A/N: We've reached the end of the journey on this crazy show. I hope you all enjoyed it! :)
Chapter 8: After The Final Rose
Felicity Smoak fiddled with the arrow-shaped ring on her left hand while she waited backstage for her cue. Tonight was the night she and Oliver had been waiting for. The night the world would finally get to see who she had picked at the end of the show and the night that she and Oliver could finally be with each other in the public eye.
Malcolm Merlyn was going through his usual monologue as he introduced the after show. He was seated at the center of the stage with a loveseat and another chair across from him. The audience followed along with his words and cheered, "aww-ed," and booed at the appropriate times.
Felicity was being fitted with a microphone and her makeup and hair was being touched up in a way that would have felt natural while she was doing the show, but she'd since grown out of, so now it felt invasive. Amanda was whispering something in her headset and clutching her clipboard close to her chest.
"Please help me welcome our Bachelorette, Felicity Smoak!" Malcolm crooned. The audience started cheering, and Felicity felt Amanda nudge her forward while whispering "go!" Felicity did as she was told and stepped onto the stage, raising a hand to block out the blinding spotlight that was shining in her eyes.
Smile, she reminded herself.
She walked towards Malcolm, who pulled her into one of those fake hugs you give to people when you want to make it look like you're friends. Malcolm motioned for Felicity to sit down across from him on the white loveseat. Felicity smoothed out her red dress and took a seat, willing her heart to settle down from the rapid staccato it was beating at being on live television in front of a large crowd.
"Felicity," Malcolm said, giving her a warm smile. "Welcome back!"
"I'm glad to be here," Felicity responded, only half lying.
"We all just watched the heart-stopping conclusion to your journey to find love. I will say, it was difficult to watch you stomp all over my son's heart…" He paused and looked at the audience with a charming grin. They laughed and Felicity plastered on an awkward, sheepish smile. "But after seeing the ending with Oliver, no one can deny that you two belong together."
Here the audience cheered and Felicity felt her face heating up in a mixture of gratitude and chagrin at the warm reception.
"You know that you and Oliver are on track to be our most beloved match yet!" Malcolm continued to the tune of more audience applause.
"That's um…wow," Felicity said with a nervous laugh, her palms starting to sweat at all the attention.
"What do you think it is about you two that appeals so much to the audience?"
"Uh…," Felicity looked around. Why hadn't Amanda prepped her about what kinds of questions she'd be asked? She was probably about to embarrass herself on live television by spitting out some insane innuendo by accident. "I guess just because … we love each other?"
The audience cooed and applauded.
Malcolm smiled his best TV host smile. "That's the crux of it, isn't it? Well let's not keep everyone in suspense. Let's reunite you two lovebirds! Oliver, come on out!"
Felicity looked off the stage behind her and watched Oliver emerge. She hadn't seen him since that morning when they arrived for some interviews and other prep together. He was wearing a blue button-down shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
Damn him. He knew what that look did to her.
He caught her eye and smiled happily, but his eyes were teasing. She just smiled and shook her head slightly.
She stood as Oliver approached and he pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her just below her ear. She giggled when he whispered in her ear something not so innocent about the dress she was wearing. He pulled back with a grin, then kissed her firmly on the lips. She smiled against his lips and kissed him back, letting her hands rest in their second favorite place against the nape of his neck (her first favorite place wasn't somewhere she could touch on TV without embarrassing both of them).
The audience hooted at the display of affection.
"Hey," Oliver whispered as he pulled back enough to rest his forehead against hers.
"Hi," she smirked. He laughed.
"Take a seat, you two!" Malcolm commanded. "We have questions for you!"
Oliver put his hand on Felicity's back and they sat down together on the loveseat. Oliver draped one arm behind Felicity and rested it against her waist. With his other hand, he clasped Felicity's hand in his own and began to draw patterns on it– something he'd done since the beginning when he was trying to distract himself or her. Felicity scooted close into his side and placed her free hand on his thigh.
"So," Malcolm began. "Where have you guys been? What have you been up to since that swoon-worthy ending?"
Oliver looked at Felicity. "We've been traveling all over," Felicity answered. "We stayed in Bali for a while, then we just picked some places and we went."
"You should have seen her trying to hike through the Andes while carrying her tablet," Oliver teased.
Felicity's mouth dropped open and she nudged him playfully. "Hey! At least I didn't take a walking stick, old man."
Oliver laughed and leaned towards her slightly. "If memory serves, you liked the walking stick."
Felicity bit her lip in an attempt to keep her smile in.
"Sounds like a fascinating story!" Malcolm interrupted, drawing the attention back to himself. "So you've just been traveling and keeping a low profile?"
"Well, we've made a few stops back at home in between so Felicity could check in on her company in person and I could check in with my sister," Oliver clarified, squeezing Felicity's side playfully.
"Ah yes," Malcolm sighed dramatically. "How are things between the family? I know you two had a rocky hometown date."
Felicity felt Oliver shift a bit. In the past few months, they'd talked about every aspect of that date and the almost break-up. They'd put it behind them, but it still made Oliver a little uncomfortable to remember it. Felicity spoke up so he didn't have to. "Thea is great," she smiled. "We've been talking a lot on the phone and she's even flown out to meet us for the weekend at a few of our travel destinations."
"So she forgives her brother for the whole mom situation?" Malcolm pressed, a glint in his eye that irritated Felicity.
"Of course she does," Felicity defended. "It wasn't Oliver's idea to orchestrate that."
"My sister and I have our own issues to work through with our mother," Oliver added quietly. "But we'll do that on our own. Off-screen."
Malcolm's smile froze, but his eyes frowned. Felicity knew off-camera was a dirty word around here. "So my next question is about the show. What was it like watching it back? Oliver? How did it feel seeing Felicity with all the other men?"
This time Felicity shifted uncomfortably. Oliver knew that her relationships with the other men were never anywhere close to what she had with him. She'd told him before the show even aired exactly who she'd kissed and when and how Amanda had made her say things to make it sound like she was interested in a serious relationship with some of them. He'd accepted her at her word. It also didn't hurt that Tommy had called the night of the finale taping to congratulate them and to assure Oliver that he and Felicity had never been anything but friends.
During the show, Oliver had never let on that her spending time with the other men troubled him in the slightest. It was only afterwards that he confessed that the further in they got, the more it started to bother him. She'd laughed for a good ten minutes when he'd told her that he had trouble liking Ray Palmer because he thought maybe she actually liked him. She'd shoved him playfully when he told her he could tell right away she wouldn't go for Barry since he looked young enough to be carded every time he went to a bar.
"I mean…," Oliver began in answer to Malcolm's question, "it's never fun to watch the woman you love with someone else." He looked at her then and she squeezed his hand. "But I'm confident in what we have. She chose me, so that's what matters."
The audience applauded and Malcolm nodded in approval. "But where there things that were hard to watch back?" he probed, looking between them. "Like the Slade portions, for example?"
Oliver stiffened slightly and Felicity laughed awkwardly. Oliver had tried to make her skip over some of the scenes where Slade was talking to the men in the house, but she'd watched them anyway. He had been right. Slade had said some truly ugly things about her.
"Well the good thing about the show airing months after it was filmed is that I've had plenty of time to move on from that incident. It's also good because there are certain people I don't have to see again," Felicity responded diplomatically.
The audience cheered.
Malcolm smiled like the cat that ate the canary.
Felicity eyed him suspiciously and knew Oliver was doing the same by the way his hand gripped hers a little tighter.
"As a matter of fact," Malcolm began, "Slade Wilson contacted us a few weeks ago hoping to have a chance to meet with you to apologize."
"No," Felicity and Oliver replied at the same time.
"He's here tonight!" Malcolm beamed.
The audience gasped.
Felicity felt the blood drain from her face and Oliver go completely still.
The episode where Slade had been sent home really had been hard to watch. Despite Oliver's warnings, she'd wanted to watch it all. Before that show, Slade had made a few rude comments behind her back about her looks, and she was expecting more of the same.
She'd been wrong. The way Slade had talked about her behind her back on the date – the things he'd said, and the show had aired, about her personal values, about her work ethic, about her personal life were abhorrent. She'd cried in the shower after she'd watched it. When Oliver had found her, he looked like he would have murdered Slade if the man had been on the same continent as him at the time. Instead, he'd just stepped under the spray, fully clothed, and hugged her and told her how he knew it wasn't true and so would America.
She did not want to talk to Slade tonight. Or ever.
"Malcolm, no," Oliver said in a low voice. His arm around Felicity's waist had pulled her impossibly closer and his thumb was rubbing circles against her hip.
Malcolm ignored him and turned to face the audience and the camera. "We have questions about his behavior, so Slade Wilson, come on out!"
In a daze, Felicity stood up and watched as Slade entered the stage from the right to a chorus of mixed claps and boos. Oliver stood next to her, his hand on her back reminding her he was there and that this painfully awkward situation would be over soon and they could go back to their hotel room and find ways to erase the whole thing from their memories.
Malcolm greeted Slade with a handshake. Slade then turned towards Oliver and Felicity and extended his hand. Oliver reached out and shook it, but his face clearly showed he wasn't happy to do it. Slade then looked to Felicity.
"Ah, lovely Felicity. I'm glad to see you." Slade leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek before she could stop him. Irritated, she put her hand on his chest and stepped further into Oliver's side. Slade smirked, then plopped down in the chair next to the loveseat. Before they sat down, Oliver subtly shifted behind her so that he was sitting between her and Slade. She was grateful. After the things Slade had said, that man was lucky she hadn't snapped and clawed his eyes out or something just now.
"Slade, you were certainly a polarizing figure this season. Let's take a look back at your journey on the show!" Malcolm announced as the lights dimmed.
Felicity groaned and she felt Oliver kiss the top of her head.
On the big screen behind them, clips of some of Slade's more notorious moments began to play. She watched as Slade taunted Oliver by the pool at the mansion, then punched him in the face when Oliver bit back. She watched as she climbed the obstacle course and Slade yelled something up at her to try to distract her. She heard him make a lewd comment to Oliver about her ass that she hadn't heard on that day and she saw Oliver shove him – which she'd seen in that moment but not understood the context.
She watched as Slade bragged to the men in the house about how many models he'd dated and about how Felicity was clearly the least attractive of any of his romantic prospects. She heard him talk about how a nerd like her probably didn't know how to have a normal conversation or use her hands for anything other than clicking a mouse – giving voice to some of the insecurities she'd had before Oliver had helped her mostly leave them behind.
She saw him telling the other men at the gym on the boxing date that she probably only got the capital to start her company by doing work on her knees.
"Malcolm, is this necessary?" she heard Oliver grit out beside her.
She ground her teeth together when she heard Slade boasting that the only thing he'd ever want from Felicity would be sex, and how even that might not make her worth his time.
The final clip they showed was Oliver punching Slade – earning a smattering of applause – and Slade being carted out of the gym by security. The lights came back up and the audience was quiet.
"So Slade," Malcolm began. "Those were some harsh words. Anything you want to say for yourself?"
Slade paused, then smirked. "I make a habit of saying what a mean."
Felicity narrowed her eyes at him while the crowd booed.
"I thought you wanted to apologize?" Oliver demanded, turning to Slade.
"I do," Slade assured him, looking around him to Felicity. "Sweet Felicity, I want to apologize for letting you think that I'd ever physically lay a hand on you. Although I do think that rumor was perpetuated by the man next to you."
Felicity bristled. "You're apologizing for implying you'd hit me? Out of everything, that's what you're sorry about?"
"Well, yeah." He shrugged, then looked at the audience with a smarmy grin.
"Unbelievable," Oliver muttered next to her. Slade reached across Oliver towards Felicity's hand. Oliver glared and shoved the other man's hand away. "Don't," he growled.
"Oliver," Felicity said quietly, placing a hand on his arm. Oliver looked at her and seemed to get the message to stand down. His jaw clenched, but he sat back in his seat and stopped using his body as a barrier between her and Slade.
Felicity turned her attention to Slade. "Slade, through the course of the show, you said disgusting, defamatory things about me. You're not asking for forgiveness, so I'm not giving it. But I'm also not giving you any more of my time or attention. You can say what you want, but I know it's not true, Oliver knows it's not true, and they know it's not true." Felicity motioned to the audience and was met with an eruption of applause.
Slade looked at the crowd and frowned.
"So whatever your angle is, you can give it up right now. I won't let you earn your fame by bringing me down."
Slade's face turned red and a vein in his forehead throbbed when he looked out at the audience and saw some people standing and clapping at Felicity's words. Felicity smiled at the audience, grateful for the support. Oliver squeezed her hand and gave her a proud smile.
Suddenly, Slade yanked the microphone off his shirt and stood up.
"You said he'd hit me for this!" he yelled to someone off stage. Suspiciously, he was looking at the same place Amanda had been. "You said the audience would appreciate the drama!" He turned to the audience then. "You want drama? I'll show you drama!"
Slade turned back to where Oliver and Felicity were sitting, his eyes lit with a deranged rage. Felicity supposed the guy hadn't kicked his steroid habit since his mood had flipped in an instant. Before she could register what was happening, Oliver had yanked her into a standing position and shoved her behind him. Slade grabbed the arm of the chair he'd been sitting in and flung the chair as hard as he could off the stage. It flipped over and slid into one of the standing cameras with a crash. The audience gasped in shock and horror.
In the next moment, Felicity was glad Oliver had forced her off the couch and was crowding her backwards towards the back of the stage because Slade turned on the loveseat and crouched down, placing his hands underneath it. With a heave, he hoisted the couch up so that it flipped upside down and then tipped off the stage.
Felicity's nails dug into Oliver's forearm as she watched the bizarre scene – unsure of whether to laugh or run backstage in terror.
"He's a fucking lunatic," Oliver mumbled as he watched.
Malcolm was off to the side frantically waving his arms and shouting "Commercial break! Commercial break!"
Felicity saw the red "recording" light tick off and then a team of security guards rushed in to subdue Slade and drag him off the stage. He went with them, shouting the whole time about how he just wanted "his moment." Whatever that meant.
The production assistants rushed in to reset the stage, and one of them came up to Oliver and Felicity and ushered them back over to the righted loveseat. Before they sat, Oliver turned to her and placed his hands on her cheek. "Are you ok?" he whispered.
Felicity looked around and saw a final production assistant picking up the pieces of Slade's shattered microphone. She bit back a laugh and turned her eyes back to Oliver. "I'm fine. I'll be glad when we can leave the ridiculous drama of this show behind."
He grinned and kissed her quickly. "Me too."
They sat down and the PA held up fingers to signal a countdown until they were live again.
When the light turned red again, Malcolm spoke. "Welcome back everyone! Well that was certainly a dramatic turn of events." He looked at the audience and gave a cheesy grin while they laughed and cheered. "Slade Wilson has been removed from the premises and will not be allowed back. Clearly he has not moved past his inappropriate and violent tendencies. Shame on him."
The crowd cheered and Felicity smiled while trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. As if Amanda hadn't known exactly what would happen when Slade got on stage and was met with a different response than he was expecting.
"So let's focus back on our happy couple!" Malcolm continued. "Oliver, Felicity, tell us what's in store for the future? Maybe a relocation to the same city is in the works?"
Oliver looked at Felicity and smiled. "Yeah actually," Felicity began, not able to contain her happy grin. "While we've been traveling, I've actually been working on getting the paperwork and permits in order to open a new branch of Smoak Technologies in Star City." The audience cheered and Oliver kissed her temple. "Once the show is over, Oliver and I are going to head back to Star City and I can start setting up and hiring people and, hopefully, getting to work on our new bio-tech project."
Malcolm waited for the clapping to die down before speaking. "What about you, Oliver? You expressed an interest in politics when you were on the show. Will anything come of that?"
Felicity squeezed Oliver's hand. She knew how much he wanted that and how hard he'd worked to research and study some important city issues with her over the past few months. "Well," he began, "the next election isn't for another year and a half, but I'm hoping to spend that time getting familiar with the issues and participating in my local government in every way I can. Who knows? Maybe running for office is something I can do in the future to give back to my city."
Again, the audience cheered and Felicity felt emotion rising in her chest. She wanted everything for Oliver. She knew how important it was for him to be seen as better than his past mistakes, and hearing the audience embracing him and cheering for him? It was a dream. It was better than a dream. It made any contrived drama she had to sit through well worth it just to see the bashful smile bloom on the face of the man she loved.
"What about for you two together?" Malcolm probed. "When we left you in Bali, you exchanged some pretty powerful words. What can we expect for you two in the future?"
Oliver and Felicity locked eyes and smiled.
"I guess we'll see," Felicity answered coyly.
"Actually, I have something I'd like to say," Oliver announced. Felicity raised an eyebrow at him, and he just took her hands and smiled. "Felicity. Like I told you at the end of the crazy journey on the show, I never expected to find you. Somewhere between 'hello' and the roses each week, I fell in love with you. I loved you then, and I love you even more now, if that's even possible. You make me laugh, you surprise me, you challenge me, and you make me thankful every day that I signed up to go on a reality television show." Felicity laughed a little and he smiled. "This show brought us together, so I thought it was only fitting that we took the next step at the very end of it."
Oliver scooted off the loveseat and knelt down in front of her.
On one knee.
Felicity stopped breathing. The audience screamed and cheered. He took her hands again.
"I want to go to sleep next you and wake up beside you every day for the rest of my life. I want to give you a home with a yard and a couple kids. I want to be there to watch you create miracles with your technology. I want to spend forever watching your face turn pink every time you babble and your eyes light up every time you talk about computer coding."
"Oliver," Felicity whispered, wiping at her eyes – her heart beating wildly and almost drowning out his beautiful words.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black, velvety box. He opened it and Felicity gasped when she saw the most beautiful diamond ring sparkling against the spotlights.
"Felicity Smoak, will you make me the happiest man on the face of the earth? Will you marry me?"
Felicity wasn't in control of her body as she nodded, chanted "yes", and sank to her knees in front of him. He made quick work of transferring her arrow ring to her right hand, then replacing it with the engagement ring on her right. When he was finished, she grabbed his face and pulled him close to smash their lips together.
She couldn't even hear the audience's cheers or see their standing ovation because she was so consumed by him and how much she loved him in that moment.
He kissed her for another moment, then pulled her to him in a bone-crushing hug and buried his face in her neck. She hugged him back just as tightly. As unconventional as it sounded, she'd found her happily ever after on a TV show where she least expected it. Signing up for this stupid, frustrating, sometimes annoying TV show had ended up being the best choice she'd ever made. She could no longer even imagine her life without Oliver in it.
"Well, that's our show folks! Tune in next season to watch my son, Tommy Merlyn, search for true love!" Malcolm crooned as the finale music started to play over the loud cheering and clapping of the audience.
Oliver loosened his hold just enough to look at Felicity - their faces still close enough that they were breathing the same air.
"I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too," she affirmed, kissing him.
The red "recording" light flicked off as the credits rolled on the big screen. The show was officially over, but their lives were just beginning. Felicity had never been more excited for the end of a television show.
