Title: Goldilocks and the 3 Bears (erm… houses)

Author: Some1LostMe

Rating: K+

Spoilers: Set after season 2

Summary: Oliver and Felicity search for their dream house. This is follow-up to my fics "Not Another Mistake" and "Camden, Maine" so if you haven't read either of those, then this one is probably going to throw you off a little.

A/N: For those of you who read "Camden, Maine" thank you so much for reading and the reviews! They keep me going, just so you know Also, like the Camden piece, this is a 3 part fic however it is complete and all parts are posted. Enjoy!

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears (erm… houses)

Too Big

She turned and examined the room around her. It seemed to stretch for miles in every direction. She knew, of course, that that wasn't really the case but honestly, the place was huge. It was a newer home, with an open floor plan, and from her place in the center of the living room, she could see into what she assumed was the dining room and into the kitchen. She caught a glimpse of the backyard from the French doors at the opposite end of the house. The hardwood floors beneath her feet where shiny and dark, stunningly beautiful really, and they were wall to wall from what she could see.

Oliver tugged on her hand and she followed him in stunned silence as the realtor led them upstairs. They found two large bedrooms, adjoined by a modest sized bathroom, before coming to stand in what was surely the largest bedroom she'd ever stood in. She wondered vaguely if it was bigger than Oliver's bedroom at the mansion. She wouldn't know, of course, because she'd never been in his old room. Even after he'd left her alone to be found by Slade's men, she had never left the foyer. She'd been too scared to be curious.

"I'll leave you two alone for a moment. Just come find me when you're ready, Mr. Queen."

She turned as the realtor, Janet, left them alone in the master suite. Oliver stood behind her, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched her carefully. She crossed her arms and mirrored his stance.

"What do you think?" he asked, his mouth turning up in an amused smirk.

She shrugged, "It's a beautiful house. It's big."

He nodded, his eyes leaving hers briefly to sweep around the room. When he looked at her again, there was something in his expression that she couldn't quite name.

"It is. Can you see us here? It's new, never lived in, which means we can do whatever we want with it. It needs paint and furniture and a dog in the backyard but I think it could work. I can see us here, me and you. I can picture it."

Her heart stuttered in her chest. She could picture it, too. The two of them with a dog and, as unbidden as the image was, a baby. She knew that they weren't quite ready for that yet. A family was not even in the realm of possibilities for them at this point but that didn't mean that her imagination couldn't conjure up the image of a little blue-eyed boy with unruly hair and a wild spirit. This house would certainly be big enough for them and at least two children. They would have plenty of space. But for now, it would be just her and Oliver in a house that would feel cold and empty most of the time.

She sighed, dropping her arms to her sides and trying not to fidget. He seemed happy with his choice, this large house that was making her ridiculously uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"It's a little too big," she confessed, "We don't need all of this space, Oliver. Not right now and maybe never. I think… I think it would feel cold. There's nothing cozy about it, you know? It's too much space and we don't have enough people to fill it. I'd prefer something smaller, somewhere that I could walk into any room and feel like it's ours. Does that even make any sense?"

He closed the distance between them, coming to stand in front of her and letting his hands rest on his shoulders. She brought hers up to grasp his forearms.

"Whatever you want, Felicity. And I get it. Growing up… growing up our house was also cold, empty. My parents were always traveling and Thea and I spent more time home with Raisa than with either my mother or father," he shrugged, "I guess I just … I think I was planning for the future that I've mapped out in my head."

She blinked up at him. She was fairly certain her mouth had dropped open in surprise. They hadn't talked much about their future beyond the agreement that they would look at houses after their trip to Camden. There'd been no talk of how long this would last or where their lives would go. And she was perfectly okay with that. Their lives were complicated, his especially, and she was happy to take it one day at a time. So the fact that he had a future planned out for them made her heart race that much faster.

The hands on her shoulders moved to cup her face and he rested his forehead against hers.

"Say something," he urged.

She smiled, her eyes closing at the pleading tone of his voice.

"Tell me about this future of ours," she breathed, "Tell me what you want for us, Oliver."

He hesitated for a moment, the lingering silence between them oddly comfortable, and his thumbs skimmed back and forth across her jaw. She waited with more patience than she thought that she possessed. He still held back, still hesitated sometimes before opening up to her, but she knew that he was trying. She'd learned so much about him, much more than she'd ever thought that he would share, but she wouldn't push him. He'd been through too much and if he didn't want to talk, she wouldn't try to make him.

"I don't know. I want… I want a life with you, Felicity. And I know that I don't deserve it, that I'm not good enough for –"

She shook her head, pulling away from him and looking up into his clouded eyes.

"I hate it when you do that, you know. I get to decide whose good enough for me. My life, my choice, remember? And you are good enough, you're more than good enough. You're perfect. Perfect for me because I know that no one is really, truly, perfectbut you are perfect for me. So please stop with the self-deprecating manpainand just suck it up. I chose you and I'm going to keep choosing you."

He cocked his head, his expression lighter, more amused.

"Manpain?"

She shrugged, flushing slightly, "Yes. You get all moody and mopey and you brood better than anyone else that I know but I can't take it. Not when you're talking about us. You have no reason to brood. You have no reason to doubt how much I love you. I've yet to give you a reason to think that I'm going to leave, Oliver, that I'm going to turn my back on you, so stop worrying about it."

He shook his head, "Doesn't mean that it won't happen. It just means I haven't messed this up yet."

She sighed again and stepped out of his reach. She moved to the window that overlooked the expansive backyard. He followed her, coming to stand behind her, the heat of his body against her back.

"Even when you mess up, nothing you do is going to be enough to make me leave you. You have to have a little more faith in me," she muttered.

His arms slipped around her waist, holding her against him.

"I'm sorry."

Her hands rested on top of his arms, her nails trailing over the sinewy muscles that held her captive. They had a lot to work on. He had a lot of emotional baggage, baggage that she was more than willing to help him carry, but she wasn't quiet used to the weight of it.

"It's okay. Let's go find, Janet, okay? She's probably wondering what the hell we're doing up here."

He nodded, brushing her hair to the side and pressing a swift kiss to the skin he'd exposed. Taking her hand, he led her downstairs to where Janet was waiting for them on the front porch. They told her that they wanted to keep looking and she understood. House number one was officially checked off of the list.