CHAPTER 11

It had been a week since Harmony and Oliver had revealed their pasts to each other but nothing had seemed to change. Oliver had promised to help train her in some basic self-defense moves, but hadn't yet. Harmony knew he would follow through on his promise, but they had just been too busy with the wedding planning, Queen Consolidated, meeting with the press, and attending legal meetings. There simply hadn't been time, but now it was the weekend and things had slowed down.

"Hey," Oliver knocked on Harmony's door. "I was thinking, since we have some free time for the next couple of days, we could start working on training you. What do you think?"

Harmony's head snapped up from the notebook she was writing in.

"Yeah! That sounds great. Are we going tonight or…?" she looked at him waiting for more instruction.

"Yeah," he smiled at her, "we'll start tonight. Be dress and ready at 8. We'll head out then. Oh and, bring a towel and some water. You'll need it." Oliver gave her a playful wink as he left.

Harmony smiled at his playfulness. He had been more relaxed since they had talked and she liked it. It helped that they were able to actually get more comfortable and relaxed with each other since they were going to be married in two weeks.

The thought of being married so soon struck Harmony deep inside. She really wasn't ready for it, but she didn't have a choice. At least she would be marrying someone who understood her past and didn't judge her for it. In fact he had a similar, if not more extensive, past as well. No, it seems that somehow a man who might actually match her perfectly was brought right to her.

She turned back to the notebook in her lap smiling. It seemed everything was turning around.

Three hours later Harmony found herself carrying a gym bag walking into a nightclub that Oliver evidently owned. She was more confused with every step as to where they were going to train.

Oliver could see the confusion on her face, but he just kept quiet and led her to the side door that led down into the foundry. At the door he stopped and punched in a code and the door unlocked. He reached out and grabbed Harmony's hand before leading her through the door.

Harmony was struck by the size of the place first, then by the amount of equipment and supplies, and finally by the fact that Felicity and Diggle sat in chairs looking at three large computer screens. She had never imagined this would be here, or that they would be here.

Hearing their entrance, Felicity and Diggle turned and waved. Felicity stood and walked to her friend to give her a gentle hug.

"I'm so glad Oliver told you about all this." She gestured to the room. "You needed to know." Felicity then cut a look at Oliver who just gave her a smile in return.

Felicity turned and walked back to the computers and began to type away. Meanwhile, Oliver led Harmony over to the training area. He took her bag from her and placed in on a hook on the wall. Oliver then went about telling Harmony where everything was from the medical supplies to the bathroom.

Once the tour was over with Oliver decided to just throw her into the training. He had her smacking a bowl of water all week, so he felt he could move forward. He had even caught her smacking water in the middle of the night. The sight made him laugh.

He grabbed four bamboo sticks and walked over to her, handing her two.

"We will start with these. The goal is not get hit. You need to block when I swing at you." Oliver's tone was serious.

He led her over to the mats where he showed her how to properly hold the bamboo. He stepped back to observe her grip and stance, then without warning swung his own bamboo straight towards her mid-section. The blow landed hard and knocked the wind out of her. Her knees buckled and she crumpled to the mat gasping for air. Oliver stood over her waiting for her to either throw down the bamboo or stand back up and fight.

Finally, Harmony regained her breath and stood slowly. She didn't glare at Oliver or yell at him, she simply nodded and set her mouth to begin again.

Oliver swung at her again, but this time Harmony dodged the blow.

"Good," Oliver said with a bit of pride, "but you have to remember to keep your feet under you. If you lose your footing, your enemy has the ability to keep you on the ground."

Oliver started swinging at Harmony again, this time not stopping. He would hit her lightly, or as lightly as he could, the bamboo a few times then stop to let her regain her composure. This went on for over an hour before Harmony caught the rhythm and began to block his swings.

Finally Oliver decided that they needed to move on from this part of training for the night. He replaced the bamboo back against the wall and guided Harmony over to the salmon ladder.

Harmony looked of at the ladder and realized just how out of shape she was. There was no way in hell she could do this and Felicity, Diggle and Oliver were about to witness her epic failure.

"Don't worry. I'll show you how you can do this. It isn't as bad as it looks." Oliver had easily guessed what was going through her head and she was glad that he was there to teach her.

He stepped behind her and guided her arms up to the bar above her head. Oliver stepped back to observe her position but shook his head.

"I hate to say this, and don't take it the wrong way, but you can need to take your shirt off."

Harmony's head whipped around to look at him in disbelief.

"Don't give me that look. You have to take it off because it restricts your range of motion. You need your arms to go all the way up."

Harmony moved her arms and realized that he was right. It wasn't a huge hindrance to her but it was enough. But all she could think about was the scar that was hidden under her shirt. Although both Oliver and Felicity knew about her scar and Oliver had actually seen it, she was hesitant to strip.

Oliver realized the thoughts that must be going through their head. She wouldn't want anyone to see her scar and he wouldn't make her show it to anyone, so he walked over to Diggle and Felicity to go home. Felicity understood immediately and quickly grabbed her purse, turned off her computers and waved goodbye. Diggle didn't understand why he was needed to leave, but he knew that Oliver would kick him out forcibly if he didn't so he grabbed his jacket and headed up the stairs and out and of the foundry.

Oliver stood staring at after Diggle for a minute. He wanted to make sure he heard the door click shut before turning back to Harmony. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her and her head down. There was definite tension in her shoulders and neck. He walked over to where she stood and called her name softly.

"Harmony."

She didn't lift her head.

"Harmony," he repeated.

He reached out a hand and lifted her chin so that he could see her face. She kept her eyes averted from his.

"Look at me."

She kept her eyes down.

"Look at me," he said again with a little more force.

Finally she looked up at him. His eyes were soft when he looked down into her face.

"I know this is hard for you. I know that scar isn't something you are proud of or excited for other people to see, but you can't let him continue to control you. He wins if that causes you to hide."

She sighed. She knew he was right. He had a knack for that she realized.

"And you have no reason to be ashamed. You did what you had to to stay alive. No one in their right mind would fault you for that."

Oliver gently moved his hand from her chin up to cup the side of her face, rubbing the pad of his thumb over her cheekbone. His fingers tingled at the contact.

Harmony smiled at him finally and nodded. He was right and she needed to move forward and stop letting her stepfather control her.

When Oliver saw the determination enter her eyes, he dropped his hand and smiled. He went to turn his back to allow her a little bit of privacy while taking her shirt off, but before he could she had whipped her top off over her head, leaving her in nothing but tennis shoes, compression shorts and her sports bra.

Oliver's eye popped out of his head for half a second before he got himself in control again. This woman was going to be the death of him, he just knew it. Harmony's body, although not build like Sara's had been, was strong. She had gentle curves that made Oliver's fingers ache to touch her.

Although he had seen her body before that evening at dinner with his mother and sister, he hadn't paid much attention to what she looked like. Her story and scar preoccupied him. But now Oliver couldn't deny how attractive she was. His fingers ached with the need to touch her and he felt his blood pounding in his veins.

"So…" Oliver decided he needed to work off some of what he was feeling at that moment. "I'll show you first then, you'll give it a go."

Oliver grabbed the bar and began to climb the ladder. He did this about seven times before letting Harmony take her turn. At first she couldn't get enough force get the bar up a rung, but eventually she got the hang of it. She had a surprising amount of upper body strength. But Oliver realized after she climbed the first few rungs that he really should have waited to work out his frustrations until after she was done.

He couldn't take his eyes off of her body, the way her shorts hugged her thighs and hips, the way her abs worked and she climbed the ladder, the way her breasts bounced slightly with each move, and the determination on her face as she focus on her next move. Oliver was in deep trouble.

When Harmony reached the top of the ladder, she dropped down to the mat below. But as she did she landed on her ankle wrong and collapsed. Oliver was there in an instant holding her and checking her ankle.

"Well it looks like you just jolted you ankle. I think you will be fine. "

Suddenly Oliver realized how close he was holding the half clothed Harmony. His body went rigid.

Harmony wasn't unaffected either. She had been very aware of how attractive he was since she met him, but even more so since he had shown her his scars. And having seen him do the salmon ladder a few minutes ago had caused her knees to go weak and her heart to pound. So sitting in his strong arms as he checked her ankle was almost too much for her to bear.

She could feel the muscles that rippled with every move and could smell him as leaned in closer to her. She felt herself becoming more aroused by the second.

They both looked into each other's eyes. There was a spark that ignited in that moment and neither could hold back what had been building for weeks. Oliver leaded in, keeping his eyes on her's, looking for any hint that she wanted him to stop, but he didn't find any. As their lips touched, Harmony felt in that moment that forever with Oliver was something that she could look forward to.

She kissed him back, bringing her fingers up to run through his short hair. The kiss that had started out gentle began to pick up force and take control of them. But just as Oliver had laid Harmony on the floor and came down on top of her, he heard the foundry door open.

His head jerked up to see Felicity walk down the stairs. She froze when she saw what was happening between Oliver and Harmony.

"Uhh…" Felicity seemed at a loss for words for a second.

"I'm so sorry. I accidentally left my tablet and I really needed to get it. I didn't mean to interrupt your training or kissing or whatever. I just… I really needed my tablet. But I'm sorry. You guys… I…"

Harmony blushed and Felicity did the same.

Oliver sat up and pulled Harmony with him. He grabbed her shirt and handed it to her, then turned to Felicity.

"It's alright Felicity. Go on and get your tablet. We should probably get back to the mansion anyway."

Felicity nodded and practically ran to the desk where her tablet was laying. Harmony had pulled her shirt on and went to grab her gym bag off of the wall. When she turned back around, she found Felicity shooting Oliver a dark look and overheard the words "careful with her." Then Felicity waved to her and Oliver and headed up the stairs and out the door.

Oliver sighed and turned around. It seemed that the night was over and they needed to head home before they got into more trouble. He walked over to the table where his keys and phone were, grabbed them then waited for Harmony to join him. They headed for the stairs and out the door.

They climbed into Oliver's car and headed out of the parking lot. As they drove Harmony thought about what had happened in the foundry. And although she had initially been hesitant with Oliver, she now realized that she couldn't fight what was happening between them anymore. They still needed to go slow, but she figured there were worse things than falling in love with the man she was going to marry.

As the drive drug on, Harmony began to drift off, but before she did, she reached out and took Oliver's hand. His touch was the last conscious thing she remembered before sleep took her.