Author: Some1FoundMe
Title: Stay
Summary: "Stay. No matter how hard it is to be with me, stay. I need you." Saw this pin on Pinterest with the comment that Oliver needs to say this to Felicity. So I wrote this. Future-ish. Set after the end of season 3.
Stay
"Stay. No matter how hard it is to be with me, stay. I need you."
He whispers the words in the middle of the night with agony in his tone. His arms are like a vice around you, anchoring you to him as if you'll drift away.
These are the nights when his nightmares are bad, when the terror raging in his mind rips him from sleep. His chest beneath your cheek is hot and damp. He's sweating and trembling and you cling to him in the hope that you can calm the racing of his heart.
It is not the first time that you've experienced these nightmares with him. You know that it will happen again. But you do what you can to assure him that you will not go. You will stay no matter how bad it gets. And you know that there is always a chance that it will get worse before it gets better. Even though these past months have been the most difficult time in your life, there is a possibility that things will only be harder as time goes on. Because there is a chance that he will be taken from you again, that you will lose him, and you understand the terror that consumes him.
"Felicity…"
"Shh. I'm here, Oliver. I will always be here."
You do not know what happened to him all those months he spent in Nanda Parbat. He will not tell you and, in all honesty, you cannot find the courage to ask. But he returned to you not too long ago. He returned and that is what matters.
Things have been different. Tense and intense and while you are more than thankful that he has come back to you, you have never seen him this way. You have never seen him so vulnerable. You hate the League of Assassins. You hate Ras Al Guhl. You hate them for what they've done to him, to both of you. He did not deserve to be dealt such a hand. He is a good man and he deserved to live the life that he wanted. A life, you hope, that would include you. And while you are living some semblance of that life now, you know that the threat is there. It will always be there. He will forever worry. He will always be looking over his shoulder. And because of that threat, you know that he will fight moving forward with you. He will fight but he will give in because he loves you, because he wants you to stay, but he will be overcome with fear for you at all times. Because while your greatest fear is losing him to the League, his is losing you at all. Chasing you away or losing you at the hands of his enemies, the fear lives within him.
"Stay. Don't give up on me. Please."
His voice breaks as the words escape him. He is tormented by the nightmares and the pain in his voice brings tears to your eyes.
You press your lips to his too-warm skin.
"I'm not going anywhere. I'm here. I love you."