A/N:Wow, thank you guys so much for the reviews, suggestions and everything. I really dig that. Oh, and Happy New Year everyone!!!
In honor of the first day of the year, I have the next chapter of my little story here. I apologize for the slowness of the updates, but I've been so busy with life that I've let myself get behind. But I appreciate those of you that are sticking with me :) *hugs* I won't be putting the weeks into her pregnancy because it's way to complicated for me, having never been pregnant, to keep up with how it goes and I don't want to make and major errors. It's only a minor detail really, but I just wanted to let you know.
cRaZyGuRl093: Yeah, I totally thought it would be cool to see Tess and Oliver get back together. Thanks for the review.
SpidervsFly: I was actually pondering having it go that way, but I'm kind of a happy ending kind of girl. Though I do have an idea running right now that would be both happy and maybe a little more canon-like. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see where my inspiration comes from, and also thanks for your review as well.
chipmunk87 & b4_Dawn_101: Thanks you two for keeping me rolling in the beginning.
Without further adue, here's the chapter. Oh, and Italics are either flashback or thoughts, but you probably knew that. Enjoy!
Chapter Five:
Dinner; of everything she could have come up with, she'd offered to have dinner with him. Rubbing her neck, her eyes scaled the side of the Clock Tower. Drizzle slid down the windshield of the car, until it was quickly wiped away by the blades. The engine hummed gently, her hands gripping the steering wheel with white knuckled ferocity.
"Stupid...Stupid....Stupid!" She yelled, smashing her hands on the steering wheel simultaneously before forcing herself to shut off the engine of the car with a groan. The door squeaked open and she slipped out onto the concrete, slamming it forcefully to ease some of her tension. Tess took a quick glance down as she bounded through the light drizzle. She'd dressed simply; deciding there was absolutely no point in going overboard for a dinner, especially one with her ex that she hadn't, and shouldn't have, been having. Tess couldn't help but notice that despite all the work and effort she'd been taking in making sure she was eating right and exercising, nature was working its magic on her; she was starting to show. Nothing even felt right anymore and she cringed at the thought of entering her closet as the weeks continued.
The ride up seemed to last an eternity. Her crimson red painted fingernails clicked against the railing until he finally opened the door; the full on glaring as she waited, eyes flickering to the unsuspecting camera, probably had prolonged the situation; much to annoyance. At least something smelt good.
"You never can be five minutes late can you?"
She rolled her eyes, "Honestly, how far would that actually get me in life? Besides, I could hardly turn down a free meal from Café de la Queen."
Her glimmer of a smirk was hardly anything extreme, but at least she'd tried. She was trying; whether or not he saw it or not, she was giving it her best. Her eyes couldn't help but mire about the Penthouse, regretfully so; she couldn't help but admire the fact that he'd gone so far for this whole deal, and even more painfully...he didn't look half bad. All while she felt like she'd turned into a balloon as the weeks progressed.
"You didn't think I'd actually come did you?"
He laughed, "Personally, I knew you'd come...considering it was your hasty decision and all..."
Don't remind me. He led her over to a dining table, completely admonished in nothing but the finest of everything; and then there was his interesting choice in green candles. For the life of her, she couldn't understand his fetish for the color. Even when they had been together it had been her weapon of choice for jokes of any kind.
"Honestly Oliver, where do you even find green candles?"
The table was filled to the brim with foods of all kinds, leaving her to only grin and laugh at his going overboard with everything. Obviously the Manor's staff had been working double overtime the entire day while he'd been courting her around Star City. No matter how much she tried to instill it into his thick skull that he never needed to do any of this; he wouldn't let her have anything that wasn't the best.
"Secret; if I told you, I'd have to kill you," he slyly remarked as he sat down across from her.
"Umm hmm, I'm sure. Just like I'm sure those candles are easily purchased by one such as yourself. But still, don't you ever consider what this place look like with some other color, besides...green."
He had already lifted his fork, and Tess had barely noted the casual eye-roll, "What can I say, I'm too simple minded to care about color. I'll leave that to you; now eat before it gets cold."
She lifted her fork and began sampling everything quietly before she looked up again, trying to suppress a laugh, "So...have you found a way to make green roses yet?"
"Mercy..."
"Ooo, have I hit a nerve yet green giant?"
"I'll get you back for that one," he murmured, tapping his fork in her direction, "...when you least expect it."
"I'll be waiting Queen."
She sat with a small nod as he revealed a platter of...lasagna. But even despite the meal's simplicity, he'd sat it on some type of silver platter. Tess shook her head as he sat down across from her; shrugging.
"You never specified what you wanted. I hope it's on par with whatever they're feeding you in the Lion's Den; I'm defiantly no LuthorCorp chef."
"Very funny," she said, taking a plate from him before carefully cutting it and trying some. She couldn't lie, it was pretty damn good; well a good as lasagna could be classified as. He was eyeing her as she swallowed it, "...glad to see you haven't lost some of your touch Oliver. It tastes fine, so relax."
They ate in practical silence for an eternity; the nervous tension between the two of them so thick she honestly believed not even a machete could cut through it. She'd need Arthur's Excalibur to break through when the time came. Oliver looked up after wiping his mouth. She could see him swallow deeply.
"So...how's...how's the baby?"
She'd never seen his eyes deflect around from her to some other wall or window so quickly. Never had she seen Oliver Queen so nervous about something before; not even in all the time they'd been the 'it' couple. The paper's never covered this side of his life; only the part of it that sold the papers she needed to sell and left a bitter, hard to swallow taste in her mouth more often than not. Part of her wanted to be satisfied; she'd brought him to his knees over something. But she couldn't find any satisfaction, not even despite how irritated she still remained over the whole situation.
"It's fine. I have another ultrasound in a few days."
A pin could have dropped even as he cleared his throat with a nod, "That's good."
"Yeah," she whispered, taking another slow bite and staring at the flickering candle light.
"How are you?" he asked quickly before adding on. Her green eyes moved reflexively back to his, a spot from the flame's light blinding her momentarily.
"I mean, with everything."
"I'm fine. I feel like I weigh a ton, and I still can't keep enough chocolate anywhere," she sighed with a smile, "But I'm fine."
His concern was genuine; her answer as honest as she could be. Some days, she wanted to thank Oliver, despite mood swings, the overabundance of chocolate, and the lack of caffeine, she was perhaps the slightest bit excited at the prospect of being a mother. It wasn't the way it should have been, how it should have come about, but all in all, this was going to happen and of late, she'd been taking the glass as more of half full.
"...Though I think soon enough the board will start forcing me to have afternoon sessions because of the lack of coffee."
"Ah ha; I suppose that could be a problem."
"A problem...more like a catastrophe in all honesty. But nothing I can't handle."
Tess found herself reverting to an old habit; she was biting her lip. Quickly, she finished her last piece and gave him a small nod of satisfaction, "I'll give you credit, it was really good Oliver; and...I mostly came tonight to apologize."
He seemed taken aback, "...For what Mercy?"
"I..."she started, not really realizing how difficult a hurdle this was going to be. The battle with her foolish pride and the truth was on, "...I just wanted to apologize for way I've been treating you. You didn't pick this, and I mean, neither did I but..."
"You can stop. There's no reason for you to apologize. I think we can both say we're pretty even in that department."
"Most defiantly," she acknowledged, still a little unsure as to why he was taking this so well now. Either way, it calmed her nerves about discussing the future, whatever it turned out to be. Tess stood up not long after Oliver as he began to slowly clean off the table. She picked up a few things, and brought them over to where he stood, loading them into a dishwasher carefully. He took them awkwardly from her hands as she moved back across the room and he blew out the candles.
"I still don't get the green candles," she joked, nudging him lightly as the table slowly revealed its true state and she sat down, glass of water in hand, on the couch. He sat down across from her again, glass of wine in hand. A note of remorse crossed over her as she looked down, unconsciously raising a brow, "I'm uhh, thinking about resigning, from LuthorCorp."
"Tess? Seriously, that's a big thing; isn't it a little early to think that big?"
"Frankly; no. I've been starting to question a lot of things lately; especially everything I'm doing at LuthorCorp," she stated nervously; feeling his gaze wholly on her.
"What about Lex?"
His voice was low and she could sense the contention at even mentioning her mentor. The answer was there but it took far longer for her to actually get the answer to come out.
"What about Lex? Everyone who's anyone is looking for him and the best I can get is a Sherpa who may have seen him climbing Everest."
She laughed lightly at the incredulous, but true, claim, "...as much as I'd love to keep looking...I just...he's gone. If he's alive, he doesn't want to be found."
Tess ran a hand nervously through her hair, "Either way, I obviously have some bigger things to worry about than...being completely exhausted and stressed out over business doesn't help things."
Oliver nodded, before looking over his shoulder, "You'll do the right thing; and as much as I want to bite my tongue, I still can't get it through my mind how you wound up at LuthorCorp in the first place."
"I'll save that for a rainy day," she joked softly. Her eyes gently flickered toward the clock, it was getting late, and she was starting to already feel exhausted as it was. The drive back to Smallville was already feeling horrid, "I should go."
He cleared his throat and clattered to his feet awkwardly, "Yeah...I forgot you didn't bring the helicopter."
"I considered it; just in case I had to make a quick exit and all."
His hands rested in his pockets before his eyes widened and he disappeared up his stairs, practically bounding up them as she looked on curiously. A childish expression lined his features as he approached her, at first down the stairs and then across the main floor before returning to his former position, both hands tightly behind his back.
"What's this all about," she questioned, lifting the gate to the elevator. He moved closer to her, shrugging.
"Oh nothing, just forgot I was going to give you something. It should be sufficient payback."
"Payback for what?"
He brought his arms around, revealing a flower of sorts; a rose. But it wasn't just any rose; it was green. The color played with the petals in various shades. Despite it obviously being fake, Tess couldn't help but break into a fit of laughter as he handed it to her slowly, "So, did that get you back..."
She shook her head, "How did you even remember?"
"A story for a rainy day."
Lifting her purse into her hand, she gave him a smile, "Thanks for dinner Oliver; I suppose the next one will have to be at the Lion's den."
"I'm willing to take the risk, if you are."
Tess nodded once more, but before she entered the elevator, she stepped closer to him; taking in his overwhelmingly strong presence. She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, "...Thanks again Oliver."
Slowly, she stepped back, watching him wave as the door closed and began whisking her down towards the parking garage. A long sigh escaped her lip as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She lifted it as she carefully made her way through the now chilly conditions.
[You have one unread text message]
She found it quickly and could only shake her head and look back up at Queen Tower's presence.
Anytime Mercy. I had a good time.
It buzzed again in her fingertips as she settled into the cushy interior and started the engine up.
Text me when you get back to the Den.
One thing was for certain, despite all of her concern and worry about even considering that there might possibly still be something between them; having him there alleviated some of the worry. It still was going to be rough. Oliver, was still, and always was, going to be Oliver. Tess wasn't going to rush into something that in the end she'd regret; but she also wasn't going to be afraid of at least giving him, and herself, a chance.
Baby steps; it was going to plain and simple come down to baby steps and progression. This was both of their problems; no, it wasn't a problem anymore, it was real, it was going to happen. She may have still had many more long and tedious weeks, and plenty more learning to do, but she was going to at least give him the benefit of the doubt. He deserved to have some part of this baby's life; and she wouldn't be the one that denied him that right. Revving the engine, she swerved her way into the light traffic flow; headlights set on Smallville and the night's sleep she rightly deserved.
a/n: I know that the whole green candle thing isn't like, real, or something, but I hoped it would add a little more perspective. Plus, I've just been trying to find ways to get back at their prior relationship, and the idea for that scene just hit me. Reviews are love.
