Whoa. I seriously did not expect anyone to actually read this. I'm so sorry for the late update. Work is a corporate nightmare. Anyways, this one is really short but I am actually getting back into the swing of things. It helps that I've found a Quicksilver mix that suitably triggers all sorts of feels that can only be released by fic-writing.

I hope you enjoy. P.S. I do actually have a plot. Like 12 percent of a plot. Just kidding. Don't worry and just buckle up.

Reviews are love, breath, life, and you know, encouragement. I am especially appreciative of The Yin and Yang Fallen Angel's review. I usually don't approve of language but I literally woke up at two in the morning and nearly died laughing at it. It's passion like yours that keeps me motivated.

Also, "Saturn" by Sleeping at Last just gives me the shivers so I don't know if you like your feels splattered all over the wall but I recommend listening to it near the end of this chapter-ette.

edit: Thank you for the correction, guys. So, new peeps... You saw nothing... *backs slowly into a dark corner*

Tony slid into the worn but comfortable leather booth. He eyed Felicity and Marcos who had gotten up to grab a few beers from the bar, a small smirk ducking about his lips as he took in Marcos' awkwardness and Felicity's cold shoulder to him.

"That- that wasn't a set-up. Kind of. Felicity-"

Marcos really needed to learn how to talk under his breath better. Tony took the pro-offered bottle from Felicity, grinning apreciatively. Marcos slid into the booth next to him with an incredibly beleaguered air. Tony had caught it in Pepper enough times to know it.

"It really wasn't his fault. Poor kid couldn't commit espionage if he wanted to." Tony waved dismissively. Marcos sputtered but Tony cut him off as Felicity sat down opposite them. "His phone was really broken. How it got broken is also not his fault. And the nearest place for a phone was your Tech Village."

"Which you knew." Felicity pointedly stated.

Tony shrugged. "You have a reputation."

"I wasn't aware."

"So, you weren't the one who wrote the super-virus that nearly took down an entire city."

Tony leaned in close, folding his hands under his chin, closely inspecting Felicity's response. To her credit, she didn't do much more than take a sharp breath.

"How did you know about that?"

Another noncommittal shrug. "The virus set off an alert in the IT department of a certain government agency. They have their sources and I have mine. It's an impressive bad baby."

"It almost got my mother and me killed." Her face stilled into a hard mask, "Yeah, a real bad baby."

Their burgers arrived. Felicity almost lunged for hers and only quickly glanced at Tony and Marcos before plunging in.

"Hungry?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Been a heck of a day."

"Bet I can top it."

It was Felicity's turn to raise an eyebrow. "How's this? Yesterday, I finally went out on a date with a man I have been pathetically pining after for ages, we got blown up, I'm being stalked by a billionaire genius that isn't you, my friend's company was stolen by a man who tricked me into helping me hack into it, and I got totally dumped because the guy I like has issues about life outside of work."

Felicity only realized she had been close to yelling when she opened her eyes to the almost stunned and terrified looks on Tony and Marcos' faces. Oops?

Tony's face broke into a wide grin.

"And that is why you should work for me. Marcos knows that I'm a good boss. Plus, the salary."

Felicity was glad she had swallowed her bite of burger otherwise, goodbye Smoak. She still made an undignified sputtering noise.

"You're... serious?"

"Absolutely."

Felicity didn't know what to think of it at all. A few weeks ago, the answer would have been a no-brainer. She had been a part of the Arrow Team, the super-hacker girl at Oliver Queen's side, as incredibly cheesy as that sounded. She had spent too many years looking for a family, a home, and had found it with an unlikely but no less loveable group of people. She had an older brother in John, a younger one in Roy, a much more beautiful but still enthralling sister in Sara, and in Oliver? Well, Heaven knew what he meant to her. Only the other day Felicity had promised to stand by him...

"I'm afraid I can't."

Tony kicked back in his seat, a look of supreme arrogance descending upon him. Somehow, Felicity knew this was the "Tony Stark" of tabloid fame that had suddenly graced the table with his presence. She didn't know whether to be irritated or to be amused. He managed to pull it off with such casualness and aplomb that it was impossible not to be fascinated.

"Why not? You know Stark Industries. We have everything. Everything. A young professional like you couldn't turn down the opportunity."

Felicity's hand twisted around the cold glass neck of the beer bottle before her. It pained her, it really did. There were few things in life that were exhilarating as plunging into a world of code and connections that most other people didn't seem to see. To take something intangible and use it to spin reality into something new and wonderful. It was what had sparked her to plunge into a sea of numbers all those years ago.

"There are a few things that can stop one." She spoke slowly and carefully. It was true, she couldn't break her word to Oliver. Even if he wouldn't look at her, Felicity could try to keep him alive.

Tony seemed to read her like a book, or more like a program.

"It's him, isn't it? You don't even work for him anymore. And judging from what you said, he isn't even committed to you."

Felicity bit her lip, trying to desperately fight back the imminent tears.

"Yeah, well, love is strange."

Tony leaned forward, his celebrity persona melting away as quickly as it came. He put a hand over Felicity's and looked at her with serious brown eyes.

"Okay. I just hate to see a brilliant mind go to waste. You just need to know, you're worth more than that."

It was so incredibly true, Tony thought. Not just because she was his daughter. Anyone with half a brain could see that she was a brilliant, caring, and sensitive person who deserved so much better. Deserved a father who could stand by her and support her through whatever she had to go through, Tony thought bitterly.

"The offer still stands, if you ever decide to live for something more than an ex-playboy millionaire."

Tony inwardly winced at the irony.

"Thank you."

Felicity allowed herself a small and not completely bitter smile. Then her phone rang.

It was Oliver. She sighed and looked up at Tony who only nodded and took a draught of the beer. She stood up and walked to one of the emptier parts of the room. It had better be good.

"Oliver?"

"You have to come. It's Sara. She's-"

Felicity held her breath as it caught in her chest, threatening to give out on her.

"What? Oliver? What?" A frantic edge crept into her voice.

"She's dead. Murdered."

The phone slipped from her hand and she stumbled towards a table, grasping weakly at its edge to stop her from completely falling apart. She started to cry, slow sobs coming in waves, rocking over her like ocean water, taking her out to the deep. The bright lights of the diner seemed to blur in the sting of tears. A part of her world had been torn away and when she tried to reach out towards it, towards Sara, reality seemed to thrust her back as if stabbing with a knife and slashing in warning. Sara... Beautiful, strong, funny, Sara who didn't take anybody's trash. Gone...

She was only dimly aware of Tony and Marcos rushing over, as if slow motion, their faces moving silently in worry as the whole world started to scream.

Was this what it felt like when someone you thought would be standing always was ripped away so cruelly, so easily? Her thoughts flew to Oliver. Oliver who knowingly and willing, recklessly, walked into danger... She didn't know if she could watch another part of her world fall down and shatter around her. Not when losing a sister felt like this.

She suddenly reached out to grip Tony. It seemed wild and insane, like thrashing for a lifeline out at sea. He belonged to a different world, maybe a more dangerous world but one where heroes like the Avengers would face danger and people like her didn't have to face losing everyone they loved as part of their loved one's and their own occupational hazards.

"Can you wait for me? I'll be right back."

Felicity would help Oliver fight his crusade. Maybe she could give him another handful chances a beating death but she would not stand by and watch firsthand. She loved him too much and hurt too much for that.

She wanted more out of life. Maybe that was selfish, but she wasn't sure if she could live at all like this anymore.

Tony Stark wasn't just a future employer, he was her ride out of Starling City. Wrecked, corrupted, crime-filled Starling City- the home of her family that was falling apart.

Tony could only watch with helplessness but with a spark of hope that lit up in the vague area of where his heart... He'd wait. He'd wait however long it took for his daughter to come back to him, even if she didn't know who he really was to her and what she really meant to him.