Title: The Fix

Author: Some1FoundMe

Rating: K+

Summary: He has returned from the dead – again – it feels like everything has changed. Takes place in the "Not Another Mistake" universe. Established Olicity.

The Fix

She couldn't take her eyes off of the deep blue irises staring up at her – his expression almost pleading - long enough to admire the ring that he was offering her.

Her pulse was racing as she took in his words, in the meaning of this gesture. He had just asked her to marry him. He wanted her to be his wife. He would be her husband. She was scared, confused and even a little worried that his reasons for proposing weren't genuine. But even with those emotions battling for dominance in her brain, she knew what her answer would be. She couldn't possible say no to him. Not after everything that they'd been through. Not after he'd come back to her. She was his and he was hers. She had already given him her heart, she would gladly take his last name.

With one hand on his shoulder for balance and the other clutching her towel where it was knotted between her breasts, she lowered herself to the floor in front of him. She knew that she had a wide smile on her face, her cheeks hurt from the strain, but she couldn't shake it. She took his face in her hands.

"Of course I'll marry you, Oliver. I love you."

His expression changed, lightened, and she watched the relief flood his eyes. She didn't want to disappoint him but she had to continue so that he understood.

"But I have conditions."

The brilliant smile that he had graced her with fell slightly but she refused to let him pull away. Instead, she held her left hand in front of his face and wiggled her fingers at him.

"Are you going to put that ring on my finger now?"

"Do you want to tell me your conditions first?" he asked.

She shook her head, "No. We can talk about them later. For now, I'd like my engagement ring, Mr. Queen."

He stared at her hand for a long moment before capturing it in both of his. He pressed a hard kiss to her knuckles before sliding the simple ring onto her finger. The weight of it there made her smile wider. She leaned into him and brushed her lips to his. He sighed and, with surprising ease, got to his feet while she clung to him. He fell back onto their bed, bringing her with him, and she laughed as they bounced.

"I think we skipped a step," she mused.

Oliver's brow raised in question and she shrugged.

"I seem to remember you promising me we'd be getting a dog once we had the house," she reminded him.

He smirked, "I did make that promise, didn't I? We have time today. What do you say? Do you want to go to the shelter and find our dog?"

She shrugged, "I should probably get dressed first, huh?"

He tugged at her towel suddenly and she yelped in surprise. The salacious grin that he gave her sent her heart galloping. He flipped them over, pinning her to the bed with his much larger frame, and held their clasped hands over her head.

His kiss, compared to his actions, was surprisingly gentle. His lips were soft as he traced hers with his tongue and when he rested his forehead against hers a moment later, she sighed.

"You know that this doesn't fix everything, right?" she whispered, "I'm not trying to ruin the moment, Oliver, but we still have a lot to work on. You can't just… just expect this ring on my finger to change what happened. It doesn't make how I felt go away. It can't take away what I went through. I thought I'd lost you."

The heaviness from their earlier conversation had come back on her with a vengeance. She loved him with every part of herself but she wouldn't stand by and watch him make the same mistakes. She wouldn't allow him to hurt her, not again. Losing him once was enough.

He sighed, "I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have… I should've found another way."

"No more suicide missions. No matter what happens, no matter how bad things get, you have to remember that your decisions don't just affect you. They affect me, too, and the rest of the team. I'm not the only one who mourned for you."

He lifted his head and looked down at her, his blue eyes full of sorrow. He nodded slowly.

"I know that I hurt you and I will do everything that I can to make sure that I don't make you feel that way again. But I'm going to screw up, Felicity. I'm going to make mistakes."

She placed her free hand on his face and he nuzzled into her. She smiled softly.

"I'm not asking you to not be you, Oliver. I love you, all of you, mistakes and all. And I'm no more perfect than you are. I'm going to mess up, too. All I'm asking is that you don't stop trying. Don't stop fighting for us. I won't give up on you, not ever, and I need to know that you won't give up on me, either."

For a long moment, he simply stared at her. The myriad emotions that flashed through his eyes in those few seconds surprised her. Oliver had always been good at keeping his walls up. He was getting better at letting her in, though, at allowing her to break down those walls and see him for who he really was.

"Is that one of your conditions?" he asked.

She shrugged, "One of them."

His mouth found hers again, lips slanting, and she relaxed beneath him.

"Want to tell me what some of the others are?"

She shrugged again, "Are you sure you want to do this now?"

He looked at her with trepidation.

"Are they bad?"

Felicity laughed, "No, Oliver. I don't think so. I think… I think you'll appreciate some of them."

He sat up then and she went with him, situating herself in his lap. The fact that he'd stripped her of her towel and that she was completely nude hadn't escaped her attention. She grabbed for the throw draped at the foot of their bed and wrapped it around herself. She shivered.

"Should I let you put some clothes on?" he teased, tightening his arms around her, "I kind of like you like this. Won't take much if I decide I want to have my way with you before we leave."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Keep it in your pants, Queen. We're about to have a very serious discussion here."

Oliver laughed and she grinned t him, happy that the moment was lighter and that she no longer felt like she'd ruined his proposal.

"Condition number one, more –"

"Number two."

She frowned, "Fine. Condition number two. More dates. I want to go out, Oliver. We never do anything. I see you, all the time, but we never do the things normal people do. We spend all of our time working or in the foundry or at home lying on the couch. And not that I don't love doing those things, but I'd like to go out to dinner every now and then. Or maybe a movie."

He kissed her shoulder, "Done. Next?"

"Condition three. We take at least one night a week off. At least. And it doesn't have to be a date night. It could just be a stay home and veg in front of the TV night, I don't care. But once a week, we pretend that we're not Team Arrow."

"O-kay. I think I can get on board with that. What else?"

Felicity sighed and rested her head against him. She was hesitant to bring up the next topic but she knew that, at some point, it needed to be addressed. Now was as good a time as any.

"I know we haven't really talked about it yet and that's perfectly okay but before we actually get married I need to know if you –" she swallowed hard and leveled him with her steadiest gaze " – I need to know if you want to have a family. With me. Someday. God, I don't mean right now or anything. I'm not pregnant and I'm not even interested in being pregnant but I want babies. At least one. At some point in my life. And the idea of starting a family with you does this weird thing to my belly and I-"

"Felicity, baby, take a breath."

Her face flushed and she inhaled deeply as instructed. The light in his eyes made her smile. He grinned in return, a shy little smile that she couldn't help but adore.

"I'm completely on board with that condition. Someday. In the future. Preferably the near-future."

He took her face in his hands again, a gesture that she had gotten used to in the months that they'd been together, one she would long for should he ever stop doing it.

"You really want kids?" she asked in disbelief, "I thought for sure you'd fight me on that one."

He shrugged, "I want everything with you, Felicity. I want all of it. I can't imagine it with anyone else but… but with you, I-"

She kissed him then, pressing her chest to his, throwing her arms around his neck in a failed attempt to stem the tears brought on by his words. She had always been willing to accept the man he was, the man the island had made him, but she realized that he had changed in the few short years that he had been home. He had changed and he was changing and she knew, in part, that he was doing it for her. She could never say no to him. It wasn't an option.