Abducted

Chapter 23 - The Kiss

Oliver's POV (10 Minutes Earlier)

Oliver was hanging in the middle of the cell block, his arms stretched above his head putting pressure on his injured shoulder and pulling at the stitches in his side. He was just coming to after the curare finished its course through his system. He could still feel a bit of the effects in the fact that his muscles were still stiff. He could feel discomfort in his back and it took him only a moment to realize what had caused it. He felt the whip as it landed on his back, cutting a large gash into it as Malcolm roughly pulled it back again. He clamped down so that the scream that was making its way up would not actually come out.

When Oliver opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Felicity, his Felicity, chained to the wall. He watched as Malcolm took one of his arrows and taunted her with it, cut her with it. Malcolm was probably trying to make her fear arrows now and he was afraid it was going to work. He watched, helpless to do anything, as three arrows were fired at her before one finally pierced her. Oliver let out a scream as he watched the life draining from her as Malcolm simply walked away, laughing.

Oliver had to get to her, had to hold her before she was completely lost to him. He climbed the chains until he was over six feet off the ground before dropping himself to the floor breaking the chains in the process.

Suddenly Oliver was aware of everything that was around him. He could hear his Mom and Walter talking, a bow repeatedly launching arrows into metal, and metal on metal in a steady rhythm, it sounded like the salmon ladder. Lastly he heard the constant beeping of what sounded like a heart monitor. He also took stock of all his injuries, the whip cuts on his back, the burns on his chest and back, the gunshot wound in his side, the arrow wounds in his shoulder and his leg, and the sword cuts on his chest. He knew where each one of them was and he knew that they had all been tended to and even though each wound had been carefully cleaned and stitched as needed they had kept to their agreement and not administered any pain medication, he was in a terrible amount of pain from the injuries. As he lay there he simply listened, trying to identify who all was in the room. He heard Walter, his Mom, Roy was shooting the bow which would leave Sara on the Salmon Ladder and he heard Diggle walking around over by the bank of computers.

All of a sudden Oliver realized that he didn't hear Felicity. He again remembered her cry of pain as the arrow had lodged itself in her shoulder and he immediately had to find her. He sat up quickly and looked around, needing to find her, needing to see if she was okay. Finally he saw her, sitting next to her computers like she always did. 

"Oliver!" Felicity cried when she saw him awake.

Oliver took a breath of relief. She was alive, and she was here. He saw Laurel coming his way out of the corner of his eye, he saw Diggle step in her way to keep her from coming closer, but above all he saw his girl Felicity.

"Oliver, you're okay, you're safe. We are in the Lair and everyone is safe." Felicity said as she slowly walked towards him. He suspected that she was being careful not to get too close until she knew for sure that he was fully awake and would not hurt her.

"Felicity." Oliver stated, relieved that everyone was okay and that they were home. "It's okay. Can you take these off please?" He asked as he realized that Diggle had followed his rules and cuffed him to the table.

Oliver watched Felicity, unable to get enough of the fact that she was here, that she was safe. She walked slowly over to him after picking up the keys to the cuffs as she went. He noticed that her shoulder was now bandaged and a sling had been provided for her to help keep her from putting too much strain on her shoulder.

As Felicity carefully uncuffed him Oliver noticed something that he knew had not been there previously. There were some scrapes on her hand that he had never seen before.

"What happened here?" Oliver asked as he gently took her hand in his.

"Well….. um." Felicity stuttered as her face turned a deep shade of red. Oliver knew she had done something that she didn't want to admit to and he was determined to drag it out of her, especially as he heard the laugh from Roy.

"She punched me!" Laurel stated, obviously furious at Felicity. Oliver was shocked and wondered at the same time what Laurel had done to cause Felicity to decide that she needed punching in the face this time. It was obvious that that was what had happened, especially as Laurel was now sporting a split lip that had not been there previously either.

"Why?" Oliver asked as he looked back to Felicity, slightly amused.

"She was being mean, talking bad about our lair, our home. She said that we should have taken you to the hospital instead of bringing you here. She said that we couldn't know how to take care of you." Felicity said becoming increasingly agitated.

Oliver slowly smiled, finally allowing his amusement to show. He slowly reached up and took her face in his hands, tilting her head up so that he could see her eyes.

"So you punched her?" Oliver asked.

Felicity shook her head yes, looking sheepish.

"Good job. Did you remember to keep tension in your core?" Oliver asked. He was so incredibly proud of her for not only standing up for the Team and for what they do, but also for standing up to Laurel and finally giving her something that she had probably deserved.

"What?" Felicity asked, clearly taken by surprise.

"I'm proud of you for standing up for the Team. Thank you!" Oliver said, allowing her to hear the emotion and gratitude in his voice. Giving in to the growing desire that he had been feeling for so long now, he slowly leaned in and gently kissed her lips. Finally, he allowed the relief, the pride, and the pure joy that he felt at her being alive, being okay, to show through and he gave it full release putting his declaration of love into the kiss.

Mixed POV

Felicity looked up at Oliver with wide eyes. "You kissed me! I can't believe you just kissed me. I mean you've never kissed me before. I mean why would you? I'm just your girl. Your IT girl, not your girl girl. You have really soft lips. Did you know that? Like really, really soft lips. I thought the stubble would be more prickly and in the way but your lips are so soft. How are they that soft? Your stubble is really prickly though too Mister, you know that? Why did you kiss me when I'm your Girl Friday and it is Friday you know not Wednesday you need to get that right because it's important to get that right because I'm your Girl Friday not your girl girl ..."

Diggle couldn't help the laughter as he listened to Felicity ramble on again. As he looked around he saw the others laughing as well, all except Laurel that was.

Oliver couldn't help the smile that grew on his face. He loved it when Felicity when on like this, although he suspected that she had had some help with disabling her brain to mouth filter this time. He gently put a finger to her lips to keep her from embarrassing herself further in front of everyone.

"Did you give Felicity the 'aspirins' again Diggle?" Oliver asked his friend who was clearly enjoying what was going on.

"You could say that." Diggle replied to Oliver, as he held up the bottle of oxycodone that he had given her.

Finally Oliver let out a laugh. It felt great to be alive.