Dear Readers,

This is the penultimate Olicity chapter.

LadyG

Felicity decided that sooner rather than later was better when breaking up with someone, hard and unpleasant as it may be. Perhaps more important than that was the fact that she respected Adam tremendously and as a result, she didn't want to drag her feet. Since he'd invited her over for dinner the following evening, she resolved to do the right thing and tell him. The timing couldn't have been worse considering his recent professional let down, but if she waited for a better opportunity, it may never arrive.

Nervous because she dreaded what lay ahead, she smoothed her hands over her dress and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. Adam was there instantly, looking handsome dressed down in jeans and a sweater, and she wondered, not for the first time, why she couldn't have just fallen head over heels for him instead. "There you are," he said, reaching for her hand and propelling her across the threshold. Immediately her senses were invaded by a plethora of delicious aromas.

"You seem better," she observed as he helped her out of her coat.

Giving her a grin, he hung it on the hook beside the door. "I knew I was seeing you and that makes everything better."

Guilt assailed her at his words. Why did he have to be so darned wonderful? "Something smells good," she remarked, trying for the moment to sidestep the inevitable conclusion to the evening.

Walking deeper into the room, she saw the table he'd set up close to the fire and her conscious prickled once more. He'd obviously gone to so much trouble in order to please her. She couldn't stand there and pretend that everything was okay when she knew it wasn't. How could she go through an entire dinner observing all the pains he'd gone through, all the while knowing that she was going to be hurting him before the night was over? "Adam, we need to talk."

He must have picked up on the seriousness of her tone because he immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "Are you okay?" Switching off the stove, he placed an arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the sofa they'd spent a considerable amount of time getting to know one another on. The memories were now bittersweet.

"There's something I have to tell you." He sat down opposite her, his face all concern.

Touching her forehead with one hand, he ran the fingers of the other across her cheeks and neck. "You're worrying me. Are you ill?"

She grabbed his hands gently, stilling them. "No," she said softly. "I'm not ill. But there is something important I need for you to know."

Frowning slightly, he warily replied, "Okay."

Where did she start? Mustering all her courage, she decided to be as forthright as she could. "We've been seeing each other for a while now and I want you to know that it's been one of the best times of my life. You're so wonderful and-"

He shifted, sitting forward. "It sounds like you're breaking up with me," he teased, his grin wide and infectious. When she didn't refute him, the smile slowly faded. "Wait a minute. You're breaking up with me?" It was a whisper of disbelief.

His incredulity and confusion made her want to cry. This was even harder than she'd imagined it would be. "Adam, I'm sorry. There's just so much you don't know, don't understand." She reached for his hand, but he pulled it away. The gesture hurt her, even though she understood it.

"Then explain it to me," he replied, earnestly. "We were happy a few days ago, or at least I was. What's changed?"

She tried to speak, but the words were hard in coming. "I wish I could explain properly."

"Is there someone else?" he asked suddenly, his voice low.

She glanced at him in surprise, her gaze stricken. That must have been enough of an answer. He stood. "Adam-"

"I'll take that as an affirmative." He stood rigidly, his hands buried in his pockets.

Felicity followed him up, moving close, but not touching him. "There genuinely wasn't anyone else when we met. I did not start dating you under false pretenses. I care about you. I just didn't know that I cared about him too." Dammit, she didn't want to hurt him.

"Who is he?"

She wouldn't lie to him any more than she had to. "Oliver." His face fell and her heart broke.

"I knew something was up between you two. That night of the Gala, when you were dancing together, I thought I detected an undercurrent, but you assured me that I was wrong." His tone was hurt, accusatory.

She moved forward. "I didn't lie to you. I honestly didn't know I still had feelings for Oliver. I would never have agreed to go out with you, or let our relationship develop so quickly if I'd known how I felt about him."

"Still?" he asked, dazedly. "You mean you've felt this way before?"

Swallowing back tears, she knew she'd wounded him badly. She felt like a heel. "I had a crush on him when we met, but I believed it to be over. When I met you, I wasn't thinking about Oliver at all." She reached to touch his arm, but thought better of it. "Please believe me."

He turned away, staring out at the cityscape. "Do you love him?"

Could things get any worse? "Yes," she answered truthfully, watching him flinch as though she'd struck him. Slowly, she made her way to his side and focussed on the twinkling lights below, her voice trembling with emotion. "I know my timing isn't the best, but I didn't want to lie to you. Once I realized how I felt, I wanted you to be the first to know. I'm so very sorry."

He remained silent for a moment. "Does he love you?"

She looked down at her hands. "I don't know. But that hardly matters right now. You don't deserve someone who's not fully committed to you. It wouldn't be fair."

His head turned towards her, his expression filled with regret. "I would have made you happy."

"I know." A tear rolled down her cheek and he extended a finger to gently wipe it away.

With a sigh, he reached for her, gathering her close, his chin resting above her head. She closed her eyes, savouring their closeness one last time. Pulling back, his sad eyes raced across her face, as though he was memorizing every detail. "I hope he endeavors to deserve you."

"Thank you, Adam," she said, placing a kiss along his smooth jaw. He truly was a remarkable man and someday he'd make some woman incredibly happy.

She was sorry that that woman wouldn't be her.

"I take it you haven't heard the news," Oliver heard Diggle say as he perused some paperwork on the backseat of the company Lexus. They were en-route to the office.

Looking up, he met Diggle's eyes in the rear-view mirror. "News?"

"Felicity and Adam."

All ears, Oliver momentarily forgot the documents in front of him. "What about them?" He felt an odd feeling of dread well up inside of him.

"They broke up," the other man said casually, carefully navigating the morning traffic.

"What? When?" Oliver sat up straighter, his mind reeling. Broke up? Why didn't he know about this? "Why?"

Diggle laughed. "One question at a time, man."

Oliver tried to control his impatience. "When did this happen?"

"A couple of days ago." Could Diggle be any more vague? He'd been in New York for the last two days and only got back the previous evening. He'd talked to Felicity while he'd been away, but she hadn't mentioned anything. Then again, it wasn't the type of thing she was likely to share via telephone or email.

"Why?"

Diggle shrugged. "You'll have to ask her that."

Frustrated because he knew his friend was being deliberately unclear, he clamped down on his welling irritation. "If you're not planning on telling me anything, why did you mention it in the first place?"

Glancing at him briefly, the other man grinned. "Because I haven't failed to notice the way you can't keep your eyes off her, even if you think you're doing a good job of hiding it."

Crap. If Dig was aware of it, was everyone else? "Do you ever mind your own business?" He rolled his eyes and pretended to read, his concentration completely shot.

Unperturbed, Diggle continued, "And yes, everyone has noticed." Great, so much for my attempts at discretion. "Except Felicity, I think."

Thank God. "Is she okay?" he asked, tentatively. He didn't like it, but he knew she cared about the DA and whatever her reasons for ending the relationship, he knew it couldn't have been easy for her.

Diggle's eyes met his again. "Yeah, she's fine."

He nodded, the rest of the drive passing in silence. Felicity had broken up with Donner. He couldn't stop the feeling of elation that swept through him. What did it mean? Dared he hope? Suddenly he felt impatient to get to the office to talk to her, to see her. He wanted to establish for himself if she was genuinely okay, or if she was in reality pining away for his rival. When the car halted at the curb, he pushed the door open, intending to make a hasty exit.

"Hey, Oliver," Diggle called.

"Yeah?"

"Don't mess this up."

Secretly, Oliver smiled. Diggle had just given him his blessing and that meant more to him than the other man would ever know. For a long time his friend, also Felicity's fiercest protector, had warned him to steer clear of her if he wasn't sure that he was ready to fully commit. The fact that Diggle had practically wished him luck, indicated that he believed Oliver was finally worthy of her. He couldn't believe that it had taken so long, but they'd finally come full circle.

Turning to the other man, he stared him straight in the eye, a smile hovering around the corners of his mouth. "I don't intend to." Swiftly departing, he entered the building and headed towards what he hoped would be his future.

Oliver found Felicity in one of the large conference venues trying out their new state of the art video conferencing facilities. When he walked in, she was saying goodbye to one of their younger techies on a different floor. "I see everything's working well."

She beamed at him and his pulse skidded to a halt. Beautiful. "This new system is so cool. Wait until you see what it's capable of."

Smiling, he walked further into the room. "I'm sure I'm going to be suitably impressed."

Rolling her eyes at him mockingly, she switched off the equipment. "You're technologically challenged. I don't expect you to get it."

He laughed. He'd missed her these past two days. "Everything okay here?"

She nodded, her loose hair swaying gently around her face. "How was New York?"

"Exhausting," he replied, placing a small pile of reports on the table.

"Oh!" she said, leaning across the table in order to disconnect some cables, "I found some pretty interesting information on Judge Thompson that you may want to have a look at."

Trying with all his might to keep his attention focussed on what she was saying and not on the lush curves of her derriere, he fidgeted with his tie. Why's this thing so tight? He couldn't breathe properly. "Great. I was going to ask you about that. I want to move on this as quickly as possible."

She nodded. "Looks like blackmail."

Relieved when she stood up again, his breathing returned to normal. "It always is."

"You know, I almost feel sorry for Thompson. By all accounts, he was a very good judge before he became embroiled with Perez."

"Then it's unfortunate that he can't get a do-over."

"It is," she replied thoughtfully.

Hesitantly, he commented, "Adam must still be pretty upset."

He watched as a shadow passed over her face. "I err..wouldn't know." She glanced at him. "We broke up."

"Dig told me on the way over. I'm sorry," he said, sincerely. Despite his feeling about Felicity and Adam as a couple, he didn't rejoice in seeing her pain. "Are you okay?"

She kept busy, her eyes glued to her laptop screen. "Yeah, I'm fine. Everything's fine."

Slowly, he walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. He saw her close her eyes briefly as she turned to face him. "Why?" he asked, knowing she understood his meaning perfectly.

Without her spectacles on, her eyes appeared larger and bluer than he remembered. "It wasn't going to work out. He's a great guy," she said, her eyes meeting his, "but he's not the one for me." Her words caused his breath to hitch in the back of his throat. Her gaze was direct, unwavering.

"Were you in love with him?" He had to know.

A blush stained her cheeks. "No," she replied softly and a weight he hadn't realised he'd been carrying around on his shoulders, lifted.

He suddenly didn't care that he was staring at her, his eyes devouring every detail - the slight curl in her hair, the perfect symmetry of her face, the rose tinged hue of her skin. Silence stretched between them, each one wondering what the other was thinking, both too afraid to ask. He wanted to... No. He knew he shouldn't.

He stared.

She stared back.

Screw it.

He kissed her.

Closing the distance between them, he grasped her shoulders and pulled her gently, yet firmly against him. Her gasp of surprise only served to fuel his desire, his heart racing with anticipation. His eyes affixed to hers, he lifted his hands, cupping both cheeks tenderly, holding her captive. Again, he looked at her, his eyes slowly travelling across her face, studying every contour, colour and texture. Her lips, a bright red, was like a beacon in the dark guiding a starving man home. Hypnotised, he watched as her tongue nervously darted out to wet her lips, the sight nearly his undoing. Dipping his head, his mouth hovered, his breath mingling with the sweetness of hers. Her eyes lazily drifted closed, her mouth rising just as his descended the fraction needed to fuse their lips together.

Pure sensation, hot and heavy, exploded throughout her. She felt soft and pliant in his arms, her hands clutching onto the front of his jacket for dear life. His arms, bands of strength, circled around her waist and she moaned in gratitude. Without them for support, she would surely have fallen to the floor, her knees weak, her mind incapable of rational thought. His lips moved across hers with confidence, his tongue bold as it slipped into her mouth with ease, the invasion a welcome relief. Only her relief was short-lived. Pleasure followed, heady and intoxicating as her mouth drank from his, her thirst insatiable. Winding her arms around his neck, she stood on her toes to get even closer to him, his lips lifting briefly to inhale some much needed oxygen before melding with hers again, the kiss deeper and even more drugging the last.

Slowly, by torturous degrees, his lips finally lifted from hers, even as his arms tightened around her. Her heart thumping painfully in her chest, she tried desperately to gain control over her ragged breathing. She didn't fail to notice that Oliver wasn't having much more success at it than she was.

Feeling his finger beneath her chin, she raised her eyes to meet his. "Felicity, would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"

Her eyes widened with surprise, her cheeks flushing anew. Smiling, she replied, "I'd love to."