CHAPTER 10 "Oh boy"
The fog was lifting. She couldn't figure out why at first. There were muffled sounds, and even without her eyes open she could tell it was bright in whatever room she was in. There was a little bit of background noise, but it was something else that woke her. Some noise right in front of her face. It was a voice. By the tone, it sounded like it should have been loud, but to her it was a little muffled. Then, she could feel breath on her face as the voice grew louder. This made her furrow her brow in annoyance, why couldn't whoever it was just let her sleep? Felicity was all the sudden jolted into complete alertness when someone grabbed her bad shoulder and shook her hard. Her eyes shot open to see a blurry Laurel standing over her, angrily trying to wake her up.
"Ow! OW! What the HELL!? Stop!" Felicity pulled herself out of Laurel's grasp and sat up. 'Hey! I can sit up!' she thought. 'Wow I'm out of it…'.
"You're damn right 'What the hell'! What are you doing here, and why didn't you wake up? Why is my dad's apartment a mess!? And where the hell is he at noon on a Saturday!? Where have Oliver and Thea been!?" Laurel ranted angrily.
Felicity only caught every other word, but she assumed the rest. She was still super groggy. She closed her eyes, and put her hand up to her head to settle herself.
"WELL!?" Laurel yelled again before finally noticing the large bandage on Felicity's hand, and the cut on her head that had been previously covered by her loose curls.
"Oh….you were in the explosion." Laurel finally put it together, her anger dissipating slightly, but confusion still apparent.
Felicity just nodded her head 'yes' and then sighed, opening her eyes. Vision still blurry, she realized she didn't have her glasses on.
"Felicity! You're awake!? Are you ok!? Laurel what are you doing here?!" Thea yelled as she ran into the living room in a towel followed by Roy. She and Roy had been charged with holding down the fort, while the others went to settle things at the police station and get supplies. Thea was in the shower when Roy knocked on the door frantically trying to get her attention. He had heard Laurel come in and start yelling, but didn't want to scare her by going out there himself. Thea jumped out of the shower, and ran out to calm her down.
"Thea? What are you… what is going on?" Laurel finally asked, flopping down in exasperation in the arm chair near the couch.
"Did I sleep out here all night?" Felicity croaked out, ignoring Laurel.
"All morning you mean?" Thea retorted, also ignoring Laurel for the time being. "No, Oliver took you to bed after you passed out. He brought you back out here just a few hours ago. They went to take care of some things. How's your back? Are you ok? We heard you scream." Thea asked, remembering to speak loudly, and perching herself next to Felicity on the couch.
"Well, I can sit up, that's improvement. My hearing is all weird again. Where are my glasses?" She asked, wishing to make the room clear.
"In the bedroom, I'll grab them." Roy quickly fled the scene, happy for a reprieve.
"Is anyone going to answer me?" Laurel persisted, feeling slightly bad for hurting Felicity earlier, but annoyed at being cast aside.
"Jesus, Laurel, relax. Clearly, we didn't break in. Detective Lance is just helping us out with a safe place to stay for a little bit. Take it down a notch. And Felicity didn't wake up because she was given painkillers for her back. She was in an explosion after all, she probably couldn't really hear you anyway, her hearing is screwed up too. No reason to freak." Thea chided. She was annoyed that Laurel would come in and just start berating someone who is asleep, and who obviously has bandages and injuries. Laurel knows that Felicity is Oliver's girlfriend, and not a complete stranger. Her reaction was uncalled for, and it left Thea feeling a bit prickly towards the other brunette.
Roy came back in with Felicity's glasses, which where still cracked and bent.
"Great, I guess I'm going to be doing contacts for a while. Wait, I don't have them with me either. Awesome." Felicity sighed, and left on the broken glasses for the time being.
"What time is it?" Felicity asked.
"It's around noon. I was coming to see if my dad wanted to do lunch and talk." Laurel answered. "Thea, I heard about your mom. I'm so sorry."
Thea just looked away to the floor, she hadn't really had a chance to deal with it all yet. So much was happening.
"Yeah" was all she said back, quietly.
Felicity decided to change the subject.
"Half the day is gone already. Do they have any other leads?" She said as she glanced over to Lance's computer that was still at the kitchen table. She had to hide her sudden panic when she noticed Oliver's green Arrow jacket sitting on one of the kitchen chairs. She assumed Laurel hasn't seen it yet, and looks away as to not draw attention to it.
"No, they were just focused on getting to the police station and squaring things away." Thea said, still looking a little spacey after the comment about her mother.
Felicity put her hand on Thea's shoulder. "Why don't you go get dressed, I'll start working on our problem." She said softly. Thea just nodded and stood. As she turned, she spotted the jacket and she jolted a bit, spinning back around.
"Laurel! Why don't you come with me, and I'll explain what is going on a bit?" She said in a strange tone. "Roy. You can fill Felicity in on what we found out last night."
'Wow she's a terrible liar.' Felicity thought. 'Worse than Oliver.'
Roy nodded in overly exaggerated acknowledgment, and Thea and Laurel went into the other room.
He quickly grabbed Oliver's jacket, and hid it safely in the other bedroom. Felicity couldn't help but giggle as it kind of resembled a Three Stooges episode. Although, Roy and Thea were kind of reminding her of the 10th Doctor and Rose being cheesily sneaky about something, and using terrible excuses to get away from the evil-doer of the week.
Her smile instantly faded when she saw Roy sheepishly walk back in, specifically avoiding her gaze.
"Oh god, you actually did find something out last night? What is it?" Felicity demanded quietly.
"Barbie, I should wait…" He started, but was interrupted by Felicity again.
"No, you tell me right now. What happened?" She said forcefully.
It's like he could hear her loud voice inside the whisper, and it royally freaked him out.
"OK well…after you passed out…Oliver told us something…it was what Slade said in the warehouse…" He paused not wanting to drop this bomb.
"It was about my father wasn't it?" She let him off the hook. He shot his head up and met her eyes. Nodding his head yes he kept his mouth shut.
"What did he say? Did he threaten Oliver?" She asked worriedly.
Roy kind of crooked his head to the side. "Ummm…sort of? He said that he would kill everyone that you both love. He wants you to suffer too Felicity. For whatever your dad did. He wants you and Oliver to both watch everyone you love die. Then he said he's going to kill you in front of Oliver, and then kill him." Roy stuttered out.
Felicity's face paled. Well, that would explain why Oliver was even weirder than she expected coming in last night. 'Oh my god and his nightmare!' she thought. 'He was trying to protect me, not his Mom.'
"Yeah, I think so, too." Roy said. She realized she had said her thoughts aloud, again.
"Roy get me my laptop, please." Felicity ordered. "I mean…Lance's laptop."
He was already up, thankful that the hard part was over and that she didn't say anything else about it.
"While you're over there, can you grab some of that cream Sara was using on my back yesterday? It really helped." She asked a little nicer this time.
He looked around for it, he had thrown everything around at 4am looking for the pain pills, and the supplies were in complete disarray. Finding what he was looking for, he brought both things over to her sitting them on the coffee table in front of her.
Just in opening up the laptop and starting it up, she realized she'd probably need the pain reliever on her back before start with her hacking. She could get through without it, but she would move quicker with it and would have less of a difficult time focusing.
Felicity looked up at Roy and he had a look of fear in his face that seemed like he was about to face Slade alone. She realized he thought she was going to ask him to put the cream on her back and she smiled.
"Relax, kid, I'll wait til Thea comes back in." Felicity said as he looked immediately relieved.
"Besides, can you imagine if Oliver walked in and saw you rubbing my back half naked?" She joked. Roy just turned bright red, and turned around starting toward the room him and Thea had been using. Only calling back to say "That was mean, Barbie!".
She chuckled, but then remembered why she needed the laptop in the first place. She decided to start one thing before getting the cream on her back. Felicity hacked into her private cloud server, and started downloading the file she had collected on her father over the course of the last week or so. Once the transfer started, she sat back as best she could on the couch and rested a minute.
Thea came in, followed by Laurel and not Roy. 'I guess I spooked him.' Felicity thought, now feeling bad.
"Roy is just going to grab a quick shower. He said I can put the cream stuff on your bruise while he's in there so that Ollie doesn't 'kill him with his hands'. Roy's words not mine. Even if they are a little true."
"Yeah, I'm still a little loopy and I teased him. I feel bad now." Felicity said quietly.
"No, it's good for him. He needs to be kept in check sometimes." Thea smiled and winked. "Alright, strip."
"Right here?" Felicity stated, confused.
"Oliver texted me, they shouldn't be back for another couple of hours. He said they are stopping off to grab a couple things before they head back." Thea assured.
"And I don't think you have to worry about anyone else barging in and freaking out. Sorry about that earlier by the way. I didn't mean to hurt you." Laurel added.
Felicity was taken aback. "Ummm…it's cool. I'm alright."
Laurel just threw her a tight, awkward smile. "Do you want some Advil or something?"
Felicity shook her head, "No thanks, I should go easy. I'm sure my liver would protest all the painkillers I've had in the last 18 hours or so. Especially without eating anything."
"Well why don't I make you a sandwich or something while she's doing that?" Laurel pointed at the cream.
"That would be great, thanks Laurel!" Thea answered for her. Felicity wasn't really hungry, but figured Thea was right. She should get something in her stomach, she hadn't eaten in at least 24 hours. Laurel went into the kitchen.
"OK…as I said…strip." Thea insisted.
"Yeah that's easy for you to say…" Felicity said. Oliver had put her in a tee shirt over night. As she tried to lift her shirt, she stilled about halfway and winced. She tried a different tactic, failing at that as well. She dropped her arms to her lap in defeat, looking up at Thea with puppy dog eyes.
"Ok, I got you." Thea stood up and walked to Felicity's right side, the "good" side, and grabbed her shirt as Felicity removed her right arm. Thea, much like Diggle had done in the lair, pulled the shirt up and over Felicity's head, and slipped it off her left arm gently. Surprisingly, with very little pain.
"Wow, you're pretty good at that." Felicity joked.
"A lot of practice with my drunk friends in high school. I'm pretty sure I could do it with my eyes closed by now." Thea boasted.
"Well, I think I only want you to do that for me until I can do it myself." Felicity stated lightly.
"What about Ollie?" Thea teased.
"Ha. Ha." Felicity sarcastically quipped back. She missed their banter. It had only been about 24 hours but she felt like they had had any light conversation in days. As Thea was gently rubbing the cream onto Felicity's massive bruise, Felicity all the sudden remembered part of last night.
"Oh my god!" Felicity said suddenly, scaring Thea a little.
"Whoa, what's wrong! Did I hurt you?" Thea said concerned.
"No, sorry. Is Oliver ok? After last night. After…what happened?" Felicity blurted out quickly.
"Just getting you brain back, huh?" Thea tried to keep Felicity's mood as light as possible. "Yeah, he's ok. He's probably not going to sleep in the same bed as you for a while though. After…he's a little…skittish." Thea stuttered out.
"What happened last night? Oh my god! Your back!" Laurel exclaimed as she came back into the room with 3 sandwiches on a tray.
Felicity whipped her head around, not entirely comfortable with Laurel seeing her in a bra. Also, not really comfortable discussing her relationship with Oliver with the ex love of his life.
Thea looked up at Laurel and shook her head 'No' subtly.
"Sorry, you and Oliver are none of my business. But your back…I mean…now I'm REALLY sorry for shaking you earlier. Wow." Laurel rambled uncomfortably, staring at the huge black, red, and purple bruise.
Felicity just looked over to Thea and rolled her eyes. Thea smiled at her and continued applying. Laurel set the sandwiches down next to the laptop, and sat next to Felicity on the couch.
"So what are you doing on my dad's computer?" Laurel asked. Not suspiciously, more curious and nosy. She was really starting to get on Felicity's nerves. She didn't feel like having to censor herself and make up stories right now. Felicity already had too much to worry about.
Felicity let out a resigned sigh. "I'm trying to figure out who's after us and why." She said vaguely, knowing it wasn't going to be enough to pacify the attorney. Her JOB was to find juicy details about cases.
"Oh! What do you have? And how are you getting that info…wait…is that…" Laurel started as she glanced at some of the private documents on the screen.
Felicity sighed again give Thea an 'I'm-tired-and-don't-feel-like-dealing-with-this-please-help-me' look.
Thea just smiled again.
"Felicity has some…special skills." Thea explained.
"Yeah but…this is like…" Laurel started, but Thea interrupted again.
"Yup. Yes it is. And you're not going to say anything to anyone…right Laurel?" Thea said almost scolding.
"No…I mean…you're not like…hurting anybody right?" Laurel asked.
"Did she ask if I was hurting anybody?" Felicity asked Thea, who nodded 'yes'. "No. I'm not hurting anybody. I'm just looking for information." Felicity said before resting her elbows on her knees, and putting her head in her hands. Her head has started pounding worse and worse the longer she was awake. Her hearing problem wasn't helping, she had to overly concentrate on everything, and try to read people's lips. It was succeeding in making her have a nice sized headache by this point.
"Here, eat your sandwich, and then we can get you some more painkillers or something." Laurel insisted seeing how worn out Felicity was looking already.
"Here's your shirt, I can help you get it back on if you want?" Thea said, having finished applying the cream.
"Yes please, to all of that. This is almost done downloading, so I need to get started soon if I'm going to find out what…" Felicity stopped herself and closed her eyes, almost forgetting about Laurel. This was more tricky than she anticipated. She was too tired and in to much pain to be able to censor herself properly. She knew she was eventually going to slip up.
"It's cool guys, don't worry about me. I'm just here to help." Laurel said sincerely.
Felicity just looked up at her. She wasn't sure what to say next, but Laurel continued.
"I mean, how am I going to help you guys and Oliver against this threat if nobody will admit he's the Arrow?" Laurel looked Felicity in the eyes and Felicity's face dropped, confirming what Laurel said was true.
"HA! I KNEW IT!" Laurel yelled triumphantly. Felicity and Thea just turned and looked at each other, horrified.
"Oh calm down, I'd never do anything to hurt Ollie. He's my friend, and he's saved my life a number of times now as Arrow. Do you guys really think I'll tell?" Laurel scoffed.
"Oh boy." Felicity said as she rubbed her hands down her face, and turned back to the computer as it chimed at her that it was finished downloading. "Well, here it goes."