Author's Note: Well, here we are. The final chapter!
I can't thank all of you enough for sticking with this story and with me. This was the first fic I ever posted for public consumption. I was terrified of how it would go over, but you guys responded so eagerly and with such enthusiasm... It blows me away, the amount of love you have for this story.
There will very likely be a sequel, though I can't give you a timeline just yet. I'm currently working on finishing a Sterek fic, as well as an Olicity/Sterek crossover, so I'm not sure when I'll start working on the follow up to this piece. Keep an eye on this story's updates and on tumblr for more info.
A million thanks and all my love!
(Chapter Title is from Never Stop by Safteysuit. If you've never heard it, go give it a listen. It SCREAMS Olicity.)
Renovations on the house began after the first of the year, with a projected completion no later than the beginning of March. Almost every room in the cottage needed updating, save for the bedrooms which only required a fresh coat of paint and a new finish for the hardwood floors. The kitchen and the basement were the largest projects and would therefor take the longest. In order to have everything done to their exact specifications, and done right, Oliver and Felicity were willing to wait.
Jeff and his team were making good progress, and in the first week of February they were right on time with their plan. Felicity was eager to get into the basement, their carefully concealed secondary lair, so she could get to work setting up their brand new computer system. Oliver listened attentively while she babbled about servers and network security, grinning at the kid-in-a-candy-store excitement she exuded with every word. Even if he had no idea what half of it meant, the pleasure that lit Felicity from the inside out when she talked about her tech was reason enough for Oliver to pay attention.
"Thea's going to freak out when she sees her new baby." Felicity beamed, slipping into a pair of tall black leather boots, zipping them up to just below her knee.
"You bought Thea a new computer?" Oliver asked as he adjusted his tie, his fingers fumbling with the knot much to his consternation.
"A computer?" Felicity snorted, smoothing down the full skirt of her midnight blue dress as she stood from the edge of their bed. "That's like calling the Mona Lisa a painting, or David a statue."
"Technically accurate?" Oliver caught her eye in the mirror, arching a brow and trying not grin.
Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. "A laughable understatement."
Oliver stopped fighting his grin and quit wrestling with his tie. Dropping his hands exasperatedly, he shoved them in his pockets and turned to face her. He tilted his head in silent question, sure his eyes were conveying what a pitiful job he was doing at a task he'd mastered as a child.
Felicity's lips twitched but she smothered her own smile and moved closer, lifting her hands to knot Oliver's tie. "Since when is tying a tie beyond your skill set?" she asked, gaze flickering between her fingers and his eyes.
"You're better at it." He shrugged, a gesture meant to convey carelessness but which only served to alert Felicity to the tight clench of his jaw, the peculiar glint in his eyes and the tension in his shoulders.
"Of course I am." She lifted onto her toes to kiss him softly, letting him know without words that she was there to listen when he was ready to talk about whatever was bothering him.
"We're going to be late." Oliver sighed, dropping his head to catch her lips again before she could pull away.
"Tell me where we're going and I'll call to let them know." She tried slyly, glancing up through her lashes.
"Then it wouldn't be a surprise." Oliver gently admonished, dropping a kiss to the tip of her nose.
"Worth a shot." Felicity blinked innocently, smirking as Oliver turned away to shrug into his suit jacket.
"In the interest of secret keeping," Oliver began, "it's a good thing you're wearing your contacts."
Felicity's brow's drew together in confusion. "Why?"
"Because your glasses would get in the way." He smiled wolfishly as he held up the white silk blindfold.
"Oliver, this is ridiculous." Felicity huffed, giggling despite herself when she felt him swing her through a doorway, his strong arms supporting her weight easily as he carried her bridal style.
Though she could see nothing but darkness, she could hear the humor in his voice when he responded. "We're almost there. Don't peek!" He nudged the edge of the blindfold with his nose, pushing it more firmly down over her eyes.
"I'm not peeking." she defended, even as she wrinkled her nose in an attempt to dislodge the fabric. He snorted a laugh and Felicity felt herself jostle a bit, Oliver's hips shifting more pronouncedly as though he were taking larger steps. "If you drop me down the stairs I'm going to be really upset with you." Felicity attempted to school her mouth into a frown but failed spectacularly, the corners of her mouth curling up into a twitchy grin.
Oliver rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see him, and adopted an affronted tone, "Of all the times I've carried you, I have never once dropped you. Tonight would be a really awkward time to set that precedent."
Felicity quirked a brow beneath her blindfold. "Is there really ever a good time to start unceremoniously dropping your girlfriend?" she asked just as she felt Oliver's steps level out.
"I've yet to hear you complain about my dropping you on our bed." Oliver pointed out huskily, gently lowering her feet so that Felicity was once more standing upright.
She shivered at the rough caress of his voice. "I'd say that's actually more of a toss, I think." she mused. "Besides, I'm almost never blindfolded when that happens."
"Almost." Oliver agreed, stepping up to press against her back and dropping a rasping kiss just below her ear.
"I can see it coming, is my point." Felicity leaned back against him, tilting her to the side to allow him better access to her neck.
"Hmm." Oliver hummed, raising a hand to the knot at the back of her head. "What about this, Felicity? Did you see this coming?"
The silk slipped down her cheeks as it fell away. Felicity blinked a few times to clear her vision, her eyes adjusting to the flickering candlelight illuminating the...
Lair?
Felicity smiled, an affectionate, tooth-flashing smile as she looked around her. The Arrow cave, a space she had come to know more intimately than she knew the inside of her own mind most days, had transformed into something else entirely.
Every one of the long steel tables had been pushed to the edges of the space, along with the multitude of display cases that housed Oliver's leather, his bow and quiver, as well as his wide array of arrows. Even Felicity's desk had been moved, leaving the center of the lair open and empty. Or, would have if they hadn't been replaced with a red and black tartan print blanket, much larger than a regulation picnic blanket. It was spread out over one of the bigger training mats to cushion against the hard cement floor. All of the fluorescent overhead lights were off, the lair cast in long shadows by way of the multitude of candles set in a large circle around the blanket. Among the ring of candles lay a scattering of Bachelor's Buttons, perfuming the air with their mildly spicy scent.
Felicity stepped forward, one hand coming up to her chest as she moved. Her expression was soft with awe, her eyes shining bright with emotion as she looked back at Oliver. He was standing hesitantly, his hands in his pockets and his eyes skipping between her and the floor. Felicity couldn't remember the last time she had seen him hold himself almost shyly.
"I definitely did not see this coming." Felicity breathed, extending a hand back toward him.
Oliver moved forward, puffing out a relieved sigh and taking her hand to kiss her knuckles before leading her toward the blanket. "I remembered how much you enjoyed our last picnic." he told her as he knelt down to help her out of her boots, his fingertips skimming down her calves when he lowered the zipper on first one and then the other.
Felicity flushed at the memory. "Is this one going to end the same way?" she asked, wiggling her stocking-clad toes against the cold concrete while Oliver kicked off his shoes.
"One can only hope." He winked, tugging her forward onto the blanket.
Once they were settled, Felicity with her legs tucked up beneath her and Oliver's legs extended, ankles crossed, he reached behind him and produced a bottle of champagne from a bucket of ice at the edge of the blanket. Felicity hadn't noticed the bucket at first, but now saw that it sat beside a picnic basket, along with two glass flutes and the remote for the lair's sound system. Oliver used the remote to flood the space with the gentle strains of one of Felicity's favorite instrumental pieces.
"You put a lot of thought into this." Felicity noted, accepting the glass of champagne Oliver offered her.
"It's our Arrow-versary, Felicity." Oliver grinned. "And, tomorrow is our first Valentine's day as an official couple. I wanted to do something special."
"Well, you certainly accomplished that." She grinned before sipping from her flute, letting the crisp liquid cool her throat and the bubbles tickle her tongue.
Oliver cleared his throat and set down his glass, shifting forward to take one of her hands in both of his. "You deserve special, Felicity." He told her, his eyes serious and earnest. "You deserve anything and everything you could ever want."
"I have that, Oliver. With you, I have it." Felicity's eyebrows turned down in the middle, unsure of what had Oliver nearly vibrating with nervous energy.
Oliver swallowed thickly, a tiny tremor running through his hands and into hers. "I still have trouble believing that, sometimes." He confessed quietly, looking down at their joined hands. "When you and I met, I was still so broken. There wasn't a part of me that was untainted by darkness. I was fractured and empty, a shell of who I used to be. And I never thought I could be whole again. But then, you came along and flooded my life with light."
"Oliver-" Felicity tried to protest. She never wanted to take credit for Oliver turning his life around, for finding the good within himself and becoming something more than a killer. He may think that she was the reason for all of it, but Felicity never believed that. Oliver had always had goodness and light inside of him. It was there all along, surrounded by the pain and horrifying memories. He just needed someone to help him realize it still lingered beneath the surface. Everything Oliver had become, everything he'd accomplished, he'd done because that's who he was.
"Just... Let me say this, okay?" he asked, his voice so raw and vulnerable that Felicity had no choice but to nod. Oliver pressed on, "I'd given up on everything; My past, my future, being a good man... Everything but my mission. I thought that I could spend the rest of my life just carrying out my father's last wish, being a killer and existing only within that context. I pushed everyone away, afraid that they'd be able to see the blood on my hands, the blackness in my soul. I honestly believed that was how it had to be."
Felicity watched Oliver stare down at their hands, his shoulders tense and his chest rising and falling rapidly with anxious breaths. She kept her mouth closed, her lips pressed tightly together to stop words from tumbling out.
"The day that I met you, everything started to change." Oliver murmured so softly it was a wonder Felicity heard it at all. "I lied to you. One of the very first things I said to you was a complete lie. You didn't know me and yet, you saw right through it. You didn't even hesitate to let me know that you knew I was lying. The way you tilted your head at me... You had this look on your face like I was an idiot and I could almost hear you calling bullshit." Oliver chuckled raggedly. "But, you let me do it. And keep doing it. I lied to you many times in the beginning but, somehow, you still trusted me."
Felicity wanted so badly to interject, to tell him that she trusted him with everything she had, but she bit her tongue.
"Over the years, you became someone I counted on, someone I needed." Oliver met her gaze, his thumbs tracing small circles on her hands. "You've supported me in everything I've done, even when you didn't have to. Even when you knew I was wrong and called me out on something I said or did, you never made me feel like I was fucking everything up. You just made me see that there was a better way. Without you, I'd still be nothing more than a vigilante with a notebook full of names. You stood by my side through some of my darkest days, through battles I never thought we'd win and days I thought would never end. You helped me find a purpose, Felicity. With you beside me, I found a part of myself that I thought was gone forever, broken beyond repair and unable to be mended. You gave me back everything I hadn't realized I was actually missing."
Felicity's eyes were brimming with moisture, vision swimming as she tried not to cry. Oliver laying his soul bare was something that never failed to break her heart in the very best way. To know, to see the proof, that Oliver trusted her with every part of himself, the darkness and the light, was humbling in a way that nothing else had ever been. Her heart was heavy with the knowledge that this was Oliver at his most exposed, his most defenseless. This was the love of her life splaying himself open and pouring everything he had into her hands, and trusting her to protect it with her life.
Oliver shifted up onto his knees and took the flute from her hands, setting it down beside them. He turned back to her, his hands shaking a bit more obviously now, his own eyes misty. Felicity stared up at him, unable to swallow around her heart where it had lodged itself solidly in her throat.
"Saying that I love you, does my feelings for you no justice." Oliver told her reverently. "There aren't enough words in any language on this planet for me to explain how much you mean to me, Felicity. I can't fathom waking up and not having your beautiful face be the first thing I see. I want to fall asleep every night with you in my arms, your heartbeat against my fingers, beneath my lips, under my skin. I want you to have everything you've ever wanted; Kids, a home, someone who loves you beyond all measure and outside of reason. I'll do everything in my power to make sure that you're happy and loved, every single day. And, I want to spend the rest of my life showing you that you made the right choice by allowing me to love you."
Tears were slipping down her face in silent streams, her heart throwing itself against her ribs in a valiant attempt to leave her body. A conversation from the past echoed in her head, a moment between them that had meant no less than the one they were now living. "There was no choice to make." she said, the words whispering between her lips before she could stop them. Not that she would have if given the chance, in all honesty.
Oliver let the smile split his face, the familiar words spreading warmth flooding through his veins. He took a deep, steadying breath and then dipped one hand into the pocket of his slacks. Felicity's heart stopped in her throat, her lungs seizing in her chest, her brain short circuiting at the sight of the little black box Oliver held in the palm of his hand as he withdrew it.
"Felicity Meghan Smoak." He murmured, her name a prayer as he opened the box. "Will you be my wife?"
A choked off sound caught in her throat, her hands coming up to cover her mouth as she looked at the ring. Even in the flickering light, the cushion cut emerald sparkled in a platinum, split shank halo setting, surrounded by a bed of exquisite, shimmering diamonds that extended halfway down the band. Breathing was a thing Felicity knew she should be doing but she couldn't seem to remember how. Oliver's words kept reverberating in her head, the word Wife standing out like a lighthouse in the center of a hurricane.
"You... I... Just..." Felicity stuttered, sucking in air and trying to ease the burn in her lungs.
Oliver watched her scramble clumsily onto her knees, knocking her glass over as she went. Neither of them moved to right it or clean up the mess. Oliver kept track of the emotions that flitted through her eyes, letting her process in her own time. Shock was the predominant expression on her face, swiftly followed by a hefty dose of confused awe and ecstatic joy.
"You're serious." Felicity stated weakly. After a beat she added, "You're asking me to marry you?" her tone incredulous, looking as though she wanted to throw herself at him and run away at the same time.
"I am." Oliver shuffled forward, pulling the ring out if its bed of satin. He tugged gently on her left wrist until she let him pull her hand away from her throat where she had curled her fists beneath her chin. He held his breath as he slid the ring onto the appropriate finger, doing it slowly and deliberately. When the ring finally slipped past the last knuckle and settled into place, Oliver met her eyes once more. "Marry me, Felicity." he said, his voice trembling and soul-achingly insecure.
Without another thought Felicity flung herself forward, her arms encircling Oliver's neck as their bodies collided. "Yes!" she cried breathlessly. "Yes, yes, yes! A million times, yes!" Each word rang with elation and laughter, even muffled by her lips pressing into his neck, his face, every inch of skin she could reach. She pulled back far enough to meet his wet stare, her own eyes leaking and full of happiness. "I love you, Oliver." she told him fiercely, as though he had questioned her affections, both hands cupping his face. "You are a good man, do you hear me? You're an amazing man and I have never loved anyone as wholly and consumingly as I love you. You are not broken and you never were. You were just lost. I may have lit the way but you found your way back all on your own. Because you have always been a good man, damn it. I know you don't believe that but I do. I know it with every atom in my body, Oliver. You are everything I never knew I wanted and nothing I could ever live without." She was nearly drowning in tears by the times she gasped her way into silence.
Oliver, too overcome by the feelings raging through him to speak, surged forward and crushed her lips under his, his hands dragging her as tightly against his chest as he could possibly manage. He kissed her desperately, as though trying to inhale her. Felicity whimpered into the kiss, hands fisting in his hair to pull him down with her as she fell back against the blanket.
Oliver went willingly, landing heavily on top of her. He tried to lift some of his weight off of her but Felicity hooked her thigh-high wrapped legs vice tight around his hips and pulled him back down. Oliver couldn't help but moan into the kiss as she rocked her hips up, the heels of her feet digging roughly into the backs of his thighs.
"Off. Get it off." Felicity panted jaggedly, pushing at his jacket to shove it down his arms.
Oliver planted his knees wide, supporting his weight so he didn't crush her as he tore his jacket off and threw it blindly behind him. At the last second he remembered the candles and jerked his head up to make sure the jacket cleared the flames. Satisfied that the only thing catching fire was the two of them, Oliver smiled down at his fiancee and let her drag his mouth back to hers. Felicity eagerly parted her lips, sucking his tongue into the warmth of her mouth and losing herself in the slick slide of their kiss. Oliver's hands slipped down her sides, his fingers kneading into her flesh inch by inch. Reaching the hem of her dress, he scratched his nails up the back of her thigh, rucking up her skirt as he did. Felicity whined brokenly, shivering when Oliver's fingers glided beneath the strap of her garter belt. Her hips lifted without thought when he slid one finger beneath the waist of her lace panties. He skimmed the finger along her skin from one hip to the other, then back. Without warning, he hooked his finger around the fabric and yanked, tearing the flimsy lace from her body in one clean movement.
"One: That should not be as hot as it is." Felicity gasped. "And, two: You owe me new panties."
Oliver chuffed a laugh over the skin of her throat and rumbled, "I'll buy you a whole closet full of panties if you continue to let me rip them off."
"Deal." Felicity nodded fervently, bumping her chin to the top of his head sharply.
Oliver didn't seem to mind. He was far too focused on the way her fingers were struggling to tear his shirt from his pants, her nails catching his skin every now and then, and the sounds falling from her lips as he bit and sucked at her neck. She finally managed to free his shirt, but rather than trying to divest him of it she just plunged her hands under it, her hands splaying wide over his back and searing his bare skin.
Oliver shifted his hips back, making enough room between them to dip one hand between her thighs and tease her slit with his middle finger. Felicity mewled, her head tossed back against the blanket, her jaw dropping open as she dug blunt nails into his shoulder blades.
"Jesus, Felicity." Oliver growled, dragging his stubble along her clavicle, his tongue soothing away the abrasions. "You're already dripping for me."
Felicity rolled her pelvis down, forcing his digit to slip into her another inch or so. Oliver took her hint and pushed into her heat, first with one finger and then with two. Felicity scraped her nails around to Oliver's chest, enjoying the way he shuddered when she moved over his ribs. The moan that vibrated in Oliver's chest made her quiver, her walls convulsing around his fingers.
Oliver withdrew his finger from her body and Felicity took the opportunity to use her body weight to reverse their positions. Oliver's breath left his lungs in a burst as his back hit the mat but his eyes stayed wide and filled with lust.
Felicity didn't bother working his tie loose or undoing the buttons down his chest. Instead, she shimmied down his thighs with a devious grin and set to work on his belt buckle. Oliver pushed up onto his elbows to watch her, helpfully lifting his hips to assist her as she dragged his pants and briefs down to his ankles.
"You're so fucking beautiful." Oliver told her, watching as she crawled back up his body.
Her long hair tickled the inside of his thighs when she knelt between his knees, lowering her head to press scorching kisses to the cut of his hip. She let her tongue slip out to trace the dip of his pelvis, a wet line that had his cock desperate for her touch. Felicity sucked kisses down his thigh, biting gently at the crease between his thigh and groin just to hear the frustrated groan trip from his lips. She took pity on him then, licking a slippery line from the base of his erection to the leaking tip. She swirled her tongue around the crown and was rewarded with a sharp inhale from above her. Lifting her eyes to Oliver's, she blinked owlishly up at him as she sank her mouth down around his dick. Oliver bit his bottom lip as he watched her, her blonde hair spilling around her shoulders and into his lap as she bobbed between his legs, the cool band of her ring feeling like a brand where it touched his skin. He reached down and pulled her hair back, wrapping it around one wrist to keep it out of the way. Felicity moaned around his cock when he tugged her hair, her throat fluttering around him and the vibrations making his entire body tingle.
"Fuck." he ground out, fighting the urge to push up into her mouth.
Felicity wrapped her hand around him when she pulled off, jerking him smoothly and moving up to draw him into another kiss. Oliver let her push him flat on his back, his hands sliding around to spread wide across her back. They were both panting and flushed red with want when they parted. Felicity released his cock long enough to throw one leg over him, straddling his hips. She leaned forward, pressing her breasts into his chest and littering open mouthed kisses along the ridge of his jaw. She swiveled her hips down and back, her slick core rubbing teasingly along his straining hard-on.
"Felicity." Oliver moaned, an edge of pleading woven through her name.
"Yes, Oliver?" she asked innocently, rocking back more firmly before moving away. She planted her palms on either side of his head, her hair spilling in a curtain around them as she leaned forward and licked at his bottom lip.
Oliver growled, low and unrestrained, before he lifted his hips off the blanket-covered mat, the head of his cock nudging at her entrance. Felicity gasped but held her body still, only allowing him to dip into her slit, just enough to feel the clutching heat of her body.
"Tell me, Oliver." Felicity urged, meeting his eyes dead on. "Tell me what you need me to do."
"I- shit – I need you to fuck me." he bit out, his tone needy and urgent even to his own ears.
He had a second to thank his foresight for disabling the lair's security cameras, because no one but him got to see Felicity like this, before she was sinking down on his cock, her body drawing him in deep without resistance. Oliver's jaw clenched around a moan but Felicity was having none of it. She rolled her hips, her slick walls gripping him like a glove as she bit sharply at the hinge of his jaw. Oliver's hips jerked upward, his jaw falling open and a punched out moan escaping his throat.
"There you go." Felicity soothed, kissing her way to his mouth. She hovered just above his parted lips, her breath gusting over his tongue. She tasted every sigh, every moan, every ragged sound that tore its way out of him as she rose and fell on his dick. "Let me hear you, Oliver." she coaxed, sitting back so that she was almost sitting on his hips. She lifted up fast but sank down torturously slow, undulating her hips as she went. Fully seated, his cock sheathed within her as deeply as it could possibly go, Felicity started circling her pelvis, rocking and rolling in tight circles. She arched her back, throwing her head back as she plunged her hands into her hair and chewed on her lip.
Oliver let go of the hold he had on his own sounds, instead deciding to hold onto her hips as she writhed above him. His fingers dug into her sides through the fabric of the dress she hadn't bothered to remove. Oliver always did like fucking her while she wore a dress or a skirt. Something about being inside her while she was still mostly clothed made lust rise up in his chest, his throat burning with it.
They moved together, the smooth slide of wet skin and heat. Oliver bucked up while she sank down, matching her push for shove. He moved his hands from her hips and slipped them up her thighs beneath the hem of her dress. His fingers seared her skin, her muscles shaking under his touch. They were both gasping for air, crying out desperately as they frantically chased their own release, foreheads pressed together and sharing harsh breaths.
Oliver tried to roll them once, wanting the leverage to slam into her the way he knew she liked when she was nearing the edge, but Felicity put a stop to it.
"I don't care what we need to do but I'm finishing up here." she informed him between sharp gasps and stuttered moans, one palm pressed flat against his chest to keep him down.
Oliver took her words to heart. He wrapped his arms around her waist and dragged her down to his chest. Felicity moved fast, slipping her arms under his back to anchor herself with her hands curled around his back, hooked over his shoulders.
"What-" she tried to ask but Oliver cut her off with a hard snap of his hips.
With his feet planted flat on the mat, Oliver got the leverage he'd wanted. It allowed him to piston into her with power, his hips slamming into hers and forcing high keens to rip from her chest.
"Christ, Oliver. Don't stop." Felicity begged, shoving down as much as she could, grinding her clit against his pubic bone every chance she got. Oliver bit into her shoulder, his fingers digging bruises into her back. "Fuck." Felicity whimpered. "Oh God. I'm right there."
"Come for me, Felicity. I'm not going to touch your clit but you will come for me." he growled.
Felicity whined, nodding into his neck. "Yes. Okay, yes." she agreed, nails digging into his shoulders and knees gripping his hips so tightly her legs were quivering with the strain.
Oliver thrust up and stilled, one hand pushing her down at the curve of her ass as she rocked against him and the other burrowing into her hair. He rolled his hips, keeping his cock buried inside her as she swiveled her hips and spread her thighs wider, her clit finally finding just the right amount of friction. Oliver let her take what she needed from him, let her work his cock the way she needed to get off.
She was chanting his name when her body exploded, her orgasm crashing through her like a storm. Liquid heat pooled in her core, flooding outward in waves and shocks as she cried out, her voice ringing high and fucked out through the lair. She bit down sharply at the Bratva tattoo on Oliver's chest and held on while Oliver worked her through her release. It was only a few graceless thrusts later that he followed her over the edge, white hot flames bursting to life under his skin, coiling through him and igniting his body. He came hard, his body bowing forward to curl into Felicity, his eyes squeezing shut against the graying edges of his sight.
Oliver collapsed back to the mat, Felicity sprawled bonelessly above him. Her ear pressed over his heart allowed her to hear every thump of his heart as it slowed back to a normal tempo, her own eventually doing the same.
After several long moments of peaceful afterglow Felicity laughed, startling Oliver's hands into stilling where he'd been tracing little triangles into the nape of her neck. "What?" he asked quietly.
"We're engaged." she laughed again, breathless and pleased. "You're my fiance."
Oliver smiled and pressed a kiss into the top of her head, resuming the patterns he was drawing on her skin. "It only took eight years."
Oliver walked into his office, two large cups of coffee in hand and an excited smile plastered on his face, to find Felicity curled up on one of his couches, fast asleep. Even though he was almost bursting with the desire to shake her awake and tell her about the phone call he'd received on his way upstairs, he couldn't do it. Instead, he paused to take in the sight of her, her face smooth and placid, her lips slightly parted. She was tucked into the corner, wedged tightly against the couch's arm with her arms wrapped around her middle and her knees drawn up. Her glasses were askew, her hair tied back in a careless ponytail that spilled over one shoulder.
Moving closer, Oliver set the coffees down on the glass table next to the sofa and perched on the edge of a cushion. He gently dragged his knuckles down the curve of her cheekbone, along the pale column of her neck, and down her arm. When he reached her hand he couldn't help but touch the ring that he'd put there. It had only been a couple of weeks since he proposed and he had yet to get used to the sight of her wearing his ring.
Felicity stirred, eyes slowly dragging open. She blinked a few times before a soft smile graced her lips. "Did I fall asleep on you?"
"Not technically." Oliver smirked. "I was getting coffee when you finally gave in."
She pushed herself upright, straightening her glasses and smoothing down her skirt as she went, offering an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Hey, did you say coffee?" she asked hopefully.
Oliver chuckled. "Yes, I did." He handed her one of the cups. "And don't apologize. Staying up all night to finish this report was bound to end with sleep. And, you don't sleep well enough as it is."
Felicity wrapped her hands around the disposable cup, letting the warmth from her beverage soak into her fingers. "Says the man who barely sleeps two hours at a time." she teased.
"That's different. I'm not the one who threatens to 'gank' people if I get less than eight hours of sleep." Oliver lifted a brow in challenge.
Felicity laughed tiredly. "Oh, Roy knew I didn't mean it." She grinned as she sipped her coffee.
"Finish your coffee, Dean Winchester. Then we can get out of here and try to get some sleep."
"What about the report?" Felicity questioned, leaning heavily into Oliver's side. "Don't you need to present it to the board?"
"Mom can handle presenting it without us." he assured her. "We're taking the rest of the day off."
Felicity hummed her agreement, snuggling up under Oliver's arm when he wrapped it around her shoulders. She'd only finished half of her coffee when Oliver noticed her eyes had slipped shut again, her breathing deep and even in sleep. He shook her gently, bracing her cup with his hand so she didn't spill it when she startled.
"I'm awake." she mumbled, pressing closer to his side.
"Of course you are." Oliver smirked. "Come on, Felicity. Let me take you home."
Fifteen minutes later they were in the Bentley, Felicity half asleep in the passenger seat, her fingers entwined with Oliver's on the gearshift. Oliver glanced over at her, amazed that she could still sleep after having consumed most of her coffee.
"Eyes on the road, Queen." Felicity murmured sleepily, eyes closed and head resting back against her seat.
"Whatever you say, Smoak." Oliver grinned, squeezing her fingers and doing as he was told.
She was out like a light by the time he got on the highway and didn't stir when he took a different exit than the one that led to the mansion. Oliver listened to her steady breaths in the silence of the car, his own body soothed by the calm energy she radiated in sleep.
By the time Oliver stopped the car, turning off the engine and releasing his belt, Felicity was so deeply asleep she didn't even flinch when he closed the driver's side door and made his way around to her side. He opened her door and crouched down beside her, running a hand up and down her shin to wake her as gently as he could.
"Felicity, we're here." he called softly, his thumb rubbing over the bump of her knee. She grumbled under her breath, a groggy and adorable sound that made Oliver smile. "Don't make me carry you." he warned, already slipping a hand beneath her.
She jerked awake, eyes blinking wide before she focused on his smug face and then narrowed them. "I should make you carry me just for that." she yawned.
"Come on, Sleeping Beauty. Let's get inside." He stood up as she unbuckled her belt, then offered a hand to help pull her up.
With the door closed behind her, Felicity glanced up at him with a tiny smile of thanks before her focus shifted and her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion as she looked past him. "Oliver, what... I thought you were taking me home?"
Oliver wrapped an arm around her shoulder as he turned. He smiled, broad and happy, as his eyes drank in the now familiar facade, with its clinging vines and heavy iron door. His gaze landed on the proud lion doorknocker and something warm and comfortable wrapped itself around him.
"I did." Oliver held Felicity closer and smiled impossibly wider at the newly finished cottage. "Our home."