"Oliver!"

He knew that they were happy to see him. It was like being back from the island all over again. Oliver turned to find not only his mother and Thea, but Quentin Lance and Walter Steele as well. He pulled in a deep breath and knew that this wasn't going to be easy. He really didn't know how to deal with this at all…

Not right now.

People in Starling City didn't know that Sara Lance was alive. Everyone still thought that she'd gone down in the China Sea when the Queen's Gambit had gone down six years ago. They'd come up with a story on the plane, but Oliver just didn't want to deal with it right now. All he wanted to do was to hear from the doctors there.

"Ollie!"

"Speedy," he breathed as he hugged Thea, who had practically thrown herself at him.

"Can you please, please, PLEASE stop disappearing and making me think I've lost you?!" Thea asked as she looked up at him, right before she punched him in the arm. She was clearly upset and he could understand that, but he was there and he was alive. Wasn't that what mattered?

"Ow! Speedy…" he complained, though it really didn't hurt. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"Has a doctor looked you over?" Moira spoke up. She and Walter had remained quiet while Thea had assaulted him.

Oliver also had noticed that Lance was staying back. He was certain that he was there for a statement, but he'd made sure that the hospital requested him. Eventually, Laurel and Dinah Lance would need to know…but right now…he could see Sara. It wouldn't be such a shock.

"Officer Lance."

Oliver looked to the side to see that Diggle was motioning for Lance to move past the Queens and to where he was. He knew that he could trust Diggle to make Lance understand their story and Oliver was sure that Lance would be thrilled that Sara was there. She couldn't just disappear, well she could…but Oliver didn't think that she would. There'd been too much press with them arriving back in Starling City. He was actually surprised that Lance hadn't been there when they got to the hospital.

"On the news, they said that there was a group of you," Walter said. "Who was taken with you? I kept expecting a ransom of some kind…"

"The man who took me… He took Mr. Diggle and Ms. Smoak, too. We were together at the time."

"On the news, it looked like there was someone hurt…I thought there were four people?" Thea pushed.

"Oliver?" Moira questioned.

Oliver pulled in breath and looked around. "You know. Let's move down the hall and into one of the empty rooms, so that we can talk in private." Everyone would know about Sara soon enough, but he didn't want to be shouting it out there in the open. It was more delicate.

It took them a few minutes, but they moved into an empty room and he had his mother and Thea sit down. "The man who took us…he—"

"Did he hurt you?" Moira asked quickly, her voice breaking for a moment.

He looked at her and couldn't bring himself to lie completely to her. "Yes, but I'm okay. A doctor has already looked me over. I've been through worse."

"That's not very comforting…"

Oliver just nodded. "He took us to Lian Yu."

"The island you were on all those years?" Walter asked.

He was sure that it sounded worse to them. They didn't know that he'd voluntarily gone there after Tommy's death. For him, if it had only been him, it wouldn't have been so bad. "Yes," he responded quietly and evenly. "Felicity was injured…we'd been able to find a few very basic medical supplies that had been left there when I was there last." He paused and studied them. "Mr. Diggle was in the army…he has experience in hostile environments and he also has field medical training. Felicity's leg was badly cut open, Diggle was able to close it up…but eventually it became infected and she contracted blood poisoning."

"But she's okay, isn't she?" Walter asked with deep concern.

Oliver nodded. "She's going to be." He was quiet for a moment. "But that's not everything… We found someone on Lian Yu. Someone I thought was dead."

"Who?" Moira prompted.

"Sara Lance. She's alive. She helped us get off of that island…"

"Sara?"

He watched them all and as expected, his mother and Thea took it with the most impact. After all, Walter hadn't really known Sara or had any kind of connection to her. He had seen the effect of her death had had on the Lance family, though, especially when it came to her father.

"Yes," Oliver said quietly. "Sara…"

. . .

Oliver knew that his mother didn't understand why he felt the need to stay at the hospital, but he had to. He needed to make sure that things with Felicity were at least where they needed to be. The last he'd talked with the doctors, they were still trying to battle the infection. It wasn't only that, Oliver had asked them to consult on the actual injured area. Diggle was great for sewing her up, but if there was any need for the doctors to reopen it…then that's what needed to be done. Oliver had also voiced that if they could repair it, so that there wasn't a nasty scar, then they were to do it. Money didn't matter when it came to her recovery.

"You know, it's going to look weird—"

"I don't care."

"Sara left."

"That's different," Oliver argued. He was quiet for a moment. His gaze didn't leave Felicity, though, who was fast asleep. At least he knew for sure that she was resting comfortably and in the best hands. "She and her father deserve this time… Mrs. Lance and Laurel…they deserve to have her back too…"

"Your family—"

"I'm alive," Oliver said. "We're Felicity's family."

"She has to have other family out there," Diggle argued. "Maybe we should be calling someone."

"Have you noticed that she never talks about her family?"

"She's usually concentrating on what needs to be done…or you…since watching you is sort of her job," Diggle told him.

"But we know all about your brother—"

"That's different," Diggle told him. "That had to do with Arrow business…"

"We all know about Carly and—"

"So, I talk about them… You guys have met Carly," Diggle pointed out.

"But that's what I'm saying… There's been some time for it to come up," Oliver said. "There's been nothing with Felicity. She doesn't want us to know. So, I figure there must be an awkward relationship."

"You said you did your homework on us, you should know at least something about her background."

"Her mother raised her, there really wasn't anything about her father," Oliver said.

"Maybe we should try to call her."

"We don't know anything about her."

"What if Felicity's allergic to something?"

Oliver looked over at Diggle. "It's not in her QC file."

"Not everything in our lives are in those QC files."

"I wouldn't just go calling your family members if you hadn't talked about them—"

"You call anyone about me and I'm going to unfriend both of you…"

Her voice was weak, but it made Oliver smile. Felicity's eyes started to open and she looked at them both before letting out a low moan. She seemed worse, but he knew that she was better. Oliver was just happy to see her awake and to know that she seemed to be doing just fine given her reply.

"How are you feeling?" Oliver asked.

"I hurt…"

"I think that's to be expected."

"They must have dialed back the pain medication," Diggle said. "I'll go talk to a nurse about it…"

Oliver looked over his shoulder and watched Diggle go before turning his attention back to her. "We were just worried about you…"

"I'm going to be fine…" she told him sleepily.

"I know," he said. "But I wanted to make sure that you were okay once we were here…"

Felicity smiled up at him. "Go home…be with your family…"

"I'm with my family right now," he responded and smiled back at her.

"I'm sure your mother and Thea were worried…"

"Even Walter was here," Oliver told her.

"Awww…I missed Walter," Felicity said. She sounded a little disappointed. Walter was really how Felicity had gotten mixed up in everything in the first place. He'd had her follow some of his mother's assets and such in the company.

Oliver smirked. "I can ask him to come by and visit… You were asleep when he was here."

"No, no…"

"Are you sure you don't want me to call someone?" Oliver asked. He'd noticed that Diggle had walked back in. "Or can we get you something?"

"Can I convince you to take me home?"

"Not happening," Oliver and Diggle said together.

"The nurse is going to come in to check on your pain level in a minute," Diggle said.

Oliver noticed that Diggle was making himself comfortable. He really wanted to stay, but he knew that he really should head home, but at the same time…he should check on Sara. There just seemed like there were so many places he could be; yet there was only one of him.

"Go home to Thea," Felicity told him.

He noticed that she seemed so sleepy and he'd noticed the pain in her voice. He just hoped that she was getting rest because she was healing and because she felt comfortable in that environment. "Maybe I'll just wait a little longer…"

"Don't worry, Man," Diggle spoke up. "I'm going to stay right here… I don't have anyone to go home to…"

"What about Lyla?"

"Not in town," Diggle said. "But you have a family waiting for you…"

Oliver frowned. He just really didn't want to leave them. The fact that he'd nearly lost Felicity was still very fresh in his mind. He balled his hands up into fists and tried to tell himself to relax. He knew that Felicity was safe and he knew that Diggle would be there looking out for her. He'd make sure that they were doing everything they were supposed to be doing and that she got her pain medication.

Maybe he just wasn't ready to be back… It was so much different being back. It wasn't that he didn't want to be home, he did…but there was so much he was still processing everything that happened. It still wasn't quite real to him that Felicity was alive and would be safe. That had been the most stressful part. She was the most innocent person on that island and she wasn't even given a proper fighting chance when they were put on Lian Yu… Everything she said… It still haunted him. It wasn't just what she'd said about being a burden or leaving her…it was that she'd heard a voice…and he still wondered if it was Shado.

Was that incredibly weird?

Yes.

How would Felicity know what Shado looked like or sounded like? How could that even be part of her hallucination or dream? It wasn't possible, but he couldn't shake it… Maybe it was because Shado had haunted him on the island…

He just needed time.

"Oliver?"

"Yeah?" he said finally.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just…thinking…"

"You should leave that to us," Felicity mumbled.

He grinned and looked over at her. "I know," he said. Oliver sighed and knew that they were right. He needed to go home. He needed to see his mother and Thea. He needed to get some sleep and he really could use a shower in which he could really soak and get everything island out of his pores. Oliver moved to Felicity's side and leaned over her. He pressed a long kiss to her forehead before straightening up. "I'll be calling to check on you…"

"We don't have cell phones," Felicity reminded.

She really was the brains of the operation. "Right," Oliver said finally. "I'll be stopping by the cell phone store first."

"You might want to think about adding a line if Sara's staying in town," Diggle suggested.

"I thought of that," Oliver said. "I'll make sure I have the numbers I need for the hospital while I'm out though…and get the phones brought over by courier…or Thea and Roy."

"Same thing."

Oliver smiled at him. "You sure you're going to be fine?"

"I promise not to be mean to him and to let him watch anything he wants," Felicity said as she raised her hand slightly. Oliver watched her for a moment as her eyes started to slip shut again. He was thankful to know that even if she was in pain, it wasn't as much as he worried.

"She's going to be fine," Diggle said quietly. "And the nurses have already told me that anything I want that they'll make sure we have it. They've already taken food orders for me and I made sure that Felicity would have something that she'd feel like eating."

"Always on top of it," Oliver said. He was quiet and he looked down. There was something that he had to say that he knew that he should have said a while ago. Something that should have been said before the island. He was serious when he looked back up at Diggle. "John, thank you…for everything."

"Sure, Oliver," Diggle replied and he could see that he seemed a little confused.

"I mean it," Oliver said. "No matter how emotional or out of it I got, you were always calm and knew what needed to be done with Felicity… She would have died if you hadn't been there."

Diggle reached out and patted his shoulder. "We did it together. We're a team."

"Still—"

"You're welcome," Diggle said. "If that's what I need to say to get you to leave."

Oliver nodded. "I just wanted you to know that I appreciated everything—"

"I know," he said. "I think we both already know that we're not exactly the ones who discuss our feelings…unless it's me needing to give you a reality check…or you're afraid you're losing it…" He motioned to Felicity. "We know she's the heart… She's the emotional one…" Diggle said and his tone was gentle and didn't make it sound like a bad thing because it wasn't.

"She really is."

"Go home," Diggle whispered.

"I am," Oliver said. He still hated leaving them though. He also knew that he needed to check on Sara before he left the hospital. He sighed and turned towards the door, he noticed that Walter was standing outside looking in. He moved towards the door and exited. "You can go in if you wanted." Oliver looked back and stared through the window in the door. Felicity looked so small from out there in the hall.

"I just figured I'd look in on her," Walter spoke up. "I was waiting for you, actually. I promised your mother and Thea that I'd make sure you got home."

"I have to check on Sara before I leave…and make a stop on my way home."

"As long as it doesn't take long."

"I won't."

"The doctor said that she's going to be okay," Walter said. "I see you already told them to make sure that they did everything that could possibly be needed for her."

"She's my friend."

"Is that all?"

Oliver met Walter's gaze. "She's family.

. . .

TBC…