RP: Arrow: Whatever It Takes (greenandgold x randomname98766789)

[greenandgold]

Felicity Smoak was an intelligent woman. She knew this just like she knew her own name. But for some reason, ever since Oliver Queen had returned from supposedly dying, and when he was around her, she seemed like a blithering idiot. Most of the time it took her forever to get a sentence out when in his presence. And when she did manage to talk, he just looked at her like she was an alien, which made her feel stupid. He wasn't rude and he didn't flirt with her, which was surprising given his history before he'd boarded the Queen's Gambit and supposedly drowned.

But now here he was, back in town after five years, like nothing had happened. His mother has given him a tour of Queen Consolidated, and when the two of them had reached her desk, she had chattered on and on and made things massively uncomfortable. For which when Mrs. Queen finally and rudely cut her off, the young woman was grateful. As soon as the Queen's left, Felicity slapped her hand to her forehead in embarrassment. "Next time, don't go on and on about components. The guy doesn't know the first thing about them.." She muttered under her breath.

After being gone for five years, Oliver Queen was now going to run Queen Consolidated, a multi-billion dollar company, that he knew nothing about. The blonde sighed and shook her head. "Why do I feel like I'm going to be doing the cheerleader's homework like I used to do in high school?" She mumbled the words and then shook her head and turned back to her computer screen and began to type once more.

__________________

The first thing that Thea was aware of was sunlight stabbing through her closed eyes. She groaned and rolled over in the bed, to bury her face in the pillow. It only took a few moments for her to realize that she wasn't at home, in her own bed. The first reason for that was that this bed was much smaller than her own bed. And the second reason was because the pillow didn't smell like the laundry detergent that the family maid used. But also, when she finally forced her eyes open and looked around, there was no pink in the room she was in. And her room was covered ceiling to floor in pink and white.

It took a few minutes for the events of the night before to come back to her and when they did, the brunette quickly bolted up from the bed, and tried to ignore the pain in her head from her hangover. She left the bedroom and walked the short way down the hall, and entered the living room where Roy was asleep on the couch. Despite her headache, Thea remembered that Roy had saved her, and that he had been nice enough to give her his bed for the night. She walked over to the couch and sat down on the arm of it, and reached out to gently rub one of her hands over his arm.

When Roy awoke and they locked eyes, she gave him a small smile. "Good morning. And thank you. For saving me, and for letting me have your bed last night. You didn't have to do any of that, but I appreciate that you did."

 

[randomname98766789]

Strutting towards the desk where Felicity was stationed, Oliver was carrying his silver laptop. Placing the small computer onto the desk, he leaned forward over the desk and locked eyes with Felicity.

“Hey, Felicity. I’m sorry to bother you again but I need some technical help. For some reason, I can’t get into my laptop. I’ve been locked out.”

It was not entirely a lie. Oliver Queen was actually locked out of his laptop, but it was by his own doing. Purposely, he entered incorrect passwords repeatedly so it would lock him out. Why would he do something like this? Well, Oliver just wanted a chance to speak with the tech girl again. She was definitely cute and Oliver found it adorable how she rambled. Despite her mother seeming eager to get away, Oliver wished to spend more time with the blonde. Hoping this would offer them a chance to speak, he stood right against the desk when she started to access his computer.

“It tells me I entered the wrong password too many times but I only tried a couple entries. Can you help?

The island had changed Oliver Queen more than anyone knew. Something he realized a need for in his life was romantic stability. This was not an attempt to earn his way for a chance to only sleep with Felicity, but Oliver wanted something more. Not that he was jumping right into a relationship, but this woman seemed nice enough. Since he had returned, Oliver did not find an enjoyment for the same life or the same people he enjoyed before leaving. The island made him become a man and grow different in many facets.


-------------------

A tickling sensation on Roy Harper’s upper arm combined with intruding sunlight shading his eyes caused the 21-year-old male to wake up from his sleep. “Hmm?” The blonde muttered quietly while blinking his eyes a couple times. Last night did not feel like reality. Going for a stroll in the Glades was not often safe, but Roy could handle himself. Fate had him crossing a street the same time a man with evil intentions was pushing a drunk Thea Queen into an alley. Without even knowing who he saved at first, Roy sprinted into action. For a lack of better words, Roy kicked this man’s ass.

Only after saving the damsel-in-distress did Roy realize who it was: Thea Queen. Everyone knew about the Queen family. Why was she wandering in the Glades? Clearly, she was drunk and unable to compose herself so it would have been inhumane to leave her alone. Carrying her in his arms for three blocks, Roy brought Thea into his home. By the time they arrived, she passed out and snuggled up in his arms. Being a gentleman, he placed her down onto his bed and covered her with the blankets.

Spending the night on the couch, Roy was exhausted. It was not until now when Roy finally woke from his slumber. Once his blue eyes opened for the first time, an image of Thea’s face appeared. Putting together the last few words the brunette said, all Roy did was shake his head.

“Good morning. You don’t have to thank me. I was just doing the right thing. My name’s Roy by the way.” Considering this was Thea Queen, the male expected her to leave after this conversation. It felt pointless to say his name, but Roy introduced himself anyways.

 

[greenandgold]

Felicity muttered a word under her breath that would have earned her a dirty look, if anyone else had been passing by. That being said, she somehow managed to turn and face Oliver, a smile on her lips. "It's no problem at all, Mr. Queen. Go ahead and have a seat right in the lap - CHAIR! I mean to say the chair. Have a seat in the chair, right there!" The blonde said quickly, and then a horrified look appeared on her face at her blunder. Her cheeks turned red and she cleared her throat nervously. She shook her head to clear it, a moment later. "Uh, computer, what?"

His words finally penetrated her brain, and she blinked a few times to get herself under control. "Oh, YES!" Her eyes widened at how that came out, and she tried again in a more normal tone of voice. "I mean, yes, I can help you." Once he set the laptop down on the desk, she reached over and scooted it closer to herself. She pressed the power button and waited a few minutes, to let the laptop boot up. When it came on, the blonde motioned for Oliver to scoot his chair closer to hers. "Okay, let's see what's going on here." Her fingers flew over the keys as she typed in a random word.

"I'm typing in a random word that has a slim to none chance of being your password. Before you ask, there's a reason I'm doing that. The reason I'm doing that, is to make sure that lock out notice shows up on the screen for both of us to see. I want to make sure that there isn't something else going on with your laptop." And right as she said that and pressed enter, the notice came up. The screen read:

You have used all 5 of your allotted login attempts. Please try again later.

"If exceeding your login attempts is the only problem, then it's not going to be much of a problem for you. Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to explain how to bypass this problem, and I'm going to show you. Then I'm going to turn off the laptop and have you do it yourself, while I explain it to you once more. Sound good?" Without even waiting for him to reply, she turned her attention back to the laptop and started. "The first thing you're going to do is look for the icon on the bottom right hand side of your screen. It's going to be a small circle, with a line in the top."

The blonde pointed things out as she explained them. "If you hover your mouse over it, it's going to say 'shut down'. Click that and turn off your computer. Once the computer is fully turned off, I like to wait five minutes before turning it back on." As they waited, she asked him for the adapter and when he handed it to her, she plugged it into the laptop, and then into the wall. When five minutes passed, she began again. "Before turning your computer back on, you need to make sure and locate the F8 key. Once you know where it is, you're good to start."

"My advice is to hover one finger over the power button, and one finger over the F8 key. As soon as you power your computer on, start pressing the F8 key. Don't slam it, just lightly press it. The computer will continue to load up, but the desktop will look different than what you're used to. This isn't a problem, this is just another mode on the computer. Once it has finished loading in this mode, you will need to locate the menu that says 'log in as administrator'." As the young woman spoke, she continued to point things out to him, hoping that he understood the things she told him.

"Most times, the administrator has no password, so unless you physically go in and set it, you shouldn't have a problem. From there, you go to Start. Then you click the Control Panel menu. Click on User Accounts, then click on your regular account name. Click on Remove the Password. Then, you finish up and reboot normally. Which means, you sign off regularly and then sign back on regularly." Felicity exited the menu and logged off the computer. Then she rolled her chair over, and motioned for Oliver to move in front of the computer. "Let's see you try now.."

Once he had moved in front of the computer, she began to lead him through the steps again. "Locate the F8 key and once you have that, hover one finger over that key and another finger over the power key.." The blonde repeated the steps to Oliver and she kept a close eye on him, making sure that he did just as she said, and didn't try any shortcuts that he thought might speed up the process. Once it was done, she smiled at him. "Pretty good. And if you ever want to go in and reset your password, follow those steps and when you get to the administrator part, enter your new password and save it."

"Oh, and I know that you didn't ask for this, but I'm going to give you a piece of advice all the same. You want to make sure any passwords you use, are something easy for you to remember, but not too easy or someone could hack you. That goes for not just logging into your computer, but for anything you do online. Don't use your birthday, either of your parent's birthdays, or Thea's birthday. Those things are public knowledge and if anyone wanted to hack you, those are the first things they would try. Is there anything else I can help you with?" She asked with a small smile.

_________________

Thea smiled as he introduced himself to her. "It's nice to meet you, Roy. Though I wish that it had been under better circumstances. I'm Thea Queen. Thank you for saving me," She repeated. "Anyone else would've ignored what was happening or even encouraged it. But you didn't." Her smile had dimmed a bit at realizing the truth in her own words, but a moment later, forced the smile back onto her lips and cleared her throat. "I know that it's nowhere near as nice as what you did for me last night, but how about if I make us breakfast? A nice big meal to start the day off right and help us forget about last night."

Truth be told, she didn't want to leave. Even though the brunette didn't know anything about Roy, except his name and that he had saved her from possibly being raped, she felt safe with him, and comfortable, too. And a person who would help a complete stranger, especially someone as hated as her family was, seemed like a pretty good person and she wanted to get to know him better. Thea paused for a moment. "I'm sorry. That was rude. I didn't ask if I could take over your kitchen. Would it be okay if I used your kitchen?" Her bright smile from earlier came back, though she tried to hide how it felt a little strained because of her hangover.

"Also, do you have any aspirin? I have a huge hangover..." She said and mumbled the last part under her breath. While the young woman waited for Roy to speak, she excused herself from the living room and went back into the bedroom to get her purse and shoes, digging out her sunglasses from her purse and slipping them on, to cover her eyes and block out the harsh sun.

 

[randomname98766789]

Already, Oliver knew that this Felicity girl was quite the character. Stumbling over her words, a few Freudian slips, and just an overall cuteness about her. When she asked him to take a seat in her lap, Oliver smirked to himself. However, knowing she felt embarrassed, the male tried to contain the smirk from growing too far. Deciding not to make a comment about her slip up, Oliver pulled up the chair on the opposite side of the desk like she intended to say. The male sat down and was about to explain his computer situation again in case she had not caught it, but Oliver figured that she did know exactly what to do. The male watched her carefully when she motioned for him to slide a chair closer to her. Doing so happily, Oliver sat down right beside the blonde and turned to look at the girl. Even though he knew the problem was an easy fix, he enjoyed watching her work. She truly seemed passionate about the work she did. She was such an intelligent girl. Intelligence had been lacking in the women and friends Oliver chose to indulge himself with in the past. This was a new start, though.

When she explained everything that was going to happen, all Oliver really had the chance to do was nod his head. She explained how they could bypass the problem and how he could fix it in the future. Oliver secretly hoped that the only problem with his laptop was not just the password lockout feature. He hoped there was a reason he could be here even longer than he originally should be. The male did enjoy listening to her speak even if she did ramble along about technical terms that went over Oliver’s head. After she finished explaining everything, Oliver decided it sounded simple enough. That made him want to frown. Damn, she was good at her job. Perhaps there was a way Oliver could tear up his computer to the point where he needed an extended stay with the blonde. Moving closer to his laptop, Oliver held his finger over the F8 key and the power button. After the computer had been turned off for five minutes, he held down the power button and immediately started tapping that particular key repeatedly until the administrator menu showed. Oliver actually did not know about this, so if he actually had this problem in the future, he would know what to do.

When the administrator menu popped up, Oliver followed those exact instructions. He removed the password from his account and then logged into everything just fine. He did reset his password because he did need a password on his computer. It would have been easy to just think about using his birthday or Thea’s birthday but Felicity gave him some more advice. After he logged into everything and reset his password with something easy to remember but not something easy to find out from the public eye, Oliver closed the laptop. Glancing to Felicity, he remembered how amazing that sweet smile looked and he nodded his head. “Thank you so much for helping me, Felicity. I was going crazy here. I think that’s all I need help with right now. I’ll let you know if something else comes up.” Just like that, Oliver grabbed his laptop and thanked the woman one final time before leaving her with a smile. Damn it. Oliver was hoping that it would not have been this simple of a fix. Unfortunately it was. As goofy as it sounded, Oliver intended to find a reason to visit her again.

Give credit where it was due. Oliver might not have been a computer genius but he knew more than most people thought. He had to learn so he could do things like drain the money from Adam Hunt’s account when he did not return the money from where he stole it. Therefore, Oliver knew how to upload viruses. When nobody was looking, he quickly slipped a USB drive into his laptop to download a virus where he was locked out of his computer. The male gave it some time before deciding to see Felicity again. Now, he had no doubt that she could figure out how to access his laptop again. He just wanted a valid excuse to see her and hang out with her. It had been about an hour since they last saw one another. Oliver slowly walked up, acting like he was a little embarrassed for having a fuck up again. Besides, it was to be expected – five years away from technology did not exactly stimulate him to become a genius. With a soft smile, he greeted the blonde again and gently placed his laptop down onto the desk again, waiting for her attention to turn towards him.

“I am so sorry to bother you again, Felicity.” No, that was a lie. Oliver was not sorry. Maybe she did have work that she needed to do. This could distract her from that work, but Oliver could always smooth out things with his mother if needed. “I think I’m having a problem again. I’m sorry. I just can’t use computers right now. So much has changed with technology in five years. I was browsing the internet and all of a sudden, this bluescreen flashed. I can’t even get the damn thing to power back on now. Is this something you can help me with? That is, if you have time right now. I don’t want to be a bother.” Oh, but he did. Oliver wanted to keep Felicity busy every moment of the day. He felt more intrigued about her. This virus would take more than just a few keystrokes to alienate. Therefore, Oliver found it possible to spend more time with the blonde. That was the whole point of this anyways. It was a perfect plan, he thought.

-------------

“It is nice to meet you as well. I do wish it was under better circumstances, though. I just did what anyone would have done, obviously. You don’t need to thank me. I just couldn’t walk by and let something happen.” Even though Roy knew exactly who Thea Queen was before she even introduced herself, he kept that fact buried for the moment. When she suggested making breakfast, Roy wanted to protest. He did not want the girl to feel like she owed him anything. On the flip side, if he allowed her to stay over for breakfast, it meant they could spend more time together.

Roy already felt intrigued by the brunette, so he responded with a resounding “yes”. “It is not rude of you, Thea. I’d love it if you cooked breakfast. I want to help, though.” He thought it would be cute, cooking breakfast with Thea. The male never had time for relationships lately, but he enjoyed thinking about being with a girl, cooking with her, having fun in the kitchen – this gave him a glimpse of that. “Yes, there are some aspirin in the medicine cabinet. Help yourself. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.” After she left, Roy walked inside of the kitchen and prepared a few things.

He pulled out the cooking utensils required for some bacon, pancakes, and eggs. When Thea returned, he offered her another smile. “I know this probably isn’t what you’re used to, but this is what I have.” He was sure Thea had many, many full course breakfast meals with all kinds of food Roy never even heard of. It made him worry she might not want to stick around long because of the social status difference. “How do you like your eggs? If you want, you can get started on the pancakes. I have regular flavor and I have blueberry flavored. Take your pick.”

 

[greenandgold]

"I'm going to tell you what you need to do and you're going to do it. I'll explain everything to you and if I see you doing something that you shouldn't do, I'll correct you." She cleared her throat a moment later. "Turn on your computer. Now I'm going to tell you how to do this step by step again. So make sure that you're paying full attention. To do this, we're going to have to turn your internet off first. 1. Press F8 and go to Safe Mode, 2. Once in safe mode, go to the control panel. 3. Click Network and Internet. 4. Click Network and Connections. 5. Right click Wi-Fi. 6. Click Disable."

"Once that's done, we're ready to begin removing the virus that's messing with your computer. The reason we disabled the internet from your computer is so that the infection doesn't spread or leak any of your personal information. Now, we're going to move on to the next part. The next thing you need to do is right click and delete all your temporary files. Use the search function and type in temporary files. Give it a few minutes for everything to load and once it does, delete everything. Once that is done, run disk cleanup. To do so, go to your search bar again and type in disk cleanup."

"Turn it on, and let it run. It cleans up space on your computer to help it run faster. Once it's done, you're going to once more get rid of the temporary files. This time also get rid of download files, temporary internet files, and thumbnails. Then click clean up system files. Again, it'll take a few minutes to do this." It finished a few minutes later, so she continued. "What you need now, is to download a malware scanner to go with your antivirus software. I recommend Malwarebytes. Now, we're going to reconnect the internet so that you can download and then update the program."

"It's at Malwarebytes.com." She walked him through the steps of reconnecting the internet. "Control Panel, Network and Internet, Network and Connections. Then, right click Wi-Fi, then click enable." Felicity fell silent as Oliver used the internet to pull up the Malwarebytes website and download the program to his computer and then update it. "Now, just a bit of extra advice. You have an antivirus program on your computer called McAfee, run it every morning right when you log on, and every night right before you log off. Do the same for Malwarebytes, but don't run them at the same time."

"They will interfere with each other if you try to. Now, open Malwarebytes and look to the left hand menu and look for the option that says scan, hover your mouse over it and set it to Threat Scan, then click scan. Now we wait. It can take anywhere from between 5 minutes, to an hour." She stopped talking again as they let the scan run, which it did for 30 minutes, before finishing and showing the threats on the computer. "Now, click remove selected and let the program do it's job. When it's done you're going to need to reboot the computer and it should be clean now."

"Just to be sure, once we reboot the computer, we'll run McAfee and then Malwarebytes again to be safe." This process took another hour, with the two of them just talking about random things as both scans ran. "Okay, now we're going into your browser settings and check the homepage. Open up Chrome and look at the top right hand corner of your browser screen, there should be 3 little dots, click on them to get menu. Click settings, scroll down to startup, and make sure it's on the page you want it to be on. If the page is one you know and want, then it's fine."

"If it's not, then go in and manually type in the URL of the webpage you want it set to, and save it. Now, you're done with this. The last thing that I need to tell you is to go into any online accounts you have and once again, change the passwords. A reminder to not use any personal or obvious identifying information. Keep Windows software, Microsoft software, and Adobe up to date to help fight infections." She ran both McAfee and Malwarebytes one last time and when none of them got any infections, the blonde smiled and told Oliver to power off his computer.

"There we go. And it only took us.. Yikes. Three and a half hours.." She said after glancing down at her watch. Felicity picked up the laptop and power adapter and handed it back to Oliver. "There you go. Good as new. Now, if you'll excuse me Mr. Queen, I need to get back to work or my boss, your mother, might fire me. Have a nice day Mr. Queen.." She said and turned back to her work computer. Within moments, her fingers flew over the keys as she resumed the work she had been doing before he had shown up again.

________________

Thea turned to face Roy at his words. "As much as I wish you were right, that anyone would have saved me, we both know it's not true. Most people in Starling are either out for themselves, or just don't want to get involved. And you did neither of those things. So, again, thank you." She fell silent a moment later and smiled as he continued to speak. "Okay, you can never go wrong with teamwork.." The brunette said and couldn't help continuing to smile at him. The young woman nodded when he mentioned the aspirin being in the medicine cabinet. "Thanks.
I'll be right back."

"Don't worry about it, this is fine. Actually, it's better than fine. I haven't had breakfast with anyone besides the kitchen staff in the morning, in years. Scrambled eggs for me, please. As for the pancakes, I'll make the regular if you don't mind. I'm highly allergic to blueberries. It's not a pretty picture." She said, not wanting him to compare them as she was enjoying their time together immensely and didn't want anything to ruin it. A few moments later, the brunette stepped away and walked over to the freezer and pulled out the pancakes. Within moments she was prepping them and the supplies, and right after, put them going.

 

[randomname98766789]

This was not exactly what Oliver hoped to do. Instead, he wanted to spend time with Felicity and talk to her. In this case, she forced him to attend to his own laptop and follow her instructions. This did not allow for any input from Oliver. If he tried to talk, he was just shut down. He expected that Felicity would do it all herself and that would open a chance for him to talk with her. Nope. Oliver was wrong. Biting his lip, Oliver turned the laptop to face him and prepared to do whatever she said just to appease her. He did not want to look like a dick. First impressions were key. His plan simply needed an alteration. He needed to find a time where Felicity could not make him do something that prevented a conversation. If Oliver was not worried about looking like a tool, he would ask Felicity to do this all for him. Instead, Oliver realized his strategy backfired and it was not ideal so far. Keeping that in mind, Oliver just did whatever the blonde said that he needed to do. F8, control panel, disable the internet. Okay, done.

The male disabled the internet and searched for temporary files before deleting them all. He also ran the disk cleanup and thought that little break in action where they must wait for the program to do its thing would give him a chance to talk, but it did not. When Felicity was waiting, she was busy typing away on her own computer. Oliver honestly admired her work ethic. He also admired how passionate she was about technology. It was not his own passion, but everyone was different. Oliver loved the fire in her eyes when she was just merely walking someone through removing a virus. It was intriguing and it showed Oliver that she was a genuine person. He went to the Malwarebytes website and downloaded the program before running it. After running that when it downloaded, he also ran the McAfee security. Of course, these were things he knew about already. Oliver had taken every precaution to protect his computer, especially now, but he played along as if he had no idea. It was essential for keeping his cover. She did truly know what she was talking about. His mother made an excellent decision in hiring her. Plus, it gave Oliver nice access to Felicity whenever he wanted since she worked in this building.

When prompted by Felicity, Oliver stared the threat scan. Honestly, even though he had figured out some technology on his own lately, Oliver did not know how this woman knew so much. She truly helped him fix the problem much faster than he would have been able to do on his own. Again, Oliver just felt more intrigued by her. Even though she was not the traditional sexy woman that most people would have thought about, he found her quite attractive. There were so many assets about this woman that made Oliver feel weak in the knees. It was honestly difficult to concentrate at times. When she looked away from him after giving instruction, Oliver would steal glances her way and just admire her from afar. It made Oliver want to get to know her. She was clearly beautiful, and it was equally obvious that she was smart and intelligent. That was such a rare combination to find these days. Oliver appreciated it and wanted to cling to it while he could. It would have been an honor to get a chance to know Felicity. Since that was what he wanted, nothing was going to stop Oliver.

Thankfully, Oliver did find the opportunity to chat with Felicity. When they were waiting for the scan, they passed the time with idle conversation. It was enough to make him enjoy himself but not enough to fulfill him. It was almost like teasing. Oliver was enticed even stronger than before. Just talking to Felicity was making him smile a little bit wider. It was rare for him to enjoy someone’s company so much. After it was finished and his laptop was completely repaired, he thanked Felicity again. Even though the woman said that she needed to get work done, that his mother might fire her if she did not finish something, Oliver was not going to be denied. No, he did not want to get her fired. He did not want to make her lose her job. Therefore, he might have to work out something in a different time. Thinking about everything for a moment, Oliver stood with his laptop and just did not move. After figuring out what he wanted to say, Oliver leaned back over the desk.

“What time do you get off? Are you busy?”

----------------

The way Roy expected Thea Queen to act was starkly different from the way she truly acted. She was so genuine and sweet so far. She brought a smile to his face. Every so often, he would glance towards the brunette and see her smiling at him. God, she was making this difficult. Roy was not usually one to fall quickly but he found that Thea just had some aura about her. Once the eggs were scrambled, he set two plates and divided the food equally. After that, he prepared the bacon while she worked on the regular flavored pancakes.

He did not know why, but he kept in mind that she was allergic to blueberries like he might actually see her more than once or cook for her more than once. That was a nice thought to have, though. Soon enough, the table was set and prepared. “What would you like to drink?” Roy asked, pouring himself some orange juice before getting whatever Thea wanted. He had juices, coffee, water, milk, and soda to drink. After that was done, he prepared the silverware and was ready to eat. He decided to be a gentleman again, pulling the chair out for Thea to sit down since she wanted to eat breakfast with him. Roy had to admit he almost did not want her to leave.

 

[greenandgold]

Felicity had a small smile on her lips as she watched Oliver follow the directions that she had given him. A few hours later, when he had finished everything and his computer was secure and stable once more, the blonde watched him shut down his laptop and then rise to his feet. She was surprised when he didn't immediately leave the building, and instead asked what time she was off and if she were busy. "Mr. Queen, I hope that you don't see me as being insolent as that's not my intention. I just wonder if it's sagacious for the two of us to fraternize outside of work."

"There's no doubt that you're handsome, and could have the attention of any woman you wanted. I simply want to avoid making things arduous between the two of us, and between you and you mother. I know that things have been taxing for you since your return and I don't want to add to that and make things more burdensome for you or your family. Also, a piece of advice.. You're an atrocious liar. You might want to work on that. As for you asking me out, I might concede to have dinner with you. As long as you don't misrepresent yourself like you've been doing this whole time."

"I'm blonde, Mr. Queen, but I'm not an imbecile. If you wanted to ask me out, all you had to do was do so. You didn't need to manufacture a problem and infect your computer with a virus to get my attention. I can appreciate that you've gone to great lengths to get my attention and now you have it. Perhaps you'll consider the old fashioned way, of getting a woman's attention next time. To answer your questions, I'm off in two hours, and I did have plans, but they can be rescheduled. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to finish my work for the day so that I can get ready for my possible date tonight."

______________

Thea smiled when Roy asked what she wanted to drink. "Milk or orange juice, please. Either one is fine by me." She smiled even wider when he pulled out the chair for her, and allowed her to sit down first. "Thanks," The brunette said softly, as she sat down and placed her napkin on her lap a few moments later as she waited for him to sit down and join her so that they could eat their breakfast together. "I know that I've said it a lot, but I want to thank you for saving me last night. Truth be told, even though I'm angry at my mother, the last thing she needs is for something to happen to me, after everything with my brother and father."

They sent the next hour talking and eating breakfast together, just enjoying each other's company. When they had finished, she got up and helped Roy clean up, which was a first for her. She was doing lots of things with Roy that she never did at home. "It was nice to meet you, Roy. And I appreciate what you did more than you'll ever know. But I need to get back home before my mother or brother notice that I never made it home last night." Once the kitchen was clean, she went to pull her socks and shoes on, and then grabbed her purse and the rest of her belongings.

She searched the bedroom for a pen and paper, and quickly jotted down her cell phone number so they could keep in touch. The brunette left the paper with her name and number on Roy's desk, and then left the room. Without another word, she kissed his cheek, and then let herself out the back door of his house and disappeared around a corner, walking back home.

 

[randomname98766789]

Already, Oliver knew that Felicity was an intelligent woman. She proved that fact with her enhanced vocabulary. However, Oliver was not as dumb as most people thought. Nothing she said was lost in translation. It sounded like Felicity was turning him down when she mentioned having relations outside of work. It was not like Oliver was suggesting they become an item. He merely wanted to get drinks with her and maybe dinner. Where did that lead? Oliver would find out. She was not burdensome to him or his family. Oliver found it disappointing that a woman this intelligent and beautiful could think that way. Lying had never been his strong suite anyways. She pointed that out. When the blonde finished speaking, Oliver decided to answer.

“I never suggested you were an imbecile and I never intended to misrepresent myself. I wanted to get a chance to talk to you alone. I figured providing you with something to work on could keep you occupied and give us time together. You just multi-task tremendously well and I could not have enough time to talk with you. I just wanted to make sure I had your attention somehow. Besides, I worried I might not have been the type of man you would consider for drinks. I was hoping to gain some common ground with you and hope that would work in my favor.” It was a simple idea. Oliver felt like Felicity was thinking too much.

“Thank you, though. I will return here in a couple hours to see if you’ve made a decision.” Leaving her with a smile, Oliver made the short drive home. Upon his arrival, the male spotted Thea approaching as well. Had she been out all night? This, again. “Thea? I told you not to stay out all night like this. Where in the hell have you been?”

----------------

Although the morning was perfect, Roy also expected it to end. When the dishes were put away and Thea was preparing to leave, Roy thought this was it. However, he heard Thea ask for a pen and paper, so he provided her one. She wrote down a cell phone number and left it on the desk in his bedroom. When he asked if the number was hers, he hardly could believe it when she affirmed it was indeed hers. Thea expressed an interest in wanting to keep in touch with him and get to know him. That was a victory. Roy thought it would have went worse than this.

However, somehow, she even kissed his cheek before leaving, making Roy blush a deep crimison when she exited. The smile was on his face for almost half an hour after she left as he looked down the street to ensure she had exited this dangerous area safely. The male quickly saved the number into his phone and decided to check in an hour or two later to make sure she had gotten home safely, hoping that she would actually answer him as well.

 

[greenandgold]

Thea looked up and sighed when she saw and heard her brother. "Ollie, can you please skip the lecture this morning?" The brunette asked him softly. "I can assure you that whatever you're going to say, I've already told myself that, many times over, and other things worse than that in the last few hours. Look, I know that you're angry I was out all night. There's a good reason why that was, but I don't know if I should tell you. I don't think that I want to see you get angry." She pushed her hair out of her face and removed the sunglasses. "Before you ask, yes."

"I'm hungover. But I know that's not the only thing you're going to yell about. So before you lose your temper, can we at least get in the house, first?" Without waiting for her brother to speak, the young woman used her keys and let herself into the house and then turned to Oliver. "I was drunk and stupid last night. I got lost in the Glades and some jackass pushed me into an alley and almost raped me. Thankfully my new friend Roy was there, and he saved me from the guy and then got me out of there. I ended up staying at his place last night."

 

[randomname98766789]

When his sister started talking, Oliver listened closely. She admitted to being out all night and being hungover. Great. It might have sounded hypocritical but Oliver wanted a better life for Thea. It appeared since he had been gone, she followed a similar path as himself. Fuming, Oliver followed Thea into the house so they had more privacy. At this point, his expression softened when he heard Thea admit to almost being raped in the Glades. It made Oliver want to find the guy that tried to harm his sister and kill them in the most painful way. After she finished talking, Oliver wanted to scold Thea, he wanted to hug Thea, and he wanted to yell at Thea all at the same time.

Sighing in a frustrated manner, Oliver just finally wrapped his arms tightly around Thea’s body. “I’m so sorry, Thea. I promise you that I will find whoever this was and I’ll fucking kill him.” Oliver muttered, blood in his eyes. “But why didn’t you call? You didn’t have to stay at a stranger’s place. I would have picked you up.” Oliver admitted, not sure why she stayed with this guy named Roy. It sounded a little suspect – if she was hungover, did this guy also take advantage of her? Oliver was overly worried about his sister, as usual.

 

[greenandgold]

Thea hugged Oliver back just as tightly. "I don't want you to find him, Ollie. I just want to forget it happened. And before you ask, Roy didn't do anything to me. He gave me his bed and I locked myself in his room last night so that I would feel safe. He didn't try to get into the room or anything. We had breakfast together this morning and that's all that happened," She said, purposely leaving out the part where she had left Roy her cell phone number for him to call her if he wanted to do so. "I'm safe now, Ollie. That's all that even matters right now."

"As for why I didn't call, I was drunk and I wasn't thinking properly. I was stumbling along and as I turned the corner, ran into that guy who tried to pushed me into the alley. Then Roy showed up a few moments later and he saved me. It all happened within a matter of minutes, and after Roy kicked the other guy's ass, we left and went back to his place. Nothing happened between me and Roy, except that he saved me and we had breakfast. That's all. He's a good guy, Ollie. Don't try to find him and hassle him. He didn't have to save me. No one else bothered to try and help."

 

[randomname98766789]

It took Oliver a few seconds to calm down, but when he did start thinking level-headed, Oliver realized Thea was right. He believed that Roy was just a good citizen that helped out his sister. At least, he liked to think so. Oliver hated hearing about what happened to her, stumbling into the alley. At least she was safe now. He just needed to relax and take a deep breath from everything that was happening. “Alright, alright. You’re right Thea. I’m sorry. I was just so worried about you.” The brother whispered and just wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her into his chest for a hug.

“Are you sure that you’re ok? Do you need me to do anything for you?” He questioned, looking down at her before pulling back. “I have to go out in a couple hours. I have a …. Thing.” Oliver added, not quite wanting to say a date because he knew how that would look so he hoped Thea did not ask questions. Plus, he wanted to spend time with his sister. “We need to catch up. I really missed you so much.”

 

[greenandgold]

Thea happily hugged her brother back. "I'm okay, Ollie. And you'll be happy to know that I learned my lesson about getting drunk and then trying to get around town in that kind of condition. I'm fine, promise. I just want a long, hot shower and then to sleep in my own bed for a few hours. Thanks though, I'm fine." She said and assured him as he pulled back from the hug a few moments later. Her eyebrows raised at his next words. "A thing.. as in, a date? Who is she? Is she nice? Is she pretty? Do I know her? Do I like her? What's she like? How long have the two of you been dating?" Sure, it was none of her business, but the hell with that.

She was feeling nosy, and was curious to know what kind of woman had gotten her brother's eye. It would be the first date that he'd been on since he returned home after the Gambit sank. Well, at least as far as she was aware. It wasn't like her brother talked to her about this kind of thing. Which was something she'd definitely have to change soon. Anyway, the brunette shook her thoughts away and looked at him expectantly. "Well, Ollie? I'm waiting. I wanna hear all about her. And don't skip out on the good stuff. Where did you meet her? How do you know that you like her? How do you know she even likes you back? Spill the beans!"

 

[randomname98766789]

Did Oliver believe Thea learned her lesson? Not really. This ordeal would only force the protective brother to keep an even closer eye on his sister now that he had returned. So many things were going wrong since he had returned and the last thing he wanted was for his sister to be injured or harmed. If anything good might happen, it needed to be that Thea would end up alright and not follow his footsteps. Sure, it was hypocritical of Oliver to chastise Thea for doing the same things that he had done in his youth, but whatever. Oliver had learned things the hard way. Now that the conversation was dropped, he decided to leave that subject and hopefully never need to revisit it. When she somehow automatically figured out he was going on a date, the young man chuckled incredulously. If only one thing had not changed since the island, it was Thea’s ability to read Oliver.

“Alright, alright. I don’t think it’s a technical date yet… I just asked her out to dinner. You might know her. It’s Felicity from the corporation – the technology specialist. We’re just getting to know each other is all. I wouldn’t say this is anything official yet. I hope to know more tonight after the dinner is over.” Smiling, Oliver gave Thea one more hug. “I can tell you all about it later but I need to get ready and get dressed. You should get some sleep. I’ll talk to you in a little while, okay?”

 

[greenandgold]

"You don't know if it's a date?" Thea asked incredulously. "You said that you asked her out. That means it's a date. Which also means that you have to dress up. There's a suit in your room that you can wear for your date. The hobo look with jeans and a shirt just won't do for this." A small smile came to her lips as he talked about the woman he was going on the date with. "Felicity? Oh! You mean the nice, quiet blonde that works in the tech department? Nice! She's a keeper. Just make sure that you don't screw it up." She nodded when he talked about going
to get ready.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Go fuss with your hair, grab a shower and put on that suit that I mentioned. But make sure to let me know before you leave. Oh! And here," She stuffed some money into her brother's pocket a few moments later. "Make sure to buy her flowers at the restaurant. Oh, and one more thing: Don't flirt with any other women while you're with Felicity. She's a nice woman, and doesn't deserve to be treated like the flings that you used to have. Other than that, have a nice time.." The brunette said and then she walked off, leaving him to get ready.