Damsel in Distress
AU: Oliver meets Felicity at a Queen Consolidated Function
An: I do now own Arrow.
Felicity first met Sara Lance at Big Belly Burger. They struck up a conversation in the line and started to bond over their love of food. Sara learned that Felicity worked in the IT department at Queen Consolidated and Felicity learned that Sara was an intern at a hospital having just finished her medical degree. That was another thing they had in common, they both became what they wanted to be since they were children. Sara always wanted to be a Doctor and Felicity always wanted to work with computers.
They discussed their work lives constantly and stayed away from family topics. Felicity knew that there was an Arabic Cardiologist that Sara was crushing on and Sara knew that Felicity did not get along with any of her co-workers. They discussed every work related event that Felicity attended and Sara often help choose her outfits. For the current event that she was at, Sara chose a more risqué outfit for her, a black dress with numerous cut-outs on the side. So it was with great surprise that Felicity spotted her friend dressed in a white spaghetti strapped dress that stopped just above her knees at the Queen Consolidated Christmas party. She marched right over to her and interrupted her conversation.
"You didn't tell me you were going to be here?" She said glaring at her friend.
"I didn't know I wasgoing to be here," Sara responded.
At Felicity's cross look, Sara elaborated
"My sister and I used to date Oliver Queen." she told her.
"Oh," Felicity responded
"At the same time," Sara further added,
"OH!" Felicity said her eyes as wide as saucers.
"But that's all in the past and we're all great friends now, and he invited us to come. In fact he insisted upon it, so here I am with my date." Sara said.
Felicity had the decency to look embarrassed as she looked at the other woman who was dressed in the female version of a black tuxedo.
"Dr Nyssa Raatko, this is Felicity, the crazy friend I told you about,"
"Hi, sorry about the interruption, I'm just going to go back to standing alone in my corner of the room."
Nyssa laughed, "She is cute," she said to Sara. "Please join us."
Half an hour later the three ladies had taken up a spot suspiciously close to where the waiters passed with drinks.
"This is the worst party ever," Felicity confessed to Sara.
"I know it really does suck," Sara said looking around at all of the big shots in tuxes or as Felicity liked to call them penguins. "Though my sister does seem to be enjoying it," she added pointing out her older sister Laurel Lance chatting away with her boyfriend Tommy Merlyn and two senior managers at QC.
"I'm hungry," Felicity complained. "The food sucks this year."
"That's because you can't eat half of it."
"I know who puts nuts in everything! The salad has nuts, the meats are coated with peanut sauce because of the Thai theme and I can't touch the shrimp because I think I'm developing another allergy to shellfish. I need a burger."
"Burgers are unhealthy," Nyssa commented.
"But they are so good," Felicity whined.
"Your arteries will thank you if you cut back on them. Perhaps try more steamed fish." Nyssa suggested
Felicity made a sour face, "Maybe I'll take it up as a New Year's Resolution," then realising that the New Year was a few days away she added, "in 2017."
"Hello ladies," a deep voice greeted them.
Felicity turned around to come face to chest with a really sexy chest. Her eyes looked up and met the twinkling blue eyes of Oliver Queen.
"Felicity Smoak, Hi, I'm Oliver Queen." He grinned at her.
"Mr. Queen, Hi," she said shyly making sure to keep her jaw clamped firmly shut so she does not embarrass herself in front of her boss's son.
"Please call me Oliver. Mr. Queen is my father."
"Right," Felicity said tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. She was beginning to think she should have tied her hair up instead of leaving it out to fall in waves down her back.
"So Oliver, you couldn't do anything to liven up this party a bit?" Sara asked.
"If you want me to run through the party naked again then that is a definite no," Oliver replied.
"You ran through your father's Christmas party for staff at QC naked?" Felicity asked.
"It was not one of my finer moments." He turned back to Sara, "I was thinking of heading out early and going to Verdant. Would you ladies like to join me?"
"Nope we're fine." Sara answered but then she got a twinkle in her eye, "But Felicity is starving. She's allergic to most of the food here. Perhaps you could take her to Big Belly Burger for us."
Felicity looked horrified, "No no no, it's ok. I'm full. Can't fit another morsel of food in there. Nope, I don't need any food." Her stomach chose that point to grumble loudly.
Oliver smiled, "I don't think your stomach got that memo. Besides I've always wanted to rescue someone from the tortures of a boring party."
"I'm not some damsel in distress," Felicity replied quickly.
"No, you're my damsel in distress." Oliver replied charmingly. The smile he gave Felicity was making her insides turn to goo.
"Ollie's not going to bite or at least he never bit when I was with him. Go you're starving and you need to eat or all of those glasses of wine are going to cause your mouth to say all sorts of interesting things at this party."
A look of horror passed Felicity's face as she realised her friend was right. She chewed on her bottom lip, "Perhaps a burger isn't such a bad idea after all,"
Oliver beamed at her.
"If you will excuse us ladies, there are some burgers with our names on them waiting for us."
Oliver guided a nervous Felicity out the back door of the hotel where the party was being hosted to his green Ferrari that was parked in a spot nearby. He opened the door for her and realised that this laptop was on the seat. He quickly picked it up.
"I can hold it on my lap," she offered when she realised there was no place for him to put it.
"I can just throw it away, the stupid thing doesn't work properly," he said.
"Huh! No you can't throw away that baby," Felicity said feeling offended.
"It's not working properly. It got a virus and no one in the IT department has been able to fix it yet."
Felicity's eyes glowed with excitement, "I haven't tried yet, I'm sure I can have it fixed by the time we reach to Big Belly Burger." She grabbed the laptop from him and jumped in the car.
Oliver arched an eyebrow at her. She pulled out a memory stick out of her purse and used it to boot the laptop up. Soon she had disappeared into her world of computers and her nervousness seemed to have vanished. Oliver found he was jealous of an inanimate object. He drove slowly so he wouldn't jerk her and as they were pulling up to Big Belly Burger she declared it was fixed.
Oliver gave her a sceptical look.
"Here try it," she said offering the offending object to him.
"I'll try it inside. Let's go order," he took the laptop from her and walked around the car to open the door for her.
With the laptop swung under his right arm, he used his left to guide Felicity inside. There was a short line and they were soon in front. "Hi Oliver, Felicity, fancy seeing you two here together," the cashier they both knew as Carly said; she even through a wink at Oliver. "Would you like your usual?"
"Yes," they both answered at the same time.
Carly rang the bill up and Oliver insisted that he pay for her meal. He then guided her to the booth that he liked in the back that had a great view of the entrance.
"So you come here often?" Oliver asked.
"Maybe five times a week," Felicity confessed. "You?"
"Mostly at nights after Verdant is closed," he said.
They fell into an easy conversation as Oliver checked his laptop while they waited for their order. Sure enough it was fixed and running faster than ever. He half wondered if maybe Felicity should be running the IT department.
"So what was the wink about?" Felicity asked finally letting curiosity get the better of her.
Oliver shifted uncomfortably, "I have a confession to make,"
"Oh," Felicity said not sure if that was good or bad.
"It's not bad, I, uh, noticed you at a QC fundraiser earlier this year and I wanted to talk to you but you didn't look like the type that would have taken well to the boss's son just randomly striking up a conversation with you at a work event."
Felicity agreed with his conclusion.
"So I found out that you worked in the IT department and I downloaded the virus on my computer and I took it to IT hoping to meet you but instead every other person tried and failed to fix my computer. Diggle saw you one day at Big Belly Burger with Sara and told me, so I kind of insisted that Sara come to the party this year so that I could get introduced to you." He left out the part where he had begged Sara for days for the introduction.
"Wow all that for me?" she asked surprised. No guy had ever gone through that trouble just to get introduced to her.
"As I said, you're my damsel in distress."
Their order arrived and Felicity started eating her fries right away.
"You're Oliver Queen, you could have any girl," she said to him.
"I don't want just any girl," he told her honestly.
"Evidently you need a specific one to fix your computer," she responded dryly.
"A guy's got to do what a guy's got to do. Anything to get the girl right?" he smirked that sexy smirk that Felicity was sure had made many women drop their panties.
"I wouldn't say you've gotten the girl yet?" Felicity added between bites of her burger.
"No?" he questioned as he tried to bat her hand away from stealing one of his fries.
"I think there's still more you need to do to get the girl?" she said eating the fry she had successfully stolen.
"Really like what? An extra order of fries," he offered.
"Hmm," she said pretending to think. She tapped her index finger against her chin, "I also like Italian,"
"Good thing I know a really good Italian place then," he smiled at her.
"Pick me up at 7:30," she ordered.
He arched an eyebrow at her.
She shrugged, "If I'm the damsel in distress, I need to ensure my knight in shining armour is there to save me. Not that you'll have shining armour, it'll be more a nice shiny suit but there will be metal in the form of a shiny green Ferrari instead of a horse. Or do you have more than one car? You're certainly rich enough to have more than one car."
"I'll come in the Ferrari," Oliver said cutting off her babble.
"Sorry I tend to talk a lot. Are you still sure you want to go on a date with me?" she asked stealing the last of his fries.
"I thought we were already on a date especially since my damsel keeps stealing my fries," he pointed out.
"Uh uh mister," she shook her head, "This doesn't count. This damsel wants the whole shebang."
Oliver laughed. They had finished their food and disposed of the garbage before walking back to his car.
"I'll drop you home,"
She smiled gratefully at him. The ride to her house was filled with friendly banter and teasing.
"Well this is me," she said pointing outside the window. "I'll see you tomorrow," she added getting out of the car.
"What no kiss?" he teased her.
"Remember this isn't a date but if you're a good knight tomorrow, this damsel may consider kissing you."
"I'll be here at 7:30pm sharp,"
Sure enough Oliver was there on time and at the end of the night, his damsel gave him the kiss he had been waiting for.