Felicity had never been a real, 'early morning' type of person. That's why coffee was invented though, right? To help people like her function throughout the day, especially on the long dreary days that seemed to drag on and on when she had to get up early like this. However, it did help when one's partner - who had to be breaking some laws by looking that handsome first thing in the morning, I mean come on, really? It was just unnatural - made a large pot of coffee for you to wake up to. When he presented you with the perfect cup as soon as you'd been able to drag your sorry bones out of bed. Felicity was of the opinion that everything was made better with coffee.
The blonde CEO smiled over the rim of her coffee cup, one hand on the wheel as she remembered how Oliver had sent her off this morning with a long kiss and a coffee to go. He knew for a fact that she hated these early morning meetings just as much as he used to. She did have the promise of spending the afternoon and evening together, provided she got all the needed work done and could get away early enough. Sure, they had some criminals to track down, but nothing that could not wait 'till this evening. Or later.
So lost in these pleasant musings was she, that Felicity completely failed to notice the unnatural stillness all around her. Sure, it was so early in the morning that the sun hadn't even fully risen yet, but there was a certain stillness in the air, a sense of foreboding covering the trees that only resided on this side of the bridge she was steadily approaching, the eerie feeling to the unmoving waters underneath that bridge. Now, this bridge was the only one she crossed on her way to work, but it was a long one, and it covered a vast stretch of deep water.
Truthfully, she had no notion at all of anything being amiss, until suddenly, as she was about a quarter of the way across said bridge, the pavement in front of her started to tremble. Intially she attributed what her eyes were telling her to a silly hallucination brought on by not enough sleep. Still, she took her foot off the gas and let the car coast for a moment. The trembling was not going away and in fact, it was getting worse. When the bridge started to sway, she came to a sound conclusion.
This was no hallucination.
It appeared to be an earthquake, this time on the 'better' side of the city. Not man-made, she hoped, but there was no time to dwell on it. All she knew for certain was that she had to get off this, and now. Her gaze flew to the rear view mirror, but there was an 18 wheeler just now rumbling onto the bridge. She couldn't back up, which would've been the shortest distance, and didn't believe this car could do a tight enough U-turn. If she'd been in her Mini, it wouldn't have been as much a problem, but she'd since changed up vechiles and did not know if this thing could do a 180 in the space provided and with everything shaking so bad she knew she'd just get stuck anyway. Her blue eyes flashed forwards once more and she mentally calculated how long it would take for her to kick it to the other side of the bridge, but this was all very hard to do through her rising panic. The bridge, her car - everything was shaking and swaying now, likes trees in a windstorm.
Ahead, she could hardly make her eyes focus through her windshield on the people now jumping out of their cars and racing to make it to safety, off the bridge. It had now become pretty much impossible to go forwards anymore, the swaying of the bridge was too much...she suddenly wondered what the building code for this bridge had been, how strong an earthquake it was supposed to be able to withstand, for it was quaking itself an awful lot.
She took a deep breath and placed her hand on the door, but she still had such a long way to go in order for her to reach safe ground...and then she promptly withdrew her hand to her chest and screamed, leaping back in her seat as the cables holding up the bridge began to snap and one decided to lash out and noisily attack the hood of her car. Staring ahead wide-eyed with her mouth still hanging open, Felicity had a good view as the pavement started to crumble. With a horrible sinking feeling, she realized there was no getting out of this one.
Closing her eyes tight, her thoughts turned to Oliver. How they were finally -finally- in a good place, and now... She inhaled with a shuddering breath, not able to carry that thought on any longer and turned instead to thinking of her mother, how she would cope, of Diggle and Lyla and that she'd never get to see Sara grow up...of Thea, and all the friends and family she gained over the past few years.
And then, as she felt the car tipping, she braced herself the best she was able to, just in case, on the slight off chance, that she might actually manage to survive this. There was the feeling of weightlessness, and then nothing.
When the walls had begun to shake, Oliver did not at first understand what was happening. He thought it may have been a bomb of some kind, but there had been no explosion. As the rumbling continued, and indeed grew worse, he realized it had to be an actual earthquake, and felt an initial sense of relief. When things started to fall off the shelves and walls, and a bookcase next to him came crashing to the ground, that sense of relief began to fade. With plaster beginning to rain down upon him, Oliver quickly grabbed his phone and dove under the most sturdy desk that they owned.
His first thought was of Felicity, hoping she had made it to work safely, that building was certainly up to code...or, better yet, had stopped somewhere and was outside, away from the tall buildings and falling debris. This last scenario was entirely likely - his woman was smart, after all - but he still worried.
The shaking went on for a good 90 seconds, but as soon as things started to quiet down, he was speed dialing his girl. As he waited for Felicity to answer, his thoughts drifted to Thea, and he really hoped his little sister had ridden this one out ok. Then there was John and Lyla, he wondered how they had fared too. He would call them, all of them, after he talked to Felicity...once she picked up...
It just kept ringing.
Oliver began to climb out from under the desk and just stood in the center of the room, not paying any attention to the destruction around him. His sole focus was on the cell phone in his hand, Felicity's picture on the screen, as it went to voicemail for the 3rd time. A feeling of dread began to creep up his spine, but he decided to wait, thinking maybe she'd been trying to call him at the same time and the signals were getting crossed. Even as he tried to rationalize it, an icy fear began to grip his heart and constrict his lungs. She had to be ok, she Had to.
He stood there, staring at the phone that had gone dark since he'd hung up, saying quietly to himself,
"Come on, Felicity...come on."
And when the phone suddenly came alive in his hand, he stabbed the 'accept' and brought it to his ear so fast he hadn't even registered the picture that had gone with the call.
"Yes?" Oliver greeted, rather abruptly. The answering sigh was decidedly male.
"Oliver, thank God. I was getting worried when I kept getting a busy signal." It was Diggle. Oliver's eyes slammed shut, and that icy fear had extended to not only his heart and lungs, but his soul, his whole existence, felt frozen in time. He swallowed hard and was pretty sure he wasn't breathing, but he forced these next three words past the vice that his throat had become, needing to know even if he was more worried about something else at present.
"You and Lyla?" Oliver asked, eyes still closed, and Diggle understood baby Sara was included in that question as well. He was also beginning to realize something was very wrong on Oliver's end.
"We're fine, nothing broken that can't be replaced. You and Felicity?" Diggle asked, a pit beginning to form in his stomach as Lyla walked up next to him with her tablet in hand, which had somehow made it through unscathed.
"She...she had that early meeting today." Oliver had answered, after a moment, his breathing ragged and voice strangely quiet. "I don't...she was on her way when it happened. She's not answering her phone, Digg." The last sentence was almost a whisper, and Diggle let out a breath, not liking how lost his former boss sounded.
"Early reports are coming in," Lyla broke into their conversation, Oliver just barely being able to hear her on his side. "It seems to have been centered towards the nicer side of town...and, oh no. The bridge on 39th collapsed." Lyla's pale face rose to meet her husband's gaze, and they both had a sinking feeling. Diggle heard Oliver let out a strangled sound, so he knew the other man had heard. John was quick to try and reassure Oliver, but his heart wasn't fully in it because he was just as scared for their girl.
"We don't know for sure whether or not she was on it, Oliver." Digg pointed out, but Oliver was only half listening. He was calculating in his mind in the time she left and when it hit, where she would've likely been...and it was not coming up good.
"...I've got to go. I've got to find out." Oliver spoke, turning towards the door as he was about to hang up.
"Ok, I'll head that way too. But Oliver, Lyla can trace her phone GPS and then we'll know for sure. Wait to do anything drastic til after you hear from one of us again, ok?"
"Sure." Oliver spoke the word that meant nothing to him at the moment and hung up the phone, because he knew. Still, as he picked his way through the debris on the floor and towards the front door, Oliver tried Felicity's phone again. It continued to ring out, but then, as he was almost out the door and it was going to go to voicemail for the third time again, he heard a click. Followed by the most beautiful, most precious sound in the world, to him.
"Oliver?"
A relief rushed through him unlike he'd ever known, so feircely, so intense that he had to sag against the door frame in relief, eyes closing as he touched his forehead to the wooden frame. Upon hearing her voice, shaky though it was, he was suddenly able to breathe again.
"Felicity." He breathed out the name like a prayer, and he heard her make a sound in between a laugh and a sniffle. Back to business. "Where are you?" He demanded, voice a little bit stronger now that he knew his world was still breathing.
"Uh.." at her stuttered, halting and somewhat confused response, his eyes flew open once more. "I...was on the bridge." He could tell she was moving around, could hear the sudden and sharp intake of breath as she must've moved something that hurt.
The confirmation that she had indeed been on the bridge stole his breath away again. Had she gone down with it? Had she been able to grab her bag and run? The next words filled his being with that icy dread once more.
"Oliver I...I'm in the water. My car, the water's coming in, it's up to my ankles." Her voice sounded desperate but strangely detached. This was not a good sign; surviving a fall like that, she likely had a concussion, not to mention all the internal bleeding that could be going on and she'd never know it...
Forcing those thoughts aside, he focused on her and helping his girl to get free of the car. He'd have to be calm for the both of them, even though he felt as though his whole world was slipping away...which, it really was in danger of doing just that.
"Oliver, I can't open the door. I'm stuck! I'm stuck, I'm gonna die down here..."
"Felicity. Felicity! Listen to me. You are not going to die down there. Do you hear me? You're not allowed to. I'm on my way, but Felicity...you need to move, you have to get out of there." Oliver began to speak as he went back in to find his spare Green Arrow suit.
"How?" She whispered, and sounded so broken his heart was breaking along with it. He had to pause before he was able to continue making his way through the debris.
"Remember that screwdriver Diggle and I always made you carry in the glove box? Well now is the time to use it. Find it and attack your side window with everything you've got...right in the middle, but make sure to face away, when the glass starts to break the water will come rushing in." Oliver told her, straining for any sound of her following through. As he heard her mutter to herself that she'd have to put the phone down to open the glove box, a sudden, inexplicable fear pierced through his being straight to his very core, and he kind of, sort of, freaked just a little bit.
"NO! Do not hang up, please, you need to stay on the line and talk to me, Felicity!" He almost growled out the last bit, but then tried to reign it in; he wasn't mad at her and didn't want her even thinking so. But if yelling at her would help in keeping her alive, then yeah he'd do it. There was a small silence in which he was sure she'd done just what he'd asked her not to, when he heard her sigh.
"Fine," she spoke as if it were the biggest inconvenience in the world, "I'll just.." there was an intake of breath and some pained moans that had him on alert again. He'd not even asked the extent of her injuries yet, but it wouldn't matter anyway because she was getting out of there on her own, there's no way he or Digg could get out there fast enough. She was on her own, but he knew she could do it.
"Ok, I got it." Felicity announced, and then hesitated.
"Felicity?" Oliver asked loudly, as he'd put it on speaker phone while he'd changed, and still had it in his hand as he made his way out the door.
"Oliver, if I don't make it out..."
She didn't even finish, because then Oliver was barking out at her,
"You are going to make it, Felicity! Listen to me, you're gonna make it, because you're a fighter, and you've got to get back to us." A pause. "I'm on my way to you, Felicity, but you've got to get out..."
"Oliver. I will." She whispered, and then paused again, and this time he did too. "I just wanted to say...I love you. So much." Her voice went high on the end there, and Oliver closed his eyes and hissed through his teeth, but still managed a reply.
"I love you too. Now get out of there so I can keep on showing you how much." Oliver about growled out the last sentence, throwing himself forward again. He had found the bike and was only too grateful that it had roared to life under his hands, he'd switched it quickly to his blue tooth and now he was racing through the debris littered streets to make it to his girl.
"Ok." He could hear the smile in her voice, and his heart and stomach did a strange combination of soaring and clenching at the same time. It was rather uncomfortable. "Ok, I'm gonna do it now...I'll have to hang up, but...see you on the other side." She whispered.
"You'd better." Oliver told her, listening to her breathing until she clicked off. He gunned it, revving up the motorcycle to go even faster, swerving through the debris like a crazy person.
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