"Here she is Mr. Queen," the doctor said as he opened the door to Felicity's ICU room. The sight of her condition made me do a double take. She was hooked up to a ventilator. I watched as the ventilation bag filled up and deflated repeatedly. Fluids were being administered IV via a needle in her arm. She looked so pale, so lifeless.

"... able to repair the large intestine. Mr. Queen? Mr. Queen are you still with me?" The doctor asked snapping me out of my trance.

"Yes, sorry," I replied.

"Are you feeling faint? Maybe you should lie down. We can come back later," he insisted.

"No!" I blurted out. I was not going to leave her. "I just wasn't prepared to see her like this. I feel fine."

He let out a sigh but resumed, "I'm sure you missed everything I said earlier, so let me give you a quick recap. Her large intestine and was punctured by the blade. Thankfully, she was rushed here fairly quickly and we were able to repair the organ before any severe damage occurred. A few of her ribs were broken as well. One of these ribs punctured her left lung. We placed a chest tube to drain the air surrounding her lung. We are assuming that the man, Slade Wilson, stepped on her chest to pull the blade out from her body. We found a footprint embedded onto her clothing."

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked gazing once more at her frail body.

"We are hopeful. When the large intestine was penetrated, bacteria seeped out into her abdominal region. We believe that we were able to catch it and thoroughly clean the abdominal cavity out before sepsis set in. We will be monitoring her closely over the next few days."

"When will she wake up?"

"We are keeping her on heavy pain medication due to the severity of her wounds. She will probably be under for the next few days at least," he replied closing her chart.

"Can I stay with her?" I asked not wanting to leave her alone.

"I'm not supposed to let anyone outside of family or significant other be in here. However, I know how much she means to you. Plus, I know that no matter what I say, you are probably going to slip back in here somehow. If I let you stay, will you please be more cooperative with your own healthcare treatment?"

"Yes. I appreciate this," I thanked him. He gave me a nod. He asked me to hold on a second as he went to fetch a chair for me. He returned a minute later with a chair for me to sit in. He placed it beside the bed.

"Just hit this button right here if you need anything," he instructed pointing to the little red button on the side of the hospital bed. I knew he was talking about medical emergencies.

"Thank you for everything," I replied nodding. Taking a glance at his name tag for the first time since I'd been here, I saw that his name was Dr. William Byers.

Once he was gone, I took my seat beside Felicity's bedside. I took her limp hand in mine and squeezed gently. Her heart rate monitor beeped steadily in the background. The sound of the ventilation bag inflating and deflating echoed in the quiet room.

My thumb trailed over the back of her palm as I gazed at her eyes. I know that the doctor had said that she wouldn't be up for several days, but I had a false hope built up inside of me that her eyes would just flicker open. If she was awake, maybe I could convince myself that she was going to be alright.

Something that Slade had said was bugging me. "Just like my Shado, Felicity will die. Your curse will live on." Was this the curse that Kai was talking about? Was this my punishment for leaving the island? Was I the reason that Felicity was laying in this hospital bed? Surely Slade's wording was just a coincidence. Felicity was still alive. If I was truly cursed Slade would still be alive.

Just then the door opened and a nurse entered the room. "Excuse me, you aren't supposed to be in here!" She exclaimed, startled by my pretense.

"Ma'am, Dr. Byers gave me permission to be in here," I explained.

"Give me a second," she said stepping out of the room. I overheard her talking into a radio to someone. After a minute, she re-entered the room with a slightly defeated look on her face.

" I need to check her vitals," she said giving me an irritated look.

" I'll get out of your way then," I responded backing away from the bed.

"Thank you," she replied grabbing the chart from her bed. She began checking her blood pressure,temperature, and a few other things before documenting them and leaving us alone once again.

I scooted my chair back over to her resuming my place by her side. A yawn escaped my lips followed by a grimace of pain. The yawn had shot pain throughout my jaw. Dr. Byers voice sounded throughout my brain reminding me that I had hairline fractures to my jaw.

The nurse who had just left popped back into the room. "These are for you."

She handed me two plastic cups. One had a small amount of water in it, while the other had two small red pills in it. "What are these?"

"Pain medicine. Dr. Byers prescribed if for you," she responded watching me for s moment. She was waiting for me to take the pills.

"Will this make me drowsy?" I asked. I didn't want so fall asleep on Felicity.

"It has a different effect on everyone," she responded. I could tell she was starting to get impatient.

"Okay," I sighed throwing the cup back against my lips. The pills hit my tongue as I washed them down with the lukewarm water provided by the nurse. Satisfied, she took the cups from me and left the room once again.

I sat there for about thirty minutes just watching Felicity closely. I didn't want anything to happen to her. With each passing minute, I found it harder to keep my eyes open. It felt as if they were being weighted down by anchors. The rhythmic sounds of the ventilator and heart rate monitor was not helping my drowsy state. The medication must have kicked in. I caught myself drifting off a couple of times.

I must have drifted again because one second I was looking at her lifeless body and the next I was watching from afar as doctors held her convulsing body down as the heart rate monitor beeped rapidly .