So sorry for the long wait! My bad! I know. Anyway, this explains some more of Olicity from Finally (and its new bonus epilogue) - some backstory, some vignettes from after Right Back Atcha, Mr. Queen (Chap 3 of Extra! Extra!). And I promise this'll move along faster after this chapter. And uhm, let's assume that Starling City and Central City belong to the same timezone. I'm so sorry for this not being the best but I just kinda' have to post this now before my signal cuts out. XOXO

Chapter 2

Starling City, 4:30 pm

Felicity Smoak was just winding down another Friday afternoon in Queen Incorporated. She was spinning on her office chair while twirling a pen on her fingers. It was actually the first slow day she had had in a month but there was still roughly half-an-hour of pretending to work left before she could officially clock out and leave for Oliver's place. Good thing his penthouse was literally five minutes away in zero traffic.

They were finally together and had been for the last two weeks. Hard to believe but they had had two weeks of living the good life - a Boring, with a humongous capital B, but good life nonetheless.

She spent her days in QI, deeply involved with a slew of new projects Applied Sciences was rolling out over the next 3-5 years. It was exciting in its own right but boring in a way because it was very different from the thrill and rush of being in the thick of it, as she was in her former night job. Oh, she was happy to let the threats and targets go but she missed the high of using a powerful computer for more than just email.

She would have to admit that the absence of the Arrow had radically changed how they spent their nights. She and Oliver now spent work nights apart except for the occasional dinner when their respective schedules allowed. Weekends they invariably spent with each other, alternating between his place and hers.

They were spending tonight in his place and having their standing once-a-weekend movie date. She had always preferred the cinematic experience herself, especially when she found the time because nothing beat the big screen. But after Oliver had valiantly endured what he could of the Lord-of-the-Rings trilogy (ahem, two-thirds of the Trilogy to be exact – she had to jump him just before The Return of the King started to distract him from obsessing about Legolas's bad form!) with her two weekends ago and after he had silently suffered through two back-to-back movies with her at the cinema last weekend ( Yes, for such a big bad vigilante who thrived in the shadows, he didn't really enjoy dark confined spaces – his white-knuckled grip on the arm rest had proven it!), she felt that he had deserved a quiet night in away from the Friday-night crowd and the pick of the films for movie night.

She had been curious about his picks. And because she hated mysteries, she had been trying to trip him up! But alas! He was notoriously keeping mum. That man and his secrets! One day, she promised herself, he was going to open up and spill it all – and she would be there for it.

A shrill ringing from her phone broke her from her musings. It was Caitlin. She had been meaning to call her friend for a good long session of squeeing girl talk but hadn't really had the time except for a few quick texts. It was a good thing then that she now had time to kill.

"Hi, Caitlin!" She said into her phone, her voice happy to be hearing from one of her closest friends.

Her greeting went unreturned. A heavy beat of silence followed. It worried her. Caitlin was usually so direct. "Caitlin, what's wrong?"

"Felicity," Caitlin said with a soughing breath. "It's Barry."

And just like that, boring-but-good went to disturbing-and-shit.

xxxxXXXXxxxx

Oliver had just gotten home from another endless meeting with his executives and the rest of the Queen Incorporated's board about trying to get a number of reforms for their employees and their benefits. Stellmoor basically massacred every benefits program QC employees had previously enjoyed, and while Palmer Technologies had worked to return them, it was not fully implemented before Ray Palmer's untimely death had led to Oliver's reacquisition of the company. It would have been better had Felicity been there but it was strictly upper management and the board who had met in one of the more exclusive and private restaurants on the other side of the city.

He had ended up arguing with some factions, who were all for conservative measures, telling them that, although they would have to take stringent steps to rehabilitate the company, employee welfare was not where costs should be cut. In a time when the city also needed the help in the effort to rebuild in the aftermath of the past three years (as evidenced by his meeting with the Chamber of Commerce and City Hall the week before), keeping their workers employed and healthy and with a workable flexibility in man-hours to see to their families and the rebuilding effort should be a priority.

He had a few of the more progressive board members and a handful of his top executives on his side but it was slow going. It still pained him to think that he had a hand in letting his family's business go to shit. He had thought of it as no great personal loss to have let QC slip from his fingers but he had neglected to think about the thousands upon thousands of his former employees and the fate they had suffered in the past three years, not to mention the major catastrophes that he and his family had a hand in making.

That was something he was working hard to correct. He had a singular determination to right his wrongs, to do better, to give back, especially now that he had lost the Arrow. He was putting most of the surprise $750-million net windfall inheritance from the Dearden part of his family (that he had been made eligible to inherit at age 30 [or after a year of his mother's death] from his mother's parents) to good use. After he had Walter Steele establish a rainy-day fund for the whole of Team Arrow, he had used a sizable portion of it to reacquire his father's erstwhile company – one of the city's top employers and had personally injected almost $50-milllion into various rehabilitation programs. On top of that, he had started looking through local contractors to rebuild a number of properties he had inherited or re-acquired. The Queen manor and grounds alone was a two-and-a-half-year rebuilding project that he could use to give them work. Lord knows, the people of his city were in dire need of more jobs.

But everything now seemed to take a lot more effort. It was even more exhausting to him than running around as the Arrow. The Arrow had more manageable objectives and was a heck of a lot more efficient without all the bureaucracy. This, this new life that he was building was like slogging through mud.

He sighed and chose instead to focus on the good things. The board didn't reject his proposal outright and had promised to study the matter more closely. One of the contractors had already given him a reasonable and workable figure so far for the mansion rebuild. And he had a date with Felicity that very night. Well, actually, in just under thirty minutes, if he wanted to be precise – just enough time to reheat the casserole Raisa had earlier left for them, let the exotic red Thea had recently added to Verdant's wine selection breathe, queue his films for movie night and take a quick shower.

He had been looking forward to spending the whole weekend with Felicity. The past two weekends had been bliss, the weekdays – not-so-much. Between the launch of her projects under QI's Applied Sciences Division and his going through all the remaining Queen and Dearden assets and liabilities with his lawyers and accountants and seemingly endless meetings with the QI higher-ups and the city's local contractors, they were only able to see each other for dinner on a weekday twice in the past two weeks. With the exception of weekends, all the rest of their interactions were limited to quick hellos by phone, short texts and one late night Skype call.

It was crazy, he thought, that they saw less of each other now that they were together than last year when they couldn't have been further apart. He wouldn't have traded it for the world though – well, except maybe, for just the two of them on a relaxing and quiet weekend away from the city. He was actually itching to whisk them both to the one property he just discovered that his father had kept off the books – their small summer house by the lake. He had yet to ask Felicity if she was up to a two-hour drive on a Saturday morning.

Or they could always put it off until after next weekend's Fourth of July barbecue – the one he insisted on hosting here in his house on his private pool and roof deck. Either way, he couldn't wait for his weekend to start.

With the casserole in the oven, the red popped and breathing and the films queued (Yes, he had finally gotten himself a WEFLIX subscription – even if it galled him to have anything from Wayne Enterprises – for Felicity's sake!), he was on his way up to his en suite bathroom when his phone buzzed. It should be Felicity. She'd be on her way over or would be soon. That brought a smile to his face.

"Hey, are you on your way?" He asked as it was her who was calling.

His gut took a steep dive when no answer was forthcoming. Then he heard her take a deep, rattling breath. That could not be good, he thought. "Felicity, what's wrong?"

"Oliver," her voice cracked, "Caitlin called. It's Barry. He's in critical condition with no one but her taking care of him in S.T.A.R. Labs. It… it doesn't look good."

It was hard to believe that Barry could ever really be in a bad situation. Heck, he had just seen him goof around his hockey gods two weekends ago. "What happened?" He asked her as he took a seat on the top stairs. He felt like he needed to be seated.

"Remember the case they were working?" She sniffled, "They think Barry's the latest victim. The case is thin so they haven't made any real headway. Caitlin's asking for back-up. She feels that they're running around like headless chickens."

"Okay, I'll pick you up in 10 minutes," he said while mentally running down the things they needed to bring.

"All right, I already texted Digg. I'll get us the earliest train or plane tickets I could find," she said as she began to slip into action mode. Crying can wait.

Oliver quickly ran the math in his head. It was 600 miles to Central City. It was a 3-4 hour train ride. It would take them at least 3 hours on the earliest commercial flight. At his Gulfstream's top speed and accounting for city traffic, they would be there in 2.5 hours tops. It was their fastest option. "No need. We're taking the jet."

"Oliver, we don't exactly have access to the company jet. Austerity measures and all," Felicity reminded him. The whole QI fleet was grounded until the company started to make more money. Until then, everyone must fly commercial.

"I know. We're taking mine," Oliver said. It was one of his investments that he hadn't really told Felicity about yet.

"Since when did… No, never mind. I'll see you."

"Okay, see you."

It wasn't even a minute before his phone started ringing again. It was Diggle this time.

"John," he said by way of greeting.

"Hey, man. Just let me get a few things together. Felicity and I will pick you up in the helo instead. That would cut our time to the airfield in half. Do you need me to get anything else?"

"No, I've got it. Just get here as fast as you can," he replied.

"Okay. Give us 15 minutes tops."

And just like that, a relaxing night in gave way to a tense night out.

Please feel free to let me know what you think. Kisses!