I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed and favourited the story.

I hope I'm doing Felicity and Oliver justice.

Oliver:

Oliver still couldn't believe that Felicity had attacked him, with flowers no less or the flash of sincere amusement he had felt. He had his emotions so tightly locked away that even he had trouble remembering they actually existed. He had become very good at faking being a normal person. His sister, Thea, was the only person he was willing to be himself around.

"She's cute," Tommy commented, "for a computer geek." They'd both watched Felicity hightail it from the living room; Oliver's face impassive, Tommy's confused.

Tommy turned to Oliver, an expectant look on his face. "Not your usual type Ollie, but we all like to experiment. What happened to that other girl? Ah, Helen. No, wait, Helena. What went on there, man?"

Tommy walked over to the bar, to pour himself a drink. Oliver used the opportunity to close his eyes and count to ten. He knew Tommy was asking questions that any best friend would, but Oliver's patience was stretched thin today and he barely resisted the urge to tell him to get out. In fact if he had to be stuck with anyone's company he'd prefer Felicity's; with her habit of babbling, he wouldn't need to make conversation.

"Helena and I broke up," Oliver responded finally. It was as close to the truth as Oliver could get. "And Felicity is helping me set up the website for the club."

Oliver fully intended to ask her, so that one wasn't actually a lie.

"Good idea," Tommy nodded his agreement. "But how are you doing? Almost getting hit with a truck on the holidays, that's got to hurt."

Oliver felt the physical pain of dueling with the Dark Archer, but it was nothing compared to the blow his pride had taken. He couldn't believe he'd been beaten; he was ashamed of himself. He'd spent five years on hell, endured pain and loneliness and survived relatively in tack. He was proud of that. Proud that he finally accomplished something in his life, that he was able to make a difference in Starling City. That bastard had almost ripped it all away from last night.

"What are you doing home anyway? Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?"

Oliver had learned that silence could be a weapon. The longer one is silent, the more the other person will try to fill it; inadvertently giving away things they never meant too. Now, he just wanted peace and quite, so he could reflect. He needed to come up with a new plan. He needed to take down this Dark Archer once and for all.

"You know me, Tommy," Oliver said, calmly. "I can never be kept somewhere I don't want too be."

Tommy laughed. "Right, not even a deserted island could hold you."

Oliver made his mouth smile for Tommy's sake. He might be disconnected from the world around him, but he didn't want to make his friends and family suffer anymore then they already had. Faking his happiness was part of that.

Tommy finished his drink and put his glass down. "I'd better be going Oliver or I'll be late for my lunch date with Laurel. She says she hopes you get better soon."

Oliver felt a familiar tinge at the mention of Laurel, but ignored it. He wanted her too be happy and as long as Tommy was accomplishing that, they had his blessing. Not that they needed it. After what Oliver had done to Laurel, he felt lucky that she was even talking to him; another thing to feel ashamed of.

The men said there goodbyes, Oliver telling Tommy to thank Laurel for her concern.

Oliver carefully sat down on the couch, avoiding jostling his side. He would prefer too be working out right now, taking his mind off everything. It had become his only outlet on Lian Yu, training with his bow and arrow, and improving his strength until he was exhausted.

His mind wandered to Felicity's visit and there it was again, that feeling of amusement. She was firecracker, he'd give her that much. He'd practically smelt her fear when she had revealed that she knew his secret, but she'd had the courage to confront him, despite that. It was impressive.

"There you are." Thea waltzed into the room, a stack of DVD's in her hand.

"I thought you had homework?"

"Astoundingly, when I got upstairs I realised that I wasn't back to school for another few days. So a DVD marathon with my house-bound-brother sounded like a way better idea; of the comedy variety of course. As a teenager it is my duty to update your movie knowledge."

Oliver chuckled; he really did love his sister.

"What are we watching?"

"Well, I have Step Brothers, The Hangover 1 & 2, Grown Ups and Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Thea ticked them off on her hand as she called them out.

"How long do you think I was gone? Ferries Bueller is about twenty-six years old."

Thea smiled easily. "It's a classic, Ollie. You cannot watch that movie and not laugh." She bustled over to the DVD player and put in Step Brothers. "I'm going to make popcorn. You settle back and enjoy."

Oliver spent the next seven hours watching movies with Thea, laughing at the right parts. Occasionally, he really did laugh.

Oliver was restless. Thea had left to go to her friend's house, after they'd finished watching movies and he had hobbled back up to his room. Diggle was spending time with his sister-in-law and nephew, so he out of the equation too. It would be nice if he could lie down and go to sleep, but that was as likely as hell freezing over. In Oliver's experience it just got really chilly at night.

He did have one other option. It was probably better if he got it out-of-the-way now, anyway. The longer it was allowed to go on, the more complicated it would get. He pulled on a jumper, not bothering to change his pants. It would take to long with his injuries. He called a car around and arrived at his destination about twenty-five minutes later. He took the elevator to the tenth floor and stood outside apartment forty-five.

Picking the lock was easier than he would have liked and there was no chain on the door either. He'd have to talk to her about that. Gently closing the door behind him made his way into Felicity's living room. The couch and two armchairs were big, as if they were overstuffed, but they looked comfortable. There was a 32 inch TV on the wall across from them. He heard footsteps and a shadow passed by the door.

Oliver followed the shadow and found Felicity standing at her sink washing dishes. Her hair was hanging down her back, dripping water on to the floor. The t-shirt she wore only reached mid-thigh and Oliver couldn't help admiring her legs. He was still a man at the end of the day.

It was only when she moved to scratch her back that Oliver realised he'd been standing there watching her for longer then he'd meant to. Her t-shirt had bunched up when she put her hand under it, revealing the boxers she was wearing and a silver of skin above the waist line. Oliver swallowed and straightened from the wall where he'd been leaning.

"Would you like some help?" That wasn't what he meant to say.

He just managed to duck before the plate made contact with his face.

"First flowers and now plates," Oliver put some false dismay into his voice. "That's not a very nice way to treat an invalid."

Oliver was far from an invalid, but she didn't need to know that. Gaining sympathy from her might lessen her impending freak-out.

"Now lets discuss the terms of your employment."