This first chapter is inspired by the Rascal Flatts song What Hurts the Most


Two words were inscribed on the ring she found in his sock drawer. Te amo. Her heart, which was far from mended, broke even more. Her hands shook and a sob escaped her lips as pure grief smashed through the calm mask she'd worn the past five months. Falling to the floor, she gripped the ring tightly in her hand as every tear she hadn't wept poured down her face.

Te amo were the first words Oliver Queen said to Felicity Smoak in their eleventh grade Spanish class. They were what he said the night of their senior prom as he danced with her under a disco ball. Te amo was more than I love you. It was their way of saying, my soul belongs to you.

She knew he had been planning to propose after his trip to China with his father. All the signs were there. The whispered phone calls with Tommy. The not so subtle way Laurel asked if she had a certain night off from work. He'd been planning an elaborate proposal.

His last words to her were te amo. She went with him to the dock, to watch him board the Queen yacht with his father. They laughed and kissed, like any couple in love would do. She reminded him she'd be wearing something red when he came home in two weeks. And he told her he had something special; just for her. Before they parted, they kissed and whispered te amo to one another. She stood on the dock, waving to him, as the yacht moved further and further away from her.

Days later, with Moira, Thea, Tommy and Laurel, she sat in the office of the Coast Guard as they told them the Queen yacht sank at sea. In that moment, it felt as if someone tore her heart out of her chest and jamed a knife straight through it. Her Oliver was gone. Dead.

Five months later, she found the ring he was going to propose to her with. In that moment, everything they could have been flashed in front of her eyes.

The proposal.

Letting Thea take over the wedding plans.

Walking down the aisle and seeing the look of adoration on his face.

Their first dance as husband and wife.

Changing her name to Felicity Queen.

Children.

Growing old together.

All those dreams were now dead; lost somewhere in the ocean that stole the love of her life.


Five Years Later

Oliver Queen stood at the railing of the ship that rescued him from the island that changed his life forever. He wasn't the same man he had been when he first landed on that island. Fighting for his life for five years rid him of any softness. The only part of him left from all those years ago was the love he had for Felicity. His hand pulled the picture he'd been carrying around like a talisman the past five years. He looked down at the smiling face of Felicity. Whenever he felt he was going insane or wanted to end it all, he looked at her picture. Thoughts of her spurred him to survive.

He wasn't the same man he was before. But the best part of him still loved Felicity.