A/N: You guys are all so great to keep reading even with the big breaks between chapters! I still am sorry for that...this semester is pretty rough. But, I'm doing my best!

As always, Maverick41's help is invaluable =).

Enjoy!


She stepped closer to him, her wide eyes framed by black lashes. Normally, she wore her glasses, which made it more difficult for him to appreciate how beautiful her eyes were, but today she must have put in contacts. He found himself silently appreciating the difference.

"This can't happen," he whispered, even as he stepped closer and brushed a lock of her soft blonde hair back, feeling the heat of her skin under his fingers.

"I know," she whispered, the words just drawing Oliver's attention to her full lips, already parted temptingly. "But-"

He cut her off before she could finish, capturing her lips in a passionate, demanding kiss. Her arms curved up around his neck and her body swayed against his, allowing him to feel the softness of her curves against his well-muscled chest.

"Oliver," she moaned against his lips.

He deepened the kiss in response to her plea, crushing her closer to him the way he had wanted to ever since he had met her.

Then, suddenly, she stiffened in his arms, her lips becoming motionless against his. He continued to kiss her, persistently obeying the need that she had awakened in him.

She started struggling, attempting to free herself. Her hands came up against his chest, pushing him away.

Reluctantly, he released her, a question already forming on his lips. "What...what's wrong?" he panted, finding it difficult to think straight with the desire raging through his veins.

There was no reply. Looking at her, her eyes were still opened wide, but the passion that once was there morphed into horror.

"Felicity?" he demanded, stepping towards her, his body already yearning to have hers pressed against his again.

She whimpered. "Stay away from me," she begged, bumping into the wall and cowering against it.

"Why are you afraid?" Even as Oliver asked the question, he realized the answer. His voice was lower, rougher, and not just because of the emotions he was experiencing. In fact, looking down at his body, he saw that he was now wearing his green leather jacket. A shrug of his shoulders informed him that his quiver and bow were across his back.

"Please don't hurt me." Her anguished plea and the tears in her eyes broke Oliver's heart.

"I would never-" he clenched his jaw, hating suddenly the sound of his own voice. He stepped towards her, holding out a hand non-threateningly.

She squeezed her eyes closed, her face a mask of fear.

As always, Oliver felt drawn to her, drawn to comfort her.

The expression of fear on her face just intensified.

Oliver sat up, his breathing shallow and his heartbeat unnaturally fast. "Not again," he groaned, running a hand over his face wearily, fingering the stubble on his chin that had grown out over the weekend.

This wasn't the first time he had dreamed of Felicity; in fact, he had dreamed of her every night since their last meeting in her darkened apartment two days earlier. And the dreams, they were always the same. Each one started with him and Felicity sharing an intimate moment, a moment that would get his blood pumping. And then, without fail, he would morph into his Arrow persona and and she would get this look of fear in her eyes. No matter what he did, no matter what he wanted, he always ended up scaring her.

It was driving him crazy. She was driving him crazy.

A knock sounded at his door, startling him. "Ollie, is everything okay?" Thea's voice sounded through the thin door. "I heard some weird noises."

'I'm fine." His voice cracked on the second word, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "Thea, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare." While he was telling the truth, inside he knew that there was more to it than just a simple fantasy created by his subconscious. He knew that it was based on some element of truth. He did want-

"You sure?"

"I'm sure," he responded, swinging his legs over the bed and glancing at his watch on his bedside table. 3 am. At this point, he wasn't going to get anymore rest, so he might as well get up. "Thanks, Thea."

He heard her sigh as her footsteps started retreating, followed by the sound of her bedroom door closing behind her.

Oliver sighed as he struggled to his feet, trying desperately to banish the heated memories of that kiss. However, the sensation seemed burned into his memory - forgetting it would be nearly impossible. Instead, he just tried to distract himself.

The heist today. That would require his full attention. That would distract him from the feel of her soft lips against his…

Oliver groaned again and padded over to his small desk. It was a rickety little thing, something that he and Thea had found secondhand for dirt cheap. He pulled open the drawer and lifted a spiral-bound notebook from under a pile of work folders, the inside papers covered with diagrams and words in his scrawling hand.

His plans.

Details for his next job, the one he planned for today, were meticulously laid out, step-by-step. However, no amount of planning would ever be enough - each heist deviated from the plan. It took hours of reviewing his notes, of thinking of alternate scenarios, of envisioning multiple possible escape routes to come close to performing a successful job.

But still, Felicity's lips haunted him.

"Anything?"

Felicity shook her head. "Whoever pulled this off was good," she stated, pursing her lips in pretend frustration. "There's not so much as a trace."

The police officer heaved a sigh. "Keep looking," he ordered, tapping on the desk as he moved away. "There's got to be some way to track that Arrow."

Felicity smiled slightly in satisfaction, pleased again with what a perfectly clean transfer she had pulled off.

Currently, she was taking a couple days off work - 'on loan,' as Ray called it - to help the police department with their investigation into the Mortenson money disappearance. And, on the surface, that was exactly what she was doing. She had uncovered various 'leads' that all lead in different directions which all eventually turned into dead ends, as well as had solved many other computer-related cases for them. However, really she just wanted to extend her time there.

She wanted news of the Arrow.

Everyone was convinced that he was the one who had stolen the money, and she did nothing to correct them. As long as they thought he was at fault, they kept searching intently for him. And that, that worked quite well for her.

"...Arrow might show up." Felicity perked up at the sound of the name she had been listening for and tuned into the conversation between the young officers.

"For the diamond?"

"Chief says that it's a good possibility."

"Great - it's about time we nab-" the men moved out of earshot, the rest of their conversation lost, much to Felicity's frustration. However, at least she had something, even if it was a long shot.

Pulling up google, it didn't take her long to locate the subject of the officer's conversation - the Vercost Diamond, travelling to the city for a couple nights as part of a museum exhibit.

She nodded, tapping her lip slowly with a pen as she thought. It really was the perfect target for the Arrow. And today, while it's being transported, security would be at its most vulnerable.

A slow smile spread across her face as she started formulating a plan, a plan that would ensure another meeting with the Arrow.

Her pulse started to race.

He pressed himself up against the wall, glancing nervously from side to side. He could see the security camera out of the corner of his eye, but it didn't faze him. Long before attempting this, his first high stakes heist, he had mapped out its movements and he was entirely confident that he was standing in its blind spot.

Pulling a miniature bow and arrow out of his pocket, he shot the tiny shaft, watching in satisfaction as it plunged through the cable connecting the camera to the security system. He had fashioned the miniature version himself, realizing that it would be easier to carry than his full bow for this job.

Now, with the camera gone, he had approximately 1.7 minutes to pull off the job before the police would flood the museum and arrest him.

That couldn't happen.

Luckily, he had planned this out.

He darted out to the center of the room, checking with one hand to make sure that his mask and hood were in place, just in case his timing or research was off.

The object, the purpose of this mission, was sitting on a pedestal on the far corner of the room. It was a simple jade figurine, probably the least valuable item on display. However, it suited Oliver's purposes nicely. He didn't want to draw too much attention, after all.

It only took a moment for him to swipe the figurine and replace it with one of his homemade arrowheads, and then make his escape.

The whole thing took 1.4 minutes.

...

Oliver pulled his hood up over his face with one hand, using the other to shut his notebook filled with sketches of the security surrounding the museum.

He was ready; it was time.

Felicity took a deep breath and adjusted her black sweater nervously. Her palms were sweating and she was finding it difficult to keep her breathing under control.

She was a techie. With a computer, she was invincible. However, out in the world without so much as a tablet to back her up, she felt naked. Exposed. Vulnerable.

Was it worth it?

She didn't have time to ponder - the squeal of tires alerted her to the arrival of the van in front of the museum's back entryway, the sound loud enough that she could hear it from her place inside the building.

"Get into position," the police chief ordered through the headset. Somehow, Felicity had convinced him that she was some sort of an expert on the Arrow (which was true - she had done hours and hours of research into him) and had gotten herself invited along with the team stationed inside the museum with the intent to make sure that the diamond stayed safe.

The cops took their places; some ran out to meet the truck while the remaining officers scattered along the path the diamond would take through the museum to reach its exhibit. They weren't taking their eyes off the valuable gem for even a moment.

Felicity backed up, looking nervously from side to side to make sure that she wasn't being watched. Then, ducking around a corner, she checked her watch - 10:59 - and pulled a black ski mask out of her backpack.

11:00.

She had to move.

Before the stakeout, she had hacked into the museum's system and set up a program that would cut the feed to the security cameras at exactly 11 pm, giving her more than enough time to reach her target - the less valuable, but much more vulnerable, Greib ruby, also on display.

Because, if she knew the Arrow the way she suspected she knew him, she was positive that he would use the police's blind spot to his advantage. While they were all watching the Vercost diamond, he would head straight for the next most valuable object in the museum.

And Felicity? Well, she was going to take it first.

She slipped into the room holding her target and snatched the ruby off its pedestal, praying that she was right about the Arrow's target and that he had already taken care of the motion sensing alarms she knew must surround her prize.

Nothing. No alarms sounded, no lights started flashing. Nothing.

She breathed a sigh of relief and took a second to appreciate the beauty of the gem before wrapping it in a strip of cotton she had brought with her and stowing it in her bag. She had been right - it had been a risk, but she had guessed correctly. However, next time she was going to be more prepared so that she didn't have to rely on him.

The thrill, the adrenaline, of sneaking around made it hard to focus on her task, but she knew that she didn't have much time to get in and get out before the Arrow arrived.

Pulling out a piece of paper and a red pen, she scrawled a quick note:

Arrow,

Midnight. The alley behind Verdant.

She left it unsigned - it was probably best that she didn't leave anything too incriminating just in case the police found her note before the Arrow arrived. Picking Verdant, the city's nightclub, did offer her some measure of security as she could watch the back alley to make sure that he showed up before she revealed herself.

A sound echoed from around the corner.

Dropping the note and the pen onto the pedestal, Felicity grabbed her bag and darted back out the way she came, her heart racing with more emotions than just fear.

"Where were you?" Captain Lance eyed her suspiciously as she returned to where the cops were.

"I had to use the bathroom," she lied, lowering her eyes and trying to sound sheepish.

"It couldn't wait?"

"Woman th-" she started to explain, but he held up his hands to cut her off.

"Don't need to know," he shook his head and walked off, muttering to himself.

Felicity smiled. It was a thrill knowing that she was there, surrounded by cops, and was holding a stolen object. However, she would feel better as soon as she was out of the museum and home free. "Any sign of the Arrow?" she asked the closest officer to her.

The man shook his head. "The diamond's here and safely installed," the man told her. "Time to pack up and go home."

"Too bad." Inside, she was jumping up and down.

Only half an hour until she would get to see him again.


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