"Oliver watch out!" Diggle shouts over the comms.
"John?! Oliver?!" Felicity screams but there is no answer.
She presses her earpiece deeper into her ear for any possible sound, but all she hears is her own erratic breathing as she furiously types away on her keyboard to get some kind of signal, but there's nothing but complete silence. Their tracker signals are gone and she can't even ping their phones. There's nothing.
She thinks of getting a hold of Laurel and Thea but they had two different locations planned for tonight, so that would be a complete waste of time.
It's cold in the lair and she can feel her body temperature falling rapidly. The shock of the sound of Diggle's voice and not knowing what's going on is causing her to hyperventilate.
She decides to get the blood flowing in her body and moves toward the now empty dummy that usually holds Oliver's suit. She stares at it for a while and smiles. There was a time that she never thought that they would be at this place in their lives. When they came back to Star City there was some form of doubt in her mind that Oliver would be able to go back to being a hero and continue their relationship, but they made it work. The Oliver that was now her partner in every possible sense of the word was the man she always knew he could be – the man that she believed in when no one else did – the man she loves – and now he's out there somewhere and she doesn't know if he's hurt or even still alive.
She's just about to break into tears when there's a distortion sound on the other side of her earpiece.
"Felicity? Felicity can you hear me? Felicity come in, Felicity?" she hears Diggle's voice come through.
"John? I'm here? Are you guys okay? Where's Oliver?" she asks all at the same time trying not to let her panic state take over.
"Felicity, it's bad. He's hurt. He was shot and you know we can't take him to the hospital, there will be too many questions."
Felicity tries to breathe and hold back the tears stinging at the back of her eyes.
"I'm bringing him to the lair. Please prep everything." he orders and then pauses, "Felicity, I don't want to scare you, but you need to be prepared. This is worse than when his mother shot him."
She nods and then realises he can't see her. "O….okay. Everything will be ready when you get here." She almost whispers and then disconnects the call.
Her breath hitches as she sits down on her chair behind her desk. The world is spinning and her mouth is dry. The worst part of being in a relationship with Oliver, doing what they do is the fact that he could get hurt at any time, but this was the furthest thing from her mind when she woke up in his arms that morning.
She takes a breath to compose herself and then adrenaline kicks in, just like the night she found him in her car after he got shot by his mother. She preps everything and after what feels like seconds Diggle arrives marching to the med table with an unconscious Oliver draped over his shoulder.
When Diggle puts him on the table there's so much blood, she starts to feel dizzy again, but when Diggle grasps her hand and looks her straight in the eye she knows she'll have to keep it together – not for herself but for the man she loves. She needs to focus on Oliver…need to save him now.
The two bullets luckily missed major organs but were still very close to his heart and right lung. They manage to stabilise him and for the first time they both breathe a sigh of relief.
After what feels like hours, Felicity sends Diggle home with a promise that she will call the moment there's any change. He reluctantly agrees, knowing that she needs this time alone with Oliver, and goes home.
The moment Diggle is out the door Felicity breaks. The built up tears start streaming over her face and every possible emotion that was suppressed from the moment she found out he was hurt to the point where she didn't know whether or not John would be able to save him, flows out of her like a burst dam.
"I can't lose you Oliver." She sobs. "Please don't leave me….you need to wake up."
She gently strokes the back of his hand with her thumb, which calms her down. His touch has always had that effect on her. When she would ramble or feel overwhelmed, just the feeling of his hand on her shoulder was enough to bring her back to her senses and she would know everything was going to be okay.
"You know….I know what you hid in that soufflé the night Thea and Laurel came to our house to ask you to come back." She smiled. "I guess all this time that I've spent with you I've learned a few of your tricks….like picking up small detail that no one else pays attention to….and you also could never successfully lie to me." She giggles.
"Just for the record…I would have said yes." She kisses the back of his hand and rests her head carefully on the side of the table and drifts off to sleep.
She doesn't know how long she's been asleep but wakes up to familiar fingers gently stroking her cheek. When she realises he's awake she immediately goes into nurse mode.
"Are you okay? Do you need anything? Do you want to sit up?" she starts rambling igniting a chuckle from the injured patient in front of her.
"Felicity," he says softly. "You are so beautiful."
After all this time they've been together she still can't stop blushing when he says stuff like that. The blush creeps up from her neck and nestles itself on her cheeks that he softly caresses again with his thumb.
"I was so scared Oliver. I thought I was going to lose you." She says placing her hand over his on her cheek.
"I know, I'm so sorry. It was an ambush. I didn't realise they were there until John shouted my name, and then it was too late. But I'm okay now. I've survived worse and Felicity….nothing is going to stop me from getting back to you. You must know I will always try, I will always fight to come back to you." Silent tears fall over her cheeks again and he catches them with his thumb.
She helps him to sit up and she carefully sits next to him on the table. He takes both her hands in his and looks deep into her eyes.
"Is something wrong? Do you want me to get something for you?" she asks worried.
"No….as a matter of fact everything is right." He smiles. "Felicity, I love you and if tonight taught me one thing it is that life is short and there are no guarantees. Since you already know what I planned to do on our date, it will come as no surprise that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to grow old with you and I want to have a family with you. There's nothing life can throw our way as long as we have each other and we face it together. So Felicity, I wasn't planning on asking you now and heaven knows you deserve an amazing proposal, but I can't keep this in any longer….Felicity Megan Smoak, will you marry me?"
If she didn't have ears her smile probably would go right around her head. She leans in and kisses him hard on the lips and when she finally breaks away her eyes sparkle like a thousand diamonds.
"Yes Oliver! Yes a thousand times yes! I will marry you!"