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Fic: Chloe/Oliver – Penance 9/?

Title: Penance 9/?

Author:Cking1575

Fandom: Smallville AU

Pairings: Chloe/Oliver,

Rating: PG-13 Language

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville/DC or the characters. I am just playing with them.

Summary: Penance: an act of self-abasement, mortification, or devotion performed to show sorrow or repentance for sin. I am really not like Chloe's story arc so I've decided to change it a little to suit my own needs. That's what fan fiction is right? LOL

A/N: Hey Guys, Thanks for staying with me and reading this fic. Sorry to say that this chapter is going to have to sustain you for a little while…I'm going away for the weekend. I should have the next chapter up early next week. Speaking of next week, do you all know about the 31st Annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis Illinois? It takes place on June 11th through June 14th. Justin Hartley (Green Arrow) and Phil Morris (Martian Manhunter) and Noel Neil (Lois Lane from Superman TV series from 50s) will all be there signing autographs! Yeah my daughter and I are going!!! I'm sooo excited!!! I can't wait! Here's the website should anyone want to check it out:

.com/content/view/94/113/

And

.

Thought I'd share this info with all of you!

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Previously on Penance...

Chloe turned to walk to the study but Clark grabbed her arm before she could leave, "Chlo, do you think being a lone with him while he's like this is a good idea?"

"Clark, he won't physically hurt me, if that is what you are worried about. Oliver maybe angry with me…hell he's down right pissed off at me, but he would NEVER lay a hand on me. That is a fact I know."

"But Chloe…"

"No, Clark this has to be done. He and I have to do this if we are ever going to move on. Work on a plan with the other guys. I'll be ok." She said and turned to go into the study followed closely by Oliver. He scowled at Clark before he closed the door.

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"Ok, here we are. What do you want to say? Let's get this over with I have a mission to plan and a monster to destroy." Oliver said to Chloe as he briskly walked past her.

"Oliver, what is wrong with you? I understand that you are upset that I left the way I did, but can't you understand that I had no choice. He would have killed you damn it! He would have killed Jimmy! Why is it so difficult to believe that I left to protect you? Why can you believe the worst of me before you know the facts?"

"The facts, Chloe? You want to know what facts I know? Fact," he held up his index finger of his right hand, "you left with a monster. Fact," his middle finger joined his index finger, "you told Clark that you were in love with Davis and that you and he were going to disappear. Fact," the ring finger of his right hand joined the other two fingers, "I searched high and low for days for you…for a fucking clue that you were all right, but you never left me one. Fact," his pink joined the other three fingers, "you didn't even care enough about me…about anyone other than Clark to even call to say goodbye. Fact," his thumb joined the rest of his fingers, "you chose him over me. This was NEVER about you protecting us, this was all about you wanting Clark or wanting someone as close genetically to Clark as you could get." "

"That is not true, Oliver, and you know it." She exclaimed.

"Do I, Chloe? Because from where I am standing I feel like I've never known you at all! I thought what we had was special, a once in a lifetime kind of thing. But that night obviously meant nothing to you because you didn't even have the decency to clue me into what you had in mind. How am I supposed to trust you again? How am I supposed to trust you with my heart?" He placed both his hand over his heart as if to guard it from her, "I can't, and if I can't trust you, then you can't be part of this team. I need to know…to trust that you will always have my back and I don't."

"Oliver, I would never let anything happen to you or to the others, you know that."

"NO Chloe! That is what I am telling you, I don't know that! I don't trust in that anymore!" His voice rose as he walked around his oak desk, putting space between them.

"God! Oliver!" She yelled as she walked to the opposite side of his desk, exasperated with his not understanding, "TELL ME THEN!" She screamed at him as she slammed her hand on the hard wood her anger breaking through her tentative grasp. "Tell me what I need to do for penance! What do I need to do, Oliver, to be absolved of my sin!" She looked him in the face, her anger taking control loosening her tongue making her say things that she would never have said had she not been angry. "YOU!" she pointed at him, "can NOT tell me that you have NEVER made the wrong decision and have since regretted it. YOU ARE SUCH A HYPERCRIT, OLIVER!" She lowered her hand and placed it palm down on the hard wood of his desk where it joined her other hand and she leaned in over the desk, never breaking eye contact with him. "What makes you so much better than me? At least I chose the one path that protected the people I cared about, and I didn't murder anyone to do it." She threw at him in a low controlled voice, malice dripping off of every word. She knew that bringing up Lex really wasn't a good idea but her brain was not in control at the moment, her anger was.

"Yeah, this time, isn't that right, Chloe? Tell me something, how much blood do YOU actually have on those little hands of yours, huh?" His eyes flickered down to her hands then back to her face. He, too, placed both his hands on his desk and leaned in…He was Oliver Queen and he was NOT going to be intimidated by this little snip of a woman. "How many people have you actually killed in the name of "protecting" Clark?" He sneered at her, "I did what needed to be done," he punctuated each syllable with his finger tapping the desk harshly, "what needed to be done for years but Clark was too self righteous to take care of him. I," he stood to his full height and placed his right hand on his chest, "a mere human, actually had to do what your all powerful Clark couldn't do. I actually had to stop Lex the only way that would stop him forever. Lex would have destroyed the world! THE WORLD, Chloe" he gestured to the globe that was in the corner of the room, "not just Clark. That's where were we differ," he waved his hand back and forth in the air between them, "Chloe, the world…the people of this world-- our world, is what's important to me…not one lone citizen who was sent here to protect us, to save us. Clark may be all powerful, but what is he REALLY doing with his powers? He's a part-time hero in a world filled with full-time criminals. It's time that he stepped up his game, but he doesn't and you don't see anything wrong with that? You just devote your life to worshiping at the 'save the Clark alter.' You," he pointed at her, "are an enabler of the worst kind. No matter what he does, what he avoids, who he refuses to kill…Clark does no wrong in your eyes and you just sacrifice your life for his happiness and he doesn't even appreciate what you do for him. Betraying us for Clark I could possibly understand, but Davis now? DAVIS, CHLOE!" He slammed his hands down hard on his desk. "How could you not tell me about him? How could you hide him and then leave us for him?" Hurt battled his anger in his eyes as he looked at her, "Oh yeah! It was all for Clark! You were willing to place your life and the safety of the world in jeopardy for none other than CLARK FUCKING KENT!" Anger won out over his hurt as he screamed at her.

"So, let me get this straight," she straightened her spine and tapped her chin as if she were thinking through a puzzle, "this is really about Clark…NOT Davis! OLIVER, YOU ARE JEALOUS of Clark Kent! That is your problem." She rounded the desk to stand before him. "This really has nothing to do with my not telling you about Davis…or as you so eloquently put it…my betrayal. This is about YOU," she said as she poked him in the chest, "not having the powers that Clark has or about YOU," she poked him again, "not having the integrity that Clark has. This is about YOU," she shoved him causing him to take a step backward in surprise at her physical attack as she continued. She was so angry. He was punishing her for something that she had nothing to do with but he was blaming it on her, "wanting to be like Clark and KNOWING that you will never be half the man he is because Clark places value on ALL human life and YOU," she poked his chest again, "have taken a life. You want Clark to come down to your level by killing Davis…by taking his life…you think that it will make you even? That Clark won't be a better hero than you are because if he kills Davis then he'd have blood on his hands? Well, I won't let that happen, Oliver! Clark is what this world needs Oliver! He is the hero that will save us. That will bring hope back to humanity. I believe that. He IS Earth's Savior…not you, not me, not even the team. NO, it's Clark. It may bruise your ego to realize that you will NEVER be the hero that Clark Kent will or is but it's a truth that you have to accept. You have two choices Oliver," she held up two fingers of her right hand, "either get over it or get used to it. Oh and for Christ's sake grow up. If you can not forgive me for my mistake, so be it. I don't need friends like you anyway. Clark forgives me and the team forgives me…but I care about you, Oliver." Her voice softened the harsh tone from moments before all but disappeared, "you will one day realize your mistake in refusing to forgive me and by then it will be too late. I may not WANT your forgiveness or your friendship." She stepped closer to him, standing but a breath away from him looking up, her eyes begging him to forgive her…to wrap her in his arms and hold her tight like he had a couple of weeks ago.

"Oliver, you once told Lois that leaving her was going to be the moment in your life that you will look back and regret. You were wrong." She whispered. "If you let me walk into that elevator and out of your life…THAT will be the moment you regret for the rest of your life." Chloe said looking him in the eye. His dark brown eyes turn hard as he waited for Chloe's exposition to end…a hardness that she had seen in his eyes when only looking at his enemies while in his Green Arrow guise. Chloe knew without a doubt that Oliver was not going to stop her. His walls were up, she had hurt him in a way that she never thought that she would ever have. As for penance, she knew that there would be no forgiveness from Oliver this day or even anytime soon. Her friendship with him had been irrevocably damaged. And that knowledge saddened Chloe. She knew that she would miss him more than he would realize.

"Go ahead, Chloe." He leaned down so that he was at eye level with her, "I promise you, your leaving is something I won't regret now or ever. You betrayed not only me, but the team and the people of this world. You made your choice. If the others choose to forgive you that's on them, but to me you are untrustworthy and already gone from my life. You broke that trust the moment Davis showed up and you hid him from us." He took a step backwards away from her. Images of Davis and Chloe various positions flashed through his mind as his imagination went haywire.

"Leave Chloe! Walk away!" He screamed at her and pointed to the servants' elevator, indicating to Chloe that she was nothing more than hired help to him, "You're good at that, aren't you! Leaving…running when things get difficult. I don't need someone like that. You are not who I thought you were, Chloe. I meant it when I said I NEVER thought that you could ever become the enemy but you did…willingly. Our friendship, as well as anything else that was beginning, dissolved in the moment you chose Davis Bloome over not just your friends but over the well-being of the world. I can't even stand to look at you right now, let alone forgive you." He said and the disgust in his eyes and the loathing on his face told Chloe that he was telling the truth.

"Oh Oliver," she said achingly, "I am so sorry that you feel that way." A tear slid from her eye as she began to turn around. "Goodbye Oliver, I loved you." She said quietly. She turned for one last look at him over her shoulder but his back was to her…she had been dismissed. He was walking away from her, heading to his Green Arrow room. Another tear slid from her eye followed by another and then another. A tear for each step that carried her to the servants' lift that Oliver had in his study; she chose to leave via that lift because she couldn't face the other men in the next room. She'd wait for Clark outside; she needed the fresh air to clear her head. She closed her eyes as the lift door slid closed, silently praying that Oliver would stop the door from shutting and whisk her into his arms begging her to forgive his behavior. The loud bang of the door closing into place startled her and made her jump. The door was symbolic to her life, closing the door on her friendship with Oliver Queen forever.

"Sidekick," Oliver croaked out, one lone tear managed to leak from his eye as he watched the door slide close from the monitor in the Green Arrow room, forever locking Chloe out of his life. He watched her in the elevator on the monitor in his study… his eyes never left her. He watched as she struggled to gain control over herself as sobs threatened to convulse her little body. Her little hand pushed against the wall of the elevator as if she were gathering her strength from the metal of the lift. Her eyes closed in an attempt to lock her tears behind her lashes. The sliding door had opened twice before she had the courage to step from it into the lobby of the building. He watched her gather up her resolve, place one foot in front of the other and walked out of his building…out of his life.

What had he done? Was she right about this being about his guilt over killing Lex and his jealousy of Clark? Was he so jealous of Clark being the hero that he had always wanted to be that he let the best thing to ever happen to him walk out of his life forever? He debated with himself about going after her as he continued to pack his Green Arrow gear. He needed a moment to gather himself and make himself presentable. It wouldn't do any good if he walked out of the study looking as though his heart had been torn from his chest…even though it just had. He was Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, he was the leader of a super hero group that saved the world on a daily basis and he had a mission to plan. His heart break would have to wait.

He wiped away the wetness that had gathered on his cheek and walk out to the living room that the guys were in. They all looked up at him, and then looked behind him expectantly.

"She left." He told them curtly as he crossed the room to where they were. "She said what she had to say and then she left. I don't know where she went and at this moment in time I don't care." He said coldly, lifelessly. "If you want to follow her she left down the servants lift in the study, she should be at ground level by now." He said to Clark, but then he slowly looked at each other man…unknowingly nervous about them all leaving him.

"Dude, we have a monster to kill don't we?" AC said to Oliver as Bart and Victor each shook their heads in agreement. Clark on the other hand grabbed his discarded jacket and headed to the elevator that they had entered little over an hour ago.

"Where are you going, Boy Scout?" Victor called to Clark.

"Well," he turned so that he was facing them, "if Chloe's not welcomed here then I guess neither am I. She is my best friend and if she isn't good enough to be here…well, you get the picture. Don't worry about Doomsday, Green Arrow; I will take care of him." Clark looked pointedly at Oliver, "I already have a plan for it. Your services in Metropolis are no longer needed nor are they welcomed here. I suggest you pack your green leather ass into your private jet and scurry back to Star City, because honestly, if I find you here after I take care of Doomsday, I just may do something that we will all regret."

"Are you threatening me, Clark" Oliver stood straight and faced Clark.

"You bet I am, Mr. Queen. You have hurt one of the people that I care about most in the world and next to Doomsday, Oliver; you are number two on my list."

"Oh Dude, so not a good place to be." AC piped in; surprisingly it was Bart who dope slapped him this time. "Sorry Geez, but it needed to be said, Clark could kick Ollie's ass with his little finger."

"Not really helping here, AC, thanks." Oliver said to him.

"Sorry, shutting up now." AC replied as he rubbed the back of his head and glared at Bart.

"Well Clark, if that is how you feel, I am sorry that we couldn't get past this. But I want you to know that no matter what was said or happened between Chloe and me; I will always consider you a friend and will be there to help you should you require the assistance. I can not fault you for showing loyalty to Chloe. That shows the mark of true character. Maybe someday, this can be all worked out, should you need us, we are but a phone call away. Come on guys, Clark seems to have this all under control, let's pack up our gear and head out. Star City needs us just as much, if not more so, than Metropolis." He began to pick up the papers and Clark left the penthouse without so much as a glance back.

"Just like that, Ollie? We're leaving just because Clark said so?" Victor looked at him confused.

"Of course not, guys, the world needs saving. Do you really think that I would fold up shop just like that," he snapped his fingers, "all because Clark is upset that I hurt Chloe's feelings. Please, I'm ok with Clark trying to come after me. I can defend myself." He was the only one who knew about his secret weapon should Clark ever decide to come after him. The Kryptonite ring that he stole from Lex before he killed him would at least by him time to escape Clark. As upset as he was…and though he denied it to Chloe he was jealous of Clark; but in the same breath he respected him and admired him all at the same time. He still considered Clark his friend, strained at the moment but still a friend.

"But Ollie, Clark is one strong dude. AC wasn't kidding when he said that Clark could kick your ass with his little finger." Bart said as he wiggled his pinky, worried that Oliver wasn't thinking clearly because of all the drama that has been going on this morning and the lack of sleep that he's been working through.

"Guys, for once and for all, please stop worrying about this. After the battle with Doomsday is over, then we will leave. But not a moment before, I just said all that stuff to get him out of here. We need to concentrate on the mission; we are not indestructible like he is and I don't want anyone getting hurt. You all are still with me, right?" Oliver looked over at the guys that he considered his family. His insecurities unknowingly playing across his face for them to see...he stood before them as Ollie…not Oliver Queen, not the Green Arrow, he was Ollie the lost orphan boy searching for his family.

"Yeah, Ollie we're with you, man. You know that we always have your back, Dude! So, ok now that all this mushy shit is cleared up, let's get this bad guy!" AC said as he pulled out the satellite diagram that he had been looking at. "I think I know where this guy is hiding. Davis Bloom/Doomsday runs about 10 degrees hotter than normal humans. See this spot here on this grid, I think that's him. He's back in Metropolis and I think he's looking for Chloe."

Oliver sat down in the chair behind the desk and lowered his head into his hands.

"Great! Fucking Great! Of course he'd be searching for her! Freaking magnet for trouble is what she is...has to be at the bloody center of it." He said muffled through his hands. The guys looked at each other quickly and then back to Oliver waiting patiently for him to finish his tirade about Chloe. "Well," he looked up at the guys, "at least no one can say that life around Chloe Sullivan is boring. Come on, let's get a plan figured out before that thing gets to her." He may be angry with her, hurt by what she said and has done, but he didn't want her to be in any danger. Whether he liked it or not, he was still as protective of her today as he was from the beginning and no matter how much he tried to purge her from his heart she still held onto it tightly. No one would ever hurt her as long as he was around.

Tbc…

A/N: Constructive feedback is always appreciated! Thanks for reading! :)

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