Chapter Ten
Oliver and Felicity were awoken the following morning by a knock on the cabin door, which they opened to find a plain clothed detective and a uniformed officer, while they were both still in their night clothes and robes.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but we have a warrant to search all the cabins on the ground," the detective announced. "Mind if we come in and look around?"
"Doesn't sound like we have a choice, but we've got nothing to hide." Oliver opened the door wide so they could step in.
"What's going on?" Felicity asked.
The police officer went into the bedroom while the detective began looking in the kitchen cupboards.
"We can't say right now, this is an ongoing investigation. We'll have to interview you before you leave though, so can I take your name?" He pulled a notebook out.
"Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen," Felicity answered.
The detective looked up when he heard Oliver's name. "Huh," he said, then finished jotting the names down.
"What do you mean, 'before we leave'?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah, we're shutting this place down; at least for a week, maybe a few months or more, so I'm afraid you'll have to cut your visit short."
"Can't you tell us anything?" Felicity tried again. Surely most guests would be uber-curious about why the police were here, so she tried to seem interested in gossip, rather than trying to discover how much they knew.
"I'm surprised you haven't seen it on the news."
"No modern technically is allowed here," Oliver explained.
"Nope, not even a phone." Felicity sounded peeved.
"Well, some former guests turned up at the hospital last night, making some worrying allegations, that's all I can say at the moment. Do you mind if I ask you some questions now?"
"Not at all," Oliver answered. "But do you mind if we make some coffee while we talk?"
"Go right ahead."
The officer had finished searching the bedroom and waited in the doorway, nodding the all clear to the detective.
"How long have you folks been here?"
"Just a few days, we arrived on Sunday," Oliver answered.
"And have you noticed any suspicious behaviour?"
They frowned as looked at each other as they pretended to consider the question.
"The blood samples they took were odd but not suspicious," Oliver said to Felicity.
"There has been a lot more staff recently too, maybe that's something."
"Blood samples?" The detective asked.
"Yeah," Oliver turned to face him again. "They said it was to test for conditions that could affect mood and libido, but the website didn't mention it so I thought it was odd, that's all. I wondered if maybe they wanted to sell it on Ebay or something."
"That happen to you a lot?" The detective asked.
"People stealing blood? No, but we've had one or two housekeepers try to auction off family property over the years."
"And the additional staff?"
"There just seemed to be a lot more people milling about," Felicity explained. "And I thought I heard dogs barking some nights, as if the grounds were being patrolled by guard dogs."
"But no one acted suspiciously around you?"
"No, nothing that stood out."
The detective looked to Oliver, who seconded Felicity's sentiment. The detective asked for their contact information, in case they needed to ask any further questions, then left.
"So, I guess we'd better start packing," Felicity suggested, although she didn't sound enthused.
"Yeah, guess so."
They headed back into the bedroom and began to repack their cases in silence.
"Things aren't going to change back in Starling City, are they?" Felicity suddenly asked.
"Change how?"
"Us. A mean a holiday romance is something it's easy to fall into, you're in different surroundings, away from your normal routines, your inhibitions are often lowered and people behave out of character and do things that they wouldn't normally and, well-"
"Felicity," he stopped up to her and took the clothes she was about to pack from her hands. "Maybe this might not have happened if we'd stayed home but now that it has, I really want to see where this goes."
"You're sure?"
"Of course. And besides, our relationship is going to be public knowledge soon anyway, so we might as well become a couple, since everyone will assume we are already."
"What do you mean by 'public knowledge soon anyway'?"
"We're at a couples counselling retreat and that detective recognised my name. Trust me, someone will talk to the tabloids before the end of the day, probably sooner and even if by some miracle they don't, chances are that the parking lot is already full of press vans."
"Great," she rolled her eyes. "I'm going to be the most hated woman in Starling."
"What?" Oliver frowned.
"You're Starling City's second most eligible bachelor, according to the Starling Daily News, and second only to Malcolm Merlin, so I'm guessing he'll be bumped this year and you'll be number one. A lot of people aren't going to like seeing you with someone beneath you."
She didn't mention that a lot of the staff already assumed they were a couple and that some of them were hostile towards her. She denied it, of course, but they didn't believe her, and why would they? It was special treatment for an IT girl to become executive assistant to the CEO. She didn't tell them that she hadn't wanted the job because they wouldn't believe her, and she didn't bother Oliver with the rumours because he had far more important things to worry about, than her being given the cold shoulder. Besides, this wasn't high school and she didn't need or want their approval.
"Felicity, you aren't beneath me."
"Sure I am, I'm a middle class IT geek, you're the next best thing to the Kennedy's, practically royalty."
Oliver smiled. "I won't lie, there will be gossip but we have to rise above it and not feed the fire. They can only photograph us in public places and as long as we're discrete, they'll soon lose interest in us."
"I know, I know, I can handle this, right? I mean, if I can handle you, I can handle your fangirls."
Oliver cocked his head to the side. "Did you just insult me? And what's a fangirl?"
Felicity smiled. "No, just an acknowledgement that you can be a difficult person sometimes, but understandably so, and a fangirl is exactly what it sounds like."
He leaned down and kissed her. "We'll get through this," he assured her.
"I know. Now, can I have my panties back, please?"
"What?" He looked confused.
Felicity pointed to the pile of clothes he had taken from her and he saw that they were undergarments.
"Oh, sorry." He handed them back and she placed them in the case.
A second later though, he leaned down and plucked a pair of red French knickers from the pile.
"I wouldn't mind if you wore these today."
Felicity flushed and snatched the panties back but she didn't repack them, instead placing them beside the case.
Oliver smiled, looking forward to seeing her model them.
"I'm surprised you're alright with us being public knowledge." Felicity tried distracting him to avoid further embarrassment.
"As long as the press don't learn the important truths about us, I don't really care what they print."
"And your family will be okay with this? I mean, your mom already think's I'm crazy."
"No she doesn't." Oliver smiled. "Besides, my last girlfriend tried to convict her for 503 counts of murder and have her sentenced to death and the one before her, was revealed to be the psychotic daughter of a mob boss; trust me, my mom is going to love you."
"And your sister?"
"My sister is dating a petty criminal cum wannabe vigilante from the Glades, she hardly has room to complain."
"Doesn't mean she'll like me," Felicity muttered.
"What about your family, when do I get to meet them?"
"If you'd been around in the summer, you might have met my brother, he came to visit for a few weeks. He'll probably hate you, by the way, he hates all my boyfriends but only because he loves me and no one is ever good enough, in his eyes, but he'll try to hide it."
"Good to know. So when do I get the pleasure of meeting him?"
"He's coming again for Christmas and New Year, so you can meet him then, if you still want to."
"You don't go to your mother's for Christmas?"
"Jewish, remember? And besides, she remarried a horrible man, basically 'my father: mark two' but without the violence. Instead, his favourite pass time is putting her and everything associated with her down, including her children, so we hardly ever see her."
"I'm sorry."
She turned to him and smiled. "Don't be." She took his hand, linking her fingers through his. "I still have my brother, and I made my own version of a family, with you and Dig. I'm a lot luckier than a lot of people."
Her optimism continually impressed him and he leaned down and kissed her.
"Me too," he told her.
She blushed again and resumed her packing.
"I know you don't celebrate the religious meaning behind the day, but if you feel like eating far too much turkey and being given a token of my affection, you're welcome to join us on Christmas day. Your brother too. It's not like we actually celebrate anything, other than overindulgence."
"That's sweet," she smiled but it slowly faded. "You know, the reason I don't celebrate isn't because it's a Christian holiday; historically speaking, it's celebrating the winter solstice, but it was co-opted by Christianity because it was one of the most popular pagan festivals in Europe. Christ was actually thought to have been born in September."
"You're just like a cute little encyclopaedia, if encyclopaedias could blush," he teased.
"Thank you, I think."
"So why don't you celebrate Christmas then?"
"We'd have a lot of people over because my dad always liked showing off how well we were doing; his family, my mom's family, aunts, grandparents, cousins, sometimes friends. It sounds like a great day, except that someone always irritated my father and after everyone left, it always meant a fight. I spent the whole day wondering who was going to get it and what would set him off. If you tell people that you don't like Christmas though, they try to talk you into celebrating, where as if you say you're of a different religion, they don't question it."
"Is that your way of telling me that you don't want to come?"
"No." She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest. "That's my way of telling you that I'm ready to put it behind me and see how other people do it."
Oliver smiled. "Well I can't promise you that there won't be any disagreements, but it's usually no worse than a barbed comment or two."
"Sold." She stretched up on her toes and kissed him, then they continued packing.
"You know, I'm going to miss this place in some ways," Felicity said. "Watching you try and bake brownies was hilarious, and I'll miss dancing with you. I'm kinda sad we'll miss the competition, we would've kicked ass."
"Well, if you want everyone to see how good we are, my sister does own a nightclub."
"I hardly think the argentine tango is big on the clubbing scene."
Oliver didn't contradict her but he did have an idea.
"I think I'm going to drop by the club before going home," Oliver said as they entered Starling City. "I want to check in with Diggle and Thea's most likely there too."
"Okay, can you drop me at the office?"
"You don't want to go home and unpack?"
"I really should see what we've missed and if my programs picked up anything unusual."
Felicity's main job seemed to be filtering information to Oliver, deciding which reports he needed to see, as well as which callers could speak to him and which had to leave a message, or even be redirected to an underling. Because they both essentially had second jobs, she had created programs to help her, which monitored the company's systems and highlighted inconsistencies, but it still needed a human to look over the results and check things were running as they should.
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'll drop your things into you this evening."
"Sounds good."
He stopped in front of the building and Felicity reached for the door handle, until Oliver grabbed her hand.
"What, no goodbye kiss?"
"Oliver, we're at work!"
"No, we're outside and I'm not letting you go without a kiss."
She hesitated for a moment. "All right, fine, but no kissing when we're inside the building, got it?"
"Ever?" he questioned.
"Yes, ever. And while we're on that, no overt displays of affection in front of Diggle."
"What? Why?"
"Because I don't want him to feel like a third wheel."
"All right, but you have to stay over at least three nights a week."
"This is not a negotiation, Oliver."
"Sure it is and if you want me to keep my hands to myself at work and at the club, then you have to compromise."
"Why do I have to stay with you then? Why can't you stay with me three nights a week?"
"Because we'll have more privacy at my house."
"You live with your mom, your sister and a small army of servants; that's not privacy."
"Fine, then I'll stay with you."
"Fine!"
They stared at each other for a few moments, Oliver wearing a triumphant smile.
"So where's my kiss?"
Realising that she'd been beaten, Felicity gave in but with little grace, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Oliver caught her about the waist before she could pull away.
"You call that a kiss?"
"Yes."
"Sorry, if you want me to release you, you'll have to do a lot better than that."
Felicity looked around, making sure no one was watching them, then she grabbed his face in her hands and put every ounce of sexual frustration she had ever felt in his presence into the kiss and when she pulled away, he looked a little stunned.
"Be careful what you wish for, Mr Queen."
And before he could recover, she slipped from his grip and out of the car. At the main doors, she turned back and gave him a jaunty wave, accompanied by a wink.
When he finally had his wits about him, a wide grin spread over his lips. He couldn't remember feeling this happy since before the island.
This was going to be fun.
"You have some explaining to do!" Thea stormed over to him and Oliver took a step backwards.
"Thea?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
Thea shoved her phone into his face and he read the headline there.
'Oliver Queen and Mystery Woman Leave Couple's Retreat'
Below was a fuzzy picture of him and Felicity as they drove away from the resort.
"It's new," he tried to defend himself. "I came here to tell you."
"So who is she?"
"She's my assistant, her name is Felicity."
"You mean the woman who came to Walter's hospital room?"
"That's her."
"Oh my god! You're sleeping with the woman that Walter had an affair with?"
"Wait, what?!"
"Oh come on, a young beautiful blonde turns up at his bedside and the next thing we know, Walter leaves Mom? It was bad enough when you brought her to Mom's party, now you're dating her? Please!"
"Walter left Mom because of the secrets she was keeping, and because he thought she was involved in his kidnapping, which she sort of was. Felicity had nothing to do with their split."
"Right," her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Honestly, Thea, Felicity is a very sweet, kind, sort of geeky woman, not some fem fatale out to ruin out family."
"Being that you're bedding the fem in question, you would say that."
"Thea, please, this girl is very important to me."
"Well, how do you know that she's not some gold digger?"
"Because I went to her, I've done all the running."
Thea was clearly running out of steam and Oliver put his hands on her shoulders.
"I really care about this girl and I want you to give her a chance, okay?"
Thea took a deep breath.
"Please, Speedy, for me?"
"Fine," she huffed.
"Thank you." He kissed her forehead. "So how have you been?"
"Oh, you know," she turned away and headed for the bar. "Same old, same old."
"And how's Roy?"
"He's fine, I think." She picked up the inventory list and began checking it against the stocks in the bar.
"You think?"
"He's acting weird, distant."
"Any idea why?"
Thea looked torn but finally put the inventory down and looked at him. "He's obsessed with the hood again but this time, with getting some sort of revenge for being shot. He's going out every night, prowling the streets. We've had more than a few fights about it." She looked away as she said the last sentence.
"I'm sorry," he said. "He hasn't hurt you, has he?"
She shook her head.
"Thea?"
"He frightens me sometimes, he gets so angry but no, he hasn't hurt me. I don't know how to get through to him, Ollie."
"I'll talk to him," Oliver assured her.
"Thank you."
"Now, I have a favour to ask you."
Thea narrowed her eyes.
"That attire is hardly appropriate for the office, Miss Smoak."
Felicity looked up to see Isabel Rochev approaching.
"Just because you're boning your boss, doesn't give you the right to slack off."
"Officially, I'm still on vacation." Felicity tried her hardest to be polite but everything about this woman rubbed her up the wrong way. "Besides, only people coming to see Oliver will see my jeans and since he's not here, no one should have any reason to come up here."
Isabel stopped in front of her desk. "Just because he's sleeping with you doesn't make you special, it just makes you convenient."
"As convenient as you were?"
"You're nothing special."
"Jealous much?"
Isabel glared at her. "Don't think this will get you any special treatment. I can fire you, just like any other employee."
Felicity would like to see her try. Oliver would only let her go if he absolutely had no other choice and even then, they would still work together on his out of hours activities. Still, she didn't want Oliver drawn into a battle between her and Isabel and so she bit her tongue.
"Nothing to say, Felicity?"
"It's Miss Smoak to you; we are at work after all, and must behave in a professional manner at all times."
Isabel narrowed her eyes.
"May I pass a message into Mr Queen for you?"
"Tell him to come and see me the moment he returns."
"I will." Felicity looked back to her computer, essentially dismissing Isabel, who turned on her spiked heels and stormed off.
"I really hate that woman," Felicity muttered under her breath.
"I see the hood stopped an attempted bank robbery while I was gone," Oliver said throwing the newspaper down in front of Diggle.
"He did, and he was very effective too, if I may say."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
"What's happening with the retreat?" Oliver asked.
"It seems that someone locked the underground facility down just after we left, so they were able to make multiple arrests, once they found a blow torch to get them out."
"And the victims?"
"Still unclear. They were injecting the viruses before they'd been properly tested. Most of the test subjects died; of the three we rescued, one is in intensive care and the other two seem relatively healthy, but it may be years before the long term effects are felt."
Oliver nodded. "How's your friend handling it?"
"Alice was the test subject and she'd only been through one round of treatment. The doctors are assuming that her body's immune system fought the virus off but like I said, long term effects might not show for years. Tom is coping, that's about all that can be said right now."
"Any talk of charges?"
"That's still being debated but arrests have been made in the DA's office and the CCPD, seems an anonymous source forwarded details about bribes."
Oliver smiled. "She is a wonder, isn't she?"
"She is," Dig agreed. "So do you want to tell me what happened between you two up there?"
"You've seen the gossip columns too?"
"Actually, no, I just know the both of you, and you've been dancing around this attraction for months. I could tell things were changing almost as soon as you got there, so spill."
"We're giving dating a try, I think. More than that, I can't say."
"Can't or won't?"
"Can't. Look, I want this to work but given the life we lead, I have no idea how it's going to work yet."
"You'll find a way," Diggle assured him.
"This isn't going to make things awkward, is it?"
"As long as I don't come down here to find you two making whoopee on the desk, we should be fine," Dig said with a smile.
It was mid-afternoon by the time Felicity got home and after two nights with hardly any sleep, she was ready to crash. She tried to stay awake and wait for Oliver, but it soon became apparent that it was a losing battle, so she texted him the code for the main door and told him that she kept a spare key in her gym bag in the Arrow cave, and told him to either leave the bags as he must be pretty tired too, or climb into bed beside her. Then she drew her drapes, kicked her shoes off and climbed into her bed.
It only felt like minutes when a weight on the bed awoke her.
"Oliver?" she asked, sounding groggy. She was unable to see clearly since the drapes were closed but he was sitting on her side of the mattress rather than climbing in beside her. "What's wrong?"
She tried her hardest to wake up and reached for her beside lamp, hoping that light would help. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw who was sitting on her bed.
"What are you doing here?"
"I need to talk to you."
"About what?" As if it wasn't bad enough to wake up and find an uninvited man on you bed, she knew that she had no hope of fighting him off.
"The vigilante."
What! "What?"
"You know who he is, don't you?"
"Roy, I don't know where you're getting your information, but I have no idea who he is."
He leaned in close. "Don't lie to me, Lance told me that you could get a massage to him."
"Maybe I can, but I don't know who he is, any more than you do."
He leaned away and she hoped that perhaps he would leave.
"Then I'm sorry," Roy said, and he actually did look remorseful.
"It's okay, I won't tell anyone you broke in."
"I'm not sorry about that, I'm sorry about this." Without warning, he hit her in the side of the head and while she tried to fight the stars that swam in front of her eyes and the darkness that encroached from the edges of her vision, she lost the battle.