Okay so here's something that I came up with when I listened to 'Burn' by Elle Goudling. Hope you enjoy it and don't forget to review, it makes writing stories so much more fun to do.
Smoke slowly began to fill her lungs as she struggled to breathe; her eyes were stinging like hell making it harder for her to keep them open. Shifting her body Felicity was met with resistance, glancing down at her legs she found that a concrete pillar was pinning her legs to the ground, preventing her from moving. Stopping herself from panicking, since that wouldn't help the situation at all, she instead focused on the little 5 year old girl that was currently clinging to her chest. She had gotten separated from her mother and had suddenly been taken with Felicity because she had grasped her hand and clung onto it like it was her lifeline. Fire roared to life to her left as she heard screams echoing through the room. It felt like she was living one of her worst nightmares but the things was, she couldn't wake up.
Oliver paced back and forth, unable to keep still. It had been ten minutes since everything went down. Felicity had done to pick up something for Oliver and dodged his insistence he come with her, saying it would only take her ten minutes tops but then twenty minutes later she still hadn't come back. Growing worried about her, he was just about to leave to go after her when Digg came rushing in and turned the TV onto the news where the building where Felicity had gone to had somehow been attacks and was now currently on fire. What made his insides clench and twist was the fact that the building had then collapsed and everyone started screaming. Grabbing his jacket on the way out, the male duo made their way to the site of the news. SO now he was left pacing around the ground and hit himself with all different questions. Why didn't he go with her, he could've kept her safe. She could've been right by his side, safe and secure but no. Instead she was inside a collapsed building and could currently be inhaling smoke and burning. Not allowing his mind to think of other things that could be happening to her inside that building, he instead focused on getting the emergency team to hurry their arses up and get the hell down to their location. As the seconds torturously ticked by, Oliver became more and angrier at the rescue team who still hadn't found her after ten goddam minutes, clenching his hands tightly into first at his side to keep the rage beneath the surface. All Digg could do was watch and wait for any signs of their I.T girl.
Felicity had just visited the building a few blocks down from QC for a package addressed to Oliver. When she got there it had taken her round about ten minutes, like she said to Oliver, to pick up the package and begin making her way down the several floors. She had to go to the second-to-top floor for the package and currently she was on the sixth floor when everything went down. The elevator stopped working just before the blowout so Felicity just decided to take the stairs instead (not like she had another choice). On her way over to the staircase, she saw a little girl playing on the floor while her mother was reading a magazine, after locking eye contact Felicity put on a genuine smile for the little girl, who joyfully replied the gesture. Suddenly the lights went out and the building shook a little before settling down. Stopping dead in her tracks, it seemed the events made everyone on alert and cautious. People started murmuring to each other when the bomb went off, making everyone drop to the floor and begin to scream. One minute everyone was cowering on the floor and the next fire was everywhere. Managing to dodge the objects that had caught alight, Felicity had been separated from the rest of the group of people that where on the same floor as her. When an ear-splitting scream sounded through the rooms, she spun on the spot looking for the source of the scream. The mother and daughter she had seen earlier were separated by a roaring fire and the daughter was currently bawling her eyes out trying to reach for her mother but luckily her common sense kicked in when the flames started towards her little body. The mother on the other hand was going out of her mind trying to find a way to get to her daughter. Unexpectedly the ceiling of the room broke away from the flooring above, causing a massive uproar of flames swooping throughout the room making it twice as bad as before. Felicity's eyes began burning with all the smoke littering the air, her vision was focused only on the little girl looking completely and utterly lost. Jogging over to where the girl was, Felicity could feel adrenaline surging through her veins giving her the strength to go on and not feel any fatigue at all, she saw her jogging towards her and full on legged-it right into her chest.
Coughing didn't seem to help at all but is the only thing that her body was capable of doing at that point. The little girl, who didn't seem that keen on releasing her death grip of her shift, continued to cry out but luckily it wasn't from pain unlike Felicity. Her lower body was on fire and she couldn't move at all, she felt paralysed and helpless.
"Hello!" Felicity heard a voice coming down the corridors. Somebody was coming to save them, "is anybody there?"
"Here!" she mustered up all the remaining strength she possessed and replied to the upcoming footsteps, it seemed to be loud and powerful enough to reach him because the man, who she recognised to be someone that used to work alongside her in the I.T department, came running towards them.
"Felicity? Are you alright, can you move?" he asked, checking the screaming the little girl shuffling her tiny body in her arms, apparently she didn't like the man at all and to be honest Felicity didn't quite like him either but either way they were going to make it out of there alive. The man, Kevin she remembered his name to be- well actually she called him 'Creepy Kevin', attempted to lift the pillar that pinned her lower body to the ground but was unable to lift it high enough for her to pull herself free. Fire roared to life in the corner of the room edging closer and closer, to her dismay.
"I'm going to go and see if anyone else is anywhere near here to come and help lift this" Kevin exclaimed before jogging off back down the corridors. The girls' screams grew into desperate cries and pleads for help and just listening to it absolutely murdered her insides.
"Hey sweetie, what's your name?" Felicity asked, trying to distract her from their situation with life and death.
"Al-Al-Alexis" Alexis managed to stutter out in-between sobs that gently racked her body.
"Well Alexis, I'm Felicity and trust me when I say, I'm going to get us both clear out of this place alright?" Felicity clarified to the young girl in desperate need of her mother so she would have to do for the time being.
"I trust you" Alexis stated almost instantly. Minutes later a group of people, led by Kevin, returned to lift the beam off of her body.
"On the count of three" someone stated. There were eight people in the group so while the seven, including Kevin, helping lift the beam one crouched in front of Felicity with their hands firmly clasped together ready to pull her and Alexis, who had a very tight grip of her chest reminding her of a baby Koala Bear clinging to its mother, out into the safety. Working as a team they all managed to get Felicity and Alexis out from beneath the fallen concrete pillar and began working their way down the remaining four stories to the ground where all the police cars, ambulances and news reporters were. Finally revealing the extent of her injuries, her left leg had quite bad burns trailing up her calf and hamstring. Thank god she'd decided to wear pants this morning instead of a skirt; otherwise she would've received more than she had. Because she wasn't able to walk on her own properly Nancy, who she had also worked alongside in the I.T department and was like a best friend to her, slipped a supportive arm around her waist while Felicity put her right arm around Nancy's shoulders and her other one still clutching Alexis to her chest protectively. Staying as a group, they wove their way around burning desks and chairs, holes in the ceilings and floors. At one point Felicity could see all the way down to the first level, remind her to certainly not fall down that hole any time soon. When they had passed one of the windows on the second level, Felicity saw a figure pacing back and forth impatiently and instantly knew without a second thought that that was Oliver.
"You alright?" Nancy asked. Looking over at her, she was staring at her waiting for an answer.
"Hmm…oh yeah….it's just I saw Oliver and you know how he gets when someone close to him gets hurt" if she wasn't feeling like crap then she wouldn't rambled but honestly she couldn't be asked, what was the point anyways it would just cause her even more pain and she was already in enough pain as it was. The adrenaline that once coursed through her had now vanished into her bloodstream and every single stabbing pain or burning sensation she felt ten times harder. Her left leg was obviously in a bad shape and getting considerably worse.
"Yeah, I know…hell I think everyone here knows about how he is with you, both him and Digg…anyways as soon as we get out of here, you are going straight to the hospital"
"Knowing Oliver, he'll probably carry me if I don't agree to it"
"Good for him then"
"Gee, you're such a good friend aren't you" Felicity exclaimed in a light manner.
"The best" Nancy replied with a smirk perched on her face and Felicity had a feeling that it wasn't going to be coming off anytime soon. Oliver. No matter how hard she tried to distract her thoughts and direct then onto something else, they would always replay those words that he had said to her after the whole Russia incident. But what had hurt her most was the fact that after saying that he couldn't be in a relationship with somebody that he could truly care about, he then went on to become the boyfriend to the other lance sister. Sara had come back into town and already she and Oliver were screwing each other. She didn't really care that she was using Roy's terminology because it was the truth and no matter what, you can't ignore the truth because it only comes back fighting twice as hard. Besides it always there, lurking in the dark, hiding behind every corner. Since she'd been stuck in the position she was in, all she could think about was how much claim Oliver Queen had over her life. She spent every day and night with him and Diggle tracking down criminals and handling business investments and other stuff that couldn't be bothered to name. Maybe she needed to begin seeing things from another prospective. Change her view. She hated being the person who always had to be protected; she would train herself more and become a better and more observant person who didn't need protecting. When Felicity saw the exit ahead of her, she promised herself not to let herself get caught up by a certain Queen. She didn't care how much he made her swoon or made her want to just stay in his safe embrace for the rest of her life, she would change this starting from the first step outside of the building. Anyways she just survived a building collapsing and catching fire, didn't that serve as something.
It had been a little over an hour and Oliver hadn't been able to stop moving for three seconds. Where the hell was she? Was he ever going to be able to see that smile again? That bright, radiant tech genius that he had fallen so deeply in love with that if he ever lost her, he would personally jab an arrow into his heart because she'd taken possession of his heart. Ever since Russia, Oliver had forced himself to believe that she would be safer and much better off not in a relationship with him but after this whole incident the thought that had slowly begun to make itself known grew louder and louder. What if putting her at arm's distance was actually putting her in more danger than being with him? Because at least that way he would be able to protect her more than he could if they were apart from one another. Argh why did this have to be so goddamn annoying. He loves her yes and wants to be with her but he doesn't want to see her get hurt, he couldn't bear it if her light suddenly got extinguished by the darkness that had already claimed him. His thoughts were halted when he heard a commotion going on, pausing his pacing he glanced up and what he saw made his heart begin racing. She was alive. Felicity was alive, he hadn't lost her. She was being supported by one of her friends he had seen her with before, she was limping heavily but also clung to her neck was what looked like a little girl. The fact that despite her obviously being in pain, Felicity still pushed through it. Before his actions even registered, he was striding over to her erasing the distance between them extensively. The closer he was to her, the more her injuries became more viable to him. There were cuts and bruises littering her face and the fact that she was wearing pants limited his sight to her legs so he didn't know if her legs had been caught in the fire.
"Felicity what happened?" Oliver asked, taking up her right side and allowing Nancy to slip away and get herself seen to but not before Felicity thanked her.
"Bomb went off…fire everywhere…fallen pillar" Felicity answered between coughs, which caused Oliver to become more concerned.
"ALEXIS!" a voice screamed hysterically, a woman was rushing over to them and Felicity recognised her instantly. Exchanged Alexis over to her crying mother, who then pulled Felicity in for a bear hug sobbing thank you's into her ear, Felicity was content and relieved that she managed to find the daughter. There's nothing stronger than the relationship between mother and child.
"You don't have to thank me, I would gladly do it again in a heartbeat and don't worry she's okay, she wasn't injured at all" Felicity stated, immediately relieving the mother's fears.
"How can I ever thank you"
"Knowing Alexis is safe is thanks enough" she replied with a smile.
"Please take care of her" the mother said to Oliver, who Felicity forgot was still standing there.
"Don't worry, I don't intend to let her out of my sight" Oliver replied while tightening his grasp, it was only then she realised that his left arm was banded around her waist and securing her to his side. Leading her away to the ambulance the adrenaline was starting to wear off and she was able to feel the pain flaring in her body. Fatigue was beginning to make her body move slower and eyes begin to droop. She vaguely was aware of Oliver ordering someone to check her out and the medic hesitantly began checking her over for any signs of injuries. He gently removed her right leg of her pants and Felicity knew he was closer to her currently hidden injury and began tensing up, the medic on the other hand felt her action before rolling up the left leg revealing the burn beneath. Gasping in breath between gritted teeth, Felicity could feel the material peeling away from the wound.
"When did this happen?" the medic asked as he signalled for a stretcher for her, to her dismay.
"When I was stuck under a fallen concrete pillar on the seventeenth floor" replying with her eyes bolted tightly, trying to will away the pain that was crashing through her leg.
"You were trapped?" Oliver's voice registered before she felt light-headed.
"Felicity?" the medic's voice seemed contorted as white spots danced in her vision, "get her on the stretcher, NOW" the medic was barking out orders as Oliver was clearly distressed. She heard snippets of the conversation sounding around her. The medic was trying to get Oliver out of the ambulance but he wasn't listening but the conversation was cut short when they both heard Felicity's muffled, agonised scream of pain. This caused Oliver's protective feeling to get triggered and blast to the surface.
"We have to get her to the hospital to have a look at that leg" another medic stated before the ambulance whizzed away to the hospital, with Digg tailing the van in the Bentley.
Wheeling her in, Felicity tried taking deep breaths to will the pain away but to no avail. The entire ride here Oliver had taken possession of her right hand like it was the only thing in the world that mattered to him. Medics explained what they were going to be doing next with her, but none of it sank in, everything sounded like it was being told to her from above the surface of the water while she's slowly drowning. One of the nurses tried to get Oliver to leave but nothing moved his from her side, he even gave them Arrow-worthy glares, his anger being obvious. A lot of nurses and doctors where surrounding her bed and it was beginning to make her feel claustrophobic so they were forced to sedate her when she began attempting to kick out, eyes going wide. Digg had to step in and physically hold Oliver back on the other side of the door when he began acting possessive over his girl Friday.
As soon as she opened her eyes, Felicity was blinded by the bright, white lights. Shutting her eyes and groaning, it seemed that she had woken someone else because a few seconds later a hand was on her cheek. The familiar warmth and comfort it provided made her lean into the touch, blinking back heavy eyelids, Felicity managed to open her eyes to reveal two deep blue orbs gazing intently into hers.
"Oliver…" Felicity murmured, releasing another mini groan when she shifted slightly to get into a more comfortable position.
"Hey sleeping beauty, you feeling alright" Oliver's voice supported a smile and without even looking at him she knew he had a grin plastered on his features.
"They got fed up with me and knocked me out didn't they?" it was more of a statement than a question but either way, she was rewarded with a chuckle.
"Why didn't you tell me?" and with that he suddenly grew serious again, looking into his eyes, they masked the emotions that lay beneath.
"I didn't think it was that bad" she answered, guilt growing in the pit of her stomach, "Alexis…how's Alexis?"
"She's fine, she's with her mother…you saved her life you know, if you hadn't of found her then she could've died….you're a hero Felicity, you know that"
"I learnt from the best" Felicity stated shutting her eyes, the fatigue still present.
"Thanks to you" her eyes shot open.
"What did I do?"
"You're the reason that I'm who I am, without you I would've slowly spiralled into madness"
"Well…someone needs to give you a kick up the arse" smirking, Felicity was rewarded by another genuine, heart-warming chuckle.
"How do you always manage to do that?"
"Do what?"
"Make something serious immediately have a funny side"
"Part of my natural charm I guess" Felicity answered before shifting again, clearly annoyed about something.
"What is it?" Oliver asked, rising marginally.
"You know when you get something put over your leg or arm…and then you get an itch that you can't scratch well I've got one and it's really irritating…almost as bad as you when you get all growly"
"When I get growly?" he sounded insulted.
"Oh suck it up buttercup" she retorted before sniggering.
"What?" brows drawing together.
"Imagining you as a buttercup" she said before the laughter sounded in the room with him shortly joining in.
The doctor told her not to put too much pressure on her leg for a couple weeks and Oliver being Oliver took it quite seriously and after ignoring his request of spending another week or so at home in bed, he retorted in carrying her bridal style. So that's why whenever she saw him, she would find an excuse to escape him, using the bathroom quite a lot of times. During the entire time, Digg would just stand there and proceed to laugh quietly at the pair who continued to act like a married couple.