Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville.
"Tell me I didn't imagine it," he asked, hands on her shoulders, leaning slightly so that they were eye to eye.
She looked at him, then past him, at Bart who was still standing in the doorway. They had both just come back from a rescue mission. Green Arrow's rescue mission, to be more precise. Her heart was still racing at the thought that she could have lost him to those mysterious attackers, some hours ago.
She breathed in, and then shook her head, focusing her eyes on him again.
"You didn't," she answered, her voice shaky.
He was injured, had seemingly dislocated one of his shoulders, but at least, he was alive.
When Bart had told her that he had found him, she hadn't known what to expect. She hadn't asked for details, had only pleaded for him to bring Ollie back to the Watchtower. Back to her.
And a few seconds later, when the fastest man alive had pushed open the doors, with a battered Ollie leaning on his shoulder, she had felt her shoulders slump in relief.
He would survive.
She had wanted to run to him, to throw her arms around him and never to allow him to leave her again. But then, she had been reminded of all the reasons why she couldn't. Of all the reasons why she had never allowed their relationship to progress to another level.
She had wanted to crawl down into a hole when she had then remembered the words they had shared, dreaded it when she realized that the first thing he did when he lifted his head was to seek her eyes with his.
Then she had been rooted on the spot when determinedly, he had slowly approached her (not having Bart as a crutch any longer), and had asked her to assure him that her words had not been a product of his imagination.
She could have lied, a part of her had been wanting to. But she didn't.
"Did you mean it?" he therefore asked, hesitant.
There it was again. Another chance to deny her feelings for him. He was too generous, she thought; offering her opportunity after opportunity to break his heart…
But she couldn't, not anymore. Lying to him would hurt him and she couldn't bear causing him more pain.
She stared at him for a few seconds. He was gazing at her intently, waiting for her, as always.
Yes, she had meant it. She loved him, had fallen so deeply in love with him that it had scared her to admit it. She hadn't wanted him to know about that. She would have preferred keeping up that pretense of 'no strings' relationship. Love had hurt her too many times already.
But she couldn't lie or pretend, not anymore. She was tired of running away from her feelings.
"Yes," she therefore nodded, "yes, I meant it."
He let out a breath, and then smiled, hands moving from her shoulders to her waist. He embraced her, wincing a little at the pain the action might have caused him before whispering, "Say it again," to her hear.
"I love you, Ollie," she complied. Her own arms went around him, and she finally rested her head against his chest. "I – I thought I'd never get the chance to tell you in person."
She hadn't even realized that tears had started to well up in her eyes. She sniffed, and Oliver released her from his arms.
"Hey there Sidekick, don't get all emotional on me," he said gently, cupping her cheeks and wiping her tears away with him thumbs.
She mock glared at him, before getting on tip toes and wrapping her arms around his neck. He leaned down, told her that he loved her again, before closing the distance between them with a kiss.
They only parted when they heard Bart clearing up his throat.
"So, you're both together, huh?" the younger man asked, looking thoroughly embarrassed and a little sad.
"Yeah," Oliver grinned, before wincing again in pain. "I guess I need to call Dr Hamilton."
"I already did. He's on his way," Chloe said, before turning to Bart. "Any idea about who might have attacked him, Impulse?"
The latter shook his head. "No, the warehouse was empty."
"Great," she sighed, walking towards one of her computer systems. "And Clark's still M.I.A."
Oliver only smiled as she brought back up her Watchtower persona. He had been willing to wait forever for her, and she had been worth the wait.
Unfortunately, the world came first and it couldn't wait for them.
Okay, I wrote a Chlollie fic. So now, I've found myself creating fanvids, fanart and writing fanfics for them. Sigh. They're that awesome.
No beta, sorry for the mistakes. Thanks for reading.