You Win

I stared at Chloe and Oliver smiling at each other. Darn it. Why did I accidentally elbow the door in excitement? I was clearly interrupting, no matter what either of them said.

Once Oliver had left, Chloe looked at me with narrowed eyes. "I don't remember locking that door."

I shrugged and tried to sell my poker face. "Well, you did."

Chloe crossed her arms. "Come on, Lois. That wasn't a key we heard. It was you, wasn't it?"

If she's going to call me out on my snooping, I'm going to call her on her stubbornness. "What's stopping you Chloe?"

She raised an eyebrow. "How much did you hear?"

"From the point where aesthetics apparently matter to you in a relationship. Seriously, Chloe, since when have you started judging men by height and hair color?"

She unfolded one of her arms and scratched her head. "I was desperate."

"He's not going to wait forever for you to make up your mind." That was probably a lie. Oliver was very persistent, and she was actually in love with him, even if she didn't want to admit it.

"So you date him." She picked up her coffee mug and sipped it.

"We're ancient history Chloe. Besides, he never fought for me how he's fighting for you."

She almost spurted her coffee, but she composed herself and swallowed. "He went on national television to be honest with you!"

"I turned him down, remember? That was the old Oliver, using his money to get what he wanted."

"So he's using his charm instead, big difference."

"He's not using his charm and you know it. He's wearing you down, and admit it; you want it as much as he does."

She shook her head. "I'm just not ready Lois."

"That just sounds like another excuse to me, but it's none of my business." I shrugged and then started walking to the bathroom. "I need a shower."

Okay, so I lied. I heard the entire excuse train, but I'm not telling her that now. It amazed me on how guarded my cousin was on this issue, but if I learned anything, it's how well they knew each other. Not only did she know that Oliver was Green Arrow, but she helped him maintain his double life. I guess that would explain the 'Mr. and Mrs. Green' aliases.

I turned on the water and pulled the door open slightly to see Chloe staring at her phone. She dialled a number and put it to her ear.

"You win."

It was all I heard her say before she left the apartment, but it was all I needed. I'll act surprised when they decide to tell me, but all that mattered was that she was finally willing to give Oliver a chance. Both of them needed to move on from their own personal tragedies, and although I would have never imagined that they would do it together, it was satisfying to see that both parties were finally on board.

A/N: This is for people who called me on my status error and asked for updates. However, this is it. On the positive side, I was able to include one excuse that I had forgotten in the first chapter, and Lois probably would be a better character for its rebuttal anyway. While all this probably couldn't have taken place in the time it took Oliver to walk to his car, I'm asking you to overlook that for the sake of storytelling.