Disclaimer: I do not own nor make any profit off of Arrow. It belongs to The CW, DC Comics, etc.

A/N: Based on 2x07 (State vs. Queen), where Felicity gets caught in the Count's trap & Oliver saves her. I even included some references in this part. Because last night was beautiful and needed some sort of continuation for the episode before Barry's arrival.

Chapter 2: Care

An hour after taking a seat beside Felicity's prone form, Oliver started violently at the beeping sound which overtook the basement, whipping from his seat to stand between Felicity and the stairs.

"Whoa, Ollie!"

Halfway down the steps, Sara Lance held up her hands peaceably, dipping her head in acknowledgement of Oliver's defensive posture. "It's me, Ollie. Just me."

A loud breath whooshed out of the billionaire's lungs and he let his body relax halfway. "Sara. Thank you."

"Not a problem," she smiled slightly, that tiny, wry upturn of her lips as she pulled off her wig and mask. "Sin saw Felicity poking around down in the Glades. I knew your mom's trial was happening, so it wasn't hard to guess Felicity started digging for clues without telling you. Brought these back, by the way."

She held out a bag with Felicity's cell phone and other little items the IT expert must have had on her when she was caught.

"Sin knows about Felicity?" Oliver asked uncomfortably as he took the bag, frowning slightly.

"Only that she helps the vigilante," Sara shrugged comfortably. "Sin wouldn't rat her out or track her for anything. She's in the same boat, after all."

"Sorry," Oliver sighed wearily. "I'm just… frustrated and worried."

"I know," the blonde nodded understandingly. "I felt the same when Sin got shot."

"But this is my fault," Oliver growled, ignoring the crack in his voice.

"How?" was Sara's simple question. No disbelief, no accusation. Just a question.

"I told her not to go out alone," he admitted quietly. "To wait for me, for tonight. That way I could protect her."

"That's pretty sensible," Sara offered blandly.

"Maybe, but…" Oliver tried to explain, but his mind was still too rattled to do it well. "I know she thought I didn't have faith in her as a part of the team. It's my fault for causing her to believe that, for making her think she had to prove herself like this."

"If you had explained it like that when you prohibited her from going… Would she have held back from this lead?"

Oliver stared at Sara blankly, reluctant to admit the truth he already knew. "…No."

"Then it's not your fault," Sara concluded simply.

Oliver just shook his head, tiredly rolling the chair he had thrown across the floor back into its place by the medical table.

"All right," Sara spoke into the silence, her tone of voice informing Oliver she planned to let the subject drop.

"Thank you," Oliver repeated quietly, eyes stuck on Felicity's ironically peaceful countenance as he debated sitting down or pacing around the table.

"You should change and get that paint off," Sara responded reasonably. "If something comes up in your mom's case, Thea is probably going to call you."

Nodding halfheartedly, Oliver rose with great reluctance, allowing Sara to push him gently towards the bathroom.

"Go," she commanded quietly. "I'll watch over her."

With his brain in overdrive about Felicity, Oliver washed his face and changed into his business suit faster than he ever remembered doing before. When he reentered the main area of the basement, Sara stood in front of the metal table, arms crossed thoughtfully as she took in his appearance. Taking a close look at his face for any more paint, Sara finally nodded in satisfaction.

"I just came to make sure you two were okay," she spoke into the silence. "I still have to check on Sin."

"Your dad would want to see you," Oliver found himself saying, incapable of comprehending why he could still think about things outside of his IT girl's well-being.

Sara didn't reply, but her closed expression told the billionaire that was one subject where she wouldn't budge. He nodded vaguely in her direction, leaving it be as she turned to go. Without Sara blocking the view of Felicity, Oliver's eyes were once again drawn to her still form.

Only beeping and a door clicking shut let him know Sara was gone.

Some two hours later, Oliver still waited in an agony of suspense for his friend to open her eyes and see the world again.

"Felicity, you have to wake up," he whispered. "You really have to… I can't—"

His voice cracked, and he stopped abruptly to gather himself, clamping blue eyes shut against the thoughts plaguing his mind. Felicity was going to be all right. He'd given her the herbs and taken care of her wound. She would be fine. It was just her body sleeping off the aftereffects of the drug. That was all.

Yet Oliver could hardly breathe for worrying. Three hours and still the brilliant woman hadn't woken. Perhaps there had been too much of the drug and not enough of the herbs… Maybe she had an adverse reaction to the herbs; it was the first time she'd ever required use of them, after all… What if she—?

An obvious inhale broke off Oliver's line of thought instantly, his eyes snapping open to see his IT girl slowly coming around.

Elated beyond all realistic proportion, the billionaire moved forward to grasp her smaller hand in his own. The intensity of his emotions might have scared him — if he paid them any mind.

"Ohhh," Felicity groaned quietly, head tipping side to side as she slowly blinked open her eyes to focus on him leaning over her. "Oliver? …Why did you bash my head with your bow?"

The sheer clarity in those blue orbs and that ridiculous comment put a smile on Oliver's face that nearly cracked it in half.

"And now you're smiling unnaturally wide," the blonde tacked on, brow scrunching in an adorably confused way.

A little snort escaped Oliver, followed quickly by an increasingly loud laughter born of joy, amusement, and utter relief. Tamping down the laugh once he saw her startled expression, Oliver leaned down without thought to kiss Felicity's forehead firmly, so excited to see her awake and lucid that he could not contain himself.

"Oliver, wha…?" the IT expert spluttered in astonishment, trying to sit up only to slip back down with a gasp and a groan, clutching at her leg and her head with each hand.

"Hey," Oliver gently caught her before her head slammed onto the metal surface, pulling her into his arms so she didn't have to lie down anymore. "That leg is pretty tender right now. And you're going to have the worst hangover symptoms you ever felt, for a while yet."

"Just what I need," was her sarcastic reply, mumbled against his shirt. "A new way to give me headaches. If it's not glasses or computer screens, it's psychotic drug lords."

A growing smile dropped from Oliver's face at the last comment and he buried his nose in her blond hair as he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"For my headaches?" Felicity mumbled confusedly from beneath his chin.

Oliver would have smiled any other time at the small hand that came up to softly pat his chest. Even after being captured, tormented, drugged, nearly dying, and then waking up with the devil's hangover, Felicity still ended up trying to comfort him somehow.

"For what you went through tonight," he said out loud, the guilt reclaiming him with wretched force. "And for not letting you know in strong enough words just how vital and wonderful you are on this team. I never doubted you or your skills, Felicity. I just wanted to be able to protect you if anything went wrong. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear this morning. If I had, you wouldn't have gotten hurt tonight."

"Oliver—" Felicity tried to argue, but he cut her off as kindly as possible.

"Later, okay? You need to rest still," he replied gently, reaching under her legs to lift her small body up into his arms with ease. "We're going to the mansion and you're going to just relax as best you can. After you've recovered, you can argue with me all you want. Deal?"

Frowning frustratedly up at him from where her head rested against his shoulder, Felicity eventually nodded. "Fine. Later we talk."

Oliver half-laughed at that, rather sadly, and turned to get their respective keys, the bag Sara had given him, and the purse Felicity had left in the lair earlier that day. Before he left, the billionaire recalled his IT girl's ruined clothes and awkwardly grabbed the blanket Felicity had stashed away in her storage cubby, wrapping it around her battered body.

The tiny, appreciative smile she offered him spoke to the discomfort she still felt and how brave she was.

"You'll be okay," Oliver murmured, kissing her forehead a second time, and walked out of Verdant with quiet, gentle steps.

The relaxed, comforting interaction they had with one another was a fond memory after Felicity woke up screaming in the guest room across from Oliver's bedroom.

"Felicity! It's me! It's Oliver!" he called to her, grasping her shoulders and shaking her awake as gently as possible. With a loud gasp, she sprung up into his chest and planted herself there with clutching fingers.

Oliver rocked her back and forth in a soft, swaying motion, running hands over her shivering back in comforting circles. "It's over," he murmured warmly in her ear. "You're going to be okay. It's over."

When he felt Felicity shaking, he drew back enough to look at her face, unsettled at the sight of tears making heavy tracks down her cheeks. With soft touches, Oliver wiped away some of her tears and pulled her back into his arms.

"I walked right into a trap," Felicity spoke up, voice thick, but clearer than the billionaire had expected. The disgust layered over top bothered him greatly.

"You couldn't have known," he soothed her quietly, although he knew it wouldn't be enough. Not yet.

"Yes, I could have!" Felicity snapped frustratedly, pulling away from him and swiping angrily at her face. "There were absolutely no guards anywhere while I thought I was 'sneaking' around. I should have known the Count would have protective measures. If I suspected a place to be his hideout, it would only make sense for him to have protection there! And I just waltzed in like a total idiot!"

Stifling a sob, she wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing up and down as if cold. Oliver didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her again, hoping his body heat would somehow combat the sensation Felicity's fear and memories brought on.

"The Count set up a trap," he argued mildly against her ear. "He intended someone to get caught and he intended to hurt you. That was his fault. No matter how much you rethink your own actions, they don't make his any more correct. He hurt you. You didn't do that. He did. Are you listening to me, Felicity?"

"Yes," she whispered, the tears invading her voice all over again. "But I… I just…"

She stopped, closing her eyes against something painful until Oliver prompted her very gently, "What?"

"It was horrible," she cried, voice almost nonexistent. "I've never been so scared."

Something dark and primal rose up in Oliver at hearing her tiny, terrified admission. Felicity Smoak, the woman who got strapped with a bomb collar, faced the threat of a crossbow, invaded mob casinos, remained behind in crumbling basements to save others, jumped out of planes to deserted islands, and played bait for serial killers… That brave, strong, impossible woman had been more afraid that very day than in any of the other terrible experiences she had been through.

If Oliver had not already put two arrows into the Count, he would have found the beast in even the darkest, deepest sewers and brought him to the surface to destroy him bit by bit until he had suffered as much as Felicity. A dark part of Oliver — the part he had tried so hard to beat back after Tommy died — cried out for revenge, but he had already killed the man.

Yet… feeling the tremble in Felicity's body, the fear embedded so deeply into her mind and spirit that she could only find enough strength to cling a safe haven… Oliver realized he could never have left her. Even if the Count had gotten away, Oliver could never have allowed himself to leave Felicity alone; he cared too much about her to go off for vengeance while she suffered mentally and emotionally in the aftermath of her ordeal.

Ignoring the part of his mind that was still very awkward about human contact, Oliver went from a simple embrace to flat-out pulling his IT girl up onto his lap and tucking her into his chest like a fragile package.

"i didn't take you for the cuddling type," Felicity attempted a weak joke, not even bothering to be embarrassed at the insinuation of it.

"Only with people I really care about," Oliver told her with genuine warmth, and as the words rearranged themselves in his mind, he was hit all too abruptly with his own words of a few weeks prior.

Because of the life that I lead, I just think that it's better to not… be with someone that I could really care about.

While Oliver had known on some level how much he meant those impossibly difficult words for Felicity, the ironic truth was hard to face.

Because no matter what he might have told himself, no matter how hard he worked to tuck away his heart (for her sake), he had already come to care for Felicity. It was the kind of care that ran deeper than any of the other relationships he'd experienced. A kind of… love… that ran deeper than the others. Even without entering into a romance, Felicity had become such a rich part of his life. An integral part of his life.

However long he lived, and however many days he spent denying his heart for the safety of someone far more important and worthy of love… Nothing and no one would ever be able to replace Felicity Smoak.

Not for Oliver Queen.

-The End-