Felicity typed furiously. She knew from the weather reports that a storm was coming in, but Oliver had asked her to research some information on their newest target, and she couldn't say no. Diggle had glanced at her warily when she had excepted to come to the lair, but she just gave him a weak smile.

"You know there's a storm coming tonight," Diggle had said just as she was packing up to leave Queen Consolidated.

Felicity glanced quickly towards Oliver to make sure he was still at his desk. "I know Digg, I don't plan on being long. I'll just input the search parameters and get the hell out of there."

"Felicity, maybe you should tell him."

Felicity sighed. "No Digg. He has too much on his conscience already, I'll be fine." She forced a smile, but she could tell he wasn't buying it. "Go home Digg, I know AJ is really excited about going to that movie with you tonight."

Digg just nodded. "Call me if you need me. You know I'll be there as fast as I can."

Thinking back to earlier, Felicity kicked herself for excepting to do the search. She knew if Digg had been down here with her, she would have been able to handle it, but she wouldn't dare take him away from AJ and Carly. They needed him, and this was only a storm.

"It's only a storm." She whispered again to herself, trying to calm her increasing nerves. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, imputing the last touches on her search. Just as she was about to grab her things and leave, a crackle of thunder shook the night.

Felicity didn't know how long she'd been huddled under the table when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Her body wouldn't stop shaking, whether that was from the fear or from the cold of the floor she wasn't sure, but her joints hurt so much that she couldn't find the energy to lift her head from her knees to see who had come in.

"Felicity?" Oliver's head ducked under the table to look at her. She peered up at him from her knees. "What are you doing under the table?"

Another crack of thunder rumbled through the lair, causing Felicity to jump. She buried her face back into her knees, her arms squeezing her legs tighter into her chest.

"Felicity you're shaking" Oliver said as he reached for her hand. He tugged gently, trying to coerce her from her tightly coiled position. "Come here." He pulled her gently to him, letting her bury her head in his chest. He snaked his arms around her, trying to stop her shaking. "I didn't know you were afraid of thunder storms."

Felicity looked up at him, then pushed away, getting to her feet. "I'm not" she muttered as she smoothed down her wrinkled dress. She must've been coiled up under the desk for at least an hour.

Oliver looked at her questioningly from the floor, then rose to his feet beside her. He shrugged off his jacket and threw it over her shoulders. "Then why were you huddled under the table shaking?"

Felicity looked every where but his eyes, until she felt a soft hand land on her shoulder. "Felicity, look at me. Why were you under the table?"

Felicity looked into those blue pools and sighed. Adding to his misery was the last thing she wanted to do, but he had caught her in her fear red handed.

"Thunder storms remind me of that night." She glanced quickly towards Oliver's face as the recognition hit him. "This place was shaking and things were falling and it took me hours to get out. I thought I was going to get crushed, or suffocate, or get buried alive, or all three." She inhaled deeply, squeezing her eyes shut to ward off the trembles that coursed through her body. Oliver's grip on her shoulder tightened. "I was never afraid of thunder storms before that night, but now they...they terrify me.

Felicity looked up at Oliver's face and saw that his eyes had gone cold. His jaw was tense and his gaze was set somewhere on the floor. She wanted to curl into him and wrap herself in the safety of his arms, but instead she backed away.

"It was getting better I thought" she said as she pulled Oliver's coat tighter around her shoulders. "The first storm that hit after you left was really bad. Digg had to carry me out of here I was so paralyzed." She shuttered at the memory. "Since then I've learned to get as far from here as I can when a storm hits. If I'm at home, it doesn't scare me so much. Usually a nice bubble bath calms me down. And some wine. Wine helps everything. Well that and talking with Digg. Not while I'm in the bath of course, that would be weird..."

Another boom shook the lair and Felicity's eyes slammed shut. Before her knees gave out she felt herself pressed into Oliver's chest. "I'm sorry" he whispered. But Felicity just shook her head.

"This isn't your fault Oliver. It's a result of the circumstances. You told me to leave, I chose to stay."

Oliver buried his head in her hair, his arms tightening around her. "I should have came for you. I should have been here to get you out. I never should've left."

Felicity forced herself to push away from him. When she did, she watched as Oliver's arms fell to his sides, his eyes fixated on the same spot on the floor as earlier.

"Oliver" she slowly brought her hands to rest on his chest, trying to get him to look at her. When his eyes finally found hers, she smiled. "You had a lot going on that night. I don't blame you for anything. After Tommy..." she paused, trying to compose herself as best she could "I don't blame you for not coming for me and I don't blame you for leaving. I'm just glad that you decided to come back."

Oliver stared at her for a long time. Felicity felt her fingers burning as they laid on his chest, and she realized she had been touching him for too long. She dropped her hands, only to have them caught in Oliver's grasp.

"I don't deserve you." he whispered. "Tell me what I can do to make this better. To make everything I've done better." Felicity stared at him, unsure of what to say. This was uncharted territory for them. While they had grown closer since he'd been back, they didn't make a habit of being this close to each other, especially since there was enough talk going around of how Felicity had slept her way into her new position. At work she tried her best to stay away from Oliver so that leering eyes wouldn't jump to conclusions, but down here in the lair, it was just the two of them, and she wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by him.

"Promise me you'll never leave me again." Felicity said with more strength than she thought she had. "Promise me when things go bad or times get tough, that you won't just run off."

Oliver gripped her hands tighter and then pulled her into his chest once more. His breath ghosted over her ear.

"I promise" he whispered. Just then another loud boom echoed off the walls, but Felicity didn't flinch. She tucked herself into him as much as she could, absorbing the strength of his arms and the courage in his heart. Suddenly, she felt as if nothing in the world could ever hurt her.

Oliver pulled back slightly to look her in the eyes. "You didn't jump that time."

Felicity smiled at him. "That's because I know I'm safe."