A/N: Sorry to the readers of my other fics... updates are coming I swear, but happy Chlollie is winning right now.

Chapter 2

Lifting my head off the pillow, I tried to forget my experience with Oliver Queen last night to the point where I was convincing myself that it just a nightmare. It's just me and Shelby at the Kent farm, no one else.

Slowly walking into the bathroom with my eyes shut, I tried flipping the light switch a couple times before remembering the power outage. Fortunately, the water was running, so I narrowly opened my eyes to find my toothbrush and started brushing.

Unfortunately, the silence and my hope were simultaneously broken with seven words. "Hey, could you pass me my towel?"

I fully opened my eyes and saw the reflection of Oliver Queen sticking his head outside the shower smiling at me. In a matter of seconds, I had swallowed, dropped my toothbrush to cover my eyes, and slammed the door behind me. Trying to catch my breath, I leaned against the back of the bathroom door. That was too close. "Ever heard of locking a door?"

I could hear his muted laughter on the other side of the door before answering, "Hey, I checked in on you and you were fast asleep. I thought I would wash the bacon grease off my arms before starting the eggs."

"Bacon grease?"

"Yeah... don't you smell it?"

I could smell it now. "But the power...?"

"I used the fireplace, but I lost most of my coals and I figured I would wait until you woke up to continuing cooking. By the way, how do you like your eggs?"

"You didn't have to cook breakfast."

He sighed. "I wanted to make up for my behaviour last night. We clearly got off on the wrong foot and I would like to apologize. I had a long flight and a long drive yesterday, so I was pretty tired. However, that doesn't excuse what I did; I had no right to judge your life."

I nodded, even though I knew that he couldn't see it. "Yeah, but you weren't the only one. Guess I owe you an apology too." We were likely stuck with each other until the power came on; the least I could do was attempt to be civil towards him.

"Are you still leaning against the door?"

I took a couple steps and turned around. "Not anymore."

He opened the door and came out dressed in a green polo shirt and jeans while rubbing a towel in his hair. "I rinsed off your toothbrush by the way. It should be still usable."

"Thanks," I said as he started to walk by me. "Hey Oliver?" I immediately squeezed my eyes shut in regret. So much for not being on a first-name basis.

He smirked, clearly aware of my misstep. "Yeah?"

Shaking my head, I murmured, "Scrambled... I like scrambled eggs."

He nodded. "Scrambled it is."

I walked back into the bathroom and gave a quiet chuckle. Not only had he taken my toothbrush out of the sink and rinsed it, but he had also carefully laid it on the counter and applied new toothpaste on it. I peered towards the staircase; maybe all we needed was a good sleep.

After brushing my teeth, I ruffled through my bag, trying to decide what to wear. This was supposed my excuse to live in sweatpants and old clothing but that was before I had unexpected company. Then I realized that it was my vacation, and I shouldn't have to change anything for him. After fixing my hair, I grabbed a red t-shirt and slid on an old pair of jeans. Good enough, I thought as I looked at myself in the mirror.

As I reached the main floor, I realized that the sight of Oliver cooking in these conditions would have been something I never thought I would see. Last night, he wanted me to push his car in pouring rain, and now he's hunched over a fireplace making me breakfast.

Oliver turned his head to look at me."Good timing, my peace offering is just about ready. Care to grab some plates for me?"

Going into the kitchen, I realized that Oliver had set the table and had even lit a few candles to lighten up the room. It was supposed to be summer, but with the dark clouds that came with the rainstorm, the house was actually quite dark without the candles. I grabbed the plates and knelt next to him as he scooped the eggs from the frying pan to the plates.

"Which one do you want?"

For no particular reason, I handed him the plate in my left hand and waited for him to grab it once he set the frying pan down. Then, before I seemed to have a chance to stand up, Oliver had set his plate on the table and walked over to pull out my chair. The gesture confused me for a moment, but then I realized he was trying to be courteous, so I walked in front of the chair and let him push it towards me as I sat down.

We ate in silence for a couple minutes. The events of the previous night were clearly still on our minds and the awkwardness still existed. That, and the candles were kind of unsettling. I knew they were lit out of necessity...and it was breakfast, but eating by candlelight with a stranger just felt weird.

One thing that was tolerable were his eggs, they were a lot better than I had expected considering the circumstances. "These are really good. What did you add to them?"

"I hope Clark won't mind, but I invaded the spice rack."

"Don't worry; he wouldn't know the first thing about spices."

"How about you?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're kidding right? I've mastered the art of Kraft Dinner, instant noodles and Chinese takeout. I don't experience a lot of fine dining."

He stared at the kitchen light before saying, "Now I wish the power was back on."

"You can cook?"

He said dryly, "What? Did you think that I have everything done for me?"

"You're a billionaire CEO, I just assumed..."

His head lifted slightly as he peered in my direction. "I don't have servants, no bodyguards, no maids, but the papers don't write about that." Looking back down at his plate, he stabbed his eggs with his fork. "No... they write about my nightly exploits."

I could sense the sarcasm in his voice, and I felt bad not giving him the benefit of the doubt. "Sorry, sometimes I wish I could turn off the cynic in me."

"I'm sure there's a good reason for that. It's okay, really."

It wasn't, but I wasn't going to push it, so I managed a slight smile and tried to continue the small talk. "How do you like your eggs?"

"Cooked." I laughed for a moment and was about to respond when he continued talking. "Honestly, I'm not picky. I only said that because I was hoping you would loosen up a bit."

"Keep in mind that you had me pretty riled up last night... you weren't the only one with a long drive."

He stretched out his hand towards me. "Fair enough, how would you feel about putting last night behind us and start fresh?"

"I'd be fine with that," I said, shaking his hand while pointing my fork in my other hand in his direction, "but I still want to know what brings you to Smallville."

"Only if you tell me your name," he said as he released my hand.

Looking at my plate, I said softly, "We'll see."

"I wanted blow off some stream before the press conference. Metropolis can get stuffy after a while, and I heard Smallville is a peaceful place to visit."

"It's true then, about the layoffs."

He hung his head. "Unfortunately."

"Do you have an idea of how many?" I was about to put bacon in my mouth, but seeing his reaction, I put the bacon back on my plate and gritted my teeth. "Sorry, professional habit."

He narrowed his eyes at me and said, "Just know that it's not as easy for me as you think."

"Okay, deal's a deal." I said with a slight smile, "'Ch' is short for Chloe."

"You didn't have to tell me."

"You think that I would have enjoyed you always calling me Sidekick until the power came back on?"

"No, but that's not going to stop me from calling you that." For the next couple of minutes, all he did was tap his fork on his plate.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... there's...there's another reason I'm in Smallville. There's a reason that I ended up here."

"Okay?"

"I was hoping to run into Clark."

"But... you..."

"I thought we decided to put last night behind us."

Last night's events were far from my mind when I attempted to ask him what he wanted with Clark. It wasn't everyday that a billionaire wanted to visit a farm-boy journalist. "It isn't about the layoffs, is it? Because..."

"No, you'll be relieved to know all three of you will retain your positions at the Planet, Miss Sullivan."

"Wait... you knew my name?"

"Despite how the papers write me, I actually look into what I'm getting in a merger. That includes the highly-praised reporters of the Daily Planet."

"Then... why go through all of the hurdles just to get to know my name?"

"Ever wanted someone to introduce themselves because they wanted to?"

"I'm not sure I understand."

"People introduce themselves to me because they have to or they're interested in my connections. It's rare when someone introduces themselves to me normally."

"I knew that I didn't say Lois' name last night."

He swallowed and then broke out into a chuckle. "I was surprised you didn't call me on that."

"So seriously, what do you want with Clark?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, I know you're his best friend, but I'd rather keep it between me and Clark."

I nodded. "It's personal, got it. I'll do my best to keep the reporter cap off as long as possible."

He looked outside and grinned. "Does it usually rain this much?"

"Didn't you ever see the Wizard of Oz.? It's Kansas; anything is possible."

"Including you actually having a vacation? You have weird guidelines, Sidekick."

"Oh, you mean house-sitting while they're gallivanting? Honestly, it's the closest thing I get to peace and quiet."

"So where are they?"

I shrugged. "Beats me. It got them out of my hair, so I didn't care where they went. Did Clark know that you were coming?"

"We talked about meeting while I was in town, and I figured the weekend would be easier for both of us."

"Which was determined before he decided on a week-long getaway with Lois?"

"Probably. When will he be back?"

"Five days. In the meantime, you're stuck with me until the power comes back on. Well, and..." I didn't even notice that Kent's family dog wasn't around. "Where's Shelby?"

"Who?"

"Oh, Shelby's the dog."

"I let her out earlier, but with the rain, she settled on the porch."

"Shelby's a boy, by the way." I said as I pulled out my chair to check on Shelby.

Once I opened the front door, Shelby had bolted towards the kitchen while I stood alone looking outside. I don't know what came over me in that moment, but I grabbed my shoes and headed out in the rain without a coat. Maybe it was because I had been stuck inside that house for a while, because feeling the fresh air and the rain on my skin seemed to release all of the tension in my body.

Realizing that I hadn't returned, Oliver had made his way to the door. After catching my gaze, he walked out to the porch and raised an eyebrow at me trying to figure out what was on my mind.

"Don't just stand there looking at me. Get out here."

Shaking his head he remarked, "You don't want me catching a cold, so you bait me outside so we both can catch pneumonia? You are aware that the nearest hospital is miles away."

"Oh, come on Oliver. I don't think you can catch pneumonia from a little rain. Besides, you lived on an island for two years. I thought that meant you had a sense of adventure."

He rolled his eyes as he descended the front steps. Initially he tensed up when he felt the rain, but he eventually relaxed. "So now what? We break into song? Do a rainy version of Dancing with the Stars?"

"Don't flatter yourself." Taking a deep breath, I stretched my arms out and stared into the sky.

"Ah... the other non-romantic cliché for standing in the rain."

I looked back at him and playfully smacked his arm before starting to walk back towards the house. "You're no fun." I walked up to the porch and sat down on one of the chairs. Even though I was only out there for a couple of minutes, I was soaked.

Oliver followed suit after a minute but first headed inside to grab a couple of sweaters. After he put one on, he sat down beside me and passed me a hoodie.

"How long were you planning to stay in Smallville? At this rate, you've packed enough shirts for a couple of weeks."

He flatly replied, "You're welcome."

"Thank you." I slipped the hoodie on and slipped my hands in the kangaroo pocket to try to warm them up. "What was it like... on the island?"

"Off the record?"

"I'm on vacation, remember?"

Looking at the rain, he responded, "Initially, I wondered why I was still alive. I wasn't the person I wanted to be at that point, heck, I'm not that person now, but a experience like that makes you realize all of your bad decisions and the basic things we all take for granted. It was a twisted version of a second chance, I guess."

I stared at him trying to figure out if he was being serious or if he was playing me.

"Something on your mind, Chloe?"

I guess if you stare at someone long enough, they get a clue. "Do you mean that?"

"Every word. Why?"

I shook my head. "I just don't get it."

"What exactly?"

"It's almost as if you're two different people and you flipped on or off a particular light switch this morning."

"You're one to talk. What was that?" he said pointing out to where we were standing before.

"Don't get used to it."

"Why not?"

"I don't even know why I did it."

"You should do it more often."

"What?"

"Live in the moment, take risks in that way. Tess says that you almost take your job too seriously, and from what I've seen, it looks like you let it take over your life. I mean, look at you; it's your vacation and you're house-sitting."

"Well, someone had to be here when your car decided to break down."

"That's not what I mean. When do you take time for yourself?"

I tried to think of an answer, but as I opened my mouth, my teeth accidentally chattered instead.

"Here," he said as he took off his sweater and wrapped it around my shoulders.

"I don't want you to get cold."

He smiled at me. "I've handled worse." Despite clearly being cold, he tried to maintain a poker face as he admired the rain while I continued to stare at him.

Oliver could read me like a book, yet even though I thought I had the professional advantage, I couldn't figure him out. Despite devoting myself in journalism, including writing multiple articles about him, I wondered if I really knew Oliver Queen after all.