Author's Note: First, I would like to thank everyone for the well wishes and the positive energy being sent my way. I'm still in the middle of this particular health crisis but there's a surgery on the table that is hopefully going to change that. Thanks so very much for all of your kind thoughts.
Second, I want to thank you guys for being patient and sticking with this story. I can't even begin to express how much I adore each and every one of you for supporting me and this fic.
"Oliver, please." Felicity was edging past exasperated, sliding quickly into thoroughly annoyed. "Try to be reasonable."
"This isn't an unreasonable request, Felicity." he insisted, adjusting his tie in the mirror of his executive bathroom.
Felicity cut her eyes sideways to the handsome latino man standing stoically with his back to the wall of windows, his hands clasped in front of his body. From her position behind his desk Felicity could clearly see the tight set of Oliver's shoulders as he straightened his jacket, popping a button through its hole.
"A full-time bodyguard doesn't seem unreasonable to you?" she called, rubbing her forehead to try and ease the exasperation building in her mind.
"Why?" Oliver called back. "I have one."
"Right, but you get Diggle. No offense, Javier." She added as an aside to the bodyguard. "Besides, whoever took a circular saw to the axle of the SUV managed to do it when I had two bodyguards and an A.R.G.U.S agent with me."
Oliver came out of the bathroom pulling the door shut behind him as he made his way to his desk. He leaned back against it, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his navy blue slacks. "You walking around unprotected is an unnecessary risk."
"What happened to you not making decisions for me and trusting me to not get myself into trouble?" Felicity challenged.
"That was before we knew someone was actively trying to hurt you." Oliver raised a brow at her, daring her to argue.
And, of course she did.
"We don't know for sure that they were trying to get to me." Felicity pointed out. "For all we know they had a bone to pick with Derek or Rayner."
"Felicity."
Damn him and his ability to make her name sound like an entire sentence. A reprimand, at that.
"Fine. Odds are they were after me. Still, the point stands! Two guards and an A.R.G.U.S agent, Oliver."
"Can you please just do this? For me?" Oliver asked softly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
Felicity growled, slamming her eyes shut. "Don't try and use charm on me, Queen." she scolded, her tone lacking any real heat.
"I'm willing to use any means necessary if it means keeping you safe." He rubbed his thumb along the shell of her ear, scattering her thoughts in the process.
Leena chose that moment to sweep into his office. "Mr Queen, your 10 o'clock is waiting in the conference room." she informed him, in the sickly sweet voice that graed on Felicity's every nerve.
"Thank you, Leena." Oliver said over his shoulder, his eyes not leaving Felicity's face. "I'll be right there."
"Will you need me?" she asked. "To take notes?"
"Miss Smoak will be joining me for this meeting." Oliver informed her.
Slightly deflated, Leena nodded and left the office.
"I bet you she plots my murder on her lunch break." Felicity muttered snarkily.
Oliver chuckled, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. "All the more reason for you to have your own bodyguard."
"Speaking of bodyguards..." Felicity glanced at Javier. "Where's John?"
"He'll be here soon. Lyla had a doctors appointment." Oliver explained, leading her out of the office and toward the conference room with Javier falling in silently behind them.
Felicity settled into a chair at Oliver's right side, pulling out her tablet to take notes while he had his meeting with one of QC's top investors. She listened intently, trying to ignore Javier, who stood stock still behind her with his back against the wall. She didn't know how Oliver did it, having someone right beside you all day, every day. Of course, like she'd mentioned, Oliver got John. It made it much easier to be shadowed by someone when they were your best friend. That she could have dealt with, having Digg or Oliver following her every movement with hawk-like precision. She could work under the careful observation of Roy or Thea, as well. But, a complete stranger tracking her every move? That could prove distracting.
Felicity's phone suddenly chimed, announcing an email from Applied Sciences requesting her expertise as soon as possible. She silenced it quickly, tucking it back into the pocket of her dress and rededicating her attention to the meeting taking place before her. Not three minutes later, Leena was tapping lightly on the glass door of the conference room, poking her head in when Oliver indicated she should enter.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Queen." she apologized, her eyes sliding toward Felicity. "But, Miss Smoak has an urgent call on line four."
"Leena, would you mind finishing up here?" Felicity asked as she rose from her seat. Oliver shot her a quizzical look and she offered a brief explanation. "There's an emergency that needs my immediate attention."
Oliver nodded, though his eyes remained cautious as Leena slid into Felicity's vacated chair. Without another word Felicity quickly made her way back to her desk with Javier trailing along behind her.
"This is Felicity Smoak." she said when she'd lifted the phone receiver to her ear.
"Felicity, it's Charlie." Came the gruff response. "My system crashed again. Are you available?"
"Yes, I'll be right there." she assured him.
She hung up the phone, already turning on her heel and dashing for the elevator. As she and Javier stepped into the empty car her brows knit together in thought. Two crashes in two days was nearly impossible. Especially because she had personally gone through Charlie's system, adding safety nets and patches where they were needed, as well as updating his security and the system in general.
There had to have been something she'd missed when she'd gone through it the previous day. Felicity ran through a checklist in her mind as the elevator descended, trying to figure out what she could have overlooked.
Engrossed in combing through a particular set of code, Felicity didn't notice when Oliver stepped into the server room. Applied Sciences had their own server, separate from the main server in QC's IT department. Thankfully, that meant that whatever kept crashing Charie's system had no effect on QC as a whole. The server room of the Applied Sciences building was where she'd been holed up for the last eight hours, frustration mounting with every passing hour.
Oliver looked her over, his eyes taking in the tired shadows on her pretty face, the disheveled state of her hair from her running her hands through it in frustration. Her eyes were bloodshot behind her glasses from staring at the computer screen for so many hours. He nodded to Javier, who was standing just inside the doorway, dismissing him for the evening. With a nod of thanks Javier left the office, pulling the door shut as he went.
Felicity didn't even look up at the sound of the door clicking closed. Oliver crossed the room, clearing his throat gently. Still, her eyes remained glued to the screen, her attention wholly absorbed in her task.
Coming around the desk, Oliver reached out to touch her shoulder. "Hey, it's just me." he soothed, when she jumped.
"Christ!" She clutched a hand to her chest. "You scared me."
"Felicity, a marching band could have snuck up on you just now." Oliver informed her. "It's a good thing I insisted you have a guard."
Felicity glanced around the office. "Where is Javier?"
"I sent him home for the night." Oliver told her. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Shaking her head, Felicity glanced at the clock on the desk. "That can't be right." She frowned, pulling out her phone to verify it.
"It is." Oliver promised.
"How is it almost 8 o'clock?" Felicity asked, stunned.
"Time flies when you're having fun." Oliver quipped, squeezing her shoulder. "Are you ready to call it a night?"
"Not nearly." Felicity sighed, her exhaustion palpable
"The system is still down?" he asked, genuinely surprised.
"No, it's up and running." She showed him on the screen. "I added a firewall, similar to the one I use at the Foundry, too. I still can't figure out why it keeps crashing in the first place."
"Well, you're not going to be able to figure it out if you're asleep on this desk. Come on." He stepped back for her to push her chair out. "Let me take you home."
"I hate to leave not having figured this out yet." she groused, reluctantly shoving herself away from the desk and rising from the chair. She let Oliver help her shrug into her jacket and guide her from the office. Stopping to lock the door behind them, Felicity stifled a yawn.
Oliver looped an arm around her waist, guiding her through the empty hallway toward the front doors. "Digg already left but Lyla picked him up. So, the Bentley is in the garage." he informed her when she gave him a questioning look as he led her across the court yard.
"Did you eat?" Felicity asked, leaning her head sleepily against his shoulder as they walked.
"Not since lunch. I'll guess you haven't eaten since breakfast?"
"You'd guess correctly. I've had about four pots of coffee, though." She yawned again, this one cracking her jaw.
"Because that's healthy." Oliver shook his head, opening the doors to the QC lobby and ushering her inside. "I'm sure Raisa left something out for us. You'll eat when we get home."
"No, I'll sleep when we get home." she argued drowsily as they stepped into the waiting elevator. "I can eat in the morning."
"Which one of us is supposed to be the stubborn pain in the ass, again?" He smirked, letting Felicity lean heavily into his side in the empty elevator car.
"You." She grinned softly, letting one of her arms snake around his waist beneath his jacket.
"I think you may be projecting a little, Miss Smoak." he teased as the doors slid open and they stepped into the garage. Oliver led her towards the car, pressing the button on the key-fob to unlock the doors.
Felicity was still grinning softly as she sank into the leather seat. Oliver closed her door before making his way around to the driver's side. As he made to open the driver's side door the lock clicked down. Felicity glanced through the window to find Oliver rolling his eyes.
"Very funny." He mouthed, hitting the unlock button once more.
The door unlocked but the lever quickly shot back down. Felicity's brows furrowed, mirroring Oliver's expression. In the next beat the engine purred to life and a hissing sound filled the car. Oliver banged on the window until Felicity looked back to him, her eyes having drifted to the dashboard at the sound of the engine turning over.
"Get out of the car!" he shouted, his eyes darting to the backseat even as he pulled on the door handle.
Felicity followed his panicked eyes, her heart sinking at the sight of a thick cloud filling the car, heavy and dense. The fog curled around the console of the car and Felicity yanked on the handle of her door, trying to force it open as Oliver pulled from the outside. She jammed her shoulder against the door, pulling on the handle desperately. The cloud filled the bottom of the car, quickly rising.
Shifting in her seat, Felicity pushed herself across the console so that she could fully extend her legs. She drew her knee to her chest and then kicked out, the heel of her pump hitting the window just off center. She coughed and sputtered, the smoke-like substance reaching her nose. It left a thick, cloyingly sweet taste in the back of her throat as it swamped her senses. She felt lightheaded, her head swimming as she buried her mouth and nose in the crook of her elbow buying herself a few more seconds. Dragging her knee back to her chest she kicked out with as much force as she could muster, putting the entirety of her body weight behind the kick. Her heel landed dead center and the window shattered.
She launched herself for the opening just as Oliver's arms came through, hooking under her arms and dragging her out into the clear night air. She coughed roughly, her arms banded tightly around his neck as he hauled her away from the car.
"Felicity, talk to me!" he begged urgently, setting her on her feet, his hand coming up to cup the side of her neck.
"I'm okay." she assured him between coughs. "I'm alright."
Oliver enveloped her in in his arms hugging her tightly to his chest, squeezing his eyes shut against the rush of relief that surged through him. He held her for what felt like the longest hour of his life but in reality could only have been minutes. He realized he could hear sirens in the distance which meant the security cameras had caught every moment of the ordeal. As the thought registered a burly security guard came barreling out of the stairwell, his hand on his gun holster, his gaze scanning the area. His eyes widened when they landed on the car with one broken window and a smokey substance billowing through the opening.
"Are you alright, Mr. Queen?" the fair haired man asked, approaching them cautiously.
"We're fine, Marc." Oliver told him, taking his name from his I.D badge. "Could you please get Miss Smoak a bottle of water?"
Marc nodded sharply, turned on his heel and disappeared back into the stairwell.
Oliver looked down at Felicity, his eyes taking in every detail of her face as she continued to cough. She was shaking delicately from the adrenaline rush, her eyes wide and more alert than they'd been when he'd led her from the server room. "Are you sure you're alright?" he pressed, his thumb caressing the curve of her jaw.
"A bit rattled, but other than that I'm fine." she promised, swallowing thickly against the sugar-laced burn in her throat. "I'm beginning to detest cars as a whole, though." She frowned.
Before Oliver could respond a pair of SCPD cruisers and an emergency response truck screamed around the corner screeching to a halt a few feet away, immediately following Detective Lance in his midnight blue sedan.
"Somehow, I knew you'd be involved." Lance shook his head as he stepped out of his car coming toward the couple. His eyes skirted to the Bentley as he surveyed the scene.
"I'm thinking of changing my name to Danger Magnet." Felicity told him hoarsely.
"Are you alright?" Lance returned his attention to her, his eyes softening.
She nodded. "I've had worse days."
A female paramedic approached them, her eyes sharp and assessing. "Miss, I need to look you over."
Felicity nodded again, tugging Oliver with her to the back of the ambulance. She sat on the bumper with Oliver's hand clasped firmly in hers while the medic checked her vitals. Marc, the security guard, returned then, a bottle of water in hand. Felicity took it, thanking him before a uniformed officer whisked him aside to question him.
"You want to tell me what happened here?" Lance glanced at Oliver, as the rescue squad got to work on the car and the medic slipped an oxygen mask over Felicity's nose and mouth.
Oliver did his best to explain the chain of events, beginning with Diggle dropping the car off that afternoon and ending with why the Bentley now had a broken window.
When he finished, Lance nodded. "You broke the window?" he asked, his eyes back on Felicity.
"With my shoe." She grinned.
"That a girl." Lance smiled, pride clear in his tone.
"Okay, sweetheart." The paramedic patted her shoulder gently. "You're good to go. If you feel 'off' at all, don't hesitate to go to the emergency room, okay?"
Felicity nodded her understanding, offering a thankful smile as she stood wrapping her arm around Oliver's waist and letting him tuck her to his side.
A member of the rescue squad came over, giving Lance the all clear to approach the car. "Whatever this is, it's not toxic." he informed them. "We found a dispersal valve hidden under the backseat with residue on it. I collected a sample and sent it out for identification."
"Thank you, Jordan." Lance shook the man's hand, who nodded and went back to the truck he arrived in. With an apologetic frown Lance met Felicity's eye. "Looks like I'm going to need another statement from you."