Oliver looked around his living room and his eyes fell on Dig whose eyes were on his and Felicity's joined hands. Dig's eyes met Oliver's for a moment, and his lips pulled into a knowing grin that didn't completely hide the 'we will talk about this later' look he had. Lyla was home sleeping, and Roy was sitting next to Dig. They were all surprisingly silent as Felicity told them about her mother's plan. By the time she was done, Dig looked like he was already trying to figure out the best way out of this, whereas Roy looked like he had just sucked a lemon.
"Damn, Blondie. You're the first person I ever met that made me feel lucky my parents were dead", he said. Oliver shot him a look, and Roy responded with, "What? Her own mother is trying to get her killed by a psychopath".
Dig leveled Roy with a look, and then turned back to the group, "Well, I think the first thing we need to establish is that you can't go anywhere alone".
Before Felicity could object, Oliver turned to her and stated "Agreed, you should stay here with me". He knew she would object, and tried not to take it personal. She turned and looked him in the eyes. She opened her mouth, a confused look on her face and she gazed up at him. He continued, squeezing her hand, "Felicity, your mother baited a psychopath who has threatened your life. The best case scenario, is to find a way out of this without involving the Arrow and really this house is the only house out of all of ours that is fortified to withstand a break in, not to mention he will look for you at your house. You are safest here, and I'm not letting you out of my sight anyway".
Oliver searched her eyes while trying to convey something in his own. He needed her here, with him and safe. She frowned, but nodded and he relaxed. They didn't look away from each other until Roy's voice was heard, "Yeah okay, you two are in love. This isn't new, well maybe to you too, but not to us. So, can we move on to figuring out how we take down Felicity's psycho step-father without going all Arrow and Arsenal on the guy?"
All eyes turned to Roy, glaringly. He rolled his eyes and was about to reply when Felicity spoke up, "We should call Lance, he could help".
Oliver was surprised, not because he didn't think Lance would help, but that Felicity would invite another person into an aspect of her personal life that she tried so hard to keep hidden. He wanted to object too, he wanted to be the one to take care of her, to protect her; as the Arrow and as Oliver Queen. She must have known he was the one going to object this time, because she cut him off before he could.
Squeezing his hand, she pleaded with him, "Oliver, I don't want to invite people into our personal lives any more than you do, but logically you know it's the best answer we got. I can call him and we can ask him to come out here, or if you would rather, we can meet him somewhere else. We will be as honest as we can, and see if we can leave it to the cops" she stated. When he was about to object saying he wasn't leaving her life in the hands in the cops; she rushed on. "And we stay here, so if they fail we can 'Arrow up' as a last resort. But the only way we are going to prove my mother wrong, even if she isn't, and take this guy down is if we do this one by the books. We both know, that if the Arrow saves me a third time in less than a year, more than my mother will start asking questions we don't want answered. Right now, only Lance knows I help the Arrow, so we should keep it that way".
He saw sense in what she said, but it didn't mean he liked it. He stood up and walked away from the couch. He felt his fingers itching for a bow and an arrow to nock. He wanted to put an arrow in this guy and be done with it, before it got to the point where they had to worry about him finding her at all. He paced the living room floor, well aware that all eyes were on him as he went.
If he let the Arrow do this, then that puts Felicity on the radar for anyone who might oppose him. He could be putting a bigger target on her back by doing this his way. He stopped and turned to face her. He would a agree but he had a few demands to make, "Fine, but you're not leaving this house until that man is caught and when this is over I am going to have a nice long chat with your mother".
She frowned, and then nodded, "I'll call Lance".
He shook his head, "No, I will do it. You should go to your computer and check on Troy. The more information we have on his whereabouts when Lance gets here the better". He said, rubbing the palms of his hands in his eyes in frustration. She nodded, and stood to leave without another word. He grabbed her hand as she walked past him. He tried to convey wordlessly all his frustration, his need for her, and his love in one look while he squeezed her hand. "I will be down in a minute". She nodded, and left to go to the basement.
Dig stood up the moment she left and approached Oliver, "Oliver, I know this is going to be hard for you, but you're going to have to let the police do all the work on this one". Oliver didn't need to be told this, he knew. However, it didn't stop him from glaring at Dig as he laced his fingers behind his head and began pacing again. "I know you Oliver, you've got something going on in that head of yours, but if you're thinking of going after this guy, you need to rethink it. You can't—"
Oliver turned back to Dig, "I'm not planning anything", he stated, roughly. His voice grew angrier as he spoke to Dig. "I don't like this, but she's right. If the Arrow saved her a third time in under a year people will start to wonder why the Arrow always seems to be around when she is in danger, or at least how he always seems to know when she is. If I save her this time, I'm painting the bullseye on her back; or rather, making it bigger than it already is now". He yelled in frustration as Dig and Roy watched him vent, "I should have never showed up in her office. I should have left her alone; but I can't leave her alone now. Not now". His voice faded at the end of his rant as he turned back to Dig and Roy.
Roy was watching him with a strange, confused look on his face and Oliver wondered if Roy had ever seen him on edge like this. He had always tried to remain calm and in control in front of Roy to set an example, but he knew he was failing now. His attention was brought back to Dig when his hand came down on his shoulder, "You can't play the 'what if' game, Oliver. What if her mother still ran and came out here, and Felicity didn't know you? Who could she have run to then? Would she have felt comfortable enough with Lance to ask his help? Or know that he would give it? What if Troy eventually went after her anyway in an attempt to control Felicity's mom? What if Felicity died because she dug into the list instead of coming to you? What if, Oliver? You can play that game, or you can live with the life you have and make the decisions that you can live with".
Oliver let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Dig was right, of course he was. He nodded and Dig smiled that knowing grin he got when he caught Oliver looking at Felicity when she wasn't paying attention, "Now call Lance, and then go downstairs. Felicity probably thinks you're up here planning a way to kill the guy instead of having a meltdown. Oh, and we will talk about how I saw you two making out like teenagers in the kitchen before I rang the doorbell".
Oliver couldn't help but grin a little at Dig wanting to get all fatherly about Felicity. He laughed, maybe it was practice for the little Diglet.
Normally Felicity would have argued with Oliver about being sent out of the room like that, because in no way did she really think it would take that long for her to check the airlines to see if Troy had left Vegas yet. But she walked out without a fight, because Oliver looked as if he needed to talk to Dig, and she felt like he wouldn't have done that with her in the room. If he needed to vent to Dig, she would give him that. So, she went into the basement, and at the base of the stairs where a bunch of shelves hung on the wall was a false wall. Felicity had to delete the original blue prints from the town hall, and replace them with new ones, but the end result shows that this houses basement was only half the size it was. Now, this was nothing in size to the foundry, but it wasn't meant to be a base of operations, only back up.
She pushed on the wall, which was on her surveillance system so she could lock it, and no one would ever know it was anything but a normal wall. She ducked under the shelves full of random boxes, and entered in the mini Arrow den. It didn't require the space that the foundry did because it didn't need a bed, couch, or workout space. It contained medical supplies, extra weapons, a steel table, spare suits for Arrow and Arsenal, and Felicity's secondary work station. She sighed as she heard Oliver pacing the floor above her head and sat down.
By the time she heard Oliver come through the fake wall, she already knew what they needed to know and was sitting in the silence watching surveillance feed of the Starling City airport. She didn't turn to acknowledge him as he approached, just continued to watch the feed. She felt his hands resting on the chair, and he started watching the feed over her shoulder. Finally she said, "Did Dig talk you out of killing Troy?"
He sighed, "I wasn't planning on killing him. I just needed Dig to talk me out of believing that you were better off without ever having met me. This is airport footage from two hours ago." He stated.
"Yes," she said matter of factly. "Turns out, shortly after my meltdown this morning, my dear step daddy called for his private jet to ready. Also turns out, he has a hacker on his payroll. He's good, but I'm better and he was sloppy. I saw his footprints all over the place when he hacked the airport manifests to find out where my mother flew to. Troy's flight landed two hours ago, but he hasn't made any phone calls and a private car wasn't waiting for him on the tarmac to pick him up, now I am scouring the airport to find where he disappeared to. So far he hasn't shown up at my mom's hotel, or my place as far as I can tell. What did Dig say to you?" she asked quietly, finally spinning the chair around to look at him. His hands dropped and landed by her sides
She saw that he was hesitant at first, but quietly he said "He said there is no use playing the 'what if' game." And then he grinned slightly as he pulled her up from the chair and wrapped his arms around her, "Then told me he was going to have to give me a talking to about making out with you like we were teenagers". He winked at her at the end and Felicity felt a flutter in her stomach that reminded her of making out with him in his bed. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks and his lips scraped against her cheek as he moved toward her ear. The flush spread down her neck and suddenly Felicity wished everyone would just go away so they could go back to his bed and finish what they had started. His voice in her ear this time was different than any of the times she heard him through the comms as he whispered, "Will you sleep with me tonight? Not to do anything, I just…after earlier I'm not sure I could sleep without you. Stay with me tonight?"
With the way his voice, and lips just made her feel, she would have said yes if he had meant to do something. She let out a whimper, and she could feel his lips smile on her skin. She felt alive and tingled in places she hadn't felt tingles in a long time. It felt wrong to want this right now, with Dig and Roy upstairs, and a psycho wanting to kill her because of her mother; but as she felt his arms tighten around her she didn't care.
She turned her head to him and his lips met hers again. There was no hesitancy with this kiss, they were already so comfortable with the knowledge that they could kiss each other, and yet the passion was still new, still raw. She ran her hands under his shirt and she felt his muscles clench under her fingers. So she slid them up and around to his back as Oliver groaned into her mouth. It was amazing, knowing she could do this to him. That he wanted her like this.
His hands roughly grabbed at the back of her thighs to bring her closer to him and she could feel how badly he wanted her. They both moaned at the contact. Maybe it was too fast, maybe they should slow down; but then again, hadn't this been a long time coming? Hadn't this been coming for months? It was like once they let go, they couldn't stop.
A loud beeping sound shook them out of their bubble and they jerked apart. Oliver didn't move, but she backed away as she tried to get her heart rate to settle. She was breathing heavily as she tried to make sense of the alarm coming from the computer, but not finding it in her current state to look away from Oliver. She just stood there, staring in his chest watching the rapid rise and fall of his breathing. He had shut his eyes and was gripping the table behind him like a vice grip.
Finally, the fog on her brain lifted slightly, "Lance must be here" she panted out.
Oliver didn't open his eyes, he just whispered "Go, I'll be up in a minute". She nodded, even though he couldn't see her and left. Hoping to get herself under control before she made it up the stairs. Unfortunately, she didn't bother to look at a mirror first.
She didn't even make it into the livingroom before Roy yelled, "Aw man! Okay there needs to be some ground rules if you two are going to go at all the time. We" he gestured to Dig whose eyes were wide with surprise, "don't want to walk in on you two going at it like rabbits".
Dig quietly added, "You might want to go fix yourself." And she felt like her mortification for the day was complete as she walked to the bathroom with her hand over her face and without saying a word.
When she walked back into the living room Quentin Lance was sitting on one of the couches while Dig and Roy sat with their arms draped across the back of the other. Oliver was coming from the kitchen just as she entered. She took a quick look at him, and saw that his public face was on for Quentin and that there would be no reading into it.
Quentin looked at Oliver as he sat in a chair, allowing Felicity to sit next to Lance, "Alright Queen. What's the deal that you dragged me out here at night?" his tone was irritated. Felicity knew there used to be some animosity between Lance and Oliver; but she had long believed that Quentin had gotten over most of it and now actually respected Oliver some. He just didn't like people to know he didn't really hate Oliver anymore.
Felicity saw Oliver glance in her direction quickly, "Actually, it's about Felicity. We have reason to believe her life might be in danger." he stated, trying to sound neutral.
Quentin sat up straight and now became more alert, he looked right at her this time, "Does this have anything to do with…" his voice led off as he looked around the room almost if forgot they weren't alone, but Felicity understood perfectly what he was going to say.
"It's okay Capt. Lance as the head of Oliver's security Felicity saw fit to make us aware of her involvement with the Arrow from time to time". Diggle answered Quentin's question for her as he leaned forward on the couch.
Felicity watched Oliver frown out of the corner of her eye as she spoke, "This has nothing to do with the arrow, Capt Lance".
Quentin leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees, "Then, why come to me? Why, not just go to the normal cops? And why is Mr. Harper here and not down at the precinct for his latest attempt at being the Arrow's mini-me?"
Diggle again answered, cutting Roy off from whatever snide mark he was going to make, "Roy works under me now. Oliver thought it would good for him to legitimize himself". Felicity didn't miss the slight humor Dig had in his voice when he said legitimize. Then Dig turned to her, and nodded to her to talk.
"Capt. Lance, I came to you because I trust you, and well this is a bit personaly for me", she stated. Felicity bit her lip and looked at the guys who nodded in encouragement as she launched into the story of her mother showing up at her door with her ex husband en route. She left the Arrow completely out of it, telling Lance that her mother just ran here for safety but knew that Mr. Troy would likely follow, and in fact was already in Starling somewhere.
Quentin looked at the guys dubiously before looking back at her again, "Well, that's some mother you got there. She came here knowing that he threatened to kill you if she did? Does the Arrow know? Can't he do anything? Surely, he wants to protect his asset on the ground?" Felicity saw Quentin's eyes quickly look at Oliver and back to her so fast she almost missed it. But she thought the message was clear enough, he suspected Oliver was the Arrow and wanted to know why he didn't just take him out.
She bit her lip again as Oliver jumped up and started pacing again in agitation. She followed him with her eyes before letting out a sigh and returning her attention to Lance, "Captain, the Arrow knows and I told him he needs to stay out of this. He has saved me twice in less than a year. If he saves me again, people will start to question why he seems to know I am in danger and for me to remain an effective asset on the ground; people can't suspect I am helping him".
His eyes drifted to Oliver's pacing as he spoke, "So, it's like that huh? He is protecting his asset by not protecting her. Doesn't he realized that a dead asset is far more useless than one that's—"
Felicity saw the tension building in Oliver, Lance was needling him on purpose so she cut him off, "Please Captain. He wasn't happy to sit this one out. I had to beg him to. He was all ready to just camp out at the airport and shoot an arrow into Troy the moment he landed, but I made him see that was foolish. Please, don't undo that?" she pleaded at the end, it came out barely above a whisper and she wasn't sure if anyone other than Lance heard her. Lance's eyes traveled to Oliver again. She couldn't see Oliver from where she was, but whatever Lance saw seemed to convince him it was the right thing that she came to him.
His eyes drifted to the guys who were now tense and watching Oliver, and then drifted back to Felicity. He nodded once, "I'll head to the precinct and look into what you told me. I assume you're staying here?"
"Yes!" Oliver half stated, half shouted from behind her.
Lance nodded again, "Stay awake a little longer if you can. I will try to call you in an hour or two". He stood up. Felicity stood and made to walk him out as Dig and Roy stayed with Oliver.
At the door he turned to her and asked quietly, "I suppose I have you to blame for the no kill policy?" Felicity didn't respond, just found her lips twitching slightly into a smile at Lance's disgruntled voice. "You know I used to think that way too. But now, sometimes I think some people just need killing, and the world is a better place for it. Like that man that took Laurel". He shook his head and frowned.
She frowned too as she spoke, "But how many lives do you think he can take before his soul is broken, Captain? It's his job to protect the city. It's mine to protect him from himself. Goodnight Captain we will hear from you in a few hours". Felicity was surprised at how true the words felt that she had spoken. Quentin gave a cursory glance over her shoulder and into the living room again; she assumed he paused on Oliver. His gaze stayed a beat longer on him, and then he nodded and turned to leave. Felicity shut the door behind her.
"But how many lives do you think he can take before his soul is broken, Captain? It's his job to protect the city. It's mine to protect him from himself." She hadn't realized he had followed her to the door when she went to walk Lance out of his house. He saw Lance look at him over her shoulder after she said those words, and an understanding passed between the two of them at that moment. Oliver knew Lance knew he was the Arrow. He made no effort to hide that he figured it out, but as long as he didn't actually ask or confirm it; he could maintain plausible deniability. Oliver also communicated that there wasn't anything he wouldn't do to protect Felicity and that the Arrow wasn't really sitting this one out. He would be right by her; protecting the girl who just proclaimed to be protecting him. God, he loved her.
She turned around and gasped at finding him there. Then blushed because she knew he had heard her. He searched her face as the blush crept into her cheeks and she looked down embarrassed. He reached out, not caring that Dig and Roy could probably see them, and gently lifted her chin so she would look at him. When his eyes met hers, he silently conveyed how he felt. He wanted her to know that he was thankful for her standing up for him, for being there for him, and for never giving up on him when everyone else had bailed. He wanted to say he loved her, that he knew how much they still needed to talk, and how much he was still thinking about kissing her. He wanted her to know just how truly amazing he thought she was.
"Well," he heard Roy groan as he got up from the couch. "Looks like we're going to be here awhile protecting our mama bear. You got anything to eat in that kitchen?" Oliver didn't move as Roy and Dig brushed past him, he pulled Felicity into a hug instead. He felt that was all he could do right now, kissing her again would have to wait until they were alone. They stayed that way until Oliver heard Roy ask, "Why is there a chicken breast in the sink?"
He sighed, stepped back and gave Felicity a knowing look who smirked at him and grabbed his hand to pull him with her. "Oliver threw it at me earlier" she stated laughingly as they entered the kitchen. He stood in the doorway while Felicity went to grab plates and silverware from the kitchen. He couldn't help but smile at seeing her so comfortable in his kitchen, his house really.
Roy stopped on the way to the fridge and crooked an eyebrow at Oliver, "Dude, I may have been raised in the Glades but even I know you throw flowers and diamonds at the woman you love, not food".
Oliver rolled his eyes, "Good to know" he responded as Roy opened up the fridge. Roy pulled out the cake he bought for Felicity and added, "Don't eat that. It's Felicity's".
Both eyebrows came up this time, "You just got called out on your feelings for her yesterday and you're already so whipped you keep her favorite dessert on hand?"
Before he could respond, Felicity set the plates down and slapped Roy in the back of the head. Roy's eyes widened in surprise and Felicity grabbed her cake. "Don't be a jerk and now you can't have any of my cake. Where is Diggle and does he want something to eat?" she asked as she set the plates down and Oliver noticed for the first time, that Dig actually wasn't in the kitchen. Puzzled, he looked at Roy who was cramming more leftover chinese food in his mouth right out of the carton. Oliver shook his head, he didn't care personally, but eventually if Roy wanted to go undercover into places of high society; he was going to have to learn how to act the part. But that was an issue for another day.
"Perimeter check" Roy responded thru mouthfuls of food. Felicity walked over to him and grabbed the carton from him. Dumped the contents onto a plate, and handed it back to him.
"Use a plate, and you might want to heat that up it's like 4 days old. Unless, you want food poisoning". Roy looked down on his plate for a moment in disgust, then shrugged and dug back in. Oliver started to laugh when Felicity looked back at Roy like she was going to puke. "You're such a pig".
The front door opened, and Oliver's eyes turned to look at Dig as he heard Felicity call out, "Dig are you hungry? Roy sit down before I make you clean your scraps up off the floor".
Dig's eyes gravitated to the kitchen in humor and smile appeared, "I'm good" and he turned back to Oliver adding "Your girl has us all wrapped around her finger you know. We would all die for her: Roy, you, me, even Quentin, and Sara if she were here. Hell, I think even Nyssa would after the whole five minutes they met. You don't have anything to worry about, Oliver".
Oliver smiled as he looked at Felicity and something in his chest throbbed hard, "I started this out alone Diggle." He said so only Dig could hear him. "I thought it would stay that way, but when I met you and you were right about having a battle buddy so I brought you in. When I met her, I honestly didn't see her coming. The first time I talked to her, she called me out on the lie I fed her, and I just couldn't stop myself from going back even though I knew she saw right through me. Then when my mom shot me, I didn't hesitate to find her. I don't think I was thinking of her helping me permanently when I showed her my identity, but I think somehow I knew she wouldn't walk away. She made us a team, and when Roy came in she didn't hesitate. She didn't even reject Sara or Laurel, and no one would have blamed her if she had; she just takes people in and accepts them without judgement.
"Now here we are two years later in my house, in my kitchen; and somewhere along the way she made us a family. When I came back from the island, who I was then, that person never hoped that he could have this. But she gave me hope, she made me believe in myself and my self worth again. I mean I'll never deserve her, but you have to know that who I was before the island is dead, the person I was two years ago is fading, and the person I am now will never stop trying to deserve her." He finally turned to Dig who was smiling at him.
Dig placed a hand on his shoulder as they heard Felicity yell at Roy in her loud voice which made Oliver smile too, "Roy, you are not a child. Clean up your dishes!"
"Yes, Mom!" Roy called back.
Oliver heard Dig's voice in his ear as he turned back to watch Felicity, "All we can ever really do we when love someone Oliver, is strive to deserve them." And in a joking manor he added, "And of course as the honorary big brother in this messed up family I have to warn you that if you make her cry I will kill you". Oliver couldn't help but laugh.
Felicity was tired, it was past midnight after a very trying 36 emotionally overloaded hours and was looking forward to climbing into Oliver's big bed upstairs. It was good that he said he didn't intend to do anything tonight, because right now she could barely stay awake. Roy was sprawled out on top of a blanket on the opposite couch while she dozed leaning against Oliver on the other one and Dig stood at the window. Lance still hadn't called, and when Felicity went and checked her computers nothing had popped up for Troy yet. All they knew was that he was in the City and he was apparently good at hiding. She checked the standard security system on her house and it showed no signs of break in.
She briefly suggested going over there for clothes, but Oliver shut that down before she could finish talking and told her she could borrow one of his shirts to sleep in. Which secretly put a smile on her face at wearing his shirt, but made a mental note that their back up lairs should all be stocked in spare clothes as well as medical supplies. She tucked herself closer to Oliver, and then found herself being guided to lay across him to use the the pillow there for her head. His arm went around her waist and she hummed in response when he whispered, "Sleep, I'll wake you if we need to".
She let her eyes drift close as she heard a shuffle, a thud of someone hitting the floor, Roy groan out "Hey! What was that for?", something was thrown, and then she was warm. As she faded into sleep, curled up in Oliver's lap she heard Roy say "Oh!" and wondered if it was too soon for Oliver and her to be this comfortable with each other? Especially when she couldn't deny that it felt right.
When she woke up, she was floating up the stairs, or rather getting carried up the stairs gave her that impression and she was reminded of that night a few months back and Oliver carrying her because she had been unconscious. This was much better, she had no head injury and could just enjoy gazing up at him in silence. She thought he didn't know she woke up until a smile twitched at his lips, "Lance called, he looked into Troy which set off an alert with the FBI. After he talked to the FBI, they offered up a small army which is on its way. The person in charge has agreed to wait till morning to discuss details. I told them you needed to sleep".
They were entering his room now and he set her on his bed, "We should talk to them now, get it over with", she said rubbing sleep from her eyes and standing up as she watched Oliver go over to a dresser and pull out a shirt and a pair a shorts that looked like they might reasonably stay on her.
He turned to face her and handed her the clothes, he shook his head. "No, there is nothing that can be done tonight anyway. Dig is downstairs and Roy is up, they will talk to the FBI when they get here, and if they really do need us, Dig will wake us up".She just stood there holding the clothes in slight shock over hearing Oliver say 'us' and knowing Dig and Roy were downstairs. Oliver turned back to his dresser and pulled out sleepwear for himself. When he turned back to her, he frowned, "If you want to sleep in another room you can, I guess I kind of just assumed after earlier…" his voice trailed off hesitantly. his insecurity about the two of them showing through.
Felicity shook the sleep and shock off her face, "No, no it's fine it's just that we haven't really discussed what 'us' is yet and well part of me is kind of….I don't know. It's weird knowing that the first night we sleep together Dig and Roy are downstairs pulling guard duty while awaiting the arrival of the FBI and a psychopath, when two days ago we couldn't actually tell each other how we felt. And today, its like it's the most natural thing to kiss you, for you to kiss me, to fall asleep on you, and to go to bed with you. We haven't even really talked about it, and yet it feels like today was like we could have been like this for months. Does it make sense? I don't think I made sense" she said pushing her glasses back up her face.
Oliver made a 'ah' sound and pulled her to him, "Felicity, it's okay and we do need to talk. But for now, why don't we get some sleep, the lead on the FBI case will be here around 9AM so we can get a few hours of rest." She nodded and left to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, and saw a two days worth exhaustion, besides the nap she had with Oliver earlier, wearing on her. She wished she looked better the first night she slept with him, in even if it was in the non sexy way. She wished she could just have had a mildly sexy nightgown even if she could smell something faintly Oliver on the shirt and pants he gave her. She brought the shirt to her nose to get a better sniff, and grinned a little. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad surrounded in his scent while she slept.
She walked out a few minutes later in his shirt, forgoing the shorts because they kept falling down, as it was the shirt kept falling off her shoulder. Oliver was in sleep pants and was pulling the bedding down when he looked up at her and froze. His eyes went wide, and he just kept staring at her bare legs. She suddenly thought it might be too much, and nervously asked, "The shorts were too big. Is this okay?"
His voice came out like a hiss, "It's fine" He looked back up at her and she was met with a dark gaze, "Fine. I'm just gonna. I have to….bathroom. I need the bathroom" he rushed out the last part and nearly ran for the bathroom. Felicity knew that look, she probably wore one herself given that he wasn't wearing shirt. He often went shirtless in the foundry when he was working out, but this was different. She was going to be in bed with him,inches away from her and wouldn't have a shirt on. Nervously she thought maybe it would be easier if she just got in bed and turned the lights off, so she did.
When Oliver came out, he just slowly walked to the bed, and hesitantly got in. It seemed that awkwardness had finally set in as they faced each other in bed, inches apart, just staring at each other. It was like neither could even breathe as they looked at each other. Felicity could sense that he was tense, and so was she. She didn't know if she should scoot over, or stay put. He seemed to be in the same war.
Oliver seemed more decisive than she was because he reached out to stroke the side of her face and then pulled her closer to him as he shifted to her. He kissed her sweetly, not a kiss to excite passion, even though it did anyway; but a kiss that was a promise for tomorrow. It was a languid, bone melting kiss that made Felicity feel important and cherished. When they separated, he rolled onto his back and brought her to his side. He let out a sigh and relaxed as Felicity used his shoulder for a pillow and draped an arm over his stomach. She melted into him as his arms came around her. As sleep began to take its hold, Felicity heard Oliver whisper goodnight, and her last thought was that she had never felt more at home.
BIG THANKS TO HIPKARRMA! YOU ROCK MY LADY!
And of course, much to my disappointment I own nothing in regards to ARROW and DCComics!