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“What’s happening to Ray is my fault!” Felicity cried, her eyes filling with unshed tears as her mind replayed the desperate face of the man she’d seen only minutes earlier on her computer screen; the man they all thought had died in an explosion five months earlier.
Oliver’s face softened as he gently shook his head, reaching for her. “Felicity…”
But she didn’t hear whatever he was about to say because her mind was spinning with the same phrase, over and over. It was her fault.
She’d injected Ray with the nanites when he’d been in the hospital. She had left town and hadn’t even thought to try and help look for him. She had given up on him when he’d never given up on trying to help them.
A gasping sob left her lips as the feeling of deep failure washed over her.
Closing her eyes, she rested her elbows on her knees, dropping her head down as she fought back the tears threatening to fall.
“Hey,” Oliver’s gentle rasping voice broke through the steady buzzing noise that had started in her ears as soon as Ray’s video had gone silent.
His hands landed over hers, pulling them away from her face. She took a gasping breath and focused on his soothing voice.
“Hey, Felicity…”
She felt his hands grasping hers, the rough pads of his fingers running over the backs of her knuckles as he squeezed them gently, coaxing her without words to look up at him.
Slowly, she did, a sheen of tears blurring his face that was now inches from hers as he knelt in front of her on the floor.
Releasing one of her hands, he reached up and cupped her cheek, swiping away the errant tears that had escaped.
When she could finally see him clearly, she took a deep breath and focused solely on him.
Only then did he speak.
“This is not your fault.”
The rebuttal was quick on her lips, but he shook his head as she opened her mouth.
“No,” he said with determination, “You couldn’t have known what those nanites would do, and you told me that he wanted you to do that. He asked you to do that - to save his life. And you did, Felicity. You saved his life. If he’d been unable to transform or whatever happened to him, he would be dead right now…but he’s not.”
“But he’s not himself...and I don’t know how to fix that, Oliver,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “I don’t know how to help him.”
“So we find people that can help us help him,” he replied, squeezing her hand.
Her brow furrowed until she realized the people he meant. S.T.A.R. Labs, which was no more, but Barry and Caitlin and Cisco - they would help her. They could fix this.
Together, they would fix this.
Felicity released a ragged breath, letting her head fall forward until it rested against Oliver’s.
Releasing her other hand, he brought it up to the other side of her face and tilted her head back so he could press a soft kiss to her temple.
“We’re going to help him, Felicity,” he said, and she knew it was a vow.
“He helped save your life,” she whispered, “He helped get you back to me.”
“I know,” he smiled, remembering the moment he’d looked up after landing on the roof of Palmer Tech and expecting to see Ray’s face in the ATOM suit, only to find Felicity’s smiling face instead.
He’d let her use his suit, helped them defeat Ra’s al Ghul and save the city. They would do whatever they could to help save him.
With catlike ease, Oliver rose to his feet and pulled her with him, reaching around to her desk behind them. She smiled when she felt him slip her phone into her hand, leaning up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips.
“Thank you,” she murmured against his mouth, and he smiled in reply as she pulled back and found Barry’s number in her phone.
His hands never left her shoulders as she listened to the ringing, her body sinking back into the familiar warmth of him, thankful for his support.
Barry picked up after the third ring.
“Felicity!” he greeted her with his usual cheeriness. “It’s so good to hear from you. I thought you and Oliver…”
“Barry, we’re back in Star City and we need your help” she interrupted, not able to wait any longer, the need to start their search as soon as possible swimming through her veins. “It’s…”
Her next words died on her lips as a gust of wind brushed past her, a few papers fluttering into the air beside her desk. Her mouth was still open, ready to finish her sentence when she turned to find Barry standing next to her, alarm clearly written on his face as he looked around for whatever threat might be there.
“Ray…” she finished lamely, shaking her head and snapping herself back into the present as she hit the end button on her phone.
“Oliver,” Barry greeted, holding out his hand, his lips twitching in slight amusement.
She watched as Oliver reached around her, meeting the outstretched hand with his own. “Barry.”
“I thought you two left the city and went on vacation or something. Digg said something about the suburbs and Thea mentioned you cooking…” he said, looking over at Oliver with a slight frown as if the idea of him in the kitchen was something too foreign to even process.
Oliver’s eyes narrowed slightly before he released a huff of air, shaking his head before his smile grew.
Felicity broke the silence, speaking up as she walked up to Barry, “We were, but we’re back because, as usual, someone is trying to terrorize the city, but that’s not why I called you. I actually need all of you - Cisco and Caitlin…”
Before she could finish, another gust of wind sent the last remaining papers sitting on her desk to the ground, and before she could turn to Oliver, Barry was back, carrying Caitlin who he set gently on her feet before disappearing and reappearing in another instant, with Cisco.
“Barry!” Caitlin shouted, smacking him on the arm. “I’ve told you not to do that,” she chastised, putting her hand to her head as she swayed slightly.
“I need a warning,” she reminded him, holding up her finger as he opened his mouth to respond. “And ‘Felicity needs you’ one second before you pick me up is not enough.”
Barry, for his part, looked slightly chagrined, bowing his head as he looked up at the brown-haired woman apologetically.
Caitlin sighed and straightened her skirt before turning to take in her surroundings. Her eyes lit up when she saw Felicity and ran to her, wrapping her in a big hug.
Felicity smiled into the embrace, happy to see her friend once more.
“I didn’t know you guys were back in town!” she exclaimed, before releasing her and stepping back.
“It was kind of sudden,” Felicity stated before clasping Caitlyn’s hand in her own. “We heard about Ronnie, though. Caitlyn, I’m so sorry.”
The other woman smiled, tears shimmering in her eyes. “Thank you. I still miss him, but I know he didn’t regret the choice he made.”
Felicity smiled, her heart lodged in her throat, remembering what it felt like when she’d thought Oliver had died, and she squeezed her friend’s hand even harder.
“Ronnie was a good man,” Oliver stated quietly, stepping up behind Felicity.
“He was,” Caitlyn agreed, “And thank you. Both of you.”
Clearing her throat, she looked around the new lair, her eyes widening as she took it all the new equipment.
“Wow,” she exclaimed. “It turned out great! I’m slightly jealous…”
Cisco grinned from where he stood a few feet away before looking behind Felicity and Caitlyn to Oliver.
“How do you like your new suit?” he asked, unable to keep the child-like glee from his voice. “It looks amazing on you. We saw your broadcast a few weeks ago come across our networks. The Green Arrow. I approve!”
Felicity looked towards Oliver who was giving Cisco an amused look.
Before he could say anything, the younger man continued, turning back to Felicity. “By the way, how are the other specs we talked about recently working out?”
“Thankfully, we haven’t had to test them yet, but otherwise no problems,” Felicity reported, before turning her attention back to her computer desk.
“When I told Barry I needed your help, I didn’t think he’d bring you...well, right away, but since you’re here…”
“Oh yeah, what’s up, Felicity?” Cisco asked, moving to stand by her, Caitlin flanking her other side while Barry watched over Caitlin’s shoulder.
She felt Oliver hand on her waist from behind her, offering her his silent, steady support as she clicked play on the video transaction she’d received from Ray.
His panicked voice hit her again, and she shivered, stepping back slightly until she could feel Oliver’s hands land on her shoulders.
His plea for help ended the recording and all four of them stood in silence.
“Woah…” Cisco finally said, and Felicity could tell his mind was spinning until a huge grin broke out across his face. “He did it! I can’t believe it! He actually did it!”
“Cisco, what are you talking about?” Caitlin immediately asked, one of Felicity’s hands finding Oliver’s and holding on tightly.
The younger man ran his hands through his hair, his face alight with wonder and awe.
“He’d been working on a formula to manipulate atoms…” Cisco began, launching into the studies that Felicity had superficially known Ray was attempting.
However, she hadn’t known that this effect was something he’d been experimenting with.
She heard the word nanites and her ears perked up, turning towards Cisco.
“I injected him with those,” she said, and Cisco’s eyes went wide.
“That’s how he did it!” he cried. “The nanites allowed the structural make-up of the atoms in his body to shrink...he’s literally the size of an atom!”
She felt Oliver shift behind her, and knew he was trying to take all of this information in and make sense of it.
“Okay, so why can’t he just...undo what he did?” Oliver asked slowly.
Cisco walked over to Felicity’s computer station.
“Do you have his experimental logs and data?” he asked quickly.
She nodded, stepping up to the computer and typing in a few commands, bringing up all the files that she’d managed to salvage from the Palmer Tech servers, including his private files that were on a super-encrypted drive.
Caitlin moved up behind him as Cisco scrolled through the notes, beginning to type in his own commands.
Felicity watched, helping when she could, as she, Barry, Caitlin and Cisco quickly found the files they needed - they were some of the last ones that Ray had worked on before he’d disappeared.
“I’m going to need some time to look at these, but, if I’m right, I think he might not know how to control the nanites in his body. But there has to be a way…” Cisco began, Caitlin pointing out something over his shoulder.
“What about that file?” she said, squinting her eyes as she began to read through it.
“The nanites in his body reacted to whatever chemical reaction he set off in his lab at the time of the explosion; they were dormant before that so if we can figure out what reaction set them off, maybe we can reverse it to make him big again,” Caitlin explained as Cisco typed, Felicity nodding her head.
“We have to find him first and figure out how to communicate with him,” she said, sifting through ideas and code in her head for something that could help them.
The second her brain landed on a possible solution, she was halfway to her chair, her fingers flying over the keyboard before the wheels had come to a stop.
“If we can set up a video link that can somehow communicate on his molecular level, we can talk to him and figure out how to help him. From the video he sent us, he’s somewhere in Palmer Tech. My guess is he didn’t go far which considering how small he is right now, this room would be the Sahara Desert…”
An hour later, Barry, Cisco and Caitlin said their goodbyes, with promises to contact her as soon as they figured out a possible solution.
Felicity thanked them again, Oliver shaking Barry’s hand before Barry took the both back, one by one.
Barry came back once more after he’d taken both Cisco and Caitlin.
“I’m really glad you both are back,” he said, smiling at them.
Felicity hugged him tightly, thanking him for coming and for all of their help.
“Of course,” he replied. “That’s what we do, right? We have kind of a superheros league....We have each other’s backs.”
Oliver sighed and Felicity chuckled, grinning up at him, her smile widening when she saw the amusement on Oliver’s face as well.
“See you around, Barry,” Oliver told him, clapping a hand on his shoulder.
“You too,” Barry replied, before was gone, his voice echoing around the lair, “And thanks for the postcards. They were great!”
When they were left alone once more, Felicity let out a deep breath, smiling softly at Barry’s parting words.
She stepped up to Oliver, wrapping her hands around his arm as she leaned into his side.
“Thank you,” she murmured, letting her head sink to his shoulder.
He turned, arms slipping around her waist as he pulled her flush against him.
“We’re going to figure this out, Felicity,” he told her, running his hands up and down her back.
She nodded into his chest, burrowing further into his chest and soaking up the comfort he always willingly offered.
Two hours later, barely able to keep her eyes open, Oliver had convinced her to come home. With Curtis’s help, they’d put together an algorithm that she believed would be able to reach Ray so they could try and communicate, and once that was done, there was nothing more to do except wait.
As she readied for bed that night, her mind continued to wander to what Ray was going through, worrying about if he was truly alright or if they’d waited too long. She forced herself to trust herself and the amazing team they had working together.
When she stepped out of the bathroom and into their master bedroom, she found Oliver lying horizontally on the bed in only his low-slung sweatpants, his eyes closed. She watched his chest rise and fall evenly and knew he was asleep.
He’d been working himself ragged ever since he’d declared his intentions to run for mayor. Between his day and night work, he’d been falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Or in this case, the bed.
She’d only stepped into the bathroom for a minute to throw on her leggings and the favorite old t-shirt of his that she’d taken to wearing to bed, but it had been enough time for Oliver to pass out as he waited for her.
She smiled, her glasses still perched on her nose as she sank down on the plush mattress, tugging her ponytail loose and letting her hair fall over her shoulders.
Not having the heart to wake him, she laid down horizontally so her head was in line with his and turned her face to watch him.
Her eyes traced over his features. His hair stuck out in all directions from where he’d run his hands through it earlier that night. She followed the line of his brow to his eyes, closed in sleep, his long lashes brushing his tanned skin; down the slope of his nose to the stubble that covered his cheeks, following his jaw to his chin. She loved that stubble and the feel of it against her skin.
She found her gaze straying to his lips, curved up in a soft smile. He looked peaceful. Happy.
Her heart swelled with love.
She cherished these moments, when the outside world fell away and it was just them.
As much as she’d longed for the rush of Team Arrow when they’d been living in Ivy City, she found herself longing to wake in their suburban bedroom, the late morning light splashing across them as the slept, only the pull of brunch or a neighborhood barbeque to get them out of bed.
However, she found those moments right here, in their bedroom, curled up in their bed, arms and legs intertwined as they slept. And for a few hours, it was just them. All the outside problems disappeared, and they were just Oliver and Felicity.
She lifted her hand, trailing it over the top of his head, leaning forward to kiss his chin as he slept.
He mumbled something in his sleep, smile widening before his eyes blinked open.
“Hey,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.
“Hey,” she replied, softly.
Today again proved how much she loved him. He’d stood by her through her doubts, reassured her and helped her figure out the next steps. He wasn’t just the man she loved, he was her partner.
His eyes trailed over her face much as she’d done to him a few minutes earlier before he leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose.
She chuckled, angling her face so that her lips found his. He caught her lower lip between his own as her nose bumped his chin, and their tongues tangled as he took her breath away with his kiss.
They fit. No matter what angle or what life threw at them or what challenge they would face next, they would do it together because they had always been better together.
And she knew there was no place else she’d rather be than curled up in their bed, in his arms.
She’d done everything she could for today, and he’d reassured her of that fact as they’d entered the apartment.
Tomorrow, they’d face the world outside their window. A world of new villains and superhero leagues. For now, they’d just be Oliver and Felicity. A league of their own.