This is my fourth Olicity Story but the other three were all part of the one storyline. This started off as a one shot about Felicity and Oliver dancing but it got a bit long so it'll be more than one chapter now. I love reviews. Thanks for reading.

Can't dance, Won't dance.

"Why not Felicity?" Oliver was trying to hide the whining tone from his voice.

"Because you always tell me you hate these things. You said that everyone is stuffy. And that it's boring." Felicity was tidying folders on Oliver's desk and sitting in his chair, Oliver lying on the couch in his office, his feet thrown over the arm of it. Felicity had her own adjoining office but really they shared his office most of the time.

"That's why I need you there. To keep me from jumping off the building with the sheer boredom of it." Felicity tried not to convey her emotions at Oliver's use of the word 'need' when referring to her. Her musings were interrupted by Oliver's secretary entering with the afternoon post.

"Thank you Ella." Oliver sat up on the couch and extended his hand to take the bundle. As Ella exited, she gave Felicity her usual cold stare.

"I don't know what that girl does all day except glare at me at every opportunity." Felicity stood and took the post from Oliver's hands. She knew he usually threw it aside and she'd find some important document buried in a drawer days later.

Oliver laughed quietly to himself. "She answers my phones. And once I think she did offer to make me coffee but it was so terrible I never asked her again. I need to have a secretary anyway. It's expected of me." Oliver sat back into the couch cousins, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Most people think that's what I am anyway," Felicity muttered quietly.

Oliver knew that Felicity initially wasn't delighted at the prospect of being moved from the IT department to the role of 'Executive consultant', a title that she thinks Oliver plucked out of thin air. It was a good cover for why they spend so much time together and allowed Felicity to help Oliver out in the day to day running of the company and not have it clash with their extracurricular activities. This way when they had a particularly late night on Arrow business, he would tell her to sleep in the next morning. She didn't know herself with this new flexibility but she knew what was being said about her around the office.

"You're my right hand man Felicity. I mean you're my woman. You know what I mean. Not that there's anything wrong with being my secretary but you don't work for me, you work with me." Felicity flopped down on the coffee table across from Oliver, still flicking through the post.

"That's not what everyone else thinks. You know I've always been a nerd and I'm well used to being bullying but being shut out is just as bad." Felicity was a strong person and wasn't complaining. She was able to stand up for herself but Oliver needed to know that it wasn't easy either. "And I don't deserve the Ice Queen out there giving me dirty looks every chance she gets."

"Don't mind those gossips. If they can't see what a genius you are on your own merits, that's their loss. I can have their desks moved to next to a broken toilet or under a faulty air conditioning vent if you like." Felicity looked up to see Oliver give her one of his award winning charming smiles.

She couldn't help grinning in response. She didn't tell him about how people went quiet when she entered the elevator. She didn't reveal overhearing more than once how she must be great in the sack if Oliver Queen was still hanging around with the nerdy IT girl. She really didn't want to tell him how she saw a viral email going around the office that joked that you better make your presence known loudly before entering Oliver's office in case you found a naked Felicity Smoak across his desk. The email had her ID card picture photo-shopped on a naked model's body.

"You're right. They obviously have quite sad lives," Felicity said, making a mental note to track down the originator of the email and exact her revenge.

"Anyway you're changing the subject. Please come to the benefit. It's Queen Consolidated sponsored and you're an important employee of the company." Oliver cocked his head to the side with an innocent look on his face that he hoped would guilt her into coming. "I'll get you a pretty dress," Oliver said in a juvenile way, his bottom lip puffed out slightly.

There was a time when she would have found this an insulting offer but she knew Oliver meant it only as a bribe for doing him a favor. He would never expect her to being dragged along to a benefit and having to fork out for another dress. "Can't you just rustle up a date? I'm sure plenty of women throw themselves at you all the time." Felicity immediately regretted suggesting Oliver go out on a date with somebody. It was just she didn't know what people would say if she and Oliver arrived at a benefit together. Especially when there would be so many people from the company at it.

"I don't want to rustle up a floozy. I want you to come. We'll have fun- making fun of the stuffy people and drinking a few glasses of wine. I can pretend I dragged you along so that we could discuss work things if you like."

"What charity is it again?" Felicity felt her resolve melting.

"Victim support. It's run in association with the DA's office. They refer victims of crime for legal advice and counseling." Oliver stood and was putting back on his suit jacket, smoothing out some wrinkles in it.

"And I suppose you don't want moral support because a certain ex girlfriend of yours will be there?" Felicity raised an eyebrow at him and stood to face him.

"Oh Laurel's going to be there? Suppose she probably will," Oliver responded jokingly, again playing innocent.

"You're as bad a liar as you always were." Felicity felt Oliver still slightly as she fixed the collar of his shirt that was sticking up over the lapel of his jacket. She had done it unconsciously without realizing the intimacy of her action and their close proximity.

"Duly noted." Oliver spoke quietly, looking down at Felicity's delicate hands smoothing down his lapel. If Oliver was honest, he didn't know why he was so insistent that Felicity come along with him. He knew it was asking alot when she already spent so much of her time with him. He knew it would make her feel uncomfortable since people from QC would see them. But he didn't want to bring a date. He liked spending time with Felicity. He spent most of his day and many of his evenings with her but he never got bored of her. She was fun and interesting and she made him smile. Was anything so wrong with that, he thought?

Felicity took a step back when she realized how close they were, her legs hitting the side of the coffee table. She leant down to massage her calf, an expletive escaping her. "I'll need an hour at lunch to get a dress and you have to let me home at five if you want me ready by seven tonight." Felicity hopped across the office. She noticed Oliver's hand briefly went to her lower back to steady her and her heart rate accelerated slightly at his touch. 'Stop that Felicity,' she found herself saying to herself, 'He's just being considerate and that's all.'

"That's no problem at all. I hope you don't mind it's formal." Oliver circled his desk, taking the seat Felicity had vacated a few minutes ago.

"As longs as there's good wine and some food I don't care if I have to wear a bikini." Felicity picked her bag and jacket up before realizing she was speaking nonsense. "I mean why would I have to wear a bikini to one of your parties. Though thinking about old tabloid stories about you, I'd say you had your fair share of bikini parties." She saw Oliver looking bemused.

"No, formal dress will be fine. I'll give you more warning for a bikini party," Oliver joked. "See you at seven." Oliver stood to help Felicity into her jacket. His mother really had taught him good manners. Felicity turned around to pick up her bag and was now facing him when he spoke sincerely this time. "And thank you. I appreciate it."

At 7pm on the dot, her doorbell rang. She looked through the peephole to see Oliver adjusting his bow tie on the other side. She undid the locks and opened the door. He greeted her with a warm smile. "I hate Tux's by the way. The tie never sits right for me."

"Come here and I'll try," Felicity answered, ushering him into her living room.

Oliver was very aware of their closeness as she tried to fix his tie. He looked down at her, a look on concentration in her eyes as she bit her bottom lip. A smile crept across his face and he felt the warmth coming from her small body next to him.

"There. All better," Felicity said, admiring her handy work. She took a step back, now giving Oliver a full view of her dress. She wore a deep green full-length dress, fitted in all the right places. Oliver tried not to focus too much on the favorable view of her cleavage that it gave him. 'Stop that Oliver. She's your friend.'

"You look fantastic Felicity. I love the color." Felicity blushed slightly. It didn't escape her the meaning her dress would hold with Oliver. It was like their little in-joke in public.

"Thank you Oliver. You scrub up well yourself," Felicity returned, grabbing her clutch bag.

Diggle was waiting to open the car door for them when the pair arrived downstairs. Diggle whistled approvingly when Felicity approached. "Looking good Smoak."

"Thank you John. Does this big guy not give you a night off?" Felicity motioned to Oliver.

"Hey…" Oliver acted mock offended.

"I volunteered. Carly is out of town and I wanted to make sure he was a gentleman to you tonight." Even though Felicity knew it was a joke, she blushed slightly at the thought. Oliver gave him a hard look before getting into the car.

When they had got into the car Felicity asked, "So if anybody asked, I'm your…"

"Executive consultant. You're coming along with me tonight to support a favorite charity of the company." Oliver smiled back at Felicity. He had obviously prepared that line in advance.

"Right. That should be fine. And what about Laurel?"

"What about her?" Felicity thought she saw him squirm slightly at the mention of her name.

"Will you be ok if you come face to face with her?" Felicity felt an ache at the thought of them together that she knew she didn't have a right to feel.

"Look we managed to make up after I cheated on her with her sister and returned from the dead. I'm sure we'll be ok after…" Oliver couldn't finish.

"Do you think you would still be together if Tommy hadn't…?" Felicity now couldn't finish this sentence. Even seven months after his death, it was still hard to say. She remembered hearing his dying words and Oliver sobbing over the comm. She didn't know if Oliver ever realized she had heard.

"No I don't think so. We had one minor slip after she broke up with Tommy. I was holding on to this old image I had of her, the one I had pined over on a lonely island, but I wasn't really seeing who we are now."

Oliver hadn't told Felicity the full details but she was in the back of the limo that day at Tommy's graveside when she saw Oliver and Laurel share a kiss. He had just returned from his five months away. When he returned to the car, Felicity tried to just stare out the window and pretend she didn't see it happen. She didn't know if it meant they were going to get back together. But then he gently put his hand on her arm until she looked towards him. It was a dull day and she couldn't clearly see his features in the backseat of the car. "Sorry I didn't mean to hold you guys up. I think it's good that we got to actually have a break up this time, rather than me just running away." Oliver continued to rub circles on her forearm as he turned to stare out the window into the dusk. She knew then it was a goodbye kiss.

Oliver didn't mention her at all and as far as she knew the first time he saw her again was three week later. Felicity had arrived into the office first and was startled to find Laurel sitting on the couch on her own in his office. Felicity almost jumped when she saw her. Ella hadn't warned her there was anyone inside.

"Hey. Laurel, right?" Felicity said, pretending she didn't immediately know who she was.

Laurel stood. "Yeah. Felicity, wasn't it?" Laurel gave her an unreadable look.

"Yeah that's me alright. Oliver should be in any minute. Is he expecting you?" Felicity tried to sound business-like.

At that moment Oliver backed in through the door holding two cups of take-away coffee. Before he turned and noticed Laurel he was already speaking. "So they had no vanilla shots today so I got you hazelnut. Hope it's ok. I know you love your vanilla." Oliver's words were cut off when he spotted his ex.

"Yes hazelnut is perfect, thank you." Felicity nervously took one of the coffees off him. "I'll be in next door and let you two talk." Felicity's eyes locked with Oliver's just before she closed the door to her adjoining office. She could see that he was slightly thrown by Laurel's presence.

The wall between their offices was thin and she felt bad for overhearing their conversation.

"It's not often you see the boss bringing his assistant coffee." Laurel could be heard saying.

"She's not my assistant, she's my…" Oliver didn't finish the sentence but changed the subject. "How can I help you Laurel?"

"It's just the Victim's aid benefit is in a few weeks and I know you really need to be there this year, what with your Mother and everything. It's just I have to go and I didn't want things to be awkward between us if we bumped into each other there."

"We're both grown up's Laurel. I think we can be civil." Felicity thought she heard his voice bristle at the way he said her name now.

"Yeah you're right. Well I'll see you there then?"

"Yeah definitely." Felicity knew that Oliver was giving her one of his winning fake smiles.

When the office door closed behind Laurel, she heard Oliver call out. "You can come out of hiding now Felicity. She's gone."

Oliver and Felicity arrived at the Opera house where the benefit was being held. Felicity wasn't nervous until she noticed the flashes of cameras outside the car's window. Oliver must have detected her nerves because he put his hand over the top of hers. "Don't worry about the cameras. You look great. Do you want to go around the back entrance?"

"Yes please," Felicity said sheepishly.

"No problem. I want you to enjoy this night. Dig will you bring us to the other entrance?"

"No problem guys."

As they approached the back entrance Felicity felt Oliver hand squeeze hers. "Ready?"