Felicity took a warm shower but even with both showerheads pouring water she felt cold and alone. She was ashamed for crying so quickly over something so silly. What had gotten into her? She had never been prone to emotional outbursts but perhaps she too was a bit more damaged than she realized. The last three years had been tough on her as well and perhaps she wasn't giving herself enough credit. She turned off the water and let the final drips echo in the cavernous shower. She stepped out, dried off and grabbed one of the overly fluffy and luxurious white terry robes hanging on a hook nearby. She squeezed the extra water out of her hair and tied it up in a lose knot on the top of her head. She looked in the mirror. Her eyes were still rimmed red and even though she had slept for a good twelve hours she still looked tired. This process of rebuilding, connecting, figuring things out – yeah, it was going to take time. She walked downstairs still wrapped securely in her robe to find Oliver standing at the stove cooking. Good smells filled the air and Felicity's stomach let out a little growl reminding her that she hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. She leaned over the island counter, "Whatchya cookin'?"
Oliver gave a small hum and turned around with two plates, "Well, I don't know how to cook much but I do know how to make a simple mushroom omelet" and he held out two questionable looking omelets.
"Well, they smell delicious and I'm hungry." They sat across from each other at one end of the table eating their simple meal. Felicity gently laid her fork down and cleared her throat, "I'm sorry I sort of fell apart. I'm not usually like that." Oliver wiped his mouth with a red cloth napkin and set it aside.
"No big deal. We both have kept a lot of things inside, - buried. Again, that is why we are here and not in Starling City. I want to give us the best chance I can and that wouldn't happen if we just kept moving forward and didn't take time to do this right." She stared intently at Oliver. How did she find this man? Where did he come from? Who is this life-altering force of nature that turned her world upside down? And when did she fall so madly in love with him? She stood up from the table turned around, took two steps towards the stairs, undid her robe and let it drop to the ground. She glanced flirtatiously over her bare shoulder and said, "Aren't you coming?" and she headed upstairs to the bedroom.
They lazily stayed in bed, making love, sleeping and talking well into the afternoon. Ever so slowly a natural comfort began to develop – their own personal ebb and flow. Oliver got out of bed and pulled a t-shirt over his head and started searching for his sweatpants in the pile of pillows and clothes that had amassed on the floor. Felicity propped herself up on her elbows, "What ya' doing?"
He stood back up with a look of triumph as he had located his pants. "Aha! Here they are!" He continued talking, as he got dressed, "I used to love watching football with Tommy on Sundays. He'd come over to my house and we'd sit for hours just watching games. It's been forever since I've watched any sporting event of any kind. So, I think I'm going to go downstairs and find a game that has a ball and a score and see if I still like watching." The look of satisfaction on his face warmed Felicity's heart. He was like a little boy who had remembered that he had candy stored in a secret location and was going to go retrieve it.
She smiled and sat up. "I think that is a great idea. I'll join you. I might even make snacks." He leaned down and kissed her forehead and then almost with a skip headed down the stairs.
