AN: Sorry this took so long, but I had to recover after the midseason finale. That and I seriously had no clue where this was going next…

Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, but I do own copies of Seasons 1 and 2 of Arrow on DVD.

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You're Banging My Bedroom Wall

XIX. Not-So-Secret Admirer

A few days after what Sara had dubbed the Unfortunate Case of the Disappearing Smoak, a day which Felicity still refused to explain her disappearing act, Felicity woke at the first signs of daybreak and went about getting ready for the day, deciding to skip her morning run after one look at the pouring rain outside.

She had a rough time trying to avoid Oliver over the past few days, too. It was like he was suddenly everywhere. Every corner she turned he was there. It was starting to get on her nerves.

Felicity sucked in a deep breath as she tightly held her keys to her chest. She counted to ten before quickly slipping out her front door. Once she was sure that Oliver wasn't coming out of his apartment, she calmly made her way out to her car and drove to work.

The entire drive there she distracted herself from thoughts of Oliver Queen by singing along to whatever song that came on the radio at the top of her lungs, whether she knew the lyrics or not.

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A gentle knock sounded on the door to her office and Felicity looked up from her computer screen just as the IT department's secretary popped her head in.

"Hey, Carrie," Felicity greeted her. She shot her a quick smile as she quickly saved her work. "What's up?"

Carrie pushed the door open wider and stepped inside. "Mr. Queen wants you to meet him and Dick upstairs on the executive floor in half an hour. His assistant mentioned that it has to do with the project that you're working on."

Felicity frowned in confusion, but smiled at her. "Thanks for letting me know, Carrie."

The redheaded woman returned her smile. "No problem, Felicity," she said before leaving her office, making sure to close the door behind her.

Half an hour later Felicity sat across from the CEO of Queen Consolidated and the head of the IT department, Richard Martin – or Dick as he insisted everyone called him. Sawyer Kyle, an engineer who worked in Applied Sciences, sat beside her on her left. He fidgeted every thirty seconds and self-consciously tugged at the collar of his sweater, making no effort to hide his nervousness. A fourth man that she had never met before sat a little ways away from them down the long table in the conference room.

She fought her own urge to nervously fidget in her seat. After all, she was sitting across from the big kahuna, the boss, the same one who asked to meet with her rather than send a note or message with whatever request he wanted fulfilled. And let's not forget that he was Oliver's father.

That fact alone was enough to make her nervous.

And on top of that, all she could see was Oliver's blue eyes when she looked at him.

Robert Queen gave her a warm smile. "Ms. Smoak," he started, "I've heard wonderful things about your work in the IT department from Mr. Martin here. Similarly for you, Mr. Kyle, in Applied Sciences from Dr. Loring."

Felicity gave a small smile, feeling her face flush with embarrassment. "Thank you, Mr. Queen."

Sawyer muttered something along the lines of a thank you from beside her.

"Reports regarding the current project you're working on have told me that you and your respective teams have been doing a great job." He paused for a second and referred to the open file in front of him. "This is the joint report from two weeks ago. It says here that you were unable to successfully make the prototype work?"

Her brow furrowed in confusion and she slowly nodded, shooting Dick a questioning look while Mr. Queen was still focused on the file. Dick gave her a brief encouraging smile that only made her more confused. From beside her, Sawyer froze and she thought she heard him squeak. "Yes, there was an error in the coding along with a major design flaw that was found after initial testing. We have been working around the clock trying to fix these problems, but so far have been unable to find a solution to either one."

Robert Queen smiled at her and gestured to Dick. "Mr. Martin mentioned this to me during a meeting last week," he told her. "And he suggested that we bring in someone to help assist."

"Felicity, Sawyer, I would like you to meet Ray Palmer," Dick introduced. Felicity blinked at him before turning to look at the man. "He is an up and coming visionary in the tech world. Perhaps you've heard of his father, David Palmer, CEO of Palmer Technologies."

Felicity blinked. "You mean the company that made the smartwatches?" She pointed at the one on Dick's wrist as he nodded and grinned.

"Yes," Dick continued. "Ray has been personally chosen by myself, Dr. Loring – who unfortunately couldn't make the meeting – and Mr. Queen, considering how important this project is for Queen Consolidated. You will be working closely together with Ray until you've finished."

Felicity nodded and smiled at her bosses before leaving the conference room with Palmer close on her heels ten minutes later. She pushed the button for the elevator and eyed Sawyer out of the corner of her eye. The poor man looked like he was having the tail end of a panic attack with the way he had all but ran out of the conference room, frantically pulling his tie away from his neck.

"Are you okay, Sawyer?" He jumped at the sound of her voice before turning to look at her.

He nodded and raked a hand through his dark hair. "I thought we were going to get yelled at by Mr. Queen for screwing up and pushing the project back a few weeks." He glanced at Ray out of the corner of his eye before leaning toward her. "Between me and you, Felicity," he whispered, "I'm glad Jean and Dick got someone to help us. But I wish it was anyone else from Palmer Tech. This guy's good, but he tries to mess with the heads of the women he works with. Don't let him do that to you."

"How do you know this?"

Sawyer scowled angrily. "Because he did it to my girlfriend before she met me." He glared at Ray as they stepped onto the elevator. "Have Carrie tell the others in your department." Felicity nodded in agreement; Carrie was protective of the girls and could be mean as a snake when she wanted to be even though she was normally very sweet. There was a reason why she was called Crazy Carrie by the other departments.

The elevator stopped on her floor and Felicity turned to look at Sawyer before she stepped off. "I'll tell her," she promised. He nodded stiffly, glaring at Ray again.

Felicity made her way to Carrie's desk but stopped short. She spun on her heel and raised a questioning eyebrow at Ray Palmer. "Um. Can I help you?"

"I just thought I'd take a look at your work before I went down to Applied Sciences," he told her, shooting her a smile followed by a not so subtle appraising look.

She fought the shiver that went down her spine and took an involuntary step back, Sawyer's words coming back to her. "Well, I think you should take a look at what Sawyer has first before looking at any of the code." She pointed to the conference room and took another step away from him. "But you're welcome to check it out. My team is set up in the conference room over there."

Ray stepped toward her. "Why don't we go together? So that you can introduce me?"

Felicity gave him a tight smile and shook her head. "I've got to check on something in my office and ask our secretary about something important. I don't think you need me to introduce you anyway – my team probably won't even notice you since they're so focused on fixing this." She shot him another forced smile, pointed at the conference room again, and quickly made her way to Carrie's desk.

The redhead smiled widely upon catching sight of her. "Felicity! You didn't tell me that you have an admirer!" Felicity blinked stupidly at Carrie, not quite comprehending her words, momentarily forgetting what she was going to say.

"What?"

"A very handsome man came to see you while you were upstairs, but left disappointed when he realized you weren't here." Felicity could only stare at her. Carrie smiled coyly and pointed toward her office. "But he left you a present on your desk."

Felicity stared at Carrie and quickly made her way to her office. Snippets of conversation between her female coworkers over the top of their cubicles met her ears as she rushed across the floor and she was sure that they were all looking at her.

Two words, a name rather, caught her attention and she almost stumbled.

Oliver Queen.

Felicity tightly shut the door to her office behind her and she immediately spotted the present Carrie was talking about. Gingerly, she made her way to her desk and plucked the little white card from the crystal vase filled with purple hyacinth.

A little birdy told me that you like flowers, but only when they're given with meaning. I hope you understand – Oliver

The card slipped from between her fingers to the desk and all she could do was stare at the flowers.

They said what she wouldn't give him the chance to do because of her avoidance of him.

I'm sorry.

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The next chapter of Death in the Family is mostly written, so that should be up soon.

I'm at the point where I'm ready to see what you guys would like to see happen next in the story. I have a few things in mind and a vague idea of what I want to happen. My outline for the story is written up until a certain point but then it's full of question marks. I have an Oliver POV in the future and other stuff, but I need fresh ideas, so leave me a review with one.

You never know, I might use it :)