Well, it's been forever since I updated because August is the month from hell for me at work. So other then working, I've just basically been eating and sleeping, but thanks to the three day weekend I think I'll be getting some writing in! Hop you enjoy the chapter! I can't wait to get back to writing regularly!

"We've got to leave in fifteen minutes," Barb poked her head into the kitchen.

"Okay, I'm getting dressed," Felicity stood up from the table and moved towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Ray asked her.

"I'm not going to have the same argument over and over. If this is ever going to work, I'm going to need you to trust me."

"It scares me."

"I'll be fine. I've got to go," she told him and kissed his cheek before leaving the room.

"Eleven on the dot," Diggle commented as Barb and Felicity came down the stairs together.

"Punctuality is our middle name," Barb said as she came to stand next to him, "Are we suiting up or not?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Roy asked.

"Well, it is broad daylight. My all black attire may not blend in all that much when it's not pitch black."

"Oliver?" Roy looked back at Oliver who was filling his quiver.

"I think Barb needs to just go as is," he told them. "Scout out the area and then we'll head in."

"So you two are going in your hoods," Barb stated.

"Yes."

"I'll go with Barb," Diggle told him.

"You can't go with Barb," Felicity told him. "If they have surveillance, Thea is definitely going to recognize you. It'll raise a red flag."

"She's right, Merlyn and Thea have no clue who I am. I'll be fine."

"When is Sara coming?" Felicity walked over to ask Oliver.

"She said she'd be in tonight. She'll call when she gets off her plane."

"And you think it's going to be as easy as just handing Merlyn over to her."

"Hopefully, yes."

"You realize that every time you've tried to get him, he's gotten away," Felicity told him. "I mean, you've stopped him, but he's always gotten away."

"And you think he's going to get away this time."

"Yes. And you don't."

"I think I have numbers on my side and that I'm going to have a better chance, yes."

"Okay, just checking."

"Are you guys ready to go?" Oliver looked past Felicity at the three others in a small huddle talking.

"We're ready when you are," Roy told him.

"Be careful," Felicity, whispered to Oliver. "We both know how dangerous Merlyn is, and I worry about what he's told Thea –"

"Felicity," he placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her, "Everything's going to be alright. We've finally got him where we want him."

She nodded in response, "Good luck, I'll try to give you as much information as I can," she told him.

"I know you will. We'll see you in a few hours," he smiled at her and she gave a nervous smile back. "Let's go," he told the others and headed up and out of the foundry.

Barb was wandering around down by the docks. She had parked her car farther down the street and was heading towards the Bowery warehouse.

"I'm not seeing anything from the outside," Barb talked to the team in her ear, "There's no entrance in the front, I'm going to head around back."

"Be careful, keep your eyes open," Oliver told her. "We're watching for movement."

"The windows look painted out," she crept around the side of the building, "Wait," she stopped and surveyed the area, "I see a camera on the south wall."

"That must be the way in," Felicity told her. "Let me see if the cameras are on a network, check your phone," Barb pulled her phone out and watched as Felicity took control of it, "I've got a signal nearby, and since all the other buildings are abandoned, I'm going with it's coming from the Bowery. I'm going to see if I can get into it."

"Who are we kidding here? You'll get in, just let me know what you see when you do it."

"I'm in," Felicity chimed in Barb's earpiece. "I've got eyes on the entrance, give me five minutes, I'll record the camera feed and when you're ready to go in, I'll replace the live feed with a loop of what I'm recording."

"I'm heading back across the street towards Arrow and Arsenal. We can regroup and head in together," Barb turned to head back in the direction she came from.

Diagonal from the Bowery, Oliver, Roy, and Diggle were held up in an abandoned building watching with binoculars through broken windows.

"Who brought my suit?" Barbara asked when she finally made it to them.

"It's in the bag," Roy pointed towards a bag on the dusty floor.

"I'll be ready in five," Barb grabbed the bag and disappeared into a vacant room.

"I've got the feed recorded. Whenever you guys are ready, I am," Felicity told them.

"How are we getting over there, just going to walk right up to the door?" Roy asked.

"Basically," Oliver told him, looking out the binoculars again.

"Well that sounds great."

"They aren't going to see us coming, why does it matter."

"The street's deserted, we'll be fine," Barb told them, coming back in the room.

"Everyone ready?" Oliver asked them and everyone nodded. "We get Merlyn first, then Thea. Without Merlyn, she has no reason to stay away, so if she does get away, don't worry."

"She gets away, I'm going after her," Roy told him.

"We need to get Merlyn. Without Merlyn the whole city is in danger. Merlyn first, Thea second."

"We're on a loop, you're good to go."

"Stay together," Oliver whispered to them before heading towards the door. He went to turn the knob and found it locked.

"What did you think, they'd just leave it open for you?" Barb asked him while she pulled something off her belt. The Skeleton key.

"Well I'm glad you thought to bring it," Oliver murmured before going into the warehouse.

It was dark inside, the four of them staying close together, each person looking in a different direction as they moved keeping their eyes peeled for Merlyn or Thea. Light fell out from a door at the end of a long hallway on the other side of the dark room, and Oliver signaled for them to follow him.

As they made their way towards the center of the room, a bang went off, and suddenly the lights came on above them. Surrounding them on three sides, were ten men dressed completely in black as Malcolm Merlyn stood on a platform above them.

"I had a feeling we'd be having company after that stunt you pulled last night," he told them. "So I decided to take some precautions."

"And how long exactly have your ninjas been standing here Merlyn?" Barb asked him.

"I don't see how that would effect anything," he told her.

"Well, it might effect the way they fight back when I start kicking their ass's," Barb charged towards two of the men before her and she began fighting them simultaneously, at her move, the three others joined her, each taking on two, sometimes three men at one time.

Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver saw Merlyn make a break for it, running down the railing of the platform and out a side door moving farther into the warehouse. He gave two fast blows to his enemy's knees and headed for the platform as his three allies continued to fight.

Oliver worked his way to the door and stayed quiet as he heard Felicity's voice in his ear.

"Oliver where are you going? You're breaking off from everyone else.

"Merlyn," was all he said.

"Oliver, don't go after him alone, please."

"This needs to end."

"Don't do this, please," she pleaded. No one else could hear this conversation, he was sure of it, just in the tone of her voice. "Please, not alone."

"I'm not alone," he told her, "I'll see you soon," he told her before entering the doorway Merlyn had escaped through.

"We've been here before, it seems," Oliver heard Merlyn's voice coming from his left side. "Twice, if I'm correct. Once you beat me, or so you thought anyway."

"Where's Thea?"

"Thea is not your property, she is an individual who has chosen to get to know her father."

"You are not her father."

"The paternity test would dispute that," Merlyn said cockily.

"You're alone, and you're only way to not be alone is take what wasn't yours to take. Why are you back in Starling?"

"I came back to protect it."

"Protect it. From what, just two years ago you tried to destroy it."

"And I was told the errors of my ways. By Thea, actually. She showed me the light. I don't completely agree with all of her methods, but she doesn't always agree with mine either. Most of out relationship is a compromise."

"What are you protecting it from?" Oliver asked again angrily.

"Not what. Who," Merlyn paused. "Ra's al Ghul."

"He wants you dead."

"And the city totaled."

"I was told if you where turned in, the city would be safe."

"Poor little Oliver, always an optimist," Merlyn drew an arrow and shot towards Oliver, but missed, and Oliver ran at full force towards him, knocking a blow to his jaw. Malcolm responded with a jab of his bow to Oliver's face, and then sent an arrow into his left forearm. Oliver screamed in pain as he knocked Merlyn to his back and backhanded his face. As strong as he was, the pain in his arm was leaving him dizzy and suddenly he heard a crack when Merlyn tossed him across the room and he landed on his left side. His arm was broken. He could feel it.

"Malcolm!" he heard a familiar voice scream towards him and he could see the faint blurring shape of someone small in a black hood, "We need to go, now!" she called after him. It was Thea, he was lying there, writhing in pain, and Speedy was calling for Malcolm.

"I'll finish you another time, Queen," Merlyn gave him once last blow to the head before leaving him unconscious on the floor.

Felciity met Barb in the lobby of the hospital. Barb's face was tired, with a mixture of mascara, grease paint, sweat, and blood smattering her face. She could see she tried to wipe most of it away, but remnants still lingered.

"How is he?" she asked immediately.

"He's fine, he's banged up, his left arm is broken, but it's all cast up, and he's got some cuts. He's sedated right now but they say he's going to be up in the morning most likely."

"But he's okay."

"He looks like shit," Barb pointed down a hallway and Felicity followed.

"What did you tell the doctors?"

"Motorcycle."

"Naturally. What really happened?"

Barb pulled Felicity off to a side hallway and looked to make sure the coast was clear before speaking. "We were completely caught off guard. We went in looking for Merlyn and we got outnumbered by a bunch of thugs. I'm so sorry Felicity, I – I just can't believe, I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I should have been looking out for him. I should have had his back if I had, he never would have gotten as hurt as he did. I'm sorry. We just –we split up I was trying to keep an eye on him and I lost him. I'm just so sorry, Felicity."

"This is not your fault. I knew he went off on his own, I saw his tracker, I tried to convince him not to go alone but he didn't listen to me, he 's stubborn in that way."

"He thought he could do it on his own."

"He desperately wants to be able to defeat him himself. I'm afraid one day it's going to get him killed. We should go, I need to see him."

"Follow me."

They rounded the corner to the hall where Oliver's hospital room was when Barbara stopped Felicity.

"Just take a minute, the tubes and hospital clothes and bed kind of throw you off a little bit when you first see him," Barb warned Felicity. They walked up to the window of the room to see him sleeping peacefully. A white cast on his arm rested across his chest, while scrapes and cuts lined his jaw and cheekbones. You could see bruises begin to form on his skin.

"Oh," Felicity covered her mouth a second. "I've seen him unconscious before and all, but you're right, the hospital makes it worse." She stood and stared into his room for a minute taking it all in. "Can I go in?"

"Of course."

Barb stood at the window as Felicity made her way into his hospital room. She closed the door quietly and walked over to his bedside. Gently, she ran her hand over his hair, the way her mother used to when she was scared of thunderstorms, and then laid her hand over his right hand lying on the bed.

She didn't collapse, but she crouched for a moment trying to recuperate from what she was seeing. The one person she truly ever cared about was laid out in a hospital bed unconscious, and she felt responsible. She regained her footing and stood up again before sitting in a chair behind her. She scooted up closer to his bedside, and held his hand in both of hers, his felt cold.

"Hey," Barb heard a voice from behind her.

"What are you doing here?" she griped.

"I called Felicity and she told me Oliver was in the hospital. I thought I'd come check on him. How's he doing?" Ray asked as he approached Barb.

"He's going to be fine. Dumb motorcycle accident, you know?" Barb shrugged it off.

"He must have hit his head pretty hard if they sedated him."

"He had surgery on his arm, broke the radius pretty bad, he's got a couple screws in it."

"Landed pretty good then. You seem to be fine," Ray looked at the cut across her forehead.

"Yeah well, that's what happens when Oliver Queen breaks your fall," she turned back to look in the window at Felicity and Oliver. Felicity didn't even notice them in the window. She lifted Oliver's hand and pressed her lips to his scraped knuckled, kissing it gently.

"Sometimes, she drifts off and I wonder where her mind goes," Ray said watching. "I ask her what she's thinking and she shrugs it off, 'I think I forgot to do something at work' or 'I can't remember if I turned the hall light off in my house.' No one concentrates that long and hard on their electricity bill when you're sitting in front of the fireplace at your boyfriend's gigantic house," Ray's voice was disconcerting.

"You are kind of living in his family's home. She's been there a million times before. What fireplace?"

"Why does it matter what fireplace?" he looked at her incredulously. Maybe it was just a MIT thing that the least important part of a conversation distracts you.

But to Barb, it was the most important question she could ask. Because was Ray's romantic gesture of wine and a fireplace, in front of the same fireplace in the foyer that Oliver had falsely confessed his love? Or at least Felicity believed it to be false. Barb had other theories.

"There's a lot of fireplaces in that house, I was just wondering which one," Barb shrugged like it was nothing.

"The foyer, not that it matters," Barb chuckled to herself. It was like the guy had picked the single most important part of that house to Felicity. He might as well have just hung up a poster of Oliver and left the room that night. "What?"

"Uh, nothing," she recomposed herself. At this point it was no surprise to anyone who she was rooting for in this battle for Felicity's heart. He was 6'3", wore a lot of green after hours and had a heart of gold. He was the one who needed Felicity, as much as Felicity needed him.

"She loves him, doesn't she?" he finally came out and admitted it to himself out loud.

Barb didn't know how to respond. Does she lie, tell him she doesn't love Oliver, brush it off as pure nonsense? Or does she do the bitchy thing tell him yes Felicity does in fact love Oliver Queen, even if she's too oblivious to admit it to herself and tell Ray to be on his way. Barb glanced up at Ray, staring in at Felicity and Oliver, eyes full of hurt, and she realized, she couldn't do it, she won't break a heart that Felicity has to. She waited another moment before Ray broke the silence, "You don't have to answer that. I already know."

Felicity looked back at the window to see both Barb and Ray looking in the room at the two of them. It made her feel like a zoo animal, and her and Oliver were on display for everyone to see. She wondered what this looked like to them, more importantly, to Ray. She gave a small smile and made her way back out to the hallway where the two of them stood.

"Hi," she whispered to Ray.

"Hi, how's he doing?" he asked her.

"He's just sedated right now, he broke his arm and he's got some scrapes and bruises, they said he's going to be fine."

"That's good," Ray nodded sadly towards her.

Barb's phone began to ring, "I've got to get this, it's Digg," she said before walking off down the hallway, leaving Felicity and Ray alone.

"So, do you need a ride home?" Ray asked, "Or are you just going to ride home with Barb?"

"Actually, I think I'm going to stay here tonight. In case he wakes up."

"What are you going to do if he wakes up?"

"I just don't want him to get scared, not remember where he is, that's all. I just think someone he knows should stay with him."

"And there's no one he knows better then you, right?" he snipped.

"He's my friend."

"Yeah, yeah I know, you tell me that. All the time. He's just my friend. You spend a lot of time with someone who's just your friend Felicity."

"I spend just as much time with Barb and Diggle."

"Barb is your roommate. And Diggle just had a baby with his wife, he doesn't seem like much of a threat to me."

"But Oliver is."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because every time you're with me, you're thinking about him. I can see it. With every lame excuse you give, with every guarded smile you show me," Ray looked back into the hospital room at Oliver lying in the bed. Felicity had left that morning with Barb to work on something with the Arrow. And now he realized, the Arrow was sleeping in a hospital bed, while Batgirl helped console the woman he loved. "I never stood a chance, did I?" Ray asked Felicity. She stood there in silence as she looked back at Oliver and then to Ray.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, almost ashamed of herself.

"Goodbye, Felicity," he told her, then turned and disappeared down the hall.