"What is that?"

Oliver's head rose at the unfamiliar voice, seeing a young woman gesturing to Felicity. Felicity had turned away from the woman, putting a file on her desk, but turned quickly back around at the question.

"What's what?" Felicity asked, attempting nonchalance.

"On your shoulder," the woman clarified. Her tone wasn't rude, by any means, just confused and a little alarmed. Oliver brow furrowed, and wondered if he had missed something important about Felicity once again.

He could see Felicity flush, then look over her shoulder to eye whatever it was. The blouse she was wearing was one Oliver had taken notice of before; The first time she had worn it was the first time he was able to notice the freckles that spanned the tops of her shoulders. Not that he looked for freckles on her usually.

It was just an observation he made. Platonically.

Felicity's fingers went to her bare shoulders, as if willing the sleeveless orange blouse to suddenly gain sleeves. "Oh, that's nothing. It's just- I fell," she clumsily explained. She forced a little laugh as if to emphasize its unimportance.

"Must have been one hell of a fall," the woman said, eyeing Felicity's shoulder with more interest, and judgement. Oliver narrowed his eyes at her, even though the woman, and Felicity, seemed unaware that he was watching from behind his desk.

Felicity agreed meekly, nodding her head in a way that basically screamed that she was uncomfortable with the conversation. The woman, sensing the discomfort, asked Felicity about a few other office related topics before disappearing out of Oliver's line of sight.

He watched as Felicity let out a breath, then turned towards Oliver's office. He attempted to look like he wasn't just eavesdropping but clicking open a tab on his computer.

"Here's the file you asked for," she said as she strode over to his desk.

Oliver smiled. "Thanks."

Felicity gave a half-hearted smile and turned to leave. As she did, Oliver caught sight of what the woman was asking about: Felicity's scar. Her first scar.

The wound, though healing, was definitely not going to heal smoothly. The sight made Oliver's stomach churn. He knew that Felicity didn't mind it, and in fact was a little proud of how she earned it, but she was supposed to be the untouchable one in their little team. At least, as far as he was concerned.

When she left his office, she turned down the hallway instead of going back to her desk. Oliver finally looked over at Diggle, who stood at his usual post at the door of his office, and Dig nodded his head towards the retreating blonde.

Oliver stood and walked over to him.

"She's headed to the private restrooms. I think maybe you should give a pep talk," Dig explained. Oliver would have been more surprised at his instructions if his friend hadn't been alerting him to subtle difficulties that had been occurring with Felicity the past couple weeks. Though Oliver wasn't sure if Dig was scolding him for not noticing, or simply making sure he knew what was going on.

In all honesty, he imagined it was both. He knew what he wasn't all the perceptive when it came to his friends. When it came to bad guys with guns? He didn't miss one detail.

Oliver nodded and made his way to the restrooms, and knocked on the door. "Felicity?"

"I'll be right out!" Came her echoey reply.

He could hear the subtle distress in her voice.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine- Of course I'm fine. Though I am in the restroom, and one would think it would be a private matter."

Oliver couldn't help the little amused smile that spread on his face at her annoyed tone. "Can I come in?" He asked, feeling fairly ridiculous.

He could hear her annoyed sigh before she replied, "Yes."

When he walked in she had her back to the large mirror that sat above the sinks, and her head was over her shoulder as she looked at her reflection. As he entered her line of vision, she looked at him through the mirror.

"I was just checking the damage." She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes.

Oliver came to a stop next to her. "It's not bad," Oliver offered, looking at the scar in the mirror.

'I know. And it's not that I don't want a scar, because hey! I got shot saving a friend. Which is really actually very badass, but…" she paused, letting her gaze drop down to the floor for a moment. "I just forgot it was there? And I want people to know that I'm strong but it's also so personal and I don't want anyone to look at it." She finally turned to face him, looking oddly confident after the speech she had given.

Oliver looked at her, feeling a strange, although not entirely unwelcome, feeling of kinship. He had never really spoken to her about his own scars, but she had expressed his own feelings towards his scars.

Carefully, he brought a hand to her shoulder, bringing a warm smile to her face. She brought up one hand to grasp his wrist then sighed.

"Let's get back to work," she finally said.

Oliver took note of how quickly her own mask was starting to appear when she needed it to.

He wasn't sure he liked it.