'Where you should be'

"I've made a decision."

Hearing the words down the phone, Ted knew that whatever came out of Felicity's mouth next would be her final words on the matter and she wouldn't change her mind. He remembered that tone perfectly. It was usually the voice she put on right before she told him off for something.

Ted paused in the middle of the street. It was his third day in the city and most of his meetings were done with – the company had been bailed out by QC, but he'd met with the other heads of staff in the building that afternoon. He'd been about to head back to his hotel and crash, but he had a feeling in his gut that this conversation was worth stopping for.

For better or worse, she was a woman with a plan.

"Good," he replied, trying to keep his voice steady. Somewhere along the way, the idea of Felicity saying no and losing touch with her again had become unthinkable: he needed a friend, especially now. "Whatever you decide . . . I'm here for you. What did you decide?"

"I love Starling city," Felicity said, and Ted felt his heart drop. She was going to stay. Feet dragging with each step, he tried not to sigh out loud in disappointment, straying through a park off the path, away from the cluttering of feet and chatter of people. In his ear, she spoke on as he wandered through the greenery, "It means so much to me – more than I could ever say. I've lived in a lot of places, but this is the first one to feel like home. I . . . I thought I'd stay here forever."

Hopefully, Ted heard the change in her voice. He sat down on a bench, crossing one leg over another, although his suit restricted the movement. "I'm sensing a 'but' in there somewhere."

"You sense a butt everywhere, T."

"Funny!" Ted half-yelled sarcastically, shaking his head. "You really need some new material. I thought by now you'd have moved on from the same five jokes you told in college."

"Hey, I'll have you know I'm very-" Felicity started to shout herself, but cut the sentence off with a fake scowl. "Damn it, Ted! I had this whole speech worked out and you went and ruined it!"

"I'll stop now, I promise," Ted laughed. "Hear that? That was the sound of me miming zipping my lips. Quiet as a mouse, that's me. Ted the mouse man-"

"Teddy?"

"I actually am shutting up now."

"Good. Okay, so where was I?" Felicity sounded mildly confused on the other end of the line, pausing to gather her thoughts. In his mind, Ted knew she was probably pinching her glasses and pacing as they spoke, and tried to crush the smile building on his lips. "Starling. I – I love it, but there's no future for me here. If I want the life I dreamt of when we were in college, it can't be here, I need an opportunity to start fresh. A new life. You can offer me that."

"Gladly."

"So that's one reason to accept your offer. Another is that I laugh with you, Teddy. I haven't laughed properly in months and then you managed to make me smile again within minutes of bumping into you. And I really need a friend I can trust, one I know won't abandon me."

"I'd never do that."

"I know. You're like a brother to me; we've known each other that long. And I've been so busy for the past few years . . . I've kind of lost touch with everyone. I regret that. I- it's hard to exaplain since I can't tell you everything."

"Why?" Ted asked, "Maybe getting it off your chest will help. Secrets have a bad habit of weighing you down."

"It's not my secret to tell."

"Ballpark it."

Felicity made of noise of frustration. Ted had known she was keeping something from him, but now he understood the toll it was taking on her, and frowned. He suddenly wished they were having this conversation face to face.

She tried to talk anyway, although he could tell from the pauses she was struggling. "It's just . . . the last few years, things have been so crazy, and I've grown for it, got better in some ways – but, uh, I need someone who can help remind me how to live. Who I used to be. I've been this person – this other Felicity – for so long, and if I want to move on . . . I need someone who can help me find my way back to just Felicity Smoak. And I realize how referring to myself in the third person makes me a douchebag."

"It doesn't," Ted laughed, but her words struck a nerve. "This double life deal – I get it. It's hard to balance two parts of yourself. But you don't need to, Felicity, that's not the point. Who you were when I knew you and who you are now – they're both the same person. They're both you. And that's who I want for my team."

"And I want to accept the offer," Felicity blurted out, as if she was surprising herself. "I want to come and work for you at Kord Industries."

Ted felt himself smile stupidly, like this was the best news ever. He felt that with Felicity on board, nothing could go wrong. "Welcome to the company, nerd."

"Are you sure that's everything?" Sara asked for the fiftieth time. "It doesn't seem like many boxes."

Behind her back, Diggle groaned and handed Roy twenty dollars, which the grinning boy pocketed. The bet had been about whether the scary canary was actually a mother hen beneath the layers of anger and violence, and Roy had chosen the winning side. The blonde had spent all day double and triple checking everything, fussing over every last detail to make sure nothing was left behind.

"It's everything," Felicity nodded. She looked around her empty apartment, a collection of cardboard boxes lying by the door but the rest bare, her pictures taken down, her treasured objects stored away. Seeing it that way, she paled, "I'm all set."

"Don't you go getting cold feet," Diggle told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. He squeezed it for comfort, but all she could do was look up and shake her head at him, not trusting herself to speak. Leaning into his shoulder, Felicity half-hugged Diggle and forced herself to walk out of her empty apartment, grabbing a box as she left and still not quite believing it was all real.

It was a week since she'd accepted the job at Kord Industries. Ted had returned to Chicago the day after that, but had been making preparations for Felicity's arrival ever since – she was staying with him until she could get a new place, and she started her new job almost immediately.

Things had moved too fast to seem real, a flurry of phone calls and emails and arranging for her things to be transported, but suddenly it was staring her in the face, and Felicity Smoak was terrified.

The drive to the airport was quiet, the sound of Diggle's radio breaking the absolute silence of the car's inhabitants. It had also been broken for years, so the songs came out warped, like a wind-up radio that had run down too much but feebly struggled on to play it's tune.

All too soon, they were grabbing Felicity's bag of essentials for the first few days from the trunk, walking as a unit into the grey building. Oliver hadn't shown. Diggle and Sara had made a point of mentioning it in front of him enough times for him to get the message that they expected him to at least show, but he didn't; they stalled for as long as they could in the departures lounge until it was clear he never intended to show in the first place.

It angered them silently, but Felicity was saved from the hurt as she didn't know if he had been told she was leaving yet or not. She certainly hadn't told him, trying to keep her distance on all counts to make the transition easier for them both, too busy organising things to really feel his absence, aside from fleeting moments when she expected him to say something or do something, only to turn and remember he wasn't there anymore.

"Listen," Felicity said, standing awkwardly in front of her sitting friends as they waited for the flight to get called. "I'm not going to give some long goodbye speech because that would be dumb, it's not like I'm never going to see you guys again. But I do want to thank you all for uh, your help with the moving out part. I couldn't have gotten this all sorted in time without you, so . . . thanks. Really."

"You're welcome, Felicity," Diggle smiled fondly at her. "But if you're not gonna say anything, I am." He stood, the others following suit and standing in front of her in a semi-circle. "I'm proud of you, for everything that you've done for us and others, and I know you're gonna do just fine in Chicago. But remember that no matter what, there's a place for you here in Starling."

"Absolutely," Sara agreed beside him, looking at the other women with genuine adoration, "If you ever need anything, all you have to do is call and I'll be there."

Roy smirked, adding, "And while you're rooming with the billionaire, I expect to be invited over at least once."

"Oh yeah, that too," Diggle nodded solemnly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Just keep in touch, okay?"

"I promise," Felicity nodded, trying not to cry. She was failing so far, eyes misty with unshed tears which she swiped at, passing the movement off as fixing her glasses. It didn't fool anyone. "The same to you guys – if you ever need help with the computers or need me to talk you through anything, just call. And please, if you really need me and Oliver's being stubborn about calling me – do it anyway. I couldn't bear to lose any of you and not be here."

"Deal. If he acts out about it, I'll knock Ollie out myself," Sara joked.

Quickly, the leather-clad super-heroine crossed the small gap and embraced the other woman, careful to be gentle. Felicity started at the hug, but reciprocated with warmth, laughing a little. When they had first met, she had been intimidated beyond words by Sara, but it hadn't taken them long to become thick as thieves; there were few people she trusted more in the world to have her back than the woman she squeezed tightly, already missing their occasional girl's nights in the club they worked above. The two parted without words, but it was not necessary – they knew where they stood perfectly.

Next, Roy tried to get out of the hug with a handshake but Felicity pulled him in regardless, looping one arm and his neck and the other around his side, her head resting in his shoulder. He had grown a lot since she had first met him, and Felicity had a feeling he'd outshine them all, given time.

"Jeez, blondie," he mocked, but there was no malice in it, "I didn't know you cared."

Felicity just shook her head a little as a tear finally leaked free, trailing down her face as she let him go. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she squeezed it quickly and said low enough so only he could hear, "We all care, Roy. Just some of us are better at showing it . . . don't forget that they do care about you, no matter how they act sometimes."

"I-I won't."

"Good. And keep at it; you're doing good out there."

Before he could answer that, she had stepped away, leaving the younger man feel as if a stone that had been wedged in his heart was finally tore free, allowing him to feel again. It was true that Oliver had been taking recent events out on him, too, making Roy question his path with the Team, but Felicity's words reminded him that he was making a difference. The caring part he struggled to believe, but was starting to.

Last, but my no means least, she gave Diggle the biggest hug of all. He towered above her unlike the others, so Felicity had to reach up to put her arms around his neck, lifted off the ground for a second before he stooped to return to gesture, warm arms enclosing her almost completely. He was the best hugger she had known, like, ever. Diggle was her best friend, the one she would miss the most, and it almost killed Felicity on the spot to think she might not hug him again for some time.

"I-" she started shakily, but couldn't finish the sentence. Her breath hitched as she just squeezed tighter, burying her head in his chest.

"Shhhh," Diggle soothed, consistent as ever in his affections, "I know, I know. Me too."

"Good," she murmured back. As her flight was called in a blaring voice overhead, they both froze, Felicity reluctantly pulling away and attempting to wipe her eyes. She made a face, "How obvious is it that I've been crying?"

Sara laughed, "You look fine. Chicago won't know what hit 'em."

Felicity only rolled her eyes at that, grabbing the handle of her wheeled suitcase and hesitating a moment longer, just looking at her friends. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to nod firmly to spur her own movement, adding to them all, "take care of yourselves."

As she turned, Felicity's eyes scanned the airport hopefully for Oliver. Somehow, she still held out hope that he cared and that he might show up to say goodbye or beg her to stay, but there was nothing, so she walked dejectedly to the plane, barely recalling showing her boarding pass and taking her seat afterwards.

There was just an empty space where he should be, and that's all there would be for a long time.

A/N: look! I actually updated! next chapter we'll finally be getting to the Blue Beetle/Kord Industries main plot. please review :)