Parallels

by ChiefPam

"Ms. Smoak!"

Felicity couldn't help jumping a little when she heard her name called from further down the sidewalk. It was a gray day, and she was heading out to lunch. With the Count out of the way there was no logical reason she couldn't be alone. Oliver had offered to escort her but she'd declined, still upset at herself. She'd been the reason Oliver's connection to the Arrow had been discovered. Last night, she'd been a liability, not an asset. That weighed heavily on her, when she allowed herself to think about it.

Plus sitting in her office had been a little spooky this morning, even with other people around. The window had been fixed and the damaged furniture replaced, but it was still the same place where she'd been held hostage, threatened, and almost killed. And worse, it was where Oliver had broken his vow to Tommy. So when lunch time had rolled around, she'd been eager to head out.

She turned to see Quentin Lance heading towards her. "Detective! How are you?"

He walked to her side. "I'm fine. How about yourself?"

He seemed to be in a friendly mood today, but his eyes still held a familiar gleam of intensity and purpose. Something to do with the way he squinted, Felicity decided. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "I'm fine," she replied mechanically.

He regarded her skeptically. "Considering you were nearly killed last night, I doubt that. But you're doing a good job of faking it."

She laughed nervously. "Thanks, I think."

"Listen, can I talk to you for a few minutes?" Lance looked around at the busy sidewalk. "Maybe I could buy you lunch?"

Felicity considered that. It wasn't that she mistrusted him. But she had a lot of secrets to keep, and it was trickier than normal with Lance because he knew some but not all of them. She couldn't betray Oliver twice in two days, but Lance might have some important information for them. She'd just have to be careful. "Yeah, sure. I was just heading to Big Belly Burger – you heard of it?"

He smiled. "Best burgers in the city. Let's go."

As they began walking, he glanced towards her. "So how's life as an executive assistant working for you?"

"It sucks," she blurted out, then cringed.

"Working for Queen?" The detective grimaced in sympathy. "Color me surprised."

"Oh, no, Oliver doesn't suck. I mean working with him doesn't. No sucking there at all." She stopped abruptly and looked down, silently counting backwards from three. When she peeked up at Lance, he looked amused. She took a deep breath. "What I meant was, I don't really enjoy all parts of the job. Specifically the secretarial stuff. That sucks."

"Hard to imagine you fetching coffee," Lance observed. They reached the Big Belly Burger and stepped inside. It was doing brisk business, but there was still a table available so they took it.

"Quit trying. I do not fetch coffee. The first week I was there, they installed one of those single-cup coffee makers. Those are great, you know? I mean, it takes longer when you've got multiple people, but everyone can pick their own type of coffee; there's a guy from downstairs somewhere who comes by a few times a week to make sure there's a variety of k-cups available. So I don't have to have a thing to do with it; I think it was a peace offering."

"Speaking of coffee," Lance said, one corner of his mouth quirking upwards, "I don't think you need any more caffeine right now."

Felicity laughed, allowing herself to relax a little. "You're probably right."

When Carly came to the table, she and Felicity exchanged friendly greetings. Following Carly's breakup with Diggle, Team Arrow didn't hang out at Big Belly Burger that much anymore, but Felicity still liked her. She ordered her usual burger with a chocolate milkshake, and Lance did the same.

"Felicity, I haven't heard details but I know last night must have been traumatic for you," he began cautiously.

She nodded, fighting a sudden urge to sniffle. She was safe, she was strong, she was a survivor. "Maybe a little."

"Yeah, maybe a little. It's okay. Our mutual friend to the rescue, huh?"

She tried to smile but it was a poor effort. "Yeah. He didn't want to kill the Count, you know," she answered the unspoken question. "The Arrow, I mean."

"He did a pretty thorough job of it," Lance observed dispassionately. "Three arrows."

She shrugged. "I wasn't counting. He tried talking, he did, but… the Count was threatening me, and then tried to inject me, so… yeah, he killed."

Lance nodded slowly. "I thought it might have been something like that. Our friend hasn't killed anyone these last few months."

"Not since before the earthquake, actually," Felicity pointed out. "Not that I know of anyway; he was gone for months and anything could have happened, but he said that he didn't and I believe him."

"When he said he was trying something different, I was skeptical," Lance admitted. "But – with the understandable exception of yesterday – he's been sticking to it."

Their food arrived, and they spent a few minutes focused on eating. Felicity felt better as the comfort food worked its magic.

Lance put down his partially-eaten burger and picked half-heartedly at his french fries. "Speaking of morally ambiguous mutual friends… uh…" He looked up at her briefly. "Have you heard from, ah, my daughter recently?"

She shook her head. "No, although I've seen some news reports that make me wonder. She has kind of a distinctive M.O."

Lance half smiled. "Yeah. Unique skill set, too. I couldn't believe it when I saw her fighting. Took a couple of weeks to start to wrap my head around it. And really think about what it meant." He sat up straighter and leaned back, looking her right in the eye and ignoring his food.

She put her burger down and swallowed nervously. "Yes?"

"Well, it was just such a huge change. She was just a kid when the Gambit went down. And then she was missing for six years, doing God knows what, and when she comes back she's got these amazing new skills and abilities. She'd changed, a lot."

Felicity wasn't sure where this was going, but it sounded important.

"And she's friends with the Arrow, apparently," he added. "Old friends?"

She shook her head. "After she'd shown up a few times around town, he tracked her down. They must have had quite the conversation."

"Yeah, that could have happened," Lance said affably. "But then I thought, who else do I know who was shipwrecked and lost for years, and what new skills and abilities might he have come back with?" His tone was casual, but his body language was not.

Felicity swallowed. "Well, if PTSD counts…"

Lance huffed in amusement. "Not exactly what I was thinking, no."

"I really couldn't tell you," Felicity said quietly. Her heart was racing; it was only yesterday that the Count had connected the two men, because of her. She didn't like to lie but she just couldn't be part of Lance connecting them, too. "Oliver is my boss and kind of my friend, but he's still a very private guy." Which was true, after all, even if it didn't exactly mean what she was trying to imply.

"You know, Felicity, last year I was sure Oliver spent his nights in green leather. But then events seemed to prove otherwise."

Seemed? Oh, crap. "That must have been hard for you. Professionally."

"That didn't matter." He shrugged. "I hated both of them, so I really wanted them to be the same. Punish Queen for what he did to my daughter, keep him away from my other daughter, and stop a dangerous vigilante, too. All in one nice tidy package."

"That's understandable," she said quietly, knowing how things must have looked to a grieving dad who was also a cop.

Lance just looked at her for a long moment. "But it's funny, because now I really don't. Want to think they're the same, I mean. The Arrow's been… helpful. I don't necessarily approve of his methods, but he's getting better. If he's not playing judge, jury and executioner anymore, I'm a lot more comfortable. So I've decided to think of his activities as… a sort of citizen's arrest."

Felicity nearly laughed at that. "I hadn't thought of it that way."

"So I've made my peace with that." He leaned forward, speaking quietly. "And I'm grateful that Sara's alive," he said, looking her straight in the eye.

The urge to laugh died.

He sat back against the wall of the booth and started fiddling with the silverware. "But it's still Queen's fault that she had to go through all that. He cheated on one of my daughters and put the other one through hell. Nothing will ever be able to change that. I hide it better now, but I still hate him. That smug playboy act… I just *react* to it everytime I see him."

Felicity's breath caught at the brief moment when the cop faded away, and she saw nothing more than the broken fauther of two broken daughters. He was right, Oliver had been a huge part of destroying the Lance family, whether he'd intended to or not. A woman in love might be able to look past that. A father wouldn't.

"So I really, really don't want to think what I'm thinking. I can work with the Arrow. I can't work with Queen."

"Okay." She blew out a breath, uncertain of where this was going. "Why tell me?"

Carly startled them both when she began clearing away the empty plates. She smiled at them both, offering a slip of paper. "Who gets the check?"

Lance grabbed it. "Thanks for joining me for lunch, Felicity."

"No problem, detective," she replied, sounding as cheerful and carefree as she could manage.

As soon as Carly walked away, Lance leaned forward again across the empty table. "I'm talking to you because you know both of them," he said simply. "You're the only person I know who does. And if you tell me that Oliver Queen and the Arrow aren't the same person, then I'll believe you."

She studied him for a moment, weighing her options. Really, all she could do was protect Oliver's secret. Surely Lance knew that, too. She smiled tightly. "They're really not." His personas were very distinct, in fact.

He nodded, relaxing a little. "Good enough for me." He paused, glancing away then back at her. "If I ever had to choose between protecting the city and persuing a personal vendetta, I'd have to go with protecting the city. So I'm really happy to hear that I don't have to make that choice."

She bit her lower lip. Was that an offer to cover for Oliver, if it became necessary? She didn't think she'd better ask. "I understand."

"Anyway, the Arrow, whoever he is," Lance said, raising one eyebrow in subtle emphasis. "I'm not going to call him a hero, but he has been trying hard to improve things around Starling. I don't see a need to get in the way of that. We can continue cooperating. That's really all I wanted to say."

"Okay. I'll pass that message along to him," Felicity said. She stood up, relieved at the unstated message of support and a little shaky as the adrenaline rush began to subside.

"One more thing," Lance added as he stood.

She looked at him. "Yeah?"

"Could you kindly tell them – both of them – to stay the hell away from Laurel? Oliver's no good for her, and she'll never approve of the Arrow."

Felicity grinned. "I can't guarantee that they'll listen – either one of them – but I will be happy to pass along the message. Thanks for lunch, detective."

He waved her away, and she walked back to QC in a much lighter frame of mind. Lance had put the pieces together, but it hadn't been a bad thing. She'd spent a lot of time worrying that she'd be the one to expose Oliver's secret. Which she would still guard against, because it was important, but… if necessary, in some circumstances, it could even prove to be a really good thing. She'd have to remember that.

The End

A/N: I've been devouring Olicity fic for weeks now, and really wanted to start writing for this fandom, but does my brain come up with happy fluff? Nope. I get this. Maybe next time...