Felicity was curled up in his arms and it was one of his favorite moments of the entire day. A moment that he wished didn't have to be so fleeting. There was always this brief wondering if he could just get away with them both staying in bed for the entire day, to leave the rest of the world behind.
They couldn't.
His alarm went off and he reached out begrudgingly and silenced it with a groan.
"Five more minutes," Felicity mumbled as she tightened her hold on him.
Oliver didn't argue.
"I want to do this every morning…" she whispered.
He scooted just a bit so that his lips could brush a kiss to her forehead. Oliver's fingers pushed her hair out of her face. "We can." He leaned in and kissed her lips, passion taking over on both sides. The kiss lengthened and deepened. Eventually though, it broke. He stared at her, a bright smile spreading across his face. She was so beautiful, though she always was...breathtakingly so. "Tap my heart," he whispered as he used two fingers to tap over where his heart was.
It seemed to only make her brighten and that warmed him. Nothing made him happier than seeing her happy.
"I know you worry," Felicity whispered.
"I'm allowed to," he reminded.
"I'm going to be fine," Felicity told him. "Walking or not."
"I know that."
"Do you?"
"Mostly," Oliver admitted. It was hard for him to feel like he was giving up, even though he had no control over the situation. Felicity's body had to heal on its own time, if it ever did, in order to accept the implant. He couldn't hurry that along. It was on a timetable that no one could dictate and that was beyond frustrating. Sometimes he wondered how she stayed as bright and positive as she did.
Felicity patted his arm and then pushed herself up a bit to kiss him again. "Good. Also, breakfast…"
He smiled and nodded. "I think I can handle making breakfast."
Oliver sat up and threw his legs over the edge of the bed before pulling on a pair of pajama pants. It was a habit he'd gotten into, since so many people had a key to their loft now...far too many people had seen him in his boxers (mainly Curtis, which had resulted in startled squeaking sounds).
He was halfway down the stairs when there was a knock at the door. Brow furrowing in confusion on who could be there and be there that early (also, who would be knocking). Nevertheless, he made his way to the door and swung it open after quickly checking the peephole. Oliver was even more confused at who he found.
"My darling Oliver!" Donna Smoak exclaimed before throwing her arms around him. "I came as soon as Quentin called!" She pulled back, still ahold of his upper arms. "Why didn't you call me? What were you thinking?!"
Donna had already allowed herself in and dropped her bags inside the door, Quentin was closing the door behind them both and just gave him a shrug. Oliver knew that this was likely to come up, but he also knew that there were always pros and cons to Donna being in Star City. "We were going to…" he rambled. When she turned and gave him a look that told him that she knew better than that, he realized that it reminded him of a look that Felicity gave him when she was calling him out for crap she didn't believe. "But now you're here...in Star City."
"Where's my Felicity?"
"Upstairs, still in bed," Oliver said. "I was just going to make breakfast. Why don't you and Quentin stay for breakfast? I'll go up and let Felicity know that you're here-"
"I don't know why you don't just convert some of this downstairs space into a bedroom, so that Felicity has better access," Donna said as she motioned around. "It just seems like the smarter thing to do-"
"Okay, Donna," Quentin said gently as he put his arms around her and guided her towards the kitchen. "Maybe we can talk about this later."
"Do you think I'm wrong?"
"I didn't say that," Oliver could hear Quentin say as he led Donna towards the kitchen.
This wasn't exactly how he expected things to go that morning and he wasn't sure what Felicity was going to take of it all. Oliver took one last look at their retreating forms before climbing up to the bedroom. Felicity was sitting there on the edge of the bed and it was clear that she had been awake to hear everything. "I didn't know," Oliver said in defense almost immediately.
"I know," she said with a slight sigh. "I just know she hates seeing me like this...and then she fusses more than normal."
Oliver leaned in and kissed her before scooping her up. He knew that Felicity always felt like she was somehow negatively impacting his day because there were parts where she needed help, but he never saw it like that. "Maybe she'll be less worried because the engagement is back on?"
"Yeah, she'll definitely have other questions with that," Felicity pointed out. "But more than anything, the engagement will only serve as a minor distraction."
Maybe she was right.
He'd respected Felicity's wishes about her mother being there and knowing, but now this was out of both of their hands. He hadn't called Donna, but rather it had been Quentin. Oliver realized that it must have been difficult for the older man, who had loved Donna Smoak and things had ended...unexpectedly and quickly. For him to be the one to call her and bring her here, it spoke volumes about his love of Felicity.
For the moment, he knew that he wasn't needed up there, but he could still sense the tension in her. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head and squeezed her. "I'll go down and get breakfast started and try to keep your mother distracted…"
"I thought that's what Quentin was doing?" she asked quietly.
"It has to be awkward."
"So is your mother being called by someone else...after the fact," Felicity pointed out.
She wasn't wrong.
"Are you saying that he deserves the awkwardness?"
"Maybe…"
He just smiled and pressed a kiss into her hair before heading downstairs.
"Am I never going to meet my grandson then?"
Felicity was the first one to react, almost instantly so, a startled choking on her coffee. Oliver had been caught off guard as well by Donna's casual question between bites of french toast. It hit him a beat and a half later, realizing that Quentin didn't look as shocked by Donna's outburst. Not wanting things to go any further with Felicity's confusion at what her mother actually meant. Or at least, it was what he hoped that Donna meant. "William is in Central City with his mother, but I'm sure there will be a time for you to meet him."
"I can't wait," Donna commented.
"How long are you going to stay, Mom?" Felicity questioned calmly.
"As long as you need me, of course."
"And of course we will be happy to have you here in Star City," Oliver spoke up. "Though, I'm not sure what good company we'll be."
"Well, of course you're mayor now and you have to be terribly busy...but Felicity must be so lonely here while you're out working so hard," Donna said.
"Curtis is always here," Quentin pointed out. "And Thea and-"
"That's not the same," Donna nearly immediately put out there. "It should really be me here with Felicity while she's recovering."
Before, Donna had been there through it all. She'd seen Felicity at death's door. She'd seen her through physical therapy. She'd seen her through so many struggles. She'd seen her walk again. Now, she saw her having lost it all going. Oliver was certain that she had to be positive that it could all happen again, that Felicity would walk again...even though right now...it was up to the universe at that point. Having Donna there could be good, but at the same time...he knew that she could push Felicity too far.
"Mom, me staying here in the loft for extended periods of time is only a temporary thing," Felicity spoke up.
"But I thought with you not being CEO of Palmer Tech anymore that that meant that you had nothing else to do," Donna said slowly and a bit confused. "Or are you keeping something else from me?"
They were keeping a whole other life from Donna, but they had to. She couldn't know about Team Arrow. She'd be so terrified for Felicity and probably for all of them. That was the last thing that they needed.
"Curtis and I have actually been talking about doing a startup tech company."
"You haven't said anything about it to me," Oliver spoke up, surprised at what he was hearing. He thought it was a good idea and obviously a good fit for their talents, plus it would give them a lot more flexibility compared to what they'd been able to do at Palmer Tech. It made sense.
"It's just been us going 'what about this?' back and forth," Felicity admitted. "We don't even have a name or an actual plan."
"You'll figure it out."
"Is that really something that you want to do, though, Sweetie?" Donna asked Felicity.
"What do you mean?" Felicity asked in between bites.
Oliver could already tell by tones that this wasn't going anywhere good, but before he could open his mouth to say anything to distract from the current topic of conversation, Quentin spoke up.
"You know, it's amazing the things that Felicity and Curtis can do," Quentin said. "I mean, past the whole regular technology thing… I mean, Curtis made that thing that helped Felicity walk before."
Felicity seemed to brighten at Quentin's intervention. "It was using other Palmer Technologies, but yes-"
"I just don't think it's realistic, Sweetie," her mother started up again.
This was not going to go anywhere good fast.
"So, Donna...Felicity and I were talking about dates," Oliver tried to distract. He knew that it was just temporary, but at least it would give them some breathing time to figure out how to convince Donna that the tech startup was a good idea. "I'm thinking that we should really have a big celebration, take some time to plan it…" He purposely took a breath, leaving it open for someone else to say something in order to either keep the conversation going or give Donna a moment to switch to that subject to voice her opinion on.
"You know, if I can put in my own two cents," Quentin said before Donna even had a chance to say anything. "Life is short. You two are perfect for each other. Why wait? Let's gather your closest friends and family and plan something small and something soon."
"You know, I have to agree with Quentin on this," Donna finally said. "You two have been friends for so long and worked through so much already, do you really think that you honestly need another year or more just to plan a big event? I don't think either of you want that anyways."
"Isn't it something that you want, though?" Felicity asked her mother.
Donna sighed and looked at Felicity. "Sweetie, I have almost lost you too many times over the years...especially recently...and I just...I just want to see you happy. I want you to both be happy together."
"I won't be able to walk down the aisle this time."
"You don't know that."
"The doctors have given a very low percentage that the implant would work again," Oliver spoke up, quiet and calm about the topic.
"And I have to wait to even try," Felicity added. "They want to give it its best chance if we do try it again, which means more healing time."
"Are you sure that your doctor is the best?" Donna asked.
"Yes. I'm sure."
"I just, I just want you to have the best day, Sweetie."
"And I will...if everyone I love is there...and everyone is happy for me."
That seemed to ease things.
"Now, back to your tech company idea, how are you going to focus on being a wife and being married if you're running a company?" Donna asked, flipping back to the previous subject quickly. "I mean, don't get me wrong...I'm excited to meet William, but I'd like you two to give me more grandchildren."
He watched Felicity bring her palm up to cover her face. He could feel the tension and didn't miss Quentin rolling his eyes either. This was definitely not where they wanted this breakfast to go. He'd hoped that she'd just focus on the wedding, but it really was never that easy when it came to Donna. She just always had an idea in her head and she really wanted to see and know it would play out.
"We haven't really talked about all of that, Donna, but I can say for sure...I want Felicity to be happy...which is going to mean the startup company," Oliver said gently. "She and Curtis could change the world with their company and their technologies."
"But what will people think? You are the mayor, Oliver," Donna pointed out.
"And he's a damn fine one," Quentin spoke up again. "The public also adores Felicity...and I never heard of anyone having an issue about what Felicity did for a career. Honestly, I think they just see a strong, smart, and beautiful young woman who's in love with Oliver...so they fall in love with her too."
"I just thought that maybe being the wife of a mayor might be a bit more involved."
"Not quite the same as something like the first lady of the country."
"I just worry...is all."
"But there's no need," Oliver said gently.
And there wasn't.
TBC…
