Chapter 13:

In the end, Detective Lance had been forced to let Oliver go, on account of 'The Hood' having been seen on the other side of town, while the party had been going on.

Felicity desperately wanted to stay longer, but she had to go to work, and she needed to stop by her apartment to feed Byte. It weird, to say the least, to be doing something as routine as feeding her cat getting ready for work. Her world had been turned upside down and here she was, doing stuff she did every day.

But in the next few days, she really didn't have much time to linger on it. She went to work, fed her cat, worked on some projects she'd shelved, weathered interesting phone calls from both Katie and her mother…

What she didn't get to do was speak to Oliver again.

He was busy keeping up his image and she had work. She did, however, get to see Thea during lunch.

"It's weird," the brunette said about 3 days after Oliver's party. "He just seems… I don't know, lighter, somehow." Thea took a sip of her frappucino. "Any idea why that is?" she asked, a tad too innocently.

Felicity had to hide a grimace. Of all the people in Oliver's life, she was pretty sure Thea would be the most understanding of his secret. She'd probably just proclaim it to be awesome and ask to see his secret lair. Not that even Felicity had been allowed to see that, but whatever. It was just hard to keep a thing like that from her.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I haven't seen Oliver since the party," she replied, focussing on her pasta salad.

They were sitting in a little breakfast/lunch place close to QC, so Felicity wouldn't have to take too long a lunch break. Thea had insisted on paying, so Felicity had done her best to keep the price of her order down. Not that the teen couldn't afford it, but it was the principle that counted.

Strangely, Thea looked disappointed by that answer. "Not what you were expecting to hear?" Felicity asked.

"It's just…" Thea hesitated. "He's been sneaking off a lot, and I guess I was just hoping…"

For a second, Felicity had no idea what her young friend was hinting at, but then it hit her. "That he was spending time with me?" she asked incredulously. "No, not at all! Me and Oliver, no! I mean, we're friends, of course, but not… that kind of friends," she rambled.

Thea sighed. "I guess I was just hoping he'd found someone to talk to. None of us know what he's been through… I mean, he even told Detective Lance that he'd been tortured on that island. Laurel told me. He wasn't alone, and he was…" She let out a shaky breath. "Sometimes I wonder if it's Ollie who came back from that island or someone else. And then I feel guilty because of course something like that changed him. But all I want is for the Ollie who took me all the way to Gotham to get away from our arguing parents to come back."

Felicity looked down at her hands. No, Thea had no idea what Oliver had gone through, no one did. But at least Felicity knew that the Oliver who would go to the ends of the world for his friends and family was still in there. It's just that he now only came out at night, when he donned that hood of his. "Thea, you know he loves you, right?"

"He has a great way of showing me. All he does is judge me for stuff that isn't even half as bad as the things he used to do," Thea muttered, cupping her frappucino in her hands.

"Did it ever occur to you that Oliver lost you too?"

"Huh?"

"When Oliver landed on that island, he had no way of coming home, no way of contacting you. And then, when he finally does make it here, he find this nearly grown woman instead of his baby sister. He doesn't know you, so when things aren't going the way he expects them to, he defaults back to treating you like he did 5 years ago."

Biting her lip in thought, Thea started drawing patterns in the condensation on her cup.

"You've changed, same as him, but neither of you have had a chance to get used to each other. I mean, I remember you back then, you were obsessed with horses and you wished Justin Timberlake would just see sense and ask you out already," Felicity joked.

Thea grew bright red. "I never said that!" she protested.

Felicity just raised an eyebrow. "My point is that you both have to be patient. You've both gone through things the other couldn't possibly understand. And apparently, he doesn't want you making the stupid decisions he made when he was younger."

Thea looked up, looking mildly angry. "You're saying I'm stupid now?"

"What?" Felicity said. "No, that's not what I said. I said Oliver was stupid, and he doesn't want you to do what he did."

Thea kept frowning, but at least she didn't start shouting. "Everyone is always on my case about that. Sometimes I just need to unwind and have fun, what's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is that the way in which you choose to unwind is not legal, nor is it very healthy," Felicity countered.

"Yeah, well, in most European countries, the legal drinking age is 16."

"But it isn't here. And in most European countries, the legal driving age is 18, so they can ensure that dumb teens don't drink and drive."

"God, sometimes you're such a killjoy. You're not my mom!" Thea said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. She looked like a petulant child.

"No, I'm not, but I am someone who cares about you. What do you think I'd do if you got drunk and then wrapped your car around a tree? This has nothing to do with your age. If Katie was acting the same way, I'd be saying the same things."

Thea kept up her act, but her lack of arguments told her that maybe she was getting through to her friend.

"But back to the topic at hand," Felicity said, taking a sip from her ice tea. "I'm glad Oliver's doing better. And if you ever need to talk, about him or about school, or anything else, I'm here, okay?"

Across the table, Thea nodded without looking up or letting up her frown. She was damn stubborn when she wanted to be.

/*/

The next time she saw a member of the Queen family was at work, which was - ironically enough - the place she usually saw the least of the Queen family. You know, ironic, because it's Queen Consolidated? Right? Anyway…

It was a day after her lunch with Thea, and Felicity was chewing on the end of her pen as she tried to figure out if she'd made an error in her coding.

A light knock alerted her that someone was at her door. So of course when she looked up, Oliver was standing there. "Can I come in?" he asked. He looked… lighter, just like Thea had said. There was even a contented smile playing around his lips. And yet, there was something in his eyes that told her that he was also a little uneasy about something.

"Of course. What's wrong?"

He opened his mouth - probably to protest - before closing it and sighing. "It's unfair how well you can read people," he said instead.

"Not people," she corrected. "Just you." And then she realized how that sounded. "And by you I mean 'you people', as in your family. You know, because I spend a lot of time with you. Well, with you and Thea, I don't think my heart could take it if I had to spend a whole lot more time with Mrs. Queen. Not that she isn't lovely! I'm sure that she's a perfectly nice lady! She's just intimidating, you know. And I'll shut up now." Felicity bit her lip as she mentally slammed her head into a wall repeatedly. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

But Oliver was once again not fazed by her babbling and oversharing. He just smiled at her. "You think my mom' intimidating?"

She raised her eyebrows in a clear 'duh'.

Oliver shrugged. "I guess it's hard for me to be intimidated when she's my mom, and I distinctly remember a 3 year old Thea throwing up on mom's favorite suede shoes."

A very unladylike snort escaped before Felicity could stop herself. "I'm sorry, that's just… I'm never going to be able to talk to your mom without having that visual in my head."

"See, not that intimidating anymore, right?" he said, full-on grinning now.

She looked at him. God, she was so far gone. She really wanted to kiss him, but she knew that it wasn't the right time, even though things between them were… better. "So, what's going on?" she asked softly.

The grin faded. "Had an argument with Diggle."

"What about?"

He sighed. "I'm sure you've heard about that string of bank robberies?"

"Yeah, they call themselves the Royal Flush Gang. Talk about original. They hit a few banks banks in every city and then move on."

"They've robbed one bank in Starling already, and shot an off duty cop."

Felicity frowned. "I hadn't heard that. That's the first time they've actually seriously harmed anyone, right?"

Oliver nodded. "Diggle wants me to take them out. I want to focus on Scott Morgan."

"Ugh, I know about him. He's a piece of work," she said, disgusted. "Okay, I get your dilemma."

"I want to honor my father by going to the root of the problem. These street crimes are just a symptom," he explained.

"Well, sure, but that doesn't mean they're any less important than the big crimes. Why can't you do both? Near as I can remember Scott Morgan is a bigger problem in winter. It's not that cold outside yet, you have time to deal with him."

Oliver grimaced. "That's what Diggle said."

"Maybe he's right. You took him on to be your partner, right? So act like it. Take his suggestion. I'm sure this gang is a lot more important to that cop's wife than a guy who shuts off people's utilities," she reasoned.

Oliver leaned back. "Why do you have to be so logical?"

"Oh poor Oliver, can't sit back and brood now, can you?" she teased.

He smiled. A true smile, teeth and all. Even if it was just for a second, the sight made Felicity's heart skip a beat. "Thank you, Felicity," he said sincerely.

"Just keep it in mind. And you're welcome," she replied softly. "Now shoo, I do actually have a job I need to get back to!"

Oliver grinned. "I'm pretty sure having my name on the side of the building means that I can take as much of your time as I want," he teased.

"Maybe, but it's not my name on the side of the building, which means that I'll still have to do all my work, just in less time now," she countered without any heat. In truth, this was nice; him just coming to her office to talk. And him opening up about stuff that bothered him was a huge step forward.

"Okay, true, I'm sorry. Can I make it up to you with lunch? Tomorrow?"

That stopped her in her tracks. Was he asking her out? No, lunch isn't a date, dinner is a date. Unless lunch is at some fancy place. Which Felicity wasn't sure she was mentally prepared for. "Uhm."

"Just something casual. Thea tells me you take her out for lunch sometimes," he assured her.

"Oh, well, uhm. Sure. My break starts at 12:30."

He smiled. "Then I'll see you at 12:30 tomorrow."

/*/

Oliver did call.

Well, sort of. A blocked number called her right as she was about to get into her car to go home. His voice was distorted, but she recognised it from the last time the Hood had been in her apartment. He asked her to come to the old Queen steel factory.

Which was super creepy when it was dark. "Hello?" she called out gingerly. God, she hoped that an axe-murdered wasn't about to jump out and kill her.

The scuffing of a boot behind her alerted her to someone's presence, so she whirled around, her hand on the mace in her purse.

"Jesus, Oliver!" she hissed. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry," he said, not sounding remotely remorseful. He was wearing his Hood costume, but with said hood down. There was grease paint over his eyes.

"You look… weird."

He frowned at her. "You've seen me like this before."

"Yeah, but not without the hood. It's kind of disorienting. Why are we here?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Follow me," he said shortly, and led her to a hallway in the back, where he revealed an honest to goodness hidden door with a keypad next to it. He punched in the code and led her down to a badly lit basement, of sorts.

"Oh my God. This is your lair?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Oliver shot her a half-amused, half-exasperated look, before turning back around and heading towards the computers set up a little further in.

Mr. Diggle was standing stoically next to them.

"Hi!" she said, offering a little wave.

Diggle couldn't quite suppress a smile. "Good to see you again Ms. Smoak."

"Please, it's Felicity," she said, holding out her hand for him to shake. "So what can I do? I mean, I assume you didn't bring me here to sightsee?" she asked, even as her eyes were drawn to the display of green-tipped arrows to her right.

"We're looking into some bank robberies-" Diggle started.

"Oh, you decided to do it?" Felicity interrupted, looking at Oliver. "That's great!" she said, moving towards the computers. She made a face. "Remind me to give you an update, this setup sucks."

She sat down in the chair and pulled up all the research the two men had been doing. Which was mainly just looking at the security footage.

"One of the men's wearing a class ring, we thought that might be a lead," Oliver said, putting his hand on the back of her chair and leaning in."

"Yeah, probably not, this footage isn't clear enough to get a proper look at it. I mean, I can clean it up, but there's only so much you can do when the camera just didn't pick up that many pixels," she said, knowing where he was heading with this. She played part of the footage again, trying to see if she spotted something the men had missed.

"The bank manager," Oliver said.

"What about him?" Diggle asked.

"Ace hit him, that kind of impact would have left a mark. It'll be in evidence at the police station," Oliver said, straightening up.

"Please tell me you're not going where I think you're going?" Diggle said.

Felicity looked up. "What? Where is he going?" Then it hit her. "Wait, all you need is a photograph, right?"

Oliver hesitated a few steps away from her. "Yeah, no problem," Felicity said, turning back to the computer and opening up the wireless database for the SCPD. A quick search showed the evidence pictures taken of the manager's cheekbone. "Ouch, that looks nasty," Felicity said, wincing in sympathy.

Oliver strode back over, looking intently at the screen as Felicity scanned the injury for a pattern and quickly found that it belonged to, "Larchmont high," Oliver said.

"You're welcome," Felicity said, maybe a tiny bit smugly.

Oliver looked down at her, barely suppressing a grin. "Thank you."

"Anything that saved you from having to break into the police station," she replied. "But as much as I'd love to sort through old high school yearbooks, I do have a cat to feed, and sleep to get. I can set up a remote search and then text you if it turns up anything. I should have something for you in the morning," she said, grabbed her purse, and headed back to the door.

"Man, Oliver, you should have brought her in ages ago," she heard Diggle say.

Yup, she was pretty proud of herself.