CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT: WE WON'T

Don't go to war for me
I'm not the one that you want me to be
Don't call me up at 2 a.m. tonight
It feels so damn good and I wish you would

Are we just gonna stay like this forever, floating
I'm serious, my heart is furious
Cause I'm so confused when we're together
Feels like I'm choking, these emotions
I know I'm gonna let you down
So don't hold your breath now
Bittersweet in your mouth
Can you stomach the doubt?
I wish I could say what I'm feeling
I'm scared to let these words out

Don't go to war for me
I'm not the one that you want me to be
Don't call me up at 2 a.m. tonight
It feels so damn good and I wish you would
And don't cry no more for me
Don't waste your time convincing me
That maybe someday we'll get it right
Cause we never could, I wish that we would

But we won't, so just don't
We won't, so just don't
But we won't, so just don't
Don't

Felicity woke up deliciously sore. And alone. She stretched out on her side of the bed, hand instinctively reaching for Oliver, only to find his side deserted. The sheets were cold. She opened her eyes, blinking at the brightness of the sunlight her bedroom was bathing in. That's what you get for being too busy to think of closing your curtains. Reaching for her glasses on her nightstand, she rubbed her eyes and sat up against her pillow. She yawned as she perched the glasses on her nose. That's when she found the note lying on Oliver's pillow.

She smiled a little. At least he hadn't ditched her without a word.

'Felicity, I'm sorry I had to leave. I know it's not an excuse, but there was an emergency that needed my attention. I will make it up to you if you'll let me.

Much love, Oliver.

Ps. Will I see you tonight?'

Tonight? Felicity frowned in confusion until realization hit her. Frack. Moira's dinner party. She'd completely forgotten about that. It had been scheduled for weeks, she remembered sending her- double frack. She remembered sending her father a reminder a week or two ago. Malcolm Merlyn was invited too. She hadn't seen him in months, purposely avoiding being in his presence. She grunted, scooting down and flipping herself to bury her face in her pillow in frustration.

First, she woke up without Oliver and now this. Great start of the day and she hadn't even had her coffee yet. She took a moment to accept her fate for the day before she got out of bed, turned on the coffee maker and hopped in the shower.

When she was done and got dressed for a day at the office, the rich smell of the freshly ground coffee beans filled her entire apartment. She sat down at her breakfast bar with a steaming cup of coffee, a cream cheese bagel and the camel colored notebook Walter had given her a couple of days ago.

He'd been acting a little antsy about where the notebook had come from, finally admitting he'd found it in Moira's stuff. What had freaked him out was the emblem printed on the front. The same emblem he'd gotten angry at her for digging up while he'd told her to stop looking into his wife. Obviously, Felicity hadn't stopped and as it had turned out, neither had Walter. He'd handed her the notebook a couple of days ago, insisting on the importance of confidentiality. She hadn't told anyone about her work for Walter, not even Oliver.

She was lost in thought, moving her fingers over the empty pages, sipping on her coffee when her phone rang. Felicity yelped, jumping up at the sudden noise ringing through the apartment. Her mug slipped from her fingers, tipping over and spilling all over the notebook.

"Arghh!" She grunted as the dark liquid splashed onto her hand. It was hot, but luckily it didn't burn her.

"Oh frack!" She cursed, pulling the notebook out of the little pool of coffee that had formed and laying it to the side to dry as she reached for a cloth to clean up the mess. When she was done, she grabbed the notebook to let it drip out over the sink. That's when she noticed it.

"Holy crap." She whispered as she thumbed through the pages, a seemingly endless list of names appearing before her eyes. The heat of the coffee must have affected the ink that was used to write down all those names. Felicity swallowed, put the dripping notebook in a plastic bag and raced down to the Queen Consolidated offices to figure out what other names were in the notebook, her bagel completely forgotten.

"Felicity, I hope this is of some importance, I have a lot of work to get done before the dinner party tonight." Walter muttered, slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Well, I guess that depends on how you define important, then." She retorted.

That made Walter put away his stack of paperwork and look up at her.

"See, most people would consider finding a list of names written in subsonic ultraviolet invisible ink important."

Felicity shrugged upon seeing Walter's confusion stricken face.

"What are you doing?" He asked as she moved to turn off the lights in his office.

"It needs to be dark in here for me to do this."

She shook her head quickly, cringing at her own use of words. "If I had had more time to think of that sentence it wouldn't have sounded so dirty."

"Look." She said, pointing at the notebook.

Walter frowned. "I don't see anything."

Nodding, Felicity handed him a pair of high-tech sci-fi looking glasses. "I got these from applied sciences."

Eyebrows knitted together, Walter took the glasses from her and perched them on his nose.

"They're able to pick up the subvisible variations in the UV spectrum." Felicity explained.

She reached over to press the 'on' button on the glasses and gestured at the pages. "Now look at the book again."

Felicity barely heard the gasp that escaped from Walter's lips, but it was definitely there.

"I went over this list at least a dozen times before I came here, there doesn't seem to be anything connecting these people except some pretty shady activities in their spare time. But, at least 7 of the names on the list are guys the vigilante's had in his crosshairs. That is, if bows had crosshairs."

Felicity had gone over the list, scanning the pages into her computer and trying to find a connection between these people. Except from the few people Oliver had targeted as the vigilante, she hadn't been able to come up with a link. It bugged her endlessly, just like the emblem on the front of the booklet. Mysteries needed to be solved.

"Which they don't, by the way." She muttered.

Walter thumbed through the pages, eyes lighting up a little whenever he seemed to recognize a name. "Well, it is a rather long list, Felicity, so I would expect there to be some overlap."

In a last attempt to find at least something before going to Walter with what she'd found, she'd cross referenced the list of names with QC employees, only one match, and considering the rest of the people on the pages weren't exactly premium human beings, she felt she should bring it to Walter's attention.

"Like Doug Miller. Head of Applied Sciences at Queen Consolidated." Felicity said.

He looked up from the notebook and frowned at her. "What of him?"

"Mr. Miller may end up getting an arrow in his stocking, because he's on the list." Felicity said, tongue darting out to wet her lips before she crossed her arms over her chest.

"So, important or not?" She asked, quirking up an eyebrow.

For once, Oliver Queen was on time for something. Early even. He parked his bike in the garage at the mansion and hurried down the hall to greet his mother's guests. He'd changed into his tux at the steel factory, he was sure his mother would complain about the wrinkles his bike had left in the material. Casually, he walked down the hallway and into the foyer, immediately scanning the room for that streak of gold. She wasn't here.

He continued his search in the living room, a relieved breath of air filling his chest as he laid eyes on the familiar golden tresses. The curls danced around her shoulders as she laughed at a joke Thea made. She wore a sleek powdery pink skirt that swirled down to her toned calves, hugging her curves in all the right places and a black crop top that elegantly bared her shoulders and contrasted perfectly with her pale skin. Oliver couldn't stop his mouth from watering at the sight. It was the smile she sent him when she looked over her shoulder that was his undoing.

He tried to return the smile, but it probably ended up looking like an awkward all-teeth grin. Swallowing down the lump of adoration in his throat, Oliver walked around the room to greet her.

"Hi." He murmured when he walked up to her, hand immediately finding her back.

She smiled sweetly, her cheeks blushing just a bit. "Hi."

Thea instantly made her escape. "What's that mom? You need help deciding between the Malbec and the Cabernet? Sure I'll taste them for you." She said overly dramatic.

Felicity raised an eyebrow at the teenager, chuckling a little as Thea hurried past her. Over Felicity's shoulder, Oliver watched his sister turn around in her exit, widening her eyes in emphasis as she mouthed 'go get her' at him, fingers pointing at Felicity. Oliver took a deep breath and turned back to the love of his life.

"I'm glad you came." He said with a soft smile.

She chuckled, ducking her head, a mischievous grin on her face when she looked back up.

"I certainly did… last night."

Oliver let out a breathy laugh and shook his head. "About that…"

Felicity's face fell, laughter immediately fading, much to Oliver's displeasure. Her laugh was the most beautiful sound in the world, he never wanted it to stop.

"… I'm sorry I had to leave." He whispered. "I really didn't want to, but Dig was in trouble and I had to go help him."

Felicity sighed, nodding slowly before her hand came up to his chest, smoothing over the lapel of his jacket, gaze following her fingers just so she didn't have to look him in the eye for a moment.

"I get it. Your life is complicated. I'm not mad at you." She muttered.

He reached up to hold her upper arms, thumbs gently stroking the supple skin. "Felicity, I'm sorry, I don't want you to think that this was just a one-time thing, that's not what I want."

That caught her attention. The grip on his lapel tightened and her head snapped up, blue eyes instantly meeting his, boring into his soul.

"Then what do you want?" She whispered.

The question lingered in the air between them. He wanted her. Only her. But he couldn't say that now could he? That would be selfish. She'd made it abundantly clear that 'They' weren't happening as long as he was running around in green leather every night. They were standing closer than he'd thought they had been, breaths mixing together as they stared at each other. There was only the two of them, standing so close to each other that it couldn't be anything but intimate. Not that they cared about giving all these middle-aged to senior people a show. Only for the spell to be broken by none other than Felicity's father, Malcolm Merlyn.

"Felicity! Daughter dear, how lovely to see you here. I was beginning to think you were ignoring my calls."

Felicity quickly let go of Oliver, instantly putting a respectable distance between them. She had been avoiding her father, but she wasn't gonna tell him that. She could've been dead in a ditch somewhere and he wouldn't know until at least a month later, that's how attentive a parent he was and Felicity had just made it a little easier for him because frankly, she was sick and tired of him and what he thought was 'good parenting'.

"Sorry dad." She walked over to greet him, lightly pecking him on the cheek before moving back to her safe spot next to Oliver. "I've just been really slammed at work, you understand, don't you."

Work had, for as long as Felicity could remember, been Malcolm's priority in life, and she didn't shy away from using it against him. Not at all.

Malcolm let out a laugh. "Don't let those Queens make you work too hard, darling."

"Just doing my job, dad." Felicity said, rolling her eyes. She didn't feel like getting into the discussion of her coming back to work for Merlyn Global. They'd had that conversation every other month and thus far Felicity had never agreed. She liked her job at Queen Consolidated, her boss wasn't a complete asshole and her father and it made her feel independent. She'd paid for her own apartment, her car. Frankly, she didn't want her father's money so she wouldn't change her mind about the position he'd tried to offer her time and time again now. He could raise the pay, or the status all he wanted, she would not be associated with Merlyn Global other than her name.

Luckily for her, it was time for dinner. Moira gestured everyone into the dining room, being the gracious hostess that she was. Oliver tried to offer Felicity his arm, but her father got to her first. She couldn't deny him that too, reluctantly placing her hand in the crook of his elbow, shooting an apologetic glance over her shoulder at Oliver.

"All joking aside, Commissioner, crime is down for the first time in 5 years." Malcolm said from across the table, taking a sip of his wine.

Dinner itself was pretty uneventful up until now. Felicity laughed at the mediocre jokes of the middle aged men in need of a confidence boost and listened intently to the talk about how Starling City had been run down over the years, a fraction of the once so proud city it was. It was fairly easy not to interact with her father. Moira and her place-cards had saved her from that horror. He sat across from her, but she had Oliver at her side.

"That's because of the changes my department has implemented." Commissioner Nudocerdo said while cutting into another piece of beef.

"Or perhaps it's because the vigilante's activities have had a chilling effect on the city's criminals."

"What are your thoughts, Oliver?" Malcolm asked.

Oliver shrugged. "I think the vigilante needs a better code name than 'The Hood' or 'The Hood Guy'."

Next to him, Felicity chuckled, stealing a glance at him before taking another bit of her sweet potatoes.

Malcolm's gaze moved from his daughter to Oliver and back, squinting a little in suspicion. "I agree." He said, before pursing his lips in thought.

"How about Green Arrow?" He proposed after a second.

Felicity snorted. "Lame."

A rumble of laughter buzzed among the guests, but the amusement faded quickly when one of Nudocerdo's lieutenants appeared in the doorway. The table went quiet instantly, glances were exchanged, between Oliver and Felicity too. She reached for her wine as the commissioner motioned the lieutenant to come over.

"I'm sorry." He said after hearing the news. "Something's come up."

He put his napkin on his plate and stood up, gently squeezing his wife's shoulder in apology.

"Is everything okay?" Oliver asked.

The commissioner took a deep breath and shook his head. "The vigilante has struck again. He just put an arrow in Adam Hunt."

The guests started murmuring, contemplating who would be next with no regard for Mr. Hunt himself. That should say something. As the commissioner thanked Moira for dinner and walked out of the room, Oliver's phone started buzzing. Felicity looked up at him, knowing that this wasn't a coincidence at all. She nodded shortly in encouragement.

"I really do need to take this call." Oliver apologized to his mother.

"It's my contractor." He lied.

"Of course." Moira said with a soft smile, putting a hand on Oliver's forearm.

He smiled back at her before leaning over to Felicity and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "I'll call you later okay?" He whispered in her ear.

She nodded quickly, smiling up at him sweetly

"Excuse me." He said, walking out of the room to take the call.

Felicity watched him disappear, concern written all over her face. She sighed and turned back to her food. That's when she felt his eyes on her, watching her. Tentatively, she moved her gaze up to meet her father's icy cool gaze scrutinizing her every move and expression. His eyes narrowed as he watched her closely. Felicity could feel her cheeks turn red in both embarrassment and agitation, but she couldn't do anything about it. Not now.

So, she swallowed down her pride with the tenderly cooked meat Raisa had prepared and toughened herself up for what the rest of the night still had to bring.