A/N: As promised, here it is, Chloe and Oliver together again in Star City, hope you enjoy! By the way I love the feedback, it just makes me want to write faster and get things out sooner so great job guys.
"So you're officially in Star City?" Oliver asked Chloe as she relaxed on the balcony of her new penthouse apartment in downtown Star City.
"I'm officially in Star City." Chloe said smiling, amazed at all they had done to get her to this place. She'd been to Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, New Mexico, and countless other cities since she left New York, checking on the papers before she finally made it Star City, her new home.
"Well as first official act of your residency here, I would like to take you out to a very public lunch tomorrow." Oliver said. "How's that sound?"
"Sounds fantastic." Chloe sighed.
"What are you doing on your balcony?" Oliver asked confused.
"How do you know I'm on the balcony?" Chloe sat up straighter and looked around.
"In your yummy sushi pajamas?" You could hear the chuckle in his voice.
"Ok, this is creepy. Queen Towers is on the other side of this building. Are you out as Green Arrow being pervy?" She looked around at the rooftops surrounding her.
"No." He smiled. "I'm in your living room being pervy."
She turned around so fast she almost dropped the phone. "Oliver." She smiled brightly and ran through the open doors to hug him. "What are you doing here?"
"Well lunch tomorrow is great but I thought we'd celebrate your first night here." He held up the bag in his hand. "A little chocolate cake, some popcorn, and a movie. A private celebration before the circus starts."
"Perfect." She nodded and he walked to the kitchen to unload. He opened a bottle of her wine and handed her a glass as they made their way to the couch. "What movie did you get?"
"Don't hit me." He smiled at her and handed the case over.
"Perfect." She laughed settling herself in on the couch next to him. "I haven't seen this in…well since I watched it with you. Four years ago."
"Has it been four years?" He asked getting comfortable as she got up to put the movie in.
"Yep." Chloe sad sitting back down next to him. "Look how far we've come."
"How far you've come." He corrected herself.
"Don't kid yourself Oliver Queen." Chloe nudged his shoulder. "You are not the same man you were back then."
"Don't say that." He groaned.
"Four years ago, would have ever, ever, been sitting on your couch on a Friday night watching My Fair Lady?" Chloe prompted.
"Only with complete understanding that I would be getting lucky." He relented.
"Exactly." Chloe smiled. "Face it. You've matured, you've mellowed out."
"Stop." He pleaded with her.
She pulled her phone off the table and wiggled it in front of him. "I've got at least ten numbers on here, ten who would fulfill your criteria of absolute certain nookie." She raised an eyebrow. "A few of which, would completely surprise you."
Oliver looked at the phone and the look on Chloe's face and smiled. "Nah, I'm beat."
"You sure?" She asked taking a sip of her wine. "Hell half of them wouldn't even make you watch the movie."
"But I want to watch the movie." Oliver pointed out.
"Ok." Chloe put the phone down. "Go make the popcorn then." He smiled and set down his wine glass to go make the popcorn. "And don't forget the extra salt." She screamed at him. "Or the chocolate cake."
"Nag, nag, nag." Oliver smiled as he walked back in the room a few minutes later. "We aren't even in our fake relationship yet.
"Well I gotta train you early." He handed Chloe her chocolate cake and a fork and sat back down on the couch with the popcorn bowl in his lap. "It'll make things so much easier later on."
"Hmm." Oliver looked at Chloe then at her phone. "I think I want those numbers now."
"Oh no." Chloe laughed. "You had your chance, watch the movie."
Oliver stuffed a handful of popcorn in his mouth then turned to Chloe again. "Who would surprise me?"
"Hm?" She asked her attention on the movie.
"You said a few of them would surprise me?" She turned to him annoyed. "It's Sarah Masterson right?"
"Please." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Would that really surprise you?"
"No I suppose not." Oliver thought for a minute while Chloe took a bite of her cake. "Abby? Huh?"
There was a pause before Chloe scoffed. "No."
"You paused, it's totally Abby." Oliver smiled.
"It wasn't a pause I was chewing." Chloe protested.
"Like you never talk with your mouthful. Princess Abby wants my body." Oliver smirked at her.
"Shut up and watch the movie."
"No, this is fun." Oliver said. "Now you said a few so let's see who else, besides Abby of course. Jennifer Taylor, she's always looking at me funny, I thought she didn't like me but I bet it's because she wants to tear my clothes off."
"No, she just doesn't like you." Chloe laughed.
"Oh." Oliver seemed thrown by Chloe's candor. "Cecila Barrett." He snapped his fingers. "I almost asked her out once…"
"Who said they were all women?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Now watch the movie."
Oliver froze and turned to stare at her. "That's not fair." He sat back deflated and looked at the television. "You took all the fun out of the game."
Chloe grabbed a handful of popcorn while Oliver pouted. Then he turned to her. "It's Spencer right? I mean I know you guys dated for a while and all but that was probably just a smoke screen, he wants me."
"Jeez Oliver." She sighed. "Watch the movie."
"Hey." He said nudging her a few minutes later. "I've got a surprise coming for you tomorrow, so try and get home early ok?"
"What?" She turned on him. "You can't do that." She slapped his arm. "You can't just casually be all "I've got a surprise for you tomorrow" that's not fair, in what universe is that fair. Do you honestly think I'll be able to get any work done tomorrow?"
"Chloe." Oliver laughed. "Watch the movie."
"No. What is it?" She smiled. "Is it a car? No, I live in the same building I work, what do I need a car for."
"Watch the movie." He said. "You'll never guess."
"Is it a new charm?" She held her bracelet and jangled it. "No, you always hide those somewhere and you never tell me ahead of time." She pouted a little while thinking.
"Is it a pony?" She jumped up and smiled enthusiastically at him. "I've always wanted a pony."
"Yes Chloe, it's a pony." Oliver said deadpanned. "Now watch the movie."
"It's not a pony." She frowned sitting down. "Unless." She turned to him excited. "You're just saying it like that because it is a pony but you don't want me to know it's a pony."
"It's not a pony." Oliver reassured her.
"Oliver that's completely impractical. I can't have a pony in the city." She shook her head at him as if he was stupid. "Where am I going to put a pony? I don't even have a parking space for my nonexistent car."
"It's not…" He turned to her exasperated to see her trying to repress a smile. "Ok, I'll bring the pony back and get another surprise." He patted her leg.
"Now I have to guess the new surprise." She told him a little annoyed.
"Watch the movie or no surprise at all." He informed her and she mimed zipping her mouth, locking it, and throwing away the key. "Good girl."
Her first day at her new office wasn't as hectic as she thought it would be, it was the middle of the month so there was no scramble to finish a big project nor was there the first of the month scramble to jump start a new project. She took a tour of the offices with one of her assistants and met all the department heads before having an extremely large binder dumped on her desk containing ever piece of information known to man. She smiled weakly at Bethany, the woman who was supposed to be her personal assistant but got bumped down to office assistant when Elizabeth showed up in tow and was letting her feelings on the matter be shown in very passive aggressive ways. "I'm going to have to fire her aren't I?" Chloe asked Elizabeth a little annoyed." Elizabeth just smiled and left to go get situated in her own office.
Chloe's office actually consisted of an entire floor. There was her office in the very back space, with Elizabeth's office right outside and then outside of Elizabeth's office was the rest of the floor filled with work spaces and conference tables that housed her other assistants. "Fifteen assistants Oliver…that's like fourteen to many." She peered through the glass in Elizabeth's office to see Bethany stapling papers rather violently at her desk right in front of the door. Elizabeth was half listening to the conversation as she went through a duplicate copy of Chloe's binder, making notes and marking pages.
"I have…you know I might have more than fifteen assistants." He said distractedly. She could hear him typing over the phone. "I don't really deal with them much, mainly it's Cara or Ms. Humphries."
"I know." Chloe sighed. "Elizabeth said I probably won't even ever talk to them. They go through Bethany, who goes through Elizabeth who comes to me, so I'll probably just deal with Elizabeth and Bethany, who by the way I think I'm gonna have to fire which is a relief because that's just to many Beth's to deal with." Elizabeth just laughed. "Not that that's why I'm firing her, possibly firing her, but because she's being a major bitch. She was supposed to get Elizabeth's job but now she's stuck back where she was and she's oozing resentment across my floor."
"She's oozing resentment?" Oliver asked laughing.
"Well, she's acting really mean. Elizabeth wanted to know where the supply closet was because she likes those little post its with the lines in them you know and Bethany was acting all put out and then wouldn't show Elizabeth where the supply closet was, she got up to get the post its herself complaining loudly the whole time about having to do it when Elizabeth would have gladly done it herself had she known where the closet was."
"Uh huh." Oliver said trying to follow.
"And I think she's going around bad mouthing me to my assistants."
"You mean the assistants you don't think you need and will probably never talk to?" Oliver pointed out.
"That's hardly the point Oliver." Chloe looked out the window again and Elizabeth smiled as she marked another page in her binder. "I'm still their boss and they have to have some sort of respect for me and I'd really like it if they liked me but that is not gonna be possible with little Miss Snotty pants out there."
"Do you know for sure she's badmouthing you?" Oliver asked.
"Well no." Chloe conceded. "But she seems like the type. And I see her, over at the water cooler, talking to the others and then looking over at my door."
"Chloe, did you call me just to talk about your assistants?" Oliver said. "I like Elizabeth as much as the next person but did I really need to know she likes the post-its with the lines?"
"Well it's not like they're her favorite." Chloe scoffed. "I'm not saying if you're every wondering what to get her for Christmas or her birthday go with the lined post-it's, I'm just saying she prefers them to ones without lines."
"Chloe." Oliver smiled.
"I don't want to go to my office." She pouted.
"Why?" He asked.
"It's quiet in there. Too quiet. It's like this big room with just my desk in it and some furniture and it's creepy. I'm used to newspapers where everyone is in everyone's space or magazines where people just ignore doors. I have to go through two doors just to get to the main room." Oliver laughed. "Plus that binder is evil." She looked back at her desk and there it was mocking her.
"The binder is not evil." Oliver said and she could hear herself rolling her eyes.
"Oliver it's like a whole foot thick. They don't make binders like that. I know for two years I ordered the supplies at The Daily Planet, I know office supplies. They had to have these things special made, who does that? And before today I would have said that it was structurally impossible to stack paper that high but I was wrong."
"You don't have to go through the whole thing." Oliver said.
"Of course I do." Chloe snapped at him and then softened.
"When do you want to meet me for lunch?" He tried to change the subject.
"I don't know whenever Bethany leaves for her lunch." Chloe said. "I'm not going out there while she's still at that desk, stapling like I don't know what she's really doing."
"Chloe, she's your assistant, she's not going to go to lunch until after you do, and if you don't do it soon, she's going to complain about that to everyone." He sighed. "How about this, give me twenty minutes and I'll come get you, you can show me your evil office and everyone will be too stunned at the sight of Oliver Queen to worry about you."
"Fine." Chloe said. "What am I supposed to do for twenty minutes though?"
"What are you doing now?"
"Spying on Bethany." Chloe admitted. "You get a really good view of her desk from Elizabeth's couch."
She could hear Oliver laughing so hard on the other end he had to pull the phone away. "Do something productive, you don't like your office, fix it, move stuff around, I don't know, but it's just twenty minutes ok."
"Ok." Chloe sighed. "By the way, thanks for the charm." She looked down at her bracelet and smiled at the new charm. She'd come into her office and sitting in the middle of her desk was a small box with a little skyscraper charm in it.
"You're welcome." Oliver said sincerely.
"That's not my surprise is it?" She asked.
"No." Oliver said. "Now go to work." He hung up and Chloe looked down at her phone in annoyance.
"Elizabeth." Chloe turned to her. "Would it be possible to find out if Oliver made any serious purchases in the past couple of days?"
"Like what?" Elizabeth asked a smile on her face.
"I don't know, a new car, some large furniture…a pony." Chloe offered.
"It's not a pony." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and Chloe jumped up off the couch.
"Ah ha, so you know what this surprise is?" She crossed her arms over her chest and Elizabeth just looked up at her and smiled.
"I'm not telling, I promised Mr. Queen."
"You're my assistant." Chloe reminded her. Elizabeth just shook her head and went back to work. "When did you stop being afraid of me?" Chloe asked and Elizabeth laughed. "Fine, I'm going in my office. My horrible, creepy, lonely office." She walked to the door and Elizabeth didn't look up. "My giant, quiet, resent filled…"
"I've got a contractor coming in around three to look at the space." Elizabeth finally took pity on her. "I was thinking we'd tear down the walls and put up sliding glass doors or something so you could have them open or closed."
"You're an absolute genius you know that?" Chloe smiled.
"Go look through your binder." Elizabeth smiled at her.
"I definitely have to fire Bethany." Chloe sighed. "I'm gonna try and give it a week maybe, I don't want people to think I'm coming in there and just getting rid of people who have been around forever. Maybe I'll just transfer her, somewhere far, far, away from me."
Oliver laughed as they walked in the lobby of Chloe's building. "What did she do after you got back from lunch?" He let Chloe insert her key in the slot for the Penthouse Elevator.
"Nothing overt." Chloe sighed. "But she keeps turning people away from my office, people I need to talk to, she's telling them I'm far too busy to deal with them which I'm not and they know I'm not so it seems to them as if I'm telling her to do that. And she and Elizabeth got into a fight over the copy machine which was…" Chloe trailed off. "I don't want to talk about it." She rearranged the massive binder in her hands which she'd brought home to go over some more. When Oliver had seen it he raised his eyebrows and Chloe smirked in an "I told you so" manner.
"Good." Oliver said. "Because honestly, I didn't care." He said stepping into the elevator and waiting for Chloe to follow. She got in beside him and glared.
"I mean if she was trying to poison your lunch I'd be very interested in the story but…" Chloe was still glaring. "Oh come on, you start a new job in England and you have an entire magazine walk out on you. You take over the Gazette in Gotham and a mob boss continually tries to have you killed. You start work in Star City and your assistant's assistant staples too forcefully…how is that interesting?"
"You'll see." Chloe said to him, trying hard to hide her smile. "When she comes after me with a letter opener I'll be saying I told you so."
"Don't you think you're being overly dramatic here?" Oliver asked.
"I'm being overly dramatic?" Chloe scoffed as if it was ridiculous.
The elevator doors opened and she was about to say something else to Oliver when she heard what sounded like noise makers and she saw confetti fall to the ground in front of her. "Surprise." Three very excited voices said from her foyer and she smiled passing the enormous folder off to Oliver, which almost shoved him back into the elevator, and ran forward to give Victor a hug. She moved on to Bart, and then AC, then stood there smiling like an idiot.
"What are you guys doing here? When did you…how…"
"Talk to the boss man." Victor said nodding at Oliver who had managed to set the binder on the counter in the kitchen and turned around to observe the reunion.
Chloe smiled and ran over to hug him. "Thanks." She said in his ear then she pulled back and hugged the guys again.
"It's so awesome to see you guys, so catch me up, what's going on, what have you been doing? Where are you living?" She pulled AC over to the living room area and the other followed. "Tell me everything."
"Well." AC laughed sitting next to her on the couch. "We're living here actually." Chloe's eyes got huge. "Well not like here, here, at your place. Oliver got us an apartment in the building though, a few floors down, we're sharing."
"You're gonna be here? In the city? In my building?" She smiled bigger if that were even possible. "When did you do all this?"
"Well, I wasn't going to pass up the chance to have my whole team in one place." Oliver smiled. "Besides, one apartment is easier to manage than three."
Chloe smiled at him, unconvinced by his fiscal reasoning, more convinced that he just wanted them all here, together. "This is great." Chloe smiled at them. "So much better than a pony."
"Pony?" Bart looked at Chloe confused.
"Don't worry about it." Oliver said, not wanting to Chloe started on the whole pony thing again.
"You can't have a pony in the city." Victor said.
"That's what I said." Chloe smiled.
"I didn't get her a pony." Oliver threw his hands in the air.
"Where would she put a pony?" AC looked around the penthouse. "I mean this place is big but…pony worthy?"
"Pony's need to run free." Bart shook his head. "What were thinking man?"
"I didn't…" He started to protest.
"She doesn't even have a parking space." Victor shook his head.
Oliver froze his protest, remembering Chloe using that exact reason the night before and then he noticed the look on all of their faces, each and every one of them trying so hard not to laugh. "How did you she said…" He looked at Chloe who was smiling bigger than anyone. "You knew!"
"Of course I knew." Chloe smiled. "I'm a reporter." She got off the couch. "Before you blame Elizabeth, do you think it was really hard for me to find out that you'd bought three plane tickets from the last three places I knew these guys were living?"
"You suck with surprises you know." Oliver pointed out to her.
"Well if it makes you feel better, I didn't know about the apartment, or the plan to move here. That is an excellent surprise." She assured him.
"Well that's something I guess." Oliver sighed.
Chloe did end up firing Bethany, very loud and very publically after putting up with one too many passive aggressive complaints. She had been bad mouthing her at the water cooler she found out later which made her want to call Oliver and say "I told you so" but she managed to restrain herself. Her office got more comfortable after the renovations, and the room full of assistants became less of a daunting thing and more of a relaxed atmosphere, most of them confessing to Chloe that they'd always hated Bethany who considered herself above them all and that she only got the job because the company had nowhere to put her and they created the job especially for her.
Settling into Star City was far easier than she thought it would be, having Oliver so close, and the guys even closer, left her with little or no time to herself, especially with the hours she was putting in at work trying to get caught up but she didn't really mind it. It was sort of comforting to come home and find everyone huddled in her living room watching a movie, or waiting for her so they could go on a mission.
Oliver was playing his part well, constantly taking her out to lunch, managing to squeeze dinners and parties and banquets and concerts into both of their busy schedules so to the world it looked as if Oliver Queen had swept Chloe Sullivan off her feet, or rather, to the people that knew them both of them, that Chloe Sullivan had done the sweeping. Article after article came out speculating how long Oliver would remain on the most eligible bachelors list. New pictures were hitting the stands daily of the two of them which Bart found increasingly annoying and which Chloe had to find herself explaining.
The first one that popped up was to two of them having an intimate moment of star gazing while walking through the park.
Chloe knew before moving that Star City was a beautiful place, the gleaming glass skyscrapers that somehow fit alongside the old world brick and mortar historical buildings took her breath away when she finally saw them in person. But seeing it through Oliver's eyes, hearing him describe his city, his home, the place he grew up with his parents and the place he vowed to clean up as he grew older somehow made everything better. Of course it wasn't all beautiful skylines or tours of the parks, like now for instance he was dragging her down the street, a little more excited that she thought he should be at whatever he wanted to show her. "Here" He stopped suddenly and she bumped into his back.
"Where here?" Chloe looked around the random downtown street practically deserted this time of night. "There is no here here." She pointed out to him. "I'm hungry Oliver. I thought you said we were going to dinner."
"We are." He pulled her in front of him. "I just wanted to show you this place." He looked over at building to their left. An office building, Insurance company according to the sign on the door.
"Are planning on buying an outrageous insurance policy on me only to kill me and collect the money?" She asked.
Oliver rolled his eyes. "Not there." He pointed up to the roof of the building. "There." He said.
"Another roof." Chloe asked confused. "What is with you guys and roofs?" She threw her hand in the air, starving and exasperated with him.
"This is the roof where I first tested out the zip line." He said. "There, near the left corner, do you see a small hole in the bricks?" Chloe leaned closer to him and stared where he pointed.
"Yeah." She said.
"That's where the Arrow hit." He wrinkled his nose. "It's not what I was aiming for but I still wasn't used to the added weight of the cable." Chloe looked up at him and wondered, briefly if this is what it was like for other people when she went on and on about a computer program or a story she was investigating, confusion over why Oliver would ever think that she would get as excited as he was expecting her to be over a hole in a brick wall of an Insurance company, he didn't even hit his target.
"Uh huh." Chloe said.
"Ok, follow the hole down three bricks then to the left two." She tried to see the brick he was talking about.
"I think I got it." Chloe looked at it confused.
"That's where I busted my head open." He looked down at her. "I hadn't master controlling the speed yet." He pointed to a scar at the hair line of the left side of his face. "You can still see the blood; it stained the mortar around the brick."
Chloe looked back up and located the brick and sure enough the mortar around it seemed browner, darker than the rest of the building. She turned to him, still confused. "You dragged me out her to show me some of you're dried up blood?" She asked raising an eyebrow at him.
"Well yeah." He said, completely oblivious to her annoyance and confusion.
"Oliver, is there a part of your brain stuck in the mortar up there?" She sighed realizing he honestly thought she'd want to see this place.
"What?" He asked confused and she rolled her eyes.
"Come on, let's eat please, I'm starving." She slipped her arm in his and they turned around and headed back to the restaurant.
"After dinner, I'll show you the house where I accidently froze a family eating dinner testing out the Cryonic Arrow." He said excitedly. "We still didn't know how to thaw yet and they ended up sitting there for a whole day before we managed it." He thought for a second. "They didn't seem to think anything was wrong, we must have unthawed them around the same time we froze the, they just kept on eating. I wonder if they're still a whole day off from everyone else."
The second one showed Chloe laughing while Oliver whispered in her ear at the Mayor's Inaugural Ball.
"So this is a good guy?" Chloe sipped her champagne. "Not corrupt, no mob ties?" She looked around the room; everything and everyone looked very uprightly political and boring.
"No, no corruption." He said. "None that I could find anyway."
"Well that's one less thing to worry about I guess." Chloe sighed. She was bored out of her mind. "I'm bored out of my mind." Chloe said.
"We can leave in a little while." Oliver said. "After the speech."
"Oliver Queen, glad you could make it, and who is this lovely lady?" A younger man than most of the people there, not including Oliver and herself, walked up and shook Oliver's hand very enthusiastically.
"Stanley Peters, this is Chloe Sullivan." His eyes lit up with recognition and shook her hand. "Stanley is Mayor Johnston's Chief of Staff; he's the one we have to thank for getting him elected."
"Couldn't have done it without the support of citizen's like you." Stanley shook off Oliver's praise.
"I'm happy to help." Oliver assured him with a small, almost secret smile on his face.
"Damn, I've been trying to avoid Missy Walters all night, she's got a small gossip column in the Star Daily News, and I just don't feel like dealing with her, if you'll excuse me." He nodded at them then slipped into the crowd.
"What was that little smile about?" Chloe asked.
Oliver looked around them and then pulled her a little further in the corner, away from the crowds. "One night, while on patrol, I see this guy standing on a balcony freezing his ass of in nothing but a pair of boxers. Being the rescuing hero I go over to see if he needs any help and it's Stanley." Chloe looked over at the Chief of Staff again and smiled. "He's standing there shaking, teeth chattering and I jump on the balcony and offer my assistance in getting him back into his apartment. Well he's really embarrassed by now and finally admits that it's not his apartment, it's his girlfriends and he's just hanging out on the balcony because her boyfriend stopped by unexpectedly."
"No." Chloe said smiling.
"So, none of my business right, I go back to work and on my way home, three hours later, he's still there, freezing his ass off on the balcony. He sees me and just nods as if it was no big deal."
"What did you do?" Chloe asked.
"I went home, he didn't want my help." Oliver said laughing. "I saw him a couple of days later, carrying around a box of tissues and popping cough drops like they were candy." Chloe just looked over, pictured him in his underwear, freezing on a fire escape and couldn't help but laugh herself.
Soon it was uncontrollable and people were turning to stare at them, which only made them laugh harder until they had to excuse themselves from the party, afraid they would laugh through the whole speech.
"Explain that!" Bart had said slapping the paper down on the table making Chloe and Oliver roll their eyes. There were three pictures this time, one of Oliver and Chloe, stealing a kiss at the 100th year anniversary of the oldest hotel in Star City, as Oliver put a key card into a hotel room lock and another of Chloe half in the room, pulling a smiling Oliver in after her by his tie, and the third of them emerging from the room, clothes wrinkled, hair messed up grinning at each other like idiots. Bart glared and Chloe told him what happened.
"You really think that Lex would be that stupid?" Chloe followed Oliver through the lobby smiling at people as they passed. "He knows this is the Green Arrow's territory why would he ship anything here, much less things related to 33.1?" Chloe asked as Oliver pushed the elevator button.
"Because he's not stupid." Oliver said pulling her into the elevator and punching a button for the 16th floor. "He thinks that Green Arrow is arrogant…"
"Because he is." Chloe pointed out and Oliver glared at her.
"And that the Green Arrow would assume that Lex Luther would never dare to do anything like that in his territory, so he'd never suspect it." Oliver finished. "Plus, it has an added thrill of getting something past the Green Arrow." She'd grown accustomed to Oliver speaking about the Green Arrow as if he was a different person and Chloe had come to realize that he was. There was the Green Arrow and then there was Oliver Queen.
"You're sure your source is reliable though?" Chloe asked. "You can trust this guy?"
"He's on Lex's payroll, so probably not as far as I can throw him, but I have to check it out."
"Why can't we wait until we have the team here?" Chloe wondered. "I don't like the thought of you going out there on your own."
"I've got AC backing me up and Bart and Victor are going to be in South America for another week most likely. The shipment is coming in tonight if we can stop it before it gets where it's going all the better." Oliver smiled.
"And how are we supposed to explain our absence from the party?" Chloe raised her eyebrow.
"This." He held up his room key. "Complimentary on behalf of the hotel." He looked down the hallway and saw groups of people milling around. "Brace yourself Watchtower, I'm coming in." He smiled and Chloe opened her mouth to ask what the hell he meant by that and he kissed her.
She was so surprised she didn't have time to protest or even react much as he pushed her against the wall and fumbled with the room key. As a group of girls passed, giggling, Chloe understood and moved one hand to his back to pull him closer and one hand to take the key card from him and slip it in the door. The latch gave and the knob turned. Chloe pushed the door open with her foot and pulled Oliver in the room by his tie laughing as the people in the hallway watched in amusement.
When Oliver had made it in the room, closing the door with his foot, Chloe turned and strode into the living room area. "My lap top in here?"
"What?" Oliver laughed walking into the bedroom to gear up. "No post coital snuggles?" He asked.
"If you think this constitutes as post coital, you need to get out more." Chloe laughed.
"I can't." Oliver leaned his head out of the bedroom as Chloe set up her computer. "I have a girlfriend." He raised his eyebrows at her.
Chloe paused and looked at him sheepishly. "Right." She cringed. "Sorry." She hadn't even thought of it like that yet, but he was right. To the rest of the world, Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan were in love; she couldn't exactly date someone else, or have a relationship, or even a tawdry one night stand. When she thought about it, it didn't bother her that much, relationships usually brought more trouble than they were worth as far as she was concerned, besides with everything she was juggling now, there was no way she'd have the time.
But then she thought about Oliver, one of the world's most eligible bachelors, ladies man extraordinaire, and realized that as long as they played this game he couldn't date either. Suddenly she felt horrible; she didn't want to do this to him, force him to live like this just so she'd have an excuse to work for the JLA. Then she realized that rarely did anyone force Oliver to do something he didn't want to do and he wasn't much for the dating and relationships, he was more for the tawdry one night stands, which for all she knew, could still be going on. Maybe he was going out and sleeping with random women, which in theory didn't bother her but as a fake girlfriend, she started to get pissed at her fake boyfriend. "Are you cheating on me?" She said suddenly.
Oliver walked out of the room strapping his crossbow holster onto his leg. "What?" He asked her incredulous. "Chloe we're not really dating."
"I know that, I'm not stupid." She said glaring at him. "It's just I realized that as long as we pretend to do this, neither of us can really go out with other people. And I just wanted to make sure that you weren't you know cheating on me, because pretend relationship or not, you get caught on the front page of the Inquisitor with some random bimbo at a seedy motel and Chloe Sullivan is gonna dump your ass." She put her hands on her hips.
"Where is this coming from?" He shook his head at her and she straightened up.
"Oh God." She somehow just seemed to realize what she'd said to him. "Can we just chalk this up as the stupidest thing I've ever said and forget the whole thing?"
"No." Oliver said. "Look, this is one of those things that we didn't think about when we took this on. I'm sure more and more things will pop up just like this. We need to talk about it."
"It's just…I know how much your giving up for this now and I would never ask you to give up more, but I've done that." Chloe said. "I've been that girl, the one whose boyfriend is cheating on her and everyone knows but me. It's one of the most humiliating feelings in the world and I…"
"One." Oliver walked over to her. "Who's the dumbass that cheated on you?" She smiled slightly and Oliver put his hands on her shoulders. "Two, boyfriend Oliver would never cheat on girlfriend Chloe and I would never do something like that to you either."
"I know." Chloe sighed. "I just I feel like I'm stopping you from living your life."
"No more than Green Arrow does, no more than I'm stopping you." Oliver pointed out. "We make sacrifices for the things we believe in, and as much as I believe in the mission, I believe in you. Besides, who cares about random bimbos at seedy motels when I can go on covert missions with my best friend?" Chloe smiled brighter at him. "Plus I heard someone say that there was gonna be cake later."
"Cake?" Chloe brightened even more.
"Chocolate cake." Oliver nodded. "For the party, I heard it was five feet wide and six feet long."
"That's a lot of cake." Chloe said dreamily.
"So you don't have to worry about me." Oliver told her. "I've got you, and the guys, and I've got cake, what more does a guy need?"
They looked at each other smiling as if trapped in a bubble where they were the only ones in existence when they heard AC's voice. "Aquaman in position, what's your ETA Green Arrow?"
Oliver took one of his hands off Chloe's shoulder and pushed a button on his com. "Five minutes." He said and the spell was broken. Chloe turned around and sat down at her computer.
Oliver walked to the balcony pulling up his hood, slipping on his glasses and turning on the voice distorter. "Hey." Chloe turned around and called out to him. He pulled out his bow and turned to her. "They'll always be cake you know." Chloe said. "I'll make sure of it."
He just smiled at her and nodded before letting the arrow fly somewhere in the distance and then he was gone. Chloe turned her attention to the matter at hand. She still had to find Lex's crates before Green Arrow and Aquaman could see what he was shipping and get rid of them if need be.
Forty five minutes later she pulled out her earpiece and closed down the lap top and stood up to stretch. She caught her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Chloe walked into the bedroom and grabbed a pillowcase off of one of the pillows and reluctantly started to rub it against her hair. "What are you doing?" Oliver asked emerging from the shadows of the balcony and pulling his hood down.
"Making this believable." She said tossing the pillowcase against the wall and then grabbing the sheets and throwing them around. "Wouldn't want people to think that Oliver Queen didn't know how to please the ladies." She smiled as she undid one corner of the bed sheet.
"Looks like I did plenty of pleasing." He said eyeing the bed and she turned and glared at him.
"Change, and wrinkle your shirt a little." Chloe told him. "Oh, and bring me your tie." He nodded at her as she walked into the other room and started to move things around just a bit. She tilted the lamp shade on one of the side tables, dropped a decorative bowl full of wax fruit on to the ground, scattering the fruit everywhere and messed up the couch cushions.
"Here" Oliver walked in the room and handed her his tie. She grabbed him by the shoulders and steered him so that he was leaning against the side table. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"Making it look believable." She smiled and stood in front of him then tossed the tie over her shoulder. They both looked to see it land, draping over the television cabinet.
Chloe turned away from him and walked to the couch. She took off her shoes then propped her leg up on the coffee table, pulling up her dress and unclasping her thigh highs. Oliver watched as she took it off then moved to the next leg. She grabbed them, stuffed one into the cushions and then dropped one on the ground, sliding it halfway under the couch. She put her shoes back on surveyed the room. "What do you think?"
"That I had a lot of fun." Oliver smiled looking at the place.
"That's what I was going for." Chloe said and turned to the mirror and wiped off her lipstick then turned to Oliver and took her finger and brought it up to the side of his mouth and smudged just a bit on his lip. Then she put her hand in his hair and messed it up a bit. "Ok, we're ready."
Oliver held out his hand and Chloe took it. "You know the whole time I was out there." He looked down at her as they walked out of the room. "All I could think about was that damn cake."
Chloe laughed up at him and shook her head.
After having to answer to Bart for every picture he saw, she found she was having to answer to her friends as well. "Saw another picture of you and Oliver the other day." Abby said to her.
"In England?" Chloe asked. So far their relationship hadn't spread past the local Star City news and for that Chloe was grateful, as good as Lois was being about everything she wasn't sure if she would handle Chloe and Oliver, even knowing it was fake if Chloe didn't tell her before she saw it plastered all over the tabloids.
"Hey hometown girl gets rich handsome billionaire, you didn't think anyone around here would pick that story up?" Abby laughed.
"Great, if it's making headlines over there, it'll spread here soon." Chloe sighed.
"What are you worried about, you have managed to land the most elusive eligible bachelor of our generation." Abby said.
"I didn't land him." Chloe sighed as she tried to focus on work and not the fact that she and Lois were going to have to have a conversation soon. "We just…"
"Hey, I'm not saying anything. I think it's great. I've known Oliver for a long time and you guys, you fit." Abby explained. "It works."
"Could we stop talking about my love life, when are you coming in?" Chloe asked.
"Wednesday, that way we have a few days before the party." Abby said. "The extravagant, over the top birthday party that your boyfriend is throwing for you."
"Do all roads lead back to Oliver?" Chloe laughed. "So you'll be in town for a while?"
"Yeah and I'm dragging Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb with me. Ever since you started them at that magazine, they're always working; I never get to see any of my friends anymore." Abby pouted. To her amazement Lily and Rose were still working at Posh, doing great and enjoying it.
"Sorry." Chloe said sarcastically.
"No biggie." Abby brushed it off. "It'll just be us girls for a few days before the party; we can catch up, like old times."
"Can't wait." Chloe said sincerely. "And you'll get to meet my cousin."
"She's coming in for the party?" Abby had heard so much about Lois and was dying to meet her.
"Yeah, but only for a few days, she has a job that actually pays the rent so she can't take too much time off."
"Is she bringing the yummy farm boy?" Abby had been able to talk of nothing but Clark since they'd gone to Smallville. Chloe couldn't fault her; she'd been pulled into the Clark Kent vortex herself back in high school.
"Yeah, he'll be there." Chloe laughed. "Look I got to go, I'll call you later."
"I'll answer." Abby said before hanging up.
If Chloe wasn't such a wuss she would have picked up the phone and called Lois right then and there. She was going to have to talk to her soon, seeing as how Lois was coming to the party and the party was being thrown by Chloe's "boyfriend" Oliver, she just couldn't bring herself to do it somehow.
Her phone rang as she stared at it and it scared her for a second. "Hey." She answered calming herself down. "I was about to call you, I can't do lunch today, I'm swamped."
"No problem." Oliver said. "I've got some things I should probably catch up at the office anyway."
"Good." Chloe smiled.
"Listen the reason I was calling, I want to take you out for your birthday." Oliver said.
"You're throwing me a huge party." Chloe was confused. "I think you've got the birthday handled."
"I know, but you were never really on board with the whole party thing and tomorrow's your actual birthday so we can't let it go uncelebrated." Chloe sighed and rolled her eyes but knew that it was probably a good idea.
"Tomorrow sounds great."
"Hey have you talked to Lois yet?" He asked innocently.
"I gotta go." Chloe avoided the question and hung up to the sound of Oliver's laughter.
She put off calling Lois that day because she really was swamped at work, and she put it off the next day too because she was a wuss, even going as far as letting her birthday call go to voicemail and vowing to make up for it later. She went out to dinner with Oliver, he drove her down to San Francisco and took her to one of her favorite restaurants where to her utter joy, she got to meet the chef. "I can't believe it." Chloe said as Oliver walked her back up to her apartment. "This was the best birthday ever."
"Man, if I had known you were this easy, I would have fed you duck a long time ago." Oliver joked with her.
"It wasn't the duck, well the duck was fabulous, it was the restaurant, and I got to meet the chef." She smiled again as the doorman nodded and let them in the building.
"Yeah, I know I was there." Oliver reminded her as they walked to the elevator. He stuck in his key and called the private penthouse elevator to the lobby.
"Thanks Oliver." Chloe smiled over at him.
"Well I know the big birthday party's not really your thing, you're just humoring me so I thought I'd do something special." He shrugged and got in the elevator Chloe following him.
"You know, I'm getting a little excited about the party." Chloe admitted. "Lois is coming to town, and all my friends, Bruce even said he'd come." Oliver made a strange facial expression and Chloe slapped his arm. "You will behave."
"I'll be on my absolute best behavior." Oliver assured her as they reached the penthouse and she walked inside and stopped dead in her tracks. Her entire apartment was covered in Tulips.
"Oh my god." Chloe walked further in smiling bigger. "How did you?"
"Don't look at me." Oliver raised his hands up in the air. "This was all the guys."
"They did this?" Chloe asked feeling almost a little misty eyed. "Tulips are my favorite."
"That's what Bart said." Oliver smiled.
She walked to the biggest bouquet on her bar area and inhaled the scent. Then she turned and saw a box sitting on the table. "What's this?" She picked it up and turned to Oliver.
"That one's mine." He nodded to her to open it. She blushed and pulled the top off, expecting a new charm for her bracelet but finding instead a delicate white gold necklace. She reached in and pulled it out of the box to find a pale green emerald pendant, carved in the perfect shape of an apple with a small stem and leaf made of white gold at the top.
"It's beautiful." She said looking at him in amazement. "I've never seen anything like this." She held it up to the light and it seemed to sparkle. She quickly handed it to Oliver and turned around so he could put it on. She looked down at it and smiled. The length of the chain was just right and the apple, about the size of a cherry fell in just the right place. She turned around smiling and Oliver looked at the necklace for a second before smiling back at her.
"Happy birthday." He kissed her cheek and she hugged him.
"I love it." She assured him.
"Well, it's late, I got an early morning." Oliver said. "See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah." She looked down at the necklace again and then back up at Oliver. "Don't forget Abby and the girls are coming in tomorrow afternoon, so we'll probably all go out to eat or something."
"I'll clear my schedule." He promised her and she nodded and went back to admiring her necklace. She couldn't help but look at the apple and think of Oliver, apples and arrows went together in so many legends, and smiled as she got ready for bed.
By managing to avoid Lois by pretending to be busy, she actually got a lot of work done and was able to take the whole day off when her friends showed up. She showed them around her penthouse and got them settled in to the hotel and they sat and relaxed with a cup of coffee before going shopping for a dress for the party, something Chloe had been having a serious problem with for some reason, she'd been to every shop in Star City and just couldn't seem to find anything, hopefully Lily could help her with that.
They were laughing and catching up when Chloe leaned forward to grab something and her necklace fell out of her shirt. "Where did you get that?" Lily leaned forward and lightly touched Chloe's necklace.
"Oh, Oliver gave it to me." Chloe smiled. "It was my birthday present." Lily exchanged looks with the other girls who all looked at Chloe strangely. "What?"
"Well, Oliver gave you this?" Rose asked.
"For my birthday." Chloe said. "What? I know what you're thinking, jewelry is a serious gift but it's just a little emerald pendant."
"It's not an emerald." Lily said cautiously. "Can I see it?" She asked and Chloe nodded taking off the necklace now, curious as to what was going on. Lily grabbed the necklace and walked to the kitchen getting a glass and coming back before running the apple down the side of the glass, which left a long straight cut.
"Holy shit." Chloe jumped up and looked at the glass, an emerald wouldn't do that. "That's a diamond?" She looked between the glass and the necklace in shock. "That's got to be like…a lot of carats."
"Nine maybe ten." Lily said, she was the expert on gemstones. "And it's not a diamond. It's a green diamond." She smiled. "A very rare diamond, very expensive"
"Very expensive?" Chloe asked.
"Only three maybe four million." Lily shrugged and handed her the necklace.
"Wow, this is more serious than I thought." Abby said staring at the necklace. "He must love you."
Chloe laughed. "No." They looked at her strangely. "I mean…" Chloe covered herself. "We haven't said that yet."
"Oh he said it when he gave you that necklace." Rose pointed out.
"It's just jewelry it doesn't mean anything." Chloe protested.
"It's not just jewelry." Abby said suddenly and leaned closer for a better look. "It was his moms."
Chloe looked up suddenly at Abby, surprised by this. "What?"
"I remember her wearing that all the time." Abby said. "His dad had it special made for her."
"It was his moms?" Chloe whispered and looked down at the necklace.
"I told you he loved you." Lily smiled and Rose hit her.
"So are you gonna talk to him about it?" Abby asked as Chloe tried on what felt like the fiftieth dress of the day.
"I have to." Chloe said. "I mean this is pretty big you know." She walked out and all three of the girls shook their head no.
She went back into the room and pulled the dress off. "He could have at least warned you." Rose conceded as Chloe's phone went off.
"Can you get that please?" Chloe called out from behind the curtain of her dressing room.
"I got it." Abby dug through Chloe's purse for her phone and smiled. "Oh speak of the devil."
"What?" Chloe asked.
"Oliver!" Abby said happily.
"Hello." Rose abandoned the dress she was debating and pulled the phone away from Abby.
"Uh hi." Oliver said confused. "This is Chloe's phone right?"
"It is." Rose smiled.
"Is she there?" Oliver asked.
"She's busy." Rose said as Abby tried to take the phone back.
"Give me the phone." Chloe called from the dressing room, unfortunately the dress she'd been trying on was stuck, half on, half off of her and she couldn't very well walk out.
"Put it on speaker." Lily bounced over to them.
"So Oliver Queen." Rose smiled. "As I live and breathe, what can we do for you?"
"Where are you?" He asked.
"Shopping." Lily said.
"She's too busy shopping to talk to me?" He sounded hurt.
"She's changing right at the moment." Abby said. "So what can we do for you?"
"She's changing huh?" Oliver laughed. "Well, if you really wanted to help me, you could just slip the phone under the changing room door and take a nice picture."
"Give me the phone." Chloe had thrown a top over the dress and waddled out of the dressing room, snatching the phone away from Rose as she blushed furiously. "What do you need Oliver?" She asked then turned to Lily. "Could you please get this zipper undone?"
"Take me off speaker." He said.
"Why?" Chloe asked.
"Because I'm gonna say something dirty, take me off." He told her. Chloe blushed again and turned the speaker phone off much to the groans of her friends.
"You're off." Chloe said walking back in the dressing room for privacy and to try and get the stupid dress off.
"Look, I hate to bail on you…" Oliver said.
"I have a feeling the conversation is going to end with you bailing on me under the guise of Justice." Chloe joked.
"We got a lead." Oliver said. "On Cassandra." Chloe froze. Cassandra was quite possibly Chloe's white whale, the one thing of Lex's she couldn't get a fix on. Every now and then it would pop up on their radar but before they could do anything it was gone again.
"I'll be right there." Chloe said pulling more fervently at the dress.
"No." Oliver said. "We can handle it. It's just recon."
"No." Chloe turned around so they couldn't hear her. "I don't want this to slip through our fingers again." Chloe said.
"And I don't want to go into a place without knowing what we're going up against." Oliver said.
"You mean like every other time we do this?" Chloe snapped at him.
"Every other time we do this doesn't involve someone who can see into the future." Oliver reminded her. "This is a completely different situation than we ever even anticipated. It's possible they know our every mood before we do." Chloe sighed and so did Oliver. "Besides you haven't seen your friends in so long."
"I know." Chloe said. "I know, I just, Oliver I want this one."
"I know, and trust me when the time comes you'll be in on it, all the way but for right now just stay there, act normal, complain about the party and have fun."
"Ok fine." Chloe said and then looked down at her necklace. "But I want to talk to you as soon as you get back."
"Total debrief, promise." Oliver said before hanging up and Chloe sighed, that wasn't what she meant when she said she wanted to talk. She groaned in frustration and walked out of the dressing room. "Can one of you please get this off me; I think the zipper is stuck."
"So what did tall blonde and gorgeous have to say?" Rose asked while she worked on the zipper.
"He's not gonna make dinner tonight, work emergency." Chloe said as the dress fell from her and she sighed in relief.
"Well that's good." Abby said. "I'm not sure I could take it, you two making googily eyes and kissy face at each other through a whole meal."
"We don't make googily eyes." Chloe scoffed.
"Everyone in love makes googily eyes." Rose pointed out.
"Try this one." Lily handed her a pale green dress. "It's his favorite color and it'll look good with the necklace."
Chloe brought the dress into the dressing room and surprisingly it was good. It fit her nice, accentuated what she liked, and hid what she didn't like. She bought it and they left the dress shop and headed for dinner. Chloe had a hard time concentrating; she was worried about Oliver, worried that they would come up with another empty building, another dead end. "Chloe." Rose snapped her fingers and Chloe shook her head.
"She misses Oliver." Lily smiled. "That's sweet."
"I'm just…" She decided to simply give in to her friends. "I miss Oliver." She admitted.
"You guys are already making me sick and I haven't even seen the two of you together yet." Abby told her.
They headed back to Chloe's after diner and were surprised to bump into Oliver on the street in front of her building. "Hey." He leaned down and kissed Chloe's cheek. "How was diner?"
"She couldn't eat." Abby said giving Oliver a hug and kiss. "She missed you too much."
"She did did she?" Oliver hugged Lily and Rose and turned to Chloe who raised her eyebrows. Oliver took that to mean, "Did you find anything?" He shook his head discreetly and her face fell. She recovered quickly and put on a smile.
"Yep, I couldn't concentrate on my food." She shrugged and Oliver smiled as the driver handed Chloe a dress bag.
"Is that your dress for the party?" He asked reaching for the bag. "You finally found one?"
"Yes." Chloe pulled the bag away from him. "Lily found it."
"Can I see?" He reached for the bag again and Chloe pulled it further away.
"No, it's a surprise." She laughed as he kept reaching for the bag.
"But it's your party, your birthday." Oliver protested. "Why do I have to have a surprise?" He made one final swipe at the dress and then gave up.
"Yep." Abby said taking the dress bag from Chloe. "I knew you two would make me sick."
Lily and Rose laughed and followed Abby into the building. Chloe tossed them her key for the elevator and said she'd be right up. She turned to Oliver who was still smiling. "What did she mean by that?"
"Nothing." Chloe brushed it off. "You didn't find anything?"
"Well we found something but we're not sure what it means, or if it means anything for that matter." He pulled out a torn slip of paper. Chloe took it from him and handed it over. It was a page from a book, a novel Chloe thought. "We found it lying on the floor, I mean it could be trash but it was literally the only thing in the ware house, there was nothing else but floors and walls and this piece of paper."
"I'll look into it." She slipped the paper in her pocket. "Now there's something else we need to talk about."
"Go." Oliver said and Chloe looked down at her necklace. "Oh." He smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, oh." Chloe said to him. "This is a diamond." She told him.
"I know." He shrugged.
"I thought it was an emerald." Chloe pointed out. "Not just any diamond either apparently a very rare very expensive diamond." Chloe said.
"Very hard to find." Oliver admitted.
"And it was your mothers?" Chloe looked up at him sadly. "Oliver I can't accept this."
"You already did." He told her.
"But I didn't know…first of all it's too much, second of all it was your mothers."
"I know." He assured her. "I knew all that when I gave it to you. I wanted you to have it."
"But…" Chloe started to protest and Oliver cute her off.
"But nothing." He said. "I gave it to you, you accepted. My mom would have wanted you to have it. She would have loved you." He looked off down the road, seemingly into nothing. "She was pretty spunky, my mom." He laughed. "Didn't take crap from anyone, especially my dad, and never let him forget it." He looked at Chloe. "She would have liked that you don't hesitate to put me in my place when I need it."
Chloe looked up at him then back down at the necklace. "Ok, but I'm not going to wear it every day."
"No." Oliver said as she reached up to take it off. "She loved this necklace. My dad had it special made for her and she said she'd never take it off. She wore it every day. I was kind of hoping you would too." He said. "Besides it's exactly your style, simple and understated."
"Simple?" Chloe looked at him as if he was crazy. "I'm walking around with four million dollars around my neck and you think it's simple and understated?"
"Humor me." Oliver said to her and she relented.
"Ok, fine, but the first time, the very first time something happens and I almost lose it, or damage it, it goes in a box in a safe ok?"
"Deal." Oliver said.
Lois practically tackled Chloe as soon as she got off the plane. "Oh God." She said hugging her tight. "It feels like forever since I've seen you."
"Almost a year now." Chloe hugged her just as tight.
"Ok, let's not do that again." Lois didn't let go until Clark came up behind them.
"Do I get a turn?" Clark asked smiling.
Lois rolled her eyes and pulled apart from Chloe. "She's not an amusement park ride Smallville."
Clark gave Chloe a look that said, "This is what I've been dealing with for four hours on the plane" and Chloe made sure to give him an extra large hug for his efforts. Very quietly she barely even whispered, "If you'd just tell her, you could have saved yourself the headache."
Clark pulled away and glared at her and she couldn't help but laugh. "Lois, you're staying with me, Clark I can get you a room at a hotel or you can stay with Oliver or…"
"I think I can find a place." Clark laughed. Between Oliver, Bart, Victor, and AC Clark wouldn't want for a bed.
"Let's get you settled in then." Chloe said as Clark grabbed the bags and they headed to the car.
"I love the necklace." Lois said.
"It was a birthday present." She didn't elaborate on who gave it, or what it meant beyond happy birthday. She still wasn't even sure how she was going to tell Lois she was pretending to date her ex.
They settled in and Clark left to go check in with the boys as Chloe and Lois relaxed on her balcony. "This is the life." Lois said.
"Yeah well, I'm hardly ever here." Chloe sighed. "Work."
"What's the good of having all this if you can't enjoy it?" Lois asked her. "You work too hard."
"Not too hard." Chloe shrugged.
"Well you work hard enough at one job and then there's all your extracurricular stuff with Ollie." Lois said. "When do you sleep?"
"Sleep?" Chloe laughed. "What is that?"
"You're taking care of yourself right?" Lois asked concerned.
"I'm eating right and exercising and actually getting plenty of sleep." Chloe assured her. "Look, about the extracurricular stuff with Oliver."
"Chloe!" Abby called out.
"On the balcony." Chloe sighed. "We can talk later." Lois just nodded and they went back in the apartment. Chloe introduced Lois and her friends and they chatted briefly, Lois having more than she thought she would in common with Chloe's friends, having traveled so much growing up with the General. Abby picked out some wine and they sat around talking and laughing, telling Lois stories about Chloe and she actually started to relax, that was her first mistake.
"We ran into your boyfriend on the way up." Lily said relaxing back in the couch.
"Boyfriend?" Lois said confused looking between Lily and Chloe. Chloe opened her mouth to explain when Abby's eyes got huge.
"You haven't met Oliver yet?" Abby said. "He's a great guy, and these two are absolutely disgusting together."
"Oliver?" Lois turned to Chloe. "Boyfriend?"
"Did you see the necklace?" Rose piped in and Lois' eyes caught the apple around her neck. "It was his mom's, serious right? We've got a pool going for when the engagement is coming."
"Engagement?" Lois said surprised still staring at the apple. She remembered a picture in the Clock tower of Oliver's parents and his mom was indeed wearing that necklace.
"I'm hungry." Chloe said. "Are you guy's hungry? Lois can you help me get some stuff together in the kitchen?"
Lois nodded numbly and stood up to follow Chloe. "Lois let me explain…"
"No." Lois shook her head. "I get it. I really do. I mean Ollie and I were great together but he couldn't trust me with the biggest part of him. And you, you're like a better version of me and he trusts you, he trusted you a long time ago with all that stuff. You're like the perfect couple." She sighed. "I just didn't think I would lose you to him of all people."
"Loose me?" Chloe said confused. "Wait, your upset, not because I took your ex-boyfriend away from you, but because he took me away from you?"
"Duh." Lois looked at her. "Ollie's a great guy and all but your family. How can I compete with him? He's got money; he's the leader of a group of super heroes. I write sporadic articles for a dying newspaper."
"Ok." Chloe tried hard not to laugh. "First off, we aren't dating; it's all part of our cover." Lois seemed to relax. "Second of all no man not even the great and powerful Oliver could take me away from you, like you said we're family."
Lois jumped up suddenly and hugged her tight. "Oh thank god." She smiled and pulled back.
They hung out for a few more hours and then the girls went back to the hotel and Chloe and Lois went to bed. An hour after Chloe had fallen asleep she heard the door open and sat up quickly. "Lois?"
"I couldn't sleep." Lois said running and jumping into Chloe's bed. "I was thinking."
"That's never good. " Chloe laughed through a yawn.
"You and Oliver really are the perfect couple."
"Lois." Chloe groaned.
"No seriously." Lois said. "I went over it in my head and it makes total sense. I can't believe you don't see that."
"He's just Oliver." Chloe said falling asleep as she talked.
"I don't think anyone's ever called him just Oliver." Lois laughed. "I just wanted you to know, I'm ok with it."
"You're ok with it?" Chloe asked confused.
"With you and Oliver." Lois said.
"He'll be so happy to hear that." Chloe mumbled. "Now we can run off and get married."
"That's a joke right?" Lois said.
"Go to bed Lois or you're not invited to the wedding." Chloe said.
"Bitch." Lois turned over and closed her eyes as Chloe laughed.
The next morning Lois sat at the bar and watched as Chloe made her an omelet and neither of them heard the elevator ding. "Chloelicious." Bart strode into the room. "I thought I smelled one of your wonderful breakfasts." Bart plopped himself up at the bar next to Lois. "Good Morning gorgeous."
Lois set her coffee cup down and turned to Bart then to Chloe. "Who the hell is the shortcake?"
"Ouch." Bart grabbed his heart and gasped. "So early in the morning."
Lois' eyes went wide and Chloe laughed. "You want an omelet?" She asked Bart.
"Why do you ask me questions you know the answer too?"
"I told you she'd be making breakfast." AC stepped into the room followed by Victor and Clark.
"You want some help?" Victor walked around the bar and washed his hands.
"Well I wasn't expecting the whole neighborhood." Chloe nodded going to the fridge. "I need more supplies."
"I'll go." Bart jumped down. "I haven't been on my morning run yet."
Chloe jotted down a list of things and Bart nodded before taking off. "I'll get a little something special for you sweetheart." He winked at Lois and Victor shook his head.
AC took Bart's seat as Victor started a fresh pot of coffee. "Hey Lois."
Lois looked confused. "What's with the morning parade Chloe, who are these people, what's AC doing here?"
"These are my friends." Chloe smiled. "They came for breakfast."
"Friends?" Lois asked. "From where?"
"Work." Victor said as he chopped up onions.
"Work." Chloe repeated.
Suddenly there was a blur in the room and Bart was standing next to Chloe with an arm load of bags. "Did you want pulp in the orange juice?" He asked.
"You have a cell phone Bart." Chloe groaned. "Use it."
"This is faster." He said. "Pulp or no?"
"No." Chloe said unloading the bags.
"Back in a flash." He winked and blurred out.
"You guys don't work for her at her Uncle's Company?" Lois asked interested.
"No." AC said before he could stop himself.
"So you do the secret agent stuff with her and Oliver." Lois caught on slowly.
Victor laughed. "Yeah." He put a finger on the side of his nose and Chloe elbowed him in the ribs. "We do the secret agent stuff."
"Don't patronize me." Lois glared. "So that means that you guys have powers?" Victor just shrugged and AC coughed. "You do." Lois said. "Did every guy I dated have super powers that he failed to tell me about?" Chloe shot a look at Clark and he glared at her. "So what do you do?" Lois asked.
"I'm good in the water." Is all he said and by some miracle, Lois left it at that.
"You?" She asked Victor.
"I'm good with computers." He shrugged again.
"And the little one is really fast?" Lois said.
"Super fast, and not so little." Bart said from behind her. She jumped and turned to see him smiling. "Pulp less OJ." He handed a jug to Chloe and then pulled a bouquet of flowers from his back. "Sorry they're a little wet." He handed the flowers to Lois. "But they don't call it the rain forest for nothing."
"These are from the rain forest?" Lois looked at Chloe surprised.
"Bart stop showing off and grab a vase from under the sink." Chloe rolled her eyes.
"Looks like you've got some competition." AC joked with Chloe.
"She can have him." Chloe laughed.
"I don't want him." Lois protested.
Chloe shook her head and grabbed the phone. "Hey Oliver, we're having a family breakfast, be here in twenty or I can guarantee there won't be anything left."
"I'll be right over." He said and then hung up the phone.
Lois raised her eyebrows. "Family breakfast."
"Yeah." Chloe smiled as she cracked eggs.
Lois looked around as Bart and AC goofed off in the living room and Clark greeted Oliver at the door like old friends while Chloe and Victor danced around the kitchen cooking the breakfast. "Family huh?" Lois said nodding.
Breakfast was what Lois always imagined it would be like in a big close knit family; everyone was talking over everyone else and stealing off of each other's plates. There was good natured teasing, and lots of laughter and she loved it. As Bart and AC argued over whose turn it was to do the dishes, while Clark actually did them Lois talked to Victor, learning about the part of Chloe's life that Abby and the others couldn't fill her in on. "You ready for the party tonight?" Oliver asked.
"No." Chloe said. "But I guess I don't have a choice in the matter."
"Not really." Oliver said. "Did you talk to her yet?" He nodded to Lois.
"Yeah." Chloe smiled. "You want to hear something funny?" She rocked on her heels
"You're going to tell me no matter what aren't you?" Oliver asked.
"You know how we were scared to tell her because we thought she'd go off on a jealous rage over you?" Oliver nodded. "We were half right. She was jealous of you not me. She didn't want you to take me away from her."
"She wasn't even remotely jealous?" Oliver asked.
"No." Chloe smiled. "In fact she told me that we would make the perfect couple, and she gave us her blessing."
"You sure that's Lois and not a pod person?" Oliver asked.
Chloe slapped him. "Ok guys out, we've got to shower and be at the spa in an hour."
"Spa?" Lois asked. "I didn't agree to a spa."
"Humor me." Chloe said ushering all the guys to the elevator. "It's my birthday."
"I hate spas." Lois groaned.
She didn't hate the spa; she actually had a good time getting primped and made up for the party. Everyone went back to Chloe's to get dressed and they were having a calming glass of wine when the elevator dinged and the guys walked out. "You guys clean up nice." Chloe smiled walking to straighten Bart's tie.
Oliver gave her the boyfriend kiss on the cheek because of Abby, Lily, and Rose and Clark looked on confused. "You look beautiful."
"You don't look so bad yourself." Chloe smiled. "Ladies, may I present to you, your escorts for the evening."
Bart headed for Lois but was shoved back by AC who grabbed her arm. She smiled up at him as Abby walked over to Clark who managed after a little fumbling to extend his arm to her. Victor walked over to Rose and offered his arm and she smiled and took it. That left Bart with Lily but she was a good sport about the whole thing and tried to make him feel a little better. "I guess you're stuck with me." She smiled at him.
"It would be my pleasure to get stuck with you." Bart bowed extravagantly and kissed her hand. Lily smiled genuinely and laughed.
"Let's go." Oliver said grabbing Chloe's shawl and pushing the elevator button.
The party wasn't as bad as Chloe was expecting. Sure the decorations were over the top, the food was overpriced, and the entertainment was over paid but having her friends and family all together in one place made up for all of that. They managed to out party even the hardest of all Chloe and Oliver's friends, Bruce stayed for only a few minutes, just long enough to give Chloe a present and nod stoically at all her friends.
"I didn't know there was a way to become this exhausted." Lily said.
"Would you like me to carry you back home?" Bart offered. She smiled and laughed and Chloe couldn't believe that Lily was actually charmed by Bart. Then again, Bart would completely and utterly worship the ground that Lily walked on, and Lily would love that.
"What are you thinking about?" Oliver leaned forward and whispered in Chloe's ear.
"Nothing." She shook her head and turned to lean on his shoulder. "This was a great party, I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time about it."
"No problem." Oliver said.
"Ok you guys are the cutest couple in the world." Abby groaned. "We get it."
"Couple?" Clark asked.
"Oh yeah Clark, you want to get in on the betting pool?" Oliver raised his eyebrows as Abby laughed. "We're betting on when he's gonna finally propose."
"Propose?" Clark swallowed.
"Hey Smallville, let's go grab the coats." Lois got up quickly and grabbed his arm.
"You're betting on our engagement?" Oliver laughed.
"We've got to keep ourselves occupied somehow." Rose defended herself.
"That puts a lot of pressure on a guy." Oliver said. "Does that matter to you?"
Lily and Rose looked at each other and then back at Oliver. "No." They laughed.
"You guys are great friends." Oliver stood up. "Really, great." He held out his hand to Chloe. "We should get these lovely ladies home, it's getting late."
"My Lady." Bart jumped up and held his hand out to Lily. She smiled and grabbed it letting him pull her up and spin her around.
Clark and Lois came back and handed out the coats as the janitors started to clean up the ballroom. "Happy Birthday Chloe." Oliver said as they walked into the cold night air.
"Thanks." She leaned into his shoulder and they headed home.