A/N: So here's chapter two! :P Thank you so much for the lovely comments on chapter one. I really appreciate it. I hope you guys like this chapter.

One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. He allowed his mind no rest from the rigorous repetition as his fists made contact with the punching bag time and time again. This was the distraction he needed. He knew that if he let his mind wander his thoughts would stray to the dream and for some reason, he didn't want to think about it. Some part of him knew that if he thought about it, he would uncover something—what, he wasn't sure, but he didn't want to uncover anything. His life was already far more complicated than he'd like it to be. Of course that was by choice, but he wouldn't add any more complications if he could help it.

One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. Again and again he hit the punching bag attempting to release any and all thought. It was working; he just hoped that it would work for the rest of the day. He stopped, 7:50. He was going to be late.

Sighing, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and grabbed his duffle bag. He showered and changed quickly, but he was still going to be late. As he drove, he blared the music in his car, determined to drown out any thoughts.

When he entered the office, he was relieved to find that Felicity was nowhere to be found. He knew he was being stupid, but he just needed some time to figure out exactly what he was going to do about this whole thing. He knew he couldn't avoid her. Sighing, he sat at his desk and turned on his computer. Hopefully, today would be a busy day; that way he wouldn't have to think about her or the dream.

He groaned, and leaned back in his chair. 'This is stupid', he told himself. 'Get a grip! It was just a dream!'

"Oliver!"

He swerved in his chair to face the very object of his confusion. Felicity stood in the doorway wearing a simple white summer dress, hair in its usual ponytail, glasses absent, and her tablet in her hands. It took Oliver a moment to realize that she was angry.

"Oliver you're late! Do you have any idea how uncomfortable Isabel makes me? I've been trying to come up with lame excuses for the past half-an-hour to explain exactly why you're missing the meeting that she's been reminding you of for the past two weeks!"

He watched, amused, as she ranted, taking calculated steps until she was directly in front of his desk. Her mouth was still uttering words, but he didn't hear them. Suddenly, she slammed her tablet on his desk and he blinked.

"Oliver! Are you listening to me?"

"Hmm? What?"

Her expression softened. Her blue-green eyes grew wide, "Are you okay?"

He smiled, she was always looking out for others. "Yes. What were you saying?"

"Hurry up and get into that conference room!" She pointed at the door.

The face of a very angry Isabel Rochev flashed in his mind and reluctantly got up. "Being late is something that playboy Oliver Queen would do, remember?" He said smoothly, trying to play off his tardiness as an intentional action.

Felicity rolled her eyes. "At some point CEO Oliver Queen is going to have to grow up and learn to be on time."

Oliver stopped in his tracks and turned to Felicity, a feigned look of surprise on his face. It got the desired reaction from Felicity because she smiled. "I'm not apologizing for that Mr. Queen, you know that I'm right."

The meeting was long and boring. They had been listening to financial reports from every department for the past hour-and-a-half and his thoughts began to wander. Oliver looked in the direction of Isabel because a good glare from her would instantly return his attention to the meeting. He found her seat empty however, and looked around the room.

"She left about fifteen minutes ago. She has another meeting," Felicity leaned in to whisper beside him.

The image of Felicity curled up against him on the sofa flashed in his mind: the scent of strawberry, the sound of her sighing contently.

He set his jaw in pinched the bridge of his nose. He tried to think of something else, anything else, but the dream seemed to be determined to overpower his thoughts.

"Oliver are you sure that you're alright?"

Taking a deep breath, Oliver opened his eyes and found the managers of the various departments of Queen Consolidated all looking at him.

"Maybe we should continue this meeting tomorrow morning," the elderly department manager of Human Resources, John, suggested.

"Maybe we should," Oliver said. "Tomorrow morning, gentlemen." He pushed away from the long table and walked out of the room without another word.

He was acutely aware of the fact that Felicity was only a few steps behind him and that she was going to interrogate him as soon as they entered his office. Sure enough, the door was closed behind her as she entered the room and she came to stand beside him, as he looked the window at the city. A warm hand was placed lightly on his shoulder, "Oliver?"

"I'm fine," he said automatically.

"You don't honestly expect me to believe that do you?"

He smiled slightly, despite himself, and looked down at her. Her eyes were full of concern. What he had done to deserve her in his life, he didn't know. A wave of guilt and sorrow washed over him as he realized that this would go away one day. She was a grown woman who was an expert in her respective field; she wouldn't always be here. One day she would find a better job— a job where she would be able to do what she was trained to do. One day she'd find the right guy—a guy who deserved her and made sure that she was the center of his life. One day she'd start a family of her own. One day this would be a memory.

He would be happy for her because she deserved better. Now, however, he felt stupid for never considering the future. He'd been living under the assumption that things would always stay the way they were now.

'All because of that stupid dream,' he thought.

"Oliver, tell me what's wrong?"

"I don't know. It's just one of those days I guess."

She didn't buy it. He didn't expect her to.

"I'm always here if you need to talk," she said before returning to her desk.

Sighing in frustration, he sat down at his desk and immersed himself in a pile of documents and contracts hoping that they would keep his mind occupied for the remainder of the day—or at least until he could make his way to the Foundry again.

"Someone's been working hard." Oliver looked up from the papers before him as Felicity entered the room and sat down on the couch. "How was lunch?"

He blinked, "Lunch?" 'Was it really that late already?'

Felicity, distracted by her tablet, took a moment to reply. "Yes. Lunch."

"I didn't realize it was this late. I guess I skipped lunch."

Felicity looked up. "What did you tell Sara?"

It was the first time since he'd left the house that Sara had entered his mind. "Sara?"

Felicity put down her tablet. "Oliver please tell me your joking. You forgot that you had lunch plans with Sara?"

"Crap!" He padded his pockets in search for his phone and wrenched open the drawers of his desk. Nothing. Cursing under his breath, he picked up the office phone and began to dial her number.

"Hello?"

"Sara, I'm so sorry! I just got held up at work and—ughh I just completely forgot."

"It's okay," she sounded a little disappointed, but it was nothing too bad, "I figured that you wouldn't make it when you didn't answer your phone. I got some lunch with Laurel."

"Oh, good, good. I'm really sorry…"

"It's fine. I'll see you later okay?"

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

"Well, at least she's not mad," Felicity said.

"Yeah…"

He glanced at her, she was once again completely absorbed by the tablet. She looked perfect, just as she had in the dream. There was only one thing out of place: her hair. He suddenly had the urge to tug out the hairband, so that her curls could freely fall about her shoulders. 'Stop! It was just a dream. You're with Sara! Get a grip!'

"Oliver, remember that you have the charity gala tomorrow night," she said still looking at the screen.

"Right."

"You should be on time to this one. It's good for the public image of the company. Your mother can't come because she has a dinner to go to, your sister can't come either because someone's rented out Verdant for a private party, and I am assuming that you've forgotten to ask Sara to go with you," now Felicity looked up, titling her head slightly and giving him a knowing smile.

"Um... I didn't forget, but I didn't ask her. It's not really her scene...I'll ask her later."

"Good."

Oliver leaned back in his chair, "So what are you up to these days?"

"Getting overworked by my boss...," she said absently.

"I'm sorry about that...," he replied sympathetically. Felicity did work far too much. "How about a few days off?"

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him, an amused expression on her face. "From which job?"

"Both."

"I may just take you up on that offer Mr. Queen."

Just then Diggle walked in with a bag of Big Belly Burger. "I heard someone missed lunch."

Oliver looked at Felicity and she shrugged, "You did miss lunch."

"Thank you," he said knowing that she told Diggle to bring him something.

"Hey, I'm the one who actually brought you the food," Diggle reminded him.

He chuckled, "Thanks Digg."

The rest of the work day was spent pleasantly. No work was done, the three friends just sat together and talked. Suddenly, Oliver wished that he had a camera, this was one of those happy moments that he wanted to document. It was simple, but it was worth more than all of the money in his bank account.

"Felicity?"

"Yes?"

"Can I borrow your cell-phone?" She looked at him dubiously, but handed it over. "I'm not sure where I left mine, but I want a picture." Diggle and Felicity shared an odd look, but they smiled when Oliver told them to. "Send them to me later," Oliver requested, once they had taken a few.

"Sure."

A/N: So? What did you guys think? I hope Oliver wasn't too OCC (I tried not to make him OCC). I find it much easier to write from Felicity's perspective, but I hope I didn't do too badly.