A/N: Is anybody reading this on here? If not, then I'm going to quit posting on here.

Consciousness slowly returned to Oliver. Wherever he was it was dark, quiet and there were odd smells in the air. He tried to move his limbs without alerting anyone that he was awake. Sensing that he was safe for now he slowly opened his eyes. Looking around blearily he realized that he was in a hospital. He tried to remember what had happened and what story he needed to keep straight, but the last thing that he remembered was dropping Tommy off at the ER as the Hood and then, nothing. Oliver slowly turned his head and he saw Tommy laying in a hospital bed next to him. From what Oliver could see Tommy wasn't looking too good. Oliver couldn't tell if he appeared to be sleeping or dead and he hoped that his best friend was just sleeping. His eyes were already getting heavy and he drifted back to sleep without meaning to.

The next time Oliver became aware he could hear the sound of voices having a conversation. Keeping his eyes closed he could pick out Tommy's voice and was that Thea's voice? "I think he's waking up. He used to do that same thing when Mom would come to check on him at night and he pretended like he was asleep, but he was really playing video games." Yep, the voice belonged to Thea.

"Tattle-tale." He said softly, slowly opening his eyes and blinking against the bright hospital lights.

"Hey, there you are. I couldn't let you get away with playing 'possum." Thea said smiling at him. "It's good to see you with your eyes open, Ollie. Tommy was worried."

Oliver slowly turned his head and saw his best friend propped up in the hospital bed beside him and exclaimed. "Tommy!"

"Hey man, turns out I didn't die." Tommy was smiling at Oliver, which made him smile in return.

"The vigilante saved him!" Thea said excitedly. "At least that's what Laurel said, apparently Tommy doesn't remember anything."

"You try getting shish-kabobbed and knocked in the head and see how much you remember." Tommy said defending himself.

"That would suck…" Oliver mumbled as his eyelids again grew heavy, and he drifted off.

"Oliver," A familiar deep voice said as a hand gently shook his arm. "C'mon man, you need to wake up and eat something." Blinking his eyes open, he realized that Dig was the one waking him.

"Hey," He breathed.

"Hey yourself, the hospital brought you a tray in and Thea said that you were awake earlier." Oliver yawned and clumsily picked up the spoon, wincing as he reached for the pudding cup.

"I'll trade you my red Jello for your tapioca pudding," Tommy offered from his bed. "I'm on a soft food diet courtesy of that piece of rebar."

Oliver looked over at his friend who was slightly reclined in the bed. He had an IV and the ECG leads still on his chest, but he looked better than the last time that he had seen him. Oliver remembered how limp Tommy had been when he had dropped him off at the ER, and how worried he was that he hadn't been fast enough and that Tommy had died on the trip there. "You're looking a lot better."

"Well, I had a nice nap while the doctors played around in my intestines trying to undo the damage that the rebar caused. Then when I woke up Laurel was here, and she explained in no uncertain terms what an idiot I was. And even after everything that I said, I owe my life to my best friend. So, I have to say things are looking up, even if I am down a portion of my liver thanks to dear old Dad." Tommy took a deep breath and, making sure no one was at the door, he asked, "Did you kill him?"

Oliver was quiet for a second then answered, "Yes." As at the same time Diggle said "No."

Both Oliver and Tommy looked at Dig in confusion.

"After I brought Oliver into the ER I swung by Merlyn Global and was going to call the cops to alert them about Merlyn's body on the roof, but it wasn't there. I don't know what that means, so we can't know if he is currently dead or alive. As far as I'm concerned until there is a body, you didn't kill him." Dig said shrugging.

Both of the injured men were silent, lost in their own thoughts. Oliver was able to eat about half of his Jello before he felt his energy starting to wane again. He could feel his eyes drifting closed again and he was asleep before he knew it. He woke once more in the middle of the night when a nurse came in to check on them, but he soon drifted back asleep once more.

"Livy says that she misses both her Daddy and Uncle Tommy and is making you both cards." Oliver heard Felicity's voice as he slowly woke up.

"Felicity," he said, his voice sounding tired, as he opened his eyes to see her sitting in a chair between the two beds. She was holding his hand while she was talking with Tommy.

"Hey Oliver. Good to see you awake. John said that you had talked with him yesterday and ate a little bit." She smiled at him. "How are you feeling?"

"I owe you a date," he said softly, smiling up at her.

"Yes, you do. And don't think you're taking me to Big Belly Burger, 'cause I'm not a cheap date, so, just no." Felicity said teasing.

"Ollie, take her to Table Salt, it's where I take all my dates to impress them when I want to make sure they are willing to put out." Tommy grinned.

"Be careful mister or I'll pull the curtain on you again." Felicity told Tommy sternly and then turned back to Oliver. "We've been having to put Tommy into a time out when he won't behave."

"Why do I feel so horrible?" Oliver asked, ignoring their banter. While they had been talking Felicity had raised the head of his bed up slightly and wheeled his breakfast tray over so it was over his lap. Looking at it, Oliver just sighed, just the thought of the simple act of picking up a fork or spoon was making him tired.

"When you stabbed the arrow through you, you managed to nick the subclavian artery. It was a small enough tear so that you didn't bleed out quickly, and if you had kept still, you probably would have been fine. However, all of the moving that you did to get Tommy here kept it from clotting and you just about bled out leading to hemorrhagic shock. So, right now your body is trying to build back all of the blood that you lost in the first place." Felicity said and pushed his food tray towards him. "Eating is supposed to help with that."

Oliver managed to eat a few bites of his eggs and toast before exhaustion started setting in again. "Why do I feel worse now, while I'm here in a hospital than I did when I was on the island after a shark bit me and I was whipped?"

Both Felicity and Tommy looked at him in shocked disbelief and horror. "Somebody whipped you, like with a whip whip?" Felicity squeaked.

"Yeah, Conklin had it out for me and was glad when Reiter let him loose on me."

Felicity blinked at him, "Was this on the island?"

"Yeah. It happened the second time I was there." Oliver said, looking dully at her. "Why is it so cold in here?"

"Felicity, check his temperature." Tommy said urgently, hitting his call button just in case. "When we were kids, something like this happened. At school he was acting like this and being very talkative, right before he had a febrile seizure. It turned out he had the flu and had developed a super high fever."

Felicity quickly stood up and leaning over she placed her hand on Oliver's forehead, the coolness of her hand felt good against his heated skin. "That feels nice." He murmured, leaning into her hand as she stood over him. "You smell really good Felicity."

"Thanks Oliver," She brushed her hand down his face, and he leaned into the contact. Turning to Tommy she said, "He feels really hot, I'm going to go get a nurse."

Oliver's lids felt heavy and once Felicity's hand left his face, he closed his eyes and fell into a fitful sleep. He dreamed of all the bad things that had happened on the island. Of Billy Wintergreen torturing him, of Slade beating him, of Amanda Waller having him water boarded, of the pain that Conklin had afflicted, and all of the atrocities that Kovar had committed against him. He relived the pain and anguish of each and every time. Then finally everything faded to black.

***ARROW***

When Tommy woke in the hospital, he was surprised. Back at CNRI when he told Oliver his goodbyes, he had truly meant it when he had told Oliver that he didn't think that he would make it, so waking up in the hospital was a pleasant surprise. Tommy could tell that he was on the good drugs because everything felt cottony and far away. Looking down he half expected to see the piece of metal sticking out from his chest, but all he saw was a hospital gown and padding from where his wound was bandaged. He heard a sound coming from his left so he turned his head and saw that Oliver was in the bed beside him.

"Ollie?" He tried to say, but it came out as more of a hoarse croak. He attempted to sit up to see his best friend better but when he tried to move pain lit up his entire side. Instead, he turned his head as much as he could and tried to examine his best friend. He had never seen Oliver looked as horrible as he did right then. He was so, so pale and still. The stillness worried Tommy the most because staying still had never been Oliver Queen's strong suit. In all the time that Tommy had known Oliver he was constantly in motion, so it was weird to see him so still and unmoving.

The little bit that he had moved around had caused Tommy's side to start throbbing and he groped around on the hospital bed looking for his call button. As he was searching for the button, he heard a click from his IV stand then he felt relief from the throbbing in his side as the painkillers hit his bloodstream and since he was no longer in as much pain he quickly drifted off to sleep.

"Come on! Will one of you please wake up? It gets really boring just sitting here thinking about everything. In fact, since neither one of you has talked me out of it yet, I'm planning on re-opening Ollie's club. It wasn't damaged too badly in the Undertaking; and with a little bit of repairs I think that we should be able to open pretty soon." A short silence, "Nothing? Gosh this is worse than when I was a kid and would sneak into your room Ollie and the two of you would be completely passed out. Little Thea thought that you both were just deep sleepers; Adult Thea now realizes that you both were probably wasted and were sleeping it off."

"I'm a deep sleeper," Tommy murmured interrupting Thea's rambling.

"Tommy! You're awake!" Thea exclaimed. "How're you feeling? Do you need a drink? Should I call a nurse or doctor? When I came in, they didn't tell me what to do if you woke up."

"Water would be good," Tommy replied tiredly as he rubbed his face. His mouth was so dry that it felt like the Sahara dessert. Thea quickly held the straw up to his mouth and he greedily took sips. "Thanks."

"You know, Laurel's going to be majorly pissed that you decided to wake up right after she left." Thea informed him as she set the water bottle on his bedside table and rolled it within his reach. She went back to sit in the chair that was positioned between both his and Oliver's beds.

"What happened?" Tommy asked. His memory was fuzzy and the last thing that he remembered was trying to tell Ollie goodbye because of the rebar sticking out of his chest, but the before and after bits were a bit vague.

"From what I've been told, you saved Laurel but then got trapped in the CNRI building after you went to make sure that everyone else had gotten out. The Hood then showed up and saved you by getting you out of there and to here where you underwent emergency surgery. You were really lucky because it was touch and go there for a bit."

"What happened to Oliver?"

Thea looked down at her hands. "That's kinda my fault. The guy I'm talking to lives in the Glades and Ollie promised to make sure that he got out safely if I stayed at home with Olivia." She shook her head. "Mr. Diggle said that they were on their way to Roy's house when some thugs who were mad at what Mom said jumped both him and Ollie and both of them were hurt. Roy said that it got pretty gnarly out there." She brushed away a tear.

Knowing what he did about Ollie's extracurricular activities, Tommy doubted that that was the real story. Thinking about it for a moment he figured that their injuries had to have come from his dear old dad. "The thugs stabbed Ollie?"

"I don't really know for sure. Ollie was all bruised up and was bleeding out through a hole in his shoulder, which led to hemorrhagic fever." Thea frowned, "No, that's not right. Hemorrhagic shock! That's it."

"Hemorrhagic fever is like in those outbreak movies." Tommy shuddered in mock horror, taking great care not to move his bandaged side too much. "Those movies still gives me the creeps."

Thea then noticed that Oliver had started to wake up, Tommy was happy to see his friend awake, even though he didn't stay that way long before he fell back asleep.

Thea looked at her brother with concern. "I don't know what to do Tommy. Mom's in jail, and that's where she belongs for what she did." She looked angry when she mentioned her mother. "And Oliver's stuck here." She looked down at her lap where she had been twisting her fingers together. When she looked back up at Tommy, he could see that her eyes were wet, "Walter's going to leave as soon as Ollie's well enough to be able to take over at Queen Consolidated. He's divorcing Mom." Tears once again spilled down her cheeks.

Tommy used to bed controls to push his bed up more, "Hey, squirt. Come here," he said and opened up his arms. Thea hugged him carefully, and he let her cry, her tears seeping into his hospital gown. When she finished crying she sat back up and perched on the side of his bed. Tommy reached up and brushed the tears from her cheeks. "Were you serious about taking over Verdant?"

"That's what you got?" Thea sniffed.

Trying not to smile, Tommy said, "I was just asking because I think that you would be really great at it, and I know that Ollie would very much approve. Managing the club would also give you something to do besides being an amazing aunt. Plus, it would also be good for the employees that live in the Glades to have some income coming in." Tommy sighed; he wasn't the best at heartfelt conversations. "I don't know what to tell you about Moira, though. Just know that if you need me, for anything, I'm here." Tommy surprised himself by yawning, "Now I think it's time for a nap."

Thea leaned up and kissed him on the forehead, "Thanks for everything Tommy."

He smiled, closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. When he opened his eyes again, it was to a nurse who was there to change his bandages. She went over wound care instructions with him and what he could expect with his recovery before leaving him with some food and a new visitor.

Laurel had come in as the nurse was leaving, and seeing him awake, a large smile broke out over her face, and she quickly rushed to his bedside and leaned down and kissed him. Leaning back, she smiled gently at him. "Thank you for saving my life."

"If that's the thanks I get I'll try to save it more often." He quipped, shifting in the bed and wincing as his incision pulled.

Laurel waited until he had finished moving and then punched him hard on the arm. "And that's for almost dying! Do you know how scared I was?" she exclaimed as tears started pouring down her face.

"Hey, hey. It's okay." he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her gently to the bed. "I'm here, we both made it. It's okay"

Laurel took a deep breath and then looked over to the other bed where Oliver was laying. "Is he still about the same?"

"They haven't told me much; I only know what Thea told me and she didn't have much information."

Laurel nodded looking pensive. "Tommy…" she started looking like she had made up her mind.

"You don't have…" He didn't get to finish his sentence before Laurel interrupted.

"Stop. You are going to listen to what I have to say and then we'll talk." She paused to let him get comfortable with the idea. "I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past few days. And I think that one of the major reasons that Ollie and I had such problems when we were together was because there was no communication between the two of us. We would talk at each other, but never to each other and I refuse to let that happen here." Laurel paused and looked over at Oliver again. "I was both so happy and so mad when I found out that he was alive and coming back. The night before the undertaking Ollie come over to see me at my apartment. I told him what you had said, that he still was in love with me and that I needed time to decide who I really was in love with."

"Laurel," Tommy said, trying to interrupt and not wanting to hear about her and Oliver's night together.

She shot him the shut up and listen to me look, a look that he was very familiar with. When he fell silent and didn't say anything else she continued. "I told him that I had made up my mind, and then I kissed him. We both realized that the kiss was a goodbye kiss. There wasn't the love in it that there used to be, and while I will always love Oliver, I'm not in love with him. I'm in love with you, you idiot."

"Oh," Tommy said, trying to wrap his mind around what Laurel just told him.

"Oh! Seriously? I pour my heart out to you and that's all you have to say?" Laurel exclaimed.

Tommy laughed, which made his wound ache. "Sorry, I went there that night to declare my love for you only to see you and Ollie kissing. I thought that you had chosen him, instead of me."

Laurel rolled her eyes at him, "No Tommy. He came over to tell me that he was choosing to try to build a relationship with Felicity."

"Well, I really screwed that up then." Tommy said as he used his free hand to cover his eyes thinking about the fight he had had with Oliver at the club. He had gotten drunk and been mad and instead of talking to Oliver, he had handled it horribly. At Laurel quizzical look, he sighed. "I may have gotten drunk that night and then the next morning had fight with Oliver when he was trying to warn me that Dad was up to something." That opened a whole new can of worms based off the expression on Laurel's face.

"Has anyone told you anything about your dad?" Laurel asked.

Shaking his head Tommy answered, "The only thing that I've heard is that Mrs. Queen is in jail for helping him." He vaguely remembered being in the wreckage of CNRI and asking Ollie if he had killed Malcolm, and Ollie telling him no, but that could have been for his own benefit, not wanting to upset him farther.

"He's been declared dead." Laurel said gently. "He's done some pretty horrible things."

"Ya think?" Tommy added mirthlessly.

"But he still was your father."

Tears welled in his eyes. He hated what his dad had done, and Ollie had been right he did know what kind of man his father was, but it still hurt.

"It's okay to feel sad, he was your dad." Laurel said as she gently held his hand,

"Laurel, you know how he was," Tommy shot back. "Robert Queen was more of a father to me than Malcolm ever was. Even after Ollie dropped outta Cub Scouts Robert would still come to the parent meetings for me because Malcolm never bothered to show up." Robert and Oliver's funerals were still a sore spot for him, he had been grieving the loss of his best friend and his father figure, but he had been unable to deal with his own grief because he had to take care of a pregnant woman who had lost her baby's father, an unstable and grieving teenager, and Laurel at the funeral. All the emotions and the trauma of everything were making him tired again. "As much fun as this has been, I'm getting tired."

"I understand", Laurel said standing up she leaned over and kissed his forehead. "Rest well, I'm going to curl up in that chair and go over some law stuff."

Tommy nodded in acknowledgement. All he wanted to do at that moment was to curl up into a ball and pull his blankets over his head to block out the world, but he couldn't do that without his side hurting more than it already was, so he closed his eyes and hoped that things would be better when he woke up.

He was awakened by the nurse bringing him a lunch tray. "Here you go Mr. Merlyn." She said as she set the tray of various soft foods on his table and pushed it towards him so that he could easily reach it to eat. She set another one on Oliver's tray. "I'll be back in about an hour to get those trays then later this afternoon your physical therapist will be by to start you with some PT." She smiled and left the room, then Tommy saw that Mr. Diggle was sitting in the chair that Laurel had occupied earlier.

Mr. Diggle nodded towards Oliver, "Has he been awake at all?"

"He was awake for a few minutes this morning when Thea was here." Tommy said as he dug into his hospital Jello. "He's really missing out on this fine hospital cuisine. I think I might have to start bringing dates here."

Mr. Diggle rolled his eyes, "I'm going to wake him up, he needs to get some food in him, even if it is hospital food. It takes a lot to replenish blood loss."

"Sounds like you know what you're talking about."

"Been hit a time or two while I was in the Sandbox."

It was then that it dawned on Tommy that Diggle had been in the military. "I think Ollie had told me once in passing that you were in the military."

Nodding, Mr. Diggle went over to Oliver's bed and gently woke him up and helped him get situated. Wanting to make Oliver smile he joked, "I'll trade you my red Jello for your tapioca pudding." At Ollie's frown Tommy clarified, "I'm on a soft food diet courtesy of that piece of rebar."

Oliver gave him an assessing look that Tommy remembered from when his friend was trying to figure out how messed up Tommy was and if they should continue partying or not. Then Oliver gave a wan smile, "You're looking a lot better."

"Well, I had a nice nap while the doctors were playing around in my intestines trying to undo the damage from the rebar. Then when I woke up Laurel was here, and she explained in no uncertain terms what an idiot I was. Not to mention that I owe the fact that I am still here to my best friend. So, I have to say that things are looking up, even if I am down a portion of my liver thanks to dear old Dad." Remembering what Laurel said earlier he had to ask, "Did you kill him?"

Tommy could see emotions play out on Oliver's face before he answered, "Yes." At the same time Diggle said no.

Mr. Diggle clarified his statement. "After I took you to the ER, I swung by Merlyn Global and was going to call the cops to alert them to the body of Malcolm Merlyn on the roof, but he wasn't there. I don't know what that means."

Tommy ate in silence pondering what they had said, he noticed that Oliver had drifted back to sleep, the spoon he had been using to eat still clutched in his hand. He had never seen his best friend so weak. Something in his expression must have told Diggle what he was thinking.

"He'll recover, but massive blood loss like that takes time to recover from." Diggle said as he came over and stood at the end of Tommy's bed after getting Oliver situated. "Had a guy in my unit that got an artery nicked and he lost a massive amount of blood. He spent the first several days barely awake even after the massive blood transfusions that they gave him. Oliver's strong, he'll recover."

"Thanks Mr. Diggle." Tommy said appreciative of the support.

"It's just Dig, with you and Oliver bunking together I figure that we'll be seeing a lot of each other over the next several days."

"Will do Dig," Tommy said and then paused. He didn't know what to say next as he had never really got to know or had a conversation with the bodyguard. Then it hit him, "You help Ollie with all the vigilante stuff, right?"

Dig checked the door to make sure that no one was coming and then he crossed his arms, his massive biceps bulging, "Oliver saved my life and made a really good sales pitch. While I don't necessarily agree with his methods, I do like what he's doing for the city, and I figured that he needed somebody to watch his back and to keep him on the straight and narrow."

That brought up one of the reasons he had such a bad reaction to finding out that Ollie was the Hood guy, "But he's killing people." Tommy tried to think of a better way to say what he meant. "I don't understand how my best friend in life, the same person that would rather get high and drink than argue with his parents about what he wanted to do with his life could put arrows in people and kill them!"

"Have you seen Oliver's torso?" Dig asked as he dragged the chair closer to Tommy's bed and sat down in it.

"Of course, we grew up together." Then he registered what Dig meant. "Well, not since he's been back. Felicity said something about scars?"

"The Oliver you grew up with isn't the same man that's currently lying in that bed over there. The things that he went through while everyone thought that he was dead changed him, right down to his core." Diggle paused, thinking about what he wanted to say. "He went through hell while he was gone and half of that story is painted across his torso, and the fact that he survived it and came back only speaks to how much of a survivor that he is. Think of it like this, the Ollie that you grew up with was a tootsie roll pop, but all he went through chipped away the rough exterior and now just the inside is left. He's still the same person, but he's different. Just as you are the same person, however your experiences changed you as well. You are not the same Tommy that Oliver grew up with either."

Tommy let that sink in, and then another thought hit him, "Felicity said something similar. But it's just really hard to believe the same guy who would get wasted with me is now putting arrows in corrupt asshats." He was quiet for a second then asked, "How long has Felicity been helping you both with all of this?"

"She didn't help us at first," Dig said grinning, "He kept asking for her help and giving her really bad excuses for getting the info that he needed. She was suspicious and she knew that something was up, but she didn't know about him being the Vigilante. But he went to her for help after Moira shot him and that's when he brought her in on the secret."

Tommy jerked upright in the bed, instantly regretting it as the pain of his wounds was sharp. He breathed deeply till the sharp pain had passed. "Holy shit! I never put it together that when Mrs. Queen shot the Vigilante, she actually shot Ollie."

"That was a close one, and until yesterday that was the closest that we had come to losing him."

Looking over to where his best friend slept Tommy saw him in a new light. "The reason that you and Felicity have accepted him and what he does so easily is that neither of you really had the previous Oliver to compare him to, at least that's what Felicity said."

Dig nodded, "I think that if I had known him before, I would have never suspected him of being the Vigilante."

"I don't think that anybody, but Det. Lance ever believed it. Who else knows his secret? Besides Sara, Felicity said that she was in the know."

Dig shook his head, "Sara knew about it before I did. What Oliver told me was that he needed to be patched up because he couldn't reach so he called Sara who came over and fixed him up."

Tommy shook his head, "Of course she did."

A knock came from the door and the nurse from before came in. "Glad to see that both of you ate something. I'll get these out of your way. Just so you know PT will come by this afternoon."

Once she was gone Dig stood up, "You look bushed man. Why don't you take a nap while you can, 'cause PT is no joke. Felicity is planning on coming by later while I watch Livy." He shook his head. "When I accepted this job, I never thought that it would lead to babysitting duties and helping a billionaire vigilante."

Tommy was feeling exhausted, so he followed Dig's instructions and closed his eyes and sank into sleep. He woke up when the physical therapist arrived, and PT was as tiring as Dig had promised. All they had him do was to him sit up without support and walk around the room to help strengthen his core, but he was worn out by that tiny bit of work. The therapist praised him and said that he was making excellent progress. After the therapist left Tommy decided another nap was in store before they had more visitors.

This time he woke up when the next visitor entered the room. With a smile he greeted her, "Hey beautiful!"

"Hey Tommy," Felicity smiled at him, quickly walking over to give him a big hug. "I'm so glad that you're okay." Oliver was still sleeping so she pulled the chair between the two beds and held Oliver's hand while she turned to talk to Tommy.

"The physical therapist tried to kill me this afternoon, but besides that I'm doing a lot better. How's my favorite girl doing?

A smile came to Felicity's worried face, "Livy says she missed both her Daddy and Uncle Tommy and is making you both cards."

"Felicity…" They were both startled and happy to see that Oliver had woke up.

"Hey Oliver. I'm so glad to see you awake. John said that you had talked with him and ate a little bit." Felicity said as she smiled down at him. "How are you feeling?"

"I owe you a date," he said softly and smiled back at her.

"Yes, you do. And don't think you're taking me to Big Belly Burger, 'cause I'm not a cheap date, so, just no." Felicity said teasing.

"Ollie, take her to Table Salt, it's where I talk all my dates to impress them when I want to make sure they put out." Tommy grinned at the couple. He was glad that Laurel had come by earlier and while it had been a difficult conversation their talk had been very beneficial. Between her, Dig, and Oliver saving his life Tommy was finally getting to the point where he was able to accept the man Oliver had become, not just façade that he portrayed.

"Be careful mister or I'll pull the curtain on you again." Felicity warned and then she turned to Oliver. "We've been having to put Tommy into a time-out when he won't behave." They had done no such thing, but Tommy figured she said it to make Oliver smile.

"Why do I feel so horrible?" Oliver asked.

Felicity filled him in on what had happened and what his injuries were while Tommy felt a new level of awe for his friend; for what he had gone through and that he still managed to rescue him and save his life.

Felicity had gotten Oliver to eat a bit of the supper that the staff had brought after Tommy's PT when he asked. "Why do I feel worse now, while I'm here in a hospital than I did when I was on the island after a shark bit me and I was whipped?"

Tommy could feel his job drop open, and he looked at Felicity who seemed to share his disbelief. "Somebody whipped you, like with a whip whip?" Felicity squeaked.

"Yeah, Conklin had it out for me and was happy when Reiter let him loose on me."

"Was this on the island?" Felicity asked, trying to find out more information.

"Yeah. It happened the second time I was there." Oliver said, looking dully at her. Something about how he was acting struck a chord in Tommy's mind. He had seen Ollie act like this before, a long time ago.

"Felicity, check his temperature." Tommy ordered as he hit his call button. "When we were kids, something like this happened. At school he was acting like this and being very talkative, right before he had a febrile seizure. It turned out he had the flu and had developed a super high fever."

"That feels nice." Oliver murmured when she felt his forehead. "You smell really good Felicity."

"Thanks Oliver." She said to Ollie as she brushed her hand down his face, then she turned to Tommy and looking worried said, "He feels really hot, I'm going to go get a nurse."

Things happened fast after that. Felicity was asked to leave, and the curtain was pulled so Tommy couldn't see what the staff was doing. When the nurse came in with his supper tray, he asked about Oliver.

"Mr. Queen has developed sepsis." She told him as she arranged his food on the tray for him.

"What does that mean?" Tommy asked worried about his friend.

"It just means that he has an infection and the medicine he was on wasn't strong enough to fight it so we needed to get a stronger medicine." The nurse said, making it sound like it wasn't a big deal.

"Could you pull the curtain back so that I can see him again? He's my best friend."

She stared at him for a bit, and then nodded, "I will, Mr. Merlyn. Provided you finish your meal."

He looked down at the tray of unappetizing food. More soft food and liquids. "What happened to the filet mignon that I ordered?"

She smiled at his wit, "Baby steps Mr. Merlyn. You have to finish what you have before you can take it up to the next step."

Tommy sighed and picked up the spoon, "Is there an ETA of when can you take all this equipment and monitors off?"

"The IV needs to stay for a while. It's helping to keep you hydrated and providing you with pain relief and any additional meds that the doctor may prescribe. We are also keeping the EKG on to make sure that your heart is doing what it's supposed to. Once you get closer to being discharged then there will be less equipment that we'll have you hooked up to."

Frustrated with his circumstances Tommy concentrated on trying to eat the very unappetizing meal that had been sent. Even the ice cream container looked unpalatable, and he loved ice cream. The nurse made herself busy updating information on the computer beside their beds and giving them both meds through their IV's. By the time that she was done he had eaten everything that he could.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it, Mr. Merlyn? And I'll uphold my promise."

As she left, the nurse pulled the curtain separating the beds back and Tommy was able to look at Ollie once again. He could see that there was a marked change in Oliver in just the few hours that had passed. Before Oliver's fever had spiked, he had been very pale, but now Tommy could see that he was still pale, but his face was also flushed with fever and he was restlessly shifting and moving in the bed while his lips moved as he muttered in his delirium. Tommy tried but he couldn't hear what Oliver was saying.

Feeling exhausted and just wanting the day to be over, Tommy lowered the head of his bed and tried to find a comfortable position to lay in. Closing his eyes he started to plan what he needed to do to move forward. His father was legally dead, so he was going to inherit all the Merlyn Global business. He had no interest in being associated with anything that had his father's name attached to it. While Malcolm was running the company he had basically made Tommy a figurehead with no actual power whatsoever, even though he had his gotten his MBA at his father's insistence. Thanks to his father and the Undertaking, Merlyn Global might be toast but Queen Consolidated wasn't and that gave Tommy an idea.

Several days passed, and Oliver's condition continued to worsen. From what Tommy could overhear hear the nurses say and what they would tell him, the antibiotic that they were giving him wasn't working so they were switching to something stronger. Oliver was restless and would frequently call out names. Some of the names Tommy knew like his name, Laurel's, Felicity's and Olivia's. But there were others that he didn't know like Shado, Tiana, Slade, and Akio. Oliver sounded so sorrowful when he called for those people that Tommy's heart broke a bit wishing he could ease his suffering.

Then came the night when one of the alarms on Oliver's many monitoring devices started emitting a shrill alarm waking him up. Hospital staff came pouring in and while Tommy couldn't really see anything he stayed quiet so that they would think that he was still asleep and wouldn't pull the privacy curtain. They ended up having to intubate Oliver because his oxygen had gotten so low, adding yet another machine to Oliver's side of the room, in addition they decided to try a more powerful antibiotic.

The breathing tube and the new IV line, which the nurses had told him was called a PICC line and was placed in Oliver's upper arm, must have irritated Oliver, because even in his drugged state he kept trying to pull them out. The order was given to put restraints on him so that he wouldn't further injure himself, which, even unconscious, Oliver really didn't like. He was constantly pulling against the restraints and fighting to get free unless someone was sitting beside him and holding his hand.

As Tommy sat beside the hospital bed of his best friend in the whole world, his hand in the hot limp hand of Oliver's, the last little bit resentment and anger finally loosened and left his body. He couldn't believe what a jerk he had been to Oliver, and it was his fervent wish that Oliver would recover so that he could apologize properly.