This chapter is dedicated to Mickeys Swaggmuffins, who took the idea straight out of my head. Enjoy and keep on reading!

Day 24 of the Nate and Sully friendship

Nate opened his eyes to a bright light, winced and closed them straight away. God, his head was pounding. His skull felt like it'd been cracked in half. He opened his eyes slowly, squinting at first, before opening his eyes fully. He looked down at himself, seeing his arm in a cast and sling. "Oh shit!" He exclaimed, crystal clear, not thinking anyone else was in the room. He heard a laugh and looked to his right. Sully was sitting by his bedside, chuckling. "Kid, you did quite a number on yourself. A broken arm, three broken ribs, a concussion, a twisted and severely bruised knee. Bruised to the bone, in fact. Couple'a marks on your face. Various other cuts and bruises. You'll have me pushing you around in a wheelchair for a few days. Doctors keep telling me you got off easy. That you are real lucky. And the first thing you say when you wake up is 'oh shit'. Damn right, oh shit." Sully sobered and peered down at Nate. "Kid, you almost gave me a goddman heart attack." Nate looked down at himself again. Sully waited, as if expecting some sort of reaction out of Nate, but Nathan Drake doesn't cry and he sure as hell wasn't going to now. God, his body hurt. Hadn't these people ever heard of morphine?

"I meant to check out that stupid thing for you, Sully." Nate frowned down at himself. "I can't get it now. Sorry." Sully just looked at him.

"Kid, I prefer you safe more than some small treasure. Surely you realised that when I stopped Marlowe?" Sully stopped, catching himself. He started again. "You should have seen yourself. That sign was heavy as hell, took me a few seconds to get if off. But I did and I dialled here." Sully indicated the room and grinned at Nate. "I saved your ass again." Nate grinned back, even though it hurt his lip to do so. He could feel the damage the sign had done to his face. Nate shifted to make himself more comfortable, tensed because it hurt like a bitch, and then fought through the pain. What made Nate wonder, was the fact that even though he was in a lot of pain, he was ridiculously sleepy.

Once relaxed he asked, "What're the nurses like here?" Sully's eyes sparkled. Nate laughed, shook his head and looked fondly at Sully who returned to look. "You're a dirty old man, Sullivan." Nate fell asleep, a smile on his face, listening to the sound of Sully's soft laughter.

Later that day

"Hey, kid? Nate, wake up? Nate?" Sully tried to wake Nate up gently, smiling at the thought of Nate's laughter when he showed him the surprise. Sully had seen the guy walking around earlier, and since he was walking down the hall Nate was in, Sully knew Nate would want to be awake for the show. Nate groaned and opened his eyes, the bluish grey piercing Sully's eyes.

"Ugh, what is it? What's happening?" Nate asked groggily, trying to become alert, but the morphine wouldn't let him. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened the again, clearing his throat. "Sully? What's going on?" Sully almost answered, but there was a knock at the door. Nate's eyebrows knitted as he watched Sully go to the door, smiling like there was no tomorrow. Nate tried to sit up, but did it slowly, watching Sully open the door. Nate let out a strangled scream as he saw who was there. The clown walked in with a huge smile on his face, the smile amplified by the red makeup around his mouth. The standardised red clown nose on his face, green makeup around his eyes. Nate tried to say something to Sully, who was standing there smiling but confused, alarm on his face like a light in a lighthouse. The clown moved over to Nate, whose eyes were so wide Sully was surprised Nate didn't look inhumane.

"Why, hello there little guy! What have you done to yourself?" The clown chuckled, which caused Nate to press against the pillows in the bed with his back as if trying to hide himself, then resumed. "What are you hiding for? Come out here! Let's move those pillows off of your bed." The clown was attempting to make some kind of conversation and moved to the bed to pull the pillows out from behind Nate. When he leant in close, Nate let out a small cry. The clown looked quizzically at Nate, and leant back. "What's wrong, little guy? What's your name?" Sully was watching this all unfold; almost shocked at the fact Nate was so scared. Nate was staring at the clown, his eyes opened wide. The ECG had gone up dramatically. Sully tiptoed over to Nate, who refused to take his eyes off the clown and was frozen in fear. The clown was waiting for Nate to answer. Sully stepped in.

"His name is Nate. I'm not sure what's wrong with him, maybe he feels a little ill. I think you should just head on to the next room." The clown nodded at Sully.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. It was nice to meet you, Nate." The clown stuck his hand out for Nate, which Nate didn't even look at. He was clearly watching the clowns face. Nate was still pressed against the pillows. The clown cleared his throat put his hand back at his sides. He smiled at Sully and left the room.

"Nate? Kid, what's wrong? You don't like clowns?" Sully questioned Nate, who had his eyes on the door. He looked slightly more relaxed, which was pretty easy since Nate was sitting as if he's been electrocuted the whole time the clown was there. Nate fixed his eyes on Sully's.

"Is he gone? He isn't coming back is he? Holy crap, he might come back. Go and check he isn't going to. He's gone right? He must be gone. He's been gone for about a minute. I don't think he's coming back. Maybe you should check. Go check. Go!" Nate spoke almost under his breath, but he was clearly directing what he said at Sully. Sully was taken aback, not quite sure what to do, Nate was looking at him with a dangerous look on his face. Sully went to the door and looked out, looking around to see that the clown wasn't there.

"He's gone, Nate." Nate exhaled a huge breath; Sully could feel it across the room. "I didn't know you don't like clowns." Sully watched Nate snap his head up.

"I don't mind clowns. What're you talking about?" Nate was the picture of innocence. Sully knew that just from what he'd said, he was going to always deny how scared he just was. Nate wiggled in his bed, making himself comfortable again. "Do you know if this place has any jello?" Nate raised his brow, waiting for an answer. Sully chuckled, deciding not to talk about this again for a while.

"I'll go have a look." Sully walked towards the door.

"No! No, that's okay. I'm not hungry. You don't have to leave." Nate's ECG spiked again. Sully chuckled under his breath. Looked like Nate was still afraid the clown would come back.

"You may not be hungry, but I am. Be back soon, kid. Don't worry; I'll bring you some anyways." Sully opened to door and left, leaving Nate to sit there, the bed covers pulled up to cover his eyes.