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This trip was a surprise even to her, she thought that they were here to supervise the new headquarters in new York, it would be quick, meet the people, explore the city a little and then back to starling, and the ray told her what he really wanted. He was planning to move to NY and wanted her to be his vice president and head of the technologies department.
It certainly had been a shock
“What?”
“Yeah” the smile in Ray’s face was so big Felicity thought it must hurt “I’m going to bring here the head office of PI, so it make sense that we are here too”
“But, what about Starling City?”
“It will be still operating, just with minor things” he shrugged as if wasn’t important, but it was, Starling City was her home, she had her house, her friends…
When Palmer had leave her to think about it, her phone started buzzing, it was Dig.
“Hey”
“Hey Felicity, how is the big apple treating you?” His voice was relaxed, so she knew he was just calling to check on her.
“Good” she replied “ Although I never knew why they call it that, there’s no many apples here you know, only junk food and coffee, when I was little I thought that the city had the shape of an apple, but I looked into it, and it hasn’t so I really really don’t understand it” she started to ramble, but he stopped her
“Felicity, is everything al right?”
“Yes, I think, I just discovered that Ray wants me to move her, indefinitely, and be the vice president of Palmer Industries new headquarters but other than that…”
“ Wait, Palmer wants what?” his voice a little higher
“He just told me” she sighed
“When?”
“We still going to be back in Starling in two days, and.. he wants to came here in about two weeks” she still didn’t believe it
“And….” He stopped himself, but Felicity already knew what he was going to ask
“I don’t know what I am going to do Dig, right now, I can’t even think”
“Well, it’s a great opportunity and you deserve it more than anyone” he said, knowing it was the right thing to say, even though it would hurt him to see her leave.
“ I know but what about…the team?”
“Felicity, you are important to us, we want you to be happy”
“Dig, if something would happen to any of you because I’m not there, I would never forgive myself”
“Felicity, we both know you can do your work even from New York, just as we know what it is that’s holding you back, or rather, who is” she closed her eyes she knew there was an elephant as big as the distance between the two cities, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it
“Dig, I’m sorry, I have to go, call you later ok?”
“Sure, stay safe”
“You too, bye”
But she hadn’t call, she was still thinking what to do. That call had been 20 hours ago, and 1 hour ago, she was in her possible new office, when she heard a knock on the door. She looked up to find the least expected person, Oliver was in front of her.
“Oliver” she just looked at him in surprise, he looked tired, and his eyes were so sad it hurt her.
“Hey” he tried to smile, but it was as if his mouth wouldn’t let him.
“What.. what are you doing here?”
“I .. I wanted to talk to you”
“You could’ve waited, I’ll be back in Starling tomorrow”
“I couldn’t wait” he said with a gruff voice
“Is something wrong?” she was getting worried “Is the team ok?”
“Yeah they’re fine.. I talked to Dig”
“Oh”
“Yeah.. Oh” his eyes were down, his hands in his pockets, he never had seem so small to her
“Oliver I..”
“I just wanted to talk to you, and, I need you to listen without interrupting, I know that it’s hard for you but… “ he sighed “ if I don’t say it all, I won’t be able to, so.. please” his eyes looked up to her this time, and she had to keep back a thought about how she felt butterflies in her stomach
“Ok”
“Ok” he half smiled, and after a deep breath, started talking “ I know that I could’ve wait, but it’s important that you know all this before you make your decision, because I don’t want to be a factor in it, or at least I don’t want my feelings to be a part of it. You have to think what’s best for you.” He took little steps towards her, until they were mere inches apart “Me? I don’t want you to move to New York, I don’t want you to be so far from me, because I am a selfish man, but I love you and I can’t be selfish with you Felicity,” her heart skipped a beat “you deserve every good thing that happens to you, and this opportunity, is good, is really good. Being here, would be an incredible chance to you to be what you are best at, helping people, maybe not in the way that I do, or in the way you used to” she didn’t ignored the way he used the past tense, but she stayed quiet “But here, you can make a better world, and most of all you can be happy, and really that’s what I always wanted, for you to be happy, even… even if it’s away from me, I.. I love you enough to let you go Felicity” he looked down for a moment, she hadn’t realized that she started crying until her vision got blurry, she wiped out the tears as he glance up again “Palmer is a great guy, and he cares about you, and he can protect you, so you can be happy and safe. I know that you are worried about the team, but you shouldn’t think of us” she tried to speak, but he paused her with a hand in the end “Please, let me finish. You are part of the team, a great part, but we want you to be happy” she smiled, with tears in her ayes, that was the same thing Diggle told her in their chat the day before “And if being in New York makes you happy, then we’ll accept it, What I’m trying to say is that we’ll support you no matter what. If staying In new York is the best for you, then it’ll be the best for us too.”
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even think after that, her heart was pounding in her chest, and her mind was whirling and trying to find the words. But before she could speak, there’s a voice behind Oliver, a familiar and inconvenient voice.
“Hey Felicity I wanted to.. Oh” Ray stopped himself as he saw Oliver standing in front of Felicity “ Hey Oliver, I didn’t know you were .. visiting”
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to Felicity about… something” he turned around to face the other man with a try of a smile “But I already said all I had to, so ,I’ll leave you two alone.” The turned back to look at her one last time “Good bye Felicity”
She couldn’t say anything, and when she saw Oliver leaving, she knew she had to let him go, because it would be the best for both of them. Almost 10 minutes had passed and even though she knew that Ray had been talking to her, she didn’t even know what he was talking about, her mind was focused on Oliver and how she felt that this was a real good bye, that he was leaving her, to be happy, to be with Ray and forget him.
And in that moment she tried to imagine a life without Oliver, without all the smiles that he kept only for her, without the light in his eyes every time she came up with new intel, or his little sighs when she said his name, without the little touches on her shoulders or her back, without his smirk every time he caught her watching him in the salmon ladder, without feeling his hands caress her face in a bad day or the feeling of pure happiness every time he entered the foundry without a scratch after a mission, and she was crying again. A life without Oliver was no life at all.
She hurriedly took her things - her purse, phone and jacket -and started walking to the door
“I’m sorry Ray, I can’t do this, I’m.. I’m really sorry” and with that she left the office, towards the elevator, wishing it wasn’t too late. When it hit the ground floor she started running, not really knowing where she was going, she just wanted to find him, she needed to find him.
She was starting to feel panic, spinning around in a cross road when she saw his silhouette walking down the street, his head down, his hands in his pockets, and she couldn’t stop the scream that came out of her mouth
“Oliver!” he stopped walking and slowly turned around, she was already running to him, when he started to walk towards her too. Their bodies collided seconds later. His eyes were looking at her confused ,as if he was seeing a vision“ I thought I got rid of you”
She kissed him, with all the urge she’d been hoarding the last three years, and all the love her heart was pounding to every nerve of her body, she felt one of his arms wound around her waist flushing her against his chest and the other on the back of her head while his mouth took hers fiercely. When they gasped for air, he brought his forehead down to meet with hers
“I can’t do it Oliver, I can’t be without you, but you need to stop pushing me away” she was still crying, and he ran his thumbs over her cheeks to wipe away her tears “I know you think this is the best for me, but it’s not, the best for me is being with you, but you have to let me in”
“I will, Felicity, I swear” he whispered, so close to her mouth that she could felt his breath mingling with hers
“I love you” she closed her ayes, after all that time trying to keep those feelings away, saying it out loud was like lifting a heavy weight out of her heart, she felt lighter. Oliver pulled away to look at her with wonder in his eyes, and after running a hand through her hair he pulled her back in a searing kiss. Words weren’t needed, in that kiss Felicity felt all that Oliver could say
I won’t let you down
I need you
I love you