Chapter title: Fumble

A/N: Here we are. I know it's later than usual, but I was on the road for the better part of the week and basically wrote 80% of this chapter in the last three hours.
I'm pretty sure it's not what most of you were expecting, hell, I wasn't expecting this when I first had the idea for the story, but I hope you can get on board with where I'm going with this.

Happy reading and enjoy a wonderful weekend, I know I will!

Definition: A fumble occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed or scoring. A fumble may be forced by a defensive player who either grabs or punches the ball or butts the ball with his helmet (a move called "tackling the ball"). […] It is one of three events that can cause a turnover, where possession of the ball can change during play. (Source: Wikipedia)

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Oliver scurries around the kitchen, checking on the food Raisa had left on the stove. Alas, that woman is a godsend. He'd only come back from afternoon practice half an hour ago and Felicity was supposed to arrive any minute now. As so many other times, Raisa had picked Connor up from school and looked after him while he was at practice. Truly, a godsend.

"Connor, can you please stop playing video games and put your school stuff away?" he calls over to the living room where his son is playing one of his favorite games on the big screen.

"I'm not finished with math," he answers distractedly.

"Wait, what?" Oliver stalks over to the couch. "You know the rules, Con. No video games until after you finish your homework," he says sternly.

"Yeah," his son replies without taking his eyes off the screen. "But I couldn't solve one of the problems and your weren't here, so..." he shrugs.

Oliver clenches his jaw, unsure if he should feel guilty or annoyed. He'd talked to Connor this morning, telling him that Felicity would come by tonight and was only met with a shrug of outward indifference. But he'd also seen the little flicker of uncertainty running across his son's face. Of course, their conversation of the night of his first date with Felicity had come to mind and he'd been quick to reassure his son once again.

He knows that he can't blame Connor for feeling uncertain of meeting Felicity. Not that Oliver's also feeling uncertain. He's not. Fine, maybe he's a little nervous, this is, after all, the first time he's bringing a girlfriend home to meet his son, but at the same time he feels like this is the right thing to do. He wants her to meet Connor. Something he's never wanted for any of the few women he's dated seriously. There's just one thing...

"Hey, Con?"

"Huh?"

He scratches the back of his head. "Uh, could we maybe not talk about football or my team tonight? Felicity is... uh... not really into that stuff and I don't wanna bore her," he finishes lamely.

"Whatever, Dad," Connor says distractedly.

Great, now he's lying to his son. One step closer to a father of the year award, he thinks sardonically.

Suddenly Connor lets out a shocked "No!" that rips Oliver out of his guilty conscience.

"What's wrong?"

"The screen just went black," he whines and gestures wildly at the dark screen.

"Just try turning it off and on again. If it doesn't work, I'll send Raisa to the store to get it repaired tomorrow," Oliver sighs.

Just then their private elevator dings, indicating Felicity's arrival.

He runs a nervous hand through his hair. "Come on, Con, let's go say hi to Felicity."

He quickly makes his way over to the foyer, his son trudging slowly behind him, muttering something unintelligible under his breath. It's probably for the best that Oliver can't hear what his son is saying or the swear jar would get a significant donation from his son's allowance tonight. All of those thoughts fly out the window the moment he sees Felicity stepping off the elevator and greeting them with a luminous smile.

"Hey," he breathes out and presses a kiss to her cheek, lingering for just a second.

"Hi, you two," she greets them happily, glancing carefully at Connor.

"Connor this is Felicity. Felicity, Connor," Oliver introduces them quickly.

"Hi, Connor, it's great to finally meet you in person. Your dad talks about you a lot," she says and throws Oliver a playful wink. When her enthusiastic greeting is only met by a non-committal "hi" and a half-assed handshake, Felicity clears her throat and reaches into her purse.

Oliver feels a pang of guilt wash over him when he sees how stiff Felicity's posture has suddenly become, obviously unsettled by Connor's less than warm welcome. He knows that his son usually need some time to warm up to strangers, but this is simply rude. And the stellar parenting continues, Oliver.

"I got you this," she hands Connor a book who takes it without so much as a glance. "It's part of the Famous Five series and just the first of many. I read them all when I was your age and I thought you might like them."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Connor," Oliver says sharply, finally fed-up with his son's behavior. "If you don't stop being this rude to Felicity, you can go to your room and forget about getting your Wii fixed."

"But, Dad," the blonde boy whines in protest and looks up at him with wide, pleading eyes.

"No buts, Con," he stands his ground. "Now, get your things ready for school tomorrow."

"You know, I could take a look at the Wii, I fixed my friend Barry's Wii just last week. Maybe it's the same problem," Felicity suggests hesitantly.

Two dirty blonde haired heads whip around to face her. "You can do that?"

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Twenty minutes later, Oliver steps back into the living room and his heart stutters in his chest at the sight before him. Felicity is sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of his TV set up, the Wii right in front of her, some of its parts strewn over the floor. Connor is perched right beside her, pointing at something inside the console. His question sets off an enthusiastic explanation from Felicity, that for the life of him, he can't quite follow even though he's pretty sure she breaks it down so that Connor can actually understand it.

His heart takes another hasty leap when Connor's face lights up with a smile and he eats up the barely existent distance between them and hugs Felicity tightly, almost knocking her over. Her hands immediately wrap around his little body and hold him to her for a second.

"What's going on?" Oliver asks curiously as he comes closer.

His son disentangles himself from Felicity and beams up at him. "She says she can fix it."

"That's great, Con."

"But I can only do it if you help me," Felicity reminds him. "So how about you hand me that processor and I'll reassemble this baby?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Connor says and does a mock salute before handing her one of the parts from the floor.

Oliver sits down on the couch and watches them in silence as his girlfriend continues to patiently explain what she's doing at that moment to Connor. He just can't look away, too engrossed in seeing her interact with his son, somehow breaking down her tech talk so that he can understand it, answering every question Connor throws her way.

A wave of unfiltered happiness floods his system, taking over every last cell in his body. Seeing his son so happy and enthusiastic about something is all a father could ever ask for. And he couldn't be more relieved to see that despite the rocky start, Felicity is completely hitting it off with his son. How could he ever have doubted that? Of course she'd conquer Connor's heart by storm. This is Felicity he's talking about. She'd done the same thing with him. How did he ever think that his son would be able to withstand her unique charm?

Connor hands her the last screw and looks up at her. "Hey, Felicity?" he asks and wrings his hands nervously.

"Yeah?" she replies while she fastens the last screw and turns the game console around with a happy grin.

"I'm sorry for not being nice to you earlier." His voice is low and timid.

She looks at him intently for a few moments before nodding her head. "Okay, apology accepted."

Connor's eyes widen. "Don't you wanna know why I wasn't nice?"

She shrugs lightly. "If you want to tell me, sure."

He bites his lip in contemplation before whispering, "I thought you wanted to steal my dad."

Oliver hears a sharp intake of breath and he's not sure if it was Felicity's or his. Maybe both? His gaze flies up to to find her widened eyes staring back at him. He knows that she wants him tell her what to say, but for the life of him he can't get his body or mind to do anything. He just sits there, rooted to his spot on the couch, staring at her with a hint of panic in his look.

She clears her throat and turns her gaze back to Connor. "Why would you think that?"

"Because he likes you." Another sharp intake of breath, this time definitely from Felicity whose cheeks turn a vivid shade of pink. "And he wants to spend time with you. But he's already working and traveling so much and I only see him in the morning and in the evening. If he's going out with you I see him even less."

The pang of guilt from earlier makes a whooping comeback in the pit of his stomach, the feeling akin to being punched in the gut. It's always in the back of his mind, the sinking knowledge that he neglects his son by having his football career. Between the different training sessions each day, team meetings, away games, and charity functions throughout the season, he's grateful for every second he gets to spend with his son. But hearing Connor say that he's scared of losing him, breaks his heart and makes him consider -not for the first time- if he should finally give up his football career.

But what would happen then? He majored in business administration in college and he knows that his mother always wanted him to take over Queen Consolidated one day, but could he really do that? Could he take on the responsibility for a multi-billion dollar company with thousands of employees depending on him to make the right call?

"You wanna know what I think?" Felicity's voice breaks him out of his thoughts and it takes him a moment to realize that she's not talking to him but to his son. "I think you're the most important person in your dad's life and he wants to spend as much time as possible with you. And nothing and no one will ever change that."

Connor nods eagerly and waits for her to continue. "I really like spending time with your dad, but I don't want you to miss out on your time together, so maybe we can come up with a compromise."

"Like what?"

She tilts her head in thought. "Maybe we can find time to see each other when you're in school or already in bed," she suggests slowly.

Connor considers her answer for a moment before nodding. "That sounds good. Then we both get to spend time with my dad." He hesitates, "But..."

"But what?" Felicity asks with a smile.

"But then I never get to see you."

Oliver watches Felicity's throat constrict as she swallows hard. "Then maybe we should find a day when we can all spend some time together."

"I'd like that," Connor says easily and beams at her, getting up from the floor. "Dad, is dinner ready yet? I'm really hungry."

Oliver takes a deep breath and nods. "Yeah, I think so. How about you go check on it?"

He gets up form his seat on the couch, ruffling his son's hair as he walks past him towards the kitchen. In two long strides Oliver comes to a stop behind Felicity who's stood up from the floor as well, banding his arms around her smaller body and pulling her flush against him, reveling in the small gasp of surprise she huffs out.

His lips brush against the shell of her ear as he speaks. "You're amazing."

Her hands come up to cover his over her stomach, fingers stroking deftly over his skin. "Your son is amazing."

He smiles and presses a kiss against her hair. "He is," he agrees. "He's also right."

"About what?"

His head dips down and he kisses the side of her neck, eliciting another gasp. Something that's becoming one of his favorite pastimes – making her breathless.

"About the fact that I like you," he whispers and feels her shudder against him before whirling around in his arms.

She bites her bottom lip as she searches is eyes and he tries to convey all of his feelings for her with just his look. After a few seconds, her lips curl up into a smile. "I like you, too."

He matches her smile and leans down to kiss her languidly, nibbling lightly on her bottom lip until she opens her mouth to his tongue, meeting him in an enticing dance. Her body is pressed into his, fingers slipping under his shirt, running up his back slowly.

His hands on her ass seem to bring her back to reality because suddenly she pushes him away slightly, their lips disconnecting, but her body staying flush against his in the warm embrace of his arms.

She takes a few steadying breaths before speaking. "We can't do this. Your son is in the next room waiting for us."

He leans his forehead against hers. "I know," he breathes us and grin at her. "That doesn't stop me from thinking about continuing this." He runs his tongue over his lips. "Just us."

She closes her eyes and blindly leans up to press a kiss against the underside of his jaw. "I can't wait." Her lips move to his cheek and then to the corner of his mouth. "But right now, we're going to have dinner with your son," she says and moves out of his arms.

"Yes, Ma'am," he mimics Connor's earlier salute.

As he watches her retreating form, he's torn between feeling happier than he has in a long time and anxious as hell when he thinks of what will happen when he tells her who he is. The mere thought of losing this happiness and contentment he feels whenever he's around her, has his stomach twisted up in knots.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ARROW ⁂ ⁂ ⁂

From her position in Caitlin's kitchen she lets her gaze drift though the door frame over the throng of people currently occupying her best friend's living room. Her birthday party is in full swing - even though technically it isn't Felicity's birthday yet, but since it falls on a Sunday this year, her friends had convinced her to have a party on Saturday, promising to keep the party going well into her actual birthday.

She takes a sip from her wine glass and smiles as she remembers the week that had led up to this day. It had been a flurry of working long days and amazing dates with Oliver.

On Monday, after a difficult first few moments with Connor, they had eventually warmed up to one another, one of the night's highlights being witnessing a tender father-son moment when Oliver had put him to bed and read a chapter from the book she'd brought for him. Well, that and the crazy hot make out session she'd had with Oliver on his couch afterward.

On Tuesday, Oliver had told her to come over to his apartment for lunch, which had ended with straddling his lap. Her wandering hands had only been stopped by her phone alerting her of the impending end of her lunch break.

On Wednesday night, she'd invited the two over to her house to cook dinner together. It had been a night filled with joy and laughter ringing through her kitchen and living room until Connor had fallen asleep while watching Finding Nemo, his head in Felicity's lap and his legs sprawled over Oliver's thighs.

On Thursday, Oliver had come to her place after he'd put Connor to bed, bringing along a pint of mint chip. That alone was reason enough for her to trap him between her body and the front door and kiss him senseless. They'd somehow made it over to her couch, her body pressed into the soft cushion by his muscled torso. All too soon he'd pulled away from her, hoisting his body up and kneeling down next to the couch, kissing her softly. Her confusion must've shown on her face because he'd explained that he still wanted them to learn more about each other and that when the time came he wanted to be able to stay the night without having to worry about Connor. How could she argue with that?

They hadn't seen each other yesterday, but he'd stopped by her house this morning with Connor to make her an "appropriate early birthday breakfast" (his words, not hers), which, she has to admit, had been absolutely amazing. Connor had given her a bouquet of daisies and Oliver had watched her with a huge smile while she unwrapped a beautifully crafted photo frame holding the picture of them in the ice rink, as well as an unbelievably expensive bottle of Lafite Rothschild that she'd almost dropped in pure shock. It had been the perfect start to her day.

All week long, Caitlin and Iris had bombarded her with questions about Oliver and teased her about the kiss they had witnessed on Sunday night. Confronted with all those questions about her boyfriend she'd realized just how little she actually knew about him. Sure, there were a lot of things she assumed to know about him based on their conversations, but when she thought about it she realized that Oliver was very careful whenever he disclosed a tidbit about himself.

That should have probably made her nervous and eager to run to the next computer and finally do that background check she been refusing to do since the first night she'd met him, but instead it only strengthened her trust in him. He'd stopped her when she'd wanted to take their relationship to the next level, saying that there were still things they needed to learn about each other. So that means, that he doesn't want to take advantage of her, unlike other men in her past, right?

She glances at her phone, checking to see if she has any messages from him. He'd warned her at the beginning of the week that he probably wouldn't be able to make it to her party or see her on her actual birthday because he had work things to attend to, hence the early birthday breakfast this morning, but she'd still held onto a little sliver of hope that he was going to come tonight after all.

No text or missed call.

She sighs and shoves her phone back into her back pocket. She loves her friends for throwing her this party, especially because they do it at Caitlin's house which means her own is safe from the party aftermath, but despite seeing all her friends and colleagues tonight, all she really wants to do is curl up on her couch with Oliver, drink some wine and enjoy a rerun of Game of Thrones.

"If it isn't the birthday girl herself," a voice comes from behind her and the blood freezes in her veins.

What the actual fuck?

She turns around slowly. "Ray?"

"Hey, babe, long time no see," he drawls, grinning cockily down at her.

Unconsciously she takes a step back. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm in town for the weekend and when I heard that you were celebrating your birthday and I thought I'd stop by and say happy birthday." He steps closer, his body almost touching hers. "Happy birthday, Felicity."

She braces both of her hands on his chest and pushes him away. "Great, thanks," she bites out. "Now I want you to leave."

"Mhh," he hums and leans his head down to her ear. "I could make it a very happy birthday for you, you know."

An involuntary shiver runs through her, the fine hairs of her neck standing up in apprehension. "God, you haven't changed one bit, have you? You have a wife," she points out firmly, leaning away from him.

He shrugs carelessly. "Alicia didn't bother you when we were in college. Plus, she's far away in Seattle right now."

Her expressions darkens and she presses her lips together. "That's because you made me believe I was your girlfriend. You know, not just the girl you screwed despite having a girlfriend for almost four years."

He scoffed, "You're still hung up on that?"

Her decidedly rude answer gets cut off by her phone buzzing in her pocket. After a quick glance at the screen she picks up. "I love your timing."

Oliver laughs on the other end of the line. "Are they trying to make you play beer pong?"

She sighs. "I wish. Actually my ex is here and he's being the same annoying and obnoxious asshole he was the last time we saw each other." She shoots Ray a dirty look. "So I'm guessing that judging by the lack of car sounds in the background it's safe to say that you really aren't coming?"

It takes him a beat to answer. "Is he bothering you?"

She glances at Ray who's leaning against the kitchen island, sipping lazily on his beer. "No, he's just… Don't worry about it. How was the rest of your day?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am." Just then, one of her co-workers comes stumbling into the kitchen and trips over nothing, her wine glass slipping from her hands and crashing to the floor. "Shit," Felicity curses. "Oliver, I gotta go. Call me when you find some free time tomorrow, okay." She quickly hangs up and moves to the pantry to retrieve a dustpan and broom.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Ten minutes later, she's still plucking little shards of glass off the floor when the backdoor to the kitchen flies open. She whips around only to find herself face to face with her boyfriend. "Oliver?" she stutters in confusion.

"Are you okay?" he asks and closes the distance between them, his hands cupping her cheeks, tilting her head up while he's checking her for any injuries.

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

He lets out a long, relieved exhale and brushes a chaste kiss to her lips. "I just heard something break and then you hung up so quickly and after you mentioned that your ex was bothering you... I was just worried."

She smiles up at him and steps on her toes for a quick peck to the corner of his mouth. "I'm okay, and Ray was just leaving anyway."

She follows his gaze as it settles on her ex-boyfriend. The smile that had appeared on his lips quickly transforms into utter disbelief, his eyes growing wide. "Palmer?"

Wait! Oliver knows Ray?

"Oliver Queen," Ray drawls. "Shouldn't you be in bed, resting up for getting your ass kicked tomorrow?"

Her head turns from one man to the other. Did Ray just say Oliver Queen?

Oliver just stares at the other man, his mouth hanging slightly open in shock.

"Going for sloppy seconds now, huh?" Ray snarls. "Just remember, everything she does in bed she learned from me. After all, I was the first one who fucked that pretty little-"

"Shut up," Oliver growls and takes a step towards the other man, Felicity quickly stepping in the way when she recognizes the look on his face to be even more furious than the first time they'd met, seconds before he'd punched a man to protect her.

"Oliver, don't."

Apparently spurred on by his reaction, Ray continues his rant. "She's not very adventurous though. When I wanted to get in the backdoor she was all like 'no, baby, it's gonna hurt'," he says in a high pitched voice that's probably supposed to mimic her.

She gives Oliver a little push when his muscles twitch beneath her fingers and urges him wordlessly with a pointed look to stay put. He clenches his jaw but does as she asks. Satisfied, she turns around and stalks over to Ray, swiftly pulling back her hand and slapping him across his face. The slap echoes through the empty kitchen and she ignores her throbbing palm when she leans closer to him.

"If you ever speak about me or any other woman the way you just did, hell, if you even think about me like that ever again, I will destroy you. Do you hear me? I will turn your life upside down, take everything you hold dear away from you, end your career and drive you to the edge of bankruptcy. Do you understand?"

Without waiting for an answer, she turns around and walks past Oliver. "Upstairs. Now."

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

It takes Oliver two whole minutes to follow her upstairs. She sits on Caitlin's bed, her legs dangling off the side, hand throbbing in her lap as she glares at the open door. When he appears in the door frame she lets out a long breath. He closes the door behind him and comes to a stop before her, holding out a dish towel.

"Some ice for your hand."

She accepts it without a word and stares at him. "You're Oliver Queen."

He sighs and nods. "Yes."

There were times for beating around the bush, but today certainly isn't one of those, so she just goes straight ahead. "Why didn't you tell me who you are?"

"Felicity," he starts, his tone pleading and soft and oh so vulnerable, but she can't succumb to that now. She needs answers.

"No," she interjects firmly. "This is your one chance to explain yourself. So you better make use of it."

His head drops in defeat and he slowly moves to sit next to her on the bed, angling his body, so that he's facing her.

"I wanted to tell you. I swear I did, but..." he trails off, searching for the right words. "In the beginning I was so surprised. I don't think I've ever met anyone in Starling who didn't know me, be it for who my family is or for my football career. And then when we started dating the timing never seemed to be quite right and the more time went by the harder it got to just come out with it."

She nods, but doesn't say anything.

He waits a few beats. "What are you thinking?"

She lets out a humorless laugh. "I think that I'm an idiot for not realizing that I was dating one of Starling City's most eligible bachelors. I think that I'm stupid and naive for repeating the same mistakes I've made with Ray."

She sees a flicker of hurt run over his face but he swallows it down and asks, "What happened with him if you don't mind me asking?"

Felicity snorts lightly. "I met him while I was in Boston. I was going to MIT and he was the quarterback for the Harvard football team. I couldn't believe when he showed interest in me and I let myself be sucked into what I thought was a fairytale." She shakes her head. "I was 18 and naive. We dated for a few months and everything seemed to be going great, I didn't even realize that he'd never introduced me to any of his friends or that we never went out on public dates, until one day after the NFL draft when he very publicly announced that he got engaged to his girlfriend of four years."

"He cheated on her with you," he breathes out.

She nods. "Yeah, he did. I swore I'd never let myself be used and deceived like that. Guess that didn't work out."

"Felicity," he whispers brokenly and takes her hands in his. "I swear I never meant to hurt you with this. What can I do to make this right?"

Her eyes land on their entwined fingers, fighting the urge to answer his light squeeze of her fingers. An unbidden wave of realization crashes over her. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Do what?"

She meets his searching eyes. "I don't know if I can date Oliver Queen."

His face falls at that. "But you have been dating him… me. And correct me if I'm wrong but I think we've both had an amazing time together so far, save for tonight."

She looks at him sadly. "But I didn't know who you were."

"That's exactly my point. You didn't know and it wasn't different for you than dating any other guy. Knowing my last name shouldn't change how you've felt about me for the past few weeks," he argues, his voice stronger now. More convinced.

"But for the last few weeks it was just us. No outside world. Just us," she reasons. "In a way you're right. I was Oliver Queen's girlfriend, but at the same time I wasn't… really. And what we had is not a realistic scenario for the future."

"I don't understand what you mean. I'm still me."

She huffs in frustration. How could it be this hard to say everything that's going through her head?

"Yes, you are, but do you expect me to believe that I would've never met your family? That the press would've never gotten wind of our relationship and tried to dig up every last bit about my past? That I wouldn't have been expected to attend functions or galas or whatever with you?"

"I guess," he concedes.

"And that's exactly what I mean. Oliver Queen is in the public eye, people wanna know what he's up to. They expect things of you and whoever you date because you're the heir to a multi-billion dollar empire and because you're the star player of the local football team, and yes, even though I'm not interested in football, I can make that connection."

She squeezes his hand and sighs. "So yes, to me there's a difference between dating Oliver Queen and Just Oliver. And I don't know if I can be the woman Oliver Queen dates. I don't know if I'm the kind of woman someone like Oliver Queen needs to date."

"You're everything I want or need, Felicity," he says, his voice thick with emotion.

She quickly stands up, breaking their connection, needing a second to breathe. "I need some time to process this, Oliver."

He steps up beside her, not touching her, and she feels her fingers twitch, yearning for that contact. "How long?"

"I don't know, just… some time. A week, two. I don't… I'll call you when I'm ready," she offers.

He nods slowly. "So this means there's still a chance for us?"

Her heart aches in her chest at his soft, hopeful words and she loses the battle of wills and reaches forward, her arms circling around his back, her body pressing into his. He immediately bands his strong arms around her and holds her as close as humanly possible.

"Please tell me I didn't screw this up for good," he whispers against her hair. "Please tell me there's a chance."

She twists her head so she can look at him. "You were right," she begins, pressing a kiss against his stubbled throat. "Knowing your last name doesn't change how I feel about you, so yes, there is a chance."

Throwing all caution to the wind she steps up on her tip toes and captures his lips with hers, hoping that this wouldn't be goodbye. Hoping that she could put everything behind her and forgive him for deceiving her.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

A/N: Uh, surprise?

If anyone can truthfully say that they saw the whole Ray thing coming, that someone will get a virtual plate of cookies from me! BTW, I only chose Ray because he seems more like the quarterback type than Cooper. I didn't wanna use this fic to bash Ray's character ;)

So, how did you like the big boom? Secret's out, Olicity is on hold for now (but note that we're already in chapter 5, which means there's not much left for me to drag this out too long. I'm thinking two more 'real' chapters plus an epilogue? Maybe?)
Was Felicity to harsh in her reaction? Too nice? Too confusing?