A/N: Hi! I wanted to thank you guys for the support on this story, I've gotten great feedback lately (mostly) and know that hearing your comments and seeing your fav's and follow's means a lot to me :) I'm glad you're enjoying this story and going on this ride with me, even if sometimes I can't update as often as it'd be good.

Anyway, thank you so much again! And hope you enjoy the next chapter!

ALL FOR BELIEVING

I'm all for believing, if you can reveal, the true colours within,

Just believe. Just believe. Just believe.

Trust in me.

And just like that their new normal was gone.

It didn't break them apart. Felicity still showed up to work at the foundry the following Monday, having the weekend to sort her thoughts out; yet there was a palpable tension that couldn't be ignored.

He was there first, as usual, and was met with a quick look his way and a strained smile from her upon arrival. Then she'd settled to work as she usually did, though the comfortable almost silence they once shared while working –sometimes even filled with small talk about Thea or whatever team arrow was looking into– was replaced with furtive glances and pent up tension.

In many ways it resembled her first day in the foundry as part of the team, the one that had ended in their first fall-out; but the circumstances of their awkwardness now were quite different.

He had kissed her.

Well not exactly, they both had kissed each other. And as much as she wanted to rid it from her memory, the feel of him was engraved in her skin, her lips and thoughts. Being in the same room she could feel his burning stare in her, apologetic for crossing a line she obviously wasn't ready to cross, but passionate as well. It didn't take words exchanged for her to know he was thinking of their kiss as well; replaying, cherishing, longing for it again.

It had been a moment of weakness. If she was being honest with herself, the thought of kissing Oliver again, of being with him again had crossed her mind plenty of times over the last couple of months. Even through the battling emotions she had for him, that one prevailed: want, need.

Still she wasn't ready.

He wasn't the same. She wasn't either. But most of all, it wasn't as easy as it once had been. They weren't young and careless, she wasn't rebounding from heartbreak, and he wasn't just the guy from the bar that turned out to be kind of wonderful; at least before the rug was pulled from under her feet.

Looking at him from across the room Felicity asked herself for the hundredth time what was holding her back.

He was a different man, one she was just beginning to understand, peeling back the layers one by one. But she still remembered all too well the pain his truth had put her through. She'd been the other woman, the one that tore a relationship apart; and worst of all, she hadn't even known about it at the time.

His eyes rose and met hers, chest heaving from his heavy workout. For a moment she got lost in the deep blue, desire and need swirling in his eyes. Need for her, not just as they used to be, but better. Need for more than just her body; for her mind, her rambling and wandering thoughts, need for her laugh and her faith, softness and strength in the most perfect combination.

And right then and there she wanted it all; she wanted it all with him.

This time it took more than the key pad chirping for both of them to notice John entering the lair. It wasn't until he was standing right between them that Oliver's and Felicity's eyes focused on him.

She gave him a bright smile as usual, but her eyes screamed deer in the headlights. Still it was Oliver's eyes glued to her as she walked upstairs –with a feeble excuse of needing a coffee– that gave them away.

"Oh no, what have you done?"

Oliver turned to him snapping out of his Felicity-induced gaze and raised an apologetic eyebrow to his right hand man.

Then again, as always, life got in the way.

It started as a solid lead: a well known assassin for hire coming to Starling City, something both Diggle and Oliver knew was surely connected to the undertaking. After weeks of coming up empty handed, no traces of Walter or further proof from his mother, they were all relieved when he popped up in Felicity's radar.

But, as luck would have it, it didn't pan out as they hoped for. He wasn't gonna talk and Oliver didn't see any other way out that crossing him altogether. Felicity's frustration over him killing again wasn't lost to him, but it would have to do. How she still believed in him after being proved wrong time and again he didn't know.

With the assassin out of the equation all they knew was there was still a target. Neither could foresee how it would go down.

Oliver stared as his best friend; tears blurring his vision and a gun firmly held in his hands, aiming at his heart. Malcolm lay at his side, motionless and out-cold, breath barely leaving his lips.

"Let me help." Oliver's voice was stern. The scent of curare alone had him on alert, but having a gun pulled on him by one of his loved ones again felt even worse.

Tommy hesitated, eyes straying from the vigilante to his father's wound, holding the gun with shaky hands.

"Why should I trust you?" His voice laced with desperation.

Oliver took a deep breath, eyes closing for a moment, bracing for what had to be done. Then he turned off the voice modulator and let the hood fall back, revealing his true self to his best friend, dreading what was to come.

"Because you always have."

"Oliver."

He treaded into the lair with heavy steps not long afterwards, his head hanging down and she was there in a beat. He didn't go through the motions as usual –carefully putting away his quiver and bow, unzipping the jacket to step away from being the vigilante to simply being Oliver–. Instead he remained still at the bottom of the stairs, eyes meeting hers only when his name left her lips in a breathy whisper.

"I'm ok" he said without much conviction, knowing that upon his arrival at the lair after a mission she worried mostly about two things: his safety and the body count; in that order. She could easily read through his lie, words of comfort muttered only for her benefit. Still this time it was different. He didn't seem physically hurt.

God knows she had helped Diggle patch him up countless times by now, up to the point she could know on instinct where he was hurting as he walked through the door to meet them. Yet now it was his spirit that was broken.

Even through the weird phase they were in since that night at the club, she was still there every day, functioning with the team as best as she could without getting too close to him. That unspoken agreement flew through the window at the look in his eyes.

She knew all too well what it was. She'd heard it all go down through the comms, he could tell by the look in her face.

"I'm sorry, Oliver. I know that mustn't been easy for you."

He nodded, closing his eyes once again and doing his best to focus on her hand in his shoulder instead of on the disappointed look on his best friend's face.

"He asked why." He mumbled after a moment of silence, pain tainting his words.

"I know."

"I can't tell him, Felicity. If I do… he'll never see me the same way again."

She hesitated for a beat; she'd never seen him this scared. "I know this probably won't be very reassuring but he already does, see you differently."

Blue eyes opened and met hers, shy, burdened; unmasked as he was getting used to being with her now.

"I never meant for him to know, for them to know, my family. I… they want, they need me to be the Oliver I was before. This version of me they can't take, I don't want them to."

Her hand slid up to his face before she could stop herself, needing to comfort him, to make him see the light in the darkness that was clouding his mind then.

"Well I did, and I think I took it quite well."

A gentle smile tugged at his lips and she could feel how he relaxed at her touch.

"I didn't want you to see me as that guy from before. And not only for the hair cut." Their laughs a comfortable noise that cut through the gloomy ambience that had taken over the room until then.

"Besides that; I got to see the good in you. It didn't take long to realize it beat the bad, even after finding out your secret." She shot another encouraging smile his way, her hand finding its way to cup his face, fingers gently running over his stubble. He closed his eyes at the contact, leaning into her touch. It had been far too long since he'd felt comfort like this and she managed to give it to him when he needed it the most, without even having to ask for it.

"You just got to give him time, and be honest." It wasn't lost to him the emphasis she put on the last word. "You'll be surprised what the people you care about can handle."

"I am" his reply came when he finally opened his eyes, meeting hers again.

"I'm ready, Tommy. Let's go." Oliver let out as he came out of the bathroom, putting on his tie.

He crossed across his room heading for the door, patting his best friends back on the way. He had just adjusted his collar into place when he noticed Tommy still anchored in place, eyes downcast.

"What is it? Your father?"

"No" he let out in a soft voice. "Your phone rang when you were getting ready."

"Oh, was it my mum? She hates when I'm late. You told her we were on our way, right?"

"Oliver" Tommy's voice was serious, no trace of the wit he was known for. "Who's Felicity?"

Oh.

Only met with silence, Tommy raised his head to read the guilt on his face.

"You proposed."

"I know" he started, closing the door and walking back to him. "It's complicated."

"Yeah, you think so? You're fucking marrying Laurel, Oliver!"

"Until yesterday you weren't into that idea."

"I'm still not. You're walking into something you're clearly not ready for. And you know she is. That will tear us apart, after everything we've been through. But I thought you were at least going to try."

"I was. It's just…"

"Complicated." His voice softened seeing Oliver so distraught. Still he wasn't about to lose both his best friends for this. "What are you doing, man?" he asked sighing.

"I don't know." Oliver thought it over for a minute. Ever since that night he'd dived head first into his thing with Felicity. It had felt too right, natural to question it. And as much as he didn't have the best conscious ever, he knew that dwelling on it would only complicate things further. There was much he didn't know: what he would do, how he would get out of this mess with everything he wanted. Only one thing was clear.

"But for the first time, it feels right."

Felicity jumped from her seat at the sound of broken glass.

She was supposed to be alone. The foundry vacant of its usual sparring, Oliver and Dig out dealing with one crazy vengeful wannabe archer that Oliver knew about. She knew there was something else there, but hadn't gotten around to question him about it yet; the awkwardness of their current romantic situation keeping her in place. Her mind was reeling after the week they'd had, thus she found herself in the foundry on a Saturday morning coding; at least until she heard movement upstairs.

The club wasn't opening until the following weekend and there were no deliveries to be done that day that she knew of. So she climbed the stairs as stealthy as she could –seriously, she needed a lesson or two from Oliver on that subject, he was silent as a cat–, phone at hand, fingers ready to speed dial her favorite vigilante. They still when upon opening the door she spotted Tommy, leaning against the bar, gulping down a very expensive bottle of scotch; a clear bottle of vodka now smashed on the floor by his feet.

He spotted her when she was already by his side, still pondering whether to call Oliver anyway or not; deciding on the latter to spare him of the pain that scene would bring up.

"Haha, 'licity, isn't it? What am I saying, of course it is! You're everything Oliver ever thinks about anymore and then refuses to talk about." Tommy slurred, sounding quite more inebriated than she thought.

"Tommy" she offered, a helping hand outstretched as if silently asking for the bottle.

"What, you want a drink? I didn't peg you as the day drinker type, more of the straight and narrow like Oliver's been lately… well, was." He laughed off after a minute.

"You know, you better be careful with him, he's full of surprises." The humor drained from his face upon reading her face.

"You know." It wasn't a question; she didn't exactly have the best poker face but, most of all, now that he knew, he deserved to know everything.

To her surprise he just scoffed. "You know. Of course, his long lost love from a lifetime ago knows but he couldn't clue his best friend in. Why? Did he think I couldn't keep the secret? That I was too immature to do so?"

"Well, you're handling it very maturely" she quipped before she could stop herself. Still he didn't look insulted, simply taken aback, amused even. "I'm sorry."

She hesitated for a moment; she knew Oliver needed to deal with this himself, but giving in her two cents couldn't hurt, right?

"Look, I know I'm probably stepping way out of line, and you finding out is definitely a bigger deal than when I did. But he's not what you think he is, Tommy."

"A murderer?" His voice came dry, raising the bottle back to his lips.

She took a pause then, reading the anger and pain in his eyes.

"I get it, trust me I do. Not that long ago I feared the same thing. But he proved me wrong, that there's more to it. There's a story there, about him, what he went through to be who he is. And I may not know it yet, he's got it buried deep within him; all I know it's no good."

Silence took over them; she relaxed at seeing him lower the bottle, eyes now focused on her.

"He's a good man. He may not be the Oliver you thought he was; but believe me when I say it's worth sticking around and figuring him out. You will find more good that you even think."

She could tell he was lost in thought, mulling over her words. So she pressed a comforting hand in his shoulder and flashed him a warm smile, before walking away; hoping those words would bring forth his trust in Oliver, at least enough to let him in.

"And Tommy" she called out before the lair's door, making him meet her eyes again. "You and your opinion mean the world to him. Please don't tear him apart before hearing the whole story. I don't think he can take it."

And then she was gone. His eyes drifted in the distance, the emptiness of the club a stark contrast to the mess in his head.

And so he did, took a step forward, guards down this time.

Oliver met him halfway that night at the bar, a sincere apology leaving his lips at the hurt expression in Tommy's face. It took some time, and they'd certainly not be the same but the door was open and his message came across.

"Lying to the people that are closest to me is the hardest part." Oliver shared lowering his voice, terrified of losing his best friend.

Tommy took that in, swallowing his pride at seeing what Felicity had disclosed before: how much he cared, how scared he was, how broken he was beneath the surface. Where once he seemed to have it all together, with this new piece of information, he now saw the cracks, the pain. And to hell if he would be the one to deepen that pain.

He offered an outstretched hand, Oliver's eyes opened in both surprise and appreciation, taking his in a firm handshake that feelt much more like a hello than a goodbye.

A silent thank you passed through before Tommy's eyes averted to the side and, leaning in closer to his best friend, muttered in secrecy. "You better hold on to that one. If you mean it this time, don't let go."

Oliver's eyes followed his lead, falling on Felicity across the room, a timid smile now on her face.

"I don't plan to."

Thanks for reading!

I know this chapter was very Tommy-centric but I really wanted to write more about his discovery of Oliver's other identity, since it's a very important plot in the show and I would've liked to see it more developed, especially the whole Tommy coming to terms with it until he fully understand it. Ok and I may also miss Tommy a lot, and he's a joy to write too.

Also, there's a new element here of the flashback to before the island! I struggled a bit to find pre-island-Oliver's voice, but feel it's a good insight to the changes Felicity had in him, even before the island. So, I wanted to know if you'd be interested in olicity flashbacks from back then. I was thinking snipets of how they were, maybe?

Finally, here Felicity kinda makes up her mind. Now its up to see if she's gonna act on it…

Until next week! And, as always, encouragement or constructive criticism is greatly appreciated :)