Oh wait, is this what I think it is? Yes, it's the penultimate chapter. Yay. This chapter is a bit shorter than most of the others-I've run out of steam, and I'm really ready to work on the epilogue-ish last chapter.
The next few days passed quickly, and without any real problems outside of the mundane, until suddenly it was Saturday.
Oliver had asked her to meet him at a duck pond.
A duck pond. There were few words she could use to describe the utter strangeness of this situation, and because she was so completely floored, she used none of them. She simply complied.
Oliver Queen was an odd sort of man when it came down to it. Billionaire CEO by day, leather-costumed Robin Hood-esque vigilante by night, he was not your average guy.
When she'd first met him, she'd felt something. Something strange and unwelcome under the circumstances, since she had been dating Jimmy, and he had been dating Lois. It hadn't been love at first sight, but it had definitely been genuine attraction, and respect.
It hadn't taken her long to realize that Oliver Queen and Green Arrow-formerly Green Arrow Bandit-were one and the same. It had only made her respect and like him more as a person. She had been thankful that he'd helped to save her, and as was her custom with the heroic types, she had instantly become his 'publicist' of sorts.
It was tough to keep his secret from Lois, and to stop him from realizing that she knew, but she had done it. Everything had been fairly normal then. Occasionally she had run into Oliver and she'd opened up to him, and hadn't been able to destroy her growing attraction to him, but she'd tried.
She'd actually felt as if she were making progress on that front, but that had changed when Jimmy had broken up with her. Oliver had been there for her, supporting her at a vulnerable time. She'd completely fallen for him in that moment.
He'd sat next to her on the carpet, and watched her as she cried, trying to comfort her. Having him at her side was comforting, mostly because it felt like he belonged there-though that had been scary and disloyal at the time.
She hadn't accepted it at that point, but it was true. She was in love with him.
When he'd 'rescued' her-though she still firmly believed that she hadn't needed his help-and he'd kissed her, she'd simultaneously felt amazing and despicable at the same time. But then she'd discovered that he and Lois weren't together, and though the guilt subsided somewhat, it had been replaced by feelings of inadequacy. Inferiority.
But then it was revealed that he was her soulmate, and she didn't even know how to begin trying to reconcile all of the feelings and thoughts that had swarmed around in her head. All she'd been able to do was push him away out of fear.
Yet, when she'd realized that she might die, and that Oliver could possibly die at the hands of Lex, she'd felt a surge of anger-and a fear that was almost completely overwhelming. She would have killed Lex with her bare hands given the opportunity.
She'd realized that she didn't want to push him away. She wanted that love she'd never thought she'd be able to have. A love more than what she'd desired with Clark, or what she'd actually had with Jimmy.
But she wasn't sure how meeting Oliver at a fairly unpopular-and apparently deserted as far as she could tell-duck pond was going to make that a reality.
As she walked along a well-lit path towards the center of the park towards the pond, she reaffirmed her decision. When she'd gotten her timer, she'd meant to put the fear behind her. She'd backslid so quickly, she was almost ashamed. She might have been if it weren't for the scars she still had, the emotional lessons she'd learned. It would have been foolish of her not to protect herself.
She had, however, come to the conclusion that she trusted Oliver enough to try.
She neared the pond and the sight before her made her stop in her tracks.
There was a picnic blanket, surrounded by rose petals. "Wow. You certainly know how to make a girl feel special."
Oliver appeared and walked towards her, offering his hand to her when he was close.
She didn't hesitate, she put her hand in his and they walked over to the picnic and just stood for a moment. Oliver faced her and took a deep breath.
"I want you to feel special, Chloe. Because that's how I see you-as uniquely amazing. I want to spend the rest of my life proving that to you."
Chloe fought a smile. She lifted her hand to his cheek, "You don't have to try very hard to make me feel special. So I don't think we'd have much to worry about."
Lois and Clark-at the farm
When Lois and Clark had first met, there were sparks. It hadn't really mattered at the time, because Clark had been in love with Lana and Lois hadn't been particularly fond of Clark's attitude towards her cousin. Things, however, had changed. They'd argued and begun to get past those things, until eventually they'd fallen in love.
Lois had gotten a timer because she wanted a guarantee, but with Clark there really couldn't be a guarantee. So any decision she made with had to be on faith, that she was making the right decision with her heart.
Lois, after quite a bit of thought and reflection, had made her decision. She went to speak to Clark, she found him facing out of the barn, over the fields.
"Clark?"
He turned to her, "Lois." He was unsure of how she was feeling, so he didn't quite know how to react to her presence.
"I've given it some thought, and I need to know something really important."
"You already know my deep secret, there's no reason to hide anything from you."
"If I asked you to stop, would you?"
"Stop saving people?"
"Yes." Lois was stone-faced.
"As much as I might want to, I-I can't."
"Good."
Clark, slightly confused, asked "Good in what way, exactly?"
"It's good for us, Clark."
"Why?" He didn't want to question good fortune, but her decisions seemed rather counter-intuitive to him.
"Because, you're a good man." She said simply. "And the fact that you'd want to choose me, but you wouldn't-well, it means a lot."
They were both quiet, not quite sure what to say.
"What happens next?" He asked, finally.
"We have dinner. I'm hungry. Once I decided to come talk to you, I couldn't eat. So, yes, food."
Chloe and Oliver-Duck Pond
They discussed Lex-who hadn't been left in the building to die, but had been sent off to Belle Reeve. After they'd finished with business, they'd turned to more . . . personal topics.
"What was it like growing up in Smallville?"
Chloe thought for a moment, twisting her wineglass between her finger. "Strange. Just very, very weird."
"Would you leave it?" He asked it flippantly, as if he didn't particularly care about the answer.
He did, of course. Chloe realized the importance of her answer. "It depends on the circumstances, but yes, I think I could leave it. I'm not so tied to this place and my life that I want to crawl under a rock and stagnate."
She'd mixed her metaphors in a way that wasn't particularly awful, yet literal cricket sounds invaded the silence. They both laughed.
"Sometimes I feel like I need something new. Like I could be somewhere else and start over. Less pressure."
"But you don't."
"I've never really had enough motivation to do so."
The sky had darkened even more than it had already been when she arrived. They decided to lie on the blanket and look up at the stars.
"Even if you weren't my 'One' I'd still want to be with you."
"That's great to hear."
"I want to be honest with you, about everything."
Chloe hesitated. She bit her lip. But then she realized that the problem with every other relationship in her life-platonic and otherwise-was the lack of honesty. "So do I."
"Let's start now."
"Okay."
Oliver proceeded to tell her about his parents, about being trapped on an island, and about the bad choices and proud moments of his life. In return, Chloe was completely honest with him, talking about her own strained relationship with her father, and what had happened with her mother.
When they'd exhausted themselves in terms of speaking, they lapsed into a comfortable silence.
Oliver, despite how comfortable it was, needed to say something. "I love you, Chloe."
"I love you too, Oliver."
They turned from the sky, facing inward, to look at each other.
It was a moment of pure perfection.
And now, for a long author's note.
I've really enjoyed writing this fic for the most part. There were times when I couldn't focus, or I couldn't stand it. There were times that I wished for a physical manifestation of it so that I could punch it. And there were times when I wanted to completely delete it and pretend it never happened. All of that happened within the last two weeks.
I've learned a lot about myself as a fic writer from this story. This is only the third multi-chapter story I've attempted, the first one was an utter disaster, and the second is still incomplete, and the chapters are somewhat fluffy and lacking real substance. This is also the longest story of any sort I've ever tried to write. I admit easily that the last few chapters have been especially awful, and that's partially because I've been distracted by school, and partially because I'm just a terrible fic writer.
Anyways, I'm incredibly thankful for all reviewers-especially QueenThayet12990 for constructive criticism, and those such as iheartBL, DonStella, kim, ghaziak, wizziewoo123, all4chlollie, brittany34, dreamiedreamer, etc. for all contributing kind words that served as motivation that got me through this fic at various points in time. And truly, all others not mentioned, who favorited, put on alert, or submitted a review or two. I appreciate it, I truly do. And I would have liked to respond to each and every review personally, but that would have been an ineffective use of time and probably would have stopped me from continuing to write. I love feedback, but when I respond to it, I just get caught up.
I'm a very self-conscious writer, so it's actually quite difficult for me to post my fanfiction here-for some reason every new chapter, and every new fic is a new battle- I thank you for making it so comforting.
I know this was a seriously long author's note, but my reflective mood requires that it take place now instead of in the next chapter. Which is all about happy Chlollie. Promise.