Felicity practically skipped down the steps into the lair. Maybe her luck was starting to change. A date and a potential job offer, her day could only get better if Thea popped up on one of her searches and the board voted Oliver back in as CEO. "Hey," she said as she waved to Oliver and Roy who were sparring on the mat. Roy made the mistake of looking up at the sound of her voice and Oliver flipped him onto his back, pinning him to the ground.

"Never allow yourself to be distracted. Especially, by a beautiful woman." Oliver said to Roy, offering a hand to pull him to his feet. "That's enough for today. I don't want you too tired for patrol tonight." Before Oliver could change his mind, Roy grabbed his towel and water bottle and headed for the bathroom.

"You're taking Roy out tonight?" Felicity asked with surprise. Roy hadn't been diligent with his training since they returned from the island. Roy was moping about Thea and was still more than a little resistant to Oliver's authority.

"Diggle's got to work some high society charity event tonight. I thought I'd give the kid a chance to go out into the field." Oliver said as he leapt to grab a bar over his head. Felicity loved to watch him pull his legs up and over his head so he could secure his feet to the bar and do some inverted crunches. "How'd the interviews go?" Oliver asked as he lowered himself out of a crunch.

"The job wasn't a good fit for me, but one of my professors from MIT called to say he lined up an interview for me with an old friend of his who is doing research at Starling City University. His friend needs a programmer who can write code to help him analyze some research data. It doesn't pay a lot, but it should cover my expenses, not to mention the job could rehabilitate my resume."

Oliver grunted, "Sounds good."

Felicity turned back to her computer and began to scan the day's headlines, looking for someone who might deserve the attention of the Arrow. Since Slade's attack on the city, things had been relatively quiet. Starling City's criminal class had either all met a grim end or were being uncharacteristically well behaved. Oliver was taking the opportunity to take out some low level crime bosses that were trying to take power due to the vacuum created when the Triad and Frank Bertinelli's organizations were decimated. She was reading an article about a rash of break ins on the docks when Oliver sat down on the edge of her desk, pulling a gray hoodie over his head, obscuring her view of his glistening chest. She no longer got tongue tied when she saw him bare-chested, but she could still appreciate the beauty that was Oliver Queen's abs.

"Thank you." Oliver said quietly. "I know I was a bit of a jerk with the whole Waller thing."

"You're welcome?" Felicity asked teasingly. "You know you really suck at apologies."

"That's because I hardly ever do anything wrong." He winked at her and gave her the smile that was reserved for her alone.

Felicity began to laugh. She was glad Oliver was in a good mood tonight. There had been way too much guilt, fear and sadness over the past year. They were all due for some good luck. Maybe the announcement that there was going to be a baby Diggle was a harbinger of good things to come. "How's the knee?" She asked, noticing that he was absently rubbing it.

"Sore, but I'll tape it before we head out tonight." He nodded to her monitor. "So, what do you have planned for this evening?"

Felicity dragged her eyes from his knee back up to his eyes. "There's really nothing going on that the SCPD can't handle. Why don't you take the night off and give your knee a rest?"

"Felicity, I'm fine. I've had worse injuries before."

"Why do you say that like it should reassure me? If I had a dollar for every injury I've cleaned, taped, iced or sutured, we could all retire to Fiji."

Oliver smiled at her. "I've spent all the time I ever want to on an island."

Felicity blushed, stifling a yawn. "Right, no islands. As long as there is sun, fruity umbrella drinks and no one is trying to kill us, I'll be happy." Oliver furrowed his brow and looked like he was about to ask her a question.

Just then, her monitor beeped, indicating one of her servers was malfunctioning. "Damn it, not another one." She said stepping around Oliver.

She was about to unscrew the server's cover when Oliver placed a hand on her shoulder. "Felicity, is everything okay?"

"I'll let you know in a minute. If we lose any more mother boards, I might have to resort to using Magic 8 Balls to guide you."

Oliver turned Felicity to face him. "I don't care about the servers. I am worried about you. You look tired. When was the last time you slept?"

"Oliver, I sleep every night. I'm fine." The truth was Felicity hadn't slept through the night since Moira Queen was murdered. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Oliver dead with a sword through his chest. She'd been so afraid Slade would kill Oliver that she never contemplated Slade would put a blade to her own neck. Now when she slept she could feel the cold blade pressed against her throat and in her dreams she had failed to inject him with the cure. Slade would put his blade through her back and she would watch helplessly as he did the same to Oliver. "Just some bad dreams. Nothing for you to worry about."

"I do worry. You know you can tell me anything. I know I asked a lot of you that night."

"It was my choice Oliver." In an attempt to rid him of the deep crease in his brow she said, " and I always bet on Queen."

Oliver pressed his lips tightly together. "You're avoiding my question. What are you dreaming about?"

"You first." Felicity deflected.

To her surprise he answered, "In my dreams my plan failed and Slade kills you. You die in my arms and I'm powerless."

"In my dream, I fail to inject Slade. I fail you and you die in front of me." Felicity looked down at Oliver's bare feet. She doesn't want him to think that she is weak. He says that she is his partner and she knows he values her opinion, but she also knows that if he could he would lock her away from all danger. If something had happened to her, he would've blamed himself for intentionally putting her in harm's way.

She feels his fingers under her chin and he gently lifts her eyes to meet his. "Tell me," he whispers.

"Even though I knew Slade would be coming for me, when his goons showed up and I knew that I had to be brave for you and everyone else, I was terrified. It was all I could do to stand my ground and not run when they came through the door. I didn't want to let you down."

"It would be impossible for you to ever let me down." She really wished he would stop doing that. Just when she would successfully lock away her feelings for him, he would say something that would obliterate the lock and make her heart flutter.

Turning back to her server she said, "Keep that in mind when I start finding you criminals via a Ouija board."

Oliver chuckled and left her to her work. She disgustedly pulled out another circuit board, grateful that there hadn't been a cascade failure. If she took the job at SCU, maybe she could hack into their system and borrow some of their computing power.

Oliver ignored her suggestion to take the night off. He and Roy patrolled around the docks, but to Felicity's relief everything was quiet. Roy didn't stay five minutes after they returned around 1:00am. Oliver changed and waited for Felicity to gather her belongings. He had gotten into the habit of following her home and waiting for her to text him when she was safely inside her apartment. As they climbed the stairs to the street, Felicity considered telling Oliver the first lie of their relationship. "I'm going to be a little late tomorrow night."

Oliver put his hand on the small of her back and guided her out the door. "I think we can mange one evening without you."

Felicity suddenly felt sick. She couldn't lie to him, even one of omission, not to Oliver. Too many people had already lied to him and she wasn't going to start now. "Oliver, wait," she said turning to face him. " I'm afraid you won't approve."

"Felicity, what is it?" Oliver asked with concern. "It's not A.R.G.U.S. again?"

"I met a guy at a coffee shop today and he asked me out on a date. I was going to say no because it all seemed too complicated. It's not like I can easily explain where I am all night. But one date, it couldn't hurt, right? It's not like there will be a second date. Can you imagine dating me? I don't mean you actually dating me, but someone in general dating me." Felicity groaned. "See, me and my motor mouth that rarely seems connected to my brain don't make for great date conversations."

Felicity saw Oliver's eyes lose focus for a second before he returned his gaze to her. "Hey. Whoever this guys is, he is damn lucky and would be a fool not to ask you out for as many dates as you want him to."

Felicity shrugged. "In that case, I better start working on my cover story."