A/N: This was written early Season Two, before the hug between Oliver and Felicity in 2x09 so I decided to spend a little more time on it to match the current hugging status.

Set in season two, but no mentions of specific plots/events except for the hug in 2x09.

Each chapter stands alone, five in total.

Warnings: mentions of violence.

In One's Arms

Hug - /hʌg/

verb

1. squeeze (someone) tightly in one's arms, typically to express affection.

As soon as she saw Oliver she runs to him and wraps her arms around him, feeling the warmth of his arms around her in turn.

He was alarmed at first, thinking something was wrong, but soon realised Felicity was just worried about him – relieved to see he had returned alive.

She usually wasn't this dramatic, but it had been a long couple of days and she was at the point that she needed to reassure herself that he actually was fine.

She stepped back and let him enter the room.

It wasn't until later that she realised that it was the first time they had shared a real hug. Sure, they had been close before, but she hadn't categorised it as an affectionate moment, more of a product of the situation.

First Position

One of the few times Felicity finds herself in Oliver's arms is of course related to Arrow business.

Queue the fancy party. The men were in tuxes and the women in long flowing dresses and enough jewellery to rival the GDP of a small country. It was being held in a giant ballroom, gilded with gold, and two huge crystal chandeliers were hanging from the high ceiling lighting up the glittering people on the dance floor.

Felicity is sad to say she is used to this scene by now. She fits in to the crowd with a deep blue dress that brushes the floor even with heels on and her one piece of expensive jewellery; a diamond necklace that has been in her family forever. She makes two concessions though; she is wearing her favourite pink lipstick because it makes her feel more like herself and her hair is in her usual ponytail because she was there to work not socialise.

Oliver was in attendance as the CEO of Queen Consolidated and Felicity was there as his assistant. The hope was that he could smooth talk someone into investing in the company and Felicity was there to get the paperwork done before they could change their mind.

She wandered the crowd, keeping an eye on Oliver and the roaming trays of hors d'oeuvres. She had achieved the hard part of the evening – getting Oliver to actually remember to turn up to the event – and felt that she deserved the expensive, small, but delicious treats that were being carried around by the army of wait staff.

Making her way around the room Felicity kept a pleasant smile on her face nodding at people she knew from being an EA while they barely recognised her. It made it easier, she surmised, to track and pounce on the hors d'oeuvres if no one tries to talk to her.

The only person she did know other than Oliver is Diggle who is hovering around the edges of the room looking serious like all the other bodyguards present. Felicity figured that he was only mechanically looking out for Oliver, they all knew he could look out for himself, but Oliver Queen was expected to have a bodyguard and Diggle was in actuality listening to the police feed through his discrete earpiece in case there was an emergency. And five minutes later there was.

Diggle made eye contact with Felicity and she quickly but covertly made her way over until they were standing side by side.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"Guy robbed a gas station about an hour ago. The police arrested him but he managed to escape on the way to the station and is currently terrorising the Glades. He's shot two people already, thankfully he is a bad shot and no one is dead. But it won't last for long."

"The police can't handle it?"

"Most are on crowd control at another rally for helping the Glades. This guy keeps slipping past them."

"Dammit. Do you have…?"

Diggle wordlessly passed over her tablet and another earpiece. It took a matter of minutes for Felicity to pull up the city's traffic cameras and cross-reference with the police reports to find the rogue shooter. Colin Connors was his name she discovered. She ran her facial recognition software on the traffic cameras and whatever other cameras she could access to track Connors' location. There were gaps in information but a pattern was emerging of where he was going. She passed back the tablet.

"I'll go let Oliver know there is a situation and you can keep an eye on this guy and see if you can predict his path."

"Got it," Diggle said already focusing on the tablet.

Walking quickly through the crowd Felicity headed to where she had last seen Oliver. Spotting him, she groaned. He was on the edge of the dance floor dancing with his sister. He was wearing a genuine smile and Thea was laughing, both of them trying to lead and butchering the waltz, but having fun nonetheless.

She only hesitated a second before recognising that the guilt of not helping someone when he could would forever ruin this moment in Oliver's mind if she left them alone.

She cautiously approached until she was standing just to the side. She cleared her through, "Excuse me, Mr Queen."

"Ms Smoak," Oliver said politely, but Felicity noticed he immediately went on alert.

"There is some business that you need to attend to," Felicity said vaguely.

"Of course."

"Oh no you don't, Ollie," Thea threatened. "You said you would dance one dance."

"This is important, Thea," Oliver reasoned.

Thea got a glint in her eye. "Fine then, you two can talk it over while you finish the dance."

Felicity found out then that the Queens shared the trait of agility. Before she could stutter or embarrass herself instead of saying a simple 'no, thank you', Thea had detached herself from her brother and pushed Felicity into his arms. He automatically caught her and Felicity just looked between the siblings in shock.

"Enjoy yourselves now," Thea trilled as she disappeared.

With a roll of his eyes Oliver rearranged his arms so that they were standing in the traditional dance pose and started to lead her around their small portion of the dance floor. "What happened?"

"Your sister manipulated us into dancing," she answered, trying not to focus on Oliver's arms around her and more on the steps of the dance. She would be mortified if she stepped on his toes. "Thea is going to make an excellent business woman, by the way. I can totally see her getting anything she wants just by glaring at people."

"I mean, what happened to make you come get me."

"Oh, right. That. We have a gunman on the loose in the Glades. Police are trying but failing to catch him and he's shot a couple of people already but no deaths. I've got Diggle following him on the tracking program I rigged up."

The song ended just then and Oliver easily linked their arms together and escorted Felicity off the dance floor, heading towards Diggle.

"What's the situation?" Oliver asked as they reached him.

"He's lying low for now but I think I know where he's going."

"Good. Is my other suit in the car?"

"Of course, Mr Queen."

"Felicity can you manage tracking him on the move?"

"No problem."

"Alright, let's go. Hopefully I'll be back before Thea notices I've left."

Diggle passed Felicity back her tablet and Oliver let go of her arm so she could use both hands on the device.

Diggle led the way out the back entrance, Oliver and Felicity a step behind, and she stubbornly ignored the fact that she and Oliver had been dancing in front of the entire room.

The mission was successful, however Thea did notice Oliver's absence.