Late night surprise with dl_greenarrow.

[chloesullivan]

It was around four in the morning when she finally managed to stumble into her apartment. Her vision was blurry, her breathing shallow and pained and the front of her shirt was soaked in her own blood. She hoped it was only the front.

She felt weak, but forced herself to remain as quiet as possible. Just a few more steps.

That was what she kept telling herself over and over all the way from the facility where it had happened. The place she'd been looking into when her attacker came out of nowhere. There was struggle but the other woman was faster and she knew exactly what she was going for.

Chloe fought her back as well as she could, but she hadn't been expecting a visitor in a location that had been abandoned supposedly for nearly a decade. She should have known better, especially while dealing with Lex Luthor, but she wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

A struggled noise escaped her but she forced herself to stay quiet. She didn't want to wake up Oliver and especially Maddie. She just needed to make it to the bathroom and stitch herself up, she had done it before.

But her knees kept wanting to give on her so as she started down the hallway toward the bedrooms, she had to stop, leaning her side heavily against the wall, a hand covering her wound and adding pressure to it as she tried to catch her breath.

It should have stopped bleeding by now.

Comments

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver hadn't been asleep.

She'd been gone for a long time, and despite the fact she had assured him that she had picked up training over the last several years, he couldn't help but feel worried. Something just didn't feel right.

And when he heard the soft gasp from the hallway, he sat up on the bed, dread pooling in his stomach. He quickly rose to his feet, moving silently across the floor and opening the door, startled when she nearly fell into him.

He flipped on the hall light, his eyes widening with horror as soon as he spotted the blood. "Oh God," he whispered, his voice barely audible.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

If she had more energy in her, she would have told him to be quiet or cursed herself for waking him up. But as it was, her knees were giving under her and even as she tried to stand up straight again, she wasn't sure she was going to be able to.

"My bathroom," she groaned in a whisper, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a second as she gritted her teeth. She wasn't exactly in pain anymore, her body was too numb for that, but she was pushing herself to take these last few steps and that would require every ounce of energy she had left.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He hesitated a moment, then carefully scooped her up into his arms, carrying her silently through her bedroom and into the bathroom. He deposited her on the closed toilet seat before moving to shut the door.

"What happened?" he asked, opening the cabinet beneath the sink and grabbing out the First Aid kit.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She blew out a breath in relief, her body was shaking but now that she was at least sitting down, she could focus on what she had to do, "stabbed," she breathed, looking down at herself, reaching for the bottom of her shirt and pulling it up slowly.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver whirled at the admission, his eyes wide. "Christ, Chloe," he whispered. "You need a hospital."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe shook her head pulling her shirt up and off without a second thought, groaning quietly at the pain the movement caused, "can't be stuck there for days." She told him, taking another deep breath and leaning back against the cold surface, "I'll take care of it."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"What if it hit an organ?" he asked, giving her a look as he knelt down in front of her.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"Blood isn't dark enough," she told him, looking down at the cut once more, gritting her teeth as she reached behind her back to make sure that was the only cut. She didn't think the knife was big enough to get through her but she could have been wrong, it was dark.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He forced himself to take a deep breath. "It's a deep cut. You need stitches." He looked up, meeting her eyes.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe shifted uncomfortably on her seat, her body was starting to cool down not that she wasn't moving and her entire stomach was starting to burn, particularly the right side where the stab was, "I know," she had guessed as much from the amount of blood, "can you do it?" She would do it herself but her hands were shaking too much.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Yeah, I can do it," he said quietly. "Let's move into the bedroom so you can lie down. It'll be easier there."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

The thought of moving again made her want to throw up, but she took a deep breath instead and nodded, reaching for one of the towels hanging from the wall before pushing herself up.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Easy," he whispered, sliding his arm around her waist gently, helping her move to the other room. "You're gonna be okay."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She didn't say anything, just focused on forcing her legs to move toward the bed. Once she got there, she unfolded the towel just once and threw it on the bed, leaning against his side a little more for support as she did.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He carefully helped her to lie down on the bed over the towel, then moved back to the bathroom to get supplies and more clean towels. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly as he moved to her side once more.

"It's been awhile since I've done stitches," he admitted.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"Do what you can," she murmured, holding her breath as she shifted on the breath and letting it out with a groan as she allowed her body to relax. This was all she wanted, to be able to lay in her bed, she didn't care that she was covered in blood still.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"All right," he whispered, moving to the bathroom once more and cleaning his hands and a needle with alcohol. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" he asked, sitting down beside her.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"I don't think so," she told him, looking at the needle and taking a deep breath, "just do it."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Tell me what happened," he said quietly, examining the wound in her stomach and beginning to stitch her up.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe groaned and closed her eyes, trying her best not to move as she wrapped her fingers around the towel.

It took her a moment and a couple of deep breaths before she could answer him, "Lex." She breathed, her jaw clenching, "it was a warning."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver's jaw tightened, as well. "Fuck," he uttered, his gaze flickering to her face and then back to what he was doing.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"He sent someone," she said, blowing a breath as she did, "a woman. Told me they knew everything."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He stilled for a moment at that. "Everything, meaning..."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"I don't know," she said through clenched teeth.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He swallowed hard, going back to stitching, this time in silence, until the wound was totally sewn together. He moved to the bathroom, wetting one of the clean towels and very gently beginning to clean the blood off of her.