Chloe tugged at the dress uncomfortably. "Do you think it's too too……you know." She nodded over at Lana knowingly, who only raised her eyebrows.

"Too what?" Lana asked clearly bemused.

"I don't know." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Too yellow, too girly, too much." She adjusted the pins holding up her hair, earning herself a prompt slap on the hand from Lana.

"Don't touch." Lana said warningly, waving a hairbrush dangerously close to Chloe's nose. "If you keep on fiddling with it, you'll ruin it."

"Fine." Chloe huffed, dropping down on to her bed theatrically. "I'll be good."

Lana looked at her critically from where she was stood at the dresser picking out jewellery. "Careful you don't crease your dress." She admonished before returning her attention to the jewellery.

"I don't know why I'm putting myself through this." Chloe muttered loud enough for Lana to hear. "Social functions, hob-knobbing with the mostly corrupt elite isn't exactly my thing."

"It'll be good for you to get out and anyway a charity function for impoverished children is a good cause. There won't be many corrupt people there." Lana said firmly. She joined Chloe on the bed and fastened a silver necklace around her neck. "I wish I could come." She gave a short laugh. "The only place I've been to, since coming out here, is the hospital."

Chloe rubbed her arm sympathetically. "How is Nell?" She asked gently.

"Still unconscious. Dean's so worried that he hasn't left her bedside" She shook her head and pushed a strand of hair off her face. "I'm going back later once you're all ready." She adjusted Chloe's necklace. "I don't like being away from her."

Chloe pulled Lana into an impulsive hug. "She'll be O.K." She reassured her softly, leaning back so she could look Lana in the eye.

"I hope so." Lana said quietly. She got up from the bed slowly. "I'm going to go and pack a few things that I ordered for her. Will you be O.K now?"

Chloe nodded. "Of course I will." She said softly, watching the doorway long after Lana had gone.

"What did you want to say that you couldn't say in front of everyone else?" Curiosity sparkled in Clark's eyes as he looked at Oliver somewhat impatiently.

Oliver sighed and ran a hand over his face. "How long has it been since Chloe's written an article?" He asked casually.

Clark frowned "What has that got to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question."

"Since before we came out here." Clark said warily, his face a picture of confusion.

"Clark, stop looking at me as if I've grown another head." Oliver said exasperatedly "I am going somewhere with this."

Clark leaned against the wall, arms folded across his chest. "Well maybe you could go a bit faster."

Oliver made a face. "Cute".

Clark only smirked and raised an eyebrow. "You were saying?" He prompted.

"Have you heard of Kyle Roberts?"

Clark shook his head slowly. "No. Should I have?"

"He spearheads a number of charities for a group of Star City's most prominent businessmen. He's very well respected here or at least he is at the moment."

"Meaning he won't be soon." Said Clark, catching on quickly "What's he done and what does Chloe have to do with it?"

"He's been seen with a number of shady people recently." Oliver cocked his head "Actually, I'm sugar-coating, he's been having meetings with some well-known criminal figures and it's also been discovered that money's been going missing from the charity fund."

Clark rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "This isn't common-knowledge yet, is it?"

Oliver shook his head emphatically. "No."

Clark looked towards the ceiling and exhaled slowly. "But it will be when Chloe breaks the story."

Oliver nodded triumphantly. "Got it in one. Now Roberts is going to be at the benefit today and I don't expect Chloe to miss an opportunity to gather more information."

"Yeah Chloe can be pretty reckless when she's on the trail of a story."

"Exactly." Oliver emphasised. "I'm going to be busy .with speeches and handshakes tonight and Roberts is a dangerous man."

"You want me to come along and keep an eye on Chloe."

Oliver laughed. "I wouldn't let her hear you say that but essentially yes."

"How do you know all this?" Clark asked suddenly.

Oliver looked sheepish. "Barbra dropped some pretty heavy hints." He admitted referring to the public information's officer for Queen industries with whom Chloe had struck up a close friendship. "She didn't want to say anything more but just the fact that she hinted at anything that Chloe told her in confidence is enough to get me worried."

"Yeah." Clark's eyes darted around the room. "It's just that I promised to go to the hospital with Lana tonight."

"Right." Oliver cut in quickly, clapping his hands together. "That's fine, I'll rope one of the others in to it. I just thought I'd ask you first as you know just how determined she can be."

Clark raised a hand. "No" He said abruptly "I'll go."

"If it's going to cause problems…."

"No, no." Clark shook his head. "I'll talk to Lana, she'll understand."

Oliver smiled. "Good."

Lana looked up from where she was sorting through several plastic bags of shopping. "If it's important then it's important." She shrugged. "Anyway it's something I've got to get used to, isn't it? You're always going to have other commitments."

Clark sat down besides her and pulled her close. "I can never give you a normal life, Lana." He sighed in to her hair, regretfully.

Lana pulled away gently. "I know." She grabbed a holdall and started stuffing it with items from the plastic bags.

Clark looked at her warily. "Are you sure you're O.K with this" He asked again.

"Are you sure you can't tell me what it's about" She parried.

Clark looked down and twisted his fingers together. "Chloe might be in danger from someone at the benefit tonight. Oliver asked me to go along for protection."

"Danger?"

"She's been investigating someone. We can't be sure that he doesn't know about it."

Lana stopped what she was doing. "I thought after everything that had happened, Chloe would be more careful."

Clark ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't. This is part of who Chloe is and I don't think that will ever change. She's not going to stop chasing stories."

Lana nodded slowly. "I guess you know her better then I do" She softened the words with a smile. "Of course you have to go." She kissed him softly on the cheek.

Chloe stood in front of the full-length mirror in her room and looked at her reflection critically, face set in concentration. She was wearing a bright yellow dress that cinched in at the waist and flowed down her legs gracefully. Her hair was coiled up in an intricate style and dotted with tiny yellow flowers with stray curls softly framing her face.

She bit her lip and did a slow twirl. She still wasn't sure about this dress although Lana and Barbara had done their best to convince and cajole her in to it. It was long and clingy and the split in the side was far too long for her liking.

"You look absolutely stunning." The voice behind her was a staggered whisper.

Chloe turned around with a start, one hand on her throat, the gems of her necklace biting in to her fingers. "How long have you been stood there?"

Oliver smiled crookedly. "Not long enough." He eyes moved lazily over her figure and Chloe felt herself blush.

"Do you like it?" She asked coyly, head tilted at a flirtatious angle.

"Oh yes." Oliver said huskily. "You'll be the belle of the ball." He met and held her eyes for a long moment.

Chloe looked away first and smoothed her hands over the dress in a nervous gesture. "Good." His confirmation sealed the deal, the dress would do.

She took a moment to study him from under her eyelashes. He was dressed in a formal black tuxedo and looked as if he had just walked of the pages of a fashion magazine. "You don't look so bad yourself." She quipped casually.

Oliver gave an airy laugh. "I'm glad you approve." He came and stood besides her and held out an arm. "Shall we?" He asked gallantly.

Chloe linked her arm with his, a wide smile on her face. "I'll let you lead the way." She laughed at the mock-surprise on his face at her words. "Just don't get used to it."

Walking in to the large common room, they were greeted by loud whistles and catcalls. AC's voice rose above the rest and Oliver was pretty sure that his. "Hell Yeah, Chloe." could be heard in the neighbouring district. "The mob approves." He murmured out of the corner of his mouth, causing Chloe to giggle uncharacteristically.

"Damn." Bart ran a finger around his neck, adjusting his collar. "You look good." His eyes were saucer-wide and glued to Chloe.

"Thank you." Oliver responded dryly.

"I wasn't talking to you." Bart looked briefly at Oliver clearly disgusted before his eyes flickered back to Chloe. "I was talking about our resident babe." He completed a circle around Chloe.

Chloe smiled uncertainly. "Thank you….I think."

"He's right, you look beautiful." Clark smiled at her from where he was sat, his eyes lingering on her dress before returning to her face. "I've never seen you in yellow. It suits you. A lot."

"Thank you." Chloe gave him a startled smile, her face glowing with happiness. Snap out of it Sullivan she admonished herself but she couldn't help but be thrilled at the reaction she had just provoked.

"Your welcome." Clark's voice was soft.

Oliver cleared his throat. "Are we ready to go?" He directed the question at Clark and for the first time Chloe noticed that Clark too was in a tuxedo.

"Are you coming with us?" She asked, looking from Oliver to Clark.

Clark looked distinctly guilty. "Yes, I thought I might as well." He avoided her eyes and gave a lazy shrug.

Chloe looked at him somewhat alarmed. "I thought you would be at the hospital with Lana."

Clark grimaced, clearly uncomfortable. "She didn't mind, I think she wanted some time alone with Nell anyway. Barbara's with her."

Chloe nodded uncertainly. "I didn't think charity benefits were your scene but anything that gets you out of that red jacket has to be good. I'm just going to grab my purse." She said disappearing back in to her room.

"There's no way in hell she believes us." Clark said as soon as Chloe was out of earshot.

"No, and she's not questioning it either." Oliver mused. "Another reason to worry." He patted Clark on the arm "She's going to keep us on our toes."

"Yeah, but we're exaggerating." Clark rationalised. "She's hardly likely to walk up to him and ask him if he's been using charity money to line the coffers of Star City's most wanted."

"No." Oliver smiled wistfully. "That's more Lois's style."

"What's Lois's style?" Chloe asked, walking back into the room. She popped her mobile phone in to the silver beaded purse and snapped it shut.

"Action first, think later." Clark murmured under his breath "I'm going to give Lana a quick ring." He said more loudly, disappearing in a blur.

Chloe looked at Oliver suspiciously and was about to speak when Victor interrupted. "AC said you wanted the keys to the Merc." Victor said casually coming over to them. He threw the car keys to Oliver and turned to Chloe wolf-whistling softly. "Remind me why we never dated." He asked playfully.

Chloe laughed despite herself. "Because you were madly in love with your girlfriend when you met me." She wrinkled her nose. "And anyway we're destined to be great friends."

Victor nodded glumly, his face a picture of sorrow. "I knew there was a perfectly good reason." He gave her a small hug, his lips twitching as he held back a smile. "Have a good night Chloe." He whispered in to her ear. "And thanks for the past couple of days. It's not that I can't talk to the guys but…." He trailed off.

"I know." Chloe rubbed his arm. "And it's no problem. Hell, I'm the Watchtower for this little operation, its part of my job description."

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" Victor asked softly.

"Who watches the watchmen?" Oliver repeated in English, "We will." He was speaking to Victor but his eyes never left Chloe.

Chloe smiled gently. "Thank you." She whispered. "But you know, as sweet as that was." And her voice was stronger now. "That phrase is usually used when referring to corrupt governments and such." She put on a voice "We knew that we had to monitor our enemies. We've also come to realise that we need to monitor the people who are monitoring them…."

"Enemy of the state." Victor nodded and smiled. "Good movie."

Clark popped his head around the door. "We're going to be late and you guys are talking about movies." He shook his head a little at Oliver. "Aren't you the VIP of this little shindig?" He looked at his watch. "We should really get going."

Oliver's eyes widened. "Hey, we were waiting for you to finish your call to Lana."

"Excuses, excuses." Clark responded.

Chloe raised her eyebrows. "This could be a long night." She said to Victor as she followed Oliver out of the door.

"I heard that." Clark yelled.

Lex looked out of the window as the sun set behind the Metropolis skyline. A glass of scotch in one hand and his phone in the other, he took a sip as he listened carefully to the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Just make sure that everything is in place Mr Roberts." He said coolly, the barest nuance of menace in his voice. "I want the facility up and running as soon as possible."

He raised his glass and downed the scotch in one swallow. "Patience isn't one of my virtues."

Thoughts, comments, feedback...all welcome.