Archive of Our Own ^beta

It wasn't like a date or anything. Not like a date date or anything anyway. That's what Felicity kept telling herself. Sure, Oliver and Sara had apparently ended things (cue the internal happy dance), but that had nothing to do with this. And Felicity had nothing to do with said ending of things. She'd been perfectly happy for them. If they brought each other comfort, gave each other some shred of peace in their painful lives, who was she to judge just how selfish and twisted the whole situation was? Felicity was, admittedly, no Laurel fan even though she barely knew the woman personally. If Oliver and Sara wanted to dump salt on an obviously still gaping wound while the woman was already struggling with grief, guilt, and addiction issues...well that was their despicable decision to make, wasn't it? It was none of Felicity's business and she'd stayed nice and out of it.

But anyway...SO not a date! It was just a marathon. A friendly marathon between friends. There was no reason to stress and over-analyze every single little thing. No reason to type up a detailed two page itinerary...and she was totally going to delete that...in a minute.

“Felicity?”

Felicity jumped and immediately reached up to downsize the word document filling her screen. She painted on her professional smile and looked toward the door. Then she frowned confused. “Thea...I mean, Miss Queen?” Why was Thea Queen standing before her desk...and talking to her? It wasn't unheard of for Thea to visit Oliver at the office, but she never stopped to speak to his blonde EA. She barreled straight ahead through to Oliver. Felicity was beneath the younger Queen's notice...or she had been...before today. Felicity was honestly a little stunned that she even knew her name.

The blonde genius looked toward Oliver's empty office and realization dawned. “OH! I'm sorry, Miss Queen,” she told the smiling brunette, “but Oliver's currently in a meeting with a VP from Accounting. They're in the conference room and he won't be back until this afternoon. He's been dreading it all week. Can I take a message for you?”

“Oh no,” Thea waved away her concern and that mega-watt smile didn't dim one bit, “I'm actually here to see you.” She walked around to the side of the desk and hopped up to sit on the edge. Wearing a beautiful navy jacket, a slinky cream top, skinny jeans, and matching cream heels, Thea somehow looked both fashionable and lethal. Her eyes never left Felicity. “You are Felicity, right? Is it okay if I call you Felicity?

The blonde blinked...and gulped. Why was Thea Queen smiling at her? Why was she speaking to her? Why was she here to see her? None of the Queens, save Oliver, had any use for Felicity. In fact, she had it on good authority that Moira Queen hated her guts...and wished her serious bodily harm. Was this a trap? This had to be a trap, right? Some scheme to prove she was incompetent and deserved to be fired and then physically ejected and permanently exiled from Starling City? Oh great google! Where was Oliver when she needed him? Oliver needed to save Felicity from his pit bull of a little sister! She did not sign up for this!

When she realized Thea was still waiting on a response, Felicity gave a quick nod. The brunette smiled even wider if that was possible. “Great! So...I've got this problem.” She reached into the purse slung over her shoulder and pulled out a phone. She held it up to the blonde. “I'm having an iPhone malfunction and I heard you were the girl to see.”

Felicity blinked. “Have you also heard of the Apple Store?”

Thea pursed her lips. “Yes, but I was hoping you might be able to help me out...seeing as you work for my brother and all.”

“I'm his EA,” Felicity told her.

Thea cocked her head to the side and lifted her brows. “Aren't you like a genius?”

“How do you...”

Thea shrugged. “Ollie said something.” She looked to the side and started kicking her feet back and forth. “Anyway, so I was loading this new update on my phone and things started going totally wonky. Some of my apps disappeared, and then my code didn't work, and then it wouldn't read my thumb,” she held up said thumb in example, “and I'm almost positive if I have to set it back to factory defaults it's going to delete all my pictures of Roy.” She turned big sad eyes on Felicity and pouted like a true drama queen...pun intended. “And I never saved them to the cloud and I can never get those memories back, you know? Is there any way you could find it in your heart to help me?”

Felicity gaped at the girl a little stunned.

Thea shrugged again and sighed. “Okay, so I might be having a few problems.”

And Felicity really didn't know what to say. She still wasn't entirely convinced this wasn't a trap, but this was Thea! Oliver's Thea! And if she could help the girl, then shouldn't she? It wouldn't be the first time Felicity had wrestled with a cantankerous iPhone. They could be stubborn boogers when they wanted to. And Felicity liked Thea even if the other girl didn't know her or like her in return. She liked Roy, too. Wasn't helping Thea out the least she could do?

Her mind made up, Felicity finally nodded. “I can't make any promises, but I'll look at it for you. Do you want to pick it back up this afternoon? Or maybe Oliver can bring it back to you?”

“Oh no,” Thea waved her hand in the air, “since you're being nice enough to help me and all, I thought I could treat you to lunch. You can look at it at the restaurant and we can get to know each other in the process.” She smiled widely again.

“You,” Felicity said, “you really don't have to do that, Thea. I don't mind helping you.”

“I want to,” Thea said. “It'll be fun.”

“But...I'm at work,” Felicity said.

“You get a lunch, right?” Thea cocked a brow. She pointed toward the clock on the wall. “It's about lunchtime now.”

Felicity gaped at her. “But...your brother...”

“Is going to be in that meeting until later this afternoon, right?” Thea said.

Felicity whimpered as she ran out of excuses.

“Great!” Thea clapped. She hopped off the desk and spun back to face the blonde. “Let's go!”

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Thirty minutes later both women were seated in a booth in a trendy new sandwich shop in downtown Starling. Honestly Felicity would have preferred Big Belly, but her sandwich was okay and Thea insisted on paying for the meal. Felicity was earning her keep by tackling the issues with Thea's phone.

Bypassing the key code hadn't taken long but now Felicity was running a diagnostic of the software. Somehow Thea had lost all but the standard permanent apps and utilities. Thankfully all her photos and videos seemed fine and the remaining software wasn't corrupted, but Felicity couldn't figure out why she'd lost the content to begin with...or why her key code would change.

Normally Felicity would write it off as a glitch, but this was the Queens they were talking about. What if someone had tried to hack Thea's phone? What if they sent her spyware and she'd inadvertently given them a backdoor into her personal information? Personal ID, credit and debit accounts could all be connected to your phone these days. Not only that, but with the lingering threat of Slade...there were just too many dangerous possibilities to ignore them all.

Felicity dug in her bag and pulled out her personal tablet. She used Thea's charger and connected the phone and tablet so she could take a closer look at the software. She hummed under her breath and bit her lip as she settled into her zone.

“So,” Thea drawled, “how did you and my brother meet again?”

“Uh,” Felicity shrugged but never looked up as she continued to dig through the lines of code, “he spilled a latte on his laptop. I worked in IT then.”

Thea snorted. “Sounds about right. Ollie is notoriously bad with technology.”

“He's not that bad,” Felicity defended him automatically. “Oliver lets people underestimate him. He uses it to his advantage.”

“That's surprisingly insightful,” Thea noted. “You know my brother pretty well, huh?”

Felicity looked up and smiled. “I think I do. I know I didn't know him before the island, but I think in some ways that's a good thing.”

The younger woman seemed to be studying Felicity. “You don't judge him for his past,” she realized.

“I never knew Ollie,” Felicity explained, “and I think Oliver appreciated that he had a clean slate with me. He didn't have to meet any expectations. He didn't have to worry about disappointing me.”

Thea nodded and her expression was thoughtful. “That's why he's close with Mr. Diggle too, isn't it? You both see him for who he is and not who he was.”

“I think so,” Felicity told her gently, “at least partially anyway.” She paused, but then decided to continue. She really wanted Thea to have a better understanding of her brother. “But John's also a soldier. He's lived through...some pretty horrible things. I think Oliver can relate to that.”

Thea winced and looked down. Felicity returned to her work on Thea's phone and allowed the younger woman to collect herself. The blonde was almost through double checking the code when Thea finally spoke up again. “So, why haven't you and Ollie ever dated then? Since you understand him so well and all.”

Felicity's head snapped back up and she stared at Thea wide-eyed. “I...uh...what?”

Thea grinned and her eyes sparkled. “You do find him attractive, right? So what's stopping you?”

“I'm me and he's Oliver!” Felicity told her. “We are two totally un-mixy things!” She took in the amusement in Thea's eyes and huffed. “Your brother does not see me that way, Thea. We're just friends...and...and he's my boss! That would be totally inappropriate.” She paused and then thought of something else. “Also? He just got out of a relationship. He needs time to heal.”

Thea snorted and rolled her eyes. “First of all, that thing with Sara? Totally not a relationship. More like a train wreck...a repeat train wreck.” The younger woman leaned forward against the table and closer to Felicity. “And secondly? There is absolutely no way my brother only sees you as a friend while you run around wearing those dresses.” She indicated the bright purple dress with cutouts that Felicity was currently wearing. “Ollie may have changed but he hasn't changed THAT much.”

Felicity gulped and looked desperately back down at Thea's phone. She needed to be back at work...like NOW!

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When the elevator doors opened, Oliver was leaning over her desk frowning. “Felicity, where've you been? Rogers wants those projections you worked up for the project with S.T.A.R. Labs. I can't find...” he finally looked up and immediately zeroed in on Thea. His eyes narrowed and his mouth tensed. “Thea...”

Thea smiled at him sweetly. “Hi, Ollie! Sorry, I kinda stole your gurl. I needed tech support,” she waved her phone at him, “and Felicity here was nice enough to help me out. I treated her to lunch for her trouble.”

Felicity frowned and walked briskly toward her desk. “Thea's software update messed up her phone.” She leaned over and typed in the commands to pull up the report Oliver needed. She hit print and pointed toward the printer as it came to life. “That should be everything you need for Rogers.” She poked her finger into Oliver's chest. “And don't let him question the numbers. I triple checked and my math is right.”

“I'm sure,” Oliver nodded but he was still staring down his sister. “Your phone didn't seem to be giving you any problems this morning at breakfast.”

Thea shrugged. “I installed the update later. No big, Felicity fixed it for me,” she smiled again at the blonde, “and we got a chance to know each other in the process.” She focused back on her brother and canted her head to the side. “You're always saying I need new friends.”

“That's not exactly what I meant,” Oliver muttered.

Now Felicity frowned up at him. “You don't want me to be friends with your sister?”

Oliver winced and turned her way. “That's not what I meant, either.” He studied the blonde with affectionate eyes. “I think Thea could definitely benefit from a positive and supportive female friend, Felicity. Anyone would be lucky to count you as their friend.”

Felicity's stomach fluttered and she smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“Awesome!” Thea cut in. She skipped forward to stand across the desk from them. “Then we're definitely on for manis and pedis, right?” she asked Felicity.

Oliver looked back toward his sister suspiciously, but Felicity nodded. “Sure. You have my number.”

“Yes,” Thea grinned at Oliver as she nodded, “yes, I do.” She motioned between her brother and the blonde. “I'll let you two get back to work now. I've wasted enough of your very valuable time.” She spun on her heels and headed back toward the elevators. “But I'll text you later, Felicity. We'll set up the details for this weekend.”

“Okay,” Felicity nodded. She still felt a little overwhelmed by Thea's sheer presence and exuberant personality, but she liked the girl and she wanted to know her better. Thea seemed to be giving her a chance and Felicity was determined to take it. Besides, just knowing how much Oliver loved and adored his sister, Felicity couldn't help but feel affection for the younger woman.

Felicity didn't understand, however, why Oliver suddenly looked so worried. She cocked her head to the side and looked up at him. “What?”

“I...just...” Oliver lifted a hand and ran it over the top of his head and down to the back of his neck. “Did Thea...say anything...”

“About what?” Felicity frowned as she studied his face. Was he, was Oliver Queen, actually blushing?

Oliver squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. “Nothing...nothing.” He blew out a breath and motioned toward the printer. “I should really get that report and head back to the meeting.”

Felicity nodded. “Okay.”

The two of them maneuvered around until Oliver could move over to the printer and Felicity could slip into her chair behind her desk. The blonde genius had just spun back to focus on her monitor and her work when Oliver cleared his throat and drew her attention back to him. She looked up to find him grinning at her. “By the way?”

She blinked. “Yes?”

“The itinerary for our marathon?” He cocked one brow. “I'm impressed. Very thorough.” He stayed long enough to watch the bright red blush rise from Felicity's chest to cover her neck and cheeks. Then he winked at her, turned, and left.

Felicity groaned and thumped her head down into her hands. “I swear, these Queens are going to be the death of me!”

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