A/N: I've had this one written for a couple of weeks but wanted to wait to post it until just before the ep aired. A feels filled little spec fic that I hope you'll enjoy. Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think.

It was closer to dawn than to midnight when she finally stumbled through her door, eyes swollen from crying, and with a hollow ache in her heart with the knowledge that she may have just seen Oliver for the last time.

The ultimatum Ra's al Ghul had given him had been cruel and unfair and when their forty-eight hours were up with them no closer to identifying Sara's killer Oliver had done what he thought he had to do to save the city.

They'd all tried to make him see reason, plead their own cases, to no avail and when Digg had left with a shake of his head he'd locked his eyes on her and she'd known she was the last chance they had of saving him.

There had been tears on both their parts, kisses she hadn't intended, and soft desperate words from him and her but he still left and with a final cup of her cheek and kiss she knew meant goodbye he broke their hearts again and left her standing alone in the middle of the foundry.

She didn't remember the drive home, or putting her things away, or changing her clothes, intending on falling into bad. Instead she wandered back into her living room and froze when she spotted something on her side table that hadn't been there before.

Trembling, she approached almost cautiously, grateful that the couch was so close when she saw what it was because her knees suddenly didn't want to hold her.

A small menorah with the first candle placed sat before a box wrapped in silver paper. There was no card or note but she knew who they were from.

The paper crinkled noisily in the quiet apartment but she barely noticed over the thudding in her ears. Inside, underneath a layer of tissue paper she found a chain with a pendant linking the two sides. As she pulled it out a fingertip traced the curves and dips until with a gasp she held it up and realized it wasn't some random design, it was a word, in Hebrew.

A choking, gasping laugh burst past her lips as her eyes clouded with tears. Oliver had made it himself. She could see the spots where he'd welded the metal, the small imperfections where it had needed to be bent or straightened, and at the ends of the first and last character there were tiny arrowheads, the ends dulled to where they wouldn't hurt her.

Clutching the necklace in her palm she looked back at the box and saw a small slip of paper that had been folded in half. Oliver's distinctive script stood out starkly on the white background and she found herself touching the 'O' at the end before she'd even read the note.

'Hanukkah isn't until next week, but I never want you to be in the dark. You're my hope. Don't give up on me.

-O'

Silent tears tracked down her face as she calmly rose to grab a book of matches and her phone.

By the flickering of one small candle she ruefully shook her head. Of course Oliver would have assumed she knew Hebrew. But her connection to Judaism was really her last remaining connection to her father and celebrating the major holidays was as far as she'd ever got.

It hadn't taken long for her to find the translation, although it had taken three attempts to affix the clasp behind her neck.

With a blanket wrapped around her she tucked herself into the corner of her couch and turned to stare at the candle, watching as the flame danced in the air. Her fingers ran over and over the characters than now rested in the hollow of her neck, small, and delicate and she silently vowed to do what she could to keep the city safe while he was gone. Because she had to believe Oliver would return.

Her lips turned up in an attempt at a smile as she lay her head back, hand wrapping around the pendant.

The word meant 'light'.