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“No, I didn’t ask for that!”
A young woman hurried out of Oliver’s office with tears in her eyes.
Robert who in that moment passed his son’s office stopped in his tracks and looked at the woman. “Trishia, is everything okay?”
“He…,” she started, pointing at Oliver’s office. She brushed passed him, sobbing.
Robert entered his son’s office and scowled at him. “Oliver what is going on? Trishia just left your office in tears.”
“She brought me the wrong papers,” he growled.
He noticed that Duke was laying under the desk, his body pressed against Oliver’s legs and realised that his son was in a foul mood. “Is something wrong?” He knew that Steve had shipped out yesterday and he was pretty sure that that was the source for Oliver’s mood.
“No, everything is okay.”
“Oliver….”
“Dad, everything is fine. Now please, I have work to do.”
Robert knew that his son wouldn’t open up to him. He shook his head. “Okay,” he sighed. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Duke sat up and laid his head on Oliver’s lap. “I’m okay, buddy.” He moved his hands through the dog’s fur. He wasn’t actually, but that wasn’t an excuse to yell at Trishia. He really should go and apologize to her. Standing up, he gasped and grabbed his left thigh when a sharp pain shot through his lower residual limb. “Fuck,” he cursed.
“Are you okay?’ Felicity walked into the office.
Oliver sat back down and sighed. “Well, Steve shipped out, I had a bad night and the pain in my stump is killing me.” Duke, who was sitting next to him, silently whimpered. Oliver scratched his head, “It’s okay, bud.”
“So that explains your foul mood then?”
“Dad talked to you,” he snorted.
“No, Trishia talked to me. We are friends you know.”
“I know, I shouldn’t have yelled at her. I was going to apologize,” he mumbled.
She walked over to him and smiled. “How bad is the pain?”
“Phantom pain,” he sighed. “It’s been a while though.”
Felicity nodded. “And you miss Steve. So emotions probably triggered it.”
Oliver nodded. “Yeah, and I had a nightmare.”
Felicity knew from Steve that the nightmares became worse when he was deployed. “You know what you need? A time out.”
“Felicity, I just can’t leave…” he started, but was stopped by her.
“Yes, you can.”
“Go,” Robert walked into the office, overhearing their conversation.
“Dad, I…” He sighed when he saw the look on both Felicity and his dad’s face, he knew that he wasn’t going to win this argument. “Okay.”
“Do you have your crutches here?” Felicity asked.
He stood to get them, but was stopped by Felicity. “Sit, just tell me where they are.”
He pointed at the closet in the office. “In there. You are really bossy, you know that.”
She just grinned, winked at Robert and went to get the crutches. When she walked back she saw that Oliver was already removing his prosthetic.
He rolled up his left pant leg till just under his stump and took the crutches from Felicity. “Thanks.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Home.” Oliver moved towards the door, Duke close behind him.
Felicity shrugged her shoulders and grabbed the prosthetic, surprised that it was so light. She looked at Robert. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.”
“Thank you.” Robert nodded at her.
When they entered the parking garage Oliver moved to the jeep in the handicapped parking spot, before Felicity had the time to ask if he was fit to drive. She hesitated and stood still. “Are you coming?” Oliver growled, opening the back door so Duke could jump in.
“Uhm, yeah,” she walked over to his car and opened the passenger door. “Are you sure…”
“Just get into the car,” when he saw the scowl on her face, he looked down. “Please,” he whispered.
Felicity got into the car and watched how Oliver used the hand controls and drove off. After a few minutes Felicity couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “You know when I’m in a foul mood, I usually eat. I’m a stress eater”
“I can’t imagine you ever being in a foul mood,” Oliver stated. He had known her for a few months now and he had always seen her in a good mood, she laughed and rambled a lot, which was kinda cute.
“I can be in a pretty foul mood if I want to, but I try not to snap at people.”
“It’s just…” he sighed.
“You worry.”
He nodded. “I don’t know what I would do if anything would happen to him. The most frustrating about all this is, I never know where he is going or what he is doing.”
“He can’t tell you?”
“No, I’m a civilian now and even if I wasn’t, there are certain things he couldn’t tell me. You know, it used to be easier, a specially when we were deployed together. I understood the danger, because I faced it too. But now…”
“He is facing it alone. Steve is a strong man, he will get through this and so will you.” Felicity stated..
Oliver sighed. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For listening.”
She smiled at him. “That’s what friends are for.”
They arrived at the house and both exited the car. Oliver let Duke out and the dog took of in a sprint to the front door. He sat down and patiently waited until Oliver opened the door. They were greeted by socks the cat.
“Hi socks.” Felicity cooed at him.
In answer the cat meowed, rubbing his body against her leg.
“He really likes you.” Steve had gotten the cat a few weeks ago from the shelter.
Socks hissed when Oliver past him.
“And he still hates you,” Felicity giggled.
“Yeah, well I’m a dog person.” Entering the house, Oliver moved towards the bedroom. “Get yourself something to drink, I’m gonna change,” he called out to Felicity.
Felicity put the prosthetic down and walked to the kitchen. She knew exactly what she wanted, coffee.
When she entered the living room with two steaming cups of coffee, Oliver, wearing a short sleeved shirt and shorts, had already settled on the couch with a pillow propped up under his stump. He took the cup from Felicity.“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. You do like to provoke, don’t you?” she asked pointing at his T-shirt.
He looked down at it and grinned. “Yep.” The shirt read, ‘What are you staring at, you two legged freak.
“Feeling better? How is the pain?” She let her eyes wander over his stump and like every time she wondered what had happened to him. There was severe scarring on his lower limb and one longer scar disappeared under his short.
“The pain is less.”
“Good. How is the mood?”
Oliver looked down. “Again, I’m sorry. I will apologize to Trishia tomorrow, I promise.”
They talked for a while when all of the sudden Oliver’s phone pinged. Frowning he took it from the table and saw that he had a message, opening it tears welled up in his eyes. It read, ‘Hey babe, heard you missed me.’
He looked at Felicity, who smiled. “I may, or may not have send a quick message to him.”
He took a shuddering breath and texted back to Steve. “Thank you,” he whispered, looking at his friend.
“You’re welcome.”