Author Note: This keeps growing... I swore to myself this would just be a two-shot. Now we're likely looking at four parts. As for people waiting for Calendar Girl updates... March is coming I swear.

Part 2

What the hell was that? Did that actually happen...had he just kissed her?

Chloe had pressed her body against the back of the door, trying to hold in her embarrassment as she knew that Oliver had witnessed her flushed cheeks before he walked away from her, leaving her to deliberate what just happened. They had held hands before, but usually it was their little joke to misdirect the tabloids that always thought they were dating, but he had never kissed her. It was short, sweet, and innocent, but for some reason, Chloe couldn't shake the unexpected feeling it gave her. Oliver always had a way of surprising her, starting from the day they met.

It was her eighth birthday and she was walking through the hallway of the lobby to talk to her father when a tennis ball hit her square on the back of the head. Chloe winced in pain, but held her strength as she turned and saw a slightly older blonde boy walking up to her repeatedly apologizing.

She had thought about telling him to stop, but instead she shoved the ball back in his direction, catching him slightly off balance, but he managed to catch it and gave her a smirk as he looked back up. Her dad called her to his post and scolded her for messing with his boss' son, however, when he wasn't looking, Chloe noticed Oliver was laughing at her, so she stuck her tongue at him.

Later that night, he came by with a cupcake with a candle in it. He wished her a happy birthday and asked if she wanted to play the next day.

It was rare that the boy who lived on the top floor wanted anything to do with the doorman's daughter who lived on the second floor, but that moment was a beginning of a beautiful friendship.

"You alright Chloe?"

Shaking from her reverie, Chloe blinked a couple times and noticed her dad was staring at her like she was going insane... then again, maybe she was.

"Fine," she said. "Just... going to have a shower."

"You had fun at the party?"

Chloe racked her brain as she remembered the party before she saw Oliver. It was the birthday party of one of her father's friends, who coincidentally worked for Queen Industries, but when Chloe showed up in her father's place, she had fully expected to see Mr. or Mrs. Queen.

"Yeah, it was good."

"Did you see Oliver while you were there?"

Her eyes immediately widened. "How did you –?"

Gabe grinned at her. "Why did you think I wanted you to go?"

"Wait, so you didn't have to work?"

"Not until 8, I've got the graveyard shift tonight." Gabe grabbed his coat and slipped it through his arms and picked up his key from the coffee table. Meanwhile, Chloe turned to look over at the clock. 7:50. Even though the party went into the night, Chloe told her father that she would be home for dinner at five.

"Dad, I – "

Adjusting his hat, Gabe interrupted, "No need to explain, kiddo. I'm sure you two had a lot to catching up to do. Leftovers are in the fridge."

"Thanks Dad."

Without further word, Gabe left their apartment and Chloe could feel sense there was a lot more going on there then he was telling her, but Chloe decided to let it go, and just have a shower to clear her head.

As she listened to the silence that filled the apartment, Chloe realized for the first time what it must have been like for her father after she left. Chloe did feel bad for spontaneously leaving, but she needed a change of scenery, and it took living away for those three years for her to realize all of the good things she had in Star City.

Losing her mother was tough, but she had family, friends... an actual social life. In Kansas, Chloe got so caught up in her work because she was afraid of meeting new people. However, losing her job made her realize that she had pushed away the people she cared about, and caught the first plane she could back to Star City.

Upon landing, she took a cab to the cemetery and visited to her mom for the first time since the funeral. Chloe apologized for the delay and told her that whenever it rained, she always thought of her... which was true. Even as the cold water of the shower splashed against her bare skin, she couldn't help but remember leaving the hospital that day.

Moira Sullivan had been in and out of the hospital for two years, so when Chloe heard that her mother had finally succumbed to lung cancer, her initial reaction was relief... relief that her mother was at peace. But the further she got away from her room, the more the sadness had set in.

Seeing that it was raining outside, Chloe felt her emotions getting the best of her, so she rushed towards her car to try and be alone. However, Oliver had seen her and grabbed her arm before she had a chance to reach her so-called refuge. Seeing him drenched, searching her eyes for a sign of her current emotions was the final straw, and Chloe caved. They must have stood in that parking lot for what felt like an hour, but despite the rain, Oliver never moved and insisted on taking care of her for the next couple days after she fell ill.

Feeling the water slowly warm up reminded her of the warmth of his body as he wrapped her up in his arms to cheer her up. She instinctively lifted her arms, but soon after, opened her eyes to remind herself that he wasn't there this time, and this was just her imagination.

However, when she needed him, Chloe could always rely on Oliver, because while he did all those things for her, her boyfriend at the time refused to cancel his surfing trip to Mexico when her mother's diagnosis worsened, and even after her passing, he refused to come home. So the moment he showed up at her door, she slammed it in his face. Chloe was tired of being treated like garbage, so she decided to not go out with the first guy who asked, and only dated three guys after her mother died.

The first one, Eric, ended after two months. He was hot and he could make her coffee better than anyone, but he never shut up about his so-called acting ability. Then came Ben, who decided to completely embarrass her by talking about their sex life (but usually the lack thereof) to all of his friends... that was nine months down the drain. Then, the cherry on top...Tim. Chloe dated him for almost two years, and she actually liked Tim, and thought they had potential for something. That was until she found that Tim had been cheating on her for six months. When asked why he did that to her, Tim said simply that he was jealous of Oliver and accused Chloe of being in love with him, which Chloe thought was ridiculous.

Of course Chloe loved Oliver; he was her best friend after all. Besides, who wouldn't be in love with the boy next door (or fifty stories up) if he always looked out for her and kept her happy, no matter what? They may have been known as the prince and the pauper in the papers, but he looked at her like she mattered, which was more than she could say for any of her boyfriends. Oliver was the best friend that she could possibly ask for, and nothing was going to change that. Unfortunately, Tim failed to grasp the idea that there is more than one type of love, and all he said as he left the room was that she had it coming.

Asshole was the only thing she said back.

So after the Tim fiasco, which no one actually found out about, Chloe decided to give up dating altogether for a while and explore the world outside of California. It killed her leaving Oliver without saying goodbye, but she figured that leaving while he was on a business trip with his dad would make saying goodbye easier. However, if Chloe didn't know it was wrong before their eyes met at the party, she sure did now.

Fortunately, she had enough courage to approach him, and after their long embrace, Chloe felt confident that Oliver was willing to forgive her... until he kissed her.

Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed a towel to wrap around herself as she left the clothes she had been wearing pooled on the floor. Chloe knew she was just overreacting to the whole thing... he was just happy to see her, nothing wrong with that.

~0~

The next afternoon, Chloe left the apartment with an ice cream pail in hand. It wasn't the best form of presentation... but it was the best she could do on short notice. Walking into the elevator, she pressed the penthouse button and held her breath as she watched the elevator doors close.

The entire ride up, Chloe thought about what she should say to her. Laura Queen had always been accepting of her, but so much time had gone by.

Here goes, Chloe thought as she knocked on the door, this was the moment of truth.

She waited patiently for about twenty seconds, and was about to leave when Laura's smiling face came into her line of vision. "Oliver told me that he ran into you yesterday, come on in Chloe."

Lifting up her pail, Chloe smiled widely as she entered the room. "I bring cookies. Oliver told me it might clear the air in the board room."

Robert Queen entered the room and quickly stole the pail from Chloe. Looking over to his wife, he smiled as he left. "Great idea having me come home for lunch, dear." He tipped his head in Chloe's direction, "Chloe, it's a pleasure to see you're back."

Laura sighed as she watched her husband walk into the elevator. Seeing her reaction, Chloe pulled a Ziploc bag from her coat pocket. "I figured he might do that... so I saved a couple for you. I'm afraid I'm not as good of a baker as my mom, but–"

"Thank you." Laura gestured her to sit down. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No, I'm fine."

Laura walked over to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. "So Oliver tells me that you're looking for an apartment."

Settling on the couch, Chloe nodded. "Yeah, considering I'm likely being blacklisted for any journalist work in Kansas, I figured there was no place like home."

"If you have any issues finding a job, you know you can come to us, right?"

"No offence Mrs. Queen, but I hope it doesn't come to that."

"How many times have I told you to call me Laura?"

Chloe smiled. "Enough times, I'm sure."

"Anyway... I was wondering if you wanted to go apartment hunting with me. The final say would be yours, but I have a friend who sells apartments around here and she's waiting on our call."

"Laura... you don't have to do that. I -"

The older women put a finger up to stop Chloe from continuing. "Believe me... as happy as you are to be home right now... you'll want your own space soon."

Chloe realized the validity in her point and nodded again. "I'd love to."

~0~

For the next three hours, Laura's realtor had showed Chloe multiple apartments. The first was a fixer-upper that Chloe knew she had no time to fix-up; the second looked like something out of a catalogue, which actually terrified Chloe; and while she liked the third one, the only way she was making the rent was if she sold everything she had.

The fourth however, was perfect: the size, the price, and it even had a neighbourhood coffee shop at the end of the block. Within minutes, Chloe had signed the papers to move in and she felt like celebrating. Wondering back to her father's flat, she quickly found the red dress she had been saving for a night out.

Truth be told, she bought it her first week in Metropolis in case she had a social life, but she didn't have time between chasing down leads and avoiding trouble. The few nights she did have was spent at home, trying to recuperate enough for the next month's workload.

Doing up the ankle clasp on her black stilettos, Chloe grabbed her coat and clutch and headed for the door. Despite initially considering meeting him there, Laura said that Oliver had been working all day, even refusing a family lunch, so she figured he would have a harder time refusing her in person.

Feeling the cool breeze against her legs, Chloe was grateful for her coat as she made the trek to surprise him, although he'd likely kill her for walking alone while it was dark out. However, the walk was short, and nothing happened, so she simply smiled as the people in the lobby kindly greeted her and a man held the elevator door for her.

Once she got to his floor, she walked directly to his office and noticed that his assistant was in the process of logging off for the night. She always liked Katie because she was like Chloe, they had no money in comparison to board members, but that didn't stop them from respecting either woman.

They took a couple moments to catch up before saying their goodbyes and then Katie added, "You probably don't want to go in there. It hasn't been an easy day for him."

Chloe sighed, "Thanks for the warning, but I can handle him."

"I never said that." Katie said before taking down the hallway.

With a grin, Chloe opened the door to his office and realized that hadn't even caused Oliver to look up. "Your mother said that you might still be here."

Fortunately, her voice snapped Oliver out of his deliberation. "Someone's got to make sure that..." Oliver's voice trailed when he looked up and watched Chloe undo a couple buttons of her coat, partially revealing the dress. "Where are you going?"

"Out... and you're coming with me."

Looking back at his paperwork, he shook his head. "Believe me, I'd love to, but I have to take care of this."

Chloe placed her hands on the desk and leaned down to look at him. "You've been here since what... 6 am? You need to get out of here, Oliver, even your father's saying that you're working too hard."

"Says the workaholic who didn't return a single phone call after she skipped town." Upon saying it, Oliver dropped his pen and looked up at Chloe, whose expression had soured. "You're right, when I'm acting like a complete asshole to you... probably a good time to call it a day."

She bowed her head. "Ollie, I..."

Getting up from his chair, Oliver put his hand on her shoulder. "I could have visited, you could have called... we could have done a lot of things... but that doesn't matter now, not to me."

"I am sorry."

Moving away from her to grab his coat, he looked back towards her and gave her his best smile. "I know." He put his arm around her shoulder as they walked out of his office. "So what's the plan?"

"You're buying me a drink, possibly several, at the new hot spot to celebrate me buying a new place."

"When?" Oliver asked as he pressed the button for the elevator.

"This afternoon, I mean, I can't move in for a couple of weeks, but I figured, what the hell?"

"Beats working," he replied, watching the elevator doors close.

~0~

Within minutes, they had found themselves sitting at the bar, downing a couple shots and commenting on the pompousness of some of the club's patrons. It was just like old times, when they sat at functions shamelessly mocked the people Oliver couldn't stand. Sure, it was childish, but considering you had to pay $40 for beer in a wine glass, they honestly didn't care.

As Chloe scanned the place for a new target, her eyes immediately widened at the sight of a familiar face.

"Anna!"

The woman turned around upon hearing the muffled calling of her name, but once she saw Chloe, she quickly ran up to hug her. "I heard rumours... but I refused to believe they were true."

Anna had been their favourite barista at Tahli's. She couldn't make an almond mocha to save her life, but her smile and overall manner were superior to any other person there. She left once Eric started working there because she honestly couldn't tolerate him, which should have been a clue to Chloe because Anna got along with pretty much anyone.

"How have you been?" Oliver asked.

"Better question, can you finally make an almond mocha?" Chloe added.

Anna shook her head and replied, "Not good enough for your standards I'm afraid, but I'm good."

"God, how long has it been?"

"Well, I quit Tahli's..."

A man approached Anna and kissed her on the cheek. "There you are," he turned to look at Chloe with a subtle grin. "You're back."

"I am," Chloe said, almost frozen in place upon seeing his face. After taking a second to look between Oliver and Anna, she turned back to him and asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute... in private?"

Chloe dragged the man across the club to find a place private... this wasn't a conversation she wanted to have with an audience. When she stopped walking she turned to face him with angry eyes, "What the hell are you doing?"

"You don't get to tell me who to date."

She sighed. "I know that Tim, you didn't exactly listen to me when we were dating. You cheated on me, remember?"

"Well, I was right, wasn't I?" Tim asked as he pointed in the direction from where they came from. "Just friends, my ass. You come back with your tail between your legs and voila, just like I always said."

"It's not like that."

He let out a sarcastic chuckle and muttered, "Right."

Chloe furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, not caring that he didn't believe her. "What happened to you? You used to be a decent guy."

He hovered over Chloe, causing her to back up to a wall. "You compare everyone to him, you know that? After a while, it's a little hard for a regular guy to measure up to Oliver Queen."

She shoved him back and shot him a glare. "That's not it, and you know it. I refuse to let you hurt Anna, she's a good person."

"Yeah, she thinks we broke up because of the job offer. Funny how you never mentioned the real reason to anyone."

"I felt humiliated, and besides, I thought you were leaving for Chicago after we broke up, so it seemed unnecessary. But you're right," Chloe said as she tried to walk around him, "Anna deserves to know the truth."

Tim grabbed her arm and yanked her back against the wall. "You'll do no such thing, you know why? Because you'll hurt Anna more than I could, and then Oliver would know how you really feel."

Chloe tried to pull her arm loose, however Tim wouldn't budge. "Oh please, do we really have to go through this again?"

"You hide behind a facade... or maybe you really don't see it, but remember at the end of the day, you're the pauper to his prince and while your little game sells papers, he'll get bored with you and dump you on the side of the road when it's convenient."

"Oliver's nothing like you." Chloe spat. "And I have no idea what I ever saw in you."

She tried breaking his grip again, but Tim tightened it, and upon seeing her recoil, his snide smile grew, "See, you say all that, but beneath all that snark... you're just a scared little girl."

"Let her go."

She saw Tim roll his eyes as he turned to face Oliver with his hands in the air. "She's all yours, she always was."

Chloe walked around Tim and behind Oliver, but before she had a chance to say anything, she saw Tim dropping to the ground like a fly and Oliver shaking his hand.

"Oliver!"

Tim wasn't a weakling by any means, so he was up on his feet soon after, ready to fight back, but security soon intervened and escorted both of them out with Chloe not far behind. Once they let them go, they were ready to fight right on the street, but Chloe stepped in between them and glared at the two men.

"Stop! Both of you, please." Looking up at Tim, she warned. "Go home."

Fortunately for Chloe, he backed off. "Fine, I'll go."

Once he was out of sight, Oliver muttered, "Asshole."

"Yeah," Chloe said through a slight chuckle, "he is." Turning to face him, she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Fine, how about you?" He stroked the place where Tim had grabbed her arm and then looked up into her eyes.

With a shrug, Chloe broke away from him and began to walk away. "As good as can be expected."

"Why didn't you tell me he cheated on you?"

Chloe's eyebrows furrowed as she turned around. "There's no way you could have heard that."

"I didn't... Anna did."

"Crap, that wasn't how I wanted her to find out. Is she okay?"

"I got my driver to take her home... she's fine. We'll have to walk back though, and I'll likely crash at my folks' place tonight, so if you don't mind the company..."

Chloe hadn't heard anything Oliver said because she couldn't stop thinking about what happened between her and Tim. When he dating, he was always sweet to her, but now it just felt like one big lie. She slunk forward as she continued to walk down the block, but she could hear his footsteps behind her. "I feel so stupid. Was he always that bad?"

"No... he was one of the good ones." It was the truth, of all of her exes, Tim was the last one that Oliver thought that he'd have to do that to, but after hearing the truth from a confused Anna, he had to.

"Says wonders for my judgment if he's one of the good ones," Chloe said sarcastically.

Oliver grabbed her shoulder and stopped her from getting away. "Don't blame yourself. He was a good person... he isn't anymore, that's not your fault."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know you... you bring out the best in everyone." Oliver turned her around and tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "And for the record, I'm not going to get bored with you. If anything, you're stuck with me."

Managing a smile, Chloe nodded. "I know, but thanks."

Taking the next couple blocks in silence, Oliver saw the doorman at his parent's building and asked, "Does your dad know?"

Chloe's eyes widened, "No, and you can't tell him." She waved at Stan, the other doorman, as she walked into the building and headed to the stairwell.

"Well, this is where I take my leave," Oliver said as he started for the elevators. "I'm all for exercise, but even I have my limits."

"Okay."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I think so." She smiled at him as she started up the stairs, but hearing her heels against the cold metal stairs scared her, and Chloe knew it didn't get easier once she got into the apartment with her dad out of town. Jumping down the few stairs she did climb, she opened the door and found Oliver stepping into the elevator, but he saw her and walked out quickly before the doors had a chance to close.

"Hey you," he said softly, not really sure what else to say.

"Can you do me a favour?"

"Anything."

"My dad's on a golfing trip for the next couple of days... and I don't want to be alone right now."

Oliver nodded and walked with her up to the stairs and into her apartment. He watched her take off her shoes and throw her coat across the room. Oliver followed suit, folding his coat over a kitchen chair and settling on a living room couch. He was about to close his eyes when he heard her calling his name. Standing up, he tapped on her door before opening it to find Chloe on her bed still in her dress.

"Can you... can you stay with me?"

"You sure?"

Seeing her nod, Oliver laid down next to her as Chloe cuddled up against him and shut her eyes. Instinctively wrapping his arms around her, Oliver pressed her closer and kissed the top of her head before he let himself fall asleep.