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Felicity dabbed at the cut on Felicity’s arm, blood staining the wet rag as she tried to clean the gravel out of it. Laurel winced each time the cloth dragged across it and looked pale from where she sat beside Felicity. “I’m sorry.” Felicity swore feeling bad as she pressed it down one more time before reaching for the bandage.
“It’s okay,” Laurel gave her a strained smile, trying to reassure her before her eyes strayed back to Felicity’s monitors. “Have you heard from them yet?”
Felicity could hear the worry in her voice, it echoed in her as well. “No,” she shook her head and started wrapping tightly, hands more deft then she’d ever expected them to be. She sucked at stitching though, if the cut had been any deeper both her and Laurel would be hurting pretty damn badly but for different reasons. “Oliver turned off his comm when he went into the base, Sara was supposed to check in 20 minutes ago.”
They’d gotten word that someone had been smuggling drugs through the Glades. Using the broken down building and desperate people to move their supply across the rest of the city. The only thing they'd been able to figure out after months of being on the case had been two different locations where the initial drops happened. Sara had had the information passed along to her from some of the homeless down there. So they’d split up, Oliver and Sara checking out the most suspicious one, and Laurel and Diggle taking the other. Felicity had been keeping an eye and ear on all of them.
Then Oliver and Sara had become unreachable and Diggle and Laurel had been attacked on their way back.
Things had certainly been worse before. Over the years almost every single one of them had dropped off the map, nearly died, or suffered extreme bodily harm – often all at the same time. It didn’t make it any easier.
“John told me he was following up on a lead, he said he’d check in with you once he got a secure line.” Laurel confessed taking a deep breath as Felicity finished tying off the bandage. The second Felicity had seen the cut on her arm she'd made her sit. They weren't in the habit of letting anyone walk around bleeding. Felicity flexed out the arm in question, putting it through a range of movements before standing to pull her chair closer to the bank of monitors Felicity had set up to keep track of things.
Felicity was already double checking her frequencies, moving over so Laurel could squeeze in beside her. It wasn't the first time they’d worked side by side. Laurel being brought in had been the tipping point, it had been when things had changed from just being her, Diggle, and Oliver – and had turned into a true team effort to protect Starling City. Afterwards, they'd learned Quentin Lance had already known. Sara had come back after taking care of her own problems, and Oliver's sister Thea and her boyfriend Roy had literally stumbled onto the truth and refused to leave.
Laurel had been the first one to truly change things. She had been like electricity burning through the group, she questioned Oliver at every turn, pushed him to double check his facts and didn’t stand for him lying to them when it suited him. Things had been tense for the first few months but the changes had been good.
Frankly, Felicity liked Laurel. It was nice having another woman around to break up the testosterone and as Oliver’s friend it had been good to see him loosen up a bit more. He’d started to look less like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. She liked have her and Sara around, for the first time in her life she had a solid group of friends who didn't look down on her or want anything from her.
It also helped that Laurel and Felicity got along pretty well. Thanks in large part to Laurel moving in with Felicity when her apartment had been set on fire.
“Hold on,” Felicity leaned forward fingers flying furiously over her keyboard “I got something.” She switched to one of their secure channels, running the decryption key they’d set up as an extra precaution.
“What is it?” Laurel leaned over her shoulder.
“Okay, got it.” Felicity moved aside showing Laurel the message “It’s an SOS from Diggle with a location. He found Oliver and Sara.” She stood, writing down the address and reaching for her phone to call Detective Lance. Roy and Thea were out of town so they were out, he was supposed to be running interference for them tonight with the police but options were limited.
“I can go.” Laurel grabbed the address out of her hand, already zipping up the black body armor she wore when out in the field. She still moved stiffly, having crashed out of a third story window.
Felicity didn’t even try to argue with her, having learned her lesson dealing with the people she worked with. She instead reached for a new comm, handing it to Laurel and helping her connect it. She tested it real quick, pressing a button to transit sound. Laurel gave her a thumbs up, reaching for the staff that had become the signature weapon of the Lance sisters.
Sara had been the one to teach her how to use it, the training sessions had helped heal the bond between the sisters faster than anything else could have.
“Be careful and bring them back.” Felicity watched Laurel get ready feeling nervous again.
“I will.” Laurel promised her with a smile, “I’ll check in as soon as I get there.”
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“Oh, you’d probably be right.” Diggle admitted tying off the last stich and setting the needle in the bowl of water Felicity had set beside him.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Sara came to stand beside her and Felicty moved back so Sara could take her place. Sara passed her a beer, smiling gratefully as she ran her hands across Oliver’s shoulders. He reached up one of his hands to catch her fingers in his.
“Good as new.” Oliver’s attention was all on Laurel now.
She smiled, turning from him back to Felicity. “I gave Laurel some files for you, apparently drugs hasn’t been the only thing they’ve been running.”
“Got it,” Felicity turned to head back to her work station. Laurel was bent over her desk, hair undone from the ponytail she had had it in and cascading down her shoulders as she spread manila envelopes over the surface.
Felicity set the beer down beside her and Laurel looked up, smile lighting up her face when she saw it was Felicity.
“I was just getting started on this for you.” She grabbed the beer twisting off the cap “It’s a lot to go through, I figured we could take some of it home.” She took a long sip before putting it back down, pushing it to the side.
Felicity took the seat beside Laurel already reaching for the one nearest to her “You know, I thought when I finished school I was done with homework.”