Season 3: Rebuilding

3x20: Thicker Than Blood

Synopsis: Floyd Lawton returns to Starling City with news that threaten to pull Team Arrow apart. Diggle finally gets information about his brother's death, but the unexpected twist forces the man to take a step back. Thea battles her own demons, and is torn between Roy and Malcolm.

---

3x20: Thicker Than Blood

Oliver followed his running prey with the arrow. The compound bow was strung tight and the aim never lowered as he followed the fleeing target. In that second, he felt as one with the forest around him. He could feel the rustle of the leaves as the wind blew by, the scent of foreign berries to his left, the sweat against his back as the sun lingered in the sky above.

He exhaled slowly and released the arrow. As it left his bow, Oliver knew it would hit its mark. The notion didn't please him, as he had expected, but he calmly accepted the dark truth. It had to be done, after all. He watched the thin, sharp weapon soar through the air, heading in a straight line towards its target.

But this time everything changed. Unlike the previous times, it wasn't Slade who waited as a lone enemy in the light breeze. Instead, it was Felicity who suddenly stood before Oliver in the middle of the forest green. A soft gasp escaped past her pink lips and everything else died out in that second, the world fell dead silent. Felicity's blue eyes slowly gazed down at the arrow as it protruded from her chest, a drop of haunting red slowly running down the front of her dress.

Oliver's heart stopped as he watched the scene before him. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. The bow fell from his hand and landed with a soft thud among the leaves by his feet. "No! Felicity, no!"

Felicity's gaze flew up to meet his, two clear eyes glistening with disbelief and pain. He had failed her. He had endangered her, and now he had killed her. Oliver watched as Felicity fell to her knees as if in slowmotion and then keeled over. Her body landed roughly on the fall-colored leaves that soon were painted red with the color of her blood. Felicity Smoak was dead.

Oliver woke up with a start. His heart hammered away inside his chest and he tried to calm his breathing back to normal. The images of his dream kept replaying inside his head, though, making it extremely difficult to think about anything else. He shivered and realized his entire body was covered in cold sweat. He once more tried to force his mind to stop reeling. It had only been a dream, after all. Inch by inch, he slowly relaxed.

Oliver's hand distantly trailed across the covers to the other side of the bed, only to find nothing but air. Oliver frowned as he turned to the side and gazed around in his empty bedroom.

He inhaled sharply as he pushed the covers off of him, pulled on a pair of sweatpants and got out of bed. Oliver padded bare-feet across the wooden floor and opened the bedroom door. Though his apartment bathed in darkness, he could still make out all the shapes fairly easy. He'd lived long enough in the shadows for his eyes to adjust to the night. He tried to listen, but his home was silent and peaceful at this late hour.

Oliver frowned as he walked ahead. As he stepped into the living room, he finally caught sight of Felicity. He exhaled in relief. The blonde woman was standing beside the window, gazing out at the cloudless night sky. She wore nothing but one of his checkered shirts and it reached her mid-thigh. Oliver's gaze travelled down the length of her bare, slender legs before his eyes wandered back up to her profile, illuminated by the pale light from the moon above.

There was a wistful expression on her face and she seemed a million miles away. He could tell she hadn't yet noticed him and he took a moment to appreciate her presence in his home and the reasons behind it. At length, he cleared his throat.