Title: Making Up For Time Lost
Category: Smallville
Rating: T
Genre: Angst/Romance
Pairing: Chloe/Oliver, side Clark/Lois
Prompt: Fake Engagement by moiraiordan
Word Count: 1,003
Summary: Chloe flies down for a wedding only to find out it's a setup for something much more.

Making Up For Time Lost
-1/1-

"What do you mean it's fake?" Chloe lifted a brow, her arms crossing over her chest.

Lois squirmed side to side, rolling her eyes. "I mean... Smallville and I aren't really... engaged..."

"Right now," Clark put in hastily.

Lois glared.

Chloe huffed, staring at them like they were out of their minds. "So you had me fly all the way down here because you're... not getting married?"

"Heh... Surprise?"

"LOIS! Why?" Her eyes widened. "What excuse could you possibly-"

"Oliver's back!" she interrupted loudly.

"H-Have for..." she trailed off, her mouth falling open in surprise. Taking a moment to let the information sink in, she closed her mouth, took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "He's back," she repeated, not a question but a statement.

Biting her lip, Lois nodded, eyes darting to Clark for a moment.

"He and the team returned a few days ago and..." Clark sighed. "He asked about you."

Chloe turned her gaze away, refusing to show any semblance of emotion over the fact. "How are the guys? Feels like ages since I've heard Bart call me Chloelicious." She quirked a smile.

"Chloe..." Lois stared at her rather pityingly.

She sighed. "Look... I don't know why you went through all this trouble. What Oliver and I did or did not have, it's... over. History. Let's file it under the past and leave it there, okay?"

"And if I wanted to find that file..." a familiar voice called out. "Maybe put it in the present drawer and... possibly the future..."

Her spine straightened to the point she was sure any sharp movements would intensely hurt. She stared ahead, unseeing for a moment. He left her, packed up his things and took the guys on the already fueled Queen jet to go off and save the world. And she'd been proud those first few weeks or months, but after awhile... She desperately missed him. She missed his smile and the way he always slung an arm around her, drawing her in close to his body. She missed how he laughed, low in his throat and how his eyes always seemed to be warm when he looked at her. She missed hearing him call her Sidekick and whispering secrets to her in the dead of night as they laid in his bed with nothing but the sheet to cover what modesty she had left. She missed waking up in his arms and going to sleep with her face buried in his chest. She missed his snoring and the unusual hours he got out of bed for work (both League and Queen Industries wise), and she missed sharing the shower with him, not knowing which toothbrush was his or hers and waking up to find Bart had eaten all the food so he'd have to take her out for breakfast. So when that voice penetrated her ears, she didn't know whether to cry with joy or walk away and cash in her round trip ticket to get back to the lonely apartment waiting for her a long way from Smallville, Metropolis and Star City.

"You'd need the key," she replied, her voice wavering slightly as she still refused to turn around. She wasn't sure when but Lois and Clark had slipped away from the room and situation, though she was sure Lois had Clark using his sensitive hearing so she could get all the "juicy stuff." She barely heard his footsteps but she felt her body betray her, arching into his fingers as they slid from the small of her back up her spine, atop her blouse, coming to a stop at the base of her neck, fingers curling in her blonde hair. His other arm slid around her waist and then she was drawn back, held tight against his body, swallowed whole by the scent she still breathed in through memories and already sinking into arms she wished she woke up wrapped around her still.

"Where would I get this key?" he whispered against her ear, his voice making her shiver and bite her lip. Her eyes fell closed and she held back a sob but not a sniffle. His arm tightened around her, the whiskers of his chin grazing her ear. "I missed you, Sidekick." So sincere, so real. How many times had she dreamt of waking up to hear those words?

She let out a shaky breath, her legs ready to give out on her at any given moment. "You can't make up for two years that easy, Queen." She wanted to be strong, to show him just how hard it had been, but God it felt so good to have him there.

She felt his hand tighten in her blouse and she knew, without hearing the words, that he'd do whatever it took to get her back, to keep her. He wasn't the giving up type; he wouldn't simply walk away just because she immediately refused to let him in or hid the key to their relationship from him. He kissed her neck; that spot that always made her knees finally give and he caught her as she fell, held her easily in his arms, cradling her against him as he murmured. "I've got a lifetime to make it up to you."

Her eyes opened at that promise, that confident declaration and she swallowed. Her arm lifted, wrapped around the back of his neck and held tight to the familiar blond hair there. "You better get started now."

His husky laughter was familiarly comforting and needed after all this time; and that was the last coherent thought she had before she was swept away in all things Oliver Queen. Later, she might just thank her cousin for her abnormal way of getting her to do things; perhaps she could make it up to her with the real thing, she decided. It was about time her favorite cousin and the most oblivious farmboy alive finally said their I Do's. Maybe a double wedding wasn't out of the question.