Note: Phew! Just finished the chapter in time for my deadline! ^^ I got a little carried away with this one and decided to give you guys an inside look of Felicity's mindset too! Also, there will be an explanation about Laurel and Tommy in this chapter too (but they won't be there in person just yet!). So yeah, Tommy is alive because it's an AU and I love Tommy!

Oh, and Happy Official Arrow Wednesday people! Arrow will be back tonight! :D Yay! (I will never mention spoilers and such here because I know some people aren't able to watch it until the day after or so... Like me...)

This chapter is twice as long as the last one and I can't really say if I'll be able to write them this long every time, but I can always try! Quality over quantity people! I hope this measures up! ;)

And one last thing: The beginning of this chapter is rated a tiny bit higher, I guess, just to be safe... I've been playing with the idea of raising the rating to Mature, but I don't want to lose readers if I do... Tell me whether you'd want a higher rating or not so I know how the majority feels about it! :)

Enjoy!


Hunted

Supernatural hunter Oliver Queen's latest mission's name is Felicity Smoak; a new born hybrid who has gone rogue and left her master. The new hunt brings unexpected twists and turns and when the young hybrid saves his life, Oliver realizes that there might be more to the girl than meets the eye. The hybrid might not be the biggest monster in Starling City and as their unexplainable bond grows stronger, he learns that you can't plan who you fall in love with.


Chapter 6: The Office

"Mr. Queen," she whispers, her voice sultry as she looks over at him from across the table. He raises his head, meeting her cold gaze as the files in his hands fall to the floor. She is wearing that damn pencil skirt again, but this time, her blouse is white and the outlines of her hot pink bra can be seen through the slightly sheer material.

He swallows thickly as his eyes travel down on their own accord as she slips off her black high heels and places them on the table.

Where had the board members gone? They had been there just a second ago and now, he was all alone; with her.

She raises her hand, pulling out the elastic band that held her golden hair in its confines, running a hand through the tresses as she lets them fall over her shoulders. Her glasses slip down a little on her nose as she leans over the table, "The meeting is over. You should have been paying more attention, Mr. Queen."

His throat feels a lot thicker as he watches her unbutton the top button of her shirt. "I was paying attention," he tells her, but he knows that it's a lie. Ever since she walked into the room, wearing those clothes, he hasn't been able to think about any financial calculations. All he ever does is count the buttons of her shirts, wondering how long it would take to undo them all.

"You weren't," she grins as she slowly crawls on top of the table, giving him a perfect view of her cleavage now that her top button is undone. "You were paying attention to me, and now, you're going to pay for it." Her voice is husky as she makes her way over to him, putting her hands on his shoulders as she slowly puts her legs on either side of him and sits down on his lap.

He closes his eyes, hating himself for enjoying the show she is giving him, but not being able to help himself, as he puts his hands on her waist. She leans down, nuzzling his neck briefly before pulling his shirt collar down so that she can kiss the place where his neck meets his shoulder.

He hates himself even more, because he leans back in the chair and exposes his neck further, so she can keep trailing kisses there. After every other kiss, her tongue sweeps out and flicks gently over his skin, making every hair on his body stand. It feels so good, that he gains a deeper self-loathing than ever. Without meaning to, he lets out a small moan and he feels her freeze above him, smiling into his neck a moment before she pulls away. Looking up, he meets her intense gaze again, but this time his breath catches in his throat.

Her eyes as shimmering yellow and as she smiles down at him, he can see her fangs elongating. There is a wicked look on her face as blackened veins begin to form around her eyes and her grip on his shoulders tightens.

"Felicity-"

Her name comes out as a strangled cry when she pulls him close and sinks her fangs into his neck.

-§-

Oliver startled awake, drowned in his own sweat. He sat up and looked around the room, trying to make sense of his surroundings as his heart beat erratically in his chest.

This wasn't the first time he woke up from a nightmare since his return from the Island. He could still remember the first night he had slept in his house, when a storm had rolled in and made him dream about all the horrible monsters he had encountered on Lian Yu. His mother hadn't known any better, and she had tried to approach him while he was still deep in sleep and when he had woken up, he had almost ended up suffocating her, thinking for a second that she was a shapeshifter. Since that night, his family members had learned their lesson, allowing him to wake himself up from the nightmares when he was ready. They had never tried to come to his room at night, but Oliver knew that they sometimes heard him shouting in the middle of the night.

Sure, two years had passed since his return and the nightmares had become less frequent. Nowadays, they were usually triggered by an eventful day or a long night out on the streets, but when they appeared, they still managed to take his breath away and make him feel weak, much like he had felt when he had first arrived on Lian Yu.

This dream though, the one with Felicity crawling towards him as she slowly undressed while they were at the office, had become a regular one these last few night. He hated himself for having them, especially considering how far his dream self would sometimes allow the hybrid to go, but the dreams always ended the same way: with Felicity's fangs in his neck.

The first time he had had the dream, he had told himself that it had only been because of the fact that they had spent an incredibly long day at the office, introducing Felicity as his new assistant. He would be stupid if he tried to deny the fact that she had once been quite a beautiful human, so he reckoned that his mind was playing tricks with him because of that. Never before had he dream about a Dark One like that, because usually, the dreams he had about the monsters involved him hunting them down and killing each and every one of them.

Thus, he had dismissed the dream entirely and decided never to think about it again.

Naturally, that proved to be a lot more difficult than he thought, because the next day, Felicity wore a deep blue dress that hugged her every curve and ended a little bit above her knee. Her blonde hair had been let down and somehow, her glasses made her look almost innocent. Oliver knew better though, so when he woke that night, sweaty and panting and a lot more affected than he ever would have admit he was, he did a couple of (he stopped counting when he passed a hundred) push-ups before going back to bed.

The dreams continued, all of them starting and all of them ending the same way. He believed it must have been a sign, telling him to keep an eye on the hybrid because she would eventually try to sink her teeth into him.

He laid back down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. His breathing had calmed, but his head was still filled with the images of Felicity slowly unbuttoning her clothes. Groaning, he rolled over to lay on his stomach as he buried his face in his pillow.

A tiny voice in the back of his head told him that these inappropriate dreams about the little hybrid only proved how much the monster had gotten under his skin since joining him and Diggle in the Foundry. During these two weeks that she had been with them, she had proven herself to be useful, but these dreams.

Oliver groaned again, his mind once again reminding him of how it had felt when Felicity's tongue had lapped over his skin slowly and languidly...

The dreams made him want to drill a hole through his head.

-§-

Oliver sat in the limousine, his stare set on the city outside. The morning had been a long one, to say the least. His mother had insisted that he ate breakfast with her, Walter and Thea, and reluctantly, he had had to agree. He knew that he couldn't avoid them just because he was worried about Felicity attacking them behind his back. When he had tried to talk to Diggle about his worries, his friend had told him that Felicity would never get such an opening considering how he watched her every move at the office.

At first, Oliver had wanted to deny it, because he swore to himself that he wasn't always looking over at Felicity's desk through the glass wall between their offices. Of course, the day after his conversation he started to realize just how much he actually did look over at the hybrid.

Every fifth minute or so he would glance over, only to see her so deeply engrossed in her work that the little frown on her face almost made him smile. Whenever he realized that the corners of his mouth were twitching, he would quickly gather himself and force himself to send her a glare before looking back down at his own papers.

It didn't help him feel any better that Walter was pretty much smitten with her.

The two of them had hit it off instantly and Walter had even asked him at breakfast the next morning where he had found such a "lovely girl".

If he only knew, Oliver had thought as he made up some silly story about walking into her at a coffee shop as she was filling out a job application, her coffee ending up all over his computer and her promising that she could fix it for him.

Walter had bought his story, but his mother had only narrowed her eyes as she looked over at Felicity, clearly suspicious.

"Oliver," Diggle spoke from the driver's seat. "We're here."

Oliver blinked a few times, seeing that they were indeed outside of Verdant. Every day this last week, Oliver had made sure that he and Diggle picked up Felicity directly from the lair so that she wouldn't try to make her way to Queen Consolidated alone. Oliver would usually go down to the basement and get her and then they would drive back there together with Diggle again once they were done at the office. Ordinarily, Oliver went home for a few hours so that his family wouldn't be too suspicious of his whereabouts, but in the evening, he would return to Verdant under the pretense of checking up on his club, when he in fact went down to the Foundry to prepare for his nightly patrol.

"You know, we could always just rent her a company car, Oliver," Diggle pointed out. "She hasn't tried anything since she joined us."

"I am well aware of that, Diggle," Oliver ground out through gritted teeth. "But I still can't trust her." He watched his friend for a moment before frowning, "What brought that comment on, by the way?"

Diggle shrugged, looking at him through the reflection in the rear view mirror, "Felicity might have mentioned the other night that she missed driving her own car."

"The other night?" Oliver asked for clarification.

"I may or may not have stayed a while longer after you headed home," Diggle admitted, once again shrugging. Oliver opened his mouth to speak, but Diggle beat him to it, "And don't give me any damn lessons about being careful around her, Oliver. I know how to protect myself and frankly, I still haven't felt the need to protect myself from Felicity."

Oliver shot him a glare before opening the door to head outside, "You're too soft." He slammed the door shut before Diggle could speak again and headed for the club, unlocking the front door. During the day he never used the back door that lead directly to the lair in order to avoid people thinking something was being hidden there.

He walked down the stairs soundlessly, as he normally did and punched in the secret code before opening the door, expecting to find Felicity sitting on the cot they had installed there when she moved in, as he always found her. This time though, he froze on the last step for half a second before quickly turning around with his eyes shut tightly.

"Felicity," he growled. "Where the hell are your clothes?"

"Oliver!" she exclaimed, and he could hear as she quickly moved around behind him to get dressed. When he had walked in, she had had her back turned toward him, wearing nothing but a pair of pink and white striped boy-shorts and a white bra. That small millisecond that he had frozen, he hadn't been able to help the way his eyes had traveled down her toned body and the pictures from the dreams that haunted him began flooding his mind again as he cursed himself for being weak.

"I'm so sorry!" she said quickly. "I was just so tired after last night's mission and then I think I hit the snooze button once on my phone and I don't know what happened after that but I overslept and okay, I might have hit the snooze button three times, but in my defense I was having the most awesome dream for once and-"

"Felicity," he ground out her name through gritted teeth. "Are you dressed yet?" He still hadn't opened his eyes, but he wasn't really sure why. Felicity was a female, even though she was a monster and he wasn't exactly unfamiliar with the anatomy of a woman. In fact, he had spent the better part of his late teenage years up to his shipwreck on Lian Yu worshiping said anatomy. Seeing Felicity half-naked shouldn't bother him as much as it did, especially not since he and Diggle usually worked out without shirts around her too and she never battered an eyelash in their direction. Still, he decided to blame his uneasiness on Felicity actually being a monster because he couldn't be attracted to a monster of any kind, could he? Then, there were his nightmares about her. Yeah, they must be why he couldn't bring himself to look at her at the moment.

"Yeah," Felicity squeaked behind him and he finally turned around to face her. Today she was wearing a deep purple dress, paired with a pair of black flats. Over her arm she had draped a black cardigan and was holding tightly to her bag. "I'm sorry," she repeated and he couldn't help but notice how her face was a little flushed. That shocked him a little, mostly because she was usually so pale, like all other Nightcrawlers. The slight blush on her cheeks made her look...almost human.

"Whatever," he said dismissively, "Diggle is waiting for us in the car."

"Okay," she nodded, walking toward the stairs, but not before shutting the lights off in the lair. There was still a little light flowing in through the door that he had left open, so he could just make out the stairs. She walked past him, but not before sending a look his way, her eyes flashing yellow briefly, making his stomach turn when he once again cursed himself over letting one of Them into his life. When he started after her, he almost failed to notice the way he had automatically lifted his hand to put it on her lower back, before pulling it back, balling it up in a fist by his side.

This was most certainly going to be a long day.

-§-

A frowning Oliver wasn't exactly an unusual sight, especially not since he had agreed to shadow Walter around the office, per his mother's request. The arrangement worked as a perfect cover for him too since his mother had stopped hounding him on where he disappeared every night. She understood that he was a 'hardworking' man and that he too needed to let loose every once in a while, which was also why she hadn't protested profusely when he had told her that he would keep managing his nightclub in the Glades, that he had opened shortly after his return from the dead.

It had taken Oliver a few months to get things set up, both in the club and in the secret lair underneath it. During that period, he had gotten Diggle to join him and successfully evaded both his mother and younger sister who kept questioning his motives for opening Verdant. They had both refused to believe that he hadn't changed at all since being shipwrecked and he had continuously told them that he was serious about his business.

Six months after Verdant opened for business, one year after his return from Lian Yu, Oliver agreed to follow Walter around at the office and learn about the company that his father had left behind him. During the year that he had been working at Queen Consolidated, he had quickly gotten the hang of things, but that didn't necessarily mean that he enjoyed sitting in board meetings all day. Nevertheless, working at Queen Consolidated allowed him to see his mother more often and in turn keep her from asking questions about his whereabouts all the time. She had been very protective since he had returned and in a way he understood her. Also, working at his parent's company made it easy to keep playing up the charades of being a playboy billionaire too. He was known in the company for flirting shamelessly with the employees, but never actually taking a step into something deeper. He couldn't give in to wanting more, especially with the secret life he led.

His last real girlfriend had been Laurel Lance, and that had been before the Island. That relationship ended the second he sneaked Laurel's younger sister onto the Queen's Gambit and then proceeded to 'die' in a storm. He had cheated and lied and mistreated Laurel in ways that still shamed him immensely. He wanted to believe that he had changed and since he had returned, he and his ex-girlfriend had managed to somehow build a small friendship at least.

Perhaps it had to do with the fact that Laurel was happily dating Thomas Merlyn, Oliver's best friend.

Tommy and Laurel had found each other while grieving Oliver, but Oliver knew that their love for each other went a lot deeper than just a way to cope with loss. Maybe it had begun that way, but it had evolved into something much more real and Oliver had stepped aside the moment he had realized that.

During his five years away, he had held onto Laurel's picture for dear life. He had wanted to survive, if only so that he could come back to her and tell her how sorry he was for all the hurt that he had caused her. Not only had he cheated on her with her sister, but he had also been the cause of her sister's demise. Laurel had needed time when he had gotten back and he had given her the distance she had craved. A few months after he returned, Tommy showed up at the mansion, Laurel behind him. They had talked and Oliver had apologized again, this time feeling that he and Laurel could at least try to mend their friendship. It had been a start, but he knew that he could never allow himself to be as close to her or any other woman again, especially not in a romantic way.

During the two years that he had been back, he had given dating a try. McKenna had been a breath of fresh air and things had worked pretty well between them, until she got injured one evening by a Dark One that he had been hunting. He had been hunting the Nightcrawler and McKenna had been hunting him, because he was the vigilante and she was the cop that had been assigned the quest to capture him. She moved away and never looked back at him and he vowed to never get emotionally attached to another woman again, because she would always end up hurt in the end.

His sister, mother and Laurel were the exceptions though, at least to a degree. Thea was the most important person in his life and his mother was his mother. He lived with them and he would never be able to shake them, even if he wanted to. Laurel was now just a friend, but he still felt a connection with her that wouldn't let him just cut off all ties. Especially now that she and Tommy were together. It made things easier for Oliver to know that Laurel was off limits, but he knew that she would always have a special place in his heart.

Having a woman in his life that wasn't one of these three wasn't an option for Oliver, and yet, he found himself frowning at the blonde hybrid that had somehow crawled into his life.

She was laughing with her head thrown back at something Walter had said, the older man watching her amused, as she helped him with some forms. They had been talking and laughing for over fifteen minutes and Oliver didn't know if he should go interrupt them or if he should just let them be.

It was no secret that Walter Steele was absolutely smitten by the girl and that fact annoyed the hell out of Oliver. He knew that he couldn't exactly tell Walter to stop requesting her help with his computer all the time, because now that Walter knew that Felicity had gone to MIT, he somehow found everyone in the IT-department to be highly incompetent compared to her. According to him, Felicity was one of the nicest young woman he had ever encountered and he enjoyed listening to her talk about all the various ways they could improve the company's image.

Earlier this morning Moira had been the one to point out that Felicity was just Oliver's assistant, which meant that she didn't have a say in what they should or shouldn't do with the company she owned. Oliver and his mother had been walking toward a meeting with their lawyer regarding some shares when they had overheard Felicity and Walter talking. Oliver hadn't missed the harsh coldness in his mother's tone when she had spoken and he most certainly hadn't missed the way Felicity's face had fallen.

"We were just making conversation, Moira," Walter had told his wife, trying to ease the tension that had suddenly skyrocketed in the room.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Queen," Felicity had said quickly. "Or is it Queen-Steele? Uhm, either way, I'm sorry. It really wasn't my place." She had glanced over at Oliver, who had actually felt a little bad for her- at least until he realized that he was feeling bad for her and proceeded to hate himself again.

"Maybe you should go print out the notes I sent you yesterday, Felic- Ms. Smoak," he quickly said, both because he wanted to get her away from his mother and her husband, but also because he had almost slipped up the professional act they had been trying to keep up.

Felicity had looked at him briefly before nodding. She had actually printed those notes the moment he had sent them to her and immediately had them in his office on his desk, but they both decided that it was better if she just left.

After the meeting with the lawyer, Oliver had gone back to his office only to find Walter once again by Felicity's desk, the two of them laughing. He had passed them without them even noticing and then sat down by his own desk to watch them.

What was Felicity playing at?

Why was she trying to charm his step-father and make him putty in her hands? Was this some way to get under his skin? Maybe he should tell her that she had managed doing that without involving Walter at all...?

He stood from his chair and walked out to them, "Walter, Ms. Smoak." He nodded at them as he walked toward them while buttoning his suit jacket.

"Oliver," Walter greeted, a smile still on his lips as he tore his eyes away from Felicity, who looked up at Oliver from her seat. There was some kind of feeling bubbling inside of him when he saw just the smallest hint of a blush creep up her cheeks. "We didn't hear you come in."

"I passed you five minutes ago, but it seems like you were too caught up in your conversation with Ms. Smoak that you failed to notice me," Oliver said, a fake smile plastered on his face. He shot a darker look at Felicity, "Have you prepared the reports for tomorrows meeting?"

"Yes, Mr. Queen," Felicity replied, picking up a stack of papers. "I'll put them on your desk before we- before I head out tonight," she quickly corrected.

"Just making sure," Oliver said, trying his hardest to sound polite in front of Walter. "You seemed to be preoccupied before."

Walter took a small step toward him and put his hand on Oliver's shoulder, "I was just apologizing for Moira's behavior earlier today. Then Felicity told me a story about one of her professors at MIT and I had to tell her about my own experiences within the educational system."

Oliver bit his tongue trying to keep from snapping at the older man that he should stay away from Felicity before speaking, "It's fine."

He looked back at Felicity and he could tell that she knew that he was lying through his teeth. It was an uncanny ability of hers. She was able to tell whenever he was lying or telling her or other people half-truths. He didn't know if it had something to do with her being a hybrid or if it was something she just picked up on after observing him for so long.

"Well, I'm afraid I have to get back to my own work now," Walter smiled down at Felicity. "It's always a pleasure, Ms. Smoak. Good bye, Oliver."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Steele," Felicity called after him.

"Bye," Oliver nodded curtly.

He waited until he heard the elevator ding before turning back to Felicity, "What was that?"

"What was what?" Felicity frowned.

"You and Walter," Oliver ground out. "You need to stop that, whatever it is that is going on."

"Nothing is 'going on', Oliver," Felicity glared. "We're just being friendly."

"A little too friendly," Oliver spat. "My mom doesn't like it and she's getting suspicious about your intentions."

Moira had expressed her concerns about Felicity to Oliver after the meeting with their lawyers. She told him that she didn't feel like she could trust the young blonde, especially not after what she went through with Oliver's father.

It hadn't been a secret that Robert Queen had cheated on Moira while they had been together, but Oliver had been blind to it in his younger years, mostly due to the fact that he never really bothered with paying attention. He knew that Walter loved his mother more than anything in the world, but that didn't mean that his mother would simply trust any woman who approached Walter; professionally or generally.

"My intentions?" Felicity frowned, raising an eyebrow. "Walter is old enough to be my father."

"Well, he is my step-father, so back off."

Both of his hands were resting on her desk, effectively trapping her between him and the table. She was still sitting in her chair, glaring at him and he could see the annoyance that she felt in her eyes.

"Walter was nice to me, Oliver," she told him slowly. "That is the only reason that I talk to him. He is nice to me, compared to you." She rose from her seat, forcing him to take a small step back from her. "I made a mistake.

He loomed over her as he kept glaring at her, "Getting friendly with my step-father? I don't disagree."

"No," Felicity snapped. "Agreeing to be your Executive Assistant and signing up to help you. This compromise was the stupidest thing I've ever agreed to. If you can't even believe me when I tell you that I'm not going to hurt your loved ones, or trust me enough to do one thing here in the office without sinking my fangs into someone's neck, then I don't want to be a part of this anymore. Screw the information I have and screw you, Oliver!" She reached for the purse that she had bought on one of her shopping trips with Diggle, but he caught her wrist before she could reach it.

"Stop," he growled. "Where the hell do you think you're going? You're not allowed to leave until I leave."

Slowly, she turned back to face him. Her eyes flashed yellow briefly before turning back to her baby-blue shade. "Let go of my wrist before I break yours," she said. The calmness in her tone made his skin crawl but before he could figure out a reply, he heard a light knock on the door.

"Oliver?" Both he and Felicity snapped their head to the side, facing Moira who had managed to walk in without either of them noticing. "Am I interrupting something?"

Oliver looked back at Felicity, who looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't noticed just how close they were standing to each other and he could only imagine what his mother was thinking about the way she had caught them; faces close, his hand on her wrist and his body trapping hers against the desk.

"No, Mrs. Queen," Felicity spoke before he could. She pulled her wrist out of his grip way too easily and he frowned, understanding that she had indeed been serious about breaking his wrist before. "I was just asking Mr. Queen here if it would be okay for me to head home a little earlier since I'm not feeling well and he agreed that I should leave and rest. I think I might be coming up with the flu."

"Yes, it has been going around lately," Moira said, but she didn't seem too convinced by the lie that Felicity had managed to make up on the spot. "How kind of Oliver to let you leave a little earlier."

Had Felicity known that his mother had been on her way up to his office? She was a hybrid, and as she had pointed out so many times, she had hybrid-hearing, so she must have, right?

Oliver stared down at Felicity, who smirked at him.

Oh yeah, she had definitively heard his mother approaching.

And now she had him cornered because there was no way in hell that Oliver would make a scene in front of his mother and risk exposure. That little...

"So, I'll be seeing you tomorrow then, Mr. Queen," Felicity said. "Mrs. Queen," she acknowledged in passing as she pulled on her coat. Oliver followed her with his eyes as she walked away. Before she rounded the corner that would put her out of her sight, she turned around to glance at him one last time.

Her eyes flashed yellow yet again and she actually had the audacity to wink at him, right before she disappeared from his view.

He gripped her desk and clenched his jaw, hating that he couldn't just follow her and give her a piece of his mind. Their compromise was that she would always stay by his side so that he could keep an eye on him. The rare moments that he wasn't able to be around her, Diggle would be and she had just broken the rules they had set up by leaving earlier than planned.

"Is everything alright, Oliver?" his mother asked, bringing him out of his thoughts of what Felicity's punishment should be for defying him.

"Yeah, just thinking," he mumbled, sitting down in Felicity's chair. "Sorry, mom," he sighed, "I'm just tired. It's been a long day."

"So it doesn't have anything to do with your blonde assistant then?" Moira pressed. It seemed like she wanted to cut straight to chase and not talk around the subject like she usually did. "Is there something going on between the two of you? Don't think I haven't noticed the way you always seem to sneak off with her and use hushed whispers when you think no one is watching."

"Mom," Oliver said calmly. "There is definitely nothing going on between Felicity and me; she's not my type."

"Oh please," Moira scoffed. "A beautiful, young, smart blonde is not your type?"

A bloodsucking monster isn't, Oliver thought to himself. "We're just...friends," he said, inwardly cringing. The thought of being friends with Felicity made him feel as if he needed to throw up.

"Well," Moira said, still not sounding convinced, "I think you should keep an eye on her. I can't say I'm convinced about you claim that you're only friends, but I have a bad feeling about this girl, Oliver."

"Don't worry, mom," Oliver insisted.

He'll keep an eye on her alright.


"Dig, I'm leaving," Felicity told the older man as she approached him. He had just been arriving when she had stepped out of the elevator.

"What? Where's Oliver?" Diggle frowned.

"That asshat is upstairs with his mother, who probably thinks I'm having an affair with her husband while also sleeping with my boss, also known as her son, on the side," Felicity rambled. "Could you please drive me to the Foundry? I can't stay here another minute."

Diggle watched her silently before nodding, "Okay, but I think we should make a stop first."

-§-

Felicity waited patiently on Diggle in the car. He had made a stop on the way to the Foundry at Big Belly Burger to get her something to eat. She had to admit, the man seemed to understand her better than most people.

When she was alone, she had managed to steal a blood bag or two from the hospital to drink. Being a hybrid meant that she didn't have a craving for blood like vampires did, but drinking it made it easier for her to keep hidden because she wouldn't have to eat so much human food. Drinking blood simply kept her for being hungry too often.

Now that she had promised Oliver and Diggle that she didn't need the substance, she had to eat food more regularly so that she wouldn't starve.

Okay, so a hybrid can't really starve to death, but they can desiccate and remain immobile until someone feeds them blood...which would be very inconvenient.

Diggle had made it a habit to always bring food down to the Foundry for her and during the day, she was a frequent visitor in the cafeteria at Queen Consolidated, much to Oliver's annoyance.

Felicity found herself frowning as she thought about the man. She understood that he had a problem with her because of what she was, but she had been trying so hard for over two weeks to show him that she wasn't like the monsters that he had encountered before. Sometimes, she tried to imagine the horrors he must have gone through after getting shipwrecked but she also knew that nothing she thought of could measure up to the real thing.

She felt bad for him and she really, really just wanted to help.

If she could, she would have told her everything she had learned while in captivity about what the other Dark Ones were planning, but she was afraid that Oliver might try to kill her the second he got the information out of her.

Diggle trusted her more than Oliver, the proof being that he had just left her in the car alone without warning her of what would happen if she tried to run away. She was happy that Diggle was willing to give her a chance, but it annoyed her to no end that Oliver just refused to do the same thing!

Maybe that was why she enjoyed dressing up so much in front of him?

She was able to sense the annoyance he felt each and every time he laid eyes on her, but that wasn't the only emotion she picked up off of him. His scent gave her the impression that he was also very confused about her, almost as if he wanted to believe her but was too stubborn to do so. The moment she had felt his confusion, she had silently vowed to herself that she would earn his trust by being the best assistant he had ever had (not that he had had many, apparently). That, of course, didn't mean that she couldn't have a little fun too.

Truth be told, she got easily bored in the Foundry, so she took every chance she got to enjoy herself while she was at Queen Consolidated. Even though she was trying to earn Oliver's trust and she knew that he hated whenever she spoke to Walter, she had a lot of fun conversing with the older man. She had missed meeting people who didn't know the truth about the People of Darkness. They were oblivious and got to know her for her and not the supposed monster that she was. Walter was nice and she enjoyed talking to him without being judged, something that Oliver didn't seem to be able to grasp.

According to him, she had an ulterior motive with everything that she did, and sometimes, his bullheadedness made her want to slam him up against a wall and just shake him.

Or kiss him.

Wait, what? Where had that come from?

Okay, so Oliver was an attractive man, and just like any other woman, she had noticed. She was just as capable of being attracted to someone as any other woman, no matter how heartless Oliver made her out to be. The miniscule attraction that she felt for him might have something to do with the fact that she saw him as a hero for everything he was doing to protect the innocent, but he was definitively off limits for her. At times, he drove her insane because she knew that he hated her and sometimes, she almost hated him too, to be honest. Why did he just refuse to see that she wasn't just a monster? Why was it so hard for him to give her a chance, like Diggle had done?

She was actually afraid that she might ever earn his trust and that he would never believe her when she told him that she really didn't want to cause him any harm.

Being a hybrid wasn't exactly easy. She had been turned into one just a few months ago and she was still learning to control her temper. The night that Oliver had agreed to compromise, she had lost her cool for a second and she would never forget the shame she had felt wash over her when she had noticed that Diggle had actually pulled the gun on her. She hated to not be in control of herself and her anger at Oliver and at the world had gotten the better of her for a moment. Later, when she had been alone with Diggle in the lair, she had told him that if it ever happened again, he shouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger on her.

She would rather die than become a real monster.

From the window she could see Diggle approaching, two large bags in his hands. He entered the car and handed her one of them before opening his own and taking two fries into his mouth.

"Oliver called me," he stated.

"What did Mr. Grumpy want?" Felicity sneered, taking a sip from her soda before reaching for the burger in the bag.

"Told me you left," Diggle said, "but I told him you were with me and that you hadn't broken the rules we had set up."

"Great," Felicity nodded. "I'm still mad at him though."

"Which is understandable," Diggle agreed. "But Felicity, you have to understand him too, you know... It wasn't easy for him to let you into our team."

"He hasn't let me in, Dig," Felicity protested. "He doesn't trust me at all and no matter what I do, he will always just see me as a monster!"

"Give him time," Diggle insisted. "He'll come around sooner or later... Probably later, but the important thing is that he will."

"I just want him to give me a chance," Felicity mumbled, "and it's upsetting that he simply refuses to believe that not every monster is bad. I mean, there are humans out there who are just as bad, and sometimes even worse than the Dark Ones I know!"

Diggle shrugged, popping another fry in his mouth, "Patience, Felicity."

Patience, Felicity.

"That's what I keep telling myself," she told the older man. "Although, patience doesn't come easily for us hybrids."

"Then you have to understand that trust doesn't come easily to Oliver," Diggle told her, still as calm as ever.

"I'll earn his trust, Dig," she said confidently, "even if it's the last thing I do."

It wasn't until they drove to the Foundry and she saw Oliver beating up a training dummy while simultaneously glaring at her that she realized that she had made herself a promise that wouldn't be so easily fulfilled.


Note: So there it was! Some schmexy dreams for Oliver, an awkward half-naked Olicity moment, tensions at the office, some Laurel/Tommy history and a suspicious Moira! Oh, and then there's little miss Smoak and her battle to make Oliver trust her, but even she can get frustrated sometimes! ;)

Feel free to tell me what you thought of the chapter in a review, and once again: Congratulations to all of you who have made it through the hiatus! ;)

xx