Yay – I am so glad you guys liked the last chapter. I've decided it's my favourite so far (followed closely by Chapter 8. Huh, I guess I just like writing the Arrow in all his hooded glory-ness!)

So this one is a hybrid – based on a prompt from the lovely guest reviewer who also gave me the prompt that led to Chapter 11, and a prompt from jaitoddja13. Prompts are spelled out at the bottom.

Enjoy (warning, it kind of ran away from me...)

I know what I saw

"Ugh." Felicity groaned as she leaned back in the high backed chair that had been deemed 'hers' since she had stepped foot in the lair all those years ago.

Oliver paused in his progress up the salmon ladder and looked down at his weary blonde IT girl. He watched as she took off her glasses and rubbed her closed eyes.

"Felicity, it's late. Go home and go to bed."

"No, no." Felicity shook her head. "It's fine. I mean, I need to rest but not as in sleep. I just need a break from staring at these computers."

Oliver dropped to the ground and walked over to the training mats, stopping to grab his grey t-shirt that was lying on the nearby table.

"Come here then." Oliver waved her over. "Might as well teach you something since you're taking a break anyway."

Felicity stared at him over the top of one of the many computer screens that lined the table.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Oliver Queen?"

"What do you mean?" Oliver queried.

"Usually you leave my training up to Dig. Even Sara helped out sometimes. But never you."

"Yeah well Dig isn't here right now, and Sara is god knows where with the League. Given your insistence on going out in the field, I think we should take every opportunity we can to make sure you know what you're doing out there."

"I'm not exactly dressed for a duel." Felicity indicated her attire of tight skinny jeans and a fitted tank top.

"Not a problem." Oliver insisted, waving her over again. "This isn't about you learning how to fight. You just need to learn how to get free if someone gets a hold of you. I never want you fighting. You get free and run away as fast as you can."

"Yes Dad." Felicity grumbled, as she made her way over to where Oliver stood. Oliver pointed a warning finger at her remark.

"None of that. Let's go."

Felicity stopped in front of Oliver. She had taken her heels off earlier so she only just came up to his shoulder as they stood toe to toe.

"It's unlikely that someone is going to come at you from the front." Oliver twirled his hand, indicating that Felicity should turn around so that she had her back to him.

"Ok, I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing. Just react."

Felicity nodded and waited for Oliver to make a move. She could feel him behind her as he radiated warmth, presumably since he had just been exercising.

She barely heard him move as suddenly she was pulled into his solid chest by the arm he had wrapped around her neck, while his other arm came around her middle pinning her arms against her sides.

Though Felicity knew that Oliver would never hurt her, she still panicked at being in such a vulnerable position. And because she was panicking, she just froze. Oliver felt her tense up and sighed.

"Felicity, that's not helping." He sighed as he dropped his arms.

"Sorry, sorry." Felicity apologised. "Let's go again."

Again, Oliver pulled Felicity backwards and stopped her being able to use her arms against him. But this time Felicity didn't freeze, instead pulling on her previous training with Dig.

Using the parts of her body that she could move, Felicity stepped down hard on Oliver's toe while throwing her body back into his. The shock of her movement caused Oliver to loosen his hold on her enough that Felicity could move in his arms.

She turned herself so that she was now facing him and pushed her head forward. With the height difference, the result was that she managed to knock into Oliver's collarbone, throwing him off balance.

Felicity used his momentum against him and with a sweep of her feet, managed to get him onto the floor. Squealing in triumph, Felicity plopped down onto Oliver's stomach keeping him down.

"What happened to running away?" Oliver smirked as he placed his hands on Felicity's thighs that were straddling his waist.

"I liked this idea better." Felicity shrugged, but then turned bright red when she realised what that sounded like. "I mean the gloating over my victory part, not the straddling you part."

Oliver chuckled. "I know what you meant."

"So that was good. Smart. But what was your plan once you had them on the floor?" Oliver unconsciously ran his hands up and down her jean clad thighs.

"Uh, I didn't really get that far." Felicity admitted. "But running away sounds good."

"What if they do this?" And in one swift movement, Oliver had reversed their positions so now it was Felicity lying on the mats with Oliver holding her down. Only difference being, her legs were not flat on the mat the way Oliver's had been.

When he had flipped them, Felicity had been surprised by the movement so had clamped her thighs around Oliver's and that's where they remained.

"No running away now." Oliver pointed out, his voice dropping to a gentler tone. Felicity nodded, but she was suddenly not thinking about the training anymore.

"Wasn't planning to." She whispered, staring into his eyes that had suddenly gotten darker.

Oliver searched Felicity's face, but for what he didn't know. He slid the hand that he had put at the back of her head to ensure she didn't hit it on the floor when he had flipped them, further down so that he was softly cradling her neck, leaving his other hand at the top of her thigh as he held it to him.

Oliver dropped his head closer to Felicity's and her eyes instinctively closed, waiting for the contact.

"Hey Oliver, can you –" Felicity's eyes snapped open and Oliver lifted his head quickly as they heard Roy's voice at the top of the stairs. Problem was, they were still tangled together on the mats so Roy had a clear view from the stairs of the position his two team members were in.

"Uh –" Roy was at a loss for words.

"It's not what it looks like!" both Felicity and Oliver insisted as Oliver jumped up and offered a hand to Felicity so he could pull her up from the floor.

"Right. I'm just gonna go." Roy said slowly as he started backing away and leaving out the door he had just come through.

"Dig, you owe me 5 bucks." Roy mentioned as the three boys hung around the lair going about their own thing. Oliver had told Felicity she could stay home that night so it was just the three of them there, keeping an eye on the police scanner in the event there was any trouble.

Dig looked up from his place at the table where he was cleaning his gun, throwing a confused look at the young teen.

"What for?"

"Felicity and Oliver are together." Roy shrugged casually, not even looking up from sharpening the arrow heads.

"No. We're not." Oliver corrected, turning to face Dig after successfully landing three arrows into the tennis balls he had thrown at the wall.

"I know what I saw." Roy pointed out.

"Saw when?" Dig asked the two other people in the room.

"It was nothing." Oliver interrupted whatever Roy was about to say.

"Whatever man. Keep it a secret, I don't care." Roy muttered, going back to his task.

"What's he talking about?" Dig asked again, wanting answers this time.

"Nothing." Oliver shook his head, turning back to his practice wall. Dig sighed. Great, Oliver was in 'stubborn mode'. It was going to be a long night.

"Do us a favour and go get us some burgers and fries from Big Belly Burger." Dig told the kid, pushing $20 into his chest as he passed by Roy and walked over to where Oliver was. Roy nodded and grabbed his trademark red hoodie from the chair before hurrying out the door.

"Oliver," Dig started, leaning against a nearby table.

"I don't want to hear it." Oliver growled, squaring his shoulder.

"Too bad. What are you doing man?" Dig pushed.

"I don't know, ok?" Oliver cried, slamming his bow down on the table that Dig was leaning against.

"Well, what did the kid walk in on the other day?"

"It's complicated." Oliver sighed, running his hand through his hair. "One minute I was showing Felicity how to defend herself, and the next we were on the floor but then Roy walked in."

"And if he hadn't?" Dig asked, though he already suspected what the answer was going to be. Oliver just threw him a look, confirming what Dig thought.

"Would that really be a bad thing?"

"Yes." Oliver immediately answered Dig's question. "I'd be putting a target on her back. She'd be in danger because of me. Dig, because of the life I lead -"

"Yeah, yeah you can't be with someone you really care about. I know. Felicity told me what you said to her after Russia." Dig swiped a hand down his face in exasperation at his idiotic friend.

"Oliver," Dig sighed. "Don't you see that it's the life she leads too? Hell, we all are. We're in this together."

"I know that." Oliver agreed, but then waved a hand around the basement. "But she's down here. Safe. Not out there for everyone to see and hurt."

"Man, I hate to tell you but Felicity isn't as safe as you like to think she is. Just this year alone how much crap has that girl had to put up with? And it's no longer just Lance that knows she's working with the Arrow."

"Well I'm not adding to that list." Oliver justified. "I won't let anything happen to her."

"Oliver, it's already happening to her." Dig pointed out. "Wouldn't it make more sense that you were there to protect her, instead of trying to prevent something that's going to happen anyway?"

"I'll always be there." Oliver scoffed at the idea that he wouldn't be.

"But is it in the way she wants?"

Felicity was very grateful that Oliver had given her the night off from Arrow work. She had managed to watch a few shows and was now snuggled up in bed reading a chapter of the latest novel that she had picked up. A year ago. And she was only at page 12.

With a sigh, Felicity realised that while she missed her old calm life, she wouldn't give up this whirlwind that her new life had become for anything. Sure she found herself longing for the latest episode of Game of Thrones but she also enjoyed the thrill of facial recognition programs and hacking into federal databases.

And it didn't hurt that she felt like she was stepping into a GQ fashion shoot every time she went in to do her second job.

Felicity smiled at the thought as she tried to focus on the page of her book. After reading a couple of lines, she heard her doorbell ringing. Glancing at her phone beside her, she saw that it was nearing 11pm. That meant it could really only be one of a handful of people.

As Felicity moved out of bed, the doorbell rang again followed quickly by a series of knocks.

"I'm coming." Felicity yelled out, hoping that whoever it was would be patient and just wait for her to answer the door. No such luck, there was more insistent pounding as she reached the door.

Peeking briefly through the peephole, only to confirm what she already knew, Felicity opened the door to an agitated Oliver on the other side.

"Oliver. What's wrong?" Felicity urgently asked him, but he said nothing as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him, coming to stand very close in front of Felicity. This meant that Felicity had to crane her neck back so she could look up at him.

"Oliver, wha-" Felicity started to say but she was silenced as his mouth crashed down on hers.

Felicity froze at the new, but definitely not unwanted, sensation. But Oliver still kept his mouth sealed to hers, waiting for her to respond in kind. And respond she did, pushing back slightly to increase the pressure.

Felicity felt Oliver smile before his tongue peeked out to swipe across her bottom lip, seeking permission. Eagerly she granted it and the two explored the taste of feel of one another.

Oliver's hands which had started at Felicity's elbows were now hungrily working their way across her waist and down to her hips, pulling her towards him until barely a breath could come between them. This caused Felicity's hands which had been settled on Oliver's chest to snake up and around the back of his neck.

Soon, breathing became a necessity so Oliver reluctantly took his mouth away from hers. Only to return it to her soft neck so he could pepper kisses down her shoulder. Felicity gave a slight moan when Oliver reached a particularly sensitive spot which he then proceeded to pay specific attention to.

As Felicity's moans gave way to soft whimpers, she felt like her legs were not going to hold her up much longer if he kept doing – well that thing that he was really good at.

"Really good huh?" Oliver smirked, lifting his head from the juncture at Felicity's shoulder.

"Bedroom." Was all Felicity said and used her head to point the way. Nodding, a grinning Oliver walked Felicity backwards in that direction, still kissing her as they maneuvered through the small apartment.

Felicity shrieked in delight as Oliver threw her onto her bed and kicked the door shut behind him.

If you've read any of my other stories, you'll know I'm the queen of "will they, won't they". So I hope that was ok (*runs and hides*)

Prompts:

Guest review – "It's not what it looks like!"

Jaitoddja13 – Oliver teaching Felicity how to fight

And the last bit was a little bit because of the prompt from ShipsRoyale (though I have something else in mind too…)

See that empty white box in the bottom right corner? You should fill it with words and press submit :)