Been fiddling with an idea recently to take my mind off my knackered body trying to hurt everywhere at once for no reason. This is something that came out of my musings. IIRC, EBR mentioned in a panel somewhere that she was working at a dog shelter when she landed the role... Set in Season 3 and incorporates some of the spoilers revealed recently, so...

BEHOLD! SPOILERS ABOUND BELOW!

...anyway, that should be enough of a warning. This is currently a two parter, but the second bit is only half done, and I may still re-do part 2 before posting. Hope you enjoy. Reviews welcome (and encouraged).

DISCLAIMER - The people that own Arrow are the people that own Arrow. I am not one of those people.

Wincing Oliver Queen gingerly shifted his still healing body in the large chair.

'Oliver?' John Diggle moved from his spot leaning against the wall of the new conference room. Queen Consolidated was back under Oliver's control, Ray Palmer happily conceding his position of CEO for a much more desired role as the head of the Applied Sciences Department. Diggle's former job as Oliver's driver and bodyguard had been changed and he was now both the head of the entire Queen Consolidated and the Queen family's security departments

'Just moved a little too quickly, that's all,' Oliver placated the room. It had been a month of recovery, but he knew that his physical wounds would eventually heal and become another reminder of the long list of things he'd lost, 'I'll get Thea to check the bandages when we get back to the mansion.'

Thea...

Oliver's chest tightened painfully at the memories of finding her after Slade's attack on the city, the young woman staring emotionlessly behind the drawn bow, an arrow aimed at his chest. It had taken weeks of intense work by the team, and assisted by a now jobless Lyla, to bring his sister out of the brainwashing Malcolm had done to her. He gulped at the lump in his throat, the sound of her first utterance of his nickname echoing in his head.

Oliver clenched his fist under the table, his nails digging into his palm painfully as he tried to control the intense rush of emotions that assaulted him as his mind took him to the missing member of the team.

Felicity Smoak.

It was meant to have been a simple in and out job, but like everything else in his life, the mission in Paris had turned sour almost instantly. They'd only been held for less that 12 hours, but the gang of underground weapons smugglers had been painfully enthusiastic to try out some new torture techniques. He'd taken everything on himself, never allowing their captors to lay a finger on Felicity and Oliver's body would forever wear the scars.

The meeting drew on for longer than he could handle and the moment he could get away, he shut himself in his private bathroom. Gripping the sink, Oliver's eyes stared at the mirror before him, his mind not only replaying the mind numbingly horrendous events of his rescue, but putting an image of a smiling Felicity into the reflection. Glancing behind him, Oliver's chest restricted at the realisation that she wasn't there.

Diggle had appeared in the doorway to the room, Oliver's half conscious state registering the hands on him as being friendly. He had lifted him as effortlessly as he would eventually do with his newborn daughter, carrying him to the helipad where the heavily pregnant Lyla waited in a 'borrowed' helicopter.

Oliver's fingers turned white, the vein on his head throbbing dangerously. The horror that had washed over him when Lyla had asked about Felicity was incapacitating, something he'd not experienced since... Well, ever. The sheer panic in Diggle's voice had been something that woke him up in a cold sweat for many a night in the month since.

'They have a EMP device!' Felicity's voice suddenly cried over the radio, 'I can disarm it! Get Oliver to the nearest hospital and I'll find you guys soon!'

Despite the multitude of injuries on Oliver's body, it had been a struggle for Diggle to keep him in the helicopter as Lyla had taken off.

Felicity never found them.

'We have the fundraiser to attend Oliver,' Diggle snapped his boss out of his silent thoughts, holding his tux out to Oliver, 'You need to put this on and meet me downstairs in ten minutes or Thea will have your head... And you know she has the ability to make that a literal statement now.'

'I know,' Oliver grimaced. Taking the tux, he gave Diggle a small smile. The loss of Felicity had shaken them both to their foundations and they'd built a stronger friendship while they helped each other stand through their shared grief, 'Ten minutes.'

'I see you're going for the playboy look tonight?' Thea greeted Oliver with a warm smile, her older brother leaving his shirt collar open and his bow tie hanging loose.

'More like 'the slash on my neck is sore and spending hours squashing it under a tight collar is pain I could do without tonight' look ,' Oliver pressed his lips against his sister's cheek, relief flooding him that they had been able to repair the near demolished relationship.

'Either way,' Thea sighed, 'You look like hell. I can do this without you, it's not that hard to do.'

'She loves this cause,' Oliver's breathing became ragged, 'Finding homes for stray dogs is something she is passionate about and she would want to be here if she could.'

'Any word from Sara?' Thea's voice shrank, her own hurt lacing her words.

'Not for a week,' Oliver wrapped his better arm around his sister, mindful of her expensive dress, 'But the way she and Nyssa work, it's not surprising that they've gone dark.'

'Mr Queen!' a young man approached, oblivious to the private moment he was stomping over, 'It's so good to meet you and have you become a patron to this charity. I was unaware that you were a dog person?'

'I'm not to be honest,' Oliver shrugged slowly, 'But someone... Someone who meant... Means... A lot to me is passionate about this and...'

'You don't need to say any more sir,' the man's cheerful expression weakened slightly, 'I'm not sure how much you were told about the event tonight, but we have a small selection of finger foods laid out for the gathered guests to mingle around until the speeches are made with a live orchestra and singers afterwards for anyone brave enough to show off their dancing skills to do so.'

'I can't dance,' Oliver deadpanned, 'But I know my sister and her boyfriend will relish the opportunity to do so.'

For a man that had undergone real honest to God torture, Oliver was silently cursing any deity that he could think of for making him attend this event. By the time it was his turn to give the speech Thea had written for him, Oliver had become thoroughly grumpy.

'Smile Oliver,' Thea glared at him when his name was announced.

Smiling at his sister, Oliver turned and stepped to the podium, pulling out the prompt cards from his pocket.

'My sister spent two days writing my speech,' Oliver winced, holding up the cards, 'And I'm going to really annoy her by not using it,' a soft ripple of chuckles floated across the ballroom when Thea's bark of irritation rang out, 'Sorry.'

'I'm not an animal person,' Oliver spoke slowly, 'Never had the desire to own a dog or a cat when growing up and, well, certain events in my life over the last eight years have made owing a pet something of a pipe dream.'

'So I'm guessing you're all wondering why I'm standing here as the new Patron of the Starling City home for stray animals,' Oliver gulped, 'The reason is simple. Felicity Smoak.'

'You all know the events surrounding her disappearance,' Oliver's hand gripped the podium tightly at the mention of the cover story, 'But what you don't know is that she has an absolutely huge love for dogs. Some people go gaga over babies or cars, but Felicity just melts at the sight of a puppy.'

'It was so bad that I actually offered Joe Kutter,' Oliver motioned to the grinning older man sat with his wife at the side of the room, 'That I would personally pay the cost of new premises for his pet store as it sits between Queen Consolidated and Felicity's favourite coffee shop. I knew whenever Joe had received a new litter of puppies because Felicity's sixty minute lunch break,' Oliver's face broke into a sad smile, his eyes softening as he remembered, 'would become ninety or longer.'

Chuckles filled the room, the attendee's having grown silent as Oliver spoke.

'About a month and a half ago,' Oliver sighed deeply, 'I found Felicity staring at her precious computers with a horror struck look on her face. After I had calm down from the panic she'd caused me, I managed to get her to tell me what had her so affected. That lead to an hour of her regaling me with her adventures as a volunteer here.'

'She turned to me at one point and told me quite simply that I would be making a substantial donation to the home,' Oliver frowned as he felt the tension that had gripped his body for the last month start to melt away, the clamp around his chest loosening, 'Or... Or she'd make it in my... In my name.'

Oliver's hand shook as he took a gulp of the glass of water he'd had on the podium. Placing it back down, he froze, his eyes blinking slowly over the audience. Taking a deep breath, Oliver could swear that he could smell her mint body wash, the familiar sense of calm she created in him suddenly flooding his body and soul.

'Felicity...' Oliver found his voice thickening up around the sudden lump in his throat, 'Is... Missing. I don't know where she is or why she's not here with me, but I'm not going to stop searching until I find her. While I'm searching, I need to honour her and this is a damned good way of doing it. I'm going to give my accountant a heart attack with what I'm about to do, but I promise you tonight, whatever is raised for this charity, I will personally match it.'

He wasn't sure exactly what happened after he stepped down from the podium, everyone wanting to speak to him after his speech, but Oliver eventually found himself standing alone on the small balcony overlooking Starling City, a simple tumbler of Jack Daniels resting on the stone wall that wrapped around the balcony's edge.

'That's a wondrous thing you just did Oliver,' He scrunched his eyes closed as her voice echoed in his head.

'You would have loved it,' He opened his eyes , but refused to turn incase he was faced with another trick of his mind, 'I know how much you love your puppies.'

Oliver's eyes watered when he heard her soft giggle, 'I see you've picked up my little habit.'

'God Felicity,' Oliver trembled, 'Why can't I find you?'

'You don't need to Oliver,' Felicity's voice sighed, 'Just...'

'I damned well do need to!' Oliver thumped his fist on the stone, 'I need you Felicity, much more that I ever thought possible. I can't sleep, I'm barely eating. I almost killed a simple street burglar the other night,' Oliver downed the remainder of his glass in one gulp, 'And I'm drinking far too much of this shit, which is probably why I'm imagining your voice in my head.'

'Oliver...'

'Did you think about what it would do to us if we lost you Felicity?' Oliver stared at the city before him, 'About just how much we all need you in our ears keeping us sane?'

'Thea has Roy,' Oliver grunted, 'Diggle has Lyla and Meghan... Yes, they named their daughter after you. Sara has Nyssa, But i'm... Lost. You've become such a part of me that I don't know who I am without you beside me with your stunning smile and inappropriately hilarious gaffes. You made me into a hero, but I don't know if I can be that man without you.'

'Where are you Felicity?' Oliver's voice broke.

'Behind you.'