Tess left the Daily Planet exhausted, entirely sure that Lois Lane was determined to make her life as miserable as possible. Her and Oliver Queen, but they were determined in two different ways. Lois was merely determined to keep her annoyed at all time. Oliver on the other hand, wanted to make sure that she was constantly under his thumb, in pain, but just in love enough that if he came back asking for a second chance it would be very difficult to refuse him, if she could at all. After learning about Lex she realized that she really had no one. Just herself.
Exactly what she had in the beginning. All through her childhood. Something that she should have already accepted. She just hadn't.
She tried to reach out to Clark and his friends but the fact that she used to work for Lex blinded them from who she was. She knew that and she told herself she didn't care. But she did and she knew it.
As she walked past the mouth of a dark alleyway and cold hand closed over her mouth, pulling her backward. She tried to resist. She tried to thrash and to bite but to no avail. She was thrown at the wall in front of them. She realized that this dead end could possibly be her end, leaving her dead. She prepared herself for so many things. She always had a bobby pin on hand for lock picking, she always carried a gun.
That's when she realized that in the stumble she lost her purse, holding her gun. Her assailant now had deadly means. But that wasn't a danger if she could keep him from knowing about it. She looked with barely concealed horror at it.
The man reached into his coat. Tess instantly knew he was going for a gun of his own, meaning that she had no need to worry that her own weapon would be the cause of her demise. She took a deep breath, immediately recognizing the glint of gun metal coming from his coat.
Briefly she wondered if this was a murder or a robbery. Now it was going to be both, regardless. But she did wonder which one it was intended to be. Which one was he hired for? It didn't matter. She knew this. But she also wondered if she had been that horrible to someone that they wanted her dead.
She was investigating Clark, making it possible that either him or Chloe didn't want her getting closer than she already was. Tess was a danger to Lois' job. She did almost kill Lana. Jimmy was on drugs so no one really knew what he was capable of at this point. She had turned Oliver down. But none of these people, drugs or no drugs, were capable of something like this.
No, it was a robbery. A simple wrong place, wrong time scenario. She knew she deserved this anyway. She hadn't been good to anyone lately. She sighed, wishing she could just have one more chance. She knew it would take a miracle to happen , but in her last moments, she allowed herself hope, something she had never allowed herself before. And this was probably the reason for her actions now, a lack of hope.
But a miracle did come. In the shape of a hero, bearing a bow and arrows and decked in green leather. He jumped off the top of a building, allowing his momentum to carry him forward in a roll. In a fluid motion he landed on his feet, grabbing the man by his coat and pushing him up against the side wall. "Please, please, I'm sorry," the criminal pleaded.
"Aren't they all?" The Green Arrow hit him over the side of the head, effectively knocking him out and probably leaving a minor concussion. But at the moment, Tess didn't care. She was focused on her savior, her miracle, the fulfillment of the hope she had never allowed herself. She stared at him in shock, knowing she just had a close encounter with death and owed the near miss to this man who had been mocked and trashed by multiple news organizations, including hers. All people saved by him worship the ground he walked on.
She now understood why. She felt a sense of serenity mixed with passion overwhelm her. It was the same feeling she got with Oliver.
For a moment she wondered why she was doing this to herself. But then she realized, it was because she got the warm feeling with someone other than Oliver. It proved he wasn't unique. That she could find that kind of happiness somewhere else, without the heartache, no matter how quickly it seemed to hit her. She could later blame it on the fact that he just saved her life but for now she would just revel in it.
Unconsciously she moved towards until she was right behind him. She pretended to look down at the unconscious man on the ground, feigning interest, but really it was a chance to get closer to him.
He smelled like Oliver, a tough scent, but a pleasing one. It was the kind that used to make her want to wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his shirt and never let go. She was getting that same urge now. "Stop. No more comparisons to Oliver," she scolded herself inwardly.
He turned around quickly, and just as quickly adjusted his head so he could look her in the eye. Both became acutely aware of the lack of space between them. Tess, because she was frozen, and Green Arrow because the man was behind him. But neither wanted to move back anyway.
Green Arrow reached his hand to her face, cupping it. Tess involuntarily closed her eyes and leaned into it. He slowly lowered his head down to her lips, momentarily forgetting who he was, and what she didn't know. She moved quicker, always being a bit impulsive when it came to things like this, especially if she could use this to, if only momentarily, to forget Oliver. In one fluid motion her hand flew up to his neck pulling it forward into a kiss. Her arm moved up to his back, clutching the smooth leather and pulling him forward, deepening the kiss. His arm wrapped itself around her waist bringing her as close as possible and holding her there.
Neither wanted to pull away, both knew they had to. He pulled away first, jarring both of them. She spoke first, "I don't imagine everyone gets this special treatment."
"If they did I'd be out if business."
A smile crept onto her face. "I'd imagine." He swore to himself that he wouldn't let that smile claim him again, but he did. Because the reason it did in the first is because he could never resist it, no matter what changes it endured.
Sirens sounded.
Her eyes flicked over to his covered ones, disappointment creeping into them. It was too much for him. He had to give into her, if only this once. "Meet me on the roof of the Daily Planet tomorrow night. 8 o'clock."
Her eyebrow shifted up in question, before the shield broke. She looked straight into his eyes and probably only at her reflection, he mused, but he knew it was partially for the effect. That was exactly the kind of thing she would do. He couldn't help but wonder what moments between them had been real recently. That one blissful night where she didn't fight him, well, maybe that's not the right term as she had literally fought him before the bliss. But the bliss came eventually.
He raised the arm with the crossbow and shot it at the roof, zip-lining to the top. He looked down on her, wondering what it was about her that made him bend when he wanted so much to hate her and everything she had done. But for some reason no matter what she asked he knew he would listen and he half suspected she did too. He heard sirens again and ran to the emergency, leaving Tess staring after him.
She couldn't tell you why, but she knew she knew him. Otherwise he would have treated her like any other girl that inevitably fell for him. She would make sure to keep an eye out for people who might both emotionally and physically fit the bill.
A/N: as of right now I'm basically posting everything I wrothe over the summer. Some of it' snot finished so I'm finishing it as I go along. This was what I found next. I had no means of posting anything over the summer but now I am back and have read through what I have of this story so if it gets any response then I'll keep posting but this is just to see if anyone's interested cuz if not I have plenty of other stuff I could get up.