Disclaimer: See chapter one
Please see my A/N below for further information.
AAA-FOQ-AAA-FOQ-AAA
Chapter 28 – Suicide
Sitting up, sweating from yet another rerun of events on the island, Oliver swung round and buried his head in his hands. He was not surprised however when a pair of slender arms moved around his waist and the familiar weight of Felicity's chin landed softly on his shoulder. He covered both of her hands with one of his own and leant his head against her cheek.
"Shado?" She asked simply.
He nodded, knowing better than to lie. "It keeps repeating."
She pressed a kiss to his dragon tattoo before drawing one hand up his abs to cover his Bratva tattoo. "Are you sure that going this route is the right way though?"
He sighed, drawing her around his body so that she was now seated on his lap, her arms around his neck, her hand still covering the Bratva tattoo. "You need your eyes on other things, Felicity, and they can get in places that we can't cover electronically."
This time it was Felicity that sighed as she rested her head on his shoulder and he ran his hand down her arms until he entwined his fingers with hers. "I still don't like it Oliver, it just feels..." He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on the back. "Alright, get going, it wouldn't be the thing for Oliver Queen to be caught in a known Russian mob hang-out so just be careful and come home to me."
"Always," This time he kissed her, wrapping his arms around her waist as she tightened her hold around his neck, her hand in his short hair before reaching out almost blindly to pick up his phone. With a final kiss, they separated and she handed him his phone.
Minutes later, he had finished his call and dressed, he turned to look at his beautiful other half.
Felicity had pulled on his grey hooded sweatshirt and was sitting on curled up on her sofa, playing with a small earpiece. Sensing that he was watching her, she looked up and smiled softly.
Rising gracefully to her feet, she moved to him and put the smallest piece into his ear, checking that it was out of sight. "I'll be watching as always."
He smiled at that and pulled her into his arms for a kiss before leaving.
AAA-FOQ-AAA-FOQ-AAA
"Felicity..." Felicity turned from the information that she had been going through and found Sara standing behind her. "What's going on? Where are Oliver and Digg?"
"Oliver is busy on something else and Digg... well, that would be a good question." Felicity pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Digg received a text from his ex-wife and had disappeared for a couple of days."
"And you're not concerned?" Sara put her bag down on the empty table and moved to Felicity's side.
"I'm very concerned." The other blonde replied as she shrank down a couple of views on her screen. "Lyla being involved means Amanda Waller and Waller would mean A.R.G.U.S but I trust John Diggle to know when he's in over his head to contact us if he needs us. Especially as I get the feeling he sneaked the message to me telling me and I really don't think that he was meant to." She then turned to look at Sara again, "And aren't you supposed to be getting the bar upstairs ready, as well as meeting Laurel to help her find a job?"
"Is that you're polite way of telling me that you want me out of here so that you can speak to Oliver about whatever it is you two are up to and are not telling the rest of the team?" Sara asked, catching the look of amusement in the other woman's face as she rambled and rolled her eyes. "I'm out of here before you have me rambling again!"
She left the Foundry on Felicity's amused laughter.
Five minutes later, talking to her sister, Sara watched as a serious faced Oliver Queen literally stalked through Verdant towards the lair and Laurel looked up at her. "I know that look? I've worn that look. Sara, you have to have patience, Ollie will open up to you."
Sara shook her head. "Laurel, you say that as if you think he and I are together, and he is opening up to someone..." Before she could even finish, her sister interrupted her. "I don't want to talk about her, I need to get back to this."
Sara mere rolled her eyes at that. Her sister's refusal to accept that there was someone serious in Oliver's life other than herself was beginning to even irritate her. She hated to think how much it irritated Felicity.
AAA-FOQ-AAA-FOQ-AAA
Felicity stood leaning against the end of the bar, watching Oliver and Laurel talking and folded her arms. She had to give it to the elder Lance daughter; she really did not give up.
Sara pushed a bottle of water over the counter to her. "You know she thinks that we are going out now and that he's keeping me at arm's length for some brooding reason of his own."
"With all due respect, Sara, your sister is delusional." Felicity replied as she took the bottle and disappeared down into the basement. She had better things to do with her time than deal with she who is not named even in her own personal thoughts. Oliver's belief that Slade Wilson was watching him when he was out as the Arrow was not making her any happier either – especially with Diggle being gone, she was really being made to live up to her name and keep to the shadows.
And she knew just how he was going to react when she gave him the address for the account number that he had received. She still hadn't finished reaming him out for going to get it in the middle of the day without telling her.
Oliver reacted exactly as she expected he would and she grabbed hold of his jacket to actually shake him as hard as she could. "You can't go by yourself, Oliver, its suicide!"
"It started with the two of us, that's how it ends." He replied almost stoically and she shook him again.
"Oliver..." She raised her hands and cupped his face. "Listen to me..."
"No." He caught them and held them against his cheeks for a moment before gently pulling them away. "I have to do this."
"NO!" She thumped his chest with a fist, her voice full of anguish and then did it again and again until he wrapped his arms around her, holding her against his chest. "Oliver please."
"I have to do this, Felicity, you know this." He said eventually as she rested her head against his chest, shaking slightly from her rage attack. "And I won't be alone, not entirely; you will be there, just in my ear."
She shook her head slightly, took a deep breath and then stepped back. Looking at her, Oliver realised that she had put aside the woman who loved him and wanted to keep him safe at all cost for the princess that loved him and knew that sometimes you had to do certain actions even if they went against what you really wanted.
He had never felt more proud to be the love of Felicity's life than he did right in that moment... so he kissed her.
AAA-FOQ-AAA-FOQ-AAA
Stepping into her town house, Oliver pulled Felicity over to the sofa and down on top of him as he curled them up together.
"You did the right thing asking Sara to help you with Slade, my darling." She murmured softly as she snuggled even further into his embrace.
"I feel like we're playing catch-up, Felicity." He replied, his voice slightly muffled by her hair. "It's like he's been several steps ahead of us for longer than we know."
"Then we'll take shortcuts to find him." She replied her voice confident and firm before it turned as mischievous as her expression as she pulled back slightly to look into his eyes. "You do know that the elder Lance thinks that you took her advice and let Sara in, don't you."
Oliver rolled his eyes at that as he pulled her back down to rest on his shoulder and didn't even bother replying – even he had had it with Laurel's weird thought paths. He ran his hand through her loosed hair (by him of course) and linked their hands together. "You were right as well about Waller. They have been tracking someone, a mercenary called Deathstroke."
"And..." She sat up to look at him.
"He's wears a mask like the one Slade had on the island."
She nodded thoughtfully. "Then I have our way in."
Oliver smiled for what felt like the first time that day and cupped her cheek. "I love you, Felicity."
"I love you too." Felicity replied as she lowered her head to kiss him in return.
What happened next was for them to know.
AAA-FOQ-AAA-FOQ-AAA
And it's amazing just how much you can AAA an episode when there isn't much Olicity going on and change a certain opening scene to make it work, well that was remarkably easy - well it is Felicity we are talking about here.
As for the reviewer who asked when the next chapter will be, every Saturday it would seem!
As always looking forward to seeing what you have to say ;op