As the days went on Felicity tried to occupy herself as much as possible. Her nerves were getting to her. She couldn't simply sit at home and wait; she needed to feel useful. The lair wasn't offering her any comfort right now. Too many memories assaulted her there. So spending the night in the Lair simply was out of the question. And not to forget she had a day-job to do.

So during the day you could find her pushing herself at the QC offices trying to help Moira to keep the company afloat while Oliver wasn't able to do so. After two weeks the Board had become restless and some of the more influent members had tried to push themselves at the helm. They hadn't counted on one Moira Queen. Oliver's mother had decided to resume her former function as acting CEO.

At first things had seemed awkward between them, but somehow they had discovered they had a common goal and they were very efficient together. Moira had been wary of Oliver's decisions concerning the firm during her absence. Sensing that, Felicity had prepared a file summing up what changes and improvements had been achieved and left it on Oliver's desk. If Moira had been surprised by the gesture she didn't show it. On the outside she'd maintained a cool façade, but Felicity's actions had caught her attention.

While reading the file her gaze wandered toward the EA's desk from time to time. She remembered when Oliver had promoted her up from the IT department. As a member of the Board, she hadn't been too pleased by that. It had brought up memories of Robert's actions, mirrored them in fact. If her son wanted to distract himself with the blonde he didn't need to make it so publicly. She had heard the rumours running in the QC building. They weren't in favour of Miss Smoak. She hadn't been too pleased of having her around, but Oliver was a grown man… Who apparently knew what he was doing… judging by the file open on her desk. Again her gaze went to the woman working on the other side of the glass panels. Tilting her head slightly, she observed her while she worked. Felicity was efficient, one had to give her that. She had listed all the activities of the Board members. There seemed to be something going on. Making her decision she pushed the intercom button.

"Miss Smoak, can you call in the Board for an emergency meeting, please?"

"Yes Madam. What time do you want them to convene?"

"Call them together for 10 o'clock."

"Consider it done… like… right now." It had taken her about two minutes to set everything up.

"Thank you, Miss Smoak."

At said time she breezed into the conference room with a determined gait and set herself at Oliver's usual spot at the head of the conference room table. There were murmurs going through the rows.

"My fellow members of the board, I've called this meeting in to get rid of some misunderstandings that seem to disrupt the efficiency of this firm…"

Satisfied to have everyone's attention, she continued.

"It has come to my ears that some of the members of this Board have decided to take over QC… I want to recall to your attention that despite its size QC is a family run business. The Queen family still has the majority of the shares, thanks to the wonderful work my son has accomplished. So it angers me deeply to see that while he's tried his best to develop and stabilize it, some of you want to take advantage of the fact that someone attempted on his life… I foolishly believed that the long years we worked together would have forged a bond stronger than this."

She paused looking pointedly at each of the men sitting in front of her. Some weren't able to sustain her stare and looked down.

"I will personally watch over the daily operations till our CEO will be able to resume his position."

As some started to clap as an approval of her speech a small "Yay!" was heard from the back of the room. All heads turned to see what that was about. Felicity was standing there frozen mid-movement. Her fist still raised; she was growing more embarrassed by the minute if the colour of her cheeks was any indication.

"That will be all, Miss Smoak, thank you!" Moira said aloud effectively gathering her attention. With a slight nod towards Felicity she allowed her to slip out of the room. The door had barely closed behind her when she leant against it trying to calm down. What had gotten into her? She wished the floor had opened up under her feet and swallowed her. How could she face Moira Queen after that intermezzo?

She'd felt her reluctance toward her before, now she would surely get even more distant and cold. Not that she could blame her. Hearing rustling and chairs being pushed back, she hurried back to the security of her office. Moments later, she feigned typing hard on her keyboard when her temporary boss entered.

Without a word she passed her on her way to Oliver's office and Felicity released the breath she'd been holding only to jump from her chair when the intercom buzzed unexpectedly.

"Miss Smoak, my office, please." The direct request came calmly over the intercom.

"There goes nothing," she mumbled as she rose and stepped into the adjacent office.

"Miss Smoak, I need you to do some research for me. While checking the latest financial transactions I've noticed some inconsistencies on these. I know my husband and my son think very highly of your talents, so I hope you can help me shed some light on this…"

Her voice trailed off while she spoke. Felicity let out a deep breath. This was not what she'd been expecting, most definitely not.

"Ok … I'll … just … get to it."

She gestured wildly toward her desk. It took her hours to identify the different players, to set up a plan to crack their accounts and follow the money trails. Looking up from her screen she noticed that it was already late. Oliver's … Moira's temporary office was already dark. She must have left hours ago. Deciding it was impossible to get any more work done today, she quickly shut down her computer and taking her purse and some files she needed to leaf trough she left too.

She would go to the hospital and spend some time there reading the reports she'd assembled. Slipping through security with her usual trick she took a moment as she stood just inside the room to take in the scene before her eyes. Oliver was still "asleep". As days had gone by there had been no change perceptible in his awareness of his surroundings. The only improvement had been that the medical attire had been tuned down as his body regained his functions. The doctors were reluctant to give a precise prognosis on their patient. So the wait continued.

"Please come back," she sighed as she pushed off the door and went to settle herself as comfortably as possible in a chair next to the bed. After briefly hesitating, she spread her files on the bed to sit more comfortably. Her head resting on one hand she started going through the numbers again, but soon the lines blurred in front of her eyes and she nodded off.

As Diggle came back from his round he noticed Felicity had claimed her usual spot by Oliver's side. Apparently she' brought some work judging by the mess of files and pages lying on the covers. He was worried about her. The longer this waiting game got the quieter Felicity was. The situation was clearly taking a toll on her.

Fast asleep, she didn't notice anything at first, but slowly the change made its way into her dreams. Then her eyes flew open and instinctively her hand clenched around his fingers. There… She sensed it again…his fingers had moved beneath hers, if only so slightly… Immediately she looked up to his face, but there was no change yet, he was still unconscious. His expressive eyes remained closed… Diggle must have seen her jerk upwards because with a few strides he was at her side his hand a comforting presence on her shoulder.

"What is it Felicity?" a very concerned Diggle asked.

"Nothing… I thought … I thought Oliver had moved but I must've dreamed it because its what a person would want to happen in those cases, but the doctors said when one's asleep there's no way to know when they'll wake up and… I'm rambling again … please stop me Dig…"

The hand on her shoulder constricted briefly and as she looked up their gazes met. She could see John was every bit as concerned as she was but there was also a spark of hope she hadn't noticed in the past weeks. A small smile graced her lips drawing an answering one from him.