I'm getting a little upload-happy here... The next chapter won't be up as quickly as these have been, but it'll be within the week. Thank you again for reviewing and favorites :)My medical knowledge is absolutely terrible, as is my research capability, so please bear with me over the medical stuff and pretend I know what I'm talking about haha Thank you!


She wasn't sure what it was that dragged her from her sleep. She was only vaguely aware of the strange smell filling the slightly chilled air but she thought nothing of it as a slow beeping noise filled the room. The sound getting more and more irritating as she eased back into consciousness, she brought up her left hand to reach for the nightstand intent on making the damn noise stop. She stopped when she suddenly found her hand wasn't lifting as she wanted it to. She briefly passed it off as her hand going numb from sleeping on it wrong until she felt fingers move against her own.

Like a tidal wave slamming home, she was suddenly bombarded with an onslaught of feelings much like the ones she had before. In an instant she remembered the knock to the head. Waking up in the foundry having no idea where she was. The difficulty to see was the last thing to come back to her, hitting her like a freight train.

She blinked hard. She could tell her eyes were open but faint darkness was all she could see. She faintly registered the beeping noise slowly getting faster before it clicked that she must have been in a hospital.

She needs a hospital.

We're taking you to the hospital, okay?

Suddenly remembering the hand in hers she squeezed it hesitantly. Almost immediately, her hand was squeezed back and she heard what must have been a chair scraping against floor before the darkness above her got slightly darker.

"Felicity?" She choked out a short sob in response.

"John, what's going on?" Her voice, small and fearful almost broke the older mans heart.

"I'll get the doctor." She recognized Sara's voice just before she heard the retreating footsteps from the room. Digg gripped her hand firmly before leaning in towards her, his voice calming her slightly.

"We had to take you to the hospital. You've been here since last night, but they had to wait for you to wake up before they could fully check you out, okay? They have to…. The doctor said he might have to do a few tests to determine what's wrong with your vision if it wasn't better when you woke up." He joined his other hand against hers, gripping her hand in both his reassuringly, "It's going to be okay, Felicity." She swallowed thickly before nodding her head in his direction.

She was about to ask where Oliver was when the sounds of footsteps interrupted her thoughts. Sara came up next to Diggle with a simple "Hey" with a soft squeeze to her arm.

"Ms. Smoak, I'm Doctor Richards. Can you tell me if you remember what happened?" She tried looking around as he spoke, only managing to see glimpses of unidentified light in random places, or at least what felt like random places. She was usually good with strangers, but the fact that she couldn't even tell what this man looked like did little to calm her as she laid in the unfamiliar hospital bed. Diggle and Sara by her side was the only thing helping, like some kind of intangible anchor.

"I fell and hit my head. I have a concussion, right?" She hoped the answer was enough having not been sure if they had told anyone how she ended up in her current state. She wasn't sure if there was some cover she needed to uphold, instead hoping her vague answer was enough. Luckily it was as the doctor continued.

"Yes, that's right. I understand you're having difficulty with your sight." She nodded apprehensively hoping he was looking. "Okay, Ms. Smoak, I'm just going to raise the head of the bed a bit and then I'm going to have a look at your eyes." Before she knew it she felt the top half of her body slowly being raised into a nearly sitting position.

She heard a small click and then immediately turned her head away as a yellow tinge invaded the darkness she had previously been subdued to. It certainly wasn't bright. Nothing like as if she had her full eyesight in that moment, but the quick change to dull and dark, to a barely-there light was still effective enough to shock her slightly. "Ms. Smoak-"

"Felicity." She corrected.

"Felicity, what can you see?" The doctor asked and she held back a bitter laugh as her free hand found the edge of the blanket covering her. Twisting the fabric between her fingertips, she hung her head.

"I can't see… things. I have no idea what this room looks like. But I can, uh, I can make out some light. Not…not the way I should, but just a little." She turned her head to the right, "I'm assuming there's a lamp there?" She stopped fiddling with the blanket to raise her hand in front of where the 'light' was, moving it back and forth as she watched the faded flicker of the shadow. With a heavy sigh she brought her hand back to resume her grip on the blanket.

"Felicity, I believe you may have some swelling against your optic nerve from when you hit your head which is what's effecting your vision. I'd like to run a CAT scan to figure out exactly what we're dealing with here, okay?" She could tell he was trying to be reassuring, but it just wasn't doing anything for her at the moment. She released Digg's hand and with a stuttered breath, gripped the blanker tighter.

"Am I ever going to see again?" She asked after a few seconds of trying to get the words out. She heard a short thudded sound and heavy footsteps in what she assumed was the hall before Sara let go of her arm. She listened as her soft footsteps faded out, presumably leaving the room.

"I'm sorry, I'd rather not give you any false hope until we get the results." She could hear the apologetic tone and while she wished she could have some kind of answer, maybe it was for the best not to get her hopes up. "Someone will be in shortly to bring you down to get the CAT scan done."

"Thank you, doctor." She was thankful for Diggle right then since she found herself speechless. She hadn't realized she had started crying until she felt a drop land on her arm. Bringing her hand up to wipe away the falling tears, she tried her best to hold them back as best she could. Inhaling sharply, she managed to stop the flow of tears, easing her breaths. Unbeknownst to her, Digg watched on, his heartbreaking as he watched her putting up walls.

"Digg, you still there?" She looked around knowing it was useless, but hoping just maybe it'd help.

"Yeah. Yeah, Felicity, I'm still here." She nodded, resting her head back and closing her eyes.

What was the point in even having them open.

"Is anyone else in here?" She knew Sara had left at some point but wasn't sure if she came back or not. She heard the doctor leave. The only person left was Oliver and surely he would have said something by now. She doubted he was in the room but it didn't stop her curiosity. "Just us." He answered simply.

"Oh." She inwardly cringed as even she heard the underlying disappointment in her voice.

"Felicity…" Digg started but stopped when someone entered the room.

"Felicity, hi. My name's Amy. I'm going to be taking you down to get the CAT scan." Felicity could tell she was friendly by the lightness of the woman's voice. She gave a small smile in the general direction though she was sure it didn't reach her eyes in the slightest.

"Nice to meet you, Amy." She held out her hand out of politeness in which the nurse returned the gesture. "You ready?" Felicity nodded.

"You want me to come with you?" Diggle asked.

God, yes. She wanted nothing more than to not be alone. However, she didn't want to be weak in front of her friend. Not when she had no idea what would happen or what they would find. Facing it in front of strangers would be bad enough, but she couldn't find it in herself to subject herself to a possible further humiliation. She knew her friends, her partners, would never judge her.

However, it didn't stop that one word from running rampant through her thoughts.

Useless.


When they arrived at the room, Amy helped ease her out of the wheelchair they had used to transport her down. The doctor had cleared her after not seeing any other injuries, and so that she wouldn't need to be subjected to the hospital bed the whole time.

"Have you ever had one of these done before?" Amy asked her as she locked the wheels of the chair.

"No, I've never had anything but blood work done." She answered.

"Okay, well first you're going to lay down here and I'll explain everything as it goes, okay?" Felicity nodded hesitantly. Amy grabbed her arm helping her out of the chair and slowly navigating her to where she needed to go. Felicity walked cautiously, her hand out in front of her in an attempt to guide herself. Amy turned her around and she felt the table behind her. "The table is right behind you. Just hop on and lay down." Once she was seated on the table Amy told her in which direction she needed to lay.

"Felicity, right now you're on a table connected to a big donut-looking machine. When you're ready I'm going to raise the table up a little and it's going to move toward the opening of the machine."

"Am I going to feel anything?" Felicity asked nervously having never even seen the machine before.

"No. No, you won't feel anything but you will hear a loud whirring noise but that's nothing to worry about. Are you ready?" She answered in confirmation and startled as the table began to move. She felt it rise only a little before it stopped.

"You good?" Amy checked.

"Yeah." With that, the table then began moving horizontally until it stopped.

"Alright I'm going to turn it on now and this is when you'll hear that noise. I just need you to lay still, okay?"

"Okay." She inhaled before exhaling nervously. She heard the nurse hit a button and while she was warned about the noise it didn't keep from startling her. Unfortunately, it didn't keep her from having a near panic attack as well.

The machine shut off almost immediately but she couldn't hear over her erratic breaths. Couldn't concentrate through the tightness of her lungs.

"Felicity. Felicity! You need to breathe." Amy's gentle voice now replaced with that of command and worry. She did her best to ease her breathing and when Amy was satisfied she spoke up, "Would you like me to get someone for you?" She asked. Felicity shook her head quickly before replying.

"No. No, I'm sorry. I- I didn't mean," She took another deep breath, "I'm sorry I just wasn't sure what to expect. I mean, you told me but I don't even know what this thing looks like and the sound just startled me. I-I…" She trailed off suddenly embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

"There's no reason to be sorry. It's completely understandable given the current circumstances." She paused, "I hate to do this though, but we need the scan. Are you ready to try again?"

"Yeah." She hoped. Luckily when Amy started the machine up again she knew what to expect and was able to stay calm and still as the machine did whatever it was doing around her head. Within five minutes, Amy was helping her off the table and back into the wheelchair.

"Fortunately, the radiologist is in so we'll have your results as soon as he gets a moment and then Doctor Richards will be by to let you know what's going on." Felicity listened as they made their way down the hall back to her room. "Here we are."

"Hey, my favorite blonde is back!" Diggle exclaimed from inside the room as she was wheeled inside.

"Thanks a lot, Diggle." Sara teased.

"My favorite blonde IT girl." He corrected as Sara laughed. The smile at the exchange crossed Felicity with ease. "Hi, John." She said as she stood from the chair, Amy and Diggle helping her back into the hospital bed.

"Just sit tight and the doctor will be in as soon as he gets the results. I'm going to put the heart monitor back on your finger now." Amy said as she reconnected the clip to her finger before she headed out of the room. Felicity heard her feet scuff against the floor "Oh, I'm sorry!"

"It's okay." Oliver's voice filled the room and Felicity whipped her head towards the door at the sound.

"Oliver?" The question tumbled from her lips before she could stop herself.

"Felicity," Oliver said in response, "How'd the scan go?"

Could have been better.

"It went well. The doctor should have the results soon." Her hands found the end of the blanket again, it being the only thing she could keep track of without being able to see anything but random shadows from time to time.

"He's getting the results that quick? That's good." Sara said.

"Yeah. The radiologist is here so we don't have to wait long." She wanted nothing more than to ask Oliver where he was earlier. To apologize for causing so much trouble in what was supposed to be a simple mission. The fact that it was her idea made it even worse. She couldn't find it in her to face her failures in that moment, however.

"Oh! The information for Detective Lance…" She wanted to say more as the sudden thought occurred to her that they should probably get the information over to him as soon as possible. It took her a moment to realize she had no idea if there was anyone else in the room but hoped that if there were they would have told her earlier.

"Don't worry, Felicity. Sara forwarded it to him as soon as she uploaded it. Lance was correct in his suspicions after all." She wasn't sure what worried her more, Oliver's stoic voice or the fear that she was so easily replaceable now.

"All thanks to you, Felicity." She could hear the smile in Diggle's voice. She wondered if he could sense her worries and was trying to cheer her up. His hand fell on her shoulder and squeezed lightly. She brought her hand up to cover his when she felt him tense. She was hurt for a second thinking it was because of her until she heard a new set of footsteps enter the room.

"Felicity. It's Doctor Richards. We got your results in. Would you guys mind giving us a few moments alone, please?" Diggle removed his hand and she could just imagine him crossing his arms over his chest in defiance.

Before anyone could even think to move, not that they had planned on it, she shot up, "Can they stay?" She asked contradicting her earlier thoughts. "I mean… you guys don't have to." She added quickly realizing how pathetic she had sounded.

"We're staying." Oliver spoke up through the silence and she jumped slightly not expecting him to be as close as he seemed to be.

"Okay," She heard the doctor inhale sharply before resuming, "When you hit your head it resulted in an increase in intracranial pressure. That resulted in papilledema which is swelling of the optic nerve. Now, most times in cases like these the vision isn't as effected as yours was, which is rare." Felicity stilled not sure if she wanted to hear the rest of this. She wasn't sure whose hand grabbed hers but it didn't stop her returning the grip. "The good news is it's not going to last forever. As soon as the swelling is down your vision should return back to normal. I only say 'should' because there is a chance that it might not return as fully as before, but I'm confident that that is not the case here."

The silence in the room was suffocating as they took in all the information.

"So I'm not… I'll be able to see again? I'm not blind?" She forced herself to ask him the questions suddenly plaguing her mind at the information.

"I don't want to cancel out the possibility completely just in case, but I'm confident that you have a better shot at winning the lottery than you do of not getting your vision back. Though I need to stress that you need to be prepared that it may not be as good as it was." She hadn't realized she was holding her breath until it released heavily, the hand gripping her hand once more.

It wasn't perfect, but it was certainly better than nothing.

"How long, do you think, 'til it could come back?" She asked.

"I can't give you an exact answer, but I'd say anywhere from two to four weeks." Two to four weeks. She could do that. That was definitely doable compared to a lifetime.

"What happens now? What do we need to do from this point?" She mentally face-palmed herself at not even thinking of that, just glad to know it wasn't permanent. Thankfully Oliver knew what to ask.

"Take it easy. Felicity, you'll need to rest. I know it seems like a long time, but at least for these next couple of days rest is vital. After that the swelling should be down enough for you to be able to move around but you need to be careful. No strenuous activity and avoid stressful situations. It's also important that you have someone to help you these next few weeks. The swelling should go down on its own."

"When can I go home?" The thought of those restrictions made staying at the hospital even more unappealing.

"I'd like you to stay here for observation. If everything looks good, you can be out of here tomorrow evening." She groaned at the aspect of being here that much longer.

"Thank you, Doctor Richards."

"No problem, Felicity. Rest up and if you need anything just let one of the nurses know. I'll be around." With that, she heard him retreat from the room. She leaned back against the elevated bed. She was relieved her loss of sight wasn't permanent but with all the information she just received she wasn't quite sure how to process it all either.

The hand that previously held her own was now removed. Shortly after Digg placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's going to be okay, Felicity. These next few weeks will fly by." She would have smiled at Diggle's words had it not hit her that he was on her opposite side. Ruling out him being the one who held her hand during the results, and it was certainly too rough and large to be Sara's. Which left one other person.

Oliver was there for her in that moment but she couldn't help but notice how distant and quiet he had been since she woke up.

A coldness washed over her and she couldn't help but feel like she had done something to make Oliver mad at her.