Home Coming

by Smileeface

Another fan fic challenge: Oliver returned to the clock tower in a foul mood. His mood only darkened as he tried to untie the bowtie that went with his tuxedo. He had not expected to see her there, smiling and laughing…having a good time.

Title: 5 Things Challenge – Home Coming

Author: Cking1575

Fandom: Smallville AU

Pairings: Chloe/Oliver

Rating: PG-13 only for swears and a bit of necessary roughness! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville/DC or the characters. I am just playing with them.

Summary: A fan fic challenge from Lilmoochie

Write a fic using the 5 things given and it must include ALL 5 things given to you.

5 Things Challenge: 1)Clock Tower, 2)Chloe rescue, 3)Tuxedo, 4)Yoga, 5)Diamonds

A/N: Here ya go, Chica! Hope you like this! Written just for you and your 5 things challenge. Thanks for letting me play! :D *HUGE HUGS and THANK YOUS* to Lilmoochie for all her help with the medical jargon! Thanks, Chica! :D

And for this fic: Lois knows all about the JLA and about Clark's secret. It just makes it easier for me. :D Hope you enjoy! If any of you have read this over at my LJ account, you will all notice that this fic is NOT broken up into chapters. Unlike LJ this fic isn't too long to post here in it's entirety...which was how I intended it to be. :D

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He sat at the banquet table half listening, half tuning out the conversation between the annoying Senator and his date, Rebecca…or Rachel…or Rita, whatever her name was. As he brought the Champaign glass up to his mouth to take a sip, he stopped just before the liquid touched his lips. Her voice, her laughter washed over him like a cold shower that snapped him back into reality and out of his musings. It was her laughter. Her voice…the voice that he heard in his dreams at night. The voice from the only woman who had so much control over the man that he had to run away from her…and Oliver Queen ran from no one… except her.

Oliver's eyes scanned the crowded room and his hearing tried to zone in on where she was. Questions ran rampant through his mind, "Why was she here?" "Who was she here with?" "Did she miss him as much as he missed her?" It had been almost a month since last he heard her voice or saw her and though he could lie to everyone else, he couldn't lie to himself…he did miss her. Oliver's head snapped around as he heard her tinkling laughter again. That musical sound could only belong to one person and when he finally zoned in on the area that the laughter came from, he saw her. He saw her standing with a man who he thought he recognized but from behind it was difficult to identify who he was. But she stood there, radiant, as bright as the sun; she shone. Her dress was long and a cream color that shimmered when she moved. Her short blond hair was down cascading in ringlets past her ears. Her green eyes shone like emeralds that he could see from across the room. She was happy. And even though that was all he wished for her…he still couldn't help but feel jealous of the man who brought her that happiness. He also couldn't stop the rise of sadness for himself as he reached in his pocket and felt the object that had brought him to this state.

Oliver was conflicted. He didn't know whether he should go over to her and speak to her or remain out of her view. Should he go over and tell her that he was sorry for disappearing on her, for leaving her behind? Should he go over and tell her how much he missed her? Or how much he loved her? Should he tell her that he was sorry that he couldn't protect her when she needed him to protect her the most? He had not been prepared to see her tonight. He had planed to talk to her in the morning. He had planned to beg her to take him back. He sat quietly, ignoring the inquisitive looks from his date and the senator. He watched uncaringly as the Senator led his date onto the dance floor. He noted with relief that from the looks which past between the two, Rebecca or Rachel or whatever his date's name was, was not going to need him to find her way home. She would be well taken care of by the way the Senator's gaze never left her. He was fine with that, a half hour before he wouldn't have been, but now…now that he saw her again, all he wanted was to be alone with his memories. Company was not what he needed. Oliver quickly turned around, watching the woman he knew he was in love with smile up at that other man. He couldn't help but feel the anger rise from the pit of his belly.

Abruptly, Oliver stood from the table, knocking over his Champaign glass and spilling the liquid. Chloe had forgotten him and had moved on obviously with the help of the man she was with. That made Oliver even angrier because he hadn't been able to move on. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about her. He couldn't stop hearing her voice in his head at night. Her voice haunted him.

"Oliver?" his date called out to him as she returned to the table with the Senator in tow. He looked at her with distain and turned to leave and that is when she finally took notice of him. Her emerald eyes, curious as ever, locked onto his angry brown ones. His eyes flicked over her, appraisingly, noticing the diamond that adorned her finger and the matching diamonds that adorned her ears and her neck. He swallowed the bile that began to rise within his throat as he realized that once again he was too late. Again he had missed his opportunity with her. Again she was with another man, another man who made her smile where he made her frown. Another man who made her laugh where he made her cry. Another man who made her happy where he made her sad. Oliver tilted his head at her, acknowledging her and moved his eyes to finally see who her date was…who that other man was. Surprised, betrayed, shocked, and angry…words just couldn't describe the feelings that took hold of him as he turned on his heel and stormed out of the gala ignoring Chloe's plea for him to return.

"Please come back, Oliver. Please." She closed her eyes in dismay as she watched him ignore her and continue walking towards the door. She didn't know that he was going to be at this gala event. AC walked over to Chloe and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug, supporting his friend. He knew this plan of hers was going to explode in her face, he had warned her, but like always she didn't listen to him. But to be fair, he too hadn't expected to see Oliver here this night. He had been MIA for the last 3 maybe 4 weeks. And of course it was tonight of all nights that he decided to drag his sorry ass back to Metropolis.

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Oliver returned to the clock tower in a foul mood. His mood only darkened as he tried to untie the bowtie that went with his tuxedo. He had not expected to see her there, smiling and laughing…having a good time on the arm of his friend…his friend! He shook his head and closed his eyes. What AC did hurt him almost as much as seeing Chloe marry Jimmy. He wondered if AC had been waiting, biding his time, for Oliver to leave so that he could swoop in and pick up the pieces, to give Chloe a shoulder to cry on. No wonder she was laughing and smiling, she didn't miss him at all. It hadn't been that long since he had left…3 weeks he had been gone, and when he came back what does he find? Her parading herself at this gala in diamonds…hanging all over his friend, a man that he had once considered his brother. "Where'd she get those diamonds anyway," he wondered to himself as he ripped the uncooperative tie from his neck and shucked off the tuxedo coat discarding it where he stood. He needed to relax. He needed to take his mind off of the mess that was his life. He needed to work out these feelings. Quickly he striped the dress shirt from his body as he made his way into his room leaving him standing before his dresser in just the pants from his tux. Swiftly he opened the draws and pulled out the first pair of sweat pants he could find. He removed his clothes as quickly as he could and put the sweat pants on. Then he walked into his workout room and proceeded to stretch and warm up.

Oliver hoped that by doing some yoga he would be able to calm himself enough so that he could actually think clearly. He was so focused on his warm up routine that he didn't hear the elevator until the doors clanged open and the voice of one of the people who caused his emotional turmoil called out to him.

"OLLIE!!! DUDE!!! I know you're here!!! We have a serious situation!!! OLIVER!!" AC called out to Oliver frantically. He wanted to set things straight with the other man immediately, not to mention he needed Oliver's help in finding Chloe. She had gone after Oliver. She had tried to catch him before he left…she wanted to explain to Oliver that she wasn't there with AC in a romantic way, but they were there trying to catch a Meta jewel theft. He had given her 10 minutes to reach Oliver, but when she didn't return he tried to call her. When he got no response from her via her cell phone or the com link that they had; he called out to Victor, who was monitoring the whole evening from the watch tower. Victor reported that she was in the hallway, just outside the ball room. When Victor told him that she was alone and that Oliver was in his car driving back to his clock tower, AC went to investigate. What he found chilled him to the bone. He found Chloe's phone which held the GPS tracking bug lying in a small puddle of blood…blood that he could only assume was hers.

"What can I do for you, AC? Stealing the woman I loved not enough for you? What else can I hand over to you now?" Oliver all but growled at AC as he exited the exercise room to confront the man who stole Chloe.

"Damn it, Ollie, if you had just hung around for one more minute, Chloe would have told you what we were doing there. This is me, Dude…AC" AC place his hand on his chest feeling his heart beat raise along with his anger and frustration, "I would NEVER go after your girl! That is a line that brothers don't even dare to cross. How could you think that of me? How could you think that of Chloe? She loves you, man!" He walked closer to Oliver getting into his face and his voice lowered menacingly. "She cried for weeks when you up and left. She tried to hide it from us…Vic, Bart, and me, but we saw it, we heard it. This was the first time in weeks that she has smiled, that we heard her laugh again. How could you do that to her…just leave her like that and then show up again? Who are you to judge us, even if something had been going on? Dude," he pushed Oliver. AC was not only angry at Oliver for leaving Chloe but for leaving them too. "You left…not just her but us too. You abandoned us, left us floundering in this sea of crime. But she pulled us in, threw a life preserver out to us. She gave us back our purpose…told us that you had lost yourself and that you would be back when you found yourself again. Have you found yourself, Ollie? Because we really need you, man…really. Chloe's missing." If Oliver hadn't been listening to every word that AC said…those words, 'Chloe's missing,' would have gotten his attention.

"How long has she been missing?" Oliver said worriedly. He looked up at AC, sorrow for the hurt that he had caused his friend as well as the pain of jumping to conclusions about AC and Chloe clearly visible on his face. "I'm sorry, man, really sorry for jumping to conclusions and for leaving."

"As touching as this is," Victor interrupted via AC's com link, "But Fish stick, Chloe's still out there and possibly bleeding to death as the two of you stand there making up."

"Right. On it, Tin man." AC said causing Oliver to raise his eyebrow in question.

"I've got the com link in. Chloe wanted us to wear it tonight on this mission. Bart is out looking for her, he found her ear wig in the parking garage so we can't even track her that way. We're running blind and we really need your help." He said as he pulled out Oliver's com link and held it out to him.

Oliver immediately grabbed the com link and put it into his ear.

"Arrow online." He stated and AC looked on proud of him. "How long has she been missing, Cyborg?" Oliver said the Green Arrow persona taking over as he walked over to his Arrow room.

"She's been missing since she ran out of the ball room after you. I think that she may have run into the guy that we've been trying to track down."

"Ok, here's what you are going to do, Cyborg. As I am getting ready you are going to debrief me on this mission. Get me up to speed by the time I am ready to go out and then we are going to find our Watchtower, understood."

"Yes, Arrow. It's good to have you back, man."

"It's good to be back." Oliver sighed as the door to the arrow room opened up revealing his gear. He glanced over his shoulder at AC who still stood in the living room waiting for him to return. Then he walked into the room and quickly changed into his green leather and gathered his gear. All the while, Victor filled him in on the mission. Of course his first mission back in the green leather had to be a Chloe rescue. She was constantly getting herself into one situation or the other. Trouble just followed that woman like a lost puppy.

"Ok, so let me get this straight…this jewel thief, Travis Connolly, was one of her meteor infected cases from Isis?"

"Yup."

"If that's so, then we know where she kept her file on the guy. Have Impulse head over to Isis and search through her files. She had to have kept a file on this Travis kid…especially if she thought that she could save him or at the very least help him. Hell, she keeps records on everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if there were files on all of us hidden somewhere."

"No need to send Impulse, she left the files with Cyborg just in case." AC said to Ollie.

"Ok, last known address for this guy, then Cyborg. That's the first place we're going to look."

"Travis Connelly, home address 532 Tremont Street, Upper East Apartment C5…whoa wait a second…there's another address…storage facility…looks like our meteor thief rents a storage compartment. Arrow, it's only two blocks from Isis and 3 blocks from the gala. I suggest going there first. Metropolis Storage on Wilshire. You know where it is?"

"Yeah! Let's go, Aquaman. Cyborg, have Impulse meet us there."

"He's already there and waiting on you, Arrow."

"Ok, tell him to take a quick look around…what's the compartment number?"

"Storage compartment 418." Victor said to them.

"On it, you got that, Impulse." Oliver answered.

"Yeah Arrow, checking it out now."

"Let's go, Aquaman." Oliver said to AC.

"Arrow, I can hear something but can't see into the compartment, there are no windows." Bart said.

"Wait on us, Impulse, that is an order. ETA 5 minutes."

"Ok, Arrow, but if I hear her screaming I'm not going to wait on you." Bart whispered as he had his ear pressed against the tin of the compartment.

"Understood." Oliver said gravely.

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Chloe slowly began to regain consciousness and as her mind began to wake up so did the pain begin to take hold. Her head throbbed and her right leg felt numbingly cold. She blinked a couple of times and tried to move her limbs when she realized that her arms and legs were bound together by something. She began to struggle against her bindings and she tried to look around at her surroundings.

"Glad to see that you're awake. I thought that maybe I hit you a bit too hard." Travis said to her as he stepped out of the shadows and into the dim light.

"Travis? Is that you?" Chloe asked as if she didn't already know that Travis was behind the last three high stakes thefts in the area.

"Yes, Chloe, it's me. Like you didn't already suspect it was me. Why couldn't you just leave me alone? Why couldn't you just mind your own business and stay out of mine? I really liked you, Chloe. I didn't want to hurt you and now look at you. I had to stab you and then I had to take you with me. It's not like I could have just left you there. I don't know what I'm going to do with you…it's not like I can just let you go or something." The young man began to pace back and forth in front of her and Chloe began to feel sick to her stomach. It could have been from the loss of blood or it could be because she knew what would happen to her if the guys didn't get to her. Travis was going to have to kill her. She knew who he was…what he was. She knew that he could phase through anything solid, be it metal, steel, even concrete…everything except for tin and plastic.

"Travis, please, I've never done anything to you…I've always only tried to help you. I can still help you, but you have to let me go. There are people who will be looking for me. When I didn't go back into the ball room, my date would have gone looking for me." She tried to persuade him into letting her go.

"He probably just figured you left with the tall blond guy that you took off after. Sorry to interrupt that. Looked kind of bitter sweet, he your ex or something?"

"Yeah, or something. This isn't about me; this is about what will happen to you when the people who are looking for me find you." Chloe's stomach began to revolt against her. "Travis, I'm not feeling so well. Something's wrong." She began to feel lightheaded and weak. She looked down at her dress and realized that the reason that her leg felt painfully numb was because she was bleeding profusely from the stab wound to her thigh. She could already see the puddle of blood forming beneath her. She looked up at him as he paced in and out of the shadows. "I think I need a doctor, Travis, help me." Her voice was weak and she could once again barely keep her eyes open. "I was your friend. How can you do this to me?" Her voice slurred almost as if she were drunk.

"I'm sorry, Chloe. But this is the only way. I needed that money. If I don't pay off, Little Tony, he's going to kill me. I'm sorry, but I can't bring you to a doctor. I can't let you leave."

"Then you're going to let me die? You are willing to kill me…" she didn't get to finish her statement because she lost consciousness again.

"Chloe? CHLOE?! Oh God! Oh God!" Travis paced back and forth. This was not how it was supposed to go. No one was supposed to get hurt. He was supposed to do these few heists for Little Tony and then he was free to go. Chloe was never supposed to get involved. He looked down at her; she looked like a sleeping angel. Her once vibrant skin was now a placid pale. Her lush pink lips were now an odd color somewhere between blue and purple. Just as he made the decision to take Chloe to the hospital, hopefully in time, the door to the compartment exploded open and three men rushed into the dark room.

As the dust from the small blast began to settle, AC, Bart, and Oliver rushed into the compartment hoping to find an alert Chloe with a snarky comment. Instead the scene that they came into nearly brought them to their knees. Lying in an ever growing pool of blood was Chloe and hovering about her was the man that had caused her to be in this condition.

"CHLOE!" Screamed Oliver as Bart rushed forward. Travis didn't even see him move and was completely taken by surprise when the shorter man grabbed him and flung him against the wall where he fell to the floor. He was met by AC's fist when he looked up. AC easily knocked him out cold and then rushed over to Chloe, who was deathly still. Oliver was checking her over. When he couldn't get her to respond to him he lifted the skirt of her dress and exposed the seeping wound. He ripped the ruined dress and had AC apply pressure to the wound while he cut pieces of her skirt into strips, quickly making a tourniquet of the strips of cloth. Once her wound had been bandage, Oliver scooped her up into his arms and quickly carried her out of the storage compartment, while AC and Bart stoically followed. Oliver turned to the two other men and swallowed hard as he called Bart over to him.

"Impulse, take her to Dr. Hamilton at Metropolis General Hospital. Only let Dr. Hamilton work on her. Cyborg, call Emil and notify him that Impulse will be there with her. Don't let anything else happen to her, ok."

"I got her, Arrow." Bart said resoundly. He wouldn't let anything else happen to her. "Meet you there."

"Meet you there." This was his greatest fear coming to fruition. He was yet again proven inept at keeping her safe. Oliver stood perfectly still for a moment, then narrowed his eyes in anger before heading back into the compartment. AC followed quietly. He had never seen Oliver like this. Oliver was barely controlling his rage as he entered the compartment. He grabbed the roll of duct tape from the box by the door which he assumed was the tape that he had used on Chloe and proceeded to the far wall where Travis still laid unconscious.

Gritting his teeth, Oliver hauled Travis off the floor and dragged him out of the storage compartment and toward the car that he and AC arrived in. He dropped him unceremoniously next to the vehicle and hauled his arms behind his back none to gently. Taking the duct tape he proceeded to wind the roll around Travis's wrists in much the same way that Travis had done to Chloe, essentially binding his hands behind is back.

"You really fucked up, kid" Oliver said to Travis as he began to rouse to consciousness. Not being able to resist himself, Oliver kicked him hard in the stomach causing Travis to curl up into a fetal position in the gravel gasping for air. AC just stood back, folded his arms and let Oliver do what he needed to do. He knew that beating the hell out of this kid wasn't the 'heroee' thing to do, but this kid had almost kill Chloe, and AC felt that he deserved a good ass whooping. If Oliver got too out of hand, he would stop him. But Oliver only delivered the one kick to the gut and then he stared down at Travis with hard cold eyes through his tinted glasses. "If you ever go after Chloe again…I will kill you," he said menacingly through the distorter. He knelt down and shoved a dirty rag into Travis's mouth, gagging him and he smirked as the young man widened his eyes. Oliver hauled Travis up to his feet once more.

"Aquaman," the distorted voice called to him, "pop the truck will ya. I think we should take a little ride."

AC opened the trunk of the car and Oliver shoved Travis none-too-gently in. He slammed the hood shut and moved around to the driver's seat while AC moved over to the passenger's seat. Oliver took a deep breath in and grabbed the bag with his civilian clothes. He quickly changed out of his leathers right there in the parking lot. AC did the same. Once they had changed their clothes they put their uniforms into their bags and got into the car. He started the car and drove it to the Metropolis Police Station, which was across the street from Met General where Bart had taken Chloe. Once he was there, he got out of the car and popped the trunk again. When Travis looked up blinking his eyes to adjust them to the sudden change in light, he didn't see Oliver's fist until it was too late and once again he was knocked unconscious. Oliver dragged Travis to the steps of the precinct and duct taped him to the railing with a note taped to his forehead telling the police that he was the bandit that they have been looking for. The note also told the police where and with whom they would find the stolen jewels, those facts he found in the files that Chloe had left with Victor as well as the fact that Travis was infected with the meteor rock with special phasing abilities. Once his civic duty was finished Oliver jumped back into his car and raced over to the hospital. AC and he made their way inside; both looked around anxiously for Bart. They found him sitting in the waiting room outside the ER.

Bart's eyes widened with relief when he saw AC and Oliver run into the hospital. Lethargically he made his way over to them. The worry and the fear poured off of Bart as he saw the other two men.

"Everything taken care of, Bossman?" Bart asked Oliver.

"Yeah, he's wrapped up like a Christmas package for the cops. I just hope that someone finds him before he wakes up. Didn't the file say that he could phase through anything?"

"Yeah, anything but tin and plastic. Go figure."

"Well, I left that he could phase through anything but plastic in the note. I didn't mention the tin though. I'll have to leave an anonymous call to tip them off about the tin later, but for now I just want to concentrate on Chloe."

"Oh sure, now you want to concentrate on her, what happened, Ollie, huh? Why'd you run? Didn't you know that she's been completely miserable without you? How could you do that to her?" Bart turned to look at the man that he once admired above all others. His disappointment clearly visible in his eyes.

"Bart, you don't know anything about what happened between Chloe and me."

"No, I don't. So why don't you enlighten us?"

"Yeah, Ollie, enlighten us." Victor said as he walked into the waiting room.

"Now is not the time nor is it the place for this discussion. But I have not now or ever stopped loving that woman. She haunts me."

"Good! Because you haunt her too. You have caused her so much pain that I should put you into the bed next to her." Bart said to him. Oliver could feel the younger man's anger wafting off of him in waves.

"Bart, this is not the place for this. Once she is home then we can have this discussion. But as of right now, get over it, because as much as you love her; so do I." And with that Oliver started to walk away from the three men.

"Where ya' going?" AC asked.

"I'm going to find out what's going on with Chloe." He said not even bothering to turn around to face them. If he had, they would have seen the tear slide down his cheek. He had made a royal mess of his life and he just knew that the only way to fix what he broke was to make sure that she was ok. He just knew that his entire life hinged on whether she was alive or dead. He quickly swiped the tear from his face as he walked over to the nurse's station.

He drew in a ragged breath, cleared his throat, and rubbed the back of his neck as he waited for the nurse, who was an older lady to acknowledge his presence.

"Excuse me." He said his voice a bit gravely from the emotions that were welling up inside of him. He just couldn't loose her, not another person he loved.

The elderly nurse looked up. Vague surprise registered on her face when she looked upon him. "Mr. Queen? What can I do for you?"

He put two hands onto the counter of the station and leaned in a bit closer to her. "My girlfriend, Chloe Sullivan, was brought in here a little while ago. I'd like to either see her or find out what's going on."

"Of course, Mr. Queen. I'll see what I can do." She picked up the phone and called someone casting furtive glances at him as he began to pace back and forth in front of the desk.

He watched her make the call and began to pace. He had called her his girlfriend. "Girlfriend." It seemed like such a regular word that didn't come nearly close enough to what Chloe meant to him. Not that she was his girlfriend anymore, especially after him just leaving her like he did. He wondered if she would even forgive him and take him back. He hoped, but wasn't sure. He turned to look at guys and walked back to them slowly. "Someone needs to get a hold of Clark." He winced a little. "And Lois. The nurse is on the phone right now with someone who can give us an update on her condition.

The guys all looked at each other. Telling Clark did not sound like fun, but telling Lois sounded even worse. She scared them.

"Right, I'll take Clark, after we find out about Chloe." Bart said. AC and Victor looked at each other and then stared pointedly at Oliver.

Oliver raked a hand through his hair, wincing slightly at the thought of talking to Lois. "I'll call Lois later," he murmured, closing his eyes he tried to reign in his worry for Chloe and to calm himself. He opened his eyes and looked around at the anxious men with him. This was his family and even though they were not happy with him about his disappearing on them and on Chloe, they still looked to him and loved him. The wariness of his life finally crashed in on him as the adrenaline began to wear off…he could see that AC, Victor, and even Bart looked a bit exhausted. Coffee was going to be needed, he thought, just as the nurse that he spoke to at the desk walked in pointedly looking at him. He crossed the floor quickly, the other guys not too far behind him.

"Any news?" he asked hopefully.

"Well, she lost a lot of blood and has to have a transfusion. The doctors are type matching her but if you could tell us what her blood type is than that will speed up the process. She has also suffered a sever concussion, but the doctors are really worried about the blood loss. I'm sorry to bring you this news, Mr. Queen."

"I appreciate that, really. Chloe's blood type is A positive. And I am a universal donor. I will donate my blood." Oliver said as he stared to roll up the sleeve of his shirt.

"That is very generous of you, Mr. Queen. She must mean quite a lot to you."

"She does. Where do I go to do this? Can I see her?"

"I'm afraid that she is still unconscious and the doctors are still working on stitching her leg up. Do you know how this happened?"

"She and I had a fight and I drove away leaving her in the garage by herself. She was mugged. I do not know why the mugger stabbed her in the leg. But he did." Oliver looked so ashamed.

"I'm sorry this happened to you both, but Dr. Hamilton is one of the top doctors in Metropolis. He will take very good care of her for you. If you follow me, I will take you to Hematology, that's where you can donate your blood. Oliver walked off with the nurse but glanced behind him to the guys. Bart took off for Smallville not at all looking forward to telling Clark about Chloe being in the hospital.

It seemed like hours had passed since Oliver had left to donate blood for Chloe and Clark arrived. Clark didn't speak a word to Oliver but his glares were felt clear cross the room.

"Just say it, Clark. What ever it is that you want to say, just say it." Oliver couldn't take the glares any more.

"This is your fault." Clark stood up and walked to the center of the room.

Oliver matched him in the room. His anger and frustration getting the better of him and loosening his tongue, "How do you figure that?"

"If you had never roped Chloe into all this…into this…whatever it is, she wouldn't be here right now."

"Funny, I seem to remember it was Chloe who came to my apartment and roped me into her rescue plan that first time. She's a big girl, Clark; she knew what she was doing then and she knew what she was doing now. Besides, I had just gotten back. I hadn't even seen her yet. I didn't even know she was there."

"That's right! That's because you were scared and like a coward you ran from her, from everything, didn't you?"

"God DAMN IT! If I have to listen to one more God Damn lecture on how badly I hurt her I am going to start taking people out! I was hurt too. Did any of you stop to think about that?! Did any of you stop to ask yourselves why I left?! No! You didn't! You all just…I don't know put me into the same category as Lex. And that hurts a fucking lot! I needed space, time to think. I told Chloe that! She understood. She may have been hurt by my leaving but she understood and told me to come home when I was ready." His voice broke for a second. He cleared his throat. "HOME! She told me to come home. It took 3 weeks for me to realize it, but she was right. She is my home; you guys are my home. I needed to leave to see that, don't you guys understand! I am only human. I am the only completely powerless human one here. I lost myself and I needed to find myself again. Don't you get it? I came home. I came back because I realized that even though I maybe only human without special powers or abilities that I can make a difference too. I don't have to be superhuman to do that. It took me time to realize that, time that I needed to be alone, away from the constant reminder that I am just plain human, nothing special."

"Oliver," Clark started his anger completely gone once he heard the other man's insecurities.

"No Clark, it's fine. I'm fine now. But I'm still scared because I saw her tonight. Again I was unable to protect her the way that she deserves to be protected. She nearly died tonight and I couldn't stop it. I couldn't st…" Oliver had to stop speaking. His emotions began to consume him. He sat down on the hard waiting room chair and put his head into his hands, trying desperately to hide from the other men in the room.

Clark walked over to Oliver and placed a strong hand onto his shoulder. Bart, AC, and Victor also crossed the room to stand before him. Oliver gathered what was left of his pride and lifted his head. His bloodshot eyes looked around the room at his friends. He could see the forgiveness in their faces, but he still longed to hear them stay it.

"Welcome home, Oliver." Was all that Clark said…all that he needed to say. Oliver smiled for what felt like the first time in almost a month as he stood up before the other men.

"Thanks, guys…really. Thanks." He said just as the nurse walked back into the room.

"Mr. Queen?" She called out to him and Oliver turned to her quickly. "She's awake and has been asking to see you. Dr. Hamilton will meet you outside of her room to update you on her condition. You may visit with her but I am afraid that we will have to limit the visitation to one person at a time." She looked over at the other men in the room who looked almost as eager as Oliver to see her.

The nurse showed him to Chloe's room and true to form Dr. Hamilton stood outside the door waiting for him to arrive. Once the nurse left them, Dr. Hamilton began to tell Oliver the extent of her injures.

"We had to give her some medication to sedate her, because her anxiety and agitation could cause her further injury. Besides the major stab wound to her upper right thigh; she has suffered a sever concussion. We will need to keep her over night for observation and I have scheduled a second Head CT scan in the morning. There maybe some bleeding in her brain and I'm worried that she may have suffered a fracture in her skull. Until I have the results of the second CT scan, I will not know anything else. She also has some minor abrasions to the palms of her hands and bruises to her knees and to her wrists but nothing too serious. She will probably be in and out of it for a few more hours due to the sedation. But she will also be in serious pain for a few days. She's a tough one, Ollie."

"Don't I know it." Oliver grimaced. "Can I see her? Is she lucid?"

"She's lucid for the moment. The drugs haven't fully taken effect yet. Just try to keep her calm. Don't get her all worked up. Now is not the time to be yelling at her for getting herself injured. Save that for when you get her home. All in all, she should make a full recovery and be fine." Emil smiled at Oliver reassuringly. Oliver nodded and shook his hand.

"Thanks, Doc." He said just before he pushed the door open to room. He stepped into the room and swallowed hard at the sight of her lying in the hospital bed. Slowly he moved over to the side of the bed. Her eyes were closed, so he remained silent, not wanting to wake her if she had fallen asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe was really tired and her eyes were closed, but she wasn't asleep; she heard someone enter her room. She felt him approach her bed but her mind was foggy because of the meds that the nurse gave to her. Her eyelids were so heavy that it took a real effort for her to open them, but she managed to open her eyes a little. The lights in the room really weren't all that bright but to her it seemed like the light of a thousand suns lit her room and she had to shut her eyes again. She made a little noise of discomfort as she shifted on the bed. She turned her head slightly from the lamp and tried to open her eyes a little. She desperately wanted to see who was standing beside her bed. It was hard to focus her vision, her eyes were very blurry, but it didn't take a lot of effort for her to be able to tell who it was before she closed them again.

"Oliver." She said softly, a gentle smile on her face as her eyes closed again.

Oliver started to reach out to take her hand but remember that she had abrasions on the palm her hand before he grasped it. Instead he gently brushed the hair off her face.

"I'm here," he whispered, blinking back tears he hadn't realized were in his eyes until she had spoken. He shut his eyes for a moment, trying to pull his composure together. A lot of emotions whirled within him: fear, anger, guilt, sadness, regret. He had to get a hold of himself. She took a deep breath when she heard his voice and opened her eyes again, a little wider this time and she looked at him for a moment almost as if she were studying him.

"How are ya feeling, Sidekick?" Oliver asked quietly, as he dragged the chair from the corner beside her bed closer and slowly sat down on it never taking his eyes from her.

Sluggishly, she turned her head to look at him, frowning a little, "I'm tired," she said, "and groggy." Chloe tried to look around but only managed to lift her head a little bit, "where are we?" She blinked a few times; the memories from earlier still hadn't come back to her, nothing really made sense, except that the place smelled funny, almost like antiseptic.

"The hospital," he said softly. She sounded so weak and exhausted. "Do you remember what happened?"

The word 'hospital' perked her attention a bit more and, she suddenly felt a little more alert; "Whe-" Chloe tried to sit up but whimpered when pain shot through her head. She closed her eyes, groaned, leaned back against the pillows again, and took a deep breath.

Memories suddenly flashed through her mind, the gala, running after Oliver, Travis confronting her in the hallway, him stabbing her in the leg as she tried to kick the knife out of his hand, being knocked out, then waking up in a dark dirty place her wrists and ankles bound together, trying to keep her wits about her as Travis paced back and forth trying to decide what to do with her, fearing she was going to be in a body bag by the next morning just before she lost consciousness again. She shuddered hard, her face paled and her stomach clenched as fear gripped her.

"Chloe?" There was alarm in his tone and he quickly rose to his feet. He reached out and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Take it easy. It's okay. You're safe. I'll go get a doctor!" He forced himself to take a deep breath, his stomach knotting at the look on her face.

She took another deep breath and lifted her hand towards Oliver without opening her eyes, "No, don't. I'm fine. I want to go home." She said firmly.

"Chloe, you're hurt," he whispered, shaking his head even though she couldn't see him since her eyes were closed. "You need to stay here, just for awhile all right?" There was a hint of pleading in his tone. It was a sound he didn't really recognize from himself because he didn't plead with anyone…ever.

Chloe shook her head slowly and opened her eyes to look at him; the thought of staying in the hospital scared her more than her abduction. She tried to move but the drugs had made her entire body feel heavy so she only managed to lean closer to him, "I don't like hospitals, Oliver. I don't want stay here." She pleaded back at him.

Her eyes were filled with fear and that tugged at his heart. He looked from her pleading eyes to the door then back again. "All right, I'll see what I can do, but if Emil says that you need to stay; you are going to stay." he whispered, gently touching her cheek.

With another deep breath, Chloe leaned her face into his hand; nodding as she closed her eyes again; she was happy that he was back. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn't found her.

"How did you find me?" She breathed quietly, and opened her eyes to look at him.

He tried to smile back and lighten the mood. "You know me…always resourceful, not to mention that I had a lot of help. You know, there's a group of guys in the waiting room waiting for word on your condition." He leaned over and gently kissed her forehead, closing his eyes. He swallowed hard, his voice barely audible when he spoke again. "I'm so sorry, Chloe."

Chloe tied to shake her head as she shifted closer to him which caused her head to begin to throb harder. She winced as the pain increased with the movement. "It wasn't your fault, Hero," she began to argue with him. He didn't owe her an apology; he didn't even know that they were going to be there tonight.

"Shush, will you just let me apologize." He leaned his forehead gently against hers closing his eyes once, "I am sorry that I left. I am sorry that I wasn't there tonight with you in the hall and I am sorry that you got hurt as badly as you did before I could get to you. But Emil says that you're going to be alright and I promise that I am never going to leave you again." he whispered, keeping his head close to hers in an effort to keep her calm. He pressed a soft kiss against her hair before he stood up to his full height again.

She reached for his arm and held on to it as tightly as she could, not wanting him to leave her alone. She had a lot of questions to ask him, but her brain wasn't processing anything right. Her eyes drifted close and sleep overtook her unwilling body. Oliver took his seat next to her bed again. The guys were just going to have to wait for a while; he wasn't going to leave her just yet. But after he updated the guys, he was going to talk to Emil. If she didn't have to stay the night in the hospital then he was going to take her back to the clock tower. He could always bring her back tomorrow for the tests.

When she was finally asleep, he stood up and went to the waiting room. He didn't want to leave her alone for very long and he still needed to speak to Emil. He walked into the waiting room and Clark spotted him first.

"How is she, Oliver?"

"She's ok. She's going to be fine. I need to speak to Emil. She doesn't want to stay the night here, but she's already asleep. Actually, Clark, if you could…would you go sit with her while I speak to Emil? I really don't want her to wake up and be alone. She doesn't like the hospital."

"I know, she's been like that since we've been kids, but it's gotten worse recently. What room is she in?"

"Room T3. It's down the hall and on the right. Third door on the right. I don't know how long I will be with Emil. And I am not even sure that he'll sign off on her leaving. He wants to run another CT scan tomorrow. He's afraid that there may be some bleeding in her head and that she may actually have a fracture in her skull. But Chloe isn't really comfortable here and if she can get the same treatment at the Clock Tower then I'd rather her be comfortable." The guys all nodded. Clark headed down the hall towards Chloe's room. AC sat down heavily in the chair that he had just vacated. Victor followed AC's lead and sat down next to him. Bart just stood dumbfounded in the middle of the room.

"She's gonna be ok, right Ollie?" He asked him. His fear making his voice seem younger than he really was. Oliver put a hand on Bart's shoulder and looked the young man in the eye.

"Of course she will be. This is Chloe. She's going to be fine. She's going to be in some pain for a bit but she'll be fine." The relief poured over Bart's body and he smiled shyly at Oliver.

"Thanks, man. I'm glad you're back." Bart said and quickly wrapped his arms around Oliver, surprising him and before Oliver could even reciprocate the hug Bart's arms where back at his sides and his cheeks a bit pink from the embarrassing display of emotion. "Sorry, I'm just really worried about Licious."

"Nah, don't sweat it, Bart. I understand. We're all really worried. Look, if she has to stay the night, I am not leaving her. I'm going to stay here with her, but you guys should head home and get a good night's sleep. No sense in all of us sleeping here."

"Right! Like you'll get rid of us that easily, Ollie." AC said from his chair as he put his hands behind his head and made himself as comfortable as he could for the long night.

"No way, man. She's family. If she's here, then we're here." Victor chimed in and stretched his long legs out in front of him.

"Where Licious is so are we." Said Bart, "But I just need to run and get something." He was gone in the blink of an eye.

"Food." Both AC and Victor said with a chuckle. Bart returned a few minutes later munching on a burger from McDonalds. He tossed AC and Victor each a bag and then took a seat. He held up a bag towards Oliver indicating that he got it for him.

"Alrighty then," Oliver said, "I'm going to talk to Emil and see if I can take her back to the Clock Tower. I'll see you in a bit. Thanks for the burger, Bart, but you eat it. I'm not really hungry."

Oliver walked out to the waiting room back to the nurses' station that the elderly nurse was still monitoring. "Excuse me, Ma'am." Oliver said to her to get her attention. Her sharp blue eyes snapped up from the magazine article that she was reading and her cheeks tinged pink. She quickly shut her magazine and hid it from his view. Oliver was sure that she was reading an article on him. He just smiled at her, bedazzlingly, not at all letting her know that he knew that she was reading about him.

"Mr. Queen, how may I help you? Is your girlfriend doing alright? Does she need something?" she asked.

"No. No, but thank you for asking. I was wondering if it would be possible to me to speak to the doctor again. It seems that my girlfriend is afraid of hospitals. It's a deep psychological fear from a childhood trauma that I think will hinder her recovery. I need to speak to Dr. Hamilton about alternatives forms of treatments."

"Oh well, I am not sure the doctor is available at the moment. Let me see if I can find him. If you just have a seat in the waiting room, I will have him paged."

"Thank you, ahhh" He glanced down at her name tag, "Emily. Thank you very much for your kindness." He smiled brilliantly at her again.

"You're welcome, Mr. Queen." She said as she reached for the phone and he turned back to the waiting room deciding to wait for Emil outside the door. He leaned against the wall and took a steadying breath.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Emil," Oliver shook the doctor's hand, "I'm sorry to have to call you again. It seems that we have encountered a bit of a problem."

"Oh, how so?"

"It's Chloe. I wasn't aware that she's terribly afraid of hospitals. She doesn't want to stay here the night. She wants to go back to the Clock Tower. I told her I would see how it went with you, but you have the final say in her release. Does she truly need to be here? Is her life at all in jeopardy if I take her back to the Clock Tower and bring her back tomorrow for tests?

"Oliver, I'm going to be straight with you, ok? It's imperative that she remains in the hospital until the tests have been completed. She needs continuous monitoring for signs of swelling or hemorrhage in her brain. I may have taken her out of ICU but she is far from out of the woods. There is potential for bleeding as I explained earlier to you, and leaving this facility could in fact be detrimental if not fatal. Time is tissue and the transport time could in fact cause irreversible brain damage. Do you understand?"

Oliver paled. He hadn't really thought about those scenarios. She was talking to him, so that meant that she was going to be fine in his mind. He didn't realize that there could be a ticking bomb in her head that could kill her at any moment. His regret over wasting so much time away from her gripped his heart viciously. He was faced with the very real possibility that she could be taken from his life permanently and he would never be given the opportunity to make up his leaving her.

"It's that serious, Emil? Fatal? She could die from this? Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

"I didn't want you to go in to see her with the fear of losing her. She would have been able to sense it. She would have known that something could be very wrong. I didn't want her to feel that. We need her to remain calm. It's very important that she remains positive. Besides, we don't even know if she has a bleed in her brain yet, her fist scan was negative; we have to be cautious here. We can only speculate and I don't want to take any chances with Chloe. We can keep her sedated throughout the night so that she won't even realize that she'll be here in the hospital. You will be allowed to stay in the room with her. I'll make a note on her chart that she will have company all night. Just in case she does wake up from the sedation, we need her to remain calm and her blood pressure down. I have the CT scan scheduled for first thing in the morning."

"Ok, thanks, Emil." Oliver said softly to his friend. He was a still a bit shocked at what he had just learned. "I'm going to go tell the guys that she has to stay the night and then I have a phone call to make. I have to call Lois."

"Do you think that having Lois here is conducive to keeping Chloe's blood pressure down?" Emil looked at Oliver his skepticism at having Lois here clear to Oliver by the expression on his face.

"I'll just have Clark handle her. She needs to be here. She's Chloe's cousin. It's wrong to keep her in the dark."

"It's your call, Ollie, but in my professional opinion. It may be best for all involved to wait until morning…after the tests have been completed."

"Maybe you're right. It is really late, why wake her up just to have her come to the waiting room. I'll call her in the morning." Oliver shook his head in agreement to the decision and Emil smiled at him.

"Great. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to back to the doctor's quarters to try to get some sleep. If tomorrow's tests don't go as planned it could be a very long day and I will need to be fully alert."

"Oh sure…sure, Emil." Oliver said absently as he still tried to process all that Emil had told him. He looked up at Emil just before he turned away to walk down the corridor. "Thanks again. I guess, I'll be seeing you in a few hours."

"I'll order Chloe's meds before I go to lie down. I suggest you do the same, Ollie. You're going to need your rest too." Emil said as he began to walk away from Oliver.

"Yeah, I'll do that."

"You know that chair in Chloe's room folds out into a cot."

"Thanks, I'll remember that." He tried to smile at his friend, but the only think that he was thinking of was that Chloe could possibly hemorrhage and if that happened there was a very real possibility that he could loose her.

Oliver entered Chloe's room in a daze. Clark watched him make his way over to Chloe silently from the chair that he was sitting in. Oliver stood above Chloe staring at her. He didn't even acknowledge Clark's presence.

"Sidekick." Oliver said softly as he watched her sleep. He gently placed a kiss upon her forehead and only then did he look over to Clark.

Clark knew that something had happened.

"What's going on, Oliver?" He questioned him softly.

"Not here, let's step outside, Clark. I need you to do me a favor." He placed another kiss on her forehead and then moved quickly back to the door. Once outside the room Oliver turned to face Chloe's oldest friend.

"Clark, you can see through anything right? You can see through human tissue right to the bones, right?"

"Yes, what does this have to do with Chloe?"

"I need you to use your supervision and look at Chloe's brain. I need to know that she's going to be alright, Clark. I need to know that she's not going to die on me anytime soon."

"Oliver, what the heck is going on? What did Emil have to say?"

"He thinks that she has a bleed in her brain, Clark. He thinks that she could hemorrhage and if that's the case, she could die. But he's not going to run the test until the morning. That's a little less than four hours from now."

"Oliver, Emil is a doctor. You can trust his judgment. If he's not going to run the test for a few hours, maybe there's a viable medical reason. I am sure that he could run the test right now, but he's choosing to wait until morning there has got to be a reason why he's choosing to wait."

"But that's just it. Don't you think that it is better to find out sooner rather than later if she's bleeding into her brain? If she hemorrhages, there is nothing they can do to stop it. But if we can catch it before she does they could save her."

"Oliver," Clark began but Oliver interrupter him.

"NO Clark, I can't loose her. I can't. I can't loose another person that I love. Not again, not after finally deciding to let her in. It would be a cruel cosmic joke if I lost her just as I decided to love her completely. She's what brought me back. I was going to ask her to marry me, just after I asked her to forgive me for being such an asshole. I can't loose her, Clark; all that I am depends on her survival. I am telling you this, so that you can understand my desperation. I am desperate." Oliver looked up at Clark, beseechingly.

"Ok, Ollie, I'll do it. But just this once. I am not going to become your personal X-Ray machine, ok?" Clark frowned at him and they went back into her room. Oliver stood on the side of Chloe that the chair was on and Clark stood on the opposite side facing Oliver.

"Thanks, Clark. Really, thanks so much. I need to know. I need to know that she's going to be ok." Oliver whispered softly, knowing that Clark would be able to hear his thanks.

"Chloe is going to kill me when she finds out that I scanned her." Oliver smiled a little and watched as Clark squinted his eyes and focused his vision on Chloe's head. After a few minutes Clark took a deep breath. There was swelling, but there was no bleeding. He hoped that by the morning the swelling would be down. But this was nothing that Emil couldn't handle.

"There's no bleeding. There's swelling and a small fracture at the base of her skull but no bleeding. Maybe Emil scheduled the scan for the morning to see if the swelling would go down." Oliver collapsed into the chair with relief. He sucked air into his lungs quickly, nearly hyperventilating himself trying to contain his joy and relief at Clark's findings. His eyes welled up with tears as he looked over at Clark and they shared a smile. He reached out a hand and gripped Clark's extended hand.

"Thank you, Clark. Thank you so much for giving me back my peace of mind. I don't know how to repay you for that." He looked at Clark earnestly.

"You can treat her better than you have been. Promise me that you will never leave her the way that you did before and we will call it even. I love her. She's my family. I want her to be happy. Can you promise to give her happiness, Oliver?" Clark said still gripping Oliver's hand in his.

"Yes, I promise. I promise to give her happiness, Clark, and I promise to never leave her the way I left her before. I'll even go one step further than that, I promise to never leave her period. I love her and I know she loves me."

"Ok then, consider us even. Take care of her, Oliver. I mean it." Clark gave Oliver's hands a quick shake and then he quietly left the room leaving Oliver there to watch over Chloe this night and for the rest of their lives.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The light of the sunrise woke Oliver from his exhausted sleep. He blinked his eyes open letting them adjust to the light streaming into the room from the outside world. He grunted a little at the ache in his neck from the awkward position he'd fallen asleep in and brought his hand up to rub the kink out as he sat up slowly in the chair. He glanced over at her as she lay asleep in the bed. He reached out and pulled the sheet up over her. She hadn't woken up at all last night. He looked at his watch and realized that Emil would be in really soon to take her for her scan. When she went off with him, he would go talk to the guys and finally call Lois or maybe he should call Lois and then go talk to the guys. He was debating with himself when he heard Chloe begin to stir. The low groan had alerted him that she was coming to.

"Well, hello Sunshine." Oliver said to her as he stood from the chair, stretched his arms high above his head, and twisted from side to side. She had still yet to open her eyes.

"Hmmmm, God I feel like a truck ran me over last night." Chloe said groggily. "Please tell me that we aren't still at the hospital?" She asked him as she opened one eye to peer at him.

"Ahhh, Emil said you needed to be kept here for observation. That Travis kid really hit your head hard. Emil's just being cautious. You probably will be able to go home today."

"There's no probably about it, Oliver. I am not spending another night in this hospital…drugged or not. Don't think I don't know what the after effects feel like. I know when I've been drugged and Emil drugged me." He smiled at her, glad to hear her back to her normal feisty self, that in and of itself had to be a good sign.

"Chloe, please calm down. He only prescribed a sedative so that you wouldn't hurt yourself and so you could get some sleep. You know that rest is the best thing for someone when they are injured." Just as he was trying to calm her down, the object of her ire walked through the door. Chloe pinned Emil with a glare.

"Ahh, good morning, Chloe, Oliver. How did you sleep last night?" He said as he reached for the chart at the foot of her bed.

"Oh don't you start with the pleasant bedside manner crap, Emil. I know what you did, and I don't like it one bit." She accused him.

"What?" He tried to look innocent, "You mean sedating you? It was necessary. You needed to be here in the hospital, and also needed to be kept calm."

"Ok, fine. So, my observation is done. I can leave now, right?" She made a move to sit up, but her head began to pound and the room began to spin.

"Ahhh, sitting up quickly like you just attempted to do, is not the best thing for you right now. And actually, I've come to collect you for a few more tests, now that you are well rested. Oliver, you may want to wait in the waiting room, or maybe even head home for a bit." Before Oliver could answer, Chloe answered for him.

"He's not going anywhere. He's not going to leave me alone in this God awful place." She looked over at Oliver then back to Emil.

"Yeah, what she said, Doc. I'll just wait for you two in the waiting room with the rest of the guys." He leaned over and kissed her forehead and sent a sympathetic smile in Emil's direction before heading out of the room he could hear Chloe begin to tear into the doctor.

AC, Victor, and Clark were all awake and sipping coffee when Oliver walked in. Bart was no where to be seen.

"Where's Bart?" Oliver asked the obvious.

"Where do you think he is?" AC asked as he took a sip of coffee and grimaced and he put the cup down on the table. The curtains rustled and the magazines on the table blew off and there Bart stood munching on a breakfast burrito.

"So, Ollie, is Licious getting sprung or what?"

"Emil has a few more tests to run but then we can take her home hopefully. Out of curiosity, have any of you by chance called Lois?"

"No way, that was your job." Victor said.

Oliver looked over at Clark hopefully who pushed up his black rimmed glasses.

"No way. No how. I've already done you a favor this morning; you are on your own."

"Awww come on, Clark. She likes you. She won't screech at you." Clark laughed at Oliver.

"This is Lois that we are talking about, right? I am the first person she'll screech at once she finds me here. Nope. It's all you, Ollie." Clark smiled at him and took a sip of the worst coffee he had ever tasted. "YUCK! This is worse than the Planet's coffee. Even my taste buds can't handle it." He set the Styrofoam cup down onto the table next to the other full cups.

"Fine. I'll call her." Oliver made a face as he pulled out his cell. He took a deep breath and pressed and held the number nine button, and waited to hear her voice on the other end of the phone.

"Oliver, where have you been? Do you know that Chloe is missing again? Gone…she's gone again! Missing! I've called the police. I've called Smallville, who hasn't called me back yet. She went out last night dressed to the hilts and I waited up for her to return to tell me all about that gala she went to…but guess what? She never came home. I would like to think that she hooked up with someone but, she's too head over heels for you. You…by the way, have a lot of explaining to do, MR. How dare you do that to her!? How dare you just up and leave her like that!? I can not even believe the nerve you have, calling me…"

"Lois. LOIS!" Oliver interrupted her, "I know where Chloe is. Can you get to Met General quickly?"

"Oliver, what's going on? What a minute, Met Gen? Is Chloe alright? What's happening?"

"Can you just get here, Lois? I'll explain everything when you get here. She's here, I'm with her and so are AC, Bart, Victor, and Clark. She's going to be ok. She's with the doctor right now."

"I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm leaving right now. And Ollie…"

"Yeah?"

"She better be ok, and if I find out that you had anything to do with her ending up in the hospital…you're going to wind up in the bed next to her. Understand?"

"Yeah, Lois, I understand. Just hurry up and get here." He hung up the phone.

Lois practically flew down the stairs of her apartment building. Though she lived on the fifth floor, she couldn't wait for the elevators. By the phone call she just got from Oliver, she figured that Chloe was hurt, and hurt badly. When she reached the bottom level she tore open the door that lead to the outside. She practically ran over a guy who was trying to walk into the building. Yelling a quick, "sorry," over her shoulder to the guy that she almost mowed down she hurried to the street and ran as fast as she could the 6 blocks to Met Gen.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Oliver hung up the phone with Lois, and was about to take a sip of the hospital coffee when his taste buds were saved by the elderly nurse from the nurses' station who came into the waiting room to get him.

"Mr. Queen? May I have a moment?" She asked.

Oliver signed. He thought that she was probably going to try to set him up with her daughter or by gauging her age maybe her granddaughter. He was wholly surprised when she pulled him to the side and began to speak to him in a soft comforting voice, a voice he suspected that she used on her children as well as her grandchildren.

"I just wanted to tell you that I am leaving now; Katie is going to be relieving me at the nurses' station. But I wanted to tell you how impressed I am with you. You are nothing at all like the articles I have read about you. Your girlfriend is a very lucky woman to have you in her life, and I am not referring to your money. I am referring to your heart. I wish I could stay longer, but I am afraid that these old bones of mine are just not strong enough. Twelve hour shifts are a killer on my arthritis. I've just checked with Dr. Hamilton before I clocked out. Your girlfriend, Miss Sullivan has been returned to her room, and Dr. Hamilton will be in shortly after he reads the results of the CT scan. I know everything is going to work out, Mr. Queen. Sometimes you just have to have faith." She awkwardly patted his hand and turned to walk away. He stopped her by gently placing a hand upon her shoulder. She looked at him curiously.

"It's Oliver." When she just looked at him not comprehending what he was talking about, he clarified himself, "Oliver, that's my name, Emily. You may call me Oliver. Actually, I insist. You have been with me from the first moment and I want you to know that I appreciate all that you have done for Chloe and for me. You are an amazing person, Emily, and I feel privilege to have met you. Thank you for all that you've done." He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the frail woman and hugged her. He had never initiated a hug with anyone other than Chloe, when he pulled away he kissed her weathered cheek and smiled at her. She blushed at him, put a hand up to her cheek, and giggled like a school girl before clearing her throat and smiling at him.

"You are a good boy, Oliver. The pleasure has been mine. I hope to one day see you again under better circumstances." She smiled at him and turned to leave.

Oliver walked her to her car, vowing to himself to come back and check in with the kind woman. When he returned from walking Emily to her car, his ears were bombarded with noise that could only come from one mouth the minute he re-entered the lobby of the hospital. Lois had arrived.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Where…" she huffed. "is Chloe…"huff, "Sullivan?" She breathed in deeply and bent over at the waist as she tried to communicate to the nurse on duty.

"I'm sorry, Miss? But who are you looking for?" The woman at the information station asked a bored expression on her face.

"Chloe Sullivan!" Lois yelled as she straightened up to her full height and put her hands on the counter. "Chloe Sullivan! She was brought here! Where is she?" Lois began to panic looking around for a familiar face.

"Miss, you really need to calm down."

"Nooo, you really need to tell me where my cousin is." Lois looked over at the nurse. Not in the least intimidated.

"Lois?" Clark came out from the waiting room.

"Smallville." Lois sighed in relief and turned from the unhelpful woman. She quickly made her way over to him. "Where's Chloe? Is she ok? What's going on? Why was she brought to the hospital?"

"Lois, calm down. Chloe's going to be just fine. She was mugged last night and has a concussion." He said as he steered her into the waiting room and shut the door.

She looked around at all the men in Chloe's life, not for one second believing Clark's mugging story.

"Ok, try again, Smallville, you know you can't lie…especially to me. Now what the hell happened? Where's my cousin? And where is Ollie? He and I have a conversation to finish."

"Lois, calm down."

"Look, Clark, if one more person tells me to calm down without giving me some answers I am going to go Harry Carry on this place."

"Ok, Ollie's with Chloe and the doctor. The nurse who was on duty came in and got him before she left to go home. He left just before you came in. As for what happen to Chloe…you are aware of Chloe's extra curricular activities with these guys, right?"

"Yeah, what of it? She's like the commander of this ragtag group of do gooders, right?"

"That's one way of looking at it. Well, Chloe and AC were at the gala last night on a fact gathering mission…"

"Ok recon, got it…but that doesn't explain why she's in the hospital."

"I was getting to that, is it at all possible for you to stop talking for five minutes so that I can explain this to you." He looked at her, his annoyance clearly audible in his voice.

"Sorry, please continue."

"Fine. Oliver told the cops and the medical personnel that he and Chloe had just recently broken up and were at the gala with different people. Seeing each other with dates led to had a terrible fight. He left. She followed him to the garage. He got in his car and drove away. She got jumped and mugged. That is partially the truth. Oliver was at the gala and did leave in a hurry. Chloe did chase after him, but never caught him. It seemed that the suspect that they were gathering the information on had been waiting in the shadows for her. And when she hadn't caught Oliver before he left, the suspect confronted her…" Lois didn't see Oliver enter the waiting room and was completely surprised by his voice when he finished what Clark was saying.

"He stabbed her in the leg and knocked her unconscious via a blow to the back of the head…which resulted in a concussion and a fracture at the base of her skull." Oliver finished.

"You got this guy, right?" She looked at all the guys in the room.

"Of course we got him. Give us some credit." Victor said.

"Credit? My cousin is lying in a hospital bed and you want me to pat you on the back?"

"No, but a bit of acknowledgement would be nice. We found her. We saved her. We got her here as quickly as possible. We gift wrapped the suspect and handed him over to the cops." AC said as he stood next to Victor and Bart.

"None of this matters right now." Oliver said to them all. "There is no point in pointing fingers at anyone. What is important is that Chloe is going to be ok. She's going to be in a lot of pain but hopefully we can take her home…and by home I mean the Clock Tower." He looked at Lois.

"But that's not Chloe's home. Her home is with me in our apartment. She's not going to feel comfortable there, Ollie. All her stuff is at our apartment."

"Not anymore. Bart, go to Chloe's and bring her some things to the Clock Tower. Make sure you bring stuff that will make her feel good. Clark, maybe you should go with him, take Lois. The three of you could meet us at the Clock Tower after you're done. Don't forget to get some clothes for her to go home in. She's not going be able to go anywhere for a few days."

"Oliver, I still haven't seen my cousin yet. And who do you think you are just bossing me around like that. I'm not part of your boys club. I don't take orders from you."

"You're right, Lois. I am sorry that I assumed that you would want to help make your cousin feel better by helping to get some of her things. She's back in her room now, why don't you go visit her." Oliver said snidely. Little sleep and his anxiety over Chloe's condition did nothing for his mood.

"Geeze, Ollie, chill. I never said that I wouldn't help out Short Stuff over here or Smallville. I just want to see Chloe. You're not the only one who loves her, you know."

"You're right. I'm sorry. Room T3. It's down the hall. Third door on the right. She's awake, groggy but awake. I just want to take her home. If I can get her home then she's going to be ok, you know?"

Lois walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. She hugged him tightly, knowing that he just needed the hug at that moment. Clark cleared his throat not liking it very much that she was hugging Oliver but understood her motivation.

"Come on, Smallville," Lois called to Clark as she stepped away from Oliver and headed to Chloe's room, "I'm not going to wait on you all day. Sheesh for the fastest man alive you are really slow."

"Hey!" Bart called to her, "I'm the fastest man alive…he's a distant second!" Clark just grinned at Bart and like an obedient dog followed Lois to Chloe's room.

"Fast man alive…I'll show her fastest man alive…who needs their help. I can get all of Chloe's stuff to the Clock Tower before they're even done visiting her." He mumbled and the disappeared. Oliver chuckled, not quite sure if Lois had actually meant to manipulate Bart into doing all the work by himself or if she just got lucky.

"Hey Bossman," Victor said to Oliver, "When do we get to see her? Not that I am complaining, it's just that we would like to see for ourselves that she's ok."

"Sorry guys, really I'm sorry. I know that you've been waiting all night to see her. Let Lois visit with her for a bit and then you can go in to visit her. I have a meeting with Emil in about five minutes to discuss Chloe's treatment and if she can be brought home today. I'll meet you both in Chloe's room. I just may need the back up if Emil wants to keep her again."

"What about the one person at a time rule?" AC asked.

"Yeah, I'm thinking that they probably aren't going to enforce that rule if we can keep her calm, ok. I'll be down there shortly. I'm going to go head over to see Emil at his office.

Oliver walked slowly to Emil's office. On one hand he was looking forward to hearing the diagnosis but on the other hand he was afraid that Emil had spotted something on the scan that Clark hadn't been able to see 4 hours earlier. He took a deep breath and knocked softly. He released his breath when Emil told him to come in.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The door opened slowly to reveal a nervous looking Oliver Queen. Emil had never seen the other man in such a state before. Whenever Emil had seen Oliver, he was always in perfect control; this was an eye opener for the doctor.

"Oliver, please, come in, sit down. Would you like a cup of coffee? It's not that stuff that the hospital tries to disguise as coffee."

"No, thank you, Emil. I just want to get this over with. What did you find on the CT scan?"

Emil smiled gently at the nervous man before him and walked around his desk and sat in the chair next to Oliver. He wasn't just another patient's family member, he was a friend.

"Oliver," Emil began, "as you know, I requested the second scan because I had suspected that Chloe may have had a hemorrhage in her brain. But after reviewing the last scan, I am happy to inform you that the swelling of her brain has decreased significantly and there is no hemorrhage. She's going to be fine, just fine. She will still suffer from extreme headaches and should take it easy for a few days, but I am willing to release her from the hospital into your care. She had quite a trauma and it would probably be better for her to be in a familiar, quieter place than here. I will prescribe some pain medication to help ease the headaches. She may experience some dizziness or fainting so she shouldn't be alone and she should be kept immobile for the next couple of days. Think you can manage that?"

Oliver smiled at his friend and nodded, "That won't be a problem, Doc. I think I can manage it. I am as stubborn as she is. I'd really like to get her home as soon as possible." He didn't intend to let Chloe out of his sight anytime in the near future.

"Good to hear it. I'll tell the nurse to get started on the paperwork, shouldn't be more than an hour. I'll come by later tonight on my way home, just to check on her. But I'm certain that she will be fine. She will need to be brought back in or at least brought to see me in seven days so that the stitches in her thigh can be removed. She's going to have a hell of a battle scar." Emil smiled at Oliver and Oliver nodded slightly.

"I'm sure she's not going to care. What about the fracture in her skull, Emil? What do we do about that?"

"There really is nothing to do about it; the fracture has to heal on its own. It wasn't a complete break, but just enough to weaken the area. Try not to let her bang her head, ok? At least for the next month to six weeks, ok?"

Oliver stood his holding his hand out to his friend he pumped the other man's arm happily and then turned to leave. He couldn't wait to tell Chloe that he could take her home.

"Oliver, wait." Emil called out to him just before he got to the door. "There's something else I want to discuss with you, mind having a seat again?" He said a bit somberly to him.

"What is it, Emil? If you're going to tell me that she has cancer or some incurable disease…then don't. I don't want to know right now." He tried to make a joke but the knot that had formed in his stomach when Emil called him back, tightened immeasurably when he looked at the other man.

"I don't believe it's as grave as you seem to think it is, but it's very important that we speak about this." He said as Oliver once again sat down in the chair. Emil handed him a card with a woman's name on it. "This is a dear friend of mine. She specializes in these types of traumas. Chloe is going to recover physically but I am afraid that this incident may have lasting psychological effects. My friend, Samantha can help her. It may be in Chloe's best interest to make her an appointment with Sam. "

Nodding slightly at Emil he put the business card into his pants pocket, his fingers brushed against the object he carried around for the last four weeks. He had decided that now was not the time to discuss setting up a meeting with this therapist this with Chloe. Oliver once again shook his friend's hand and headed to the door quickly. He shut the door to Emil's office and headed to Chloe's room. He could hear Lois and the guys all talking to her. Bart had stopped at the gift shop on his way back from the Clock Tower and bought her 'Get Well' balloons, a stuffed bear, and flowers. Oliver watched the scene before him with a smile briefly before he entered her room. He closed the door behind him and he moved over to her bed. "Good news. We're out of here in an hour," he said. Chloe smiled at him and reached for his hand. He smiled back at her and grasped her hand. Once he got her home everything would be ok.

The nurse came in with Chloe's breakfast and seeing all the people in the room began to shoo them out. Bart absconded with her scrambled eggs on his way out the door much to the annoyance of the nurse. Chloe just laughed even though the sound of her laughter hurt her head.

"Seems that you are being released, Miss Sullivan. Doctor Hamilton will be in shortly with your prescriptions. These are your release papers. The orderly will be in with the doctor and will help you to your car. Someone will be driving you home today, right? Because you should not be driving for at least 10 days."

"Yes, I'll be driving her home." Oliver said from the door way. He sent Clark down to the garage to get his car for him. "Do you need help getting dressed, Sidekick?"

"I think I can handle it, Oliver. But would you mind getting my clothes for me?"

"Well, the dress that you had arrived in had to be cut off so I had Bart go to your apartment and bring you back a change of clothes. Here you go." He placed the bag with her clothes onto the bed next to her. The nurse took that moment to leave.

"I hadn't thought about that, thank you, Oliver." She closed her eyes and leaned back onto the pillow. Her head throbbed horribly and she was feeling a bit nauseated.

"You ok?" Oliver asked concerned.

"Yeah. Just a headache. I guess I am going to be experiencing those for the next few days. Maybe I do need some help after all. I want to be ready to leave here when Emil comes in here."

He walked over to her. It had been almost a month since he had been with her. The love he felt for her then was nothing compared to the love he felt for her now. He leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips.

"What was that for?" She asked when he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.

"I just love you. I love you so much, and I've wasted so much time. I came back for you, Chloe. I came back to make things right between us. I want to spend the rest of my life proving it to you."

"Oliver, what are you saying?" Chloe frowned. Oliver pulled back a little and sat on the edge of her hospital bed. He looked at her; his brown eyes stared into her green eyes.

"I'm saying that I want to spend my whole life loving you…only you. I am saying that without you, my life has no meaning. I am saying that I want you to be my wife, my partner in every way, Sidekick. It took me three weeks and nearly loosing you for me to realize it. Marry me, Chloe."

"Let me get this straight," she looked up at him. "You just proposed to me? Here? In the Hospital? Is this the most romantic place you could think of?" She smiled at him and he chuckled at her.

"Yeah, I guess I did kind of blow this," he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring box that he had been carrying around for the last month…the ring box, the reason he needed time…space. He opened it and presented it to Chloe. The box held the most beautiful tear shaped emerald ring that Chloe had ever seen.

"I bought it before I left, before you got hurt that last time, which scared me into leaving. Funny it took you getting hurt this time to bring me to my senses. Chloe, I love you, and even though this is a hospital and I know how much you hate them, I am asking you to marry me…what do you say?"

Chloe didn't even have to think about it. She smiled up at Oliver, tears welled in her eyes and quietly she said, "Yes." He leaned forward and put the ring on her finger and captured her lips. When he pulled his lips away from hers, he once again leaned his forehead to hers.

"This is definitely going to be a story to tell the kids." He chuckled.

"Kids?"

"Yeah, Sidekick, I want at least three, but we can have as many as you want."

"Wow, kids. I just never thought that you wanted children. But I suppose it makes sense. How about we leave that decision in the hands of the powers that be…in fate? We will have as many children as fate deems."

"Sounds like a great plan. How about we think about that later and focus on getting you home, soon to be Mrs. Queen?" He smiled down at her.

"Maybe I want to be Mrs. Sullivan-Queen." She sassed him.

"You can be called whatever you want, Sidekick, as long as I get to call you my wife." He smiled. He had gone from scared to ecstatic in the last five minutes. He just wanted to get her home…their home as soon as possible.

They didn't have to wait very long. As Oliver had helped Chloe on with her shirt, Emil knocked on the door.

"Hello, Chloe, Oliver. Are you ready to leave, yet?" He smiled at his two friends.

"Yes, Emil! You have no idea how ready I am to leave." Chloe said sharing a smile with Oliver.

"Ok, well this is George; he will get you into the wheel chair and out to your car. Oliver, the others told me to let you know that they will meet you back at your place." He handed Oliver the keys to his car. "And Clark said that the car is waiting for you out front."

"Thanks Emil, for everything."

"You're welcome, both of you. Now hurry up and get out of here before I change my mind and keep you over night again." He chuckled at the look of horror on Chloe's face. "I was just teasing, Chloe. I will stop by later tonight to check on you. Remember no strenuous activities, stay in bed for the next couple of days, and be careful with that head of yours."

"Will do, Doc." She smiled at him as George the orderly carried her to her wheel chair. Oliver walked beside her holding her hand and playing with the emerald engagement ring. Once she was safely seated in the passenger seat of his car and George had gone back into the building. He looked over at her and then he pulled away from the hospital.

"So should we tell everyone once we get back, or maybe just keep it to ourselves for a few days?" He asked her.

She smiled over at him, leaned her head against the seat, and closed her eyes.

"Would it be horrible of us to keep it to ourselves for a couple of days? I just want to keep it between us. When I am a bit better we can make the announcement, but for now I like it being only you and me. I don't want to share this with anyone just yet. I want to keep it for myself. Does that make any sense?" She asked him.

"It makes perfect sense. I feel the same way." He smiled over at her. "Between us, then, soon to be wife of mine."

"Between us, soon to be husband of mine." She opened her eyes and smiled over at him. He pulled into the garage of the Clock tower and leaned over and kissed her before getting out of the car. He walked over to the passenger side, opened the door and scooped her out of the seat and into his arms garnering a squeal from her.

"Oliver! What are you doing?"

"I'm practicing for the wedding night, Sidekick." He smirked at her as he carried her into the elevator.

"My Hero." She sighed and laid her head upon his chest listening to the rhythm of his heart.

"For always and for ever, Sidekick." He kissed her temple as he walked into the lift that would carry them up to their home.

Finished. :D

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