Hello Readers! This is a one shot of Oliver, Felicity and Diggle after State vs. Queen and before the next episode, the Scientist. I tried to keep the dynamic between Oliver and Felicity as close to the plot line as possible, so it's not really Olicity. (Although I do sort of ship them) Please read, review and most importantly, enjoy!

-warehouseluver13

Oops! Almost forgot! I don't own Arrow, it belongs to The CW, and I don't own these characters, DC COMICS (& The CW) do.

The After Effect

After she finished giving her statement to QC security, Felicity hurried out to the employee parking lot in an attempt to drive home to her apartment. However, the walk to her car seemed infinite, and haunted by the ghostly touch of The Count's hands on her shoulders and hair. Felicity managed to unlock her car and sit down in the driver's seat; she was only able to think about how Oliver had come for her, like he always does, but this time it was different. This time, he had broken his vow to Tommy and killed for her. That weighed her down the most, because she has seen Oliver struggle to come to terms with all the blood he has on his hands already. However, she pushed that thought out of her mind for now. She saw that concerned look on Oliver's face after he killed The Count, knowing fully well that even after she convinced him to go back to his mother's trial to not raise suspicion of his disappearance, he would pop by her apartment after the trial was over. And if she wasn't in her apartment when he stopped by to visit, he would tear Starling City apart just to find her and make sure she was okay.

Felicity turned the key in the ignition to start her car and head for home. She desperately needed at least a three hour bath to try to wash the eerie touch of The Count off of her. Although, in her mind she knew three hours of soaking wouldn't be enough to remove the touch of The Count. At least for now.

Felicity entered her apartment and checked all the rooms to see if any of them were broken into before heading to her bathroom to take a bath. She created plans to burn the clothes that she was wearing later. An hour into her bath, her cell phone rang- she glanced at the caller ID and was relieved to see that it was not Oliver calling, but Diggle. She answered the call.

"Hey Diggle. Yes, I'm fine as you probably know, alive and in one piece too," she said.

"That's a relief to hear. When Oliver stopped by the foundry to suit up before coming to rescue you, he started yelling at me for letting for you go investigate on your own in the first place. I reminded him that I was still on the mend from the vertigo flu shot, and I wasn't really strong enough to keep you in the foundry until he got back from his mother's trial. So I was just calling to tell you how horrible I feel for not trying hard enough to stop you,"

Felicity was silent for a moment before answering. "Diggle, it's not your fault. I should have listened to you and stayed in the foundry. I should have waited for Oliver to return from his mother's trial and let him go investigate the clinic. However, when I decided to go investigate the clinic for Oliver, it was just on good intentions since he always works so hard to juggle his double life. Yet, I didn't expect The Count to be lying in wait at the clinic, possibly waiting for the Vigilante to show up. To top it off, when Oliver came to rescue me, he broke his vow he made to Tommy and killed him,"

"Felicity, I'm absolutely sure that when Oliver rescued you, he told you that given any day, he would throw his vow he made to Tommy out the window if it came down to between you living or dying at the hands of a madman. Out of everything else in the world, Oliver would most definitely put your life ahead of anything else he valued. When he knows you're not looking at him, he stares at you sadly sometimes with a look of regret of his face. I think he regrets dragging you into his double life of Oliver Queen and the Vigilante,"

"Well, Oliver can think what he wants, but at least he doesn't need to use those BS excuses anymore when he needs something analyzed or fixed, such as 'his laptop with bullet holes.' Besides, I could have left after we found and rescued Walter. Actually, that was what I was originally planning to do. Yet during the time it took to find Walter, I noticed that every time Oliver put on his hood to go off and save Starling City, he became someone else; and that person needed someone besides John Diggle to ground him when he came back from his mission of the day. To remind him that reality does exist, even if he has to walk around as Oliver Queen, CEO of Queen Consolidated by day, and become the Vigilante by night,"

"Oh so you're saying that you felt sorry for me? Well it was getting pretty lonely in the foundry with Oliver. Also, is that the only reason why you stayed?"

Felicity laughed. "I could also say that I stayed because both of you don't know how to handle a computer, and that just hurts me in my soul,"

Diggle chuckled. "Okay Felicity. Well, I'll let you go now so you can go back to whatever you doing before I called. Oliver will probably swing by your apartment anyways to check up on you himself. You know how sensitive he gets about you, especially when he just had to leave you there to deal with QC security and go back to his mother's trial to try to act as if nothing had happened,"

"Trust me Diggle, I know. Which is why I drove back to my apartment to take a bath before he stops by. I'm pretty sure if I wasn't here when he stops by tonight, Starling City would be at his mercy until he found me and made sure I was okay,"

Felicity's comment caused Diggle to laugh again. "You know Felicity, you are probably right. Anyways, see you tomorrow, bright and early,"

"Bye John," said Felicity as she hung up.

She placed her cell phone on the floor by her bathtub and stretched out to relax. She hoped to God she could relax in her tub for another hour before Oliver stopped by.

After listening to peaceful music for what seemed like forever, Felicity glanced at the digital clock on her cell phone. She sighed; the last hour of her bath had slipped by and the ghostly effect of The Count's hands were still on her hair and shoulders, but it was not as bad as it was before. She knew it was time to shower off so she could change into her favorite green flannel pajamas before Oliver decided to make an appearance.

She finished showering and crept over to her closet to change. After Felicity finished changing, she walked over to her small kitchen to make tea in an effort to calm her nerves. With a few short steps, she walked over to her living room, turned on the TV, and sat down on the couch. She curled up in a ball, and wrapped both hands around her mug before taking a sip. She stared blankly into space trying to ignore the local news; it was obviously broadcasting what went down at Queen Consolidated just a few hours earlier. In fact the only thing that brought her back to her senses was a loud knock on her apartment door. Felicity got up and looked though the peephole before answering the door. Oliver was standing in front of the door, still in his suit from the trial, with the most concerned look in his blue eyes she has probably ever seen since the doll-maker case. She opened the door to let him into her apartment.

"What, no window this time? You always seem to enter my apartment by climbing up the fire escape and through one of my unlocked windows," said Felicity, in an attempt to make a joke.

Oliver was not amused by her joke as he entered her apartment and scanned the rooms for any signs of broken entry before returning his gaze back to her.

"Are you all right?" Oliver asked softly, closing the amount of space between them.

Felicity sighed as she walked back over to the couch to sit down. Oliver joined her.

"You know… I could say that I'm all right, but then I would be lying. Since you usually know when someone is lying to you, I'm just gonna come out and say it- I'm not all right. Besides almost dying today, you had to kill The Count, and you had to break your vow you made to Tommy…"

Felicity trailed off and stared down into the tea in her mug.

She felt his warm hand touch her face. She allowed him to lift her face up so that she could look him in the eyes. Felicity stared into his serious blue eyes as he spoke.

"Felicity, there was no choice- I was not going to allow The Count to take your life. If I killed The Count the first time I encountered him, he would never have had the chance to take you captive. I saw how scared you looked earlier tonight; you wanted The Count to stop touching your hair and shoulders so badly, but at the same time you silently plead to me not to kill him because you knew of the vow I made to Tommy. I will always choose to save you over my vow to not kill anyone, because you are worth saving, Felicity Smoak,"

Felicity felt her face heat up as she blushed. She was officially speechless.

"I think it's safe to say that on my way out of Queen Consolidated tonight, I may have ran a magnet over the security tapes to erase the footage of your showdown with The Count," said Felicity, shivering after saying the dead drug lord's name.

"Thanks Felicity,"

"Not a problem, Oliver. So, John called me earlier to check in on me and he told me that you yelled at him for letting me go by myself to the clinic. I hope you know it wasn't his fault, Oliver. It was my choice to go, just like the time it was my decision to be bait for that doll-maker serial killer,"

Oliver inhaled sharply. "Digg knew when I walked into the foundry to suit up earlier, that my adrenaline was already spiking. He knew I would either punch him in the face for letting you go by yourself, or I would yell at him for not trying to call me after you left the foundry,"

Felicity nodded, grateful Oliver had chosen to deal with John in a non-violent way.

"How did your mother's trial go?" Felicity asked, as she got up to put her mug in the sink.

"Surprisingly, she got acquitted of all charges. I'd consider it a miracle, but…,"

"You think someone behind the scenes pulled some strings to get your mother off the hook," Felicity finished, sitting back down on the couch.

"Exactly,"

"So the Vigilante's question for tomorrow is who got Moria Queen off the hook for the murders of five hundred people during the Undertaking, and why," Felicity replied.

Oliver flashed a quick smile. "Yup,"

Felicity yawned and looked at the clock up on the wall- it was starting to get really late and she honestly needed sleep if she wanted to function properly tomorrow. Which really sucked, because she would rather like to stay up all night talking to Oliver than sleep and be plagued with nightmares of The Count. She would never admit this to Oliver, but she did like that her desk was just a few footsteps from his at Queen Consolidated. She felt safe when he was around her; especially here tonight after the showdown with The Count.

"You must be really exhausted after all the chaos that has happened today. You should really go to bed," Oliver suggested, as he took in her appearance for the first time, amused that she was wearing green pajamas.

Felicity stood up and stretched. "I guess that would be a good idea, since I need to be able to function for tomorrow,"

"Wait, you're coming into work tomorrow?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah. It beats staying here in my empty apartment alone, waiting for the hours of the day to pass," said Felicity.

"That does make sense. I was planning on sleeping on your couch tonight anyway, so if you do wake up during the night screaming, I'll be here to comfort you. And tomorrow, I'll talk to Digg and we can arrange sleeping schedules so that at least one of us will be here to comfort you until your nightmares pass,"

Felicity was in the middle of folding down her sheets, when she froze to process what Oliver had just said.

"There's no chance of arguing my way out of this is there?"

"Nope,"

Felicity stared at Oliver for a few seconds before walking over to her closet to grab a spare set of sheets for the couch and a pillow. She threw them in the direction of Oliver, who caught them with ease. He walked over to the couch to set up his temporary bed as Felicity turned off the lamp in her room.

"Oliver?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you," said Felicity, before turning over to go to sleep.

Oliver smiled in the direction of Felicity. He knew he didn't deserve her- he was a broken man who had been through unspeakable experiences. Felicity was too perfect in many countless ways; yet, he managed to drag her into his life- she had to witness and live through things a girl like her shouldn't have to experience. Ever since she joined Diggle and him on his crusade to save Starling City, he always has wondered what keeps her going everyday- Oliver Queen's assistant by day and the Hood's IT girl by night. The more he kept thinking about it, the more he realized that he may never know the answer to Felicity's strength she had in herself in an effort to lead a stable double life.

So, what did you think? Leave a review! Also, as you can tell, I had trouble writing an extremely talkative Felicity. (You know, the way she gets when she is around Oliver.) Also, let me know if you want me to do this one-shot from Oliver's POV, Diggle's POV or a deepened Felicity's POV. (In other words this one shot would be written more in 1st person)

Don't forget to leave a review!

-warehouseluver13