Chapter 25 — We Were Happy

Zoey yawns as she walks out of the kitchen and towards the living room. Between her classes at Met U, running YMG Inc, and catching up on everything that Queen Industries had been doing over the years, had left her exhausted. The board of Queen Industries had been shocked when Oliver announced he was stepping down and making her CEO. They had even been more shocked when they learned that Zoey owned half the shares. The shock turned to anger when it was pointed out there was nothing they could do. The bylaws of Queen Industries made it impossible for the board to overturn Oliver's decision. Resignations and retirements came from the majority of the board. Along with the sale of their shares; shares that Zoey quickly snapped up which gave her seventy-five percent ownership. The last twenty-five percent of shares were still owned by Oliver.

She stops upon seeing Lex sitting on the couch. Lionel's death had been all over the news. Zoey had been convinced that Lionel had committed suicide. "Lex. I'm sorry about your father," Zoey tells him. Lex stands up and walks towards her. "Lionel may not have been the father of the year, but he was still your dad."

"I want the locket," Lex tells her, moving closer.

Zoey frowns. "What locket?"

"The locket that Robert Queen gave your mother."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit."

"I think you should leave."

Lex wraps a hand around her throat. Zoey stares at him, defiantly. She wasn't going to let him intimidate her. "I just killed my father. Don't think I won't do the same."

"Except you won't. You're convinced that I have something you want. Even though I have no idea what you're talking about."

Lex tightens his grip. Then he notices the small gold chain around her neck. He shoves her back. Zoey stumbles. Her foot catches on the rug and she falls back, hitting her head on the side table. Darkness dances at the edges of her vision. Lex kneels next to her. His fingers trail over the gold chain then pulls it out. "There was a time when I thought we could be great together, Zoey," he tells her. At the end of the chain was the key he was looking for. "We have so much in common. We're willing to do whatever it takes to get what we want."

Lex yanks the chain off her neck, not caring about the cut he creates. He walks out of the apartment, leaving her on the floor.

"Zoey," Oliver shouts, stepping off the elevator. He finds her laying on the floor. "Zo!" It wasn't like her to not answer her cell. The moment he heard of Lionel's death, he had raced back to Metropolis. He was glad that he had only been in Chicago and it hadn't taken long to get to Metropolis. He kneels next to her. A bruise was forming on her neck. There was a small cut. "Zoey!" It's then that he notices the blood in her hair.

A soft groan reaches him and he finds that she's waking up. "Ollie," Zoey softly asks.

"I'm here," Oliver replies, helping her sit up. "We need to get you to the hospital, Zo."

Zoey shakes her head. "I'm-I'm fine."

"There's a puddle of blood from your head. You're going to the hospital."

"No. I need to find Clark."

Oliver notices the blood on her thighs. "Zoey, you're going to the fucking hospital."

"I'm fine."

"Did your period just start?"

Zoey shoots him a confused look. "No. I'm…"

Oliver tenses. "When did you…"

"I only took the test a few hours ago," Zoey softly tells him.

"You're going to the hospital," Oliver tells her once more. This time, she doesn't argue with him.

Clark makes his way through Met Gen, searching for Oliver. The phone call he had gotten from Oliver had caused Clark to worry. He finds Oliver sitting in a private room, next to an empty bed. "Where's Zoey," he asks. While he hadn't been close to her over the past few years, Clark still cared about her.

"They took her to get an MRI," Oliver explains. "She won't tell me what happened."

"When do I get to go home," Zoey asks, as a nurse wheels her into the room.

"Shouldn't be much longer, Mrs. Queen. Dr. Shepherd will be down to discuss the results." The nurse helps her out of the wheelchair and onto the bed.

Zoey waits until the nurse is out of the room before turning to Clark. "Lex paid me a visit," she tells him. "He stole a necklace my mom had left me."

Clark frowns. "I don't see—"

"It was a key. And my mom claimed that it unlocks a safe deposit box in Zurich that holds the secrets to the universe." Zoey sighs. "Lionel called last week. He wanted to know if my mom had left me a locket or a key necklace. I told him yes and he said to keep it safe as it meant keeping you safe, Clark."

"Zo, why didn't you tell me this," Oliver demands. "I would've—"

"Are you asking me whether or not I believed a fucking thing that Lionel Luthor said," Zoey snaps. "Because the answer is no. I thought he was going crazy. And while I want to believe that my mom was sober…" She trails off and shakes her head. "Look, I don't even know if what she said was true. But if it was, then I figured you should know, Clark."

Clark looks between his married friends. He turns to Zoey. "Thank you for letting me know," he says, then walks out of the room.

Oliver looks at Zoey. He knew her well enough to know when she was holding something back. "What are you keeping from Clark?"

"Lex told me he killed Lionel," Zoey tells him, shifting on the bed.

Oliver stares at her. "Lex told you this?"

"Yes."

"Fuck."

"Yeah."

There's a knock on the door and they turn to see Dr. Shepherd walk into the room. "Zoey, how are you doing," he brightly asks.

Zoey smiles. "Well, I'd like to go home, Dr. Shepherd," she tells him. "Other than that I'm fine. You know I'm not a big fan of hospital food. Though I do enjoy the pudding. The Jell-O is nasty."

"Let's hope that you don't have to bribe the orderlies for pudding," Dr. Shepherd replies, flashing a light in her eyes. "You're pupils are reacting just fine. And the MRI showed some swelling on your spinal cord. But I believe that it's nothing to be worried about. How did you get those bruises on your neck?"

"We had a break-in. He attacked me. I tried fighting him off. It's how I hit my head."

Dr. Shepherd moves down to her and runs a pen over the bottom of the feet. "Reflexes are good there. Any numbness?"

"Nope."

Dr. Shepherd makes a few notes in the chart, before closing. "Bed rest for the next week. We don't want the swelling to get any worse. If you experience any sudden numbness or sharp pain come right back in. Make an appointment with my office in a month. We'll do another MRI then, mostly to make sure the swelling is gone."

Oliver clears his throat. "Look, Dr. Shepherd, I know you're a neurologist, but Zo had a miscarriage and no one has come to check her out for that."

"How far?"

"I just found out today," Zoey softly says. "So, maybe six weeks. I guess."

"It'll be like a regular period, but heavier for a few days and can last longer. I'll let them know to make sure someone from OB comes down and talks to you before you leave. Remember, bed rest for a week." Dr. Shepherd pats her leg and walks out of the room.

Zoey sighs. She knew that Oliver was concerned about her. "Ollie, I'm fine. My head's fine, my back is fine. Miscarriages in the first trimester are so common." She leans forward and grabs his hand. "I'm fine."

Oliver runs a hand over his face. He was exhausted. The events over the past few months had him and his team running all over the world. The past few weeks were the worst. Clark and Lex had gone missing while Chloe had been arrested. While he, Dinah, and AC had managed to find Clark and rescue Chloe, it had come at the cost of Tess Mercer learning their identities. All he wanted to do at the moment was to go home, crawl into bed, and watch shitty TV with his wife. So, when Zoey had asked to meet him at some address in a residential neighborhood, he was pretty annoyed. "Hey," Zoey greets, meeting him on the street. She presses a soft kiss on his cheek. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just really tired, Zo," Oliver answers, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Well, then it's a good thing, we're home." He shoots her a questioning look. She smiles. "I was thinking with this whole…having a baby thing, we need a home that's more baby-friendly. And the loft isn't baby-friendly. So, I found a house and I brought it."

Oliver looks up at the brownstone in front of him. It screamed family home to him. He could see why Zoey had brought it. He looks at her. "Are you pregnant?"

Zoey sighs. "No. It happened once before, Ollie. It'll happen again. Look, we've been stressed the past few months. And part of me doesn't feel comfortable in the loft anymore. Dr. Specter suggested that maybe a change of scenery would help."

"You keep making the real estate decisions without me."

Zoey shrugs. "I don't want to bother you about boring decisions while you're out saving the world. But we are keeping the loft. You and your team need a headquarters or whatever."

"Not much of a team at the moment."

"What happened, Ollie?"

"Tess Mercer. I'm not in the mood to talk about it." He shakes his head. The last thing he wanted to talk about was his past with Tess Mercer. While he knew about her past relationships, she didn't know much about his. And she had never pried. She never asked about his time on the island. "So, do you have the keys to this place or do we have to wait before we christen every room?"

Zoey laughs. She pulls out a set of keys. "I have them right here." She walks up to the front door and unlocks the front door. Her laughter rings out when Oliver scoops her up and carries her into the house. He kicks the front door closed behind him.

When it was good, baby, it was good, baby
We showed 'em all up
No one could touch the way we laughed in the dark
Talking 'bout your daddy's farm we were going to buy someday
And we were happy