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So This is What It Took...

Chapter 1

Felicity was sat at her computers in the foundry while she could hear Diggle's grunts as Oliver pushed and shoved him while training. They didn't have a particular case to be working on at the moment but they all decided to use the break to practice their areas of expertise. Felicity had been feeling anxious all day but she had been acting her normal self, babbling through the majority of the day. She had avoided all text messages that would ruin her week but she knew she'd have to answer them eventually. She just hopes that Diggle and Oliver wouldn't notice anything and they would never find out. Oliver and Diggle decided to go and get a drink from the Verdant bar before everyone started to pile in and it started to get busy. Once they had left the room, Felicity blew out a sigh of relief that they hadn't noticed (or if they had, hadn't said anything) about her unusually quiet mood. She thought that she was free from the text messages that held a horrible question that would end her pride. Until her phone started to ring loudly and 'Puppeteer' by Max Schneider started echoing off the walls of the basement.

"Felicity? God, you finally answered! I was beginning to think you had died or something when you didn't answer any of my texts all week. We haven't spoken in so long. Are you ok?" Felicity rolled her eyes when she heard the annoying voice of her best friend through the phone. She didn't have the energy tonight.

"I'm fine. Work has just been busy-"

"Oh, great, good, you're ok. When are you getting here for my wedding? Your whole family has RSVP'd already. Did you get my invite? I had to ask so many people for your address. Barely anyone knew where you had gone after MIT. I knew you had gotten a job as an IT specialist at a big company, but I didn't know where. Anyway, when are you getting here? And is it ok if you and your date share a room?" she said in one huge breath.

"I'm not coming, I'm sorry. I just can't get off work," Felicity said, trying to fake any sorrow she could. Truth was, she didn't want to see her family. None of them. They had all judged her for going to MIT and she didn't want to see her so-called parents with their cheap dates (that were younger than her) to say how she should live her life. Her mother had been abusive for a few years during her childhood after her father had left and her father had been nothing but cruel with his words since he approached her during her later teen years. Oliver opened the door to the foundry and Diggle followed behind him. He stopped when he heard Felicity's voice and started to creep down the steps so Felicity wouldn't know they had returned.

"But you have to come! You promised when we were little and you never break your promises. Please!" Felicity was annoyed. She didn't want to have to see anyone from her past; she loved her new life with Oliver and Diggle and Thea loved her too. Although, she did miss her friends sometimes.

"I really can't come. I have important things to do and I don't have time to come and see people that find it necessary to tell me how I am ruining my life," Felicity said in her loud voice. Even Oliver and Diggle stopped when they heard her loud voice.

"Please! It's my wedding! And everyone wants to see you!"

"No. I'm sorry but no."

"Ok. If you change your mind, let me know. Bye, Felicity." Felicity slammed the phone down from her ear. She put her elbows on the desk and her head in her hands and let out a sigh of relief. Oliver and Diggle started walking over to her but she couldn't hear them. Oliver placed his hand on her shoulder and she jumped a mile.

"God, Oliver! Don't scare me!"

"I'm sorry. Who were you talking to?" He sat down on the desk to her side and Diggle moved onto the chair that was next to the both of them. Felicity had hoped he hadn't heard anything. Oliver had this way about him that you could say no to anything but he would persuade you to change your mind.

"My best friend from school, Freja. She's getting married and she wants me there. The problem is she has invited my whole family; I guess it makes sense as our families are friends. No one at home supported my decision to go to MIT and so I didn't really talk to anyone back home. Plus, with my parents that seem to forget that they are the worst people on the planet, they would just spend the weekend yelling at me about how my life is ruined and how I will never get married. I don't have a date either and I really don't want to go alone."

"I'll go with you. That way, if anyone says anything, I can tell them how wrong they are. You are remarkable, it's a shame no one can see that besides Dig and I."

"No!" Felicity shouted once he had finished speaking. "I couldn't ask you to do that."

"You aren't asking, I'm volunteering."

Diggle sat back in his chair and watched the two of them. They had been doing this for a while now. Not just 'Team Arrow' but the tension between them was growing. It had been almost 6 months since the whole Slade situation but Diggle could see that Oliver was still nervous whenever Felicity was alone. Diggle had known for a short while before the words slipped out of his mouth that Oliver had had growing feelings for Felicity, no matter how many women he went out with. When Diggle had heard what Oliver had said, he truly believed he had meant them. There was something in the way he said the three words that Diggle had never heard from him before. He knew Felicity was falling too but he knew that she wouldn't admit it either. She believed he had only said it to trick Slade. If only she knew he felt the same way.

"No, Oliver. I can't go and see them. She'll understand. I mean, we haven't spoken since I left for MIT so it can't mean that much if I don't go."

"Ok. It's your choice."

Both Diggle and Felicity were shocked. Neither of them had heard Oliver give up so easily from persuading someone. Usually he used his bow and arrow, but, of course, he couldn't do that to Felicity. But neither of them expected him to give up. And that's when a case popped up.

Felicity got home at 5am that night. Or morning, depending on how you look at it. She was exhausted. Everything had gone fine for 'Team Arrow' and Oliver hadn't been hurt. He had left a little before Felicity as she had a couple of updates to sort out but he was so fine, and so was Diggle. Felicity flicked on the lights to her apartment and walked into the living room. She screamed as she walked through the door and saw Oliver sat there in the dark looking towards the door; he was waiting for her to get home.

"For God's sake, Oliver! Stopped scaring me! What the hell are you doing sat here in the dark like a creep?"

"I needed to talk to you about going home for your friend's wedding. You are going and I'm going with you."

"No, I'm not. You need me here. You can't leave, you have CEO and 'Green Arrow' stuff."

"You are going. Everyone needs to see how amazing you are at what you do. And I'm going too, you have a date. Plus, I can tell everyone that says anything bad about you how you have helped QC so much." Felicity stared at him as sat there staring at her as he spoke. She saw him blush lightly when he said that she was amazing at what she did.

"Fine. But it's only for the weekend. No longer, even if they offer."

"Great. Tell me when and I will pay for our flights."

"Is that all? Seriously? You waited for me to get home to tell me that I was going?"

"Yeah, that's all. Goodnight, Felicity. See you later." And with that, he left. And Felicity started to think of ways to kill him. She was going home to see her friend get married and she was going to see her family. Damn.

A/N: Hello. As I said a while back, I have deleted the original of this fanfic and have improved, reposted and am 2 paragraphs away from finishing. I am planning on uploading each chapter while on holiday as treat for you guys who have stayed from the start or have just discovered this for the first time. I hope you enjoy. Also, I am cross-posting this on AO3 under the same name.

Rachel