Disclaimer: WB/DC own these characters. I'm only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this.

AN: It seems like all I do is apologize to you all. Sigh. I am trying to be good and finish my unfinished stories, as well as finish a story, before I post a new story. Ha. Needless to say, it's not working so well. I take comfort that I'm not the only author who does this, heehee. Anyway, without further talking, here is the next chapter. I do believe we are nearing the end of this story.

Trigger warning: some discussion of a rape having occurred. No specific details however. A therapy session also in this chapter.

"Felicity, Felicity dear. I hate to wake you, but I think you should go to group today."

At first, she reacted to the irritating noise by attempting to bat it away but that hand was gently clasped in a warmer one. Then a hand was gently on her shoulder, and Oliver's well-known voice reached through her warm cocoon of sleepiness and blankets to wake her up. His words then suddenly reminded her of her nightmare, and she sat straight up in bed.

Felicity saw Oliver's look of alarm through bleary eyes. "Felicity, I'm so sorry to have startled you, but it's time to wake up."

Felicity rubbed her face with both her hands, trying to orient herself more fully. She smiled at Oliver and quickly reassured him. "You didn't startle me; I remembered my nightmare, that's all, and that's what made me jump." Reaching for her phone Felicity looked first at the time then at any messages. None were there, so she turned her attention back to Oliver after noting the time was nine o'clock.

Smiling again, she said, "Thank you for waking me up. Yes, if I hurry, I can catch the midmorning sessions."

"I'll wait downstairs for you, then."

As his well-built form walked out of the room, Felicity took a moment to admire his marvelous butt. She then caught herself and forced herself to jump out of bed to begin her morning routine. Rushing through the shower, she applied her makeup quickly but expertly and brushed her damp hair into one of her signature ponytails. She rushed downstairs to grab breakfast only to find Oliver sitting in what the Queens called their 'breakfast room'.

"I waited for you while you got ready," Oliver said, giving her one of his
"Felicity-only" smiles.

She felt guilty for making him wait. "You didn't have to do that," Felicity told him as she sat down next to him at the four-chaired fancy oak table.

"My pleasure. We're not in a rush, are we? If you miss the last of the morning sessions, you can get in the afternoon ones, right?"

Felicity smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, but I'd rather get in as much as I could."

Oliver nodded in understanding. "How'd you sleep after the nightmare?"

Giving him a wider smile, she said, "Good. Thanks for being with me."

Suddenly there was a tinge of red along his cheekbones. "Oh, sure. No problem."

Felicity thought about that redness. Usually the only thing that embarrassed Oliver was his sex life. No, she meant his dating life. She looked down and rolled her eyes at herself. Looking up, she observed Oliver looking at her in concern.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded. There were empty plates in front of both of them, and a table-full of food. "This all looks delicious. I suppose we should begin."

Oliver nodded, handing her a bowl of scrambled eggs. "Yes, I suppose."

~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~FS~~

As she rode beside Oliver in his car, Felicity debated what she should say in therapy. Her feelings were, of course, all mixed up. She was glad it was all over, and that Slade was safely imprisoned. For sure this time. No subterfuge from any of his allies. Her lies and cover-ups have improved over the years working with Oliver, so she could very well come up with some inventive story to disguise the facts and make it all believable. Perhaps she could say it was a dream, and that it did give her some closure. Because, really, how could she talk about beating up a man who was twice her size? Or having a secret prison where he could be taken, to cover up that no rapists had been caught lately?

Once they'd arrived at the counseling center, Oliver gave her a smile. "Are you okay? Still want to do this today? You don't have to, you know."

Felicity smiled back at him. "I know. Thanks for saying that. I…I need to do this." Heaving a sigh, she opened the car door. "Shall we say you pick me up at 3pm, unless I call you earlier?"

Oliver nodded. "Sounds good." He took a breath as though he was about to say something else but changed his mind. Instead, he said, "Have a good day, Felicity."

"You too, Oliver."

Felicity walked towards the door but turned around before going in. As expected, Oliver hadn't left yet but was watching her. He gave a small wave, and she waved back with a smile. She entered secure in the fact Oliver was truly watching out for her, like he always had since the moment they met.

She had missed the morning group therapy session but luckily her therapist was available right away. Felicity followed her into her office and sat down. As she watched the other woman sit down, Felicity had qualms in her stomach but she decided to power through the uncertainty anyway. Like therapy said, sometimes a person has to "sit in the uncomfortable feeling" sometimes.

Instead of beginning right away, Felicity decided to wait for her therapist to begin. Dr. Smith began by asking her how she was. Felicity sat up and decided she wanted to be honest. And right to the point. Right away.

"I helped catch my rapist over the weekend."

Dr. Smith didn't bother to hide her astonishment and delight. "You did? How wonderful! How are you feeling about that?"

"Like I have part of me back." Felicity chewed on her lower lip. "Um, I also had a dream the night before that I was able, um, beat him up before we took him into custody."

Dr. Smith cocked an eyebrow at her. "Interesting. Are you usually a violent person?"

Alarmed, Felicity shook her head. "Usually not. However, this person, um, as I said in group over the past weeks, he's been tormenting me and my friends as well. So, it made me feel like I've gained back some of my agency by beating the snot out of him."

Dr. Smith's eyes widened slightly at Felicity's words. "I'm glad you feel that way, but I usually don't recommend feelings like that."

Felicity held up her hands in protest. "I agree. I usually don't like violence. Not me, ever. I hardly ever watch fights in movies. Except The Avengers. And Dr. Who, of course. But he had made me so very angry that I…I just had to do something. So, I guess I dreamed that up."

"You said before he was arrested?"

"Yes."

"Why, do you suppose, you dreamed that before he was arrested?"

Oh. Felicity didn't think about that. "I suppose I was apprehensive of what was going to happen, and it was one way to deal with my fear."

Dr. Smith nodded. Felicity suddenly uncomfortable with the silence but bit back the babble which was threatening to come out. Instead she said, "One good thing. Now that we have this taken care of, I can start a relationship with Oliver."

She quickly closed her eyes. Felicity hadn't wanted to say his name. Oh well, this is all confidential. "I've had a crush on him since we met two years ago. We met at work, then I…I've helped him on his charity projects after work. We've become great friends, and I never suspected it could be more, or that he could ever feel that way about me."

"Oh? Well, Felicity, I usually don't recommend -"

"Oh, I know. I'm not sure about when we will be, um, intimate, certainly not for a while. And he's been the most perfect gentleman about it." She blushed slightly. "He…he said he's been so afraid of losing me over this attack, or attacks, that he finally told me his feelings. But that he'd wait for me to be ready to start a relationship."

Felicity felt herself going into a full babble but she didn't care. "We've known each other for several years, like I said. We're best friends. And…we've been, or at least I've been, flirting with him over the years. Not that I've meant to, however. I, you know, how I tend to babble…."

"Yes, I've noticed that a time or two," the therapist agreed.

"But he's such an amazing guy! He truly is, but the sad thing about him is that he doesn't believe it. Here is this amazing, gifted, generous man who believes he's not worthy of love. No matter how privileged he was growing up, he feels guilty for wasting that, for being less than what he thought he should be. Even if he's made up for it a thousand-fold over the past years." Felicity stuttered, realizing she might have said too much. "By…by all the charity work he's done anonymously over the years, and the money he's donated as well."

"Indeed, he sounds quite wonderful. And the fact you've been friends before the rape, as well as delaying any intimacy, does help as well. But only when you're ready."

"Oh, I know. Because he's so hot, I mean I've known attractive guys, and some have even flirted with me, but not like this guy. He has the deepest, bluest eyes I've ever seen, and the muscles. And the abs! Don't get me started on the abs of this man."

The therapist laughed. "Okay, we've established how attracted you are to him. And you're sure you're compatible in values and beliefs?"

"Oh yes, for I've helped him with his, um, charity work. We've had some arguments over the years about who to help, and how, but…we've mostly agreed." Felicity noticed she had moved to the edge of her seat and sat back in her chair, purposely relaxing her posture. "Yeah, and he'd never take advantage of me either."

"You said you've gained some agency back by dreaming you beat up your rapist."

"Yes, he made me…he made me feel like…powerless, or something. I hate feeling like that." Felicity looked down, tears now pooling in her eyes.

"When in your life have you felt that way?"

"The day my father left without saying why. Mom knew of course; she'd kicked him out because she found out he was a criminal. But she never told me that until recently. So…so I grew up thinking it was my fault he'd left."

"Why was that?" her therapist asked in an interested way, not a "counselor" way which would've made Felicity uncomfortable.

"I hadn't put my toys away the day before and he'd gotten a little angry with me. I…when he left I thought he'd left because of that." Felicity sniffled as she wiped the tears which kept falling even though she tried to stop them.

"Did you ever tell your mother about that?"

Felicity shook her head slowly and gave out a big sigh. "No. I don't know why, but I felt she didn't want to ever talk about it. See, she was busy with two jobs trying to provide both of us food and shelter. She never asked for help; she did it all on her own."

"She sounds like a pretty amazing woman herself."

Felicity's face lit up with a huge smile and the tears stopped. "Yes, yes she is. I mean, of course, as a teen I never thought of her like that. I was angry for Dad leaving, for us not having money, for…" Felicity's eyes began to tear up again. "I had my heart set on going to Space Camp one summer. I thought we could afford it. Of course, I didn't know how much it would cost or what type of money problems we were having." Felicity stopped to look down at her lap, wiping her tears. "When Mom told me I couldn't go, I didn't talk to her for two weeks." Felicity began playing with the hem of her shirt. "I never did apologize for that," she said softly, almost to herself.

"Your mom knows you didn't mean it."

Felicity shrugged. "I don't know. I was pretty mean to her off and on over the years. Even when at college. And when I got out. It's only been the last two years where we've gotten closer than we've ever been."

"That's natural, Felicity. And understandable. Teenage rebellion, trying to establish your own identity in college, are normal times for children to pull away from their parents. The important thing is that you've reestablished a relationship with her." The therapist gave her an unwavering look. "You do feel comfortable with that relationship, don't you?"

"Oh yes. Most definitely. Before I just tolerated her, but now…now I confide in her a lot more. We talk every week."

"You haven't said, but did you tell your mother about the rape?"

Felicity cleared her throat. "No. Not yet. Now that it's all over, I'll tell her. I didn't want her to worry, and I had my friends and coming here to support me, so…it was mainly because I wanted my rapist caught so he wouldn't harm anyone else ever again."

"Were you afraid he'd go after your mother?"

Felicity considered the question. "Well, not really. He could've, because he's that psycho. But since she lives out of town, it was pretty far out there that he would."

"Our session is almost over. Do you have anything else you need to bring up?"

Felicity thought and shook her head. In reflecting on how she was feeling, Felicity was surprised as to the degree of calmness she felt. It truly was like a weight had been lifted from her. "It's helped me to talk about this today." She smiled again. "And to brag about my dream."

"Interesting. It's almost as though it really happened."

Felicity was able to catch herself from looking at her therapist in alarm. However, she did take a breath before she answered. "It's weird, but I did feel like it could've been real. Even though I know it wasn't. I'm not hallucinating or anything like that. I'm okay that way." Felicity bit her lower lip to stop rambling. She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, Dr. Smith, but you know my rambling."

Standing up, Dr. Smith held out her hand. "You've been doing excellent work here, Felicity, and I'm so proud of you. Congratulations on your rapist being caught. The next group session will start in thirty minutes. I hope you stick around for it."

Felicity couldn't look her therapist in the eye. Her gaze wandered around the room as she thought. Suddenly she was worn out. "I'm not sure. Of course, I think I should attend sessions at least a few more times, but…talking about it just now has tired me out."

"That is perfectly normal. I think you made a lot of progress in just this session. Do what you need for yourself. You have my number in case anything happens, if you leave. And if you wish to discharge, you can always return if something is triggered. You think it over and let us know."

Suddenly Felicity felt tears in her eyes again and wondered why she was being foolish. Deciding to think about it later, she nodded, and she rose to go to the waiting room.

AN: So there more talking than action in this. I hope her session with her therapist wasn't boring. I thought she covered a lot of what might hold her back from Oliver, even without her realizing it.

Like I said, we are nearing the end. I do hope I am and will continue to address the rape recovery sensitively and realistically.

Hope you were entertained by this chapter and leave me a comment or review so I know what you enjoyed about it. Or what had struck you. Always appreciated.