A/N: I just want to take a moment to thank my readers and reviewers again. I'm still answering PMs and reviews, but I hope to be caught up this weekend. You guys are all awesome for leaving such great feedback for my story, and I appreciate it more than I can say. Hope you enjoy the update!

Chapter 5

Oliver walked through Verdant, careful to project the lighthearted, playboy persona that his patrons expected of him. It was important for him to be seen each night, both before and after his patrols, and occasionally he kept an especially high profile while Diggle donned the hood. Tonight Diggle was manning the police scanner while Oliver did his due diligence at the club. Three women waved him over asking for a photo, so he did a shot with them and posed for the camera. Out of all of his many faces, this was the one he hated the most.

Once upon a time, he had lived this existence. The careless playboy hadn't been an act at all back then, and he'd relished the rush of spending too much money and driving his sports car way too fast. And while his relationship with Laurel had slowed his downward spiral, it hadn't stopped it. The evidence of that lay with her sister in the watery grave he'd sent her to with his selfish actions.

Not for the first time, he wondered what his life would be like now if he hadn't boarded the Queen's Gambit with his father. What if instead of asking Laurel's sister to sneak away with him, he'd stayed and talked to Laurel about his misgivings? But he never allowed his mind to dwell too long on what ifs because it was a pointless exercise. Even if his father had sailed alone, he'd likely still be dead, and the effects of his shady business dealings would still be spreading through Starling City like a cancer. He had to believe that fate had always meant to steer him down this path in order to right his father's wrongs. He'd lost too much, sacrificed too much, to believe otherwise.

Oliver shook off his increasingly dark thoughts and walked over to the bar where Tommy was conversing with the bartender. "Looks like a good night."

Tommy looked over at him. "We're currently the most popular nightclub in the city despite being in the middle of the Glades."

"The idle rich are bored and jaded," Oliver pointed out. "And partying in the Glades adds an element of danger. We were the same at one time – worse even."

"That was a long time ago," Tommy replied evenly. "We're not really the same people anymore."

Oliver knew that what he really meant was that he wasn't the same. He couldn't blame his friend for feeling that way, mostly because he wasn't wrong. The Oliver that Tommy had grown up with died on Lian Yu after having his humanity chipped away over five long years. Tommy's Oliver had been too weak to survive the hell he'd been put through. He'd had to adapt to survive, and adapt he did.

Oliver's attention was caught by Diggle as he approached the bar quickly, and all of his instincts screamed that something was wrong. "What is it?"

"Break-ins were reported at Felicity's apartment building tonight," Diggle replied. "It just came across the scanner."

Oliver pulled out his phone and checked for any messages. "Her security system wasn't tripped." He immediately hit Felicity's speed dial number.

"I already called her – it's going to voicemail, but that's probably because she had a date tonight. I don't think she's home," Diggle said.

Oliver hung up when he got Felicity's voicemail. "I have a set of her keys, so I'll go check it out. Can you handle things here?" he asked Tommy, who nodded.

It took Oliver thirty minutes to reach Felicity's building. When he pulled up, several patrol cars were parked out front. He got off his bike and pulled his helmet off as he approached one of the officers near the entrance. "What's going on?"

"We had some reported break-ins," the officer replied.

The way he was looking at Oliver clearly indicated that he recognized him. "My friend lives in this building. She's not home yet but I have a set of her keys. The super knows me if you want to check with him." He gave the officer Felicity's name and apartment number and waited for him to verify Oliver's claim.

A few minutes later he allowed Oliver through, and Oliver hurried up to Felicity's floor. He let himself in and entered the code to disarm the security system before closing the door. A table lamp had been left on and provided a soft glow as he examined the room for any signs of a disturbance. But after walking through each room of the apartment, he concluded that no one had been there.

After trying to call Felicity once more, he settled on sending her a text. Break-ins reported at your building tonight. No worries – all clear. He checked his watch to find it was now almost 9:00 and wondered when Felicity would be home. Judging by previous dates she'd had with Gerwin, he doubted she'd be too late.

Oliver hit Diggle's speed dial number. "I'm here and everything looks fine. Any other information coming across the scanner?"

"Sounds like five apartments were hit, but no one was home in four of the cases. They're reporting an attempted assault at one of the apartments, but I don't know the details."

"Five apartments being hit at the same time on the same night is a big job," Oliver said. "An organized job."

"I agree. And it's quite a coincidence that just a few weeks after Felicity's purse gets stolen, her building is targeted."

"I don't believe in coincidence," Oliver replied. "I'll get Felicity to check crime logs tomorrow and see if any other mugging victims have had their apartments burglarized. Meanwhile, I'm going to stay here tonight. I'd appreciate it if you could drop my bag by on your way home." He kept an overnight bag at Verdant since both being a nightclub owner and his vigilante activities meant that he kept very odd hours.

A few times he'd just crashed at the foundry, prompting Diggle to suggest that he renovate the basement into an apartment of sorts. He had to admit it wasn't a bad idea, but a part of him didn't want to make that space too comfortable. The basement where he trained was cold and bare, lacking any semblance of a homey environment. It made it easier for him to connect to the more primitive nature he'd developed on the island because it lacked pretense. It was completely outside the experience of the old Oliver Queen.

But it wasn't just him anymore. Diggle and Felicity spent a lot of time there too, and Felicity in particular seemed out of place in the dark world where he felt most at home. With her brightly painted nails tapping at the keyboard and her near-constant commentary, she brightened the foundry with her mere presence. They were complete and utter opposites, but she'd accepted him, darkness and all, after having known him for just a few months. She and Diggle were the only two people in his life he actually was comfortable with.

Essentially, he felt caught between the Oliver of old and the one who'd returned from the island because almost everyone – his mother, Thea, Laurel, even Tommy – seemed to be searching for signs of their Oliver who'd been lost at sea. They were trying to bridge the gap between that Oliver and the virtual stranger he now was to them, but Oliver knew that was an impossible feat because the divide was too great. Tommy seemed to understand that now that he knew Oliver was the vigilante – for him, there was no bridge that could connect his best friend to The Hood because The Hood was a murderer, plain and simple.

He supposed he couldn't fault Tommy for that. If their situations were reversed, he'd likely react the same way. He'd abhorred the violence he'd been subjected to on the island, and he'd resisted engaging in it until his choice had been simple – adapt or die. In the end, survival won out, but the cost had been a piece of his soul.

Diggle, in his own words, was there to remind him that he still had a soul. He'd been a soldier, and he'd had to make some hard choices himself, so he understood the cost. Felicity, though – she was someone who'd never had to make those kinds of choices. Her life had been the definition of ordinary before she'd found him bleeding in the back seat of her mini cooper. He realized now that he'd trusted her even before that night. If he hadn't, he never would have continued to go to her for help with his increasingly bad cover stories.

Oliver had lied to Felicity and then dragged her into The Hood's dangerous world, but she still trusted him. She saw the man beneath both the hood and his public image, but she wasn't running. She didn't agree with the violent manner in which he chose to pursue his targets, and she wasn't shy about telling him when she thought he was wrong. And it didn't matter how much he growled, she didn't budge.

Despite their many differences, and despite her lack of experience with the kind of lives he and Diggle had led, Felicity saw something in him that was inherently good. She'd told Tommy that he wasn't a monster, and he knew she must believe that because she'd never stay if she didn't. She could easily help him find Walter without helping him with the myriad other tasks he'd assigned her.

Felicity made him feel like a different person – not the old Oliver, and not the vigilante born on Lian Yu. One thing he was certain of was that Felicity was becoming increasingly important to him. He valued her friendship, and she made his days a little livelier with her funny and endearing habit of babbling about almost everything. She was cute when she got embarrassed, and he suddenly remembered the way he'd caught her looking at him while eating lunch earlier that day. She was so easy to read, and he'd known exactly what she was thinking about.

Oliver couldn't help teasing her, something his mother had picked up on if her questions about Felicity were any indication. He'd even allowed his mind to wander a little, wondering what she'd be like in bed. They were two healthy adults, and he wasn't blind to the fact that Felicity was an attractive woman. But he also didn't intend to blur that line between them, so he shut down those thoughts before they could fully form.

When Diggle arrived with his bag, Oliver headed for the bathroom to change out of his suit. Looking out the window, he could see that police cruisers were still out front; with five crime scenes to process, he knew they'd probably be there for a while. Felicity's phone was still going to voicemail, so he sat down to wait for her.

Felicity watched as Gerwin wiped his fingers on his napkin for at least the tenth time since he'd begun eating his main course. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if they were eating messy finger foods, but he was using a knife and fork, and he hadn't even touched his dinner roll in all its buttery goodness. In fact, he always left the bread sitting on or beside his plate and frankly, it was beginning to bother her. What kind of person never ate his dinner roll? Even Oliver ate bread, and he was a health fanatic who spent hours sculpting his body into a freaking machine, for crying out loud.

She jerked her thoughts away from Oliver and instead took a sip of wine from her very clean wine glass. She knew it was very clean because Gerwin had made their waiter exchange the glasses twice – the first time because of a water spot, the second time because he claimed the glasses had a strange odor. Felicity couldn't smell anything but knew from previous experiences that arguing with him would only delay the inevitable.

"Are you sure you're not cold?" Gerwin asked her. "You probably should have left your sweater on."

She forced a smile as she took a bite of her lasagna, the best thing about the date so far. "I'm fine, really." She'd opted for a strapless, midnight blue dress for her date. The fitted design complemented her figure, and she'd paired it with a silver shrug that matched the skinny belt cinching in her small waist. Once again she'd left her glasses at home, and she'd splurged on yet another blowout, giving her long, unruly curls a sleek finish. And what did she get for her trouble? An admonition about the chilly temperatures in restaurants, further proof that things with Gerwin were at a disappointing standstill.

Was it too much to ask that he be overcome with lust at the mere sight of her bare shoulders? Not that she wanted to sleep with him. At this point, she was pretty much convinced that she wanted nothing to do with his doubtless very tidy bedroom. Still, it would be nice to feel that he at least appreciated her efforts. Unfortunately, her other dates hadn't yielded any better prospects. At this rate, her dry spell promised to last well into the next decade. It was a very sobering thought when faced with a future sidekicking for a certain vigilante who fully embraced a shirtless existence at least fifty percent of the time.

When they were finished, Gerwin walked her to her car and politely kissed her cheek, a move that further irritated her. Four dates in and he couldn't even be bothered to try hitting first base. Felicity got into her mini cooper and turned on her phone. "Call Lindsay," she commanded, reaching up to adjust her earpiece before pulling away from the curb.

"Calling Lindsay," Siri responded.

When her friend picked up, Felicity said, "I'm done with Gerwin."

"Still no improvements? I thought for sure that dress would get some kind of reaction," Lindsay replied, raising her voice to be heard above the din of the bullpen.

"The only reaction it got was his concern that I might be cold," Felicity retorted.

"Maybe he's gay."

"Just because I'm not his type doesn't mean he's gay," she pointed out. "But it does mean I need to find a new pond to cast my line in."

"Well, you still have that other coffee date on Tuesday. What's his name?"

"Mark," Felicity answered. "He's actually a police officer for the SCPD." Felicity didn't mention that she'd already ruled him out as serious relationship material since she didn't want to add lying to the police to her list of things to worry about. And if she started dating a cop, it could get sticky down the road if she continued helping Oliver with his extracurricular activities. But he was cute, so if a miracle happened and she actually had even a little chemistry with the guy, it might be worth exploring.

"Ok, so there's Mark. And if all else fails, Tyler will be here on Thursday."

"No matchmaking, Lindsay. I'm serious," she warned her friend.

"I'm not matchmaking. But he might have hot friends."

Felicity snorted. "Who all live in Los Angeles."

"They're pro athletes, Felicity. They can afford to buy plane tickets."

Felicity's snarky retort died as she pulled into the parking area in front of her apartment building. "What the… hey Lindsay, I'm gonna have to call you back." She carefully parked her mini cooper in its designated spot and got out, eyes on the police cruisers parked outside her building.

An officer met her at the entrance. "Do you live here, ma'am?"

"Yes." She gave her name and apartment number which he checked against a list he was holding. "What's going on?"

"There was a rash of break-ins here tonight," he answered. "But your apartment was cleared by the manager, so you can go on in."

She felt a chill run down her spine. "I have a security system. Did someone try to break into my apartment? Did the alarm go off?" She pulled out her phone and started checking for messages.

"There were no reports of alarms going off, but we can have an officer walk up with you."

Felicity saw a message from Oliver and opened it. "Never mind – a friend of mine said he checked on my apartment and everything's fine. Thanks."

He nodded as she walked into the building. By the time she reached her apartment, she was beginning to regret not taking the officer up on his offer to have someone escort her to the door. It's fine, she reassured herself. Oliver wouldn't have left if he thought you were in danger. She pulled out her keys and quietly unlocked the door. Before opening it, she also pulled out her Taser, wishing she'd taken the time to practice. She'd watched the training video, but that wasn't making her feel very confident at the moment.

She dropped the keys into her bag and flipped the safety switch on the Taser before carefully opening the door. The security system beeped and she quickly entered the code. She looked around the room, but nothing seemed out of place. The lamp was still on in the corner – not very eco-conscious, but she compensated by using energy efficient bulbs because she hated entering a dark apartment at night. With a sigh of relief, she turned to lock the door.

"Hi."

Felicity shrieked, and her bag went flying as she whirled around and discharged her Taser. The probes flew out in search of a target, finding one in her sofa just as she saw Oliver standing across the room near the hallway. For once, words escaped her as she fought to draw air into her panicked lungs.

Oliver raised his brows. "I think you disabled the sofa," he declared solemnly.

Felicity dropped the Taser and backed up, sliding down the door with one hand on her chest. "Oh my God! Are you trying to give me a heart attack? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I sent you a message," he replied, carefully stepping over the wires to pick up her Taser. "You must have seen the police officers outside." He flipped the switch and popped out the cartridge, effectively neutralizing the danger from the wires and probes.

"You said you checked my apartment and everything was okay – not that you were still lurking inside waiting for me to come home," Felicity cried out. Her heart was still racing, and her palms felt clammy. "I could have tased you."

"Really? Because your aim could stand some improvement," he replied with a shake of his head. "If you're going to carry a weapon for self-defense, you should practice with it first."

Felicity had never been so tempted to throw something at someone. "You startled me."

"Felicity, if I really had been an intruder, you'd be dead – or at least incapacitated. An attacker isn't going to announce what he's doing before he does it." Oliver leaned down, pulled her up and led her over to the sofa. "Just sit down and take a few deep breaths."

Felicity concentrated on her breathing for a few seconds before speaking again. "What exactly happened here tonight?"

"According to your building manager, five apartments were burglarized. The tenants were all out except for your neighbor downstairs, Anna Kincady. Do you know her?"

Felicity swallowed hard, nodding. "Not well, but we speak in passing. She's a third grade teacher, so I see her more on weekends. Is she ok?"

"She said that a man rushed her as she was entering her apartment. Based on her description of events, it sounds like he intended to assault her, but she hit him with a lamp and managed to lock herself inside the bathroom," Oliver explained. "He apparently fled after that. This all happened about two hours ago. I tried to call you, but your phone was off, so I sent the message instead."

She hated to voice her next concern. "Do you think this is related to the mugging?"

"Probably, which is why you're going to hack the police reports tomorrow so we can track the list of stolen items through local fences and pawn shops. Diggle brought my bag over, and I'll get whatever else I need tomorrow."

"Why do you need your bag?" Felicity asked, frowning.

"Because I'm staying here until we figure out what's going on. It shouldn't take long – a few days at most."

"A few days? You're staying here for a few days? Oliver, I have a security system – one that you paid for, by the way. I don't need a bodyguard," she protested. Her apartment was a nice, two bedroom unit with plenty of space for her needs, but it was definitely not big enough for her to live with Oliver. She could practically feel the oxygen being sucked out of the room just thinking about it.

Oliver regarded her calmly. "Let's say the alarm system goes off, Felicity. If I'm at Verdant, it will take me thirty minutes to get here - and it's at least twenty, maybe more, from the manor. Even if a police cruiser is patrolling the area, we're talking about a ten minute response time, minimum. Ten minutes is a long time to fend off an attacker before help arrives. Odds are they won't hit the same building twice, but I'm not willing to gamble with your life – not after a woman was attacked downstairs just two hours ago."

He has a point – a very good point actually, she thought with a sigh of defeat. "I don't think my odds of fighting off an attacker for ten minutes are very good," she admitted. "Or probably even five minutes unless I happen to get lucky with the Taser, or he trips on something."

"I don't either," Oliver said. "Which is why I'm going to stay with you. Tomorrow we can go to the foundry and get started."

A knock at the door startled her, and she made a squeaking sound that would have been embarrassing under less stressful circumstances. Oliver put a finger to his lips and she nodded, understanding that he wanted her to be quiet. He approached the door, silent as a panther, and looked through the peephole before unlocking the door.

Felicity stood, surprised to see Detective Lance and a uniformed officer at her door. Oliver stood aside for the two men to enter. "Detective – what can we do for you?"

Lance looked between Oliver and Felicity. "I saw your name on the list of people who had entered the building, and I recognized Ms. Smoak's name from the mugging report a few weeks ago. Any signs of disturbance here?"

Oliver shook his head. "I arrived first and used my key to come in and check the apartment, and the alarm system hadn't been tripped. Felicity just arrived a few minutes ago."

"Your neighbor down the hall reported hearing a scream," Lance said, eyeing the wires and probes from the Taser.

"That was me," Felicity explained. "My phone was turned off and I didn't know Oliver was here. I mean I knew he had been here, but I thought he left, and I told the officer downstairs it was fine and he didn't need to send anyone up with me, but then I got up here, and I was nervous because it was like one of those sorority house slasher films where the girl goes off on her own and gets whacked, you know? So I got out my Taser which, I admit, I don't exactly know how to use, and I came inside and then Oliver startled me, I screamed, and I kind of killed my sofa." She paused and took a breath, gesturing to the wires on the floor. "I think I need to watch the training video again."

Lance looked a little taken aback by her longwinded explanation, and the uniformed officer coughed to cover his obvious mirth. Felicity had a feeling that the words 'dumb blonde' were going to be featured somewhere in the retelling over donuts at the station later.

Oliver walked over and placed a hand on her back in a move obviously meant to calm her. "She's still a little nervous. Do you have any leads on who was responsible for the break-ins? The building manager said they all occurred at roughly the same time."

"We have leads we're checking into," Lance replied vaguely. "I suspect there's a connection between some of the muggings in the park and subsequent break-ins at victims' homes. They may have initially targeted your apartment, Ms. Smoak, but changed their minds after realizing you had an alarm system."

Felicity was suddenly very glad that Oliver had shot down her protests about said alarm system being installed. She was equally grateful she wasn't going to have to come home to an empty apartment for the next few days. Uncomfortable as sharing a living space with him was probably going to be, she'd sleep much better knowing he was between her and anything that might try to come through her door.

After the detective left, Oliver disposed of the wires and probes from her Taser attack, and Felicity went to her bedroom to shower and change clothes. She emerged a half hour later in yoga pants and a T-shirt which she saw Oliver looking at in amusement.

"Slow and Slinky Wins the Race?" Oliver asked.

"Hey, I loved slinkies when I was a kid – and they'll keep going forever down a flight of stairs," she replied, tracing the dancing slinky on the front of her shirt with her finger.

"You look like you're feeling better," he observed.

"I am. Thanks for coming over here and checking things out, and for waiting for me to come home even though you scared ten years off my life. And thanks for staying even though I feel bad about you sleeping on the couch." Felicity twisted the hem of her T-shirt, suddenly feeling nervous again. "My bed's not huge, but I would offer to share it with you except that I move around a lot when I'm sleeping. I guess we could build a pillow barrier, but I can't promise you I wouldn't roll right across it at some point during the night, and then you'd wake up to find me sprawled all over you which would probably be less fun for you than me. And I'm babbling again – I do that when I get nervous."

"I've noticed," Oliver said, smiling suddenly. "And the couch is fine. I've slept on worse."

"I guess there weren't any beds on the island."

"No."

A tense silence followed, and Felicity's gaze slid away from his. She wanted to ask him what he'd slept on while on the island, but she'd never actually asked him any questions about his time there. She was curious – for one thing, she wanted to know how he'd gotten all the scars she'd seen on his body. But she recognized that those were details that were deeply personal and probably disturbing, and she figured that if Oliver wanted to talk about what happened on the island, he would say something. Since he never brought it up, she didn't either.

She could feel him watching her, and her anxiety came flooding back suddenly - and with her anxiety came her urge to talk incessantly. How was she going to survive a few days of this kind of tension? She was going to need a mute button for sure.

"You should go to bed, Felicity," Oliver said. "I'll see you in the morning."

She nodded and went back to her bedroom, shutting the door quietly behind her. It was going to be an interesting couple of days, to say the least.

A/N: Okay, so Tyler will arrive soon, but it will be around the end of the next chapter. Sometimes when I'm writing, my outline gets expanded and that's what happened here. Basically, this chapter grew out of me wanting a scene where Felicity tased her couch lol. I also wanted Oliver and Felicity to be forced into a situation where they'd share more, but I wanted it to be logical – i.e. I needed a good reason for Oliver to be staying with her. Hopefully it's not too contrived.

Up Next: Team Arrow tracks down the burglary ring while Oliver and Felicity try to adjust to being in each other's space. Felicity has a bad date and drowns her sorrows at the club, much to the amusement of everyone – and Tyler Manning comes to town. I'll get it up as soon as I can. Thanks to all who are reading and reviewing!