Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for the character of Evie Chambers.
Dedication: To sugarpromises on LJ who wanted a mini-series of ficlets/drabbles to fill in the blanks, and while I cannot guarantee how many of these I am doing, this popped into my head and I figured… why not.
Cold Hands, Warm Heart
Noticing the shade of her knuckles, Evie relived the moment of delivering the knock out punch, and seeing Oliver's confused, yet relieved face after he fought off the other guy. Truth be told, she was a little surprised herself, it had been a long time since Evie had punched someone, so the coolness of the ice felt good against her fingers.
Sealing the second ziploc bag, she locked the icebox again as she headed back to the dorm room. She stood at the door for a minute, apprehensive about opening it, but eventually, she creaked it open slightly so she could peek inside of the room.
He hadn't moved, not that it surprised her. Oliver knelt at her bedside, sweeping a stray curl to further reveal Chloe's motionless face. Even though Evie couldn't see his eyes, she could imagine based on the moment he saw Chloe on the ground after their respective fights ended, when his expression said everything as he walked over to her while Evie saw Lois running towards them.
Evie immediately saw the guilt in Lois' eyes upon her seeing Chloe's unconscious body lying in the quad. All Lois wanted for them to have fun, but instead, the worst case scenario almost happened to her cousin. Initially, she ignored anything Evie had to say, insisting that this was all of her fault. After a minute, she had appeared to calmed down, so Evie joined Oliver at Chloe's side, but as she knelt down, they both heard Lois panicking on her phone.
That shook Oliver into action, grabbing the phone from her as Evie went back to Lois, trying to control the situation while keeping an eye on Chloe. But once Oliver hung up, and Evie saw the look in his eyes, she could only watch as he wordlessly tossed Lois' phone back to her and bent down to carefully pick up Chloe.
"See you at your dorm, Evie," were the only words he spoke as he began walking.
She wanted to follow him, but Lois was still panicking, so Evie sat down with her, trying to convince her that everything was okay. It took a while to convince Lois to go home, but Evie eventually got Lois into a taxi heading back to her place.
Turning around, she found Scott square in her path, staring at her with a similar level of concern. He asked her if she was okay, to which she replied yes, with the exception of sore knuckles. He gave her a half-smile before bidding her goodnight. As he turned away, Evie almost blurted thanks, but she held it back and just watched him before taking her own path back to the dorm room.
Once she got there, Oliver stated his intentions before she even had a chance to enter the room.
"I'm not leaving her."
Evie hadn't expected any different, so she told him that she was going to get them some ice for her hands and the bruise that developed under Oliver's eye.
While she was gone, Evie walked at her slowest pace, delaying going back as long as possible because of her small hope that Chloe would wake up to him looking after her. She knew it was unlikely, but even if Chloe didn't wake up until morning, Evie still didn't want to ruin the moment.
Unfortunately, as she shifted slightly, the door let out a tiny squeak, causing Oliver to look towards the doorway. Finally entering the room, Evie handed him the make-shift ice pack, Oliver grinned and thanked her as he looked back over to Chloe.
Sitting on her own bed, she said to Oliver's back. "She's okay Oliver. You know that, right?"
Lifting the ice to his eye, he nodded. "It's just scary... if I was a second later..."
"But you weren't," Evie reminded him.
"I know." He turned his head to the side and said softly, "Thanks by the way... for helping me out, and keeping Lois calm."
"No worries...it was an unfair fight and besides, you likely did the heavy lifting talking to her dad." Putting her head against her pillow, Evie turned her head towards Oliver and added, "Why did you tell him that it was just me?"
"You heard that?"
"Yes." Evie knew better than to eavesdrop, but upon hearing that Lois had called Chloe's father, she immediately felt nervous for Oliver. Then when she heard Oliver speak her name and its subsequent context, she was stunned that Oliver wasn't giving himself any credit. After all, if she never saw Oliver running, Evie wouldn't have been there at all.
In a way, Oliver wasn't a second too late, she was. So hearing him say that threw her off.
Oliver took his time answering, likely finding the right words, but he eventually replied, "Most people assume my reputation is real... that I'm just a spoiled rich kid. I didn't want to use this to show off to her dad or get brownie points; I just wanted him to know that his daughter was safe."
Evie's mouth gaped upon hearing that. She wanted to tell him that it was a valiant thing to do, and it further proved how much he cared about her, but she couldn't. So she settled for, "You should get some rest."
"I will," he replied.
Feeling a single shiver through her body, Evie took the ice pack off her knuckles, watching Oliver as his eyes never left Chloe. Tonight had been a close call, but everyone was okay. Evie took that as a victory as she drifted off to sleep while Oliver stayed next to Chloe, the care in his eyes never wavering.
He would always be there for her, he thought to himself, because at the end of the day, as long as Chloe was safe, everything would be okay.