Stuck in a Box – Chapter Six

Felicity

Something woke her up. Had she heard something? She listened, but it seemed quiet again. Shifting slightly she felt her hand brush against the stubble of Oliver's jaw. Her eyes flipped open instantly.

The sight of his head resting against her arm made her breath stop for a second. Unable to quite resist, she moved the hand slightly, rubbing her thumb across his broad shoulder and lacing her pinky finger into the hair at the back of his neck. If he woke up she could always claimed she'd done it in her sleep right? And, unfortunately, she was unlikely to have many chances to sate her curiosity about how he felt.

Distantly she thought she heard a sound. "Oliver," she said quietly, forgetting to move her hand.

She swallowed hard when he turned his face into her hand and murmured, "Felicity?"

His voice was sleepy and content, and she would have spent about a decade thinking about how good that had sounded if there hadn't been another noise, this time much louder. She used her hand to shake his shoulder. "Oliver, I think someone's coming."

He was fully awake and on his feet in an instant. Turning to look at her he leaned his head gesturing toward the bathroom. "Get in there and shut the door," he ordered.

"But…" she started to protest.

"Don't argue with me," he said, in his deadliest voice.

She scrambled to comply, people who argued with that voice tended to get arrowed. In seconds, she was inside the small bathroom, her head against the door listening.

There were more distant sounds, shouting maybe? That was followed by a series of thuds and scrapes. Then silence. She held her breath. What was going on?

A loud boom rocked the room, making the walls shudder. Felicity yelped and ducked, covering her head as mortar dust from between the concrete blocks sifted down. Her ears rang a bit, but she could still hear one important word from beyond the closed door.

"Digg?" Oliver yelled, astonished.

Felicity stood up and threw open the door, just in time to see John Diggle step through the now bent and charred, but blessedly open, door. It took all of her conviction to look like a respectable adult not to run and throw her arms around him.

"You two ready to get out of here?" Digg asked with a grin.

"Definitely," Oliver replied. "Where is here?"

"Interestingly enough you're about ten minutes from home. You're in the basement of an empty mansion," Digg said.

"How did you find us?" Felicity asked, stepping carefully to avoid a few bits of concrete rubble in her bare feet.

"I've got one of your kidnappers in the trunk," Digg said. "Nice guy. Lance helped me track him down…well, he helped the Arrow track him down."

Felicity shot Oliver a look. "Told you that app would come in handy someday."

Oliver ignored her comment but looked closely at her face, and his gaze was intense as he turned to Digg. "That man and I need to have a conversation."

Digg pointed to the door. "After you."

As Oliver stepped through the remains of the door Felicity asked. "What exactly was that about?"

Digg looked at her. "Did you know you've got a respectable bruise on your face? I'd say Oliver's a bit upset about that."

"Oh!" she said, her face had hurt, but she hadn't really thought about it. She didn't know if she was pleased or aggravated to hear that it had so bothered Oliver. Touching her face, she said, "My glasses!"

She walked carefully across the room and put them back on.

"You might also want that shoe," Digg said, pointing to where her one black high heel sat by the bed. "I found the other one."

"Good because these things cost a fortune," Felicity said, unable to keep from smiling as she retrieved the shoe. When she stood up she went over to Digg and put her hand on his arm. "I'm so glad you found us."

Digg's eyes searched over her, and she realized she was still wearing Oliver's jacket. "Yeah, 'cause clearly it's been hell," he said, a note of sarcasm in his voice. "We'd better go, before he decides to start breaking that guy's fingers."

"Right," Felicity said. She took one last look around them, surprised to find herself feeling just a little forlorn. "Time to get back to the world."

Epilogue

Sitting in her office, high above the city, the mind behind the abduction of Oliver Queen watched the footage that her men had recovered from the hidden surveillance cameras. Two things surprised her, first that while Oliver was obviously fond of his little blonde, they apparently weren't, in fact, sleeping together, and second that Oliver clearly had no real idea of why he had been taken. The plan had worked flawlessly. John Diggle had followed his breadcrumbs like a good little soldier, and the note left by the "kidnappers" had Oliver thinking he'd bested whomever had stuck him and his assistant in that room. But she hadn't really needed four days for her plan; she'd only needed a single afternoon. Mission accomplished.

A/N: I know from the comments some people were expecting a longer story, but I liked the idea of Digg truly coming to the rescue/and the timing misdirection on the part of our mysterious villainess. I do have a clear picture in my head of who that villain is, but I kept it vague because I'm weird about the whole canon-compliant thing. Thanks again for all of the support and kind comments! Hope you enjoyed it.