A/N Welcome back! This is the sequel to "Wedding Favours" So I highly recommend you read that first. I touch on the major points very briefly in the first chapter here but everything will make a lot more sense if you've read Favours.

I'm going to try to stick with the major points of continuity when it comes to the undertaking etc but I will have to bend a few interpersonal relationship storylines (*cough* Laurel *Cough*) in order to make this work on my schedule. So I like to call it "Off Canon" instead of "Alternate Universe"

Read, review and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to The CW and DC.

Felicity drove into the underground parking at Queen Consolidated tapping out the drum beat to the song she was listening to on the steering wheel. She wasn't even caffeinated yet. Heck , if she felt like tempting fate she could probably get away without her usual quad venti latte this morning. That's how good she was feeling. She had just had the best weekend of her life. Her best friend had married a great guy, she had finally seen someone take her least favorite person, Candi Michaelson, down a few pegs, and got to spend some time getting to know the real Oliver Queen.

And then he kissed her. Twice.

That had all taken place Saturday. Sunday she had stayed in and done the two weeks worth of laundry that had piled up. Between the wedding, her day job and her night time vigilante assistant gig she hadn't had time to look after her apartment or keep herself organized. Oliver texted her as he usually did when she wasn't in the cave, except there may have been a few extra messages that weren't entirely professional. So instead of dragging herself kicking and screaming out of bed this morning, going to work had actually felt fun.

She stopped in the main lobby to get her caffeine and headed to the always crowded elevators. Once she reached her desk she took the glorious first sip of latte before settling in to see exactly how many forgotten password emails would be waiting. She had guessed 13 but was pleasantly surprised to only find 8. It must have been a slow weekend. She handled all the resets before starting on the list of system authorizations for new hires.

Oliver didn't understand why he was nervous. He had two perfectly logical and true reasons why he was visiting Felicity at work. He had a lunch date with his mother and he had an encrypted flash drive that was full of information on how two of the names on the list were connected. This shouldn't be weird at all, so why was his stomach doing the salmon ladder?

He rounded the corner to her office and stood in the doorway for a second. Felicity was completely engrossed in her work and didn't even notice him. She had one earphone in, head slightly bobbing to whatever she was listening to and her pen was dangling out of the corner of her mouth. He watched her for a few seconds and let a warm smile creep up his face. Then, remembering one of the last times he had done this, He knocked on the open door. She jumped a little, pulling the earbud out and the pen out of her mouth. "Oh! Hey, what are- what's up?"

"Not much. My mother asked me to take her for lunch. So I thought I would come say Hi." Oliver smiled.

"Hi as Oliver or Hi as 'Oliver Queen'?" She asked. He looked at her confused.

"I'm going to need you to clarify the difference because I get the feeling this is some kind of test."

"Oliver Queen is the boss's son who needs my help hacking or analyzing something and then will run away back to high life with a very brief 'thank you and call me when something turns up'." He looked a little hurt at this peak into how he had been treating her in the daylight, but couldn't deny the accuracy. "Oliver," She paused to emphasize the difference. A warmth and shyness entered her voice. "Is my friend or whatever we um, whatever this weekend did." She blushed a little remembering how it felt to have his undivided attention for a whole day. "So, who am I talking to?"

"Both?" He answered questioningly. He hoped that was acceptable. " I do have a flash drive I found on patrol last night that may be helpful, if I can get into it." He passed it to her, letting his fingers brush against hers briefly. She put it on top of her keyboard to check as soon as time allowed. "And I do have to go very shortly. But I was wondering" She looked up at him and noticed for the first time that he seemed nervous. "If you wanted to maybe grab a bite to eat later? Before we start for the evening."

"Sure, Um, I didn't really dress up today so we should probably stick somewhere without a paparazzi line up." She looked down at her outfit. It was a white button down with a black pencil skirt and pink vest. "Maybe the diner?"

"Sure." Oliver smiled "Text me when you finish up and I'll meet you there." His phone buzzed and he glanced down.

"That would be your mother wondering where you are." Felicity predicted accurately. Oliver typed a quick reply and put the phone back in his pocket.

"Duty calls, I'll see you later?" She nodded. He left the office and headed to the executive floors. Felicity started to get herself back into work mode again. She was just about to put her music back on when she saw her cell phone vibrate out of the corner of her eye. It was a text from Oliver.

By the way, you look great today.

She squeaked and caught herself clamping a hand across her mouth to muffle the sound. She looked around to make sure no one caught her freak out. After a few deep breaths to release the excess energy, Felicity returned to her work wearing the biggest grin the IT department had ever seen.