Hey guys. I'm sorry for the long delay. Instead of finishing what I planned for this chapter, I'll post what I have so far. I hope it's enough to appease you! Thanks to all who reviewed and hello to all new followers. It's very encouraging to know people are reading and enjoying.

Sara paced back and forth across the creaky wooden floor boards. With arms tucked tightly across her chest, she complained aloud, "Why am I still on this dump of a ship?" She stopped to peer out a dirty window at the small rippling waves. She hated boats. Two of the most traumatic experiences of her life related to boats. "I want to get the fuck off of this boat." Her annoyance with her location was amplified by the fact that she just cracked a man's neck in his study. It had been a clean and quiet kill. She slipped in and out like a ghost.

She glanced over her shoulder at the mask, wig and batons she had tossed on the table in the middle of the room. Aside from concealing her identity from the helicopter pilot, the abandoned objects had been completely unnecessary. Before sneaking onto the grounds, she triggered a five minute feed loop for all of the cameras. Not a single guard caught sight of her. Even without the mask, revealing herself to her victim would have been a moot point. After all, he was dead. The dead man could have kept her secret.

Cain burst in the door without warning and plopped into a nearby chair. In his typical gruff manner, he flung up one leg and propped his right ankle on his left knee. He scratched at the thick hair around his mouth and stared solemnly at Sara. He waited for her to speak. He didn't have to wait long.

"Where is Nyssa?"

His eyes never leaving Sara, he replied, "I do not keep track of her movements."

The blonde assumed Nyssa would conduct the standard debriefing herself. When she said as much to the man with slight brown skin tainted by years of sun exposure, he remained silent. She clenched her jaw. She abhorred his habit of refusing to dignify her with a response. Of all the assassins, Cain was the most unpredictable. While sometimes he offered words of counsel, he just as often basically ignored her existence. "Cain?"

"Did you complete the task?"

"Yes. He is dead." She continued on giving him details of her infiltration, kill and exit. Without moving, he listened intently as she spoke. When she finished, he rose to his feet and nodded in her direction.

Before he took a step toward the door, Sara stepped forward and attempted to drag the answer to her original query from him. She prompted to get his attention, "Cain?"

"Yes, Canary?"

"Do you have anything else to say?"

With a deliberate shake of his head, he answered in the negative, "No. I have all of the necessary information. This interview is over."

Not satisfied with his response, she closed the distance between them refusing to back down. She asked again, "Why is Nyssa not here?"

"I assume something else came to her attention." He added with an air of superiority, "Despite what you may think, you are no longer a priority to her."

Crossing her arms with a smirk, she asked, "How long have you been waiting to say that?" She imagined that the man Nyssa thought of as a brother had more unpleasant things to say.

He raised an eyebrow, "It is not something I have been longing to say."

"Then what is?" Sara pressured.

He loomed over the small blonde as he growled and puffed out his chest, "I will not be subject to an interrogation by a traitor."

"You have been wanting to say that," she hardened her features signaling her utter lack of uneasiness with his proximity.

"Nyssa may have treated you with clemency, but your selfish behavior deserves the final punishment of release," he stated emphatically.

Although she refused to waiver by backing away, her voice softened as she replied, "I never meant to hurt her."

He inexplicably slipped from a disgusted and dedicated assassin to a concerned mentor and explained, "I thought I trained you better." His sudden change of tone startled Sara, but she listened intently as he continued, "One selfish action only leads to another and ultimately compounds the number of casualties."

"Which 'selfish action' are you referring to?"

"You went to Starling City."

"They're my family, Cain!" Sara boomed in frustration. "I had no choice!"

"But you did!" Cain returned with a similar amount of fervor. "We all had families! Don't deceive yourself into thinking you are the only one of us tempted to return to them."

"I have a family, not had," Sara clarified. She defensively queried with a hint of interest, "You wouldn't save yours if they needed you— if they truly needed you?"

Although razors, which had dulled from many years of rust, scratched at his heart, he held his head high and answered without hesitation, "As painful as it may be, I am responsible to those in my present life, not to those who belong in the past."

Lips pursed, the blonde assassin defiantly disagreed, "I will never accept that."

The man paused as he decided on how to proceed. He finally spoke, "Perhaps you should start a list of those who fall victim to your need to save those in the past rather than live in the present."

Blood boiling, Sara seethed, "Excuse me?" His suggestion of harm coming to those she cared about threw her into a fury she could only control from years of training.

He counted on his fingers and he said, "Your sister, your mother, your father, Nyssa, Felicity—"

"Don't you dare."

Assuming the name of her girlfriend infuriated her, he pointed out, "You brought pain on yourself, her and Nyssa."

Sara snapped, "You're the one who took her! I know it was you!"

"It was. I felt responsible for your betrayal to the League. I contributed greatly to your training and Ra's al Ghul thought it fitting that I carry out the deed that would ultimately return you to us. I recommended that we execute you, but both Ra's al Ghul and his daughter deemed it unnecessary."

"And now I have nothing," Sara concluded with her mind still fixed on Felicity.

Cain clarified, "You had the daughter of Ra's al Ghul and a loyal family."

Glancing up and the man, Sara asked, "You will never forgive me for hurting her, will you?" His unwavering concern for her ex-girlfriend never ceased to amaze her.

He confirmed, "No. I do not believe in forgiveness for those who do not deserve it."

"Then we're on the same page," Sara replied referencing his kidnap and treatment of Felicity.

Bored of the conversation, Cain said before exiting the room, "One more thing. Do not attempt to rekindle your relationship with Nyssa. Leave her be." His voice softened a bit as he spoke his sister's name.

Surprised by his lack of faith in her humanity, she snipped, "You don't think much of me do you?" Did he truly believe she wanted to hurt Nyssa?

"Not anymore."

Replying confidently to appease him, she conceded, "Fine then. Is Felicity safe?"

"I took care of her myself," he answered honestly. Fortunately, he had no trouble lying to others.

"Thank you," she couldn't hide a slight smile of gratitude.

He quickly clarified, "I did it for her, not you. She was an innocent."

"Still, thank you."

Despite the sincerity in her voice, he felt no need to respond. He simply charged out of the room leaving Sara to wonder where her girlfriend—ex girlfriend—was and what she was doing.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Sara politely asked Felicity. While Felicity pecked on the keyboards and clicked the mice furiously at the three monitor computer desk, the other blonde insisted on distracting her. She was bent over the table propped up on her forearms with her enticing assets pouring out of her low cut top.

"No!" Felicity snapped with a feigned annoyance. She struggled to keep her gaze from drifting to the smirking assassin. She strained her mouth to mute her smile. The two women had slipped into a comfortable state of verbal flirtation over the past couple of weeks. The dinner had clenched their mutual attraction, but failed to cement any type of established or even admitted relationship. That was perfectly fine with both of them. Although unknown to the other, they both preferred a slow organic build rather than a dive into chilly, uncharted waters.

"Are you really sure?" the woman repeated in her irresistible sultry tone.

Finally allowing herself to look at her tormentor, Felicity turned with eyes fixed on the amused face. "I'm totally fine here. Why don't you go shoot arrows or something? Push-ups? Pull ups? Bow staff swinging? Beat on Oliver?" She raised her voice with the last suggestion hoping the man in question would hear her.

He did. "Hey now. She can try to beat on me." He stood on the other side of the room scrutinizing his new shipment of arrows.

"Don't tempt me," Sara threw a playful warning Oliver's way. "I'd have to pull my punches to avoid bruising that pretty face of yours."

"I could say the same to you."

With her gaze accidentally drifting south from Sara's blue eyes, she muttered so only Sara could hear, "Exactly how pretty do you think his face is? On a scale of kinda pretty to hot, hot, hot pretty. And yes," she clarified, "that is a newly introduced scale."

Taking advantage of the opportunity to tease her, Sara replied thoughtfully, "Well, I was kind of involved with him for a while. I'd be lying if I didn't rank him fairly high."

Eyes jerking up from the tantalizing cleavage, Felicity snapped in a whisper, "That is an incorrect answer." Her smile offset any hint of anger, but didn't negate the whiff of jealousy.

Raising an eyebrow, Sara queried, "So you don't find him pretty?"

Felicity parted her lips breaking her frown to say, "That's not the point. I clearly set that up so you could adoringly—"

"Adoringly?"

"Adoringly say," she cleared her throat and spoke in an obnoxiously sweet tone, "'Oh, he's not pretty at all, Felicity. I don't know what I was thinking when I ran off with him while he was dating my sister.'"

Amused by the imitation, the assassin clarified, "My voice is not that high pitched."

"Not the point."

Unable to contain the grin brought on by Felicity's exaggerated frustration, Sara said, "Has anyone told you how awfully cute you are when you're jealous?"

"Me, jealous?" the blonde waved off the suggestion and pushed her glasses up higher on her nose. She returned her attention to the monitors and continued, "Pfffttt no. This is my concentration face." Her eyes darted to Sara's chest as the woman straightened up and consequently ruined the view that had been happily distracting the IT girl. "I wear this face when I concentrate on things."

"On computers or my shirt?" Sara chuckled.

Snapping her gaze back to the screens, Felicity replied, "I'm just thinking."

"About?" the other woman prompted.

Without looking up, the blonde smirked and said, "Give me the correct answer to the pretty face question and I'll tell you."

Intrigued, Sara paraphrased Felicity's earlier statement, "No, he's not pretty. I don't know what I was thinking blah blah whatever else you said."

Donning an unfamiliar sultry tone, Felicity stood and whispered in the assassin's ear, "I'm thinking about what's in your shirt." While Sara unconsciously bit her bottom lip, Felicity kicked herself for her inability to craft something a bit more seductive. She wasn't very good at this.

"Miss Smoak!" Sara gasped. That was definitely the most forward thing Felicity had ever said to her. She liked it.

The other blonde's reaction banished Felicity's insecurities and she teased, "Is that a problem?"

Noticing that Felicity's glasses had managed to slide back down her nose, Sara gently nudged them back in place with one finger and replied, "Nope. Think away."

"Sara!" Oliver called out, "Come over here and help me test some of these." He twirled an arrow in his hand. "I got a bad batch a few weeks ago."

While Felicity struggled to think of some excuse for Sara to stay put, the assassin responded, "Alright but why can't you test them yourself?" Brushing past the now pouting blonde, Sara offered a small compliment, "Your hair looks really pretty when it's down." In Sara's experience, nothing heightened tension more than a sudden interruption and rapid deflation. She was already looking forward to their next conversation.

Oliver answered as she drew closer, "If you can hit something, then I'll know they're good quality."

"Hey!" she snatched up his bow and swatted him in the shoulder. "You were almost killed by the woman who trained me."

Blocking the woman's second swing, the Arrow laughed, "I keep forgetting." Something over Sara's shoulder caught his attention. When he recognized the intruder, he said, "Ba—" He truncated the word as the man motioned for silence. As the man crept quietly toward the blonde at the computer desk, Oliver smiled and asked Sara, "So are you going to help me out?"

Watching as the unknown man walked closer to Felicity, the woman replied, "Yeah sure. Who is that guy?"

Before Oliver could answer, Felicity heard a footstep and felt a light tap on her shoulder. She grabbed a keyboard, jumped up and swung the 'weapon' at the aggressor. When she recognized the man who easily dodged the keyboard, she yelped, "Holy shit! Barry!"

"Hello to you too," he replied with amusement. "That's not the welcome I was expecting."

Flooded with relief at the sight of him walking and talking, she threw her arms around his neck and exclaimed, "I thought you were in a coma or dead or something."

Squeezing her tightly before releasing her from the hug, Barry chuckled, "Well, I am something."

"Alive," Felicity commented with a smile. As Barry leaned back against the table, she sank down into her chair and rolled it directly in front of him. He was alive. He was healthy. He was here. It was a lot to process. The blonde assassin behind her momentarily drifted from her thoughts. After all, she and Barry had left things unfinished. Actually, things were left completely open ended.

"Yeah, I'm alive," he confirmed. He smiled gently and said, "A nurse told me that you visited a few times."

"Of course I did," she assured him. She followed up jokingly, "Much to Oliver's dismay."

"He didn't approve?" A look of discomfort clouded his features as he asked hesitantly, "Are you two—"

"No, no," Felicity hopped from the chair and shook her head violently. "He's just a little needy."

On the other side of the room, Sara unsuccessfully tried to ignore the exchange. Fiddling with an arrow, she asked Oliver, "Who the hell is that guy?" By the body language, she had a pretty good idea.

Carefully adjusting the arrowhead on the shaft, he explained, "That's Barry. It's a bit of long story, but he and Felicity were headed toward…" he glanced over at the pair and then continued, "toward something until he—"

"Yeah, don't care," Sara cut him short. That was not the answer she wanted to hear. "Let's test these." She snatched up his bow, fit the arrow on the string, pulled back, aimed and released. Ollie didn't have any time to witness the shot before an arrow pierced the center of a target.

Impressed, he said, "So far, so good."

"What brings you to Starling?" Felicity asked the grinning man.

"You do."

A bit flustered, the blonde stumbled, "Me? I? I do? I bring you here?"

"Are you embarrassed?" he asked as red spread across her cheeks.

Floundering in her own thoughts she could only manage, "No, no, no—"

He saved her from herself and said, "I woke up and remembered that I hinted at a date. I decided asking you again in person might be a better tactic."

Still uneasy, but enjoying the flattery, Felicity asked, "You woke up from a coma, thought about a date and then came here?"

"Well," he admitted, "I do have some… interesting information for Oliver, but yes. It's hard to forget a pretty girl even after you've been in a coma."

Slightly more comfortable with the flattery, she teased, "It appears that your 'better tactic' includes being direct, which is a bit different from before."

He glanced at his shoes and smirked, "Indirect didn't get me very far." He lifted his head and locked eyes with the blonde and whispered, "I also chickened out."

Confused, Felicity asked, "Chickened out wh—" Barry closed the distance between them and gently pressed his lips against hers. Her arms remained slack at her sides as she stood paralyzed. She wasn't even sure how much time passed before he stepped back. As her eyes slowly opened, she shuffled back toward the center of the desk while he remained smiling at the edge of it.

Felicity cleared her throat as her brain spun and she sputtered, "Oh, that. I umm..." An arrow flying past Barry's head and smashing into a toolbox snapped her to attention. She spun to her left to see a smug looking Sara holding a bow. "What the hell?" she yelled.

Sara shrugged nonchalantly, "Oops. I missed."

Pointing at the tall red toolbox with only six inches of an arrow protruding from the metal, Felicity scolded loudly, "It's a good thing I just moved that not-so-important toolbox right there or else you might have hit something breakable."

As Sara responded with another shrug, Oliver leaned over and mumbled in her ear, "What exactly were you aiming at?"

The assassin spoke up so all three shocked individuals could hear, "Like I said: I missed. Sorry if I interrupted something." The very flimsy apology thrown Barry and Felicity's direction prompted an eye roll from Felicity.

Barry took the event in stride and cheerfully replied, "I'm sure that toolbox had it coming. Maybe Oliver can give you a few pointers."

No one knew if the man was being sarcastic. Refusing to allow Sara any type of snarky response, Felicity noted, "She's actually a good shot. Aren't you?" She glared at the other woman. The coy smile that greeted her gaze threatened to strip away her irritation at Sara's dangerous display.

Barry spoke again to Sara, "Hi. Sorry, I didn't introduce myself."

"You're Barry."

"Oh," he started at Sara's interruption. He recovered, "You're ahead of me. And you are?"

"A girl having an off day."

Not interested in any further conversation with Barry, the assassin turned around and picked up another arrow. Clueless as to why Sara nearly took off the guy's head, Ollie mentioned, "Good thing you didn't hit anyone."

"Mhmm," Sara murmured as she ensured the arrowhead was tightly in place.

"What the hell was—"

Instead of replying, Sara quickly shot two arrows in a row at the same target she previously hit. When Oliver turned to see her handiwork, he groaned, "Dammit Sara. You ruined the arrows."

She smiled triumphantly at the arrows. Two carbon shafts were sliced in half with a third arrow sticking out in the center. Happily, she set the bow on the table and said, "I guess I'm not having an off day." Without glancing back at the happy 'couple', Sara pulled on her leather jacket dangling from a rack and strolled up the stairs. Thankfully, Oliver saw no point in yelling up at her or following her.

Before she rounded the corner from the hall into the club, she heard a shout that made her smile from behind her, "Hey you!" Felicity trotted forward in high heels and waved her hands while asking, "What was that? You almost took off Barry's ear!"

Not thrilled at her concern for the guy's random body part, Sara commented sarcastically, "He doesn't need an ear for you to make out with him." Her eyes combed Felicity's face for small facial cues following her petty claim.

The blonde's eyebrows pulled together as her mouth stretched across her face in shock. She blurted with a hint of disdain at Sara's childlike accusation, "Are you kidding me? You think shooting an arrow at someone's head—"

"Near someone's head," Sara corrected.

"Near someone's head is an okay way to express jealousy?" By the time Felicity finished her sentence, her hands gripped her hips tightly while her head wagged back and forth. She did not approve, not one little bit.

Despite the blonde's fervent insistence of her petulance, Sara smoothly replied, "Jealous of him? Really?"

Taken aback by the assassin's denial, Felicity said, "Umm. Yeah. That's the vibe I'm getting."

Although Felicity's words could not possibly be misconstrued as flirting, Sara decided to pick up where their previous conversation left off. Barry be damned. She slowly slid one foot in front of the other and replied to the frowning woman, "Then you're not very good at picking up vibes."

She halted a couple of feet away from Felicity, who scoffed, "Well then what was—" As one of Sara's hands latched to the back of her neck while the other yanked her forward by the hip, Felicity was interrupted yet again by a sudden kiss. However, this kiss was different. Instead of being in a state of shock for who knows how long when Barry kissed her, every second threw a new sensation her way. She could barely process the pleasure. Sara's nails raking through her hair shot sparks of beautiful pain down her spine. The woman's other hand tugged at the back of Felicity's shirt trying to pull the woman closer into her embrace.

Quickly identifying Felicity's glasses as a hindrance, Sara reluctantly parted their lips, yanked off the frames and shoved them into her back pocket. For a brief moment, both women drank in the sight of the other's face. The assassin broke the gaze first as she plunged forward claiming Felicity's lips between her own. Felicity's hands finally found a home clasping Sara's face. The heat from Sara's face transferred to her palms and down into her chest, which was already on fire. A small moan of contentment leaked out between their lips. As she basked in Sara's lips dancing against her own, she hungrily slid her tongue past the woman's teeth. She needed more. She ached to taste her as well as feel her.

The assassin eagerly greeted Felicity's tongue with her own. The frantic nature of the kiss melted into a yearning. Their mouths moved slower, their tongues dove deeper and their hips melded together. While Felicity's hands merely drifted down to the back of Sara's neck, Sara's hands settled on Felicity's lower back. She drank in every moment and soaked up every moan. As their kissing slowed to small pecks between wide grins, the assassin whispered, "I'm not jealous. I'm territorial." She pulled the glasses from her pocket and gently maneuvered them onto Felicity's face. After planting a kiss on the amusingly flustered blonde's nose, Sara released the girl from her grip and strode toward the exit.

Felicity stood with two fingers caressing her slightly raw mouth. "What just happened?"

I was glad to finally get flashback Sara and Felicity together! I hope to have more written soon-ish. Thanks for reading!