Thank you so much for following and reviewing this story! I know you all love caring and attentive Oliver like I do :). I will warn you though, I will probably ratchet up the angst in later chapters, maybe create a bit of extra conflict. :) But for now, here's a short chapter to celebrate the New Year. More to come this week!
-bethygrace
Oliver scrubbed a rough hand over his face, sitting back on Felicity's couch with a sigh. Their bags were packed and waiting in the trunk of the car. Diggle had suggested they let Felicity wake up on her own, knowing she would need the rest over the next few days. His partner stood in the kitchen, sipping on his coffee pensively. He had wordlessly informed Oliver that he would be coming along as well when Oliver had requested that he pick up some clothes for him at the mansion.
He knew the bond between his IT girl and his bodyguard-turned-friend was deep, and had appeared to strengthen considerably during his absence after the Undertaking. He had been tempted more than once to ask about the time he was gone, but something halted his words before they ever left his mouth. Something told him a lot had happened and he selfishly realized he couldn't handle facing any additional pain his absence had inflicted on his two closest friends.
They had gotten to know each other better while he was gone, that much he could tell. Dig hadn't seemed surprised as Oliver was when he informed his partner she didn't have anyone else to help her make arrangements for her grandmother's funeral. He had just nodded shortly and stood guard near Felicity's bedroom door.
Curiosity got the best of him then. "You knew she didn't have anyone else didn't you?" It wasn't an accusation, but more of a plea, though Oliver wasn't sure why.
Diggle didn't look up from his coffee as he nodded, eyes straying to her bedroom door. "Yeah, I knew."
Oliver waited expectantly for more information, suddenly feeling out of the loop. When he realized Dig wasn't volunteering anything further, he continued his line of questioning. "Do you know anything else about her family?"
Diggle caught his eye then, pinning him with a surprisingly sharp look. "That's for Felicity to tell you, Oliver. Not me."
His brows furrowed of their own volition and he stood, crossing to stand closer to his partner. His eyes fell on her door again, and silently was grateful she was still resting. "I hadn't realized how little I really knew about her until tonight." The thought made his heart ache a bit and the guilt washed over him.
Dig cleared his throat then, setting the coffee on the counter and leaning across the island to fix him with an honest look, "I had to learn more about her when you left. Someone had to look after her. I had Carly checking on me, and I somehow assumed that someone was checking on her. Until I found her hanging out in the Glades."
Oliver's grip hardened on the counter and an angry haze fell over his eyes, "The Glades? Why on earth would she be there? What happened, Dig?" The tone of his voice did nothing to hide the bit of fear taking root in his mind. He had heard the Glades were their worst in the weeks after the Undertaking. The crime rate had skyrocketed and no one was safe.
The 'what-if's?' had begun in his mind when Dig spoke, "She was volunteering. With Queen Consolidated out of sorts, she wasn't needed right away in the IT department. So she worked in the Glades. Filtering through rubble. Searching for survivors."
The words jumbled in Oliver's mind and he was struck yet again by how amazing she truly was. He had heard the fear in her voice that day, stuck below Verdant as the earthquake hit. Yet she had kept her cool and helped them do what they needed to do. He realized with a pang of regret that he hadn't checked on her that night, or even the next day. He didn't even know how she had gotten out of Verdant. If she had been hurt.
Unaware of the guilt clogging Oliver's brain, Diggle continued with his story, "I had been trying to get a hold of her for days once I was out of the hospital. I hadn't heard from her and was starting to get concerned. The GPS tracker we put on her phone was working again so I tracked her down to the Glades, to CNRI."
Oliver's gaze hardened and he could hear his blood pumping furiously. "CNRI?"
Dig nodded stiffly, looking down at his hands, "She was part of the clean-up crew, trying to salvage what she could. When I came in, she had paused to take a break and was staring at the blood on the floor, where – " he trailed off, knowing the rest of that thought was already in Oliver's mind. "She said she wanted to be useful. That she had to help in some way. The people of the Glades had suffered enough."
Feeling exhausted all of a sudden, Oliver sat heavily into the bar stool at the counter, rubbing his eyes with a frustrated fist. He considered what Dig had told him for a moment, a thought coming unbidden to his mind.
"She blames herself doesn't she, for not knowing about the second device? For not stopping it."
Dig didn't have to respond. Oliver already knew the answer.
"That's why she was working in the Glades, at CNRI. And then why she was so determined to renovate the lair. So that it was ready for you to come back and save the city."
Oliver's eyes slid shut, as the weight of the news sunk deep into his mind. She truly was remarkable. While he had run away with his guilt, she had channeled hers into action, facing the very tragedy she thought she could have prevented. They needed to talk about that, about her misplaced sense of guilt. He well understood the feeling, but he couldn't bear for her to carry that burden. It was his and his alone.
"Did her grandmother look after her?" A part of him wanted to know the details about what had occurred in his absence, but suddenly, knowing that Felicity had been taken care of was more important than anything else.
Dig nodded, "She couldn't drive herself there. Broken arm. So I offered to take her to her family. She didn't open up about anything until we headed back here. She knew I was curious."
A heavy hand fell on Oliver's shoulder, causing the younger man to look up at Dig questioningly. "Just be there for her, she will open up when she needs to." Oliver gave him a grateful nod, just as they heard a soft creak to the left.
Framed in her bedroom door stood the center of Oliver's attention, eyes soft and bloodshot, but still warm towards them both. A soft, relieved smile spread across her lips seeing Dig there and Oliver couldn't help the slight pang of disappointment he felt not being on the receiving end of that look. Dig took a step towards her and wrapped both arms around her in a hug, which she happily returned, disappearing from Oliver's sight behind his partner's large frame. He heard Dig murmur something to her and the hug lasted a moment longer before she withdrew, stretching onto her tiptoes to kiss his cheek before turning to Oliver.
"Thank you." Her tone was warm and he knew that she was thanking him for the entire evening, as she had before she drifted off. He nodded warmly, not trusting himself to speak at the moment. He couldn't help but look at her with new eyes after what Dig had told him. It was as if his awareness of her deepened in that moment and the strength he had seen at different points in her multiplied before his eyes.
Dig must have noticed Oliver's inability to fill the silence and reached out to put a supportive hand on her shoulder. "All the bags are in the car, so we are ready to go when you are." She turned an inquisitive look to him before turning to Oliver and biting her lip.
"About that. I know that you offered to come with me and I appreciate that more than I can say, but I know that the City needs you and I can't with good conscience be the one to pull you away from something that important and –"
Oliver stood then, moving to stand right in front of her, knowing that his words needed to penetrate before she lost herself to nerves like she had earlier. "Felicity, there is nothing more important right now that this. I want to help you. We both do. We're coming with you."
Her eyes shot to Dig with a hopeful and touched expression that Oliver could see affected his partner greatly. He offered her a warm smile, "We're a team, girl. We got your back."
A grateful smile appeared on her face then, and she turned watery eyes back to Oliver before reaching out to squeeze his hand. With a nod, she turned towards her bedroom, "Let me take a quick shower and we can head that way." At the doorframe, she paused and turned back to look at them both. Oliver could hear the quiver in her voice, showing the depth of her gratitude in her simple "thank you" before closing the door behind her.