It was a little after nine o'clock when Felicity finally arrived home. She opened her door and taking the first step into her living room she felt like she had kicked something. She turned on the lights, closed the door and took the small envelope that laid on the floor. It didn't take a genius to know it most probably was the flash drive Batman had asked her to decrypt, so it was no surprise when she opened the envelope and the small object fell on her open palm.

Turning her computer on and leaving the flash drive next to it, she decided she deserved at least half an hour to herself before she started working for the new vigilante in her life. She took a long-ish steaming shower and put on a pair of sweatpants and a lose tee-shirt. Then she went to the kitchen and grabbed a tub of Rocky Road ice cream and a spoon before taking her place in front of her computer.

Felicity had just plugged the flash drive into her computer and had a spoonful of ice cream half away to her mouth when a chat box opened on her screen, "Good evening, Miss Smoak".

She groaned, "I can't believe this. Is it a prerequisite to be a vigilante to be impatient?" she asked the empty living room.

"I haven't started working on the files yet," she replied. "I do have a day job, you know?"

"Yes, as the Executive Assistant of Oliver Queen, at Queen Consolidated."

"How do you know that?" she quickly typed before asking herself aloud, "And what else do you know?"

"Did you really think I wouldn't run a background check on you before asking for your help?"

"I have to tell you... that's a little creepy."

"I apologize. But I had to be sure you were trustworthy."

Felicity rolled her eyes and minimized the chat box to start working on the files he had sent her. Twenty minutes later she had made very little progress with the files when she noticed she had received a new message and opened the chat box again.

"I didn't expect you to have finished decrypting the files," she read. "I just wanted to ask you about your day."

She smiled and ate another spoon of ice cream, "There isn't much to tell. Not many adventures in the exciting life of an EA," she joked.

"About that, why did you accept to work as an EA when you were on your way to become the head of the IT department?"

"You and me both wonder about that, buddy," she told the screen, but typed, "It's complicated."

"That means the reason is related to Arrow?"

Felicity tilted her head to the side, "Well, at least I know he is not stupid."

"What am I looking for in these files?" she pointedly ignored his question and changed the subject.

It took a couple of minutes for him to reply and she could bet he was wondering whether to answer her question or insist on the topic of her job. In the end he answered, "Do you know Margaret Pye?"

Felicity didn't recognize the name, then again she didn't know many people from Gotham, just the celebrities that made the cover of the newspapers and gossip magazines.

"Give me a minute," she replied and opened Gotham's Police Department database.

After agreeing to help batman last night, she thought it would be a good idea to hack into the local police's database as well as check out the main newspapers and police reports to know what she was getting herself into.

There were no results with Margaret Pye's name in the police's database, so she decided to go old school and just google it. In seconds she found out the woman was Gotham's Museum curator and the highlights of her life.

She went back to the chat box and started typing, "She is a big name in the art world, curator of Gotham's Museum and she specializes in antiquity. No record, no red flags."

"Check out the alias Magpie," was his simple reply.

Quickly Felicity found out numerous reports on an unidentified criminal who stole incredibly expensive jewelry, usually named after birds, leaving fakes in their place. The thief had been working all over the world and didn't leave any clues behind.

"So Margaret Pye is actually Magpie?"

"Yes. And i believe she already has another heist in mind."

"Care to share?"

"Warren Worthington's foundation is going to offer a ball for the Glades in Starling City on Saturday and they will be showcasing and auctioning some of his family's jewels, including the Hummingbird diamond."

She sighed a little disappointed and asked, "So you want Arrow to put a stop on her when she comes to town?"

"No. The files I sent you contain information about the jewels she has stolen and sold, including the price, the buyer and the bank accounts the money was wired to."

She nodded to the screen, a little relieved he wasn't using her to get in contact with Oliver, "So you want to follow the money..."

"And arrest her before she goes to Starling City."

Felicity sighed and ate another spoon of ice cream. She hated to have to give people bad news but sometimes there was no choice, "There is only one problem, I don't have a key to decrypt the files and there is a lot of data so it will take a while to get it done. I'm not sure I can deliver the information before the ball."

And then what was supposed to be her helping Batman would become a Team Arrow mission. Strangely, she was excited to be working with Gotham's vigilante and didn't want to share him with the rest of the team; at least not yet. She tapped her nails against the coffee table anxiously waiting for Batman's reply.

"Don't worry, if you can't get the information by then I will find another way to catch her."

She bit her lip, she didn't like it one bit but she had to offer, "If you need Arrow's help I can get in contact with him." She sent the message reminding herself that in the end they had to focus on the mission and she couldn't just let a thief go free so she didn't have to share Batman with the rest of the team.

It took him a few minutes to answer and as she nervously waited for him she devoured half of the tub of ice cream. When she finally read his new message she had to smile. It was his turn to ignore her question and change the subject, "You didn't really answer my question about how your day was."

"It was good. The EA job is not exactly difficult, it's just a little boring... Scheduling meetings, answering e-mails on behalf of my boss, dealing with bitchy mean co-CEOs..."

"And I bet you didn't dream of serving coffee when you graduated summa cum laude from MIT."

She started laughing but then frowned, "Remember when I told you it was a little creepy that you did a background check on me? Well, I was wrong, it's VERY creepy." She paused, then continued, "And I don't serve coffee. It was one of my conditions to accept the job."

"Does the fact you were offended that I did a background check on you mean that you didn't look into me before and after agreeing to help me?"

She stared at the screen and rolled her eyes, "You're a vigilante, I had to know if you really were a good guy or just pretending to be one. Besides, I only found out who you've arrested and the police cases were involved in. I have no idea where you work or how you did in college. Or even if you went to college or have a job," she defended herself.

"So, what else did you do after work besides looking into me?" he decided to continue the conversation as if she hadn't just scolded him.

"Nothing really. There were no big bad terrorizing the city tonight so we had the night off. I just did some more research on you and came home."

"Have you told Arrow yet?"

"Yes," she replied shortly.

"And?"

"He is not happy but he knows it's my choice and there is nothing he can do about it."

"I'm glad you didn't change your mind because of him."

She smiled reading the message. To be honest she was glad for that, too. Oliver was possessive and controlling and she knew if it was up to him she would not be helping Batman. Instead, she would continue to live her life revolving it around him as both Oliver Queen and Arrow. But she couldn't do that anymore. She was happy to help him save the city and she knew the team appreciated her work but she couldn't keep spending all her time, both during and after work, on Oliver when she couldn't see a future with him. She needed to find new friends outside Team Arrow, even if they were vigilantes that she only talked to through online messages.

Checking the clock she was surprised too see it was later that she expected. "I hate to cut this short but I should go back to working on those files if you want me to decrypt them before the ball."

"I guess you're right."

"I usually am," she playfully answered.

"Before you go..."

"Yeah?"

"I went to college but never graduated and I do have a job. Good night," and just like that he was gone again.

After chatting online with Gotham's vigilante for an hour she spent another four hours in front of her computer trying to decrypt the files so she could find a link between the heists Batman mentioned to Magpie, but without much success.

When she finally went to bed she was exhausted but still had a smile on her face; someone had asked her about her day.

Felicity was definitely not a morning person. Usually she would keep it to herself in the first couple hours after she woke up, still too sleepy to interact with others. However, the next day when she woke up she could barely open her eyes. Five hours of sleep was definitely too little for Felicity. She sleepwalked through her morning routine, took a shower with her eyes half closed, couldn't find her purse anywhere in her place, almost left the apartment wearing mismatched shoes and against her best efforts still arrived late at work.

Her day was spent sending e-mails, reviewing contracts and checking newspapers and police reports for criminals the police couldn't catch for some reason. During her lunch time she took a well deserved nap and when her shift at Queen Consolidated was finally over she went to the lair.

She was so focused on her computers, researching a series of robberies that she barely noticed the other team members arrive. Her attention only got caught much later when she heard a loud crash and looked up to see Oliver and Sara sparring on the mats. Obviously one of them had brought the other down and now they were rolling around trying to best the other. It looked like foreplay to them and Felicity half expected them to start making out at any moment. She huffed at the remaining hurt she felt and looked down at her keyboard.

Without her noticing, Dig approached her and sat at her side. "I know it can't be easy to watch them like that all the time. I'm sorry," he told her in a soft voice.

She gave him a sad smile and shrugged, "It's okay. It's not as bad as you think."

He didn't believe her for a second but let it go all the same. "Have you talked to the other vigilante?" he asked and watched as Felicity's face transformed and the sad smile was replaced with a grin.

"Yeah, we talked last night. I asked him about the files and who he is after and he asked me about my day."

Dig raised his eyebrows, "He asked you about your day?"

"Yeah, I guess he was being polite."

"Sure, polite," Dig repeated unconvinced and was about to comment further when Oliver groaned loudly, making the rest of the team look up to find out Sara had won and was straddling him with her forearm against his throat as he laid under her, a hand on her shoulder and the other one holding her wrist.

Felicity sighed and looked back down and Diggle scoffed at how oblivious the couple was or pretended to be to Felicity's feelings.

"Hey, are you hungry? I could die for a Big Belly burger right now," Dig invited her.

Felicity knew what he was doing and she was grateful he cared enough to try and get her out of the lair, "Sure, let's go."

She stood up, took her purse and started walking to the stairs with Diggle when Roy stepped in front of her, "Where are you going?"

"We are heading to Big Belly Burger to have dinner."

Roy's expression changed to one of disbelief, "And you guys were just going to leave me here alone with them?" he asked, pointing to the couple behind Felicity and Diggle.

Felicity rolled her eyes at Roy overreaction but she could sympathize with him, "You can come with us if you want."

He briefly smiled and hugged her, "Thank you". And just as quickly he had grabbed his sweatshirt and wallet and was climbing the stairs, calling behind him, "Let's go."

Felicity and Diggle looked at each other and shook their head before following Roy out.

The small group talked and laughed animated between bites of their burgers and fries. Roy had been a nice addition to the group, not only because he was extremely strong after being injected with the Mirakuru but also because he was a hard-working guy with his heart on the right place and a good sense of humor.

Also, Felicity could somehow relate to him, knowing he felt like an outcast both when he lived in the Glades and after, being thrown into the Queen's world by Thea, all the while knowing he didn't belong there. And now he was the new kid in the team and felt like he had to keep proving himself. He was very determined to proved he belonged in the team, spending a lot of time sparing with the others to try to control his strength and learning to shoot arrows, even though he still hadn't hit a single target. He had even asked Felicity to teach him the basics of hacking and bugging phones.

Diggle was in the middle of telling Roy about the time when they took Firefly down when Felicity's cell beeped announcing she had received a new message. Diggle stopped the tale and watched as she read the message and a grin returned to her face for the second time that night.

"Let me guess... the message is from a vigilante who doesn't shoot arrows?" Dig asked her and Felicity looked up at the guys with a fainting blush. She nodded quietly and then started typing a reply.

"What are you talking about?" Roy asked Diggle, confused.

"Well, our friend here has been contacted by Gotham's vigilante. Apparently he needs her help."

"You mean the Bat guy?" Roy asked Diggle before he turned to Felicity, "You are helping two vigilantes? Man! You really are badass with your computers, huh?"

She shrugged, "I do have some talents."

"What was the message about anyways?" Roy questioned.

"Uhm... he just wanted to know if I was home yet. He probably noticed I wasn't online and wondered if I had already finished working on the files he sent me."

"And have you?"

"Not yet, I told him it would take a while. My computer is running a program to try to decrypt it while I'm at work, but without a key it will be pretty hard to decrypt the files before the next heist."

"Well, if anyone can do it, I bet it is you."

She smiled appreciatively at Roy.

"I know it's none of my business but are you going to keep helping Gotham's vigilante or was this a one time thing?"

She bit her lip and shrugged, "I'm not sure. He only asked my help with these files but he did mention that the guy who used to help him with hacking has retired, so I guess he will continue to need my help in the future. Unless, of course, he finds someone else. Although I'm not sure how he would go about it. I mean, it's not like you can just put an ad on the paper looking for a hacker to help your vigilante persona. He only contacted me because he found out I helped Oliver... I mean, Arrow. So, I guess it would make sense if he asked my help again in the future-"

Diggle and Roy shared a smile as they watched Felicity continue to nervously ramble about Gotham's vigilante and her possible future involvement with him.

"I guess we all will just have to wait and see," Dig cut her off, putting her out of her misery.

"Yeah, but if he asked your help... then is he coming to Starling? Are you going to Gotham?" Roy was curious.

Felicity frowned, she hadn't even considered those possibilities. "Uhm... I don't think so," she told them but then remembered that Magpie's next heist would be in Starling and if Batman really didn't want Arrow's help, then he would have to come to Starling himself.

"Well, blondie, just don't leave us. We would miss you too damn much," Roy told her, giving her a half hug and Diggle nodded in agreement.

Felicity could only smile at them in return.

A/N: Hey guys. Thank you so much for the reviews. I used to really love writing fics but for the last couple of years I couldn't write anything that I enjoyed. Finally, a character (Felicity) has inspired me to go back to writing. So thanks for sticking around to read short chapters even though I'm still rusty.

And please, review!

It's what motivates me to keep writing.