Author's Note: I found this while cleaning off my back up hard drive, shoved into a random work file and named, most misleadingly and utterly confusingly "Index Pages A-E 1915-1947". When I opened it up, to try and figure out what the hell that was supposed to mean, imagine my surprise when I find this lovely little ficlet that I vaguely remembered writing in like June, if the time stamp on the word document is to be believed. So I cleaned it up a bit and decided I'd better post it before it ended up filed in with my mapping documents only to be lost another six months. Hope you enjoy.
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Jimmy paced back and forth in front of the door to his and Chloe's apartment. He scoffed. Technically it was really more his apartment since he was the only one who slept, ate, and actually lived there on a regular basis. When Chloe could be bothered to come home now a days it was usually for a quick shower, an even quicker apology, and a cup of coffee.
He'd been what he believed to be the most understanding boyfriend in the world. He knew how important the Isis Foundation was to Chloe and he knew that it was going to take most of her time to get it off the ground, up and running so loosing date night and a few hours of sleep was a sacrifice he was willing to make to keep Chloe happy.
He was also pretty laid back about the whole Clark thing. He knew that there was no romantic entanglement there anymore, on either side, but he also wasn't stupid. He knew there was something else, something they weren't telling him, something they were never going to tell him. He had eventually just come to terms with the fact that there were just going to be things about Chloe's life that he was never going to privilege to.
Then He showed up. That's right He with a capital H. He was just there one day when Jimmy got home from work.
Jimmy walked through the door of his tiny one bedroom apartment and heard sounds of laughter coming from the living room. When he looked over he was definitely not expecting to see his fiancé sitting very comfortably next to a laughing Oliver Queen. "You're lying." Chloe said nudging his shoulder in a way that suggested this wasn't the first time the two had met.
"My hand to God." Oliver smiled at her.
"You want more coffee?" Chloe reached over Oliver and grabbed his cup from the side table and that's when she saw Jimmy. He couldn't exactly say that the expression on her face was a guilty one but it came pretty close. "Hey Jimmy, you're home early." She moved away from Oliver and got up off the couch to give him a kiss. "This is Oliver Queen."
"Yeah I know." Jimmy said confused as the billionaire stood up and shook his hand.
"I was actually just on my way out." Oliver smiled grabbing his jacket from where it had been haphazardly draped over a bar stool. "It was nice to meet you Jimmy. Sidekick, call me on Thursday for the details yeah?"
"Yeah." Chloe nodded and walked him to the door. No words were spoken in the five steps it took for him to leave the apartment but as they walked to the door side by side and Oliver nodded slightly as he left, Jimmy was sure that an entirely silent conversation had just taken place.
"What was that all about?" Jimmy asked confused.
"Oliver is actually a big contributor to the Foundation." Chloe put her hands in her back pocket and rocked on her heels and Jimmy felt his stomach fall a bit. He'd come to know that pose. That was Chloe's "I'm not lying to you but I'm not telling you the whole truth" pose. "And I help him out with odd jobs from time to time." She shrugged and grabbed their dirty coffee mugs from the living room to wash them.
"What kind of odd jobs do you do for the Head of Queen Industries?" Jimmy asked confused.
"I can't really say." Chloe even cringed a little when she said that. "Sort of corporate espionage secrecy thing, I had to sign like a billion papers." She tugged a lock of hair behind her ear and bit her bottom lip slightly and Jimmy sighed. That was a flat out lie, he'd played poker with her a million times, he knew her tells.
"Right." He said willing himself to let it go, no get to hung up on the whole thing.
After that it was almost as if Oliver was everywhere, all the time, and if he wasn't hanging around them, Chloe was hanging around him. He swallowed all the urges to question her when she produced lame excuse after lame excuse about why Oliver was flying her to Morocco at four in the morning or why for the past month and a half she was practically splitting her time between Metropolis and Star City because he loved Chloe and because she loved him.
The one time he actually broke and made a jealous comment Chloe rushed to assure him that she and Oliver were just friends, and business associates, and honestly if she was cheating on him with Oliver wouldn't she come up with better excuses?
He accepted that even if he didn't truly believe it completely. He'd even come to the conclusion that if there was something going on, or if something had gone on, he was the one she came home to, that she was engaged to, that she loved. It was Oliver Queen they were talking about. Jimmy was secure enough to admit that the man was attractive, but he was also a flake, a womanizer party boy, spoiled brat if the papers were to be believed. Anything between the two of them had to be purely physical and that he could take if he needed to.
What he couldn't take was the image that led him to this position, to the pacing. What he'd seen last night was sure to be forever burned into his brain. Jimmy had the night off and had come home with a whole Chinese food/Movie marathon night planned only to find a note from Chloe saying she had to work late at Isis and not to wait up for her. He ate some Chinese, moped around the house a bit and when Mike called and said his car had broken down and could Jimmy please, please, please cover the Museum Benefit downtown, he jumped at the chance to get out of the house.
Jimmy made the usual rounds of the party doing the posed shots of the directors and the decorations and the exhibits before changing the lens and starting his rounds for the candid photos. He got a really good shot of the museum director almost falling into the champagne fountain, another one of a prominent local business man stuffing his face with canapés and one of a couple of kids sticking their fingers into the cake frosting when no one was looking before he spotted her. He was panning around with the camera taking random shots, most of which would come out blurry when he snapped her picture and then moved on, his brain taking a few seconds to catch up to what his eyes just saw.
He almost didn't recognize her at first. Her hair was in a very complicated up do and the dress and shoes were ones he'd never seen before in his life and if he had to guess he'd bet money they cost more than he'd make in ten years, which would have come to a staggering amount on their own, but then there were the jewels. Diamonds glittered from every available space they could find. Rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, he even caught the sort of sparkle that only diamonds gave off in her hair when she tilted her head backwards. The whole thing together was probably more than Chloe and Jimmy could make in a lifetime.
Jimmy frowned, zooming the camera closer until it framed her face, her smiling, laughing face. He took a deep breath and looked to the right just an inch and felt like he'd gotten punched in the gut when he saw Oliver Queen smiling down at Chloe with a look that Jimmy really didn't want to try and decipher. Without thinking he snapped a picture then zoomed out slightly to take in the whole scene.
Oliver deftly reached out at a passing tray and snatched up two glasses of champagne handing one to Chloe who sipped at it daintily. Jimmy couldn't really read lips but there was no mistaking when Oliver asked Chloe to dance. She vehemently tried to turn him down but he wouldn't let her and pulled her onto the dance floor. The whole time, for reasons he wasn't sure he'd be able to explain, he kept taking pictures as he watched them. Maybe he thought it was safer that way, if he watched it as an outsider, through the detached comfort of his lens then he didn't have to analyze what he was seeing, he didn't have to admit to the truth of the situation.
They slid onto the dance floor and into such a comfortable position that Jimmy was sure they'd probably done this before. A lot. They glided around the room, talking occasionally and for all Jimmy knew it was about the weather but it didn't matter. It didn't matter what they were saying, it was what they were doing, it was how they were doing it.
Living with Chloe had taught Jimmy to rely on interpreting her body language rather than her words if he wanted a more accurate version of events and her body language was saying everything that she wasn't.
Her left arm rested gently and familiarly on Oliver's right shoulder, her fingers absentmindedly twirling a loose string in the stitching. Her left hip smashed into Oliver's as if they were fused together, never moving away at a single point during the dance. Her other hand was resting gently on his chest as she stared up at him and talked animatedly about something or other. The song finished and they moved back to the corner they'd been in before.
Curiosity overcame him, he needed to know what they were talking about so he moved as close as he dared, which was pretty easy actually, no one pays attention to the photographer. He positioned himself close enough to hear them and still see them without being seen himself and almost let out a sigh of relief when he heard Chloe's voice. "Seriously these bobby pins are killing me. I swear she put like eight hundred in my hair." Chloe reached up and discretely scratched her head.
"So take them out." Oliver laughed at her.
"It took Angela three hours to do this, I would feel bad taking it out."
"Chloe, that's her job, it's what I pay her to do, it's not that big a deal." He pointed out.
Chloe contemplated it for a minute then nodded. "Cover me." She pulled the edge of Oliver's jacket until he was standing in front of her, blocking her from view as she started pulling the bobby pins out of her hair. Small sections of wild curls fell loose and framed her face as she freed her hair from their restraints. As she worked on a difficult one in the back of her head she caught sight of Oliver's expression, watching her. "What?" She stood up straight. "It looks stupid doesn't it?" She brought a hand to the curls around her face and frowned.
"No." He reached out and grabbed her hand quickly before she could mess anything up. "Don't." He shook his head and her hand lowered. "It looks…" He tilted his head and smiled slightly, only one corner of his mouth lifting. "Wild." He said finally taking one small curl that had fallen in her eyes and twirling it around his fingertip.
Chloe frowned at that and brought both hands up to her hair. "Wild?" She asked panicky, trying to pat it down some.
"In a good way." Oliver assured her pulling both of her hands down. "Really it's beautiful."
"Well, you may think it's a good thing." Chloe glared at him. "Just…tame it a bit would you?" She asked pulling the last of the pins out of the back. She stood up looking at him expectantly. "I don't have a mirror close by, go on." Oliver nodded and brought his hands up. He slowly pushed his fingers into her hair, taming some of the curls, framing them around her face, his eyes never leaving hers. "Are you done?" She asked.
"Just a bit more." Oliver whispered pushing his whole hand into her hair and running his fingers from the roots all the way down. His fingers lingered slightly at the edges, twisting strands of hair though his fingertips. He had such a look of concentration on his face that Chloe smiled up at him.
"Oliver?" She asked, assuming he was lost in thought. His eyes jumped to hers and her smile faded at the seriousness she saw in his eyes. They stood like that for a minute, the two of them almost frozen in place, the air between them, getting thicker and thicker, like it was trying to keep them stuck there. As suddenly as it happened, it was over and Oliver smiled, a full, proper smile this time. "There." He coughed and took a step back and Chloe lowered her head, bringing her hands up to try and feel what it looked like.
"Thanks." She shook her head and took a deep breath. "Is it time yet?"
"No ten more minutes." Oliver said. "One more dance?" He held his arm out and Chloe grabbed his elbow readily this time and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.
Jimmy didn't follow them, either with the camera or his own eyes, he had seen enough, he had seen the look, he could feel it in the air, even from as far away as he'd been. He collapsed to the floor and looked down at the camera, flipping through the shots he'd taken. He had enough for the paper and more than enough for Chloe.
Jimmy stopped pacing and looked over at the table where the photos were sitting. He'd printed them out as soon as he got home, before he lost his nerve. He'd planned to be waiting for Chloe when she came home but she didn't. He got a text around two a.m. that said she'd been working so hard she didn't realize the time and that she'd be sleeping in back room at the foundation. He'd scooped up the pictures and stormed over there only to find the place empty. He slouched back home dejected realizing how stupid he'd been. Even after catching her in a lie, after seeing her with him, he should have realized she wouldn't be at the foundation, she'd be with him.
She called around eight that morning and said she'd be dropping by the apartment quickly to shower and change and apologized for missing him, assuming he'd be at work. He felt a slight tinge of regret for the way he was about to confront her, she actually did sound sorry, then he saw the picture on the top of the stack and all feelings of regret were gone, replaced by anger.
Out of habit he'd made a pot of her favorite coffee and sat at the table waiting for her to show up. He couldn't seem to sit still though and that led to the pacing. It was nine o'clock before he heard her key in the door and he froze. She pushed her way in, the heavy bag she never let him open slung around her shoulder, banging into the door frame as she pushed her way in. She hadn't seen him yet and he felt thankful for that. It gave him a chance to observer her silently.
Something looked strange about her, she looked tired. This was definitely not the smiling happy Chloe face that she seemed to normally put on for him. He moved instinctively to help her with the bag and the movement caught her eye. She looked up surprised, the curls from last night slightly limper but still there spilling over her face. "Jimmy!" She said surprised, dropping the bag to the ground and pulling her key out of the lock. "I thought you'd be at work." She turned away from him and walked to the kitchen, wincing a bit when she saw he'd already made her a pot of coffee before she pulled down a mug.
"I called in sick." He told her as she took her time fixing the coffee, trying her hardest not to look at him.
"Are you feeling ok?" She glanced at him briefly.
"I'm fine." He moved closer. "We need to talk."
"About what?" She moved to the fridge looking for the milk.
"About us." Jimmy was growing impatient.
"Can't this wait until later? I've got to get to work." Chloe sighed.
"No this can't wait." Jimmy slapped his hand on the counter and Chloe flinched.
"I really can't. Not now Jimmy." She stayed in the fridge.
"Damn it Chloe, look at me." He said. She stood up straight and closed the fridge, turning slowly to face him, her head was still down. "Please look at me." He said quietly.
He saw her take a deep breath and lift her head, shaking her hair away from her face. He sucked in a breath when he finally saw her. They covered the whole side of her face practically, deep ugly gouges that tore into her flesh and didn't match the radiant make up that was still there from the night before. She definitely didn't have that when he'd seen her at the museum so it happened sometime between then and now. He took two steps to reach her and held out his hand, touching it gently. She winced and he pulled away. "Does it hurt?"
"Not so much anymore." Chloe said quietly. "As long as I don't touch it."
"Sorry." He frowned. "How did you get that?"
"I was trying to get some boxes out of the attic space and the ladder just came out from underneath me." Chloe tucked a piece of hair behind her ears and bit her lip and Jimmy closed his eyes.
"For god sakes Chloe, do you ever not lie to me?" He breathed annoyed.
"What?" She looked at him confused.
"You don't think by now I know when you're lying?" Jimmy shook his head. "You can't even tell me the truth about a stupid scratch?"
"Jimmy, please just, not now ok." Chloe tried to push past him.
"No." Jimmy said. "Now." She kept walking toward the bathroom. "I saw you." He blurted out. That got her to stop. She turned around to look at Jimmy. "Mike's car broke down and he asked me to cover the Museum Benefit." He laughed humorless and reached for the stack of photographs on the table, handing them to her.
"Jimmy this isn't…" She flipped through them slowly. "This isn't what you think."
"Really?" Jimmy shook his head and nodded at the photo she had paused to look at. "That's a good on there, with your hand on his chest."
Chloe closed her eyes, tears forming in the corners. "Jimmy…" Her voice cracked and she couldn't finish. He walked up to her, as close as he could get and brought a hand up to her uninjured cheek.
"I was ok with it before." Jimmy said. "I wasn't really ok with it but I could deal with, brush it aside as just one of those things that I had to accept if I wanted to stay in your life. But that was before, when it was just physical, before it got emotional."
"What are you talking about?" Chloe asked and he pointed to the pictures.
"That's not how friends behave. This isn't even how lovers behave unless there's more, unless there's feelings involved." Jimmy pointed at the shot of Oliver, his fingers twisted in the wild curl that was resting on her forehead. Chloe stared at the picture for a while and Jimmy felt that was the closest he'd ever get to a confession. He took a deep breath. "I'll forgive you." He said and she looked up at him confused. "For the other stuff." She looked even more confused. "Just tell me you don't love him." He looked over at her.
"Forgive me?" Chloe seemed less sad now, more angry. "Forgive me?" She'd been slightly confused thought out this whole conversation. She felt like she'd been one step behind Jimmy but slowly his words, and their meaning were catching up with her. "Hold on." She laid the pictures on the table slowly. "What is it you think I did Jimmy? This thing you're forgiving me for?" Jimmy didn't say anything he just looked at her. "You thought I was sleeping with Oliver?" Chloe asked disgusted. "But that was ok with you, until you decided that this affair had gone from just sex to something else."
"How was I supposed to know?" Jimmy asked her.
"Because I told you nothing was going on." Chloe shook her head. "Because I told you we were just friends."
"And you lie to me." Jimmy told her. "Fifty percent of the words that come out of your mouth on any given day are lies."
"Right. You're so good at knowing when I'm lying then?" Chloe glared at him. "Tell me if this is a lie. I've never cheated on you Jimmy Olsen." She stared straight at him and after a second when she didn't pull her hair back or bite her lip he hung his head and let out a breath. "Is that really who you think I am?"
"I don't know who you are." Jimmy snapped at her. "I don't think I ever have." He nodded to her cheek. "What are you doing in the middle of the night that gets you that kind of damage? What are you doing dressed up in more money than I've ever even seen in my life? Why do you have to lie to me about any of it?"
"It's not an affair Jimmy." Chloe shook her head.
"Then what is it?" Jimmy pleaded with her.
"I can't tell you." Chloe closed her eyes.
"Because of the secrecy clause? The papers you had to sign? And don't lie to me again." Jimmy pleaded with her.
"No." Chloe said quietly. "I just can't tell you."
"So this is like the thing with Clark then?" Jimmy asked.
"Sort of." Chloe admitted truthfully.
Jimmy had a sudden thought and looked more closely at her face. "That scratch, it isn't even yours is it?" He thought about her power, about the time she'd taken the paper cut from him and given it to herself.
"No." She said quietly again. She closed her eyes and thought about when Oliver was scaling the wall outside the museum and the wire snapped, slamming him into the bricks. She remembered holding her breath for what felt like days until he found his footing, pulling away from the wall with an amused smile on his face, only marred by large gouges. They'd argued about it for a good two hours before he finally let her heal him. She generally worked by herself at the foundation, no one to explain it too, she'd just have to avoid Jimmy for a while, but Oliver had a full week of meetings and a few charity functions to go to, it would be harder for him to explain it away.
Jimmy sat down heavily on the edge of the kitchen table and they were both silent for a few minutes. "He's in love with you." Jimmy said looking at the photos on the table. Chloe opened her mouth to say something most likely deny it but Jimmy held up his hand. "He is." Jimmy said firmly.
"It doesn't mean that anything's happened." Chloe pointed out. "It doesn't mean that I love him."
"But you do." Jimmy tore his gaze away from the picture and looked over at Chloe.
"No." She shook her head vehemently, denying the accusation with every word in her head, even while her own body betrayed her. Her teeth pulled the skin on the bottom of her lip so tight he was worried that she was going to draw blood and her hand brushed the hair behind her ear, seemingly of its own accord before it found it's way into the back pocket of her pants and she rocked gently, anxiously on the balls of her feet. That when he understood. She wasn't lying to him about this one, she was lying to herself.
"Chloe." He flipped through the stack until he found the picture he was looking for, the picture of Oliver's fingers, gently tugging at the edges of her hair as they stared at each other so intently. "You love him." Jimmy told her and he thought this really wasn't fair. Did he really have to endure enlightening Chloe to her newfound love on top of everything?
"But I haven't done anything." She took a step forward toward him and he jumped off the table and stepped back. She knew, even as she said it, it was going to provide very little comfort. They were both silent for a minute as reality settled back down around them.
"He knows you better than I do doesn't he? He knows the secrets? He knows it all?" Jimmy whispered.
"Yeah." Chloe nodded.
"I never will, will I?" He asked her.
She stared at him for a minute and this once, just this once he wanted her to lie to him. "No." She shook her head.
"I'm going to go." Jimmy finally said. "I'm going to go into the office, try to salvage the days work and after…" He grabbed his jacket. "I'll be here between five and six to pack up my things. I'd rather you weren't here."
He looked up at her to gauge her reaction. She nodded slowly at him. "Ok." She whispered.
"Ok." Jimmy said opening the door to leave. Only to stop and shake his head. "You've got to be kidding me." Jimmy sighed and moved slightly. Chloe looked up to see Oliver standing in the doorway, his hand poised to knock. Jimmy pulled on his jacket. "She's all yours." He said before pushing past Oliver and down the stairs.
Oliver walked in the room and closed the door behind him. "What was that about?"
"This isn't really a good time Oliver." Chloe said her voice cracking slightly as she walked to the bedroom.
"I just wanted to bring over some stuff for your cheek." Oliver held up a jar.
"Thanks but it's really not a good time." Chloe called out to him over the running water.
"Are you ok?" Oliver asked concerned. "Did you and Jimmy have a fight or something?"
Chloe walked out of the bedroom, the makeup washed off her face and her hair pulled back in a ponytail. "Or something." She said. Now with her face clean and her hair pulled back the scratch looked even worse.
"Christ Chloe, sit down." Oliver dragged her to the table and pushed her into a chair. She didn't argue or put up a fuss as he opened the jar and started to gently rub the salve on her cheek. She didn't even wince and Oliver frowned. "So the fight was bad?"
Chloe looked up at Oliver then down at her hand and took the ring off, setting it on the table. "He's coming to pack up his stuff between five and six, he'd rather I not be here." Chloe explained.
Oliver looked down at the ring and then something else caught his eyes and he moved back to get a better look. He grabbed the pictures and flipped through them. "What was the fight about?" Oliver asked looking over at Chloe. She didn't say anything. "Chloe, what was the fight about?" He put a hand under her chin and lifted her face to look up at him.
"You." Chloe admitted. Oliver dropped his hand.
"The secrets got to be too much for him?" Oliver asked. "The strange hours, the constant disappearing acts?" He kept steeling glances at the pictures.
"Actually." Chloe looked over at him. "It's because I'm in love with you." Oliver looked at her sharply.
"I'm sorry could you repeat that please?" Oliver set the pictures back down on the table.
"Because I'm in love with you." Chloe said to him. "It's ok to be shocked. I didn't realize it myself until I saw those." She motioned to the pictures on the table. "They're really great shots, I'd forgotten that Jimmy was actually a good photographer."
"You're in love with me?" Oliver asked still trying to catch up.
"Don't act like the whole thing is one sided." She grabbed the photo Jimmy had shown her, with Oliver's hand in her hair and slid it across to him. "A picture's worth a thousand words, and this one is screaming." Oliver stared down at the picture. "You never said anything."
"You were engaged." Oliver couldn't take his eyes off of the picture, of Chloe, of the way she was looking at him.
"Not anymore." Chloe sighed.
"So what happens now?" He asked, turning to her finally.
"I need some time." She told him. "I need some pain killers. I need…sleep." Chloe sat back in her chair. "And I need to do all that somewhere else; I just can't be here right now."
"I can help with that." Oliver told her. "I'm going back to Star City after this. The Clock Towers all yours."
"Thanks." Chloe smiled as he got up and walked to the door. Chloe followed him and he turned around.
"Just…how much time are we talking here?" Oliver asked her.
Chloe laughed. "I'll call you." She promised him.
He leaned down and kissed her very lightly on the lips. "Soon yeah?"
Chloe brought her fingers up to brush her lips as she watched him walk away. "Yeah." She nodded.