Author's Note: My brain did not want to work today, but I finally managed to spin this out. I hope you enjoy!

Advent Anticipation – Day 14 – Carolers

"There's only so long I'm going to be able to keep manipulating the lights before someone is going to add two and two together and decide to check the system," Felicity reminded the entire team as her fingers flew over the keyboards. "I don't particularly want to see how good I am at doing this while playing hide and go seek with the police tech squad."

"Just a few more minutes." Oliver's voice, changed by the voice synthesizer came back to her.

"A few more minutes he says," she muttered as a red light began to flash at her. "Damn it, I do not want to go to jail. That would definitely put a damper on the holidays."

"Felicity?" Dig's voice sounded in her ear this time, the question clear in her name.

"Do me a favor and concentrate on getting the bad guy and let me work?" she shoots back, ignoring his request for information. Right now would hardly be the time to explain that her time was up. Instead she ignored the two or three feints from the SCPD and focused on clearing her back trail while keeping an eye on her guys and their current pursuit. Speaking of which…

"Roy!"

"What's up, Blondie?"

"You've got a motorcycle cop just ahead. Take the next right, go up two blocks, take a left, and then up three. Then you can get back to the chase." Her voice issued the orders even as she turned back to block another probe from some clever tech downtown. She started muttering once more. "Should I be happy or sad the police have started hiring competent techs? I mean, yay them – maybe they can catch some bad guys and we don't have to, but it's going to be a pain on my side of things."

"Felicity."

"Busy, Oliver."

"Worry about your own battle and quit trying to cover for us as well," he told her. "We'll manage."

"I'm sure," she told him, a smirk in her voice, "but not as well. Now get this guy please! He's less than two blocks ahead of you." Her attention shifted once more. "And as for you, you clever little monkey, why don't I send you probing into a different area altogether? Let's see what you think of Mr. Jefferson Blake and his questionable little side business."

"You do know we're listening to this, right?" Roy's voice chimed in.

"Then stop," she replied, still busy with her typing. "Concentrate on catching the chemist you're chasing."

"Hard to ignore you when you're muttering in our ears, Blondie."

"Enough." Oliver's voice cut through and both of them fell silent. "Felicity? What's going on?"

"The police are currently busy discovering the secrets of a nasty little man I tripped over earlier when I was pinning down the crazy doctor's identity," Felicity replied. "I would have sent you towards him first because if anyone needs to have fear instilled in his heart, it's this creep, but the chemist can do more overall damage and to a lot more people, so he had to come first. I was busy trying to figure out a good way to send them an anonymous tip when you called and I needed to start playing hopscotch with the lights. Did you get the guy yet? Because if I can get out of the system, I'd be-."

"Felicity."

She forced herself to count backwards from three. "Stopping now."

"We've got him. Get out of the system, shut it down. We'll be back when we've left him gift wrapped for Lance."

"Thank you." Her voice rushed out of her in a long sigh. It didn't take as long to get out of a system as it did to get in, but she refused to rush. Each step back she made sure to cleanse any sign of her presence, but she also wired in an electronic 'backdoor' for the next time she needed into the city's traffic light system. It took her longer than some would think – she could be thorough in her determination to protect the team, even if they didn't always know about the things she did in order to just that.

She leaned back in her chair, stretching to get rid of the kinks. Flipping on the radio, she had to smile as Christmas carols filled the lair. It might not be her holiday, but the songs always made the day a little brighter. Some of them could even get her swaying or dancing when she was alone. Now, though, the songs pulled on a more recent memory – one from just this morning, when she and Oliver stood in her kitchen and opened the calendar. Their reward proved to be a tiny chocolate singer.

"A caroler," he noted.

"I wonder why they're always dressed in old fashioned clothes," she said, turning the candy over in her hands before taking a bite.

He shrugged. "Probably because so few people do the traditional form of caroling now." A small hint of bewilderment entered his expression. "And because people think Dickens embodies Christmas."

"Dickens?" she frowned, but that passed quickly as the lightbulb went off in her mind. She laughed. "A Christmas Carol! Of course! And it is the perfect type of movie for the season. Or well, book or movie…depending on which you prefer. Me, I prefer the Muppets version with Michael Caine. He makes a great Scrooge."

Dig called before they could talk about it. He told them to turn on the news and they watched a report on a mad scientist holding up one of the local labs in order to steal enough of a deadly toxin to infect the entire town's water supply. Oliver and Felicity had to take a backseat to Arrow and his tech advisor.

Hopefully now they could go back to being them for a few minutes.

One of the peppier songs, 'Rocking Around the Christmas Tree', came on as she began to clear her area. Her smile deepened and grew dazzling. She swayed and sang as she put things away.

"Rockin around the Christmas tree

At the Christmas party hop,

Mistletoe hung where you can see,

Every couple tries to stop,"

Felicity spun away from her desk on the beat only to find herself staring at her three partners. Heat flooded her face as she stumbled to a stop. "Oh my God," she murmured, hands coming up to cover her face. She glared at them through her fingers. "Make some noise!" she demanded, bringing her hands down all of the sudden. "Knock? Call out? Something?"

"And miss that show?" Roy laughed. "No way."

Her eyes narrowed on him and Dig snagged his arm. "Come on, junior," he said. "Let's go get our stuff together before you open your mouth again."

Roy's laughter continued to float back to them and she sighed. "Can you shoot him?" she asked, putting on her sweetest smile.

"No," he replied as he walked over to her. "You wouldn't let me shoot Roy last week, so I'm not letting you talk me into it this week."

"Okay, fine." She poked at his ribs. "Go get changed so we can go home."

"Are you planning to do another song and dance show?"

Her jaw dropped. "Oliver!" His smirk deepened and she pursed her lips. One hand rose to point towards one of the rooms off the main one. "Go!"

"I'm going." He took three steps away from her before turning back. "I almost forgot something." Striding back to her, he framed her face with his hands and pressed a fast, hard kiss to her lips. "Next time, try and keep the communication lines clear, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed, a little breathless from the intensity of the kiss.

"Guess all teachers have favorites," Roy commented as he walked through on his way towards the stairs. "I get lectured, you get kissed."

She focused on the younger man and dredged up her most innocent voice. "Why, Roy, did you want Oliver to kiss you?"

A look of horror crawled across Roy's face. "Quit giving me nightmares, Blondie!" he ordered. "I'm out of here. You people are crazy."

"I second him," Dig put in as he walked past. "Though I think he's part of it." He shook his head. "I'm headed home. Call if you need me."

"We're leaving as well," Oliver assured him. "Go home to your family."

Felicity waved and then turned back to Oliver. "Well?" she insisted. "Go get changed. I want some cocoa…and that's at home."

He gave her another quick kiss. "I'm going," he assured her. He reached the door and glanced back. "So no more dancing?"

"Oliver!"