Jessica stood by the front door of her apartment, checking her watch yet again. "Amber, hurry up."
"I can only move so fast with a stack of books." Amber retorted as she slowly shuffled toward her stepmom with a stack of nearly a dozen books rising over her head.
"Why? Just... why?" Jessica questioned, defeated.
"You're gonna be gone for three days and I'm still grounded. I need to be prepared." Amber explained.
"First of all, I am going to be gone for two days and second of all, you have a key. If you forget something here, you can just ask Oliver to drive you over."
"Those are very good points," Amber admitted. "I'll be right back." She slowly turned around and started shuffling back to her room.
Jessica facepalmed. "I had to get a weird kid."
"I'm ready." Amber walked over with only four books in her hands this time.
"Finally." Jessica opened the door and ushered Amber through it. She locked the door and the two made their way outside where Jessica hailed a taxi.
The car had just pulled away from the curb and entered traffic when Amber remembered something she had forgotten. "Wait. My book."
Jessica rolled her eyes. "You have four of them."
"I haven't started reading any of these yet. The one I just started is on your desk at the precinct."
Jessica checked her watch. "Well, you're gonna have to get your dad to take you because I'm really pushing it with my flight."
"Fine."
* * *
Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity sat in a booth at Big Belly Burger, discussing their vigilante business and getting lunch.
"So, to catch this guy, we need to figure out where he is or where he's gonna be," Oliver spoke.
Felicity glanced between Oliver and Diggle. "Is this really how you guys figure out how to get your target, over burgers and shakes?" She asked.
"Sorry, it took me so long." Carly apologized as she walked up to the table. "I'm waiting on a bunch of particularly rowdy customers."
Diggle looked over his shoulder at a table full of loud, obnoxious teenagers. "You need me to handle that?"
"I appreciated it, but I'm a pro by now." Carly kindly turned down Diggle's offer.
"I'll be here if you need me." Diggle smiled at Carly, who returned the gesture before returning to work.
"Girlfriend?" Felicity raised an eyebrow.
"No, no, it's my, uh, sister-in-law." Diggle clarified only to end up backtracking. "Sort of."
"Carly was married to Dig's brother. And he passed away." Oliver explained.
"Well, looks like she's hot for you."
"Ah. Can we get back to crime fighting, please?" Diggle practically begged. He did not want to talk about his love life right now.
Oliver, on the other hand, wanted to linger on the topic. "Actually, Dig, I was thinking you probably should ask her out."
Diggle leaned back in the booth, ready to play. "Really? I'll do it five minutes after you ask out McKenna."
"Ooh, the detective on the Dodger case." Felicity looked over at Oliver. "You have a thing for her?"
"Uh..."
"Yes," Diggle answered for him.
"I don't see you asking Carly out." Oliver shot back.
Diggle responded by standing up and strolling over to the counter Carly was working behind, leaving Oliver and Felicity to continue discussing vigilante business.
"Felicity, this guy, he's targeting a very specific type of jewel. We figure out why and that'll give us the how to catch him." Oliver brought Felicity's attention back to the more pressing matter at hand.
"I have an idea," Felicity said, only partially distracted by Diggle struggling to ask Carly out.
"Mm-hmm."
"Your crush object with a badge said they were working with Interpol."
"Yep." Oliver nodded.
"Why don't I work up a little tech, you distract her with a little flirty flirt, slip said tech onto her phone?" Felicity suggested in her own unique way. "It'll turn into a micro transmitter and boop we'll learn everything she knows."
Oliver cleared his throat, thinking over the idea. "It's not how I typically get my information."
"How do you typically do it?"
"I find the person. And then I put the fear of God into them until they talk but we can try your way."
Before Felicity could even think of a response, a confused expression settled on Oliver's face and his gaze shifted to something behind her.
"What's with the books?" Oliver asked Amber just as she reached the table and dropped her stack of books on it.
"Jess is leaving for a few days and I need to be prepared," Amber informed.
"You need all of those books for just a few days?"
"Plus the one I left at the precinct," Amber said.
Jessica walked up to the group. "Hey, where's Dig?"
"Oh, he is asking out his sort of sister-in-law," Felicity spoke up.
"Of course, he chose to do that today," Jessica muttered. She looked back up at Felicity, her eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
"Felicity Smoak." Felicity introduced herself, stretching her arm out to shake Jessica's hand.
"Right, you hacker-proofed Amber's phone and computer."
"I did." Felicity nodded. She turned to Amber. "You're very good."
"Not good enough to not get caught," Amber replied.
"That is a very bold thing to say in front of me and your dad," Jessica commented.
Amber shrugged. "I am bold."
"Amber said you were leaving town for a few days." Oliver changed the subject for his daughter could talk herself into a longer grounding. The longer it went on, the more bored Amber got. And when Amber got bored, she got curious. Given how intelligent she is, it was only a matter of time before she realized how stupid Oliver's excuses were and started asking questions.
"Yeah, I'm going back to my hometown."
"Where's that?" Felicity asked. Her eyes widened right after. "If you don't mind me asking, that is."
Jessica waved her concern off. "It's fine. I'm from Gotham."
"That explains a lot," Oliver said.
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
"You get what a lot?" Diggle asked, joining everyone mid-conversation.
"The response everyone has when I tell people I'm from Gotham."
"Oh, speaking of which, are you ready?" Diggle asked. He had offered to drive Jessica to the airport and pick her up when she told him about this trip a few weeks ago.
Jessica scoffed. "I've been ready for the past five minutes which you spent asking Carly out."
Diggle turned to Oliver, suspecting him first. "You told her."
Felicity hesitantly raised her hand. "Actually, it was me."
"Who cares who told me? I would've heard it from Carly later today anyways." Jessica said. "Now can we go? The sooner I get to Gotham, the sooner I can leave."
Although Jessica's anxiousness might have seemed out of character to everyone else, Diggle understood. He knew her best out of the whole group-- even better than Amber. So when she asked him to hurry up, he happily obliged. After all, this is exactly what he promised her brother he'd do.
A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a bit disorganized, I forgot to take my adderall today and haven't been able to focus on anything for more than like five minutes lol.