Author's note: last update for now... more to come soon... in love with this story and hope are too
Disclosure: I own nothing of Arrow but I wish I did
Felicity felt as if the air was charged. She was excited to sign the papers and get the changes started. It meant they were one step closer to leaving for their vacation but also closer to a happy ending she had only allowed herself to dream of and never hope for. She knew that hoping for it could open her heart up to a hurt that would never be mended. She barely recovered from Oliver giving up on them, she was still finding that she was holding back with him even now. Believing that she would learn to lose that hesitation in terms of him, she just worried that he would not stay around and wait her out this time. Oliver had reassured her several times that he was all in this time and with everyday and touch, she was starting to feel it sink in that this will be her life. A smile crossed her face as she leaned further into Oliver's arm.
Oliver felt her shift and looked down at her. "You okay?"
"Yep. Just really happy."
A sweet smile graced his face and he rubbed his nose through her hair and placed a delicate kiss there. "Good. Me too. More than I have been in... actually I have never been this happy." Felicity tightened her grip on his arm and smiled broader, her dimples causing her lips to curl elegantly.
"Man, you two are going to give me a cavity. I say we make a couple rules on the whole PDA thing." Thea groaned. They were all riding up in the elevator together to meet with Mr. Carter.
"I second that." Diggle snickered behind them. Walter stifled a laugh as Oliver rolled his eyes and Felicity blushed.
"Fine! We will try to keep it a bit more subdued in public." Oliver huffed then grinned as he slipped his lips to by right by Felicity's ear. "Try being that keyword." Felicity giggled at his playful and seductive tone.
The elevator doors opened to their destination and they all disembarked. Thea and Walter followed the couple through the office space as Jerry directed them to the conference room. Diggle was at the rear of the small party, a watchful eye scanning as he always had done.
The couple was still giggling over the last comment when they entered the room. Mr. Carter had been seated in a nearby chair; leaving the rest of the table open for his guests. "Miss Smoak. Mr. Queen. I hope you are doing well." He greeted and shook their hands as they grinned at him.
"We are Mr. Carter, thank you. Please allow me to introduce Mr. Walter Steele and my sister, Thea Queen." Oliver waved his hand through the air to indicate to each person.
"Pleasure to me you both." Mr. Carter replied as he shook their hands as well. Each member took a seat and he started to present each of them with folders full of paperwork. "Well I thought we would do this in a certain order, if that is alright?"
"The table is all yours, Mr. Carter." Felicity smiled at him in an form to assure him to continue.
"Great. So this first is the transfer of ownership contract. Each states the correct percentage and assets of the company for each person. Each will need to be signed by you Felicity once they have each signed theirs."
"That is fine." Felicity watched as Thea and Oliver went ahead and signed as they scanned over it. Walter read through his quickly and seeing that everything was in order, he signed it was well. Then Mr. Carter gathered them and handed them all to Felicity sign, which she did quickly as well.
He collected the folders up again and set them aside, intent of have official copies of everything made for each person. "Next, we have the name change paperwork. It just states that all assets and properties owned by Palmer Technologies Starling City will now be under ownership of Queen Incorporated and that the formal name will change at start of business tomorrow. Again everyone will need to sign. Miss Queen if you would like to start. Just sign and date where indicated." Slowly each person glanced over the form then signed it. The final person to sign it was Oliver, who smiled at Felicity as he did. He closed and passed the folder back to Mr. Carter, who placed it with the others.
"Okay now the final bit. Each of these folders have your employment contracts in them. Mr. Steele yours goes over the terms of your temporary CEO position and the time frame of 6 months starting Monday. Mr. Queen yours states that after the 6 months period, you will take over as permanent CEO of Queen Inc. It also states that you will report to the company 2 months prior to fulfill an internship under Mr. Steele to prepare to take over the CEO position." The two men started to read over the contracts before them. "And finally Miss Smoak, yours states all terms of your Head of Applied Sciences position. It includes benefits and pay level. It also states that you will help hire a replacement VP to be in charge of the department in your absence for the next 4 months. I wanted to make sure all term benefits and terms met your liking so I went ahead and sent it to you."
Felicity turned to Jerry who had been holding onto the folder since she finished reading it in the car on the ride here. He handed it over to her and she signed it. "Yes Mr. Carter, thank you for that. I was able to read over it and I must say you are very thorough. These are incredibly well done. You did a lot of impeccable work in a short timeframe. I see why Ray brought you into the company. I hope you are considering staying on with us here."
"If it would be okay with you all Miss Smoak, I would like that very much. I have enjoyed my time here in Starling this last year and I am excited to see what you all do with the company."
"I think I speak for all of us when I say it would be our pleasure to have such a hard, passionate and devoted worker with us, Mr. Carter. You have been a great help with this entire process. We will need more of your dedication and help with projects to come." Walter had signed his contract and stood to shake his hand. He then watched as Thea stood and shook his hand as she thanked him as well. The two left the room and waited for the couple next to Diggle.
"If there is anything you two need and are concerned about, don't hesitate to call me. I will always be willing to help." Mr. Carter shook Felicity's hand as he took her signed contract from her and placed it with the rest.
"We will see you at the meeting in the morning correct?"
"Of course. Give up the chance to watch you all put Mr. Reynolds in his place; I wouldn't miss that for the world."
"Is he difficult to work with?" Oliver was curious as to why so many people were having issues with this one board member and was anxious to meet him. Mr. Reynolds had joined the board after the issues with Isabel and Oliver had only briefly meet him the one time before the meeting to decide the fate of the company last summer.
Mr. Carter began to clean up while answering. "I wouldn't say that as much as... precise. He likes things to be a certain way and done to his standards. If not, you hear about it instantly. Even if there is no way to meet his demands, he expects you to figure it out on your own and still meet his deadline. He is the only one I dread to continue to work with." Mr. Carter looked at to see the expressions on both Oliver's and Felicity's faces. Believing he had crossed a line, he stated, "Not that I like to speak poorly of anyone here at Palmer Tech. I mean Queen Inc. That is going to take some getting used to." He chuckled nervously.
"First of, always feel you can speak freely in front both Felicity and myself. We need straight forward, honesty around us to do a good job with this company. Secondly, I have a lot of things about Mr. Reynolds, both from you as well Felicity. If you haven't noticed, it takes a lot for Felicity to not like someone so when she was upset with her interaction with him a couple days ago I knew there was something there. You are just confirming it for me. And as far as the name thing, don't worry too much. There have been a lot of changes in just a few days for us as well so it will all take time to fall into place right but I know it will."
"Thank you Mr. Queen." Mr. Carter shook his hand again.
"Please call my Oliver. Soon we will be working together a lot so first names will be easier."
"Okay Oliver. It's Rick." He smiled at the taller man then turned to Felicity. "It was a pleasure to meet and help you with everything Miss Smoak."
"Felicity please and it was my pleasure. We will see you in the morning, Rick."
"I will have copies of everything for everyone."
"Sounds great. Now we have a family dinner to get to. See you tomorrow, Rick. Have a good night."
"You too!" Rick called from behind them as Oliver lead Felicity out of the conference room.
"We really need to look into Mr. Reynolds. Maybe Walter could help us with that."
"Thea too. We could even use the computers at the Foundry. I still have a few programs that could make it easy." Felicity offered. Oliver had his arm around her and his hand long on her back as they moved to the rest of their party.
Oliver stopped walking and turned her to look directly at her. "Only if I go with you and only to look into him. The team can go after him if need be. We are only behind the scenes for now. I want to eventually get to our vacation and I want us both safe and healthy when we do." He cupped her cheek and stared deep into her eyes. "Your safety means more to me than any justice or taking do any bad guy ever will. I can't lose you, Felicity. I think that is the one thing that will break me. Not the island. Not Merlyn, Slade or Ra's. Not losing my dad, my mom, or Tommy." His thumb skimmed across her cheekbone and along her lower lip. "You are the most important person in my world and always will be. Promise me no risky actions. You will stay safe."
"I was never the one who would go up against bad guys dressed in green leather and shooting arrows at them while they used guns and bombs. Do you know how scary it was every night watching you walk up the stairs and not knowing if you would be coming back down them. I swear I would hold my breath from when you left until I saw you come back down the at the end of the night."
"I am so sorry, Felicity. I never thought about what it would do to..."
"Me? Those that loved you? If you took a stupid and reckless chance and didn't survive. Oliver we all knew what the risks were. I knew them and accepted them. I just didn't like them. When you were gone after Christmas and Malcolm told us you were dead, I had no idea how I was going tell Thea. I just hope I never have to."
"I promise no more risks."
"Oliver, if you go back to that you are going to have to take risks. It's part of the job. I just want you to slow down and think things through a bit more. Discuss your plans with us, or at least me, so we can plan for anything that could come up. We may not be able to plan for everything or stop it from happening but at least we would not be scrambling afterwards."
"Deal." Oliver kiss her forehead like he was has and she could feel all his love and support in the brief touch. "I love you, Felicity and I am so grateful everyday that you saw through my lies and still trusted me."
"Well they were completely ridiculous. I mean you going to a coffee house in a bad neighborhood? Or my all time favorite a syringe full of a sports drink because you had a syringe available but not a bottle."
"Hey! I can't help if my brain shuts down around you. Maybe it is your fault I can't lie to you." Oliver twisted his arm around her again and started to walked them to rejoin the rest of the group.
"Mine! How?"
"Because when I'm around you you distract me so much with other thoughts that my brain can think straight and I tell terrible lies."
"Smooth mister but I am not buying it." They broke out laughing as they moved up to Walter, Thea and Diggle. Moments later the small group moved back into the elevator and headed to the mansion for a quiet evening in and a home cooked meal.