A/N: Wow... I can't believe this is actually over...

Like, seriously, I can't believe it. I keep feeling like I should add another chapter, or just one more scene, one more line. But it's done. This is the epilogue, the end... But first this chapter, enjoy!

Chapter 31: Epilogue

Felicity POV

It had been another of those days. Felicity dropped her bag by the door of her dorm room and let herself fall down onto her bed. While her computer programming and engineering classes were fun, they were also hard and challenging, and – most importantly – time consuming. She had two assignments to finish by next week, and Cooper had been a little whiney about the supervirus they were creating, but she just didn't have the time.

Felicity's phone buzzed, and she grinned as she read the text. Maybe she could postpone working on those assignments one more day. Grabbing her coat, she headed straight back out, where a sleek, black car was waiting for her. She slid inside without a second thought and grinned at the driver.

"Hey Lissa, how's it going?" Katie asked, a huge smile on her face.

Felicity reached over to hug her. "Great now that you're here! I can't believe you drove all the way out here."

Katie shrugged as she pulled out and started driving. "I don't mind."

"Only because you dropped out of college and now you're bored," Felicity teased.

Katie glanced at her friend for a moment before focusing back on the road. "So, I like the hair. Why black?"

"It has purple too," Felicity said defensively. Honestly, she hadn't been certain about it at first, but Cooper seemed to like it, and her new MIT friends had assured her it was really cool. But Felicity had grown to like it.

Laughing, Katie poked her friend. "It looks good. Have you thought of blonde, though? I seem to remember it going pretty well with that goddess dress…" she teased.

Felicity glared at her friend. "I'd never hear the end of it from my mother, no thank you. And that was a long time ago." With a pang, she remembered how much Oliver had seemed to like her blonde hair. It had been 4 years, and she was completely over him, but the way they ended things still didn't really sit right with her. Unfortunately, she also wasn't brave enough to call him and make up, even though Tommy had given her his newest cell phone number.

"So, where do you want to go?" Katie asked casually.

Felicity narrowed her eyes at her friend. "I thought you'd already picked a place to eat dinner?"

Shrugging, Katie took a turn. "Yeah, but my dads always taught me it's polite to ask anyway," she replied cheekily. "We're going to Wendy's."

"Seriously?" Felicity asked, a little incredulously. "Wendy's?"

"What? They have a really good salad!"

"If we're going to Wendy's, it should be because of their frosties, not the salad. It's a fast food restaurant, you have to get a burger," Felicity protested playfully.

Soon enough, they pulled into the parking lot and trudged inside. It was a warm day, and Felicity was glad to get out of the heat. She was still pestering Katie to get a burger when she noticed the TV behind the counter. "Excuse me, could you turn that up, please?" she heard herself ask the teenager behind the counter.

It was a news report, and Felicity didn't usually watch that, but for some reason, something about it tugged at her memories. "The Queen's Gambit went down somewhere in the North China sea. The wreckage itself has not been found, but it is believed that the owner of the craft, billionaire Robert Queen, his son Oliver Queen and family friend Sara Lance did not survive. A search and rescue mission is underway, but authorities are not optimistic about finding survivors. In other news…"

Felicity stopped listening. She stopped everything. Oliver was… How could Oliver be gone?

She'd told herself that she was over him, that she barely even thought about him anymore, but now… now she felt like she couldn't breathe. In a daze, she walked out of the restaurant and back to Katie's car, vaguely aware that her friend was calling her name. Felicity stared at her phone. When had she gotten that out? She pressed the call button, trusting that her fingers had dialed the right number.

The first thing she heard was a chuckle, and her she gasped, maybe…? "It's Oliver, leave a message." Hearing Oliver's voicemail dashed any hopes she still had. He sounded so… normal, so happy… so much like the Oliver she used to know.

With shaking fingers, Felicity dialed another, familiar number. "Tommy," she breathed when he picked up. "I'm so sorry."

There was noise on the other side of the line, and Felicity had no doubt that Tommy was in the Queen mansion, waiting for news along with the rest of the family. "I can't… he's gone, Felicity," Tommy said, his voice thick.

Felicity didn't cry. She had loved Oliver, but that was a long time ago. She was shocked, and sad for her friends, but she didn't cry.

After comforting Tommy and asking about Thea – who was inconsolable, of course – she hung up the phone. Though she hadn't talked to Oliver in the 4 years since FCA – the occasional Christmas card notwithstanding – he'd always been this big, invisible presence in her life. He was always in the tabloids, or on TV, and she heard about his exploits from Tommy and Thea… and now he was gone. Now Felicity would have to re-learn to live in a world without Oliver Queen, no matter how impossible a task that seemed.

Katie was there with a hug and a sympathetic smile, but she didn't say a word, not even as they drove back to Felicity's dorm room and ate pizza and Ben&Jerry's while watching a vaguely familiar Korean TV show that they didn't understand.

It was strange… For some reason, she had expected there to be… a shift in the earth, some kind of huge… something. But… it wasn't exactly nothing either. There was a small part of her heart, the part that had always, inexplicably been his, that was now empty, crying out for something that was not there anymore. And as she sat there, sitting on her bed with Katie, she rubbed at her heart, unconsciously hoping to soothe it back in its place, but somehow knowing… it never could again.

The End.

A/N: And now it's official. I actually get to mark this story complete.

Of course, I'm going to start the sequel after this, but still. Tell me what you loved, what you hated, who your favourite characters were, and who you disliked? I really want to know. Tell me the most memorable scene.

The sequel will be called "Never Forgotten from the quote "She who leaves a trail of glitter is never forgotten." Kudos to ThePrinceAlwaysGetsTheGirl for coming up with it!

Review replies:

Stacey: I love Tommy! No worries, he'll be in plenty of scenes in the sequel. No one can fool Felicity, but that's especially true for Oliver. I've actually written out that scene (more or less) already. I hope to put up the first chapter sometime this month, but I can't promise anything. I'll be sure to tag you on Twitter. Thanks so much for your reviews!

Viki: yeah, I suppose it's a little more extreme than slow burn, isn't it? I suppose it's kind of like Magma; it's way down deep in there, but it'll never fade or burn out. And with that, I guess it's kind of obvious it's past 2 am and that I need sleep :) Thanks so much for the review!

Krissie: Thank you!