Hello everyone! So I'm a day late to the party, but FF wouldn't let me upload anything last night, so I had to post this on Tumblr only and wait till today. Anyhow, I should point out that I've never celebrated Christmas in my life and everything in here comes from research and Christmas movies.

I hope you like it and Merry late Christmas!

I don't own Christmas, Arrow or -sadly- any gingerbread cookies.

Felicity's first Christmas went surprisingly better than expected. She hadn't thought that she'd enjoy the affair much, seeing as how she was practically dragged into it. Her first Christmas celebration came in the form of a dinner party on Christmas night. Usually, Felicity would skip any party, at the company or at a friend's, in favor of going home early and –ironically enough- watching whatever Christmas movie was on.

This year, however, went differently because one ridiculously good-looking CEO asked her to go to his family's Christmas dinner. She entertained the thought of refusing until Oliver pulled off his hopeful-puppy face and stomped down whatever resolve she originally had.

"It won't be half bad," Oliver persuaded. "It's just the first Christmas with Walter back in the house and things may be a little tense. Add Thea's boyfriend coming over and mom's guests.. well, I just think it'd be nice if Walter saw a friendly face."

The argument was a good one and coupled with Oliver's intense gaze.. "Fine," She sighed.

"Fine?"

"I'll come to your family's dinner party and suffer the awkwardness along side your step dad," She elaborated. Her brain was screaming what a bad idea this was. Her position as Oliver's assistant had raised far too many questions as it is, and god knows what gossip will spring when she shows up to his family's dinner party. "But if it gets too awkward then I'm out. I'm Jew for god's sake." The last part was muttered under her breath but Oliver caught it anyway.

"I know and I'm sorry for asking this of you," he smiled sheepishly. "It's just that Walter isn't the only one in need of a friendly face;" damn Oliver Queen and his half smiles for melting her heart. "family dinners can be brutal, and mom's friends don't exactly like me."

"Probably because you've slept with their daughters at one point or another," Felicity teased then dropped her jaw when Oliver shrugged. "I was kidding! You actually –"

"I was just trying to piss mom off," He sighed. "It was a phase. Ended up pissing off a club's worth of women instead."

"Wow, bet they have an annual Oliver-Queen-sucks meeting." Felicity mused.

"So, you're coming?" Oliver asked, ignoring her previous statement. Probably because he thought he deserved it.

"Seeing as how I won't be the only one getting weird looks? Yes, count me in." She answered easily. Part of her –the over analyzing part- was freaking out about this being a date, but the logical part shouted back that it was no more than a friend asking for a favor.

"Why would you get weird looks?" Said Oliver quizzically.

"Because it's a small dinner for friends and family, Oliver, and I happen to be neither of those.. as far as people are concerned, that is" She corrected when he started to protest the statement. "People see the assistant when they look at me, they don't know what we do at night."

Oliver raised his brows at that but she carried on as if she hadn't noticed.

"Also, I'd be the only one there that's middle-class and is not wearing a thousand something dress."

"If it helps," Oliver said with a grin. "I won't be wearing an expensive dress either."

"Funny," Felicity rolled her eyes despite the smile tugging at her lips. "And I'm guessing that neither Roy nor Wlater would be either, so I'm all set."

"You'll be fine," Oliver promised more seriously.

And that's how, come Christmas, Felicity found herself at the Queen's mansion celebrating her very first Christmas with her boss's family.

The dinner, as promised, went relatively well except for a few comments that Moira's friends had made at Walter's expense, but to his credit Walter had held his own pretty well. There were a few inquiries about Felicity's presence from that same friend –Felicity wondered why that person was invited to begin with- but Oliver had dismissed those with a firm She's a good friend of mine.

Sometime after desert, Moira's guest –to everyone's relief- excused herself to leave early and the tension all but dissolved.

"I never liked that woman," Walter confessed shortly after they moved from the dinner table. Felicity paid him little attention to what he was saying but nodded politely all the same. Shortly after that, she left him and Thea talking to appreciate the room around her.

With no sign of Oliver anywhere, Felicity wandered in the room to gawk at the elaborate Christmas decorations. The tree in the corner was huge and had ornaments of all shapes and sizes dancing at the end of its branches. Glittering lights were lined along the walls and stockings covered the lit fireplace. The Queens had even gone as far as dangling mistletoe from door frames and several spots on the cieling. In fact, Felicity was standing under one right now.

"Mistletoe," the voice behind her almost made her jump. She recognized it immediately and turned to look at its source. Oliver gave her a thoughtful look then looked back up at the plant. "The tradition goes that people caught under it must kiss."

Felicity's cheeks flushed at that and the imperceptible twitch of Oliver's lips told her that he's merely teasing her. "Yes, Oliver, I'm kind of familiar with the drill."

"Just clarifying," Oliver shrugged innocently. "and according to tradition.. well, you don't want to piss off Santa do you?" Again, Oliver's was merely playful and Felicity had to suppress a sigh. He was still grinning when an idea occurred to her.

"Well, if it's tradition.." Slowly Felicity rose on tiptoes with her best impression of a shy smile. The look on Oliver's face was priceless as she moved her face closer to his and she took a moment to savor it. Just as her lips were an inch away from his and she was satisfied with how blown out his pupils were, she moved a bit to the right and pressed her lips against his cheek instead.

"There," She grinned at his dumbstruck expression as she moved away. "I'm pretty sure that that counted as a kiss. Let it never be said that I'm one to break tradition."

"Right," Oliver stared at her a moment longer then cleared his throat. "Want something to drink?"

They ended up drinking gingerbread mochas and having gingerbread cookies with it. Felicity, who caught Oliver looking thoughtfully at her repeatedly through the night, was starting to feel a little worried about her daring move earlier. It had seemed like a good idea at the time but the more she thought about it the more her stomach sank.

Maybe, she reasoned, Oliver took her move jokingly and didn't think much of it. Maybe he was too distracted by his family's gathering to read too much into what she did. Hopefully, he hadn't seen right through her and found out just how much she had wanted to kiss him, and god help her, she almost did.

Knocking back a small amount of eggnog –she was a hopeless lightweight- Felicity decided to loosen up and stop thinking of that kiss.

In fact, I may as well forget it ever happened. She nodded to herself and grabbed a sugarcoated cookie shaped as a tree with a star at the top. Plenty of cookies are welling to set that plan in motion.

"Nice one there," for the second time that night one of the Queen kids, despite Thea not really being a Queen, materialized by Felicity's shoulder. "It's not often that my brother doesn't get what he wants and believe me he did want you to kiss him. I'm Thea by the way," Felicity who was too hung up on Thea's words to response didn't stick out her hand like a normal person but Thea carried on unbothered. "I know we've already met before, but now I like you and that calls for a re-introduction."

"Um, well, yes nice to meet you," Felicity finally managed to move her hand while dropping her cookie back in its plate. Somehow her stomach suddenly felt too filled with something. "Felicity. Smoak."

"Well, Felicity Smoak, I may like my brother getting his ass handed to him every now and then," Thea said sweetly. "but hurt him and you'll have me to answer to. Oh and don't look that surprised, I don't care what excuse he gave you but he did bring you to a Christmas family dinner. Oliver never did that before. Not even with Laurel." Felicity's mind whirled with unwanted thoughts. She wished Thea had kept that piece of information to herself.

"I'll go check on my boyfriend, you go check on yours." And before Felicity could correct the younger Queen that Oliver was 'just a friend' the girl was dancing away from her.

The rest of the evening went uneventful. Felicity exchanged pleasantries with Ms. Queen and talked business with Walter. Roy and Thea conversed with her over hot chocolate and Oliver continued sending her weird looks that managed to keep Thea's words alive and burning in her mind.

The What Ifs were endless but she never allowed those to linger for more than a moment. She strangled those thoughts the moment they took their first breath. She couldn't afford to think like that then have her hope squashed the way it had been doing for years.

Once she deemed it polite, Felicity got up and excused herself to leave. Her thoughts were springing out of control, and despite her best efforts nothing could distract her long enough from them. She had to get out of there fast and away from those knowing blue eyes that kept watching her.

She thanked Moira for the lovely dinner, knowing that the woman had done no cooking whatsoever, then thanked Walter for having her and Oliver for the invitation. After waving goodbye at Thea and Roy, Felicity turned to leave –only to be stopped by Oliver.

"Wait," he walked towards her then laid a hand to the small of her back. "I'll walk you out."

Felicity's heart fluttered at the faint press of his hand against her back. She gave him a grateful smile but remained silent. Maybe if he didn't talk to her she'd make it out of the house in solid state and won't melt into a puddle. The possibility of the latter rose higher when he didn't remove his hand.

"So, how bad was it?" Oliver prompted.

"Better than I thought it would be," She answered truthfully. "Not half bad. I think I like Christmas, it's kind of fun." And what with the cookies of every flavor and the beautiful decorations, Felicity knew she'd be attending another Christmas party next year, and if she was lucky and a little braver, she might even make better use of Mistletoe.

"Glad you think so," they have stopped by the front door and stood facing each other. For some reason, Felicity's heart fluttered then took flight. "But it looks like Christmas isn't letting you go just yet."

"What do you mean?" Felicity tilted her head in puzzlement.

Oliver's eyes danced with mischief as he pointed his finger above their heads. Her eyes wandered up and even before they caught what he saw, she knew what she'd find there. Above their head hung another mistletoe.

"Looks like you didn't cut it earlier," Oliver stated and if Felicity didn't know him any better, she wouldn't have heard the note of boyish nervousness in his voice. His half smile did nothing to fool her. "Still feel like sticking to your claim of not breaking traditions?"

She had a choice to make and she had to make it fast. She nodded.

"Good." Oliver's smile turned real and Felicity's breath caught as he leaned closer to her and brushed his lips lightly against her own.

"That," he murmured against her lips. "was for the mistletoe and this –" he snaked a hand behind her neck and pulled her closer, his lips pressing more firmly to hers and sending a thousand butterflies soaring throughout her body. "-Is because I wanted to kiss you all night."

"All night?" Felicity's voice, to her everlasting embarrassment, sounded too high to her ears.

"More like all year since last year," Oliver smiled somewhat sheepishly. "but who's counting."

Felicity had a million questions to match that statement. She wanted to ask him how and when and why and are we a thing now. She wanted to know if this was going somewhere or if he just acted on impulse. She wanted to know if she'd be spending more Christmases with him or if this was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that she should treasure and hold on to.

"Merry Christmas, Oliver." Is what came out instead, and the rare tenderness in his eyes managed to answer her questions if for the time being at least.

"Merry Christmas, Felicity." Oliver smiled then leaned in for another short kiss. "We are still under the Mistletoe" He grinned –and that was when Felicity decided that she definitely liked Christmas.

A/N: All the Christmas sweetness! Honestly, I have no idea if that's what Christmas dinners are like but google says that's how they go. Hope you enjoyed this and there will be another Christmas fic coming up shortly for Olicity Holiday fic exchange.

Thank you for reading!

I'll take reviews as Christmas presents, so review!