A/N: Thank you guys so much for the reviews. I'm amazed at the response to this fic. I hope you guys enjoy this chap. Please, read and review.

Oliver arrived late in the morning at Queen Consolidated, but then again he was always late. He had greeted her as he walked to his office and she had murmured a "good morning" back, but hadn't looked up at him.

He could be obviously at times but he wasn't completely stupid. He had noticed Felicity's change in behavior for the last week, since she learned he was dating Sara. She talked less and started spending more time with Diggle and Roy, sometimes even teaching them how to use some of her hacking programs.

But the worst part was how different their relationship was at the moment. Felicity had always been socially awkward and he had always found it something between amusing and adorable. However, for the last week she had been uncomfortably awkward around him, as if she didn't know how to talk to him anymore. He believed that they would eventually go back to the relationship they had before; she just needed a little time.

Still, it didn't make it any easier to watch Felicity through the glass wall, pacing outside his office, stealing glances at him every now and then. After discreetly watching her pace for almost ten minutes, he sighed and finally called out to her, "Felicity, can you come into my office?"

Felicity was startled for a moment before walking into the room with a fake smile, "Do you need anything?"

He stared at her for a moment, "I need to know what has had you pacing outside my office for the last ten minutes."

She bit her lip, "We need to talk." She sat on the chair across from his, smoothed down her dress and stared at Oliver, who just raised his eyebrows. Then suddenly she stood up, frowning, and adjusted her glasses, "I think I prefer to do this standing."

Oliver tried to hide a small smile without much success. "Is it something related to our afterwork activities?"

"No," she quickly shook her head, then furrowed her eyebrows. "I mean, maybe. It kind of is, but not really."

"Felicity..." he said her name in a sigh and somehow she thought it was a cue to start rambling.

"It's nothing really related to what we do. It's about something I decided to do. But since it's kind of related to what you do, I thought it would be better to give you a heads up. You know, in case it somehow becomes part of what we do-"

He cut her off, "Felicity, you're not making sense."

"Right... Do you know Batman? Gotham's vigilante?"

Oliver sat up straight on his chair, resting his arms on the desk, his voice calm and controlled, the way he spoke when he was the Arrow. "I know of him, what the papers say. Why? Is he in town? Has he caused any problems?"

Felicity waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal, "No, no, nothing like that. This Batman vigilante talked to me last night. Actually, he didn't really talk, we chatted... online. He was very polite, especially for a vigilante. Anyway, he asked my help with something and at first I wasn't sure if I should help him because, come on, what kind of vigilante asks for help in a chat box? Usually lights go off and they appear at the most unusual places, like your apartment, and stand tall next to some open window, a little hidden in the dark," she shook her head to clear the idea before continuing. "Anyway, he proved that he really is Batman, and he needs my help, so I told him 'yes'."

The only work that he seemed to be able to say was, "Yes?"

"Yeah, I mean, I may not have used exactly the word 'yes' but I most certainly agreed to help him."

"Why would you do that?"

"Uhm... because he asked for my help?" she answer matter-of-factly.

He raised a hand, "I don't think that's a good idea. We don't know him. Half the papers portray him as a criminal."

"I researched him and he seems to be legit. And the other half of the papers portray him as a hero, just like they do you." She sighed, "Oliver, I'm not asking for your permission, I'm telling you that I'm doing this."

"It could be dangerous," he tried to reason with her.

"The job that I do with you is dangerous."

And that's the reason he had been telling himself, as well as her, that they couldn't be together. "I don't take you to the field. What does he need your help with anyway?"

She found it a little insulting the way he asked, as if there was nothing she could do to help Batman, but chose to ignore it. "He just needs me to decrypt some files."

"But what if this is not the only favor he asks you? What if next time he asks you to do field work?"

Felicity huffed and crossed her arms against her chest, "Then we will see. Since I started working with you I've worn a bomb collar, been held at gunpoint and was attacked by the Dollmaker and that didn't stop me from working with you. That's not even the worst that I had to endure to work with you," she closed her eyes, bringing a hand to her temple and shaking her head.

Oliver opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He definitely didn't want to get into that topic.

"It doesn't matter," she told him, still shaking her head. "This is the right thing to do, so I'm doing it," she told him, turned around and left his office.

As far as she was concerned that conversation was over.

When the door to the lair opened loudly Felicity turned around in her chair quickly with a guilty expression on her face. For some reason she expected it to be Oliver but instead she was faced with Diggle as he approached her.

"What are you doing here? I thought there was no chasing bad guys tonight," she said while checking her cell to see if there were any missed calls or messages but finding none.

"There is no mission tonight but I told Roy I would spar with him to help him control his strength. What are you up to?" He got closer to her computers and frowned, "Is that guy wearing a cape?"

She giggled and turned to see the picture Diggle was looking at, "Uhm.. yeah. This is Batman, Gotham's vigilante. The cape is a little too much, don't you think? And the bat mask too. I mean, I get that he has to wear a mask but he doesn't really need bat ears, right? And the cape looks all bad ass but I bet it's not very helpful while fighting criminals."

Diggle looked at her strangely, "Why are you researching about Batman? Is he in town? Are we trying to take him down?"

She firmly shook her head, "No, no, no. We are most definitely not trying to take him down. Where's Roy, by the way?"

"He will be here any minute and don't try to change the subject. Why do you have articles and reports about this guy?"

"Well, it's a funny story, really. He contacted me last night."

"He what? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head and waved a hand dismissively, "I'm fine. He contacted me online. He probably wasn't even wearing his Batman costume while we were talking." She straightened her back and blushed, "Not that I think he was naked. I mean, he was probably wearing regular clothes, right? There is no reason to wear a bat mask and a cape while chatting with someone online."

Diggle couldn't help but smile at Felicity's nervous rants. He had been worried about her lately. After Sara had joined the team Felicity had become uncomfortable around them and to hear her rambling again was comforting to him. He pulled a chair and sat next to her. "You still haven't told me why you're researching this vigilante."

Felicity nervously brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and furrowed her eyebrows, "He asked for my help with some files and I agreed to help him. But after telling Oliver about it I started to wonder if Batman really was one of the good guys. So I decided to come here and do I deeper research on him, check if there were any casualities related to him, what kind of criminals he goes after, weapons he uses... things that would help me figure out what kind of person he is."

Diggle raised his eyes, "And...?"

She gave him a shy smile, "I think he is one of the good guys." She turned on her chair and started typing, pulling up certain articles about Gotham's vigilante on her screens, "He has been doing this vigilante thing for years and he always tries his hardest to avoid any casualities. He doesn't really target a specific type of criminal. He just goes after whoever is terrorizing the city at the moment. Oh, and Gotham's police department has the coolest thing," she told him, pulling up a picture, "they have a huge spotlight with Batman's symbol on their roof. So, whenever they need him they just turn it on and he shows up. Wouldn't it be nice if Starling's police would rather ask for Oliver's help instead of trying to shoot him?"

Diggle chuckled, "I wouldn't hold my breath over that. Oliver wasn't exactly a role model to vigilantes considering he used to put arrows through most of his targets."

Felicity shrugged but didn't comment. Diggle was right and Felicity glad she didn't need to worry about giving Batman information that would lead to someone's death.

They heard the door to the lair open again and knew that Roy had arrived. Diggle took a deep breath and rested his hand over Felicity's, "I know you believe this vigilante is a nice guy, and maybe he is, but please be careful anyway. Don't try to meet him without backup or do anything dangerous for him. And if you think something is fishy or you just need to talk, remember that I'm here for you, okay?"

Felicity smiled widely and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, "Thank you!"

"Did I walk into something or is this how you two usually spar?" They heard Roy mock and stepped back.

Roy was already walking to the mat, so Diggle gave Felicity another smile before following him. She was glad to have Diggle as her friend. There had been so many changes lately that left her feeling lost and unfit to be in the team that it was good to know she could still count on Dig no matter what.

She turned around on her chair facing the computers and started typing again. There was still a lot to learn about Gotham's vigilante.