'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.'

If she could receive a dollar every time her grandmother uttered those words to her she would have been a billionaire by now.

She kept on reminding herself that the main reason she was standing in a class full of people who seemed that they were enjoying working with raw eggs, meat and the more she thought of all the rawness that passed her hands she almost gagged.

She looked over to the opposite side of the counter and tried to concentrate on the handsome man. He had a frown between his eyes that she knew all too well, but there was something light about him. He looked calm, he looked at peace with the world and for a change the frown from concentration was caused by cooking and not trying to figure out how to save a city from a terrorist attack.

To Felicity food was never a priority. She could never cook to start with and so TV dinners were the order of the day since college and Big Belly became a daily routine since she started working with 'Team Arrow'. She never had to show off her cooking skills to anyone…that was until the former playboy vigilante finally made up his mind and they drove off in the sunset.

Going on vacation with Oliver was more than she could ever dream of, but then the constant dream came to an end and they settled down in Ivy Town and she was met by domesticity. Her first meal was a total disaster and she still had no idea how he was able to polish his plate of the totally inedible food she 'cooked'. She felt so guilty that she couldn't play the part of the adorning housewife and take care of the one thing she loved more than anything in the world – Oliver Queen.

He had so much hope in his eyes the day he stood in front of her desk asking her if she was willing to spend time with him twice a week doing something different. She couldn't say yes fast enough, though afterwards she thought that she maybe should have asked what the activity was before agreeing to it….cooking class.

This was already their third class and she just couldn't bring herself to enjoy it. She put on a great show for him, since he was taking to cooking like a fish in water and she didn't want to disappoint him, but she just couldn't get the hang of it. It didn't matter how many pep talks she gave herself or how she told herself it was a mind over matter thing, it just wasn't working.

One night she was thankful for a report that was due to the Palmer Tech Board, which she never was happy about since she named the new CEO after Ray's sudden death, Oliver offered to cook dinner.

She was busy typing away on her keyboard when she felt familiar eyes on her. She knew he was watching her and the all familiar guilt filled her again. Here she was working and he was fulfilling her "role" by cooking. She took a deep breath and looked up staring at the beautiful blue eyes she could get lost in, at any given moment.

"Hey." he said softly leaning against the door to their study.

"Hey, I'm almost done then I'll come and help you in the kitchen okay?" she quickly added so he could know she wasn't abandoning him and expecting him to do everything.

"It's okay, dinner is ready. We can eat when you're done with your report."

There was a slight frown between his eyes and she knew there was something on his mind and he didn't exactly know how to say what he was thinking.

She immediately stopped typing to give him her full attention. They had made so much progress in communicating the last few months and she didn't want him to feel like he couldn't talk to her.

"Oliver…" she started off softly and cautiously, "…what's on your mind honey?"

He smiled at her, knowing that after all this time he could never successfully keep anything from her. He moved over to her sitting on her desk chair and bent down so they were now face to face.

"Why didn't you tell me that you hated the cooking class?"

At first she was shocked that he asked her so directly, but then again, he's always been good at deciphering her too. She wanted to deny it, but then thought the better of it and went with the acceptance approach.

"I didn't want to disappoint you. I know how important doing stuff together is and I didn't want you to feel like I didn't want to accept responsibility for my role in our relationship."

His frown deepened at her words. He gave her his adorable 'I'm confused Felicity' head shake and she couldn't help but smile a little.

"Your role? Felicity, do you really think that I'm that old fashioned to expect you to do all the cooking while I make money, which by the way if you haven't forgotten, I'm not."

He took her hands in his and gave her his serious look.

"I love you for who you are. I didn't fall in love with you because you could or couldn't cook. I fell in love with you because you make me want to be a better man, you make me feel like I can achieve anything. You make me feel like there's hope for me after all. Your other skills might have played a part but it had absolutely nothing to do with your culinary skills."

"Really?"

He gave her a kiss that took her breath away and when they finally parted she stared back into his blue eyes again.

"Yes Felicity, really. I don't ever want you to feel like you need to do something that you don't like to impress me. I already love you, and I don't think it's possible to even love you more than I do at this moment."

"Thank you." she gave him a small smile and traced her thumb over the deep wrinkle between his eyes. "I promise I'll make it up to you in many other ways." giving him a wink and a sly grin.

"Well I didn't make dessert, so I'm sure you can help out with that after dinner." he smiled back before giving her another kiss….needless to say dessert was first on the menu that night…..