Thanks for the great responses to my little story guys! I hope you all enjoy the next installment!

CHAPTER 2: THROUGH THE QUIET OF NIGHT

(Immediately after 1x17)

OOOOO

It's never ceases to amaze him, how a night club that can create such a loud and brash atmosphere can also instantly become somber and eerily quiet once the music has stopped and the crowd has vanished. How it's so quiet, you're only left with your thoughts and the low hum of the air conditioning above. When the music is raging and the bass is pounding so hard throughout the club, you are alleviated of what went wrong earlier that day, what you couldn't say right, who you failed. You're left with the pulsation of white noise, and when you're in the club during that time; you welcome the chaos. You welcome drowning out everything and enjoy being left numb. Sure, you smile, laugh and carry on as if the world was full of sunshine and rainbows, but placing yourself on autopilot is better than dealing with the torrent of emotions that the day has left in your wake. But now, the club is silent and there's nothing left to fill your head with mindless tasks and box up the flood of emotions pouring through your body.

Walking slowly through the main floor of the club, Tommy replays his conversation with Oliver over again in his head. He can see the toll all of the lies Oliver has been keeping in order to protect the people he cares about most. He desperately wants to understand his friend. After everything that happened between his run in with Helena to his own lies to Laurel, Tommy finally has a glimpse of what Oliver must be dealing with. But even with the briefest sheen of truth, there is still the pain and struggle of trying to figure out how his dearest friend could become the man that he sees now. The man that dresses up at night in a green hood and becomes unrecognizable to the best friend he once knew. Running his hands through his hair, Tommy stops at the end of the bar with his train of thoughts. Placing his left hand down, he can hear the echo reverberate through the empty club. He wants to understand. But he has no idea where to start. Tilting his head up to the ceiling, Tommy rubs his hand across his face in frustration. When he drops his arm, he sees the faintly lit hallway that leads to that place. The place where Oliver hides himself away from the world, a place Tommy has yet to come to terms with. Maybe the basement is the key to understanding a small piece Oliver, the man he once thought he knew like the back of his hand.

With renewed energy and determination, Tommy makes his way to the basement. Flashes of Helena leading him down the hallway and down the stairs to the basement enter his mind, but as quickly as they appeared they're gone. Absently rubbing his wrapped wrist, Tommy reaches the entrance door and sees the keypad in front of him. He doesn't know why he's hesitating; he knows Oliver isn't down there. In fact, there's no one left in the building except for him. Maybe it's because of what happened last time he was down here. Face pressed angrily against the stainless steel table, body completely immobile, his arm taught and braced so tightly behind him; he knows if Helena had pushed any further, his shoulder would have given out and his wrist would be broken. But then Oliver intervened, and he was released with minimal damage. Shaking his head, Tommy enters the 3 digit pass code into the keypad and hears the faint click of the door unlocking. Tentatively stepping inside, Tommy starts down the metal steps and makes his way to the center of the room. Spinning on his heel, he takes in the dimly lit basement. Tommy runs his fingers across the table that he got to know quite well last night. Not wanting to reminisce anymore about what happened to him, he turns his attention to the soft glow of computers to his left. Walking over, he rests his arms over the chair's backing to inspect the three computers spaced out equally on the desk. Tommy's face scrunches together in confusion trying to figure out if or when Oliver took an interest in high tech computers. Just another item to add to his list of things he doesn't know about Oliver Queen. Huffing out a breath of frustration, Tommy realizes coming down here may have been a mistake. Looking around at this base of operations Oliver uses, Tommy sees he's no closer to shedding any light on his friend than he was before, if anything, he's left with more questions now that he's able to really look at everything Oliver has set up down here. Curiosity getting the best of him, Tommy leans over the back of the chair to flick the mouse in front of him. He stops short when he hears the ping of a lock unlatching from behind him. Whipping his head around, eyes wide, he assumes its Oliver returning to do god knows what. His brow furrows when he can't make out who's walking towards him in the darkened back corner of the basement. Another entrance he never even knew existed. Of course Ollie would have an emergency exit. Hearing the shuffles of the person walking towards him, he realizes that whoever this person is, is most definitely not Oliver. The figure stops short from entering the main part of the room, only to see the person raise their arm to what looks like a panel. Tommy hears a sharp ratchet noise and then sees the lights in the rest of the basement start to turn on around him.

With the lights fully turned on, Tommy can see his unexpected guest. His body sags in relief, releasing tension that he hadn't noticed he was holding in when he notices his intruder is a petite woman, with long blonde hair currently placed in a ponytail. She's wearing jeans, a blue and green short sleeved knit top and sneakers. Her look is topped off with blackish brown glasses square glasses on her face. She's cute, is the first thought that runs through Tommy Merlyn's mind. His second thought is that she also looks familiar. Tilting his head to the side, he tries to figure out where he's seen her before. He can tell she wasn't expecting to find him, as a look of wide surprised is spread across her face once her eyes land on him. A similar expression must be on his face because they both stand stock still as they try to figure out what the other is doing down here. Tommy opens his mouth to say something, but the woman beats him to it.

"You. Are not Oliver," the woman says to him, drawing out the words in a slow statement.

"Nope. Definitely not," Tommy replies with a slight chuckle; he rocks back on his heels in attempts to dispel some nervous energy. He watches, as the woman in question cautiously makes her way towards him. Questions are firing rapidly in his mind as he still tries to place where he's seen her. Obviously, she knows Oliver, obviously, and she knows about his secret. Tommy racks his brain as he tries to put two and two together. With the hum of the computers, buzzing behind him, he snaps his fingers together as he finally makes the connection of where he's seen this woman before. A short memory of a blond haired woman, hair whipping back and forth as she hurriedly follows Oliver down the hallway upstairs late one night last week. "You," Tommy said simply, a hint of enlightenment carrying in his voice.

"Me," she says, sheepishly shrugging her shoulders as she places her purse down at the table next to him.

He can see the curiosity in her eyes as he notices her assessing him. Tommy shifts slightly from one foot to the other while under her scrutiny. "You're…?" he trails off, the incomplete question left hanging in the open.

"Oh, right! Sorry we haven't really met before. I'm Felicity, Felicity Smoak," she responds quickly, almost tripping over her words. She leaves the table to walk over to him fully and extends her hand out to him to shake.

"Felicity. Of course. Queen Consolidated IT Consultant for Verdant. I knew I had seen you at the club, it finally all makes sense now," he says, taking her hand and placing his patented Merlyn smile on for show. He should have known all of this technology wasn't Oliver's doing. Maybe it wasn't a mistake to come down here. He's finally gotten one small piece of the puzzle figured out. "I'm –"

"Tommy Merlyn. Oliver's best friend since childhood. Dating the Laurel Lance. I know all about you. Well, not all about you, because that would be stalking, and I'm definitely not one, a stalker – that is. And I'm going to stop rambling in 3, 2, 1…" Felicity babbled incessantly, her eyes closed in embarrassment as she closes her mouth and purses her lips together into a thin line.

For one moment, Tommy Merlyn lets his guard down and smiles sincerely at the woman in front of him. "No, I get it. You're Oliver's computer whiz. Oliver never could have put this together without someone who really knew what they were doing with computers. I may not know this Oliver very well, but I knew he was lying when he said the server needed fixing at such odd hours of the day, and at our club. Same old Ollie there. He's a terrible liar," Tommy gestures around him.

"Horrible," she says, as Felicity moves over to her computer station to unlock the screens. "You should have seen the awful stories he would tell me in order to help him with odd requests, before I knew about all this," Felicity laughs lightly, making a shooing motion to Tommy to move away from her chair.

Holding his hands up in mock defense Tommy chuckles along with her while he moves away so she can reclaim her rightful chair. As he watches her sit down, he can tell she belongs there. That in this huge basement, filled with arrows and training equipment, that this little space right here, is all hers. It feels right, and he doesn't even know her, but he just knows. It unnerves him a bit at that realization. "So, what are you doing her so late at night?" Tommy asks, trying to glance at the monitors that have just booted up, each screen lit up with different maps or pieces of coding. Not anything he can make heads or tails of.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" Felicity swivels in her chair to face him, her eyebrows raised, and head cocked to the side.

"Well played, Ms. Smoak. Well played," he banters back with her, feeling more at ease with this woman than he has with anyone he's encountered the past two months. "Actually, I just wanted a place to clear my head, try and understand…..all of this. Oliver," Tommy somberly replies; letting his mask drop to reveal one of the first honest things he's said all day.

"I don't really know you Mr. Merlyn, but I do know two things, that Oliver carries a burden with him each and every day that eats away at him, trying to be the person everyone wants him to be, but no longer is," she says to Tommy, looking up at him with a seriousness that stills him completely. He can see the wheels turning in her head as she pauses to gather herself before continuing.

"Please call me Tommy. I'm not my father. And the second?" Tommy prompts in a clipped tone, anxious to hear what she has to say.

"Oliver is scared," she finishes quickly, adjusting her glasses in a nervous gesture.

"Scared of what?" he says, crossing his arms in front of him; Tommy props himself against the desk intrigued with the information Felicity has just provided him.

"He's scared of losing himself. Losing you, Tommy. You're the one person he's always been able to count on to be there for him; he's afraid if he loses your friendship, there won't be anything left of him to be saved. And the worst part? He can't even admit it to himself. Trying to carry this all on his own; he trusts you with everything, which is why he trusted you with knowing this," Felicity states, the passion and sincerity in her voice left no room for doubt.

Felicity Smoak is remarkable. She managed to decipher Oliver in a way he never could. Tommy clearly understood in this moment why Oliver had found this woman and brought her into his life. Clearing his throat, he needs time to sit and sift through everything he's been told. "So, you never told me what you're doing here," he says, motioning to the computers next to them. A topic change is in desperate need; he can't take anymore heavy conversations right now, the tiredness is starting to seep into his bones.

"Well, I came here to try and tie up a few loose ends, but I think I really just came here to keep myself busy and put my rambling thoughts to rest," Felicity reluctantly speaks, slightly exasperated with herself.

Tommy notices how her demeanor changes, and how it seems like she's just trying to get away as well. From what, he's not entirely sure of yet. As he observes Felicity, his eyes travel down to her hands where he catches her unconsciously rubbing her wrists. At a closer inspection, he can see raw rings of red wrapped around her wrists where her fingers are circling her right hand. Concern flowing through him, he reaches over and grabs her left hand. "What happened here?" Tommy voices quietly, as if afraid to speak any louder would scare her off. He can tell he's startled her.

"Oh uh, nothing really. Well – this crazy ex-girlfriend of Oliver's came into my office at work and forced me to hack into the FBI database, where she then tied me up on the floor and left…" she says in an equally quiet voice; she carefully extracts her hand from Tommy's grasp to place it in her lap.

"Helena," Tommy vehemently speaks; anger surging through him as The Huntress has not only hurt him, but the innocent woman sitting in front of him. And suddenly, he's not just upset at Helena; he's upset with Oliver for even potentially putting her in this position by letting her into this new world of his. His anger and frustration must have shown all over his face because before he knew it, Felicity was standing directly in front of him her hand on his injured wrist.

"Hey, stop it. Don't blame Oliver. It's my life. I made this choice to help him," Felicity firmly states. She glances from his bandaged wrist to hers and Tommy can see a look of understanding cross her face. "Looks like we've both had a crappy day."

Without preamble, Tommy breaks out into a full out belly laugh. Bending slight at the waist, the rush of the day's activities flooding into him fully, all he can do is laugh at the ludicrousness that is his life. Felicity seems to catch his train of thought because all of a sudden she's joining him in his laughter fest. After several minutes, silence overtakes the Foundry again, and they both realize they've been staring at each other for far too long that should be comfortable for two people who have just met. But in the same instance, Tommy feels like he's connected with the one person who may be able to understand some semblance of what he's going through on his own. Before things start to become awkward, Tommy steps back and smiles genuinely at Felicity. "Well, Felicity Smoak, you have turned out to be pleasantly unexpected in my life tonight. Thank you for that," Tommy playfully jests to her; he turns to head towards the stairwell when Felicity's voice stops him.

"Hey Mr. M-Tommy, you're welcome," Felicity stumbles over her words as she shuffles a few steps away from her desk.

She's shifting from left to right and her hands are rubbing her wrists again in nervousness. He can tell she's debating something in her head, but before he can ask, she turns back to the desk to grab her phone and is walking to him with a confidence and determination that wasn't there a second ago.

"If- if you ever need to talk with someone, about Oliver, or about your day, you can talk to me," she says to Tommy, looking at him with an openness and honesty that makes his chest ache.

He sees her looking down at her phone typing something rapidly before glancing back up at him a short grin crossing her face. He hears his phone chime and vibrate in his back pocket, not wanting to break the moment between them; he simply nods politely at her and heads up the stairs and out into the club. After locking up and exiting Verdant, Tommy heads towards his car when he hears his phone chime again alerting him he has a new text message. Laurel. He hopes wistfully, but unlikely as she's still upset with him. Unlocking his car, he gets in and closes the door. Reaching behind him, Tommy pulls out his phone to see two messages from an unknown number.

"For when you need an ear to lean on…..or if you are ever in need of computer support, just not relationship advice, I'm horrible at that, don't recommend asking me…."

"If you need a friend. I'm here. – Felicity Smoak"

Smirking to himself in his car, Tommy shakes his head with absurdity. Of course she would babble even in her text messages. Seemingly enough, he's not even surprised or mad that she managed to find his private cell phone number. Remarkable. Without thought or hesitation, Tommy responds to Felicity's text. Once his phone alerts him that his message has been sent; he tosses his phone into the passenger seat and starts the engine. As Tommy is pulling out of Verdant, he's grinning the entire time.

"Felicity Smoak, I believe this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

OOOOO

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