Matt woke up later that afternoon to a noise from his kitchen. He listened with a small smile as Felicity moved around, opening cupboards and the fridge. There was a rustle of paper and Matt smelled different types of food.

"You went food shopping?" he asked. He heard a small gasp and her pulse jumped slightly.

"You're awake?" She said.

"Kinda hard not to be." He said, tilting his head, taking in the new smells of the food when something caught him off guard. "You're wearing my clothes."

"Yeah." Her voice wavered slightly in the way it did whenever she blushed. "I hope you don't mind, mine were covered in blood and you can't really walk around covered in blood without people asking some questions."

"It's New York, people have probably seen weirder." Matt said.

Felicity snorted. "I had Nat bring some food."

Matt turned to her in surprise. "Nat?"

Felicity sucked in a breath, clearly preparing a ramble to change the subject. "Yes, your fridge was basically empty unless you count beer, which isn't a good source of nutrition so – "

"Nat as in Natasha Romanov." Matt cut her off, "Lis, you can't just tell people about," he grit his teeth as he tried to sit up; his entire body screaming in protest. "About me." He heard Felicity put down the jar she was holding and cross her arms.

"Don't you dare try to lecture me on keeping secrets, Murdock." She hissed. "I called Natasha because she figured out who you were weeks ago. She can be trusted, hell she had multiple opportunities to tell me and she didn't. She's not going to tell anyone. And did you really believe that you could fight crime in the same city as the Avengers and fly under the radar?"

Matt leaned sideways against the couch cushions.

"Did you really think I would do anything to put you in danger?" Felicity sounded offended. "I had Nat bring medical supplies and food because I didn't want to leave you alone." Her voice was full of worry and anger. "I couldn't risk that you'd bleed out on the floor."

Ashamed, Matt hung his head. "I'm sorry." He muttered. He knew he shouldn't be snapping at Felicity when she was clearly only trying to help.

"You'd better be." Felicity huffed. Matt couldn't help smiling. She turned her attention back to the shopping bags. "I called Claire, she's coming back to check on your bandages."

"Lis." Matt said, sensing that she was holding something back.

"Do you think she'll need anything else? I mean she is a nurse, so she probably knows what's she's doing and Nat was pretty thorough with the amount of supplies she brought, but you never know there could be a complication and –"

"LIS" Matt said, knowing that if he didn't cut her off, she'd continue babbling to avoid what she really wanted to tell him. "Just come out and say it."

Felicity took a few ragged breaths and seemed to be debating whether or not to do as he said. "I told you about the Arrow." Her voice was dangerously soft. "I told you that I was working for him. You were the only person I could trust, that I could share my day with." She stopped.

"I didn't want you to know because it was dangerous." Matt said. "People are dying, Lis."

"Which is why you could have used my help." Felicity hissed.

"I –"

"Don't give me the tortured, I work alone hero routine." Felicity said, "You would have died last night if Foggy and I hadn't happened to decide to come and find you." She abandoned the kitchen, coming closer. "Do you realize that?" He felt the couch dip and the warmth of her skin as her arm made contact with his hip. "You can't do this alone. No one can do this alone. Not the Arrow, or Iron Man or Captain America, not even Thor."

"Felicity," Matt said slowly. "I lost my dad to the corruption of this city. I've seen it destroy countless lives."

"I'm not trying to talk you out of saving people, Matty." Felicity said,

"That's not what I'm trying to say." Matt hated opening himself up in this way. "You and Foggy are the most important people in my life. I didn't tell you because I couldn't lose you too."

He heard her shift slightly, there was a soft choking sound and he realized she was crying. Reaching out, he ran his hand up and down her arm, trying to be comforting.

"I'm trying to be mad at you." She sniffed, pulling away and getting up. leaving him could.

"Foggy called. He said Karen asked about you. He told her you were in a car accident." She said, clearing her throat.

There was a knock at the door and Felicity went to open it.

"Hi Claire." She said.

"How's our patient?" Claire asked.

"Stubborn." Felicity replied. Claire laughed.

"I'll bet."

"I'm sitting right here." Matt grumbled.

"Hush." Claire said, "The adults are talking and just once it would be nice to get a call that doesn't involve blood and needles."

She came to sit next to him and lifted the gaze off the largest wound.

"This is going to take a while to heal." She murmured. "What did you do, fight a ninja?"

Matt gave her a sheepish smile.

"Of course you did." Claire exhaled, in irritation. "Well, you need rest, so no going around hitting people. You're no good to anyone dead." She turned to look at Felicity. "I'm trusting you to make sure he doesn't put on the mask for at least a month."

"A month?" Matt asked.

"At least." Claire said. She got up. "He'll need to have those stitches removed in about a week. I'm guessing know how to do that?"

Felicity must have nodded because the next moment, Claire was standing. "Do you mind me asking how you learned to sew people back together? The stitch pattern you used is just like the one military field medics use."

"A good friend of mine is special forces." Felicity said. "And I live in Starling."

"Ah." Claire said. "It must have been difficult with the Earthquake and the terrorist attack."

"It's definitely not boring." Felicity grinned.

"Keep yourself alive, Matt." Claire said.

Matt felt a rush of gratitude towards her. "Claire, I know with the amount of times I've said it, it must mean nothing, but…thanks."

"It's not the first time I was dragged out of bed to sew you up." She said, picking up her bag. "Hey, at least I got to see you shirtless."

"It's a pretty good view." Felicity agreed. "I mean…"

Claire snorted. "I like you Felicity. You and me should hang out sometime and share hero stories, I'm betting the Arrow is every bit as stubborn as this guy."

Felicity coughed. "How?"

"Shouldn't have told me you lived in Starling." Claire said. "It was good to meet you."

There was a strange rushing noise and Matt realized that Felicity was hugging Claire.

"Um…" Claire sounded uncertain.

"Sorry. I know I don't really know you, it's just that Matt is a really good friend and I would have lost him if it weren't for you and I really wanted to hug you for that and I hope it isn't weird." Felicity said in one breath. Matt heard Claire awkwardly pat her shoulder.

"You're welcome." She said. She pulled away and left the apartment. She'd made it 3 steps before she paused. She knew Matt could still hear her which is why she said softly "don't screw this one up."

Felicity went back to unpacking the food. Matt listened to her with growing discomfort.

"Your dad's probably worried." He said, when he couldn't take the silence any longer. Felicity's pulse, which had gone down when Claire arrived, was back up. She was still angry and the momentary distraction hadn't been enough to make her forget.

"He's always worried." She muttered. Matt noted a slight shift in her tone and knew she was gearing up for another outburst. "Do you know what's really upsetting about this whole mess?" She said, crumpling one of the empty bags violently. "That you don't see that Karen, Foggy, and I are already in danger. If Fisk really is dangerous, then Foggy's already pissed him off by taking that tenement case. Fisk already tried to have Karen framed for murder and I've been in danger tons of times working for the Arrow."

"You what?" Matt growled. The anger in his voice made Felicity recoil and Matt realized that he'd inadvertently let a bit of the mask slip into his tone, but he didn't care. How dare the Arrow put Felicity in danger.

"Don't try to change the subject." Felicity said.

"I heard you get abducted Lis." Matt retorted. "Are we going to talk about that?"

"That was part of a plan." Felicity sighed. "Me getting abducted, I mean, not you hearing it."

"A plan." Matt closed his eyes.

"We needed a distraction for Deathstroke and –"

"The Arrow offered you up as bait?" Matt hissed. "I thought you were his tech help."

"Sometimes I need to do more…hands on stuff." Felicity said. "and I am not about to stand here and be lectured about safety by the man who looks like he was just put through a wood chipper."

"Whatever happened to 'I can't believe I almost lost you Matty'?" Matt muttered.

"That went out the window as soon as I knew you were stable." Felicity said. "Get ready for some tough love buddy, because I am enforcing Claire's one month vigilante ban."

Matt shivered slightly. She walked back over and handed him a blanket.

"Won't that obstruct the amazing view?" He asked.

"Shut up, you evil man." Felicity smiled in spite of herself. Matt really liked the sound of her voice when she smiled.

"So, which shirt are you wearing?" Matt asked.

"Can't you use your superpowers to figure it out?" Felicity asked.

"Nope." Matt said. "I can tell that it was washed about a week ago and was in the top drawer." He gave Felicity a smirk. "If it has a design on it, I could tell but it would involve feeling the front of it…which would definitely get me smacked."

"Mmhmm." Felicity agreed.

"There's that smile." Matt reached out and caressed her cheek. Felicity let out a little sigh and leaned against his hand.

"Um…" She pulled back, her face heating up. "I guess there's no way you didn't hear that." She stood. "I…I should get back to the Tower, my dad is probably flipping out."

"Lis."

"I'll see you later, for dinner, because you can't cook in your condition. I…I'm going." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, then rushed out.