Chapter Text
He knew the moment he looked up and saw her standing awkwardly at the door. Tension pulled her eyebrows and her lips were a breath’s width parted. Beautiful, brilliant Felicity whose every gesture and expression conveyed so much more than the words she actually spoke. He loved that about her, even as the truth of what she was about to tell him blazed so brightly it hurt that he eventually had to avert his gaze, and he took that opportunity to stand and move around his desk.
"Daniel—"
He smiled at her. No matter what happens, he would never get tired of the way she spoke his name.
He knew the moment she knew that he understood. Her lips closed against the words she’d been about the say, her head tilted with a sigh, and her eyes closed briefly as she went to him and accepted the implicit offer of his hug with his barely outstretched arms.
No other woman had ever read him that well before. And his eyes drifted closed as he revelled in the warmth of a woman he’d fallen in love with, so deeply and completely, that that itself was a gift he’d always cherish.
"It’s not…" Felicity shifted in his embrace to look up at him. "It’s not you, and it’s not about Oliver, you know." She squinted with a wince. "I mean, yes, it’s kind of about Oliver, and obviously it involves you, but it’s really about me—" The squinted wince became a squinted grimace. "Oh, God, I swear I had a proper speech which didn’t sound half as bad."
Daniel chuckled. “I’m sure.”
She leaned back and studied him, her gaze softening. “You deserve better, and I deserve that, too.”
"I agree," Daniel said. And he did. He wholeheartedly wanted the best for Felicity, and he knew she felt the same for him. That knowledge took the sting out of the break up. Just a little.
"Do you want me to go knock some sense into him?" He tilted his head calmly, as if he was actually considering the merit of his offer.
Her mouth twisted. “What?! God, no.” She punched him in the arm when she realized he was joking. Maybe. But her lips finally lifted into a smile, and he couldn’t be more pleased that he could still do that, at least. “You’re an idiot.”
"But he’s the bigger idiot," Daniel said, grinning.
She gave him an adorable eye roll. “Yeah, well.” It amused him she didn’t argue the point. Stepping away from him, she turned around in front of his desk to half-sit and half-lean against the edge. Felicity eyed him and said, “It’s really not about him. You get that, right?”
He nodded. He took the spot next to her, bumping his shoulder with hers. “The reason you're breaking up with me isn't because you’re waiting for him. You’re breaking up with me because a part of you has already fallen in love with him, and that’s not fair for either you or me.”
The surprise on her face was swift and over before Felicity sighed, pulling one of her adorable squints at him. “Damn it. Why couldn’t I have met you first?”
"I’ll have my science department work on that time machine immediately," he said. Her grin was fleeting, but genuine. It hurt him to see her so torn, though. Felicity was light and happiness, and the sadness that clung to her felt wrong. "You should talk to him."
She lifted an eyebrow. “Why… It’s… I…” She took a breath, shaking her head and staring at the carpet, and tried one more time. “He doesn’t love me like that—”
His own eyebrows flew up. She wasn’t looking at him, but her hand waved in the air anyway as if sensing his reaction.
"And even if—even if he might or could, he isn’t willing to— He isn’t ready to—" Her shoulders scrunched up. "I don’t know, but," she said, and she looked back up at him. "Like you said, I’m not waiting."
For a brief moment, Daniel pitied Oliver. Although, if the man couldn’t get his head out of his ass…
"You deserve better. And more, Felicity. Always."