A/N: Had a need for a scene like this. Hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think!

Felicity slipped away after Oliver announced his plans to leave. Again. And all at Malcolm Merlyn's bidding. Her mouth was dry, stomach churning as she walked across the empty dance floor of Verdant.

"You look like you could use a drink."

The voice came from the shadows and when she looked up she saw Thea moving behind the bar, "Mind if I join you?"

"Aren't you still technically underage?" Felicity asked as she slid onto a stool.

Thea just shrugged, "Age is relative. And right now I feel...so old."

Amber liquid was poured into a highball, Felicity's fingers already wrapped around the glass though she waited until Thea had one of her own before she raised it in salute.

She tipped it back in one go, eyes watering at the burn but she just shut them tight and waited it out.

"So how long have you and my brother…"

That's when Felicity choked, sputtering as she slammed the glass back to the bar top, hand pressed to her throat as she tried to catch her breath.

"Whoa, I meant the whole hacking for the bow and arrow wielding vigilante thing not- Oh. It's true."

Thea was silent, calmly passing her a bottle of water, waiting her out.

"I've been working with him for two years," Felicity finally replied, purposely not acknowledging anything else but Thea just narrowed her eyes.

"It's funny, it all makes sense now, when I think back. All the lies, all the terrible excuses, all the times he disappeared," she gave a short, disbelieving laugh, "Mom shot him. I have a thousand questions."

"He's pretty terrible at lying," Felicity agreed, refusing to let the memory of the night she'd found him in her car flood her memories. Oliver coding on the table was not something she could think about just then.

"So he wasn't in jail in Bludhaven the past few weeks, was he?"

Felicity heard the words, the blood draining from her face as she swallowed hard. Apparently the universe didn't think she deserved a day off from the near continuous horror she'd lived for almost a month.

Thea's voice sounded brittle when she spoke,"Where was he? Did it have to do with Ra's al Ghul?"

"He uh...he sort of died. Again," Felicity whispered, "I mean, obviously he didn't die. He's here now. Alive. But...we thought...your fath-Malcolm he...we had every reason to think he was dead."

Felicity's eyes couldn't seem to focus as she tried to keep her voice even though she knew she'd failed. She couldn't tell her why Oliver had really gone. She couldn't tell her that the blood Ra's really wanted spilled was hers. And Felicity didn't know if that made her just as guilty as Malcolm and Oliver by continuing to lie to her, but she didn't think Thea could handle any more truth just then.

Slim fingers wrapped around her wrist and squeezed, "I'm sorry. I know how that feels."

Felicity looked up quickly to see understanding and warmth, the younger girl's words finally hitting home, "Oh, I...I didn't mean to suggest that...I mean...what you went through. Five years. I can't-"

The final two words cracked so badly she covered her mouth with her palm, breathing quickly growing ragged as her heart pounded violently behind her ribs.

"Felicity...what I went through was hell, yes. I thought I had lost my brother. But I can't imagine if I had lost the man I loved."

She froze, hand falling away only to have it grabbed as Thea leaned across the bar, "I obviously don't know what's actually going on with you two but if you try to sit here and tell me you don't love him and he doesn't love you you'd be just as terrible a liar as Ollie is."

"He's leaving again," she blurted out, "He's leaving again and I can't stop him. He says it's only a few days but...I've been to Lian Yu, I know what it's like. There are landmines, and the tide sneaks in quick, so you have to be careful when you're on the beach, there's some shelter, I'm sure the old fuselage is still there but please, watch out for the landmines. Oliver knows where they are but, just in case," now she was the one gripping Thea's hands as she stared back with wide eyes.

It slammed into just then, how scared she was because he had only been back a week, she still hadn't stopped having the nightmare of watching him being stabbed through the chest, blood pouring from his mouth. Every time she heard his footsteps on the stairs a little shock still went through her, a second of suspended disbelief that he was actually there. Actually alive.

"I'll watch out," Thea said carefully, "Thanks for the tip."

"Speedy! Plane leaves in twenty-" Oliver's voice called out and then stopped abruptly.

Felicity jerked her hands back, hastily wiping her palms over her thighs as she kept her head tilted down, trying to gain control over herself before he could see her.

"Sorry. I didn't know you two were…"

"Felicity was just giving me the 411 on the island. Apparently it's not a big tourist destination like you tried to make it out to be," Thea replied with false brightness as she made her way around the bar.

"Ah, no, not exactly," Oliver said quietly and Felicity could almost feel his gaze burning into her. Taking one more deep breath she blew it out slow and controlled and then spun slowly to face him.

The sight was so familiar it made her heart stutter. Brown leather jacket, pack slung over his shoulder. It was the metallic tang in her mouth warning her of the bile rising in her throat that made her stumble to her feet.

"Felicity!" he called, cutting her off two steps away from the stool.

"Oliver, don't," one hand flew up to keep him back because if he touched her just then she knew she'd break, "And don't tell me you'll be back. I've heard it before. I can't hear it again."

His eyes swirled with everything they couldn't say right then, everything that had been said, and heard, and everything that hadn't been said as well. She was too close to the edge, too close to losing control over everything she'd worked so hard to push down because Oliver wasn't willing to live the life she wanted to give him.

"Keep her safe," she said with one quick look towards Thea who stood frozen, staring between the two of them, "And try not to die again."

With that she turned and headed for the entrance to the basement, heels clicking so fast it sounded like she was running, and maybe she was because this time she wasn't going to stand around and watch him walk away.