I feel like an idiot repeating myself all the time, but I cannot thank you enough for all of your support. The reviews you leave are amazing, I love reading every single one and I appreciate all of this more than I can adequately express! People re-reading everything and commenting again (here's looking at you KillingMEsoftly! Thank you!) is just amazing and overwhelming in the best way. Know that you are the reason I am updating so fast (even if it might take a few days until I can give you the next chapter – you know: life).

Much love to all the followers, but especially to: 11-Dino (that joke about Deutsche Bahn made me laugh out loud, seriously! That was brilliant), cruzstar (very cool, I agree), LillyD11 (don't know, if that was the kind of bath she had in mind ;-) ), michellemaldonado (I hope you won't hate me after this chapter ;-) ), lizb1813 (they didn't head downstream, because the writer of this fic is a child-city who doesn't know anything about being in the wilderness. If Oliver is being stupid, it's my fault), sakura-blossom62 (3), Jessimicah (thanks), Yelena89 (thank you!), foxxandbeanz (no, I thank YOU!), ReaderKas (glad I could make you giggle, despite the danger), TygTag (YAY! Laughter! I love laughter!), emilyhotcher-olicity-bethyl (welcome to the party, glad you enjoyed catching up!), iluvfangs (scary and light – exactly the combination I was going for! :D), onetreefan (thank you!), NorthernLights25 (thank you so much!), KillingMeSoftly (yes, the German is legit. Google translate will give you a dodgy translation that will give you a basic sense of what was said, I think...) and the guests that took the time to review.

Okay, that was a lot. More than enough said; on to what we're all here for:

10. The limitations of being in Arrow-mode

Good thing he had saved bullets. There were fourteen of them left – somewhere on the ground of the river. He couldn't believe he had lost the gun. Felicity had called it a minor thing and had reminded him of the second gun that was in their backpack; but that minor thing bugged Oliver, because it was just one aspect of the many things that were just going wrong at the moment. The overall wrongness of the situation pissed Oliver off more than he could say. He was angry and getting angrier with every passing minute.

One hour ago he had been beyond relieved. When they had both managed to climb back to safe and dry land he had been so at ease and happy, because they had used their little tumble in the river to the fullest and reached the other bank. His mood had turned foul when Felicity had reached for the side pocket of the backpack to take her glasses out. Oliver had been too focused on shooting their pursuers to really realize what she had done. She had anticipated that their only escape route was the river and stored her glasses somewhere safe. Only that the pocket of the backpack hadn't been safe. When Oliver had crashed into the first rock he had not only bruised his ribs but also cracked the left lens of her glasses.

The fact that his side throbbed and he couldn't move as freely as he wanted to combined with the sight of Felicity with her messed up glasses had really driven home the fact that things weren't going their way. In the last sixty minutes Oliver had alternated between pacing and sitting unmoving – the latter had mostly been a testament to his hurting ribs. They had headed away from the river and found a tiny lake surrounded by bushes and trees. Oliver had agreed to stopping, and while they had spread out their wet stuff – their clothes, the blanket, their one towel – to dry, Felicity had taken a swim.

Not even that wonderful sight could calm Oliver down. He was too busy cursing himself, this island and everything that was connected to it.

He was too passive, he decided. They were constantly running away, being chased by these Germans whose best characteristics were that they were horrible shooters and that they always left an escape route, even if it was a risky one. They were reduced to reacting, because Oliver didn't know what the best cause of action was. Oh, he knew what he wanted to do – namely, go back to the camp of these fuckers and burn it down, hunt them all down –, but he couldn't do that, of course. Not only was that seriously bad anger management – and he was working on getting better with that –, but also incredibly stupid. It would endanger Felicity. That was the last thing he wanted. He needed a smart way to take action without putting her at risk unnecessarily.

He was very aware of the fact that the main source of his anger was the fact that those guys were after Felicity. If they believed that they would get away with going after his girl, they were greatly mistaken! They-

"Okay, that's enough!"

Felicity's voice ripped him out of his angry thoughts. She had left the lake and draped the mostly dry towel around herself. Her hair was stroked back, clinging wet to her shoulders. Drops of water were running down her face, gliding over her collarbone and further down. It was an unbelievably sexy sight and he couldn't take his eyes off her. Seeing her walk toward him like that should calm him, but strangely it didn't. He had cultivated his anger in the last hour and the sight of her, all beautiful and natural and vulnerable, just drove the point home that he wasn't doing a very good job handling this situation, keeping her away from danger.

She met his angry gaze evenly. "I let you brood for one hour, that's enough." She stopped in front of him. "Could you please snap out of this vengeful boyfriend thing you've got going on and get into Arrow-mode?" She looked determined one second, but utterly stunned the next. Her voice softer she said, "I never called you my boyfriend before." She smiled. "That's nice."

Yes, it was. Damn her for getting past his defenses so easily! He shouldn't return her smile just like that in the matter of seconds when he had been nursing his anger for sixty minutes. Still, it was happening.

But then her words really sunk in and he realized that she was right. He had let himself be distracted by her, by the feelings she stirred in him, by the change in their relationship. The overwhelming need to protect her had consumed him, bound all of his energy and thoughts. His emotions had driven him and he had failed to look at this, at their situation rationally. His Arrow-mode had really been offline for days.

"Oliver, seriously." Felicity looked at him. "I know when you're getting too much in your own head. There's no time for self-loathing, right now. And there's really no need for that!"

"There's every need for that!" he snapped. "I shouldn't make so many rookie mistakes. Like letting those guys sneak up on us. This isn't my first stint at an island, you know!"

"I know." She was still calm, didn't raise her voice like he had. Her right hand held on to her towel, keeping the ends clutched to her chest, her left moved to his upper arm, stroking it slightly, gently. "It's not fair that you have to go through that again. It has to wig you out."

"Felicity, that has nothing to do with it." She just looked at him, her eyes glued to his, her head a little tilted, saying nothing. His lips curved in unhappiness, his jaw was clenched and then he couldn't return her knowing gaze any longer. He looked away from her and at the water, whose calm surface was glistering in the bright sunlight. He swallowed. "Okay, maybe, it has a little to do with it."

Her left hand moved from his arm to his face as she stepped closer to him. "That's okay. I would be weird, if it hadn't. I mean how big are the chances that you end up stranded on a deserted island twice?"

A humorless laugh escaped his lips, but with a shake of his head he composed himself again. "I'm sorry, I'm not handling this very well."

"I think you're doing fine. I'm biased of course, because you're my boyfriend..."

He couldn't keep the smile from appearing on his face; and she got on her tiptoes and kissed him sweetly. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her lips on his. When they parted he took another moment until he lazily opened his eyes. "Okay," he cleared his throat, "you're right. I need to stop thinking about this like a boyfriend." He straightened up and took a step away from her. He needed to do this, step back, if he wanted to snap out of boyfriend-mode. He couldn't think straight with naked, wet Felicity so close to him. And he especially couldn't when he was wearing nothing but his underpants. He looked at her. "Arrow-mode on." He cleared his throat again while also trying to clear his head. "What do we know? We know that they are after you..."

"And that makes absolutely no sense. Because the only thing I'm really good at is all things IT, computers, hacking-"

He didn't like hearing that at all and cut her off, "You know that's not true."

"Oliver, seriously! Arrow-mode! You first came to me because you had computer-troubles. It's what I'm good at. Like you're good at all things fighting." She hesitated before she hurried to add, "not that you're a killing machine. That's not what I wanted to say, because I know you're not. We talked about that. It's just that you're good with your hands." She flinched. "Boxing! I don't know about the rest. I mean you are a good kisser, so I guess you know what you're doing with your- Three...two...one."

And he had really believed she would stop doing that now that they were together. He was strangely glad that she didn't. A smile appeared on his face.

Felicity had rebooted and went back to her original point. "What I mean is: We're on an island, Oliver. What do they want an IT-girl for? That's as senseless as carrying that tablet around with us. Especially now, after we took the second swim with it. Even if the GPS-chip survived the jump from that cliff, it's certainly destroyed now. And I kinda hoped that Diggle might use it to find u-" She noticed the look of shock appearing on his face. Instead of finishing her thought she asked, "what?"

"A GPS-chip..."

"Yes, it-" She stopped right there and he saw realization take over. "You think they are tracking us? That's how the Germans keep finding us?" Now she seemed angry. "Why didn't I think of that before? I should have thought of that!"

"Maybe it's not the Germans. We still don't know if they were the ones who brought us here. I have the feeling it wasn't them. But I think you're right: Somebody's tracking us."

"Was tracking us. The tablet's completely dead... Should I still toss it into the lake? And I guess we should get going again." She pressed her lips together. "And I hoped we could stay here for a while. It's nice here. I mean as nice as it can be considering the circumstances..."

Oliver watched as she headed toward the backpack and took the tablet out. "We really shouldn't stay here," he agreed. "The trees all around make it way too easy for people to sneak up on us. Even though I am sure that the Germans need some time 'til they cross the river. I think we're still a good stretch ahead of them." He watched her walk close to the water and chuck the tablet away as if it were a frisbee. It hit the water surface with a splat and was gone in the next moment, leaving behind only ripples on the water surface.

He walked to where they had draped their clothes. They weren't completely dry, but it was good enough. He reached for his pants and put them on. He had just closed the last button, when Felicity stopped next to him. She offered him another small smile and said, "I know this situation is hard on you."

"Felicity," he reached for her shoulder. "It's not easy for either of us. It's okay, if you're scared."

"I am," she admitted, "I am scared. But I think this situation is even harder for you."

His arm dropped and with it his hand left her shoulder. "What?!" She had to be joking!

But she looked dead-serious. "Oliver, this is island 2.0 for you. I waited for you to bring it up on your own terms, but I should have known better than to wait for that to happen... We should talk about this."

"No," he shook his head. "What we should do is get going."

She reached for his hand. "Oliver, please." Her eyes were drilling into him. "I know you, and I know you always feel responsible to keep everybody safe when we're in Starling, I can only guess how much you're stressing right now. I mean you apologized for not handling things better, when I think you've handled everything that was thrown our way amazingly. We're not badly hurt, we're one step ahead of them and this is not your fault. I mean… If anybody's to blame it's me..."

He placed his hands on her shoulders again. "Hey, if anybody's to blame, it's the people who brought us here."

"Don't comfort me when I'm trying to comfort you!" A smile showed on her face and her hand moved to his cheek. "I know you're under pressure for so many reasons. I understand that, but I need you to know I'm here for you."

"I know that, Felicity. I really do." Moving his hands from her shoulders to her face, he placed a soft kiss on her lips. "That's all I need," he whispered and kissed her again, deeper this time. The kiss startled slow, nearly lazily their tongues danced around each other. His fingers left her cheeks and travelled downward. Slipping his hands underneath the towel, Oliver brought them flat to her back and pulled her closer to his body. Simultaneously, they deepened the kiss, and for the first time since they had awoken on this island Oliver's mind emptied. All he did was feel her, her lips, her tongue, her arms around him, her warmth close to him, her soft skin. And he felt the towel between them slipping as he tasted her. All of it was intoxicating. The thoughts that had kept coming relentlessly were stopped, he wasn't analyzing this, he just was. He could get lost in it, lost in her. The urge to tug the towel away was overwhelming, to let his hands roam all over her body, to finally explore her as he had dreamt uncounted times. But he knew it wouldn't be smart to go further right now. Not when they were in wide-open space surrounded by bushes that kept potential attackers well hidden.

And with that thought his mind started working again. He fought to come back to his senses. Reluctantly, he stilled his hands, stopped his caresses and the kissing. Breathing heavily he glanced at her. His ribs throbbed with every deep breath he took, but he ignored that – because it was so worth it. His voice was throaty as he said, "We need to get going."

Slowly, she opened her eyes, which had fluttered shut. She brought her right hand to his chest and trailed her fingertips over his Bratva tattoo. "And I hoped we could put the fact that we're finally a little cleaner to good use."

There was a certain tone in her voice he had never heard before. It didn't help him to clear his head, it distracted him so much that he needed a moment to understand what she had just said and to realize what that meant. When he did, a grin appeared on his face. "Don't tell me that's what the constant complaining about being dirty was really about!"

Her fingertips stilled instantly, she hesitated for a moment before she took her eyes off his chest and met his. "I..." A slight blush covered her face. He could sense that she felt awkward, but it was an awkwardness that felt very differently from what he was used to coming from her. There was a certain shyness, an uneasiness that normally wasn't there. Felicity Smoak was many things, but she wasn't shy. Her voice sounded unsure as she started anew, "We're past dating for two days and I just..." She trailed off again.

The grin was still on his face, but it turned into a smile now. That was kind of unexpected, but... awesome! He kissed her again, but stopped quickly. He knew that he had to, if he didn't want to get lost and ignore the dangers around them. "Unfortunately, I'm in Arrow-mode right now, and we need to go somewhere safe. As soon as we do, I'll snap out of it instantly and we'll continue this."

Her breathing was a little heavier; her eyes were darker than he had ever seen them and it took all his willpower to let her go. Slowly, Felicity nodded. "Okay, you're right, it's not worth dying for."

"I don't know; I kinda have the feeling that it might be."