I woke up feeling groggy.

I wasn't really sure where I was, or how I got to where I was. My mind flashed through memories of that final fight with Slade.

I was stabbed. Pretty sure I almost died. But it's not like I haven't done that before.

Feeling began to return to my fingers and I took in a deeper breath. My eyes opened slowly, as if they were fighting against someone holding down my eyelids.

When I managed to get my eyes open, I found myself in a large room. I was laying on a bed and I could hear voices outside the door. Was I in a hospital? It didn't look like it.

I sat up, and immediately wished I hadn't and I gasped and wrapped my arm around my stomach. I laid back, tears in my eyes and swore.

The door opened suddenly and a woman entered the room. Close behind her were Oliver, Diggle, and Adler.

The woman raised both eyebrows when she saw me awake and Oliver came over to me quickly and took my hand. I held his tightly and he stood next to my bed.

"Well? Is she released to go?" Oliver asked the woman.

Diggle lifted a hand to her shoulder and she looked at him with a frown. "I...don't know yet. Amanda might want to ask her a few more questions." She said more to him than anyone else.

I stiffened at the familiar name. "I'm at Argus? No. I'm leaving. I'm-I'm not answering anything." I winced and Oliver looked at me in concern.

"Well, why don't you just answer a few questions, and then we can all head out?" The woman asks. "I'm Lyla. Lyla Michaels."

"I know who you are." I said vaguely. She seemed confused, because we haven't technically met before, but I'd heard her name enough times from Diggle to know who she was.

"Alright..." Lyla said. "Are you feeling up to it?"

"If she asks me about the League again, she's gonna get the same answer I gave her last time. Nothing." I said with a glare, trying to look more stoic than I felt. In truth I thought I was going to throw up or pass out again. I sank deeper into the pillows. "I don't trust Argus, and neither does the League."

"Starling City just dealt with an attack. And only within a year of Merlyn's Undertaking. Since then, he has virtually disappeared, and now Slade Wilson has come and attacked the city. I understand you were on the Island with Oliver and ended up defeating not only Commander Fyres, but also Anthony Ivo. Both were on Argus' list. But we only found Oliver by the time we got to Lian Yu. We want to ask you about whether or not you'd consider working for us."

I clenched my jaw and said resolutely, "No."

Lyla frowned. She went to say something, when Oliver raised a bf.

"Give us a minute?" Oliver asked and Lyla hesitated for a moment, then nodded and left the room.

Diggle closed the door behind her and the three of them looked at me.

"I am not joining Argus. Amanda Waller is just after League secrets and I don't want her to find out anything about us. I don't trust her." The more I talked the more sick I felt and I squeezed my eyes shut.

Oliver sat down on the side of the bed I was in and was looking at me with a concerned expression. I held onto his hand with both of mine, needing him there. "Do you know how long you were out?"

"No." I whispered.

"Three days. It was only three days, but..." he drifted off. "The knife, it, uh, it hit your liver. And you...you died. On that roof. You died three days ago. And now you're sitting up as if nothing happened. No one expected you to make it."

My eyes widened in horror. "I-I was...I was dead?"

Oliver nodded, still looking concerned. "You quite literally took a knife and died for me." He said softly, voice hoarse as his eyes filled with tears.

I noticed then that his knee was in a brace- the knee Slade had hit- and I gently touched the brace. "You were already hurt. It wasn't a hard decision for me to make. I wasn't going to let you die."

"Yeah. Dad wouldn't like if you died, anyways. Permanently, at least." Adler said with a small grin. "I'm still convinced you're his favorite."

I rolled my eyes. "Definitely not."

"So, Miss Zombie. What'll it be?" Diggle asks.

"I want to go home." I said seriously. "I don't want to be in this bed anymore. And Amanda can shit herself but I won't be joining her or give her information and I don't care if she saved my life or not. It's not happening until she can prove some actual loyalty."

"I'm assuming you have bad blood that we don't know about. As always." Diggle says with a teasing smirk.

I make a face at him and Adler says, "Yeah, actually. She took one of our own and tortured him until he betrayed some of the League's secrets. She's just trying different approaches now."

"And it wasn't like she broke him easily." I said. "It took seven months and he killed himself after."

"Well that's some bad blood if I ever heard some." Diggle said with a hand on his forehead.

I nodded. "Yeah." I looked to Oliver and held my arms out to him. He wrapped his arms around me gently, and I wrapped mine around his shoulders. He rested his cheek on my shoulder and hugged me back. "Home?" I asked.

"Home."

Diggle nodded and he and Adler left with Lyla to find Amanda and explain that I was awake and just as adamant as ever to not give her anything.

Oliver pulled away and looked sad again. I reached for and squeezed his hands. "Oliver... I'm sorry..." I said quietly.

He shook his head. "You don't have to apologize to me. It's my fault anyways."

"What? That my ex went insane and wanted to punish us?" I asked and rested my hand on his cheek. "Oliver, that's not your fault. None of it is so let me apologize."

I shifted closer to him, my arm wrapping around my stomach, but he beat me to it and merely slid his arms under my legs and around my shoulders and picked me up, holding me in his lap.

I wrapped an arm around his waist. Rubbing his back and leaned my forehead against his. "Whatever happened to me three days ago is never happening again. I'm not leaving you and you're not leaving me. You got that?"

He nodded and tucked some hair behind my ear and kissed my forehead. "I'm going to hold you to it."

******

"Let's get an apartment." Oliver said a few days later. I was sitting on the couch in the back corner of the hideout, where we had set up furniture and things to make a small home.

"An apartment?" I asked and sipped my tea. It was made of herbs from the Island that Oliver insisted I drink along with any medications from Argus. I agreed only to make him feel better.

"Yeah. A real home. For me and you." He says and kneels in front of me, hands gently resting on my sides. I smiled and leaned forward and kissed him.

"I'd love that, Mr. Queen."

He grins against my mouth, one hand coming up to cup my cheek. "Good. Because I already found one, Miss Walker."

I kissed him again and pulled away to smile. "Really?"

"Really really. It's more of a loft. But I think you'll like it." He says with a soft grin.

I set the tea down on the table and rested my hands on his cheeks and kissed his forehead, then hugged him. "Come up here and off your knee. You need to heal too."

He laughed once, then did and got up and sat down next to me. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and kissed my head.

"And drink some of this tea." I said and picked up and the cup in his hands. "You got that knee hit twice. You're lucky your knee doesn't have permanent damage." My hand moved to rest over the brace on his leg and he said,

"I should say I'm lucky I'm not dead. And it's all thanks to you." He says quietly, setting the cup on the coffee table.

"I meant what I said." I said seriously.

"Meant what?"

"That I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you." I say and look at him. "I've never been more sure about something in my life. There's nothing that would make me change my mind. You've been my best friend since kindergarten and a lot happened on the Island. But I had never been happier when you first appeared at the plane. I had never been so happy when you broke down my cell door and pulled me out. I've always loved you, I guess I didn't realize it fully. And now? There's nothing I wouldn't do for you and I know you'd do the same for me."

He had a happy smile on his face, those blue eyes gazing into mine. He lifted his hands to move some black hair from my face and he leaned in and kissed me.

I kissed him back, my arms wrapping around his neck to get closer. He shifted to face me and gently pulled away to ask, "Was that a proposal, Maria Walker?"

"And what if it was, Oliver Queen?"

He chuckled, and it sent a warm feeling through my chest. "I thought that was my job."

"Maybe I'm just already saying yes before you even pop the question." I say with a small grin.

He wraps his arms around my waist and stares at me for a long time. When he speaks, his voice is filled with such sincerity I almost cried. "Maria Ann Walker. I have loved you since we were freshmen in college. I doubt I paid much attention to it. It was always Mia and Olly, the dynamic duo. You kept me out of trouble, and I brought you out of your shell. But still, the thought of being without you is one I could hardly stand. To say I love you is almost an understatement. You complete me in every way possible."

He lifts his hands to my cheeks. "I almost don't have to ask you to marry me because I know you'll say yes. I know you'll never leave just as I know you'll always come for me. And I'd ask you right now and take you to a church right now if only so I could change your last name to Queen, but I want to do it right. I want to do it right for you. Because you deserve perfection and the absolute best anyone could ever give you."

I smiled, a tear sliding down my cheek and he wiped it away with his thumb. "Then hurry up and get that ring, Oliver. Because I can't wait to say yes."

He leaned in and when he kissed me, everything felt right.