Title: Family Dinners
Category: Absolute Justice/Smallville
Genre: Family/Humor/Romance
Ship: Chloe/Oliver
Rating: PG
Word Count: 674
Summary: Thanksgiving at the Watch Tower.
Previous: The Right Direction, No More Hiding
Family Dinners
-Drabble-
The sun hit the colorful glass that made up the tower and sent rainbows of brilliant dancing shadows all over. Crowded around a long table, passing dishes to and fro and in so many conversations at once it was hard to keep up, were the members of Chloe's rough-around-the-edges band of heroes. As cranberry sauce was passed from Victor to Dinah, right in front of Bart, the young man reached out with a fork and plucked a hefty bite out of the bowl before shoveling it into his mouth. He grinned as Victor rolled his eyes and Dinah snatched it away, purposely spooning a bit onto her plate that was nowhere near the gravy imprint of Bart's fork. On the other side, Clark was trying to fend Lois away from the last roll that he'd just barely gotten for himself. And AC was telling Mia all about his latest fight with the fishing boat he'd been keeping an eye on.
She wondered if the JSA were having their own Thanksgiving celebration, the kind Courtney had told her about. With turkey and trimmings, friendship and family, and that overwhelming warmth of comfort that filled every open crevice. Vic's girlfriend Tracy was trying to keep up a conversation with Bart while simultaneously unable to stop watching Clark and Lois wrestle for the crusty bun that Bart too was eyeing. Dinah interrupted AC's triumphant story over the fishing boat to let Mia in on the fact that he'd been caught in a net and she'd had to bail him out.
A hand on the small of her back made Chloe turn her gaze from her family and up to the leader of them all.
"Not a bad turn out," he said, smiling.
She shrugged. "You say food and Bart comes running."
"They're not here for the turkey, Sidekick…" Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he drew her close. "Family comes for the company, not the entree."
Encircling his waist with her arms, she tucked her head beneath his chin. "Next year, we'll need a bigger table…"
With a chuckle, Oliver nodded, his hand sliding down her side to rest against her extended stomach. "And a high chair."
"If I'm reading Lois right… possibly two."
His brows rose. "I'm guessing Clark doesn't know… or he'd have handed over the bun by now."
Laughing, she nodded. "Doesn't matter… Bart'll have scarfed it down in 3… 2…"
Suddenly, Bart was out of his chair, across the room, hunched over and stuffing the whole bun in his mouth before pumping his arms into the air triumphantly.
Oliver sighed. "Impulse!"
Innocently, his eyes widened as he turned to his boss. "Just tryin' to end the fighting!"
Shaking her head, Chloe stepped out of Oliver's embrace. "Come on, Big Green. If we squeeze in between Mia and Dinah, we might actually get a little dinner out of this mess."
He drew out her chair for her before taking a seat next to her, their legs cramped together, feet accidentally bumping everybody else's.
It wasn't the lack of wealth in space that mattered or even the dry turkey and lumpy potatoes… It was that they were surrounded by friends and family, teammates and significant others. Since meeting the JSA, only good things had come from the bad. The team learned to work together better, keeping in contact rather than calling each other every once in awhile. Chloe got out of the tower and Oliver stopped hiding behind a careless attitude. And by the time Thanksgiving came calling, he had the kind of love Hawkman had once told him off. That connection that stretched beyond life or death, bonding him to that one special person. He and Chloe weren't perfect but they loved and understood each other in ways nobody else could. And the team was still learning, but they were well on their way to being as great as they could be. With time and effort, they could be the next JSA… or more appropriately the Justice League. He liked the ring of that.
[End.]