Chapter 10

Author's Note: So…a thing happened while I was writing. I got about halfway through the first draft of chapter 10 and then I had a lightbulb moment. So I've pushed the actual chapter 10 back to 11, and instead this is pretty much a context chapter.

This is basically what happened in the immediate days and weeks after Oliver's disappearance, I wanted to establish how powerful the friendship Tommy and Felicity formed while Oliver was gone is, it'll be important later in the story.

This chapter can totally be skipped over, but I had the idea and couldn't let it go. So without further ado, enjoy. Well…I say enjoy, this chapter is kinda depressing compared to my usual…

August 3rd 2007

The Queen's Gambit…lost at sea…Robert and Oliver Queen…no sign of survivors…

It hadn't stopped. All day, that was all she heard. Felicity thought she had stopped crying sometime around midday, though she wasn't sure. It had been Tommy who'd been the one to call her and she hadn't stopped listening to it on the news channels since. Felicity hadn't even been able to pick up the remote to change the channel.

Oliver was gone.

She'd said goodbye to him a little over 24 hours before, he'd promised he'd see her soon. Felicity didn't want to believe it, she hoped that Oliver, Robert, the whole crew had made it to the lifeboats and they'd be found in just a few more hours. She was being hopeful yes, but those first few hours were critical, there was a pretty good chance that they could still be found, but Felicity never had been one to be overly optimistic. There wasn't so much as a sign of the wreckage, let alone life boats or survivors, which meant the odds weren't as good as she was hoping. When Tommy had first broken the news to her, Felicity had tried to hack into any and every surveillance satellite she could get her hands on though, as Felicity rather painfully discovered, hacking was considerably more difficult when her vision was blurred with tears.

The shock had set in after the crying had stopped, which was why Felicity was frozen in her place on the sofa of the apartment she had been sharing with Oliver, blankly staring at the TV. The knock on the door wrenched Felicity back to the real world. She couldn't face getting up, Felicity was pretty sure it would just be some reporter trying to get a comment.

The knock came again, accompanied by a voice.

"Lis, it's me, open up."

Tommy.

With a sniffle, Felicity forced herself to her feet, walking over to the door. When she finally opened it, Felicity realised that Tommy looked almost as awful as she did, which was seriously saying something. No matter the circumstances, Tommy was always the pinnacle of suave, always unfazed, always maintain his cool nature. Yet today he was stood in her door way, in a creased shirt and suit pants, with eyes almost as red as hers.

Given how quickly he got to her, Tommy must have boarded the Merlyn Global jet the second he finished speaking to her that morning. Felicity had to admit that she was glad to see him, on some level at least, but the sight of Tommy could only remind her of what she had just lost. That wasn't fair to him but it was the truth, Felicity realised that she could hardly look at Tommy without seeing Oliver.

"Lis, I'm so sorry." Tommy stepped through the doorway, holding his arms out to her.

Felicity didn't hesitate before collapsing into his arms, her sobs returning even louder than before. She barely noticed the click as Tommy kicked the door shut behind him, Felicity was far too consumed by her grief. It was obvious that Tommy was trying to be brave for her, he was just holding her, whispering apologies into her ear as his hands started to run smooth circles over her back.

"It was all over the news," Tommy began to speak into her ear. "I went to the mansion to see Moira and Thea but…it was too much. Besides, Oliver would never forgive me if I made you go through this on your own."

That brought a little trace of a smile to Felicity's lips. Whenever they'd been in Starling and Oliver had gotten dragged away on QC business, Oliver had always tasked Tommy with keeping Felicity company in his absence. If by some miracle they did find Oliver, then he would be endlessly thankful to his best friend for taking care of her, which definitely helped bring out that smile Felicity had been fighting.

"You know, I never…never realised how few friends you've got until you're only real one is lost at sea." Tommy's voice was breaking as he spoke and so, after drying her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, Felicity knew it was her turn to be brave for him.

XXX

August 13th 2007

It was the week after Tommy broke the news that he finally convinced Felicity to move into the Queen Mansion. That was the same day they were told that the coastguard was no longer looking for survivors, they were just looking for the bodies. She'd cried, a lot, and Tommy had just sat there and held her. Felicity was amazed at how well Tommy was taking the news, though she supposed that it was just a façade, he was trying to be there for her, and Tommy couldn't do that if he let himself feel…anything.

When Felicity had heard about the change in the investigation, she'd given into Tommy's request for her to move in with the Queen family. Felicity had done her best to fight him, partly because the press would have a field day with that revaluation, but mostly because she didn't think she could cope with being around Oliver's family. Felicity had been given the room next to Oliver's, a move that Rasia had thought to be an act of kindness but had only served to cause her emotions to swell even more.

It was only her first night at the mansion when Felicity found herself sat on his bed, just because she could still smell his aftershave on the bedsheets. The bitter laugh that escaped her lips was one she couldn't repress, Felicity could help but think how pathetic she would have looked to anyone watching her. She should have known better, on some level Felicity had always suspected that Oliver was going to break her heart. Sure, she'd expected that to be when she walked in on him with some other woman, but never like this.

"So we've moved onto being angry now?" Felicity said to no one but herself.

Felicity knew she didn't really believe herself, she might have thought that Oliver would break her heart in the early days but now…now she knew full well how he felt about her, which made everything so much worse. Readjusting the glasses that slipped down her nose, Felicity had taken to wearing glasses instead of her contacts because wearing contacts wasn't easy when she was crying 24/7, when she heard a knock at the door. She stayed motionless, waiting for an indication of who it was behind the door, even though she was reasonably sure she knew who it was already.

"I know you're in there." Yep, it was Tommy.

After a few more moments of silence she heard a thud that was likely his forehead hitting the door, then his voice came again.

"Smoak, if you don't open this door I'm going to break it down…or, you know, bribe one of the cleaning staff to give me a key."

Felicity could help the laugh that escaped her lips at his comment. There was no way he didn't hear it, which meant she was now going to have to talk with Tommy, even if she did want to be alone. Getting to her feet, Felicity walked to the door and unlocked it, immediately returning to Oliver's bed. Obviously having heard the door unlock, Tommy let himself into the room, offering her a sympathetic smile as he took a seat next to her.

In the week since the accident, Tommy and Felicity had spent a lot of time in each other's company. They didn't talk much, and when they did it was mostly Tommy regaling her with stories of all the trouble he and Oliver managed to get into as teenagers. Felicity never told him how many of those stories she had already heard from Oliver himself, but it was nice to hear Tommy's take on them. Though Felicity was often unsure which version of any particular story was most accurate, since both Oliver's and Tommy's retelling seemed pretty outlandish.

"I didn't see him." Tommy's voice suddenly cut over the silence.

Felicity already knew he hadn't been on the dock that morning, she'd been there herself. It was hard for her to hear how much guilt Tommy seemed to have over his best friend's disappearance, especially given that he had absolutely nothing to do with it. Felicity tried to offer Tommy some comfort but he continued talking over her.

"I was out clubbing the night before, I shouldn't have been. I took some girl home I'd never met and I slept in…I just figured I'd see him when he got back, you know?" It broke Felicity's heart all over again when she saw the tears that started to fall from Tommy's eyes, in that whole week she'd never actually seen him cry. "I was angry. Ollie was doing great at collage, lined up to take over at QC, he had you. Then he said he was going on that stupid trip and I got scared…I thought he'd leave me behind. So I went clubbing, I got drunk…and I didn't say goodbye."

Felicity felt the tears prick at her own eyes but fought them back, right now Tommy needed her, and there was no way she'd let him down. Oliver wouldn't forgive her if she did. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Felicity gave him her most convincing smile.

"He wouldn't blame you, Tommy." It was the truth, even if Felicity knew he wouldn't believe it.

"That's not the point, he's dead, 'Lis. And when he died, I was angry at him for being a better man than me."

"Tommy…" Felicity was lost for words, which was rare.

Instead, she did for Tommy what he always did for her, she hugged him. She let him cry until there were no tears left. Then they talked, swapping stories about Oliver; he told her about the time the duo raided Malcom's liquor cabinet when they were 16, and in turn Felicity told him about when Oliver had bought her a $600 dress so she could win a $10 bet. They laughed about those happy stories and cried when things got sad, and when the sun came up in the morning, Felicity found that Tommy had placed her in Oliver's bed after she'd fallen asleep beside him.

XXX

August 10th 2008

"Tommy, I'm not going clubbing with you."

Almost a year since Oliver's…death, which was still hard for Felicity to think let alone say, and Tommy was still trying to convince her to go clubbing with him. The first few times Felicity had relented, feeling that she owed Tommy at least that much for everything he had done to help her through what happened. Now though, it was getting ridiculous. Tommy asked her almost every weekend to join him at whatever latest bar he had picked, and most weekends he just accepted defeat and let her stay home. For some reason, this time was different, Tommy was insisting she join him.

"Come on, Lis."

"No, Tommy. I've got that interview to get an actual job in the IT department at QC tomorrow."

Felicity had managed to secure her internship at Queen Consolidated a few months after…everything. She'd had most of the big tech companies of the East Coast trying to give her the best offer possible, some even giving her the opportunity to get straight in at a surprisingly high level, Felicity had even received a personal dinner invite and job offer from Bruce Wayne himself, but she turned them all down. Walter Steele had been mentoring Felicity somewhat, the British man had taken over as acting-CEO and had offered Felicity a place at QC for her to take as soon as she was ready. It had taken some negotiating, but Felicity had managed to convince Walter to let her start as an intern and actually earn her place in the company. This was why she was currently trying to prep for her interview to move up from her position as an intern.

"You could walk into that interview on Monday, say absolutely nothing and still get the job. Walter wants you in the company and there's nothing you can do to change his mind."

Tommy was right of course. Walter was already giving Felicity 'mentoring' sessions, in which he was teaching her the responsibilities of running QC's IT department. Felicity had to admit that she was a little flattered by the fact that Walter was already preparing her for such a high ranking position, but at the same time Felicity was equally annoyed. She knew that if it wasn't for her relationship with the family she would have had to work her way up through the ranks without any favouritism from her bosses. Despite that, both Tommy and Thea had assured her that it was a pretty common occurrence. Apparently, companies like QC, which were big on being family run, were fond of putting family friends in positions of power where it was possible. Thea had also made a point of telling Felicity that she was lucky she was only being set up to be head of IT, there had allegedly been some talk that Walter wanted Felicity to take a position as VP. That was a terrifying thought, Felicity thought she was barely ready to work in the IT department, let alone be ready to help manage a fortune 500 company.

"I'll break out the blackmail material if I have to, Smoak." Tommy grinned at her from the couch he was sprawled across.

Felicity turned on her heel and gave him a puzzled look.

"What possible blackmail could you have on…" She trailed off as a blush came over her cheeks, at which Tommy's grin grew even wider. "You wouldn't dare."

"I totally would."

The blush faded from her cheeks and Felicity gave Tommy her best death glare. "But that was your fault, I warned you about how bad I am at drinking tequila."

"To which I told you that a Vegas girl like yourself should know how to handle her drink a little better."

"Tommy Merlyn, if that video ever sees the light of day I swear to Google that you'll be on the no-fly list for the rest of your life."

"And yet it would be totally worth it."

It was a losing fight and Felicity knew it. The only thing she didn't know is why Tommy was so adamant that she go clubbing with him, it's not like Tommy needed any help when it came to his venture in personally funding every club in Starling, but for some reason tonight was different. Felicity knew she shouldn't press the issue, Tommy wasn't typically great at sharing his feelings and when he did it was usually after a bottle of whiskey, 'The Drink of the Broken Hearted', that had become Tommy's mantra anytime he wanted a drink. Felicity could no longer count the number of occasions he'd shown up at the mansion with a vintage bottle of whiskey that probably cost more than her annual salary.

"Tommy," Felicity began, walking over to the couch where he was sat. "What's going on?"

To that, the billionaire sat up, his amused expression suddenly turning sombre. That was when Felicity figured out why he wanted to go clubbing with her so badly, she felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.

"I spoke to Moira earlier. They're officially calling off the search."

Felicity knew it was coming, she'd been told herself earlier in the day. It was impressive that the search had carried on this long, and it was thanks to the finances provided by Queen Consolidated that it had been possible, except, even the Queen's didn't have enough money to fund a deep sea search and rescue operation for any longer than they already had. Search and Rescue had turned up nothing and, after a year, anyone who had an opinion on the matter said there was now no chance of finding anything. The belief now was that the wreck was so far below sea level that it would remain undiscovered for years to come. That piece of news had been particularly hard to swallow, it meant that Felicity…that anyone who cared about anyone who had been on the yacht, would never get closure. They just had to accept that there had been a storm and the Gambit had sunk, and that was all there was too it.

"It's stupid, but…" Felicity took a seat beside Tommy on the couch. "If they don't find anything it's like…"

"It's like he still might walk through those doors any day now." Tommy finished for her, Felicity hadn't realised how similar their thinking was. "Sometimes, when I'm out partying and he's not with me, it's like I can forget about everything. I can pretend he's sunbathing of that stupid yacht, drinking tequila with Sara and her girlfriend, not even knowing that we're all back here thinking he's gone."

Tears began to form in her eyes, and Felicity fought them back. She couldn't admit it out loud, but she often found herself having that same fantasy. That somehow, by some miracle, she'd get a phone call from Oliver, and he'd tell her he was on his way home. It was an almost childish fantasy but Felicity couldn't care. She'd have given anything to get him back.

"I just want to have one night where I can really forget about everything." Tommy continued.

"Okay…I'll go find something club worthy in my closet."

Even as she said it Felicity knew she'd regret agreeing to go clubbing with Tommy, she always did.

XXX

"I hate you." Felicity called after Tommy, watching him get dragged to the dance floor by yet another nameless woman.

"You couldn't if you tried." Tommy laughed at her, before he completely disappeared from view.

Clubbing with Tommy had gone exactly how Felicity remembered. Given her relationship with Oliver, she had been in the tabloids almost as much as Starling's own dynamic duo, more often than not getting roped into whatever their latest scandal was. Just being in a club filled with Starling's least interesting gossip mongers was bad enough, but being Oliver Queen's girlfriend and clubbing with Tommy Merlyn? Yeah, this was going to end badly for her.

Most of the women they had encountered that night had been giving Felicity death glares, apparently they seemed to see her as an obstacle in their quest to bed the infamous Tommy Merlyn. Pretty much the entire female population of the club had been giving Felicity the 'what does he see in her?' look, one she'd become all too familiar with during her relationship with Oliver, and one she really shouldn't have let get to her after so long, yet it still did. Though, the Merlyn heir didn't seem to let her presence affect his usual mating ritual. Felicity actually laughed at that thought, she'd spent so long around Tommy in this environment she could probably write a pretty decent nature documentary on the hunting patterns of trust fund playboys.

Whenever she went clubbing with her friends, Felicity tended to use her insane drunken dancing as a method of letting off steam, and it usually worked. She didn't need to take someone home with her, and honestly she never did. Tommy however, couldn't consider clubbing as letting off steam unless he took someone home. Felicity had to marvel a little at how different their attitudes to this situation were, then again she really shouldn't have been surprised.

They had been at the club nearly an hour and Felicity had danced a grand total of once, and that was only because Tommy had literally given her no choice in the matter. It had actually been kinda fun for her, if nothing else it had certainly made wearing the exceptionally form fitting, low-cut dress worth it. It hadn't escaped Felicity's notice that she'd drawn the attention of most of the men, and some of the women too, when she'd been up dancing. If this had been any other occasion, more specifically if she had been with Oliver at the club, Felicity would have been a little flattered.

She had enjoyed wearing particularly sultry dresses when in public with Oliver, mostly because of the way he got incredibly territorial, which had some petty delightful results when the two finally got some privacy. Those memories brought a smile to her face, and a deep blush to her cheeks. The way Oliver could get so territorial had been one of the things that annoyed her most when they'd first met, and yet one of the things she most adored in him later down the line.

It was almost 3am when they finally made it back to the Queen Mansion, courtesy of the driver Felicity had made sure to place on call. For once, Tommy seemed to be acting like a gentleman, insisting he'd stay at the mansion to save the driver having to make the extra trip to the Merlyn Estate. That had made Felicity laugh, especially when Tommy had done an impressive job of feigning taking insult to her comment about his behaviour.

Tommy had convinced Felicity to join him in drinking shots at some stage after he dragged her up for a second dance. If she was being totally honest she'd eventually joined Tommy in the V.I.P lounge, when they had both done several rounds of tequila body-shots off a particular busty women, who Felicity was convinced she'd seen in some fashion magazine before. Felicity was also reasonably sure that at some stage, though if it did turn out to be true she'd never admit to it, Tommy had done at least one body-shot off Felicity herself, the low-cut dress she had chosen for the night had certainly helped out for that particular round of drinking.

The duo stumbled through the doors of the Queen Mansion in a fit of giggles, both trying to 'shush' the other as they did. As they made it up the stairs and to the wing which housed the bedrooms, they were confronted by Thea, a bright grin on her face. Somehow the youngest Queen managed to look her usual picture of teenage elegance and beauty, even if she was just clad in pyjamas. Granted that one set of pyjamas likely cost more than Felicity's entire outfit but that was beside the point. Felicity and Tommy both froze up, trying to at least pretend they were a little more sober than they were. Naturally, they're attempt failed, and they ended up breaking out in another fit of laughter.

"So I take it you enjoyed clubbing?" Thea grinned at them.

"Clubbing, Speedy?" Tommy slurred. "What gives you that impression?"

It was Thea's turn to start laughing. "How about because you just rang me to tell me you were having 'the best night ever' and that you were 'so, so sorry' that I'm too young to go clubbing with you?"

"Me? Nooo…definitely not." Tommy grinned.

Thea and Felicity laughed at Tommy's comment, both knowing that a drunken phone call was textbook Tommy Merlyn. The Queen heir pointed towards Felicity's bedroom door with a smile.

"I made sure you've both got some water and aspirin ready for the morning. Night guys." With a wave, Thea turned and headed back into her room.

XXX

June 17th 2009

Felicity received the alert at 1:30AM.

If she was being totally honest, Felicity felt a little ridiculous for setting up a program to monitor all of Oliver's online accounts, and she'd contemplated shutting it down on more than one occasion. She had first written the program a month after Oliver's disappearance, when the Search and Rescue team said that it was unlikely that they would find any evidence of what had happened to the Gambit. For almost three years that program had sat silent, until that day.

Felicity had woken up straight away, she'd designed a special alert tone for any hits her program turned up, so she was well aware of the seriousness of the situation. 3 hours, and a serious amount of hacking, later Felicity was content to say that there was no mistake. Oliver's email account had been logged onto in Hong Kong, China. That in itself was a pretty astonishing revelation, Felicity couldn't even begin to try and formulate an explanation for why Oliver had ended up in China.

Then she had elected to 'borrow' the F.B.I's facial recognition software, running it against Oliver's face for every camera she could access in a 5 mile radius of the I.P address of the computer that had been used to access Oliver's emails. When her search turned up nothing, Felicity knew she had to involve Tommy, she couldn't keep a secret like that to herself, and she would need help if she was going to get to Hong Kong.

Grabbing her phone from the bedside table, Felicity hit Tommy's number on her speed-dial.

"'Lissy?" Tommy's voice droned, she had obviously just woke him up. "It's 8AM, what's up?"

"Tommy, get up and get dressed, you need to get to the mansion now. I think I might have found Oliver."

It took Tommy less than an hour to get to the Queen Mansion after that, though when he arrived Felicity was having a little trouble trying to explain what was going on to him.

"So let me get this straight," Tommy began, pacing her room. "You set up a computer thing to tell you if any of Oliver's email accounts were used, and one of them was. But it's in China?"

"Yeah, the I.P address of the router puts the log-on somewhere in downtown Hong Kong, I can't get any more specific than that from here."

"So…so what's our next move?"

Felicity had spent some time planning her next move. If she could get to Hong Kong then she would be able to more reliably track down the site where Oliver's email accounts had been accessed, and then maybe they would get lucky and find him. She knew it was a long shot, and the self-doubt had set in not long after her initial discovery. Maybe it had been some random mistake, maybe a journalist or someone had been trying to access Oliver's email count, or maybe her program was faulty. Felicity couldn't shake those notions, which is why she needed to get to China, so she could get to the truth.

"I need to borrow your dad's jet so I can get to Hong Kong."

Tommy's expression distantly soured at that. "I'm not letting you go to China to chase this, Felicity."

She had been expecting some resistance from Tommy but not outright refusal. The Merlyn heir had become particularly protective of Felicity over the last three years. While sometimes she was grateful of the friendship she had formed with Tommy, it was proving to be a serious issue on occasions like this.

"Why the fuck not?!" Felicity jumped to her feet as she spoke. "He might be alive Tommy, I might be able to bring him home."

"Exactly, might. Felicity I want this to be him just as badly as you do, but if it isn't, or if there's something weird going on...Oliver wouldn't want you to potentially risk your life to try and save his." Tommy took a step forward and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'll go to Hong Kong, flash some cash around and figure out what's going on. I'll be back before you know it."

XXX

August 17th 2009

"You dyed your hair?"

Felicity felt a grin tug at her lips when she heard Thea's comment. After Tommy had returned from Hong Kong, he had told her that the whole set-up had been a ruse, someone had hacked into Oliver's email account to try and draw out members of the Queen family so they could be ransomed. Tommy himself had gotten kidnapped but was, thankfully, rescued by the HKPD. That event had told Felicity it was time to accept the truth and move on. She'd tried dating again, which didn't work out all that well, she'd even tried picking up a few new hobbies. None of that had worked, and Felicity found herself thinking about Oliver even more than she already had been.

That was when her mother decided to suggest that a change in hair colour might do her good. The idea had seemed laughable at first, to which Donna Smoak had taken serious offence, but Felicity had eventually relented. For whatever reason, it worked. Felicity actually overhauled her entire wardrobe, swapping her contact lenses for glasses and her almost gothic clothing for blouses and pencil skirts. She felt more confident, more like herself again, and, for the first time in three years, like she might actually be able to move on with her life.

Felicity span on her heels to look at Thea, who was currently looking at her with a mix of surprise and appreciation. It had been almost three days since her total overhaul, and somehow Felicity hadn't managed to see the young brunette that whole time. It wasn't a surprise though, Felicity was now an 'IT and Computer Sciences Consultant' at Queen Consolidated, which consisted of a lot of early mornings and a lot of late nights. As a result, Felicity was awake much early than Thea and returned to the mansion much later than the younger girl.

"Yeah, I felt like it was time to change, you know?" Felicity offered the younger girl a reassuring smile.

"I like it, it's very…Felicity, actually." Thea grinned. "Ollie, would have loved it."

That had been inevitable, Felicity was beginning to find that Thea was bringing up Oliver more and more in the recent weeks. She was comfortable in the knowledge that it wasn't as a result of the Hong Kong incident, Thea hadn't been remotely aware of what had been happening on that front. So the now-blonde had decided that it was most likely because Thea was realising how large a role Oliver had played in her life.

Or maybe it was because of Walter, he and Moira were engaged, and the wedding was now less than 3 months away. That must have been hard for Thea. Felicity knew that the younger girl adored Walter, but it was undoubtedly difficult for her to watch her mother move on in the way she had. The rumours were also circulating that Felicity was about to be receiving a promotion to the sub-head of the IT Department in a few months, allegedly Walter was going to give her the promotion as a sort of reverse wedding gift. That meant Felicity would be spending even less time at the mansion that she already did and, if she was being honest with herself, it also meant that she would be moving out before long. As much as Felicity loved being at the Queen Mansion, it wasn't her home, no matter how much Thea, Walter and Moira tried to convince her otherwise.

"He'd love this dress too." Thea smirked, exaggeratedly looking over Felicity's appearance.

Felicity glanced down to look at the blue dress she was wearing, a similar smile to Thea's coming to her lips. It was tight, form-fitting, with a plunging neckline that showed off a little more than Felicity would usually be comfortable with. She had just been about to leave the mansion to join Laurel on a 'girls night', which meant hitting every club in Starling that they knew Tommy wouldn't be in, and moving venue often enough that he wouldn't track them down. As much as the two of them enjoyed partying with Tommy, sometimes they just needed a slightly quieter night.

After being dragged out by Tommy almost a year ago, the duo had bumped into Laurel Lance. While the lawyer-to-be had always been good friends with Tommy and Oliver, she had never been particularly close to Felicity. Not to say they were hostile towards each other, they just never seemed to click. That night however, had led to a very drunk bonding session between the two girls, while Tommy had been off on the dance floor. The next morning, Laurel had text Felicity asking to meet for coffee and they quickly became good friends.

Then they had taken to clubbing together, which had been fun, until Tommy started joining them. They both enjoyed clubbing with Tommy a lot, but sometimes they just ended a girls night. A night filled with expensive cocktails and some dancing with men that they'd never met, which was never quite how a night out with Tommy went. Tonight was set to be one of those nights, and Felicity did feel a little guilty for not being able to take the youngest Queen with her.

"Thanks, Thea." Felicity gave the younger girl a bright smile, or as convincing a one as she could manage. "Give it a few more years and you can start joining us."

"I'll hold you to that, 'Lissy!" Thea called after her as felicity made her way out of the mansion.

XXX

November 19th 2011

"Congratulations, Felicity, you've earned it." Walter embraced the blonde as he spoke.

"Thanks, Walter." Felicity smiled as she separated herself from the Englishman.

Tommy had thrown her a party. Of course he did, because why wouldn't he? She'd just revived her promotion to the Head of IT, and the second the news had reached his ears Tommy had recruited both Laurel and Thea, the trio planning this not-so-surprise party for her. Felicity was yet to move out of the Queen Mansion, even thought she had her new penthouse, courtesy of the Queen Matriarch, lined up and as a result she'd caught wind of the party pretty quickly.

That didn't mean that Felicity wasn't appreciative of the effort her friends had gone to, she was over-the-moon with how much time had clearly gone into the planning of the event. Somehow it didn't feel right to be celebrating the promotion, it hadn't exactly been a shock to any of them. The whole Queen-Steele family, and friends, had known from her first day at the company that this was exactly where her career was headed. Not to say she wasn't grateful for the job, but it felt a little like a hollow victory. Well there was that, and Felicity just didn't feel…right, to be celebrating this achievement without Oliver.

"He'd be proud of you, 'Lis." Tommy smiled at her, handing Felicity a flute of champagne as he did.

Taking the glass, the blonde felt a blush rise on her cheeks. "Tell me I didn't say any of that out loud."

"You didn't," Tommy laughed. "But I could tell, I can always tell when you're thinking about him."

"Really? I have a tell do I?" Felicity teased, trying to steer Tommy away from the serious notes he was touching on.

"You do," the billionaires mood suddenly became a lot more sober. "You keep glancing to your right, as if you're expecting him to be stood next to you."

"Tommy…"

Downing the rest of his champagne, Tommy met Felicity's eyes. "This is going to sound beyond hypocritical but…you need to find a way to let go, Felicity. It's been over four years, I don't want to admit it but he isn't coming back."

He was right, of course. Felicity had tried, so many times, to move one. Hardly any of the dates she went on ever panned out, and the few that made it beyond dinner never ended anywhere good. Felicity knew that she was holding all of the potential boyfriends up to Oliver, and somehow none of them ever compared. She'd been told by Laurel on numerous occasions that she needed to get laid even if she didn't meet up with the guy again. Never having been a fan of one-night-stands, the idea hadn't been of great consideration to Felicity, though recently it was becoming an appealing way, she needed to find a way to move on, before she gave up trying altogether.

Though there would always be a part of Felicity that was still hoping the Oliver would return to her.

Author's Note: So this happened, I'm not too sure how I feel about this chapter but I just couldn't get the idea out of my head and started suffering some serious writers block until it was done. I'm only posting it because...well why not?

I'm anticipating maybe another 10-15 chapters before this story is done. So we should be finishing at somewhere around a 100k word count, which I'd be pretty happy with.

There's a good chance I'll end up coming back to tweak this chapter later down the line depending on what I establish plot wise.

Anyway, please leave a comment if you have absolutely anything to say about this story. It always means the world to me when I get feedback from my readers.

Until the next time

JRW