The Way We Talk

Liability (Little Talks #22)

Prompt:  "That doesn't make any sense."

Oliver doesn't expect the scene when he walks into their base.  He expects to find the situation he normally stumbles onto:  Felicity at her computers doing something he's not smart enough to comprehend, Digg and Sara in the training area sparring with no holds bared, and Roy off to the sidelines watching awkwardly because he doesn't quite fit in yet.  It's the routine, and, while working with Sara is a little awkward since the break-up, there's really be no deviation from the normal since they brought Roy on board.

What he sees, however, deviates from his idea of reality.  While Digg and Roy are working on some pretty impressive hand-to-hand combat as expected, he doesn't expect to see Felicity and Sara on the other side of the base, with the training dummies.  Sara is apparently showing her some sort of skill, and Felicity is nodding intently, focused on whatever it is Sara's saying.  She's wearing something that looks suspiciously like athletic wear, and he does not like the look of this situation.

This isn't the first time he's seen her in athletic gear, attempting to practice with the dummies.  But that doesn't mean Oliver likes it.  On the contrary, he's very unhappy about this entire turn of events.  He's tried to indicate this to her several times, not wanting to start a fight, but she's just not taking the hint and he can't let it go this time.  Felicity doesn't quite see that what makes her incredible—what makes her better than the rest of them—is that she gets involved with her brain and her computers, not fists and arrows.

Usually, he goes toward the guys first, often stopping to say hello to Felicity, but today he goes straight toward the girls.  Felicity's back is to him, so he takes advantage of the position.  "What are you doing?" he calls from behind her, and all motion in what Felicity calls the "lair" completely stops.  Sara is already getting that defensive set to her mouth, and Digg is headed Oliver's way for damage control, Roy lagging along behind.

Felicity, however, jumps about a foot in the air, turning toward him with that guilty look on her face.  He hasn't seen her this upset since—no, he won't even think about the night she saved his life.  "I was just..." she starts, using her hands to elaborate, but then shakes her head, hands falling to the side.  "Nothing."  She moves away from the area and moves back toward her computers as if nothing has happened.

Unfortunately for her, though, she has to go through Oliver to get there, and he grabs her arm as she passes by, turning her to him.  "You were just what?" he tries again, this time searching her eyes for information.  But Felicity has known him too long and she knows this trick, so she focuses on her tennis shoes instead.

Behind him, he is faintly aware of Roy muttering to Digg, "Should we do something?"

"Trust me, Roy," Digg responds just as quietly, "Felicity can handle herself, especially where Oliver is concerned."  Oliver's male pride wants him to interject that it's because he lets her, but he knows that's just a lie.  Diggle is right—not that it surprises anyone these days.  Digg is almost always right, even though Oliver doesn't always like to admit it.

Felicity gnaws at her bottom lip, then seems to chew on her own tongue for a minute before finally sighing.  "Sara offered to show me a few tips.  How to defend myself.  That sort of thing.  I just thought it would come in handy, you know, because the crime rate in Starling City is doubling and—"

Oliver knows the beginning of one of her rambles when he hears it.  "Felicity," he says, jolting her out of hurried-speech mode, reminding her of the conversation at hand.

She shakes her head immediately.  "Thank you for that," she says.  Then he sees the onslaught that's coming as she squares her shoulders, preparing to tell him something she knows he's not going to like.  "I'm tired of being the liability," she says to him quickly.  He immediately opens his mouth do defend her, but she holds up a hand.  He knows that look, too, and he knows better than to try and interrupt her when she has that look.  "I am constantly in trouble I can't get out of, I am always getting you into dangerous situations, and I don't want to be the reason you get hurt anymore."

When he's sure she's finished, he says, "Felicity, you are not a liability to this team.  And you don't have to learn how to fight—to become someone you're not.  We can protect you."  Somehow, those words don't seem to be enough, so he tries again.  "I can protect you."

She gapes at him for a minute, before finally deciding to say, "That doesn't make any sense."  It's quiet, controlled, but Oliver can hear the storm brewing underneath.  "You don't think I need to learn how to fight?" she asks, incredulous, her voice rising in volume.  "You don't think I'm a liability?  What about when I confronted the Dodger?  What about when I went into that illegal casino?  And the Dollmaker—you think a few self-defense classes wouldn't have helped me then?  Or when the Count kidnapped me?"  She pauses.  "And what about that thing with Rowland?  I got shot!  And, Oliver, I nearly got you killed!"  She sounds more strangled than he's ever heard her, voice dangerously close to tears on that one word.  "I can't go out in the field knowing I'm going to get someone hurt!"

He sees it then:  the fear, the doubt, the absolute terror in her expression.  He tells himself that's why he places his hand on her shoulder.  "I remember you saving my life during the Rowland thing," he says quietly, thinking of how his screw up cost Felicity a part of her soul.  "And I remember you being brave enough to serve yourself up on a silver platter for a for a serial killer so that we could stop him."  It dawns on him that she really doesn't see what an asset she is, how brave she is.  He's never met anyone so fierce, so tenacious, so... good.  Any tarnish on her sterling reputation has been because of him, and he doesn't like that.

Faintly, he registers Roy's question of, "What's the Rowland thing?"

Diggle quietly replies, "Tell you later."

He ignores the side conversation, focusing solely on Felicity as she points out, "The only reason you needed me to save your life on the Rowland thing is because I put you in danger in the first place."  She pauses before she says the words that win her the argument.  "Oliver, I need to do this."

Though he doesn't agree, doesn't want her to do this, he knows the look on her face.  She's determined now, and that means she's going to learn how to fight—with or without him.  So really, there's no choice, and he resigns himself.  "Fine.  I won't try to stop you, Felicity," he starts tersely, but then breaks into a smile that throws her into suspicion, "but you're too stubborn for that anyway."

She crosses her arms, falling into the teasing tone of the banter.  "I have to be," she retorts, "in order to get through that thick skull of yours."  She brushes past him this time, and this time he lets her.  "Now go hit something or shoot something or, if you're feeling very generous, you can do the salmon ladder while I look for information on the new target."  She blushes as she realizes the implications of what she said (he vaguely remembers something about her liking to watch him do that), and it only darkens when he winks at her, heading toward the salmon ladder.

Quietly, so low he probably thinks Oliver can't hear it, Roy says to Diggle, "Oh, Thea called this a mile away—those two are crazy about each other."