"How was the date?" Digg asked as Felicity walked into the lair.

"It wasn't a date, it was a thank you for saving my life dinner.' Felicity said. Digg crossed his arms and gave her a look of disbelief. "Alright…it was totally a date." She sat down in her computer chair, unable to fight the grin that was forming. "It was nice, you know? Made me feel normal."

Digg sat next to her. "Normal?"

"Yeah." Felicity shrugged. "Going out, meeting someone, connecting…" She trailed off and looked around the lair. Digg frowned.

"Nu uh. I know that look."

"What look?" Felicity asked.

"The 'I can't do this and be in a relationship' look." Digg said. Felicity didn't ask where he'd seen it before. They both knew who he was talking about. "You don't deserve to be trapped here. This doesn't have to be your fight, and if balancing your life at work, your private life and your life down here gets to be too much…you can always walk away."

"I don't want to, John." Felicity murmured. "I like helping people."

Digg nodded. "Well, if this Clark guy is really as amazing as you seem to think he is-"

"What makes you say that?' Felicity interrupted.

Digg shrugged. "Just that I've never seen you this happy."

Felicity felt heat rising to her face and she quickly turned to the screens. "So, how's the city looking tonight?"

"Quiet." Digg said. "I think our mystery helper has scared the criminal underground into behaving."

Felicity was working in her shiny new office on Monday, with music on. She had her back to the door and was humming along when someone cleared their throat. She whirled around in her chair, letting out a loud squeak of surprise, and dropping the tablet she was holding. "That was new." She mumbled, then she looked up and paled.

"Mr. Luthor." She stood. "I…um." She quickly turned off the music, Adele's voice cut short in the middle of a song. "I didn't know you'd be coming here today. I was just looking over the reports from my underlings. I mean the people that report to me in my department, who I jokingly refer to as my underlings. Not that I'm some kind of despotic dictator, I just thought it was funny and I should not have said it out loud." She bent down and grabbed the tablet.

Luthor sat across from her. "I didn't mean to startle you; your assistant wasn't at his desk. He frowned. "Should I have him fired?"

"No, you shouldn't." Felicity said quickly. "I sent him to lunch because I figured he might want some sunshine."

"Then why are you inside?" Luthor asked.

Felicity looked at the ruins of her tablet. "I was actually going to contact you about that. I've been getting several emails from other people in the department who all say that there's been an increased amount of attempted breaches."

"What?" Luthor's previously mild expression darkened.

"I've been monitoring our servers and they're right. I've had to block about 10 breaches since this morning." Felicity looked down at her tablet. "and I think I know why."

Luthor leaned back and indicated that she should go on. Felicity bit her lip. "There's this cyber forum where a bunch of people have been posting anti-QC stuff, which is understandable since we built the bomb that leveled a huge portion of the city. And lately they've decided to attack us directly because of a lack of justice for victims of the quake."

Luthor arched an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that the scientists responsible had all been killed when Merlyn came to collect his device." Felicity noted how cold and detached his words were.

"Yeah, but there are a lot of angry and grieving people." She said. "And I understand why. NOT." She added quickly, seeing a flash of anger enter Luthor's eyes. "That I agree that they should have tried to hack us, but…I've been down the quake site and part of me wonders if…if we did everything we could to stop the destruction."

Luthor's expression shifted to one of confusion. "Do you blame yourself?"

"It's kinda hard not to." Felicity mumbled.

"Felicity." Luthor said, his voice full of reassurance and slight amusement at her empathy. "There is nothing you could have done to prevent this tragedy." Felicity nodded and looked away. If only he knew how wrong he was. It had been nagging at the back of her mind that she hadn't even considered the possibility of a backup device. If she had, she could have found it and disarmed it on time. She snapped back to reality when Luthor cleared his throat. "You were talking about the hackers?"

"Hackers, right." She gave herself a mental shake. "I was going to ask for permission to set up an extra security level to our firewall; a Trojan horse that would attach itself to any infiltrator and send a virus to their ip address."

Luthor looked impressed. "Permission granted." He tilted his head. "I never realized how much of a dark side you had, Felicity."

"It's…" She looked down at her ruined tablet. "It'll take me a while."

Luthor leaned forward and picked up the tablet. "I'll have another one sent to you by the end of the day."

Felicity nervously tucked her hair behind her ears. "I am just blowing through your tablet budget." She muttered.

Luthor shook his head, amused. "I'm good for it; believe me." He fixed her with an intense look.

"So…" Felicity said, looking away. "Were you just in the neighborhood?"

"No." Luthor leaned back. "I actually have to go to Metropolis in 5 days. There's been a lot of discussion surrounding my decision to buy this company and my presence at Lex Corps will calm investors." He paused. "In addition, I was hoping to present your outreach project as a show of what the new Queen Consolidated is capable of."

"Oh." Felicity said. "That sounds like a good idea."

'Felicity." Luthor said, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "I'm trying to say that I would like you to join me in Metropolis so that you can present your ideas for the school."

Felicity gaped at him.

"What?" She said, abruptly. "I mean are you sure?"

Luthor's face remained the same. "Perfectly."

"It's just, I haven't really given a pitch to…I don't know if I'm the right person because it was really your idea."

Luthor nodded. "It began as my idea, but you took it and truly made it your own. I have faith in your abilities."

"I…can I have a few days to consider it?" Felicity asked. Luthor tensed slightly and Felicity realized that she'd just contradicted a request from her boss, who also happened to be one of the most powerful people in the world. The next second Luthor gave her a small smile and nodded.

"I don't see why not. As I said, I'm leaving in 5 days." He stood and began leaving the office.

"Thank you." Felicity said, "Mr. Luthor."

He turned and shot her a piercing look, his mouth ticked upwards, "I believe I have asked you to call me Lex." Then he left.

"You seem distracted."

Clark's voice snapped her back into focus. She blinked and looked over at him. They were in her apartment preparing for a Doctor Who marathon.

"What makes you say that?" Felicity asked.

Clark gave her a small smile. "It's just that you've been staring at the open cabinet for a good 2 minutes." He hesitated, before reaching around her and grabbing two plates. "Pizza's getting cold." He said. "Something on your mind?"

Felicity nodded, closing the cabinet. "It's a work thing." She sighed. "It's…complicated." She sat on the couch and took the plate Clark handed her, grabbing a slice of pizza. Clark didn't press; a fact for which she was grateful. Taking a few bites, she considered whether or not she should tell him. "It's my boss." She finally admitted. "QC was bought by Lex Corp and the last few weeks, Lex Luthor's been here personally, overseeing the transition."

Clark nodded.

"Which you knew because you met him at the construction site." Felicity muttered, closing her eyes. "Anyways, he promoted me to head of IT and…I don't know. He's been nothing but nice to me, but at the same time it feels as though he has some alternative agenda."

"Has he said something or tried anything?" Clark asked. Felicity noted that he was gripping the plate a little tighter. He glanced down at it and put it on the table.

"No." She said. "I mean… he keeps trying to get me to call him Lex." She shuddered. "Then yesterday he asked me to go to Metropolis with him to present a special project the IT department is working on to the Lex Corps board of investors."

"That sounds like an amazing opportunity." Clark pointed out.

"It is…" Felicity said. "But something isn't right. My gut is telling me to stay the hell away from him."

"Well then, I don't think you should discount your instincts." Clark said. "There might be a way to do both."

"What?"

"Go to Metropolis and stay the hell away from him." Clark said. "Make your own travel plans separately from his. Choose your own hotel, airline ticket…"

"That way I won't be caught alone with him." Felicity grinned. "And I can still give the presentation to the board." She tilted her head. "I'll have to make sure I make the plans before I tell him I'm going. That way he can't try and get me to take his private jet with him." She got up and began rummaging through her DVDs to get out the Doctor Who set.

Clark nodded. "If you want, I can come with you…" He blushed as Felicity looked at him. "It's just…there's been an issue with a broken water main at the construction site and Metropolis isn't too far from Smallville." He shrugged. "It's been a while since I've visited my mom."

"Smallville…" Felicity smiled. Clark was a secretive person and every detail she learned about him, made her interested in finding out more. "Another piece towards solving the puzzle that is Clark Kent."

"Not really a puzzle." Clark mumbled. "Just a simple country boy from Kansas who moved from home to see more of this planet." He fiddled with the pizza in front of him. "and I get it if you say no. I mean you just said that your boss was being overbearing and it made you nervous and now I'm doing the same thing."

Felicity shook her head. "It's not the same thing." She murmured. "Luthor's using his position as my boss to try and manipulate me. There's an imbalance of power. You're just a friend who's trying to be nice." She noted that Clark's face fell when she said the words 'just a friend'. "I mean… right now we're friends, but we could be more, though I'm not sure 2 not exactly dates qualifies us as boyfriend and girlfriend, but I wouldn't mind being yours…your girlfriend…eventually when I get to know a bit more about you and when you get to know me a little better too. It's just right now we both just met and…" She put her face in her hands, her palms cool against her burning cheeks.

"Felicity." Clark's voice was closer and she realized he'd moved off the couch to sit next to her on the floor. "I wouldn't mind being your not exactly friend but not exactly your boyfriend either." She peeked out from between her fingers. Clark was giving her a genuine smile and he didn't seem put off or shocked by her ramble.

"Really?"

He nodded. "Now." he said, grabbing a DVD. "I know this very special woman who says this is the coolest TV show there's ever been."

"She sounds smart." Felicity murmured, lowering her hands.

"She is." Clark said. "So how many seasons does this show have?"

"31." Felicity said, grinning slightly at the way Clark's face paled. "Oh yeah, you've got a lot of catching up to do."

Lex noted the cheery confident way Felicity walked into his office. She'd asked for this meeting herself, which was surprising, but not unwelcome. He liked that she was becoming more assertive around him; it meant that she was beginning to let her guard down.

"What can I do for you, Felicity?" He gave her a pleasant smile and indicated the seat across from his desk. She sat and gave him a wide smile.

"I just wanted to tell you that I am going to be doing the presentation in Metropolis…if you still want me to."

Lex kept his expression neutral as a thrill raced through him. He hadn't thought she'd agree and yet, here she was. "I am happy to hear it." He said, slightly taken aback at the sincerity in his voice. It didn't matter; he was one step closer to having her be his. "My jet will be leaving at 10:30 from Starling City airport and-"

"Actually." Felicity said. "I was so excited that I already bought a plane ticket."

Lex's hands curled in his lap. "Really?" He said, evenly.

"Yeah." She shrugged. "Call me silly, but I've never been to Metropolis and I kinda wanted to experience it like a real tourist. So, airplane, cab, hotel; the works." She grinned. "I was just wondering if you had an itinerary for me."

"Are you sure?" Lex said, "It would be cheaper to accompany me on my jet."

"Well, I didn't know it was option." Felicity said. "And cancellation fees are super expensive."

He didn't press. He knew she'd made up her mind and pushing would make her suspicious. He smiled. "I'll have my assistant email you with the times and places of where you need to be, and thank you again for agreeing to do this."

Felicity flashed him another blinding smile and got up to leave. He watched her through the glass walls of his office, his temper rising. He hadn't gained any ground with her; she wasn't letting her guard down, if anything she was becoming even more caged.

AN: so I know there are 34 seasons of Doctor Who, but since this takes place after season 1 of Arrow, there would only be 31