Hey!

How are you all?

Thank you for the lovely reviews and the appreciation! It's overwhelming.

Important Note :

The reason why I haven' t answered most of your questions about the story as of yet is because they are still somethings I want to tell.

Which will be revealed in the next chapter. Then, I'll answer. The next chapter should make things clear. It is going to be a FLASHBACK chapter. Which means flashbacks of Olicity post their breakup. We're dwelling into their pasts again!

It's going to be a game changer so do read that one.

And now, you guys read this one!

Word Count : 7012

Disclaimer : I don't own anything that seems familiar.

"Sometimes all you need to do is put one foot in front of the other and try,

Even if you don't know where you're going.

But someday, you will find your destination."

Chapter Twenty Three : Changes

Gerry had always been professional when it came to his work.

It was probably the first thing you should be aware of when you are someone's assistant.

That their personal life is theirs and you are not to meddle with it.

But that doesn't mean Gerry doesn't notice.

Oh he noticed.

He remembered the initial impression he had of the two of them. Noticing the tension between the two (which he totally got because of their history), he was surprised that the Robert Queen had vouched for the two of them to head this company together. He also remembered being glad of the fact that he had Evelyn who usually catered to Oliver. He couldn't have handled the two of them together.

But then, he saw how the two reacted to one another.

And suddenly, he realized how complicated things really were.

And then, he had also observed how different they were after their trip back from Coast City.

Their relationship had always been dynamic. It's like the two of them weren't even aware of it.

But Gerry was.

Because he was good at noticing things.

Which is why it took seconds for him to realize that the relationship between Mr. Queen and Ms. Smoak had changed.

But they weren't aware of it, like the usual.

And he had the sudden urge to shake them vigorously and make them realize the feelings they had for one another.

But he was a professional.

Dammit.

…

Felicity and Oliver sat opposite to one another on the same table. The two of them were in her cabin, Felicity in her chair, Oliver right across her as the duo skimmed through some files.

"I don't like most of these ideas," Felicity admitted, dropping the pen on the table with a small sigh before leaning against the back of her chair.

"I know," Oliver agreed, "The only one I liked so far is the power battery," He paused and Felicity nodded, "But it could only last for like a week more than a normal battery. In the market, it won't last much."

Felicity nodded, her elbow on the arm rest of her chair, her lips pouted together as she mused.

"What are you up to?" Oliver's eyebrow rose.

"I was thinking what if we get a power source that lasts forever?" She narrowed her eyes a little, "Like it could help a lot of issues. It could be used in hospital treatments, as a backup power source-" She hurriedly picked up the file that they had abandoned, her eyes narrowing at the details in there, "See? So much more use?" She patted at it.

"Hate to break it to you," Oliver sounded amused, "But the idea sounds practically impossible."

"It does," She nodded, "But it might not be," She immediately added, "I think I can think of something. You know secondary cells, well we can use that and-"

"I don't know chemistry, I flunked in it. And this idea won't work, Felicity."

"My pride that you know this is chemistry is slightly undercut by your lack of faith in me," She placed her elbows on the table, looking at him.

"I have nothing but faith." He shook his head, a small smile on his face, "Just do it." He got up instantly and Felicity turned her head towards the file again, "I think I will."

Oliver didn't say a word but nodded. Turning around, he began to walk away. He pivoted his head the last minute, "You want some coffee?"

"Sure," Felicity mumbled, highlighting something with the pen on the file.

Oh, she definitely needed some coffee.

…

Oliver tapped his right foot impatiently as he waited for the elevator to reach his floor. Looking at his wrist watch for a second, he realized that it was almost nine. He expected Felicity to have left the office premises by now.

He walked towards his cabin, frowning a little when he saw Gerry standing in front of it. "You haven't left-"He cut short his words when he turned his head towards the right. Felicity was inside her office, leaning completely over the table as she worked on something meticulously.

He sighed to himself.

"I thought I told you to leav-" He paused, his hand against the door that he had opened. A man stood near the table as well, clearly working on the same thing as Felicity. He frowned, he had seen him in the building once or twice but he wasn't aware of his name. The man in question grinned widely, nodding his head a little in acknowledgement. "Mr. Queen."

He opened his mouth a little to utter something back when he paused, realizing he didn't know what to say. "Felicity?"

"Oh yeah!" She finally decided to add to the conversation, "Oliver Queen, Curtis Holt." She pointed between the two of them, "Curtis, Oliver!"

"Nice to meet you." Oliver smiled a little, shaking hands with the man. Although he still looked a little confused. "Felicity?"

She looked at him again, "Curtis was the one with the idea about the battery, Oliver. He is under applied sciences." There was a pregnant pause, "He actually thinks the battery idea is achievable! Imagine if we do accomplish that?" Her tone was slightly giddy.

"Yes, Mr. Queen. We can actually accomplish. In fact, only a slight change in the current plan and-" He looked at his ex-wife, "Felicity and I were just talking about that."

Oliver gnashed his teeth together a little, managing to pass a tight smile Curtis' way, "I thought you were leaving?"

"Yeah. Nope." Felicity mumbled.

"Felicity." His tone was firm, as if holding some sort of ultimatum.

"I'll leave at ten," She assured him, "Curtis, do you think if we-"

"Felicity, you don't have to turn in the cell tomorrow, you know?" Oliver retorted, his hands landing in the pockets of his suit, "But tomorrow is the board meeting. We need to present the idea anyway."

"Well, we are the CEOs and we can-"

"No," Felicity stopped working, finally looking up, "This is fun. It's a long time since I've worked this way and Curtis is here. I'll be fine."

Of course, Curtis was here.

"I should stay too." He looked at the two of them working. He knew that he wouldn't get anything if the two of them started to talk and it irked him a little.

"You know nothing about this, Oliver. We'll be fine," She rolled her eyes, her eyes meeting Curtis' who nodded his head, "We'll be done in an hour, Mr. Queen."

"Fine." He declared, half-heartedly. Throwing a tight lipped smile towards Curtis, he turned around, walking out of the cabin. "You leave within the next hour, got it, Felicity?"

And the woman in question rolled her eyes yet again, "I will." She lifted her face a little yet again, allowing her eyes to meet Curtis', "Sorry, he can be a little…stubborn." She ended, after a small pause.

"But you clearly know how to dominate him," Curtis started with a smile but then frowning when saw Felicity's wide eyes, "I mean between the two of you, I can clearly see who has the upper hand." Her eyebrow rose and Curtis babbled yet again, "I mean, the dynamic between you two is good. Completely opposite to the rumours might I add. Shouldn't have trusted them to begin with." He nodded his head hastily.

"Rumours?" And Curtis almost groaned, of course that was the word she caught from his entire monologue.

"You know the ones that say that you don't get along," Curtis went ahead with it, hoping that the latter half of this sentence would save him from the trouble, "When you both clearly do." He expected her to shrug it off and go back to work.

But she didn't.

Felicity frowned, her eyes focused on the mahogany table. Her physical presence might be there inside her cabin, but suddenly her mind was drifted somewhere else.

When you both clearly do.

She knew how she gets when she works. This has happened in the past before and she also remembered reprimanding herself for the same. To not to fall for it and let him in again.

But recalling the past events, she realized this might not be work anymore.

Huh, she didn't even realize that. She remembered thinking to herself that she would allow the two of them to be friends.

Just acknowledge that he was trying.

And she did. For the next two days, she remembered coaxing herself that she would try and recreate something back. She had pushed the other thoughts away and had focused herself on that.

And then she forgot about it. Because things fell in place. Because she didn't need to remind herself to be nice to him because she just was.

It just fell in place.

Both ways.

Like it has happened a couple of times before.

Her eyes flickered towards the picture that she kept on her desk. Maybe they were really were getting along with one another.

And she had reprimanded herself for that in the past before.

But not anymore.

Because it didn't really hurt that much anymore.

"Yeah."

…

"So, what did Felicity and you do yesterday?" Lisa asked Oliver, both of her hands holding onto the cup of coffee.

"Work mostly," He answered back.

"So, things still are good?" She raised an eyebrow, keeping the coffee mug on the table between them.

Lisa smiled. She had seen a certain sort of change in Oliver over the past few days. Usually when the man entered, he focused himself on writing the things he was feeling rather than expressing it himself. She had to coax a reply out of him. And now the same man had entered the room and had not even touched the pen, once.

She loved this part of her job.

"Yeah," He muttered after hesitating for a moment, "I think we are."

And it was a surprise to him. He had thought to himself that he would give them a chance as friends, because that is all he deserved from Felicity, nothing more and had pushed the other thoughts aside.

And they were making progress from both ends.

"And why this change?"

"Maybe it was because of the whole drunk thi-" Oliver stopped mid talk. He hadn't really revealed this to his doctor because he knew she would make a big deal out of this. Honestly, he sort of blame her for that entire thing somehow.

But maybe it had worked in his favour.

"What drunk thing?" And Oliver didn't want this. He had decided this. He remembered Lisa's words saying that they needed to believe in one another again.

Well, there wasn't much left for that belief to sustain.

And whatever was, they were trying their best.

And that honestly makes him happy.

"It's nothing. Things are better though," He smiled a little, "Better than before. She even visits the house more often to talk to his-" He paused a little, not wanting to say the word, "Conner and I, sometimes."

"Do you talk to Conner too?" The psychiatrist asked, well aware of the fact that he was trying to avoid the previous topic.

"No."

"Do you think you should?" Her voice was soft.

"I don't know," Oliver closed his eyes, "Maybe."

"Do you both talk about Conner as well?"

"Sometimes." He murmured. They hadn't much. Not since that day in the mansion.

"Tell me how you both celebrated his first birthday."

And it hurt. Because of course it did. His last birthday also happened to be his only one.

In the past few days, he had progress a little. It had started with him just talking about him and now had reached here. He wondered if someday she would ask him how he died.

He also wondered if he was strong enough to relive it again.

But at least he was ready to face reality this time.

He had hesitated to do so before.

But not anymore.

Because it didn't really hurt that much anymore.

…

October 2010

"This hurts," Felicity told Oliver as the two of them stood in front of the nursery. They had lots of time trying to paint it yellow. But that was the only thing done to the room as of yet. The gifs that they had received over the past few months were still in there room.

They still needed to set up most of it.

Oliver didn't say a word, his head moving up and down as he let out 'mm'. He watched as his mother-in-law roam around in the room carrying boxes of God knows what. She had been pretty excited about her grandchild and had brought a lot of stuff from him.

Pink and blue coloured stuff.

Shiny and bright stuff.

And it made Felicity cringe. She loved her mother, she really did but she also knows that she was an over-enthusiast. The room was supposed to be subtle and neutral because they still weren't aware of the gender.

Now, it wasn't.

And honestly, pink is for girls and blue is for boys can be a little sexist. Not that she told her mother that.

Oh, but she had tried to. Only to get a response that went along the lines, "I'm excited for my baby's baby."

Yeah, she had given up.

"I tried talking to her about it," Felicity started, "But she didn't listen."

"Of course she didn't." Oliver responded, "When does she ever listen to you?" He let out a little laugh.

And Felicity frowned, "She does, okay? She's just-"Her head pivoted to see her mother, "overly enthusiastic about everything."

"Yeah, handling this could be difficult."

"You don't even know anything." Felicity declared, "I dealt with her for years."

"Yet you can't stop her."

"I tried, okay?" Felicity raised her hands a little in emphasis, "What did you do? All you do is smile widely when she talks to you. Come and talk when you could handle her."

Oliver looked down, his eyes narrowing a little at Felicity's petite figure, "You don't think I could handle her?" There forehead close to one another and Felicity huffed, "Of course you can't. If I can't, you can't either. It's not possible."

"Is that a challenge, Felicity?"

"No, it's me telling you, you can't."

"Fine." Oliver huffed out, straightening the collar of his maroon shirt in emphasis, "We both know she loves me more."

"Uh huh," Felicity nodded, her eyes telling Oliver that she didn't believe his words.

Oliver just shot her a smirk before he entered the room, making his way towards his mother-in-law. Felicity laughed to herself, leaning against the edge of the door to the nursery.

She knew what would happen. Her mom would recite the same words, probably show him some stuff and that would be it.

Except that didn't happen.

She saw her mother smiling while talking to Oliver and in the next moment, she saw Oliver taking the box out of her hands and placing it at one of the corners of the room. She suddenly straightened up, watching her husband interact with her mother, her activities discarded.

She blinked.

When Oliver turned around, she expected this. The smug slash cheesy smile on his face.

Ah.

Oliver walked towards her, that big ass smug smile on his face before he leaned down, his mouth landing near her ear as he whispered, "Possible." Felicity didn't have the time to react when he dropped a kiss on her cheek. Flashing her another smug grin, he shrugged his shoulders, "She loves me more."

Felicity crossed her arms together before turning around and leaving the place.

Stupid husband and his stupid mother-in-law.

…

Most of the board members had already been seated when Oliver entered the room. He saw Felicity sitting on one of the chairs, the one right beside her empty. He slightly nodded towards the people present in the room, a small smile on his face. Felicity however didn't notice him until he sat beside her.

"Sorry I'm late," And a small squeak escaped Felicity's lips and Oliver's right eyebrow rose, "You okay?"

Felicity nodded her head hastily and Oliver asked her another question, "Ready to show them?" He asked, reaching for the file kept in front of her. Opening it, he eyes dithered towards Felicity yet again, "Felicity?"

"No." She declared.

And Oliver raised his eyebrows, "No?"

"You need to convince her, Mr. Queen." Curtis appeared behind the two of them causing them both to look up, "She is not confident in the idea now."

"Didn't you both work last night?" He frowned. The information on the file told him something else, "There are a lot of things in there, Felicity. Talk to the board." He patted at the file with the knuckles of the first two fingers of his right hand.

"Well, if I talk to the board then they will want the idea. If the know the idea then they will ask how and we still aren't ready with that," Felicity looked at Curtis, "We need to work a lot on that." The latter guy added to the conversation.

"Then don't reveal the product but reveal the idea, Felicity." Oliver's voice was soft.

Felicity shot him a stink glare, "How is that possible? Are you aware how Mr. Dennis is-"

"I think everybody is here now," Mr. Dennis interrupted the conversation and the duo looked up. Felicity could hear footsteps behind her implying Curtis had gone back to her chair and she shared a look with Oliver wondering how she was going to reveal this.

She couldn't.

"Did you both approve of anything?" He asked the two of them and they shared a look. It was utter silence for a second.

"I agree the company is at the top at the moment but we need to sustain the position. The product itself would need time and we need to-"

Oliver looked at Felicity, his eyebrows raised, his head titling a little. Felicity shook her head, knowing very well what he was hinting.

And then Oliver gritted his teeth a little which Felicity knew implied that he was pissed with her. She pouted her lips together, shaking her head lightly.

"Am I interrupting something?" Mr. Dennis frowned and Oliver immediately looked away from the blonde, "Felicity has as idea."

And Felicity's eyes widened before she shot Oliver a glare, "We have been thinking of something. Curtis and I-" She pointed to Curtis who was sitting in the chairs behind the table.

"Thinking of what?"

And this was something that Felicity had been afraid of. Even Oliver was aware of Mr. Dennis' nature. The man was an asshole and if she blurted out the idea, he would definitely cross question her.

"That is proprietary, Mr. Dennis." Oliver came to her rescue, "But we are working on something. Felicity and Curtis are and I-"His eyes locked with Felicity's, "Trust them."

Felicity's lips curled up automatically, her eyes fixed on Oliver before she pivoted her to towards Mr. Dennis, "Yeah."

"I need to see results, Ms. Smoak."

"And you would see that," Curtis nodded as Felicity uttered out those words. Mr. Dennis had a sceptic look on his face but he didn't voice it out and Felicity was grateful for it.

The meeting was dismissed soon after. Felicity smiled to herself, glad that she now was given the time to work on this thing. It had been a long time since she had this much fun with work.

It could also be because she was a lot better these days.

"See?" Oliver shot her a grin, pushing the file in her direction, "Possible." He sounded cheeky, his face close to hers.

She huffed out a laugh at that, "Yeah okay." She will give him his moment.

Before anything else could happen between the two, they were interrupted. Walter came barging through the door, a frown on his forehead which Oliver believed deepened when he saw them. Oliver didn't know why until he turned back to face Felicity, her face close to his and he suddenly backed away. Felicity's eyes lowered the minute he did that and something akin to sadness crossed her face but before he could analyse anything further, she lifted her head with a smile on her face.

Maybe it was just him.

"Ted Kord wants to renegotiate the offer," Walter started, "Didn't you get the papers signed?"

"We did the first one agreeing to it." Oliver started and Felicity nodded, "And the second one was supposed to go on Monday which it did, right?" Felicity leaned her elbow on the table, "We did send it to him."

"What ratio did you decide on?"

"70-30," Felicity answered in an instant, "Well, he is demanding 60% now," Walter took a seat.

"What do you mean he is demanding 60% now?" Felicity's voice rose and she was glad no one but the three of them were there in this room, "It is our product. Our material. All he is providing in one part. He is demanding 60% now?!"

"What was the annual turnover of this project again?"

"6 million in the first year," Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's a loss of more than half a million dollars." His face morphed into one full of disgust, "How could he do this?"

"We should have had interim documents made," Felicity mumbled, "My fault. I thought Ted was a good guy-"

"It isn't your fault."

"Yes and it Ray's too. I'm going to kill him." Her voice still heavy and loud.

"His company is facing losses, Felicity. Ray is not at fault and neither are you."

"Well, I want you both going to Coast City again." Walter stated, "Fix this mess. We can't have this much of loss especially when we are the ones providing most of the materials." Pushing his chair back, he finally got up.

Coast City.

Felicity's eyes widened a little behind her glasses. Her peripheral vision caught Oliver looking at her and she didn't react for a second.

She recalled the events in that city again and bit her lip. The pain, the realization suddenly seemed raw for a second.

Before she finally turned to look towards Oliver, who was looking right at her as if expecting her to react any minute.

"O…okay." She mumbled out, because the minute she saw Oliver, she realized that they were supposed to be past this.

Not past this, past this.

But still, past this.

Ah, it sounded the same but meant different things in her head.

"I'll get you both a private jet then," Walter told them and was about to leave when Oliver stopped him, "Actually Felicity wanted to fly commercial last time. So, I was thinking if we can fly the same-"

Felicity zoned out for a second. Yes, she wanted to fly commercial last time because the idea of Oliver and she alone on a plane didn't appeal to her.

But now?

She wasn't so sure anymore. The fingers of her hand twitched, would she be comfortable with him?

She had been recently. A soft smile came on her face, Oliver was trying. He could have let Walter leave but he wasn't.

Because he didn't want her to go through it.

And she was ready to acknowledge his efforts.

"Private is okay." She nodded her head.

Oliver raised his eyebrow in surprise, "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

…

It was night and Oliver found himself staring through the glass window yet again. He stood in the corner of the room, his eyes fixated on something outside. He liked this somehow. The silence.

The day at the office had been a hectic one. They had planned everything related to the acquisition yet again and he expected himself to fall asleep the minute he entered his room. Instead, he found himself standing in his living room, gazing outside.

He watched as Felicity placed the flowers on his grave. She usually arrived her at nine, sometimes she didn't when she was caught up with work. But she tried her best. The other family members had tried to invite her inside, but she never accepted.

She only came here to meet her son.

Their son.

He didn't know why he was standing here, observing her.

Do you talk to him too?

He frowned, turning around and walking towards the main entrance of the house. He was glad that no one was around, his mom upstairs in Thea's room.

His hands were in his pockets, his gaze fixed on the ground. A small part of him did not want to do it. But psychiatrist's words were ricocheting in his head.

Do you talk to him too?

Do you both talk about him?

"How do you do it?" He asked her and Felicity looked up. Standing up, she brushed her hands against her dress, "Do what?"

"Talk to him." He shrugged his shoulders, "To them. Knowing that they would never reply. It's one thing to visit him but talk to him-"He paused and then the words simply died in his throat.

He didn't know what to say.

"Isn't it weird, Oliver?" Felicity asked, "That it was you who made me come and see him in the first place yet you don't want to see him yourself."

"I do see him." Oliver tried to defend himself, "I just can't-"

"Can't bear the fact that he is gone and this makes you realize that," She mumbled, her eyes shining a little although no tears fell down her cheek.

In a way, they both were the same.

Dealing with something like that isn't easy. And it wasn't for them either. Both of them.

"It makes you feel closer to him," She started, "Sometimes, you can vent your entire heart out and they would no questions from the other end." She laughed a little, "It's progress, Oliver."

"Towards what?"

"Accepting reality," She shrugged her shoulders, "Have you?" Oliver asked, his eyes shifting towards the two stones on the ground.

"I don't know," She answered truthfully. Walking towards him, she continued, "Maybe you should try and see it too." And Oliver could see the tears in her eyes but she didn't allow him to say a word. She just simply walked past him.

Oliver stood there for a little while, unsure of his move. Sighing to himself, he walked towards the grave and then crouched down in front of it.

He had done this before. Had visited him before. But never had he tried to stay. It had always been a quick move, never had he sat here and acknowledged his presence, or lack to be honest.

Moving his hand over the stone, his face crumbled. The realization dawning on him again and it hurt.

"Hey Champ," His voice broke a little, "I'm sorry I never did-did this before."

And it hurt.

Hurt really badly. Like someone was ripping his heart out.

But maybe, if he continued trying.

It won't.

…

Felicity sniffed a little as she walked out of the garden. Bringing her thumb to the corner of her eye, she tried to stop the one tear that was trying to make its presence known. She didn't know whether it was a tear of sadness.

Or of happiness.

Her phone buzzed and she frowned, taking it out of the pocket of her jeans. It was a message from Ed. They had been texting a little and had tried to fix up a plan at the end of this week. She sniffled again, wanting to reply back to him. She wanted to tell him that she couldn't do it this week since she had to go.

Her fingers hovered over her phone and even if she could type without seeing, this seemed like a hard task. Her fingers were shaking.

And then, she heard it.

"Hey Champ,"

And the tears fell. She couldn't remember the last time he had called Conner that. His champion. She remembered how he responded to the word so vigorously. Only to Oliver.

"Who is my champ?" He used to ask him and the child used to grin in delight, placing his tiny hands on his shoulder, "Con."

She really didn't know whether the tears falling from her eyes were of sadness or happiness.

She placed the phone back in her pocket, turning around. She knew she wasn't going to send him a proper text anyway. Her thoughts kept drifting towards Oliver rather than Ed.

They both had suffered a lot, hadn't they?

She saw his figure crouched down. Biting her lower lip to control her sobs, she watched him interact with Conner. And she knew he wouldn't ask her, but it wouldn't hurt checking on him.

She knew it wasn't her place.

But, once.

He needed her.

Ed could wait for a while.

Oliver couldn't.

…

November 2010

"You know when I first found out I was pregnant, for a brief moment I thought we couldn't do it." The two of them were standing in the nursery that they had decorated together. Oliver, Diggle and Tommy had works on the crib and it was finally looking good.

There was a toy that was hanging above it and they had placed all the gifts that they had gotten over the past few days in there.

And suddenly, it felt real.

This was indeed happening.

Parents. The two of them.

Together.

"I know," Oliver didn't deny, "It was because of your father, right?" He placed his hands on the crib for support. The two of them were standing opposite to one another, surrounding it.

"Yeah," She mumbled, "Not anymore." She moved her arm wanting to hold his and he happily followed suit. She walked around the crib, she found herself in his arms, only the baby bump between them separating them. "This is real, isn't?" She moved her right hand in the air and Oliver interlocked his fingers with hers.

"It is."

"We're going to have intelligent blue eyed babies," He stated and Felicity laughed, "Either a champion or a princess,"

"Champion?" She pulled away. Calling girls 'princess' was common, this wasn't?

"Oh yes," He said, "He'll be a ladies guy. My champ," Felicity tilted her head upwards, eyes narrowing a little as if she was repeating the word in her head over and over again, wanting to see how it sounds.

"Sounds good." She nodded her head, "Your champ or your princess."

"Yeah. Our kids."

The two of them stood there together, no further words exchanged. The silence was deafening. Somehow soothing. No words were exchanged further, somehow they both knew what the other one wanted.

That they were ready.

That they were going to stand beside each other through this.

It was like they understood one another, could talk without words.

Like always.

…

Initially, the silence in the plane was deafening. Both of them didn't know what to say. Felicity wanted to know about last night but she was afraid that her asking him about that, would make him back off.

She had left after a little while. She had watched him talk to Conner for a little while, words full of affection for their son. But in the end, she had left. Moira had somehow made her way down searching for her son and Felicity had to leave the place quickly.

She didn't want to deal with Moira and she knew that his mother could handle him.

He needed somebody, right?

And he had his family for that.

"Do you think we should have given Isabel that deal?" Felicity tried to initiate a conversation, looking at Oliver who sitting right opposite to her on a plus leather chair. There was a table between them, a large sofa lying on the other side of the room.

"Are you kidding me?" Oliver laughed a little, "She would have chewed us out alive."

He seemed normal which made her happy.

"Isn't that what Ted is doing now though?" She tilted her end towards the right.

"Isabel is a bitch," Oliver stated in an obvious tone, "Negotiating anything with her would have resulted in a mess. She wanted QC since the beginning, Felicity." And she nodded her head, her eyes focused on the ground as if in deep thought, "I hated her so much. " Felicity's face showcased the disgust she felt for that woman, "Ain't I right, Mr. Queen?" She repeated her words, trying to make her voice sound as much nasally as possible.

Oliver laughed a little, a genuine smile on his face.

Normalcy did feel good.

Maybe they were really getting used to it.

"You hungry?" He asked a minute later and Felicity eyebrows rose at the question before she answered, "Depends. What is there to eat?"

Oliver called out for someone and a man appeared in front of the two. Both of them told what they wanted to have and he wrote it down.

"Just no peanuts," Felicity nodded, "Or peanut oil!" She added as an afterthought to clarify further, "I'm allergic. No peanuts."

"Mr. Queen had already told us about that, Ms. Smoak." He smiled at her and Felicity mumbled out a small 'oh', her eyes landing on Oliver who didn't know what to say.

Right.

Of course he did.

"Don't worry about it." He went away with a final nod and Felicity shared eye contact with Oliver and the latter turned his head away to look outside, a grin on his face, that one dimple of his clearly visible.

And Felicity found herself doing the same. But she didn't know what to say, so she kept mum.

And thus, silence surrounded the two of them once again. Both of them didn't know what to talk about. Felicity chose to look outside the window, her hand holding onto the wine glass. And suddenly, Felicity acted a bit courageous.

He seemed happy. A small part of her expected him to share something with her.

He didn't.

It doesn't matter, does it?

If it wasn't him, it was her.

Somehow, bridging the gap between the two.

She placed the wine glass on the table before her. The index finger of her right hand moving over its rim as she contemplated.

Should she?

"You talked to him last night, huh?" Her voice was soft as she knew it was a sensitive subject. She hope that her talking about it wouldn't make him back off from it.

"I - "Oliver didn't know how to respond for a second, he was caught off guard, "I did." Felicity could see him rubbing his fingers together, a nervous tick of his.

"It feels nice, doesn't it?"

"It certainly didn't feel as bad as I thought it would," Oliver offered with a light chuckle, "It does. Takes something off your chest. It feels good."

"Yeah, it does."

And it really did.

Actually, lately a lot of things were making them feel better.

They continued talking. The conversations drifted from to her achievements back in Central City, to his family, to everything. Felicity didn't allow herself to dwell on the thought that told her it was just like old times.

They had been friends before they became something else.

She pushed that part down because that wasn't going to happen. Ever.

This was good though.

(Just not enough.)

But it was.

….

Felicity dragged her luggage inside the lobby of the hotel. She glanced at the interior of the hotel. It seemed nice. That was good, she was really tired from that trip and all she needed was a bubble bath, some red wine and sleep. Also, this hotel was different from the last one and she was glad about it.

She didn't need to be reminded of those memories.

Oliver had already reached the reception, asking for the two rooms that he apparently had asked Evelyn to book.

"What do you mean there is only one room?"

And Felicity's eyes widened the minute she heard those words. Dropping the luggage against the reception table, she finally spoke, "Oh not one room. Rooms. A one," She jabbed her finger at Oliver, "And a one." She ended, pointing at herself.

"I'm sorry but there is one room booked under the name Oliver Queen,"

"Well, Oliver Queen wants two rooms." Felicity declared and she heard her ex-husband huff out a laugh. Turning her head towards him, she smiled tightly, "What is so funny?"

"Nothing," He shook his head almost instantly, lips forming a straight line.

"Oliver, we need two rooms."

"Right," He told her, "We're willing to pay for one now. Make that two, why don't you?" He reached his back pocket, ready to take out his wallet when the receptionist told him there was no room left.

"What?"

"I'm sorry Sir," She apologized, "But the rooms are full. We don't have any more rooms available at the moment."

"What do you mean you have no more rooms available at the moment?" Felicity slammed her hand against the desk albeit lightly, "We need rooms. Plural."

"I'm sorry Ma'am, we're out of rooms."

Felicity bit her lip. Oliver and she, in the same room? She had read novels and had seen movies. She knew where this could end potentially.

Not that it would end that way with them because no.

But it could be uncomfortable. The two of them, together.

"Evelyn booked it," Oliver told her and she didn't even realize that he had called her. "She said they must have heard it wrong."

"Well," Felicity started, trying to find an alternative, "The room is going to be big, right? Like the one we had in our previous hotel? The 'suite' thing, right?" She looked at the receptionist who shook her head sheepishly, "The booking is of a regular room, Ma'am."

Felicity gritted her teeth, "See? This is what happens when I let you do the job," She poked Oliver in the chest with her index fingers, "You've always been this careless when it comes things like these."

"What did I do?" Oliver's mouth parted open, "Did I call them and specifically said, Guys book us one room because Felicity hates the idea of it," He shot her a sardonic grin.

"Oh, screw it." She sighed in exasperation, "Can I get the keys please?" The receptionist nodded hastily, giving it to her.

Oliver watched his ex-wife retreat and sighed. Smiling a little at the receptionist he pointed towards the luggage, "Make sure this reaches our room,"

Walking away from the table and towards the elevator, he placed his hands in the pockets of his trousers. Sighing a little, he thought about the idea of the two of them in the same room. He hadn't reacted much because Felicity was freaking out about it.

He might not admit it but he was too.

But it was only two nights, right?

Two long nights.

This is it!

Hope you all liked it!

A review or a PM about this story is always appreciated.

Important Note :

This chapter is about moving on. These things have been happening slow and steadily, over a span of a lot of days. It's to depict the changes. What they were and what they are now. Hope you liked that.

The next chapter in the story is very important. It is going to be a FLASHBACK chapter. Yes, we're dwelling into the past again.

Yep, post O/F breakup flashbacks.

Which is why I didn't answer the questions that you people have as of yet. A lot of things will be cleared in the next chapter xD

I'm super excited for that one. It's going to be long and I'll try to update it ASAP.

Thank you for reading,

Srishti x

P.S you can also come and say hi to me on Twitter : Srishti369 :D

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