Warnings: Apart from potentially poor grammar? None.
Spoilers: I'm saying up to end of season 8 just in case.
Summary: A series of firsts between Chloe and Bart. This is their first date.
Author Note: Set around beginning of Season 9. All comments and reviews are appreciated - they are like crack to me! Do not deprive an addict!
This one is dedicated to purple_moon123. She is my Bart Allen cheer section!
The woman standing before him was only a shadow of her former self. Since the first moment he met her in a small town coffee shop, Chloe Sullivan had a smile made of sunshine and a heart larger than humanly possible. It had taken him all of one minute to fall for the diminutive blonde and over the last couple of years he had made sure they remained firm friends.
The woman in front of him had been through so much and Bart had either been on the sidelines watching it all or was in the thick of it with her. The guilt for the part he played in the loss of her husband had never left him, and that was what made it so much worse seeing Chloe now. He knew that he was partially to blame, no matter how much time had passed.
It had taken a lot from him not to just run off and leave like the rest of the team but he had stayed for her. Bart knew he had made the right choice when he saw her start to break. Her cousin was missing and then she was abandoned gradually by the team and worst of all, Clark.
She looked tired. He was sure that she never slept through the night, and he was almost certain she was still having nightmares. Chloe had tried to lock herself away from the world and buried herself in her work. It hurt him to watch her like this and for weeks he had been dropping by everyday just to remind her that there were people outside of her four walls.
His first success had been convincing her to grab breakfast at the local coffee house with him. He had purposefully emptied the Watchtower of coffee beans in all its forms knowing that to a deprived Chloe the promise of caffeine would clinch the deal. His second success had been the small smile she gave him as he brought to her table the largest cappuccino he could buy.
The successes built as the days passed, but his favourite had been the beaming smile he received when dropping by, yet again unannounced, carrying a single orange tulip. It had been such a long time since he had seen that megawatt smile grace her features that his heart warmed to see it again. It was the closest she had come too looking like his Chloe since Jimmy died.
"You really shouldn't Bart. I'm going to start getting used to this attention and it's not going to do me any good." She said as she put the flower in the vase on her desk. It already held four other tulips, each had been hand delivered by Bart everyday that week.
"Well, maybe you should be used to this kind of attention, Gorgeous. No one more deserving than you." He smiled, leaning back on her desk.
"You know you should be trying to put that charm to good use Bart. There are plenty of ladies out there that wouldn't mind seeing that impulsive nature of yours."
"What if I'm looking at that lady right now."
She laughed but even to her it seemed to lack much humour. "I was being serious Bart. You should be out there living life, not visiting me in my watchtower at all hours."
"And maybe I was being serious too." He couldn't believe she looked so surprised. She must have known this wasn't his normal kind of flirting, he had seriously upped his game! "Come on, give me a shot."
"Bart, that's sweet. It really is, but…"
"I'm not going to give you time to think yourself out of this one. It's Friday night and you're coming out with me."
Chloe sighed and lent back into her chair. "It's too soon Bart. I'm not sure I'm ready."
It wasn't an outright no. She hadn't laughed and said she wasn't interested. "That's the beauty of coming out with me. We've been out as friends." He sat down in front of her on the desk. "If you want to get technical this would actually count as our second date, 'licious."
She arched her eyebrow at him. "Second?"
"You would me deeply." He put a hand to his chest and faked his hurt. "We had a real moment! There was coffee, a few muffins, and from what I remember great company."
"That wasn't a date Bart."
"Okay, maybe not. But would a real date be any more scary?" He took hold of her hand and looked directly in her eyes. "It's just me Chloe."
That was part of the problem. Bart had been able to charm Chloe from the moment they first met and since then she had always found it hard to refuse him. Maybe it stemmed from the insecurities of her teenage years, or just simply liking being the sole focus of another person for just a moment, but he had that effect on her. It was that affect that scared her the most.
Bart had been her rock since Jimmy's death, and it scared her to think how low she would have sunk without him there. However her history spoke for itself. She had already had her heart broken too many times to count and if this went wrong she could lose him as a friend. That was one loss too many.
"I'm a mess Bart. You really want to go on a date with me?"
"Hell yeah!"
"As cliché as this sounds I don't want to lose you as a friend. Dating is a sure fire way of guaranteeing that."
"So we'll take it slow!" He smiled as she laughed at his claim. "Hey, I can do slow when I need to. Just give me one chance please, that's all I'm asking."
He was serious, she could tell. He was looking at her with his big doe eyes and gently rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. How was a girl supposed to say no to that?
"You know that you're not making this easy for me, right?"
"Totally." He looked at her expectantly. "Come on, you know you want to."
"One date?"
"One date." He promised. If he played things right then the second would follow closely on its heels.
She pointed a finger at him and tried to maintain a serious face. "Fine. Just one. And no pulling out those cheesy pick up lines?"
"I'm offended. My lines are not cheesy."
"Let me see if I remember right." She rolled her eyes back as if trying to remember something a very long time ago. Bark smirked at the dreamy look on her face. "'I'm from the future. I ran all the way back in time to tell you that we're still in love 100 years from now.' You're telling me that was not cheesy?"
"Hey, you laughed I remember that much. " Still holding her hand he gripped it tighter. "So I can pick you up from the Talon tonight? Say around seven?"
"Okay."
He kissed her hand before standing up. "I'll see you tonight 'licious!" Before she could respond he sped from the room.
Chloe smiled as she rubbed the hand he had kissed. Maybe a date with Bart wouldn't be so bad.
It was close to seven o'clock that evening and Chloe found herself fidgeting with her hair every five seconds. She got up and paced around her apartment. "This is Bart! What the hell has gotten you so worked up?"
She was nervous. She was about to go on a date with Bart Allen, she was nervous and had no clue why. She had known him for years, playfully flirting but nothing serious. So why had she spent an hour trying to find the perfect outfit? After practically depositing the entire contents of her wardrobe onto her bed, she had finally opted for her favourite green wrap around blouse and fitted trousers. There was always the possibility Bart would try to whisk her away somewhere in an attempt to show off, and a skirt would be the worst choice. Even if you could forget the embarrassment factors, that was one place she didn't want a chill.
The soft knock at her door startled her from her thoughts. This had to be the first time Bart had ever paused to knock at the door instead of just breezing straight into the room. As she opened the door Chloe was greeted with a surprising sight. Gone were the hoodie and jeans she always associated with Bart, instead he was wearing a red dress shirt and black trousers.
"Good evening, Beautiful." From behind his back he produced a small bunch of yellow tulips held together with a single yellow ribbon. "These are for you, straight from the fields in Amsterdam."
Chloe smiled at him as she received the flowers. "You're certainly going all out. I think this is the first time I have ever seen you in something other than jeans."
"Well, you didn't expect me to wear converse, right? At least not on a first date."
"You're taking this seriously aren't you?" She looked over at him while she placed the flowers in water.
"If this is the only date I get with you then I am making the most of it." He held his hand out to her.
Chloe grabbed her jacket and purse before taking his hand. "So do I get any clue where we're going?"
"You'll see." He swept Chloe up into his arms before whispering softly into her ear. "Hold on." With that he sped her from the apartment, the door shutting in his wake.
Chloe had closed her eyes tight as Bart carried her effortlessly while he ran. Motion sickness had never bothered her when travelling at speed with Clark, but Bart was quicker. A lot quicker. She didn't want to risk starting this date by throwing up down Bart's shirt, a man could only be so understanding before coming to his limit. Chloe figured that vomit would probably be Bart's.
"Chloe, you can open your eyes now."
She realised that she had been clinging tightly to his neck as well as screwing her face tight. "I am never going to get use to that you know."
Bart eased her gently onto the floor, keeping her steady with an arm around her waist. "So are you ready to see where we're going?"
She nodded her head, very surprised that he had not taken them to Mexico or a Mexican themed restaurant. When he led her to the closed gates of the Metropolis Zoo she was confused.
"It's closed. What are we doing here?"
"You'll see." He smirked as he pulled a set of keys from his pocket.
"Do I even want to know where you got those?"
"I'll give them back!" His dishonest past became useful on occasion, and he did have every intention on returning the keys once he said goodnight to Chloe.
As the solid metal gate unlocked Bart escorted her to the other side. "I need you to wait here two seconds. Literally." Before she could answer he literally ran away and returned with a picnic basket in hand.
"A picnic at the zoo?"
"Come on, we've got the place to ourselves. The sea lions are this way." Taking her hand he began leading her through the park.
Chloe couldn't believe that he had brought her here. Last month they had talked about her early childhood in Metropolis and how her mom would bring her every summer to the zoo to see the sea lions. She would have to sit on her shoulder's to look over the crowds, but she never felt as if she could get near enough to really see them. They had moved to Smallville before she had the opportunity to see them up close.
"I can't believe you remembered that."
"I remember everything you say to me." He said quietly.
It was such a sweet thing to say that Chloe was temporarily lost for words. Instead she gripped his hand tighter as he led them towards the sea lion enclosure. She was seeing a whole new side to Bart tonight, and she was impressed. He had really put thought and effort in to tonight, even if that effort involved theft and trespassing.
Once they reached the enclosure he placed the basket on the ground and within a second a blanket was spread out on the ground with some boxed food, surrounded with voitive candles. "Wow. This is just…wow." Bart grinned at her amazement.
"You of all people should know not to underestimate me 'licious."
He was right. She would describe Bart as many things - trustworthy, reliable, honest, thoughtful, genuine. She would never have thought to describe him as a romantic. "You're just full of surprises tonight."
Taking both of her hands in his, he looked directly into her eyes. "I wasn't lying when I said I wanted tonight to be special. You're worth it, I just want you to realise that too."
Chloe could feel the butterflies rising in her stomach as he looked at her with such warmth. It felt like it had been so long since she was given such attention. Fuzzy memories from her wedding to Jimmy were the closest memories she had to the last time she felt this special.
"Are you sure you don't need to sit on my shoulders?" He grinned playfully.
"I think this is fine, thank you." Chloe smirked as she watched the animals play. She laid down on the blanket and just stared at them. "This really is great, Bart."
Bart laid next to her on the blanket and opened one of the boxes. He offered the contents to Chloe first. "Fajita?" He smiled as her laughter echoed around the empty park. "What's so funny?"
"I kinda had the feeling that we would be spending the evening in Mexico."
"Ha! So I'm not as predictable as you think I am!" Bart grabbed a loaded tortilla for himself. "Mexico's a third date location. Play your cards right and you'll see Cancun yet." He said as he playfully nudged her with his shoulder.
Without thinking Chloe rested her head on his shoulder. This was nice, and it was comfortable. She let the need to snark about Bart's third date comment slide. After only an hour in his presence she knew he'd get the opportunity for a second date, and probably even that third. Who would have guessed that Bart Allen would become her hero?