Oliver swerved his motorcycle out of the way of a merging car and shook his head. He was distracted from the events of last night. Nyssa had informed him that she had confronted her father and Ra's assured her that he had not called the hit on Sara, which meant that, if her father was telling the truth as Nyssa was so sure he was, if Sara's murderer was from the League, they were fair game. Oliver was glad to know that the hit had not been sanctioned but he was also worried; the League would be on the hunt to exterminate the rouge assassin and Nyssa would show no mercy in her pursuit. He'd have to keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn't start dropping bodies in his city. Another problem was his team. Laurel was calling for vengeance with fire and blood, as Felicity phrased it using another pop culture reference he didn't understand. Diggle wanted Sara's murderer put down and when Oliver had argued that Sara wouldn't want that, Felicity had challenged him saying the old Sara wouldn't have wanted that, but the Sara that returned to Starling City would have expected it. She went on to say that Oliver was struggling to reconcile his ideal of Sara; Sara the assassin wanted to eliminate Slade and had said to put down Roy; Sara was not an idealist anymore, she was a motivated and, at times, justified killer. Everyone in the Foundry was shocked to hear it from Felicity but Oliver couldn't argue that she was right. She had grabbed her purse, told them 'good night' and walked out of the Foundry clearly distressed.
Now he rode over to Queen Consolidated to see Felicity and make sure everything was all right with her. They hadn't had a chance to really talk for a while and Oliver was starting to miss hearing her babble on a day to day basis. He parked his bike in regular parking space, which felt weird since he was used to being dropped off at the front of the building, and walked around the corner to the entrance. The security guard on duty nodded to him and asked for his reason for visiting; it was still a foreign concept to actually need a reason to visit a building with his family name displayed proudly on every product in and on the building. The security guard, Carlos if he remembered correctly, paged up to the executive office and he heard Felicity confirm him. She sounded slightly breathless but Oliver shook the thought off. The security guard filed out a guest badge and handed it to him before clearing him to proceed. Oliver pressed the button for the executive floor and listened to the hokey elevator music. Once he stepped out of the cage he walked into the familiar setting to see Felicity a little surprised at her desk. She wore a plum top and a bright yellow skirt that somehow seemed to work for her. She walked from around her desk, fixing her skirt slightly.
"Oliver, what are you doing here?" She looked a little confused as she stopped in front of him.
"I thought we could go for lunch; that is if you're available?" Oliver's eyes shifted quickly to Ray Palmer who walked up from the executive bathroom. As Palmer straightened his tie, Oliver caught what appeared to be a berry colored smudge beneath his collar. Oliver shifted his gaze back to Felicity, who was looking at her boss, and narrowed his eyes at her lipstick color which matched the smudge. Oliver clenched his fist.
"Go ahead Felicity. I can handle things here until you get back." Oliver couldn't tell if it was his imagination that turned Palmer's smile in to a smug smirk or if it was truly there. Felicity nodded and grabbed her purse from behind her desk. Oliver was sure he didn't fabricate the look of desire that flashed through the CEO's eyes. What was going on between them? When she walked back around the desk, Oliver rested his hand at the small of her back while ushering her out of the office. He told himself it wasn't a display of dominance: that he was only being a gentleman instead of staking his claim on a woman who was not his to claim. Oliver kept his hand on her back the entire time they walked to a diner two blocks down from Queen Consolidated. Oliver assisted her into the booth, then slid in opposite of her.
"So, what possessed you to have lunch with me?" Felicity gazed over the menu but wasn't really reading it. She'd ordered from here when Oliver breezed through lunch enough time to know what was absolutely delicious.
"I just thought you and I needed to catch up, since we haven't really spent much time with each other outside of the Foundry." He flashed his patented smile when she raised her eyebrow. They both knew what she was thinking; they had never been the kind of friends to spend time with each other outside of work or Arrow business because for Oliver there was nothing outside of work and Arrow business. Strangely, Oliver realized that he didn't know if she had a life outside of work or Arrow business and was a little troubled; after two going on three years he should know something like that.
"How is work? I know working as an executive assistant really bothered you, is everything okay now?" He stared at her with a look Felicity had come to recognize as his 'intense listener' look. She set the menu down and looked back at him.
"I'll admit that when I graduated from MIT, the last thing I expected to be doing was working as a glorified secretary, but I'm strangely pretty good at it. The best part is that when my or Ray—I mean Mr. Palmer's—computers are on the fritz I don't have to wait for anyone at IT to come up and fix it. I've also developed a few systems to help me keep his schedule in check." Oliver listened, nodding at the appropriate times.
"I don't think you're capable at not being good at anything Felicity."
"Oh sports, any sport that is not swimming is not good for me." She protested quickly.
"You're a swimmer?"
"Yep. Not competitively, but I enjoy gliding through the water."
"What about running?" A look of confusion crossed her face.
"Huh?"
"When I called you three weeks ago, you said you were running on the treadmill. Is running one of the sports not good for you?" Oliver's eyes narrowed as realization dawned on her face. Her cheeks reddened brightly and she twiddled her finger in embarrassment.
"Oh right, running, I don't particularly like running, but it keeps me in shape." Oliver thought about just how in shape it kept her, specifically her legs. At some point or another, every employee at Queen Consolidated had appreciated the toned nature of her legs. Once or twice Oliver had found himself day dreaming about her legs and pushed himself to focus on his work. Thinking about her legs led him back to the appreciative look he'd seen Palmer give her and he scowled.
"So, Palmer, how do you like working with him?" Before she could reorient herself with the topic switch, a waitress came over to take their orders. Felicity ordered her usual grilled tri-tip sandwich with French onion dip and French fries then rattled off his usual order of a club sandwich, no onions or pickles, Lays potato chips, with a Dr. Pepper, and a slice of apple pie topped with whipped cream, no oil. Oliver's eyebrows rose and Felicity's eyes widened at how natural it was for her to order for him. She'd remembered his order from every place they ate like it was second nature. The waitress, seeing nothing unusual about the situation, smiled and said she'd back with their order. She asked if Oliver wanted the pie with his meal to which Felicity replied yes before he could even process the question. Oliver laughed a little; she knew him down to a science and there was so much he didn't know about her.
"How did you know I'd want that?" He handed the waitress their menus with a smile then turned to Felicity.
"You always get that at a diner. Just like you get the same order at Big Belly Burger, or the Chinese place near the Found—Verdant—or any other place you eat from. You don't really like to be out of control when you have a choice." She lowered her voice a little. "I think you've become a creature of habit thanks to the island."
He had never thought about his eating habits as a result of the island; he'd always just ordered what he knew tasted good. Now that he thought about it, she was right. Oliver liked routine and structure and didn't really enjoy when things deviated too much from what he could predict. Surprises and unknowns on the island and Hong Kong had always been a threat so it made since that after 5 years that part of him would adapt to his post-island life. That Felicity had picked up on his habits and analyzed them so easily, linking them to logical conclusions, shocked him. He looked at her as if he'd never seen her before; she was constantly surprising him, yet for some reason her surprising him was in an odd way a consistency he could expect from her. They spoke of random topics like if they thought the transformation to Star City would be good for the people of Starling City and how the Starling City Rockets were doing in baseball and if they had a shot at the World Series. Oliver enjoyed being able to relax and be himself around her. Their food came and a comfortable silence settled over them as they munched on their lunch. Oliver tried to get her to try the apple pie but Felicity firmly stood by her love of cherry pie. He ordered her a slice of cherry pie topped with mint chocolate chip ice cream, a weird combination but her favorite that Oliver had seen her eat once when he surveyed her townhouse before he decided to bring the laptop to her and Roy had mentioned the odd pairing when he asked him how she was holding up after Sara's death.
He walked her back up to her office and gave her a hug goodbye. He tried not to glare at Palmer as he walked out of the door, but planned to keep an eye on whatever was going on between them.
"We have got to stop this." Felicity strode into Ray's office. Ray looked smugly at her, twirling the black panties she was wearing when she first showed up for work. She made a grab over the desk for the delicate lacy lingerie but he pulled them back. She straightened herself so as to not flash anyone who may walk in.
"I have no clue what you're talking about, Felicity." He feigned an innocent voice while continuing to read the product reviews from the hospital and ambulances on the QC field x-ray 200. He highlighted some proposed improvements to send to Applied Sciences for them to trouble shoot.
"What if someone who didn't need security clearance had shown up in the office when Carlos paged me? They would have gotten a nice eyeful of Felicity Smoak's chest while her boss leaned over her playing beneath her skirt!" Ray smirked and shrugged his shoulders.
"Ray I am serious. Oliver is already suspicious and—"
"Do you care what Oliver thinks?" He stood up and walked around the desk. When Felicity turned to face him he trapped her in between his muscular body and the cold metal desk.
"Oliver is a friend."
"That's not what I asked, Felicity. I asked if you cared what Oliver thinks." Ray's voice dropped low and deep. She felt a spark that caused her to clench her thighs tight, as if her woman's intuition was warning her that this one was dangerous and to tread lightly. Felicity searched his eyes trying to figure out what he was playing at. Was he being possessive? Was he toying with her? Or was he just adding sex appeal to a simple question? Not a simple question at all. Her feelings for Oliver were always complicated and even more so by whatever was between she and Ray. She would be lying if she said she was done with Oliver, and in fact a piece of her still hurt over the stupid scenarios she'd finally acknowledged to dreaming after he'd told her he loved her.
"I do care what he thinks," She said quietly, looking over his shoulder then back to him with a determined expression. "But I don't live my life for Oliver Queen. This needs to stop because if someone else can confirm that I am indeed sleeping with my boss, my prestigious Master's degree will be no good to me anymore."
Ray nodded and stepped back. He handed her he panties and looked down at the plush carpet. Felicity shimmied into her panties and readjusted her skirt. Ray looked back at her once she was decent.
"What if we don't do this here?" Felicity looked at him skeptically. "What if we don't have relations in the office anymore?"
"Ray I think this whole thing should end." She stated with a slight quiver in her voice but her expression spelled 'no nonsense.'
"Hear me out. What if we kept it discrete from our time in the office?" Felicity shook her head.
"Ray I did not work this hard to get where I am to become some rich man's plaything. I have never been good at being a fuck buddy." Ray grabbed her biceps and stared down at her intensely.
"My God, is that what you think this is? Is that what you think you are?" He threw his hands in his hair and scoffed in disbelief. Felicity looked so confused and could feel anger rising to heights that previously only Oliver could raise.
"What else am I supposed to think? You're buying me gifts and giving me a debit card linked directly to one of your many bank accounts. You ravish, Lord I never thought I would use that word, I mean ravish, really? Anyway, you ravish me in the office or meeting room anytime you want. What conclusion am I logically supposed to draw?!" She shouted.
"You're supposed to think that I want you!" He shouted back, silencing her anger like wind snuffing a flame. Felicity blinked multiple times. She couldn't have heard him right.
"Ray—"
"No you listen. I am not doing this just to get in between your legs Felicity, though they are very nice legs and the view between them is beautiful, but beside the point. The point is I'm doing this because I enjoy being around you. I enjoy the chemistry we have and I enjoy you. I don't know how else to make you see that." Silence settled between them. For the first time in maybe forever she was speechless. She didn't know what to say. What could she say?
"You don't show someone you care by flashing money at them." Her whisper rang louder than a gunshot. He sighed.
"I know that now, but that's all anyone has ever wanted: money or my brain or my influence. I guess I forgot what it's like when someone wants more." He took another sigh and walked behind his desk. Felicity turned around and realized how fitting a barrier the cold metal desk was between them. The office had been a barrier between them. Glass walls so their vision was distorted, cold metal that wouldn't afford anything a breeding ground, and the most solid barrier of all, their job titles. How fitting that Queen Consolidated embodied everything that stood between them?
"I'll return our relationship back to what is acceptable. Why don't you take the rest of the afternoon off?"
"Ray." She almost reached for him.
"That wasn't a suggestion Ms. Smoak. I need some space…to reorient myself. I can handle everything here." He went back to flipping through reviews and reports. Felicity's mouth hung open in shock. She turned on her heels and went to her desk. She logged off her computer and grabbed her purse, sneaking one last glance through the glass doors and walking towards the elevator fighting tears. This was what she wanted wasn't it? So why did it hurt so badly?
Ray listened to the clicking of her heels as she walked away and clenched his fist. He was an idiot to try and treat Felicity Smoak like she was a dime a dozen, or anyone else he'd known in his life. He knew when he read through her file at Queen Consolidated she was special. He knew when he cross referenced her credentials, awards, and accomplishments that she was a cut above the rest. He knew when he approached her at Tech Village she was remarkable. He knew when he made eye contact with her icy blue glare as he walked into Queen Consolidated that she was not one to be trifled with lightly. He knew when he dropped 1.2 billion dollars to hire her that he would do anything to have her. He knew when she confronted him and he saw the rage in her eyes barely concealing the tears that he wanted to shield her from heartache. He knew when she came back, telling him she wanted more from life, that he would do anything to give her more, to be more. He knew when he slid inside her and made love to her for the first time that she was confirmation that every man knew when he'd found the one. And he knew when he let her walk out his office door, that the hole in his soul he hadn't even been aware he had until he walked into her life, would never be filled again. Ray was shocked when a drop of water hit his knuckle, and looked down at the splashes of water scattered over the report he stopped reading long ago. He sat back and leaned his head back not even bothering to stop the tears that rolled over his temples.
Felicity unfurled herself from the couch and walked over to answer her door. She opened it and looked at the person standing in the bright hallway.
"Hey," Roy said holding out a Styrofoam container. She took it and stepped back to let him in. Roy took in the darkness of her place, only the light from a sit-com on the TV illuminating the room enough for him to see the pile of tissues bunched up on her end table. Roy watched her as she grabbed a spoon from the kitchen, taking in her reddened eyes, over-sized gray sweater, purple leggings, pink fuzzy socks, and blonde hair thrown haphazardly into a bun. He took off his hoodie, jeans and socks and shoes and folded them before tossing them onto her love seat. He rearranged the blanket to make room on the couch. She came back and cuddled into him, not minding at all his t-shirt and boxers. She opened the container to a big slice of cherry pie and an unhealthy scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Before she could even dig the spoon in, the flood gates opened. Roy took the dessert and placed it on her coffee table then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him. Her tears quickly soaked his shirt but he couldn't care less. He held her, letting her cry, not saying a word. Felicity shut down and hated to talk when she was sad or upset. He rearranged them so that she was lying on top of him, her head buried into his chest as she tried to calm the shaking of her shoulders. He brushed the damp stray hairs from her face and held her while she tried to get her sniffles under control. He closed his eyes and fell asleep to her deep but shaky breathing.