First of all thanks for all of you who read this and a special thanks for those who leave comments. This chapter is shorter than the previous one cause uni and stuff but I hope you guys enjoy this. There will be longer chapters later and I promise a bit more action and less feelings ^^ Enjoy!
Oliver keeps coming in and out of consciousness. When he finally wakes he notices that he's in an unfamiliar room – pale blue walls decorated with pictures he can't quite make out because his vision is still blurred and his senses dulled from the pain and whatever painkiller he has been given. Sun is playing on his face and he can feel a chilly breeze rolling through the open window. He notices that he's lying on a double bed with soft fresh smelling sheets under him. He huffs out a sigh of relief after realizing that he is definitely not in a hospital which is good. Very good. The pain starts feeling a bit sharper probably because the painkillers are starting to wear off. He tries to get up but falls back onto the bed with a groan – searing pain flickers through his body. He adjusts his injured arm and squints when his fingers brush over the bandages there. Oliver looks around the room and the memories of last night start flooding him. He remembers walking to Felicity's apartment; he remembers the relief of being there, the feeling that everything will be just fine and then nothing pitch black. He realizes he must have blacked out by her door. He thinks he remembers Felicity's soft voice full of fear and concern whispering his name and he can't help but feel a pang of contentment at that thought. He lays in her bed feeling safe thinking of Felicity's careful arms on him trying to figure out where he's been hurt. He lifts up the covers just a bit with his uninjured arm, enough to see that he's completely naked besides the boxer briefs and he knows for sure that if he wasn't in so much pain, well, he would be very excited. He realizes that Felicity must have taken his clothes off, her soft hands running over his body and the thought sends a very pleasurable shiver down his spine. He stares into the ceiling for a while and starts to wonder where Felicity might have gone to when he hears a soft whisper in the other room. He strains to hear the hushed conversation happening behind the door.
"Listen, you can't tell about this..." Felicity's voice comes to a halt so Oliver assumes she must be gesturing her arms flailing all around the place. He can't help the soft smile that curves his lips. "He is good. Very good. In fact, he's the best man I've ever met. I... He is not the criminal police is trying to make him look. Please, just don't..." her voice trembles at the end of the sentence and Oliver stiffens. He remembers hearing some other voice when he came into the apartment but he just brushed it off as a hallucination when he woke up but this means he wasn't imagining it. He suddenly feels panic rising in his chest, a suffocating feeling engulfing him. He tries to take calm breathes but it feels like all air was sucked out of his lungs. The man must have seen him. Of course he has. He was lying right beside the door. This means that the man knows who he is and worst of all he knows that Felicity is involved. His heart starts beating faster, his breath heaving, and every intake of breath painful. It feels like the world is spinning faster and he feels sick at to the pit of his stomach, he feels tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. Suddenly there's arms pressing him down on the mattress which makes him feel even more caged and he tries to shake them off. He wants to stand up, to get out, he needs air. Then there's a hand on the back of his neck soothing him and Felicity's voice comes through the darkness calling out his name. It's like he can breathe again.
He must have not realized that he blacked out because when he opens his eyes it's dark outside and Felicity is curled up beside him, their fingers intertwined. Oliver blinks a few times letting his eyes adjust to the dark. He lifts their hands to his face and gently brushes his lips on Felicity's hand. He realizes he had a panic attack. He had quite a few of those since he got back from the island but it's been a very long time since the last one. He squeezes Felicity's hand trying to reassure, to anchor himself. He can't help but wonder whether this is it? Has the guy gone to the policy? Will they come in barging through the door any second now, to take him and her away? He trembles at the thought. Not her. She doesn't deserve this. It's his fault she's in this mess. He will never forgive himself for what his done to his IT girl. He should have stayed away but he was too selfish, too cocky. He needed her so he came to her consequences be damn. It's not really worth living if that means hurting her but it's too late now isn't it. He should have stayed in the street; he should not have gone to her. It was stupid, reckless, and needy. Felicity should have run. She should have disappeared. Oliver wonders why she didn't run, she could have easily made herself a passport, a new identity and bolted but then again this is Felicity. A mad, unexplainable woman. His mad girl. He didn't realize that he was tracing his index finger up and down Felicity's arm until she opened her eyes, taking her arm from his palm and rubbing her hand on her face.
"Morning" she murmurs sleepily and forget the giggle. This. This sound is the best sound in the entire world of sounds. Oliver could easily get accustomed to waking up in the morning to Felicity's face inches away from his, her breath on his skinny, sleepy 'good mornings' and make out sessions. He quickly averts his eyes from her face before doing something stupid and reckless, like kissing that face, those cheeks, those eyes. He basically ruined her life; he knows he doesn't have any right to kiss her to ask anything from her even though he wants it more than anything else in the world. He wants to press his lips to hers so much it burns him and it takes every ounce of self control his got not to press her into the mattress and taste her mouth, run his fingers through her hair. He feels Felicity's fingers on his cheek as she turns his head softly to face her in a way that he is gazing straight into her eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes, shinning so bright and he looks into them. He stares into them like a starving man stares into a loaf of bread. He wishes he could drown in them that would be a way to go. He looks for hate, for loathing there. He expects to see a burning hate in them because he is the reason the police will be barging through that door in a matter of second but it's just not there. Maybe he just doesn't see it? Or maybe he doesn't want to? Instead what he sees is relief and joy and Oliver feels completely lost. This girl will always be a big puzzle to him, never doing what he expects her to do. He gathers all his will and tries to put every single feeling, every single thought he had about her since the minute they met into his voice and says
"Sorry" He turns his gaze away because he is afraid. He's a coward and he's simply too scared to see the hate that for sure will be there now and he doesn't think he can handle her loathing him. Anyone but not her, not the one that matters. To his surprise Felicity chuckles and he feels completely taken aback.
"Well you should be. You bled on my best sheets. I really liked them, you know" and if Oliver was lost before there isn't enough words to describe what he feels now. So he stares right at her searching her face. Her smiling face. They are about to be thrown in jail and she is smiling? Does she not realize the seriousness of this situation? Maybe she's in shock? In denial?
"No. I'm... I'm sorry for ever getting you into this. I know... I know that guy has probably gone to the police already and..." he feels a lump in his throat as he imagines Felicity being hauled into a station because of him. He swallows it down "Sorry for getting you arrested" She gapes at him for a few seconds and breaks into fits of laughter. She laughs so hard that she has to sit down, her eyes are shining from tears. Oliver looks at her thinking that she is probably having a mental break down because they are facing life sentence and she is literally cracking up in laughter. He stares at her dumbfounded not knowing what to say or what to do and waits for a slap or something for an outburst of anger. For her to start shouting, throwing things. Oliver can deal with that but this, well, this is just plain crazy.
"Oh my god." Felicity finally manages to huff out whipping the tears with the back of her hand. "So that's why you looked like 'a boy whose puppy just been kicked and then told you Santa is not real' when you looked at me. The police are not coming" she smiles, clearly trying to hold back her laughter.
"What do you mean?" Oliver feels lost, confused. "How can they not be coming? That guy he saw me. I heard you talking. I..." the words fail him as relief starts flooding him. She won't be arrested, the guy didn't say anything, and he feels like he could definitely kiss him right now.
"Well you know how persuasive I can be" she wiggles her eyebrows at him and Oliver doesn't want to imagine her being persuasive with some other man so he just tries to shun the image at the back of his mind while Felicity continues. "As it turns out, he is kind of a fan of The Hood. Besides I didn't let him see your face so he just knows that I'm helping the vigilante but your identity remains a secret."
"Thank you" is all he whispers because this girl. She's done more for him than anyone else. There isn't enough words to express how grateful he is. To tell her what this, what she means to him.
"Well you are still not getting out of buying me new sheets, you know" Felicity smiles and then she suddenly leans over him. Oliver's heart stops for a second and all he can see is her face so close to his, their lips merely two inches apart. He can feel her every intake of breath on his skin. He takes in a sharp breath and looks her straight in the eyes. He sees something there. Something he can't identify and he doesn't know whether it's just him but he feels like she is trying to tell him something. She runs her fingers through his hair and letting them linger on his cheek. His chest is heaving; she puts her face in the crook of his neck and whispers
"I thought... I thought I lost you... You were lying in a pool of your blood and for one horrible minute I thought" she shudders at the thought and quickly spits out "I thought you left and I felt so so alone. It felt like my chest was ripped open." She lifts her head from his neck with closed eyes and Oliver shudders from the loss of contact. She opens her eye lids and looks at him searching his face. Oliver stares right back at her, too scared to breath; too afraid this is not real, too afraid to wake up like so many nights before just to realize it's just a dream. She leans in a bit closer and he's sure that they will kiss but then she does what he didn't expect. At all. She hits him in the arm. It doesn't really hurt because she hit his uninjured arm but he is so shocked that it leaves him gaping open mouthed at her. Felicity stands up gives him a hard look and says.
"If you ever scare me like this again, I will shoot you myself." Then she walks out of the room saying she's going to sleep on the couch so he can rest. Oliver's heart is pounding in his chest, his throat dry. For a second he really thought she was about to kiss him. Or is he just imagining things? Maybe he wanted this for so long he can't even tell what's what? One thing he knows for sure though: no way in hell he is sleeping tonight.
