AN: Thank you everyone for your favorites, follows and reviews! Your support is incredible.
Mic RiddyBanon, thank you for your beta assistance. Very much appreciated!
Disclaimer: Running out of ways to say that I don't own Arrow.
"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."
Chapter 36 - Honesty
Oliver couldn't help but be amused at the looks on his teammates' faces. Diggle's face showed first shock, then amusement, and then concern. Sara's face went from relief to entertained. Felicity's face however was the best as it went from embarrassed, to relieved, to embarrassed again, to finally a smile graced her lips and he saw his love for her mirrored in her eyes.
"Felicity." Oliver said just above a whisper. He slowly started to move into a sitting position, pushing down the pain that the movement caused.
Diggle and Sara stepped forward as one to help Oliver, knowing that the movement would be causing quite a bit more pain to add to what he was already experiencing. Once they had him in a sitting position, with only a couple of small grunts of pain from Oliver, they watched as their teammate reached a hand towards Felicity. The scene in front of them unfolded almost like a movie. The hero wakes up, sits up despite injuries, reachesfor the damsel who walks willingly into his arms, and then they kiss. Yep, definitely like a movie and both Sara and Diggle rolled their eyes with huge smiles as Oliver gently took Felicity's face in his hands and placed a gentle kiss onto her lips.
"Come on guys." Sara said with mock irritation. "Can't you at least get a room? I mean really... Do you have to do that in front of us?"
Oliver slowly pulled back after planting a gentle kiss on Felicity's lips. He started to laugh at Sara's comments but it quickly turned into a fit of coughs, which in turn caused him to have to clamp down on the pain yet again. Sara quickly brought Oliver a bottle of water which he carefully took a sip of between coughs. Finally they eased and Oliver was able to breathe again.
"Are you okay?" Felicity asked, the worry clear in her voice and in the look on her face.
"It's just the fluid in my lungs. It will take care of itself in time." He said as he took her hand, trying to reassure her.
"How are you feeling man?" Diggle asked, noting the look of pain in Oliver's eyes as he did so.
"I'm..." Oliver started before being interrupted by Felicity.
"Oliver, I swear. If you say you're fine..." Felicity started to say before Oliver placed a finger on her lips, effectively ending her sentence.
"...in a lot of pain." Oliver continued, deciding to be completely honest with his Team. "But it's nothing that rest won't cure." He tried to give Felicity a reassuring smile and was rewarded with her squeezing his hand tighter.
"You need anything?" Diggle asked, wondering if Oliver would give in and actually take some pain medication.
"No." Oliver stated simply. He knew that Diggle was just trying to help ease his pain. "Where is everyone? Are they safe?" He asked as he looked around, surprised at how empty the lair was at the moment.
"Lance and Laurel went to her place and I sent Roy and Thea back to the mansion to update your mom and Walter." Diggle updated Oliver. "Everyone is safe. Don't worry."
"What about Nyssa?" Oliver asked as hewas pretty sure that he hadn't just imagined her presence.
"She had to leave again." Sara filled him in. "She only came back because she heard about Slade and wanted to make sure I was okay. Once we were rescued and she was reassured that I was fine she left."
"Next time you talk to her please tell her that I said thank you." Oliver said with complete sincerity. He may not have always gotten along with the Assassin, however he knew that she had helped in the rescue mission and he didn't want that to go unnoticed.
"I will." Sara said with a smile.
"So, what now?" Felicity asked from her place next to Oliver.
"Well, Mrs. Queen wanted everyone back to the mansion once you were able to move there." Diggle informed Oliver. "I told her that once we could we would head over."
Oliver nodded his head, agreeing with the plan. He knew that staying here would not be an option as everyone would want to get together at some point and that would cause the lair to get extremely crowded. If they were back at the mansion, then there would be room for everyone to gather without it being too crowded, and he could move to his room at any point if he became too exhausted.
"I'll start making phone calls to update everyone." Sara said as she pulled out her phone and stepped away.
"Let me check your bandages before we go so I can redress any that need it." Diggle said as he moved to the medical supplies. He began to redress Oliver's back as he tried to ignore the conversation between his two partners.
"Oliver..." Felicity started quietly, clearly struggling with what to say.
"What is it Felicity?" Oliver asked her, seeing the emotions warring withinher. "What's wrong?"
"He was going to kill you!" Felicity finally cried as she looked into Oliver's blue eyes. "He was going to torture you until you were almost dead and then he was going to kill you with one of your own arrows through one of your eyes!" She couldn't stop the tears that began to flow down her face.
"Hey." Oliver said as he reached for her hands, pulling her closer to him and ignoring the pain from his back as Diggle was quickly changing his bandages. "Hey, don't cry. Please!" Oliver pleaded, her tears were going to be his undoing if he didn't get them to stop soon. "I'm okay. Yes, he hurt me. But Felicity there was no way he was going to be able to kill me!" He said as he tried to calm her down.
"How do you know that?" Felicity asked, raising her voice to almost a yell. "He had you Oliver. He had you chained up and beaten so badly that you passed out. How can you sit there as Diggle patches up your back from a brutal whipping and tell me that Slade would not have killed you? How on earth would you have stopped him?" By the time she finished yelling at him the tears were flowing nonstop. She turned her away from him and looked at the floor, unable to look at him for the moment.
"I couldn't have stopped him. You're right." Oliver said as he pulled her close to him yet again. He then reached up and cupped her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him again. "There was no way I could have stopped him. But he made one fatal mistake."
"What?" Felicity asked after Oliver was silent for a moment.
"Like Sara told him, he was too focused on me, on the revenge that he had planned for me. He didn'tfully understand his enemy, our Team." Oliver explained as he gently held her, hoping that she really was listening. "He was so goal oriented that he failed to see the real threat that was just steps away from him."
"What threat?" Felicity asked, not fully understanding what he was telling her. "You mean Sara?"
"No, Felicity." Oliver said, unable to hold back the small laugh at her question. "You!" He paused for a moment to let that sink in. After a moment, when she looked like she was about to argue he continued. "He underestimated you, what you could do. You are good Felicity, the light to the darkness that is our existence. He was so focused on the darkness inside him that he failed to see you creeping in and taking over. He couldn't see what you were really capable of. You are a remarkable woman Felicityand our Secret Weapon!"
"You make it sound like I'm some hero." Felicity said with a laugh. What he was saying was ridiculous, she wasn't all that. "You're the hero. You, and Sara, and Roy, and Diggle. Not me, I'm just the IT expert."
"Oh Felicity, you're so much more than that." Oliver said just above a whisper. "Why can't you see that? You are what holds us together. Without you we would all be lost, and I would still be on Lian Yu after Tommy died drowning in my own guilt. But we aren't. We are all here because of you and the light and joy and fun that you bring into our lives. Without you there would be no Team Arrow."
Felicity stood quietly thinking about everything that Oliver had just said. He claimed that she was a hero, light in the darkness. Did he just call me a secret weapon? She thought to herself. Didn't Sara call me the same thing? Her brow furrowed at the thought as she tried to remember what Sara had said.
"What is it Felicity?" Oliver asked, seeing how hard she was thinking and wanting to know what was causing that adorable crease on her brow.
"Did you just call me a secret weapon?" Felicity asked in all seriousness.
"Yes!" Oliver said with a laugh.
"Sara, did you call me the same thing? When I injected Slade?" Felicity turned and asked the other woman.
"Yes." Sara replied, also unable to hold in the laugh at the question, and the fact that it took her this long to realize what had been said.
"Why?" Felicity asked the Team, even more confused than ever.
"Because everyone underestimates you." Diggle answered quietly from behind Oliver as he finished changing the last of the bandages on Oliver's back. "They all think that you are fragile, timid, incapable of hurting anyone, when in all reality you are probably more bad ass than anyone on the Team." He said as seriously as he could muster.
"Completely bad ass." Sara said as she put her phone away, finished with her phone calls. "Bitch with WiFi." She said as a huge smile spread across her face.
"Never bet against Felicity." Oliver said with a smile of his own as he quoted one of Roy's Lessons. "You will always lose!"
Felicity was speechless. She couldn't believe what the Team was saying about her. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice that Oliver had stood until he was pulling her into an embrace.
"Felicity Smoak, you are one remarkable woman and I am forever grateful that you agreed to join me." Oliver said with all sincerity as he looked into her eyes. "I love you!"
"I love you too Oliver." Felicity responded, just before Oliver claimed her mouth with his and kissed her. They stood, wrapped in each other's arms, kissing, for almost a full minute before they heard Diggle clear his throat behind them.
"Guys." Diggle called to the couple. "We really should get going unless you want Thea and Moira Queen to come down here looking for you Oliver."
Oliver smiled. He knew how unrelenting his mom and sister could be. He reached down and took Felicity's hand in his.
"Let's go home."
AN: Well... Did you like it? Please leave me a review to let me know what you thought, favorite part, or what you're looking forward to next!