"Oliver!"
The panicked tone in Felicity's voice caused Oliver and Diggle to stop in the middle of their sparring session to look at her. Her face had gone pale and her eyes were filled with a terror so palpable that it twisted Oliver's gut and caught his breath. He and Diggle walked briskly to her desk to see what she was looking at.
Oliver couldn't understand what he was seeing on the screen. He leaned over to capture Felicity's gaze. "What am I looking at, Felicity?"
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Diggle's phone rang. "It's Lyla," he said tersely. Oliver nodded. Diggle answered the call. "Lyla, what's up?" Oliver stared as Diggle's expression turned into one of alarm. The twisting in his gut intensified when Diggle looked at Oliver with fear on his face.
"What!" Oliver growled in a very Arrow-like tone.
Diggle spared a glance at Felicity, who was still staring at the computer in shock. He looked back at Oliver. "There was a prison breakout."
Oliver lowered his eyebrows in confusion. "Iron Heights?"
Diggle shook his head.
"Argus," Felicity whispered. "Lian Yu."
Oliver took a step back, his vision greying a little. He forgot how to breathe. Slade. "Is…" he started to ask, but couldn't force his mouth to keep moving.
"Lyla," Diggle continued on his call, "is Slade out?" A couple of seconds passed, and then Diggle closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they landed on Felicity, and a deep frown marked his face.
"Shit," Oliver cursed, wanting badly to break something. He put a hand on Felicity's shoulder, who flinched with an audible yelp. Slowly, she turned her head to look at Oliver, and the fear in her eyes broke his heart.
"Oliver—"
"Felicity, I need you—"
"Don't!" She stood up quickly into Oliver's space. The fear on her face was immediately replaced with fire in her eyes, and it caused him to take a step back. "Don't you dare finish that sentence!"
"Felicity—"
"NO!" She stepped toward him with her fiercest expression yet and Oliver took another step back, thoroughly intimidated by his shorter partner. "Don't you dare say what I think you're going to say, because I am not leaving your side. If you haven't figured it out by now, we're stronger together."
Oliver swallowed. He broke eye contact with her, buckling under her authority. But he had to say it. "I just…" He closed his eyes and took a breath. He looked at her pleadingly. "I can't lose you, Felicity."
Her gaze softened, and she reached for his arm. "Then don't push me away." She closed the distance between them, and pulled him to her for a hug. "I'm right here, and we'll figure this out." She pulled back to look into his eyes. "Together."
The seconds passed interminably as they gazed intensely into each other's eyes. Slowly, Oliver accepted her words. He nodded.
"Together."
A/N Edit: Thank you all for the wonderful feedback! Many of you have asked for me to continue this, but alas, the muse has fallen silent and my action/plot writing skills are weaker than my introspection/dialogue. If any of you wonderfully talented writers would like to take up the mantle, feel free to message me at skcolicity at tumblr.
Second Edit:Funny thing happened last night...I had a dream where Slade took Felicity, and a plot started to form. It's a daunting project, and it will get pretty dark before it gets better, but I might just take a stab at it. Keep your eyes peeled.
