Arrow: Reckoning Part 2

Marked Man

The clanging of the metal echoed through the Foundry as Oliver battled the training mannequin with his bow. He guided his weapon into the steel arms, each strike pulsing with a powerful ring and tremor passing through Oliver's muscles. With Slade's return and his close quarters fighting style, Oliver thought it best to train for his inevitable next encounter. With nearly a week passing since Felicity's unforgettable elevator ride, Oliver found himself strained to his limits. He wasn't able to sleep with the ever constant threat of Slade hunting down his loved ones, even though he was already spending the majority of his nights watching over Felicity's apartment. The lack of sleep was clearly taking it's toll on him, affecting both of his jobs. Felicity and Oliver had mainly only made appearances at Queen Technologies over the past few weeks, dodging as many meetings as they could. The sound of Oliver's training pulled Felicity away from her mundane task of backing up the local server in the Foundry, leading her thoughts to the son that Oliver still wasn't aware of. She hadn't been able to tell him yet, always giving herself an excuse that he already had too much on his mind. The secret had continued to eat away at her mentally, lingering with her heavily after her near death experience with the elevator. She glanced back and watched Oliver furiously battle the mannequin as if it were Slade himself. Oliver's stress relieving tactics were extremely obvious and normally enjoyable to Felicity, as he was more than likely to be shirtless. Now however instead of lust and desire she felt pain and guilt as she watched him beat the training mannequin. The cell phone beside her buzzed, catching both of their attention. Felicity checked the caller ID and relayed it to Oliver.

"Detective Warren." She stated as Oliver moved toward her to retrieve his phone.

"What'd you have Detective?" Oliver asked as he answered the phone, his voice masked via the emulator installed on the phone.

"Maybe nothing, but I went over some of reports on Frost and I came across something that popped up in a few of the reports." Warren replied, reading through the documents. Oliver waited for the information as he paced beside a table, eager for any bit of evidence to help them.

"Witnesses place Frost near an abandoned apartment complex in the Glades a couple times, apparently he was seen using the alley next to it. Now we assumed he was just cutting through the alley to save time, but since he was spotted here more than once I thought it might constitute a look." Warren explained, placing the folder in his hands onto his crowded desktop.

"Send me the address, I'll check it out." Oliver replied as he moved back toward Felicity's station and placed his phone on the table. Oliver stepped toward his suit and stopped, sensing Felicity's worry filled gaze upon him.

"Felicity, this is me noticing you staring." He began smiling as his bow gently settled back into it's case. Felicity sighed, not wanting to ask him the inevitable question that he had heard all week. Her pause and drifting gaze angled his brow as Oliver moved beside her.

"Everything okay?" He asked, leaning onto the desk beside her and wiping his face clean with a towel.

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing." She replied laughing a little. Oliver smiled, enjoying how she always seemed to make him happy even with the smallest thing.

"Is it about the elevator? I know we haven't really talked about it yet." Oliver asked, doing his best to judge Felicity's response to the topic. It wasn't uncommon for them to avoid discussing near death experiences but they both knew that this one was diffrent, for them both.

"Not much to say really. Other than I will be using the stairs for the rest of my life, which kinda sucks but it beats getting flattened by a rouge elevator car." Felicity replied, turning away from the large server beside her. She gently rubbed her sore neck and did her best to formulate a strategy to inform Oliver of his unknown son. Oliver picked up on her tension, realizing that he wasn't the only one who wqs feeling the weight of the situaution. He searched for anything that could help lighten the mood and keep them both from breaking down. He smiled as he stood and extended his hand toward her. Felicity glanced at his inviting hand and raised an eye brow.