Epiphanies
Recap: Chloe figures out she is in love with Oliver the day before her wedding to Jimmy and runs out on her nuptials. Determined to change her life for the better she returns to Metropolis ready to do the deep introspection needed to accomplish that. She keeps her love for Oliver a secret from everyone and pushes him away. Slowly Oliver manages to figure the new Chloe out, finding out about her healing ability and everything that comes with it, leading him to figure out he loves her after she "dies" healing him from the gunshot. Davis is following Chloe, absolutely convinced that they should be together, but Chloe is focused on Oliver, especially after he starts waging a campaign to make her notice him as more than a friend. Chloe embarks on a relationship with Oliver, while holding back, waiting for the inevitable end. Oliver and Chloe finally say their 'I love you's.' Lois and Clark end their fledgling relationship (again), but Lois decides to torture Clark by showing up with a prominent date to the DP's 100 years in business gala. The beast attacks the party injuring Oliver mortally while trying to kidnap Chloe. The team pulls together with Lex as an unexpected ally, and Chloe heals Oliver. Hiding out at Watchtower, the team pieces together what they know about the monster. Chloe figures out it's Davis, Clark wants to save him, Lois finds out about Bruce and Dinah, and the team (minus Clark) implement their plan to take down Davis once and for all. Clark is at odds with everyone but finally has ended his relationship with Lana. With Tess's help, Davis digs his way out of his grave at the Geothermal plant site. Tess's plan to manipulate Davis to get her revenge on Oliver goes south. Davis finds Chloe just as the team discover that Davis is still alive and she agrees to go with him to save the people she loves.
Chapter 36
CO-CO-CO
Three days later…
Chloe stands on the front porch of a white washed house. Green fields drop down to the ocean in a soft slope. The blue grey water laps and the stretch of sandy beach. The sun is shining, the view beautiful, but Chloe looks anything but happy. She wraps her hands around a steaming mug of coffee, taking another slow sip. She tries to quiet her mind, needing to find some sense of peace before she lost her mind.
Davis was with her, just inside, watching her every move. Every minute of the day. The only privacy she was allowed was to use the bathroom. She could feel his eyes on her. A chill goes down her back, goose bumps raising on her arms, but it's not from the cool ocean breeze. Davis hadn't hurt her, hadn't even insisted she sleep in the same bed with him. But he was always there, always watching. Which was both good and bad. If he was with her she couldn't escape, but his presence with Chloe meant that he wasn't in Metropolis killing Oliver.
Chloe shakes her head trying not to think about Oliver. She had been trying to resolve herself to the fact that she may never see him again. Oliver. Lois. Her father. Clark. Mrs. Kent. The team. Her life. She'd given them up, walked away. And as sad as she was, as heartbroken, she didn't regret or second guess her decision. She'd done it to save them. Her mouth trembles, but she tightens her lips, mashing them together to stop the telltale wobble. She'd done the right thing. The only thing. She knew that. She just hoped that it was enough to keep them all safe.
She knew Oliver and Lois would be frantic to find her. They'd figure it out eventually if they hadn't already. They'd know Davis was back. Twin opposing urges raced through Chloe- the hope that they'd find her, and the fear of what would happen if and when they did.
Davis hadn't taken her that far away. As near as Chloe could figure they were on a barrier island off the eastern sea board. Chloe's mind fills with thoughts of Oliver again, wishing that she hadn't wasted so much time with her doubts instead of embracing him, but she couldn't change the past and they wouldn't have a future. She had to accept it or go mad.
Chloe steps off the porch walking towards the water, needing the physical activity to try to curb her mind's endless loop of regret and longing.
Davis follows along behind her, never letting her more than 10 feet from him.
CO-CO-CO
At Watchtower, the team is in full gear. Oliver is on the phone, reaching out to every hero, every contact he had to enlist their eyes and ears. Lois was working her contacts from the Daily Planet offices, while covering for Chloe there. Vic, Dinah and John Jones were both focused on the computers, trying to find any trace of Davis. Any trace of Chloe.
Bart zips through, looking at Oliver hopefully, but seeing no change to the boss's morose expression he races back out again, running a search grid across the country. AC was doing a similar thing in the water.
Oliver ends his call and realizes that he has no one left to contact. No other resources to offer. Davis had taken Chloe and disappeared. He walks over to a window and looks down on the city. Chloe was out there somewhere. She was alive, he could feel it, he just had to find her.
Oliver knows the team is there for him, but he really wished Hal was there too. When they found Chloe, and Oliver refused to allow that statement to begin with 'if,' they'd need all the help they could get.
CO-CO-CO
In the hospital, Emil checks on his patient, Tess Mercer. Oliver had asked him to take the case, but Emil wouldn't be able to save the woman. Her injuries were extensive, and she had only regained consciousness a few times, and even then been barely coherent, though whether that was from her injuries or the amount of pain medication they were pumping into her, he didn't know.
"Tell Oliver… tell Oliver, I …" she had murmured, then fallen back to unconsciousness.
CO-CO-CO
In North Carolina, Davis prepares a dinner of frozen pasta and packaged salad for Chloe. She sits down to eat, maintaining her silence. Davis watches her looking for any sign of her softening towards him.
"The weather was nice today," he tries to start a conversation.
"Yeah."
Chloe lapses back into silence.
CO-CO-CO
At the Clock Tower, Oliver finishes writing a letter to include with his newly updated will. He had made contingencies for everything. If he died, Chloe would be his primary beneficiary, with some allocations to the team members and charity. He'd forced himself to include other contingencies, that in the case of his death and Chloe's Hal inherited it all, and in the case that Hal was dead as well, Victor would be named executor, with instructions on what to do, including maintaining the team.
Oliver handed the letter to his lawyer, who had flown in from Star City with Dennis.
"Oliver, what's happening, where's Chloe?" Dennis questions with worry.
Oliver ignores him, signing his name on the last page. "Is that it?"
The lawyer flips through the pages quickly, seeing that each page was initialed and final. "Yes."
"The letter is for Chloe," he clarifies unnecessarily since her name was on the envelope. "Thanks for coming," he dismisses them. Dennis looks at Oliver seeing no spark of life, only steely determination. Oliver turns away, walking to the windows, looking out over the cityscape, wondering where Chloe was, and hoping that she was safe, wherever she was.
Alone, Oliver maintains his vigil.
I'm sorry. Sorrier that you can know. I always intended to be with you forever. But intentions are just that. We're both realists. If you're reading this it means that I am no longer with you. I wanted to marry you, start a family with you, live every day of my life with you. I hope by the time you receive this letter that all those things have come true.
You gave me so much more than I could ever imagine. I'd been alone for nearly 20 years, but you gave me a family. You are my family. I may have put the team together, but you made us a family. You will never know who much that meant to me.
You once said to me that you would never love anyone like you loved me again. I am selfish enough to say that I appreciated the sentiment. But loving you isn't a selfish act. I want you to live your life Chloe. Live and be happy.
Remember me, but don't let your memories stop you from moving forward. Love again. Find someone who loves you like I loved you. Don't spend the rest of your life alone. I will always be with you, and I will always want the best for you. After an appropriate morning period, and of course the acknowledgement that the best sex you'll ever have was with me.
Know that I love you, and I will fight for you, fight to bring you back and fight to make sure we have the future I've dreamed about with you. But if I fail, I'm leaving you everything. I know you will use it wisely. Live your life, you have so much to offer the world.
I love you Chloe.
Zatanna enters the Clock Tower and finds Oliver alone there, standing silently at his computer, waiting for his satellites, team, friends, and all his not inconsiderable resources to find a trace of Chloe. She clears the dining room table before unrolling a world map. Setting a candle on each side, north, south, east and west, she removes a crystal necklace from around her neck and holds it over the map as she begins to chant. Oliver turns his head to watch her actions, the words not making sense to him, but his gaze narrows, walking over to watch Zatanna work.
Science, resources and technology were not helping, but maybe reaching into an entirely different tool box would do the trick.
CO-CO-CO
As Davis watches Chloe sleep that night, restless in her bed as she was every night, Davis comes to the realization that Chloe will never love him. She would stay with him, but she would never be happy. The spark he loved in her, her essence had been extinguished. He'd taken her, trying to quell the monster's blood lust, and it had worked, but Chloe was damaged. Broken. He had broken her with his demands and threats.
Davis had thought her infatuation with Oliver Queen would fade once she got her away from the popular billionaire, but Davis could see now what he had refused to allow himself to see before. Chloe loved the man. And based on how Oliver had tried to protect her during the Daily Planet Gala, Davis knew that the man loved her back.
Chloe whimpers in her sleep, tossing and turning, her face revealing the dark nature of her dreams.
CO-CO-CO
At the Clock Tower, Oliver had grown frustrated with Zatanna's efforts. She'd been at it for hours already. "It's not working."
"It is, I can feel it, but I have to move the crystal over the exact spot she's at, it won't just whip over there like some cheesy TV movie," she snaps back. "The crystal will confirm her location, but not find her. I'm not my father. My gifts are more limited."
"I'm sorry," Oliver apologizes, seeing that she was exhausted after hours of standing over the map. "Take a break. God knows I need one too."
Zatanna nods, her expression serious. "We'll find her Oliver."
Oliver nods and walks over to the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table, and letting his head fall back. He would find Chloe, but he still didn't have a plan to kill the beast. Not without Hal.
CO-CO-CO
The next morning, Chloe wakes up to find Davis looking down at her. She sits up abruptly, and when his eyes fall to her chest, she quickly pulls the blankets up to cover herself. Her pajamas were modest, but she wasn't wearing a bra and knew her nipples would be visible.
He stares at her and Chloe resists the urge to fidget uncomfortably. "Why won't you try?"
"Try what?" she asks with deliberate obtuseness.
"Try to be my friend." He sits, facing her on the bed and Chloe pushes down the instinct to move away from him. "Try to see if there can be an us." He leans in to kiss her but Chloe flinches. He pulls back.
She holds very still, expecting to see anger on his face, but instead only sees sadness. He leans forward again and this time Chloe manages to contain her emotions but she doesn't respond at all as he presses his lips against hers softly.
Withdrawing he looks into her eyes and seems to find an answer there. "I need you to do something for me," he says softly.
Chloe's heart skips a beat but she looks at him with a stubborn expression that doesn't quite hide her fear. "I won't do anything for you."
His eyebrows draw together at her hostility, then he realizes what she must assume he wants due to his uninvited presence in her bedroom and obvious attraction to her. "I would never hurt you Chloe. Never." Chloe relaxes minutely. He pauses and raises one hand to stroke her cheek, seeing her instinctive rejection of his touch. "We were friends. We could have been more, we still can be, but not with Oliver queen or Clark Kent standing between us."
"No. I'm sorry Davis. We could have been friends, but nothing more."
"I don't know what to do, I don't want to kill anyone, but I can't help myself. Without you around I can't control the beast. I need you. I need to be near you. " What should have been a lover's lament, is instead a chilling threat.
"Why? What do I have to do with any of this?" Chloe asks hoarsely.
"There is something about being around you that seems to calm the murderer inside me. But you know that the killer…it's my true nature. But with you, I'm stronger than my need to kill." Tears well in her eyes. "I want you stay with me. I need you to stay with me." Davis stares at her passionately, but Chloe continues to cry and shake her head, denying him even as she cries too hard to get any words out. "I love you and I need to know if you think you can care about me."
She knows she's waving red in front of a bull, but still finds herself whispering the truth. A truth he doesn't want to hear. "I don't. I can't. Not the way you want me to."
Chloe waits, certain that he'll transform, that the last thing she'll see is his black skin and glowing red eyes. "That's what I thought. There's only one solution. I need you to help me die."
CO-CO-CO
Oliver jerks awake, the early morning sun filling the loft with light. "I know how to find her."
Zatanna opens her eyes at the sound of his voice, looking at him blearily, then her gaze focuses on him.
"You offered me a wish. I'm cashing in."
Her expression falls. "It won't work Oliver."
"Of course it will, I've see your magic. I wish to know where Chloe is."
She shakes her head. "It has to be your deepest desire, not just… I'm sorry."
Oliver stands up and glares down at her. "It's my wish."
"If that was your deepest desire it would have worked already," she says regretfully standing up so he wasn't towering over her.
"What could I want more than to find her?!" he yells.
"To have her be safe, to live your life with her. To have forever."
"Then give it to me," he demands, grabbing her shoulders tightly.
"I can't. The wish can't effect someone else's free will. Chloe made a choice."
"What?" he spits.
"She chose to go with him, to save you, to save all of us." Oliver's face hardens. "Love is a powerful magic in itself Oliver. She loved you enough to protect you. You love her enough to risk death to find her."
Oliver slumps back down to the couch. "Even if we find her…" he shakes his head. He'd be risking everyone's lives to go after Chloe. Davis was immortal, no matter what they did to him he would come back. Oliver was willing to risk his life to get Chloe back, but he had no right to ask his team to sacrifice their lives. "Can you hide her?" he asks as an idea strikes him.
"Hide her?"
"Make it so he can't see her, sense her, smell her. Make it so he can't find her."
Zatanna considers it. "Won't that make him… it angry?" Oliver doesn't reply, and Zatanna nods slowly. "I think I could. It would be a protection spell. This thing is outside of nature, so nature should be willing to help. But I can do one better." Oliver looks at her hopefully. "I can make the whole team invisible."
Hope begins to light Oliver's eyes for the first time since Chloe had been taken. "That might give us enough of an advantage to actually have a chance."
CO-CO-CO
Chloe stares at Davis hesitantly. He'd just explained his idea. A way out for both of them. He thought he knew how to kill himself. But he needed Chloe's help.
Chloe is frightened, nothing had worked to kill Davis thus far. Trying a large dose of Kryptonite was not a bad plan, but if it failed he'd have no weaknesses left.
"OK," she agrees and one side of his mouth curls up in a sort of a smile.
CO-CO-CO
At a LuthorCorp facility, Chloe stares at the large glass cube and the lead tanks of liquefied meteor rock, wondering how Davis knew that it was even here. Davis walks around the box slowly, and Chloe looks at the control panel, trying to decipher how it worked.
"I was there, you know, your wedding, your friend's farm. Clark's home," he says almost absently.
Chloe looks worried that Davis would back out, but tries to hide it, keeping her voice level. "Why? Why were you…"
"I couldn't let you marry him. Jimmy Olsen. I hoped you'd stop it. Come to me. But I guess I only got half of that. You left him, but you wanted nothing to do with me." Chloe shakes her head, remembering that dark day, the relief she'd felt once she made the decision not to marry Jimmy. She also remembered Davis's calls.
"I was prepared to do whatever it took to make you mine. Even then, before I knew that only you can keep the beast inside of me tamed. If I felt that way about you then, can you imagine, do you know how much stronger I feel now? I would do anything. Anything."
A chill goes down her spine.
CO-CO-CO
Oliver and Zatanna move their vigil to Watchtower, to be with the rest of the team. Oliver pours himself a cup of coffee, and the taste brings up a hundred memories of Chloe drinking the caffeinated substance that she loved so much. Chloe smiling at him over a mug of coffee in her favorite café. Tasting the slightly bitter taste of it on her lips as he kissed her in Watchtower before he'd finally declared his love for her. Watching her savor her first cup of the day, naked in his bed, flushed from his kiss.
The power of his memories, his longing, reach Zatanna and she looks over at him, appearing to be in a trance. She feels the power of his connection to Chloe and walks over to Oliver at the window, grapping his hand tightly. "What is it?" he questions.
Tapping into the couple's emotional connection, Zatanna can feel Chloe, and knows she is near. "How do I get outside?"
Oliver looks at her sharply, but leads her to the stairs that assess the small gangplank that circles the top of the domed building. She walks around until she is facing east, Oliver hot on her heels. "Do you have something of hers?" Oliver looks blank. "A picture, a lock of hair, anything."
Oliver shakes his head then looks at the mug in his hands. It was hers, one he'd bought for her from a local potter at the downtown farmers market one Sunday. She used it every time she had coffee at Watchtower. He hands the mug to the dark haired beauty, hoping that her magic would be enough to find Chloe.
Zatanna smiles, then smashes the mug on the metal gangplank. Picking up several shards and some porcelain dust she raises her hand to the wind and the shards spiral up then shoot off to the east. Oliver immediately loses sight of them, but Zatanna's eyes glow bright blue and focus on a space several miles away, just on the edge of the city, in an industrial zone.
"She's there."
CO-CO-CO
Watchtower is a flurry of activity. John Jones calls Clark, Dinah and Victor suit up along with Oliver. Oliver turns to the magician. "You're sure you can hide us?"
"Yes."
"Stay here. We need you to be safe and uninterrupted. I'll radio in when we need you to turn it on," Oliver commands. "Bart, no matter what happens, the first chance you get you take Chloe and rendezvous back here."
"Where's AC?" Vic asks, looking over the blueprints they had of the building Zatanna had identified.
"En route."
"Then let's go storm the castle," Dinah offers with some humor.
No one smiles as they march out the door. Oliver had given each of them the option to stand down, stay out of the fight, but they'd all refused.
CO-CO-CO
At the LuthorCorp warehouse, Clark shows up, to find Davis in the cube and Chloe at the controls.
"Chloe, what are you doing?"
Chloe shakes her head, her inner torment over taking a life, even Davis's, clearly displayed. She'd killed before, her hand on Sebastian Kane's arm, but she had been under Brainiac's control. She knew that she hadn't had a choice, but she had done it, and if she was honest with herself she hadn't fought the artificial intelligence's control that hard. Kane was a threat to Clark, and Chloe was willing to get into the mud to save her friend. That's part of why it hurt so much that Clark refused to consider a final option for Davis. But he wouldn't. So she had to.
"Don't do this Chloe, he won't kill me," Clark tries to dissuade her from pulling the lever.
"I'm not doing this for you," Chloe says softly, but both Kryptonians hear her clearly.
"It's my life, Clark," Davis growls. Just the appearance of the other alien makes the beast struggle to get out. "I can take it if I choose. She's only doing what I asked her to."
"Davis, don't be a martyr."
"That's not what this is, Clark," Davis says weakly, his energy being expended to keep the beast in check. "I want this to end. I can't live with myself. I can't do this, not without…" He stares mournfully at Chloe.
"But it's not your fault," Clark argues. "Everything that's happened to you is because of me, all right? We should have been brothers. Davis, you didn't have a home. If that would have happened to me... I've always wondered what it would have been like if the Luthors had found me in that field. I could have turned out differently."
"But you didn't. You were destined to have the better life," Davis says, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes turning red. "No matter how hard we try to fight it, we will always return to our true nature." Clark makes a move towards Davis, but the roar that the other man releases stops him. "Chloe, pull the lever! Let me end this!" Davis begs.
Chloe hesitates, she can see Davis's humanity, but knows that he won't be able to control the monster. She didn't love him, would never love him and it would wear on him. He said he just needed her presence, but she knew he wanted more. Someday that desire would push him over the edge. He'd kill again. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, or millions. And Oliver. She knew he'd kill Oliver. It was human nature after all. The desire to have the one you loved, the desire to take out any rivals. No matter what instincts won, human or alien, Davis would go after Oliver. And Chloe couldn't live with that. Her hand tightened on the lever.
"No, Chloe, you have to give this another chance. This is not set in stone," Clark says. He steps towards the cube and Davis begins to transform. "There has to be something in your life, something worth giving it one more try," Clark bargains.
"Chloe." Davis looks at Chloe longingly. Clark looks in horror at Chloe who shakes her head fearfully, tears dripping down her cheeks. "I was sent here to destroy you Clark. The only way I can avoid that is to have Chloe. So give me Chloe or kill me. Those are your options." Davis knows there is only one option.
Chloe watches in horror as the painful transformation continues, the radiation seeming to slow down the process, but he was still transforming. She didn't want to have his life, his blood on her hands, but she couldn't accept the alternative, and she saw only one alternative. Oliver's death. The team's death. Pushing down her own desires, her desperate plea to the universe that someone take this decision out of her hands, she accepts the responsibility of the moment. She pulls the lever.
"No!" Clark shouts and falls to his knees as the liquefied Kryptonite begins to rain down in the cube, its radiation reaching both aliens.
Davis's transformation stops and he falls to his knees as the bright green liquid coats his body, depleting his strength, killing him. Chloe stumbles over to the cube, tears streaming down her face as her soul rages at the unfairness of it all, how the decision of life or death was forced onto her shoulders. Davis's gaze follows her across the room as he slumps down, leaning back against the cube, the red finally fading from his eyes.
She falls to her knees right in front of him, her lips smashed together in an attempt to hold back her emotions. "I'm sorry." She holds her hand up to the glass, placing her palm flat against it. No matter what he had done, he didn't deserve to die alone. Chloe could offer him that small comfort.
He mirrors her movement, his expression softening to one of regret and longing. "I know. Chloe…" he groans in pain. "I love you. I did from the first moment I laid eyes on you."
"Chloe…" Clark groans, but she doesn't look back at him.
"Thank you," Davis says softly and his eyes close.
Sobs rip through Chloe's body as she crumbles to the ground. The relief mixed in with her sadness tells her that she made the right choice. It hurt, and it had been a hard thing to do, but Chloe had chosen this life, chosen to put herself in situations where she could help people, but also where she had to make choices that could lead to someone getting hurt. Davis had to die so others could live. It wasn't fair or easy, but it was a truth she was willing to accept.
CO-CO-CO
Chloe has just stood up and is reaching a hand up to wipe her eyes when Bart appears before her. "Liscious… whoa!" he exclaims seeing Davis behind her, covered in green slime. "Is he dead?"
Chloe nods and looks over Bart's shoulder as the door to the warehouse opens with a bang. Her face is lit with hope, her emotions breaking free once again as Oliver appeared.
"Chloe!" he yells in relief, seeing her unhurt.
"Ollie…" she murmurs, rushing towards him. Oliver closes his arms around her squeezing her too tight, but neither wanted to let go.
Finally Oliver relaxes his hold, running his hands down her body, checking for injuries. Finding none, he tangles his hand in her hair, holding her to him as his lips devour hers.
Behind them the team begins to clean up the mess, Victor and John Jones helping Clark to his feet and removing him from the radiation. Dinah shuts off the machine, and Bart searches the building for any guards or security recording equipment.
Outside Clark watches as Oliver leads Chloe to a waiting vehicle, their arms still tightly wound around each other. He turns to John. "Jor-El said he was the ultimate destroyer, didn't turn out to be much of a fight."
"Love is a strength and a weakness, Kal-El. We must each choose wisely, and if we do, we will find the strength to fight on, no matter what our circumstances."
CO-CO-CO
Oliver leaves the team to figure out the burial, and in the end they decide to put Davis in a drum of the liquefied Kryptonite, and bury him somewhere they can monitor easily.
"Miller Field," Clark says quietly. "We should bury him at Miller Field."
CO-CO-CO
Once the team of heroes climb back into their vehicles, or disappear into the wind, Waller commands her team to move in and remove the body.
"If they check on it, they'll know the body is missing," one of the agents dressed in a black military style uniform says.
"Good point." Waller unholsters her gun and shoots the man next to the one who'd spoken. "Take the body, replace it with his, leave the tank, but get me a sample of whatever is in it."
CO-CO-CO
Oliver hurries Chloe back to the Clock Tower, briefly considering taking her to the Watchtower as the safer choice, but even if Davis did come back to life, Zatanna's spell was hiding them. They were safe. And Oliver wanted to be alone with Chloe.
He knew it was selfish, knew the team wanted to see her and be reassured of her safe return too, but he couldn't squash down his own needs. He needed to see her, touch her, reassure himself that somehow they had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat again. And without a drop of his team's blood being spilt.
Oliver enters the parking garage through one of the secret entrances underground and parks quickly. Exiting the vehicle he walks around to meet her as she steps out of the high profile SUV. She immediately comes to him, their eyes locked together, and he can see the swirl of tumultuous emotions in her green orbs.
"Chloe," he begins roughly, but she shushes him reaching up one hand to slide her fingers down his jaw before covering his lips.
"Shh. I'm OK, and you're OK, that's enough for now," she soothes him.
Oliver nods, his dark gaze wondering what had happened to her in the last four days. In the elevator, she turns into his chest, his arms closing around her, stroking her back as he can feel her own strong grip around his waist. He can feel her chest shaking with the force of her tears, smell them as they wet the leather covering his chest, but she was silent.
He sweeps her into his loft as the elevator arrives, pushing her far enough back to see her face. "Did he… did…"
She looks confused for a moment then shakes her head, and small smile on her lips. "No. No, he didn't touch me."
Stark relief fills Oliver and he pulls her back into his body, holding her tight, content with the feel of her in his arms, her softly curving body yielding to the hard planes of his. And for the first time since he'd realized she was gone, he takes a deep breath. "I love you Chloe, I can't lose you," he murmurs into her hair, pressing kisses to her head and temple.
She tips her face up to his, asking for and receiving a kiss. His words were not so different from the ones Davis had spoken, but the way they make Chloe feel is completely opposite. "I love you too, Ollie, I was so scared. He said… he said he would kill you, and Lois, my dad, Clark, everyone."
"I know," he says softly.
Her face scrunches into a frown. "Zatanna said that you made a choice." His voice grows gruff. "You chose to go with him." She looks unbearably sad, and he drags his thumb over her lips, parting them. "I knew you wouldn't go without a good reason."
"The world needs you Ollie, the world needs heroes. I knew… I knew what would happen if I tried to get away from him. I don't want to live without you Ollie, but I won't stand by and watch you die either, not because of me, not if I can do something about it."
He frowns down at her, knowing that the life they'd chosen wouldn't be easy. "You're my hero, Sidekick. Remember that the next time you put yourself in danger. You may think the world needs heroes, but the heroes need you."
Her smile wobbles and her eyes are full of emotions. Oliver wants to ask her what happened, wants every detail, needs to know, but when she pulls him down for another kiss, he realizes that first they need to heal, and having her in his arms was exactly what they both needed for now.
Oliver scoops her up in a bridal hold and carries her up the stairs to his bedroom. Chloe strokes her hands over his face lovingly. He sets her on her feet and begins peeling off her clothes, unfamiliar items that Davis must have gotten for her. As he strips her quickly, she takes her time unzipping his leather vest, removing the black t-shirt that hugs his muscles. She is naked by the time her hands finish their quick tour of his chest and arms, finally moving to release his pant's closure.
The more impatient of the two, Oliver pushes her hands aside and completes his disrobing quickly and efficiently. Chloe sits down on the large bed and scoots backwards, until she is lying with her head on the pillows. Oliver crawled over her, smiling down at her as she parted her legs, drawing them up to cradle him. She immediately pulled him down for another kiss, and he released a deep sexy sound low from his throat as he parts his lips over hers and slides his tongue into her mouth. Chloe lightly caresses his tongue with hers savoring the feel and taste of him. Skin to skin, every nerve ending in her body comes alive and she wonders how she ever lived without him.
The kiss loses it's languorous feel soon and he delves into her mouth, his hands busy exploring every bit of her body that he can reach, as if needing reassurance that she was the same as he remembered. Unchanged by her absence. He deepens the kiss and Chloe's lungs burn, unable to get enough air through her nose to handle the rapid pumping of her heart as her body responds to his touch.
Oliver's mouth slides away from hers, trailing kisses across her jaw and down her neck, dipping lower to lavish attention on her full breasts before returning to her mouth again. Desperate and carnal, the kiss is lips and teeth and tongue, frantic and demanding. Desperate for more, her tongue duels with his, as her fingers dig into his shoulders, wanting more of him and knowing that no amount of time with him would ever be enough. Lost in the feel of his skin on hers, Chloe doubts she can even remember her own name, but his is front and center in her mind, and at the moment his name is the only one she needs to know. "Oliver," she moans as she tears her mouth from his.
Oliver's hands race over her body as hers renew their acquaintance with each taunt stretch of muscle in his arms and chest. His erection is rubbing between her wet folds and Chloe arches against him in desperate demand. "Ollie, please, I need you inside me."
Catching her mouth in a hard kiss, Oliver groans before thrusting into her willing body. Chloe gasps, arching into him, enjoying the feeling of him sheathed inside her again. It had only been four days, but it felt like longer. Too long. Chloe didn't want to be away from him ever again, but knew that they couldn't spend all their time together. He had a demanding career, the team his secret persona, and she wanted a career of her own, her own identity, needed it, but as he moved in and out of her body, she swore to herself silently that she would find a way to have it all.
Burying her face in his shoulder as his hips pump into hers, the slick slide of his flesh deep within her is both torture and bliss. Whimpering as her body builds towards climax she wraps her legs around his back pulling him deeper, soft mewling sounds streaming from her lips with each thrust, urging him into a frenzy.
His movement drive her upwards to her climax quickly and the tension bursts, leaving her a quivering heap. Oliver pumps into her a few more times, giving himself over to his own release, feeling the bliss that he always found in her compact curvy body.
Oliver collapses down on top of her, and despite his heavy weight, she doesn't think she can recall another moment that she had felt more content.
She turns her head into his neck, kissing the salty skin lightly. "I love you Ollie. I always will."
Oliver feels the last bit of tension in his body fade as her words sound in his mind. "Ditto." He feels her lips curve into a smile, which draws an answering smile from him.
Oliver tenses suddenly and before Chloe can complain, he rolls them so she is on top, her slight weight no issue for him to hold. Chloe hums with contentment and shuts her eyes, exhausted after four days of thinking that she'd never see him again.
CO-CO-CO
Davis wakes up in a green room, feeling weak and disoriented. Slowly his strength begins to returns. He closes his eyes in agony. It hadn't worked, he was truly immortal.
"Hello Mr. Bloome. I'm Amanda Waller, we have much to talk about."
CO-CO-CO
Words 5973
I feel like I should just let Davis be dead already, but if he's so strong and adaptable, and "immortal," then that kinda means he can't die, and certainly not easily. So the roller coaster that is Doomsday continues for one (or two) more rounds. The story is coming pretty easily now, I have the next chapter (or three) plotted out, scene by scene. As I said, I'm never sure how many chapters it will take me to get through stuff because I do spend so much time on the characters, and not just action to advance the plot.
My last post was missing a lot of punctuation… it was the conversion to the site not my writing. Just so you know.
Are y'all well informed about the idea of positive reinforcement? It's a form of training and it works on animals and humans. When they do something good you reward them. Let's say with something like a treat. Or a review. If they repeat the behavior, you reward them again…equally if not more. So when I post two chapters in quick succession and get less reviews for the second chapter, you're actually training me not to write/post. Just throwing that out there. :)