"Moonlight illuminate my night and my days sunray make the people say
And a vision something's missing so they're screaming out loud
Keep my feet on the ground and my head in the clouds
I'm the arrow, you're my bow, shoot me forth and I will go
And I know and I go and I go get up and go
Make me feel it's for real tell me what you know"
-Matisyahu "Time of Your Song"
I've been listening to this song for years and I just started applying it to Oliver and Felicity.
Quentin Lance woke up that morning much like he did every morning - to the smell of brewing coffee, the warm body of his dog cutting off circulation to at least one foot and the faint, yet distinct, sounds of traffic. He pushed his snoozing chocolate lab from his legs and pulled his aching body from the bed. He wasn't exactly a morning person, but he also wasn't like the majority of his precinct - comatose and completely useless; at the very minimum, he could function.
Quentin made his way downstairs letting Jameson out the back slider, before going to retrieve the newspaper from his front porch. He settled down to his table and flipped the flimsy paper open. The front page read 'Who is The Mystery Girl?' accompanied by a picture of said mystery woman and the Arrow himself.
Quentin brought the mug to his lips before letting out a small chuckle. The clock on the wall read 8:26. He estimated about four more minutes before his phone started ringing. His suspicions suggested that a not-so-happy blonde, who wasn't his daughter, would be trying rather adamantly to get ahold of him. He didn't know why that made him smile, but it did.
In the foundry, Felicity sat, pen between her teeth, eyes blankly staring at her computer screen. She still couldn't decide what to get for Dig and Lyla's shower. She considered buying the bedding, but they hadn't saved one to the registry, and she felt out of place picking one out. She thought about a gazillion boxes of diapers, but that just seemed boring. And clothes were kind of iffy. The couple had opted to be surprised as to the 'boy or girl' mystery - and really who wanted their child dressed in yellow or green everyday for the foreseeable future? Was an infant too young for a computer? The whole ordeal was frustrating and Oliver's constant teasing wasn't making anything easier.
At the moment he was directly across from her desk - staring at her. His arms were crossed over his chest, his shoulder propping the rest of his body up against one of the foundry's concrete pillars. And because life hated her today, the black thermal hugging his muscled arms and the trademark smirk stamped on his beautiful features were evoking equal parts irritation and lust from her. It was proving very difficult to concentrate on purchasing a baby shower gift when her body couldn't decide whether it wanted to say 'fuck it' - walk across the room, and practice the actual baby making part of the scenario with him or to say 'fuck you' - and walk across the room to slap him.
"Don't you have something better to do," she pleaded. "I, for one, really can't think of anything more useful to be doing with my time than watching you grapple over this relatively simple decision." After a short pause and a mock expression of deep reasoning, he went on.
"Does it say something negative about our friendship that I'm actually enjoying this," he asked lazily, motioning in her direction. "It's comforting to know that even you have a hard time on occasion."
Her body wasn't struggling as hard between annoyance and attraction. To be honest she was really leaning towards the 'jumping him' side of the debate. A very platonic... Very violent jump. Not the sexy, 'don't mind me. I just really need to rip your clothes from your body this second' kind of jump.
Felicity plucked the pen from her mouth, considering just how bad of an idea chucking it at his smirking face would be, but she opted for throwing him her coolest scowl instead. His lips only curled higher.
Letting her own feigned expression of critical thinking cross her face, she pointed her pen in his direction. "Have you cut back on working out - your arms and shoulders look a little neglected. And oh, oh my God..." she cupped her hand around her ear and leaned back in her chair. "I actually think I hear the salmon ladder calling your name."
She knew it was lame, but at the moment she was just happy she hadn't completely embarrassed herself... Yet. Give her mouth another 90 seconds and it might manage the feat.
Oliver pushed off the table and sauntered forward, but before he reached her, a sound clip of a cartoon-like arrow reverberating off a bullseye echoed through the foundry. The alerts she had set up were signaling an update for something Arrow related.
"Every time I think that you're becoming an average member of society you go and do something like that," Oliver said tossing his hand in the direction of her speakers. "And then I say to myself 'nope - still Felicity - still the nerd I remember.'"
"You know, you say that like it's a bad thing. But deep down, I know you find it endearing." She lifted her head and playfully batted her eyelashes. "And functioning member of society... ? You're certainly one to talk. Have you met yourself?"
She turned back to her computer, missing the moment where the smile that had been on Oliver's face turned into something that looked an awful lot like hurt. And just like that they fell back into the stride of reality. Felicity's fingers flew across keys, delving into her search results.
Star Bank - how very original - was second only to Merlyn Global, as the tallest building in the city. However it did, and very proudly, held the title as the most prestigious and largest financial institution in Starling. So when Felicity's programmed searches stumbled upon an actual logical and intelligent plan to rob the establishment, there was reason for concern. After quickly skimming the information blotting her monitors, Felicity turned back to Oliver.
"Looks like your favorite Irish criminals are up to their regular shenanigans again. Shenanigans. What a great word-"
"Fel-ic-ity," Oliver cut her off, urging her back to the topic at hand. Had her tangent started towards sexual innuendos, he would have let her continue, just to see how far the pink of her blush would spread. But, somehow, he felt the word Shenanigans wasn't headed in that direction.
"Right. Anyway... One of Timothy McMahon's lackeys foolishly saved the play-by-play of a heist, planned for tonight, to a public server. His password was 'HugeLuckyCharms.' Clever, huh? That might almost be as bad as my 'family jewels comment," Felicity voluntarily mused.
Choosing to ignore the second half of the statement, Oliver quickly pulled his shirt over his head, "Guess I should suit up then. I don't trust the cops with this one. We've given them two leads on these guys before, and they let them slip away."
Felicity hesitated. Not because Oliver was currently standing in front of her in only his boxer briefs - well maybe a little blame could be put on the green cotton that hugged his hips - but really she disliked the idea. "I don't like solo Arrow for these kinds of missions," she stated firmly, turning back to her monitors.
"Well, it's a good thing you'll be there too then," Oliver chided as a childish grin overtook his features - twisting his lips and brightening his eyes. He walked behind her, both of his hands gripping the back of her chair before leaning over her shoulder. His lips inches from her neck. "Of course it will only be in my ear... But I do vaguely recall someone once telling me how good that felt."
As tempting as it was to moan or to reach her arms up and pull those lips against her throat, this was serious and she wouldn't allow him to turn it into a game. The blonde whipped her chair around, almost taking out his ankles in the process. Her face was red in anger. Why was that so fucking hot?
"I love when you turn your safety into some sort of a joke, Oliver. You want to tease me about the 'baby Diggle' thing - fine. You want to mock my computer nerdiness - okay. But you walking into a bank robbery alone, with at least five trained, armed, and extremely dangerous thieves - suddenly I don't feel like laughing. Apparently my sense of humor seems to draw the line at 'life or death' situations. I'm funny like that!" She glared at him. This was not a fight she was willing to lose. She chose her battles with him. And she was choosing this one.
Oliver had finished buttoning his pants at this point, an action he had started as seductively as possible in an attempt to distract her. Fail. She didn't watch his hands deftly work despite the fact that sitting in her chair still, meant she was eye level with his abdomen. He couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. Their gazes locked - unblinking. His hands dropped to wrap around her small arms, not painfully, just enough pressure to be reassuring.
"Felicity, I'm going to be fine. We're going to bring a stop to this, call our buddy Lance to clean up the mess and then we're taking the rest of the night off. We'll get something to eat, drink a bottle of wine and in the morning I'll bring you to every store we can think of until you find something for Digg."
Felicity lifted her lips to one side in one of those smiles thats sole purpose was to convey doubt. "Fine," she whispered, "but... I am coming with you. We're taking the Navigator, and I'm guiding you through this shit show from there."
Oliver opened his mouth twice before spitting words out. "I don't like that idea," he finally stated. Felicity stood, aggressively, pulled her coat from the back of her chair, and spun angrily back towards Oliver as he finished pulling on his mask. "Well consider us even then," she said coolly.
- "Fel-is-re-th- ta - es,"
"Shit." Felicity had been worried about this. The thick steel meant to keep men like McMahon and his accomplices out had a tendency to disrupt the comms.
"Oliver - I can't make out what you're saying." The only thing coming through Felicity's headset now were various, sporadic noises - bangs, slams, voices, Oliver's deep breathing. Her nerves were prickling. It was what sounded like a gunshot and Oliver's sharp intake of breath, agonizingly pulled through teeth, that sent Felicity's heart racing.
"Oliver! Fuck, Oliver, say something to me!" Silence. The comm had fully lost connection. Before her thought process could catch up to her actions - huh.. Sounded like someone else she knew - Felicity was pulling Oliver's oversized hoodie on, tucking her tablet beneath it, pulling up the hood, and throwing her door open. She took a deep breath, put her head down and spun through the Lavish Hotel's revolving door. She passed the front desk as calmly as she could manage, ignoring the pleasantries of the woman at the counter. She pressed the up arrow for the elevator at least seven times - because everyone knows that the number of times you press a button has a direct correlation to how quickly the action occurs.
The ding that signaled the elevator pierced through the tiled lobby, and Felicity flew through the doors, attacking the 'close door' button while simultaneously rendering the hotel's surveillance cameras useless from her tablet. Only after she was no longer visible to the camera did she signal the elevator to the roof, overriding the security code and feeling the floor shoot her upward. "21 - 22 - 23 - God-freaking-damnit - 24 - 25 - 26 - ROOF!"
"Felicity?" Oliver ground out. "Did they add a new number between 23 and 24? Because I could have sworn I heard you say one."
"Oliver! Really? Are we twelve? Not the time for this," she muttered seriously. "Where have you been? Any type of communication - a 'hey Felicity, I know we've been out of contact for 10 minutes and the last thing you may or may not have heard was a gun shot, but fyi I'm alive and well' would have been much appreciated!"
There was a short pause where neither of them uttered a word. "I thought...," she finally stammered, willing herself to swallow the other half of that sentence.
"Felicity..." Oliver started sadly, but she cut him off. "Not now Oliver. Give me a quick recap and then we'll get you out of there." She could faintly hear the sirens now, and blue and red lights were pinging off the lower glass of surrounding buildings.
"You need to get out of there, Oliver. Now"
"You think? I thought maybe it would be a good idea to say hi to Starling's finest first. I bet they'd even let me use the front door... Felicity, this place is a maze, I need you to walk me through it."
Pulling up Oliver's tracking device, the blueprints for the bank and security access codes for various doors and elevators inside, she cursed herself for not thinking about doing this earlier.
"You didn't know you were going to need it," Oliver sighed. Apparently that little scolding had been out loud, but at the moment it was just easier to pretend it never happened.
"Keep going straight down that hallway. Take the next right - I'm buzzing the door open now. The elevator on your left. Go to the 18th floor." The waiting. Was it Tom Petty that said it? Waiting is the hardest part... He was so right. Would adding that song to the 'Lair Playlist' be inappropriate? Did she care? If 'Barbie Girl' didn't bother them - and she had been aiming for annoyance the day she added that gem to the playlist - then really, what could? Her musing was interrupted by Oliver.
"Now where?" She guided him through the rest of the bank's hindering layout and finally released the lock to the roof door. The tension that had been wound through every thread of her nervous system started to lessen when she saw his dark figure peering over the edge of the neighboring roof. The Lavish Hotel, while not as tall as the Star Bank Building, was by no means small, but Felicity knew that the angle in which Oliver was going to have to zip line over was going to be a relatively steep one. She hoped he could keep enough tension to control his speed.
Felicity watched nervously as the arrow pierced the brick just below the lip of the hotel's roof, but she felt another wave of relief when his descent was at a controlled pace. Momentarily forgetting her fear of heights, or more accurately, having the strength to ignore it in order to help Oliver, she ran to the roof's edge and pulled him over. She could see the stain of blood that had seeped across his shirt, but that didn't matter yet. Right now she only cared that he was breathing - that he was alive.
Oliver let his lungs intake four full gasps of air before he gathered fistfuls of sweatshirt at each of Felicity's hips and pulled her to his body. His lips crashed into hers. The amount of time it took for her to process what was happening and to kiss him back was nearly non-existent. She wrapped her arms around his neck, arching her back and pushing her hips further into him.
Oliver groaned, and fearing that she had aggravated his wound, Felicity released his mouth and started to pull away. Oliver's fists only tightened around the fabric of her hoodie - his hoodie - as he forcefully jerked her back against his body.
"I don't want to hurt - " Oliver's mouth cut her off, softly sinking his teeth into her bottom lip before tugging gently. "You're not," he whispered.