Oliver's leg shook under the table as he looked around the bar. It was dark and smelled like stale smoke and even staler beer. The floor was sticky with an amalgam of spilt drinks and sweat and something else Oliver really didn't want to think about. John turned to him and coughed and Oliver realized he was shaking the whole table. "Sorry." Oliver sighed and leaned back in his seat. "She picked this place?"

"Yes, she said she had some business here, wanted to kill two birds with one stone if you will." John frowned as the music started up again and a blonde woman sauntered out onto the stage in front of them, shaking her hips as she removed her top.

"I'm almost positive my wife would not approve of this," Oliver said, his eyes tracking the blonde's movements for no more than a second until he turned to look anywhere else. John smiled at him and Oliver frowned. "What?"

"You just called her your wife," John pointed out.

"I—" Oliver stopped, he hadn't meant to, it had, sort of, just come out.

"It's ok, you know," John offered. "To be in love with your wife."

"I'm not in love with Chloe," Oliver said.

"You're totally in love with her," Hal scoffed, dropping down into the chair next to Oliver. "It's kind of impossible not be in love with her. Bart's in love with her, hell, I'm a bit in love with her myself." Hal smirked then winked at the waitress as she dropped a drink in front of him.

"I'm not in love with her," Oliver insisted, more forcibly this time. He wasn't in love with Chloe. He wasn't sure he was even ready for love yet but there was definitely something there. He wanted her, he knew that. Hell, she knew that which only served to make things just this side of awkward when the two of them were together. He liked her, probably more than he should and she was in love with a version of him that didn't exist yet so the whole thing was just a bit messed up.

Oliver grabbed the drink from Hal before he could take the first sip and set it back on the waitress' retreating tray, reminding the other man with a raise of his eyebrows that he was on some pretty serious pain killers. Hal huffed in annoyance and moved to protest but stopped when he saw the napkin that had been under the glass. He lifted it up for Oliver to see the waitress' phone number before slipping it in his pocket. "What are you doing here again?" Oliver asked him, annoyed.

"You need me for moral support," Hal said, slightly offended and it was Oliver's turn to scoff. "Fine. I don't trust Zatanna," Hal told him truthfully.

"So then this is you looking out for me?" Oliver asked and Hal flashed him a smirk.

"Hello, boys," a voice said and they all turned around to see Zatanna clad in her traditional Tuxedo jacket and fishnet stockings. She was tapping her top hat softly against her thigh and smiling down at them mischievously. John stood up and pulled out the spare chair for her. She offered him a soft smile and sat down, crossing her legs dramatically before setting her hat on the edge of the table.

No one said anything as the music stopped and started back up and the DJ introduced yet another girl onto the center stage. Zatanna tilted her head after a minute, confused. "Guys, you called me, remember?"

"Yes, right." John coughed. "Oliver has a problem."

"In the bedroom?" Zatanna looked around the strip club and Oliver glared at her, wanting to remind her that the choice of meeting places was her idea, not his, but she waved his protests off. "It was a joke, give me your hand," she said, suddenly serious and Oliver held his hand out to her. She flipped it over and traced her finger down the lines on his palm and with every line her brow furrowed even more. She looked up at Oliver, releasing his hand and leaning back in her seat. "Huh. I've been wondering when you were gonna show up. So, what's going on in 2009? It's been ages since I've been there. Well, ten years."

"Did you tell her?" Oliver turned to John who shook his head. "How did you know?"

"Ten years ago you showed up at my door at four in the morning talking about time travel and insisting I send you back into the future." Zatanna smirked. "At first I just thought you were drunk because, let's face it, you were drunk quite a lot back in 2009." Oliver sighed, he was really tired of hearing about what a completely screwed up bastard he was in 2009. "Then you calmed down and explained everything and it all made sense."

"It did?" Oliver asked.

"Well, no, time travel rarely makes sense, but at least I didn't think you were crazy anymore," Zatanna said.

"Can you send me back?" Oliver asked her.

"Maybe." Zatanna shrugged. "But I'm not going to."

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't," Zatanna said and Hal groaned.

"And once again, you have been extremely unhelpful. At least this trip wasn't a total bust," he said, patting his pocket where he'd stashed the waitress' phone number and made a move to stand up. Oliver put a hand on his shoulder and shoved him back down into his seat.

"Time isn't something you just mess around with and there's a reason for that." Zatanna glared at Hal and Oliver understood then that the distrust seemed to be mutual. "Look, your future is my past. For me it already happened so I know how you got home and it wasn't me. So if I were to send you back to then, not only would it change your future, but it would change my past which would then likely change everyone's future. So, no. Even if I could send you back, I won't."

"I hate time travel," Hal groaned, but looked slightly mollified.

"So then how did I get home? In your past?" Oliver asked.

"You said there was something in the future that you needed to see, needed to learn and when that happened you'd be sent back." Zatanna paused, just long enough for Oliver to notice.

"But?" he pressed.

"You didn't want to be there," Zatanna told him honestly. "You were desperate to come back here, in fact, begging me to send you back to this time."

"Why?" Oliver paled. "Did something happen? Does something happen?" Zatanna paused again and Oliver swallowed. "Is it Chloe?"

"Oliver, I'm sorry, I can't tell you," Zatanna said, genuinely sorry this time.

"You can't or you won't?" he asked desperately.

"A little of both," Zatanna told him. "It's nothing bad, ok? You just-you weren't ready to come back yet. Look, it's not just that time shouldn't be messed around with; it's that there are honestly very few people that can mess around with it. And I'm not one of them. Something like this is above my pay grade, but I might know some people. Let me make a few calls. See what I can dig up."

"I'd appreciate it," Oliver said. "I'll let you get back to work." He nodded at the table in the corner that Zatanna had been keeping one eye on the whole meeting. "You need any help?"

"Nah, I can handle this guy." Zatanna stood up and put the hat on her head, winking at them before she sauntered away.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver pulled on the knot of his tie, loosening it just a bit as he opened the back door and walked into the kitchen. The house was totally dark. The construction crews had long since gone and with Chloe working late for the first time since Oliver had come to Star City the house was completely empty. He paused in the doorway because it just didn't feel right somehow, being there when she wasn't, sort of like he was a guest in his own home.

It was strange, he'd been independent basically his whole life. Even his longest relationship, Tess, had never made it to the moving in together stage so he was used to living on his own. But after a month of having Chloe around it was like he didn't know what to do with himself. He turned the TV on and put it on Sports Center just to have some sort of background noise while he fixed dinner but barely paid attention to what was being said.

He watched the game while he ate but couldn't really concentrate. Sometimes Chloe would sit next to him and spend the game asking him questions about the players or the rules. When she was there, he found it annoying, but now that she wasn't he kind of missed it.

He turned the game off before the fourth inning and tried to do some work but he couldn't concentrate on that for very long either. He pulled out his phone and hesitated just a second before calling Chloe. It rang once then went to voicemail and that annoyed him but he all he could do was leave a message. "Hey, it's almost midnight, I haven't heard from you since I left the Watchtower and you're not back yet. I'm assuming you're still alive," he said a bit bitterly, then stopped and forced himself to take a deep breath. "Sorry, it's been a long day. I'm gonna go to bed, so…yeah."

Oliver hung up feeling angry, annoyed, and, if he was honest, a little worried but he didn't know what to do about it. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do about it. Sure, technically he was her husband, but he wasn't. He lay in bed for an hour, listening for the sound of her car coming up the driveway or for her key in the lock downstairs, but he didn't hear anything and eventually he managed to fall asleep.

When Oliver woke up the next morning, it wasn't to the smell of freshly brewed coffee but the sound of Chloe's alarm going off. He dragged himself out of bed and down the hall to the master bedroom and slammed a hand down on top of it, cutting the incessant beeping off abruptly. He stared down at Chloe's perfectly made, un-slept in bed and rubbed his eyes as he allowed himself to fall down onto the mattress.

This was the first time he'd actually been in the master bedroom, well, the first time since he was a kid. He could remember bursting into the room early on Saturday mornings and jumping in the bed with his mom and dad. Eventually his dad would grudgingly wake up, toss Oliver over his shoulder and carry him downstairs so they could make breakfast for his mom. He could also remember sneaking into the room in the middle of the night after having a bad dream, standing quietly in the doorway until his dad lifted up a corner of the comforter for him. Oliver would crawl under the covers and burrow in between his parents and fall straight back to sleep, feeling warm and safe.

The room hadn't changed much. There was a fresh coat of soft green paint on the walls and the floors had been refinished in here just like the rest of the house. His parent's furniture was gone, replaced with newer stuff. It wasn't what he would have chosen on his own and from what he knew about Chloe it wasn't exactly her style either. It was…their style. When he looked harder at the pieces, he could see both himself and Chloe in them, a blend of the two of them which was weird and oddly comforting.

The mattress was ridiculously comfortable and he couldn't help but lay back a little, resting his head against the pillows. He smelled that familiar Chloe smell and took in a deep breath, unable to help himself. He turned his head away from the pillow quickly, away from the smell before he did something embarrassing that he'd live to regret later. When he opened his eyes again, they landed on a picture sitting on the bedside table.

He reached out and grabbed the frame studying the image intensely. Younger versions of Chloe and himself were staring back at him, badly contained smiles on their faces. It looked almost as if seconds before the picture had been taken they'd been laughing uncontrollably and just barely managed to get it together long enough to take the picture.

Something in him twinged and he sat up in the bed frowning. He wondered what had been so funny, wondered if he'd ever get to experience that moment, laugh at that joke. He was suddenly very conscious of all of the things in Chloe's and his relationship that he'd missed, all the history between them that he didn't even know about and might not ever get to know about. He found himself missing things that never happened, for him anyway.

At the minute though, he mostly found himself missing Chloe. He put the picture back on the bedside table and walked down the hall and into the guest room. Pulling his phone off of the bedside table, he dialed Chloe's number again and was almost surprised when she answered on the second ring.

"Hey," Oliver said, caught slightly off guard.

"Hey," Chloe answered him, her voice a bit soft and a lot tired.

"You…didn't come home last night," Oliver said lamely. He resisted the urge to slap himself in the head because, obviously, she knew that.

"Oh." She seemed almost relieved by this statement, like she'd been expecting to hear condemnation for something different. "Yeah, I had to take a last minute trip to Metropolis to help Victor with the search for Pulse 8."

"You didn't call," Oliver said, congratulating himself on the strength he showed by not also mentioning that she hadn't answered any of his calls or returned any of his messages.

"I know, I'm sorry. It was just so last minute and I meant to, I did, but it was so late and…I'm still alive," Chloe said. The joke was bad and Oliver knew it was meant to let him know she'd gotten his messages but it just served to annoy him more. Knowing she'd gotten the message and still ignored it was worse than if she'd never gotten it at all.

He wanted to tell her that. He had the strangest urge to start a fight with Chloe, if only to have her pay attention to him, any kind of attention to him. Instead he bit his tongue because starting a fight sounded so...domestic to him. "Good, that's—that's good to know."

They were quiet for a second and then started talking again at the same time.

"Look—"

"I'm—"

"You go." Oliver laughed a bit and Chloe let out a breath.

"I really am sorry, Oliver. I should have called. It's just yesterday was such a long day, and that's no excuse, I know, I just forgot," Chloe told him.

"It's fine." He sighed, defeated, and sat down on the edge of the bed. He could tell by the silence that she didn't really believe him, which was probably because he was lying. "Seriously, Chloe, it's cool. I mean, I'm not your husband. You don't have to let me know where you are all the time."

"Oliver—"

"I have a meeting this morning and I need to get ready. Call me whenever you feel like it, I guess." Oliver hung up before Chloe could retort. So much for not starting a fight.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Chloe stared down at her phone and wondered how fighting with a man who was not her husband could feel exactly like fighting with her husband. "You didn't tell him?" Tess asked and Chloe turned, she'd forgotten the other woman was in the room with her.

"Not until I'm sure." Chloe shook her head and dropped her phone in her purse. She shifted a bit on the uncomfortable exam table, the paper gown crunching noisily as she moved. Chloe looked back over at Tess who was swaying slightly from side to side, Noah sound asleep in her arms.

"Chloe?" Tess looked up at her, shifting Noah in her arms slightly. "Is there something else going on?" Tess frowned and sat down.

Chloe shrank in on herself; she'd never been able to hide anything from Tess. When she'd finally convinced Lucas to bring her to Metropolis, Tess had been surprised to see Chloe but the visit was far from unwelcome. Chloe had told her she'd come to see Noah and Tess had taken her explanation at face value because it made sense. He'd grown so much since Chloe had seen him last; the daily pictures Tess sent her didn't do him justice.

Tess had let Chloe put him down for the night and as they stared at him sleeping peacefully in the crib, all Tess had said was Chloe's name and suddenly she was sobbing in Tess' arms on the floor of the nursery. After about twenty minutes she'd managed to let out a choked, "I think I'm pregnant."

Tess had taken over immediately, dragging her to the bathroom and forcing her to take one of the home pregnancy tests she had left over and when it came out positive she went straight to Emil who promised to fit Chloe in first thing in the morning and get a real test done. Chloe had nodded her thanks numbly and excused herself to the guest room before passing out, utterly exhausted.

Tess hadn't said anything that morning as they drove to the Watchtower. She'd run interference with Victor and the others so no one would know that Chloe was in town. Now she was looking at her with this strange look and Chloe had this urge to spill her guts, and not just about Oliver and the baby, but about the time in fifth grade when she stole a pack of gum from the corner convenience store. Chloe was reminded once again of how glad she was Tess was on their side. Chloe opened her mouth to confess, but was saved when Emil walked back into the room.

"So, everything looks good. You're about seven weeks along and it seems to be going very smoothly." Emil closed his file and smiled up at her.

"So, I'm pregnant?" Chloe asked, letting out a long breath as Emil nodded and then she burst into tears again.

Tess set Noah down in his carrier and walked over to her. "Honey, this is good news, I thought this was good news, why isn't this good news?" Tess asked, rubbing her back.

"Because the baby's not Oliver's," Chloe sobbed out and Tess and Emil looked at each other over her head, their eyes wide. The whole story came spilling out then, even the bit about stealing the gum in fifth grade.

"That is certainly complicated." Emil frowned when she was finished. "But, biologically speaking, the baby is still genetically Oliver's—" Emil cut himself off after a single glare from Tess.

"Honey," Tess said, sighing and pulled Chloe into a hug while Emil backed out of the room slowly.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver walked out of yet another meeting, resisting the urge to lock himself in his office, lay his head on the desk, and take a quick nap. He hadn't really slept in a week, hadn't done much of anything actually. Chloe was still in Metropolis but she'd gone back to ignoring his calls and Oliver didn't have to be married to her for ten years to know that something was wrong. Hal had seen her a few times but hadn't told Oliver anything except a very curt, "You need to fix this," the first time he'd gotten back from Metropolis.

Oliver had asked him how he was supposed to fix it when he didn't even know what was wrong. Hal hadn't had an answer for that one. He pulled out his phone and checked it for the hundredth time, not really expecting to find anything from Chloe but hoping. He was surprised, however, to find Tess' name on his message screen.

His assistant reminded him that he had yet another meeting across town in five minutes and he nodded, heading for the elevators as he opened up the message.

Get to Metropolis ASAP

Oliver dialed Chloe's number immediately and it went straight to voicemail. He tried Tess after that but he got the same thing. He grunted in frustration as he stabbed the button for the lobby violently. When the doors finally opened he tore through the lobby and out into the street, glad he'd decided on the driver today instead of driving himself. "Airport," Oliver said as the man opened the door for him.

He was paid well not to ask any questions and took the change in destination in stride, deftly pulling out into traffic and heading for the airport. Oliver got on the phone with his pilot and only relaxed when he was assured the jet would be ready and waiting for him when he got to the tarmac.

The flight was nerve wracking as he still couldn't seem to get anyone on the phone. His stomach churned the entire time they were up in the air, making him regret the sushi he'd had at lunch. Even more than that he regretted his conversation with Chloe the week before, what he'd said to her and the way he'd said it. (If Chloe had been in Metropolis for a week then he wouldn't have talked to her that morning. Maybe say a week ago.)

His bike was waiting for him when he landed and he sped through the streets of Metropolis, skidding to a halt in front of the Watchtower. He stormed into the building, startling everyone as he screamed for Chloe. "Where is she?" Oliver grabbed Victor by the shoulders, who looked a bit freaked out, but even more confused.

"I don't know," Victor stuttered, looking at Oliver strangely. "Dude?" Victor looked down to where Oliver's grip was white knuckled on Victor's shoulder and Oliver let him go.

"Chloe said she was here helping you with the search for Pulse 8," Oliver explained. "And then I got a text from Tess telling me to get here as fast as I could."

"I haven't seen Chloe, Oliver, I don't know what to tell you." Victor turned back to his computer screen as Oliver ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. She'd lied to him, which was something he was definitely going to talk to her about as soon as he figured out where she was and ascertained that she wasn't on the verge of death or something.

"Oliver." Emil walked up to him cautiously. "She's at our place." Oliver turned to the doctor who took an involuntary step back and he made himself take a deep breath and calm down. "She's fine," Emil assured him which went a long way to helping him with the whole calming down thing.

"Ok, good." Oliver turned around and headed for the door then stopped because he had no idea where the hell Emil's and Tess' place was.

"I'll take you," Emil offered, setting down his files and pulling his coat off. Oliver nodded because he couldn't exactly ask where their house was without looking suspicious. He folded himself into Emil's car and leaned back, the adrenaline leaving his body a bit shaky now that he knew Chloe was ok.

"She's fine?" Oliver asked again, just double checking. Emil flinched only slightly and Oliver really didn't like that, he also didn't like the way Emil's eyes were darting around frantically, looking everywhere but at him. "You would tell me if there was something wrong with my wife, wouldn't you?" And there it was, an almost imperceptible flinch at the word 'wife' and Oliver sighed. "She told you?"

"Yes," Emil said, relaxing slightly now that the truth was out.

"So then Tess knows?" Oliver asked and Emil nodded curtly. "Great," Oliver groaned, slouching in his seat a bit. "Tess hated me in 2009."

"Yes, well, we all did," Emil said, only half joking. "You were a bit of an ass." The joke fell flat, partly because there really was just too much truth in it to be funny. "But if it's any consolation, Tess wasn't much better than you back then."

"That's something to hold onto then," Oliver said, snorting.

They pulled up outside a very nice apartment building and Emil tossed his keys to the valet before leading Oliver to a bank of elevators. He knew this building well. He'd considered it when he first came to Metropolis, before he found the Clock Tower. It was expensive and modern and so unlike Emil that he figured this place was probably Tess' choice.

A door opened halfway down the hall when they stepped off the elevator and Tess stepped out, standing in the doorway, Noah cradled in her arms. She didn't say anything to them, just stared at Oliver as if he was a puzzle she couldn't figure out. "Where's Chloe?" Oliver asked, hating how shaky his voice sounded.

Tess stared at him for another second before stepping back to let them inside. "She's resting right now." Oliver made a move in the general direction of where he assumed the bedrooms to be but Tess stepped in his path, blocking his movement. "And you're not going to wake her up," she said firmly, glaring at him. "She needs her sleep."

"What's going on?" Oliver asked Tess who just continued to glare. He knew that look. That was Tess' This-is-all-your-fault-look. He'd seen that look on the island when they'd gotten caught trying to escape and he'd seen it right before she walked out the door after their relationship imploded. Whatever was going on she blamed him and that just wasn't fair.

"Look, I get it, the Oliver you knew back when was an ass to you but I could really do without the judging right now," Oliver said, annoyed at the whole situation. "Especially considering that I don't know what the hell it is I'm supposed to have done."

Tess softened a bit and sat down on the couch. "You're right, I'm sorry. It's just, my best friend's hurting right now and I don't know what to do to fix this and it's just so easy to blame you."

"I know the feeling." Oliver sighed and sat down next to her. "And hell, technically, it is my fault."

"You're just as much a victim in all this as she is. You didn't ask for this, Oliver," Tess reminded him.

"No, I didn't. But if I hadn't been such a jack ass, Chloe wouldn't have had to do what she did and none of this would have happened," Oliver said.

"It explains a lot though," Tess said after a minute. "I thought I was going crazy at first but, now, I get it."

"Get what?" Oliver turned to her.

"The way you looked at me, the way you've been looking at me since Mia's graduation. It's the way you used to look at me before, like you don't trust me," Tess said.

Oliver was quiet for a minute because he couldn't deny it. "I don't trust her, the Tess that I knew, back in my time. But you, I don't even really know you, do I?"

"The things I did to you, the things I haven't even done yet back in your time… you shouldn't trust her, you know." Tess looked up at him. "But I have changed, Oliver. I will change."

"Trust me, I'm getting that," Oliver said. "Sometimes I look at you and I still see the Tess that I know; the one who will fight to her last breath for the people that she loves, the one who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to go after it." Oliver smiled. "But other times I look at you and I see a completely different person; someone I've never met before, someone I'd like to know better."

"Am I that different?" Tess asked him, laughing a bit.

Oliver looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms and then over her shoulder at Emil, puttering away in the kitchen and it was his turn to laugh. The noise woke up Noah and he wiggled, squishing his face up in the prelude to a scream before simply turning it into a yawn. Tess looked up to see Oliver staring down at Noah with a strange expression on his face and she smiled. "You want to hold him?" she asked softly and before he could decline she'd shoved the baby into his arms and given him no choice but to cradle Noah softly against his chest.

"How did you do it? How did you change?" Oliver asked, not looking up at her but staring down at Noah who was slowly blinking up at Oliver.

"You," Tess told him honestly. "Clark had a lot to do with it but, surprisingly, it was you who really made me believe I could be a better person. You had this unwavering faith in me that I know I didn't deserve. Even when you hated me, even when you didn't trust me, you were still telling me that I could be better, that you knew I could be better. You made me want to prove you right. I still don't even really understand it."

"Maybe I did know." Oliver shrugged, smiling up at her.

Something clicked in Tess' memory at that comment. He had known. He'd come here, into the future and seen her, seen this, and then gone back to his time with that knowledge. He knew she could do it because he'd seen her do it. He'd known all along.

"You said something to me once," Tess said, her voice barely above a whisper as the full implication of everything sunk in. "You told me that one day you'd be holding my child, and when that day came, you'd be able to tell him what an amazing woman his mother was."

"Because she is," Oliver shrugged as he stared down at Noah, still not understanding what Tess was trying to tell him. "Your mother is an amazing woman."

Tess just stared at him until Oliver finally understood and looked up at her. "I thought you were crazy because having a kid was, like, the last thing on my mind but you knew it would happen because for you it had already happened."

Oliver sucked in a breath because he suddenly realized with a sort of clarity that he hadn't had since he'd gotten to this place, if what Tess said was true then at some point he really would be going home. And he honestly didn't know how he felt about that so he tried to make light of the whole thing. "Time travel gives me a headache," he joked.

Tess laughed then, a real open laugh this time and Oliver joined her, glad that he could find some humor in this situation at least. "Tess? Who are you—" They both stopped laughing when Chloe stepped out of the hall and stared at them. "Oliver." Chloe looked at him and he could read the guilt and the fear on her face and suddenly nothing was really all that funny anymore.

"I think you two need to talk," Tess said, sliding Noah out of Oliver's arms and elbowing him in the ribs.

"Yeah, I think we do." Chloe nodded and Oliver stood up nervously.

"You can use my room," Tess offered helpfully and Chloe nodded and turned back down the hall, Oliver following behind her.

"Hey," Oliver said cautiously from the doorway when it was just the two of them.

"Hey," Chloe breathed out.

They stood staring at each other for a minute before Oliver stepped into the room and closed the door. "So Tess thinks we need to talk."

Chloe sat down on the bed and took a deep breath before looking up at Oliver. "I'm pregnant."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Emil frowned when he saw Tess holding the baby monitor up to her ear. He looked down at the baby in her arms and then back to the monitor and sighed. "Tess."

She shushed him then waved him over. "She told him."

"Don't you think this should be a private conversation? Between Chloe and Oliver?" Tess just raised her eyebrows. This had been the reason she'd suggested her room because she knew the baby monitor was in there. Emil knew a losing battle when he saw one so he just settled next to her on the couch and listened in.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver sucked in a breath and sat down next to Chloe on the bed. "Pregnant?"

"Yep. Pregnant." Chloe nodded, taking another deep breath. "And I think we should get a divorce."

"No." He looked over at her, the word out of his mouth before he'd even finished thinking it.

"Oliver—"

"No." He jumped up and stared down at her.

"Just listen to me for a second." Chloe put a hand on his arm. "I'm not your wife. You didn't choose this life. You were just sort of dropped into it. You've been kind enough to play house with me for the past few weeks so as not to raise suspicion but, this…a baby…I can't ask you to do that."

"You don't have to ask," Oliver pointed out.

"Look, it's not up for discussion," Chloe said, wiping her eyes as she turned away. "I'll call the lawyers in the morning."

Oliver shook his head in disbelief. "And what happens when your Oliver comes back to find himself divorced?"

"He'll understand," Chloe protested.

Oliver snorted. "He won't." Chloe tried to protest. "He won't. Because I don't."

"You don't get it, do you? You're going back, Oliver. I know that, I know that for a fact, but what I don't know is what happens to my Oliver when you do."

"He'll come back to you," Oliver said simply.

"No." Chloe shook her head. "You don't know that. Max got lost in the void. Oliver could get lost too," she added softly, voicing her concerns for the first time.

Oliver sighed and squatted down in front of her. "Max let himself get lost. Max wanted to get lost. There's no way your Oliver lets himself go a single minute longer without you then he absolutely has to." Chloe turned away from him, not believing him so he grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. "If he has to claw his way through time to get back to you, he will. Trust me. I know. I know because that's what I would do."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Good answer." Tess let out a breath and Emil silently agreed with her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Do I get a say in this?" Oliver asked her and Chloe frowned at him. "Because I don't want a divorce."

"Oliver—"

"No." Oliver stepped closer to her. "Look, I know I'm not the husband you want but I'm the husband you've got. I'm not going to lie, the whole wife and kids thing has never really been on my radar but now that it's here, staring me in the face, I think I could be good at this. I think I'd like to try."

"Marriage…raising a child, isn't something you do because you think you'll be good at it." Chloe shook her head.

"I know that," Oliver said and sighed. "This is coming out all wrong."

"You don't even want to be here, Oliver," Chloe said.

"Of course I want to be here, what would make you think I don't want to be here?" he asked her incredulously.

"How was your meeting with Zatanna?" Chloe asked and Oliver froze, speechless.

"How did you know about that?"

"A woman does not meet another woman's husband in a strip club without informing her of it first." Chloe shook her head. "Look, this is all for the best, Oliver."

"I don't believe that, I can't believe it, and I don't think you do either," Oliver said.

"Things are just too confusing when I'm around you and I can't handle confusing right now."

"How are things confusing?" Oliver asked.

"Because as much as I've been trying to deny it, you are my husband. In every way that matters, you are the man that I fell in love with, the man that I married. There are differences, obviously, but every day you remind me more and more of him. And it's so hard to see you in our house, in his office and not to-"

Oliver grabbed her and kissed her, cutting her off. She clutched at his shirt, her knuckles white with tension but she kissed him back. Her teeth scraped lightly at his bottom lip and her tongue followed after. Oliver pulled away and Chloe gasped in a breath of air, resting her forehead against his chest as she screwed her eyes tight. "And then you go and do something like that," she whispered and looked up at him, "qnd I never want to let you go."

Oliver cupped her jaw lightly, running his thumb along her cheek bone, wiping away the tears that were falling. "So don't."

"It's not that easy." Chloe sighed and took a step back, putting a bit of space between them.

"It is that easy," Oliver said. "We can make it that easy."

"I'm scared," Chloe whispered and Oliver grabbed her and pulled her close, squeezing her tight.

"Yeah? Well, for once we're finally on equal footing because I'm absolutely terrified," Oliver said and she laughed. Oliver placed a soft kiss to her temple and she sighed, relaxing into his embrace. "Will you just…come home? Please."

"Yeah." Chloe nodded, not bothering to let go of him.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver's nose crinkled at the smell of smoke but he figured it was just a part of his dream. Only when he opened his eyes the smell didn't go away and before he could process what that might mean, the smoke alarm blared to life and he was up and out of the bed in an instant.

It took him less than two seconds to make it down the hallway and into the master bedroom. The fact that Chloe's bed was empty didn't ease the anxiety in his chest for a second and he turned and took the stairs two at a time. When his feet hit the last step he didn't even pause before he took off toward the kitchen. He could see the smoke now, billowing out of the kitchen door. He didn't stop until he saw her standing beside the open back door, waving the smoke out into the night air with the help of a cookie sheet.

Oliver glared at her as he bent forward and grabbed his knees, catching his breath. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked her, walking over to the pantry and pulling out the step stool. He put it under the smoke alarm and climbed up, disconnecting the battery to stop the beeping.

"Making cookies," Chloe said, dropping the cookie sheet and collapsing against the counter in exhaustion. Her eyes cut to the plate of tiny, little blackened lumps on the counter and Oliver raised his eyebrows at her. "Ok, I'm trying to make cookies."

"At three in the morning?" Oliver asked. "Chloe, what's going on?"

"I couldn't sleep." Chloe shrugged. "And I started thinking…I can't cook."

"Yeah, I know." Oliver picked up one of the cookies and wrinkled his nose before dropping it back down to the plate. It made a very heavy thump and Oliver laughed.

"It's not funny," Chloe insisted. "I'm going to be a mom, Oliver. Normal moms cook, normal moms can make cookies, normal moms are not afraid of the stove."

"Wait, you're afraid of the stove?" Oliver stood up straighter.

Chloe glared at him. "I—it's the gas. Every time I turn it on I'm scared it's not going to catch right away and the gas is going to build up and then…explode. Hal says I'm being irrational but I'm not."

"Wait, you're scared to turn on the stove because you think it's going to explode and you don't think that's irrational?" Oliver asked her.

"I sent a man to the hospital, Oliver. He has no more eyebrows. The Doctors aren't sure if they'll ever grow back," Chloe reminded him.

"Ok." Oliver grabbed her shoulders. "Ok, you're right, completely rational. But we can work on that. I'll work on that with you. In the mean time, will you just promise me you won't try to cook anything unless I'm awake and preferably close by with a fire extinguisher?"

Chloe nodded grudgingly as Oliver's hand slid from her shoulder, down her arm, to grab her hand. "Come on, it's way past your bed time."

"I'm not really—"

"Chloe, you have to sleep." Oliver tugged her hand and pulled her out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.

"You don't understand, Oliver, I want to sleep, I do, I just…can't." Chloe stopped at the bottom of the stairs and pulled her hand from his. "The bed's too big and empty and the room's too quiet and it's stupid really. I've slept without him before, I do it a lot more than I'd like actually, between his job and my job and the JLA. But it's different this time because I know he's not in Tokyo on business and I know he's not out doing a job with the boys. He's just…gone."

Oliver smiled softly at her and grabbed her hand again. Wordlessly, he pulled her up the steps and down the hall and Chloe let him, curious as to what exactly he was doing. "In the bed," Oliver said, pushing her down on the edge of the mattress before walking out of the room.

"It's not going to work," Chloe called down the hall, watching him as he disappeared back into the guest room. Less than a minute later she saw the lights go off and then Oliver come back out, holding his phone.

He walked back into the room and dropped the phone on the bedside table and looked over at Chloe. "In the bed," he repeated and this time Chloe lay back and slid under the covers. Oliver smiled and climbed in the bed beside her, slipping in between the sheets. He maneuvered Chloe so that she was lying on her side her back pressed against his chest and then leaned over her and turned off her bedside lamp.

Chloe lay there in the dark for a few minutes, the feel of Oliver's arm heavy, yet reassuring across her stomach, his chest solid and familiar against her back. She could hear him breathing slowly, feel small puffs of air on the back of her neck and nothing had ever felt better in her life. "I'm pretty sure this is inappropriate," Chloe whispered into the dark room.

"Shut up and go to sleep, Sidekick," Oliver grumbled, half asleep already, nuzzling his nose behind her ear before placing a soft kiss at the top of her jaw.

"Yeah, ok," Chloe yawned and closed her eyes.

The first three months of the pregnancy were easy. Well, for Oliver anyway. Chloe had a pretty bad case of morning sickness, as well as afternoon, evening and middle of the night sickness. It was making it very difficult to keep the whole thing a secret. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell anyone it was just that it had taken her so long to actually conceive she didn't want to say anything publicly until they were out of danger.

Oliver hadn't understood at first, didn't know what danger she was talking about until he read something in one of the pregnancy books Chloe had brought home about the dangers of miscarriage in the first trimester. The thought that Chloe could lose the baby was almost too much for him to take and he hadn't realized until that moment how scared Chloe had been of the prospect.

He went into overdrive after that, reading every pregnancy book he could get his hands on. He made sure she took her pre-natal vitamin in the morning and showed up at the Gazette every day to take her to lunch, even if he knew she would probably throw the whole thing up an hour later. He gave her foot massages to relax her at night and absolutely forbid her from stepping foot into the Watchtower to spare her from any added stress.

He took over her duties when she complained and realized, not for the first time, just how amazing she was, juggling work and her JLA duties on top of being a wife to him and a cousin to Lois and a friend to Tess.

After a full day at the office, and then another couple of hours in the Watchtower, all Oliver wanted to do most nights was crawl into bed and sleep for fifteen hours. Normally he'd get around five if he was lucky though and then have to wake up and do it all over again. But he wasn't complaining. He wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world.

He'd never forget the look on Chloe's face when she ran into the office, sliding a bit on the hardwood floors in her stocking feet and lifted her shirt up, showing Oliver the tiny, almost imperceptible baby bump that had just appeared. He'd never forget coming downstairs one morning to find her spreading Nutella on a cucumber slice before dipping the whole thing in marinara sauce as she proudly announced she was over her morning sickness and absolutely starving and did he think he could possibly run to the store and get her some sardines and cheese puffs?

And he would never in a million years forget the feel of her hand tightly in his earlier that day as the doctor showed them the first ultrasound image of the baby, of his baby, of their baby. He'd never forget wiping the tears off of Chloe's face in the hospital hallway, much like he'd done only months before, only this time they were happy tears. And she laughed as they fell and then asked him if he was ready before pushing a button and sending the ultrasound image to every number in her address book. It was the easiest way to get the news out, she'd told him and she'd been right. Not two seconds after she had hit send both of their phones were ringing.

They kept ringing all day and the house had felt like Grand Central Station as every superhero on the planet descended upon Star City to offer their congratulations in person. Most of them Oliver had already met before thanks to his taking over Chloe's duties at the Watchtower for the past few months but some of them had been a surprise. Like when he opened the door and saw Bruce Wayne standing on his doorstep with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and actual smile on his face as he pulled Chloe into a tight hug.

He didn't stay long but the whole thing was more than surreal to Oliver considering he and Bruce had barely been friends back at Excelsior and were nothing more than fierce business rivals in 2009. Chloe had explained to Oliver that he was actually a part of the JLA. He called himself Batman and roamed around Gotham City fighting crime, occasionally lending a helping hand to the team when they needed him.

Oliver had laughed at the image of him running around dressed up like a bat of all things and asked jokingly if he had his butler help him into the suit, remembering that Bruce rarely did anything without Alfred. When Chloe clammed up and changed the subject it was all the confirmation that Oliver needed and vowed that he would never, ever let him live that down. Chloe had rolled her eyes and snorted at his childish behavior.

The last of the well wishers had grudgingly left about an hour ago when Oliver insisted that Chloe get to bed but he hadn't been able to bring himself to join her just yet. He'd had every intention of locking up the house and following her upstairs but then he'd seen the ultrasound image lying on the counter and he'd grabbed it, retreating into his study.

"Oliver?" Chloe asked sleepily, standing in the doorway rubbing at her eyes. She was wearing another one of his t-shirts and it hit her just above the knee, her small baby belly poking out the fabric just enough for him to know it was there. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." He smiled at her but she didn't believe him, walking into the room and around the desk, her gaze softening when she saw the ultrasound in his hand. Wordlessly, she sat down on his lap and leaned her head against his chest.

"What's wrong?" she asked him in a whisper and he thought for a second of telling her that nothing was wrong then remembered that she knew him much better than he knew her and she'd see through that lie in a second.

"He's missing all of this," Oliver said suddenly, dropping the ultrasound to the desktop and placing a hand on Chloe's stomach.

"Who?" Chloe asked, genuinely confused as to who he could be talking about.

"Your Oliver. He's missing all of this. He's missing everything and it's my fault. He should be here. For you, for the baby, for all of this, but he can't because I'm here and I'm going to be here until I learn whatever the hell it is some dumb ass kid decided I needed to learn and I have no idea how long that will take or how long I'll be here and I shouldn't be here," Oliver said. "And the most horrible thing is, I want to be here. I don't want to leave you or the baby or this life and what exactly does that make me?"

He'd known, in the back of his mind, he'd known that but he hadn't actually admitted it to himself until this afternoon when Zatanna had called him. She'd said her friend was a bust but assured him that she had a few more leads that she would try out and promised to keep him updated on her progress.

He'd wanted to tell her not to worry about it, wanted to say to take her time, that he wasn't in any hurry to get home. But he didn't know how to tell her that. He didn't know how to say that he was sort of falling in love with his wife and he wasn't in any hurry at all to get back to his own time where his Chloe was still a bit distrustful of him and the only thing he had to look forward to after a long day at work was an empty apartment and an even emptier bed.

"Oliver, calm down." Chloe laughed as she grabbed his face and kissed him softly. He felt himself become calm almost the instant her lips touched his and he decided that this must be Chloe's super power because it was absolutely amazing. She pulled away a bit sheepishly and he smiled at her to assure her that it was more than ok.

Oliver slept with Chloe in the Master bedroom pretty much every night now but they hadn't really talked about the kiss at Tess'. To compound the awkwardness there had been a few more since then but Oliver had always been the one to instigate them. This was the first time that Chloe had kissed him and he wanted her to know that without a doubt he was ok with that. He knew they'd have to talk about it sooner or later but right now he really didn't want to burst the bubble.

"He's not missing anything," Chloe assured him, bringing him back to the conversation they'd been having before. Oliver opened his mouth to protest but Chloe kissed him again, cutting off his retort and he found that he really couldn't bring himself to care that much. "He's not missing anything," Chloe repeated as she pulled away and rested her forehead on his. "Because you're not missing anything."

"I don't—" Oliver shook his head in confusion.

"Will you ever forget this?" she asked him, covering the hand he had on her stomach with hers, running her thumb lightly over his knuckles as she twined her fingers in his.

"Never," Oliver admitted.

"Then he never will either," Chloe said. "Just because he's not here now, doesn't mean he wasn't here then." It took Oliver a minute to wade through the tenses and get to the heart of what Chloe was saying. "You knew. When we first started trying to have a baby and that test kept coming up negative, you just kept telling me to hang in there, that it would happen when the time was right."

"When I would cry myself to sleep at night you'd just hold me and promise me, 'One day,' you'd whisper, 'Just a little while longer,' you'd say, 'It's just not time yet.' I thought it was just your way of coping but you knew the whole time because you'd already been there, already seen it. I thought you were just stronger than me, I thought you just had more faith but you didn't need faith because you'd seen it, you'd lived it."

"Lived what?" Oliver frowned.

"This," Chloe said. "You are living through this now so when he comes back he'll remember it all." Oliver nodded, thinking about what Tess had said to him before about being so sure that she could change because he'd already seen her change. "He's not missing anything because you're not missing anything." She stood up, sliding out of his lap but keeping her fingers firmly linked in his. "Come to bed," she whispered and he nodded, allowing her to pull him out of the chair and up the stairs.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver walked over to the coffee pot to refresh his cup, his head buried in a file. He lifted his eyes for a second to take a sip but paused before the cup even reached his lips. Chloe was sitting at the kitchen table in the chair across from his, just like she did every morning. Her caffeine free herbal tea was sitting in the cup next to her, untouched and cold, just like it was every morning. She was holding a copy of the Gazette in her hands, just like every morning, only this morning she wasn't reading it.

The paper had fallen to the side, all but forgotten as Chloe's gaze seemed to be completely on him. Her eyes were slightly unfocused as her tongue darted out and she pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, biting it lightly. She looked hungry, but not for food. The morning sickness being long gone had brought Chloe's appetite back with a vengeance but she'd had a full breakfast, eggs, bacon and two croissants, with a side of waffles and a huge bowl of fruit, less than an hour ago.

For a second Oliver thought she was looking at the coffee because she was going on six months now, coffee free, cold turkey. She refused to drink decaf because, as she reminded him constantly, she really didn't see the point of coffee without caffeine. Oliver moved the cup back and

forth a bit and when her eyes didn't follow he realized she was staring at him; she was hungry for him.

Well, this is interesting, he thought, smirking as he took a sip of coffee and walked back to the table. He'd been sleeping with her in the master bedroom every night since that first night a few months ago, but that was it. He wasn't going to push her into anything she didn't want or wasn't ready for. He'd been letting her take the lead, make the first move, like when she kissed him. Which had happened quite a bit more since that first time but they hadn't gone any further. Only Oliver was tired of waiting for her.

Chloe's eyes followed him across the room as he sat back in his chair and he chuckled. It seemed to grab her attention and she looked up at him, her eyes focusing on his immediately. A deep blush rose up out of the neck of her shirt all the way to her hair line and she ducked her head, burying her face back in the paper.

"I think we should go out tonight," Oliver said, going back to his file.

"Well, I'm not cooking so if you want to eat, it's either that or order in," Chloe said, snorting and flipped the page.

"No, Chloe," Oliver said more firmly. "I think we should go out. Tonight," he repeated and something in his voice made her drop the paper and look at him.

"Oh," Chloe said, reaching for another croissant from the tray and picking at it a bit. "You mean like a date?" she whispered.

"Yeah, I mean like a date." Oliver smiled softly at her.

Chloe popped a small piece of bread in her mouth and chewed slowly. "Ok."

"Great." Oliver looked down at his file. "Then it's a date."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver had hurried home from work to shower and change for his date. Chloe had said she could just meet him somewhere in the city but he didn't want to drive home separately at the end of the night. He also didn't want to be in a wrinkled suit straight from the office. He wanted to do this right.

He'd showered and changed in about thirty minutes then sat on the couch and flipped through the channels absently for almost an hour while he waited for Chloe to get ready. He'd heard the water running in the shower when he'd gotten home and the sound of a hair dryer when he passed the room after his shower but since then it had been pretty quiet. He checked his watch and turned off the TV, tossing the remote control to the couch.

"Chloe, seriously, we have reservations at eight," Oliver called up the stairs. When he didn't hear anything he got up and took the stairs two at a time. "Chloe?"

He walked into the master bedroom and didn't see her anywhere but her vanity was an absolute mess, make-up and hair products all over the place. The bathroom wasn't any better and it was also Chloe free. He heard an annoyed grunt come from the closet and he was ready to remind her that they needed to leave in five minutes if they wanted to make their reservation but the words died in his throat the second he opened the door.

He smiled slowly, leaning up against the doorway to fully take in the scene in front of him. Chloe was standing in the middle of the closet, hands on her hips, wearing nothing but a bra and a pair of panties. The closet racks were practically bare; every article of clothing Chloe owned was lying on the floor at her feet as she stared dejectedly at the remaining dresses still left on the hangers. Her hair was falling in soft, precise curls almost half way down her back and even in profile Oliver could tell that her make-up was meticulously done.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked, announcing his presence.

"I don't have anything to wear," Chloe said.

Oliver looked back down to where she was almost ankle deep in clothes and quirked an eyebrow. "I'm sure that's not true."

Chloe turned slightly to smile at him before rolling her eyes. "Nothing fits anymore." She looked down at her noticeably extended stomach and Oliver followed her gaze down to her bare baby belly.

He pushed himself off the door frame and stepped into the room, picking up a little black dress that he'd seen her wear before from the ground and holding it out to her. "Wear this."

"It doesn't fit," Chloe protested but stepped into the dress anyway, turning away from him so he could zip her up. When she turned back around she held out her hands. "See," she said.

Oliver took a step back and looked her up and down, shrugging in confusion. "I think it looks great."

"It's too tight." Chloe turned to the side, pointing out how the dress clung to her every curve. "Everyone can see…everything." Oliver wasn't stupid, he knew by everything she meant her baby bump. They'd done a really good job of keeping the whole pregnancy thing out of the public eye. There had been speculation, nothing concrete, but if she wore that dress, by morning there wouldn't be anyone who could dispute the truth.

"I want everyone to see," Oliver said, sliding his hands across her belly. "It's like…I don't know, like I'm showing you off."

Chloe looked up at him from under her lashes. "Showing me off?" she asked him.

"Yep. I want to let everyone know that I made this," he said.

Chloe put her hands on her hips and smirked. "You had a bit of help you know."

"You're right." Oliver dropped a kiss to her forehead. "I couldn't have done it without you."

Chloe pushed him away playfully. "Get out of here; I still have to find shoes."

"You're wearing the dress, right?" Oliver asked as he walked to the door. Wearing the dress meant everyone would know. It would probably mean calling his PR guys and issuing an official statement and things might get crazy for a while but Oliver didn't care. He wanted people to know that his wife was carrying his child, because, honestly, some days he could hardly believe it himself and if it was out there, if everyone else knew, then it would be like it was real.

Chloe laughed and nodded. "I'm wearing the dress," she assured him.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver set the bag on the counter and pulled the leftovers out. Dinner had been nice. He'd thought that maybe it would be awkward but it was Chloe and Oliver had come to the realization that, for some reason, nothing was ever awkward with Chloe. There had been a few paparazzi when they got to the restaurant, unavoidable really when you were the second richest man on the planet who also happened to moonlight as a crime fighting hero.

Oliver remembered the second after Chloe got out of the car when all the camera flashes stopped as they all got their first official look at the baby bump and then the intense barrage of flashes that lasted for another minute or so. Chloe took it all in stride, smiling diligently, her hand secure in the crook of Oliver's arm. And when one of the cameramen had asked, for the record, if she really was pregnant, Chloe had simply looked down at her belly then back up at him and rolled her eyes and said, "No, I'm smuggling my own ham into the restaurant."

They'd all laughed and Chloe had answered a few questions and then everyone offered her congratulations and thanked her for the pictures. Oliver had been amazed at the way she'd handled everything and she'd just shrugged and said she was used to it, that it was the price she paid to be with him and she paid it gladly.

He turned to put the leftovers in the fridge but Chloe stopped him and reached her hands out. "Wait, wait, wait," she said, grabbing the smaller container and pulling the lid off eagerly. Oliver looked over his shoulder as he put the others away and was shocked when he saw a large piece of tiramisu.

"Seriously?" Oliver closed the fridge and turned around. "You ate a piece of chocolate cake the size of my head and half of my crème Brule at the restaurant. You ordered something to go?"

"It's tiramisu," Chloe said, sliding her finger through the cream and licking it off.

"How can you possibly still be hungry?" Oliver asked her in amazement as she loaded her finger up with more cream.

Chloe didn't answer, just looked down at her belly as she licked her finger. "Oh my god, this is good."

"At least use a spoon." Oliver pulled out the drawer next to him and grabbed a spoon, holding it out to Chloe who took it reluctantly.

"Fine, but it tastes better this way," she said. Oliver watched as she scooped up some more of the cream on her finger then held it out to him. He held her gaze as he leaned down, his tongue darting out quickly to taste the cream before his lips closed around her finger, sucking it all off.

"It is pretty good," Oliver conceded.

"Yeah." Chloe licked her lips.

"Can I have another bite?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

Chloe cut her eyes from Oliver to the tiramisu and then back again and shook her head. "Nope, sorry, this is all mine."

"Come on, just one more bite?" Oliver teased, reaching for the spoon and Chloe pulled it away from him.

"Do not even attempt to steal food from a pregnant lady," Chloe joked, digging the spoon into the desert and taking a large bite.

"One bite," Oliver said, reaching for the spoon again and this time Chloe held it high above her head away from him and shook her head. "Come on." Oliver stepped forward, trapping her between him and the counter. "Just a little taste?" he whispered, his voice low and husky and Chloe swallowed. Her eyes were wide, like a deer caught in the headlights, but her pupils were dilated and her breath was coming fast. Really the only logical thing Oliver could do was lean down and kiss her.

The tiramisu sat abandoned on the kitchen counter while the two of them made their way through the living room. Chloe's hip bumped into the table by the couch sending a Tiffany lamp crashing to the ground but they didn't stop. "Leave it," Oliver whispered against Chloe's lips and she nodded.

"Was planning to," she told him, backing him up to the stairs as she pulled his jacket off, dropping it onto the floor. His tie was flung off around the second floor landing and his shirt thrown haphazardly behind Chloe's head in the middle of the hallway.

"Why am I the only one undressing?" Oliver asked when they finally made it to the master bedroom and Chloe pulled away from him with a smirk, shoving him gently to sit on the edge of the bed.

She grabbed the bottom of the dress and peeled it off of her in one smooth motion and Oliver found himself staring at Chloe once again in nothing but her bra and panties, the growing baby bump right in front of him. He reached out and slid his hands over her stomach to settle on her hips. Her hand dropped to the top of his head, her fingers sliding through his hair and he tugged her forward, dropping a soft kiss right above her belly button.

"Ollie," Chloe said softly, pushing him further back on the bed and climbing up the mattress, settling a leg on either side of him.

"This is going to change things," Oliver said as he rubbed his hands up and down her bare thighs.

"No, it won't." Chloe shook her head. "You are my husband, whether you're from 2009 or 2019 and I love you and I miss you and I want this. I want you."

That was all Oliver needed to hear. He reached up and kissed her then, soft and deep and poured everything that he'd found himself feeling over the past few months into it, hoping that she would know that he wanted this too, that he wanted her.

It didn't take long to get rid of the remaining clothes and Oliver gently moved Chloe further up the bed. He took his time this time, making sure to memorize every inch of her body. The way her skin dipped slightly at the curve of her butt, the expanse of her neck as she threw her head back, the soft little moans that escaped when he brushed his lips over the shell of her ear, the way she begged him to hurry and the way he completely ignored her.

And when he finally slid inside of her he didn't have to consciously commit that to memory because he was sure that for the rest of his life he would never forget that. He would never forget the way she felt, tight and hot, surrounding him. He would never forget the way her hips shifted, pulling him in deeper. He would never forget the way she moved or the way she dug her fingers into his hips or the way she gasped out his name when she finally came, pulling him over the edge right along with her.

He lay there next to her, his fingers still tangled in her hair as he tried to get his breathing under control and wondered if his brain would ever be able to form complete sentences again, when she turned to him with a smile and sat up. "I'm starving," she panted, swinging her legs easily over the side of the bed and walking to the door.

Oliver watched her go, astonished. He couldn't even feel his legs at the moment much less move them so he stayed right where he was and basked in the afterglow. Somehow he'd ended up on Chloe's side of the bed and when he turned his head to check the clock on the nightstand something caught his eye. The picture of him and Chloe that had always been there had been replaced with a new one.

It must have been taken a few weeks before when Lois and Tess came to visit to help Chloe get the nursery finished because that's where they were standing. He and Clark and Emil and Bart had spent the entire weekend painting the walls and putting together the furniture and hanging pictures until everything was perfect. His clothes were spattered with pale yellow paint and there was a bandage around his hand where Bart had slipped and sliced through his palm with the screwdriver when they were trying to get the crib put together.

They were in the middle of the room and Chloe was looking up at him, her eyes wet with unshed, happy tears and he was looking down at her, both of his hands resting lightly on her stomach. Lois or Tess must have snapped the picture with their phones because he didn't even remember it being taken.

He smiled because, unlike the picture that had previously occupied the frame, this was a memory that Oliver had been a part of, one that he'd always remember and it wasn't until that moment that he truly understood what Chloe had meant about future Oliver not missing anything because he'd been here for it all.

"Tiramisu!" Chloe said from the doorway and his attention was drawn from the picture to her. She was standing there in nothing more than his dress shirt that she'd obviously picked up in the hallway. The third button was the only one closed giving Oliver a great view of Chloe's

chest and allowing her baby bump to peek through the fabric.

"Did you save me any?" Oliver peered at the plate as Chloe slid back under the covers.

"A little." She smiled, passing him the spoon in her hand so he could take a bite but took it right back from him when he was done and shoved a more than heaping spoonful into her mouth.

"Chew, please." Oliver laughed and Chloe glared, flipping him off while holding the spoon in her hand and he just smiled and stared at her.

"What?" Chloe asked, swallowing and wiping her mouth with the back of her hands. "I'm hungry. Pregnant, remember?" Chloe motioned down to the belly that was poking out of his shirt.

"I remember." Oliver smiled and rolled his eyes at her, grabbing the spoon before she could stop him. She scowled as he loaded it up with a particularly large bite but it softened to a smile when he brought the spoon to her mouth.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver barely had the car in park before he pulled the keys out of the ignition. He grabbed the bags from the passenger's seat and jogged toward the house. When he got to the kitchen he pulled a large bowl out of the cabinet and set the bags on the counter, emptying them one by one and dumping the contents in the bowl, building the sundae to Chloe's exact specifications.

Satisfied with the end product, Oliver double checked that he had everything as requested before grabbing a spoon. He was halfway to the living room before he stopped and turned back to the kitchen, picking up the hot sauce off the counter.

Chloe had not specifically requested hot sauce on her sundae but for the past few weeks she'd been putting it on everything, from her breakfast to her dessert so he made sure to have it handy just in case. He carried the bowl carefully into the living room, announcing his presence as he went.

"So I had to go to four different ice cream places before I found the sorbet. Apparently Passion Fruit is not in season and they looked at me like I was crazy when I asked them to put caramel on top. I made sure to get the bacon from that diner on State Street that you like so much because I know they make it extra crispy and the cotton candy was tricky but I remembered there was this little amusement park down Highway 75 that was open year round and voila. One Passion Fruit sundae with caramel and bacon sprinkles, with cotton candy on…top." Oliver's face fell as he took in the sight before him.

Chloe was sitting on the couch, a spoon halfway to her mouth piled high with what looked like Passion Fruit sorbet with caramel and bacon sprinkles, with cotton candy on top. She had a guilty expression on her face and sitting next to her was Bart with a far too pleased expression on his.

"Seriously?" Oliver asked, deflating slightly as Chloe ate the bite on the spoon.

"He got here first," Chloe said around a mouth full of sorbet and bacon bits. The guilt was quickly replaced with ecstasy as she took another bite of the sundae. "Sorry," she said, sounding anything but.

This had been happening a lot lately. Almost as soon as Chloe had gotten her appetite back the cravings started. At first they were pretty mild and easily handled but lately they'd gotten a bit more involved. Chloe would call Oliver with a craving and he'd rush home from either work or the Watchtower after searching all over town for said craving only to find Chloe already eating it, a smug Bart at her side.

"Oh, but hot sauce!" Chloe said excitedly, seeing the bottle in his hand and wagged her fingers in the universal signal for "gimmie". Before Oliver could take two steps he felt a gust of wind and then his hand was inexplicably lighter. He looked over to Chloe and found Bart back at her side, holding out the bottle of hot sauce that she greedily accepted.

Bart turned and saw the look on Oliver's face and smirked. "You snooze, you lose." He shrugged and Oliver glared.

"Dude." Oliver jerked his head back over his shoulder to the kitchen then turned and walked away, assuming Bart would follow him. "You need to stop," Oliver said, carefully packing the sundae up and putting it in the freezer in case Chloe wanted it later.

"Stop what?" Bart asked innocently, perfectly aware of what he was doing.

"Seriously, you're like…" Oliver struggled to find the appropriate term for this situation. The first word that came to mind was cock-blocking but that wasn't entirely accurate, it was more like Bart was…craving-blocking him.

"It's nothing personal, I'm faster than you." Bart shrugged.

"Not with two broken legs you're not," Oliver practically growled. "She's my wife, dude, so back off."

"Hey." Bart threw his hands up in the air and stepped back. "Chill, ok? I was just trying to help."

"I know." Oliver sighed against the counter. "Look, it's just, I know in the end that we're gonna have a baby, but Chloe's the one that's pregnant. She's the one who spent three whole months curled around a toilet and she has to deal with a sore back and swollen feet and the constant need to pee and the fact that for the past three months the little dude's been waking her up at three in the morning going to town on her rib cage like he's John Bonham or something and in less than a month she's going to have to push all six pounds and nine ounces out of her and it's gonna hurt like hell and there's absolutely nothing I can do about that.

"But what I can do is hold her hair when she gets sick and give her a massage when she comes home from work and sit up and just talk to her belly at 3 in the morning until he finally calms down and goes back to sleep. And when she has a crazy craving, I can be the one who goes and gets it for her. And I know it's just a little thing but it's the only thing I can do."

"You're right," Bart said. "I totally get that. It's just when she wants something so bad and I bring it to her she gives me this smile, you know, like I just went out and got her the moon and not, you know, a deep fried Twinkie."

"I know that smile well." Oliver clapped Bart on the back and laughed. "I have spent many a night driving around town looking for the craziest things in the hopes of getting one of those smiles." He looked over at the younger man and sighed. "Tell you what. How about from now on I deal with all cravings that can be obtained locally and you deal with anything out of state or international?"

Bart smiled. Chloe had been known to request baguettes from that little bakery outside their apartment in Paris or a steak from her favorite restaurant in Manhattan. "I can handle that."

Oliver heard the crying from the kitchen, grabbed the bottle from the warmer and took the stairs two at a time. He'd hoped to have the bottle ready before Ellie woke up but no such luck. When he got to the nursery he picked her up out of the bassinet and carried her over to the rocking chair. "Shh," Oliver said softly. "We don't want to wake your mom now, do we? She's exhausted and needs her sleep."

The second Oliver touched the bottle to Ellie's lips the crying stopped and she latched on, sucking down the formula greedily. "That's my girl," Oliver whispered, dropping a kiss to the top of her head and trying his hardest not to pass out right then and there.

Chloe had woken him at four in the morning three days ago. They'd called Emil who, despite being almost a thousand miles away, had acted as Chloe's OBGYN throughout the pregnancy. She was still worried about the effect the meteor deposit around her heart would have on their daughter and didn't trust anyone but him.

He said he'd get Clark to bring him to Star City first thing in the morning and not to panic, that they didn't even need to go to the hospital until the contractions were about 30 seconds long and five minutes apart and that could take hours. Neither of them had been able to go back to sleep after that and, true to Emil's word, they weren't even ready to head to the hospital until around nine.

Chloe was in labor for a little over twelve hours before Emil finally told her she could push and Oliver barely had time to prepare before Emil was handing him a small screaming, squirming bundle of joy. Eleanor Laura Queen, named after Chloe's grandmother and his mom. He'd gotten to hold her for all of two seconds before she was whisked away by the nurse to be cleaned and checked over. Chloe and Tess and Lois were sobbing and Oliver was just standing there in wonder when Hal clapped him on the back and told him that he'd done good.

Neither of them had gotten much sleep at the hospital between visitors and uncomfortable cots and nurses coming in every two hours to check on Chloe and even after they'd gotten home earlier that day it was just one well wisher after the next. If the doorbell wasn't ringing the phone was and when Oliver'd finally kicked everyone out and dragged Chloe up to bed he'd realized that Ellie would probably be ready to eat relatively soon. So instead of climbing in the bed after her he'd dragged himself down to the kitchen and started fixing a bottle.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Chloe asked sleepily from the doorway a minute later and Oliver looked up at her.

"Cause you need your rest. I got her, go back to bed," Oliver assured her and Chloe dropped a kiss on Ellie's forehead and then Oliver's before walking back out of the room, mumbling what was probably something along the lines of, 'I love you' or 'You're the greatest' or 'Thank you.'

Oliver just sat there, staring down in wonder at his daughter. His daughter. He'd made her, a whole tiny, fully formed human person. He couldn't help but think of how she had her whole life ahead of her and how it was his job to make sure that life was filled with love and happiness, to make sure she was safe, to mold her and guide her. And he knew from that moment on that he would spend the rest of his life trying to do just that.

When she finished her bottle and he'd managed to coax a healthy burp out of her, he laid her back in the crib and shuffled into the bedroom and collapsed onto the bed. "She go down ok?" Chloe mumbled, rolling over to lay her head on his chest.

"Out like a light," Oliver assured her, kissing the top of Chloe's head softly and she sighed in content as he closed his eyes. Only, as tired as he was, sleep wouldn't come.

"I can hear you thinking you know." Chloe opened her eyes and lifted her head up.

"Sorry." Oliver groaned and rubbed his eyes. "I just don't understand."

"Don't understand what?" Chloe sat up a bit and stared down at him.

"How I got here."

"Victoria—"

"No, I know how I got here physically. I just meant here here, married to you with the most beautiful kid in the world in the next room."

"Ollie." Chloe smiled down at him.

"I'm serious, Chlo, I know what kind of guy I was back then. How the hell did he manage to get you? I mean, was our first date just amazing or something?" Chloe opened her mouth then closed it quickly and Oliver rolled his eyes. "What? Are you worried about telling me too much because I think we're way past that at this point, don't you?"

"It's not that. It's just…I don't really know what would technically constitute as our first date," Chloe said, sitting up all the way. Oliver looked at her, confused and Chloe took a deep breath. "We didn't exactly have that kind of relationship in the beginning."

"What kind of relationship did we have exactly?" Oliver turned to her.

"It was a very casual sort of friends with benefits thing," Chloe told him and Oliver leaned back against the headboard.

"Shit, seriously?" Oliver shook his head. "I mean, I know I was an ass back then but I didn't think I was that much of an ass. God, was I that scared of commitment?"

"Give yourself some credit." Chloe nudged his shoulder. "The no-strings-attached thing was sort of my idea."

"Your idea? Really?" Oliver asked skeptically but Chloe nodded. "Well, how did that happen?"

Chloe leaned back, pulling up the memory. "The team had been pretty split after the whole Doomsday debacle. We'd all gone our separate ways and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't seem to get you back together. Then there was that thing with Carter and Courtney and the JSA." Chloe looked at him questioningly and Oliver nodded to tell her he knew what she was talking about.

Courtney and Mia had come to stay with them the week before. They'd heard about Chloe and the baby and wanted to be there for her, plus the last semester at school had kicked both their asses pretty hard so they certainly weren't opposed to spending their days lounging out on the private beach the house happened to be situated on. Being in the house with three girls, one of whom was severely hormonal, was a challenge, but it also been pretty eye opening for Oliver.

At night the girls would sit around the table, long after dinner had been cleared and just reminisce. He'd learned so much from just sitting back and listening to them tell stories. The things Mia had gone through just to get to where she was made Oliver so proud to have had even the slightest influence in her life and he'd actually teared up when she told him that the best thing she'd ever done in her life was to get into his car.

Courtney's story was pretty amazing too and through her he'd learned everything about Carter and the JSA and what a huge role they'd played in Courtney's life. She'd talked about how much Carter loved messing with Oliver and pushing his buttons and that she'd never seen him have so much fun as when he was giving Oliver a hard time. She'd also told him that, despite what Carter may have said to Oliver's face, when he wasn't around and it was just Carter and Courtney, he couldn't stop talking about how amazed he was with Oliver and how he was going to be truly great one day.

It had been strange because Oliver hadn't even met the guy yet and from what he could gather based on all the stories that were told about him, the two of them did nothing but argue and bicker. But Courtney's words hit him hard and he couldn't help but want to live up to the expectations of this man whom he'd never met. It was a lot of pressure. He'd had to excuse himself to get some fresh air at that point and Courtney had followed him outside.

They walked down the pier to the beach in silence and sat on the bottom step, digging their toes into the cool sand as they watched the waves crash onto the shore.

"You're going to be a great dad, you know," Courtney said, nudging his shoulder with hers and he turned to her, astonished because there was no way she could have known that in that moment that's what he was worried about the most. Then he remembered that though he didn't know Courtney, she knew him. Very well apparently.

"How do you know?" Oliver asked, not bothering to deny the fears.

"When Carter died, I didn't know what to do. I had nowhere to go and with the rest of the JSA gone, I felt like I didn't have anyone left. But you and Chloe, you just sort of swooped in and saved me. You took me in and you made me go back to school and you took care of me and you worried about me and you…saved me. I was no one, I was just this girl who had delusions of being a superhero, playing with her daddy's toys but you guys believed in me and cared for me and treated me like family."

"You are family," Oliver said without thinking, slinging his arm over her shoulder and she smiled.

"I know that now." Courtney rolled her eyes. "And so is Mia and Bart and AC and Victor and Lucas and…don't you get it? I know you're going to be a good dad because you're already a good dad."

Oliver looked down at her and smiled, dropping a kiss to her forehead and pulling her a bit closer. "And you're a good kid."

Courtney looked up at him and rolled her eyes, elbowing him in the ribs. "I'm not a kid anymore, Oliver."

"You'll always be a kid to me." He shrugged and she kicked a bit of sand up at him. He raised his eyebrows in a challenge and she took off down the beach laughing, him hot on her tail. It didn't take him long to catch up to her and he grabbed her around the waist, swinging her into the surf, laughing the whole time.

An hour later they'd trudged up to the back porch, both of them soaking wet and covered in sand. Chloe had merely raised an eyebrow and told them that they weren't stepping foot into the house until they'd rinsed themselves off. By her unsurprised reaction Oliver had come to understand that sort of thing was probably pretty common.

"You came to the Watchtower that night when it was all over. When I look back now I think you'd come with the intention of asking me out, like a date, but John was there so the three of us went to dinner instead. Bart called to check in on the way and sort of invited himself when he found out what we were doing. He showed up with AC and Vic in tow and when we got to the restaurant, Clark and Lois were already there waiting for a table so they joined us too." Chloe smiled fondly. "It was the first unofficial team dinner."

Oliver had wondered how those had gotten started. He'd been to a couple since they'd come out to Star City. It was always impromptu, never planned. Everyone just showed up and they ate and laughed and told stories and didn't worry about work or crime or heroes and villains for one night.

"You walked me home and you asked me out and I was so shocked that I turned you down flat. That night had been the first time I'd been out of the Watchtower, basically since Jimmy died, and it reminded me there was so much more out in the world than death and I really needed that, but I knew I wasn't ready for anything more than that at the moment. I apologized and explained that to you later after I'd had some time to think about it but you just smiled and shrugged and told me you'd just wait until I was ready."

"Smooth." Oliver smiled and Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, you were a regular Casanova," she said with a chuckle. "Going on and on about how we'd get married and move to Star City and talking about meeting my dad."

"What's so wrong with that?" Oliver asked, confused because they'd done all those things, hadn't they? He'd even met Chloe's dad. Gabe had come to stay with them the second he'd heard about the baby. Oliver had freaked at first because he wasn't sure if he'd ever actually met someone's parents. Tess had been his longest relationship before Chloe and her parents were dead. Then there'd been Lois and he'd done everything in his power to never have to come face to face with the General. But then Gabe had shown up and enveloped Oliver in a hug and called him son and it hadn't been too bad. They'd watched football together and Gabe had helped him replace the replace the faulting starter relay in his bike.

"What's wrong with that is we hadn't even been on a date at that point," Chloe said. "You were just coming on too strong and I wasn't ready for that."

"So, how did I finally convince you?" Oliver asked.

"You told me that we'd make beautiful babies together," Chloe said, trying to hide her smirk.

"No." Oliver shook his head laughing. "And that worked?"

"It got my attention," Chloe admitted. "And then you said a whole bunch of other stuff that actually convinced me."

"What stuff exactly?" Oliver asked.

"Well, you said…" she trailed off, thinking back to that night and shaking her head. "You said a lot of stuff that didn't make any sense at the time but makes so much sense now."

"You're not gonna tell me, are you?" Oliver asked.

"And make it too easy for you?" Chloe smirked up at him. "You've got to do some of the work yourself, you know. I made it very clear from the beginning though that it was going to be casual, fun, that there were to be no more talk of marriage or babies or meeting the parents. You can see how well that turned out."

"Yeah. We started out no-strings-attached, on your insistence, and yet we ended up married." Oliver smirked. "So, no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't stop yourself from falling in love with me."

"You did make it rather difficult." Chloe sat up and straddled his lap, linking her arms behind his neck and dropped a kiss on his lips. "And it didn't hurt that you are just so very pretty." She punctuated the last three words with a kiss to his lips.

Oliver grabbed her hips and flipped her onto her back, hovering over her. Chloe laughed in surprise and Oliver stared down at her. "Were we happy?" Oliver asked her seriously and Chloe's laughter died down as she brought a hand up to his cheek.

"Yes," she said with conviction.

"Really?" Oliver asked and the concern in his voice was so palpable that Chloe sat up on her elbows and looked at him.

"It wasn't perfect, nothing ever is, but I can say without a doubt we were happy. We are happy." Chloe kissed him again and he smiled, pulling her tightly against his side and closed his eyes. He felt his breathing even out and was just on that verge of deep sleep when he felt the bed shift beside him.

"Oliver," Chloe called out to him and he opened his eyes to see her sitting up in the bed, staring down at him.

"What?" He frowned.

"There's something I have to tell you."

"No, there isn't," he said, blindly grabbing out for her to push her back down onto the mattress but she batted his hands away.

"No, there really, really is," Chloe said seriously. "Back in 2009—"

"Seriously?" Oliver groaned up at her then looked over at the bedside clock. It was a quarter after three in the morning. "This can't wait until the morning?"

"No," Chloe said honestly so he sighed.

"Ok." Oliver sat up and gave her his full attention. "Back in 2009," he prompted her.

"Something happened." Chloe swallowed and started at the beginning. "We call it the lost year. You'd been captured by a group called the Suicide Squad and to get you back I had to make a trade. You for me."

"You didn't." Oliver groaned and Chloe nodded.

"You don't understand, there was so much more going on and everyone else needed you and it was the only way," Chloe told him. "So I made the deal. The thing is, after they took me, I faked my death. Partly to get away from them, but partly because I knew that you would fight to get me back and there was something that I had to do, something that I couldn't do if I was there with you."

"What?" Oliver shook his head, not able to understand what was so important that she'd had to go to all that trouble.

"I, I can't tell you," Chloe said sadly. "Spoilers." Oliver sighed, a bit frustrated.

"If you can't tell me what happened then why tell me this at all?"

"Because I need you to know…when you go back there, I need you to know that I didn't want to do it," Chloe said. "It killed me every second of every day that I was away from you. The worst part was knowing how much it hurt you and the last thing I ever wanted was to hurt you." She was practically crying now. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey." Oliver grabbed her and held her close. "Shh, don't worry about it; it's all in the past."

"It's not though." Chloe pulled away to look up at him. "It may be in my past, but it's in your future. And the thought of you having to go through that kills me."

"You come back to me, don't you?" Oliver asked her and Chloe nodded.

"After Carter's funeral, when—" she cut herself off sheepishly and Oliver smiled.

"Let me guess? Spoilers?" Chloe nodded.

"Look, Chloe, there's nothing that I can't handle as long as you come back to me and I know you'll always come back to me." Oliver kissed her softly. "Just like I'll always come back to you."

"I know," Chloe assured him, knowing that he was talking about his future self, stranded somewhere in time.

"You feel better now?" Oliver asked her and she nodded.

"When I came back. I knew you were hurt and I knew you were angry but you wouldn't let me apologize, you wouldn't let me explain. You said I didn't need to; that you didn't need to hear it, the only thing that mattered was that I was back. And you might not have needed to hear it but I didn't realize until just now how much I needed to say it."

"Maybe it wasn't that I didn't need to hear it then, maybe it was just that I'd already heard it now," he said.

"I am sorry," Chloe whispered as he laid back down, pulling her with him.

"I know," he told her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Oliver stirred in his sleep when he heard what sounded like crying. "I got it, Chloe," he mumbled and tried to flip over but he couldn't. His entire body felt like one giant bruise. He groaned in pain and tried to take stock. His head was pounding, and when he brought his hand up to his face he felt a fresh, open cut over his left eye. He had what felt like at least three broken ribs and his left knee was swollen and throbbing.

He felt like…well, like he'd just gotten hit by an eighteen wheeler. His eyes flew open and he shot up in bed, grabbing his ribs in pain as he looked around. He was back in his bed in the Clock Tower, his old bed in the Clock Tower.

"No, no, no." Oliver pulled himself out of bed and looked around, grabbing his phone off the bedside and looking at the date. He was back in 2009, back in his old life with no Chloe and no Ellie. "I wasn't ready," he breathed out, his heart already aching for the daughter he'd had for less than 24 hours.

Oliver fell back on the bed, trying to get his breathing under control as he figured out what to do next. The numbers on his alarm clock caught his eye. It was almost four in the morning. There wasn't anything he could do at four in the morning. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do at all. Then he remembered something Zatanna had told him.

"Ten years ago you showed up at my door at four in the morning talking about time travel and insisting I send you back into the future."

Oliver grabbed a pair of pants off the dresser and changed out of the blood stained white suit as quickly as he could before heading for the door. She'd told him that she couldn't mess around with time but at the moment she was his only lead and if there was the slightest chance she could help him then he'd have to take it.