Part 4
With the last box into the moving van, Anna looked over to Chloe and asked, "That's it?"
"I think so," Chloe answered, "Thanks again for helping me out."
"I'm always willing to help out... especially when your partner in crime's out of town."
Chloe and Oliver had been inseparable since they saw each other at the party, but he had been away on business with his father for two weeks, while Chloe had been busy with job applications and getting ready to move. While Chloe understood that they weren't kids anymore, and with that came the responsibilities of the future, that didn't make her miss him any less.
Getting into the car, Chloe looked over at her purse. "Speaking of Oliver... that recording you gave me... that was the only copy, right?"
"Yes," Anna replied.
"Good," Chloe said as she pushed her key into the ignition, "because I destroyed it."
"Did you..."
"No," Chloe interrupted, knowing the question that was on her mind. "I got to the point where you offer him someone to talk to, and then I stopped it."
"Why?"
Chloe sighed as she glanced in her rear-view mirror before switching lanes. "That recording wasn't from three years ago... it was from that morning, wasn't it?"
Anna bowed her head and whispered, "And if it was?"
"Then I'm not going to let you throw away your friendship with Oliver over a lapse of judgment. You know better than that."
"I… just wanted something good to happen to make up for what I did to you two."
She stopped a traffic light and turned her head towards the passenger side. "You came clean... crazy as that sounds, that would have been enough for me. Look, I'm willing to give you a second chance, but I need you to promise me that you won't revert back to desperate measures to solve problems."
"Okay," Anna said while nodding nervously.
"You can relax, you know," Chloe said with a smile, but when Anna's expression didn't change, she turned her head towards the road. "You screwed up, I'm not disputing that. But I know you meant well."
Anna broke her silence, "That doesn't make what I did better. That doesn't mean I even deserve a second chance."
"Considering all of the things you could have written, you held back a lot in your articles. Furthermore, you could have sold that recording if it was that important and you didn't. You're a good person, Anna, remember that."
"Okay," Anna said as she watched Chloe pull into a parking spot. "If you don't mind me asking…what made you stop listening? Weren't you at least a little curious?"
Chloe eyebrows quirked up as she retracted her seatbelt. "Of course, but if Oliver wants to tell me something, he will."
"And if he doesn't?"
"Then it's none of my business," Chloe answered as she opened the door.
After that, there wasn't a lot of conversation between the two women as they lifted boxes up to Chloe's apartment. It was just as perfect as Chloe remembered it and she was looking forward to having her own space in Star City. Anna was over at the window, admiring the view when she noticed a single box was still left in the van. As Chloe had already started unpacking, Anna figured that she could grab it.
"I'll be right back," Anna said as she left the apartment. She quickly descended down the elevator and ran to grab it when she heard a familiar voice.
"Why don't you let me carry that?"
Anna felt herself catching her breath as she peered up and saw Oliver's smiling face. Before she had a chance to catch herself, she blurted, "I was a undercover tabloid reporter for seven months."
"What?"
"I betrayed your trust twice and I don't deserve your friendship. I'm sorry."
"Anna, slow down."
"Three years ago and two weeks ago... I recorded a particular conversation. The first time was by accident, the other... any reason I can give you wouldn't condone it, nor the fact I gave it to Chloe."
"You gave it to - "
Seeing his eyes widen, Anna interjected, "She didn't listen to it, not the part that mattered. Just the beginning. And she was willing to give me a second chance that I'm not sure I deserve."
"Why tell me all this now?"
"I don't want this to be a secret between you two," Anna replied honestly.
"Anna, we're not..."
"Doesn't matter what you are. I want you to be able to trust her, and I'm don't want to be in the way of that." Anna dropped the box back to the pavement. "But you're right, you probably should carry that up. I've got work anyway."
She began to walk away when she heard Oliver say, "For what it's worth, thank you for being honest with me."
Anna turned her head to the side and said, "You're welcome," with a slight smile. "Goodbye Oliver."
Oliver watched her walk down the sidewalk, not really sure what to feel at that moment. Picking up the box, he began to head up to the apartment. Truthfully, he was hoping to help more with the move, but the business trip took more time than he wanted.
At her door, he noticed Chloe was in the middle of unpacking a box when he knocked on the door with his elbow.
"Hey Anna, did you happen to get the last box from the -" Chloe turned around and saw Oliver, and he noticed how her smile grew exponentially. "You're back." She quickly took the box and set it down so that she could hug him.
Oliver returned the embrace as his eyes lifted to look around the apartment. "Nice place."
"Thank you," Chloe said as she took a step back. Sighing as she looked at the boxes scattered throughout the apartment, she added, "It's funny…I don't remember having this much when I moved back."
"Probably because you had more guys at your mercy than just me."
She furrowed her eyebrows as she turned her head in his direction. "Come on... it was just one box." When Oliver quirked a eyebrow at her reaction, she just scoffed at him. "Oh please, you make me sound like I'm some kind of guy magnet."
He asked, "Well... who helped you unload your stuff when you moved home?"
"I was lifting a couple of my boxes when a couple brothers offered to help. Add the moving guy..." Her voice trailed as Chloe noticed Oliver's smile widening. "It wasn't like that."
"How many of them left you their number?"
Chloe opened her mouth to respond, but soon after realization came across her face and she buried it in her hand. After letting Oliver enjoy his victory for a few seconds, she pointed out, "That doesn't mean I called any of them."
"Well... the actual unpacking is your job because I have to head back to work for awhile. I just wanted to drop off my house-warming gift considering my old man beat me to the punch." He held out two coffee gifts cards, one for Tahli's, and the other for the place on Chloe's block. "$100 each... figured they might last a week."
"Ollie... you didn't have to."
"Well, my mom helped you find the place, and I wasn't able to help with the move, so... I did actually have to do this." Picking up the stray newspaper on the counter, he added, "Any luck on the job front for you?"
Chloe nodded. "Interview on Tuesday with the Register... wish me luck?"
He put the newspaper back down and started walking towards the door. "You don't need it. You'll knock them dead with what you've done, and if you need anything, tell them to call my dad."
"I hope I won't have to... that'll likely cost me more than a couple dozen cookies."
"Well, he did buy you a new mixing bowl," Oliver pointed out.
"Can't say I'm surprised though. Mom's old one was getting pretty run down." Chloe walked up to him and gave him a hug. "Thanks."
"My pleasure."
~0~
Chloe was surprised to hear a knock on her door just minutes after Oliver left. Figuring he forgot something, she looked around, but she couldn't find anything. Opening the door, however, she found a different face on the other side. "Laura, how are you?"
"I'm doing well."
"Come on in."
"Thank you," Laura said as she walked into the apartment. "Looks like you've got quite the task ahead of you."
"Truer words never spoken." Chloe swiped the dirt off her fingers and headed towards another box. "Would you like something to drink? If you give me a minute, I'll likely be able to track down my glasses."
Laura shook her head. "Actually, I was wondering what your plans were for tonight."
"Unpacking?"
"There's an event at the Govenor's Ballroom that Robert and were supposed to attend, but he's been called away on business. I was hoping you'd accompany me as my plus one."
"Why not take Oliver?"
"He's already going, and besides, I know there would be plenty of people who would want to see you."
"Do you remember what happened at the last function I went to?"
"That's ancient history at this point." Laura said. "Please Chloe, I hate going to these things alone."
"Okay, why not?"
"Great." Laura had walked over for the door, but when she didn't hear any noise behind her, she stopped in the doorway and looked back at Chloe. "Something wrong?"
"No, it's just that –"
"Good, because we have plenty to do and only so much time."
Sighing as she grabbed her purse, Chloe smiled as she followed Laura out of her apartment.
~0~
After making his entrance, Oliver immediately noticed Chloe at the bar. She looked beautiful as always, but she looked lonely as she leaned against the counter with an empty champagne glass in her hand. Grabbing two full glasses from the nearest waiter, he walked over to her and handed her one of the glasses. "I always thought you'd refuse to come to one of these things after you spilled red wine on the Senator's wife's dress."
Placing her other glass on the counter before accepting his, Chloe said, "So did I, but your mother's very persuasive."
"She pulled the whole 'don't let me face them alone speech,' didn't she?"
Chloe playfully smacked his arm. "Hey, you're not allowed to mock it...it worked for you on multiple occasions."
"True, but she's had more practice dealing with these people than I did when I used it."
"Where's your date?" Chloe asked as she sipped her champagne.
"I came solo tonight. Actually, I stopped caring about plus ones about three years."
"Well, it's good to know that you're officially off the bimbo diet," Chloe blurted, not realizing how silly it sounded until the words left her lips.
"The bimbo diet?"
She shook her head before replying, "Sorry, I have no idea where that came from."
Oliver laughed as he stared out into the crowds of people mingling. "By the way...I found the article online...quite the dirt you picked on Luthor."
After Lex fired her, Chloe gave her scoop to an Internet blogger, but he made sure to credit Chloe for the intel. "I lost my job, so the truth had to be printed. Lex may not get jail time, but the humiliation will be enough."
"You know that he'll come after you."
"I know, but I can take care of anything he throws at me. Worst case scenario, you could put those muscles to good use." She glared up at him before adding, "Or your greenbacks."
Oliver's eyes narrowed. "What, you don't think I can take on Lex?"
Facing the people on the dance floor, Chloe leaned her elbows back on the counter. "Oh, you can handle him... I just don't know if you can handle the possibility of your pretty face getting mucked up before the TKO."
A single chuckle escaped Oliver as he asked, "You think I'm pretty?"
"Come on Oliver... you've been on several magazine covers, and you're Star City's most eligible bachelor. Let's face it... you could point at any girl in this place and she would likely do anything you asked." She turned her head to narrow her eyes at him. "You know that you're hot stuff."
"Interesting way of not answering a question," Oliver pointed out as he put his glass on the counter.
"It's not avoiding answering if it's common knowledge," Chloe replied.
"You've never said it before."
Chloe said with a shrug, "I kept you grounded... you had your girlfriends to satisfy the ego stroking."
Oliver opened his mouth to speak, hesitating on what he was about to say, but said it anyway. "As far as I'm concerned, you're the only real girlfriend I had."
"What?"
This was the point of no return, he thought, as he said his next words. "Other than my mom, you're the only woman that actually means anything to me."
Chloe stuttered before she finally managed to say, "Oh," while trying to hide her reddening cheeks. "Excuse me," she said as she started walking through the room.
Watching her walk away, Oliver just shook his head. Well… he tried. Grabbing another champagne glass, he downed it in one gulp and was ready for the night to be over, but after a few minutes, he turned his head to see his mother approaching him with a slight grin on his face.
"Evening dear."
"You look beautiful, mom."
"Thank you," she said as she stood beside him. "Are you planning on re-joining the party... or are you looking for Chloe to come back?"
"I think I scared her away," Oliver said with defeat.
"You caught her off-guard maybe, but this fell out of her purse on the way out." Laura leaned against the bar before placing Chloe's cell phone on the wood counter. "You know how much she relies on it, so you should probably go return it to her."
She noticed her son staring at the phone with great interest, but instead of taking it, he picked up his glass and began to walk away. Instinctively, Laura grabbed his arm to keep him from getting away. It may have seemed like a move of desperation, but all she wanted was to see Oliver smile like he did when he was around her.
Laura picked up the cell phone and walked around him to face him straight-on. "Oliver... this is as much of a glass slipper you're going to get."
Averting his eyes from his mother, Oliver leaned back against the bar. "It's not like that."
"I know...this isn't a chance encounter that ends at midnight. Chloe is no Cinderella because she's a strong woman who doesn't listen to anyone's rules but her own. You're better than Prince Charming, because you won't forget her in the morning and you treat her like an equal even when she's wearing sweatpants."
"What if she says no?"
"Then she says no, but I highly doubt she will."
Laura placed the cell phone back on the counter as she left Oliver there to deliberate.
~0~
"You think it would be easy to find a pillow," Chloe muttered to herself as she filtered through the boxes that filled her apartment. Her bed wasn't set to arrive for another week, so she had set out an air mattress and a blanket in a clear area of the room, but she couldn't find her pillow for the life of her.
Granted, she would be looking harder if she wasn't still in the dress. Chloe knew it looked silly, but she loved the way the dress felt on her, like it was meant for her, and for a moment, she could fit in with the world the Queen's lived in. She felt terrible for leaving the way she did, but she wasn't sure that she could face Oliver right now. There were too many things going on in her head, and she didn't want to do something she regretted.
With her head buried in a box, she heard a knock on her door. She raised an eyebrow, wondering who it could possibly be at this hour.
"Oliver!" Chloe said in shock, trying to fix her hair, which had become slightly dishevelled due to her burrowing it in boxes. "What are you doing here?"
"My mom told me to give you this." He held her cell phone and waited for her to take it.
"I didn't even know that I had lost it... thanks," Chloe said as she took it from him, "You didn't have to come all this way, though."
"I wanted to." Looking around her, Oliver raised an eyebrow at the state of her apartment. "Were you robbed?"
She sighed in frustration, "No... I'm trying to find my pillow."
"Can I help?"
"Sure... why not?"
Her response came across with a hint of nervousness, but she didn't want him to think anything was off. However, as the minutes ticked by, Chloe was ready to give up and call it a night when all of a sudden she felt she felt her pillow hit the back of her head.
"You could have just told me that you found it."
Turning around, Chloe picked up her pillow from the floor and looked at Oliver grinning at her. As he took a step towards her, he said, "I know, but that way was more fun."
"So…you're not sorry this time?"
Taking another step, Oliver shook his head. "No... I definitely meant to do that."
"Fine... I'm not sorry for this." Chloe tossed the pillow back with as much force as she could. Oliver had caught it with ease and as he stared at it, but remembering her reaction from earlier that night, a frown came across his face. He handed it back to Chloe and turned to leave when she said, "Since I've been back, there's been something different about you. I figured it was time, space... the usual things. But it's not... is it?"
"No," he admitted with his back still facing her. The words had froze him because he hadn't been expecting them, but he tried to sell that he was okay.
"As much as a jerk Tim was to me… he was right about one thing. All my ex-boyfriends... I compared them to you. I don't think it ever crossed my mind until... until I woke up that morning and was disappointed you were gone. Then you've been gone for the last couple of weeks… it made me see that the city was a lot emptier without you."
She paused momentarily as she watched Oliver turn around, taking a breath before continuing. "And then tonight, when you were talking about how important I was to you... I realized that everything I wanted was right in front of me."
"What are you saying?"
"I... I think I'm in love with you." She walked closer to him and placed a hand on his cheek.
"What?" Oliver couldn't believe his ears.
Upon hearing his question, Chloe blinked a couple times and quickly retracted her hands. "Oh my god... I feel so stupid. I thought that..." Turning her back to him, she began to walk away. "Forget I said anything."
Oliver quickly grabbed her hand and said, "Not going to happen... not when I've been in love with you for six years."
"What?" It was Chloe's turn to be confused, as she turned her head slightly, looked into his eyes for a sign on insincerity, but there wasn't one to be found. "Six years?"
"Six years," Oliver quietly replied.
Chloe took a single step away, trying to grasp what was happening. Looking up, she noticed her cell phone sitting atop of one of the boxes. She wasn't lying when she said that she didn't know that she had lost it. The only time her purse wasn't in her possession was when she left it with Laura for a couple of minutes as she straightened herself up in the bathroom. Laura knew exactly what she was doing... but Chloe knew Oliver had been acting differently too, and now it all made sense. All along... it had been her.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"You weren't ever single long enough for to ever try," Oliver replied with a hint of defeat.
"That's not true. I was single for two months after I dumped what's-his-name."
"Care to narrow the guy down?"
After trying to remember his name, Chloe said, "The guy I was dating when my mom di... oh."
"I didn't want to be the rebound guy, the pity boyfriend... I wanted it to be something real... but then you left and I figured I wouldn't see you again. When I did, I…" He stopped talking as he noticed Chloe bringing her fingertips to her lips, "Yeah... I meant to do that too."
Chloe smiled as she finally turned to face him. Taking a deep breath she lifted herself up to kiss him. The motion had caused Oliver to back up, his head hitting the door, but the slight pain was the last thing on his mind, as he was quick to return the kiss as he pulled her as close as he could.
They backed away and Chloe began to lower herself back to the ground, trailing a finger down his chest, stopping just short of his waist before she stopped and looked up at him. "So what do we do now?"
"Whatever we want," Oliver said as he threaded his fingers through her hair.
"In that case... this is my first night in my new apartment, and while I checked the neighbourhood out... who knows what's lurking downstairs?"
"Say no more." Oliver leaned in to kiss her cheek before leading her to where her mattress was set up.
"You'll have to sleep on the floor," Chloe said with a slight frown.
"Not a problem," Oliver said, slipping off his jacket and putting it on one of the boxes. Chloe watched him settle on the floor, and she quickly followed suit. "What about your pillow?" he asked as he placed his arm under her head.
"I don't need it anymore," she said as she shuffled off her mattress to allow herself to be as near to him as possible. When she was fully comfortable, she nestled her head on his chest and whispered, " 'Night Ollie."
"Goodnight," he said as he watched Chloe shut her eyes.
Oliver couldn't wipe the grin off his face. She was here, wrapped in his arms, and not only did she want to be there, but she also loved him too. He had been waiting for this moment for six years, and while had been a lot of bumps along the way, she was finally his, and he was finally hers. Whisking a loose bang from her eyes, he stared into her peaceful face.
It was that moment he realized that Chloe Sullivan was no longer the one who got away, she was the one.
~End~
Author Note: First off, I have to apologize for the third part, the recording was supposed to be important, and then I ended rewriting this part entirely (twice) and part of me just wants to scrap the storyline altogether, but it was too late. However, I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless and to make up for it (for some anyway)... a preview for the CG sequel "Notbroken" which I'm likely going to post sometime next week:
"Taking a step back to see her reflection, she felt herself catching her breath at the image staring back at her. A lot had changed in a couple years. Where there were youthful and sloppy curls, there was a shiny flawless straight bob. Before, her definition of fancy was maybe a twenty-dollar hairpin, but now she had diamond accessories. Smoothing her fingers over her ivory silk gown, Chloe knew that she was no longer in Kansas.
Even though this had been her life for two years, she still wasn't used to it. The fancy parties, the big decisions, it was still over her head, but she sold the act well because beneath the confident exterior was still that insecure girl that came to Star City because of heartbreak. It was because of him that she got over that, it was because of him that she started believing in herself... it was because of him that she stood where she did now.
'You should see me now,' she whispered."