Maybe I shouldn't have promised those weekly updates, lol. I'm a little over the week mark, but I couldn't get this written sooner, which means I'm posting this at 4 in the morning, so any mistakes you find, keep in my that I'm falling asleep over my keyboard.

Also, this one is a little shorter, but I really wanted it to end where it does, so bear with me (: I'll try to make the next one a little longer to make it up to you.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this and let me know what you think.

She should have known, really, that when Oliver said "I'll send a car to pick you up," he actually meant Diggle on the Bentley and two other guys the size of Dwayne Johnson on a car following behind them. Which would only bring even more attention to the fact that she was being escorted to work by a freaking parade and oh my God, she will give Oliver an earful for that when she sees him.

"Tell me again why do we need them?" She asks John as she grabs her bag and coat and prepares herself to step outside.

"We don't," John tells her with a smile on his face. "They're here because otherwise Oliver would have come himself, and I know just how much you would appreciate that."

"Oh, I would just love it!" She says sarcastically, glad John was able to convince him not to come. "And so would them." She points to the closed door, referring to all of the people outside.

"You ready to face them?" John asks, concerned, and his worry warms her heart.

"Nope, let's go."

When she steps outside, with John by her side making way through the crowd, her first thought is that she should call in sick and skip work that day. Her second thought is "thank God Oliver made me promise not to leave by myself."

Of course, her third thought gets interrupted by all the people shouting her name, asking her to look this or that way.

Then the questions follow.

"How long have you been dating Oliver Queen?"

"How does it feel to be flavor of the week?"

"When is the wedding?"

"Are you pregnant?"

She actually trips over her feet at that, and Diggle has to catch her by the arm before she makes a complete fool of herself in front of 48393 cameras.

It's a miracle that they make it to the car, really.

"Hey, are you okay?" Diggle asks as soon as they get in.

"Yes, I, um, can I ask you something?" She asks while she fastens her seatbelt. Diggle answers with a nod and she continues. "Do I look fat?" Felicity blurts and Dig can't help but chuckle. "Seriously, if I do you have to tell me and-"

"Felicity," he interrupts her, "you look great. Don't let them get into your head."

"You're right," she sighs, feeling stupid for letting it get to her. "Oliver warned me about this, I'm being stupid."

"It's not stupid, you'll just have to get used to it."

"Oh, I honestly hope I don't!" She sighs, "in a week or two this thing will blow over." She says, more to herself than to him, thinking about her conversation on the phone with her mother the day before. She can't imagine having to repeat all of that to basically every single person she knows. Although, other people are a lot easier to deal with than her mother with all the "honey, how could you not tell me you were dating a billionaire? And extremely handsome, too. Did you think I would not approve? A boy that good looking? I would approve of him even if he lived off of breadcrumbs under a bridge." Honestly, 45 minutes on the phone and Felicity still didn't know whether or not her mother believed her when she said her and Oliver were not, are not, will never be a thing.

Felicity didn't even realize they had arrived until Diggle opened the door for her and helped her out of the car. She looked around and was surprised when she saw that the number of paparazzi at QC was considerably lower than the ones in front of her house. Mumbling a "thank God," she walked into the building.

She really hoped that now that they realized Oliver didn't spend the night at her house, they would leave, or at least, some of them would. She could deal with a couple photographers at her door, she just couldn't deal with 30 of them.

Felicity was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice, at first, the looks and whispers thrown her way.

Her first clue was the silence. Everyday, when she gets at QC, Felicity goes straight to the cafeteria to get some coffee. You know, for someone who drinks so much of the stuff, she should at least be able to make some, but her coffee just tastes terrible.

She only notices it when her mug is half full already. When she turns around everyone in the room tries to busy themselves with something, some chewing on something, others starting small talk with their colleagues to cover up the fact that they were all clearly just talking about her. It's a very awkward atmosphere, and she wishes the coffee maker would go just a little faster.

Once her mug is full, Felicity is out the door and calling the private elevator to the executive floors. The last thing she hears before the doors close is "Really, he could have done so much better than her."

Oliver arrived late at work. Well, later than usual. Apparently, there were a bunch of paparazzi at the manor, and more in front of the company as well. He barely had time to say hello before Felicity was ushering him into the conference room for a meeting with Isabel and some other members of the board.

Felicity took the time to go through the endless list of unread emails on her inbox. There were a couple party invitations that she made a note to tell Oliver about later, but other than that, she ignored and deleted everything. She really hoped this plan of ignoring the rumors until it died down worked. There was only so many emails and phone calls from stupid gossip journalists she could take.

When Oliver reemerged from his meeting, he had that look on his face. The one with the fake smile and the exhausted aura that came with being thrown a bunch of information at once in a boring meeting with boring old people.

She was about to go in and offer a friendly face when Isabel stopped by his desk on her way out. "I'll go straight to the point. I honestly don't care what you do in your private life unless it damages the company, like in this case, Mr. Queen. The paparazzi outside are a real inconvenience. So before any future public displays of affection towards your little girlfriend over there, keep in mind that you are a public figure, and that this company suffers what you suffer."

"Isabel," Oliver sighs, preparing himself for a long argument with the woman. "I don't have to tell you again that my relationship with miss Smoak is not of the romantic kind, those are just rumors that-"

"Oh, I know there's nothing romantic about your relationship." Isabel interrupts him. "I know you're not 'settling down' and she doesn't 'keep you on a leash.' Not a tight one, at least." The woman has the audacity to smirk at that, throwing Felicity a quick look over her shoulder. The blond can practically see Oliver's irritation skyrocketing, just by the way he clenched his fists, making his knuckles go white. Felicity would do something if she didn't think coming to his rescue would actually just make it worse. Plus, she had to endure that for over a week already, Oliver should suffer through some of it too. It's his fault after all. "But the press does not," Rochev continues, "nor should they. Settling down, even if it's with your secretary with an appreciation for short skirts, it's actually an improvement from charming playboy, and will even help the company instead of damaging it. Still, having photographers outside our door is not ideal and should be dealt with." She starts to walk out of the office, not giving Oliver time to say anything in response. "Call the PR department, issue a statement, I don't care, just make them go away." After that she's gone.

Felicity was out of her chair and inside Oliver's office in seconds. "How dare she say all of that to you when she knew I was listening?!" She all but throws herself on the chair opposite of him. "I mean, it's disrespectful and humiliating enough when I'm the only one on the receiving end of her comments, but-"

"What do you mean when you're the only one?" Oliver asks, somehow even more irritated than he was before. "Does she usually say those things to you?"

"Yeah, but it's fine, I deal with her on my own way." She shrugs, knowing Oliver would make a bigger deal about this than it actually is. Yes, Isabel is unpleasant, but she doesn't need him to go against the she-devil to defend her wounded pride. That would probably only wound it more. He raises his eyebrows and she rolls her eyes, but explains anyway. "Let's just say her work environment might not be running as smoothly as she'd like lately." She grins. "You know, a printer not working here, some files deleting themselves after she's worked hours on them there, that kind of stuff."

"Felicity, you're remarkable." Oliver tells her, quoting himself from months ago and it brings a smile to her face. "Guess Isabel is not doing the whole what-happens-in-Russia-stays-in-Russia thing, then." Oliver jokes and it surprises her, but doesn't fail to make her chuckle. She doesn't know if this is his way of ending the subject, afraid she'd be upset again, or if he's bringing it up on purpose, in order to apologize again. Anyhow, she takes it as an out.

"Serves you right," she stands up and starts walking back to her table. "Now, I'm thinking about locking her out of the company server for the entire day. Maybe if she behaves, she can have her password back tomorrow."

"Remind me to never cross you, Smoak." Oliver calls, playfully and she grins at him before sitting down.

Time to work.

"Miss Smoak, your lunch's here."

Felicity looks up from her computer to see a delivery man standing in front of her with bags so full there must be food for at least four people inside them. "Oh, there must be a mistake, I didn't order anything."

"But I did," Oliver said, coming out of his office with a smile. He payed for the food and took the bags, thanking the man. "Are you coming or I'll have to eat all of this food by myself?" He asks her with a little smirk, walking back into his office and setting the bags on the table by the sofa.

"Oh, I didn't realize we had lunch plans today. Where's Dig?" Felicity asks, sitting down on the seat opposite of him and reaching for one of the bags.

"We didn't, but I figured that with all the fuss outside, leaving for restaurant would not be a great idea, so you're stuck with me for lunch." Oliver said, continuing to empty the contents of the bags and setting them on the table. "I ordered for the three of us, but since we were staying in, Dig made plans with Lyla instead."

"They've been back for what? A week? I'd be worried if he'd rather spend time with us then with her." She chuckles. "They're on their honeymoon phase, it's sweet."

"Does it count as a honeymoon phase if they're divorced?" Oliver asks curiously, and for a moment Felicity thinks this conversation is so casually out of character for him that she wants to laugh.

"Of course it does!" Felicity argues. "Did you just order one of everything they had?" She asks, looking over all of the food in front of them, not sure what she should have.

"I didn't know what you would want, so I kind of did."

"You realize we're in shouting distance of each other, right? You could have just asked."

"Well, I thought I'd surprise you." He confessed with a sheepish grin, lowering his look to his food.

"And it was a very nice surprise, thank you" she smiled at him. "I think I'm going with pasta today." They started to eat in a comfortable silence and Felicity was surprised with how at ease he actually seemed to be around her.

Not that he wasn't before. Oliver was a man of very few friends, and she knew that he could never let his guard down unless he was with her and Diggle, but there was always something about him, some part of him that never failed to stay secretive and held back. Not now though. Like back at her house, it seemed like he had left the weight he carries by the door. She wondered if he was going to be like that more often for now on. If it was a conscious change and he was finally accepting that he was back, that he could live that island behind and go on with his life towards his own happiness.

And maybe, just maybe, she was wondering if it had anything to do with her.

She snapped out of her thoughts then, realizing she was wading into treacherous waters here.

"Are you still with me?" Oliver asks her and she realizes she missed everything he had just said.

"Hm, sorry. Got lost in here for a moment." She points to her head.

"I was just saying it'll probably be another week before things get back to normal around us, so maybe we should press pause on our other line of business for a bit."

"Are you sure? You're not usually one to push for a vacation." She comments.

"I'm just hoping this will go away before my mother's trial." He tells her. "Speaking of which, I was, um…" He starts, nervously. "I was wondering if maybe you could come with me?"

"Me?" Felicity asks, surprised. A strange look crosses Oliver's face and she instantly regrets her reaction. "Yeah, of course I'll go." Felicity reaches across the table and squeezes his hand reassuringly.

"No, nevermind, it's a terrible idea."

"Come on, Oliver, if you want Dig and I to be there, we will be. We can deal with the reporters another time." She doesn't notice the quick change in his expression when she mentions Dig coming too and he's thankful for it. Diggle has to be there, as his bodyguard, and Diggle is his friend, yes, but he can't provide the comfort that Felicity's presence would.

"I don't want you to have to go through hearing comments like Isabel's for longer than strictly necessary, Felicity."

"Maybe I won't have to." She says animatedly, and Oliver can already see a plan taking form in her head. "We were worried about denying and spiking their interest even more, right? So, instead of saying we are not together, why don't we show them that we are not?"

"And how are we supposed to do that? Public break up? That's only going to prove we were dating."

"No, they just have to see you out with someone else."

"Someone else who, Felicity?" Oliver asks exasperated. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not seeing anyone currently."

"I don't know, just go to a bar a pick someone up. Anyone with long legs and a short skirt will do."

"Felicity," Oliver huffs out her name, annoyed. "I'm not sleeping with some random girl just because."

"Why not? You do it all the time!" She raises her voice a bit, already getting worked up over this. It's the perfect solution. Why is he being so difficult? "Are the random one night stands reserved solely for women you bond with over speaking slavic languages in cold countries? Because I think this is a situation in which you could make an exception."

Oliver's taken aback by her comment, momentarily at a loss for words. A look full of hurt crosses his face, but he masks it, and she can feel the walls she thought were gone coming back up. Apparently, joking about it is fine, but throwing it in his face in an argument is crossing a line. She doesn't disagree, that was uncalled for. "Believe it or not, I'm trying this new thing where I actually learn something from my many mistakes, so I'm sorry, but I won't do it."

"Fine," she sighs and the hard look on Oliver's face softens at the defeated one on hers. "we'll find another way."

"Thank you."

The first thing Felicity does when she arrives that day is place a phone call.

She has been talking herself into doing it the entire afternoon after her lunch with Oliver. She understood that it was wrong of her to push, specially since he was actually making a point to change, but doing nothing didn't solve their problems. So Felicity made a decision. She would call Jake - cute, tall, sweet Jake from IT who had asked her out countless times while she still worked back in that department, but she never got around to actually accepting his invitations for dinner due to her insane workload. Really, having two jobs left absolutely no time for a social life.

The benefit Oliver had been invited to - therefore she had to attend as well - was the perfect opportunity for that date to finally happen. It would put a stop in that ridiculous story and it would be nice to have a plus one for a change. Maybe Jake is exactly what she needs to end her stupid, unreachable expectations concerning Oliver Queen too.

So she dialed the number.

"Hello?" Came Jake's voice from the other side of the line.

"Jake, hey, it's Felicity. Smoak." She says nervously, knowing a ramble was coming up. "We worked together in, um, the IT department at Queen Consolidated and-"

"Felicity," Jake chuckles, cutting her ramble and she couldn't be more thankful. "I know who you are." She can hear the smile on his voice and it makes her relax a little. "To what do I owe the phone call? I thought you had forgotten about us mere mortals now that you're mixing up with the big fish."

"I, um…" Felicity can already feel her resolve fading, so she takes a deep breath and just blurts it out. "There's this benefit thing on wednesday that I have to go to and I was wondering… how do you look in a suit?"

Wednesday came soon enough. The number of paparazzi in front of Felicity's house had considerably lowered after just a couple of days, but it was still kind of creepy to think that someone (a few someones) was still waiting for her to leave the house, or better yet, to see Oliver coming in.

But tonight she'd put a stop to it.

Jake had gladly accepted her invitation for the benefit and as he came to pick her up she had to admit he looked amazing in a suit.

She got in his car in a hurry, flashes following her the entire way.

Jake hasn't said anything about it, but she could see he wanted to, and she felt like she owned it to him to explain that no, she was most definitely not sleeping with her boss. It took her basically the entire ride over, and when she finished, he just looked at her with an amused look on his face and a twinkle in his eyes, making her realize he didn't actually have a doubt about her asking him out while being with someone else.

When they went inside, she scanned the room looking for Oliver to let him know she was here, but he hasn't arrived yet. Shocker!

That was probably a good thing, though, since Felicity hasn't exactly been completely upfront with him about asking Jake to the gala. Not that she needed permission from him, but it's Oliver and he's the biggest control freak there is, aside from his sister. What is it with that family? Jesus! But back to the point: this was not the plan and Oliver would not be happy not to be notified of the change.

Jake rested his hand on the small of her back, snapping her out of her thoughts and Felicity could see a few people throwing looks their way, but Jake didn't seem bothered by that fact, so she let him guide her to the bar to get drinks.

The next half hour was spent talking and drinking deliciously expensive champagne. It was good to talk tech with someone who would actually understand what she was saying, and she found herself enjoying Jake's company a lot.

Maybe this night was going to be a win after all.

But then, of course, Oliver arrived and things just went downhill from there.