Song to put on repeat as you read: Come Back Down by Greg Laswell ft Sara Bareilles.

BTW: Unlike Arrow, Sara is still alive and well ;) RIP to her character.

Enjoy!

~~~A year later~~~

"And that, is how Queen Consolidated can improve revenue by concentrating more on its biotech division." Felicity said after wrapping up her presentation.

The board members clapped as Walter stood up and shook her hand, "Wonderful idea Ms. Smoak."

"Thank you." Felicity said with a small smile.

After the board members left, Felicity plopped on a chair from exhaustion. Ever since Ray let Oliver regain control of Queen Consolidated, Oliver promoted Felicity to Vice President.

Felicity winced, she didn't like thinking about Ray. Not after he broke up with her and left her…

"Hey. Felicity, mind if I ask you something?" Oliver asked.

"Yes?" Felicity answered while rubbing her temple.

Oliver looked up from his file, "You've been … off minded lately. Want to talk about it?"

Felicity smiled weakly, "I'm just tired."

Oliver gave her a hug, "Take the week off. You need it."

Felicity shook her head, "You need me here. Queen Consolidated is has never been busier."

"Go Felicity." Oliver said with a smile.

Felicity nodded slowly, "Alright."

While driving home, Felicity slowed down as she passed by Ray's old mansion. It was now occupied by an elderly elite couple who recently moved into Starling. She stared at the couple who entered their house.

Felicity sniffed, imagine, that could have been her and Ray...

"Come on Felicity, you've got to get over him." She muttered to herself as she sped away from the mansion.

After arriving at her house, she opened her door to see Sara sprawled on the floor with stacks of DVDs around her. Felicity rolled her eyes remembering Sara had moved in with her. They had become roommates now.

"Sara! What are you doing?" Felicity asked while trying not to step on the cases scattered on the floor.

Sara sat up, "You've cooped yourself with work for so long. So I decided we should have a movie night. You know. Like old times."

Felicity yawned, "I'm a bit tired Sara. Maybe later?"

"You've been saying that for ages."

"Well, being the Vice President of Queen Consolidated can be tiring."

"Liar." Sara said with a concerned frown.

She shrugged and closed her eyes while Sara continue to search for movies. Felicity hated to admit it but Sara had a good sense of knowing when she was lying.

Sara arched her brow, "Felicity, it's been months since you officially ended things with Oliver. You can't tell me you're still trying to get over him."

Felicity sighed, "Sara. Oliver's my best friend now. I can assure you, I'm not moping over Oliver."

Sara smiled and turned excitedly, "Well that explains things."

Felicity rolled her eyes, "And what would that be?"

"You're moping over Ray… aren't you?" Sara said wriggling her brows.

Felicity frowned, and avoided her friends gaze, "Of course not I'm not moping over that jerk."

Sara squealed, "I knew it!"

Felicity raised her brow; Sara wasn't one to squeal, "Sara, can we please change the subject?"

"Of course not." Sara said firmly as she sat next to Felicity, "I think you still have unresolved feelings about Ray."

Felicity almost laughed, "Me? No." Felicity frowned at Sara who was still laughing at her, "Sara. I'm serious. I'm not in love with him."

Sara crossed her arms and smirked, "I never said anything about love."

Felicity shifted in her seat, "I don't have feelings for Ray anyway."

"And if so, why is your face getting peachy?"

Felicity felt at her cheeks, why was it getting warm? "Probably because it's hot in here," she said indignantly.

"Mmmhm and why do you keep avoiding the subject every time we talk about Ray?" Sara said with arched bows.

Felicity blinked rapidly as she stammered, "B-because. I just don't like talking about …him. Ok?"

Sara shook her head at her friend in denial, "You see! You can't even say his name."

Felicity winced as she drank the coffee. Coffee. Ray used to drink coffee…

Sara furrowed her brows; Felicity was more hurt about Ray than she thought. "Come on Felicity, I think we should go to the gym."

"No. I just need to rest."

Sara frowned, "No. You need to get your pain out, come on."

"I don't have any pain." Felicity said with a weak laugh.

Sara crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her friend, "You're worrying me Felicity. For the past year you've buried yourself in work like you're running away from something. You barely eat and you always wince whenever Ray is mentioned."

Felicity looked away, has she really been doing that for a whole year? She sighed, "Alight, let's go."

'''''''''''

Sara held a red punching bag in front of Felicity, "Now talk about it while you hit the bag."

Felicity sighed, "Sara—"

Sara put a firm hand on Felicity's shoulder, "Do it, I promise, you'll thank me after this."

Felicity nodded, and punched the bag.

"With more force Felicity." Sara said sternly. "Use your hips, swivel and hit," Sara demonstrated.

Felicity nodded and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes before jabbing the red bag in front of her, "I don't want to talk about him because he hurt me."

"How?" Sara asked patiently, prodding her to be more in depth.

Felicity punched the bag again, "I nearly died in the hospital, and he didn't even come to visit me."

"Do you know why?"

Felicity furrowed her brows before giving another jab, "Probably because he thought I chose Oliver. He didn't even give me a chance to explain that I picked him. He just went ahead and made the decision for me."

Sara pursed her lips, "It seems to me you're angrier at yourself than you are at Ray."

Felicity sighed as she swiped the sweat from her forehead. "I guess so. I mean. He sold out a restaurant for me and how did I treat him?" Felicity punched the bag again, "By ditching him."

Sara tilted her head, "You can't blame yourself. Ollie needed your help."

"I know." Felicity said while steadying herself.

Ray also needed her. He lost his wife, and Felicity was the closest thing he had. She was the only one Ray counted on, and she let him down.

She shut her eyes as she took deep breaths; thinking about Ray was really wearing her out.

Sara looked at her tired friend with a worried glance, "Maybe exercising wasn't the best idea. I think we should go for lunch."

"Finally. I'm starving!" Felicity said with a weak smile.

''''''''

As they entered Big Belly Burger, Felicity grimaced.

Where did all that anger come from? I'm not actually falling for Ray… am I? No I can't be. Ray left me.

Well, not that I blame him, after all, he did think that I chose Oliver.

Felicity stopped in her tracks. She had a weird dream about Ray and there was something about the dream that she forgot.

Wait a minute.

"Hello? Earth to Felicity? Your order arrived." Sara said while waving her hand in front of Felicity's face.

"W-what?" Felicity blinked, "Oh… I'm sorry, I was just …thinking."

Sara arched her brow, "If you say so." Sara patted her friend's arm, "I'll be right back, just want to go get some more ketchup for my fries."

Felicity nodded.

She remembered when she was in her coma. She remembered Ray leaning in and to kiss her…she closed her eyes. He smelt like warm coffee that day... She remembered how softly he stroked her hair. She remembered wanting to cry because she didn't want him to leave.

"Felicity, you're probably the most caring, beautiful and selfless friend I've ever had in my life. This thing we had was fun, but all games come to an end. Thank you."

"There was something about the way he was staring at me, like… he was hiding something from me…" she whispered to herself. She closed her eyes again to think. What was it?

Slowly, fragments of the dream were stating to piece back together. She remembered Ray's dejected brown eyes that never left hers before he asked,

"What did you say was the percent of me falling for you again? 12 percent right?"

There was something Ray mumbled. Something important…

You were wrong Smoak.

She gasped as her eyes flew wide open, "No."

Sara tilted her head at Felicity, "What is up with you today?"

She blinked as she rubbed her temple, "I-I think I know why Ray left."

Sara put down her drink, "Why?"

Felicity ran her hand through her hair, "Remember when I told you about the dream I had of Ray leaving me?"

Sara nodded her head, "Yeah… it wasn't a dream. Oliver told me did really drop by to visit you once."

"Right..." Felicity whispered furrowing her brow.

"And you mentioned there was a part of your dream you forgot."

"Yes, it came back to me. You see, there is this app I made for Ray and I while we were still fake-dating. We wanted to make sure we wouldn't fall for each other, so the app calculated the chances and the number was 12 percent." Felicity took out her tablet and demonstrated to Sara.

Sara arched her brow while scrolling through the statistics. "Well except when it came to making out, you two never did get along that often."

Felicity's cheeks reddened, "I know this sounds crazy. But, what if Ray left because he figured out he might be in love with me. He probably felt guilty about starting to let go of Jean."

Sara smiled, "I think that makes perfect sense."

Felicity shook her head, "Raymond Palmer might actually love me."

She gasped and put her hand to her mouth before setting her hand down again. It felt good saying that. Like the gradual, warm feeling after a sip of hot chocolate. Felicity face palmed herself as she usually did when she felt stupid.

"I can't believe it. How didn't I see it this whole time?"

Sara took a fry and dipped it in the ketchup before laughing at Felicity, "I did."

Felicity shook her head, "So all those times he kissed me… they were real?"

"Probably."

"But I thought he was just attracted to me. That's what he told me."

"Maybe he lied." Sara said after stealing the last fry from Felicity's plate.

Felicity groaned as she massaged her temple, "And I believed him…I'm such an idiot."

"Kinda." Sara said with a smile.

Felicity stood up and laughed wryly, "Why do I always have the worst luck in picking guys who can't share their feelings?"

Sara tapped her chin as they walked to Felicity's car, "I think I have a solution to your problem."

"And what would that be?" Felicity asked as she turned the ignition for her car on.

"To go after him silly!"

Felicity smiled, "Funny Sara. Fun-ny"

Sara bore her blue eyes before saying, "I'm being dead serious, let's catch a plan, track him down, have you two profess your love to each other, and boom happy ending for you both."

Felicity let out a sigh as she took a left turn into her driveway. "That sounds like a pathetic plot from those sappy romance movies."

Sara shrugged, "True. But, you've got to admit, it could work."

Even if Sara's idea worked, Felicity wasn't sure she was ready to face Ray. He hurt her and she hurt him.

"But how? I mean…I don't even know where Ray went." Felicity paused, "I'll admit, after Oliver told me Ray moved to Brazil, I tried tracking his location, but it's like he disappeared off the charts."

Sara rolled her eyes as they entered Felicity's house, "Felicity, Ray may be a genius at keeping low key, but you're smart too. You can find him."

Felicity grabbed her tablet as she and Sara sat on the couch. She tapped her locator app, "Well…Ray obviously couldn't be in Brazil… if he was I'd be able to track him in a minute."

Sara pursed her lips, "You know him better than anyone. Think carefully. Where in the world would Ray want to go?"

"Hmm…" Felicity murmured to herself. A quick memory came to her.

It was after she met Ray's family. She and Ray were lying on their backs on the obstacle course. They were staring up at the star-freckled sky and holding hands while they talked. She remembered wondering why Ray kept a dreamy gaze on her.

"Just so you know I suck at being romantic, so don't expect anything fancy." Ray said dryly.

She poked his cheek, "Dork."

Ray smirked at her before looking back up, "Jean and I had a similar argument to this. It was about a vacation trip. Jean wanted to go to Brazil and I wanted to go to Paris. But eventually we went to Brazil."

She arched her brow, "Why Paris though?"

Ray shrugged, "I can read and speak French fluently."

"Say something in French."

"Je déteste que je pourrais réellement commencer à vous aimer."

Felicity blinked back at him, "Well, aren't you going to tell me what that means?"

Ray smirked and played with her ponytail, "Nope."

"Wait. I know where Ray is." Felicity said while fist pumping the air. She looked at her fist, "Wow. I still do that."

"Where?" Sara asked with a chuckle.

Felicity typed in a country in the database, "France. Paris to be more specific."

"Sweet." Sara said with an approving nod.

Felicity pursed her lips, "Now I know why it's so hard to track him. The code for his address has to be decoded from French. Ray knew I'd try to track him down."

"That was smart of him." Sara said with a laugh, "So, can you pin point his address?"

Felicity shook her head sadly, "No, but I can pull up image files on his whereabouts in France."

"So, what is he doing in France?" Sara asked.

Felicity laughed as she pulled up an encrypted file on Ray, "Well for starters, he goes by Dr. Palmer now and he's CEO of his own atomic molecular company."

She smiled proudly as she looked through pictures of Ray. "He's finally doing what he loves." Felicity whispered with a smile.

She stopped at one picture that had him staring straight into the camera with a firm face, he was neither frowning, nor smiling. His neat, dark, brown hair had grown longer. He looked different in a good way.

"Is it me? Or has is he hotter than before?" Sara asked impressed.

Felicity grinned, "It's not just you."

"That settles it. We're going to France!" Sara said giddily pulling Felicity off the coach.

Felicity's eyes widened, "Wait. What. No!"

"Why not." Sara asked with crossed arms.

"Sara. I can't just leave work, and what if the team needs us?"

"Felicity, I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to answer me with 100 percent honesty."

"Alright."

"Do you love him?"

Well, Ray had always been complicated with her. They fought. They bickered. But regardless of his tough demeanor, slowly and silently, there was something about him that she was drawn to. The past year had been different with Ray…

"Well?" Sara repeated.

Felicity blinked at the question as she surprisingly answered, "Yes. I do."

Sara smiled, "Then why does it sound like you keep making up excuses to not go."

"We don't know if he's in love with me for sure. What if this trips for nothing?" Felicity said with a blush. She bit her lip, "And even if I do find him, he probably hates me."

"Then at least with this trip you'd know the truth."

Felicity went silent, a part of her was afraid to know the truth.

Sara stood up, "While you make up your mind, I have a call I need to make."

Felicity nodded. Maybe finding out the truth would help. At least she'd know if Ray meant was he said while she was in her coma.

As Felicity mused, Sara entered the sitting room with two bowls of chocolate mint ice-cream.

"What's this for?" Felicity asked as she accepted a bowl from Sara.

"A congratulatory snack. You figured out you're in love and I just got us an all paid expense to Paris." Sara said with a triumphant smile.

"What? How?" Felicity said in disbelief while almost choking on her ice-cream.

"I'll explain later." Sara answered with a devious smile.

"Sara…" Felicity said with a stern frown.

"Leaving the worrying to me. Make sure you get some rest, we're leaving bright and early in the morning." Sara said with a dismissive wave.

Felicity smiled and hugged her friend, "What would I do without you."

"Nothing." Sara said with a huge smile, "Plus I've always wanted to go to France."

Felicity chuckled, "Are you sure you're doing this to win the love of my life back? Or just so you can have an excuse to travel out to flirt with French guys?"

Sara laughed, "Probably both." She held her bowl to Felicity's, "Let's toast to France."

Felicity giggled as their bowls clinked , "France here we come!"

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"This is going to be so much fun!" Sara said excitedly as they boarded off the private jet.

Felicity noticed there was a black car that awaited them. A driver in a blue uniform stepped out and opened the door for them. After they entered, Felicity turned to Sara with a suspicious glance, "Why would someone give us an all-expense paid trip? You still haven't explained how you arranged for all of this."

"Relax. The driver is taking us to the person who paid for this all."

"But how will we pay the person back?"

"We'll figure it out when we get there." Sara replied casually. Felicity shook her head; Sara could be so unpredictable at times. Suddenly the car screeched to a halt. Felicity looked out the window, "Sara, why is the driver stopping in the middle of the road?"

Sara frowned, "I'm not sure," Sara knocked the glass which separated them from the driver, "What's the hold up for buddy?"

The driver didn't answer. Felicity looked around and noticed green gas seeping into the car. She coughed and pointed, "Sara, look."

The air in the car was becoming thinner. Felicity took off her glasses as her vision started to become more blurred.

Sara coughed as she banged the window, "It's knock out gas. Stupid—" Cough "Waller."

Felicity's eyes widened just as she slipped into unconsciousness.

:))) So how is everyone liking the story so far? As always thank you for the lovely comments :)