Chapter 2 – Bar-B-Que
An: I do not own Arrow. The much requested second chapter! This was written for missmeagan666, Valerienne, imusuallyobsessed, castlefan83, lila, Windripple at AO3 and the killer00, Element Siren at fanfiction. Thank you to all the guests that reviewed. If the system allowed me to reply to you I would have.
Warning: This chapter has tooth rotting fluff!
Oliver slowly drifted into consciousness. The first thing he noticed was the absence of his wife's body next to his. He sat up quickly in bed and looked around their bedroom frantically for her. The room was still very dark since it was 5:00am as Oliver always woke up at the same time every day. He was seconds from jumping out of bed and searching the house when his memory finally caught up with his instincts and reminded him that Felicity was in Starling City that day. He collapsed disappointed back in bed. He absolutely hated waking up alone. He was very accustomed to the wonderful sensation of waking up to his wife curled around him. She always sought out his warmth at night and he looked forward to finding her plastered against him in the mornings.
Felicity had a Board meeting at her company that day that she was required to attend in person. It was only because it was easier for Felicity to fly out the night before instead of taking an early morning flight to Starling City that Oliver hadn't protested that she was leaving him to suffer through the morning alone. His wife was not a morning person. If she had to wake up before her usual time she was an absolute terror to deal with. The Board meeting would have been an absolute disaster if she had tried to fly out in the morning.
Oliver took her to the airport the afternoon before and kissed her goodbye. The kids thought it was gross but Oliver didn't care. After watching her clear security to go up to her gate Oliver reluctantly left the airport with the kids. Sometimes he wondered how he managed in the early days of their marriage when she went away on business meetings and there were no kids to keep him busy but then he remembered that he had his best friends, Tommy and Digg, and the restaurant. They kept him grounded when Felicity wasn't there.
Oliver stared at the ceiling of his bedroom lost in thought. He pulled his wife's pillow towards him and inhaled the scent of her shampoo on the pillow. He knew she was in their home in Starling City and she wouldn't be up for another two hours at least. Being the early riser in the family, he handled all of the morning chores. Usually he would wake up, go for a run, then check on the kids and start getting them ready for school, then make breakfast and coffee. Coffee was always waiting for Felicity when she woke up. When the kids were babies, Felicity would pump one bottle of breast milk the night before and Oliver would handle the morning feeding and change of diaper so that she could sleep a little bit longer.
He had met women that thought Felicity was ducking her responsibilities as a mother in the morning but Oliver disagreed. The mornings were his time to bond with his children. He didn't get to see them at bedtime because he was always in one of his restaurants preparing his chef special for dinner. His children knew they got daddy time in the mornings and mummy time at nights. Sometimes he had no clue how they managed to juggle their careers, their children, their extended family and friends, and their relationship. In their ten years of marriage they had seen so many other relationships fail but they were still solid as a rock.
The last two weeks together in Ivy Town had been amazing. It had been years since they had been able to spend so much time together. His sister, Thea, had been right. They needed the vacation. At first, he had worried about his restaurants and them crashing and burning without his continued presence but he realised that he had put together a good team in both restaurants and he needed to trust them. Thea, managed the bar/restaurant called Verdant in the Glades and Tommy ran the high-end gourmet restaurant, Felicity, (Yes he named it after his wife) in the swanky upper class neighbourhood of the city.
At Verdant, the Executive Chef was a young chef he had taken under his wing and personally trained, Rory Regan. The pastry chef was also another young prodigy, Evelyn Sharpe. Together they gave Verdant a youthful modern menu that drew crowds of young people every night. His team there was always bursting with creative energy and several times he had to veto some of their more outrageous ideas. Despite that, he had been more worried about his other restaurant.
The Executive Chef at Felicity was a former thug named Rene Ramirez who was very prone to anger management issues. The Sous Chef was also a former thief, Roy Harper. The two of them and Tommy were like oil, water and gasoline but somehow the restaurant managed to function extremely well once each man stuck to what they did best. Tommy didn't understand a thing about food, Rene didn't understand a thing about management and Roy just hated taking orders. The beginning had been rough. Oliver had several sleepless nights trying to figure out what to do. He hated firing people and he really wanted to give Rene and Roy a chance. It had taken a long while for the team to trust each other but once they did, the result was beautiful. His only problem with the restaurant was that he couldn't keep a pastry chef. After one day in the kitchen they always quit. Evelyn had to prepare deserts to send across to that restaurant every day.
While Oliver was consumed in his thoughts the sun had slowly risen lighting up the room. He rolled over to look at the clock knowing he had missed the window to have his morning run. He had let Felicity's absence throw his entire routine into chaos. He was surprised to see it said 7:30am. He sprang from bed, splashed water on his face and ran downstairs. There was no doubt in his mind that his children were already awake and up to mischief downstairs.
He arrived in the kitchen to find them already seated around the table each with a glass of orange juice at different levels. They hadn't noticed him yet, each absorbed in their tablets which they weren't supposed to have at the kitchen table, and he took the opportunity to examine each one closely. They all appeared to be fine. He cautiously stepped further into the kitchen.
"Daddy!" his daughter, Emma, exclaimed. She was always the first one to see him.
"Are you feeling ok?" his eldest, Connor, asked, "Because we were debating if to call mom."
"Yeah if you didn't get down here soon, we were going to call her," William, his middle child, said.
"Sorry guys, I didn't realise it was so late. I'll get started on breakfast. Please put your tablets where they belong," he told them.
His kids groaned but they got up from their seats and trudged across to their play room to put them down. Oliver stared at them. They were quiet and orderly. There were no mechanical parts or devices on the breakfast table. That was unusual. Felicity was constantly reprimanding them about leaving their projects all over the house. They tried to raise their kids to be respectful and responsible but they were still kids and they knew that there would be times when things wouldn't go smoothly. Mornings were usually loud affairs. He got the distinct feeling he was missing something again but that wasn't unusual for him. He was raising here geniuses.
If his high school teachers saw him now they would be impressed. He used a dictionary and an encyclopaedia on a daily basis to answer his kids' questions. He didn't want them to get in the habit of thinking that their Daddy didn't know anything. He wanted his kids to grow up knowing they could come to him with anything. Often times when he did his research he felt his children understood the explanation a lot better than him.
He started preparing porridge for breakfast. It was a nice healthy breakfast. He opened the bin to toss the empty bag of rolled oats in when he noticed several chocolate wrappers in the bin. That's what they had been up to. He waited patiently for them to return and once they were settled on the table again, he started his investigation.
"Did you have anything for breakfast yet?" he asked calmly as he stirred the oats in the pot.
Both boys immediately pointed at their baby sister, "She made us!"
Their younger sister didn't even bat an eye. "We were hungry and we're not allowed to use the stove. what else were we supposed to eat?" she asked innocently.
His daughter looked so much like Felicity. It was hard to ever tell her she was wrong plus this was his fault. He had been the one to stay in bed sulking because Felicity wasn't there.
"You could have had granola bars instead of the chocolate bars. You are still going to have your porridge for breakfast, in fact, I think I'll serve plain porridge today," he said.
His children groaned and made disgusted faces while he stirred the pot. He pulled out a few containers and put all the extra ingredients he had been ready to use to spruce up the porridge away.
After his children struggled through their breakfast, Emma exclaimed that she was going to investiquire why the children next door kept trying to hit the low hanging fruit on their tree with stones when they always missed. Their method of fruit retrieval obviously was not working and it was time to try something else.
"That's not a word sweetheart," he said immediately as he and Connor cleared the table.
"It's not?" she asked confused scrunching her eyebrows together exactly like her mother.
"No," both of her older brothers agreed.
"Well it should be!" she stated firmly. "I need to investigate and enquire hence investiquire."
Oliver just nodded his head while his sons and daughter debated the creation of the new word. This would not be a conversation that required any of his wisdom. Before he knew it, he had finished the dishes and returned his kitchen to pristine condition. He turned his glance to his children who were sitting at the table waiting for some indication about what they were going to do that day.
"Let's do some garden work today. I'll mow the lawn and you all can rake the cut grass together into piles," he said. They had enjoyed working in the garden with him so far. He had a simple lawn mower that spat grass out the side. He didn't want anything fancy as he appreciated the physical labour.
"About that dad," Connor said. "I've been thinking about the most efficient pattern to mow the lawn since it's an unusual shape."
Oliver couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. His children were always looking for better ways to do things. William ran to the playroom and came back with pen and paper. They drew out the shape of the lawn and suggested a pattern in which he could mow the lawn and get all the grass cuttings into one pile so that the amount of raking required would be reduced. Oliver nodded his head as his children talked.
Armed with the new pattern, Oliver started in the back. This time he kept his shirt on. There was no Felicity home to get all hot and bothered and he did not want to rile up the neighbours. The kids were watching eagerly from the sides, his sons declaring that they would grow up to be strong like their daddy. It always filled him with warmth when he heard them say they wanted to be like him.
He was halfway through the front lawn, when a car he recognised stopped at the entrance to his driveway. The man behind the wheel, Glen, waved his hands to get his attention and called him towards the car. Oliver reluctantly let go of the lawn mower and the engine switched off. He had met Glen a few days ago as he was returning home from his morning run. The man was heading to work and had nearly run him over on the pavement as he reversed recklessly out of his driveway.
"Hello Oliver," Glen greeted him.
"Hello," Oliver replied with what he hoped was a friendly smile.
"A few of the guys on this block get together once a month for a bar-b-que, no wives allowed. Come and join us. It's in Mark's back yard this month." At Oliver's blank look he went on to give directions, "Third house from the end on the right, #17, tomorrow at 1:00pm. Bring whatever you want to cook. See you tomorrow," he said driving off without waiting for Oliver's answer.
Oliver stared dumbfounded for a few seconds before he caught site of the annoying redhead making her way down the pavement toward him. He quickly gathered up the kids and hid inside. He would sneak out later and finish the lawn.
Oliver was practically bouncing on his toes as he lit the candles in the kitchen. Felicity had landed and she was taking a cab home. The children were in bed asleep and he cooked a nice dinner for just the two of them to enjoy. It wasn't often that they got to have dinner by themselves. In Starling City usually Felicity and children would have dinner in either Verdant or Felicity, it depended where Oliver was for the night. On the rare occasion, if Felicity or one of the kids were sick and couldn't come to the restaurant, Oliver would send dinner home for them. The last time they had dinner to themselves was their tenth anniversary when Thea took the children for the night.
He heard the front door open and he sprinted to the front of the house. Her back was turned to him as she closed the door behind her. He gathered her up in his arms and kissed her passionately, making sure to pour all of his feelings into the kiss.
"What did I do to deserve this?" she asked a bit breathlessly when he pulled away from her.
"You chose to come home to me," Oliver replied lovingly.
"I'll always choose to come home to you," Felicity said rising on her toes to peck him softly on his lips.
His wife could have anyone she wanted and it amazed him that she continued to choose him. He surveyed her closely. The first trimester always left her tired and it showed on her face.
"I made dinner but if you're too tired," he offered.
Her entire face lit up, "I'm starving. I didn't get to swing by Verdant and have something to eat with Thea. It was ok at the time because I was still full from the exquisite meal that Rene and Tommy sent for the board meeting but I'm craving your cooking now," she explained.
His hand dropped to her lower back and he guided her to the kitchen. The candlelight cast soft shadows around the room making the room look a lot more romantic than it was.
"Oliver's its beautiful," Felicity said impressed with the effort Oliver had put in.
"Not as beautiful as you," Oliver replied.
It was cliché but he meant every word he said and he knew Felicity knew that. She turned and kissed him softly in thanks. He could see she was growing more tired as she ate, her eyes slowly dropping closed after every other bite. As soon as she was finished he told her to head upstairs he'll clean up. Usually he cooked and she cleaned but he could do the extra work tonight.
Twenty minutes later he entered their bedroom to find her sound asleep hugging his pillow for dear life. Oliver chuckled softly before pulling the covers back and sliding into bed with her. He kissed her on her temple and her hands automatically let go of his pillow and pulled him towards her. She snuggled up against him and sighed happily.
Oliver woke up at his usual 5:00am to the weight of his wife on top of him. A large smile pulled across his face. That was how he was supposed to wake up. He was fairly sure if he tried to get out of bed he would wake her up so he decided to stay in bed and soon drifted off to sleep again.
"Mummy! Mummy! Mummy!" the boys cried as they invaded their bedroom. They were excited she was back but Oliver didn't like them just barging in. They were supposed to respect that mommy and daddy had adult time together.
"We made you something yesterday!" William said.
"Yes you have to come and see it," Connor said.
"I will," she assured them with a large smile.
"Where is Emma?" Oliver asked.
"She went for juice in the kitchen," William answered.
Oliver pursed his lips, if his daughter went for chocolate again, there would be trouble. While Felicity attended to the boys he made his way to the kitchen and found Emma sitting innocently at the kitchen table with a glass of orange juice in front of her. He tickled her good morning and then set about making breakfast checking the bin first to make sure there were no chocolate wrappers in the bin. When the bin turned up empty Oliver opened the cupboard and did a quick count of what was supposed to be left. There was one missing.
"Emma, is there something you want to tell me?" he asked in a stern voice.
"I was hungry," she whined admitting the truth right away.
He held his hand out and Emma jumped off the seat and came towards him. She pulled the chocolate wrapper from inside her pyjamas and handed it to him.
"You know better Emma. Porridge for breakfast for you. The rest of us will have omelettes," he explained to her.
She stomped her foot in frustration, "That's not fair."
"Rules are rules Emma," he said pulling out a tray of eggs from the fridge. He noticed the steaks and ribs he had on one of the shelves marinating and he remembered the bar-b-que. He needed to tell Felicity about it. As if summoned, his wife and the boys entered the kitchen.
"Felicity," he said as he balanced all the ingredients in his hand and kicked the fridge door shut with his foot.
"Hmmm," she asked looking at some sort of mechanical device she had in her hands.
"I got invited to a guy's bar-b-que at 1:00pm today," he told her.
"Oh that's great. Have fun. We'll certainly be having fun right kids?" Felicity asked them.
"Yes," they said in unison.
"And don't worry about rushing back for dinner, I got it covered," Felicity said.
He must have made a horrified sound because Felicity started glaring at him, "I'm not going to touch your kitchen, I'll order pizza." It was a known fact that Felicity couldn't even boil water without setting off the fire alarm.
At five minutes to one o'clock Oliver kissed Felicity goodbye before heading down the road with a cooler full of food and another cooler with beer. When he came to #17, he walked up to the front door and rang the bell. He waited a few minutes before Glen's head appeared at the side of the house.
"Hey Oliver, I thought it was you. You're lucky someone was inside or we wouldn't have realised you were in front," Glen said waving for him to follow him down the side of the house.
He followed Glen along a narrow part to the back where he found with about fifteen guys gathered in small groups around three grills. The food on the grill was almost cooked which was kind of strange if they were starting at one.
"I thought you said this started at one?" Oliver questioned Glen.
"I did?" Glen questioned, "I meant twelve. It's no big deal anyway everyone comes at least half an hour late. Maybe that's why I told you one," Glen said thinking it over.
Glen whistled loudly to get the crowd's attention. "Everyone this is Oliver," Glen introduced.
"Hey," they said before going back to their previous conversations.
Oliver rolled his cooler over to the closest grill which had burgers and sausages on it. A short blond guy was standing in front of it was a spatula in hand.
"What you got in there?" he asked curiously pointing the spatula at the cooler.
"Steaks and ribs," Oliver said.
"Great!" he said before turning around to the group that was standing closest to the stairs that lead into the house.
"Hey Jeff, where are the buns for the burgers?" the guy hollered.
"Buns?" Jeff questioned dumbly.
"Yeah buns, how did you plan on us eating it?" the short guy asked.
Jeff shrugged. "I usually just do the burgers. Carol does everything else."
"Married men. We do this once a month, you'd think by now they would remember the buns. I'm Mark by the way," he said to Oliver.
"Nice to meet you," Oliver said shaking his hand. "This is your house?"
"Technically it's my parents but they went away on a cruise so I decided to host this month's get together," Mark explained.
"I got booze!" a guy who had just arrived with a large cooler declared loudly.
"I thought Deedee kick you out?" Glen asked.
Oliver had heard the story of Deedee and her husband from Felicity. It was nice to connect a few dots.
"She tried to but I'm fighting her for the house," he explained.
"Isn't that Deedee's liquor?" another guy asked when he raised the cover on the cooler.
"Yeah drink up!" he declared happily.
Oliver hoped he and Felicity never ended up hating each other the way those two clearly did.
Mark grabbed a plate and loaded it up with the burgers and sausages.
"They are just going to have to eat it like this. The grill is all yours. Go ahead and cook up a storm," Mark said picking up the plate and moving it over to the table that held the drinks and food.
Oliver checked the heat on the grill and adjusted it to what he preferred for his steaks. In the background he was listening to the conversation around him.
"Hey who's the new guy?"
"That's Oliver. He lives just up the street."
"His wife is the pixie blonde with the great ass."
"Oh I've been meaning to talk to him!"
Oliver felt a presence next to him as he took the steaks out of the cooler and put them on the grill.
"Hello," Oliver said.
"Hi, I'm Billy. You're married to that hot blonde right?" he asked.
"I am married to a very beautiful woman," Oliver confirmed in a cool tone not yet understanding where the conversation was going.
"Are you interested in swapping for the night? You can have my girlfriend and I'll take your wife off your hands?" Billy said jovially.
Oliver stared at him. He had to be joking. When the rest of Billy's group stared at him waiting for a response he realised that he wasn't.
"No," Oliver said firmly. "I do not and will not ever share my wife."
"Told you he didn't look like a swinger," Mark said and another man passed him a $100.00 bill.
"Dammit, I was looking forward to the next party," another man said.
Oliver scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. Were these men seriously contemplating sleeping with his wife? That was not happening!
"We'll check back in a few months. After a year or two of marriage you'll want a newer model," the man who had lost the bet said to Oliver.
"Felicity and I have been married for ten years and I don't want anyone else," Oliver said through gritted teeth.
The group reacted with surprise and Oliver turned back to the grill and decided to focus on what he did best, cooking, lest he attack someone with the spatula in his hand. Oliver couldn't believe how easily these men gave up on their partners. He knew full well what it was like to have a young attractive girl flirt with you and stroke your ego. He felt that tug of attraction and the lust but he was not throwing away what he built with Felicity for some short pleasurable tryst in someone else's bed. There was no way it would be worth it. He and Felicity worked hard to build the life they had. Even after ten years together, he was still very much in love with her. It wasn't all easy. They had their good times and their bad times but they survived. He knew what he wanted in life and that was Felicity and their life together.
An hour later Oliver was raking in the compliments about his steaks with a new group of guys. Several declared that it was the best steak they had ever had and he was permanently invited to the monthly bar-b-que. The ribs were on the grill when he saw the redhead join them.
"Hello boys, I heard you guys were having a bar-b-que," she said in a sultry tone.
"Carrie," several of the men welcomed while a few moved to the other side of the yard far away from her.
"Jake, it's good to see you. I heard Deedee's been treating you so bad. I'm sure I can help de-stress you," she purred.
"Hey Carrie, we're having a party Friday night. Make sure and come," the swinger guy said.
She smiled widely at swinger guy before she caught sight of Oliver standing by the grill. She started walking towards him.
"Stop right there," he said holding out the long tongues in front of him. His other hand was reaching for the spatula just in case.
"I don't bite," she purred, "Unless you want me too. Right fellas?" she asked and some of the guys around him laughed.
"I am a happily married man," Oliver insisted.
"It always starts out that way, but after a year or two it's not that happy anymore," the redhead said. "I guarantee by your first anniversary, the cracks in the façade will start to appear."
A few of the men in the group around him bobbed their heads in agreement.
"Had my first divorce at two years," one man confirmed.
"A year and a half," another one added.
"Six months," a third guy stated.
"I made it three years before she cheated on me," Carl the accountant admitted. Oliver had liked Carl. He was a good guy and seemed like the only loyal one there.
"Well I've been married for 10 years," Oliver said proudly, "And even though I didn't think it possible then, I'm more in love with my wife now than the day we got married. I'm not going to lie, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. I've spent a fair share of my nights sleeping on the couch, I've heard my wife's loud voice way too many times and there were days I thought we wouldn't make it but we always chose each other and we will continue to choose each other so I'm going to make things crystal clear, my wife and I aren't interested in any of your offers and if I find any of you near her, I'll make you regret the day you were born," he said turning back to the grill to flip the ribs over.
Oliver opened his front door to hear his favourite sounds in the world, his wife and children laughing. He followed the sound to the kitchen where there were four pizza boxes on the island. His wife and children were all seated around the table with slices of pizza on their plates.
He liked moments where he got to stand and watch them interact without them realising he was there. All too soon the moment was broken when Emma noticed him, "Daddy's home!" she declared loudly.
Felicity turned to look at him with a mischievous smile, "Want to join us?"
"Definitely," Oliver said with a large grin on his face.
Even though he had eaten at the bar-b-que there was always room to eat with his family. He pulled a plate from the cabinet and grabbed one slice of the mushroom pizza, his wife's favourite. He glanced across at his wife's plate to see she had three slices on it. Usually he would needle her about eating healthy, especially when she was pregnant but today he was willing to let it go in favour of enjoying the moment with his family.
"Someone's hungry," he teased. "Four boxes is a bit much."
"Really? I have four growing children to feed!" Felicity said defending herself.
He bent over and kissed her on the lips before sitting in the open chair next to her.
"Ew!" his children exclaimed.
In a few years they won't be thinking of kissing like that but he would cross that bridge when he got there. For now they would have to put up with his public displays of affection.
Later that night as they were both lying in bed exhausted from a very passionate encounter Oliver decided to broach the topic of Ivy Town.
"I think you were right hon," he admitted his hand rubbing circles on her bare back. "As soon as you finish your programme we should head back home."
"Are you sure? I thought you liked it here," Felicity asked with concern.
"I like this kitchen, this house, being home with you and the kids but I don't want to become as jaded as our neighbours. Some young little punk wanted to borrow you for a night with him!"
"Really?" Felicity asked intrigued.
"Felicity," Oliver said in a voice that indicated he wasn't pleased with her response.
"Sorry, I'm not considering it. You know you're the only one I want but it's really flattering to know that after three children I still look hot!" Felicity said proudly.
"Of course you're hot, why do you think I always keep a baseball bat in the car? It's to beat all those punks away," Oliver told her.
"Oh I thought that was for me to chase the harpies away from you!"
Two weeks later the moving van arrived and Oliver and two movers worked on loading the truck while Felicity stood off to the side with her packing list, checking off as each box was packed. A few neighbours slowed down as they drove past but no one stopped. It was only when the last box was placed in the truck that Bernadette and her husband, Bob, appeared to enquire what was going on.
"I finished the programme. We're moving back home," she answered first before she placed her hand over her growing bump, "Plus we want this new baby to be born in Star City."
Bob's and Bernadette's faces fell open in shock. Oliver pulled her against him and wrapped his arms around her.
"It was nice meeting you but the big city calls!" he said happily.
"Are you selling?" Bernadette asked still digesting the news.
"Oh no. Oliver gave this house to me as our tenth anniversary gift. I can't bear to part with it so quickly. My mom is retiring and I offered her the house. She'll move in next week! Though she'll probably be back and forth quite a bit. She loves her grandkids," Felicity explained.
Oliver was quite sure this little town was not prepared for Donna Smoak.
"Don't worry you'll see us again," Oliver said. "We're going to have a big party here for our eleventh anniversary. Apparently once you pass five it's a rarity so we have decided to celebrate big each year!"
The moving truck started and pulled away leaving Bob and Bernadette standing awkwardly there with them. The kids started calling from inside and it was the perfect excuse for both couples to part ways. Felicity and Oliver walked back inside holding hands like lovesick teenagers and Oliver decided he wouldn't have it any other way.
An: Thanks for reading.