Although I hate the pressure I put myself under when writing these, I'm ready to have another try with a multi-chapter fic. Just posting a short first chapter that outlines my idea, so please review to let me know if there's an interest in reading a story like this.

The premise: Set after season 2. Slade has been defeated but there is no reference to the specifics, so it's spoiler-free, if you haven't watched the finale yet. Oliver has somehow gotten back control over QC and his assets; him and Felicity are back to working there. I don't think I will feature Sara, Laurel, Roy or Thea in this, but keep it more a triangular story of Oliver, Felicity & Diggle. I'm a fan of core Team Arrow!

Hope you think it's worthwhile!

I own nothing.

The Wedding Slasher, Chapter 1

When Oliver entered the office at the top floor of Queen Consolidated, Felicity was already sitting at her desk, clasping a cup of coffee in both hands, perusing this morning's newspaper. She looked bright and shiny in front of the sunlit window and his mood improved almost immediately. "Morning," he said by way of greeting, and smiled at her. Felicity looked up at him, her brow furrowed. "It's happened again," she sighed, holding out the first page of the Starling Enquirer for him to read.

The title story was about the third couple in five weeks having been found murdered and horribly mutilated inside a church. "We need to find whoever does this and stop them," Felicity said gravely. "They started to call him the Wedding Slasher. Six people. We cannot let this happen again." Oliver had approached her desk and contemplated what she said. "We don't have any more information to go on than last week, Felicity. We already talked about this. How do you suppose we find whoever did this?" Her face lit up slightly, "Luckily, you have a genius hacker in your team." Oliver smiled despite himself and threw an appreciative glance her way. He loved those rare moments during which she brimmed with confidence. In those moments, he believed, she could see in herself what he saw in her every day.

"I have been able to make a connection between the three couples, so I hatched a plan. We…" As she set out to explain her idea, the elevator doors opened and their new Head of Finance made her way over to them. The stern, middle-aged woman only overheard Ms. Smoak's last couple of words, sounding suspiciously like a whispered "…let's talk about it tonight". She raised an eyebrow, throwing a questioning glance at the CEO. Tonight?

Oliver faked his best business smile and ushered the woman into his office, hoping that this would not rekindle the rumors about Felicity and him having an affair. If that happened, he had the suspicion that one of these days the Head of Finance would find herself going shopping for a sinfully expensive pair of shoes but unable to pay because all of her credit cards were cancelled. And he wouldn't even blame his Girl Wednesday. He'd chide her, to be sure, but secretly he would be immensely proud that she was fighting back against the bullying. A small chuckle escaped his lips, resulting in an exasperated sigh from his collocutor's lips. He wasn't listening to her. Again.

"Let's trap him," Felicity suggested. Both men turned their heads towards her, signaling she had their attention. "We know now where he finds his victims, so let's ensure he picks who we want him to pick."

They walked over to her desk in the Foundry, and she looked up at them expectantly from where she was sitting, hoping they would want to put her (awesome, if she may say so herself) plan into action. She grabbed the Chinese take-out box next to her (she had insisted and stared down any dissent), dug her chopsticks in and watched the two men's facial expressions as they tried to find a flaw with her plan (there wasn't one).

Earlier, she had explained how, by hacking credit card statements, she was able to tie the three murdered couples to the same jeweler, where the respective engagement rings had been bought mere days before the newly engaged were found dead. Since this was the only link between all six people – otherwise from different social and economic backgrounds – she was positive that this was the key to solving these killings and preventing the body count from going up even higher.

Her research had also shown that the owner of the jewelry store was an elderly man, almost eighty years of age now, who had owned this business for over fifty years, having inherited it from his father. They ruled him out as the perpetrator on good faith. The type of wounds inflicted on the victims suggested great body strength and potentially even some surgical knowledge. Besides, as Felicity remarked, he looked a bit like her own grandpa – so he couldn't possibly be the murderer; a ramble which elicited amused chuckles from both her partners.

"That could work," Oliver conceded. Gesturing between Felicity and himself, he added, "We go in pretending to be a newly engaged couple, looking for a ring. We stay alert and see what ha–".

He was quickly interrupted. "Oliver, I can't be your fiancee!" Felicity raised her voice agitatedly, then blushed. "I mean, I can't pretend to be your fiancee, because you're Oliver Queen! Someone will recognize you, this fake engagement will hit all the gossip pages of all of Starling's newspapers and this will turn into a whole media circus. Not exactly what we need…". Her voice trailed off. Oliver ground his teeth without realizing it. He squared his jaw and grunted his assent, "What do you suggest?"

"Well, it's obvious," she looked at him expectantly. However, the proverbial penny did not drop. "Digg and I will go in as the newly engaged couple, you'll be back up until the guy makes a move on us and then the Arrow can swoop in and save the day, as usual." She smiled at him. This was a good plan.

Oliver didn't like the plan. Hated it, in fact. Too many variables. They didn't know enough about the murderer yet to stay one step ahead. This sounded like a terrible chance to take. However, he couldn't exactly find a concrete reason to doubt the plan's effectiveness, it was just his instinct that screamed 'no'. Of course, he did trust Diggle to keep Felicity safe (really), but he would just hate to sit on the sidelines during this mission.

While his thoughts were thusly occupied, John had already proceeded to patting the IT genius's shoulder and congratulating her on a fantastic idea. Oliver was still thinking about a way to convince his team to consider alternatives, when Felicity already started walking them through the details. The intel she found through hacking into the police records suggested that the murderer knew his victims' habits and schedules intimately well, leading her to believe he observed the couple for approximately one week before making his move and abducting them.

"So this will go on for a week," Oliver thought to himself, "that's just great." But apparently the decision had been made – so he forced a neutral facial expression and tried to concentrate on the operation details. For lack of a better idea he decided to keep his reservations to himself.

After they had finished mapping out all possible contingencies, Oliver ended the meeting with "Let's all go home and get some sleep". Inexplicably he was in a foul mood all of a sudden. Turning around to gather his things, Oliver caught something from the corner of his eye that made him stop in his tracks. John was getting down on one knee. "In this case," Digg took the metal ring from one of the soda pop cans they had gotten with their take-out, "Felicity Megan Smoak, will you fake marry me?" Felicity couldn't help the loud, heartfelt laugh that burst forward from her throat. "Yes, I will." Oliver couldn't help but roll his eyes at their silliness – something that didn't go unnoticed by the new fake-husband-to-be.

John Diggle had seen the jealousy in Oliver's body language when Barry was around – really, he wondered how it had escaped anyone else's notice, as blatant as it was. He even remarked upon it once or twice to Oliver, but got nothing more than a warning glance and icy silence in return. He was going to have a field day with this. Two flies with one stone, and all that jazz.

Let me know what you think, please – should I keep going? Also, if you have any prompts about what situations might arise that would result in stoking up Oliver's jealousy, let me know.

I would probably have this end in some Olicity smut (because there can never be enough of that) in the last chapter, so rating might change if I keep going.