Thank you for all your support. This is my take on an alternate bratva universe, I don't have a beta so all possible spelling and grammatical errors are solely mine and I hope you guys do forgive me for the very many possible errors.

And most importantly… I don't own Arrow or any of the characters in it ….. I am merely borrowing them for entertainment purposes.

I scrolled through the website for the third time today, why haven't they posted it yet? I even tried to hack their site; apparently the committee members were still deliberating their choices for the full scholarship award. This limbo was killing me, I can't afford going to MIT without the scholarship. There were thousands of applicants for the scholarship and today they were supposed to put out the final list of candidates who were still in contention. I knew I was on the top of their list but there were other candidates who had better credentials than me. What if I didn't make the list?

I sighed in frustration; I didn't have a backup plan. If I didn't get into MIT I didn't know what I was going to do. Maybe take a year off? It was a Saturday and I had nothing better to do, I curled into a ball in my bed. Screw it! If didn't get in I can always go to Starling University. My mom and Quentin were out on a date. Laurel was out, I had no idea where.

I heard Sara entering my room; she was putting on a fashion show for me. She had a hot date and hence the fashion show.

"What are you doing?" She asked me slightly amused.

"I am trying to telepathically communicate with the committee members." My voice muffled by the pillow lying on my face.

"Stop worrying I am sure you will get in." She reassured me; she pulled away the pillow and offered me a hand to sit up.

"I wish they would tell me already and put me out of my misery." I complained, this anxious waiting was getting to my head.

"If anyone deserves it, it is you." Her confidence in me felt good.

"I wish it were that easy." I whined.

"Have some faith Felicity." She comforted me again.

"How does this one look?" She twirled in front of me. She was wearing a tight little red dress, her boobs almost spilling over, how was she even able to breathe in it?

"Is that laurel's dress?" I was sure the dress was two sizes too small.

"Uh hhh." She nodded.

"She is going to kill you." I warned, Laurel was never the one to share.

"What she doesn't know won't kill her." She replied nonchalantly.

"So what do you think?" She asked me as she slowly twirled again.

"Do you want to be groped on the first date?" I teased.

"Fine the next one then." She walked away exasperated, this was the seventh dress she had tried on.

"Sara you better hurry up if you don't want to be late, I liked the second one the best." I called out loudly. She had less than an hour to get ready. I start my shift at Big Belly in three hours; maybe I could nap for a while.

I heard the phone ringing in the living room followed by Sara's hurried footsteps to get to it; this date had her really excited. I sighed wistfully, must be nice to have someone be interested in you. My relationship with Oliver had improved in the past few weeks; we shared smiles and polite nods whenever we bumped into each other. I was slowly beginning to see the real Oliver, the one who loved his family, the one who would do anything for little Thea, the one who would give his life for Tommy, the one who was burdened by the society's expectation of him and the one who really did love Laurel.

Sara had finally settled on jeans and a nice blue top paired with a thick black pea coat. She looked chic and beautiful. It was not long before Sara rushed into my room, she looked worried.

"I need a favor." She told me apprehensively.

"Ok." What had her looking so jittery?

"Laurel asked me to do something and I kind of forgot." She hesitated.

"What is it?" I asked her, uneasiness engulfed me.

"I need you to drop these off at Tommy's." She handed me a cover.

"Sara." I groaned. It was cold outside and I really didn't want to walk around in it.

"I will make you your hot chocolate for a week." She bargained. It was a weak bribe and I was not going to fall for it.

"Ok two." She went on at the lack of my response.

"Fine a month." She growled.

"Now we are talking." I told her gleefully, a month of hot chocolate was definitely a good deal.

"You suck." She retorted in mock anger.

"What are these anyway?" I asked her as I examined the cover, seemed like it contained some documents.

"College applications." She told me distractedly, she was standing in front of my closet trying on my scarves.

"Sara did you look in?" I scolded.

"She is not going to send him nude photos Felicity." She teased. Why did she have to say that?

"Gross! Now I have weird images running through my head." I complained, she laughed at the scandalized look on my face.

"College applications?" I asked her again, I thought Tommy didn't want to go college.

"Yes, Brown, CU, NYU, the colleges she applied to." She told me as she tried on my jackets now.

"But didn't Tommy want to open his own night club?" Tommy had been planning it for a year now. He even had the business proposal ready that he was going to pitch to his father.

"It's Tommy Felicity." She gave me knowing look, Tommy has known to be indecisive but he seemed to be very serious about this nightclub idea. What changed his mind?

"Can't you ask Tommy to come pick it up?" I asked her.

"He is in China, won't be back for a week." She told me, she plopped down on the bed beside me.

"Then why would I have do it today?" I asked her. I was confused, if Tommy was not in town he wouldn't mind me delivering them tomorrow would he?

"Because Laurel said so." She told me with an amused grin.

"That explains it." I teased back. We heard the door bell ring, Sara was bursting with excitement.

"Wish me luck." She asked me, I have never seen her this way, filled with trepidation.

"Go knock him off his socks." I cheered her.

"The key to his place is beneath his floor mat, I will text you the address." She called out from the living room.

"Alright." I yelled back. Beneath his mat? How did he not get robbed yet?

I sighed, my plans to laze around was not going to happen anymore. I checked the website; the results were still not out. I huffed in irritation.

I bundled up in my warmest clothes, time to get to work. Tommy's bachelor pad was just a couple of blocks away from Big Belly at least that worked out well for me. I have never been to his place but I have heard plenty about it but nothing could have prepared me for the monstrosity in front of me, this was his bachelor pad? It was a freaking big mansion. How did he go about cleaning this place? The enormously rich are unbelievably spoilt.

I found the key beneath his mat just like Sara said. I let myself in, I couldn't shake away the sense of foreboding that filled me.

I walked into the living room. The place was a mess, Tommy was such a slob. But something didn't seem right. Oh shit! It had been ransacked; there was broken glass everywhere, furniture out of place. I was kidding about it being robbed. I reached for my phone, I had to call 911. I heard footsteps, were the intruders still here? My heart was racing, I was terrified and then I saw him. The sight in front of me made my heart clench.

"Oliver." I called out softly. He looked surprised to see me there.

"Felicity, What are you doing here?" He sounded so broken.

"Sara wanted me to give Tommy this." I waved the cover for effect and tossed it on the table in front of me. He nodded in understanding. He looked terrible; there were cuts and bruises on his face. His shirt was torn at places. What had caused him to trash this place? Now we can add vandalism to the mist of his crimes.

We stood there silently looking at each other, I saw his knuckles, did he punch through glass with his bare hands?

"Oliver you are bleeding." I told him, his blood was dripping onto the carpet below. I gulped loudly, I felt queasy and light headed, I never dealt with blood well.

"I didn't notice." He told me quietly. I contemplated my next move, I can't leave him alone when he looked like this.

"Change your clothes." I told him firmly. He stood there stubbornly refusing to move. I knew he was embarrassed to be caught like this, in a moment of weakness.

"I don't need your help." He snapped.

"Well tough luck, you are getting it any way." I told him decisively. He can either gripe and whine like a little boy or man up and face his fears. I saw his steely eyes before he rushed out of the room.

I needed to find the first aid box, there had to be one in the house. I tried four doors before I found the bathroom and voila there was a medical kit in the cabinet. I made my way back to the living room. Oliver had changed into new sweats; we spent a few awkward moments looking at each other. This was getting old!

"Sit." I ordered, luckily the couch had survived hurricane Oliver. He looked at me with irritation, I was not going to let that upset me. I knew it was just a façade to keep his vulnerability away from me. Men!

He sat down grumbling when he knew I was not going to budge. I sat beside him, the first aid kit was on the table in front of us, some band aids and Neosporin should do the trick.

"Give me your hands." I told him. I saw a smirk on his face. He was about to make a cocky comment wasn't he?

"Why Felicity I never knew you were so interested in holding my hands." I was not going to react to this; he was just trying to throw me off. I clenched my teeth; he was certainly testing my restraint.

"Hands Oliver." I asked him patiently. He reluctantly gave me his hands. I was trying hard not to think of how calloused his hands were. His knuckles were in pretty bad shape, bruised and bloodied. I needed to clean them first, I got the cotton and the antiseptic out of the first aid box.

I felt him wince but he did not pull away. I tried to be gentle, I blew on the wounds to take the sting away. Luckily he didn't need any stitches. I felt his intense gaze on my face, I kept my eyes on his hands too afraid to look up. The queasy feeling in my stomach was getting worse.

"How are you so good at this?" He asked me, his voice barely a whisper.

"I used to babysit this kid, Lena, her parents were both doctors, made me learn how to do first aid including CPR, God forbid their daughter got a scratch playing around." I told him, he chuckled. I kept working on his hands. Tending to the cut on his face was certainly challenging, I have never been this close to him before and it was certainly dizzying. I felt the soft skin of his face under my finger tips, I tried to touch him as little as possible. It was hard not to peek at his lips. Oh God I was in trouble, I almost broke into a sweat.

"There all done." I moved away from him, I needed to put some space between us. I packed up the kit and went to the bathroom to put it back. When I returned to the living room, Oliver was trying to clean up the mess. I expected him to have someone clean it for him.

"I do clean Felicity." He told me seeing the surprised look on my face. There was a hint of smile on his lips.

"You certainly do." I teased and for that I got full blown smile from him, a smile that reached his eyes.

"Need some help?" I asked him. He thought for a second before nodding. I took off my coat and got on with it.

"You take this side; there are broken glasses over there, you might get hurt." He told me, was he concerned about my well being? He was just looking out for an acquaintance. I am sure it was nothing, I shouldn't get carried away on big fat nothings.

An hour later we cleaned up the place to the best of our abilities. I plopped down on the couch tiredly, cleaning up was harder than trashing it. I shivered a little, this place was cold.

"Why don't you go make us some coffee, I will light up the fire place." He told me, I was sure he saw me shivering. He directed me to the kitchen, I looked around and this place was beautiful. The kitchen was clean and organized; I was now sure that Tommy had employees who cleaned up after him. There was absolutely no way Tommy was this organized.

It was not long before I walked into the living room with two mugs of Coffee in hand. Oliver was sitting in front of the fire place staring into the bustling crackling fire. He hadn't even heard me walk in.

"Oliver." I called out softly. He looked startled.

"Sorry, lots going through my mind." He told me apologetically.

"Here." I handed him a mug and sat down beside him. We sat there comfortably staring into the fire. I didn't know how long we sat like that. My coffee long finished.

"You have not asked me why." He broke the silence first.

"I figured you would tell me if you wanted me to know." I told him truthfully, he really didn't owe me an explanation.

"Aren't you the tiniest bit curious?" He teased me.

"I am but I know better than to push you." I told him, my answer sobered him up pretty quickly. All traces of humor vanished from his face.

"I am sorry I was an ass before." He told me earnestly. The look in his eyes made me feel uneasy, I felt my heart beating wildly. What was going on?

"You are forgiven." I teased unable find an appropriate reaction to his apology. He looked taken aback for a moment.

"It's my dad." He told me slowly.

"You don't have to tell me Oliver." I assured him.

"What if I want to?" He asked me cautiously. I couldn't look away from him, this was not good!

"Then I would love to hear it." I told him.

"I was ten when I saw him with another woman." He told me, pain and anger filled his eyes.

"I always knew he had other women in his life but mom always pretended to be happy in her marriage." He told me, he moved to lie in front of the fire place. I followed to lie next to him, he turned towards me. He looked defeated; the need to take him in my arms and console him was overwhelming. I clenched my fist; I can't go down that road no matter how badly I wanted it.

"You must have been terribly confused."

"I was but things got better the last couple of years." He told me, a myriad of emotions filled his face. I waited patiently; I knew he was gathering his thoughts.

"He was so focused on the QC branch in Russia, he worked so hard to get it up and running and I foolishly thought he done with his philanderer ways." He let out a bitter laugh.

"What happened to change your mind?" I asked him calmly.

"Isabel Rochev happened, all those hushed conversation on the phone, I should have known better." He spat furiously. I saw him seethe in anger. He took a deep to calm himself down.

"They have been together for three years, she is the reason he is been making these trips to Russia and now she wants to come here, to Starling and here is the kicker she wants him to get a divorce." He was visibly shaking now.

"Oliver how do you know this?" I asked him, was there a way he misunderstood the situation?

"I saw them together in my father's office, she was yelling that she needed more commitment." He told me, there goes my hope that this was some giant misunderstanding. My heart went out for him.

"I am so sorry Oliver." This was an awful situation, no wonder he had lashed out so badly.

"You know what is worse? She is barely older than me." He told me bitterly. It was getting worse by the minute. I didn't know how to respond to this.

"What if Thea finds out?" He asked me, he looked so scared. I saw his eyes glisten with unshed tears. I threw caution to wind and hugged him. He needed a hug that's all, there were no feelings involved. I felt his arms tighten around me. His warmth engulfed me, his scent filled my breath. "It will get better Oliver I promise." I murmured soothingly. He pulled away to look at my face.

"You are remarkable Felicity." He told me, his heated gaze made my insides tingle. The hard planes of his body rubbed deliciously against my body.

"Thank you for remarking on it." I whispered. I lost focus of everything except his lips which was slowly lowering down to mine. Was this really happening? My eyes closed shut.

My phone rang loudly making us jump apart. I flushed in embarrassment; I must have surely misread the situation. No way he was about to kiss me, why did I have this sinking feeling in my stomach?

I hope you guys enjoyed….. Let me know what you think.