Disclaimer - I do not own Arrow.

Time had taken a whole new meaning for the unconscious Felicity. The constant stream of people visiting her didn't wane, with some guests more unexpected than others.

Whether she could hear them or not they came, they talked, they whispered, they growled and they cried. And the lack of response from the usually bubbly and rambling Felicity stabbed into the heart of each and every one of her visitors.

Whether they knew it or not, she had impacted each of their lives in her own special way.

Her silence now made that fact deafeningly obvious.

Diggle.

"I'm sorry baby girl"

He stroked her forehead; afraid to touch her anywhere else, too worried that he could cause her unnecessary pain. He hoped that wherever she was now she was at peace. Not plagued by the same nightmares he had been at night.

Nightmares that consisted of the people closest to him dying before his eyes, with him not being able to do anything. Watching as they were more often than not killed in front of him. Or him holding them as they breathed their last dying breath.

Images flooded in his mind from the most recent ones. They ranged from Oliver and Roy to Felicity, Carly, Lyla, Thea and countless others that he never wished to see in reality.

What hurt the most was the inability to do anything. The helplessness that he felt in the dreams. Just like what he was feeling now as he stared down at the too pale blond on the hospital bed. There was absolutely nothing he could do for her now.

Just like when he unknowingly failed to do anything for her that night.

In the back of his mind he knew it wasn't his fault. There was no way he could have known about the shooter. But that didn't stop the guilt from eating away at his heart or the helplessness that threatened to crush his soul.

So he sat at her bedside, impatiently waiting for her to open her eyes and grill him for worrying too much about her. Stroking the forehead of the girl that he considered to be his sister and best friend, hoping to bring her some comfort.

What he wouldn't give to see the fire in her eyes again when she fought for something she believed in or for the ones she loved.

Lance.

"Damn the vigilante for not being there for you. The one time that you were the one that needed saving. What I wouldn't give to set his priorities straight. Using innocent girls to fight crime, what is he honestly thinking?"

If the mood hadn't been so depressing he would have laughed outright at his own statement. As if even the Hood stood a chance against the blond hurricane. He knew she wasn't like them; she wasn't a fighter, at least not in the physical sense. But she sure had enough determination and stubbornness in her to rival any of them. She was dedicated. Loyal.

But she was still innocent. Not carved from grief and pain into an unfeeling shell of a person that he felt himself turning into on some days. And thank God for that.

She didn't deserve to be lying here, with a bullet hole in her stomach.

The Hood obviously knew she was here and his mind briefly dwelled to the possibility of him visiting the hospital to see her. Dismissing the thought as quickly as it came – there was no way the Hood could stroll in and ask to see QC's IT girl for no particular reason.

No matter what protective instincts she brought out of the males around her.

Oliver Queen's reaction had been interesting to say the least. The man hadn't left her bedside until he was physically dragged by his bodyguard to go home and have a shower on the third day of her stay in the hospital. He was pretty sure the man hadn't slept for the whole time she has been unconscious.

So there was clearly something there, beyond just the friendship that they were so adamant about.

He wondered if the Hood knew. Surely the man would be jealous of Oliver Queen.

Laurel.

She just sat there in silence.

She knew the woman before her was in love with Oliver. A blind man could see it. Clearly Oliver was deaf, dumb and mute in failing to notice that his executive assistant, the woman that was right under his nose the whole time was in love with him.

She didn't say anything to the woman. She didn't have anything to say. Honestly what words could be said between two women in love with the same man? Even if one of them was unconscious.

She knew Oliver had slept with her sister, that her and Felicity shared the pain of that decision. But she also knew that they were hurting in completely different ways.

For she had long given up on the dream that is Oliver Queen. They had history, and it would always be between them, the unspoken bond that had been woven into their lives whether they wanted it or not.

She would always love him, but she had realised it was a dream that was never going to happen. Too much had gone wrong between them. Too many bad decisions.

So she didn't know why she had come to see the other woman in Oliver's life, but she felt that she needed to. Almost compelled to.

Women's solidarity maybe?

Staring at Felicity now she almost felt sorry for her, for the roller coaster ride ahead of her that was Oliver Queen. For she had first hand knowledge of the extreme highs that could be reached with Ollie, only to reach a destructive bottom just as quickly.

She hoped for the woman's sake she would have more luck with him. Hoped that in his time away he had learned to take care of those he loved as opposed to pushing the limits to see how far he could get or what he could get away with.

Whether it was intentional or not Oliver could tear out your heart like the best of them. She knew she sounded bitter, even in her own head, but after everything she had been put through she felt she had the right.

She stood abruptly, suddenly feeling slightly suffocated in the small white room.

She gently reached for the other woman's hand and softly applied the smallest amount of pressure; mentally wishing both Felicity and herself luck for the future.

Turning on her heel she quickly fled the room, knowing that if anybody asked she would adamantly dismiss any knowledge of visiting one Felicity Smoak.

Daniel.

Sunflowers and poppies.

He had never seen a weirder combination of flowers, but he had chosen them on the fleeting memory of her stating that they were her favourite flowers. How he had remembered he would never know but he had. And looking at the flowers he had brought to her now, he couldn't even picture two flowers that suited her more.

Bright.

Colourful.

Giving light to any room that they stood in.

Just like her.

He had put his business dealings on hold after the shooting.

He was torn between wanting to be there for her as soon as she woke up in a more than friend capacity, and the very real knowledge that there was something very serious going on between Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen.

He wasn't blind.

The way she avoided Queen to the way Queen had nearly had a seizure himself when he saw his Executive Assistant shot were a dead give away.

But he honestly didn't want to give up.

Queen had had his opportunity, and clearly lost it by the looks of things.

And from where he sat he still had a very real chance to see where things could go between them. All she had to do was wake up and show him the light that he had been missing from his life these last couple of weeks.

And she would wake up. He was certain of it.

Thea.

As soon as she walked into the hospital room she felt the downpour of tears come on.

She wasn't close with her brother's Executive Assistant. Nowhere near it, only having spoken a couple of words to her in the whole time of knowing of her. But after Felicity had visited Walter she felt the need to return the gesture, albeit a little differently as Felicity wasn't conscience to be aware of her presence.

What she didn't expect was to start crying as soon as she saw the helpless and almost lifeless body on the hospital bed. Didn't expect the onslaught of emotions that overwhelmed her when she saw her whole torso bandaged.

So she just sat there and cried, letting all of her frustration, anger, hurt and guilt out for the last seven years.

From the moment that God forsaken ship sunk, taking her father's life and her brother innocence, to the moment where an innocent IT girl gets shot for the sins of her mother.

Cried for herself and for the childhood that was ripped away from her.

Cried for her father and his untimely death.

Cried for her mother and the circumstances she had been put in.

Cried for Roy and the way he was forced to learn to fend for himself from such an early age.

Cried for her brother, the hell he had been through and the way he had lost a part of himself on the island that he could never get back. The carefree boy that she had looked up to and adored.

And she cried for the young girl in front of her, who would now be both emotionally and physically scared from being close to the Queen family.

Would any one of them find true happiness? Or did life just play one huge cruel joke on the lot of them? How many more tragedies did this family have to face?

Sarah.

It could have been hours that she had been standing in the dark hospital room in complete silence. She didn't know. Didn't care.

When she found out the girl had been shot she couldn't help but feel the flood of guilt that consumed her.

Well aware of the fact that Felicity was in love with Oliver, she still slept with him. At the time hurting anybody was the least of her intentions. At the time all she wanted to do was forget. But consequences and remorse had a funny way of catching up to you.

She had betrayed the girl that had welcomed her into the lair, into her life with open arms.

Nobody could miss the puppy dog eyes between Felicity and Oliver, but once again Sara had found an illicit line and crossed it. Let's add shitty friend to the resume.

Her track record wasn't great to say the least but this was just ridiculous. Hurting an innocent and her sister in one move.

So she sat in silence, long ago trained to keep everything from the eyes of others even if there was absolutely no one around, while the war inside raged on.

When the dark got too oppressing she moved closer to the bed, only allowing herself to whisper two words into the heavy silence.

"I'm sorry".

It wasn't nearly enough, she new, but she did feel a little bit of weight lift from her chest as she watched the steady breathing of the other blond.

With that she melted into the shadows, hoping that her disappearance would help the ones she had destroyed in her life finally heal.

Oliver.

He didn't know how much more he could take.

If only she could open her eyes from his sheer will to see those beautiful blue depths again.

He was pretty sure the hell island he had been on caused him less pain than this waiting in limbo.

Every second, minute, hour, day was pure agony.

Sixteen days.

Seventeen hours.

Forty-seven minutes.

The countdown from where his heart almost exploded. The moment when she had been shot, the bullet penetrating her precious soft skin, and lodging itself into her vital organs.

No matter how much he tried he couldn't get the image of her falling to her knees in front of him in her flowing white dress out of his mind.

His magnificent fallen angel.

This was by far the hardest chapter to write. Hope you guys didn't mind the different perspectives all over the place, but i wanted a bit of each. Daniel's was the hardest to write and Laurel's is my favourite (although I'm not a fan on the show).

As always, let me know your thoughts, they are always so uplifting.

Stay safe. Love to all - Stace