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

Oliver wakes up to screaming. For a second he thinks it's in his head, that's it's another nightmare. And then he remembers Felicity sleeping in the guest room, Felicity crying on the phone. Sara, I'm really scared.

Oliver vaults out of his bed in only his boxer briefs and runs down the hallway. When he throws the door open to Felicity's room she's in bed, alone, safe, and his whole body sags in relief.

Felicity screams again.

A nightmare. She's having a nightmare.

Sara's words from yesterday run through his head. You've both seen terrible things.

"Felicity," he says loudly, approaching the bed.

She whimpers, her head rolling back and forth on the pillow.

"Felicity," he says again, and touches her shoulder. "Wake up, you're having a nightmare."

"No," she cries, her eyes shut tight. Up close Oliver can see tear tracks on her face. She's flushed, her hair sticking to her damp cheeks.

He grasps her lightly by the shoulders. "Come on, sweetheart, wake up."

Felicity screams again, and this time her eyes fly open. She sits up in bed and Oliver reaches for her, but Felicity pushes him away and falls right off the bed.

"Shit," Oliver mutters and tried to help her up but she scrambles back away from him, standing in the center of the room.

"Get away!" she cries out, holding her arms in front of her face. "Get away from me!"

"Easy," Oliver says calmly, walking slowly towards her with his hands held up. "It's me, it's Oliver. It's okay, Felicity."

Felicity backs up until she hits the wall and sinks to her knees, screaming into her hands. He crouches in front of her, watching her fall apart on the floor.

Maybe Sara did know what she was doing leaving Felicity with him. If there's anything Oliver understands intimately, it's being terrorized by nightmares.

He reaches for her and Felicity shrieks, kicking out with one foot. Oliver uses her momentum against her, catching her by the ankle and pulling her into his arms.

"No!" Felicity screams, her arms flailing.

Oliver tightens his arms around her, holding Felicity snugly against his chest. She struggles against him, pummeling him with tiny fists.

"Stop, Felicity, stop, it's okay," Oliver says.

She wriggles frantically in his arms, inadvertently grinding down on his cock and he grits his teeth.

"Felicity, listen to me. You're safe. It's not real, okay? Whatever you saw, it's not real."

Felicity suddenly goes limp, like a marionette who's strings have been cut.

"Felicity?" Oliver cups the back of her head and lifts her back up.

"O-Oliver?" Felicity whispers, reaching out and clutching his waist.

"Hey," he says softly. "It's okay, I'm here."

Felicity's mouth falls open and there is a horrible moment of absolute silence, and then her face contorts in pain and she lets out a gut wrenching sob.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Oliver murmurs.

Felicity's head falls on his chest and he runs his fingers through her hair.

"Shh," he murmurs. "It's okay."

Felicity sobs into his chest, like a little kid, with total abandon, and it breaks his heart, to see this sweet girl be torn apart like this.

"You're okay," he reassures her softy. "I've got you. Just let it out."

Felicity shakes her head frantically. "No," she sobs. "I can't."

"Felicity, listen to me," Oliver says quietly, rocking her gently in his arms, likes she's a baby. "I know it hurts. You just have to feel it, okay?"

Felicity keens and her fingernails dig into his skin. "Knock me out," she begs. "I can't do this, knock me out."

"What? No." Oliver swallows back a wave of nausea at her words, trying to imagine what she's been through that's so painful she won't let herself feel it.

"Help me," she sobs. "Make it stop, please make it stop."

Oliver takes a deep breath, trying to work past the absolute rage he feel at whoever has done this to her. He promised Sara he wouldn't let Felicity break.

He can't let her break.

"You're okay," he says firmly. "It's going to be okay."

He pulls himself up and picks Felicity up bridal-style. She wraps her arms tightly around his neck and cries into his shoulder, her tears scorching his skin.

He carries her down the hall and into his bedroom. Oliver tries to put Felicity on his bed but she clings to him, and he has to sit down with her on his lap to detach her arms from his neck.

"It's okay, I'm going to get something for you in the bathroom," he tells her. "Just hang on a second."

In his bathroom, in the glass cabinet above the sink, are bottles of pills.

Anti-depressants from when he first got back from the island, prescribed and untouched.

Prescription opiates from after the accident with Tommy. Not so untouched.

He finds what he's looking for, a bottle of tranquilizers. Oliver shakes a pill into his hand and then, considering the dosage and Felicity's size, bites the pill in half before returning to the bedroom with it and a glass of water.

Felicity is curled up in the fetal position with her hands over her face, making little shuddering noises, like she's trying to swallow back all her tears.

"Here," he says, sitting down on the bed. "Take this."

"What is it?" she asks, sitting up tiredly and rubbing her eyes.

"Ativan. It'll help you calm down."

"Okay." Felicity tosses back the pill, and hands him back the glass. Oliver sets it down on the nightstand and leans back against the pillows, watching her.

Felicity huddles in the middle of the bed, tear stained and crumpled. He feels the strongest pull to hold her, to give her what he knows she needs.

Comfort. Warmth. Safety.

"Felicity," he says softly.

She turns to look at him, self-consciously wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"I'm so embarrassed," she whispers. "I don't...I don't know what happened."

"It's okay. You should have seen me when I came back from the island. Trust me, this is nothing."

"You mean you didn't cry like a baby in front of a hot guy you barely knew like a crazy person?"

Felicity blushes when she realizes she just called him hot. "Can you please forget I just said that?"

"Yeah," he grins. "I'll give you a free pass for tonight."

"Thanks." To his surprise Felicity scoots back toward him, and when he lifts his arm she fits easily under it, snuggling against his chest.

"Is this okay?" she murmurs.

She's soft and warm, her nipples pushing against his chest through the soft cotton of her tank top, and sweet Jesus, she's not wearing a bra.

"Yeah," he says. "Yeah, this is okay."

"Can I stay in here tonight?" she asks quietly. "I don't want to be alone."

"Yeah," he says, running his thumb along her shoulder. "Absolutely."

He finds his remote for the tv and turns it to the first movie he finds. Felicity yawns, stretching one of her arms across his stomach and laying her cheek on his chest.

"Feel better?"

She nods, tickling him with her hair. "I think the pill's kicking in. I feel...it's not so hard to breathe anymore."

"I'm glad."

"Oliver?" She looks up at him with glistening blue eyes and he has the strangest sensation, like he's falling, and he likes it.

"Yeah?"

She brushes her cheek over his Bratva tattoo. "I don't know what I would do without you," she says, with wide eyed sincerity.

"You'd be okay."

"No," she shakes her head. "Without you...I'd be totally lost."

Oliver squeezes her shoulder. "I won't let you get lost."

Felicity blinks heavily and yawns again. "I know. Sara promised I'd be safe here."

"Sara really cares about you."

"Yeah," Felicity murmurs. "She's the best."

"You tired?"

"Mm."

"Close your eyes."

"I'm not going to sleep, I'm just going to rest them, okay?"

Oliver chuckles. "Okay, Felicity."

She snuggles into him and lets her eyes drift shut, her fingers curling around his waist. She looks wrung out but now peaceful, the tension in her body draining as she relaxes into him, and his hand shifts to her shoulder blade.

He can see why Sara is so enthralled. Felicity is kind of fascinating, really, managing to come off as both preciously innocent and deeply wise. It's a startling combination.

She's beautiful too, but a kind of beauty you can't manufacture-her bright eyes, her sharp mind, this unexplainable glow that shines through even when she's crying.

"Sara wants to sleep with me," Felicity whispers.

His hand stills on her back. "Really?"

"Mm-hmm. But I keeps turning her down."

"Why's that?" he whispers back.

"Don't swing that way," she murmurs. "I like boys."

"Too bad for Sara."

"She warned me about you, you know."

"What'd she say?"

"That you were a perv."

Oliver snorts. "Of course she did."

"No, no. Just to be, you know, careful."

Oliver frowns. "Careful?"

"You have a reputation as a heartbreaker."

"Oh," he says kind of stupidly.

"Don't worry, Oliver Queen. I won't fall in love with you and ruin your life."

"You could never ruin anyone's life."

"Thank you," Felicity sighs.

Oliver runs his fingers through her hair. It's as soft as it looks. "For what?"

"No one's ever taken care of me before," she confesses quietly, her words a little slurred.

"Good thing you've got me then," he says lightly, trying not to think of the implications of that statement.

"My hero," she murmurs. "Night Oliver."

His arms tighten around her, feeling something well up in his chest, something strong and insistent.

He looks down at Felicity in his arms and for once when he falls asleep he's not lost in a drunk stupor, not wishing for a slow easy death to put him out of his misery.

For the first time since before the island he goes to sleep with purpose, knowing that he has to be okay, be okay for her.

Knowing that he has something bigger to do than simply survive.

He's going to save Felicity Smoak.