A/N: Guys, I'm so sorry. I know I told you I'd post on Friday, but I'm doing it a day earlier. I hope you can forgive me. :) Combination of me having a wedding tomorrow night to go to and being nervous that I wouldn't get to post, and also - I just can't wait for you all to read what's coming. I'm not sure if it sounds braggy when I write this, but I just love the interpretations of these characters I've created. (It sounds kind of obnoxious, I know.) But they are so fun for me to write and their dialogue comes to me so easily and I just - ugh. I have some of my favorite moments coming up, and I want to share them with you. Desperately. Okay, so enjoy this!

Next chapter update will be on For Darker Days, so for all my new readers (can't believe that people are still willing to give this story a chance! thank you!) - don't forget to go check that story out too, where I post Oliver-centric type oneshots that tie in with this. NOW - go read this!

"You ready?"

Oliver had gathered up her overnight bag in one hand and was standing at the foot of her hospital bed as Felicity rummaged through her purse.

"Almost...okay, yes. I need to stop down a few floors though."

"What? What's downstairs?"

"Roy brought me some of my old stuff and I'm gonna go give it to Trey to see if he can work with them." She held up a ziploc bag filled with a variety of old electronics, most of which seemed to be outdated cell phones.

It was three days after she had met Trey (she was supposed to be discharged the day prior but she had been flirting with a fever so they kept her an additional night) but she had gone to see the kid every day. He was a fast learner and he seemed to really enjoy taking things apart and seeing how they ticked. Felicity remembered that stage from when she was younger and it was an awesome time if you had the right tools and support. Besides, going downstairs freed up Oliver for either Arrow-ing or businessman-ing and it gave her some clear headspace, which was a good thing for all parties involved.

"Okay, so we go downstairs, Dig can go get the car and pull it around back-"

"What? No! You are not coming downstairs with me. Either of you. I have worked hard on not mentioning working with Queen Consolidated and if the kids don't recognize you, their parents definitely will and that is a lot of questions that I don't feel like answering today. You and Dig go get the car and I'll meet you at the loading dock."

"Felicity…"

"I'll take Marcus!" She gestured to the silent security guard standing by the door.

"That's Ballard," Oliver told her with a small smile.

"Shit! Sorry," she called over her shoulder. She should've guessed. This guy was as stoic as they came.

"Ten minutes," he ordered. "You get ten minutes or I come in to get you before you get sucked into rebuilding a computer or something."

"Sir, yes, sir."

"Wiseass."

"See what you can do with these." She tossed the bag to Trey in his bed, who was looking a little worse for wear but not too bad. He was undergoing intense chemo right now in order to shrink a tumor that had popped back up in the last few months. Once it was small enough and not a danger to the surrounding organs, he would have surgery to remove it. He was in remarkably good spirits otherwise and despite his completely smooth head, Felicity had a hard time remembering that he was sick at all, with all the life and happiness he exuded.

"You just had these lying around?" His voice was laced with skepticism.

"Yup. And trust me, once you start taking things apart a lot, you're going to have a collection just like this."

"They work?"

She shrugged. "Some do, some don't. That's for you to figure out. You get it working and it's yours."

"So your G-man isn't here to watch me work on these? Not trying to protect any state secrets?"

"Nah, I'm taking him with me. But if you do find any state secrets, you let me know."

"He ever talk?" He nodded to Ballard, standing as still as a statue by the door.

"Yeah, of course he…" She glanced over her shoulder before turning back. "I'm like, 99% sure he can talk."

"Cool. You take him with you and I'll get to work!"

"I'll see you around, Trey. I probably won't be back to stay for another few weeks but I'll drop by if you're here when I come in for outpatient blood draws."

She slipped out of the room with her silent shadow but was happy to see Stephanie sitting in the small waiting room down the hall.

"Hey, Steph," she began as she poked her head in. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you weren't alone."

"No worries - this is Ava, Trey's mom." A beautiful woman with the same shining eyes as Trey extended her hand towards Felicity, who took it eagerly.

"It's so nice to meet you! I'm Felicity. I was just down here dropping off some stuff for Trey."

"So you're Felicity!" Ava beamed at her. "I have to thank you so much for what you've done for Trey. I haven't seen him take an interest in something like this in so long. You're a miracle worker, truly."

She felt herself flush with the words and instantly started to refute them. "I didn't do much of anything - he's so smart and he really has the talent inside of him to go far. The fact that he likes it and is willing to listen to my technobabble is just the icing on the cake."

"Don't sell yourself short. It is incredible that you're taking the time to work with him on things like that. I am still working two jobs right now, but I try to be here as often as I can - it just means a lot. Especially when Stephanie tells me that you're going through the same struggles as Trey."

"Oh, I'm not! I mean, I am, as in yeah, I have cancer, but you know, it's so different and he's so young and down here and I'm so old, well, not old old, I'm just older than him, and I'm also now down here which makes sense because this is the pediatric oncology ward which is for children which I am not, so I just…" She trailed off abruptly at the look on the two women's faces. "I should go, actually. I was discharged this morning, so I'm just gonna take my...muscle man here and...go."

"It was wonderful meeting you, Felicity," Ava called as she quickly backtracked out of the room with Stephanie watching Ballard with watchful eyes.

Felicity elbowed the man at her side as he led her through the halls.

"That would have been a perfectly good time to say something, you know!"

As per usual after being discharged, Felicity had all these grand plans as to what she would do when she got home, only to fall into a deep nap and waste away her first day home. She really needed to stop making plans like that.

She slept through to Monday morning, but woke up feeling more than a little refreshed. She felt oddly energized, which she knew was mostly due to the steroids she was on, but she also knew that she had to capitalize on it. She pulled herself out of bed and stretched her arms over her head and she even ignored the slight pull of the port inside her body (she doubted she would ever get used to that), determined to have a good start to her day.

Her heart sank as she stood up and looked down. Hair. Her hair. Not attached to her head anymore. It looked as though there was just a pile of it on her pillow. She ran to the mirror in the corner of the room, jerking her head around, trying to see the inevitable huge patch of her scalp that had to exist, but she couldn't manage to see it.

But she knew what this meant.

She had been lucky thus far with her hair simply shedding and thinning. Sure, it was annoying and she felt like she left a trail of hair everywhere she went. Trey had laughed and said he wasn't sure how he was going to explain her hair all over his bed to his mom, but that only served to push the fact home: her hair was coming out whether she liked it or not, and it was a pain in the ass. Oliver was constantly picking hairs off of her shoulders - and his, too, given her penchant for resting her head on his shoulder - but she knew it wasn't fair for all of them to just have to sit and watch and wait for this horrible thing to continue to happen. It hurt all of them, having to witness her hair slowly fall out and the emotional toll it took on her.

She was going to have to cut it. Or buzz it. She didn't really know which she would prefer, but she knew she couldn't keep going on like this.

Walking into the living room, she was surprised to see Detective Lance and Oliver watching the news side by side, coffee in hand. Despite her current internal dilemma, she couldn't help the words that came out of her mouth.

"Is this the Twilight Zone?"

Both men turned at that, surprised to see her in the hall. Her socked feet on the wood floors had given her the bonus of sneakiness and she was disappointed in herself for not using it to her advantage.

"Thought I heard you moving around, figured I'd wait until you came out with the Detective," Oliver explained. "I can head out now, though."

Felicity nodded silently, still feeling a bit conflicted about her hair situation.

"Is everything okay?" Oliver stood from the couch and quickly made his way over to her, hands on her shoulders, his typical posture. "What's wrong? Do you feel okay?"

"I think today's the day."

"The day? What day? Which day?" Oliver's eyes were wide, and he turned to the cop on the couch. "Do you know what day it is?"

"Calm down. I just think today's the day that I…" She made a crude gesture and buzzing sound to represent cutting her hair off. "Can't wait to be the one with the shortest hair around here."

"You're cutting it all off?" This seemed to be a pretty drastic turn of events to Oliver, but he didn't want to stop any of her momentum if she was committed.

"Well, no, not all. They say not to shave it all off until it stops growing in, because it'll just be itchy and annoying otherwise. But still. I'm going to have to do something. It was all over my pillow this morning…" She choked back a sob that wanted to get out. She knew that this was something that she had to do, but it didn't make it any easier.

"Hey, shh," he soothed her, leaning down and resting his forehead against her's. "Do you want me to come with you? Do you need my help?"

She shook her head wildly at that. She didn't think she could handle him seeing that happen. She barely thought that she herself could handle seeing that happen.

"How about...how about I call Thea? She can make you guys appointments again and go with you. How does that sound?" He didn't know a thing about what she was going through and he knew even less about females and their connection to their hair, but he knew that this wasn't something she should do all by herself. The look in her eyes told him that much.

She nodded her acquiescence and he quickly stepped into the kitchen to make the call. She wiped her eyes hastily before making eye contact with Lance.

"Sorry," she said self-consciously.

"If I could give you some of this, I would," he gestured to his floppy head of hair.

"I already went through a stage of my life when I had black hair. Not sure if I can go back." She made her way to the couch and sat next to him.

"Black hair, huh? I'm gonna need to see some pictures." She made a small noise of assent. "It's kind of a good thing, right? Means that this chemotherapy stuff is doing its job."

"I guess. I just don't want to...I don't want to look in the mirror and see this bald version of me. Like I'm some sort of cancer victim."

"You're a cancer survivor. Kick this thing's ass and make cancer a victim of you."

He meant it to be an offhand comment, something to take the edge off the entire conversation, but she saw it for so much more. She impulsively leaned over and hugged him tightly. She felt him startle a bit but he slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her to him. They both needed this.

"Thea will be here in about an hour, okay?" Oliver regretfully interrupted. "Your coffee's on the counter. I'll be at QC if you need me."

She mouthed her thanks to him and sat back on the couch, with Lance bringing her coffee to her. Her energized Monday was definitely taking a turn, but she had the best people possible to be with her.

"You ready?"

"No."

"Okay, well that was kind of just routine question. Our appointment is in ten minutes," Thea told her with smile.

"Think it'll look bad?"

It was times like these that Felicity was immeasurably grateful for Thea's presence. She missed Sara a lot and knew that she would have said some cute and witty quip that made her feel better instantly, but Thea's calm, rational attitude towards all of this was also very much appreciated. Not to mention the fact that she was a female, and she had experienced the trials and tribulations of a bad haircut. This was like that, only...more.

"I think it'll be different," Thea decided. "I think it will take some getting used to. But I also think that you have a gorgeous wig for the days where you don't want to get used to it, and I think that you'll love your hair so much more when it grows back in."

"If it grows back in," Felicity muttered darkly, her mind churning with thoughts of never escaping chemotherapies and radiation treatment, of her living a life without the word 'remission.'

"Whoa, what? There's a chance it won't come back after everything?"

"No, no, I'm sorry," she sighed. "I'm just not really 'glass half full' today I guess."

"Well, the salon is the place to go then. We'll get this done real quick, then it'll be over. No need to worry."

And just like that, Felicity felt the dull ache of acceptance blossom in her chest. There was nothing she could do to change this, nothing she could even attempt that would make the reality of this less harsh. It was a fact of life that she had to accept. And once she did, she could move on and keep going with her life. With this fight.

"I won't take it all off," Tyrone told her softly, patiently, as she sat in his chair, tears streaming down her face. She didn't have to look in the mirror to know that Thea was crying as well. Even Tyrone looked like he was close to tears.

She nodded jerkily, flinching when she heard the buzz of an electric razor, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. He talked to her the entire time, spoke to her about the gradations of the razors and which one he was using in case she needed to trim it herself at home, told her that she was doing well, that it was almost over. Any other time and she might resent the fact that she was being spoken to like a small child receiving a vaccination, but not then. She needed something to focus on other than the vibrations coursing across her scalp and the sensation of hairs floating down past her ears, tickling her face.

She let out a loud breath when she heard the razor go off but still refused to open her eyes. Tyrone's soft, smooth hand coasted over her head, brushing away any stray hairs. It felt funny to her and she laughed aloud at the thought of Roy asking to feel her head. It just seemed like something he would do, when everyone else would be too nervous to even mention it.

"Doesn't look half bad," Thea said with a watery laugh.

"She looks beautiful," Tyrone agreed, whisking away the cape he had put on her.

She slowly cracked her eyes open, blinking tears out of the way until her reflection came into focus.

Wow.

She hadn't had hair remotely this short since she was a baby. It was...she didn't have words for it. She looked the same but still so different. Her cheekbones were more pronounced, somehow, and with her glasses on, she felt like she looked so young. It was only about half an inch long all over, and the thinning was barely noticeable, which she was grateful for. Her long blonde hair was a thing of the past, replaced by short dirty blonde stubble.

She barely recognized herself.

"Can I…?" Thea reached out a hesitant hand. At Felicity's nod, she gently lowered it, rubbing the hair back and forth on the crown of her head. "Whoa."

Felicity reached her own hand up, feeling the opposite side. "Whoa is right," she breathed. She was witnessing her own reflection and she saw that she was touching her own head, but there was still this sort of disconnect. None of this felt real.

"Your head definitely is way too small to rock this, Thea."

She didn't know where the thought came from or why it had come out of her mouth, but as soon as the words left, she started laughing. Tyrone turned to Thea, nodding.

"You, my dear, have what we in the business refer to as a 'pea head.'"

Mock outrage floated over Thea's face. "What do you mean? This head is perfect, I'll have you know. And if she wasn't so opposed to it, I would shave this right here and now and prove to you how I can rock every look."

"Don't you dare," Felicity warned with a smile. She had no doubt Thea would do it, too, but after the gossip blogs had picked up and ran with her last haircut, she knew that there would be even more suspicion on her if she were to shave her entire head. Since they were trying to keep this all under wraps for both her and Oliver's sake, she didn't think it was crucial to have Thea's hair be a victim too. She did appreciate the sentiment though.

"As much fun as this is… do you think we could put on my wig now?"

She was surprised at how little she hated the hairstyle, but she was still eager to see her blonde hair back and floating down her back. She was hoping that there were no more photographers waiting to capture her and Thea's exploits, lest her sudden hair growth be public speculation, but she'd rather have that than be seen with a buzzcut.

"You're going to want to keep this on when you're wearing the wig," Tyrone advised as he slipped the wig cap over her head easily. "Without it, the wig will probably be scratchy and hot. This helps ventilation and ensures that it stays put. Use these clips if you need to."

"Oh, I've missed you," she told her fake locks tearily, holding big handfuls up to her face.

"Now you can style it just like you would your own hair, just keep the heat down to around 350 degrees on straighteners or curling irons. This is high quality hair right here, so if anything happens to it, you just bring it straight back here and we'll take care of it for you."

Tyrone fussed for a few minutes, positioning it just right around her face and guaranteeing the most natural curl. "Voila!"

"What do you think?" She spun towards Thea.

"I think that Happy Felicity is the most beautiful Felicity."

"You and your brother must have taken a course in 'Right Things To Say 101' or something," she grumbled good-naturedly.

"Speaking of my brother...you and I are going to get lunch and I'm going to ask you a lot of inappropriate questions about your relationship. How's that sound?"

"Sounds absolutely miserable but I am hungry, so…"

"Perfect!"

The younger queen led her out of the salon and they made their way to the same restaurant they had been to a few weeks prior, Sur la Sandwich. They were seated quickly, a perk to being with someone who carried the last name Queen, and she wasted no time diving into the hard questions.

"So are you two like, dating now?"

"Dating?" Felicity spluttered into her water. "No, Thea, we are not dating."

"He lives at your place!"

"Well, for now. We haven't really talked about it long term," she remembered her conversation with Roy. "Besides, have you seen this?" She gestured to her body. "Not exactly dateable material."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that until I...until this...until everything is back to normal, I don't really see dating in my future. To anyone."

"Why not?"

"Well, for starters, I no longer have any hair."

"No one would be able to tell that looking at you right now," Thea pointed out. "Besides, there's no way Ollie would care about that. Don't be stupid."

She wanted to be a little put out at the stupid comment but the idea of Oliver actually holding her lack of hair against her was a bit stupid. She didn't know how to explain her complicated relationship with Oliver to Thea though, so she settled on recounting the list that she kept in her own head and went over every single night.

"I get tired. Wouldn't be much fun to date me."

"We're out right now."

"I throw up all the time. I even got a mouth sore this last time with the chemo. I wouldn't be able to kiss anyone without them throwing up."

"You're not throwing up now. And your sore went away, right?" At Felicity's nod, she continued. "Doesn't seem to be that big of a deal then."

"I don't have a job."

"You're on leave from your job."

She grit her teeth. Thea looked to be enjoying herself with all of her countering points, but Felicity just couldn't make her see. See that it was just absolutely impossible for anyone to be with her at that time. It wouldn't be fair to someone! "I'm hospital-bound one week out of the month for the foreseeable future."

"Yeah, but from what I hear, you have a pretty kickass room."

"I have a very male roommate and bodyguard everywhere I go."

"Problem solved if you were to just date my brother," she waved a fry in the air. "Try again."

"I could die, Thea!"

Thea slowly lowered the fry to her plate, taking her time to study Felicity.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"You guess so?" She was trying to keep her voice down to avoid attracting attention but she wasn't doing a very good job of it. "I've only done two out of eight…" She lowered her voice to a whisper, "chemotherapies so far, and it is already taken a huge chunk of my life away. How am I going to be when it is six out of eight, or seven? I'm going to be this...half person! Not to mention that there's a good chance that this treatment that is supposed to save me will kill me. Add into that the fact that I might not even go into remission after this. This treatment could not work, and then where will I be? Where would the person I chose to let into my life be? It's not fair to someone else, Thea."

"Okay, I see where you're coming from."

"Thank you."

"But I don't agree with it at all."

"What?" This wasn't up for debate in Felicity's mind. She had just laid out her very rational, very well-thought out reasoning as to why she couldn't be with someone right then and Thea just needed to accept it.

"Doesn't this stuff like...isn't there a chance it could always come back? Are you going to live your life in fear forever and never be with someone? Not to mention that sometimes you don't just get to choose who cares about you, you know. And I'm not saying that men are going to be lining up around the block to date you because this is some scary shit, but if someone wants to care about you, there's not a whole lot that you can do about that. And have you just forgotten about Ollie in all of this?"

"What are you talking about? Of course not!"

"Well if you think that your reasons for not being involved with him will keep him from getting hurt then it seems like you forgot who Ollie is. He lives with you, Felicity. He took a sabbatical from his job for you! He dropped everything in order to take care of you. If you're worried about hurting people around you if something happens to you then you should've really thought about that before you let him move in. If something happens then he is going to be devastated. It doesn't matter if you're together or not. Way I see it is that you might as well have some fun and sleep together before any of that stuff might happen," she said with a shrug, resuming eating her fries.

Felicity slumped back in her chair, staring at Thea.

"It isn't that easy…"

"Trust me, with guys, sleeping together is always that easy."

A/N2: See, not much Oliver in this one, so keep an eye out for all the Oliver you could ever want (impossible, I know) in a new chapter of For Darker Days - probably Sunday!