A/N: I'm going to paraphrase this Tumblr Prompt from kajunblueyes because it was very long, and I strayed a little bit from the original idea — Felicity and Ray have been dating for a while. They break up and he leaves town when Felicity finds out that she's pregnant. She's very hesitant to tell Oliver.
I considered making this into a multi-chapter piece, but I feel like it ended up being a pretty good stand-alone fic. If this is something you think I should continue, let me know. If the plot bunnies strike I might be willing to keep it going. And thanks again, Kajunblueyes, for the terrific prompt.
Oliver didn't bother knocking. He knew she wouldn't answer the door. Instead, he slid his key — the one Felicity had given him for emergencies — into the lock and made his way inside her apartment. He'd worry later about the repercussions of letting himself in, but for now he needed to figure out what had caused Felicity to bolt out of Queen Consolidated in tears.
Once inside, he nearly tripped over the royal blue pumps she'd be wearing earlier in the day, which were discarded by the kitchen table. He scanned the apartment and saw that her bright yellow dress was in a pile on the floor outside her bedroom, her tablet lying on top of the garment. The apartment was dark, save for a sliver of light coming from underneath the bathroom door.
Oliver knocked lightly before pushing the door open and tentatively scanning the small room. He found her on the floor propped against the side of the bathtub with her knees drawn up to her chest. She was wearing flannel pajama pants and a sweatshirt and was wrapped in a terrycloth bathrobe, as if the layers would somehow protect her.
"Felicity.."
A fresh round of sobs racked her body, and a split second later Oliver was on the floor next to her. "Hey. Shh. It's ok. Whatever it is, it's ok," he said, sliding closer to her and squeezing her hand in his. Her purple nail polish was chipping away, and Oliver knew she'd been biting her fingernails, something she only did when she was anxious.
Oliver looked her over, feeling completely helpless. She'd obviously been crying for quite some time, and he couldn't stand not knowing the reason why.
"God, I'm so sorry," Felicity said, finally looking up to meet Oliver's eyes. The worry she saw in them made her heart clench. "I completely ruined the whole thing, which is so completely typical of me. You finally regained control of the company, and I couldn't even keep it together long enough to have a glass of champagne and celebrate with my friends. Not that I could actually drink the champagne.."
Oliver looked at her in disbelief. Was she actually apologizing to him because she thought she ruined their celebration? "You can't possible think I'd be upset about.." he started, and then Felicity's last words washed over him like the waves from a hurricane, and Oliver's voice froze in his throat.
His eyes followed hers to the bathroom sink, where a pregnancy test was resting on the counter. More tears threatened to spill over as she ducked her head back down to meet the tops of her knees. "That's why Ray left," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I suspected about three weeks ago that I was, so I took a test. When I told him it was positive he offered me money, a lot of money, but I told him to shove his checkbook where the sun doesn't shine."
Oliver could feel the fury bubbling up inside of him. The knowledge that Ray Palmer, a man who was supposed to care about Felicity, left her and their unborn child without a second thought made Oliver want to put an arrow through his skull. Felicity must have sense his tension, because she squeezed his hand, which was still holding hers, to refocus him.
"So you're going to keep it?" he asked, silently reminding himself that this wasn't about him or how he felt; it was about Felicity and what she needed.
"I was going to," she said, taking a deep breath and resting her cheek against their hands. "But when I went to the doctor on Monday she told me I had been eight weeks along and that I'd miscarried a few days before. I told Ray, and he actually got mad at me for being upset over it. He said I should be glad that it was gone, but how could I be glad? It was a part of me."
Oliver swallowed a thick lump in his throat and blinked away tears that were clouding his vision. He knew all too well the unexpected pain of losing a child you didn't even know you wanted until it wasn't there anymore.
"Anyway," Felicity continued, "You know the rest. He signed the company back over to you this afternoon and headed back to Connecticut and his old job at Ivy University."
Oliver thought back to earlier that week when Ray called and asked him to come into QC for a meeting. He'd told Oliver that his time in Starling City was coming to an end, but before he left he wanted to return the company to its rightful owner. It had seemed too easy, so Oliver broached the subject with Felicity, trying to figure out if Ray had given her any other reasons for his departure.
"Ray's a straightforward guy, so just count your blessings. This is a good thing, Oliver." Felicity smiled before stuffing her tablet into her bag and heading out of the foundry. Her reaction didn't sit right with Oliver, though. The tone of her voice was too practiced, as if she was playing her executive assistant role. Her eyes lacked the depth and emotion he was so used to seeing.
He meant to ask her about it later that evening, but then she seemed back to normal when she suggested a celebratory toast once the paperwork was signed, and he chalked their earlier conversation up to her having a rough day.
"Add Ray Palmer to the long and distinguished list of people who leave when things get tough," the self-loathing tone dripping from Felicity's voice snapped Oliver back to the present.
Oliver had never seen her this broken before. Felicity was someone who radiated optimism. She'd been the one to pick him up and pull him from the darkness so many times that he'd lost count, and there was no way in hell Oliver was going to let this ruin her.
"Felicity, you once told me that I wasn't alone," Oliver said, placing his hand across the back of her neck, and giving her no choice but to look at him. "You looked me in the eyes during one of the lowest moments of my life and told me that, and because it came from you I knew it was true. So, what makes you think I'll let you go through this by yourself?"
Felicity squeezed her eyes shut and drew in a deep breath. A few more tears fell onto her cheeks, and Oliver used his thumb to wipe them away.
"You will get through this," He said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to his chest. He felt her body begin to relax as his rubbed small circles into her back.
Felicity looked up at Oliver, and swiped both hands across her tear-stained cheeks. "How do you know?"
"Because we always do, Felicity," he said, pressing a kiss to her temple. "We always will."
