Previously:

He reached out and took her hand, "Hey, you've been distract the entire dinner. Is there something bothering you?"

She sighed and shook her head, taking her hand away, "No, just wondering about something."

"Anything I can help with?"

She shrugged, "Maybe."

"So what's it?" he asked eating another spoonful of pasta.

She looked up at him and asked in a calm voice, "I was wondering if you were ever going to tell me that you're Batman."

He opened his mouth about to protest but the knowing look in her eyes told him it would be pointless and would only get her pissed off. Looking at her for a moment, he closed his mouth and sighed.

"So, you know my secret..." he conceded, silently telling her she had been right.

"I do," she confirmed. "You're not going to kill me, right?" she joked and then added, "For knowing your secret. Because you're not a spy, you're vigilante. Which in theory might make things even worse-" she cut herself off when she realized what she had said and made a gesture as if she was locking her mouth and throwing the key away.

He chuckled lightly, "For the record, I would never kill you. And I wanted to tell you, eventually."

"Well, that's good to know."

Silence fell on the room as they were unsure of how to go on. Felicity quietly watched Bruce as he looked at her with a small smile that slowly turned into a worried expression and then a frown. He seemed to be tense as he carefully pushed his glass of wine on the table away from him and settled back on his chair, adoringly looking at her.

"What's going on over there?" she tried in a hesitant yet playful tone. "What has made you frown like that?"

He smiled softly at her, "Just thinking. I guess I should have expected you to find out. I just thought I would have more time before you figured it out. Or confronted me. But I can't say I'm surprised about how fast it happened, though." His tone and smile were appreciating and she decided to take it as a compliment.

"Then what's the problem?" she questioned.

He sighed in resignation, "I asked you on a real date."

"And you have a policy about not dating people who help you in your "night job"?"

"You're the first woman to help me with this kind of thing so there was never the need of a policy on the subject."

"Right," she smiled, happy she is the first and only woman to make part of his team. She remembered how it felt when she was first brought into team Arrow and though it had been scary and overwhelming it had also been gratifying and exciting. And she was thankful not only that Batman had asked her to help him but also that it din't take a bullet to the chest to have Bruce confess his secret to her.

"But there are things that need to be considered. The life I lead is dangerous..."

Listening to Bruce say those words somehow made Felicity feel the exactly same tightness in her chest that she felt after seeing Isabel leaving Oliver's hotel room and then when he told her she was not even a possibility because of the life he led and later when she saw him with Sara. She paled and the air left her lungs as she looked at him in shock and disappointment. For some reason she didn't expect Bruce to feed her the same line Oliver had.

"I swear that if the next words that come out of your mouth are "and because I'm a vigilante I can't be with you" I'll hack into every account in your name and make you penniless by the end of the day."

Bruce chuckled loudly but slowly his laugh turned into a sad smile. "I wouldn't dream of telling you what to do. But we do have to talk about the risks my choices bring. There was someone, a few years ago. Her name was Rachel and she was my best friend. We knew each other since we were kids, she was there for me when my parents died, she was always there for me," he takes a sip of his scotch and look at the tablecloth as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "I told her I was Batman and she told me she would wait for me, for the day when Gotham didn't need Batman anymore. But before that could happen an insane man, an enemy of Batman, learned she meant a lot to me and killed her."

Felicity opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. She wanted to say she was sorry but it seemed so little close to the pain he had obviously felt. In the end, she just put her hand over his and it seemed to be enough for the moment.

"What I'm trying to say is that Rachel wanted to wait for a time that both of us wished for but neither could be sure it would ever come. I respected her wishes but in the end it wasn't enough anyway. The fact that I cared about her put her life in danger, it killed her. But it also showed me that we lost precious time apart waiting for something that might never have happened, and now never will."

"I hate to be callous but I'm still not sure if you're saying you want to give it a shot or if you're breaking up with me even though we aren't even dating."

Bruce sighed, took her hand and kissed it. "I'm telling you that I don't want to waste time because I know how short life can be. But I need you to know that being with me is extremely risky and though I will always do everything in my power to protect you and that I would put my life in the line for yours, I've learned that sometimes it still isn't enough and bad things happen to the people that least deserve them. You are a very intelligent woman; I'm sure you know all the risks. But I need you to think if you're willing to take those risks for me."

Felicity opened her mouth to speak again but Bruce interrupted, "I don't want you to say anything yet. You need to think about this, maybe talk to your friends, make a pro/con list, consider how much you could lose if you decided to be with me." He paused and brushed a string of hair behind her ear, "Think this through, take your time and when you want - if you want to talk to me, just let me know."

He stood up, ready to leave her apartment when she called his name. She looked at him with wide-doe eyes and slowly asked, "Have you thought about it? About what you could lose? What you would give up? I'm not Rachel and I don't share; if you are with me then you are with me. Not the entire Russian ballet or lingerie models. Not with Rachel. I'm your partner. Have you thought this through?" she asked honestly.

He looked back at her and smiled, "Rachel was someone very important to me but she is in my past now," he paused then continued, "About the rest... trust me, I had no intention of getting involved with anyone after what happened to Rachel. You took me by surprise. But I already knew the answer to all the questions you've made before I came here tonight."

The next day Felicity sat during her lunch break on her usual table at Big Belly Burger slowly chewing her fries while still thinking about Bruce's words from the night before. He had been surprisingly calm about being discovered as Gotham's vigilante by her. She also noticed he didn't ask her to keep his secret in any moment, just assuming he could trust her not to turn him in. It was understandable that he would feel that way, after all she had been helping him and Oliver in their vigilante activities, still it was nice to know he trusted her implicitly. And after having her suspicions confirmed by Bruce, he had surprised her yet again by talking about a possible relationship between them. He seemed to be serious about them even though they had just met and it was nice to have the ball on her court for once. Besides, she was really glad he hadn't fed her any lines about "the life I lead is too dangerous", "maybe someday" or "it's not you, it's me". She had heard them all at one moment or another and she had half expected that Bruce would use one of them on her and half hoped he wouldn't. By the time she had confronted him about his secret identity she had been prepared for him to pretend they had no relationship at all and switch completely to vigilante mode. She hadn't expected to feel such a relief when he didn't.

She was still distractedly playing with her fries when Diggle and Roy approached her table. Felicity didn't even notice both men until Diggle asked her, "Hey, how are you?"

She looked up at him startled, "What? Why?" she replied, thinking he might have somehow found out about Bruce being Batman then tried again a little calmer, "I mean, why?"

Diggle and Roy sat next to her, and quickly ordered coffee before Diggle explained, "Oliver said you told him you couldn't go to the lair last night because something had come up but you didn't really explain what. You always go to the lair, it's like your first job, so I got worried."

"Oh," she sighed, relieved. "Yeah, right. There was something I had to do last night and I just couldn't postpone it, so... yeah. Sorry about worrying you but everything is fine."
He frowned, still suspecting something was wrong but before he could say anything Roy stole one of her fries and said, "I bet I can guess what kept her busy last night."

Dig rolled his eyes, "Sure, kid. Like you could find out anything about Felicity that she didn't want others to know."

Roy raised his eyebrows, feeling challenged, "Bet you ten bucks."

"Make it twenty," Dig replied.

Roy grinned, "Even better." He turned to Felicity, grin still on place, "Tell me, did it have anything to do with the new good looking billionaire in you life?"

At Felicity's obvious blush Roy continued, "You were a date with him?"

Felicity opened and closed her mouth a few times, unable to formulate a sentence, her blushing getting even worse.

Roy chuckled and held his hand out for Dig to pay, "Told you I'd win."

Finally, Felicity asked, "How could you possibly know?!" as Dig payed Roy his $20 with a scowl on his face.

Roy shrugged, "That's easy. There is only one logical reason for you to not spend a night with a good looking billionaire: to spend the night with a good looking billionaire who wants to go on a date with you."

She rolled her eyes and scoffed at his shallow observation even if the facts pointed that way.

"So, what happened to make you look so distracted? The press took new pictures of you two together?" Dig asked.

She shook her head, "No, no press. We stayed at my apartment."

"Oh, really?!" Roy questioned in a teasing tone. Dig slapped him on the arm in a reprimanding way.

Felicity blushed again, "Nothing happened! We just talked and... and..."

"And...?" Dig pushed.

"I think he asked to date me."

"And what did you say?" Roy leaned forwards expectantly, looking a lot like a gossiping girl.

She shrugged, "I didn't say anything. He didn't ask for an answer right away. He told me to think about it, about how much my life could change if I had a relationship with him."

Both men quietly watched her as she played with her fries, obviously not hungry anymore.

"But what did you want to answer when he asked you?" Dig asked carefully.

Felicity opened her mouth to answer when she caught a movement by the door and turned to see Oliver walking into the diner. She watched him walk to their table slowly and in the few moments that took him to reach her table time seemed to stand still and her thoughts rushed thought her mind. She tried to figure out the answer to Dig's question and at the same time tried to understand the way she felt about the man walking towards her.

She knew she had had a crush on him since the day they met. It wasn't difficult to see why, after all he was more than easy on the eyes. The fact that he didn't play the part of conceited bratty playboy with her also helped, even though the lies he told her in the beginning were more than ridiculous. And finding out he was the vigilante kind of made the whole "prince charming" with broody damaged goods package even more appealing somehow. Her small crush turned into something bigger and deeper and the way he treated her led her to believe that maybe it wasn't as platonic as she had initially thought.

But then there was Isabel, even if he had fed her the line of the century telling her he couldn't be with someone he cared about just a couple of months before starting a relationship with Sara. And it hurt. It hurt a lot more than she let it show. She felt a little betrayed by the way he strung her along and let her believe there could be a maybe someday just before he started dating Sara. He had hurt again and again, and though she knew it was never intentional it didn't make it hurt any less.

She watched Oliver as he reached her table and sat next to Dig, smiling at her, "Hey!"

His voice broke the spell she had been in and she felt like she had just had some sort of epiphany. The heart of the matter was that there was no doubt in her mind that he was a hero; he was the city's hero. She just had to face the fact he wasn't her hero.

And somehow that realization didn't seem as hard to accept as it used to anymore. Of course she still felt something for him, something she couldn't quite name, but it wasn't as deep or consuming as it once was. It felt more like a memory of a feeling, something that could have been but never was; which she was oddly thankful for, after all if she had continue to pine over Oliver she would never have let Bruce in in her life.

Suddenly, it all made sense and she just knew what she wanted to do.

Felicity looked at Oliver as if she was seeing him for the first time in a new way, "Hi. I'm sorry but I have to go, there is something I have to do. I may be a little late after my break but everything is in order in the office, so you shouldn't have any problem," she told him as she stood up and grabbed her purse, leaving some money on the table.

Oliver frowned and grabbed her hand to stop, worried, "Is everything okay?"

She smiled warmly at him, "Everything is good. I just have to take care of something. I'll meet you in a few."

Felicity turned to Dig and Roy who had been silently watching her and both had knowing smiles on their faces. She smiled in return, giving them a small wave and saying, "I'll see you guys later," before she left.

Bruce heard someone knock on his room and checked his watch to see it was a little after noon. There had a meeting in the morning to talk about a possible new investor, but he hadn't expect any visitors for the rest of the day. He quickly put on a dress shirt to hide his bruises and scars, buttoning it up as he walked to open the door. The second the door opened Felicity put her arms around his neck, bringing him closer and kissing him. It took Bruce a minute to fully realize what was happening and a few more to decide they should probably talk the basics before letting things go any further.

"Hold on," he tried to stop her. "We should probably talk."

She stepped back, nodding but remained quiet.

"Have you thought this through?" he asked.

Felicity tilted her head to the side, studying the man in front of her, "Were you serious last night? About me? About us?"

He reached out his hand and touched her arm, "Of course I was serious. I am serious about you. About us."

She took a deep breath and nodded before taking another step back. Looking up into his eyes, she started to undo the first three buttons of the shirt she was wearing.

Bruce groaned almost painfully, "I'm really not complaining but shouldn't we maybe talk before the clothes come off?" he suggested.

She rolled her eyes and took the shirt off of her right shoulder, turning a little to show him a small scar. He took a step closer and reverently touched it.

"What happened?" his voice was constricted, angry but not at her.

She shrugged and started in a soft voice, "The team needed help and I went off the reservation. I was feeling left out... I think I was left out... Anyway, I went on the field and I saved someone. I took a bullet for someone. It wasn't supposed to happen, I hardly ever go on the field and it's always with back up but... Sometimes things just happen." She paused, "I didn't plan for you either and maybe we'll be great together or maybe one of us will die tragically and painfully or maybe we'll find out the sex is not good but instead awkward or we will realize that we actually have nothing in common and it was all infatuation and this will be over within a month... I don't know what will happen. But I do know that all we can do is make the best of our lives with what we have at the moment. And the best thing in my life right now is you."

He looked up from the scar she had showed him and into her blue eyes, shining with emotion. And the only thing he could do in that moment was kiss her.

A/N: Hey guys! I know it's taking me longer to update but work has kept me very busy. Also, I had planned to go about Felicity thinking over her feeling for Oliver in another way and had to rewrite the whole scene in the diner, which was cool because in the other version there was no Roy and I really like him.

I can't thank you enough for your support and reviews. It's been really amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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