Technical Assistance

Chapter 34: File Decryption and Recovery

Felicity is almost asleep when she hears him murmur goodnight, and then the words are out of her mouth without thinking: "Goodnight, Oliver." She doesn't even realize she's said them, but then he tenses, holding his breath.

She pulls back immediately, cursing her particularly wild, uncontrollable mouth for this one. She always said it would get her into trouble, and this just proves it. "I'm sorry," she says immediately, "I should have—" She bites her lip, unsure of what she should have done. "I wanted to wait until you were ready to know, I swear." She sits up, and he follows as she crosses her legs beneath her, prepared to explain her deception. "I should have told you when I figured it out, but I thought you didn't want me to know, and—"

“Felicity,” he cuts her off gently, though she notes that he isn’t smiling. He seems to war with an idea, with his next words before they finally come out as, “How long have you known?”

She bites her lip for a long moment. “It’s kind of a long story,” she warns him, but he waves a hand to assure her he’s ready to hear. “I had my first questions about you being the Arrow,” she starts quietly, “during the thing at Verdant, when the club caught fire. You walked by one of the flames, and I saw what color your eyes were, and the thought occurred to me.” She shakes her head, chuckling a little. “But then I thought that was ridiculous, because I equated you—Oliver-you—with being someone who sat on an island for five years, roasting lizards to eat and drinking from coconuts.” She looks at him carefully to make sure she hasn’t offended him, only to find that he’s trying to fight a smile, meaning she’s in good territory.

She takes a deep breath. “So I pushed the thought away. Then I found that Diggle was your associate, and I thought it was interesting that both of us knew Oliver-you and ended up working for the Arrow.” She waves a hand. “But Diggle is ex-military and you've turned me into a hacker along the way, so I didn’t think much about it. I thought you were collecting allies based on skill, and, well, the Queen family employs over a hundred thousand people in this city in some way or another, so I pushed it aside.

“And then Arrow-you did so many things that reminded me of Oliver-you, but I just couldn’t reconcile the fact that Oliver-you could fight, could use a bow.” She waves a hand, motioning to the way he’s dressed now. “Oliver-you doesn’t seem as… heroic as this side of you.” She chuckles, rubbing at the back of her head. “But I guess you meant it that way so that you wouldn’t be suspected.”

She points a finger at him. “But then things happened with Tommy’s dad, and I knew something was different when you gave him your name right away.” She shook her head. “You didn’t do that with me, and I’d bet you didn’t do that with Diggle, either. So I just figured you had to know him.”

She bites her lip again. “And then he made that comment about not trusting you,” she says finally. “I saw your face fall, and I knew it hurt you. So Tommy had to mean something to you—to be someone close to you—because his dig was enough to hurt you." She shrugs. “At that point, it was obvious. Tommy has one close friend, and I couldn’t deny it any longer. And it explains all the things I didn’t understand before, like the way Saphira reacted to you. And the whole thing between you and Helena. And so many other things.”

He’s so quiet for a moment that she decides he isn’t going to speak. She reaches a hand out slowly, her fingers touching the fabric of the hood for the very first time. “Is it okay if I…?” she asks hesitantly, and he nods in response, his mouth set into a grim line. For a moment, Felicity wonders why he seems so glum, but then she knows he’ll reveal his secrets when he’s ready.