A/N: Hi there! Well hopefully with the premiere just 48 hours away, I will be back in the swing with my writing. I had to take a break and work on some of my original stuff. As much as I love fanfiction, especially with these two, I do sometimes have to remember that I've got other books in the works!
Anyhow, here's a new chapter for you. Hopefully I'll be inspired to work out another one tomorrow. And the song is "The Only Exception" by Paramore. Enjoy!
Never Stop
When I was younger I saw my daddy cry and curse at the wind. He broke his own heart and I watched as he tried to reassemble it. And my mama swore that she would never let herself forget. And that was the day that I promised I'd never sing of love if it does not exist.
She had never meant to fall in love with him. More than once she had tried to talk herself out of it. She'd written her attraction off as nothing more than curiosity. Because truth be told, she had been curious. He had come back from the dead. For five years he'd been lost at sea and then all of a sudden, there he was. Walking the halls of Queen Consolidated. Looking for her. Who wouldn't have been curious?
But Felicity had learned a lot from her parents and their mistakes. She knew better than to fall in love with someone so far out of her reach. And he was out of her reach, miles in fact. She was not Oliver Queen's type. She had done her research. She'd read up on him, learned what she could, because as much as she hadn't wanted to, she fell for him quickly.
Well darlin', you are the only exception. Well you are the only exception. Well you are the only exception. Well you are the only exception.
She watches him where he is training with Roy and Sara on the other side of the room. The three of them move around each other with practiced ease. It has taken a long time for their team to become what it is. For the five of them, including herself and John, to become the well-oiled machine that they are now. In the nearly four years that they have worked together, they have each grown in their own ways but it is him who has changed the most.
The man who returned from five perilous years on Lian Yu had been angry and bitter and so full of guilt that it practically oozed out of him. And he had been hell-bent on completing his mission, the one that his father had assigned to him before taking his own life. That man had frightened her. He was cold and ruthless and when she had discovered that the Oliver that she thought that she knew was only a façade, she had considered walking away.
As she hears him patiently explaining something to Roy, pairing with Sara to demonstrate, she smiles. This is why she's stayed. This is the man who has stolen her heart so wholly. He is the only person who has ever made her believe that love is worth the risk. And the wait.
Maybe I know somewhere deep in my soul, that love never lasts. And we've got to find otherwise to make it alone or keep a straight face. And I've always lived like this, keeping a comfortable distance. And up until now, I had sworn to myself that I am content with loneliness.
Her mother had gone through men the way that Felicity went through nail polish. She used them and then dumped them. And while she didn't agree with the way that her mother handled her relationships, she did understand the need to protect her heart. When her father had left them, her mother's world had been shattered. She had given all of herself to their love, to their marriage, and a piece of her had died the day that he'd gone. Her mother hadn't wanted to relive that pain and she had done what she could to instill in Felicity that no love was worth that kind of pain.
Because none of it was ever worth the risk.
And she had lived by that belief for most of her life. She had dated men when she'd gone to college. She had dated a few after she'd moved to Starling City. But she had kept those relationships as casual as possible because she hadn't been willing to risk heartbreak. Not with any of them. Not until she had found him in the backseat of her car, his life hanging in the balance.
Well you are the only exception. Well you are the only exception. Well you are the only exception.
He glances over at her suddenly and she smiles, not at all ashamed at having been caught staring. The grin that he gives her in return is bright and genuine and it is all the reassurance that she needs. He loves her, of that she is one-hundred percent sure, and even though she knows that nothing in life is guaranteed, she does not believe that Oliver will break her heart. As far as she's concerned, he's mending it.
I've got a tight grip on reality but I can't let go of what's in front of me here. I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up when you're with some kind of proof it's not a dream.
Roy and Sara break up the session and all three of them start in her direction. Sara reaches her first, mopping sweat from her face and neck with her t-shirt, and they share a smile. It wasn't too long ago that she had a hard time looking the younger Lance sister in the eye because her jealousy was so deep. She knows better now because when Oliver had finally talked to her about his relationship with Sara, she had understood. What they had had between them had nothing to do with love.
"It's really good to have you back," the assassin tells her as she stops beside her desk, "We were all worried."
She squeezes her shoulder (the uninjured one) and moves to the stairs. Roy simply nods at her and continues on after Sara.
Oliver joins her, resting against her desk. She tips her chair back slightly to look up at him.
"It was too quiet here without you," he confesses.
She attempts to shrug and grimaces instead. He reaches for her hand.
"I missed being here. Trust me, as much as I enjoy binge-watching Supernatural on Netflix, there's only so much boredom this girl can take."
And six weeks had been her max. She had been ready to dive back in the day that she'd been released from the hospital. Of course, Oliver and John – hypocrites that they were – were having none of that. So for one month, two weeks and two days she had been forced to stay home and heal from the gunshot wound that had nearly ended her life. Complete with a rotation of babysitters.
You are the only exception. You are the only exception. You are the only exception. You are the only exception.
He shakes his head, his expression the same bemused one that finds its way to his face whenever she rambles too much or lets some inappropriate blabber come out of her mouth. It's the same one that lets her know that he finds her candor charming, whether he wants to or not.
"Are you ready to go home?" he asks her.
She glances are the foundry, taking in the vast space with its designated areas. The training mats, the cases that hold both the weapons and the suits for Sara, Roy and Oliver. She lets her eyes wander over each of her computer monitors, not really looking for any particular information but just absorbing the feeling that she gets from being there. In her chair. With him at her side.
"This is home," she responds, "One of my homes. It's good to be back."
His hand cups her cheek gently and she turns to press a warm kiss to his palm. The affection in his eyes as he watches her sends a shot of warmth through her.
"Love you," he murmurs, the words that he has told her every day since she'd come to in the hospital still sending chills down her spine.
She grins and stands, leaning into him. This place is home for her, for them, but it is no longer the only place where she feels like she belongs, where she feels safe. She has found that feeling in the man who holds her hand as he leads her to the stairs, the same man whose arms will be wrapped around her as she falls asleep. She knows that she can stop looking. She can stop worrying because she has found the one person in the world who has made her believe in love, both in its risk and its reward.
And I'm on my way to believing. Oh and I'm on my way to believing.
