AN: I am always grateful to all those who favorite, follow, and review! Thank you all so much for your support! To the guest who leave me reviews and I am unable to thank personally, THANK YOU! I appreciate each and every review!

My own personal Team Arrow is Awesome! Rennie75, you put up with a lot from me as beta (you all should see what it looks like before she gets it LOL). Thank you so very much for your quick help and constant encouragement and friendship! Mic RiddyBanon, without you where would I be? Stuck! You always encourage me and help me when I need it. You two are amazing friends and I am so blessed to have you on my own Team Arrow. (If you haven't yet be sure to check out all their awesome work!)

Disclaimer: Despite what Rennie, Mic, and I wish... Yeah, Arrow still belongs to the CW. Hmmm, maybe one day they'll let us write an episode... what would you think about that :D

Finally the lair was quiet again, the only sound being the beeping of the heart monitor.

"Once it's safe we can move him to the mansion." Diggle repeated what he had told Thea as he laid a comforting hand on Felicity's shoulder. "He's going to be okay."

"I know." Felicity said quietly, meeting Diggle's eyes. "I just wish he hadn't had to go through this."

"All of us wish that." Sara said quietly. "But it's over now. Slade can't hurt him anymore."

Felicity nodded her head as she turned once more to look at Oliver, the man who held her heart. She gently held his hand in hers and settled in to wait for him to wake up. I hope it's soon. She thought, as she didn't know how long she would be able to wait.

Felicity never was a patient person.

Chapter 35 - Waiting

Beep... Beep... Beep...

Felicity was going crazy. It was way too quiet in the lair as the only sound was the ticking of the clock and the beeping of the heart monitor. Not that she minded the heart monitor's beeping, it let her know that Oliver was still alive. But it was way too quiet and it was starting to drive her crazy. It felt like it had been several hours since everyone had left the lair and nothing had changed. She, Sara, and Diggle were still sitting around Oliver just waiting for him to wake up and it hadn't happened yet. She looked up as Diggle stood to stretch.

"Hey, why don't we go upstairs for a drink?" Sara asked her teammates, tired of the too quiet lair and ready for something to do.

"I don't want to leave Oliver." Felicity answered. "Just in case he wakes up, or something happens."

"John?" Sara turned to Diggle who was walking around.

"Sure." Diggle gave in. He knew that unless something changed they would still be waiting for hours. Getting to do anything was better than sitting around waiting. "Felicity, let us know if anything changes. We'll just be upstairs if you need us." He told the blonde. He knew she would be okay, as long as she didn't go crazy down here waiting. Yet, it hadn't surprised him that she didn't want to leave Oliver.

"I'll be fine guys." Felicity stated, giving them a small smile. "I'll let you know if I need you. You guys go chill for a bit and relax." She turned back to Oliver, who hadn't moved at all yet, as the rest of the Team made their way up to the club above.

"Do you think she's really going to be okay?" Sara asked as she moved behind the bar to pour herselfand Diggle a drink.

"I think it will take time." Diggle answered as he sat on one of the bar stools across from her. "I think once she processes what happened, and probably cries for a while, she will be fine." He took the offered shot of whiskey and downed it before he continued. "Oliver on the other hand..." He shook his head slowly as he again remembered just how beaten the younger man's body was. "That will take more time."

"He's been through stuff like this before." Sara said quietly as she refilled their shot glasses.

"Yeah, and look what that did to him." Diggle quietly answered as he stared at the liquid in his glass. "He had so much anger inside of him from it all. I'm afraid that it's going to happen again." He was scared for his friend. He knew that if they didn't do things right Oliver would shut them all out again, maybe even run off to Lian Yu. If he did that Diggle didn't know if they would be able to bring him back again.

"You're forgetting something John." Sara said with a sad smile on her face. She knew what he was thinking, remembered what Oliver had been like after all that had happened on the Island. But, she also knew that Diggle was forgetting something important.

"What's that?" Diggle asked as he looked up at her, noticing the huge smile on her face, curious to see what she was thinking.

"This time we have a Secret Weapon to use against him!"

Felicity was going stir crazy as she waited for Oliver to wake up. Once Diggle and Sara went upstairs she organized the medical supplies and took inventory, noting that they needed to replace almost all their supplies after everything that had happened recently. She then went and looked through the news reports, making sure that the identity of the Arrow had not been compromised. There was surprisingly only a brief mention of the break-up of a gang. Nothing was said about what happened at the warehouse and Felicity had a feeling that they had Detective Lance to thank for that. All that only took up about thirty minutes of her time. Now what to do? She thought to herself as she glanced at the security feed from the club, noting that Diggle and Sara were still enjoying a drink and talking. She turned from her computer and started to walk around the room.

As Felicity slowly made her way around the lair she found herself touching everything. She started by running her hand across her computers as she walked around behind them towards the training mats. When she got to the Salmon Ladder she placed a hand on the side and looked up, smiling at the memory of Oliver making his way up the contraption without a shirt and covered in sweat. From there she walked across the mats, thinking of all the times that she watched the Team training, practicing their abilities in order to keep the city safe at night. Walking past the training dummies she remembered the many hours that Sara, or Diggle, or Roy, or even Oliver would spend releasing pent up anger at a mission gone wrong as they hit the dummy over and over again.

Next she found herself walking towards the armory section of the lair. Diggle's weapons were neatly arranged, always cleaned and ready to go for the next mission. She was thankful that Diggle was part of the Team. His knowledge of how war was came in very handy when it came to planning missions. He was also an expert marksman, which often came in handy as well. Not to mention that he was the Team medic. If it wasn't for Diggle then there would have been many times that Oliver wouldn't have made it home from a mission, or off the medical table. She had also found a friend, a brother, in Diggle and would forever be thankful for his place in her life. I'll have to make sure he doesn't blame himself for anything that happened. She thought to herself, knowing it was a very good possibility.

She walked past Diggle's weapons and came up to Roy's stash of stuff. His trademark red hoodie, well, one of the many, was hanging on a hook on the wall with his mask hanging out of the front pocket. Next to that was his bow and quiver. At least the kid remembered to put his stuff up this time. She thought with a smile, thinking of the many times he would leave his stuff laying around and she would have to remind him to put it away. Roy was like a little brother to her, always looking out for her. Sure, he had had his issues, but he had a good heart.

Moving on she came next to Sara's equipment. Although her case wasn't as elaborate as Oliver's, her leathers and bo staff were neatly stored in a glass case. She liked Sara, she really did. She hadn't been too sure when Sara had first joined them. The woman had been so full of anger and hate. Plus Sara and Oliver had gotten back together. She had never told anyone how much it had hurt to see the two dating. She had known then that she never really had a chance with Oliver, but that hadn't stopped it from hurting when she saw them together. Things had changed though. She and Sara had actually become friends. I still can't believe I took a bullet for her. She thought as she remembered the night with Tockman. Things hadn't always been easy since Sara came around, but Felicity knew that she would not trade having her on the Team for anything in the world.

Felicity stepped away from Sara's things and came next to the case that housed Oliver's bow. She smiled to herself as she reached out and touched it gently, remembering the look on Oliver's face when he picked up the bow for the first time. She had ordered it specifically for him for when he came back from Lian Yu after the Undertaking. The look in his eyes had remained with her to this day. She would always be happy that she bought that for him.

As she stepped up to the next case Felicity couldn't help the tears that formed in her eyes. This was the case that housed Oliver's green leather. Someone had hung his stuff back up and it hung there ready for the next mission. She slowly reached out and placed her right hand on the jacket right where it would cover Oliver's heart, closing her eyes as she remembered the feel of Oliver's strong chest underneath of it. Before she realized what she was doing she found that she had lifted the jacket and hood off the dummy and held it in her hands. She slowly lifted the jacket to her face and found that it still smelled like Oliver. She blinked a few times before she wrapped the jacket around her, sliding her arms in and zipping it up. She wrapped her arms around her and imagined that it was Oliver's strong arms wrapping her in an embrace, holding her close as if he would never let her go. She stood there for a minute, breathing in his scent from the jacket as she cried, finally allowing all the pent up emotion from the last few days out.

It was a few moments later when Felicity finally stopped crying. She realized that she had needed to do it and was thankful that it had happened when no one was around. Well, okay, Oliver was there but he was still passed out so he didn't see it. She finally took in a deep, shaky breath and wiped her eyes. When she opened them again she was looking right at Oliver's bow, sitting beautifully in its glass case when suddenly an idea hit her. With a smile slowly growing on her face she reached out and picked up the bow, testing the weight in her hands. Turning around so she wouldn't hit the glass and scratch anything she slowly raised the bow and started to pull back on the string.

The first thing Oliver felt was pain, everywhere. His ribs, his back, his arms and wrists, his chest, pretty much the only thing that wasn't throbbing with pain was his legs, although they were sore. He pushed down the waves of pain and focused instead on his surroundings. He listened carefully to the noises around him and the first sound to reach his ears was the constant beeping by his head. Must be the heart monitor. He thought to himself as he remembered hearing that sound many times before. He listened again for more sounds, the next thing he heard being the familiar sound of Felicity's desk chair as she moved. Oliver slowly opened his eyes to find her and watched as she slowly moved around her computer. He remained quiet and still, not wanting her to know just yet that he was awake as he wanted to see how she was doing.

Oliver couldn't take his eyes off Felicity. She was so beautiful and she loved him! The thought almost overwhelmed him, until she reached the Salmon Ladder. Even though her back was turned to him he clearly imagine the small smile that would have played across her lips as she touched the it and looked up. He had missed that smile. As she turned to continue her walk around the lair Oliver caught sight of the Dragon tattoo on her shoulder around the straps of one of Sara's tank tops that she was now wearing. He couldn't help the sadness that came over him at the sight of it, however, he pushed that emotion down as she watched Felicity move on again. He continued to watched her, silently and unmoving, as she made her way around the room, stopping at the mats, the training dummies, Digg's weapons, Roy's gear, Sara's gear, and then his own.

He watched her as Felicity tentatively reached a hand out and touched his bow. Oliver almost smiled as he remembered the day that she gave that to him, the day that he chose to be something other than the killer that Tommy had died thinking that he was, even if he hadn't realized it yet. The day that he became the Arrow. He was thankful every single day that Felicity and Diggle had brought him back from the Island.

It was only a moment later that Felicity moved on to the case that held his leathers. He watched as she reached out a shaky hand and put it on the left side of the front of his jacket and he could hear her sniffling, telling him that she was crying. He was surprised when she lifted his jacket out of the case and lifted it to her nose, smelling it, before putting it on and wrapping her arms around herself. As she stood there, crying, he almost sat up and went to her, but at the thought of moving another wave of pain coursed through him and instead he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he rode it out. When he opened his eyes again he noticed that Felicity had moved slightly and was now holding his bow in her hands. She had raised it and pulled back the string. Oliver noticed that although she had enough strength to draw it, she was not quite able to draw it back fully to its anchorpoint.

"You have failed this city!" Felicity growled as she drew the string on the bow back a bit. Oliver had to stifle his laughter. She was apparently trying to imitate his Arrow growl and the end result was so cute that he could no longer hold back his comments.

"Felicity?" Oliver asked with a bit of a chuckle. "What are you doing?"

Felicity jumped and screamed when she heard the voice in the lair. She looked around quickly, still holding Oliver's bow in her hand, looking for the threat. It took her a moment to realize that it was Oliver who had spoken and suddenly she felt extremely embarrassed at being found holding his bow and wearing his leather jacket and hood.

"I, um..." Felicity started to explain but was interrupted by the sound of the door at the top of the stairs slamming open and footsteps rushing down. Half a second later she saw Diggle, gun drawn, quickly reaching the bottom of the stairs, looking for whatever had caused Felicity to scream. Sara was right behind him, the look on her face showing that she was clearly ready to take down any intruder. What they found instead was Felicity, in Oliver's jacket and hood, holding his bow, clearly shocked.

"Felicity?" Diggle asked as he rushed over to her, making sure she was okay. "Are you okay?"

All Felicity could do was nod her head to indicate that she was okay, she was still too embarrassed at having been caught.

"Then what's wrong?" Diggle asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to actually talk to him.

"Nothing's wrong John." Sara responded from across the room.

"Then what happened?" Diggle questioned his teammate as he turned to face Sara.

"I scared her." Oliver answered with a smile from where he still lay on the medical table, startling Diggle.

"Um, guys..." Felicity said timidly, with a tiny, guilty smile. "Um... Oliver's awake."

AN: Ok... So... What did you think? Please let me know in a review!