A/N: A little crossover bunny that came to me a few days ago. Spoilers for Arrow Season 3.
It was nearly midnight in Starling City, and four members of Team Arrow were winding down at their favorite burger joint, making small talk and having a relatively good time. They were in a celebratory mood as they had just taken down another high ranking member of the Triad, who were currently trying to infiltrate Starling City's political scene with unknown intentions. Though they weren't able to get any more information than they already had, they felt good about putting another gang member behind bars. It was up to Laurel now to finish the job, the other member of Team Arrow, who had already retired for the night.
"Well, I have got to get home," Diggle announced, tapping Roy on the shoulder, silently asking to be let out of the booth. "I'm on baby duty tonight so Lyla can get some sleep. Don't want to keep her waiting." He looked at Roy, who was putting on his hoodie. "Need a ride?"
"Sure," Roy nodded, and then waved a hand at Oliver and Felicity. "Good night guys."
"Good night," Felicity returned. Oliver nodded his head.
Felicity watched Diggle and Roy leave with a smile. She was so proud of her boys. It had been a rough start with Roy, but ever since he got back to normal after the whole Mirakuru debacle, he had really settled down and took his training seriously. The intensity with which he trained was probably a coping mechanism, to keep his mind off the current state of his relationship with Thea. He hadn't given them any details; he just said they were on a break. Coupled with the fact that none of them ever seemed to see her anymore, Felicity figured something pretty big had happened on the night of their confrontation with Slade Wilson.
Oliver didn't seem too worried; he had mentioned to Felicity that he had talked to her earlier that day, and that she had left town before everything happened. He assumed Thea would reach out to them eventually, once she got settled.
"As long as she's safe," he had said, "I can sleep at night."
Felicity looked at Oliver, taking in his relaxed expression with contentment. She relished the moments when he let go of all his personas and just let himself be Oliver. It was the real him that she always saw underneath all of his different masks, the one she saw the very first time she met him. She recalled that day, oh so long ago, when he had remarked to she-who-shall-not-be-named that most people failed to see the real him. He had made direct eye contact with her when he said it, letting her know that he knew, and that he appreciated it. That had filled up her heart with affection for him.
Oliver looked back at Felicity with amusement, warmth radiating from his eyes. She came out of her thoughts with a jerk, realizing that she had been staring at him.
"Sorry," she apologized with a smile. "Just lost in thought."
Oliver smiled at her. "Anything in particular?"
She tilted her head, considering him. "Just that I like seeing you like this."
He raised his eyebrows, silently asking the question.
"You know," she continued, waving a hand in his general direction. "Relaxed. Yourself. Content."
"Hard not to be with you for company," Oliver replied smoothly.
Felicity looked away bashfully and shook her head with amusement. She and Oliver had finally reached a good place in their friendship after the disaster of their first (and only) date, and the fallout afterwards. If anything, their relationship had never been stronger. Knowing how they felt about each other but mutually agreeing not to pursue it had been a difficult transition, but they somehow managed it. On the downside, they were both denying themselves something they really wanted, but on the upside, the city had the Arrow's full attention, and that was more important. And, there were perks. The open flirting had increased, for one. More honest communication, as well. There was no need to dance around the topic now that it was out there.
Felicity sighed, not wanting the night to end just yet. She turned her gaze on Oliver hopefully. "I feel like another milkshake, what about you?"
Oliver shrugged. "Sure, I could go for another one."
She flagged down their waitress, Tracy, and ordered two more milkshakes. Just as Tracy left their table, her attention was pulled to the door as a young couple strode in boisterously.
"Ah, Big Belly Burger!" the man declared loudly, patting his (non-existent) belly, emphasizing each 'B' theatrically. Felicity noticed he spoke with a British accent. "This must be a good place if the burgers promise to make bellies big!"
The blond woman next to him giggled. "Fat chance of that happening with you, Doctor!" She spoke with another, albeit slightly different, British accent.
Every patron in the restaurant (all six or seven of them) fixed their attention on the exuberant pair. With an entrance like that, they could hardly escape being noticed. The man was tall and thin, wearing a long brown trench coat and Converse sneakers. His hair was a gravity defying artful mess, and he had long Elvis-like sideburns. The blond had her hair tied off in a side ponytail and she wore a denim jacket with dark blue jeans. They walked up to the counter, talking in quiet voices and smiling at each other.
Felicity smiled at their obvious chemistry, and tried to make up a story about them in her head. Their accents suggested they were foreign. If they were vacationing, Starling City was a strange choice.
The man seemed to sense that they were being watched and made eye contact with Felicity. He gave her a big goofy grin and proceeded to grab his companion by the hand and led them toward their table. Felicity's eyes widened with surprise when they helped themselves to the other side of their booth.
"Hello!" the man and the woman said completely in unison.
Felicity looked over at Oliver, who just blinked at them, and she turned back to face the couple. "Um, hi."
The man turned his grin on her. "Hope you don't mind if we join you. You seemed to have friendly faces." He turned his grin on Oliver, who was currently frowning at them. "Well," the man amended, dropping his grin. He gestured his head at Felicity. "She has a friendly face."
"We love meeting new people," the woman interjected, smiling at Felicity.
"And chips," the man added. "We love chips. Which is why we're here. A burger place must have chips, yeah? Oh, excuse me, fries, as you Americans call them."
"I'm Rose," the woman said, extending her hand at Felicity.
"Felicity," she greeted, shaking Rose's hand.
"Fe-li-ci-ty," the man repeated slowly, rolling her name around on his tongue. Oliver's frown deepened. "Now that is a beautiful name, not one I've heard very often. Fe-li-ci-ty." He smiled at Rose. "Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?" He looked back at Felicity. "I hope your surname isn't boring like Smith or something."
Rose elbowed him in the side. "Hey! There's nothing wrong with Smith!"
The man shrugged. "Yeah, but can you imagine, Felicity Smith? That's rather dull, don't you think? Oh!" He threw a chagrined expression at Felicity. "Unless it is Smith, then, I'm sorry."
Felicity smiled. "It's okay. It's actually Smoak."
His eyes widened. "Smoke, like fire?"
She shook her head. "No, S-M-O-A-K."
"Oh!" He grinned again. "Well that's just brilliant! Felicity Smoak! That's a keeper, that one! You should never ever change your name, not even to hyphenate." He threw a meaningful glare at Oliver.
Felicity jumped a little in her seat with panic. She saw Oliver's jaw drop out of the corner of her eye and quickly moved to change the subject. "So, I'm Felicity, you're Rose, this is Oliver, my friend, and you are?" she asked, looking at the man.
"Oh!" A smile returned to his face quickly. "I'm the Doctor."
"Okay," she replied slowly, "you're a doctor, but what's your name?"
"That is my name," he replied brusquely. "Just, the Doctor."
Felicity blinked. "What, like, The Rock?"
It was the Doctor's turn to blink. "What?"
"You know," Felicity expounded. "Dwayne Johnson, muscles out to here," she hovered her hand a few inches above her bicep to illustrate, "people call him The Rock?" She looked at Rose.
Rose shook her head. "Sorry, been out of town a bit."
Felicity shrugged. "So, you're just called the Doctor?"
"Just the Doctor."
Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you an actual doctor, or is it just a nickname?"
Rose noticeably suppressed a laugh.
"Well! I'm, I'm…" He flailed ridiculously, looking to Rose for help.
"He's a scientist," Rose covered for him.
"Oh!" Felicity laughed. "That explains a lot."
"Oy!" the Doctor protested. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Felicity shrugged. "Just that most scientists I know are all a bit spastic."
Rose laughed out loud and looked at the Doctor with glee. "I like her," she whispered loudly.
"You're supposed to be on my side," the Doctor loudly whispered back.
Rose threw her palms up and shrugged. "Sisters before misters, Doctor." She held up a hand to high-five Felicity, and Felicity returned it happily.
Tracy came by their table to take the new couple's order.
"We'll have chips, please," the Doctor said. "Are they the big fat ones, or the little skinny ones? We like the fat ones."
Tracy looked at him with confusion.
Rose put a hand on the Doctor's arm and spoke to Tracy. "Whatever you have is fine. As long as it's potato based and deep fried, I don't care what it looks like."
Tracy nodded in understanding. "Basket of fries, coming right up. Anything to drink?"
"Water is fine," Rose replied. She threw a glare at the Doctor, who looked like he was about to make a fuss about something, but closed his mouth at Rose's glare.
Felicity couldn't help being thoroughly entertained by this couple's dynamics. She could clearly see who wore the pants in that relationship. Not unlike her dynamics with Oliver.
"So," Felicity started, "what brings you two to Starling City?"
Rose turned to the Doctor and slapped his arm. "I told you so!"
"Wha—" the Doctor protested. "I saw buildings! It looked like New York!"
Rose sighed. She smiled sheepishly at Felicity. "Just out of curiosity, how far is Starling City from New York?"
Felicity blinked, more than once. "Um, 3000 miles?"
Rose's mouth fell open. She turned to the Doctor again. "We're on the wrong side!"
"Do you want to leave or something?" the Doctor argued.
"No, no," Rose placated. "We've just met new friends and we've got chips coming. I'm happy where we are."
"Well then, maybe you should stop hitting me."
Rose smiled at him and rubbed his arm. "I'm sorry."
"All right," the Doctor relented, forgiving her quickly. "And you know the TARDIS has a mind of her own, how was I supposed to know?"
"The what?" Felicity interrupted.
The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look. "It's our ride," Rose explained quickly.
"Our transport," the Doctor added.
"It has a mind of its own?" Felicity asked dubiously.
The Doctor cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, does that sometimes," he muttered under his breath. He looked at Oliver and quickly changed the subject. "You don't really say much, do you?"
"No," Oliver replied with a deadpan expression.
"Right." The Doctor blinked a couple times, stymied by his reticence.
The moment was broken when Tracy arrived with Oliver and Felicity's milkshakes.
"Ooh, milkshakes!" The Doctor exclaimed. He grabbed Oliver's and took a sip through his straw, and then promptly spat the drink back in the glass. Oliver and Felicity watched with identical looks of horror.
"Bleh!" The Doctor stuck out his tongue and grabbed some napkins to wipe the flavor out of his mouth. "What is that rubbish?"
"Mint chocolate chip," Felicity murmured, frozen with disgust at the Doctor's antics.
"Mint?" the Doctor cried, over-emphasizing the 't'. "Mint is for toothpaste and gum and other things that should not be ingested!"
Rose elbowed the Doctor harshly, eliciting a yelp and a look of betrayal. "Rude," she muttered.
"Oh, sorry," he apologized, and pushed the glass back at Oliver. "I stole your drink."
Oliver slowly pushed it away again. "I don't really want it anymore."
"You can share mine," Felicity offered quietly. Oliver smiled at her appreciatively.
Tracy came back with two glasses of water and fries, placing them in front of Rose. She thanked Tracy quietly and handed the Doctor his drink, who was digging into the fries enthusiastically.
Felicity watched the Doctor as he surreptitiously took something cylindrical out of his coat pocket and pointed it at his water glass. She heard a trilling noise pierce the air and then, not quite believing her eyes, she watched the water start bubbling with carbonation.
"Doctor," Rose chastised.
"I wanted to make it fizzy," he defended.
"What was that?" Felicity asked curiously.
"What was what?" the Doctor replied innocently, munching on his fries.
"That thing in your pocket that made your water fizzy."
"Oh that? Oh, nothing, it's nothing, just a thing, not important." He didn't make eye contact with her.
"A thing?" she repeated. "Can I see it?"
"Hmm?" He finally looked at her. "Oh, no, I don't let anyone touch my thing."
Rose pitched forward, biting both of her lips to contain her laughter. Felicity let out a laugh before pinching her lips together.
The Doctor seemed to realize what he just said and backtracked. "I meant my tool!"
This time Rose let out a laugh, and Felicity joined her.
The Doctor frowned at them. "Oh, shut up!"
This made them laugh even harder.
"He lets me touch it," Rose blurted out, breaking out into giggles. Felicity giggled with her, unable to help herself. "It even gets longer!" Rose added breathlessly, pitching forward.
They were edging toward full on giggle fit territory now.
"He calls it a screwdriver!" Rose squeaked out.
Felicity felt her face turning red as she struggled for breath. "For screwing?"
"No!" Rose hiccupped. "I haven't seen him use it on a single screw!"
Felicity doubled over, clutching her stomach. "So he just plays with it?" she gasped out between giggles.
"All the time!" Rose swiped at her eyes. "Talks to it too!"
Their giggling conversation devolved into fits of uncontrollable laughter. Whenever one started to recover, they would make eye contact and break out into more giggles. They would look at the Doctor's petulant expression and giggle some more.
Oliver just watched in silent amusement. The Doctor grumbled.
After a few minutes they finally settled down. Felicity grabbed some napkins to dab at her eyes. "Ugh, I should probably check on my makeup."
"I'll come with!" Rose piped up, and then grabbed Felicity's hand as they made their way to the bathroom.
Oliver quirked an eyebrow at the Doctor.
"Oh, shut up," the Doctor grumbled. Oliver huffed a laugh.
"Oh my god," Felicity moaned, touching up her mascara. "I haven't laughed that hard in such a long time."
"Me neither," Rose agreed, smiling at Felicity's reflection. "Need a good laugh every now and then."
"You said it. I mean, we have a good time, but never quite like that."
"Oh?" Rose turned to lean back against the sink counter, and looked at Felicity. "How long have you and Oliver been together?"
"Oh, we're not together," Felicity corrected, wiping away some smudging under her eye.
"Oh." Rose tilted her head. "I assumed…the way you look at each other…"
Felicity turned to face Rose. "Yeah, I know." She sighed deeply. "We like each other, a lot, but it's not gonna happen."
Rose's mouth fell open. "Well, why the bloody hell not?"
Felicity shrugged. "We both, kind of, work for the city…like law enforcement. Doesn't leave much time for romance."
Rose nodded solemnly. "I get it. It's like that with me and the Doctor."
That surprised Felicity. She had been sure they were a couple. "Oh, you're not together either?"
Rose's hand see-sawed in the air. "It's not like that with me and him. I mean, it's bigger, you know?"
Felicity smiled. "Yeah, I get it." After a beat, she asked, "Does he know?"
"Know what?" Rose asked slowly.
"How you feel about him," Felicity added.
Rose blushed. "It's not something we really talk about."
Felicity nodded. "It was like that with me and Oliver for a long time. The awkward silences, the eye contact, dancing around it but never looking straight at it…" She sighed, thinking about those times with a little fondness.
"It was like that?"
Felicity paused before answering. "He asked me out on a date, a couple of months ago."
"Oh! That's lovely!"
Felicity shook her head. "It didn't end well."
"Oh."
"But it was good because it forced us to finally talk about the tension between us."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Felicity replied with a smile.
Rose bit her lip, looking contemplative. "Has it changed anything?"
Felicity nodded. "I think so. We communicate a little better. It's like we're both on the same page. Not that we weren't before, but, I don't know…" She struggled to find the words to explain. "It's like we're more on the same page now. Our friendship is stronger."
Rose was quiet for a minute, thinking very deeply. "Does it make it easier? Knowing?"
Felicity pursed her lips. "It's hard sometimes, because there's a part of us that wants to just give in, you know? Give in and be with each other, but…" She sighed again, trying to remind herself of why she was choosing not to pursue a relationship with Oliver. "I don't want to be a distraction, or cause him to compromise a…case…to look after me. The city should come first."
"Yeah," Rose murmured, still contemplative. "I guess that's what happens when you're in love with a great man. Sometimes the quest comes first. And you're just happy to be there for him, to hold his hand."
Felicity smiled brightly. "I like that. I'm gonna steal it."
Rose finally smiled. "Feel free." Her expression turned serious again. "I don't think we'll ever talk about what's between us, not really." Her gaze turned distant. "Neither of us are very good at talking about domestics."
"Oh, neither are we," Felicity rushed to reassure. "Like I said, we were forced to confront it. Otherwise we would probably still be dancing around it."
"You're better at it now, though, yeah? Talking?"
Felicity nodded with a smile. "Yeah."
Oliver was slowly reaching his breaking point. After the girls had left the table, he and the Doctor had been left sitting in awkward silence. It was as if the Doctor's garrulous nature had deflated like a balloon, leaving him fidgeting and avoiding eye contact.
Oliver took a deep, calming breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. He hoped the girls would return soon, saving him from this awkwardness. When the Doctor started blowing raspberries through his lips, he had to say something.
"You don't do well with sitting still, do you?" he asked disdainfully.
"As much as you do with talking, I imagine," he retorted immediately, glancing at him briefly before looking away.
The corner of Oliver's lip twitched. At least the man was quick with his insults. "Anxious for your date to return?"
"Aren't you?" the Doctor countered.
Oliver smiled fully this time. "Always."
The Doctor's expression finally softened. "Oh go on," he said, waving a hand at Oliver.
The sound of Rose and Felicity chattering was a welcome sound to Oliver's ears. Oh thank god, he thought with relief.
"You boys behave yourselves?" Rose asked teasingly, settling into the booth once again.
"Perfectly," the Doctor answered.
Felicity raised an eyebrow at Oliver, asking silently if that was true. He answered with a shrug.
"Doctor!" Rose cried with dismay. "You ate all the chips!"
He rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish expression. "Couldn't help it! You were gone a long time." He turned his most pathetic pout on her. "I'll take you to London and get real chips. What do you say, Rose Tyler?"
She gave him a lopsided smile. "Can we visit my mum?"
The Doctor groaned. "Didn't we just visit her yesterday?"
Rose widened her eyes with astonishment. "You mean three months ago?"
"Yeah, but for her, it's like yesterday."
Rose turned to Felicity. "What's today's date?"
"December 12th," she replied.
"What year?" Rose pressed.
Felicity and Oliver traded curious glances with each other. "Uh, 2014," she replied hesitantly.
Rose turned a fiery gaze on the Doctor. "Seven years!"
"All right, all right," the Doctor appeased, throwing up his hands in surrender. "We'll just pop back a little and then visit her, okay?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You better not miss this time." With that, she got up from the booth and put on her denim jacket. She pulled out her wallet from her back pocket and rifled through her collection of currency. "Damn," she muttered. "Of all the currency I have in here, I don't have American dollars."
"Oh, that's okay," Felicity interjected. "It's just fries, I've got this."
Rose put her hand on Felicity's arm. "Thank you. Here, give me your phone number," she said, pulling her phone out of her jacket pocket.
Felicity did a double take at the flip phone in Rose's hand. "Haven't seen one of those in a while."
"Oh yeah," Rose shrugged. "The Doctor super-powered it so it will never die."
"Neat trick," Felicity murmured, and then rattled off her number for Rose. Her phone rang in her purse, and she pulled it out, seeing a strange twelve digit number.
"That's me," Rose commented. "So we can stay in touch."
Felicity smiled. "Thanks." She stood up to give Rose and the Doctor a farewell handshake when she was surprised by a tight embrace from the other blond.
"It was so lovely to meet you, Felicity," Rose murmured.
"It was nice meeting you too," Felicity responded.
Rose pulled back and kissed her on both cheeks. She leveled a teasing glare at Oliver. "Take care of this one, yeah? She's a gem."
Oliver smiled. "Will do," he acknowledged with a nod.
The Doctor nodded at both of them, and Felicity waved at him. She sat back down next to Oliver and watched their new friends leave the restaurant, hand in hand.
She turned to look at Oliver. "Well," she said with a smirk. "That was interesting."
Oliver huffed with amusement.
When they left the restaurant, they both decided without needing to say anything that they were going to walk around the block before heading home. It was fast becoming a tradition, to just spend time hanging out and talking to each other.
"What do you think their story is?" Felicity asked curiously, eyes gazing distantly as she thought about their new friends.
"Travelers, definitely," Oliver noted. "That guy had itchy feet. Probably couldn't sit still to save his life."
"Hmm," Felicity agreed. "Plus she had multiple currencies, and he talked about going to London like it was nothing."
"Well, maybe she had multiple currencies, but I have to wonder if she already knew she didn't have dollars and was setting you up to cover the bill."
Felicity gasped and looked at Oliver incredulously. "She wouldn't do that!"
Oliver quirked an eyebrow at her. "You know her so well, then? After half an hour?" At Felicity's doubtful look, he continued. "Maybe it's a con, albeit a relatively harmless one. They only ordered fries, and water. She gave him a look, too, like she was warning him against ordering anything more expensive. You saw it."
Felicity frowned. "I don't like feeling like we've been had."
"Well," Oliver reassured, "like I said. Relatively harmless. At least you have a new friend now." He smiled as he remembered the way Felicity laughed uncontrollably. "And I liked watching you laugh with her. Especially at his expense." He grinned wickedly.
Felicity tapped him lightly on his arm. "You're so bad."
"What?" Oliver protested. "The guy spat into my milkshake, I think I'm entitled not to like him."
Felicity groaned. "That was so gross." She frowned as she recalled snippets of their conversation tonight. "Sometimes I felt like they were talking in a foreign language. Some things they said just didn't make any sense."
Oliver shrugged. "Maybe it's a cultural thing."
Felicity pursed her lips. "I don't know…it's weird, whenever I try to remember what they said that sounded funny, I can't remember. Can you?"
Oliver shook his head. "I tuned him out half the time."
They walked in comfortable silence for a beat.
"It's like trying to remember a dream," Felicity blurted out. "I can't even remember what we were laughing about."
Oliver chuckled. "I think you were making fun of his man parts."
"Oh!" Felicity giggled. "That's right."
She did remember her conversation with Rose in the restroom. She thought about her words, particularly the part about being in love with a great man, and being happy just to be there for him. It summed up what she wanted to be for Oliver. She would never ask him to put aside his quest for her. She believed in what they were doing for Starling City, and she was glad to be a part of it, not just practically, but also emotionally. For Oliver's sake. He needed to be reminded of who he was, on the inside, in order to hold onto his soul. And she would happily remind him every day, along with Diggle, Roy and Laurel.
On impulse, she reached for Oliver's hand as they walked, entwining her fingers with his.
He looked at her with surprise. "What's this for?"
She shrugged. "Something Rose said to me."
He tilted his head at her inquisitively.
"Just wanted to remind you that I'm here for you."
Oliver inhaled deeply, shaking his head with wonder at her words. "Thank you," he murmured softly.
They spent the rest of their walk with their hands linked, chatting amiably.