It was a quiet night in the foundry and Oliver was out searching for the woman who drugged him. The comm had been silent and it worried her but she had to trust that he could take care of himself. To distract herself she ran a sweep on her computer and made a few improvements to her firewall. Her head close to the screen, she was so immersed in the code she was writing she didn't hear him enter and come to stand beside her.

"What are you doing?" She jerked her head away from the screen and jumped so high that she fell from her chair sending it rolling backwards across the room. "Holy-" And as she landed on her butt on the hard floor her legs sticking straight in the air she cursed the romance novels that said the man always caught the woman before she falls. That's absolute crap. Oliver had ninja skills for Google's sake and yet there she was laying on the cold cement floor. She felt kinda disappointed and made a decision to throw out all her Nicholas Sparks novels when she got home.

"Sorry," he said sincerely as he reached a hand out to help her up. She was thankful today was a 'I don't feel like wearing a skirt' day. "I'll try to be louder next time."
He retrieved her chair and rolled it back to her.

"Thanks." She sat down and readjusted her glasses that had slid down her nose. "So how did it go?"

"Heather Monroe was just a fence. Didn't take long to get the the real dealer out of her, a man named Howard Walker."

"What happened?"

"Lets just say his operation is shut down and he'll never drug anyone ever again."

Her eyes widened but she didn't say a word. "I didn't kill him Felicity." He stared straight at her, willing her to believe him. "I just banged him up a bit," he muttered under his breath.

"Never said you did." He made a noise that sounded like 'Mmhmm' and leaves the room presumably to change out of his Arrow suit. She turned back to her computers to finish the updates. The foundry was silent once again. Sometime later Oliver entered again and started sharpening his arrows. Something he does when he's wound up. After awhile even that stops.

"I saw the woman in black again tonight."

"You did," she asked as she turned to look at him. "Where?"

"She was in the glades. Saved a woman from a group of thugs. I only got a glimpse of her before she disappeared again." He leaned against the metal table he had just been sitting at.

"Looks like you've started a movement."

"I don't want to start a movement. I want to find out who she is and stop her."

"Oliver she saved you from Laurels trap and has been taking down criminals, misogynist criminals all over the city. She's doing good for the city, saving people, why not just leave her alone, at least until she gives us a reason not to."

"She wasn't there when it counted."

"What?"

"You were kidnapped. Where was she then?"

"Oliver-"

"No, if she was really helping women of this city then she would've stopped Mathis. We find her, we stop her." He shoved away from the table and stalks out of the room.

The next day the woman in black saved Laurel from being mugged and disappears into the night once again. For some odd reason that only riles Oliver up more.

"There's something up with this woman," said Diggle.

"We've got to find her." Oliver replied angrily. Shouldn't he be happy that whoever she was she had saved Laurel?

"To stop her or send her a 'thank you' note," she asks.

"That depends," said Oliver.

"On what," Diggle asked.

"Which side she's on."

She started to believe that maybe it's his ego. Why should it matter that there's another vigilante in the city? Was it because this was his home turf? She shook her head. Men and their territorial tendency's. She sighed. He's the most stubborn pigheaded man she knows but boy did she love him...wait what?

No, no, no.

Did she say love? She does not love Oliver. She likes him obviously. But she didn't love him.

Did she?

Felicity grumbled as she slipped on her black skits and heels. As if she hadn't had an exciting enough week with copycat hoods running around now she had to play secretary at a benefit meant to attract investors to QC. It was a black tie even but since she was just the help for the evening she wasn't expected to be in formal wear.

Oliver was late as usual and Isabel already made her displeasure with that very clear. "I'm in direct contact with him, I'll see what his ETA is," she rolled her eyes as she turned. She jumped slightly when gunshots echoed through the comms. She could hear Diggle reminding him of his party and soon his voice is ringing through her ear.

"I'm on my way." he sounded muffled, like he was trying to change and had laid his phone down. He was probably changing while Diggle drove. 'Oh please don't let him be a mess,' she mutters. She wasn't sure she had any more excuses for the night. "I'm here."

"Thank God," she answered and moved to meet him at the door. He's conversing with Isabel when she notices it. Blood on the corner of his jaw. There's no way she can tell him without making a scene with Isabel standing so close by. Unfortunately she notices it too. "Is that blood on your face?"

She rushed forward hands extended. "Don't worry, it's not his blood," she said while swiping at the splatter of red. She notices her gaffe and turned quickly "I mean of course it's his blood. Why would he have somebody else's blood on his face?" He started to walk forward and she moved with him, swiping the last remnants of blood from his jaw. "Who taught you how to shave mister." Isabel stared daggers into her back, her face is red as she finishes but she takes a deep breath and follows along playing the dutiful EA. "What kept you? Was it our masked blonde that carries that giant staff to beat the sauce out of attackers?"

"This time it was guns," he replied.

"Guns?"

"We were just talking about guns," Blood interrupted. She smiled at him and Laurel and slipped off. The benefit was going well, she nodded along absently to something someone had said and glanced over at Oliver who was talking to Laurel. An idea hit her and she excused herself from the conversation. The Woman In Black wasn't following Oliver. She was following Laurel.

Sara Lance was alive.

She was the woman with the bo staff, the who had been following Laurel.

Oliver was in shock. Too put it lightly. Tears were visible in his eyes and she knew he was replaying a awful memory over and over in his head. He believed it was all his fault.

"Where has she been all these years Oliver?" asked Diggle.

"I don't know!" He yelled. "Diggle I swear to God. I was sure she was dead."

She wondered how many more secrets he was keeping and how many more would come back from the dead. She couldn't catch her breath and there was tears in her own eyes. How much darkness could a person take until the light was completely snuffed out? How had he survived such pain? It broke her heart to see him like this. "Don't you have any happy stories?" Diggle questioned Oliver further but all she could think about was the broken look in his eyes. "These were five years!" He yelled again. "Five. Years, where nothing good happened."

He deserved a happy story. She thought back to the night they had spent together, where he had smiled and laughed, had been happy. But had he really? Or was it just the effects of the drug. She was so confused. Could Oliver ever really be whole after what had happened to him. Could he ever have a happy story or would it always be tainted with darkness? He swept past her without a glance claiming he had work to do at the office. She knew that wasn't where he was going. Tears spilled down her cheeks.

"You okay?" Diggle asked. She shook her head.

"How did he do it? How did he survive? We don't even know a fraction of what happened on that island. How much more can he take? Before he breaks."

"I don't know Felicity. The only one that can answer that question is him." He stopped for a moment. "Are you really okay? You haven't said much since..." He didn't finish.

"We haven't exactly had a lot of free time. I'm fine." He gave her a disbelieving look.

"What do you want me to say Digg? What do you want me to do? We slept together. That's it! It meant nothing to him because he was drugged! Do you want me to say how much it hurt me that he forgot something that meant so much to me?" She slams her hand against her desk. "Nothing I say...or feel will change what happened. He's got enough on his plate, he doesn't need to deal with this too."

"Felicity he deserves to know. We are the people he trusts the most. We can't afford to keep secrets from each other."

"Sometimes to keep the people you love safe Digg, it requires a few secrets and I'm more than willing to keep this one. I won't let him add me to the already long list of 'People Oliver Queen has done wrong.' He will never know John. It my secret to tell and I only ask that you let me keep it."

"These things have a way of coming out Felicity. At the worst times too."

"This never will. Because it's forgotten. I just want to forget." Tears are falling down her cheeks as she started to leave the room only stopping when he placed his hand on her arm. "I just want to forget John," she whispered. He nodded his head and let her go.

She held it together until she got back home where she collapsed on her bed and cried. Since when had she cried this much? Is this what it felt like to be in love? NO. That word was banned. She would never use it to refer to Oliver Queen. Because she was not in love with him. Because if this is what love felt like she didn't want it because it sucked.

She had held all her emotions in this past week because she knew if she let herself fall apart it would take her twice as long to put herself back together again. She knew the longer you held something in the bigger the explosion would be when it all came undone. She couldn't afford to think that way though. She would get through this. She would get over Oliver Queen. So she eats a pint of mint chip, gets five hours of sleep and finds new determination to go on with her life as normal as possible, do her jobs and help catch the people hurting the city. So that's what she did. They catch "The Mayor" and Starling City is able to take a breath with him and his gang-bangers off the streets.

She focused on her new goal with the same force as she attacked a computer virus.

She would get over him.

But was there really ever getting over Oliver Queen?