A/N: Oliver and Felicity are rescued off of the island but neither of them can shake what happened between them while they were there.

Second to last chapter! Last one (and it's a BIG ONE) goes up tomorrow. Be thinking of what you might like to see from a sequel as I'll be asking for you to leave comments tomorrow letting me know what you want! Also, when I mentioned posting primarily to Ao3, I meant for the sequel and all future works, but clearly I will finish this one up on and tumblr as well!

xxx

Felicity had an agonizing wait, sitting there on the deck of that freighter, Oliver's head cradled in her lap. She thought about jumping into the water and trying to swim for shore, to let the women know that it was safe now, that help was on the way. But she didn't want to leave Oliver. He was resting comfortably, and the towel she'd found in one of the staterooms on the freighter had worked to at least slow the loss of blood. So she sat, towel pressed to Oliver's side, his blood staining her hands and clothes, and waited.

Plus, she wasn't that great a swimmer.

It felt like ages later but was probably only an hour before the rhythmic sound of a helicopter could be heard. Moments later, two helicopters swooped overhead.

"Hold on, Oliver," she murmured to him, though he definitely wasn't hearing her. "Help is coming. Just hold on."

Both helicopters circled the freighter before flying to the beach and landing there as there wasn't a lot of room to land a helicopter that size on the deck of the freighter. Soon, the motorboats carrying various rescue personnel were headed their way. Then, a group of people climbed up on deck and rushing to her side. Oliver was taken from her, secured to a stretcher and a harness. She was pulled away by a female rescue worker and Felicity tried to resist at first.

"I want to stay with him!" she protested.

"You can and you will. But we need to get one of the helicopters and fly over here, then we can lift him up. It's quicker than trying to lower him into the motorboat," the woman explained kindly.

She hated to admit it, but that actually made sense. Felicity climbed down into one of the motorboats and with a few other workers, rode to shore. She gave them a summary of what had happened, how they'd encountered the slavers and how those slavers were now locked up in the belly of that freighter. One of the crew relayed what she was saying to someone else through a walkie talkie.

She was told there was also a boat en route and that there were authorities on board who would properly apprehend the Ivo and his crew. They would also attend to the women. Right now, several of the rescue workers were giving the women triage care, since some had been neglected for several weeks. But everyone looked as though they were going to make it. Felicity felt relief but it was tempered by her worry for Oliver.

He'd lost a lot of blood and they were both surely dehydrated to start with after the last few days. He hadn't had much to eat, hadn't gotten much sleep… Oliver was a big strong guy but there was no denying, he wasn't at this strongest right now. She would feel a lot better if she was sitting next to him, holding his hand.

The boat arrived on shore and Felicity was up and out before it even came to a full stop. The women Ivo had stolen and locked up came out of the jungle when they saw Felicity and all of them looked relieved that their nightmare was finally ending. With that sorted, Felicity hurried towards the helicopter that was already prepping for takeoff, climbing inside before anyone could tell her that she couldn't.

The pilots introduced themselves as Tom and Ricky. The woman she'd met on the freighter, Beth, climbed in with her and off they went.

"We've been looking for you guys," Ricky told her as the beach disappeared below them.

"You have?" Felicity blinked.

"Yep. Tom and I have been flying the search missions for you guys. Your boyfriend and the pilot's girlfriend rode along with us on every one. Yeah, we never looked quite this far south. You guys must have gotten blown way off course."

Felicity sat back in her seat and felt a wave of sickening guilt wash over her. Ray had been worried sick about her, of course he had. And Sara had been worried about Oliver, even though she believed him when he'd told her that they were just friends. Felicity and Ray weren't just friends, however, and she still wore his ring on her finger. It was a fact she'd been ignoring all day long but she couldn't keep doing that.

But first… she had to make sure Oliver was okay, that he was going to be okay. Because she'd go crazy otherwise. Regardless of what right she had to worry, she was going to worry anyhow and that was the sad truth of the matter.

Moments later, the helicopter hovered over the deck of the freighter. The rescue team that had taken over his care situated his stretcher into a sling that would lift him up into the helicopter. One of the workers rode with the stretcher and Felicity held her breath until Oliver was brought safely into the belly of the helicopter.

"How is he?" she asked immediately.

"Stable," the guy who rode up with him answered. "The wound looks like a through and through, meaning the bullet left the body. It didn't puncture any major organs, just some muscle and tissue damage. He's pretty lucky. But he's dehydrated and you two have had a hell of a time this last week, I think all that piled up together and so he lost consciousness."

Felicity nodded and grabbed Oliver's hand. It felt cold and clammy, not at all how his hands usually felt. She watched his face, wishing that he would wake up and tell her to stop fussing, that he was fine. She wished so many things.

"Does he need the hospital on Pape'ete?" she asked.

The guy shook his head. "There's a clinic on Maketea that should be able to care for him just fine. He's got no other complications, he's a young, strong man. A day in the clinic to rest up and get his fluids restored should set him right again."

Well that was a relief. But it meant they were headed to Maketea right now. And maybe Felicity was a chicken but she wasn't sure she was ready to face Ray just yet. Could she look her fiancé in the eye, knowing that she'd fallen for another man?

Don't think about it, Felicity.

So she sat, with his hand in hers, willing him strength and watching the ocean slip by underneath them as their helicopter sped towards Maketea. It wasn't long before they reached their destination and the helicopter landed gently on the grass airstrip.

Felicity saw several of the staff of the clinic waiting there and they were the ones to accept Oliver's stretcher when it was pulled off. He was loaded onto a jeep and whisked away. Felicity wanted to protest, wanted to follow and make sure he was okay but it wasn't her place.

Moments later, she was engulfed in a hug without even seeing who it was that had her. But she realized she recognized those arms. And that voice, which was speaking into her ear.

"Oh, Felicity, I thought I'd never see you again. I can't believe you're here! Are you okay? Do you need to go to the clinic?"

It was Ray. Felicity tried to feel what she knew she should feel, being reunited with him. Her heart should be leaping, she should be clinging to him, telling him how much she missed him, how much she'd thought about him while she'd been lost…

But she couldn't.

Instead, Felicity pulled back and looked into his face, hoping to feel something like what she'd felt earlier that week. Ray smiled at her, tears of happiness shining in his eyes and she felt… nothing.

"I'm fine," she murmured. "Just… tired. And I need a shower."

Ray laughed at that. "You sure do. You look like you've been through the ringer. I don't know what all happened, but they'd just called off the search and everyone was planning a memorial. Sara and I were devastated, of course. But then someone from the front desk said Air-Sea had gotten a distress call from you and it was chaos from there," he told her as he lead her to a waiting jeep.

"I had to boost the signal on my phone," she said as she sat on the hard seat of the jeep. Where was Oliver now? Was he awake? Would he be wondering why she wasn't there?

"If anyone could do that, it's you. I can't even begin to imagine where you found the parts for that."

"It wasn't easy…"

The jeep bumped along the makeshift road, taking them to their bungalow. Eventually, she would need to tell him the full story, but right then, Felicity just didn't have it in her. The shock of everything that had happened settled over her and she felt cold, even in the afternoon sun. A long hot shower would surely put her right.

Maybe a hot shower would help clear her mind of Oliver. It was no wonder her thoughts were tangled up with him. Maybe it was like a twisted up version of Stockholm Syndrome. Felicity had always excelled at getting her head in the game, putting her personal concerns aside and focusing on what needed to be done. That's what she'd do here.

A hot shower would help.

xxx

As it turned out, a shower helped a great many things. Felicity was finally able to get her hair clean, watching with a wrinkled nose as dirt swirled around the drain and twigs and leaves collected around her feet. She shampooed her hair no fewer than four times until she felt like the strands were finally clean. Then, she soaked her hair in conditioner, hoping to return some semblance of softness— (Would Oliver like her hair soft and clean and smelling nice?).

She let the hot water wash over her, scalding her skin and she used the entire bottle of shower gel that the resort provided scrubbing herself of every last vestige of that island. Of the freighter.

Felicity knew that she'd come dangerously close to a terrible fate earlier. Ivo and his crew were going to sell her and all those other women into slavery. And not the definition of slavery that she'd grown up with either, not that that was any better. She wasn't naive. She, an independent and educated young woman, would have been reduced something less than human. And it happened to other women, all around the world, all the time.

It was enough to send her to knees, weak with relief but also with guilt and horror.

There was a knock at the bathroom door. Ray. "Felicity? Are you okay in there."

Felicity blinked, swiping at her eyes which she realized was fruitless given the water running in rivulets down her face and body. She cleared her throat. "I'm fine."

"You've been in there a long time."

"I'm almost done. I'll be right out."

She shaved her legs and rinsed the conditioner out of her hair before turning off the taps, the water cooling as the hot water slowly ran out. Felicity bundled herself in an enormous white towel, feeling small and insignificant as she padded to the sink and the mirror. She looked like a drowned rat to her own eyes. There were several small cuts on her forehead, on her arms, on her legs. Nothing major. The bruises looked nastier. But, she was whole. On the outside, at least, she was whole. The rest of her would follow.

She slipped into one of the big white robes the resort provided, securing the belt around her waist before dealing with her hair. Moving mostly by muscle memory, Felicity dried her hair with the towel and then brushed it out until there were no more tangles. She let it hang about her shoulders to air dry, not caring if it frizzed up in the humidity.

She applied lotion to her arms and legs, moisturizer to her face. Then, and only then, did she feel even a semblance of her old self. Then, and only then, did she feel ready to face Ray.

Felicity walked out into the bedroom and found Ray standing near the window overlooking the blue water of the cove the bungalows were built over. She remembered the day they arrived here, how she'd been so bowled over by the view of the ocean and the fish and the sand the palm trees… It was still beautiful but she'd spent the last several days up close and personal with all of that. Some of the bloom was off the rose.

"Room service delivered that tea you asked for, while you were in the shower."

Felicity looked to the table and found the tea service there. Grateful, she crossed to it and fixed herself a cup, wanting the soothing, warm brew to settle her nerves. As she sipped, she felt Ray's eyes on her. He came up behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Would you like a cup?" she asked him, hoping her voice sounded more even than her thoughts.

"Sure."

Felicity fixed him as a cup as well and turned to pass it to him.

"Thank you," he said. "I got an update on what happened with the women who were on that freighter with you and the men who'd captured you."

"Oh? What's the news?" Felicity hoped the women were being taken care of right now, and that plans to reunited them with their loved ones were already underway.

"Interpol has Ivo and his crew in custody and the Red Cross has the women at a hospital on Pape'ete. From there, they'll be discharged to their families."

"Oh… that is just… great news," Felicity said with no small amount of relief.

"Also, the resort has offered us a month's free stay, anytime we want."

"You? Or me?"

Ray blinked at that. "Both of us."

"They're probably afraid I'm going to sue them."

"If you sue anyone, it should be Oliver or Verdant Air."

"Oliver is Verdant Air," Felicity pointed out. Ray gave her a strange look and Felicity cleared her throat. "And no point. He suffered just as much as I did… more, even."

"How are you feeling?" Ray asked, looking concerned as he studied the cuts on her face.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You're all right?"

"Oh, yeah. Just, you know, tired."

He smiled at her. "I bet you didn't get a lot of rest."

"Did you? Get much sleep, that is?"

Ray shrugged. "Not really."

Felicity coaxed him over to the small love seat. They sat and she took his hand. "I"m sorry that I worried you."

"It wasn't your fault. I just… every time I closed my eyes, all I could think about was you."

"Oh, Ray." The guilt was becoming a dull throb, low in her gut.

"I think, deep down… I never expected I was going to see you again. I felt… lost."

"I know what you mean," she admitted, not wanting to add that she felt it now and not about him.

"I was just… I'm just a person, Felicity. I'm just a man."

Felicity didn't know what to say to that. What did that even mean? "I know that."

"I'm not perfect. Under that kind of pressure, people do things they might not otherwise."

Felicity's thoughts turned to Oliver and how they'd grown so close on the island. She remembered kissing him, remembered their conversation by the fire. She remembered how badly she'd wanted to kiss him again, to do more than just kiss him, even.

"Sometimes, it can be hard to tell right from wrong," Ray was saying.

"Yes, it can," Felicity agreed, her voice quiet. She needed to see Oliver. She needed to find out if he felt the same way as she did. If she left here, without ever knowing, she knew she would regret it.

"I'm glad you understand," Ray said and before he could say anything else, Felicity cut in.

"I think I'm going to get dressed, go check on Oliver at the clinic. I want to see if he's okay, thank him for all he did."

Ray looked a little surprised. "Oh! Okay… do you want me to come with you?"

Felicity shook her head. "No, I'll be fine. I'll come right back and we can grab some dinner. I want to go to bed early tonight, since our flight is so early tomorrow."

"Okay. Whatever you want."

Those three words dogged Felicity as she got dressed and left the bungalow ten minutes later.

xxx

Oliver sat in the clinic bed, propped up by pillows, playing solitaire with a deck of cards. He was that desperate for entertainment, because Oliver fucking hated playing solitaire. It was either that or chat up the nurses. Not too long ago, that would have been his go-to move but right now, the prospect held little appeal.

His side was bandaged up and he felt stiff and sore beyond all reckoning. An IV in his arm was still delivering fluids and any minute now, that one scary nurse was going to be back to check his blood pressure.

Oliver was miserable and felt a bit like a caged tiger.

He'd woken up here in the clinic, with a needle in his arm, the smell of antiseptic in his nose and Felicity nowhere in sight. Sara had been there, holding his hand and while that had been nice, and appreciated, it just hadn't been the same. And Sara, god bless her, had always been perceptive as hell.

"I'm not the face you were hoping to see, am I?" she'd asked him, a twinkle in her eye telling him she wasn't hurt by it so much as she was amused.

Oliver had groaned, wiping a hand down his face. "I'm sorry, Sara. God, I'm so fucked."

She'd nodded, her blond hair bouncing. "Yes, you are. Though…" She'd paused to consider something, biting at her lip and… was that a blush? Sara never blushed. "Maybe not as much as you think."

"They must be giving me some great meds cuz that made no fucking sense."

"Tell me this: do you like her?"

"Yeah, of course I like her." He hadn't even needed to ask who Sara was referring to. But holding his cards close to his chest was apparently something he did now.

"I mean like her, like her. Did— Did something happen on the island with you guys?"

"I kissed her."

"You kissed her?"

"And she kissed me back."

"Okay. That's it?"

If he'd had more of his strength back, Oliver would have smacked her arm. "Yes, that's it."

"Did you want to do more?"

"Yes. But she… she thought we shouldn't. And she was right. We didn't even know if we'd ever get back here but it was still too soon for that. I respected that… I still do. And now we are back here and she's got Ray and he's a much better guy for her."

Sara's forehead had wrinkled. "I think you should probably talk to her before you go making decisions about what's better for her."

"She's probably busy reuniting with him right now," Oliver had grumbled. The thought made him feel ill, frankly. He wondered if there was a tray for puking, just in case he needed it.

"Oliver… just promise you won't be an emotionally constipated jerk about this whole thing?"

"When have I ever—?"

"Promise me.

Oliver had grumbled. "Sara… I'm just trying to be realistic here."

She'd patted his hand. "I know that. But this is your heart. Sometimes you have to take chances. Otherwise, what the hell are we even doing here?"

Sara's advice kept repeating in his head long after she'd gone, and as he kept losing to himself in solitaire. Seriously, it was the worst game ever. Sara clearly wanted him to be bold, to make a play for Felicity, but… if Felicity didn't want that, how could he disrupt her happiness? And even if she did want that, what did he really have to offer her? She was a successful woman with a life thousands of miles away from here. He had a dinky charter plane business that was now down a plane. Plus, who knew when he'd be cleared to fly again. He could barely take care of himself, much less her.

Those thoughts depressed him. Which probably explained why he was playing solitaire. He was just that desperate.

"Hi," a soft voice said.

Oliver looked to the curtain separating his bed from the rest of the open ward. Felicity stood there, biting her lip and looking a bit nervous.

He'd just seen her not that long ago, had spend the last several days with her, in fact. But it felt like it'd been an eternity. She looked amazing, of course. Her hair was a little damp and drying in tousled waves, her face was clear of makeup, and she wore a simple sundress that looked absolutely amazing on her.

"Felicity! Hi!"

"Keeping busy?" she asked, indicating the cards.

"Oh, yeah." He swept them off the bed. "No TV here, which kinda sucks."

"How are you feeling? What have the doctor's said?"

"Looks like I'm going to make it," he told her. "They stitched me up, shot me full of antibiotics, want me here until my bag of fluids is gone, but other than that, I'm good as new."

"That's good. I'm really glad to hear that." She looked and sounded shy, which was making him nervous. She never was that way around him.

"And how are you? No problems?"

Felicity shook her head, causing the curls to bounce around her shoulders. "Nope, I'm fine." Then she sighed and stepped forward. "Oliver… what's the deal here?"

"Deal?"

"With us. You and me."

He contemplated playing stupid but she deserved better than that. "You're asking if what happened on that island, between you and I, meant anything."

She bit her lip again. It was driving him more than a little crazy. "Yeah, I am. Was that just something that happens to two people when they're alone on an island together?"

Oliver studied her and felt the way his heart wanted to pound out of his chest. He didn't think it had much to do with being alone on and island with her and had everything to do with her. He thought about what Sara had said and wondered how he could handle this without risking his heart too much. He'd already had his heart crushed once, by two people he loved very much. He couldn't bear to let it happen again.

"It was definitely something," he finally told her. "I felt it. I still do."

She smiled at that, looking relieved. "I felt it too."

God, that was good to hear.

"So, now what?" she asked.

This was where reality intruded on his fantasy world, where he had to be practical. Felicity was a practical woman and she needed him to be practical about this. Not some romantic fool who couldn't follow through. "Well, I don't know," he began. "I don't really have anything here… I have my charter business and my routine…"

"Your 'simple' life," Felicity cut in and there was something about the way she was watching him that made him feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah. But you're young and brilliant with this huge career and an amazing future. You deserve someone who won't stand in the way of all of that."

Her grey-blue eyes narrowed. "Don't you think that's up to me to decide? And don't you think you're selling yourself a bit short?"

"Felicity," he said, pleading a little. "Let's be smart about this. You don't want to move here and become my co-pilot. And can you honestly see me back in Starling with you, fetching you coffee?"

Felicity crossed her arms over her chest. "So where does that leave us?"

His heart already felt like a gaping wound in his chest. So much for choosing the path of less heartbreak. That was a big fail for him. But it didn't have to be for her.

"I think it leaves us nowhere," he answered. "Let's not complicate things."

"Because you like things simple." Her expression was shuttered now and she looked… hard. Oliver swallowed. His heart felt like it was caught in his throat.

"Right." And he hated himself. He hated that she looked so closed off right now, so much more like the woman he'd first met on the tarmac in Pape'ete.

"Okay. That's fine. Good luck to you. And thanks for… everything."

"Goodbye, Felicity."

Oliver watched through the gap in the curtain, anguished, as Felicity walked away and out of the clinic. That was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do and he'd had to do some pretty god-awful things in his life. He grit his jaw and tried to get ahold of himself so that he didn't start crying right here in the middle of the clinic.

"Mr. Queen… how are you doing?" The scary nurse pulled back his curtain and entered, blood pressure cuff in one hand.

He couldn't bring himself to answer. She studied him for a moment.

"Do you need something for the pain?" she asked, her voice softening a bit.

"Yeah," he answered, his voice hoarse. "Yeah, I do."

xxx

A/N #2: I AM SO SORRY. This is a terribly mean way to leave the chapter. And I could have borrowed from ch 6 (which is HUGE) to make this chapter longer but... I decided this was the better way. Sorry guys! I hope you aren't too mad at me!