I am so, so so sorry! I never meant for this chapter to take so long. I've been working, and sick and doting on some of my other OTPs. But I'll try to update again regularily..
I hope you can all forgive me, but if you must, you can always 'yell' at me a little in the comments!
She came into the Foundry later that night, hearing the comforting sounds of her home away from home. The steady one-two-punch of Digg and Sara sparring, the woosh of arrows flying at targets and the curses that followed when Roy missed his target, again. And the familiar clinking noise of Oliver on the salmon ladder. No matter the complications she had in her life at the moment, she always felt at ease and safe down here. Who would have thought that a cold, damp basement would mean that much to her. But it did, it does. It gives her a place in the world, a purpose.
She still finds it strange, because no matter how much Bruce, Richard and her grandfather mean to her, she never even contemplated joining them. Sure, she upgraded their systems on a regular basis. And she helped them in the gadget department sometimes. But she never had felt they really needed her in a more practical way. They had a good dynamic going on with just the 3 of them, and Lucius on occasion and she really didn't want to disrupt that. That and, well Bruce wouldn't have let her, even if she wanted to. To dangerous, to risky, to…
But Oliver, he needed her. Not just to update his system, but to keep him alive out there. To watch his back and to help him succeed. Team Batman didn't need her, but Team Arrow did. Which is of course why she was down here, they had a job to do. Intel to collect, actions to be discussed, steps to be taken.
When she plopped her purse down next to the computer desk, Oliver jumped off the ladder and stood beside her. His eyes conveyed all he needed to say. I'm sorry, are you okay, do you need anything… He didn't need to say the actual words for her to understand. And he didn't need words from her to know she was dealing with it.
"Where's Bruce?" he asked, because he figured the Bat-crew would join them down here. She took a seat at her desk and said "He went home to Gotham. His official Wayne Enterprises business in Starling is done. And we figured there was no need for Batman to be spotted in Starling, because we have our own hero protecting the city." He let out a breath of relief. Not that he didn't admire Bruce and the way he kept his city and his people safe. But this was Oliver's city, and he had his own way of protecting it.
"And.. Richard?" He really didn't want to ask that question, because he was pretty sure that Richard's business in Starling was sitting right in front of him. "He's upstairs, having a drink. He wants to help, because there is still a Gotham interest in Cobblepot. But he won't do anything without us. He agreed to follow our lead. This is our city after all. He's just backup in case we need him." Oliver was pretty damn sure he would never, ever need Richard Grayson, but saying that to Felicity right now might be a very bad idea.
It's not because he sort of had an epiphany about his life and his feelings for her, he would warm up to the other guy. There were limits to his self-discovery after all. "Let's just see what we have right now, sift through the information and see if we can find solid leads to the whereabouts of Merlyn and the connection to the drugs and arms in Gotham. We'll come up with a game-plan after that." He picked up his towel and headed toward the bathroom.
Felicity started setting up parameter searches on the hard drive, as well as the information Bruce had gathered in Gotham. She also established a secure link to the Batcave, because she figured that with both cities involved (and thus also both teams) there would have to be some form of communication between them.
Sara wondered over to Felicity just when she was about to test the connection. "So, what's the deal with you and this Richard? You a thing? An ex-thing? A fling?" Felicity looked up at Sara, not quite knowing what to say. She let her mind wander back to earlier that day, when her lips let go of Richard's.
"What was that about?" he asked her, eyes shining with a happiness she didn't hear in his voice. He was taking great effort in not sounding to eager, too pleased at the move she'd made. She waited a little while before answering, because she wanted to find the right words to explain.
"You remember the day after I got my first kiss? And you found me in my room crying, because I found out that the kiss was a cruel joke?" Richard nodded. He remembered that day really well. She'd been 15 at the time and had been invited to a party of one of the cheerleaders. He had figured the cheerleader wanted to get with him, and invited Felicity to get on his good side. He was wrong, at least partially.
They had invited her to make fun of her, to break her. Because the cheerleader in question was jealous of the time Richard spent with his sort of cousin and best friend. And she wanted revenge. So she roped some jock into kissing Felicity, and then continued to spread vicious rumors about her in school. That she was a really bad kisser. That she tried to go all the way and the guy had to push her away. That she was desperate for sex.
He'd heard the rumors in the hallways, and went looking for Felicity. Finding her crumpled up on her bed and crying her eyes out made him see red. The next day he'd copied the little notes he'd gotten from the cheerleader (which were not at all dignified, and all of them signed) and put a copy in every locker. He'd also introduced his fist to that jock's face.
"Yes, I remember that day. You were heartbroken, but surprisingly not as much about the sex rumors as about the bad kisser rumors." She smiled a little at that. "I had never kissed anybody, and I wanted to be kissed again in the future. I was sure that being a bad kisser would ruin my chances at ever being kissed again. I guess I had very screwed up priorities back then." Richard took her hand and rubbed his thumb across the palm of her hand. "I also remember saying that every first kiss is bad, because nobody knows what they are doing. And that a boy would be really lucky to get to kiss you." "And then you did. You kissed me. And you told me that it was the best kiss you'd ever had, and to remember it as being the first kiss willingly given. And then you winked at me, and left."
Richard shook his head at that memory. He'd wanted to kiss her more, but she was so upset and fragile, he didn't want to risk it. Or their friendship. He didn't want her to think he kissed her out of pity. "You never spoke of it after that. I figured you just wanted to forget it." His voice had taken on a sad quality when he said that. She put her hand under his chin and pulled it a little closer. "Richard, that was the day I fell in love with you." And she leaned in and kissed him again.
Sara was looking at her expectantly when she shook out of her musings. Felicity drew in a breath before speaking. "Richard and I, we're… figuring things out. It won't be easy, but we've decided to give what's between us a try." Sara nodded, and turned to the salmon ladder, and the soft clinking noise lulled Felicity back into her Arrow-zone.
There was nothing but silence coming from the ARGUS lock-up cell. The resident inside deep in thought. She had this deep seeded hate for the blonde EA/IT-girl/Wayne heir, because Felicity had cost her everything. She had cost her her company, her companion, her freedom. And her bubbly personality and her friendship with first Richard and now aparently Oliver Queen really rubbed her the wrong way. She had everything that was supposed to be hers. A rich and doting family, friends who think she hung the moon. It was all too much. She needed to get out of this cell, she needed to destroy Felicity Smoak, just like Felicity Smoak destroyed her.
A slow smile spread across the brunette's face, at the thought of all she would do when she got her hands on Felicity. And it was still eerily quiet in the ARGUS facility.