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Just so you don't worry: The next update might take a few days. Shocker, I know. Real life, always ruining all the fun. But I wanted to leave you at a good place, so… I hope you enjoy this chapter.

8. That 'man against nature'-thing

With the sunrise came the shock. As soon as the first glimpses of light cut through the trees, Oliver woke up. And that truly shocked him, because waking up meant that he had fallen asleep, when he should have stayed awake. Anger collected inside him. Anger at himself for being so stupid. Even though darkness meant safety, it didn't guarantee absolute absence of danger. He should have watched out.

The only thing that calmed him – apart from Felicity still asleep against his chest – was the fact that he had woken up with the first traces of light. Some old reflexes, or better yet, some automatisms he had inherited on Lian Yu were obviously still working.

Because with the sun always came danger.

And it seemed like today danger didn't let him wait for long: One minute after he had awoken, finished cursing himself for sleeping and feeling relief that nothing had happened, he heard the unmistakable rustling of leaves on the ground which indicated somebody nearing their position. He reached for the gun he had placed next to his right, lifted it and aimed to where he heard somebody coming toward them. No, he thought, it wasn't somebody; it was something. Those weren't human footsteps, he decided and was proven right in the next moment when a wolf appeared in his line of sight.

It was a huge animal. The grey fur was short, which made the muscles working underneath visible. Oliver knew a predator when he saw one. Danger was radiating from this animal, but the way it nearly casually walked toward him looked nearly elegant. Oliver tried to remember if wolves lived in packs. He didn't know, if there was a possibility that more of these beasts would show up, but he knew this: The lone wolf right there could stop its slow prancing at any moment and then he would jump toward them and attack in the next. The barrel of the gun was steadily aiming at the head of the animal, Oliver's eyes were fixed on his prey, his left hand was still placed onto Felicity's back. The wolf came closer and Oliver tried to decide how many more steps he could let it take. He didn't want to shoot the animal. A gunshot this early in the morning would draw attention. The sound would travel far and that brought the very real danger to give away their position. At the very least it would give the mercenaries a basic direction to ahead into. All of this be better to be avoided.

"What's up?" Felicity's voice was so quiet and heavy with sleep that Oliver nearly didn't understand her. "Your heart's beating really fast."

"Sssh," he answered, barely moving his lips, "don't move."

Felicity did as he told her, but he could feel her becoming more alert due to his words even as her body completely stilled. Oliver's lips tightened as his eyes were glued to the wolf. The grey animal stopped, his ears flattening to his head, which was a sign of aggression, Oliver thought. At least it seemed aggressive to him. Knowing that he couldn't push back the inevitable much longer, he tightened the grip on his gun, getting ready to kill that damn beast that stared at him with unyielding eyes – only to lose interest in the next moment. Oliver couldn't really believe it when the wolf turned around and trotted away as slowly as he had come.

Letting out a sign of relief, Oliver loosened his grip on Felicity. She sat up straight and looked at him. "A wolf," he answered her unspoken question. "He's gone now." He brought his hand to her cheek. After the way they had spent the previous night he didn't think twice about it. His time calculating every touch was up when it came to Felicity Smoak. "Are you alright?" She nodded, but before she could say anything, her stomach rumbled. She looked embarrassed, and Oliver couldn't help but smirk. "How about we treat ourselves to some breakfast waffles?"

"Oh, sounds like a treat!" She gifted him with one of her wonderful smiles and then moved away from him. Oliver got off the floor as well and he stretched. His body ached, his back would hurt all day, but the current pins and needles were the worst. Spending the night sitting up with a tree as a backrest wasn't the most comfortable sleeping arrangement and a sure way to get your legs to fall asleep. He was still trying to shake blood into various limbs as Felicity opened the pack of waffles. She held one out to him and then took a huge bite of her own. She closed her eyes as she chewed, making it seem like it was the best thing she had ever eaten. "I love waffles for breakfast," she gushed. "My grandma used to make the best ones." She chewed enthusiastically, added a "so good," and then she looked at Oliver. "You want a second one?"

He hadn't even started on his first. But there only were eight waffles in that pack, it was better to rationalize. "No, thanks."

"I think you should eat a second one," she objected. She didn't sound as relaxed anymore, a certain edge had entered her voice. "You can't run on fumes." She gestured to him. "All those muscles need something to burn."

"We need to economize. This is our back-up food."

She looked at him for a moment, before she just stuffed the remaining waffles back into the backpack forcefully. "Being on this fucking island fucking sucks fucking ass!" That was such an unexpected wording coming from Felicity that it stunned Oliver into staring at her. "Now I know what people mean when they say that the economy is going down the drain. A place where waffles need to be economized just stinks! What was the name of that other island? Purgatory? Well, then this is hell!" That on the other hand sounded very much like Felicity Smoak. She shot around to face him, "Should we get going? South it is, right?"

"Felicity," his voice was soft. "I'm sorry. You can have a second waffle, if you want one."

"NO!"

She was angry, annoyed, aggravated. This was Felicity in her unhappy mode. Normally, something he had done was the reason for her acting like that, something like making her his executive assistant or failing to notice he was being a bad friend. Normally, that ended with her stomping away from him. But she was still rooted to the spot, talking harshly, "I can't, because you're right. You're the survival expert, you're good at surviving, I am not. I mean, I did manage not to die yet, but... You know what I mean! You got this whole 'man against nature'-thing figured out. I don't. And you're right when you say that we shouldn't waste our back-up food just because I have the munchies. And now we're going south! Toward the waterfall, right?"

Now she was stomping away from him.

Oliver stared behind her and felt like he had to at least give her that: She was heading south.

Reaching for the backpack and the blanket, he followed her and caught up with her quickly. They continued walking in silence, as Oliver finally ate his waffle. He busied himself chewing, because he knew that if he now told her that they might be heading south but not exactly toward the waterfall, because that lay further south east than he had decided was smart to go, she would start yelling again – and that might give away their position.

Deciding that it was better to give her a moment to cool off, he reached for the map. He continued walking, switching his attention between his surroundings and the paper in his hands. He really couldn't say where they were exactly. Yesterday they had pretty randomly fled back to the west and then turned south. They were somewhere with trees, but that pretty much described the whole damn island.

"We need a landmark to know where we are. Like a mountain. There has to be one of those, after all we jumped down a cliff that was at least fifty meters high."

Oliver took his eyes off the map and placed them on Felicity. Her statement was a peace offering, he knew. And he knew how to accept it. "It was thirty meters, tops."

Felicity pursed her lips. It was a playful gesture that accentuated her teasing. "Felt like one hundred to me." She sighed. "We're not going to the waterfall, are we?" Seeing the look on his face, she shrugged. "I'm not a survival expert like you, but I'm not completely stupid, I can read a map and I know going to the waterfall might get us caught."

"We'll find someplace else for us to get rid of the worst dirt," he assured her.

"Seriously, we smell so bad. No wonder the wolf didn't want to get close to us." She hesitated. "Keeping wild animals away... That's an upside, I guess. On the other hand, if the wind comes from the wrong side, those other guys might find us by following the stink."

Oliver just looked at her as they walked up a steadily rising slope side by side. She was in a talkative mood. That had been lacking in the last days. Maybe the full night of sleep had woken up some of her spirit that had been dulled before. He decided that he would use that to his advantage. After all, he had promised himself something last night. There would never be a perfect time to do it, so he might as well just go for it now. "You dreamt of Slade last night."

She stopped walking instantly. Oliver took two more steps, before he turned around to look at her. She was standing a little lower than him, her posture stiff. Finally, she cleared her throat. "Yes," she admitted. "I did." She took a step toward him, "It was nothing."

"Oh, it was something!" Oliver stopped right there. That sounded wrong, like an accusation, which it wasn't. He had to say it differently. He steeled himself by taking a deep breath. "We never talked about what happened that night..." He fixed her with his gaze. "But we should have talked about it. He held a blade to your neck..." As soon as that left his lips, he realized how stupid it was to mention it, to remind her of it. He wasn't good at stuff like this, heart-to-hearts weren't his strong suit, they never had been.

"Oliver," Felicity's hand flew to his arm, just like it had that night in the mansion. This gesture had the same effect it had had back then; it calmed him. Her eyes drilled into his, "I didn't dream about Slade hurting me last night."

"You didn..." He didn't get to finish that question as its answer hit him: She had dreamt of Slade hurting him. With that realization came too many feelings for him to make sense of. He opened his mouth, but closed it again, because he just didn't know what to say.

A small, understanding smile showed on Felicity's face and she squeezed his arm in silent support. "I was scared when Slade had that blade against my skin, I mean who wouldn't be?! But you were there. That made it easier. When I saw you there, I knew that I could do it, inject Slade. You calmed me, and I trusted you like you trusted me to do it."

His voice was heavy with emotion. "It was wrong to ask you to do it."

"No, it was right. Because it worked. I'm proud that you believed in me like that." He let out a sound that was a mixture of a laugh and a sob. He hated himself so much right now. He shook his head in aggravation, thinking of something to say. Her grip on his arm tightened even more, "it's okay."

He placed his eyes back on hers, a little calmer. He understood what she was saying – but he also understood what she wasn't saying. "Tell me what happened when I wasn't there." She had said when he had been there, it had been easier, but he hadn't been there the whole time. He saw her swallow heavily and added, his voice barely above a whisper, "Did he touch you?"

The question seemed to surprise her. "What? No! He played some mind games, which... Okay, they were pretty effective. He was a psycho who knew how to get into other people's heads." She saw the look in his eyes and knew that he wanted to hear it, needed to know what Slade had said. "It was the obvious, really. He told me how he'd kill me, how he'd kill you. Talking about taking an eye for an eye – quite literally. How I was a step back from what you had before. How I didn't compare to Shado. Stuff like that."

"I'm sorry," his voice was too weak for his own liking.

Felicity looked at him, calculatingly, her grip on his arm never loosening. It steadied him, reassured him while she continued telling him the truth he had demanded to hear. "The bad thing about it was that it worked. When Sara got Laurel and me away from there, all I could think of was how he told me that you didn't stand a chance, because he taught you how to fight. I didn't know how the fight was going and I was afraid I'd never see you again to tell you that I wasn't mad at you."

"Why not? You should be mad at me."

"Why? Because you were brave enough to do what was necessary? You and John risk everything every time you go out. I can do that too, you know."

"But you shouldn't have to."

"But I want to."

"I know there's something you're not telling me." His eyes were drilling into her. "Tell me. I need to know everything."

She hesitated, but then she did. "The worst was waiting in the mansion, waiting for these guys to come and get me while I was trying to come to terms with what had just happened, what you had said. I was so confused. I was alone and I was afraid." She sounded somehow annoyed, when she added, "there I said it. Since then I'm afraid of being alone in the dark."

Her confession hit him like a bucket of ice water, because it added another dimension to how she had acted yesterday. "And I left you alone in the cave... That won't happen again," he promised.

She smiled slightly. "That's good."

He brought his right hand up to her face, his fingers resting on her neck, his thumb slightly brushing her cheek. "I did everything wrong that night." He sensed that she would object again and, for once, didn't let her, "The fact that it worked doesn't make it right, Felicity. I shouldn't have said what I said." He saw her face fall and a soft smile showed on his own emotion ridden face, "I shouldn't have said it that night, not like that. I should have done it right, in a way that wouldn't have left you wondering. Because, Felicity, I do love you." A sparkle appeared in her eyes that made his heart jump and him continue; he couldn't leave it at that, because he had to tell her everything. Right now with death possibly behind the next tree was the perfect time to get it out. "You are everything I want. You make my days brighter and you make me better. I want to be better for you. And I will try every day, if you let me."

She smiled in a way she never had before. It was like a sunrise right in the middle of the damn forest. Seeing her happiness so clearly made him smile, too. They looked at each other for quite a few heartbeats until Felicity ended the silence. "Who would have thought that a day starting with a temper tantrum over the rationing of waffles would continue like this. If I had known that me needing to buy a night-light would-"

He stopped her right there in the best way he could think of. His left hand flew to her other cheek, and both his hands cupped her face gently and pulled her lips to his, while he closed the small gap that had remained between them. Her lips felt like home, soft and warm and so inviting. She melted into his touch and returned the kiss with a passion that excited him and caused him to deepen the kiss. Slowly, they broke apart again. He rested his forehead against hers and looked at her. Again, he was greeted with a smile that he would never get tired of seeing. Her voice was soft and coated with emotion when she said, "I love you too, Oliver."

His heart was doing an unexpected jerk in his chest. He couldn't remember ever hearing anything so wonderful. His emotions were dancing through him and there was only one way to deal with that: He kissed her again with all the happiness, relief and love he was feeling right then. When he broke the kiss he hugged her to him.

He heard her mumble against this chest. "Now we really have to get off this island. I don't see much of a future for a relationship here on Hell."

He nodded agreement. "Don't worry. I have that 'man against nature'-thing down, remember?"

Her soft laughter was all he needed to get through a day that had started with him staring down the barrel of a gun ready to kill the biggest wolf he had ever seen.