Chapter 3

Oliver's thoughts

"Hello?" she asked when the call was answered.

"Miss Smoak, I presume…" a heavily accented male voice answered. Could it be Australian maybe? She was not sure, but it didn't sound British…

"Yes, that's me…" and she wondered how the man might know who she was just from her voice… Well, another question to join the other thousands she had in her mind.

"Do you want to meet me and talk?" he asked and Felicity had to laugh.

"Sure, I will meet a very suspicious man in an unknown place that I'm pretty sure could not be so innocuous as it looks like to find out more about my estranged father… Not dangerous at all…" Felicity replied quickly.

From the other side a loud laugh emerged. She didn't know if it could characterized as happy or creepy and that made her fearful.

"Maybe this was not such a good idea…" she said and was ready to disconnect the phone call when the man spoke again.

"I'm sorry, I was being rude. I met your father years ago and he asked me to find you. When I returned to the United States I tried to get in touch, but your mother didn't give me any information about you… I just found you recently through some business associates that work with Queen Consolidated…" the man explained clearly, but Felicity couldn't shake that unsureness that was a constant companion since she started working with Oliver and Dig. "It's just that I'm relieved of finally finding you..."

"Mr. Williamson, I'm sure you know I can't just take your word in the matter through a phone call… I saw the pictures, but I want more information… What if we meet in a public place? Like… Starling City Museum? It has a garden if you want an outdoor view…" Felicity said, thinking that it would be easy to hack into the cameras if she needed any visual proof of her meeting with the man.

"I think it's perfect… What about tomorrow, 4 p.m.?" he asked and Felicity catalogued mentally what her work the next day would be. Oliver was free after 2 p.m. and there was nothing Arrow related that needed her expertise…

"Yes, I think it's good for me…" Felicity said.

"See you tomorrow then, Miss Smoak…"

"Until tomorrow, Mr. Williamson…"

After the phone call, Felicity stopped a moment to think. She was not sure if what she was doing was the right thing. For all she knew the man could be a criminal… She didn't find anything relevant about his work and his words about "business associates" intrigued her. Why would his associates talk about her?

She wanted to call Oliver or Diggle but something stopped her. Was it pride? A necessity to work her own problems by herself? Neither of them were calling her to solve their personal issues, then why should she? They were friends, actually, more than that, but imagining the two of them hovering over her meeting or their constant words inside her ear through the earpiece wouldn't go well with her frame of mind. If she was in trouble she could easily call any of them, or even Sara or Roy to help her out…

"I will be going now…" Felicity said, her hand grabbing the door handle and her foot kicking the floor softly.

"Already?" Oliver looked at his clock to see it showed 3 p.m. and looked up to see her condescending little smile.

"I told you this morning I had to go, remember? And besides, for the last hour you were just reading emails and you don't have anything else scheduled… so, see you tomorrow…" she said and before Oliver could say anything else she left.

He scrunched his brow at her retreating form. She was acting weird and he was not the only one that noticed. Even Sara and Roy could see that… He knew Diggle tried to ask her what was going on, but she just smiled at him and said nothing… Which was worrisome… She never did not talk… and if she was trying to keep the words from pouring out of her mouth it meant she was worried or trying to keep something from them, like she did with his mother's secret.

For a moment he thought about following her, he even rose from his desk and was ready to call Diggle when a voice inside his head, too much like Felicity's, whispered its warning, telling him she would feel violated in her personal freedom.

And so, Oliver let his body fall once again, while contemplating his own life right now. He slept with Sara and it was just like he remembered, a few moments of numbing pleasure and oblivion, and then, the realization of what they did was wrong on so many levels. It was wrong towards Laurel, it was wrong towards their own evolution and it was wrong towards… Felicity… And that was what hurt the most… If she ever found out what happened… Oliver shook his head to get rid of the thought.

He and Sara realized their mistake was soon as they looked at each other.

Sara sighed and rolled her eyes.

"We are so messed up… But I can't do this anymore. I love you, but I'm not in love with you, Ollie…" she sighed.

"I'm not in love with you either…" he sighed, his eyes far way.

"I can't do this to Laurel anymore… I want to make peace with her, I want to have my sister back… This is kind of a goodbye, don't you think? A last thing to say goodbye to the past…" Sara whispered and Oliver nodded.

"But we are friends…" Oliver said, making sure the mistake they made would not tarnish the friendship they developed.

"Of course we are…" Sara said and pulling her clothes back over her body she got up. "You were hurting and I was hurting and we gave some moments of oblivion to each other… but we have to learn how to talk about things with the people we love… I will try and talk with Laurel and you should talk with…" and then she trailed, like she was not sure of what was really happening to make him that sad.

Oliver looked up. He didn't tell Sara about his mother's secret and Thea… and he couldn't… Diggle didn't know and Roy could never find out… Felicity was the one that shared that information with him, she was the only one that knew what was really happening inside his mind. The realization took his breathe away.

And now, here she was, hiding things from him. For some moments he wondered if she knew what happened between Sara and him. Maybe that's why she was so guarded. He remembered his words "I just think that it's better to not be with someone that I could really care about" after the Russia's fiasco. If she knew, she would be feeling betrayed.

"But why?" wondered his inner voice.

"You are such a fool, Oliver Queen" he sneered at himself. It was obvious, but he didn't want to face that truth right now. It wouldn't be fair to her…

Sighing, Oliver stood up and grabbed his jacket and belonging. He called Roy and scheduled a very lengthy training, he was going to need it and the kid would be the perfect adversary.

I know, this one wasn't so much about Felicity, but I really wanted to show how Oliver is dealing with her reactions. Since he doesn't know what is happening he starts wondering what might be wrong with her (okay, I just wanted a chance to make Oliver and Sara say it was a mistake, I confess!)