Disclaimer: See chapter 1

I've changed my mind, the A/N is going back to the bottom.

AAA-FOQ-AAA-FOQ-AAA

Chapter 14 – The Trouble with Russians

Hearing the beeping sound on her tablet, Felicity cast a quick look down the corridor and then tapped the screen, bringing up the camera showing the alley near Verdant and the lair. She then watched as red-hooded Roy Harper walked almost stealthily up to the tree she and Oliver had agreed on as best positioned and jammed one of Oliver's small arrows into the gap between the bricks.

"And just what have you discovered Mr Harper." She murmured to herself, "Or should I say, what have you been snooping about to discover?" She then frowned suddenly. "And why do I have the sudden feeling that you are going to get Oliver shot at... again!"

Her frown changed suddenly as she realised that she now had the perfect excuse to break into Oliver's unwanted meeting with a certain Ms Rochev – who somehow couldn't understand that she was not a partner in QC but merely a major shareholder (and most definitely did not have the right to insist that Oliver spend all his time on working for QC – just because she didn't have a personal life, didn't give her the right to insist everyone else couldn't have one either!)

Of course, the fact that she, Felicity, was his personal life had absolutely nothing to do with her reasoning. (She had actually said that out loud the previous week and Diggle had snorted in muted laughter.)

Mentally rubbing her hands together, Felicity made her way to the elevator to save the more troublesome member of their partnership from the irritating unwanted interloper to his company. (And she really needed to get round to doing that deep search because there had to be a real good reason as to why she was on the List).

Mentally flipping a coin over which persona she was going to show, (especially with the way Isabel was treating Oliver as a five year old child) Felicity stepped into the open doorway and she raised her hand to catch his attention. At his slight raised hand to wait, she raised an eyebrow.

When her second attempt to get his attention was talked over by Isabel and another raised hand from Oliver, Felicity was becoming decidedly annoyed. She took a deep breath and went with it. "Oliver!"

The look of annoyance that both of them sent her actually turned her annoyed key off and turned her amused key on.

"As much as I hate..." The hesitation in her voice clearly expressed how much she did not mean that (and Oliver hid a slight smirk behind Isabel's back that only Felicity caught) "...to interrupt your conversation, I need to talk to you about your plans for this evening..." Oliver raised an eyebrow at that (as far as he had been aware, they had merely been going to train that day) "...with Mr Harper."

Oliver's expression changed at that and he rose to his feet. "You'll have to excuse me, Isabel."

"Where are you going?" She stepped into his way as he started to move towards Felicity but before he could respond, Felicity stepped forward.

"Ms Rochev, do you need to be reminded that you are merely a major shareholder in QC...oops! I think I just did." She raised her hand to her mouth in mock self-reprimand and before she could say anything else, Oliver grabbed her hand and pulled her after him out of the offices (whether for Isabel's protection or the love of his life, only he knew).

"Felicity!" The laughter in his voice however was only clear to her; especially as the moment he had pulled her around the corner out of sight, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

AAA-AAA-AAA

Felicity jumped slightly as her phone rang beside her (She was on edge from the sudden breakdown of communications with Diggle as it was and the lack of information from the last member of their team). Looking down, she found Detective Lance's picture on the screen and raising an eyebrow, she turned to look at Oliver as he came down the stairs towards her. "Detective, what can I do for you today?"

"The Harper kid... please tell me that he's not genuinely working for him?" There was a pained note in Lance's voice.

"As much as I would love to do that, I really can't." Felicity replied as she reached out to brush Oliver's cheek with her fingers in lieu of kissing him on his return. "The Arrow felt it was the only way of stopping him from becoming a vigilante himself."

"And tonight's... escapade?"

"I will have the Arrow speak to him." There was such a note in her voice that both men shuddered slightly. "Good night Detective, keep safe."

As soon as she put her phone down, she spun into Oliver's arms and kissed him. "I take it everything went well then, even with Roy still being there near the end."

"As well as can be expected," He replied as he kissed her again and then looked around the lair. "Diggle not back yet."

"No and he went dark on me without warning." She replied as she stepped away. "Go get changed, I'll update you on some of the things I found out while you two were out and about."

Two hours later, as they watched a news article on the new particle accelerator that S.T.A.R Laboratories were working on, (Oliver's hand resting on Felicity's shoulder and her hand resting on his), Diggle returned to the lair.

Sharing a concerned look, both turned to look at him even as Oliver spoke, "Where'd you go? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah..." Diggle replied even as he pulled out his weapons' case. "Just need a few personal days."

"What's going on?" Oliver folded his arms as he shared another glance with Felicity.

"I have to go help a friend." Diggle turned to look at the couple catching the unspoken "Who?" from both of them. "Lyla Michaels."

Felicity reached for Oliver's hand and curled her fingers into his even as she clarified who their friend was speaking of, "His spy girlfriend who works for A.R.G.U.S."

"She went to Russia... looking for Deadshot... for me and now she's missing."

"Felicity, I think it's time we visited our Queen Consolidated facility in Russia." Oliver said almost without thinking and she squeezed his hand in return, responding "Of course" as if it didn't need to be said.

Diggle stepped towards them. "Oliver, what are you doing?"

"I'm..." A poke in his side had him amending his statement. "We're just helping a friend."

"I can't ask you to do that."

Before anymore of the man posturing could go on, Felicity interceded, rolling her eyes. "Gentlemen, we have work to do if we're going to Russia, so move it!"

AAA-AAA-AAA

"I still cannot believe that you didn't tell her where to go, Oliver." Felicity literally growled in his ear, glaring through the seats at the back of Isabel Rochev's head. "This jet has nothing to do with Queen Consolidated and the fact that I am both your girlfriend/executive assistant also has nothing to do with it either, and I'm telling you now, if she tries to hijack the program I set together to ensure that we can do everything we can to help Digg, she is not going to like what I do to make her pay, which I may do anyway just for the fun I would get come to think about it..."

Before her ramble could go any further, Oliver quickly silenced her with a kiss. "Felicity, it will be alright, I promise John and I promise you." Kissing her once more, he then suddenly said. "I don't want you coming with us to meet Anatoli the first time, I have my reasons..."

This time, it was Felicity that silenced him with a kiss. "And I understand."

A day later, she found herself regretting being that understanding as she stared at the bag of drugs the Bratva chief had sent to their hotel suite, hugging her tablet like a teddy-bear. "Now that is a lot of drugs." She shook her head, knowing that it was necessary, no matter how much she disliked it and got to business.

She put her tablet down and picked up Diggle's coat she had hidden a tracker on. "You'll need to be wearing this when they take you, the guards will take it but that's the point." He nodded as she picked up her tablet again and pulled up the picture that Anatoli had sent them. "This is Anatoli's man on the inside."

When she slammed the tablet down, the two men realised just how upset she was with everything that was going on. Oliver immediately went to her, pulling into his arms as she looked up at him and then at Diggle. "Are we sure that this is the best plan we can come up, I mean I know that... Digg, is there something you haven't told us about Lyla?"

Diggle stepped towards them. "She was my wife, Felicity; we met in Afghanistan and when we couldn't make it work without a war to fight, she joined A.R.G.U.S and I went on my third tour. I can't leave here without her, Felicity, I just can't. You can understand that, can't you?" He looked from her to Oliver and back.

There was nothing that she could say to that, it was so true. Instead as Oliver's phone beeped a two-minute warning and he moved forward to shake Diggle's hand, she took the scarf she had over her arm and moved round the table to drape it around his neck. Using the ends to pull him down to her height, she kissed his cheek. "Good luck John."

Moving back into Oliver's arms, she rested her head on his shoulder as they watched the third member walk out of their suite and into definite trouble. Barely half an hour later, a half hour in which Oliver had allowed Felicity to bully him into dressing correctly for the meetings they were due to attend that day just as a way to keep her distracted from what was happening with Diggle, he answered the phone and turned to pull her into his side.

"The clock's running."

AAA-FOQ-AAA-FOQ-AAA

Yes I know this should have been up yesterday but what with the thunderstorms, lightning strikes and an unexpected invite to a barbque, just didn't happen!

This is just the first part, coming your way shortly CH 15: From Russia With Love ;op