Chapter 12
"Oliver? What are you doing here?"
He blinks, turning to face the door to Tommy's apartment, the door he was trying to get the supervisor to open. Felicity stands there, head tilted as she takes him in and then turns to the building's supervisor.
"Don't worry about him, Doug. Oliver's a friend of Tommy's." Felicity steps out, closing the door behind her.
Oliver notices the panda flats on her feet and looks away before she can catch him grinning.
"I can take it from here. Thanks, Doug."
"Always a pleasure, Miss Smoak." The ornery man he had been arguing with just moments before vanishes into a blushing fool who can't make eye contact with either of them. He disappears quickly into the elevator, glancing back only as the doors are already closing to catch a glimpse of Felicity.
Oliver turns back to her only to find her watching him expectantly, curiously. "So what are you doing here?"
"I heard Tommy was in the hospital. I thought he could use some-"
"Clothes?" She asks innocently, holding up the bag clasped her hands.
He opens his mouth, at a loss for words. "How did you get in anyway?" It's the only question he can think of at the moment as those amused, blue eyes stare at him through those glasses.
She holds up a shiny piece of metal. "Tommy's too lazy to open the door when I knock, so he just gave me a key."
Sounds like Tommy. Oliver chuckles, shaking his head. "I should have guessed he'd ask you to get his stuff."
"And why's that?" She frowns at him.
"You're his best friend now, right?" Oliver asks as he shoots her a wink.
Felicity shakes her head at him and leads the way to the elevator. "You're still his best friend. We just have shared custody." She smiles at him, leaning against the side of the metal box as they start to descend. He wants to press her up against the cool metal and kiss her so hard she forgets her name, especially when she smiles up at him like that.
"Do I have something on my face?" The moment shatters as she turns to look in the reflective panel.
"What?" Oliver asks, blinking at the sudden change in conversation.
"You were staring," she says, turning back to him, content with her appearance. "So did you hear what happened? Tommy didn't give me any details over the phone, well, it was Laurel's phone, so I know he was with Laurel and that he's in the hospital because they gave him some pretty strong meds. But I can't imagine she knows I was the one he called. Not that she doesn't like me or anything. She doesn't even know me..."
Her nose scrunches as she thinks of an incident, a memory involving Laurel, a memory he has to stop himself from asking about as she continues to speak:
"Anyway, he was at Laurel's and something happened. That's all I've got. It must have been pretty bad to get him sent to the hospital," she mutters, "but it couldn't have been too bad because he actually sounded like he was smiling."
He nods, a hand moving to rest on her lower back without thinking as they walk out of the elevator. She glances back at him, but otherwise doesn't comment on the contact. Instead of withdrawing his hand, he continues to guide her out of the building. He spots her red mini cooper down the street, a couple cars down from where his town car waits with Digg leaning against the side.
"I'd offer you a ride to the hospital, but you're all..." she gestures at him vaguely, "big and muscle-y, and my car is all teeny tiny. And, oh god, please tell me I didn't just say that out loud." She makes a pained face as Oliver chuckles.
"We'll meet you at the hospital, Felicity," Oliver says, hand dropping from the small of her back just outside her car.
She turns back to him, tilting her head like she's trying to puzzle something out. He copies the motion with a friendly smile. "What?"
Felicity points to her car. "How did you know this was my car?"
He briefly entertains the idea of lying to her, but knowing she sees right through him, he just smiles softly. "You drove Tommy home from Big Belly Burger the other night."
Contemplatively, she nods, but he can see the wheels spinning in her head as she watches him. "Uh-huh."
"See you at the hospital, Felicity." He can feel her eyes on him the whole walk back to the car, and he can't resist looking back as he slides into the car. It stops him short as he locks eyes with her. She's still looking at him like he's a puzzle for her to solve, an enigma. And he knows without a doubt, she's going to figure everything out faster this time. He can't say it worries him too much.
...
Oliver Queen, Felicity muses as she watches him walk back to his town car, is a peculiar person.
He's what her mom would call "Sex on a Stick," which was a phrase she never really understood but seemed to be the only description she could come up with to describe the physical specimen in front of her. Not that she's looking. She's definitely not staring at his ass as he walks away from her.
She jerks her eyes up, frowning at the back of Oliver's head in contemplation. Tommy described him as a flirtatious playboy, a capricious lover, a compulsive cheater, and a loyal-to-the-end best friend. The man in front of her, the man who rested a hand on the small of her back, who chuckled, who hovered almost protectively was none of those things. He was...aware. That's the only word she can think of to describe him. He controlled himself, knew how his actions affected those around him. He was more cautious. And he cared.
Well, she couldn't know that for certain, but she had a feeling.
He turns when he reaches his car. She expects a playboy smile, the kind Tommy throws over his shoulder whenever he leaves. Instead his lips quirk up at the corners in an almost smile, while his eyes remain serious as he takes a moment to look her over, almost like he's checking to make sure she's safe.
The next second he's sliding into the car and pulling away.
Felicity draws a shaky breath, wondering what just happened as she walks around to the driver's side of the car. She couldn't shake the feeling that Oliver knew her. His actions – the hand on her back, the protective stance, the staring – were more personal than she would have thought of a man who was alone for five years on an island, who hadn't even met her before everything.
She turns the key in the ignition, her mind drifting the Martha Jones's first meeting with the Tenth Doctor – how he knew her, but she just thought he was crazy. She shakes her head. Time travel. Purely sci-fi and it has no place in her normal life. In normal life you don't get dragged on adventures every day or explore new places. She did all her exploring online, and she's past the whole hacking thing. She's going legit.
The engine rumbles to life as she turns the key in the ignition. Her eye catches on the worn white envelope sitting in the seat next to her, thoughts of Oliver Queen vanished in a moment.
It's the letter she's been waiting for, from the Head of the new Applied Sciences division. She knew they were slated to work on some highly promising new projects, so she had applied. Her work potential was stifled in the IT department with a boss who envied her ability. Her previous supervisor, Becky, had been moved to the new department in its beginning stages, and Felicity had hoped to join her there, somewhere she could use her brain for something more than deleting viruses.
But by the looks of the small white envelope, her boss had stonewalled her progress yet again.
She sighs as she pulls out into traffic. Maybe it's time to start looking for another job. She's sure Becky would be able to give her a glowing recommendation, even if her boss, Foul Fowler, was determined to give her a bad one.
Felicity purses her lips as she thinks back to the offers she received out of school: STAR Labs, Wayne Enterprises. It might take longer than she wants since she'd have to move, but it's something she should start to consider. Tommy would be sad to see her go, yet he would probably be the only one to miss her in Starling. Except maybe her neighbor's cat who inexplicably would escape and find its way into her living room.
She'll have to talk to him about it after the hospital...that's not going to be a fun conversation.
A spot opens up close to the front door as she drives by and she fist bumps her good luck, pulling into the opening with a happy smile. At least the universe is still sending some good things her way. Maybe her luck is finally turning around.
She shoots Tommy a text as she slides from the car to let him know she's here with his clothes. She'd nearly had a heart attack when he called her this morning to ask her to go to his apartment. He sounded so casual about it, like it was as normal as him inviting himself over for a movie night.
A minute later she wanted to slap him upside the head when he started to prattle on about how Laurel was there with him and how she said yes to dinner, which was how she knew he was fine. Worrying about Tommy would have her going prematurely grey. He was like a little kid who didn't know right from wrong and always ended up in trouble.
Finally looking up from her phone, Felicity catches sight of something peculiar in the parking lot: Oliver Queen helping a woman in labor walk slowly through the parking lot. She's only a couple cars down from them, but even from here, she can see the woman digging her hand into Oliver's arm. He's remarkably calm about it, talking to her softly.
It's a curiosity to see the former playboy interacting with a pregnant woman without freaking out.
She approaches them slowly from behind to hear:
"He's not in the picture." The woman stops again, groaning in pain at another contraction.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Oliver offer, his voice soft, genuine. She's surprised because she knows Tommy would be worried, but Felicity would still have to pull him along to help.
"That's okay. Queen Consolidated offers a pretty good maternity leave and there's daycare for employees, so thank you for that."
Felicity blinks...she knows that voice.
"So you know who I am."
"Hard not to," the woman gasps as another contraction hits.
"Becky?" Felicity asks as the pieces finally click, stepping forward to grab her other arm. "I thought your due date wasn't for another two weeks!"
She can feel Oliver's eyes darting toward her now, even as he steps out of the way to let the nurses maneuver Becky into the wheelchair they pulled out.
"You and me both," Becky mutters.
Felicity shoves the bag of Tommy's clothes at Oliver and continues to walk with Becky as the nurses wheel her in, her hand clasped in Becky's as one of the nurses asks Becky rapid-fire questions from a clipboard. She rubs circles into Becky's arm, whispering words of comfort and even a promise to call and check in during the week, even though her mother was sleeping over to help her adjust to life with a newborn.
She stays with Becky until they wheel her into the elevator to take her to the maternity ward, squeezing her hand one last time before she disappears.
...
Oliver knows he's staring at her, his angel who cares so much about everyone else. He's somewhere else right now, imagining a day in the future where Felicity's the one in the wheelchair, squeezing his hand like it's her only lifeline.
But that's too far in the future.
He shakes his head, turning away from the blonde only to catch Digg's eyes. Diggle had been watching him the entire time. He could see the understanding in John's eyes, knew that he didn't have to explain anything.
Felicity just turns back, reaching the bag of clothes in his hand. "Sorry," she apologizes. "Becky works in the IT department. She was my direct supervisor when I was first hired."
Oliver moves the bag out of her reaches he presses the elevator button. "So what floor is Tommy on?"
She shakes her head, unimpressed by his show of chivalry, but she lets him keep the bag as she presses the button for the fourth floor. Instead of questioning it, she turns from him to Diggle, holding out her hand. "Hi. I don't think we've met. I'm Felicity...Smoak. I'm a friend of Tommy's. Weren't you in Big Belly Burger?"
"John Diggle. And yes," he admits reluctantly. "I'm Oliver's bodyguard."
"Nice to meet you, John." She smiles radiantly. "Must be terrible following this guy around all day."
Oliver snorts and shakes his head, facing forward as his lips twitch upward in a smile.
"Yeah," Diggle agrees sardonically. "It's never uneventful."
"So you haven't been treated to any all-nighters at strip clubs yet? Those are some of Tommy's favorite stories about their antics."
Oliver rolls his eyes. He knows the stories Tommy would share and there's no danger of those events repeating themselves. Unless it works for an alibi, and Diggle knows that.
"Not yet. Although, I have seen some interesting things."
"No scandalous stories?" She teases, leaving the elevator with Diggle before Oliver, so he's left following them.
"Not even a one night stand," Digg says, playing along.
"Really?" Felicity turns over her shoulder to look at him, an eyebrow raised. "Not a single rendezvous for the former playboy?"
Oliver grins. "Five years on an island can change a person."
She watches him, nodding, that thoughtful expression returned. Of course, that's the moment her filter disappears. "I can see that." Her mouth falls open and she shakes her head. "I didn't mean that. I just meant that you're obviously not the same person. There's your hair for one. This haircut is so much better than that serial killer look you had going on. Not that you looked like a killer...I was...I'll just stop talking. Now."
Oliver chuckles, a hand coming out to grip her elbow as they round the corner. "It was a ridiculous haircut."
"Ollie?"
Felicity stiffens beside him and Oliver closes his eyes, not wanting to face Laurel, but knowing he doesn't really have a choice.
"What are you doing here?" She asks, crossing her arms over her chest, looking a little less than put together after a night in the hospital. Despite the animosity between them, he's still happy to see that she's okay. He put her life at risk last night too.
"I just wanted to check on Tommy."
"And who are your friends?" Her glare lingers on Felicity, her upper lip curling slightly in distaste.
"Clean clothes! Thank God!" Tommy declares, racing from the room in the white hospital gown to grab the bag and disappear inside before anyone can ask a question, flashing them when he turns around. "Felicity, you are a goddess!" He calls through the closed door.
Laurel turns to the blonde and Oliver fights the urge to step in front of Felicity, to protect her.
"Hi," Felicity waves to the other girl. "I'm Felicity. You must be Laurel, gorgeous Laurel."
"And who are you?"
"We talked on the phone that one time..." She winces at her own tactlessness and starts wringing her hands, waving them about like she does when she's nervous. "I'm just a friend of Tommy's so you have nothing to worry about. He's like a brother. That's it. There was this one kiss thing a couple years back, but it meant nothing. He's in lo-"
He doesn't know if it'll work, but he knows that if she keeps talking Laurel's likely to blow a gasket and the hospital isn't the place for this. He lifts his hand, lightly pressing his hand into the small of her back. It's enough to get her to cut off mid-word as her brain catches up with her words.
"We're just friends," she sums up with a smile.
Laurel frowns at her, eyes darting to her entire audience. They linger on the hand Oliver has pressed to Felicity's back, but he refuses to remove it under Laurel's scrutiny. Instead of escalating, she turns away to talk with Tommy, now dressed in normal clothes and ready to leave the hospital.
Tommy meets his eyes over Laurel's head, the "we-need-to-talk" look loud and clear. Tommy knows he was the one in the green suit last night, and now he wants an explanation. That's not going to be a fun conversation.
He nods. His hand withdraws reluctantly from Felicity's back and she raises her eyebrows at him, but he just shrugs.
Pleasantries and stilted conversation follows: he tries to get along with Laurel and she barely attempts to talk with anyone. Felicity babbles her way through the conversation, acting as a light-hearted diversion from the tension. It does little to help and they part ways soon after. Laurel isn't too happy to spend any amount of time around Oliver and, he suspects, also Felicity.
Digg keeps an eye on him as they walk Felicity back to her car. He takes the hint and walks past her car towards the town car. Oliver lingers, searching for the words to express what he wants to say, without stuttering or speaking in sentence fragments.
"What are you doing?" Felicity asks as she turns to face him. "You're following me," she adds at his confused expression.
"Oh, sorry." He shakes his head. "I was wondering if you wanted to get lunch Friday."
"Friday?"
"Part of the custody deal, remember?"
Her mouth opens in an 'Oh'. "I thought that was...You really want to have lunch?"
He shrugs. "I could use someone to talk to who didn't know me before."
The wheels are turning in her mind again: He can see the calculating look in her eyes, but she nods in agreement. "Okay. Big Belly Burger again?"
Oliver grins, nodding. "Great. See you then."
...
His hand grazes her arm in goodbye, but she doesn't think he notices. He's been doing it all morning, little touches to her arm, her back, her shoulder. They're almost unconscious, like he needs the contact, like it centers him. It's familiar, almost a habit for him.
It's like he knows her better than he should. He's familiar with her, relaxed. It should probably bug her that he's overly friendly, but since she found herself sinking into his touch, she can't help but think there's more to it.
He stopped her babbling earlier easily, like it was a habit, like he knew she was getting herself in too deep. She's never had someone do that for her before.
It's conflicting and confusing. He's Tommy's best friend, practically a stranger to her, and yet...She agreed to lunch with him, lunch that sounds suspiciously like a low key date. Or she would think it's a date if it was anywhere else. The way he asked her...
No. You're being ridiculous, she scolds herself. He's not some fantasy action figure come to show her a new way of life. She needs to get her head out of her TV shows. She's been watching too much Netflix lately.
He might look like he could star in some action movie with those muscles and that stubble, but she's not cut out for that life. She needs to get back to reality, where she needs to start looking for another job, a better paying one where she's actually challenged and appreciated.
A couple hours later, she finds herself contemplating jobs across the country. Sure, she has an in with Merlyn Global. Tommy has said on more than one occasion that if she really wants, he can get her a time to speak to his father. Although, after hearing some of Tommy's stories, she doesn't want to get involved with a man who basically abandoned his son.
None of the other tech companies in Starling City offered the type of opportunities she was looking for. She wanted to do groundbreaking work, to test the limits of modern computer sciences, of modern technology. It left her with limited options: Queen Consolidated (who didn't want her in Applied Sciences), STAR Labs in Central City, and Wayne Enterprises in Gotham (which involved moving across the country again).
She had already sent an email to Barbara Gordon, a friend from MIT who currently worked in Wayne Enterprises IT Department, and was working on a message to Harrison Wells of STAR Labs since his HR department was apparently non-existent. The man did all the hiring himself and she wasn't sure it that boded well or not. Wells was a genius. It would be an honor to work with him, but there would be some details she would need to work out.
Felicity slouches back in the seat as she hits send. Two emails and she's exhausted. He didn't realize how much she loved Starling until she decided she should contemplate leaving. Starling had become her home.
She just can't stay at a job where her potential is being wasted.
…
"What's up with the blonde?" Digg asks, glancing sideways at Oliver as he takes another sip from his water bottle. The cool air of the Foundry now humid and ripe after their intense sparring session.
Oliver looks up, brushing the lingering sweat off his forehead. "That's Felicity. She's a friend of Tommy's."
"Am I supposed to believe that?"
Oliver turns to the laptop on the table before him instead of looking towards Digg. He doesn't say anything: he doesn't need to. Digg's probably already seen through him.
"So who is she?" Digg repeats, taking his silence for the answer it is.
"No one."
Digg snorts. "Please, you can't tell me that girl doesn't mean something to you, or future you anyway."
"Felicity Smoak," he admits in a single breath, finally turning back to John Diggle, "Tech guru and all around genius, graduated MIT at 19 with a Masters in Cyber Security and Computer Science."
"That girl is your tech support?" Digg asks, slamming his water bottle down on the table with more force than is strictly necessary.
"She's good at her job."
John scowls at him, disapproval clearly etched in his face.
Oliver sighs. "John, she signed on fully aware of what we were doing. She makes her own choices. Although this time...we need to train her more."
"You're going to bring her back in?" Diggle demands. "That girl wouldn't last five minutes in your illegal, vigilante-filled world!"
"You'd be surprised," Oliver grins, remembering her words: "my life, my choice". He chuckles as he glances over his shoulder at Digg. "Besides, like I said, she makes her own choices."
Digg doesn't look like he's done with the conversation, but Oliver doesn't give him the chance to continue the interrogation. He spins the laptop to face Diggle. They've got other things to worry about:
"Our next target is Sam Holder, and he is being targeted by Floyd Lawton, alias Deadshot." Oliver pulls up what little information he could find on the small laptop. "In two days, Deadshot will attempt to take out Holder on the roof of his apartment building. He's hired to take out the buyers for the Unidac Auct-"
Bang bang.
Oliver breaks off mid-sentence. He and Diggle both turn to the metal door at the top of the stairs, Digg's hand on his firearm at his waist. He waves Digg off as he walks up the stairs, wishing he had installed the camera already.
"Oliver! I know you're there! You weren't at home so you must be here." Tommy's voice rings through the door and the banging starts up again.
Digg's hand drops from his gun and he returns to his seat. Oliver sighs, swinging the door open. He steps aside to let Tommy in.
"Good. I didn't know where else you would be." Tommy walks gingerly down the stairs, one step at a time as to not jostle his stitches too much.
"You should be resting at home, Tommy." He follows his friend down the stairs. "You were stabbed last night."
"Yeah, but Laurel and I are all in one piece because of you." Tommy holds out his hand to Oliver. "Thank you."
He stares at his best friend and can't bring himself to shake his hand. "It was nothing, Tommy. Really."
"It wasn't nothing! You saved our lives!" He insists, taking another step closer to Oliver.
Oliver shrugs. He's not going to let his friend thank him for putting his and Laurel's lives in danger.
Tommy falls back a step, the distance between them grows exponentially with the frown that flits across his face. "The one thing I can't figure out is why you were there. How did you know something was happening?"
Oliver runs a hand through his hair, conscious of his bad decision that's come to bite him in the ass. A sigh escapes, and Tommy knows immediately there's something Oliver hid from him.
"We were waiting outside to apprehend China White and her two men," he admits with faltering words as he waits for the reaction he knows is coming.
"Waiting? You knew they were coming?!" His voice raises in anger. The words echo in the still mostly-empty basement.
Digg winces, but falls back to let Oliver handle the questions.
Oliver closes his eyes. He doesn't want to answer the question, to confirm Tommy's suspicion and condemn himself. Unfortunately, that's all the answer he needs to give.
"You asshole!" With his eyes closed, he doesn't see anything, but he definitely feels Tommy's punch collide with his jaw. He rolls back with the punch to lessen the impact, yet restrains the instinct to hit back.
"You knew what was going on! You knew we would be attacked, but you let them?! You used us as bait!"
Tommy swings again. Oliver ducks this time, weaving under the sloppy punch. It's during that motion that he spots the blotch of red in Tommy's side. He grabs Tommy by the shoulders to keep him from hurting himself further.
"Digg, grab the med kit!" He wrestles with Tommy, maneuvering him back to the table. "Tommy, you pulled your stitches. We need to stitch you back up."
"You knew!" Tommy repeats, louder than before. "How could you do that? You put both our lives in danger!"
"I didn't know you were going to be there," he confesses.
"So what? It was okay when you thought it was just going to be Laurel?! That you could just use her for bait?!"
"It wasn't- It's not-"
"Not what, Oliver? Not important? You put a woman you claimed to love in danger! And for what? To catch a criminal! Laurel could have been killed!"
"She was safe, Tommy! We did everything to protect her."
"I took a knife for her, Ollie! If I wasn't there, she would have died!"
"You don't think I know that, Tommy?! You think I haven't been worried about that for the past day! I've agonized over this! You're hurt because of me and there's nothing I can do about that. It's already happened." His anger gets the better of him. "But I'm doing my best! I'm trying to do better this time!"
"This time?" Tommy asks.
Digg moves, jabbing a needle into Tommy's side.
"Ow! What the hell?" Tommy frowns, hand pressed against his side where the pinch of the needle still stings. "What was that?"
"An anesthetic." Digg pushes Tommy back, gets him to sit on the med table with little resistance.
"Wh-why?" his voice slurs. "Whad wazzin dat?"
"I need to stitch you up." Digg pulls out his thread and lifts Tommy's shirt. "And trust me: you can't do with without a numbing agent."
"And you can...," Tommy trails off. He gestures down at the now-exposed black stitching on white skin.
"I had medic training in the Army."
"That must come in handy," he adds caustically.
"It does." All eyes jump to Oliver and he shrugs at the stares. "It does."
"I'm still mad at you," Tommy mutters, but his heart isn't in it anymore. He's no longer angry, instead he's resigned. "Don't risk my girlfriend's life again, okay? Huh...that's the first time I've called her that...girlfriend."
Oliver rolls his eyes. He turns away from the med table and looks back at the laptop.
Deadshot. Unidac Industries.
This was when he brought her in last time, when he started going to Felicity. But this time: he doesn't need her because he already knows where Deadshot is going to strike. He will not bring her in if he doesn't have to, not when he already has a lunch date with her.
Oliver contemplates the laptop.
He might not need her to find Lawton, but that doesn't mean he couldn't use her help.
