Disclaimer: Clearly not mine. I barely even know anything about Smallville so it couldn't have come from me.
Epiphanies
Recap: Chloe is a runaway bride from her wedding with Jimmy. She returns to Metropolis days later, and doesn't tell anyone why she ran. She returns to the ISIS foundation, the Daily Planet, and her role as Watchtower, but she has changed. Everyone notices the changes but Oliver is the one most insistent on figuring her out.
Another note: I'm pretty familiar with California, so for me Coast City is going to be San Diego (hello surfing culture and military bases) and Star City is for all intents and purposes some nice, new, clean city, maybe a million people somewhere between Carmel and Santa Barbara. I suppose it could be LA, but I am not a fan of LA's grim or culture, and it's defiantly not SF so…somewhere in between.
Chapter 4
CO-CO-CO
Slowly she started to feel confident that she knew herself again. Some of the truths she discovered about herself were new, others not so much. She liked investigative reporting, liked the search for the truth, liked writing it up, putting it into words that could not be denied. She did not really enjoy working for Lex at the Daily Planet. Freedom of the press was just a memory, and her mantra that she was keeping her enemy close was wearing thin. But she'd always wanted to work for the Daily Planet and she wasn't ready to give up on her dream yet.
She liked watching out for Oliver's team. She liked the work, listening to their camaraderie, knowing that she helped to keep them alive for another day, helped keep them on the path they'd chosen. She needed to know she was contributing to the fight. She knew what was out there, she couldn't just turn a blind eye. She might not be the right person to run into a facility, take out the guards, and set it to blow, but she played her part behind the scenes well. She helped plan missions, discover new targets, and was the eye in the sky guiding the heroes on the ground in and out safely. She didn't mind the secrets. Sure it was taxing to keep them from people she cared about. But it was worth it.
But those things weren't all that surprising.
She liked working at the Isis Foundation, liked offering guidance for the meteor affected, liked giving them the resources to live their lives productively instead of deteriorating into meteor psychosis like so many had before. Through the foundation she saw people living with meteor infections, and acknowledged that despite her high school experiences, not all of them were crazy or homicidal. It gave her hope.
Having her own power now, being meteor infected, gave her a new perspective on the others that she had investigated, uncovered in recent years. The sense of being able to do something miraculous, but still be out of control was scary. Chloe wasn't ready to issue a verdict on her power. Regardless, it was there, and she had to deal with it.
Then there was the Brainiac infection, or whatever it was. Chloe couldn't deny that it scared her, he was scary, but the knowledge, the advanced intelligence, it was awesome. Frightening sometimes, but so far there hadn't been any bad side effects, (except for what Oliver said happened when she accessed the Blue Crystal to bring Lois and Clark home). If she had known Lois and Clark were in the phantom zone she might have waited to see if they could get back on their own, since Clark was supposed to know the way out. But she didn't know where they went, and she didn't know if they were together, and she didn't know if Lois could survive there for long, and she wasn't willing to risk Lois's life. So the crystal came into play. Chloe wouldn't pretend to be sad about it. No matter how Clark and Oliver felt about it.
All of her jobs gave her a sense of satisfaction. But she knew she didn't have time for all three, even with the Brainiac ability. Part of each of the jobs was physically being there. And being multiple places at once was not one of Chloe's gifts. Realistically she needed to drop at least one in order to leave time for herself, time for a life of her own. She wasn't sure which she'd pick.
She'd also identified things about her life that she didn't like. She didn't like always being taken for granted. Even getting to the point where she could say that being taken for granted was what was happening in 90 percent of her interactions with Clark took some time.
Clark and Lois assumed that she would drop whatever she was doing to help them every time. Inherent in that assumption was that their lives and problems were more important than Chloe's. Lana had thought the same way. And Chloe had allowed them to continue in this belief. Allowed herself to believe it too. She vowed to prioritize. Sometimes their problems were more important than finishing an article, doing laundry or even getting a few hours of sleep. But not always.
She didn't always agree with Clark. She saw now that she'd followed him blindly in the past because she trusted him, loved him, thought that with his life, his powers, his destiny, that he had to be right. He wasn't. He might not be human, but he was fallible. Their values weren't the same. Some of his decisions put people she loved in danger. He'd say there was another way, she thought he wasn't willing to make the hard decisions.
She loved Lois. Completely. But she didn't really want to have Lois around all that much. Whirlwind Lois was like an assault. Not living with her cousin helped to make time spent with Lois fun, instead of tiring.
Chloe was angry with her parents. In one way or another they'd both abandoned her. She'd forgive them, had already forgiven them, but she needed to be angry, needed to allow herself to feel the emotions she'd always refused to even acknowledge. Pushing down her hurt and denying it didn't do anything for her. She needed to let herself feel it, know that she had a right, and then let it go.
Chloe was unhappy that she hadn't gone back to school at Met U when it had reopened after Dark Thursday. She had deferred and didn't have her college degree at the age that most people graduated. She was working in the field she wanted, but 'Chloe Sullivan, college drop-out' was not supposed to be her. She knew it was cheating but with all she'd given up over the years, using the Brainiac ability to finish online classes quickly from Columbia University, just seemed like a little bit of payback. She'd finished the first two in just two weeks. Columbia offered an online BA in Journalism and with her credits from Met U and the quick rate she finished new courses, she'd be able to have her Bachelors in less than a year. Chloe Sullivan, ivy league graduate, now that had a better ring to it. Maybe not quite as impressive as Oliver's Harvard education, but still, not too shabby.
The big ticket item in all her self analysis was dealing with the past. She was afraid. She acknowledged it, then looked at it closer, instead of resigning herself to acting from her fear blindly for the rest of her life. The combination of her past experiences had made her afraid to trust, to love, to open herself up again. Jimmy had been perfect for that. He'd never asked for too much of her. Never pushed to see who she really was. He saw the smart, cute, small town girl who was filled with equal parts sarcasm, sass, and sweetness. She never let him see the darker part of herself, and never even hinted at the things she'd seen or done.
She hid in her work. There at least she was competent. Her love life…well, not so much. She hoped that at the end of this self imposed period of self analysis she would be able to let go of some of her fear, that the answers and new understanding of herself would be enough to free her.
Eight weeks after the wedding that wasn't, she'd even come to peace with the fact that she was in love Oliver Queen. She easily acknowledged that nothing would ever come of her feelings for him. But then late one night, she questioned her assumption. Why was she so sure that he would never return her feelings? Was it because of him, who he was, where he was in his life? Or was it because she didn't think she was good enough for him? That someone like him, would never look at someone like her in that way?
She groaned and turned over, burying her face in her pillow. Sometimes this self discovery process was a real drag.
Her mind couldn't help but go back to the day she'd visited the Clock Tower unexpectedly. She'd gone in for such an innocuous reason, and left in a panic of realization.
She'd been focused on the wedding to do list in her head in the elevator on the way up. She'd used the private code to access the elevator and the penthouse. She'd assumed Oliver would not be at home. He'd been busy with Queen Industries and tracking Lex and Lex's remaining projects. So when the elevator door opened and she pushed aside the grate with a quiet slide, she'd thought she was alone. She moved towards Oliver's desk where she'd left her notebook full of stuff for the wedding, random notes on all things Kryptonian, and indistinct connections and unconfirmed leads in LuthorCorp schemes. She planned to work on some of the work stuff on the honeymoon, just letting her mind ruminate on the things she hadn't be able to piece together yet.
She'd left the notebook in a pile of papers on the desk, and assumed it was still there. She shifted aside a few of Oliver's folders and papers, before the sound of soft voices from the kitchen impinged in her consciousness. She looked up and it felt like time slowed down. There was Oliver, standing leaning against the kitchen island with a tall brunette that Chloe recognized from the cover of last month's Vogue pressed up against him. He looked beautiful dressed in his tailored business clothes. She was dressed more fashionably, but just as expensively. They looked perfect together. Genetic perfection. Chloe had seen the pictures of them together at an event in Star City, and thought nothing of it. Just another of Oliver's flings, another layer of his cover as a rich, careless playboy.
But her presence here said that there was more. It hadn't been just for show, or just one night. She was smiling at him seductively, her supermodel body resting against his. Even her voice was seductive, tinted with some Latin accent. "Oliver, I came all this way to see you. Cancel your meetings."
Oliver objects, but doesn't push her away. "I didn't know you were coming, Alejandra. These meeting were scheduled weeks ago, I can't cancel."
She pouts up at him. "Not even for me?"
Oliver is tempted, looking from her face to his watch then makes a quick decision and captures her mouth in a kiss. "I can be a bit late, but then you have to go."
Chloe remembered thinking that while she knew her heart hadn't actually stopped, there was no other logical explanation for the absolute stillness within her, or the feeling of weakness as her body starved for blood and oxygen. With a wrenching pain, she gasped in a breath and her heart raced back to life. The sound of her indrawn breath drew Oliver's ever observant gaze and he set the woman pressed against him back a few feet, advancing on Chloe.
"Chloe…"
She scrambled to speech. "I'm sorry, so sorry. I didn't know you would be here, I just had to pick up something." She waves the notebook at him looking panic stricken.
"It's OK, you know you're always welcome here," Oliver reassures her, never having seen her so flustered, noting that her face was unusually pale, but her cheeks were flushed bright pink.
"But you have a guest. I didn't mean to interrupt, I'll go. Sorry." She tries to keep hold of her rioting thoughts and emotions until she gets to the elevator, but Oliver stops her, his long fingers easily circling her upper arm.
"Wait up there short-stuff. You saved me a trip."
She turns around trying to focus on two things. Breathing and keeping her face blank. Oliver walks towards a side table where a silver wrapped box is sitting. "Sorry, I'm not going to be able to make it." He holds the box out to her and she looks at it blankly. "Business," he says with regret and hidden meaning. She looks from him to the box, a wedding present. Her wedding present. Her wedding to Jimmy.
"Oh." Is her minute response as she takes the gift reluctantly.
"Oliver." His name is called from the kitchen where Alejandra is still standing, impatient now.
Oliver can see the rapid fire of emotions over Chloe's face, predominantly confusion. He frowns, assuming she is upset that he's not going to be at he wedding. "Chloe, I'm sorry, you know –"
She smiles tightly."I know. You're busy. With things." Her look to the kitchen and the model standing there is significant. "Don't worry about it."
Oliver feels like he's been judged but doesn't really know why, but before he can ask she is gone.
In the elevator, Chloe leans against the wall, then slides down to the floor, the box and the notebook falling unnoticed to the ground beside her. There was only one thought in her head. She loved Oliver. Not as a friend, not as a teammate. She loved him in the romantic, all consuming, I want to spend my life with you kind of way. And that was bad. Extraordinarily bad. Because he was Oliver Queen, she was just plain old Chloe Sullivan, and they didn't have that kind of relationship. And she was supposed to marry Jimmy tomorrow. What was she going to do?
Even now, so many weeks later that memory hurt Chloe. She'd been blind to her true feelings for Oliver. Thought simply that what she felt was friendship and admiration, and of course the acknowledgement that he was attractive. Very attractive.
The simple fact was that one day Oliver was going to settle into a relationship, and if Chloe remained in his life as a friend or teammate she would be subject to that. She only hoped she'd be able to get over her one sided love for him long before Oliver met someone who peaked his interest for longer than a minute.
CO-CO-CO
She didn't even try to avoid Oliver after their last encounter. She was wary, but determined to continue on the course she'd set.
For his part, Oliver was continually frustrated with Chloe. Despite his most direct concerted attempt to date to batter down her walls and climb over her defenses, she appeared completely un-phased. It bugged him. She'd finally revealed a bit of what was going on in her head, but rather than making her more open to him he was locked out even more completely. Even more than being so completely on the outside, it bugged him that he had tried to break through her walls and been soundly defeated and sent back with tail between his legs. She went on seemingly untouched, but her words echoed in his ears every day.
The holidays were upon them, and the General had flown Lois out to Germany to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with him and Lucy. The invitation had been extended to Chloe, who had quickly declined, not wanting to be on the receiving end of the General's questions about her aborted walk down the aisle.
Mrs. Kent had extended an invitation for Chloe to spend Thanksgiving with her and Clark at the farm. Chloe had spent many a holiday with the Kents while Gabe worked, but that year Chloe decided to go visit her mother instead. Gabe was busy with his new job and new identity in Idaho, working as the manager of a Home Depot store outside of Boise. Visiting was difficult, and the US Marshals who had set up his new life were still pissed at Chloe for refusing her reassignment and her part in Lex's scam to fake their deaths before the trial against Lionel. Gabe was no longer under their protection, but lived under the identity they had set up for him.
Oliver had been paying for Moria Sullivan's keep in a nice facility outside of Star City ever since Chloe and Clark had rescued her mother from Lex. Chloe hadn't seen her since the medical helicopter had lifted off of the Clock Tower months before. She didn't expect her mother's condition to have improved, but she wanted to see her. Chloe had missed her mother most of her childhood, and even if there was nothing of the woman she remembered, she felt it was something she needed to do. Their last goodbye had been filled with grief, and Chloe wanted to change that.
The visit goes well Chloe sitting and talking to her mom, and while there is no response of any kind, Chloe feels a bit of closure, a bit of peace with the situation. Exiting the secured facility, Chloe takes a walk along the seaside cliff on the facility grounds putting off heading back to her hotel for a fast food meal and evening of research or bad television. The location is magnificent with the Pacific Ocean waves crashing on the rocks at the base of the cliff. The sun is just beginning its descent towards the ocean and Chloe vows to sit and watch the sun set over the water before she leaves to head back to land locked Kansas again.
She is surprised to see Bart standing at the trailhead waiting for her when she returns. But she thinks maybe she shouldn't be. "If Oliver has me lo-jacked and you knew, we're going to have serious issues Bart," she threatens.
Bart ducks his head bashfully. "Nah. Clark called."
Chloe rolls her eyes. "Of course he did."
Bart smiles at her winningly. "Come on Chloilicious. Don't be mad. It's Thanksgiving. A national holiday devoted to eating." He sounds absolutely rapturous and she can't help but smile.
That's how Chloe ends up eating Thanksgiving dinner with the JLA in Oliver's Star City penthouse. Victor was based out of Star City, working for Queen Industries, Bart was anywhere at any given time, and it was nothing for AC to swim in for the meal. Oliver was there on business, and Star City was after all his home town.
Oliver considers his restraint no less than heroic, since he doesn't mention to Chloe that she could have told him she was going to be in Star City. That she could have caught a ride with him in his private jet. That she could have stayed with him. That he could have gone with her to see her mother if only for moral support. One thing about Chloe that hadn't changed? Her independent streak that was a mile wide.
After dinner, Chloe stands on the balcony of his penthouse apartment, looking past the clean white and stucco city below them and out to the horizon where the sun is lighting a path over the blue waters as the yellow sun that gave Clark his powers slipped over the horizon to the other side of the world. Oliver comes out and hands her a glass of wine.
"It's beautiful here." He nods in acknowledgement, but doesn't comment. "Do you miss it? The ocean, your home?"
"Sometimes."
CO-CO-CO
Oliver remembers the first time he realized that Chloe was keeping secrets from him. The intrepid reporter who barely looked old enough to be out of high school, had kept Clark's secret for years, and Oliver thought that that was the extent of her mystery. But then there was her mother, a few hundred meteor freaks and near death experiences, her too close for comfort association with the Luthors, and all things Kryptonian, not to mention the completely human kind of trouble she managed to find with alarming ease and regularity.
The day on his plane when she asked him to steal a device from Mercy, he knew she was hiding something, he knew it was bad but he never imagined Brainiac. He'd seen her operate the blue crystal without hesitation, without thought for her own well being, then seen her disappear, her eyes no longer hers before she threw him across the room the way he might flick an ant.
Somehow she'd survived the attack, still Chloe, not comatose like Lana. He didn't know how.
Now when Oliver looked at Chloe all he saw was secrets. He wanted the answers, and she wasn't giving them up.
CO-CO-CO
She'd slipped away again. Mission over, debriefing completed, and Chloe was gone. Through the door of Watchtower, down the stairs and into the night. She never ran, she just didn't dally. Didn't hang out. Oliver stares at the closed door a hard look on his face and a sifter of alcohol in his hand.
Bart is occupied in the kitchen emptying the cabinets of anything edible. AC and Victor sit with Oliver. The large space is not homey, not decorated for comfort, but there is a couch and a few chairs. Enough of them to all sit during meetings. Mostly the space is filled with the technology that Chloe monitored during missions.
"It's killing you isn't it?" AC questions.
The question draws Oliver's attention from the door to AC. "What?"
"Chloe's impersonation of a sphinx," Victor explains.
"It's ironic really." AC smiles and his look is knowing, which annoys Oliver.
Oliver's reply is short and grumpy. "What is?"
"Oliver Queen frustrated with someone else's reserved and stoic persona," AC mocked.
"That's not actually irony," Victor corrected AC.
AC groans. "Whatever man."
Bart pipes up from the kitchen. "Poetic justice maybe."
Oliver's lips twisted with a scowl. "I'm worried about her."
The guys exchange knowing looks, which Oliver misses, lost in his own thoughts.
"I think she's fine, man," Victor reassures their team leader.
"Super fine." Bart smirks.
"Shut up Bart," AC and Victor chorus together.
"Well she is."
"She's…" Oliver frowns at Bart but can't find the word he wants to describe Chloe.
"Smart," Victor suggests.
"Hot." Bart looks dreamy as he imagines Chloe in a bikini.
"Loyal." AC pipes up.
"Different," Oliver finally supplies.
Victor nodded. "Maybe. But that's not a bad thing, is it?"
"I don't know," Oliver states. "I miss the old Chloe. Smiling and happy. And I don't know who this Chloe is, 'cause she won't sit still long enough for me to find out."
The boys leave that one alone. "We don't even know what happened," AC states.
Oliver stares at AC like he's being deliberately obtuse. "He did something, broke her heart and she left him." Oliver had made up his mind a long time ago about what had happened between her and Jimmy.
"How do you know he did something?" AC inquires.
Oliver scowls. "If you're suggesting that she did something, cheated on him…"
"Wasn't me." Bart tries to lighten the tension as Oliver glares at Victor.
"I doubt Chloe cheated. It's not consistent with her personality," Victor analyses logically. Appeased, Oliver relaxes back. "But she could have ended it for another reason. We don't know."
And there was another thing that bugged Oliver. He had no idea what had happened on her wedding day, just his own speculation. Chloe wasn't talking, and Clark and Lois were following her lead. It was frustrating as hell. Oliver was frowning again.
"See we don't even have all the facts yet," Victor concludes.
Oliver stares at the wall and throws back the rest of his drink, brooding in silence. He misses Chloe, more than he thought he would. Since he'd made Metropolis his home base, she'd become a friend, a confident, a partner. And he didn't know what had happened to change all that. He just knew she was gone, even when she was there.
CO-CO-CO
Slowly, Chloe begins to emerge from the subdued state she'd been in. Each answer she found, each new understanding she gained helped. She felt more in actual control of her life now, and that meant she could relax her efforts to try to exert control over things she would never really be able to control, like other people or the world.
She hoped that she and Clark would always be friends, would always have trust in each other, but she finally let go of any of her expectations about him that were just unrealistic. She'd let go of her romantic longings for him a long time ago, but she still found herself disappointed that he had a laser like vision on what he wanted and needed and didn't see her very clearly unless she was in trouble or had just saved his ass. Letting go of the expectations meant not being disappointed. It wasn't an agreement that his treatment of her was OK, it was an acknowledgement of his nature. You wouldn't stick your hand out to a hungry bear and not expect to be bit.
So she stopped expecting so much of him, and slowly pushed back on his requests and demands of her time unless she decided it was important. Her decision, her determination. Not his demand. She didn't want to hurt him, knew he'd never understand if she just came out and said what she was thinking and doing, so slowly and surely she pushed him to rely on a wider variety of friends.
She had set a course of action, written down with clearly defined goals and action steps of course. It felt good. Make Isis self sustaining. Finish college. Get out of the basement at the Daily Planet. Defeat Lex. Get over Oliver.
She smiled more, laughed more. The life that had been missing from her returned. She met Lois for coffee and the occasional night out. They had movie nights full of junk food and girl talk. She still helped Clark on occasion. She engaged with the Justice League members in banter, went out to eat with Bart, helped AC get last minute permits for a rally he was helping organize, talked hardware and hacking with Victor. She had coffee with Lois regularly, emailed Pete, posted messages for Lana even though she didn't know if they ever got through. But she kept herself distant from Oliver.
Her emotions were still too tender and he was looking too closely. Distance was her plan where he was concerned.
CO-CO-CO
Christmas came too soon, as it always did when you had a busy life. Chloe, Lois, Oliver and some of the JLA spent the holiday at the Kent farm. Chloe helped Martha in the kitchen, trying to save the older woman from Lois's exuberant and dangerous attempts at cooking anything. The house was filled with laughter and hope for the future.
Oliver stood in the door way of the living room, observing Chloe as she handed out gifts with a cute Santa hat on, trying to pinpoint the changes he could clearly see and define.
There was something delicate about her. Soft and gentle. Chloe's emotions were often displayed clearly on her face. Those characteristics only made it more startling when she was icily logical and ruthless. She determined the plan of attack in more and more of their missions, always knowing that each time someone could be hurt. She was soft, but her determination to get the job done, to expose the truth, to save people from the hell they were trapped in or the one they didn't even know was limiting them was steely. She had an insatiable curiosity and a reckless disregard for her own safety when it came to whatever risks were required to get to the truth.
Yet somehow both sides were equally her. Soft and hard. Emotional and ruthless. Chloe.
He hides his hurt that she's let everyone else back into her life, everyone but him. He wonders if they'd ever really been friends, and wonders for the thousandth time if he'd done something to hurt her.
CO-CO-CO
Oliver discovers one of her secrets inadvertently after a night patrolling. The whole team had been out, looking for a new crew that was leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake.
It had started as a regular night, and ended with both Oliver and AC injured after the meth-head armed robbers they'd been looking for showed up at Metropolis' new 18 and over club. They pushed past security and had shot up the place. Chloe heard the police dispatch, and had their team in place within minutes. A quick assessment of the building schematics and Oliver and AC were inside as Bart picked off the robbers who were guarding the door and their get-away van. The last few places the robbers had hit, they had had a five man team. All big bulky guys, all clearly on meth. This time they had closer to ten guys. And all of them were armed.
Oliver's team took the first seven criminals out easily. Bart picked off three outside, running them into a wall and letting them fall to the ground unconscious before zip tying their hands and feet for collection by the police. AC and Oliver were inside the club working they way around the perimeter. The leader of the gang was on top of the bar shouting at the club goers, mostly teenage kids, and bar staff who were emptying the registers into trash bags. Victor found the security grid and released the doors from their electronic locks. Four down in the club and the exits cleared, Oliver and AC started directing the kids inside to exit quietly.
That's when things started to go badly. The ringleader figured out his team was compromised, and started shooting. Kids scrambled everywhere, trying to get out, trying to hide, trying to find friends in the darkness. The noise in the club was intense, rendering their comms nearly useless. The pounding music and screaming hostages cut the team off from each other.
AC tried to help guide the scrambling masses to the exits and got trampled for his efforts. Oliver lined up for a clear shot on the leader as he and his last two thugs sprayed the crowd with bullets. Oliver took him down cleanly, a arrow through his shoulder. Another fell to a taser arrow. But the third man took aim and hit Oliver. The bullet slicing through Oliver's arm. A through and through, it exited his arm cleanly, but rendered his bow useless.
Chloe tried to remain calm hearing the chaos over the comms. They knew this was a dangerous job. The meth-head gang hadn't been leaving witnesses alive. As soon as they entered the club every member of the Justice League knew the kids inside were living on borrowed time. Victor took out the last of the thugs and the team stumbled to safety on a nearby rooftop just as the police arrived.
Chloe was in Watchtower on the comms asking for a status update and when Oliver's deep voice filled her ears she sank back into her chair with relief.
"Everyone accounted for Watchtower. Heading back to base now."
She sighed. "Glad to hear it."
"Have the first aid out and ready Tower. We have some injuries. Be there in ten."
Chloe sits bolt upright and is about to demand an explanation, but stops herself. "Please advise if a doctor is needed on site Arrow."
Oliver looks at AC, who for all his strength had been pummeled by the feet of the very people they had tried to rescue. AC hesitated before saying no to the doctor, and Oliver disregarded him. "Affirmative Watchtower."
Bart sees Oliver's nod and is gone in the blink of an eye to fetch Emil.
"Impulse is on his way with the delivery."
Chloe's face pinches as she waits, worry setting deep in her heart, though outwardly she is calm and purposeful, setting out first aid supplies in preparation for a variety of possible injuries. Bart and Emil arrive first, Emil looking green in the face as Bart comes to a stop and sets the doctor down. Emil leans over, bracing himself on his knees, and focuses on taking deep breaths and steadying his eyes on a solid, nonmoving object to help control the dizziness.
Feeling his head stop spinning and his stomach relax he stands upright and meet's Chloe's concerned eyes. Her voice is soft. "Water helps sometimes."
He nods in acknowledgement. "But you get used to it eventually. Right?"
She smiles, but it doesn't touch the worry in her eyes. "Yes."
"How many times until you stopped…" He sees the amusement in her face and shakes his head. "Never mind."
Bart pipes up, even as he searches the cabinets for food. "'Licious is a champ doc. She's never blown chunks after a ride on the Bart-Express."
Emil frowns.
Chloe takes pity on him. "I was used to it already from Clark. It took me a few times too."
Emil's response is darkly resigned. "This is my tenth time."
"Oh."
Emil returns to business. "What injuries are we expecting?" He walks over to check the provisions Chloe had laid out.
Bart answers through an half full mouth. "Uh, Green Bean's got a gunshot wound."
Chloe gasps, her alarmed eyes going from Bart to Emil to the door hoping to see Oliver and the rest.
"Fishstick got walked all over." Bart laughs. "Literally."
Emil frowns knowing crush injuries can be tricky to treat. Even if the patient appeared OK, he could take a turn for the worse suddenly and die. Hopefully the man's strength and the healing ability he drew from water would help.
A minute later Victor and Oliver practically carry AC through the door. He is ashen and barely conscious. Emil glances at Oliver's arm, where dark red blood has spilled from his torn flesh, then focuses on AC, the more critical of the two. Victor sets up to assist Emil, and Chloe is left to treat Oliver.
Bart looks at the scene squeamishly, and stays far back. Oliver's eyes skim over Chloe, reaching out a hand to squeeze her shoulder in reassurance without conscious thought. Then his eyes are glued on AC as Emil takes his stats and peels back his shirt to see the injuries. Chloe pushes Oliver until he is partially seated on the counter lining a section of one wall. His legs are stretched out, feet still on the ground, more leaning that sitting.
Chloe has to step over his long legs as she rips open an alcohol swab then looks at the amount of blood coating his arm and changes her mind grabbing a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a large gaze pad. She douses the pad then starts to wipe the blood from Oliver's arm, pulling off his glove and arm band as she works. The bullet went right through, and Chloe carefully cleans both the entrance and exit wounds. Done with the mop up, she applies a clean swab to the wound and Oliver's breath hisses, his gaze drawn back to her instantly.
"Sorry."
He shakes his head and their eyes meet for a moment. For once he can see emotion swirling in her green orbs instead of an opaque mask. She looks away, steadying his arm with one hand at his elbow, the wound in his bicep, and wipes gently over the wound again with another clean alcohol swab. Satisfied that he'd at least stopped bleeding, now all she had to worry about was infection and Oliver's likely resistance to any down time. Chloe frowns and reaches out to apply an antibacterial ointment, when suddenly her hand begins to glow and Chloe's eyes widen with fear. She blinks rapidly but doesn't pull back, realizing that it's too late. Oliver's gaze goes from her face to her hand and back again and again in the seconds it takes for his wound to heal entirely.
"What the hell?" He asks, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Emil had seen it happen out of the corner of his eye and looks stunned, before shaking off his amazement and getting back to work on AC.
Chloe backs away from Oliver who reaches out his now healed arm to grab hold of her. "What was that?" He demands. Her mouth works open and closed a few times and he can see she is trying to decide what to tell him. "Don't bother coming up with a lie. Just tell me."
Her mouth closes and she looks up at him with very serious eyes. "I'm meteor infected," she says plainly, her chin lifted in defiance.
Oliver's mind races as he tries to work through that. Lots of people who developed meteor abilities couldn't handle it. Many ended up dead, in jail, in Belle Reaves or in one of Lex's facilities. Then he processes that she'd known this, known and had kept it a secret. His expression hardens.
She twists her arm away from him and walks towards AC. Emil regards her warily, but doesn't stop her. She stretches out her hand over AC's chest, her arm trembling. Oliver grabs her and pulls her back. "Wait. Emil, is AC OK? Can you help him?"
Emil glances at AC's stats again. "He's stable. I think we can get him in water now, see how he does with that."
"I can heal him." Her statement is subdued, her eyes cast at the floor.
Emil's eyes go from Chloe to Oliver's set expression, then back to Chloe again. It's then that he sees the blood. A spot of blood is seeping slowly through Chloe's shirt sleeve. On her arm. Right where Oliver's wound had been.
"Let's try the water first. We don't know the side effects of Chloe's ability. Better safe than sorry," Emil declares.
At the words 'side effects' Oliver stares at the doctor, his imagination presenting a thousand horrible possibilities, and misses the fact that Chloe covers her arm with her hand, hugging her arms around herself. Victor carries AC to the bathroom to set him in the tub, push in the stopper and turn on the shower, drenching his friend instantly.
In the main room Emil notes Chloe's attempt to hide her arm, and shakes his head denying the begging plea in her eyes. Oliver looks torn between following AC to see how he is and figuring out what was going on with Chloe's ability.
Victor shouts from the bathroom. "He's waking up, he looks better already. Damn dolphin lover."
Oliver immediately turns his full attention to Chloe who shrugs on her jacket, hiding the blood from everyone. "Where do you think you're going?" He demands as she steps towards the door.
"Home."
Oliver is livid. "Like hell. You're going to answer my questions."
She looks affronted and continues toward the door. Oliver moves to chase her down and Bart races over to block the door, finally reacting after seeing Chloe's glowing hand heal Oliver in seconds. Chloe glares at the youngest member of their team and rounds on Oliver.
"I don't take orders from you!"
"I'm your boss."
"Then I quit."
He looks beyond frustrated, and Chloe looks coldly angry. Emil decides to intercede. "Perhaps Chloe would agree to discuss her ability with me. Alone."
Oliver's hard eyes snap to Emil who is not intimidated. "Meteor abilities can be intensely personal." Emil's kind, understanding eyes go to Chloe. "If you'll agree to talk to me, Chloe, it's your choice."
"I want-" Oliver begins, his tone demanding.
"No one cares what you want. This isn't about you." Chloe cuts him off.
"Oliver." Emil's tone is reprimanding, and brokers no disregard.
Oliver glares at the older man and turns away, biting out orders to Bart, "Watch her. She doesn't leave." Bart nods as Oliver stomps away to change out of his Green Arrow gear.
Emil turns to Chloe. "Chloe?"
It sounds like a question, but she knows it isn't. Emil had seen the side effect of her healing Oliver. She either consented to talk to him or he'd tell Oliver what he saw without her input.
"Check on AC first."
Emil smiles and nods. By the time he checks on her a few minutes later, the wound in her arm that she'd absorbed was healed, the small spot of blood on her shirt the only proof it had ever been there. Emil and Chloe's eyes meet, his concerned and curious, hers wary.
CO-CO-CO
Words 6846
AN/Rant-
OK, just finished watching most of seasons 9 and 10. My conclusion: the show writers are smoking crack. There is so much weirdness- and I don't mean alien, supernatural weirdness. First off, I stand by my early opinion that Clark is annoying as F. Seriously. The level of self-righteous is out of control. And does he even have an ass? It's ok if he doesn't. Could explain the lack of tights now, and the presence of a cape later. Whatever. But there is so much more. Like how bad was the acting by the young-Oliver in Reunion? Laughably bad. Or in the episode where John Jones is shot, Oliver and Clark are clearly at major odds, and I have no freaking idea why.
And in Stiletto when Chloe is carjacked it seems random, and yet later the criminals seem to know her, and have targeted her on purpose and know that her computer is valuable and it's hinted that it will help them find Stiletto, yet no where do I see that information introduced. How do these random dudes who just want a little street crime to liven up their criminal undertakings know about Chloe?
And honestly – taking a life is so freaking bad? Grow a pair. If you were standing in front of a person who you knew would kill your loved ones, or a million other people, you'd judge your own feelings/morality to outweigh the lives you'd be saving? Maybe I've lived a different life, but no. Man up.
And in the ep that's running right now as I write, Clark is all frantic destroying his house to find the book of Rao, then his mom shows up and suddenly he has time for dinner and no one notices the holes in the wall? WTF.
And what's up with Oliver being interested in Lois post season 8. Seriously. They spend every birthday together? And Oliver is still pursuing and upset with her being with Clark in season 9? Why and huh?
And would it have killed them to have Chloe or Oliver tell Cark off an not apologize for it later? And while I'm not there yet, not having watched the early Season 10 episodes, how the hell did Tess Mercer get redeemed? Clark can't seem to get over Oliver killing Lex, but how many people did Tess kill? How many times did she try to kill the gang? And yet she's all buddy-buddy with them? Yeah, right.
And finally, what's with Chloe giving up the search for Oliver just cause Clark shows up, I get the whole 'yeah, happy you're alive and still on the planet' thing, but couldn't the Lex research wait? Honestly. Tell him you'll look into it later. So unsatisfying. And Chloe's plan A to find Oliver is the fate helmet? Maybe a little research or facial recognition software. I mean she had time to look up Lex for Clark.