The day of his surgery, Oliver asked Caitlin if they had handcuffs. The look on her face was one of the best reactions he'd ever seen, and he burst out in a laughter that surprised him.
"Haha," she said sarcastically when he finally calmed down. "Would you like to explain that request? Or was that just for shock value?"
He sobered quickly. "I should have mentioned it earlier, I'm sorry. You'll need to restrain me for surgery."
She looked at him carefully, almost expecting him to laugh again. Expecting it to be a joke. He felt like he was just returning home all over again. It had been so long since he'd had to explain to anyone.
"I, eh, it's just that…" he started stuttering, embarrassed. What the fuck is wrong with me? "Sorry. Um. I don't do well with drugs. Or anesthesia. I will wake up swinging." She grinned at him. "It's not an exaggeration. I have pulled chains out of concrete walls. I can generally get out of any kind of restraints that are not inhumanely tight. I got drugged in Starling City and almost killed Diggle while he was trying to save my life." Caitlin sobered up quickly.
"I'll ask Joe," she assured him. "We can figure something out."
Thankfully, Joe came through. He showed up with two pairs of handcuffs and attached a pair to each of his wrists and then to the bars on the table. When Oliver pulled on them to test them, he told Joe they had to be tighter. Joe looked hesitant to do as he asked, so Oliver proved his point by holding his hand firmly against the side of the table for leverage, dislocating his thumb, and slipping his hand out.
The handcuffs were tightened.
He woke up from surgery disoriented and confused. When he saw someone standing over him, just as he'd warned, he started to struggle against the restraints. Joe and Barry were there quickly, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him forcefully back down.
"Calm down, son" Joe was saying, keeping his voice calm and soothing. "You're okay. You're in Central City. You have to stop moving or you'll mess your leg back up."
"You're at S.T.A.R. Labs," Barry reminded him. "You asked Caitlin to fix up your leg."
It only took a few moments for him to gain his bearings and relax. He rubbed his eyes and blinked several times, looking around him.
"Your surgery was very successful," Caitlin said happily. "You'll want to stay off it for at least 24 hours, but after that, we have the brace for you to wear to start physical therapy. In the meantime, we have this."
Sliding his eyes to where she was pointing, he saw a wheelchair.
"It's not as fancy as mine," called Dr. Wells as he entered the room. "But I don't think you'll need yours nearly as long."
Oliver tilted his head in agreement. "Thank you, guys, so much. All of you."
"You good now?" Joe asked, confirming he was able to remove the handcuffs.
"Yeah, yeah Joe, I'm good now."
The next morning, Caitlin was removing his bandages when he heard a familiar voice in the next room over.
"Felicity!" Barry called loudly – like, unnecessarily loudly. "What are you doing here?"
"Fuck," Oliver hissed. Noticing his distress, Caitlin quickly reached over and pulled the door closed. "What the fuck is she doing here?"
"Let me just finish getting your knee rebandaged, and I'll go out there. Just stay in here. I'll make sure she doesn't come in."
Oliver nodded tightly. As she was finishing her work, she looked up at him and said, "I do think you're being a little overdramatic though. I'm sure Felicity would be happy to see you."
Oliver shook his head quickly. "None of them are supposed to know where I am. And we didn't exactly part on the best terms."
"Okay, okay," Caitlin assured him, calming his panic. "We won't say anything. Just stay in the room."
He listened for a moment and heard nothing. He went to open the door, but hesitated, and then pulled out his phone to text Caitlin.
Is it safe?
No, we're just standing outside the door. You need to stay. We'll be back in a minute.
Okay, so he wasn't going to sneak out. Caitlin hadn't said anything yet today about his knee, but she did say he only needed to stay off of it for 24 hours. Seeing as it had been approximately 24 hours and he was trapped in this room, he may as well make use of the time.
He wheeled his chair to the metal table and used it for support to stand up. He was taking very slow, unsteady steps around the table when he heard them all come back in. He heard another new voice – Palmer.
She brought Palmer to S.T.A.R. Labs? Why? It didn't sound like Barry had been expecting the visit.
"-There's nothing we need to fix in that area," he heard her babble quickly. He froze, realizing the innuendo in her words. The innuendo she wasn't immediately trying to deny as she usually did. And then the final nail was Ray Palmer's agreement of "No, no, the sex is great."
His hand slipped off the table, transferring the weight it was supporting to the leg he was trying to keep weight off. He went down hard, hitting the table and then the floor, accidentally pulling the table down on top of him when he grabbed it to break his fall.
"Fuck!" he shouted painfully, trying to curl into himself, blinded by the pain in his knee.
Caitlin
"Did you know she was coming?" Caitlin whispered to Barry as they gathered back in the room. Dr. Wells was complimenting Ray on his suit.
Barry turned towards her and shook his head empathically. "No way. With everything going on…" He glanced between Dr. Wells and the med room and then back at Caitlin. "This is not a good time.
She watched his eyes widen quickly as she heard Ray say "No, no, the sex is great." She was sure her expression matched Barry's.
Then a crash.
Then a loud "Fuck!"
Everyone in the room was staring at the door, except her and Barry, who were staring at each other.
Cisco broke the silence first. "Is Oli-?"
"I should probably check that out," Caitlin interrupted, inching towards the door.
"Do you need a hand?" Ray offered.
"No!" Barry said quickly. "No, no, she's got it."
Caitlin inched the door open, "Are you alright?"
"No," came the pained groan in the room.
"Oh, there's someone in there!" Felicity exclaimed. "That sounds bad. I'm honestly happy to help, Caitlin. If you just need a hand or something. I'm a good medical sidekick."
"No, really, I've got it," Caitlin assured her. She turned back to the cracked open doorway. "Can I come in?"
"No." came the voice.
"You know you don't actually get a choice, right?" Something shoved into the door, pushing it against her foot that was holding it open. "Oh, now you're being ridiculous."
Felicity's type must be guys with a hero complex, because Ray came over to the door, ignoring Caitlin's shout of "No" and trying to stand in front of him, and pushed at the door. There was clearly resistance, and Caitlin had a momentarily internal laugh that she was pretty sure Oliver was debilitated on the floor, and still managing to use some kind of strength to keep the door closed while Ray pushed on it. Eventually though, Ray won out and got the door opened all the way.
She gasped at the scene in front of her. Oliver had clearly fallen over and taken the table with him. From the floor, he'd been pushing his hand against the door trying to keep it closed.
"Go away." He grunted.
"Dramatic," she said in a singsong voice, trying to hide her concern. "Erm, Ray, could you eh, grab that up please?"
Luckily, Ray was blocking the doorway so no one else could see in. As he started to step forward, from his spot on the ground, Oliver gasped out.
"Close the door." Numbly, Ray complied and closed the door behind him as he stepped into the room.
"The table, Ray," Caitlin reminded. He lifted the table and set it up right as she knelt down next to Oliver.
"What happened?" she asked, her hands going to his knee to make sure it wasn't damaged. At the contact, she cringed as Oliver let out a blood curdling scream. He curled into himself, slapping her hands away.
"Don't," he cried. His eyes were slammed closed, and his hand was clutching his thigh hard enough to draw blood. "Seriously, Caitlin, GO."
She shook her head. "I cannot just leave you on the ground," she said frantically.
"Cuffs," he croaked out, and she understood why he was telling her to go. The pain was doing something to him, and he was worried about hurting someone else.
"Shit, yeah, okay, hang on." She turned to the other man in the room. "Ray, can you hold him down. Don't touch his leg, but just hold his arms down."
"What's going on? Why is Oliver here?"
"Ray, just do as I tell you please," she begged, stepping over to the counter to pull a vial and syringe out of the cabinet. She drew liquid out of the vial and stepped back towards Oliver.
"Got him?" she asked Ray. Oliver was struggling against him, but Ray seemed to have a good hold. He nodded at her and she stuck the needle into his arm.
"Okay, Oliver, I'm giving you a sedative," she said softly, trying to calm him down. "Once you're out, we'll get you set back up and restrain you again, okay. It's okay. We've got you."
Oliver couldn't respond as he had already lost consciousness. Caitlin instructed Ray to set Oliver back on the bed, which he did, and then she stepped up to check his vitals and examine his knee before turning back to Ray.
"He would really appreciate it if you didn't mention to anyone that he's here," Caitlin said. "I know I'm stuck under doctor-patient confidentiality and you're not, but… he's really concerned right now with staying out of sight."
Ray looked at her in shock. "I guess he would be," he agreed. "Since I thought he was dead."
Ray and Caitlin slipped out of the room and Barry glanced up in concern.
"He's fine. Bad fall," she assured him, plastering on a fake smile. "You might want to call Joe and have him bring back the cuffs though."
"Cuffs?" Felicity asked concerned. "Caitlin, are you treating a criminal?!"
"Oh, no, not at all," Cisco piped up. Cisco who didn't know he was supposed to keep his mouth shut. "Just, as you know, mind altering drugs and PTSD don't mix well."
"Cisco!" Caitlin reprimanded. "We don't talk about patients!"
Felicity's eyes widened. Several emotions crossed her face in a short period of time. Confusion, understanding, concern, anger.
"Barry, who's in the room?" Felicity demanded.
"No one you know," he squeaked out. Felicity did not believe him.
"Barry…" He said nothing. She sighed. "Okay, how long has your mystery person been here."
"About 3 weeks. Maybe a month?" Cisco offered.
The group continued arguing back and forth, no one willing to outright admit it was Oliver in the room. Cisco and Dr. Wells weren't entirely sure why, but they had caught on that Barry and Caitlin were trying to avoid it.
Twenty minutes later, Joe came running into the lab with an extra pair of handcuffs jingling on his belt.
"What happened?" he asked frantically, paying no attention to the occupants of the room. "He was fine."
Everyone looked up at their newcomer. Felicity hadn't quite given up on her suspicions and was continuing to eye everyone in the room. Caitlin was the one to finally speak up.
"He fell," she explained, selecting her words carefully. "I think it was the first time he was trying to walk. Fell over, pulled the table on top of him. We had to sedate him. Based on the dosage, I'd assume we have another hour or so until he wakes up. I need to check his… I need to check to make sure he didn't injure himself further, but considering his state when we had to put him out, I thought it would be best to wait until he was restrained again in case he wakes up."
Joe nodded. "Damn, kid," he muttered under his breath. Then, speaking louder, "I'll go get it taken care of. You coming?"
Everyone else seemed to fall back into their previous conversations as Joe and Caitlin moved towards the door. Felicity tried her hardest to catch a peek inside the room, but she didn't have the greatest angle, and Caitlin only opened the door wide enough for the two of them to slip through.
Dinner
Barry was not upset for their incredibly awkward dinner was interrupted. Even with one couple gone, any conversation right now with Felicity was tense. He managed to throw her off the topic by telling her about Dr. Wells. It wasn't exactly a lie, but he also wasn't trying to keep Felicity out of it. He would have been incredibly grateful for her presence if it wasn't for the fact that Oliver had been hiding out in Central City for almost a month and didn't want her to know.
He arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs in time to watch a bee go from floating in front of Dr. Wells to it flying into the wall with a knife embedded into it. He looked up in shock but then noticed that Oliver was standing, kind of, against a desk and had his arm outstretched.
"How did you hit that?" he asked, his voice incredulous.
"Training, Barry," Oliver said, that typical teasing tone in his voice. "I've told you – training."
"But that was a knife – not a bow!"
"Barry, the bow is not the weapon." Oliver's voice was eerily calm. "I am the weapon. The bow. The knives. They're tools."
Behind them, Cisco and Caitlin were examining the bee under the microscope.
"It's a robot," Cisco awed.
Immediately, Oliver began covering his face back up. Robot meant potential cameras. He was confident in S.T.A.R. Labs to ensure that their own camera footage couldn't be hacked, but this was different.
"Are you leaving?" Seeing his actions, Caitlin rushed over to him. "You are not okay to leave right now, Oliver. You can still barely stand. You really need to stay off your leg for another 24 hours after what happened this morning."
Seeing her hard glare, he grabbed the desk behind him and effortlessly lifted himself on the desk to sit.
"Not leaving," he assured her, holding his hands up in surrender. "But robots generally mean cameras. And we don't know who is on the other end."
She nodded in understanding and then, without a word, pulled a stool over in front of him.
"Elevate," she ordered, pointing to his leg and then to the stool.
He mock saluted her, but followed her order nonetheless. "Yes, ma'am."
As Cisco and Barry continued studying the robot bee, with Dr. Wells offering tidbits in the background, Caitlin focused on Oliver.
"How's everything else?" she asked, motioning to the general area of his torso.
He grimaced slightly. "I probably need to redo some stitches. I think I tore some open with the bees." He unzipped his hoodie, and she sees the blood soaking through to his undershirt.
"Why have you just been sitting here?" she all but screeched at him. He shrugged, wincing slightly as he did.
"Habit. Crisis comes first."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Take your shirt off," she called to him as she made her way to the medical supplies. She was already walking back out as he was starting to lower his leg and get up.
"No, you stay. I told you, stay off the knee."
"You are incredibly bossy," he commented.
"Well obviously you need someone bossing you around," she snapped back at him. "Is this how things go in Starling City? You just sit around bleeding out and almost dying until the bad guy is caught."
"That is exactly what it is like in Starling," came a dry voice from the door. Oliver's head shot up and his eyes met Felicity's. Their eyes remained locked for a moment, but as Ray came to stand behind her, wrapping both of his arms around her waist from behind, he broke her gaze.
"She's not wrong," he said drily back to Caitlin.
Sensing the tension, Ray spoke up. "Oliver! Looking really good for a dead guy!" He paused considering his words. "Twice dead guy, actually, if I'm not mistaken."
"I'm incredibly hard to kill," Oliver responded with a grunt as Caitlin began to thread the needle around his open wound. "You're not even going to offer lidocaine this time?"
"You've turned it down every other time," Caitlin responded, her voice almost sickeningly sweet. "Why would I think this time was any different? I just assume you're a masochist who enjoys the pain."
Felicity couldn't manage to keep her eyes off of him as Caitlin bandaged him up. He seemed much more at ease with Team Flash than he was the last time they visited. It was very obvious he had been here since he'd left Starling. No matter how much she was silently urging him to look up at her, he was incredibly talented at avoiding her.
Clearly. He left town and told us to tell everyone he was dead.
"I'm heading out for the night," he finally said as Caitlin finished patching him back up.
"Oh, erm, about that," Barry interrupted. "Joe sent me a message earlier. Iris is at the house."
Oliver nodded slowly, realizing that he couldn't very well crash with Barry and Joe if Joe's daughter, the woman who runs a blog about all the superhero sightings in Central City and absolutely knew who Oliver Queen was, was at the house.
He shrugged. "It's fine. I'll figure something out for the night." Central City wasn't exactly Starling, but there were still some abandoned buildings he could hole up in for one night.
"You're coming home with me," Caitlin stated, leaving no room for argument.
Finally breaking her concentration on Oliver, Felicity stared at Caitlin in shock.
"Bossy," Oliver commented again.
"No offense, Oliver, but you aren't particularly good at taking care of yourself." She rolled her eyes at him. "Your body is already beyond damaged. Someone needs to keep you from doing something stupid. At least until you can heal. If you're at my place, I can keep an eye on you."
Oliver's voice took on a teasing lilt. "Dr. Snow, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you actually care about me."
She raised an eyebrow at him. Although his face was mostly covered, she could see the smile in his eyes as they met hers.
"I don't want my patient outcome stats to drop because of one hardheaded patient," she responded. She turned to Barry. "Can you help him into the wheelchair?"
Because he liked showing off, Barry was instantly by Oliver's side, but Oliver was pushing his arms away.
"No more wheelchair," he groaned. "Can't I just limp or something?"
"No." Her tone left no room for argument, but that didn't mean Oliver wasn't going to try. She cut him off before he could get a word out. "The fact that you were walking around on that damn knee for a month in the state that it was in is already a medical miracle. You set yourself backwards this morning when you fell. No weight – AT ALL – on that leg for another 24 hours minimum. I will reevaluate in the morning."
"She's our Felicity, man," Barry said, grinning as Oliver finally gave in and let Barry help him. "I might be the superhero, but she's the one actually in charge."
As Oliver got settled back in the wheelchair, pouting like a petulant child, Caitlin was pulling on her coat. Barry kept his hands on the wheelchair, obviously intending to push wheel him out and help him into the car.
"Ray, walk out with us, would you?" Oliver called as they were walking past him.
Ray wore a look of surprise but nodded his acquiescence and followed them out. Caitlin got into the car and started it, waiting for Barry to get Oliver into the car.
"So…." Ray started awkwardly. Obviously, Oliver wanted to talk to him, but he wasn't sure about what.
"So, you're doing the whole superhero thing," Oliver said casually. "I like the suit, by the way. Very Iron Man. I actually wanted to ask for a favor."
"From me?" Palmer looked surprised. He and Oliver weren't exactly what he would call friends, especially considering he essentially stole his family's company from him.
"Well, yeah. I'd try to get this done at QC, but since I don't have authority there anymore…" He trailed off a bit and Ray had the decency to look embarrassed. "I don't know how much you know about what's going on, but I'm on the run for a reason. There are some very dangerous, very powerful people out there who think I'm dead. I need to make sure they keep thinking that or it would be very dangerous for, well, everyone I care about. And as those people seem to intersect with people you care about, I was hoping you would help me."
After a beat, he continued, "I'm going to be away for a while until I can get this all sorted. I'm hoping that the tech genius that created that super suit in there could help me out a bit too. I try my best to keep my face hidden at all times, but I can't always be sure."
Ray actually looked delighted at the prospect. "Actually, we have this device that you can attach to your collar that will scramble your appearance on camera if anyone actually does manage to record you!"
Oliver nodded. "That would be incredibly useful."
"Yeah, sure, I'll get it sent to you. Will you be in Central City much longer?"
"I'll be here for…" he trailed off leaning down to look at Caitlin. She was holding up 4 fingers. "another 4 weeks minimum, it seems."
"Great, yeah, I'll get it to you as soon as I can."
Oliver extended his arm to the man. "Thanks Ray," he said genuinely. "I appreciate the help. Keep an eye on Felicity."
Ray's eyebrows went up. "Were you and she…?"
Oliver laughed, trying so hard to make his voice sound normal as he responded. "Nothing ever happened between me and Felicity," he assures the man. "But she's been a very good friend of mine since I returned to Starling City. She has a habit of getting herself into trouble and I worry about her."
Ray seemed to deflate a bit at that, relieved.
"Can I ask…?" Oliver looked at the man expectantly. "How did you get involved in Team Flash? I'm surprised to see the former QC CEO has so much interest in the business of a superhero in Central City."
That time, Oliver was shocked. So Felicity hadn't told Ray that he was the Arrow. Nor had anyone else, apparently. Barry piped up at that one before Oliver could come up with a lie.
"Oh, well, before everything happened to me, I had come to Starling City on a case," Barry supplied. "It was a robbery at Queen Consolidated and I worked with Oliver quite a bit on it. We became really good friends, so as soon as I woke up from my coma, I called Oliver to talk to him about it. Ask for advice, stuff like that."
"He saved my life," Oliver supplied. "I think the kid had a bit of a crush on me, to be honest."
Barry glared at him. "Or on Felicity," Oliver added on. At that, Barry's face colored a bit. "But yeah, Barry and I are just good friends. I may not be a scientist, but, you know… I survived 5 years on a deserted island. I have good survival instincts. I help him out a bit when he needs me."
Ray seemed to accept that without further question. He said his farewells and walked back into the building. As Barry started to help Oliver out of the wheelchair, Oliver grabbed Barry's arm to stop him for a moment.
"Dr. Wells is lying about being paralyzed," he said quietly in his ear. "Before I took down the bee in the lab, he was about to step out of the chair. I guess the lie goes out the door when he's in danger."
He pulled back and Barry's eyes were dark, thoughts running in and out of his head before he could stop to think about one thing.
"We'll talk more later," he said louder. Barry took the hint to drop the subject for now, and finally got Oliver into the passenger seat of Caitlin's car.
As they drove off, Barry stood quietly in the parking lot for a few more minutes, mind racing with all the information and all of the things going on in his life, trying to figure out what he was supposed to prioritize.
We'll figure it out. We always do.