Disclaimer: Blah blah blah I don't own or have any rights to this show or the characters or locations, those all belong to… whoever owns it, I don't know, Hulu? I'm just obsessed with these two old dorks and Mabel.
Summary: Post- 3x8, Oliver wakes up in the hospital after his heart attack and finds Charles and Mabel in the room. He begs them to believe him when he says Loretta didn't kill Ben. Language warning.
A/N: I know the next episode will have dropped by the time I publish this, but I just finished episode eight of season three and it was insane. Finding out that Dickie is Loretta's son, and then Loretta confessing to save Dickie, and then Oliver's heart attack… I had to write something before I see what they actually do in the next episode.
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You Will Never Walk Alone
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Oliver was slowly becoming conscious, coming out of what felt like the sleep of the dead, when he became aware of a tightness in his chest and the beeping of hospital equipment.
He opened his eyes groggily, noticing the feeling of a hand lightly resting on his own and hoping that it was his son.
Alas, when he slowly turned his head, he noticed Mabel sitting next to him, scrolling on her phone with one hand and holding his with the other. Charles was slumped over sideways next to her on the uncomfortable hospital sofa, snoring lightly.
Oliver groaned, reaching up with his other hand (which was threaded with IV needles) and rubbing his chest.
Mabel dropped her phone onto the sofa when she noticed that his eyes were open, slapping Charles awake and standing up to hover over Oliver.
"Oh my God, Oliver, you scared the shit out of us!" she said, holding his hand in both of hers.
Charles rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and hastily made his way around the bed to Oliver's other side. "Are you okay?" he rested his hand on his friend's shoulder.
Oliver grunted. "Where's Will?" he croaked out, his throat dry and his chest tight.
"He just stepped out to talk to the doctor and call his kids, do you want me to go get him?" Mabel asked quietly, squeezing his hand.
"Please," Oliver whispered, rubbing his chest again.
"I'll get your doctor too, he wanted to know when you were awake." Mabel rushed out of the room, grabbing her phone on the way, presumably to text the cast and tell them Oliver was awake.
Charles sat down in the chair next to the hospital bed, gently taking Oliver's hand. "You scared the hell out of us, Oliver. We thought you were going to die."
"M'sorry" Oliver croaked out. He tried to squeeze Charles's hand but couldn't muster up the strength.
"Don't apologize. We care about you."
Oliver coughed softly.
"Are you thirsty? I can't give you water, but I can give you an ice chip."
Oliver grunted in affirmation, and Charles reached over to the table at the end of his bed and grabbed a bucket, never letting go of his hand. He placed a melting ice chip against Oliver's lips and let him take it from his hand.
"I'm not good at this stuff, Oliver. I don't have a lot of people I care about. I was scared I was losing one of the only real friends I've ever had." Charles said quietly, embarrassed.
"I love you too, Charles." Oliver replied, less raspy after the ice chip. He closed his eyes, feeling more exhausted than he'd ever felt in his life.
"Feeling better already? Or does sarcasm come so naturally to you that you can muster it up moments after waking up from a major heart attack?" Charles joked, trying to lighten the mood. He wasn't good at that.
"Meant it," Oliver croaked out, weakly squeezing Charles's hand. "Old man."
Charles smiled. "I wouldn't be so quick to start throwing around names like 'old man,' Oliver." He looked up to see Mabel quickly making her way back to the door, Will and Oliver's doctor behind her. "I do love you, though."
"I know." Oliver wheezed.
Before either of them could say anything else, Charles was ushered backwards toward the door so the doctor could examine Oliver and all of the beeping machines he was attached to.
"Do you have any tightness in your chest? Is it sore to the touch?"
"Tight, not sore." Oliver mumbled.
"You had a major heart attack, Mr. Putnam. You're lucky to be alive." The doctor looked over the chart hanging on the end of Oliver's bed. "We had to perform surgery to address the blockage in your artery. We put in a stint and a pacemaker. You should recover fully from the surgery, but you need to make some major lifestyle changes to make sure this doesn't happen again, because you may not be so lucky the next time."
Oliver saw his loved ones standing next to the door, looking worried and exhausted, and decided that a diet change and a less stressful life would be worth it if it meant he wouldn't have to see them like that again. Even if he didn't care about himself, he cared about them.
"Like what, doc?" he asked quietly.
"You're going to need to start eating healthier, for a start. And you need to cut a lot of stress out of your life. No more stressful Broadway shows or murder investigations."
Oliver could handle the diet changes, and he could even handle leaving Broadway forever (after his current show, of course), but he drew the line at the end of his podcast. Of course, he didn't tell the doctor that.
"When can I go home?" he whispered.
"We want to keep you for observation for a few days to make sure that the stint works, and the pacemaker is on the proper settings. No more than a week, Mr. Putnam."
"Thanks, doc."
"You're welcome." He turned to the small crowd in the doorway. "You can stay and visit for a while, but Mr. Putnam needs his rest. Don't stay for too long." And with that, he was out the door and onto his next patient.
"I'm so glad you're okay, dad." Will rushed forward and bent over Oliver, kissing him on the forehead. "I'm going to step out to call mom and the kids and let everyone know you're okay, I'll be right back." Will stepped out the door and around the corner, typing on his phone, and leaving the three friends alone.
"Oliver, you should have told us about the first heart attack. We could have helped you." Mabel rushed forward and took his hand again.
"What could you have helped with?"
Charles went around to his other side and took his other hand. "Stress? We could have found something to help with."
"I appreciate that you guys care about me so much, but there was nothing you could do." Oliver swallowed thickly. "I do need you to do something for me though." He took as deep of a breath as he could. "Loretta didn't do it."
"We know, Oliver." Mabel said, before he could get any more words out. "Dickie is her son. She was just trying to protect him." Oliver's eyes widened at this revelation. He should have realized that Loretta was obsessed with Dickie, not Ben. He would have smacked himself in the head if both of his hands weren't being held by his two best friends. He closed his eyes and took another not quite deep breath.
"Promise me you'll keep investigating until you figure out who really did it. I can't bear the thought of her being in prison for something she didn't do." his voice cracked. "I love her."
"We promise, Oliver." Charles answered. "Please, don't stress out about this. We've got it covered. You need to focus on getting better."
Oliver saw the love and care in both of their eyes and swallowed thickly. "I've been so awful to you two recently. I'm sorry. I have no right to ask anything of you."
"Water under the bridge. We knew you were an asshole long before we started working on this play." Charles joked. "We know you love Loretta. We'll do everything we can to clear her name."
"We love you, Oliver. If figuring out who really killed Ben will help you get better, then we won't stop until we solve this." Mabel said. "Whoever did this nearly killed one of my best friends, I'll find the motherfucker if it's the last thing I do."
"Thank you. I love you both too." Oliver wheezed.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay? You're being awfully nice to us." Charles smiled at him.
"Oh, ha ha, Charles. Really funny." Oliver coughed, and Charles gave him another ice chip.
"I like to think I'm hilarious, actually."
"I wouldn't go that far." Oliver chuckled and coughed again, rubbing his chest. "Maybe save the jokes for later though? Hurts to laugh."
"Sorry, Oliver. I'm just trying to make you feel better."
"I know, I appreciate it." Oliver squeezed both of their hands. "I didn't think I would ever have anyone that I loved in my life, besides Will, ever again after my wife and I divorced. And I never had any real friends before you two."
"I'm sorry the people in your life have been so shitty to you. Caring about you shouldn't be the only reason that we're your best friends." Mabel whispered.
"And yet…" Oliver opened his eyes and looked at them both. He really wasn't sure how he was lucky enough to have the two of them as friends, even if Charles was stuffy and weird and Mabel was young and snarky. "You two have been better friends to me than anyone else in my life. You're the only two friends that have been here the whole time I've been in the hospital, even though I was unconscious for most of it. You've both put up with my bullshit this year while I've been working on the play and fighting against your investigation."
"We were putting up with your bullshit long before you were hired to direct the play, Oliver." Charles interrupted.
"You're more important to me than some stupid investigation, Oliver." Mabel said at the same time. "If you hadn't asked us to keep looking into it, I would have said fuck it and stopped investigating all together so I could take care of you."
"I can take care of myself, Mabel, I've always had to. I need you to help Loretta."
"And we will, Oliver." Charles interrupted. "But you shouldn't have to take care of yourself. You have people who love you and want to make sure you're okay. We can multitask."
"I don't deserve to have you two as friends." Oliver closed his eyes, exhausted.
"And yet here we are." Charles mumbled.
Oliver fell asleep, feeling safer than he had in a long time, before he had a chance to reply.
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A/N: I love this show so much lol. I know this is a deeper conversation than they usually have, and it may be a little ooc, but Oliver almost died and everyone (including me) was having feelings about it, okay! The title is from the song Call Me Little Sunshine by Ghost, my absolute favorite band. You should definitely check them out if you like rock music and you're not super religious (because you will NOT like their lyrics if you are). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story, I hope Oliver really is okay!