Chapter Text
“Has this been a good idea, or has this been a good idea?”
Felicity chuckled with a slight shake of her head, and dipped another one of fries into her milkshake, feeling the eyes of the others on her when she lifted the food to her lips and pushed it into her mouth.
“That really is disgusting,” Nyssa said, screwing up her face.
“You will learn to like it, too,” Felicity said with a chuckle. “It took me until now to like it though I wonder why it took me so long because it really is yummy. You should try it!”
“Over my dead body am I ever going to try that,” Nyssa replied, pulling her head back when Felicity held out another one of her milkshake dipped fries out for her. “I think it has to be some weird thing in your DNA that makes all three of you like that.”
“But we don’t share DNA,” Felicity objected. “I mean Laurel and Sara of course-“
“Don’t change the subject,” Sara hastily said before her stepsister could work herself up into one of the babbles she was known for and that she knew couldn’t be stopped once they had started. “Honesty, say it has been a good idea to come here with us instead of spending another Friday night alone in the library.”
Felicity sighed, knowing Sara wouldn’t give up on it before she had said it, so nodding her head, Felicity admitted defeat and said with another quiet sigh, “You’re right. It has been a good idea. It’s fun spending time with you guys.”
“And we are very glad that you joined us,” Laurel replied with a smile. She cast a short glance at Sara and Nyssa, who looked at each other amorously, before she turned back to Felicity and added in a whisper, “And I am not just saying that because without you I permanently feel like the third wheel.”
Chuckling, Felicity dipped another one of her fries into her milkshake and pushed it into her mouth. She didn’t miss how Nyssa still screwed up her face at the sight, and Felicity couldn’t help but feel amused and unusually comfortable.
Sara really had had a good idea when she had suggested hanging out together. It had been awhile since Felicity had spent time with her stepsisters outside from their home or school. With the finals coming closer, though closer was still some months away, Felicity had just preferred spending her time in the library to learn which, like her stepsisters had pointed out perfectly clear, wouldn’t make the A she’d get anyway any better.
Admittedly, this evening still wasn’t the best to meet with Laurel, Sara and Nyssa given that Felicity had actually had other plans, but she hadn’t been able to say no to Sa-
“Earth to Felicity,” Nyssa said, flicking her fingers in front of Felicity’s face until she blinked a few times and shook her head to get rid of her thoughts. “Come on, the library can’t be that good that even when you’re physically not there, you’re still there.”
Before Felicity got the chance to answer, the door to the café swung open and a crowd of people came in, singing and laughing loudly. Felicity didn’t have to turn around and see them to know who those people were. She knew the rhythmic slogans. They had been sung everywhere in and around school the entire week given the very important game there had been earlier tonight.
“At least there is no football team in the library,” Nyssa said, rolling her eyes at the crowd of classmates.
“A clear advantage of the library,” Sara agreed, nodding her head.
Felicity watched Sara looking at what she assumed from the voices she heard was the football team of their school joint by some of the cheerleaders and people from their school who had watched the game.
They had shortly thought about going to watch the game before coming here, too, but neither of them had really been in the mood to do so. It had been quite cold and raining, and they just weren’t that much of a fan to risk getting a cold only to watch a game they had already been sure the team would win. So far they had won every game this year.
“I still don’t get how you could have been in love with Tommy Merlyn,” Sara said after awhile, looking at Laurel. “I mean… Tommy Merlyn of all people.”
Laurel glanced over her shoulder where Felicity, who kept her eyes straight on the fries she dipped into her milkshake before eating them, feeling weirdly obsessed about this food, knew Tommy had to be. She could hear him reading out the first online articles about the game with loud voice, making fun of the other team and some people on it in particular. He also mentioned that they should definitely celebrate their last success, and the tone in his voice didn’t leave any doubt for Felicity that his way of celebrating the won game preferably included his new cheerleader girlfriend in his bed.
When Laurel turned back around, she shrugged her shoulders, saying as casually as possible, “Tommy can be different.”
“You okay?” Felicity asked quietly.
When she and her mom had moved to Starling City at the beginning of the year before, Laurel and Tommy had just broken up, and apparently that had been a big thing. So actually one of the first things she had learned in school had been never to date a football player because if you did and you broke up, you would most likely end up on the top of the list of subjects for school gossip, and that was going to be very distracting and annoying.
“Tommy and I broke up a long time ago,” Laurel just answered, shrugging her shoulders once more. “And I might actually soon have a date with Ted Grant.”
“Really?” Sara asked. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”
“It’s not like I hid it for months, Sara,” Laurel answered. “He just asked me out, and I am not even sure if I want to go out with him.”
“Why?” Sara asked immediately. “Ted is hot, and he is-“
“I don’t want to interrupt you,” Nyssa said, of course interrupting Sara nonetheless, “but did you notice that Oliver Queen is looking at us like every thirty seconds?”
“Really? I-“
“Again!” Nyssa called out, frowning. “He looks at us every few seconds. It’s kind of strange.”
“Maybe he is- hey, where are you going?” Sara asked when Felicity got up.
“I’ll be back in a minute. I just need to pee.”
“Again?” Laurel asked. “It’s like the fifth time since we got here. Maybe you caught an inflammation of the bladder?”
Felicity shrugged her shoulders, “Probably.”
Strolling to the bathroom, Felicity glanced at her watch. It was only nine, and she felt like it was long past midnight already. The last days she had fallen asleep around eight with her tablet in her hands which was more than unlikely for her. She was probably getting sick, Felicity thought with a sigh, closing the door of the bathroom stall behind her. She had been feeling weird for a couple of days now.
Felicity hated being sick, and she didn’t just hate in a way most people did because feeling sick meant not feeling good. No, she hated being sick in an even bigger way because when she was sick, she couldn’t go to school, and Felicity loved school. It was probably a really unusual thing for a seventeen-year-old to say, but it was the truth. Felicity just liked going to school.
Washing her hands, Felicity decided that she was just going to hope that it would pass because she really didn’t want to go to a doctor. Besides, it really wasn’t that bad. It was probably going away without any medication being needed anyway.
A yawn escaped her mouth when she strolled through the small corridor back to the main room of the café. She shook her head, trying to shake off the tiredness, but it just wouldn’t fall off of her. Maybe she should just spend the whole weekend in bed and-
She almost screeched when suddenly a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a dark side room. Within seconds the door pressed against her back and a tall, muscular body pressed against her front while a pair of lips were attacking hers. Felicity didn’t hesitate for even the blink of a second. Her arms wrapped around a strong neck, pulling the soft lips closer to her and responding to the kiss with passion. His tongue slipped into her mouth, massaging hers for a moment, before their lips parted.
“Oliver,” she whispered, and his lips brushed against hers gently in response.
“I can’t believe you canceled our date night to spend time with your sisters and Nyssa instead. Couldn’t you have done that on any other day?” he asked, his breath ghosting over her face as he spoke. “Now I can’t even tell my parents that I have been in the library this week.”
“You do realize that when you tell your parents that you’ve been at the library, they expect you to have learned there instead of made out with your girlfriend, right?”
“I am learning when I am in the library.”
“Oh really?” Felicity asked, perking her eyebrows though he probably couldn’t see it in the dark because the only thing she could see was the outline of his body.
“Really,” Oliver answered and leaned forward, so his lips were almost touching hers. “I learned that you hum when I do this.” – He pressed his lips to the spot right under her ear, indeed making her hum. – “And I learned that you gasp for breath when I do this.” – He put his hands to her butt, squeezing playfully, and just like he had said Felicity gasped for breath and put her hands to his shoulders, holding onto him for dear life. – “And I learned that you whisper my name in a way I can still echoing through my mind days after we’ve last seen each other when I do this.”
“Oliver,” Felicity whispered barely audible and with desperate voice when Oliver pressed his body close to her, so she could feel his heartbeat against her chest.
Their lips met in another kiss. It was a gentle yet slightly desperate one. It had been almost a week since she had last kissed him. And, god, she had missed the taste of his lips on hers and the feeling of his body being pressed against hers so closely. Oliver’s right hand moved off her butt, and only seconds later the light switched on.
“Hi,” he whispered when their lips parted, and they looked at each other, smiling lovingly.
“Hi,” she whispered back.
Oliver’s lips brushed against hers shortly once more before he rested his forehead against hers and said, “I think you have to remind me again why exactly are we keeping this secret because the first thing I wanted to do when we won that game tonight has been lifting you in my arms and celebrating with you.”
“I guess I should congratulate first, so congratulations on your win. And about keeping this thing between us secret…” Felicity sighed, nuzzling his nose without opening her eyes. “Oliver, we talked about this.”
“I can’t remember. You have to remind me.”
“I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on graduation if people knew,” Felicity replied, and when Oliver cocked his head in question, she moved her hands down to the front of his chest, so her right hand rested right over his heart and explained, “You are quite popular in school, and whenever you just wink at a girl everyone in school knows about it. God, even the gossip magazines are after this kind of information.”
“But it would only take a few weeks before everyone would get used to it, and we’d had our peace,” Oliver responded, tugging a strand of her hair behind her ear. “And I’d had the freedom to kiss you wherever we are without having to tug you into a dark room.”
“But there is something really drawing about you tugging me into a dark room to make out,” Felicity tried to lighten the mood, but Oliver didn’t smile. Sighing, she straightened up onto the tip of her toes and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “The minute finals are over I am all yours. I promise. Just… I know it’s been almost five months already. Just… just give me these few more months please.”
Oliver looked at her for a long moment before he sighed. “You know how much I love you?”
“Enough to give me the time I need although you don’t like keeping our relationship a secret?”
“That is exactly how much I love you.
“I love you, too,” Felicity whispered with a smile.
Her stomach fluttered at the way Oliver looked at her. His piercing blue eyes seemed to burn right under her skin, making everything in her prickle in the best way. Slowly he leaned forward and captured her lips with his in a slow, loving kiss.
“When can we make good for the date we had to cancel tonight?” Oliver asked. “It would be nice spending a little more time close to you instead of shooting you stolen looks from the other side of the room.”
Felicity wrapped her arms back around Oliver’s neck and pressed herself closer to his muscular body, smiling up at him. “How about next Friday and Saturday?”
“Two days in a row? That might become my favorite week so far.”
Chuckling, Felicity leaned her head forward and rested her forehead against Oliver’s chest for a moment. She knew that keeping their relationship a secret wasn’t exactly easy because they always had to make sure nobody would see them when they were together, and she also knew that most people wouldn’t understand why she wanted to keep it secret, but the two of them together was just so much of a cliché – the nerdy wallflower of a girl and the popular football player from a billionaire house. And since she really didn’t like being the center of attention or even worse the center of gossip, she didn’t want anyone to know about them, and that included their friends and family because once one person knew, soon everyone would know. Things like these spread like wildfire.
“My mom and Quentin will go away for a romantic weekend, and Sara and Laurel want to visit their mom in Central City, so I actually have the house all for myself the whole weekend. You could even stay overnight.”
“Okay, now it’s officially going to be my favorite week. All the fun we are going to have…”
Oliver’s fingers snuck under her top, giving Felicity a good idea on what Oliver had in mind for said weekend. His body pressed a little closer to hers, and his lips met hers in a teasing kiss that was a perfect foretaste of what was to come for them during the next weekend. She had been hesitant about sleeping with him at first because she had been a virgin, but she trusted Oliver, and he had been patiently waiting until she had been ready a few weeks ago, and then he had been so gentle with her. He still was.
“We could also learn together,” Felicity suggested when their lips parted. Oliver’s groan only made her chuckle. “Come on, you know I am a really good teacher with fun ways of teaching, or did you forget anything about the human anatomy I taught you?”
“How about you test me now?”
“Not here,” Felicity said with a chuckle, shaking her head.
Before their test about the human anatomy she had made a game out of teaching him all the important terms he had to know. She had pointed at a part of her body, and if Oliver had been able to name it correctly, he had been allowed to kiss her there. Oliver had probably never been that eager to learn something, and actually she had enjoyed it far more than she had thought, too. There was just something weirdly drawing about listening to Oliver speaking Latin, even it had only been a few words. Still it had just-
When black spots started dancing in front of her eyes, and Felicity’s breaths grew a little shorter, she hastily gripped the fabric of Oliver’s shirt and held onto it for dear life while trying to get her breathing back under control.
“Hey, you’re okay?” Oliver asked worriedly. “Your face is almost white.”
“Just a little dizzy,” Felicity answered.
Squeezing her eyes closed, she leaned against Oliver’s chest with her head resting on his shoulder. Oliver’s arms wrapped around her waist, his hands stroking up and down her back until her breathing calmed down and her tensed muscles relaxed under his touch.
“Does this happen often?” Oliver asked, his voice not hiding his concern.
“Sometimes,” Felicity answered, leaning her head back against the door and looking at Oliver. “I think I might get sick.”
“Have you been to a doctor?”
Felicity rolled her eyes. “You are worse than my mother.”
“I am just worried.”
“That’s sweet,” Felicity replied, pecking his lips shortly. “I should go know before the others come to look for me.”
“I still think you should go and see a doctor,” Oliver said when she opened the door, but Felicity only shot him a look over her shoulder before leaving.
Oliver was really great. Being with him was great, even if it was only in secret. Luckily, it wouldn’t be a secret forever. Their finals were in like five months. They just needed to hold on for that time. It couldn’t be that hard!
When Felicity arrived back at their table, Laurel, Sara and Nyssa were talking with whispered voices.
“It is strange, isn’t it?” Nyssa asked, looking at the others.
“Oliver never missed out on anything,” Laurel agreed, nodding her head, “at least not for several months in a row, and now he is missing parties almost on a regular basis and didn’t even have any kind of flirt with the cheerleaders though it obviously isn’t lacking in offers.”
“So what do we think?” Sara asked. “Is he gay?”
“I think we shouldn’t jump to that conclusion so soon,” Nyssa said, shooting a pointed look at her girlfriend. “Maybe he is just-“
“Come on, let’s not let the football team distract us from the real subject,” Felicity said when she sat down. She took Laurel’s hand and linked arms with her stepsister. “What’s going on between you and Ted Grant?”
Oliver eyed up his reflection in the mirror once more, and moved his hand through his short hair with a sigh. It was crazy that even after months he still got slightly nervous when he was about to head out to a date with Felicity. He had never been self-conscious, but everything was different when he was with her. He did get nervous from time to time, and still she made him feel the most comfortable he had ever been.
With Felicity he didn’t have to pretend. He didn’t feel pressured to do anything he didn’t want to. She didn’t expect him to behave in a certain way. She just let him be who he really was, and he just felt like he was a so much more likeable person when he was with her. At least Oliver liked himself a lot more when he was with her, probably because of the way she looked at him like he was…
He couldn’t even describe it. She just had this expression of pure love in her eyes whenever she looked at him.
“You’re grinning like a Cheshire cat.”
“No, I’m not,” Oliver just replied, turning around to the bed without looking at his little sister.
Thea stood in the door to his room, her arms crossed in front of her little chest and looking at him with narrowed eyes. She had always been a nosy child. The nosiness had hit its peak when she had been four years old and had followed him around everywhere. It had decreased when she had started school and was now that she was eight years old increasing again. Wherever he went, she wanted to go, too. It was sweet though it could be quite exhausting and even slightly annoying.
“Do you have a crush on someone?”
“No,” Oliver answered immediately, grabbing the small bag of things he had packed for his weekend at Felicity’s place and leaving his room. He mussed up her hair when he went past her, making her giggle slightly.
“Where are you going?” she asked, following him down the stairs immediately.
“I’m going to spend the night at Tommy’s,” he lied, “hanging out together and playing video games.”
He had told his parents the same thing, while he had told Tommy that he had to babysit Thea because Rasia had fallen sick. Luckily, he knew that Tommy was out partying and wouldn’t call him here or anything because he really didn’t want to find an excuse why he had lied to him.
“Can I come with you?” Thea asked.
Oliver chuckled. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s just going to be Tommy and me,” Oliver replied, stopping at the door. “Rasia is going to be here for you all weekend.”
“Can’t you stay?”
Oliver stroked his hand over Thea’s hair, answering, “No, not this weekend. We’re going to spend time together the rest of the week while mom and dad are still away, okay?”
“Okay,” Thea replied with a sigh. “Have fun with Tommy.”
“Have fun with Rasia. Oh, and ask her for the chocolate brownies she baked earlier today.”
“She did?”
“Yes, she did,” Oliver responded with an amused smile about the way his sister’s face lit up at the information. “With doubly chocolate I think.”
“Rasia!” Thea called out immediately, turning on her heels and running towards the kitchen.
Chuckling, Oliver closed the door behind him and strolled over to his car. After he had put his bag on the back seat and sent Felicity a short message that he was on the way towards her, he started the motor and started driving.
Keeping their relationship a secret was anything but easy. Tommy had asked him several times by now why he was again and again skipping parties and not even flirting with any of the cheerleaders anymore. He was getting suspicious though Oliver knew that even if Tommy found out, he wouldn’t tell anybody. He just tried to respect Felicity’s wishes to keep it only between them until finals were over. There were still a few more months to go until then, but being with Felicity was worth it.
It had been quite crazy between them from the start. He remembered seeing her at school a few times before he had run into her at Queen Consolidated when she had done an internship there. She had spilled her coffee all over him and his laptop and immediately started babbling about how sorry she was and how of course she had to be the stupid intern to run into the boss’ son and destroy his equipment. Oliver had just stared at her, unable to tell her that actually he had been the one running into her. He still couldn’t really explain what had shaken him so much. There had just been something about her that had made him fall head over heels in love with her.
She had saved whatever data she had been able to save from his laptop, and they had started talking about her moving from Las Vegas to Starling City, so her mother could live together with her boyfriend. Donna and Quentin had gotten engaged soon after and planned their wedding back then. Felicity hadn’t minded. She had been happy for her mother.
After visiting her at her desk several times and with her internship coming to an end, Oliver had finally asked her out. She had hesitated at first, but somehow he had been able to convince her. Keeping their date a secret had been her only condition, and Oliver had agreed. He had been lucky that he hadn’t told Tommy about Felicity at that time. He just hadn’t been sure that he had had any chance with Felicity. She was so much smarter than him and so much more mature. All the rumors going around about him in school really hadn’t made her have much trust in him.
Well, now he had earned that trust, Oliver thought when he turned into Felicity’s street.
He had been looking forward to these few days with Felicity all week. If even one year ago somebody would have told him that he would soon prefer spending lazy evenings on the couch, watching TV and cuddling, over partying with Tommy, he would have probably laughed. He had never seen himself being the real good boyfriend type. He hadn’t hopped from one bed to the other like gossip indicated, but he hadn’t been in a committed relationship before Felicity, either.
He parked the car at the side of the street and got his bag from the back seats before hurriedly walking to her door and knocking. When she still hadn’t opened a few minutes later, he knocked once more. Still the door stayed closed.
Frowning, Oliver pulled his phone from the back pocket of his jeans, and checked if Felicity had texted him anything about not being home, but she hadn’t, and if she had received his message about heading off towards her, she would have replied and told him that he should come later. It was unlikely for Felicity to stand him or anyone else for that matter up. She was usually very reliable and actually-
“Hey.”
Oliver looked up to see Felicity leaning in the frame of the door. She was pale with dark shadows under her red rimmed eyes. Her small body looked even smaller in the wide oversize hoodie and the sweatpants she wore. She was playing with a strand of her hair nervously, and Oliver could see her hand shaking slightly.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked immediately, stepping a little closer and taking her hand. He lifted it to his lips, kissing the knuckles before pressing it to his chest right above his heart. Felicity’s eyes followed his movements closely, her whole body tensing more and more with every second. “Did something happen?”
“No, I-“ Felicity started with raspy voice that made her cough slightly. “I think now I am definitely sick.”
Oliver looked at her sympathetically. She had texted him several times during the week that she felt like getting sick. He had told her to go see a doctor, but of course she hadn’t listened to him. She had probably been worried that the doctor would give her a sick note, and she wouldn’t be able to go to school for a few days. He knew it was one of Felicity’s worst nightmares which was adorable and weird at the same time.
Adorable and weird – definitely two attributes on the list of words to use when describing Felicity.
“I think I will just go to bed and sleep, so hopefully this will be over after the weekend,” Felicity stated after awhile.
“Thank god, now you have me to take care of you,” Oliver replied. “I am going to brew you a tea and get you a soup and-“
“Actually I’d rather be alone,” Felicity interrupted him hastily, looking up at him with slightly widened eyes. “Sorry, but you’d only get infected, and then your coach would kill you, so…”
She didn’t finish her sentence, just falling silent with a gesture of her hand. Oliver narrowed his eyes at her slightly. He couldn’t say what exactly it was, but there was something off about her. And he felt vindicated when Felicity looked down, avoiding his gaze.
“Felicity, what is really going on?” he asked seriously though he tried not to sound too demanding. He was just worried. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what is going on, so… please?”
Felicity bit down on her bottom lip, only looking up at him shortly before she lowered her gaze back to her feet again. He could see her struggling with what to do and though he had trouble being patient about this, he waited until she did something.
When she pulled her hand away from his chest and took a step back, he almost thought that she was just going to close the door, but instead she opened the door a little more, nodding her head for him to follow her when she turned on her heels and started walking inside wordlessly.
Oliver didn’t hesitate. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, leaving his bag right next to the door before following her wordlessly. His heart was beating quickly against his ribs. His mind was running wildly.
What had happened?
Was she sick? Seriously sick? She had had this attack of dizziness back in the café. Was there something more behind that
Or had Donna and Quentin broken up, and Donna had decided to move back to Las Vegas?
Had somebody died?
His nervousness was only increasing with every step he took, and Felicity not talking didn’t help with that, either. Actually it only made everything worse. So he just kept as quiet as she was and followed her upstairs, through a long hallway and finally into the bathroom.
Oliver stayed in the door frame, watching Felicity. She had her back turned towards him, but he could see that her arms were crossed in front of her chest while she was looking down at the windowsill.
“Felicity?” he asked in a whisper, but she didn’t answer or even turn around. “You’re scaring me a bit.”
When Felicity still showed no reaction, Oliver was just about to step closer to her. But he hadn’t even taken the first step, when Felicity suddenly turned around, looking at him with a hesitant expression in her eyes.
“Felicity?” he asked once more; his voice still very quiet as he was dreading whatever she wanted to tell him.
But Felicity didn’t speak. She just stepped closer until she stood right in front of him, her arms still crossed in front of her chest. And she still didn’t uncross them when she held out a white plastic stick for him.
“What’s that?” he asked.
Felicity still didn’t answer. She just uncrossed her arms to hold out the plastic closer for him, and Oliver took it hesitantly. He looked at her for another long moment, watching her crossing her arms in front of her chest protectively once more. Her eyes never left the white plastic stick in his hand.
Slowly Oliver lowered his gaze to it, too, finding two pink lines almost jumping right into his face. Right next to those two pink lines there was key explaining their meaning.
Two pink lines – pregnant.