A/N: I have to say, the response to Chapter 6 blew me away! You guys are amazing :)
I don't own Arrow or its characters.
xxx
Oliver wakes up to soft hair tickling his chest and someone's thigh wedged between his legs.
He blinks, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he looks down at the small blond curled against him.
Felicity.
She lets out a sleepy little sigh and shifts a little, her eyes fluttering open.
Oliver expects her to blush or pull away when she realizes the intimacy of their position - legs tangled together, her breasts pushing against his side - but to his surprise Felicity sits up and flings herself at him, winding her arms around his ribs and burrowing her face in his neck.
"Thank you," she whispers fiercely. "For last night. It meant a lot to me."
"I didn't do anything," he demurs.
Felicity pulls away just enough to give him a tender smile. "You should give yourself a little credit, Oliver. You're a good guy."
That one stings, because if Felicity knew the kind of guy he really was, how much blood has been spilled by his hands, she'd run down the streets of Starling City screaming.
"I think the women of Starling City would disagree with you."
Felicity rests a hand lightly on his forearm. "They don't know you like I do, then."
He raises an eyebrow. "You've known me for two days."
"Two and a half," she corrects. "And we spent it together the entire time, so approximately fifty-six hours. The average time per week spent in a new relationship is probably around ten, so if we were hypothetically dating I'd hypothetically have known you for five weeks."
Oliver stares. "How can you do math this early in the morning?"
"I'm a genius," she says simply. "I'm not bragging, but you should know that about me."
Oliver starts to laugh. This girl is adorable. "I believe you."
Felicity blushes and hides her face in his chest. "Then why are you laughing?"
He strokes her hair absentmindedly. "You're cute in the morning. It's nice having you here."
In his bed. In his arms.
He is so fucking screwed.
"Do you like living alone?" she asks, snuggling into his chest.
"It got me away from my mother," he says. "So it'll do. I'm not so great with people, anyway."
"I think you're doing fine."
Oliver smiles. "You might be the exception."
"Don't you ever get lonely?"
"Sometimes," he confesses.
Felicity picks her head off his chest and looks at him. She doesn't have her glasses on and her eyes are wide and a soft blue.
"I was lonely too," she whispers.
Oh yeah. He's totally screwed.
xxx
Oliver takes Felicity with him to the gym. He normally doesn't go two days in a row without working out, and he can feel all the nervous tension his body.
Felicity blanches when he tells her where they're going.
"I don't do that," she says, looking kind of terrified.
"Exercise?"
"Go to the gym."
"What's wrong with the gym?"
"There all these beautiful people with amazing bodies there and its intimidating and I get nervous and I don't know what I'm doing and I just start feeling stupid and embarrassed and its like high school gym class all over again and I barely survived high school the first time," Felicity says in a rush.
Oliver can't help but grin at how adorable she gets when she rambles. "You don't have to workout."
"I do yoga," she says peevishly. "I'm not like, anti-exercise. I'm just anti-gym."
"Yeah, I kind of got that."
"Can I just sit and watch you workout? I mean, not like, watch you, because that would be creepy, but I know I have to go because you're going, because obviously you work out, because hello, so can I go and not work out?"
Oliver blinks rapidly. "How do you talk so fast?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
So Oliver lifts weights at the gym while Felicity sits on a mat a foot away from him, doing something on her tablet.
"What is it with you and that thing?" he asks her in between squat sets.
"I like computers," she says, her fingers flying over the screen.
"That why you're interviewing at QC?"
"Your family's company has a really good rep. Solid benefits, decent pay."
"Better you than me."
Felicity blinks, pushing her glasses higher up on her nose. "You don't work there, right?"
Oliver grimaces. "Much to my mother's displeasure."
"You like...have a job right?"
"Yes Felicity, I have a job. I'm not some dumb trust fund baby."
"I don't think you're dumb," she says softly.
"Sorry," he apologizes. "QC is a sore spot for me. When I got back from the island my mom wanted to groom me to become the next CEO and I couldn't... I was barely functioning and she wanted me to put on a suit and act like a businessman. We fought about it for months."
"So what do you do?"
Oliver racks his weights and grins. "I do what any rich kid without a degree does. I own a nightclub."
He lifts the hem of his shirt up to wipe the sweat from his face and catches Felicity checking out his abs.
"See something you like?" he teases, and Felicity flushes scarlet.
"Sorry!" she blurts out. "I said I wouldn't watch you and I totally did, but in my defense you're basically a Greek God and any straight woman would look at you, I mean, I'm sure all the women look at you, because I'm pretty sure you're the hottest guy I've ever seen in real life-" Felicity's hand claps over her mouth in horror.
"Felicity," he says gleefully, holding out a hand to help her up from the mat. "Am I making you nervous?"
xxx
In the gym lobby Oliver turns to the locker room to take a shower and then stops, realizing he can't bring Felicity in with him and shit, this 24/7 bodyguard thing is trickier than he thought.
"What?" she says immediately. "What's wrong?"
"I have to take a shower," he says, angling his head towards the men's room.
"Oh." Felicity says, looking around the lobby. "I guess I'll wait here."
"You sure?"
"Yeah," she says nervously. "I'm in public, it'll be okay. You're not one of those people who take crazy long showers right?"
"Here." Oliver pulls his cell out of his bag and hands it to her. "Just in case."
Felicity plops down on a chair five feet from the locker room door, his phone clutched tightly in her hand.
"Go," she says. "I'll be right here."
"Okay," he says hesitantly.
"I'll be fine." She gives him a smile full of false bravado and Oliver sighs.
"Don't move. I'll be back in a minute."
He takes what has to be the fastest shower of his life, and changes into his street clothes without bothering to dry his hair.
In the lobby Felicity is right where he left her, her eyes trained on the locker room door.
"Okay?" he asks, noting the way she jumps up when he comes out.
"Yeah." Felicity hands him back his phone. "I, um...I feel better now that I can see you."
Oliver nods, placing his hand gently on her back to guide her outside.
"Come on, let's get some breakfast."
He decides to takes her to a diner a few blocks away, a little hole in the wall place he used to go to with Tommy after they'd been up all night drinking.
Felicity reaches for his hand as soon as they leave the gym.
"Okay?" Oliver asks quietly.
"Yeah," she murmurs, leaning into him. "Yeah, just-" she grips his hand tightly. "Don't let go, please."
Oliver gives her a tight smile. He can tell being out on the street surrounded by people is freaking her out. Her eyes are wide and constantly scanning. Her hand is clammy.
"Almost there," he tells her and Felicity nods determinedly.
Down the street a sports car blows through a red and Oliver winces a split second before it rams into the car in front of it.
There's a loud crunching sound and Felicity lets out a muffled shriek and throws herself at him.
"What was that?" she cries, gripping the sleeves of his sweatshirt.
"It's just a car, it's okay."
Felicity starts to shake. "Are you sure?"
"Felicity, look." He points up the street where both drivers are out of their cars and screaming at each other.
"Oh god." Felicity exhales sharply. Her hands clench rhythmically around his sweatshirt. "Oliver I don't feel good," she gasps.
"Okay, let's sit for a second." He guides her to a little bench and Felicity sits down, her eyes glazing over.
Shit.
"Here, put your head down." He guides Felicity's head down to her knees, blond hair spilling over her face, and he crouches in front of her.
Felicity whimpers and Oliver rubs her back.
"Take a few breathes," he instructs quietly, remembering the first few weeks back from the island, how everything set him on edge, panic always seeping into his consciousness.
"I'm sorry," she says, her voice muffled by her hair. "You probably think I'm completely insane."
"Do you want to know what I really think?" he asks her quietly.
Felicity lifts her head up, looking at him with wide tear-filled eyes. "What?"
"I think something happened to you that was so bad you think it's unspeakable. I think you're scared. I think you need help and you don't know how to get it."
Felicity lets out a strangled cry and bursts into tears.
"Hey, it's okay." Oliver wraps his arms around her. "You're okay, I got you."
"I'm sorry," she cries. "I don't know why I'm acting like this."
"I'm right, aren't I?" he asks.
"About what?" she whines, pressing her face into the hollow of his throat.
"That whatever happened, it was something really bad."
Felicity pulls away, sniffing furiously. "Yeah," she says, her voice cracking. "It was really bad."
She blinks and a few stray tears spill over.
"Then I think you're allowed to act however you want," he says, catching her tears with his thumbs.
"Oliver?" Felicity says tremulously.
"Yeah?"
"Will you help me?" she pleads quietly. "Sara said lots of bad things happened to you and you're okay."
"Okay is a relative term," he says. "But Felicity, you have to know that you're safe with me. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, okay?"
Felicity nods faintly. "Okay."
She takes a couple of deep breaths and some of the color returns to her face.
"You okay?" Oliver rubs her shoulders and Felicity sighs, tilting her head back.
"Yeah, just give me a second." Felicity rolls her neck. "I'm getting a shoulder rub from Oliver Queen, I'll be okay."
xxx
A/N: Please review ;)