Umbrella

An: I do not own Arrow. We're now halfway through one-shot week! Yay :)

This story is a gift for melicitysmoak.

Summary: Felicity Smoak swears there is a force working against her to embarrass her but not today. Today she remembers to walk with her umbrella. She will not get soaked in the rain again!

When Felicity Smoak's alarm clock rang at 6:00am she nearly threw it across the room. She knew she had to wake up extra early to make sure that she got her Mini Cooper to the dealer at 7:00am for its regular service appointment but it was still hell to get up at that hour. She rolled out of bed still half asleep and tried to sleep walk to her bathroom only to end up running into the door frame. A string of colourful words left her mouth in response. She hated waking up before seven. She went straight to the sink and splashed water on her face hoping that would at least make her feel a little better.

Twenty minutes later she finally made it to the coffee machine in the kitchen. She desperately needed her first cup before she attempted to drive. She had set the machine up the night before knowing the state she was going to be in. She flipped on the switch and waited the agonizing minutes for it to give her, her first cup of coffee. The smell that assaulted her nose as she waited calmed her a little bit. Her coffee would be ready soon. She pulled her panda mug out of the cupboard and set it on the counter. As soon as the coffee was done she poured some in her mug and then put the rest in her travel mug.

With one cup in her system, she felt ready to face the world. She grabbed her purse, car keys and travel mug before heading out. As soon as she closed the door, she saw the storm clouds brewing on the horizon. She realized she needed an umbrella. She opened the door and grabbed the umbrella that was next to the door. She was not going to be caught unprepared today. She had done the getting soaked in the rain episode last month and she didn't want a repeat of that.

After Felicity dropped off her car, she walked to the nearest bus stop. She hoped the bus was on time today because her supervisor had set a stupid 8:00am meeting with the department that day. It started to drizzle and Felicity was thankful she had remembered her umbrella. She suddenly felt that she didn't have enough items in her hand. She mentally ran through what she was supposed to have. Her purse, check. Her umbrella, check. Her car keys were with the car. She knew she always felt uncomfortable when she didn't have her car keys with her but that couldn't be helped on service days. What was she forgetting? Frack, she left her coffee in the car! She contemplated walking back to the dealer to retrieve it but the bus was supposed to arrive at any moment.

The bus arrived ten minutes late reminding her why she chose to lease a car and not rely on public transport. She could have so gotten her coffee and be back in time to catch it. By the time she made it to the closest bus stop to work it was raining cats and dogs. She had two blocks to walk and ten minutes to get to work. She had no choice but to cower under the umbrella and walk. At least she had on her flats. Her work shoes were under her desk at work. She managed to arrive with one minute to spare. All of her co-workers gave her wet umbrella a filthy look. She opened the umbrella up in her cubicle to dry while she attended the meeting.

The meeting had been unbearable. Each person had to account for everything they had done for the last month. That meant that her boss was under a fine tooth comb again and he needed to account for why his staff was so large. Her friend in HR, had told her that they had been questioning why there were so many people in IT when it seemed like only two or three ever fixed any of the issues they had. Felicity rolled her eyes. Her boss needed to send all of them out on trouble calls and not just the staff members he disliked. He was fond of giving the boring stuff to two people. Unfortunately that meant that the entire organization felt that there were only two people in the IT department that actually did work. They didn't know that the staff members that they didn't see worked on the cyber security of the organization as well as creation of programmes to make things run smoothly in the building.

The meeting finished by 10am and Felicity found she needed another caffeine boost if she was going to crack the latest programming problem that had been brought to her. There was a small coffee shop around the corner she liked to dart too when she needed a boost urgently. Outside looked clear but she was not falling for that trick again. She grabbed her umbrella and made the trek down to the shop. She ordered one nonfat latte with extra sugar to go. Once she had her precious cup in her hand she took one sip to make sure it was perfect and then headed back to QC, sipping her coffee the entire way.

She was almost to QC when it started to drizzle and she quickly opened her umbrella proud that the rain had not outsmarted her this time. Whatever force it was that conspired against her on a daily basis, it was not going to win today. She had just made it to the pavement in front of QC when a car, driving over the speed limit, fell into a pot hole in the road next to her and splashed her full of muddy water. She barely had time to register that the license plate on the car read Queen 1 before she saw it turn into the underground parking for QC.

She stood there in shock before white hot anger took hold of her. How dare that spoiled rich kid splash her and not apologise! Queen 1 was the car that belonged to Oliver Queen, the owner's son and current Vice President of Operations, a position that had been created just for him. She worked very hard for his company and that was how he repaid her. If he thought he could treat her like a piece of dirt under his shoe, he had another thing coming. She didn't pay attention to her appearance or she would have remembered that she had left her coat in her cubicle and that the white blouse she had worn to work that day was now soaked brown and clung to her in a way you saw in a wet T-shirt competition.

Felicity marched inside straight to the bank of elevators tossing her empty coffee cup in a trashcan along the way. The elevator was crowded and people scowled at her when they saw her. That just reinforced her anger for what that idiot did to her. Oliver Queen's Secretary was not there so she marched straight into his office. He was seated at his desk reading over a report. From the designs she saw on the page she knew he was looking over the proposal engineer Curtis Holt had put forward for a new battery.

She slammed her wet umbrella down onto his pristine oak desk causing him to jump in surprise. She made sure no water got on the computer though. As angry as she was, she would not insult the Technology Gods.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked pointing to the wet umbrella.

He looked at the umbrella and then up at her before looking out to his secretary's desk. He was probably wondering who let the mad woman in.

"Well," she asked impatiently in her loud voice.

He must have felt a bit intimidated because he swallowed before answering.

"It is a very wet umbrella, Ms…?" the question at the end clear.

"Smoak," she replied tersely. Spoilt rich kid didn't even know who his employees were. All he had to do was open his eyes and read the badge she had pinned to her black pencil skirt.

"I assume there is a point to this?" he asked his eyes darting between her and the wet umbrella that now occupied his desk.

"Yes an umbrella is designed to protect me from water that falls from the sky," she said pointing upwards, "For those that don't get that concept, it is called rain. It is not designed to protect me from water being violently displaced from a large pothole in the road by Queen 1," she stated angrily. "Do you get the point now?" she said brandishing her hands in front of her to present her soaked appearance to him.

Comprehension finally dawned on his face just as a young brunette that Felicity recognized as his sister, Thea Queen, bounced into the room.

"Hey Ollie, its lunch time," Thea chirped happily coming to sit on the edge of his desk. She stared curiously at Felicity.

Oliver stared at his sister, "Did you take my car today?"

"I, uhh, I," she stammered awkwardly.

"It's a yes or a no question Thea," Oliver said a hint of anger in his voice.

"Yes?" she asked with an innocent shrug.

Oliver shook his head in disbelief. "I believe you need to apologise to Ms. Smoak. You may have splashed her on your way to the parking garage."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I told Roy to watch out for that hole but he didn't see it until we were already in it," Thea admitted. She looked quite sincere in her apology.

"Wait! You let Roy drive my baby!" Oliver said angrily, pointing his index finger accusingly at his baby sister.

"Uhhh yes?" she said again meekly.

Felicity's anger slowly deflated as the two siblings got into a fight over this Roy person. Her rational side started to kick in and she realized she had just marched into her boss's boss's boss office and ranted like a mad woman. Oh god she was going to be fired. She tried to subtly pick up her umbrella and leave but that unknown force that liked to ruin her day caused Mrs. Queen to walk into the office at the exact moment she tried to leave. The elder Queen took one look at Felicity's attire and gave Oliver a very pointed look.

"She came up here to complain because Queen 1 splashed her with water from that annoying pothole out front that's still not fixed," Oliver said. He knew about the pothole. Their Chief Financial Officer, Walter Steele had been splashed last week and it was the first time in his entire life he had ever heard the British man curse.

"Oh dear," she said giving Felicity a sympathetic look. "I've told Oliver a thousand times to be careful how he drives in the city. He really should let the driver bring him to work more often."

"I didn't do it," Oliver bit out, fists clenched at his side. It sounded like this wasn't the first time he had been accused of something he didn't do.

"Regardless of who did it you owe Ms. Smoak some new clothes. She looks like one of those tarts that sells herself on the corner. I will not have an employee of Queen Consolidated looking like that," his mother stated.

Oliver sighed and took off his jacket. He approached Felicity but she instinctively took a step away from him. "Please don't fire me," she squeaked out.

"The thought did cross my mind, several times but I understand how frustrating my sister can be," Oliver said his eyes darting to her. "At least use my jacket to cover yourself. I can see what looks like animated characters on your bra."

Felicity's jaw dropped open and she looked down at her blouse horrified. "Oh no!" she grabbed the jacket from him and put it on quickly. It floated on her, the hem stopping at her mid-thigh but it was very warm. She hadn't realised that she had been feeling cold before. The scent of his cologne was on the jacket and she found she liked it very much. She had to resist the urge to inhale deeply because she was fairly sure they would send her straight to the mental institution if they saw her sniffing his jacket.

"I might have another blouse I can change into downstairs," she said. "I'll be right back with this for you."

She was almost out the door when Walter Steele and Robert Queen blocked her exit this time. She really needed to track down that invisible force and give it a piece of her mind.

"Ms. Smoak, how lovely to see you," Walter said pleasantly.

"Is that my son's jacket?" Robert asked with a frown his eyes moving from her to Oliver who was only attired in his crisp white shirt, blue tie and black dress pants.

"Uh….." she started. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain what happened to the CEO.

"She was splashed by that pothole downstairs," Oliver said coming to her rescue. "I offered her my jacket to cover up."

Walter turned angrily to Robert, "I'm not waiting on City Hall to repair it any longer. I'm calling a road repair expert to fix it ourselves."

Robert sighed and rubbed his temple. It appeared they had been having this conversation for a few days now. Felicity used the argument that ensued as a cover to escape from the office. She was going to have to pray to the Google Gods that she didn't get fired.

Later that afternoon Thea arrived at her desk with a man dressed in a red hoodie and jeans. The hood was pulled back to reveal his face. Felicity couldn't help but ogle his jaw line. It was the most chiseled jaw she had ever seen.

"Felicity this is Roy Harper, my boyfriend and the driver of Queen 1 this morning. He's here to apologise," Thea said. She pushed Roy forward and gave him a look that clearly said he had to do exactly what she said.

"Sorry blondie. Didn't know the hole was there," he said gruffly looking everywhere but at her.

Thea rolled her eyes, "Men! Give her your apology gift now!" she said punching him on the arm.

Roy gave her some serious side eye before he begrudgingly dropped a few shopping bags onto Felicity's desk.

"He bought you a new blouse," Thea said with a small smile. "He even picked it out himself. Despite his attachment to that godawful red hoodie he does have a sense of fashion afterall!"

Felicity peeked into the bags, "A new blouse, this looks like the entire store!"

"I brought you the rest. I'm really sorry," Thea said sheepishly. "I did try to warn Roy but like all men he didn't listen!"

"You didn't have to do all this," Felicity said feeling a little guilty about the way she had treated Thea's brother.

"No I didn't but any woman that has the balls to walk into my brother's office and set him straight is someone that I want to know," Thea admitted.

"Is this a couture dress?" Felicity asked pulling down the zipper on a dress bag to reveal a blue dress. She held the fabric against her cheek.

"Yeah I thought it would look nice on you," the young Queen admitted.

"You are a goddess," Felicity blurted out.

"I'm glad someone has finally acknowledged that!"

1 year later

Oliver Queen had been buzzing with energy the entire morning. It was exactly a year since Felicity walked into his office and changed his life for the better. He had thought she was stark raving mad at the time and had come very close to firing her on the spot but there was something about her passion and the way that she was standing up for herself that Oliver appreciated. It helped that Walter was 100% on the IT girl's side. After the incident, he started running into her in the elevator frequently. The poor girl would blush so hard, all of her visible skin turned red. It made him wonder if her entire body turned red. The true turning point came when he was assigned to work with her on a project. He was Smoaked and he knew it.

At 10:00am, he called Felicity up to his office to give her a little gift to mark their one year anniversary. He had to pay a lot of money to get an umbrella with mini TARDISes all over it. As soon as she walked through the door to his office he thrust the umbrella into her hand.

"Happy Anniversary," he said bending down to kiss her quickly on the lips. She didn't approve of any romantic displays in the office but he loved to steal kisses from her.

"Oh," Felicity said startled. He could tell she was mentally counting in her head, "Isn't our anniversary 3 months from now marking the day when you asked me to have lunch with you and then promptly spilled your coffee all over my laptop?"

Oliver pursed his lips, "That is probably why I prefer this one. That wasn't my greatest moment."

"So it's ok for me to make a fool out of myself but not you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Compromise, the first time we kissed," he suggested wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer.

"Yes that was a great moment," Felicity fondly remembered.

"Great it's settled then our official anniversary is in 3 and half months," Oliver said bending down quickly to steal another kiss.

"Oliver!" Felicity stamped her foot in disapproval. "Anyone can see. This is not proper office etiquette."

Oliver smiled cheekily at her while she pulled angrily away from him and moved to his adjoining conference room where they were supposed to have a conference call with Star Labs in Central City at 10:30am. After the call they returned to the sofa set in his office to discuss the follow-up action items from the call.

"Ready for our anniversary lunch," Thea chirped entering the office. Oliver had told her a thousand times that she shouldn't just walk into his office but she never listened.

"Not you too," Felicity groaned dropping her head into her hands.

"Are you ashamed of me too Smoak?" Thea commented playfully dropping down onto the sofa opposite theirs.

"Never!" Felicity responded pulling her head away from her hands and offering the younger Queen a large smile. Oliver was always very wary when his sister and girlfriend got together; trouble always followed. He would never forget the time he had to bail the both of them out of jail because they assaulted a police officer with an umbrella. Yeah his girlfriend had a thing with umbrellas.

"Great, once Ollie is finished with whatever it is he does, we can meet everyone else at the restaurant," Thea advised them as she turned her head slightly to try and read the documents that they were reviewing on the coffee table.

"Everyone?" Felicity asked with narrowed eyes.

"You didn't think it was only Ollie and I celebrating your glorious arrival into our lives?" Thea said with a wicked smile.

Felicity closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, "I guess it was too much to hope for a quiet day today."

Oliver chuckled. The day was going to be far from quiet. He had plans for their dinner and evening activities.

"Yeap," Thea teased, "And don't forget your umbrella. Interesting things always happen when you have your umbrella!"

An: Thanks for reading. Tomorrow's story is a prequel in the Jinxed Universe. It's called Big Butt.