A/N: Hello, my ducklings! Your Aunty Lou has missed you all! *big hugs* Have you lost weight? You look fab. And is that a new haircut – really suits you. ;) Thank you to those who reached out and said they were missing my stories. That was very sweet of you. Here, have a cookie. I even washed my hands before making them. Yes, that's how much I appreciate it. 3

Hank has missed you too, but he'd never admit it. He's just engaged in a lot of destructive behavior as a kind of cry for help. Well, I say cry for help… it's more some kind of guttural scream of terror-inducing devastation. Think Braveheart but with more butt exposure. Some things never change… like Hank's lack of decorum.

Right, better use my inside voice for any newcomers to an Aunty Lou story now.

Hello, thank you so much for clicking on my story. You have plenty of choices in this fandom, so thank you for choosing this story. :D Now, this Halloween story is kind of a follow on from my previous Arrow stories. I'm not saying you have to read the other stories to read this fic… but it's really, really going to help. I mean, a lot. You're going to have questions if you just dive in… a lot of questions. This story is kind of a little love letter to my faithful readers who stuck through me with the angst of the previous two fics. A love letter which contains key words like 'fingering' and 'nub rubbing'. I'm not going to lie – I write a weird ass love letter.

There are lots of little in jokes that will make no sense and well, you just won't get as much out of it as you could. So, while I'd never stop anyone from reading any of my stories (except my Mum for some of my more… ahem… adult orientated ones… obviously she's not allowed to read them). However, you might want to consider checking out 'Secret Women's Business' and 'Love Potion Number 9' before attempting to take a crack at this little story. Trust me, it'll help.

Now, as to this actual fic. Yes, I know Halloween has come and gone. Think of me being uber early for the next Halloween. That's what I'm doing. I tried to write a really scary story but honestly, I put Team Arrow together and one very special addition to the team – my ducklings will know who ;) – and well, I just can't keep a straight face. I'm rating this as M because there are some pretty adult conversations and I don't want to permanently damage young minds – that's what families are for.

This story picks up basically the next day couple of days from where Love Potion left off. We all remember where we left off, right? Excellent. It takes a couple of chapters until I get to the actual Halloween part of this story, so bear with won't you while I build up a little steam on this one.

Right, I think that's all I wanted to say about this story. It's not that long (that's what she said) and I'm going to get started on the sequel to LP while you get on with this little story. I really hope you have fun with it. I had fun writing it. :D And last, but certainly not least, a big THANK YOU to Pheebs who kindly beta-ed this first chapter for me. You're a doll. *hug*

And now, on with the show…

A HALLOWEEN ANTHOLOGY

"Perversity is the human thirst for self-torture."

~Edgar Allan Poe~

CHAPTER ONE

Felicity peeked out from the door which closed off a corridor leading to an underground power grid station. She looked around at the night scape in the middle of Starling City's city center which was filling up with more and more people as the Friday night partying started in earnest. Felicity surreptitiously slipped out of the door, locking it behind her and then smoothed down her red coat, adjusted her glasses and tried to look like she hadn't just been interfering with the city's power grid to allow a certain group of thieves to be taken down. The gang had been using the city's own energy grid to power a machine which caused people's brains to basically liquefy in their skulls, using the technology to extort money or face your brains running out your nose. Their latest threat had them targeting the nightclub and bar area of the city, which Felicity was currently standing in the middle of. They'd tried to force the Mayor to pay over twenty-million dollars to prevent the attack, but that was where Team Arrow had come in.

It had been pretty ugly there for a moment, but now Felicity was more than a little relieved Starling City's finest was currently introducing the criminals to the backseat of several police cars, thanks to their intervention. All in all it had been a good night, the bad guys were off the street, the Halloween revelers around her would continue on with their night completely unaware of the attack that had just been prevented. "I'm all clear," said Felicity into coms. She smiled as a zombified nurse and a half-transformed werewolf walked by, on their way to a nearby bar. "But feeling a little underdressed for the occasion." The streets were full of people dressed in their Halloween finery, ghosts, grim reapers and blood-spattered victims as far as the eye could see. "If only they all knew how close they came to not needing the makeup tonight. Is everyone okay?"

"All clear," said Roy, "just caught the last straggler and dropping him off to the boys in blue."

"Clear," agreed Diggle. "Circling back around. Felicity, I'll come and pick you up."

Oliver's voice was in her ear. "Don't worry about it, Digg, I'm not far away. Felicity, stay where you are, I'm on my way."

"We all meeting back at the lair?" asked Roy.

"Yes, I want to debrief," said Oliver.

"Let's make it snappy," said Diggle. "I've got a party to go to."

"Seriously?" There was no missing the amazement in Roy's voice. "You know what a party is, right? You don't think you're going to a seminar on how to grimace or anything?"

"Cute," said Diggle flatly.

"John, I've picked up your costume," said Felicity, starting to walk down the street, weaving between all the Halloween merrymakers.

"It's a costume party?" Roy sounded like he was laughing now. "This I've gotta see. What are you going as? Please say Tinkerbell, please say Tinkerbell."

"I'm going as the guy who squashes annoying bugs," said Diggle dourly.

"As long as its got some kind of tutu thing going on, I'm fine with that."

"You won't be," predicted Diggle direly.

Felicity laughed. "Digg, you'll look very handsome in it, Lyla will love it."

"Oh… hot date, right," said Roy knowingly. "Guess that explains you doing something that might accidentally result in you having fun."

"Do you want to guess what I'm thinking would be fun right now?" asked Diggle ominously. "You and me doing a little training together where I hand you your petite ass."

"Hey!" said Roy sharply. "My ass is not petite! Stop using that word about me."

"I wish someone would call my ass petite," lamented Felicity.

"The hell you do," said Oliver firmly. "Your ass is perfect, Felicity Smoak and I won't have anyone talking smack about it, not even you."

Felicity couldn't help the large grin which came to her face at Oliver's defiant defense of what she now knew was one of her favorite attributes. She bit her bottom lip, hardly able to believe that they were eight dates into their twenty date quota and everything just kept getting better between them.

"It is a great ass," agreed Roy conversationally.

"Don't make me kill you, Roy," said Oliver darkly.

"I'm just sayin'," he protested. "It doesn't mean anything."

"What it means is you should stop talking now," Diggle advised him. "You know Oliver hasn't got a huge sense of humor when it comes to Felicity and other men."

"Roy's not other men," said Felicity, still walking. "He's more like, I don't know, kind of like a fixture or something, like a chair."

"A chair?" exclaimed Roy. "I'm a freaking piece of furniture? Are you being serious right now?"

"I just mean that I don't see you that way."

"No," said Roy, sounding more than a little miffed, "apparently all you see when you look at my face is something to sit on."

"I don't want to sit on your face, Roy," said Felicity in exasperation.

"So, what, my face isn't good enough for your butt now?" asked Roy in outrage.

"Okay, stupidest argument ever," said Diggle in resignation.

"Everyone stop talking about sitting on faces," said Oliver sternly. "Roy, you just stop talking all together."

"Felicity started it," protested Roy.

"And I'm ending it," said Oliver flatly. "Everyone stops talking about Felicity's butt now. Just rendezvous back at the lair, okay? Felicity, I'm not far away. Be there in a minute."

Up ahead Felicity saw Oliver's familiar green leathers pop out of an alleyway and her face lit up. She quickened her pace, catching up with him as he strode along the sidewalk, his outfit not out of place for once amongst all the other Halloween get ups. Felicity came up behind him as Oliver stood at a crossing, waiting on the lights to change so he could cross the street. She slipped her arms around his waist. "Hey there, big boy, looking to party tonight?" she said cheekily. He turned his head to look back at her and pushed back his hood at the same time. Felicity gave a little gasp of shock as the man's bald head was revealed.

The man grinned down at her, rather lecherously. "Sure thing, baby. Your place or mine?"

Felicity flushed and quickly shook her head, taking a step back. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"I can be anyone you want me to be, sweetheart," he said, turning around to face her, his gaze openly running up and down the length of her body. "That's the fun of Halloween."

"I'm not looking for any fun," said Felicity hastily. Her gaze drifted to more of the people around them as they made their way to nightclubs and bars and Felicity suddenly realized there were a lot of Arrow costumes out there. It seemed the mysterious vigilante was flavor of the night.

"You sure?" the man quizzed her, still looking her over with a lot of interest. "My bow shoots real arrows, you know." He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

"So does mine."

Felicity felt a surge of relief at the sound of the familiar voice just behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see Oliver standing directly behind her, hood up and looking particularly ominous as he stood there, face mostly obscured by the mask and shadows of the hood. A huge smile lit up Felicity's face. "There you are," she said happily.

"Here I am," agreed Oliver calmly, not taking his eyes off the other man.

The bald Arrow gave a bit of a grimace as he worked out he was obviously out of the running with the appearance of the other man. "Sorry, bro, no harm, no foul. Thought I was onto a good thing there for a moment."

"You weren't," said Felicity hastily. "You really, really weren't. It was a case of mistaken identity."

"Oh well," said the man philosophically, "easy come, easy go, I guess." He looked Oliver's outfit over. "Nice try with the costume, dude. I think mine is more authentic looking though. Trust me, I'm a real expert when it comes to the Arrow."

"Is that right?" said Oliver coolly.

"Oh yeah, but good try," said the man casually, pulling his hood back up. "Not everyone has the eye for detail that I do." With that the man walked off down the street, leaving a highly amused Felicity in his wake.

She grinned up at Oliver. "Nice try," she parroted the other man, "but that eye for detail gets you every time, doesn't it?" Felicity teased him.

"Says the woman who couldn't tell me apart from every other Arrow wannabe," he teased her right back.

Felicity gave a quick look around. "Come on, be fair, you're everywhere tonight. A girl is bound to get a little turned around. I bet you'd have trouble if everyone here came dressed as Felicity Smoak."

"No, I wouldn't," said Oliver confidently as he pulled her into his arms, "I'd know that butt anywhere." His hands slipped down to cup her backside. "Anywhere," he repeated throatily.

Felicity couldn't help but smile as she leant into him. "I thought we weren't allowed to talk about my butt anymore?"

"Roy doesn't get to talk about it," said Oliver with feigned sternness. "Me on the other hand…" He tightened his grip on her bottom possessively. "Well, that's a whole other story."

Felicity felt the usual tingles in the pit of her stomach at Oliver's touch but she forced a stern look on her face. "Speaking of hands… let's keep it PG13 while we're out here on the streets, okay?" She reached behind her to pull Oliver's hands up to the far more appropriate waist area. They smiled at each other.

"You did really well tonight," said Oliver, the pride obvious in his voice as he turned them around, keeping an arm around her waist as he walked them back to his bike.

"We all did," said Felicity, slipping her arm around his waist. It was moments like these that made Felicity feel like she was in some kind of dream, one she never wanted to wake up from. She was walking down the street with Oliver's arm around her waist and it all just felt so right. "I'm just glad we don't have to worry about liquefying brains anymore." She gave a little start as a couple of ghouls jumped out of an alleyway, shouting and laughing at them. Felicity laughed back at their impish antics, even as Oliver protectively drew her closer to him. "Although death seems to be everywhere tonight and got an early start with the drinking," she said in amusement as the undead men ran off to join up with a group of loud witches and naughty nurses.

Oliver swung Felicity around, drawing her into the alleyway the other men had just appeared from and pressed her up against the bricked wall. He slipped his arms around her waist again and smiled down at her. "Hi," he said throatily.

"Hi," said Felicity, looking up at him with the biggest smile on her face which Oliver promptly kissed. She sighed happily into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. When Oliver finally broke the kiss she was breathless. "The others are going to be waiting for us," she said unevenly.

"They can wait," said Oliver, nibbling on her neck and ignoring the stream of people walking by the alleyway, content for them to stay in their own little world.

Felicity wrinkled her nose as Oliver found a particularly sensitive spot on her neck. "I don't want to make Diggle late for his date," she said unevenly.

Oliver pulled back, eyes full of warm anticipation. "You make a good point. Once we've gotten rid of the others, we can have our own date, just the two of us, in the lair—"

Felicity arched an eyebrow. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"We can order in," said Oliver easily. His hands moved a little restlessly over her hips. "I've been sharing you with everyone else all day and all I want is to have you to myself finally."

"Well, that won't happen at the lair," she prompted him. "We have a houseguest, remember?"

Oliver's face fell. "Oh yeah, right, how could I forget?" he said flatly.

"Don't be like that," tutted Felicity. "Bunny is no bother."

"I'm bothered," said Oliver moodily. "Not that anyone seems to care about that."

"Diggle made a promise to protect him until Bunny's people can take down this Ross Ross guy," said Felicity pragmatically, "and him staying at the lair just made good sense until he could lock down a secure location."

"You can't use the words 'Bunny' and 'good sense' in the same sentence," said Oliver in vague annoyance. "They just don't go together. I don't even know how I got talked into this whole thing in the first place."

"You weren't, you were outvoted," she reminded him.

"And when exactly did we turn into a democracy?" asked Oliver in exasperation. "I thought I called the shots."

"You get more than your fair share of shot calling," Felicity countered, patting him on the chest. "The rest of us have earned our turns as well."

"If letting the rest of you have a go at making decisions ends up with a fifty plus year old British arms dealing billionaire living in our operations core, then I think we need to rethink this system," said Oliver flatly.

"Is that it?" asked Felicity curiously. "Is that why you're so determined not to like Bunny, because you want to be the only billionaire in the team?"

Oliver scowled down at her. "Bunny's not in the team… he's just kind of, I don't know… squatting for a bit. He's not staying. As soon as this Ross situation is taken care of, he's gone for good." His frown deepened when Felicity didn't immediately respond. "Felicity?"

"I like him," said Felicity abruptly. "I think we should keep him."

Oliver's eyes went wide and his hands dropped from her hips and he took a step back. "What?"

"Bunny followed us home and now I think we should keep him," she repeated. "We kind of have to now, we've got our scent on him."

"He's not a baby bird who's fallen out of the nest," said Oliver in vexation. "He's a loose cannon, a wild card and he's a threat to our group."

"Oh please," said Felicity dismissively, "no, he's not."

"On what are you basing that assumption exactly?"

Felicity shrugged. "It's just an instinct."

"Instinct?" repeated Oliver with obvious reservation in his tone.

Felicity stepped away from the wall and turned back around to face Oliver, who now had his back to the wall. "Yes, instinct. You know, the same instincts which had me helping you out in the beginning even when every word out of your mouth was a complete fabrication." She gave him a pointed look. "The same instincts that had me driving a guy in green leathers leaking blood over my backseat to a secret hideout rather than a police station."

Oliver grimaced. "That was totally different."

"No, my instincts told me I could trust you, just like they are with Bunny and besides—"

"Besides what?"

"I want a girlfriend."

Oliver looked taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"I want a girlfriend to do girly things with," Felicity confessed. She pulled a face. "I'm with guys all the time and I miss having a girlfriend in my life to be a girly girl with."

"You can be a girly girl with me," protested Oliver.

Felicity folded her arms in front of herself. "I'd like to go shoe shopping on the weekend. How do you feel about spending five hours looking for shoes, going to multiple shops and then still quite probably going home without any new shoes?"

"Sounds great," lied Oliver valiantly. "I can't wait."

"I was also thinking about having three back to back viewings of 'The Notebook' to get my crying quota out for the month."

"I'm in," said Oliver, but his voice was decidedly unsteadily and a look of vague panic was creeping into his eyes. "You have a crying quota?"

Felicity ignored his surprised question. "And then of course I'm having trouble with the place I get my waxing done. Do you have any recommendations for anyone who is good with bikini waxing?" she asked sweetly.

Oliver opened his mouth and then closed it again. "Okay, fine, waxing might be creeping a little out of my skill set," he admitted reluctantly. "But do you really think it's in Bunny's?"

Felicity arched an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine," grumbled Oliver, "it probably is."

"Exactly, I need a girlfriend and that's why Bunny is a perfect fit," said Felicity roundly. "I mean, you and Diggle and Roy are all amazing but sometimes a girl just needs a little estrogen in her life, you know?"

"You do realize Bunny is a guy, right?" said Oliver in frustration.

"Bunny is a guy in the same way you're an idle, billionaire playboy," retorted Felicity.

"But can't you find yourself another female friend?" complained Oliver. "One who doesn't run guns for a living and I don't know, is an actual female?"

"And when would I be doing this hunting and gathering of a new female friend exactly?" she countered. "Between Queen Consolidated, the Arrow and us dating now, you pretty much suck up all of my time."

"You make that sound like a bad thing," said Oliver unhappily.

"Oliver, you know I love being sucked by you—" Felicity stopped abruptly as Oliver's lips twitched and he suddenly had a very knowing look in his eyes. She blushed a little but tried not to get distracted. Felicity cleared her throat. "I mean my time being sucked, not sucked in general by you, which hasn't really happened—"

Oliver's smile was getting wider. "We can fix that." He took a step towards her but Felicity held up her hand and shook her head at him.

"Oh no you don't, mister. You don't get to win this argument by being all sexy sexy."

"We're not arguing," said Oliver in mild vexation. "I'm just trying to point out that I'm sure you could find yourself a better girlfriend then an international arms dealer."

"It'd have to be a woman I already know and there aren't many of them," said Felicity. "The next contender would be Laurel." She looked him over. "How would you feel if Laurel and I became besties?"

Oliver hesitated. "I don't want you and Laurel to be unfriendly," he said slowly.

"Yeah, but do you want us being best friends?" she challenged him. "Getting together, talking…" Felicity gave him a decidedly pointed look. "Comparing notes."

Oliver suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Ah… well…"

"And that's why Bunny is the perfect candidate," said Felicity in triumph. "You haven't had sex with him… although I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to fix that, given half a chance."

"I just don't know why all of a sudden your two choices for BFF is an over the top, handsie gun runner and my ex-girlfriend," said Oliver in frustration. "Which one am I supposed to feel happy signing off on?"

Felicity gave an inelegant snort. "I'm not asking you to sign off on anything. The thing with Bunny is happening. I don't need your permission about who I want to be my friend, Oliver Queen." She rolled her eyes at him. "Like that would ever be a thing."

"Then why even bring it up then?" asked Oliver, pulling a face.

"I just wanted you to be prepared," said Felicity easily. "I know you don't like surprises and this way, you can have a bit of a run up at the concept… which is totally happening, no matter how much you pout."

"I don't pout, remember?" pouted Oliver as he slumped back against the wall behind him. "I'm a grown man. Grown men don't pout."

Felicity just smiled. "Glad to hear it." She walked up to him and put her hands on his chest. "Just what is it that you have against Bunny anyways? Maybe if you tell me your concerns about the man, I can come up with something to make you feel better."

"He's an unknown quantity," said Oliver sharply. "We barely know anything about him and what we do, I don't like."

"Mmhm," said Felicity sympathetically, even as she leant into him more and pressed her breasts up against his chest.

"He's a known associate of a lot of bad people," said Oliver, sounding a little more distracted now as Felicity started to press soft kisses up his neck.

"You associate with a lot of bad people," murmured Felicity, lips brushing against his skin as she spoke. She pulled back a little and arched an eyebrow. "In fact you've slept with more than one of them."

Oliver made a face. "There were extenuating circumstances."

"Of course there were," said Felicity understandingly. She went up on her tip toes so she could start kissing her way along his jawline. "Not everything is black and white… just like it isn't with Bunny."

"No… no, that isn't what I meant," said Oliver unsteadily as her hands moved around his waist and up under his leather jacket.

"Why don't you tell me what you mean?" suggested Felicity huskily as she rubbed herself against him. She could feel the way Oliver's breathing was getting uneven and it was a heady feeling to know she could have this kind of effect on him.

"I-I… ah… well—" Oliver cleared his throat, obviously having a lot of difficulty focusing on their conversation.

Felicity found Oliver's hand and drew it towards her body.

"I don't like how he just inserted himself into our… into our…"

She moved his hand to her breast, letting him cup it. Her nerve ending tingled as Oliver's hand automatically tightened on her breast, making Felicity's nipples immediately harden. "Life?" she offered up innocently but now she was the one who was a little breathless.

"Yes," he croaked, eyes glazing over a little behind the mask he was still wearing.

This was the first time Oliver had touched her breast and Felicity was enjoying the fact she'd initiated it. So was Oliver, judging by the expression on his face. Felicity pressed her advantage. "Maybe it'll be a good thing."

"What?" asked Oliver distractedly.

"Bunny, maybe he'll bring something extra to the team that we've been lacking," suggested Felicity, having her own difficulty keeping her mind on the conversation as Oliver's thumb started to rub its way back and forth over her nipple, hardening it to an even tighter peak. Fissures of electricity were radiating out through her entire body from the simple caress, despite the fact Oliver's hand was separated from her skin by her blouse and bra. Felicity tried not to melt into a puddle at the thought of what actual flesh on flesh would feel like. "Wh-what other concerns do you have?" she pushed on, enjoying their game.

"He… ahh… agenda… don't know… convenient…" Oliver was rambling incoherently, eyelids drooping as continued to fondle her breast.

"All good points," said Felicity, teasing him a little breathlessly.

"Damn it," muttered Oliver with no real force in his voice, "what have you done to me?"

Felicity gave a little smile. "I'm using logic to quell your concerns."

"Trust me," said Oliver shakily, "nothing is being quelled right now." He gave an unsteady groan. "I thought we weren't allowed to use sex to win arguments?" he complained raggedly but Felicity noticed he made no attempt to relinquish her breast.

"Silly boy," she purred, hot breath in his ear, "that rule is just for you. I get to do whatever I want." To prove her point, Felicity's hand crept down to find his bottom cheeks and squeezed them. "You got a problem with that?"

"God no," said Oliver weakly.

Felicity had to stifle a laugh at how desperate he sounded but the trouble was, she was starting to feel a little desperate herself. Still on her tiptoes, Felicity found Oliver's lips again and this time their kisses were decidedly more heated. Felicity pressed Oliver up against the wall, using her body weight and Oliver's free hand went to her backside, making sure she stayed there. Things were rapidly spiraling out of control as Oliver's kisses became more demanding and Felicity was more than happy to meet that need. His tongue was in her mouth, eagerly seeking out the taste of her and Felicity was even more grateful for that hand on her backside as her knees weakened at Oliver's ardor.

"I'm hungry. Who wants pizza?"

Roy's jarring announcement and question was suddenly in both of their ears, startling them and breaking the kiss. Oliver made a low growling noise of frustration as Felicity shook her head to clear it.

Diggle responded. "I've got the party. I'll eat there."

"Oliver, Felicity?"

Oliver grimaced, looking annoyed. He touched the transmitter on his chest to respond. "No," he said curtly.

"We're okay, Roy, thanks," said Felicity more politely even if she was still trying to catch her breath.

"More extra anchovies and garlic for me then," said Roy happily.

Oliver shook his head. "That guy has the worst timing," he said in annoyance. "And taste in pizza toppings."

"Maybe he has great timing," suggested Felicity as she looked over her shoulder at the busy street around them. "We're not exactly alone here. I think it was probably a good thing we got interrupted because I don't think either of us was exactly thinking straight right then." Felicity pretty much knew that she'd been without willpower in that moment and in no state to slow things down between them. She blushed at knowing how far she probably would have gone if Roy hadn't interrupted them.

"Don't," groaned Oliver unevenly, cupping her face, thumb stroking the pink hue of her cheek, "that is not helping me rein myself back in here. You know what your blushing does to me."

"And I keep telling you I can't help it," said Felicity, wrinkling her nose.

"What were you thinking just then?" he asked her, eyes full of impish intent. "Why did you blush?"

Felicity felt her cheeks heat even more as she tried to banish the picture in her head of letting Oliver take her roughly up against the alleyway wall. "Don't remember," she squeaked, gaze skittering away from his and trying to push the image of a sweating, heaving Oliver out of her mind's eye. Felicity took a quick step back, knowing being this close to him wasn't exactly helping cooler heads to prevail.

Oliver arched a knowing eyebrow from behind his mask. "Liar, liar, pants on fire," he teased her.

Many a true word spoken in jest. Felicity's pants did feel like they were on fire. Damn it. She pushed her glasses up her nose and tried to get a hold of herself. "We should get back to the lair," she reminded him.

"I was kind of invested in what we were doing just then," said Oliver cheekily.

"What we were doing just then was going to get us arrested," said Felicity, glancing around at all the partygoers. "I really don't need another indecent exposure charge on my police record."

Oliver looked immediately interested. "When were you done for indecent exposure?" He grinned. "And tell the story slowly. Don't leave out any details, I want to hear them all."

Felicity rolled her eyes at his avid interest. "I'm not telling you. We're meant to be behaving ourselves in public and that story isn't going to help." She held out her hand to him. "Come on, we have to go."

"That only makes me more curious now," said Oliver, taking her hand and reluctantly walking out of the alleyway back onto the sidewalk so they could continue walking back to his bike. "And I'd be better at behaving myself around you in public if I didn't have to control myself around you all day at work." He shot her a vaguely disgruntled look. "Remind me again why I'm not allowed to touch you at the office?"

"You can hear your own question, right?" asked Felicity wryly.

"I just mean being able to hold your hand, a kiss here or there," argued Oliver. "The complete ban on anything physical when we spend ten hours together has me kind of pent up by the time we leave the office." Oliver sent her a quick, teasing look. "Explosions are bound to happen because of it."

"We're not groping each other at the office," said Felicity firmly. "You remember our walls are literally made of glass, don't you? It's a place of business and we both need to be taken seriously."

"Sure you wouldn't rather just be seriously taken?" asked Oliver innocently.

Felicity couldn't help but burst out laughing at his mischievous play on words. "No," she laughed, slapping his arm, "and stop it. We're taking this slowly, remember?"

"I remember how good it felt to finally have you in my arms again tonight," said Oliver, seemingly determined to be unhelpful with keeping things under control between them. "I remember how much I'm addicted to the taste of you in my mouth."

Felicity stumbled a little bit, feet forgetting how to walk at Oliver's forthrightness. His hand was immediately around her waist, steadying her. "Careful," he said huskily, "I want you in one piece." Oliver smiled down at her warmly. "One delectable, luscious piece," he finished off throatily.

"Stop being charming, it doesn't work on me," said Felicity primly, even as her heart skipped more than one beat at his Oliver's warm looks.

Oliver gave a roguish smile. "Guess I'll have to try harder than," he said impishly.

Felicity pulled a face, not sure she would be able to handle that. "Lair, debrief and then maybe dinner," said Felicity firmly and then held up an imperious finger to him as Oliver opened his mouth to respond. "And no sexy turnaround about looking forward to debriefing me or me being on the menu or any other sexy talk, got it, mister? Best behavior."

Oliver's smile widened into a grin at her attempts to keep control of the situation. "Did I ever tell you that I find it incredibly arousing when you tell me what to do?"

"Funny, because normally you yell at me," she said laconically.

"Not my first instinct," said Oliver candidly. Despite his mask, Felicity was able to see a particularly roguish look cross Oliver's features. "Want to know what my first instinct is?"

Felicity really, really did but she was pretty sure that wasn't going to help her keep control of the situation. "No," she said, but avoided eye contact.

Oliver's lips were against her ear as they walked along. "Another lie. I feel like I should punish you." He cast her a quick look, eyes twinkling. "I have more than a few ideas on that front."

"I bet you do," said Felicity wryly, "but you're going to keep them and everything else to yourself on the way back to the lair."

"And after we leave the lair?" asked Oliver hopefully as they arrived at his Ducati. He handed her a helmet.

Felicity gave a little shrug as she took it. "Well, it is Halloween," she said, trying not to smile. "Everyone knows anything can happen on Halloween."

Oliver grinned. "Suddenly this just became my favorite holiday." He climbed on the bike and put his helmet on. "Hold on tight. I don't want to lose you on the corners."

Felicity put her own helmet on and climbed onto the back of the bike and did exactly as she was told, wrapping her arms around Oliver's waist tightly, knowing even as she did there was no way he was going to lose her. She was stuck on this man and that was never going to change, no matter how many corners came their way. Felicity couldn't help but smile at that thought as Oliver pulled away from the curb.

Life didn't get much better than this…

A/N: Okay, so, we're off and running. What did you think – loved it, hated it, no clue where I'm going with this? All good points. I will say I'm introducing a new character in the next chapter by way of a heads up. Her/his name is Ladybug. Make of that what you will. The first person to guess the who/what/where or why of Ladybug wins one of Auntie Lou's special imaginary prizes. This time round it's a one-size fits all mankini… for yourself or that someone special in your life. It's a gift that keeps on giving and is always a conversation starter. Hope I'll see you all in the next chapter. Thanks, as always, for reading. :D Not sure when the next chapter will be. Depends how much interest there is, I guess and if you want to pace yourself. Let me know. 3