TLC: Chapter 4

A/N: Truly sorry for the delay in posting this next chapter. RL has been hectic and crazy with all that's going on. I'm at home sick, but not too sick to finish writing and posting this. It's the penultimate chapter, and it's a bit shorter than the previous chapters, but I hope you still enjoy what I've come up with.

Summary: Felicity works her IT wonders to help out Oliver. Oliver discovers more than one thing that makes him admire her even more.

"Felicity, you are remarkable," Oliver told her. He knew it was an understatement. Remarkable didn't quite cut it. It didn't really do justice to describe exactly what he thought of the brilliant, beautiful blonde that sat at the foot of his bed working on his laptop. He wanted to say some other things, but his mouth did not ordinarily coordinate well with his mind and heart when he was nervous (in the thrilled and happy kind of way), so he normally just kept his remarks short.

Felicity momentarily shifted her gaze from the laptop screen to Oliver's face. With a refreshing smile she said to him, "Thank you for remarking on it." She blinked, dropping her gaze but not her grin, and then she went back to work on the laptop, biting her lip as she did. Oliver thought she was beyond cute, and that if didn't stop biting her pink lip that way, it would drive him crazy – the kind that made him fall for real for a girl he'd just met that day.

She'd been at it for almost an hour now – the "work" she had volunteered to do to help him with his QC-related problems. She had told him that she'd been a student in MIT majoring in IT and that she knew some things about cybersecurity, and she had offered to help. Oliver had readily accepted the offer, especially since it would extend the time he got to spend with her beyond her regular shift, which ended two hours ago at 6 p.m. As soon as she had finished turning over routine paperwork and other endorsements to the next nursing aide taking the evening shift, she had changed to her regular clothes and gone back to Oliver's room. She had missed his sister Thea's visit, unfortunately, but by the time she had gotten there, John Diggle had already arrived with Oliver's office laptop, which he had promised to make available for her use.

First, Felicity had accessed Queen Consolidated's computer system to find out what was wrong with their security and where the breaches were coming from.

"Password?" she had asked Oliver.

"Hmm?" He had been occupied staring at her pink-painted fingers, typing away on the keyboard without even looking at the letters and numbers. (He could never do that.)

"I need your password to get into your company's system."

"Oh, uhm… I uhh… I'm not very good at remembering passwords. I've had to ask IT to help me change my password five times already. Hold on, I think I've got it saved somewhere in my phone."

Almost a full minute had passed, and Oliver had still been tinkering (more like fumbling) with his phone to find his password. He'd been embarrassed. What if she thinks I'm some dork who can't remember his own password because he's not really doing 'work' when he's at the office? What if she thinks I'm techno-phobic or something? Those thoughts had crossed his mind.

"I can actually hack into your system without your password, but that would be considered a felony. I don't know you that well to risk going to jail for you, Mr. Queen," she had told him, smirking. "But if you will give me your permission and stick with it if anybody presses charges, I'd consider doing it." She had winked at him.

Oliver had nodded, smiling back at her. "Go ahead. You have my permission."

She had immediately gone to work, and in less than a minute, she had gotten in. He'd been totally impressed. He thought QC should consider hiring this girl. What was a talented young woman doing in a place like this?

"So… what's a genius like you doing in a place like this? Why did you quit MIT?" he had dared to ask.

Felicity had stopped working for a while and had taken the time to explain what had happened. She had already coded something and set up diagnostics, so she had time to engage in a friendly chat. She had told him about her mother getting sick and her quitting college on her senior year to come home to Vegas and take care of her. She had told him how hard it had been for her when her mother passed, leaving her with hardly any funds left in the bank and a pile of bills to pay. She had also told him about how her aunt had paved the way for her to come to Starling City, take up the nursing assistant's course, and get employed in Starling General.

If Oliver had been impressed by her computer skills earlier, it'd been nothing to the admiration he had felt for her after hearing her story. He had recognized that the petite blonde, which he liked increasingly the more he got to know her, was just as tough as he was; they had both gone through hard times that molded them into who they had become. He had come to the conclusion that there was indeed something special about Felicity Smoak – something special that he wanted to be a significant part of.

"I learned a lot from the time I had spent taking care of my mom when she was sick. I guess, that was when I developed a deep concern and compassion for the sick. When my aunt suggested I take up the training program here, she didn't have a hard time convincing me to come over," she had explained.

Oliver had replied, "Well, I'm glad you did. Otherwise, we wouldn't have met." He had smiled at her fondly. Felicity had chuckled a bit, this time not minding him teasing her again.

Some noise from the laptop that sounded like a soft alarm had gone off, notifying her that her diagnostics was finished, and she had gone back to typing on the keyboard. She had found out what was wrong, and that had led her to discover a string of anomalies in the cybersecurity system of the company. She had discovered what was causing the breaches and had proceeded to explain things to him.

"Felicity, I honestly have no idea what you are talking about," Oliver had confessed, much to his embarrassment.

"Oh, that's fine. The problem isn't as important as the solution. You get what I mean?" she had said to him, her eyes glistening with enthusiasm. He had sensed how much she enjoyed doing this stuff. "If you give me the green light, I can actually fix it right here, right now," she had added.

Oliver had given her permission to override the system and repair the multiple glitches to prevent further breaches in security. It had taken her all night to do it, but he and John Diggle had patiently waited, observing her do her magic on the computer. What had taken weeks for QC's IT department to decipher and troubleshoot – and still had failed to do – had taken her only a few hours. Both men had been thoroughly awestricken.

From time to time, Oliver and Diggle had exchanged knowing looks, and they had known exactly what the other was thinking – that Felicity was a gold mine for any Fortune 500 company to unearth, and more importantly, a precious gem for any decent, eligible bachelor waiting for that once-in-a-lifetime, prized catch.

Felicity had also uncovered something sinister, that the security breaches were actually programmed from the inside, and could be traced back to an office computer that had gained access into the system using exclusive security codes that only were known to only four top-level company executives – Walter Steele, Moira Queen, Oliver, and one Isabel Rochev.

At long last, Oliver had something concrete and incriminating to finally put Isabel in a tight spot and ease her out of the Board and, ultimately, out of the company and their personal lives. He was sure that the company's legal department would not have a hard time pressing charges as well. The coming days weren't going to be pleasant for the Roach, as Thea had taken to call the "wicked witch" that had also tried to take their father away from them a few years before the fateful sinking of the Gambit. Isabel would get what she deserved.

Remarkable. The word didn't come close to wonderful, amazing, and awesome rolled into one. By the time Felicity shut down his laptop just minutes shy of midnight, Oliver was already far gone, smitten by a woman that was only supposed to be his nursing aide for a few days.

Not if he could help it. Oliver resolved that as soon as he got discharged from the hospital, he was going to come right back in – not as a patient, and not just for follow-up visits to the orthopedic doctor that fixed his leg. He would come back, every day if necessary, until he got Felicity to agree to go out on a date with him.

After Oliver thanked her from the bottom of his heart for all her help, Felicity remarked, "You're welcome. I should add 'patient Oliver Queen's personal IT assistant' to my job description now. Happily." She blushed, noticing the fond smile that Oliver flashed at her. She then called it a day and left, leaving him alone with Diggle.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Oliver turned to his trusted bodyguard and friend. "John, would you mind doing something for me first thing tomorrow?"

"Not at all," Diggle replied, smiling.

"I'd like you to pick up a letter from my mother's office and personally take it down to HRD. They'll know what to do. Wait there for them to give you a sealed envelope, and then bring it here."

"Sure thing."

"And John," Oliver added, just as Diggle moved towards the door to leave as well, "this has to be done tomorrow. It's the day before Christmas Eve. The head of HR needs to sign off on it, okay?"

"Understood," Diggle answered, a big smile on his face. He knew exactly what his boss and friend was up to, and he knew that Oliver had a good thing going for him with this girl from Vegas. Diggle liked her too. And knowing the Queen family, he was sure that she would capture the hearts of Moira Queen and Thea as well.

Final chapter coming up next, hopefully, in 1-2 weeks' time. :-)