So... hi everyone! I'm really bad at this whole notes and summary thing but here goes... first of all, the work title and this chapter's title are both from Ellie Golding's song called 'Lights'. This whole fic started forming in my mind when I thought how Felicity has mentioned a few times that she is Jewish and maybe I could write something to do with that fact. This is my first fic that I am publishing even though I've written some fics for just the pure fun of it that I haven't published. I don't have a beta yet so I apologize if you notice grammar errors while reading. If any of you who read this are Jewish, please tell me if I got something incorrectly, I'd really appreciate it. I wrote this based on what I remember of learning in my religion education's lessons and the blessing is straight from the Internet. Disclaimer: disclaimed
Lights ch. 1 - In an unknown place the only time I feel safe
Heavy footsteps echoed around the foundry. A man descended the stairs and froze on the last step. His eyes widened when he took the scene in.
A woman was reciting a blessing in front of a menorah.
"...Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam, she'heheyanu v'kiy'manu v'higi'anu la'z'man ha'ze."
He stood there for a while until the woman finally noticed him.
"Felicity… What is this?"
"I'm glad that you asked, Oliver", she walked to him and smiled up at him. "This", Felicity said while gesturing the Arrow Cave - even though they definitely did not call their base of operations 'the Arrow Cave' - but still staring Oliver straight in the eye, "is what I decided to do. It was just so gloomy here and I wanted to bring some Christmas spirit here even though I am not a Christian myself but I thought that Roy and Diggle would appreciate it and… maybe you would too? I mean, it's okay if you don't like it, I can totally take the decorations down but I just… Why are you looking at me like that?"
Oliver just smiled at her. "It's okay… I like it. Just curious of when did you have time to put all this up by yourself and where did you even get all this stuff from?"
"Oh. Well, that's kinda funny story, see, I kinda may have asked Thea if she had any spare decorations for me to bring here and she had some and then she just decided to come here and help me decorate the whole place with what few items we found and…"
"Breath, Felicity. It's fine… Thea hasn't been here in a while…"
"I know, it was a little surprising to me too when she basically demanded to get to help me down here... And to answer your other question, we did this while you guys were patrolling out there. That leads me to the question of my own: where are Digg and Roy?"
"They'll be back soon, they just wanted to wait there until the SCPD came and took the bad guys with them."
"Okay, well, I have some at the moment not that urgent searches going on but I can leave them be and we could all go and have some dinner or something tonight?"
"Sure but first… It's the first day of Hanukkah, isn't it?" Oliver asked, a slight frown on his face.
He looked to the direction of where Felicity had been near her beloved computers, and noticed the menorah in the center of the table that was next to said computers, one candle already burning there.
"You lit it already?" he frowned again.
"Yeah. I thought that I would do it when I was alone… I mean, there really weren't that many decorations so Thea and I worked pretty fast and when she went upstairs to the club I lit the first candle and recited the prayers."
"So, that's what you were doing when I came back. You were reciting a blessing?"
"Yeah, I was. Even if I'm not the most observant Jewish person, I still do observe the major holy days."
"The part you were saying… what does it mean in English?" Oliver asked curiously.
Felicity looked Oliver straight in the eye for a moment with an expression he couldn't completely read. Then she looked at her hands, blowing a deep breath out before translating the words. "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King in the universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season."
When she raised her gaze again, Felicity could see that Oliver was thinking pretty much the same that she was: they truly had a reason to be thankful of still being alive what with the lives they led.
"Can I be there with you tomorrow?" Oliver whispered, breaking the silence that surrounded them.
"Huh?"
"I mean, when you light the candles."
"Oh… You really want to be there with me?" Felicity asked, a slight look of wonder on her face.
"It's your holiday, of course I want to be there with you. You thought of us and decorated this place even if Christmas isn't your holiday. I just… I want to think of you too."
"Well then, you are coming with me back to my place tomorrow evening. Even though this place sometimes feels more like a home to me than my house does, I would still like to light tomorrow's candles home."
Oliver got a chance to smile to her and answer with a simple 'okay' before Diggle and Roy arrived, descenting the stairs looking tired but still having a smile on their faces.
This story's going to have seven chapters in total and I'm doing my best to update this every day. If you liked this little story of mine, please leave kudos and/or comment. Constructive criticism is also appreciated.