Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Ms. Smoak, I’m going to let you go with a warning, because I have complete understanding and sympathy for your situation,” Detective Lance told her with a grim face, looking down at the medical bracelet on her wrist. “But you need to cut down on the pain pills. He’s going to have to survive without them.”

Felicity had been arrested last night with an illegal amount of pain medication, but she did not have an addiction. They were for her soulmate, whoever he may be.

When Felicity Smoak was born, her mother Donna was thrilled that the dark shade of her soul mark revealed the baby had a Level 5 soul connection. They were so rare and valued in the world.

Most people were a Level 3 – strong bonds with their mates and a limited psychic connection after bonding. The darker your mark, the stronger the bonds with your soulmate. Those with lower levels didn’t always stick out their bond for life.

Donna and her mate, Noah, had been only Level 1’s, so it had been easy for Noah to abandon his family when Felicity was seven. Her mother told her she was lucky to be Level 5, and that once she found her mate it would be forever.

But there were downsides to be an unbonded Level 5 as well. In Level 5’s, there was a small psychic connection even before they met. Once bonded, there would be complete telepathy and mood sharing. But even before bonding, any intense emotions or physical conditions could be felt through their connection.

Once they reached adulthood, most Level 5’s needed to wear medical alert bracelets because something happening randomly could impact their daily living. Felicity had to start wearing hers when she was a teenager.

She had been sitting in her high school biology class, as she was several grades ahead and set to graduate early, when her body was flushed with heat. Every nerve ending on her body stood on edge and she was suddenly filled with so much pleasure screamed. Felicity didn’t know what had happened to her, and it wasn’t until later when her mom told her that it was an orgasm. It started happening to her ALL the time.

In gym class.

At the grocery store.

At the library.

During her college entrance exams.

Apparently, her soulmate was kind of a man whore. And while Donna said that this was a great thing – she got all the pleasure without having to do any of the work, Felicity was not a fan. Sure, it felt amazing, but it was really embarrassing for a girl who would rather blend in.

And then there was the drinking. Felicity had never had a drop of alcohol until she turned 21, but she certainly knew what it felt like to be drunk. Her soulmate loved alcohol. When she turned 16, her soulmate level made it impossible for her to get a driver’s license. Her new medical bracelet read “No operation of heavy machinery – impaired judgement.” She did not drink and drive, but through her connection should could very much be suddenly drunk while driving. So that was off the table.

Felicity had to reschedule her MIT entrance interview three times due to soulmate inebriation. Luckily, due to her Level 5 status they let her reschedule without prejudice. It also helped that her IQ was so high that they would be idiots to not welcome her to the school with open arms.

Still, with intents studies in front of her, Felicity really wished her soulmate would take a break from partying for a few months.

By second semester, Felicity totally believed in the saying “be careful what you wish for.” Suddenly the frequent orgasms and drunken binges stopped. And were replaced with fear, panic and pain. So. Much. Pain.

Felicity didn’t know what happened to her soulmate, but it wasn’t good. And she had no way of finding him to help. She couldn’t discern all of the injuries, but she knew that over a period of a few years, he endured broken bones, whipping, bullet wounds and torture.

Felicity cried out so many times in class, that the other students quickly learned to not be curious about it. She got looks of pity wherever she went.

When she had an allergic reaction after ingesting a pot brownie with nuts in it, she felt so guilty. Although he probably deserved some discomfort from her side after all the years of trouble, she didn’t want to add to all that he was enduring.

It wasn’t until her senior year that she realized that she could help her soulmate in one way. If she could feel the effects of his inebriation, then he could probably feel the effects of any major pain medication she took.

At first, the soulmate clinic gave her a small prescription for them, because this was a typical need that would pop up from time to time. But no other soulmates had the intense bouts of pain hers did obviously, and they couldn’t give her more because they didn’t want to Felicity to become addicted. So, she turned to the dark web and found some on the black market. She carefully monitored her intake so that she only took the pills when he desperately needed them so she wouldn’t become a junkie, but he required them more than the average person.

And that was why she was picked up by the Starling Police after someone at her job ratted her out after snooping through her desk and finding non-prescribed narcotics in her desk.

Felicity thought she would lose her job for sure, but Walter Steele valued her work and let her off with a warning this time. He understood her situation, but didn’t want to see the meds at work anymore. Felicity was more than grateful, so she did not complain when she was asked to stay late and perform updates on all the executive computers that night to make up for the time she missed while in jail.

She was finishing up on the last computer – Moira Queen’s, when she heard a noise coming from the dark office next to her.

“Hello? Is someone there?”

No response came. Felicity had no idea why, but her feet started moving in that direction against her will. Something was telling her to investigate.

She flipped on the switch in the office and almost snickered at the person trying to hide behind the small corner table that was topped with a fern.

“That is not the best hiding place, you know,” she said loudly. He stood up and put his hands in his pockets sheepishly. Despite his goofy expression at the moment, the rest of his body told a different story. He held himself like steel, as if poised to attack at any second. His shoulders were so broad and his eyes were so blue she could almost smell the ocean.

“I um, you caught me. I was trying to hide here after hours so I could nab some liquor from my dad’s office, he keeps the high-end stuff here.”

Felicity knew he was lying. “Who’s your father?”

He dodged the question. “I’d rather not say, I don’t want to get in trouble. I hope you understand.”

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him, but didn’t argue. “Oh well, you look familiar, but it’s not like I know everyone’s family from the executive level.”

“I better leave and let you get back to work,” he said as he hurried toward the door.

“Wait, I didn’t even get your name…” Felicity grabbed his hand as he passed. Electricity shot between them and they froze.

“It’s you,” he whispered, his eyes widening.

“It’s you,” she said, her heart pounding. Their hands stayed connected as they stood there and stared.

And then he was cupping his hands on each side of her face, tears flowing from his eyes. “I am so sorry. For all that you felt over the past few years…If I could do anything to stop it…”

“Shh…I’m just glad you’re alright,” she whispered, her voice raspy from holding in tears on her own. And then his lips were on hers.

There was a swirling in her belly and then it felt like she was falling. Through their connection she could see flashes of his life. Growing up, his sister, his family, his best friend Tommy. Their partying lifestyle together. Getting on the Queen’s Gambit. Queen. Oliver Queen. Her soulmate was Oliver Queen. Suddenly everything about him made sense. She saw the years on the island. The pain, the suffering. Felicity saw him in China, and knew all about ARGUS and why he was here on a mission in Starling City, but could not be seen by friends or family. A lifetime of memories, and she knew it all in a few seconds.

“Oliver…” she said when she finally stepped back from his kiss, her mind reeling.

“Fe-li-ci-ty,” he said, trying out her name for the first time. “I have to go.” His face was filled with agony.

“I know, Waller doesn’t want any complications,” Felicity said, but instead of letting him go, she flung herself into his arms, laying her head on his chest.

“God, I want to stay. I wish I could stay,” Oliver said, his voice cracking.

“It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere. I will be here waiting when you come home.” Felicity pulled away from him. He gave her one more kiss, and they both shuddered, knowing that if they had more time and anywhere near a bed, they would definitely be completing their bond. “I just met you, but I already love you, it’s so strange. I don’t know how to say goodbye.”

“Well, let’s not say goodbye. I will fight with everything in me to come back to you, Felicity.”

And with that, he was gone.

Felicity was really glad she had to work late today.

**

Oliver’s feet felt like lead as he forced himself to walk away from Queen Consolidated – away from his soulmate. Felicity Smoak. She was so beautiful and far more than he ever deserved.

He knew he was a Level 5 from birth from the darkness of his soulmark, but Felicity must have led a relatively uneventful life. Other than a few piercings here and there, and that one time he guessed she got her wisdom teeth out, he received very little pain signals from her. There were a couple of months in college where she was having regular sex (which was a nice distraction on Lian Yu), but then that ended.

Unlike him. He knew that she felt every lash on his back. Every wound he received. It nearly broke him to think about the pain he had caused her.

When they kissed, he saw every moment of her life flash through his mind. She was bright, beautiful and brilliant. And all his. He simply could not believe it. She was the light that perfectly balanced out his darkness. The universe had gotten it right for once. Oliver needed to finish this business with ARGUS so he could get home to her as soon as possible.

He had one stop before leaving Starling – the party Tommy was throwing. It irked him when he saw a drug dealer coming to deal to his sister Thea. He was about to intervene and break the dealer’s neck when no one was looking when a familiar voice yelling through the house.

“Thea Queen, you get your ass down here right now!”

Oliver’s soulmate was bellowing for his sister. What the hell was she doing?

“Excuse me? Do I know you?” Thea was pissed, from embarrassment and from the fact that her drug buying had been interrupted.

“No, but I know your brother and I know he would not want you here or buying drugs from this loser.” Oliver thought his heart would burst with pride and love for his soulmate. He couldn’t believe that they had just shared a mind connection once and she was here fighting for his sister like a guardian angel.

“Correction, you knew my brother. He’s dead.” Oliver deflated at Thea’s words. He wanted more than anything to let her know he was alive and he loved her. Felicity pulled Thea away from the crowd, lowering her voice so others couldn’t hear. Oliver was almost right above them.

“Um, no, I said it right. I know your brother. He is alive,” Felicity said. Oliver stilled, and he prayed that she wouldn’t reveal that he was in town. She didn’t. Instead she lifted her shirt to reveal her soulmark on her lower abdomen. It was so dark that Oliver could see it clearly from the balcony where he was perched. He knew they matched, but it was still breathtaking to see.

Thea gasped.

“I didn’t know that he found his soulmate! Why didn’t you come to us sooner and let us know he was alive?”

Felicity was quiet for a moment before answering. “He’s not doing well, Thea. There has been so much pain. Unbearable pain. And I had no way of finding him. To me, it was better for you to think that he was dead than to know what he was going through.”

Oliver closed his eyes at her words. She was lying about them meeting before he left on the Gambit, but her words about the pain he endured were true.

“So why come to me now?” Thea asked through tears.

“Because I know that dealer, and he is bad news. I had a bad run in with him in the past,” Felicity said.

Thea looked shock at this. “You’ve done drugs?”

“I’ve been getting as much pain medication as I can…for Oliver.”

Oliver reeled at her words. Suddenly, it all made sense. Sometimes he would be in unbearable pain from something on Lian Yu and it would instantly dull for no reason. Felicity had been taking away from him from afar. Watching his sister and soulmate hugging and crying, his heart was filled with gratitude for her.

His soulmate was remarkable.

**

Two years later…

Felicity was taking apart the laptop in front of her, chewing on a red pen in concentration. With all the events on the news over the past few days, she was grateful for the distraction.

“Is your phone broken?” a voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to see Thea Queen standing in her cubicle.

“Um, Thea…no…it’s not broken.”

“Well, then do you want to explain to me why you haven’t answered when me, my mom, Walter, Tommy, the hospital and basically everyone has called you over the past two days?”

Felicity shifted nervously in her seat. “I wanted to give you guys time, to readjust. Oliver is just easing his way back into the world, and I didn’t want to include soulmate on the list of people swarming on him for attention.”

Thea crossed her arms and glared at her.

“Don’t you think that was something Oliver should decide? If he wants you near him or not? And what about me? I needed my big sister!”

Felicity sighed. She and Thea, along with the rest of Oliver’s family, had gotten close in the few years since she shared a kiss with her soulmate. It was hard for her not to rush to them when the news broke about his rescue, but Oliver did not know that she connected with his family while he was gone. She did her best to hide any pain “incidents,” but she often saw his family watching her with worried eyes. Moira Queen’s searches for her son had come up with nothing.

“I was waiting until things settled down a little bit,” Felicity said, hoping she would buy her explanation.

“You were the first person he asked about when he arrived at the hospital.”

Felicity’s head shot up at this. “What?”

“Of course, you were,” came another voice as her soulmate rounded the corner into her cubicle.

“Oliver! You’re here!”

“Yeah, I figured since you were taking your sweet time coming to me I had better track you down myself,” he said with a grin.

“Oh my God, my brother is smiling,” Thea said, snapping a picture of him with her phone. “She must really be your soulmate.”

“She really is,” Oliver replied, not taking his eyes off of Felicity.

“Well, my work in breaking the ice is done, and I will leave you two to get…reacquainted,” Thea said before blowing them a kiss and leaving.

Oliver walked around her desk and pulled Felicity into his arms. Although they had met only once, it felt like coming home.

“Hi,” she whispered.

“Hi – were you afraid to come find me? Do you want me to leave you alone? I know that I am not the best man after all that I went through…”

Felicity silenced all his doubts with a kiss, and their minds merged again so she could show him the depth of her feelings.

When they pulled apart, she smacked him. “A vigilante? Really, Oliver? I just got you back and now you’re going to be risking your life?”

Oliver just laughed at her. “How about we discuss it over dinner?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Well, the implication of dinner usually being a date,” Oliver replied.

“Okay, but don’t think you can distract me with kisses all night.”

It turned out, Felicity didn’t mind that kind of distraction after all. And one thing the couple learned later that night was that although Level 5 soulmate orgasms from afar were great, they were nothing compared to the real thing.