Against all odds: An Olicity fanfic

3. The art of convincing

Somehow Felicity managed to pull herself out of bed the following morning to be present for a meeting at work; coffee helped too.

She sat in a chair next to Ray, but mentally she was checked out. Her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of last night along with the last time she saw Oliver, back when he was still her Oliver. It was like a war going on inside her head. One minute she was reminded of her telling him she loved him and the next was her saying that he was dead to her.

Why couldn't her mind just take pity on her and be quiet? She groaned internally.

"Everything okay?" Ray asked once the meeting had concluded.

"Just peachy," she put on a fake smile.

"You know you don't have to do that, right? You never have to pretend with me." Ray frowned at her.

"Ray I'm okay. You know me...I'm just overthinking things at the moment." She patted his back  before leaving to return to her office.

Felicity was determined to put on her best poker face and see the day through.

She was responding back to an e-mail when she heard a chirp coming from her desk.

It wasn't her phone though; it was the burner phone the team used to communicate discreetly. She had practically forgotten it was there.

She picked it up and saw a message from John.

"Come to the bunker ASAP. Important" it read.

Had it been anyone else, Felicity would have ignored it. However this was John; if he said it was important than it was.

"Ray, I'm gonna go on a coffee run, need anything?" She poked her heard through the door of their adjoining offices.

"I'm good, thanks." He smiled without looking up from his work. The poor guy had a huge stack of papers on top of his desk.

"Okay, be back soon-ish..." She said and shut the door.

Felicity sent John a quick reply before tossing the phone and hers in her purse.

...

"What's wrong John?" Felicity asked as she entered their hideout. Thea and Laurel were already there.

John's armed were crossed and his body language said he was pissed. It was all Felicity could observe though since he was facing away from her.

"John did you hear---Malcolm?!" Felicity nearly dropped the coffee in her hand when she noticed Malcolm Merlyn in her seat.

"How nice of you to finally join us, now we can get started." Malcolm produced an usb from his pocket and plugged it into the computer.

Felicity looked over at John but he appeared just as lost as her. He gave her a confused shrug.

The team gathered around the computer monitor and watched closely.

"This is a message from Oliver." Malcolm informed them.

Felicity scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Don't you mean Al Sah-him?" She corrected.

"Save the questions for after the video, please." Malcolm sighed.

Seconds later a video started up.

It was Oliver looking very much like the man Felicity loved and not the monster she now thought him to be.