She was going crazy... or she already was crazy and just hadn't noticed it until now? The theory made sense, considering that they say those who are actually insane don't realize it until it is far too late. And for Felicity, her "wake up" had come 20 minutes earlier when she received a call from her very dead husband.

Felicity couldn't say losing her mind was a surprise. Disappointing, sure, but not a complete shocker. It was about time considering what she had been through since meeting Oliver Queen so many years prior.

Felicity knew, in the back of her mind, what she heard couldn't have been real. But that didn't stop her from leaving a note on the counter and jumping in her car without even bothering to grab a change of clothes. Even if she was crazy, she desperately needed to hold onto this feeling, this hope, for just a little bit longer. And if that meant a midnight drive to Star City? So be it.

She didn't call the team right away though. Not out of consideration for the late hour, but rather her suspicion that reality would set in any moment and she would be forced to turn her car around. Forced to go back to her mother and her daughter and continue life without Oliver, just as she had every day for the past four years.

But when her GPS announced that she was one hour from her destination, real hope finally fluttered in Felicity's chest. Maybe, just maybe, that call hadn't been a cruel hallucination. However, just as quickly as the hope appeared, her heart fell. If the call was real, if Oliver was, indeed, alive, she had gone years without trying to find him. She had given into guilt and grief and stupidly accepted that shriveled and burnt corpse clutching Oliver's bow as her husband. And as her first wave of guilt rolled through her, the realization that he had missed everything hit her just as hard. Not only had he missed Lainie's first steps and the first words, but he had missed the hard stuff too. The earaches and the terrible twos. The tantrums and the picky eating. As much as guilt had taken over Felicity's mind, part of her heart screamed out in frustration that he hadn't been there. That she hadn't actually needed to do everything alone.

Everyone was waiting at the table when Felicity stepped into the bunker for the first time since that night. She forced herself to walk directly to her loved ones, to not even glance at her old station or the empty case that once held Oliver's suit. Felicity knew she wouldn't be able to handle it. Not yet. Instead, she held eye contact with Thea until she positioned herself at the head of the table, right in Oliver's old seat.

"I… I got a phone call," she started out, her voice already shaking. But just as she had struggled to call the team in an hour ago, Felicity still couldn't bring herself to admit what had heard on that earlier that night. Or, what she thought she had heard. Instead, she pulled her phone out of her back pocket and hit the play button.

"It's me..." The recording was quiet in the large room but the team's reactions told Felicity everything she needed to know: the voice wasn't just a hallucination. Everyone was leaning in before the recording's first sentence was even finished playing. "I don't have long..." There was a pause in the voice, some shuffling and then he spoke again in a whisper, "But I need you to track this phone. We're somewhere near Star City... Dhark is picking something up, but they said we're leaving by morning. Once Dhark gets whatever he's here for..." Felicity stopped the recording. At that point he had suddenly hung up and the only sound that followed were her cries begging for him not to leave her again.

Reflected in each of her companion's faces were the very emotions battling for attention in Felicity's chest. To Felicity's left, Thea's face lit up in hope at her brother's voice while Roy balanced out his wife's excitement with a wary grimace. On the other side of the table guilt flashed across Quentin's eyes while Laurel wore a look of pure confusion. But it was Diggle's lack of emotion, straight ahead, that she needed the most at this moment.

Diggle stood up, his mouth taught and eyes narrowed as he pulled his shoulders back. "We clearly don't have a lot of time to play with," he started slowly as he eyed Felicity's phone on the table, "Get to work tracking the phone Felicity," he instructed with a nod, "everyone else, suit up. We move out once we have a location."

Felicity had hoped that returning to her night job would be like riding a bike; however, considering she had never learned to ride a bike, she wasn't sure that analogy carried any merit. Sure, she didn't hesitate with the computer or tracking the phone, but she found herself unable to sit still once she was left alone in the bunker. She paced around the station, listening to every shuffle and whispered direction as the team moved closer to the former site of Dhark's mansion, now a pile of rubble. She was only able to retake her seat when Thea activated a shaky body camera.

"No sight of him…" Diggle mumbled, the sound of leaves moving in the wind almost overpowering the hush of his voice, "Just those damn ghosts running around in the rubble. I haven't missed them."

"They're all carrying shovels…" Laurel observed in, "Maybe they think something is still buried here? I don't know how it could be… the place has been abandoned for years. Teenagers hang out here on Halloween."

"What could they be looking for?" Thea questioned, the camera shaking as she took another tentative step forward, "I thought there was no basement to this place?"

Felicity sighed, letting her head fall into her hands, "There wasn't…" she mumbled to herself.

"Overwatch? WHERE IS THE BASEMENT?!" Oliver's voice came blaring over her phone's speakers as she tried desperately to re-interpret the security blueprints of Dhark's estate on her computer.

"I can't find it, there IS no sublevel on the map!" Felicity pulled up the security cameras of Dhark's mansion and immediately located Oliver, taking a sharp left down a first floor hallway in an attempt to shake the pack of ghosts closing in on him.

As Felicity felt another shot of adrenaline surge through her veins, her tiny daughter started fussing a few feet away. "Quiet, baby," Felicity warned, chewing the inside of her cheek, "Mommy has to find Daddy a way out of the crazy man's mansion."

"We can't leave yet. We have to get that totum. And the only intel we have-"

Oliver's voice cut out as a blast was heard over the comm, followed by a burst of static. At first, Felicity assumed something was wrong with the tech and she moved to check their connection, but shortly after Dhark's voice echoed in her ear and Oliver froze on her screen, his eyes searching the ceiling until they finally paused on an intercom. Felicity scrolled through the hallway cameras, looking for any sign of Dhark, but there was no sign of him.

"I'm always happy to have so many visitors," Dhark started off slowly, pausing as another explosion could be heard, "But unfortunately I'm not home anymore. As you can see, we've decided to do some… remodeling, which can get a little messy. As an apology for missing you, I have sent some of my comrades over to the Queen campaign office. They plan to leave a little gift for you there. Well, if you can make it back… If not I guess your family will need to accept it on your behalf."

"FELICITY!" Oliver's voice screamed over another boom. She didn't miss that Oliver didn't use her code name this time. They both knew the secrecy didn't matter. Dhark clearly knew who they were, and more importantly, where they were. "Get out of there. Get HER out of there."

"Oli-"

"You promised me. You promised, now get out!"

With Oliver's words still ringing in her ears, the comms suddenly cut out. Seconds later, the monitors showed security gates slamming down over every exit in Oliver's hallway before another explosion seemed to rattle the walls and the security camera feed went black. Right on cue, the baby's fussing erupted into full blown shrieks and Felicity's decision was made for her. She ran.

"Felicity," Thea's call for attention broke her out of her daydream and she realized he knuckles were white as her hands clutched the metal table before her. This was going to go better. This wouldn't be the same. It couldn't be. "Felicity, we have eyes on the men. I… I think it's really him…"

Felicity squinted desperately at the screen but between Thea's tiny movements and the green glow of the night vision camera, she could barely make out anything out besides two groups of men hovering around the rubble.

"Felicity, we have eyes on Oliver," Diggle confirmed, "Is everyone in place? The charges set?"

A choruses of yeses echoed through the comms and Felicity watched her screen with bated breath. Everything was over in minutes but it felt like hours. The explosives went off and most of Dhark's ghosts abandoned their positions to attack the mysterious sources of the noise. Chaos followed but eventually Felicity heard the phrase she had been waiting for, "We got him… we'll lose these guys and bring him home. Sit tight."

47 minutes. It should have taken exactly 47 minutes, driving the speed limit, to make it from Dhark's former property to the bunker. And by 48 minutes, Felicity had completely convinced herself this had all been an elaborate but insane dream. That any moment Lainie would be tickling her toes in bed and giggling that it was already time to wake up.

But 49 minutes later, the elevator bell sounded, and he was the first thing she saw.

His arms were around her before she could fully take him in, but she could feel the differences immediately. He had lost weight, mostly muscle, and when she leaned back to examine his face, it was pale and fallen. But his eyes were his. Blue and shining and looking at her with the same wonder she knew was reflected in her own eyes.

She knew the rest of the team had exited the elevator, they must have, but not once did Felicity look back at them. Instead she buried her face into Oliver's chest, knowing no words could cover what she needed right now. She just needed to know he was real.

"I knew I'd see you again. I knew it," Oliver mumbled into her hair. Felicity knew the concern was ridiculous, but for a moment all she could think about was if she washed her hair that morning (or even the morning before that).

Felicity began to open her mouth, to ask the question that had been hanging on her lips since she first heard Oliver's voice, but he beat her to the punch.

"What about…" Oliver didn't finish his question, he didn't need to. Of course his first question was about Lainie. If their roles had been reversed, and Felicity had spent four years torn apart from her family, her first question would have been the same. But what she didn't expect was her response. For years all she wanted was to see her family back together, to see Oliver and Lainie back together, but now her stomach clenched as every protective instinct in Felicity's bones erupted in full force. Her daughter's world was about to be turned upside down and Felicity had no way to help her.

"Call your mom, have her bring Lainie here now," Thea answered for Felicity, giving her a reassuring nod before turning back to Oliver.

"Why can't we go-" Felicity cut herself off, answering her own question. Thea wasn't suggesting Lainie come to Star City for a visit, she wanted her here for protection. Dhark must have gotten away. And their white picket fence would not provide the protection that little girl needed right now.

Felicity knew she should be scared of Dhark's retaliation. Of whatever was to come. But at this moment all she could focus on was that her husband was standing before her and over 100 miles away, their daughter was about to wake up with no idea her father was back from the dead.