harder to breathe;

All he could do was watch her as the woman let her eyes linger over the notebook and the pages that held name after name. Did it make Felix actually feel better now that he had shared it with someone else? Not entirely, but there was a weight that had been lifted off his shoulders the moment he handed it over. There were things about it he still wasn’t sure of and the feeling of being able to trust her over anyone else with it pushed him in this direction. Her curiosity of where he got it from wasn’t surprising, especially when he would wonder the same thing in that instant. “From your stepmother,” he quickly replied, still remembering the moment it got slid in his direction.

Olivia knew it wasn't her notebook -- that was still at the club, she knew for sure. Though she was also aware that this was the same list of names written in a script that matched that of her's, curling like vines across the pages, each name as prominent as the next. By this point her mother's handwriting was imprinted in her mind, etched and burned there along with things she couldn't begin to forget. The things that laid hand in bringing her to this point. She raised her head, fighting to keep her expression neutral at his words, but nearly found herself unable to when she was facing Felix. Instead she responded with several curt nods and turned her gaze back to the book, flipping pages while not really reading. Her now missing stepmother. "Regina." Where it was usually easy for her to come up with vague but satisfactory responses, she found herself struggling to word things without possibly saying too much. Bright blue irises slid back up to him. "Um, where did she get it?"

With his hand outstretched, Felix felt the small notebook slip from his fingers as she finally accepted it. His eyes had looked at it for a moment before they lingered on her, his hand falling back into place in front of him as he gazed at her. The look on her face wasn’t exactly what he had expected, though he didn’t really know what to expect in that moment. There was a part of him that wondered if he had made the right decision showing it to the woman, and another part knew it was the right decision. Those two parts of him began to clash and soon evaporated as he watched her open the notebook and saw her fingers linger over the names written inside. It caused his brows to pull together as his gaze lifted back to her face. “Have you ever seen this before?”

Continuing to glance through the pages, she noticed that the compilation of names was practically the same. So there was more than one copy of her mother's list? Deft fingers flipped past name after name. "Nope," responded Olivia, perhaps a bit too hasty. Her features hardened, a slight sad but suspicious cast to them. "Where did you get this?" It was just a question -- she tried not to sound accusing, simply curious. It was far more than inquisitiveness; she needed to see who wasn't as innocent as she thought. Who else could possibly have gotten their hands on a list like this?

His face had fallen for a moment at her quick response. The thought crossed his mind that maybe this wasn’t the best idea. Not that he couldn’t trust the woman sitting in front of him when he still felt like he could, but maybe he shouldn’t. Except the thought quickly evaporated, even before her next response — the one he was really hoping for. It was the response that had him letting out a breath of relief while nodding his head once, slightly, and letting a hand travel behind him. “Then I have something to show you.” As the words passed his lips, Felix tugged the small notebook from his back pocket and held it out to her. There was relief from hearing her words and relief from finally sharing it with someone.

At the sight of the notebook, Olivia's expression took a stonier turn. She stared at it for a second or two before eying Felix, knowing she should take it from his outstretched hand, but still hesitating for a few moments too long. Eventually the brunette took it warily, her gaze knowing as she looked at the soft brown binding. Lips pursed, she opened the book and was met with a familiar looping script. It covered the pages in red ink, like blood to fit with the list of names that mimicked Olivia's own given from her mother.

The way the brunette had her brows drawn together nearly had Felix scoffing. In fact — he did release a noise while shaking his head slightly. Maybe he didn’t expect that response, and maybe he didn’t even know what to expect from her, but the question wasn’t that far fetched. Even if he felt like he could trust her, there was a part of him that wondered why after everything she had asked him to do. “I’m not an idiot,” he mumbled, still finding a way to fidget with his hands as he looked directly at her. ”You’ve dropped some fairly ridiculous lies on me and yet — I still feel like I can trust you.” It was true and he wasn’t entirely sure why, but the fact still remained. It was a fact that had Felix letting out a light chuckle while looking down at his hands for a short moment before lifting his gaze back up to set his eyes on the brunette once more. “Why is that?”

Part of Olivia had known that he was going to call that out on some point, but a bigger part of her held out hoping that he wouldn't. She glanced away for a moment, a flash of guilt appearing in her eyes, evaporating as soon as it was there. Olivia didn't turn away, though, instead maintained a relaxed air as she laughed softly. "I have one of those faces," she offered in response, lips curving into a slight joking smile. Though when she saw his expression, the smile fell, her attention shooting to her lap regrettably for a moment. The brunette shook her head once before apologizing. "Sorry." She met his gaze head-on, nodding once. "Yes. You can trust me."

Hearing her response, knowing it was the slight push he needed to go on, Felix continued to rub his hands together. A bit of a nervous habit and even more so now that he was indoors and out of the cold weather. There was no doubt in his mind that he needed to tell her, especially when she deserved to know, though that didn’t make it any easier when the information only sat on the tip of his tongue and he had to find a way of forcing it out. “The thing is — I’ve been debating whether or not to share this with you for weeks.” Each word seemingly had to be pushed out of him, but he didn’t hesitate with the question that followed up, even though he felt as if he already knew the answer. “Can I trust you?”

She remained quiet as he continued, noiselessly encouraging whatever he was so clearly nervous to say. Olivia shouldn't have been surprised that he was wary to share this with her -- it wasn't as if she had been totally honest with him these past few weeks. In fact, she only seemed to spout lie after lie his way and he proceeded to help her without question. Any other sane employee at Queen Consolidated surely would have brought her odd requests and even stranger results to the attention of Regina, but it was clear that Felix had kept it to himself. Olivia appreciated it; after doing the same thing to and for the sake of her family, she would be lying if she said it wasn't nice to feel like she could trust him. She was already risking Diggle enough by having her know who she was and she wasn't about to consider putting Felix in the same position, but she was grateful for what help he provided. Regardless of any of that, her eyebrows still drew together in surprise as she pulled away from his question, head tilting to the side.

Seeing the brunette had showed was a blessing. Not that he doubted she would, but he was still unclear on a lot of things, and even many including her. Though he was glad, especially when it meant the stress and thoughts over this notebook could be shared with someone Felix thought needed to know them. Whatever was trapped between those pages couldn’t have been good news and it was only fair that Olivia, of all people, knew about it and the contents that resided in it. Felix only wished he hadn’t waited so long to share it with someone. Yet he also wished he didn’t have to share it with her of all people as he lifted his hands to rub them together — not from the cold but out of habit. “Thanks for meeting me. I was… nervous to come to your house.”

Olivia's posture was relaxed as she faced him, weight resting on her arms, one elbow on the counter while her other arm was propped on the back of the metal chair. She habitually tossed her too-long hair away from her face, expression falling to that of mild curiosity. While she had no doubt he wouldn't have called if it wasn't important, at this point Olivia almost felt like she wouldn't be too terribly surprised by anything. An eyebrow arched at his words, her lips curving into a whisper of a smile. Amusement was laced through her tone when she spoke a single "okay" in response. A practically silent push to go on.

Hours had passed since Felix learned the location of where the supposed ‘energy drink’ was made and told the brunette who came to him for help in the first place. Though he still didn’t believe the story of it — or many others he was told by Olivia — Felix still, for some reason, followed through with getting the information. It was not long after that when he found himself lost in thoughts of a notebook that was handed to him a little while back. A notebook that had only crossed his mind a handful of times before that evening, but now continued to cross his mind until finally he called Olivia and asked her to meet him somewhere.

It had been a long day. A long week. Starting with the meeting with Landon and Tommy about convincing her brother to take a job with the younger Lance, followed by a second meeting (this time with the Russians and notorious drug dealer known as 'The Count'), only to find herself in the middle of a drug bust. And after being injected with the drug, things were literally fuzzy. It didn't help that she had woken up this morning handcuffed to a table and coming down hard from whatever dosage that had been forced on her. Between passing out once and being flooded with the unwanted memories from the island, she knew never dealing with Vertigo again would be far too soon.

There was no doubt that he felt like an idiot for the filter he didn’t seem to be born with. It caused slip ups on more than one occasion, and they seemed to continue more and more as time went on. Though there was slight reassurance when the brunette laughed and didn’t turn to walk away that instant. As she asked about the supposed energy drink — supposed because there was something he wasn’t too sure about — he reached a hand out to take the syringe and held it between his fingers while looking at it before looking back at her. “If it’s an energy drink, why is it in a syringe?”

She was prepared for him to accept it and allow her to go on her shaky legs and heavy feet (the drug wasn't making her feel any worse just yet, so there was that to consider), but she should have predicted some sort of questioning. The brunette's gaze shot up to the ceiling for a beat before she returned her attention to Felix. "I ran out of water bottles." Jo proceeded to walk off then and Olivia only watched her go for a moment, instead offering a small smile to the blonde before he nodded and walked away. She swallowed hard then, blinking a couple times before returning to the elevator where Diggle was waiting.

"I’ve noticed," he let the words slip out without a thought. That wasn’t exactly uncommon for Felix, but that didn’t mean he was happy with it — especially not in that moment. If only he had a filter, or if only he could quite literally insert his foot into his mouth just then. Though neither seemed likely for him — ever — and all he could do was close his eyes and hope he hadn’t just spat out the words that he knew he had. "I said ‘not noticed’," Felix continued as he blinked his eyes open, looking between the two women. "Right?"

Without much of a hesitation, Felix nodded his head and did exactly what the brunette asked. “Sounds like you need a Blood Mary and a pretzel,” he voiced his opinion, knowing a few remedies for a hangover, as he continued to walk past her and the bodyguard beside her. “Not the I.T. Department,” Felix added, turning on his heel to face the woman again.

While she retained the feeling of moving through Jell-O, Olivia was thankful as Felix walked to stand behind them. She could practically feel Jo's assumption that she was going to pass out here in the middle of Queen Consolidated, but she simply turned the other direction, all but in sync with her dark-haired bodyguard. "Actually, my friend Kevin is starting an energy drink company that he says is fantastic for curing hangovers." Another scripted lie. She reached into the pocket of her leather jacket and pulled out a syringe. "But I'm very particular about what I put in my body."

As he spoke, Olivia stood frozen, vision growing blurry around the edges and Felix's figure before her grew shaky, outlined by the harsh sunlight outside. Slight nausea came over the brunette, but her voice appeared steadier than she felt. The excuse that came from her lips next was easy and much more believable than the last lie she spouted to him. "Do you mind stepping away from the window for a moment? I have a little bit of a hangover."

"No," There was no hesitation at her quick response, which had been wrong as far as he could tell. "Warren Patel—" His eyes glanced at the computer screen for a second, seeing the same blueprints that were now stuck to his brain from seeing it for the past few minutes. "Who’s Floyd Lawton?" A curious question that slipped out.

Eyebrows furrowed slightly, she looked back at the blueprints and tried to find where she got that name. Olivia's expression hardened the slightest bit, pursing her lips as she considered responding. "Floyd Lawton is an employee of Mr. Patel, evidently." She examined the blueprints, frustratedly trying to put together a plan. With all the entrance and exit points, as well as the three towers, Deadshot was going to be able to get a shot from virtually anywhere. How was she going to begin to cover the area, cover his targets, on her own? She couldn't. And that was the problem.

Nodding his head once, Felix turned to look back at the computer screen for a moment, looking over the blueprints for only a second before looking back at Olivia. “Ms. Steele is trying to buy Unidac Industries,” It wasn’t exactly unknown information. “And you’ve got a laptop associated with one of the people she’s competing against.”

"Floyd Lawton," she filled in, assuming that was the laptop's owner. After all, that had been who she tracked it back to -- the man who had not so kindly assisted her by killing her target and poisoning her in the process less than twenty-four hours before.

His squinted eyes stayed on her, not bothering looking back at the computer. “Ms. Steele marrying your dad,” Felix stated the seemingly obvious while only pausing for a second. “Claudius, Gertrude… Hamlet..?”

Another blank look before she shook her head. "I didn't study Shakespeare at any of the four schools I dropped out of." Olivia's reputation as Starling City's party girl wasn't exactly sprung on her in her college years.

Though she said it was, he still wasn’t planning on believing it when things didn’t quite match up. The bullet holes were one of the larger things, while her giving a questioning look was right there on the list. It only caused him to continue looking at her through slightly squinted eyes with a pressed smile. “Look, I don’t want to get in the middle of some Shakesperian family drama thing.”

She looked blankly back at him, eyes flickering between Felix and the computer screen for a moment. Olivia arched an eyebrow, responding with a plain, “What?”