Authors note: Wow! Two updates in two days! I'm really on a roll with this. Disclaimer: Nope- I don't own Arrow or the characters. Drats! Foiled again. Oh well, onto the story now I guess.

Chapter 2~ the present part one.

"And like dad always said 'no time like the present'"

"I don't think you're supposed to start with the present. Aren't we supposed to visit the past or something?" Oliver asked.

*snort* "When have you ever known Thea Queen to do what she supposed to do? Hmm? No, I'll do this the way I want to. Besides, I don't think you'll get the point if we don't do this a certain way" she said.

"If you're really just my subconscious talking, then shouldn't I already know what point you're trying to make?" He pointed out questioning her logic. 'Well… really his own logic'

"You'd think, but come on? When has Oliver Queen ever been able to come to terms with his own emotions? And, since the island- his inner demons?" She questioned as she turned to face away from him and towards his office entrance.

"Well looky here, here is our first stop of many on this little 'get to know thy inner self' tour" Thea said in a bored voice. Oliver looked away from her and followed her line of sight, which just so happened to stop on the very person he's been looking for.

"Felicity!?" He breathed out. Without thinking he quickly made his way out of his office to the assistant's desk.

"Ol-Ollie wait!" Thea tried to stop him from approaching Felicity too fast, but even in his own head, she still wasn't a match for his long legs.

"Felicity! I- Hey, Felicity?! Why..I" as hard as he tried, he couldn't get her attention. Felicity was sitting at her desk looking over paper work, oblivious to Oliver standing right next to her waving his hands in her face. When he got a closer look at her, he noticed that she was wearing the same outfit as she had the day he explained to her why he slept with Isabel. Her face looked defeated and weary; she looked like she didn't want to be there. Oliver didn't know what to think about that observation, he just wished that he could get her attention.

"Felicity…" he whispered.

"I tried to warn you before you ran off. She can't hear or see you. She's not really even here, she's just your imagination" Thea told him sadly.

"Then why bring her up?! Why are you showing me this?!" Oliver shouted.

"Don't get growly with me. This is your Christmas Carol" she countered.

"Thea?! It's not Christmas?!" he argued.

"It may not be Christmas, but it is your Christmas Carol and Felicity is one of those ghosts of regrets that you have to learn to come to terms with. "A learn from your mistakes' sort of thing." She said frustrated before taking a long a breath to calm herself and continue.

"And btw, even though it's not Christmas- the holiday is just around the corner. You may want to start thinking about what you want to get her. Maybe even get Diggle a present. And let's not forget your sister and your mother. Have you even thought about what you want to get them? Don't answer that. Of course you haven't. Poor form if you ask me or yourself." She huffed. Waving him off, she turned her attention to his assistant who sat behind her desk.

"Now- your Girl Wednesday."

"Girl Friday." Oliver corrected her absentmindedly while observing the Felicity his mind had conjured up.

"Whatever" she said with an eye roll and carried on. Giving her attention back to his assistant.

"I wonder why she looks so down. You can tell that she hasn't been getting much sleep lately and she looks… depressed… Nice top though." Oliver turned his head to glare at her.

"What?! It's really just you who thinks it's a nice top, don't argue with me. That's getting tiresome. Huh, no wonder why you don't have many friends. All you do is try and intimidate them with that growly look." She complained. Even though she wasn't really Thea, there were times he forgot that it wasn't really her he was talking to.

Oliver squirmed where he was standing. It was kind of disturbing when your subconscious complains that you don't have many friends because you intimidate others. If Oliver could guess why he did that when he wasn't showing off his usual 'charming CEO façade' around others, he'd say that maybe it was because even though he hadn't been the Arrow long 'he was the Hood longer' and he sometimes found it hard to escape that part of himself. He'd never tell Felicity or Diggle that because he was trying to forget that part of himself. Oliver didn't want to think about the sins that caused his best friend to die with the belief that he was a monster. A killer. And he was.

"Oh great! Here we go again with the self loathing and the guilt trips. Don't you ever just get tired of constantly beating yourself up?" she said exasperated shaking her head at him.

Before Oliver could comment back, Felicity started gathering the paper work into a pile and rolled her chair backwards to get up. She didn't say anything, not that he really expected her to; she just sighed and made her way down the hall to the executive elevator. He glanced at Thea to figure out what to do next. Thea looked back at him with wide eyes and started flailing her arms at him.

"Well? Don't just stand there gawking at me. Follow her" she ushered him.

With those words they made their way to Felicity, following her into the elevator. She pressed the button for the sixteenth floor and with dread, he suddenly knew where she was heading. Isabel Rochev's office.

Now he didn't really mind the fact that they were headed there, he just wondered why Felicity was going there. She could've literally gone anywhere. But no. The Felicity that his mind conjured up had to go to the office of the women who walked out of his hotel room in time for Felicity to knock on his door and realize what exactly he did with that wretched woman. At the time, he hadn't really regretted it, but one look from Felicity's face and he felt like he had when he first landed on the island. He felt lost.

Lately he's been feeling like he can do nothing right. Trying to keep his mother from the death sentence; playing CEO when he doesn't know the first thing about what to do; going up against a corporate shark; trying to be friends with Laurel without being able to tell her that her sister's alive; and trying to be the hero that Tommy wanted him to be. If he was completely honest with himself, he would admit that he also wants to be the man that Felicity see's him as too. So when he saw her expression the moment she realized what he done with Isabel, that shuttered look on her face- he never felt more like an ass in his life. She was disappointed in him and that gutted him.

Once the elevator stopped, they followed Felicity into Isabel's office. He noticed that the Felicity that was in this office was not the same as the one in his office. With her head held high and shoulders straight, she went straight to Isabel through her own set of glass doors. Even though he saw that Felicity was trying to keep the mask of professionalism, he could still tell by her eyes that it was slipping with every step as she got closer to the corporate shark.

"Ms. Smoak what are you doing here?" Isabel asked.

"Ol-Mr. Queen wanted me to drop the papers for the Phoenix account with you for the investors." Felicity told Isabel as she pushed her glasses back into place. Isabel sighed and shook her head as she stood up and made her way to Felicity, circling her.

"Ms. Smoak that wasn't what I meant by that question. What I meant was 'what are you doing here?' as Oliver Queen's personal secretary. I mean surely you don't think you have a 'real' chance. You're just the IT girl who got demoted to Mr. Queen's secretary because you happen to fit his fancy. And then you parade around him in those short dress skirts, hoping that he'll finally look at you as a women and not a computer. That is really quite sad…" Isabel said stopping to face Felicity, tilting her head and looking at her as if she was some sort of lab rat.

"Sheesh… Isabel Rochev- more like Isa'bitch' Rochev…" Thea muttered.

"Thank you Ms. Rochev for your insight, but I am here to drop off Mr. Queen's paperwork and that is all. So I will be on my way and will head back to mine and Mr. Queen's office. Is there anything you would like me to give Mr. Queen?" Felicity asked with an air of superiority and professionalism as she looked straight into Isabel's eyes. Isabel smiled ironically and made her way back to her desk and crossing her legs as she sat down. Waving Felicity off as she dismissed her.

"No that'll be all Ms. Smoak." She said snottily.

"Damn! Way to go Felicity! You show Ms. Isa'bitch' Rochev." Thea cheered.

Felicity walked over to Isabel's desk and dropped off the papers. She turned around and made her way back to the elevator. Oliver started to go after her when Thea stopped him by grabbing on to his jacket sleeve and letting Felicity leave his sights as the elevator doors shut.

"Sorry there Ollie, but this is where we leave Felicity. At least for now" she said.

"But-" Oliver said not understanding what just happened, he turned back to the women who insulted his friend, only to find that Isabel was no longer in the room. He didn't know how Isabel could treat Felicity so cruelly and why Felicity would just take it- not say anything back.

"Come on Ollie, you know exactly why Felicity would just swallow those acerbic words. She doesn't want to cause any problems for you. I know, I know- There's nothing in this world that Felicity could do that would make you not want her to be around you or that would embarrass you. Even though she does it to herself in her own adorable way. But did you ever think that maybe she doesn't know that- that she does sort of feel like your own personal computer?" she questioned hesitantly.

Oliver really didn't know what to say, he didn't even know how he felt about that- scratch that- he knew exactly what he felt- ashamed. He was never good at telling others how he felt and often times when he tried to convey his feelings- he did the exact opposite what he should've done, subsequently screwing everything up and hurting those around him. 'Take what happened with Sarah and Laurel as case and point' that was why he thought it was best that he put space between him and Felicity a head of time. Although, the reasons he gave her weren't precisely the truthful ones, they would have to do. He couldn't stand the idea of hurting her like he had with every other woman in his life, especially since she was the one who knew so much about him, if not… everything. 'Although maybe, not about the island yet.'

"And why do you think that is Ollie?" Thea asked, but by her expression he could tell that she didn't think he was quite ready to answer the question just yet.

"Fine, you don't need to answer that just yet. It's too soon anyway, but…sigh…how about we focus again on what just happened, hmm?" She said, arching her eyebrow.

Oliver was really getting tired of self reflecting.

"Well tough, because we just started Arrow boy! But… we're almost done here. There's one more point that needs to be made before we can move on." She conceded.

"Which is?" he asked, eager to leave Isabel's office.

"I can't exactly just spell it out for you. You have to make the realization yourself, it's kind of how these type of things work, ya know?" She could tell by his face that what she had said wasn't really helping matters, so to calm him down she offered him an idea. Thea came up to him and put her hands on his arms, made sure that he looked at her. She really wanted him to concentrate on what she was going to ask him.

"Think Ollie, what did you think the outcome of sleeping with Isabel was going to be? Because you heard the way Isabel was talking about Felicity and you heard what she had said when she was leaving your hotel room. She said that she thought Felicity 'deserved a night off' what do you think she meant by that and why didn't you say anything?" Thea asked sadly.

Oliver took a deep breath. He really needed to start thinking more about the consequences. It's usually not a problem when he's out on the field. He was just trying to put Isabel off his scent. Felicity played such a huge role in his life and she was really close to the Arrow side of his life. Oliver never meant for Felicity to find out about it 'he wasn't quite sure why he cared so much about what she thought concerning who he was sleeping with though' but he still was trying to keep her away from that side of him. He should've known that she would have found out about it and of course it had to be the moment where it was blatantly obvious as to what occurred between him and the she-devil.

'He couldn't keep putting space between Felicity and himself, at least not that way. It was the wrong way to go about it and she was right. Oliver did deserve better than a woman who put him and his friend down, even if it really did just mean nothing to him' he thought.

"And there we have it ladies and gents, he finally got it!" she congratulated.

"So we're finished? Is it time for me to wake up yet?" Oliver asked hopeful.

*snort* "Not yet! We're still not even done with the present. You haven't even visited your mother or sister yet."

"So that's where we're headed next?" He asked, agitated once again. Even though he was technically 'out' so to speak, it was still taxing to try and make sense of his feelings. He wanted nothing more than this nightmare to finally be over.

"Yep! Home sweet home" she said sarcastically as the office around him disappeared and was slowly replaced by the walls of his bedroom.

Authors note: Again, any mistakes I made are mine and mine alone. So we're still stuck in the present, I had thought about making the present all one chapter, but then this chapter didn't seem like it was ever going to end and I realized with more words, come more mistakes and thought that it was perhaps better to stop here. Now I can't update again tomorrow- really need to study for my geology final on Monday, but I do think I'll be able to update again Monday night- So see ya then, more to come for sure and feel free to leave a review. They're always nice to read. Next up: new face to the subconscious (any ideas who?) and we meet Moira and the 'real' Thea. (^_^)*