Disclaimer: All recognizable characters owned by CW, etc. No copyright infringement intended.

AN: Thanks for stopping by. I wanted to write out one of my most favorite scenes of the series. This is something that has been sitting on my computer and I've been playing around with it for, I guess, several years now. So enjoy another blast from the past.

Felicity wondered what Oliver was thinking. Shoot, she wondered what she had been thinking. How could she agree to such a hair-brained idea?

As she wandered through the empty hallways of the abandoned Queen mansion, looking at the slightly faded spots on the carpets where furniture had once stood, on the walls where paintings once hung, Felicity questioned her very sanity. Why would Slade come after her? Why would he believe Oliver when he said she, Felicity, was the one he truly loved?

Felicity shook her head in an attempt to get back to what was important. The mission at hand. Like Oliver had said, Slade wasn't about to let Oliver get anywhere close to him for Oliver to administer the cure. Neither would he be caught unawares by a cure-armed arrow. That left a hostage getting close to Slade being the only operational idea.

A shiver went down Felicity's spine. Eyes closed, she fought back tears which threatened to flow. She had to be strong. For Oliver. It was just that the thought of being so close to a cold-blooded killer was so, so…..blood-curdlingly scary.

She continued to pace, wondering if she was carrying off the facade of being unaware of being in danger. Pretending she didn't know she was being watched, even now, by the most dangerous criminal she had ever met.

After an hour, Felicity heard a van pull up in front of the main door. She was standing in the living room, and wondered if she should hide. Somewhere. The door burst open, and two bulky men in masks similar to Deathstroke's marched in,

Felicity didn't find it difficult to show terror on her face. She couldn't hold back a squeal as the two men found her hiding next to the fireplace, grabbed her by the arms, and began to drag her towards the door. Felicity did attempt a few times to get out of their grasp, but found herself being lifted up from the ground and flung across one of their backs like a bag of flour. Legs waving fruitlessly, she was carried out to the van and thrown into the back of the van, followed by one of the men.

As the van pulled away, the man forced her back to him, grabbed her wrists painfully behind her back and bound them with rough rope. He then pushed her towards the other side of the van, and sat opposite her watching her without any discernible expression on his face. For once Felicity's brain to mouth filter worked, and nothing came out of her mouth. She was too scared to say anything, so she just sat there, trying not to look at the man next to her.

After too short of a ride, the van stopped, the door opened, and the man beside her grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the van. Looking up, Felicity saw the shadows of an abandoned warehouse in the Glades.

"Of course, how original," escaped her lips before she could stop it.

Deciding it was useless to struggle, she allowed herself to be taken into the warehouse. Felicity attempted to tamp down the absolute terror she was feeling. She knew that, in order for the plan to work, she needed to remain calm and be prepared for whatever might happen.

"Well, there she is. Oliver's Felicity." The breath caught in her throat as she heard the familiar and scary Australian voice.

Felicity looked up and saw the nightmare known as Deathstroke come walking towards her. He was in full battle regalia, which was truly frightening. Memories of his tirade on the Arrow cave came flooding back, and she had no difficulty in showing terror on her face as he loomed over her.

Slade sneered as he approached her. He stopped only when he was within a hand's grasp of her. Felicity couldn't control her reaction of taking a step away from him, which only resulted in her backing into the unmovable mass of one of the guards standing behind her. Deathstroke slowly looked her up and down.

"Ah, my dear, no need to be frightened. At least, not yet." Smirking, he turned away and said to the two guards. "Put her in the room with the other one, for now."

She was led to an open door and then shoved into the room. She turned around to watch the door close and hear it locked. Sighing, she looked around and saw two chairs in the room, and Laurel was sitting on one of them, her hands tied behind her back.

"Hello, Laurel."

Her face wet with tears, Laurel attempted to meet Felicity's gaze with a small smile. "Hello, Felicity, right? Oliver's executive assistant?"

Felicity nodded as she sat down in the empty chair. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?"

Smiling wryly, Laurel stated, "Not yet, but I'm not sure what will happen next. That man is totally mad. He really does want to hurt Oliver, doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does. Oliver has a plan, though."

"Sure hope so."

Felicity's normal chatter wasn't present. She was too scared even to babble. Laurel clearly didn't know what to say either. On the bright side, Felicity thought it probably was better that way, because they didn't know whether the room was bugged. Knowing Slade, Felicity would've been very surprised if it was not.

"I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to try to untie ourselves, I would think," Felicity suggested. However, the door opened, and one of the very large, very quiet guards entered, closing the door behind him. He took his place beside the closed door, crossed his arms across his broad chest, and glared at the two women.

Felicity met the guard's glare, and decided to sit back down. "Oh well, probably would've been useless anyway."

The two women sat in uncomfortable silence, waiting. Felicity attempted to review possible escape options, in case their idea went south. Occasionally, she caught Laurel's eyes and attempted to give her an encouraging smile. One time Laurel smiled wryly back at Felicity, acknowledging what she was attempting to do.

After what Felicity assumed was an hour, Slade entered into the room. "Well, ladies, it's time to prepare for the arrival of the man of both your dreams, and make him suffer."

He instructed one of the men to wait in the room with Laurel, and walked towards Felicity.

"You, my dear, have a central spot in this little drama." He grabbed Felicity and pulled her roughly to her feet. Felicity gave a little gasp as she was caught off guard.

"I don't need to warn you, do not say one word or I will slice your throat even earlier than I plan."

Felicity swallowed hard as she was being dragged along by Slade. She heard, through the rushing of blood in her ears, Slade say something about wanting to slice Oliver's throat the night they met. She didn't have a chance to think about that interesting tidbit because she was concentrating on not having her feet slide from under her as she was dragged along.

Then they made their grand entrance. Of course Slade held a sword at her throat as he dragged her towards Oliver.

Oliver met her eyes only once, briefly. He seemed determined not to look at her as he engaged his deadly enemy. To Felicity he appeared calm...until she observed his hand. His nervous tell of rubbing his two fingers against his thumb.

She had to be careful and choose the right moment. She'd only get one chance. Later, when she'd think of this evening, she would indeed marvel at her ability to carry it off so flawlessly.

Slade was so totally preoccupied with his hatred for the man standing in front of him he was truly unaware of what she was doing. When he grabbed her again she momentarily panicked, but then took advantage of the moment. As she plunged the syringe into Slade's neck, she prayed it would be effective. She quickly leaped out of the way to avoid being grabbed again, but Slade was too distracted by the overwhelming sense of loss as his superstrength disappeared to be concerned about her.

After it was all over, and it was only her and Oliver on the beach of Lian Yu, where it all began, only then did she allow herself to wonder about what had happened in the mansion. The "I love you". As she found herself transfixed by the blueness of his eyes, Felicity wondered if it were true. Despite what he said. Or, actually, what he didn't say.

Because, even though she asked, in her usual roundabout way, Oliver didn't answer her question. Her unspoken question. She didn't ask him directly whether he meant it. And, to make matters worse, she gave him an out. A compliment. One little "you sold it", and the opportunity slipped by.

Felicity knew, being the man Oliver was, if he were truly ready to admit his feelings, nothing would stop him. And, being the man he was, he neither would be tricked into it, nor would she want him to be tricked into expressing his feelings before he was ready.

So Felicity decided to let the man off the hook and said, "Let's go home." As they walked back to Diggle and the plane, Felicity turned her face to the sun. As the rays warmed her face, she decided it was truly a wonderful day to be alive. She and her friends all survived the madman, and perhaps someday, there'd be hope for her and Oliver. Bestowing a huge smile upon Dig, she grabbed his arm and said, "We're ready to go home."

AN: Thank you so much in joining me on this journey of nostalgia. Slade is one of my most favorite villains, so I guess I continue to want to relive these moments. If you like, I'd appreciate a review. Always makes my day. Hopefully you will return to read more of my stories in the future.