After watching Bruce leave in a rush Felicity walked back to the bar a little unsure of what had just happened. She sat on the same booth she had previously occupied and the bartender poured her a glass of wine before she even ordered.
She was still a little surprised she had just met Gotham's billionaire bachelor of the year... for the third year in a row. Of course she had seen pictures of Bruce Wayne in the covers of magazines and newspapers, not to mention on the internet, specially when he returned to Gotham after being presumed dead. That had been a field day for the press, she remembered. But the notion that Bruce Wayne would flirt with her and ask her out seemed so absurd that she dismissed any and all similarities between the man she had been dancing with and the one smiling on magazine covers. Besides, the way the press described Bruce as an irresponsible womanizer who literally burned his parents' mansion to the ground and took the entire Russian ballet on a cruise clashed harshly with the charming nice guy she had been talking to until moments ago.
She sighed and took a sip of her wine, trying to clear her head. When she decided to go to the ball she had been nervous thinking she may find Oliver, Sara or maybe Batman. She knew she might have even bumped into Isabel Rochev or Moira Queen. But never in a million years had she expected to meet Bruce Wayne.
After he left she had nothing to do except wait for the robbery, so she resigned herself to sporadically sip her wine while glancing every now and then at the area where the jewelry was being showcased, as she waited for Magpie to make her appearance. Except it never happened.
It was almost two o'clock and most of the guests had already left when Felicity decided to call it a night. It would look strange if she was the last to leave when she shouldn't even have been invited to the event in the first place. Moreover, she was supposed to be assisting Oliver during the ball, when in reality she had no idea where or how he had spent his evening.
Finally, accepting that Batman was wrong, Magpie hadn't intended to steal the Hummingbird diamond and Oliver would be annoyingly gloating the next day, she took a cab and went home.
Felicity had just arrived home and was taking her high heels off when her phone beeped signing she had received a message. She quickly grabbed it expecting a message from someone from Team Arrow telling her that either the robbery had happened after the ball or that there was an emergency.
Instead, she was surprised to find a message from Batman, "You were beautiful tonight."
Her mouth dropped open and she blinked twice, "You were there? You saw me?"
"Of course I did," he instantly answered.
"And you are certain it was me?"
"Fitting blue dress open in the back, long blonde hair in lose waves to the side, very high high heels. Am I right?"
"I guess it was me."
"And as I said, you were beautiful. Besides, I knew what I was looking for. Your background file came with pictures."
She groaned and rolled her eyes; she should have expected that. "I didn't see you."
"Maybe it's because I was wearing a different suit tonight?" he asked playfully.
"You could have said 'hello'. By the way, I'm sorry to say you were wrong about Magpie. She didn't try to steal the diamond."
"Actually, she not only tried to but she stole it," he corrected her.
"What?" she loudly asked the empty apartment but typed, "How? When? You were there and you did nothing?"
"All went as planned. I never intended to stop her," the vigilante told her.
Felicity stared at the small screen of her phone in shock, "It's just my luck! When I decide to help a new vigilante he turns bad". Still, she had to ask, "Why?"
"Because if I interrupted her there might have been collateral damage. I talked to Warren before the ball and he agreed to exchange the real diamond for a replica with a tracer, which is what Magpie stole."
Felicity smiled and felt her heart beating again. Her instincts had told her to trust Batman and she always followed her instincts. She didn't want to think what she would have done if they were wrong. "So, what now?"
"Now, I think it's time you call your contact in Starling PD and give him Magpie's location."
"He'll also need the info I decrypted to be able to charge her for all the robberies," she told him.
"Sending you the links with the tracer and the info," he typed before doing as promised.
"Thank you. I'll call detective Lance now."
"Okay. I'll probably stay in town until she is arrested and charged. Good night, Felicity."
She watched Batman sign off of their chat and sat on the couch with a sigh, preparing herself to wake up detective Lance in the middle of the night to inform him the location of a thief whose robbery hadn't even been discovered yet. That would definitely not be a fun conversation.
It was almost noon when the sunshine coming from the window hit Felicity's face, giving her no choice but to wake up. She turned and rolled in bed, still too lazy and sleepy to get up yet, but eventually her stomach started to rumble and her hunger got the best out of her.
She grabbed her phone on her way to the kitchen, intending to do a scavenger hunt on her fridge to try and find anything that could be considered eatable. After a few minutes sniffing food she decided it was safe to eat the rest of the pizza she had ordered in sometime that week and heated it up on the microwave. She sat at the kitchen counter and held a slice of cheese pizza in one hand, while checking her phone in the other. There were a few missed calls from Oliver and Diggle, as well as messages from them and an unknown number.
Choosing the devil she knew, she opened Oliver's messages first. "Batman was wrong. No robbery. Talk about a plan tomorrow." "Starling PD just arrested Magpie. You know anything?" "We need to talk about the robbery and last night. Meeting at the lair at 7."
She rolled her eyes, imagining how angry Oliver must be that he wasn't in control over what had happened the night before and decided to deal with him when the Team met at 7pm.
Then, it was time to read Diggle's messages. "Am I crazy or did you dance with Bruce Wayne in the ball?" "No heist. Guess Magpie isn't in Starling after all. TTYL." "Meeting at 7. Let me know if you need a ride."
She smiled reading Diggle's messages, specially the first one. She couldn't believe Diggle had recognized Bruce as a celebrity when she hadn't. She quickly sent him a message saying she wouldn't need a ride and that they would talk later.
Finally, she opened the message she had received from an unknown number. "Felicity, I'd love to have coffee with you this afternoon. Five thirty at Chez Moi Bistro okay for you? Look forward to seeing you. Bruce."
Felicity read and reread the message a few times before pressing "call". She wasn't thinking straight and she wasn't sure about what she was doing, she was just doing what her gut told her to do.
After only two rings he answered, "Hello, Felicity."
"Hey. Bruce. Hi," he replied awkwardly.
He chuckled, "Hi. Please don't tell me you're calling to cancel our coffee..."
"No, no. I mean, unless you want to cancel it. You said you were in town on business, so if our coffee date gets in the way of your business-" she started but Bruce cut her off.
"It doesn't. Are you free today? I've heard about this French Bistro that has just opened and it sounds pretty great."
"Yeah, Chez Moi Bistro. You mentioned on the message," she paused. "About that, when we agreed to go out for coffee, did you mean you wanted to go to a café or a bistro, or did you mean coffee in a more general sense, like going to a diner that also serves coffee?"
"Do you have any place in mind that you'd like to go?" he asked and for some reason she could bet he was smiling.
"There is this diner that I really like and they have these delicious burgers and fries. But they also serve coffee if that's what you want..." she offered, knowing Big Belly Burger had quite a different atmosphere than Che Moi Bistro.
"It sounds great. Five thirty good for you?"
"It's perfect," she agreed. "I'll text you the address."
"Okay. Can't wait to see you."
She smiled, "Me too. See you soon."
After trying on half of her closet, including some almost formal wear, for her date with Bruce Felicity was relieved she arrived less than ten minutes late for their date. Still, when she entered the diner and saw Bruce sitting by himself on a table by the corner she was a little surprised. She hadn't really processed the fact that he not only had asked her out but also seemed to be quite interested in her. She slowly approached him, checking him out while being careful not to trip on anything on her way to their table and fall in front of him. He was wearing jeans and a casual long sleeved tee that made him look younger and more laid back.
As soon as he noticed her he stood up to greet her with a hug, "Hey, I'm glad you arrived. I was starting to wonder if you had changed your mind."
She shook her head and the expression on her face showed it sounded the most absurd idea she had heard in a long time. "Sorry. I had a little trouble choosing what to wear to a a coffee date," she confessed.
He took a better look at her casual clothes and she blushed, "I know a pair of jeans and a sweater don't seem to be a difficult choice but for a moment there really was the possibility I would come here wearing a gala dress or naked."
Bruce choked on air and frowned a little and Felicity blushed darker.
"I think that would provoke quite a commotion among the male customers as well as some female ones. Maybe next time we can choose somewhere more private and you can wear or not wear whatever you want," he offered with a wink.
Thankfully, Carly interrupted them when she walked to their table, "Hey, guys. Can I get your order?"
Bruce looked down at his menu while asking Felicity, "So, what's good here?"
She shrugged, "Pretty much everything, though I usually go with the same thing."
Carly turned to her, "So, burger, fries and soda?"
She nodded, "Yeah, thanks, Carly."
"I'll have the same thing," Bruce announced. As Carly left, Bruce grinned at Felicity.
"What?" she asked, shifting in her seat.
"Nothing. It's just refreshing to meet a woman who actually eats. Most women I know seem to live on lettuce ad water."
"Well, if you don't like that then you shouldn't have gone on a love cruise with the entire Russian ballet. What did you expect those ballerinas to eat?"
Bruce chuckled and sat back, "It wasn't like the press made it look like. But I see you've checked on me."
She blushed, embarrassed that she had been caught, "It wasn't really checking, just Googling. And I couldn't help myself; computers are kind of my thing."
"Really? Then why do you work as an EA?"
"So, you also checked on me?" she accused back.
"It was on the card you gave me," he pointed out.
"Right," she cleared her throat, considering how to answer his question. "I used to work in IT at Queen Consolidated but then I was promoted... or maybe demoted to EA."
Bruce faked surprise, "Why?"
Felicity shrugged, "Well, after Mrs. Queen was arrested because of her involvement with the undertaking and Olive had to step in as CEO, he asked me to become his EA."
"Oliver Queen asked you?" Bruce confirmed what she had just said.
"Yeah. I've helped him with some computer stuff after he came back from the island and I was one of the few people he knew in Queen Consolidated when he became CEO."
Bruce nodded quietly, watching her, "It makes sense not. That he asked you to become his EA. After all, we try to keep the people we trust close to us."
"That's what he said," she agreed.
He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table and holding her hand, "I'm sorry if I'm being bold but is there something going on between you and Oliver?"
"What?" she asked surprised.
"It just seems to be a lot of sacrifice to abandon a promising career doing what you love to be an EA to Oliver Queen."
"He's a friend and he needed my help," she explained.
"Still," he insisted.
She sighed, "I believe in him... in what he is trying to do... for Queen Consolidated. When you believe in someone's cause, sometimes you have to make sacrifices."
"That's true," he conceded. "So, there is nothing between you two?"
She blushed lightly, "I might have harbored a small crush on him for a little bit. But it's over; he has a girlfriend and I-" she stopped, not knowing how to finish her sentence.
"You're here, with me," he smiled at her, caressing her hand.
She smiled back shyly, "I am."
Carly broke the moment when she arrived with their food, quickly serving them and leaving. Both Felicity and Bruce started to dig in, silently eating for a few moments before Felicity asked, "What about you? How many girlfriends do you have at the moment?" she jokingly asked, reminding both of them of his reputation of a womanizer, as she ate her fries.
"No girlfriends. To be honest I haven't been on a date in a very long time. Though I'd love to go on a second date with you," she replied as he finished his burger.
"I thought you'd have to go back to Gotham soon."
"Not yet. We could have dinner tomorrow," he offered.
"Lunch would be easier for me," she suggested.
"Lunch it is."
Felicity smiled, "Thank you for being understanding." She sighed, "I'm sorry but I should probably be going. I have this thing I have to go to..."
"Not another date, I hope."
She snorted, "Yeah, right. Because I go out on dates all the time."
Bruce chuckled and she blushed and shook her head at herself, "Can we pretend that didn't happen?"
"That what didn't happen?" he faked confusion and she smiled.
"Thanks. I had a really good time today but I really need to go," she and stood up, getting ready to leave.
Bruce put a few bills on the table to cover their order and stood up with her, walking her outside and to her car. "Good. Then I still have a chance with you even with my reputation," he said half hopeful, half questioning.
She smiled, "I think you have a really good chance if you really are the guy who just had a burger with me and not the womanizer playboy in the cover of magazines," she reassured him.
He stepped closer, resting a hand on her waist and the other on her shoulder and kissed her softly on the lips before taking a step back, "I'm glad to hear that. I'll call you tomorrow about lunch, okay?"
She smiled widely, "I'll be waiting. Good night, Bruce," she said before entering her car and driving to Verdant, but not before looking at him one more time through the reviewing mirror.
Felicity climbed down the stairs and into the lair knowing what would be expecting her. She was the last to arrive, the team was sitting around the place, expect for Oliver who was standing next to her computers, with his arms crossed in front of him. As soon as he saw Felicity he stood up a little straighter, showing he was pissed off.
"What the hell happened last night?" he asked her.
Felicity ignored his little tantrum and walked to her dest, putting her purse on it and sitting on her chair, "Magpie stole a fake diamond with a tracer. Batman sent me the link with the tracer and I gave it to detective Lance along with enough information to charge Magpie for all her crimes. Magpie was arrested this morning. End of story."
"There shouldn't have been a robbery in the first place. Batman should have told us everything so we could have stopped it last night."
She sighed, noticing the eyes of the entire team watching their discussion, "It wasn't your call, it was Batman's call. And he'd rather have her rob a fake diamond than put anyone in danger by interrupting the robbery."
"It's my city!" he grunted.
Felicity Frowned, "It doesn't belong to you! And it was his criminal," she defended.
Roy cleared his throat, trying to break the tension, "When did she rob the diamond anyway? No one saw anything."
Felicity turned in her chair and started typing on the computer, bringing up videos from the ball, "From what I know she was disguised as part of the security staff and made the exchange when the jewelry was put on the showcasing area. Most guests were on the dancing floor then and she was dressed for the part so no one noticed anything."
"Pull up the video; I want to see when it happened," Oliver asked, and everyone got closer to watch the screens.
Felicity typed for another moment and then videos from different cameras started to show on her screens. She pointed to a woman dressed in a discreet black suit in one of the videos, "This is her..." she forwarded the video a couple of minutes and then added, "And that how and when she robbed the diamond."
"Felicity," Roy started hesitantly, "is that you in the blue dress? And are you dancing with Bruce Wayne?" he asked, pointing to another scream where sure enough Felicity and Bruce were dancing together.
"Uhm... yeah?" she confirmed. Then she frowned and turned to him, "How did you recognize him so quickly?"
Before Roy had the chance to answer Oliver interrupted, "You were flirting with Bruce Wayne during the job?"
"Just to be clear, last night I was not working. I was attending a gala and having fun; that's all."
Oliver snorted, "Obviously."
Felicity rolled her eyes, "Anyways, if that's all..."
"Are you dating Bruce Wayne?" Roy asked, still surprised at how closed Felicity and Bruce were in the video.
"Don't be ridiculous. Felicity and Bruce Wayne would never actually date," Oliver said before Felicity could answer Roy's question.
"Uhm... Why wouldn't I date Bruce Wayne? Or do you think he is the one who wouldn't date me? Am I not pretty enough? Interesting enough?"
"Believe me, Blondie, you were hot last night. And if I didn't have a girlfriend I would certainly have already hit on you," Roy told Felicity with a smirk and a wink.
Diggle chuckled amused before telling her, "I can certainly see why any man would be interested in you."
"And some women too," Sara said unexpectedly. All turned around with shocked looks and raised eyebrows, but she simply shrugged, "Just saying."
Oliver took a step back, raising his hands in defense, "All I'm saying is that you're a real person, you wouldn't date someone... like Bruce."
"Someone.. like Bruce?" she repeated, mocking. "Someone... handsome? Charming? Who is an amazing dancer?" she shook head, "Whatever. I'm not discussing my personal life right now. Do we have work to do tonight?"
"Sara and I will patrol the Glades. Slade is too quiet, he must be planning something, so I need you too look for leads on him," Oliver told her.
"Roy and I will spar down here and keep you company," Dig said, slapping Roy on the back and walking to the mats. Roy quickly followed Dig and Sara walked to the corner to get ready for patrol.
When there was only Oliver and Felicity remaining he walked closer to her, "About Bruce... All I meant is that you deserve better."
Felicity looked up at him and shook her head with a smile, "Oliver, I'm the only one who can decided what is best for me. That's not your job; it's mine." She looked to the side and saw Sara standing by the stairs, "Now you should go, your girlfriend is waiting for you."
Oliver looked back at Sara and then at Felicity, finally sighing and walking to the stairs. Felicity watched them leave, turned back to her computers and smiled; she couldn't wait for lunch.
A/N: The response to this fic has been overwhelming and all I can really say is thank you, thank you, thank you and please keep the reviews coming. They really mean the world to me!