Chapter 13
"You call it hope – that fire or fire!
It is but agony of desire!"
- Edgar Allen Poe, Tamerlane
The relief Oliver felt when he saw Felicity, was nothing he had ever felt before. It felt like an eternity since he and Diggle discovered she was missing and started their search, but he had found her. But the relief immediatly turned to worry, when he got closer and saw that Felicity was injured, her arm bloody and she had a gash in her head, that had left behind a nasty bruise.
"Digg, I have visual on Felicity." He silently talked into the intercom.
"Oh thank God!" Diggle could be heard letting out a sigh of relief. "Is she allright?"
"She seems to be..." Oliver said, not wanting to worry his friend. "I'll bring her down as quickly as I can."
The closer Oliver got, the more he realized that she was in bad shape; he could barely hear her breathing and what he heard of it sounded raspy. She was shaking really bad, probably due to the cold. When he came close enough to see her face, he was shocked to see how pale she looked and the gash in her forehead had stared to bleed again. Her eyes were closed and her lips were without colour.
Oliver kneeled besides her. "Felicity..." He whispered.
He carefully inspected the injuries, the ones he could see, Felicity seemed to have. The most serious injury was the gash in her head, it was still bleeding. Oliver took the first-aid box he had brought and picked out the items he needed so he could tend to the wound. He carefully cleaned it the best he could and put a band aid on it. It would stop the bleeding and it had to do for now. He was also worried about Felicity's weak breathing and how incredibly pale she looked. He had to get Felicity to a hospital as quickly as possible, as he couldn't get her the help she needed on location. He grabbed a blanket he had brought and wrapped it around Felicity. As Oliver's fingers brushed against her hands, he flinched at how cold they were. It was understandable on one hand, as it was getting colder by the minute out here but... on the other hand, he was also becoming more and more worried as he saw that she was in a bad stare.
"Felicity..." He carefully stroak her cheek. "Felicity, what did they do to you?"
In that moment, as his hand went down her cheek, Felicity's eyes shot open. She looked around in confusion but seconds later she found Oliver's gaze. She looked surprised at first and then she very quietly sighed out in relief,
"Oli... Oliver..." She tried to move, to sit up but flinched with pain and let out a silent gasp. "Oh!"
"Hey..." Oliver said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Don't move, you're hurt." He smiled carefully. "You had to run, didn't you?"
Felicity took a deep breath and once again Oliver could hear the rasp in her breathing. "I'm sorry..." Felicity whispered. "I'm sorry for... for dragging you out to the middle of nowhere-"
"Hey..." Oliver said. "Don't. I will always come for you, no matter what."
Felicity looked at him. "She was going to hurt me... hurt me more, if I didn't. The woman, she was wo... working for my father..." She paused. "I don't understand what he's doing here, I..." She took a breath again and once again flinched with pain, which made Oliver flinch and he put his hand on her cheek. "Careful, careful..."
Felicity looked at him. "He didn't hurt you, did he? My fath-"
"No." Oliver shook his head. "Never mind him, what matters now is you." He stroak her cheek. "I was so worried about you, Felicity... I... I told you... I will always come for you, Felicity. You're-"
He looked at her and smiled carefully. "Let's get you home."
Felicity smiled gently. She had always known Oliver would come for her, and now he was here. Oliver was here. She knew there had never been a doubt in his mind that he would come find her and every doubt she'd had on her own, like when she ran away from him at the Fairmont, had vanished the second she saw him out here. Every feeling about Oliver she had ever pushed away, refusing to admit to herself, feeling horrible about having... It was all gone and for the first time, she could finally admit to herself that she was... utterly and completly in love with Oliver. Truth to be told, the first time she had met Oliver, when he walked into the IT department at Queen Consolidated with the bullet-hole-filled laptop, that was when Felicity first had fallen in love with Oliver.
"Oliver..." She slowly said, putting her hand on top of Oliver's, still on her cheek.
She was about to continue when the pressure on her chest came back, together with the lightning bolt of pain striking through her body. She gasped loudly as reaction and the shock from it made her turn to her side. She looked at Oliver as her eyes shot wide open.
"Felicity?" He said, holding her steady. "Felicity, what-?"
Felicity grabbed on to him, her eyes filling with tears. "Oliver... Oliver, I can't brea-" The pressure on her chest became tighter, she had trouble breathing and she screamed as the excrutiating pain took over. Oliver flinched when he heard her scream, it was nothing he had heard before and it scared him.
He now understood that Felicity was in a much worse state than he had thought from the beginning and he had to get help as soon as possible. There was no time to get her to a hospital, so he had to bring the medical aid to her.
Oliver pressed the intercom. "Diggle... Something is wrong with Felicity, I need you to get up here. Bring everything. Hurry."
Oliver then turned to Felicity, who had stopped screaming and to Oliver's despair, she was barely breathing. He searched for a pulse, which he could barely find. It was very weak but it was there. He looked at her, stroaking her face and feeling her cold skin under his fingers. He felt a mix of angst and despair rise inside of him and he leaned over Felicity. She was so still, laying there unconscious.
"Felicity... Please, don't leave me. You can't leave me, I can't lose you. I need you..." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as they filled with tears. "I love you. I love you."