And rain falls angry on the tin roof

As we lie awake in my bed.

You're my survival, you're my living proof.

My love is alive and not dead.

Tell me that we belong together.

Dress it up with the trappings of love.

I'll be captivated,

I'll hang from your lips,

Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above

~ "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain

. . .

"You have to stay here, do you understand?"

Her head was spinning and she could barely push her response out, let alone nod her head. "Yes."

He couldn't stay, she knew that, but it was still hard. The police were on their way, she could hear the sirens. Oliver had been grazed, but no serious injuries… Diggle and Sara hadn't been so lucky. Felicity turned her attention back to Diggle, she was holding pressure over two gunshot wounds to his torso. Oliver, Sara, and even Diggle had told her over and over again that he was going to be okay. It was hard to believe that though as she held pressure on the wounds, his blood covering her hands and clothes.

"They're close," Sara said quietly.

They were all in an alleyway as rain fell on them. Felicity remembered that she'd been freezing before, but now she really felt numb...so numb… Sara sat against a brick building as she held pressure on the wound on her side from a gunshot wound as well. Oliver had left with her mask and Felicity had given Sara her coat. In all likelihood, Detective Lance would show up and he'd easily control the situation since he KNEW that Sara was the Canary.

"I'm sorry," Felicity whispered as she tried to hold back tears. She felt sick. She'd been in her car and she was supposed to stay there, but then she'd heard the gunshots. It hadn't even been just because she heard gunshots, it was because she'd heard Oliver yell 'Diggle'. It was the way that he'd yelled it, Felicity had KNOWN something was wrong and she couldn't just stay in her car and do nothing when she could possibly help. She'd run to assess the situation to find Diggle on the ground, amongst the gunfire, Felicity had run out to drag Diggle to safety. He'd only been shot once then, but he'd tried to get off more shots as she'd tried to drag him to safety. Sara had stepped out and had tried to provide them cover, to shield them...to shield her… Sara had gotten shot and Diggle had been shot again because of her, or at least that's how she felt.

"There's no need for you to apologize, Felicity," Diggle whispered.

"I should have stayed in the car-"

"I'd probably be dead for sure then."

Felicity looked down at Diggle, surprised and upset at the same time at that thought. Oliver, Diggle, Sara, and even Roy had become her family. She honestly didn't know how she'd manage if she'd lost one of them… "Next time Roy needs a night off, I'm telling him no," she told Diggle through tears.

Diggle chuckled. "Bullets wouldn't have stopped him…"

She really hated the idea of ANYONE getting shot, even someone like Roy who could bounce back quickly and heal from being shot at. Her attention was pulled towards the end of the alley was two Starling City police cars pulled into the mouth of it. Lance was the first one out and running towards them, as expected.

"What happened? Are you alright?" he asked almost too quickly before grabbing his radio. He took a moment to radio in for an ambulance before turning his attention back to them. Lance kneeled down next to Sara, to assess her first. "Ambulance is on its way…"

"It's not that bad," Sara told him. "Diggle's the one who needs it most."

"You've been shot, Honey."

"I've been injured worse."

Felicity didn't miss the face that Lance made and she understood his concern. He didn't know everything. It was probably better that way, but when you heard things like that come out of the mouth of someone you cared about, it was just hard. There was no easy way to deal with someone you love being hurt and telling you that they'd experienced worse. Sara really was acting like it was nothing, like it was just a papercut or something.

"I really hate when you say stuff like that," Lance told her and then moved to check on Diggle. "How's he doing?"

"I'm okay...just...need to be patched up," Diggle responded.

Lance nodded. "Help is on the way." He patted Diggle's arm before looking to her. "How about you, Felicity?"

"I'm...not shot," Felicity said slowly. "I just-"

"We're going to get them help," Lance said gently. "It's already on its way."

The sound of more sirens echoed through the city and Felicity's hand shook a bit as she willed herself to continue to hold pressure on Diggle's wounds. She was trying not to look down at all the blood and concentrate on Diggle's face, but it was hard. The wet blood between her fingers made that hard.

"Let me help you."

She turned to Lance and suddenly realized that tears were running down her face. "I can't move my hands," she told him quietly. Felicity felt like if she moved her hands then Diggle would bleed out, no matter how much he told her that he was okay. The sirens were close and Felicity just hoped that that meant that the ambulance had arrived. She wanted to look, but she was almost afraid to do so.

"Down here! We've got two shot!" Lance said as he got to his feet.

The rest with the medics was a blur to Felicity. She remembered them telling her it was okay and that they had it and then Lance pulling her away. He'd sat her down next to Sara and Felicity had zoned out after realizing that there was a medic tending to Sara as well. To Felicity, there just seemed like there was so much blood from the both of them.

"Do you want to ride along with them?" Lance's words broke through to her. "They said there's room, if you want to go."

Felicity nodded before she could manage to get the words out. "Yes." Lance helped her to her feet and Felicity realized that Sara and Diggle were both already in the ambulance. She didn't realized that either of them had been moved yet. It had also stopped raining. She was wet, freezing, and numb, but she was alive. She hadn't been shot. Lance's arm wrapped around her and guided her to the ambulance. "It was my fault," she whispered.

"No, Sweetheart, it wasn't…"

She was helped into the back of the ambulance, alongside Sara, who took her hand almost immediately. Felicity looked out at the alley and then up, something tugged at her to look up towards the sky. There he was. Oliver, as the Arrow, had been watching over them the whole time.

"Make sure you have someone check her out, just to be sure," Lance said before closing the doors to the ambulance. They slammed shut and they headed away.

. . .

"Hey…"

His quiet voice was so overdue, as far as Felicity was concerned. She knew that he had to technically wait for someone to call him to 'inform' him that they were at Starling General, but that didn't make it any easier. Felicity and Sara had been sitting in Diggle's hospital room for nearly half an hour...and they'd taken some time to work on Diggle in the ER before that. She didn't know how Oliver could come in and seem so quiet and calm.

"He's going to be fine," Sara spoke up. "The bullets were removed and didn't hit anything vital. He DID lose a good amount of blood, though."

"But he's going to be fine?"

"That's what the doctor said," Felicity said quietly as she looked from Diggle to where Oliver stood. He was dressed in a suit and looked horrible. She wondered if he'd put on the suit, waiting for the call, and then had paced and paced until he'd finally gotten the call… Had he felt like he was going out of his mind with worry?

"Sara? How about you?"

"Just a scratch," Sara said. "How did you do? You were hit."

"Just a nic...I already sewed it up."

Felicity didn't know how any of them could act like bullet wounds were nothing, like they were papercuts. She knew that Diggle had been through a few tours in Afghanistan and that Sara and Oliver had been through hell...but still. They'd been SHOT. Sometimes it was hard for her to cope with it when they put it off like nothing.

They could have died…

DIED.

She felt like she was going to fall apart. The doctors had looked her over and she remembered Sara asking them about shock. Felicity really didn't like blood, especially when it was spurting out of a friend...and that blood was all over her hands and her clothes. Her hands covered her face, she closed her eyes as she let her elbows rest on her knees, and she just breathed.

"They're going to keep Diggle at least overnight," Sara told Oliver. "Maybe two nights. It depends on how he's doing in the morning…"

"And you?"

"I'm released. I've got my paper and everything," she told him and sounded far too cheery. "My dad's already been by and tried to fuss...he wanted to drive me home-"

"Let me drive you and Felicity home."

"Nah, I"m going to stay with Digg. They already fed me red Jell-o. I'm not tired anyways," Sara told him. "You go. Take Felicity."

Silence.

After a minute, she opened her eyes because she felt like they were still having a conversation about her, but with no words. She looked back and forth between the two of them. It didn't LOOK like she was interrupting a conversation, but she felt like it.

"Are you ready?" Oliver asked Felicity. His hand rested on her shoulder lightly. She didn't know why that made her feel like bursting into tears all over again.

Nodding, she got up from her chair. Felicity knew that Diggle wouldn't expect them all to stay, he'd probably be surprised to find Sara there when he woke up. Slowly, she moved to his bedside and leaned down to kiss his forehead. Felicity knew that it was good that Diggle was sleeping, his body was healing and needed the rest. "I'll see you in the morning, John," she whispered before leaving his bedside. As she passed Sara, she rested her hand on the other woman's shoulder for a brief moment. Sara touched her hand briefly before Felicity moved to Oliver's side. His arm wrapped around her and she leaned into him just enough, so that their bodies touched.

"Let's get you home," he whispered.

. . .

Felicity realized that she must have fallen asleep when she woke to find Oliver trying to figure out which key was her housekey as he cradled her in his arms. Her sleepy mind tried to think of the best way to describe the key. "It's the-"

"Got it."

She heard the lock turn and the door open. Oliver carried her inside, pushing the door shut once they were inside. Felicity would have been fine with him putting her on her feet at that moment, but he carried her to her bedroom and lay her on her bed. Sleep sounded so nice...but her clothing was still covered in Diggle's blood. Felicity sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, she reached out and grabbed Oliver's hand. "Stay," she whispered.

"I was going to sleep on the couch. I didn't want you to have to be alone tonight."

Felicity's eyes opened and she stared at him for a long moment. "Do you want a shower?"

"You should take it first...and get into bed before you drop again," Oliver told her as he took a step towards her bed, his hands in his pockets, and his gaze down at his shoes.

Sitting up far too quickly, she ignored her spinning head and grabbed his wrists, and pulled his hands out of his pockets so that she was holding them. Felicity looked up at him. "Hey… What are you thinking?"

"Felicity-"

"What. Are. You. Thinking. ?" Felicity knew that she could be overwhelmed at everything and hold it inside, but she knew that once she saw Diggle up and moving around in the morning that she'd feel better about things. Tonight, she just was having a hard time coping. The problem was that Oliver didn't often confide in other people. She was one of those peoples...but sometimes it took poking for him to truly open up, especially when it came to feelings.

"That all of this is my-"

She squeezed his hands hard and he didn't finish his sentence, but his eyes darted to meet hers. "Oliver Queen, this isn't your fault…"

"Because of me, I've put you all in danger… YOU could have been shot…"

"All night, all I've thought about is how Diggle and Sara getting shot is MY fault," she admitted. "The truth is...that we all signed onto Team Arrow," Felicity explained and ignored the face he made when she referred to them as 'Team Arrow'. "And we all knew what could happen… We KNEW that we could get hurt...that we could end up in jail...and even that we might die… All of us, Oliver. We each made those choices."

"It's still hard-"

"I know," she told him and flung herself at him in an engulfing hug. "I know…"

Maybe it was because Diggle and Roy were both guys and guys didn't talk to other guys about their feelings, it seemed, unless they were telling their opinion about something. Maybe it was because Oliver and Sara had history. Maybe because he knew that he could trust her. Maybe because he knew that she would tell him the truth, even if it might hurt. Maybe those were the reasons why he could open himself up to her… Maybe that's why she felt so incredibly close to Oliver, like she'd known him all her life...Felicity felt like she could see into his soul, though she'd never admit it to him.

And she loved him.

Felicity had thought it was just a crush, but after two years...she knew it was something more. As silly as it sounded, because every other woman in the world was in love with him as well, Felicity Smoak loved Oliver Queen. For all of his faults, flaws, perfection, secret double life, and even his past. She loved his heart and soul. Felicity knew that it was just the beginning and yet she already knew the man that he would become…

It was like he could see into her, like he knew exactly what she was thinking, what she wanted...what she would never blurt out. His hands moved from the grasp of hers and moved up her arms as he leaned in and kissed her. It took her breath away and for a moment, she couldn't breathe, but somehow her hands wrapped around his body and she returned the kiss. It turned into something more than she thought that either of them expected. There had always been a spark between them, but now...it was like electricity. Hands were pushing to find bare flesh and their lips didn't want to part now that they'd finally found each other.

Clothes pooled around them and several minutes later, she was standing there in her bra and panties and Oliver was removing his pants. "Maybe we don't need to take turns showering," she suggested.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Felicity was fairly sure that they'd already passed the point of no return. She nodded and then spoke, surprising herself. "I'm sure." She bent down and started to pick up the clothes. Thoughts of just tossing them went through her head, but since meeting Oliver, she'd become very good at taking blood out of things.

"What are you doing?" he asked and sounded confused.

Bundling it up, she looked over her shoulder as she headed to drop it all in her hamper. She'd wash Oliver's clothes too (well, have his suit dry cleaned). She motioned to "Putting dirty clothes in a hamper… Normal people don't just leave their clothes all over their room…"

Oliver seemed amused. "I know what a hamper is...but those are the only clothes-"

"I have clothes for you here."

He just stared at her.

It hit her suddenly at how weird and creepy that sounded. "I'm not a stalker or anything, I just...I like to be prepared. Sometimes being the Arrow and the CEO of a company isn't an easy thing. So, I always keep a suit here for you, just in case it's one of those days…"

His lips tugged up and he closed the distance between them, scooping her up with a laugh, and carrying her towards the bathroom. No matter how bad the day had been before...Felicity was certain that she was going to have a good night.

. . .

The End.