Long ago you and Oliver had agreed that it would be too dangerous if you and him ever were to date. The dynamics of the team would be completely altered, and the peril it put the both of you in with respect to your enemies was too great to risk the potential of a relationship.
So you moved on. You put the possibility of that relationship as far out of your mind as you possible could, but there was one thing you never did.
You never dated. You refused to date anyone, and so did Oliver. It was never openly acknowledged or referenced, but the both of you understood without words what the two of you wanted. And you were both secretly relieved. Neither of you wanted to deal with the hurt and the jealousy even a one-night stand would bring.
You knew he still had feelings for you, just as you knew you still had feelings for him. You could sense it in the way Oliver would watch you when he thought you weren't looking, or how he let his gaze linger on you for a bit longer than was socially acceptable. You could see it when one of you went out of your way to protect the other and keep them safe. You could feel it in the lingering touches and concerned glances when one of you got hurt.
The only problem was that the team was beginning to notice. Felicity would raise her eyebrows at you and Diggle would roll his eyes, no doubt thinking that the two of you were being ridiculous and overly cautious. They could tell there was something special between you two, and were so confused as to why you insisted on not acknowledging it.
"Geez (Y/N)," Felicity said one day.
"What?" you asked, immediately defensive.
"Could you be any more obvious?"
You sighed and leaned back in your chair. Oliver had just left the room and you had been staring after him, watching him walk away.
"Seriously, why don't you do anything about it?"
"You know why," you replied in a tired voice, scrubbing your hand over your face.
"You're still on that?! It's such a dumb reason to not be with him!"
"Felicity, I'm not going to argue about it with him." The 'again' went unsaid, and hung suspended in the air between you two. Felicity sighed.
"You two are obviously head over heels for each other. Honestly, this 'situation' looks like it is causing more problems than it's preventing. The both of you are more than capable of taking care of yourselves."
"How many times have he and I almost died?" you shot back in a sharp voice.
"Who knows? All I know is that this, this not being together? It's making you and Oliver miserable."
"Maybe," you conceded. "But Oliver is a martyr to the core. He is not going to put me at risk for his happiness and I won't force him to."
You pushed up from your chair and quickly left the room, not wanting to talk about it anymore. Felicity was right about one thing though: you were miserable. Seeing him every day, but not getting to spend time with him as you really wanted to was eating you up inside.
Lost in your thoughts you didn't realize there was someone following you out to your car until you saw their reflection in your window.
"Hey, where's (Y/N)?" Felicity asked the next night, sitting down in her usual seat in front of the monitors.
Oliver frowned and looked at the door.
"I thought she was already here. Her car is out front," Oliver said frowning.
"I didn't see her upstairs. Maybe she already left for the night?"
"She wouldn't go alone."
"Oh god," Felicity murmured, the computer had finally started to work again and on it there was a photo of you tied to a chair and unconscious.
"No, that's-" Oliver cut himself off and grit his teeth. This couldn't be happening. The two of you had done everything to prevent this from happening.
"Oliver..."
Oliver glared at her and she sighed.
"What do we do?" Felicity asked.
"I'll call the others. See if you can find out who sent that photo or where it came from," he replied.
You groaned and lifted your head. You winced at the immediate throbbing pain in your head.
"Fuck," you moaned, dropping your head back down to your chest.
You strained against the bonds on your chair and found them to be surprisingly lax. You were able to pick at the knot with your nail, slowly pulling it loose.
You were surprised that no one had come to interrogate you or check on you, but you weren't complaining.
After a few minutes you were able to pull the knot loose. You sighed in relief and dropped the ropes on the ground. You leaned over and began to work on the ropes on your ankles.
When those were loose you pulled your feet free.
You crept over to the door and pulled the handle, wondering if it would be better or worse if was unlocked. On one hand you would be stuck in the room, but if it was open then it probably meant there was a trap laid out.
The door creaked open slowly and you cursed under your breath. Your purse hadn't been in the room so there was no way to call the team and let them know what was happening so you left the room, creeping along in the shadows.
Voices had you turning a corner and pressing into the wall.
"I didn't think they'd come this fast," someone cursed.
"You're underestimating him then," the other man replied. "Come on, we need to check on the woman."
Their voices faded, and you rushed down the hall from where they came. The sounds of gunfire and shouting made you pause in the hall and consider your options.
This was clearly the way out and the team was here, but you didn't have any weapons or armor on. If you stayed behind what was to stop them from killing you? They obviously had wanted to lure Oliver in, so now that he was here they could easily kill you and be done with it.
That realization is what made you keep following the shouts and you emerged outside. Turning, you saw Diggle, Oliver and Laurel fighting their way through a group of enemies.
Oliver noticed you immediately, but it distracted him from the fight. Laurel was able to block a blow aimed for his head and he stiffened, regaining his focus and going back to the fight.
Diggle fought his way over to you and tossed you your batons. You snatched them out of the air and seamlessly brought your weapons down on your nearest attacker.
As you whirled into battle, you tried to keep yourself from being too exposed without your armor, but fighting without armor meant you had to overcompensate, and there was only so much you could do to protect yourself.
A vicious slash from a knife to your abdomen had you stumbling back and crying out.
"(Y/N)!" Oliver shouted.
You tried to keep fighting but the combination of your existing head injury and the freely bleeding wound was causing your vision to fade in and out of focus. Your movements turned sluggish, and it wasn't long before you collapsed.
Before you lost consciousness you saw Oliver running towards you, a terrified expression in his stormy eyes.
You awoke once again in a foreign room. You jolted up in your bed, petrified that they had gotten to you again, but Oliver was there at your side.
"Whoa, whoa. Settle down, you're ok," he soothed.
"What happened?" you croaked.
"You got cut pretty deep and had a severe concussion."
You sighed and laid back. No doubt you had done permanent harm to yourself. The concussion and fainting from blood loss made you wonder if you had brain damage.
"(Y/N) I-"
Oliver was cut off by the doctor and a nurse entering the room. They began asking you all sorts of questions to test your mental state and the severity of your physical injuries, and Oliver got up quietly and left them to it.
It was days before you saw Oliver again. Everyone else had come and gone several times, bringing you get well soon cards, flowers and the like. You appreciated it, but all you really wanted was to see Oliver.
The doctors had determined there would be no long lasting effects from the concussion and the blood loss, which you considered a miracle. Soon they put you in physical therapy and gave you painkillers that came with strict instructions.
You had been at the hospital for two weeks when they finally released you.
Oliver was waiting for you outside the hospital and you couldn't decide whether you were angry or happy to see him after all this time.
"Long time, no see," you greeted, in a cold voice.
Oliver winced and you sighed.
"Sorry it's just..."
"I know. I'm sorry."
You shifted awkwardly, not sure what to say in response to his admission.
"(Y/N) earlier... I just..."
"What?"
"Felicity kicked my ass," he finally said.
"Good for her?" you said, though it was more of a question. You didn't know where he was going with that, or why he had mentioned it.
"She said that I should, and I quote, 'stop making the both of us miserable and man up'."
You snorted, imagining Felicity threatening Oliver.
"She said I should just tell you the truth."
"And what's that?"
"The truth is...I'm in love with you, (Y/N). I've loved you for so long, and I am constantly terrified of losing you. When we decided not to act on our feelings I thought I was doing what was best for you. That I was protecting you. And when you were kidnapped...all of that was for nothing. I broke down. I need you."
During his speech he had drawn closer and closer to you as he talked. As he spoke his last words, he stood right in front of you his face inches from your own. Hearing him finally admit the same things you felt made your heart soar. You laughed and leaned up to kiss him. He smiled into the kiss.
"I can't believe it took me getting stabbed for us to deal with our shit," you murmured against his lips. Oliver laughed and gently pulled you into a hug.
