A/N: I've been reading a lot of post-3x09 fanfic to hold me over during the mid-season break, and as much as it warms my Olicity-shipping heart, I don't think the reunion is going to be as smooth and fluffy. Though I hope they end up together by the S3 finale, I doubt the writers are going to be so quick about it. Which I'm totally down with, especially since Oliver's been kind of a jerk to Felicity all season except for 3x08 and 3x09. I want to see him try to earn her love. Don't you think our girl deserves a little wooing?
With that in mind, here's what's been bumping around in my head. Angsty, but ultimately hopeful.
His boots clattered noisily down the metal stairs as he rushed to her. He'd waited so many weeks for this moment, his feet couldn't carry him as fast as he wanted to go. It wasn't until he saw her that he stopped up short at the bottom of the staircase. She was alone, her back to him as she faced her desk, her computer screens casting a soft glow around her like a halo.
"You did good tonight, Roy. You really had Black Canary's back," she said without turning around.
"It's not Roy," he responded softly. "And who's Black Canary?"
Her chair crashed into her desk loudly when she jumped out of it and spun around, freezing as she took him in. Her eyes were saucers behind her glasses and he willed himself not to move, letting her take as long as she needed to process.
That all changed the second she balled up her fists and shoved them to her forehead, gasping ,"No, no, no! I am NOT going crazy." She took a big gulp of air and lifted her head to the sky, whimpering, "Please don't let me be going crazy."
He crossed the distance between them in three long strides, holding his hands out to graze her upper arms but stopping himself before he made contact.
"Felicity, it's ok. Open your eyes."
She shook her head as she kept them squeezed tight, and he barely heard her next words even though he was standing right in front of her.
"You're just a hallucination."
He huffed out a breath that made a noise somewhere between a frustrated sigh and a chuckle.
"I assure you, I'm not," he said gently.
She took deep breath before opening her eyes, blinking rapidly as if she was having trouble focusing.
"A dream?" she asked, her voice breaking.
"I'm here, Felicity. I'm really here." He couldn't stop himself then. His hands ghosted over her shoulders before coming to rest on her cheeks. He gently tilted her face up and leaned down until his lips were touching hers. He paused for a moment, letting the memory of their first kiss wash over him. Despite all the times he replayed that kiss in his head these past few weeks, her lips were even softer than he'd remembered. Just then, she moved beneath him, to gasp, to speak — he wasn't sure. But when her lips parted he lost himself, deepening the kiss and feeling the heat in his belly as his tongue finally brushed against hers.
Her hands were tentatively resting on his wrists, and when he tilted her head to get a better angle she dropped them to his chest, clutching at his shirt before letting them roam up and down his torso. When she looped her arms under his and began trailing her fingernails down his back, he couldn't stop himself from reaching down and hoisting her up by her thighs.
They were interrupted by the team's loud arrival on the stairs. "Were you able to trace the...whoa." Roy stopped short at the scene before him, causing Digg and then Laurel to bump into his back.
Oliver barely had time to put Felicity down before they all came running down the stairs. The foundry walls echoed with their excited shouts as they launched themselves at him. Felicity went to move out of the way but he reached down and grabbed her hand, never letting go as Roy approached first, pulling him into a bear hug. Diggle was next, reaching out to shake Oliver's hand with tears in eyes.
"Don't ever do that again, man," he said with a smile as he grasped Oliver's shoulder.
"Deal," Oliver smiled back as Digg stepped out of the way for Laurel, who wasted no time flinging her arms around Oliver's neck. He wrapped his free hand around her back and smiled into her hair before whispering, "Um, what exactly are you wearing?"
Laurel laughed before pulling away to wipe the tears from her eyes. It was only then that Oliver felt Felicity's fingers flexing in his. He looked down at their hands and realized she had been trying — without luck — to wiggle out of his firm grasp.
"Hey," he said with concern, trying to catch her eye but her gaze only reached the middle of his chest. "You ok?"
"I-I think I just need to sit down for a minute." She'd barely gotten the words out before he practically carried her back to her chair and was crouching down in front of her, looking up at her with worry.
"Just take deep breaths for me, ok?" he urged.
After a few quiet minutes, Digg cleared his throat loudly and Oliver glanced up to see the rest of his team standing around the med table, staring at him expectantly. He looked once more at Felicity, who gave him an almost imperceptible nod, before he pushed off her armrests and turned to face the group. They deserved an explanation.
He told them everything he knew, everything he remembered. How he'd fought with Ra's, how easily and quickly he was overpowered, how he was sliced with a sword and kicked off a mountain ledge, how he woke up in a pool of murky green liquid with Malcolm Merlyn standing over him, how his body healed in days but his mind took weeks, thrashing against sanity until he was finally able to remember them. Remember her.
They peppered him with questions but Felicity stayed silent in her chair. It wasn't until he was trying to answer Laurel's queries about the Lazarus Pit that she slowly stood up and walked over to the table, shaking her head.
"No. You're not making any sense, Oliver."
Roy smirked. "Wait, you're telling me you have no problem believing in meta-humans and superpowers but you draw the line at the Fountain of Youth?"
Felicity leveled him with a stare. "The Flash's super speed is a possible future stage in evolution, jump-started by a dark matter-powered, particle accelerator-assisted lightening bolt. This, what we're talking about here? This is...make believe."
Oliver smiled as he reached into his thin messenger bag to retrieve an item. "I figured you'd be the hardest one to convince. That's why I brought you back a sample."
She reached for the small vial eagerly, staring at the bright green liquid with a frown. "Huh. A chemical blend that creates this type of phosphorescence must contain some sort of strontium aluminate. Combine that with an algal bloom..."
Her voice trailed off as she turned back to her computers, already lost to the group as the wheels began to turn.
He stared at the back of her head as a slow smile spread across his face. God, he loved this woman.
He was brought back to the present when Diggle asked him once again about Merlyn's possible motives. He did his best to turn his focus back to the conversation at hand. He tried to sum up everything he knew, everything he'd learned or theorized over the past few weeks. He owed them that. Even if every molecule in his body was screaming out to focus on something else, someone else.