It's 1:42 in the morning and I'm now just putting the finishing touches on this chapter. If I'm going to be honest, it came off shorter than I wanted to, and I felt like it wasn't even good enough to post but... sometimes you just gotta push through the less interesting parts so you can get to writing the extra gooey parts, if you know what I mean ;)
Unfortunately (for all you Barry lovers) he isn't really featured in this chapter. But worry not, because the next one will be ALL about him!
Moving on (and attempting to keep this A/N short) did anyone see last night's Arrow?! I honestly think it was my favorite episode ever. I love Felicity Smoak with every fiber in my being, and to have a whole episode dedicated to her?! Just amazing! I will be including that into this story, but I will be changing how events go so it'll be different. Very different. Which is good, because different is good.
Lastly, I would just like to thank Ophelia, my muse and the person who comments on every single thing I think when writing, and to all my lovely reviewers: julieann. , AvengerGirl17, Whiskey-eyes, pompeypearly, TheCaptainOfShips, and all my guest reviewers. I love you guys so much.
Alright... enjoy... please don't throw rotten fruit at me if you don't like it... AND I'M LOOKING FOR A BETA SO PLEASE PM ME IF YOU'RE INTEREST. THANKS.
Disclaimer: I honestly own nothing.
Compared to the night she had had, Felicity decided that her morning was bearable. And that was after she had spilled coffee all over her new blouse, burning her arms, was late to work, and tripped, falling on her face and snapping her glasses in half.
So, blind, bruised, frazzled (and still smelling like her latte), Felicity was relieved to be doing boring paperwork and taking boring calls. It made it seem like her life was normal.
At least for a split second.
She heard her phone buzz, and reached for it, looking at the caller I.D. Felicity smiled slightly.
"Hey Diggle," she said. "What's up?"
"You haven't heard?!" Diggle asked.
Felicity sat up a little straighter, concerned, "Heard what? What's going on Diggle?"
"Pull up a news station."
It took Felicity about five seconds to do that. It took her three seconds to focus on what the story was and then it took her a second to jump up from her desk, hitting a knee in the process.
"Oliver's been shot!"
"Listen, I need you to get to the Foundry-"
"The Foundry! You should have taken him to the hospital! Especially since all of Starling City knows what's happened!"
"He is at the hospital, Felicity," Diggle said, "But the bullet was laced some sort of poison they can't figure out right away. It'll be hours before they can find out what the poison is and give him the antidote. You just need to go and get one of the pouches of herbs he has. Or whatever it is."
Felicity was already half way out of her office, "Is there a certain one I'm supposed to grab?"
"Well..."
"Diggle!"
"Look, I'm sorry I don't know. All I do know is that that's what can help him," he said. "Besides, you're way closer."
"Are you trying to make a joke out of this!" Felicity yelled, attracting some odd stares as she made her way into the lift.
"Oliver's been shot a lot, Felicity. Bullets, arrows, you name it and he's probably been shot by that as well. This is just slightly more important though."
"Right," she said, irriated, "I'm almost out of the building. I'll meet you in about half an hour. And I swear to God, Diggle, if Oliver dies before I can get there, I blaming you."
"He's fairly stubborn, Felicity, he's not going to die so easily," he said, "Okay, Thea just came in all hysterical so I'm going to go explain what happened to him."
"What did happen?" Felicity asked, she was close to her mini cooper.
"No time to explain. Gotta go."
"Ugh," she grunted, unlocking her car and throwing her phone into the passenger seat.
It took Felicity about fifteen minutes to make her way to the Foundry. It felt odd to be going there at eleven o'clock in the morning, usually she was there until eleven o'clock at night.
Felicity practically ran until she found herself in front of the cabinet that Oliver had moved all of his weird island herbs to. Biting her lip, she took one hoping that it didn't matter, and ran all the way back to her car.
One thing kept nagging at her mind, though. Who would want to kill Oliver Queen? He wasn't rich any more, so didn't have any influence in business. It had to be something personal, but Felicity couldn't think of any enemies Oliver himself had made.
Sure, as the Arrow, he had a lot.
Felicity's eyes widened, and she jerked her wheel hard when she realized it.
The League of Assassins were trying to kill him.
"Mr. Diggle?"
"Miss Queen, don't worry, Oliver is going to be fine," he said. Of course, the doctors don't see it that way.
"They're not letting me into Ollie's room!" she exclaimed.
"The doctors are trying to get some of the poison out of his system, unfortunately I'm not sure what good that'll do seeing as it has already started-" Diggle stopped himself. "We can't do anything about it now, how about we get some coffee from the cafeteria?"
"But Ol-"
"Will still be alive and kicking when we come back. No use waiting behind closed doors."
"I guess you're right..." Thea said, still looking towards the direction of Oliver's room. Still, they stood there for another ten minutes, making no move to leave.
"Thea!"
Both Diggle and Thea turned around to see Roy walking up to them. He looked down at Thea, "I heard about Oliver, how you holding up?" he asked.
She didn't say anything right away, and Diggle saw a good opportunity to intervene. "We were heading down to the cafeteria, come with us."
Roy looked from Thea to Diggle, and then back to Thea again, who was nodding.
"Yeah, I'm sure they have some pie. I know how much you like pie," Thea said, then turned and continued her way down the corridor.
Diggle laughed, "Never took you for a pie man," he said.
Roy glared at him, "We all have our secret splurges. For example, I know you have a weird thing when it comes to Turkish Delights."
He returned the glare, "I told Felicity to never tell anyone that!" he said to Roy.
Roy shrugged and smirked, "She didn't tell me, I heard you guys arguing about all the unhealthy things she eats, and that little fact came up between you." Diggle grumbled something, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that?"
"Good," Diggle said, "Then you'll be taken by surprise." He felt his phone vibrate, tearing his focus from their conversation. Felicity was calling.
"You almost here?" he asked when he picked up.
"Yeah," Felicity sighed, "I'm actually already here. Just sitting in my car. Will you come out to get these special herbs?" she asked.
"No."
"No?"
"No. I need you to get into Oliver's room and put it down his throat," Diggle said.
Felicity made a face, "I'd rather not, thanks."
"Felicity..."
"Fine, fine," she snapped, getting out of her car. "Oliver so owes me one," she muttered under her breath. Diggle didn't say anything on the other end, either he hadn't heard or he didn't care, but she was walking inside when he did speak up.
"I'm not sure if Oliver's awake yet, but he's in room 364. I told the receptionist to not let Thea in yet, because I knew she wouldn't leave his side. But there should be no problem getting in."
"Okay, I got it." How in the world did he get he a receptionist to like to Thea Queen, she thought.
"Meet us in the cafeteria when you're done."
Felicity hung up her phone, and put it into her purse. "Okay," she said, "You can do this. You're just going into the room of an unconscious vigilant and then stuffing some magical herbs, that may or may not be legal in the states, done his throat. Nope. No problem at all."
Getting to the third floor was a fairly easy task, if not nerve racking. No matter how long Felicity had been hacking into security systems and other illegal shenanigans, it always felt odd to be breaking the law. She was sure any minute someone was going to notice that she was carrying in a questionable plant around with her.
Felicity took a deep breath as she spotted Oliver's room, her heels clacking on the floor seemed to echo throughout the hall, alerting everyone of her presence. Opening the door to his room, she walked in.
Oliver, like Diggle had said, was knocked out. Felicity noticed the bloody bandage on his left shoulder, indicating where he was shot. Despite having helped with many of Team Arrow's injuries, she still couldn't help but feel a bit queasy over the sight of blood. She made her way to the side of his bed.
He really does looks so peaceful right now, she thought. Taking a seat in the chair, she grabbed the herbs out of her purse. "Well, here goes nothing," she said and then slowly opened Oliver's mouth, ready to put the herbs in.
Felicity jumped when she felt him grabbed her wrist, making her other hand fly up and hit his nose. She looked down at him, his eyes opened.
"Felicity," he croaked, still under the influence of a bunch of medication.
"Hey," she whispered.
Oliver looked down at her hand, "I've been poisoned?" he asked, which Felicity nodded to.
"Yes, here," she said, just stuffing them in his mouth. Oliver made a choking noise, but swallowed.
He closed his eyes, "Deadshot," he said, unconsciousness already starting to take hold of him again.
"No, I don't think so," Felicity said.
"Huh," he grunted.
"I'll explain later, partly because I'm still working on my theory, and partly because you're-" she looked back down, seeing he was knocked out yet again, "unconscious." Felicity bit her lip, and then grabbed his hand, taking it off of her wrist. She hesitated, "You had me really worried, Oliver," she said. "You always have me worried."
She sighed then got up after a moment and picked up her phone to send a quick text to Diggle.
Everything's done. Not feeling up to food right now, I'm going home.
She didn't wait long before her phone buzzed.
Okay, see you at the lair later.
Felicity crinkled her nose. Figures she'd still have to go tonight, even with Oliver being out of commission.
I'll be there.
"Finally Sleeping Beauty awakes from her slumber."
"And you're supposed to be my Prince Charming?" Oliver groggily said. He heard Diggle laugh. "What happened? Was Felicity hear?" he asked, not sure if what had happened with her was a dream or not.
"The bullet you were shot with was laced with poison. Felicity came by and gave you those herbs you brought back from Lian Yu," he said. "The doctors, though amazed, said that there really wasn't any need to keep you here for the night since the bullet didn't hit any major areas. We're all ready to go when you are."
"We?"
"Me, Roy, and Thea. They're outside...talking."
Oliver felt certain that they were doing anything but talking, but he was going to pretend that he was the clueless big brother he wished he could be.
"What about Felicity, you just said she was here earlier," he said.
Diggle shrugged, "She wasn't feeling up to staying, I guess. She'll be at the lair later, though, if you're up to going." He paused, "Which knowing you, you are. Injury or not."
Oliver opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off from his younger sister running through the doorway.
"Ollie! Oh my God, I was so worried!"
You had me really worried, Oliver.
"How do you always manage to piss the wrong people off."
You always have me worried.
He clutched his head, feeling a huge headache coming on. "I don't know," he grimaced. Thea noticed him in pain, and immediately tried to get a nurse, which Oliver quickly told her not to. They spent awhile arguing, but when the doctor came in, Oliver was free to go as nothing was life threatening, and all he needed to do was change the bandages.
"Oliver," Felicity quickly said. "I didn't think you would have been able to make it out tonight." She had just arrived at the Foundry to see Oliver with all his glory (and arm sling).
"And miss our date," he joked. Oh, if only he knew how that made Felicity feel.
"I don't really count me getting my ass kicked a date," she murmured, blushing.
"There won't be much ass kicking going on tonight," he said, "I figured I'd have to get you into shape first. You know, build those muscles." Felicity raised an eyebrow at him. "Because I'm not calling you fat. No, you're perfect." She was very surprised by his forwardness, as Oliver was never really this upfront with his feelings for her that he always tried to hide.
However, Felicity ignored it, afraid of what her traitorous mouth would say if she didn't. "You wan't me to lift weights?" she asked, frowning. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not much of an active person. The only thing I do is those workout vid-" she stopped from embarrassing herself any further, "You know what? Lifting weights sounds fine."
"I'm glad you think so. Here," Oliver reached behind him and grabbed (with his good arm) what Felicity could only deduce was a weight. He strode over, easily handing it to her.
She reached out an arm, ready to take it from him, but Oliver stopped her. "You might want to use both hands," he said. Felicity rolled her eyes, but grabbed the weight with both hands anyways (too afraid of being cocky and dropping it on herself) and was glad she did, because it was a lot heavier than it look.
"Oh my God, what is this, a hundred pounds?!"
"Try twenty five."
Wow, she thought, I really am weak.
After an hour of excruciating pain and torture, Felicity realized why she never worked out. "This is awful," she moaned, in the middle of doing a fifty burpees.
"Keep going!" Oliver barked, less jovial than he had been when she had first started.
"Ughhhh," she groaned.
"Criminals aren't just going to give you a break when you get tired, Felicity," he yelled.
"I'm not going to need a break if I'm dead after this," she muttered to herself.
"3...2...1... Plank!"
"Oliver!"
"Felicity..."
She slowly got onto her elbows, feeling her core already start to tighten. "How long," she gasped out.
"Until you can tell me thirteen advantages of knowing a another language."
He had to be kidding. She said as much.
"You're kidding!"
"Hurry up, the longer you stall the longer you hurt..." he mocked.
"For the obvious reason, you can talk to someone else who speaks that language," she said, shaking.
"That's one, twelve more to go..."
"To improve one's native language," she started, "Once you know another, you really start paying attention to how improve your own grammar."
"Yes, that makes two."
"To travel! You can't very well go somewhere and not know their native language. You can also use it to read more books, if you're a geek like me."
"Three and four."
"Um, uh, if you're into business you can use it to sway foreigners to your side," she could feel tears leaking out of her eyes. "I can't think of anything else!" she yelled.
"You only need eight more reasons. Then you can be done," Oliver said, other she knew he was probably enjoying her struggling.
"It would make you more important. If you knew Latin, something known as a dead language, then those that needed your expertise would go to you for business. Which means you could be your own middle man, which is another reason."
"And..."
"Languages can make you feel and be seen sexier. You can impress a date that way."
"I'll count that as two."
"It helps you understand your own culture. It keeps your brain active. Which means you can think more logically and get a scholarship somewhere."
"And your last reason?"
"Food."
"What?"
"Food," Felicity repeated, "You can actually use the original recipes. In the original language.
"Figures that's where your mind would go to first," he grumbled, but looked down at her, "You're done," he said.
"Oh thank God," she moaned as she sank into the floor. Felicity rolled onto her back, looking up at him from her spot on the nice, cold floor.
"Remember earlier when you said that I wouldn't get my ass kicked?" she asked.
"Yes."
"You lied."
"Indeed I did. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone into this with as relaxed as you did. Next time we will try to make you nervous, see how you react under pressure," Oliver said, walking to her and holding his good arm out.
She took it, and felt him pull her up. "Well, thanks anyways. For the ass beating," she said, looking into his eyes. After she said that, though, she proceeded to smack her forehead. "That sounded so wrong and sexual, but you know what I mean."
He smiled, but it quickly melted as he took hold of her hand. "I'm only trying to make you strong. I don't know what I would do if you got hurt..." he looked away.
"Probably the same thing I do every time you do get hurt. Try to help and worry. A lot of worrying happens," she said. "And Oliver?"
"Yes?"
"Another good reason for knowing another language is so you can get the Russian mafia to do your dirty work," she smirked.
He laughed, but then turned serious and his hand cupped her face, "I'm sorry if I worried you. What surprises me the most is that the attack was on Oliver Queen, and not the Arrow. I still think it's Deadshot..."
She shook her head, "I don't. I think- well, after everything that happened with Nyssa and her threat, that it was her. Well, maybe not her, but the League of Assassins, definitely the League of Assassins."
Oliver's face remained stoic, but he nodded his head, taking his hand from her face.
"You do realize what this means, right Oliver?" she asked.
"Yes," he said, "Thea's in danger now."
"Actually," Felicity started, anxiously grabbing at a piece of hair and start picking at the ends, something she did when she was nervous. "What I was going to say, is that maybe you're going to have to spend less nights trying to be the Arrow, and more nights trying to be Oliver Queen. You're in far more danger going out on the streets trying to fight crime then you are by staying inside."
"I'm not going to just give up on my city, Felicity," he said, staring hard at her.
"And you don't have to," she quickly said. "It'll still be safe, what with Diggle-"
"He has a family, he can't be out running around at night."
"-and Roy-"
"I'm not having the love of my sister's life dead on my account."
"-and me-"
"Felicity."
She snapped her head to him, and notice him sigh. He took the hair she had been holding onto, and pushed it back to her ponytail. One hand on her shoulder, he said, "I can't just hide. Too many lives depend on it, yours included." Thinking the conversation was over, he turned and walked towards the staircase.
"Barry," she blurted.
He turned around, "What? What about Allen?"
Felicity frowned, since when had he called him Allen? But, instead of stopping like what every fiber in her body was telling her to do, she continued, "He could be here in minutes. He could take over for yo-" she was cut off from a slam, which has been Oliver's fist hitting the metal wall.
"This is my city," he said. "Not Barry Allen's. And as my city, I can take care of it by myself. No one can stop me from doing that."
"Fine," Felicity snapped, pursing her lips. "What does it matter what I think? It's not like I'm trying to keep the people I love safe or anything" she said, grabbing her coat and purse, heading towards Oliver's direction to get up the stairs. She was stopped by him grabbing her arm, glaring at her, which was evenly matched by her own glare.
"I don't want you talking to Barry Allen. It's obviously given you some dangerous ideas, which I know my Felicity would never suggest." But before Felicity could say something back, he was gone, quickly rushing up the steps.
She didn't move until she heard the door slam.
My Felicity, he had said.
Honestly, what was up with all these mix signals lately? One second he was telling her that it was better if they weren't together, and then the other he was flirting with her. It gave Felicity a headache just thinking about it.
Speaking of the Devil (at least if you were Oliver), she looked down to see Barry calling her.
"Hey," she picked up, her tone still slightly bitter.
"Is this a bad time?" he asked, sounding uncertain.
Felicity looked up at the door Oliver had disappeared through, only moments ago. "No," she said, "Right now is a perfect time."
"Good," Barry laughed. "Now I just have one question."
"And that would be?" Felicity teased.
"How was your day?"
"Awful, actually... and it all started when I spilled my coffee..."
And the best part about talking to Barry was that Felicity found herself enjoying time without having to think of saving the world, or a business, or trying to keep Oliver Queen in a good mood.
Because, honestly, all those were quite difficult tasks. One more so than the others.