Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh... finally a new chappy. Sorry this took so long! I would suggest if you forgot a lot of what happned you should reread the past chapters x

Good news, I almost finished typing up TDOAFO so expect fast updates. I will also be posting a spin off right after ;) (I explain more about this at the end)

Song to put on repeat: Wait by M83

Oliver calmly set his phone on the table. He was grateful Felicity's honesty in confirming Thea was the other archer.

My baby sister's an archer.

He frowned, Thea wasn't a baby anymore. She was a grown woman allowed to make her own decisions. He let out a deep breath. He didn't know how he would have taken the news if Felicity hadn't told him. He knew it was probably the team's idea to keep this secret from him for his "own good."

But the question running through his mind now was if Thea was the female archer… who was the male one? Although his memory was foggy from the events that had occurred on the rooftop, he did remember that Thea and the male archer saved him from Count Vertigo. But why? The male archer's deep voice looped in his head.

"I have business with the Arrow."

He needed to find out why the archer would need his help. Though the male archer disguised his voice, Oliver recalled it had a familiar intonation.

Suddenly his mind flashed to the day his mother died.

Light rain pelted the windows to the car they were driving in. The air was strangely tense from the different emotions of the three Queens. Thea's lips were pressed in a straight frown due to her anger as Oliver guiltily avoided her gaze. As he looked away he remembered how his mother's hands stroked her pearl necklace nervously….

In fact, why was his mom so nervous?

As much as he hated dwelling on the memory of Moria, he remembered his mom was trying to tell him something. Something important. He closed his eyes to think while his mind probed meticulous details of the dreadful day.

His mother shook her head in guilt as Thea had pointed out that the family was falling apart from the lies they kept from her.

"…If the truth were easy for me, we wouldn't be in this situation…but… to start… there's something about Malcom that you and Oliver need to know...Malcom…"

Malcom?

Why would his mom mention Malcom at a time like that? Unless…

His eyes jolted open.

Malcom Merlyn was alive. That's what Moria was trying to tell him.

But how? He clenched his fists in anger, how could he not have figured it out till now? He was more than a hundred percent sure that he had killed Malcom, he watched him die at his feet. That's why Malcom's body had never been found. That's why Merlyn used the Count to draw him out on his old business building.

Malcom Merlyn the villainous, psychopathic mass murderer was still alive…with his innocent sister Thea.

Oliver winced as he stood up, he needed to track down where Malcom was before the team knew where he was going. The thought of Malcom taking Thea under his wing made him furious. He was going to drive through the whole of Starling if he had to track down where Malcom was.

He ignored the prickling of pain from his leg where his bullet wound was healing. While briskly walking towards his Arrow mannequin to get his costume, a small reflection of his face bounced off the glass casing. His blue eyes stared back at him. He frowned as he took off his suit from the mannequin, he didn't even know who he was at this point anymore. Oliver Queen or the Arrow?

After gearing up, he sat down at Felicity's computer and pressed the power button to turn it on. Hopefully he'd be able find Malcom using into the security camera surveillance app Felicity developed to track down anomalies.

Before opening a file he noticed Felicity's screen background. It was a selfie of Ray and Felicity staring back at him. He chuckled softly at Felicity who was squinting at the camera since she didn't have her glasses, as she flashed her pearly sets next to Ray who firmly frowned at the camera.

Before, he wasn't as worried, he predicted that the two wouldn't last long, after all they were very different people. He remembered how often Ray and Felicity clashed at the office, but now, they were getting more serious. He sighed, why couldn't he just be happy for her, this is what he wanted right? For Felicity to be happy. But for some reason, Oliver couldn't help but feel worried about Felicity's relationship with Ray…

The familiar sound of heels interrupted his train of thought.

"I had a feeling you'd be here."

Oliver sighed and glanced at her briefly before looking back at the computer screen, "Malcom has my sister Felicity, and if you're here to stop me—"

He felt a calm hand on his shoulder.

"I know. That's why I came to help."

Oliver resisted the feeling to touch her hand on his shoulder and raised his brow in surprise as he typed in Malcom's name into the database. "So you're not going to stop me from going after Malcom?"

He heard Felicity sigh, "I hate whenever I sound selfish, but, Thea needs you. If that what matters to you, I'm going to help you find her."

Oliver stopped typing and shook his head, "What about your date with Ray?"

Felicity closed her eyes, "One problem at a time, Oliver. I don't think I want to dwell on how mad he'd be with me right now." She winced at the thought, "Probably flaming mad."

Oliver chuckled at her babbling, "Felicity."

Felicity blinked, "What?"

"Thank you."

She nodded, "No problem. Now, mind if I kick you off my computer?" She gestured at her monitor, "It kills me seeing how slow you are at trying to program that."

Oliver stood up and watched Felicity type away like a pianist at work.

"You got to cut me some slack, computer coding isn't as simple as shooting arrows," he said with a small smirk.

She raised her brow before going back to typing, "Oliver, usually this search would be a piece of cake. I would just use the surveillance cameras to identify Malcom's whereabouts, but considering everyone believes Malcom's dead, I can't find a logarithm match for his face."

"So now what?" Oliver asked with a firm frown.

She pursed her lips, "Malcom probably isn't lurking around at obvious places. I don't even know where we can start. Maybe…"

As Felicity talked on, Oliver observed Felicity intently. She was wearing a deep maroon dress and let her blonde hair down, neatly curling at the edges…

"Oliver, are you listening to me?"

"You look beautiful." He said politely while he stared at her still typing.

As red rose to her cheeks, Felicity was thankful her back was facing him, "Focus Oliver. Can you think or guess of any place Malcom might want to go to?"

Oliver shook his head, "No."

Felicity tapped her chin and turned from to her monitor to face him, "What about people? Anyone in Starling City that Malcom would want to visit."

After a minute of silence Felicity saw Oliver's frown deepen.

"I think so." He said slowly.

Felicity nodded, "Good. We have a start, who?"

"My mom."

Felicity blinked when she realized Oliver meant Moria's graveyard.

"Oh dear…And I thought my family was complicated" She said while pursuing her lips. She widened her eyes when she realized what she just said as Oliver arched his brow at her

"I-I didn't mean that in the sense that Malcom's your family or anything," She said rambling on. She shook her head with a smile, "Never mind."

''''''''

After driving to the graveyard, Oliver put his hood up and turned to Felicity. "I'm going to find him, you stay here, you've helped me enough."

She grabbed his arm, "Oliver, this is the exact reason the team didn't want to tell you about Thea. You've only just recovered from most of your injuries. I know you and Malcom are probably going to end up in a fight. Malcom almost killed you twice, let's not even dwell on the fact you won't fight at your full capacity because of your condition."

He gazed at her, "I've been through worse on the island Felicity. You know that."

She furrowed her brows, "I do. But Oliver, just let me come with you to make sure you're ok."

He shook his head, "Malcom is dangerous Felicity. I can't let him hurt you."

Felicity held his gaze; Oliver knew she could be just as stubborn as he was. A moment of silence passed between the two, neither backing down on their stance.

"Stay. Please." He said with urgent blue eyes.

Felicity closed her eyes and sighed before looking back up at him, "Fine, but remember I'm going to be here, so you can contact me on the comm if anything happens."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." He murmured before turning to leave.

"Be careful Oliver." She said rubbing her hands nervously. She saw him glance at her with a firm nod before leaving.

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

The Starling Graveyard was too familiar; he often came to pay respects to his past loved ones. He crouched down in front of his mother's graveyard and stared at the tomb.

"Hey mom." He whispered with a trembling exhaled breath. As Oliver gave the tombstone a final pat he heard his comm beep on.

Oliver, my tracking device doesn't detect anyone yet.

"He'll come." Oliver said firmly.

After a moment of silence the comm clicked on again,

You miss her… don't you?

Oliver heard Felicity gulp.

Your mom I mean.

He smiled sadly; it touched him that Felicity noticed. He always believed as the Arrow, he didn't have the luxury to grieve, not when he had other people to lead.

"Yes. I do."

Oliver was surprised how easy it was to tell her the truth.

"That's weird."

Oliver furrowed his brows, "What's weird Felicity?"

"… I think my tracker detects someone."

He stood up from his crouched position, "Where?"

"I'm sorry Oliver I can't hear you.. there's static that's breaking up the comm sig—"

White noise immediately interrupted Felicity.

He frowned, "Felicity? Felicity? You there?"

The sound of footsteps sounded behind Oliver sounded.

"Your mother was a wonderful woman. I miss her too."

Oliver instinctively frowned and raised his bow to the person who spoke behind him. Lo and behold was Malcolm in his black archer outfit with a wilted rose in his hand. Oliver was almost surprised at the hint of vulnerability he heard in Malcolm voice.

"Malcolm." Oliver growled.

"Oliver." Malcolm replied with a haughty smirk as he walked in front of Moria's grave.

"Moria always had a determination about her that I always admired." Malcolm said wistfully ignoring Oliver's glare as he placed the single rose on the grave.

"Where's my sister?" Oliver commanded, while controlling his breathing.

"Oliver. Let me explain."

Oliver finger's clenched his bow harder as he battled every urge to hurt Malcom after all the havoc he had caused, "Where Malcom!"

Malcom raised his hands, "I'm not here to fight Oliver. I need your help."

Oliver almost laughed, "And why would I want to help you?"

Malcolm smirked, "You know why."

Oliver frowned and lowered his bow by an inch, "Thea?"

Malcolm continued once he knew he had Oliver's attention, "Your sister is more than fine. You see, while you were busy playing hero, I took her in. She needed someone who wouldn't keep secrets from her like you do."

"Shut up!" Oliver growled as he shot an arrow at Malcolm.

Malcom caught the arrow right before it hit his chest and threw his head back to laugh. "You can't defeat me."

"I did once, and I can do it again." Oliver said with a scowl.

Malcom smirked, "True, but you needed the help of Diggle to defeat me, I don't see him here. Although I did see your pretty blonde friend."

Oliver's eyes widened, when he realized the reason why there was static on the comm.

Malcom took Felicity.

Oliver saw Malcom point to a tree with Felicity tied to it.

"I had to bring her along in case you tried something."

"Leave Felicity out of this—" Oliver said raising his bow at Malcolm.

Malcom smiled, "Calm down Oliver, I didn't do anything to frighten her."

Felicity let out a nervous laugh, "I'm fine Oliver. Malcom isn't that scary." She paused before rambling on, "Well. Ignoring the fact he is a sociopathic murder and the guy who tied my up to this tree."

"That's it." Oliver growled as he pulled his bow, "I'm giving you five seconds to let her go before this enters your chest."

Malcolm chuckled, "Is that how you treat family now? With threats?"

"You aren't family, you're a killer." He replied with a snarl, he didn't trust Malcolm for a second.

"I wouldn't be so quick to judge if I were you Oliver." Malcolm said unphased by the arrow aimed at his forehead.

Felicity smirked, "Tell me about it, he threatened to kill my boyfriend once."

Malcolm glanced at Felicity and laughed, "She's a funny one."

Oliver narrowed his eyes at Felicity before he kept his bow in position at Malcolm.

"Also, if I remember correctly, the last time we fought it was you who killed me." Malcolm said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Then how did you survive." Oliver gritted.

A small smile flitted on Malcom's face, "Ah. That's a story for another day Oliver. But I think the real question on your mind is why I need your help."

"Explain."

"Long story short. Your mother, told Ra'as Al Ghul that I'm still alive. Ra'as has ordered my return to Nanda Parbat but I refused. Ra'as has a code of honor, so he's probably on his way to kill me. Personally."

Oliver almost laughed, "This is only convincing me why I should leave you to be killed."

Malcom wagged a finger, "I'm Thea's only connection. You wouldn't want her to lose her father again would you?"

Oliver frowned, "Father? You call brainwashing and turning Thea into a cold blooded fighter fatherly like?"

"One day, you'll thank me that your sister can defend herself when needed." Malcolm said calmly.

"Malcolm has a point. She almost beat Roy." Felicity blinked as the two stared at her, "Not that I support violence or anything. It's just cool."

"I know." Malcolm said with a proud smile.

"Cut to the chase Malcolm." Oliver gritted.

"I'll cut you a deal. You help me with Ra'as Al Ghul, and I'll let Thea have the choice of staying with you."

"I'm not going to enter a fight with the League of Assassins over your head."

"Then prepare to see Starling crumble. Because Ra'as won't just stop at me. He'll destroy everything in sight."

Felicity looked between the two men, "I hate to agree with Malcom but Thea isn't the only one at stake Oliver. Starling City will be the battleground for Ra'as Al Ghul if we don't stop him soon."

"Fine." Oliver said reluctantly. "If you want my help you have to let Felicity go first."

"Alright," Malcom raised his bow and shot at Felicity three times. Oliver's heart almost stopped as each of the arrows hit the bark to cut the ropes on Felicity.

Felicity blinked as the ropes dropped from her torso, if she moved a centimeter she'd be dead.

Oliver glared at Malcolm before walking to get Felicity.

"Are you hurt?" He murmured.

"I'm good. Scared to death but good." Felicity said into his chest as he hugged her. She let go of him and frowned at Malcolm, "You're even crazier than Count Vertigo."

Malcolm shrugged, "Strange? Yes. But not crazy. You see, in the League of Assassins we do that to prove trust."

"Trust? You could have killed her!" Oliver growled stepping protectively in front of her.

Malcolm shrugged, "But I didn't. I'm sorry for the scare Felicity, but did that to show Oliver to trust me."

"What does that have to do with almost killing me?" Felicity demanded.

"Felicity, if I wanted to kill you, I'd have done it long ago. We may have different methods of doing things, but I'm going to need to know you guys have my back."

Oliver stepped in front of Felicity, "I'll protect you Malcolm. But if we're going to work together, we're doing things my way."

"Fair enough." Malcolm said while turning to leave. "We'll continue this discussion tomorrow. Same place, same time. Feel free to bring your team along."

Oliver and Felicity stepped back as they watched Malcolm throw a gas bomb behind him.

"Where did he go?" Felicity whispered.

"I'm not sure." Oliver said with a frown.

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

Felicity shivered as they walked to her house, "Do you think we can trust Malcom?"

Oliver shook his head, "I don't know. But whether I like it or not, I need to protect him. He is Thea's father now."

Felicity smiled, "Look at you. Not resorting to killing anymore. A year ago you'd never have agreed to help him."

Oliver laughed, "Well, I've had help with that. So…thank you."

"No need to thank me Oliver." Felicity said while scrolling through her phone.

Oliver noticed her frowning. "Is something wrong?"

She sighed, "It's Ray, I tried calling him, he isn't picking up." She gave out a short laugh, "Yup. Probably still mad. I mean why wouldn't he be mad at me. I ditched him—"

Oliver put a hand on her shoulder, "You didn't ditch him Felicity. If you didn't come, I'd have never found Malcom."

"I know. But I still feel terrible." Felicity said while trying to call Ray again.

"Are you happy?"

She looked up from her phone, "What?"

Oliver took a deep breath, "Are you happy. With Ray."

Felicity frowned, "Why do you ask?"

Oliver sighed, "I-" Oliver stopped himself from saying anything else and put a fake smile, "I'm just making sure your happy."

Felicity frowned, "And you think Ray doesn't?"

Oliver sighed and looked away from her, "Felicity, I just don't want him to hurt your feelings."

Felicity shook her head and started walking away from him, "I'm sorry Oliver, but I'm not like you. I can't continue living my life alone. As complicated as Ray can be, he cares about me."

She turned around, "And I know what makes me happy. I was happy with you. And you decided to end things. That hurt me."

Oliver looked away, "Felicity—"

Felicity sighed while wiping the tear from her cheek, "I think you should go now."

Oliver looked down at her, "Goodnight Felicity."

"Night." She whispered.

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

The next day Felicity woke up an hour earlier so she could arrive at work on time. As Felicity entered Queens Consolidated she looked around. She hadn't been here for quite some time.

"Felicity!"

Felicity turned to see Cindy walking towards her. Felicity was shocked by the hug that Cindy gave Felicity, "It's a miracle you're back!"

Felicity laughed, "It's only been two weeks."

Cindy rolled her eyes, "Two weeks of hell you mean."

Felicity furrowed her brows, "What do you mean?"

Cindy shook her head, "Remember how strict Mr. Palmer was when he first came?"

Felicity nodded with a smile, "Trust me, I remember perfectly. He and I never got along that well."

"Well, just so you know honey, Mr. Palmer's worse now. And I hate to say it, but it's your fault!"

"Wait. What? Why?" Felicity asked in shock as they entered the elevator.

"Mr. Palmer's been pretty worked up about you and Oliver being gone, he had a lot of work to deal with. He even had to get a new assistant! Poor girl. She almost got fired."

"Oh dear." Felicity said guiltily.

"But that isn't the only reason why." Cindy lowered her voice, "Word around the office is you and Oliver are together now. Which is why you two have been gone for so long."

"Cindy!" Felicity exclaimed with a frown.

Cindy shrugged, "Calm down, I don't believe it either. But that's what people in the office think."

"Great." Felicity said as they walked towards Ray's office.

"Well, I got to go now." Cindy hugged Felicity again, "Good luck girl. You'll need it."

Felicity laughed, "Alright. But I think you're exaggerating things Cindy. Ray is always grumpy, with or without me."

"Just don't say I didn't warn you." Cindy said while flipping her braids off her shoulder.

Felicity rolled her eyes before she opened the door. As always, Ray had piles of paper neatly stacked on his desk with him writing away.

"Hey you." " Felicity said with a smile as she entered. "Miss me?"

Ray ignored her question by arching his brows before going back to writing.

Well. It could be worse.

Felicity looked around and noticed a young woman sitting at her desk where she usually worked at, must have been Ray's new assistant. Poor girl.

"I tried calling your line yesterday, but you never answered," she softly said while setting her bag down.

"I've been busy," he replied without looking up from his work.

Felicity stayed silent, she had a small feeling Ray was ignoring her. She noted that there were five mugs of coffee on the table. Well, six which included the coffee Ray was now drinking. Strange. The last time he did this in front of her was when he was grieving Jean.

Ray glanced at her and frowned when he noticed she was staring at him. He pointed to the pile of files "There's the work you've missed."

She nodded and bit her lip as she watched Ray continue writing.

"Ray. It's either you're super stressed, or you're just not in the mood for talking. I'm banking on the latter one."

"No personal issues in the office Smoak. You know that." Ray said dryly.

Felicity frowned, "Ray. We need to talk. Now."

Felicity heard the new assistant gasp behind her. The girl probably never heard anyone refer to 'Mr. Palmer' in such a stern tone.

Ray looked up with glare, "Since you're feeling extra talkative today, mind telling me where Queen has been for the past three weeks?"

Felicity blinked, she obviously couldn't tell Ray Oliver was the Arrow and was recovering from injuries. In fact, what could she tell him that wouldn't give Oliver away? Oliver might have been excellent at keeping his alter ego from the people of Starling, but Ray was smart, if Oliver wasn't careful Ray could actually figure out the connection.

"Smoak." Ray said with a frown, snapping Felicity out of her deep thought. She blinked rapidly and shook her head unsure of what to say. She saw Ray stand up and sigh as though he had expected her to lie to him.

"Sir, you have a meeting scheduled now." Said Ray's assistant.

Ray glanced at his assistant, "Greta, can you excuse Smoak and I for a minute."

Greta looked nervously between Felicity and Ray. One glancing away and the other glaring. "But sir what about your meeting?"

"Leave. Now Greata." Ray barked.

"Yes sir." Greta standing up and closing the door behind her.

Felicity bit her lip as she heard the door close, this wasn't good. "I thought you hated being late to meetings?" She asked shyly.

"Oliver. Queen. Where is he." He demanded ignoring her question.

"I-I don't know."

Ray frowned at how quickly she replied.

She looked down at her heels, suddenly feeling like she was becoming smaller. Even though she knew she was doing this to protect Oliver's identity, it sucked that she had to lie to Ray about it.

"As close as you and Oliver are, you're telling me he hasn't contacted you or vice versa. For three whole weeks?"

"Yes." Felicity blinked, "I mean, no. He hasn't contacted me. If that's what you mean."

"And you're telling me it's not a coincidence the exact amount of days you were busy taking care of the Arrow has been the time that Oliver's been gone?" Ray said narrowing his eyes at her.

"Yes?" She said in a high pitched tone almost as if she was asking a question.

Ray walked to the door and turned, "I'm dropping this conversation for now since you seem to be having trouble recollecting Oliver's whereabouts. But this talk isn't over Smoak. I know when you're lying. The truth will get out one way or another."

Felicity grabbed his hand, "Ray wait."

Ray turned.

"The reason why Oliver has been gone is because he's having… family issues."

At least it helped her to know that at least she was telling him some part of the truth. Thea and Malcom technically were family issues right?

Ray stared at Felicity, "So you do know where he's been for the past three weeks."

Felicity sighed, "Yes."

Ray's frown deepened, "Smoak, you know I'm smarter than that."

Felicity furrowed her brows, "What do you mean?"

She saw Ray look away while gently tugging his hand away, "Nothing. I have a meeting to go to."

"Shouldn't I come with you?"

"No." He said curtly before leaving. Felicity jumped at the slam of the door and murmured "Cindy wasn't kidding when she said Ray was grumpy."

Felicity heard a knock on the door, and saw Cindy pop her head in, "Is it safe to come in now?"

Felicity smiled sadly, "Ray went to a meeting."

Cindy arched her brow and laughed, "Without you?"

"I'm as surprised as you are."

Felicity watched as Cindy left a file on Ray's desk.

"Don't tell anyone I told you this, but I think Ray's classified meeting is probably about his trip."

Felicity frowned, "Trip? To where?"

Cindy shrugged, "I don't know. No one does. Besides you, Mr. Palmer never tells anyone his agendas. Word around the office is, he's going to be gone for 2 weeks."

"I wonder why he would keep this from me—" She was interrupted by Ray and Greta who entered the office.

"That was a quick meeting." Felicity said with her arms crossed.

Ray ignored her comment while walking to his desk, "Cindy, what are you doing in my office."

Cindy nervously looked at Felicity.

Felicity crossed her arms, "She was talking with me."

"Well you two aren't paid for talking, Cindy, get back to work."

"Yes sir." Cindy said before leaving the office.

Ray handed Greta a paper, "When Queen decides to come back from relaxing at the beach or who knows where, hand this to him and tell him he needs to take over my position for a while."

"Where's your trip to?" Felicity asked Ray.

"It's classified." Greta said timidly.

Felicity frowned at Ray, "Since when are Queen's Consolidated trips classified?"

"You might have known if you weren't so busy." Ray replied simply while still intently typing.

"Here's the weekly report sir." Greta said handing him another file.

Ray skimmed it and frowned, "No. Type it over. This time, format it my way."

"I'm going to have to finish it tomorrow." Greta said looking down anxiously.

Ray glared at her, "Why."

"Sorry Mr. Palmer, I have to pick my little sister from my grandma's."

"That isn't my problem." Ray said without looking up.

Felicity looked at Greta in pity. "Seriously Ray. Weekly reports takes hours to do."

"Then she should have done it right." He said firmly.

Felicity arched her brow, "Maybe you just weren't clear enough on how you wanted it formatted."

"Last time I checked, I'm the CEO."

"And last time I checked, it's not fair for you to lash out at your staff just because you're angry at me!" Felicity said firmly.

Ray scowled at Felicity, "If you are so picky on how I run things, you do it."

"Fine I will." She said taking the file from Ray before turning to Greta with a sympathetic smile, "Go home. I'll reformat it for you."

"Thank you." Greta whispered with a smile of appreciation before turning to leave.

"And Greta, arrive a second later than 9 again, and you're fired." Ray said bluntly. The Greta nervously nodded her head before scurrying out of the office.

"Could you take it easy on her? You're treating her as badly as me when I was your assistant," Felicity exclaimed at Ray's rude tone to Greta.

Ray looked up at her, "My criteria is set at a high bar, if you don't cut it, we have problems, simple."

Felicity shook her head and went to the desk to start typing.

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

When Felicity finished late in the night, she glanced at Ray who was reading his blue file. Interesting, she hadn't seen that file in a long time. She sighed, fighting with Ray wasn't fun at all. She went to sit next to him.

"Hey. You've been staring at that for hours," She said softly putting a hand on his shoulder, "Maybe we could grab some Starbucks after this."

Ray sighed, "I'm busy."

"It's hours past work time."

"I have a lot to do."

She blinked at his strict tone, not that she was surprised. She took her hand off his shoulder, "You know, you get angry at me for treating the Arrow for weeks yet you treat your work better than you treat people."

"Excuse me for being a perfectionist." Ray said dryly.

She blinked; Ray obviously needed space to cool off, "You know what. I think I'm going home for the night."

Ray frowned, "What about Greta's report?"

"You're the perfectionist. Do it yourself."

Ray rolled his eyes as she walked out the door. He had forgotten how complicated women could be at times. He ignored the strange feeling of déjà vu…this type of argument usually happened with Jean. Weird.

''''''

The next morning as Ray packed his stuff for his two week trip he heard his doorbell ring. Must have been his driver.

He opened his door in surprise to see Felicity.

Felicity noticed the luggage Ray had in both hands, "Your trip is today. Isn't it?"

"Who told you?"

Felicity smiled sadly, "I'm a hacker, you know I'm smarter than that." She could have sworn she say Ray's mouth twitch into a smile. "So… where did you say your trip was again?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well… I checked your schedule. You don't have any business trips planned. So I'm assuming this trip is for personal reasons."

She saw Ray glance away at her and frown.

"Must have been a typo," he muttered.

"Hm," She said with an arched brow, from the way he was looking away, Ray was lying to her. But why?

"Ray, why do I have a feeling there's something you aren't telling me."

As Ray's driver opened the door for him he glanced at her, "Smoak, I don't have time to chat, I'll be late for my flight."

She crossed her arms as he entered, "Then we'll talk on the way to the airport. I'm coming with you."

Ray frowned, "Smoak—"

"Too late!" She said with an assertive smile as she sat next to him.

"I'm not a child, I don't need you to escort me to the airport," he said narrowing his eyes at her.

She rolled her eyes, "Boo hoo. I'm not going to see you in 2 weeks, of course I'm coming to see you off. I don't see what the big deal is."

He frowned, "Don't you have something more important to do like babysitting the Arrow?"

Felicity raised her brow, Ray wasn't usually this crabby towards Oliver as the Arrow, maybe Ray was just in a bad mood, as usual…

"I told you this before, his wounds are better, so he can handle himself now."

"Wonderful." Ray said sarcastically.

"You know I couldn't just leave him in his condition."

"So he finally decided to get better when I'm coincidentally leaving on a trip, how thoughtful of him."

She sighed, "It's not his fault. I volunteered to help him."

Ray held up a newspaper to read so she wouldn't see his face, she might have seen his small smile of admiration at Felicity, she always did have a soft spot for helping people at her own expense.

When the car stopped, they stepped out. Felicity looked at the private jet which was a few feet away from them.

Ray pecked Felicity on the cheek, "Well. I'll see you later."

She pulled him into a hug and gulped, "You're thinking about breaking up… aren't you…"

He looked down at her head on his chest, and kissed it before saying, "I've been considering it."

Felicity nodded and looked down at her heels, as much as she hated it, she wished she could say she was surprised by his answer.

Ray stroked her cheek and murmured, "I don't want to break up with you."

"Me neither." She whispered back. Strangely, she really did like him even though they were complicated together.

Ray looked into her eyes, "We entered this relationship knowing there were no guarantees to us staying together, right?"

"Yes," she said silently while looking away from his warm eyes. "Felicity look at me." Ray said softly as he held her chin so she would look at him.

"Do you like us together?"

"Well….if I didn't, I wouldn't have kissed you now would I?" She answered with a nervous smile.

A small smile curled on his lips, "Are you sure it's not just saying that because you simply like kissing me."

Felicity rolled her eyes, "Of course not."

"Mm hm." He said with a haughty smile.

"You're so full of yourself," she said as Ray's face inched closer to hers.

"I know." He said with a smirk as their lips almost touched.

"Excuse me Sir…"

A flight attendant behind them cleared his throat to get Ray's attention.

Ray scowled at the person, "What is it."

The man scratched his head nervously, "Um. S-s-sorry Mr. Palmer, but our flight is leaving in three minutes."

"You can leave now." Ray said still frowning at the man.

"Yes sir." The flight attendant replied backing away.

Felicity poked Ray's cheek softly, "We need to work on your manners."

"That would take away my charm." Ray said with a smirk as they arrived at the steps to the jet.

"I can't believe I'm not going to see you in two weeks."

"Try not to miss me too much." He said with a wry smile.

Felicity laughed, Ray was back to his cocky self, "Tell you what, when you come back from your trip, I'll decide where our next date is. I'm thinking Japanese this time."

Ray frowned "No. I hate Japanese."

"Even better." She said with a smirk.

"That's cruelty."

"Hey, for a boyfriend you can be pretty mean." Felicity said smiling.

"Says the girlfriend who ditched me 10 minutes into the date."

Felicity nodded, "Good point. That's why I brought this." She dangled a ziploc with peanut butter cookies in front of Ray.

"For me?" Ray asked as he looked from the cookies back to her skeptically, as though he wasn't used to being given gifts.

"Well, who else passionately loves peanut butter cookies as I love chocolate."

"But. Why?"

"Peace offering." She said with a smirk. She replied rubbed her hands nervously, "I mean, it might not be as great buying out a whole restaurant or anything..."

"Yeah, it's not." Ray said as a matter of factly taking a bite from the cookie.

"Hey, I spent all night making that for you." She said with a laugh while watching Ray finish a second cookie. "Ray the cookies for the trip, stop finishing everyth—"

Ray pulled her into a gentle kiss before murmuring, "Careful Smoak, keep this up, and I just might actually begin to fall for you."

"Have I mentioned to you how much I like you?" Felicity blurted. Ray raised his brow as Felicity babbled on, "Don't get me wrong, I love you. Well I mean, I don't mean love as in love. You know that… but I like you a lot. I think I'm in like with you."

"You're strange Smoak." Ray said with a laugh.

She groaned and face palmed herself, "I really need to stop blurting out things. Did I make any sense?"

Ray took her hand off her face and held it, "I'm in like you with you too."

"Cool." She said with a calm smile. She was strangely relived he wasn't starting to fall for her, at least not now. It wouldn't do either of them any good.

She knit her brows as he held her cheek, "For a couple we're…"

"Different." Ray said completing her sentence.

She looked back at him with a crooked smile; it was intriguing that now they were able to understand they were on different levels of feelings for each other. They might not have been in love, but they cared about each other a lot. She was comfortable with that.

"Sir."

Felicity and Ray turned the flight attendant who was now on the step to the jet, "I hate to disturb you…again…but the jet is ready, we might want to leave now if we don't want to be late."

Felicity patted Ray's face lightly, "You should go."

He kissed her quickly and smiled, "Bye Jean."

Felicity frowned, Jean?

"You ok?" Ray asked noticing the smile on Felicity's face fade.

"You called me Jean." She answered awkwardly. She observed Ray furrow his brow in surprise.

"Is something wrong?" Felicity asked touching Ray's arm.

"I have to go." Ray said while backing away from her.

She frowned, "What? Ray, it's fine, I'm not angry—"

Ray tugged his hand away from her. "Ray?" She asked hurt.

"Bye Felicity." He said firmly as he turned without looking back.

Felicity sighed as she walked back to the car. She wasn't sure what was going through Ray's head, to make him call her Jean. She could never blame him though after the scare she got from Oliver nearly dying; a part of Ray probably still wasn't over Jean. As the driver drove her back to Queen Consolidated she immediately she found herself wondering… would Ray ever eventually be able to move on from Jean? Moreover, if Ray and her were going to somewhat attempt a shot at a relationship… would she be able to get over Oliver?

For a strange reason she couldn't seem to answer that question. She was just going to have to wait and see…

Alright, first of all, I just want to say I'm so sorry that this story took WAY longer than I expected to finish. As I've said many times, the past months have been busy with applying to college and stuff. But now that I have my break I not only am finishing this story as a Christmas gift, but also will be posting the spin off. Now. I understand that we are currently waiting for Arrow to come back, but remember my characters might be a bit different from the ones in Arrow.

Don't forget to leave comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how the story is going so far!

Also, many people have been asking me to do an alternate ending because a lot of people like Raylicity and Olicity in this story. And I can assure you guys, I knew this was going to happen. I had two separate endings planned ever since chapter one ;) So after you finish this story depending on who she picks you can pop on over to the spin off!

Merry Christmas!