Felicity had gotten sick early Monday morning, because of course it had to be a Monday with her and not, y'know, like a weekend. Much less amusing was the fact that her fever had spiked Monday night and she had been completely out of it for the majority of Tuesday. Oliver had been just about to take her to Starling General - because over 12 hours without being able to keep down liquids was nothing to sneeze at - when late Tuesday afternoon her fever broke. They still weren't out of the woods yet but at least, with her being able to keep down those spoonfuls of water, they could both breathe easier.
It was now Wednesday morning and she was doing a lot better. Oliver had to go into the office today, his duties as Mayor could no longer be put off, but before he left he saw to it that she had everything she'd need at her fingertips. Which basically meant he'd brought her into the living room and set her up on the couch with a blanket and pillow, drinks and snacks (only stuff that'd be easy on her tummy) and her phone and tablet all within easy reach. Only then did he leave.
She'd dozed while watching Netflix and was even able to safely eat and drink some, her stomach feeling much more cooperative today. But she wasn't going to push it with anything more. Felicity smiled to herself as she heard her phone go off for the 3rd time since he'd left - that would make three texts within the three hours he'd been gone. This was by no means a complaint, however, because there were far worse things than texting your husband who claimed to be deathly bored with whatever Mayoral duties he was currently taking care of.
She secretly believed the frequency of his communications had less to do with boredom and more to do with the fears he had of her either falling deathly ill all of a sudden or, perhaps more likely and how sad was this, being attacked by a random bad guy.
She'd lost count of the text communications by the time he finally arrived home, around four in the afternoon. He woke her with a kiss to the forehead and a quiet question regarding if she was up for more soup.
"Only if you eat with me," she'd answered, knowing her husband well enouh that he'd likely skipped out on lunch. He smiled slightly and nodded.
"I'll go heat some up." Oliver responded, standing up and heading to the kitchen. She sat up and scooted all her things over to one side of the couch, so that when he came back with two bowls, probably all that was left of his home made soup and hers was suspiciously more full than his but she didn't call him on it, they were able to sit side by side, quietly eating while watching whatever came up next on her Netflix que. When she got up to put her bowl and drinks and what had been left of her snacks away in the kitchen, his eyes tracked her movements carefully. Which she found somewhat surprising because he looked really, really tired after his day out. So she decided some rest for the both of them was in order. Shuffling back to the living room to notice his eyes were still on her, bowl still in his hands too, she gave a small pout then extended grabby hands towards him.
"Bed?" She asked, and his response was a slow smile and to quickly set his now empty bowl on the coffee table. "To sleep." She felt the need to tack on quickly, lowering her arms as his smile grew.
"Of course." Was his quiet response, then he stood and switched off the TV and all but carried her up the stairs to their bedroom. Felicity was already in her pjs but after Oliver changed, then they did actually sleep. Until about ten o'clock that night. Felicity was awakened because, well, it felt like she was in a furnace. She was reminded of the time her mother had insisted they needed more exercise and had drug her along on that 'nature walk' in the Vegas dessert. They'd both stayed indoors as much as possible the following 2 weeks, because sweet, sweet air conditioning. Anyway, back to the present.
This heat was much more clingy, and smelled strangely like her husband. Felicity opened her eyes and found out that, indeed, Oliver had wrapped himself completely around her. To the point of near smothering, if he leaned anymore her way he'd be completely on top of her. Which was interesting because she was on her side. More to the point, his skin was damp and he was feeling far too unnaturally warm. Felicity nudged him, because there was no way she'd be getting out from under him without his cooperation. There was no response, so she tried again.
"Oliver?" She called, getting a hand free to push on his shoulder, too. "I think you're coming down with what I had - you feel like you've got a fever, but I need to get the thermometer to be sure." She spoke quietly, but Oliver just moaned in denial and then buried his head deeper into the crook of her neck, tightening his arms around her torso as well as the leg she now registered he had wrapped around hers. No wonder it felt like a furance in here, he was attached to her whole person like a limpet.
"Oliver. You need to let me go."
Wrong choice of wording, apparently, because that made him tense and tighten his hold even more with a mumbled, "Never gonna 'appen." Felicity frowned down at him.
"I meant literally not figuratively, I just need to get up for a moment." Felicity tried again, tapping on his arm. He didn't budge.
"Oliver," she sighed in exasperation. "Look, you can watch me the whole time. All I'm gonna do is go into the bathroom to get the thermometer, then return here to bed. Ok? It really does need to happen."
Finally, Oliver peeked one eye open and watched her for a moment, before slowly releasing her with an inward (or so he thought) grumble. Felicity smiled and patted him on the cheek, saying, "There, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" Then quickly slipped away before he could retaliate. He frowned but did keep eys on her, turning on his side to watch her enter their bathroom. Sleep was pulling at him but he didn't want to rest until she was next to him, in his arms. He even breathed a little easier when she came back to sit next to him, not that he particularly noticed or thought about it. It just was what it was - since they'd become an item, he'd never been able to rest real easy unless she was there. Nothing wrong with that, he'd just never been sick like this before. With something, y'know, normal.
"Open up," Felicity instructed, running her other hand along his brow. He complied, his blue eyes never leaving hers. 101.4, higher than hers had been. "You never do anything by halves, do you?" Felicity mumbled under her breath, shifting to stand and wash the thermometer off when she felt a tug at her hip. Hazy blue eyes were still staring up at her, and apparently he didn't want her to get up again. The needy man. Felicity smiled again and squeezed his wrist. "Right back." She hurried to do what she needed, then grabbed her phone and crawled in beside him once more.
One thing she had learned about her husband was that when he wasn't feeling well, he was particularly clingy. And they thought the woman was typically the clingy one? Ha. Sure, she liked to snuggle, but she had observed that he wouldn't rest well unless he could feel her next to him. She had no complaints because, if she were honest, she pretty much felt the same. She felt incredibly secure when wrapped up in his arms. Moments like this, however, when he was truly feeling quite poor, brought his clingy tendencies to all new heights. She was more than willing, though, to sacrifice her morning of freedom if it meant Oliver could get some much needed healing sleep. Hopefully healing.
She could never be idle long though without something to do, which was why she'd grabbed her phone and had her tablet within reach again. As Oliver wrapped his arms around her and pressed his head to her shoulder, she suddenly remembered a warning she'd given him, and decided there was a number she needed to call. Oliver wouldn't be too pleased but from the sound and look of things, he was already asleep anyway.
When Oliver returned to the land of the living, he could tell that something was off. Someone was in the room, but it wasn't the someone he was expecting, or wanting. He opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of his sister Thea sitting in a chair beside the bed.
"'Bout time you woke up." She said, then smiled and asked, "'Never get sick', huh Ollie? Well how'd that work out for you?" She questioned, tilting her head. "This is why people take vitamins, in particular that one that comes from oranges and, y'know, helps boost your immune system. Would've been smart for you to take some of that."
Oliver just blinked at her, not much of her rant registering in his foggy brain. "Never needed...boost before," he grumbled, then coughed and shifted onto his side, sitting up. "Where's 'Licity?" He questioned, hating the pleading tone even he could hear in his voice but not caring to do anything about it. He was anxious and wanted eyes on her. Thea's expression softened.
"She's downstairs, calling in a skpye meeting with the big wigs at Palmer Tech." When Oliver made to get up, Thea was immediately there to push him back down. "Whoa, whoa, just where do you think you're going?" Because there was no way Felicity would be ok with her sick, shirtless husband showing up in the background of a skype video call.
"Thea, you should be down there t'make sure she's ok, not here watching me." Oliver fumed, trying to get up again. Thea resorted to whacking him on the shoulder which surprisingly did send him sprawling just a little and he had to take a moment to catch his breath. Now, who was the one she had to watch?
"She is completely fine, Ollie. In no danger at all. Besides, Dig is down there with her." Thea fibbed a bit, seeing that her brother was not going to be easily pacified. The knowledge of John there to watch over his wife did seem to ease Oliver a bit. Thea was not about to add the details of that, well, John wasn't actually in the apartment yet and was in fact on his way with some store bought soup, but the important thing was that, yes, Dig was somewhat in the vicinity and yes, Felicity was safe.
"Now, get some more rest - unless you wanna try to eat or drink?" Thea asked, standing next to her brother and noting how pale he looked. Oliver shook his head.
"No, I'll just...wait for her." Oliver murmured, sliding up some and resting his head against the headboard. Thea huffed. Felicity had indicated he might be difficult, and had hoped he wouldn't wake before she returned (it had been difficult enough for her to slip out of bed without waking him) but he now had and Thea really hoped her call would end soon because she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep him here without resorting to actual bodily harm.
Thea heard the blonde's footfalls on the stairs no doubt exactly when her brother did, for his eyes sprung open and he grit his teeth as he scooted forward a little and lay flat again, pretending to be asleep. Thea snorted.
"Finally done, hopefully won't have to do that again for another few days -Jerry and Curtis took pretty good care of things while I was out but, I know they were all staring at with their judgy looks. It's like they just knew I had on pajama bottoms." Felicity declared upon entry, wrinkling up her nose.
"Never knew people actually did that," Thea commented, as Oliver cracked an eye open to look, and indeed Felicity had on a nice red dress shirt, her hair done up accordingly, and Dr Who pj pants. He smiled, this was his wife in a nut shell.
"Anyway, Mr Caveman woke up about thirty minutes ago and refused to go back to sleep. I'll be downstairs to let Dig in, you...deal with him." Thea hooked her thumb over her shoulder at her brother, then quickly escaped before Oliver could call her on her fib.
"But - I thought...she said Dig was with you." Oliver attempted to point out, his facial expression scrunched up with confusion. Felicity paused in her search for an appropriate night shirt and turned to look at him. She opened her mouth, paused again, then finally said,
"Oh. Uh, he was," over the phone, she didn't add aloud. "But then I asked him to go get some more soup for us, and a few other things. He's out doing that now." She told him, ending in a confident nod. Oliver stared at her, frowning, but then realized she was ok and let it go for now. He watched as she changed and let her hair down, grabbed her tablet then slid in next to him again. Only this time she propped him up and slid back to the headboard, having him almost in her lap.
"'M sorry, 'know I'm clingy.." Oliver sighed into her stomach, wrapping an arm around her upper legs.
"I know," Felicity said, running her fingers through his hair, "and I love you." She paused as Oliver didn't seem to relax at all. "Really not a problem, my love. You know I can get clingy too, and those awkward babbles? Yeah most people run in fear." Felicity observed aloud, mostly to herself, but it did cause a huff of laughter from her husband so it was worth it.
"Love yer akward babbles." She heard him mumble, and felt his arm tighten a little.
"See? Made for each other." She smiled and continued to run her fingers along his scalp, even long after he fell into a deep slumber. When Dig arrived he and Thea quietly informed her that the fridge was fully restocked, then they slipped away to leave them in peace with a reminder to call if they needed anything else. Felicity assured them she would, but to herself, she looked down and added that she had everything she needed, right here.
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