Chapter 7

When Oliver returned a couple of hours later bearing the promised pizza, Felicity was typing furiously while tapping her foot along to whatever she was listening to through her earphones. He set the pizza down on the desk beside her and she looked up, jerking her earphones out. "Finally. I'm starving."

"What are you listening to?"

"A little bit of everything," she responded as she grabbed a couple of the plates they kept downstairs. "Some B.O.B., Flo Rida, Paramore, Florence + The Machine, Rihanna – I like high energy when I'm working on a problem or I'm researching something. In the evenings, my playlist is more indie artist and singer/songwriter heavy. I'll play some of my favorites for you when we get home later."

Oliver stilled at those words and looked at Felicity. He could see that she was already furiously backtracking in her head.

"I didn't mean that to sound so domestically blissful," she hurriedly explained, looking somewhat mortified. "I mean when we get to my home, not our home. Obviously."

"I knew what you meant," he said. "You don't have to worry that you're stepping in it around me, Felicity. And for what it's worth, I feel at home in your apartment – more so than at the manor."

Felicity handed him a plate with a raised brow. "I'm sure Queen Manor has better… everything. I mean, I've never been there, but I've seen photos in home décor magazines. It's practically a landmark in this state."

"It's beautiful," he agreed. "But that doesn't make it a home. There are a lot of memories there, and not all of them are good."

"But a lot of them are good, right? Maybe you just need to let go of the bad and focus on the good things for a change. And not just when it comes to your home."

Oliver kept turning Felicity's words over and over in his head for the rest of the afternoon. For her it was that simple; think about what was good in his life and let go of the bad. Her optimism, her faith that he was better than he thought he was – it had become a tangible presence in his life that he was coming to depend on more than he was comfortable with.

While Felicity remained occupied with the various searches she was running, Oliver went upstairs to handle some paperwork for the club. He was almost finished when Diggle came in.

"So how's your business venture?" Diggle asked, nodding towards the stacks of receipts and orders on Oliver's desk.

"Thriving," Oliver replied. "We should be in the black by next month."

"Well, never underestimate bored, white trust-funders searching for new ways to get a thrill," Diggle commented with a shake of his head. "Felicity said she has something to show us before we head out."

Oliver stood and followed Diggle out of his office before locking up. As they headed down the stairs, he said, "I'm going to patrol around the park tonight and see if I can catch any of the muggers in action. Can you stay with Felicity until I get back?"

"I can stay the night with her if that's easier."

It would be easier. But Oliver realized that he wanted to go back to Felicity's apartment. "No. I can stay with her. I'll be gone for a couple of hours after 9:00. A lot of people have been hit between 9:00 and 10:00 when they cut through the park on their way to public parking garages. If I see one of the muggers, I'll follow him – recon only tonight."

Diggle nodded. "Okay." He waited until Oliver punched in the code to enter the basement. "Oliver, be careful."

"I'm always careful," Oliver replied, glancing over at his friend curiously.

"And I'm not talking about the recon mission."

Diggle didn't elaborate, but his meaning was clear. He was talking about Felicity. Oliver chose to ignore the implication, and the other man wisely decided to drop it for the moment. When they joined Felicity, she had two mug shots pulled up on her monitors.

"I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but we have a couple of security cameras in my building," she said. "They're new, so I guess that's why it didn't immediately occur to me. So I hacked the digital files stored on the building manager's computer and at first, no luck. They were all careful to keep their faces turned away from the cameras. But when Anna's attacker ran from her apartment, he wasn't so careful." She gestured to an image on her screen.

Oliver leaned in to get a closer look at the man on Felicity's screen. "Name?"

"This lovely gentleman is Rodolpho Felix Campos, aka Lil' Roddy, and his rap sheet is… scary. He's a known leader of the Crazy Riders and last served time for robbery and attempted rape. He's been out for about six months. Now what's interesting is this guy." Felicity pointed to the second mug shot, this time of a Caucasian male in his mid-twenties.

Oliver's brows flew up. "Michael Brantley?"

"Who's Michael Brantley?" Diggle asked.

"He used to be a bored trust-funder like me," Oliver said. "He got into his fair share of trouble, but he was at Harvard when I left on the Queen's Gambit."

"His father's investment firm went belly-up during the recession," Felicity explained. "With the family fortune gone, Michael left Harvard and ended up involved with the criminal element of Starling City – namely drugs. He was busted for dealing out of some local clubs but the judge was fairly lenient given his family history. He only spent nine months behind bars, but it was long enough for him to meet Campos. He's been linked to the Crazy Riders since his release, but he's never been formally charged with anything."

"Is he on camera?" Oliver asked.

"Here." She pointed to another image from the security footage. "It's not clear enough for the police to make an arrest, but this guy matches Brantley's height, build and hair color. One of the detectives also noted in his report that he suspects Brantley was there."

"It's a place to start," Oliver told her. "Good work."

She blushed, pushing her glasses up. "Thanks."

Oliver couldn't help smiling as she turned back to her monitors. While she finished up, he got his equipment ready for patrol that night, sharpening a few arrows and tightening his bow string. When everything was ready, he and Diggle got in some more sparring practice.

Around 5:00, Felicity stood up and stretched, shaking out her hands. "That's pretty much all I can do for now. I've narrowed down at least one pawn shop I think is receiving stolen goods, but you'll need to check it out to be certain."

He nodded, grabbing his towel and water from the table. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me just shut everything down."

Oliver followed Felicity back to her apartment. When they arrived, he noted that she wasn't as talkative as usual. She had, in fact, been less talkative than usual throughout the day. "Are you okay?"

Felicity glanced up as she unlocked her door. "Okay as in…?"

"You've been quiet today. And you were quiet at lunch yesterday."

"Lunch was weird," she said, tossing her keys and purse on the coffee table. "I guess I was just… focused today. In case you couldn't tell, I really want to catch these creeps."

"We will," he promised. He followed her into the kitchen as she began poking around in her refrigerator. "Why is having lunch with me weird?"

"It wasn't just you, though. It was your mother and Lindsay, and it was just strange."

"My mother liked you," he commented, leaning against the counter.

Felicity closed the refrigerator door and opened the freezer. "Really?"

"She thinks we're having a thing."

She straightened so fast she bumped her head on the door. "Ow." Rubbing her head, she turned to face him with a wide-eyed expression. "A thing? Like a sex thing? Did you tell her that we are definitely not having a sex thing of any kind?"

Oliver kept his expression contained. "Actually, I told her we were."

"What? Why? Why would you do that? She's my boss – kind of. I mean, I don't see her that often, but she's still my boss. And did she actually believe you?"

He grinned. "Breathe, Felicity. I told her we're friends."

She glared at him. "I think I liked you better back when you had no sense of humor."

"I guess you bring out that side of me. Anyway, I'm not sure she believed me, especially since I'm staying with you right now."

"Great. She's going to think I'm trying to sleep my way to the top or something." She closed the freezer door and opened up a drawer to pull out a stack of delivery menus.

"I seriously doubt that since your work speaks for itself and you've been keeping our friendship under the radar."

"Not totally under the radar," she said, flipping through the menus. "A few people noticed the way you kept popping up at work and asking me to help you with things. My supervisor discourages office visits that aren't strictly work related, but it was you so there wasn't much he could say. Any preferences for dinner?"

Oliver took the menus and glanced through them. "How about Uptown? They have an amazing seafood and filet platter with herb steamed vegetables, chowder and small appetizers."

"Fancy," she replied, raising a brow. "Do they even deliver?"

Slipping his phone out of his pocket, he answered, "They do for me."

After their food was delivered, Felicity and Oliver spread their meal out on her coffee table and sat on the floor to eat, picking and sharing from the various containers as they listened to music.

"I like this one," Oliver said of the song that was playing. "It wouldn't have been my preference before the island, but there's something about it that appeals to me now."

"It's called 'The One That Got Away' - it's by The Civil Wars," she told him, spearing a bite of grilled salmon. "You know, you do that a lot… talk about things in a pre-island and post-island sense."

"It's like a line," he said slowly without looking at her. He focused on the painting of the little blonde girl walking down the tree lined path. "In my mind, that's how I process things now."

"Is that healthy?" Her voice was tentative, as if she were afraid he was going to shut her down for venturing the topic.

Oliver shrugged. "Probably not. But it helps me survive."

Felicity followed his gaze to the painting. "My mom painted that for me when I was in high school. See that hint of light at the end of the path?"

When he'd first looked at the painting, he saw only the small girl, the seemingly endless path, and the shadows cast by the tall trees. But now he could see it – the faint yellow glow piercing the darkness. "I see it."

"I was a little lonely back then. I was younger than the other kids, and it kind of seemed like it was never going to be over. I wanted to skip ahead and finish even earlier, so my mom painted this to remind me that even if you're walking rather than running, the light will still be there, and things can always improve."

"Are you happy that you stuck it out rather than skipping ahead?" There was so much about her that he still didn't know, and it was one of the reasons he liked being in her space. Everything here made up the puzzle that was Felicity, and the painting was yet another piece that was personal and unique to her.

"Now I am. I met Lindsay in college, and even though she's a couple of years older than me, and we're completely different, we just sort of clicked. I got an internship with Queen Consolidated during my last year, and they offered to pay for my grad studies if I continued my internship and agreed to come work for them full time when I was finished, which was last year."

"Mom was the one who suggested that recruiting method," Oliver said with a smile. "I'm glad it worked."

"Me too. I like working at your company, and if I hadn't taken the job, we wouldn't have met." She bit her lip before continuing. "I like working with you, too."

Oliver pulled his eyes back up to meet hers, and a heavy silence fell as the playlist ended. He knew he should probably regret dragging Felicity into his world. What they were doing was dangerous, and he had enemies who wouldn't hesitate to use her against him. Enemies like Helena. It had only taken seconds for Helena to recognize Felicity's value, and she'd struck him at his weakest point to get what she wanted.

It was a worry that had been festering ever since the night he'd found Felicity tied up under her desk, one that probably wouldn't go away any time soon. Still, he couldn't be sorry that he'd gone to her for help the night he was shot. Like Diggle, she was one more person who reminded him that the Hood didn't have to consume him, that he could hold onto the pieces of himself he'd found since returning from the island, and that was something he realized now that he needed.

A knock at the door jolted him back to the present. He looked away from her and stood. "That's probably Digg."

Felicity quietly began clearing up the containers and Oliver went to the door to let Diggle in.

By the time Oliver returned to Felicity's apartment, it was almost midnight. He let himself in with his key to find Diggle dozing on the sofa. When Oliver turned back after resetting the alarm, his friend's eyes were open.

Diggle sat up and stretched. "Any luck?"

"A kid snatched a woman's purse, and I followed him to the Glades. He took the money out of her wallet and turned everything else over to a guy he met near the old community center. When I followed that guy, he led me straight to Campos. They've got a lot of electronics stacked up in a trailer behind one of the abandoned buildings near the river."

"Stuff they're waiting to fence," Diggle speculated. "And if they're keeping stolen goods there, it's probably where they spend most of their time. When do you want to hit them?"

"My guess is that Lance already has an APB out for Campos since he's on the video feed. I'd like to go again tomorrow night, get a feel for their routine, see who's coming and going. Then I can decide how to handle them."

After Diggle left, Oliver showered in the guest bathroom and put on sweatpants and a T-shirt. He tossed his towel into a laundry basket in the small laundry room off the kitchen and headed for the couch, only to pause and turn back. He walked down the hall to check on Felicity. Her door was cracked, and he eased it open carefully. The room was dark, but a small nightlight gave off a soft glow not unlike the painting they'd discussed earlier. He could see that she was sleeping soundly, again with one foot stuck outside her comforter.

He stood there for a few minutes, watching her sleep, listening to the sound of her breathing. It was something he'd done when he and Laurel were together as well. Only then it had been anxiety keeping him awake as he tried to be what Laurel wanted him to be. Her talk of apartments and moving in together had spooked him; he still wasn't entirely sure why because he knew he had loved her. Moving in together would have been the next logical step.

Being in Felicity's apartment, preparing food together – it was all very domestic in a way that would have sent him running before the island. He kept waiting to feel that same restlessness again, only he didn't. Instead, he felt almost peaceful.

He pulled the door closed and walked quietly back to the living room.

The peace didn't last long.

Oliver entered the basement of Verdant still feeling the effects of the adrenaline that had pushed him through his fight. It had been two days since Felicity had identified two of the perpetrators from the break-ins at her apartment. After tailing members of Campos' gang and realizing they were planning another rash of break-ins, Oliver had decided to step in.

The plan had been fairly simple – he and Diggle would go in and round them up, leaving the audio and video surveillance from the day before as a gift to the local cops. The surveillance, combined with all the stolen goods on site, would be enough to send them all to jail. He'd even promised Felicity that he would only arrow the bad guys in self-defense, and had instead used the new taser arrows that she'd been tinkering with for the last few weeks.

Everything had gone according to plan. The taser arrows had been fairly effective. While they still weren't strong enough to deliver a knock out charge, they had incapacitated Campos' men long enough for Oliver and Diggle to take them out with a few well-placed blows.

And then he'd seen it – a bulletin board full of driver's licenses. Upon closer inspection Oliver saw that the driver's licenses all belonged to women, and Oliver had suddenly realized what it was about. Some fraternities he'd belonged to in the past had bang boards full of photos of women they'd slept with. They'd even developed a rating scale.

Oliver knew without even questioning the gang leaders that these were driver's licenses of women they had either attacked or were planning to attack. And when he'd seen Felicity's driver's license up on the board with all the rest, anger raged through him in a way he couldn't control. He'd snatched her license off the board and turned back to Campos, forcing him against the wall, demanding an explanation. Oliver saw it then – the soulless expression in Campos's eyes, the utter lack of remorse. He knew that Campos would likely get out of prison again. He'd continue to hurt people – women like Felicity - and he would never care. So Oliver killed him.

And now he had to face Felicity, who didn't look happy.

"What happened to the 'no killing' rule?" she asked. "I spent weeks on those taser arrows just so you wouldn't have to fatally arrow the bad guys anymore."

"One – I broke his neck, I didn't arrow him," he growled out, tossing his equipment on the table. "And two – I did what I felt was necessary and I don't explain myself to you, Felicity."

"Your scare tactics don't work on me," she shot back. "Diggle reported on the com device that you had all of them subdued. I don't understand why you killed him."

Oliver ignored her. He was still worked up, and he didn't think he had it in him to explain it to her in a way she could understand because Felicity was all about hope. Hope that the world could be better, and hope that criminals could be rehabilitated if given a second chance. Hope that Oliver wasn't as broken as he knew he undoubtedly was.

When Oliver didn't answer her, Felicity turned to Diggle. "What happened?"

Oliver could feel Diggle's eyes on him and waited for his friend to tell her what he'd heard and seen.

"Oliver did what was necessary." Diggle joined him at the table, and Oliver was surprised by the expression on his friend's face. Not only did Diggle understand, apparently he wasn't going to condemn his actions.

"So this is how it's going to be," Felicity finally said. "You close ranks when you feel like the tech girl doesn't get it, right? That's fine. I'm going home and Oliver, I'll put your bag by the door. You can pick it up on your way back to the manor tonight." She grabbed her jacket and bag and left without another word.

"She's stronger than you think she is, Oliver. Maybe you should just tell her what kind of man Campos really was."

"Campos was pure evil, and hurting those women was a game to him," Oliver replied. "How do you explain that kind of evil to someone who sees the good in everyone? She thinks I'm some kind of hero, for God's sake."

"I think she understands more than you give her credit for Oliver. You tend to put the women in your life on some kind of pedestal, and Felicity's no exception. You've painted her into a corner for good and yourself into one for bad, and it doesn't work that way, man. And I know you don't like to explain yourself, but I think you're going to have to find a way around that where she's concerned. She's not going to let you shut her out without a protest."

After Diggle left, Oliver continued to think about that. He worked off some of his residual aggression on the punching bag in the corner, working up a sweat until he felt calmer. Then he showered in the upstairs bathroom and made the drive back to Felicity's apartment.

The living room was dark when he arrived, lit only by the dim bulb of the table lamp in the corner. Oliver saw his bag by the door but he ignored it, making his way through the dark apartment to Felicity's bedroom. He turned the knob and the door swung open silently to reveal Felicity sitting up in her bed, a table lamp providing just enough light for her to read by.

She looked up from her tablet. "Your bag is by the door, Oliver. You didn't want to talk earlier, and I don't feel like talking now."

Clearly, she was pissed. Oliver guessed he couldn't really blame her. "This is why I killed him." He pulled her driver's license from his pocket and handed it to her as he sat on the edge of her bed.

Felicity's brow wrinkled in confusion. "What does my driver's license have to do with killing Campos?"

"They had a bulletin board set up full of women's driver's licenses. It's similar to a bang board, I guess – it used to be a fraternity thing where boys put up photos of girls they'd slept with, sometimes rating them. Campos was weeding through the driver's licenses and putting up the ones he'd either raped or was planning to go after in the future." There was a bitter taste in his mouth as he spoke the words. He kept his eyes trained on Felicity and saw the moment that she understood what he was saying.

"Oh." She looked down at her driver's license and then dropped it in distaste. "We knew that he was probably targeting women based on the muggings, but that's… disgusting."

"The only thing that probably saved you was the security system we had installed," Oliver continued. "And the idea that he could have hurt you like that…"

"Okay, I get it. But there was enough evidence to send him back to prison, Oliver. The whole point of me working on those taser arrows was to give you another option for taking down the bad guys because I don't want more deaths on your conscience."

Oliver sighed. "Felicity, I know you don't like to hear this because you think I'm some kind of hero, but I've killed people in the past, and I'll probably kill more people in the future. It's going to be necessary sometimes. With Campos, you have to believe me when I tell you that there was an evil inside him that wasn't going to go away after a few more years in prison. There would have come a time when he had a choice to make, and he would have chosen to hurt people again. I couldn't allow that."

Felicity reached out and took his hand. "You've killed people but you're not a killer, Oliver. And I guess you're not a hero yet, but you will be. Right now you're more like the anti-hero. Like Dexter – you're doing morally questionable things for a greater good that you believe in." When she saw Oliver's inquisitive expression, she explained, "He's a TV character who works for the police department as a blood splatter analyst and he's also a serial killer who only hunts other killers when the police didn't have enough evidence to arrest them. You know, that show used to scare the crap out of me, but I bet I could watch it at night now. Maybe early night – not at bedtime or anything."

Oliver smiled at her little ramble. "When I first washed up on the island, I couldn't even kill an animal for food. I was hungry, and I wanted to do it, but I just couldn't. That was my first lesson in survival; kill or be the one to die. Later it was kill or be killed." He could see that Felicity was surprised he'd brought up the island since he'd never spoken about it before. He didn't talk about it to anyone, and he hated it when people asked questions that he wasn't sure how to answer.

"I knew you weren't alone there," she said after a moment of silence. "The scars, and the tattoos, you know. Did…?" She broke off, apparently thinking better of her question.

"It's okay, Felicity."

She gnawed her lip, and Oliver wondered if she realized she was stroking her thumb along the back of his hand. "Did anyone else make it to the island with you?"

Oliver concentrated on her hand and the motion of her thumb. He was surprised by how much it calmed him. "Laurel's sister never even made it to the life raft. I tried to get to her, but it was impossible. My father and the captain pulled me into the raft, and we waited for rescue. But we were running out of supplies and my father made a decision. He killed the captain and then himself to give me a chance to survive – a chance to right his wrongs. That's why I have to do this. Because if I don't, his sacrifice means nothing."

"Oh God – Oliver." Felicity stopped speaking abruptly. It was the first time he'd ever seen her speechless.

It was one of the reasons Oliver didn't want to talk about the island with anyone after he returned. He was already a curiosity to many of his former friends and even to his family to some extent. They looked at him with pity. But when he met Felicity's eyes, he didn't see pity. He saw understanding.

Later he couldn't be sure why he did what he did next. He only knew that in the moment, it felt right and so he didn't fight it.

Oliver lifted his hand to her cheek, leaning forward until their lips met. The kiss was more exploratory than passionate, and it only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to shift the dynamic between them in a way he wasn't sure he was going to be able to brush off.

Felicity clearly recognized that as well. "Why did you do that?"

He didn't know how to answer that, so he gave the only answer he could. "Because we've both been wondering about it, haven't we?"

Apparently that was the wrong answer because her gaze slid away from his. "It's late – you should go."

Probably a good idea, he thought. He didn't know what else to say to her anyway. Oliver left her bedroom and closed the door behind him, hoping he hadn't just made a mistake that couldn't be fixed.

A/N: It's been a while since I updated – sorry about that. And I'm ending the chapter here because it was running kind of long due to all the conversation bits I added while editing. However, Felicity's drunk ramblings at Verdant are up next, followed by the appearance of Tyler (finally, I promise.) My goal is to get the next part up this weekend, Internet connection permitting. I'm living in the Middle East at the moment, and this is seriously the worst Internet connection I've ever had in my life.

Also, I'm behind on responding to last chapter's reviews, so I just want to say a big 'Thank You' to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favorite the story. I'll try to get caught up soon, but I want you to know I truly appreciate the great response this story has had. I hope you enjoy the update!