A/N: Spoilers for 4x01-Loved this idea for how the season could go though I'm fairly certain this isn't how things will play out. Enjoy!

Oliver had already headed for the stairs by the time she'd grabbed extra pillows and blankets from the hall closet, showed Thea and Laurel where the guest room was, and left them to figure out who was going to take the couch.

The shower was running when she slipped through their bedroom door, letting it close softly behind her but not before she caught the faint whiff of smoke from the candles Oliver had blown out on his way up.

The candles he'd lit earlier that evening when they were still just plain Felicity and Oliver. When he had made her a beautiful dinner. When he was going to propose.

She figured it out somewhere during the main course. She hadn't seen him that nervous since their first date. Subtle and Oliver were not good friends. For a man who could move through the shadows without a sound, he couldn't hide a thing from her.

She'd confirmed it when she offered to grab dessert and he'd quickly gotten to his feet, telling her not to move. Butterflies had filled her stomach, the wine she gulped doing nothing to calm her nerves.

And then there had been a knock at the door.

And then the world they'd carefully crafted for the past five months came crashing in on them.

An hour later they sat side by side in their living room, her hand on his knee while they listened to Thea and Laurel lay out their argument for why they needed Oliver to come back to Starling.

She knew that whatever he decided she'd support him.

He told them no.

Felicity tried to keep her face neutral but she'd watched when he'd turned to go back into the kitchen earlier. She'd caught him quickly grabbing something off one of the desserts and stuffing it into his pocket. If there had been any lingering doubts that he was all in they were eradicated the instant she heard him tell his sister they wouldn't be returning.

Then Felicity's phone rang.

The phone she left plugged in but never used. The one that had only ever rang once before and that was a month ago. It had been her former assistant Gerry calling with the news that Ray had died in an explosion.

Her eyes cut to Oliver's, the rest of the room fading to nothing. They both knew it wouldn't be good.

On shaky legs she made her way over to the small table it sat on, picking it up on the fourth ring, Gerry's name on the caller I.D made her heart lodge in her throat.

After a short perfunctory greeting she discovered the seemingly innocuous papers she barely remembered signing all those months ago had been discovered and she was now the new CEO of Palmer Technologies.

At some point she'd handed the phone to Oliver and made her way back to the couch staring blindly at the fireplace. The pictures they'd taken on their travels filled the shelf and for a moment she felt like she was looking at someone else's life.

She felt him sit next to her, hand dropping to rub gently along her back. "Gerry's emailing you the flight information. A car will meet us at the airport tomorrow night." He'd known immediately what she would do. Never any doubt she wouldn't be returning.

She nodded tightly, blowing out a long breath until his hand closed over hers and squeezed.

"So you are coming back then?" Thea asked, confused and hopeful until Oliver gave her the quick version of what had transpired.

"I'm going back with Felicity. But I'm not...I can't do that again. I'm sorry. I hope you understand." he'd answered.

A tense silence left them all on edge until Oliver exited.

"You're welcome to stay the night." Felicity offered, making sure they had what they needed, and then followed him.

Once she was safely inside their bedroom she felt like she could breathe a little easier. The weight on her chest let up enough for her to take a half a breath as she leaned against the door, tears pricking her eyes as she realized that would be the last night they'd spend in their house.

Oliver paused in the doorway, towel wrapped around his waist, eyes without the spark she'd grown so used to seeing.

"I would have said yes. I still would." she blurted out, "I mean, I will."

She surprised them both with her unexpected words.

His face went through a rush of emotions; shock, disappointment, excitement, and finally hope.

"You...what? You knew?"

"Not until tonight." she answered with a tremulous smile as she pushed off the door and cautiously made her way across the room. "I figured it out during dinner. You seemed so nervous and sweet and then your reaction when you didn't want me to help get dessert, and um...I might have seen you stick something in your pocket when you went back into the kitchen." she admitted with a small shrug, biting her lower lip as she waited for his reaction.

He met her by the end of the bed, hands skimming down her arms to tangle with hers. "Did you...did you just say yes?"

She blinked twice, "Not exactly. Because you didn't actually ask me. But if you had I would have said yes. I mean, I will? Unless…" a rush of coldness swooped up her chest and neck leaving her numb, "Unless now you're not going to…"

"No!" he said quickly, then shaking his head at her horrified and hurt look, "I don't mean no I'm not going to ask I...I just didn't think I'd be doing this with my sister and my ex in the next room."

"Well technically only one of them is in the next room, the other is on the-" the rest was lost as his lips found hers, the trick he'd learned and perfected over the months as a way to silence her.

"So?"

"Yeah," she replied against his mouth, smiling wide.

"You still haven't let me actually ask you."

"Well hurry up then, what's taking you so long."

The huff of laughter he let out flowed over her face, warming her cheeks. "Felicity, will you marry me?"

"Yes," she answered immediately, melting against him as he kissed her and for just a little while all their other problems faded away.

"Where's the ring?" she asked when he finally pulled away leaving her breathless, "I didn't get to see it."

His eyes went wide for a second before he held up one finger and turned back towards the bathroom. With a laugh she followed, watching as he snagged his discarded pants off the floor and fished in the pocket.

"It might have a little bit of whipped cream still on it," he said apologetically, wiping it on his towel before holding it up for her.

"It's perfect." she said, but the truth was that her eyes were so clouded with tears she couldn't even tell what cut it was.

He slid it onto her hand, thumb gently running over the spot just below it on her knuckle as he stared at it as if he couldn't quite believe it was there.

"But we're going back." he said so quietly she almost didn't hear him but she understood all his fears and trepidation.

"That doesn't mean anything has to change." she replied quickly, however, her words didn't seem to register.

"We can keep this. Just for us." she said earnestly, grasping his hands with hers, "Just like we've had the past five months."

"I don't want to give that up."

"So we don't. No one else has to know. Not right now. Not until we want them to."

"I was serious when I said I can't go back to that. I don't know...I don't know how to be this me, the one that wants to spend every minute by your side, I don't know how to be that man if I'm wearing a hood."

Her heart broke for him. She knew how much the idea of returning to that life scared him. It scared her too, but she also knew he could do both, that inside him was a hero and that didn't change because of where he lived or what clothes he wore, it was who he was.

Softly her thumbs stroked over his cheekbones, "You don't have to. You can be my partner, my support, my personal chef and baker of souffles." she said teasingly, glad to see the corners of his mouth lift. "I don't even know if I'll stay."

"Of course you will. This is what you're supposed to be doing."

A shaky exhale left her lungs, "I don't know what Ray was thinking…"

"He was thinking he was leaving the company in the most capable hands. He trusted you."

"You really think I can do this? Run the company?"

He gathered her in his arms, skin still warm from the shower as the humid air surrounded them, "As much as I've needed this time away with you I know you've been missing something. I know you've still been in contact with Thea."

Every muscle in her body went stiff and all she could do was stare up at him.

"It was only small stuff. Things I could do from my tablet. I wasn't...I wasn't keeping it from you I just didn't want you to feel like I wanted to go back or that I wasn't happy."

But his smile was easy and understanding, "I know and I get it. And even if I can't go back and put a mask on that doesn't mean you should be sidelined as well. You deserve this. I should have made you the CEO two years ago and been your assistant, maybe the name on the side of the building would still say Queen."

A warm flush filled her and she couldn't help waggling her ring finger at him, "Maybe it will again."

He held her close, her head tucking in underneath his chin. The wild beat of his pulse thrummed under her ear while she waited for his breaths to even out. Her fingers moved absently over his back until he finally pressed a hard kiss to her temple and whispered a muttered 'thank you' into her hair.

When she pulled back to look at him his eyes were bright, "So for the rest of tonight we're just Felicity and Oliver, who left dirty dishes in the sink and need to remember to put the recycling on the curb in the morning."

"And tomorrow you will be Felicity Smoak, CEO and I will be…" he trailed off but she jumped in before even a trace of melancholy could enter his voice.

"And you will be Oliver Queen, the man I'm going to marry and who will always be my personal hero. You never have to be anything else."

His forehead met hers and for a long moment they just stood there, wrapped in each other, her newly adorned left hand lying lightly on his chest.

"We'll keep this for us. Until we're ready for everyone else to know."

"Even if it's been a few years and we've already snuck off to Vegas for a private ceremony?"

A long peal of laughter echoed off the bathroom walls, "Even then."

"Okay." he said with more surety and determination than she expected but before she could speak he had flicked the knot at his waist and smoothly stepped out of his towel as he led her into the bedroom.

"Not that I'm complaining about the view because...I will never complain about the view, but…"

Quick hands were already finding the zipper at the back of her neck, his lips latching onto her jaw before moving towards her ear.

"We have one more night here and I'd like to make love to my fiance'."

A rush of heat filled her belly as she sunk back into him, the cool air of the room and Oliver's mouth on her sending a rush of goosebumps exploding across her exposed skin.

"Say that again," she gasped, arching into his touch.

"Fiance'," he whispered as he pushed the dress off her shoulders.

"Again."

"Fiance'," with the unsnapping of her bra.

"...again."

"...fiance'," as she was left wearing nothing but a two carat, princess cut diamond ring.