Author's Comment: Just to share my thought process for this chapter, I started writing the morning scene and then I had this horrible realization:

Oliver was losing.

Clearly, this needed to be solved immediately.

BlueSuedeShoes

--10--

Oliver was accustomed to a lot of things when it came to women. He couldn't say that waking up in his bed and finding it empty even though there had been a woman there the night before was a first. Though, really, he was usually the one who vanished in the morning.

Waking up in his bed that morning, however, he found himself surprised for the first time in a long time. His eyes were still closed, but he suspected he'd woken because of the dull ache in his arm. Slowly the memories of the previous night seeped back to the front of his brain. He rolled over, expecting to drop an arm around her shoulders, but he found the space empty.

He fumbled around blindly, hand searching for her before finally opening his eyes in surprise.

The place next to him was empty. He dragged himself out of bed and realized suddenly that he'd never changed out of his Green Arrow gear. He grabbed some clothes and threw them on before heading out into his kitchen. There was no sign of her; she'd left without a trace.

No, wait, there was a scrap of paper on the counter.

Ollie--

Thanks for putting up with me last night. I had to get going but didn't want to wake you since you were up so late.

Chloe

He crumpled up the note in frustration only to smooth it out again and reread it. Nothing in the context indicated that he'd hear from her any time soon, but somehow he suspected he would. He walked over to his computer and pulled up a calendar. Chloe had said her wedding was on July 23. It was now June 3. He had barely two months--not even--to convince her that marrying Lex Luthor was a mistake.

He had new motivation after the previous night. Finding out that Chloe was undergoing some sort of DNA mutation because of the meteor rocks was cause for more than just concern. From what he and the JL had seen, Luthor was obsessed with meteor rocks and their effects on humans. He had to close his eyes tightly in an attempt to shut out a vision of Chloe as one of Luthor's test subjects. It might be an exaggeration, considering that Luthor appeared to have feelings of some variety for her, but it was still unnerving.

He distracted himself by checking his bandaged arm. He hadn't bled through and they hadn't loosened any. Chloe had done her work well. Well, at least it would be easy to hide now, he thought, rolling the sleeve of his shirt back down over it. He had to get to the office, and he didn't have time to deal with the mystery Chloe provided.

At the end of a long and exceedingly boring day, Oliver received a call from Bart.

"Hey, boss-man, what up?"

"Not a lot, Bart," Oliver said, loosening his tie as he poured himself a drink.

"I've got news for you."

"What's that?"

"Hang on."

Before Oliver could respond Bart was in his apartment, holding a clipboard of test results in his hand.

"Hamilton sent these over," he said, handing them to Oliver. Bart scrutinized his boss. "You okay, dude?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"You look tense, man."

"It's a long story."

"Involving the elusive mamacita?"

Oliver nodded, scanning the test results, which confirmed the use of meteor rock. "Did Hamilton say what the drug was supposed to do? Clearly it wasn't working, of course."

Bart nodded. "Looks like Luthor is trying to control what kind of mutation takes place."

"What, like bottle superpowers or something?"

"Yep," Bart said, speeding over to Oliver's fridge and returning with a huge sandwich. "Like, flavor one: mind-reading. Flavor two: super-strength. Flavor-three--"

"I get it," Oliver cut his young friend off.

"Can you imagine what would happen if Luthor's scientists figured out how to do it?" Bart said, shoving the sandwich down his throat in about five bites before flicking back to the fridge and returning with a second sandwich.

Oliver repressed a shudder. At best, Luthor would make himself invincible. At worst, he'd make himself filthy rich by putting the liquid super-powers on the market. The consequences after that would be unthinkable.

"Well," he said firmly. "That's exactly why we're shutting this stuff down before it gets out of control."

"What's to stop him from just starting the same project up again elsewhere?" Bart wondered, brushing the crumbs off of his hands.

"Honestly, nothing. But eventually the loss of money has to deter him. Besides that he can't keep having labs explode without anyone noticing, and especially without anyone noticing the connection to him. Someone's got to notice the unexplained cash flow."

Bart nodded. It was a never-ending, unrewarding, almost pointless task, attempting to keep the world safe, but he and the others all understood one thing: any day the world didn't end was a victory. That was the only way to look at it without losing hope.

Oliver sat down wearily, taking a swig of whiskey.

Bart eyed him. "Dude, this babe's really getting to you. She worth it?"

Oliver just looked at him, knowing it was futile to explain a person like Chloe.

"What's her name, anyway?"

"Chloe Sullivan."

Bart looked surprised. "Dude, I know her! Met her a couple years back when I was in the Smallville area. I'm really good friends with a buddy of hers...sort of. But yeah, man. Chloelicious is a hottie."

Oliver looked threateningly at Bart, daring him to say anything even slightly less appropriate.

Bart whistled. "You got it bad, huh?"

Oliver groaned. "You have no idea."

Bart scratched the back of his head, and finally said in confusion. "So do something."

Oliver lifted an eyebrow at Bart. "What exactly do you think I've been doing? Sitting around staring at her picture?"

But Bart looked honestly bewildered. "No, but have you told her how you feel?"

Oliver shook his head.

"Kiss her?"

"She's engaged, remember?"

"Well, yeah, but how do you expect to get her un-engaged?"

Oliver could only stare. An annoying voice in the back of his brain seemed to be agreeing with Bart, but it also happened to be the voice he'd been carefully ignoring since discovering he was in love with Chloe. There he'd said it. He was in love with her. ...well, he'd thought it anyway.

Bart smirked. "Oh, amateur."

"I'm more experienced than you, you ten-year-old," Oliver threw back, brain still working out other things.

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who's pining."

"I'm not pining. I'm..."

"Pining," Bart finished when Oliver trailed off and failed to find a description for what he was doing. "AC and Vic think so, too," Bart added. "None of us gets why you're doing this the way you are."

"What do you mean?" Oliver frowned at the idea that the whole team had apparently spent in-depth time talking about his personal life.

"Well why not just go in and sweep her off her feet?"

Oliver opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it in confusion. Maybe the kid had a point.

It was time to take this on with a different approach.