A/N- Finally posting this chapter. Im sorry it took so long but I had to fight off a fair amount of writers block. Thankfully once I did everything came to me and just kept coming. As a result this holds the new record for the longest chapter I've ever written! Thanks again to my readers and my beta. I hope the long wait is worth it!
A steady rhythmic beeping sound roused Oliver from his sleep and a light of some sort cast hues of red and orange onto the insides of his eyelids. He let out a small moan, he didn't want to open his eyes, the darkness was too comfortable. Despite his efforts to close his eyes tighter and fall back asleep Oliver was awake, he hesitantly opened his eyes and waited for his vision to come around. A few moments later it did but there was still a fair amount of sleep in his eyes, everything was blurry at first. He looked for the source of the sound that had so rudely interrupted his slumber, he saw a black screen to his left and a green line going up and down as each tone sounded. He looked down at his left arm and saw a needle sticking out of his wrist. His eyes groggily followed the tube that extended from the needle up to a bag of fluid. Still, it hadn't dawned on him where he was.
"Where am I?" He thought he asked out loud but got no response, he tried again. "Where am I?"
Thea shot a glance in her brother's direction, he was awake. "Ollie!" She cried as she jumped up from her seat and ran to his side. "You're awake, thank God, oh Ollie thank God!"
"Th-Thea?"
"Yes, big brother I'm here!" Thea responded as tears began to well up in her eyes. She kneeled at Oliver's bedside and took hold of his hand.
"What happened?" Oliver asked, his voice lower and more raspy than normal.
"I sent you to your death that's what!" Thea brought his hand up and pressed it to her lips, "Ollie I'm so sorry!"
Oliver looked into her eyes and he could see the heartbreak, "Speedy, you didn't do anything," he slowly lifted his free arm and wiped a tear from Thea's cheeks. "My arm feels heavy, my everything feels heavy." Oliver put his hand up to his face and briefly examined it before letting it fall to his chest.
"I'm not surprised," Thea chuckled, they've got you so doped up right now. I don't see how your even awake," she chuckled again still clutching Oliver's hand to her face.
Oliver looked at her confused, "Who's, they?" He asked between heavy breaths.
Thea's face went from amused to concerned, "The doctors Ollie, you're at Starling General.
"Starling General, the hospital?" Realizing where he was Oliver tried to remember how he had gotten there, the events of last night slowly started coming back. Suddenly he was struck with panic, "Felicity!" He tried to sit up in his bed, "Is she ok?"
Thea placed a hand on her brother's chest and gently pushed him back down, she smiled and ran her fingers through his hair, "She's fine Ollie, not a scratch on her thanks to you." The tenseness in Oliver's chest faded and he settled back into bed.
"That's good," he sighed.
Thea retrieved her chair and placed it where she had been kneeling, "She's really impressed me ya know? That boss of yours, coming in to visit you as much as she has. Most CEOs wouldn't do that for their employees.
Oliver's confused look returned, "How much has she been here?"
"A few times, she even sat with me the entire time you were in surgery," Thea leaned back, ran her fingers through her own hair and yawned.
"All that, in one night?"
"Ollie," Thea sat back up and leaned in, "It wasn't all in one night, you've been here for three days."
"Three days?" Oliver asked quietly.
"Mhmm," Thea replied as she failed to fight back another yawn. "The party was Friday night, remember? Then that bastard did what he did, Felicity and her bodyguard brought you straight here."
"Oliver scratched at his beard trying to find the words he wanted but struggled, apparently he was as drugged up as Thea had claimed. "No ambulance?" He finally managed to get out.
"Apparently you were losing a lot of blood, they weren't sure if the paramedics would make it in time. Evidently, John, Felicity's head of Security, the guy who helped you out, is an ex-army officer. He was a field medic so I guess he did some of that DIY surgery stuff you see on TV and got you stable enough to get you here. You went straight from the back seat of the limo to the O.R. The surgery was long but from what the doctors told me it went well. You're in recovery know so they can manage your pain and keep an eye on you, so here we are. It's Monday evening."
"Although some of what had happened was still foggy Oliver slowly came to realize what had brought him here, "The blood on my hand, it was mine, I got shot."
Thea took hold of his hand again and squeezed gently, "Yeah big brother, you did."
"But Felicity, Felicity didn't?"
"No Ollie," Thea reminded him smiling, "You saved her."
"He sure did," a voice came from the doorway, "Knock knock, can I come in?" Felicity asked as she lightly tapped on the wooden door.
"Hey, come on in, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you." Thea smiled and ushered the other woman in, "He's even conscious this time," she joked.
"Hey, you," Felicity spoke softly as She glided into the room, John behind her pushing her chair.
Despite the heaviness of his body, Oliver Lifted his head and tried to prop himself up on his elbows. Thea placed a hand behind his head for extra support.
"No no you keep comfy," Felicity ordered softly, "I'll come to you."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Oliver yawned, normally he wouldn't be so quick to obey orders but he was too exhausted right then to make an argument of any sort. He obliged and laid himself back down.
Felicity looked up at John and signaled that she could take it from here, John released the wheel chair's handles and took a few steps back to stand by the door. "How's he doing?" She asked and looked over at Thea.
"See for yourself, this is as aware as he's been since the surgery," Thea replied smiling.
Felicity rolled herself up to the bed opposite Thea and looked Oliver straight in the eyes, "How are you feeling?" She asked, sympathy strewed across her face.
"Like-like I got shot," Oliver answered slowly.
Felicity quirked an eyebrow, "you have past experience to draw from?"
"My-" he yawned, "My parents."
Thea brought a hand up to her mouth, it was clear to Felicity that Oliver's words had shocked her. Oliver began to doze off but after a few moments Thea took her hand from her mouth and placed it on Oliver's shoulder, "Ollie?" He opened his eyes but it was clear he was fighting to stay awake. "Ollie do you, want me to tell her?" A small smile formed in the corners of her brother's mouth and he nodded before closing his eyes and giving into exhaustion.
Felicity looked at Thea dumbfounded, "Tell me what?" She tried but felt she wouldn't be able to prepare herself for what she was about to hear.
Thea looked at her with a sad smile before taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "God, where do I start? When I was ten, Oliver was twenty and mom and dad were still, ya know," Felicity nodded, she understood. "We used to live in the Glades. That was back when it was still the bad part of town, before your family and the Palmers moved in and cleaned it up. Well, we lived in the bad part, of the bad part of town. Low income and crime were commonplace. It wasn't a safe place to call home, but it was all mom and dad could afford, and they did their damnedest to make the best of it."
"Oh," was all Felicity could muster.
"There was this homeless guy who lived under an overpass a few blocks away from our house, he'd come around every once and a while begging for money. Mom and dad were always generous people, they couldn't give him much but they'd throw him their spare change and some food, maybe a blanket, whatever they could part with.
Felicity couldn't help but smile a little, the queens sounded like wonderful people.
Some of our neighbors were part of a local gang. They liked to call a couple of their buddies over and use the Homeless guy as a plaything, beating him up and waving their guns at him whenever he was brave enough to get too close. Dad always called the police, but they couldn't always make it with so much going on. One day the gang was beating up on the poor guy and dad got pissed. He called the cops like always but they told him that there weren't any officers available at the time, that just pissed him off even more." Thea let out another sigh, "So, despite mom begging him not to, dad went to the closet, pulled out his old shotgun and stormed out there.
"Oh no," Felicity whispered.
"Surprisingly dad, brave SOB that he was, managed to chase them back inside, I guess an old man with a big gun was something that they weren't prepared for."
Felicity braced herself for a but, sure enough, it came.
"But later that night, three of them broke into the house, I guess to get their revenge," Thea continued.
Now it was Felicity's hands coming up to cover her mouth.
Thea looked at her brother who by now was sleeping peacefully, "Ollie was the first one to hear anything, his room was closest to the window they smashed. He got to play some baseball for the neighborhood before that program got canceled, so he grabbed his old bat and went downstairs to check on everything." Thea chuckled as she wiped a tear from her eye, "He was always too brave for his own good, always wanted to protect us."
"Oh, Oliver." Felicity whispered and rested her hand on top of his, "Do I dare ask what happened next?"
"Ollie managed to get the jump on one guy in the kitchen, bashed him over the head, they'd split up to search the house. As soon as they heard their buddy go down, the other two came running. Ollie managed to hide long enough to swing at another one's knees and knock him down too, but the third one fired off a couple rounds."
"No!" Felicity cried in her head.
"By this time the rest of us were awake, I stayed in my room and hid under my bed. I was too scared to move," Thea's tears began to run down her cheek.
"God who could blame you," Felicity replied as tears of her own began to obscure her vision.
"But mom-mom and dad, they went down there." Thea continued through her tears, "Dad with his shotgun and mom huddled behind him. Dad flipped on the hall light and saw the guy in the living room, standing over Ollie. I heard dad yell from my room, then I heard the shotgun blast. A few seconds later I heard more gunshots and then, nothing.
Felicity wheeled herself around the bed to Thea's chair and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Thea you don't have to keep going, it's ok."
"No, it's ok." Thea wiped another tear from her eye, "He wants you to know." She took another deep breath, Felicity reached out for Thea's hand and she obliged. "I was under my bed for what felt like forever, no sound, no yelling, no footsteps, no sirens. I thought I was all alone, I was terrified that everyone was-"
Felicity squeezed Thea's hand and shook her head, "Don't say it."
Thea pushed on, "after waiting for what felt like a lifetime someone pushed my door open, thank god it was Ollie. He found me under the bed and coaxed me out, he picked me up and held me tight. I could see out of the corner of my eye that there was blood running down his arm, a lot of it. He told me to close my eyes as tight as I could and not to open them until he told me to, so I did. Next thing I knew we were outside sitting on the curb.
Felicity stroked Thea's Hand with her thumb.
Ollie wouldn't tell me exactly what had happened at first, I guess he didn't want to burden me with it, but he eventually decided that I had a right to know. He told me everything. He said dad shot the last guy, but before the guy died he managed to turn around and empty his clip, killing both of our parents.
"God Thea." More tears made their way down to Felicity's cheeks, slightly smearing what little makeup she actually wore.
Thea wiped away a few more tears, took in a long, slow breath, and straightened herself in her seat, "I found out where the blood on his arm came from too." Thea reached over and pushed up the sleeve of Oliver's gown, revealing his left shoulder
Looking closer Felicity could see a scar starting at Oliver's shoulder and ending just above His armpit. "He was lucky, that bullet could have messed him up really bad. Thankfully it was a through and through, didn't hit any bone."
Felicity looked at Oliver, then at Thea, then back to Oliver. "Can I ask something?"
"Mhmm" Thea replied.
"Where did you go?
"Since he was old enough, Oliver got himself declared my legal guardian. He used all the money he had saved up from working and what mom and dad left us in the will to get us a crappy little apartment and put himself through school. From there he got himself a job at the electric company, eventually got laid off, and that's where you come in, well you and Curtis." Thea looked at Felicity and smiled warmly.
Felicity was speechless, all she could do was look back and forth from Oliver to Thea and try to hold back her tears
"Oh come on now," Thea reached over and wiped a tear from Felicity's cheek, "Don't cry for us, things are better now, we have a good life."
Felicity smiled, "It's incredible how strong you both are, to go through all that and still come out the other side."
"You were a big part of that."
"Oh stop," Felicity scoffed.
"No really!" Thea chuckled in response, "If you hadn't given Ollie that job who knows where we'd be. Whether you knew it or not, you saved us."
Felicity turned her gaze back to Oliver, she watched as his chest slowly rose and fell with each breath. "I guess we're even now," she spoke softly.
"Ya know, Ollie really doesn't like to talk about what happened to mom and dad, he won't even let me tell anyone about it. Outside of the police, the courts and Curtis only a few people know."
Felicity responded with a curious face.
"But he wanted me to tell you, he wanted you to hear our story." Thea gently squeezed Felicity's hand and drew in a deep breath, "He must really like you."
Felicity didn't know how to respond, she was feeling so many emotions at that moment. Thea's statement had surprised her. On one hand, she felt honored that Oliver had chosen her to be one of the few people that he would open up to. Yet, on the other hand, the young girl's words had made Felicity incredibly nervous. If what his sister said was true, maybe Oliver had felt that same instant connection that Felicity had felt from the moment he had turned from the bar to face her Friday night. She had been immediately drawn to the refined manner in which he carried himself, despite his obvious nervousness.
Felicity had also noticed that Oliver hadn't coddled her when it came to her disability. Most people became apprehensive when seeing the wheelchair for the first time. They would try to help her with things or watch their words to avoid anything that could be considered even remotely offensive. It made Felicity feel more like a helpless child than the strong independent woman that she actually was. Oliver, however, hadn't done any of that. One quick glance down at the chair and that was it, after that, to him it hadn't existed. He made Felicity feel like a completely normal person like she didn't have a disability. If nothing else, she admired him greatly just for that. Plus, the fact that he was a real looker hadn't hurt things.
The two women sat in silence. Felicity fighting a war against her brain, and Thea fighting a war against exhaustion. Both were staring at Oliver, whether he knew it or not, at that moment, he was at the center of both of their worlds.
Oliver yawned and opened his eyes, as he stretched he could tell that the side effects of his medication had backed off. His body didn't feel heavy, and his mind felt much sharper than it had the last time that he'd graced the land of the living with his presence. He turned his head to the left and noticed Felicity sitting on a couch with Thea's head resting in her lap, they were both asleep.
"I brought that in for them, from down the hall," Someone interrupted as they stepped into the room.
Oliver lifted his head, it was the security guard from the party, or John as Thea had said. John took his place beside the door and folded his hands in front of himself, Oliver pushed a button on his bed remote and groaned as he was moved into a seated position, "Your John right? John-"
"Diggle."
Oliver adjusted himself further and winced as a searing pain shot through him. "You're Felicity's head of security."
"I am."
Oliver looked him over and smiled, "I'm told that you saved my life."
"I just got you here in one piece, or close enough to it. The doctors are the ones who saved you."
"Regardless, I'd like to shake your hand and say thank you, if that's ok."
John smiled, "I should be thanking you," He replied as he walked over to Oliver's bedside. "You kept her from getting shot," he nodded towards Felicity and extended his hand.
Oliver took John's hand and shook it, but his smile quickly became a frown and he furrowed his eyebrows. Oliver tightened his grip on John's hand and pulled, forcing John down to eye level. He looked the other man straight in the eyes, anger written all over his face, "I saw you, at the party." Oliver released John's hand and grabbed hold of his collar instead. "You were supposed to protect her!" John grabbed Oliver's wrist and returned his fiery stare. "I saw you walk off stage," Oliver continued. "You left her up there, all alone!" John didn't say a word, but he looked over at Felicity and Thea, who were still asleep on the couch. Oliver followed his gaze, not wanting to wake them he released Diggle and lowered his voice, "What could have been so important?"
John sighed, he couldn't blame Oliver for being angry, he was angry too. Angry at the situation, and at himself for not being able to stop it. He stood up straight, quickly fixed his tie and looked back down at Oliver. "The son of a bitch had help," he explained. "There was another guy, he tried to get into the party but he wasn't recognized as a Smoak Tech employee. He got violent when my guy at the door stopped him, so I had to go handle it. I'm guessing he was a distraction."
"Why didn't you have more guards posted nearby?" Oliver asked, a perplexed look on his face.
"Her orders," John replied looking back to Felicity. "She always wants a minimalistic security detail, despite my begging and pleading. She was afraid too many guards would ruin the 'swingin hoppin totally rad party atmosphere!' " John chuckled, "Her words, not mine."
Oliver looked over to Felicity and sighed, "You should take her home, she's Been through a lot."
"Tried," John replied. "She refused to leave until you woke up, she's determined to be here for you, and your sister. Probably because of the whole saving her life thing." John smiled.
Oliver chuckled and continued to watch the two women sleep, it made him happy that They'd seemed to have found a connection with each-other. He had always wanted a strong female role model for his little sister ever since their parents had died.
"Oliver I want to make you a promise," John spoke up. "The same promise I made to Felicity, I'm gonna do everything I can to figure out who these SOBs are and I'm gonna stop them. I'm not gonna let them hurt either of you ever again."
"I think you'd better leave that to us, Mr. Diggle."
John and Oliver both turned to see two men step into the room. One man was bald with a scruffy beard, the other with a full head of thick grey hair, a goatee and an eyepatch over his right eye.
"Great, you two again," John sighed. "Felicity and I have already told you everything we know, twice."
"We're well aware," The bald man replied. "We're here because we haven't yet had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Queen. Ya know, the guy who ended up doing your job for you?" He flashed a sarcastic smile at John who promptly returned it. Both men made their way to Oliver's bedside, John reluctantly stepped aside and resumed his post by the door. Once Diggle stepped away the bald man turned to Oliver and smiled. "Mr. Queen, I'm detective Quentin Lance, this is my partner detective Slade Wilson." Lance extended his hand and Oliver obliged.
"Looks like you're a real hero kid," Wilson stated and shook Oliver's hand.
"I couldn't just stand there and let her get shot, could I?"
"Certainly not," Detective Lance replied. "Still most people wouldn't have the courage to take action and throw themselves in harm's way for another person like you did, let alone someone they'd just met. You're a brave man Mr. Queen."
"Thank you, detective, but while I do appreciate it, I'm guessing you gentlemen didn't come here to sing my praises. What can I do for you?"
"Straight to business," detective Wilson chuckled and looked to his partner, " I like this kid."
Detective Lance reached into his jacket and produced a Manila folder containing several sheets of paper, he thumbed through a few of them then pulled one out and handed it to Oliver. "You'll recognize this piece of work as the man who attacked yourself and Ms. Smoak Friday night."
Oliver took the photo and examined it thoroughly, it was a mug shot and it was indeed the gunman from the party. He looked at the man's face and then down at the nameplate he was holding, "Lonnie Machin."
"That's correct," Detective Lance confirmed.
Detective Wilson stepped closer and tapped the photo with his finger, "This little twerp's been giving us the slip for months."
Oliver looked the two officers over with a confused face, "You two seem like very capable lawmen, how does a young small time criminal outsmart the both of you?"
"I can answer that." Felicity yawned and stretched her arms to the ceiling. All four men turned and looked at her. "Well don't just stand there," she looked at John and gestured to him with her finger."
John hurried over, moved the wheelchair closer and gently lifted Thea's head allowing Felicity to slide from the couch into her chair. John grabbed a pillow and laid Thea's head back down, taking care not to wake her. Felicity fixed her skirt and she and John joined the detectives at Oliver's bedside. "Quentin, how lovely to see you, again. How's my favorite District Attorney?" Felicity chirped.
Quentin sighed "Laurel's fine thanks for asking, again."
"Oh come now Quinten, just because we've seen each other like twenty times in just the past few days, and I've asked you that question every single time, doesn't mean you've gotta get sarcastic with me," Felicity chuckled.
Oliver quirked an eyebrow and smiled.
Felicity and the detective's daughter Laurel Lance had known each other for many years. The two had met back in middle school and had instantly become best friends, or BFFLs as they liked to say. That was a time in her life where Felicity hadn't yet learned to fully control the random babbles and rants that her mind concocted, or the speed at which her brain forced them out of her mouth. That was something Quentin would experience first hand when Laurel brought her new friend over to the house for the very first time. Quinten spent a full three hours sitting across from the girls as Felicity went on and on about a verity of topics, none of which interested him in the slightest. As hard as Quentin tried, the intricacies of heatsinks, power supplies and motherboards were things he just couldn't comprehend. Plus someone who could talk that much and that fast without stopping had to have at least a few screws loose.
Unfortunately, for the detective, the girls quickly caught on to just how awkward and bewildered Felicity's rants made him feel and joined forces. Ever since they had done everything they could to throw Lance and the young motor mouth into any and every awkward conversation they could come up with. It became a running joke between them, a tradition they carried on to this day. Even with Felicity now the head of a multi-billion dollar corporation and Laurel an accomplished lawyer turned district attorney, when it came to each other they were still the same young mischievous girls they had been when they met.
Felicity turned her head to Lance's partner and a look of disgust washed over her face, "Detective Wilson," she growled, "So glad you could make it."
"Trust me, sweetheart I don't wanna be here any more than you want me to be here," Slade replied sarcastically."
Oliver raised an eyebrow again, he could feel the animosity between them. It was thick enough to cut with a knife. "I take it you two have a history?" He finally spoke up.
"I may have accidentally wrongly accused Ms. Smoak of hacking into government satellites and attempting to steal classified information, once or twice," Slade casually replied and shrugged.
"Three times!" Felicity interjected. She turned to Oliver to defend herself, "It wasn't me, obviously!"
"Of course not," Oliver replied with an amused face.
Felicity gave him a blank stare, "Some low life cyber terrorist decided he was going to steal the world's secrets, and just because I happen to be a big deal when it comes to computers, Jolly Roger over here decided that it was me!" She pointed to Slade.
"Hey just because some of us aren't fortunate enough to have both our eyes doesn't mean you have to be rude about it," Slade retorted and adjusted his eyepatch. "Besides that wasn't the only reason I thought it was you!" He looked at Oliver and pointed back at Felicity, "All of the hacks were originating from inside of her building!"
Oliver turned his gaze back to Felicity, "Explain," he chuckled and gestured for her to continue. Oliver tried and failed to hold back a smile, although he knew he shouldn't, he found the two's back and forth hostile banter somewhat amusing. Or maybe his meds had kicked back in, he couldn't tell. His eyes became droopy and he almost nodded off, but he shook himself awake and focused on Felicity.
"They weren't actually coming from Smoak Tech, the guy was rerouting his I.P. address and bouncing his signals off of us. I even went as far as to prove that to Detective Black Beard and offer to help him track the guy down!"
"Ah, but he wasn't just some guy was he Ms. Smoak?" Slade retorted.
Felicity looked from Oliver to Slade then back to Oliver who waited patiently for an explanation. Felicity sighed, "Back in college, at MIT, I may have been part of a teeny weeny harmless insignificant little hactivist group," she cringed
"Excuse me? Hacktivists?" Oliver was confused.
"How do I explain this? We were a group of like-minded individuals who felt that there was an abundance of corruption and injustice going on around us and wanted to fight back, we did that with computers. More specifically we used technology to expose things like government fraud, infringement of personal rights, stuff like that. It wasn't that big of a deal though I mean it's not like we really did anything bad!" Felicity laughed nervously.
"Ms. Smoak," detective Lance challenged.
Felicity sighed, "Ok so I may have created a super virus capable of giving us complete access to any infected system so what? It's not like I used it or anything, I'm not a Cyber terrorist!"
"Then explain how traces of your virus's code were found all throughout your system!" Slade interjected.
Felicity turned to Oliver and sighed, "Ok so the guy who hacked the satellites was a member of the hactivist group too. That doesn't mean I was working with him," she shot Slade another angry look, "Why would I infect my own system with a virus that I created?"
"Ok, can we get back to the matter at hand please?" Lance pleaded. "Ms. Smoak, how do you know Lonnie Machin, and why do you think he's so hard to track down?"
Felicity sighed, "Happy to," she shot Slade one more angry look before turning back to Oliver and continuing. "Lonnie used to work for Smoak Tech."
Oliver raised an eyebrow.
"When I took over as CEO I wanted to hit the ground running, make my mark. So I started an internship program targeting bright young minds who were like me when I started out, technically inclined."
"Big nerds!" Slade interrupted and laughed
"Yeah, not really taking outside input right now!" Felicity pointed back at Slade and tried to keep her composure," she kept looking straight ahead at Oliver. "I just wanted to give smart young kids a chance to make it big. Lonnie was the first student to receive a spot in the program. He was going to MIT, top of his class, and well versed in the ways of Dr. Who, basically a male version of me. He seemed like the perfect candidate. For the first few months, it was great, he got settled in over at pharmaceuticals and was on the fast track to earning himself a permanent spot on the roster."
"How does any of this relate to the case?" Lance questioned.
"Be patient you chatterbox," Felicity joked, "I was getting to that. Rumors started going around that he was drinking, a lot. Some of his coworkers started to suspect he was using drugs too."
"What made them suspect that?" Oliver questioned.
"Oh you know the usual, hazy eyes, the smell of his clothes," Felicity lowered her head and muffled her voice. "His boss catching him secretly cooking up vertigo in the basement you know that sorta thing. Turned out he'd been dealing in secret, using our resources to supply his little side project" Oliver's eyes widened. "Yeah, not the best way to start out my first year as the boss huh?" She looked at him with embarrassment on her face.
"It's really not," Slade spoke up
Felicity growled and ignored him, "Needless to say he was terminated. I had John handle it personally. He told me Lonnie was making some pretty bold threats when he was turned over to the police, apparently he even threatened to come back with The Count's army and destroy everything I'd built. I never thought he would actually follow through with that threat."
Oliver looked around the detectives at John who was staring at Felicity, his muscles tensed at the mention of Machin's name and he clenched his fist. "The Count? Who's that?" Oliver questioned.
"You've never heard of The Count?" Felicity put her hands over her heart, "Oh honey you really don't get out much do you? Poor thing."
"The Count is a drug dealer," Lance explained. "He's the head of one of the largest criminal empires this city's ever seen. His flagship product is called vertigo. It's an incredibly powerful hallucinogen but in high doses it's deadly. We believe Mr. Machin had a fascination with The Count and wanted to join his ranks. That's why he was trying to cook up his own batches of vertigo in the Smoak Technologies basement. He was trying to impress the bastard. From what we saw Friday night it appears he may have succeeded."
"But if John turned him over to the SCPD then how did he get into the party? Shouldn't he be in prison?" Oliver questioned.
"He escaped custody, imagine that!" Felicity interrupted sarcastically. "I'm sure it was your fault somehow," she glanced back at Slade.
"His transport was attacked," detective Lance explained. They were professionals, probably in The Counts employ. Machin's been off the grid ever since, until now that is."
"Well kid the chickens have come home to roost," Slade belted out, looking at Felicity. "Your demons have come for you so now we've gotta pull your butt outta the fire."
"Ok, you know what I've had it up to here with you!" Felicity spun her chair around. "You wrongly accuse me of a crime three, count em three times, yet you still have the nerve to keep accusing me of somehow being involved in all this! Excuse me? I'm one of the victims here ok! Why would I try to get myself shot huh? Why in the hell would I put a hit out on myself? Riddle me that you arrogant manchild!
"A manchild with a badge," Slade mocked.
Felicity tightened her grip on her chairs wheels and began to push them forward towards Slade.
"Alright alright, that's enough!" Detective Lance interrupted. It's obvious this little pow- wow isn't going to produce any valuable information so I think we'll take our leave." Lance turned to Oliver and tried to ignore the fiery stare he was getting from Felicity. "Mr. Queen we'll try to talk to you at a more appropriate time when there are fewer-" he looked at Felicity, "Distractions. We're going to be interrogating Mr. Machin again soon, we'll get back to you after that. Both men reached out and shook Oliver's hand again before turning to take their leave.
As they left Felicity stuck her tongue out at Slade, then turned back to Oliver, "Phew, get a load of those guys am I right?" She chuckled and pretended to wipe sweat from her forehead. "I'm definitely calling Laurel and telling her to make her dad pay for putting me through that."
Oliver smiled and made a mental note to never make Felicity angry.
"Now," Felicity continued, "On to more important matters, how are you feeling?" She wheeled back to Oliver and rested her hand on top of his.
Oliver's heart skipped a beat, he tried to resist the urge to look down, he didn't want to embarrass Felicity and make her think twice about her actions. Instead, he just stared into her big beautiful blue eyes and tried to find his words, but after a few moments, he accidentally shot a glance down. This time he could actually feel Felicity's skin, and it was soft. He wanted to intertwine his fingers with hers and feel her grip tighten around his, but he was too nervous to move. Oliver suddenly realized that he was staring, he quickly looked up and saw that Felicity had followed his gaze, but this time she hadn't pulled away. Instead, she looked up smiling and locked eyes with him.
"I'm feeling much better," Oliver replied softly. He had wanted to say more, a lot more, but decided not to push his luck.
Felicity's smile widened revealing her pearly whites underneath.
On the couch, Thea slowly opened one eye. She had been awake for a while now but decided not to make it known. She looked over at the bed and saw her brother and Felicity whispering to each other and chuckling, a small smile formed in the corner of her mouth. She saw Felicity's hand resting on top of Oliver's, "Yes!" She whispered to herself. Suddenly both Oliver and Felicity turned their heads towards her. Thea quickly closed her eye tight and drew in a deep breath, once satisfied that she had convinced them she was still asleep she let it out. Although she couldn't physically, in her head Thea was jumping for joy, "Even with all this struggle, maybe this could be the start of something good, for the both of us."