Prequel tie-in with my other fic I'm gonna kill him! Can stand alone.
Oliver Queen left Felicity's office confident he had what he needed to catch the latest name on the list, but his plans were derailed as he glanced through the door of one of the private offices and and saw something that was definitely not work-appropriate.
Felicity's supposedly exclusive boyfriend, Nathan Early, had his tongue shoved down the throat of a red-headed woman. A woman who was currently straddling him. A woman who was most certainly not Felicity.
He didn't know how long he had stood in the hallway, simply staring, before Nathan caught sight of him and choked in surprise, pulling away from the red-head. Oliver heard the woman protest, calling Nathan "Natty," before she too looked round and saw his face in the window. She scrambled to her feet, desperately fixing her clothes and nametag, Marla, but before either of them could open the door Oliver strode out of the building, ignoring the slightly desperate call of, "Mr. Queen!" that followed him out the door.
"You've got to tell Felicity," said Diggle. Oliver had called him as soon as he had left the building and called an emergency meeting at the Big Belly Burger.
"She really likes this guy, Dig. She has a picture of him on her desk even though he works just a couple of floors away."
"All the more reason to tell her before she agrees to something she'll regret later."
"I know."
"Then what's the problem?"
"What if she doesn't believe me?"
Diggle laughed and looked at Oliver incredulously, "Name one time you've managed to lie to Felicity without her calling you out on your bullshit. That girl can read you like one of her computer codes."
Oliver smiled, proud of their girl Friday. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"So are you going to tell her?"
Oliver hesitated, "Wouldn't this whole thing be easier if the Vigilante paid him a visit and the bastard just happened to mysteriously disappear?
"You're forgetting the part where Felicity drags us into the hunt for her missing boyfriend. She's good at what she does and you know she'll uncover the truth, both the fact you made him disappear and, if you're lucky, why you did it."
"If I'm lucky?"
"Yes, if you're lucky. Otherwise it looks like you got rid of her boyfriend like some creepy, possessive nutcase. If Felicity knows the truth she'll only be ticked off at you for not letting her handle it herself."
"So I'm can't help?"
"Let's call making the guy disappear plan B." Diggle became more serious. "Oliver, he's cheating on her. That's going to hurt and you not telling her is only going to make it worse. Tell her. If she want's your help get some revenge than go for it, but that's not really her style and we both know she's more than capable of ruining this guy's life all by herself."
"I already called his supervisor and told him what happened. Getting caught doing things like that on company time? He'll be lucky he's just fired."
"The fact you were the one who caught him guarantees that. It also means you'd better tell her even sooner. Gossip travels fast. Especially when you're involved."
"I just don't want to hurt her, Dig."
"She's going to find out one way or another."
"Fine, I'll tell her tonight. We'll postpone the mission till tomorrow."
That night Oliver was late to the foundry.
"Oliver, Hi!" said Felicity. The worry line on her forehead disappearing as she smiled at him. "Where's Diggle? I was kind of surprised I beat you guys here. You're always working out or something when I come here I was starting to think you lived down here. Although that wouldn't make sense because your family still thinks you live with them, not that you don't live with them, I know you don't actually live here. It just seems like that sometimes, I mean I practically live here too, not that I'm suggesting we live together. I have a boyfriend. Three, two, one, shutting up now."
"Actually your boyfriend is what I wanted to talk about." said Oliver. Felicity blinked and frowned.
"Really? Is this because you're afraid I'm going to reveal your secret because I swear I would never do that. Even when Nate gets grumpy that I can't spend every second of my time with him anymore. Or is this a work thing? He said something about a misunderstanding with his supervisor this afternoon. He's scheduled to meet with her first thing tomorrow morning. I can ask about it if you want. Or hack the records, although why you'd need me to that when you could just use your Queen access card doesn't make a lot of sense-"
Oliver cut her off, wishing that Digg had let him go through with plan B. "The reason he has a meeting with his supervisor is because he was caught 'making out' with another employee in his office."
Felicity blushed, "Oliver, I told you we don't fool around during work hours. This is obviously a mistake. I bet Nate let David and Monica borrow his office for some 'alone time.' He's done it before, and I know he's not really supposed to, but David is moving next week and Monica's not going to see him again for months."
Oliver's hands clenched, "Felicity, it wasn't a mistake. I was leaving the building this morning when I passed by your boyfriend's office and saw him with a lapful of some redhead named Marla. Trust me when I say there was no mistaking either your boyfriend's identity or the location of his hands."
"Oh," said Felicity. She stared at him blankly for a few moments before her face twisted and she began typing furiously on her computer. Oliver moved to stand behind her and saw that she was pulling up the QC security feeds. There was some sort of interference but she ruthlessly broke through and found what she was looking for. Her eyes started to fill with tears but she blinked them away angrily as her computer brought up even more screens.
"Are you okay?" asked Oliver, feeling a bit hurt that she felt she had to check the evidence.
"I will be," said Felicity. She saw him frowning at the screens and added, "I just wanted to see how long it's been going on."
"Is that what the program's doing?
"Partly. It was developed for far more professional reasons but it's not that hard to adapt." The computer beeped and she turned to Oliver, "He's been cheating on me for months. Since before you even brought me onto the team. How could I not know that?"
"People a lot dumber than him have gotten away with more, not that there are a lot of people dumber than him."
Felicity snorted, "Thanks Oliver but Nate, Nathan, had an IQ that was nearly as high as mine, sort of, and that doesn't explain why I didn't catch him."
"People have a habit of only seeing what they want to see, especially when it comes to loved ones."
"No, that's not all of it," said Felicity. She had a look of concentration on her face as she typed commands into the computer.
"Felicity, what are you doing?"
"I may have occasionally hacked into the security cameras to see how Nate was doing during work hours." Oliver inwardly grimaced and Felicity looked embarrassed but she continued speaking, "I should have caught him at least once but he knew what I was
doing, he did it to or at least he said he did, and he put protective measures in place." Felicity pointed to the screen. "That's what I was breaking through earlier."
It was a loop, long but speed up so it was obvious what was going on. Oliver watched Nathan scratch his neck, type, drink coffee, and do other mundane things over and over. He even waved cheekily at the camera once. Oliver frowned.
"I should have known, I put up the same thing once or twice when I was working on one of our "special projects" but I never bothered to check if Nate's feed was live. Maybe you were right about blind spots," Felicity looked miserable. "I can't believe
I trusted him. What if he had been doing something even worse?"
"Worse than cheating on you?"
Felicity glared at him and Oliver winced. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why had he said that?
"His cheating hurts, but there are worse things in the world, Oliver," said Felicity. "Like the people on your list. They hurt a lot more than just my feelings. And I'm sure the people you help would agree."
Oliver was silent. Felicity was one of a kind. What other woman would still encourage him and defend his dubiously ethical work right after he completely upset her life in such a painful way? He might not have a genius IQ but he knew that he would do anything to protect the usually bubbly blonde sitting next to him. And what better way to begin than to offer his services for a little revenge?
I was looking for something to write and the idea of Oliver having to break the news of a cheating boyfriend to Felicity caught my interest. I'll may add another chapter or two with Felicity's revenge (Ooh, that's a good title). Please review and tell me what you think. Was I ooc? What do you think I should have made Nathan's last name? What other fics do you want me to write?