Slow and Steady

All characters belong to DC Comics

I own nothing

A frail hint of a smile tugged at her lips. Felicity stood underneath a barren oak, the frosty wind buffeted the long tails of her black coat and against her leggings.

It had been a stressful week of staring at the monitor screens and decoding unbreakable encryptions for Oliver. She needed a break from the underground and the dim lightening; she needed to feel the winter breeze scrape over her paled cheeks and chill the gloss on her arms over her chest, she clicked her heeled boots, and rubbed her gloved fingers over the rough bark of the tree.

Her stomach groaned with discontentment, reminding her that she had a mistake of canceling her lunch date, and allowed herself to starve for almost three hours of roaming the snow dusted streets of Starling City.

She caught a whiff of something sweet and melting with chocolate.

"It's pretty cold out today..."

Felicity froze only momentarily; but in those few seconds she felt her heart pounding against her chest-she felt something familiar and soothing grip her with toasty warmth-her cheeks flush into a hue of crimson and she dared herself to spare a glance around her.

Her body wobbled as she slowly turned in the direction of his gentle baritone, but she hesitated, and allowed her curled lashes to flick the snowflakes out of her watery blue eyes.

She refused to put her glasses, knowing that the frames would be ice to her skin, and scanned through the wispy squalls of the falling snow and found him standing at the curb.

Barry Allen was standing inches from her, his slender and muscular body welcoming, as the length his dark overcoat billowed in the wind. His youthful face held a friendly and yet tender expression, but she noticed light bruising in the chiseled lines of his jaw. His grayish-blue eyes were soft and focused on her. She felt her heart jolt with excitement.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned, her words faltering each moment she stared at him. It was unnerving.

Barry gave her an innocent expression, and his lips turned up into a coy grin. "I was just out for a jog." he replied comically, but she just arched one eyebrow, starting at him pointedly. "The truth is Felicity..." he cleared his throat, stepping closer-invading her space. "I wanted to see you again. I have been thinking a lot about you, since we kissed on the train-well it's not really about the kiss, but more about you." He confessed genuine, his boots crunched over the ice underneath them. He lowered his head.. "Uh, how should I put this...I...um..I missed you."

"You're so adorable when you talk," Felicity whispered, reaching out her gloved hand, resting her palm over his face. "I missed you too," she revealed in a sweet voice, feeling his speeding pulse thump against her stiff fingers.

"I find you so beautiful, Felicity." Barry said sweetly, his blue eyes captured the gray light of the wintry sky. "I guess you want something warm to drink?" He took a step back, and told her wordlessly to a wait a minute, and she watched him move back to the curve, lower down and lift out two plastic cups of hot chocolate. He gave her a quick smirk, and in a heartbeat he was in front of her; placing a cup in her hands. "Yeah, I know it's not the best in the city...I was running out of options."

"No, no. It's fine." Felicity assured, popping the lid off slight off the rim. Her blue eyes leveled with his tender stare. "I haven't had this in a long time. It's been years."

"I used to sipping a hot chocolate when I'm working on a case. Lately I have acquired a large amount thanks to my accelerated metabolism. It keeps my sugar levels up and helps me stay alert during cold nights." He explained, watching her lips twist softly. "Chocolate, coffee and caffeine. It's all mixed into one drink that keeps the blood warm." He smiled, and then pulled himself closer, his shadow blanketed over her shadow. His expression shifted into a sullen countenance and he sighed, before adding. "I remember my mother loved drinking this during the Christmas season. She always knew how to make things perfect, even when people used to believe they weren't..."

"Do you miss your mother, Barry?" she asked, taking a small, delicate sip. He shrugged his shoulders and kept his eyes distant for a long moment. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ask that sort of question." she faltered in her words, and froze when realization nudged at her heart. "It wasn't right of me to ask..."

Barry shook his head, and placed his hand gently on her shoulder.

"Its okay, Felicity. You can ask away. The more I talk about it...The more the pain doesn't hurt that much." he lowered his head, and drew out a deep and cleansing breath." I miss my mother, I think about her every moment of my life and try to gather the details of what really happened that night when lightening invaded our living room and took her from me."

He clamped his eyes shut, and breathed out a shaky exhale, reopening his blue eyes and lightly frowning at her. "The more I put the pieces together it's almost like she knew what was happening and she protected me from something dangerous. Something that could destroy me...It wasn't random lightning that we see in a thunderstorm...It was like a yellow streak of energy in a form of a man...Or maybe it was something else entirely."

"Well, the things I've seen through my line of work have help me believe in the impossible, rationally speaking," she lightly smile, placing her hand on his broad shoulder. Barry narrowed his blue eyes to her hand, lifting his to envelope warmth over her knuckles. She felt her heart falter with an irregular beat. They were so close. Alone. It was a perfect moment to kiss him. Swallowing, she parted her lips and whispered, "Do you think it's impossible to kiss the world's fastest man without feeling his heart racing?"

Barry's eyes lightened reveal almost a wintry blue, his lips curved upwards, and his charming, yet honest smile answered all of her unspoken questions.

"I think it's very possible," he said, his voice quiet and filled with tenderness. "I think your heart will be racing."

Felicity's eyes flickered until a blank expression crept over her face, and he was right, her heart was thumping faster against her rib cage. She was undecided at first, contemplating and daring herself to pull in closer, but then a surge of impulse shot through her veins, and she couldn't restrain the hunger any longer. Her eyes snapped back to his gentle gaze, and she inwardly cursed her cowardice of avoiding him for too long. It was torture to watch him biting his lip, and looking cute at the same time.

She narrowed her eyes, and then said, "I've been kissed by a lot of men. Some good...Others bad in their own right."

Barry shrugged innocently, veiling his emotions and trying to grasp the realization in front of him. "I've only been kissed once by a beautiful woman."

"Iris..." She fumbled for a long minute, feeling her walls rebuilding back up, and then averting her gaze away. "Did she kiss you?" She bit her tongue, it was a pathetic question to ask, and clearly she was becoming envious of his best friend.

He merely grinned at her question, and watched her expression crumble into disappointment. "No," he answered simply, bringing his hand to the side of her neck, he kept his stare locked onto her, and she tried to hardest to ignore him, but eventfully, met his sincere blue eyes once again, and broke out into a smile, and her cheeks were growing rosy. Barry, cupped his hand over her jaw, "Felicity, you were the first woman I kissed." he admitted, honesty was throwing a curve ball directly against her heart.

Tension and heat run thick in her slender, petite body. It whacked against her bones, until she thrusted her arms outward, and wrapped them over the span of his solid shoulders, her breasts rubbed against his jacket, enough to feel the hardened muscle underneath. She felt knots entwine in her stomach, and she glanced over the parking lot, hoping no one would break this perfect moment.

Barry tilted his head in closer, hot air from his mouth buffeted over her paled skin, and his hand stroked her golden bleached locks, "Slow or fast?" he whispered, inches from her mouth. She brought her hands to each side of his smooth face, framing his jaw, and he moved in closer, nose touched for a brief second, and his lips melted against her own, he kissed her with delicate pressure, not rough, because he was a gentleman, and his soft, chocolate flavored lips folded wet heat over her mouth. He kissed her fully, suckling over glossed flesh and all she could do was close her eyes and meet his pace.

Her hand clutched his jacket, and she took his heartbeat.

Slow.