EMMA

Chapter 21: A Birthday and a Date

A/N: Here's hoping that you are having a wonderful Holiday Season and looking forward to 2019! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! As promised - some much-needed fluff. :-) Enjoy...

Oliver was nervous. He'd been nervous since he woke up that morning. In fact, he'd been nervous since yesterday, when he and Emma left the ranch in the afternoon after school for their scheduled visit to Central City that weekend. They'd been doing the exchange visits with Felicity for about ten months now since Emma met her mother, and it's already been a couple of months since the monumental talk that had given them both the closure they needed. But this particular trip wasn't like the ones before.

He was going on his first official date with Felicity. Hence, the nerves.

He had brought Thea and Emma to Felicity's place earlier because they promised to help Felicity get ready for their special night. After he had dropped them off, he had done some errands in the city and then had gone back to Thea's apartment to get ready. Except, two hours have already passed but he still wasn't ready. He had redone his tie five times, polished and re-polished his hardly-used leather shoes as if the mechanical motions would help him get rid of the tension in his body.

What had he been thinking when he had come up with the idea in the first place? He didn't regret it; he was just extremely anxious. What if something went awfully wrong that night, especially since he hadn't gone on a date with anyone in ages? Helena had been the last woman he had gone out with, and that was more than five years ago. In recent years, he had spent more time with horses and cattle than with women (other than his sister and his little girl). What if he failed to meet Felicity's expectations and she decided that they'd be better off as friends and (unofficial) co-parents after this date?

Oliver thought of turning back a couple of times, but he kept driving until he parked in front of Felicity's building. His feet automatically carried him to the lobby, into the elevator, and down the hallway to her door. He smoothed the nonexistent wrinkles on his suit jacket and then took a deep breath. It was now or never.

A few days ago…

"Happy Birthday, Emma!" the kids and grown-ups had shouted together, after they had all sung the birthday song in unison and the little girl blew her candles.

It was Emma's eighth birthday, and she had asked to celebrate it in school with her teachers and friends. Oliver, of course, granted her wish. Both Felicity and Thea had taken leave from work in the middle of the work week and driven to Starling Town to celebrate with them.

The party had been a blast. Emma had been elated that she had gotten to celebrate with people who were not just family, but she'd been beyond ecstatic that it was the first birthday she celebrated (that she could actually have memories of) with a woman that she called Mom. As far as Felicity was concerned, the feeling of elation and ecstasy was mutual. She got to celebrate her daughter's birthday for the first time.

The school's modestly-sized mess hall was now quiet and devoid of people, except for Oliver and Felicity who were busy cleaning up. The festive lunch hour was over. All the students and teachers had gone back to their respective classrooms, and Thea was outside loading Emma's presents onto Oliver's truck.

"Thanks for coming to celebrate with Emma. She really wanted you to come. She prayed every night for a week that Dr. Wells would let you," Oliver said to her, as he stacked paper plates and collected disposable cups and forks.

"Of course! I wouldn't have missed it for the world. The smile on Emma's face is worth a million bucks!" Felicity replied, grinning widely, as she picked up trash and dropped them into the huge black bag. "It was so nice of Thea to offer to drive. I'm really not much of anything very early in the morning."

Oliver responded with a chuckle, "Yeah, I remembered. I may have tipped her off."

Felicity stopped what she was doing and twirled around to face him, her blonde ponytail swinging as she did so, and her skirt swooshing to show off her shapely legs in a really cute way. When he looked up, he saw her flash him a winsome smile while saying, "Then I guess I should thank you… for saving me from a possibly unpleasant road mishap." She was grateful that he remembered how she was not an early morning person, but she was more delighted at his thoughtfulness.

Truth be told, delighting in Oliver's thoughtfulness had been happening more and more frequently in the past couple of months since she'd told him the truth about her past, which had resulted in them rebuilding their friendship. It wasn't just his thoughtfulness, his naturally caring ways and protective instincts that she had found herself keenly appreciating in recent weeks; it was also his unexpected phone calls and text messages just to check on her even when she wasn't with Emma, the light touches and the smiles they exchanged during weekend visits, as well as the alone times they shared just talking about big and small things happening in their lives while doing chores together or when Emma was already asleep. If she were to be completely honest, she more than noticed and appreciated all those; she now yearned for them. If Oliver had noticed that she did, he hadn't said anything about it. She only hoped that he felt the same way about her as she now felt about him.

"Thank you," she said, pretending to curtsy before royalty.

"You're welcome," he said, bowing like so.

Their gazes locked, and for almost a minute, neither of them said anything. They just stared into each other's eyes while smiling affectionately.

Thea walked into the mess hall unnoticed. So, she cleared her throat more loudly than usual and said, "Okay, the gifts are all loaded up. Anything else?"

That had broken their moment. Thea's raised eyebrows and curved lips showed that she was proud of herself for catching them in that state. Oliver's naughty sister had begun teasing them lately.

Oliver dropped his gaze from Felicity's and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. He shifted his attention to Thea and said, "Thanks, sis. You can take those two boxes over there to the truck, too. Felicity and I are almost done here."

"O-kay… When I'm done, I'm gonna take my car and head back to the ranch to get some rest. It was a long drive, and I'm doing it again later. You and Felicity can wait for Emma," Thea replied with a wink. She then turned around and walked out of the mess hall, bouncing on her heels in mischievous delight.

Oliver shook his head. "You'll have to bear with Thea. You know how she can be sometimes," he told Felicity, resuming his task of clearing the last table.

Felicity responded, not looking at him as she too returned to picking up trash, "No worries. Besides, she's only kidding."

"I hope not," he muttered. He immediately regretted saying it, wishing that she hadn't heard.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Uh, nothing," he answered sheepishly. "I hope you don't mind waiting? Emma doesn't get off until 2pm. Bus won't pick up today coz the driver called in sick."

"Oh, no problem," she replied.

"Are you sure? I can drive you back to the ranch if you wanted to rest. I can just come back here for Emma later."

"It's fine. We can wait. Did you want us to stay here or go do something else while waiting?" she asked. She didn't notice that she began chewing on her lower lip as she anticipated his answer.

Oliver thought for a moment, and then he said with a glint in his eye, "I have an idea. Let's finish up here and then I'll take you some place. Okay?"

She smiled from ear to ear and nodded. "Okay."

When they finished cleaning up, they both got on Oliver's truck and drove into Starling Town. Felicity was still familiar with most of the streets and the stores that lined the main roads. When they passed the public library and the town hall with the clock tower, she already had an inkling of where he was taking her.

Felicity was thrilled to find that The Ice Cream Factory was still open for business and doing well after all these years. It had been their favorite hang-out place after school – her, Oliver, Tommy Merlyn, Laurel and Sara Lance. The moment she stepped into the quaint little parlor and she heard the door chimes ring, memories of their high school days flooded her mind. She was almost teary-eyed as she scanned the small room. Everything looked the same. She looked at their favorite table, the one at the left corner beneath the huge black-and-white poster of Elvis, the owner's favorite celebrity of all time.

Oliver placed their orders at the counter while she headed to their favorite table, which was fortunately vacant. She watched him fondly from afar, her chin resting on her intertwined fingers as her elbows rested on the table. She wondered if he'll ask her what she wanted, or if he'll go with her favorite from years ago.

Like a gentleman, Oliver turned to her from eight feet away and asked, "Salted caramel sundae? Without nuts? Extra whipped cream and a cherry on top?"

He remembered.

Felicity nodded and smiled as she sighed. She loved this man.

Wait, what?

She loved his thoughtfulness and kindness. Yeah, that was it. Oh, and she also loved how he put Emma first, all the time. How he treated her as more than just his adopted little sister's birth mother. How he made her feel special once again just by the way he looked at her or spoke her name.

Felicity intentionally distracted herself from those thoughts (which she thought inappropriate considering where they were in their relationship) by looking out the glass window on the opposite side of the room. People-watching should take her mind off her daydreams. She really shouldn't be thinking of Oliver this way, she thought.

She and Oliver enjoyed a friendly conversation for almost an hour. They had already finished their ice cream sundaes earlier, but neither one of them made the move to stand and leave. They were enjoying each other's company just like they did every time they had the chance to be alone in the past months.

Oliver looked at his watch and saw that it was time to head back to Emma's school to pick her up. But before he could say anything, Felicity's phone rang. She winced when she saw the name and picture of the caller on her screen.

"Hi, Ray," she greeted, trying to be as cordial as possible, yet her facial expression betrayed her. She was mostly just nodding her head and saying, "Mm-hmm…" every once in a while. She was clearly not enjoying the one-sided conversation.

"Ray, why don't we just talk about this when I get back? I'm actually out of town right now," Felicity responded finally. After a few more seconds, she said goodbye and hung up.

"Trouble at work?" Oliver asked.

"Not exactly," she replied with a grimace. It was work-related but more personal. She wasn't sure she should talk about it with Oliver, who respected her silence by not pushing it. Instead, he just smiled and said, "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure you'll have it handled."

"Yeah, I've got it covered," Felicity told him. "In fact, I think the best solution is for me not to go."

"Not to go where?" Oliver asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"The banquet," she answered. "Dr. Wells is hosting a formal banquet this Saturday to celebrate STAR Labs' 15th founding anniversary. He wants all personnel in attendance, and he wants every single one to come with a plus one. He says he wants to meet his colleagues' and employees' spouses, significant others, best friends, that sort of thing."

"And you're not going?"

"I think not. Caitlyn is going with her boyfriend Ronnie, who also works at STAR Labs, and Cisco already asked his girlfriend Cynthia. I haven't figures out who my plus one is going to be, and Ray knows it. He's asked me to be his date a couple of times already. But, nah… I don't want to give him the wrong impression that I'm interested in him as more than a colleague. I've told him that more than once, and I thought he's gotten over it. Apparently, not," Felicity sighed. "Ray's a good guy and a brilliant scientist, but…" She shook her head. "He can really be slow on social cues." She chuckled.

Oliver had been staring at her all the time she was giving an explanation while looking down at her painted fingernails, avoiding his gaze. He heard every word she said, but he focused only on two things: the fact that she didn't have a date to the banquet, and that she didn't want it to be Ray. He wanted to breathe out a sigh of relief, but for some reason, he kept it in. Listening to her, he was jumping up and down on the inside, because finally he had something concrete to go on – something that confirmed that Felicity wasn't involved with anyone special at the moment and that Ray wasn't even a viable option as far as she was concerned. Oliver reined in his excitement and waited for her to finish speaking.

"So, I guess my only option is to skip the banquet. Anyways, it's this weekend. I can just tell Dr. Wells that I'd much rather spend time with my daughter who's coming to visit," Felicity concluded.

"Felicity, can I ask you something?" Oliver said after he drank some water to calm himself down.

"Sure," she said.

"If you had a plus one that you would consider worth taking with you, would you still go to the banquet?" he asked, his voice lowering a bit as he took on a more serious tone.

"What do you mean?" she asked. The crinkle in her forehead told him that he wasn't exactly being clear.

"If you could take someone other than Ray Palmer, would you consider going?"

"Well, that depends. Four days is hardly enough time to meet someone new and qualify as a significant other. I doubt if-"

"Felicity," he cut her off from a potentially unnecessary babble. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you think you can stand being with me for a few hours in a formal event, then I'm willing to go as your plus one – that is, if you really want to attend your company's big day," he offered her, with a warm but shy smile to match.

Felicity was quiet for a bit, studying his face with narrowed eyes. The confused frown slowly faded as she looked deep into his eyes, and then she responded, "Oliver, I don't want to read too much into what you just said, but are you asking me out on a date, date? Not that you're the one that needs a date. I'm the one who needs a date. Yeah. Did you just offer to be my plus one?"

Oliver pressed his lips together to keep himself from breaking out into a chuckle, and then he nodded, his eyes shining with an inside smile.

Felicity opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out. Her lips parted again, but still no sound came out. She hadn't yet made up her mind whether or not his offer was a good idea.

A few more seconds went by, and Oliver could no longer hold it. He laughed out loud, and then reached for her hand across the table. "Felicity, you can turn me down. It's okay. I won't take it against you," he told her, still laughing a little bit.

She laughed with him, smiling as she replied, "I'm sorry. I… I was just surprised, that's all. It's nice of you to ask." She turned her hand over in his, and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"I just want you to have fun at the banquet. I know how much STAR Labs means to you. You shouldn't miss it just because you didn't want to settle for Ray Palmer." He looked at her and smiled again, this time without the laughter. "The offer still stands."

Felicity blushed, her lower lip caught between her teeth. "Ask again, properly this time," she told him with a glad glimmer in her eyes.

His eyes shimmering with just as must excitement, Oliver asked, "Felicity Smoak, may I take you to the banquet on Saturday night?"

"Yes, I'd love that."

Oliver knocked on her door. He fixed his tie one more time, waiting for Felicity to answer.

When she opened the door, his jaw gaped open and his mouth went dry. He admired every inch of her, from her sparkling stiletto heels, to her forest green, strapless, chiffon dress that hugged at her curves and ended just above her knees, to the way she fixed her beautiful blonde waves that draped down to her shoulder and framed one side of her face. She rendered him speechless, breathless even. He really wasn't prepared to stand before beauty and perfection.

A/N: More fluff to come, and then the last bout of angst. There's going to be just three chapters left and then an epilogue. Thank you that you are still reading this! :-)