4 a.m.
Oliver received the call at four in the morning.
He had spent that night in the new lair, after a discussion with Felicity. Not wanting to face her, he decided to avoid his couch, in her house, for the night and try to make up the next day.
When he saw the ID in his phone as Diggle, he immediately jumped from his cot in the corner and answered the call.
"What happened?" Oliver asked, without any kind of greeting or politeness. He knew that for his friend to be calling him at that time it had to be serious.
"Felicity…" Diggle said simply and Oliver felt his breathe stuck in his throat. He looked reflexively towards her table, with her computers turned off and a forgotten bottle of pink nail polish over a book she was reading that afternoon.
"Where is she?" Oliver growled, already running towards the door, while trying to put his shoes on and not disconnecting the call.
"Starling West Hospital…" Diggle answered and Oliver gasped softly. In the hospital… she was in the hospital…
"I'm on my way!" Oliver roared, before pocketing his phone, running outside and jumping into his car.
Damn! Why? I told her she should stay home! I had a bad feeling about that guy!
Oliver's head was moving from side to side like a lion trying to flee from a cage. He could remember how angry she was when he said what he thought about her date… even in his head Oliver scoffed at the word…
"Excuse me? Are you trying to imply I don't know how to judge people?" Felicity had asked when Oliver tried to tell her he didn't trust Daniel Morrison.
"All I'm saying is I have a bad feeling… maybe we should make a deeper research on him… on his background…" Oliver said, trying to grab her hand, but Felicity was quicker and slipped between his fingers.
"I already did! Do you know he lost his family in a fire? That he had to grow up all alone? He is not dangerous, Oliver!" Felicity yelled, snatching her purse from the table and turning around in a cloud of yellow and blue from her dress.
He could still hear her heels walking away, way after he lost her from view.
Stupid! Moron! Bastard! Oliver was punching the wheel while yelling at himself during the ride.
If something happened to her, if she… NO! He couldn't think like that! She was a survivor! A fighter! She survived The Undertaking, a free fall from an airplane, The Dollmaker, The Count, a car accident, Slade… she was remarkable! She was a light… and then the words he had read in his own tombstone echoed in his mind. Oliver Queen, loving son and brother, whose light was dimmed far too soon
But his light only appeared when Felicity's smiles and babbled words and colorful nature started making part of his days. It was not dimmed, it was almost dead until she came and breathed life into it, turning it into a roaring fire…
Oliver pressed on the pedal more forcefully, the car roaring under his command, passing red lights without a care… He just had to get to her!
When he finally stopped in front of the hospital and ran inside, Diggle was already expecting him, with a heavily pregnant Lyla beside him.
"What happened?" Oliver asked, realizing only then that he was still ignorant of what really happened. "What did that bastard do? Where is he?" Oliver growled deadly and even Diggle that was used to his mood swings stepped back.
"They were walking on the street… Apparently a group attacked a girl and Morrison heard her screams… He left Felicity to go help the other girl and two guys tried to snatch her purse… so she fought them… they are at the ER, the two of them, with concussions, broken ribs and some other stuff… but they were able of kicking her really hard and when Morrison returned the three of them were passed out… Morrison brought her in and called me… The doctors say she has a concussion and some cracked ribs, but nothing too serious…" Diggle said, cringing at the nothing too serious. He knew that nothing that hurt his friend could be classified as a nothing too serious.
"Where is he?" Oliver whispered. His voice was no longer that of Oliver Queen, not even the Arrow, it made Diggle remember the first time he saw Oliver in action, under the disguise of The Hood, the cold-blood killer and he feared for his friend's behavior.
"He is in the waiting room… Oliver, don't do anything that you will regret…" Diggle begged, but Oliver was having none of that, and was already walking towards the door when John's next words stopped him for a few seconds. "… or that Felicity would hate you for…"
Oliver's hands fisted, the knuckles white and his fingernails drawing blood in his palms. He breathed deeply and restarted his march. Diggle and Lyla followed him, keeping some distance between him and them.
When Oliver entered the waiting room, Daniel was there, with his head in his hands, looking at the floor. He looked up when he heard the newcomer's steps and seeing it was Oliver, he swallowed and jumped to his feet.
"Mr. Queen…" he whispered and Oliver had to control himself not to punch him right in the face, but Dig's words still echoed in his mind and Felicity's views of him ruled him more than anything else.
"Morrison…" Oliver growled, his eyes wild and angry. "What the fuck did you thought leaving her alone like that? Do you worry so little about her that you would put her in danger like that? I knew you were a bastard, but I never thought that someone else's safety could be more important than hers…"
Daniel's eyes turned cold and his entire demeanor changed to one of challenge.
"That's why you won't let yourself admit what you feel for her? Are you trying to keep her safe? Well, you are not doing a great job, are you?" Daniel spitted and Oliver took a step back, like the other man's words had hurt him physically.
But even if Daniel couldn't know what was going through Oliver's mind, his words hit close to home, much closer than Oliver was prepared to admit… Was it so obvious? Was it so obvious that he had to restrain himself from stroking her arm every time he put his hand over her shoulder? Was it so obvious the way his fingers lingered on her skin longer than was appropriate? Was it so obvious how he stared at her lips?
"Family of Felicity Smoak?" a voice asked from the door and Oliver turned around immediately, stalking until he was only centimeters from the doctor that looked at him with a bit of fear in his eyes.
"Yes, what do you got for us?" Oliver asked and the man looked down into his papers.
"She had a mild concussion, nothing too serious, probably from falling to the ground. She has two cracked ribs and some injuries from the struggle through her body. And she is awake… if you want to see her she can receive visitors… just one person each time…" the doctor advised and Oliver felt Diggle's hand on his back, pulling him forward.
Oliver turned around. "Are you sure?" he asked and Dig nodded.
"I'm sure she wants to make sure you didn't kill anyone…" Diggle chuckled and Oliver smiled softly at his friend's words.
When Oliver reached Felicity's room, he found her immersed in a mountain of pillows, munching in strawberry Jell-O.
"I always heard hospital Jell-O is the worst…" Olive commented and Felicity looked up quickly to find him smirking at her.
"Like you spend a lot of time in hospitals… even if you should…" she replied with a smile.
Oliver approached her bed, cataloguing her injuries, her black cheek, some scratches in her face and arms and the way she was breathing softly to minimize the pain in her torso.
"Hey…" Oliver whispered, his hand shooting to touch her uninjured cheek and cradle it. Felicity closed her eyes and sighed, the tension she showed in her frame disappearing as soon as he touched her. "I'm sorry…" Oliver said and Felicity opened her eyes once again to observe his guilt ridden expression.
"Why?" she asked softly, her breath raising goose bumps in Oliver's arm.
"For fighting with you, for not being there when you needed me…" for lying in Lian Yu, for not telling you I do love you…
The words unsaid hanged in Oliver's lips, ready to be spilled, but still kept away… a secret to her knowledge…
"Oliver…" Felicity smiled sadly and her right hand grabbed his one. "You can't bear all the guilt of what happens to me… You not being there was not your fault, it was my choice… just like it was my choice to fight those men and don't give them my purse… That guilt you bear will grow if you don't stop doing that to yourself and one day you might not be able to support it…" Felicity sighed and Oliver's lips tugged upward in a crooked small smile. "By the way, you didn't kill nobody, right?" she asked suddenly, squeezing his fingers and Oliver had to repress a humorless chuckle, only her to be worried about his body count in a situation like that.
"No, I didn't kill anyone, not Morrison and not the ones who hurt you… but not for lack of wanting to!" Oliver growled menacingly. "Those two men hurt you and they deserve to suffer for that!"
"Why didn't you? Not that I'm sad you didn't kill, but why?" Felicity asked, clearly ignoring the part about Daniel. She was curious about his choice and Oliver sighed.
"Because you would feel guilty about that… because you put so much pressure on your shoulders that I didn't want to add to that…" because I didn't want you to see me as killer again, because the way you look at me is the only thing that grounds me and stops me from falling apart, because you are my lighthouse in the middle of a storm…
Felicity looked at him like she knew there was something he was not telling her, but noticing his guarded demeanor she choose not to poke him.
"And Daniel?" she asked and saw the transformation of Oliver, her partner, into Oliver Queen, the CEO. His shoulders tensed and his hands trembled.
"You already know I didn't kill him... And I didn't punch him either, if that is what you are asking… not that he didn't deserve! The bastard! Leaving you alone! Unprotected!" Oliver snarled and Felicity sighed once again, whimpering when a sudden pain pierced her in the ribs.
"Your meds are probably running out… I will call a nurse…" Oliver said and before Felicity could say anything else he was already out of the room.
When the nurse appeared she was accompanied by Diggle that smiled fondly at her, kissing her forehead.
"He is really mad…" Felicity stated and Diggle didn't have to ask who she was talking to.
"He has reasons to be…" Diggle answered and Felicity rolled her eyes.
"And Daniel?" Felicity asked, knowing her surrogate older brother would be easier to talk to about her recent love interest.
"He left while Oliver was in here…" Diggle answered and he saw Felicity's eyes downcast with sadness. "Hey, the doctor told us to let you rest, so he probably thought he was acting for the best…"
Felicity nodded and with a forced smile, she asked about Lyla.
John Diggle was not a blind man, and since he spent all his free time with Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen, he knew better than anyone just how much they cared for each other… how much they loved each other… and now with Morrison on the play, Diggle knew it was a matter of time until Oliver blew up and came forward with his feelings for the blond woman. He just hoped it was sooner rather than later, since he was starting to feel really tired of maneuvering between them, poking to feel the waters, while keeping an amused look when they started bickering.
When he left the room, he found Oliver standing against the wall, waiting for him, probably to enquire him about Felicity's state.
Diggle sighed.
They really needed to put their shit together for everyone's sake!