Chapter Text
Felicity wakes up with a funny taste in her mouth and a pounding in her head. She hears beeping and distant voices. Someone is holding her hand, Oliver. She tries to wiggle her fingers. Open her eyes. He must be worried. She falls back asleep
She awakes again. He's still there. She forces her eyes open. And rasps—“water.” Oliver glances over quickly. He looks tired, and older somehow. He sighs a relieved breath and Diggle, sitting on the couch across the room, gets a glass of water from the sink in Felicity’s room and calls for the nurse.
With Oliver’s help, Felicity takes a careful sip of the water. She is about to ask what happened when the nurse hurries in. “Hi Ms. Smoak,” the red-haired nurse greets, “How're you feeling? You've been out of it for a little while.” “Alright I think,” Felicity responds, then pauses and adds “My head is killing me.” As the nurse increases the pain medication dosage in her IV she says, “okay, sweetie. This should help with the pain. I'll get your doctor to look in. I’m Brooke, if you need anything.”
Felicity turns to her boys—“Oliver, how long have I been out? You guys look worried.” Oliver stays silent and stares out the window with a harrowed look on his face. Diggle responds carefully “three days.” Felicity is surprised. It’s not that three days is a short amount of time, but based on the looks on their faces, she’s been out for months.
“Have you been here with me? Where are we on catching Prometheus?” Oliver's eyes go wide. He exchanges a look with Diggle, then, mutters something about needing some air before leaving the room. Felicity stares at the door dumbly for a few minutes before her eyes start to droop. “Diggle, what did I say? I don’t under—yawn—stand.” “Don’t worry, Felicity. Just rest for a few minutes. I’ll be here.”
When Felicity wakes up this time, she immediately asks what was going on. Diggle waits for a moment before asking—“you, uhhh what do you remember?” She needed answers. Both Oliver and Digg were acting strange. “What are you talking about?” she asks. “We were working to track down Prometheus. I'm assuming that's how I ended up here. It was our nighttime activities, wasn't it?”
Diggle shakes his head in apparent disbelief before Oliver walks back in. “Hey man,” Diggle says, “I think...” “Oliver, please,” Felicity interrupts. “What's going on? Please. You aren't even looking at me.” Oliver finally made eye contact with her. His eyes were so sad. He looked lost. Confusion settles in—she was fine; why was he so worried. She suddenly gasps, “was I alone? Oh no! Was Laurel hurt? Roy?” Diggle shakes his head and Felicity takes a breath, “I love you, Oliver. We'll be okay. No matter what. We can get through this together.”
Oliver’s brow furrows at her words. Before Felicity could fully register his expression, a doctor walks in. She has hazel eyes and dark skin with a soft smile on her face. “Hi Ms. Smoak. I'm Dr. Green. How are you feeling?” “Well,” Felicity responds, “my head is still pounding and I'm feeling very drowsy.” Dr. Green scans through the chart, “I think the nurse already upped your painkillers. I think we should get an MRI to check for further head trauma. Do you remember the car crash?” Felicity tries to focus on the last thing she can recall. “Ummm… no. The last thing I remember is Oliver and I going to bed after we watched Doctor Who.” Dr. Green looks over at Oliver, who shakes his head.
Everyone’s behavior causes Felicity to start rambling as panic sets in—“Doctor Who, you know? It's a British show. It was Oliver's first time watching it, which is crazy because it's basically an institution. I know that there’s the classic series and the new series, and I didn’t really know where to start with Oliver, but I figured he would identify more with the ninth doctor because he’s got this…”
At this point, Diggle clears his throat. Felicity turns to him and says—“will someone please tell me why you're all looking at me like that? Oliver? Diggle?” Dr. Green speaks up—“Ms. Smoak, we'll know more once the MRI comes in.”
Oliver, then, speaks up for the first time since she woke up. “That was months ago. We... I... That had to have been at least six months ago.” Felicity's mouth falls open in shock. Dr. Green says that a nurse will be by soon to schedule the MRI. Diggle follows her out, and tells them he would be right outside.
Felicity sputters “you must be wrong. It just happened. We watched it; you liked his leather jacket, remember? We were so exhausted after Prometheus shot up that law office the night before, but you said we were watching because you promised we would... You.. You…”
Oliver gulps before taking a deep breath. “Prometheus is gone. He killed Thea. He knew that would break me, and he was right.”
Tears start to build in Felicity's eyes. “Oh my God, Oliver. I'm so sorry.” She reaches for his hand. He twitches like he means to pull away, but let's her hold his hand. His feels limp and cold. Not warm and reassuring like it does in her memory.
“Felicity,” Oliver starts, “we aren't... I'm here because I'm still your emergency contact. I guess you never changed it after...”
“After what, Oliver? What do you mean? We… we’re still together…” Oliver looks her in the eyes briefly before dropping his eyes to the floor and shaking his head. He gently removes his hand from hers and heads out the door.