Blind: An Arrow Fanfic

Chapter 1

Not only was Sara Lance back in Starling City, Felicity thought viciously as she kneeled down yanking out bits of fried cable from her toasted server, she was also back in Oliver's life. As his new girlfriend, no less. She wasn't quite sure what the appropriate term would be to explain the relationship between her boss and the woman he'd betrayed his ex with, but seeing as they were clearly sleeping together and being all touchy feely in public, that probably meant that they were going steady.

Going steady? No one even said that anymore. Annoyed at her train of thought as well as the juvenile expression she reached both hands into the rack in front of her and pulled hard. Not expecting the broken piece of hardware to come out so easily, her heel slipped on the tiled floor and with a distinctly unladylike yelp she found herself sprawled on her back with bits of microchip flying in all directions.

"Great!" she muttered as she moved to sit up, her posterior still smarting. Fed up with herself, with Oliver, with Sara, with the entire situation, she tossed the cables across the room, feeling marginally better when she heard the satisfying thud it made as it hit the opposite wall.

"Whoa!" she heard Diggle say as he rounded the corner.

Felicity's eyes widened and guilt set in. "Dig! I'm so sorry. I…err…was aiming for the err…bin," she ended lamely, grateful that Diggle didn't mention that she had sent the hardware flying in the opposite direction to the trash receptacle.

He walked over, a concerned look on his face. He crouched down beside her. "You okay?" He extended a hand and helped her up. She automatically reached to pull her cream and black print skirt down over her thighs.

"Yeah, dandy," she replied with more heat than necessary, smoothing her ponytail back into place.

She turned her back to him while she worked efficiently, brushing a stray strand of her behind her left ear, all the while staring at the blank terminals before her. Since the explosion at the foundry the night before, everything was in complete and utter disarray. This was the umpteenth time she'd had to rebuild her computer network and infrastructure from scratch after some or other disaster had struck their vigilante hideout.

Diggle slowly turned her to face him, an indulgent smile on his face. Gently, he pushed her back into her black chair. "Level with me. What's going on?"

She didn't want to talk about how confused her feelings for Oliver made her or how jealous and insecure she'd felt about her role in his life from the moment Sara had come back onto the scene. So instead, she strayed to a safer topic.

Sighing heavily, she relaxed into the chair. "Look at this place," she gestured to the shattered glass, bits of carbon fiber and other materials strewn all over the counters and floor space. "Do you have any idea how long it's going to take me to put it back to rights?" For some absurd reason she felt tears prickle behind her eyes. Taking a deep breath she swallowed in an attempt to gain some measure of control over her emotions.

Diggle didn't take his eyes from her as he moved beside her and leaned back against her desk. "We're all here to help you. You're not going to have to do any of this alone. I know I'm not up to your standards, but Sara-"

"Not you too!" Felicity burst out, throwing her hands in the air. "Yes, I know. Sara Lance is a miracle worker. She kicks ass, she's practically a surgeon and guess what else? She just happens to be a genius around computers too." She pushed her spectacles back up the bridge of her nose. "Why do I bother to hang around here, these days? I should in fact spend more time doing my actual day job." She quirked her head to the side, her sarcasm unmistakable. "Oh wait, maybe Sara could take that over too. Who knows? She might be as good at that as she is everything else around here."

Silence greeted the end of her tirade. Oddly deflated after going off on a tangent, Felicity felt a tear spill over onto her cheek. Angrily, she swiped it away.

Diggle looked momentarily taken aback. "Felicity," he said softly. "You're not replaceable. Not to me and certainly not to Oliver."

Felicity didn't say a word. She just stared down at her hands. That wasn't the impression she'd been getting lately.

"We would never have achieved a smidgeon of what we've managed to without you. Going forward, we need you as much as we ever did." Diggle laid a hand on her shoulder encouragingly.

Felicity felt like a fool. "Really? Because all I've managed to do recently is get this place blown up," she said miserably.

"Hey," Diggle said, raising her chin so she could meet his eyes. "That was not your fault. None of this happened because of you."

"But-"

He shook his head. "No. It happened and there was nothing you or me, or Oliver, or even Sara," he said the name while looking her straight in the eye, "could have done to prevent it. Thank God that no one was hurt."

Felicity gave Diggle a half-hearted smile. "Thanks."

Footsteps came rushing down the stairs. Twisting in her chair, she saw Oliver walking toward them, closely followed by Sara. The smile he gave the other woman made Felicity's stomach plummet to her feet. She needed to get out of there. It was one thing to work with them in a professional capacity, quite another to see the obvious affection between them. Suddenly it was too much.

Abruptly, she stood. "I need to get some air," she said to no one in particular.

Oliver focused his gaze on her, stopping in front of her chair. "Are you okay?"

The concern in his voice was almost her undoing. He reached a hand out, but she sidestepped. "Fine. It's going to take a while to get everything patched up again," she said, reaching for her coat. "I'm a little tired so I'm going to head home. I'll get to work on fixing all this in the morning."

"That's not nec-"

She reached for her purse and turned to face him, ignoring whatever he was planning to say. "See you tomorrow."

He stared at her, his eyes searching hers. Afraid he'd see too much, she turned away, muttering a hasty goodbye to Diggle and Sara as she hurried out of the building.

"Did I miss something?" Oliver asked Diggle as he watched Felicity flee. Sara was busy picking up arrows from the floor, her position close, but not close enough to hear them talking.

Diggle looked at his friend and shook his head. "I'd love to tell you, man. But I think you're going to have to figure this one out on your own."

"What are you talking about?"

"Open your eyes, Oliver. Look around. There are other people here too. It's kinda sad that I need to remind you of that."

Slapping the object of Felicity's obvious affection sadly on the shoulder, Diggle walked away, leaving a dazed and confused Oliver in his wake.