Sometimes A Surprise Is Just What You Need

Untitled Part 12

Diggle smirked as he turned to Felicity.

"Well I am going to leave you two to talk. I am meeting with Lyla in about an hour, and I have some things to do before I head that way. It was a pleasure seeing you Miss Smoak." Diggle cut his eyes to Oliver, his look conveying he knew Oliver had his hands full. Turning he walked out, closing the glass door behind him.

"Well Miss Smoak, please have a seat." Oliver indicated the chair in front of him before moving around to sit at his desk. Leaning his forearms on his desk, he let his gaze settle on her.

Felicity took the seat, setting her purse on the floor.

"Before we get too busy this morning there are a couple of things I would like to go over Mr. Queen." Felicity said. She felt good. Despite the fact that Oliver looked devastatingly handsome in his hand tailored suit, she felt her voice sounded strong and confident.

"Ok," he nodded.

Felicity took a breath, his gaze just slightly unnerving her. "First, while we are in the office, I will always address you as Mr. Queen, and I would like to ask you to address me as Ms. Smoak. It keeps things simple and professional. Second, as I stated yesterday, I will not fetch you coffee. If I am getting some for myself, I might be ask you, but don't expect to have coffee waiting on your desk each morning. And last, I need you to assure me that you will back me on any and all decisions I make while in your employ. I am good at my job Mr. Queen, and I expect you to treat me with the same respect you would any other specialist in their field. Are we clear?"

Oliver listened, his jaw ticking. She could tell he was mulling over everything she had just said.

"Very well Ms. Smoak. You will have my full backing, however, you must run any decisions by me first." Standing, Oliver held out his hand. "Agreed?"

Felicity stood, smoothing her hands down her skirt. Shaking his hand she nodded.

"Now let me show you to your desk Ms. Smoak. I had IT set you up with top of the line equipment, a laptop as well as a tablet. If there is anything more you need let me know and I will make sure you receive it." Oliver walked Felicity to her desk.

It really was a nice set-up she thought. Giving him a small smile, she took her seat. "Well no time like the present to get to work, right?", she said, as she turned on the system. Seeing that someone had left her password written on a sticky near her keyboard, she logged in ready to get to work.

Hesitating only a moment, Oliver leaned over, his voice, low, soft.

"By the way, Ms. Smoak? You look nice today." Oliver straightened and walked off with a jaunt in his step, heading back to his desk.

Damn him, smug bastard.

The day passed fairly quickly. Before Felicity knew it, Diggle was back in the office, and her stomach was grumbling. It must be lunch time. Not sure about what was close by, Felicity signaled to Dig.

"Hey Dig? Is there somewhere close by that would be good to grab some lunch?"

"I was going to go to Big Belly Burger. It's just around the corner. Would you like to join me Felicity?", Diggle said. He had a warm smile.

"Oh that would be wonderful. Let me just get my purse."

Diggle headed into Oliver's office while Felicity gathered her purse. Oliver had seen Dig talking to Felicity, and was not at all surprised when Diggle mentioned they were going to catch some lunch at Big Belly Burger.

"Oliver, Felicity and I are going to Big Belly Burger for lunch, would you like to join us?, he asked.

"Thanks Dig, but I have a lunch meeting with a representative from Kord today. Hey, but before you go, I want you to move forward with setting up the sparring session for tonight. The sooner we know everyone's skill level the better." Oliver glanced toward Felicity. He really wanted to see what she could do. He wouldn't admit that he also looked forward to sparring personally with her.

Nodding, Diggle turned and headed toward Felicity.

"You ready?", he said.

Felicity glanced toward Oliver before smiling up at Diggle. "Yes, let's go."

When they arrived at Big Belly the place was pretty busy, but Diggle had an in with one of the waitresses' who happened to be married to his brother, Felicity learned. Carla had saved them a booth. After placing their order, Felicity looked at Diggle. He was a good looking man. She smiled as she thought of Lyla. She could see why she was smitten.

"So Diggle. How long have you worked for Oli....Mr. Queen?", she asked. As much as she wanted to call him Oliver, Felicity stopped herself. She needed to keep any advantage she could have over him. Anything too personal could become distracting.

Diggle smiled softly, "I have known Oliver Queen for almost 10 years. I was hired by his mother to be his bodyguard, after a failed kidnapping attempt. Over the years I have seen him endure a lot of things, from his parents dying to him being captured and tortured while working a mission in Russia." Diggle looked directly at Felicity. "He is one of the best men I have had the pleasure to know."

Felicity processed what Diggle said. She remembered hearing about Robert and Moira Queen being in a car accident two years ago. That must have been when Oliver stepped up and became CEO of Queen Consolidated. There was one puzzle piece. He was an agent before he became CEO.

"That must have been hard on him," she said. "Especially with having a younger sister."

"Yeah, Oliver had to pretty much become a parent overnight. Thea was only 15 at the time.", Diggle said. Diggle gave Felicity a knowing look. Leaning forward slightly he cleared his throat, before speaking.

"Felicity, I don't normally stick my nose into other people's business, but Oliver is like a brother to me, so I am going to shoot straight with you."

Felicity fidgeted, not sure where this was leading. "Um, Ok."

"I like you Felicity. Your smart and you don't cater to Oliver like a lot of people do. You are good for him. That being said, Oliver has a lot of demons Felicity. Some I don't even know about, and sometimes those demons can make him do rash things, hence some of the scars he carries.", he sighed. "I am telling you this because I think you could help him deal with some of his past. I see the way he looks at you Felicity and the way you look at him. There is a connection between you two."

Felicity bit her lip. Yes she liked Oliver very much, and yes, they did have a connection that she could not explain. Everytime she got near him she wanted to be closer, to reignite the intimacy that they had both felt on the plane. But she realized when he had walked into the conference room that she really did not know him. The fact that he did not tell her he was an agent bothered her a little. Looking up at Diggle, Felicity was as honest as she felt she could be, when she said, "You are right Diggle. We do have a connection. I felt it the first time we met. But so much has happened since then..I'm just not sure....".

Diggle interrupted, as their food arrived. "Just think about what I said Felicity. Ok?"

As they chatted eating their food, Felicity kept hearing Diggles words in her head. You are good for him. She really wished she knew in her head that it was true.