I'm not evil-therefore, chapter seven! I disclaim. And much thanks to the lovely reviews! I'd list personal responses/respond to all you . . . except then I would probably update half as often. And I don't think that would make y'all happy, right? Anyways, enjoy.

Chloe pulled away. She was shocked.

Oliver had just kissed her.

Oliver, her cousin's boyfriend-not for long, probably, but still.

She slapped him.

"Ow!" Oliver-as the Green Arrow screeched.

"What the hell, Oliver?"

The Green Arrow just stared at her, obviously shocked that she knew who he was.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Who's Oliver?" He actually did a fairly convincing job of sounding confused. If she didn't know better, she might believe that he wasn't Oliver. But she did. At least he had some chance of not being found out by everyone and their mother. She was just . . . really good at this.

Chloe sighed, brought up her knee threateningly-she was still standing very, very close to him. "Don't mess with me. I know who you are. I've known since the first time we met like this." She meant, of course, as Green Arrow and Chloe.

Oliver sighed. "You don't have to threaten me, Chloe. I just-I have a secret identity. I'm kind of not supposed to reveal it." He was disappointed. In the first place, because she'd interrupted their kiss. And also because she'd managed to figure him out. Except, he wasn't really upset by that, he was more amazed.

How much more amazing could this woman get?

She got that he had a secret identity, but still. "I know. But I'm really not in the mood for niceties right now. What the hell, Oliver?" She repeated her earlier question. She felt the strong need to do something, so, just for good measure . . . she slapped him again.

"Ow. Please stop slapping me." It was almost angry now when he said it, as if he really didn't get why she was angry, or why she was slapping him. For some strange reason, she still wanted to kiss him again.

Therefore, even though she been threatening him, she lowered her knee and stepped back. Every molecule in her body was screaming at her to move closer, not away, but in this instant, she let her brain-and her loyalty to Lois-rule over it.

It almost physically hurt to pull away, but she had to do it.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"No, you shouldn't have. How dare you? You're dating my cousin."

He refrained from reminding her that she hadn't pulled away instantaneously-partially because he didn't want to hear her claim that it had been complete shock and revulsion that had confused her momentarily. "Not anymore."

"What?" That hadn't been what she'd expected. When she'd last seen Lois she hadn't given any indication that she was going to break up with Oliver.

"We ended things. It wasn't working for either one of us. I shouldn't have agreed to continue seeing her after she got her timer in the first place. And I'm not right for her any more than she's meant for me."

Chloe stood silently for a moment. Then, her mind latched onto something important, "So you thought you'd make a move on me? Really? What am I, a consolation prize? Actually, you know what, don't answer that. I don't want to see or hear from you again, okay?" She made a move to leave.

He grabbed her arm, gently. "That's not what I meant, I just-I got caught up in the moment."

So had she, but that didn't matter. "Goodbye, Oliver."

"Chloe-"

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me," she said bitterly.

"That's not what I was going to say. Let me at least make sure you get home in one piece." Please.

"Fine, but keep your distance."

Neither one of them were happy in the least at this moment, but the moment stretched on until they parted ways.

Earlier that night

Lois knocked on the door, waited until it opened, and walked in. "We need to talk."

Oliver had stepped back in order to avoid being mauled by the force of nature that was Lois. "As if I could stop you if I tried. What's going on?"

She seemed nervous and off-kilter. Then again, lately, it seemed like she was always nervous or confused. But right now she seemed nervous in a weirdly sort of confident way.

The nervous energy, instead of making her twitchy or fidgety, seemed to be making her over-energized, and just . . . glowy.

Suddenly she got serious. And she dimmed a bit, if that were possible-and Oliver rather thought it was possible, considering he could have sworn that he saw it happen.

"I'm sorry."

The way she said it, so frankly, without extra exposition, made him realize what she meant.

"You're breaking up with me." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

"Things weren't really going anywhere anyways, right? I was actually going to mention it the next time I saw you."

"But I beat you to the punch . . . sorry." She winced. This probably would have gone better if he'd been the one to break up with her anyway.

Damn her and her infernal timing, she cursed herself.

"It's fine, things between us had kind of just gotten to a certain point and we were just . . . "

"Standing still," Lois completed the sentence for him, because she understood.

She understood because that's what she'd been doing-to protect herself, and also because she hadn't been as all-in as she'd suggested to Oliver after she'd gotten her timer. She winced. That had been selfish of her.

She wanted to change that, she didn't want to hurt Ollie.

It occurred to her, however, that she wasn't the only one who hadn't quite been opening up anymore. Sure, they'd been on plenty of dates . . . but they'd been fun, just like they were good friends who happened to be sleeping together.

Though, come to think of it, that hadn't been happening much lately either.

Lois quirked her head and just stared at him, "How about we just say we came to a mutual decision to end our relationship. Because, as far as I can tell, that's the case."

Oliver quickly realized what she meant, that she'd noticed that he'd been withdrawn lately. "Like I said, Lois, we weren't going anywhere."

Except for maybe away from each other.

People grew away from each other, and towards others, it was a natural part of the evolution of any relationship.

Lois and Oliver were simply not meant to be. And now that they both knew that . . . Oliver had some thinking to do, and Lois had some wooing to do.

Because yes, she was going to woo Clark. Wooing, if you had asked her, was not gender specific, and therefore was a perfectly acceptable thing to do in the modern era. She rather thought that Oliver had some wooing of his own to do, but with whom . . . she didn't quite know. Nor did she particularly care at this moment in time.

She had her own business to take care of, "Well, I hope we can still be friends." She almost facepalmed when she realized what she has just said.

Her embarrassment, however, was clearly written all over her face, so Oliver merely smiled and said, "I think we can probably do that. Maybe not all at once though. I think my ego just took a beating, and needs a bit of healing."

"Good," Lois, glad that that was settled, smiled broadly and started on her way out. At the last moment she turned around, "I hope you find . . . happiness."

"Thank you. I hope you find what you're looking for."

Chloe Sullivan had been kissed by Oliver Queen-as the Green Arrow, no less!

She didn't know what to do, or what to say. She was . . . speechless. So she decided to bury herself in research.

Hours after she'd gotten home, at around four in the morning, Lois finally came in.

She considered asking her where she'd been, but she really didn't care.

That was selfish, and probably quite mean of her. But she had been completely caught off-guard by Oliver, and if Lois had just given her a bit of an indication of what she had planned to do the day after they'd had their Johnny Depp marathon, well, things might have turned out differently.

So, maybe she wouldn't have pulled away from Oliver. Which probably would have been a bad thing though, considering her claim that she was a consolation prize . . . she hated being the person that people just sort of . . . fell back on.

No one ever wanted her just because they wanted her. They were either murderous, using her to forget about someone else . . . or they ignored her completely.

She didn't like being that girl.

She hated being that girl.

She'd thought she'd reconciled herself to the truth of the matter-which was that she was that girl, and there was no changing that. But that was before Jimmy had broken up with her. That was before Lois had decided she had feelings for Clark, and it was before Oliver had kissed her. The last thing was the most important right now though, because she really liked him.

She'd admitted it to herself, but she'd accepted that she'd never make a move on him, even after Lois had revealed that she wasn't happy with her relationship with Oliver.

Because it didn't really matter whether Lois was with him or not.

No one wanted to be the follow-up to Lois Lane. Certainly not her cousin.

"Chloe, are you okay?" Lois had walked in, and Chloe hadn't said a word, moved an inch, or made a noise. She was breathing quietly, and just staring off into space. And her coffee was getting cold. Lois had originally wanted to talk to Chloe about what had happened to her . . . but no, there was obviously something wrong.

The very fact that Lois obviously had something to share with her, but was instead asking how she was . . . just made Chloe feel like an even bigger mean bitch.

Chloe closed her eyes, and tried to steady herself. She pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumbs. "I'm fine. But you obviously aren't fine. You look fantastic, what's going on with you?" It wasn't like she didn't already have a pretty good idea, but she might as well hear the full story. And find out what had happened between Lois and Clark-because there was absolutely no way nothing had happened.

"Well, first I went over to Oliver's to end things."

Chloe rather wanted to slap Oliver-again!- for lying to her, and implying that things had been mutual.

"Though, when I started to think about it, it felt like he wasn't in the relationship anymore than I was . . . he was drawing away from me, just as I was from him."

"Maybe. But maybe he was drawing back from you because you were drawing back from him."

"I don't think so," Lois said immediately, but she gave it some thought. Finally, she said, "I think he might have realized that we're not each other's Ones, we're not soulmates . . . and even beyond that . . . we're not right. He said that he'd been planning on breaking things off soon anyway."

"Guys say that sort of thing all of the time, to protect their precious ego." Chloe attempted to comfort herself with that thought, but it didn't really work. Especially considering Lois' next words.

"I don't know. I mean, I feel like I know Ollie, and I'd bet that he meant it."

Oh. Well that certainly didn't make her feel better. In fact, it made her even grumpier.

Lois, noticing the change in Chloe's mannerisms, was suddenly suspicious. Why exactly was she in such a bad mood?

"Chloe. What's going on?" Lois said it in the tone of voice that she used to interrogate-investigate, people.

Chloe lifted an eyebrow, recognizing that tone. "Lois, this is one of those times that you should just keep talking."

Lois was torn. She wanted to tell her, but she wanted to know what was going on with Chloe. She supposed that she wasn't going to get much out of Chloe anyway . . . so she'd focus on that later.

"Clark and I kissed."

Well, that explained a lot. Chloe waited for pain, or some sort of indication that she was still in love with Clark.

None came.

"I'm happy for you."

Lois suddenly realized what she'd done, "You know, someone really needs to get me a muzzle. I've been so insensitive lately. Are you okay?" Telling someone you'd kissed the guy she'd been in love with for years . . . yeah, that was insensitive.

"Lois, if you and Clark want to be together, then I wish you the utmost of happiness."

"Thank you, Chlo." Lois suddenly grabbed Chloe in a hug. "Thank you," she whispered this time, in her best friend's ear.

"So, what happened?" Chloe finally asked when their hug finally ended.

"Well, it's actually a little complicated. We didn't actually settle whether or not we're dating or not."

"A kiss is a kiss, Lo." Whatever that meant.

"I know. But-it's complicated. Okay, so I'll tell you what happened. After I, well, broke things off with Ollie, I went to see Clark . . . "

Earlier that night-Lois and Clark

Lois had asked Clark to meet her in the barn.

She stood looking out at the stars when she heard Clark coming up behind her. "Hey."

"Hey. Sorry I'm late, I had some things to take care of."

"No worries." That response made Clark a little nervous, because Lois always took time to gleefully express her disapproval over his tendency to be late to just about everything.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Are you still in love with Lana?" Typical Lois, always getting straight to the point. Clark smiled at that, then took a moment to consider her question. It was a personal question, that he probably wouldn't have answered if it weren't for how serious she looked and sounded.

"There's a part of me that will always love Lana, but I'm not still in love with her."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." After all, he'd already starting falling in love with someone else-which was something he'd never quite pictured happening. He'd always thought that Lana Lang was it for him. Things change, he realized. And in this case, it was definitely for the better.

"Good." Lois was a few feet away from him, but she quickly closed the distance and kissed him on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Clark looked at her as if she'd lost her mind.

"I broke up with Oliver."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He really wasn't.

"Because I have feelings for you."

She waited for a response.

He didn't say anything, instead he captured her lips with his.

It started off sweetly, but then something began to build, in that moment. It was hard and unforgiving. But beautiful, in some strange way.

They finally broke apart. "I think-"

"Why are you thinking?" Clark kissed her again.

Okay, no thinking then, Lois decided. They spent the next few hours just . . . being together. They shared occasional kisses, but eventually went outside and walked to a point at which they sat down and stared up at the stars.

"It was incredibly romantic."

Chloe sighed. Yes, yes it was.

"I'm happy for you."

"Chloe, I want you to be happy too."

"I am."

She was lying, of course. And Lois knew it.

"Stop lying to me, Chlo. You know you can tell me anything." Lois actually sounded hurt that Chloe wasn't sharing her feelings.

"I know." But she really couldn't.

She pushed all thoughts of Oliver out of her mind. "I'm just tired. And I have to get up in a few hours."

Lois sighed dreamily, "What time is it anyway?"

"Almost five."

Lois stared at her, slightly shocked. "I think we should go to sleep."

"Good plan."

Chloe rather thought so, she was exhausted. And the next day-or today, she thought-was going to be a big day.

It would be a day that could quite possibly change the course of the rest of her life.