Hey all!

Thanks for the patience on this new chapter. Especially some of you who have maybe noticed that I took the time to write a few other things in between.

Thanks again for all the encouragement too! Some of you offered some concrit on the last chapter, which sucked a little bit to read, because it's all things I know are issues with the story and I've forced myself to power through, but I appreciate it and the way you all are super polite about it none-the-less :)

Probably just another couple chapters to go before this is complete.

Enjoy!

Two weeks later…

"Just one…more…minute," Felicity said, her tongue poking through her teeth as her fingers moved over the keyboard in front of her. "One more minute, I promise."

The lights in her office clicked off, covering her in darkness, save for the blue light of her computer. She let out a loud groan of annoyance but continued typing, ignoring the masculine chuckle that rumbled from the man in her doorway.

Her eyes stayed on the screen, focused on her task as he moved into her office. The edge of his head appeared in the periphery of her view.

"You said that ten minutes ago. You're going to miss your own goodbye dinner if you stay here much longer."

Felicity cut her glance over to Ray, his mouth turned up into a little grin. She scrunched her nose at him and focused again.

"We leave tomorrow," she countered. "I want to make sure all the CNRI stuff is ready to go before that."

Laurel hadn't been lying when she said CNRI was in need of some major technical help at the office. Felicity had spent the past two weeks working around the clock trying to update their electronic filing systems, their firewalls, running maintenance on their computers, and dealing with every other little technical thing that had been pushed to the back of their minds. It was a lot for one girl to handle all on her own. But Felicity was never one to back down from a challenge.

In between she helped Laurel and the partners track down and hire a suitable IT guy to take care of all their needs.

"I told you that you didn't have to come out right away, S.T.A.R. labs will still be there if you want to take—"

"No," Felicity said quickly, her blonde ponytail slashing through the air with the quick movement of her head. "I promised two weeks and I'm sticking to that."

"Okay…" Ray trailed off, not mentioning or even implying that he understood the subtext under her statement.

If it were possible, Felicity would have up and left Starling City the very day after Ray had shown up outside Laurel's apartment, looking for her, and offering her a position working alongside him at S.T.A.R. Labs.

They had gone to Big Belly Burger to talk and Ray went on and on about the great potential found with the special team of scientists there and how amazing it would be because the facility and the research was unconnected to any government or large corporation. They would actually be involved in real, meaningful science and technological development. No being swayed by funding or politics, no big ego CEO's breathing down their backs…

All Felicity heard was no Oliver Queen. Of all the selling points to move across the country to Gotham and work with Ray, that was the biggest one.

The gossip had died down surprisingly quick. She would still get occasional glances from people at the grocery store or in the elevator at her apartment. But somehow his publicists managed to move the story away from her and back to Oliver and his current downward spiral. The way he was presenting himself as an uncaring, rich party boy was almost cartoonish. At this point, he was just a sex-tape leak away from complete social scandal.

A part of her, the part of her that still cared about him as a friend, wanted to reach out. It was clear he wasn't okay. But she'd tried before and landed in a world of pain.

It was better this way, her moving on and forgetting all about the blip in her life that was Starling City and Oliver Queen.

"It's not really an option anyways," Felicity continued, putting the finishing touches on the scripts she was creating to run diagnostics on CNRI's systems. "I promised Laurel I'd help and have everything finished before I leave. And I don't even have my apartment anymore. I can only couch crash for so long."

Felicity twisted in her chair. Even though Laurel did have a comfy couch, her back was starting to ache from the weird positions she'd slept in for the past week.

Just a few more clicks and she was finished. Everything was set up for the new IT guy.

The computer chimed and shut down, washing them in complete darkness.

"All done," she announced proudly, clapping her hands together, "let's go to dinner!"

Laurel had used her connections to get them a table at one of Starling's top restaurants. Felicity was impressed with the very lengthy wine list. It was a small party, just Laurel and Sara, their mother, and Ray. Dinah had come to Starling to support her adopted daughter and congratulate her on her new job.

The college professor in Dinah was impressed by Ray and his ability to be both intelligent and charming.

"Is there something there I should be aware of?" she asked Felicity when the man had excused himself from the table for a few moments.

Felicity smiled at Dinah's mothering and shook her head. "We're friends. I think I've had enough men for a while."

Dinah gave her cheek an affectionate pat and offered a warm smile. Felicity was to be there with the friends she counted as family. Gotham would be even farther away from Central City and she wasn't sure when she'd get a chance to see Dinah or Sara or even Laurel again.

Once the delicious dinner was finished and the two bottles of wine were empty, they bid goodnight to Dinah and Laurel.

Ray departed as well, claiming tiredness and an early flight. He insisted on taking care of the check. Felicity and Sara remained at the table, finishing off the last of their wine.

"Feel like a night cap?" Sara asked. "Your flight isn't until the afternoon, right?"

"As long as a night cap can consist of some mint chip on the couch at your place?"

Her best friend smiled. "Sounds perfect."

"I'm just going to run to the restroom really quick," Felicity said. "Too much wine."

Sara nodded and took another sip from her glass as Felicity slid out of her chair and headed in the direction of the fancy bathrooms.

She finished doing her business and was drying her hands when a feminine voice addressed her from behind.

"You destroyed my brother, you know."

Felicity's eyes looked up in the mirror and locked with the young woman behind her.

Thea Queen, in a maroon cocktail dress, elegant brown curls tumbling around her shoulders, stood in the doorway of a stall, scowling at her.

Felicity spun to face her. "Excuse me?"

"I'm Thea Queen, we've never met, but I know you. You're the girl who nuked my brother's heart."

Thea Queen was short, even in her five-inch stilettos that looked like they could double as a weapon. Still, she was intimidating. There was molten fire in her eyes that said to Felicity, 'mess with someone I love and you're going down.'

"That's not exactly how I remember it happening," Felicity replied, attempting to side step her and head toward the door. Thea was stubborn. The girl stepped in front of Felicity, chin squared, and poised to attack.

"I'm going to be really honest with you, Felicity, because I don't know you. But I do know my brother and the way I see it, during the time he was friends with you, he actually started to be someone who didn't totally suck as a person," Thea sighed. "I love my brother and I always will no matter what, even though he doesn't make that easy sometimes, but you changed him. You made him want to be better. And now you're gone and he's spiraling worse than before. There's a lot going on with our family and he needs you."

Felicity frowned. "I wasn't the one who ended things. It was Oliver."

"Because he's a dumb ass and didn't realize that he's in love with you."

"That's enough," Felicity shouted. She wasn't going to listen any more. "You don't know me and I don't know you and yes, Oliver and I had a…thing—and it's not the thing that TMZ would have everyone believe. It was different thing. I don't even know, but the point is it's over and it was his choice and there's nothing I can do about it. Oliver didn't want me in his life and he doesn't want my help. I tried. I'm sorry your family is going through a rough time but that isn't my fault and there isn't anything I can do."

"Just talk to him. Just call him." Thea was damn near begging. Felicity appreciated that she cared about her brother and was trying to help, but she couldn't get involved. Not again.

"I can't."

Thea held her gaze for a long time, stubborn, just like Oliver. They were forced to end their face off when an older woman came into the bathroom and they had to move to let her pass. The little silver haired lady eyed them with curiosity, but scuttled into the free stall.

Felicity slid past Thea and grasped the door handle, thankful for the chance to get away. She paused when Thea spoke again."For whatever it's worth, I know he's really sorry that all that shit fell on you," the young Queen said. "That's why he's been acting so insane the past couple of weeks. To get the heat off of you and all eyes back on him."

Felicity but her lip but didn't turn around again. Instead, she yanked open the door and walked back to the table where Sara was waiting for her.

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Oliver was attempting to hide his nervousness from behind his menu. Thea had talked him into taking her out, only because they hadn't spent much time together, and Oliver needed to do something normal. The Queen publicity team hoped that perhaps Oliver's connection to his sister may be his one redeeming quality and ran with it whenever they could. Also, his sister fiercely reminded him that he wasn't the only Queen child suffering from their parents marriage drama.

He knew he'd been nothing short of a dick the past few weeks. Ever since he had seen Felicity's name and face slandered by the media, he'd felt like complete shit. It was all his fault and he had to do something about it. So he did the only thing he could think of, the thing he learned from years of dealing with image consultants and PR gurus. He pulled focus. And it seemed to work.

The heat went from rumors about their supposed salacious affair to him being the Spoiled Prince of Staring. His antics even eclipsed the sins of his father and Isabel Rochev, giving his parents time to reconcile in peace.

Oliver hadn't seen Felicity outside of the news until he saw her across the restaurant with Ray. She wasn't alone with him, Sara and Laurel and a woman he recognized as Dinah Lance sat with them. Oliver had immediately wanted to leave, but Thea made him stay in his spot, swearing that Felicity would never see them from their covert, private table. Throughout his meal, he'd cast surreptitious glances over his shoulder, trying to figure out if she was with Ray. Then his mission dissolved into just trying to figure out if she was okay, if she was happy.

He studied her smiles and the tilt of her head as she laughed. Something about it seemed off, like she was trying to hard. But then again, maybe he was just imposing his feelings onto her.

After dessert, Thea let out an exasperated breath that called his attention and he realized he'd been ignoring his sister all evening. "I can't do this anymore," she announced, getting up from the table and hurrying away.

Oliver almost thought she ditched him for being such a bad date, until he realized that she'd left her bag and phone sitting on the red cushioned seat beside her.

About ten minutes later, he spotted Felicity coming back from the restroom, looking shaken and angry. She and Sara hastily left the restaurant.

A few moments later, Thea emerged from the same direction Felicity had come.

"What did you do?" he asked, narrowing his gaze.

"Defended your honor," Thea replied. "Like the good sister I am."

"I don't have any honor to defend."

"Be that as it may," she said, stealing the glass of scotch in front of him and bringing it to her lips. "I'm tired of seeing you looking like a kicked puppy every time you see or think of Felicity Smoak."

Oliver snatched his glass away from his underage sister. "I'm the one who fucked things up."

"That doesn't mean you have to wallow in self pity," she countered. "Look I know you're too stubborn and too absorbed in your self loathing to actually call her and try to make things right, so I'm helping a little bit." She took the glass back and downed the liquor before Oliver could snatch it away again. "I told her what a sad sack you've been for the past two weeks and told her to call you."

"Oh, I'm sure making me sound pathetic will be very appealing," he frowned. "And stop drinking, you're underage."

"You're the one who needs to lay off the booze," Thea chastised. "And trust me Ollie dearest, you don't need any help in the looking pathetic department. Not after two weeks of peeing on cop cars and drunken stumbles around all of Starling City. Waking up on a random doorstep was a little over kill."

Oliver frowned. When she put it that way…

"Get your life together, get your girl back, it'll all be good," she smiled.

Thea seemed so sure of her good advice. "When did you get so smart?"

"I watched you and did everything the exact opposite," Oliver gave her a wry look and she grinned wider. "Plus, I just scored 2350 on my SATs. Harvard here I come!"

"Law school? Really?"

Thea shrugged. "I've been thinking about it and talking to Laurel. Seriously, it's so sexist that dad always pegged you to be the one to take over QC. Why not me?"

Oliver's brow went up at the admission. Thea tried to make it seem like an off hand comment, but he saw right through his sister. For the first time in weeks, he forgot about all of his family troubles and his Felicity woes and looked long and hard at his little sister.

"You want to take over QC?"

"Maybe," she whispered, her eyes dropping to the table. "I don't know. I was never even given the option."

An idea occurred to Oliver. Thea made such an effort to help him, it was time he returned the favor.

"Wait, what is your face doing?" Thea squinted at him. "Are you smiling? Like, actually smiling?"

"Yep, I think that's what this is."

"Why?"

"Because," Oliver told her. "I have an idea."

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The two women were reaching the end of the ice cream carton, tucked on the couch pillows between them, and also the end of their second Doctor Who episode from Netflix. Felicity glanced down at her phone on the coffee table, thinking over Thea's words. What harm could one little call do? Just to make sure he was okay? Was her pride really that important that she couldn't just swallow it and pick up the phone to at least check on someone she cared about?

You like a guy you can change and save, but baby, that routine only lasts as long as it takes to get you out of your dress...

She clenched her eyes shut, putting a stopper on the memory and the words he spat at her. Tomorrow would be easier. She would be on her way to a new life in Gotham, without the shadow of Oliver Queen and Queen Consolidated looming over her.

Sara sighed next to her, licking her spoon clean from another hearty bite of mint chip. She'd been such an amazing friend the past two weeks, taking care of her, watching her favorite shows with her, making sure the fridge was always stocked with ice cream or other junk food for processing her sorrows.

Felicity appreciated the change in Sara's usual cheer up routine, which most of the time included tequila and dancing and doing something adventurous. Last time Felicity had a bad break-up, Sara somehow talked her into skydiving. She cringed at the memory and how she had thrown up the very second they'd hit the ground.

Along with the appreciation, came suspicion. In addition to the extra attentiveness, there wasn't as much pep in her step as usual. Felicity, cocooned in her own bubble of wallowing, still noticed that Sara wasn't laughing as much as usual. She was content to stay in. She'd actually buckled down on a job search for once and managed to find another bar gig, this time in a fancier part of town, that didn't require halter-tops and a push-up bra.

"What's up with you?" Felicity asked, shifting to face her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why haven't you tried to drag me out to get drunk and dance away my broken heart? Or taken me to a theme park to ride roller coasters until I puke? Or make me try bungee jumping so instead of being sad over a guy, I'm scared for my life?"

Sara chuckled. "You're cute."

"I'm serious."

Her friend raised a brow. "You want to go bungee jumping?"

"No," Felicity groaned, squeezing her eyes shut behind her frames. "I'm saying that I'm sorry if I've been a little selfish lately in my misery, but are you sure everything is okay with you?"

Sara moved the ice cream to the coffee table and turned, folding her legs underneath her. Felicity caught the sad look in her best friend's eye and prepared herself for the big reveal. She just knew Sara had been holding something back from her. She mentally chastised herself for not noticing sooner.

"The truth is," the blonde took a deep breath and let it out. She lost whatever courage she'd felt for the moment and went about picking at the threads of the decorative pillow in her lap. "The truth is…I've just been feeling sad because you're moving away and you made all these big life decisions without me or without talking to me first so I felt jealous of Ray and then mad at you even though I understand why you really need to leave Starling and that you're a grown up and you have been since we were fourteen and you don't need to discuss everything you with me, but, damn we've been best friends since the sand box. I just felt…"

"I'm sorry," Felicity said. "I didn't even think—"

"Stop, you have nothing to be sorry for. You always spend your time thinking of others. It's time you do something a little selfish for a change."

Felicity nodded, her teeth sliding across her lip. "Are you sure that's it? You were just upset with me?"

"That's it."

"But then…why be so nice to me? Buying me my favorite ice cream and watching shows I love that you hate."

Sara gave her a little punch on the arm. "You know for a genius you really are a dummy sometimes," she laughed. "Just because I'm upset and sad you're leaving doesn't mean I'm going to waste my last two weeks with my best friend."

"I'm not going away forever Sara, we'll visit each other."

"But it won't be the same."

Felicity's gaze fell to the couch cushions, a hint of tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "No, I guess it won't."

"Okay, so now that the big confession is out of the way, can we please move on to something besides Doctor Who? I can't take it anymore!"

Felicity rolled her eyes. "I can't believe we're best friends and you don't like the Doctor. Fine, what would you like to watch?"

"The Winter Soldier!" Sara exclaimed, eyes sparkling, already hopping up to get the DVD.

"You've watched it a billion times!"

"I can't help that I love watching Natasha Romanoff kick ass," she said, sauntering over to the player and popping in the disk.

Felicity just chuckled at her, ducking her head to hide her wet smile. Yep, she was definitely going to miss this.

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Oliver woke up the next morning feeling better than he had in a long time. He had a purpose. Granted it was a small purpose, but it was none-the-less something that gave him the will to get out of bed without reaching for a bottle of scotch.

It was the first time he'd stepped into QC the weeks since his father had come back from the dead. Hell, it would be the first time he'd talked to his father in weeks. He should be the one filled with prickling nerves. But it was Thea, standing next to him in the elevator, bobbing on her heels as she watched the floor numbers up the door tick up and up and up.

He gave her a little nudge. "Speedy, it'll be fine."

Thea rolled her eyes, looking a little more like a teenager for a moment. It was hard to tell her young age in the pencil skirt and demure blouse she wore. "That nickname was only cute when I was eight," she moaned.

Oliver chuckled, understanding her nerves, but feeling in his gut that she had nothing to worry about. Oliver wasn't going to let their father talk them out of this. If he had to be cheap and play the you-owe-us-for-that-affair-you-had card, then so be it. At least it would be played to a good cause; a cause better than telling his father to lay off him for over excessive partying.

When the elevator doors opened, Thea squared her shoulders and tilted her chin high, walking out ahead of him and toward the executive offices. She oozed confidence, even if she was faking it for the most part. Oliver admired her courage and was determined not to let it falter. He walked a step behind her, there to support. He wished he could have done what she was about to do with their father when he was seventeen. It would have saved him a lot of pain and trouble.

Robert's secretary didn't hesitate to let Thea into his office. He looked surprised to see both of his children. Nervous, too. All of the Queens had been walking on eggshells around one another and it was difficult to tell how one interaction would go from the next.

"Thea, Oliver," Robert greeted as they stepped through the door. "This is an unexpected visit."

Thea fell back a half step, but steeled herself and said what she came to say. "Dad, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Robert's eyes scanned Thea before flicking back to Oliver. "Is this a discussion that might be served better if it were to happen at home?"

Oliver frowned at their father's discouragment, but remained silent.

"No," his sister continued. "It actually has to do with this company and the future of this company."

The Queen patriarch folded his hands over his desk, sitting up at full attention. "I'm not sure I understand."

Thea approached her father and Oliver listened as his sister recited the speech they had come up with last night after dinner. She wanted to remain professional and cool, but it soon spiraled into a bit of rant about how sexist it was that Thea was never given the same consideration as Oliver to take over the family business. It wasn't the dark ages anymore where only sons can carry on the family name and business all that. She was exceedingly smart and incredibly capable and once she got out of college she wanted to be a titan of industry like her father.

Felicity would have enjoyed the feminist tirade, Oliver thought, trying to smother the wry smile that threatened to steal his face. Man, he had really fucked things up with her. Beyond fucked things up. He promised himself he would try to make it right, though. He wasn't even sure what he would do, beyond showing up at her apartment in The Glades and getting on his knees and begging her forgiveness.

His thoughts wandered and he'd completely lost track of the conversation happened between Thea and their dad. When he looked up, they were shaking hands and Robert was pulling his daughter into a hug. Thea looked pleased and Robert looked proud. Oliver felt a little twinge. Even though he had issues with their father—hell the whole family did now—he was glad that at least his sister had her dad's support. Oliver didn't need it anymore. It was unattainable for him at this point anyways.

Robert of course, told Thea it was going to require a lot of hard work throughout her time at college and after. Nothing was going to be handed to her.

"Your brother can tell you what a challenge it is," Robert said, clearing his throat, the words spilling a little awkwardly from his mouth.

Oliver blinked, a little surprised that Robert was even willing to address him. His mouth twitched as he locked eyes with his father. He noticed that Robert wasn't looking at him with the usual amount of disdain or disappointment.

At some point, Thea had slipped out of the office, leaving the two of them alone.

"I have a lot of things to apologize for," Robert said.

"So do I," Oliver admitted.

But they didn't say the words. They knew their shortcomings. They'd had the discussion a million times and spoke the heated words to meaninglessness.

"I'm glad you helped your sister out," Robert said instead.

"She's a smart kid," Oliver replied. "A lot smarter than me, that's for sure."

"Oliver, I—"

Oliver didn't get to find out what his father was about to say. A rippling movement shook the building. The objects on his father's desk began to rattle as the shaking grew harder. Oliver had felt earthquakes before; they had plagued Starling City all his life. But this violent shaking felt like something else.

His eyes went wide as Thea stumbled into the room. "What's happening?"

A big wave of movement sent her toppling of her heels and rolling to the ground. Oliver dashed toward her then, hovering her as she gripped her ankle.

Robert was next to them, pulling them both up. "Come on!"

Oliver half carried Thea and the three of them attempted to fit under Robert's large desk.

Thea clung to Oliver as the building swayed. "Are we gonna fall?"

It certainly felt like they might, judging the way the world waved back and forth as they stared out the window. "It'll be okay," he told her.

His eyes flicked up to the window again, watching the glass splinter. Across the city he could see one of the long bridges that led to the Glades, snap and tumble into the water. The ripple effect seemed to becoming from the Glades themselves.

"Oh my god," Thea whispered, Robert cursing next to her.

The three Queens watched in horror as they watch half their city crumble into nothing more than ash and dust.

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.

"You're gonna miss your flight," Sara hummed from the driver's seat.

"I'm not going to miss my flight," Felicity shot back and Sara sped across the bridge. "Not if you drive faster."

"Maybe my master plan to drive slow so you will miss your flight?"

"Was it also your plan to make me leave my hard drive at the CNRI office last night, forcing me to go all the way back to the Glades to get it and adding another half hour on to my trip to the airport?"

Sara smirked. "Yep, all part of the plan."

In her haste to leave the office last night and get to her goodbye dinner with Ray, Felicity had gone and left one of her most important hard drives at Laurel's office.

"I hope Draco isn't sad that I left him behind," Felicity pouted as Sara parallel parked in front of the brick office building.

"It's so weird that you name your hard drives after Harry Potter characters," Sara said. "And why Draco? Wasn't he the bad guy?"

"What can I say? I have a weakness for a tormented soul who likes to dress in green," she shrugged. "I'll be two seconds."

Felicity hopped out of the car and rushed toward the office, using the set of keys that Laurel had loaned her to let herself inside. She rushed up the stairs to the third floor that CNRI called home.

She wasn't one hundred percent sure where she'd left her precious hard drive, but she was very sure that it would be very terrible if anyone ever found what was on it. There were a few questionable bits of programming, left over from her brief stint as a college "hacktivist" that might raise a few eyebrows.

She searched a few of the desks she'd been working at the day before, then meandered around the office she had been using for the brief period she worked there.

"Accio, Draco," she muttered to herself, smiling at her own nerdy joke.

It worked like a charm, however. The moment she turned, she spotted the sleek, black piece of equipment on a shelf by her desk.

"Gotcha!"

Felicity scooped it up and headed toward the exit.

A car alarm blared outside and then another and then another. Felicity stopped in the middle of the office, a rumbling sound growing all around her. Her legs began to shake and she fell as soon as she attempted to take step forward.

It was an earthquake.

Felicity yelped as she toppled forward, the quake growing worse. Worry stole her, remembering Sara, who was still outside in the car.

She tried for the door, but a filing cabinet rocked over and fell to the ground with a metallic bang. Felicity rolled back, staying on her knees, unable to get upright again from all the shaking. She crawled her way toward the nearest desk, whimpering as bits of ceiling and dust falling around her. Pencils cups clattered to the floor, pens spilling around, computer screens crashing a sparking. Glass exploded behind her and rained down over her head. She jumped under the desk for cover, huddling her knees into her chest and screamed when the floor next to her collapsed.

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Few notes...

Just so you guys know and because some people have mentioned it in reviews...no this isn't the undertaking. In the canon of this story, Starling is plagued by earthquakes and this just happens to be a REALLY bad one.

Two, yes I know STAR labs is in Central and not Gotham. But I changed it because in this Felicity and Sara are originally from Central and I wanted it to be more of a move for her rather than just moving back to her hometown.

Three, when writing this I wanted to make ALL OF THE DORKY REFERENCES I COULD. I was just in that mood apparently haha. I also name my hard drives after obscure sci fi characters. My main man is called Bib Fortuna. A thousand points to anyone who knows who that is ;)

Four, the bathroom scene with Thea was partially inspired by one of my fave cheesy 80 teen movies, Can't Buy Me Love...when Patrick Dempsey's little bro approaches the hot girl and tells her "You nuked my brother."

Five, hope you're having a good day :)

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