Author's note: Alright, so I lied. This got away from me a bit. There will be three parts instead of two. I hope you're all pleased with yourselves!

Have some fluff.

"I don't- How are you- Where-"

"Felicity, hey, breathe." He stepped into the apartment, dwarfing her with his presence, making her stumble back and put her hands up between them, throwing them out to catch her balance.

"I am breathing." she gasped, choking on air as it rushed into her lungs because, despite her protest, she actually hadn't been drawing breath. "How are you breathing? Ra's said-"

"I'll explain everything, okay?" Oliver said soothingly, though he arched a brow at her right hand, pointed at his chest, still brandishing the taser. "You want to maybe put that away? Unless, you're planning to use it..."

"What?" Felicity questioned, confusion creasing her brow as she looked at her hand. "Oh! No, that's not- I wasn't. Planning to use it. I mean, I was, but not on you. I didn't know it was you, obviously." She took another deep breath, hands falling to her sides. Eyeing him carefully, thoroughly, she couldn't help but whisper, "Is it really you?"

Oliver smiled, soft and small, the smile that belonged to her. "It's me, Felicity, I promise."

It was apparently a night for her body doing whatever the hell it wanted, because before she knew it, the taser was on the floor and she was launching at him, arms winding around his neck in tight bands while she buried her face in the slope of his shoulder. Oliver pulled her in close, hugged her so tightly to his chest that her feet left the floor. In the security of his embrace, fingers twisted in the thick wool of his coat and heart in her throat, Felicity let herself cry; great wracking sobs that shook her frame, had her trembling in his arms.

Oliver shushed her gently, one arm a solid steel bar around her waist, one hand cradling the back of her head, soothing down over her hair. "I know. It's okay, I'm right here." he murmured.

Pulling herself together far sooner than she wanted to, Felicity leaned away. Oliver let her down on her feet, but she didn't back away. Instead, hands coming up between them, Felicity cupped his face in shaky palms. Neither of them spoke, simply gazed at one another for a long moment, let the reality sink in that they were really there, really together.

The wind blew behind Oliver, throwing freezing cold rain in through the open door. Felicity shivered and Oliver immediately moved to push the door closed.

Feeling as though she was going to topple over if she didn't sit down, Felicity tugged on Oliver's arm, realizing that she hadn't actually let go when he turned away. She didn't think she could, regardless. Having a hold of him, feeling him solid and real beneath her fingers; she couldn't bring herself to let him go just yet.

Oliver smiled down at her, like he knew the thoughts swirling behind her eyes. He let her lead him toward her couch, though who was leading who was up for debate when Felicity could hardly hold herself up, her knees were shaking so badly. Oliver helped her sit, then shrugged out of his coat before lowering himself beside her, leaving an almost nonexistent space between them.

"You okay?" he asked gently, reaching beneath the hood of her sweatshirt- his sweatshirt, he noted with a thrill of possessive pride -to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

She shook her head, bottom lip quivering, and closed the tiny gap between their bodies. She didn't let herself think about what she was doing, didn't give her mind the chance to second guess what her body was asking for.

For how sudden her lunge had been, Oliver didn't seem surprised. He accepted it easily when she curled into him, simply tugged her in with an arm around her waist and let her burrow into his side. He shifted a bit, let her push her arm between his back and the sofa cushions so she could wrap herself around his torso. Once they'd settled into a comfortable position, her head pillowed on his chest, ear above his heart like she just had to hear it, and him angled into the corner of the sofa's arm, Oliver felt like he could breathe again.

Neither of them spoke for a long time, Felicity apparently shocked into silence and Oliver too wrapped up in appreciating the feeling of her softness curled around him, half draped across his body. With every passing beat of silence, the tension drained right out of Oliver's body. He was left loose-limbed and exhausted, pressed into the couch by Felicity's weight.

In those moments, moments where Oliver had been sure he'd met his end, lying broken and fading into nothingness on that mountain ledge, he'd dreamt of this; of feeling Felicity's body pushed in tight against his, of having her in his arms with no place else in the world to be. Of all the things he'd ever hoped for, ever wished to have, it was the one thing he'd been sure would never come to pass.

And yet, now he had it. He had Felicity snuggled into his side, her breath humid and warm as it soaked through his sweater and into his skin. He wasn't at all surprised when he felt tears dampen the fabric, nor when he heard her sniffle, felt her shift around to wipe surreptitiously at the wetness on her cheeks.

"Sorry." she mumbled, making to pull away. "I didn't mean-"

Oliver used the hand splayed over her hip to hold her still, stopping her from leaving his side.

"Felicity." he murmured down at her, eyes warm and pleading, fingers stroking gently. "Stay here, please? Just... Stay."

After a beat of hesitation and a breath that hitched so loudly Oliver heard it, she nodded. Felicity eased herself back against him, pressed her ear right back above his heart.

"I missed you, you know." Oliver admitted to the crown of her head, his voice rough and rumbling under her ear. "The whole time I was gone, I just kept thinking of how badly I wanted to come home, how much I wanted to see you again."

Felicity didn't respond, too afraid of what she'd let out if she opened her mouth.

Oliver's hand squeezed her hip again, then slipped under the hem of her borrowed sweatshirt. He didn't touch skin, didn't seek anything beyond the curve of her side and the softness of her threadbare camisole. Still, Felicity's skin felt scorched beneath his touch. She shuddered despite herself, his heated caress chasing away the chill that she hadn't been able to shake in all the weeks he'd been gone.

"I'm sorry, Felicity." he sighed, his chest lifting and falling beneath her. "Staying away for so long... I hated being anywhere but here. It just... It was a necessary evil."

"You don't have to tell me." Felicity said, lifting her head to meet his eyes, her chin digging lightly into the hard plane of his chest. "At least, not right now. I am so, so happy that you're here, Oliver. You're alive and your home, and right this second, I don't need to know anything more than that."

A slow smile pulled up the corners of his mouth, almost fragile in its purity. There was a pair of words Felicity never thought she'd use in reference to Oliver Queen. Honestly, though, they were accurate. There was nothing deliberately charming or knowingly enticing about the smile. It was honest and warm, and it was hers. That was her smile again, the one he wore for her and her alone.

Felicity was so busy staring at his mouth, enraptured by the way his lips tugged up at the corners and showed his teeth, she almost didn't notice when words slipped past them.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you?"

The question brought Felicity up short, shocked the air right out of her lungs and had her fingers clenching where they gripped the thick fabric of his sweater.

"Oliver." she warned, his name breathless and rattling when it passed her lips.

"What, Felicity?" he questioned, eyebrows drawing together in concern. "What is it that you're so afraid of hearing?"

Felicity struggled to disentangle them, shoving up and away, only to wedge herself between his hip and the back of the couch. Oliver wouldn't let her go any further, really. Oh, she could have gotten away easily if that was what she truly wanted. He'd let her go without another word if she gave the slightest indication that she really, honestly wanted to be away from him. But, even she wasn't sure that she wanted that. Mostly, she wanted to press closer, to plaster her body against his until neither of them could breath without inhaling the other.

"I've told you I love you, in those exact words, four times now." Oliver said, his voice maintaining its gentle, questioning tone. "I've told you in a million other ways, a thousand different times, and you never seem to hear it."

"I hear it." Felicity snorted, a sharp sound that made Oliver's brow tighten. "Believe me, Oliver, I hear it. It's just almost always immediately followed by something painful, and I can't do painful. Not tonight."

Oliver winced, knowing how true that was. The first time he told her he loved her, he let her believe he hadn't meant it. The second time, though he'd done it in reverse, it was more an end than a beginning, neither of them able to walk away from it with hearts intact. The third time, the last time, Oliver left and didn't come back. He knew his team was told he'd died, knew that above all the other times, that one had hurt the most.

And, here he was now, saying it again. No wonder she was afraid of what would come next.

"Felicity," Oliver sighed again, pained and regretful, as he sat up and angled himself toward her, "that's not what this is. That isn't how it has to be, not now. I love you, Felicity, and I'm tired of running from that. I was an idiot for ever running at all."

Felicity, heart throbbing in her throat, blinked owlishly at him. Her eyes shimmered with tears, but she fought them. She was tired of crying, exhausted by it.

"You said-" she tried, croaking it past her lips, needing him to remember all the reasons he'd given, all the reasons she'd tried to respect.

"I know." he shook his head minutely, remembering how desperate he'd been to avoid this, how much he'd wanted to protect her from the anguish that always accompanied his love."I know what I said, but I was wrong, Felicity. I have never been more wrong about anything in my life than I was when I said that I couldn't be with you."

Swiping at a stray tear, Felicity bit at trembling lips.

"I thought that if I let myself be with you, that I would lose you. That's not- Losing you, it's not something I'm sure I'd survive. But, never having you at all? That's so much worse, somehow. I had a lot of time to think while I was gone, Felicity. I had nothing but time, honestly." he chuckled darkly, a hollow shadow of the laugh she knew. "There are a lot of things I see more clearly now, things that I couldn't have been more wrong about. But, the worst of them is us."

Felicity watched him take her hand, watched him thread their fingers together and press them to his lips. Her head was spinning, full of cotton and snarled thoughts, and she was trying to fight her way through it.

"You and me, we make sense." he whispered against her knuckles, his lips brushing her skin and sending shivers down her spine. "You bring out the best in me, Felicity, you always have. I want a chance to do that for you, too. I'm not saying it will be easy, or that we won't screw things up spectacularly on more than one occasion, but I can promise you two things."

Felicity couldn't help but smile a little at that. It'd become a thing with them, this two promises, two facts confession.

"The first is, no matter what happens, no matter what hurdles we have to overcome or issues we have to face, I will always be here. I am never leaving you again, not as long as there is still a breath in my lungs."

Felicity clamped her lips shut, bit them together to stop the shaky sob from crawling up her throat. Oliver's entire expression, his whole demeanor softened at the edges, their joined hands cradled to his chest.

"The second thing?" she asked, heart riotous, like it was trying to pound right out of her ribcage.

"The second thing," Oliver said, voice going vulnerable and brittle, "is that I will spend whatever time you allow me, whether it's the rest of our lives or the next twenty-four hours, showing you how much you mean to me. Not a second will go by that you have to wonder how I feel about you, Felicity. You will know, without question, that I love you more than I ever thought myself capable of."

"Oliver." Felicity whispered, not caring that she had tears streaking down her face or that she was gripping his hand so tightly her own fingers were bound to bruise.

He was telling her he loved her, that he wanted to be with her above anything else, and Felicity couldn't think. She was terrified and thrilled and shaking so hard she thought she might come apart, but he was alive and saying the words, and there weren't any qualifiers this time. Her brain wouldn't process it beyond hearing the truth in those promises, couldn't focus on anything but the swell of emotions behind her sternum and the adrenaline rushing through her bloodstream.

"Kiss me." she blurted desperately, already reaching forward to drag him in.