By the time she got back to England the following day she wanted nothing more than to sleep for a week but those plans were interrupted by an announcement that Edward made at diner. "You'll be starting work on Monday." He said seemingly out of nowhere.
"Work?" Chloe looked up at him confused.
"I can hardly expect you to take over the company if you don't learn how to run it can I?" He asked her raising an eyebrow.
"Right." Chloe nodded sheepishly, she'd gotten so used to, well, doing nothing for the past year it took her a minute to wrap her head around work. But the more she thought about it, the more it excited her.
Unfortunately the more excited she got about it, the more disappointed she was when her first day of work consisted of the beginning of her six month crash course in business school. She learned how to run the daily operations of the business by basically shadowing Edward everywhere while his close friend and financial advisor, Tony Miller, gave Chloe a play by play on everything he did. She learned how to set up buys, how to create and understand quarterly reports, how to solve the day by day problems that Edward was faced with. She put in twelve, sometimes sixteen hours a day at work and was still expected to attend functions and parties at night. On top of all of that was her work with Oliver, the more information they got about Project Cassandra, it seemed the less they actually knew, this was something big, like 33.1, not just a passing fancy for Lex and that meant extra hours, extra missions, extra information to go through. Chloe was exhausted.
Rose, Lily, and Abby thought it was great that she was working. They found the whole idea novel and wanted to know everything she did, how she did it, and why she did it. Somehow, seemingly out of nowhere, piled onto her work with her Uncle, her social obligations, and her work with Oliver she started dating. She wasn't even sure how it happened as exhausted as she was; it was two months into the relationship before she even knew it was a relationship. It was strange and nice all at the same time and much different than she was used to.
It started out slowly. She'd been introduced to Spencer Caulfield, heir to one of the largest oil fortunes in the world when she first came to England. He was pretty good friends with Abby, Lily and Rose. Since their initial meeting they'd bumped into each other at various parties or events but lately he'd been spending a lot of time just hanging out with them. Lily had declared that she spent too much time with girls and they needed to broaden their circle and that's where Spencer and his friends came in, Dale and Jason. From the outside they looked glamorous and untouchable, so far above Chloe and the guys she'd known all her life. They had lots of money, fancy cars, charm that seemed to be inherited with the money and she was sure she would never fit in. But once they started to hang out more she couldn't help notice the parallels they seemed to share with normal guys. Watching them play Halo reminded her of her guys back in Star City, chilling out and relaxing with each other at Oliver's. They watched the same stupid movies that Bart and Victor watched, the same video games, they just had more money.
She always gravitated toward Spencer for some reason. He was the only one of his friends who actually worked for a living, as was she with her friends. He had more to talk about than trips to Italy, extravagant shopping sprees, or topless beaches, a favorite topic of Dale and Jason, who were trying desperately to convince that Rose and Lily had to visit one with them. He talked about politics, and business, and could understand how Chloe felt when she worried she wouldn't live up to Edwards's standard as far as the company was concerned because he had the same fears with his father, Martin Caulfield, Oil Tycoon. He knew what it was like, being the one in the office that everyone knew was only there because Daddy, or in her case, Uncle owned the place, and the urge to prove yourself to the ones who were rooting for you to fail. He had the added pressure that Chloe did not, that of the fact that he hated his job. He didn't want to work in Oil, he was a tech guy, and he said his dream was to be a more handsome Steve Jobs, run a company like Apple. Only Martin wouldn't hear of it and forced him to stay at a job he hated, with people who hated him.
At some point it stopped being a group hang out and started being a couple hang out. Chloe would go to Spencer's after a long day of work and they would order in and watch movies, or when they'd both had a light day, go out to eat somewhere. Then they were calling each other every day, meeting for lunch, and then meeting for dinner. Chloe found herself heading to the office from Spencer's apartment more than Edwards house but they were still just friends. Or so she thought until one night after dinner, they were walking back home admiring the clear night which gave them a view of the stars and he kissed her. She didn't hesitate in kissing him back and suddenly they were dating.
They went out every night; they went to the country on the weekends. Abby complained that she never saw Chloe anymore and Oliver noticed a serious decline in communication, often commenting on it but never really asking about it.
As Chloe took on more and more responsibility at work, and Spencer did the same, they even started seeing less of each other. Then one day Elizabeth, who had quickly advanced from personal maid to personal assistant when Chloe started working for Edward, walked into Chloe's office to give her the weekly reports smiled sheepishly. "I just received a call from Mr. Caulfield." She said carefully. "He requested I clear your schedule for the rest of the week and the weekend."
"He did huh?" Chloe said suspiciously and called him. "What's this about clearing my schedule?" Chloe asked smiling.
"You've been working too hard, we've both been working too hard, I figured we deserved a vacation. So pack your bag, we're going to the beach." She smiled, ready for a nice quiet weekend at his cottage, she would do some sun bathing, and he would do some surfing.
Her Uncle was more than happy to let her go, claiming that she'd been working far too hard and when Spencer picked her up she was more than ready for a quiet weekend away. Only he didn't drive to the beach, he drove to Heathrow. "I'm confused." Chloe said looking at the airport. "I thought we were going to the beach."
"We are." Spencer grabbed her bags and led her out to his jet waiting on the tarmac.
What beach?" Chloe asked climbing the steps to his jet and getting settled in.
"It's a surprise." He smiled and grabbed her hand. "You should get some sleep, it's a long flight."
He wasn't kidding, four hours later she woke up and they were still in the air. Four hours after that, still no decent plans in the works. "Are we going to Mars?" Chloe joked with him as she took her laptop out to get some work done.
"No, work." He slammed the computer shut. "That's a rule here."
"There are rules to this trip?" Chloe smiled at him.
"No phone, no work, no computer, no internet. Just you and me and the beach." He kissed her and she sighed.
"Can I still have coffee?" She asked.
"Do you think I'm crazy?" Spencer laughed at her.
"Well so long as we're on the same page." Three hours later they landed in Singapore. No beach but still a beautiful city, not that Chloe got to enjoy it as they simply refueled the plane, at some food and stretched their legs before setting off again. At some point Chloe fell asleep and woke up when they were landing.
"Are we here?" She asked looking out the window, unable to distinguish "here" as anywhere in particular because all she could see was the runway.
"Yes, we're here." Spencer grabbed their bags and they descended the steps. A driver was waiting for them and he held Chloe's door open and smiled at her.
"Welcome to Australia." He ushered her in the car and she turned to Spencer smiling.
"We're in Australia?"
"Some of the best beaches in the world." He told her. "Quiet, serene, and private."
After a forty minute car ride and then a twenty minute ferry ride they arrived at an island off the coast of Perth were Spencer had a condo right on the beach. They settled in, went to the beach, got some food and tried to adjust to the time zone. Surprisingly Chloe managed to relax, she forgot about work, she forgot about everything and just enjoyed being there.
Their second night there she woke up to a shrill ringing and Chloe's hand slapped around the nightstand for a minute before she realized her phone was still in her jeans pocket. She leaned over the side of the bed, wanting nothing more than to stop the high pitched noise and go back to bed. She leaned over to far and fell out of the bed onto her jeans. She dug her phone out and flipped it open. "What?"
"That's not very polite." Oliver's said.
"I was sleeping." Chloe yawned rubbing her eyes and brushed the hair out of her face as she sat on the floor next to the bed.
"It's five o'clock in London." Oliver pointed out.
"Yeah, well I'm not in London." Chloe said. "I'm in Australia, and it's four in the morning here."
"Since when?" He asked confused.
"Since yesterday." Chloe pulled herself up and stretched. "It was a last minute trip."
"Who is it?" A voice said from the bed behind Chloe. A male voice.
"Abby." Chloe said quietly. "I forgot to tell her we went away."
"Who is that?" Oliver asked with a strange tone in his voice. "Who is we?"
"Abby can I call you tomorrow?" Chloe stressed the tomorrow part of that.
"No." Spencer sat up and pulled the phone from Chloe's hands. "Abby, Chloe is on vacation, a vacation that I had to trick her into and that she so desperately needs. She'll talk to you in two days, until then she's in communicado, pass it on." He hung up the phone and Chloe smiled sheepishly. "Come back to bed." He patted the mattress next to him and Chloe climbed in going back to sleep.
The next morning she woke up to an empty bed, Spencer was probably out surfing. She grabbed her phone and walked out on the balcony. Chloe nodded as the maid set her breakfast on the table and she dialed a number on her phone. "Hey." She said when Oliver answered. "I wanted to apologize about last night."
"I didn't mean to interrupt…whatever it was I interrupted." Oliver said.
"Sorry about Spencer." Chloe smiled watching him surf from the balcony.
"Spencer?" Oliver snorted. "Spencer Caulfield?" He had wondered who she was with, and why she would take off to Australia without even telling her, but Spencer Caulfield he was not prepared for.
"Yeah." Chloe furrowed her brow.
"Is that who you've been spending all your time with?" Oliver asked.
"I haven't been spending all my time with him." Chloe countered.
"Really?" Oliver said. "I haven't talked to you in a week and half."
I've been busy with work." Chloe said getting annoyed. "Not to mention all this stuff you keep piling on me from Lex."
"All that stuff, is important." Oliver said. "More important that spending time with your little boyfriend." He regretted it as soon as it was out of his mouth; he wasn't even sure why he was suddenly so angry with her. "You and Clark both, it's like you don't understand how important this work is."
"Excuse me?" Chloe screamed. "You think I don't know how important this is? I gave up my life for this, for you. And do you know why I did that?" Chloe couldn't control her anger anymore. "Because I, unlike you, have been in one of those labs, I've had Lex experiment on me, implant something in me that would have killed me, I've had him take my mother to get to me. I know how important this is Oliver, but I can't let it consume my life, I won't. I've been working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the past eight months, between Edward and you and if I want to go to fucking Australia I will." She wished that she could do more than just push a button to hang up on him. Slamming a phone down has more of a finality to it, more impact.
"Hey." Spencer said from the doorway to the balcony as she paced and cursed Oliver under her breath. "You ok?"
She turned to him surprised and smiled. "Fine." She shook off her conversation with Oliver and walked over to kiss him. "Nothing to worry about."
He saw her phone on the table and raised his eyebrows. "I said no phone." He reminded her.
"I know, I swear, rest of the trip, no phone." She promised him and she delivered. She didn't call Oliver back and he didn't call her back. Two weeks went by and she knew that she'd have to talk to him at some point. Her anger faded, she understood where he was coming from but she had to have a life too and he needed to understand that. But mostly she realized that she missed talking with him. Even though they hadn't really been calling each other a lot the past couple of months, the option was always there, she could pick up the phone day or night and know that Oliver would answer, and they would talk and he would, somehow calm her down. But now that was gone. When she had a good day at work, she found herself starting to call Oliver only to stop, start to call Spencer and realize he wasn't who she wanted to talk to and end up not calling anyone.
It didn't help that Spencer was becoming more and more distant with her. His relationship with his father was strained at the best of times but they seemed to be arguing more and more and he was generally in such a foul mood lately that they weren't hanging out as much. Abby was happy to have Chloe back but noticed right away that something was off about her.
"Spencer and his dad go through this like once every two years. He'll get over it and be back to normal in no time." Abby said one day when she caught Chloe staring at her phone.
"Huh?" Chloe looked at her confused. "Right." She shook her head. "I know. So where are we going tonight?" Chloe quickly changed the subject.
But he didn't get over it, if anything it got worse and worse until it all came to a head one day when Spencer showed up at her office looking excited and exhausted. "Can I take you to lunch?" He asked and she smiled and wondered the whole way to the restaurant how she was going to break up with him, something she'd been planning for a few weeks. She waited this long because she wanted to be sure that she was doing this for her, doing this because her and Spencer just didn't seem on the same wavelength anymore and not because of Oliver.
Surprisingly she didn't have to worry about it because he got there first. "I'm moving to the States." He said before Chloe had a chance to even scan the menu.
"What?" She asked staring at him confused.
"I quit." He started to get less exhausted and more excited with every word. "Today, I told him that I didn't want to work for him anymore and I was starting my own business."
"You are?" Chloe asked.
"My dream business, a tech business." He paused while they ordered lunch and then started right back up when the waitress left. "There's this group of guys working on this program at MIT, its genus, it's gonna be the next big thing." He explained this program to her, how it combined the best of every internet trend out there, MySpace, Face Book, and file sharing with an easily adaptable interface and tons of other features that even the tech geek in Chloe couldn't follow. "They need backing, and I need something to back." He finished up.
"Sound like a match made in heaven." Chloe smiled at him, genuinely happy that he was happy.
"I'm not expecting a long distance thing." Spencer told her. "We haven't really clicked lately, we've drifted apart."
"I know." Chloe apologized. "I was thinking the same thing actually."
"Plus I'll be in the states working on a start up, which is going to take up all my time and you'll be here working for Edward and doing whatever that other thing is you do that takes up so much time." He smiled ruefully at her.
Chloe opened her mouth surprised that he knew she had another thing that took up her time. "I was a good boyfriend, I paid attention." He boasted.
"I'm sorry." Chloe blushed. "I tried not to let it interfere…"
"I didn't." He assured her. "Trust me that had nothing to do with this. We're just going in different directions."
"So." Chloe smiled, as a weight was lifted off her shoulders. "Tell me more about these guys at MIT."
They ate their lunch amicably, Spencer getting more and more animated as he talked about his start up and Chloe finally feeling like something had gone right. Martin was pretty upset about the whole thing, had declared it doomed for failure in six months and that Spencer would come crawling back, tail between his legs when he'd run out of money but Chloe was sure he would make it work, if only to prove Martin wrong. He left within the week and Chloe suddenly felt very alone. Spencer was gone, Oliver wasn't talking to her, Abby tried to cheer her up, keep her mind off of Spencer, because that's what she assumed Chloe was upset about.
"Wait we can't go to Valerie's thing tomorrow, Dale's birthday is tomorrow." Chloe said walking in the sitting room after a long day of work, she was hoping for a quiet weekend but so far things weren't going in her favor. Abby was keeping her as busy as she could so she could keep her mind off Spencer but it was just driving Chloe to exhaustion.
"Well I'm not the one who promised Valerie we'd go." Abby pointed out.
"Well we can tell her we're going to Wes' and leave early." Chloe said.
"Won't she know we're lying when we don't show up at Wes?" Abby asked.
She doesn't go to Wes' anymore; remember ever since he cheated on her with Julia."
"Right." Abby smiled. "So wait, we aren't really going to Wes' are we? I hate Wes."
"We'll go to Dale's thing for a while and then come back here, beg Raymond to make that Strawberry Rhubarb ice cream and watch a movie."
"Sounds like a plan." Abby said. "Call me."
"Later." Chloe hung up the phone and started to type something in as she sat down on her chair.
"You've got a busy schedule." A voice made her jump in the air and she looked up to see Oliver sitting at the desk in the back of the room. "No wonder you haven't called me in a month."
"Month and a half." Chloe said before she could stop herself. They just stared at each other for a minute, neither one saying anything until they both blurted out, "I'm sorry."
Chloe smiled and her shoulders relaxed. "I'm sorry for saying those things I said." Oliver stood up. "I know you know how important this is, you gave up the most for this mission, you were hurt by Lex as much as anyone. You didn't deserve what I said to you."
"I'm sorry." Chloe stood up. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. I was just a little strung out, I didn't feel like I had any control over my life and I…snapped." She paused for a minute and then continued. "Spencer and I broke up, but I want you to know that it wasn't because of you, I'm going to have a life to live, that's a part of your plan you might not have realized but it's going to happen."
"I know." Oliver assured her. "I don't expect you to…I shouldn't have said those things."
They just stared again until Chloe walked over and hugged him. "I missed you." She whispered.
"I missed you too." Oliver assured her.
"Look," Chloe grabbed his hand and led him over to the couch, pulling him down. "I don't know when this happened, I don't…you see when I started this whole thing I never thought…"
"Chloe?" Oliver asked and she looked up at him. "Are you about to profess your undying love for me?"
"No." She rolled her eyes.
"Then spit it out." Oliver laughed at her.
"You've become my best friend." She told him. "I didn't realize until I couldn't call you, how much I wanted to call you. I didn't ever think that Oliver Queen could be that guy you know, but you are and I hated it that we fought, I hated it that I couldn't call and tell you what Sarah did at the office, that I couldn't call and laugh with you about Lily's new speed dating trip. I hated it."
He smiled at her shook his head. "Hey that was the plan right?" Oliver said. "Oliver Queen, Chloe Sullivan, BFF?" Chloe glared at him and he laughed. "You're my best friend too." He told her. "Which is really strange for me because I've never had a best friend before, ever, add to it that you're my ex girlfriend's cousin." He whistled. "It's a little surreal to me. But come on Chloe, you know my biggest secret and you don't care, and I can trust you with that. Of course you're my best friend." She blushed a little.
"And I hated that we were fighting too." He motioned around the room. "I mean I flew all the way to England just to apologize because Victor and AC said they were gonna kick me out of my own house if I didn't say I was sorry for the horrible way I treated you." Chloe laughed. "Plus I think they got kind of annoyed with me telling them all the stuff I would normally tell you."
"Ok." Chloe said. "So now we've had our Gilmore Girls heart wrenching moment can we just put it behind us?"
"I would like that more than anything." Oliver sighed in relief. "But first could you tell Victor I apologized? He said he'd only believe it if it came from your mouth."
"I don't know." Chloe looked at him smiling. "What happens if I don't?"
"To you nothing." Oliver said shaking his head sadly. "To me, well just think of how miserable three guys with superpowers could make my life if they wanted." Chloe laughed.
"Ok, I'll call him."
"No need." A voice said from behind her and she turned around surprised and ran to hug Victor who was leaning against the door.
"What are you doing here?" She pulled back and he smiled.
"We were insurance." AC said from the other side of Victor and she rushed to hug him too. "In case you didn't accept his apology."
"Where's Bart?" She looked around the room.
"Right here." He speeded in the room and landed perfectly next to her with his hand around her shoulder. "This place is massive, seriously, I don't even think I went everywhere."
"Bart you can do a super speed tour around here, we have cameras everywhere." Chloe scolded him.
"No camera can catch me." He puffed up his chest.
"No, but they managed to get a shot of your massive ego." Oliver pointed out.
"How long are you guys staying?" Chloe asked excitedly.
"The weekend." Oliver said.
"I'll clear my plans." Chloe smiled. "We'll have a great time." She jumped up. "I'm so glad you guys are here, I've missed you so much." She walked to the doorway. "I'll have Jeeves show you to your rooms and then I'll order something for dinner, no fish for AC…" She was mumbling to herself as she walked out of the room leaving the guys alone.
She called Abby and explained some friends from back home had come to visit and bowed out of all weekend activities. It took some time but she managed to convince Abby she really had friends over and that she wasn't sitting at home with a gallon of ice cream, drowning her sorrow over Spencer. She eventually had to put Victor on the phone as proof that there were actual people there with her before Abby would let the whole thing go.
That weekend, hanging out at Edward's with the guys reminded her of what it felt like to be part of the team, to be part of the little family they'd started and renewed her spirit as far as the mission went. She was sad to see them go, but grateful that she had that time with them.
Things in her life were just getting back to normal, going to work, hanging out with her friends, talking to Oliver every day, when during dinner one night, Edward threw another wrench in everything and it all turned upside down. "I'm sorry could you repeat that please?" Chloe set her fork down and stared at Edward as if he'd grown an extra head.
"Starting Monday you're taking over Posh." Edward repeated. Posh was one of the many magazine's that Edward owned, it was sort of the equivalent of Vogue in the US, or it would be if anyone bothered to read it.
"What do you mean, taking over?" Chloe asked.
"You'll be the new Editor." He said.
"You can't just make me the Editor…" Chloe gaped at him.
"I've taught you the boardroom side of this business, now you need to learn the bread and butter." He explained to her. "We'll start with the magazines, since you're quite well versed with the newspapers."
"But Posh has and editor." Chloe pointed out.
"Not anymore, he quit." Edward said.
"Surely the assistant editor or someone else on staff…" Chloe tried to find anyone else to do this job.
"They're all idiots." Edward waved her off. "The whole thing is failing, it's a sinking ship."
"So why are you putting me in charge of it?"
"Because if you mess up, no one will care." He said. "And you need to learn the business."
"Those people are going to hate me." Chloe said. "I'm coming in out of nowhere to run a magazine they've been working on for years."
"They're not going hate you, hell they should thank you. I was just going to shut it down, but I thought it would be a good learning experience for you." He told her. "If anything you saved their jobs for a while."
"Well, tell them that would you." Chloe mumbled.
And he did. Monday he walked into the Posh office with Chloe, introduced her as the new Editor in Chief and then informed everyone that they had three months to turn the magazine around or he was scrapping the whole thing.
"Three months Oliver." Chloe said later that day, feeling that they'd had this conversation before. "That's all he's giving me, three months to turn the worst magazine in England around."
"He's not really expecting you to save the magazine Chloe, he just wants you to get your feet wet." Oliver explained to her.
"Well I'm just supposed to let it fail?" She asked.
"No I suppose not." Oliver sighed, she'd obviously made up her mind about this whole thing, and once Chloe made up her mind there was no way to stop it. "So do you have a plan?"
"A plan?" Chloe asked. "I've got a plan, well the start of a plan."
"Let's hear it."
Well, I know that I need a plan." She said definitively.
Oliver laughed. "You'll figure something out." He said. "I know you will."
"While your faith in me seems to be endless, no one else's is. They walked out."
"What do you mean?" Oliver asked confused.
"My staff, well upper level staff anyway, the guys I needed to run this thing. They decided to cut their losses and walk. I've got no Managing Editor, Senior Editors, Associate Editors, Assistant Editors, and Editorial Assistants, and half of my staff writers left too."
"Oh." Oliver said. "That doesn't sound good."
"It's not." Chloe informed him. "I have an office full of assistants and interns with a skeleton copy department."
"You'll figure this out, just hire more people." Oliver said.
"Who?" Chloe said. "I don't know this world? And all the good ones will have jobs."
"So give the staff you have a chance. Those interns were there to learn, make them step up to the plate. Those assistants probably all know what their bosses were doing like the back of their hands…you'll make it work." Oliver said and Chloe took a deep breath.
"That's not a bad idea." Chloe said.
"That really sucks, you know." Bart said from nowhere, "Sorry about your magazine walking out or whatever, but I'm sitting here trying not to get caught, it would be nice if someone told me where to go."
"Sorry." Chloe blushed and looked at her monitor. "The Records room should be fifty yards to your left."
"Thanks." Bart said and Chloe had to bite back her laughter, all though she could hear AC and Victor chuckling over the coms.
She went into Posh the next day, with far more confidence than she felt, and three secret weapons. She'd called Abby, Lily, and Rose after she'd finished her Justice League work with Oliver. "So you guys have always wanted to know what it was like to work right?"
"Yeah." Abby said cautiously.
"Have I got a job for you." Chloe explained her predicament at Posh, a magazine that Lily used to read before it became rubbish, and they seemed a little excited about the whole thing.
"You mean we'll get to tell people what's in and what's not?" Rose asked. "This is like the perfect job for us."
"Sounds like it could be fun." Abby said.
"Would we get paid?" Lily asked. "Cause I think it would be so cute to get a paycheck."
After working out what Chloe expected of them they agreed to meet her at the office in the morning and start their very first jobs. "Ok." Chloe addressed the board room of anxious people, staring at her to solve all their problems. "So we're a little short staffed." She looked around and cringed, a few more people had left since yesterday. "And we've got what seems like an impossible timeline here but actually if you think about it, that's a good thing." They stared back at her confused. "We've all ready been given a death sentence; we've got nothing to lose." A few people seemed to catch on to what she was saying. "This couldn't be more perfect." She was getting herself a little pumped up. "I've got more than capable interns here; this is what you're doing here right? You wanted to learn this business, wanted to get a foot in the door, well here's your chance. And you guys…" she turned to the assistants, who she was sure only stayed because three months of a steady paycheck was better than no paycheck. "You were the ones who kept your bosses on task, you knew what they were doing better than they did I'm sure. You guys can do this, we can do this, or we're sure as hell gonna try, so what do you say?" She looked around the room. "Are you with me?" No one moved, no one clapped, and there was no sudden burst of excitement, surge of assuredness. "Come on, the speech wasn't that bad."
"Well it was no Saint Crispin's Day speech." A girl said from the corner.
"Ha!" Chloe smiled. "Shakespeare reference in casual conversation how would you like to be the new head of the Culture section?"
The girl's eyes widened and she could only nod as Chloe smiled. "Anyone a big music fan? You with the headphones." She pointed to a guy who was barely paying attention and someone elbowed him. He pulled his iPod out and turned it off sheepishly. "How many songs you got on there?"
"Close to fifty thousand." He said sheepishly.
"Wow." Chloe said astonished. "Good, you're the new head of the Music section. Come on guys, jobs are up for grabs here, step up. What are you passionate about?"
"I really like movies." A girl raised her hand in the back.
"Head of Entertainment." Chloe clapped.
"I'm sort of a tech junkie." Another guy said.
"Head of the Gadgets department." Chloe said.
"Gadgets?" He asked smiling.
"I don't know, name it whatever you want. This is good."
"We'll do fashion." Abby said and Rose and Lily nodded.
"Awesome." Chloe smiled. By the time the meeting was over she had promoted practically everyone there to a much higher position than they held the day before. When the Department heads were all chosen she started assigning them teams and then sent them on their way to brainstorm subjects for the next issue. "I need the assistant Features Editor and Photography Head to stay behind." Chloe called as everyone left to go set up their work stations.
Two girls stood awkwardly in the doorway as Chloe walked up to them. "I'm gonna need a list of all free lance writers and photographers we've used in the past and hopefully they'll still want to work with us."
"Right away." They nodded at her and walked out of the room.
"That was fun." Lily said. "How about we do lunch? This is my first lunch break." She said excitedly and Chloe could only last.
Two weeks, four miracles, and countless IOU's later Chloe sent the final copy to the printers and turned to Rose, Lily, and Abby who were lounged in varying states of exhaustion in her office. "We did it."
"Now we just have to get people to read it." Abby pointed out.
"Oh they're gonna read it." Lily said pulling herself up to look at everyone. "I put in far too much work for people not to read it."
"But no one knows that." Rose pointed out.
"So let's tell them." Chloe looked up excitedly.
"What?" Abby asked.
"Let's have a launch party. The New and Improved Posh." She said.
"You're gonna waist money on a party for a magazine that will be gone in three months?" Abby asked.
"Well it won't be gone if we can get people to read it, and if we have this party, we can get people to read it, and if people read it, then we'll get the funding and the party will pay for itself." Chloe said.
"I do love a party." Lily bit her lip.
"The issue comes out in a week." Rose reminded them.
"We've planned bigger things than this in hours." Chloe pointed out.
"That's true." Abby sighed. "Ok, I'm in." She seemed excited. "Besides, I haven't gone to a single party or club since I started working here, I deserve to let off a little steam."
Abby out did herself with party planning; she found a venue, a caterer, and entertainment on very short notice. Lily and Rose did their fare share too, they got all the advertisers to send in tons of free stuff for gift bags and spread the word to half of England before the end of the week. Chloe worked on the press side of it, getting all the papers that Edward owned and any others that were interested to cover the party, she started to think that they could actually pull it off. The party was packed, the people were there, the press was there and Edward even showed up. "I don't know how you pulled this off." He said, surveying the room full of people and the display of her first issue, free copy for every quest included in the gift bag. "But you did."
"I did didn't I?" Chloe smiled.
"You know, I underestimated you." He smiled at her. "I thought you would coast through three months, learning what you could but you stepped up to the plate."
"That's me; I'm a plate stepper…upper." She laughed.
"I'm proud of you." Edward kissed her cheek and Chloe felt so good about herself in that moment, she almost started crying. "Now we just have to see if people will read it." She lost her smile for a minute but shook it off, trying to feel more confident than she was.
"They will." She assured him.
Abby, Lily, and Rose had the time of their life, celebrating something they'd accomplished felt so much better than just celebrating. "Hey, why aren't you dancing?" Abby and the girls had come over to Chloe's corner, where she was hiding herself, relaxing, to persuade her to join them on the dance floor.
"I will I promise." She said.
"You're not nervous are you?" Lily laughed. "There's no way people don't go out tomorrow and buy this thing."
"I'm not nervous." Chloe said. "I'm just taking it all in."
"Miss Sullivan?" A waiter walked over. "A gentleman asked me to deliver this to you." He handed Chloe a very familiar green box with a green bow and she looked around the room, searching for the sender. "He was right over there…." The waiter said confused.
"It's ok, thanks." Chloe sat back down and opened the box. Inside on the cotton sat a small charm in the shape of a magazine.
"So this is where your charms come from." Rose took the box from her and flipped it over looking for a card or a signature or something. "Who keeps sending you these things?"
"Just a friend." Chloe smiled attaching the new charm to her bracelet and smiling. It had grown quite a bit since she first got it with its three charms. He'd given her the bow and arrow, and then came a lightning bolt for Bart, a dolphin for AC and a tiny robot for Victor.
"Come on, let's go dance." She got up and pulled Lily and Rose with her as they headed to the dance floor.
Chloe had no reason to be nervous; people read it, their numbers doubled almost overnight. Some people of the press were calling her a miracle worker; others were calling it a fluke, stating that the novelty would wear off and the numbers would go down again the next month. But they didn't, nor the month after. Chloe saved the magazine, which had every member of her former staff crawling back with their tail between their legs hoping for their jobs back. But Chloe had her staff. They called her crazy, keeping the interns and the assistants over established Editors and Department Heads and she felt no shame in reminding everyone that the established Editors were the ones who ran the magazine into the ground.
She stayed on with Posh for a few more months, until she was positive they could do it without her and appointed Hillary, former intern, then Features Editor the new Editor in chief and moved on to her next project. Rose and Lily stayed behind as head of the Fashion Department but Abby was pretty sure that magazines was not where her future lay and Chloe was just glad to have her help in the first place, she never expected any of them to stick around. Edward put her at another magazine that was having trouble and she managed to have the same success there, and at the next one, and then he moved her to newspapers, one after another until she was being touted to the world as the Publication Miracle worker.
Chloe hated it, Edward loved it. There was a rumor circulating around that he was the one who started it but Chloe chose not to believe it because if it was true, she was gonna have to kill him. "So where too next?" Chloe asked when she'd come home from her going away party at London Telegraph.
"Well, I think it's time." Edward said to her sadly.
"Time?" Chloe asked. "Time for what?"
"For you to leave." He said and her face fell. Edward just laughed. "England." He added on as if it were obvious. "Leave England. Your future lies in America."
"America?" Chloe swallowed. "Do you think I'm ready to go without you?"
"You've been without me for a while now." He told her.
"But I don't know enough yet." Chloe said. "I'm not ready."
"Nonsense." Edward waved away her protests. "You know more than enough. It's time we moved forward, me with my plans, you with yours, and Oliver's." Chloe nodded, Oliver's plan for her to move to the states, what they'd been working toward for over three years now.
"You really think I'm ready?" Chloe asked.
"I do." Edward smiled.
Chloe looked at the old man, he seemed to have aged more than she thought he should have in the three years she'd been here and she wondered what on earth she was going to do without him in her life. He'd somehow gone from a pompous jerk standing in a hotel room in New York City to a man that she loved like family. "I'm gonna miss you." She smiled at him.
He rolled his eyes at her. "No you won't." He laughed. "Who would miss an old man like me?"
"I would." Chloe grabbed his hand and smiled at him.
"Yeah well, it's not like you can just get rid of me." He informed her. "This is still my company, you'll still answer to me you know."
"I know." She smiled.
He stared at her for a minute before smiling. "I'm gonna miss you too." He told her and she ducked her head back to her plate before she started crying.
Moving to another country when you had money was a far different experience from when you didn't. She didn't have to pack anything; it was all done for her. Her apartment was rented in Gotham before she even knew that Gotham was her first stop. Edward had asked her to take a tour of all the newspapers he owned in the States before settling in at the home office in Star City to take over the whole American wing of the company. First stop was the Gotham Gazette and Chloe was actually a little excited. Coincidently, or for all she knew it could have been planned. Her first night there was the night of a party held by Wayne Enterprises President, Bruce Wayne. It was their annual summer party, not unlike the Garden Party that Edward threw every year.
Rose, Lily, and Abby insisted on coming with her, not only to attend the gala but to help her transition into her new place in a strange country. "I lived in America my whole life until three years ago." She pointed out to them as they got ready for Bruce's party.
"Three years is like a lifetime." Lily said from the bathroom. "You don't know what's changed."
Chloe rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut, she knew that her friends were having a hard time accepting that she was living half way across the world and truth be told so was she. She was going to miss them just as much as they were going to miss her. One thing that she was excited about was the party. Parties weren't normally her thing, no matter how many her friends had dragged her to but this one was special. This one was the official meeting between Chloe Sullivan and Oliver Queen.
"You ready for this step?" Oliver asked her the night before.
"Moving back home, Heading up a company, or going to a party?" She asked teasing him.
"I mean moving onto phase three." He said.
"This is phase three?" Chloe asked confused. "Since when have there been phases to this plan? What was phase one and two?" He laughed at her and she softened. "You mean am I ready to publically become friends with my best friend? Yeah I think I can handle that." Chloe told him.
"Good." Oliver said. "The sooner we get this over with, the better."
"Geez." Chloe said. "You sure know how to flatter a girl Queen."
"You know what I meant." Oliver sighed.
"Tomorrow, Gotham City, party at Wayne Manor." She reminded him for the hundredth time.
"I'll be there with bells on." He laughed.
"Not literally right?" Chloe asked. "I mean you didn't add something to your Green Arrow costume did you?"
"Good night Chloe." Oliver hung up the phone and she smiled, anxious for the next day.