Chapter 1

As Felicity was walking, no, tripping... due to her high heels, not that she wasn´t used to wearing high heels, these particular ones happened to be extremely high heeled and uncomfortable for walking a longer while... at the snowfilled streets on her way to Fairmont Hotel, this ridiculously posh and over-the-top expensive hotel where tonight´s gala, one of the most exclusive ones, would be held. She would be waiting at Oliver on the corner of the Fairmont Hotel.

"I wonder why he couldn´t had picked me up directly from my appartment... or atleast let me go inside somewhere to wait for him..." Felicity mumbled. "I don´t see anyone tripping around in the snow, dressed in haute courture..."

Felicity hadn´t believed her eyes when Oliver had told her that they would go together, both as representives for Queens Consolidated ('So you couldn´t have taken Isabel instead, wouldn´t look so... out of place' Felicity had said, trying to talk Oliver out of the plan but he had only given her one of his mesmerizing gazes and that had been the end of the discussion + Isabel was appearently out of town, she had gone to Shanghai to visit the Asian head quarters of Queen Consolidated) but also as Team Arrow. Not that they were looking into something particular, not what Felicity knew of, Oliver had only stated Felicity´s presence at the gala would be needed.

Felicity felt like she had the rights to be worried, no one would in ther right mind think she had been invited to one of the most exclusive galas in Starling City as nothing else as the date of Oliver Queen, especially since the majority of the guests would be the absolute elite of Starling – for instance, like Oliver Queen.

Felicity thought she had managed pretty awesome with her outfit for the evening – a beautiful dress with a high-low hemline, lace-structured with rose corded lace panels and beautiful embroided diamonds on full skirt with net and tulle under layers from Oscar de la Renta. She had paired this with Gemfield's emerald stud earrings, a glittering diamond necklace from Bulgari and Manolo Blahnik 5" heels. She was starting to regret the height of the heels now, as she learned now by continuasly walking in the snow.

She had done her own make up, nothing over the top and she had got her hair done (by a hair stylist at a salon near QC) into a pretty chignon updo, with deep side part and a couple of wispy pieces to make it all a bit more modern and flirty. The flirty idea had been the hair stylist´s idea, as Felicity didn´t see tonight as anything else than a work function. A very... luxurious, top notch work function.

When Felicity had been in touch with the respective labels putting her outfit together, she of course hadn´t mentioned that she was the one who would be wearing it or that she was an executive assistant, she had only stated that she had an important client who was attending the event at the Fairmont in Starling City and she needed to look over the top fabolous – because her date for the evening would be Oliver Queen.

She had been afraid to look on the price tags for everything, as she with her own salary could hardly afford it as she knew that they all were top notch brands... Good think she had Oliver then, he had promised to take care of the post, whatever it would be.

This sounded weird when she thought about it and she shook her head. "This is a bad idea, really bad idea..." Felicity mumbled to herself as she continued tripping towards the hotel.

It was a bad idea overall for Felicity to be turning up at the event at all because... What would people think? Sure, they might accept her as Oliver Queen´s date for the evening but no one would believe that they were... together. There would be media representives at the event for sure, paparazzis most certainly... What would people think when they saw Felicity at a luxurious event like the Fairmont gala?

"What have you got yourself into?" Felicity mumbled as she now reached the corner away from the Fairmont Hotel, shivering from the cold and envying the guests who arrived straight to the entrance by limousine, one looking more over the top than the other. If it was an event for the Starling Elite, nothing was too much - appearently.

Oliver had arrived to the Fairmont Hotel and was now making his way to the corner where Felicity was waiting for him. As he was slowly making his way through the crowd, he heard a familiar voice calling for him:

"Oliver, hi!"

He stopped and turned around to stand face to face with some random-looking guy and... Laurel. She looked different from what he was used to, she was so dressed up now, with an embroidered halter gown and a thick, glittering neckless around her neck.

"Laurel." Oliver smiled and leaned in to give her a friendly peek on the cheek – something that Laurel´s date didn´t approve off, judging by the look on his face that Oliver could clearly see in the corner of his eye. He paid no attention to him.

"Are you here alone?" Laurel asked, not being able to hide her surprise to see Oliver alone at an event, especially an event like this.

"I´m just about to go meet my date, actually." Oliver said. "I don´t want to keep her waiting so... Have a good night." and with that he walked away, leaving Laurel quite stunned that he had been so short. She couldn´t wait to see who his date was, she had to be something very special to have that kind of impact on Oliver Queen.

Oliver had now reached the corner where Felicity would be waiting. He looked around to see where she was and his jaw almost dropped to the ground when he saw her slowly walking towards him. She noticed him and gave him a light wave and a smile. Oliver could now see she had trouble walking, so he went to meet her and took her hand.

"Felicity, you look..." He started, not really sure what to say. She looked beautiful, yes, and so different from how he was used to see her. "You look beautiful."

"Good evening, Oliver." Felicity said and smiled. "You cleaned up pretty good yourself." She looked him up and down, noticing the black suit. "Black wins over green tonight, huh?"

Oliver smiled at her failed attempt to make an Arrow-joke. "Tommy Hilfiger doesn´t have vigulante suits as part of their... expertise." He took her hand and placed it under his arm. "Ready to make an entrance?"

Felicity looked back at him, taking a deep breath. "Yes. Lead the way, Mr Queen." As they were about to start walking, she added quickly: "Could we take it slow, though? 5" heels and winter don´t really go together..."

Oliver sighed and smirked at Felicity.

At the penthouse on the very top of the Fairmont Hotel, someone was looking down on the guests making their entrance, sweeping over the crowd with a telescope-like binocular - until one face stood out. A second later the same crowd and the familiar face showed up on gigantic TV screens.

A knock on the door and a man stepped in. His eyes immediatly flew to the computer screens and he frowned. Like the character standing in front of him, he had also noticed the face, the one he knew from several surveillance fotage, photos and old movie tapes that he had studied for countless hours.

"Well?"

"Everything is in order. We will be ready soon." His eyes went to the TV screen again. "Is that...?"

"It seems that way, yes." One click was heard and a closer look on the face was seen. "It looks like an old friend has decided to join us." Another click and the footage on the TV screens went back to following the crowd.

"Give me reports by the hour on how it´s progressing. And keep a special eye on our friend here, I want to know everything that happens."

"Of course." The man said and left, closing the door behind him.