Oliver poised his bow at Count Vertigo, "Let go of her."

As Count Vertigo was about to shot Oliver released his arrow into Vertigo's chest. Felicity ran to hug him, Oliver wrapped his arms around her shoulder and kissed her head. She looked up at him and stoked his cheek,

"You didn't have to do that for me."

Oliver looked back at her irresistibly blue ocean-like eyes and whispered "I love you," before planting a soft kiss on her lips. The next moment she disappeared into thin air and was now feet's away from him screaming.

Oliver walked toward her slowly, "Felicity, it's ok, I'm here."

Tears streamed down her face, "Leave me alone. You tried to kill me!"

"Felicity—"

Her once blue eyes were no pitch black with hatred, "Go away. I hate you."

He grimaced; she was screaming the same words she said when she was under the Vertigo drug. He tried to reach for her but she backed away from him even more. Then Oliver heard a deep laughter behind him. He drew out his bow and turned to see Count Vertigo laughing mockingly at him.

Oliver shot three more arrows but Count Vertigo evaporated into green smoke. Suddenly Count Vertigo was in front of him and stabbed him in the stomach. Oliver screamed and fell to the ground as pain surged through his torso. Oliver tried jabbing an arrow into Count Vertigo but he faded into thin smoke again. Now the Count was choking Felicity.

"Leave her alone!" Oliver screamed with tears down his eyes as he watched the Count murder her.

"Someone had to do it. As long as you were around her, she was never safe." Count Vertigo said before raising a gun at Oliver's head.

"Felicity!" Oliver yelled as he jolted from his bed in cold sweat. He touched his face to be assured it was only a dream. Looking around he saw he was still on his cot in the lair.

He rubbed his eyes before looking at the time. It was eight in the morning. He frowned as he noticed his heart was still pounding from his dream. Though he had the same nightmare each night since the day he almost killed Felicity it always affected him the same way each time. The way Felicity's eyes avoided his, her ear piercing screams, her limp body after the Count killed her. He shook his head trying to shake out all the false images from his head.

It wouldn't hurt to check on her… right?

He put on his shirt and went on his motorbike to Felicity's house. He parked a block away from her house so she wouldn't spot him since it was around the time she went to work. Oliver felt his phone ring in his pocket, he checked it and noticed it was Felicity calling him. He pressed the reject button and sighed. It still puzzled him why he was so worried with her even though he was angry over what she did yesterday. He looked down at his phone which was ringing, checking it he saw Felicity's picture smiling at him; he reluctantly rejected the call again.

He exhaled and looked around at the neighborhood, he surprisingly noticed Ray driving past him. Then Oliver remembered Ray lived close to Felicity, he was startled to see Ray stop in front of Felicity's house. Oliver was even more surprised to see Ray standing at her doorstep. Ray was with two Starbucks cups balanced on top of a donut box. He glared at Ray suspiciously, unsure of what Ray would be doing at her house in the morning. His heart skipped when he saw Felicity in her pj's open the door. Her blonde hair was in a messy bun and she wasn't with her glasses. She crossed her arms at Ray angrily, Oliver was tempted to go help her but stopped when he saw her grin at Ray. Oliver was surprised at how different the two looked together as Felicity and Ray chatted. He was so used to always seeing them at each other's throats. At the gala sure he was irritated, but he wasn't a fool… until now he never thought of the possibility that they might actually like each other.

Oliver's heart sank as he saw the woman he loved stroke Ray's cheek. She laughed while helping Ray with the cups before entering the house together.

As Oliver drove his motorcycle in front of Felicity's house he was startled to see Ray turn and look back at Oliver straight in the eyes. He frowned as Ray winked at him and shut the door. Oliver drove away furious, but there was nothing he could do, he and Felicity weren't dating anymore.

''''''''

Felicity woke up energized, mostly because she was happy she could finally tell Oliver the truth. As she went to her kitchen pantry to search for pop tarts she dialed Oliver's number, hoping she could at least arrange a talk for them. Felicity shrugged after her second attempt to call him, maybe he was busy. She groaned when she opened her cupboards to find empty boxes of pop tarts, she remembered she needed to go shopping for groceries.

Then she heard her doorbell ring.

She furrowed her brows; Ray didn't usually come this early yesterday to pick her. She opened her door to see Ray holding a box of donuts with two cups balanced on top.

Ray smirked, "Nice SpongeBob PJs, my niece has the exact same one."

She frowned and crossed her arms, "Ha ha Ray. What are you doing here early."

"I couldn't really sleep last night."

Felicity noticed he looked worn out, "Why"

Ray sighed "Well we don't have germanium anymore, I tried searching for anyone selling but I couldn't find any."

She smiled at Ray's determination to fix the suit, she knew he was doing it for Jean. She looked down at the food he was holding, "Need help with those?"

Ray rolled his eyes, "You think?" Felicity laughed.

Ray scowled, "What's funny?"

"You have something on your cheek." She murmured before placing her hand on his cheek and rubbing off a pen mark. She took the two cups from him and pushed the door to open wider so they could enter. As she walked in she turned to see Ray looking into the streets.

"Ray? What are you doing"

Ray shut the door and turned to her with a soft grin, "Oh it's nothing, just thought I saw someone…familiar."

She shrugged as she placed the cups on her dining table. "You came with these at the perfect time. I ran out of pop tarts." Not having a car sucks, I really need to go shopping for groceries today, Felicity reminded herself.

Felicity turned to him, "You can go ahead and start eating; I'm going to go get ready."

20 minutes later Felicity after she finished showering and changing she went out her room to see Ray staring intently at a picture. Felicity sat down and grabbed the chocolate mocha from the table. While she ate Ray looked through her picture hung on her wall though there weren't many.

"Is that your mom?" Ray asked pointing at the image.

Felicity nodded before standing up, "But we aren't really on talking terms."

A smile tugged at his lips as he glanced at her, "I know what you mean, mothers can be… overbearing sometimes."

Felicity put down her cup and laughed, "Tell me about it."

She stood up with her bad and opened the door, "We should go now. I wouldn't want to be late, I have a boss who's pretty picky about tardiness."

Ray arched his brows as they walked to his car, "Very funny Smoak."

"How many more days did you say till my temporary car is arriving?" Felicity asked after entering.

"It should arrive by the end of the day tomorrow." Ray said as he drove.

Felicity nodded and picked up her phone to call Oliver, she frowned after the second time of dialing. Was he ignoring her?

When they arrived at Queen's Consolidated Ray glanced at her, she seemed more preoccupied than usual

"As much as I loved the silence, you were quiet the whole ride. You ok?"

Felicity tapped the phone against her ear, "I'm calling Oliver for the fifth time. But he won't pick up."

Ray sighed and put his hand in his pocket as they entered the building, "What have I told you Smoak. You can't get a guy like Oliver by pandering over him."

"What do you mean?"

"From what we saw at the gala, I assume Oliver very protective over you because he still deeply cares about you. And you told me he's avoiding you because he thinks you're too good for him right?"

They entered the elevator and she nodded,

"And let me guess, he tried to be the nice guy and told you to move on?"

"Yeah..."

Ray adjusted his tie, "Simple. Show him you've moved on, and he'll snap out of his self-pity and run back into your arms."

"But I know Oliver, let's say I started dating, he'll just keep playing the nice guy because he'd want me to be happy."

"Does he love you?"

Felicity paused; she remembered her shock when Oliver told him he loved her before squeezing the serum into her hand. She remembered the way her heart dropped when she realized it was all a plan, but then something changed in Oliver's eyes, even when the serum was in her hand he still glanced at her lips before looking longingly at her and leaving.

"I think so."

"Every man has his limit Smoak. Oliver will crack one of these days."

Felicity sighed, "If only it were that easy."

Ray said stepping out of the elevator, "Nothing is ever easy."

Working with Ray wasn't as bad anymore for Felicity, she no longer had to spend time doing mind-numbing file organizing. Now he let her handle the computer coding and research for the atom suit while he focused on Queen's Consolidated affairs. While she was finding germanium sellers she was surprised to see a text from Sara:

Hey you.

Felicity smiled, You're not dead!

Ha ha…You know the whole team is about to go to Big Belly Burger for lunch.

Felicity typed back,

That's good.

You should join us.

I'm not sure about that…

Come on, why not?

Oliver's been ignoring me. Are you sure he won't mind?

Diggle and I will make sure he stays put. Just come.

Fine. I'm on my way.

Felicity chewed her lip impatiently as she looked to the clock. The minute it was lunchtime Felicity walked over to Ray who was studiously writing in on his papers. She hated to admit it but it almost worried her how hard Ray worked everyday, he must have really been determined to finish the suit. He always finished work hours after everyone had left.

She took a deep breath, "Hey boss"

He didn't even look up at her, "Hey"

Felicity tilted her head "Aren't you going to get lunch?"

Ray shrugged as he opened his laptop, "I don't feel like going out for lunch today."

Felicity whispered "Perfect."

Ray arched his brow before looking back at his papers.

"Um… so …Mr. Palmer…"

"I guess if we are friends you don't need to call me Mr. Palmer anymore." Ray said while typing.

Felicity smiled while rubbing her hands nervously, "Since we are friends…I was wondering…"

Ray sighed as he glanced up from his laptop, "Spit it out Smoak."

"Can I borrow your car to go out for lunch?" she quickly said.

Ray frowned, "You're joking right?"

"I promise I'll bring it back in one piece when I'm done."

"No."

"Sharing is caring."

He kept his frown firm, "Well I don't share."

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him, "Well if we are going to be friends you're going to learn to."

Ray narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Felicity who seemed very determined. "Why not get lunch at the café a floor down?"

Felicity was about to lie to him, but she remembered they were friends now, she looked down at her feet and whispered guilty, "Oliver."

Though she looked away from his eyes she could tell he was still examining her. After a few seconds Ray sighed before reluctantly handing her his keys,

"…Fine. And Smoak, I promise if I see a scratch on my car…"

Felicity was already out of the room before he finished his sentence.

"Women." Ray muttered shaking his head as he went back to typing on his laptop.

'''''''''''''''''''''

Oliver made his way at the island table in Big Belly Burgers where his friends were sitting. As he sat down next to Diggle who was chatting with Roy, he noticed in surprise to see Sara attentively texting on her phone. He arched his brow, Sara never texted unless it was important.

"So, what are we going to do about Randal?" Roy asked before popping a fry in his mouth.

Diggle sipped from his soda, and contemplated while Sara pursed her lips.

"You said Ray canceled the contract between them right Diggle?" Sara asked.

Diggle rubbed his hands, "But whatever Ray had, I doubt Randal will let it slide that easily."

Oliver nodded, "You're right. Randal will go after him soon. We just have to wait and strike."

Roy shook his head, "You mean basically use Ray as bait?"

Oliver rolled his eyes, he couldn't help but feel a bit happy about the plan. Ray needed a little roughening up… even if he was innocent.

A waitress came to get Oliver's order, "What would you like sir?"

"Chili cheese fries with jalepenos and a coke please" Oliver answered.

Diggle grinned, "You know the last time you ate that you were having girl problems."

Oliver glared at Roy who was snickering with Sara, "Can't a guy have some food in peace?"

Sara glanced at Diggle who was thinking the same thing as her, "Ollie I know that look. You seemed pretty eager with the idea of using Ray to get Randal."

Oliver frowned at his friends who were now all laughing at him, "Remind me to never eat with you guys for lunch again."

"You guys seem to be having fun."

Oliver's heart skipped, he recognized Felicity's voice behind him, he refused to turn around to face her.

"Hey Felicity," Diggle said with a wide grin as he scooted for her to sit next to him.

"Wait a minute how did you get here without your car?" Roy asked.

Felicity took a fry off Diggle's plate as she waited for her order, "Ray let me use his."

"Oh la la," Sara sang.

"I have to go guys." Oliver said while standing up. Felicity looked away. Sara and Diggle stood up and blocked him, "No." they both said.

Oliver sighed, knowing they weren't going to budge he sat back down. He glared at Felicity before sitting down.

"So, how's everyone doing today." Felicity said trying to ease the tension she created.

After an awkward moment of silence Roy spoke up, "Sin and I almost got arrested today…"

While Roy explained his fascinating tale, Felicity couldn't concentrate. She was too busy staring at Oliver who was looking at everything and everyone but her.

After Roy finished his story everyone quietly ate their food, "Well. Isn't anyone going to talk?"

"Roy's right," Felicity said narrowing her eyes at Oliver, "Let's talk about the elephant in the room. Maybe if someone hadn't been so rash yesterday we wouldn't be in this predicament."

Oliver frowned and looked at Felicity, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you should have listened to Felicity before being an idiot." Sara said rolling her eyes.

"Maybe Felicity should have told the team what her and Ray were up to in the first place." Oliver said growling back at Sara.

"It wasn't my secret to tell Oliver." Felicity said firmly.

"Right, but you were perfectly fine telling him I'm the Arrow."

Felicity shook her head, "All Ray knows is I work with the Arrow. I didn't tell him anything other than that so stop whining."

Oliver scowled, "Sorry if I don't eat comfortably with people I can't trust anymore."

"Says the guy who threatens people with arrows." Felicity muttered.

"Hey! I do that to you know." Roy said indignantly.

"Roy this isn't about you." Sara said.

Diggle looked at all his teammates in disapproval, "Guys…Guys… guys!"

Diggle frowned as all their voices overlapped each other.

"Will you all shut up!" Diggle said slamming the table.

Two people in the far corner of the restaurant looked towards the them, thankfully there weren't a lot of people.

Felicity's face went red, "Sorry."

After people turned back to their tables Diggle continued, "This isn't going to work, avoiding, arguing and pointing fingers. We are a team."

Felicity sighed, "As I was trying to say before I was interrupted,"

She brought out her tablet and put it in the middle of the table for the team to see. "Ray and I are working on an atomic device suit. He was secretive because it couldn't get in the wrong hands. He started it long before I met him, when he was married—"

Oliver frowned, "We don't need to know Ray's personal life Felicity."

Felicity crossed her arms, "Will you let me talk? Anyway, Ray's wife was diagnosed with the Creutzfeldt-jakob disease, it was terminal so there was nothing the doctors could do except predict when she would die. Ray was a scientist at the time and he was working on a device that could theoretically shrink humans. Meaning with the device you could most likely shrink to the size of an atom and pause, stop or even heal most terminal dieases."

"Woah." Roy said.

Felicity nodded as she showed them the animation Ray did when he told her first. "But sadly his wife died before he could even find the right material for it."

Oliver now looked at Felicity who was now unhappy, that was one of the things he admired about her, even if something wasn't her loss she still felt it.

Felicity sighed and continued, "Most of the equipment Ray needed was expensive, and that's where Randal came in. Except Ray knew nothing about Randal's 'activities', he even told me Randal didn't seem like an assassin because he mentioned something about Randal having wife and kids."

Sara nodded gravely, "That's part of the reason why Randal is dangerous. You'd never expect someone like him to be a killer."

"Now you guys know why Ray and I needed the germanium, what are we going to do now about Randal?" Felicity asked.

Sara, Roy and Diggle glanced at each other as Oliver looked away sheepishly.

Felicity looked at her teammates who seemed to be keeping something from her. "I know that look on your faces what are you guys planning?"

Diggle stood up, "Uh…Sorry guys, this was fun but I have to go. Lyla needs me to drop her off at the doctor's."

Roy stood up after Diggle, "…and I have to go…do stuff…"

Felicity frowned, "What stuff."

Sara stood up quickly with Roy, "We need to pick up Sin… from the Glades remember?"

Roy shook his head a little too eagerly, "Yeah."

Sara observed Oliver and Felicity who were looking in opposite directions. "You two have fun."

Oliver scowled as all they left him with Felicity. She sat closer to him and placed her hand on his, "We need to talk Oliver."

Oliver looked away from her prying eyes, "What is Ray too busy for you? WYou two seem close enough that you were perfectly fine about telling him about the Arrow."

She sighed, "Oliver…I needed to tell him something. It was affecting my work schedule. And for a while all my bruises from the missions were making Ray believe you were hitting me."

"I technically did."

"How many times do I have to tell you that wasn't you Oliver. Plus he needed my help."

Oliver, "But why does he need you?"

Felicity smiled, "I know you don't like him Oliver, but he can actually be pretty sweet when he wants to be. You'd be surprised about how similar you and Ray are Oliver. Just like you, he doesn't trust people easily. His wife's death is his motivation to finish the suit, that's not something he tells people easily. And he trusts me."

"I need you too you know." He muttered.

"I know." Felicity smiled, "You're jealous."

"No."

Oliver sighed as he tried to ignore the tingling from her fingers on his.

She leaned in closer, "Then why were you so rash yesterday?"

Oliver looked into her eyes that were the color of unpolished blue kyanite with flecks of navy.

"Because I—"

Oliver stopped himself before he said anymore. Images from his nightmare came back, remembering his other life as the Arrow that he lives. He knew he couldn't tell her he loved her.

"Because what Oliver?" Felicity said excitedly knowing what he was about to say. Oliver's phone rang, he noticed it was Quentin; he pressed his voice changer app and answered the phone.

"Captain Lance?"

"Arrow. Count Vertigo infected another politician—"

"I'm on my way," Oliver said before cutting the line.

She watched his face turn cold, "Oliver?"

"I need to go. Bye Felicity." He let go of her hand and walked away as if nothing happened.

Sorry it took so long to post. Usually when I don't post regularly I make sure to make the chapter longer! Thank you for the wonderful reviews, feel free to comment as always. The next chappy will be up soon. :)