Save Me

Untitled Part 18

John approached the door and looked at Lyla, then counting to three he opened the door and they burst inside. The room was empty, and Lyla noticed Felicity, Oliver and Roy out back.

They rushed out the back door and Oliver looked up ready for the questions he knew were going to come.

"Where is he?" John looked around the back yard and then back at Oliver.

"Gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Lyla looked at him as she holstered her gun.

"He's gone." That was all that Oliver would say and Felicity did not seem inclined to offer any further information. John looked at Roy and saw the marks on his face from where he was hit and when he questioned Roy, Roy did not offer any more information.

"Oliver do you realize that by not telling us where David has gone that you are jeopardizing our whole investigation?" Lyla's voice was laced with anger and frustration.

"You are going to get your information. You just have to be patient."

John sighed, clearly frustrated as well.

"How are we going to get the information if he has escaped?" Lyla was clearly exasperated.

"He didn't escape."

John looked at Oliver with shrewd eyes. There was something that Oliver was not telling them. He wasn't sure what to think or what to believe. John knew Oliver was many things, but one thing he was not was a liar. They needed to trust him.

Felicity looked confused as well, but still did not speak up. She knew that David was not going to leave Slade's clutches alive, so how would they get their information?

"I am going to take Felicity inside. She has had enough." He looked at Roy and his voice was rough but genuine, "Thank you Roy."

Felicity walked over and kissed Roy's cheek hugging him tight. "I will talk to you in the morning." Then she turned to John and Lyla and walked up to them. "Trust Oliver." She kept their gaze until John finally nodded. She finally broke down and hugged them both and Oliver watched as relief flooded their faces. They knew at that moment that their friendship was going to be ok.

Felicity turned and took Oliver's hand to walk back inside. She was suddenly extremely tired, not just physically but emotionally. It was over.

David was not going to hurt her anymore.

***

Slade pulled up outside the warehouse he had rented that afternoon. He had plans for David and he could not wait to set them in motion. He had learned many things over his years in his travels as a hit man. One of those things was torture and he was good at it. His jaw clenched as he thought again about Shado and how she has suffered. David would suffer more.

He walked around to the back of the SUV and opened the gate seeing David tied up and gagged, and he dragged him out of the back and carried him over his shoulder into the warehouse. David could barely walk and having him do so would have taken forever. Slade wanted to get started right away.

He set David down in a chair that he had set up in the middle of the room. When Oliver had told him his plan for finding David, Slade had to admit he was skeptical at first. He was not sure that David would take the bait and his men would follow Roy. But they had done so brilliantly and so before they had followed them out to the safe house Slade had set up his own plan.

David groaned as he looked up to Slade standing over him. Slade was intimidating on a good day but seeing him now, rage deep in his eyes, death in the air, David was terrified.

Slade smiled a grim smile and then leaned down into David's face. "I have waited a long time for this moment. I am going to make sure that the pain and suffering that you inflicted on Shado is given to you ten times over. You will be begging me for relief and eventually for death."

He straightened and then walked over to the duffel bag he had sitting by the far wall. He unzipped it slowly and when he saw his tools inside his smile was downright evil. He kissed the knife he took out and then looked to the heavens.

"This is for you my love."

After that the room was filled with screams.

***

Felicity walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. There were circles under her eyes but for the first time in a long time when she looked in the mirror she did not see the woman that was running from David, she saw the woman that had survived him. She turned on the water and checked the temperature before she started to strip. Oliver had gone to check on a couple of things with John and so she was going to take a nice, hot bath.

She stepped in and sat down, the warm water enveloping her and leaning her head back against the wall she closed her eyes and cleared her mind.

The fact that David had killed Shado was still swirling through her head. It had been fate that had caused her to keep that necklace. Something had always told her to hold onto it. The dragon had even come to symbolize a rebirth for her, but now it was back in the hands of the person who should have had it all along. It was the only thing left that Slade had of the woman he loved, and a shiver ran down her spine as she thought of that.

She heard the door open and looked up to see Oliver standing there, just looking down at her, the love in his eyes not hidden.

She smiled softly up at him, "Did you get done what you needed to do?"

Oliver smiled and started to strip his clothes. "I did."

Felicity sat up as she admired him from head to toe. He was so very effortlessly beautiful. He had some scars that she knew he had received from his time as an assassin, and she knew every single one of them. He slipped in behind her and pulled her back to his chest and Felicity sighed in pleasure as she settled back, and he tightened his arms.

"So, what now?"

Oliver heard her question, he knew what she was asking, but he was not sure himself.

"Honestly?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know. All I do know is that I am exactly where I want to be, where I am meant to be and that I love you."

Felicity needed more, they needed to talk, but right now she would accept his answer.

She snuggled back against him and closed her eyes; this moment was everything she needed. And as she felt his chest moving and heard his heart beating, she finally was able to completely put her past behind her.