"Let me give you a hand with that."

Catherine pointed to the suitcase she'd left in Felicity's bedroom - Vincent's old bedroom, really - after retrieving it from the hotel. When Felicity looked puzzled, the detective added, "You probably should be taking it easy on your back – not lifting anything for a while." She was right; Felicity stretched forward tentatively and immediately grimaced when she felt a tug and burning sensation. She nodded and watched Catherine lift the bag onto the bed and unzip it. They both studied the contents.

"I'm thinking you'll want to avoid wearing a bra until those stitches heal a little more," she said gently. "Have you got an outfit in here that doesn't need a bra?"

Felicity glanced down at her chest. She wasn't exactly Katy Perry. "I'm not sure it matters too much," she said dryly.

Catherine laughed and looked down at herself in a similar manner. "You and me both. Still, I know when I'm not feeling my best I want to wear something easy and comfortable. What have you got for the conference that doesn't require too much fuss?"

Felicity took another look into the suitcase and sighed. She had brought her usual assortment of work dresses for the convention. All of them were somewhat form-fitting, ending above the knee and requiring heels – not really easy or comfortable. Her comfy clothes were on the other end of the spectrum – a little too casual, better suited to a day in the park than a day at a conference. She had jeans, leggings, a couple of long-sleeved tee shirts, and some low-heeled boots. She shook her head helplessly.

"I thought you might need something else," Catherine continued with small smile, "so I stopped by my place and picked these up. We look pretty close to the same size and they're loose, so they should work without a bra." She laid out a couple of tunic-style tops on the bed. "You can wear one of them with the black jeans and you'll look great."

Felicity stared at the detective's clothes and felt a prickle of tears in her eyes. Catherine had been the first person she'd seen when she'd awoken in this unknown place. Her immediate impression had been that the woman looked incredibly kind. Glancing at her now, she knew that impression was accurate. It had been a long time since Felicity had had a girlfriend; someone to share the female things in life like clothes and jewelry and cramps. Her technical skills always seemed to attract men – sadly, not very often in the romantic sense. And in her limited, recent opportunities for friendship, Sara had been too much the warrior (not to mention the fact that she was sleeping with Oliver) and Laurel too much the ice princess to ever really get close to. She hadn't thought she'd missed having a girlfriend but being here now with Catherine, joking about bust size and borrowing clothes, she wondered. She would never regret her time with Oliver – they had done important things – but she was reminded of yet another aspect of life she had given up when she joined his crusade. She wasn't sure how long she wanted to continue making those sacrifices, particularly if she had to keep watching him dive into relationships with other women.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Hmm?" she looked up to find Catherine watching her closely.

"I think you went somewhere else for a moment."

Felicity shook her head gently. "Not really. I was just thinking how kind you're being to a complete stranger. It's been a while since I've had someone fuss over me – well, except for Digg, and he and I can't really share clothes." Trying to lighten the mood, she pointed toward the red top with black accents on the cuff and neck. "And you have better taste than he does. That's very pretty. I'll wear that with the jeans." She smiled weakly at Catherine. "Thank you."

Catherine smiled back. "I figured maybe you were thinking about your ex-boss, Mr. Queen."

"Oliver? Why?" Felicity asked quickly. Too quickly, she thought - she sounded defensive.

Catherine gave a small shrug. "He wasn't exactly watching you the way a boss would watch an employee. He seemed a little…intense. When J.T. was congratulating you, I got the feeling he would have liked to have tossed J.T. right out of that chair and taken his place."

Felicity laughed wryly. "Don't read too much into it. Oliver's been looking at me that way for almost two years and nothing's ever come of it. He's…complicated."

Catherine sighed, "Aren't they all? We should probably talk later." In a more business-like tone, she added, "For now, if you don't mind, I can help you get dressed. You don't want to twist too much and tug on those stitches. Vincent says everything should heal nicely if you're careful, and you won't have any major scarring."

Once again, Felicity was touched. There were a lot of things she wanted to say but she settled simply on, "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure." Catherine grinned. "Now, let's get you dressed, we've got a mystery to solve."

Oliver watched Felicity walk away to some unknown part of the house, Catherine Chandler following closely behind. He was surprised at how quickly these people seemed to have embraced Felicity. He was accustomed to thinking of her as quirky – certainly pretty and smart - but always a bit on the outside, not quite fitting in. She could be awkward in social situations (his mother had unnerved her completely) and her mouth often ran away from her at the worst moments. There had been a mutual attraction with Barry Allen, but Barry was just a kid and every bit as quirky as Felicity. Oliver didn't really think he counted. But these New Yorkers - they were adults with normal jobs like cop, doctor and professor, and they were treating Felicity as if she were part of their inner circle. And she seemed equally as comfortable with them. Two years working with her and he had never once seen her in her pajamas. Two days in NYC and she was staying in their home, walking around in only a tee shirt. He'd even thought that J.T. Forbes was going to hug her when she performed her hacking magic. He was relieved when that didn't happen.

"She's in good hands, you don't need to worry."

"What?" he brought himself back to the present, to find Catherine's partner, Tess, studying him.

"Felicity - she's in good hands. Catherine and I have been partners for a long time and she's got the best heart of anyone I know." Her soft tone surprised Oliver. Up to this point she had aligned perfectly with his notion of an abrasive New Yorker.

"I wasn't worried," he said abruptly.

She gave him a long look. "Right."

A girlish giggle – a couple of them, in fact – could be heard from wherever Felicity and Catherine had disappeared to. The five of them - Vincent, J.T., Digg, Tess and Oliver – all smiled; it was hard not to.

Digg voiced Oliver's thoughts. "Sorry I missed the joke, whatever it was. I haven't heard Felicity laugh like that in a long time." Sadly, Oliver thought, that was true. She'd had a tough go of it recently – they all had. Digg turned to Vincent. "We can't thank you enough for what you've done for her."

Vincent shrugged. "No problem. She's a pretty amazing person." He looked like he wanted to say more about Felicity, but after a quick glance at Oliver said instead, "I'm looking forward to hearing what you've been up to for the last ten years, Digg, but I suppose right now J.T. and I should also get dressed for the convention." J.T. nodded in agreement.

Vincent and his friend left the room, leaving Digg and Oliver in the hands of Tess Vargas.

The hacking convention looked much the same on the second day as it had on the first. The vendor booths hawked firewalls and security software, all of which Felicity was fairly certain she could defeat in a couple of hours. The mostly male crowd mingled around the coffee stations, a few of the attendees surreptitiously stuffing bagels into their conference bags when they thought no one was looking. The morning opened with a short keynote followed by concurrent sessions on various cybersecurity topics. The big difference from yesterday was that while Felicity had done her best to avoid people then, she now made herself available. Fortunately, J.T. was sticking by her side. He might not have the fighting skills of Digg or Oliver, but his intelligence and sense of humor were making this whole thing easier.

And circulating somewhere among the small crowds, Oliver, Digg and Vincent were on the lookout. Since they were not registered to attend, Digg and Vincent had been turned away from the door and been forced to find a more creative way to get into the convention. Oliver, on the other hand, had smiled and offered a few words about Queen Consolidated's technology programs - and promptly been allowed to enter. Even when he was no longer CEO, the Queen charisma still seemed to work its magic. Felicity found it annoying. Catherine and Tess had had to go to work, but promised to head over later in the day.

There was no sign of Jeffrey Martin.

The five of them texted each other at least every hour (Felicity badly missed the convenience of the comms) but it appeared that he was not going to risk coming to the convention a second time. After spending the first couple of hours looking for him, she settled instead for approaching other attendees to see if any of them knew of Martin. Getting them to talk was surprisingly easy. Getting them to talk about Jeffrey Martin was another story. He didn't seem to be widely known in hacking circles. She got a lot of shrugs and blank looks, followed by invitations to play Pillars of Eternity when the conference ended for the day. (Despite her love of computers, Felicity had never been that much into video games. J.T., on the other hand, looked like he would have been tempted to accept.)

They got their first break in the afternoon when Felicity was about ready to give up. It had been a frustrating day. Even braless and in more comfortable clothes, her back was stinging and she desperately wanted to free her feet from her restrictive boots. She'd been ogled, hit on, and received a few job offers which only depressingly served to remind her of her unemployed status back in Starling. She and J.T. were fortifying themselves with large coffees when they were approached by two men. She guessed they were around her age, maybe a couple of years younger. Both were sporting shirts with the MIT logo.

She hoped she didn't look too tired when she smiled. "Hi, I'm Fel…"

"We know who you are," one of them said diffidently. He wasn't a bad-looking guy - average height with tousled sandy hair and blue eyes. Just as blue as Oliver's, she thought. He grinned at her shyly. "We graduated MIT in 2012. We never had a class with you, but we heard some of the stories and Professor Ellsbury used to offer an automatic 'A' to anyone who could break your encryption algorithms. I hope you don't mind, but we wanted to meet you in person." His grin grew a little more confident. "That thing where you hacked StubHub? That was brilliant." He paused and added in a lower voice, "Everyone's trying to figure out who you work for now. Can you say which agency you're with? NSA? CIA?" His buddy, a stocky red-head not much taller than Felicity, leaned in a little closer.

She frowned. "StubHub? CIA?" Where the hell was this coming from? She looked at the two men and shook her head helplessly. "I'm not with any agency."

Red-Head appeared puzzled for a moment, but then smirked in a friendly way. He seemed a little more self-assured than his friend. "Oh, yeah…I get it. You can neither confirm nor deny…" Whatever the rumor was, they'd clearly both made up their minds that it was true.

She turned toward J.T. and said wryly, "I don't know who makes this stuff up. Next thing you know, you'll hear I hacked Hillary's email server."

Stocky Red-Head looked disappointed. "You mean you didn't?"

J.T. laughed, "I didn't hear that one. I did hear about StubHub."

There was a pause and Sandy-Hair took the opportunity to gaze at her admiringly. Unlike some of the desperate leers she'd received earlier in the day, she didn't find it offensive. Other than Barry, it had been a while since a nice, smart guy had regarded her as if she were an attractive woman. Of course, given that she'd mostly met homicidal Mirakuru soldiers lately, she hadn't had too many chances. Between the two main men in her life, Digg treated her with love, but in a completely asexual way. And Oliver…well, who the hell knew what Oliver thought.

As if he couldn't help himself, Sandy-Hair suddenly blurted out, "I have to say…you weren't bad looking in school photos but now…wow! You're beautiful." She felt a warm, pleasant glow. This was turning out to be a nice encounter, even if they learned nothing about Jeffrey Martin. But then Sandy-Hair had to add, "It's too bad you didn't wear a dress again today. You really have a great pair."

The warm glow disappeared. She raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"Pair of legs," he amended quickly, turning bright pink. "a great pair of legs." When she continued to stare at him he stammered on, "As for the other…pair…well, I wouldn't know but I'll bet they're great too." He turned even redder and gave J.T. a fearful look. "Oh God, I hope you're not her boyfriend. Please excuse me, sometimes my mouth runs away from me, especially when I'm nervous. I really don't mean to imply that I only wanted to meet Felicity for her…" He stopped abruptly. His buddy was grinning at him in amusement and J.T. looked ready to throw his coffee at him. Felicity wasn't sure whether she should be annoyed or entertained; she could certainly empathize. She wondered if this was how Oliver and Digg felt when she went off on a verbal spree.

At any rate, as far as learning anything about Jeffrey Martin it appeared as though this conversation was going to be another dead end. Sandy-Hair looked like he was about to make a break for it and she couldn't really blame him. She was all too familiar with that kind of embarrassment. She recalled a few times with Oliver's mother when she wished Scotty had been available to beam her up.

Still…Sandy-Hair and Red-Head had said they were class of 2012. She decided it couldn't hurt to try.

"No offense taken," she said reassuringly to Sandy-Hair. "Believe me, I'm the last person to criticize anyone for problems with their brain-to-mouth filter." As his flush faded from brilliant scarlet to a more subdued pink, she added, "Given that you graduated in 2012, I was wondering if either of you knew Jeff Martin? You might have had some classes together."

Sandy-Hair's flush disappeared altogether and he appeared surprised at the change in topic. He looked at Red-Head and frowned. There was some kind of meaning in that look, but she'd be damned if she could figure out what it was. Contempt maybe? "Yeah, we knew him," Red-Head answered slowly for both of them. "Why are you asking?"

She glanced at J.T. When he nodded his encouragement she continued truthfully – well, as truthfully as she could. "Actually, I heard he was looking for me yesterday. We've never met so I was hoping to find out why. I thought he might be here today but I haven't been able to find him."

Red-Head snorted, "Consider yourself lucky that he missed you. Jeff wasn't exactly Mr. Popular in college."

"Why?" J.T. asked.

Red-Head shrugged. "He didn't belong at MIT and everyone knew it. He didn't have the brains - he only got in because of his father."

"William Martin?" Felicity prompted, even though she already knew.

"Right," Red-Head confirmed, "the graphics card guy with a ton of money. I guess Jeff felt obligated to go into the sciences because his dad was such a techie, but he wasn't cut out for it. He realized in the first semester that he couldn't pass most of his classes, although he had a hard time admitting it to anyone else. He was always trying to weasel his way into study groups with some stupid excuse. When he couldn't pull his weight with the homework, he'd try to buy everyone off by bringing pizza and beer, or offering them concert or sports tickets. "

J.T. frowned. "That's not good, but it doesn't necessarily explain why he was unpopular. There's plenty of kids with rich fathers who try to buy their way through college. A lot of them manage to do it and still have friends." Felicity wondered if he was speaking from experience – he probably saw a lot as a college professor.

"Maybe," Red-Head agreed, "but they're usually good guys, or can at least throw good parties. Jeff was just plain weird. He was creepy."

Felicity was about to ask in what way when Sandy-Hair explained, "I don't think he ever really got over that thing with his older brother." He sounded more tolerant than his friend. "It had been a couple of years since his disappearance, but Jeff acted as if he were still alive. He'd talk about plans for vacation with Bill, or pretend to have a conversation with him on the phone. If anyone suggested that he needed to get help to deal with his brother's death, he'd blow up at them. After a while, people just gave him a wide berth."

Felicity looked at J.T. He appeared as puzzled as she felt. Other than having a little more sympathy toward Martin for his loss, she was none-the-wiser about why he would want to kidnap her. Did he expect her to help him find Billy Martin with her hacking skills? And, if so, why not just ask? Why the attempted abduction?

A gentle chime pealed, the hotel's signal for the start of the next group of conference sessions. Sandy-Hair and Red-Head both smiled at her.

"Well," Sandy-Hair said, "it was very nice meeting you. Sorry for the comments about your…" he stopped and blushed.

"If I were you," Red-Head continued, "I'd stay away from Jeff Martin. Whatever he wanted to find you for, it probably wasn't good."

Well, that's an understatement, Felicity thought. She smiled at the two men as they gave a final wave and moved off toward the meeting rooms. She wasn't sure she and J.T. had learned much from this conversation other than it was unlikely that Jeff Martin was much of a hacker, and he was having trouble dealing with his brother's death. Still, she supposed it was more than they'd known an hour ago. When they got back with Oliver and Digg, maybe they could put their heads together and figure out next steps. They'd resolved plenty of other cases that began with almost no information; hopefully, this was just one more.

She clung to that thought as they learned nothing else about Martin that afternoon. The five of them convened in the hotel lobby around 5:00 as the conference ended for the day. Felicity and J.T. were tired and hungry, and Oliver looked moody and distracted. Felicity wondered whether Laurel had called to remind him that he needed to focus on getting QC back – and if he regretted taking the time to come to NYC. Only Digg and Vincent seemed to have enjoyed their day. In between queries about Martin they had managed to catch each other up on the last ten years of their lives. Vincent kept staring at Diggle with a grin.

"Man – I can't believe you're going to be a father. If Lyla is the woman I'm thinking of, that kid is going to have two kick-ass parents."

Digg smiled fondly, "No doubt about it."

"Do you know if it's a boy or girl?"

"Girl."

"Any ideas for names?"

Digg shook his head, "Not yet, but we've got plenty of time."

Vincent laughed, "That's what everyone says…but that baby will be here before you know it. Your life is never going to be the same." He looked as though he wanted to say more, but Catherine and Tess entered the hotel and made their way over. Felicity watched Vincent's gaze settle fondly on Catherine – as if he'd just found something that had been missing all day. She wondered if anyone would ever look at her like that.

"Any luck?" Tess asked the group in general.

J.T. grimaced, "Not much. All Felicity and I were able to learn was that Jeff Martin was a poor student and not very popular at MIT. The other students thought he was weird."

Tess frowned, "That's it? After a whole day?"

J.T. said defensively, "We must have talked to at least thirty people. He doesn't exactly move in hacking circles – most of them claimed not to know him." He looked toward Felicity for confirmation and she nodded.

"Did anyone else learn anything?" Catherine asked.

They shook their heads. "I didn't learn anything about Martin," Oliver said. "I did learn that Felicity has made a name for herself in the cybersecurity world – a number of people had heard of her. It was a surprise to me - she never talks about it back home." He looked at her curiously.

She gave him a small smile but said nothing. There were a lot of things he didn't know about her. Now didn't seem like a great time to begin explaining her life before Team Arrow.

Fortunately, J.T. changed the topic. "Felicity and I both agreed a few minutes ago that we're starving. There's a decent pizza place a few blocks from here. Why don't we walk there and we can talk more over dinner?"

"Sounds good," Vincent agreed.

Like the evening before, it was pleasant and mild outside. After a day indoors, Felicity enjoyed feeling the breeze on her face as she walked a few paces behind the others, content to watch Vincent still joking with Digg and J.T. and Tess having some kind of animated conversation. Like her, Oliver had separated himself a little from the others and lagged a few steps back, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

It never occurred to her that they would try again – not so soon and not so publicly. She heard the screech of tires and the next thing she knew there was a car beside her, the door opening and a man leaping out to grab her around the waist. It happened so quickly she didn't even have time to yell. A few yards away she could see Vincent, Digg, Tess and Catherine spin around with shocked looks on their faces, too far away to do anything. She squirmed, but the man had an iron grip and she felt herself being pulled into the vehicle.

It didn't happen.

Oliver's roundhouse kick flew past her head and connected with perfect accuracy against the man's jaw. When her abductor grunted but didn't drop her, Oliver followed up with several swift punches, then yanked her out of the guy's arms and just about threw her toward Diggle. He turned to face the man again, but by this time her would-be captor had slunk back into the car and was closing the door. The vehicle deftly weaved through the traffic and was soon a block away. Oliver looked like he wanted to give chase, but after a glance at their new friends, reluctantly decided against it. He walked over to join them.

"Well, Felicity," Tess said briskly, "there's never a dull moment with you around, is there?"