"I want to be your favorite hello and your hardest goodbye." ~ Unknown

. . .

"It's your fault, she's dead!"

Kick!

Hit!

Smack!

"STOP!"

And Oliver went flying through the air. He was bloody and bruised. Felicity had a feeling that Slade had already broken bones. She didn't see Oliver coming out of this fight alive. She knew that Oliver had said that he'd killed Slade before and had put an arrow through his eye. Obviously the eye hadn't grown back, but Slade was alive. Her heart pounded and she held her breath as she watched Oliver's body slide down the wall. She had been told to stay back, but she didn't think she could much longer now. She couldn't bear to see Oliver beat anymore. She knew that Diggle had medical training, but already this was more than hospital worthy.

Kick!

Without thinking, Felicity dashed towards Oliver's body. She covered him like a shield with her own body. She choked out a sob as she listened to his labored breathing. She was absolutely certain that there was blood on her. She didn't care. It didn't matter. She just wanted to protect him.

"This is between him and I!" Slade bellowed.

Felicity cringed as more sobs responded to his angry yells. She'd been the bait in the trap. Oliver had told him that this was between him and Slade. Slade had agreed that Felicity wasn't to be harmed, but now she'd put herself between them. Felicity knew that Slade had the Mirakuru inside of him, there was no way she could see that Oliver was going to win this fight and she couldn't bear to lose him.

"Please!" Felicity finally managed to plead. She turned her head to look up at Slade, whom was standing over them. He towered high above and she could see splattering of what she could only assume was Oliver's blood on him. "Please! I know I don't know everything that happened on that island," she told him as tears flooded her face and her voice broke. Felicity looked back down to Oliver, her tears falling onto his broken and bloody face, before she looked back up at Slade. "I love him—"

"I know you do," Slade told her. "That's why I had you picked up… Oliver would do anything to keep you safe… I don't quite get why…but he loved Shado too…and he's the reason she's dead…"

"Then kill me… You've practically killed him already," she whispered. Felicity straightened herself, sitting up. "Take my life instead of his…"

This seemed to catch Slade off guard. His look softened and he stepped back a couple of steps. "His life isn't worth yours," Slade finally responded, his voice hardened and cold.

"I think it is," she whispered and looked down at Oliver. If Slade killed her, then maybe Diggle could get there and save Oliver…

"No," Oliver breathed.

"Shhh…" Felicity told him as she hovered over him. She kissed his forehead gently. "It's going to be okay…" She stared at him, one of his eyes opened. The other one was swollen shut. His bright blue eye stared up at her. Felicity carefully caressed his bruised cheek. "Digg will be here…" she choked out.

The laughter that broke out surprised her and she jumped at the sound of it. She looked up to see a rather amused Slade standing there. Was he just going to kill them both? Was he just merely amused and entertained by her agony? What? Felicity waited, she was certain that Slade would explain things.

"I have a better idea," Slade said taking a step forward.

Felicity just stared at him; her body shielding Oliver's again as best as she could in that position. She didn't understand and had so many questions. "Please…don't kill him…"

"I'm not," Slade responded. "What I have planned…it'll be much worse…"

Worse?

Her mind started to race.

"Leave us, Ms. Smoak."

"No," she whispered.

"You're going to leave willingly or by my hand…" Slade told her, his voice harsh and threatening.

"Don't touch her!" Oliver suddenly voiced and then coughed.

"Tell her to leave…or I'll have no choice…"

"Felicity—"

"I'm not leaving you," she whispered as she stared down at Oliver. She didn't know if he could even stand on his own. What if she left and Slade just killed him? Could she live with herself? Could she even live after that? She hadn't even told him—"

"Please—"

"Oliver, I—"

"I give you my word that he'll still be in the same piece he is now after I walk out of here," Slade interrupted.

"How can I trust you?" Felicity questioned. She didn't want to go, but at the same time Slade had made it clear that he'd remove her and he certainly had the strength to do so. She had no doubt that he'd do it.

"Have I lied to you?"

Felicity stared at him for a long moment. "No," she whispered.

"If I was going to kill Oliver, I'd happily have an audience," Slade told her with a grin.

He was terrifying, but he was telling her the truth. She looked back down to Oliver. He looked so small and so vulnerable. She didn't want to leave him. "Oliv—"

Oliver gave her the smallest of smiles even though he was broken. "It's okay, I won't go anywhere…"

She smiled back, just a little, but tears ran down her face. Felicity had to really will herself to move away from him and leave him alone with Slade. She made it outside and Diggle was just pulling up. Felicity was certain she was a wreck and had no idea how she was going to keep him outside with her while Slade was talking to Oliver…

"John," she breathed as she ran into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and she heard him talking, but she really didn't take it all in. She just answered what she thought he was saying. "I need you to stay here…we have to wait…" She sobbed for a minute and then fought for control. "Until Slade is done—"

"Slade?! He's in there with Oliver still?!"

Oliver held onto his arms, digging her fingernails into him, as he struggled to leave her in order to go find Oliver. "No! You don't understand!" she cried out. How could she even explain it so that Diggle would really understand and not just go running in there? She really didn't know how to do it.

"Felicity! He needs us! How can you just stand out here?!"

She opened her mouth, tears down her face, but then Slade just walked by them like he didn't even know them. He paid them no acknowledgement. Felicity released Diggle immediately and they were both running into the warehouse again. She practically twisted her ankle as she fell back down to Oliver's side.

He was exactly where she'd left him and he didn't look any worse for wear. She looked up at Diggle, who looked pissed. She wondered if he blamed her or if he thought that Slade did all of this while they were outside. She knew that this was exactly how she'd left him.

"Oliver?"

"I hurt," he groaned.

"I don't care what either of you say, I'm getting an ambulance here now," Diggle told her as he dialed on his phone.

"Fine," she said quickly. Felicity reached out and immediately started to remove the hood first from Oliver. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she tried to do it as quickly as possible. She was determined to strip Oliver out of his Arrow costume before the police got there.

"Felicity?" Oliver gasped.

"Shh… " she hushed and then she looked to Diggle. "Tell me you have a change of clothes in your car…"

"In my trunk," Diggle said.

"That's good enough," she said and then heard Diggle start to tell the 9-11 dispatcher what had happened and that they'd tracked Oliver's phone there. Felicity stripped Oliver of his green leather uniform and gathered it up before grabbing Diggle's keys from him.

Felicity retrieved a pair of workout pants from Diggle's car and stowed away the Arrow costume in a duffel bag in the trunk. She returned and started to rub the pants around on the ground to get them dirty and then with Diggle's help, they put them on Oliver. He was already wearing a white shirt, so she felt like that was enough. She rubbed dirt into the already blood stained shirt.

"They're going to be here any minute, Man," Diggle told Oliver.

"Felicity?" Oliver breathed.

"She's here."

"Send her home."

Felicity just stared at Oliver and then at Diggle. She had to have heard that wrong. Oliver wanted her to leave? She wasn't leaving… She was going to the hospital with him. Felicity was going to sit in the ambulance with him. She was going to sit at his bedside until he was discharged. There was no way she was going home. Felicity didn't even think that Diggle would tell her that.

"When you're loaded up into the ambulance," Diggle promised Oliver.

"John—" Felicity started to argue.

"I think we can both agree that right now, all that matters is that we get Oliver to the hospital and try to keep his identity as the Arrow secret," Diggle told her in a hushed tone.

He was right.

Felicity looked down at Oliver and didn't know how she was going to be okay with not going to the hospital with him. He didn't want her there… Why didn't he want her there? "Oliver, I—"

Oliver turned his head away from her just as the ambulance sirens blared.

Her heart dropped and broke. Felicity looked up at Diggle and felt like she was about to lose it. Oliver had been rude and even mean to her in the beginning…but not like this…not since they had gotten so close. At least she thought they were close. She'd felt like she knew Oliver better than he knew himself sometimes.

"What happened?"

She hadn't even realized that anyone had entered the warehouse, but Diggle was on his feet and explaining things to the police and the medics as the medics tended to Oliver. Eventually, Diggle was the one pulling her to her feet. The medics seemed to have things well under hand.

"Officer Lance?" Diggle called.

"They're about to move him," Lance informed them. "They're going to be taking him to Starling General. Are either of you going to ride along?"

Felicity just looked at Diggle. She wanted to go so badly, but Oliver had been quite clear. "Are you going to go?" she whispered.

"Can we have a minute?" Diggle asked. Lance nodded and Diggle pulled her a few feet so that they were out of earshot of the police and medics roaming the warehouse. "I know you want to go," he started. His voice was quiet and gentle. Felicity was fairly sure that he knew exactly how she felt and why she wanted to go so badly besides the fact that they were all friends. "But he doesn't want you to go… He's probably just shaken about things because of Slade… Just…let Lance take you home…"

Felicity looked down and held the new tears in place. She was certain that she was a complete mess. Maybe it was better this way. It couldn't be good for Oliver to see her in such a state. Her eyes were probably red, her make up was probably running everywhere, and she just was too emotional anyways. That didn't mean that she was really thrilled about the situation.

"I'm going to text you…and call you…and keep you updated tonight, okay?" Diggle asked. He suddenly pulled her into his arms. She clung to him and stifled the sobs that wanted to push out. "He's going to be okay…and he'll snap out of whatever is going on… He's going to want to see you tomorrow, I'm sure… Okay?"

"Okay," she whispered.

She didn't know if that was true, but she hoped he was right. Felicity just didn't understand. Could he really say that he didn't want her to see him like that? She'd watched Slade beat him. She'd tried to shield him from being killed by Slade. Was he just self-conscious? Was he embarrassed? None of that made any sense to her. Oliver had climbed into the back of her car when he'd been shot by his mother and she'd helped to patch him up numerous times before… Oliver being injured or even on the brink of death wasn't anything new for her. It just didn't make sense to her. The only thing she could really think could be possible was that Slade had knocked him around so much that it had scrambled his brain a bit.

"Right now what matters is that he's okay, right?" Diggle asked.

Felicity nodded slowly.

"So, I'll ask Lance if he can take you home… You take the bag out of my car. We can tell them that it has QC files or something in it that can't be left here overnight," Diggle said. "And you'll see… Tomorrow, things are going to be as close to being back to normal as they can be with Oliver beaten nearly to death."

"He's going to be okay, right?" Felicity asked. She needed to at least hear it from Diggle before she left.

"They think so," Diggle responded as he let he go. He held onto her arms and stared at her. "He's strong. You and I know exactly how strong, remember?"

She nodded.

"Come on," he said as he guided her back towards Lance.

She'd not missed the fact that the medics already had Oliver up on a stretcher and somehow Felicity swore that he looked better. She didn't know how or if it was just her imagination. She just kept having to remind herself that he was going to be okay and he was getting the care he needed.

"I was hoping that you'd be able to drive Felicity home," Diggle said. "I think she's honestly too shaken up to drive or else I'd have her take my car."

"Of course," Lance said. "I'll do it myself."

"Thank you."

"Thank you," Felicity echoed in a whisper.

Her eyes were on the stretcher the whole time. In her head, all she could think of was how he didn't want her there. His words kept turning over in her mind. Him looking away from her kept flashing in her head and she was barely holding it together.

"I'll text you soon," Diggle said. His hand slid down her arm before he finally left her to walk after the stretcher.

"Let's get you home," Lance told her.

She didn't want to go.

. . .

TBC…