Author: Some1FoundMe

Title: The Long Way Home

Rating: T

Summary: AU Felicity Smoak-Lance hasn't been back to her home on Star Island in five years. She has avoided it at all costs. She has made her life in Coast City, settling in at a job she enjoys with a man she could someday love. But when she makes the trek home at her mother's request, everything she thought she knew is unraveled. **Fair warning, this starts as Raylicity but Olicity is endgame.**

Chapter Seven

She knew that the moment they arrived back at Verdant she should've told Ray about Oliver. She should've taken him into her room and sat down with him and laid it all out in the open. But she didn't know how to tell him. She wasn't sure what would be too much. She wasn't sure what good it would do for any of them if she asked Ray to go so she could figure things out with Oliver. There was no guarantee that what Sara had told her was real, that it meant anything. But Felicity knew that she had to talk to him. She needed to know how Oliver really felt.

They were heading for the front door of her parents' house when Ray turned to her.

"I have a couple of phone calls I need to make," he told her, "Work never seems to take a vacation when I'm taking one. I shouldn't be long."

He disappeared into the house before she could protest and Felicity felt her resolve crumbling. If she had been a stronger person, she would've stopped him. Instead, she pivoted around and put the house behind her again.

Her feet carried her off into the woods that surrounded the inn. She had walked the path a million times in childhood and even though she hadn't been home in nearly a decade, her body remembered exactly where she was going.

Dry leaves crunched under her sneakers as she wove her way through the trees. The clearing would be visible soon. It had been their place, one of them anyway, and when they didn't want to be found, this is where they would come. The beach was nice and, after dark, relatively quiet but the clearing in the woods was forever safe. No one had ever found them there. There were never any interruptions.

She kept her head down as she walked, her arms wrapped protectively around her torso. There were ghosts here, too. Memories that lingered in every breath she took of earthy air, in the dampness of the autumn that surrounded her. So many milestones in her life were tied to this island, to the people she had left behind, to this place particularly.

When she stood in front of the tree, their tree, she ran her fingers over the crude heart that had been carved there.

Felicity sat on the damp earth, aware of the wet leaves beneath her and the moisture seeping into the thin material of her pants, but she wasn't bothered by it. She felt a tightness in her chest, like something wrapping around her heart, and a potent memory from their past assaulted her.

Oliver's hands skimmed across the bare skin of her abdomen, pushing her tank top up until it was bunched under her arms and Felicity grinned. She twisted her fingers in his hair as his lips assaulted the flesh he'd exposed.

The air around them was cooling quickly as the sun fell behind the trees but the humidity lingered. Sweat beaded her forehead and when his tongue flicked across the sensitive skin beneath her breast, she squirmed. She tugged on his hair.

"You know the rules," she breathed, "Quit that."

He laughed and she felt it where he was pressed against her. They were spread out on a blanket under their tree, her on her back and Oliver on his stomach between her legs.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I can't help it though, your skin just smells so good."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't wipe the smirk from her face.

It wasn't the first time that they'd found themselves in such an intimate position. His shirt had been discarded, tossed somewhere near their feet, and his wide shoulders kept her hips pinned to the blanket. But they had rules. Certain articles of clothing always stayed in place, everything below the waist and her bra. They hadn't gone further than making out and a few sessions of heavy petting that had left her breathless. They hadn't had sex yet. And it wasn't because neither of them wanted to go that far because – as far as Felicity was concerned – it was inevitable. But she continued to tell herself, and Oliver, that she wasn't ready.

The truth was, she was scared. She was barely sixteen and a virgin and she knew that she wanted Oliver to be her first but she had heard horror stories (from Laurel and Iris) of her friends losing their virginity. They'd scared her more than they'd intended to.

She gasped when Oliver suddenly sucked at the skin of her hip just above the waistband of her shorts. A jolt of electricity raced through her and she pulled hard at his hair.

"Oliver," she breathed, "Please."

He lifted his head, his blue eyes soft as he looked up at her, and she wasn't sure in that moment what exactly she was asking of him. Her fear was slowly abating as desire inched its way through her.

Her heart stuttered painfully in her chest.

"Should I stop?" he asked.

And she knew that he would. All it would take was one word from her and Oliver would pull away and give her the space she needed to get herself under control. But she didn't want to stop. Not this time.

"I don't – I don't know. Is this what you want?"

She was thankful for the cover of darkness around them, knowing her face was flaming as she asked the question.

Oliver's smile was sweet and he dipped his head, pressing a lingering kiss to her belly.

"I always want you, Flick," he murmured, "I've wanted you for a long time. But if you're not ready then we –"

"I'm ready!"

She bit her lip to stem her exclamation, her cheeks warming further, but Oliver reached for her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Are you sure? Because I'm willing to wait as long as you want."

His blue eyes were bright even in the dark and she didn't need another moment to make up her mind. The need she felt for him in that moment was overwhelming.

"I've never… I haven't –"

He moved until he was leaning over her, his eyes level with hers, and took her face into his hands. There was a bit of shyness in his expression that he didn't show her often.

"I haven't either, Flick."

She couldn't be sure why his confession had surprised her. They had been friends for as long as she could remember and in all of the time she had known him, he had never been with anyone else. He'd dated a little, mostly going out with groups of older kids that she wasn't friends with, but he'd never had a serious girlfriend before her. But a part of her had assumed, because he was two years older, that he'd had sex before.

"I'm sure, Oliver. Please, I want you to be my first."

His face lit up then and Felicity giggled at the excitement she saw there. He sat up quickly and she lifted herself onto her elbows to watch him. He toed off his shoes and reached for the button on his jeans. She had the urge to look away but she fought against it. If she was giving herself to him then seeing him naked shouldn't be something she was embarrassed about. She sat up, too, and tugged her shirt the rest of the way over her head. She tossed it aside and reached behind her back to unhook her bra.

Oliver's breathless gasp startled her and she glanced up to find him staring at her in awe. A nervous smile found its way to her face and when she reached up to remove her glasses, Oliver's hands on hers stopped her.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered, removing her frames and setting them carefully inside of his shoe.

She lay back down on the blanket and unbuttoned her shorts, wiggling her hips as Oliver pulled them down her legs. When she was completely naked, he came down over her again and she shivered.

"Are you cold?"

She shook her head, "Just – just nervous, I guess."

He kissed her cheek, his lips soft and warm as they skimmed over her skin. He moved to her jaw and then to her ear, down the column of her throat until he was suckling a hickey into her collarbone.

"I'm kind of nervous, too," he breathed against her skin, "I want you to be okay, Flick. I'll go slow, okay?"

"Not too slow."

Oliver chuckled and she relaxed a little beneath him. One hand settled on her naked hip while the other came up to cradle the weight of her breast. She gasped when he slid his thumb across her nipple.

"Oliver, do you have… do you have something?"

He nodded against her, nipping her shoulder before lifting his head to find her mouth.

"I have one."

His lips slanted over hers, hard and sure and she widened her legs a little to make room for him. He moved then and she kept her eyes closed. She clutched at his forearm, anchoring herself to him, and tried to steady the rapid thrum of her pulse. She knew what happened next and even though she'd told herself that she was ready, the slight pressure as he slid inside of her made her cry out. Oliver stilled above her, his hand on her face.

"Flick, look at me. Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Don't stop."

"Love you, Flick."

She nuzzled her face into his palm, "Love you, too, Oliver."

There had been many more experiences after that one, some wonderfully sweet and slow, others too quick and not quite satisfying, but she knew how lucky she had been to have someone like Oliver as her first. She'd gone away to college and heard things from her friends, stories much like she'd gotten from Laurel and Iris, about terrible 'first-time' experiences. And while her first time with Oliver had ended more quickly than she would've liked, she had felt safe and loved and cherished in his arms.

Their last time together had been just as precious, just as important, as their first. It had been the night before he'd left Star Island. After graduation Oliver had joined the service. She'd been the first person that he'd told and even though she'd been scared at the prospect of having to say goodbye to him, she knew that it was his only way out. He had to get away from his parents, from his father. And, in his mind, college wasn't the answer. So he'd enlisted in the Marine Corps and less than six weeks after receiving his diploma, he had snuck into her bedroom at an ungodly hour and dragged her from her bed. She'd followed him to their spot in the woods where they made love for the last time. She'd fallen asleep in his arms with tears drying on her face.

Her cell phone chirped suddenly, startling her, and Felicity dug it out of her pocket. She had a text from Ray asking where she'd run off to.

She sighed and stood, touching her fingers to the tree, tracing over the carving once again. Inside the heart that he'd drawn, there initials stood out starkly.

OJQ + FML

Felicity smiled and felt the tightness in her chest loosen just a little. She would go back to the inn and explain everything to Ray. She would explain it to him and tell him that she needed time. That she needed to get her head around Oliver's return and what that meant for her, for both of them. Her grandmother was right, she deserved to be happy and Felicity knew that her happiness would be found with Oliver if he would have her. Ray deserved to be happy, as well, and she knew that she couldn't be the one to give that to him.

It was only her second day on Star Island and already, everything had changed.