The lights were off; the night consumed Watchtower as it consumed everything else, with a silent malice that hid the light of day from sight. Only the candles glistening on the table illustrated Chloe's tear-stained face and the glass of red wine, half-drunk, with the adjacent empty bottle flickering in the dark. Chloe's face had collapsed into her hands, feeling the quickly cooling tears melt in her fingers.
"Chloe?" She jumped, quickly searching the area for her mystery guest as her eyes cleared and settled on Oliver's concerned face.
"Ollie?" Chloe said out of reflex. He took nervous steps towards her, inching closer to the candles and illuminating the soft features of his face, his blonde hair.
"Are you alright?" He kept eye-contact, but afraid to get too close should she lash out.
Chloe smiled apologetically, cleared her eyes and sniffled. "It's just been a hard day." Her voice cracked as she said it. Hard day. That barely computed. A hard day is getting coffee split on your favourite shirt or finding out you've been fired. This had been an impossible day she never wished to experience, never wanted to experience. Chloe stared intently at her hands, fiddling with the finger that used to hold so much for her. She raised her eyes to meet his. "This is the day..." She exhaled. "Jimmy died. A year ago today. Right over there." She nodded her head in his direction, her eyes landing on the empty floor.
"I know." Oliver almost whispered, "I know."
Chloe poured another glass, her last glass if the bottle had anything to say about it. "You want some?"
Oliver looked up, and glanced from the bottle to Chloe, struggling with his words. "Chloe... I can leave if my being here upsets you." His heart beat just a little faster, like a bolt of electricity straining the muscles in his body.
"What?" She put the glass back on the table and stood to face him. "Oliver, it's just as much your Watchtower as it is mine. Besides, it's nice not to be alone."
Oliver breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to leave her, not like this, but he didn't know if she... "I just... Chloe I blame myself. I should have been faster, stronger. Something. I should have been there when you needed me, when you both did." Oliver felt his shoulders fall as his eyes darted away from her.
The candlelight softened Chloe's features; the shadows from her hair bounced about on her pink cheek, her eyelashes seemed evermore intense, her eyes... "Ollie, I have never and I will never blame you for Jimmy's death." She stepped closer to meet his eyes. "You surprise and impress me so much, Ollie, you don't even know. You do what you do not because you have superpowers, but because you have the power to make a difference in this world just as you are. I wouldn't change a thing." She smiled warmly, and he drank in her warmth, feeling it tingle in his bones. She stepped back, reality tearing them apart. "I however, I should have known better. Jimmy is dead because of me."
"Jimmy is dead because of a psychopath, Chloe." Oliver pointed out.
"A psychopath that I introduced into his life. If Jimmy hadn't ever of met me, he would still be alive, and I will never forgive myself for that Ollie. I can't." She stepped back, sitting once again on the sofa, and swirling her drink around her lips without touching the glass.
He followed her, and sat. "One day you'll have to. Guilt can eat up a person Chloe, it can turn you against yourself."
"And what am I, Ollie? I'm just a regular person playing in a superhero world. The people I love most in the world are ripped from me. My mother, Lana, and now Jimmy. I can't live in a world where these things happen and I'm just... powerless." She looked at him, tears forming on the rim of her eyelashes.
Ollie caressed her cheek with his hand as a tear slipped down her face. "You, Chloe Sullivan, are anything but powerless. You are the smartest, most resourceful, loyal, honest, beautiful woman I know, and you fight fiercely to keep the people close to you close to you. Sometimes people that we love just drift away, it's no one's fault; and even if it was, it certainly wouldn't be yours."
Chloe let another tear slip down her cheek, falling into his hands and softly stroking them away. He leaned back on the sofa and brought her in close, allowing her hot face to take comfort in his embrace.
"Thank you." She whispered into his shirt.
"I will always be here for you Chloe, and I will always protect you." Oliver vowed, sweeping the hair out of her face. "No matter what."