"Hey," Oliver murmured as he entered Verdant.

"Hey, Ollie," Thea responded, glancing up from the clipboard in her hands. There was no way to miss Oliver's scowlier than usual face. "Hey, what's up with you?"

"Nothing. Did I get a delivery here yet?"

"Yes. It's waiting in your office. Care to share why you need a brand new computer?"

"Nope. Felicity is on her way to help set it up. Send her to my office when she gets here," he said, starting up the stairs.

"Wow, Ollie. Was that a request or a demand," Thea said, annoyed.

Ollie took a deep breath and turned around to face his sister. "Sorry, Speedy. When Felicity gets here could you let her know I'm upstairs?" At Thea's nod he added, "I really am sorry. Bad night, none of it's your fault. I'm sorry for snapping."

"I'll let her know where you are. Need anything before you go up?"

"No. Thank you, Thea. Hi, Roy," Oliver said, heading up the stairs again.

"I know he's your brother, and I'm not trying to talk trash, but his mood swings are like watching 14 year olds at a Bieber concert," Roy said from behind the bar. "Please don't tell him I said that. Who am I kidding? He has supersonic hearing, he probably heard me. He's up there, in his moody-mood, planning out where he's going to hide the body right now."

Thea laughed, "I don't think we have to worry about it. He seemed pretty preoccupied, and for once you aren't the reason. This too shall pass."

"OK, but when you don't hear from me for a few days, I want you to remember this conversation. I also want you to remember that I thought dating you was worth the torture."

"Are you comparing dating Thea to torture," Felicity said as she approached the bar, "cause that's not super romantic."

"Ha, no. He's fearful for his life because he's being snarky about Oliver's PMS."

"Manly. Manly PMS," Roy amended. "And I did not name it, you did. Just so we're clear," he added a little louder.

"Ok, so he's…?" Felicity asked.

"Upstairs," Thea replied. "Wait, I forgot to give him this when he stomped in," Thea said handing felicity a box.

"This is a keyboard. Oh my god. He really did murder his computer. He seriously needs to work on his impulse control…I said that about my boss… out loud. I don't care. I mean it. A grown man and he flies into a fury over that judgmental, brunette hurricane and everyone else needs to batten down the hatches. Not that she's a bad person. I'm not saying that. I don't even know her. He just needs to take a step back. Not that I have an opinion, or a right to an opinion, but geez. If anyone deserves a little peace, it's your brother. And I'm totally not giving my opinion on things I have zero right to give an opinion on. So, I'm gonna stop talking and just, quietly, go upstairs."

Roy waited for Felicity to reach the top of the stairs and start down the hallway before he leaned towards Thea. "Do you think she knows she's like a blonde hurricane?" he whispered.

Thea smiled and was just about to open her mouth when they heard Oliver shout, "Don't be mad." They heard Felicity's even louder, "Honest to god, Oliver. I swear," before the door to his office slammed shut.

Roy doubled over in laughter, holding his sides. Thea smiled bigger. "She may not know it, but she's a whole different kind of wind anyway."

"Stop it…" Roy said coming up behind Thea.

"Hmm?" she questioned.

"You've been staring a hole into that wall since the office door slammed. We're hitting," he said glancing at his watch, "the twenty minute mark. Honestly, I'm afraid of what's going through your mind."

"It's nothing really. She's just around a lot. He can't really be that horrible with computers."

"Your argument is a little invalid since his computer is currently in pieces, many pieces, scattered across his office floor."

"I mean outside of today," Thea said, rolling her eyes. She sighed. "I just…he's my brother and he tries, but he's not really comfortable around anyone anymore, and he's comfortable around her. He walks around this club, making his appearance, mingles a bit, but I feel like he's practically crawling out of his skin the whole time. I've even caught him taking a breath before facing the masses, like he's bracing himself for the chaos. She's this frenetic ball of energy and he seeks her out."

"I think you're reading too much into it."

"Maybe. I'm going to see if they want lunch."

Thea made her way up the stairs and down the hall. She listened outside the door for a minute and hearing nothing, knocked. She found Oliver sitting on his office sofa with a strange look on his face.

"Hey," she said cautiously.

"Hi. Again," Felicity said smiling in Thea's direction. She threw an annoyed glance towards Oliver and turned back to the computer.

"Does Felicity look more angry or more annoyed to you?" he asked Thea when she stepped in. "She's not usually one for the quiet scowly look for such an extended period of time, and I can't get anything more than, 'hello,' and 'I'm almost done,' out of her."

Thea noticed the slight edge to Oliver's voice and the stiffening of Felicity's body in response. "I'm probably not the best judge of that. For example, when you came in you were Captain Cranky pants and now you seem to have removed the proverbial stick from…"

"Thea," Oliver warned.

"Wherever it was embedded. Or not. My mood radar must be on the fritz," Thea continued, ignoring him but earning a small chuckle from Felicity.

Oliver narrowed his eyes at his sister. "Are you here for a reason?"

"Roy and I are ordering lunch. Do you guys want anything?"

"Sure. Nothing with peanuts, though."

Felicity quietly snorted. "Don't worry about me, Thea. I really am almost done, but thank you."

"Felicity…" Oliver started, but was cut off by another glare from Felicity.

"Ok, then," Thea said glancing from Felicity to Oliver. "I'll let you know when it's here."

Twenty minutes later Roy was carrying bags of food over to the bar.

"I'll go grab your brother."

"No. Nope. No, I got it," Thea said, jumping off her stool.

"Are you going to do it in a suspiciously quiet way?"

"Yes. Shut up."

Thea reached the door, which she had managed to leave open a crack. All she heard was the clacking of Felicity's steady fingers on the keyboard. She was just about to knock and open the door when she finally heard Felicity speak.

"Ok. I actually am done here, so I'm gonna go."

"Felicity, stop. Please, give me a second here," he said, walking over to the desk.

Felicity picked a piece of paper up and held it out to him, "These are the passwords you'll need to get into each program. I wrote down the steps to put new passwords of your choosing in."

"I don't need to change the passwords," he mumbled, taking the paper from her.

"It's the same setup as last time, with a few upgrades. You'll have no problem using it."

"Felicity, I'm just trying to understand what the silent treatment is all about."

She sighed and Thea could hear her pushing the chair back, "No, you're uncomfortable with what you think is the silent treatment. It's really not. I just have some opinions and, for once, instead of putting my foot in my mouth, I am trying very hard to keep them to myself. There are facts and then there are opinions and we do not have the kind of relationship, not that this is a 'relationship' relationship, where…Oh god, it's already happening. We have a communication style that involves facts. Not opinions."

"I ask your opinion all the time."

"Not about this kind of thing. I know you well enough to know that this time you really don't want to hear what I want to say."

"I'm asking anyway."

"You don't understand what you're asking. I don't want to fight with you. Right now you're asking me to cross a line, Oliver. I'm not comfortable with that, and really once I get rolling there is no telling just how inappropriate that might get. The best course of action here is for me to go, and work this out in my head and then we'll never have to talk about it and you won't glare me to death with your very angry eyes."

"Consider this your glare free moment. Everything bottled up; just let it out," he said, dropping down to the sofa and spreading his arms wide. "Hit me with your best shot."

"See, that right there. You're already gearing up for a showdown," Felicity sighed. "Like you could go ten minutes without a glare," she scoffed.

"Felicity," he chuckled, "just say it."

"You left the office last night with a smile on your face. You were coming out here to finish some stuff up and make an appearance, and then you were going to go home and take a night off."

"I remember all this."

"Give me a minute. I'm working up to it…stop with the face. I am trying to get through this without the verbal diarrhea explosion. You texted me that stupid joke just after 11..."

"It wasn't stupid," he interrupted.

"Which you said when you called at 11:30 to try and explain the joke. You know, if you have to explain the joke it's not really funny. Anyway, during your abysmal explanation, in walks a loud and pissed off Laurel Lance railing about how disappointed she was with your limited involvement in her Glades mentor program. You said you'd call back, but at 1:30 in the morning, I get a text ordering me to show up here, on a Saturday, to fix your computer."

"So you're mad I didn't call you back. It was late and I wasn't really fit for human interaction. Sorry," he said in a voice that meant he was clearly not sorry.

Felicity sighed again and Thea found herself having to hold back a sigh of her own. "It's not about the phone call, or me. It's a little bit about the fact that I know you anonymously donated a large chunk of money to them, which I'm sure you didn't even bother to tell her…" Felicity trailed off.

"Then what is it about, cause I gotta tell you I'm starting to feel a little glare-y," Oliver said, standing up.

"No, I knew this was a bad idea and I'm not gonna go there. I'll see you Monday," Felicity said, grabbing her jacket and bag and heading towards the door. Thea was about to spin around and sprint down the hallway when she saw Oliver reach toward Felicity.

"Felicity just spit it- -"

"You are not responsible for Laurel Lance's disenchantment with the world," Felicity yelled. "I only said that out loud because you made me. Oh, my god. I don't think Laurel is a bad person. I mean you love her for a reason. Guilt love her or love love her," Thea hands flew up to cover her mouth while Felicity carried on. "I just…she doesn't know you and sometimes I think you like it that way, because as much as that hurts, it keeps her just far enough away that she can't see the real you. And it always seems to come back to this need for her to have your apology and you to have her forgiveness, but it doesn't matter if you don't forgive yourself. Every time you go near her you can't figure out which you to be. And god, it's exhausting to watch, and clean up after; I can't even imagine what it's like to go through," Felicity took a deep breath.

"I didn't ask you here to clean up after some emotional mess you think exists."

"You're my friend and that's my job. And that's not really what I meant anyway."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I like you, Oliver. You. Oliver Queen. As is. The guy you are now. I mean you're fun to look at, duh, Jesus. Wow. Ok. But who you are now: The guy who stands up in this city to try and make it a better place. And god knows you are so, so not perfect. You're a little more than rough around the edges, and the playboy thing gives the outside world enough gossip to keep the real you out of their crosshairs, but you still hide it so much from the people around you, the people that really care. I get why. I mean, you know I get why. Sort of. The part I don't understand is why you let yourself be Laurel Lance's personal punching bag. You don't deserve it. Why don't you stand up to her when she's taking it all out on you?"

"It was my fault."

Thea barely held in her gasp at hearing her brother's broken voice. Through the crack in the door she saw Felicity move towards the couch and moved a few steps down the hall. While she thought she would have a prime view of Oliver getting his brooding ass handed to him by Felicity, she now realized she was eavesdropping on an intimate conversation. As much as she wanted to respect the trust Oliver felt with Felicity, she couldn't pull herself away from the door.

"Oliver…"Felicity started.

"Every time I let her down, every time she thinks I'm not being honest…every time she wakes up without her sister and Tommy in her life. That doesn't come from nowhere. The way she sees the world is my fault. I can take this hits and I deserve them, from her more than anyone else."

"Oliver, Laurel lost you, and Sara, and Tommy. I am sorry about that, truly. But you lost the same, and you paid for it. Five years of penance is enough. Five years of penance where nothing good ever happened. You need to stop punishing yourself for the things you both lost that were beyond your control, otherwise all this…rebuilding… isn't worth anything."

"Felicity, I…"

"No, just let me get this last bit out before I realize just how over the line this is and chicken out cause I'm already getting lightheaded it's important to me that you understand what I'm trying to tell you," she took a deep breath. "You deserve to smile. You deserve to be you more than anyone I've ever met. You've earned it Oliver. And maybe you can be you with Laurel, but only if you choose to really be here now. Choose to be whole, because you deserve that, too."

"There are things," he started.

"I know that. I'm not telling you to start an online journal detailing your trials and tribulations. Maybe a workout blog. With pictures. God that would make money. Tons..."

"Felicity…"

"Right, back on track. There are things you play close to the chest. You are allowed those secrets, and allowed to share them with whoever you want, whenever you're ready. But you do good as Oliver Queen, and for some reason you hide that, especially from Laurel and then you just bear it when she comes down on you like you are solely responsible for all the evils of the world. It makes me angry, like loud voice, sweary angry. I am not a natural curser, Oliver. It comes out dirty, and not tough dirty, but like, dirty triple x dirty. It loses all its angry emphasis and it's just loud, porny talk."

"Which is probably twice as hard for you to hold back," he said quietly.

Felicity gave him a small laugh, "All I'm sure of is that you spent an entire day, hard at work lining up some other donors for the Glades Mentor Program, and came out of it with your accomplishment smile on your face. You were still on an even keel when we talked later. Two hours after that, all bets were off. And here we are, with mutilated computer equipment, which you know hurts me in my special place. And by special place I mean my heart or my soul, and no other place. Ok, now I'm going off the rails. Speaking of souls, you have a good one, and while I have no idea what really went down last night, it doesn't trump that fact. You, my billionaire friend, who already owns so much, you better own that good piece of you, too, ok?"

"I'll think about it."

"Ok. I'm really gonna go now," Thea could hear Felicity putting on her coat and started moving away from the door, "but Oliver, that deal we made a long time ago; it's a two way street. If you ever need to tell someone about your day, you can tell me, too."

Thea barely managed to school her features as Felicity and Oliver stepped through the door. "I was just coming to get you guys," she said, "lunch is here."

"I was up late and then up early," Felicity said as they started down the stairs. "I think I am going to go home, apologize to the microprocessor gods on Oliver's behalf, and take a nap."

"I'll make a deal with you," Oliver said, grabbing Felicity's elbow and leading her towards the bar where Roy was already digging into his lunch. "I'll put some extra thought into what you said if you stay for lunch. It's the least I can do considering I'm the cause of the odd hours."

"Are you kidding me?" a new and annoyed voice said from behind the group. Thea did not miss the instant change in Oliver's demeanor or the scowl his previously smiling face now shown. "Did we not just talk about this last night? Days, nights, weekends. Is there some invisible cord attaching you to your secretary since the incessant phone calls and texts aren't enough? Maybe I can have her schedule an appointment for you to actually fit me in when the two of you aren't already otherwise occupied."

"Laurel, come on…" Oliver started.

"God, I'm sorry. That was rude," Laurel began to apologize.

"No. Of all people I understand your mouth running off on you and the thing that comes out is not what you meant to say, at least out loud," Felicity said, muttering the last part. "Anyway, Mr. Queen and I were just discussing how I would be taking a few personal days. So," she said, turning to Oliver, "I'll see you on Wednesday and not a minute before…if you know what's good for you. Which of course you do, since you are a very healthy person…physically. And maybe your new secretary will bring you coffee. Not that I am just a secretary, or a secretary at all..I just…the computer…stuff. Remember, personal days. I have to um…go…and."

"You do," Thea mercifully interrupted Felicity, "we do, actually. We have to go. We're going to lunch."

"I didn't know you were friends," Laurel said.

"We share similar opinions on weather systems," Thea replied earning a barely covered up laugh from Roy. She looped her arm through Felicity's, smiling at the clearly shocked woman.

"What does that even mean?" Laurel said, turning to Oliver for help.

"I thought you ordered lunch for here," Oliver said, ignoring Laurel.

"Nope," Thea replied while still dragging Felicity towards the door.

"You said you were."

"Well, I didn't."

"You said it was here."

"I lied," Thea sing-songed, earning a snort from Roy.

"What's Roy eating?"

Thea turned around, heaving a dramatic sigh. "I don't know, Oliver. He's in charge of himself. Why are you interrogating me? My friend and I are going to lunch," she said, raising a challenging eyebrow at her brother.

"Ok," he said. Thea, Felicity in tow, started again towards the door until Oliver called out. "Felicity, I'll see you…"

"But not until Wednesday," she said, smiling at him.

Oliver slowly nodded, and then, as a smile lit up his face, shrugged, "we'll see."

"Really, Oliver," Felicity and Laurel exclaimed at the same time. Roy choked on his food.

"Come on," Thea said, finally dragging Felicity to the door. "Oliver has things to think about, and because I am not one to miss an opportunity, we have things to talk about." She spared a final glance at her still smiling brother and ushered Felicity out the door.