Felicity grinned as she dropped the stick, holding her hand out to Sara with eyes full of amusement. Sara shook her help away; wiping her face dry from the sweat that had begun to drip down her cheeks. She dusted her pants off before finally looking up and smiling at Felicity. "Nice. You have been practicing, since I was gone. A lot, by the looks of it."
Felicity shrugged. "I had good teachers."
Sara's eyebrow arched. "Oh?"
Felicity ducked her head, turning away and grabbing her bottle of water. Sara followed her off of the mat, crossing her arms and giving her a I-know-there-is-more-than-you-are-letting-on look. Felicity sighed but attempted to shake her head in a dismissal of the conversation, but Sara smirked.
"Diggle must be a really good teacher." Sara prompted.
"He is." Felicity said shortly, turning to her computer and typing. Sara continued to look at her and finally she groaned and sat back, closing her eyes. "It was a field mission. It should have been simple, a get in get out thing. Things didn't go as planned, however."
"They don't usually." Sara chirped, still smirking. Felicity let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes.
"I was supposed to bug a high up business guy. He didn't like it much, I turned bad all at once. The situation went quickly from a general mission to a hostage situation. I was a hostage." Felicity smiles bitterly. "He seemed to guess that I was working with the Arrow. He took me to the top of the building. There..were threats up there. Oliver showed up, put an arrow in his shoulder and here we are." Felicity shook herself and turned away from Sara, walking over to the tech set up and throwing herself down in the spinning rolling chair. Sara's smile fell but she leaned against the tech desk, resting her hand on Felicity's shoulder. "Lissie, what aren't you telling me?"

"No...nothing." Felicity's voice shook and Sara moved even closer, kneeling so she could stare into Felicity's eyes. Neither spoke for the longest time, until finally a dry sob echoed in Felicity's chest and she spun the chair around, covering her face with her hands.
"You can't tell Oliver. Please. You can't."
Sara relocated herself directly in front of Felicity and murmured something to herself, before managing to summon enough of her voice to speak. "What happened?"

Felicity's voice was shaking. "It was dark. The guy...he grabbed me and pushed me against the wall. I was wearing a button up shirt and he ripped the fabric, stripping it from me. I tried to get away. I guess that didn't please him much either, because he smashed my head into the wall and was hitting me until finally I couldn't stand anymore. My pants came off next."

Sara muttered a few choice curse words and wrapped her arms around Felicity's shoulders. "Did he..."
Felicity's sobs became louder. "Almost. He had rid himself of his own pants when I finally managed to roll away.I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get to the bathroom and hide from him. That didn't stop himself from enjoying himself before that, though. Oh Sara, you can't tell Oliver! He doesn't know, I just couldn't tell him and...just please Sara, promise me you won't!"

Sara forced herself to swallow but finally managed a quick nod. "It isn't my place."

Felicity nodded, looking slightly reassured and attempted deeper breaths. "I asked them to train me but I never told them the truth. I couldn't bear their sympathetic looks or how they would treat me different. I couldn't just be another weak girl that allowed herself to be a victim like that."

Sara shook her head extremely fast, moving closer to Felicity. "Diggle and Oliver and Roy, they wouldn't think that. I want you to know that; you need to know that. You mean way too much to them. You're like Diggle's younger sister, or Roy's older sister. Oliver..." Sara let out sigh. "He loves you. You really need to tell him."
Felicity shook her head repeatedly. "No! I can't! I can't have him thinking I'm weak or a wimp. I'm finally showing them that I can be useful, besides just hacking into basic systems. I can't lose that."
"Oliver deserves to know, Felicity. He needs to know the truth." Sara replied firmly, but her eyes held a knowing glint in them. It wasn't like she didn't know how it felt to be seen as a helpless girl, and how hard you fought to show everyone otherwise.

"There won't be a need for that."

Felicity spun in the rolling chair to face the voice of the forementioned archer, her glazed eyes widening as Oliver stepped out from the shadows. He wore a grim expression and Sara couldn't help but sigh in relief.

Felicity quickly rose from the desk and grabbed her jacket, tears rolling down her face in quick succession as she attempted to sneak out of the lair. Oliver cut her off, grabbing ehr arms and gently pulling her towards him and enclosing her into his chest, his chiseled arms wrapping tightly around her body. His chin rested on Felicity's head as Sara straightened, anticipating to give the two privacy.

"I didn't realize you were back, Sara." Oliver's voice was soft as his hand rolled over Felicity's back in a comforting gesture.
Sara's eyes didn't leave Felicity. "Just got into town last night. Crashed at Felicity's."
Oliver nodded quickly. "That's good."
Sara nodded, turning away from the two."Yep. See you guys later."
Oliver nodded again as Felicity's let her tears fall into Oliver's chest, the entire time Oliver whispering soothing words into her ear until the sobs subsided and she attempted to back away from him. He didn't release his grip, grabbing her hand and squeezing gently.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Oliver played with her hair, staring into her eyes. Felicity swallowed and adverted her gaze, staring at her exercise clothes as she spoke.
"I didn't want you worry about me, or break your promise to Tommy again. I..."
Oliver cupped her chin. "Hey," He rubbed his thumb across her cheek, eyes staring at her intensely. "You know that you can come to me with anything at anytime. I'm here for you. Don't worry about me breaking my promise to Tommy; trust me, he would understand teaching a lesson to a guy like that. I need you to understand that you can come to me. With anything."

Felicity nodded slowly, her eyes growing sharper as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She stood on her tip toes and brushed her lips softly to his own, sending his head spinning. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her hips closer to his.
"I love you, Felicity Smoak."
Felicity's lips slowly turned upwards. "I think I can handle that. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not yelling at me. For just being you. For standing here and allowing yourself to make me the luckiest girl in the world." Felicity let her eyes close as she buried her face into his shoulder. "Just thank you."

"You're wrong, Felicity." Oliver whispered, his grip tightening around her. "You made me the luckiest man in the world. All I did was supply you with damaged goods. And to be quite honest, I would love to visit that son of a bitch later with my sharp arrows. Don't make me some saint, 'cause I definitely am not one."

"Who ever said I needed a saint? All I need, Oliver Queen, is you."