"The first time I told her who I was, I'd been shot and was bleeding out all over her back seat," Oliver says, very well aware of how terrible the story sounds. He hadn't exactly been one for gently breaking the news to someone at the time, though Felicity took his near death pretty well. He'd done his research on her before choosing to trust her, but there had always been a little tug since the first time they met, some instinct that drew him to her again and again.

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't like being used to seeing me come home bloodied up."

That, at least, is something he can make easier for her in Darrow. His injuries are rarer, mostly just scratches and bruises to be patched up.

"Sit down," he tells Derek, gesturing to the kitchen table and one of the chairs there as he heads down the hall and into the bathroom. "I'll grab the med kit."