X.

Felicity

Fire.

There was fire everywhere.

Looking back on it, she should have known that something would eventually happen. It was too good to be true, and they had an incredibly good track record for incredibly shitty luck. Naive. That's what she had been.

Stupid, reckless, naive, and just about every bad adjective her overly active brain could come up with.

Fire… and smoke.

Was that Oliver? She thought she could see him, but her eyes were getting blurry. They were dry, too dry, the heat of the fire sucking away all moisture from her.

She didn't want him to find her like this. Not now, not ever. He would blame himself. Nowadays Felicity was positive that suchwas Oliver's super power. Where Barry now had super speed, Oliver had super guilt. He really did have an uncanny ability to stupidly shoulder the blame for everything, even the things that had absolutely nothing to do with him.

Okay, so this one kind of had something to do with him, but not in the way he would take it, not in the way she knew he would react.

Fire, smoke, and screams. There were screams everywhere, the sound breaking through to Felicity as her ears finally stopped ringing. She had hit her head, smashed it really, against the cold hard cement of the ground and darkness had consumed her. Felicity knew that she had been knocked unconscious, but for just how long she wasn't sure. Maybe too long.

"Felicity!"

Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice. Even now, even while she was in a situation that demanded her to remain focused and unfazed, she couldn't help reacting to him. Felicity didn't think she ever would.

Fire… fire everywhere.

Two months ago-

"Do you remember that I told you that because of who I was… I didn't think I could be with someone I could really care about?"

The night had gone… unexpectedly well. A small part of her brain had begun to make her tense a little as the seconds passed, but seconds turned into minutes, and soon those minutes morphed into an hour, then two. The small sense of paranoia - something she attributed to John and Oliver one hundred percent, since she had never been even remotely close to paranoid before those two came into her life - began to ease. And finally, when it seemed like the restaurant wouldn't get blown to smithereens, Felicity felt herself truly throw herself into the moment.

It was everything she had hoped it would be.

There was something that simply felt… right about being there. With Oliver. Her and Oliver. Smoak and Queen. Or was it Queen and Smoak? Would he care who's last name came first? It was only her thoughts after all, but even she knew those thoughts had an uncanny pension for coming out of her mouth and not staying in her head where they belonged.

The food was delicious (of course) and the wine he had convinced her into ordering halfway into the meal had been divine. There was a small sparkle in his eyes when she tasted the wine, and Felicity thought for maybe just a second that he knew she had taken a bottle or two - okay maybe three, she really was sucker for a good wine - from the Verdant cellar. She wouldn't be surprised if he did. The man was always aware of everything and everyone around him - physically at least - a skill and habit she was sure he had picked up during his years away. A need to always be in tune to his surroundings, to analyze and plan everything.

She wondered if that need would ever go away.

She doubted it, but if it did, it could only mean peace.

He deserved peace.

Oliver drove them back to her apartment, listening all the while as she talked and talked and talked. Despite her claims that they had already exhausted every topic that was date worthy, she found that there were still a lot of things that she could tell him. About her time at MIT, about her horrible goth phase - because really the blonde (while not natural) suited her a lot more than the black - and hacking just to post on hacker forums and brag that yeah she could, because she was the best of the best and she really wasn't kidding when she had told Barry that when it came to hacking she was the fastest woman alive.

So she talked and he listened, and if she wasn't so sure her eyes were playing tricks on her she could have sworn the look on his face was one of pure concentration, as if he were committing her every word to memory and everything she said had his complete and upmost attention.

When the small chime of the elevator sounded Felicity felt herself become tense, her fingers fluttering at her sides (almost as if she were searching for her keyboard, though as to why she wasn't sure). Oliver motioned for her to go first and she obliged him, stepping out onto the hallway and making a beeline for her apartment. She didn't wait for him or look over to make sure he was following, already certain that he was.

Felicity struggled with the doorknob for a second, and this time she didn't even have the "it's kind of broken" excuse that she used to have. No sirie, that was all her. Stupid nerves. She wasn't exactly sure what they would do now. Should she invite him for a nightcap? Should she invite him in at all? What would he take that as, an invitation to climb into her bed where (admittedly she wanted him very badly) she wasn't sure she was ready to have him? Sure she had waited two and a half years for this day, but now that the moment was here she found herself freezing up.

Yes she wanted Oliver in any and every sense of the word, but at the same time she couldn't help but compare herself to his past conquests. Not in the sense that she felt inferior to any of them, because frankly there was no use in doing that. Felicity knew she was pretty, beautiful even when she actually did something with herself. No, it was the fact that she knew they had all been eager and quick to jump into bed with the Oliver Queen, and look how long or how well those relationships had lasted.

She wanted this to last.

Oliver's hand came into view, gently easing her fingers out of the way before giving the key and doorknob and easy twist. The door swung open and Felicity quickly stepped inside. A nightcap it would be, but that was as far as it would go tonight.

Maybe some other night… soon. Damn her traitorous brain.

She turned around just then, mouth open and ready to invite him for just one more glass of wine - because wine was awesome and she could use the liquid courage right about now - when the look on his face stopped her.

"Felicity," he whispered.

He closed the space between them and reached for her.

Felicity had always thought that romantic comedies were a bit overdone. Great to watch and sometimes down right addicting to the point where she would honker down for the night with a good pint of mint chip and power her way through three or four in one night, but still a little overdone. The fireworks that the protagonists supposedly saw, the foot popping kiss and all that jazz frankly seemed a little bit too cheesy. If she'd said it once she'd say it again, she might have been blonde, but not that blonde.

Well Felicity, now you see where those screenwriters get it from, sometimes her brain was too capable for her own good.

When Oliver kissed her she saw fireworks, and damn it she would be lying if she said her foot didn't rise off the floor just a little. His lips were soft, as Felicity always thought they'd be. His tongue licked at her bottom lip, asking for entrance that she quickly granted. It wasn't rough, or desperate, he took his time with her, exploring her as his tongue stroked against hers, flicked at the back of her teeth and the roof of her mouth. He tasted of their food and scotch and a unique taste she was positive was completely Oliver. He reached up to cup her face, the rough pads of his fingertips gently grazing against the skin of her cheeks. Her own hands came up to clasp together at the back of his neck, grabbing at the short hairs at the base of his skull. She gave them a small tug and an animalistic growl rumbled deep in Oliver's chest. Their breaths came in pants, becoming more harsh as their kisses sped up, slowly becoming more intense.

It would be the most natural thing right now, to lead him to her bedroom. God knew she'd felt this kind of physical attraction to him for almost three years now. She'd half made up her mind to tug him in the direction of her bedroom when their lips parted.

She'd be lying if she said she didn't like the way he was breathless as well when they seperated. He pressed his forehead against hers, his hands still gently caressing her cheeks. Desire coiled low in her belly at the way his eyes darkened with need.

"We should probably stop now," he murmured.

"Probably."

He sighed and closed his eyes, leaning in to press his lips to hers in a quick kiss. Her heart thumped loudly in her ears at the contact. Oliver stepped back from her then, shoving his hands firmly in his pockets as if hoping to contain them.

She grinned at him in response, "does this mean that there's going to be a second date?"

His answering smile was nearly blinding. "And a second, and third, and fourth…" He trailed off, his voice becoming lower as he searched her face.

What he was looking for, she wasn't exactly sure, but she thought - hoped really - that maybe he found it.

"I should… go."

"You can stay… if you want." The offer was out of her mouth before she could stop it, her cheeks instantly flushed.

He stepped forward again, and for a second Felicity thought he was going to take her up on her offer. His hands came up to catch her face again as he pulled her in for another kiss. Oliver kept the kiss short, his lips soft and slow against hers.

"Not tonight," his eyes captured hers, and even she couldn't deny the desire that she saw there. "But soon," he promised, his voice husky.

She tried her best to pretend her stomach didn't do that awful - yet oh so good - lurch it did at the thought. Oliver let her go, walking towards her door. Unfortunately she didn't exactly trust her knees not to give out from under her if she tried to follow him. He paused once when he opened the door, turning back to give her a smile.

When he was finally gone she turned and flopped down onto her couch. Fingers curling around the coin in her purse, she brought it out to examine it. Such a small thing and yet it was causing so much turmoil, though she really only had herself to blame for that one. Her brow furrowed as she turned it over and over.

Untapped potential….

It was red….

The coin soon found its way back into her purse. She would tell Oliver everything, about the coin, about Gwen, about the Daughters of Wisdom (whatever they were), because even though she didn't know much about them, she knew one thing.

When she kissed Oliver there was fire.

Fire everywhere.

AN: Another short chapter, I know I'm sorry, but I cut them off where they lend themselves to be cut off. The next one will probably be a lot longer, as I have many things I need to put into the next one.

A thank you to Lililovingreading for her awesomeness! foxxandbeanz continue to be an amazing source of motivation and yes dear you are an enabler, embrace it, it's a good thing! To everyone who reviewed, you are all amazing and a permanent part of my heart. I can't thank any of you enough. I try to respond to as many of them as I can, and if I don't respond it's mostly because I don't want to say anything that could possibly give away too much of the future. Even though I tease some of you with spoilers.

Sorry for the delay, but I'm not much accustomed to writing kiss scenes, and I had to read a lot of fan fictions out there (from every fandom I could think of) to get this as close to good as I could get it.

On the other hand! Wow! All ten reviews so quick! I should request (demand cough cough) those things from the beginning haha. There are only a couple more chapters left, and I would really love to break into the 100 zone before then.

The title has changed (for those of you who might have noticed and those who didn't), to dig up the bones (but leave the soul alone). I said in the beginning the story was still evolving in my head, and at the time it started the previous titles matched it perfectly, but now it kind of doesn't, as my baby continues to mature and grow (in the plot sense of the word).

So I will ask for… 14 reviews before posting chapter 11. Is that too random a number? I kind of feel it is, but it's also my lucky number, so yay 14! Leave any love if you have it. :)

P.S. I am now on tumblr guys! blog/1strangeness-charm1