Disclaimer: See chapter 1
A/N at bottom of chapter
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Chapter 16 – Case on High!
Felicity stood watching the replay of Moira Queen's statement the day of the Undertaking with a sudden sense of foreboding. (She also knew who to blame for her strange mood – and it all came down to her father's side of the family if the dream she had been sent had been anything to go by!)
Standing in the doorway of her office, Oliver watched her as she wrapped her arms around her slender waist and took a step towards her. "Felicity..."
She spun round and gave a half-smile as she realised that he had once again managed to leave his tie for her to finish. He always did that when there was something important going on. ""Oh Oliver..." She sighed as she moved across the room to his side. Finishing the knot, she brushed his shoulders off. "Are you sure...?"
He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Believe me, I want you there but mother's lawyer feels it would be the wrong thing to do and we need someone here to cover the office as well. You know as well me that a certain someone will try something if both of us are gone."
"I'm not so sure that your mother's lawyer is giving any of you straight advice and it wasn't that particular lawyer that was on my mind anyway..." She finished the last part of her sentence with her face buried against his shirt even as Oliver tightened his hold around her waist. "Alright, but that doesn't mean that I won't still be there for you. I managed to hack into the court cameras last night, so I can still see and hear everything going on."
"Felicity!" Oliver could do nothing but laugh at that as he ran a finger over her cheek.
Before he can say anything else, Diggle knocked on the edge of the door. "Thea's waiting for you downstairs, Oliver and I had your car brought round, Felicity. Just try not to break any red lights on the way to the Foundry."
"Yes mother." Felicity murmured sarcastically as she took a step backwards. Looking Oliver over one time, she suddenly sprang back into his arms and kissed him as hard as she could. "Be careful and look after Thea." She pressed a kiss to her cheek. "That's for her."
Oliver ran his fingers down her cheek and then raised her chin to kiss her again before leaving her in their offices, a slight forlorn look on her face.
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Oliver almost ran through the empty Verdant, his thoughts racing,
When his phone had rung during the first recess, he had not expected to find a slightly panicked girlfriend on the other end telling him that Diggle had passed out on returning to the QC offices. (However he had been silently pleased that he had a genuine reason to avoid the request to talk from Laurel – nor had he missed the scowl that had crossed her face at Felicity's name.)
He also did not expect to see the tall form of Diggle curled up on the med-table under a blanket as Felicity raced across the lair into his arms. "Sweetheart, tell me again." He said softly as he brushed back a lock of hair from her face.
"Fe...lic..ity... I told you not to call him." Diggle managed to muster amid his severe trembling.
"Shut up Digg." She shot back at him as she moved back to his side to once more brush away the sweat rolling off him with the cold cloth. "After you sent Diggle back from the court, he came into the office and passed out while arranging a temp bodyguard for you and Thea."
She moved back to his side, resting her hand on his cheek. "Oliver, I took a blood sample while he was down and out and sent it to a friend in the labs. He just called back before you arrived."
The worried look in her blue eyes increased and he wrapped her in his arms as if to share his strength with her. "Oliver, it had trace amounts of vertigo in it."
"I've never used vertigo in my life." Diggle growled through pain-filed tones as he struggled against an attack coursing through his muscled frame.
Felicity reached over and silenced him with a finger on his lips. "You were exposed to it somehow though." She then turned back to Oliver who was looking a little stunned. "Oliver..."
"Vertigo's in play again." He said slowly, "But that would mean..."
Felicity nodded in reply. "The Dollmaker can't have been the only prisoner that escaped Iron Heights after the earthquake." She shot across to her computers and pressed a few buttons. "After he recovered from his overdose, the Count was sent there..."
"And now he's out again." Oliver moved across to one of the stands that contained his small arrows and pulled one out containing a yellow liquid, moved back to her side and pressed it into her hand, curling her fingers over it.
She covered his hand before he took it away. "I know what you're thinking Oliver." She raised her hand to cover his cheek so that he would look into her eyes. "You made the right decision not to kill him, you know that."
"I know and I still feel that was the right choice." He cupped his hand over hers on his cheek, drew it to his lips to kiss and then lowered them down to cover the arrow again. "I made this antidote up the first time Vertigo was on the streets. Give it to Diggle."
She caught his brief look at his watch. "Go Oliver, recess must nearly be over. I'll do everything to find out what I can about how Diggle got the vertigo. This is my area of expertise, now let me prove it." She reached up on tiptoe and pressed a gentle, reassuring kiss to his lips. "Go agapi mou!"
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Before he even knew what was really going on, Oliver found himself back in the lair sooner than he had expected. Thea had raced away from the courtroom after ADA Adam Donner had been taken away – only for the ADA to vanish without a word of warning.
He was only reassured as to his sister's whereabouts when a text arrived from Felicity to say that she had her on the cameras covering Verdant – and Roy was with her, helping her. Instead of feeling that brotherly need that normally came over him when he even thought of Roy with his sister, he felt relieved and a need to be with his own other half.
Even without casting Diggle a look (although he was glad to see him sitting up), he pulled Felicity out of her seat and into his arms, holding her tight against him as he buried his face in her hair for a moment to reassure himself.
Only then, with her by his side, did he turn his attention to his other friend. "How are you feeling?"
Shaking badly and rubbing his hands together, Diggle pulled his blanket around his shoulders, "Fine."
"You've a lousy poker face, John Diggle." He shot back as he looked down at the girl at his side. "Did he take the antidote?"
"It didn't work; the Count must have fudged with his recipe." She replied reaching out to pull the blanket tighter around Diggle's shoulder before all three caught the sudden sight of her screen being taken over.
"Felicity!" She was away from his side in a shot, her fingers literally dancing over the keyboard as she tried to trace the video call as it occurred even as they watched in horror the show being played out before them. Fifteen minutes later, she was still trying to track down the source. Sensing her frustration rising, Oliver moved to her side and rested a hand on her shoulder, "Sweetheart?"
"He's bounced it off one of S.T.A.R. Labs satellites, Oliver; he could have been sending the signal from Morcorvia for all I can get."
"What I can't get is, if he dosed the whole city why are only some people showing the symptoms?" Diggle asked as he managed to get off the table for a moment to stand with Oliver behind Felicity.
"Maybe he contaminated something in particular, something that only certain people like you and Donner were exposed to." Oliver responded before Felicity suddenly sat upright under his hand. "Felicity?"
"I found something!"
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Well that's today's chapter up and running - it was supposed to be one chapter but it kind of ran away from me (and yes, I am delibrately keeping them around 1500 words a chapter!)
Coming tomorrow is Ch 17 - More than One Cure - which has more meanings than the obvious one for this storyline.
Look forward to seeing what you think ;op