Paradigm Shift

By MaryKent

Felicity looked at the bottle of wine sitting on her coffee table again. She rarely treated herself to such a fine wine. She could already imagine the aroma of the full bodied wine with the subtle flavor of dark raspberries permeating her senses. And she could dream about the man she would split the bottle with.

When she did not receive her reward from Oliver immediately, she thought he was just the kind of person she expected him to be; a rich snob who liked to tease girls until he got his way and then ditch them. Of course, Felicity knew Oliver better than all of his one night stands. With every lie he told when he arrived in her office, she received another hint of his true character. The character he tried to disguise. The character she developed a major and downright embarrassing crush on.

When she found Oliver in the backseat of her car dressed as the vigilante, she realized the depths of his heart. His behavior was purely a disguise. All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and she realized he was truly an even better man than she thought him to be. She had known for weeks that he was covering up his true intentions with all the puzzles and ridiculous lies he came up with. But she would have assumed he was feeding information to the vigilante or even hiring someone to inflict justice. His disguise was just good enough to convince her that he could not be that selfless himself.

And she was wrong. It was rare that she was wrong but she was willing to admit it here.

And perhaps she was also wrong about her chances with Oliver. He had delivered her a letter that could be interpreted in a certain way – she only hoped her imagination was not reading too much into his words. Additionally, he had followed through on his promise to give her this bottle of wine.

Felicity was anxious to see Oliver again. To ask him what his intentions were and discover whether she was over analyzing the situation.

She wished she could cover up her crush and with her typical rambling or quarks comments but sincerely considering a relationship seemed to bring out her more serious and focused side. Who knew what would happen when she actually stood in front of Oliver.

She picked up the letter from Oliver again. She had nearly memorized it by now but she still loved to see his script writing her name at the top. And his name signed at the bottom. And of course his words filling the space in between.

That night Felicity went to sleep hopeful with a smile on her lips and slept soundly through the night.

Oliver had returned to Starling City but he still could not sleep. The questions that had plagued his mind were still unanswered. He had hoped that the letters would ease his conscience and release him of his insistent need to have more information.

Instead, his mind continued its loop of questions: how could his mother shot him? What was the Undertaking and how was she involved? How could he make Thea understand she he was displaying a fake image of how to act? Where was Walter? That thought brought on a whole new set of questions: how was Felicity taking the news of his extra curriculars? Would she continue to help him track criminals? Would she go on a date with him?

Wait, a date? Oliver's stream of conscious suddenly halted on that question. He could not figure out when she had gone from being a cute and helpful IT girl to being someone he was genuinely interested in. More interested in than his interest in Laurel and he had been fixating on Laurel for six years.

Felicity was in enigma. A delightful puzzle he suspected he would never fully understand.

He wanted to see her, to talk to her. Soon.

Oliver had been hanging out in the depths of the shadows at a city park but without even realizing it he changed paths and began the journey back to Felicity's apartment.

Upon arriving, he sat next to her door in the hall. He sat there, one ear listening for anyone to approach while resting his head on his knees. It was the most peaceful he had felt for weeks.

Moira paced back and forth in her bedroom. There was nowhere she could go and find peace. As she continued to pace, she clutched the photo in her left hand. It was a family portrait. Not a recent picture, it was a photo from before her family was torn apart. Her two kids were safe and without a worry in the world. Robert smiled broadly from behind the glass. Perhaps there was something she could have done back then to prevent him from allying himself with Malcolm Merlyn.

She shuttered to think of Malcolm. In her right hand she held her phone, the phone she needed to use to contact Malcolm.

Earlier that afternoon, Moira received a message from the foreman on the project at Unidac Industries. The device was fully assembled and preliminary testing was underway. Moira knew that when she reported the device was done with preliminary testing, Malcolm would interpret the device as being ready as opposed to being a far-off dream for the future. The worst part was that Moira had no faith that Malcolm would realize that his dream was actually horrific. From his end of the phone a smug smile would spread across his face as he envisioned the revenge he would inflict on the people of the Glades.

She illuminated the screen of her phone. Scrolling through her contacts, she quickly decided to call Frank Chen. Frank had his doubts about the Undertaking. He could help her stop Malcolm by using his contacts with the Triad to hire an assassin. Anything was worth a shot at this point.

Felicity stood in front of her open closet door exasperated. Nothing she owned suited her taste for clothes today. She loved her work clothing. It was professional but quirky. But that would not do today. If Oliver came back today she wanted him to notice her. Really notice her - as a woman not an employee.

None of her clothes looked sexy. But she could not be too overt. Her checks began to color just thinking about Diggle if he noticed her clothing was more provocative.

Finally she tried to convince herself that her butt looked best in her charcoal pencil skirt. She put on her sexyist bra under her sweater and told herself the bra would make her feel sexier even if it wasn't visible from the outside.

Hurrying out the door she collided with a person rapidly standing next to her door, causing her to drop her purse.

"Oliver?" She asked in a daze.

Their eyes meet. Without even giving him a chance to respond she continued, "Are you a stalker?"

Oliver blinked and chocked out, "What?"

Felicity's checks blazed with warm blood as she backed up a step. "I mean, thank god you are alive!"

"It's not like I went to die," Oliver defended himself. He winced. This was not what he expected when he saw Felicity again. He wanted to sound cool and collected. Instead he was defending himself as not being suicidal. She likely had not even intended for him to interpret her statement that way.

"It's just the last time I saw you there was so much blood involved. I used to be an ordinary IT girl. A particularly gory day might involve a paper cut. This," she gestured wildly and without any apparent purpose to the movement, "is a lot to take in at once."

Oliver began to turn away. "I didn't mean to be such a burden and disrupt your life."

Felicity reached out and caught his bicep. She noticed how extremely toned it was and did not let go immediately when he allowed her to stop him. "Wait," she nearly pleaded. "You didn't disrupt my life. You enriched it. Like adding sprinkles to a cupcake. The cupcake would have been delicious without sprinkles, but it's so much more exciting to eat a cupcake with sprinkles."

"Are you equating my criminal behavior to sprinkles?" questioned Oliver. The things Felicity would say never ceased to surprise him.

"I am not condoning senseless killing, but justly administering punishments to the low lifes the vigilante faces is a worthy cause in my mind," Felicity stated.

Oliver smiled a little at that. Felicity remembered back to their previous encounters. He very rarely let anything except fake forced smiles show. Perhaps there was hope for them, together.

Oliver bent to scoop up her dropped purse and asked, "Know of any good breakfast places around here? Lately I have developed an appetite."

"I know a place with excellent coffee and delicious breakfast options."

"Lead the way," said Oliver while ushering Felicity ahead of him.

They walked a few blocks in silence. Felicity was chanting to herself 'do not ask him prying questions!'

Simultaneously, Oliver was trying to dig up the courage to hold her hand.

Finally Oliver asked, "So where are we headed?"

Felicity looked at him with a gleam in her eyes. "It's a little place I enjoy. Maybe you have heard of it? The Big Belly Burger?"

Oliver's eyes bulged with surprise. "I was hoping for somewhere discrete where I would not run into anyone I know," he tried to rationalize with Felicity.

She shot him a sharp stare and said, "I know, but you will have to see them again sometime anyway. By the way, you just got back from vacation to Cinque Terre but it was cloudy so you didn't tan as much as you would have liked to. Instead you spent all your time with Italian girls." She knew the cover story was fake, but having to say those words aloud was thoroughly embarrassing to Felicity. Without waiting for his response, she added a little skip to her walk so she would be a step ahead of Oliver while her blush receded. Oliver had to lengthen his stride to catch up with her.

"But it's the Big Belly Burger. That's where you go for a burger and greasy fries. We should go somewhere else," Oliver argued.

Felicity turned around and held out her hand to Oliver.

Oliver took her hand gently, thrilled to have this connection to her. A connection he both feared but desperately desired. He was so distracted by the feel of her gentle hand within his that he barely paid attention when she spoke again.

"Your affinity for secrecy is too high for your own good. Now let's get you eating and don't worry about the other patrons or why we are there eating at this particular and delicious restaurant."

Smells good, thought Diggle to himself as he pulled open the door to the Big Belly Burger. Breakfast food may not match with the restaurant name, but they knew how to make an excellent short stack of blueberry pancakes.

Diggle nodded his head to one of Carly's coworkers that he recognized. She was carrying an armful of dishes toward the kitchen. "Good morning," she greeted. "Your friends are in the back corner. I will bring you a menu as soon as I put down these plates."

Diggle had just come to the Big Belly Burger to decompress from all the bustle at work. Talking to Carly and enjoying a meal as close to home cooked as he ever got was all he wanted for the next hour of his life. Instead, he was faced with another mystery. Who did the waitress think he was meeting here?

Walking to the back of the restaurant, Diggle immediately saw Felicity sitting in a booth. He headed over to her to say hello when he saw who she was dining with.

Oliver was seated across from her. The two were engaged in conversation while eating large plates of eggs and sausage.

Diggle stopped in front of their table and the two looked up. Felicity's face just showed surprise, but numerous expressions flashed across Oliver's face before a small smile fell into place. After missing a beat, Oliver quickly stood up from the table and extended his hand toward Diggle. "Good to see you."

Diggle just looked at Oliver's hand. Slowly, he extended his own to firmly shake hands.

Before he let go, Oliver wrapped an arm around Diggle in a man hug. "Thank you," Oliver whispered sincerely.

Peering into Oliver's eyes, Diggle realized he was completely sincere. The small smile was not a mask. Unlike so many times in the past when Diggle thought Oliver was hiding and keeping secrets, Oliver was not trying to hide behind the Hood or the playboy persona. Standing before him in the Big Belly Burger, Oliver was just Oliver.

The two sat down in the booth together. Oliver gestured to Felicity and said, "Felicity has been updating me on what happened while I was out. She said you two were able to track down new information on Walter. It sounds promising. Thank you for carrying on while I was gone."

"That's what teammates do," he responded. And Diggle was sincere too. He had his doubts that Oliver would return in a state of mind suitable for continuing the mission. Diggle had worried that he would be filled with vengeance or madness. But apparently Oliver knew himself well enough to know what he needed when the stress of life became too much. A break in the woods may have refocused him because it was similar to the lifestyle he lead on the island, as atypical as the lifestyle may have been. After all, it was the lifestyle that trained him to create an alter ego who fought crime as the Hood.

Diggle looked up at Felicity, the third member of their team. She was trying to mind her own business while eating her eggs, but she kept surreptitiously looking up at Oliver. Upon further inspection, Diggle noticed Oliver was avoiding eye contact with Felicity; however, he seemed to be looking her way out of the corner of his eye.

Perhaps Oliver was not motivated to let down his guard because of the therapeutic aspects of running around in the woods alone. It definitely looked like he was letting Felicity see his genuine character. Diggle just happened to walk into the right restaurant at the right time.

"You two make quite a pair," Diggle stated.

"What?" asked Oliver while simultaneously Felicity exclaimed, "A pair?! But I just wanted sunny side up eggs and I always break the yokes when I try to make them at home."

Diggle and Oliver just stared at her with matching perplexed expressions.

"What, I wind up making scrambled eggs every time when I really just want a runny yoke that you can sop up with toast."

Diggle just shook his head. Life would never get boring around these two, it would always be unexpected.