A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay. My computer has been all wonky and it went to the Apple store for 2 weeks. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. I have an idea of the next two chapters but I really want to hear from you all of where you want this story to go. Let me know in your reviews. Also I stole a line in here from Smallville. Don't own it!
I got some really negative reviews last time about the characters being OOC and now I'm putting a disclaimer in the story summary, but if you're going to write a negative review, please make it constructive and not just plain mean. I totally understand if a TVD/Arrow crossover isn't your thing. Read and Review please!
Oliver didn't know what to expect when he and Roy walked back into the mansion that next morning. More torturing? Felicity's blood everywhere? He turned to the young boy walking beside him. Roy had come to him that morning, telling him about Thea leaving. Oliver reassured Roy that he had encouraged Thea to leave Starling City and start over again. But they would find her.
He had prepped Roy ahead of time about what they might see and the state Felicity might be in. Roy wanted her back to herself so she could start looking for Thea immediately.
So many worrisome thoughts ran through Oliver's head as he walking into the house, but the last thing he expected to see that morning was Felicity sitting on the kitchen counter in a men's button down shirt and Damon shirtless as he fed her a strawberry. Felicity was giggling through bites.
"But I want chocolate chip pancakes," Felicity said after taking a bite of the fresh strawberry. She pouted. He went back to mixing ingredients.
"Don't pout. Strawberries are healthier and there are no chocolate chips," Damon pointed at her with a whisk. "Hello Oliver, Roy."
Felicity immediately jumped off the island and straightened herself up. Damon was obviously better at the being alert thing.
"Oliver!" she said with a slight worry in her tone. "Roy! Hey. Didn't know you guys would be dropping by so early. I should go put on pants, and get my apologies, which I didn't finish writing totally but I can improvise – right? I mean apologies should come from the heart anyways, who needs well thought out written letters – unless you babble like me, which then maybe I should finish writing them…"
She rambled on in true Felicity fashion. Roy's eyes widened in surprise and Oliver looked half relieved and half angry. His eyes went to Felicity's bare legs and then to Damon's shirtless state.
Roy ignored the tension in the room and took three steps forward and hugged Felicity. "Thank god you're you again."
Felicity let of a sigh of relief into the hug. "Roy, I've always been me, I was just a bitchy, emotionless version of me. And now I need to do a lot of apologizing, especially to you. Sorry for you know…" She then lowered her voice. "…all that happened back at the motel. Especially bringing up Thea like that. I've already started running searches on where she could have gone."
Roy smiled widely and pulled her into a big hug again. "Thank you," He released her.
"All that is forgotten, I mean mostly… naked you might be engraved in there for a while longer," Roy teased and winked. Oliver froze beside him. The man knew what had transpired the day before but hearing Roy joking about seeing Felicity naked didn't make him feel all happy inside.
Felicity looked down embarrassed for a quick moment before turning to Oliver. He was frowning. "Hey," she whispered shyly.
"Hey…"
A pin could have dropped and it would have sounded like an air horn blowing at that moment. The tension was suffocating. Felicity kept picking at her nails and Roy shot Damon a desperate look.
Damon put down the pancake batter and turned to Roy, "You know, I just remembered I'm the world's worst cook. Roy, you want to go grab some breakfast? IHOP?"
Felicity opened her mouth, "But um…"
Damon already had sped upstairs and grabbed a shirt and sped back down. "You guys should talk. Felicity, you said you make great pancakes. You take over."
Felicity mouth was open. Traitor, she thought. He grave her a wink and patted Oliver on the shoulder. "You two kiddos have fun!"
He practically dragged Roy out of the house leaving her alone with Oliver Queen. She looked up at him and he was standing stiffly, looking at the pancake batter left aside.
His eyes moved and met hers again. She took a step back when she saw some anger. "Um, so yeah, hey."
Oliver's lip turned upward into a small smile, but some fury was still behind his eyes. "You already said that," His eyes went back down to her legs.
Felicity's eyes widened. "Oh pants, right. Be right back."
Oliver watched as she sped upstairs and came down a few seconds latter wearing some leggings under the dress shirt. "Um, so do you want pancakes?" She asked awkwardly.
Oliver shook his head no.
"When?" He asked and she knew what he was asking: when did she flip her switch back on.
"Sometime last night," She said casually.
He growled slightly using his Arrow tone. "I told Damon to call me. When it happened."
Felicity took a step forward, with her head high. "I know. He was going to, I told him not to. I was a mess. I needed to come to terms with what I had done, said. And then I needed to focus on apologies, so I just needed time…"
Oliver closed his eyes and whispered, "How did he…"
"Get me to flip my switch? Um you know… " Felicity thoughts trailed off and then she paused. "Well I want pancakes so…"
Felicity was evading. He could tell. She immediately went to the pancake batter and began to pour some onto the skillet. He looked at her ruffled hair and dress shirt. He could figure out context clues. She and Damon had obviously slept together. But was that pre-humanity or post-humanity. Did he torture her into flipping the switch or something else? He really hoped it wasn't the something else he was thinking about.
He sat in silence as her words from yesterday came back to haunt him. Liking you, having feelings for you and reassuring you everyday you little wannabe hero… all of it was so freaking exhausting. God, those words stabbed him in his heart. Is that how she really felt? He didn't want to rehash yesterday, but he had to know.
He slumped onto the barstool at the kitchen counter and whispered, "We should talk, about what you said yesterday. About you being exhausted."
Felicity had just flipped a pancake and she froze, spatula in one hand and the other was reaching for a fresh strawberry. She didn't say anything. He continued, "You just said a lot yesterday and I know it was because you had your switch off, but I can't help to wonder if that's how you feel – deep down."
Felicity finally took a breath again and slid the pancakes onto a plate. She walked around and stood across from him. Her voice was soft, "Oliver… A lot of what I said, I said it with the intention to hurt you. I knew what to say to hurt everyone around me and I just said those things."
Oliver took her hand into his and squeezed. "Good, I knew that was it. Look and about what happened here, in the mansion that night…"
Felicity held up her free hand, palm out, motioning him to stop. "Let's not talk about our amateur acting hour, okay? Actually let's just not talk about that entire night. I can't handle that that emotional overload," Felicity explains as she pulled her hand out of his. She went and poured syrup on the pancakes.
She continues, "Damon says that I need to focus on one emotion, one thing after flipping the switch back and that's what I'm doing. So I'd prefer no to rehash that night…"
Oliver looked sad. He nodded unsurely, staring off into space.
Felicity frowned. "What's wrong? Did you get you know who to the island okay?"
It took a moment for him to react to her words. He leaned back and sighed. "Yeah. He's locked up in ARGUS' prison," he whispered. "Felicity, it's just…"
Oh. He wasn't going listen to what she just asked of him. She gulped.
"Right. Well pancakes. These are delicious. Are you sure you don't want some? I can make them."
She got up but Oliver grabbed her arm. "Felicity, please, we should talk."
She yanked her arm back in frustration. "Did you hear anything I just said?"
Oliver got up from his bar stool and took a step toward her. "I know. I just, I want you to know that I, um," he nervously ran his hand through his hair. "… meant it."
Felicity's eyes widened. She knew exactly what it he was talking about. Her voice came out two octaves higher than normal. "Of course you did. I mean we love each other in the friends, partners sense. Just like how I love Dig and Roy and you love them too."
His lips pressed together tightly and he raised an eyebrow at her rambling. Felicity bit her lip. She knew where Oliver was going with his train of thoughts. It's what she had been wanting for ages, but right now, in this moment, she wasn't ready to open her heart up to him like that. Her heart couldn't handle it.
How long would it take until Laurel comes into the team and Felicity becomes obsolete? How long until Oliver realized he was supposed to be with Gorgeous Laurel and not Felicity. She could end up with a shattered heart, something she wouldn't want to feel, and something that would make her switch off her humanity– again. And she didn't want that. She couldn't fall into that rabbit hole.
She knew Oliver didn't know what he wanted at this point either. He had just broken up with Sara, still had Laurel to deal with. Sure he might have some sort of feelings for her, but right now, she wanted him to be 100 percent sure before he acted on them.
She knew she owed him honesty to why she didn't want to hear him confess his feelings, but she couldn't. He started to speak, "No Felicity, I mean like…"
She didn't give him the truth, instead she said the only thing that she knew would make him shut up.
"Damon fucked my humanity switch back on – that's how it happened. Well through blood-sharing during the act and by act I mean hanky panky, boinking, horizontal bop, knocking boots…
Oliver immediately closed his mouth after she had begun speaking and gone quiet. His face contorted in pain and when she started spewing off the synonyms of "sex," and finally he snapped, "Yeah Felicity, got it."
Felicity stopped rambling. She looked up and saw pain in his eyes. He looked away immediately. She whispered, "I think he's going to stay in Starling for a little while."
Oliver wasn't looking at her anymore. He grabbed his keys off the counter and got up. "Great. Good for you two…" He choked out. Don't be an ass. You can't lose her. You need her. He kept repeating to himself.
He finally looked at her and gave her a firm nod. "I'm glad you're back to your humanity filled self. Dig, Roy and I are meeting at the foundry this evening to figure out a plan – we need a new lair location, figure out what is usable at the current foundry, you know. You'll be there?"
Felicity smiled weakly. "Yeah. What time?"
"7 p.m."
"Ok. I'm about to clean up and pack up to go back to my apartment. So the mansion is yours again," Felicity called out to him as he walked out of the mansion and slammed the door behind him.
Felicity reached out and took a bite of her soggy pancake. "Good talk," she said to herself.
She had been so focused on her tablet, the entire drive from the mansion to her apartment. Damon parked the car and turned to her, grabbing the piece of technology out her hand. "Hey!" She exclaimed.
Damon rolled his eyes and grabbed her bag from the back seat. He got out of the car and she followed. He turned to her, "You've barely said three sentences since I came back from breakfast. Your nose has been buried in this," He waved the tablet as they walked to her apartment door. She unlocked the door and let them in. "What happened with Oliver?"
Damon threw her bag in the corner and set her tablet on the counter. He turned to her expecting an answer. "It's complicated and I don't want to talk about it," she exclaimed. She reached for her tablet but Damon blocked her and gave her a stern look.
"Just like you don't want to talk about Elena… right? I don't want to talk about this," Felicity whispered.
Felicity bit her bottom lip hard, drawing blood. Damon froze as the scent hit his nose. The cut quickly healed, but there was still blood on her lips. He groaned and took a step forward, closing the gap between them. He leaned down and captured her lips between his.
Felicity pulled away from the kiss and began placing kisses along his jaw line and then throat. He closed his eyes, trying to get control of himself, before finally saying, "If I tell you about Elena, will you tell me what happened with Oliver?"
The blonde froze, her lips right near his skin. She pulled away from him and went into the kitchen, grabbing wine glasses, a bottle of red wine and a wine opener. She set all three on the coffee table in front of the couch.
"No bourbon in the house, so wine will have to do," Felicity said before sitting down and tucking her feet under her.
Damon smiled and grabbed the bottle and opener. "I'm not going to mention anything about it being only 10:30 a.m., because for this conversation, we might need a few bottles," he replied as he opened the bottle and poured two, very generous glasses.
He took a sip and grinned. Felicity had good taste in wine. She looked at him expectantly. "Oh you're going first…" She told him.
He took another sip and turned to Felicity. He didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, like he was collecting his thoughts.
Finally he started, "I think life isn't supposed to work out for the bad guys. The bad guys don't get happy endings. And that's the first thing you need to know about me Felicity, I'm not a good guy."
Felicity opened her mouth to protest, but he held up his hand. "I've killed people, lots of people. Because of Elena, I became a better person, but sometimes I fucked up and a lot of times a ghost from my past came into our lives with a vengeance, because of who I used to be," Damon said staring off into space. He finished the rest of his wine in a sip.
"Man, when we were together, we loved each other like nothing else matter. And she loved me to a point where she would defend me for EVERY awful thing I'd do or had done. Her friends hate me and she continuously defended me and my actions to them. Hell, she would stand up for me to my own brother."
Damon looked down and Felicity had clasped her hand around his glass. She took it from him and refilled it before handing it back. She nodded to him, letting him know to continue. "So I let her go, but immediately realized but idiotic mistake," Damon chuckled. "I gave her a speech about she's the good in my life, and without her it's just darkness. That's when she, well not really she since someone else was possessing her body - a much longer story for later – ended things. She called me a monster. So I left. I ended up here, the first time."
Damon turned to Felicity. "I killed one of her friends before leaving… spent a week aimlessly taking blood from whoever, came to Starling City and when I saw you, it was the first time I saw this light, this good. It reminded me of being a better man…"
Felicity's eyes were watering now. He turned to her and wiped her tears off. "When I left Starling City and went back to Elena, once she was herself again, no more possession, I had to tell her the truth. About killing her friend."
Felicity immediately put the pieces together and the words rushed out of her mouth before she could stop them, "So she didn't want to be with you after the truth?"
Damon laughed but it came out more of a choked sound. If only. "No. She blamed the girl who possessed her. So I told her Katherine didn't kill her friend, I did. I told her our relationship was toxic because I had killed her friend and she kept looking for other people to blame. She agreed that I always screw up and that I make her go against her morals to defend me and we both decided we don't work. We're toxic."
Felicity let out a low whistle. "That's it? Then you came here?"
"We had break up sex, she left to go back to her college campus…"
Felicity mouth dropped. "Hold up. She's only in college? You're dating a college student? Tell me she's at least a senior or something…"
"Freshmen…" Damon grinned at Felicity's antics.
Felicity started giggling. "She's 18, maybe 19… How old are you? 170?"
Damon stuck his tongue out at her. "I was turned when I was 25, almost 26. So not that big of an age gap."
"A 25/26 year old going after a high schooler. Totally normal," Felicity teased.
Damon rolled his eyes. "Where was I before I was rudely interrupted?" Damon asked playfully.
Felicity replied, "Breakup sex, college campus."
"Right, so we were dealing with some annoying things on our ends – bad guys and such. And that's when Elena and Stefan, my brother, her ex-boyfriend, start to have visions about each other."
Felicity raised her eyebrow asking for more details. Damon laughed.
"Right, so back story, we were told fate or the universe or something has it so that Stefan and Elena are suppose to end up together – but it was really just a spell. It's another long story. So visions go away and she comes and tells me that those visions were perfect. They showed a perfect life of marriage and kids and everything she ever wanted. But her and I were messy, complicated. But her and I are real."
Damon got up from the couch and ran his hand through his hair. "Fucking hate that word, real. She said she needed me, but only as a friend in her life. I couldn't do that. So I was a jackass. I told her I didn't want to see, hear or talk to her. And later that night, well early morning is when Oliver called. So I packed a bag and left and came here."
He turned around and Felicity looked at him with a small smirk. "And what was that phone call about. Yesterday?" Felicity said knowingly.
He grabbed the wine bottle and emptied it into his glass. He took a big sip before saying, "What phone call? I get many."
Felicity got up from the couch and walked over to him, "Oh the one that made you go from torturing me to wanting to fuck me senseless."
"Stefan called, asking where I went. I told Stefan I went to Starling City to help out a friend. He laughed and said I didn't have any friends. So I told him the semi-truth. I turned someone here last time I was here and I came back because they needed me. He didn't believe me, said it was about Elena. And then suddenly her voice was on the line," Damon explained. He set down his empty wine glass. Felicity did the same.
"I didn't realize but she was in the room with him and had asked him to call me, since I wouldn't pick up any of her phone calls. Elena started to yell at me for being a coward and running away. I got pissed and explained that not everything was about her and hung up."
"So coming back in and having sex with me was to prove a point? That not everything was about Elena?" Felicity asked, with some hurt behind her voice.
Damon's eyes darkened and he took a few steps forward, pushing Felicity against the wall. Felicity gasped at the contact. "Don't do that," Damon murmured into her hair. He kissed her hair and then her temple. His hand went over her heart. "We both knew that this wasn't and isn't about love. Your heart was never on the table, it was always with and still is with Oliver."
Felicity opened her mouth to protest but Damon interrupted, "Your turn."
She pushed Damon off her and went into the kitchen. She returned with another bottle of wine. "Okay, here we go."
She decided to start from the beginning. She told him about meeting Oliver and the ridiculous lies he gave her. She explained how she found out about him being the Arrow and how for the first time in her life, she felt like she had a purpose. Felicity went on to explain how an innocent crush turned into her falling in love with him, but there were always other women – Helena, McKenna, Laurel, Sara, Isabel. When she told him about Isabel, she had tears in her eyes. And finally she told him what happened that morning – how she thought Oliver finally saw her and had feelings for her and she shut him down.
Damon listened and nodded along and when she finished, he leaned over and wiped the tears off her cheeks. His hand stayed cupped on her face. "You're scared," Damon said in a matter of the fact tone.
"He's wants to be with you and you're scared," he continues.
Felicity's eyes flashed with annoyance. "I know Oliver. And he's not ready. He doesn't know what he wants. Two weeks ago, he was happy with Sara. Then there's Laurel, who he still has to deal with. He thinks he wants me because I finally am not mooning over him and standing as my own person," Felicity said animatedly.
"If I had said yes, I can bet you in a month he would be training Laurel, bringing her into the team and questioning his feelings toward her. My heart cannot take that. I can't handle it. And yeah, that makes me weak or scared or whatever, but I just…"
"I get it. I do," Damon interrupted her. He changed the topic. "You told him I was planning to stay for awhile… how did you know that?"
Felicity gnawed at her lip again and looked away. "Last night, the blood sharing thing. It was like I was in your mind. God, I know you love Elena and I…" She paused and took a deep breath admitting what she already knows. "… and I love Oliver. But you and I, last night. It was…"
"Mind-blowing," Damon finished her sentence.
Felicity nodded in agreement. "I have until 7pm before I have to get back to the real world. Can we just forget about them… just for a little while?"
He knew the "them" she was referring to was Elena and Oliver. He looked at the blonde and leaned over to capture her lips. He stopped, just a centimeter from her lips and whispered, "Trust me, after I'm done with you, you'll be glad if you even remember your own name…"
Roy was about to scream. They had been cleaning the old foundry for about an hour and the tension in the room hadn't gotten any better. Oliver was brooding as he packed away arrows and whatever weapons he could find while Dig worked on taking apart the salmon ladder, which luckily hadn't been destroyed. And he was helping Felicity decide what was usable from her computers. She was humming as she worked, a sure sign that she was happy. If she was happy and Oliver wasn't, that couldn't be good. Roy knew that much.
"Thank god the 3D printer is repairable," Felicity commented breaking the tension. "I mean I know we could just get a new one, which we will probably have to do for all of my monitors and half of the servers, but this baby survived."
Roy chuckled. And Felicity continued to smile and hum a new song as she worked. "So are we going to take all of this to the second location?"
Oliver nodded, "Yeah. We don't know who all Slade told about this place and nobody knows about the second location…"
"Except ARGUS," Dig added in. Oliver shrugged.
"Waller would find any location with that technology and processors. I would kill for one," Felicity said dreamily before going back to disconnect the hard drives.
Felicity's phone went off, but she had her hands tangled in wires. "Roy will you see who that is?"
Roy picked up the phone and saw it was a text from Damon. "Text… from Damon…" he said slowly. Oliver immediately tensed.
Felicity nodded and asked, "What does he want?"
Roy read the text and his eyes widened. He couldn't read the text out loud. "Um, he wants to know if you want cherry wood or black?"
Felicity let out an annoyed groan. She dropped the wires and got up from her chair. Grabbing the phone from Roy, she dialed his number.
"I told you white," Felicity exclaimed into the phone. "Not black. Not cherry wood. White goes with my orange accent wall…." She paused listening to whatever he was saying. "No you aren't repainting the wall."
Roy watched with an amused face, but couldn't say the same for Oliver. "Fine. Get the cherry wood…. Yes, but not a dark blue… turquoise maybe. You do realize you're going be the one painting…."
Felicity sighed. "No contractors Damon. I'll see you later."
She hung up and Dig asked, "Redoing your room?"
She looked annoyed. "Apparently. All I needed was a new bed frame…"
Oliver looked like he was ready to break the arrow in his hand. Roy shouldn't have asked, but he did, "I loved that white frame in your room. Why do you need a new one?"
Felicity blushed immediately and Roy had his answer.
Oliver closed up the box with weapons and mumbled, "Can we just focus on getting all of this to the van?"
Felicity immediately agreed, while Roy shrugged. They worked in silence and Roy and Dig made a few trips up the van with boxes.
Felicity had figured out what was usable from the computers and servers and was now making a list of things they needed for the new lair. Roy leaned over and asked, "Do we really need another sample analyzer?"
Felicity shot him a death glare and Roy put up his hands in surrender. "You want to make this list Harper?"
He grinned. "No ma'am. You're the brains…"
Felicity rolled her eyes and went back to the list. She tensed when she heard heels clicking down the stairs. Roy had grabbed his bow and pointed to the intruder. Oliver had done the same.
"Ollie?" A voice called out. Laurel. Roy scoffed and lowered his bow. He turned his attention back to the blonde in the room.
Oliver's lowered his bow as well but the tension didn't leave his shoulders. Laurel came into view, Dig trailing after her.
"Hey," she smiled, taking in the boxes around them. "You moving locations?"
Oliver shrugged. "Too many people know about this one. It's been compromised after Slade's men attacked it."
Laurel nodded, hoping she wasn't apart of those too many people. Her eyes caught the back of a blonde head and they narrowed. "So the gang's all back together…" Laurel trailed off. "I'm glad you're back Ollie. My dad, he's in the hospital."
"What happened?" Oliver instantly put a hand on her elbow.
Laurel had tears in her eyes, "He had massive internal bleeding. He was in surgery for hours. I've been waiting for him to wake up. The doctors said he would, when his body is ready – but it could be a few hours or a few weeks."
Felicity noticed how Oliver rubbed his hand up and down Laurel's arm. He then pulled her into a hug as she cried into his shirt. Felicity tensed up, and told herself to ignore it. You knew this would happen. She told herself.
Laurel pulled away, "I actually came down here for a reason. I can't get in touch with Sara. She needs to know, to see dad. Can you… I mean do you have a way to contact her?"
Oliver nodded and pulled out his phone, his vigilante phone. He called Sara's burner phone, but it had been disconnected. "Disconnected…"
Felicity finally piped in. "I can call Nyssa…" Felicity offered.
Four heads snapped to her. Dead silence. "Why do you have Nyssa's number?" Dig asked breaking the silence.
Felicity gulped, taking in all the questioning and one slightly angry stare. "She… um… told me to call her in case I ever needed the League. I guess she liked me or something…"
"Liked you?" Roy snorted. "She straight up tried to recruit you."
"WHAT!" Oliver roared in anger. Felicity jumped at his voice and she wasn't the only one. She noticed Laurel had taken a few steps back.
She shrugged. "Calm down. I'm not joining the League. But I have her number… so I could call her and she'll most likely be with Sara."
Oliver glared at her and Felicity didn't back down. Finally Laurel broke the staring contest, "I don't care who you have to call. I just want to get a hold of my sister."
Oliver softened his glare and finally said, "Fine, but put it on speaker."
She dialed the number and per Oliver's request, well more like demand, put the phone on speaker. It rang, once, then twice, then Nyssa picked up.
"Felicity Smoak, M.I.T Class of '09. Change your mind so quickly?"
Felicity bit her lip at Nyssa's teasing and replied, "No Nyssa. That's not why I'm calling. How are you?"
"Marvelous. I guess that's the thing about love, Miss Smoak. It can make you feel quite spectacular. But I'm guessing you called to talk to my better half, not listen to me moon over her?"
Felicity smiled widely at Nyssa's antics. "Yes. I actually did call to talk to Sara. Is she around?"
Nyssa immediately started saying something out in Arabic until Sara's voice came onto the phone. "Felicity? What's going on?"
Felicity immediately let out the breath she was holding at the sound of the canary's voice. "Hey Sara, I um, Laurel's here. Something's happened with your dad…"
Laurel immediately reached over and snatched the phone from Felicity and took it off speaker. She started whispering to Sara everything that happened with Lance. She went off into a corner of the lair and continued talking. Felicity sat back and picked at her nails again. Her nervous habit. Dig's hand reached her shoulder and squeezed it for comfort.
"So Lyla's pregnant," He said to her, but Oliver and Roy heard as well.
Felicity jumped up with a squeal of excitement. "Are you serious? Congrats John. I mean it's yours right? Otherwise this conversation is about to get real awkward…"
John laughed, "Yes. The baby is mine. She's actually 3 months along."
Felicity pulled him into a big hug. Oliver had a scrunched up look on his face, standing there in shock. Felicity stepped on his foot, causing him to jump. He coughed out of his shocked state and patted Dig on the back. "I'm happy for you man."
"Yeah, congrats. If you're into that sort of thing… kids and all," Roy teased.
Felicity was still grinning. "This is so great. When are you going to tie the knot? Again I mean. What the sex of the baby? Any name ideas? Oh my god, we have to get him or her a Team Arrow onesie. And I have to throw a baby shower for Lyla," she rambled on.
"Whoa whoa whoa," Dig held up a hand. "Breath between thoughts Felicity. We're going to the courthouse this weekend and I want you three there. We don't know the sex yet. The appointment is in two weeks. No name ideas yet…"
Laurel came back to the group, interrupted Dig and held out the phone to Felicity. "She wants to talk to you."
Felicity nodded and took the phone from Laurel. "Sara?"
There was some sniffling from the other end. "Hey, um. I know he's going to be fine. I just talked to Nyssa – both of us are coming back. I just need to see him."
"Ok. Sara I'm so sorry for what I said that night…" Felicity started.
"Stop. Already forgotten. Nyssa and I are going to take a commercial flight but problem is ARGUS flags us at security coming into the US. Can you take care of that if I send you flight details?"
"Yes. Of course," Felicity answered quickly.
"Thanks Felicity. Can you also tell Oliver to keep an eye out for Laurel? I kind of gave her my leather jacket and I just don't want her to think that means she's ready to go out and fight crime immediately."
Felicity closed her eyes and rubbed her bridge between her nose. "Sure Sara. See you soon, okay?"
"Yeah, okay," There was some whispering on the other end between Nyssa and Sara.
"Also Nyssa says she's not done trying. Should I be scared my girlfriend is falling in love with you?" Sara chuckled. "I mean it wouldn't be the first time the person I'm dating has feelings for you…"
Sara tried to make a joke out of it, but Felicity could hear the hurt behind those words. "Sara… That's not happening. On either accounts. Just get your butt on that plane and come see your father, okay?"
"Okay."
Felicity hung up and noticed both Roy and Dig weren't in the foundry anymore. They seemed to have taken the last of the boxes upstairs. Laurel was reaching for her purse and waved to Felicity. "Thanks," she causally said to Felicity before giving Oliver and hug and walking up the stairs.
This left just Oliver and her in the foundry. "Sara and Nyssa will be coming into town," Felicity told him.
He nodded, but he was frowning like he was deep in thought. Felicity took his silence as he needed space, so she grabbed her bag and started to put on her jacket.
"Why'd you kiss me? Back at the mansion?" He asked softly.
The question made her freeze again. She then did what she did best – she rambled.
"Oliver, I thought you were going to die. Hell I thought we were all going to die with Waller threatening to blow up Starling. It was just 'end of the world' well more like 'end of our lives' kind of kiss. Plus it sold the moment even more. It's not like I had this expectation for us to be together afterwards. Like I told you this morning, I don't…"
"I don't believe you," Oliver cut her off and called her out on her bullshit. "You're lying to me. You have been all day. Why?"
Felicity closed her eyes and a tear fell. Oliver took a step forward and she put up her hand. "Stop. You know when we first met, you dropped the most ridiculous lies on me…"
Oliver brought his hand up to her cheek and wiped her tears, "Felicity… you're avoiding the question."
She took a step back, out of his touch ignoring what he said. "I mean even after I found out about your green leather fetish, there weren't outright lies to my face, but there were so many omissions of the truth - omissions that got either Dig or I in trouble…"
Oliver's brain flashed back to Helena and he grimaced.
"But I never stopped believing in you Oliver. Or trusting you. I've offered myself up for bait, given up sleep, given up my career for this, for you. Because I believe in you and this mission," Felicity rambled on. "I guess that's the true test of believing in someone – knowing their lies are there to protect you. Do you trust me Oliver, like how I trust you?"
Oliver nodded. "Of course I do. You don't even have to ask. I'm so grateful Felicity. For Dig and you, but especially you. I couldn't, I can't do this without you," He paused and looked into her eyes. "But how does this tie back to what I asked?"
Felicity bit her lip and let out her final thought, "Trusting someone. Well it's not really trust if you ask someone to explain themselves. So trust me Oliver when I say I have my reasons for today… Just trust me."
Oliver's mouth opened to protest, but no words came out. She was right. He asked her to trust him many times with no back-story or explanation. How could he not repay the favor? Because you want her to be yours and not Damon's. The voice in his head told him. He looked at her curiously and saw her eyes were darting around, never meeting his. She isn't ready. But she was his partner, his best friend and he couldn't lose that over her not being ready to be together, whatever her reasons are. He shook it off and let out a small smile.
"Ok," he replied. "I'm trusting you."