Chemistry

A/N: I've completely forgotten to update this story here. It's done actually. Some of you may have already read this in AO3. Sorry about that!

Summary: Felicity has been busy with her mother's transfer from the hospital to hospice care in Vegas. She gets surprise visitors.

Chapter Six

"Hey, Felicity," John Diggle greeted. It was soft, but she heard it nonetheless from where she was seated on the couch in her mother's suite at the hospice. Seeing her agent and close friend waving at her at the door brought a smile to her face.

"John," Felicity acknowledged him fondly as she got up on her feet.

He had called her yesterday, asking if Donna's transfer from the hospital to the hospice was going to push through today. When she had confirmed that it was, John had asked if it was okay to come and visit. She had said yes, but he hadn't told her when he was coming, so she wasn't really expecting him to visit today.

Today, of all days, Felicity had been very busy with the transfer. Having to deal with the hospital accounts, the ambulance transport, and checking her mom into the hospice in the morning – it had almost drained her of all her energy reserves. It was barely afternoon, but she was already feeling tired and stressed out.

Add to that the confusion that occurred when they arrived at the hospice. For some reason, the staff had mixed up the reservations for Donna's room, or so she thought. Felicity had spent a good half hour arguing with them about how she had specifically asked for a simple private room with basic amenities. She had tried to get her point across – which was that she really could not afford the patient care suite that they had booked for her mother. The incredulous look on the face of the admissions officer ticked off Felicity; she could not believe that people thought everyone who worked in Hollywood were as wealthy as most veteran celebrities. Apparently, her mother's suite had already been paid for, three months in advance, which puzzled Felicity even more. Some of the hospice staff, of course, recognized her as the lead actress in When Home Calls the Heart, yet even her popularity could not get her what she wanted. Unfortunately, the last available room of the kind that she wanted had already been booked the night before; hence, she had settled for the suite, but only until another regular room was available for Donna to be transferred to.

"It's so good to see you," Felicity said after hugging John. "I wasn't expecting you to come today. What brings you here so soon?" she asked, half-whispering because she didn't want to wake her mother.

John cleared his throat. "Well, I wasn't supposed to come until this weekend. But someone was in a hurry. This guy," he said, motioning for his companion to come inside, "insisted that we come today. So, we took the first available commercial flight. It was kind of him to pay for both our business class seats."

Felicity's gaze shifted to the person John was referring to. She sighed, rolling her eyes in disbelief, upon seeing none other than Oliver coming through the door behind John.

"Hi," Oliver managed to say, scratching a fake itch at the back of his head.

"Hello, Oliver," she responded, quite undecided as to whether or not she appreciated his presence. "You didn't have to come all the way to Vegas. I specifically told John to tell you that-"

"I know what you told him," he cut her off, but not in a rude way. "I also know that you probably still don't want to see me because you're not ready. But yesterday, when you finally answered my call and we spoke… It gave me hope that… perhaps… you wouldn't turn me away if I came anyway. I just… I really wanted to see you and visit Donna."

When Felicity did not show any sign of a violent reaction, he asked, "How is she?" He looked at Donna Smoak's sleeping form and approached her bedside.

Felicity thought that Oliver's move of deflecting her attention was pretty smooth, but she answered him anyway. "She's okay, for now. The meds pretty much keep her pain-free, but she sleeps most of the time."

Situated on the other side of the bed across the guys, Felicity moved closer to her mom to touch her arm. "I can't believe all those times we spoke on the phone or did video chat, she never once told me that she was in a lot of pain. She'd tell me that the chemo sessions were almost done, but she left out the fact that the doctors had told her a month ago… a month ago… Chemo wasn't working. The cancer has spread to her bones." She stopped speaking in order to rein in her emotions and hold back the tears, but she failed just the same.

"There's nothing much that they can do for her at this point…" Her voice wavered. "…except keep her comfortable," she said, and then she completely lost it. The tears fell and she began to sob, her body shaking slightly.

The two men standing in front of her on the other side of Donna's bed – their hearts broke, seeing their friend agonizing over her terminally ill mother. Oliver wanted nothing more than to hold the woman he loved in his arms and offer her comfort, but he did not want to overstep his bounds. John wanted to embrace Felicity too, and he was going to, but he changed his mind. Instead, he turned to Oliver and nudged him to move. Oliver noticed what John was trying to do, and in an instant, he was by Felicity's side.

Oliver wrapped his arm around Felicity's shoulders and pulled her to his side. He led her away to a corner of the room where she could cry her heart out without waking her mother. There, she turned to face him and said, "Oliver, my mom is slipping away, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it." She rested her head on his chest and cried some more.

He rubbed circles on her back to comfort her. "Shh… I know it hurts. Just cry. I'm here. John's here. We're here for you… and Donna." He was beginning to tear up too, but he wasn't going to let himself crumble now that she needed him to be strong for her.

Unknown to Felicity, John signaled Oliver that he was going to step out and give them some time alone. Oliver nodded in acknowledgement and mouthed a silent 'thank you' to their friend. He owed John this favor. It was he that had wanted to come and visit as soon as he and Felicity had finished talking over the phone the previous day. He had thought that John accompanying him would make it easier for Felicity to welcome his presence, and when he had asked, John had kindly agreed.

After a couple of minutes, Felicity began to calm down and her crying ebbed away. She sighed as she pulled away from his embrace. "Oh, that felt good. I needed a good cry without my mom seeing it."

"Yeah, you did," Oliver remarked, smiling affectionately at her.

"I'm a mess, and your shirt is a mess. Sorry about that," she apologized in between sniffles.

Her foggy glasses were askew on the bridge of her nose, so he removes it from her face and sets it on the coffee table. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. He pulled out his handkerchief and helped tidy her up a bit.

"I remember the first time something like this happened," Oliver remarked with fondness. "Your face was all snotty and you fell asleep on my chest crying because of a stupid comment Mr. Linden made about your script."

"Oh, please, don't remind me. It was one of the worst times of our film school days," Felicity told him, disgusted at the memory.

"For you, maybe. But for me, it was one of the best days ever. It was the first time I really got to hold you close," he reminisced.

Felicity looked at him straight in the eye. She was no longer crying, so her pair of beautiful blues was clearly visible to Oliver. He could see that she wasn't really angry at him, even if the next words she spoke were meant to make him think otherwise.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"What? Seeing you cry? Of course, not! It breaks my heart when I see you this way."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"No, I mean it. I never liked seeing you cry. But yes, I do want you to feel better."

"Well, I do. Feel better, that is," she admits, biting her lower lip after. He simply smiles at her and squeezes her hand. "Thank you for coming. I'm really glad you're here."

"Good," he replied, "because there's no place I'd rather be right now. I also wanted to make sure Donna settles in here without any problem."

Felicity's eyes narrow and her forehead creases. "Did you, by any chance, have anything to do with my mom getting an upgrade on her accommodations here?" she asked in an accusatory tone.

Oliver presses his lips together in a straight line. He knew it was useless and foolish to lie to Felicity. So he replied, "Guilty as charged. I wanted to help give Donna the best care possible."

Felicity took deep breaths as she pondered his response. It was very kind of Oliver to consider her financial situation. She was making good money as one of the stars of their TV show, and her promotion to series regular had more than doubled what she was earning as a guest star in season one. But her income was just enough to cover both her living expense in L.A. and that of her mother's, as well as the payments on the mortgage on her mom's apartment. Her mother's insurance did not really cover all the medical bills, which included doctors' fees, chemo sessions, various lab tests, and the expensive medicines and supplements Donna was taking. These, and the most recent E.R., I.C.U., and ambulance costs, as well as the down payment on her mother's admission to the hospice had nearly depleted whatever she had saved up for the rainy days. She was grateful for the upgrade that was made possible by Oliver's generosity.

With those thoughts, her frown slowly turned into a small smile. Leaning forward, she kissed his cheek. "Thank you," she said to him as she pulled away. "You are a good man, Oliver Queen."

Oliver beamed, his smile almost reaching his ears. "You don't ever have to thank me, Felicity. Donna matters a lot to me. You matter to me. I told you, I still care about you… a lot. People change – you and I certainly have – but that never will."

Oliver could see and feel that Felicity was really considering his words. Uncharacteristically, she took them in instead of impulsively speaking in response. It made him a little nervous because he didn't think he was ready to hear it if she told him that she didn't feel the same way about him. They had had this exact same conversation at his villa when he'd arrived from Starling City, but she hadn't been able to articulate her thoughts and feelings to him then, thanks to the annoying buzzing of their phones that had rudely interrupted their moment.

A moment of silence passed between them when only tender touches were exchanged. Her hands slid up and down his forearm. When she paused, he took his turn to caress her wrists with his thumbs. Those were familiar gestures of affection, which were welcomed by both parties.

It was Felicity that broke the silence first. She stilled. Taking a deep breath, she cupped his stubbly cheek with her hand and told him, "Oliver, I've never stopped loving you. I tried to. I couldn't do it. It was only when we were given this second chance that I came to realize that… that I couldn't really give my heart to someone else because it has always belonged to you."

Oliver felt overwhelmed by her honest confession. "Well, I'm glad we found each other again. I've never stopped loving you either. I tried dating for a while, but it didn't feel right. We were no longer together, but… each time I came close to trying to make a relationship with someone else work, it felt like I was about to cheat on you. It must have been because my heart already knew who it belonged to. It's always been you, Felicity. Always."

Her tears fell again. Happy tears. Finally admitting that Oliver was the love of her life was liberating and cathartic. He wiped her tears with his thumb this time, telling her how adorable she looked when she smiled while crying. She slapped his arm in jest as a response to his teasing, but he caught her hand and pulled her close. The gesture and the proximity that resulted eventually led to a much-anticipated lip-lock.

The kiss started out chaste, just their lips touching and their noses caressing each other. She took in his familiar smell of fragrant pinewood. He savored the characteristic aroma of coffee in her breath and of peach in her hair. They pulled apart a little, just to test and see how far the other was willing to go. And when they saw the desire in each other's eyes, they just knew that the feeling was mutual. They captured each other's lips once more, this time more passionately, pouring into a searing kiss all the years of loneliness and longing that they'd had to live with, being apart from each other without any assurance that their paths would ever cross again. When they finally parted for air, they smiled and licked their slightly reddened lips.

"So… that happened," Felicity remarked with a twinkle in her eye.

"I'm glad it did."

"Me, too."

"Does this mean that it's okay with you for us to get back together?" Oliver asked with earnest anticipation.

"More than okay," replied Felicity.

"Are you sure? I mean, I'd understand if you want to wait a little longer. This thing with the press and the publicity-"

Felicity cut him off with another ardent kiss. When she pulled back, she told him, "Does that answer your question?"

Oliver grinned like a love-struck fool. "Yeah, yeah it does."

"We can deal with reporters and the paps together, right?" she asked. "I mean, I do need your help in handling both the positive and negative publicity that goes with us coming out about our relationship. I trust you, Oliver."

"Together… I like the sound of that," he remarked. "By the way, I've done some preliminary sleuthing while you've been gone. I kind of found out where all the bad press is coming from."

"Oh?" she asked curiously. "And what have you found out?"

"That Susan Williams… and the paparazzi that managed to sneak into our studios… are on my mother's payroll," he answered, pursing his lips. His voice was laced with a mixture of sadness, regret, anger, and embarrassment.

Felicity was stunned. She already had a bad impression of Moira Queen from years back, but this new revelation made her even more wary of Oliver's mother.

"I'm truly sorry, Felicity. From here, Starling City is my next stop. I'm going to have a serious talk with my mother."

"And what do we do in the meantime?"

"In the meantime, I say we wait. I've already spoken with Malcolm. He has agreed to tighten security at the studios so that what happened with the paps will not happen again."

"That's good to know."

"Also, I've taken the liberty of speaking with Ms. Williams' editor. I offered him an exclusive interview with me by one of his reporters – a more credible one – if he agrees to stop publishing any of Susan's articles about me… or you… or us. Don't worry. You don't have to do an interview. It'll just be me. And I won't give them anything that you're not willing for us to share with the public and the fans."

Felicity flashes him an appreciative smile. "You really do love me, don't you?"

"Love is too small a word."

She blushes. How could she not? Her man is being sincere and thoughtful and wise and protective of her. "I know you said not to thank you, but… Thank you," she said gratefully.

"Thank you for letting us have this talk," he said.

"You're welcome. It's about four years overdue," she said, chuckling.

Oliver chuckled with her, and then he said, "John mentioned that you'll fly back to L.A. to resume shooting as soon as everything here is arranged."

She replied, "Yeah, well, I don't want to leave my mom like this. She needs me. But I have no choice. I am under contract, like everybody else."

"Felicity, would you trust me to speak to John and Malcolm… and the network bosses on your behalf?" Oliver asked sincerely.

"Speak to them about what?"

"About your contract and the schedule of your shoots. I think my experience in showbiz negotiations over the past years might prove useful."

"O – kay… I trust you. What will you tell them?"

"That you need to be with your mom right now."

Felicity smiled and gave him a peck on the lips. "That's good enough for me."

An hour later, an exhausted Felicity and a contented Oliver fell asleep in each other's arms on the couch of Donna's hospice suite. John Diggle knew better than to wake them even when a nurse came to check on the patient.

A/N: Okay, so this is the penultimate chapter of this fic. I hope you still enjoy this story even if it took forever for me to update it. If you have, please drop a line or two to let me know. Kudos will also be much appreciated. Final chapter will be up tomorrow or the day after.

Again, if you haven't read the notice in my other fics, I will soon be taking down my works. With Arrow gone, I will also be moving on from writing fanfiction and trying my hand at other genres. Thank you so much to all of you who have spent time reading any of my stories. I hope I made you cry or smile, one way or the other - feel, even learn some things. It would have been worth all the long nights and the effort I've put in. Thank you!