I'm quite happy with this Chapter. After this week's midseason finale, I'm partially following the storyline again.

The Dark of Night Chapter 6

Slade Wilson sat in his office overlooking Starling City. The sun was starting to descend in the sky and he watched out his window as the street lights started to blink on all over the city. He remembered when he had first returned from Lian Yu that this was a sight that he loved to see. He remembered the island at night in inescapable darkness at night. Sometimes when there was a full moon and no clouds, light would reflect down but mostly when he turned off his torch at night the night became like a thick smothering darkness.

It was worse when he was alone on the island. When he met Oliver (even though he initially didn't trust him), it was at least company. He had more to listen to that his own breathing in the darkness. And then Shado had come into his life and even though she had foolishly taken up with Oliver, she brought brightness to his life. Her eyes were often sad, mourning her father, but when she smiled, it lit up her face.

And then Oliver took her away from him, he thought. Slade believed Oliver had chosen to save Sara over Shado and allowed Ivo to shoot her mercilessly in the head. He remembers every day the feel of her limp body in his arms. He wanted Oliver to have to feel that some day soon.

Blood entered the room to interrupt Slade's musings. "Sir?'

"Come in. What news have you on Ms. Lance?" Slade asked, turning his back to the window overlooking the dusk landscape.

"Well sir as you know I have befriended her and I think I have her trust. She still holds so much ire towards the Arrow so I think we should have no problem using her to draw him out." Blood sat down on the plush leather couch in the office, brushing a speck of dust from his pristine suit. "What has Laurel to do with the Arrow anyway? Why would she mean anything to him?"

"That's not important," Slade thick accent and baritone cadences resonated in the large sparse office, sending hidden chills down Blood's spine. "And there's been a change of plan. From what you've told me Ms. Lance probably won't willingly go ahead with this plan to destroy the Arrow so we need to try another tactic."

"Which is?"

"Which is you get her to a certain location, we drug her, and use her as bait."

"But sir? A little bit more time and she'll come around."

"We don't have time to be messing around here. Maybe she won't ever go along with our plan. I want to have this plan sorted for the first anniversary of the earthquake next week. So just do as I say!"

Blood was going to protest again but he knew better. He had seen his boss kill for less. "Yes sir."

"And there's another complication too Blood." Slade walked towards Blood.

"Yes?"

"We need another girl too. My plan won't work without her," Slade said, a cold smirk forming on his face.

Slade had been watching her for months now. Earlier in the year he had seen a picture of Oliver at a gala in the gossip pages of the Starling City Gazette. He was photographed dancing with an attractive blonde during the event. The message under the picture read: 'Has Oliver Queen found love with his assistant? Anonymous sources say he and his attractive friend spend alot of time together.' At first Slade didn't pay too much attention to it because he knew Oliver's personal life was always splashed over the papers and a one-shot picture didn't tell much. But the picture had gotten to him. He looked at it again and again. He could see Oliver's face in the picture clearly. He was smiling warmly and his hands rested comfortably on the girls lower back. Her two hands settled high up on his shoulders, almost caressing his neck. That look on his face- it was one of calm, something that didn't appear on Oliver's face often.

Slade contacted his inside source in QC who informed him that rumour was that Oliver had indeed been dating his assistant for some time. This intrigued Slade. Was there more to this than just rumours?

Slade began to cautiously follow Oliver in a blacked out car. It seemed that everywhere he went so did this pretty blonde. Slade began to almost enjoy watching them. They would share fries in a diner, walk to a local coffee shop near the company, often share lifts to and from work and to Oliver's club. Slade could only assume that this club was a front for his Arrow operations. He enjoyed watching this cheery blonde with her bouncing pony-tails, cute dresses and wide eyes. She intrigued him.

It was however one event that cemented his suspicions. His side-kick Diggle was injured while fighting one of Blood's men during a robbery on a medical supply vehicle. He was seriously injured and in hospital. Slade paid off a security guard to get CCTV footage from the floor he was being held on. Originally he wanted the footage to formulate a plan to send in somebody to finish the job. However what he saw put a new more cunning plan in his head.

Slade watched on the CCTV as Oliver stood outside his friend's room, his arms wrapped around the pretty blonde. Her head was buried in the crook of his neck, her sobs obvious even on the poor quality footage. It could just have been construed as a comfort hug between friends except the way Oliver buried his face in her hair almost inhaling her and the way his arms tightened around her protectively, he was in no doubt that Oliver was in love. Maybe he didn't even realize it himself yet but Slade knew. He knew because this was the way he felt about Shado and Oliver's feelings were obvious.

After this Slade decided he wanted to meet this girl that had found her way into the heart of Oliver Queen. He tracked her for a few days and when he was acquainted with her routine, he waited in her local coffee shop. She didn't go there every morning but he saw her pop in there several mornings a week and get three coffees before being picked up by Oliver's driver Diggle. The first morning he sat in the corner but she did not show. The second morning he was sipping hot sweet tea when he saw her. She had just ordered and he could see with his good eye her name being written on her cup order- Felicity!

He knew her name obviously. But seeing it written down made it more real. If he wanted to destroy Oliver, he would have to tear everything that made him happy away from him. It was March then and he decided that his plan needed to be in place in the next few months so that he could make his revenge all the more sweet by exacting it on the anniversary of the earthquake that Oliver failed to stop. He walked up towards where she stood waiting. "Excuse me miss. I'm just leaving if you want my seat," Slade said with a smile.

She turned towards him and returned his smile. "Oh no thank you. I'm getting takeout. But thanks anyway." He had to stop himself for developing a fondness for this girl since what he had in store for her soon would permanently wipe her sweet smile from her face

He watched them often from the safety of his darkened car. He saw the way Felicity would make him laugh when they were together. He seemed a lighter man than he remembered. He almost felt bad about what he was going to do. Only almost though! He would avenge Shado's death if it were the last thing he did.

Felicity was having a long hot shower after a particularly long fourteen hour day. They had been working especially hard the last few weeks and she knew Oliver was trying to keep distracted in the run-up to the anniversary of the fall of the Glades. She ran her hands through her hair, massaging her scalp to try to relieve some of the tension accumulated during a regular day as being Executive assistant slash vigilante tech genius. Diggle had sustained a wound to his leg tonight. It was a very small wound that didn't even require sutures but Felicity fussed over him nonetheless. Since they had nearly lost him a few months previously, she had been even more worried when her two men were out at night. Oliver had calmed her by rubbing soothing circles in the back of her head with his thumb as his strong hand caressed her head. They had definitely cut back on all the small touches between them since that night in January when Oliver's leg was broken and they had shared a bed. But slowly it seemed it re-emerge like they were magnetically attracted. It was only ever small touches, except for that night in the hospital. As Felicity rubbed the spot on her scalp that Oliver had held earlier, she remembered clearly that night.

Diggle had been seriously injured and was in intensive care. Felicity had been standing in the door of Dig's room. He was connected to monitors and the tube from his throat had just been removed. Oliver approached her from behind with his usually stealthy silence.

"Why are you standing in the doorway Felicity?" Oliver asked tenderly. Oliver had been talking with Leyla on the phone keeping her up to date the last ten minutes.

"They just took out his tube and are cutting back his sedation," Felicity said, biting her thumb-nail.

"That's good news, right?" Oliver asked, standing side by side with Felicity.

"Yeah I think so. The doctor said we just have to wait to see if he'll wake up now."

Oliver knew there was nothing he could say to alleviate Felicity's worry. They just had to be patient and wait to see if Diggle came around. Instead of saying falsely reassuring words he put his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him. After only a few seconds hesitation, Felicity allowed herself to relax into his side. After what must have been ten minutes of silence Oliver added, "That doesn't explain why we're standing in the doorway and not in the actual room."

Felicity sniffed back some tears. "I guess it's just less real if I stand here. I feel like if I sit down next to his bed and hold his hand I'm acknowledging that he is…. I don't know. I'm being silly."

"You're not being silly at all," Oliver angled his head to look down at where Felicity rested against his shoulder.

"What will we do if he doesn't make it?" Felicity said, fighting back a sob.

Oliver turned quickly so that his face was now only inches from Felicity's. He could feel her rapid exhaled breaths against his lips. He searched her face and saw the fear present. He wondered if this was the look she had in her eyes when he was in danger. His hands raised up to brace her shoulders. "Diggle is strong. If anyone can fight, he can." His eyes flitted from her eyes down to her lips where she had trapped her bottom lip between her teeth. Oliver was afraid if he didn't look away soon, he might not be able to prevent himself from lowering his lips to hers. He decided to pull her in towards his chest. He held her against him like she was his lifeline. He could hear the thrumming of her heartbeat against her ribcage. Her delicate frame seemed to fit perfectly into the expanse of his arms.

Oliver moved his arms to her low back and rubbed her through the thin material of her dress. When her arms raised to surround his neck and her face nestled into his neck, his breath caught and his hands involuntarily tightened around her. After an unknown amount of time they parted. When Felicity pulled back she didn't move back very far. She looked up once again into his eyes, a depth in his eyes that she longed to see into. As she stared at him she realised that he didn't blink or try to break the stare between them. Felicity tried to calm her heartbeat when she saw Oliver tentatively move closer to her until his lips ghosted over hers. His lips were just about to reach their target when they heard a throat clearing in the room.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you guys but I don't know how long I've been unconscious but I seriously need to pee." Diggle's hoarse voice was like the greatest symphony to their ears and Felicity broke from their embrace to sprint to Diggle's bedside.

Later that night when Oliver was gone for coffee, Diggle had apologized to Felicity for interrupting. She had brushed it off and said nothing was going on but Dig insisted on apologizing. "Anyway if he wants to kiss my adopted sister, he has to wine and dine her first. Or maybe I'm just old fashioned," Dig had said patting her hand. Oliver and her had not spoken about the near kiss after and she figured he regretted it.

When Felicity got out of the shower, she dressed in comfortable jeans and hoodie, intent on watching a little TV. That was what normal people did, right? She noticed a piece of paper had been passed under her door. It was a note from the super asking her to pop down. It was almost midnight but she knew her super was a night-owl and if he asked to see her, she knew better than to ignore him lest next time she needed her sink fixed he didn't oblige. She grabbed her phone and her keys, undid the latches on her door and turned her alarm off. As she walked down the corridor, the stairwell door opened with a bang and two large men burst through it, grabbing her each by an arm. She tried to scream and fight but a third man held a strong smelling rag over her mouth and she felt her limbs go limp before everything went dark.

What woke Felicity was the banging in her head. The steady pounding was exponentially worse than a hangover and her legs still felt hollow. With all her energy, she pried her eyelids open. The room was dimly lit and she lay on a hard cold floor. The cool metal of handcuffs against her skin was the next thing she noticed. She tried to move her head with great effort. When she looked to her right hand side she tried to adjust to the image before her. Crouched in front of her was a brunette on her knees looking at her. With a painfully dry throat she managed to utter two syllables. "Laurel?"

Please drop a quick review to let me know if you like where this is going. There will be major Olicity feels in the next chapter.