She could feel him standing just behind her, the heat rolling off him, making the hairs on her neck stand up. Felicity tried to concentrate on Oliver's face, she watched him closely, trying to read his mind. Suddenly the Count's hands were on her shoulders and her eyes snapped shut, skin crawling. The hands move around to her neck and one clasps over her nose and mouth, she can't breathe or scream, she desperately tries to fight. Somehow the restraints on her wrists vanish and she opens her eyes. She claws at the hand on her shoulder and lurches sideways out of the chair.

"Felicity! Felicity!" Someone's calling to her. She falls to the ground and the hands take a strong grip on her upper arms. She looks up and is met by familiar blue eyes.

"Oliver?" she asked breathlessly. She looks around and after a few moments realises what happened. She was at the foundry and Oliver was kneeling in front of her, one of his hands cupping the side of her face.

"Oh. I fell asleep?" she asked, a little dazed, Oliver helps her to her feet.

"What?" Felicity asks when he doesn't let go of her arm.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, you just startled me. I don't remember falling asleep" she said.

"Are you getting any sleep at home?" he asked.

"Yeah, same as usual" she lied. It's been 3 weeks since the Count kidnapped her.

"Felicity…"

"Oliver, please. I know I've been a little jumpy but, come on, I'll get over it."

"You're having nightmares now too. I know you're lying about how much sleep you're getting, this is the second time one of us has found you like this" he said. A similar thing had happened with Diggle the week before.

"This isn't the first time something like this has happened, I've gotten into trouble before and I'm always fine" Felicity explained, she moved past him to the desk and started collecting her belongings that were sprawled out in front of the screens.

"This was different" he says, almost pleadingly "I wasn't there when he grabbed you. He could have killed you, he almost did-"

"I don't need to be reminded, Oliver, just because you feel guilty" she snapped at him. They stood in a tense silence; Felicity had never spoken to him like that before and the distance between them suddenly felt greater.

"Sorry" She started again "I know you're just worried about me, but I don't know what you want me to do. I'm trying to deal with what happened the best way I can, it's just going to take awhile. It wasn't your fault, I shouldn't have gone out there without back up."

"I am worried. I just-" he stopped, trying to find the words. "I want you to know that you can talk to me about this stuff. Diggle too. We're a team and we're here for you, always"

"Yeah 'cause you two are always so open about you're feelings" She said sarcastically and the two couldn't help but smile at each other. Felicity collected her bag and made to leave before stopping at Oliver's side. She placed a light kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you" she said gently before continuing up the stairs towards the car park. Oliver watched her leave, absent-mindedly touching his cheek.

A few days later, the three of them were all in the foundry, Dig and Oliver, sparring on the mat while Felicity was busy collecting as much information as she could in regards to the recent bank robbery.

"I just can't see how they pulled it off" she said throwing her hands up in exasperation. Dig and Oliver patted each other on the back before joining Felicity by the screens.

"Have the cops made any progress?" Diggle asked from behind her right shoulder.

"I've been looking through their case files and they seem to be as clueless as us"

"They brought that Allen guy in so they obviously need help" Oliver added.

"Barry" She corrected him. "Hopefully he can make a break in the case, he's actually quite intelligent, impressive credentials for his age. Not to mention handsome… tall..." her voice trailed off.

"That's funny, Oliver and I were just talking about how handsome and tall he was earlier" Diggle responded. Felicity cracked a smile.

"You're observational abilities never cease to impress Diggle" Oliver said in a serious tone. "Maybe we should get back to the bank robbery?"

After another hour or so of searching the three of them still hadn't made any progress when Felicity's cell phone rang. She grabbed it and moved away from the desk before either of the guys could see who was calling.

"Barry, hi" she said breathlessly.

"How does he have her number already?" Oliver asked bitingly. Diggle just shrugged.

"Oh yeah, of course I know about the Gala, that was nice of him. I would love to!" she said excitedly. Oliver stood up to face her back and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay, sounds great, I'll see you then!" Felicity hung up and turned back to them with a grin on her face, which vanished when she caught sight of Oliver.

"What?" she asked.

"What was that about?"

"Oh well you know the Gala at the museum this Friday? The Chief of Police invited Barry as a thank you for helping with the case and he just asked me to be his date. Not that it's any of your business."

"You think that's a good idea? I mean we don't even now this guy" he said.

"That's the idea of a date Oliver, to get to know someone" she replied.

"Well I don't think I trust him"

"What a surprise, Oliver Queen slash the Arrow has trust issues" Oliver hadn't relaxed his stance at all. "Okay, this is the first time I've been asked on a date in a really, really long time so there's no way in hell I'm going to let you ruin it for me" she said, closing the distance between them.

"Alright as much as I'd like to see Felicity throw a punch, I think we need to cool down a little" Diggle said placing a hand on each of their shoulders "Can I suggest a compromise? Maybe Felicity can use the date to see what Allen has on the bank robbery, see if he's thought of something that's not in their case files?"

"That sounds like a good idea" Oliver agreed.

"No way, I'm not interrogating the poor guy on a date"

"Felicity, please" Diggle said still trying to maintain peace. Felicity hesitated for a long time before rolling her eyes and agreeing to the terms.

"Good" Diggle said, relieved.

"Good" Oliver repeated before adding "Diggle and I will of course be attending the event as well, you know, just in case"

"In case of what?!" Felicity said, outraged "He's not a criminal!"

"You don't know that" Oliver said with a smug mouth "besides Oliver Queen also received an invitation to the Gala along with the rest of the Queen family"

Felicity continued to glare at the two of them before snatching her bag from under the desk and storming up the stairs.

"One of these days she is going to hit you and I'm more than certain it will be well deserved" Diggle said once she was gone.