A/N: Another 3x07 drabble. This is sort of a 'what if' Oliver got to QC before Palmer. But probably not in the way you think. Enjoy! And please let me know what you think!

"Looks good on you."

Her head shot up, one hand immediately going to her throat, inadvertently feeling the insanely expensive necklace that lay there as she turned wide, surprised eyes on Oliver.

He was the last person she expected to see that night. His words over the comms had cut. Somehow every single time she thought she was starting to heal he said something to tear the scab away and leave her bleeding again.

Now he was standing almost sheepishly in her office doorway, hands shoved deep in his pockets as he tried and failed to look at anything but her.

"Uh, it's borrowed...not mine. Or the dress. I mean my salary is a lot bigger than it used to be but-" she said as she rose to her feet, until he cut her off.

"I meant the office," he said quietly and her mouth shut with a pop.

"Oh."

Slowly he made his way into the room and she didn't miss the way his eyes pinched together in pain for a second when he spotted the 'Palmer Technologies' logo behind her desk.

"You deserve it. I...maybe if I had put you in here instead of out there last year my name would still be on the side of the building."

He'd gone to the window instead of her desk and before she knew what she was doing she'd headed for his side, making sure to stop a few feet away because she'd left the lair that night before he'd returned from capturing Cupid. She hadn't been sure she could have handled seeing him after what he said. But now he'd literally showed up on her doorstep and she didn't have a choice.

She heard the regret in his voice, she'd thought she'd heard it earlier too, but it wasn't enough for him to change his mind.

A flare of anger welled in her chest, because she was tired of him yanking her back and forth. She knew he loved her. She knew she loved him. And yet there they stood, not saying everything that should be said.

"Why are you here?" she asked brittlely, arms coming up to cross over her middle.

"I'm not sure," he answered immediately, one hand raising to scrub across his forehead in an act of worry and frustration she knew all too well.

"I heard you tonight. Just like I heard you every other time you said it. I don't need you to keep saying it, Oliver. I get it."

"I don't want to have to say it!" he exploded, finally spinning to face her, hiding nothing.

"Then why are you? Why do you keep doing this to me? To us?" she cried, hating how desperate she sounded.

"You know why! I don't want you with Palmer! I don't want you here! But I don't get to make that call. And I can't be what you need," his hands raised and for a second she thought he was going to touch her, but instead he pushed the heels of his palms hard over his eyes and then turned to look back over the city, "But god, Felicity I want to be. So much."

Her heart was thudding so loud in her ears she could barely hear anything else. Tears pricked her eyes because as much as it hurt she still wanted it too.

"You know why I love this office? Because it reminds me of you. And despite the number of horrific things that these glass walls have seen thats not what I remember! I remember teasing over coffee, and the way I'd look up and catch you staring at me. I remember lunches with Digg in the conference room and how many times you'd lock yourself out of your computer." quiet tears slipped down her cheeks and she didn't bother to try and brush them away, "I remember us, Oliver. And everyday I walk in and you're not here it stings. But I told you I couldn't wait for you to die, and I won't."

His breath was ragged, his distorted reflection making his pained face look even more stricken, "I don't want to die," he said so quietly she almost didn't hear it and all the air left her lungs, as she gripped the edge of the desk for support. And when he turned she'd never seen him more broken, "But I don't know how to live." his admission tore at her, leaving her mute.

"I'm sorry I keep hurting you. I just want you to be happy."

"You're hurting yourself too," she said hoarsely.

"I know."

It was how quick and definitive those two words were that made her heart twist.

"I'm sorry. I came here…" he began and then paused, looking around at everything before settling back on her, "You deserve everything...and you're getting it."

Neither of them had to say the words he left unspoken, that he wasn't the one giving it to her.

With her throat thick with tears she swallowed hard, wishing she could tell him that none of it mattered because all she'd ever wanted was him.

All she could do was shake her head sadly as her head dropped to stare at her feet, but the lightest brush of his fingers along her collarbone had her gasping and afraid to look up.

She could see the toes of his brown boots, only inches away from her sky high stilettos as the charge in the air between them grew. He was barely touching her but it consumed her. All she could feel was the heat from his fingertips, and the ache it caused in her soul.

A half strangled noise emerged from his throat, her head whipping up in response, but he wasn't staring at her, his eyes were fixated on the necklace he was now lightly holding, the backs of his knuckles the barest brush against her skin.

"This used to belong to my mother. My father gave it to her for their twentieth anniversary."

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, hand coming up to cover his as the other reached around and began fumbling madly for the clasp. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, all she could see was Oliver's broken expression.

"Leave it," he said roughly, other hand coming up to trap hers and they stood closer than they had been since he kissed her.

"I didn't know, Oliver...I had no idea. Ray said he had to pay a security deposit and...I just assumed he got it from a jeweler or…"

"Most of her things were sold from the estate...I don't know what happened to them after that."

"I...if I'd known I would have never-"

"No. They're where they should be," he said throatily, and the meaning wasn't lost on her as it left her lightheaded and tingly, and when he slid his hand around to cup her cheek and brush away her tears with the softest, most aching look on his face she didn't know she was still standing.

His head fell forward as his eyes shut and for a split second she thought he was going to kiss her. Then he sighed and squeezed her hand before he stepped back and a sudden chill went through her.

He didn't say another word as he turned and headed out.

She stood there, frozen, in Moira Queen's former office, wearing Moira Queen's former jewels as the last Queen standing slowly made his way out of the building that no longer held his name.