She could hear the footsteps above her, he was coming. She stood up and quickly grabbed her brush to fix her hair. He would be so angry to see that she had it out of the ponytail that he demands her to wear it in. Tying it up she striated her skirt and made sure her blouse was tucked in. She looked over at her shoes. She reached for them but the chain around her wrist made it impossible for her to reach them. He is going to be so angry with her. She shivered holding back her tears fearing what he would do. The footsteps came closer as she heard the door at the top of the stairs open. She knew there would be hell to pay if she was disobedient. She stood in front if the bed. There was time for one last quick look at the mirror to make sure she looked OK, and waited. The bedroom door swung open. She smiled brightly. "Good morning Father." He sighed and looked her up and down. He held a tray with a folder and a bowl of oatmeal; he placed the tray at her desk. He looked her over and shook his head.

"Your shoes, where are they?" He did not raise his voice but the look in his eyes made her take a step back. She pointed towards the other side of the room to where she had kicked them off the night before. "How many times do I tell you that we take care of our things?" He walked over to her and pulled a pair of glasses out of his top pocket. He placed them on her face. "Much better, you're almost perfect." She smiled brightly up at him, "Almost." Her smile faltered for a second, but his never did. He walked over to the door and reached out; when he turned back around he was holding a long stick. She started to unbutton her blouse and turned her back to him. "See, you can be a good girl." She remembered the first 2 hits across her back then it all went black. When she woke, he was sitting at her desk. "Do you see what you made me do? Do you think I enjoy hurting you? Do you think she would act this way?" She pulled herself up. Yes you do, she thought, and no, she never met her how would she know? He back stung and there would be a bruise but he never broke the skin, he always made sure of that. "Get dressed." He stood up. "We have a few things to do today before we leave for Starling City. Our time table has moved up. Can't be helped, we leave at five." He walked over to her and straightened the glasses on her face. She's getting out. She just has to play along and then once he gets what he wants she is gone. He reached the door turned around and looked at her. "You know what you have to do Felicity." She cringed when he called her that, that's not my name! She screamed in her head. .

She shook her head, "Yes father, I understand." She smiled again. This time knowing that once this was all finish she could get out. She would not have to play this role because he would finally have what he really wanted, her.

Felicity felt the gentle shake from Oliver, "hey, we're landing." She stretched and sighed. It was nice while it lasted, the calm, the normal. Oliver leaned over and kissed her nose and gave her a wink. She knew that he was reassuring her that no matter what nothing was going to change.

From what they were able to get out of Dig and Thea, there was some kind of explosion in Ray's office and he was missing. No body, missing, at least there is that. Felicity closed her eyes and tried to push away the sadness and the guilt that she was feeling. She knew the kind of man Ray was and when he gets going on one of his projects, he forgets to do some very important things, such as sleeping and eating and that can lead to mistakes, big mistakes. Her running off with Oliver left him vulnerable to these things. He had no one to keep him grounded and focused.

Felicity looked at Oliver, she knew he was worried and more so he was worried about her. She squeezed his hand, and he looked over to her and smiled. Oh how she loved his smile. He had done it so rarely over the last few weeks, months and now going back she was afraid he would go back into his dark Oliver mode. She reached out to him and ran her hand down his face. "I love this smile."

"I love you." She shivered in delight. Every time he said it to her sent chills up her body.

"I will never get tired of hearing you say that." She smiled at him. She could feel the pressure building in her ears as they began their descent. "Gum?" She held out a pack towards him. He laughed but took a piece. As they exited the plane he never once let go of her hand. Not until they saw Diggle waiting for them by the car. Felicity ran over and gave him a giant hug. Oliver came up next to him and held out his hand. Felicity held her breath. This could go either way.

"Jon."

"Oliver." Diggle shook his and immediately put all his attention back to Felicity. "How was your trip?" Felicity was able to lighten the mood just by her giggling response. Diggle and Oliver both grinned.

"It was amazing. There was so much to do! We really didn't leave the hotel all that much but when we did . . . "Felicity flushed and stopped talking. "Sorry." Dig wrapped an arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

"I missed you." Diggle laughed. She laughed with him; she really did miss him as well. She really missed home. She glanced over at Oliver, feeling like she was betraying him by being happy to be home, but he was busy on his phone. She climbed into the back of the car and scooched over to leave room for Oliver. "So we had to move all our equipment over to the secondary lair where we found Oliver after Moira's funeral. There was too much damage to be able to function out of Palmer place. We upgraded the best we could without you Felicity. Thea cannot wait for you to get back, but I think you have some business to take care of at Palmer Technologies." Her heart sank. There must have been serious damage if they had to move to the backup Lair. Oliver slipped in next to her.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to Palmer Technologies. They met the fire chief outside the front of the building. "Ms. Smoak," he reached out to shake her hand. "We just gave the all clear, and the cleaning crews are now getting everything sorted. You can go up and take a look at the damage and you are free to start making renovations." He gave her a nod and excused himself. Oliver looked over at Felicity with confusion.

"I have no idea why he would be telling me." She whispered in his ear. Dig was holding the door open as they walked to the elevator. "Digg? What is going on?" He shrugged but she could tell that he knew more than what he was saying. When they arrived to Ray's office she gasped in shock. She took a step back almost wanting to run away and pretend that this was not happening. "Oh, Ray" she whispered. She felt Oliver's hand on her lower back and she leaned into him. Without even saying a word, he was supporting her and holding her together. The soft rhythmic stroke of his thumb against the back of her blouse calmed her.

"Ms. Smoak, my name is Jeremy Stein; I am one of the lawyers for Palmer Technologies. We have some papers we need you to sign so we can resume production." He laid the papers out onto a fold out table and placed a pen next to them. "I am sure you are anxious to get back to work."

"I am, but excuse me Mr. Stein why are you asking me to sign?" She picked up the pen.

"You are the new Owner of Palmer Technologies, Ms. Smoak. Now that Mr. Palmer is missing and most likely . . ." He looked at her and then at Oliver than a glance towards Diggle, He knew not finish his thought. "Please if you don't mind."

"OK." A short pause, "Wait, what? That's not possible, I never, well there was the those papers he asked me to sign, but they were not . . . I mean he would have said something like, Felicity I am giving you my company or something!" Stunned was not even close to how she was feeling right now.

"You signed the papers, Ms. Smoak, right here." Oliver snatched the papers out of the lawyers hands. He opened his mouth to say something to him but wisely closed it when he saw Oliver's glare.

He read over them and looked at her. "This is your signature Felicity." She leaned over him to see.

"Oh my . . .It is, I remember signing this, but it was not . . .he said it was corporate stuff." She looked at Oliver, " I would have never ever ever signed it if I knew. I mean I might have signed, if I knew, if he told me why, but he didn't, he just said I need you to sign these and I did. But . . . " Oliver stepped in front of her. He placed his hands on either side of her head.

"Felicity, Shhh." He silenced her with a soft kiss. She leaned into him. Oliver pulled away and a pang of disappointment ran through her. "Sign the papers, so we can get all these people back to work. Then we can go home and figure all this out."

"Oliver's right Felicity." Diggle gave her a smile.

"Of course." She looked over the papers. "I think I am going to look these over though, cause we all know what happened the last time I signed something." She said this mostly to herself, but Oliver and Diggle shared a smile with each other. Felicity looked up over her glasses and saw this, and realized they were not as doomed as she thought. "Thank you, Mr. Stein. Do you need anything else from me for today?" She looked over to him.

"Not today no, but you should make an appearance at the board meeting on Monday. Just to make introductions let them have an idea of what you have planned." The panic began to build again in her chest.

Oliver took her by the hand and lead her towards the elevator. "She will be there!" As the doors began to close she could hear him yell out a time but could not make out what he said. "Breath Felicity, just breath, you can do this."

"Oliver." Before she could continue both Diggle and Oliver started laughing, she could not help but join them, this was far from funny but it was the easiest thing to.

Stepping outside into the fresh air and the sunshine she was so distracted by all that just happened, she nearly knocked over a man who walking on the sidewalk. "I am so sorry." She said to him.

"It's nothing. Thank you." He grumbled, the man continued walking down the street. Felicity could not help but to stare after the man. Something about him was familiar but she could not figure out why.

"Felicity," Oliver called, "are you coming?"

"Um, yes, here I am." She stood at the car holding onto the door looking in the direction the man had gone. She knew him, but how? Sitting down Diggle closed the door. "Thanks Digg."

"No problem." He replied getting into the driver's side.

"Oliver, that man. The one that I almost knocked over." He looked at her and raised his eyebrows, "Did you recognize him? Did he seem familiar to you?" He followed her gaze in the direction that he went.

"No, I don't think so. Digg, did you see him?"

"No man, but I did not get a good look."

"Felicity, what is it?"

"I'm not sure." She shook her head. "It is probably nothing. Just a feeling."

"Hey," Diggle said, "guess who got Verdant, up and running again."

"How?" Oliver asked "Wait, don't tell me. Merlyn's money." Digg did not even have to answer. They shared a look. "Guess that is where we are headed tonight."

"Yup." Diggle answered. "Thea is expecting you.

"Of course she is." Oliver sighed.

"Can I at least get a shower?" Felicity asked letting the exhaustion roll over her in waves.

"A shower sounds wonderful." Oliver answered, taking her hand and giving it a kiss. Felicity blushed from head to toe as Diggle shook his head.

"So this is how it is going to be, huh." They all shared a smile as they drove off to Felicity's apartment.

-To be continued. . . .