Hey everyone! I've been an Arrow fan for a while, but obsessed with Felicity & Oliver lately. I've read tons of FF's and loved them so I decided to give this a shot. It's been a while since I've written so please go easy on me. I've been thinking a lot about what is going on since the mid-season finale. I wanted to try and showcase what I seen them thinking and going through in my head. Comments are always welcome! I love hearing what you think and what you think should happen! I also wanted to take it slow with these two!

***disclaimer - I do not own Arrow or any of the characters.

Felicity had been staring her computer monitor, one of three, for a while. Her mind that was usually running a million miles an hour refused to focus on just one thing today. It was quiet in the "arrow compound" tonight; much like Starling city had been for the past few weeks. Ever since Oliver had almost died and she'd brought Barry in to save Oliver's life, there hadn't much criminal activity. You would think this would please their hood wearing colleague, but it'd had the opposite effect. Oliver seemed more tense than usual, and that was saying something.

"Felicity, what are you still doing here?"

Felicity jumped. She hadn't even heard Diggle come downstairs. She spun in her chair. Diggle gave her his version of a worried expression. His and Oliver's were completely different.

"You're a little jumpy." He said. She immediately grew defensive.

"I was just focused, you know when you're working and thinking about something how you can seem to block out the annoyances around you?" She gave him a pointed look. Dig just crossed his arms and looked past her, to the computer screen.

"I would buy it, but the monitor isn't even powered on." She glanced behind her and shrugged as if she'd known that all along.

"I didn't say I was actually working on the computer." He just grinned and she spun back around, making sure to actually turn the monitor on this time. Diggle sat on the edge of the desk as he usually did.

"You should be at home getting some rest. There isn't anything going on tonight."

"Yeah, then shouldn't 'the Arrow' be taking the night off as well? I sleep better when Oliver is with me. No not with me, I mean when Oliver is at home, when you both are safe and I know you aren't getting into trouble."

The word vomit was uncontrollable sometimes and she hated it. Dig just looked at her, and she feared he could read past her friendly worry about the two of them and see right to the heart of the problem. Somewhere along the line, Oliver had stopped being the vigilante and her boss, he'd become her friend. From that friendship feelings had begun to develop. She tried hard to keep them hidden, but there were times that it seemed impossible to do so; like after they'd gotten back from Russia. She still wasn't sure why Oliver had come to try and "explain" his night with Isabel to her. More than likely it had been because he'd known she'd been upset about it, which was a complete waste of her time, really it was. Oliver had come a long way from the man she'd first met down in the IT department, but he was still An Island.

"I think Oliver feels better when he's being proactive." Diggle offered in way of explanation. Felicity just shook her head.

"Yeah well some of us would like a night off of the worrying." Felicity made a point of checking things on her computer to try and distract herself.

"Well if you put it like that…" Felicity whipped her head around to Diggle.

"No, we won't put it like that to him at all. Let's just change the subject. How about Christmas day? I don't really celebrate Christmas, but I don't think any of us should be alone on Christmas day. Then again maybe you weren't going to be alone on Christmas day…and Oliver will have his family. So maybe it's just me."

She paused and glanced back up to Diggle. He was wearing an amused smile at her rambling.

"Do you have plans for Christmas day?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Not really. I thought about Chinese takeout. As for Oliver, maybe you should ask him."

"Ask me what?" Oliver's voice echoed through the room and both of them looked up. The hood was pushed back exposing his exquisitely beautiful face. She hid the relief she felt at seeing him here safe and without a scratch. He looked both of them over. Felicity pushed her glasses back up her nose before answering.

"I thought about asking if you had Christmas plans, but then I figured you probably did, being your mom is out of prison and all and of course you have your sister. So yeah…plans. Christmas." She nodded once for emphasis.

Oliver placed his bow carefully in its case then glanced over at her. "We usually have a dinner party that evening. I think it will benefit to have a quiet family thing this year."

Diggle stood and stuck his hands in his jacket pocket. "I'm going to head out, it's getting late."

Both she and Oliver bid him goodnight. She sat silently watching Oliver place his arrows back in their own slots, watched as he pulled the hood off. She knew she should turn around, especially as he was shirtless, but she couldn't help that he was built like a Greek god. She should get up and leave, follow John's example and go home to rest…except she couldn't get up. Somewhere deep inside she wished that just once, Oliver would look at her the way she'd seen him look at Laurel. She would never admit that out loud, not even to herself, but it was there deep inside of her; a longing that couldn't be completely ignored.

Oliver knew Felicity was watching him. He felt her eyes on him as he put everything away, and stripped the hood off. He knew that Felicity felt something for him, she'd hinted at it, but had never said anything directly. He'd alluded to it as well after returning from Russia, but not once since then. He didn't want to encourage her, he wanted to keep her at arm's length or further. It had been proven that the people he cared about in the past always got hurt because of him. He didn't want to involve himself with some other innocent.

"What about you, Felicity?" He glanced over his shoulder and met her gaze. She furrowed her brow and averted her eyes immediately.

"What about me what?" he smiled faintly at her confusion, as if she'd lost all track of thought.

"Christmas, do you have plans for Christmas?" He reminded gently.

"Oh, right…well nothing really. Probably take a cue from John and order Chinese." She stood up suddenly and grabbed the jacket hanging on her chair. "I'm going to go."

"Felicity." She stopped when he called her name and looked right at him. "Why don't you come to dinner with me and my family on Christmas day?"

She was already shaking her head. "I don't think that's a good idea, Oliver."

He nodded once. "Well if you change your mind…"

"I'll know where to find you." She licked her lips and his gaze caught there for a moment. The coral lipstick she wore tonight matched the color of her cheeks. He wasn't sure why he noticed. "Goodnight, Oliver."

She hurried out the door and he was left alone. He rested his palms on the metal table and hung his head for a moment. He hadn't meant to hurt her by sleeping with Isobel, but he had. However, her focus had shifted from that dramatically when Barry had shown up. He'd known there was something about the kid that didn't sit right with him and he'd found out the truth. Barry had been lying about his occupation and his reason for helping out on the case. It irked Oliver, but Felicity had turned it around on him. He knew that they maintained a façade during the day, but that was a necessity to be able to do what they did. Lying was a part of their lives, and for a good reason. Barry hadn't had any such reasoning behind his lies. He'd thought he'd been doing the right thing by calling the kid and getting him to show up at their party. He'd thought he would simply smooth things over with Felicity by the gesture, but something else had happened. He'd seen Felicity dance with Barry, smile at Barry, and it had hit him that she could honestly be interested in the guy.

To say he hadn't liked the thought was an understatement. He refused to even talk about the tension between them, but he did not want her involved with Barry. If he was honest it wasn't even the kid that he had a problem with, it was the fact that Felicity…was his. He knew it made no sense. Felicity wasn't his, he wouldn't allow that kind of relationship to develop between them and yet….and yet the thought of her with another man caused something dark to stir inside of him.
He slammed his palms against the table, frustrated with himself and his thoughts and how those thoughts seemed to be bleeding over into his emotions. He couldn't afford that, not with the way he lived. He couldn't afford to think emotionally, especially where Felicity Smoak was concerned.

If you guys liked this little bit of insight and want to see more, please let me know! Thanks for reading!