Felicity was sitting at her post, zoning in and out while twirling one of Oliver's green arrow between her fingers. She was silent, staring mindlessly at the wall, but the inner corners of her mind have been raging with thoughts.
The other night I asked you if you liked Oliver… IF you did, I can see why. Oliver Queen. He's a billionaire by day and saves the city by night… I have a little experience liking someone who doesn't see you the same way.
Her conversation with Barry echoed in her mind. What exactly did he mean by that? Obviously she had a great deal of admiration toward Oliver, admittedly giving him a God complex at times. She cared for him deeply, fearing for his life every time he slipped his green hood on. Most of the city perceived him as a vigilante, no more than the big bads he brought in to the police or launched arrows at. Felicity knew that was just media propaganda. He was a hero. Starling City's hero. Her hero.
Felicity knew who Oliver was. She was in his ear during every operation. She knew about his scars, both the slow healing internal and the external that she saw every time he decided to train in front of her. He knew most of his island stories, although it seems lately that new ghosts have emerged from the past in the form even more women. Oliver was a man of little words, but his facial expressions spoke volumes to her. She knew him, in every way that it was possible to know a person like Oliver Queen. What she knew most of all is that for someone like her, someone who is more comfortable behind a computer screen typing away than in a cocktail dress attempting small talk, he was unattainable. She placed him on a very high inaccessible pedestal. Not, that she ever thought that there would be any possibility of a romantic relationship between them. Although admittedly the thought might have crossed her mind a from time to time on rare occasions. It is difficult to concentrate on anything else when you have a six-foot-five man with negative percent body fat drenched with sweat working on the salmon ladder. It would be difficult for any girl in her right mind to get any work done with a show like that in front of them.
But, Barry's word reverberated in her ears and filled her head. She did not feel that way about Oliver. She could not. Felicity closed her eyes and shook her head. She tried to clear her mind at of the thoughts that plagued her, and took a deep breath in and out. Her mind distracted her from the steps that were taken down the stairs into the foundry. Oliver was right behind her as she exhaled.
"Felicity," He startled her, immediately making her open her eyes and hop a few inches off her seat, "are you alright?"
"Yeah. Yep. Yes." She breathed, placing the arrow on the table and swirling her chair to face him. She had to raise her head to make eye contact with him. She smiled at him awkwardly, "Wow you're a real Ninja aren't you? What can I do for you, Oliver?"
One of the edges of his mouth curved slightly, but fades just as quickly. "Have you heard any news about the particle accelerator explosion in Central City?"
She reached for her phone and twiddled with the screen for a few moments, "I've left Barry a message or two, but he hasn't sent anything back. I'm sure everything's okay and he will contact me once the dust settles." She keeps fiddling with her phone for a minute longer.
"Felicity?" Oliver rips her from her concentrated stare into her phone. How was it that her name flowed with such ease from him? It was not just a word addressing her when it is spoken with his voice. Her name was a replacement for words he was unable, or unwilling, to say out loud. At times it was "you should really stop talking, now". Or "could you look this up for me, because I am incapable of using the internet." And sometimes, in the rarest moments, she could feel that it said "I care about you deeply." But, that was last one was probably her imagination embellishing the moment.
"Felicity?" He says it a little louder as to get her attention back.
"Hmmm," She looks at him blankly for a few seconds and then enters back into reality. "Oh, yeah. Not much has been in the media. A few scientists were badly injured, but expected to survive. I've been trying to hack into the Central City Police Department, but It's gonna take a little while." She turned back towards her computer monitors as Oliver walks beside her and rests both hands on the desk. She plays him the last news feed from outside the lab housing the accelerator. "It was a total blackout of the city. It's going to be a while before they get their systems back on."
Oliver nods in understanding. "And how are you?" Felicity replays the question in her head and looks up at him, who had his eyes locked on her. Their gazes meet for a few seconds, their faces close enough to feel each other's breath. Felicity's heart begins to beat a little faster and decided to break the eye contact.
Pushing herself back a few inches in her chair to gain distance she sighs under her breath with an awkward little laugh. "Other than super soldiers injected with a miracle serum that makes them invisible, with concrete muscles and bull like strength who know who we are but we are still baffled by who they are getting their orders from, that may or may not be building an army for total world domination with Sterling City as ground zero. I'm doing okay. Got new polish." She gave her best attempt at spirit fingers, flaunting her new emerald green enamel.
Oliver nodded and gave her the faintest smile. "Matches your dress." She looked down at her clothes and nodded with a fleeting smile. He grabbed a chair and pulled it close to hers as he sat down. He gave an inaudible sigh and stared at the flashing screens. "We'll think of something. We always do." His eyes went in and out of focus a few times and he had to close them to regain visibility. As he opened them he looked at the brilliant woman beside him whose smiling face had slowly grown to one of concern. He placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Felicity could feel the heat that was imitating from his hand through her thin shirt and she realized how cold she had actually been. "I've dealt with this before on the island. It won't be easy, but they can be defeated."
"About that, you haven't elaborated as to how exactly you were able to defeat them." She turned towards him and leaned in as if sharing a secret. "How did you defeat an army that was literally undefeatable?"
Felicity could see a look on Oliver's face that she has seen many times before. He was experiencing an island flashback. From the looks of it, it was not one of the lesser of the bad memories. "We fight. Until the last breath and hope that it's theirs and not yours." His eyes wandered before catching her gaze once more. "No one is invincible; we just have to find their weakness. Everyone has a weakness."
His gaze grew heavy and Felicity could see the pain behind them. What things he must have gone through in those five years. "Does that mean the all-powerful Oliver Queen, billionaire with a hero complex has a weakness as well?" She smiled trying to lighten the somber mood. "Do tell."
"Let's hope they never find who my weakness is." He glanced back at Felicity who was already looking at him. He gave her a momentary smile and his face returned to its normal amount of melancholy.
Felicity's phone began to vibrate and their gaze was broken once again. Before she could reach for it Oliver read the name 'Barry' on the message. He quickly raised himself from the chair and tucked it into the desk. "Tell me if anything comes up about the explosion and when the power to Central City returns." He began to walk to the stairs and Felicity's eyes traced his steps as he moved. He paused before climbing the stairs into the club and turned to face Felicity. "Say hello to Barry for me. And… Thank him for the mask." He turned and headed back towards the club.
Felicity was still enveloped in the conversation that had just taken place. "Let's hope they never find who my weakness is". Did that mean that Oliver, the Arrow, had something that they could use as leverage against him? And that thing is actually a who?
Felicity went down the list of possible people. His family is an obvious one; his mother and Thea. Laurel has been used to cast him out a few times. Sarah could also be a possibility, if they could ever find or trace her back to him. Diggle is another obvious choice. And then there was her. Felicity has been in the line of fire a few times before and The Arrow has come to rescue the damsel in distress, a term she did not want to be labeled as. Oliver broke his vow to Tommy in order to save her, something she felt an incredible amount of guilt towards.
He was going to hurt you. There was no choice.
Felicity was grateful to have had the chance to keep breathing, that her archer in green armor came to save her. But she could not forgive herself for being the reason that Oliver killed again. And she would not be able to live if she was the reason that he died. That is why there was no chance that she was the 'who' he was referring to. She felt nothing for Oliver. She nodded and took a deep breath as if it would magically make that statement true. She attempted to erase any possible Oliver and Felicity k-i-s-s-i-n-g thoughts, at least for the next five minutes.
Felicity leaned in toward the desk and reached for her phone. Barry's message was still flashing on the screen. Relaxing in her chair she opened it.