Chapter 7- Our Ollie
Felicity stretched and massaged her hands as she sat in her office on the top floor of Smoak Technologies HQ, she looked down at the clock in the bottom corner of her computer screen and groaned when she saw that it read March 10th one fifteen AM. It seemed that she'd been typing for hours trying to send out various e-mails and coordinate with overseas business partners to set up online meetings, one of which began in just under an hour. Normally Felicity didn't mind keeping odd hours, in fact, she often found it easier to work when there was no one else around. All she needed was a good cup of coffee or an extra large soda from big belly burger and her fingers could fly across that keyboard all night long, but lately, things had been different. Although Felicity had refused to show it, her life being threatened had made a significant impact on her.
Felicity trusted John and the other members of her security team with her life, she always would no matter what. However knowing that there was a man, multiple men rather, out there in the world that wanted her dead made her terribly nervous. When detectives Lance and Slade came to Felicity with offers to move her to a safer location where the SCPD could better protect her she had declined. Felicity Smoak was the CEO of one of the most well know and active Business conglomerates on the planet, she couldn't just up and disappear overnight, she couldn't back down and cower in the corner either. The world was always watching and Felicity knew that she had to be strong, she settled for police escorts for her limo but couldn't take them up to the safe house. Now though, thinking back a small part of her regretted that decision.
The past few weeks had been quiet, other than the usual buzzing coming from the many bees that made up the Smoak Tech hive. There had been no talk of assassins or drug lords or explosions, and between John's team and the SCPD Felicity could barely make a move without somebody watching over her. So why did she still feel so anxious? Why couldn't she relax, not even for a minute? Because she was her mother's daughter. Donna Smoak had always been an overprotective parent and that only escalated when Noah and Felicity had their accident. After that day Donna had spent most of her time going out of her way to find the absolute safest way to approach every situation. Everything had to be done with precision and care, nothing could be out of place or Donna would go into panic mode.
"Felicity honey be careful! Felicity, don't touch that! Felicity where are you going? What will you be doing? Who are you going with? Call me when you get there, please! Felicity, don't forget to take your pills! Felicity do this…and that...don't do this…or that!"
From the time she was seven years old, these were the kinds of interactions Felicity most often shared with her mother. For the next twelve years, up until she left for college, caution anxiousness and apprehension were constantly drilled into her brain. These feelings became a part of Felicity just as they had her mother and although she had fought tooth and nail to overcome them and be the fearless courageous woman that she wanted to be, she couldn't always ignore her nature. Which is why lately, Felicity couldn't help but obsess over the situation she found herself in. There was a killer out there, maybe even an army of killers, and they wanted her. They wanted her dead, "Or alive" didn't seem to be an option. What if Lonnie tried again? What if the men who attacked the SCPD came for her? Just thinking about it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Felicity loved John and everyone on her security team like they were family but they couldn't be prepared for an army, and no matter how badly she wanted him to it was highly unlikely that a certain someone would be around to pull off another incredible act of heroism.
That certain someone was another reason Felicity felt so anxious. Three weeks had passed since Oliver had returned home from the hospital and begun his recovery. Three weeks and Felicity hadn't heard a peep from him, no calls to the office, no emails, nothing. Felicity knew she shouldn't worry, Oliver was probably just following her orders and resting up, still, she couldn't help but be concerned. Far more concerned than she should be for someone she shared a professional relationship with, an employee, but concerned none the less.
Was that all Oliver was to her though? Just an employee? Felicity found her brain, the rational side anyway, fighting harder and harder to convince herself that was the truth. "He's just an employee, nothing more." Meanwhile, the other half allied with her heart in protest, "he's incredible and gorgeous and strong and amazing and wonderful and amazing. Did I mention he's amazing? Come on don't fight it! Give in embrace it, feel what you wanna feel!" The constant back and forth that raged inside made Felicity's headache.
"Ms. Smoak," the voice of Eric, the night guard posted down in the lobby rang over the intercom.
The interruption was so abrupt Felicity jolted causing her chair to roll backward, she quickly grabbed the desk with both hands and pulled herself back into position. Felicity pressed a button on her desk phone and responded, "Eric you know I don't answer to that."
"Oh, right uh…Felicity?"
"Much better," Felicity chirped. "Now how can I help you?"
"We've got a situation down here."
Felicity threw her elbows up on the desk and rubbed her temples, "And what would that be?" Felicity sighed then suddenly realized she could be in danger, "Do I need to send John's men down to help you?" She asked and eyed the two men guarding the door to her office.
"No, I don't think that'll be necessary."
Felicity relaxed a little.
"There's a young woman outside yelling and banging on the glass, I tried to send her away but she seems very upset," Eric explained.
Felicity quirked an eyebrow, "Well has she told you her name?"
"No but she keeps repeating something else, she claims that her brother saved your life."
"Thea? What's she doing here?"
"Miss…uh…Felicity?" Eric asked in an unsure tone, "Should I call the authorities?"
"No! No that's Thea Queen. Let her in and put her on the phone please."
"Yes ma'am," Eric put the phone down and moments later Felicity could hear Thea's muffled voice coming through the phone. After a few reassuring words from Eric and some frantic footsteps, the phone was lifted and Thea came through clearly.
"Fe-Felicity?" Thea asked through tears and ragged breaths.
"Thea? Thea, it's ok I'm here, what's wrong sweetie why are you crying?" Felicity replied with concern in her voice.
"It's- its Ollie," Thea answered in between sobs.
Fear immediately shot through Felicity, "What about Oliver Thea? Is he ok?"
"I don't know!"
"You don't know? What do you mean you do-" Felicity stopped, took a breath and tried to calm herself. "You know what hold on Thea, Eric is going to bring you up to me and we'll figure this all out ok? Hand the phone to him real quick."
"Right away ma'am," Eric replied after receiving his orders and hung up the phone.
Felicity sat in silence for what felt like an eternity. Oliver was in trouble, but what kind of trouble? Why had Thea come alone? Where was he? What happened? These questions circled around in Felicity's head until the elevator finally dinged and the doors slid open. Eric exited first and ushered Thea towards the office
"Felicity!" Thea cried when she saw the other woman through the glass. She lunged forward and ran towards the door but was stopped by the two guards outside.
"It's okay let her in!" Felicity ordered as she wheeled out from behind her desk. The guards both turned to look at Felicity before lowering their arms and allowing Thea to pass.
"Felicity," Thea repeated as she sobbed. Felicity motioned for the younger woman to come closer, Thea hurried towards Felicity and fell to her knees when she reached her.
"Thea, honey why are you so upset? What's happened to Oliver?"
"He's gone!" Thea cried as she buried her face in Felicity's lap.
"Gone!" Felicity cried, "Oh my god!"
Thea raised her head and their eyes met, she saw the shock in Felicity's eyes. "Oh no, not gone like dead! God, I'm so sorry that's not what I meant!"
Felicity let out the breath she'd been holding in, "Thea you can't scare a girl like that."
Thea extended her hand and wiped a tear from Felicity's cheek. "I'm so sorry Felicity, I just meant that Ollie's gone like he's missing."
Felicity relaxed ever so slightly, but this was still concerning news. "Go on," she prodded.
Thea took a deep breath and began to explain. "Ever since Ollie left the hospital I've been doing pretty much everything for him, you know he's on bed rest. Felicity nodded. "Ollie's window has a window seat, a good sized one, I've been bunking in there so I can be close if he needs me."
Felicity smiled, "That's very sweet Thea."
Thea smiled back, but her smile quickly turned to a frown. "About an hour ago I woke up to use the bathroom, I got up and went over to the bed to check on Ollie but he wasn't there. I figured he was probably just in the kitchen, he sometimes wakes up to snack once or twice.
Felicity giggled internally, "Awe, a fellow grazer."
"When I got back from the bathroom I figured I'd find him in bed, but he still wasn't there," Thea continued. "I called him but I didn't get an answer so I went out into the kitchen to find him but still, no Ollie."
Felicity nodded in understanding, "What'd you do next?"
"I tried calling his cell but he didn't answer," Thea pulled a cell phone out of her pocket and showed it to Felicity. "I found it on the floor in the living room."
Thea began to cry again but Felicity took hold of her hand and tried to calm her down, "Its gonna be okay Thea just take a deep breath.
"But Felicity, he could be out there hurt, all by himself! I was supposed to take care of him!" Thea's breathing became frantic, she dropped her head into Felicity's lap and gave into the emotions that were overwhelming her, she burst into tears. "I lost my big brother!"
"Oh Thea,"Felicity ran her fingers through Thea's hair and rubbed her back. "Come on now I'm sure it wasn't your fault."
"How? How is it not my fault?" Thea questioned desperately. "What if it was that guy who tried to shoot you? Or that count the detectives were telling us about? Oh god, what if those mercs who attacked the police station kidnapped him? Oh god!" Thea stood abruptly and began to pace back and forth.
"Thea none of those guys have been heard of or seen in weeks. Plus if a bunch of guys with guns and body armor broke into your apartment don't you think they'd make a fair amount of noise? You would've have heard them."
"Ok, what's your point?" Thea barked as she walked to the window and stared down at the city below.
"My point," Felicity retorted as she wheeled up to Thea, "Is that you and I both know how strong Oliver is, he's got the body of a god for Pete's sake." Thea turned and gave Felicity an incredulous look. "Sorry, I just mean that even while recovering from a bullet wound he's more than capable of getting around, however slow and labored it may be. Don't you think it's more likely that Oliver left on his own?"
"I guess," Thea sighed. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, I'm just really worried about my brother. Ollie's all that I've got."
Felicity gave her a sympathetic smile, "Don't sweat it, and hey Oliver's not all you've got. You have me too."
Thea smiled and wiped another tear away, "Thank you."
"Of course, now think for a minute. What reason would Ollie have for leaving in the middle of the night without telling you?"
"I really don't have a clue," Thea replied confused. "Plus he always takes his phone with him, no matter where he's going, he's always reminding me that we have to be able to get ahold of each other no matter what. That's really important to him."
Felicity looked down at the phone Thea had left sitting in her lap and an idea sprang to life. "Come here," Felicity reached up, grabbed Thea's hand and pulled her toward the large desk at the rear of the room.
"Where are we going?" Thea asked confused.
"Grab that!" Felicity released Thea's hand and pointed to one of the cushioned armchairs in the sitting area. Thea did as she was told while Felicity wheeled her self behind the desk and retrieved a small piece of ribbon from one of the drawers, she quickly pulled her hair up and tied it in a ponytail. Once the chair was retrieved Felicity motioned for Thea to bring it around and place it at her side.
"What are you doing Felicity?" Thea questioned.
"If anyone asks absolutely nothing," Felicity replied and began typing. "And by that, I mean that what I'm doing isn't technically or entirely legal."
"Felicity!" Thea exclaimed with a surprised look on her face.
"Shh shhh quiet!" Felicity chuckled, "It's just some harmless hacking." Felicity took Oliver's phone and placed on a grey pad that sat next to her computer, upon contact the pad chimed and a yellow light appeared in its top left corner. The light blinked for a few seconds before it turned green and chimed again, as it did a window opened on Felicity's computer screen. "Ok we're in," Felicity chirped, she turned to Thea and smiled. "Now sit back and watch mama go to work," Felicity gave Thea a reassuring wink then turned back to her screen.
Thea watched as Felicity's fingers darted from key to key. Page after page of text and code appeared and vanished in the blink of an eye, it gave Thea a headache just to try and keep up. But from the look on Felicity's face, it was obvious that the tech genius was in complete control
"Hmm that's strange," Felicity spoke up after a few minutes had passed.
"What, what is it?" Thea asked concerned.
"I'm trying access Oliver's phone records, I'm thinking if we can figure out who his last call was to maybe it'll give us a clue as to where he's gone."
"Ok, so what's the problem?" Thea questioned.
"I can't get to his phone records, every time I try and get to them I get shut out. Everything freezes up and I have to start all over again. Look here," Felicity pointed to a specific line of text on her screen. "See that?"
Thea squinted and tried to read the text, "Mhm, uh, what the heck am I looking at here?" She looked at Felicity and quirked an eyebrow."
"Right! Sorry, sometimes I forget that not everyone is fluent in HTML. Really all you need to know is that shouldn't be there, looks like a virus of some sort."
"Virus? You mean Ollie opened one too many adds or something like that?"
"No this was professional work by a skilled hacker from the looks of it."
Thea was confused, "Who would want to hack Ollie's phone? Not like there's anything useful to anyone on that thing. I mean, he's only got like five friends on Facebook for Pete's sake!"
Felicity laughed out loud, "You are too cute! Not that kind of hacking, no this is real heavy duty stuff." Felicity resumed typing but after several minutes her screen turned red and the word "ERROR!" Blinked in large lettering. The error message was accompanied by a sharp beeping sound. "Damnit!" Felicity exclaimed and slammed a hand oh the desk."
"Felicity it's ok, if you can't do it we'll find Ollie another way."
"Oh I can do it," Felicity raised a finger, "trust me. Whoever this is they're good, I'll give them that, but they have yet to tango with the likes of Felicity Smoak. Just a few more seconds and, there!"
"You found it? Ollie's phone records?"
"Not yet, but I have created a little something of my own to fight off whatever the hacker did."
"What is it?" Thea asked inquisitively.
"Let's just call it anti-virus software!" Felicity replied. "It'll fight off the virus in the phone and clean it up, I've also included a sniffer that'll find the information we want once the virus has been dealt with."
Thea perked up and smiled wide, "Wow, impressive work Smoaky!"
Felicity turned to Thea and chuckled, "Smoaky huh? I like it!" She grinned. "Now the only downside is that this is going to take some time to work its magic."
"How much time?" Thea asked.
"Probably a couple of hours," Felicity replied apologetically.
Thea frowned, "Well we can't just sit around here waiting."
"Is there anything else you can think of that might help us find Ollie?" Felicity asked.
Thea scratched her head, "Not really."
Both women sat in silence for several moments before Thea spoke up. "I guess we could go back to the apartment and look for clues."
Felicity's eyes widened, seeing Oliver's home was not something she had ever expected to happen and she found that the idea stirred up mixed emotions within her. On one hand, she found herself wanting to jump at the opportunity, seeing how Oliver lived might somehow deepen the connection between them, and that was something Felicity desperately wanted. On the other hand, Felicity reminded herself of her position and how she was always being scrutinized. Felicity had been lucky so far, even with her frequent and lengthy visits to Starling general, that there hadn't seemed to be any rumors or gossip going around about her and Oliver at the office. However, taking Thea up on this offer could ruin that streak of luck. If anyone found out that Felicity Smoak CEO had made an unscheduled late-night visit to the home of one of her employees for no apparent reason, it could open pandora's box.
Doubtful, Felicity placed her hands in her lap and began twiddling her thumbs. "Hmm that's a good idea, but maybe I should call John and ask him to go with you, or maybe we can call Detective Lance.
"What? You're not coming with me?" The questioned with disappointment in her eyes.
"I probably shouldn't Thea."
"But, I need you, so does Ollie. You care about him don't you?"
"Of course I do! I really, really do, that's why I think it might not be the smartest decision for me to come along."
"Please Smoaky, come on!"
"Thea I don't think that's a good I-"
"Felicity please," The grabbed Felicity's hand and gently squeezed. "I'm really scared right now," The explained as a tear welled up in her eye. "I don't want to be alone, and other than Ollie and Curtis you're the only friend I have," Thea's lips curved into a sad smile, "please help me?"
Felicity hesitantly returned the smile, "Oh Thea," Felicity thought a moment. "Well, I haven't cared what anyone else thought up until now have I? Oliver was brave enough to help me in my time of need, he didn't even consider the consequences, he didn't care how it could affect him. He just acted, he saved my life. Now it's my turn to help him. It's my turn to act."
Felicity's smile widened, she reached for her phone with her free hand and pressed a button, seconds later Eric responded, "Yes Ms. Felicity?"
"Eric, would you have the car pulled around for us, please? Ms. Queen and I are going out."
"Right away ma'am," Eric replied before disconnecting.
"Thank you," Thea beamed at Felicity.
"Of course," Felicity replied and took hold of Thea's other hand. "Now, let's go find your Ollie shall we?" She gave Thea a reassuring wink.
"Our Ollie," Thea corrected as she leaned forward and embraced the other woman. "Our Ollie."
Finally posting a new chapter! I'm sorry for the lengthy absence, ive just been having a hard time finding the motivation to write lately and I don't really know why. It's frustrating but I feel like now that season 6 of the show is over and we'll be going into another hiatus my lack of Olicity screen time each week will bring that motivation back. I hope your all still reading and that you will enjoy this new chapter. I will do my best to be more diligent about updating. Thanks again to everyone for all the support!