Sara's reaction
Chapter TextSara got off the couch and walked towards the foyer as soon as Thea's and Laurel's voices took on a slightly panicked edge on top of the worried ones from just a minute ago. And what she saw explained everything. Oliver was standing just inside the apartment. He was looking pale; his hands were shaking at his sides and he seemed to have trouble breathing. It took her all of a second to realize that Oliver was having a panic attack and she forced herself to stay calm and slowly walk towards him instead of rushing to him as every fiber of her being was urging her to.
"Ollie what is it?" she made sure that her voice was pitched low and soothing and calm not betraying her worry for him, there was no need to agitate him even more.
She slowly moved her hands towards his face, to ensure that he had plenty of time to stop her if he didn't want to be touched in his current state. She knew form experience, hers and his, that whether or not human contact was helping, depended on the reason for the panic attack.
He didn't move away as she advanced, and his eyes were fixed on her face. She finally put her hands on his cheeks and slowly moved them down his face and neck. "Ollie breathe, you need to breathe."
His eyes closed the moment her hands made contact with his skin and his whole body seemed to relax while he took a deep breath. The next thing she knew was being enfolded in his strong arms while he was holding her in a crushing grip, whispering her name over and over again, like a prayer. Something in her chest seemed to shift and a calmness overcame her the moment his arms wrapped around her which lead to her returning his embrace just as fiercely. She felt like she could really breathe for the first time since her return. And the desperate need to take that had been there from the moment she came out of the pit seemed to quieten down to a small simmer that she barely registered.
All that mattered was the man in whose arms she was currently wrapped. She clung to him desperately trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. She knew that she was only a hairsbreadth away from falling apart.
She was so focused on the feelings Oliver was invoking in her and breathing in his scent as a means to ground herself that it took her a moment to notice the wetness that she felt on her head. And another one to realize that it were tears that she was feeling, Oliver's tears.
"Ollie…" She barely managed to choke out his name before the dam broke and she shattered into a million pieces. Pieces she had tried so hard to keep together the last couple of days. For Laurel and her dad who were so happy to have her back. And for Thea who was shouldering the blame for something that wasn't her fault (just like her big brother. Such a Queen thing to do).
She had needed to stay strong for them but not anymore. Because she was finally home. In Oliver's arms and she knew that it was okay to fall apart. Because he would catch her. He'd always catch her. No matter what. And she knew that he would understand. Only he could. No one else. He was her rock, her sanctuary. Her save haven. Home, she was finally home.