Chapter 8

First, I apologize for the huge delay in getting this chapter posted. It has been a crazy last couple of weeks with my three kids and wrapping things up at work to be able to take the rest of the year off for vacation. The good news is I hope to be able to get quite a bit more written for this story in the next week.

Also, I want to extend my deepest heartfelt gratitude at the overwhelming positive response I have received for this story. Your enthusiasm as fans of the show AND Olicity are truly inspiring to me. These next chapters adopt some items from "Three Ghosts" but putting my own spin on the Sebastian Blood/Slade storyline. I hope you enjoy.

Then, he kissed her…

Felicity's mind was reeling; she had dreamed about this exact same thing a hundred times, but her imagination paled in comparison to the real thing.

However, this was Oliver Queen, billionaire, playboy, CEO, vigilante. She was Felicity Smoak, administrative assistant, IT hacker, nerd. The inconsistencies hit her like a ton of bricks, pulling her away from Oliver.

He opened his eyes, caught off guard by her movement. One second ago he had felt her melting into him, and then suddenly the heat of her body was gone. Oliver looked at her, his confusion evident.

"Felicity?" he questioned, still trying to figure out what had just happened.

She wrapped her arms around her middle, eyes downcast. This should not be happening, she thought to herself. There was no logical reason in this universe that Oliver Queen would pick the IT girl over everyone else. But it was logical that perhaps he wanted to keep her from someone else.

She met his gaze then, and the mistrust he saw in them made him physically take a half a step back. She finally spoke.

"Are you only kissing me because you don't WANT me to fall in love with Barry Allen?" she accused.

Oliver frowned. "What?! No, of course not. I mean yes, I would rather you weren't in love with him, but that's not the only reason I kissed you," he said, trying to figure out what he had done to put this line of thought in her head.

"Then why?" she asked flatly, not budging from her spot.

Oliver looked at her, realizing that he must choose his words very carefully so as not to raise her ire any further. "I've wanted to do that for a long time," he responded, maintaining eye contact with her to emphasize his sincerity.

That clearly surprised her given her wide-eyed look. "Since when?"

"I think I realized shortly after you and Diggle came and got me off of the island to bring me back here," he finally admitted, going back in his head when his heart had nearly stopped at the sight of her standing on the landmine when they had first arrived. He had thought about her a lot during his time away, more than even he wanted to admit to himself.

Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly at his comment. "Before Russia?"

His stomach did a flip flop as he thought back to her discovering Isabel in his room, and their conversation upon returning to Starling City in the office the day Isabel had demanded he fire Felicity.

"I can't apologize enough for what happened with Isabel..." he started, but she held up her hand to cut him off.

"Stop," she commanded, closing her eyes to hide her true emotions. "I really don't want to talk about that ever again, Oliver." She opened her eyes again, and the faint hint of moisture at the corners was not lost on him. "So why did you send me to London?"

This was why, he thought, berating himself for yet again hurting her. It seemed it was impossible for him to avoid it, no matter what he did or said. At this point he figured the full story was his only option.

"When I was gone, I tried to block out everything about Starling City to avoid the guilt and pain it brought out in me. It seemed whatever direction my thoughts went, they always led me back to regretting not saving Tommy, regretting sleeping with Laurel again, regretting not stopping Merlyn and his destruction of the Glades in time; regretting my mother's involvement in the Undertaking; I was consumed by regret and pain. Yet time and again, when I thought I couldn't bear the pain for one more second, I would find that my mind would wander to you; memories of you didn't bring that regret or pain; slowly my memories from the basement of Verdant, of you and Diggle, brought me hope that I could go back home and face my friends and family without being buried under that mountain of pain that was literally crushing me." He finished, setting himself down on the sofa, feeling slightly out of breath from the admission and wave of emotion it brought.

Felicity sat down next to him, taking his hands into her smaller ones. He raised his eyes to her, once again caught off guard by the infinite amount of kindness she gave him.

"Oliver, I don't know what happened to you on that island, and I don't need you to tell me. But you need to realize that you aren't alone anymore," she said, reaching out to caress his cheek. He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes and letting the warmth of her hand sink into the rest of him.

He knew she was right. He knew that he kept a wall up around his heart, fearful that everything that had been given back to him since his return home would be taken away, and he would be left alone again. "I'm trying, Felicity," he finally said, opening his eyes and letting her see everything that he held back.

She was struck by the pain and vulnerability she saw, and chastised herself for letting her own insecurities get the best of her. She leaned forward, taking him into her arms and holding him there, letting him know through her actions that she was there for him.

He finally pulled back, pushing the soft tendrils of her hair from her face, placing a soft kiss on her lips before pulling back to look her in the eyes again.

"Thank you," he said, giving her a gentle smile.

"For what?"

"For making me feel like I'm finally not alone," he answered, kissing her on the forehead and taking her into his embrace again.

His phone rang then, causing them both to pull apart. He saw it was Diggle, and answered it immediately.

"Oliver," John said, the strain evident in his tone, "it's Roy."

Felicity saw the alarm on Oliver's face, and then asked him to put it on speaker, which Oliver quickly did.

"You're on speaker, Digg. Felicity's here with me."

"Roy's in the hospital. I was doing some reconnaissance in the Glades where some of the mysterious deaths have been occurring and literally came upon him getting the living crap beat out of him by one of those super soldiers," he said.

Oliver's anger snapped. "Why the hell were you doing recon without me as backup?"

John sighed. "Oliver, you've been a little off lately, and I was cautious. I ended up scaring the guy off, but not before he injected Roy with something," he finished.

Oliver's eyes widened in shock. "He was injected with the serum?"

"I'm guessing the answer is yes given the fact that his eyes were bleeding and he was convulsing by the time I got to him. His heart stopped, but I gave him CPR and brought him back. I got him cleaned up for the most part before the ambulance arrived, but he hasn't regained consciousness yet."

"Let me get to Verdant and start seeing if I can find out where the man that attacked him went after he left Roy there," Felicity stated, already thinking through what needed to be done. Oliver nodded his head in agreement, a knot forming in his gut at the thought of the serum existing.

"There's something else you should know, Oliver," Diggle stated.

Oliver put his head in his hand, not sure how this could get any worse. "What is it?"

"Thea's here at the hospital with Roy."

Oliver's head whipped up, a look of shock on his face at the mention of his sister.

Felicity put a reassuring hand on his knee. "Was she there when Roy was attacked?" she asked, concern for Oliver's sister sending a chill down her spine.

"She's fine, but the hospital called her since she's listed as Roy's next of kin. She's in the room with him, and I can't convince her to go home. She wants to stay until he wakes up," Diggle finished.

"I'm on my way," Oliver stated. "Don't let either of them out of your sight," he ordered his friend, ending the call. He stood up, running his hand over his head in exasperation.

"This serum shouldn't exist," he said out loud. Felicity got up to stand in front of him, her questioning look prompting him to finish his thought. "I destroyed the serum and everyone that was infected; it shouldn't exist!"

"Okay, we'll figure this out," she tried to reassure him. "But first, you need to get to the hospital to check on Roy and your sister, and I'll see if I can pull up where that maniac went, and get the information on Roy's blood samples. I'm sure they took his blood when he was admitted."

"It has to be destroyed, Felicity," Oliver said, panic creeping into his face. "It's a weapon."

"I know," she stated. "I'm going to change then get over to Verdant. I'll call you when I have something." She stood up on her tiptoes, giving him one more kiss before he gave her a nod and left, his body rigid with tenseness she had not seen since the arrival of Sara and the League of Assassins.

She made her way to her bedroom to get changed so she could get to work.