Mind Over Matter

Melding of the Minds

As much as Felicity Smoak loves her boys—her charming, selfless, heroic boys who defend the city by night—she can't help but hate them both a little right now.

Of course it's coming from a place of panic, but she doesn't have the luxury of being rational. Oliver told her he wasn't going to put on the hood tonight. He knew she was working late, and she made him promise not to go into the field. They've had too many close calls recently for that—first the fire at Verdant, then the Count trying to make him overdose, and then Vanch had his grubby, villainous paws all over Felicity. (She shudders at that one.) So of course he then proceeds to call her at ten o'clock, managing the words, "Felicity, your car. Now," in a weak voice before the line goes dead.

And, while it would be difficult making the walk down to her car, not knowing if he was dead or alive, it would be infinitely better if Diggle was answering his damn cell phone tonight. Because John Diggle would be absolutely sure of what to do, and he would push back her growing fears with a calm, decisive voice. He'd tell her whether to take Oliver to the hospital or the lair and just how to patch him up. While she's sewed Oliver up a few times on her own, her medical knowledge is thoroughly lacking, and John would be sure to help her through it.

But, as it is, both of her boys are out of commission, and Felicity feels utterly alone in this one moment.

She sprints across the garage to her car, looking through the windows to find him draped across the back seat with his eyes closed and his identity firmly revealed for the world to see and a blood stain that screams "not good" with neon letters and a flashing sign. In a panic, she throws open the back door, reaching across the seat with shaking fingers to his throat, where she checks for a pulse. At first she freezes when there's nothing, but finally something weak comes through.

With renewed conviction, she pulls the hood over his face better, not caring as her fingers slide over the grease paint on his eyes. Honestly, Felicity has no idea what to do, but she does know that she can't take him to the hospital—not like this. The cops would be all over this. That leaves her only the lair, so she scrambles into the driver's seat with a new determination.

"I don't know if you can hear me or not," she starts, mostly for her own comfort, "but, Oliver Queen, you are not allowed to die in the back seat of my car. You will not like it if you do. I will personally put in a word with the higher powers that be and force you to haunt my kitchen cabinets until the day I die. You've seen me cook—you know how bad that would be."

There isn't an answer, but she doesn't really expect one, either.

In what feels like way too long—and not long enough, according to her speedometer—Felicity makes it back to the lair, and with that comes the realization of her next challenge, that she has absolutely no way to move him on her own. Frustrated, she calls Diggle again, this time leaving a message: "Digg, it's Felicity. Sorry to call you so late, but, well, we have a code red. Literally. Lots of red everywhere. As soon as you get this, call me and make a break for the lair. I'm going to need all the help I can get with our boy."

She's just about to break down when she sees the other car in the lot. It's crazy and Oliver is so going to yell at her later in his scary Arrow voice, but, well, she'd like him to be alive to do that. For the time being, she scrambles out of the car and finds one of her blankets out of the back. Because the now-unconscious vigilante insists upon her safety to sometimes ludicrous levels, she remembers the knife in the glove box and thanks him under her breath for being such a pain in the ass. This time, it might just save his life.

Once she has the blanket in smaller pieces, she unzips his jacket slightly and shoves the strips down into the wound, packing them tight before zipping the jacket over them. For the moment, that will hold pressure—after all, she can't be in two places at once. After she's sure that he's as situated as he can be in the situation, Felicity turns on her heel and marches toward the front doors of Verdant.