AN- I'm bored out of my skull at work so here's another chapter! Thanks to everyone who has faved, followed, and reviewed in the last day. You guys are awesome and I can't get enough of them. I'll post the next one Wednesday night and then the next a week after that. Unless of course I get bored and impatient then who knows what I'll do. Enjoy!

Chapter Two

Felicity strode into Big Belly Burger, scoping the diner for Sara, finding her in a back corner booth, blonde hair thrown up in a messy bun and sunglasses shielding her eyes even though she was inside. Felicity walked over to her, smacking the table loudly with her hand as she slid into the booth. Sara groaned at the noise and let her head fall onto her arms that were crossed on the table. "Good morning to you, too," Sara grumbled at her.

"I seem to recall you saying last night that you wouldn't be too hungover today to have lunch and with Nyssa getting called in to work, you have to be able to carry this conversation without throwing up," she said as she slipped off her red jacket, pushing it and her purse over into the far corner of her seat.

Sara sat up long enough to throw a crumpled napkin at Felicity. "If you don't want me to do it, don't say the words."

Felicity laughed, her retort interrupted when the waitress stopped by their table to take their orders. "Can we get two deluxe Big Belly burgers and fries with one coffee and a water, lots of water." She looked across the table at a green looking Sara. "Maybe you should just bring a pitcher." The waitress nodded, smiling before she walked away.

Felicity dug through her purse, pulling out a small bottle of ibuprofen and depositing two pills in front of Sara. She'd spent enough time with a hungover Sara to know that ibuprofen, water, and a big, fat greasy burger were just what she needed to feel like a normal human being.

"Thanks," Sara muttered as she took the pills, using the water the waitress had just brought to their table to wash them down. She pushed the sunglasses up into her hair, rubbing her temples. "To be fair, I really didn't drink that much last night."

"Maybe you're just getting old," she teased.

Sara stuck her tongue out at her. "I'm only two years older than you."

"Yet somehow I'm wiser than you."

"Well one of us has to be the fun one and I don't think Nyssa going to be taking up that mantle anytime soon."

Felicity scoffed. "Am I the only one who remembers spring break last year?"

Sara's eyes widened as she remembered just how much fun Nyssa had been then, solemnly nodding. "No, I remember just how much fun that girl can have. I have the pictures to prove it."

"It was certainly memorable."

Sara nodded and they fell into a comfortable silence for a minute, Felicity staring out into the sunny day, watching people go about their daily lives. "So tell me about last night, you seemed to be in an awful hurry when you were leaving."

Felicity did her best to appear nonchalant, pretending that she wasn't still feeling affected by her encounter with Oliver last night. "It was nothing."

"Since when do you not tell me every detail of your life?" Sara pouted.

"I don't tell you everything."

There was no need for Sara to respond, she could convey exactly what she thought of that sentence with one look.

Felicity's shoulders slumped and she placed her arms on the table, leaning forward, and tucking a piece of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. "Okay, so maybe I do tell you everything but trust me when I say this was nothing."

"Then why are you trying so hard to avoid talking about it?"

Felicity narrowed her eyes. "Damn you and your observational skills."

"That's what happens when you're best friends with a cop's daughter," she responded proudly. "Now talk, Smoak, before I get really persistent."

Felicity looked towards the kitchen, hoping their food would have impeccable timing and appear right when she needed it to. That way she could shove her face full of food and avoid talking about Oliver Queen but it didn't seem like she was going to get that lucky. "Fine but prepare yourself for disappointment."

Sara rolled her eyes and gestured for her to continue. "I get it, it was nothing, now stop stalling, and tell me exactly what nothing means."

She folded her hands in front of her, straightening her spine, her face serious as Sara waited intently. "I met Oliver, we talked and then his date showed up."

Sara huffed exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. "Do you really think that's going to cut it? Do you even know me?"

Reluctantly, Felicity finally gave in, relating their conversation to Sara in full. She finished just in time for the waitress to place their food in front of her which Felicity dug into immediately. She moaned out loud as she chewed it slowly, her taste buds savoring it. She looked up as she swallowed, finding Sara staring at her, mouth curled down in a frown and her food untouched. "What?" Felicity asked around a mouthful of food.

"Are you sure it was Ollie? That doesn't sound like him."

Felicity raised an eyebrow as she set her burger down. "The part about him hitting on me when he was at the club with another girl? Or the part about him asking me to hang out while he was at the club with another girl?"

Sara rolled her eyes. "No, all those parts sound like the Oliver I know. I'm talking about him stumbling around asking you out."

"He wasn't asking me out per say, he was just saying that he wanted us to get to know each other better." She knew how lame that sounded but she also knew that if she tried to fix it, she would only make it worse. Her solution, of course, was to take another large bite of her burger, choosing to occupy her mouth so it didn't get away from her again. Oh god, that sounded wrong,

"You can get as technical as you want about it but that's happened. Oliver was trying to ask you out, Felicity."

Felicity shook her head, using her napkin to wipe away an errant glob of ketchup from her mouth. "All he said was that he wanted to get to know me which makes sense because his best friend is dating my best friend's sister so we're going to be seeing each other around but he wasn't trying to ask me out on a date. I mean, come on, he's Oliver Queen and I'm me, average old me. If he's the slightest bit interested in me, it's because I'm new and I didn't fall all over myself when he gave me the smallest bit of attention. Guys like him are in it for the chase, that's it. Once he got what he wanted, he'd be out of there faster than the road runner."

"He'd be lucky to have you, Felicity, and you know it. If you don't, you're not as smart as you think you are," she told her matter of factly as she dug into her own food.

"Why are you pushing this so hard?" She wasn't talking directly about Oliver but Sara's constant interference in her love life. It was beginning to drive her up the wall. Ever since her and Cooper had broken up a year ago, Sara was either trying to set her up with someone or encouraging her to go out and find someone new.

"Because you're my best friend, Felicity, and I want you to be happy. I want you to find someone who makes you happy."

"As happy as Nyssa makes you?"

Sara grinned, showing off her deep dimples. "Exactly."

Felicity reached across the table, squeezing her hand. "I appreciate the sentiment but you can't make it happen with sheer force of will. I'll find that person someday, you just need to be patient."

"What if you already found that person?"

"I hate to break it to you but I can guarantee that Oliver Queen is not that person."

"Why not? Other than that girl being there, what was so bad about Ollie?"

Felicity shrugged. "Nothing. He was charming and adorably awkward and it doesn't hurt that he's gorgeous with a body that looks like it was carved out of stone..." Felicity trailed off, realizing that she might have gotten carried away. She ignored the heat that was rising into her cheeks and continued on, "He's out of my league, Sara, now can we drop this and enjoy our lunch?"

It was obvious Sara wanted to say more but she didn't, holding her hands up in surrender. "I'll drop it for now but we will be talking about this again."

"Of that, I have no doubt."

They spent the rest of lunch making idle chat, talking about how it felt for Sara to be back in Starling City, how Nyssa was adapting to working at KORD enterprises, how excited Felicity was to start work at Queen Consolidated on Monday. It was nice to spend some quality time with just Sara, having missed out on this the last couple of weeks, it was too bad that Nyssa couldn't come, something that Sara wasn't too happy about.

"She's been working there for two weeks and this is the second Saturday she's gotten called in. If this is a sign of how things are going to be, I don't know if I'm going to like this new job."

Felicity nodded sympathetically. "I'm sure it'll get better once you start working, then you won't have so much alone time. Do you have an idea of what you want to do?"

"I talked to Tommy about bartending at Verdant, he said I could start next week."

"Is that what you want?"

Sara shrugged. "I don't know, it works for now."

Felicity smiled softly. "That's what you always say." Sara had bailed out on college after her sophomore year, spending two years moving from place to place working odd jobs, trying to figure out her place in the world. The moving stopped once she met Nyssa but she'd never gotten serious about her career, content to bartend or waitress or do whatever was available. It was something Felicity had never seen the appeal of, having been career focused as long as she could remember.

"You're starting to sound like my dad," she grumbled.

Felicity laughed, taking it as a compliment, something she would never tell Sara. She'd met Mr. Lance a few times over the years and she'd gotten to know him well enough to know how very lucky the Lance sisters were to grow up with a father like him. She was about to give Sara some more grief when her phone started to ring from inside her purse. She dug through it quickly, finding the phone before it stopped ringing. The caller ID said it was Tommy but she had no idea why he would be calling her. "Hello?"

"Felicity, it's Tommy, are you busy?" He sounded panicked and she straightened in her seat, giving him her full attention.

"No, I'm just finishing lunch with Sara, what's up?"

"The club's server crashed which means our tills won't work and it's Saturday and I have a date with Laurel tonight, an important date that I can't make if we can't use our registers and my normal computer guy is out of town for the weekend and Nyssa isn't answering her phone," he paused, running out of breath and she cut him off before he could start up again.

"Breathe, Tommy, it's going to be okay. I'm right next door at Big Belly Burger, I'll be there in five minutes and we'll have you up and running in no time, okay?"

He sighed loudly in relief over the phone. "Thank you, Felicity, you're a life saver. I will buy you whatever bottle of wine you want, I promise."

"You sure know the way to a girl's heart, Merlyn. Laurel is one lucky girl."

He mumbled something over the phone that she couldn't hear but he didn't give her a chance to ask, thanking her profusely before disconnecting the call. Felicity put her phone back in her purse and looked back over at Sara, who was staring at her with a giant grin on her face.

"Tommy's having some computer issues so I'm going to take off, head over to Verdant and help him out." Sara didn't say anything, nodding her head with that goofy grin still on her face. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just a little text I got while you were on the phone."

Felicity laughed, getting to her feet and shrugging her jacket on. "I don't want to hear about you and Nyssa sexting."

"It wasn't one of those texts," she responded as she joined Felicity. "It was Ollie asking for your number."

Felicity gave her an unamused look as she paid for their food. "You don't have to lie, I just meant I didn't want details."

"And I wasn't lying," she said as she shoved her phone in Felicity's face. Sure enough, there was a message from Oliver asking for her number.

She was so focused on that, trying to absorb that Oliver wanted her number, that she ran into a chair, knocking it over. She flushed as she scrambled to right it, Sara watching her with a knowing look.

"So do you want me to give it to him?" Sara asked as they stepped out into the warm afternoon sun.

Felicity snorted. "If that's how I act when he asks for my number, can you imagine what I would be like on an actual date? I'd probably set the restaurant on fire. Not that I'm saying he's going to ask me on a date or that I would even go on one with him if he asked, I'm just saying if we did, it would go bad."

"Well you won't know until you do," Sara said as she typed out a text message.

Felicity narrowed her eyes. "You gave it to him, didn't you?"

"Of course I did. Now go help Tommy before his head explodes, I'm sure he's stressing out enough about proposing to Laurel tonight."

"He's proposing?"

"Yep. He asked for Dad's permission and everything, that's how I found out."

"Brave man," Felicity remarked as she walked Sara to her car.

"That's what Dad said."

Felicity gave her a quick hug. "Tell Nyssa next time we make lunch plans that she can't go into work. I'm starting to forget what she looks."

"I'll try but you know how she is, all work and no play," Sara said as she climbed into her car.

"I think you pick up her slack in the play area. I'll call you tomorrow." Felicity watched her drive away before she made her way into Verdant, finding Tommy seated at the bar, his head in his hands.

He jumped off of the bar stool once he heard the sound of her heels clicking against the floor. "Thank god you're here."

"I should be thanking you. All I had to look forward to was an exciting day of unpacking so I'm more than happy to fix some computers." At this point, she was going to have to accept that she wasn't going to get unpacked before she started work on Monday.

Tommy led her into a back room that held the servers for his system. She pulled her tablet out, thankful it was always with her, and connected it to his system. It only took a minute to search around and find his problem, knowing immediately how to fix it. She explained it step by step to him until she noticed that his eyes were glazing over. "I'll have you up and running in no time, you'll be off to propose to Laurel before you know it."

Tommy finally stopped staring at the computer in confusion, turning to give her a surprised look. "You know I'm proposing?"

Felicity nodded as her fingers flew across the keyboard. "Sara just told me."

"Sara knows?" He was starting to sound panicky again.

"Her dad told her. Don't worry, Laurel doesn't know." She didn't actually know that but she was betting that even if Laurel knew, it wouldn't change her answer. Telling Tommy that she didn't know would only serve to calm his jittery nerves. "How nervous are you?"

"Not that nervous," he answered before he started to pace the room, running a hand through his dark hair. "Okay, I'm terrified and the closer it gets, the worse it gets."

"Laurel loves you and you obviously love her, I don't think you have anything to be worried about."

Suddenly, he was next to her again, making her flinch. "Do you really think so?" He asked.

"Yes," she assured him. "Has Laurel given you any reason to think that she would say no?"

His forehead creased in thought and he slowly shook his head. "No. She's been hinting about it for the last six months."

"Well there you go. You're going to be just fine." She finished up what she was doing before disconnecting her tablet and placing it back in her purse. "I'm all done, you're good to go."

"Are you serious? Last time this happened, it took my guy hours to fix it."

"Maybe you should get a new guy."

Tommy chuckled and rubbed his jaw. "Are you volunteering for the job?"

"As long as you reward me with wine every time."

"Let me know what kind you want and I'll get it to you as soon as I can."

She waved him off. "It's no big deal, I was happy to help. I better get going, good luck tonight, not that you need it." She started to walk away and she got halfway to the door before he called after her.

"I said I wasn't going to say anything but I talked to Oliver last night after everybody left."

She stopped in her tracks, slowly turning around to face Tommy. "And?"

"He asked me for your number. I didn't give it to him because I didn't want Nyssa to kill me in my sleep but I thought if I asked you first, she wouldn't hold it against me."

"You're in the clear, he already asked Sara for it and she happily gave it away."

His face turned serious. "The number doesn't mean anything if you're not interested."

Felicity smiled, crossing her arms. "Is that your way of asking if I'm interested in your friend?"

"I know that he doesn't have the best reputation and that he didn't make a great first impression last night but I think you should give him a chance."

"Look, Tommy, I'm sure Oliver's a good guy but I'm not really the type of girl who dates billionaire playboys."

"Then don't think of him like that. Think of it like you're being set up with a friend of a friend."

"Even if I looked at it like that, it doesn't change the fact that he might as well be my boss come Monday."

"Technically, Oliver doesn't manage the IT department and Walter's CEO, for at least another six months, so technically he isn't your boss yet."

"Okay, maybe technically he isn't but he's close enough. Besides, he was in here with a different girl last night, if he wants a date that bad he can ask her."

"He doesn't want a date with her, he wants one with you."

"Like I told Sara, he just thinks he wants a date with me because I didn't throw myself at him. It's all about the chase."

Tommy nodded. "I'd agree with you if we were talking about Oliver from a few years ago but that's not who he is anymore. I've never seen him like this."

That piqued her curiosity. "Like what?"

"Smitten," Tommy said, grinning. "Especially after just meeting a girl."

"Right," she said slowly. "Oliver Queen's smitten with me, he couldn't resist my feminine wiles. Never mind the fact that's he's way out of my league, I'm sure you're right and I left that big of an impression on him after one conversation that he just couldn't get me out of his mind." She rolled her eyes to drive home how ridiculous that sounded to her.

"Make fun of it all you want but it's true, except for the part where he's out of your league. You got that part turned around."

She gave him an incredulous look. "Now I know you're getting carried away."

"Believe me or don't but I guarantee you go on one date with him and you'll see how right I am," he challenged.

She smiled, shaking her head. "Alright, you've made your case. If you don't stop now, I'm going to rat you out to Nyssa."

He held his hands up in mock surrender, eyes wide with fear. "We don't want that."

She waved goodbye as she headed back outside. She pulled her phone out of her bag, telling herself that she was just checking to see if Sara or Nyssa had called, but she couldn't lie to herself once she felt that twinge of disappointment at seeing her phone screen black. She was too concerned with her phone to watch where she was walking which was the reason she walked straight into someone.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed as she backed up from whoever it was but all of her apologies flew out of her mind once she looked up and saw who exactly she'd run into. "Oliver! What are you doing here?"

He smiled down at her, still holding onto her arm. "I came to get my bike," he said, pointing to a expensive looking black motorcycle parked on the curb. "I had a couple drinks with Tommy after close last night and I took a taxi home. Alone." He frowned. "I don't know why I added that."

She bit her lip to try to stop the smile from forming on her face but that was an impossible task when she was near him. "Verdant's computers crashed and I was having lunch with Sara next door so I came over to help Tommy out." His eyes widened slightly at the mention of both Sara and Tommy's name but he quickly schooled his face.

"I'm happy I ran into you actually. I wanted to apologize for last night-"

"You don't have to do that," she cut him off. "That's your business."

He blew out a puff of air, averting his gaze. "I'm apologizing because I want to see if you would have dinner with me and I think that you'll be more likely to agree if you're not holding last night against me."

For all her talk earlier, the second the question was poised to her, she was at a loss. She desperately wanted to say yes and suddenly all her reasons for saying no didn't matter. It didn't matter if he was at the club with last night but they just met. And yeah, he might have hit on her while he was there with someone else but he was apologizing for it. And yeah, he was COO of Queen Consolidated but she wasn't going to start there until Monday. It was just a date, if things didn't work out, they didn't work out.

"If you don't say something soon, I might start panicking."

She didn't realize how long she'd been quiet. "Sorry." Would it really be so bad if she said yes to a date with him? She wasn't going to sleep with him so what would be the big deal in going on one little date?

"Sorry you don't want to get dinner with me?"

She grinned, knowing that she would probably come to regret this and nodded. "I'd love to have dinner with you."

It took a minute for her words to sink in but she saw the moment they did, the look on his face enough to convince her that she made the right decision, regardless of the outcome. "Really?" The excitement was clear in his voice. "What about tonight? I know it's soon but Tommy mentioned that you start at QC on Monday."

"Tonight sounds good." The longer the day went on, the less time she had for unpacking, maybe that was a sign that she shouldn't do it today. It had nothing to do with the fact that she hated anything to do with packing, nothing at all.

"Should I pick you up around eight?"

She looked around him to the bike and looked back at him. "I think it would be better if we meet there."

He smirked, looking very much like the playboy that could charm the pants off of any girl he met. "You don't want to go for a ride on the bike?"

"As I much as I would like to climb on that and go for a ride with you, I think it's better for a first date if we just meet there." Oh dear god, someone please make her stop.

He laughed loudly, a glorious sound that made her want to say whatever embarrassing and inappropriate thing came to her mind just to hear it again, a dangerous thought. "You're just making sure you have a getaway vehicle in case this goes horribly wrong."

"I also don't want you to know where I live in case you turn out to be a serial killer."

"I think those are understandable reasons."

They shared another smile.

She pointed towards her car. "I better get going but I'll see you tonight at 8?"

He nodded and she reluctantly walked away from him. "Where should we eat?" he called after her.

She shrugged. "Surprise me. Text me the address and we'll meet there since I know Sara gave my number to you." It was the last thing she said before she climbed in her red mini-cooper, watching him in the rear-view mirror as she drove away, her pulse racing until long after he'd fallen out of sight.

When she got home, she found that she had an exorbitant amount energy, managing to completely unpack the kitchen, leaving just her bedroom and the living room left. She'd finish it up tomorrow and she would officially be all set. So far, she was happy that she'd chosen Starling City over Gotham but she'd only actually been here for four days. Once she started work, she'd get a real idea of what her life would be like here, but if the past twenty-four hours were any indication, it would exciting to say the least. She'd been in town a week and she'd managed to get a date with the most eligible bachelor in the city.

In the weeks before graduating from MIT, a couple of her professors had recommended her for jobs with both Queen Consolidated and Wayne Enterprises, and while Wayne Enterprises had definitely been persistent in their attempts to get her in for an interview, QC had been an easy choice. Nyssa had gotten a job at KORD Enterprises because she wanted Sara to move back home to continue to repair her relationships with her family. Since the only actual family that Felicity had was her mom who lived in Vegas and their relationship wasn't what you would call close, she'd come to think of Nyssa and Sara as her family. She'd grown close to Laurel and Tommy during their visits to Sara over the years and she'd spent last Christmas with the Lances. She may not celebrate Christmas but she'd loved feeling like part of a family, making the decision to take the job with QC the best one for her. She'd never had a built-in network of people like she did here. Hell, she had more friends in Starling City before she lived her than she'd had her entire life growing up in Vegas.

She took her time getting ready for her date, mostly using it as a way to distract from the nerves that were bubbling in her stomach, growing more intense the closer it got to eight o'clock. She'd chosen a black dress that hugged her curves, the lace trim hem adding a feminine flair to it, and she'd left her hair down in loose curls. She'd ended up being ready far too early and all her anxious energy had left her feeling restless while she waited for eight o'clock to roll around. Oliver had texted her a couple of hours ago to give her the address of an expensive Italian restaurant that wasn't actually that far from her place and she decided to walk there, the summer air was warm and it was a good way to calm her down before she got there.

She couldn't believe she was going on a date with Oliver Queen. Though, she wasn't sure what was more surprising; that he'd actually asked her out or that she'd said yes. It had been a long time since she'd been on a date, the last one having been a nightmare blind date and before that, it was with her boyfriend of two years. She'd never been much of the dating type and the mere idea of it made her want to have a socially awkward spazz attack, mostly because she knew the odds of her having an embarrassing case of word vomit were significantly high.

Even with her nerves, she was excited. Oliver intrigued her and he had an ability to make her smile like nobody else she'd ever met, something she'd learned from their brief conversations. She was happy she ran into him outside Verdant because if he'd called her to ask her out, she wasn't sure she would have said yes. When she wasn't with him, she could think clearly and logically, remembering her internal list of pros and cons of going on a date with him, but when she was near him, all of that changed. She got a head rush when she was standing near him, staring into his perfect eyes, and it made it hard to think straight. This was dangerous territory she was finding herself in, this level of attraction or chemistry or whatever you wanted to call it could consume her if she let it, she could feel that in her bones.

She was serious about her career, she'd worked hard her entire life to get to where she was now, and she wasn't going to let anything derail her plan or distract her. Not even Oliver Queen.

He'd screwed up. Plain and simple. He'd blown it.

That's all he could think while he was standing in front of an angry looking Felicity outside of the very nice Italian restaurant where they'd had reservations...an hour ago.

"I'm sorry, there was an emergency board meeting that took forever and I left my phone in the car I rode in to QC and it's the only place I have your number. I'm really sorry, Felicity." He'd been looking forward to this all day and he couldn't believe that he was an hour late. He kept screwing things up as far as she was concerned and unlike with every other girl in his life, it wasn't because he didn't care enough to give a real effort, it was the opposite of that so what was wrong with him?

"I get it, you're the COO of a Fortune 500 company, things come up." He hated hearing the disappointment that laced her voice and he wanted to fix this.

"I'm sure I can get us another table if you still want to have dinner." At this point, he would do just about anything to spend one uninterrupted hour with this woman.

She thought for a moment before answering. "Yes to the dinner, no to the restaurant."

"You don't like the restaurant?"

"The restaurant was great, it was the sitting by myself for an hour that makes me not want to go back in there."

"We could go in there and publicly shame me for being so late, if that would make you feel better," he offered, finally earning a smile.

"As much fun as that sounds, I think I'll let you off the hook this time."

"Where do you want go then? I think there's a place down the block, it's quiet with good food."

She nodded her agreement and he held his arm out for her to take, which she did, her small hand curling up in the crook of his elbow. They walked for a moment in silence and Oliver had a fleeting thought that he could get used to this. "So how are you liking Starling City so far?"

"It's good, not that I've done much. I've spent most of my time settling into my place, I'm trying to get unpacked before I start work on Monday."

His phone ringing from his pocket cut him off from responding and he pulled it out of his pocket, seeing that it was friend John Diggle and that he'd already managed to miss two other phone calls from him. He gave Felicity an apologetic look. "I'm sorry I have to take this. It'll only take a minute."

She nodded, pulling her hand away from him and stepping back, giving him some privacy. He answered the phone, unable to quash the feeling that he'd just put another nail in his coffin with Felicity. "I'm kind of busy, Dig," he said in lieu of a greeting.

"I'm sorry, Oliver, I know you have that date with Felicity and I wouldn't have called if it wasn't important." There was an underlying current of fear to John's voice that put Oliver on edge.

"What's going on?"

"Lyla went into labor, the baby will be here in the next hour or two."

"But she's not due for another month."

"Five weeks early. We weren't even home when it happened so I didn't have a chance to grab any of our stuff. It's all packed in our bedroom closet, do you think you could grab it before you come here?"

Oliver looked over towards where Felicity was standing and he knew they weren't going on this date tonight. "Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I can." He disconnected the call, shoving the phone back in his pocket before turning his attention back to Felicity. "I'm sorry but —"

"You have to go," she finished for him.

"That was my friend John, his wife's in labor with my goddaughter and she's five weeks early."

Her face softened and she stepped forward, lightly touching his arm. "It's fine, I understand."

"You've had to say that a lot today."

She shrugged. "Emergency board meetings, god-children being born, it's a little hard to argue with those excuses."

"I'll make it up to you, I swear. What about next weekend?"

She moved away from him, uncertainty on her face. "I don't know, Oliver. I'm starting work, for the company you own by the way. Maybe all this trouble is a sign that we shouldn't do this."

He quickly wiped any sign of disappointment off of his face. "Give me one more chance and I promise you won't regret it."

She bit her lip, hands in the pockets of her jacket, illuminated by the streetlight she was standing underneath. Between being late and everything else, he hadn't had a chance to take a second to appreciate how beautiful she looked tonight. Her long blonde hair was cascading in soft waves over her shoulder and she was wearing a black dress that hugged her curves, or at least what he could see through her unbuttoned cream jacket. He wished they could have really had this date tonight.

"I don't know, Oliver," she finally answered.

"All I'm asking is for one more chance. If I screw this one up, I won't ask again."

"Fine, one more chance." She held her index finger up to emphasize but it was well worth the trouble to be rewarded with that sweet smile. He was struck an urge to take her into his arms but he shoved it down before he did something stupid.

"Next Friday?"

"Sounds good, now get out of here and go meet your goddaughter."

Impulsively, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "Until next time, Felicity."

Next time, he wouldn't screw it up. Next time, he'd bring his A game and remove any and all of her doubts about him. Next time, he'd get it right.

Hopefully.