Disclaimer: I don't own these characters; WB/DC does. I only own any original ideas found in this. Some dialogue and details taken from episode 4 x 9, written by Wendy Mericle and Ben Sokolowski.

AN: I began this with the cliff hanger I felt with the island flashbacks happening at the mid-season finale. So, that is partly why it is mostly AU. Plus, I wanted to make some sense out of some of the things bugging me about the island flashbacks this season so I decided to continue with it. I also wanted to write more Oliver whump. So here it is, and enjoy

Oliver had decided the time was right to retrieve the maps and charts from the sunken Amazo in case he needed bargaining chips with Reiter. As well as a means to figure out what Reiter may have been up to. That day, he left with Taiana at lunchtime. After receiving one last tutorial from Taiana on how to dive, Oliver felt able to successfully reach the submerged cabin which served as Ivo's office and retrieve the maps. He asked Taiana to wait for him on shore, and despite her protests, took off his shirt and dove into the water.

Getting to the sunken maps wasn't as easy as he tried to lead Taiana to believe, but he was able to find the office and the maps without too much difficulty. It was only on the way back to land where trouble occurred. All those previous months on the island hadn't prepared him for the possibility of sharks. Oliver had never swam as fast as he did to get to shore. He almost made it when the shark barely caught him with his teeth, leaving a significant bite.

As Oliver struggled onto the shore, stumbling several steps, Taiana leaped up to meet him. He fell into her arms and it took all her strength to stand her ground to prevent both of them from falling. He was barely able to keep hold of the maps he'd obtained from the sunken ship as they moved further up the beach.

"What happened?" She asked as her eyes fell on his bleeding thigh.

"A shark. Never knew they were there. Guess he didn't think I tasted good and threw me back."

"Good thing," Taiana returned the smile shyly. She led them to a fallen log to rest. Oliver thankfully sat down slowly and breathed a sigh of relief. He dropped the maps at his feet and gently nudged them against the log. Taiana handed him his shirt, which he put on.

Before she could ask about the maps, Taiana's eyes widened as she looked over Oliver's shoulder behind them and gasped. A "What?" escaped Oliver's lips before he heard a voice chilling him to his toes.

"Well, hey, Taiana," Conklin slowly walked into Oliver's sight and stood in front of them, a machine gun in his hands. Pointing right at Taiana. Oliver nonchalantly pushed the maps further under the log with his feet and prayed Conklin didn't notice.

"You're a little less dead than you're supposed to be." Pointing the gun at Oliver, he said, "And you. You may not be a spy, but you're definitely a liar. Which means you're probably lying about being a spy." A slow, deadly grin spread across Conklin's face. "I'm gonna enjoy taking pieces out of you." He laughed. "After Reiter is done with you, that is."

Oliver swallowed the lump in his throat as Conklin reached over and grabbed Taiana by the arm. "Get up, Queen. We got some things to take care of."

Taiana said, "He can barely walk. A shark took a bite out of him."

Conklin sniffed. He pushed Taiana towards Oliver. "All right, Taiana. I guess I will let you live long enough to get him back to camp." Looking again at Oliver, he said, "Like I said, gonna enjoy taking pieces out of you. You've been nothing but trouble since you arrived. Making me look bad in front of Reiter. We'll see what he has to say now I've been proven right about you."

Taiana leaned down and struggled to bring Oliver to his feet once again. The pain was cutting through Oliver but he tried to bite back a cry of pain with only minimal success.

"Oh, so you think a shark bite is bad? Wait until I'm done with you."

They made their way back to the camp. Every time Oliver stumbled, he heard Conklin's course laugh. Oliver gritted his teeth against both the pain and the frustration at Conklin's mockery and forced himself to continue walking.

When they had reached the doorway of Reiter's tent, Conklin pushed Oliver, causing him to stumble into the tent. Landing on his hands and knees in front of Reiter's desk, Oliver barely stopped his momentum to prevent his head from crashing into the desk.

"Conklin, what is the meaning of this?" Reiter looked at Taiana and said, "Isn't this the woman who was supposedly killed?"

"Yeah, that's what Queen wanted us to think. Clearly he lied to us. I found them at the beach."

Reiter walked over to Oliver's side and looked down at him. "What were you doing there?"

Oliver met Reiter's eyes unwaveringly and said in a steady tone, "Can't a man take his woman to the beach for some alone time?"

His smart remark earned Oliver a swift kick in the abdomen, resulting in Oliver collapsing onto the floor. "You expect me to believe you dared making me angry to protect this particular woman for a piece of tail? And you couldn't choose any other woman?"

Oliver shrugged. "I have very particular tastes. Not just any woman would do." He prayed Reiter would believe him, but he doubted it.

"Before I use my divination sticks on you to see whether that's the truth, I think I will allow Conklin the 'pleasure' of teaching you a lesson. Even if you aren't lying about why you kept her alive, you're not allowed such luxuries as your own woman."

"What do you want to do with Taiana?" Conklin asked with a leer.

"Well, I never did like the thought of unnecessarily getting rid of another set of hands." Sticking his head out the door he yelled, "Randall, come here!" Another guard quickly arrived. "Bring her to the female tent. Make sure she stays there, and also make sure everyone else is where they're supposed to be."

Turning his gaze once again on Oliver, who continued to lie on the ground, Reiter smiled but his eyes remained cold. "Now, Queen, you will now receive the whipping you gave to Conklin." Giving him another kick to the ribs, Reiter said, "Get up!"

As he attempted to get up, Oliver stumbled once again. Reiter looked at Conklin. "What is wrong with him?"

Suddenly Oliver felt a cold shiver down his back. Just when they were beginning to believe the beach story.

"Oh, he said he got bit by a shark." Conklin looked at Oliver and then at Taiana. "Wait a minute. So, if you were there for some nookie, why isn't she wet as well? Why did you take a dip without her?"

Oliver attempted to come up with an excuse. "I wanted to go for a swim, and she…she…"

"I don't know how to swim."

Conklin looked at Taiana. "Is that so? Should we throw you in the ocean and see if that's true?"

Reiter threw his hands up in the air. "I really don't care. Conklin, take Queen out back and do whatever. Just don't hurt him permanently. "

"What about the woman?"

"I haven't changed my mind. We still need her help." He approached Taiana and grabbed her chin tightly, forcing her to look up at him. "Consider yourself warned. You'll get a bullet in the heart next time, no questions asked." Reiter abruptly released her chin and walked back behind his desk. He sat down and said, "Go back to your tent, Taiana."

Taiana rushed out of the tent, with only the smallest look at Oliver. Randall followed her. Conklin walked over to where Oliver remained lying on the ground. He shook his head in disgust, grabbed Oliver under the arm and abruptly brought Oliver to his feet. Oliver bit back a cry of pain, but Conklin had heard the quick intake of breath. He gave Oliver a satisfied smile. "Guess it wouldn't take too long to make you bleed a heck of a lot more."

Oliver was barely able to stay upright as Conklin half led, half-dragged him around the building to a whipping post. As Reiter grabbed his wrists and tied them above his head, Oliver ruefully thought how easily he could have escaped, if his leg hadn't been so messed up. And if he hadn't been so concerned with leaving Taiana behind.

The whippings began. What Conklin lacked in skill, he made up in determination. While Slade and Amanda knew where to strike for the most pain and least blood, Conklin only was interested in inflicting as much pain as possible. Which he was, not surprisingly, quite good at.

Oliver attempted to stifle the cries of pain, but as the whipping continued he was no longer able to. Over the throbbing of pain, Oliver heard Conklin's cackle of triumph. Sweat ran down his face, and down his back, irritating the wounds as well. Oliver began to feel the small steady streams of what could only be blood flow under his slacks and down his legs.

Just as he was beginning to lose the last vestiges of consciousness, Oliver heard a voice cut through the buzzing in his ears. "Conklin! That's enough! I told you to leave me a man able to work."

Hands were suddenly there, cutting his bonds and catching him as he collapsed. Oliver attempted to stay alert, to prevent any further assault, but he couldn't. Darkness descended upon him.

The next thing he was aware of was a piercing pain running down his back. Oliver involuntarily moved, but a voice said, "Don't, Oliver. Try not to move. I'm trying to clean your cuts."

Taiana. She was with him. As if she heard his unspoken question, she said, "Reiter ordered me to take care of you. I'm to stay here tonight in case you get sick."

Her touch was gentle but effective. With her other hand she occasionally stroked his hair as a means of relieving some of the pain as she continued to wash his back. Her actions were so soothing he almost fell asleep. He found himself jerking awake, however, once again.

"Sorry, Oliver. I have to apply this medicated ointment to prevent infection. I guess it also stings."

"I'll try to stay still."

Being prewarned helped Oliver to stay still. Taiana then asked if he felt able to sit up so she could apply bandages to the area. "They gave us rolled gauze, so there's a better chance for the dressings to stay in place."

Oliver deep-breathed several times in an attempt to relax, then he slowly raised himself. Taiana gingerly guided his legs off the bed, assisting him to sit on the edge.

Oliver could almost feel his face grow white. He assumed that indeed was happening because Taiana quickly asked if he was okay. He slowly nodded, willing the nausea to pass. He closed his eyes and began to slowly take deep breaths again in an attempt to clear his head. After a minute, Taiana asked, "Do you feel better? May I start bandaging?"

Oliver swallowed, then told her yes. He lost himself in a quick meditation while she applied gauze squares to the worst areas, which were held in place due to the small amount of bleeding still occurring. After asking him to lift his arms, she then began to unroll and wrap the gauze around his torso, anchoring the gauze squares covering the more severe wounds in place. He startled when she said she was done.

"Thank you. I'm sorry you had to do all that."

She smiled shyly. "It's the least I could do. You did save my life."

"Well, isn't this sweet?"

Both Oliver and Taiana jumped as Conklin walked up to the bars of the cell. Mustering up some vestige of courage he wasn't feeling, Oliver growled, "What do you want, Conklin?"

"Just to tell you, Queen, consider yourself lucky. I almost killed you, but for some reason Reiter wants to keep you around."

Oliver pursed his lips together tightly in an attempt not to respond to Conklin's taunting. In this case it was the wrong choice.

"What? No smart comeback? Oh, that's right. Reiter isn't around for you to impress. You may have forgotten, Queen, you're not the Golden Child anymore."

Oliver remained quiet. Taiana shot a worried glance between the two men. She inhaled, but Oliver placed a hand on her arm. "Conklin, I get it. You don't like me."

"You got that right, Pretty Boy. Well, I would love to take your woman away from you but Reiter is too concerned about you. He thinks you require a babysitter in case you stop breathing in the middle of the night. I tried to tell him I didn't hurt you too badly, but no, he wants to make sure you survive. What makes you so special anyway, Queen?"

"I really don't know, Conklin."

"Like I said, don't get too comfortable. If it's the last thing I do, if it's up to me, I'll take care of you myself. Permanently. And soon."

As Conklin walked away, Oliver let out a quiet sigh. Taiana turned to him and asked, "Why does he have such a grudge against you?"

Oliver shrugged then winced in pain as the newly forming scabs on his back pulled. "I need to remember not to do that." Shaking his head he said, "I guess I showed him up several times in front of Reiter. He hasn't forgotten nor forgiven that."

"Have you always made friends so easily?" She teased.

Oliver gave a small smile acknowledging her attempt to lighten the mood. "Yeah, I sure am good at it." I got the scars to prove it.

"How are you, really? Any nausea?"

"Not any more. I think I'm going to lie down and get some sleep. I should be okay. At least Conklin didn't give me a concussion to worry about."

Taiana mumbled, "At least not yet."

Oliver chose to ignore the comment and tried to find a somewhat comfortable position. Taiana rose from the cot and took a seat on the floor against the wall. In spite of the pain Oliver found himself drifting off to sleep.

AN: So how do you like it so far? Hope you let me know. And return when I continue this. Will see how close to canon it will be. I think it will be fairly different from canon. Not sure if I will kill off Conklin…I'm not sure what I think of his death on the show. We shall see where this goes. See you next chapter.