A.N.: Thank you guys again for all the reviews/favs/follows. I am having so much fun in this fandom and mostly it's thanks to you. So enjoy the next installment and look at the end of this chapter for some small hints on what's to come.

P.S. I know that so far there isn't a lot of romance in here, but please stick with me. We just have to get them there and once we're there, I vow to you, there will even be smut. ;-)

Living in Oliver's house wasn't anything like Felicity had been used to. Admittedly, some of her most secret fantasies involved cuddling in a huge bed in the luxurious home, but the fantasy had centered on cuddling…mostly. What her mind hadn't included was the stately elegance of the home or the simplicity of all things around her that just screamed old money.

"Is there something you'd like, Miss Smoak?" She was startled by the woman in uniform in front of her. She was used to getting things herself, and had just found her way into the kitchen to find some kind of snack when the lady popped in front of her.

"No, I just- I wanted…a sandwich maybe? I can put it together, if you could point to where the bread and stuff are?" she asked, knowing she was fidgeting. But the kitchen looked like the bridge in Star Trek. Stainless steel appliances, gleaming surfaces, a large space where she had no idea where to begin looking for things.

"I can get it to you if you'd like. What would you like in it?" the woman asked, and Felicity just gave up and rattled on the fixings. She thanked the woman and left for the room she had been given when the latter shooed her out of the kitchen.

All this quiet efficiency from the staff, the really expensive furniture and things all around her, reminded her things she had forgotten in her silly infatuation. She saw now what she had forgotten, that Oliver Queen belonged in a whole different world, no matter what persona he changed into at night. When he had walked in her office she was flustered because she knew that his life was this. This manor, this lifestyle; things she couldn't relate to. While she had forgotten that in all these months since then, the realization hit her now again. Another reason why Laurel was the one for him. Perfect Laurel who barely blinked at the things Felicity was now marveling at.

Once again she felt like she had to scold herself into agreement. Oliver Queen wasn't for her, he was Laurel's and there were clearly reasons that they were meant to be. Felicity Smoak didn't fit in that equation, so there. She only wished him to be happy.

The days after the attack on Felicity passed in a rush. Oliver had explained Felicity's presence to Thea and the staff as best he could. He also brought in equipment per Felicities instructions so that she could work the operations for the Hood from an empty study room off limits to everyone else. Security in this proved to be paramount. He explained away the presence of a biometric keypad to the room as best as he could mentioning business intelligence and fears for corporate espionage.

"We're all set," Felicity said finally three days after she had moved in the mansion. They were in the study cum operation center, both he and Diggle watching as she typed away commands into one of the keyboards. "This won't be permanent though, right? 'Cause yeah, I really like the set up here and the mansion is really great, but I can't stay here forever you know? I mean, how will you explain me spending the nights here to everyone, it will look a bit weird for your tech- Uhm, okay, shutting up now." She blushed and looked back down to one of the screens.

"Don't worry, Felicity. We'll get them soon and everything will be back to normal," Oliver promised, his amusement at her babbling fading, as she looked up at the reminder of why they were here.

"Yeah, I'm working on that. I hacked into the police system to see if they found out who those... men were."

"What did you find?" Diggle asked, trying to get her mind off the memories.

She adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat. "Well, that's just it. I didn't find a lot. Most of them have records of assault, robberies, and thefts but there isn't a connection between them. None of them has a connection to a gang, or a crime family or to each other for that matter. It looks like whoever hired them just selected random small time criminals."

"That's far from random, guys," Oliver said, and started pacing all the while thinking. "Think! Even if someone just pulled guys from the streets for this job, chances are at least one of them would have connections to something or someone. These men weren't randomly selected. They were carefully chosen. No connections, no way of tracing the order."

"Tracing! Yeah, I did that too. I went through their bank records and tried following the money," she air-quoted. "No suspicious transactions, no deposits of large sums to any of their bank accounts."

"We could check out traffic, see where the van came from," Diggle suggested, but Oliver knew they were grasping at straws now.

"Half the traffic cams in the city have been down since the quake," Oliver replied tightly. He thought they would at least get somewhere when Felicity had access to the police records. Now he didn't know where to begin.

"Who would bother to go to such lengths, be so careful to get to me?" Felicity murmured.

Oliver had only told Diggle of his suspicions that someone in the police, some dirty cop knew about Felicity's connection to the Hood. He didn't want to scare her any more than she already had been, but it was much worse to be kept in the dark.

"Felicity," he stopped his pacing and drew a chair next to hers. "Whoever hired these people clearly knows your connection to me," Oliver said, covering her hand with his. At the touch she stilled and then goose bumps appeared all over her arm. He stilled, and glanced at her skin. That reaction… he stopped his thoughts there. Quickly but casually he pulled his hand away and let it rest on his lap, subtly flexing it to make the feeling fade. This was bad…

"I know that, Oliver," she said, pursing her lips. Today they were painted a deep pink. He blinked in surprise at both the thought and as the meaning of her words sunk in. She continued speaking, and he thankfully realized that his actions and thoughts had gone unnoticed. "The thing is we don't know who the key players are in this. Someone from the police obviously, gave whoever ordered my assault the information about your connection to me. But," she emphasized, "we have no lead in either of them."

"We could just ask," Diggle said meaningfully. Oliver turned to see that he hadn't moved from his position next to the door, but the big guy was now for some reason staring intently back at him.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"You could ask Det- sorry, Captain Lance. He worked together with Felicity that night, he'll tell you who knew he brought her in if you explain that her cover's been blown," Diggle explained, but the intensity never left his eyes as he stared back at Oliver.

He ignored it for now. "Yeah, I can do that. I gotta go find him. You keep digging at those bastards' lives. Maybe a connection exists and we haven't found it," he told Felicity, before he got up and left the room with Diggle following in tow.

"I hope we won't need to have a talk, Oliver," Dig murmured.

"About what?"

"Let's leave it at that," Dig stated firmly as he opened the front door for Oliver to go through. "For now."

Oliver and Diggle looked soberly at each other before the former turned to walk out.

"Hi?" Laurel was standing just outside the door, her hand raised about to ring the doorbell.

"Laurel," Oliver said, rearranging his face to what he hoped was pleasant surprise. Dig's looks pissed him off. He refused to think more of it. And now Laurel was here. He had only seen her for dinner the day before, which had felt like a mission in itself. Like she was the enemy and he was had to cause a diversion, so she couldn't see what was going on in his life. That night he had avoided bringing her back home or going over to her. He also hadn't slept a wink.

Now he was leaning down to hug her. Another diversion.

"Are you heading out?" she asked, her brows furrowed.

"Yeah, I have to go downtown. Meeting." He smiled regretfully. Liar, whispered through his mind.

"Oh, okay, I thought I'd surprise you…" she trailed off and the weight in Oliver's chest intensified.

He could see she was disappointed and that she knew that something was wrong. In that moment the cloud of emotion that always blurred his thoughts when it came to Laurel lifted. He cared how Laurel felt, but appeasing her hurt or spending time with her wasn't a priority. While he had taken off many times before, he always felt guilty afterwards. This time he did not. Figuring out the threat against Felicity was the priority.

"I'm sorry. I really have to go," he smiled apologetically and then amended. "I'll come over tonight, okay?"

"So we can talk," she stated.

"So we can talk," Oliver agreed and kissed Laurel's cheek before he left. They had to talk things out, otherwise he knew this wasn't going to work. He just had to think of what he'd tell her. His chest tightened again. He was sad when he realized it was guilt that weighed on him, and not the fear of losing Laurel.

After all he thought he had lost Laurel once and had survived.

But could he live with Laurel everyday with all these lies?

Was he already living a lie?

A.N. 2: So stick with me because as the summary said, Felicity has to learn to fly right? So she has to leave the nest...how will Oliver take that I wonder?

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