Work Text:
Puppy Love
December 12, 2014
"But Dad! I want a puppy! Me and Ava will take care of it. We'll do everything, you won't even know it's here!" Connor whined as Oliver was packing lunches.
"Connor, we'll talk about it tonight." Exasperated, Oliver responded as he pulled the Jell-O containers apart. "And just so you know, Ava is far too young to do everything. Taking care of a puppy will be mostly on you. Think about that and we will talk tonight."
Sighing, Connor stood up from the table and placed his dish in the sink. He began to walk back to his room while audibly sighing and hunching his shoulders. "CHAIR." Oliver screamed. Connor stopped dead in his tracks, about faced, and walked back to the table where he leaned on the back of the chair he absentmindedly forgot to push back in.
"How do you plan on taking care of a puppy if you can't remember to push your chair in Connor?" Oliver asked amused by Connors demeanor.
"I won't abandon a living thing Dad."
Xxxxx
Christmas Day, 2014
Oliver was woken up to the sounds of both of his children screaming and jumping on his bed.
"Daddy! Its chis-mas, wake up!!" Ava screamed as she came down from her last jump.
Laughing, Oliver jumped out of bed. Grabbing Ava, and helping Connor down, he glanced at the alarm clock. "Really guys? It's 5am. I am going to remember how wide awake you both are at 5am when you're in high school."
"Oh dad, it's Christmas. Everyone is a morning person on Christmas." Connor, matter of fairly responded as they walked down the stairs to the great room where the Christmas tree was waiting for them.
The entire room was filled with presents. Both kids couldn't contain their excitement and shrills of happiness filled the room. Oliver took that as his cue to walk towards the Keurig. He hated the instant coffee it produced, but he knew this morning he wasn’t going to have time to percolate a real cup. So an instant cup-of-joe would have to do.
After fixing his drink, he walked back into the great room. Connor had already began the sorting of the gifts. So far Ava had more on her side, and Oliver could see the frustration in Connor's face.
"Don't worry Connor, I'm sure there are an equal number of presents. Santa knows what he's doing." Oliver explained as he took a sip of the sludge he is calling coffee this morning. Connor gave him a telling look. "Yeah Dad, I'm sure Santa knows what he's doing...”
Shaking his head, Oliver stared at his two children as they divided the great room into two piles of presents. How did he become so lucky? How could anyone want to leave this?
A knock on the door pulled Oliver from his daydream. "Dad, who's at the door? It's Christmas morning." Connor said as he pulled a gift out of Ava's hands.
"Oh it's Uncle Digg, I told him he could stop by to watch you guys open your gifts." He responded as he placed his drink on the counter and walked to the door. The kids were too entranced by the gifts to care. Oliver opened the door and saw Diggle standing there with a smirk on his face, and a Pomsky puppy in his hands.
"Digg, you are amazing, thank you so much. Come in" Oliver said as he stepped out of the way and ushered Diggle in.
Oliver screamed to the great room as Diggle handed the puppy over. "Connor, Ava - I need you to come say hi to Uncle Digg."
Begrudgingly, the two kids stopped the process of dividing presents. Connor, always the big brother, held Ava's hand as they walked up the stairs of the sunken great room. Oliver crouched down, so the puppy was eye level as they got closer to the foyer.
"Hi Uncle Digg, Merry Chri-" Connor looked up and stopped dead in his tracks. Ava, unaware of why he brother stopped suddenly fell forward, and suddenly began to cry. Diggle ran to Ava, scooping her up and bringing her eye level to the puppy.
"PUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYY!" Ava screamed, as she tried to grab the little ball of fur.
"Dad you got us a puppy?!" Connor screamed excitedly as he began petting the puppy's head.
"Well you told me you wanted one, and Santa is always listening. So when I spoke with Uncle Digg this morning, he told me Santa left a puppy at his house for you both." Oliver responded, as he put the puppy on the floor. The puppy walked around smelling Connor and Ava's feet, Ava laughed, her falling incident no longer an issue.
Oliver gave Diggle a look of "Thanks", and Diggle smirked a "you're welcome" back.
"So what do you wanna name this little guy?" Oliver asked as he followed the puppy into the living room.
Connor responded to Oliver's question by conferring with his sister..."Ava, what do you think about Harper?"
"Har-er!"
"Dad, I think she agrees with Harper"
"Alrighty that settles it. Everyone met Harper Queen!"
Xxxxx
January 17, 2015
Connor and Ava were eating breakfast as Oliver was cooking his own meal. "Connor, you said if we got a dog, you and Ava would take care of it. I think you've fed Harper twice since we've got him."
"I'm 8 dad. Do you really believe I'm going to take care of a dog?"
"Well, Harper needs to be trained properly, and I need your help with it. Otherwise we'll have to hire someone and some of her pay will come out of your allowance."
Connors head shot up. "I'll help. Promise."
Xxxx
February 1, 2015
"Hey Digg, do you know anyone that can help train Harper? And possibly dog sit during the week? If I clean up any more accidents I may turn into one myself." Oliver said as he walked up from the basement with the mop for the second time that day.
"Actually I do. Her name is Felicity Smoak. I'll text over her information. She's great. Trained Speedy for me in 2 weeks. And she comes over twice a day, every day, to walk her and spend time with her."
"Thanks Digg, I appreciate it. You're still coming for Super Bowl today right?"
"You couldn't keep me away if you tried. I need to see Seattle slap the Patriots on your big screen. I'll be there around 2."
Laughing, they hung up and Oliver got back to mopping the kitchen floor again. As soon as he was done he saw the message from Digg. This dog miracle worker was getting a call right away.
"Hi, is this Felicity Smoak? My name is Oliver Queen, and I've heard you are a dog whisperer."
"Hi Mr. Queen, call me Felicity. Thank you for the compliment but a dog whisperer?! I'm not sure about that. I mean, well, I guess I am. But Cesar does a much better job than me. I don't really whisper as I just train, and sometimes the dogs just don't want to cooperate and then-" Oliver cut her off laughing at her rambles.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Smoak, call me Oliver. John Diggle gave me your information. I have a Pomsky puppy that is in dire need of your help."
"A POMSKY?! Yes! Yes I can absolutely help you Mr. Que- I mean, Oliver. Yes I can help you and your Pomsky, Oliver. When were your thinking about starting?"
"How quickly can you be here? I've cleaned up two accidents since this morning."
"I can be there by 1 today if that works for you?"
"Sure, I'll text you my address. Thank you so much Felicity.
Two hours later, Felicity Smoak was knocking on the Queen's front door.
Connor answered the door. "Hi, I'm Connor. Are you here to fix my dog?"
Felicity smiled and tilted her head. "Yes, I'm Felicity, and I am here to help train Harper."
"Connor- what have I told you about opening the door for stran-" Oliver trailed off as his eyes met Felicity’s long lean legs. He followed them up her body, until he was staring into her eyes.
Felicity caught herself staring at Oliver’s arms. Extending her hand, and hoping to break the spell, Felicity began to introduce herself to the Greek God that was standing in front of her. “Hi, I’m Felicity. You must be Oliver.”
Oliver, clearly affected by the gorgeous woman standing in front of her, cleared his throat, and placed his hand in hers. A spark of electricity shot through both of them and instantly, they both let go. “Um, sorry, static electricity I guess. Hi, yes, I’m Oliver. Please come in, it’s freezing out there.” Oliver moved to the side and directed Connor to get Harper from his play area. “Do you want anything to drink? Eat? Anything?”
Felicity couldn’t put words together. The only thing she could do was shake her head as she thought to herself, is it legal for a man be this good looking? She followed Oliver into the great room, where Connor was playing with Harper and Ava was in her pack and play watching Frozen for the 40th time this week. As she walked over to Ava, she looked at Oliver and asked “Who is this little cutie?”
There was no response. Oliver was completely flabbergasted that this woman was in his home. “That’s my sister, her name is Ava.” Connor side-eyed Oliver. Oliver had to snap out of it, or he was going to be shown up by an 8-year-old. His 8-year-old.
“Hi Ava, I’m Felicity. And you are absolutely adorable. Look at those cheeks! And those beautiful blue eyes.” Ava giggled as Felicity pinched her cheeks. Felicity felt her face blush.
“Okay, should we get started? Is Mrs. Queen going to join us? It’s best if anyone who will be involved in the dog’s everyday life, is here for the training. Kinda just to learn my tricks and tips first hand.” As she said it, Felicity glanced imperceptibly at Oliver’s left hand.
Oliver cleared his throat, as he prepared to explain why there was no longer a Mrs. Queen.
“There isn’t a Mrs. Queen. Our mom abandoned us.” Connor blurted out.
“Excuse me Connor. That was inappropriate. I’m sorry Felicity, my son has seemed to forget all of his manners” Oliver glared at Connor, who was purposely only looking at Harper.
Felicity wanted to crawl out of her skin. How could she be so stupid? She shouldn't have said anything. Anxiously, she turned to Oliver. “Oh, it’s okay. Forget I asked. Let’s get training. Do you have any turkey cold cuts? Or soft treats we could break up into pieces? After I find out what type of treats Harper likes, I’ll bring my own, but because it’s Super Bowl weekend and Seattle is playing, a lot of the stores are closed. Plus I didn’t know what you fed Harper, or if she had a special diet. And now I’m rambling on about dog treats. I’m sorry, I ramble when I get myself into sticky situations.”
A laugh escaped his throat, and instantly his head tilted to the side. She was adorable. Surprisingly, he realized, he wanted to hear her babble all day.
Connor, sensing something happening, decided to get the bag of training treats they had bought when they tried training Harper themselves. He placed the bag on the coffee table and Felicity got to work.
It took all of an hour for Harper to do a complete 180.
“Felicity, I honestly cannot thank you enough. Could I take you out for coffee or something this week to show you how thankful for you I am?” Oliver held his breath. Did he actually just ask her out on a coffee date? He knew she may think it’s weird for your employer to ask you out for coffee, but he had a feeling she was just as affected by him as he was by her.
“Um, yeah, sure. I don’t usually do that - you know, because I’ll feel like a prostitute if I take your money and date you too. But, wait – it’s coffee, so – yeah. That could work. Call me with details. Enjoy your Super Bowl tonight. I cannot wait for my Patriots to destroy Seattle”
“What? You’re a Patriots fan? How? What? Why?” Oliver couldn’t get the words out fast enough. He found a flaw in her, when he was beginning to think there wasn’t any.
“Guilty as charged! MIT Class of 09. I started watching football my freshman year.” Felicity began packing up her stuff, trying to avoid the glare Oliver was giving her.
“MIT? Wait. Like MIT? Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT? Why are you working as a dog trainer?”
Oliver walked closer to her. He stared at her intently. His eyes searching for answers to the enigma that was Felicity Smoak. The doorbell snapped him out of his trance. “Connor, can you let Uncle Digg in while I help Felicity gather her stuff?” In reality, he wanted to get an answer from Felicity before Diggle walked into the room.
“I’m working on a long distance master’s degree. And I work from home as a computer security analyst. So I have the time. Plus it helps pay for my classes” Felicity grabbed her pocketbook and began to move.
Oliver blocked her way. “Felicity - you're remarkable. I am very much looking forward to our coffee. Do you have plans for the rest of the day? Would you like to watch the game on the big screen? It could be fun to have a Patriots fan in the room when Seattle wins.”
Felicity stopped short and turned to him. Seeing her trepidation, he explained that it wouldn’t be a bother, it was just going to be him, Diggle and the kids. Her face blushed. Oliver smirked and winked at her. What was he doing? Did he just invite a woman who he just met to stay for the evening to watch the Super Bowl game? What was this girl doing to him?
“Yes. I mean - as long as you really don’t mind. I don’t have plans for tonight. I was going to just watch it at home by myself. But you’re right. It would be much better to have someone to make fun of when the Patriots win.” Felicity smirked right back.
It was settled. Felicity stayed for the game. Although she spent most of it building a tower with Connor and Ava. Oliver looked on and felt a rush of calmness roll over him. She made him smile. He couldn’t remember the last time he smiled a genuine smile that wasn’t caused by one of his kids. He felt, for the first time in months, that he could actually be happy once again. Something he never thought would happen again after his soon-to-be ex-wife left.
Felicity lived up to her side of the bargain. She stayed until the end of the game. And she made fun of Oliver and Diggle when her Patriots won.
As Oliver walked her out to her car, they agreed coffee would be tomorrow morning. Felicity drove away waving to him. He waved back and decided - he was going to have to find another dog sitter. He had a very good feeling, his current dog sitter would be going on trips with him and he kids in the future.