Oliver's anger disintegrated by the seventh floor.

First, he couldn't hold on his temper when Chloe rested against his side like he was the next best thing to her pillow. She fit against him like she'd been born to curl around him. She reminded him of that quote he'd read once, from an Italian artist. We are, each of us angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another. He couldn't remember the context, but it fit what he felt like a glove.

As much as he loathed to admit, Clark had done what he'd asked, too. He'd even given Hal enough time to borrow some low-key transportation, so they could make a swift and unremarkable exit.

The part he hated the most, and he couldn't fight at all, was the history between Clark and Chloe. They had almost ten years of close friendship he couldn't compete with. Clark had been Chloe's first love, and he had cared for her in return, if not how she wanted him to. Even now, Clark looked at her with warmth and a touch of amusement in his blue eyes. Oliver had witnessed the look countless times between Hal and his sisters. So he had no doubt the other man would twist him into a sorry pretzel if Oliver ever dared treat her anything less than a Queen. And he respected that.

Oliver gently rearranged her position so he could put his left arm around her despite the bags he was holding and extended his right hand.

"Thank you, Clark. For coming when I called."

The younger man started but smiled and shook his hand without hesitation. "I'm glad you're both all right."

The smile that bloomed on Chloe's face blinded Oliver. He loved all her smiles, the giddy ones, the daring, the timid, but the one she poured her heart in, all her light, that one was his favorite. Oliver brought her knuckles to his mouth, and enjoyed the light pink the gesture never failed to bring to her cheeks. How come he'd never noticed it set those tiny flakes of gold ablaze in her green eyes, too?

"Hum hum."

Oliver jolted away from Chloe at the snap of Clark's fingers a little too close to his nose.

"Yes, Clark?"

The young man looked entirely too smug for his taste.

"As I was saying, you were right about Red-K.—"

"Red… Clark!" Chloe fidgeted to escape Oliver's grasp.

"I didn't go anywhere near it. Oliver warned me not to go inside the club. I scanned it."

"Scan, you mean like X-Ray? You can X-ray an entire building?" Oliver nearly dropped the bags.

"Not the whole thing, but a good portion of it, yes." Chloe gasped. Clark smiled at her, almost sheepish to admit the extent of his powers. "I'm stronger than I was in high-school. The green stuff is still pretty bad, but I have to have skin contact with the red kind for it to pull me under now."

Chloe wriggled away from Oliver's arm. He wanted to pull her back to him, but she stepped to the panel to punch in the code and exited the elevator before he could. Oliver offered a welcoming smile over his shoulder to Clark.

"Come on in. Do you want something to drink?"

"I'm good, thanks. How did they put their hands on meteor rocks?" Clark asked. Oliver went to the bar while Chloe switched on lamp after lamp in the room, then circling back to cut some of them off. She seemed a bit uncomfortable, glancing toward her old friend from time to time as if to decipher what he was thinking as he took the décor of expansive casual chic and the easy way Chloe navigated in it.

"An excellent question. What else did you see?"

"Nothing much. It's like any other club, I guess. Storage, some offices. The rocks were in some sort of safe, but it was strange. The glow wasn't as concentrated as it usually is."

"It's grounded into powder and mix with steroids."

Clark mulled over the information for a moment. Then he perked up, his head turning to the side as if his attention was focused on something only he could hear.

"I'm sorry. I have to go. Do you want me to come pick you up next week?"

Oliver stilled at the change of subject then he remembered. Christmas in Smallville. He turned toward Chloe. "I've booked the jet for us, but it's up to you, Sidekick."

"The jet is fine. Thanks though, Clark."

"All right. Bring on an appetite. Mom arrives from Washington this Sunday, and she already planned her cooking spree."

Chloe grinned widely at him and accepted the quick hug before Clark nodded at Oliver. Then he disappeared in a whoosh. She sighed. "One done, two to go?"

"You're talking about Hal and Tess?"

She toed off her shoes. "Yeah."

With the lights blazing, the delicate skin under her eyes looked paper thin. "Are you hungry? I'll whip up something."

"I can cook."

Oliver ran a knuckle along her cheek before he leaned down to peck her temple. "Or you could seat at the counter and berate me again for the lack of Christmas decorations while I do it?"

He knew something was up when she didn't take the opening. She'd been adamant they put up a tree—which he refused, needles. No, fake trees are just awful— stockings —we won't be there to fill them— and decorations in general until he promised he would make an effort next year. His only concession for the time being had been a big red poinsettia which throned in the middle of the coffee table and a smaller white one she'd put on the bar.

"All right. I'll just put those away…"

"Chloe."

He caught her wrist as she reached for her shopping bags. She shook her head. "The day is catching up with me is all."

Oliver would have believed it if she hadn't averted her eyes. He gave her arm a little thug to bring her close. Without her heels she barely reached his chin. Chloe rested her cheek in the crook of his shoulder. "Talk to me, Sidekick."

It took the longest time before he heard her whisper. "You're going to tell me I'm silly."

"Probably. Tell me anyway."

Chloe tilted her head back. Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth, so he used his thumb to free it. She tiptoed when he did, asking with her body for a kiss. He obliged but retreated after a mere brush of her delicious mouth against his. "You're trying to distract me. Come on. What is it?"

"It's about something you said earlier."

Oliver swallowed, suddenly wondering if she was going to address the bridal elephant in the room. He'd used the word because of what Barbara had said about his name carrying weight, and he wanted to add pressure on Nabokov not to touch anything that was his. But he wasn't ready to discuss that with her yet. When he did, he needed to do it properly.

Oliver smirked, knowing how the slow appearance of dimples would distract her. "I said a lot of things earlier. You're going to have a little more specific, Professor."

"About owning billions and knowing how to use them."

Ah. So that was what the farmboy's awe at the arrogant display of wealth had brought back. "Well, I do. You know who I am."

"Yes, I know."

"Did it… Does it bother you?"

She'd witnessed firsthand how people like Lionel used their weight. The only other billionaire she knew was Lex, and Lex still flaunted his money and power more often than not to get what he wanted. Hell, he did to, when he couldn't charm or arrow his way in.

"That's the thing. It didn't."

Oliver didn't understand. "So what's the problem?"

"What does it make me?"

"What do you mean? You're my girlfriend, and my sidekick. An awesome one, at that."

"I'm serious, Oliver. I know you're rich and powerful…"

"Filthy rich, darling."

His attempt at humor didn't bring the laugh he was hoping for but she did smile and shook her head at his antics, so he took it as a win. But there were still shadows hiding in her normally bright eyes and he wanted them gone.

"You knew what was going to impress that mobster, what button to push, and you did."

He hoped like hell he'd pushed hard enough so that the spring was jammed coiled and would not explode back up to hit them in the face. "You put him in his place in one sentence. You didn't even have to raise your voice. After everything, I should be weary of when someone used their power to pressure someone, even a criminal. But I wasn't. I enjoyed the show. Very much."

Oliver started. "I beg your pardon?"

She looked up, sheepish. "What does it say about me that I loved seeing that side of you? I don't want you to think I expect things just because you have the means to get them to me. I don't love you for your money, or the privileges that come with."

He stood speechless with his hands loose on her hips. She loved him. Chloe was smiling at him, unaware of her slip, and so self-conscious it almost brought him to one knee.

Oliver gulped. "I never thought that, Chloe. I've been dealing with that kind of people all my life, and you're nothing like that. You don't have it in you. But it's good to know you're ready to enjoy the perks…"

She drilled a finger in his shoulder when a pleased, teasing grin started to spread on his face. "Don't you take that as the green light to start and buy me extravagant gifts."

"Arrgh. So close…"

"Shut up and kiss me."

"Yes, Ma'am…"

Chloe's hand rested against his heart, and it beat hard enough to hurt, as if it's tried to escape to be cradled in her palms. Oliver poured everything he felt into the kiss. She understood the hero, the public CEO, the man behind the fortune. She got the little boy who'd starved for the right kind of attention and the man who still craved it. She understood and she accepted all of him.

She gasped at the intensity of it then surrendered to the demanding heat with a shiver. Her little moan fueled his need to have her even closer, draped all around him, with less clothes on, so he could show her a different way how wanted she was, how cherished and loved, for hours on end.

Oliver broke away from her lips. "We have to stop…"

Even as he said it, he pebbled the side of her neck with kisses, hands roaming down her back until he hooked both under her bottom and hoisted her up against him. Chloe whimpered against his mouth. Her lithe body rocked against his, her hips urging him to reconsider. He stole another quick kiss from her mouth before he put her back on her feet, fought with himself not to come back for seconds. "Tess and Hal will be here soon. I'd rather not be interrupted again."

She pouted. "We could lock the elevator."

Oliver laughed. He released his hold on her waist, stepping away so he could breathe without her scent invading his senses and testing his resolve. "Later. I promise."