Hello, fanfiction world! I'm back :) this time with another story. This is my 1st Olicity story. I love the show and I love this couple so I felt I had to contribute in some way to what is already a great fandom. Hope you enjoy this multichapter story and I'll meet you at the end!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned any of the characters in this story but truth is I don't.

Chapter I - The Lie

"Is Ollie here?"

Felicity looked up from her tablet to find Laurel Lance staring back at her with clear, piercing eyes. She couldn't get over how naturally stunning this woman was. She just had a way about her, something that made you stop and take notice, something that Felicity kind of envied.

"Never mind." Laurel interrupted Felicity's image analysis and went straight for the office door.

"What? No, wait! I'm supposed to…"

Felicity followed after her but it was too late. Laurel was already inside the office, with her perfect set of sun kissed curls cascading over her shoulders and down her back. and Oliver was already standing up from behind his desk.

"It's alright, Miss Smoak. I'll take care of it from here," he said with a small smile.

Felicity knew the 'Miss Smoak' was part of their secret identity cover as corporate CEO and personal assistant, but she didn't quite like it, especially when she had to be 'Miss Smoak' and Laurel could be just 'Laurel'.

"Laurel..." Oliver pointed her to a chair she didn't take.

"Tell me the truth, Ollie. Are you… the Arrow?"

Felicity had barely taken two steps out of the office when she heard Laurel's voice, sentencing Oliver loud and clear. She felt her blood sink to her feet and her arms wrapped around her tablet holding on for dear life.

Oliver remained every bit the ninja he was.

"I thought we'd established I do not spend my nights jumping around in a green hoodie shooting arrows into people, Laurel," he offered with a carefree, easy air.

"Did we really? Because the only reason you were cleared last time was because the Arrow conveniently showed up the same day you were stuck at home wearing an ankle monitor. Don't you think that's a little too coincidental?"

Felicity had to give it to him, the guy even managed to laugh.

"Now I can't even catch a break? Convenient or not, Laurel, I still can't be in two places at the same time."

"You could've easily had an accomplice."

"An accomp… Laurel! I. Am. Not. The Vigilante! You know me. You know there's no way I cou..."

She cut him off mid sentence. "No, I used to know you, Ollie. You spent five years stranded in some island, doing God knows what and you came back with all these scars that I can't..."

Laurel looked down at his shirt as if she could see the horrid marks through the blue fabric, permanent witnesses of the horrors he'd endured.

"You're different," she said softly. "That much is obvious. Maybe you're just a lot more different than I thought."

He didn't say a word. Felicity felt the office suddenly got a lot smaller, glass walls or not.

"Where were you last night, Ollie?"

Last night? Well, last night he'd been on Arrow duty but why was she asking about it? Of course! Oliver forced his face to stay cool. He was supposed to meet Laurel the day before but then Roy had stuck his little beacon arrow on the wall and he'd forgot all about it. Not even a call, Oliver, way to go.

"Laurel, I'm sorry. I was working on the investors' meeting for today and..."

"Don't bother, Ollie. I already know you weren't here. I called your house, you weren't there either. I even called Thea at the club and she said she hadn't seen you all day. Then I get a call from the police department saying the Arrow is in the Glades pinning drug dealers to the walls. And it got me thinking… All those late arrivals, the no-shows. I realized you always have an excuse, Ollie, never an explanation."

"So your obvious conclusion is that I have to be the vigilante?" Oliver had a wicked condescending act. "Laurel, you're basing all of this on one coincidence and the fact that you're mad at me because I didn't call last night."

"This is not just one coincidence, Oliver," she said, pointing her finger onto the stack of papers she'd thrown on his desk. "I looked back into all the files the police has since the vigilante came to Starling City, which happens to be the same time you returned from the island. Almost every time you go missing the Arrow makes an appearance. I'd start telling the truth if I were you, Ollie. Don't make me come back with an arrest warrant."

"He was with me." The words rushed out of Felicity's mouth in that out of control way they always did. She kicked herself mentally right after she said it.

Laurel turned to look at her with a frown. "What?"

She pulled her glasses up in one swift motion and made her way into the office trying not to shake that much.

"Felicity, what are you doing?" Oliver's tone was thick with warning.

The blonde girl did her best to ignore him and carry on.

"He was with me last night," Felicity said, "and probably many of those other times too."

Laurel eyed her harshly.

"What do you mean he was with you? I already told you I know neither of you were here."

"I never said we were working. I just said he was with me… outside office hours." Laurel looked at her without blinking while Felicity's cheeks went from blushed to burning. "Don't make me spell it out please."

She didn't mean to sound snarky but she seriously didn't want to say she was having s.e.x. with Oliver. That'd be asking too much.

Laurel couldn't believe her senses. Out of all the possible ways this could've gone she did not expect that. She turned her olive eyes up to Oliver.

"Oliver... what is she talking about?"

He was just lost. How am I supposed to know anything about this completely made up story Felicity is babbling about?!

"I emm…" Nope, nothing was coming out. Damn it! Out of all the moments now I can't think of an excuse. Not even a bad one… Oliver looked down at the blonde. You better ride this wave all the way now, Felicity Smoak!

Felicity tried to remember those acting classes Mrs. Johnson, her old drama teacher, used to give them at the community theater. Come on, Felicity, you can do this. She took a deep breath and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"As much as I'd like to think Oliver didn't say anything because I asked him not to, I'm pretty sure it has a lot more to do with the fact that it is you asking."

Wow, talk about repressed feelings, Felicity thought. Even in my made up story I can't make Oliver put me over Laurel. Well, at least it's believable. She took advantage of Laurel's clear look of shock and ran with it. It was all about protecting Oliver's cover now.

"I didn't want him to say anything because, let's be honest, we all know what this looks like, right? Big company CEO dating his assistant? Yeah, that's only like the world's oldest affair story. Talk about lame clichés."

Felicity thought about pointing out the fact she even had blonde hair and all but somehow she felt Oliver and Laurel wouldn't appreciate the joke. She could actually sense Oliver's muscles getting tense so she hurried before he had a chance to blow the whole story.

"Anyway," Felicity continued, "I just got promoted… which had nothing to do with this by the way, but you know, I didn't want to be the new 'Anna from Accounting'. Plus, throw in this one's reputation with women," she said pointing her thumb at Oliver before realizing Laurel was one of those 'women'. You just don't know when to stop, do you Felicity? Wrap it up, wrap it up!"I'm sure you understand now why I wasn't too keen about letting the cat out of the bag but since the alternative now is having my… is having Oliver accused of being a crazy hood guy then…" Felicity looked up to find Oliver's eyes, "Then I think I can take one for the team this time."

The blonde smiled a little at her boss-slash-partner, hoping he'd understand what she really meant by those words. They were a team, him, Diggle and her, and she was just trying to do her part.

Oliver held her gaze. This was Felicity being Felicity in all her glory… smart, resourceful and above all dependable. She was part of the team, all the way, and she had been since the day he decided to crawl in the back of her car with a bleeding shoulder. Somehow he'd known she was worthy of his trust and now he felt he had to return the favour.

He let out a small sigh and smiled back at her a soft, subtle smile. He would follow her lead this time, play along with whatever crazy plan she was suggesting, and just like that his hand stretched out to graze her cheek in a tender gesture, sending shivers down Felicity's body.

He forced himself to look away from Felicity and turn to Laurel.

"I'm sorry I lied, Laurel. It just... It wasn't my place to tell."

Laurel could feel a knot starting to take hold of her throat. How could she have been so stupid? Why didn't I see it sooner?

"No, I'm sorry, Ollie. I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that," she said.

That scene she was forced to witness… It was all the confirmation she needed. Oliver was absorbed by her, by this little blonde girl with the nerdy face and the tight gray dress. She could see it in the way they looked at each other, the way his walls had come down immediately when she smiled at him.

Laurel hadn't seen Oliver smile like that, so genuinely, since he came back from the island. When did this girl gain all that power over him? It used to be her who had that exclusive access to Oliver's true self. Now she felt like an outsider, someone intruding in a very private world. She needed to get out of there.

"It was a mistake coming here," Laurel said, and Oliver could hear a slight trembling in her voice.

"Laurel…"

"No, Ollie, really. It's fine. And don't worry, I won't say anything about you and…" She looked over at Felicity trying to draw back the name from one of the many times Oliver had said it.

"Felicity," she prompted with a nervous smile. "Felicity Smoak. We met before... twice actually."

"Right, Felicity. Happiness and good fortune, how appropriate," she said and her lips twisted in a strange, sad smile. "Goodbye, Ollie."

Laurel grabbed her folder and walked away. Oliver wanted to go after her, he wanted to tell her the truth, to ease the sadness out of her face but he knew there was nothing he could do about it right now so he turned to face Felicity, only she was pale as a ghost and staring blankly into space.

"Felicity, are you okay?"

All he got was a couple of blinks and a failed attempt to grasp for air.

"Here, sit down." Felicity obeyed and Oliver kneeled down in front of her. "Hey, look at me. It's okay."

There was a bit of pink now on her cheeks but her eyes wandered through Oliver's face in a hurry. "I'm so sorry, Oliver. I don't know what I was thinking! How could I tell her that? She obviously wasn't going to believe me. I should've… I should've thought of something better. I mean… you going out with me, right… cuz' that makes a lot of sense."

Felicity dropped her head in her hands and let out a muffled 'oh God!'. Oliver couldn't help but smile at how desperately concerned Felicity was. He stood up and walked over to the window looking out at the Starling City lake.

"Apparently it makes a lot more sense than you think."

Felicity frowned and turned on the chair to look at him "What are you talking about?"

"According to Isabel everyone at Queen Consolidated thinks there's more of a personal relationship between us. Something to do with your skirts being too short."

"My what?" Felicity looked down at her legs and tugged at the hem of her dress a bit making Oliver smirk again. "Was this before or after you two got to play Russian Twister, the nude edition?" Oliver could hear the sarcasm in her voice. Clearly she still wasn't ok with that. "Unbelievable! She thought you were sleeping with me and yet... she still got in line."

"I told her it wasn't like that."

"Gee, thanks. Why didn't you say something to me?"

"I didn't think it was important," he defended himself.

"What do you mean it's not important?!" Felicity realized if someone heard this conversation it wouldn't help the situation at all. She stood up and went to the window. "People think I'm sleeping with my boss and you don't find that important?" she whispered.

"Says the woman who just told Laurel we're dating."

"That's different! I was trying to keep your secret. I didn't know people were already talking about it! I thought… I don't know, that maybe if by some miracle Laurel believed that ridiculous story then you could wait some time and then tell her it didn't work out or something. And that would be it, crisis avoided, no harm done… other than Laurel thinking I was one of those blondes. But it would be just Laurel, not everyone I work with!"

Felicity was close to a full on panic attack and the worst part was Oliver didn't seem to be grasping the seriousness of the situation.

"You need to calm down. If there's one thing people do is talk. I'm used to it, you'll be fine too."

Is he being serious right now!?

"Oliver just because people think you're playboy billionaire since… forever doesn't mean everything will be fine. Even Laurel will get over it once you tell her what you actually do after hours – because I know you will eventually – but I still have a reputation to salvage and I'd like to think I could go out with a guy one day without having the awkward 'No, I didn't sleep with Oliver Queen' conversation."

Oliver's brow went up.

"Not that I think sleeping with you would be a bad thing. Or a good thing, necessarily. What am I even saying? God! This is so not the point I was trying to make."

He pushed back a smile. Truth is he liked that about her, how her thoughts ran wild and everything came pouring out of her mouth like a pack of horses. It made her transparent, the complete opposite of what he was with his bag of secrets and his dark corners.

He gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Felicity, it'll be fine. We'll think of something."

Felicity looked into his eyes. It was hard to hold on to fear when you looked into Oliver Queen's eyes. There was something about them that made you feel enraptured, like everything around them just faded away. She felt safe.

She nodded slowly. Back on her desk she was unlocking the screen on her tablet when Oliver peeked out from the office.

"Felicity?"

"Hmm?" she said distractedly before even looking up at him.

"Thank you," Oliver acknowledged.

Felicity's stomach did a double back flip.

"No problem," she says with a smile to hide the fact that her legs just turned to jelly and there's a tingling somewhere in her body she can't pinpoint. "For you anytime," she mutters under her breath, trying to focus back on her work and not on the fact that right now someone actually thinks she's Oliver's girl. Oh well, a girl can dream.

Oh ouh! What trouble did these two get themselves into? Hopefully A LOT, am I right? haha Next chapter our favourite boss/assistant duo will face the consequences of their little lie. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know how you like the start for our story. Place your bets, people! What do you think will happen next? We'll see! xOxO Wordaholic.

P.S.: For those of you waiting on an update for "Mark My Words" I have to give my most sincere apologies. The muse has left the building for now :/ Chapter IX is called "The Other Mikaelson" and it's already over 2000 words long but just not quite done yet. I promise to get back on it as soon as the muse makes an epic return. Hang in there with me! Thanks for the love you've given to the story and rest assured I WILL deliver the rest of the story cuz' Klaroline leaves on!

Sorry for the lenthy A/N, it's the only one, I promise. Lots of love!