Home. Heart. Hero.

An Unbeating Heart

The next morning was as Katie expected. The day of a funeral seemed different then other days. Time moved slower. The air even seemed colder than usual as she prepared herself for something she expected. The day she was told her father had fallen into a coma, this day, this day she was sitting in right now, held a special corner in her mind. She knew it was coming, at some point in time, she just didn't expect to happen so suddenly. There should've been warning signs, or at least clues that it would happen now. She knew that's not how death worked. Death was a sadistic kind bitch that struck at the most sudden moments in time.

Katie sat, in her black dress that stopped at her knees. Befitting for a funeral, she thought when she spotted it in the store. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, not hair out of place as she stared out into the nothing in front of her. When the doorbell rang, she didn't move. Actually she couldn't move. It was this moment that she realized that the last thing she could do was say goodbye to last family she had. The bell rang again, and she remained frozen in the seat hoping that whoever it was would just go away and allow her to hide away. Those hopes were tarnished when she heard the door open and close before heavy footstep moved inside.

"Katie, are you-" it was Oliver and he stopped the moment he walked into the living room and found her just sitting there. He walked over and took the seat beside her.

"I don't want to go." she whispered unable to turn to him. "I think I should just stay here and not be there."

"You know when my dad died I felt-" Oliver felt the constricting of his throat as words he thought he could get away with not speaking forced their way out somehow. "I looked down to his body and I felt so alone." he turned and stared too at the nothingness in front of them. "I couldn't really even imagine a life without him being in it and there he was. He was right there and-"

"Gone at the same time." Katie said swallowing the lump in her throat. "You have Thea and your mom and I have-"

"Me." Oliver said quickly and she turned to him. He didn't bat an eye or show any regret for his words. His face held a certainty that left no room for doubt. "You have me and you'll always have me." he held out a hand to her and he watched her eyes look down to it for only a second before her small hand dropped into his grasp. "We will get through this together." Katie nodded as they both stood up and walked to the door. Once they stepped outside, Katie spotted the black car, Diggle standing awaiting for them.

"You brought your driver slash body guard?" she asked looking over to him. "Should I expect to make this trip in one piece?"

"Don't worry," he said with a smile. "I'll keep you safe." and with that they walked toward the car. "I hope this isn't terrible timing or anything, but I just have to ask." they stopped right beside the car and Oliver turned to her before looking down to her shoes. "Why the bright yellow shoes?" Katie followed his eyes to the yellow pumps that did seem completely out of place with her whole dark, and sad look.

"My dad used to tell the story of the first pair of shoes my mother allowed him to get me and the ones he chose were the brightest yellow shoes he'd ever seen." she mused bringing her eyes back to Oliver's to see the smile curling on his lips. "He said I was the light of his life and those shoes reminded him of that. I guess this my way of showing him that his light is not going out yet" Oliver simply nodded before opening the door an letting her inside. He glanced over to Diggle who simply smiled before walking around to get in the car.

When they arrived at the cemetery, Katie's eyes widened at the amount of people. She didn't expect this many people to be in appearance. She knew he father had friends, but they were mostly just business associates. Rarely were people invited to their home and she figured that they worked too much to actually make any friends.