I know I wanted this chapter up a couple of days ago but I may or may have not got a little distracted with other projects sorry...

No-one ever said delivering bad news to Malcolm Merlin wasn't a contact sport. When his ever suffering secretary Iris West walked into the office she knew it would probably be the message that cost her, her job and she couldn't have been happier. She liked Felicity and she never understood why Malcolm had always insisted to take all of Tommy's phone calls whenever he rang and not to pass him onto Felicity, Malcolm had said that it was because it hurt her too much to face her past but lately she'd started to doubt it. When Malcolm had found out that Felicity was heading home to pack everything up to make her move to London permanent he'd been positively giddy, if you could ever say that such a cold harsh man could be giddy. He told her, "My plan is complete and I will soon be my own master again." An evil smile appearing on his face, it had put her on such an edge that she considered warning Felicity but she had a suspicion that he was in for a disappointment. So she said nothing.

Felicity hadn't had many friends in the company most believed her to be as cold as Malcolm but she and Iris had bonded over a mutual love of Dr Who or more specifically David Tennant. Though the character of Captain Jack had freaked them out for all sorts of reasons. One night over a bottle of Merlot and somewhere between the return of Sarah Jane and the rise of the Cybermen Felicity had told her all about her home in Australia and the event that changed her life. Her voice had faulted many times but the one thing Iris noticed the most was how she smiled more while talking about her life there than she had in all there times before. Sure there had been tears and anger but there had been joy too. So when she'd heard she was going home, she was pretty sure she wasn't coming back and that made telling Malcolm this message both the best and worst moment of her entire career. Infact if he didn't fire her she was going to quit a realisation she came to as she stepped through the door. It helped that she was pretty sure she had a job waiting for her Down Under and that prospect thrilled her no end.

So with a deep breath and a sense of self righteousness she knocked on the devils door.

"Mr Merlin, I have a message for you? Infact I have 2."

"Yes, Miss West." His tone was almost polite yet somehow seemed more like a sneer.

"They're from Connor sir."

"Are they on their way back?"

"No sir. The first says 'she's not happy with me but I can fix it' it came through about 25 minutes ago when you were in the board meeting but it's the second that came through 2 minutes ago that you're not going to like."

"Well spit it out woman."

"It's a simple text. 'She's not coming back, I just got to her house and she's moving in not out.'"

"Get that imbecile on the phone NOW!"

"Yes sir." Iris said unable to hide the smile on her face. Walking out the door she put a call into Connor. It took less than 2 rings for him to answer, "Malcolm, it's not my fault" was his opening answer.

"It's not Malcolm, Connor it's Iris I'll put him through to you."

And with that she transferred the call, she had always disliked the man and now that she saw that her suspicitions that he was Malcolm's stooge were confirmed she was grateful for her instincts. It didn't take long for voices to be raised and glass to start breaking and though his office was supposed to be sound proofed it didn't take a genius to figure out that her boss was completely freaking out. It wouldn't be a good time to tell him then that Felicity's latest patent had been accepted and that she had somehow kept all mention of Merlin Technologies off it. Sure, it was a small piece of tech but with the companies already scrambling to buy rights to it, it was looking like a 100 million dollar project. Malcolm had always assumed that his little step daughter was too emotional to take the reins and make her own future, boy was he wrong. So with joy in her heart and more than just a little bit nervous excitement she pulled out the envelope that she had kept there for 2 years. Why wait for the inevitable when she too could chase her own destiny, dated and signed, she left it on her desk and left. Not before grabbing the patent papers for all of Felicity's projects and a few pieces of information she was sure her friend would need.

A quick text to her father, she headed to straight Heathrow with her open ended ticket and a working Visa already organized. Within 2 hours of quitting her job she was in the air and on her way to Melbourne. It would take them at least a couple of days to realize what she had taken and by then they would be in the hands of their true owner. It was the best flight of her life despite being long and with a stop over in Singapore where she checked her phone messages. 25 missed calls all from Malcolm himself, he went from sounding bewildered as to why she left to being absolutely livid that she could have betrayed him in his hour of need. He informed her that she would get no severance and no references and that she'd 'never work in this town again.' Which only made her smile because that message was only 5 minutes old and it meant he hadn't figured out where she was headed and that she was only a short 7 hour flight away.

Arriving in Melbourne she was greeted by her father who had moved to Melbourne a few years earlier after falling in love with the place following an officer exchange between Scotland Yard and the Victoria Police. He now headed up his own private security firm and was so happy that his little girl was finally joining him that he didn't even bother to ask her why.

"Baby, you're finally here."

"Dad, it's so good to see you." She said embracing him and noticing the young guy behind him she smiled . " Hi Barry. You still keeping my dad out of trouble?"

"No, but I do stop him from being caught." Grinning back at her.

"That's what I like to here, so I kind of need a lift up into the mountains. Anyone up for it?"

"You're going to see Felicity and Oliver aren't you?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, do you know them?" She asked a little perplexed.

"I dated Felicity in school, before Malcolm made it impossible for us to continue."

"Really? She never mentioned it?" realizing she may have hurt his feelings she back tracked "But we didn't talk much about her time at school."

"Nah, that's cool. We were much better as friends anyway. You know you can only have so much geekiness in each relationship." He said smirking.

"So who's coming with me?"

"We both are." Her father said wrapping a protective arm around her " I think there may be some things you haven't told me about why the sudden departure from Merlin." Giving her the look that only her father could. "plus I think a little bonding with my two favorite people is called for."

They picked up her bags at the carousel and then got in his black SUV, stopping for some much needed caffeine and chocolate at Yarra Valley Chocolaterie. It was just like some of the places they'd been to as children when her dad had taken her and Barry to different places during his visits on the school holidays. Lots of laughter, it was so nice to feel like this again.

"So why are we going this way, Dad?"

"i just think if someone is following you, then it's best that they don't realize that you're headed to see Felicity. So we'll head to Mansfield then cut across the hills to Bright. It adds a couple of hours to the trip but it'll be fun."

"I don't think anyone's following me dad, i quit my job I did not commit treason."

"I'm pretty sure Malcolm doesn't see it that way. He's a big fan of forcing his staff into signing a never ending collection on non disclosure agreements when they depart and I'm pretty sure that's why you skipped out the way you did. Am I right?"

"Maybe." Iris said grinning.

"Then we do things my way."

"Ok, but that means I get the front seat and I get to choose the music for this little road trip of ours." both men groaned as they got up collecting thentake away coffee's to have on top of the ones they'd just drunk. Iris also had her bag of goodies handmade chocolates and sauces.

The drive didn't seem to take that long but after Iris had set her playlist from her phone which she'd left in airport mode so she didn't have to deal with any more phone calls or worse, she'd drifted off to sleep only waking a couple of times. They'd arrived at Bright around 7 pm and she woke to her father shaking her lightly. "Iris, honey we're here you better let her know we've arrived."

Picking up her phone, she was greeted by a flurry of messages as it came back to life. Ignoring the looks from Barry and her father, she quickly texted Felicity.

I - 'hey luv, guess what I've followed you home but we've really gotta talk before You Know Who realizes I'm here.'

The response came back quickly.

F - 'always told you needed a trip. We're at Thea's, I'll text you the address."

The directions came through and they were only a minute or two as they'd been heading to Felicity's anyhow.

I- 'K C U SOON'

Less than 2 minutes later they were driving up towards the house, a couple of men standing at the front door as they got out.