"If you're going to take my medical opinion," the doctor said. "Then I'd advise against another procedure on your spine, especially an elective one, even one as minor as they implant that you've shown me." There was a pause. "At least for now. Your body's been through a lot. Your spine is finally starting to look like your last scan before your more recent accident."

His eyes weren't on the doctor, though, they were on Felicity the whole time. She looked like she was taking it well, but he wasn't sure if that was honestly the case deep down inside of her. He was having a hard time hearing it.

"I'll have instructions, exercises, and some modifications I want you to be following in order to continue your healing," the doctor went on. "That includes physical therapy."

"I already know a good one," Felicity spoke up for the first time.

"If you have their contact info, then you can give it to the nurse and she can forward my orders over," the doctor said with a nod.

With that the doctor was gone and they were left alone in the room in silence. Oliver didn't know what to say or if saying if anything would actually help. Did they discuss things? Was it the right time? Would there be a right time? Instead, Oliver just reached out with his hand to her, she took it and squeezed it. That was all. He just wanted her to know that he was there and he was with her.

Always.

Felicity had been quiet and Oliver didn't know when was going to be the best time to discuss things. They were heading towards where the vehicle was parked, but the fear and guilt were consuming him. They'd been at a similar point before, but then Curtis had come in with the miracle chip that had allowed her to walk. Hearing the doctor say that might not be an option made it all harder.

"Do you know what time Wimbleton's going to be on the BBC?" Felicity randomly spoke up as they made it to the vehicle. "I know it's tomorrow, but I'm not sure of the time."

"Wimbleton? BBC?"

Felicity shook her head. "Wimbleton. It's tennis. It's like a huge deal in England, which is why it's on the BBC. The British Broadcasting Corporation."

Oliver blinked for a moment, confused at pretty much everything Felicity had just said. he clicked the key fob to unlock the vehicle and open the trunk. He tried to process what had been said and how any of it made sense. "Since when did you start watching tennis?"

"I don't," Felicity said like it was the most ridiculous question.

From her tone, he felt even more confused, like he was really missing something from what she'd just said to him. "Then why the interest for it and Wimbleton?"

Felicity rolled herself towards the passenger door and shrugged when she came to a stop. "I'm more trying to calculate when it will be over."

Opening the passenger door with care, he scooped up Felicity and slid her gently into the seat without a thought. "Why do you need to know when it's over?"

"They're announcing the new Doctor."

"What?" he blurted out in clear confusion.

"The thirteenth Doctor," Felicity tried to clarify. "There's been all kinds of rumors about who's going to replace Capaldi. Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of the Classic Who fans really liked him, but he was a little grumpy for my tastes." She continued to ramble on, not giving Oliver a chance to get a word in. "But there's this huge want slash need for the Doctor to finally be a woman...and there are so many talented female actors that would be perfect."

"This is Doctor Who that you're talking about, isn't it?" Oliver asked as he leaned against the open passenger door. It had taken him a while to figure out, especially with no keywords like timelord, TARDIS, or time and space being used.

"Of course."

"Okay," Oliver said in simple response. He leaned in and kissed her. "I love it when you go on about things that confuse me." He beamed at her. "Also, I'm sure you can look up the times on your phone."

"Right," Felicity said with a slight nod as she just stared back at him with a grin in place. "We'll have to see how gracious the great Google Gods are today."

He let out a light chuckle at that before closing the door and moving to fold up the wheelchair. As his fingers brushed the canvas-like material, all he could think about was how things had been before. There were difficult times and there were good times. None really overshadowed the other. The good ones had never been because of the implant, but out of their love for each other and in general how full of love, hope, and happiness Felicity always was. Pushing out a heavy breath and shelving the thought, he got busy folding the wheelchair and moved to put it into the back of the vehicle.

Things might be different for them, but some things would always be the same.

They didn't talk about it.

The appointment.

What the doctor had said.

None of it.

Instead, Curtis jumped on that the moment that they returned to the loft. Oliver had mixed feelings about it. It wasn't that he'd been afraid to have the conversation, he'd just wanted to give Felicity time to process and bring it up when she was ready. This was about her and he knew that he needed to be respectful of that and not push his want to discuss things before she was ready for that conversation.

"No implant medically recommended now doesn't mean never, you know that," Curtis told her.

"I do feel like when the doctor might actually back it, it will turn into an eternity," Felicity voiced.

"I'm going to keep improving it," Curtis reminded.

"Never doubted that."

"Does that mean no physical therapy? Because Paul said last time we talked that he'd be more than happy to help."

"He does want me doing PT and I gave them Paul's info."

"Good."

"You sure this isn't going to be too awkward?" Oliver asked. He felt like it was a valid question. Likely a question that anyone would have. Paul and Curtis split up because of lies and because of Team Arrow, with every attempt that Curtis had made to bring them back together...they were still apart and Oliver wasn't sure if a legal divorce had happened or not. All he knew was that Paul and Curtis had been so happy together and even adorable when they had been together (before he'd pulled Curtis onto the team). He hated seeing that relationship dissolved in the way that it had.

"It's for Felicity," Curtis said.

"That doesn't exactly answer his question," Felicity pointed out. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable-"

Curtis' hands flew up in defense. "Look. I promise if I'm having a hard time, I'll say something." He paused for a moment. "But Paul and I are adults and we both care about you, Felicity. So, if Paul being your physical therapist is for the best, then we're going to make it work."

"So, what shall we do now?" Felicity asked.

"I mean, personally I was going to vote for ordering Chinese and watching Killjoys, because I totally binged and caught up," Curtis said.

Sometimes Oliver wondered why they gave out keys. Apparently his Killjoys watching with Felicity was now not only their time, but would include Curtis as well. Everyone had been so great with being there for Felicity in any way they could, especially Curtis and Thea, but sometimes the loft felt crowded. Sometimes Oliver just wanted to be selfish and have time alone with Felicity.

This was one of those times.

Felicity must have seen it in his face because she looked to Curtis and plans immediately changed. "Actually, I promised Oliver that it would just be him and me tonight...but you'll come over tomorrow and watch the Doctor reveal, right?"

"Right, of course," Curtis rambled. "I didn't think that maybe you two would…" He paused for a moment, awkward hand gestures going on for a moment. "But I'll definitely be here for the reveal. I'll bring scones," Curtis told her as he made his way towards the door.

"Oh, fancy!" Felicity said. "Shall we have tea, too?"

"I mean, do we have proper teacups?"

"TARDIS and Doctor Who mugs," Oliver reminded.

"That doesn't sound like British proper, but I think it'll work," Curtis said.

"Especially if we end up drinking coffee," Felicity said with a bright smile. "Since that'll probably happen."

"Coffee and scones sound just fine to me," Curtis told her as he moved to the door. "Enjoy your evening."

"Doctor Who and Killjoys tomorrow," Felicity promised.

Curtis left a moment later, leaving him alone with Felicity. "I hope that was okay," Oliver said after a beat had passed. It was still new between them...again. There had been so much when they'd both returned to Star City and at first everyone had been at the loft it felt like...and he just missed the quiet between the two of them.

"Yeah, it's fine, why?" Felicity brushed it off.

"We just don't always get a lot of time alone...when we're not sleeping or I'm not running out the door."

"True, but it's not like I can't survey you."

"Survey?" Oliver repeated with a laugh. "Is that your subtle way to say that you stalk me while I'm gone?"

"I mean...if you want to go there…" Felicity said innocently. "I would have gone with something along the lines of covertly watch you from my tablet. You know, to make sure you're okay and eating and stuff."

"Right," Oliver said with a smile and the shake of his head. He wasn't even mad. It made sense and he wasn't going to go off about it because he knew that she had to be going crazy being stuck mostly at the loft since their return. It was her way of getting out, being able to go with him, while still staying there. He got it. It was actually sort of cute...mainly because it was Felicity. "Okay, so dinner?"

"I really don't want Chinese," Felicity said as she crinkled her nose a bit. "I feel like we've been just eating take out since we've gotten back."

Oliver just beamed. "I did do grocery shopping…"

"So domestic."

"It's sort of nice being a domestic couple again, right?"

"Can I vote after you cook something for me?" she teased as they moved towards the kitchen.

He laughed at that reply at first. "Sure."

They were curled up on the couch together, blissfully happy in the silence. Pillows and blankets had been brought down in order to make it more comfy as they'd watched Killjoys. This was really all he'd wanted. Time with Felicity. It wasn't much, it was just watching shows and being together, but there was something special and just nice about it just being them. He didn't have to compete with the fangirl/fanboy-ing that went on when Curtis and Felicity were watching something together, it was adorable, but it wasn't how he enjoyed things.

Felicity looked up at him, "You know my most favorite episodes are still in season one, which is quite an uncommon thing for me...not that I dislike season two or even this one...just there's something so wonderful and heartbreaking about Dutch and the Jaqobis brothers coming together and being broken apart."

"I think part of it is because season one was like all about Dutch and the guys...the RAC...learning the basics about the worlds involved...and then season two is a completely other story...and so is season three…" Oliver tried explained. He wasn't sure if it was coming across clearly enough, but he was trying. He definitely had favorites in each season, but he also found himself really more favoring some of the season one episodes.

"You're absolutely right," Felicity beamed. "And maybe it's more that I love season one so much because I'm such a shipper...season two sort of broke my shipper heart."

"What about that episode where D'avin gets mind controlled?" Out of all of the characters on Killjoys, D'avin Jaqobis was the one that Oliver felt like he most identified with. There were moments he'd see something with others, but overall...he felt more like he and D'avin had the most in common.

"Yeah, but they can totally recover from it…"

Oliver couldn't believe what he was hearing. He wasn't about to tell Felicity that he shipped Dutch and D'avin too, but he really wasn't connecting dots like she seemed to be. "It's been two seasons!"

"There's still time," Felicity insisted.

Oliver was amused and confused all at the same time. "Please, enlighten me."

"Well, amusing everyone survives until season four...and they get renewed."

"They freaking better survive and the show better get renewed," Oliver muttered.

Felicity seemed to brighten even more. "Look, Dutch and D'avin are both super traumatized...that's not to say that Johnny isn't, but Dutch and D'avin both are far worse. They've had crap lives and Dutch is the one that's pushed D'avin away, to protect him as much as herself. She told him at the end of that episode that it was her...because she would have killed him. Sure, it took her a while to get back to the point where she could work with him and trust him, but look at them now…"

"So, you think they'll get together?"

"Eventually."

"Eventually?"

"We found each other again, right?" Felicity asked.

She had a point.

"To be fair," Oliver said before pausing a moment. "I didn't stab Curtis and try to kill you after we made love-"

"To be fair," Felicity countered quickly. "I might have stabbed you with a USB drive in less time than Dutch took to take D'av down."

"A USB drive?" Oliver asked with a grin.

"Do you doubt me?" she asked and her eyebrows raised with the serious question.

"No," he said with a laugh.

"So, just know...if you ever get mind controlled and try to kill me that I'm going to have to stab you...somewhere...but I'll try to avoid the face that I love so much," Felicity told him in a far too kind voice as she cupped his face. "I sort of love this face."

"Only the face?"

Felicity pulled him closer for a kiss. "Among other things," she whispered against his lips.

Oliver was beyond done. As much of a comfort as it was to be living in the same space as Felicity, he'd been finding himself awake at night. If he wasn't going over Lian Yu and what had happened after...then he was just staring at her as she slept trying to memorize her face even more than he had it engrained in his memory. So, besides not sleeping enough, he also had the weight of everything he'd just heard in the city meeting as mayor. The whole he was the Green Arrow and had a million things he needed to be doing wasn't even factoring into the level of exhausted he was at.

As he put the key into the door to the loft, he knew that Curtis would be inside and hanging out with Felicity, but that would be fine. He could use that time to crash for a quick nap, which would hopefully keep Curtis from feeling like he needed to leave if Oliver was going to sleep. As he pushed the door open, he heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS. The TV was up louder than normal, but perhaps it was because he simply wasn't expected.

And then the excited shouting started.

"YES!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THEY FREAKING FINALLY DID IT!"

"ABOUT FRAKING TIME, TOO!"

"What the heck is going on?" Oliver asked as he moved further into the loft once locking the front door. Felicity and Curtis were both looking over at him from the couch. The TV was now muted, but the two of them had been loud enough to make up for how high they'd had it cranked when he'd first walked in.

"Why are you home so early?" Felicity asked instead.

"I thought you were going to do that thing...with Thea today?" Curtis added.

Oliver blinked twice, his hands on his hips, and then he looked down. "Shit," he mumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd totally forgotten about his promise to Thea that he'd help her with some vague thing for William that she'd asked him about." He pulled out his phone and started to text his sister.

"You really look like crap," Felicity commented. When he looked at her, she immediately added something else. "I mean it in a 'I love you and I'm concerned kind of way'."

"I'm sorry, I think my lack of sleeping is catching up to me," Oliver said.

"Can you repeat that? So, I can record it the next time you're being stubborn."

"Or I'm just getting old," Oliver said with a sigh. He finished texting Thea and then looked back over at them. "So, what was all the screaming for?"

"We weren't screaming-"

Curtis tilted his head. "Well, we were definitely shouting."

"With joy and celebration," Felicity added.

"I mean, today's a big day…"

"What are you talking about?" Oliver asked when Curtis made it sound like some kind of national holiday. He didn't think he'd be missing something so big like that and someone would have made him do something important as mayor for something like that.

"They just did the announcement for the thirteenth doctor," Felicity told him.

"Okay."

"It's Jodie Whittaker from Broadchurch."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

Oliver was confused at what the big deal was here. "She was good in it."

"Do you remember who her character was in Broadchurch?"

"No, but they were all good."

"She was the mom of the kid who gets killed."

"Okay," Oliver said. "She was really good in it. She'll be great on Doctor Who. So, why were you both shouting?"

"Because a female doctor," Curtis pointed out.

Oliver thrust his hands into his pockets and looked between them for a moment. "Wait. Really? That's a huge deal? I mean, the Doctor is over 900 years old. Is that really an issue?"

"For modern day misogynists, it is."

"Well, I'm glad that it's exciting and I look forward to watching her as the thirteenth doctor," Oliver said. "Now, I am going to go upstairs and take a quick nap."

"Wait," Curtis said. "I was going to ask...if Felicity and I can get into SDCC if you wanted to go too?"

"What?"

"San Diego Comic Con."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I dress up in leather every night and run around the city with a bow and arrows...really don't think I'm going to fit in at this...comic con."

Oliver had set his alarm, so that he wouldn't oversleep. He had been so exhausted, he was sure that it could have been a thing. As he moved down the stairs in flannel pj pants and a solid color t-shirt he heard a lot more sound than would normally come from just Felicity and Curtis. They could get loud, he'd experienced that geeking out to the point of letting the entire block know a few times. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he just stared in confusion at the sight he was taking in.

While he'd been napping, he checked his watch to make sure that he really hadn't been sleeping longer than he'd planned, apparently the loft's living space had been transformed with some kind of giant screen with a projector. They were playing a game that he'd seen Felicity play before. From the back of heads, he could tell exactly who were all sitting around playing. Felicity, of course, and Curtis...but also Thea and Dinah were there.

"You coming to tag in?" Rene asked.

Oliver blinked and looked over to see Rene coming from the kitchen with his hands full of snacks. "I didn't realize that we were having a party."

"Party of five, to be exact," Thea said as she held up her hand.

"Well, Rene got kicked out for raging," Curtis said as he briefly looking over his shoulder before looking back to the game.

"I thought that World of Warcraft is normally played on computers? With keyboards and a mouse?" Oliver asked. He'd been trying to get Felicity to play with him, but she'd been putting it off, apparently not wanting to properly train him.

"Felicity and I figured out a way to get it all keybound to traditional game consoles," Curtis informed him quickly. "Which I think is still a more effective setup for PvP rather than raiding."

His eyes took in the screen and the color coded name plates. Oliver had really wanted to be able to take part in this small part of Felicity's world. So, he had talked to Thea and he'd even talked to Curtis. He didn't know, however, that Dinah and Rene were in on it too. He supposed it made sense given that everyone had been taking turns coming in and keeping Felicity company.

"Do you have room for one more?" he asked.

"We're running pluses," Felicity told him. "You have to be one-ten."

Oliver shrugged. He'd really wanted to impress Felicity and he'd wanted to prove that he could live in her digital world, be that Azeroth or somewhere else. "Can you use a bear tank?" he asked as casually as he could as he moved to sit on the floor near Felicity. Curtis had helped him and it had been a lot more complicated and frustrating than he'd thought, but he felt like there was a possibility of impressing Felicity and possibly all of them.

"You have a bear tank?" Felicity questioned, obviously caught off guard.

"I mean, technically isn't it called a guardian druid?"

This seemed to only confuse everyone else more.

"I mean, if you guys already have a tank, that's cool." Oliver looked around because everyone, except Curtis, looked absolutely confused now.

"No, it's totally cool...we can run LFR as a warm up...that way we can all play," Curtis said in the stunned silence. "And that means I don't have to run as heals on my shaman...I can swap over to my 'lock and do some real damage." Curtis handed him a controller and then moved to boot up something, it looked like he was loading Oliver's character in. "We really need to find someone who likes to play a healer…"

"You know who probably does?" Thea brought up.

Felicity still looked confused.

"Ray," Thea said. "He probably plays a holy paladin."

"I think you're probably right about that," Oliver said.

Felicity was squinting at him now, like she was trying to figure out what was going on. "You really know how to play?"

"If you don't want me to play-"

"No! No…" She stopped and sat up a bit straighter in her chair and seemed to be thinking over what she was going to say next. Her voice softened quite a bit. "No, I was just thinking that this better not be Barry messing with the timeline again…"

Oliver laughed at that. "What do you think Barry could do to make it so that I was good at this game?"

Felicity shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure out what he did to change Baby Sara into Baby JJ."

"Does this mean I can be off of time out?" Rene asked as he passed out snacks and drinks.

"It's just LFR...you can rage there all you want," Dinah said with a shrug. "There's no way in hell that anyone's going to actually do mechanics." Oliver looked over at Dinah, who seemed half irked and half expectant. He settled into place, ready to prove himself. She looked over at him. "You and I as tanks, this should be good."

"Hope so," Oliver said with a smile as he looked from Dinah and then back to the screen.

"Crap," Curtis said.

"We can't queue for LFR with six people," Felicity filled in before a 'what' could be asked.

"I can step out," Oliver quickly offered.

"No, no...we can do this on normal."

"I mean, you should be fine on normal, Oliver," Curtis said as he looked over at him.

Now he really felt like he needed to prove himself. This wasn't exactly fooling around. He remembered Curtis explaining the different difficulties and they'd run some of LFR, but it hadn't been too helpful since apparently no one actually followed the mechanics of each fight. This would be a real test for him. He tried to remember what Curtis told him as he also looked over who he'd be playing with.

Thea was a pally, Curtis was a warlock, Rene was a rogue, and Felicity was a mage. They were all dps. Dinah was a death knight and a tank. They'd be in charge of the group they'd be running with. At least, if they had a small group, then the majority of the group would be the people sitting right there with him. He was hoping for that. Would take some of the stress off of him.

As they set up to queue for people in premades, they moved their characters towards the Tomb of Sargeras entrance. He kept going over the right rotation. Mangle. Gore. Moonfire. Thrash. Maul. Swipe. Repeat. All he wanted was to be somewhat descent. Also, he'd sort of found himself liking the game. He still thought he might be a good hunter, with a lot of practice, but he liked the bear. It was fun and it was the leader. The job of the tank was also to protect the group and act as a meat shield. It was something he was familiar with and find it easy to fall into.

They entered the green swirl that was the instance entrance.

"You sure about this?" Felicity asked him.

"It's going to be fun."

TBC…