Ok I know – we miss Dig, I debated on bringing him in because I wanted to focus on Tommy, Felicity and Oliver but you guys trust me right? Hehe

Thank you for the love from the last chapter, I am so glad you are all enjoying this still. I promise it'll move a little more quickly now and bring about the fun parts that I have always had planned.

Chapter 21 – One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Oliver stood inside the busy police station, officers moving around him, criminals sitting on seats and the phones buzzing continuously. He was told to wait by Detective Lance's desk and so that was what he was doing. He would wait out his time before the Detective came back in. And in that time – he would place the role of Oliver Queen, hands in pockets looking like he owned the place unfazed by the world around him but in the back of his mind he would be listening to that goings on around him. Trying to get a hint of the action, something that might pique the interest of the vigilante inside of him.

Or something that might let him know that someone was onto him as the vigilante.

As he stood by Lance's desk – Oliver looked over it, there were pens and a computer that looked like it was barely used. A stack of files sitting off to the side, paper everywhere. Oliver wondered how Lance got anything done but at the same time, he knew how hard the detective worked and how good he was as a cop.

As Oliver went to turn to face away from the desk, something caught his eye. A file sitting under a small pile, he almost missed it, almost ignored it but there was just something about it that stood out to him. It was different, more worn out than the rest maybe? He didn't really know – but there was something.

Slowly he reached out, slipping the file from under the others, making sure not to disturb too much of the rest of the desk. He had no idea what was in it that called him to it but it did. Flipping open the file, Oliver took a sharp breath in, the first thing he noticed was the name – Felicity Smoak – he felt his heart drop to his feet and he felt sick to his stomach.

Scrunching his brow, Oliver started to skim past the words to the pictures that were there. The first was of Felicity's face. Her beautiful blue eyes seemed grey and sad, she wasn't staring at the camera, staring far past it. Her right eye was black and blue, her lip was split, bloodied and red. She had a cut on her forehead that had been freshly stitched.

As he flipped through the photos, one after another of bruising over her arms, chest, stomach, a picture of her wrist in a splint and her ribs bandaged, her hands showing him that she had fought back, that she had scratched him, she had put up one hell of a fight. For the first time in a long time, Oliver couldn't control his breathing, the images of Felicity staring back at him were painful and sickening. What the hell had happened to her and why hadn't they said anything to him?

Oliver couldn't bring his eyes away from the images, it was like a train wreck that he couldn't stop watching, his eyes dilated and focussed on the horrific image after another. With shaking hands, Oliver flipped the image over, finding the doctors report; he had to swallow down the bile that had built in his throat, the feel of being sick to his stomach.

His eyes scanned over the document, broken ribs, sprained wrist, all things that she has hold him about already, abrasions over 40% of her body, consisting of scratches and bruising, the cut on her forehead needing 15 stitches. Oliver's eyes were so focussed on the papers in his hand he didn't hear Lance call his name, trying to get his attention from in front of him.

Oliver's eyes snapped up at the hand that came out in front of him, his whole body jerking back. "Queen, it's alright…" Lance held his hands up in surrender, clearly seeing the file in his hands. Lance reached out again once more, taking the file from his hands and closing it. "She's alright Queen…"

Lance took in the Oliver Queen standing in front of him. The pain and broken look on his face, the heartbreaking realisation that one of his best friends had been hurt. For the first time in a long time Quinten Lance looked at the young man in front of him and saw Oliver Queen, saw a young man who had caused so much hurt but then had been forced to grown up suddenly.

He finally saw Oliver as a man, as a broken young man. He was seeing a man who had lost so much in his life – he had lost 3 years, 3 years where the world around him, his friends and family, all moved on. A man who had been left behind by the world. This was not the boy that broke his daughters' heart or caused his other daughter to run off and never be heard from again.

This man in front of him was different, jaded and haunted, broken. This was not the boy he hated, the boy he wished had never returned this was a man that Lance wanted to help, a man who Lance wanted to protect from anymore pain.

"Oliver…son…" He motioned for Oliver to sit on the chair by his desk as he sat in his own seat, placing the file on the desk. There was silence between them for a moment, Oliver processing what he had just seen. "She is ok. Always remember that." Oliver just nodded, zoning out on the noise around him, focusing on Lance, "Tommy Merlyn kept her safe, he looked out for her as best he could. He kept her safe."

And that was what he needed to know – that Tommy had been there for Felicity. Looking up at Lance, Oliver just nodded before moving from the chair and headed out of the station. He needed air, he needed to think and process the images of her and the knowledge that someone had done that to her.

Oliver never stuck around to know who it was that did that that to her, he honestly didn't know if he would have been able to control himself in the station if he had known the name of the person who hurt her.

He had no idea how he got to Verdant – he didn't remember getting on his bike, riding through the city or how he even got in the entrance doors of the club – all he remembered was that he was suddenly standing in front of Tommy, who was behind the bar with a towel in one hand and glass in the other.

Things had been strained between the two men, ever since Tommy had found of Oliver's secret, neither really saying much to the other. Oliver wanted to give Tommy space, he didn't want to push him and Tommy had steered clear of Oliver, needing his own space to sort out his feelings. But right now, after more than two weeks of never being in the same room together without at least Felicity around, Oliver stood in the middle of the club with just Tommy around.

Tommy looked up at the sound of the entrance door banging heavily, he hadn't expected anyone else to be there, Felicity would be in later that night to do her other job and his staff didn't start for another few hours. So, it was a shock to see Oliver standing there.

He almost ignored him, wanting to drop his eyes and pretend that he wasn't there but the flat look on Oliver's face stopped him in his tracks, the glass in his hand placed gently down on the bar surface. Tommy looked over Oliver, his shoulders were tensed but sagging, his face stoic but incredibly sad.

There was something different about him, a different look in his eyes, the look of a broken man. "Ollie?" His voice was soft, almost as though he didn't want to startle a caged animal. After a moment more of silence, Tommy moved to stand in front of Oliver, noticing that he wasn't really look at Tommy in the eyes but it was as though he was looking past him. Slowly he reached out and placed his hand on Oliver's arm.

Oliver blinked, his head snapping up to look at Tommy straight, his face slackening a little. Oliver swallowed, not sure what to say but looking at Tommy he realised that he owed this man, he owned him his life to protecting Felicity, his best friend. Clearing his throat, Oliver smiled a little, "Thank you Tommy…"

Tommy scrunched his brow up, a little confused about what Oliver was talking about, of all things, Tommy next expected a thank you from Oliver. Shaking his head, Tommy tried to show that he didn't know what was going on.

"You, ah…Felicity…I saw Detective Lance – her file…" Oliver was speaking in broken sentences but it was enough for Tommy to get the idea of what Oliver was talking about. He knew, Oliver knew about Felicity and what happened.

"How much did he tell you?" Tommy swallowed – he didn't want to rehash anything that Oliver already knew.

Oliver moved towards the bar stools, the heels of his hands rubbed against his eyes, he was suddenly very, very tired. "I just saw the photos – he didn't say much. I guess I didn't really want to hear it then." He shrugged, feeling Tommy move back around the bar, hearing the fridge door open and close before the came back around to sit down next to Oliver, popping the lid off the beers.

After a long swig of his drink, Tommy sighed, he knew he had to tell Oliver. "About 2 years ago Felicity started dating a guy she met when she was at MIT, the had reconnected and well – you know. Anyway, we started noticing small things, at first, I went to her place because she said she was sick. There was broken glass and the picture she had of the three of us was gone. It got worse – sprained wrists and hospital visits."

Tommy watched as Oliver paled significantly, but he kept going, "Laurel and I, we tried to get her to tell us what was happening but you know what Felicity is like, she is stubborn and just wanted us both to let it go," Laurel had helped? That shocked Oliver, he wouldn't have expected Laurel to have any interest in helping anyone who was friends with him but at the same time, he wanted to hug her to thank her for trying.

"One night I got a phone call, that she was at the hospital. He…he'd done a number on her man, she never really told me why but she broke down – finally spoke to Lance and agreed to move in with me. She still doesn't know where he is, she runs tracks on him every now and then but she doesn't know where he is. That was the main reason she came to live with me."

Oliver nodded, that was all he really needed or wanted to hear, it suddenly all made sense, "That's why you stayed the night after my welcome home party…"

Tommy nodded slowly, "She'd been staying with my for about 6 months in the end and that was the first might back in her own apartment. She tried but I guess it got too much and she called me. That's why you saw me there that morning." There was something about this conversation, it settled them – bringing them to a point where they were on the same page but there was still no conversation about the elephant in the room.

"Thank you, Tommy. Before I left, I asked you to look after Felicity and you did that. You kept her safe and I can't thank you enough for that." Oliver turned in his seat fully to look at Tommy, his own beer in his hands. This was common ground, enough to keep them civil.

Silence fell over them both, drinking their beers ands and just waiting for night to fall. They weren't anywhere near being ok with what Oliver did and Tommy was still angry about it all – he had yet to reconcile those two sides of his best friend but when it came to Felicity – they would always be on the same side.


Felicity spun on her chair, a little excited about the information she had finally found – she had heard Oliver coming down the stairs about an hour before but she had been so engrossed in her computers that she hadn't turned to look at him but now she had information that she knew he would be excited to know.

She stood quickly, moving towards the training mats where he was set up, shirtless – always shirtless, seriously he was really pushing her with her feelings for him, feelings she had refused to acknowledge since he had come home. He was in the middle of a gruelling set up push-ups, one handed and it seemed as though he was punishing himself for something. "So…I found something you are going to be happy to hear…"

Hearing her voice, Oliver stopped mid push-up, he waited before looking up at her. It was the first time she had seen him looking at her since she had come in that night but as soon as she had, she knew he knew. Felicity's face fell, her shoulders dropping and eyes finding the floor. "Please Oliver…I don't really want to talk about it right now…" She was hiding herself, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, silently begging him to just not ask.

And he didn't, he knew enough about pain and wanting to ignore the problem that he wouldn't push her instead he reached out slowly, placing his hand on her shoulder, "I am always here when you want to…" She just smiled lightly nodding before turning away, motioning for him to follow.

Swallowing, Felicity sat back down on her chair, "So I found Adam Hunt." Oliver blinked, he knew she had been working so hard to find him and had been coming up empty so to finally have some information on him was big. Like crack the case big.

"Adam Hunt, Starling City night life mogul and every day bad guy…" Felicity clicked a few times on her keyboard and his face popped up, a few flashes of searching as well. "I found him hiding at the docks. He has been working under the name Adrien Walker, I couldn't find much at all on him, that's why it was so suspicious."

Felicity watched as Oliver reached for his bow, he was going to take down Adam Hunt once and for all and then he would go after the Count. He would do everything in his power to take down the Count and rid Starling City of Vertigo.

"Wait…I have an idea." Felicity was now standing in front of him, a small smile on her lips. Oliver turned to face her, "Well you said that QC was involved somehow in Vertigo and the Count so I was thinking – now that we have a location for Adam Hunt, you take a tracking bugged very large bag of that money you have excessive amounts of, head down to the docs as Oliver Queen, play the playboy billionaire night club owner who wants his partygoers to have an even better time, slip in a comment about how the Count and QC could work together again and boom – we will have a location on where the money goes and get an in with the Count. Plus, we might find out more about how QC has been involved because I gotta say – whatever was going on there, there wasn't any computer records of it."

Oliver thought for a moment, he really didn't want to bring QC back into this mess, more than it already had and they had yet to find out any real information about how they were originally involved. Maybe this could work out. "Well it's not typically how I get my information but we can try it your way."

And so that is how Oliver Queen found himself dressed in his most expensive suit, standing on the side of the freezing docs with a large bag of more cash money than he had ever actually seen. Felicity had set up the meet – a source who knew someone who knew someone who knew someone was happy to help expand the brand of Vertigo and was happy that Oliver wanted to join in.

In front of him was Adam Hunt, his men flanking at his sides. "Now I understand you wish to participate in the feel-good business." The man smirked; he had an air about him that Oliver couldn't wait to bring down a few pegs.

But Oliver just smirked back, bringing out the playboy billionaire, Well I own a club and I'd like my customers to have a little…something extra…besides I'd heard rumour my father's company was involved at a time and I would like to expand the partnership." Saying those words were enough to make Oliver sick but he had to sell it, had to make sure that Hunt believed it.

Hunt looked over at Oliver, taking him in, eyeing him up. "Forgive me but you are not the boy you once were, Mr. Queen. You are now a businessman and I believe that all good businessmen know the value of the product. Something your father did not." With one hand Hunt reached out to shake Oliver's with the other, Oliver held out the bag of money, thankful that this meeting out be over in a matter of minutes.

As the handshake happened the sound of screeching tired split through the night, the flashing red and blue lights of the police cars and the shouts from the police themselves. "It's the cops! GO!" Hunt turned to his men, yanking the bag of money from Oliver – albeit Oliver didn't let it go and in the midst of the cops turning up and everyone running, Oliver wasn't able to put the extra tracker on Hunt as he planned to. He quickly ducked towards a building thankful the cops hadn't seen him or at least hadn't bothered to follow. All he heard was the shouting of the police and the tell-tale voice of Adam Hunt, "YOU SET ME UP!"

Oliver swallowed deeply, rushing from the scene as quick as he could. He could not be seen as Oliver Queen, making a money exchange with a known drug lord. He had to get out of there.


"You told Oliver?" Felicity stood by the side of the bar, her arms crossed over her chest, eyebrow raised. She had heard that Oliver was on his way back from the meet and so it gave her a few minutes to head upstairs to interrogate Tommy.

Tommy looked up from the drink he was making, she looked pissed and he could see the small ear piece in her ear that told her that Oliver was out there somewhere – doing something he didn't want to know about.

Tommy knew exactly what Felicity was talking about, they had talked about telling Oliver about Felicity and Cooper but she had made him promise not to say anything at all. Tommy put his hands up in surrender, placing the glass and the towel down. "Hey, hey. No, I didn't tell Oliver anything." He motioned for Felicity to moved towards the side of the bar – a small corridor that lead to the old door that would gone down to Oliver's liar if the door wasn't stuck.

"I never told Oliver anything ok." He placed his hands on her shoulders, levelling her with a look. "Oliver went to see Lance about something. He said he found your file. I don't know how much Lance told him but when he got back here, we didn't really talk about it, I just gave him the basic info. He just thanked me for helping you. I promised you I wouldn't tell him anything and I haven't but I think I think it's time you do."

Felicity dropped her eyes from him, she knew they had to have that conversation and they needed to have it soon or else it would just drive him crazy. He was upset that she didn't want to talk about it before and she didn't blame him for that but she also knew he wouldn't push her. Nodding, Felicity moved away from Tommy, she was still a little upset with him – he should have told her that Oliver knew, so she didn't just see him and know. She needed to work herself up for that conversation.

It didn't take her long before Felicity found herself back at her desk, typing away at her computer and setting up any information that Oliver would want to know. It had become very quiet in the Foundry and it gave Felicity the chance to think. She thought about her time as Oliver's friend, her time when he was missing and she thought he was dead, the time when her heart would beat rapidly (who was she kidding, her heart still beat rapidly when she thought of Oliver) and she thought about her time with Cooper and the pain she had gone through.

She also thought about how Oliver had trusted her with something so dangerous and something so close to his heart, something that could get him killed or imprisoned but he trusted her with that, trusted her to help him and to keep him safe.

So maybe she needed to return the trust. Oliver Queen had always been by her side, he had held her up and helped her when she needed help and in the quiet of the Foundry, Felicity knew that she needed trust him and so she moved from her desk, headed over to the case where he held his bow and waited.

It wasn't long before she heard the beeping of the lock on the side door, the thumping of his shoes on the concrete floors, oh he was pissed. She knew why he was pissed; the cops had shown up when they weren't supposed to, they had been radio silent the whole time about that sting so there was no way that she could tell Oliver they were coming.

"How did the cops know!?" he was frustrated, they had done so much work to find Adam Hunt and he was just gone. "How did they know we were meeting?" Groaning deeply, Oliver placed the bag on the floor, dropping it with a thud against the hard floors. At first he didn't even noticing that she was sitting quietly by the table and not her desk.

She stayed silent, waiting for him to relax a little, after a moment he noticed her standing there, a gently look on her face, Oliver sighed, dropping his head, his hands on the desk. "I just…we need to find him." Felicity nodded, still staying quiet. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and spoke

"Hey, I'm going to go home…but how about I meet you for some late dinner at Big Belly…" She was telling him, not asking him and he knew that so with a silent nod, Oliver watched as Felicity made her way up the back door of the club and into the night. Thankfully it was only around 8pm so there were still people around that she didn't have to worry about walking in the dark on her own.

She hoped that maybe the change of scenery would help to clear his head from the previous misfortunes of his mission and give her some confidence to tell her story.


Oliver sat at the window bar stool of Big Belly watching as the rain started to fall heavier, it was now just after 9pm and his frustrations has settled down – just a little bit. Since Felicity had left the Foundry, he had taken time to work out some of his frustrations and then showered before heading to meet her. Usually he wouldn't have just let her go, they still had work to do, but he could her head was in a different space and he knew he didn't have to rush the rest of the work. It wasn't going to change anything tonight, he wasn't going to go back out tonight, especially with the storm that had started to roll in.

There was still something deep down inside of him, that even after being back from almost 6 months, that would be sent back to that island when a storm rolled through Starling City. He was brought back to that island, hiding in the corner of the shelter to try and escape the cold winds or harsh rain, covering his ears and eyes to try and keep the thundering and flashing lights at bay.

He'd been sitting at Big Belly for about 10 minutes, his eyes unfocused as he stared into space, thinking about Felicity and everything else that had been happening. He thought about all the times the memory of Felicity had gotten him through the days and how looking at her now that he was back brought back those feeling's he had for her before he left on the Gambit.

He had fallen in love with Felicity, he still was but he couldn't be what she needed, couldn't be what was best for her, he knew that, he thought it every time he put an arrow in someone. She deserved to be safe and happy and being with him would not keep her safe. Being with her would make her unsafe and he couldn't bear to think about what could happen to her, it was bad enough that she was helping him now.

Oliver blinked away from his memories when he saw her walking past the window, her coat pulled close to her body, keeping the cold wind out. He raised his hand slowly, giving her a small wave and a smile – one that she did not return – but she rushed into the diner, trying to stay out of the rain. "Hi." he smiled when she stood in front of him, small droplets of water on her eyelashes. She was adorably beautiful.

"Hi." Felicity held the coat closer to her, liked she was holding herself up. "Thanks for meetings me. I was…nervous you wouldn't come." She was playing with the buttons on her coat, he could tell she was suddenly very nervous around him, something that she usually wasn't.

Oliver scrunched his brow, reaching out for her hand gently, "Ok…"

Felicity reached for him with her own hand, it was cold against his warm hand as it had been hidden away in his own coat. She turned slowly and led him to a booth on the furthest side of the diner, taking a seat with him by her side, she wouldn't let go of his hand just yet. "This thing is, I've been debating on whether or not share this with you for weeks."

Oliver turned to his side, looking at Felicity's profile, there was a sadness in her eyes that he had only seen a few things recently, she had become quite good at hide herself from him. "You can trust me Felicity." He spoke softly, taking her hand in his again after she had dropped it to rest against her own leg.

Felicity sighed, squeezing his hand gently, "You know – before you told me about him you dropped some fairly ridiculous lies on me and I knew you were lying to me because you'd never lied to me before, ever and yet I still feel like I could trust you. Why is that?" Felicity really had hated that Oliver had been lying to her. There was never a time in their friendship that Oliver had lied to her and it really bothered her that he did.

Oliver smirked, his Ollie Queen smirk, also something he never did to her, "I have one of those faces…"

But Felicity sighed, dropping her head and pulling her hand away from his, now was not the time for his crap. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ever lied to you Felicity; it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life. You can trust me."

She waited a moment, lifting her head again to take him in, he looked so serious and sad that he had upset her. After a moment more of silence, Felicity turned in her seat and looked at him, "Then I have something to tell you." Oliver nodded, he would wait, let he speak for as long as she could, he held her hand still in his, rubbing it gently with his numb.

Taking a deep breath, Felicity began, "I met Cooper at MIT it wasn't long after you had…disappeared…but as you could imagine I wasn't interested in anything really, I was barely holding myself together without you here, I was really not interested in a relationship." Oliver nodded, encouraging her to continue, "Anyway…we met up again about 18 months after you had disappeared and we connected. And soon we were together all the time. It was really nice…until it wasn't."

Oliver didn't know what to expect from this conversation but he never expected that he would be sitting opposite Felicity hearing her tell the story of how she was in an abusive relationship. Had he thought about her being jumped in an alley or something but never her injuries from someone who was supposed to care about her but then he remembered what little information Tommy had told him and he realised that it was worse than what he thought.

"It was little digs at first, comments here and there, blaming me for things that can't have been my fault or just little jibs." Felicity rubbed her forehead with her free hand, feeling Oliver hold her other one tightly. "He was jealous, Tommy and I were so close – still are – but he didn't like me spending time with him and so he would take it out on me. The first time he hit me, he had come back to my apartment one night and saw me looking at the photo of the three of us."

She leaned into his side, that old photo of him had gotten her through some rough times. "Tommy had a copy of it blown up for me after your funeral, had it framed for me too. He broke the photo and lost it. Tommy had come over the next day when I didn't go to have lunch with him. I brushed it off. And then I brushed him off the first time I was in hospital too."

Oliver moved his hand from hers and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, his other hand retaking hers. "Anyway Oliver…it got worse and the second time I ended up in hospital – about 6 months before you came home – I had made the decision to leave, leave him and my own home. But he caught me and well you saw the photos." She shrugged against him. "Tommy came to the hospital; Detective Lance was there. I went to stay with Tommy for a while after that, Cooper had taken off, we didn't know where he was and we thought it was safer that I was at least somewhere he couldn't get to me at least."

Felicity was exhausted, Oliver could tell how she fell against him, her head resting against his shoulder. He hadn't spoken since they had sat down, he wanted to give her all the time she needed. It was obvious she felt more comfortable in this setting, no pressure of the Foundry or her apartment. Neutral ground.

"Tommy…he said that he went back to your apartment with Laurel to get your stuff. Said that Cooper was still there…" Felicity looked up at him suddenly, she didn't know that Cooper was there, she knew that Tommy and Laurel had gone to her apartment but nothing else. Tilting her head, she looked at Oliver, encouraging him to continue. "Ah…he said that Cooper didn't know how to fight back against someone his own size."

Felicity's mouth dropped open into an "oh" shape, she had no idea that Tommy had done that. She had to remember to thank him for it. She honestly would have loved to see Cooper get beaten up by Tommy. She could feel Oliver's body tightening against her, his own anger at what had happened taking over. "Hey…" she touched his face gently, "I'm ok. I promise." Oliver looked down at her, taking in her face, settling on her lips for a moment.

In any other situation, he would have been desperate to drop his head a little and touch his lips to hers but wouldn't to that – not after what he had just told her. And so he just smiled down at her, his eyes soft as they settled into a comfortable silence, still wrapped around each other.


"Ah Oliver…what's going on?" Felicity stood in the middle of Verdant, her head tilted to the side as she watched Oliver and Tommy sit opposite a large man with dark skin and shoulders that went on forever. Slowly the other man turned to face her, smiling warmly at the smaller woman who was just confused.

It was early on a Sunday afternoon – no staff had arrived as yet.

Tommy stood quickly, he wasn't too sure of Oliver's idea but at the same time he liked the idea of having more security around the place and not just some kid they'd hired to make sure that the drunks were kicked out – this was a chance to make sure that Felicity was safe as well.

But Oliver jumped in before Tommy could say anything, "This is John Diggle. We are hiring a new head of security." Felicity shifted her gaze to Oliver, narrowing it instantly. They never hired anyone new without at least letting Felicity know it needed to be done. Mostly because she would run all the background checks and the necessary information they would need. "Diggle has a background in the military, 105th airborne in Kandahar."

Oliver had moved quickly towards Felicity; his hands outstretched to try and show that it wasn't as bad as it sounded. "And besides – I would feel more comfortable knowing that he is here if you are and I can't be here." Felicity's eyes hardened, she didn't want a babysitter, she didn't need a babysitter.

"Felicity I understand you don't need a babysitter but please…this is something I need." She groaned, rolling her eyes before moving around Oliver, she could be grumpy with him later but she needed to at least greet Mr. Diggle.

She came to stand at his side, noting that she still really did come to line up with his head while he was sitting down, she raised her hand to him, "Nice to meet you Mr. Diggle – I'm one of the other owners here and it seems you babysitting assignment." She flashed a glance to Tommy and found that Oliver had come back to his seat next to Tommy.

Diggle shook Felicity's hand gently, a soft smile coming to his face. "Nice to meet you Felicity, you can call me Diggle or Dig if you like – or John. And please I'm not here to be anyone's babysitter but it is clear to me that these two men care about you deeply and from what I've been told-" Felicity flashed another angry glare towards her other two best friends, she was going to be very grumpy when Diggle was gone, Tommy at least had the knowledge to look a little shy and ashamed but Oliver just kept his face straight – he would not apologise to making sure she was safe. "I'm here to make sure the club is looked after and that everyone is safe."

Diggle knew what it was like to protect someone who didn't want to be protected and he would not follow her around but he also understood the boys' concerns. Oliver spoke softly, his hand reaching for her shoulder, he needed her to understand. "Felicity, it's just while we are here…please…there are too many people coming and going from the club for just me and Tommy to make sure he doesn't come in."

Ok fine – she could understand that but at the same time when she was in the club and Oliver wasn't there, she was usually under the bar, locked in a room that on one but her, Oliver and Tommy knew about. She was safe there but at the same time, she did spend time in the club upstairs and there were lots of people there.

Sighing, Felicity nodded, she turned back to settle into conversation with the three men when a loud explosion echoed through the empty club, the loud onslaught of shouting and gun fire assaulting the senses. Felicity let out a shriek, not realising that she had been grabbed and hauled behind the bar, crouching in position as Tommy was all but thrown to her side, his arms coming around her instinctively. She had seen Oliver grab Tommy by the front of the shirt, she had seen him basically toss Tommy to safety like a rag doll.

Well if John Diggle was supposed to be keeping her safe – he had already lived up to that expectation.

You guys trusted me right?