The first year of Oliver and Felicity living together was great. They both were doing well in school and they were surviving on their own. Oliver had been very serious that he could support them himself so when his parents offered to give him and Felicity some money to support themselves he declined it. They took the money in the beginning to help them get started but hadn't accepted any money since. Oliver got a job in construction which paid pretty good but it wasn't enough. Felicity offered to get a job but Oliver told her not to and to just focus on school. After about a month at that job Oliver got a second job working for one of the people in his class doing odd jobs for him around town. When Felicity asked Oliver about it he told her not to worry about it and that he was getting paid well. With his two jobs and school Felicity rarely saw Oliver anymore. He would rarely ever come home anymore and when he did it would just be to shower and change.
Oliver wasn't eating or sleeping very much. His two jobs plus school kept him very busy. Felicity was getting worried about him and when she brought it up to him he got mad and told her to worry about herself and he would worry about taking care of them. They were supposed to be a team and take care of each other. He shouldn't have to do it all by himself. One day Felicity got a phone call when she arrived home from school.
"Hello" she answered.
"Is this Felicity Lance" a man asked on the other end of the line.
"This is and who is this" she asked.
"My name is Greg. I work with Oliver. There's been an accident" he answered.
"What kind of accident" Felicity asked her heart beating fast.
"Oliver fainted today and fell 2 floors from the building he was working on. He's being transported to the hospital right now" Greg answered. Felicity couldn't believe it. She saw her whole life flashing before her eyes. She couldn't lose Oliver.
Felicity arrived at the hospital a half hour later. She walked up to the front desk.
"Hi my name is Felicity Lance. I'm looking for Oliver Queen" she said to the nurse behind the desk. The nurse typed something into her computer.
"Ms. Lance it says here you are Mr. Queen's emergency contact" the nurse said. Felicity nodded her head.
"I'm his girlfriend" she said.
"Well Mr. Queen is in surgery. You can feel free to wait in the waiting room" the nurse said.
"Surgery? How bad is it" Felicity asked worried.
"The doctor would know that information. He'll be out when he's done to talk to you" the nurse said. Felicity nodded.
"Thank you" she said. She took a seat in the waiting room and waited for what felt like forever for the doctor to come out and tell her what was going on. The doctor walked into the waiting room.
"Anyone here for Oliver Queen" the doctor asked. Felicity stood up and raised her hand.
"I am" she said walking over to the doctor.
"How is he" Felicity asked.
"He has a concussion and we had to do surgery on his leg. He did good during surgery and he'll be fine" the doctor said.
Felicity let out a sigh of relief. "What happened to him? Why did he faint" she asked.
"Well it looks like Mr. Queen hasn't been eating or sleeping properly for some time. It looks like his body shut down for a little bit. We got some food in him and we gave him something to help him sleep. So he should be fine" the doctor said.
Felicity nodded her head. "Thank you doctor" she said.
"Ms. Lance he needs to eat, preferably three meals a day and he needs to sleep at least a couple hours a day" the doctor said.
"I know. He's been working two jobs and with school he's barely been home lately" Felicity said. The doctor nodded his head and put a comforting hand on Felicity's shoulder.
"Maybe he should pull back on some of that" he said.
Felicity sighed. "I'll try to get him to" she said.
"Can I see him" she asked. "He's in room 217" the doctor said.
Felicity walked to Oliver's room and gasped when she saw him. He was asleep with his leg wrapped up and in the air. His face was all cut up and the top of his head was wrapped up in a bandage. She had never seen Oliver hurt like this and it was a little much to see the man she loved more than anything so hurt. She walked over and sat next to him. This was all her fault Felicity thought. If she would have just accepted the money from his mother or got a job herself like she wanted to, to help out Oliver wouldn't be laying in the hospital with a broken leg and concussion. She knew it was getting to him and she did nothing. It killed her because if she would have helped him out some how he wouldn't be here right now. She loved him and knew he was who she was supposed to be with. She couldn't lose him. When they got out of here she was going to have Oliver quit one of his jobs and she would get a job herself whether he liked it or not.
"Felicity" Felicity heard Oliver say in his sleep. She looked down at him still asleep. "I love you and I promise to make you the happiest woman for the rest of our lives just like you've made me the luckiest man. I'm so happy to be marrying you" Oliver said sleep talking. Felicity looked at him in shock. She knew he sometimes talked in his sleep. Mostly when he was in a really deep sleep. She had experienced it once or twice but it was always shocking to hear it. He was obviously dreaming about their wedding. She smiled and kissed him on the forehead.
"I love you too Oliver" she said to Oliver's sleeping body. A big smile spread across his face. "I do" he said. Felicity smiled. They would get there someday in real life and not just in their dreams. Felicity had stayed in that hospital room for hours doing schoolwork and listening to Oliver sleep talk.
"Listen to your mother" Oliver said. The sleep talking went from them getting married to them having kids within a few hours.
Oliver slept through the night and woke up the next morning. He wished he hadn't. Pain hit him sharply and he grunted. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a hospital and his foot was in the air wrapped up. It looked broken. He felt someone holding his hand. He looked over and saw Felicity sitting in a chair next to the bed holding his hand sleeping. What happened? The last thing he remembered was working on the second floor of the building he was working on putting some flooring down when he felt dizzy and nauseous. It's all blank after that. He thought it would pass but apparently not. Now apparently he was in the hospital. He will admit he had the best sleep he'd had in a while last night with the best dream. Him and Felicity got married and had kids. They had made it. Apparently not in real life though. Felicity started to wake up. She saw that Oliver was awake and jumped up.
"Oliver your awake" she said hugging him.
"Did you stay here all night" Oliver asked.
Felicity nodded. "Yes. I refused to leave until you woke up" she said.
"What day is it today" he asked.
"Thursday" Felicity answered. He looked up at the clock on the wall. 7:30. The hospital was about 20 minutes from MIT. Felicity could still make it to her first class if she left now.
"You should get going" Oliver said.
Felicity looked at him confused. "What are you talking about? Go where" she asked.
"You have class in a half hour. If you leave now you can still make it" Oliver said.
Felicity laughed. "Don't worry about that. I emailed all my professors for the day and told them what happened and they said they would send me the work I missed" she said. Oliver shook his head.
"You can't just not show up. This is about your future. It's important that you…" Oliver started to say but was cut off when Felicity kissed him.
"Your my future too and right now you're more important now" she said. Great now he was going to be responsible for ruining her future he thought.
Oliver was released from the hospital two days later. The doctor said he had to stay off his foot and that it would heal. He also had to walk around with crutches. It took about two months for Oliver's leg to heal. During that time Felicity took care of Oliver with whatever he needed while still passing all of her classes. She never complained. Oliver still refused to let her get a job. So she took his mother up on her offer to pay some of the bills. To her surprise his parents had paid the next six months for them. Felicity was relieved. This meant when Oliver's leg fully healed and he could fully walk again he wouldn't have to work so hard and make himself so exhausted that he passes out. Oliver, on the other hand, was not happy. He felt that Felicity shouldn't of called his mother and took her offer. He was doing fine with his two jobs and he could take care of them by himself. Felicity tried to tell him that he was working himself to death and it wasn't healthy which just got him more mad and it led into a huge fight.
Oliver was drinking a lot more than he normally did which made him even more testy. After two months Oliver was finally able to walk properly again and Felicity thought that would make Oliver's mood better but he was still just as angry and testy as he had been for those two months. One day Felicity came home from school to find bags in front of the front door packed. "Oliver" Felicity called as she walked deeper into the apartment. She saw Oliver sitting at the dining table.
"We need to talk Felicity" Oliver said without looking at her. She sat at the table.
"Oliver what's wrong" Felicity asked taking his hand.
He pulled his hand back from her. "I'm leaving" he said.
"What" Felicity asked.
"I'm going back home to my parents house. My mother already tried to talk me out of this so you don't have to try. I've made up my mind" Oliver said.
Felicity moved closer to Oliver. "Oliver look at me" she said turning his head to look at her. She could tell he had been crying.
"Where is this coming from" she asked.
"You deserve better than I can give you. We tried to make it work but it didn't. Everyone was right" he said. Felicity shook her head.
"No they weren't. Were still here together and were still going to be together no matter what remember" Felicity said reminding Oliver of the promise they both made to each other that they would get through everything together for the rest of their lives.
"How" Oliver asked standing up. "I'm useless. I tried to take care of us so you could just focus on school and what happened? I get hurt and you had to take care of me for two months. I'm supposed to take care of you not the other way around. You can find someone better" Oliver said. Felicity stood up and walked over to Oliver.
"You're not leaving" she said hugging him.
Oliver pulled her off of him. "Please don't make this any harder than it already is" he said.
"Oliver please don't" Felicity said crying.
"It's for the best. You deserve better than me" Oliver said walking to the door.
Felicity marched in front of the door and stood in the way. "Felicity your making this harder than it has to be. You can find someone just as special as you. You don't need to settle for me" Oliver said. He walked closer to the door but Felicity pushed him back.
"You are going to stay there and listen to me. I am so sick and tired of people trying to tell me what I deserve. You know what I deserve. Someone who loves and respects me. Do you love me Oliver" Felicity asked. Oliver looked at her like she was crazy. Of course he loved her. He always would.
"Of course I do but…" Oliver started but Felicity shook her head.
"OK good so you love me. That's what matters Oliver that we love each other. As for you taking care of me. It's the 21st century Oliver. We're supposed to take care of each other. We're in a relationship. That's what you do in a relationship" Felicity said. She sighed.
"I'm not going to beg you to stay but I want you to. If you don't want to then leave but know that I love you so much" she said.
"I don't want to leave" Oliver said sadly.
"Then don't" Felicity said walking up to him and hugging him. "I know the last two months have been had for you but we're going to get through it together. I'm here and I always will be. I just need to know that you will too. I love you" Felicity said. Oliver stood there looking at the door. He was really going to leave. He was going to leave the best thing that ever happened to him because he felt sorry for himself. He's such an idiot. Oliver wrapped his arms around Felicity.
"I'm sorry. I know I've been a dick these last two months and you didn't deserve that. You did everything I needed you to and I treated you like crap. I'm sorry. I just felt sorry for myself and I let my insecurities take over. You became my target and that's not right" Oliver said. Felicity kissed him and smiled at him.
"You're forgiven and just know Oliver there's no one I would rather be with even in those two months" Felicity said. Oliver smiled and kissed her.
The rest of the year went really good for Oliver and Felicity. Oliver stayed in school and got a job at the school basically fixing things, organizing books in the library and hooking up the new computers they got which he knew how to do thanks to Felicity. He was keeping his grades up. He even let Felicity get a job. He saved up some money so that on their anniversary he could take her somewhere nice. He wound up taking her to the nicest restaurant in Massachusetts. Then they went home and spent the rest of the night being together and loving each other. Thanksgiving came and they went up to Starling city to visit their families. His father talked about taking them on the Queen's Gambit sometime. They both agreed. When they were at Felicity's house Sara was there with her new girlfriend Isabelle and Laurel was there with her new boyfriend seeing as her and Tommy broke up earlier in the year. They stayed at Felicity's parents house as Donna insisted.
Oliver told Felicity he had some errands to run so he left her house and drove over to the police station. He walked in and saw Quentin sitting at his desk. Quentin looked up and saw Oliver walking over to his desk.
"Oliver what are you doing here" he asked.
"I kind of have to talk to you about something" Oliver said looking kind of nervous. Quentin looked worried now.
"Did something happen to Felicity" he asked. Oliver shook his head.
"Can we just talk someplace private" Oliver asked.
Quentin nodded. "Follow me" he said. Oliver did as he was told. Quentin brought him into an empty office. "So what's up" he asked.
Oliver took a deep breath. "I love Felicity so much and I can't imagine my life without her in it and I wanted to ask your permission to ask for her hand in marriage" Oliver said pulling out a box from his back pocket, opening it and showing the ring to Quentin. Quentin stared at him for a moment and Oliver gulped. Maybe this wasn't a good idea.
After what felt like eternity to Oliver, Quentin smiled at him and hugged him. "Of course you have my permission. Congratulations" he said.
Oliver smiled at him. "Don't thank me yet. She still has to say yes" he said. Quentin waved him off.
"Of course she's going to say yes. So when are you going to ask her" he asked.
"I have no idea. When the time feels right I guess" Oliver said.
Quentin nodded. "I'm happy for you guys" he said patting Oliver's shoulder. "I always kind of figured this would happen" he said.
Oliver looked at him skeptically. "Really" he said not believing him.
"Well not always. I didn't think it would last in the beginning because I thought you were just playing Felicity but over time I saw that you did actually love about her so I accepted that it will happen one day" he said.
"Thanks Mr. Lance" Oliver said.
Quentin put his arm around Oliver's shoulder. "Oliver call me Quentin. We're going to be family soon" he said.
"Don't tell Donna. I don't want her to ruin the surprise" Oliver said.
It was the new year and Oliver had been trying to find the right time to propose. Every time he tried something would happen and screw it up. Plus their lives were really busy. He finally decided to propose when they came back from being on the Queen's Gambit. They were going in may and would be back the day of their anniversary. That would be the time he would do it no matter what. About two days before they were going to leave Oliver woke up in bed alone. "Felicity" he called out. He heard a loud noise come from the bathroom. He walked over and saw Felicity puking. He ran over to her and held her hair back and patted her back. She finally lifted her head up. "What's wrong" Oliver asked worriedly.
Felicity shook her head. "I don't know I just woke up feeling sick" she said.
"I'm going to call the doctor" Oliver said.
"No I'm sure it's just…" she started to say then she started puking again.
"I'm calling the doctor" Oliver said firmly.
Oliver got an appointment for Tuesday. He was going to call his dad and tell him they wouldn't be going with him because Felicity was sick. Oliver made soup and too it up to her. "I'm going to call my dad and tell him we can't go" he said as he put the soup in front of her.
Felicity shook her head. "No don't" she said.
Oliver sat down next to Felicity. "You are in no position to be going on a boat right now" he said.
Felicity nodded. "I know but you can. Go have fun with your father" she said.
"No I have to stay here and take care of you just like you took care of me when I broke my leg. We're a team remember" Oliver said.
"Laurel and Sara are coming. They can take care of me while you have fun with your father" she said.
"Are you sure" he asked.
"Absolutely. I'll go with you guys the next time" Felicity said. Felicity ate the soup and actually felt better for a little bit. Oliver looked at her worried. What if something serious was wrong and he wasn't here for her?
On the day Oliver was going to leave Laurel and Sara arrived. Felicity had been throwing up in the bathroom for the last two hours. Oliver sat with her holding back her hair. He contemplated not going. "Oliver I'm fine it's just…" Felicity started to say and then threw up again.
"You're not fine. I'm calling my father" Oliver said getting up and going to get his phone but Sara grabbed before he could. "What are you doing" Oliver asked.
"You're going on your trip. Me and Laurel got this" Sara said as Laurel walked over to Felicity.
"I can't with her like this" Oliver said pointing to Felicity.
"Oliver we are more than capable of taking care of our sister. Now leave before your father leaves without you" Laurel said. Oliver looked between the three sisters. He sighed.
"Fine I'll leave" Oliver said taking his phone from Sara and walking over to Felicity. "I love you" leaning down to kiss her.
Felicity pulled back. "I don't want to get you sick" she said.
"I don't care" he said kissing her.
He left the bathroom and went into their room opened his drawer and pulled out the ring box. He didn't want Felicity Laurel or Sara to find it while he was gone. He put it in his bag.
Oliver walked around the boat trying to get a signal on his cell phone. "Oliver you can try that all you want but your not going to get a signal" Robert said.
Oliver sat down next to his father frustrated. "Today was Felicity's doctor's appointment. I want to know what's wrong. I've been stressing out about it these last three days" he said.
Robert patted Oliver on the back. "I'm sure everything's fine" he said.
Oliver looked at his father skeptically. "How can you be so sure" he asked.
"The boat phone works right. If there was a serious problem I'm sure someone would have called us. You gave the number to everyone" Robert said. Oliver nodded. His father was right. He needed to not worry so much. "Did you ask her yet" Robert asked. Oliver shook his head.
"I was waiting for the right time. I'll ask her when we get back" Oliver said.
"Well we're going to be lucky to have Felicity in the family" Robert said.
Oliver smiled. "I know. I'm a very lucky man to have her in my life" he said.
"Are you sure your alright" Oliver asked into the phone which was attached to the wall. Felicity called about five minutes ago and told Oliver what the doctor said.
"I'm fine but Oliver I have to talk to you about something" she said.
"What's wrong" Oliver asked.
Felicity could hear the worry in his voice. "Don't worry it's nothing bad. I promise. It's just something I don't want to talk about over the phone" she said.
"OK" Oliver said the possibilities of what her news could be going through his mind.
"So how is the trip" she asked.
"Sucks because you're not here and I've had to worry about what could be wrong with you. I was concerned it was something really bad" he said. Felicity laughed.
"It's nothing bad. I'm even going out tonight with Laurel and Sara" Felicity said.
"Really? Where are you going" Oliver asked.
"We're going out to eat then to catch a movie" she said.
"Have fun" Oliver said.
"You too. I miss you" Felicity said.
"I miss you so much and I love you" Oliver said.
"I love you too" Felicity said.
That night there was a bad storm and the boat started shaking uncontrollably. "Dad" Oliver yelled going through the boat. "Dad" Oliver continued to yell. Water started to come through the floor. One of the windows on the boat broke. The boat was sinking. Oliver ran to his room. He opened his drawer and took out the ring box and put it in his back pocket. He took the picture of Felicity he had on the night table by his bed and took it out of the frame. He kissed it. "I love you so much and I will come back to you. I promise" he said to the picture of Felicity. He put the photo in his pocket and ran out of his room. He tried to get to the door but the boat tipped over. Oliver fell through a glass window into the water. Oliver swam back up to the surface and saw the boat go under the water. It was storming out and the water was rough.
"Oliver" he heard his father yelling behind him. Oliver turned around and saw his father on a lifeboat. He swam over to the lifeboat and got on. "It's Ok. Your going to be OK" his father said to him. Oliver looked out into the ocean and saw nothing out there. He didn't know how and he didn't care how long it took, he was going to return home to Felicity. He was going to keep his promise.
Present
The memories flashed through Oliver's head. How his life was destroyed all because of that shipwreck. He went through five years of hell but it was all worth it because he was going to say his city and he was going to see her again. He held the picture of Felicity close to his heart. She was what got him through his time on the island. The thought of seeing her again. So much time had passed he didn't know if he had a chance with her anymore. She probably moved on, had a family and was very happy. He just needed to see her again for himself. Even if they were just friends at least she would be in his life. He pulled something out of his other pocket. The ring box which he protected with his life while out on the island. He opened the box and looked at the ring. Even if it didn't exist anymore for her, this was a reminder of the love they once had for each other. She would always be the love of his life. Five years in hell didn't change that. Nothing ever would.