His Shield

An: I do not own Arrow

Summary: Despite Oliver's less than stellar reputation, women still flock to him. He has discovered that if Felicity is with him, it usually keeps the groupies at bay.

Felicity squeezed his hand right before they entered the glitzy ballroom. Of course the room was decorated impeccably. The centrepieces on each round table were mini fountains with a mermaid in the middle. The water came out of her mouth and splashed gently about her. There were fancy lights inside the pool that changed colour every five seconds. The setting for the five course meal consisted of fine china and Waterford crystal glasses. Oliver sometimes wondered if they sank more money into the decorating than they did the charity.

It was a fancy benefit to raise money for the Glades and they both had to attend; Felicity because she was the C.E.O of Palmer Technologies and Oliver to drum up support for his Mayoral campaign. As soon as they entered the ballroom there were numerous flashes from the horde of photographers present. They were the paparazzi's favourite cash cow. Magazines were paying good money for pictures of them together. Almost every day they seemed to grace the front page of the gossip magazines. The Power Couple of Star City was the favourite term that was bandied about.

Despite their obvious relationship that didn't stop many of the women in Star City from trying to garner Oliver's attention. Many people expected him to cheat on Felicity. Oliver knew that wouldn't happen for a variety of reasons. Not only was he not who he used to be, but if he did cheat on Felicity, his life would be over. He had no doubt his girlfriend would ruin him. After her, he would then have to contend with Diggle and perhaps his sister, since Thea was convinced Felicity was now her sister.

They politely greeted the host of that evening's event and made their way straight to the bar. Oliver ordered his usual whiskey and Felicity chose a nice glass of red wine. They needed to fortify themselves for the night ahead. They would be there a long time. There was a lot of charming to do or as Felicity liked to call them, soul-sucking conversations. She really hated the idle gossip of the rich. She definitely did not need to know who had their boobs done and who had taken their mistress to Paris on the company jet for a romantic rendezvous. The only time she was ever comfortable was when she had someone to talk tech with.

While Oliver and Felicity were enduring the painful conversations at the Gala, the rest of the team would be out patrolling, including Diggle pulling double time as both the Green Arrow and himself. Felicity had her ever trusted tablet with her in case the team required her tech support. They were both wearing comms which could sometimes be very distracting when you were hearing Team Arrow being shot at while you were trying to talk about the weather with socialites.

After the first few galas that they attended as a couple, they made a deal to never split up. Things tended to go drastically wrong when they were apart. They were stronger together. Oliver knew just when to head off her babbles and she knew when to draw the conversation away from Oliver. They both knew Oliver also used Felicity as a shield against the harpies that tried to prey on him. Felicity thought it quite funny that the super hero Green Arrow had to hide behind his five foot five petite girlfriend.

They made sure to touch base with all the corporate heads based in Star City. Oliver needed to get them onboard his campaign. If the heads were in a good mood, Felicity would also be able discuss prospective business partnerships with them. The community leaders in the Glades were invited since the benefit was for a few of their projects. Oliver enjoyed talking with this group the most, not only because their knowledge could help his campaign but it also helped him know which hot spots Team Arrow needed to patrol more. The last group, the group they both hated the most, which was also the largest group at any gala, was the circle of socialites that Oliver used to associate with. At least 90% of the women in this circle Oliver had slept with, a fact he wasn't proud of, particularly when they were fond of throwing it in Felicity's face. The other 10% were eager to add the Oliver Queen Goal Post to their collection. It was a sort of, you aren't a high society woman if you haven't slept with a Queen.

Ella Stellmore was the first one to greet them. Her mother, had been the first cougar that Oliver had ever been with. It had been fun being with an older woman but now the daughter wanted her turn. Ella wasn't too bright and Felicity always out manoeuvred her. The hard ones to shake were the older more experienced women. They had claws but no matter what they said or did, they never penetrated his shield. In fact, his shield had claws too. When she got tired of the harpies she sometimes struck back. She once told a group that what they got was the wham bam thank you mam Oliver. What she had was the attentive lover, who cared not about his pleasure but hers. She also had the fitter more muscled Oliver.

Felicity easily dismissed Ella before turning to Oliver.

"Do you need to talk to these women because I rather go home and spend my time with you?" she asked.

"I suppose I can send Alex to talk to them. He's young and single. They should like him." Oliver replied.

"You know very well, Alex and Thea are dating," Felicity reprimanded him.

"I do?" he asked innocently.

"Come on, we won't subject that poor boy to these women. They would rip him to pieces and then we would have to put up with a very pissed off Thea," Felicity said squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin.

By the end of the night, they both tumbled into bed exhausted. Oliver automatically curled around Felicity inhaling her scent. God he loved this woman. Despite all the comments and barbs about his playboy history, his losing the family company, his parent's death and time on the island, he was still happy. She was more than just his shield from the women that sought to take advantage of him. She chased away the darkness that surrounded him, the darkness that he was drowning in when he first came back home. She showed him what true happiness was. Felicity was a keeper and nobody was going to ruin what he had with her.

An: Thanks for reading. This was inspired by the scene in the Flarrow episode where Oliver took that step closer to Felicity when Iris approached. It effectively made her a short of shield against Iris.