Author's Note: This is it, the last chapter! I made it! My first completed multi-chapter fic. Thanks for sticking with me, if you've enjoyed this, please leave a review and let me know.

By 10AM on Monday morning, Felicity was a nervous wreck. She knew Oliver was going to be late to the office, but he had left early in the morning and was still at the station talking to Detective Lance.

"Tapping your fingers isn't going to bring him back any sooner, Felicity."

Startled, Felicity looked up to see Diggle standing in the doorway. "I know, but I feel like I need to do something." She swiveled her chair towards the window. "This is so crazy. If I thought I was nervous when he was confronting the bad guys down dark alleyways, it's got nothing on how I feel now that he's simply walking into a police station."

The familiar whoosh of the door opening turned both heads and a blur walked past Felicity's desk and into the adjoining office.

Felicity silently turned to Diggle and tilted her head, who shrugged his shoulders in return with a blank look. In a heartbeat, both of them bolted through the glass doors and into Oliver's private office, where he was sitting dejectedly in his chair facing his laptop.

"Oliver?" Felicity's hesitant voice made Oliver look up to see Diggle's concerned face that reflected her own. "Are you alright man? What the hell happened down at the station?"

They waited patiently, and were almost ready to turn and leave when Oliver finally started talking softly. "I thought it would feel better taking down Baler as myself. Like this was my chance to show Lance, and everyone that I can actually do some good." He looked up at both of them, and in his face, Felicity could see the toll that the events had taken on him.

"But when I called Lance and had to tell him the reason I found the notebook in the first place, I could hear it in his voice. He wasn't surprised." His lips tightened, and he looked up sadly.

Realization washed over Felicity. "That's why you were distracted yesterday. You knew. You knew they would judge you for how you found the notebook."

"I was hoping," said Oliver. "Hoping I'd be wrong."

"Well, maybe they won't give the details to the press. Then everyone will still know you took him down, but not the whole 'playboy taking the gorgeous girl to bed at a party' thing." Felicity's fingers twirled around her hands, and then fell beside her. She looked up to see Digg looking at her. "What?"

His eyebrows rose. "Gorgeous?"

"He wouldn't take a… I'm sure they're assuming..." Her palms flattened beside her skirt. "Look, it's not even true anyway, so let's just drop it."

Digg was still laughing as he pulled the door open for her before she even had put her head down and turned to exit the room in haste.

Oliver rolled his eyes and went back to his screen.

The day continued normally, and Oliver and Felicity settled into a comfortable silence in the conference room getting their work done.

"Once again, your actions have ruined the investor's faith in your ability to run this company." Isabella Rochev's harsh tone broke the silence in the conference room as she stormed in.

This was not the reaction Felicity was expecting, and clearly neither was Oliver as his face crinkled in surprise and confusion. "Excuse me?"

"You may have saved the day. But seriously, Oliver, you can't even make it through a three-hour party without finding a new brunette to take to bed with you? At the house where the party was happening? Even I thought you were classier than that, and that's saying a lot."

She turned the television on and left the conference room, leaving Oliver and Felicity in stunned silence, too shocked to speak.

"… Oliver Queen, CEO of Queen Consolidated Inc. has implicated Anderson Baler in local arms dealing by turning over evidence to the police found at a house party on Mr. Baler's personal property. Mr. Queen's statement says the evidence was discovered while in one of Mr. Baler's second floor guest rooms. Currently representatives from either company have yet to make a statement…."

Felicity, gaining her senses, grabbed the remote from the table and turned it off. The silence was a blessing after the blaring television station. In the silence, she awkwardly placed the remote back on the table, and slowly turned to Oliver.

He stood there with his back to her, facing the window. The very window in the conference room that he had pushed them both out of, swinging by a drapery chain and saving their lives.

It was Felicity who broke the silence first. "Oliver, I-"

"It's OK, Felicity." His voice was so sad, so final, she wanted to take all the pain away. He stood there in silent contemplation, and so did she, sensing he had more to say.

After a moment, she heard his quiet voice. "I just… I had this moment when I thought that for once, I didn't need the Arrow to take down the bad guy. I had done it. I felt like things were turning around for me here and people would see me differently, however that might be."

He turned and faced her, and she almost took a step back at the look of torment on his face.

"But the reality of what I had to tell people I did to take him down made me realize that to them, I will always be that guy. And nothing will change that. And my life will always be based on lies."

The pain in Felicity's eyes as she watched him speak mirrored that of Oliver's. For as much as Isabella's words and actions had hurt Felicity in the short time that she'd been there, Isabella would never know that this afternoon, she had truly destroyed what was already very much a broken man.

He turned and headed back into his office, leaving Felicity. She slowly walked to her desk, Isabella's harsh words on repeat in her head, until finally, it was too much. The events of the weekend, all of it, it was too much. A sob choked in her throat, and her hand flew to her mouth.

The first sob she could stifle, but the second came through a little louder. Feeling the necessary release of tension that had built up since waking up after the gala, it was the third sob that finally undid her. Finding herself unable to stop, Felicity covered her face in her hands and crouched down beside her desk on the side opposite Oliver's office and let go.

She cried for what had happened to her. She cried for how everyone had completely misjudged Oliver and there was nothing she could do about it. She cried because she would never be able to do work lunches with Kevin anymore. She cried because everything had changed.

"Shhhhhh. Nothing's changed, Felicity." She felt her hands being pulled away from her face, and Oliver's gentle hand on her cheek made her realize she'd spoken that last sentence out loud.

"Nothing has changed," he repeated, more fervently this time. She finally made eye contact with him, not trusting her voice, her throat still harsh from crying. Oliver was looking at her intently. "I look out for you, you look out for me. That's all that matters here and now."

Feeling as if she were in a dream, she watched as Oliver stood up and held out his hand. Finally regaining her senses, she accepted his help up, wiped her eyes, smoothed out her dress, and nodded her thanks. He nodded back, and she couldn't help but notice the way his nod mimicked hers exactly.

In that instant she realized what the words he spoke had truly meant. She had just seen and supported him through a rare moment of weakness, vulnerability in such a strong man that few had ever been witness to, and in turn, he had just done the same.

It was a rare moment of vulnerability on both parts, mutually and symbolically brought back to reality by a curt head nod.

Suddenly finding herself desperately needing to lighten the mood, Felicity sniffled and turned to the only thing she knew how to do. Talk. "I'll make you a deal. You can check all my drinks from now on, and I get to spin the press and tell off Isabella whenever I want."

Oliver's mouth opened, but he never got a chance to talk as the glass door burst open for the second time that morning and Isabella stormed into the room again. "I forgot my phone- " she stopped suddenly as she caught sight of Felicity's tearstained face.

"I knew it," she spitted sourly and tilted her head. "Look, if you can't handle things at this level, I hear there's an opening back in the IT department."

That was it. Oliver placed himself in between Isabella and Felicity, who was about to raise her hand. "Leave. Now," he growled. In the corner of his eye, he saw Diggle, who had stepped into the room. "Or I'll have security escort you out." Diggle glared hard at Isabella, who had returned the look with equal venom.

"And what about my phone?"

"I'll mail it to you." Felicity's voice held no question. With one last glare, Isabella turned to leave. When she was out of earshot, Felicity muttered, "Routing it first through China, then Siberia, and possibly South Africa." She looked up at Oliver with clear, bright eyes. "Do we have an office in Latin America?"

He returned her look with a smile. "For that, I'd open one."

"Good," she returned the smile. "You owe me, now. We made the deal, oh, I don't know, a whole three minutes ago and you've already blown it? I thought I got to tell Isabella off."

He held his hands up. "After that one, I swear."

The next morning, Felicity arrived at her desk to find a large white box tied with a bow. Curious, she opened it up and pulled out a rather expensive looking handbag.

The handbag was heavier than it should be; Felicity guessed there was something inside. Unzipping it, she reached in and pulled out an Ethernet crimper. Smiling, she reached back in and this time pulled out a small delicate compact with a mirror.

Reaching in one last time, she felt a small envelope at the bottom of the handbag. She opened the envelope and what looked like two tickets and a handwritten note fell out.

Felicity,

You don't have to choose between the tool and the mirror; I'll just get you a bigger bag to hold it all. Enclosed please find two tickets to a party we were most definitely invited to. I liked seeing you smiling and enjoying yourself last time. I don't get to see it often enough, and this time I want to see it on your own terms.

PS – Digg's not invited.