Ardour

By Cortexikid

Chapter 7: Happiness and Affection

A/N: Anonymous Prompted – Names. Hope you enjoy! :D

"Felicity Smoak?"

Felicity asked as she turned to him, her head tilted as she put on her earring.

Oliver frowned at her from across the room, fixing his left cufflink.

"Felicity Queen?" he countered, with a quirked eyebrow.

At her pursed lips, he rolled his eyes, "Felicity…Smoak-Queen?"

She laughed, "that makes me sound like a monster from Lost."

There was a beat of silence, in which she mourned the many, many references that flew over his head.

"I like it," she smirked with a shrug. "I could totally pull off the woman-who-hyphenates vibe."

He threw her a small smile, the same one she'd been seeing more and more of lately, before draping a dark green tie around his neck.

"Here, let me. We'll be here all night otherwise," she faux-grumbled, crossing the room in three strides to stand opposite him.

Oliver bent his knees slightly, staring down at her as her nimble fingers began to work his tie. She was much shorter than usual, as she had yet to put on her heels. But she was no less beautiful. His eyes drank in the tight, emerald dress that clung to her curves, lingering over the exposed skin of her collar bones and shoulders, his throat drying, making it difficult to swallow. She always had this effect on him, ever since the very first time he'd seen her properly dressed up on The Dodger case. But ever since Slade-gate, it was getting harder and harder to ignore and hide his reaction to her, no matter what she was wearing…

"There," she breathed, her gaze catching his, widened slightly as if she didn't realize just how close they were standing, her hand trailing down his tie, smoothing it against his chest, "all done…"

"Thank you," he murmured, keeping eye contact for a second longer, before clearing his throat and stepping back a little and offering her his arm.

"Shall we, future Mrs Smoak-Queen?"

She stared at him for a moment, her orbs flickering, her tongue peeking out to swipe at her lower lip, an indistinguishable expression on her face, before she reached out and clasped his arm, "lead the way, Mr. Queen…"


Frederica Leopardi was a wealthy Italian socialite that the team had been tracking for a few weeks. Most of her work seemed above board, her donations to local and international charities, programmes she set up for the underprivileged around her home country and the U.S., her involvement in the re-building of Starling General Hospital, and subsequent purchasing of new equipment and drugs…but when a large consignment of new pharmaceuticals that were due to go to said hospital, were inexplicably re-routed to Tuscany, Felicity Smoak began to get suspicious.

Leopardi first came onto Felicity's radar when she was seen being very friendly with one of their recent bad-guys-of-the-week Edgar Delaney, now-known human-trafficker at a party she and Oliver crashed a few months back. The tech genius had taken note of her since then, keeping tabs just in case, and the more she dug into the woman's life, the more it seemed that she may be onto something.

From shell companies, shoddy book-cooking, and suspicious wire-transfers to unsavoury characters, the socialite was clearly not in as squeaky-clean as her public-persona made her seem. Which made the shipment of prescription drugs to her home country instead of the promised charity, even more suspect. That, and the woman's sudden change of itinerary, bringing her back to her Italian home when she was due to make an important appearance at the re-opening of Starling General Hospital.

"Remind me again why we had to work out what your new name would be if you married me?" Oliver murmured into Felicity's ear as they walked ever closer to Leopardi's impressive mansion in the beautiful Tuscan countryside.

"Hey, don't forget the 'let's tell the criminal romantic we're engaged to wrangle an invite to her exclusive party' was your bright idea!" she hissed before shrugging, "Digg thought we should be thorough," she added, trying to ignore the shiver that ran down her body as his breath bounced off her skin, "shouldn't that be one of the things we know just in case she asks?"

"There's not gonna be a pop quiz, Felicity," he half-whispered, angling his body closer to her, nodding to the guards before giving their names.

As one of the large men scanned down the guest list, Felicity felt herself tense, holding her breath. Oliver's hand tightened on her waist, silently willing her to calm.

"Benvenuto Mr. Queen, Ms. Smoak," the man said in a voice that did not convey welcome whatsoever, "Madame Leopardi is expecting you…"

"Grazie," Oliver replied before leading them into the house, his hand still placed against her, his fingers lightly brushing the skin of her lower back.

"I never did like pop quizzes," Felicity began lowly as they stepped into the foyer, her stomach fluttering at the touch of his hand on her exposed skin.

"I just don't like when something is randomly sprung on me—"

"Like a masked vigilante bleeding out in your backseat?" he asked as they huddled together, offering plastered-on-smiles to the passing guests.

"Oh please, that was more like college finals than a pop quiz," she rolled her eyes, taking the glass of champagne he snatched from a waiter.

"Boring?" he queried with raised eyebrows.

"Something that kept me awake at night, but was ultimately worth more than I could have ever imagined," she smiled, her cheeks burning at that admission, she opting to take a large gulp of champagne to quench any desire to begin her patented babbling.

Oliver's gaze softened at her words, a warmth spreading in his chest. But before he could respond, a tall brunette caught his eye as she made their way towards them.

"Mr. Queen, Ms. Smoak…I'm so glad you could make it," Frederica smiled her 100 watt smile, air-kissing them both and stepping back to observe them.

"Such a cute couple you make…" she sighed, hand on her heart, "are you sure I cannot tell a soul of your impending nuptials? It just doesn't seem right that the whole world doesn't know that Oliver Queen, playboy extraordinaire has finally been tamed!"

Felicity laughed, "oh I'm not sure I tamed him…more like he brought out my wild side."

Oliver shook his head, those words conjuring something in him that for the purposes of the mission and his sanity, he had to ignore.

"I bet he did," the Italian winked with a knowing grin.

Finally Felicity found someone who appreciated her usually-inappropriate innuendos! Pity she was a criminal…

"Oh when I first ran into you two I knew you were destined to be together," the older woman continued dreamily, sipping her wine.

"Oh?" Felicity asked, keeping her talking, knowing that Oliver needed this time to survey the room.

"Oh yes," Leopardi nodded seriously, "I mean really, your names say it all…"

Oliver didn't have to be looking at Felicity to know that she was just confused by that statement as he.

"Oh, you don't know? Your names!" Frederica admonished, "Oliver, by Norse definition, means affectionate. Felicity, by English definition, means happiness. Affection and happiness. That is most definitely a good omen for you both, no?"

Oliver's attention was drawn back to the conversation as the woman's words sank in.

His Felicity, Slade had said. His happiness…

It scared him just how right that sounded.

At their stunned silence, the elder woman waved her hands, a chuckle erupting from her, "oh don't look so surprised my American friends, one minute in your presence and anybody can tell that you two shall be in the 50 per cent that'll live a long and happy married life. Now," she clapped her hands, "I must do my hosting duties and attend to some more of my guests. Please, help yourselves to the free alcohol and food, be merry and in love! I shall check in with you later. Ciao!"

And with that, she disappeared with a flourish, into the crowd.

After a moment of staring at the spot Frederica just vacated, Felicity found her voice.

"She may be a criminal and all…but you gotta admit, she's got pizzazz."

Oliver nodded, not trusting himself to look at her as he forced himself into mission-mode.

"The guards' shift changes in three minutes. Will you be ready to hack the security system by then?"

"Please," he practically felt her roll her eyes, "after all this time, you really have to ask?"

It was then he turned to her, his breath catching as he again was wowed by her beauty, her golden hair shining and falling onto her shoulders in soft, tantalizing tresses.

"No…" he breathed, his hand reaching out and taking hers seemingly on its own accord, "if finding out my secret was like your college finals, then you joining the team was like me learning to shoot an arrow."

"An embarrassing failure?" she quipped, remembering his story of how he first struggled with archery.

"No," he shook his head, a soft smile on his face, "life-altering…and one of the best things to ever happen to me."

She gaped at him, her lips parted, yet no sound omitting from them.

Felicity Smoak: lost for words. He never thought he'd see the day.

"One minute before shift change, you ready?" he asked, breaking the spell that had engulfed them.

She nodded, clearing her throat, gulping down the last of her champagne before turning back to him, an enigmatical smile on her face.

"Happiness and Affectionate huh? We make quite the pair…"

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Keep the prompts coming! :D