Oliver listened as Lance talked about Sara. He wished he could tell Lance everything that had happened but he knew it would be worse than believing she had been lost at sea. Suddenly a chill swept over his body. It was quiet, too quiet. Something was wrong.
"Diggle do you have eyes on Felicity?" The sound of pounding footsteps echoed through his comm.
He cursed. "No, I can't find her."
Lance swore and Oliver could hear him yelling into the police radio reporting a kidnapping. His heart stopped in his chest. He had her. Mathis had Felicity. How had he let this happen? He was supposed to protect her but he got sucked into the mistakes of his past and had become distracted. He had let his guard down for one minute and look where it had gotten him.
She was gone. He couldn't lose her.
He searched the alleyway frantically looking for any sign of a struggle. Nothing. He punched his fist against the brick wall. It hurt but it gave me something else to focus on other than his quickly increasing panic. Lance came running around the corner and started looking in every crack and cranny of the alleyway.
There was no way of finding her, they didn't even know how she had been taken and without her to hack traffic cams they were lost.
"Arrow, Arrow!" Digg yelled through the comm.
"Go."
"Felicity had a tracker on her. I just got an alert on my phone."
Hope quickly built in his chest but he pushed it down. He had to have his head on straight if he was going to be able to save her.
"Where?" He only asked for the address. Digg read it off.
"Wait for backup," called Lance.
"Felicity doesn't have time!" He growled.
Nothing stops him. He runs across the rooftops recklessly to get to his motorcycle. He doesn't even concern himself with his helmet only starts it and speeds off spitting gravel in his wake.
When he gets to the building he runs straight at it. It's against every rule in the book. You never go into somewhere you haven't scoped out. But this is Felicity.
It took everything inside of him not to shoot an arrow in Mathis and the only reason he doesn't is because Felicity wouldn't want him to. The polymer is getting dangerously close to her lips before he shoots an arrow stopping it's progression. Mathis runs but he doesn't care. He just.. Does. Not. Care. He runs to Felicity. His mind is scrambled and all he can think while he untied her is that he failed her. The one person in the world that he had never wanted too.
"What are you doing? Go after him!" She shouted through a throat that sounded like she'd been gargling glass.
"Diggle and Lance will take care of it."
He looked down at her wrist, raw and bleeding from the zip ties. "I'm sorry," he choked out. Tears threaten and he doesn't try to hide it.
"It's okay, you saved me."
"I almost didn't." She had been only a hairsbreadth away from death. Where would he be without her? He didn't even want to imagine.
"But you did...Oliver you did. The only thing I'm sorry for is being the damsel in distress."
She was only upset that he had to save her? Didn't she know he would do anything....anything for her? He would kill without a second thought and he couldn't find a place inside of him that regretted that feeling.
"How do you do that? You just got kidnapped and nearly killed, you should be angry with me! I supposed to protect you and I almost got you killed Felicity!"
Why did she stay? Why didn't she just leave him? All the hell he'd put her through yet here she was reassuring him when he should be the one comforting her.
"Is that what you want from me Oliver? To be angry? To leave you and this dangerous life behind?" Yes. That's what he wanted. Anything to get some kind of reaction. He couldn't take her being so calm. Especially after what happened. Her eyes were dead. No signs of the light that sparkled in their depths.
Why did he let her stay. Why did he even let her be anywhere near him? All he did is bring pain and destruction to the people he lov- cared about.
"It's what I hope for everyday," he whispered brokenly. He barely recognized his own voice even with the synthesizer on.
"Well it's not going to happen. I choose this, I choose you.... You best get used to it Oliver because I'm not going anywhere." He could see the steely determination enter her eyes but faster than a blink it was gone. He opened his mouth to argue with her. To tell her she needed to walk away. She should walk away. But Lance interrupted him and he isn't sure that he would have been able to get the words out anyway. He can hear the siren wailing through the cool night air and Lance warns him to leave. Ironic since last year he was doing his best to imprison the psycho haunting Starling.
After threatening Lance to protect her or else he'd get an arrow in him he left, the only reason being because Diggle was there. He ignored every speed limit on the way to the foundry, pushing his bike to the limit. Anything to release the built up anger coursing through his veins. He strips out of his suit putting it back on the mannequin Felicity had bought for it. He slams his hands against her table, her computers shutter causing him to redirect his anger to the training dummy.
Diggle called telling him he dropped Felicity off at her house, she wouldn't let him come inside saying she wanted to be alone. But every instinct inside of him said that was not what she needed. She had been so calm, putting on a brave front, but he had seen the cracks. Felicity was strong but it only took the right amount of force to break something that's already been damaged. What happened to her tonight could break anyone. He grieved her loss of innocence. He had never wanted her to get a taste of the perverted evil that roamed the earth but she had got a front row seat and almost lost her life to a maniac.
Her life would have been cut short at 24. She would have never got a chance to fall in love, get married, have a family, a dog and the white picket fence. He stopped himself from imagining himself as the one she did all those things with. He couldn't have that. He had already given his life to the city. He would die righting the wrongs of his father. That was his mission and nothing could divert him from it. Even a petite blonde who's cornflower colored eyes could intoxicate him more than any liquor in the world. She had the power in her tiny finger to change every thought and decision he ever made and she didn't even know it.
He climbed in through her window. He'd have to remind her about security later. Her bedroom is empty and dark. The sounds of sobbing greeted him as he walked towards the living room. There she is against the door arms wrapped around her drawn up legs, heart wrenching sobs leaving her mouth. She's barely able to breathe and her breaths come in agonizing gasps. His heart shattered in his chest and he doesn't know when he decided to move but soon his arms are wrapped around her. She jumps but as soon as she realized who it was she clung to him like a life raft in the middle of the ocean. He pulled her head to his chest and she sobbed harder. All he could do is rub her back.
Silent tears of his own slipped down his cheeks. He'd never seen her so broken and he would do absolutely anything to put her back together again. Her sobs quiet into silent tears that soak through his shirt. He ran his hands through her hair and down the smooth column of her neck. He wasn't worthy of even touching her after what he let happen to her but he can't let her go. It just feels right for her to be in his arms. They had never been touchy-feely people, not that is was unwanted but deep in both of their subconscious minds, in a place that was free of madmen and the hood, where Oliver was just Oliver and Felicity was just a IT girl they knew those lingering touches would lead to something so much more. He savored the feeling of her in his arms because he isn't sure of the next time he will able to hold her like this.
Her breaths even out and he looked down at her face sleeping against his chest. Something flashed behind his eyes and he sees a unidentifiable woman laying her head on his chest, her arm stretched across his body tracing her delicate fingertips against one of his scars. Before he gets a chance to analyze it it's gone taking with it the feeling of complete happiness with it.
He lifts her easily and carries her bridal style to her room and gently lays her on the bed. After he pulled her shoes off he tucked the covers around her small body. Why had he never realized how small she was? Everything about her body screamed breakable but he knew inside beat the heart of one of the strongest, bravest women he had ever known.
He traces a finger down the smooth skin of her cheek and brushes some stray hairs from her forehead. It's the most natural thing in the world to lean down and kiss her softly. He doesn't linger on the feeling choosing the add it to the 'quiet dreams he keeps to himself' list that was ever growing.
He locked her window and settled himself on the couch, not willing to leave her lest she have a nightmare and wake up terrified and alone. But the night passes and there are none, she was too spent. He could only hope it stayed that way but knew better. Even he had nightmares and they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. He felt he had a new one to add to the recurring nights of terror. Felicity face drained of color stung up like a doll. That image would haunt him. As the light of dawn filters through the curtains he slips out the door locking it behind him. She had wanted to be alone, she didn't need to wake up with him there. He didn't expect to see her that day but never ceasing to surprise him she showed up at the foundry that night with a new determination to 'catch the bad guys.' That was Felicity Smoak and he couldn't do it without her.
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