Chloe, not really knowing what she was doing, kissed Oliver back. Then she realized what she was doing and pushed him away, hazel eyes wide. "I . . ." she started.
"I'm so sorry, Chloe," said Oliver.
"Its okay, really Oliver. But Lois is my cousin," said Chloe. "I don't want to hurt her even more than she already is."
Neither do I," said Oliver. "Why don't we just start over?" He asked. Chloe looked confused, raising an eyebrow. "Like this, kind of like you know me as Oliver Queen, the billionaire who you're going to interview. Hi, I'm Oliver Queen, and you are?"
Chloe nodded and smiled. "I'm Chloe Sullivan. Thank you very much for this interview, Mr. Queen."
"Please, call me Oliver," said Oliver with a gentle smile. Chloe nodded.
"Now Oliver, I want to know more about your latest project," said Chloe, switching on her tape recorder.
"Oh well, I'm going to go to some halfway houses, and I'm making an orphanage where we keep some kids away from harm until they are adopted by caring, loving families. Growing up without a mother or father was hard for me, and I don't want any kids to have to live without parents. I was fortunate, having a trust fund, and most of the kids don't have the luck that I did, so I want to help them as much as I can."
Chloe was looking at Oliver with a pleased, slightly surprised look on her face.
Oliver caught glance of her face and let out one of his charming smiles. "Why do you look so surprised, Watchtower? Don't think the billionaire has enough heart to care about kids?" He said in a joking voice.
Chloe smiled as well. "Watchtower? Now, how do you know that? I thought we were starting over?" Oliver smiled again. "Anyways, I'd like to ask you something that our lady readers would love to know."
"Oh boy," said Oliver, pretending to be scared. "Okay, so, what do the ladies want to know?"
"What are you looking for in a woman?" Chloe asked with a small smirk, knowing especially how much these kinds of questions in interviews made him uncomfortable.
"Well, obviously, I look for looks in a woman, but I'd like her not only to have a beautiful face but a beautiful mind as well. Intelligence is very important, because beauty is a fickle thing. I also want her to have a kind heart and be able to help people when they are in need."
"Very good answer Oliver. Now, can you tell me why you're back in Metropolis?" Chloe asked.
"Yes," said Oliver, "I was going to start my charity foundation for the orphanage in Star City, but I decided that Metropolis would be a better place to start with because it was here that I came in to contact with some people from a Halfway House, and I don't want anymore people to have to live like they did, in fear and having hatred."
Chloe nodded. "Well thank you Mr. Queen, I think I have all I need." She shook Oliver's hand and then switched off the tape recorder. "Uh," she asked, letting go of his hand, "can we please go back to normal? I need to give you some information on the 33.1 stuff."
"Sure," said Oliver with a small smile. "How about we do that at the Talon, in the apartment? That way no one will listen in or something."
"Okay," said Chloe, putting on her coat and grabbing the Ziploc bag with her belongings with her good hand. Oliver took the laptop, and tucked it under his arm. They made their way to the car.
"Do you want something to eat?" Chloe asked, opening the fridge. "Aha!" She said, when she spotted some leftover Chinese food. She carried it out of the fridge and set it on the counter, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, I know you're used to caviar and prime rib, but Spicy Chicken, rice, and Chinese Green Beans is really all we have, apart from coffee."
"Chinese is fine," said Oliver, taking a seat at the table. Chloe dished out the Chinese onto two plates and stuck them into the microwave. She poured two glasses of iced tea and brought them over to the table. Oliver picked up his glass and took a sip, while Chloe opened up her laptop.
"Here," said Chloe, bringing up a list of 33.1 sites. "You only have seven . . . eight 33.1 sites left," she said, picking up her glass.
"Eight?" Oliver asked, nearly spitting a mouthful of iced tea on the table. "Why are there so many?" He asked Chloe, wiping his mouth with a napkin. The microwave beeped. Chloe got up to get the plates. "Chloe, seriously, we've been doing these operations for over a year. Why in the world do we have so many left?"
Chloe brought Oliver's plate over with a fork and chopsticks and then went back to get hers. "Look, Oliver," she said, taking a seat and picking up her fork, "all of these 33.1 sites are within a ten mile radius of Smallville and Metropolis. We're now in the heart of it all. We haven't destroyed a single 33.1 site in Smallville or Metropolis . . . you know, apart from the Ridge Facilities and that place where they were keeping me and mom." She took a bite of chicken and rice. She swallowed and then glanced at Oliver, who was eating as well. "I mean, you get my reasoning don't you? If we destroy everything here, and then go and destroy everything else around the world, Lex will have more incentive to make more 33.1 sites, especially since he lives here and can monitor everything easily."
"Yeah, I get it," said Oliver. "Thank god we have a reasoning female voice on our team. Bart just wants to blow the sites up for the sake of blowing stuff up." He smiled at Chloe.
"Typical Bart," said Chloe with a smile. She tapped a couple more keys on her keyboard and clicked on a document. A PDF map came up on the screen. "I've mapped out the most direct path. The biggest site, the one nearest to LuthorCorp is the one that seems to be the most important to Lex, so that will be our last one. And so we'll destroy sites around it and then destroy it."
The apartment door opened and someone came in. Chloe heard Lois's voice. "Chloe, I've got to catch a plane . . . Ollie? What are you doing here?" Lois came into the kitchen area.
"Oh uh . . . the interview, remember, Lois?" Chloe asked, gesturing towards her laptop with her good hand.
That drew Lois's attention away from Oliver to Chloe's bandaged wrist and the bruises and scrapes. "Oh, good job. How are you feeling Chlo?" Lois asked.
"Fine. Just a little sore," Chloe answered.
"Good, because I've got to catch a plane to Gotham in like a half hour, so I just came to get my suitcase," said Lois. She went into the bedroom and grabbed her suitcase off of the bed. She was wearing a deep v-neck yellow sweater, jeans and white ankle boots.
"Lois?" said Chloe. "Take my white blazer. It'll make you look more . . . professional."
"Thanks Chloe," said Lois. She came out of the room with her hair pulled back into a high ponytail, wearing Chloe's white blazer and carrying her suitcase. "Well, I'm off, so bye!"
"Bye Lo! Remember to take lots of pictures!" said Chloe. Lois left the apartment. When the door shut and Chloe heard Lois's car start, she slumped back down in her chair. "God," she breathed, "that was close."
Oliver smiled and agreed. "Yeah, very close. So how about you print that out for me and the team?"
(A/N: Sorry, no angry Clark yet! Next chapter I promise!)