Title: Mind Readers

Summary: Five times Oliver and Felicity finished each other's sentences, and one time when they didn't have to say anything at all.

Dedication/Credit/Inspiration ALL GOES TOWARDS "morgananotpendragon" on Tumblr for giving me the idea in the first place. Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy it! :)

I. John Diggle

Felicity heard the clangs of the salmon ladder behind her while she typed. Currently, she was looking into a possible crime that the Triad might have been involved in, and Marcus Land's possible involvement with them.

The clangs suddenly stopped and a few seconds later she felt Oliver's (shirtless and sweaty) presence behind her.

"Find anything yet?"

"Nothing solid yet. Land's accounts show suspiciously large cash transactions that were deposited in his account for the last few months. Once I tie it to the Triad..."

"He'll get a visit from me", Oliver said, his voice dropping into a deeper register that she called his "Arrow voice".

"Yep!" Felicity agreed while conducting some more searches. "I know you've been arrow-happy-"

"Arrow-happy?" Oliver asked with a hint of skepticism and confusion.

"Yeah", she said, smiling and twirling around in her chair to face him, which she found out was a really bad idea because he was still shirtless and sweaty and hot and she was in her panda flats and jeans. Life was unfair sometimes. "You know how people are trigger-happy, but you aren't because you don't really use guns, not that I blame you because guns are loud and scary and did I mention loud? Because-"

"Felicity", Oliver said with a hint of a smile. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I get it. You don't like guns."

"If I said I didn't like sharp pointy objects either, would you shoot me with one?" She asked quickly, smiling sheepishly to let him know she was kidding.

Oliver squeezed her shoulder. "Never."

"Oh good, because sometimes when they're in my face I get a little dizzy so I hope you didn't really notice it but-"

"You turned all my arrows around to face the other way?" He asked with a knowing glance. "I noticed." He observed the way Felicity started to blush and couldn't help but smile at it.

"This is adorable."

The sound of a baritone voice made Felicity and Oliver look behind them, and they were greeted at the sight of Diggle.

Diggle was smirking as he looked at the two of them, and his smirk only grew when he saw that Felicity had taken a few steps away from Oliver when she heard him so that he wouldn't get the wrong idea.

"You know Oliver, I thought the way you talked in third person was the strangest thing I've seen, but..." he pointed at the two of them. "I think the way you two finish each other sentences takes the cake."

Felicity squeaked. "How long have you been here?"

Diggle chuckled, "Long enough."

"I'm gonna go and ... finish this search", Felicity said quickly before turning around and facing her computers.

Oliver walked back to the training area and Diggle followed him onto the training mats and got into a defensive position.

"You're in a mood again." Diggle remarked, waiting for Oliver to make the first strike. "Upset that I interrupted your alone time with Felicity?"

Oliver's only response was to attack him with a high kick.

II. Quentin Lance

It had taken a few days of research but Felicity had finally gotten a hit on a mysterious group that kept robbing houses in the Glades. She had managed to find a pattern in the homes they were stealing from, and she thinks there's a good chance that they would steal from a newly constructed neighborhood of homes in the Glades.

"Detective, keep moving forward. You should be able to meet him soon enough."

They had recruited Lance for this mission because they knew that the police had some information on the group, but after realizing that the Arrow had someone technologically skilled on their side (she preferred the term "genius"), they were careful with how they stored their information.

"For the last time Ms. Smoak, it's Officer now."

Right. She still wasn't used to that. "I know... It's just that-"

"You still deserve to be a detective", Oliver said in his Arrow voice, chiming into the conversation. "So we think of you as one."

Felicity sighed softly, knowing how Oliver felt guilty that he had cost Quentin his job and still wasn't able to stop the destruction of the Glades. "And we feel bad that you lost your job because of your association with-"

"Me."

Felicity frowned, "I was going to say us, Mr. Pessimist. But you understand our point, don't you Detective?"

Felicity heard a crackle as Quentin Lance chuckled. "Do you two always finish each other's conversations like this or has Ms. Smoak invented some mind-reading device?"

Somewhere undercover with a muted earpiece set, Diggle was laughing.

III. Isabel Rochev

Isabel sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time and Felicity was this close to snapping the stylist in her hand in half. She might throw it at Isabel if she didn't stop her damned sighing. And maybe she'd throw one at Oliver too, for being so late and leaving her alone with a beast.

"Where is he?" Isabel asked with a tone of disdain. Felicity smiled but it was forced and bitter, like Isabel's soul.

"Mr. Queen will be here shortly."

"You said that ten minutes ago", Isabel said with a huff of annoyance. "How does he expect anyone to take him seriously as C.E.O. if he can't even make it to a Board of Directors meeting on time?"

Felicity refrained from rolling her eyes. "We can begin the meeting. Oliver will be here very soon." She hoped.

Isabel glared at her before walking into the conference room and greeting five other members of Queen Consolidated. Felicity bit her lip and looked at the elevator with fleeting hope before walking into the lion's den.

Ten minutes later and no sign of Oliver, Felicity was still biting her lip while avoiding Isabel, who looked like she was ready to tear Felicity's hands off and keep her away from her precious technological babies.

Isabel was mentioning something about funding a new project for Queen Consolidated when Felicity interrupted her.

"Actually… Mrs. Rochev, Mr. Queen was hoping to fund a new project in the Applied Sciences division as well."

Isabel turned quickly to look at her and for a fleeting second Felicity thought that she was staring the Wicked Witch of the West in the face. Isabel smirked.

"Well I'd love to hear it. If only Oliver Queen was here to tell me himself!" Isabel turned around to the others and smiled, "We'll resume this meeting at a later time. Thank you for coming."

Isabel waited (like a shark waits for its prey… Felicity thought) until everyone left the conference room and then turned to face her. She had that look on her face. Uh-oh.

"First of all, it is irresponsible of Oliver to miss another Board meeting, among the several meetings he has already missed", Isabel said, crossing her arms. "Secondly, I do not recall you being C.E.O. of this company. So unless your last name is suddenly Queen—"

"Not to disrespect you Ms. Rochev", (even though Felicity really, really wanted to and this woman was getting on her last nerves and no, this had nothing to do with her little fantasy of being a Queen), "But I'm the one Oliver trusts with his plans for this company. I'm allowed to speak for him."

The words came out of her mouth before she even realized it. Oh dammit. She shouldn't have said that. Isabel's face grew even more stern, if possible. Felicity could imagine the outcome of that now, Isabel firing her and she would be out of a job and would have no excuse to be seen around Oliver. Her and her big mouth.

Isabel glared at her. "You don't speak for him."

Oh that little… "Yes I do—"

"Actually Isabel, she does." Both Felicity and Isabel turned around to find Oliver walking into the office. He smiled at them, "I'm sorry I'm late. Traffic was crazy today."

Isabel looked at him and pursed her lips before the corners of her mouth tightened into a grimace. "Your assistant interrupted a meeting."

"She wouldn't do so without good reason", Oliver said, giving Felicity a glance over Isabel's shoulder. He gave her a knowing glance. "I trust you told Isabel about-"

"The Applied Sciences division requesting funds for their project? I began to but wasn't able to finish explaining it to Ms. Rochev." Felicity said, almost inwardly cheering at the look of disdain on Isabel's face.

"We can discuss it in my office Isabel", Oliver said, opening the door to his office and motioning for Isabel to walk inside first. She glared at Oliver before walking in.

Felicity sighed in relief. It didn't look like she was getting fired today. She looked up to thank Oliver, nodding as her way of showing her gratitude. Oliver winked at her (which made her insides squirm and she was sure she was blushing twenty shades of red) before walking into the office behind Isabel.

IV. Laurel Lance

Oliver stepped out of his office to let Felicity know she could leave for the day. He glanced at his watch: 5:00. That should be enough time for her to go home and prepare for the mission tonight. They would be posing as themselves, but their target was rumored to be dealing in shady business that involved charging and collecting money from any of the remaining businesses in the Glades in return for protection. As Oliver Queen and his pretty assistant, they would fit right in the business setting of the party that Nicholas Gray was hosting tonight. He walked towards her desk and leaned against it; she wasn't there at the moment. Looking over the desk, he found a small yellow Post-It note that read "Be right back! :)". Oliver couldn't help but smile.

"Ollie?"

Looking up he was surprised to find Laurel standing in front of him. Inwardly he grimaced at the idea that he had been too wrapped up in thinking of Felicity and the mission that he didn't hear Laurel coming in.

"Laurel, hey", he said softly, not sure of their standing right now or how she was feeling. "This is new", he said, referring to her presence in his office.

"Yeah I... I wanted to see if you were maybe up for dinner", she said, absentmindedly rubbing her hand against her arm. He knew that gesture; she was nervous.

"... Right now?" He asked, suddenly freezing. He wasn't sure what to do. If he said no to her, then she might get the wrong idea. But he couldn't miss the party tonight; it was the only in into Gray's home.

She shrugged and smiled, "No time like the present right?"

Oliver smiled back, but it was the tightening of the lips and the way the smile didn't reach his eyes that indicated his reluctance. He opened his mouth to try and find a way to say no when-

"I'm sorry... But Mr. Queen has several evening board meetings that he cannot miss tonight."

Oliver looked to his right and genuinely smiled when he saw Felicity. Felicity, thank God for Felicity. He wasn't sure he had ever been so happy to see her.

His blonde Executive Assistant kept going when Laurel turned to face her, "Not to intrude on your plans... Or your conversation for that matter. Wow, that was so rude of me I'm sorry", Felicity said, waving her hands in front of her in a surrendering-gesture. "But yeah. Tonight is a big no-no." She looked at Oliver who couldn't stop the grin from forming on his face.

He tried to compose himself and looked back at Laurel whose face was impassive to try to explain the situation a little better. "And Isabel will kill me if I miss this meeting because-"

"He missed the last two", Felicity said with a wry grin. "He's not really punctual", her grin only grew larger at Oliver's glare. "But then again… She is really… really…" Felicity drifted off, knowing she had a few choice words for Ms. Rochev.

Oliver raised an eyebrow at Felicity, recognizing the slight anger that was coating her words as she drifted off. He looked back at Laurel. "Strict."

Laurel blinked and looked at the two of them. "I see." She sighed and the corners of her mouth turned down slightly into a frown. "I guess I'll talk to you later then", she said, attempting to smile at Oliver but it wasn't very convincing so she turned around and walked toward the elevator.

Pressing the button for the elevator, Laurel used her peripheral vision to look back at Oliver and … Felicity? Tilting her head while looking at the other woman, Laurel vaguely remembered her as being the same woman who was helping Oliver set up his Internet router at Verdant.

She half expected Oliver to be looking at her walking away… but instead he was smiling and chuckling at something Felicity was saying. Laurel frowned and felt a cold feeling settle in her gut. The elevator doors opened and Laurel walked into them, giving one more glance to Oliver and Felicity.

She wondered when Oliver had become so in tune with a woman who supposedly only fixed his Internet.

V. Thea Queen

Oliver sighed as he made his way through Verdant, hoping the annoyance he was feeling didn't show too much on his face. The throbbing music of the club and the tight crowd surrounding him kept him alert. He didn't really like being in large crowds like this anymore; the idea that anyone could sneak up on him without him noticing aggravated him.

"Thea!" he called out, sighing in relief as he finally found his baby sister near the bar. Taking a minute to glance at her, he took in the site of her wearing her headphones and in a shiny blue top and pants for the night.

"Ollie?" Thea exclaimed when she saw him coming closer to her. "What are you doing here?"

Oliver cleared his throat. "Just checking up on you", he said smiling, while also remembering that he just needed to be seen tonight since the Arrow just narrowly escaped the cops.

Thea smirked and put a hand on her hip, "I think you mean that you're here to see your pretty blonde girlfriend."

Oliver raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

Thea rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid Ollie. Lis has been waiting for you up in your office for fifteen minutes looking all worried."

Oliver blinked, a little shell-shocked. "What?"

She laughed, "Hello? Lis? You know…?" she brought her hands up to her temple and pretended to be wearing glasses. "Felicity?"

Oliver blinked a few times before the realization sunk in. Oh. Oh. "Thea, Felicity isn't my girlfriend."

She snorted, "Right. And I'm not a Queen."

"And since when do you call her Lis?"

"Since I met her and realized in two minutes that she's not some gold digging, vapid whor—"

Oliver pursed his lips and grabbed a hold of Thea's arm to drag her towards his office.

"HEY! I have to work to do! You can't drag me away like an animal Ollie."

"Too bad." He growled.

They were up the stairs and entering his office in less than twenty seconds. Once he opened the door, (dragging a reluctant Thea in with him), his eyes fell on Felicity who was getting up from her seat the moment she saw him.

"Oh my God. Thank God. I thought you were…" Felicity drifted off when she saw Thea, who, in spite of her aversion at coming upstairs with Oliver, smiled and waved at Felicity.

"Hey Lis! Can you tell my barbarian brother that he can let me go now?" Thea shot a look at her brother who let go of her arm.

Oliver walked in between them. "Thea, I just wanted to give you a … proper introduction." Pointing at Felicity, he looked at Thea. "This is my friend, Felicity. You also know her as my Executive Assistant, and there was probably an emergency at the office, which is why she's here." He gave Felicity a pointed look.

"Y-yeah… Something came up … with a few investors", Felicity said weakly, glaring at Oliver who put her on the spot like that. Oliver's smile was brittle as he looked back at Thea.

Thea looked at them both skeptically. "Right… And this couldn't be done with a phone call?"

Felicity bit her lip and couldn't stop the onslaught of words. "There's a few potential investors and we really, really need them to buy stock in the company—"

Oliver continued on for her when he saw how flustered she was becoming, "And one of them dropped by this morning to personally hand us some files that stated which part of the company they wanted to invest in—"

"Which is a huge deal. I mean huge, because you know, Queen Consolidated isn't really the most popular place right now since your last name is associated with mass murder", Felicity shut her eyes, mortified. "Not that I think you guys are guilty or it's bad or why am I still talking—" Felicity said softly, already regretting the word vomit that just came out of her mouth.

Oliver placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it to calm her down before turning around to face Thea. "She needed to bring me the files in person so that I could go over them. Right?" he said, giving Felicity a soft smile.

Felicity smiled back. "Right."

Thea looked at the two of them for a minute and then just smiled. "Okay! Makes sense!"

The sudden mood change was strange. "It does?" Felicity asked, confused, before Oliver put a hand on her lower back and lead her to the door.

"Thank you, Felicity", Oliver said, looking at the blonde with soft eyes. "For coming here." And checking up on me, were the unspoken words that he didn't say out loud but he knew he didn't need to.

Felicity nodded and said goodbye to Thea before leaving the office.

Oliver turned around to face Thea, only to frown when he saw the gleeful smirk on her face. "What?"

Thea shrugged, the smirk still on her face while she did a little happy dance and clapped her hands. "I approve."

"Of?"

"Felicity, duh", Thea said, rolling her eyes. "Don't think for a second that I bought that bullshit story that the two of you came up with. I think it's silly that the two of you think you need to hide from me. I'm good with secrets."

Oliver rolled his eyes, internally groaning. "I'm sure."

Thea grinned, "By the way, that whole psychic-bond-connection that you two have going on is kinda cute. Creepy, but cute."

Without a word, Oliver turned around and started walking down the stairs.

"Does this mean I get to have a sister-in-law soon!?" she yelled out behind him, laughing when Oliver didn't respond.

VI. Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak

The mission was supposed to be easy. Get in, get the information needed, and get out.

She wasn't supposed to get hurt. She wasn't supposed to get hurt!

The guilt gnawed at him the entire ride back to the Foundry, and all he could feel was her cold body leaning against his while he sped through the streets of Starling City on his motorcycle.

"Oliver? Oliver I'm okay… I'm okay", she whispered but he wouldn't have any of it.

"Felicity, just stay awake. I know it hurts but just stay awake." His voice reeked of desperation and clung to hope. He stopped the bike and carried her through the backdoor of Verdant, entering the code and running down the stairs in record time.

"Diggle!" he shouted out, and when Diggle saw the blood staining Felicity's arm he got up and pulled the table closer to him so that Oliver would have a place to put her down.

A piece of Oliver's jacket sleeve was wrapped tightly around her shoulder to act as a tourniquet, and he held Felicity's hand while Diggle looked at the wound.

All he could focus on was getting Felicity out of there when the mission went south. It turned out to be a trap made to catch the Arrow and Felicity wasn't supposed to be there with him.

"Oliver. Oliver!" Diggle shouted, trying to get Oliver out of what looked to be a flashback. "The bullet just grazed her. She'll be okay."

The relief he felt was overwhelmingly swallowed by the guilt weighing down in his stomach. All he could see was Felicity screaming and pushing her hands against his chest to push him away… and then her turning around and the bullet hitting her arm instead of him.

"Does this mean I can still type?" he heard a weak female voice say over the roaring of blood in his ears.

Oliver looked down at Felicity on the table. Diggle chuckled while he treated the wound. "Don't worry. You're gonna be just fine." He looked up at Oliver with a knowing glance, "Mind telling me what happened?"

Felicity looked up as well, tightening her grip on his hand. She knew what he was thinking. She always seemed to.

"Why?" he whispered, unable able to answer Dig's question if only for the guilt that threatened to consume him. Why risk yourself for me? Felicity looked at him knowingly and smiled.

"You know why", she said quietly. He gulped, the truth of her words echoing in his head. Deep down he knew that she meant she didn't want him to be in danger, didn't want him to have another scar, that he was important to her just as she meant the world to him but that didn't mean she had to risk herself for him. Not when he could take it.

"Just because you're used to pain and can take it… doesn't mean you should be forced to keep enduring it", Felicity said, squeezing her hand. "And … I…" Biting her lip before she could continue, Felicity looked away, focusing on Diggle cleaning the blood off her arm.

Something told him that he knew exactly what she was going to say. His chest tightened and his voice caught in his throat.

Oliver looked at her again, and crouched down to meet her at eye level. Dig wisely kept quiet.

Oliver brushed her hair out of her face, and cupped her chin to make her head turn around and face him. His thumb drew circles on her cheek and for a minute they said nothing, mostly because they really didn't need to.

"I know", he whispered to her, and he watched her eyes widen and blink a few times at the surprise. He brought his head closer to hers and let his lips brush her forehead, then her cheek and looked her in the eyes again before regretfully whispering, "I'm not … ready yet."

Oh but how he wished he were.

Felicity nodded with a tiny frown on her face, but Oliver couldn't stand the thought of making her unhappy. He squeezed her hand and pushed her hair back against her ear. "But one day, I will be."

And Felicity smiled.

- End -

Thanks again to morgananotpendragon for this wonderful prompt! She found out I wanted to write a "5 Times and 1" story for Olicity but had no idea where to start… Thank you again!

If you want to follow me on Tumblr where I put up lots of mini snippets for upcoming Olicity stories, my user name is VoubleDision. If you're celebrating Thanksgiving today, Happy Thanksgiving! And please remember to always be grateful for what you have. Not today but just any day. :)

Please leave a review!

Love,

Ivy