This is it! Thank you all for reading, I've loved hearing from you and telling this story!

Felicity has to pull over twice to get control of her emotions. The second time she pulls over she realizes she has cell service again and sends a text to Dylan. Coward, she thought to herself. She told him she wasn't at the beach house, she was headed towards her apartment. He responded quickly, saying he'd be there shortly.

Felicity is torn. Completely torn. A part of her knows she'll always be safe and loved and cherished by Dylan. Any girl would kill to be with him. How could she want more? He should be the right guy. He's the right choice. Of course he is. Oliver was risky and messy and hell, they had three full on fights in one 24 hour period. They were explosive. Frenzied. Uncontrollable.

She knows what she needs to do as she pulls into a parking spot at her apartment. Dylan's car is already here.

Standing in front of her door, she takes one deep breath, settling her pulse, before opening it. She finds him sitting on a bar stool in the kitchen, looking out the window. "Hi." She says, quietly.

He looks at her then back out the window, "Hey."

She puts her bags down and slowly makes her way to the stool next to him. She takes a seat and lets out a heavy sigh before speaking, "I'm guessing you have questions."

Dylan somberly responds, "You could say that." He finally looks away from the window and back at her, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"About him not being dead? I don't know. I was in shock. I spent five years thinking he was dead and then all of a sudden he wasn't and I just freaked out."

He nods, "No, I get that. What I mean is why didn't you tell me about him, in general? When you're mom told me Oliver Queen was alive, I looked like a fool for having no clue why that was important. You never talked about him and I just took it as something you wanted to keep in the past. Now, I think I need to know."

Felicity inwardly groans. She doesn't want to hash out her and Oliver's history for the second time today. But it needs to happen. "All of it?" She questions.

"All of it."

She takes a breath and begins, "We met in high school literature class our junior year. We dated for almost three years. When I got an opportunity to go to Palmer Technologies and I took it without talking to him about it, we started having problems. He thought I was selfish deciding on something so important without thinking of him. I thought he was selfish for not supporting such an amazing career opportunity. We tried to avoid the subject for a couple of weeks. But then I found out he accepted a business trip that would last two months in China. We got in another big blow out fight and he told me he needed space. He was scared that the distance wouldn't work so he pushed me away before he got the chance to get hurt." She looks down at her hands that are playing with a loose string on her shirt. "Looking back, that's what I was doing by accepting the job offer in the first place. Anyways, I told him if he wanted to break up with me then he could just go ahead and do it. And he didn't say anything so I did it instead. I told him I hated him and then he left the building."

Dylan looks at her with an unreadable face. Before he has the chance to respond, she adds, "Oh, and then he died the next day." His eyes spark with sympathy. "Now do you see why I didn't want to share?"

He reaches over and takes her hand in his, "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Felicity is floored by the man sitting next to her. Even as she's telling him about her love for another man, he's kind and patient and supportive.

"Felicity, what happened at the beach house?"

Well shit. Felicity knew it was coming but she had no clue how to answer him. What could she say that wouldn't break his heart?

Her silence seemed to be enough of an answer for him, "You slept with him." He says. It's not a question. He knows.

She looks up at him, meeting his gaze. "I'm so sorry, Dylan." Tears spill over and she continues, "I didn't go there with that intention, I swear. I just wanted to see for myself that he was really alive. And then things got complicated and all of these feelings I had buried so long ago came rushing back and I'm just so sorry. I gave you my word and I broke it."

"Hey, Lis, stop crying." He wipes a tear away and thinks for a moment before continuing, "I want to hate you, you know." He sighs, "I really want to get up and walk out of this apartment and never see you again. But then I'd be breaking my promise. When I asked you to marry me I promised you that if you said yes we could get through anything. I'd take you at your best and worst. So, despite everything, I love you and I don't want to lose you."

"I love you too, Dylan, I do. And-"

"If you love me and I love you then we can get through this. I'm the guy for you, Lis. We fit. We can fix this." He interrupts her.

She squeezes his hand, "I know you're the right guy." He sighs in relief, but she continues, "But, I'm not in love with you."

That sentence hangs in the air for a few moments before he responds, "Why? What did I do?"

She could heart the sadness in his voice and it would've broken her heart if it wasn't already shattered. "You didn't do anything, Dylan. When I promised you forever, I meant it. I swear I did. But I promised my heart to a different boy seven years ago and he never gave it back. When he died, that part of my heart died too and I adjusted. I survived. I was happy. It wasn't until he came back that I realized I wasn't whole. And I can't go back to a partial me again. No matter how much easier it would be."

She holds her breath, hoping he understands.

"Well." He stands up. "I guess that's it then, huh?" He doesn't sound angry, just disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Dylan." She stands up, takes off the ring, and hands it back to him.

He sighs and puts it in his jacket pocket before cupping her face with his hands. "I would've loved you forever, Felicity Smoak. I'm just sorry I didn't get the chance to." He leans in and gives her a chaste, bittersweet kiss. And then he's gone, leaving her in her kitchen, shaky and alone.

It's Sara who finds her a couple of hours later in her closet. "What the hell Felicity! I've been to this damn apartment twice looking for you and you've been sitting in your closet the whole time!" She puts her hand up to her ear before speaking, "Guys, I've got eyes on the package. She's secure. Roger."

"What the actual fuck?" Felicity looks up from the bottle of wine she's drinking straight from to her friend.

"We may have taken this who Operation thing a little too seriously. We were worried about you. I saw Dylan leave and then got no word from you, I assumed it didn't go so well." She moves to sit down in her closet with her.

"Why were you watching my apartment building?" Felicity lays her head on her friend's shoulder.

Sara sighs, "Thea."

"Say no more."

"What happened?" Sara inquires after a few moments of silence.

"I cheated on Dylan. He wanted to work through it. I broke up with him." She huffs, "In totally unrelated news, Satan is saving me a special seat right next to him in Hell."

Sara laughs, "Oh shut it, Smoak, people have done worse. At least you didn't marry him, knowing good and well you're in love with Oliver."

"He begged me to stay and I walked away from him. He asked me what I wanted and I told him I had to go. I broke his heart, Sara. No amount of being in love with him is going to change that now."

Sara rolls her eyes, "You're so dramatic. Just go back out there and tell him you were wrong. Boom. Answered your problem. You're welcome."

"You didn't see the look on his face. He's done."

Sara huffs, "Hold on." Her hand is back on her ear, "Thea, do you have eyes on Gilligan? Right. Copy that." She looks at Felicity, who is currently rolling her eyes, "Thea says he's drinking on the deck. Tommy introduced him to Adele and it's been a rough afternoon. That doesn't sound like someone who's over it and ready to move on. That sounds exactly like someone who's waiting for you to change your mind and come back."

Felicity sits up, "I don't know."

"Yes you do."

"I've been drinking. I can't drive."

Sara smiles, "Diggle is down front waiting for you."

Felicity leans her head back against the wall, "You know, you're doing a real shitty job of helping me wallow in self pity like a good best friend should. You didn't bring ice cream or Nicolas Sparks movies. There is no Chinese take out or hard liquor. A poor excuse of a friend is what you are."

Sara stands up, "All of that will be waiting here if things don't work out. But it's only acceptable to wallow in self pity if you've done all you can. And quite frankly, I've only seen a B+ effort from you." She reaches out her hand and Felicity takes it.

"Bitch."

"Yeah well." Sara smiles, "Come on, lets fix the hot mess express you call your hair and outfit and then let's go get your man."

An hour later, Felicity, Sara, and Diggle find themselves standing in front of the beach house.

They make their way to the front door and decide to go on in without knocking. Felicity turns the corner into the kitchen and finds Thea pouring a glass of wine. "You're not 21."

And then the wine is all over the floor, "Holy shit! Dammit Lis, look what you made me do. Lis? Lis! Oh yes yes yes YES, I knew you'd be back!" Thea pulls Felicity into a tight hug.

"Where is he?" Felicity asks.

Thea gestures towards the back door, "Out on the deck."

She takes a deep breath, "Okay, thanks." She begins making her way to the door when Thea grabs her hand.

"Hey, I hate to ask this, but, do you think you could wait like 5 minutes? I know this is a bad time, but Tommy is in the shower, and , I mean, he did drive all the way out here for this. I'd hate for him to miss it."

Felicity just looks at the younger Queen.

"No? Okay sorry, just throwing it out there. Totally uncalled for. Proceed." She gestures towards the doors again.

Felicity resists the urge to chuckle. If Thea was good for something, it was releasing tension.

She puts a hand on the door knob. She takes a deep breath and steps outside.

"I told you, Thea, I'll come in when I'm ready."

"It is getting cold out, you should really listen to your sister."

Oliver freezes. This was not real. This could not be happening. She left him. She chose the other guy. He slowly looks up to meet her gaze. She's really here.

"What? I mean how? I mean, why are you here?" He manages to ask.

Felicity shrugs her shoulders, "I asked where could I find the most infuriating, exasperating, maddening human being on the planet and I was led straight to you.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

He stands up, there is a long stretch of silence, "You sure?"

"Yes."

"It's going to be hard." He moves in front of her.

"I know." She smiles.

"The island. It changed me. I'm not the 17 year old you fell in love with. I'm darker and colder and if you were smart you'd-"

She reaches up and cups the side of his face, "Well then I guess I'm not very smart, because I'm not going anywhere. It's you. I love you, Oliver. I never stopped."

He takes a deep breath and puts his hand over hers on his face, "I love you. I'll never stop loving you."

"That's what I'm counting on."

He closes the space between them with a slow, intoxicating kiss. The kind of kiss that makes you light headed and your knees weak. He kissed her like she was a glass of water after he'd been in the desert for days. Desperate but controlled. He wanted to savor every drop. He wanted to remember every second of this kiss. This was a once and a life time kind of moment.

They stood there for a while, wrapped in each other's embrace, before finally coming up for air.

Felicity speaks up first, "Wow, not for the first time today."

"Hopefully not for the last time." He looks down at her as a wave a desire sparks in his eyes. "I believe you said I didn't have to wait five more years for you, am I correct?"

She laughs, "Why yes, I do believe I said that."

She turns around and opens the door. Four bodies cascade on top of each other in front of her.

"Fucking fuck!"

"My hand, THAT'S MY HAND!"

"I'm on the bottom, how did I end up on the bottom!?"

"Dammit, Felicity! Pick one door. One. Door." It's Thea that get's up first. She huffs and smooths the wrinkles out of her blouse. "Left or right, blondie. Pick one door."

Felicity throws her head back and laughs. These are her people. She looks back at Oliver. This is her life. And for the first time in five years, she is whole again.