Chapter 10
Leaning forward in his chair, Oliver was dreading the work that he had to get done tonight. Since he took that first night off with Chloe, he had been buried in paperwork. It was just the basic due diligence, but that always took more time than anticipated. Not to mention that this was one acquisition that he had taken seriously from the beginning, so he couldn't back down now. Oliver was never one to shy away from a challenge, even at work, and he rarely relied on his employees, but once the deal was signed, he often accepted whatever consequences were laid in front of him.
This time, he couldn't do that. His employees had forecasted the numbers for personnel loss before they pursued this deal and those numbers had stayed consistent throughout the negotiations. For some reason, Oliver was willing to accept them before, but that wasn't the case anymore. So while most people were off for the night to be with their families, Oliver was pouring over the numbers, trying to find a way. After all, Queen Industries was the closest thing he had to a family. Therefore, he would sit here as long as it took, even if meant ignoring the call coming through on his phone.
After seeing that Chloe had hung up before it went to voicemail, Oliver was tempted to turn off his phone, but to his surprise, his phone lit up once more with her name. He dropped his pen to tilt the screen towards him, almost in disbelief. Her rule was that you got four rings, if it didn't work, let it go. Yet tonight, she persisted.
In a lot of ways, this whole arrangement had extended past what he expected, as he assumed Chloe would get bored and moved on. But that wasn't the case, or at least, it wasn't tonight.
He thought about testing the theory further, wondering if she would leave a message if he didn't pick up again, but instead, he answered this call. His mouth had opened to greet her but her voice came through first.
"I don't need you... I just need a place to crash." Chloe knew that she was being intrusive over something petty, and the last thing she wanted was to bother him during this time. However, she needed space from her life, a different set of four walls and probably a cup of coffee. As hard as it was for her to admit to herself, he was the only person she could call tonight.
"Okay," he replied immediately, knowing that was about all he could provide right now. Apparently that was all she needed to hear, as the phone clicked not long after.
As he waited for her to arrive, the seconds ticked by, narrated by the clock behind him. It was something Oliver hardly had the time to notice before because he was usually so absorbed in his work or distracted by someone else that the repetitive noise never reached his ears. Now, the incessant ticking was the only thing he could hear.
Oliver rationalized that once she was here, he would be able to focus again. If nothing else, it was a theory he was willing to test after allowing her to come up. Once the elevator arrived, she exited quickly, setting her coat aside as she walked right past him. "Thanks," was the only word she spoke.
"Last door on the left," Oliver called out, doubting that she knew where the spare bedroom was. It was a response Chloe took wordlessly, but not silently, as her steps echoed in the hallway. Oliver glanced down, recognizing that this was all in his upstairs brain for once, but that didn't make it easier to work.
Eventually, he was able to quiet the noise in his head with the fact that he wasn't used to much sound around here because he didn't have many visitors. Hal minded his own business, as he slept if he was working, or he found some company to keep him busy when he was visiting. Otherwise, it was the basic tour, the romp in the sheets, the stupid giggles and girly stares. That... was it.
That's why tonight was unique; Chloe really did want nothing to do with him. She never even looked at him after she first entered. Oddly enough, that realization made it worse, as Oliver achieved silence around him, but he still couldn't focus on his work. He kept wanting to look over his shoulder, wondering how Chloe picked here as a place of refuge. At least that much was clear.
Shaking his head, Oliver realized that he wasn't going to be able to work without at least giving her a proper greeting, so he pushed back his chair, deciding that a trip to the kitchen was necessary before he saw her.
~0~
What was she thinking?
A few minutes ago, this seemed like such a great idea, but now it was anything but. While she would be able to avoid Lois and Clark here, this wasn't why she had agreed to this arrangement and the last thing she wanted was for Oliver to get the wrong idea about this.
Glancing down at her phone, she recognized the usual amount of missed calls, leading to her rolling her eyes. Who did Lois think she was kidding? Did she really think that Chloe didn't know what was going on?
Chloe collapsed on the bed, wondering what she could do from here. It wasn't like she could leave now, because he would ask her what happened the next time they saw each other. While Chloe did trust Oliver, this... this wasn't something she felt like explaining. So she turned off her phone, shoving it into her pant pocket, ready to move on from that train of thought when there was a knock on the door.
She was hesitant to open it, but as she approached the door, Chloe figured the least she could do was apologize. However, Oliver stopped her words by breaking the silence first. "I, uh, made some coffee... if you're interested." Chloe narrowed her eyes, wondering what he was talking about, but it appeared that Oliver had anticipated as much. "Hal showed me how."
Chuckling, Chloe's hand turned the knob to open the door between them. There he was, with an expression she had grown to know over the past few weeks. It was that same calmness he exuded for himself, but beneath it all, a hint of concern as he held out the mug, not sure what else to do.
"Thanks," she whispered before reaching forward to take the steaming mug. Her fingers curled around the surface as she took the scent in, seconds before taking a sip. It wasn't bad actually, or at least, it wasn't for someone who didn't make it often. Why he had decided to start was beyond her, but Chloe wasn't about to ask.
Recognizing the satisfaction on her lips as the mug came back down, Oliver nodded, ready to leave her in peace. But he stopped after a few steps to look back at her. "Do you want to talk at all?"
"Not really."
"Fair enough," Oliver replied, figuring that it was only fair that he gave it a shot. "Make yourself at home. I won't tell anyone you're here."
With that, Chloe bowed her head, sipping her cup once more as she went back into the room. It wasn't like he knew anyone who would want to know where she was, but she looked back towards the empty hallway nonetheless. It wasn't much of a stretch for him to assume that Chloe was avoiding something or someone, but it was still kind of sweet for him to say that.
After a sigh, Chloe turned her head to take in the empty room around her. It didn't take long for her to realize that she was going to go crazy if she stayed in the room the whole night, so she thought that some fresh air to clear her head. Coffee mug in hand, she walked back through the hallway, down the stairs, right past Oliver, who was still working, despite the later hour. Arriving at the terrace door, she pulled it back, ready to face the night air.
~0~
A few hours later, Oliver looked up and noticed Chloe still standing outside. Every now and then, he could see her profile through the glass, a familiar expression on her face. It was almost haunting to him, as he had worn a similar expression on more than one occasion.
Though at the same time, this... this was Chloe Sullivan. No masks, no sarcasm. True, her confidence was still there, as she stood comfortably, but reflected in her eyes was a poignant tranquility.
The part that stuck with Oliver, the fact that kept him from glancing back down at his work was that Chloe was standing right in front of him, allowing him to see the vulnerability that she had worked so hard to hide before. Not wanting to stand back forever, he got up from his desk, knowing that he had been looking at this paperwork for twelve, maybe fourteen hours straight. His eyes could use a break and Oliver could feel that as much as she wanted to be alone, she needed someone right now.
Pulling back the terrace door, he announced his presence as he entered. "Hey."
"Hey," Chloe replied, downing the last of the coffee in her mug, even though it had gone cold hours ago. Yet even if it was warm, it wouldn't have helped. She frowned slightly at that fact, but it disappeared before she glanced in his direction. "Sorry if I woke you."
Oliver shook his head. "I don't really sleep much." It wouldn't surprise him if she didn't believe him, but between work and other things, that didn't leave much time for sleep and lately, he had been thinking about what she had told him all those nights ago.
It was before they were together, before she could look him in the eye with genuine respect. Just a dark night in the Ace of Clubs, a conversation that took a much different tone, but the words were just as important. Some stung more than others, but he realized that the old cliché was right: the truth hurt.
For once, it also stuck. She got through to him, even when she didn't want to. Heck, even when she wanted to drive a hundred-foot wedge between them, she never backed down from being honest. It was part of the reason he hired her in the first place, but he never expected to appreciate that facet of her character in a personal capacity.
As he stood next to her now, eyes staring out into the dark night, he realized that there was something peaceful about having quiet company on the terrace for once. While Chloe was hardly a platonic relation, tonight she was and he didn't seem to mind. They could just stand here, no expectations, no lies and just... be.
"Do you ever," Chloe said, trying to repress a shiver, "look back at your life and wonder why you did certain things?"
She had tried to hide it, he would give her that, but Oliver had caught the action, so he leaned back and picked a blanket off from a chair and draped it carefully over her shoulders. "I think we all do."
Peering back as the material enveloped her body, Chloe wanted to say thanks, but for some reason the words wouldn't come out. Instead, she allowed herself to accept the fact that Oliver's hand lingered on her shoulder a second longer than usual.
Eventually, she let out a sigh before dipping her head. "I messed up on so many things and I was so narrowed minded on what I wanted that I never looked outside of it." Chuckling dryly, she admitted, "You've one of the few spontaneous decisions that I've ever made."
Oliver's eyes narrowed, as he wasn't sure where she was going with this. "Is this your way of saying that it's over?"
"What?" Chloe's head immediately popped up to negate his concern. "No, not at all." She wasn't sure where that came from, considering that was the last thing on her mind right now. But after a few seconds of silence, she understood that he didn't know everything about her yet, so there wasn't much of an alternate conclusion to come to. "I'm just a little reflective today and I needed to go somewhere where I wouldn't be judged for wanting silence."
With that, Oliver was reminded that she didn't want to talk, and as much as he wanted to tell her that he was willing to listen, he couldn't force her to trust him. He swallowed hard as that sunk in, but it was for the best.
Carefully, he took the empty mug from her hands before moving away from her, ready to say his peace and walk away. "For the record, it's not your fault that Lex had it out for you and ruined your aspirations at the Daily Planet."
Chloe did seem happy in her current life as a freelancer, but there was something that held her back. He had no idea what it was, but it likely lead to moments like this. Moments where she wondered how on earth she ended up in this position, sleeping with him. However, as crazy as it sounded in his own head, Oliver was glad she was so quick to deny that she was ending things.
But as his eyes met hers before he turned away, something in Chloe ignited. "Lex didn't fire me." It was the story almost everyone knew, the story that everyone would have believed, as the truth was stranger than fiction in this case. "Yes, the timing was coincidental, but I quit, and Lex had nothing to do with it." With a laugh, she added, "Although he probably cheered when I packed up my things."
"Why then?" Oliver said quickly, immediately wanting to take it back. "You know what; this is none of my business."
"No, it's fine. I should probably talk about this with someone." It wasn't the objective of tonight, but Oliver had never given her a reason not to trust him and he had kept to his word so far. As their eye contact lingered, Chloe realized that maybe this time, it was okay to let someone in.
Yet Oliver insisted, "This isn't what you came for and I'm going to respect your wishes."
She heard him take another step, the echo enough for her to speak once more. "For years, I dreamed about the Daily Planet, working in that bullpen, and I actually got it." The outline of the globe was still visible, despite the hour, so Chloe thought about all of the good days she had spent. Her first day, her first cover story, working with Clark and Lois nearby. "But one day...it felt like I was being suffocated."
Her head dipped again, knowing how silly her reason seemed now, but at the time, it consumed her. To an extent, it still did. "He was everywhere, making her happy. Now they're getting married, while I'm... I'm still a mess."
Oliver tried to contain his surprise as Chloe confessed a lot more than he anticipated. All that happened... because of a guy? Was there really a guy that dumb to let someone like her walk away? More importantly, was that why she was so vehement on keeping her distance from moving on personally and professionally?
"So are you..."
"No, I don't want him back... I even gave them my blessing." It wasn't much of a blessing, rather than a shocked admission because she wanted it to look like her life was together again. Even if it wasn't, her and Jimmy was a story that ended a long time ago and there was no need for a sequel. "Don't get me wrong, he's a sweet guy, one has the best intentions, despite his shy nature. But that's..."
Chloe laughed. "When we first saw each other again at the Daily Planet... we thought it was fate." Or at least, that was how Chloe saw it, as she had seen one relationship path die unexpectedly a few months before. Plus, they had known each other a decent amount of time, so the relationship sort of... fell into place.
After all, Jimmy was, well, he was safe. They had interned at the DP together, he had been her first time, but what mattered at the time was that Jimmy was a nice guy, a good truce between the two guys who had showed interest in her in the past. But sometimes a truce ends up being more of a compromise, and the funny thing about a compromise is that no one ends up winning. "Truth was that we were two young and naive college graduates that didn't know any better, even when we were engaged."
They held onto each other because it was easier that way than to admit they were growing apart. Everyone told them that it wasn't working, so they were so determined to prove them all wrong. "We fast-tracked the wedding date because... because we had been together for so long, but we were also fighting to stay together. I guess we thought that if we were married... things would be better."
Little did they know that on their wedding day, they both wrote our respective notes, got into their respective cars and drove as far away from the church as possible, not knowing that the other person was doing the same thing. In the end, everyone was right, and that was a hard thing to hear, even after she walked away from the church and into her mother's care home, wondering how she had let herself to make that mistake.
Stretching out the bare fingers on her left hand, Chloe sighed. "Safe to say we were wrong."
Oliver stared intently at her as she let it out all out. This story wasn't the easiest for her to tell, but it didn't feel like the Chloe he had gotten to know these past few months. The Chloe he knew, she was a completely different person, but he had to remind himself that he hadn't known her that long. Walking closer to her, it made Oliver realize that maybe this story was linked to why she accepted his offer.
He didn't have the heart to ask that question now, but he did break the silence. "If you gave up your dream job for him, then you better have gotten something decent in return."
Chloe grinned as she peered up to him, knowing there wasn't much of a 'win' for her. Still, she replied, "To be honest, I got everything else." By that, she meant that she kept her apartment, as they agreed to live there when they were married. "I mean, we tried to work together, but we couldn't."
That was a partial lie, one he probably saw through, but she didn't care. Chloe didn't want to tell him that she was the one with a problem. She had always been professional, but for weeks, even months, the whole office talked about the fall-out, about how they had seen it coming. The bullpen also saw him moving on right in front of her.
One day, Chloe decided that she had enough, and if she couldn't move on personally, she would find another way. "I figured that I could write anywhere and the dream had been achieved, so it was time to find a new one."
After a shake of her head, Chloe scoffed. "But that was the only Chloe I knew... and he's the only functional relationship I've had." It was a sad thing to admit out loud, but all of her frustration likely lay behind that single sentence of truth. "Pretty pathetic, huh?"
In this moment, Oliver wanted to reach out, to comfort her over the pain she had been holding onto for so long. But instead he just stared ahead, knowing that what she really wanted was for him to hear her out. "I'd offer you a job, but I'm pretty sure you're too proud for that."
"You'd be right," Chloe replied. The world had taught her to not rely on anyone more than she had to and this was no exception. "I'll find my way... I always have. The problem is that patience isn't one of my strong suits."
Turning towards her, Oliver asked once more, "Then are you sure that you want to keep this going? I could be keeping you from finding what you need." That wasn't an easy sentence for Oliver to say, but if she could find happiness elsewhere, he was willing to give her an easy way out. What he didn't expect was how quickly she responded to that comment.
"Oliver, you are one of the few things in my life that make sense right now." Glancing down, she took his hand in hers, their fingers intertwining upon contact. That was just the way he was, as no matter what she did, no matter what she said... he accepted her. "And I'm sorry that I just unloaded that on you... you probably didn't want to hear about all of my problems."
Quite the contrary in Oliver's mind, as his other hand lifted up to rest his fingers just under her chin. "I'm actually glad that you can talk to me."
"Well," Chloe said, her eyes coming up to meet his, "you're not too shabby of a listener."
"Was that a compliment?"
Chloe grinned. "Maybe."
Seeing the way even the tiniest of grins lit up her face, Oliver decided that he wanted to keep that look on her face for awhile. "Do you know what we're going to do?"
"You're going to make me forget all about my ex?" Chloe suggested, ready for just about anything at this point.
"Something like that." Their lives weren't perfect, but they deserved to talk about something that didn't have a bittersweet tone to it. Oliver had done a lot of dumb things in his life, so he was hoping that maybe a story or two would lighten the mood a little.
Walking her back to the chairs, he let go of her hand to gesture her to sit down. "Have a seat."
"Okay," Chloe replied, curious as to where this was going.
"I'm going to tell you the story of how my senior prank at prep school went incredibly wrong." He laughed as highlights of the story played in his mind, combined with the surprised look on her face. "But first, do you want some more coffee?"
"No, I'm fine," Chloe replied, not knowing that the denial was likely for the best.
For inside the glass stood Hal, staring out at the two blondes as they sat in their chairs, laughing and smiling without a care of the world around them. Another long layover had brought him to Oliver's during the early hours in the morning, and while he had debated earplugs on the way up, it turned out that they had another activity in mind.
Last time, he figured that his friend was screwed, as it was easy to see that Oliver felt more for the reporter than he let on. But seeing them interact together now, Hal could see it was more than that. Chloe's eyes were sparkling in the night sky and she seemed genuinely happy, even as she leaned across to smack Oliver's arm, as he likely was being a smart ass.
There was a small part of Hal that wanted to know what their reaction would be if he interrupted them, but instead, he just smirked before heading towards the guest room. Because he hadn't seen Oliver this happy in years and it didn't feel right to tarnish the memory.
Sera's Scribbles: There was a time I thought about scrapping this story. I had three lines of dialogue for the prologue, a disjointed ending, a bunch of scenes from failed fics, and an incredible fear of the storyline. Then I started to write the dialogue in this chapter and suddenly, it was a story I didn't want to let go. While I've written plenty since, I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter. This fic exists because of it.
