The first day Chloe was dead everyone seemed to take it in stride, outwardly at least. They didn't pay much attention to it, no one talked about the fact that the dead body of their best friend was in the other room. The second day Lois showed up howling mad and spent twenty minutes in Chloe's room screaming at the top of her lungs before coming back to the main room and offering to buy everyone diner. They all went along with her, if only to make sure she didn't bite the head off an unsuspecting bus boy.
On day three Peter and Bruce had to get home. Oliver understood, as worried as they were about Chloe, they had lives to get to, responsibilities in their own towns. "Call me when she wakes up." Bruce said. Oliver just nodded.
"Ditto." Peter said. "Give that to her for me." He handed Oliver a thick white envelope, a wedding invitation he guessed.
"You bet." Oliver smiled at them. "Thanks for the help."
"We all owe Chloe for something." Peter said. "That's just the kind of girl she was." Bruce elbowed Peter in the ribs. "Is."
"Yeah." Oliver coughed. "Have a good flight you guys."
Day four things were getting tense. Oliver was snapping at people left and right, the guys were starting to worry and Oliver wasn't helping them. "Damn it Bart." Oliver slammed a cabinet shut. "Stop leaving the orange juice out. I hate warm orange juice." He threw the carton in the sink and it exploded all over the cabinets. Everyone froze and Oliver stormed out.
"I got it." Victor said walking to the kitchen and started cleaning up the mess.
"I got him." Lois stood up and walked to the balcony. She closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. "You need to snap the hell out of this."
"Do I?" Oliver asked.
"Yes." Lois said walking up to stand beside him and leaned on the railing. "She's coming back, you know she is, she has to or I'll kill her." Oliver snorted. "But they don't know that." Lois pointed inside. "They don't have that certainty. They are scared and they are worried and you're their leader. They look to you for guidance, to see what's going on, what they should be feeling."
"I told them she'd be fine." Oliver said.
"Yeah you told them that. But they look at you and all they see is that you're worried she won't be fine and so they worry." Lois said. "They need you right now."
"Yeah?" Oliver said. "Well I need Chloe." He turned away from her and walked back in the apartment.
On day five Lois was ashamed to admit that she'd lost all the confidence she'd told Oliver to have the day before, she caught herself at breakfast thinking about the things she would need to do for Chloe's funeral and had to stop herself before she started crying into her cereal. "You ok?" Clark asked. She was unsuccessful and the tears were falling now.
"I hate rice crispies." Lois said. Clark grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. "Chloe has to wake up." Lois said into his chest. "Because if I have to eat another bowl of cereal I'm going to die." She chuckled and Clark smiled rubbing circles on her back.
Day six Oliver spent twelve hours sitting at Chloe's bedside, alternating between sleeping, talking, and just staring at her. "So Peter and Mary Jane are getting married." Oliver smiled. "That should be a fun wedding." He grasped for anything to say.
"I can't loose you Chloe." Oliver said. "Not now, not like this." He rubbed her hand. He ignored the fact that it was clammy and cold, wrapped in bandages for the cuts she got on the rope, he just needed to feel her. "Not because of Lex Luther." Oliver said. "I'd hunt him down myself and kill him but that would hardly be productive after you gave your life to save his. God you can be so stupid sometimes." He laughed and took a deep breath. "I can't do this without you. I had to pretend to be strong for three years the last time you were gone and I can't do that again. You filed something inside of me that I didn't know needed to be filled and now it's like it's gone and I don't work without you." He leaned down, putting his forehead on the bed and taking deep breaths so he didn't start to cry.
He felt a hand in his hair and he shot up see Chloe smiling at him. "Chloe…" He whispered.
"You're such a girl did you know that?" She smiled. "Did you even hear yourself just then?"
Oliver laughed and leaned down to hug her tight. "Oh God, I thought this time…"
"I'm fine." She rubbed his back slowly. "I'm here." He still wouldn't let go. "How long…"
"Six days." Oliver whispered in her ear.
"God, no wonder I'm starving." She joked and Oliver laughed again.
"I'll send Bart out for food." He stood up and walked to the door, grabbing her hand and holding on until he just couldn't reach anymore. He let her fingers drop one at a time and smiled, stopping at the door.
"I'll be here when you get back." Chloe promised.
Ten minutes later Lois knocked on the door and walked in. "The guys are getting restless out there but we didn't want to overwhelm you."
"I appreciate that." Chloe said sitting up straighter.
"Oliver didn't trust Bart to get the food so he went himself but he sent me in here with this." She pulled a piece of chocolate cake out from behind her back and Chloe's face lit up.
"Gimmie." She held out her hands and Lois laughed.
"You scared us." Lois said. "You scared me."
"Wow." Chloe swallowed her cake. "That's not easy to do."
"No it's not." Lois said.
"So am I in trouble then?" Chloe asked.
"Yes." Lois said. She looked at Chloe and then socked her in the arm.
"Ow." Chloe laughed.
"We're cool now." Lois smiled. "Give me a bite."
"No." Chloe pulled the plate away.
"Just one bite."
"No this is my cake." Chloe cried. "Go get your own."
There was a knock at the door and it opened up a sliver. "If we promise not to jump on you or talk too loudly or touch anything can we come in?"
"Of course." Chloe said. She slapped Lois as her hand reached for the plate with the cake. "I will kill you." Chloe warned her.
They very carefully gathered around her bed and she smiled. "Please don't tell me you've all been cooped up in this apartment for six days waiting for me to wake up?"
"Fine, we won't tell you." Victor said.
"You guys need to get a life." Chloe joked.
"You might wanna see this." Bart said turning on her television. They all looked at the screen, a newscast was on.
"The search for missing billionaire mogul Lex Luther finally ended this morning. He was found wandering around the Mojave Desert with no memory of how he got there. He was reported missing six days ago by his father Lionel Luther and search parties were organized all over the world." Bart turned the television off and Chloe smiled.
"I guess Rebecca worked her magic pretty good." Chloe said.
"How did you know you could trust her?" AC asked.
"I didn't." Chloe shrugged. "I just had to have faith."
"A lot of this plan was built on that wasn't it?" Clark asked and Chloe nodded.
"I've got diner." Oliver said in the doorway. "I'll fix you your first plate." He walked back in the kitchen and with one look at the plate Oliver brought her she passed the cake over to Lois quickly. After her second plate of food she was still hungry but she wasn't shoveling it in anymore.
"How are you feeling?" Clark asked. "Really?"
"Good, not great." Chloe said. "It's not a sudden thing, like the other times, where I woke up and was fine. It's kind of slow going. My legs don't really…work right now."
"What?" Oliver asked.
"Well Lex had a lot of injuries." Chloe explained. "Before when I did this there was generally one wound I had to heal, but he had a punctured lung, internal bleeding, broken ribs, and his spine."
"So you're paralyzed?" Bart asked.
"It'll heal." Chloe assured them.
"And if it doesn't?" Bart asked.
"Well." She sighed. "You still got that sweet wheelchair from when you broke your leg huh?" Bart laughed. "I'll be fine, trust me."
"So are we going to talk about the way you two played us?" Victor asked. "For a month?"
"Hey." Chloe pointed at him. "You didn't think I could be sneaky."
"I was proven more than wrong." Victor admitted.
"It worked didn't it?" Chloe asked.
"Except the part where the whole place blew up before we finished." AC pointed out.
"Well if you wanna be technical." Chloe rolled her eyes. "But everyone's ok?"
"Everyone's fine." Clark told her.
They talked for a little while longer and then Oliver shooed everyone out of the room, sent the guys home and Lois and Clark to his apartment. He climbed in the bed next to Chloe and she made a face. "Is this not ok?" He asked worried.
"No." She shook her head and he got up slowly, confused. "I just mean, I've been dead for six days, I'd really like a bath."
"That I can do." Oliver smiled and picked her up. He carried her to the bathroom and sat her on the tub while he ran a bath for her then helped her get undressed and sat her in it. She sighed with pleasure as he sponged water onto her back.
"That thing you said." Oliver said. "Before you got on the rope." …
"Oh." Chloe smiled. "Yeah, about that." Chloe frowned. "I lied." Oliver looked over at her. "I don't find your cheesy lines charming, I just find them cheesy." Oliver glared at her and she smiled. "Oh you mean the other thing."
"The other thing." Oliver nodded.
She laughed a little and looked at his face. "You want me to say it again huh?" He smiled and turned his head a little. "You do." She said her voice going up a notch. "You are just dying to hear it." She grabbed his hand and took the sponge from him.
"I won't put out until I hear it again." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"You are such a girl." Chloe smiled.
"A girl?" Oliver reached his hand in the water and tickled her side. She laughed and protested. He tickled her so hard she slid down in the tub.
"Ok, I give up." She laughed. "You win." Oliver stopped tickling her and looked at her. "I love you." She said smiling at him. He leaned down and kissed her softly, then harder until they both had to pull away for air. "That totally turned you on didn't it?" She smiled at him. "You are such a girl." She laughed and Oliver just stared at her.
Her hair was a curling a bit from the water and her cheeks were red from the steam coming off the bath water. She resumed the sponging that he'd started and he sat back and just smiled at her. "What?" She asked dropping the sponge in the water.
"Marry me." He said. Chloe opened her mouth and then closed it. She tilted her head and looked at him as if the different angle would help her confusion somehow. "Chloe?"
"What?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry what was the question?"
"Marry me." He said again.
"Did you hit your head?" Chloe asked.
"No, well yes but that's not what this is about." Oliver shook his head.
"Really? Did you get your head checked out? Are you sure you're ok?" Chloe reached for his head to feel for a bump.
"I'm fine Chloe."
"You're obviously not fine." Chloe protested. "We've been dating for six months that's crazy."
"Come on Chloe." He put soap on the sponge and washed her off. "We've been dating for ten years. So what do you say?"
"Oliver…" She smiled. "No. This is too soon."
"It's not." Oliver said. "It's not for me."
"It is for me." She sighed. "I love you, I really do but I just woke up from being dead, we finally took down Lex Luther, and I just can't do that right now." He looked at her for a second and then nodded.
"I won't stop asking." Oliver said. "I can be very persuasive."
"You mean you can be very annoying." Chloe pointed out.
"Whatever gets you to say yes." He smiled.
The next day Oliver brought Chloe out to the living room, she was tired of the bed. She had a little more feeling in her legs but she still couldn't walk around. "Pass me the International section." She asked Oliver.
"Marry me." He said.
Lois dropped her fork and looked between the two of them. "What?"
"No." Chloe said. "Pass me the paper."
"Fine." Oliver handed her the International section and went back to his paper.
"What was that?" Lois asked. "He just proposed to you."
"He's been doing it all morning." Chloe shrugged. "It's not big deal."
"No big deal?" Lois asked.
"He'll ask again." Chloe brushed it off.
Sure enough she noticed the rest of the week almost every interaction between Chloe and Oliver had a proposal somewhere in it. If Chloe said, "Will you hand me my phone?" Oliver responded with, "Will you marry me". If she asked him to pass the salt he asked her to marry him. If she asked him to stop asking her to marry him, he asked her to marry him.
"Someone's buzzing." Chloe said. "Answer it please." She screamed through the room.
"Marry me please." Oliver said on his way to the intercom. Chloe was able to walk now but not very well and not without holding onto something.
"Hey, it's Janet…or Cassandra, can I come up?"
"Sure." Oliver buzzed her up.
Chloe smiled and made her way over to the kitchen table. "Hey." She said when the doors opened.
"Hey." Janet stepped out cautiously.
"Come in." Chloe waved at her. "Please."
She walked in the house and sat down at the kitchen table. "I just wanted to come see how you were doing."
"Fine." Chloe assured her. "How are you?"
"Better, now that I'm out of there and I know Lex won't be hurting anyone else for a while." She smiled.
"We got rid of all the stuff in the lab and all the data. He'd have to start again from scratch and he doesn't even have any memory of it." Oliver assured her.
"That's actually another reason why I came here." Janet said nervously. "I was hoping you hadn't destroyed the formula."
"No." Oliver said. "Not yet."
"Good." Janet smiled. "I need to ask you for a favor."
"Sure." Chloe said.
"Could you make some?" She asked pleadingly.
Chloe and Oliver were taken back for a second. "Why?"
"For me." Janet said. "Well not just for me but mainly for me."
"I don't understand." Chloe said. "Half of the missions you sent us on were to destroy the cure. To stop Lex from making it."
"As a weapon." Janet said. "But not completely." She sighed. "I'm better now that I'm out of there, but I'm still not great. That stuff they gave me, to boost my powers. They're too strong now. I see too much, I can't control it and I'm just so tired of seeing everything."
Chloe nodded. "I understand why you would want it but other people…" Chloe said.
"The things I've seen Chloe…not everyone's powers are as useful as yours, or as harmless. Some of them are detrimental to the person, keep them from leading normal lives. Some cause deformities, some are just painful. I just think that there should be an option out there, for whoever wants it."
Chloe and Oliver looked at each other and had another silent conversation. "Sure, we'll start on it right away." Oliver told her.
"Thank you."
"Hey we owe you." Chloe reminded her.
"You really do." Janet smiled.
"Do you know what you're going to do now?" Oliver asked her.
"I'm not sure." Janet said. "I haven't given it much thought. I could go live with my sister but…I don't really think that's the life for me."
"How about Chicago?" Chloe asked suddenly.
"Chicago?" Janet asked.
"Big city, lots of opportunities." Chloe said. "Plus there's someone in Chicago I think you should meet."
Janet looked like she was thinking about it for a second. "Chicago…I think I might like it there."
They chatted for a little while before Janet had to leave. She had a flight to go see her sister in an hour. "Thanks again." She told Oliver as she waited for the elevator.
"I'll be in touch when it's ready." He told her.
Janet smiled at him then looked over his shoulder at Chloe. "Keep asking." She said. "She'll say yes."
Chloe's head popped up. "She will?" Oliver smiled.
"I will?" Chloe asked.
"She will." Janet said stepping into the elevator.
"Can you give me a time frame?" Oliver asked.
"Just keep asking." She smiled as the doors closed and Oliver turned to smirk at Chloe.
"Marry me." Oliver said.
"Damn psychics." Chloe mumbled and he laughed.
"Is that a yes?" Oliver asked.
"No." Chloe said trying to storm away but it didn't work so well when she shuffled along slower than a snail.
Janet's declaration just fueled Oliver on even more. He was starting to enlist other people to do his dirty work. When Chloe finally went back to work she was happy to be out of the house and away from the constant proposals. "Bradley wants to know when he can get approval on his design. Sarah wants to move the meeting from two to three, Oliver would like for you to marry him, and Jonathan wants to change the font of the newsletter." Elizabeth looked up from her pad and smiled waiting for an answer.
"Bradley will have an answer by Wednesday, Tell Sarah three is fine, No, and tell Jonathan he can change it all he wants but make sure he sends it to me for final approval." Elizabeth just stood there staring at Chloe. "Is there something else?"
"It's just, could I ask why?" Elizabeth said.
As close as Elizabeth and Chloe were, far beyond just assistant and boss, they weren't that close. "No." Chloe said going back to her work. Elizabeth walked back into her office as Tara was standing there anxiously.
"What did she say?" Tara smiled.
"No." Elizabeth said.
"What?" Tara flopped down on the couch. "How could anyone turn down Oliver Queen? It's Oliver Queen." Tara pointed out.
"Miss Sullivan has her reasons." Elizabeth said. "Bring this down to Publishing."
Tara got up and grabbed the folder. "What possible reasons could anyone have for turning down a marriage proposal to Oliver Queen? Tara mumbled to herself as she left the office.
"I ask myself that same question daily." A voice said from behind her and she jumped a little before turning around.
"Mr. Queen." Tara said astonished.
"You're Tara right?" Oliver asked.
"You know who I am?" Tara stuttered.
"Chloe talks about you all the time." Oliver said slinging an arm over her shoulder. "When do you take lunch?"
"At twelve thirty." Tara said. "Why?"
"Because I have a very big favor to ask you and I thought I'd soften it with lunch." Oliver said.
"Sure, of course, anything." Tara said. "You don't have to take me out to lunch."
"You're here on an internship right. Business school? Harvard?" Tara nodded. "Want some free advice?" She nodded again. "First rule of business." Oliver told her punching the elevator button. "Never agree to anything until you've heard all the terms." They got in and Tara pushed the button for her floor. "Second rule of business, always take the free lunch." The elevator stopped and Tara smiled and got out. "Twelve thirty, Café Gray."
"Yes sir." Tara smiled.
"And stop calling me sir." He told her as the doors closed.
Tara checked her watch and rearranged the silverware again. She couldn't figure out what Oliver Queen wanted with her. He said a favor, what could she do for him. He could get anything he wanted at any time. She saw him walk toward their table on his cell phone. "No, I had other lunch plans too. Ok, I'll see you later." Oliver hung up the phone and smiled at Tara. "Thanks for coming."
"Of course." She said anxiously.
"Did you order?" He picked up the menu.
"No, I was waiting to see if you…." She trailed of embarrassed.
"To see if I would show up?" He smiled and she blushed her answer. He went to take a sip of his water and knocked the glass over, spilling half of it on his pants. Tara gasped and Oliver chuckled as he wiped it up. The waitress came by and took their orders and Oliver leaned back in his seat. "So I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you to lunch?"
"What?" Tara asked. "You do think I get asked out by billionaires all the time?"
Oliver smiled at her surprised. "I know now why Chloe took an interest in you."
Tara just smiled, somehow, watching him spill water on himself like a twelve year old made him a little more human and made Tara a lot less nervous. "Yeah well it wasn't because I type two hundred words a minute." She said.
"Right, straight to business." Oliver said. "I want your help in getting Chloe to marry me."
This she had not expected. "Excuse me?"
"Well you said it yourself. Why would anyone turn down my proposal? And yet she has. Twenty three times so far."
"Twenty three…" Tara laughed. "Well there's one of your problems right there."
"What's that?" Oliver asked confused.
"You've asked her twenty three times?" Tara said.
"Thirty." Oliver said. "There was one day I just repeated it eight times, but she only declined once."
"Right." Tara said. "Thirty proposals makes it seem arbitrary." Oliver raised his eyebrows. "I mean it seams as if you don't really care, that it's not a big deal."
"Of course I care." Oliver said.
"Ok, then you have to ask her like the answers important, like the rest of your life depends on the yes or no coming out of her mouth. Not like you're asking for the salt."
"That makes sense." Oliver nodded. "How do I do that?"
"First off, you have to stop asking her all the time." Tara said.
"Really?" Oliver said. "Because it's kind of fun." Tara glared at him. "Fine, I'll stop asking." Oliver looked sheepishly. "After today."
"What?" Tara said. "What does that mean?"
"It means that I have something set up and it's too late to stop it so after today, no more." Oliver said. "Then what?"
"Then you have to make the perfect moment." Tara said. "The perfect romantic moment to pop the question."
"Oh that sounds good, I like that." Oliver said. "Tell me more about this."
"Ok, well first things first we have to figure out how you want to give her the ring." Tara said. "Do you just want to show it to her, or hide it in something and let her find it or…"
"Ring?" Oliver asked.
"You don't have a ring?" Tara said.
"No. Should I?" Oliver blushed.
"Ok, actual first thing you have to do is get a ring." Tara told him.
"Right, I'll get right on that." Oliver said. "This is good stuff. Keep going."
"Well there's always the romantic diner, you can have the chef bake the ring into something."
"Chocolate cake."
"That could work." Tara smiled. "You're getting the hang of this."
Oliver got home from work and Chloe was in the kitchen. "What's for diner?"
"You get to eat this." Chloe said slapping a plate in front of him. He looked down and realized this was the end result of the plan he'd had set for today. He'd had a cake delivered to her office, chocolate of course, with Marry Me written in icing. Chloe had cut the piece with the Ma off and turned the M into a N and the a into an o so the cake read No.
Chloe looked at him with raised eyebrows and he smiled before picking up the fork and taking a large bite. She rolled her eyes and went back to cooking.
A few weeks later Oliver showed up at the office after work with a bouquet of flowers. Tara ran out of Elizabeth's office and grabbed him before Chloe could see. "So tonight's the night." Tara smiled. "Did you get the ring?" Oliver handed Tara the flowers and fumbled around in his pocket for the ring. He took out a black box and opened it. Tara smiled, then frowned.
"What?" Oliver asked confused looking down at the ring. "What's wrong?"
"It's blue." Tara looked up at him. "And green." Oliver looked down at the ring. There was a square cut blue diamond in the middle with two green diamonds on either side of it. He'd had it special made for her, blue for her JLA uniform and Green, obviously for his.
"She likes blue." Oliver said confused. "And green."
"Oh, well you know her better than I do." Tara put the smile back on her face. "So you're taking her to her favorite restaurant?" He nodded. "And you've talked to the chef already?"
"Called ahead." Oliver said. "I'll give the ring to him when I get there."
"Good." Tara handed him the flowers again and straightened her tie. "Go get her." Tara smiled.
They got to the restaurant and Chloe looked over at Oliver as they waited for their table. "You haven't proposed to me in two weeks." She pointed out.
"I thought I'd give you a break." Oliver shrugged.
"Well good." Chloe smiled. "You know for a minute I thought you were bringing me here to propose." She laughed. "You know the romantic restaurant, the flowers, doing something cheesy like putting the ring in my champagne or something."
"Chocolate cake." Oliver muttered under his breath.
"Huh?" Chloe looked up at him.
"Nothing. Of course not." Oliver smiled. "I would never be that cheesy."
"Right." Chloe said. They were led out their table and Oliver excused himself to go to the bathroom. He detoured to the kitchen and the chef smiled.
"Mr. Queen, do you have the ring?"
"Change of plans." Oliver said. "We won't be proposing tonight."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yeah." Oliver sighed. "So am I."
He left the kitchen and pulled out his phone. "Hello." Tara answered.
"She thinks the dinner proposal thing is cheesy." Oliver said.
"You asked her already?" Tara sighed.
"No, she brought it up. She said she was thankful I didn't do it this way."
"Oh." Tara said. "So we come up with a new plan?"
"Yeah." Oliver said. "You start on that."
He put the phone back in his pocket, knocking it into the ring box and sighed, determined to have a nice diner anyway.
Tara's next plan involved a little more planning. "Does she like sports?"
"She loves soccer." Oliver said. "Or well football, she lived in England for a while. She's just starting to get into American football, I think it's because of David Beckham but she denies it."
"Ok, then take her to a game and do the jumbo tron proposal." Tara said.
Oliver set the whole thing up, found out which team was her favorite, bought the tickets, bribed the guy who controlled the jumbo Tron and settled in his seat. He checked pocket five times to make sure the ring was still there. Finally the time came and the announcer advised everyone to turn their attention to the big screen and Oliver reached in his pocket. Then he saw the words come up on screen and his heart sank. "Oh god." Chloe put a hand to her heart. "For a minute there I freaked." She smiled and looked at Oliver. "I thought that said Chloe."
"Yeah." Oliver smiled and took his hand out of his pocket. "Lucky break."
Everyone was looking around the arena for the couple and they finally heard a woman screaming with joy. "Of course I'll marry you." She was saying to a very stunned man sitting next to her.
"They spelled her name wrong?" Tara said quietly on the phone the next day, checking to make sure Chloe couldn't hear her.
Oliver groaned. "Lucky for us there just happened to be a Clara there. Her boyfriend was pretty surprised by the whole thing."
"I'm sorry Oliver." Tara sighed. "I'll come up with something else."
"Yeah." Oliver said wearily.
It took another three weeks to set the whole thing up but Oliver was sure this one would work. "Ok, we're going about this all wrong." Tara told him. "We're going too public." Oliver nodded. "You guys are pretty private people. So just arrange for a romantic night at home. Her favorite food, roses, music, candlelight and just ask her."
"That I can do." Oliver smiled.
The plan seemed easy enough, he wasn't going to try and cook for her but he managed to get one of her favorite local chefs to create a meal for them. The problem was making sure the that the guys were all otherwise occupied for the evening that he had in mind. AC was going down to Hawaii for some surfing competition and Victor needed to spend a night in the lab for yearly maintenance. Getting his oil changed and rotating the tires, as he called it. The only problem was Bart. If Oliver tried to get Bart out of the house, Bart would want to know why and there was no way he could keep a secret so Oliver told Bart he needed something from one of his offices in Tokyo and he'd really appreciate it if Bart could go pick it up because he couldn't wait for it to be mailed. He also said that Bart was free to spend some time in the city and gave him a little spending money.
The candles were lit, the diner was perfect, he had rose petals scattered all over the bed in the bedroom and Chloe was in a particularly good mood. "So you had a good day?" Oliver asked handing her a glass of wine.
"A great day." Chloe said. "Not only did I steal them right out from under RLB Internationals nose, I closed the deal before they could even try and win them back."
"That's great." Oliver smiled. "I didn't actually make the dinner." Oliver sat down on the couch next to her. "But it's still pretty good and it's getting cold."
"Oh." Chloe set her wine glass down and snuggled closer to him. "I was thinking we could move straight to dessert." She kissed him softly and then started to pull his shirt out of his pants.
"Chloe. I went through a lot of trouble to set this up. Don't you want to eat?"
"The food will still be there." Chloe smiled and unbuckled his belt. "We can heat it up."
"You said putting perfectly good food in a microwave is a crime punishable by death." Oliver reminded her.
"I'll risk it." Chloe smiled and the way she was working his throat he decided to just go for it. They were just getting to the good stuff when the elevator bell dinged and the doors opened. Oliver lifted his head and saw Bart and Victor walk out.
"Who is it?" Chloe whispered reaching for the throw blanket to cover herself up.
"Bart and Victor." Oliver said.
"We just have to drop this off to the boss man and then we can figure out something to do tonight." Bart said putting the envelope on the counter.
Oliver sighed and stood up. "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Holy shit." Bart jumped up. "Where you two there the whole time?"
Chloe had stood up with the blanket wrapped around her top. "I'm so telling AC." Victor laughed. "You promised him you wouldn't do it on the couch."
"We didn't do it on the couch." Chloe glared.
"Thanks to you." Oliver said. "I thought I sent you to Tokyo."
"Been and back." Bart pointed to the folder.
"I thought you were gonna stay, hang out." Oliver asked as Bart started picking food off of the plates on the kitchen table.
"Tokyo was boring and then Vic called and said the lab guys had to push back his appointment a few days so we were gonna figure out something else to do." Bart smiled. He saw Oliver glaring at him as he brought the fork to his mouth and froze. "Sorry were you guys not finished with this?"
"It's fine Bart." Chloe assured him. "We've got plenty of food." Chloe said pulling her shirt over her head and dropping the blanket before walking over to the table. "So what's your plan for the night?"
"I was thinking of going to see that new movie down at the Riata." Bart said.
"Oh, the one with Bruce Willis?" Chloe smiled.
"Yeah you guys wanna come?" Victor asked.
"Sure." She turned to Oliver. "You wanna go?"
Oliver looked around the apartment and sighed. "Yeah sure, let me just…" He grabbed his shirt and pulled it on. "I'm gonna grab a sweater from my room, those theaters are always freezing."
"Sure." Chloe said. "We'll wait downstairs."
Oliver walked in his room and pulled the ring box out of his pocket. He couldn't force the perfect moment, obviously. He pulled out his desk drawer and dropped the box in it. He grabbed the sweater and turned off the lights.
Chloe went up to Chicago to help Janet get settled in and bring her the cure, they'd finally finished recreating the formula and Chloe wanted to bring it to Janet herself, make sure this was what she really wanted, and she had another errand to run. "What are we doing here?" Janet got out of the cab and ran up the sidewalk to catch up with Chloe.
"Frustrating not knowing everything isn't it?" Chloe smirked at her. Yesterday after insisting it was what she wanted Chloe gave Janet the cure and she said she'd had the best night sleep of her life.
"No, it's wonderful." Janet slipped her arm in Chloe's and they walked up a set of steps to a brownstone. "So what are we doing here?"
"We're visiting an old friend." Chloe knocked on the door. A few seconds later a man answered looked at Chloe, shook his head and slammed it.
"Some old friend." Janet laughed.
Chloe rolled her eyes and knocked again. "Jackson, I'm not here to ask you for anything, I'm actually here to give you something."
The door opened slowly. "What?" He asked.
"Can we come in?" Chloe asked and for the first time Jackson noticed Janet standing there.
"Sure." He opened the door and Chloe walked in smiling.
"Nice place." She smiled. "Jackson, I actually wanted to introduce you to my friend, Janet." Janet held out her hand. "She just moved to Chicago."
"Nice to meet you." Janet smiled.
"You actually know her by another name." Chloe said. "Cassandra." They both looked at Chloe. "And you might know him better as Subject 45." They turned their attention back to each other and smiled slightly.
"You're the one who rescued me." Janet said.
"You're the one who rescued me." Jackson reminded her.
"Hey, actually I believe we were the ones who did the rescuing." Chloe pointed out.
The both rolled their eyes. "Oh, just let her have this one." Jackson said.
"Let me have this one?" Chloe put her hands on her hips and glared. "Let me have…"
"Didn't you say you brought me something?" Jackson interrupted her.
Chloe reached into her pocket and pulled out a small glass vial full of liquid and tossed it to him. He caught it expertly and looked at it confused. "What is this?"
"A cure." Chloe said.
"A cure for…" He looked up at her confused and then back at the vial. "For me? For my…"
"Power." Chloe said. "Yeah."
"I don't understand." Jackson said.
"Yeah well I don't either." Chloe said. "I love my power but I can understand how some other people might not feel that way."
"It works?" Jackson asked.
"Yeah." Chloe said. "Just ask her."
"You took it?" He smiled.
"Yesterday." She said. "This is the first vision free day I've had since I was a kid."
"Do you regret it?" Jackson turned the vial over in his hands.
"No. Then again I've only been powerless for a day." Janet said. "But I don't think I'm gonna miss it."
"What do I do?" Jackson asked.
"Are you sure?" Chloe said. "A memory like that can be pretty useful."
"Yeah." Jackson laughed. "It was useful in school, never failed a test as long as I read the material, helped you guys out but there are other things."
"Like what?" Chloe asked.
"Like, have you ever read a book, then a few years later read it again and it was like reading it for the first time?"
"Yeah." Chloe nodded.
"I can't do that. I read it once, I remember everything about it." Jackson said. "The same with movies and plays. It may seem stupid but I want to be late for work because I can't find my car keys, I want to get frustrated and have to go back to the store because I forgot to get toilet paper. I just want to forget things." He told her.
"Ok." Chloe said reaching in her bag and pulling out a syringe. She pulled it out of the plastic bag and nodded to Janet. "Can you get the alcohol out of my bag?" Janet nodded. Chloe took the vial from Jackson and filled up the syringe. She put some alcohol on a swap and grabbed Jackson's arm and then cleaned a spot.
"Does it hurt?" Jackson asked. "I don't really like needles."
"It's fine." Janet took his hand. "It only pinches."
"Really?" Jackson smiled at her and Chloe stuck the needle in and then she was done and he didn't even notice, he was so busy looking at Janet.
"You feel any different?" Janet asked.
"I don't know."
"It takes a while to work." Chloe said. "Just be patient." She wrapped the needle in a paper towel and put it in her bag. "Well, there you go. Janet." Chloe headed to the door.
"You're new to Chicago?"
"Just moved in this weekend." Janet said.
"Maybe I could show you around, go get some coffee." Jackson smiled.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Janet said. "Chloe you know the way back to the hotel?"
"Yeah." Chloe smiled. "You know actually I'm gonna head home if that's ok, we're going to Smallville for Memorial day weekend and…"
"Sure, no problem." Janet said to her. "And you know thanks."
"That's what I'm here for." Chloe smiled and walked out as Jackson told her about all the places she had to see in Chicago.
She got back from Chicago and immediately turned around and left for Metropolis. Ms. Kent finally got the carnival to come back to Smallville for the big Memorial day weekend celebration. There was going to be all the fun carnival stuff. Eating contests, livestock contests, rides, and a very large hay maze.
"What exactly is a hay maze?" Oliver asked as they walked through the town.
"Well it's a big maze, made out of hay bales." Chloe told him. "They've been building it out in Fletchers Field for weeks now. It's supposed to be the biggest one in the country."
"Sounds interesting." Oliver said diplomatically.
"I'm excited." Bart said munching on something he bought off a street vendor. "Bet you I can do it in Five…no four minutes."
"Without powers?" Victor asked.
"Why would I do it without powers?" Bart asked.
"I thought we'd do the maze today and the livestock competition tonight. The Kent farm has a few entries." Chloe said. "Tomorrow we'll do the whole carnival thing and then Sunday night is the dance and the fireworks show."
"Good thing we don't have this too planned out." Oliver said. "Have you penciled in time for fun?"
"This will be fun." Chloe dragged him to the Talon. They were getting coffee and then heading to the maze. "Lois." Chloe cried. "Tell him the maze is fun."
"The maze is evil." Lois said.
"Oh yeah, wrong person to ask." Chloe cringed. "I forgot she had a bad maze experience a few years ago."
"Bad maze experiment?" Oliver asked.
"I got lost." Lois said. "For three hours."
Oliver turned to Chloe. "We won't get lost." Chloe insisted. "If we do, we have Bart and Superman to help us out."
"Yeah you have to do the maze Oliver." Lois said.
"But you just said it was evil." He reminded her.
"It is." Lois said. "But I'm gonna do it again, and I'm gonna beat it." She said with such conviction it wasn't fair to laugh at her. "You guys get the coffee and me and Chloe will get the flares."
"Flares?" Chloe asked.
"I'm not relying on Superman or Impulse." Lois said. "I'm bringing my own back up."
"But flares." Chloe said. "I mean we're gonna be in a maze made out of hay, very flammable hay."
"Flare's go up." Lois told her.
"You get the flares, I'll grab the fire extinguisher." Chloe smiled.
Four hours later Lois and Chloe ran out of the maze screaming and laughing. "Let's go again." Chloe said.
Oliver walked out behind them and groaned. "We've done it five times."
"But we almost have it down." Lois said. "We only took one wrong turn that time."
"We're gonna be late for the livestock competition." Oliver said.
"Since when have you cared about a livestock competition?" Chloe asked.
"Since I desperately don't want to go through the maze again." Oliver pleaded with them.
"You head over there, we can make it in twenty five minutes if we don't take any wrong turns." Chloe said.
"Ok." Oliver sighed. "I'll go find the guys."
Chloe and Lois walked around the maze and then got back in line to go through it again. "So what's going on with you and Oliver?" Lois asked. "You guys ok?"
"Yeah." Chloe said confused. "Why?"
"Nothing it's just, I haven't heard a marriage proposal all day."
They got in the maze and immediately went left as everyone else tried to decide between three different paths. "Yeah he stopped asking a few weeks ago. To be perfectly honest, I kind of miss it. I mean I don't want to marry him yet, but it was nice to be asked." Chloe shrugged. "You don't think because he stopped, that means he doesn't want to anymore?"
"I think it means he doesn't want to hear "no" anymore." Lois pulled Chloe left when she tried to go right.
"I want to marry him." Chloe said. "I really do. I mean I never thought about it before, until he started asking."
"But just not yet?" Lois asked.
"Not yet." Chloe said.
"Why not?" Lois started to turn and Chloe grabbed her to keep going straight.
"Huh?" Chloe asked.
"What's the difference between today and next year?" Lois asked her.
"A year." Chloe said. "That's the difference."
"What's a year?" Lois said. "Look, I'm not one to butt into other peoples business." Chloe snorted. "But the fact of the matter is, you two wouldn't have even gotten together if it weren't for me so maybe it'll take me to get you engaged."
"You don't put a lot of stock in yourself at all do you?" Chloe asked taking another corner.
"Yeah, well I live up to the reputation." Lois smiled. "So look, you love him, you want to marry him, you want to…make babies with him and be the Watchtower to his Green Arrow and you want to do it forever and ever so what does it matter if forever starts tomorrow or next year? It'll still be forever."
Chloe frowned and then glared at Lois. She opened her mouth to counter and Lois shook her head. "And don't give me that bullshit about you aren't sure if Oliver really wants to marry you or whether it was just a whim, that he only asked because he was so happy that you weren't dead. The man proposed thirty one times." Lois said. "He wants to marry you, and now he's stopped asking, not because he's changed his mind but because you wanted him to stop asking you. He loves you, you love him, just put him out of his misery and give the man his happily ever after already." Lois said.
"Are you finished?" Chloe chuckled at her.
"Yes." Lois smiled.
"Good." Chloe said. "You been practicing that speech?"
"A little." She admitted. Chloe laughed and they decided to finish the maze at a run to make it to the livestock competition.
The Kent farm won every thing they entered and they celebrated back at the farm. The next day they did everything they could think of to do at the carnival. Bart entered and won the pie eating contest, Oliver won Chloe a giant stuffed bear at the target range, although there was hardly any competition and they ate every bad carnival food product imaginable. The sun went down and they all stayed, riding the carnival rides were better in the dark Lois said. They were in line for the Ferris wheel when Oliver got a phone call and excused himself. "We're next." Chloe said.
"Ride one with the bear and I'll be back for the second round." Oliver kissed her cheek and Chloe sighed climbing in the seat and settling the giant bear next to her. She went one full rotation and then the wheel lurched to a stop with her car just a little way from the top. She looked down confused. There were no other people in line. Her, Lois, Clark, and Oliver were the only ones who wanted to ride. Bart didn't do heights and Victor said the spinning made him sick and AC was trying to beat Kara at the ring toss.
"What's going on?" Lois screamed from below her.
"I don't know." Chloe said. "Hey." She screamed down. "What's up?"
"It's stuck." The operator said. "It does this every now and then."
"How long to fix it?" Chloe asked.
"A couple of hours." The operator screamed. "We've got to run out for the part."
"Hours?" Lois screamed. "That's it." She said to Clark. "Get me out of here."
"I can't just fly you out of here Lois." Clark laughed.
"Stupid secret identities." Lois glared.
"Hey." Oliver screamed. "What's going on?"
"We're stuck." Chloe said. "The guy said about two hours."
"Hours?" Oliver said. "That sucks."
"Yeah and I'm up here alone." She screamed at him.
"Oh, I can fix that." Oliver smiled and jumped up on the landing.
"Sir." The operator said.
"I'll be back." Oliver said to him as he set his foot on one of the metal supports and lifted himself up.
"You can't go up there." The operator said.
"You gonna come after me?" Oliver winked and started to climb.
"Oliver, you're gonna break your neck." Chloe screamed at him.
"Nah." Oliver said slipping a little but catching himself. "I'm fine, I do this all the time."
"You do not." Chloe screamed at him. "You're crazy."
"Well I can't have you up there alone now can I?" Oliver climbed a little more and then sighed and looked around. "Huh, it looks like I'm stuck." He didn't have anywhere to go.
"You're stuck." Chloe said. "Well that's great isn't it?" Chloe threw her hands up. "You get yourself into these situations all the time because you don't think them through." Chloe groaned. "Can you get down?"
"No." Oliver said. "I don't think so."
Chloe rolled her eyes and undid her belt. She stood up and grabbed onto the side support. "Hey, stay in the car." The operator screamed up. "I can't have all these crazy people climbing all over the place."
"Yeah how are you going to stop me?" Chloe called down as she found a foot hold and swung herself out of the car and started to climb down. She yelled the whole time. "I swear sometimes you're stupider than Bart."
"Hey." Bart screamed. She looked down at him to see that they'd gathered a little crowd.
"You never think of the consequences of your actions, you just do it. No plan, no thought, just action." Chloe grumbled.
"I was doing this for you." Oliver said. "So you didn't have to sit up there alone."
"Did I ask you to do that?" Chloe asked.
"No." Oliver said. "I thought it would be romantic." He smiled up at her and she stopped. It was romantic actually, it was pretty freaking romantic and here she was yelling at him for it. The man scaled a Ferris Wheel just so she wouldn't be bored for two hours. "Chloe?" Oliver called. "Are you stuck?"
"No." She shook her head. "Ask me again."
"What?" Oliver said confused. "Are you stuck?"
"No." Chloe laughed. "Not that question, the other one." She looked down at him. "Ask me again."
Realization dawned on his face and he smiled. "Here? Now?" Chloe nodded. "I was waiting for the right moment."
"This is the right moment." Chloe told him.
"You sure?" Oliver asked and she nodded. "Are you going to say yes?"
"You have to ask me to find out." Chloe told him.
"Marry me." Oliver smiled at her.
"Yes." Chloe told him.
"You mean it?" Oliver smiled.
"Yes." Chloe nodded and felt the tears come to her eyes. The crowd went wild down at the bottom and Chloe laughed.
"Wait." Oliver said. "I got a ring. I wanted to do this right." He let go of one of the girders to reach in his pocket and almost fell off.
"Oliver." Chloe screamed and continued her climb down. She hurried down and landed right next to him, pulling on his shirt to keep him on balance as he dug in his pocket.
"I got it." He smiled at her and wrapped his arm around the pole. "I got it." He showed her a black box and she smiled at him. "I brought it with me just in case. Well I've been carrying it in my pocket for a few weeks now." He opened the box up and Chloe gasped looking down at the ring. "Chloe Sullivan, will you marry me?"
"Yes." She said before she kissed him. He smiled and slipped the ring on her finger before kissing her again.
"I…can you…" Oliver struggled with the words. "Can you get me out of here?" He asked laughing.
"Follow me." Chloe smiled and started to climb. He put his feet everywhere Chloe did and soon enough they were on the ground.
As soon as they were on solid ground Oliver gathered Chloe up in his arms and hugged her tight. The crowd cheered again as Chloe and Oliver kissed. "I never thought you'd say yes." Oliver smiled at her.
"Didn't give up on me did you?" Chloe teased him.
"Never." He assured her before kissing her again.
"Hey!" Lois screamed from the Ferris Wheel. "This is great, really, I'm so happy for you guys and I'd love to celebrate with you, if someone could just get me the hell down."
Chloe laughed and looked up. Lois had turned from screaming at them and started in on Clark. "He climbed up here for her and you can't even get us down."
"Lois." Clark complained and she crossed her arms over her chest in a huff.
"Victor." Chloe turned to him. "You wanna see what you can do?"
"Sure." He smiled and walked toward the operator.
"Don't give me that crap, you can help everyone else in the world but you can't get us off a damn Ferris Wheel." Lois screamed.
Victor managed to rig the engine long enough to get Lois down and Chloe's bear and they all decided they'd had enough of carnivals. Yet again there was another celebration at the Kent house that night. Clark went out and got them some champagne, the real kind, from France. Not to be outdone, Bart ran out and came back with a chocolate cake, from Chloe's favorite bakery in New York. "I can't wait to see what their wedding presents will be." Oliver laughed and Chloe froze with the glass halfway to her mouth. "You ok?"
"Oh my god." Chloe turned to him. "Wedding." She said. "We're going to have a wedding."
"Of course we're going to have a wedding." Oliver said. "That's what happens when people get married."
"I know, I know, I just didn't connect engagement and marriage with wedding." Chloe groaned. "Do you have any idea what you have to do to organize a wedding? The planning involved, the time, all the different aspects just to get to the ceremony part to say nothing of the reception, I've been helping Rose and oh God it took her four months just to find a dress. Then before you even start planning you have to decide, winter or summer, night or day, inside or outside…"
"Chloe!" Oliver grabbed the champagne glass from her and sat her down as she took in a deep breaths.
"What happened?" Lois looked at her.
"She's hyperventilating." Oliver said. "She just started freaking out."
"Chloe sweetie." Lois crouched down. "What going on, talk to me."
"Color scheme, I don't have a color scheme." Lois looked up at Oliver confused and he just shrugged. "Rose had a folder, a big folder, she'd been putting it together since she was five, do you have any idea how far behind I am?"
"What is she talking about?" Lois snapped at Oliver.
"The wedding." He said.
"Chloe." Lois grabbed her face. "You got engaged an hour ago, don't worry about the wedding right now, don't worry about the color scheme or the dress or any of that stuff."
"Look." Oliver took over. "You said yes. That's good enough for me right now. I'm not going to rush you into this, you take all the time you need for the wedding, it's all up to you."
"Really?" Chloe asked. "As long as I like?"
"Well I'm not saying take five years but I'm not gonna rush you ok."
Her breathing slowed down and she smiled. "Ok."
"Can we get back to celebrating now?" He asked her.
"Yes." She stood up and took a deep breath. "Of course."
They drank, they ate cake and they partied pretty hard. "Hey." Victor nodded at Bart who was sulking in the corner. Chloe got up and walked over sitting next to him and nudged his shoulder.
"What's up with you?" She asked. "You're the first one up for a party."
"I don't know." Bart sighed. "It's just, hitting home I guess." He motioned to the ring on her finger. "We're not gonna make it you and I are we?"
"No." Chloe said. "It just wasn't in the cards." She smiled sadly at him.
"Yeah." Bart said. "I figured. And I'm happy for you, I really am, it's just, I've been chasing you for ten years now and I might be the fastest man on the planet, but I still couldn't catch you."
"You don't want me." Chloe said. "I'm neurotic and high maintenance and a really bad kisser."
"Liar." Bart smiled at her.
"But I'm boring." Chloe told him.
"You're a secret crime fighter with superpowers."
"Yeah, but I'm a boring one." Chloe said. "I mean I like sitting home and watching movies and reading the paper. I like sitting still."
"That's true." Bart sighed.
"Oliver." Chloe called over to him and stood up. "Bart's feeling a little under the weather, I know we were gonna wait until tomorrow but what do you say we give the kid something to celebrate?"
"What do you mean?" Bart stood up and looked between the two of them.
"Well it's not a million dollars." Oliver reached in his pocket and tossed him something.
Bart looked in his hands and his eyes widened. "No way." He looked up at Chloe and then over at Oliver. "No freaking way."
"It's in the barn." Chloe smiled.
There was nothing but a red blur and everyone dropped their glasses and ran outside. They heard a car start up, tires, screeching and then in a whirl of smoke a red Ferrari 360 Modena came to a halt in front of them.
"You actually bought him a Ferrari?" Victor said walking around the car.
"He did come up with the solution of how to get into Lex's lab." Oliver said.
"But Bart, in a Ferrari? Are you out of your mind?" AC pointed out as Bart jumped out of the car excited.
"Oh, man, this is the coolest…I can't believe. Thank you thank you thank you." He was more hyper than usual. He launched himself at Chloe and then went back to admiring the car. He turned around with the biggest grin on his face. "Who wants the first ride?"
All complaints and concerns were thrown out of the window when Bart started offering rides and AC and Victor were pushing and shoving each other to get to the passenger side first. They finally decided to squeeze both of them in and Bart took off without even a goodbye. "Well." Chloe took a deep breath and smiled up at Oliver. "It's nice to know that I'm so easily replaced by a car."
"Well." Oliver shrugged. "To be fair, it's not just any car." Chloe looked up at him in astonishment and he realized he just said the wrong thing. He backed away from her slowly. "I didn't mean that. Of course you're not replaceable by a car, by any car, by anything." Chloe was still glaring at him. "I love you?" He attempted finally. She took of toward him at a run and he took off as she chased him around the house, laughing and smiling as Lois and Clark just looked on in amusement.
"You know, you're an alien from another planet with super powers, and I'm…well I'm me, but we're still the most normal of all our friends." She pointed out.
"That's kind of sad." Clark told her. They watched as Chloe caught up with Oliver and tackled him, and they rolled around on the ground laughing. "But a little reassuring."