Teamwork

Chapter 48 - Team Meeting

Sara, Roy, and Diggle finally finished setting up the gym. They had been surprised by the fact that Moira, Walter, and Thea had gone through the trouble of getting the equipment, however, they also knew that having a gym here at the mansion would be helpful in the future. Of course they would still spend most of their time at the Lair, but this gave them a place to go here if and when one of them was hurt and needing to spend time at the Mansion to recover.

They went back up to the kitchen where they saw Raisa dishing up nice servings of hot soup and sandwiches and placing them on a couple of trays.

"I thought Mr. Oliver would want lunch in his room today with his friends." Raisa explained as she placed the last of the bowls on a tray. She knew that Oliver was hurt and that he would be better off resting in his room for a while.

"Thank you Raisa." Moira thanked her. She turned to the address the Team. "Would you all like to take these upstairs and check on Oliver and Felicity?"

Diggle couldn't help but smile. "Of course." He answered for the whole Team. He had known when he walked in and saw the food on the trays that the plan was for them to take them upstairs and check on Oliver while they had lunch and he was thankful to Moira and Raisa for their consideration.

Roy and Diggle each picked up a tray of food and the trio made their way up the stairs to Oliver's room. Sara knocked quietly, trying not to wake Oliver if he was still sleeping. She was not surprised, however, when she immediately received a response from inside.

"Come on in guys." Felicity called from inside.

Sara opened the door and the Team saw Oliver and Felicity both leaning against the headboard of Oliver's bed, holding hands, and smiling like little kids with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Felicity?!" Sara said with mock disgust. "I told you to help him relax but not that way!" She said with a laugh at the sight of the blush creeping up on Felicity's face.

"Wait! What?" Roy asked, his confusion evident in his voice and on his face. He quickly placed the tray of food he was holding on the desk and turned to face Oliver and Felicity. "Blondie, is there something I'm missing here?" He asked as he crossed his arms. He heard Diggle laughing as he placed his tray of food on the desk as well.

"Nothing!" Felicity was quick to respond, not missing the quiet laughs from Oliver next to her. "You missed nothing. There was nothing to miss. Inside joke. Yeah, that's what it was..."

"Felicity." Oliver said quietly, drawing her attention and stopping her rambling mid sentence. She looked to him and her blush deepened as she remembered that he probably heard the conversation between her and Sara. "I think the Team brought us lunch." He commented, effectively changing the subject much to her relief.

"It smells delicious and I'm starving." Sara commented as she brought over one of the trays of food and sat down next to Oliver's bed. Roy and Diggle brought up chairs and they passed out the soup and sandwiches, ready to dig in to the food that Raisa had provided for them. They all sat and enjoyed easy conversation while everyone ate their food.

It was as they were finishing their food that Oliver decided it was time to finally address his Team. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths as he searched for the right words to explain what he was thinking and feeling. He had been avoiding this conversation since the incident with Merlyn and knew that he couldn't put it off any longer.

"I want to sinceriously thank you guys." Oliver said as he looked to each of his Team. "You all have stuck by me, even when things went really bad. You all saved my life, yet again, despite what could have happened to yourselves. Each one of you has been there for me, helped me, fought with me through so many missions and I know that it's not easy. I just want you guys to know how much I appreciate you. You're my family now too and I don't want anything to change that." The Team all looked back at him with expressions that told him that they would always be there to fight beside him, no matter the mission. After a moment of silent conversation Oliver continued.

"We've all been through a lot the last few weeks and I don't know what I would have done without you guys. When Malcolm held us I didn't know how we were going to get out of there. I just kept hoping that you guys would find a clue." Oliver confessed as he looked to Roy and Sara. "If you guys hadn't have shown up when you did..." Oliver swallowed down some of his emotions, not wanting to lose control at the moment.

"You know, we would have been there sooner if you hadn't hidden that clue." Sara teased him, attempting to lighten the mood. "That note was pretty hard to find."

"Yeah, what did you do? Throw it across the room?" Roy asked, remembering where they had finally found the note with the coordinates on it.

"Um, yeah." Oliver said a little sheepishly. "I was pissed and not thinking that you guys would need it at the time. I just knew that part of my Team, my family, and my friends were in trouble and it was my fault. Thank you for coming for us! Sara we couldn't have beaten Malcolm without you." Oliver said as he looked to Sara. She gave him a small nod in response before he turned his gaze to Roy.

"Roy, what you did in that warehouse, standing in front of Felicity, Laurel, my mom, and Lance, that was a really smart decision. I know I haven't said this yet so Thank You! Thank you for coming after us, for protecting everyone, and for all your support. We couldn't have done it without you either!"

"Oliver's right." Diggle said with a smile, hoping that Roy would see that he really was an important part of the Team. "We were all busy fighting Merlyn's men, if you hadn't have protected them then they could have been hurt."

Roy listened to what they were telling him. He could see that they were sincere due to the looks on their faces. He realized then that maybe he was actually capable of doing something right. He gave a small smile and nodded letting the Team know that he appreciated the support and encouragement.

"Listen. The whole thing with Slade. I owe you all an apology." Oliver continued after a moment. He looked down at his hands, unable to meet the eyes of his Teammates with his next confession. "It's my fault that he came to Starling City. If it weren't for me, for a decision that I made, then none of us would have been in this last situation. I'm sorry for getting you guys pulled into that." He felt incredibly guilty for being the reason his Team was pulled into the situations that they had been. If it wasn't for him things would not have happened as they had.

"I know I don't go out in the field... much." Felicity spoke before anyone else could form a response to Oliver's words. "But I do know what it's like to have to hear and see what's going on and not being able to do much about it. There are times where I feel like I could have done something better than I did in order to get everyone back to the lair safely and without getting hurt. However, there are times that despite my best efforts someone does get hurt, or something goes wrong. As hard as it is to remember or accept this, there are times when there is literallynothing that I can do to change things. Sometimes stuff happens and you just do the best that you can with what you have, you do what you have to in order to get through it, to survive."

Felicity turned to Oliver and locked eyes with him as she continued. "I don't know exactly what happened between you and Slade before, and I don't have to know. I do know this though. You did everything that you could. You can't keep feeling guilty for something that was out of your control. You did the best that you could with the circumstances that you were in. You couldn't see the future and there was no way for you to know that this would or even could happen. You don't have to apologize to us. We will always have your back. We're a Team and we all look out for each other. No matter what comes along."

The Team all looked at Felicity in silence. They knew that what she had said was true. They all struggled with feelings of guilt over things that they shouldn't. Each member of the Team decided to remember to always simply do the best that they could and look out for each other. The rest, well, that would all fall in to place eventually.

"Jeez blondie, when did you get so smart?" Roy asked, teasing Felicity and lightening the mood in the room once again. The rest of the Team all laughed at the glare that Felicity directed at Roy.

"Roy, you know I've always been a genius!"