A/N: I'm sure there are some legal or law inconsistencies with this chapter so I apologize in advance. Still, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Oliver groaned reaching for his phone on his nightstand that was going off, he blinked the sleep from his eyes as he glanced at the screen that was far too bright in his near pitch black room. His brow furrowed as he saw not only the time but the name that flashed across the screen as well.
Why was Detective Lance calling him at two in the morning?
He swiped his thumb over the answer button. "Detective Lance?" his voice came out gruff with sleep.
"Queen," Quentin Lance's voice came over the line. "I have no time for pleasantries."
Oliver frowned at his short attitude. "What's wrong? Why are you calling me this late? Is this about another girl you need Felicity to take in?"
"This is about her. There was a disturbance called in at her address-"
Oliver's heart pounded in his chest and he didn't need to hear more than the fact that something had happened at Felicity's. He dropped his phone on the mattress as he quickly climbed out of bed throwing on the first pair of jeans he could find, slipping his shoes on quickly. He could faintly hear Lance's voice calling out to him thinly from his phone. He didn't bother with a shirt and simply pulled on one of his gray zip-up hoodies, grabbing the keys from his apartment he was out the door, forgetting to grab his phone.
He swore to God if Felicity wasn't alright he was going to hurt someone. More than likely kill someone.
Felicity sighed as she rubbed her temples, her foot stinging from standing on the open cut as she tried to answer all the questions the police were throwing at her.
She hadn't planned on calling the cops, wanting to handle this herself but that didn't seem to matter since her neighbor Mrs. Deloris was the one to call the cops, having heard glass breaking and had gotten a little-frightened someone was breaking in.
"Ms. Smoak?" Felicity looked up to see Detective Lance approaching her.
"Detective Lance? What are you doing here?" she frowned.
"You think when your place came across the scanner I wasn't going to book it here?" He shot her an incredulous look. "Are you alright? What happened?"
Felicity opened her mouth to reply when the sound of screeching tires sounded, her brow furrowed. "You didn't call Dig or Oliver on your way over here did you?" She hadn't planned on keeping this from them. Just downplaying it a bit because they were worried about her enough as it was. If they knew what happened she knew for sure she wouldn't be shaking their concerns off any longer.
Lance frowned at her. "You need to take this more seriously. And if you won't let Oliver know, I will."
No sooner has the words left his mouth she could hear the front door being thrown open, hitting against the wall and Oliver striding into the room, looking like a man on a mission, a storm brewing in his eyes. "Felicity!"
"You can't be here sir." An officer stopped him. "This is a crime scene."
"Get out of my way. Now!" He growled, eyes glaring darkly. He needed to get to Felicity make sure she was alright.
"Sir, I don't know who you are. You need to leave."
Oliver's fist clenched the veins in his arms bunching. "I'm not going anywhere. Move." Oliver was barely keeping himself from knocking out the officer who was only doing his job. "Where's the woman that lives here? Where's Felicity?!"
"Sir, I won't say it again. You need-"
"It's alright. Let him through." Detective Lance called out and Oliver looked up to see him standing with Felicity, dressed in only a pair of pajama pants and a tank top. Relief hit him at the sight of her relatively unharmed.
He pushed past the officer with eyes only for her. "Felicity,"
"I'm alright," she assured him as he came forward. "I'm fine. Nothi-" She cut off mid-sentence in surprise as Oliver wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to him. The move was so sudden and unexpected she fell silent.
His arms around her caused a wave of emotions to hit her and she slowly brought her arms up, hands on his sides just as he was pulling back, hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay? Were you hurt? What happened?"
"I'm fine. I wasn't hurt. And-"
"Miss Smoak, I need you to sit down so I can take a look at your cuts." She was cut off by the paramedic.
"Cuts!?" Oliver's eyes widened. "Where?" he took a step back running his eyes over her form from head to toe.
Felicity sighed. "My foot just got cut by a little glass, it's not a big deal."
"You said you weren't hurt." A muscle in his jaw ticked, showing his upset.
"I wasn't." She tried to maneuver her way around the broken glass on the floor. "Stupid glass is everywh- Oliver!" she yelped in surprise clutching at his shoulders as he suddenly scooped her up into his arms, carrying her out of the room and over to her kitchen, the paramedic and Lance following behind them.
"You're bleeding. You were hurt." he set her on the counter, stepping to the side so the paramedic could do his job. "What happened?"
Felicity sighed as the paramedic began looking at her foot, cleaning the blood away and looking for any glass.
"It doesn't look like you'll need stitches. But you'll need to keep the wound clean and stay off your foot for the first couple days so these cuts can heal properly." The paramedic talked as he used anti-septic on her foot before bandaging it and wrapping it.
Felicity waited till the paramedic was done before answering. "I don't know. I was sleeping. I woke when I heard a window shatter. I went to investigate, found the window broken."
"You should have called me." Oliver frowned intensely. "What if it hadn't been just a broken window? What if someone had broken in? You could have been seriously hurt or worse."
"But I wasn't," Felicity argued. "Everything's fine."
Oliver scowled, clenching his jaw. "Everything is not fine. Nothing about what happened tonight is fine, Felicity."
Felicity sighed, pushing her hair back away from her face, "I didn't want to worry any-"
"What the hell happened to your wrist?!" while the words were said with anger, his hands were gentle as he cradled her arm, looking closely at the bruise coloring the skin of her wrist.
"I thought you said no one had broken in?" Lance leveled her with a disapproving look.
"They didn't." she tried to pull her hand back but Oliver was unrelenting as he cradled her hand, examining it.
"Then how did that happen?" Lance questioned, raising one eyebrow at her.
"I had a run-in with a man earlier at a diner." She reluctantly admitted.
"What man?" Oliver finally dropped her hand but he looked even more upset then a moment ago.
"Just some man. I don't know who he was." She mumbled, avoiding looking at Oliver.
"Fe-li-ci-ty." he dragged her name out by every syllable and she felt a shiver run down her spine, the way he said her name doing things to her she didn't have time to put a name to. "The truth. Please."
"It was Gina's ex." She found herself answering him with the way he was looking at her. " I went by Big Belly Burger to get some food and he confronted me about her as I was leaving. Made some threats. When I tried to walk past him, he grabbed my arm." Oliver swore, his expression darkening. "But I was fine, Jes-"
The sound of her house phone ringing sounded and she moved to get down from the counter.
"No. I'll get it." Oliver moved toward her house phone, answering it on the fifth ring. "What?" he barked into the line.
"Oliver?" Oliver could hear the confusion in Digg's voice. "What are you doing at Felicity's? Is she alright? Did Jessi call you, too? Is that why you're at her place?"
"Jessi?" Oliver's face scrunched up in confusion. "Why would Jessi call me?"
"Felicity was at Big Belly earlier. He said some asshole had been watching her and that he had some kind of encounter with her as she was leaving. Jessi chased the guy off and made sure she got to her car safely."
"Why did he call you and not me?" Oliver frowned.
"Because I'm more approachable." Digg's tone was dry. "This happened earlier. I just now got his voice message. He left it for me a few hours ago," There was a pause. "Wait, if Jessi didn't call you why are you at her place?"
"Someone broke into her home." Oliver's jaw clenched.
"What? Are you there with her? Is Felicity okay?" Dig demanded tone full of concern.
"Yes, I'm with her now. She'll be okay," said Oliver, he would make sure of it.
"I'm on my way. Don't leave her on her own." Digg hung up before Oliver could respond.
Oliver placed the phone back into the receiver. "Digg is on his way."
Felicity sighed. "He doesn't need to do that. I'm fine."
"He's your friend, he found out you had an altercation with a man earlier tonight and then he finds out that someone broke into your home. Of course, he's going to be here." Oliver moved back over to her, his hand landing on her shoulder. "When were you going to tell me what happened earlier tonight?"
"I was just telling you before Digg called," she said rather defensively. Okay, she hadn't planned on saying anything but Oliver didn't need to know that.
"And if I hadn't seen your wrist would you still have said something?" He asked sharply. "Or would Digg and I know about it because of Jessi?"
Felicity pursed her lips. Damn it, she knew Jessi's heart was in the right place but why couldn't he just keep what had happened at the diner between them?
"Right," said Oliver with a shake of his head. "When are you going to start taking this more seriously? This is your life-"
"Your right it is my life." Felicity cut him off, raising her chin stubbornly. "Which makes it my choice."
Oliver threw his arms out in frustration. "Your choices are going to get you killed!"
"Maybe you just need to have a little faith that I know what I'm doing!" Felicity snapped back at him.
"Well do you? Because from where I'm standing you don't! You're being reckless." His body was tense, his fist clenching at his side, jaw clenching, his blue eyes were a darker shade than she was used to. "I'm not going to stand by and let you get yourself killed! I can't!"
Felicity's eyes widened, her heart skipping a beat about how passionate he sounded and his need to keep her safe.
"Alright, how about we take this down a notch." Lance interrupted having watched them go back and forth.
Oliver clenched his jaw, sending a glare at Lance for the interruption.
Lance focused on Felicity. "I'm gonna need you to give me your full statement." He didn't want to have to make her come down to the station after everything she'd been through tonight.
"Alright." Felicity nodded, pulling her gaze from Oliver.
Lance pulled out his notepad to take down her statement.
Fifteen minutes later Felicity was almost finished giving Lance her full statement when Digg came striding through the door, officers parting as his large frame moved through the room. "Felicity, thank God, you're alright." he walked right up to her and hugged her gingerly.
"I'm fine," Felicity told him as he pulled back looking at her full of concern while also appearing calm.
"Nothing about this is fine." Oliver stood to her side, arms crossed over his chest.
Digg looked at Oliver. "What happened?" he knew Oliver wouldn't downplay it the way Felicity would have.
"Someone threw a rock through her window." Oliver ground out, turning his intense gaze on Felicity. "And she doesn't see how much worse this could have been."
Felicity rubbed her forehead in frustration. "I'm not going to keep arguing with you about this, Oliver."
"No, he's right, Felicity," Digg interjected, tone grave. "What if it hadn't been just a rock? What if someone would have just broken in here? You could have been seriously hurt or worse and then where would we be?"
Felicity was about to respond but was cut off by Detective Lance speaking. "I understand that there was a note, wasn't there?"
"Yes," Felicity answered reluctantly casting dreaded looks at Oliver and Digg.
Lance waved an officer over and he handed an evidence bag and inside was the note, he read the message out loud. "I don't care what I have to do to get what's mine. Even if I have to go through you. You should be more careful. You never know when someone is watching and I can promise you I am watching your every move, Felicity Smoak." Lance looked up at Felicity worry clear in his expression. "Do you have an idea who might have done this?"
"No. In my line of work I've gained a lot of enemies." Felicity answered, casting looks at Oliver and Digg for their reaction.
Digg had crossed his arms and was side-eying her, giving her one of his Digg's looks that basically said she was smarter than this.
Oliver.. Oliver was a whole other story. He was clenching and unclenching his jaw his eyes were dark with anger, his back rigid and the set of his shoulders tense, his hands were tightened into fists so tightly the white bone of his knuckles could be seen beneath his skin. "You…" he looked at her with an unreadable look in his eyes that she couldn't decipher. "Whoever the fuck did this left a note like that and you weren't going to tell me about it?" he asked lowly.
"I didn't want you or Digg to worry," Felicity admitted, feeling guilt for her intentions of keeping something from them.
"Well, that's just too fucking bad. Because I am worried!" Oliver all but exploded, his cheeks flushing red in anger. "How the hell am I supposed to protect you if you won't let me do my damn job?!"
Felicity bristled at the notion that she needed a man's protection. "I can protect myself!"
"But you shouldn't have to!" He returned heatedly. "If you stopped being stubborn for five freaking minutes you would see that all I want is to keep you safe!"
Felicity opened her mouth but nothing came out, she shut it, staring back at him, her chest felt tight, her heart skipping a beat in her chest at his words. His blue eyes were so intense it felt like they were piercing through her.
"Alright, let's take this down a notch." Digg gave them both a look before turning back to Detective Lance. "I'll write up a list of possible suspects who did this and get it to you first thing in the morning."
Lance nodded. "Good, it could help us find out who did this." he focused his gaze back on Felicity. "Do you want to press charges on the guy who did that?" he nodded his head at her bruised wrist.
Felicity shook her head. "No. I wasn't seriously hurt."
Lance frowned wanting to argue but just shook his head. He really wished she would take her own safety more seriously. "I don't agree but it's your decision. I will advise that you reconsider and you shouldn't stay here alone at least not until the situation is taken care of."
"I can't go anywhere else. This is my home." Felicity shook her head.
"And it's not exactly safe at the moment and you're a young woman living alone," Lance stressed. "You need to be serious about this. Your safety is important."
"She'll be safe." Oliver cut in. "She'll be staying with me."
"What?" Felicity's head whipped toward him, eyes wide. "No, I'm not."
"Either you stay with me or I stay here with you crashing right outside your bedroom door," Oliver warned, he wasn't joking. If she was insisting on staying here then he would make damn sure he was close in case something happened again.
"Digg," Felicity turned to her longtime friend and partner. "Would you be the voice of reason and talk some sense into him."
"No, I'm with Oliver on this one," he said much to her surprise. "If you want to stay here you better be prepared for two guard dogs cause I can't let you stay here on your own in good conscious. Or you could come home with me. Lyla and I have a guest room."
"I can't impose on you and Lyla like that." she protested immediately.
"You wouldn't be," he said.
"No," Felicity told him.
"So what's it gonna be then?" asked Oliver, his eyes unrelenting. "The two of us standing guard at your door or my place where it's secure?"
Felicity didn't want them standing guard at her bedroom door like guard dogs but she also didn't want to impose on Diggle and Lyla. "Alright, fine." she looked at Lance. "I'll be staying with Oliver until this is cleared up." she shot Oliver a glare. "Happy?"
"Ecstatic!" He deadpanned.
Lance nodded, relieved to know she would be in good hands. "You can get a few things and go, my officers and I will wrap things up here. You can stop by the station tomorrow with Mr. Diggle with that list."
Felicity pushed off the counter. "I just need to get a few things."
The ride to Oliver's place was a tense and silent one. Diggle had returned home once he was sure she was fine and she would be safe with Oliver.
Felicity found herself watching Oliver, his muscles were rigid with tension. The way his hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly the white of his knuckles shown through his skin. The way he clenched and unclenched his jaw.
She broke the silence in the car when she could no longer take the tense atmosphere between them. "Are you gonna say something?"
He shot a quick look at her his eyes angry but he said nothing, turning his gaze back on the road.
"I get that you're angry but-"
"There is no but about it. Of course, I'm angry," he said heatedly. "You could have been seriously hurt tonight and you weren't even going to call me."
"I don't have to call you every time something goes wrong. I won't rely on you that much." Felicity felt her own anger rising.
"But I want you to." his voice raised. "I want to be there when you need me, I want to be the one you turn to."
The thought of needing someone put her on edge. "Well, I don't want to need you."
"Right." it came out through clench teeth as he glared out at the road ahead.
Felicity winced, that came out worse than she had intended. "I don't want to need anyone, Oliver."
"No," he shook his head, his hands tightening even further on the wheel. "I got it."
She pursed her lips as the car came to a sudden stop. Felicity looked out to see they were parked out in front of a two-story brownstone.
Oliver, turned off the ignition, climbing out of the car. "C'mon."
Felicity sighed, closing the door behind her as he reached into the backseat for her bag. She followed him silently up the steps, she tapped her foot as he put the key into the lock, opening the door and gesturing for her to go inside.
She stepped inside and after closing the door behind them, Oliver brushed past her. "I'll show you to the guest room."
Felicity followed him through his home, looking around and saw it was pretty much what most bachelor pads looked like, stainless steel tables, leather couches, and furniture, though there were a couple family photos.
"This way." Felicity followed him down the hall, he pushed a door open, walking inside and setting her bag on the Queen size mattress.
Felicity glanced around the room as she stepped inside.
"The bathroom is one door down to the left and my room is just across the hall. If you need anything let me know." he clenched his jaw. "Or don't since that is what you prefer."
He closed the door behind him before she could respond and she heaved a long drawn out sigh, flopping down on the bed, throwing an arm over her eyes.
Ugh, clearly Oliver was really upset with her. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Oliver stared up at his ceiling, unable to fall to sleep, he turned his head looking out his bedroom door that he left open in case Felicity actually needed anything. His brow furrowed. He couldn't understand her reluctance to let him in. Was it something he did wrong?
If it was he wish she would just tell him what it was he did that made her not want his help.
Why was it so hard for her to just let him be there? That's all he wanted.
He wanted to be the one she turned to, the one she relied on. The one she needed.
He just wanted to keep her safe because the thought of her being hurt, ripped at his chest like an open wound and lit a fire inside him he wasn't sure he could control.
He was unsure of why she refused to let him help her but he did know one thing. He would find out who was behind tonight's events and he would put the fear of God into him and if whoever came near her again he would kill him.
Felicity spent the night tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Her fight with Oliver bothered her more than she'd like to admit.
When morning came it was almost a relief, she didn't have to keep up the pretense of trying and failing to get a decent nights sleep.
She walked out of the guest bedroom, clothes in hand to take a shower, she chanced a glance into his room through the open doorway but she didn't see him. She pursed her lips wondering where he could be?
She walked toward the bathroom door, noticing it was closed and thought maybe he was in there. She raised her arm, her hand poised to knock just as the door opened, revealing a freshly showered Oliver, wearing nothing but a towel low on his waist.
She felt her breath hitch, her eyes focusing in on the bare chest in front of her and the most perfect abs she saw in her entire life. She just might have swallowed her damn tongue.
Her eyes traced every dip and line in his perfectly defined body. She held her arms more tightly to her own body when she felt the urge to trace his every muscle line with her hands. It wasn't like it was the first time she saw him shirtless, she seen him spar with Digg with no shirt multiple times, but his skin was still wet and there was a lone drop of water traveling down his chest and she wanted nothing more than to lick that single drop, swiping her tongue against his flesh.
Jesus, what was wrong with her? Oliver was her employee but more importantly, he was her friend. You weren't supposed to be thinking these kinds of thoughts about your friends.
"Felicity?"
When she felt his hand lay on her shoulder, she jerked her gaze up to find him watching her, speaking her name. Her face flushed with embarrassment realizing he had been talking to her the whole time she'd been ogling him. "Hmm?"
"Did you need to use the bathroom?" he questioned, his mouth pulling into a frown. "Are you alright? You seem out of it."
"No, no, no, I'm fine," she said quickly. Too quickly. "I'm just still half alseep." she lied, forcing a smile she hoped was convincing.
"But after a shower, I'm sure I'll be more awake."
Oliver dropped his hand, stepping to the side so she could get to the bathroom. "The water's still hot, there are towels on the shelf and a new toothbrush inside the cabinet."
Felicity watched as he walked to his room, the muscles in his back shifting, once his bedroom door closed behind him, she shook her head, closing the bathroom door behind her and leaning against it. "You cannot have lustful thoughts about Oliver," she told herself. "You absolutely can't do that."
But who was she kidding? She totally just had those exact thoughts about his amazingly perfect abs.
Damn him and his stupid amazing abs.
Felicity wandered through Oliver's home following the scent of freshly brewed coffee and she was pretty sure she smelled bacon and pancakes.
And found Oliver with his back to her, now fully clothed as he cooked pancakes on the stove. "That smells good."
"I thought I make us some breakfast before we head to the shelter." Oliver turned off the stove and moved the finished pancakes from the pan to a plate on the kitchen island before moving and retrieving two plates from the overhead cabinet.
"Would you mind if I help myself to a cup of coffee?" Felicity wondered.
"Make yourself at home." Oliver placed pancakes on both plates and sat the proper silverware beside them.
Felicity moved around reaching for a cup in the cupboard, pouring herself a cup and making it how she liked it. She could feel Oliver's eyes on her as she moved to take a seat at the island.
A silence fell between them as he took the seat beside her. She felt like there was this divide between them that hadn't been there before last night.
"I didn't know you could cook," Felicity commented to fill the silence.
When nothing but silence followed she thought he wasn't going to respond at all until he said. "I don't get to do it that often."
Felicity nodded, lifting her fork and take a bite of the pancakes, her eyes widening at just how good they were. "Wow," she said after a moment. "That's is really good. I can't cook to save my life. I burn water. Where did you learn to cook so well?"
Felicity waited for him to respond but he never did, she looked over at him to see his gaze was focused on her. Or more precisely on her wrist which had turned a dark purple in the shape of fingers encircling her wrist. "Oliver?"
She waved her hand in front of him and his gaze snapped back to hers. "What?"
Felicity sighed, placing her fork down and turned to him more fully. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I just.." He clenched his jaw. "I can't understand how you take everyone's safety seriously when you won't even take your own safety into account."
"Oliver, it's not that I don't take my own safety into account." She told him, wrapping her hand around her coffee cup and feeling the warmth.
"Then what is it? Because from where I sitting that's what it looks like. Why didn't you call me? Or Digg?"
"I told you last night I didn't want to need anyone."
"I remember." Oliver's voice was low and she could hear the slight twinge of bitterness.
"When I was with my ex, Cooper, he made feel like he was the only thing I could depend on. Made me feel like I couldn't even depend on myself." Felicity found herself saying, wanting to be honest with Oliver. "But I can depend on myself now. I know how capable I am and I won't let anyone tell me different."
The frustration melted away as Oliver's eyes softened in understanding. "You think just because you depend on someone that you'll go back to that?"
Felicity felt the soft understanding look that came over him, pulling at her resolve and she looked away from him.
"Felicity." he placed his hand on her shoulder, waiting till she returned her gaze back to him before speaking. "It's okay to depend on others. It doesn't make you any less capable. It doesn't diminish your strength. I don't think anything could. You are one of the strongest people I know."
Felicity felt his words washing over her like a balm and she placed her hand over his on her shoulder.
"I just want to make sure you're safe." Oliver murmured, his other hand itched to reach out and cup her cheek, but he restrained himself from doing so. And it was so fucking hard. "I need you safe." He needed her safe the way he needed the people he cared about most safe.
"Okay," Felicity said after a moment, being drawn in by the intensity in his eyes, the depth of concern in his voice. And if she was honest with herself it felt good to know that Oliver cared about her so much.
"Okay?" Oliver repeated. "Okay as in okay you hear me or okay as in okay you'll call me if you ever think you're in danger?"
"Both," Felicity answered moving her hand from his sliding it down his arm. "I hear what you're saying and if I ever truly believe I'm in danger, something I can't handle on my own. You'll be my first call."
Relief washed over Oliver and his lips pulled up into a smile. "Thank you."
Felicity gave a chuckle. "You're thanking me for saying you'll be my first call."
Oliver grinned then. "I am. Any guy would be lucky to be you'll first call no matter the reason."
A blush fanned across her cheeks, and she ducked her head, biting back a smile.
Oliver couldn't stop himself from brushing her hair back tentatively, his knuckles brushing her cheek, feeling a tug in his chest pulling him toward her.
Felicity cleared her throat, lifting her coffee cup back up. "So when we go in I'll compile a list with Digg about potential suspects of who might have been the one to throw that brick through my window and then you can take me down to the police station to see Lance."
Oliver nodded as he put the appropriate amount of distance between them. "Sounds like a plan."
And he would find Gina's ex, warn him of the consequences of coming after Felicity. And if he had to break a few bones to get his point across so be it. If he thought he could treat Felicity the way he was clearly used to treating Gina. He had another thing coming.
No one went after Felicity. Not when he could do something about it and he was more than willing to make an example of anyone who came after her.
And whoever it was that threw a rock into her window will soon learn that they targeted the wrong woman.
Reviews are encouraged. Thanks for reading.