Sera's Scribbles: Truth be told, I think I like this more when I first started this one-shot, but with any luck you enjoy it. This can be considered as a sequel to "Something Missing" but you can read it as a stand-alone if you wish.

Sleepless Smiles

The first thing Oliver noticed when he entered Watchtower was the lack of announcement that he had entered the building. True, he had been planning on surprising Chloe, but he hadn't expected to get this far without her realizing he was there.

Instead, Chloe continued to type away, keeping her back towards him, not even noticing the small click the door made when it closed. She seemed to be focused on whatever she was doing, and while this facet of her personality was something Oliver admired, he also worried about how much time she spent here. Even though Watchtower had turned into a full-time job for Chloe, it was one in the morning, and she was still here. No com in her ear, meaning that Boy Scout's patrolling was done for the night, but Chloe wasn't.

Oliver watched her yawn as she finally stopped typing to pick up her phone. He thought for sure that he was caught when she swivelled her seat to the side, but instead, she kept her eyes on her phone, punching in a couple of numbers, only to stop suddenly to shake her head. Sighing, Chloe began to fiddle with it, and upon finding what she was looking for, something unexpected happened.

Chloe smiled.

Not an awkward smile that was gone in seconds, not a fake smile to tell everyone that she was okay when the truth was that she wasn't. No, this was a real smile, and it seemed to last forever as she continued to stare at the screen.

When she set the phone down again to face the monitors again, Oliver began to tiptoe forward, curious to what brought out the rare smile from Chloe. As he got closer, he began to see a part of the screen: the bright colours, the familiar skyline, and finally the words that made the message. But not just any words, his words.

Oliver had lost count at how many times he thought about calling her while he was out of town, but now that he knew the reaction his text had received, he knew he had made the right call. However, as Oliver opened his mouth to comment, Chloe turned again, and upon noticing that he was standing right behind her, she practically fell out of her seat, just barely catching the edge of the console with her hand.

"Surprise?" Oliver said, smile beaming across his face as he helped her back up. Pointing his head towards the phone, he added, "You should really see it in 3-D, the picture doesn't really do it justice."

He watched as Chloe's cheeks turned a familiar shade of red, dusting herself off before tilting her head up to look at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too."

"You know what I mean," Chloe replied, turning Oliver's head so he faced her again before leaning on her tiptoes to gently kiss him, "you're early."

Grateful for her reaction, Oliver leaned over to whisper in her ear, "It's what happens when everyone plays nice." He stood up straight and began to thread his fingers through her hair. Chloe had clearly had better days, dark eyes giving her sleeping patterns away, and she hadn't bothered with make-up today, with the exception of flaking mascara. Yet, she still looked beautiful in his eyes, because it was her natural beauty that shone through.

That thought reminded Oliver of her natural smile, the one he barely saw, and to know that he was the cause of this one, well, he wasn't going to let her forget it that easily. "Although it appears that I came back at a good time," he said picking up her phone and showing her his message, "If I didn't know you any better Chloe, I'd say that you missed me."

She bit her bottom lip, a sign that he was right, but he knew better than to press his luck for any further confirmation. Within seconds, she had grabbed the phone back from him, pressed a few buttons, likely taking the message off the screen, and shrugged as she shoved it in her pocket. Looking back up at him, Chloe conceded, "Maybe a little," as she tried to cover a yawn by covering her mouth with her hand.

"When was the last time you actually slept?"

Chloe was surprised by the caring tone in his voice, so she stepped back and started working again. "I can sleep when the world isn't hanging on by a thread."

Not letting her get too attached to her work, Oliver swivelled the chair around and countered, "Which isn't often in our line of work, which makes it that much more important that we're alert when we're working."

She shrugged. "My body's used to it by now."

"I can see that," Oliver replied sarcastically as he eyed the line of empty coffee cups that lined the console.

Looking over her shoulder, Chloe noticed what Oliver was looking at, so she lied. "They aren't all from tonight." Of course, Oliver didn't buy it for a second, and stared at her with an eyebrow raised until she gave in. "This isn't anything new, Ollie. Coffee's always been part of my working routine."

"I'm worried about you Chloe, you're working yourself too hard."

"Says the man who juggles tights and CEO duty," Chloe replies with a scoff. "When was the last time you had a full eight hours, Oliver?"

He decided to ignore the tights comment, knowing that was a wasted argument, but the rest... she had a point. "Probably around the same time as you... so how about we be each other's solution."

Chloe raised an eyebrow before she started to walk away from him. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? Because last I checked, we don't exactly sleep when we're together."

"I'll have you know that I can keep it in my pants for one night."

Oliver regretted that statement the moment he said it. He had just put his foot in his mouth, her wide mouth and wide eyed reaction was more than proof of that, as she struggled to put a sentence together. Desperately trying to cover his tracks, he quickly added, "And then there's this crazy invention called a guest bedroom."

That seemed to do the trick, as she calmed down slightly, while showing Oliver signs that she was thinking about it, but instead of immediately replying, she walked over to finish the coffee nearest her. "Will you stop bothering me if I do this?"

"For now, anyway."

"Fine," she replied with a sigh, "Guest bedroom it is."

~0~

They quietly entered the clocktower, walking out of the elevator side-by-side and headed towards their respective bedrooms, but after Oliver walked into his, he stopped at his dresser to open the bottom drawer, or more specifically, her drawer.

It seemed stupid, but they figured it was being smart in case they played it a little too rough while playing their favourite indoor game. He pulled out some clothes, figuring that Chloe didn't want to sleep in her work attire and went back into her room, knocking lightly on the door.

"You decent?" Oliver asked, because even though he had seen everything there was to see multiple times, he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah," Chloe replied through the door, opening it just a crack, but upon seeing the clothes in his hands, she opened it wider and gave him a momentary grin. "Thanks."

Oliver passed her clothes to her, hand unconsciously lingering on her wrist for a few extra seconds. "Sleep well, Chloe."

"You too Ollie," was her reply shortly before shutting the door.

After closing the door to his bedroom, Oliver stripped down to his boxers, and took a final look at the view outside his window before settling in his own bed. Finally settled, he leaned over to turn out his lamp, only he began to realize that his current circumstances were worse than when he was in California.

Before, she was a country away, but now, was this close to him, yet he still couldn't touch her. So, again, he tossed and turned, and felt utterly frustrated that he couldn't sleep... until he heard his coffee machine working and realized that he wasn't the only one.

Rubbing his eyes, Oliver got out of bed, not bothering to put on a shirt before heading towards the kitchen where Chloe sat on a stool, just about to bring her coffee mug to her lips.

"I'm not sure that coffee helps you sleep."

Her eyes popped up, but despite his comment, Chloe persisted on drinking her coffee. "Trying to sleep wasn't working, so... I gave up." Happily sighing as she swallowed another sip, Chloe clicked off the machine before she looked back at Oliver. "But it appears I'm not the only one having problems falling asleep."

"You know..." Oliver started, trying to find an easy excuse for his insomnia, "lots of late nights with work. Like you said, your body get used to certain sleeping habits."

He knew the implication wasn't lost on Chloe, she was too smart for that, but what he wasn't expecting was her response. Swirling her mug, she whispered, "Okay."

"Okay what?" There were a million ways Oliver could interpret that word and he wasn't about to guess.

Chloe pointed her finger at him as she downed the rest of her coffee. "Just this once, we're going to do this. No one can ever know, and you stick to your side. No funny business."

"Sounds fair," he replied before he scooping her up in his arms.

"Oliver!" Chloe exclaims, clearly caught off-guard. "What do you think you're doing?"

He chuckled at her outburst, and simply says, "Making the journey easier on you?"

She scoffed at that comment, but Chloe knew better than to fight him when he got into these moods. So she settled for a raised eyebrow and a witty remark. "By showing off your caveman tendencies?"

Not really wanting to get into banter, Oliver stared down at her. "Are we doing this or not?"

Chloe's mouth gaped open, not really expecting that question, but she nodded nonetheless as she was reminded of how comfortable she felt in his arms. Resting her head on his shoulder, Chloe looked up at his face as he walked towards his bedroom. Putting her down on her normal side of the bed, he kissed her forehead before walking around the bed to his side. After fluffing her pillow, Chloe lay on her side, but upon feeling the weight shift on the bed, she looked over her shoulder.

For the seconds Oliver sat on the edge of the mattress, she couldn't resist admiring his naked back, as it was almost a rare occasion now to see it without wound marks... or her own nail marks, which reminded Chloe of just how long it had been since they had been together. It seemed so silly, as she gone weeks, months, even years without as much as a goodnight kiss, but there was something different about Oliver.

There were no secrets, no homicidal tendencies (or at least, she hoped those had subsided since Lex), and no ulterior motives. But more importantly, he knew her, and she knew him. That level of understanding was what allowed this arrangement to work.

He lay on his back, keeping to his word and staying on his side of the bed, but she could see that he was still awake. His breathing may have been even, his eyes comfortably shut, but she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't sleeping. She had woken up next to him enough to know how he slept, and this wasn't it.

Then again, they had never actually done this, just slept next to each other. Usually, there was physical activity involved, but not tonight, and while that thought should have worried Chloe, instead, when she turned towards him, Chloe found herself inching closer.

Eventually, Oliver did crack an eye open, mumbling, "What are you doing?" as Chloe's arm wrapped around him.

"Just this once," she repeated, trying to convince herself that's all this was. Once she had settled her head on his chest, Oliver slid his arm around her back, bringing her closer. Finally comfortable, Chloe closed her eyes.

As she slowly drifted off to sleep, Oliver just stared back at her, as both eyes had fully opened since she decided to... whatever this was. It seemed like cuddling, but that was never part of their deal, Chloe had always made sure of that. Yet, here she was now, and even though it felt couple-y, it still felt right, and after a while, Oliver couldn't control the smile he had, almost thankful that Chloe couldn't see it.

The seconds passed by, and while Oliver didn't want to close his eyes, he knew he had a long day tomorrow, so he obliged the sandman, not at all surprised when sleep finally did claim him for the night.

~End~