"Can you hear my heartbeat, Felicity? Just focus on that." He clutched Felicity to his chest as the vehicle darted down the highway. "Dig, we need to get there. Now." Panic was hidden in his voice as he tried hide the shakiness for her sake. "We're almost there. Hang on Felicity." John's voice came from the front seat.
Her head lulled in his arms. "Felicity… Felicity!" Oliver urged. Her eyes fluttered open weakly. "I'm still here… I just… What are we doing? Where are we going?" "The hospital, remember?" "Oh…Okay…" she relaxed back into him.
"John!"
"Two more minutes!"
…
Two days earlier, the world's best hacker, sat at her computer. She was typing away as she snacked on popcorn and a Big Belly Burger milkshake. She rested the drink on he expanded belly. Two more months and they would have a little hacker-vigilante running their lives. They didn't yet know the gender of the baby. Oliver wanted to be surprised, but Felicity was dying to know. At first, she thought that the surprise would be fun, but she quickly realized that all it did was make shopping more difficult.
Thea was already spoiling baby Queen with gifts varying from toys to outfits to an interior designer that she had hired to decorate a room in her loft for when the baby would inevitably stay over.
Curtis had refused to go by anything other than 'Uncle Curtis' for the past two months. And Cisco would visit bi-monthly just to bring Felicity some of her favorite snacks from Central.
Oliver was terrified at the prospect of becoming a father. His existential crises had thrown everyone for a loop, but he became more well-adjusted as time went on. He was on his way to being a perfectly normal dad. Well, other than the whole vigilante thing.
It had been a crazy seven months. The team did a pretty good job of keeping Felicity out of the field, but there were moments when things would go wrong. Like that time that Vandal Savage broke into the Arrow-Cave. They relocated after that. Or the time that Toy Man found out about the baby and tried to send an explosive jack-in-the-box to the shop where Felicity had been getting most of her baby things. But they made it through all of those things mostly unscathed.
As life went on for the team, more and more crooks seemed to find out who Overwatch was and a few made it their mission to take her out. Most of them had taken a step back when she started showing, something about 'Even criminals shoudln't hurt children.' But what the team hadn't expected was that a stray bullet would find its way to her shoulder one night.
…
Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle had been at a mayoral rally. The team had the drill down. Oliver was campaigning for a second term and Felicity and Diggle were there to support him, as always. Thea was running interference with the press and Curtis had been working out technical kinks when it happened.
Some no-name low-life had decided to shoot up the place. He had no specific target in mind, not even Mayor Queen, but something clicked and he lost his mind. Before the speaking had even begun, bullets flew in every direction. Oliver yanked Curtis out of the way of one, Thea guarded the girl that had been interviewing her, then pushed all of the press out the front doors. Felicity reached for the panic button they had hidden on a wall.
A thud. A crack. It took Felicity a second to realize what had happened. Blood gushed from her left shoulder as her knees buckled. She used the wall behind her for support as she slid to the floor.
"Take him out." Captain Lance ordered loudly. A gunshot quickly followed, and the lifeless body of the shooter fell to the floor. As Oliver stood to locate Felicity, a man ran up to her, sliding on his knees and pulling of his shirt as he reached her. He applied a small amount of pressure to the front of the wound with his shirt. "Can you tell me your name?" He asked her. "Felicity Smoak" She replied. "Ok, good. I'm an Emergency Medical Technician. We're gonna get you taken care of." He said. "I'm gonna check for an exit wound, okay?" he explained. She nodded. He gently leaned her forward just far enough to look at the back of her shoulder. No exit wound. That was good as far as blood loss went. Only one wound to deal with.
Oliver found them and darted across the room. "Felicity!" He noticed the man tending to her wound. "Who are you?" Oliver asked. "My name is James Hunter, I'm an EMT with Starling General. An ambulance is already on its way." He replied. "She's lost a lot of blood." He added, looking up at Oliver.
Oliver pressed a button on the earpiece he wore. "Dig. Car to the front of the building. Now. Felicity's been shot." "On it." John answered immediately. They both knew that his driving would get them to the hospital faster than any ambulance in town. They had enough experience to know that, at least.
The ground twisted and spun under her feet as Oliver and and Hunter helped her stand up. Lance noticed them as they assisted her to the car. "Oliver! Is she ok?" he called across the room. "To be determined." Oliver's voice was gruff and to the point. It sounded very similar to the voice he used when he was in costume. "Burrows! Escort Mayor Queen to the hospital." Lance ordered, knowing that Oliver would already have made the decision to take her himself. A young looking officer Burrows darted to his car, flipped on the lights, and sped off as soon as Oliver and Felicity had been safely deposited into the car. Hunter took the passenger seat as Oliver and Felicity climbed in the back. "John Diggle." He introduced himself as he put the car into gear and followed their officer. "James Hunter. EMT." He replied.
Turning to face the backseat he instructed Oliver to keep pressure on the wound. This was knowledge that Oliver already had, but his mind tended to get fuzzy when Felicity was at stake. "Got it." He refocused the pressure he was putting on her shoulder. She gasped at the new compression on the swollen joint. Blood loss is a bad enough problem to deal with, but blood loss mixed with pregnancy? Not good. The more blood she lost, the less her body would focus on the baby. Everyone knew this, though no one said anything.
"Ok, we're almost there." Oliver lied, knowing that the hospital was a good fifteen minutes away, at best. "Thanks." She replied weakly, her voice cracking. He could see her eyes dart around the cab as she tried to sustain her bearings. Dizziness and shock, combined with a lack of blood made maintaining consciousness that much more difficult.
"Can you hear my heartbeat? Focus on that." He clutched Felicity to his chest as the vehicle darted down the highway. He grasped one of her hands. "Keep her conscious." Hunter ordered.
"Dig, we need to get there. Now." He thought he was doing a good job of hiding the panic in his voice, but Felicity sensed it. She became more flushed with each passing minute. "We're almost there. Hang on Felicity." John's voice came from the front seat. This time she knew his statement was true. She heard the sirens and could see the police lights as they reflected on the ceiling. She was so tired.
Her head lulled in Oliver's arms. "Felicity… Felicity!" Oliver urged. She willed her eyes to open again. It may have been the hardest thing she had ever done. "I'm still here… I just… What are we doing? Where are we going?" Her eyes danced around again. "The hospital, remember?" "Oh…Okay…" she relaxed back into him.
"John!"
"Two more minutes!"
…
