A/N: I don't own Arrow or its characters. Please remember to leave a review ;)

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True to form, Thea drags Felicity and Oliver around Nieman Marcus chatting happily, oblivious to the fact the Oliver is bored as shit and Felicity looks like she might just collapse under the weight of the clothes Thea keeps handing her.

"I don't normally wear stuff like this," Felicity mumbles, accepting what looks to Oliver like a cape.

Thea cocks her hips and looks Felicity up and down, taking in her jeans and plain white tank top.

"Well what do you usually wear?" Thea inquires seriously. "Not this, right?"

"I packed in a hurry," Felicity murmurs.

Oliver frowns. He thinks Felicity looks nice. She's not the kind of girl that needs extra stuff to look pretty.

"Leave her alone, Thea," Oliver says, as Felicity wilts under his sister's scrutiny. "There's nothing wrong with her clothes."

"Of course not," Thea says hastily. "I'm sorry, Felicity, I didn't mean it like that. I just want to amp you up a little. Make you pop."

She flashes Felicity a killer smile, the kind Thea uses to wrap people around her finger.

"It's okay," Felicity says. "I'm just used to college, you know, sweatpants to class and everything."

Thea shudders. "Please stop talking. Here, go try these on."

Thea ushers Felicity into a fitting room and Oliver plops down in one of the plush chairs outside the door.

"Really, Speedy?" Oliver says to Thea, who's hovering outside the fitting room door. "What's wrong with you?"

"What? What did I do?" Thea says defensively.

"Did you have to give her such a hard time? Its just clothes."

"Felicity's fine, relax." Thea brushes him off. "Why are you so grumpy? Oh right, its Monday."

"Shut up," he mumbles.

"Seriously Ollie, what's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You have a serious hottie staying with you indefinitely and you barely talk to her."

"It's the other way around, actually."

"Well I can't blame her for that." Thea perches on the edge of his armchair. "I'm just worried about you. You have like, no friends. You need to socialize more."

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Dragging me down with your attitude."

"Back off, Thea."

"You can't punish yourself forever, Ollie."

"I mean it. I'm not in the mood for a lecture."

Thea frowns. "Tommy wouldn't want you-"

"Don't go there, Thea," he snaps.

His sister flinches and gets down from the chair, wrapping her arms around her waist. Shit.

"Thea-"

"It's fine, Ollie. I get it." She knocks on Felicity's fitting room door. "How's it going in there?"

"Okay." Felicity's voice floats out.

"What're you trying on?"

"The blue one."

"Come out and show me!" Thea demands.

The door opens and Felicity steps out timidly. She's wearing a sleeveless royal blue dress that makes her blue eyes pop. The dress is tight to her waist and the skirt flares out around her thighs.

Thea squeals, clapping her hands together. "You look amazing!"

Felicity glances hesitantly at Oliver. "What do you think?"

He gives her a reassuring smile. "You look beautiful. It's a nice color on you."

Thea beams at them. "Spin for mama," she encourages Felicity, who does a little turn, the skirt of the dress flaring out as she twirls.

Thea puts a hand on her hip and gives Oliver a self-satisfied smile. "Do I do nice work or what?"

xxx

When they get back to the penthouse Felicity goes straight to the guest room and shuts the door.

Oliver sighs, wandering into the living room. Thea's words roll around in his head and he reaches for the whiskey bottle with a shaking hand. He pours a generous glass and takes it to the couch, sinking into the leather. He tosses back the liquor and shuts his eyes, trying to clear his head.

After a while Oliver's stomach grumbles and when he checks the time he's surprised to see that it's almost two in the afternoon. Definitely lunchtime.

He contemplates fixing himself a sandwich and letting Felicity fend for herself, but then he thinks about this morning and how he practically had to force feed her that banana.

"Felicity?" He knocks on her door but she doesn't respond. "Felicity it's lunchtime, what do you want to eat?"

Nothing. Zombie Felicity must be back. He pushes lightly on the door and it opens to his touch.

"Felicity I'm coming in, okay?"

When Oliver pushes the door open all the way he sees her on the bed, knees pulled tightly to her chest. Felicity's staring blankly at the wall and she's rocking slightly, her arms tightly wound around her knees.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He climbs on the bed to sit next to her. "Felicity?"

She lets out a shuddering sigh. "I want my mom," she says in a tiny voice.

Okay, so she's homesick. No big deal. He can handle this.

"Do you want to call her?" he suggests.

Felicity shuts her eyes and tears stream down her cheeks. "I can't," she whimpers.

"Why not?"

"I just can't." Felicity lays her cheek on her knees and starts to cry in earnest.

"Hey, don't do that." Oliver places a tentative hand on her back and when she doesn't pull away he scoots a little closer so she's up against his side.

"Maybe I should call Sara," Oliver suggests. "You want to talk to Sara?"

"Okay," Felicity sniffs, taking off her glasses to rub her eyes.

He pulls out his phone with his free hand, rubbing circles on her back with the other like he used to do with Thea when she was little. He dials Sara and to his relief she picks up on the second ring.

"Everything okay, Ollie?"

"I have someone here who wants to talk to you."

"Okay, put her on."

Oliver hands the phone to Felicity, who lifts her head to put the phone to her ear.

"Hi," Felicity says, and starts to sob, her head falling back on her knees. "No, no, I'm okay...yeah...it's just hard...I know...are you sure? I don't know...Sara, I'm really scared..."

Something inside Oliver clenches at her words. Has she been holding all this in since she got here?

"Okay," Felicity cries softly. "Yeah, I will...please be careful...I know...I love you, too...okay, one second."

Felicity looks up at Oliver with bloodshot eyes and hands him the phone. "She wants to talk to you."

Oliver takes the phone from her and Felicity slides off the bed and runs into the guest bathroom. He winces when the door slams shut.

"Hey Sara."

"She doesn't sound good," Sara says in a thick voice.

"No," Oliver agrees. "She doesn't."

"How is she doing?" Sara asks. "Besides the crying."

"About the same. She's talking more but she's not eating much."

"Think she's sleeping?"

"Honestly Sara, your guess is as good as mine."

"Well, I guess that's to be expected, considering."

"Considering what, exactly? I'm doing my best here but you and Felicity aren't making it easy for me."

"What has she told you?"

"Just that she's in trouble. That you think someone is after her."

"Someone is," Sara says darkly. "That's why I got her out of Vegas."

"I'm assuming that's what you and Nyssa are doing? Looking for him before he finds her?"

"Yeah, I need to talk to you about that."

"Okay."

Sara sighs heavily into the phone. "Things are...progressing slower than I would like. Felicity might need to stay with you longer than I anticipated."

"How much longer?"

"I don't know, a week, maybe two."

"Christ, Sara."

"Oh I'm so sorry, Ollie, is that going to interfere with your busy schedule of drinking until you pass out every night?" Sara snipes.

"You don't have to be mean about it," he grumbles.

"I'm not being mean, I'm being serious. Maybe taking care of someone else for a change will snap you out of your funk."

"I don't mind taking care of Felicity but she's barely functioning right now. She can stay with me as long as she needs to but don't you think she should be around someone who's more-"

"Emotionally intelligent?" Sara snorts. "She's fine with you Ollie, don't worry about it. If she didn't feel safe with you she'd tell me."

"Look, I don't know what happened but it would be really helpful if you could tell me what the fuck is going on. I'm walking on eggshells around this girl."

"She'll tell you when she's ready," Sara says softly. "That's partly why I left her with you. You've both lost people. You've both seen things...terrible things..." Sara trails off. It sounds like she's crying. "I thought she would feel more comfortable around someone who would understand what she's going through."

"I don't know what she's going through, because neither of you will tell me!" Oliver says in frustration. "Seriously, you need to cool it with the riddles."

"Look, she's not like us Ollie, okay?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Some people aren't cut out for violence," Sara says cryptically. "It-changes them. Makes them different. Breaks them down."

"You're talking about me."

"No, I'm just trying to explain what the stakes are, for her. Felicity's good, and kind, and I'm afraid that when this all over-"

"It'll break her."

"Yeah," Sara sniffs. "I'm sorry Ollie, really, but she doesn't want me to tell you what happened. She's a private person. I'm sure she'll tell you when she's ready."

"I wouldn't bet on that."

"Give her a chance, please. She's my friend, and she needs us. When you came home you had your mom, and Thea, and Laurel, and..."

"Tommy."

"Yeah. Felicity doesn't have any of that, Ollie."

"She has me," Oliver assures Sara. "I promise. I won't let her break."

"Thank you Ollie," Sara breathes. "Really, you have no idea, knowing that she's safe with you."

"I'll take care of her, you don't have to worry."

"Okay. I should go, I've got to meet up with a guy."

"Okay, be safe."

"You know it. Call me if you need to."

"I will."

Sara hangs up and Oliver sits on the bed, staring at the bathroom, wondering at the girl on the other side of the door.

Who the hell is Felicity Smoak?

xxx