This is part 2 of a story I wrote for MTV SOTY. There will probably be one more part :)
###
The sound of flesh hitting wood and heavy breathing filled the bunker, as Oliver took his frustration out on the training dummy.
He desperately wanted to go check his phone, again, for what would have been the twentieth time in the two hours he'd been down there. Instead, he took a deep breath and let off with a series of hard strikes, hard enough that, were he facing an actual opponent, they'd be a bloody pulp by the time he was finished.
Felicity was on a date.
Okay, Oliver knew that it wasn't a date date. It was a work date. But she'd said that about her first date with Palmer, too. The one that ended with her kissing the man that had stolen his family's company.
Which, Oliver reminded himself, wasn't any of his business then and it isn't any of his business now. Back then he'd told her they couldn't be together so she'd found a man she could be with. Now… Well, he'd lied and ruined their relationship. If Felicity decided it was time to start dating again, Oliver would just have to be supportive.
But it's different this time, a little voice whispered in the back of his mind. She's pregnant with your child.
Oliver shook it off and landed another hard blow on the training dummy. Felicity being pregnant didn't change things between them. Not really.
They'd agreed that even though everything would be different now, they weren't. This wasn't a magic cure-all to their problems. They'd both acknowledged that they needed to take this situation seriously and not try to force anything, because a child was involved now.
Oliver didn't want to be the type of dad that only saw his kid on the weekends, it was bad enough what happened with William, but to miss out on another child? Felicity had assured him that she didn't want that either. They wanted to be a family, as close as they could be without actually being together. And, according to Felicity, as long as they respected each other's friendship and maintained an open dialogue they'd be fine.
Fine. Yeah. Oliver certainly felt fine right now.
He landed three more quick blows to the dummy before stepping back and grabbing his water bottle. The urge to check his phone struck again and this time Oliver let himself give into it. The device showed no missed calls or texts, but Oliver tapped the screen anyway, opening Felicity's last text.
Last minute dinner with Mark. I'll text if I can make it tonight. If not I'll see you tomorrow.
Mark.
Oliver wanted to roll his eyes just thinking about the Director of Applied Sciences for Kord Industries. He'd only met him once, but once was enough.
Since getting Palmer Tech back, Felicity had been trying to recruit new blood to the company. Mark Hellinger was on the top of her list. She'd wined and dined him, even brought him to a charity gala at City Hall, and still Mark couldn't seem to make up his mind about the job.
Oliver didn't by it for a second. Mark was interested in the job. He was just also interested in Felicity, which was why this was their fifth "business dinner" in two weeks.
Not that it was any of his business, Oliver reminded himself. Even still, Oliver couldn't stop himself from wondering what if.
What if Felicity was dating this guy? What if it got serious? Would Mark still be around when the baby was born?
The thought of another man raising his child while Oliver was relegated to "weekend dad" made him want to start punching the dummy again. But that was a possibility that Oliver knew he needed to resign himself to. Maybe it wouldn't be Mark Hellinger, but eventually it would be someone else. Felicity was the most exceptional woman he'd ever met. One day, someone else, someone better than him, would realize that and that would be it. And then Oliver would have to learn to share her, share their child, with another man. He wasn't sure he could, but he swore to himself that he would because he needed her, them, in his life. He couldn't risk losing her more than he already had.
As Oliver pulled his shirt on, desperately trying to shake off his bleak thoughts, the elevator chimed, signaling someone was on their way down.
Felicity.
Oliver felt his body tense, his heart beating rapidly, and he tried to calm himself before she came down to find him a sweaty, anxious mess, sitting there waiting for her like a lost puppy. Quickly moving to his workspace, Oliver started sharpening arrows, hoping to look busy. Like he wasn't just obsessing about her work date. Like he wasn't just thinking about custody agreements and her marrying other men. Like he wasn't totally pathetic.
The elevator chirped again, the doors sliding open.
"I can't believe I wasted a month—a month, Oliver!—recruiting that… that… idiot!"
Her voice rang out behind him and Oliver didn't need to turn around to know that she had her angry face on. He did anyway.
Felicity stomped up onto the dais and threw her purse down onto her desk. She was wearing a sleek maroon dress with some sort of buckles near the collar and Oliver thought she looked nice. Business dinner appropriate, but still beautiful. Although Oliver was bias. He always thought she looked beautiful, even with her face red and pinched with righteous anger.
"What happened?" he asked, walking over to her as she plopped down into her chair and began jabbing at her keyboard.
"He wasn't the kind of person I want working for my company," she said, intent on her computer screen.
Her irritation and obvious dislike of the man Oliver had been so jealous of just two minutes ago, made him feel a little stupid, but the relief was worth any embarrassment. As long as Felicity never found out. He wasn't sure what her reaction would be if she did. Part of him was sure she'd tease him about it, tell him he was being completely ridiculous. The other part was telling him she'd be angry. He wasn't willing to risk that part being right.
Oliver quietly pulled a chair over, sitting close, but not too close, while she tapped away on the keys. "Do you want to talk about?" he asked.
"No," she spit, then her shoulders tensed and he watched as they rose and fell in a deep breath. "Sorry," she said, finally giving up on whatever she was doing and turning to face him. "You didn't deserve that."
"It's okay," he assured her with the barest upturn of his lips. "You had a rough night. I just want to make sure you're okay."
Sucking her bottom lip into her mouth, Felicity's expression softened. She nodded once and then reached for his hand, sliding her fingers around his thumb and into his palm.
"Mark Hellinger is an ass," she said at last, looking at their fingers tangled together. "I knew that he wanted…" She blushed slightly and Oliver tried not to tense. "I knew that his interest was not purely professional, but I ignored it because he's extremely good at his job and we need someone like him at PT, but tonight was…"
Oliver swallowed down his outrage, trying to remain calm until he knew the whole story, but her answer to his next question would determine whether he spent the foreseeable future in jail or not.
"Did he do something?"
Felicity's eyes snapped up to meet his, wide and blue and full of worry. She looked absolutely beautiful.
"No," she said quickly. "No need to go all 'grrr' on anyone tonight." Her hand came up making a clawing motion that Oliver couldn't help but smile at.
"So what did he do?" he asked again softly, a little more relaxed.
Felicity glanced back down, playing with his fingers. "Well, it all started because the baby wanted a milkshake."
"The baby wanted a milkshake?" Oliver snorted. Her glare told him it was the wrong thing to say.
"Yes, Oliver," she seethed, eyes shining with annoyance. "Your baby wanted a milkshake. At that fancy French place over on 6th. Where I will not be dining again, let me tell you."
"You wanted a milkshake at a fancy restaurant," Oliver said slowly, trying to figure out how this led into Mark Hellinger being an ass.
"Yeah, and they wouldn't make me one!" Felicity threw her hands up in exasperation. "The waitress looked at me like I had three heads when I asked. So I called the manager over to offer to pay extra—because I really wanted that milkshake, Oliver. I think I'm starting to get cravings—when Mark said 'You sure you need a milkshake?' Like…" She shook her head quickly, shrugging her shoulders. "Who the hell says that to someone? Even if I wasn't pregnant, which, okay to be fair he didn't know that I was at that point—"
"You told him you're pregnant?"
Oliver didn't know how he felt about that. She hadn't told anyone else yet, even her mom. Felicity wanted to be cautious, said they should wait until she was out of her first trimester before making any announcements, and he agreed. So her telling Mark… Oliver didn't know how to feel. Probably not the wave of smugness that was currently threatening to escape in the form of a smile.
"Yes, well, no." She shrugged. "I… Just listen, alright? So Mark was being pretty damn insensitive and then the manager comes out and says they don't take special requests even if I paid more, and… Oliver, I almost offered this woman a thousand dollars for a milkshake. I almost did, I swear. But, before I could, Mark," she said through gritted teeth, "apologized to the woman because I was 'making a scene'. Making a scene, Oliver!
"So the manager leaves, and I ask him what he thought he was doing, and he goes, 'Sorry about the milkshake, but you're probably better off. I noticed you've gained a few pounds since we met. That milkshake will go right to your hips.' Like it's any of his business where my milkshake goes!"
"He said that to you?" Oliver nearly growled, suddenly filled with the same anger she was. The thought of someone insulting Felicity, his Felicity, who was currently pregnant with his child, was pissing him off more than the thought of her dating had.
"Yes!" she said, throwing her hands up. "Who does something like that? So, now I'm angry and without milkshake, so I stand up and say, 'I'm pregnant, you jackass. And you're fired.' Which, yeah, I realized as I was storming out that he doesn't actually work for me yet, but…" She shrugged. "What are you gonna do?"
After listening to her story, Oliver wasn't sure whether to laugh or comfort her. If her hormones were raging tonight, he really didn't want to pick the wrong option.
"It's okay, Oliver," she said, with a tilt of her head. "You can laugh at me now. Everyone else in Star City will be. I can already see the headlines: Spoiled CEO Goes on Milkshake Rampage." She leaned forward, her head falling into her hands. "Is this what being pregnant is going to be like?"
"Cravings are perfectly normal in the first trimester," he assured her, hesitantly reaching out to cover her hand with his. She didn't flinch away, so he laced his fingers through her's again, the way he was yearning to. "As are mood swings."
"You get that from your books?" she teased, glancing up at him. "Yeah, don't think I haven't noticed the stack of pregnancy books you've got in the back room."
Oliver felt his cheeks heating. "I just… want to be prepared."
Her fingers squeezed his. "I'm glad. It means a lot."
"It's my baby, too," he said. "It's a big responsibility, the pregnancy and after… I need to be prepared."
Felicity's eyes were shining in the light from her monitors. She closed her eyes, a small smile pulling at her lips. God, she was beautiful…
"So Mark's an asshole," Oliver said abruptly.
"Such an asshole, right?" Felicity looked up at him, sniffling a little, but laughing and that was all he wanted. "I was offering him a job, a good job, at nearly twice what he was making at Kord, and he thinks he can talk to me like that? I mean, who is he to judge me for gaining weight? It's not like he works out four hours a day. I bet he doesn't even know what a salmon ladder is, let alone use it non-stop to get all chiseled and hard…"
She bit her lip and at first Oliver assumed she'd close her eyes and count backward from three the way she usually did when she made an innuendo around him nowadays, but instead her gaze turned inward. After a few moments Oliver finally realized what was wrong.
"Felicity, you're pregnant."
She looked at him, smiling. "I know. I didn't mean I was going to start doing the salmon ladder. That's more a you thing. Besides I bet it would give the baby a headache."
Oliver grinned. "No, I mean you're pregnant. Of course you gained some weight. The doctor told you it would be about five or six pounds in the first trimester."
She glanced away, a blush lighting her cheeks. "I know, it's just… No one knows I'm pregnant. They just think I'm fat."
"Felicity, five pounds is not fat," Oliver argued, but she ignored him, continuing her train of thought.
"I'm not showing yet, so you can't tell. But that just presents a whole other problem, because what happens when I do start showing? When my body stretches and gets all misshapen?"
"Felicity."
"No, Oliver! This isn't happening to your body, you don't understand."
She glared at him, so he decided to try another tactic.
"You're right," he said and her eyes widened, a small crinkle forming between her eyebrows. "It's not happening to my body, but I see it happening to yours. And you know what I think of your body."
She flushed and he knew he had her attention.
"You're filling out your skirts a little more… in a very good way. And your stomach is flat right now, but when you start to show… I don't know that I'll be able to take my eyes off of you." He reached out slowly, placing a palm along her abdomen. "I know it probably isn't the same as what some asshole stranger thinks of you," he teased, "but I think you're beautiful. And you're only going to get more beautiful to me, Felicity. We're not together—and I know all the reasons we shouldn't be right now—but it's a daily struggle not to think about you like that."
He knew his little impromptu speech was risky, he could have just set their progress back months, but he thought that maybe she needed to hear him say it. Because some asshole put it into her head that she was somehow less attractive and that was not something that Oliver would ever stand for, because Felicity Smoak was the most beautiful woman on the goddamn planet. And she was having his baby.
"Well," she said, inhaling slowly, "if you occasionally glance over and, you know, check out the goods… I mean, I wouldn't be mad about it." She looked up at him with a hesitant smile. "You'll really still think I look good six months from now?"
Oliver laughed. "I'll think you look good when your eighty, Felicity."
She just rolled her eyes. "I'm being serious, Oliver."
"So am I," he said, leaning back in his chair to get a better look at her. A long, obvious look. "You're body is incredible. And your boobs…" he trailed off, hoping he hadn't gone too far, but she just laughed.
"My boobs are looking pretty great, aren't they? I can't believe how big they look."
"They've been distracting me for the past two weeks," he admitted.
"Me, too," she said, reaching up to touch one and Oliver's mouth went dry. "They're so sensitive."
He jumped from his chair, shaking off the wave of lust that had just hit him full force. They weren't together. They weren't together. She might have given him permission to look on occasion, but not to touch.
"Let's go," he said, reaching a hand out to help her from her seat.
"Where are we going?" she asked suspiciously, but took his hand without hesitation.
"Big Belly," he said, letting go of her hand and gesturing for her to go ahead. "I thought the baby wanted a milkshake?"
Felicity's laugh echoed through the quiet bunker and Oliver felt a surge of warmth swell in his chest as he followed her to the elevator.
They weren't together, but they were still together and that was all that mattered.
