Chapter 2: Dust

He snuck through the silent cottage ensuring that he didn't wake anyone as he crept to the neighboring cottage. He slipped on a pair of flip-flops and as quietly as he could he opened and closed the door in a swift movement. He then ran across the lawn, hoping over the short fence the divided the two yards. He grinned once again at the sight that bestowed him.

Felicity Smoak, a blonde (former brunette) stood leaning against her car in all her glory. Her hair was dragged back into a now slacked part frizzy part curled ponytail. Her glasses rest at the tip of her nose. Her makeup was mostly smudged and worn. The heavy bags that dragged down her face showed how truly tired she was. He watched as she sluggishly dragged herself around the back of the Mini Cooper (AN: thanks jimi18, Lazydreamer99 , Jean Deere!) she opened the double doors reached in the trunk to grab her suitcase and duffle bag.

This is when Oliver made his presence known. The blonde placed the bags on the ground to close the car's trunk. She turned with the intensions to retrieve her bags. She dropped her keys in shock. There a very shirtless Oliver with a piece of luggage in each hand.

"Jeez Oliver, you scared me, don't you know not to sneak up on people." She sighed leaning down to pick up her keys. "What are you even doing up? It's almost five AM. I mean, not that you can't be up this late, you aren't a child that needs to be told what to do. Or you could have just woken up. Wait did I wake you up? I could have sworn I put the low beams on as I pulled down the street-"

Oliver couldn't take it any longer. He let out a hearty chuckle. The computer geek's rambling is one of the things he missed the most about her. It was heartwarming to hear after a crappy year like this one turned out to be. Plus it was a sign that told him it truly summer.

He smirked at her leading the way to the cottages entrance. "I could be asking you the same."

She sighed following along behind him. "I don't blame you. I meant to stop at an inn at 11 but all the decent ones were filled, all that was left were the dingy ones that house 4 inch cockroaches and have questionable characters. After a while I gave up and just drove here."

Felicity turned the key. The locking mechanisms moved after months of being up touched. She pushed all her weight on the door hoping that for one year it wouldn't stiffen to the point that it could barely be opened. After one last big push it opened causing her to stumble in following the momentum.

The place was musty, dusty and in desperate need of cleaning. It was in her greater interest to clean the cabin spotless the moment she walked in. Now all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and wake up ten hours from now. The woman coughed trying to clear the dust that was trying to settle in her lungs.

"You can put the bags there, I think I'm just heading going to crawl into bed." She pushed herself away from the entrance. "Lock the door as you leave." She turned around on the first step. "One more thing, if you don't see movement to show I'm awake by noon tomorrow come and wake me up."

She didn't get far of course. Oliver held onto her wrist tugging her back to the entrance. "If the bedrooms are half as bad as this is then sleeping in it will make you sick, come on." He dragged her few the entrance grabbing the suitcase along the way. Having known her for most of his life he knew the duffle bag contained nothing but electronics and DVDs.

Felicity opened her mouth to argue but instant closed it and gave into his pull, she was much too tired to bother with arguing a losing battle. She allowed him to drag her back to the fence where they always he stepped over with ease. He turned to her shifting his hand around Felicity's to help her over the fence. He led the rest of the way to the house like that.

Oliver gestured for her to remain silent as they entered the residence he dragged her through the house to his room. "Stay here, I'm going to check which room has fresh blankets and sheets." He left the room after placing the suitcase on the floor. As quietly as he could he checked all the guest rooms, none of which were equipped with the necessary things to sleep there. He knew the balk of the extra linens and blankets were kept in a closet right next to the master bedroom. It was far too risky. Then he remembered that in each of the main bedrooms that were used by the Queens had extra bed sets in their closets.

He raced through the halls back to the place where he started. He gently and quietly pushed the door inward enough to sneak his body in. The sight that met him mean him smile. Felicity laid on his bed curled in a ball. Her hair was sprawled across the blankets. Her glasses were pushed to the tip of her nose on the verge of falling off. In this moment he had to stand back and appreciate the pure, unacknowledged beauty of the blonde. He could tell by the way she carried herself she wasn't told enough or even knew how truly remarkable she was. He had to sit back and watch for a moment before walking to her side.

He gently removed her glasses and placed them on the bedside table. Oliver then shuffled her around so he was able to slide her under the covers and place her in a more comfortable position. Once her needs were sought after and completed he debated with himself if he should crawl into bed with her or just crash on the couch. It wasn't odd for them. They had fallen asleep in his bed together so many times in the past years it wasn't odd or foreign to them. The only thing didn't from those times to this was the situation that led to this. The times previous were mostly due to late night movie marathons or pranking montages. Today was much different because of that he gave up his bed to her and flopped down on the couch the couch that sat opposite the TV.

The things I do for that girl…

Thea woke up at ten AM the next morning. She sluggishly pulled herself out of bed and to the shower. She was soon dressed and bored out of her mind. She had ventured to the kitchen to find a note saying her parents had gone out to pick up a few things. She then prepared herself a bowl of cereal, not knowing how to prepare much else.

She sighed; it was only her and Oliver. She was sure she could convince him to go swimming or maybe pull out the Jet Skis. She had decided. She half skipped half jugged to her older brother's room. She didn't bother with knocking and just shoved the door open. She wasn't expecting to see Felicity curled up in her brother's bed.

She couldn't say it was a bad sight; she was rather fond of their neighbor. Even though she was several years younger than the blonde, she always set aside time to spend with her. Having grown up with the woman she often found herself seeing her as an older sister. In many ways she admired the glasses wearing girl. Whenever she needed help with anything she knew she could count on Felicity. So what came next shouldn't have come as a surprise.

Thea ran as quickly as she could and jumped onto the bed. The motion sent Felicity straight up worried of what just happened. The brunette watched her search for what was wrong until her eyes landed on her. "Is that you Thea? You're turning into your brother the two of you shouldn't surprise unaware people. Can you pass me my glasses; I don't know where they are."

Thea giggled as she reached over her and handed her the glasses. By this point Oliver had made his way over to stand beside the bed. "So why are you in Oliver's room?" she croaked.

"It was too dirty over there so Oliver would let stay me there." She adjusted her glasses on her nose. "That came out wrong. My cottage is super dusty he was afraid I would get sick. Not that I would, I guess I could have stayed just one night there and have been fine but I was too tired to bother arguing, not that I couldn't, I did just drive-"

"Breathe Felicity." Oliver coaxed.

She took a deep breath hoping her face wasn't as red as it felt. "Ugh, it's going to be a long day."

AN: wow, the amount of feedback for the first chapter was amazing, I didn't think it's would do so well. One thing I must warn you is consistence with updates is known existent. If you don't see a post in a week without a good reason like I'm dead or morning the loss of fictional characters or I broke every bone in my hands of course. Either way I hope you enjoy! Thanx for all the reviews ;)