"Um… ok. You should know that I haven't really cleaned my car in a while." Felicity said as she approached her car. Oliver stopped dead in his tracks as he caught sight of the vehicle.
"You drive a Smart Car?" he said, clearly unsettled by the size. "Um, Felicity, I'm definitely not going to fit in that thing."
"It's roomier than it looks!" Felicity said cheerfully, and she quickly opened the door for Oliver and grabbed a few wrappers off the seat.
It only took them five minutes to get to Starling International. Felicity had to admit that seeing Oliver crammed, quite uncomfortably from the look of it, into her little smart car was very amusing. Without his suit, Oliver planned to climb the fire escape of the opposite building and launch a bugged arrow onto the window of Crowley's office. Afterwards, Oliver and Felicity had to stay within 100 yards of the arrow in order to hear properly. She found a small parking space directly under the fire escape and Oliver climbed through the sunroof and leaped onto the fire escape.
A couple minutes later, Felicity let out a scream with something large landed on top of her car. Oliver stuck his head in.
"Felicity! It's just me."
"Oh, right. . . " she trailed off, as Oliver's nicely rounded buttocks followed his legs into the car. She quickly averted her eyes as Oliver slid into his seat.
"Ok, all we have to do is pull up the live stream." Felicity hid her blush by reaching into the backseat to grab her laptop. She turned it on and pulled up the listening device. They could hear a man's voice talking in hushed tones, possibly on the phone. They heard a knock on the door and a voice telling them to come in.
"Ahh, Mr. Tirler and the honorable Judge Rowland!" A voice boomed. Felicity assumed that was Steve Crowley, CEO of Starling International.
"Honorable? Good one Steve," said, presumably, Rowland.
"With all this bad luck lately, it seems a drink would be in order. Here, have a glass of scotch."
"Thank you Mr. Crowley. For the scotch and for everything you've done for me." said Tirler, presumably.
"I assure you, Mr. Tirler, all of this was not for you." said Crowley coldly.
Before Oliver or Felicity could act, they heard a gun shot. Felicity jumped and covered her mouth and Oliver swore loudly. Felicity went to close the computer, but Oliver stopped her.
"We have to hear what they are planning next." he said, his voice barely above a whisper. Felicity nodded, but replaced her hand back over her mouth. She could hear Crowley saying something.
"They've moved the package to a small bank in a little town outside Coast City for safety. I'm sure the fools believe we won't suspect such a small bank. We already have a man in position. I should be getting a call anytime now that will assure us of his success."
"What's the towns name?" Rowland asked.
"Bloomville Bank. They only have six security guards, three extra since the diamond has been placed there."
Felicity froze, all the color rushing from her face. She barely heard Crowley say that he would be flying down to Bloomville the following morning. Oliver closed the laptop and started saying something. Felicity didn't hear a word. She couldn't breath, or move for that matter. She was paralyzed with fear. She felt two strong hands grip her shoulders and start to shake her.
"Felicity! FELICITY!" Oliver was yelling.
Felicity snapped out of her trance, but her body still shook, even when Oliver removed his hands.
"My father is a security guard at Bloomfield Bank," Felicity whispered, her voice shaking along with her body.
Oliver put his hand on her shoulder.
"Felicity, don't jump to conclusions. We don't know anything yet."
"They just shot a man, Oliver!" Felicity's voice rang out in hysteria. "In cold blood! My father. . . they wouldn't hesitate to. . ." the word "kill" got stuck in her throat. Regardless of how hard she tried, she couldn't say it.
Oliver got out of the car and walked around to Feliicty's side. He opened the door and grabbed Felicity's arm.
"I'm going to drive you home. I need you to tell me where you live" he said as he pulled her out of the car.
"As if you don't already know" Felicity said, sarcastically. Oliver was glad-sarcasm was a sure sign that she was calming down. "Corner of First and Manhattan," Felicity continued once she was in the passenger seat.
Once they had reached Felicity's apartment, Oliver had followed her up two flights of stairs before she pulled her keys out of her purse.
Oliver quite liked her apartment. It was bright and colorful, just like Felicity. There was an incredibly small kitchen, one bedroom, and a living room/office space. Wires, computers and tablets were scattered around the living room. Felicity ran over to her desk and pressed a button on her answering machine.
"No messages" the deep mechanical voice said. Felicity sighed and checked her phone for the tenth time.
"Felicity, sit." Oliver walked to the kitchen, found a glass and filled it with water. He took her cell phone from her and replaced it with water. "There is no sense calling your mom and worrying her. She'll call you if she knows anything."
"It's just my dad and my brother." Felicity said quietly. "My mom left when I was young. My brother works in Coast City, but lives with my dad since he had a heart attack last year."
Oliver sat down next to her, unsure of what to say.
Felicity drank her water, set it down on the table, and laid down across the couch, her legs bent close to her. After twenty minutes, Felicity had fallen in an uneasy sleep, Oliver found a blanket to the side of the couch. He tucked it around her, like he used to do with Thea when she was little, and sat down at the kitchen counter, staring at the cell phone.
Two hours later, the phone rang. Oliver jumped awake and glanced at Felicity. She was still sleeping. He opened the phone and clicked answer.
"Hello?" he said, unsure if it was right of him to answer Felicity's phone.
"Hello, this is Bloomville Hospital calling for a Felicity Smoak."
"Yes, this is her. . . friend. She's just sleeping, but I can take the call."
"Ms. Smoak's brother asked me to call. We have her father here at the hospital in critical condition. He sustained a GSW to the left side of his chest. It missed the heart, but severed an artery. We would recommend that Ms. Smoak get down here as soon as possible."
"Yes, thank you. She'll fly out this morning."
Oliver hung up and had barely placed the phone back on the counter when it rang again. This time Feliicty began to stir, but it was on its fourth ring, so Oliver answered it as Felicity sat up.
"Hello?"
"Who is this?" A voice demanded.
"Who's this?" Oliver demanded back.
"I'm Felicity's brother. Who the hell is this?"
"Oh sorry Felicity's brother! This is Felicity's friend. She's just waking up." Oliver and Felicity cringed at his choice of words. Without a doubt, Felicity's brother would now assume that something was going on between the two. Why else would he be there at 5:00 in the morning. Felicity felt the heat rise to her cheeks as she thought about something going on between the two of them. As if Oliver Queen would ever be with a girl like me. I mean, look at his track record. First the beautiful Laurel, then the gorgeous, psychotic Helena, and finally McKenna, who was simply stunning. Me, on the other hand, I don't stand a chance. Felicity shook these thoughts out of her head quickly.
"Give me the phone." Felicity demanded, holding her hand out. There was no way to hide the obvious blush that had arisen on her face.
"Sam?"
"Felicity! I'm so glad I got ahold of you. Did the hospital call you yet?" Felicity felt relief wash over her body as she heard her brothers voice.
"No, the hospital never calle-" she stopped talking as Oliver motioned that they had, in fact, called. "I mean, yes, they did call. I guess Oliver took the call because i was sleeping."
There was silence on the other line.
"And Oliver is. . . ?" Sam trailed off.
"My friend, he needed a place to crash last night. Sam, what's going on? Is dad okay?"
She heard Sam sigh. "No, Filly, he's not okay. He was shot on the job."
Felicity let out a sharp breath and quickly sat down.
"Oh my god, Sam! What are the doctors saying?"
"They say you should get here ASAP. It's pretty touch and go. Felicity, I. . . I don't think I can handle this on my own." Felicity felt tears form in her eyes as her brothers voice cracked.
"I'll be there tomorrow. It's a quick flight, like an hour and a half and I'll check when the next flight is."
"Ok. Update me as soon as you know. I love you, Filly." Sam said, quietly.
"I love you too. See you soon."
Felicity snapped the phone shut and looked at Oliver. She opened her mouth to speak, but Oliver spoke first.
"You can borrow the family jet. It can leave in an hour."
Felicity was speechless. Could she accept such a lavish gift from the Queens? It didn't feel right. But, then again, she had never heard her brother so scared. She felt a tightness in her chest and, agains Felicity's wishes, a few tears fell from her eyes. Finanly, when she was kinda in control of her emotions, she simply said, "Thanks, Oliver." She placed her hand over his, and felt him tense under the touch. She waited a second before pulling her hand back.
Oliver cleared his throat. "Oh, and one more thing. I'm coming with you."