Three Years Later
Bart turned around as he left the elevator so that he was facing the guys coming in. "Seriously? I'm fast everywhere, you're only fast in water, stick your ass in the desert and let's see what you can do fish boy." He smirked at AC.
"Are you really still having this argument?" Chloe asked, standing nervously by the coffee table. Everyone froze at the sound of her voice and before they even fully realized that she was back and standing in the living room Bart super speeded over and hit her so hard they both fell back and landed on the sofa in a heap.
"Dog Pile." AC shouted running over and jumping on top of tem. Victor smiled at Oliver and joined in, causing them all to roll off and fall to the ground.
"Come on Ollie." Bart called somewhere from the middle. "Join in."
After he got over the shock, Oliver set the bags of take out on the kitchen counter and walked over, grabbing Bart by his shirt collar and pulling him up. "Come on guys, let her breathe." He smirked.
AC and Victor got up, a little ashamed at their childish antics but smiling none the less. That just left Chloe on the ground. Oliver smiled and held out his hand. He saw her hesitate before grabbing it allowing him to pull her up.
Chloe froze when Oliver held out his hand. Three years of pulling herself up made her hesitate for a second but she remembered the last thing that was said to her before she left. "I've taught you to be self sufficient. But you need to remember you're going back to a team, and it's ok to let them help once in a while." She held out her hand and Oliver pulled her up to her feet. She straightened her Jacket and dusted off her pants while Oliver just stood there staring at her. "Hey Chloe." He said smiling slightly.
"Hey." She smiled back at him and then they both just stood there. The others seemed to drift over to the kitchen and Oliver was trying desperately to think of something to say when Bart moaned.
"They forgot the Soy Sauce again." He said. "Be right back." Then he was gone. Oliver chuckled a little and smiled at Chloe.
"Hungry?" He asked.
Chloe opened her mouth ready to answer any of his questions about where she'd been, what she'd done but this was not the question she was ready for. She stumbled over nonsensical syllables before finally settling on, "No thanks, I'm good."
Oliver nodded and walked to the kitchen to eat. Chloe stood there completely confused. She'd been gone for three years and all he had to say to her was "Hungry?"
Victor walked in the room and grabbed her elbow. "Come on, you've got to tell us where you've been." He sat her down in a chair at the table and Bart's blur came swooping in the room.
"Wait for me; I don't want to miss this." Bart piled up his plate and sat down at the table waiting impatiently for her to answer the question. Chloe thought about it, that night she left and where she'd gone.
"Airport." She said to the cabbie and dialed a number on her phone. "Hey." Chloe said smiling slightly when it was answered. "You remember that favor you owe me?" She asked. "I'm calling it in."
Ten hours later she was tired and hungry and emotionally drained as she stood on the stoop to Wayne Manor with her duffel bag and lap top case. She rang the doorbell and ran a hand through her hair. Alfred opened the door and smiled sadly at her. "Master Bruce is waiting for you." He grabbed her bag and led her to a small office on the ground floor.
Bruce was on the phone when she walked in. "I'll put some feelers out, see what comes up." Bruce raised an eyebrow at her and she sat down in the chair opposite him.
"Thanks." Oliver's voice, tight with worry came over the phone speaker. Chloe's face paled and she sat up a little straighter. "I don't understand why she…she just left and I…thanks Bruce."
"We'll find her." Bruce said soothingly to Oliver. "Don't worry; I'm sure she's fine. I've got to go, I'll call you later." He pushed a button and stared at Chloe as he sat down in his chair. She didn't say anything; she was waiting for him to speak first. "Oliver Queen is a very good friend of mine." Bruce said to her. "One of the best." She didn't say anything to that, what did you say to that. "And so are you." He assured her. She visibly relaxed. "I don't like lying to him though."
"I really appreciate…" Chloe started and he held up a hand.
"I understand why you're here." He smiled at her. "And I do owe you; I owe you far more than what you're asking of me." Bruce said and Chloe shook her head. "I'm happy to help you but I do have conditions."
"Hit me." Chloe said taking a deep breath.
"You will do whatever I ask, when I ask, no questions, and no hesitations. You question me it's over, you hesitate it's over. I stop you go home, no second chances." Chloe nodded that she understood. "And you will not complain." He raised an eyebrow at her. "The things I will make you do are going to be hard, they are going to hurt, and they aren't going to get easier but you won't whine, you won't complain, and you won't cry."
Chloe took a deep breath. "Is that it?"
"And you'll contact Oliver; I don't care if you call him, e-mail, postcard or smoke signal." Bruce said. Chloe was about to protest when he cut her off. "I'm not saying you have to tell him about the Green Arrow, or the work you do for him, but you have to tell him something, he doesn't understand why you left, what's going on. He needs to know you're ok."
Chloe glared at him, Oliver understood far more than Bruce could ever know but Bruce was right, Oliver deserved an explanation. She nodded. "Deal." She said standing up and holding out her hand. Bruce stood up and shook hers.
"We start now." He said. "Alfred bring that to her room, Chloe come with me."
Chloe followed Bruce through the labyrinth that is the Wayne Manor and though this was not her first time being here, this time felt different, much different. She knew about Batman, but yet she was never privy to his areas of the house, the cave, the gym, all of that was separate from her relationship with Bruce. Not anymore. He opened a door to stairs going down and motioned for her to go first. She did as he indicated and headed down to a place that was not only dark it was damp and musky smelling. When her feet hit the ground she almost slipped. She looked down and realized she was standing on rocks. She waited for Bruce and he took the lead again, leading her through a series of caves. He turned a corner and Chloe finally saw the source of the sound of running water. There was an underground waterfall. "Stand here." He said motioning to a vaguely center point of the small cave. Chloe walked over and stood. "Arms out." She lifted her arms and shook her head as small spray hit her in the face from the waterfall. He turned the corner and came back holding a long stick. He placed it behind her head and draped her arms over it. Then he grabbed his belt and his tie and tied her wrists to the sticks, effectively locking them in that position. She didn't say a word through the whole process. He did something to the dirt surrounding her feet and then stood up and looked at her.
"You will stand here." He said. "You will not sit, you will not lean, you will stand in this spot, in this position and you will not move until I come get you."
"Yes sir." Chloe said smiling at him as he shook his head and walked away.
Two hours passed, Bruce came around the corner and looked at her. The top half of her body was completely wet from the mist off the water fall. Her knees twitched every now and then but he could tell she hadn't moved an inch, the dirt at her feet was undisturbed. He walked up and held out a canteen. "Drink." He said holding the bottle to her lips. She took a sip and swallowed.
"How you doing?" He asked.
"Peachy." She said a little weakly.
"You ready to quit?" He asked biting into an apple. She shook her head. He looked at her for a second before disappearing around the wall. He came back a minute later holding onto a large tangle of rope. He dropped it at her feet and looked at her. "Open." He said, she assumed he meant her mouth and opened. He turned the apple around to the green side with no bites taken out of it and put the apple in front of her. "Hold this, don't bite, don't chew, don't swallow, hold." She clamped her teeth on the apple and wanted nothing more than to take a huge bite out of it. He wrapped one rope around her left wrist then grabbed a large rock tying it to the bottom; the weight immediately pulled her to the left. He smiled then took the other rope and did the same to her right wrist. She evened out.
He looked at her one last time and then walked back around the corner. Chloe listened as his footsteps went farther and farther away.
Four more hours passed and Bruce stood in the darkness provided by the cave's entrance and watched her. She hadn't moved from the spot he put her in. Her legs were visibly shaking with the strain now, she was completely soaked from the water and he could see tears in her eyes that she wasn't going to let fall. He had to give it to her, she was one tough girl. He walked into the open and her eyes adjusted on him. He pulled the apple out of her mouth and he heard her jaw pop as she closed it. He studied the apple; aside from the small indents where her teeth were holding it she hadn't bitten. He threw the apple over his shoulder and undid the weights. When both rocks were freed from her she fell to the ground in a heap. He reached down to help her but she pushed him away, standing up on her own shaky legs with her hands still outstretched beside her. She looked defiantly at him as she stood up as straight as she could. He undid the tie and the belt and threw the stick down.
"Come on." He said walking away. She followed slowly behind him, her legs not used to movement, her muscles cramped in place. "Eat, shower, sleep." He said when they got into the house proper. "Tomorrow's gonna be a hell of a day." He walked away shaking his head as she stood there shivering in the hallway. Alfred stepped forward and motioned for her to follow him. He brought her up the stairs to her room and when she opened the door there was a tray of food set up on the small table and clothes laid out on her bed.
"Miss Sullivan." Alfred said. "I took the liberty…" He walked to the bathroom and opened the door and Chloe almost fell to her knees and thanked God for hot baths. Only when she got in the bathroom the tub wasn't filled with steamy soapy water, it was filled with ice. She turned to Alfred confused.
"You're muscles will thank me in the morning." He said walking out of the room. Chloe sighed and decided to eat, freeze, then sleep.
For some reason she couldn't say it, maybe because they didn't know who Batman was and it would be like betraying his secret, maybe because she wasn't really ready to explain the intricacies of her trip yet. "Chloe?" Victor asked concerned and she refocused her attention on them and made up a vague story about training. They obviously weren't really interested in her answer because they kept interrupting her to ask more questions or to tell her what they'd been doing. It would have been a fun homecoming except for the fact that Oliver was standing at the kitchen counter eating and staring, at her, the whole time.
After exhausting all stories they had to tell her, one by one they drifted off to do their own thing, or go to bed and Chloe found herself alone in the living room. She wasn't sure what to do, if she should even be there so she grabbed up all the empty cartons and coke cans and threw them away. Then it was quiet and clean and she had to get some fresh air before she screamed. She walked out to the balcony and sighed in relief as she took a deep breath.
Since the moment the guys had walked in she'd been crawling around in her own skin, worrying about something that she couldn't put her finger on. No that's not true, she could put her finger on it, it was Oliver. He hadn't said anything to her after "Hungry." She wanted to kick herself. She was finally the person she knew she was supposed to be, and even with the whole skin crawling thing, she knew without a doubt that she was where she was meant to be. But did Oliver even want her here? She could understand if he didn't. She left with no warning for three years, and then just shows up out of the blue. She groaned and could practically hear Bruce's voice in her head.
"Calm yourself, mindful breath." Was echoing over and over.
Chloe ground her teeth and took a deep breath. "Leave me alone." She said out loud trying to drown out Bruce's voice.
"I'm sorry, I just…" Oliver said from the doorway to the balcony and Chloe spun around as he turned to go inside.
"I'm sorry." She sighed. "I wasn't talking to you…I was…talking…" She trailed off staring straight ahead at Oliver almost in a daze.
"Chloe." Oliver said walking forward. "Chloe." He said a little louder.
Her gaze didn't waver from his hands but her mouth did open slightly. "Is that…I'm…is that…coffee?" She said in almost a whisper.
"Yeah." Oliver smiled. "That ridiculously expensive Indonesian stuff you were always bugging me for."
"Kopi Luwak?" Chloe asked almost drooling down her shirt.
"I bought it after you left…" He trailed off. He stepped forward and Chloe instinctively took a step back. "You haven't had a cup since you got here, so I figured you would want some. I'm sorry." Oliver frowned.
"No." Chloe practically screamed as he turned to go inside. "No I…it's just, I haven't had a cup of coffee since, since I left. It was part of my training."
Oliver's eyebrows rose and he smiled at her. "You haven't had a cup of coffee in a year and half?" Chloe shook her head as he smiled larger. "So you'd probably do just about anything for this wouldn't you?" He waved the coffee closer to her and she inhaled the aroma closing her eyes in pleasure.
"Yes." She practically moaned.
Oliver set the coffee on the table and smiled at her. "Good. I need you to promise me something."
"Anything." Chloe said staring at the cups on the table.
"Chloe." Oliver snapped. "Focus." She turned to look at him. "Promise or no coffee."
"Ok." She said smiling slightly.
"Never, ever leave me; leave us, like that again." He said his smirk gone, his face completely serious.
She stopped confused almost. "You mean you still want me here?" She smiled a little bigger.
"Of course we still want you here." Oliver sighed. "I was going crazy without you. Do you think I can handle those guys on my own? As for intelligent conversation forget about it. Let's not even bring up the fact that the testosterone level got so high at one point we were this close to taking a swing at each other…" He was cut off when Chloe launched herself into him, hugging him tight.
Oliver sighed and brought his arms around her, holding onto her as hard as she was holding on to him. "I went crazy when you left." He whispered in her ear. "You have no idea how worried I was that I'd never see you again. I drove Bart to exhaustion scouring the globe for you. This place hasn't been the same, it's like we've been missing something." He pulled back slightly to look at her and saw tears shining in her eyes.
"I missed you guys so much." She said the tears starting to fall. "I was so worried that you wouldn't want me to come back."
"Not want you?" Oliver chuckled. "Are you kidding me, you're a part of the team Chloe, we always want you here." He hugged her again, a little tighter this time. "I always want you here." Chloe pulled away to pull herself together and wipe her eyes. She reached for the coffee on the table and Oliver grabbed her hand.
"Promise me Chloe." Oliver said, serious again. "If you feel you need to go somewhere, do something, we'll support you one hundred percent but don't take off like that again."
"Promise." Chloe smiled and grabbed her coffee cup. Oliver took his and watched Chloe bask in the aroma before taking a tentative sip. He smiled as her eyes closed and she savored the flavor, swallowing slowly with another moan. Oliver took a sip of his and was pleasantly surprised.
"This is really good." He said. "I'm not sure it's worth $160.00 a pound, but it's good." He took another sip. "Why is it so expensive?" He asked taking another sip.
"Well they don't pick the coffee beans from the tree, there's this animal, a Civet, it eats the beans and then they collect them after it's…passed through the animal."
Oliver froze his mouth full of coffee. He turned and spit it out on the balcony as Chloe took another delicious sip. "You mean the beans came from animal crap?" He said looking at the cup, his face turning white.
"Yeah." Chloe said smirking at him. "The trip through its intestines takes out the bitterness and pulls out the flavors of the coffee." Oliver set his cup down on the table and took a step back from it. Chloe laughed.
"So I paid $800.00 for crap?" Oliver smirked at her.
"To each his own." Chloe smiled finishing her cup and gesturing to Oliver's. "You gonna finish that?"
"God no." Oliver said shaking his head as Chloe snatched up his cup and took a sip.
Chloe woke up the next morning and forgot just for a minute where she was until she heard noises in the living room and realized she was back home and she could hear the boys in the kitchen. She got out of bed and frowned as she walked down the hall listening to them argue. "Stop." Victor said. "Just don't touch anything ok."
"I can cook some stuff." Bart said.
"You burned the butter." AC pointed out.
"Can I make the toast?" Bart asked.
"Yes you can make the toast." Victor said.
"What are you doing?" Chloe asked watching them all freeze in place. Victor was at the stove stirring something on the stove as AC cut up fruit and Bart had his hand in bread bag.
"Making you breakfast." Bart said lamely.
"You don't have to do this." Chloe said.
"We know." Victor smiled. "But you just got back; you need to relax a little."
She ignored him and walked over to the stove and tried to help out but every time she grabbed something one of them took it away from her until finally Oliver walked in the apartment and he was given the task of keeping her out of the kitchen.
Chloe smiled. Her first day back wouldn't be as hard as her first day at Bruce's that was for sure.
Her first real day at Bruce's she woke up stiffer than she'd ever been in her life, but stiff was better than sore. She opened the closet looking for her things but they weren't there, the dresser was filled with nothing but yoga pants and tank tops, Chloe deduced that this was to be her uniform. She grabbed a pair and pulled them on, walking slowly but determinedly down to breakfast. When she got there Bruce was lounging in a chair reading the paper. "Morning." He said to her.
"Morning." She smiled back slowly grabbing a cup and moving to the coffee pot.
"No coffee." He said casually flipping the pages in his paper. Chloe froze and set the cup down without question or hesitation. Alfred handed her a glass of orange juice. "Don't eat." He said folding the paper up. "We're going for a run." He stood up. "Finish your juice and stretch; meet me out front in five minutes." He walked out of the room leaving a full plate of eggs and bacon and Chloe groaned. She downed her juice, knowing that the more time she had to stretch the better off she'd be.
After two miles Bruce ran up the driveway in high spirits smiling as Alfred handed him a towel and bottle of water. "Miss Sullivan?" He asked.
"She's coming." Bruce said catching his breath. "She fell a little behind."
Thirty minutes later Chloe came jogging up the driveway and Alfred handed her a water bottle and towel also. "You missed breakfast, shower and meet me in my office." Bruce said walking in the house. Chloe waited until the door was closed and she fell to the ground in the driveway. Alfred smiled at her and helped her up into the house. She showered, put on an identical pair of yoga pants and tank top then walked into Bruce's office. He was on the phone and the computer presumably doing actual Wayne Enterprise work. He held his hand over the phone and said. "Sit." She went for the chair and he shook his head. "Floor." Was all he said.
Chloe lowered herself onto the floor, so painfully she wondered if she'd be able to get up. He went back to his work and Chloe sat on the floor in his office for an hour as he called investors and checked his e-mail. His assistant came in a few times to hand him papers or folders and paid no attention to the girl sitting in the middle of the floor. For the first thirty minutes Chloe was tensed, ready to get up and do something as soon as he asked, after the first thirty minutes she started to let her mind wander, being the head of a multi-billion dollar company was boring. Suddenly she was hit in the head with something heavy. She looked around the floor beside her, resisting the urge to rub her head. She saw a stapler on the floor. She looked up at Bruce. He was sitting behind his desk with an amused expression on his face.
"Did you just throw a stapler at me?" She asked, hoping that didn't qualify as questioning him.
"You weren't sitting." He said. She looked around the floor. She was sitting as far as she could tell, she hadn't gotten up.
"Ok." She said confused but trying to figure out a way to figure out what she was doing without questioning him.
"You need to learn how to sit." He said.
"You mean I've been doing it wrong my whole life?" She snarked at him. "How embarrassing."
He glared at her and stood up. "When you sit, sit." He said to her. "When you run, run, when you eat, eat."
"Ok." She said as he circled her. "Are you going all Zen on me?"
"Yes." He said hitting her on the head with his hand that time. "Now sit."
"Sit." Chloe said sitting. This was ridiculous, she was learning how to sit. Every now and then as she felt her mind wander something would hit her in the head, something from Bruce's desk. She finally understood after the phone headed toward her and she moved her head not to get hit. He smiled. "Stand up. Eat lunch have Alfred bring you to the gym." He said retrieving the phone and making a call. He was keeping her in the moment, keeping her alert, it wasn't completely pointless, it just felt like it was. Much to her annoyance she had a feeling that the Zen stuff was going to keep popping up, the pitfalls of training with a man who trained with a bunch of Monks.
She ate her lunch and Alfred brought her to the gym. "Master Bruce has instructed me to set up a weight training and exercise course with you." He said. "You will do the weights three times and week and the other four times a week, unless Master Bruce says otherwise."
"Alfred." Chloe said as he led her to a machine and explained the workings of it. She started her sets.
"Yes Miss Sullivan."
"Can you call me Chloe?" She asked grunting.
"I have that ability yes." He said spotting her.
"Will you call me Chloe?" She smiled at him.
"Probably not Miss Sullivan." He smiled at her. "Ten more." She nodded and continued her workout.
When she was done, her legs ached, her arms ached, and her chest ached. She wanted to sit in another bathtub full of ice, she wanted to sleep for three days, she wanted to do anything except what she was about to do. Bruce walked in as she was wiping her forehead and drinking some water. "Come here." He called to her and led her to a pad in the middle of the room. She walked onto the pad and before she could wonder what was going to happen he knocked her feet out from under her sending her sprawling on the ground.
She glared at him and pulled herself up. "Never let your guard down." He said to her and with that her martial arts training had begun. He didn't take the approach Chloe would have thought for martial arts training, he didn't go through movements or steps, he attacked she defended, he told her what she was doing wrong and then attacked again. Three hours later when she was pulled up by him for the hundredth time she just knew that she would be full of bruises on every possible inch of her body.
"Shower." He said.
The memory ended and it seemed as if everyone was staring at her. "What?" She asked cautiously.
"I said, why don't we go sit on the balcony?" Oliver smiled.
"Yeah, sure." Chloe followed him outside and they sat down, taking in the early morning view of Star City. "Remember that thing you made me promise last night?" Chloe asked him.
"About never leaving us again?" He smiled. "Yeah I think I remember that."
"I kind of have to." Chloe said sheepishly. "But just to go to England. Do you remember Tony Miller?"
"Your Uncle's Finance guy?" Oliver asked.
"Yes, him, when I was gone, I put him in charge of the company in my absence, but in my rush, I missed something, some paperwork, something official and if I don't show up at Global Communications in two days, Jefferson Pliers is going to sell my company off bit by bit."
"Can he do that?" Oliver asked.
"Edward made him CEO when he found out he wasn't going to be able to work so much, so whatever I messed up when I tried to put Tony in charge, put Jefferson in charge."
"You've got to save your company." Oliver said. "I understand that. You promise to come back?"
"I should be there for a few weeks only." Chloe assured him. "Just long enough to put everything back together and put the people I want, where I want them. Then I'll have to deal with whatever mess the American Branch has gotten itself into before I get back to work."
"So you're staying here?" Oliver asked.
"Of course." Chloe said confused.
"I just thought, with Edward gone, and you running the company…"
"I can run the company from where ever I want to, and I want to run it from Star City." Chloe assured him. He smiled and the doors burst open.
"Breakfast." AC set down a bowl of fruit and five plates while Victor and Bart followed with eggs, bacon, toast, biscuits and sausage.
"Dig in fast." Oliver said reaching over to grab a plate. "I think Bart has tripled his intake since you left."
"I have not." Bart said and then had the decency to look sheepish as he noticed the mammoth pile of bacon on his plate. "I had to go to Ecuador yesterday ok."
Chloe laughed with everyone else and thought to herself that maybe things could get back to normal. A fight was started over who would do the dishes as Chloe showered and changed and packed a bag. She had to make a note to go shopping; much of her clothes didn't fit anymore having lost a little weight and gained a lot of muscle. She carried the bag out to the living room as she dialed the number for the airport. Bart, Victor, and AC were gone, her kitchen was spotless which was mildly surprising, but even more surprising was the fact that Oliver was standing by her elevator on the phone, with an overnight bag in his hand. He closed the phone and smiled at her. "I've got my jet waiting at the airport." He reached out for her bag and she looked at him strangely.
"What's going on?" She hung up her phone.
"I'm going with you." He smiled.
"You don't trust me to come back?" She joked with him.
"No." He scoffed at her. "I know that this is the first time you've been back there since, well since Edward died. I thought you might like the company."
"Thanks." Chloe smiled. "I'd really appreciate that."
"Besides, I really missed you Chloe." Oliver smiled at her and grabbed her arm.
"I missed you to." She reminded him. "And I'm really glad you're coming with me."
The plane ride out there seemed to be the salve to the wound that was Chloe's three year absence. She knew that the guys really had no hard feelings, they really were just happy to have her back. She also knew that Oliver really was hurt by what she'd done and that was by no means her intention in doing it. She was doing what she thought was best. He wouldn't talk about it though, choosing to change the subject whenever she brought it up and though she knew eventually it would have to come out, the twelve hour flight was spent drinking coffee and talking made her feel close to him again. It erased the time they'd missed, Oliver filling Chloe in on practically every single thing he'd done while she was gone and Chloe, not able to do the same, listened to everything he had to say .
Then she asked if he knew how Abby was, and Lily and Rose. "I've talked to them, not a lot but some." He said. "Do you know what you're going to say to them? To everyone?"
"Yeah." Chloe nodded. "I'm going to tell them I was in Buenos Aires." Chloe said and look of recognition flittered over Oliver's face. "I set it up after I'd been gone a few weeks so that I'd have something, a story to tell."
He remembered. About a month after she'd been gone there was a report in some gossip magazine that she was staying at her Uncle's house in Buenos Aires. Hiding out on the beach and grieving quietly. The report said that she never went outside, but glimpses had been caught from the beach of a sad face in the window. He normally wouldn't have paid any attention to that magazine but he was desperate so he checked it out. The house that normally sat vacant, run by a skeleton staff, especially at that time of year was now busy. There was talk in the town that the full time staff was being employed and supplies, food and other things were being ordered weekly and sent to the house.
He went to check it out, the house manager Pilar knew him, and they'd stayed there for a week about a year previously. She told him that Chloe was there, that she was obviously very heartbroken over the loss of her Uncle and would not be accepting any visitors; she refused to let him in. He came back twice a day for a week and still they refused.
"I remember." Oliver said sheepishly.
"I'm sure you do." Chloe chuckled thinking about it.
"Miss Chloe, I don't think he's going away." Pilar explained over the phone. "Every day I tell him you are fine, you are tired, that he could leave a note, or write you a letter but every day he comes back."
"I know, I'm going to call him, I'm going to explain it all I just, I guess I need to work up the courage." Chloe said. "I'm really sorry."
"It's ok Miss Chloe." Pilar said gently. "It is no problem here, the people now have a steady job and Maria does not mind pretending to be you and looking out the window. She says it is fun, like acting."
Chloe sighed. Maria was the employee in Buenos Aires that Chloe had with blonde hair so she was drafted to be the image that was caught on film by the paparazzi through the sheer curtains in the master bedroom. "I really appreciate everything that you guys are doing, I can't thank you enough."
"It is no problem Miss Chloe, it is our job." Pilar assured her. Suddenly there was a scream from the back of the house.
"Is everything ok? " Chloe asked and Pilar rushed through the living are to the kitchen to see Maria and a few of the other maids running away. "What's going on?"
"Aye Dios Mio." Pilar said in the phone, her voice shaking. "There is someone in the house, he's broken in, he is in some strange clothing…"
"Where is she?" Chloe heard a very familiar, very mechanical voice over the phone and sighed, courage or not she was going to have this conversation now.
"Is he in all Green?" Chloe asked. "With a hood and sunglasses on?"
"Si." Pilar said.
"Carrying a bow and arrow?"
"Si, Senora, do you know this man?" Pilar asked with interest.
"Hand him the phone." Chloe said. "You can tell him who it is."
"Senor." Pilar took a shake step forward and Green Arrow took his eyes of the kitchen staff, who took the opportunity to run away, and looked at her. "The phone." He looked confused. "It is Miss Chloe. She says to give you the phone."
He reached out a hand and Pilar dropped the phone in it before turning and running away. "Oliver?" Chloe's voice came out of the speaker and he put the phone up to his ear. "Is that you?"
"Chloe?" He said then switched off his voice distorter. "Chloe?"
"Yeah." She said quietly. "It's me."
"Where are you? What's going on? Why did you leave?" He asked frantically.
"I'm not in Buenos Aires, but I want people to think I am ok, so please don't blow my cover." She sounded tired and Oliver backed down a little.
"Where are you?" He pleaded with her.
"I can't tell you that." She said. "I don't want you to come looking for me. I'm fine, I'm safe."
"I don't understand." He sagged against the countertop, all the fight gone out of him.
"I know you don't, I think I'm just now starting to…I can't really explain it yet but I had to leave."
"You had to leave?" Oliver asked. "Disappear?"
"It was best." Chloe said. "Ok, that's a lie, it was easiest. I couldn't face you, couldn't face the guys. If I had just been quicker, been better…"
"Chloe, don't do this, do not blame yourself for what happened to them." Oliver said.
"I had been at the Penthouse, on the computer that night; neither of them would have gotten hurt. You know that's true Oliver, you can't deny it."
'"They're fine, both of them, we're all fine, come back."
"I will." Chloe promised him. "I swear to you that I will come back but not now, not even soon."
"When?" Oliver asked.
"When I'm ready." Chloe said.
"What does that mean?"
"It means I need to do something, it means I need to change." Chloe sighed. "I spent all those years with Edward, learning, changing so that I could become Chloe Sullivan. Well now I have to do that again, I have so many things that I need to learn, so many things that I need to do to become Watchtower and I can't come back until I'm finished."
"You can do them here." Oliver said, still not fully understanding. "We can do them together."
"No we can't Oliver." Chloe sighed. "I am sorry for what I put you trough, and I swear when I'm ready I'll come back."
"I guess that's the best I'm going to get isn't it?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"That's the best I can give you right now." Chloe told him. "Did you break into my house as Green Arrow and terrorize my staff?"
"Oh God." Oliver sighed. "I can't believe, I'm so sorry about that."
"It's fine." Chloe said to him. "Don't worry about it. But don't break my cover ok; let the world think that Chloe Sullivan is crying alone in Buenos Aires."
"Ok." Oliver said. "Just make sure you come back to me."
"I will." She assured him then hung up the phone.
"Pilar was scared out of her mind." Chloe said. "I called her the next day and she said that if the giant green man was planning on coming back then she quit."
"I kind of lost it for a second." Oliver said. "I didn't even realize what I'd done until I'd done it. But you came back."
"I promised." She reminded him. "No matter what happens." She said. "I'll always come back."
"With cake?" He smiled.
"With cake." She nodded and he laughed.
Chloe watched as the car pulled up in the familiar driveway and took a deep breath. Ms. Reynolds was standing at the door and Chloe had to prepare herself for the possibility that she was about to get the tongue lashing of a lifetime. Instead she got pulled into a hug. "Don't you ever disappear like that young lady." Ms. Reynolds said sternly but tenderly in her ear.
"Promise." Chloe said hugging the old woman back. They pulled apart and her demeanor changed abruptly.
"Mr. Queen." She said stiffly. "I didn't realize you'd be accompanying Ms. Sullivan."
"Hey, she disappeared for three years on me, you think I'm gonna let her go anywhere without me?" Oliver said.
Ms. Reynolds looked at him critically for a second and then snapped her fingers. "Alexa, please make a quest room ready for Mr. Queen. Perhaps the number 23." Chloe seemed confused, she knew the house and security staff numbered every room in the house and at one point in time she had known what all of them were but she'd been gone so long that she wasn't sure anymore. But obviously Ms. Reynolds had a reason for room 23.
"Yes mum." Alexa nodded and Ms. Reynolds gave Oliver a cold stare and then turned and walked away.
"Ok." Oliver looked at Chloe. "I could handle it when she hated both of us – but now she only hates me."
"She doesn't hate you." Chloe said as Simon grabbed her bags and smiled at her and they made their way to Chloe's room. Oliver raised his eyebrows. "She doesn't."
"She does." Simon interrupted. Oliver smirked and then frowned.
"She does?"
Simon laughed as Chloe opened her bedroom door. "She used to tell us to watch your bedroom door when you visited."
"My door?" Oliver said confused.
"At night." Simon dropped Chloe's bag on the ground. "To make sure you don't sneak into Chloe's room." Simon was completely serious and Chloe tried hard not to laugh.
"So this is what she thinks of me? That I'm some horny kid?" Oliver scoffed.
There was what sounded like a squeaky laugh behind him and he turned around to se Alexa standing there. "Your room is ready Mr. Queen."
Chloe was having a hard time hiding her laughter as Alexa took him past one room and then another and then another until he turned the corner and sent a look at Chloe as if Alexa was leading him down into the catacombs. As soon as they both turned the corner Chloe and Simon let it all out. "Where is room 23 again?" Chloe asked.
"The East Wing." Simon said.
Chloe laughed even harder, that was on the other side of the house, and he'd have to pass Ms. Reynolds room every time he left it. Simon held a finger to his ear and nodded. "Ms. Reynolds wants to see you in her office when you're settled."
Chloe nodded and walked to the stairs. "If Oliver ever finds his way out of the East Wing, tell him I'll meet him for diner."
"Of course." Simon said. "Miss Chloe." She paused at the top of the stairs. "It's good to have you home."
"It's good to be home." She smiled at him.
Ms. Reynolds wanted to go over all of the house management stuff that Edward used to deal with. She hadn't really considered the fact that she was the owner now. "Just do whatever my Uncle did." Chloe said.
Ms. Reynolds looked at her for a second then nodded. "Yes, of course."
Chloe paused and titled her head. "Unless you think there's a better way."
"You're Uncle ran this house just fine." She bristled.
"No of course he did." Chloe said. "I just mean, if you have any ideas."
"Well." She thought for a second. "Now that you mention it." She turned around and pulled out a binder, a very large binder. "Over the years I may have accumulated a few ideas."
"A few?" Chloe looked at the pages and pages in the binder. "Lay 'em on me." She said.
Two hours later Ms. Reynolds was still explaining the different way to fold towels. "Look, I don't know the first thing about running a house and you've been doing it for a long enough time that I think you know what you're doing so how about this? Whatever you see fit to do – do. It's you're call."
Ms. Reynolds smiled. "Yes Miss Chloe." She smiled. "It's late, you should get something to eat."
"Ms. R." Chloe smiled. "Could you ease up on Oliver? He's not trying to get in my pants."
"He's a man sweetie, of course he is." Ms. Reynolds patted her shoulder condescendingly.
"Can you trust me then?" Chloe asked.
"With that smile he's got?" She laughed. "I don't think so dear."
Chloe walked into the kitchen to find Oliver talking with Raymond. "Chloe." He stood up straight and held his arms out. "It's been so long." She hugged him. "I hope you're hungry."
"Honestly if there was on thing in the world that I missed more than Oliver, it was your food. But it's late and I don't think I could handle a five course meal." Chloe smiled.
"Got good old fish and chips." He said.
"Perfect." Chloe moaned just thinking about it. "When are you gonna marry me?"
"Hey." Oliver protested.
"Can you make a perfectly cooked seared scallop with a citrus marmalade and endive salad?" Chloe asked.
"Well, no." Oliver said.
"Do you have any idea how to make a wild mushroom risotto that keeps me awake at night?" Chloe asked.
"No." Oliver said.
"Can you even begin to imagine how to create a lobster poached in beurre blanc with cauliflower crème anglaise that I crave on such a visceral level that when I finally get to taste it, it's like a explosion of ecstasy in my mouth?" Chloe groaned.
"No." Oliver said a little hoarsely.
"I can do that?" Raymond asked confused.
"No." Chloe shook her head and smiled. "Sorry, that was Eric Ripert. God I haven't been to La Bernardin in ages." She smiled. "I'm gonna wash up for dinner."
"I need to take a cooking class." Oliver said watching her leave.
Chloe couldn't help but remember the story Bruce told her about what happened to his company when he left. But this was different. His stock holders just wanted to make Wayne Enterprises public. But Chloe's were selling off pieces of the company to the highest bidder, all her magazines, all her newspapers, they were splitting it all up and she couldn't let that happen. She wouldn't let Edward down like that. It had been so long since she'd been in the building but it was as if she never left, and she was going to make sure that everyone else felt that way too.
When she got home a few hours later Oliver was waiting for her outside the front door. "Hey." Oliver smiled as she walked in the house. "How'd it go?"
"Fine." Chloe smiled. "I am back in control, Tony is the head of the European branch and everything is in good enough hands for me to go back to Star City."
"Well, there is one thing you have to do first." Oliver lead her over to the sun room and Chloe stopped, Abby, Lily, and Rose were sitting there and as soon as she walked in they turned around to stare at her. "I'll just leave you alone." Oliver said backing out of the doorway slowly.
She wasn't sure what to do, what to say so she just stood there, staring into the room, her whole mind a blank. "Oh My God." Lily said. "It's true." She ran up and squealed, hugging onto Chloe so tight that she finally relaxed. Rose was next, squealing and hugging and when they pulled apart Abby was standing there smiling sadly at her. She ran forward and hugged her tight. She didn't squeal, she didn't jump up and down, she just hugged Chloe like if she let go, Chloe would disappear again.
"I missed you so much." Abby said to her.
"I'm sorry." Chloe could feel tears coming to her eyes.
Abby pulled back and took a deep breath before smiling. "So tell us everything."
Chloe gave them the fake version, the Buenos Aires version. Then she made sure to steer the conversation in their direction. A lot had changed since she'd been back. Lily and Rose had taken over as Editors in Chief of Posh Magazine; now one of Chloe's highest selling ones. Abby had actually gone back to school; she was working on a graduate degree in Social Science. "Wow I missed so much." Chloe said smiling at the thought of how much they'd all grown.
"You haven't heard the biggest news yet." Lily said.
"Go on, tell her, you know you've been dying to since she got here." Abby smiled.
"I'm engaged." Rose took her hand from behind her back and Chloe was amazed she didn't notice the behemoth of a diamond beforehand.
"Oh my God." Chloe smiled. "To who?" She couldn't remember if Rose was dating anyone seriously but then again it had been three years.
"Jason." Rose said.
"Jason?" Chloe asked confused. "Jason Parker? Spencer's friend?"
"Yeah." Rose smiled nodding. "We bumped into each other about a year and a half ago, then had coffee to catch up and then…well we're getting married next year. I need a long engagement if I hope to have a halfway decent wedding."
"That's great." Chloe hugged her. "I'm so happy for you."
"Well I was wondering." Rose said. "Obviously Lily is my Maid of honor but I was hoping you'd be a bridesmaid."
Chloe felt the tears again. "Of course." She said. "I'd be honored."
"Oh this is so perfect." Rose smiled happily. "I'm just so glad your back."
"You know the rules though." Abby said. "We get final approval on the dresses. We will not have our pictures taken for the society pages with any color that could be described as Pastel or a butt bow and poofy sleeves."
"Do you honestly think I could do that to you guys?" Rose asked.
"Yes." Abby said. "I think you'd do it with pleasure and relish in our misery."
Rose thought for a second. "Yeah ok, that does kind of sound like me."
They talked for a little while more but Rose and Lily had to get back to work. Abby and Chloe went outside for a walk around the garden. "So I see Oliver came back with you." Abby said.
"Yeah." Chloe smiled.
"You and he are ok?" Abby said. "Cause you didn't just leave us, you left him too."
"We've talked, a lot." Chloe assured her. "I think we're in a good place."
"Good." Abby seemed relieved. "Because, and I will never repeat this, especially not to Oliver, but you guys are like the perfect fit you know and if anything happened, if you guys couldn't make it. I'd probably lose all hope in love."
"Well." Chloe said slowly. "That's a lot of pressure to put on a girl." Chloe laughed.
"I know." Abby said. "I'm hoping it'll keep you from pulling a stunt like that again." She stopped and turned to Chloe. "You know, the day you guys met, at Oliver's party, I warned Oliver not to break your heart, I never thought I'd have to warn you not to break his."
"I never meant to hurt him." Chloe said. "He knows that."
"Yeah because he's smarter than I give him credit for." Abby smiled. "But you know, don't do it again."
"I've already promised him, no more running off." Chloe said.
"Good." Abby sighed and slipped her arm in Chloe's. "Because ever since Rose got engaged that's all she talks about and of course that means it's all Lily talks about and I would really love to have one sane friend again."
Abby left a little while later and Chloe and Oliver called it an early night, they were leaving early the next morning. By the time they finally got back to Chloe's apartment she wanted nothing more than to take a hot bath and sink into her bed. What she didn't want was to get slapped in the face before she even got off the elevator. She grabbed her cheek and looked up to see Lois standing there with an angry expression on her face.
Suddenly she launched herself at Chloe and hugged her for all she was worth. "I missed you so much." She said.
"I could tell." Chloe smiled. "By the handprint on my face."
Lois pulled back. "I'll give you another one." She warned, but she did it with a smile. Lois stepped aside and standing next to her was Clark.
"Hey Chloe." He smiled at her and they both ran to each other. Clark gave Chloe a crushing hug, only with Clark that was more a literal thing.
"I can't breathe." She told him and he smiled sheepishly as he pulled away.
"I'll give you two some time alone, seeing as how he's going home tonight and I'm staying for a few days." Lois grabbed her jacket.
"You're staying?" Chloe asked.
"Please, do you have any idea how much we've got to catch up on?" Lois scoffed. "Oliver, let's go pick up some diner or something." Lois grabbed he jacket and pulled him out of the room.
"Where were you?" Clark asked as soon as the elevator doors closed.
"I went somewhere, where they taught me, trained me." Chloe said. That's all he seemed to need to know because he just nodded and changed topics. He knew how helpless she felt, how hard it was for her when AC and Bart got hurt, how much she wanted to make sure that it never happened again. They talked about how great work was going for him and what he'd been doing for the past three years.
"So I saw the news for the first time the other day." Chloe nudged his shoulder. "Superman huh?"
"Lois called him that. I mean called me that." Clark said blushing. "Because of the S, but it was supposed to be the symbol, you know from the armor."
"Right the big red S." Chloe smiled. "To go along with the red Underwear and blue tights."
"How did I know that would be the first thing you wanted to talk about?" Clark shook his head. "It all about wind resistance and aerodynamics and a bunch of other technical stuff."
"Huh." Chloe said not convinced.
"Besides, my mom made it." Clark said.
"I thought she had better sense than that." Chloe joked with him.
She made fun of his costume some more but he knew that underneath it all she was just really proud of him, proud of what he'd done, what he was doing so he took it in stride until Lois and Oliver got back with dinner. They all ate together and it was nice, it was a like a relaxed family diner and it was the first thing that made Chloe feel like she truly back home.
Clark left later that night and Oliver wasn't too far behind him, leaving Chloe and Lois some alone time to talk, or rather Chloe suspected, for Lois to yell and Chloe to listen. But that's not what happened. "Look." Lois said as they cleaned the dishes. "If I've learned one thing in the past five years with you guys is how important secrets are and how important the reason for keeping secrets can be. I'm not going to nag you, I'm not even going to ask you because when you're ready to tell me where you were and what you were doing, you will. And not that fake Buenos Aires nonsense you gave to everyone else. I want the real story, but I can wait until you're ready."
Chloe was speechless. That was the most mature thing that she had ever heard come out of Lois mouth before. "Thanks Lois, I really appreciate that." Chloe tossed the rag on the counter. "So if you aren't going to nag me about where I've been, why are you staying? Not that I'm not glad to have you here or anything."
"Just because you went off and hid in a cave for three years doesn't mean my life didn't continue." Lois scoffed. "There's so much to catch you up on, and just for fun, I'm going to do it by the week. " Lois smiled and pulled Chloe into the living room and started filing her in on "Lois' life". And she wasn't kidding, she told Chloe everything, ever story she'd written, ever scrape or adventure she'd gone on and even every boring event that happened, like her bi-annual pest control appointment or her dental checkups. But Chloe loved every second of it. She drank in the stories, glad to be a part of Lois life after so long, even if it was after the fact. Lois stayed for three more days until she'd exhausted every story in her memory and forced Chloe to promise never to run off again, which she did for the third time.
Chloe felt so lucky that her friends, her company, and her team had welcomed her back with open arms. The only thing she had left to fix was her public association with Oliver. As far as the world was concerned when she disappeared three years ago, she left him.
"I'm just glad you'll be back together in public." Abby told Chloe as she planned her first official outing with Oliver since she got back. "Because let me tell you, the sharks have been circling."
Since Chloe left it was like every debutant and heiress in the world was lining up to soothe Oliver's broken heart and somewhere deep down, where Chloe wasn't sure she was ready to acknowledge yet, that really bothered her. "Well the sharks can find some other meat to latch onto." Chloe said.
Her first public appearance since she had gone into hiding was going to be ironically at Bruce's house for his annual Holiday Party. Oliver felt it was the perfect place to go where the largest amount of people would see them together.
"Why can't we go?" Bart wined from his perch on Chloe's bed.
"Because you weren't invited." Oliver said walking into the room and using Chloe's vanity mirror to straighten his bow tie.
"So what?" Bart said. "We're just supposed to sit here while you guys go have fun in the lap of luxury?"
Chloe turned and looked at him confused. "Lap of luxury?" She gestured around her to the 3,000 square foot penthouse suite. "And you're slumming it?" They'd brought the guys with them to Gotham because they'd never been to the city.
Bart stuck his tongue out at her as she put her earrings on. "You almost ready to go?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah." She stood up and adjusted her skirt. "How do I look?" Oliver and Bart both stared at her and smiled.
"Beautiful." Bart said grabbing her arm and spinning her around. "Ditch the party and stay here with me. We'll go dancing."
Chloe laughed as he dipped her and Oliver grabbed her other arm pulling her toward him. "Have fun." He said to Bart. "Don't stay up to late, and don't burn the hotel down."
"Yes dad." Bart sighed following them to the door. Oliver helped Chloe with her coat and they said their goodbyes to the others.
Chloe surveyed the room and sighed, it felt strange to be back at the Wayne Manor, especially all dressed up in a ball gown and make up, and she felt like she should be sweaty and tired, wearing yoga pants and tennis shoes. Countless people had bombarded her with questions of where she'd been, how long she'd been back and how she and Oliver were doing, she answered them over and over with a smile on her face so tight that she was sure her cheeks would hurt tomorrow. Oliver was enjoying himself by the stereo, in conversation with some old school friends. He caught her eye and smiled she smiled back and resolved to enjoy herself, it was a party after all. Just as she was setting her resolution into action something caught her eye by the entryway. She set her champagne glass on the table and moved backward slowly until she was in the kitchen. "Alfred." She whispered to the butler who was watching a football game on the kitchen television.
"Miss Chloe." He got up quickly. "Did you need something?"
"No." Chloe smiled. "It's just Oliver and I have to leave for a little while. If we disappear could you apologize to Bruce for us and tell him we'll call him tomorrow?"
"Certainly." Alfred bowed to her and she left the kitchen, carefully making her way across the floor to Oliver, keeping one eye on the doorway at all times.
"I just need to borrow him for a minute." She said to Oliver's friends grabbing his arm and practically dragging him across the room to the door. "Crap." She said changing directions suddenly and heading for the back of the room where the bookshelves where.
"Chloe, that was rude, what are you doing?" Oliver asked trying to keep up with her. She made it to the wall of bookshelves and looked around quickly before pulled a book out. The bookcase swung open slightly and before Oliver could register his shock she pulled him in and closed it. The space behind the shelf was barely big enough for the two of them and Oliver got a sudden shock of claustrophobia. "Chloe." Oliver said trying to find her face in the pitch black space. "If you wanted to get me in a closet all you had to do was ask." He joked and suddenly she was pressed up against him. Their already tight quarters seeming tighter as she snaked her arms around his waist. He sucked in his breath as her body pressed against his and she rose up on her tip toes, her body dragging along his at an agonizing pace. "Chloe…" He moaned out when suddenly the wall behind him gave away and he fell backward into a larger room.
"Sorry." Chloe said reaching a hand out to steady him. "I couldn't find the door latch."
Oliver looked around the room they were in, it had a little light, it seemed like a concrete hallway with two branches, one to the right, one to the left. "What's going on?" Oliver asked. "Where are we? How did you know this was here?"
"You can ask a lot of questions later but I need you to listen now." Chloe said to him. "Lex is here." Chloe sighed. She'd seen him walk in and could have kicked herself for forgetting he would come, that he'd come last year. They'd been discussing how with all the information they had on Lex, their people on the inside, they're fairly unlimited access to his computer system, they'd never bothered to bug him directly, personally. Now was their chance.
"Ok." Oliver said still confused.
"This is perfect." Chloe said. "He's at the party; we could sneak into his hotel room and plant the bugs."
"Or I could call Bart and have him do it." Oliver smiled at her enthusiasm.
"That would make more sense." Chloe smiled sheepishly.
Oliver pulled out his phone and relayed the message. He got Victor to figure out where he was staying and Bart would go in and bug whatever he could think of, his briefcase, keys, and wallet, anything he'd left behind at the hotel. "His car, there may be something in there." Chloe reminded Oliver and AC said he'd come out to the Manor and deal with that.
"We could do the car, we're right here."
"We need to get back to the party." Oliver smiled. "I like the gung ho attitude but life is about more than just stopping Lex Luther you know."
Chloe sighed and relaxed a bit. "I know your right." She admitted.
"How exactly do we get back to the party?" Oliver asked.
"The right tunnel takes you to the side of the house, just past the gates, the left one takes you to the back of the house, into the study." Chloe said heading to the left tunnel.
"How do you know about this?" Oliver said as pieces started to fall into place, sure she and Bruce dated for a few months when she was in Gotham but not long enough for her to know about secret passageways, for her to be so familiar with his staff and grounds. "You were here." He said stopping and staring at her.
"What?" Chloe turned and stopped walking too.
"At Bruce's, you were here, he trained you." Oliver said.
Chloe didn't deny it and Oliver shook his head. "I can't believe it." He laughed. "I had Bart scouring Asia and France and you were in freaking Gotham City?"
Chloe smiled. "Not the whole time." She said reminding him of her stay at the monastery. "But most of it yeah."
"Bruce." Oliver said a little hurt now. "You came to Bruce?"
"I knew he could help me." Chloe said. "I knew he was the right one for the job." Oliver just continued walking, passing her up.
"So then you know about…"
"Batman?" Chloe smiled. "For a while." Oliver shook his head in amazement.
"Is there a single hero whose identity you don't know?" He asked.
"None that I can find." Chloe said. "How do you know about Batman?" Chloe asked confused.
"I figured it out about a year ago." He said. "We ran into each other, him as Batman and me as Green Arrow and he said something that was just so familiar and I realized that Bruce had said that to me before. And it just clicked. When I realized it, it made me feel so stupid for not seeing it sooner."
"I know what you mean." Chloe said. "He's really got to stop doing that." She laughed. "That's how I figured it out too."
They emerged at another moving bookcase in the study and Chloe led him through the hallways back to the party. It didn't take long for Lex to spot her either because no sooner had Oliver left to get her another glass of champagne was Lex standing in front of her with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Chloe!" Lana's excitement at seeing her kept Chloe from saying the first thing that popped into her mind when she saw Lex's eyes on hers.
"Lana." Chloe smiled, hugging the woman.
"Oh my God." Lana pulled back and looked at Chloe. "What are you doing here? Where have you been? Why didn't you call?"
"Yes Chloe." Lex said calmly. "Where have you been? It's been three years, it's like you fell off the face of the earth."
Chloe looked at Lex, really looked at him, he did look a little older, his face a few more lines on it but other than that he appeared to be the same Lex Luther that Chloe remembered. She'd spent a year with Monks who taught her enlightenment and forgiveness and then two years with Bruce who taught her about vengeance and justice so Chloe was having a hard time, finally seeing Lex again, deciding whether to smile and let bygones be bygones or slip outside and cut the breaks to his car.
She finally decided on neither, instead ignoring him and putting all her attention onto Lana. She gave the same story that she'd given everyone else about spending time in Buenos Aires. "For three years though?" Lana said. "You didn't talk to anyone, not even Clark or Lois."
"I was a little out of it." Chloe said. "To be perfectly honest, I didn't even realize it had been that long, that's why I came back." Chloe told her.
"Well we've got to catch up." Lana said. "So much has happened since the last time I saw you."
"Actually." Oliver said walking over with Chloe's drink and smiling. "We were planning on spending Christmas in Smallville." He gently put an arm around Chloe's shoulder and pulled her closer. She looked up at him confused. She did not know that, he hadn't mentioned a single thing about that, she really wanted to figure out what the hell he was thinking.
"We?" Lex looked at them. "I didn't realize you two were back together. You know after she ran off for three years and then just showed up out of the blue."
"Well, I can see where that would be a hard concept for you." Oliver said. "Forgiveness. Then again when people leave you it's always been a little permanent. I guess death is hard to forgive."
"So." Chloe smiled. "Good old fashioned, Christmas in Smallville." She tried desperately to change the subject.
"That's fantastic." Lana joined her with false enthusiasm. "I can't wait. We can do all the things we used to do when we were kids." Lana said. "The hay ride, the tour of lights, the Christmas Pageant. Oh it's going to be so much fun."
"So much." Chloe said looking at Oliver again who had an amused look on his face.
"I can hardly wait." Oliver said smiling at her.
"Neither can I." Lex raised his glass to Oliver.
"Look." Chloe said. "We've got to go talk to Bruce about something." She grabbed Lana's hand and smiled. "I'll talk to you later, I promise, and I'll call you about Christmas."
"I can't wait." Lana said hugging her again.
Chloe took Oliver's hand and pulled her toward Bruce who was trying to act like he wasn't completely bored by Jennifer Hutchinson. "Bruce." Chloe said reaching him. "You promised me a tour of the new garden, even if it snowed."
Bruce smiled up at her. "That I did." He said. "If you'll excuse me Jennifer." He nodded at her and then grabbed Chloe's arm as if he was leading her to the garden, Oliver on her other side. "I owe you." He sighed in relief.
"Big time." Chloe agreed.
"So I saw you talking with Lex Luther." Bruce said looking over at Oliver. "What did you say to him, he looks like he's going to break one of my very nice crystal glasses?"
Oliver looked over at Lex who was indeed watching them with a white knuckled grip on his cup. "Nothing." Oliver shrugged.
"Please." Chloe said turning to Bruce. "Apparently now we're spending Christmas in Smallville."
"Christmas in Smallville?" Bruce asked confused.
"I know." Chloe shrugged. "I don't know where that came from."
"So Woodward, how are your skills?" Bruce asked waggling his fingers.
"Pretty good." Chloe smiled. "Why?"
"Feel like making a drop?" Bruce sipped his drink.
"A drop?" Oliver said confused.
"Test or favor?" Chloe asked.
He looked at her for a minute then sighed. "Favor." Bruce finally admitted.
"Every time we settle up you just have to dig another hole." Chloe said.
"I guess I like being indebted to you." Bruce smiled at her.
"Lay it on me." Chloe cricked her neck dramatically.
"What's going on?" Oliver said.
"I want you to slip this into Brian Hale's wallet. Think you can manage that?" Bruce said pulling what looked like a platinum credit card out of his pocket and handing it to her.
"Easy as pie." Chloe said taking the card and looking at it in amazement. "Is this…" She ran her hands over the card. "Is this a long range GPS signal?"
"With an audio receiver." Bruce smiled.
"For any quality audio on something this small." Chloe shook her head. "In his wallet, you'd have to have…"
"An amplifier?" Bruce said, "Under the magnetic strip."
Chloe ran her hands along the magnetic strip and could feel a small wire. She smiled. "This is so cool. I've got to meet your tech guy." Chloe said slapping Oliver's arm. "Get the name of his tech guy."
Oliver rubbed his arm and laughed at the look of glee on Chloe's face. "We have our own tech guy."
"Yeah he makes trick arrows and stuff. Nothing like this." Chloe waved the card in his face.
"She's a bit of a tech junkie." Bruce said to Oliver who wanted to point out that he knew Chloe was a tech junkie because he knew Chloe.
"I'm going in." Chloe said palming the card. "Time me."
Bruce nodded holding up his watch and pushing a button. "Go." Chloe nodded and made her way through the crowd to Brian Hale. Oliver watched her progression with confusion.
"So how exactly is she supposed to slip that in his wallet?" Oliver sipped his drink.
"One of the many talents that we discovered Chloe had was an affinity for pick pocketing." Bruce smiled. "Your girls got magic fingers." He looked over at Oliver. "Then again, I already knew that."
Oliver felt like he might want to break one of Bruce's very nice crystal glasses. "So she was here?" He said without looking at Bruce, not sure he could look at Bruce right now. "The whole time? When I was frantic on the phone with you? When I was at the Christmas party last year and the year before, and the year before, she was in this house and you said nothing as I talked and talked about worried I was about her?"
"Yeah." Bruce said drinking his drink and not looking at Oliver either.
Chloe walked up to them smiling, unaware of the tension. "Time?" Bruce looked at his watch and smiled.
"One minute ten." Bruce said.
"Damn. I'm a little rusty." She held out her hand. "Butterscotch?"
"Where did you get those?" Bruce asked shaking his head.
"Hales got a pocket full." Chloe shrugged. "Probably an alcoholic, keeps the throat moist."
"So this is what you came here to learn?" Oliver asked looking at her with a strange expression on his face.
"Well I also learned this." Chloe stuck her tongue out and touched her nose.
"Nice." Oliver said. "I see now what was so important that you had to desert us."
"Excuse me?" Chloe said.
"Nothing." Oliver said. "It's just nice to finally see what was so important to you, more important than us anyway."
"Bruce will you excuse us for a minute?" Chloe said grabbing Oliver's arm and dragging him to the garden.
"What is your problem?" Chloe asked.
"What problem?" Oliver shrugged.
"What's with this new attitude?" Chloe asked.
"You don't like my attitude? Maybe you should hang out with Bruce."
"That's it." Chloe said walking forward and grabbing at Oliver's belt buckle and undoing it.
"What are you doing?" Oliver asked confused as she pulled the belt from his pants.
"Let's whip it out Oliver." Chloe tossed the belt behind her and reached for his button. "Come on, I'll go get Bruce and we can measure."
"Stop." Oliver said grabbing her wrist. "What's wrong with you?"
"Well you seemed to be fine with the whole me leaving thing until a few minutes ago when you realized I'd been here with Bruce. So either you actually did have a problem this whole time and you've been keeping it inside in which case we need to talk this out or your upset now because I was with Bruce in which case you need to duel it out with him and get the fuck over it." Chloe said. They both stared at each other Chloe quickly realized she was standing there with her hands basically down Oliver's pants. She moved backward letting her hands drop and Oliver just stared at her. "So which is it?"
"I don't want to do this here Chloe." He said. "Not here, not now."
"Yes here, yes now." Chloe said. "We've got to get this out of the way and I don't want to do it in front of the kids. You are so mad at me you can't think straight and it's not helping you to keep it in so let it out." She said. "Throw it on me, because we're not going back inside until you do."
"You want to know why I'm mad Chloe?" Oliver asked. "You really want to know?"
"I really want to know." Chloe said.
"You left me." He said to her. "One minute you were there and the next minute you were gone, like checking out of a hotel, like it didn't matter." His voice was getting louder and louder with every statement he made. "Like the five years we spent together meant so little that you could just up and leave no big deal."
"It wasn't like that." Chloe screamed at him.
"Did it bother you at all?" Oliver asked her. "Did you miss us? Did you worry about us? Huh? Because that's all I did Chloe, the whole time you were gone, all I did was worry about you. Worry that you were all right, worry that you were getting yourself into something and I wouldn't be able to help you because I didn't know where you were or what you were doing." He laughed humorlessly. "And the whole time, you were here, with your ex, Bruce Fucking Wayne, picking pockets and god knows what else."
"It wasn't even like that." Chloe shook her head. "You have no idea what I went through. You have no idea what I put myself through for you." She pointed out. "Everything I did, everything, was for you, so I could be better, so I could do better for you."
"I didn't ask you to do that." Oliver pointed out. "You didn't need to be better. We were fine with who you were."
"Well I wasn't." Chloe said. "I didn't feel like I was making a big enough contribution, I didn't feel like I was pulling my weight and then AC and Bart land up in the hospital because of me." She shook her head.
"No one but you thought that was your fault." Oliver told her. "You didn't do that for us, you did that for you Chloe. It was selfish and it was juvenile."
Chloe paused. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I did do it for me; maybe I was using you guys as an excuse. But I don't regret it. I could have gone about it in another way but at the time I wasn't thinking and then it was too late." She sighed. "I'm finally the person that I think I'm supposed to be. And you know what? You guys don't even see that." She threw her hands up. "I mean you've noticed the cool moves and the longer hair, but I've changed Damnit." She picked up a snowball and threw it at him.
"I know you've changed." Oliver said shaking off the snowball. "That's all I can think about." Oliver shook his head. "You hold yourself differently now, talk differently now, everything you do is so different." Oliver threw a snowball at her.
"I've just grown Oliver." Chloe said throwing another snowball. "Why is that such a bad thing?"
"Because what if you keep growing and grow right out us?" He said throwing another snowball at her.
Chloe opened her mouth and then closed it. "That's what's really bothering you." She said quietly.
"What?" He said confused.
"That I'm going to wake up one day and think that I don't want to be with you guys anymore." Chloe said. "Isn't it?"
"Well." Oliver said. "Yeah."
"That's not going to happen." Chloe laughed. "Come on Oliver, all the stuff I did, all the things I went through was so you guys didn't grow out of me."
Oliver laughed and Chloe laughed too they seemed to deflate, relax. "I feel better now." Oliver said reaching up to brush some snow out of Chloe's hair. "You feel better?"
"Yeah." Chloe smiled wiping off his shoulders. "I really do." Chloe smiled.
"I wanted to scream at you when you came back. I wanted to yell, I wanted to throw things but I'd just gotten you back and I was afraid if I did, it would just push you away." He told her.
"I'm not gonna leave because you yell at me." Chloe smiled. "We're gonna have to fight sometimes Oliver, we're gonna have to scream, we're gonna have to throw things but we're gonna work through our problems and be better for it in the end."
"Can we go back inside now?" Oliver asked jumping up and down a little. "I'm freezing."
"Yeah." Chloe nodded enthusiastically. Oliver took her arm and brought her back into the house.
"Are you good?" Bruce asked handing them each a cup of coffee.
"We're good." Chloe nodded.
"Are we good?" Bruce turned to Oliver.
"Yeah." Oliver said. "We're good."
"Now boys." Chloe said taking each of them by the arm. "Don't you fight over little old me." She smiled. "You're making me blush." Oliver laughed.