AN- I jumped the gun in the last chapter having the conversation/meeting with Moira and Malcolm… so strike that and it will appear in this chapter.

Chapter 5

Felicity tugged uncomfortably at the collar of her shirt. She felt grubby, tired and cranky, especially since she hadn't taken the time to shower when she'd run home to deal with Noah and Plague. She scoffed in her mind at the lame hacker name. The self-aggrandizing ones were the worst, and the best hackers didn't need their names to sell themselves, their reputations did that for them. She sniffed her collar experimentally, wondering if the scent of the police station was real and somehow got onto her shirt, or worse her skin, or if it was just psychological.

Behind her Oliver and Diggle were finishing a check of their gear, and Oliver jerked his head towards the stairs, motioning for Diggle to leave. Nodding knowingly, Diggle called out his goodnight to Felicity, unsurprised when she barely turned her head to flash him a smile, her fingers never stopping their steady drumming on the keyboard as she worked to pull down every plan and security document she could about Merlyn Global.

If they were going in, then they needed to be prepared, and Malcolm Meryln was no slouch on security: physical, technological and human.

Oliver approached and she tilted her head toward him, her nose scrunched up. "What's a cakewalk?"

"A… I don't know."

"Huh. It must be something, or was something."

"OK," he said, shaking his head, but his lips were curved into a smile. "Did your brain just go on one of its tangents that I will never understand?" he teased, his mood lightened despite recent and upcoming events weighing heavily on his mind.

"I was thinking that getting into Merlyn Global wouldn't be a cakewalk, then I realized-"

"That you didn't know what a cakewalk was." He sat down on her computer desk, closer than he needed to be, but Felicity didn't appear to notice anything amiss. "Let's see what google has to say about it."

Felicity pulled up the definition and Wikipedia and shrugged. "Huh. So it is like that childhood game. Kinda."

"Wikipedia? Really? I thought you would go to some crazy database that us mere mortals know nothing about."

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you…" She trailed off and tilted her head at him, giving him her 'don't bullshit me' look. Oliver didn't make small talk when he didn't have to. The head tilt and terse expression were familiar to him with since she had often bestowed such looks on him during the first part of their acquaintance. "I'm fine."

Not bothering to soft pedal the conversation anymore, he voiced his dissent. "You were arrested."

"And now I'm out on bail. It's nice to have friends with massive trust accounts," she said tightly, but with a smile.

"Friends help friends," he countered.

"You already helped, your trust account paid my bail, remember?"

"Felicity…"

She stood up, walking away from him, and he knew he needed to pull out the big guns. Standing up quickly to follow her, he groaned, clutching at his ribs. She returned to his side immediately, her small, capable hands fluttering over him. "Where is your ice pack?"

"It melted," he grunted, careful not to oversell his injury by sounding whiny.

"We have more than one," she said sourly, going to the freezer. "Did you even take any Ibuprofen?"

"No, I-"

"It's not just for the pain, Oliver. You may be too stubborn to take a pain pill, but Ibuprofen will help with the inflammation, speeding up your healing, you know that."

"I'm fine."

She glared at him, but gently pressed the ice pack against his side until he took it from her, holding it in place. Standing close to him, she frowned again, her gaze landing on his bruised face. "Did he have to hit you so hard? Or so many times?"

"I promise it barely hurts," he said roughly as her fingers coasted over his bruised cheek before fluttering against his temple.

"How could it not hurt?" she asked mournfully. "You need another ice pack." She turned away but he caught her elbow, turning her back towards him.

"I'll make you a deal." She frowned, but he continued before she could ask. "You tell me what or who caused you to be arrested, full disclosure, and I'll take your Ibuprofen and another ice pack." His hand was still holding onto her elbow, keeping her still, and his thoughts shifted of their own volition, his mind registering the softness of her skin briefly.

She frowned at him, her face scrunched together in displeasure, but he couldn't help but think that she looked cute. He could read every thought as it crossed her mind, the emotion and arguments telegraphed to her face. Finally she seemed to concede. "And go home and actually sleep," she insisted.

"OK-"

"I mean it, Oliver. You need to rest. You need to be at your best if you're going to… the other archer… last time…"

"Last time he surprised me, he won't get the drop on me again," he said with quiet confidence, dropping his head so she could see the determination in his blue eyes. "It was my mistake, and I learn from my mistakes, Felicity, I promise you that."

She still seemed torn, her lips pressed together tightly and twisted to the side.

"Just tell me," he said.

"You'll think it's stupid," she fretted, her hands, usually so industrially employed, twisted together in a show of nerves.

"You were arrested, Felicity. I'm not making light of that."

"You'll put another ice pack on once you go home?" she asked, her mind darting back to his injuries instead of her own troubles.

"Yes. After you tell me." She seemed to deflate, releasing a breath and slumping her shoulders. "Hey," he said in a cajoling tone. "It's OK, just tell me and we'll handle it together."

"I handled it. I told you," her eyes darted up to his and she sighed deeply before sitting on the desk, Oliver standing in front of her. "I…" she flexed her hands, searching for the words, so he didn't interrupt. "I entered a contest and won, and the guy that I beat, well, one of the guys, and girls, women, whatever one of them didn't take it well."

Oliver's eyebrows drew together. "A contest?"

"A hacking contest," she elaborated briefly. "Online, supposed to be completely anonymous, but clearly the security was lacking, don't even get me started, I mean come on when you're dealing with hackers-"

"Felicity." Her ramble stopped, her lighter blue eyes met his and she blinked behind the black frames of her glasses. "Who did you beat? Who set you up?"

"He goes by Plague," she said with an eye roll.

"His real name," Oliver insisted.

"Daniel Baird," she admitted. "Not that it's important, I told you, I handled it." Oliver looked unconvinced, his protective instincts still raised, so she explained how she'd hacked the contest organizer to find Plague then destroyed his system after documenting the trail he'd left when he'd hacked the Central City Police Department to create the false arrest warrant for her. "So you see, I put an end to his fun, and he'll be too busy dealing with his own real, legal problems to come after me anymore."

Oliver was unconvinced and pushed for more details. "Diggle said this has been going on awhile now."

Felicity gasped, her consternation obvious. "I guess that's what I get for telling my sob stories to Carley. God I need some friends apart from this," she waved her hand to show the lair. Seeing Oliver's frown, she quickly continued. "Not that this isn't fun, and not that I could really talk to someone who didn't know about this because they wouldn't know about this, and shouldn't and therefore couldn't understand, but it would still be nice to-"

"Felicity. You can talk to me."

She smiled softly, her expression warm and trusting. "I know, but some things… well, you know."

Oliver frowned, not knowing. He'd had lots of acquaintances in his life, party buddies, but few real friends. He trusted Felicity and didn't like the thought of her not feeling like she could share with him. He shrugged off the thought that he kept more secrets than Felicity would have in several lifetimes.

"He said something about your mail…"

"Yeah, my mail was being held at the post office, not really a big deal, just annoying. It wasn't until he turned off my cable that I really got mad."

"Your cable?"

"TV. Cable TV. They had that before the island, so you should know what it is," she said, continuing on a rant about how she'd had to miss the Dr. Who season Finale, and watch it later which for some reason meant she couldn't go online until she'd watched the show… Oliver wasn't sure why and Felicity didn't explain, apparently expecting him to know.

"Just… be careful, OK? You think you diverted this guy but if this has been going on for a while now he might not give up so easily," he instructed her. It concerned him that she'd been harassed for weeks and hadn't ever mentioned it once.

She bit her lip, her gaze going to her feet before looking up. "I think… please tell me that you and Diggle went all overprotective male on me and assigned someone to follow me tonight and that it wasn't…"

"I wouldn't classify our concern as overprotective," he disagreed. "And as your friend and fake boyfriend, I consider it within my responsibilities to see that you're safe. But yes, Diggle did assign one of his men to watch you." Oliver smiled at her look of relief. "You did a good job losing him. If he hadn't known that you were likely to return home, here or QC, he might have lost you for more than a few minutes."

Felicity's mouth turned down in a pout. "Am I really so predictable?"

"You run IT for one of the world's largest corporations and Star City's vigilante, I think you're anything but predictable." She perked up. "Come on, I'll take you home."

~~ARROW~~

The next morning, at the Queen Manor, Moira came downstairs dressed in a Chanel suit, every hair perfectly in place. Raisa was standing in the foyer with a dark suited young man. "This gentleman is here to see you, Mrs. Queen."

"Thank you Raisa. How can I help you?"

"Mrs. Moira Queen-Steel?"

"Yes. What is this about?"

He pulled a blue sheath of papers from his inner jacket pocket and handed it to her. "You've been served."

Moira froze, but extended her hand slowly to accept the inevitable. Divorce papers from Walter.

~~Arrow~~

At Queen Consolidated, it was business as usual. Walter Steel had been CEO prior to marrying Robert Queen's widow, and he would remain CEO after the divorce unless the Board of Directors decided otherwise.

"Ah, Felicity," Walter greeted her warmly as she came into a executive conference room. Felicity smiled, shaking his hand as he extended it, then following Walter around the room as he introduced her to the assembled project managers and a few of the senior scientists that did R&D for Queen Consolidated.

Left momentarily alone, Felicity pitched her voice low. "I'm sorry, what am I doing here?"

"You've been handling special projects for me, for the company, for awhile. I think it's time to make that a more permanent arrangement. We have several new projects coming online and need to make sure they succeed. To do so, they must have the best and most suitable technology. Hardware and software. You are the best person on staff to handle that."

Felicity was surprised, but pleased. She'd worked hard, and was smarter than her boss. She wasn't sure what her next step would be in her career, but it looked like Walter had just opened a door for her. A sudden thought darkened her expression. "This isn't-"

"You have earned this opportunity, Ms. Smoak. You dedication to this company, your innovations, original thinking and technical expertise are all above par. You are the right person for the job, if you want it."

~~Arrow~~

At Queen Manner, Moira finished freshening herself up before going downstairs. Her bedroom was just too lonely to spend much time in. Entering the drawing room where she and Walter had always shared drinks before dinner or entertained guests after dinner, she saw Raisa looking worried.

"Mrs. Queen, I…"

"Hello Moira. I'm glad to see you looking so well."

She froze and turned slowly to face Malcolm Merlyn. "It's OK, Raisa."

"I'll get your lunch ready, Mrs. Queen," the Russian housekeeper said, closing the door as she exited the room, a chill going down her back.

"I heard you had another run in with the vigilante," Malcom said in a faintly interested tone.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," she responded caustically.

"You know you are very special to me, Moria. But we cannot have anyone interfering with the Undertaking. Not now that we're so close."

Moira poured herself a drink. "Your assassin wasn't too subtle in eliminating those people at Unidac."

"Well, now the police are focused on the copycat archer instead of the Undertaking. As for our collateral damage, I had to limit our exposure."

"I see," Moira said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. "And does paying Walter a visit fall under the same category? You held him for nearly six months. Surely you had him questioned."

"He was."

"And I assume that if Walter knew something you'd rather he didn't, agreement be damned, I would be a widow again. Am I wrong?" she questioned, looking the man she knew to be a killer in the eyes.

"Rarely." Suddenly he smiled. "Walter is safe now Moira. He knows nothing that could hurt me or the Undertaking. And now that he's separated from you, he should remain in blissful ignorance."

~~Arrow~~

In the executive boardroom at QC, the meeting was just breaking up. One of the lead scientists on the highest priority project Felicity had just been tasked to work with caught up with her as she exited the room.

"I think we should get started as soon as possible, if you have any time today."

"Of course. How's this afternoon?" Felicity offered, smiling brightly as she mentally adjusted her schedule.

"How's one? Unless you take a longer lunch…" he trailed off as Felicity's eyes narrowed. "My team is lucky to get a lunch."

"Queen Consolidated's Human Resources ensures that we get and take a lunch break. So yes, I eat lunch, but I don't see the duration of my lunch break as-" Felicity started, her tone defensive. She often felt guilty about doing work for Oliver while at QC, but she was pretty sure his comment stemmed from her fake relationship with Oliver, not her real relationship with Oliver.

"Sorry didn't mean anything by it," the tall scientist apologized badly.

Felicity forced a tight smile, changing direction and heading to Walter's assistant's desk instead of the elevator. Ten minutes later, smiling and relaxed she walks to the elevator her panda flats slightly slippery on the polished marble floors of the executive level. The express elevator comes quickly, and Felicity steps on, her thoughts focused on work.

A voice draws her from her thoughts. "Hold the elevator please." Felicity sticks her hand out, triggering the doors to reopen to admit a woman, several years older than Felicity, and a small little girl with dark eyes and messy brown curls. "Oh, thank you," the woman said. "Someone needs to get home in a hurry for her n-a-p."

Felicity smiles and nods.

"Do you work here?" the child asks, her words perfectly clear, her voice high pitched but even. "My daddy works here. Do you know him?"

"Stacy, lots of people work here…" the woman glanced regretfully at Felicity. "Ron Stevens, I'm his wife, Marina."

"Of course, Mr. Stevens. Assistant Director to the Auditor and Controller. I worked with him to automate some financial reports that he wanted to streamline our accounts receivable…" Seeing the child's vague stare and the woman's head shake she simplified. "He's very smart."

"Are you smart?"

"Yes," she replied simply.

"Do lots of girls work here? My mommy doesn't work. She just takes care of me," the little girl said matter-of-factly.

"Well if you ask me that sounds like a very difficult job." Felicity's eyes widened as the little girls face went from interested to pouty in the time it took her lower lip to pop out." "Uh, what I mean is taking care of a kid seems hard. Not you particularly. Just kids. In general."

"You're strange."

Felicity blew out a deep breath, glad that the child seemed to get over her temper quickly. "You are not the first to say that."

"Sorry," Marina Stevens apologized again.

Before Felicity could wave off her apology the elevator gave an ominous lurch, coming to a halt. Felicity frowned and stepped forward towards the emergency phone. Opening the housing, she picked up the old fashioned phone handset only to scream as the elevator suddenly fell quickly. Felicity dropped her tablet and the planner she'd been holding, dropping to her knees on the floor as the woman followed suit clutching her child protectively.

Another sudden halt lead to a stomach tumbling bounce as the elevator cable reacted to the sudden weight of the car.

"What…" Marina said shakily over he sounds of her daughter's whimpers.

Felicity shook her head, raising the phone to her ear, hearing only a dead line. With a shaky breath, Felicity picked up her tablet, happy to see it was undamaged from its fall. Using it to call QC's security emergency line, she was assured that they would be rescued soon. Standing up, Felicity sank to her knees again as the elevator dropped again. Clutching the hand rail Felicity prayed to whatever god was available to save them, but when the elevator stopped again she knew that it wasn't simple equipment malfunction.

With shaky fingers she used her tablet to navigate to the facilities system monitoring. Her eyes narrowed, seeing that the elevator was offline. Felicity moved to the facilities servers that controlled the elevators, security cameras, lighting, heat, automatic doors, and could even override the sprinkler systems. A familiar set of code caught her eye. "That-" she said angrily, her temper pushing aside her nerves. Fingers flying she set out to counter the hacker's entrance into QC's computers. Shutting down one route she returned to try to override what he'd done to the elevator only to find herself in a freefall again.

Chewing on her lip, she barley spared a glance at Marina and Stacy as both screamed in horror as they plummeted the last 25 floors to the ground. Her panic grew as the seconds passed, but suddenly the elevator brakes engaged, a sickening squeal reverberating loudly. "Oh thank god," Felicity breathed out. She continued to work on her tablet, making sure that Plague was completely locked out of their systems. She also took a second to record what he'd done, pinging off his IP address so she would know where to send the police to arrest him.

The world outside of cyberspace suddenly came into focus as shouting from outside the elevator and the crying duo just a few feet from her brought Felicity back to reality. The doors were pried open and Felicity helped Marina lift Stacy up to their rescuers, since they were stuck between floors. Giving Marina a hand up, Felicity was left to jump up to reach the hands waiting to life her to safety. Lying on the floor in the 2nd floor lobby, Felicity took several deep breaths, trying to stave off the shock she could feel settling in.

"Ms. Smoak?" A male voice impinged on her hazy mind. "Ms. Smoak. Are you injured?"

"No, I don't think so." She opened her eyes to see a young man hovering over her. "I know you…"

"Dave Hart. Are you sure you're OK? Go slowly," he helped her sit up his hand firm on her shoulder.

Felicity blinked at him, trying to place him. He obviously worked for QC as a security guard, but she'd seen him somewhere else.

"How do I know you?"

"I'm an alternate for the Queen's home security. Mr. Diggle assigned me-"

"You picked up Thea from lunch last week."

"You have a good memory. If you feel OK to stand, I think we can find you a more comfortable place to sit."

Felicity frowned, her head tilted as she finally realized that she was sitting in the middle of the second floor lobby, dozens of people streaming around here. QC staff, security, curious on lookers of various varieties. "Yes, I feel fine, I…" she broke off as he helped her to her feet and her knees wobbled. "I might not feel so fine."

"Just a few steps."

He helped her to a nearby chair, pushed out of the way along one wall. "That really just happened, didn't it."

The guard smiled quickly, then resumed a professional unaffected expression.

~~Arrow~~

The elevator doors opened on the 50th floor of Queen Consolidated, drawing attention even before Oliver Queen stepped out. No one was terribly eager to get into the elevators after the earlier incident, but the people who worked on the upper floors had little practical choice.

Oliver didn't break stride marching towards his father's former office, now the office of his soon to be ex- stepfather, Walter Steele. He didn't see Felicity inside the glass walls, but he had been assured that she was there, safe, and would remain until he arrived to take her home.

Pushing open the door and entering the CEO's office as if he owned the place, which was partially true, Oliver saw Felicity lying on the soft leather couch in the corner. "Felicity!" he said loudly, causing her to jackknife up into a seated position, her hair in disarray, looking as if she was unsure of where she was.

"Oliver, hey, I'm fi-" her words were swallowed by a squeak as Oliver folded her into his arms, sweeping her lifting her onto her toes as he hugged her firmly. Felicity's hard won composure shattered once she was in the safety of his embrace, her whole body shaking. Oliver held her tighter, his arms wrapped tightly around her to keep her close. After just a few minutes her tears and shaking seemed to subside and the arms she had looped around his neck loosened. Her face was pressed into his neck, his skin and button up shirt damp from her emotional release. Easing back she felt the rasp of his whiskers against her forehead.

"Hey," he said softly. "You're OK. You're safe and we're going to keep it that way, I promise."

She nodded, her blue eyes luminous, her glasses discarded sometime earlier in the trauma of the afternoon.

He studied her face, the pale peaches and cream completion, mouth bare of its usual bold color, the darkness of her lashes, surrounding eyes that never failed to express her emotions. Oliver had no idea how she ever managed to tell a lie, since the basic honesty of her character and in her face should always give her away.

He drew her forward into his embrace again, his hands skimming down her sides to rest on her hips. Pressing a chase kiss to her forehead, which was perfectly aligned with his mouth, he felt her body tense then relax against him. Lowering his mouth to her ear, he spoke softly, aware that they had an audience inside the room and outside the glass walls that offered no privacy. "We'll get this guy, he won't come near you again."

Felicity took a deep breath, tilting her head up so their eyes met as she smiled at him. "I know. I told the police where he was, he should have been arrested by now, but if he gets out, I give you permission to…"

He nodded, grateful that she was still in control of her faculties enough to stop there. His gaze swept over her. "Where are your glasses and shoes? I think we should get you home now."

"I don't think I can go yet," she demurred.

"Why? Walter won't make you work the rest of your day-"

"Of course not," Walter chimed in, coming closer now that the couple wasn't wrapped up in each other. "I told the police that you would make arrangement so speak to them again once you were feeling better, there's nothing keeping you here."

"I don't want to go down the elevator, I don't… I just don't. And I know it's not rational, we locked down the whole system, no one is getting in again. Not today, but I don't care. And my shoes fell off in the elevator when they pulled me out," she explained, making his stomach tighten as he imagined how frightened she must have been. As if to demonstrate just how unsteady she still was after her wild ride, her voice rose and fell irregularly as she tried to defend herself. "My legs are shaky and my feet are raw, and I just can't deal with the stairs or the elevator right now, so no. I can go sit in the lobby if Walter needs his office back but-"

"There's no need for that, you can stay as long as you like, however I do agree with Oliver that you might be more comfortable at home."

The head of security entered the office and Walter smiled at Felicity before walking towards the door.

Oliver trained his ears to try to overhear the conversation by the door, but as if unconsciously, his hand rose to cup Felicity's cheek gently. The softness and warmth of her skin drew his attention back to her as she tilted her face into his touch. "We can stay as long as you want."

"Thanks."

"No need to thank me." His voice lowered, he stepped closer to her again. "Felicity. This never should have happened, I should have-"

"This wasn't your fault Oliver, and you couldn't have known. I didn't know. I still can't believe it. There were other people in the elevator with me Oliver. A mother and a child. He could see us on the security camera, he knew, but he didn't care. He was going to kill us. They almost died because of me," she said, her voice layered with heavy guilt.

Oliver felt his gut tighten. He knew guilt, had lived under its oppressive weight every day of his life for the past five and half years. Ever since his father had taken his own life to save him. Ever since Sarah, Yao Fei, Shado, and Slade.

Oliver stared into Felicity's eyes, seeing the shadows he had never wanted to see in the soft blue. Without another thought about why it wasn't a good idea, he slanted his mouth over hers. They'd shared a few chaste kisses during their fake courtship, but this was not one of those. His lips pressed against hers firmly, his hand sliding up into her hair, fingers tangling in golden strands, dyed, she'd once told him as if it were a state secret. Her hands fluttered on his shoulders before curving around the firm muscles of his shoulders and back. Her body softened against his and he parted his lips, responding to his need to deepen the kiss, but sanity reasserted itself.

This was hardly the place. Pulling back, he opened his eyes to see her confusion shift to disappointment. "I'm sorry," she said softly, looking down, breaking their connection.

"Don't be sorry," he said softly, but she could see the war going on behind his eyes.

"Are you sorry?" she asked.

"I…" He could see sadness settle over her already tired face. "I should be sorry, that… shouldn't have happened, but I'm not." Her startled gaze flew upwards, meeting his. "I didn't plan that, and it's probably not a good idea, but… I'm not sorry."

Felicity blinked rapidly, and he imagined he could see the gears in her mind spinning as she tried to follow his thought process. He felt a smile tug on his lips, and acting on instinct he closed the distance between them and pressed another soft kiss to her mouth. Opening her mouth slightly with his, he tugged at her lower lip, his tongue sweeping out to catch her taste, but not venturing any farther. His mouth brushed against hers several more times before he set her back from him.

"Why are your feet raw?" he asked, seemingly out of left field for Felicity who looked at him blankly as if he had asked the question in Mandarin. "Your feet?"

She snapped to attention. "And legs. Shaky legs, raw feet. I climbed up 48 floors. I was on 50, we were on 50, the elevator fell to the second floor. They wanted me to come up here, but I didn't want to take the elevator, so we walked, but I didn't have my shoes, and that is a lot of stairs, and don't you dare say that I need to work out more, because I think, after today, I'm totally OK with being a behind the scenes person…"

Oliver smiled and let her ramble, leading her back to the couch and sitting down beside her.

"You should have called me," he said a few minutes later interrupting her sentence about terminal velocity.

"What? When?" she asked, looking around as if the answer would present itself out of thin air.

"Once you were safe."

She frowned. "You have your 'grr' face. Are you making your 'grr' face at me? Because I didn't call you? How did you know to come anyway?"

"Walter called me, and yes, you should have. We're friends, remember? And to everyone else we're dating."

"But I was fine," she insisted, then whispered her next words. "And we're not dating. We're… well, just now I guess we were, well, not dating, but-"

"You're not fine," he said firmly, cutting off her words, not sure he was ready to name what they had been doing, or what they were going to be doing. Felicity was his friend, an important friend. And a key partner in his quest. She also tugged at his heart, making him smile more than anyone else since the island. She was smart and tough, innocent and sweet, loyal and honest, and he didn't deserve her. She deserved to be happy, and he knew she had a crush on him, knew that she felt something for him, but he didn't deserve to be happy. Not yet, maybe not ever.

"I am fine."

"Great, so then I can take you home."

She shot him an unimpressed look. "You can go wherever you want, I may stay here all night."

"Then I'll just wait for you to fall asleep and carry you out of here."

Felicity gasped. "You wouldn't dare."

Oliver smirked, his smug expression and casual shrug an eloquent expression of his nonchalance at the idea. "I think it would play well with the media."

"Media?" Felicity asked her voice rising several octaves. "Of course there's media. First Oliver Queen has a girlfriend. Fake girlfriend. Then she's arrested. Then she almost dies in a freak elevator incident."

~~Arrow~~

Words 5140

Sorry for the long delay, I haven't had much time to write in the past few months.