Oliver and Felicity remained poised, face to face, both their hands clutching at his bow. Felicity met his fierce eyes with her own, begging him to not kill for her. Oliver lowered his lips down to hers and loosening his grip on his bow, he huskily whispered in a voice thick with emotion;
"I can't risk that he'll hurt you"
"He won't" Felicity replied almost instantly, her hand slowly making it's way to graze the thick bristles on his cheek before walking away. Oliver rested his bow down, overly invested in pursuit of her, but she didn't go far. After three steps, Felicity turned to face them, her pained expression plain for them to see. She hesitated as she pulled at her skirt, smoothing the creases before backing up her statement.
"It's not me he wants"
Felicity watched intently as Oliver and Diggle exchanged glances, both of them opening their mouths to speak but neither finding the words. They both returned their gazes back towards her expectantly, awaiting an explanation. Oliver blinked in confusion, and reached for her, the contact making her pull away.
"Felicity I want to help you, to protect you but you have to be honest with me."
Felicity nodded and sat herself down on her orthopaedic chair, turning it away from her computers so that she faced her friends and in her own witty way responded the only way she could in that moment, her voice laced with sarcasm "Lets just say that the nightmares and an ungodly case of gonorrhoea weren't the only reminders of that night that he left me with"
When the words had tumbled freely from her mouth it took mere seconds for Diggle to make sense of the information.
"The girl at the park" Diggle stated, suddenly the pieces were falling into place. Felicity's eyes widened and she jumped from her seat her hands falling to her hips in an aggressive stance.
"John Diggle! You were at the park? You followed me?"
Diggle tried his best to hide behind Izzy while Oliver stepped forward placing his body between them. "Don't blame Diggle, I asked him to keep an eye on you. if you want to be mad. Be mad at me"
"You had me followed Oliver? How dare you?"
"Felicity, we were trying to make sure you were safe" Diggle offered "And besides after what I witnessed this morning, I would have followed you whether Oliver asked me to or not"
Felicity's scowl softened at Diggle's' words, understanding that the two men had her best interests at heart and as she spoke her tone became quieter "I know you both had good intentions but you have no right invading my privacy like that"
A deafening silence fell upon the foundry; the situation they had found themselves in, finally hitting home with them, the severity of the circumstance that crowded them suddenly becoming very apparent. Felicity eyed Oliver for a reaction; his face gave nothing away but his eyes betrayed him. Felicity had always been able to read him, she knew him better than anyone else and he loved her for it. She could see how this was hurting him and how he was struggling to remain calm and composed. It had taken an enormous amount of self restraint for him to have stayed this long and to not left with the sole purpose of making Jed pay. As Felicity stood nervously twiddling her fingers she silently prayed that this would not change things between them.
"What is she called?" Oliver asked in a voice no louder than a whisper. As he awaited her response he edged his way closer to her where she had sat back down, until he was squatting in front of her. He took her hands in his and watched with complete adoration as Felicity lifted her gaze to meet his.
"Nora. Her name is Nora"
"That's a beautiful name"
Felicity nodded "She lives on the edge of Starling City with Clarice and Eric her adoptive parents." Oliver nodded, linking his fingers with hers, absentmindedly playing with them nervously. Felicity choked on a sob before adding "I wanted to keep her, I did. I just, I was scared. I was scared that every time I looked at her I would be reminded of that night. It wouldn't have been fair to her"
Oliver fought to gain control of his emotions; anger at Jed for forcing Felicity to have to make that decision, admiration of how she coped, sympathy for the hurt she had suffered and everything in between.
"Felicity Smoak, what you did was selfless and the single most courageous thing I have ever witnessed. You are truly remarkable"
Felicity forced a smile as she wiped a few stray tears from behind her trademark spectacles.
"Thank you"
Diggle stood and placing Izzy in her bassinet, brought them back to the matter at hand. "How did you find Nora?"
"Two days after she was born, when she was adopted, I hacked the social services records."
Oliver smiled "That's my girl"
Felicity pushed a stray strand from her face before adding "I've been keeping an eye on her ever since. She has no idea who am I, none of them do"
"Could Jed do the same?" Diggle enquired
"I don't think so, I installed a pretty hefty firewall after I hacked it" Felicity assured him. As thoughts began to swamp her mind, she stood from her seated position and began to pace, her hands slipping from Oliver's, making her tingle at the lack of contact. As she moved from one side of the desk to the other she began thinking aloud "He must have hacked my hospital records though because he knew I had a girl. When I saw him in the parking garage earlier he said he wanted to see 'HER', but why, why would he suddenly have gone to the trouble of doing that?" Felicity questioned turning her attention to her computers, checking for any recent breaches in the hospitals firewall. After a few seconds she swung her around to face her team.
"Yep they've been hacked. But why would he do that unless he found out that I'd got pregnant. I don't know how he knew that I got pregnant though, nobody knew"
"How did no-one notice?" Diggle questioned, recalling all the changes that occurred within Lyla when she was pregnant with Izzy.
"I took a year out and came to Starling City, told everyone that I was going travelling. My mum didn't even know." A look of recognition spread across her face "Martha! she was the only one that could have known. She knew about Jed, and I did the pregnancy test in the dorm, maybe she found it."
Diggle shot her a look and a slight head bob that told her that her suggestion was plausible. Oliver remained silent, watching Felicity's every move, analysing every tilt of the head, every push of her glasses and every step she took. He watched every nervous smile, the way she kept smoothing her skirt and how every time she spoke she caught his eye just for a second, checking for his response. When Felicity's pacing ground to halt, Oliver narrowed the distance between them bringing his hand to caress her face. As he pushed a few strands of hair that had fallen loose from her hair tie behind her hear, his lips met hers. When they parted fa few seconds later, disturbed by Diggle's clearing of his throat, Oliver lingered a breath away before whispering "We won't let anything happen to her I promise"
Felicity nodded in gratitude, failing miserably to control the wealth of emotions his statement brought bubbling to the surface. Raising his voice a little louder and dancing his fingers from her face, down her shoulders and to her fingers he searched her eyes asking for her to be strong "Do you think you can tell all this to Captain Lance? Then perhaps he can pay Nora and her parents a visit and explain that we need to assign her some police protection until we find a way to get this son of bitch behind bars where he belongs"
Felicity nodded before falling into Oliver's embrace, emotionally drained the days events. Diggle moved to where Izzy slept soundly in her bassinet. Leaning over her he smiled watching her little chest rise and fall, completely unaware of the evil that thrived within their city. Brushing his hand across her velvety skin he turned to Oliver and Felicity
"I'll do it. Watch Nora I mean. It makes sense that it's one of us. Captain Lance can introduce me."
"Diggle you're needed here. Lyla and Izzy need you. Roy can do it."
"Roy can do what?" Roy questioned as he entered from the stair well above
"Diggle will fill you in" Oliver explained, taking Felicity hand in his as they left safety of the Foundry.
The drive to Big Belly burger had been unnervingly quiet. Oliver kept glancing at Felicity, taking his eyes off the road at every opportunity to assess her state of mind. As he moved his hand from the comfort of the gear stick to grasp hers, he noticed the tension, that had resulted in her stiffened posture, slowly ebb away. Felicity absentmindedly smiled at the connection before finding herself unable to subdue the sudden urge to clarify the status of her sexual health.
"Just so we are clear, I no longer have Gonorrhoea"
Oliver coughed, momentarily choking on his own tongue. As he straightened his steering, avoiding veering into oncoming traffic he squeezed her hand, and with a smile on his face replied " I know".
Felicity smoothed the body of her dress as she spoke "Good" after a brief pause she began to panic "No, I mean I'm not implying that you care, like you want to have sex. Although I mean you might want to have sex, I just don't know if you would want to have it with me. Oh god Felicity stop talking, 1..2...3"
Oliver laughed, somewhat relieved that she hadn't lost her ability to ramble given the days events. He would never tire of watching her ceremoniously try and shove her foot into her mouth.
"Felicity it's fine" He assured her "And just for the record, this "He gestured between them "This is it for me, and hence I'd be lying if I said i hadn't envisioned us taking that step"
"Hence?" She teased
"Yes hence?" He defended. Felicity's gaze met his, she sighed happily before turning to look out the window, assessing where they were in their journey; One more block to go she thought as Oliver cleared his throat beside her.
"Felicity?"
"Hmm?"
"You know there's no rush right? I can wait"
"I'm Fine Oliver"
Oliver didn't reply with words, only a raised eyebrow that had Felicity resorting to her loud voice.
"Oliver, I am no Victim I'm fine. I've had two very healthy sexual relationships since you know. Well it depends on what you classify as Healthy, but thats moot point because I'm fine"
Oliver relented "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I just don't want you to take that step until you're ready, no regrets, If you want to wait, I'll wait."
Felicity curled her fingers through his again, grateful for his understanding and support. Oliver averted his gaze back to the road allowing silence to surround them for the remainder of the journey.
As they pulled into the car park, Felicity spotted Captain Lance in a booth by the window, tucking into a piece of what looked like apple pie.
"Should he be eating that?" Felicity asked concerned, as she unbuckled herself from the car. Oliver shrugged as he stood, and stretched his legs before making his way to her side of the car, opening the door. As they walked the distance of the car park, Oliver found her hand, squeezing it gently hoping she would understand the sentiment behind it. Felicity breathed deeply drawing strength from the man beside her, knowing that without him she would not be able to do to talk to Captain Lance. As they reached the door, Felicity's free hand fell to the handle and she paused, turning to face the pillar of strength beside her. She averted her eyes to her feet, watching her ankle swivel nervously before whispering
"I want to have sex with you too"