Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

It was a cold night in Starling City when he headed to the foundry to help Oliver on a new case. Roy knew he shouldn't be patrolling that night for a few reasons. The first was that he hadn't had a lot of sleep the past week due to nightmares and the next and final, was that he was sick with a fever of 102.5 degrees and was extremely dizzy. All of these issues would make it difficult to work, but Oliver needed his help, and it wasn't like he wasn't used to working through this stuff before. After all he had been alone for a long time and was used to taking care of himself.
Upon his arrival at the foundry, Oliver, Felicity and Diggle were already there and planning the outing of the evening. All three of them didn't notice anything out of the ordinary and Oliver ordered Roy to suit up. While suiting up, Roy, couldn't have been happier that no one noticed what was going on with him, as that meant he didn't have to answer any unwanted questions. After they had both suited up, they went out into the field.
Shortly thereafter, they cornered a common street thug who gave up, after Oliver threatened to shoot him with an arrow, and allowed them to bind his hands. Once they had contacted the police and told them where to locate the man, they started heading back to the foundry which was a ten-minute walk away.
However, five minutes into the walk Oliver heard a thump from behind him. He turned bow raised but lowered after noticing Roy on the ground and no one else there. Shocked, he rushed over, "Are you okay?" he asked while helping him up.
Roy nodded and tacked on, "I'm fine, Oliver I just tripped."
Oliver gave him a searching look and then let his arm go. They, then, continued their walk back to the foundry, but not a minute later Oliver heard Roy stumble again. He immediately turned around, grabbed Roy and lowered him to the ground, "You're not fine, Roy. What's going on?"
" Nothing, I just haven't had a lot of sleep lately," he replied with a shrug.
Oliver stared at him and then said, "Roy, I can see that. You have dark circles under your eyes. But I can also tell when something else is going on. You usually perform well, even without a lot of sleep. So, what is it and don't say you're fine."
Roy signed, "This morning, I woke up sick and have been running a fever of 102.5 and am dizzy. I've also almost passed out twice in the last ten minutes."
Oliver nodded, "Roy, you should have told me what was going on with you and not come in tonight. Let's get you back to the foundry and continue this conversation there." Oliver helped Roy up and supported him the rest of the way.
When they arrived at the foundry, Oliver placed Roy into the nearest chair, "I'll be back in a minute. Stay put." Roy didn't argue and only, slumped further back into the chair.
He then walked over to Felicity, who was seated at her station and turned to face him as he asked, "Did Diggle go home?"
"Yeah, he said he needed to get back to Lyla. Apparently, Sara is sick. Is Roy, okay? He looks kind of pale"
Oliver shook his head, "No. He's sick and collapsed twice in the field. He's too stubborn."
"Sounds like someone else I know," she replied.
In reply, he only glared at her. Felicity gave a little chuckle then added, "Anything I can do-" The Sound of her phone cut her off. Reading it, she saw that it was Ray asking her to come into the office for an emergency.
"I'm sorry. I have to go into the office. There's an emergency. Let me know if you need help with Roy."
Once she had gathered her things and wished them both goodbye, she left. He walked over to a drawer in the desk that they kept stocked with medical supplies and grabbed some cold medicine and a bottle of water from the fridge. After gathering everything, Oliver made his way back over to Roy and gave him the medicine and water. When he had taken it, he asked, "Do you think you can change out of your gear by yourself?"
Roy nodded and they went their respective ways and met back up in the main part of the foundry. After sitting down, Oliver decided to start the conversation with his protégé, "Roy, you should have told me you were sick. You shouldn't have been out there tonight. You could have gotten seriously hurt."
"I know, but I wanted to help you. It's not like I haven't worked through this type of thing before. I don't have a family and had to make it on my own," he finished looking down at his hands.
"Roy," he looked up at hearing his name, "You have a family now. You're my family. You can help me, but not like this. How long has it been since you slept through the night?"
He signed, "Not sure. I keep waking up with nightmares about when I was under the influence of the Mirakuru."
"You can always talk to me. About anything. You're not to blame for anything you did."
"I know. I just still feel responsible."
Oliver nodded, "You have to remember that drug messed with your mind, and it wasn't really you who did those things. I'm not saying it was right but try to remember that" He got up and put a hand on Roy's shoulder, before gently squeezing and then letting go. "You should get some sleep."
"I don't think I can sleep."
"Roy, you need some rest. You're at your breaking point."
"I want to sleep, but it won't do any good. I'll just wake up all night long."
Oliver thought and replied, "I'll stay with you and wake you up if you have any nightmare. Deal?"
"Okay."
They both then got up and got ready for bed. Roy went to one of the cots in the corner, while Oliver took the couch.

Notes: A/N: Hope you enjoy the story!