Chapter 16

One week later

Chloe

Arriving home late one evening Chloe was amused to see Lois with a huge smirk on her face, "well you look like the cat that got the cream." After dropping her bag on the couch she finally caught sight of the huge bunch of pure white roses that sat in a vase on the table. "Wow, they are amazing," she said admiringly, "who is it this time? Do I know him?" She leant forward and took a deep inhalation of the scent. "Wait a minute," she said looking up at Lois her hand waving in the air, "these aren't from Clark are they?" She looked at her cousin quizzically waiting for an answer.

"Oh no Cuz," Lois said in answer, Chloe could see her eye dancing with laughter as she looked at her. "Well who are they from?" she repeated. Lois's grin grew wider, "They aren't mine Chlo, they're yours. Came with a card too." Which she proceeded to waft in front of Chloe's face. Making a grab for it she missed a couple of times before taking hold of it. "You owe him dinner?" A look of confusion appeared on her face as she looked at her cousin, "I do?"

"Awww come on Chloe, spill it. Give me all the juicy details." Chloe laughed as she shook her head at her cousins obvious glee. "Give me a sec," finally she read the card. You still owe me dinner. It took a moment before recognition finally dawned, "Bruce! I was hoping he'd forgotten about that." That wasn't exactly true, she was intrigued by Gotham's playboy billionaire. Again she mused it must be a billionaire thing.

"Bruce?" She could almost hear the cogs in her cousins head turning, " Bruce as in Bruce Wayne?" Again the sound of the other woman's voice ceased "Oh the whole bidding thing." She resisted the urge to say something sarcastic and just shook her head before slumping down in the seat, "pizza?"

"Uh uh no way, you can't change the conversation like that! Ham, pineapple and extra cheese though," Lois said and Chloe could just tell she was about to head into another deep probing session, fortunately, from her point of view, her cell began to ring. "Sorry Lo' I'd better take it."

Answering she turned away from her cousin to hide the relief that appeared on her face at the interruption as she knew Lois would have some mad, crazy idea about her hitting it off with Bruce and maybe eloping. For all her cynicism there was a part of her cousin that was very romantic, a thought struck Chloe that made her smirk, maybe she could arrange a dinner for Clark and Lois. "Hello?" came a very masculine voice when she didn't immediately speak, "huh? Oh hello, Chloe Sullivan."

"I know who you are Miss Sullivan, and I do believe you owe me dinner."

It took a second before she responded, "Bruce? How did you," a laugh stopped the question that was forming, "wait no need you are a billionaire." He probably had minions who had found her cell number because she hadn't given him it. "And yes I do." When Lois appeared in front of her mouthing to know who it was Chloe shook her head and stifled the laughter that the way Lois was behaving was causing.

"Did you get the flowers?" There was something in his voice that was intimate, sexy, and already she could see his face and the twinkle in his eyes that suggested he was hiding something. He probably was, most people with that kind of money were. She thought of Lex, Lionel and Oliver, thinking of the last of the three brought a smile to her face.

"I did, they're gorgeous, thank you." When Lois started blowing kisses in response to Chloes words she shook her head and turned her back on her again. "But you really didn't have to." Her eyes wandered over to the vase that contained them, they really were beautiful.

"Perhaps not but I felt a little something to grab your attention would be appropriate. Now about that dinner..." he paused she wondered if it was dramatic effect, "I thought I'd send my jet to pick you up and then, it'll be a surprise. Just remember to bring your passport."

Chloe almost choked, "I was thinking something a little more local," she finally managed. Passport! Where on earth was he planning to take her?

Oliver

He was looking out of the window of one of the mansions reception rooms down over the grounds. They were landscaped, carved, beautifully kept not a blade out of place. There was a team of gardeners who kept it that way, just as there was several domestics who kept the inside of the mansion in the same way. Finding a butler like Bruce had was not as easy as perhaps it once had been but in the grand scheme of things he decided he didn't need an Alfred the way his friend did.

His hands were in his pockets while he watched the scene unfold in front of him. It was so quiet and peaceful he wondered if he were still asleep yet he knew that he wasn't because his dreams were rarely this pleasant.

The solitude of his family home was somewhat less than it had been such a short time ago, Victor was somewhere inside working on some additional technology that Queen Industries had developed. A.C. was relaxing in the pool and Bart, the youngest member of the group was off somewhere but he would be back, he always came back. After all Oliver had a fridge full of food waiting for Bart's return.

While he waited for someone to find another of Lex's labs he felt lost for something to do, he could of course head into Queen Enterprises and oversee something but he trusted the men who ran his operations, they hadn't let him down so far. His vast fortune stood testament to that.

He reached for his cell and pressed a speed dial number waiting for it to be put through. It rang, once, twice, three times before a female voice was heard, "Hi this is Chloe Sullivan, I can't take your call right now, please leave a message after the tone." Oliver almost hung up but given it was the third or fourth time he had called her today he figured he'd better leave her a message.

"Chloe, it's Oliver, just thought I'd check in." He couldn't believe he still missed her small figure lying in the space next to his on a night. He missed the sound of her voice, especially when she was teasing him. He hadn't spoken to her since he came back from Russia, it was only a week ago but it felt like it was longer. It was appropriate to miss your friends he mused. After all she was a friend, a good one.

He had hardly hung up when he was interrupted by Victor, "found another one." Another mainland one, near Gotham this time. "Find out what you can," and he would arrange transport and a location to operate from. It was almost a shame he hadn't figured out who this Batman figure was he would have worked out well for this operation, inside location knowledge and an extra body for infiltration. One day, he mused, one day. Maybe he could get Chloe to do some digging, a smile tugged at his lips, maybe she already knew, she did have a way of finding out these things.

His cell started ringing and as he stared at the name it dawned on him Chloe was calling. A grin appeared before he could stop it, "Chloe," he said on answering, "I need a favour." The sound of her voice on the other end was the most comforting thing he'd heard for days.