A/N: Here's the next chapter! :D Chapter 10! Thank you guys so much for taking the time to read my story and leaving such wonderful comments that keep me writing! I truly appreciate it! I hope you guys like this chapter. :)

He tried to keep his mind blank as he drove and when that failed, he tried to think of the good things: she was alive, she was going to be fine, she was already up and babbling. It worked at first, but soon the explosion rang clear in his mind, the images of the Foundry destroyed, her pale body as it lay on the ground, blood seeping through her shirt. The images haunted him and he gripped the steering wheel tighter as he drove, determined to arrive at his intended destination.

The images flashed again. He could hear the deafening sound that had attempted so violently to destroy the light in his life. He was overcome with the need to see her again. He wanted to turn the car around and make sure that she was still there, still breathing. But he thought back to the sound of Sara's voice over the phone; it was shattered, broken. She needed him at that moment, so he drove on.

The Verdant was empty and once he set his eyes on the door that led to the Foundry, he stopped. He dreaded going back in there. He'd failed to heed Slade's warning, believing that Felicity would be safe here. He should have known better. Recalling again, the sound of Sara's voice, he forced himself to move forward.

The Foundry was dark and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. The first thing he noticed was the fact that the floor was relatively clean compared to the way it had been when he had found Felicity. The floor was no longer covered in glass, scorched wires, and arrowheads. He realized that Sara must have been cleaning up and he shuddered slightly at the thought of being alone, with his own thoughts, for that long with nothing going on around him to distract him in any way.

He made his way down the stairs and scanned the room for her. She was not there. Just when he was about to go back up the stairs to search for her in the Verdant, he spotted her, sitting in the shadow under the staircase. "Sara?" He said carefully.

She flinched at the sound of his voice. His brows drew together in confusion when he realized that she hadn't known that he was there. It wasn't like her not to be alert. She shook her head slowly and then looked up at him with wide eyes. "I think it's time I go home Ollie…"

He squatted down to face her. He couldn't understand what she meant. He studied her for a moment quietly, trying to understand what she was feeling, what she was saying. She looked tired, confused, and sad. A wave of guilt crashed over him as he realized that, for all he knew, she could have been feeling this way for weeks. He hadn't paid attention; he'd been too preoccupied with his own conflicting feelings. He laid a hand on her arm. "You are home," he whispered as if he were dealing with a small, frightened animal rather than the strong woman that Sara had become.

A tear escaped her eye and rolled slowly down her cheek. "No. No, I'm not. Home Ollie. I think it's time I go home where I belong…"

"This is your home. You belong here."

She smiled a sad smile. "No…" Then her smile grew and she took her hand in his. "Tell her Ollie. Stop kidding yourself and tell her."

He froze. She didn't need to clarify. He knew what she meant. A dozen questions suddenly sprang up in his mind: how long had she known, was it the reason she wanted to leave, did anyone else know, didn't she understand that he couldn't do that to Felicity? "Sara…I can't. You saw what Slade did to her. She could have died…" He sighed and came to sit beside her under the staircase. "I'm sorry. I love you, but I guess I don't love you…"

She let her head fall on his shoulder. "It's okay Ollie. I just wish you would tell her. You love her. Slade tried to hurt her, but I doubt he knows…The mere fact that she's part of the team makes her a target Ollie. You can't do anything about that." She let out a bitter laugh, "What do you think your family is? They're targets, Ollie. You can't make them not your family to keep them safe, so why fight it? Tell her."

She was right. He knew that she was right, but he couldn't allow himself to be so selfish. He couldn't allow himself to take the risk. The dreams flashed in his mind. Felicity fit perfectly in those settings. He didn't. He wanted Felicity to live that life and there was no guarantee that she would if he allowed himself to be with her. He wasn't even sure that she still had feelings for him. It was entirely possible that she'd realized what he had realized and had decided to move on.

"Sara—"

"You're telling her before I leave Oliver and that's it. I'm tired of watching you deny yourself happiness."

That reminded him of her earlier statement. "Where are you going?"

"Back to the League of Assassins," She said quietly.

"Sara—"

"I know it sounds awful, but it's the home I've come to know…They are my family. It's who I am."

"It's not who you are Sara!" Oliver argued. She'd changed over the years, but she was not a cold-blooded killer. He refused to allow her to venture down the dark path set forth by the League. "I know you. I know that you're nothing like them. You left Sara. You left the League. That proves that you're not like them. You're good."

"Do you know me Oliver?"

It wasn't an accusation. Her tone wasn't bitter. It was a question—a simple question. Instinctively, he wanted to answer that he did know her, but if he was being honest with himself, he didn't. He'd known the girl who'd run away with him on the Gambit. He'd known the girl who had stayed alive by helping Ivo. He'd known the girl who betrayed Ivo. He didn't really know the girl who'd joined the League of Assassins. He didn't really know the girl who sat beside him—the girl who belonged to a world he didn't know.

"No. I don't," he said after a moment.

Thea had her hand on the doorknob when her mother's voice resounded behind her. "Where are you going Thea?"

Thea turned and walked over to her mother to give her a hug. "I'm going to the hospital to visit Felicity. She's awake."

Miora nodded. "Wait here one moment." She returned a moment later with a bouquet of flowers. "Give them to Felicity will you. I was going to do it myself, but I have to fill in for Oliver at the board meeting."

Thea tilted her head to one side, wondering if her mother knew exactly how much Felicity mattered to Oliver. Miora smiled slightly, and instantly, Thea was sure that she too was aware of what Felicity meant to Oliver. She took the bouquet from Miora and gave her a peck on the cheek before opening the door.

"Tell Oliver that I'll fill in for him until Felicity's better," Miora said as Thea stepped into the car. "Oh, and tell him that she's a strong woman. It'll take more than an arrow to bring her down."

Thea drew her brows together in confusion. 'What the heck was that supposed to mean? Felicity wasn't struck by an arrow, there was an explosion in the basement of the Verdant,' Thea thought. Shrugging, she set down the bouquet beside her as the driver started the car.

When Thea entered the hospital room, she found Roy talking quietly with Diggle and Felicity asleep. There were a few things wrong with the scenario. Oliver was absent and Roy talked to Diggle as if they were best friends. "Hey," she whispered as she entered, not wanting to wake Felicity.

"Hey Thea," Roy responded, coming over to take the bouquet of flowers from her. "You shouldn't have," he said mockingly.

Thea rolled her eyes. "They're not for you. They are for Felicity from my mother."

Roy nodded, "I'll go get a vase," he said as he set the flowers down on the round table in the corner.

Thea took Roy's seat and turned to Diggle. She'd never really talked to him, but she'd seen him become friends with Oliver. At first, that realization had made her jealous. Oliver should have been confiding in his family. She and Oliver were supposed to support each other, but Oliver had wanted to protect her. Time and time again, she'd wanted to break through his walls and he'd kept her out. The jealousy faded however, because Oliver lightened up a bit after he met Diggle. He wasn't the carefree brother she had once known, but she didn't mind. He'd changed for the better. He'd tried to fool everyone into thinking he was the same, but he couldn't fool her.

"How is she?" Thea asked, looking at the blond, who slept peacefully.

Felicity had always been in the background. Ever since Oliver had come back she'd been in the background. Thea didn't know her well, but she'd always thought her friendship with Oliver was a strange one. Felicity was not the kind of girl that Oliver usually hung out with. She was beautiful, but she was shy and a little nerdy—the good kind of nerd, but a nerd nonetheless.

"She's doing really well. She'll be fine. She'll have to take it easy for a little while, but she'll be fine," Diggle said, looking fondly at the sleeping blond.

As Thea looked back at Felicity she was reminded of the way she had found Oliver when she had first come to the hospital. There was something so broken, hopeless, and painful in his expression. She'd never seen her brother look that way and it had broken her heart. It was then, that she realized exactly how wrong she'd been about Felicity. To her, Felicity had been in the background, but to Oliver, Felicity had been front and center.

"That's good. I'm happy." And she was. She was happy that Felicity was fine because Oliver needed her. She decided then that she would get to know the girl whom so obliviously held her brother together.

Roy returned with a vase and set it down on the table. Then he put the flowers in it and pulled up a chair from the table to sit next to Thea. They sat in an awkward silence for a moment and Thea suddenly felt odd sitting next to her own boyfriend. She had an odd feeling that Roy, Diggle, and Felicity knew each other really well. But that was absurd. Roy couldn't have gotten to know Diggle and Felicity. And when would Diggle have had the time to get to know Felicity?

"Did she just go to sleep?" Thea asked.

"Yeah. She was awake up until a few minutes ago. The doctor said she'd be tired for most of the day the first few days," Diggle said.

Again they were engulfed in an uncomfortable silence. Finally, the silence became too overwhelming and Thea stood. "I'm going to get some coffee."

She took her time, but even so, she returned to the room under twenty minutes. Again she found Diggle and Roy talking animatedly as if they'd been lifelong friends. Just as she stepped into the room, Felicity's eyes flickered open. Thea immediately went to her side, not wanting to repeat the silence from earlier.

"Hey Felicity," she said softly.

Felicity blinked a few times and Thea took the time to observe her. She was full of cuts and bruises and still she looked pretty. 'I hope I look this great if anything like this ever happens to me,' she thought absently, before realizing that it was a horrible thought. She discreetly knocked on the wooden surface of the nightstand.

"Thea? Hi," Felicity said rubbing her eyes. Her voice sounded a little hoarse, so Thea poured her a glass of water. "Thanks," Felicity said before taking a few sips.

"How are you feeling?"

"Well, truth be told, I'm sore. I kind of feel like I got hit by a bus." Thea's eyebrows rose and Felicity flinched slightly when she realized what she'd said. "I take that back… I feel sore, but I'm fine." Thea couldn't help the smile that spread across her face at Felicity's little blunder. She and Felicity were going to get on fine.

They ended up watching UP on TNT. By the time the movie was over it was 8:15 PM and Oliver wasn't back yet. Thea wasn't the only one who had noticed because Diggle took out his cellphone.

"I'm going to call him," he announced.

"No. Don't," Felicity said. "I'm perfectly fine. He doesn't need to babysit me. Go home. Get some rest, all of you. Thank you for staying with me, but I'll be fine…"

When Roy stood, Thea followed. Giving Felicity an awkward 'I'm trying not to hurt you' hug, she promised that she would come by tomorrow and then stepped aside to allow Roy to say his goodbyes. If she'd been paying attention, Thea would have noticed that Roy wasn't shy and awkward around Felicity as he usually was around people he didn't know very well. But she didn't notice because the photograph on the nightstand caught her eye. It was a photograph of the three of them: Felicity, Oliver, and Diggle. Various things about the photograph could have stood out to her: the fact that they were all friends, the fact that it was a selfie. What stood out to her the most however, was Oliver's smile. She hadn't seen that smile in years. It was his real smile. The smile he had once reserved exclusively for her. The smile he'd used when she'd walked around the house in her mother's heels, smeared lipstick all over her cheeks, curls bouncing as she tried not to trip in the heels that were far too big for her. The smile he'd used when she'd fallen off of her bicycle. The smile he'd used when he'd tried to convince her that the pool water wasn't cold and that she could jump into his arms. She hadn't seen that smile in years.

Felicity's eyes were trained on the television screen as she watched The Big Bang Theory. Diggle had just left and she was alone for the first time since she had woken up. It was strange, but it was a little nice. It gave her time to think without someone watching her.

Her first thought was that she was lucky. She'd survived a bomb. She couldn't remember it, but she had survived. Not only that, but she was surrounded by good friends who cared for her a great deal. The only one who had yet to visit her was Sara, but she wasn't offended. Sara had been slightly distant and more quiet than usual. She was probably battling some demons and Felicity only hoped that the good in her would win the fight.

She glanced at the picture on the nightstand. Her thoughts drifted to Oliver. Oliver who blamed himself for what had happened to her. Sighing, she vowed to convince him that it wasn't his fault if the subject ever came up again. And then her thoughts wandered, and she found herself in the dangerous part of her mind that allowed herself to believe that Oliver felt something for her.

She thought back to the promise he'd made her the previous night; the feeling of his fingertips trailing over her face and the press of his lips against her forehead. She wanted to be the person whom he could love because she loved him. She'd tried time and time again, to repress her feelings for them; throw them away and never look back, but she couldn't—not completely. Some part of her would always love him.

Sara listened as her sister talked about some problem or other she'd encountered at work that day. Truth be told, Sara wasn't listening to a word. She simply watched her sister rant about the incompetence of the people who organized the files in the DA's office.

She felt someone slide into the booth beside her and turned to face her father. "Hey dad," she said, hugging him just as she did when she was a little girl.

Officer Lance let out a low chuckle. "Hey Kiddo." He placed a kiss on the crown of her head and faced Laurel. "What are we talking about?"

"Some misplaced file or other," Sara said as she took a sip of her water.

"Hey!" Laurel said indignantly. "That misplaced file was important! I spent the whole day looking for it and it turns out it was being used to stabilize the damned coffee maker!"

Sara threw back her head and laughed. It was the wrong thing to do because Laurel understood that Sara hadn't been listening the first time she had told the story. Suddenly, Sara was being pelted with the fries that they had ordered. She put her hands up to shield her face, laughing breathlessly.

Officer Lance raised an eyebrow, staring bemusedly at his two daughters who acted more like five-year-olds than the grown women that they were. He didn't mind. They had missed out on some of this stuff, so while Laurel pelted Sara with fries, he ordered their favorite burgers.

When Laurel had finally finished her assault, Sara told her family about the boring day she'd spent going to the supermarket and doing inventory at the Verdant. It was a lie. She'd spent the day in the Foundry, trying to decide what she needed to do—what she wanted to do. Finally, she'd decided and she'd called Oliver.

"Hey, I heard what happened there the other night. The explosion was limited to the basement right?" Her father asked.

"Yes. Unfortunately, someone got hurt. Her name's Felicity, she was working on some of the wiring." Her father's expression turned worried. "She's going to be fine though…"

"That's good," Laurel said letting out a small breath of relief for the girl whom she did not remember.

Once their food arrived, the subject changed to happy childhood memories; the time that they had run around the yard while it rained and had gotten sick for a week, the time that Laurel had made Sara watch a scary movie and they had slept in the same bed to keep each other "safe," the time Officer Lance had taken them to the zoo to see the new lion.

They recited memory after memory, laughing. For a moment, it seemed as if the sinking of the Gambit had never happened. It seemed as if Sara had never been away. It seemed as if her Canary identity was part of some elaborate dream. Sara knew it wasn't. Sara knew that this was a sort of goodbye. She wasn't leaving yet, but she would leave. It didn't matter because she shoved those thoughts aside and allowed herself to enjoy the moment.

Oliver was stepping out of the car when his phone rang. Glancing at the screen, he smiled. "Hey Speedy."

"Hey Ollie. I was just wondering where you were. I went to the hospital to see Felicity and you weren't there," Thea said.

"I just got back. I had some things to take care of."

"Mom said that she'd fill in for you until Felicity got better, so you don't have to worry about any of that."

"Oh, okay."

"Mom sent me with some flowers for Felicity. You know what, Felicity's sort of a long name. I mean it's not really long, but I think she needs a nickname. Do you think she'd like 'Licity'?"

Oliver, who had been walking towards the double doors of the hospital, stopped dead in his tracks. That was the nickname that Thea had used for Felicity in the dream. The dream replayed itself in his mind. The peaceful feeling that had consumed him when they sat together on his couch, her strawberry scented locks, his mother taking pictures.

"Oliver? Are you still there?"

"Yeah," he said absentmindedly.

"So? What do you think? Do you think she'd like 'Licity'?"

"Um…," was all he managed to say.

Thea sighed on the other end of the line. "Never mind, I'll ask her myself tomorrow. Anyways, night Ollie."

"Goodnight Speedy."

Oliver was about to end the call, when she shouted on the other end of the line, "Oh wait! Mom told me to tell you that Licity's a strong woman and that it'll take more than an arrow to bring her down."

Oliver's eyes grew wide. "What?" He asked as calmly as he could manage.

"I don't know what the heck it means. She told me to tell you, so I'm telling you. Anyway, I'm really tired Ollie. We'll talk tomorrow okay?"

"Okay." The line went dead.

A/N: So there it is, Chapter 10 :P!

I have to give a shoutout to sakura-blossom62 for guessing who had called Oliver! :P

I hope you guys liked the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D