This would be the ice cream and wine chapter. The end of this is also more of Oliver's writing. I promise that those will all make sense soon. Thank you for reading. This was a fun, interesting, and at times, hard chapter to write. I'd love to hear any prompts to put them through. Thank you as always for your reads and reviews. =)


Oliver woke up to his stomach growling. Felicity was curled up on the other end of the couch. They had spent the afternoon watching random bad comedy movie, which apparently bored them both to sleep. He covered her with a blanket before he got up. They both were still exhausted.

From the window in the kitchen, Oliver saw that it was already night time. He pushed a button on his cell phone to see that it was seven in the evening. Thankfully no more missed calls, he thought. Oliver turn on a small light over the sink to give himself some light. A quick look in the fridge proved Felicity had not been to the store lately, and that most of the fruit from earlier was gone. Stuck to the fridge door with a magnet, he found a menu for a Chinese place that was close. Oliver had no idea what she liked, just that she liked Chinese food, but no peanuts. He called the place and ordered a good variety of food. Hopefully she's hungry, too.

While Oliver waited for the food, he decided to call to check on Dig. "Oliver?" A sleepy voice came from the other end of the call.

"Yeah," Oliver was surprised how scratchy his voice was. "How are you?"

"I'll live." Dig said. "Felicity said she got you bandaged up. Everything good?"

"She was awesome last night, let's leave it at that." Dig did not need to know about the mental break down, Oliver thought. "I need to ask you a favor."

"Anything, what?"

"When you can, go to Verdant and really check on it. We locked it up as best we could this morning. I don't even want to think about Hood stuff right now." Oliver admitted.

"Are you really hanging it up for good?"

"I honestly don't know. I can't see the point anymore. I just.."Oliver stumbled over his words. "Can't right now."

"I'll take care of it." Dig replied. "How is Felicity? When I talked to her earlier, I didn't get a chance to ask."

Oliver was silent for a moment. There was a lot that he could say about how Felicity was since things went to hell last night. "Physically, she's doing the best of the three of us," was all Oliver said.

"I'll be out of here in a day or two. I'll talk with you two then." Dig said, ending the conversation. Oliver turned his phone on silent and put it on the counter. He didn't care if he saw it again that night. Reality could wait until tomorrow, at least.

Oliver watched Felicity sleep for a little bit before waking her. "Felicity," he whispered as he lightly shook her arm. "Wake up."

She jumped up, "Huh? Oh? Hi!" Her hair was a mess of blonde curls. Such a stark change from the usual put together work-mode Felicity. "Did we both fall asleep?"

Oliver nodded, "That movie we were watching was rather awful and mind-numbing."

"Mind-numbing is good though. We both needed rest. What time is it?" She asked as sat up.

"After seven. I ordered us some food. Chinese."

"Oh perfect! I picked up wine earlier on my cool off walk. And also a surprise for you, but that's for after we eat." Oliver knew his face showed his curiosity. "No, I'm not telling you." He smirked.

"I could make you."

"Oliver, you've never been able to make me do anything I didn't want to. Don't try to start now." Felicity replied and stuck her tongue out at him. "I'll be right back." She got up and headed down the hall.

Oliver leaned back on the couch. He couldn't help but worry what would happen when he stepped out of this protective bubble he'd place himself and Felicity in. No thinking about that tonight. Just let tonight happen how it wants to. You need one night of not thinking.


Felicity sat opposite of Oliver at her coffee table. She forced him to take the side next to the couch since he was hurt. They spread the food out and put random bits on their plates. Oliver poured each of them a glass of the red wine Felicity picked up. "Am I wrong for being happy on some level right now?" Oliver asked, sitting back down on the floor. "I'm sad, hurt, angry and everything else still, but this," he looked at the food then her, "makes me happy." It had been on his mind all day.

"No, Oliver," She said, taking a sip of wine. Her hair was back in her usual neat pony tail. "You have to find something worth living for. Something that makes you happy and makes you feel safe. Something that makes you feel alive."

"It's weird to hear you say that," Oliver put his fork down. Do I tell her this?

"Why is that?" She said, taking a bite of her food.

"It was raining the night the Queen's Gambit went down." Felicity looked confused as she looked at Oliver, then the look in her eyes changed when she realized what was happening. Oliver watched her keep listening, but not talking. Thank you, he thought. "Sarah literally slipped from my grasp as she was pulled under with the boat. When I surfaced, my father pulled me into the life raft. He, the captain, and I were the only three survivors." He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and kept talking. "I watched my father kill the captain and then himself so that I would have a better chance at survival. The only thing that I made it to the island with was my father's body, the notebook and a picture of Laurel. That picture and the ideal of her kept me going." He took a large sip of his wine. "That's why its weird hearing you say that. Because now it's you. It's a different feeling, but it's also the same. I hope that makes sense."

Felicity nodded, "I can see what you mean." She wiped her mouth with a napkin. Oliver noticed she still didn't have make-up on. "Can I ask you a question?"

Oliver was nervous, but he agreed, "Sure."

"Did you make your bow?"

Of all the questions she could ask, Oliver chuckled to himself. "Somewhat. I had friends there that gave me my appreciation for archery. Shado, and her father, Yao Fei. Shado is the one who taught me, though. She'd like you since you put me in my place."

"Sounds like my kind of girl," Felicity giggled. "I'm guessing playboy Oliver didn't impress her."

"Not so much." Oliver finished off his glass of wine. "My first successful archery hit was saving Shado's life. A man named Fyres had her with a gun to her head. I remember being so nervous, yet calm. The arrow landed where I intended it to. Fyres was the first person I intentionally killed on the island, not in self-defense. Though…" Oliver's voice trailed off. He looked at Felicity. She had that look on her face from that night. One of care, concern. Love. He knew she would not care if he stopped talking there. "Come over here." Oliver sat up on the couch and took his sweatshirt off. Felicity sat down next to him, a puzzled look on her face. "Give me your hand."

Oliver took her hand in his. He traced the scar on his upper left abdomen, "Fyres and a man named Bill Wintergreen were responsible for this and another scar. It's under the bandage. They were trying to get me to tell them where Yao Fei was." Oliver kept looking at her hand. "I didn't break to my surprise."

When he looked up at Felicity, she had a tear rolling down her cheek. "You don't have to talk about this tonight, Oliver."

"I know." He wiped the tear away. She pressed her cheek against his hand. "I'm done fighting to keep it all in, so I'm letting some out."

Felicity hugged him tightly. "I'll be here any hour of the day, you know that right?" She whispered in his ear.

"I do." Oliver held on to her tightly.

"Guess what your surprise is?" She whispered in his ear. Oliver's brain shocked him in all the directions it went.

"What?"

"Ice cream, with every bit of the fixings. Sprinkles, chocolate, you name it. And whip cream." Felicity said, innocently.

Oliver couldn't control the grin on his face.


Felicity just sat on the counter where she had earlier that morning. She had been smiling non-stop for the last hour as Oliver tried different combos of the ice cream toppings that she had brought home. He looked like he had forgotten everything from the past week. If he had his sweatshirt on, you would't be able to tell that he was badly hurt. Felicity noticed when the clock on the wall ticked over the twenty four hour point. She didn't know if Oliver noticed, but she kept it to herself. It seemed like a week had past, not a day. As she ate her ice cream, she hoped for the best for the upcoming days. Malcolm still being unaccounted for worried her. She also knew Oliver had many more demons to face outside the safety of her apartment. But for tonight, she was content and happy to watch the billionaire playboy eye candy dream of many women, play like a little kid in a candy store in her kitchen. He was smiling that smile of his that was real. Not the fake one he flashes with his charms. She listened to stories about his days growing up with Tommy, before they both turned into little punks in her opinion. Oliver agreed.

"You are going to make me try to get some rest tonight, aren't you?" Oliver asked her.

"At least you've accepted that I'm going to try to make you take care of yourself." She said, hopping down from the counter. Felicity was nearly a foot shorter than him, so she had to look up to him. "I'll be here."

"I don't want to sleep alone," he admitted. The look on his face showed how hard that was to say, and his eyes screamed there was more to his statement.

"Me, neither." Felicity took his hand and lead him down the hall to her bedroom. She put her laptop on the dresser and grabbed a change of clothes out of the top drawer. "I'll be right back." Felicity closed the bathroom door behind her.

When she came back out, Oliver was already under the covers in just his boxers. Felicity had changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top. She laid down on his right side, curling up to him similar to last night, being careful of his bruises. "I'm not afraid of your nightmares, Oliver. Sleep. I'll be here." Felicity said softly, and Oliver hugged her tightly in reply. She drifted off to sleep shortly after.


I remember the day after the Undertaking. It was good and bad. I saw a side of Felicity that I had long ignored. I came to realize and even whispered it to her while she slept that night, that I loved her. I wanted to earn the right or chance to love her properly. To take it slow to make sure our friendship was never harmed. I never got to tell her. I don't know if I ever will. I wonder if she's given up on me by now. I have. I haven't seen her in three months. She's the only one that could find me now. I wasn't strong enough to be the hero that she said she saw in me and that Starling City needed.