A/N: Hi! In honor of the premiere of the final season of "Smallville" in a few hours, I thought I'd post this story I thought up. Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or anything associated with it, and no profits are gained from this.

Chapter 1

She could not believe it. She could not believe how he could just stand there and accuse her like that. Looking at her like she was some vile creature that needed to be dealt with.

"Tess," he said to her. "Are you ever going to give me an explanation?"

As Oliver Queen stood stiffly in front of Tess Mercer and accused her of kidnapping Chloe Sullivan, his girlfriend, her only response was to freeze up and stare off into space, trying to hold back the tears that were forming. Apparently that was not good enough for Oliver.

He slowly approached her, but her position remained the same. "Tess, listen to me," he spoke quietly but sternly. "If you took Chloe-"

"I didn't," she managed to whisper, still not making eye contact.

She hated more than anything that it had come down to this. From the powerful connection they had when they first met, to this present moment. Him thinking the worst of her, and giving him good reason to.

She was finally able to muster up enough energy to let out a deep breath and look at him.

"What reason would I have for taking Chloe, Oliver?"

"I don't know, Tess," Oliver replied, throwing his hands up, "but this has Checkmate written all over it."

That was like taking a bullet. But of course, she was not going to let him know that. "So you automatically assume I'm involved somehow?"

Oliver shrugged. "You said yourself there's no way of getting out of Checkmate."

"That doesn't mean I would do something like this ever again. Oliver, I told you I didn't want any part of that anymore. Not after the mistakes I've made."

"Well I really hope that's true, Tess. Otherwise you'll have me to answer to."

"Look," she shot back at him. Now she was getting angry. "You need to get out of my home if you are going to just stand there and threaten me for something I didn't do."

He could tell he was not going to get any further with her, so he nodded his head and left.

That's when the water works had started. Why did he have this effect on her? She felt angry, hurt, and completely vulnerable. And she had spent so much time building up walls to protect her against such emotions. But no matter what, she knew she wanted to try and make things right with Oliver. Once the steam blew off.

Oliver knew that Lois and Clark were going to Watchtower to find any clues about Chloe may be. He headed there to see if they had found anything out. And, he had to admit, to distract himself. Tess seemed to be the only person who had this effect on him. To wrack his nerves so much he couldn't even keep his thoughts on track. And he could not feel that way.

He walked into Watchtower and found his two friends there, seeming to be hard at work.

"Any luck?" he asked upon entering.

"We managed to get through some of the files Chloe had on Checkmate," Lois replied, "but there are still some firewalls up we are trying to get around."

"Yeah, she really knows how to be protective," Clark said. "Did you talk to Tess?"

"Yeah," Oliver responded, "and as expected, she told me nothing."

Lois let out a frustrated sigh. "Great, so now what?" she asked.

"Maybe we should consider another possibility," Clark suggested.

"What? Why?" Lois demanded as she continued rummaging through the computer files. When he said this, she turned around to face her boyfriend. "You were so set on Tess being the culprit."

"And I still think she is," he explained as Lois went back to work, "I just want to keep exploring other options to find her faster."

"Hold that thought, Smallville," Lois said, focused on a computer screen. "I may have found something."

"What is it?" Clark asked urgently, also turning toward the screen.

"Well, it turns out Checkmate has a database that contains footage from the Luthor mansion."

"So if we can get in there-" Clark started.

"We can see if Tess made any arrangements to take Chloe," Lois finished for him, always being one step ahead. She started playing around the with the computer keys. "Oh, crap," she said as a beeping sound rang from the screen. "We need a code to get in."

"Well how are we going to get that?" Oliver asked.

"I could tell you."

They all turned around to see who the new voice in the room belonged to.

"Tess, what are you doing here?" Oliver asked coldly.

"I figured you would be here trying to search for Chloe. I wanted to make things right between us, Oliver. I want you to trust me again."

Her tone was vulnerable and sincere, but Oliver was not about to give into it. "I don't think I'll ever be able to, Tess," he quickly shot back, no sense of compassion in his voice.

"But I can help you," she rebuttled.

"Help with what, Tess? Getting Chloe back when you took her in the first place? You'd probably make it look like someone else did it so that you'd come out looking like the hero. Well I'm not falling for that."

It was a low blow, and he knew it. But he would not give her the satisfaction of thinking they were on good terms. He still felt bad deep down inside though, for he could barely stand to look at her, knowing the pain he was inflicting.

"Oliver," Tess said, clearly hurt. As she simply stood there staring at him, he still was determined to show her that he didn't care.

"Look, Tess," Lois chimed in. "I know Ollie, and he's a pretty good judge of character. So if he has his suspicions about you, they're probably right. So why don't you just show yourself out instead of wasting our time?"

Tess turned to Clark for a last means of support. "Is this how you all feel?"

Clark paused a moment before responding. "Maybe we would just be better off finding Chloe on our own."

"Fine," Tess snapped, "but don't blame me when you figure out you've been searching in the wrong direction." And without any further glances at Oliver, she exited.

Chloe Sullivan currently was waking up in what appeared to be a very lavishly decorated bedroom. There was a vanity in a corner with a big mirror, the most expensive looking drapes she had ever seen, and the bed was so large and soft she actually felt like she could lay there forever.

"Where the hell am I?" she asked herself as she sat up, taking in her new surroundings.

At that moment the door opened and a male figure stepped into the room. He was tall and broad and wore a black uniform, resembling some sort of security guard.

"I see you are awake," the man said. His tone was deep and cold as stone, mimicking his posture. "I will go let the boss know," he continued. With that, he exited the room.

Chloe was still dumbfounded as she remained where she was, staring around. Two more minutes passed and someone else had stepped through the doorway.

When Chloe got a look at the other person in the room she was shocked beyond belief. She was stunned, upset, yet glad all at the same time. She knew this person was her captor at once, and that she was going to be in for a whirlwind soon. She was in such a stupor that she could only utter one word.

"Lex?"