attainment. They reasoned that it was about time he came out of mourning and did something for himself, and what better way to do that than to finish where he had left off almost twenty-two years ago. The more he thought about it, the clearer it became, until he arrived at the conclusion that it was never too late for him to get a college degree he could be proud of, and never too late for him to find happiness beyond his loss.
After two appointments with the dean of the Starling City University School of Business, Oliver was readmitted into the undergraduate program in management, the same program that Connor was one semester away from completing. However, even if the general education courses he had taken up two decades ago remained credited in his transcript, he was required to reenroll all the major courses in business that he had taken years ago, plus a couple of electives, which would take him about a year and a summer term to complete if he takes on a full load each term. Connor was going to graduate ahead of him, but that didn't matter. Oliver was going to juggle his time and energy between business school and his real-life business, but Thea's promise to support him and to hold the fort until he finished had given him the confidence boost he needed. Oliver wanted this, and he had two decades of perseverance and ten years of business success to back him up. Actually, it was this track record that convinced the dean to readmit him into the program.
So there he was, waiting for class to start.
Empowerment Technologies. He needed an elective course this semester, and Connor had suggested he enlist in this one because the instructor was one of the best – if not the best – teachers his son said he'd ever had the pleasure of learning from. It was a course in information and communication technologies, which was a prerequisite course for all IT majors in the university, but could also be taken as an elective by students from other undergraduate programs because of its many professional applications. When Thea overheard them talking about it, she was more than glad to second the motion, saying that maybe this would make his brother more techno savvy and less dependent on her for his computer and Internet issues. Connor had simply told his dad that he'd be learning lots of stuff that would make running his shops more efficiently.
Oliver looked at his watch. With about a minute left, he daydreamed about what the professor would be like. Connor had said that Ms. Smoak was a genius, who made all of her students work as hard as she does, the old-fashioned way. His son had warned him that he better take her requirements seriously, "or else…." Connor had smirked, but didn't say anything more. So, Oliver imagined a geeky woman in her forties, clad in a long-sleeved dress that ended at mid-calf with a cardigan sweater to match, hair with a few streaks of grey pulled up in a bun, wearing spectacles with thick lenses that magnified her eyes like oversized marbles.
"Good morning!" Oliver was suddenly jolted from his musings by a bombastic, enthusiastic female voice that made him look up to see the very person he was just vividly picturing in his mind.
Oliver's jaw dropped, and he literally gaped in awe and admiration. Ms. Smoak was nothing like he imagined she would be, except maybe for the glasses that made her look really smart and definitely didn't make her eyes look like magnified marbles. Her bright blue orbs were as radiant as her sunshiny smile. Her long, wavy blonde tresses tumbled down her shoulders like a tapestry of golden silk. Her outfit suited her bubbly personality very well – a sleeveless pink peplum blouse with matching pencil skirt that ended some inches above her knee, showing off the curves of her bottom and a pair of legs that looked flawless for a woman in her early thirties, if he wasn't mistaken. The strappy beige heels that matched her skin tone accentuated the said assets quite well, he might add. Oliver couldn't have remembered the last time he had appreciated – okay, gawked – at an attractive woman this way, even if he tried.
Ms. Smoak had long been done with her introductions and the orientation to the course syllabus, but most of that had been white noise in Oliver's ears. She had already begun calling on students to introduce themselves, and when she called out Oliver's name from the class list, she had to repeat it three times before he snapped out of his daze.
"Mr. Queen? Are you with us?" she asked, standing just a few feet in front of him.
"What?" he replied, looking up to his professor's pretty face. He still couldn't believe he had a beautiful blonde bombshell for a teacher. "Yeah, uhm… I… I'm here. My name's Oliver. Oliver Queen. Business major."
"Well, welcome to class, Mr. Queen. I'm glad you've finally decided to join us," she remarked, smirking.
Ms. Smoak began her first lecture after everyone's turn was done. Never had Oliver been so attentive to a teacher than he'd been that morning. He caught every word she spoke. He noticed every adorable facial expression that was accompanied by the animated waving of her hands in the air. He enjoyed every digression brought about by her occasional babbling that made the class laugh or giggle (which, by the way, he thought was extremely hilarious and cute). By the end of class, Oliver's facial muscles had stretched far beyond their usual, and for quite an extended period of time, such that his hands instinctively reached for his cheeks to massage them even before he stood up to leave. He realized that he hadn't smiled that much since… since his wife had passed away.
That night at the coffee shop, Connor asked his dad how first day back in college had been. Oliver replied with a grin, "It was great, son! First day high." When Connor asked him if he'd already met Ms. Smoak, his grin widened. He evaded having to answer the question, and instead said to Connor, "Thanks for making me take that course. I think I'm really going to learn a lot from her class." Connor's response as he walked away grinning was simply, "I'm sure you will, Dad. I'm sure you will."
The first few weeks of classes were a period of adjustment for Oliver. He had to get used to reading lengthy chapters once again, memorizing key concepts, borrowing books from the library, doing Internet research, writing academic papers, and lots and lots of homework. Connor usually helped him out, and sometimes even Thea did, both of them having taken up the same courses before. But what really made school easier and manageable for Oliver was first period every Monday and Wednesday. Two hours in Ms. Smoak's class always made his day lighter and brighter. Her class made him want to get out of bed in the morning and study. Really study. Real hard. Computer technology wasn't really his cup of tea, but boy, did he learn every single topic and skill in her syllabus real fast! In fact, he spent more hours learning stuff in her class than he did learning the lessons in his business courses. Thea had teased him a couple of times that he really didn't need Connor to tutor him in ICT because his teacher seemed to be doing her job well enough.
Oliver had not only been studying really well for her class; he had been studying her really well. The course syllabus gave him her first name. Felicity. He thought it was the perfect name for someone like her. Her name personified how he felt each time he sat in her class. Too bad he hadn't had the chance yet to call her by her first name, as he thought it inappropriate to do so. He hadn't heard anyone in class address her other than as Ms. Smoak or Prof. Smoak.
As early as week one, he had already established that she was still single. No ring. He remembered how relieved he had felt knowing that. By week three, he'd pretty much gotten acquainted with her fashion preferences, and by week five, he had familiarized himself with most of her quirks and favorite expressions. He did think she tended to be nerdy, but of the pleasantly attractive kind. Her intelligence was admirable, and her passion for her field of expertise was contagious. She also had an air of candidness and free-spiritedness that drew him in.
On week seven, he mustered enough courage to approach her for consultation. Sure, he needed some help with setting up the project she assigned the class, which required him to create a website for an actual business establishment, and he picked Connor's Brew, of course. But really, he'd been wanting to see more of her outside of class. He was very discreet each time he came for consultation in her office at the faculty center; every minute made his heart swell with fondness. And when she complimented him for a job well-done with the finished website weeks after, he was so overjoyed that it was a miracle he hadn't fist-pumped in the air in front of her or even hugged and squeezed her tight in his arms. He was still so ecstatic coming back to the coffee shop that afternoon that he had the cashier, the barista, and the server inform their customers that refillable brewed coffee was "on the house" until closing time that day.
By mid-semester, Oliver decided that it was time for him to make a move. He wanted so much to get to know his favorite blonde more. There was no doubt in his mind that he really liked Felici- Ms. Smoak, just as he had no doubt in his heart that he was ready to move on. He was convinced that he was ready to open up his heart to someone special again. He figured it was about time, and that it was never too late for him to find the kind of love he'd been searching for and waiting for all his life.
He approached her after class one day as she walked out of the room. He offered to help carry her things, and she politely obliged. Just as they came to a stop outside her office, Oliver popped the question: "Ms. Smoak, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but… would you… would it be okay if I asked you out? Have coffee with me or something? I know this great coffee place-"
"Mr. Queen, are you asking me out on a date, as in a date date?" she asked with an amused expression on her face despite the narrowing of her eyes and the creasing of her forehead.
"Uh, that would be a yes," he answered with a winsome smile, trying his best to hide how nervous and tense he was, but failing to do so as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.
Her eyes widened and she quickly replied, "Well, this is a first. I've never had a student ask me out on a date before. I guess that's because I've never had a grown forty-something man in my class before. Not that I'm implying you're too old to be asking me out, because you're not. I mean, you're definitely not that old, old if you're forty-something. And you're probably not that much older than me, I think. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if you are forty-something, more or less. And now you're probably wondering why I'm babbling just because you asked me out for coffee, so I'm just gonna stop before I embarrass myself any further in front of a student, in three-two-one." She finally shut up, eyes closed and bottom lip crushed between her teeth.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Ms. Smoak. I actually find your babbling very… cute," Oliver remarked as she opened her eyes.
"Oh, spare me," she responded, rolling her eyes.
"I'm serious! It is cute," he reiterated. "But I'm still wondering if you'd go out with me, though. So, would you?" he asked.
She sighed. "Thank you for asking, but I'm afraid I can't. It's policy. ICT faculty handbook clearly and specifically prohibits instructors from dating students. Sorry."
Oliver was disappointed and a bit downcast with how that turned out. Since when had the university enforced something like that? Back in his day, teachers dated whomever they wanted. He remembered two of his professors in business school dating, getting engaged, and eventually getting married. Well, he easily accepted that some things had to have changed over time, but he didn't have to accept defeat at the first try. Granted, Felici- Ms. Smoak did say that she can't; she didn't, however, say that she won't. That, to him, was not her turning him down. He preferred to think of it as her giving him a window of a chance, no matter how small. And Oliver was going to take it as soon as final exams were over, and he was certainly not taking another class of hers as an elective next semester.
A/N: Comments and reviews are welcome and very much appreciated. I'm testing the waters if this fic is worth finishing and reading. I plan for it to be just three chapters long, or four if an epilogue is necessary.
For those of you who have been following LOVE DARES, I'm so, so sorry! I know I'm way behind posting schedule, but the idea for this Olicity AU just popped into my head and I couldn't resist the pull to squeeze it into my very hectic schedule and write it down. I just couldn't shake the thought of Oliver as a heartbroken widower meeting Felicity as a hope-less spinster. I hope it's worth your while.