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They stayed in their stand-off for several moments. Felicity relaxed, never breaking eye contact, knowing that she held all the power now; the ball was in her court. She could lie and he'd never know otherwise.
"Well… it depends on what you consider as a bad guy."
"You know exactly what I consider a 'bad guy.' " He made little air quotes around the word, almost mocking Felicity's word choice. "Someone who sets out to hurt people are "bad guys"."
"Then what does that make you?" She crossed her arms in front of her. "If my memory serves, which is usually does, than a lot of people have died at the hands of Batman." Bruce narrowed his eyes and gritting his teeth, continued with his questions.
"Just tell me. Who. Do. You. Work. With?" Felicity sighed.
"Fine. I can give you the list." Bruce quieted, waiting for Felicity to speak.
"I've worked with the Flash, S.T.A.R. Labs, the Arrow, Arsenal, Canary, A.R.G.U.S., the Suicide Squad, the Huntress, and a couple members of the League of Assassins. Is that enough information for you?" Felicity was getting annoyed, and therefore slightly snarky.
"For now." Bruce walked away from her.
Over the next couple of days Bruce asked her a couple other questions; ones that were common questions, but she still didn't particularly answer. Eventually he moved away from her present, realizing that she wasn't going to budge, and went on to her past. Even then she wouldn't tell him much- mostly those things that Oliver and Digg knew... so basically nothing. Bruce must have realized this because soon after he stopped asking questions.
A few days later Bruce needed to return to Gotham and Wayne Enterprises. He hadn't talked to Felicity since the last time he'd questioned her. Of course he hadn't tried to get rid of her either, so she wasn't sure where she stood with him. She did know that they were leaving; Dick had let it slip the day before. Now she sat at a table, watching them work on packing, while she stared at a map, pretending to make plans for herself after she separates herself from Team Gotham. She only did this for two days before Bruce pulled her aside.
"Do you want to come back to Gotham with us? Or at least we can give you a ride back to the states."
"Sure." Felicity spoke shortly. At first Bruce wasn't sure what to say; she wasn't giving him anything to work with.
"We'll leave tomorrow morning." He watched her, like he was waiting for a response. Felicity wasn't one to hold a grudge against someone, but the thought of being near home was causing her thoughts to race at a million miles an hour. Sure, she had agreed to go home, but she didn't know if she was ready or if she could even face Oliver and Diggle.
Who knew what they thought of her now; for all she knew they could have found a replacement for her. She certainly wouldn't have blamed them.
They left early the next morning, around about 7am. It was weird for Felicity to be headed back home with someone; she'd expected to be alone for a little while longer. It was nearly 6am the next day that they finally arrived at the airport in Gotham. Having to adjust time zones so much was really messing with Felicity's head.
Still unsure of what she wanted to do, she accepted Dick's offer for her to sleep on his couch for the night. Plus, Bruce extended the invitation for Felicity to come with them to their Lair tonight; they needed to run a patrol. There was no way that she'd say no to that.
They two of them just ran patrol while Felicity manned the computers (which gave her a feeling of nostalgia), and there wasn't a whole lot out there, surprising as it was Gotham. When they arrived back Felicity expressed the fact.
"Not much going on here tonight was there." Bruce shook his head before heading to somewhere in the back of the lair. Felicity had explored a little while they were out, but there wasn't really a lot she could see. It was either through locked doors, or in a dark corner. With the lack of things to explore, Felicity had time to think. Being in this lair made her miss her lair. It was within an hour after that thought that she decided that tomorrow she would go back to Starling City.
She did spend the night on Dick's couch, though it wasn't much of a night, only around 4 hours of sleep. When she woke up at 5am she didn't bother going back to sleep; she just wrote up a little note for Dick and caught the earliest train she could.
It was nearly 8am when she arrived back in Starling City, and she did run by her house first, looking around and reminding herself that she was pretty happy where she'd been; at least in Starling City before she actually met Oliver Queen. Not that she regretted that. Since Oliver had been spending the time before she left trying to get QC back, she thought it might be relatively safe to go to the Lair; Oliver and Digg should be out somewhere, probably with lawyers, but first she needed to stop by Queen Consolidated.
Before she'd left for her trip to Lian Yu she had put in for a sabbatical of sorts, so hopefully she'd be able to get her job back. Whether as an IT girl or the new CEO's Executive Assistant. So, when she'd showed up at QC and been sent straight up to the CEO's floor, she was surprised. Walking into the office, there was no one at her old desk, which was probably a good sign for her. In the office behind her desk she could see a well-dressed man sitting at his own desk. She walked quietly, and as far as she could tell he didn't notice her until she knocked on the door.
"Hello Mr…" She trailed off. His head popped up and smiled at her.
"Palmer. Ray Palmer." He got up and held out a hand to her. "Are you Felicity Smoak? The front desk called and said that she should be on her way up." Felicity slid into EA mode.
"Yes. I'm Felicity Smoak. I don't know if you know about my past here, but they said to talk to you about my future." She stopped talking and waited a moment before she realized what she'd said. "Here I mean! Obviously it can't be my future otherwise, I mean you aren't a fortune teller or anything." She paused again. "Unless you are..." Felicity's voice got smaller. She was afraid she just embarrassed herself immensely, but Ray Palmer was smiling at her.
"Well Ms. Smoak." Felicity interrupted him.
"You can call me Felicity. Or Ms. Smoak. Or Felicity! Whatever works for you."
"Well, either way I don't have an EA, which I'm sure you noticed on your way in." She nodded. "Now I understand if you want to go back to the IT department, I can make that happen, but people spoke highly of you as Oliver Queen's EA. I'd love to have you come back and do the same for me." Felicity considered it for a moment. She did need work, and while she loved IT, she could probably get away with her Arrow work here, along with her actual QC work. Plus, by this point she had gotten relatively attached to the position. She actually enjoyed her work most days.
"Yes." She answered solidly. "I'll come and be your EA."
"Great." He stated with a smile. "Are you good to come in on Monday? I know you were on a leave of sorts when the management changed."
"Of course. When would you like me to show up?"
They discussed minor details for a few more minutes before Felicity left the office; the bigger details would be taken care of on Monday. Now she headed to the Lair- or at least the building that had been the lair when she left. Just by walking up to the door she could see they were still there; the electronic lock she had installed was still there. Entering her code, the door opened, not that she expected them to change the code.
Making her way slowly down the stairs, she tried to get an idea of what she was walking into. She didn't hear the salmon ladder, or the sound of sparring so she figured it was safe, though highly unusual unless they were patrolling the city. Walking down she didn't see anyone so she headed straight for her computer chair. She had settled and was running a diagnostic on her setup when she heard someone behind her. Spinning around she found Laurel coming up from the showers. When she saw Felicity she stopped short. Felicity was the first to speak.
"Hey Laurel."
"Felicity. You came back."
"Uhh… yeah. That was always the plan."
"Could have fooled me." Felicity just barely heard Laurel mutter under her breath. Felicity considered answering, but decided it wasn't worth it. She didn't need Laurel's opinion; she was worried about Oliver and Diggle. Sadly, Felicity didn't have to say anything for Laurel to continue. "Ollie hasn't waited around for you. He's hoping to have a new IT girl in here pretty soon." Felicity didn't want to believe it. She knew that even if Oliver did want to replace her, he would have found her anyway; he felt he owed her for hunting him down when he ran away after the Undertaking. Plus Diggle wouldn't do that either. She didn't wait around though, she just got up and left. Halfway up the stairs she paused and turned back for a moment.
"And don't touch my computers." She walked out.
Felicity spent the weekend at home, readjusting to a scheduled life. She didn't stop what she'd started way back at Lian Yu, and then with Team Gotham. Every morning she would run, and swim, followed by the rest of her workout in the evening. She was hoping to use the salmon ladder at some point soon, but she figured she needed to see Oliver first.
When Monday finally rolled around she didn't stop what had become her routine; she just had to start earlier so she could shower and get ready to go to work. It was early when she got there, but she used her time well making sure to check the computer and everything. Apparently nothing had changed since she left. She had set herself to work, so she didn't even notice when Ray walked in.
"Felicity!" He seemed surprised to find her there.
"Yes?" She approached him. "When do you want to go over everything?" Ray still looked confused to her being here.
"Uhh… now?" She followed him into his office to make sure they got to everything they needed to.
Since she already knew what she was doing, everything ran smoothly for the first two days. She was working on the computer, as Ray didn't need her at the moment, when she heard that voice.
"Felicity?!" Her head snapped up and there was Oliver Queen standing right in front of her, Diggle not far behind.