He had to keep himself focused on the reporters that swarmed him, rather than see Lois standing off to the side near the back, disappointment and disapproval clear in her entire demeanor. He couldn't' allow himself to be dissuaded from telling the truth. His secret had proven itself time and time again to be too dangerous of a burden for others to keep, and he would no longer allow that to happen.

To be honest though, Oliver had expected the revelation to be more problematic than it ended up being. He had decided this course of action because he hadn't wanted others to pay the price of sharing his burden any more, fully prepared of taking whatever the price was for himself.

Instead, in the days that followed, Oliver felt more like he was being rewarded. As if the secret of being the Green Arrow had truly been iron chains weighing him down, suddenly those chains had been unshackled.

His days were now full of people stopping him on the streets and in restraints to thank him for his heroics. There had been one in particular that cried as she hugged him, telling him how he had saved her and her young son two years ago. Generous gift baskets were being dropped off at his loft, both in Metropolis and in the Star City. His assistant from Queen Industries, who had never much acted as if she liked him, called him with adoration in his tone about all the gifts that were being delivered to him. "You can keep them," he told her, receiving a squeal he hadn't thought her possible of.

There were even articles being written about him that praised his name. It was nice to read the newspapers and magazines and not see people bashing his work ethic in concern to his business or question the morality of the leather clad vigilante.

His team, who didn't necessarily agree with what he had done, supported his decision. Victor had patted his shoulder in a brotherly manner with the simple comment, "Whatever you got to do." Bart pretended nothing had changed, except that Oliver now had countless fruit baskets and a variety of chocolates to eat from when he stopped by.

Even Clark, who did give the customary lecture on what he thought about Oliver's rash decision, dropped the subject after the initial conversation. After that, if Oliver didn't know any better, it almost seemed like Clark actually respected him more. He was certainly coming by more often, and not always because of the job. There were even a few times that Clark came to him for advice.

Oliver listened as Clark shared his anxiety about telling Lois the truth, fearing that once she knew she'd dump him just as she had dumped Oliver when she realized he was the Green Arrow long ago. He couldn't help but notice that this was the type of conversation that Clark would usually have with Chloe. There was an almost humbling and warming feeling at the thought that Clark trusted him enough to place him in this new level of friendship, while simultaneously being depressing and painful at the idea that he was somehow replacing Chloe. An impossible thing to do.

Tell her, had been Oliver's advice. Because "living without love isn't living. It's just existing."

Surprisingly, his advice was taken into account. Not long after, Lois was socking him in the shoulder for his part in the secrecy. "Not that I don't understand, of course. Just...ugh." She smiled widely as she playfully punched him again.

And Clark wasn't the only person whose relationship with him seemed to have unreasonably become closer, whether Oliver wanted it to be that way or not. There was Tess too.

It was with agitation that he dealt with her at the museum, verbally combating against her when he'd prefer to be left alone to distract him with the Iris project. Her comments about the similarity between Iris's story and his and Chloe's was unnecessary, and her remarks about how Chloe would no longer love the man that he had become were uncalled for.

Yet, for all the resentment and rage he held towards her, he put up with her presence, and for some reason she kept coming around.

It was with grudging reluctance that he accepted her help in the mission to save Lois. And it was in bitter defeat that he gave her the keys to WatchTower, telling her that she could earn her place on the team. That last part he blamed on Clark, but he managed to not hold it against him.

For as close as they were becoming - against Oliver's will - it was difficult to see her move into Chloe's place. Suddenly the WatchTower had transformed. Chloe's mind and influence could still be seen in the background, and her spirit could certainly still be felt, but it was no longer her's.

He responded to this loss by acting out against the one person on the team he had absolutely no qualms in picking a fight with in his moments of despair. For her part, Tess accepted the scatching remarks with only minimal sarcasm of her own (minimal for her at least).

I know it's hard to work with Tess right now," Clark tried to tell him as they came back from their encounter with Flagg. Wanting to give the General time to speak with his daughters, he was accompanying Oliver back to WatchTower. "But you should give her a chance."

Oliver scoffed. "I thought having her on the team was giving her a chance."

"You know that's not enough."

He tried to ignore Clark and his ideals of forgiveness. With everything he was dealing with, he had thought forgiveness could be pushed aside for the time being. Other than that one aspect, Oliver thought he was doing fairly well. Considering his usual path after heartbreak, he was actually doing great for himself. It was unreasonable to expect him to be perfect.

Clark didn't seemed to care about his inner monologue. "She isn't replacing Chloe." There was an emotion in his voice that gave way to the fact Chloe's leaving had a stronger effect on him than he had been letting on. It was the tone along that forced Oliver to listen to what he had to say. "No one could ever replace her. Tess is just trying to help. She needs to help so that she can try to atone for the things she had done." Which Oliver understood; he just didn't want to ponder it any further. "And in doing so, she's carrying on what Chloe found so important."

The WatchTower, Oliver thought. Chloe had made the home that Jimmy had given her and made it a safe haven for heroes, because what was important to Chloe was to protect those that protected others.

It was with Clark's words that Oliver returned to WatchTower with a truce for the woman sitting behind the desk that lay just beneath the stained glass window.

And it was with the thought of Chloe and all that she had worked towards, that he informed Tess that he couldn't come back.