Things continue to spiral out of control for Team Arrow. The undercover job at the casino was just the catalyst and while Oliver and Felicity both are quickly growing tired of their dance, the city needs saving and will not wait.
A/N: Thanks for the continued patience. I'm once again well ahead of where I'm posting and I hope to continue that trend. We're on the rapid downslide into the end of this story and I hope it lives up to expectation! Thanks to lunarsilverwolfstar for her beta skills!
Shit. Things were quickly going from bad to worse. Felicity had known this might happen when she'd first suggested she be the one to go undercover at the casino, but there'd still been hope that things would follow a "best case scenario" path.
But when had that ever been the case since she'd started working with Oliver?
Oliver had loaned her one of Thea's dresses, a long, red number with an exposed back. She'd had a good time doing her hair and primping for the evening, pretending to be someone else. It took her mind off the potential danger. As did her visit to Diggle's apartment earlier that day. She thought maybe if she explained to John that they needed him and that Oliver was just being stubborn, maybe he'd agree to come back. No such luck, of course. The only thing that would mend that friendship was a genuine apology and Felicity didn't see Oliver doing that any time soon.
So it was just her and Oliver tonight. Felicity had felt a little nervous at the prospect of going back into a casino. She hadn't stepped inside one in years, not since she'd moved to Starling City at the very least. The blackjack tables brought back memories but Felicity had refused to let it get to her. She had a mission to focus on. As she walked around the dim and crowded room, she thought of how Oliver had looked at her when she'd met him wearing the red dress. His eyes had lit up, taking in her form, but he hadn't said anything. He hadn't even told her that she looked good, which miffed her a little bit, but he was probably trying extra hard to keep things professional between them. She could understand that.
Her thoughts being on Oliver was the only excuse she had for the direction of her thoughts. As she'd "cased the joint" and relayed what she saw over the comms to Oliver, she'd let slip that it "felt good having him inside of her". Of course, she'd meant it soothed her to know he was listening and present if she needed his help but lord, her brain had a terrible way of phrasing things. Oliver had been amused but firm in redirecting her attention to the tables, which is where she was to do her card-counting and get the ball rolling on this operation. Oliver listened in, waiting outside on a fire-escape, just in case she ran into trouble, which she did.
The plan had gone perfectly. It wasn't long before she caught the interest of the pit boss and he pulled her from the table to bring her back to the office. What she was hoping for was a slap on the wrist and a ban from the casino. She could surreptitiously plant the bug on Alonzo's computer while she was in there, then be released. No harm, no foul.
Still, her nerves had ratcheted up as she'd been lead back through the halls towards the office. Alonzo had reacted just as she'd thought he would, reprimanding her. She'd placed the bug and was about to leave when the other shoe had dropped. Which led her to where she was right now; held firm by a guard while Alonzo plucked the comm from her ear.
"Cheaters like you almost always work with a partner," he said smugly as he sneered at her. He dropped the bug to the floor and crushed it with her foot. Felicity hoped, no, knew that Oliver would be on his way.
"You're going to be really upset when you meet my partner," she promised, sounding more brave than she felt.
As though on cue, they heard a crash from out in the casino area. Then gunfire, shouting and screaming from the patrons. Alonzo's eyes widened. He grabbed Felicity's wrist and yanked her to him. Glaring at his guard, he told him, "Go intercept him!"
Felicity thought it was rather backward of him to assume her partner was a man. Sure, he was a man but for all he knew, her partner could be some kick-butt woman in leather. Felicity was about to remark on this when Alonzo pulled her behind his desk and grabbed a gun from the drawer. He held it to her head and waited.
The crashing noises grew closer and a moment later, the door of the office exploded inward as Oliver kicked it, an arrow already notched in his bow. He strode in, aiming directly at Alonzo. The set of his jaw under the hood was firm and he radiated fury. Without a word, he fired the arrow, sinking it into the dead center of the dartboard behind Alonzo's head.
The greasy man glanced at it and smirked, his grip on her neck relaxing somewhat. "I heard you never miss."
"I don't," Oliver growled. A second later, the wall behind them detonated as the exploding arrow Oliver had used went off. Alonzo was thrown to the floor and Felicity along with him.
He didn't waste a second; Oliver was on Alonzo before the other man could recover and hauling him up by his collar and slamming him against the remnants of the back wall of his office.
"Where is Walter Steele?!" he demanded.
"What are you talking about?" Alonzo sounded genuinely confused.
"Six months ago! You had him kidnapped!"
"It was just a job," Alonzo gasped. Felicity got to her feet, bracing a hand on the desk. "I was given a name, I didn't ask any questions."
Oliver slammed him against the wall again. "Last chance," he growled, his voice low and dangerous. "Where is he?"
"Underground."
Felicity was unable to hide her gasp.
"You're lying!"
"I'm not," Alonzo insisted. "I delivered him, they killed him. I heard the gunshot. He's dead."
Felicity stumbled forward, her eyes already welling up. She hadn't let herself believe until that very moment that Walter could be dead. All of her hard work, trying to find him and now he was gone.
Oliver was still for a moment, silent. Then he pulled away as though he were going to let Alonzo go. His fist flashed out, nailing the sleazy jerk in the face, knocking him out swiftly so he crumbled to the floor.
Felicity bit back a sob, her arms hugged tight around herself, as Oliver pulled his hood back and turned to face her. She knew she was upset and she knew it showed on her face, but she was unprepared to see the naked pain on Oliver's features. Her heart twisted painfully and she was stumbling forward before she could think to stop herself.
Oliver caught her, pulling her to him in a crushing hug. He held her there for a long moment, letting her tears soak the soft fabric of his hood. There was nothing to say.
—
What a hell of a night. After the casino, after he'd dropped a devastated Felicity off at her home (and had to tear himself away from her), he'd gone home. He had to tell his mother and Thea about Walter. Part of that was because they deserved to know. Another part of that was he wanted to see his mother's reaction. If she truly was behind Walter's abduction, her reaction to what he said would be very telling.
But it hadn't been that simple. His mother had turned ashen when he'd spilled the news. Clearly, this was news to her. However, when she'd rushed from the room, Oliver had need to follow her. He wanted to see what she would do, where she would go. He hated that he suspected her, but there were so many questions left unanswered.
He followed her clear downtown to the Merlyn Global building. Oliver was surprised. Malcolm had been his father's friend, an associate, not his mother's. But what could Malcolm Merlyn have to do with any of this? He was almost afraid to ask. But he'd come this far, he had to see this through.
As he'd listened in, he'd learned that the Undertaking was Malcolm's brainchild and that Walter was still very much alive. Moira had calmed after the other man had given her proof in the form of video surveillance. Oliver's blood boiled as he eavesdropped. She knew that Walter had been abducted and who had done, and she'd said nothing! All these months, while Thea had been beside herself with worry, her own mother had been involved. He felt like he was going to be sick.
He couldn't go back to the mansion. If he saw his mother right now there was no telling what he would do or say. So Oliver went to the only place he could think of where he could think this through in person.
He sat on the cold, hard floor of the foundry basement for at least an hour before Felicity arrived. By the time she arrived and turned the lights on, revealing where he sat against the column, he knew what he had to do to track Walter's location. And he knew he needed Felicity's help to do it.
She paused when she saw him and he waited for her to break the silence. She did, wiping her hands on her wool coat and moving further into the basement towards him. "I've been sitting in the dark all night too," she told him. "It's hard to sleep when all I can think of is all that time I spent tracking leads. It was all pointless, wasn't it? He was already dead."
Felicity stopped at one of the tables, setting down her tablet and he glanced over at her, noting the defeated slump of her shoulders. He looked away as she turned to him again and began walking towards where he sat. "I can't imagine what your family is going through."
That was Felicity through and through. Always worrying about how others were coping, feeling their pain. Her empathy was one of the things that kept drawing him to her, he knew that. He had to relieve her mind, not just to set her at ease but because he couldn't bear her to waste her pain on his mother like this when she was so culpable.
"Walter's alive," he told her, looking straight ahead.
Felicity stopped a few feet before him. "What?" she breathed. "But Alonzo said-"
"I need you to pull up Malcolm Merlyn's phone records," he growled, all but spitting the man's name. To think, he had saved that monster's life when all along he'd been responsible for everything that had gone wrong. It turned his stomach again. "He made a call from his office to wherever Walter is being kept at 10:30pm."
"Malcolm Merlyn," she said, sounding confused. "Tommy's father? What- Why would he kidnap Walter?"
"Felicity." He looked at her then, meeting her gaze.
She didn't say another word as she turned to her computers and began to run the search. He knew she could find the information much more quickly and much more stealthily than he ever could.
"LUD shows he made a call to a tenement complex in Blüdhaven."
Oliver got to his feet and crossed to where she was so he could look over her shoulder.
"Can you pull up a satellite view?"
Her fingers flew over the keys as she quickly did as he requested. Moments later, they were looking at the complex where Walter was being kept and could even see where guards were posted. Oliver devised a plan right away, determined to save his stepfather and put an end to this madness once and for all. His fists clenched as he arranged the details and Felicity stood next to her computer as she watched him prepare to leave.
"Be careful," she told him. "Save him, but don't take any extra chances."
"I promise I'll bring him back. This ends now." His jaw hurt from clenching. His body screamed at him to act. Action would help distract him from the betrayal that threatened to devastate him.
"How did you find out?" she asked softly.
"My mother. I followed her to Merlyn. She's involved, Felicity." Oliver couldn't keep the pain out of his voice.
He felt her hand on his arm as he reached for his bow. "Oliver, I'm so sorry," she said.
He shut his eyes tight. "I didn't want to believe it. Dig said she was involved and I didn't want to think that she could-"
"No one wants to believe their parent is capable of something like this," she told him. "All you can do now is try to fix it. You can do it, Oliver."
Her confidence in him bolstered his spirits. Oliver smiled at her, wishing he could take her in his arms and kiss her, to thank her for her support in the best way he knew how. But that was a bad idea and she wouldn't appreciate his mixed signals. Sighing, he settled for placing his hand over hers and squeezing.
"Thank you," he told her sincerely.
—
Oliver had done it. He'd saved Walter, brought him back alive. Felicity had listened anxiously on the comms as Oliver had battled his way through the guards that stood in his way, proud of him in a way she could never fully put to words. He had promised her he would work to save Walter when she'd first joined the team and he had followed through on that.
Felicity knew it had nothing to do with her, but he'd still done it and she was so glad. Walter was taken to the hospital right away. He was okay, unharmed, but slightly dehydrated and malnourished. She wanted to stop in and visit him while he was there, bring him some flowers and let him know she was glad he was okay.
When she knocked on the partially open door of Walter's hospital room, she noticed his room was already filled with his family. Thea and Moira were embracing him, gushing over him, while Oliver stood at the foot of his bed. For a brief moment, she thought about turning and fleeing, not wanting to barge in on an intimate family scene. But then Oliver turned and caught her eye. He beckoned her forward.
"Hi," she said. "I wanted to stop by and... this is a family thing, isn't it? I can come back later."
Moira released Walter and turned to look at her, happy tears still in her eyes. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
Oliver stepped over to her, placing a hand on the small of her back and bringing her further into the room. "This is Felicity. She's a very good friend of mine."
"And mine as well," Walter agreed. "It's good to see you."
She smiled and tried not to blush. Moira still looked at her speculatively, and Thea looked very curious, but Walter smiled warmly at her and she could feel the heat of Oliver's hand on her back through the fabric of her coat.
"You too," she said to Walter. "I'm so glad you're home safe. I brought you some flowers." She set them on the table next to the door. "I'll let you guys get back to your hugging."
Moira and Thea returned their attention to Walter, practically tackling him back to the bed with the force of their hugs. Felicity turned to Oliver and smiled at him. She squeezed his arm.
"Thanks for coming," he told her in a low voice.
"I should be the one thanking you," she replied. Before he could answer, she turned and left the room so that the family could continue their reunion in peace. There had been tension in Oliver's face and she knew he was still struggling with the revelations of his mother's involvement with the Undertaking.
Felicity knew he wouldn't want to hear it, but he was a hero. He'd brought Walter home alive and well, and he deserved all the credit in the world for that. He fought so hard every night to make Starling City a safer place. As she stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the ground floor, she admitted to herself that if she wasn't already half in love with Oliver Queen, knowing all that he did for everyone around him would have accomplished it all over again.
—
Oliver was glad his family had Walter back, but there was something about seeing the way his mother gushed over him that turned his stomach. He was all but certain she had something to do with her husband's disappearance in the first place. She knew something about the Undertaking and she might have had a hand in what happened to the Queen's Gambit as well. Oliver could barely reconcile that with the memory of the woman who had always kissed his booboos growing up, had always been there to help him when he needed it, had always done everything she could to take care of him and Thea.
After a few moments, he made his excuses and stepped out of Walter's hospital room. Maybe he'd catch up with Felicity in the parking garage and they could go grab some burgers together.
"Oliver," a familiar voice at his back called. He grit his jaw and fought to contain his rage before turning around to face Malcolm Merlyn.
While he suspected his mother's involvement, he knew that Malcolm was involved. This man was responsible for so much pain, not just for his family, but his own family. And perhaps even the city. He needed to find out exactly what the Undertaking was. That was now number one on Oliver's agenda.
"What a miracle!" Malcolm was saying. "How's Walter? The police are saying he was rescued by the vigilante."
Oliver schooled his expression. "Yes, he was."
"Has he said anything about his ordeal? Has identified any of his captors?"
Now that he was faced with it, Malcolm's deception was painfully obvious to him. Oliver wanted to grab his throat, squeeze, threaten to end this slime of a man once and for all. But he restrained himself. "No," he replied.
"Hmm. That's too bad." The other man could barely hide the smile that flirted with the corners of his mouth. God, he wanted to punch him.
"They'll get what's coming to them," Oliver vowed, meeting his eye. Malcolm paused and nodded imperceptibly. "I'm just glad my family is back together."
"We all are."
Oliver stared him down for another moment before a softer voice called out, "Ollie!"
He turned to see Laurel at the end of the hall. Without another word, he turned from Malcolm and walked to her, glad to put some space between them before he did something he shouldn't. At least not yet.
"Is Walter okay?" she asked when he reached her. "I saw it on the news."
"Yeah," he said. He noticed the pinched expression and his brow furrowed. "Are you okay?"
"Of course," she replied automatically. When he continued to look at her, she sighed. "I don't think now is a good time to talk about this."
"It's you and Tommy, isn't it? Did you talk to him like I suggested?" He was glad to focus on someone else's problem for a change rather than his own.
"I did. We talked yesterday and he told me the reason he broke up with me is that he thought you and I... still belong together."
Oliver sighed. Looks like this was his problem too. "You set him straight though, didn't you? You told him that we are over, right?"
"I didn't get a chance," she said. "He walked out on me. He's pretty upset and I hate to see him that way."
"Maybe I can talk to him," Oliver suggested. "I just want you to be happy. I want you both to be happy."
"He'll listen to you," she said. "If you tell him we're over, that you're not still in love with me, he'll listen."
"I will do whatever I can, Laurel, I promise. I'm sorry that this has caused problems for you.
"Thanks, Ollie. I appreciate it." She looked a little wistful, like she wanted to say something. But she stayed quiet and he was glad.
Yeah, he definitely had enough problems on his plate without coming in between his two friends. Plus, it was time that he cleared up something he should have cleared up long before.
—
Dig hadn't exactly made it easier on him to apologize, but with Felicity and the team and what they needed to do now to help save the city, Oliver knew he needed to do it. The other man relaxed once the words "I'm sorry" left his lips.
Oliver went on to explain that Dig was right, not just about Deadshot and Oliver's own messed up priorities, but about his mother and her lies. He told him that she was working with Merlyn, that they were planning something and how Oliver needed his teammate's help to stop them. Sympathy crossed Dig's features and he nodded.
"I'm here for you," he promised. "Thanks for the apology. I needed to hear that."
Dig invited him for a beer and Oliver was more than happy to take him up on it. As the two settled on the sofa and took long swigs of their lager, Dig chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Oliver wasn't finding humor in much right now and was desperate for something to lighten the mood.
"I did this very thing with Felicity just this afternoon," he explained.
"Seriously?" Oliver hadn't known a thing about it. She'd never said she was visiting Dig or told him about it afterward. Then again, they'd been fairly busy with the casino and Walter's rescue.
"Yeah. She knocked on my door and tried to get me to come back to the team," Dig told him. "We drank a beer and she told me that you needed me."
Oliver felt a tightness in his chest. "She wasn't wrong."
"I know. But I needed to hear you apologize."
"I should have done that right away." Oliver took a long drink of his beer before resting it on his knee. "Felicity was so upset with me about it."
"She cares about you," Dig pointed out.
"She cares about the team."
"And you care about her."
"Of course I do. She's important to the team. So are you."
"Dude. This is about more than just the team. I know you said you were going to keep your relationship professional but I'm here to tell you; you're failing miserably."
"It's not a good- Dig, I'm not- This isn't what she deserves. I can't do this to her. I don't even know if she feels anything," Oliver said, stumbling. Dig smiled at him sympathetically.
"You have it so bad, you can't even see what's in front of your face. Talk to her. And forget this crap about being good enough and who deserves what. That's just an excuse."
"It was just a one night stand, Dig," Oliver explained, his voice weak to his own ears.
"You don't believe that any more than I do, Oliver. I'll tell you this much: I've seen a change in you since she joined the team. When I first met you, you were a mess. I've been to war, I know what that does to a man and I saw it all over you. But then Felicity comes along and you changed. You focused. You became better. She makes you happy and I don't want to hear shit about how you don't deserve that because everyone does."
Oliver took another long drink and considered his friends' words. He always looked up to Dig, valued his insight. And what the other man was saying now sounded an awful lot like truth. Right now wasn't a good time to get into this but maybe after this threat was dealt with, maybe then he could do something about it.
