Sorry again for the slow update. I wasn't overly happy with this chapter but hope it'll come together soon. There's some small sexual references in this chapter so be warned.

The Dark of Night 5

Oliver hobbled on his crutch behind Diggle into his bedroom. Diggle remained silent until he slammed his bedroom door behind him. He spun on the spot and gave Oliver his best big brother look.

"So what the Hell was that about?" Diggle asked, trying to suppress a slightly bemused grin.

"Felicity was having a nightmare. I was just checking on her. That's all!" Oliver stated, planting himself on the edge of the bed to take the weight off his injured leg.

"Aha? A nightmare?" Diggle crossed his muscular arms across his chest.

"Yeah I heard her making noise and I was just checking on her." Oliver itched at the skin just on the top of his cast.

"And what time was that at Oliver?" Diggle paced the room and opened the thick curtains to let more light in.

"Em… maybe three or four am. I'm not sure."

"You're not sure. And it was a nightmare? Oliver you're going to have to come up with better excuses than that."

"It's not an excuse."

"Oliver there's obviously some unresolved… tension… between you two."

Oliver interrupted Diggle's sentence. "There's no tension between us."

"Oliver I'm not blind or stupid. The long lingering looks. The fact that you take every opportunity to touch her. The excuses you make so that she spends even more time with you than she already does double jobbing it for you."

"What excuses?"

"Oh Felicity. I'd love it if you helped me pick out something nice for Thea's birthday online. You have such great taste. Maybe we could recommend some things to me over dinner," Diggle mimicked Oliver.

"That wasn't an excuse. I wanted her help shopping for my sister's birthday. So what?!" Oliver said defensively.

"You used that line three times in the last month and Felicity never pulled you up on it even when she had already spend seventy plus hours in your company each week. How about 'Felicity could you show me how to use this calendar app on my computer?'' Ok Oliver had to admit he was caught out on this one. Last week he had erased half his meetings from his calendar so Felicity came in to help. She leant across him as he sat at the computer and he caught the scent of her. An aroma that he was now beginning to identify as uniquely Felicity. She was wearing that grey dress again- the one that he had to try to his best to suppress his normal male urges when she was in it. While she worked across him her legs pressed against his and Oliver closed his eyes briefly to inhale her scent. Felicity didn't see him but when he opened his eyes, he realized Diggle had.

"It's a complicated calendar. I'm not good with IT. I was away for five years and technology changes," Oliver protested.

"Don't think I didn't see you lean in closer to her while she was showing you how to do it. And you asked her two days later to show you again."

He had to put his hands up at this one. "That's because I wasn't really paying attention the first time." Oliver tried flashing Dig his playboy smile but it would never work on him.

"Do you think this is a joke Oliver?" Diggle walked towards where he sat and lowered his voice. "Look Felicity has obviously had a little crush on you in the past."

"Maybe in the past but not now. A woman like Felicity is sure to have a string of men chasing after her. She has a lot more of a choice than someone as damaged and moody as me."

"Well seeing as she spends almost twenty four seven with you I think it's unlikely she sees it that way. And it's hardly like anyone form QC would dare ask her out since they all think she's sleeping with the CEO." Oliver opened his mouth to protest. "Don't deny it. I've sat in the coffee shop in QC enough to know you guys are always a hot topic of conversation."

"I don't want Felicity to be alone. I'd love her to be happy." Oliver's voice softened immensely at the thought of Felicity maybe being lonely because of him.

"And if you can make her happy, go right ahead."

"Dig nothing is going on between us."

"Alright. Keep telling yourself that. But I'll have you know that I spend a huge amount of time with you two and I know there's more than you're admitting. And if you think you can make her happy, I give you my blessing. But if you don't think you can, please don't string her along."

"I didn't think I was," Oliver sounded crestfallen.

"Then why were you all night in her room comforting her?"

"She had a nightmare. It was a bad one about the Count."

Diggle walked close enough so that Oliver could hear his lowered voice. "And the Count is another thing. Not that I have any problem with you killing him since he was going to hurt Felicity but only weeks previously you let the Dollmaker live even though he was holding Laurel- at one time the love of your life. You didn't seem to hesitate when it came to Felicity." Diggle turned to leave. Oliver knew he was right and that he cared about Felicity more than he even let on to himself. "I'll meet you two downstairs in fifteen Oliver."

"Dig?" Oliver said. Diggle turned back towards him. What he wanted to ask him was whether he thought Felicity really had feelings for him. He wanted to ask him whether he thought there could be something real between them. He almost wanted Diggle's permission to explore this further but instead all the came out was, "Make it thirty minutes. I'm not as mobile as I used to be."

When Oliver made it down the stairs, rather ungracefully on his crutches, he saw Diggle and Felicity standing in silence. Felicity looked to be intensively examining something on her tablet but Oliver wondered if they had either had a similar chat as he and Diggle had eaerlier, or whether they were out-rightly ignoring the elephant in the room altogether.

When they heard him bang down the last step, Felicity shot him a brief shy smile before gathering her things and following Dig to the car. When she heard Oliver struggling with his briefcase and trying to balance, she moved towards him and grabbed the case. "You only have to ask for help Oliver." As she was steadying him, their hands brushed together for a moment. Oliver thought he noticed a faint blush creep up Felicity's face.

Oliver shot her a warm smile. "Thank you. Would I be able to have a quiet word with you later when we get to the office? There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Sure. No problem." Felicity's mouth said 'no problem' but her brain was screaming. Why did Oliver want to speak to her privately? Had she overstepped the mark last night, spending the night snuggled into his side? She had woken first this morning but didn't bother to check the time or worry about getting up for work. She was enjoying the intimacy that she had lacked for so long. Her leg had become curled around his in her sleep and one arm lay across his abdomen. Oliver's two arms were still holding her tight into his bare chest and she suspected from his breathing that he was still sleeping. From the light coming through the curtains she knew it was time they should be getting up. She also knew that Oliver was always awake alot earlier than this. She would often see the time stamp on emails he would send her and they always started around 5am.

While Felicity continued to nuzzle into his side she felt him shift slightly in his sleep and realized that the slight change in position wound her leg further around his. Felicity knew that her leg was in a dangerous position as she could feel evidence of Oliver's morning arousal against her knee. She knew this was a perfectly normal occurrence for healthy men in the morning but she couldn't help the spark of excitement in sent straight through her. She knew she should move her leg but she figured what was the harm in enjoying the feel of his impressive manhood against her thigh.

Oliver woke moments later feeling refreshed. He didn't often sleep for more than a few hours in a row. He looked down at the beautiful blond curls spilled out over his chest. He couldn't see Felicity's face but after a few moments of admiring how her slender figure was warmly wrapped around him, he realised her leg was in a very dangerous position. 'Oh God,' Oliver thought. 'Relax and it'll go down before she wakes up.' The problem was the more he tried not to think about it, the more all he could image was Felicity in other circumstances on top of him, straddling him in the throes of passion. He tried not to think of her like that though all he could think about is he bets she isn't quiet in bed. Why did he just think that? Oh dear God he thinks maybe he was getting more aroused. He tried to shift his body slightly but this only brought her leg more in contact with him.

Oliver was staying as still as possible when he heard his sister's voice outside the door. Was she talking to… oh no Diggle? There was nothing like your sister's voice to dampen any further arousal and Oliver jumped up quickly, Felicity's body reacting quickly also. He sat for a few seconds trying to find his crutch and taking deep breaths, hoping that his loose sweat pants hid in remaining evidence of his arousal by the time he got to the door.

The morning in the office went painfully slowly and Felicity waited for a break in meetings to try to have that quiet chat with Oliver. It wasn't that she looked forward to it but she did want it over.

When Oliver was free he looked out to see Felicity walk towards his desk, the office door swinging closed behind her.

"Felicity I just wanted to…"

"Oliver I wanted…" They both started at once and then laughed, Felicity's eyes downcast now.

"Sorry. Felicity I wanted to apologise for last night," Oliver said rising from his desk.

Felicity looked confused. "Apologise? For what?"

"It wasn't appropriate for me to offer to stay with you. I'm glad we talked but I feel I shouldn't have… I mean it's not what friends and colleagues usually do." Oliver really wanted to say to her that he enjoyed the feeling of waking up next to her. He wanted to say that everything would be ok and that maybe they could explore if there was anything between them. But he couldn't. He was right when he said he couldn't be with someone he cared about. He loved spending time with Felicity and he was worried that if he didn't address it now, his feelings would grow even further. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't give Felicity what he thought she deserved. He could only give her an angry, broken man and she deserved better.

"I wanted you to stay. I…" Felicity was going to say she needed him but the look in his eyes told her that he needed to put that distance between them. She would love to have thought that this was because he didn't dare to feel something for her but anxiously she thought it was because he didn't feel something for her at all. Not in that way. "I understand."

There really wasn't any more to say. Both Oliver and Felicity were in a place right now where they couldn't see how good they could be for each other. So they would try to go back to the way things were- as friends and colleagues.

I have a plan where this will go and it won't drag out too long but where would you guys like it to go? Please let me know if the reviews.