The Shopping Experience

Taking a deep breath for what felt like the hundredth time in the last three hours, Oliver lifts his head from his hands.

"So that's it? After 3 hours of sitting in this confined room, we still don't have a solution for funding in the public schools, that's just great."

"Well Mr. Mayor if you have an idea, we're all ears."

"You see, I do have an idea, but none of you will even consider it because that would mean taking money out of the government and putting it towards good in the community."

"If you think for one second that I am going to let you take money out of my salary for a bunch of kids you have absolutely lost your mind" one of the senators said bitterly.

Shaking his head and clenching his jaw in absolute disbelief and utter disgust, he finally makes the decision to leave. With both hands grounded on the table, he abruptly stands and looks at all 10 men around the table.

"What do you think you're doing?" that same senator asks.

"I am leaving Senator Banks, because clearly this issue is not going to be solved today. So, in the meantime, I will be thinking of ways to make the best decision possible, for both the children and the people's sake."

And with that, he holds his head high and exits the conference room. When he pushes the door open and walks into the halls of City Hall, he finally takes a deep breath and breaths out a frustrated sigh.

It had been a long day of pointless meetings that discussed issues that were nowhere near getting solved because of stubborn government officials that only cared about themselves instead of the people.

Making his way to his office, he gladly welcomes the big space of seclusion. Taking a seat at his desk, he lets his head rest against the back of the chair and he closes his eyes, trying to get his mind under control and not thinking about the last three hours that he will never be able to get back.

Opening his eyes, the first thing they make contact with, is a picture of Felicity with her long hair fanning across her shoulders as she looks up shyly, above her coffee cup that she was drinking from. It was a picture he had taken of her, a couple weeks after they had gotten back from the future. It was the morning after they had finally figured everything out and come to the conclusion that there was nothing that was going to stop them from being together.

Reminiscing about that moment in time, his lips curve into a grin, the secret grin that only appeared when he was thinking about Felicity.

His eyes soon drift down to the lower left corner of the frame, where a sonogram photo of his son is laying against the frame perfectly. Gazing at the sight makes his grin turn into a full-on smile that reaches his eyes. Just the thought that in 5 short months, he was going to be a father to a perfect little boy and he couldn't possibly wait until the moment he was finally reunited with the little boy, to hold him in his arms, to…

Before he can finish his last thought, a knock at the door interrupts his happiness.

"Come in" he said looking at the door.

"I'm sorry to bother you sir" his secretary said walking in timidly.

"No, it's fine. What can I do for you?"

"Well there seems to be a problem" she says nervously.

"What is it?"

"It seems that your proposal for the housing plan in the Glades was denied."

"Denied? What do you mean denied, I worked very hard on that proposal" he said as his anger started to grow deep within him.

"I know you did sir, but it seems that since there isn't enough money flowing through that area, the board sees it as a wasted project."

Breathing deeply, trying to get ahold of his rising anger, he finally makes eye contact with his secretary.

"Thank you, that will be all", he said clenching his jaw and without another word, she nods her head and leaves silently.

When the door clicks, indicating it's closed he finally lets his anger take a hold of him. Standing up he lets his arms fly across the desk, causing all of the contents to fly off carelessly and landing near his fire place.

Breathing deeply, he finally decides to call it a day and he grabs his suit jacket and marches his way to the door and leaves without so much as a glance back at the mess littering his office.

When he makes it down to the lobby, he tunes everyone out and focuses his attention on the doors ahead of him and he doesn't look back.

Pushing the doors with full force, he bursts into the bright sun of the day and let's his anger take him to no destination in particular, he just starts walking.

After walking for a good 15 minutes, he eventually feels his anger start to weaken, and he starts to slow down, until he comes to a complete stop. Taking deep and even breaths, he finally looks up and observes his surroundings. When he really takes in the buildings beside him, he sees what he stopped right in front of, a baby boutique.

Looking through the design window, he sees a mock nursery, and he just observes it for a moment, and then comes to conclusion that he needed to go in.

Walking through the doors, he is welcomed to a cute boutique that had everything a baby would need.

Continuing to examine the small boutique, he doesn't hear a woman come up to him.

"Can I help you?" she asks.

"Oh, no I'm just… looking" He stuttered trying to find the right words.

"Bad day?" the sales woman asks catching onto his hesitance.

Looking at the small, older woman before him he instantly calmed down and felt at peace. She gave off a motherly vibe that made him smile for the first time in the last hours.

"You can say that" he sighed.

"Well clearly you were meant to be here or else you wouldn't have come in."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Are you expecting a baby?" she asked with a warm smile.

"Yes, me and my wife are expecting a baby boy this November" he said happily.

"Well congratulations" she said excitedly.

"Thank you, yeah we are over the moon."

"Well, have you bought anything for your newest addition?"

"Um no actually, I really haven't thought about it."

"Well there is no better day than today to start, right?"

"I guess your right" he said nodding while holding a grin on his face.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, you can call me Sandy."

"Well Sandy, it's nice to meet you, I'm Oliver" he said shaking her hand.

After the pleasantries, Sandy points the different areas of the store out.

"If there is anything I can help you with, just let me know."

"I will, thank you, Sandy" he says giving the woman a gracious smile. And with that she ventures back to the cashier desk.

Being the only one in the store, Oliver decides that he's not going to hold back.

He first makes his way to the car seats and strollers.

When he sees the strollers, one in particular stands out to him, a jogging stroller. As he admires it and pushes it back and forth, he imagines the days, he'll wake up early and take Tommy on morning runs with him, or taking him to the park or evening walks.

As he continues to look around the store, he walks over to the clothing and finds several outfits that he knew Felicity would love.

After about 45 minutes of scouring the cute boutique, he finally makes his way to the cash register.

"Did you find everything you were looking for?"

"I think I did, in fact I was hoping I could have a couple things sent to my home."

"Absolutely, what would you like?"

As he was telling her the items he wanted to order, his eyes strayed away for a second and an object under the sun catches his attention. Narrowing his eyes towards the window, he sees the item that captured his gaze. His voice fades and his legs obliviously walk towards the front of the store.

When he gets there, he stops right in front of it… a teddy bear. It is similar to the one he had given Tommy before they had taken him back to the future, and it was the last thing they had given him as a gift, so that he would never forget them.

Picking up the soft bear, his eyes never leave the small face and for the first time in his long crappy day, his heart finally feels free and happy thinking about his little boy.

Taking one last breath, he slowly turns back around and walks back to the woman who is watching him with a compassionate smile.

"I'll take this as well."

"He's going to love it" she says while delicately taking the bear in her hands.

"I hope so" he says giving her a shy smile.

After everything is bagged up, she hands him the multiple bags and her last comment before he leaves is "Have a wonderful day, Oliver."

Turning to the kind woman, he gives her a thankful smile, "you too".

After a long, intense workout in the lair, he walks through the front doors and into a dark home. From the lack of sound, he immediately comes to the conclusion that Felicity must be asleep.

Softly walking up the steps, he makes his way to the master bedroom. Slowly opening the door, he sees a silhouette in the bed from the soft glow of the moon, framing her face.

Laying the bags down as quietly as possible, he silently moves over to his side of the bed, and calmly takes off his shoes and changes into nothing but sweats. Once he settled, he finally lays back into the comfy bed and the many pillows.

When he closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath, he immediately feels a gaze on him. Opening his eyes, he is instantly welcomed to a pair of beautiful blue eyes.

"Hi" she whispers.

"Hi" he says turning towards her. "Are you tired?"

"Yeah, I have been exhausted all day and I finally gave in and came home, and I guess I passed out."

"Well that explains a lot, considering the fact that it is only 8 PM."
"Really?"

"Really" he says nodding with a grin.

"Oh" she says turning to turn on the light.

With the soft glow illuminating the room, he finally sees her beautiful face.

"You ok?" she asks bringing her hand to his face and responds by closing his eyes and embracing her touch.

"Yeah, I just had a bad day."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's ok, I just had a lot of people not on my side today."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well I'm on your side."

"I know, it's amazing."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah" he says smiling and then kissing her.

Breaking the kiss and about to go in for another one, she sees the bags in the corner of her eye. Pulling back, she looks towards the door.

"What's all that?"

"Oh, just some things I bought for Tommy."

"You went shopping? When?"

"Well remember when I said that people weren't on my side today?"

As she nods, he gets up and grabs the bags on the ground and walks back over to the bed.

"Well, I may have stormed out and come across this boutique in the midst of my anger" he said timidly.

"Wait you stormed out?" she asked sitting up, as he sets all the bags down and organizes them.

"Maybe, but it was worth it, look at what I found" he says getting the clothes.

"Oliver, I'm not even 5 months pregnant."

"So, he's still going to need clothes."

Rolling her eyes, she just shakes her head and looks over to the clothes Oliver had pulled out.

As he continued to unload the rest of the things, she takes the outfits he handed her and looked at them in awe and laid them on her lap gently.

"Oh, and I also ordered a stroller and some other necessities, I was going to get a crib and a rocking chair, but we haven't really talked about the nursery, so I thought we could do that together."

Watching him with a look of wonder and a smile growing on her face, she listens to the man she loves, talk passionately about their son, and she didn't think it was possible but she falls even deeper in love with him in that moment.

"What?" he asks breaking his ramble.

"Nothing" she says shaking her head with a smirk on her face. "It's just, I love seeing you happy and excited, its… beautiful." As she expresses her love for him, she brings her hand up and cups his face and just embraces the moment.

Out of the corner of her eye, one final item catches her eye.

"What's this?" turning her attention to the last bag.

Turning to follow her gaze, he sees what caught her eye. "Oh, it's a teddy bear, it's one like the one we gave him before we said goodbye."

Taking the bear in her hands with infinite care, she brings it closer to her face. When she finally gets a good look at the whole toy, her breath hitches, and tears form in her eyes.

After a moment of complete silence, the sound of her breath wavering and her nose sniffling breaks the quiet atmosphere.

When Oliver's eyes meet her face, he notices the silent tears streaming down her face.

"It's perfect…" and in that moment, everything hits her. "Oh, my god, we're going to see out little boy again."

"Yeah, we are" Oliver says getting misty. "Come here" he says bringing her into his arms and lays her on his chest, while she holds the bear to her chest.

After a while of lying there and looking at nothing in particular and paying extra attention to each other's steady heartbeats, Felicity finally breaks the silence.

"Oliver"

"Yeah?"

"What was the real reason you left today?"

Taking a deep breath, he finally unleashes his burden. "The housing project in the Glade's was denied. The board said that they saw it as a waste of time because there was not enough money flowing through the community."

"Oh, baby I'm sorry."

Sighing he says "It's not your fault, it's just I really wanted this to work, those people need this. I mean if I don't help them, then who will? I just really, really wanted to do this for them, it's the least I could do, after everything that's happened."

After his last words were spoken, they drift back in silence as Felicity took in his words.

"Well, you know all you have to do is open that factory back up in the Glades and BOOM there are jobs and there is money in the neighborhood" Felicity said nonchalantly.

Looking at her in wonder he says "Felicity you are a genius"

"What? What did I say?"

Ignoring her question, he goes on. "I need to bring in a huge company to invest in the Glades and that will solve some of the major money problems."

"Well, first of all, you would need a company to buy the factory and I guarantee you that Palmer Tech would never agree to that in a million years, because Mr. Dennis is too proud for that."

"Well, it's a good thing that I wasn't thinking about Palmer Tech" he said smirking.

"Then what are you talking about?" she asked looking at him confused.

Taking a deep breath, he looks her in the down at her. "Felicity have you ever considered creating your own tech company?"

"What? Have you lost your mind?"

"What, it's not so hard to consider, I mean you were an amazing CEO and I think you would do incredible things with your own company. Besides you even have a project to start with, the microchip."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. Think about it, you would be changing the world and saving the city. Just think about it."

Then they laid in silence as they thought about the possible future, and after a couple minutes of utter silence Felicity interrupts it.

"You really think that I should start my own company?"

"I think you would really enjoy it and we both know you would be really good at it."

Sighing and thinking about all of the possibilities this could bring she finally says, "Queen Industries has a nice ring to it, what do you think?" she asks lifting her head from his chest, and looking him in the eye.

"I think it sounds perfect" and then he kisses her hair, and they both fall into a blissful sleep.