CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR "THE UNDERTAKING" 1X21!

Got inspired and started writing. A one-shot based on episode 1x21 "The Undertaking". The italic parts are quotes from the series itself.

I hope you'll like it and I would love to hear what you think of it! :)

X Nilracmiracle

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own anything.

"Reading usually precedes writing

and the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading.

Reading, the love of reading,

is what makes you dream of becoming a writer."

- Susan Sontag

Somebody to care about

After all those weeks, hoping, searching, fighting and some illegal hacking. They found him, they finally found him, Walter. But was it really for the best? Knowing that he died? Seeing the tears forming in her eyes, feeling the breaking of her heart, seeing the pain and sadness on her face.

'I delivered him, and they killed him. I heard the gunshot.'

Feeling lost, guilt, sadness... before hearing the harsh truth.

'He's dead.'

He lost his stepfather. But at the same time he lost so much more than that. He felt like he lost Felicity's trust. She relied on him, she trusted him, everything in the hope they would find Walter. Why?

'He was nice to me.'

He removed his green hood, that kept his identity a secret and looked at her. The look on his face showing sadness, guilt and concern. Concern for the breaking of her heart. Not able to control himself he wrapped his large arms around her little frame. Tears were forming in his eyes. While she was sobbing in his leather jacket. He tightened his arms around her, whispering soothing words in her ear, knowing that there was nothing he could do and nothing he could say to make things better. He could only hold her, trying to comfort her.

He took her home, asked if she needed anything. "No." Asked if he should stay "No." Asked if she would be okay... "I need to be alone." Was her only answer.

Telling his family was easier, still hard, but easier. They didn't know how hard it was to find him. The searching, fighting and the strength that Felicity showed. That is what he admired about her, keeping hope even in the darkest times. Hope that fell apart, like waking up from a dream just to face reality. The image of Felicity's broken face, the sadness and tears in her eyes, kept hunting him. Felicity, brave and strong trying to help him saving the city, almost giving her life for him. He had failed.

'When I confront somebody on the list I tell them they failed this city, but tonight it's me who failed.'

He didn't fail the city, he failed in helping his friend, his girl. Living with the guilt was probably the worst thing. Diggle left him, only because he was selfish. He choose his ex-girlfriend before his best friend.

'I was hoping you'd be here. I want us to get back on the same page.'

'Oliver, we're not even in the same book.'

He made the wrong choice. He made many wrong choices in his life. Still, he broke a promise, a promise to a friend.

And know. He broke another promise. But not to just a friend, she was more than that. She IS more than that.

Diggle left, Felicity didn't. But she would leave too. She made an offer.

'I'll help you rescue him, but that's it. Then I want to go back to my boring life of being an IT girl.'

And he accepted.

He left a part of himself on that island. Only to gain something new in return. The ability to change. To help those in need. To make things right.

Sometimes you wonder, if things are able to get fixed. Discovering that his mother and his best friends father are behind his stepfathers kidnapping and responsible for his father's death. Makes him wonder if the truth is right.

He was alive. Walter was alive. And his mother was involved.

Sitting in the dark, thinking about his life. As the hood he tries to cure the city, but then he finds out his mother is the poison he is fighting. And than she steps in, a light appears. She begins to talk, she talks like it is her fault he 'died'. And than she shows her concern for HIS family. Always thinking about others.

'Walter is alive.'

He was supposed to be happy about that and he was. But finding out his mother was somehow responsible for his five years on that island, his five years of hell. His mother was behind Walters kidnapping, and his father's death. He was supposed to be happy, but he had a hard time being.

Still, he got a second chance in keeping his promise. Felicity would leave after Walter was saved but she would be his friend, she would trust him. So he went.

Opening the steel door that led to his cell, seeing him laying lifeless on that old bed. Heart beating fast in your chest, waiting for a reaction, a reaction from the man they've been searching for, for so long. "Walter."

A weight lifts of your chest when you see movement, movement that indicates life, that says that the mission succeeded. Or failed. Succeeding the mission, means losing a team member. A valuable member of the new Arrow team. Maybe more then just a team member for the leader. The hood. The vigilante.

Walter was alive. He was really alive. He kept his promise to Felicity. He introduced her as his friend, wanting it to be more.

'We're a family again.'

Are they really? His mother was the poison that hurt this city. His father was dead. Were they really a family again? Felicity was leaving. Diggle already left. A family doesn't have to be DNA, sometimes it's just the way it is.

"Are you leaving?" Oliver asks Felicity when they are back at the arrow cave. He didn't want her to leave. He needed her and not like he needed Diggle. He needs her because she makes him complete.

She stops typing and stands up from her place at her desk. She looks him in the eye. "Do you want me to leave?" She asks simply.

Normally he would have said that he didn't need anyone. He was Oliver Queen. But that would be a lie, and he didn't want to lie anymore. "No." He says stepping forward so that they are standing chest to chest. "I want you to stay."

Felicity isn't intimidated by him anymore at the start she was, but now not anymore. She found out who he really was. She doesn't step back, instead she asks; "Why should I stay?" She needs to hear him say it. She needs to hear him saying that he needs her, that there is something between them. Something more than just friendship.

He could lie, saying that he needed her computer skills, that she was involved already. But he was done lying. "I want you to stay because..." He starts looking down. Remembering the conversation he had with McKenna he continues "McKenna said to me that I have to find someone I don't have to apologize to." He looks up, locking blue eyes with green eyes. "I need you."

She blushes and looks to the ground. "I said I would stop when we saved Walter. I made an offer, an offer that you accepted." She begins. "But I realized that this city needs the hood." She looks him in the eyes. "And the hood needs me."

Oliver steps closer. He is standing so close that she can feel his warm breath on her lips, she can smell his cologne, she hears him breathing. "I need you. Not as the hood, but as Oliver. As the jerk that returned from an island as a damaged jerk." He says hoarsely, his hands finding her soft hands. He can hear her sharp intake of breath.

"You need me?" She says feeling like she's dreaming.

"I need you." He whispers in her ear.

She swallows, hard before saying; "Then show me."

And he does. Crushing his lips on her soft ones, his hand cupping her face, while his other hand sneaks around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. Her hands grip his shirt tightly. The kiss is pure need, wanting to show her what she means to him. Pulling back to breathe he says; "I...I think I love you, Felicity."

Tears are starting to appear in her green eyes. "I think I love you to, Oliver." She whispers.

Instead of kissing, Oliver pulls her close into a deep, loving and much needed hug. "You have no idea how much that means to me." He says in her ear.

"You're not alone, Oliver." She answers, as if she can read his mind. "You have me, Diggle and Thea. And even if it doesn't look like it, I'm sure Tommy will be there for you too."

He pulls back. "Thank you." He replies giving her a soft kiss on her lips.

From that moment things started to change. The hood needed Diggle, even Oliver needed him a bit. Apologizing wasn't something Oliver did a lot, at least not a sincere apology.

'I need you help to stop them.'

And that was all Diggle needed to hear from him.

Felicity was right, he wasn't alone. Later that night he didn't go home, he couldn't face his mother and acting like everything was fine. Instead he went to Felicity's apartment. He parked his motor and went inside, walking up two stairs and knocking on door number 18. He heard a muffled "I'm coming!" From behind the closed door. When it opened she was standing there, wearing a big, green sweater with some black shorts underneath, walking around barefoot with her hair loose wearing no make-up. "Hi." She says smiling.

"Hi." He answers her with a small wave of his hand. "Can I come in?"

She snaps out of her trance, shaking her head she says; "Of course you can!" She steps aside to let him in.

He walks in her apartment seeing a lot of natural colors in her house. There are some bright colors in the curtains and the pillows on her black leather couch are light blue. But generally, it's home. Home for her and it feels like a home to him. He turns around to face her. When she looks at him she doesn't see a playboy, arrogant person. She sees Oliver, the man that has been through hell and came back only to fight the bad things in life. To help others even if that meant giving up his own life.

'You were born with a platinum spoon in your mouth Queen, what'd you spend five years on an island without room service and suddenly you found religion?'

'I just think we need to stop judging him for the Oliver he was and start accepting him for the Oliver he is.'

He changed... His life wasn't important, other lives were.

'Me being happy isn't what's important right now.'

'I was wrong to think that I could have it both ways. To do what I do and have a normal life.'

'When I didn't feel lost, I felt free.'

He sneaks his arms around her waist pulling her body flush against his. Before lowering his head to kiss her softly on the lips. Her arms circle around his neck, playing with his dark blond hair. She pulled back first to breathe. "You talked to Diggle?" She asked.

"I did, he's coming back." Oliver tells. "He also told me a certain blonde walked up six stairs to talk to him."

"Well, somebody had to do something." She says to him.

"I know and I wanted to thank you for that." He replies.

"You're welcome." She says smiling before locking her lips with his lips again.

But now, he does have something to live for or rather somebody.

Hope you liked it! Please review :)

Sorry for the possible grammar mistakes, English isn't my first language.

X Nilracmiracle