My dear followers. Sorry for the delay. I hope it was worth the wait. I love reading your reviews and welcome any prompts or ideas. Enjoyxx
When Felicity reached the door of Starbucks she pushed it open with a little more force than was required causing it to swing open into the face of a fellow customer. The Door narrowly missed the cups in his hand, the draft that was created making them wobble in the cup holder. As the suit scurried past her clutching his coffee for dear life he muttered "Watch it lady"
"Sorry, I'm so sorry" Felicity offered apologetically, trying desperately to keep herself together. Taking a deep breath and counting ten she approached the counter and placed her order. Sensing a presence behind her she stiffened, all feeling of security and safety having been pulled from under her by a face from her past. As she contemplated raising an elbow to the face behind her, a familiar hand hovered over her shoulder offering twenty dollars to the Barista.
Felicity huffed at Diggle, taking the anger she felt towards herself for being so affected by Jed's appearance, and directing it at him. Listening to the calming noise of the pressurised steam bubbling through the milk, Felicity moved along leaning against the counter awaiting Diggle's interrogation.
"Four shots huh? Is he having a bad day?" Diggle enquired, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Felicity did a double take, a little dazed by the fact that Diggle was plainly ignoring the Jed sized elephant in the room. She raised an eyebrow but remained silent; concentrating only on the Barista getting the orders right, caffeine was all that mattered.
As they made their way along the sidewalk back to QC, Diggle strategically took the coffee cup from Felicity's hand and sat it in the cup holder alongside his and Oliver's, earning a look from her of pure evil. He debated asking about her earlier run in with Jed and he wasn't going to take the risk that she would use her coffee as a weapon against him.
"So are you going to tell me what that was all about about?"
Felicity kept her eyes averted to the clicking of her heels against the roughness of the concrete beneath her as she answered Diggle with 'nope',to which she earned a signature Diggle brow raising.
"I'm fine Dig, or at least I will be. This isn't something that can be fixed with muscle and Arrows."
Diggle nodded, placed his hand on the curve of her back, lowered his voice and said "Ok, but you want me to pay him a visit just say the word"
The elevator ride back to the office was quietly uncomfortable. Felicity sensed Diggle's gaze on her as the shuddering of the elevator shaft caused her shoulder to rub against the girth of his bicep. Whilst Clutching her coffee so as not to spill it she silently cursed him for the intensity of his glare, clearly assessing her mental state as he towered over her.
As she opened her mouth to berate him the doors flew open, the sight before her causing the coffee to waiver in her hand as her knees weakened beneath her. Diggle instinctively placed his free hand on the small of her back to steady her before grabbing the cup from her hands and setting it on her desk.
Turning himself so that Felicity was shielded from the sight of Jeremy in Oliver's Office, Diggle rested himself on the edge of her desk folding his arms and flexing so hard that the seams pulled on his shirt. Felicity tried to focus on this and not the person he was shielding her from. She drew a breath to try and alleviate the sting in her cheeks as the anger, hurt, betrayal and fear bubbled up inside her. The flurry of emotions stifled her ability to breath and Diggle sensed this reaching out and rubbing his large and gentle hands from her shoulders to her elbows. Felicity managed an uptick of her lips in attempt to relieve his suspicion that she was far from okay and retrieved her coffee in attempt to appear nonchalant. Diggle, reading the situation shifted and dug his car keys from his pocket and handed them to Felicity requesting that she go to the car to retrieve his phone.
Raising an eyebrow Felicity accepted the keys "You left your phone in the car? Seriously you expect me to believe that? You do know I Can track it on my tablet?"
Diggle didn't respond the look on his face was answer enough and whilst she was highly grateful for his attempt to excuse her from the area she turned on her heels and with a flick of her ponytail huffed her away back to the elevator.
When the door separating Oliver and Felicity's office opened seconds later Diggle pulled his cup away from his mouth and stood to turn and face the man that had Felicity shaken in a way that made him feel wholly uncomfortable.
"Nice meeting you Mr Clark" Oliver offered as he shook Jeremy hands and escorted him out of his office, his CEO smile plastered shamefully across his chiseled jaw. When they reached Diggle, Oliver stopped to undertake the necessary introductions. "Mr Clark, This is my Head of Security Mr Diggle, Dig this is Mr Clark my New Head of Applied Sciences"
Jeremy reached out for Diggs hand to bond them into some Manly handshake but Diggle remained arms crossed and feet apart appearing as menacing as possible "Yeah we already met"
Jeremy awkwardly pulled his arm back to his side trying to hide the fear and embarrassment that he was emanating like a bad odour. " Ok well thank you Mr Queen" He forced nervously, and giving Dig a very wide berth made his way back to safety of the elevator.
When they were alone Oliver took his four shot Vanilla Latte and headed back to his Office with Diggle in tow. Allowing the warm sweet nectar to slide its way down his throat, giving him the burst of sugar he needed, he shot Diggle a look, a unspoken a request to explain what had just happened. Diggle remained detached resulting in Oliver verbalising his request, with a slight uptick of his lips, almost stretching, but not quite into a smile "You want to explain why you had my new head of Applied Sciences trembling at the very sight you?"
Diggle took a breath, composed his thoughts and knowing however he approached this Oliver would be on the offensive he told him the truth "He was harassing our Girl this morning in the lobby downstairs"
Oliver's demeanor shifted, his jaw hardened and his fingers began rolling an invisible arrow between them. Oliver remained quiet, and simply raised an eyebrow, waiting for Diggle to continue. "She wasn't too happy to see him, apparently they know each other from MIT but that's all I know. I tried talking to her about it but, well you know Felicity"
Oliver nodded "Ex-Boyfriend?" he enquired waiting for Diggle's reaction. Diggle shook his head "Maybe. No, I don't think so, something seemed off. It was like she was scared of this Guy Oliver"
In an attempt to center himself Oliver turned his attention to the pane of glass separating the two offices expecting to a see a comforting sea of blonde curls. When he was met with the sight of her empty chair his heart dropped and his instincts sharpened as the persona of the Hood consumed him. He had been highly aware as he'd faked interest in his new Head of Department, of the exchange that had taken place between his two friends. Oliver had taken it upon himself while nodding politely to assess every detail no matter how insignificant or minute; a skill he had honed during his time on the island and used to great effect in the mission to keep himself alive. He'd watched the keys to the Bentley change hands and had mentally noted the chips in her violet nail polish that earlier that morning had been unblemished. He had notedly flinched as he watched her skitter her way back to confines of the private elevator leaving her vanilla mocha to go cold.
Oliver knew from meticulous calculations the time taken from each of their meeting points across the city. The mansion to the foundry, the foundry to QC, QC to Felicity's townhouse and all the those in between. He also knew that it took three minutes to get to the parking garage from his office, three minutes back, and an additional few minutes for her to complete whatever task she had undertaken. As Oliver consulted his five hundred dollar Rolex he knew that by now he should be seeing his centre of gravity sat back at her desk in front of him. All it took was one glance in Diggle's direction and one back towards her desk to have them both heading in the direction of the parking garage in pursuit of their IT girl.