Oliver looked down at Felicity sleeping in his arms and thought, How did I get so lucky? Part of it, he supposed, had something to do with him finally realizing that he couldn't let his emotional issues get in the way of his chance at happiness. Of course, he couldn't really give himself the credit for that. As soon as he had the chance, he was going to thank Thea and Dig for helping him finally pull his head out of his ass.
This is where I'm meant to be, he thought, glancing downward at Felicity once more. She sighed and shifted in his arms.
"Dad," she mumbled. "Dad, please don't go." Oliver felt a dagger sharp stab of pain in his heart. It hurt him to know that her sleep was troubled by nightmares of the painful memories of her childhood that their earlier conversation had dredged up.
"No!" Felicity shouted, jerking suddenly upward. Her eyes darted wildly around the room, her chest heaving with rapid breaths.
"Sssh," Oliver soothed, his fingers resuming their earlier motion through her hair. "It's alright. It was just a dream."
"It wasn't, once," Felicity mumbled. "It happened."
"I'm so sorry," Oliver said softly.
"For what?" Felicity asked, wiggling around until she was facing him.
"For dredging up your memories of what happened with your father," Oliver replied. "For causing you pain."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Felicity said. "The subject was bound to come up eventually. I couldn't exactly hide it forever." Oliver looked away from her, unable to meet her eyes.
"Hey," she whispered, reaching up and gently turned his face back in her direction. "Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm alright. Like you said, it was just a dream."
"And like you said," Oliver countered. "It did happen, and I'm sorry for-" Felicity put a finger to his lips, cutting him off mid-sentence.
"Don't blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault," she said, shaking her head. "Don't let yourself go down that path again." Oliver was silent, taking a moment to consider her words. It didn't take him too long to realize that she was right. He had allowed himself to fall into that trap of self blame before, and it had nearly cost him the best thing he had in his life right now.
"You're right," he whispered, kissing Felicity on top of her head.
"I always am," Felicity mumbled in reply. She drifted back off to sleep, and it wasn't long before Oliver joined her.
When he jerked suddenly awake some time later, it was dark outside and Felicity was gone.
"Nightmare?" he heard her ask, concern in her voice. He sat up and saw her standing in the kitchen, watching him with a worried expression.
"No," he said. "At least, I don't think so. I can't really remember."
"That probably means no then," Felicity said, the expression on her face shifting to one of relief. "We usually remember our nightmares." Oliver didn't have a response to that.
"What time is it?" he asked, running a hand over his face.
"About eight thirty," Felicity replied, checking her phone to make sure. "I was going to make dinner, but...I'm kind of a disaster in the kitchen." She punctuated her statement with a shrug.
"I can make something," Oliver said, getting up from the couch.
"Why don't we order in?" Felicity asked, crossing the room to meet him and putting her hands on his chest, stopping him in his tracks. "We could...watch a movie, maybe cuddle on the couch…" She trailed off, leaving the conclusion of that sentence to the imagination. She let her hands slide downward, her fingers playing suggestively with the hem of his shirt. Oliver hummed assent.
"It's lucky you're so persuasive," he said, voice low, bending to kiss her deeply. She pulled away after a moment and went to order the food. Oliver watched her at it, finding, not for the first time, that he never wanted to take his eyes off of her, that, to him, she was beautiful and radiant and captivating no matter what she was doing.
As it turned out, they only got around to the movie and the cuddling. Not that Oliver minded. Any time spent with Felicity was time well spent, no matter what it was they ended up doing. He was certain he would enjoy even the dirtiest, most tedious housework, as long as he was doing it with her. He had a sudden mental image of the two of them crouched behind furniture, knee deep in dust bunnies, dirt all over their faces, and the thought made him laugh.
"What's so funny?" Felicity asked, lifting her head up from the arm of the couch to look at him.
"I just pictured us getting dirty doing housework," Oliver replied, "and for some reason the image was funny to me." Felicity smiled with amusement and laid her head back down.
It was midnight by the time the movie was over, and they were both tired, eyes half closed, leaning on each other for support just as much as out of a desire for physical proximity.
"We should clean up," Oliver said with a yawn, sitting up on the couch.
"I really don't want to," Felicity groaned. "It's so late. I just want to go upstairs and go to sleep."
"I know," Oliver said softly. "But if we don't do it now we'll regret it tomorrow."
"Ugh, fine," Felicity replied, her light tone making it clear that she was joking around. "You clean, I'll go upstairs and go to bed." She got up from the couch and stretched languidly, and Oliver followed her.
"Works for me," he murmured, kissing her before she disappeared upstairs. Then she was gone, and he was alone. He set himself quickly to the task before him, wanting to get upstairs to Felicity as soon as possible.
When he was done, he ascended the stairs quietly and carefully eased the bedroom door open, not wanting to wake Felicity if she was already asleep. The room was dark, but Oliver could just make out the shape of Felicity's sleeping form on the bed, under the covers. He smiled and changed into what, for him, passed as pajamas- sweatpants and no shirt- and climbed into the bed beside her, careful not to jostle her too much. Once he'd settled in, Oliver couldn't resist the temptation to wrap his arms around Felicity and pull her against him.
"You're here," she mumbled, clearly still at the very least half asleep.
"I am," Oliver murmured in response. "And I'm not going anywhere, ever. I promise."