A/N - One thing I want to mention relating to this story – a few people commented that they wished it were not an Olicity romance. If that's not your thing, that's fair. I know some people are Felicity fans but not Olicity fans. But then I would urge you not to click on stories that are clearly marked in the 'Romance' category. My author note at the beginning also indicated the story would end with an Olicity pairing, so I honestly feel that complaining about the ship I've chosen (and been very clear about IMO) is unfair. That would be like me clicking on a Lauriver romance story and then complaining when things take a romantic turn. I probably will write some Olicity friendship fics at some point (maybe one shots) but then they'll clearly be marked in the 'Friendship' category. Anything marked 'Romance' though – you can be sure it's an Olicity romance because that's how I roll. So here's your chance to back out if you're not an Oliciter – for everyone else, there is hacking, flirting and hints of romance ahead!

Chapter 3

Felicity was so wired after Oliver left her bedroom that she thought she probably wouldn't sleep. And she had lain awake for a few hours, fingers on her lips, wondering what the hell had just happened. Oliver said he didn't want Sam kissing her to be the last thing she thought about. Well - mission accomplished. She barely recalled Sam at all.

Instead she'd spent hours reliving Oliver's kiss – the way his stubble brushed her skin, the surprising softness of his lips, and just the sweetness of it all. Because it hadn't been passionate as she'd always assumed kissing Oliver would be. It had been almost experimental; new and tentative but also decisive and strangely familiar.

She shouldn't have been so affected by it. It wasn't even their first kiss.

"Seriously, would it kill rich people to have finger foods bigger than my pinky?" Felicity grumbled as she snagged a tiny crab cake from a passing waiter. She popped it into her mouth and chased it with a sip of very expensive red wine that she'd love to be able to afford. "You owe me Chinese after this. I mean, we are in Beijing."

"Just don't expect it to be like Chinese food at home or you'll be disappointed," Oliver replied, eyes on their target. "Fortune cookies are an American invention. Although I suppose we could find the more traditional fare in Chinatown."

Felicity raised a brow. "Beijing has a Chinatown? That lacks creativity."

He turned to her and smiled. "It's a tourist trap." He leaned closer and trailed his fingers down her arm, his lips brushing her ear. "But if you want to get creative, we could walk the side streets and check out the street vendors and neighborhood restaurants."

Breathe, Felicity. It's part of the cover, she told herself. Or maybe don't breathe – damn it. Why does he have to smell so good?

She swallowed down the butterflies threatening to erupt and tilted her head to get a look at the target – one Michael Sandler, a prominent businessman from Coast City whom she'd discovered also laundered money for the Triad. And after realizing he was headed to Beijing for business, Oliver had set up a meeting with a technology company there.

China's business world was definitely influenced by their patriarchal society, though, and Oliver had claimed a relationship with Felicity in order to deflect an invitation to a local bath house that was also a high end brothel. All of which explained their current and very cozy circumstances. Oliver had finagled an invitation to a party they knew Sandler would attend, and now they were waiting to see who he made contact with. Any new names would be a new trail for Felicity to follow in their attempts to oust the Triad from Starling City.

Since several of the men who'd been in meetings with Oliver all week were also at the party, she and Oliver were playing their roles, which also served to keep the other men at a distance. It was definitely something she preferred given that one or two had been particularly handsy when Oliver wasn't looking.

She leaned into him and smiled, lowering her voice. "What did you have in mind?" Had his lips just brushed her neck? She shivered, an involuntary response she had all too often in his presence.

He pulled back just enough to meet her gaze, his blue eyes locking with hers. Smirking, he said, "Deep fried scorpions, snake rolls, tarantula on a stick, sea horse on a stick, and my personal favorite – chocolate covered grasshoppers."

She couldn't help laughing. He wasn't paying any attention to their target in that moment and neither was she. She was way too busy wondering how it would feel to kiss him. So she did.

It was brief, over before he could react. But the bemused look on his face said a lot. "That was… unexpected."

"It can't be all about the eye-sex if we're selling this," she'd offered by way of explanation, fighting the blush creeping into her cheeks.

They'd never talked about that kiss. Sandler had met up with a known member of the Triad minutes later, and their attention had been diverted. Felicity figured Oliver was glad of the distraction because he'd made it clear last year, after Isabel and Russia, that he didn't have it in him to commit to a relationship with someone he could have real feelings for. Not then, anyway. She honestly wondered if he'd ever be ready.

Rather than slide down that rabbit hole again, she'd begun dating Brad. Other than her flirtation with Barry Allen any time he sped through town, Brad was the first person she'd seriously dated since meeting Oliver two years earlier, and her brooding hero hadn't taken it very well.

At the time, she'd likened it to the same reaction he had to Barry – jealousy, but only in the sense that he was used to having her undivided attention. Between their work in the office and work in the lair, they were practically married. Thea had even called her his 'work wife' one evening when they dropped by the club to pick up some paperwork that Thea wasn't old enough to sign.

Now she wondered, and it wasn't a topic she wanted to be wondering about because this was Oliver, and whatever she came up with would likely be off the mark. Therefore, it was better to ignore the kiss from last night the same way they'd ignored the kiss in Beijing.

Feeling better, she got up, showered and dressed in comfortable jeans and a loose knit, deep blue V-neck sweater that she knew brought out her eyes. Then she applied minimal makeup and brushed her hair, gathering it into her trademark ponytail before changing her mind and leaving it down.

When she walked into her living room, Diggle was there. "What, no nose ring this morning?"

She raised her brows and crossed her arms. "Traitor."

"Partner," Diggle corrected her. "That's what we are, and partners look out for each other. You can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same if you thought I was winging it alone in a dangerous situation."

Okay, he had a point. "So I guess you want an explanation?"

"First, I want to change," Oliver said, grabbing the bag Diggle had carried in and heading back to her bedroom.

"And I'm on a mission this morning – breakfast. Any requests?" Diggle asked.

"Egg McMuffin," she replied. "And hashbrowns."

"Just so you know, I'm going to add forty-five minutes to our workout to make up for it."

She grimaced, knowing he wasn't joking. While she'd never be a fighter, Diggle and Oliver had made an effort to teach her how to hold her own, at least long enough to make a getaway. Oliver's determination to keep her out of the field had been a bone of contention between them ever since he'd killed the Count, and her more frequent workouts with Diggle and, occasionally, Oliver were her way of proving she could handle herself.

She called out to him as he opened the door. "And get two – Josh is coming over this morning."

She could hear her shower running and tried very hard not to imagine Oliver naked in there. It wasn't the first time he'd been in her apartment. It wasn't even the first time he'd showered there. It was, however, the first time he'd slept there, and it made everything seem different. She went into the kitchen and started the coffee before checking to see what kind of fruit she had.

The shower turned off and she could picture him moving around her small bathroom, towel wrapped around his hips. She knew from the last time he'd showered there that her entire bathroom would smell like his soap, shampoo and aftershave, and it would smell amazing. She silently cursed the fact that she and Brad were over because those months had made her apartment an Oliver-free zone for the most part. He had dropped by unexpectedly once but quickly realized the awkward position it put her in, and there hadn't been a repeat.

Just as the coffee was finished brewing, she heard a knock at her door. She glanced out the peephole to make sure it was Josh before opening it. "Hey."

Josh walked in and dropped his laptop on the sofa before pulling off his jacket. "Are you hungry? I figured we could go out for breakfast before we get started."

"Uhm, actually…" she paused when she heard her bedroom door open.

"My driver is picking up breakfast," Oliver said as he walked down the hall from her bedroom. His hair was still damp, and the bag he carried made it clear that he'd spent the night.

When Felicity glanced back at Josh, his brows had climbed clear into his hairline. "Josh, this is Oliver. Oliver, Josh. He's an old friend from college."

Josh looked at her and muttered, "Your definition of friend needs some work."

She knew it was a crack on her earlier comment that she and Oliver were just friends, but Oliver seemed to take it in a different way. Knowing there was no way to salvage that comment without making it even more awkward, she said, "John – the guy you saw me talking to last night – is Oliver's driver and bodyguard. He's picking up breakfast for us."

Oliver had moved to stand closer to her, and she felt the fingers of his left hand brush against her hip as he spoke. "So you're Felicity's – friend. I'm assuming playing dress up and going into cyber clubs to investigate the blackout was your idea?"

"You told him? Great. Are the cops coming next?" Josh looked disgruntled and eyed Oliver suspiciously.

"Oliver didn't call the cops, Josh. And I haven't really told him anything yet – I mean, not all of it."

"I guess the big guy told him?"

"The 'big guy' was worried that Felicity was in trouble," Oliver said, his voice borderline hostile. "And he's not the only one."

Great. Pissy Oliver was usually not in the mood to listen, and she needed him and Diggle to listen to reason now that they were involved. "Oliver, before you get all grumpy about this, I think we should talk about it and you should hear all of it."

Just then the lights flickered and went out. Oliver reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "No signal again. Have you had any luck tracking down the other hacker – I think he's calling himself Oracle."

Felicity was already busy with her laptop and logging into the Queen Consolidated satellite server, but she took a moment to shoot Oliver a look. "I like how you assume Oracle is a man. Have you learned nothing by working with me?"

"So I take it you know who Oracle is?" Oliver countered.

Josh snorted and muttered something that sounded like 'misogynist tool' which earned him a glare from Oliver. "Dude – she's Oracle. Has been since our university days of hacking companies just like yours. Guess you don't know everything about her, huh?"

Sighing, she ignored both of them – difficult since she could practically feel Oliver staring at her. Thankfully Diggle arrived and broke the mounting tension.

Diggle seemed to sense the unspoken hostility that had sprung up between Oliver and Josh. "Breakfast – Black Driver's been busy this morning."

Felicity grinned at Diggle and Oliver laughed, though she noticed Josh looking at them all like they were crazy.

"So what did I miss?" Diggle asked as he set his bags down on the table.

"Felicity is apparently responsible for hijacking the JumboTrons and taking over Channel 52," Oliver told him. "She's had a busy week."

Diggle turned to Felicity, surprised. "You're Oracle?"

Throwing up her hands, she said, "Why is that such a surprise? Honestly, I half expected one of you to come knocking after I asked for personal days at the same time there was a new hacker making headlines. Seriously – what does it take to impress you guys?"

"It occurred to Diggle that we should ask you about it," Oliver replied evenly. "But I was sure that you would have told me if you were involved in something like that, or even if you knew who was."

Ouch – burn. Felicity bit her lip and looked back at him uncertainly. He was a lot more upset about her decision to go this one alone than she'd realized. She turned her attention back to her computer and got to work as she hacked into the power grid. "He's modified the code again."

Josh scooted closer to her so he could see her screen. "Try the one we wrote last night."

Felicity's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Nope." She pulled up the code and they both studied it in silence for a moment.

"Maybe we can add a line here," Josh pointed out the spot on the screen. "Remember that time we…"

"…hacked the petroleum plant polluting Lake Reed? That was beautiful," she finished with a smile. "I'll just try this… and this."

She worked quietly for a few minutes with Josh occasionally interrupting to point to a line of code they should modify. Finally he said, "That should do it. Try again."

Five minutes later, Neuromancer was booted. The lights flickered back on, and Oliver confirmed there was a signal on his phone again. Felicity stood up and high fived Josh.

"Man, I should have looked you up before now," he commented. "We write beautiful code together. Why did we break up again?"

"As I recall, you were easily swayed from my 'code' by Jennifer Thomas' short skirts and cleavage," she returned mildly. "I got the 'it's not you, it's me' speech."

Josh scratched his head sheepishly. "Oh yeah – I was young and stupid?"

She rolled her eyes, still smiling as she looked at Oliver. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, watching her with an unreadable expression. Sighing, she walked over and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the kitchen behind her for some privacy. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I realize now that I probably should have, but I really was concerned that you might not help the situation."

When he didn't say anything, she busied herself with retrieving cups and pouring the coffee, aware of the charged atmosphere in the room. It made her want to talk - about anything, really. But she'd long learned that it was best not to fill that silence with idle chatter if she really wanted Oliver to open up.

She finished pouring the coffee and turned to the refrigerator to get the cream only to find that Oliver was already holding it out for her. "Oh… thanks." Eyeing his wardrobe choice – jeans and a dark blue-gray button-up shirt – she asked, "Don't you have to be in the office?"

"I told them I'm working from home today."

Hmm. "That means you're planning to work from here, doesn't it?"

"I want to know what's going on, and I'm not comfortable leaving you with Josh because I'm not sure he can be trusted – not when it comes to your safety."

Picking up two of the mugs, she waited for him to get the other two and follow her back into the living room. Josh and Diggle were already setting out the food. Placing the coffee on the table, she went back to the kitchen for juice and fruit, aware that Oliver was right behind her.

"I admit that I pulled the Oracle stunts to get Neuromancer's attention. I needed an invitation to Anno, and that was one way of getting it. But he doesn't actually know I'm Oracle – he suspects it, but he's mostly interested in me because he likes blondes." She could practically hear Oliver's jaw twitching as she picked up the orange juice and waited for Oliver to grab the small fruit tray she'd picked up the day before.

"You made yourself a target, Felicity. That's not okay."

They were back at the table now and Felicity set the juice down and sat in the chair Oliver pulled out for her. "I don't think Sam is dangerous in that way – he's mostly just handsy."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Oliver said, shooting her a look. "Who the hell is this guy, anyway?"

"Isamu Hayashi," Josh answered. "He's brilliant and a natural when it comes to coding. He goes by Neuromancer online and he's pretty much a hacker-for-hire these days."

"What's his endgame?" Diggle asked.

Felicity shook her head, swallowing her bite of food before answering. "We think that these blackouts are a way of testing the city's emergency response time, but we don't know why. I mean, they've been at different times of the day, and creating chaos at the police department was another way of ensuring that their attention might be turned elsewhere. So far we know they've specifically targeted the DA's office, and the fire in their records room could have been related. They have no way of knowing what might have been taken."

"That's not exactly true," Oliver told her. "When I had lunch with Laurel on Monday, she mentioned that she's pretty sure some case files were taken for an upcoming trial – the State vs. Cecily Hunter case."

Felicity propped her chin on her hand as she considered this new information. "She's accused of running a high end escort business with a drug connection, right? So maybe she's also connected to the Triad since we think it's possible that's who's paying Sam. We're pretty sure he's working with a hacker we used to know – Grace Chan. She's probably responsible for the hacks on the cell towers since that's her thing. Josh said she's still got a drug problem and last he heard, she was connected to the Triad somehow."

"And yet you still thought it was a good idea to go into that club alone?"

Oliver's tone was definitely veering into 'grr-argh' territory now. "Oliver, Sam doesn't know I'm Oracle, and I'm not planning to tell him."

"But you said he suspects."

"Maybe, but he seems way more interested in my body than my brains – first time for everything even if there is an ick factor there."

There was a definite twitch in Oliver's jaw at that. "If you go back in, I'm going with you."

Josh snorted with amusement. "Yeah, you'll fit right in Mr. Queen."

Felicity jumped in before Oliver could. "He's right Oliver – I can fit in, but there's no way Oliver Queen would be caught dead in a place like that. And that's the tech world, so your face is recognizable there. I don't have time to scrub photos of you in a cyber-goth club from the tabloid sites this weekend – I'm a little busy trying to stop the cyber terrorists turning off the lights."

"What about Lyla?" Diggle offered.

"Lyla has that same soldier vibe you give off – I don't think it would work," she said. "And Sam knows Josh, so he's out."

"You're not going back in there alone." The finality in Oliver's voice irritated her.

Felicity stood up, grabbed Oliver's hand, and pulled him back into the kitchen. "You have been treating me like I'm made of glass for months now, Oliver. I'm okay with you and Diggle being nearby in case I need backup, but you have to concede that my plan is the best one presented so far."

"Why do you even need to go back in there?"

"Because Sam's kind of an idiot when it comes to women," she said. "He drops information here and there when we're talking code. He's doing it to impress me. He basically admitted to being Neuromancer and I'm pretty sure if he could be certain I was Oracle, he'd be offering me a job – and possibly proposing marriage."

"And what if you were followed? Diggle followed you in your car and you didn't notice. I followed you last night. They could easily have had someone following you."

"Obviously not last night or you would have noticed," she pointed out. "And please – I had a pretty good idea I'd have a shadow last night after I ran into Diggle. That wasn't a surprise. Why do you think I took a cab? I just wasn't expecting you to be waiting in my bedroom when I got home."

That drew a tiny smile from him. "Nice to know I'm not completely predictable."

"It's just – you've been treating me like I'm fragile ever since…" she swallowed. "Ever since the Count. I acknowledged I did a dumb thing that night, and I don't want to be in that position again. I don't want you to be in that position again. So I am willing to compromise as long as it doesn't involve silly ideas like you and Diggle trying to pass yourselves off as cyber-goth punks."

Oliver gazed at her steadily, and the flash of emotion in his eyes was there and gone before she could fully process what it meant. "What about Sara?"

"But she's in Gotham."

"I have a jet," he returned, crossing his arms. "That's my compromise."

"What if she's busy?"

"She likes you. She's not too busy for this."

Felicity considered the potential problems, but she had to admit Sara would likely pass there given the right look. "I can work with that. I can tell her the password and she can enter separately. As long as you have the current password and fit the scene, no one questions your right to be there."

Oliver pulled out his phone and sent a message to Sara, who responded quickly. "She'll be here by tonight."

"Okay. Josh and I have a game of tag going with Neuromancer between blackouts, and every time he engages, I manage to track him a little further back to his location. He's not working from Anno – I'm pretty sure about that. All I need is a little more information, and I'll be able to piggyback his signal using that new stealth software I've been working on and then I'll have him."

"So you do your thing online and I'll get some work done while we wait. Your home office has everything I need to conduct business from here. We'll talk about the next step when Sara arrives."

She nodded and walked past him towards the living room, only to pause when he wrapped a hand around her wrist lightly. "I missed you in the office this week."

She turned back, surprised both by his words and his tone. "The temp is good, though, right?"

"She's fine. She's just not you." His hand moved down to squeeze hers as he smiled at her. Then he let go and walked past her to talk to Diggle.

Felicity remained in the kitchen for a moment, wondering what that was about. With Oliver it always seemed she was either a page behind or a page ahead, and sometimes she wondered if they were even reading from the same book. Because every time she told herself she was okay with being friend zoned, he said something or did something that made her hope for more. Frankly, she was beginning to resent the ambiguity of it all.

Josh appeared in the doorway. "You ready?"

Adjusting her glasses, she nodded and followed him out to the living room. She had a busy day ahead of her. She'd have to worry about Oliver later.

A/N 2 – Sorry for the delay! Honestly, events of 2x06 and 2x07 threw me for a loop. I really wasn't expecting blatant acknowledgement of the Olicity ship, and I needed time to process it. Plus I got sucked into Tumblr lol – if any of you are on Tumblr, you can find me there – poetgirl925. I use the same name on Twitter as well. I haven't gotten around to responding to all the reviews, so I do want to thank you all for reading and supporting the story. I do appreciate it. Also, I rewrote parts of this while I was editing today with recent Olicity events in mind. No beta – let me know if you see any distracting errors. Thanks for reading!