So this would not let me go. It kept begging me to write it over and over. So I did. Consider it reward for all the nice things people have written and the favoriting and following.

Just a warning though, I'm back at college so there might be lapses in chapter updating for all my stories, but I will try to be as consistent as I can.

Let me know what you think of my characterisation of Oliver. I remember reading somewhere that his character is kinda Dexter-ish (which I love) so I leaded towards that side of things.

Hope you enjoy. Oh and I haven't properly edited the thing yet (its 4 a.m.), but I will get round to it in the next day or so.

Oliver:

Killing a man is easy. It's learning to live with later, that is the tricky part.

At least that's what it was like in Oliver experience.

He was already a murderer by default, why not seal the deal and make sure he was entirely responsible for someone's death. After all, he didn't create the storm that had killed Sara, but he had invited her on his boat. He hadn't meant to kill the man he leapt at on the Island either, but he had chosen to attack him, subconsciously knowing that there was only two ways it could end. In the death of one of them.

Keeping to that philosophy now, Oliver only killed when he had too. So he was extremely pissed at Diggle for getting in his way. He very nearly had shot him. He had enough to live with already, without accidentally killing a friend to the list.

Truth be told, Oliver had already been irritated with his 'bodyguard'. He didn't like to be second guessed when it came to the list. He was not blindly following it; picking off the people the names belonged too, just because they were written in a book his father gave him. He made sure hat the person was guilty of their crime, before exacting punishment. He also did not like to be waylaid by his supposed partner while interrogating a suspect. He did manage to grab a USB stick off the desk before he'd forced to 'flee', but he had no way of knowing if there was any pertinent information on it.

Oliver wanted to strangle Diggle with his bare hands, but the part of him that hadn't gone completely dark understood the other man's need to verify that his friend, his former C.O., was corrupt.

Resigning himself to a botched mission, Oliver headed back to his basement under his second-time-lucky, in the middle of construction night club, to wait for Diggle. While he did understand, he was still going to give Diggle of piece of his mind.

"Diggle, for the last four months I have lied too, hurt and hid things from all the people I care about. Do you really think that I would do all of this if I wasn't sure?"

Diggle had asked him for time to prove Gaynor was innocent and he was going to give it to him, but not without doing his own research too. He grunted in frustration as once again his attempts at breaking into the files on the USB stick proved useless. He was a second away from throwing his laptop at the wall when Thea entered his room, without knocking of course.

"You know how I said that Mom was acting a little too good?" Thea began, ignoring Oliver's comment about knocking. And his little sisters big reveal; she thought their mother was having an affair with Malcolm Merlyn.

Oliver's mind, already coated in weariness, couldn't even bring itself to be shocked by Thea's accusations. Thing's were never truly what they seemed. He knew that better than anyone. That's why you had to go straight to the source. It didn't guarantee the whole truth, but Oliver had become very adept at reading people and sometimes that was enough. That is how he found himself confronting his mother with Thea's accusation, not ten minutes later.

"She thinks Malcolm and I are having an affair?" Moria looked absolutely flabbergasted by the notion and Oliver couldn't blame her.

"And that it started back when dad was still alive."

"Why would she think that?"

"She says you and dad were fighting."

"Oh dear God," Mom breathed, looking away.

"Mom?" Oliver wanted to know what was causing his mother so much pain. It was written all over her face.

"It's not your concern, sweetheart," she said, dismissively. He wasn't about to let it go though,

"Thea made it my concern." Oliver's jaw tightened. "What was going on?"

Moira took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to divulge. He already knew he wasn't going to like her answer. "Robert, was unfaithful to me. Repeatedly."

Oliver folded his arms across his chest trying to hold in his intense discomfort and disgust, his mind trying to rebel against what his mother had just told him. No child wants to hear that their parents marriage was based on a lie. He didn't want to believe his father was capable of treating his mother so poorly, but Oliver had only to look at his own track record. Laurel and Sara being the prime example of the apple not falling too far from the tree. It wasn't something he could deny no matter how much he might want too.

Nobody were what they seemed.

"It made our marriage difficult, to say the least. I'm sorry Oliver, but your father wasn't always the man you thought he was."

"Uh," was the only thing Oliver could manage to get out around the hard lump in his throat. His anger had lodged there, refusing to let him speak.

"I know you thought he walked on water, but you see that's how I wanted you to remember him. As a good man, who loved you. That's how I want Thea to remember him. So promise me you'll keep it a secret."

"Of course." He'd just add it to the ever-growing pile. Moira comfortably rubbed his shoulder, but Oliver still had one more question.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Why would Thea think that you and Mr. Merlyn are still sneaking around?"

Moria acted as if he'd just asked whether she'd had his father killed. Her tone of voice conveying how irritated she was at the question. Her answer being that she occasionally went to him for advise.

"Is my interrogation over?" Moira waited for her answer, fixing her son with a look that only mother's could pull off. Oliver nodded. Moria ran her hand down his arm as she left, like the good mother she was. Yes mom, we're finished. For now.

Oliver strode into Felicity's office just as she was about to take a bite of her food.

"You don't call, you don't write," Felicity remarked flippantly. "And here I was beginning to think my days of being Oliver Queen's personal computer geek were coming to an end."

"Is that your way of saying you miss me?" Oliver was surprised that he actually, in a small way, missed the blond's company. He found it refreshing to not have to act... The word human sprang to mind, but that was actually too simplistic to describe his stunted ability to relate to people anymore. He was faking it well enough, for now. But sooner or later, the people closet to him would start to detect the level of detachment he had from his emotions; at least the good ones anyway. He had no trouble accessing his contempt, his hatred, his rage. They filled him up to the point that he was surprised be hadn't already exploded. But here with Felicity and her blunt nature, he didn't have to fake being a normal person.

"No. But if it works for you, go with it." Oliver chuckled at her honesty, watching the playful smile spread across her face. He handed her over the security fob, glad he didn't have to come up with any lame stories to cover his tracks. "Hmm, I wonder what could be on here? Let me guess, you have a friend who likes to use extremely tight digital security to protect their diary and your just dying to know what they've written about you?"

Felicity laughed, inserting the drive into the computer and watching it boot up.

"My stories were not that bad." Oliver sounded petulant and he knew it. He might think his stories were lame, but that didn't mean he wanted Felicity thinking the same way. She ignored him though and concentrated on the information appearing before her. She didn't even seem to notice him when he rounded the desk, so he could watch what she was doing, over her shoulder. Oliver admired Felicity's single mindedness when it came to her work; he could most certainly relate. He also couldn't help noticing her Scaffold piercing going straight across the top of her ear. It was an unusual piercing for a girl like Felicity to have. She didn't strike him as the type to have a piercing like that, but then nobody wold think he was a killer.

"It's pin protected. And goes back to a company called Black Hawk Quad Protection Group." Felicity typed away at her computer, unaware of Oliver's scrutiny. That was another he liked about Felicity. he could probably get into a loud, messy fight, right here, right now and she would probably only notice if someone touched her computers. Oliver forced his mind back to the task at hand. "This is a military grade cryptographic security protocol. Do I even want to know where you got this?"

"It's better if you don't. I'll give you my number and you can call me when you get something." Oliver scribbled his number on one of the many pieces of paper scattered on Felicity's desk. Then, thinking about all the good work Felicity had done for him, Oliver spoke before he'd fully formulated the idea. "But listen, if you get through it, there is a bottle of very expensive wine in your future." He tapped her shoulder with his finger, to emphasis his point and smiled at her.

"Make sure it's red." Oliver smile widened, but dropped almost immediately. He was going back out into the real world, time to put his game face on.

Oliver's phone went off in his pocket as he was making his way down to his Arrow Cave, as Diggle as referred to it earlier. Felicity name flashed across the screen. That was quick. Oliver was impressed; not something easily done. "What did you get?"

"We'll, once I got past black ops authentication system there was a directory. A very illegal directory might I add, with details about robbing armoured cars with grenade launchers and tear gas. So those three robberies on the news, you're going after those guys?"

"Felicity," he warned, his tone hard. He did not want to put her in any unnecessary danger. He trusted that she would cover her digital tracks

"Right. Pretending not to know anything like the good tech girl that I am. Well, someone at Black Hawk was using their system to store detailed routes and schedules for each of the cities seven major armoured car carries including the three that have already have been hit. You should be able to predict the next heist with the information on here. I would say we should hand this over to the authorises, but..."

"Forward that directory on to me. Thank you." Oliver knew he'd sounded rude and extremely agitated, but he now had a armoured car robbery to foil.

Oliver's body ached from the tear-gas grenade they'd launched at him, but he was no stranger to pain. His only regret was not being able to track the three-man group after they'd taken off. But he had to get home and make an appearance at Thea's birthday party or his life would not be worth living - nobody could complain like a teenage girl.

After speaking to Thea, Oliver spotted Diggle. "I heard the hood foiled an armoured car heist this evening." While Gaynor did look innocent, He still wasn't sure. Diggle was putting his money on a guy called Knoxs, but Oliver wasn't about to take any chances. He slipped the bug on to Diggle and watched the man leave.

He hoped for Diggle's sake, that he was wrong about Gaynor.

Oliver had seen Felicity's text when he got back to the Arrow Cave after helping Diggle. Trust was hard to come by, if you could find it at all. The man he'd thought of as his rescuer on the Island, turing out to be a traitor, effectively taught him that life lesson. But he had come to trust Diggle and Felicity, as much as he could anyway. Ot wasn't a lot, bit at least he had people he knew would come through for him.

Are you dead?

Oliver let out a small laugh. Felicity really was unlike anyone he'd ever known. She didn't bother putting on any masks. This, in her own way, made Felicity far more braver then anyone could imagine. She wasn't afraid to be herself, quirks and all and that was not something that a lot of people did. He also had to admit that it was nice to know that there was someone out there worrying about him.

Deciding to pay her a visit, Oliver grabbed the bottle of wine he'd stashed away in the Cave and made his way to Felicity's apartment. Using a key - he'd made a moulding of Felicity's house key while she was making him coffee - he entered the four digit code Diggle had given him for Felicity's apartment, then reset it.

Oliver didn't have to wait long. He was in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water when he heard her key turn in the door. Felicity headed straight to the sitting room and he heard the sound of the TV come through a few seconds later. He followed the noise and stood in the doorway of the sitting room, watching her.

"As of tonight, the men responsible for the armoured robberies have all been found dead at the scene of their fifth attempt..."

"Fifth attempt?" Felicity muttered to herself, biting her lip absently.

"I interrupted the forth and they tried to..." Oliver sidestepped the flying remote, which shattered against the wall. It seemed to be becoming a tradition of theirs. He showed up, surprised her and she threw things. "Rob a fifth car. They had someone I know try to commit that particular one under duress. They kidnapped a family member of his, but we stopped them before they could hurt anymore innocent people. You helped us do that."

Felicity clutched a hand to her chest. Oliver felt slightly guilty, but he wouldn't deny he got a kick out of surprising her.

"Again? You break in again? Why isn't my alarm going off?" It sounded like Felicity had run a marathon and was trying get her breath back. "Scared the jelly beans outta me."

"Scared the jelly beans?" Oliver barely restrained the smirk, just begging to show itself. He could see by her expression that she was getting ready to smack him around and maybe he deserved it. Just a little. Or not at all.

"Now, Felicity violence isn't always the answer," he chastised, grinned evilly at her.

"Your trying to give me a heart attack, aren't you? I've never been this stressed out in my life. You have to stop sneaking up on me like that, Queen!"

"And miss the look on your face? Nah, I'll pass." It was priceless.

Felicity collapsed on to her sofa, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "Why didn't my alarm go off?"

Oliver gave her a small smile that she didn't even notice. I'll never be able to get anything past her. It was too soon to tell if that was a good or bad thing.

"I had Diggle install it..."

"...and he gave you the code," Felicity finished for him with a nod. Oliver could tell she was not happy about that, but he didn't apologise. He watched her close her eyes and take a deep breath. His phone vibrated in his pocket while Felicity was collecting herself.

Thea was in an accident. She's fine. At hospital.

He had a few missed called from his mother and she had finally resorted to sending him a text. Suppressing a groan, Oliver pulled out the wine from beside the coffee table and placed it in Felicity eye line. He had bought the wine as a way to say thank you to Felicity without actually having to say the words.

Oliver was gone before she opened her eyes.