Sorry for the slow update. So this takes up immediately after the last Chapter. An incapacitated Oliver responds to Felicity's scream in the Mansion during the Blackout.

The Dark of Night 4

Oliver's stomach was in his chest at the sound of Felicity's scream coming from next door. Security had been tightened recently so the logical part of his brain told him that there could be no intruder but his heart wouldn't be satisfied until he saw for himself. He didn't take the time to find the second crutch, he just hobbled as fast as he could towards the room next door in the dark.

Oliver burst in through the guest bedroom's door and flew to the side of Felicity's bed. He spotted no intruder but the only light was from the moon coming in through the open curtains. He approached Felicity hesitantly. She was no longer screaming but her body was flailing wildly over the bed, her back arching upwards but her eyes still clamped shut.

"Shh Felicity. It's ok," Oliver whispered, realizing she was still asleep. He sat on the edge of the bed. His hand found hers and he gripped in firmly. Her body continued to wildly roll around, whimpers escaping her lips. Oliver was worried that she would hurt herself. He leant over her body and tried to shush her again. "Felicity. It's Oliver. Wake up." Felicity movements slowed at the sound of his voice but she didn't wake. Her hair had become matted to the cold sweat on her face and he reached up to brush the few strands from her face. "It's ok," he tried again. "You're safe." Her body stopped convulsing and he noticed her breathing rhythm change. "You're having a nightmare. Listen to my voice and come back. Try to open your eyes."

Oliver could see Felicity's eyelids fluttering even in the low light of the room. Slowly she managed to drag her lids open. "Oliver?" Felicity asked with surprise but not fear. Normally being unexpectedly woken from a deep sleep in the dark would be startling but somehow the sound of his voice penetrated her nightmare and soothed her. "Are you ok?"

Oliver laughed quietly at her concern for him. "Yeah I'm fine. I just heard you having a making noise. You were obviously dreaming. It was difficult to wake you."

"I'm so sorry I disturbed you Oliver. I hope I didn't wake Thea." Felicity realized that Oliver was bend across and if she wasn't so embarrassed, she would enjoy this intimacy.

"A tornado wouldn't wake Thea," he laughed. "And you didn't disturb you. I was just worried something was wrong."

A silence fell between them in the dark as they both recognized how close their bodies were together, Oliver still leant over Felicity's chest. "It was just a nightmare."

"You want to talk about it?" Oliver didn't make a move away from his position hovering over her form in the bed.

"I know it might sound childish but the last few months I've been leaving a lamp on in my room but I didn't want to leave the candle going and risk burning down your house so I guess my mind was just playing mean tricks on me in a strange house and a strange bed."

Oliver leant back away from Felicity slightly and she realized she missed the warmth coming from him. He got up and walked to the wardrobe in the corner of the room. "I bet you didn't know this was our old Nanny's room. And if I'm right there still might be…" Oliver crouched down in the cupboard, "…aha! Here it is." Felicity noticed the small orb of dim light in Oliver's hand. "It's a battery powered globe. Raisa used to sit next to my bed and tell me all the countries of the world on this small globe as I fell asleep and she would make up storied about them all. It's not much light but it's better than nothing."

Felicity sat up on her elbow in the bed and took the orb from Oliver. "Thank you. It's really pretty actually." Felicity turned it around in her hands for a moment before placing the orb on her bedside locker.

"Do you want me to get you a hot chocolate or some chamomile tea or something to help you sleep?"

"No thanks Oliver. Sorry to bother you again."

"You never bother me Felicity." Oliver stood silently in the middle of the bedroom watching the way the light from the globe lit up Felicity's eyes. He always thinks she has the gentlest eyes. "I'll leave you rest. Let me know if you need anything."

"Sure. Thanks," Felicity replied.

As Oliver approached the bedroom door to leave he looked to see her take the globe in her hands and twirl it. "Do you want me to stay for a bit?" Oliver hoped he was not overstepping a boundary here as it took Felicity a few moments to answer.

Felicity's brain froze at Oliver's offer to stay in her room but she didn't want to be alone. "Yeah I'd like that thanks." Felicity was surprised that she didn't ramble or make an innuendo as she was so prone to doing.

Oliver looked around the room, first at a chair in the corner and then at a trunk at the end of the bed. His decision where to sit was decided for him when he saw Felicity move over towards the far end of the bed. "You'll never manage to sleep on that chair Oliver. This bed is huge. I promise to keep my hands to myself."

Felicity heard Oliver snicker in the dark. He approached the bed cautiously and then pulled back the duvet to occupy the warm spot that Felicity had just vacated. He rolled on his side to look at her to see that she was mirroring his position. There was a good two feet between them but he still felt his heart-rate skyrocket. How was it that this woman had come so unexpectedly into his life and infiltrated his emotions without him even realizing it was happening? He had been willing to admit he cared about her but subconsciously he knew it was more than just that. Oliver couldn't help but admit to himself how beautiful she looked in the glimmer of the light from the globe. She was glowing in the bed next to him and he couldn't help but be affected.

"You get some sleep now. I'm not going anywhere," Oliver assured.

"Night Oliver," Felicity said, rolling onto her back. Oliver rolled to stair at the ceiling also, the light making shapes on the ceiling.

After ten minutes Oliver thought maybe Felicity had managed to fall back asleep until he heard a faint sniff. He looked over to see the light bounce off a tear on her cheek. He knew she was trying to cry silently and he didn't want to embarrass her but he had an overwhelming need to comfort her.

"Come here," Oliver whispered to her as he held the duvet up in invitation. Felicity didn't need any explanation. With only a brief hesitation, she closed the space between them and moved closer to him. Oliver kept his arm up until she was nestled against his side. He pulled her in closer until her head came to rest on his chest. It took him a few seconds to figure out where he should put his arm so as not to be too forward. He settled on placing his hand on her upper arm. It was then that he noticed that she was only wearing a strapless pajama top and when her body rested next to his, he noted she only had short pajama pants on too. He tried not to think too much about the soft flesh flush with his body right now and what it wasn't doing to him.

Felicity's mind was trying not to overthink the fact that she was snuggled next to her boss right now. Her admittedly hot boss that she harbored complex feelings about. And he wore nothing but a pair of sweatpants. Her head nuzzled soothingly into the warmth of his chest. One hand was tucked in under herself but her other hand hovered in the dark before deciding she may as well put both feet in and rested it over Oliver's chest. She had touched his chest only in emergency situations and she longed to trace her fingers alone the blemished flesh on his toned chest. His scars didn't bother her, other than obviously upsetting her with images of how he might have got them. They were part of him and she accepted the whole man the way he was.

A few minutes passed before Oliver spoke again. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? It might help."

"Do you speak to anyone about your nightmares? You must have nightmares after what you went through," Felicity spoke quietly in the darkened room.

Oliver hesitated before saying, "No I don't. But maybe I should."

"You know I would never push you to talk about the island if you don't want to but…well I'll always be here if you need to talk. Well maybe not exactly here in your house against your chest…you know what I mean. I can listen if you ever need to talk."

"Thank you Felicity," Oliver said, giving her arm a grateful rub. "So do you want to tell me what the nightmare was about or would you like me to shut up and leave you alone?"

Felicity giggled into his chest. "It's more than one nightmare. For a while it was ending up in prison for the rest of my life for aiding and abetting a vigilante. Then it moved to the exponentially more scary nightmare of being trapped under Verdant the night of the earthquake, the ceiling coming down around my ears. But recently…" Felicity hesitated. She didn't want Oliver to feel even more guilty than he already did about putting her in danger.

"Is it the Count?"

Felicity felt tears come to her eyes again. "I just feel his hands running through my hair and down my neck and arms. I just hear him whispering threats in my ear. I just can't get it out of my head. I know I should just be grateful I'm ok and forget about it but sleeping Felicity doesn't seem to be able to forget."

"I'm sorry Felicity…"

"Don't you dare apologize. You saved me Oliver and that's all that matters." Felicity lifted her head for a moment to look him in the eye. She had to put her head back down to avoid the intense look in his eyes.

"What did he say to you? I mean when you two were alone."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter. Maybe keeping it bottled up is making your nightmares so much more vivid. You were physically fighting off an invisible attacker in your sleep earlier when I came into the room."

Oliver thought he felt a silent tear roll off her cheek onto his chest. "Ok but I'm telling you only because you saved me and I'm ok so please don't think too much about it."

"Ok," Oliver's voice was low and reassuring.

"I know he was just trying to scare me but he said maybe he'd just shoot you somewhere nonfatal to keep you alive long enough so that you could see him…"

"What Felicity?" Oliver didn't want to probe as bile was already rising in his throat but he felt she needed to say it.

"So that you could see him have me right there on the floor of your own office before you died." Felicity didn't need to elaborate any further on the meaning of her words as Oliver's arm tightened around her. His second arm came to envelope her fully and she allowed hot tears to shed freely. A small sob escaped her throat and she felt Oliver's fingers grip into her flesh. Oliver buried his face in her hair and tried to level his breathing.

A furious need to beat something built up inside Oliver. Whether the Count was just trying to scare Felicity or whether he would actually do that to her didn't matter. He was a monster and he couldn't imagine how terrified Felicity must have been.

"Felicity," the word fell from his lips but he didn't really know what to say. "It's a good job he's dead or I'd have to break into Iron Heights and beat him to death with my own hands right now. A arrow to the chest was too good for him."

Felicity wiped away tears from her face and had to admit it did feel good to get this off her chest. "Whenever I fall asleep I just see imagines of him on top of me and I can't block it out."

"I am so sorry Felicity. I promise to not let anyone hurt you again."

"That's a big promise to make and I think it's a little unrealistic to think that something bad won't happen to me again."

"Well I'll just do my best to keep it then."

"Thank you Oliver."

Oliver held Felicity tight against his chest for a long time until he felt all her tears were shed and her breathing was calming. He gently stroked the side of her face, wiping away the last of her tears. Felicity lifted her head to stare at him. Without overthinking it too much, Felicity leant up and placed a kiss to Oliver's cheek. In this light she was slightly off target and it was more the edge of his lip she caught. She stiffened when she realized what she had done and quickly withdrew, nestling her face back in his chest. Oliver continued to stroke her cheek delicately and placed a kiss to the top of her head. After a while her breathing evened out and he realized she was asleep.

As he lay there listening to her even breaths- more restful now that earlier- he thought back over what she had told him. It terrified him to think that she could have been violated by that man but he was so thankful that she was safe with him now. After a long time trying to calm his anger, Oliver too fell asleep.

Diggle arrived at the mansion the next morning to pick up Oliver and Felicity for work. He knocked on Oliver's door and when he got no answer he went back downstairs and found Thea.

"Ms. Queen. Have you seen your brother?"

"Did you check in his room?" Thea said, a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.

"I didn't go in but he wasn't answering."

"That's not like him. He's always up at the dawn. Come on- we'll go wake sleepy head up."

Diggle stood back cautiously as Thea knocked once and then barged into her brother's room. "Don't worry he has a lock if he was doing anything he doesn't want me to see," Thea said back to Diggle. Thea looked around the room and saw the bathroom door open and in the dark. "Hmm. Doesn't look like he's here." A cheeky smile erupted across her face. "But I think I know where to find him."

Diggle followed behind the younger Queen and thought he heard her mutter under her breath something along the lines of 'Friends- my ass!'

Thea knocked on the guest room door next to Oliver, a huge grin on her face. "Your lift for work is here."

Realization dawned on Dig that this must be Felicity's room. 'No. Surely not! I know that they both have huge unresolved feelings for each other but I didn't think they had realized it themselves yet.' He heard murmuring and rummaging in the room before a rather bashful look Oliver (if he could ever be described as such) answered the door, leaning on one crutch.

He looked between the huge grin on his sister's face and the look of shock on Diggle's face. "It's not what it looks like," he stated.

"Sure it isn't bro," Thea said, patting him on the arm and walking away.

When Thea was out of earshot he whispered, "I think we need to have a little talk," before pulling a sheepish (and still shirtless) Oliver away by the elbow towards his own room.

So what do you guys think? Thank you for the continued support.