A/N: I... really don't have an excuse for not updating sooner... but I'm really, really sorry.

Chapter 10:

In the end, Oliver decided that Felicity could probably use her sleep, so he carried her upstairs, to one of the guestrooms. She stirred as he carried her up the stairs, but ended up just snuggling closer to his chest. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

He lay her on the bed and took off her shoes, which left the somewhat uncomfortable-looking dress. He could hardly take that off her, and the thought alone made his cheeks grow warm. He'd been with a lot of women, but Felicity… she was his friend, and he didn't want to violate her trust. He briefly considered waking her up, before deciding against it; she'd probably insist on going home.

"Need help?"

Oliver turned around to see his sister leaning against the doorframe, wearing one of his old shirts. It looked worn, and the sight made him feel guilty. Thea had missed him, had needed him while he was away, and he'd stayed away. He hadn't had much choice, but still.

When he didn't answer right away, Thea rolled her eyes and walked in. She was carrying another shirt, he noticed. "Out, you idiot, I'll get her out of the dress."

Oh. Oliver suppressed another blush and made his way into the hallway, where he leaned against the wall.

He'd known Felicity for years now, but he still couldn't figure her out. She'd willingly helped a vigilante, and then defied said person's advice and come to a place she knew something bad was going to happen. She was so brave and loyal, and she had the ability to surprise him. But more than that, he could see her as a person. It was so hard for him not to look at people as targets or tools or people to be kept in the dark… Felicity… he felt like he could tell her his secret, and she'd… well, she'd probably yell at him and tell him he was being stupid to go looking for trouble like that, but she'd accept him in the end.

"You look pensive," Thea said when she exited the room. "You should go to bed before you hurt yourself."

He shot her a flat look. "Very funny. Go to bed."

Thea smiled at him in a way he couldn't quite interpret. "God, you are so far gone," she said, before sauntering off. Oliver frowned. His sister had really gotten weirder with age.

Shaking his head, he quietly walked back into the bedroom. Felicity had curled up beneath the sheets, almost like a kitten. For a moment, Oliver wondered if Byte would need to be fed, but then he figured that the cat would be fine for one night.

He gently pried her glasses off - Thea had forgotten them - and put them on the nightstand. She looked so small, laying in the queensized bed. Gingerly, he reached for a lock of hair that had fallen in her face and tucked it behind her ear.

God, he really was far gone. It had been so many years, but he had to admit, at least to himself, that he was still completely, head-over-heels in love with Felicity Smoak. And she had no idea.

/*/

Felicity woke up slowly. Her alarm hadn't gone off, so she still had a little while to just snuggle into the covers. And so was so comfortable.

After a few minutes passed without the usual buzz of her alarm, Felicity decided that she should probably check the time. But when she opened her eyes… This wasn't her room. Oh god, this wasn't her room!

She bolted upright and looked around the slightly fuzzy room. Right, glasses. She located them on the nightstand, along with her purse, which presumably had her phone.

The room was very fancy, though a little old-fashioned for her tastes. And her dress was draped over a nearby chair. Oh crap.

Right, the shooting at the Unidac auction, going to the Queen mansion - that explained the opulent room - and falling asleep watching Cinderella. But how had she ended up here? And - she noticed after she looked down - in a men's shirt. She buried her nose in the collar. It smelled like… Oliver.

Someone knocked on the door. "Felicity? Are you up?" Thea asked from the other side of the door.

Not really knowing what else to do, Felicity got up to open the door. "Morning," the brunette said with a grin. She was leaning against the door frame, wearing an old men's shirt and some shorts. "Slept well?"

Felicity blinked. "Uhm… fine I guess. How did…?"

"Oh, Ollie carried you up and I helped you change. My brother was kind enough to lend you a t-shirt." Thea was smirking slightly, and it was both a little confusing and a little creepy. But it was too early for Felicity to feel any kind of alarm; she hadn't had a coffee yet.

"Tell him thanks," she said distractedly.

"Tell him yourself, there's breakfast," Thea said, quickly grabbing Felicity's hand and dragging her out of the room.

"Wait, Thea, I need to get dressed!" Felicity protested.

Thea snorted in derision. "Mom and Walter aren't home, and only our housekeeper is here, there's no need to be embarrassed. I always eat breakfast in my PJs."

There really wasn't any arguing with Thea when she was like this, and Felicity had no energy to try, so she just let herself be dragged along to the kitchen. At least she'd get coffee there.

Of course, what Thea had neglected to tell her, was that Oliver was home. He was sitting at the kitchen counter, frowning intently at the TV. When they walked in, he looked over.

And that's when Felicity realized that she was wearing one of his shirts, and wasn't wearing shorts…

"Gotta go to the bathroom, be right back," Thea said and quickly left the room. Oh, Felicity could kill that girl!

"Morning," Oliver said.

Was it just her or was his voice lower than usual? He looked a little… startled, and was very pointedly looking at her face. Though she was fairly sure she was blushing, Felicity also felt a little proud that Oliver seemed to really have to concentrate not to stare at her legs. She totally had killer legs. "Morning. Is that coffee?" she asked, gesturing to the mug in front of him.

He glanced down. "Uhm… tea, actually, but I can get you some," he said as he got up to get her a cup.

Refusing to feel too embarrassed about her state of dress, Felicity slid onto a barstool. "Didn't take you for a tea guy," she teased gently.

He shot her a smile over his shoulder. "I'm not, usually, but the tea is calming." The machine finished making the coffee, and he put it in front of her, and made sure the milk and sugar were within reach. "But I, however, did take you for a coffee girl."

Felicity folded her hands around the mug gratefully. "Are you kidding me? I'm practically addicted." Then she frowned thoughtfully. "How did we not cover this during our favorites conversation? We talked for hours." God, they really had talked for hours, hadn't they? She felt so silly for thinking it, but it made her think of all those cheesy chick-flicks where the main characters spend the night just talking, and it's portrayed as so romantic. Mind you, not that she'd mind finding herself in a romantic setting with Oliver, but… She glanced up, and he was looking at her with a mildly amused look. Oh god, he'd said something, hadn't he? "Huh?" she said.

He grinned that crooked grin she liked so much. "I said that we had plenty of other things to talk about."

Felicity felt herself blush again, so she reached for the milk to distract herself. She had to really stretch, so perhaps it hadn't been quite as in reach as she'd originally judged. When she sat back down, Oliver was pointedly looking elsewhere, and the tips of his ears were red. Glancing down, she noticed that the shirt she'd been wearing had ridden up a little. So he had been looking. The thought made Felicity smirk. "I'll just take this upstairs and get dressed," she said quickly. She grabbed her mug and darted out the kitchen before the tension in there could rise any higher.

God, she really had it bad for him, didn't she? Nine years since the one and only time he'd kissed her, and Felicity was still very much in love with him…

/*/

It really was lucky that Felicity didn't have to work that day, or she'd have been hopelessly late, and no amount of threatening her boss would get her out of that one. As it was, Felicity just finished her coffee, put her dress from the previous evening back on, and awkwardly allowed Mrs. Queen's driver to take her home. Well, actually, he drove her to the Exchange building, where she picked up her car and then went home.

Byte was clearly angry with her, he wouldn't even let her pet him. Vaguely, she wondered if he'd let the vigilante pet him, as he'd done before. Then she shook that thought from her head and fed the angry kitten.

The vigilante… he'd come through on his promise. No one in the Queen family had gotten hurt, and the shooting had stopped, so he'd probably gotten the guy. She snorted at herself. 'Gotten the guy', what a euphemism. He'd most likely killed the guy. But then again, the perpetrator had been shooting at innocent people. Does the fact that he was a murderer excuse the vigilante's killing? And what about the other people he'd-

She was interrupted by the ringing of her cellphone.

"Hey Katie," she said when she answered.

"Don't 'hey Katie' me, I've tried to call you a million times!" Katie shouted.

Felicity held the phone away from her face, and saw that she did indeed have a bunch of missed calls. "Yeah, sorry about that, I spent the night at Thea's place and didn't have my charger on me; my phone died." She also hadn't noticed the notifications, but Felicity wasn't about to tell her friend that.

"But you're okay, right? I saw that there was a shooting at that auction, and when I heard the CEO and a bunch of people from QC would be there…"

"Okay, first off, I'm in the IT department. Usually, I don't really get invited to those kinds of things," Felicity explained. "That said, I may or may not have been there that night," she added sheepishly. "But I got out with Thea and Mrs. Queen right away, and none of us were harmed."

"People were killed, Liss, I was worried. Next time just pick up your damn phone," Katie warned, sounding genuinely concerned. Of course, that made Felicity feel like a complete jackass for letting her friend worry about her.

"I'm sorry, Katie. I promise next time I get into some kind of life threatening situation, I'll give you a call first." Part of Felicity was desperate to tell her friend about meeting the vigilante, and helping him with the laptop, if only to get some perspective. She really believed she'd done the right thing in that instance, but what if he needed her help again? What if she didn't agree with him next time?

"You better!" Katie warned. "So, any other news?"

"Uhm, not really. Life goes on, you know? I go to work, come home, feed my cat, watch some TV, work on some side projects, get shot at, go to sleep and go back to work," she joked.

"Har har. But seriously, though, no new guys or anything? And how's that Tommy character?" Katie asked, sounding a lot calmer now.

"Tommy's fine, pretending he's not getting freaked out by how serious his relationship with Laurel is getting. Thea… got arrested for breaking and entering in a store, but she wasn't charged, thank god. Other than that… nothing new really, no guys. I'm perpetually single, remember? Most guys don't deal well with babbling Felicity."

Felicity could almost hear Katie roll her eyes. "Please, if they can't see past the babble, they're crap anyways. And you skipped one important person in your lineup. How's Oliver?" Katie's voice sounded teasing, and Felicity could feel herself start to blush again.

"Uhm…"

"Oh my god! Did something happen? You guys kissed, right? I bet you guys kissed. I knew this was going to happen!" Katie practically squealed.

Groaning, Felicity sank down onto her couch. "You are terrible! No, we didn't kiss!"

"But you want to, right? You've been in love with that guy for 9 years, Liss."

"I haven't been in love with him for 9 years!" Felicity protested. "I may have had a crush on him back in high school, but… it's still just a crush!"

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night. Wait, you said you'd slept over at Thea's right? That's Oliver's place, too…"

This blush was never going to go away again. "Yes… okay, fine, so something happened. But it's not... I mean, I don't… I can't really explain this," she sighed.

"Just tell me what happened, I'll help you sort through your feelings later," Katie suggested, teasing a little bit.

"Well…" And then Felicity told her best friend about the evening she'd spent just talking to Oliver, and getting to know him again, and about waking up in his shirt, and their interaction at breakfast that day.

"Girl, you are so deeply in love with that guy," Katie said softly.

Felicity groaned. "God, I know… I don't know what to do."

"What to do? You go up to him and make out with him until his brain turns to mush, that's what you do," Katie declared.

Rolling her eyes, Felicity rested her head on the back of her couch. "There's only one problem with that plan."

"Oh? I think it sounds kind of perfect."

"The problem is that Oliver very obviously doesn't feel the same. He didn't back then, and he certainly doesn't now. He's my friend. And that's enough for me. I just… I want him in my life. No matter how much of an ass he can be." Felicity sighed.

"I guess that's fair. Just ask yourself this; if you try, if you never tell him how you feel… will you regret it?"

Felicity honestly had no idea.

A/N: Please let me know what you think! The slow burn is finally heating up a smidge. I promise it won't be that much longer until we finally get to see some proper Olicity!