First Date

Scene opens with Oliver, Felicity and Diggle in the lair, each hard at their own work. Felicity is tapping away at a keyboard. Oliver is forging arrows. Diggle is target practicing with ninja stars. The Starling City news comes on a center computer. All three stop their individual tasks and come together to focus on and listen to the newscast.

Felicity increases the volume just as a smiling reporter states, "…and both Starling City and Glades residents are sponsoring a Gratitude Gala, tomorrow night at Kord Enterprise's newly constructed Emerald Embarcadero. A capacity crowd is expected to honor Starling City's own local hero, The Arrow."

Diggle gives Oliver a friendly snap with his towel claiming, "Hey, a party for you that you didn't have to throw yourself," he says with a friendly smile.

With pride Felicity adds, "And a hard-earned, well deserved party at that!"

Oliver is pleased, with himself and the Arrow's newly found status as a local hero. Cheerfully Oliver adds, "And I actually feel like celebrating. Felicity, I would like to know if you would come with me to the Gratitude Gala tomorrow evening."

Diggle's jaw drops, but he manages to pull it together quickly with neither Oliver nor Felicity noticing his joyful astonishment.

Felicity, with all her charming awkwardness expertly masked, looks up, modestly, at Oliver and asks, "You mean like a date? Because you tend to hook-up. Not date. And I am not a hook-up kind of gal. Despite those condoms I carry in my purse—I am highly selective. Hence, often alone. I should check the expiration date on those things."

Diggle can't help himself and whispers, loudly, "Felicity, focus."

Felicity smiles, "It would be honored to attend the gala with the guest of honor. Does a tiny part of you wish you could show up wearing your bow?"

Oliver outright chuckles at the thought.

"No, I don't want to be with my bow. I want to be with you. I wouldn't be a hero with you."

Diggle interjects, "And I already have a date."

Charmed, Felicity responds with, "It's a date then. And thank you for the lovely invitation. But can we meet there? Because getting out of the same car—together-screams commitment. And, this may shock you, but I've heard a rumor, more than once, that you and I are. You know. It involves carnal knowledge of one another."

Oliver is holding his breath, smiling, desperately wanting this moment to pass.

Finally, Felicity spews out, "No offense Oliver, but I don't want people to think I'm foolish enough to commit to you. Not the you that I know you are. But the you that everyone else thinks you are."

Oliver smiles admitting, "Believe it or not, I get that. OK, I will see you there then. Seven o'clock."

Felicity confirms, "Seven o'clock. And Oliver, for a change, I'll be the one in green," she adds, smiling her beautiful Felicity smile.

THE DATE INTERRUPTUS

Oliver and Felicity enter the Gratitude Gala from two opposite sides of the wide open, mostly glass building. Despite the 200 yard distance between them and a crowd of more than 500, they make instant eye contact and exchange unguarded, huge, happy smiles. With certain steps they take on the task of closing the distance between them. Seemingly undaunted they began to draw closer, circumventing guests and waiters. Their progress is immediately hampered. After five steps Felicity is intercepted by Captain Lance, who is genuinely pleased to see her. The exchange greetings and engage in small talk. Oliver is also temporarily intercepted by Laurel who quietly acknowledges the man of the hour with a raised champagne glass and a sly smile and an excitedly friendly hug. Before Felicity takes five more steps in the direction of her date, Roy and Sin approach Felicity. And Oliver is once again cut off, this time by a small gaggle of ladies, somewhat scantily dressed, double fisting champagne. Finally they are taking their final steps to be together, and just as they stand face-to-face, Oliver's expression changes to minor frustration and he states, "Diggle is calling me."

Smiling Felicity states, "At least it's a person. I'm running five different programs. And each one is set up to text me when it's done."

Oliver takes his phone out of his pocket and we see it is Diggle who is imploring into his phone, "Oh man I am SO, SO sorry. I tripped the damn lair alarm. So sorry. Really. Sor-

In the five seconds Oliver was on his phone an older gentleman was engaging Felicity in party chatter. Oliver walks directly over and quietly slips his hand into hers. Felicity's eyes shine brightly and her mouth hints at pleasure. She was grateful for a wave from a significantly younger woman which sent the old man on his way.

As the two turn to face each other both notice a police officer tapping Captain Lance on the shoulder then whisper in his ear. Lance begins to politely exit.

Oliver and Felicity exchange a knowing look to which Oliver responds, "Don't care," as he grabs two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter holding a tray. Oliver extends a glass towards Felicity. He hears music. It is coming from Felicity's purse. Still holding two glasses of champagne, Oliver regrettable asks, "Why is your purse playing 'Another one bites the dust?"

Rather than take the champagne glass, Felicity jumps up and claps her hands together in excitement. " .god. Oliver. I have to go."

Cut to the lair, which both Felicity and Oliver are entering, dressed to the nines in their date clothes.

Diggle is dressed and obviously on his way out when he says, "You two give speed dating a whole new meaning. Do I even want to know what you two are doing here?"

Felicity is bee-lining to a computer. "Go Dig. Enjoy the party. It's one of my alerts. Well, actually it is THE alert."

Diggle looks at Oliver. Oliver shrugs. Diggle inhales, concluding, "I'm probably going to regret this—"

"Not more than me," interjects Oliver.

Diggle continues, "What alert?"

Felicity is obviously excited, "Since day one of this, I've been tracking files. That Assistant job gave me a lot of free time, and a ridiculous level of security access within every division of Queen Consolidated. But there was one file that was so heavily encrypted, that it took up until just now to open it. So I programmed it to alert me when the information became accessible."

Diggle offers an old mother-Hubbard-like, "Uumm-hum," with one raised eyebrow and a minor look of distain.

Felicity is convinced she is on firm ground here and confidently states, "Dig it took me almost a year and hundreds of hours of code to get access to this information. More code than you'll ever know. More code than you can imagine."

Diggle is still a bit miffed when he slowly states, "That's you Felicity. The queen of the code."

Absent-mindedly Felicity responds, "Yes, that's me, Felicity Queen." When she realizes her statement she begins to stammer, "THE queen. Not YOUR queen-as in the wife that you married to be your wife. Besides, I wouldn't take your name. I'm not a hyphenator. Just a babble-ator."

Felicity's screen is suddenly filled with lines and lines of code. Her initial reaction is excitement, but this quickly changes. Looking puzzled, Felicity types a few things into her computer and says, "There are only three files. But they're big. Like NSA big."

Just then the mass of information that has been scrolling along her computer screen disappears, leaving only three file cabinet icons. Next to the icons are three files names. The file names are Oliver Queen. Felicity Smoke. John Diggle.

They each look at the computer screen, then at each other. Oliver and Diggle share a look of concern as Felicity states, "I guess I'll click on me first." She continues to click and type, adding, "There are official documents in here, like birth certs and passports. There are video files. And audio files. There are files in here that date as far back as my birthday, as in the day of my birth, and up until…yesterday. Anyone else stifling the urge to imitate the theme song from Twilight Zone?"

The Next Day:

Oliver walks into the lair and Felicity is sitting in front of her computer, still in her green date dress.

"Have you been here all night?" Oliver asks.

Rubbing her stiff shoulders and stretching her tired neck Felicity explains, "I started to go through the file about me and I just couldn't stop. Someone knows everything, and I mean everything, about me. There is stuff in this file Oliver that I have never, ever told anyone. There is even stuff in here about my parents that I never knew."

Felicity turns off her computer, picks up something in her right hand and walk over to Oliver. Handing him the object in her hand she says, "Here. This is your file. I didn't look at any of it. After reading my file I knew I could never read yours. It would be such a huge violation of trust. But you might want to go through it. Might I suggest with some Tequila even."

Felicity touches Oliver's arm and says, "I'm going home. I think I'll take a shower and burn this dress."

As she begins to walk away, with her hand slowly cascading down his arm, Oliver grabs hold of her hand. She stops and faces him. He is still holding her hand and says, "You are a person of impeccable character. When I was on the island I met so much evil. It changed my whole view of the world. But you. You are constantly changing it back."

Felicity smiles, and responds with, "Don't put me on a pedestal Oliver. I read Diggle's file. You have a lot of secrets. When you're ready, you'll tell me them all. Or some. Or none. That needs to be your choice. Not my tech." And she lets her hand slide out of his as she continues to leave she adds, "By the way, our date kind of sucked. And I am aware that it's pretty much my fault."