A/N Sorry it took me so incredibly long, I've been so busy. Thank you to all my readers and followers and fans, its been a blast, but alas, the story must come to an end. I suck at endings so you're gonna have to let me know what you think, but this is the final chapter. If you're a fan of my writing or maybe just Olicity I do have some other stories that I'm working on so you can check those out! Hope you liked it!
6 Months later
Felicity was getting ready to meet Oliver for their 6 month anniversary date. She was happily singing along to Guns N Roses, which was playing from her computer. She knew exactly what she wanted to wear. The dress she wore that first day they met. It wasn't super fancy or anything, just a flirty pink dress, but it was meaningful to her, even if he didn't remember to her, even if he didn't remember.
She did her best to class it up, pairing it with a silver shawl and black shoes and accessories. She didn't want to look like she was trying too hard, but they were going to the fanciest restaurant in town, she didn't want to look out of place.
Oliver promised he would be back to pick her up at 7:30. She didn't know where he had gone, but she didn't have time to worry about it. She was too worried about looking nice. She knew Oliver would say she looked beautiful, because he always did, but this was different. This was an important date. Not just pizza and a movie in her living room.
Oliver should be back any minute. Felicity was trying her best not to count the seconds on the clock, but she was excited, and it calmed her down to have something to dostract her like that.
After she had finally given up on predicting when he'd be back, there was a knock on the door. She straightened her dress with her hands, hoping her hair still looked as good as it did when she first did itas good as it did a minute ago, and opened the door.
Oliver was jaw-dropping handsome in his dark gray suit. Felicity almost didn't know what to say. And that was something that happened was something that happened very rarely . Oliver seemed to be just as speechless as her, looking at her with a huge smile on his face. He didn't look as nervous as her, though he seldom did. He was holding a bouquet of white and pink roses, her favorite.
"You look stunning." He said, pulling her in for a quick kiss before handing her the roses to put pin a vas before they left.e before they left.
"Thank you." She smiled. "You look very nice in your suit. And these roses are gorgeous."
He closed the door behind himself, waiting for her to be ready to go. There was still music playing from her bedroom. She had forgotten about it, though she did remember singing along. She had forgotten about it.
"Do I hear AC/DC?" He asked with a smile growing slowly across his face.
"Guilty pleasure." She shrugged, not bothering to defend herself. Gina had made the playlist for her, and it was the only thing she had listened to all week. "You should go turn it off before I forget again."
Things with Oliver had been steady for months now. They hadn't had another big fight since the one, only arguing about which movie to watch, and who should get to drive. Felicity had also also been more open with Oliver, telling him whatever he wanted to know, though never bringing it up herself. She still couldn't do it. If he wanted to know she had no problem telling him, it was just the the starting the conversation part that she was afraid of. She had never been one to share more than was necessary, and this wasn't going to be going to be an exception.
When they got seated at the restaurant Oliver promptly ordered what was probably one of the most expensive wines they had.
"Oliver you didn't have to do that. It's our 6 month anniversary, not 10 years." She said, trying to be mad at him.
"And I'll get it then too. It's your favorite, how could I not?"
It was her favorite. She didn't know when she had tried something so pricey, but ever since she's preferred it over any other wine. She was surprised Oliver even remembered she had said so.
"How did you know?" She asked. "I mean how did you remember? I said that months ago."
"I remember everything you say. And I did notice that you're wearing the same dress you did when we first met." He said with a smile. "You should be proud of me."
She smiled back at him, her eyes glancing around the room. It was a nice place. Everyone seated were couples, ranging from her age, to older than her parents. Everyone looked as as happy as she was. She supposed you can't go wrong with expensive food. But there was the one guy in the corner...
Felicity gasped when she realized who it was. "What's wrong?" Oliver asked immediately. "Felicity!"
"It's Kyle." She said slowly looking at him, fear in her eyes looking back at him, fear in her eyes. "He's here." Her stomach dropped. It was definitely him. His hair was darker, and shorter, but his eyes were the same. They stared at her with an intensity that would forever go unmatched.
"What?" Oliver was frantically looking around trying to find him. He had never seen him before, so he wouldn't be able to recognize him, but there was only one person in the room that was staring at them like that. "Him?"
Felicity nodded. "He sees us. Oh God, I'm going to puke."
"Hey, Felicity, look at me." He took her hand but she barely felt it. "We can handle this. You can handle this. Felicity... Maybe he won't even come over here."
"It doesn't matter though!" Felicity exclaimed, barely able to stay in her seat. Kyle hadn't moved yet, but his stare had grown colder once Oliver started to comfort her. "He knows where I am now! I tried so hard to run away... Oh, he's coming over here! Oliver, no, what are you- Oliver!"
Oliver looked like he was ready to pounce. Felicity just wanted to run. It wasn't really an option, but she didn't want to fight. Not here. Not tonight. When Kyle got closer Oliver stood up, blocking her view. The last thing she wanted to do was see Kyle, but she was worried about what Oliver would do. He was angry, angrier than she had ever seen him. He was unpredictable like that when he was like that. So was Kyle. It was a really really bad combination.
"Oliver, sit down." She begged, not even sounding like herself. Oliver didn't appear to be listening at all, focused only on the man in front of him. Oliver didn't appear to be listening at all, focused only on the man in front of him.
She shifted in her seat so she could see them better. Up close, Kyle looked different than she remembered him. Harder, colder. He looked permanently angry. It wasn't a good look for him, though she wasn't sure there was one.
Face to face she could see that Kyle was taller, but Oliver was more muscular. She could tell that Kyle was intimidated, but his cocky nature wouldn't let him back down. It never had. It was one of the things she liked about him before she realized he was also a crazy bastard. But Oliver wouldn't back down either. It should have made her feel better knowing that. But it didn't.
"Who are you?" Kyle asked through gritted teeth, his voice cold as ice. Or maybe colder. "And why are you with my girl?"
"She's not your girl anymore Kyle." Oliver said, his voice unlike the gentle one she was used to. She knew it wasn't the real Oliver, but she didn't like it. She didn't like that he could be so much like Kyle if he wanted to.
"She always has been, and she always will be." Kyle said, Oliver's words going straight through him, like he hadn't even heard them at all. He looked down at her, still frozen in her chair. He smiled at her, but it wasn't the smile she was used to with Oliver. It wasn't full of happiness. It almost looked... Hungry. Possessive. She didn't want to be anyone's possession, and certainly not Kyle's. "Right Felicity?" A shiver went down her spine as he spoke to her.
"You're a crazy son of a bitch, you know that?" She said, unsure where the boost of confidence had come from, but she was sure it wouldnt last.
He grabbed her by the chin, eliciting what sounded very similar to a growl from Oliver. She squirmed under his touch, trying to break free. "Don't talk to me like that." He sneered.
"Get your hands off of her!" Oliver shouted. That had officially grabbed the attention of every person in the restaurant, who wasn't already watching. They were quiet, waiting to see if it got bad enough that they should do something. Felicity wished they would. Things would only get worse.
Kyle smiled, that awful, evil grin of his, turning around slowly to face Oliver. He looked at him closely, staring him down as if he was trying to decide what to do. The room stood still. He was going to punch him. Felicity knew it. She knew that look. He had done it to her. But she was once again frozen in her seat, unable to get a word out.
When he finally did it the whole restaurant shouted. Oliver retaliated quickly, knocking Kyle into the table. A glass of wine fell over, splattering onto Felicity's legs, the glass shattering by her feet. The neat freak in her should have been worried, but she only cared about Oliver. When she looked back at the fight, he was bleeding in multiple places. But thankfully Kyle was in worse shape. The problem was, it wasn't going to stop him. He would fight until somebody was unconscious. Whether it was him or Oliver.
"Guys stop!" She pleaded. She never wanted them to fight over her, and it was getting bad. She just wanted Kyle to leave her, and Oliver, alone.
"Oliver!" She stood up, barely missing the fist that was aimed for Oliver's head. "Stop it!" She said, using what her sister always called her 'teacher voice'. They both stopped, though not immediately, and looked at her. "No more." Felicity was out of breath just from yelling. "Oliver, let's just go home."
"Just like that, you're going to let him ruin our date? You just want to walk away?" He asked.
"Its already ruined Oliver! Look at you! And yeah, I'm just going to walk away! It's what I do. You should know that about me by now. So are you coming or what?"
He looked at her, really looked at her. It was hard. His eye was starting to swell up, and all he could think about was how much everything hurt, but seeing Felicity look so hurt, so vulnerable, he knew he didn't have a choice but to go with her. He risked losing her forever if his ego couldn't just let this go. If she was okay with it, then he had to be too.
"Okay." He said. "Let's go home." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, mostly for support, but also for comfort.
"Wait a second!" Kyle shouted, causing everybody to turn back around. "This isn't over until I say it is."
"No Kyle." Felicity said. "It was over when I said it was. I don't know when you're going to wrap your head around this idea, but I'm not yours. Never again. Leave me alone." Oliver wasn't sure where her boost of confidence came from, but he liked it. She needed to stand up for herself. Especially now that he was exhausted.
Kyle was less than happy about her newfound guts. In fact, he was so mad, Oliver could have sworn there was actual smoke coming out of his ears.
Everything happened so fast, it seemed like slow motion. Even if he had expected it, there was nothing Oliver could have done to stop it.
He heard the smack of Kyle's hand hit Felicity's cheek harder than he imagined Kyle was capable of, especially after taking a beating like he just had.
Felicity was shocked. Her hand flying up to touch her already reddening face. There was a clear mark where his hand had hit. It triggered something in Oliver's head. He wanted to murder the guy for hurting his Felicity. But before he got the chance to do anything there were cops coming out of nowhere, arresting Kyle, and then there was somebody was pulling Oliver away.
He struggled, trying to get in at least another shot. "Oliver!" Felicity exclaimed, her voice broken up by tears. "Just stop. Please."
He had no choice. He couldn't say no to her. They both followed the policeman outside where they each told him what had happened.
Somebody brought them both ice packs for their face and told them to sit while they went back in to check in with other witnesses.
Oliver took Felicity's hand, though it was hard to bend his fingers, since he had hit Kyle until his knuckles started to bleed. "I'm sorry." He said. "I shouldn't have let him get to me like that. You probably never would have gotten hurt if I had handled it better."
Felicity put her head on his shoulder. "I hate that you fought him. Seriously, promise me you'll never do it again. But... I'm also glad you did it. Kyle would have pushed you into it no matter what you did, and... He would have still hit me. No matter what, he always finds a way. And I'm sorry you got hurt. I know you beat the crap out of him, but it wasn't an easy fight. Really, I guess I'm just glad you were there for me."
"Always."
After they were told to go home, Felicity insisted on driving. He told her he was fine, and that he could do it, and to prove her point she hit his shoulder and he instinctively winced. It really hurt. More than he thought it would. "Fine." He handed her the keys.
They were both silent the whole way home. It seemed like Felicity couldn't decide how to feel. He wanted her to be happy that she was free, and that Kyle was going to jail but at the same time he understood if she was upset. This was supposed to be a big night for them, and all of a sudden it's completely ruined by someone she never wanted to see again. That's a lot to process in one night.
When they returned home Felicity gave him no option but to sit down in the bathroom while she cleaned him up.
"Take your shirt off." She said.
"Felicity-"
"Relax." She said. "I just want to see how bad you're hurt."
"I'm fine."
"Off." He groaned. No way was he going to be able to handle having her hands on him, bruised or not.
But he did as she asked, dropping his jacket, shirt, and tie into a nice pile on the floor. "You know I pictured a lot of different ways this night could go, and having you ask me to take my clothes off was one of them, but it wasn't like this."
She gave him a small smile, the outline of Kyle's hand still visible on her cheek. "I know." She said softly looking him over. "It's not exactly what I had in mind either. This is my life though." She looked him in the eyes. "This is what you signed up for."
"Don't say that like you expect me to change my mind." He said, his breath catching as she pressed a cold towel against his stomach. "Felicity you know how I feel about you. All this, it's nothing. I'd do it all over again if I had to."
"But you don't."
"Yes I do. That's what love is Felicity. Carrying someone else's weight. Not because you have to, but because you want to."
She stared at him, like she was angry. "But love isn't supposed to be one sided Oliver. You're not supposed to help me with all my crap, on top of your own. You had a life before me Oliver-"
"Yeah I did, and you know what? It was shit. Everything was shit until I met you. Felicity, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I don't know what else I have to do to convince you. I have things in my past, just like you, that I'm not proud of. Sure, maybe I don't have a psycho ex-girlfriend, but Laurel's debatable... The truth is Felicity, I don't struggle anymore. And you know why? You. Any problems I ever had, you fixed them, just by being here. I just want that to be enough for you. I want to be enough for you."
"Oliver you are. You are enough. But you see now why I'm so scared. Watching you and Kyle go at it was... Scary. If you can do that to him then-"
"Felicity I would never hurt you." He said softly, forcing her down onto his lap, pushing the hair away from her face so he could see her better. "Never." His fingers delicately touched her cheek, where Kyle had. She stiffened. He laid his hand over the mark, softly caressing it with his thumb. She grabbed his wrist, like to pull his hand away. Except she didn't.
Her eyes closed as she loosened up. When she opened her eyes again her expression had changed. She put her hands on his shoulders, softly tracing the bruises with her fingertips. It was torture.
Then she kissed him, carefully as if she either didn't want to hurt him, or if she was unsure what she was doing. He hoped it wasn't the latter, but either way she was pushing his buttons, and the sensible side of him had no control over what would happen if she kept going.
"I trust you." She said slowly, tracing circles on his collarbone. She had all the power here, and she knew it. "Now let's get you all cleaned up."
"Felicity-"
"Don't 'Felicity' me Oliver. I know what I'm doing."
"You're such a tease."
She smiled. "You like it though."
"Of course I do. I like everything about you."
She smiled. "I know." She was quiet as she bandaged him up. She was a good nurse, though he knew if he told her that she would stop.
While she cleaned herself up he poured 2 glasses of wine and set them outside on the balcony. He had bought her a gift, which he set out there as well, waiting.
"What's all this?" She asked. She was still gorgeous, even in her silk robe, her hair wet and tied up on top of her head, her makeup washed away, her contacts replaced with black rimmed glasses.
"Well I didn't think the night should be over quite yet." He smiled. "Come here, I've got something for you."
"Oliver you don't have to-"
"Come on. Open it."
She hesitantly took the little box from his hand. He didn't know what she was scared of. It was a gift. He wanted her to have it.
She unwrapped it carefully, pulling the metallic silver paper off and setting it on the balcony railing.
It was a little white box, inside of it a necklace with a long silver chain, on the end of it a small diamond rose.
"Oliver-"
He turned her around, fastening it around her neck. "It was my mother's." He said. "My father gave it to her for their 10 year anniversary."
"I couldn't-"
"Shh." He said "It's yours Felicity."
She wrapped her arms around his neck, "I love you."
He grinned. "I love you too."