Setting: Arrowverse: Post 2x14 AU in the Arrowverse. Flashverse: First season through 1x8. Marvelverse: About a year post Avengers and the end of CA: The First Avenger. This is all pre-CA: TWS to this point. AoS: References through 1x10, including S.H.I.E.L.D.'s monitoring of powered humans.

I do not profit from this fiction and all rights belong to DC and Marvel. Many thanks and more notes at the end of this.

Song Title: Got a Date with an Angel – Hal Kemp and His Orchestra (Skinny Ennis voc.) (1937)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes).

Chapter 4: Got a Date with an Angel (Part One)

The executive elevator opened the moment Felicity hit the call button, which she first took as a good sign. Compared to the thought of being anywhere near Oliver, even the prospect of hiking down sixty floors of stairs while wearing toe-pinching boots didn't sound half bad.

What she hadn't counted on was the silence; thick, choking silence. Once she and Steve stepped into the car, he took up a post on one side while she stood on the other, staring up at the floor indicator while frantically trying to remember any of the dozen things she'd looked forward to discussing with him. Anything to break the stifling quiet while the elevator slid down to the ground floor with its usual glacial slowness. Yet her clash with Oliver had rattled her concentration and inside she was a roiling mess of anger, hurt and disappointment.

There she'd been, ready to go on her date with Steve, relishing the the flash and zing of excitement and anticipation of a night spent doing something fun and different with an attractive man who'd asked her out, for a change. Taking the first step towards getting part of her own life back by having an evening that didn't involve chasing bad guys and hiding out in the basement of a bar.

Less than five minutes with Oliver and her excitement was gone like helium from a punctured balloon. She was as furious at him for spoiling that wonderful, happy lightness as much as she was for his insinuations about why Steve had asked her out in the first place.

She knew Oliver well enough to understand he hadn't done anything on purpose. He wouldn't have processed the layer of insult in what he'd said any more than he would have deliberately tried to spoil her good time. He wasn't cruel; he just didn't think. She doubted he had a clue he'd even caused a problem because, as usual, he was viewing everything through Arrow-centric tunnel vision. What had happened was no different from when they'd brought him back from Lian Yu and he'd failed to see how any mention of Carly made Digg flinch. She'd had to all but yell the obvious in Oliver's face before he'd noticed, and then he'd been stunned. For a man with his level of situational awareness, there was a lot he missed.

Blind spot, she thought wryly. Oliver had admitted he'd had one where Laurel was concerned but Felicity was starting to think he had one for every woman in his life, including herself. He'd have to, if he thought she'd be dumb enough not to see through someone who was trying to romance information out of her.

Understanding Oliver, however, didn't mean she was inclined to forgive him yet. With any luck Digg would hit him with a clue-by-four on her behalf.

"Sorry about dragging you away like that," she blurted out at last, the silence too much for her. "I could have at least given you a chance to say goodbye to Digg."

Smiling slightly, Steve glanced down at her. A hint of Brooklyn underscored the dry humor in his words. "Yeah, I was powerless to resist."

In spite of everything laughter bubbled up, easing away the worst of her tension. Right. She was apologizing for manhandling Captain America. Yeah, that made sense. The top of her head barely reached his chin and he could probably bench press a truck one handed. Talk about being threat level zero as far as he was concerned.

"Yeah, no, guess that's not happening. Sorry. I keep forgetting that you're, you know. You." Ugh. Brilliant, Felicity. "As in, Captain America kind of you."

"Yeah. About that." Sobering, he straightened to attention, shoulders square and rigid beneath his brown leather jacket. "I'm sorry. I should've just told you when you asked last night. First date I'd been on in...a while. Got the jitters, I guess. Couldn't think of a way to say it that didn't sound like bragging. I wasn't trying to lie to you, though."

"You didn't lie," she said, surprised at how bothered he was. Compared to the level of lies Oliver and even Barry dished out on a daily basis to cover their secret identities, Steve's mild restatement of the truth was nothing. "You do work for the government," she reminded him, trying to ease his guilt. "If a superhero isn't a kind of security consultant, I don't know who is. And you definitely deal with special problems. Besides, it's not like I couldn't figure it out on my own. I didn't know the Captain America part of it when I asked you out, but I knew by the time you'd come back with the ice cream. I'm blonde, but I'm not that blonde."

Some of the stiffness eased from his posture. "Yeah, I thought you'd seen me autographing the shield for that lady. Never have figured why anyone would want my scribble on something, but she said it was for her son's birthday, and I don't like to let a kid down."

Autograph? It was on the tip of her tongue to ask what autograph, but then she'd have to tell him how she'd really figured it out. She couldn't tell him that without sounding paranoid or worse, opening a barrel of questions about her night work she couldn't yet answer. She rushed on, hoping to cover her second of confusion.

"Anyway, I thought you wanted to make sure I wasn't going to go all rabid fangirl and 'grr' on you, or you were trying to be a real person for the evening. Either way, you'd tell me when you were ready." She caught herself. "Not that you aren't...always...a real person."

"Thanks. I think." Amusement shifted to concern. "Sounded like your boss had issues with me, though. You're not in trouble or anything, are you? Looked like you had it handled, but I'd be glad to take it up with him, if you need me to."

Sounded like? Her pulse skipped a beat as she mentally scrolled back through her conversion with Oliver. Anyone with an IQ higher than plant life who'd heard all of what they'd said could figure out Oliver was the Arrow, and Steve was definitely not someone with the brains of a begonia. But if he had heard very much, she reasoned, he'd be angry or he'd be asking more questions.

"Oh, no. Welcome to Oliver being Oliver and assuming things he shouldn't. Stopping to be logical would slow the quantum leaps he likes to make to conclusions." Relief washed over in a warm flood. Not until that moment had she realized how much of her disappointment was because she was afraid Steve would leave as Barry had. Instead, he'd backed her and wanted to be with her enough to stand up for her. It felt...wonderful. "But thanks."

"Hey, you saved me from dates worse than death last night. Least I could do for you."

"I'm just glad he didn't scare you off," she said before she thought. "Wouldn't be the first time that's happened, with Oliver."

"Yeah, I don't scare easy." He hesitated. "But...so we're clear...I'm not stepping on anything with you two, am I? I don't want to make time with another fella's girl."

"No. No. I told you yesterday, there's nothing between me and Oliver."

"Good. Wanted to make sure you had room for me on your dance card, is all."

Beneath the joking, she caught a ring of uncertainty. She couldn't imagine why he'd think a woman wouldn't want go out with him, but the tone, the look behind the eyes; after all her own dating disasters, she knew those from the inside out. She could feel the emergency brake on her mouth slipping as her brain struggled to come up with some way to reassure him and to let him know she understood.

"I don't have a dance card. I don't think they use those any more. But if I did have one, you'd be on it. I mean, you don't have any competition to worry about." She bit her lip hard enough to sting, mentally counting down until the emergency brake locked back into place and she could be certain she wasn't going to blurt out an embarrassing commentary of her last three years of dating non-action as well. Great. Way to babble, Felicity. "Yes. Definitely. There's room."

His smile deepened around his eyes. Understanding in turn, not laughing at her. And to Felicity's surprise, it was back: the clutch of anticipation in her chest, the snap and zing of attraction and possibility and promise.

"Glad to hear it," he said. "Sign me up."

"You are dead serious, aren't you?" Digg straightened from the doorframe of Oliver's office, staring at him in disbelief. "You really want me to investigate Captain America?"

Oliver dumped a pile of papers from Isabel's meeting into the trashcan without bothering to read them first. Normally, he would have given them to Felicity to make sense of, but most of Isabel's paperwork ended up as garbage anyway. Might as well give it a head start.

"Couldn't be deader if my heart stopped beating Digg."

Taking a deep breath Digg folded his arms across his chest, his face smooth and unreadable. Only the tightness around his mouth betrayed the anger beneath the crust of control.

"You know, I didn't mind looking into Barry Allen for you. I thought he knew too much and his story was fishy, even if he is a nice kid. But what the hell has Steve Rogers done besides ask Felicity out?"

"He's in the Arrow's territory. He's a S.H.I.E.L.D. representative in the Arrow's territory," said Oliver, nettled. "S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't station one of its heaviest hitters here unless there was something wrong. I want to know what it is, preferably before it bites me in the ass when I least expect it. Why is that so difficult to believe?"

"Possibly because your requests for investigation always seem to focus on someone with whom our Miss Smoak is smitten?"

Oliver flashed him a look of annoyance. Digg smiled blandly back at him, dark eyes sharp.

"That's not true. We investigated Sara when she first came to town, before we knew she was Sara, I mean. You know I don't like the idea of another player in town. And no offense to your family connections Digg, but I'm not a fan of S.H.I.E.L.D. or anyone who works for them, either."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. calls Barry Allen in to consult on occasion and you've never objected," Digg pointed out. "Hell, you were the one he came to when they approached him."

"Which is why I don't have a problem with Barry." A knot of tension began to throb between Oliver's eyes. "I'm his mentor. He's in Central City, not in my back yard, and most importantly, I know where his loyalties lie."

"You mean you think you can intimidate him into being a good boy and doing things your way if you need him to," Digg said sardonically. "Think you saw that won't work with Cap."

Oliver didn't dignify that with a response. "Like I said. All I want is for you to talk to your cousin and see what's going on. That's not too much to ask, is it? And before you think I don't have a good reason for my suspicions, take a look at what Lance texted me yesterday. A special S.H.I.E.L.D. bulletin sent to all police departments, asking them to report any cases involving unexplained high intensity explosions or cases involving metahuman abilities...especially super strength."

He tossed his phone to Digg, who caught it with ease. As he read the older man's expression grew heavier. "You're worried about Roy?"

"He's the last Mirakuru survivor. I don't know if this is all part of the metahuman cleanup and tracking S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been doing since that explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs or if they got a lead on the Mirakuru and they're trying to track down anyone who might have been affected. You know S.H.I.E.L.D. tracks and monitors powered individuals."

"This have anything to do with those case files Roy stole for Lance?"

Oliver nodded. "Since he was demoted and his partner was killed, Lance doesn't have access to those archives anymore. If he got caught taking them, he'd be fired. Felicity wiped the electronic links between the Mirakuru cases and the Arrow months ago, to be safe. We didn't know the hard copies were still there. Lance doesn't know about Roy, of course. He thinks he's covering the Arrow. But if the files disappear, they can't be turned over to S.H.I.E.L.D."

Digg eyed him with a touch of exasperation. "Some reason you didn't tell us all about this yesterday, Oliver?"

"We were kind of pressed for time, Digg! And besides, how the hell was I supposed to know Felicity was suddenly going to start dating the Star Spangled Pride and Joy of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" At Digg's level stare, Oliver forced himself to rein in his sarcasm. "Just check and make sure S.H.I.E.L.D.'s not trying to capture Roy and make him into a Mirakuru lab rat." He cleared his throat. "And we can make sure Rogers isn't taking advantage of Felicity to try to find him."

"Figured that was coming," Digg scoffed but when Oliver didn't quip back he met his friend's gaze head on. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"It would be a logical way for him to get information," Oliver said stubbornly.

Digg tossed the phone back to him. "You know what your problem is, Oliver? You think everyone operates the way you do. You didn't have a problem romancing McKenna so you could plant a bug on her phone, so you assume Steve Rogers would do the same to Felicity."

"And you base that assumption off what, your grandfather's seventy year old memories of his old war buddy?" Oliver snapped. "C'mon Digg, he works for spies."

"No," said Digg with strained patience, "He works for the organization that rescued him, which was started by good friends he knew and trusted. And as for the rest, I'm going on month old memories from my cousin Trip and his friends in S.H.I.E.L.D., plus every Howling Commando I ever met who knew him. Trust me. Steve Rogers as a male Mata Hari works about as well as you being a male Virgin Mary."

"Hey!"

"You asked." Digg shrugged, unrepentant. "Oliver. Do you honestly think I would let Felicity walk out the door with anyone I thought would take advantage of her, no matter who he is?"

Oliver exhaled, his anger evaporating. "No."

"Then trust my judgment. Trust Felicity's common sense. She called your bullshit before you told her you were the Arrow and she made the call on her own to trust both you and Barry, didn't she?" When Oliver opened his mouth to speak, Digg put up his hand and added, "I'm not negotiating. I get you're worried about Roy, so I'll find out what I can from Trip. But I won't touch Steve Rogers' personal life, Oliver...or Felicity's. You need to start respecting her boundaries. You already changed her job without asking her. She's got a right to her life and whoever she wants in it."

Oliver's gut tightened against an unexpected stab of hurt accompanied by the hollow sound of doubt echoing in his head. Was Digg right? Was he overstepping his rights as Felicity's friend, as her partner? Her work for the Arrow made her a target. He'd promised he'd protect her when she came on board. It would be his fault, his broken promise, if someone took advantage of her, but she'd be the one who'd suffer.

He'd taken a bullet for her to keep that promise, but emotional wounds hurt more than bullet holes. He remembered how it had felt to trust Helena, to feel a connection with her, only to have her use and abuse that trust.

He didn't want that for Felicity.

However, he knew Digg had dug in his heels. For now, he grudgingly nodded his agreement. After all, what more could he do?

A/N: **Part Two will be along in the next day or so, but due to chapter length, I wanted to go ahead and post this.

My undying adoration to srmiller for beta'ing and sprinting with me and to LadyofGlencairn and Morcades for beta'ing, brainstorming and generally kicking me in the rear end through more versions than I really want to count.

I also can't say enough how much I've appreciated all comments, patience, support and encouragement from everyone who's been following. All I can say is: I hope the updates won't disappoint. Thank you!

Notes: Mata Hari was a courtesan and dancer convicted of being a spy during WWI.