I had this sat on my desktop for an age, didn't realise. Sorry!

Chapter 17

Chloe

Chloe had done what she had been asked by Oliver a tingling sensation in the tips of her fingers and a fluttering in her stomach telling her rather more than she had thought as she had spoken to him. How could this have happened? Still she pushed what had become obvious to her during the short course of their conversation into the back of her mind, she needed to prepare for her dinner date with Bruce. There was no way she was going to allow herself to fall into the trap of falling for a friend again. Not her, not again and not Oliver. She also wasn't going to allow the romantic notion of Bruce whisking her away to some romantic locale and somehow his falling deeply in love with her to take any kind of hold. In reality she wasn't that type of woman. Not really. That wasn't to say a little tiny glimmer of such a hope didn't exist but she knew it wasn't going to happen.

Ollie had asked her if she wanted to go with them to Gotham, get a little more hands on with her Watchtower duties but she had said no, explaining she had an arrangement she couldn't break but not being forthcoming with details, she had no desire to tell Oliver that Bruce was planning on taking her out of the country. Though she would much rather be out there helping the boys how ever she could, even though what that really meant was providing technical support, she was good at it, damn good and valuable because of it in her own way.

Lois was taking great pleasure in picking out clothes, perfume, helping Chloe with her hair, making sure her cousin looked every inch the beautiful lady she was, which Chloe was both grateful for and amused at. It was difficult not to be taken up in the enthusiasm that was coming from her in waves. "Lois," she said in all seriousness as the other woman held up the sixth or seventh dress of their outing, "in all seriousness this is way too much for what will be one dinner date." The look on her face was one filled with laughter and love because she truly did love her cousin despite or probably because of their differences. "You should put so much effort into your next meeting with Clark."

That drew a scowl which was what she had been hoping for, now maybe the focus could shift from her to Lois and her best friend. "Lois, Clark is this amazing guy," in so many ways she couldn't tell her cousin about, "he's just looking for the right woman." There was so much she wanted to say to her older cousin, as if to reassure her that it was going to be alright but somehow for once Chloe couldn't find the words, the phrases to make her point and so instead she just allowed Lois to continue fussing until she was dressed and primped to satisfaction.

Not quite on cue but close enough to be just a little spooky there was a knock on the door. Lois stared and insisted Chloe remained where she was so one last check could be made before she left so Chloe didn't see the person Lois opened the door to but she heard the voice. "I'm looking for Chloe Sullivan," the smooth tones paused and she could just imagine him fiddling with his tie, "you must be her cousin Lois Lane. Very pleased to meet you, Bruce Wayne."

No more time for last minute checks or preening, not that it was her but still it had been a way of spending time with Lois and she hoped it had served its purpose. Stepping out into the small living area she smiled at Bruce and shook her head at Lois who was clearly grinning like an idiot. "Bruce," she moved forward pausing only to pick up her bag that contained her passport, purse and cell, the fact she couldn't take her laptop with her was making her just a little nervous but she was sure she would manage. Just this once.

"Chloe," she was pleased to see the look of admiration of his face, at least all the fussing and hard work hadn't gone to waste, "you look fantastic." The grin that was on Lois's face only grew wider which made Chloes' grow in response. "You can thank Lois for that."

Surprising them both he took the hand of the older of the Lane-Sullivan cousins and kissed the back, "I plan to," he grinned, "I've made a reservation for two at La Scillianos for 9pm, and have already taken care of the bill. Order as much as you like and whatever you like. Now if you'll excuse us we have a plane to catch." Before either of them could speak Chloe found herself ushered out of the door and down towards a waiting limo.

Oliver

His arrival back in Gotham was less obvious than his most recent visit. He'd already established that Bruce wasn't around, his private jet had taken off with the billionaire on board heading out to Metropolis, he was clearly planning on taking Chloe on the dinner date he had won. Oliver found that made his stomach clench into a tight knot and he really didn't like that at all. It was a tight knot of jealousy yet he knew that eventually he would get a dinner date of his own, still it meant that the reason she wasn't here with him was because she was with Bruce.

As soon as this mission was over he was going back to Metropolis, back to the Clock Tower, back to Chloe. He was a man of action, he already knew life was far to short for anyone to wait for something to happen and now he understood what was going on with his head and heart he was going to act. Oliver understood that somehow, somewhere along the line his affection and admiration for his Watchtower had grown into loving her.

She understood him better than anyone else probably would ever understand him, things they had seen, things they had experienced, the way without saying anything or doing anything she could quieten his sleep allowing him to get actually get some sleep. Maybe that had been the first indication, or maybe not, maybe he had known for a while. Still even Oliver managed to catch up with all of his emotions eventually.

It was a snap choice, one made without thinking too hard, Oliver was going back now. The boys could manage without him, he knew that, he trusted them to. He trusted them with his life, now he was trusting them with his mission, their mission. It was what the League did. Now he was looking down at the tarmac watching its grey shades pass him by beneath the wing of the jet. Victor, AC and Bart wouldn't let him down. Now the question was would he let himself down. Was he doing something foolish? How could he be sure Chloe felt the same way, perhaps she did and perhaps she didn't but Oliver wasn't going to let this pass by.

He snatched a few moments of shut eye on the flight before the nightmare kicked in again, this time instead of fighting to stay asleep he chose to stay awake and instead focused on the other part of his life, the part that was Oliver Queen, playboy and head of Queen Industries. There was a pile of old fashioned paperwork for him to look through and now he knew Chloe was probably going to be out of town for at least a few hours he would catch up on more back at the Clock Tower.

Arriving back at the Clock Tower he was not surprised to see that the mess they had left had been cleaned up, the joy of cleaners. Thankfully he knew his kit was safe, locked away as it was, currently only he knew how to access it, maybe he would remedy that and show Chloe. It was a way of showing her that he trusted her completely. Pulling off some of the dust sheets he settled down in the spot Chloe had occupied when he had found her here and switched on his laptop. The not so fun parts of being the CEO of a fortune 500 company.