A/N:Hi guys! How are you doing?

I can't believe your incredible support for this fic. Every follow, favorite and review means a lot to me; and I'm very happy knowing you're enjoying this story so far. And I hope you'll like this chapter too. I'll only say that I love Felicity.

One last thing, I haven't been able to reply to all the reviews of chapter 3, because I had very little spare time; but I will answer all them asap.

And don't forget, when you're bored, take some paper and your favorite pen and enjoy writing!

Chapter 4. My life. My choice.

"Hey, I have to hang up."

The robbers were angrily gesturing to Oliver, making it clear he must end the call.

"Nooo!" A woman shouted. "Tell him! Help!"

The next thing Oliver heard made his blood run cold; it was the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. When he turned around he saw the younger brother trembling, staring in horror at the gun. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

"Can you tell me what the hell you were thinking?" the older one shouted to his brother.

"She was screaming, and his bodyguard was going to figure out what's happening... I just wanted to silence her."

"It doesn't matter anymore! A gunshot, Mike? Really? The police must already be coming."

"Have you filled the bags?"

"No, not yet," the cashier answered nervously.

"We don't have time."

"But we can't go yet. We need the money!"

"I know!" He began to pace back and forth nervously, and then police sirens could be heard approaching. "You are all going to get up slowly and walk to the windows, but keep your backs to them. I want to see your faces. You in the middle," he said, pointing to Oliver.

They did what had been ordered, and somehow Felicity managed to get herself next to Oliver in the process. She was shaking slightly and Oliver did the only thing he could do to try to calm her. He slipped his hand in hers, and began to stroke small circles with his thumb. It worked. He felt how Felicity stopped shaking, but what surprised him was that it also helped him. While he had spoken to Diggle he hadn't realized how worried he was about her. Now that he was beside her, with their hands joined, he felt warmth in his chest he hadn't expected and that took him by surprise.

"It's done," the cashier said quietly.

The older brother walked over to look at the bags.

"This isn't enough."

"But it's all the cash I have in my cash drawer."

"Don't lie to me!" he shouted as he aimed at her head.

"I can also take the bills from the other cubicles."

"So what are you waiting for?"

The woman got up and went to another cash drawer in order to get them more money.

"Come on, hurry up! We don't have all day!"

Actually, they had very little time. Police sirens could be heard nearby. But the bags weren't full enough and they needed the money desperately. By their body language, Oliver concluded that they were unsure if they should try to get out of there right then or wait until they'd gotten the amount they needed, even if that would mean having to cope with the police. When one of the bank's phones started ringing, it was clear that they no longer had any choice to make.

The older one picked up the phone and turned on the speaker, but he said nothing.

"I'm Detective Lance, from the SCPD. Who's this?"

"Does it matter?"

"If you don't want me to call you just a robber, yes, it matters." His voice was calm and strong, as if he had done this thousand times, although it was actually his first time. He knew that it was the head of Hostage Negotiations who should be making this call, but Lance didn't know when he would arrive, and there wasn't any time to waste.

"You can call me Henry."

"Okay, Henry then. We heard a shot. Tell me, is anyone hurt? Do you need medical aid?"

"No!" the younger brother shouted.

He had fired his weapon, yes, but he had only done it to scare them. He could never shoot someone. He was not a murderer.

"Who's that? Your accomplice?"

"Why should I answer you?"

"Because if I can call you Henry, it wouldn't be fair for him to keep being called an accomplice, don't you think?"

"Mike, he's Mike."

"Okay. Tell me, Henry." In the police academy he'd learned that calling robbers by their names was the most effective way to reach them. "What do you want?"

"We're robbing a bank! What do you think we want?"

"2.53 million dollars, exactly," Mike specified.

Felicity felt Oliver getting tense at her side. His mind was in full swing, and she wished she knew what he was thinking.

"That's a curious amount," Lance said. As he didn't receive an answer, he kept talking.

"Tell me Henry, what will you do when you have the money? How do you plan to get out of there? The building is surrounded by the police."

"You're going to get us out of here."

"Me?"

"Yes, you'll get us an armored van. You have one hour."

"I can bring the van, but my superiors will ask for something in return. Let the hostages leave."

"Do you think I'm stupid? They are not going anywhere."

"Listen, I need you to show me a sign of good faith. If not, my superiors won't let me negotiate with you. At least let the women and children leave."

"I said no, and I will not change my mind. You have half an hour to get the van being in its way or I'll start killing people," he threatened before hanging up.

He had no intention to carry out the threat, but the police didn't know it.

"Excuse me," the cashier said hesitantly. "It's impossible to get that amount of money here."

Everyone could see Henry's anger when he heard that.

"What did you say?"

Before the cashier could repeat herself, his younger brother began yelling at him. "You told me that with this robbery we would get the money! You lied to me!"

"Mike, listen to me. We'll get the money and we'll get out of here. Everything will be fine, but I need you to calm down. Okay?"

"The money is not for yourselves, is it?" Oliver asked, making everyone look at him.

"If I were you, I'd shut up."

"What will you do? Are you going to kill me? Come on, we both know that you won't. If you do, you never will get out of here, and there is someone waiting for both of you on the outside. Am I wrong?"

"You think you're pretty smart, don't you? But you're right; I won't kill you. But I can't assure you the same about your Blondie."

Oliver tightened his grip on Felicity, as she did her best to hide how much that comment frightened her.

"Come on, what else could you be doing here? Obviously you were accompanying someone, and due to the way she gasped when you were kicked and looking at the way you're holding her hand, I have no doubt that you came with her. I may not want to kill you, but I can take her with us in the armored van, so if I were you, I'd shut up right now."

Oliver clenched his jaw but said nothing; he'd never expected his comment would cause Felicity to become a target. Feeling victorious, Henry turned to the cashier.

"Explain what you meant when you said that we can't get the money."

"Our clients don't need a lot of cash, so we don't have that amount here. Even if I give you all we have here, it won't be enough."

"Yeah, of course... But tell me, what about the safe that's hidden in the basement?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know there's a safe, so don't you dare deny it."

"But ... how did you know?" The cashier asked surprised.

"I didn't know. It was just a guess..."

"But you just confirmed it, babe," Mike added.

"Anyway, there's only one person who can open it, and he's not here."

"The bank manager? Don't worry; I'm sure our friend the policeman can bring him."

Felicity listened to the conversation attentively. When she chose to keep her money in this bank she had thoroughly studied it, going a little further than just Googling it. So she knew where the safe was hidden and that only the bank manager knew the password, so he was the only one who could open it. Well... that wasn't quite true.

She didn't have the fighting skills of Oliver or Dig, but she was an IT genius, and she wouldn't allow the police to bring the bank manager into harm's way. There were already too many hostages there.

She squeezed Oliver's hand slightly to get his attention, and when their eyes met she whispered:

"My life. My choice."

"What?" he answered with a frown.

She took a deep breath, released Oliver's hand and took a step forward.

"There is another way."

The robbers looked at her surprised.

"Felicity."

She ignored him. She had heard him saying her name in a thousand different ways. He varied his tone to express all that he wasn't able to put in words, and she did understand. She always did. This time also. There was surprise and anger; even some pride for her bravery. But mostly there was fear. They both knew she was getting into the lion's den, and this time The Arrow couldn't come to her aid. But there could be no turning back now.

A/N 2:Thanks for reading! And please don't forget to leave me reviews so I'll know what you think. Thank you very much!