'Prologue'

Felicity was done.

Over the years she had taken a lot of crap from Oliver, and taken it without complaint because she knew he had a lot to deal with, but enough was enough. She had shouldered his sharp words and cutting remarks whenever he was pissed and she was the only one around – but not this time.

It had been getting worse for weeks. Ever since his ex-buddy turned psychopath with a vendetta Slade Wilson had shown up, Oliver had acted like the world was ending. He hardly smiled anymore and every waking moment was dedicated to saving the city. She doubted he had slept at all in the past two weeks. His moods became more frequent and darker, too.

It was as if even after years of being free of it, all it took was one face from the island and Oliver was back there again, trapped and resentful and lashing out at the world.

She and Diggle tried to understand, but he had been snapping at them all week, acting like they were to blame. Frankly she was growing sick of it. Whining wasn't going to stop Slade – fighting was. And they needed each other to do that, but they weren't a team anymore. Oliver was a bomb. They knew he was on the verge of exploding – when he did, the shrapnel would pierce them all.

The mission had gone south quickly, even for them. Oliver had been trying to take out a black market arms deal in the Glades with Sara, who was a constant at his side these days, but they all underestimated who they were dealing with. The men were armed with missile launchers, military grade – which suggested they were more than your average smugglers. What should have been a simple mission of breaking up the operation before carting the people involved off to Iron Heights prison turned sour when they blew up a skyscraper.

It was only a small one, but apparently it was Felicity's fault for not redirecting the projectile.

This was a big defeat for them because they suspected Slade was funding the operation. Anything Slade was even rumoured to be involved in, Oliver wanted shut down or burned to the ground immediately, a crazed look in his eyes whenever he heard his enemies name. It was a poison within him: it was starting to infect the team.

Now he was yelling at Felicity about the night's failure back at the Foundry, and if she were a more violent person, she would have hit him by now for the things he'd said. As it was, she was done with biting her tongue.

"I can't believe you let this happen!" Oliver shouted, pacing in front of her. He wasn't angry at her, not really. The world in general had just treated him badly tonight, and although he blamed himself the most, the thought that there was something she could have done whispered harshly in the back of his mind. So he lashed out – it was what he was good at. "What came over you? You should have been able to stop this."

"I'm sorry, but literal rocket science isn't exactly my area of expertise," she snapped back, one hand on her hip and standing her ground before him, chin jutting upwards. "I tried hacking into the missiles to re-route them but it happened too fast. There was nothing I could do."

"Then work faster."

"You let them get off the shot in the first place," Felicity argued, her right hand jabbing in the air accusingly. She saw Oliver tense at the movement, becoming agitated as he stopped pacing to stand deliberately in front of her. He knew how she usually reacted when he invaded her personal space, but this time Felicity stood her ground. "So don't you dare put this all on me. I did my best."

"It wasn't enough."

"Maybe not," she said coldly, "but neither was yours."

Oliver froze at that. His glare was aimed at her now, making even Felicity look down to play with the fabric of her sleeves, both of them tense and annoyed – and about to go too far.

"Excuse me?" he demanded, voice taking on an edge.

"You heard me."

"Guys, both of you need to cool down," Diggle suggested, jumping in. He had been waiting to drive Oliver to the hospital when they'd started getting into it . . . again. It seemed to be happening more often recently. Ever since both Slade and Sara had returned to Starling, his friend had started to change. Oliver was getting more and more tightly wound. And unfortunately for Felicity, he usually found a way to take it out on her. Diggle walked between them to hold his hands up peacefully, putting a hand on the girl's back, "Felicity, why don't you head home for the night."

"Thank you, John."

"No!" Oliver interrupted, "she can stay here until we get another lead on the arms dealers."

"Oliver, don't be ridiculous. We're all fried. It will wait till tomorrow, trust me," Diggle commanded in his most serious tone, crossing his arms and standing in front of Felicity protectively now, eyes on Oliver. "She's going home."

"People were hurt tonight, Diggle. Sara's in hospital – we need to catch these guys quick."

Felicity spoke up, "then shouldn't you be at the hospital with her?"

"The mission comes first."

"Do you even have a heart, Oliver Queen? After everything Sara's done for you -"

"Why do you care about Sara?" Oliver snapped, as Diggle threw his hands in the air and began to pace, seeing neither of them were going to back down. Oliver moved to stand in front of Felicity once more. "Ever since she came here, you've been too busy acting jealous to pay attention to anything else!"

"Jealous?"

"Of me and her."

Felicity laughed, but there was no humour in it. "Someone's feeling a little bit self-important tonight. The world doesn't revolve around you, Oliver, no matter how much you act like it. I'm not jealous of Sara – and even if I was because let's face it, she's awesome and can kick ass – I would never let someone get hurt on purpose."

"Don't act concerned all of a sudden-"

"She's my friend!" Felicity shouted, finally raising her voice and taking an angry step in his direction. "I have her back, and I know she has mine – I'd never want her to get hurt!"

"But you let it happen tonight."

"Playing the blame game now isn't going to change anything. Don't hold me to fault for your failures – I know I did everything I could. Sara knows that too," Felicity yelled, her eyes glistening now. Her face crumpled a little as her anger subsided to sadness – she couldn't take this anymore. For a moment, Oliver saw her reach the end of her tether, realizing too late he had made a mistake. "She is my friend, no matter what. I thought you were too but I guess I was wrong. Friends don't treat friends like this."

She turned before she could start crying, although her lip trembled through the last part, she refused to let it show just how much his words cut her up. Felicity headed for the door, desperate to escape before things went too far, not wanting to make things worse than they were. But Oliver's attitude cut deep, He might as well have punched her - it would have hurt less.

"I was wrong too," Oliver called after her. Felicity turned, thinking he might apologise and go back to being her Oliver again, who laughed when she babbled and wasn't cruel, but Slade was still in the city, and he had changed. His tone was cold. "I thought you were the best. Or that you could at least handle this. But tonight you failed the city. I brought you onto this team because I needed you – the city needed you. If you're no longer able to perform your duties . . . I don't."

"Oliver, stand down!" Diggle shouted, pushing Oliver away from Felicity, breaking the two's eye contact. The girl recoiled as if she had been slapped. A few tears slipped down her face as she froze, unable to look away as Oliver was swept aside by Diggle, who was in her vision, hand on her shoulders and speaking, although she couldn't hear a word he said.

"Is that all I ever was to you? Someone to be used until I wasn't necessary anymore?" she asked tearfully, voice cracking as she strode past him until she could see Oliver again. Even he looked appalled at herself, blinking hard and opening his mouth like he was trying to say something, but she cut him off before any words could come out. "I thought . . . I thought I was your friend. I thought we were . . ."

Felicity trailed off as she began to shake, a few more tears falling down her face. She wasn't going to do this anymore. Wiping the wetness away with the back of her hands before straightening, back straight and eyes determinedly on his, Felicity spoke again. "I quit."

She turned and walked away before anyone would say another word.

"Felicity . . ." Oliver breathed as she left, watching her ponytail swish from side to side before she disappeared up the stairs to the club. A blast of music cut through the Foundry as she opened the door, but was cut off abruptly when it slammed behind her, jerking him to his senses.

As Oliver moved to follow her, a hand caught him by the shoulder. He turned to see Diggle shake his head with a frown. "Leave her. You've done enough, Oliver."

The disappointment in his friend's tone was scary. Oliver slowly nodded, moving out of the grip until he walked to the computer, bone tired, and slumped against the desk. "I-I didn't mean to-"

"Then what exactly did you think you'd achieve with that? Scaring her half to death?"

"No! Of course not. I don't want to hurt Felicity, or for anyone else to hurt her, and I was stupid, okay? She makes me scared because I couldn't stand it if anything happened to her. I don't know why I acted like an ass tonight."

Diggle finally understood, even if Oliver didn't. Quietly he turned to face his friend. "You're pushing her away because you're worried about her now Slade Wilson is back."

"No, I'm . . . well, maybe . . ." Oliver protested feebly, shrugging. "Slade is my worst nightmare. He will hurt anyone and anything to get to me – and destroying her to do it? He'd do it in a heartbeat."

"Oliver, we're always in danger. It comes with the territory;" Diggle said frankly, "both me and Felicity knew what we were signing up for."

"But if she dies at his hand – that's on me. And I couldn't live with myself," Oliver revealed, finally looking up with determination in his eyes. He hadn't realised he was doing it, but now he did, pushing Felicity away seemed like the perfect way to protect her. If she quit – at least she'd be safe from Slade. "It's better she lives hating me than dies because we were . . ." he trailed off with a cough, standing again. "I'd better get to the hospital. She was right – someone should be there when Sara wakes up."

"Oliver," Diggle's voice called after him as Oliver's feet hit the steps, and he stopped to listen. "It should be her choice whether or not she does this. If Felicity found out you'd deliberately pushed her away to keep her safe she'd never forgive you. If you do this, if you let her walk away . . . we could lose her forever, man. You could lose her."

Oliver sighed heavily, pausing for just a second longer. "If Slade gets to her, I'll lose her anyway. At least this way she has a chance to live her life happily."

"She won't be happy. She'll blame herself or spend every day thinking about us and this place – you don't just move on from something this big."

"She'll survive," Oliver said, still not turning around as he began to ascend the stairs once more. This time, he did not turn back. His heart was beating in his chest, a kick to his ribs every time, the stab of guilt he should be used to by now.

He didn't want to do this. The thought of Felicity leaving, of her hating him – it killed him. But it was better than seeing her dead, or standing over her grave or –

Oliver forced the thoughts away. He would not let that happen.

Even if the cost was losing his girl.

Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow or it's characters. Re-vamping chapters 1-5 and resuming this story (finally)!