Author's Note: My apologies for the ridiculously long delay on this next update. I have not given up this story by a long shot, but life has just gotten in the way of my writing lately. However, I'm planning on this to be the first of several updates over the next few weeks. The holidays give me more time to write, and all the great Olicity scenes on the show have fueled my creativity for those two. Enjoy the newest chapter!
After five minutes of sitting on the city bus en route to my new job at Stellmoor International, I was already beginning to miss Oliver's shiny (albeit terrifyingly fast) sports car. Discreetly covering my nose so as to avoid the peculiar odor of the person beside me that smelled suspiciously of some mutant species of pickle, I felt my phone buzz softly in my purse as my boss's name popped up on the screen next to an image of his brooding face.
"Felicity?" his voice sounded across the line before I even had a chance to speak.
I felt one corner of my mouth curl upwards with a will of its own at just hearing the comforting timbre of his voice. My anxiety at going undercover to work for a bunch of cutthroat businessmen had kicked in a good while ago, but something about hearing Oliver's voice instantly helped set my mind at ease. There was just something about the man that gave me an innate feeling of safety even in the most nerve-wracking of circumstances. Maybe it was that whole badass, arrow-wielding routine.
Biting back the smile that had caused my pickle-scented companion to eye me in a friendlier way than I was comfortable with, I suppressed the grin and returned his greeting with mock seriousness. "I'm sorry, Sir. I'm afraid I don't know who that is. This is Miss Aubrey Greenfield, computer tech for Stellmoor International," I answered, citing my new alias that had been committed to memory the night before.
"You read over the info I sent you," he guessed. I could hear the smile in his voice as he said it. It was the one point of pride I had in my relationship with Oliver Queen. I could always get him to smile.
"Well read and preparing to report for duty, boss," I replied, giving a mock salute that caused pickle man's smile to be replaced by a curious frown.
I ignored him and turned my attention to the plastic I.D. card resting in the palm of my hand with my false name printed in bold, black lettering next to a fuzzy picture of my face. I squinted as I looked at the image wondering what in the world I had been thinking with my unfortunate choice of hairstyle that day. "Felicity," Oliver's curt voice snapped my attention away from the card in my hand.
"Huh?" I mumbled, not having heard whatever question he had aimed at me while I was busy critiquing the photo on my badge.
Oliver sighed in response to my wandering attention but repeated the statement I had missed before. "I'm going to be meeting with Miss Rochev today over the stocks she's attempted to purchase from Queen Consolidated, so you might see me around. I can't talk to you because we don't want to blow your cover, but if anything goes wrong, Diggle will be there to help. I'll meet with you tonight to see if you've found out anything."
"Do you want me to go to the club?" I asked, referencing Oliver's club in the Glades that secretly housed his high tech hideout below.
The line went silent for a moment as he thought over that proposition. "No, with you working at Stellmoor now, it's not safe to have you seen there. I'll find you."
"But how- " My question was cut short by the bus's arrival at my stop, and the metallic doors swished open to prompt my exit.
"I'll find you," Oliver repeated without giving me a chance to finish my thought. After those few words the line went dead.
Rolling my eyes at Oliver's monosyllabic nature that made it impossible for me to tell half of the time what in the world he was talking about, I stood and gave a polite nod to Mr. Pickles before trudging off the bus. Once I was off and the doors shut behind me, I took off down the sidewalk at a brisk pace towards my new place of employment. Being late on my first day wouldn't be an ideal start.
Arriving ten minutes earlier than necessary, I stepped through the revolving door of the Stellmoor building with my unflattering I.D. badge attached to the collar of my practical, button-down shirt. As I was being cleared through security, I caught sight of a familiar face and gave Diggle an almost imperceptible nod of my head in acknowledgement of his presence. He returned the gesture just before I was whisked away from security by a stern faced employee that looked as if he had spent the better part of his life sucking on lemons.
He escorted me to an upper floor where the majority of the IT department was housed, not speaking a word to me the entire time. Not that I wanted him to talk to me. He didn't look like the type to make pleasant small talk.
"This is where you'll be working," he informed me after we stepped off the elevator, speaking for the first time since he'd escorted me upstairs. "Mr. Degrand will be your supervisor in this department."
At these last words, he turned promptly on his heel and left just as another man, looking much friendlier than my previous companion, approached me with his hand extended in greeting. "You must be Miss Greenfield," he stated as he grasped my fingers in a warm handshake. "I'm Mike Degrand. I oversee this department, so anything you need, just ask me. I'm sure you're already familiar with the type of research we do for the company since you come highly recommended, but, again, if you need anything just let me know."
As he showed me to my work station, I wondered just how glowing the letter of recommendation had been that succeeded in securing my temporary position here. My new supervisor was currently looking at me as if he expected me to discover the cure to the common cold before lunch time. "So I'll leave you to it then," Mike told me with a parting wave after he had pointed out everything I would need to be familiar with. "We're glad to have you aboard, Miss Greenfield."
He walked away after that, leaving me to realize that he hadn't given me the chance to get a word in edgewise since I'd stepped foot in my new department. Mulling over the realization that apparently employees of Stellmoor were meant to be seen instead of heard, I logged into the various programs on my computer that were meant to be at my disposal for the purpose of research. As the programs loaded, I stole a surreptitious glance over my shoulder to make sure I was being unobserved before slipping my security encrypted jack into an open USB port and setting up a few parameters on the system that would make certain the activity on my PC couldn't be monitored or recalled by anyone other users.
After the set up was complete and my list of tasks for the day had been pulled up, I gave a soft snort of laughter. Clearly whoever set up this list of duties for me to perform throughout the week had seriously underestimated my brain cell capacity. Oh well, I thought with a mental shrug. Leaves me more time to do Oliver's research. Research that could be essential in saving his company from bloodthirsty vulture's ready to take advantage of his weak position as CEO.
With that thought spurring me on, my fingers flew across the keyboard in a pattern more familiar than breathing, and I began to delve into Stellmoor's secrets. If there was something here they were trying to hide, I meant to find it. I wasn't destined to be disappointed.
After about two hours of endless searching through the company's database, I came across something that made my eyes go wide with intrigued interest before I leaned forward to reread the data scrolling across my screen. The info on the program seemed to indicate that whatever information it contained was weapons based.
That's weird, I mouthed silently to myself with a perplexed frown. What was a financial company like Stellmoor doing with a weaponry program? As I clicked on the file in question I was surprised to find multiple layers of encryption protecting the contents within from any prying eyes. Though frustrated at the fact that it would take at least two days to get through all those layers of encryption to find what they were hiding, I was encouraged by the fact that they considered something important enough to secure it so thoroughly. Despite their best efforts though, whatever Stellmoor was trying to hide, they hadn't counted on Felicity Smoak. I would get to the bottom of this thing no matter what, because the future of Oliver's company could be depending on it.
"Nice pajamas."
The comment that sounded with a low rumble through my dimly lit living room startled me enough to send a nearly full bag of low-carb trail mix shooting up into the air before pelting my unexpected company with a shower of peanuts and craisins.
"You scared me!" I accused with an annoyed jab of my finger in his direction when I finally realized who had joined me.
Oliver pinched a stray cashew from his shoulder before flicking it away. "Yeah, I see that. Sorry about your snack."
Now that my heart rate had calmed down, I felt my irritation slowly melt away to leave a feeling of warm comfort behind, the same persistent feeling that seemed to rear its head every time I was around my chisel-jawed employer. "It's no big deal," I shrugged off his apology before moving to get a broom in order to clean up the scattered contents of my plastic, snack bag. "Nuts aren't really my thing, anyway."
"Uh huh," I heard Oliver grunt, and even in the dark surroundings I could catch the spark of amusement in his eyes at my choice of words. As soon as I realized the reason for his smile, I was grateful for the dark around us that hid the deep blush that immediately covered my burning cheeks to the roots of my hair. I really had to get that brain to mouth thing under control.
In an effort to forget my embarrassment, I quickly changed the topic. "I guess you're not here to just talk about my taste in sleepwear?" I asked, gesturing towards my nightshirt that was decorated with a fleet of yellow rubber ducks.
"No," Oliver confirmed with a shake of his head, though he didn't miss the chance to give one last smirk at my shirt before getting to the point of his visit. "Did you find out anything at Stellmoor?"
I had finished sweeping up the spilled peanuts by now and dumped them in the trash before turning back to let him know what I had found out. "It will probably take at least two days to get through the encryption," I explained after telling him about the weapons program I had found.
"You can't get it done any faster?" Oliver questioned me with a frown.
I planted my hands on my hips at his question and shot a dark scowl in his direction. "Look, Oliver, I'm doing the best I can with the time I have," I said, trying unsuccessfully to keep the irritation at his questioning of my abilities out of my voice. "I might rock at what I do, but everyone has their limits. I'll get it decrypted as soon as I can and let you know."
Though he didn't push the issue about solving the decryption sooner, I could tell he was still uneasy with my answer. He just removed the green hood from his head with a loud sigh instead of responding to my comment, and even through the dark circles of grease paint, I could see the defeat shimmering in his normally controlled gaze.
Softening just the softest bit at the look on his handsome face, I left my perch on the arm of my sofa and reached out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey," I said to regain the focus of his wandering eyes. When the blue eyes locked with mine again, I continued. "I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong."
A beat of deafening silence met my question and for a split second I was afraid he was going to shut me out of his problems instead of taking the shoulder to lean on that I had offered. "I met with Isobel Rochev today," he finally spoke in slow, deliberate words that erased my fear of his keeping me sheltered from whatever was bothering him. "Stellmoor took advantage of Queen Consolidated's vulnerable position in order to purchase almost forty percent of our stock that went public last week."
"But… " I floundered for a moment as I searched for the right words to say. "Can't you buy the rest of the stock yourself in order to keep her from gaining a controlling interest."
I grasped his arm just a bit tighter then in response to the slight panic his comment had incited, and he shouldered his bow in order to move his hands to cover mine. As I felt the slight pressure of his grip on my fingers, I had to close my eyes for just a moment to keep him from seeing how even that casual touch affected me. Once I was sure he wouldn't glimpse the feelings I had tried for so long to keep out of sight, my lids fluttered open to find him studying my face with an odd look. Just as quickly as it was there, though, it was gone again. He was back to the calm, collected man I had grown so used to.
"I don't have the available funds right now to keep the rest of the stock from being bought by her company," he said, drawing my mind back to the reason we were having this conversation. "So for right now, the only thing we can focus on is finding something from within Stellmoor that can undermine their position in attempting to take over Queen Consolidated. As soon as you have access to that program information, let me know. Maybe we can find some way to use it as leverage to keep the hostile takeover from happening."
The plan was a shaky one at best, something we both seemed to know but were unwilling to admit out loud. Instead, I nodded my head in sympathetic understanding. "I'll do it as fast as I can," I promised. "You just worry about buying up that stock before Miss Rochev get her hands on it."
At my small show of loyalty, a small smile tugged at the edge of Oliver's mouth before he exerted a slightly tighter pressured on my captured fingers. "I can always count on you, Felicity."
"Likewise," I somehow managed to get the word though my lips despite the tightness in my throat at the way his words affected me.
In moments like this when it was just the two of us, I could almost imagine Oliver saw me as something else than his nerdy assistant. Here in the dark stillness where we were all alone and standing so close together, I could almost pretend that there was something more between us. It's that kind of thinking that leads to broken hearts, a stern voice reminded my subconscious, calling me back to the reality of the moment. He was Oliver Queen, billionaire playboy with his pick of beautiful, sexy women. He would never see me as anything other than plain, old Felicity. As tempting as the thought was, I had to stop imagining he would ever see me as something else.
Pulling my hand from beneath his, I took a few steps back in an effort to re-gather my wayward brain and focus on the task at hand. There would be time to mourn what could never be between me and Oliver, time to absorb the disappointment of being stuck alone in these feelings that just wouldn't go away. But that time was definitely not now, not while he was standing with me in the dark, looking as sexy and mysterious as ever.
"It's getting late," I offered the first excuse that popped into my head that would allow me to escape Oliver's company. I could only take so much torture in one night.
He looked surprised at first that I was practically kicking him out, but he recovered soon enough and gave me a nod of agreement. "You're right," he answered, pulling up his hood again and turning to exit the window he had entered several minutes earlier. "Let me know as soon as you have anything."
I replied that I would, and Oliver began to climb out the window to make his exit. I turned around then to head into the bedroom for a night of much needed sleep, but before I made it more than two steps, I heard his voice calling me back.
"Felicity." I glanced back to find him giving me a hard stare. "Be careful."
Despite my bleak mood, his obvious concern for my safety managed to gain a small smile. "I'll try."
He gave a grim look at my tentative promise, but said nothing else. With a nod of farewell, he jumped through the open window with athletic grace and left me alone in the darkness once again.
Stay tuned to see what happens next! Thanks for reading! Any comments are appreciated as always:)