Digg slowly moved away from the table. The table where the blood of the woman that he loved, lie in a puddle.
"I'll give you a ride to the hospital Mr. Diggle." It was Caitlin who broke the heavy silence that loomed around the combined teams in the foundry.
"Let me know what's happening?" Felicity pleaded with the two heading to the hospital.
"Don't worry, I will," Caitlin reassured her.
Felicity jumped up, eager to comfort the man that had become part of her family.
"She'll be okay Digg. She's a fighter," she whispered in his ear as her arms looped around his neck. Diggle clutched Felicity in a short but meaningful hug as he rushed up the stairs behind Caitlin.
Their echoing footsteps and the heavy bass of the music from the club upstairs rang through the air.
Felicity slowly made her way to her desk. She slumped into her chair and slowly turned around back to her computers to start looking for the man that had hurt her friend. As her hands moved towards the keyboard, she finally noticed them.
She noticed the blood on them. The way the blood was caked and stained into her hands, dry because of how long it had taken the team to get back to base. She stared at her hands and froze. Her hands held still over her keyboard. Her head bent slightly over them as if questioning how they had come to be that way.
"Felicity. Hey, look at me," Oliver said in that soft tone he seemed to use just for her.
Oliver had turned her chair to the side and had knelt down beside it. He carefully cupped her face with his hand, leather gloves absent, and looked her straight in the eye.
"Lyla is going to be okay. She's already at the hospital. They will take care of her. Now we need to take care of you."
Felicity nodded slightly as acknowledgement of Oliver's words but made no other movements.
"Let's get your hands cleaned up okay?" He slowly moved his hands to her elbows to guide her up. His hand on her back steered her towards the bathroom/locker room area that she had installed when he had run away after the island.
Oliver led her to the small bench in front of the row of 10 lockers that she had insisted upon. Seeing that she was okay, he made his way to her locker and entered the combo for the classic combination lock that she had. He grabbed her a new shirt, soft and fuzzy but not too uncomfortably warm, so that she could change out of the blood stained one and throw it away.
He set down the black shirt next to her on the bench and led her to the sink to wash away the stains. He turned the water on and made sure it was a warm enough temperature and then gently pulled Felicity's shaking hands under the stream. The water instantly turned to a nasty rust color and swirled down the drain. Oliver nabbed a bit of soap and slowly worked it into the soft skin of her hands.
"I've got it from here Oliver. I'm okay."
Oliver sighed in frustration.
He waited until she was finished washing her hands to comment.
"You're not fine Felicity."
"Yes, I am. We've had much worse injuries on this team. We've had deaths on this team. Lyla will be fine. I know that."
"Then what is wrong? I know that we've had worse. What about this one has shaken you Felicity?"
"Sara. Sara makes this one different Oliver! She's just a baby. I and Caitlin held in our hands the life of a child's mother. Our best friend's daughter may not have had a mother if Caitlin and I hadn't worked fast enough!" Felicity had progressively gotten louder until she was in full on "Loud Voice" mode.
Oliver has to pause at her admission to collect his thoughts.
"I understand holding the lives of those close to us in my hands. I understand more than most people. You did everything you could for Lyla. You saved her, Felicity. For Sara and for John."
"I know. I know that Oliver." Felicity moves behind of the changing curtains she installed for herself and for any other females that found themselves in here, after swiping the shirt off the bench that Oliver had gotten out for her. She changes quickly and is out before the topic has settled in the air between them, before they can both play as if they have not revealed deeply personal facets of their daily worries for each other.
"This team is all I have Oliver. You and Diggle and Roy are my family. Sure I have the fancy job and mother who lives a plane ride away and I have some friends. But you? And Digg and Roy? This is my life Oliver. This is everything. I can't stand the thought of that being ripped away from me, from any of us."
The silence feels overwhelming as Felicity looks down on her hands that are tangling and detangling themselves together without any command from her.
Oliver slowly steps towards her and wraps one of his warm calloused hands over hers.
"Do you remember when I told you that you weren't going to lose me?" He waits for her nod of confirmation before continuing. "Well, you aren't going to lose any of us. We take care of our own, Felicity. You will take care of us. And we will take care of you. Always."
As her gaze steadily rose during Oliver's passionate speech, she now meets his eyes searching for something she can't define.
"I know you will," she says with purpose and words as loaded as Diggle's guns.
The tension is thick between them before Felicity knows that she needs to be the one to walk away.
"I'm gonna start running some facial recognition. We need to find this guy again." Felicity makes her way to the exit of the bathroom, hands still entwined with Oliver's and slowly slipping away.
When they both finally exit the locker room type area, Roy and Cisco are still the only ones there.
Felicity swears she can feel the brooding mask of the Arrow slipping back into place on Oliver.
The silence is deafening as she makes her way to her computers. Five minutes later she has the facial recognition software up and running all over Starling City and has expanded the search to Central City as well.
"Is that all you need until the computers find anything?" Oliver asks.
"Yeah. That's all I need for now. I'll let you know when we know where he is."
"Okay. Can I be…alone for a while then?"
"Oliver, I really don't think…"
"Felicity!... Please?" Oliver first raises his voice and then pleads in desperation. It's a tone she has heard a few times before. It doesn't worry her as much as some of his words from the past have, like the Deathstroke situation and hearing Oliver with Tommy in his last moments.
"'Lis, we could go upstairs and wait until Barry and Caitlin get back. Wait for you programs to run," Roy suggests. He's still in his costume.
"I know that I could use a drink!" Cisco says with a levity that only Cisco pulls off.
"I'll be back. I'm gonna change real quick and then we'll head upstairs and grab a table," Roy finalizes as he's moving swiftly to the locker rooms.
Cisco feels the slight tension in the room and moves towards the stairs, waiting for the other two but out of Oliver and Felicity's vicinity.
"Oliver," Felicity hesitates before continuing, "are you sure that you want to be alone? You know if something is bothering you, you can always talk to me, right?"
"I'm fine, Felicity," he breathes out. "I just…I just need a few minutes to get my thoughts together. I need to be ready to find this guy as soon as your computers are."
"Okay. Text me if Barry or Caitlin head back here with news. You can always send them upstairs to us."
As Roy walks out of the lockers, Felicity grabs her purse from the hook near the servers she's set up.
As she passes Oliver, she lightly squeezes his forearm showing support in the only way that he'll allow for now.
"I'll be down when I have something."
"Okay."
The footsteps of the trio echo as Oliver slowly makes his way towards his training area. Once he hears the doors close, he allows his body to sag against a pole of his training "jungle gym" type of workout area. His head droops, as if the weight of what is on his mind is too heavy for him to handle.
He lets the silence surround him, alone.