A/N: The house is quiet and I have finally been able to sit down and edit some angsty fluff. (I'm gonna coin that one if no one else has.) It's not all angst, and it's got more of that Felicity quirkiness that I love so much in it, hence "angsty fluff." Flangst, if you will. Hmmm. I'm gonna stew over that for a bit.

I'm continuing with this idea that I'm filling in the gaps between episodes with the Olicity moments we wish we were getting on the show, so there's no smut (Probably won't ever be for this chica, sorry. But there are so many other more capable writers in that arena in this fandom, you'll not have to look far is that's what you're after.), no major advancement in their relationship issues, just the sweet, dangly tidbits similar to the ones the writers on the show like to tease us with from time to time.

Thanks for reading and thank you for the wonderful feedback! Your kind reviews and comments really make my day.

Felicity knew he was back. She knew it the way she knew tomorrow was Tuesday. It didn't mean she was going to fling herself into his arms again in ecstatic relief, even if, deep down, that's what she wanted most to do.

The self-denial was becoming a burden. She was constantly trying to find more work to do, the busyness of life keeping her from thinking too much. She was putting in more hours at Palmer Industries, even after her time at the foundry each night. She was burning her candle at both ends and, if she was being brutally honest with herself, when there was no more wick or wax to burn, she wanted Oliver to be there. Her Oliver, not the one who was buried neck deep in Arrow green as of late, but the one who would be ready to fight for them, to hold onto her tightly with no "buts" or "maybes" getting in the way.

Tonight she was busying herself with code that Ray had asked her to nail down for a program that would enable some functions on the ATOM suit. She found the act soothing. Programming was her happy place and that had been a place nearly impossible to find by any other means recently.

She turned in her chair to look out over the city- her city, Oliver's city, home. She looked back at her screen, pushed her glasses farther up on the bridge of her nose, and turned the monitor off, resolved.

She flitted from the building, her abrupt decision making her feet light. She nearly laughed with how giddy she was feeling. The Mini matched her mood and zoomed down Starling's streets with a pleasurable hum.

When she pulled up in front of the impressive high-rise the Queen siblings now called home, she shook her head as though to throw off any doubt or lingering fear left inside. It wasn't her head she needed to listen to tonight anyway. It was her heart.

She had never been to Oliver's new home. She had been to the mansion a handful of times and she was more than familiar with his home away from home, a/k/a the Arrow cave. But being here, arm poised to knock on his door, she was overcome with an uncharacteristic moment of insecurity. This was HIS world, a world she had been fighting to become a part of and, in a way, had been shut out of, by him. Should she just let things be? She'd see him again soon enough. Who was she to come banging on his door and barging into his private space?

She straightened her back. This was becoming ridiculous. "He loves you, you idiot! Now KNOCK!" she spoke, her voice echoing ever so faintly in the open hallway, as she used his claim on her to make her brave.

She waited patiently, after her rather forceful knock, for what felt like a small lifetime. She didn't realize she had been holding her breath until the door opened and Thea greeted her cheerfully, if not a bit confusedly, "Felicity! Hi! What-"

"Oliver!" Felicity breathed in, finally, as she said his name. "Is he here?" Her heart was pounding loudly - thump, thump, thumping in her chest so forcefully, she had no trouble imagining the course her blood was taking through her body. She tapped her fingers restlessly on her skirt.

"Yeah, let me just get him," Thea answered with a knowing smile, as she opened the door wider, motioning Felicity to come inside. Thea drifted toward the center of the open first floor and hollered, "OLLIE! Felicity's here!"

She couldn't help it, Felicity cringed a little at the loudness and frankness of Thea's announcement. She almost felt, irrationally she had to admit, embarrassed. "Stop it!" she muttered under her breath, jaw clenched tightly.

She broke out of self-flagellation mode when she heard Oliver's voice and approaching footsteps.

"Felicity?"

At the sound of her name, in that voice she loved so well, she breathed in deeply. Her heart settled back into its rightful cradle in her chest. Then she noticed what he was wearing. Heaven help her, he was in a grey v-neck t-shirt, and black, knit pajama bottoms. He was also barefoot. She was pretty sure she couldn't recall a time in recent history when he had looked more sexy. Her heart went back to its traitorous pounding. Damn him.

"You're back!" she said, a tad too brightly.

"Yeah," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. A defensive move, she realized with a pang. Cordial conversation was still a recent addition to their dynamic. "What brings you by?" His voice was a soft, albeit, tired invitation.

Inexplicably, Felicity couldn't bring herself to rationally explain why she was standing in his apartment. She stood, mutely, looking at him, uncharacteristically speechless for the moment and horrified because of it. A mental reset was in order...3, 2, 1. "I..." she paused to inhale deeply and further settle back into herself. Time for honesty. It was her forte after all. "I just wanted to see you, in the flesh. Uh, make sure you were really back..." and alive, she didn't need to add. And now that she had said it, she felt like the biggest of fools and, simultaneously, two feet tall. It was a horrible conflagration of humbling sensations.

His eyes widened a bit at her confession, his one eyebrow twerking upward, not unlike the thousands of other times when she had said something inappropriate or unexpected. She loved that face.

"Annnnnd, I'll just be going now, since the awkwardness has now reached an all-time high. See you...uh...later, I guess?" What had she been thinking? This had turned into a grade-A disaster. She whirled to flee and Oliver, damn Oliver and his lightning reflexes, grabbed her elbow as she turned.

"Fel-ic-ity."

Warm butter. It's what he turned her insides into whenever he said her name in that staccato way of his.

Her arm was feeling exceptionally warm where his fingers still clutched it. She looked pointedly at where he was touching her and he snatched back his hand, tucking it safely under his folded arms once more. "Sorry," he said, as he exhaled loudly.

"Don't be," Felicity spoke, surprisingly herself yet again. She knew she missed him, had told him so last week. She knew that when he touched her, in a way, it drove the wedge between them deeper and the pain was renewed. She had been living with a bearable level of it for a while now. She knew what she was made of and what she could handle. She also knew that she didn't want to live in a world where she didn't feel this alive. His touch did that for her. Her arm was still tingly and she rubbed it absently, as though trying to prolong the sensation of their contact.

The motion drew Oliver's eyes down to her arm. She looked directly at him, caught his gaze on its way back up to her face, smiled, and said truthfully, "I'm glad you're home." Then she turned again and walked out the door.