Developments

#3 Oliver and Felicity share a room

Dick Pennyworth, was all the rage in the newly built Applied Science department. Instead of a dank warehouse outside of the city limits, Ap. Sci. was now being housed with the main Queen Consolidated building. With four levels of newly renovated glass and steel rooms, and salivating lab rats all hoping to make the next big break in science the department was ready to once again become the forefront of Queen Consolidated's purpose.

Or at least that was what the Board of Trustee's, who were collectively acting as the head of the company, hoped.

And her boss, Mr. Pennyworth, with his shocking black hair, attractive features and glasses, and a dimpled smile it was no surprise that all of Felicity's fellow lab rats fell in line hoping to garner his attention.

She on the other hand wanted to keep her head low, and get through the complex algorithms keeping her from the lair. Oliver would have news today about the company, and his assets. Not his ass-ets. But his assets. Even though Felicity was sure Laurel would totally grind up on his assets. Totally.

The real kicker is that by offering legal consulting her and Oliver were together everyday.

Every single day.

It wasn't the fact her absence from Oliver's life didn't bother him in the slightest.

It wasn't that she felt suffocated when Laurel hung around the Quiver. Two weeks back and Felicity called this happening. She totally did. She was just waiting for the day when she would walk into the Quiver and find Oliver teaching Laurel to use the bow.

Not that he ever asked Felicity.

Two weeks ago – had it really only been two weeks since they finished the Slade debacle? - Oliver was crashing on her futon looking every bit a lost boy.

She had fully planned on going right to sleep after she made sure he had everything she could give comfort wise. But then she heard it.

Pacing.

Oliver only paced when either extremely frustrated or scared.

And the sheer fact that she could hear him doing laps in her living room was a testament to how distracted he was.

"Oliver, the point of making a bed is so that you can eventually sleep in it."

But when Felicity saw how tense and miserable he was she grabbed his arm and they both padded over to her room.

"Get in." When she saw his dubious look she pointed towards the bed. "Get in or else I'll stay up right along side you all night."

"Felicity, you are falling asleep while standing, you need the sleep."

She didn't deem that with a response, but rather continued to point to her bed.

"Oliver, I'm not going to steal your virtue tonight, so would you get in the damn bed. And by tonight I mean ever. Not that it wouldn't be fantastic it would- Three, two, one." She took a deep breath to regroup her frazzled thoughts. "I'm tired, you are tired, let's sleep. This isn't weird. Diggle and I platonically-slept together all the time before Lyla."

Felicity saw the glint of his teeth in the darkness of the room.

Because calling it an Arrowcave didn't make much sense given that arrows don't live in cave. But they are housed in quivers. It just made her grit her teeth a bit whenever they ambled into her lair and told inside jokes and remembered the 'good old days.'

My God, Felicity wanted to shake the woman. He fucked your sister to fuck with you. Your totally cool-kick-ass sweetheart sister. Repeatedly. And only felt remorse after thinking she was dead. He has daddy-issues, mommy-issues and a runaway-sister. He struggles with demons and nightmares on a daily basis.

He is not your Ollie.

He needs to figure himself out. Learn to love himself before you can expect any sort of viable relationship with him.

It was that Oliver didn't notice that Dig was obviously going through something. That he became so fucking blind the moment that Laurel walked into the room.

Laurel. Always Laurel. Everyone else be damned.

She wasn't jealous.

She was frustrated and hurt on Diggle's behalf.

She was worried that this was how it was going to go. Would Dig, Roy, and herself fade into the background, burned by the magnificence of gorgeous Laurel?

Wow her brain hurt.

Was it strange that she missed Oliver even with the knowledge she would be seeing him in a few hours. Missed taunting him about the coffee she never got him. Sharing impromptu lunches when she would make an extra-bagged lunch for him, or when he would order in and share with her.

And Dig, she didn't know what was going on with Dig, where has he been? Even when he was at Arrow meeting her wasn't really there. Distant eyes, even more noncommittal than usual. Shoulders slumped and huge exhaustion bruises under his eyes.

Wow, she had not used this much processing power on unrelated to Arrow business since probably college, where she struggled to conquer her senior thesis. Tracking criminals, and breaking into documents was easy. But this, this was the academic craziness she left behind in MIT. Oh how she had missed it.

Felicity pressed her palms into her eyes, hoping that when she saw the flickers light behind her eyelids that they would magically point her in the correct direction. Correct life direction, too.

" That's an interesting take," Felicity flinched at the smooth voice that came from behind her.

"Don't you knock," she snapped before swiveling her chair to see the victim of her ire.

Well, shit.

Bossman was standing in front of her dimples and all. She'd actually have to uphold work place decency because Oliver was no longer her boss. Not that she was unprofessional with him.

She wasn't. In any way.

But she knew that her sarcasm, wit and general taunting of his person wouldn't get fired.

"I mean I am so sorry Mr. Pennyworth." She smoothed down the sides of her skirt, "With all that's happened I tend to be a little flinch-y when I have unexpected company."

"Ms. Smoak my apologies on sneaking up on you," he went on to say, "Carving out the demographic for our new patent's distribution based on the density-distribution of our similar previous patents is quite clever." With one last appraising look from behind his chic glasses, "I wait to see what you are capable of, Ms. Smoak."

Later on she would tell Roy about it.

"I just get this really strange feeling from him," she lamely explained.

"Does he make you feel warm and tingly in your lady parts?" He chortled to himself, which earned what would have been a well-formed jab to his side, but he caught before she made impact.

"Too slow," he taunted.

They continued to circle around one another on the sparring mats.

Because with Dig was too distracted, and Oliver disinterested then she took matters into her own hands. Felicity was learning to street fight from one of the Glade's finest.

Read. Review. Let's break twenty reviews if we can!