Long Live Love

COUNTING DOWN

"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials."

-Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There was this strange tightness in Oliver's chest the moment he opened his eyes this morning. He tried to ignore it and tell himself it was all in his head, but ever so often it would stop him. It would stop him and he'd have to just breathe. Just like now as he stood in the bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror after stepping out of the shower. A deep breath escaped his lungs and once again the tightness subsided.

Oliver turned and walked from his bathroom into his conjoining bedroom, straight for the closet. He plucked one of his many suits and walked it over, lying it on the bed. That's when he noticed the black purse sitting on his bed. He let his eyes wander, also noticing a woman's jacket on his chair.

"Twinkie?" he spoke heading for the door, but accidentally bumping the side of his bed and knocking her purse to the floor. Oliver walked over to pick it up, noticing that the purse had popped open and some of it's contents had spilled out. He was about to reach down and pick it up, when he noticed something among the contents. "What the hell?" he bent down and picked up a pill bottle, reading it's name. He had no idea what the pills were for, but he was definitely going to find out. He walked around to grab his cell phone that sat on his bedside table, before dialing a familiar number.

"Oliver, hey." whispered a familiar voice.

"Felicity?" Oliver replied suspiciously. "Why are you whispering?"

"I'm not, I'm just not...talking loudly." she replied and Oliver suddenly decided to let it go. "What's up? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I need a favor. I need you to look up something for me." he held up the pill bottle. "Modafinil."

"Why does that name sound familiar." Felicity muttered more to herself. "What's this about?"

"I'm not sure yet, just text me when you know something."

"Sure." Felicity replied before ending the call.

Felicity looked down to the slip of paper she'd just written on, before sitting it on the coffee table. She picked up her mug of coffee before looking back to the man who was currently sleeping on her couch. Or at least she thought he was sleeping.

"This gets weirder every time you do it Ms. Smoak." came the rough voice of Bruce Wayne, who opened his eyes and glanced up to the woman with a tired smile.

"Well, after two weeks, I'm still finding it difficult to believe that a billionaire would rather sleep on my couch than in some luxurious hotel." Felicity replied before bringing her mug to her lips. "You ever going to tell me what's going on?"

"Why do you think something is going on?" Bruce asked finally sitting up from the couch to let Felicity sit beside him. The woman stared at him with a quirked brow before moving to sit beside him on the couch. "Why can't I come visit a friend and crash on her couch."

"Because you're you, and I'm not an idiot." Felicity replied with a bright smile. "You're hiding something Mr. Wayne, and I'm a good investigator." she narrowed her eyes at him. "I will be watching you."

"You know you say that like it's a bad thing." Bruce replied and Felicity couldn't help but smile as she turned away to grab the slip of paper before standing to her feet. "What's that?"

"You have your secrets, and I have mine." Felicity sang as she walked around the couch. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to get ready for work." Bruce watched the woman, until she disappeared into her room, closing the door behind her before reaching forward and picking up his phone, and accessing the video feed of the league assassin still tied up.