Chloe struggled to contain her laughter. Lois, Oliver and Clark contorted like demons on the couch as if their gesticulations would help their Mario Kart jump higher or go faster. Lois yelled when she missed a turn and went crashing once more. Oliver guffawed manically. Of the trio, Clark was the only one completely sobber. It didn't stop him to curse and pushed back when Oliver tried to bump him of the virtual road.
"Ah! Boom! Take that Boy Scout!"
Oliver jumped in victory when his green kart sent Clark's blue flying and zoomed past the finish line. "You can't beat me!"
"Rematch!" Lois shouted.
Oliver kept pumping his fists high in the air. "Get some training against Clark. I have a prize to claim."
Before she could brace herself, he plucked Chloe off her seat and onto his lap. Then captured her mouth.
The kiss wiped her mind clean of every thought she'd had in the past hour, day, week really. Their audience, the almost constant ache in her chest, their resolve to take things slow until she felt better, everything vanished in a needy clash of tongues and lips. He tasted like whipped cream and fire. The combination threatened to consume her alive. Chloe grasped for breath when he released her, dazed and trembling from head to toe.
His fingers hooked behind her neck so he tilted her head back, his thumb pressing on her erratic pulse. The eyes she met were hot, dark and hungry. "Ollie…"
Her body begged for another kiss, for more than not just those tame caresses he teased her with. Chloe snuggled closer, lips parted in invitation.
"Hey, you two, get a room or knock it off!"
"Lois…"
"Oh, quit it Smallville, you've been staring at that stupid tree-topper angel for the past five minutes to avoid the peep show. It's not even pretty, you big dump alien."
Chloe froze in Oliver's arms. If she continued squirming on his lap while he peppered butterfly kisses on her cheek and shoulder, maybe he would have been too distracted to notice the slip. Or he would have dismissed it as one of Lois' typical names-calling. But she did freeze then darted a concerned look toward Clark and Oliver noticed.
"Alien?" The loss of his mouth on her skin crystalized the air around Oliver's question. "As in not-from-this-Earth Alien?"
Him opening up to Lois was nothing short of a miracle already. Unless her cousin had figured it out on her own, like Chloe did. Having Oliver know the truth… Clark was going to bolt. Chloe opened her eyes again, certain to find the other end of the couch desert. She startled in surprise. lark did look a little uncomfortable, but he wasn't running.
"Yes. I'm Kryptonian."
"Kryptonian. I see."
Oliver's hands forbad her attempt at escaping. His stare stayed on Clark. Steady on her perch, she could only listen while he connected the dots.
"Those tiny meteor rocks you're allergic to…"
"Are pieces of my home planet."
She lowered her head waiting for the killing blow. Oliver's hand pressed into the small of her back. "I thought you were a metahuman, or maybe like Hal, with a ring or something."
Clark gave a tiny shrug. "You're… okay with it?" Chloe asked.
"Sure, why not? My best friend is an intergalactic peace keeper and I dress in green leather to shoot arrows from rooftops. I keep an open mind."
She launched herself at his neck.
"Humph… You okay there, Sidekick?"
"I love you."
Oliver kissed her lips with a chuckle. "I love you too."
Lois groaned. Chloe released her hero long enough to glare at her cousin. Lois pulled a face in return.
"So," Oliver eased Chloe to a more appropriate position next to him on the couch, with her legs flung over his lap. She curled into his side with her head on his shoulder. Oliver was comfortably warm. "Are you the only Kryptonian here or have you met others?"
Clark hesitated. "My cousin—do you remember Kara, Chlo? My cousin Kara is here too. She lives in National City."
"Supergirl."
"Yes."
Clark flushed, either in embarrassment or pride. "She taught me how to fly…"
"You can fly?" Oliver's hand stilled on her ankle, then resumed its back and forth on her calf. Chloe swallowed a sigh of pleasure. "Hal does too. That's handy. I wonder… If I could get my hand on some repulsors—"
Chloe jerked up. "Absolutely not. You're sticking to your grappling hook, Mister."
She caught his wrist as he slipped under the lace rim of her skirt. His thumb still brushed over the inner flesh of her knee. She almost released him to do as he pleased.
Lois threw her hands in the air. "Jeez, are you two always that handsy? We've been here two days and the only moment you're not groping each other is when one of you is out of the room. There's something about too much PDA, you know!"
Oliver smirked. The tips of his ears were a little red, but he hid embarrassment well. Better than her, in any case. Chloe felt her face was giving more heat than an overcooked tomato. She pushed Oliver's hand away from her knee for good and straightened up. "Sorry, Lois."
"You better be. Here." She handled the controller to Oliver once more. "The best out of three win all."
"You lost four races already, Lois."
"It doesn't count. I was getting familiar with the controls."
Clark laughed and sobered up when Lois's head snapped in his direction. Chloe took a cushion, and wished she had some popcorn to go with the show.
Her eyes fluttered open. The pillow was a different color than when she'd closed her eyes. The nimble fingers working on the side zipper of her skirt, though, were familiar. She yawned and smiled at Oliver, shifting just enough to allow him to slide the garment over her hips. "Did you win?"
"Of course."
He discarded her skirt then pushed her knit top out of the way to press a light kiss to her now bare stomach. The combined effect of pleasure and sleep made keeping her eyes opened an effort. Chloe had just enough energy to thread her fingers through his hair. "Getting ahead of yourself, Mr. Queen?"
Oliver laughed against her skin, and straightened up. "You're too delicious to resist… Especially now that I have you to myself again. Are you awake enough to change by yourself?"
Even though he asked, his palms trailed goosebumps in their wake as he pushed her top along her sides. "Arms up."
Chloe complied and her knit top joined the skirt on the floor. Oliver dropped his hands from her shoulders. "I'll get your pajamas."
She wasn't ready to let him go just yet. Chloe wrapped both arms around his neck and pulled him down on the top of her. Oliver jack-knifed his elbow on the mattress so that his body rested on the top of her without crushing her. Oliver gave her a crooked smile. "No 'jammies?"
"Kiss first…"
He pushed strands of hair away from her eyes. Chloe relaxed under him, half aware than he was still fully clothes while she wore only her bra and panties. Their breaths mingled. Her hands left his neck to slip down his dress shirt, annoyed by the numbers of buttons in their way. Oliver's mouth touched hers, firm and hot. She invited him to deepen the kiss, offering herself to the weight anchored between her legs. Her heart thudded hard. She ignored it.
She finally got rid of the last button and found taut muscles under the parted fabric. Her bra loosened. Chloe wrenched her lips from his. "You first…"
Oliver chuckled and kissed her again at the same time he got rid of his shirt. His fingers replaced her impatient ones on his belt and his slacks disappeared, too. He came back to press her on the mattress once more. His mouth found her shoulder, the hollow of her throat. The pressure in her chest bordered painful. She panted, half in pain, half in arousal.
Oliver stopped nuzzling her breast to lock eyes with her. Time slowed while his dark stare devoured her. Her moan when he entered her gently danced between them like a whisper, their love-making as slow and languid as the midnight sea. She'd never tire to see his gaze darken as he moved inside her, to see it cleared when she surrendered to pleasure and took him with her.
Chloe sighed. Her whole body felt liquid and wonderful. "We're not very good at following doctors' order, are we?"
Oliver rolled on his back and took her with him.
"I beg to differ…" He took her hand to brush his mouth against her palm. She failed to repress a shiver. "We resisted five full days, seven if you count the time we spent at the hospital." he placed their entwined fingers on his chest. His calming heartbeat soothed her. "…And I thought writers were all about the show not tell thing? I can tell you I love you… Or I can show you how much."
His free hand roam down to her bottom, hooking him firmly against him while he proceeded to kiss her thoroughly. When Oliver finally released her, Chloe was breathless, and embarrassed by the renewed pulse deep in her womb. She hid her blush in his shoulder.
Oliver shifted to take her chin in his hand so she looked at him. The movement forced her to arch backward. She winced at the sudden pull on her ribcage. Oliver eased his grip, his jaw tensed. She couldn't resist teasing him.
"If you react that badly about a little pain, how are you going to endure childbirth, Ollie?"
He flicked her nose. "Mean, Sidekick." She lied back in a more comfortable position, half hoping he resumed his ministrations. "Mean people don't get their Christmas present."
Chloe frowned. "I already had my present."
"Santa entrusted me with another one… But he said it was kind of conditional."
Oliver kissed her cheek then rolled out of bed. Chloe twisted the sheet around her in a make-shift toga before she joined him next to the dresser. "Conditional to what?"
"Wherever you would say yes." Oliver turned around to take her left hand in his. The other held a velvet blue-grey box.
"Oliver…"
"You can't say no now. My grandmother always wore them a set."
"Your grandmother… Oliver!"
Her protest vanished from the tip of her tongue when he opened the case. The antique rose-gold was worked into a fine cord which looped and twisted around scintillating gemstones. The almond-shaped green garnets formed leaves to the rose-cut diamonds, so that both branches descended into a brilliant pendant which nestled in her bosom when Oliver clipped the necklace in place. Her pale skin sparkled in white and green.
"Beautiful…"
Chloe turned in his arms to stand on tiptoes and kissed him softly. "Thank you."
He cupped her cheek for another kiss, then another, each more passionate than the last. Chloe let him guide her back to the bed but sidestepped when he sat. "I have something for you, too…"
Oliver grinned as he tugged at the sheet around her. "I am already unwrapping my present."
She slapped his venturing hand, escaping long enough to extract a USB key from her laptop. Oliver pulled her onto his lap, laughing. "Even if there's a full design for a boxing arrow on that thing, I'd rather have you…"
"It's Queen Industries," she said in a rush, before his fingers playing with her collarbone scattered her thoughts to the wind.
"What?" Oliver stopped nibbling at her naked shoulder. Chloe used his distraction to close his fingers around the key.
"Photographs and memories… Of your parents. I spoke to a lot of people for the book and they all had anecdotes, personal photographs. That's my golden thread. The Queens family. There's…" She hesitated when she saw the raw emotions in his stare. "There's videos too… Of your mother." Her pipe tightened. "She's…. She's pregnant with you in one."
Her eyes watered at the look of intense longing on Oliver's face. His chin quivered. He pinched his lips into a line, as if to stop the tears she guessed swam in his eyes to fall. Chloe wrapped her arms around him. He buried his face in her hair. His breath shuddered against her skin. Her heart broke.
"No one… No one ever did something like that for me." Her own tears slid along her cheeks. "Don't cry Angel…" His kiss was a little messy, a little salty, far from his previous amorous intent and just right. "We'll look at them together tomorrow?"
She nodded with a watery smile. "I hate crying… I can't help it. Damned hormones…"
"I love your hormones. And I love you. So very much."
The USB key found a nest with the precious jewelry in its velvet case. Then they shut down the lights and settled back into bed so that sleep found them wrapped in each other's arms.
