Felicity entered the office the following morning with a spring in her step. With a cheery "Hi!" for Oliver and Diggle, she proceeded to her desk and booted up her computer. She started humming a favourite tune of hers, even tapping the desk as she did so.

Oliver looked at her with an amused grin. "Someone's looking chipper today." His eyes got dazzled when Felicity flashed him a big, bright smile.

"I'm meeting someone for lunch today."

"Oh? And who might that be?"

"Marcus, a guy I met last night."

"A guy you met last night," Oliver echoed.

"Yup. Over at Eve's Kitchen, you know, the new cafe that opened just recently?"

"I see."

Felicity noted the sudden intense look in Oliver's eyes. "Wait. This isn't going to be a Barry Part Two, is it?"

Oliver raised his hands in surrender. "No. No, Felicity. I trust your judgment." The words felt dry in his throat, and he mentally kicked himself for not managing to look more neutral.

"But you don't trust the guy. I get it. Thanks for the concern, Oliver, but I think I can handle myself when it comes to guys. Besides, it's only a lunch date, I can totally dump him when he starts getting all creepy on me." Felicity winked at Oliver. "Anyway, time to put on your CEO hat, Mr. Queen. Straighten that tie and let's get on the grind. You've got lots of meetings scheduled this morning."

Oliver and Diggle merely shared a look that said, "Women."

"Wow, the executive assistant to the CEO of Queen Consolidated," Marcus said as he took a bite of his pasta. "But I thought you said your line of work is in IT?"

"That's right," Felicity confirmed. "Actually I used to work in Queen Consolidated's IT Department before I was promoted to Mr. Queen's assistant. "The work's not a walk in the park but it's better than doing nothing."

"I hope you don't mind my asking, but how is it that a person with outstanding talent in computers be relegated to doing administrative tasks? Don't tell me Mr. Queen is a closet misogynist who wants to, quote-unquote, keep women in their place."

"Oh no, Oliv... I mean, Mr. Queen's nothing like that at all," Felicity was quick to correct him. "He's a good boss. In fact, I think the reason why he chose me to be his assistant is because he saw how I work when he asked me to help him set up his office network, after which he asked me to be his assistant. I am nowhere half as good as the people who do administrative work but I'm learning a lot." She cut a sliver of her cheesecake and savoured it. "Mmm. This is so good... What?" She asked when she caught Marcus smiling at her.

"You look cute, that's all. Do go on."

Felicity raised an eyebrow at that. "Hmm. Okay. I'm not going to lie to you, I've gotten and am still getting a lot of flak from the people at Queen Consolidated as to how I got the job. Still, I'd like to think that he just wants his own personal IT Department nearby when something happens to his system since the department is 18 floors down and my becoming his EA is a plus... I am talking way too much, aren't I?" she grabbed her glass of iced tea and gulped down its contents to shut herself up.

Marcus laughed. "That's all right, it's refreshing to be with someone who can be so open as you are."

What a charming laugh, Felicity thought. It makes his emerald eyes shine all the more. She blinked and said, "Okay Marcus, enough about me. How about you?"

"I'm a stockbroker, as I've mentioned to you last night. I deal with money all day long, buying, selling stocks. Too boring, actually, compared to the life that you lead." Marcus waved his hand dismissively. "So I guess it's safe to ask if you are enjoying your current work?

"I'm getting there, but frankly I still sometimes wish I were with computers 24/7. I miss programming and all things IT. It's my life."

Marcus thoughtfully stirred his fruit shake with a straw. "Your life, huh?" He looked at Felicity intently.

The blonde IT girl got lost in his gaze. "Absolutely. I've been tinkering with computers and creating programs ever since my dad bought me my first computer. And not to put myself on a pedestal, but I got into MIT with a full scholarship. That's how good I..." their eye contact broke when Felicity's eyes inadvertently wandered to the clock. It was five minutes past one. "Oh no, look at the time! Mr. Queen will kill me." Felicity hurriedly signaled for the bill and dug around in her purse for her wallet.

Marcus stilled her hand. "Don't worry, I got it. You have to get back to Queen Consolidated." He caught her gaze for another moment. "However, I'd like to see you again. Would you do me the honor of giving me your number, please?"

Smooth was the word at the back of Felicity's mind, but she got out a pen anyway and wrote her number on a piece of napkin. "Here."

"Thanks." Marcus took the napkin and neatly folded it. He simply waved as Felicity yelled a goodbye and disappeared through the door. He took out his fountain pen from his coat pocket and started twirling it.

He thought that he hit jackpot with Felicity. Under the cloak of an executive assistant lies a computer whiz, which Marcus needed to execute his plans. An added bonus is the fact that she works for the biggest and most powerful company in Starling City. Except for a couple of times, he didn't even have to exert much effort in forcing all the information out of her since she offered everything so naturally. It was cute in a way, seeing her stumble over her own words at times. Unfortunately that cuteness isn't going to help Felicity in what he's planning for her.

He'll have her to thank one day for making his search for a new victim so easy. But she will not remember him, because she will go down the same way Smith did.

Felicity bit back a curse as she got caught in yet another red light. She had hoped that she would make it back to the office at least by one-thirty, but that was not the case. It seemed like the powers that be have connived against her and decided to make her even more late. It took her twenty more minutes before she finally arrived at the office.

"Enjoyed your lunch date a lot, I see," Oliver quipped.

"Not funny, Oliver." Felicity said. "Anyway I'm sorry for being late. It felt like time just flew fast when we were together. I could not even remember half of what I said. You can congratulate me though for creating a simple, yet believable cover story why I am your EA instead of being the IT Director here at QC."

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"

"Yeah because unlike you, I am a much better liar than you are...ugh, that sounded much worse than it did in my head."

"I have no answer to that." Oliver arranged some papers and held them out to Felicity. "All right, in the interest of making up for lost time, please bring these down to accounting right away and then when you come back I'd like you to collate all the reports from this morning's board meeting. And there are other paperwork that needs to be filed, so... chop-chop."

"Okay." Felicity meekly took the papers from Oliver's hand and proceeded to the elevator. She can comment about him being like Isabel when he had forgotten her being late.

It was late in the afternoon when Felicity was finally filing the last of the paperwork Oliver had given her. Just then her phone rang, showing an unsaved number. She answered it anyway.

"Hello?"

"Hi Felicity, it's Marcus."