19 – Surname

She could do this. She definetely could do this. She had faced worse things. A serious talk with Oliver was nothing in comparassion, and yet she couldn't help but feel nervous. And probably the four cups of coffe she had had that afternoon did not help... plus the other three that she had in the morning. She looked at her left hand, where a beautiful diamond ring had been for two weeks now. Oliver himself had designed the ring and made it; in rose gold, simple and small, but it fitted Felicity perfectly and it was a symbol of a new beginning for them.

Felicity was still looking at her engagement ring when she heard Oliver entering the loft. He had moved back inmediately after he and Felicity got back together. It was during the summer after defeating Prometheus, Felicity and Oliver had been talking more, trying to understad the other's point of view. One of their talks extended until late one night, and then one thing led to another and Oliver ended spending the night in the loft. After that he never left. Eight months later Felicity and him were engaged.

"Hey" said felicity as form of welcome "How was your day?"

"Not bad. It would have been better if I had seen you for lunch." He answered before giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Sorry I had to cancel our lunch plans. I had a last hour meeting with some of the share holders."

"Well, you need them to keep them happy so they can keep given money."

"I'm so happy you understand how this world works." She answered with a teasing smile.

Three months ago Felicity had launched Smoak Technologies with the help of Curtis. And althought they have commenced small, their work had started to show positive results in no time. Wired Magazine wrote a piece about the projects they were working on and their future plans and since then their fame had only grown, to the point where Felicity and Curtis were considering buying a bigger bulding and moved from the offices they were renting at the moment. Felicity was happy, she was leaving her own mark in the world, putting her name rigth in front of it and not hiding behind a code name. Don't be mistaken, she loved working in Team Arrow and she would continue doing it no matter what, but it was nice to be recognised for her work. And that's why she needed to talk with Oliver.

Said man was taking off his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves, getting ready to preapare dinner. Feliciy got distracted for one second looking at his arms. Sometimes she missed the old suit, the one with short sleves, it gave her a very nice view of his biceps.

"Felicity? Felicity!" Oliver's voice brought her back to the real world and out from dream-land.

"What? Sorry."

"Distracted?" He smirked, knowing exactly what have distracted her. "I asked you what you wanted for dinner."

"Oh, ummm... What about the salmon with dill sauce that you did last month?"

"Right on it."

The archer/Mayor started to work in the kitchen while Felicity watched him seating on a stool. Her mother was right, it was impossible to find another mand as hot as Oliver who could also cook, and who also knew what was her fianceé favourite red wine. She thanked him for the glass he had jast poured her. The wine would serve as liquid courage to start the talk she had been dreading the whole day.

"Oliver, we need to talk."

His back was facing her and Felicity saw his muscles going tense the moment she pronunced those words. He stopped slicing the salmon, leaving the knife on the counter before turning around.

"That sounds serious." His eyes dropped to her left hand, just to make sure that the ring was still there, a quick move that Felicity did not picked up.

"It kind of is... I... I don't want to be a Queen." Felicity talked in such a speed that her words almost blurred together. Oliver was simply speechless, frozen in the spot. Looking at the expression on his face Felicity realised her mistake. "I don't mean that I don't want to marry you! I want. Marry you. That's it. A lot." Oliver breathed again and Felicity continued explaining. "What I meant is that I don't want to change my surname."

Oliver got closer, sitting in the stool right next to her and gabbing her hands.

"Please, don't ever scare me like that again. One broken engagement is more than enough for me."

"Sorry... I could have said that in a better way. Iwas just nervous"

"Why?"

"Well, first of all is a stupid tradition. Why do women need to change their surname? Just because is tradition? Like we are now..."

"No, Felicity " Oliver interrupted her before her babbling got worse. "I understand if you want to keep your surname. What I want to ask is why were you nervous."

"You are Oliver Queen."
"I'm well aware of that." He said smiling.

"You are part of the Queen family. It's a family with a lot of history, and traditions, and heritage. I know you love you family and you are proud of being a Queen. And I thought you wouldn't like my idea of keeping my surname."

"Felicity" he said her name with such a soft voice that the blonde could have melted right there. "You are who you are, and changing or keeping your surname is not gonna make a different, I'm still going to love you the same. And yes, I love my family and I'm proud of being a Queen, but not always. My family have done pretty bad things, and we both know it. So I undestand if you don't want to be a Queen."

Felicity relesed one of her hands from Oliver's hold and put caress his cheek.

"It's not about your family or what they did, Oliver. It's about me and who I want to be. Smoak Technologies is doing very good, and I think Curtis and I can make a difference in this world with our work. And it would be my name up there. Something that I have built from scratch. My legacy." Oliver was looking at her in awe. She took a deep breath before continuing. "And I want the people to hear my name and inmediately releate it to Smoak Technologies. I know it's selfish..."

"It's not. It's what you deserve." His voice was full of pride and his lips showed a full smile. "I have seen you for six years working, doing amazing things, saving the world. You are worth every praise that you are getting and will get for the company, and more. You have been doing so much in the shadows that it's time for the world you really know your name."

"Oliver..." she sighed, tears filling her eyesight. "I never thought you could top you proposal, but you just did."

He chuckled. "Wait until you head my wedding vows."

Felicity leaned forward and Oliver was quick in coping her. They met in the middle with a passionate kiss, the kind of kiss that leads to clothes on the floor and rug burns. Hovewer, before things got more heated, Felicity stopped, leaving a very confused Oliver.

"Sorry, hon... But I'm really hungry."

Oliver could only look at the floor, defeated, and get back to cooking.