The wait for ARGUS felt like an eternity.

But they came.

Lyla had sent the closest of her people to rescue them. They had been taken back to the closest ARGUS facility, but that's where people separated from them. Slade and Nyssa had left immediately upon landing. Oliver hadn't expected them to stay around, especially not when he'd been the one to have Slade locked up in that ARGUS prison on Lian Yu in the first place. But there were others that were ordered away, orders that came directly from Lyla...that came quickly...and without advanced warning.

He, Felicity, Diggle, and Curtis were all to stay at the ARGUS facility until Felicity could be moved. Everyone else, though, was on an ARGUS plane back to Star City.

"No! I have to stay!" Thea shouted as she was forced towards the plane.

Oliver knew what would come next, Thea . could fight and she would. He moved towards his sister, grabbing her arm and pulling her to him. Thea felt responsible. Not only that, his sister loved Felicity. "I need you to go home with them," Oliver told her as he spun her around until he was facing her, hands on her shoulders. "I need to know that they're all taken care of. I need you to be there to make sure that they're safe. William's your nephew, Thea."

He could tell that he was getting through to her even though she was clearly displeased with his words. "I'm going to keep you updated," Oliver told her as he watched as Diggle escorted the others onto the plane. Curtis was with Felicity, working with ARGUS medical in order to remove the implant in her spine for the time being. "Please, Thea, I need you to do this for me. I know that you stepped down from the team and that-"

"Okay," Thea said finally. She looked exhausted and just done fighting, probably because she knew better. "But you better keep me updated."

Pulling Thea tighter to him, Oliver pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "I love you."

"I love you."

Walking Thea into the plane, he moved to talk to Samantha and William. It was harder still to let them go, to know that they'd be going somewhere and he wouldn't be there to protect them or help them. He knew though that Thea would do what she could in his absence. "I'm not sure exactly what's the right thing to say," Oliver told them honestly. "I shouldn't be here for long and Thea's going to watch out for both of you."

"Oliver, is it safe for us?" Samantha questioned frankly. "Can we go home to Central City?"

"There will always be a danger out there that might come for you and William and I wish I could take that away, but Chase has proven that you can never go too far underground without being found," Oliver said. "I don't know if you'd feel comfortable staying in Star City with Thea until I get back? We can always figure out something else."

"I'm not sure," Samantha said.

Oliver just shook his head, feeling like her response was fair. "I understand. I-"

Samantha put her hand on his arm. "You kept your promise, Oliver. You brought back William, you kept him safe...right now, be with Felicity. We'll go back with your sister."

Crouching down, he hugged William. "I'm sorry for everything."

"I hope Felicity's okay," William said as he hugged Oliver back.

"Thanks."

He straightened up and turned to the others. Diggle had been talking to them and he knew that he didn't really need to formally say goodbye to any of them, they'd all see each other soon enough. Lance stepped forward though and hugged him, which surprised him and caught him off guard.

"You take care of our girl, okay?" Quentin said.

"I will."

"We'll see you soon. We have a city to run."

Being the mayor of Star City had been the furthest thing from his thoughts during this whole time, but Lance was right. They had more things to do, more saving, and more bettering of the city that they all called home.

"You should have gone with them."

"Don't say that."

"I'm not saying that I don't want you here, I'm just saying that Curtis and John are here...you could have gone with William."

"William's not about to have major spinal surgery," Oliver pointed out. "And I wanted to be here."

"I'm going to be okay."

"You're always doing that," he told her as tears fell from his eyes, he moved closer and took her hands between his before pressing a kiss into it. "You don't have to be the strong one all of the time."

Felicity just smiled at him and then reached out to touch his head. "Where do you think I learned it from?"

"Felicity, I-"

"Kiss me."

He was taken aback by that. "What?"

"Kiss me."

And he did.

He kissed her like this might be the last kiss that the two of them shared. He kissed her like there was no tomorrow. The future wasn't guaranteed. "I love you," he whispered against her lips as his fingers ran along her cheek.

"It's time," said someone behind them.

He wasn't ready.

She was.

He didn't want to have to let her out of his sight, but he knew it was coming...it was coming now. More tears fell from his eyes and his insides twisted. Oliver kissed her again and found himself being pulled back.

"I love you," Felicity said brightly.

"Come on," Diggle said as he guided Oliver out of the room as Felicity was being wheeled out.

They'd already been told about how long the surgery would take if things went well. It was more to give her some relief more than anything. The implant that Curtis had made so that she could walk had already been removed. The problem was the damage to her spine, they had waited for swelling to reduce, but they wanted to look to see if there was anything they could repair. He'd zoned out at one point, fearing the worse for Felicity, but he knew that they had talked about pins and crushed vertebrae and fractures.

"You should sleep."

"I don't think I can."

Diggle sighed and patted his back. "Man, I know what you mean, but out of all of us...you probably need sleep the most. I'll wake you when the surgery's done."

"I just honestly don't think I could relax enough to sleep knowing what's going on. Chase is dead, but none of it is over…" Oliver was extremely quiet then, thinking about everything that had happened. "He won." It was then that Oliver was taken by surprise by a wack to the back of his head.

"Did you hit your head? Did you not see that you have William? That everyone else is alive and going to be okay?" Diggle started on with clear irritation in his voice and expression.

"That's not what I mean."

"Well, that's what you should see."

"John-"

"Don't make me pull Felicity out of that surgery to lecture you about everything you have," Diggle told him far too seriously.

Oliver sighed and shook his head. Maybe he was the one that really needed the sleep. No matter, he wasn't going to be able to. He knew that. Not knowing that not far from them they were operating on Felicity's spine. They already knew that the nerve damage that she'd sustained because of Darhk was permanent, but with this injury Curtis wasn't sure if his biostimulant implant would be able to allow Felicity to walk like before.

"Because you know I will."

And he would.

"Where's Curtis?" Oliver asked instead.

"In the lab."

"I know that Felicity can do anything she puts her mind to-"

"Leave it at that. She's stronger than she thinks, we both know that. This isn't going to be the end for her...or any of us," Diggle told him. "There's too much more good we can do out in the world."

As hard as it was for him to worry over Felicity, he'd still ended up falling asleep waiting for her to come out of surgery. He'd been sitting upright in the chair, but he hadn't felt too horrible about it because Diggle had been sleeping when he'd scared himself awake. He'd been having a nightmare, he always hated the ones that included her. They'd always been so happy at first in his dreams...and sometimes it was just a happy one, but too many times it ended in horror and agony. It was always too real. Maybe that was one of the main reasons why he'd pushed back at having a relationship with Felicity so many times. The thing was, he was so much better with her...whether they were in a romantic relationship or not.

He sucked in a heavily breath and roughly rubbed his palms over his face. Oliver was still dressed in his Green Arrow leather suit and it felt wrong. He unzipped the jacket, shed his gloves, and peeled the leather from his body. He had a black tank top underneath it and he felt like it was a slight weight off of him. Oliver looked down at the watch on his wrist and sighed. He'd slept through two hours...but no one had come out and he knew that they said it could take much longer depending on what they found and what needed to be done.

Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees and covered his face. Breathing was all he was focusing on. It was all he could do in that moment and to think happy thoughts. He thought about everything he wanted to say to Felicity when she finally came out of surgery. He wanted to say all the things that he knew that he'd regret might be left unsaid.

Oliver wanted to just see her smile.

He wanted to run away with her (again).

To go back to traveling.

All he wanted was for simple moments with her.

Happy moments.

Diggle was awake before the doctor came out to talk to them. Napping for a couple of hours and then waking to no new news had seemingly just amped up both their worry and anxiety levels in the situation. They paced a bit, giving each other space just the same as they made worry paths in the waiting area they were occupying.

The doctor did come out and they were both waiting. Turned on a dime and moved quickly towards him. "Is she okay?" Oliver managed to get out. "Can we see her?"

Holding up his hands, the doctor was silent for a moment. "Ms. Smoak made it through surgery," he stated first off. "She's still unconscious, but stable." The doctor was talking far too slow for either man's patience. The doctor didn't speed up on their account, in fact it felt like his responses were coming slower. "You'll be able to see her once she's awake again and we're able to assess her pain level."

"Her spine?"

"The next twenty-four hours will be crucial in that answer."

"So, we basically just have to wait?" Diggle questioned.

The doctor gave a nod. "I'm afraid that's correct. I know that you're going to want to transfer her, which should be safe to do in about twenty four to forty eight hours from now. You should get some sleep, I can always have a nurse come and get you when Ms. Smoak is awake."

Oliver just didn't think he could sleep without seeing her with his own eyes. "Doctor, I know she's not awake, but is there anyway I could just see her?" he asked urgently. "Just for a minute? Even if it's from the other side of a window?"

"Sure," the doctor said, his voice dropping to a quiet understanding. "This way," he said as he motioned for them to follow him through the door.

Though he wasn't alone, it certainly felt that way.

When they finally got to the room, the nurses were inside still adjusting Felicity's bed and setting things up. Oliver and Diggle were left alone to look in from the window. She looked pale. It was terrifying. All he could think was that there were so many things he'd wished he'd said. "Remember all those years ago when she insisted on being part of the team officially?"

"Yeah."

"I said that we could protect her," Oliver said, his eyes never leaving her still form. "But the truth is, we can't…"

"But we all do the best we can."

"What if that's not enough?"

He heard the chuckle and obvious smile that came in Diggle's voice next. "You know who you sound like?"

Oliver looked over to him now, quiet as they spoke. "Who?"

"Me when I'm thinking about Lyla and J.J.," Diggle explained. "I mean, Lyla can handle herself, but there's so many evils in this world, Oliver...how do we protect those we love from every single one?" He shrugged. "You just do the best you can and when bad things happen, you rely on your friends to have your back and get them back together. That's how we've always done it. Maybe you're just realizing that you and Felicity really are supposed to be together."

He didn't know what to say to that.

Diggle patted his shoulder. "Think about it. Think about what you're going to say to her when you wake up." He sucked in a breath. "Think about all the things you would have regretted if she'd not made it out of surgery. Just...think about it." Diggle left him then.

For a few more minutes, Oliver let Diggle's words and that alternate reality sink into him. It was ugly and unthinkable. It could have happened, though…

He could have lost her.

There was no sleeping.

Diggle, though, was fast asleep. Oliver had drifted at one point and then had immediately scared himself back awake. He'd had the briefest and most terrifying dream of finding Felicity dead in his sister's arms in the ARGUS prison on Lian Yu. He could still hear Thea crying. He could vividly remember feeling his heart break in that moment.

It wasn't true, though.

So he lay there, staring up into the darkness. The doctor had said that a nurse would come and so far, no one had even so much as made any noise outside of the room they were sleeping in. John's words though kept running through his mind. What regrets would he have? Could they really have everything? They'd tried it before-

Had they both just not been ready?

Being in a relationship had to require both people to be on the same page. Oliver knew that he had a long list of cons as a boyfriend, but Felicity always saw the good in him. Sometimes he didn't even know how it was possible. Squeezing his eyes shut, he sucked in a breath, and tried to think if he had it in him to make it work. There were so many facets to a relationship and he knew that some of them would be difficult for them. The biggest one he knew was trust. He did trust her, he just needed to communicate better and to figure out how to balance being protective and trusting.

"You figure it out yet?"

"I thought you were sleeping."

"I could hear you thinking."

Oliver smiled and shook his head.

"So, will the wedding be back on?"

"I haven't even seen her-"

"Do you really think that Felicity wouldn't want to be with you?" Diggle questioned from the other side of the dark room. "She still believes in you, Man. She loves you. I don't think that's ever going to go away...no matter what comes between the two of you."

"I just don't know how to make it work without screwing it up, I'm really good at-"

"Self sabotage."

Oliver frowned at that. "I wasn't going to say it quite like that…"

"That's why I said it." Diggle paused for a long moment. "So?"

"So, I'll talk to her when she wakes up...and we'll...we'll figure things out," Oliver told him. "I don't think that things will be so quick though."

"You know, it hasn't always been easy between Lyla and I."

"You said you both did better when you were in the middle of a war."

"Yeah," Diggle told him. "Life gives us second chances to make things right and sometimes more chances than that."

Silence stretched out between them.

"Learn from Lyla and I, Oliver," Diggle said. There was a beat. "Plus, Felicity's already been training you since day one."

Oliver let out a laugh then right as there was a knock at the door. He sat up immediately as the door was opened.

"I'm to let you know that Ms. Smoak has woken up and that you can see her now," the nurse said.

TBC…