--10--
Chloe sighed. Three days and nothing from Oliver. She'd really expected to hear from him by now. She put her cell phone back in her purse for the millionth time.
"Still no word from rich boy?" Lois asked her, eyebrows up.
Chloe shook her head. "And don't call him rich boy." They were out to lunch together, Chloe having inspired Lois to actually leave the Daily Planet for her lunch break.
"Clark knows he's required to call me if there's ever a hot story," she'd said after ordering a sandwich. Currently, she was more interested in the MIA billionaire. "It's weird," she said. "All signs point to him being into you. I'd have expected him to call you by now."
"Thank you, Lois. That's so helpful," Chloe responded acerbically.
"Sorry."
"Well in any case, I'm going back to work tomorrow."
"National Chloe Holiday officially over then?" Lois asked.
She nodded. "Yep. I'm feeling infinitely better than I did a few days ago," Chloe said. "I don't know. Something just came over me. I think I'd been working too much. It was starting to get to me. This has been refreshing. I feel ready to tackle everything head on now."
Lois grinned. "Good. That's what I like to hear. I don't like seeing you like you were a couple days ago, cuz. Freaks me out. You're supposed to be the one who's got it all together in this relationship, not me," she reminded, gesturing between the two of them.
"Duly noted. Won't happen again," Chloe said, smiling back.
"And who knows?" Lois added. "Maybe he's been waiting to visit you at work."
Chloe wasn't very hopeful for whatever reason. Maybe she was just convinced that somehow he would know she'd slept with the Green Arrow, and now he didn't want anything to do with her. Paranoid, she knew, but she couldn't help but think it anyway.
Oliver was beside himself. Was she avoiding him? He'd finally sucked it up to call her, and not only had she not answered, she still hadn't called him back.
More frustrating than anything was the fact that the only number he had for her was her work number. It had been three days now since he'd seen her. It had taken exactly twelve hours to determine what he had to do.
On a temporary basis, he'd locked up his Green Arrow gear. Whatever was going on, he couldn't be trusted to wear that suit right now. Chloe didn't deserve what the Green Arrow was putting her through, and it was time for him to fade out of the picture for a little while, as awful as that was in its own way.
Of course, if Metropolis as a city suddenly needed him, he'd be donning the costume and grabbing his bow in a heartbeat, but short of that...well, Superman was just going to have to cover it.
That aside, why hadn't Chloe returned his calls? He'd left at least two messages by now. He hoped desperately that it had nothing to do with the Green Arrow.
So on day three, he decided he was going to go see her at work. If he got a bad vibe, he could use the pretense of business and get out of there and that would be that.
He really hoped there was an explanation other than her having changed her mind about him.
The Next Day
Oliver couldn't help but hold his breath as he entered the Isis Foundation, praying to God that he hadn't completely screwed this whole thing up.
The brilliant, melting smile he received when Chloe spotted him indicated that apparently he had not.
"Oliver!" she said, smiling. "I just got your messages. I'm so sorry I didn't get back to you. I've been out of the office for a few days, and I hadn't realized I never gave you a personal number," she explained.
Immense relief washed over Oliver. Thank God.
"How have you been?" he asked, still wary.
A strange look flashed across her face, and he could only imagine too well what it was about. "I've been...weird, really. I don't know; I've been going through some really bizarre stuff lately, and I realized I needed to take some personal time away from the office."
He nodded understandingly. "So how did that work out for you?"
"Pretty well, actually. Gained a lot of clarity. Decided there are certain things going on with me right now that I just have to put a stop to."
He tried not to show his intense curiosity over her cryptic statement. Instead, he grinned, "Well I hope that doesn't include seeing me."
Her cheeks turned a little pink. "No."
Tidal waves. Tsunamis of relief.
"Glad to hear it because I was actually hoping you might be my date tomorrow night?"
"What for?"
"Charity Ball for the Cancer Research Foundation."
"That would be...really nice." She kept blushing and was having trouble making eye contact with him. The trouble was Oliver couldn't tell whether it was because she was ashamed of what she'd done a few days ago, or if it was because she was starting to really like him.
He wished rather than believed it to be the latter.
"Fantastic. There'll be a package waiting for you when you get home," he added, trying to sound mysterious.
She looked suspiciously at him, the corners of her lips fighting not to pull into a smile. "Why?"
He shrugged, trying to play it off. "I got you a dress."
"Why do I get the feeling you're going to be one of those people in my life that I'll never be able to persuade not to buy me gifts?"
He just grinned mischievously, secretly ecstatic that he was considered a part of her life. She rolled her eyes.
"Well anyway," she said, leaning toward him and resting an elbow on her desk, "What have you been up to for the last couple of days?"
He swallowed uncomfortably. "You know, sort of the same thing as you. I've been feeling really caught up in some things lately, and I didn't take any time off from work, but I was spending a little time finding 'clarity' to use your word."
Chloe nodded. "Feels good, doesn't it?"
How could it not with the way she was looking at him? He still felt guilty, but at least it looked like things were going to work out. Maybe being the Green Arrow hadn't screwed his entire life over.
Chloe's eyebrow suddenly furrowed as she looked at him, as though remembering something.
"What?" he asked.
She snapped out of it. "Oh...you know, it's the silliest thing."
"What?" he prompted again.
"Well...And don't let this go to you're head," she prefaced with a slight smirk. "But I had the strangest dream the other day that you were in."
His stomach flipped. "Oh?"
"Yeah," she said, frowning again. "It was really weird but I think the basic gist of it was that in my dream you were the Green Arrow."
Oliver's heart nearly stopped. He fought to stay composed. "Me?" he smirked. "Right."
Chloe laughed, too. "I know! It's the most absurd thing!"
"I guess I should be flattered you're dreaming about me," Oliver said, eyebrows up.
She turned red, but laughed it off. "Yeah, well, don't preen your feathers too much, peacock. I didn't say it was a good dream."
Chloe wondered if formal events like this were going to become a regular part of her life if she started dating Oliver for real.
She was home, and overall, feeling really good about where things were with Oliver. There was still a strong sense of guilt. What she'd done...she and Oliver might not be in a relationship, but it was definitely not fair to him. She just had to hope that from there on out, things continued to go in the right direction.
When he'd shown up at Isis, that was when she'd realized it. The Green Arrow was mysterious and sexually appealing and many other things, but she didn't know him, and she had no chance of getting to know him. Oliver, on the other hand, he wasn't an open book either. She felt like she could talk to him for hours and still not know everything there was to know about Oliver Queen. And of course he was incredibly sexy. That was a given. But the important thing was that he was real. And normal. He wasn't some masked hero who ran around saving lives and keeping secrets. She knew his name and his face and his voice. Those were all things the Green Arrow would probably never be able to give her.
Yes, she nodded to herself in the mirror. Oliver was a good choice. He felt right. Not that she would ever have been able to guess that a couple of weeks ago. Who knew Oliver Queen would end up growing on her so much?
She found a box waiting for her on the counter of her kitchen and wondered vaguely how on earth it had gotten inside her apartment, but then she shook her head, deciding it was best not to think about it. She opened the box, trying not to anticipate too much.
Oliver did not disappoint. She caught her breath when she pulled out a jade green silk dress. It was...stunning. Not unlike her favorite blue dress, it was timeless. She smiled to herself, fingering the silk.
Okay, so he'd lied to himself. Locking up the Green Arrow gear had been a lot harder than he'd thought it would be.
Problem was, he didn't like the idea that Chloe would see him--either part of him--as a person who would sleep with her and just disappear. It wasn't what he wanted with her. And he knew that technically he wasn't doing that, but Chloe didn't.
The Green Arrow needed to say goodbye and have done with it.
She'd picked up the dress he gave her again, and his grin at how pleased she seemed to be with it was lost in shadow. After she'd carefully placed it back in the box and set that on her dresser she'd walked over to her bed, where she laid down, but didn't seem able to fall asleep.
The window was locked, he noted with a small knot in his stomach.
Well, he deserved it.
But he unlatched it anyway, sliding it open and causing Chloe to jump.
Her hand clutched her heart. "Darn it all, why can't you just knock on the door like regular people?" she demanded.
"Do I look like regular people to you?" he asked sarcastically.
She glared. "And here I thought you said locking my window would keep out unwanted visitors."
Ouch. That really stung. "I said it would be smart. Didn't say it could keep me out."
"How nice for you."
He looked over to the wall. The animosity in her face was evident, and he didn't want to see it. "You've got good reason to be angry with me. I know."
"You've," he heard her voice start to catch but she covered it with a cough. "You've got that right."
He sighed in frustration. She was making this so difficult for him. He couldn't stand that she was upset with him, and he was probably just going to upset her more.
Author's Comment: Confession: in the original draft for this chapter, there was no scene with Green Arrow at the end. I decided that Oliver didn't have it in him to fight putting on the suit. In the show I know he managed it during his downward spiral, but...well, he was in a downward spiral. I don't think the healthy Oliver could resist the itch, especially not when he knows Chloe's is sitting around somewhere angry with him.