"Sara Lance." Oliver took a deep breath. "I thought I could do this. Normally I put a strong face on and pretend that everything's fine. But with Sara, I can't. She deserves more than a few words of how great she was and a fake smile. I'm not going to stand up here and tell you about how she was perfect and what a wonderful life she had. She wouldn't want me to stand up here and pretend I'm someone else." When Laurel asked Oliver to give the eulogy for Sara's funeral he was hesitant. In his life Oliver had lost too many people he cared about, his father, Tommy, Shado, his mother, and now Sara. With the others Oliver never had to grieve because there was always a mission to complete or a bad guy to take down. And there was a bad guy to take down and he tried to block out her death, Felicity showed him he couldn't. Sara was gone, his Sara, the least he could do was be there for her family. Too many times had he not been there for people he cared about. He couldn't let Laurel and Detective Lance write another eulogy for Sara. Suffer through another funeral alone.
Looking out into the audience tear-filled eyes stared back at him, "When I was gone for five years I thought I knew what pain was, I thought I knew what it felt like to lose everything. When I heard about Sara all I felt was numbness. It felt as if the world stopped, everything froze. It didn't seem like life would ever continue again. Because Sara was such a big part of my life and it didn't seem like the world should continue without her." Oliver looked out into the crowd, focusing on Laurel. There was a look of disbelief on her face. One Oliver had seen on Thea when their mother was murdered. "The world continues to spin. The sun rises and sets and eventually the pain we feel finally disperses. But that pain leaves a lasting effect on us. And Sara, she effected me more than I would care to admit," A smile grew on Oliver's face. "She helped me through a lot." He remembered the various nights on the island when he and Sara would sit around a fire and talk about home; those were his best nights when he was away. When he was with Sara a little piece of home was sitting beside him.
"Because of Sara we're all here today. We're all here because she cared about us, because she helped us. Now it's time we help her. We remember her, we never forget who she was and what she did." Oliver's hands were shaking, his eyes began to fill with tears, "We look after her family, and we help them get through this." Oliver looked over to the smiling picture of Sara being displayed, "Each day we remember that smile, we remember that laugh, we remember Sara." His legs were weak as he walked down from the podium. Oliver returned to his seat next to the Lance family, his heart was racing.
He bit his lip trying to stop the tears from rolling down his face. Soon a hand was resting on top of his. Turning his head Oliver saw Felicity clutching his hand in hers. Tears streaming down her face, tissues gripped in her hand, and make-up smeared he still saw the happiness Felicity carried with her. Even at a funeral she could make him feel better. Without talking Oliver could see the message she was conveying, unlike on the island he wasn't going through this alone. They all had lost a friend; they all felt the same pain. He gripped her delicate hand even tighter. Right now Oliver couldn't lose anything else.