She had opened up to him. A wave of temporary relief flooded over her as she sat there with her hand resting on his. The guilt of betraying his trust seemed to fade as his forgiving look lay etched in her memory. He wasn't angry or upset like she thought he would be. Instead, he was understanding and forgiving.
A surprised look formed on his face as he realized that she initiated contact with him. He had been trying constantly over the past few hours to comfort her to no avail. Now she was the one who reached out to him.
"Are you hungry?" He inquired still dressed in nothing but a loose towel. His damp chest glistened from the sunlight peering in through the blinds.
She answered him with a nod, knowing that the last time she ate was days ago. The food she was served while held hostage was inedible. Nasty slop that made school lunches look desirable were given to her every few days to make sure she had enough energy to survive interrogations. They needed her awake to get the answers they were looking for.
"Can you walk?" Oliver asked giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
"I believe so," she responded peeling the warm covers off of her body. A slight chill ran down her spine as the cooler air met her skin. Her hair was still slightly damp from her bath last night. Cautiously, she set her feet on the ground and slowly began bearing her body weight on them. She was definitely tender. Pain washed over her body, but it was nothing compared to everything that she had gone through.
Lifting her body off the bed, she felt the blood rush to her head. The world began spinning around her as she felt herself lose her balance. She felt steady hands catch her and ease her back down to the bed. Spots danced across her vision as her head pounded like a New York City construction site.
"Felicity? Felicity?" Oliver's asked highly concerned. Her spinning world slowed down after a second.
"I'm okay. I just haven't stood up in a while," she replied brushing the matter off like it was nothing.
"Let me just carry you then," Oliver suggested not wanting to push her past what she could handle.
"No, I can do it," she insisted. She didn't want him to do everything for her. Especially after what she had done to him. His eyes looked at her with concern, making the guilt that had faded away creep back up inside.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"I said I could do it!" She snapped causing him to back off a little.
"Sorry, try again whenever you are ready," he whispered sounding slightly hurt.
"Oliver, I'm sorry," she mumbled with her voice cracking. "How can you just forgive me for giving away your secret? I betrayed your trust and you act like nothing happened!"
"Felicity, I know what you are feeling right now. How often do you tell me to stop feeling guilty for things that are out of my control? You were in an impossible situation. Regardless of who you chose, you were going to hurt someone close to you. Your mother did not need to be involved. I, however, can handle a few low- lifes finding out my identity."
He slowly reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. She pulled back at first but stopped fighting the comfort of his touch. For so long, touch had been something she had feared. She forgot that it could be a good thing as well.
Letting all the held back tears break down the wall she had built up inside, she cried. Oliver wrapped her in a hug and she cried into his shoulder. His hand gently rubbed her back as she let it all out. It felt good to let it all go.
His embrace felt so warm and inviting. Unlike her captor's embrace which was unpleasant. She remembered what one of her captors had done on the third night she was there.
"How ya feelin slut?" The brown-haired man asked as he sauntered smugly into the room.
"Like a million bucks," she answered sarcastically. Her busted lip began bleeding slightly as she talked.
"Speaking of green things, why don't you tell us where your green friend is and this can all be over," he said transitioning to the reason he was here.
"Not in a million years," she scoffed.
"You seem to misunderstand me. I'm not asking for you to tell me who the Green Arrow is," He said getting very close to her face. He pulled out a pocket knife and grazed the blade across her face, drawing blood. "You ARE going to tell me who he is, or you are going to wish you had never been born."
"You don't scare me," She growled, standing her ground.
"Is that so?" The man snarled running the blade down the exposed skin on her chest. His blade hovered over her red, lacey bra as he raised his eyebrows. He bit his lip and let out a sigh as he pulled his knife away.
"There are so many things I want to do to you right now," he breathed into her ear. His thick breath against her skin made her cringe. A wave of panic swept over her as her imagination thought of the obscenities he could do to her. She wished that Oliver was here to save her. He was coming. She was sure he was going to come.
His lips pressed against the side of her neck. Her body tensed up as her hands gripped the armrests of the metal chair tightly. His kisses trailed to her cheek, and then to her chapped lips. One of his hands gripped her hair tightly causing a groan of pain to escape her lips. The man took that as a groan of pleasure and deepened the kiss. Not being able to take his filthy mouth any longer, Felicity clenched her teeth down on his lip and bit down hard.
A cry of pain emitted from his mouth as he quickly pulled back. Felicity's teeth stayed locked onto his lip as she tasted blood. A hard object hit the back of her head causing her to release his bottom lip. Her vision became blurry for a second as a ringing noise sounded in her ears.
"YOU BITCH," a muffled voice shouted. Something sharp ran across her chest causing a white-hot pain to burn across her nervous system. Soon after she felt something warm and wet seep down her skin.
"Are you okay man?" The other man asked. She watched as their blurry images interacted with one another.
"I should have known. She's the Arrow's whore!"
The voices faded away after a few minutes, but the pain lingered. The ringing in her ear faded away. She heard loud shouting and cussing coming from the room next door.
"Whenever you are ready to talk about it Felicity, I'll be right here," Oliver said breaking her out of her memory.
"Thank you, Oliver," she said drying the tears from her eyes. She broke away from his embrace. Looking into his eyes, she felt her heart beat a little bit faster.
How could someone who had been through so much be this compassionate? She was finding it hard to trust again and she had only gone through a fraction of what he had been through.
Oliver had invited her out to coffee the day she had been taken. They were supposed to go the next morning for breakfast and coffee. Oliver had wanted to talk to her regarding the whole Slade love declaration situation. After two weeks of awkward glances and conversations, Oliver finally thought it was time to talk about it. They never got the chance to talk since she was taken.
"Come on, I'll help you walk," Oliver said lifting himself off the bed. He extended his hand towards her and helped her up.
"Thank you, for everything," she said as she steadied herself on him.
"Don't mention it."
