Thanks for all the reviews and follows! Clearly I'm new to this ship and I'm still working out the kinks, but thanks for the support in spite of that! :)
The following day dawned, Oliver and Felicity sleeping back-to-back in the small bed she knew he must have once shared with Shado. Oliver had insisted she sleep at his back, not only for warmth but also protection, placing himself between her and the entrance.
Deciding against indulging her desires to push herself closer into his warmth, she got up exiting the cave to find the closest bush to squat behind. Oliver was already up, reheating left over rabbit from the night before.
He stood up after he finished eating, stretching, "I think I'll go patrol."
"Patrol what?" Felicity asked, the worry building quickly, "I thought we were alone?"
"We are," he said, the conviction of his voice reassuring.
"Then why do you need to patrol?"
He looked around, shrugging, "Nothing else to do."
Felicity glanced around the cave too. There really wasn't anything to do, but wait for a rescue. She couldn't risk using the laptop and running out of battery.
"How did you occupy your time before?" She asked, before her eye caught on the make shift bed for two. She could feel the blush on her cheeks rise as he followed her eyes to the bed, "I mean, other than sexy fun times. Not that that isn't nice that you were able to enjoy some sexy fun times while stuck here. Because you know, at least you got to have some fun but-"
"Felicity," Oliver sighed bemused, stopping her mid sentence. She wondered how many times she had said 'sexy fun times' before he cut her off.
When she finally got the courage to look him in the eye, he answered her question, "When we weren't hunting, we were training. And when we weren't training, we were fighting for our lives."
She nodded, glad he had ignored her outburst for the millionth time. She watched as he gathered up his gear, an idea springing to mind, shouting it out "Teach me!"
He paused, she wondered if she imagined him glancing at the bed or the slight blush on his cheeks, before he saw she was gesturing at the bow in his hand.
"You and Diggle are always saying I need more self defense lessons," she plowed on, hoping to convince him.
He gave her an assessing look, before nodding with one of his half smiles, "Alright, come on."
She jumped up, clapping excitedly before she noticed the grin on his face. Stopping, she straightened her clothes, hoping to also straighten her dignity.
"You're lucky I don't have you hitting water," he said as she followed him from the cave.
"You can't hit water," Felicity responded automatically.
"I assure you," he said, throwing a smirk over his shoulder, "You can."
"Alright," Felicity said, acquiescing, "Why would I need to do that?"
"Because," Oliver said, leading her into a clearing, turning to look at her, "you have to be strong to pull back a bow. But given that Dig has been making you lift weights, I'm sure you're strong enough."
"Well I don't know how 'hitting water' would make me stronger," she said, pulling up short in front of him, putting her arm up to flex before his eyes, "but look at these guns. I don't need to hit any water."
After the Dollmaker incident, both Dig and Oliver had insisted she step up her training. Dig adding weekly weight training to her schedule. She would never be 'muscle builder' big, but she might give Michelle Obama some competition.
Oliver smiled at her antics, reaching out to squeeze one bicep, "Very impressive."
"Don't mock me, Mr. Vigilante," she said, smiling. "Where do we start?"
He rolled his eyes before helping her get into position, talking while he did over the finer points of archery, giving her every mechanical tool she would need before placing the bow in her hands. She took to notching the arrow and holding the bow steady, fairly well. It was aiming that was the problem. Ten failed attempts at hitting the tree later, she wanted to give up.
"Maybe I should stick to the electronics," she said, as her eleventh arrow zinged past the tree, "not sure archery is in my future."
"It takes time," he smiled down at her, "and practice. You'll get there."
"Aren't you supposed to be giving me Mr. Miyagi like advice or lessons?" She asked, notching another arrow. "You know, 'wax on, wax off.' That sort of thing?"
"Like hitting water? That sort of thing," he said, unable to keep the amusement from his voice. She released the arrow, missing the tree again, giving him her own eye roll as they went to retrieve the arrows.
Once back in front of the target, quiver full behind them, he put a hand on her elbow, lowering it slightly.
"Okay," he said, his voice low almost a whisper, "Here is your Mr. Miyagi advice."
She gulped, looking at him from the corner of her eye, "About time."
"In order to hit your target," he ignored her, keeping his voice low, soothing, "you have to steady your anchor point."
One of his fingers, tapped lightly on her chest, slightly above where her heart was; his touch startled her, causing her to release the arrow. It sailed to the left of the tree.
"Sorry," she apologized, not able to look at him as she notched another arrow. He moved behind her then, not touching but close enough she could feel the heat radiating from him.
"See the target," he said, pointing toward the tree. "Give into your senses. Feel the wind. Hear the bowstring tighten."
And she did, his voice hypnotizing her, his presence calming her; she breathed deep, focusing on the tree before her.
"And let go," he whispered as she exhaled.
She did, hitting the specific knot in the tree Oliver had pointed out.
Felicity screamed dropping the bow as she ran forward, "Did you see that? I did it!" She gestured wildly toward the arrow in the tree, "Me. I did that!"
She turned to see Oliver standing in the same spot, a full smile on his face. She ran straight at him, jumping at the last second. He caught he easily, as they both laughed together. He slowly lowered her, not letting go once her feet were firmly on the ground.
"You did it," he was smiling down at her, his eyes warm with pride. His hand tightened at her waist as she leaned back a little further to see him fully.
"I did," she said gleefully. He nodded, his smile bemused before his eyes dropped to her lips. Neither of them were smiling then, both intent on the other; until Felicity muttered, her eyes on his lips, "Guess your Mr. Miyagi tricks worked."
The spell broke, he stepped back his eyes glancing toward the target. The moment, whatever it had been, was over. Felicity wondered if she should applaud or berate herself for ruining it.
"I'm proud of you," he said, giving her a quick, tight smile, not meeting her eyes. "Probably enough practice for the day."
The walk back to the cave was silent. Oliver said something about hunting, before leaving her there. He didn't return until the sun was low in the sky, he carried three birds with him that had already been plucked.
"Hungry?" He asked as he lifted up his catch to show her. She nodded smiling, taking her queues from him and pretending everything was normal.
In order to prevent herself from dwelling on the man before her, she grabbed the laptop to check if Diggle had written back. He had, she read the email aloud to Oliver. Diggle explained that an unknown vigilante, going by the name Brother Blood, had taken control of The Glades, calling for martial law. Anyone accused of breaking any crime, was immediately put to death. The police were doing all they could to stop Brother Blood, but hadn't made much progress yet. Using Felicity's programs, Diggle was able to trace the location of the man's organization to three different buildings, giving the information over to the recently reinstated Detective Lance in the hopes they could use it to catch the guy. Diggle concluded by saying he was scheduled to leave that night with the Queen's jet to rescue them and he hoped they were still safe.
Felicity looked up when she finished, Oliver stood by the fire looking down at her.
"I wonder how he got your mother to agree to give him the jet," Felicity wondered out loud, knowing they had tried to use it the first time they came to retrieve Oliver, but had found it impossible.
"Brother Blood?" Oliver asked, ignoring her question. "You don't think it could be Sebastian Blood, do you?"
"Sebastian Blood? Isn't that a little too on the nose? Wouldn't the SCPD have already figured that out?"
"I suppose," Oliver nodded, lost in thought.
"At least it looks like we will be going home tomorrow," Felicity said, hopefully.
Oliver continued to nod, his eyes moving to hers, still lost in thought.
That night, as they settled into the bed back-to-back, Felicity voiced something that had been bothering her, "I thought you had no happy memories here. But you must have had some with Shado."
She felt him still behind her and wondered if he would answer her. Then he moved, rolling to his back to stare at the ceiling of the cave. She followed his example, trying to make out the rock formations above them.
"We fought for survival everyday," he said quietly. "Any good moments we had were dampened by the ever present fear of death. We kept each other sane. We kept each other safe. There were no happy moments, only slightly less terrifying ones."
"How can you be sure she is dead? I mean, you thought Sara was dead."
"I know," he said, leaving no room for argument.
"But maybe-"
"I buried her myself, Felicity," he cut her off.
"Oh," was all she could think to say, lost in her own thoughts. "Who would you have chosen if she lived?"
"Chosen?" He asked.
"Yeah, I mean, between Laurel and Shado," she said, ignoring the fact that it really wasn't any of her business. "If Shado had lived, who would you have chosen when you got off the island."
He was silent again for a while, Felicity almost thought he had fallen asleep. Then he whispered, "Neither."
"Not neither," Felicity said, turning on her side to see the profile of his face. "You loved both of them. Or love both of them."
"What Shado and I had was here," he said, his arm gesturing to the ground around them. "It was this island. We both knew we would never work outside this environment. We both had unfinished business. What we had was real and essential, but it was never meant to last."
"What about Laurel? You still loved her when you got back from the island."
Oliver rolled his head to the side to look at her briefly before returning to stare straight ahead, "I was in love with the idea of Laurel. I had built her up, made our relationship holy because it was all I had to hold on to at one point. But I quickly learned, Laurel and I both did, that the bond we have is more of a friendship. I'll always lover her. She was my first love, but it will never be anything more."
"Well, maybe someday," Felicity began, not knowing why she was encouraging him toward Laurel, but he cut her off.
"No, Felicity. It will never happen again," his voice was deeper, more gravely. "If there is one thing I've learned from this island, is that I was not cut out to love someone else. Not like that, not romantically."
"Bullshit," Felicity said without thinking. "What about McKenna? Or even Helena?"
"My point exactly," Oliver scoffed. "Look how those relationships turned out. I break every female I grow attached too. They always come away worse than they were before."
"Oliver-"
"No," he cut her off, clearly having made up his mind long ago. "It's better not to get involved. That way I can't hurt anyone else."