Work Text:
Megan Carter: the new identity that Felicity was given in witness protection. Her name wasn’t the only thing she had to change about herself; her physical appearance had changed drastically too. She had ditched the glasses for contact lenses and her oh-so blonde hair now had streaks of pink in them. She wondered why she settled for pink because she had always been a purple kind of girl. Her wardrobe which mainly consisted of dresses paired with high heeled Louboutins was replaced with flannels and flats. The most obvious and certainly one of the hardest changes for her was letting go of her wedding band. Just looking at her bare hand left her with a heavy heart. Although, more so from the outside, she was a completely different person now.
About two hours ago, she was attacked by Diaz in her new home with William. A cozy little apartment that they spent weeks decorating was now torn apart in the midst of her escape. She had gotten pretty used to it and almost felt bad for calling it home. Because home is so much more than just a few brick walls and a rooftop. It’s a place offering you haven, protecting you from the burdens of this world. Home is a person, a feeling, that fills your heart with love and warmth. The feeling that you cherish forever. Her husband used to be her home. So, was it really a home without him being there or was she simply trying to move on and make peace with the fact that she was never getting her real home back?
Good things never really stayed in her life for long, she thought to herself. Maybe one day they will, but that day was not today.
The only thing she knew was that she needed to get them to safety so what she did was, drive her and William out of Hope Springs.
Five long months had passed with no sign of Diaz until now. She contemplated whether she should go see Oliver or not, now that her secret identity was no longer a secret anymore. As much as she was dying to see her husband, she couldn’t help but think what she would say to him. There weren’t just five months between them now. The perfectly constructed walls built around her heart to protect her were back up. They only ever came down for him. Where there used to be love was now sadness, anger and longing for something she knew she could no longer have. The love she felt for him was not gone, surely lost, but not gone. How was she supposed to face him like this, with so much frustration boiling in her blood? How was she supposed to find the love that she somehow lost in these five months? After much contemplation, it was obvious that her choices were extremely limited. She had to go see him, no matter how hard it would be. She had to do this. Therefore, she made her way to Slabside Maximum Security Prison.
_____________________________
She settles herself on the cold, metal seat and picks up the phone, immediately feeling a sense of deja vu. Not long ago were Cooper and her in this exact position. She couldn’t help but experience a familiar pang of heartache. However, she had to shove those feelings away and bury them deep inside. It wasn’t the time to huddle up in a ball of emotions.
She could swear her heart skipped a beat when she saw her husband, the man she had loved since she first laid eyes on, all bruised up with so much intensity and not even a sliver of hope in his eyes.
“Hi” she managed to let out.
“Hey. I wasn’t expecting you to be here. Is everything okay?” he replies, surprised to see her.
“I just- I didn’t know where else to go. Diaz found us.”
His body goes stiff.
“Did he do that to you?” he asks, studying the bruises on her face with his eyes wide open.
She nods, unable to say anything.
“I swear to god, I’m going to kill him!”
“Oliver, please. This isn’t the time to be emotional. We both know that there’s not much that you can do from in there.”
He knew she was right but her words still stung.
“I want you to tell me what to do. William is pretty shaken up. John and Lyla are out of town and they won’t pick up my calls. Maybe Diaz got to them too. I don’t know where to go.”
William . Oh, how he missed his little boy.
“Is he here?” he asks, voice shaking.
“Who, William? Yes. He’s just outside. I thought it would be best if he didn’t see you like this.”
A pause.
“Felicity...I really don’t know what to say to you. I’m so sorry for putting you in such a position. All I ever wanted was to keep my family safe i-“
“You know what, Oliver? Family is supposed to stick together. You don’t just leave your family high and dry like this. You just couldn’t stop to think for a minute about what would become of us without you? You made one of the biggest decisions of your life without saying so much as a word to me and the worst part is that I didn’t even get to be mad. I didn’t even get to grieve properly because besides myself, I have a teenage boy to look after,” she lashes out, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Keeping you in the dark was one of the biggest mistakes of my life and I will never forgive myself for it. I miss you and William so much, every day. I don’t even get to have a semblance of peace in here. The people that I’m locked up with are the ones that I put away myself. They hate my guts and have no mercy. I don’t eat. I don’t sleep. The only time I ever manage to sleep a little is by staring at your and William’s picture that I keep with me at all times. It’s the only thing keeping me from losing my mind right now. I know what I did was unforgivable but please, please don’t hate me. That’s a burden I will never be able to live with.” He swallows hard.
“I know we got married because that’s what I wanted. I’m sorry for forcing you into i-“
“Oliver, you didn’t force me into doing anything and I don’t hate you. What are you saying.” She cuts in.
“Please, just hear me out,” he says, in a low voice.
“What I did cannot be undone but I swear, I will never ever hurt you again. I can talk to my lawyer Jean and arrange the paperwork. I know you’ve always wanted more to life than I could offer. You deserve a better, blissful life and I will never come in the way of your happiness.”
“W-What? You want a separation?”
Felicity could feel her heart shattering into a gazillion pieces.
“I mean, isn’t that what you came here to say to me? I know you can’t live like this forever,” he replies, slightly confused.
“No? I came here to talk to you because I had nowhere else to go.”
“So what do you want then?” he asks.
“At this point, I really don’t know what I want anymore. What I wanted was to spend the rest of my life with you and with William. I’m sorry for what I said earlier. It wasn’t fair of me. I was really mad at you and I had to let it out but I never would’ve thought you wanted to leave me.”
She chokes on her own words.
“No! I would never. Felicity, you are my heart and soul. There is no me without you,” he states.
“Then why did you say something like that? Oliver, I didn’t marry you to leave you one day. I’m glue. I’m not going anywhere.”
A palpable sense of relief washes over him.
“I promise we’ll figure something out. For the time being, I want you to call Barry and take William and yourself to Central City, just as long as John is out of town. I’ll try to get in touch with him. Destroy your cell phone as Diaz might be able to track your location that way. Try calling John when you stop for gas on your way. It would be safer using a payphone and please be careful.”
“Okay,” she replies.
“I know the timing is pretty off but are you sure you will be alright?”
“Honestly, I don’t know, but I know one thing for sure, I have to fight back,” she says, firmly.
He nods.
“Thank you for always believing in us and for always being there for me,” he says, smiling at her.
Felicity gives him a soft smile and almost hangs up when she hears Oliver whisper into the phone:
“I love you.”
Those three words are enough to make her heart melt. All she wanted to do was touch him and feel him against her skin. An hour long hug was something she could really use at the moment but as much as she hated it, there really was a plexiglass separating them.
“You know, i would’ve said it back but I won’t, not until you shave that crap off of your face,” she teases, trying to lighten the mood.
He bursts out laughing.
“What?!”
“Oh you heard me, mister.”
“What, you don’t like it?” he says, stroking his goatee as though it were the first time he had noticed it being there.
“Absolutely not! Are you even the man that I married?”
“Well, I don’t remember marrying a girl with pink hair either.” Felicity narrows her eyes at him.
“I’m just kidding! I would recognise those eyes anywhere. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even pay attention to it but I promise you, the next time you come see me, it’ll be gone,” he says.
At that instant, it hits her that she’ll only ever get to see her beautiful man behind a glass wall and it makes her feel sick to her stomach.
“Good,” she adds.
He smiles.
“Hey, Oliver?” she whispers.
“Yes?”
“I love you too. Always and forever,” she says, and turns to go.
The line disconnects and he watches her leave, hoping she would turn back but she doesn’t.
Felicity was left with no choice but to be strong. Not only for herself, but also for William whom she loved deeply. Days of being vulnerable were long gone. Megan Carter was nowhere to be found because in that moment, Felicity Smoak was reborn. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to get her husband out of this hellhole and make Diaz pay for what he had done. It was time to fight back.
_______________________