I know I said Thursday it would be up and I am so sorry it's been this badly delayed. But when shit hits the fan, shit seriously hits the fan, sprays the walls and covers the carpets. It's been a monster of a week and i'm super ready for it to be finished. This fanfiction however... I'm having trouble letting go and finishing my editing of the last chapter :'(
There won't be a post this Monday (tomorrow) but the Monday after (24th), the last chapter (/chapters -might be in two parts, haven't decided yet) will be up and the fanfiction will be out of my hands entirely allowing a new dream to entertain my fanfiction brain.
You guys have been amazing, I cannot thank you enough for the support and reviews. If you can somehow guess the ending I will seriously tip my hat to you, haha. Otherwise please forgive if this chapter seems a little 'off' my usual work standard, I have a thumping headache and running on very little sleep due to said shit hitting said fan (For those who didn't read the original update; my housemate has been in and out of A&E and my good friend duties have been tested to the extreme- he should be fine now though, -fingers crossed- thank you for your kind words).
Previously; AC pulled injured Arrow from the wreck of 33.1 F-Wing after Lex set of the self-destruction of his secret lab. Dinah and Bart discovered the occupants of the 'storage room'; one dead, the other Chloe. Oliver, pained and running on adrenaline ran to her aid, swept her from the building and back to watchtower. Unable to process his own wounds, he ended up being tricked by Emil into sedation and Chloe locked in their panic room incase her blood cocktail was not a fan of wake-up calls.
Chapter Forty-Five; The Cold Goodbye
'We all have a need to cling onto things. But eventually you have to loosen your grip.'- Lex Luthor (Season Four, Episode Commencement).
Chloe woke slowly and alone, the shaking in her limbs stirring her from a dreamless night. Her eyes opened to an unfamiliar cell; no screams, no cries, no pained gasps. No machinery whizzing in her ears, no hammering head from a drug induced wake up call. Had Lex moved her again? Another trick?
She sat up, a blanket pooling around her waist.
What was this? Lex had never given her any comforts. And why was she so cold? Chloe hugged her knees, pulling the blanket back up to cover all she could.
Shivering, she considered her predicament. It could easily be trickery, to try and lure her into a false sense of security.
But… this could all just be another hallucination again. Her fingers stroked experimentally against the blanket, it felt real, it felt soft even, rich in material and cost. So did the cot she was currently on, no structural bones pushed against her as she struggled to keep her lacking warmth.
And the freezing cold temperature, she felt like she sat in a freezer, it was too real for a watery hallucination. Her hands rushed up and down her arms under the blanket, trying to stir some heat to her body.
Was this some new twisted form of torture, giving her the comfort of a blanket to battle the brute that was frostbite?
Chloe examined the walls, trying to figure out where he'd moved her to. But her eyes first landed on an array of cracks in the walls paintwork. It looked like an object had collided with it, cracks spirally out from the impact. She wasn't the first in this cell, whatever it was.
Testing the new environment, she stood. She still wore the same clothes, the same standard issue prison garb Lex used to de-individualise his subjects. The blanket came with her, happily wrapped around her small frame, brushing against her toes in its great length. Her first step was towards the chair, prepared for the pain of the limp, but… nothing. What had happened?
The last thing she remembered was Lex dosing her with something new… it was purple… or was it green? She rose a hand to her head, the pain of struggling to sort hallucination from reality burning at her mind. Her fingers felt like ice against her skin, and oddly enough… cotton… Chloe brought her fingers to her eyes finding a white bandage wrapped around her palm. She rotated her wrist backwards and forwards slowly. What was Lex up to?
She remembered falling onto the iron frame of the old cot and cutting her hand after she'd been sick from Lex's latest truth serum attempt, but she'd never got any treatment for it. That wasn't Lex's style. More pain meant more truth.
Had he gotten his answer?
Panic flooded through her and she stumbled back to the bed. Her last hallucination she had seen Arrow… had she called his name like she recalled doing? Oh God, Lex knew!
Her eyes scanned for the door, would he have locked her in now he had his answer? Or would she be free to leave, thrown aside like expired waste? But Chloe caught the blue glow of an alarm clock by the door, sitting on a small end table. One of those expensive clocks that tell you the date and temperature. That was odd enough to start off with; she had furnishings now? She narrowed her eyes and read the temperature from the bold, blue figures. Chloe felt nothing like the 19 degrees centigrade it read. Her eyes caught the date and she did a double take on the numbers. Dec 1st. But… that would be… days… weeks... It didn't make sense…
Another of Lex's tricks?
"I don't know man, how soon is too soon?" Chloe froze, pushing to her feet, her eyes to the window in the door. This was not 33.1. Transferred?
"Either ask her out, or don't." a woman's voice followed and Chloe strained to find the source.
"You're turning into a girl here." A man's laughter came to her ears. Laughter? This definitely wasn't 33.1. Chloe rose to her tiptoes, pressing her face to the glass trying for a better view range, she still couldn't find them. "Ask her out and get it over with." it continued. "Worse that happens is that she says no."
"But she's different… I don't want her to say no."
"Look fish boy, either ask her out now, or risk being friendzoned forever." The woman again. Fish boy?
Wait.
Chloe froze.
She couldn't be…
Could she?
Dare she to dream of the possibility?
…Was she out?
Had someone truly rescued her?
Had Oliver?
Oliver.
Her heart soared and she pushed her hand from the warmth of the blanket pushing down the door handle. But the momentum met a resisting force, the handle stuck heavily halfway down and the door didn't move an inch. Locked.
Panic started to bubble beneath her skin, she rattled the handle again, desperate for her freedom, the small walls crowding in on her again. Why?
Why would they rescue her only to trap her again?
What was going on?
"Someone's up." Dinah noted, the coffee on her knee as she stared at AC's nervous battle with his phone. "Damn it, just call her." she ordered and stood up with Victor, prepared to meet with their house guest. A hand came across her path.
"Maybe… someone without a temper should find out what happened?" Vic suggested, his eyes inflicting the statement to Dinah. Unoffended, Dinah shrugged and sunk back into her chair, ready to bully AC into calling the wonderful woman he'd met at the beach a few days ago. The man needed her to push him and Vic had a point; Dinah didn't do emotional female conversations. With a smile, she watched Victor leave the room, his normal confidence wavering with each step. Dinah didn't blame him, from what she'd heard the woman was a spitfire.
"Chloe." Chloe returned straight up to the door, shaking from the cold, hugging her small frame. A male stood on the other side and she instantly recognised him. Codename Cyborg. Real name… umm, it was Vince, or Vinny… no, Victor! That was it! Victor Stone.
She was right, Oliver had saved her.
But, where was he?
Why was she hidden behind padlocks?
Before she could force out a question, the door locked clicked and opened slowly. Chloe didn't know what to do; follow her instincts and run, or stay and find her saviour? All she could manage was to stand there before Oliver's team-mate, shivering as she tightened her hold on the blanket.
"How are you feeling? You were out for a while." he began, his voice soft and comforting. Chloe blinked at him, at least he was friendlier than her last captor.
"How long?" she finally spoke, her voice dry and the sound scratchy. She coughed, trying to find volume in her voice.
"You don't remember what happened?" he instantly asked, curiosity pasted all over his face, his jaw angled in worry.
Instead of risking more words from her aching throat, she shook her head. He just nodded, stepping back and extending an arm over to the right. C
hloe knew where she was the instant she stepped out and saw the huge stained glass window that easily was three times the height of herself. The clocktower apartment in Metropolis. "Are you cold?" Victor followed asking, noticing the way she shook.
"Freezing," she attempted to speak, but ended up nodding again. She felt a warm hand against her back, urging her forward. Chloe was too numb to fight, she went along with what was happening and let him sit her down on the sofa, opening a laptop while calling for a man he addressed as 'Doc'.
Her mind was everywhere, barely able to focus long enough to recall details, but then there was her fallback instinct; the one that easily found the doors to the rooms, identified best escape routes and planned the number of steps to freedom. Was she free, or would she be bundled back into the cell when he'd finished with her? Chloe decided to put it to the back of her mind and fight that battle when it came to it. Now, she was overlooking his shoulder, indulged in the information he summoned to the laptop. Not a second of hesitation crossed his features as he slid the laptop to her own knee, allowing her the search she desired.
There was surprise, pause, reasoning and then, Chloe started to put pieces together. She was free… truly free…
Her eyes swallowed the information on the screen, the 'Doc' claiming the interest of Victor and leaving her alone with her reading.
Most of the material was familiar from the flashdrive files she had given them, but the one Victor had pulled up for her was definitely new to her eyes. It was one she hadn't seen before. One she wouldn't have seen.
359.
Herself.
An entire file of her records electronically under her fingertips.
She sped her eyes down document after document, taking in everything she'd experienced in the past weeks in written format. Half of these reports weren't even touching on the fear she'd felt living those situations. She remained ignorant to the two men talking in the same room, her mind was hooked on her medical biography.
Lex had put her into storage… he'd shut her down for three weeks. From where the records end, it seemed like they'd pulled her out of this before he could wake her back up with a purpose. Did this mean he didn't know the identities?
A shiver rolled up her spine and she tightened the blanket around her, trying to balance her fingers on the keyboard with preserving warmth in her hands. What the hell drug had he given her that had her frozen inside?
She easily found her answer, and threw herself into a document search for more information, she found it with minimal effort.
'Side effect of awakening; hypothermia.'
Awakening. She'd truly awoken. It wasn't a hallucination. She was truly free.
She was free.
Her eyes lifted from the screen, feeling a presence hovering over her, she found dark eyes looking back with sympathy.
"Do you remember anything?" Chloe presumed the man was the 'Doc'.
"I rem-" her voice faded out again, scratching her throat.
"Sorry." Came the words instantly from behind their attempted conversation and she caught the sight of Victor walking from the room into another.
"Just a nod or shake perhaps." The doctor awkwardly laughed. "Do you remembered what happened?" Chloe just turned around the laptop, showing the doctor the screen of the drug she'd been given. He bent, nudging up his glasses and squinted at the angle of the screen. "Well, that explains the cold shakes. We can regulate that soon, don't worry. I imagine you don't remember a lot of the last few weeks then, but before then…" he caught the nod of his newest patient and smiled. "Everything else feel okay?" Another nod and the Doctor stood back up. A hand came outstretched with a glass of water. Chloe drank it like a dying man under strict observation of the doctor. Her first question was one she didn't think about, just a need. She had to know. She needed him. If he'd saved her, where was he?
"Where's Oliver?"
Both men froze, the quiet mumble of voices from the other room silenced as well. And then she realised her mistake, the wrong name had slipped.
"So you do know." Victor spoke, narrowing his eyes. "Does Lex?"
"I don't know…" she replied honestly. "I didn't tell him." Of that she was 99% sure. There was always the chance her hallucinations had slipped, but, if that was the case, why keep using the truth serum, why put her into a coma? "No." she answered again. "He doesn't know." Then at their confusion she clarified. "At least, not from me."
"Do you know about the rest of us?" Victor calmly asked.
"For a while." she answered, seeing no point in lying. "Where is he?"
"Resting." The Doctor addressed her this time. Resting? Chloe thought he would have been the first face she saw after he rescued her… unless…
"Is he alright? What happened?" Had the rescue come at a price? She thought she caught a glimpse of an eyeroll from Victor, but he answered.
"Nothing he can't handle. 33.1 is finished and soon Lex will be too."
"What happened?" Chloe probed again, relentless.
Victor found himself explaining the entire plan, from flaw to success, Chloe sat captivated watching the scene paint in her mind's eye. From shock, to worry to hate, she cycled through emotions.
When every desperate question was answered she looped back around to her first, wanting to see Oliver. The injury he'd taken hurt her more than she'd thought it would. She needed to see him, to know he was alright.
"So what now?" she lastly asked in a whisper, her eyes on Oliver's knocked out form. He looked as beautiful as ever, still and silent. His face turned to the side, sleeping on his front, bandages rolling around his torso like a child's Halloween costume. She longed to touch him, to feel him… But with Victor watching her like a hawk, it felt far too intimate to do with an audience. She refrained, curling back her fingers under the blanket into tiny fists.
"What now?" Victor repeated. "Well, I imagine you want to stay here until sleeping beauty wakes up, so… it's not much, but there's a small shower in the back, Bart dropped off some clothes, so you can get cleaned up if you like… take a walk perhaps." Victor offered, nervously tapping his fingers against his keyboard as he sat back down with the laptop, having already discussed most of the files with her.
"I'm free?" she dared to voice, worried about his answer. But her response was a look of horror shooting across Victor's face. Disgust that she thought she couldn't leave. He knew putting her in that cell was a bad idea, but he worried too much to take the risk. Chloe instantly felt herself blush and changed conversational direction quickly. "And Lex?"
"They have all the evidence they need to make an arrest and put him away for a long time."
"Lionel?"
But to this, Victor paused… "What will happen to him?"
"He died a few hours ago." Victor breathed, eyes cast down. Chloe heard the news, she processed it, but had no idea how to react. She just stood numbly, huddled in the material's warmth. She was torn between being happy… and yet, unhappy at the ease of his passing.
"The shower?" she asked quietly and followed his finger towards the small room at the back.
Lana stepped out from the shower, hearing the opening music to the mornings 6am news in the other room. As much as she hated a hotel stay over, she wasn't satisfied with sleeping on a plane, nor staying any closer to Metropolis than was necessary. The walls weren't anything to brag about and she could hear the anchorman read the top story's highlights as she wrapped the towel tight around her frame. She barely had a chance to hook the material back over itself before she heard her name coming from Jason.
"Lana!" he called. "Lana, you're going to want to see this, now!"
She smiled to herself, he'd probably found something funny in the hotel room and felt compelled to share it with her. Last night it was the view of the parking lot as a drunk business man stumbled over his own car's tyres. She loved the simplicity of being with Jason. He was straight forward, no cards up his Armani sleeve, no hidden agendas locked in a vault behind a painting. He was just Jason. You got exactly what you saw. "Lana!" Lana paused… this shout had an edge of panic that wasn't there before.
With a sigh, she resigned herself to towelling off in the room and stepped out of the steamed bathroom into the bedroom of the hotel.
"What is i-?" but her question fell short as she saw a picture of Lex Luthor on her TV screen. The demon in the flesh. The only man she knew with the life goal of having the devil tip him his hat.
"-wanted in connection to several shootings occurring in the downtown residences of Metropolis." The newsreporter continued, slightly fazed by the words the teleprompter gave her.
"What happened?" Lana asked, lowering herself onto the end of the bed next to Jason. His hand immediately went to her knee in a protective motion, his attention to the news. It was all instinct. To save her, to cherish her, to remove the Luthor taint from her. But now, what could he do but offer her a comforting touch? Lex had gone off the rails. Would he be coming for Lana? His grip tightened slightly as the reporter continued, adding a warning.
"Anyone with information of the whereabouts of Lex Luthor should contact the authorities immediately, he is assumed to be armed and highly dangerous . Police are investigatin-" Lana tuned it out and turned to face Teague. He turned slowly back to her, unable to meet her eyes yet. He'd promised to take care of her, to take her away from Lex.
"There's video…" Jason whispered, referring to the news report currently on. Video footage of Lex pulling the trigger on some nobody in the slums of metropolis that crossed his war path. It was instantly leaked onto the internet as the issue came to light… Clear evidence of the truth: Lex was falling apart. "Four are dead, two in hospital."
"This is all my fault… I left him." Lana couldn't believe Lex had cracked so far in such short time. He was usually so controlled, so organised. He'd never be caught if he truly wanted these things done. Was this all her fault? Had she broken his strength when she left? Was she the reason for the victim's pain?
"No. Lionel died last night." Teague supplied, having jumped to the same guilty conclusion she had. Jason was happy to have it pinned on Lionel rather than Lana. She couldn't handle the guilt. "He's not coping with it." Jason tried to offer some understanding to her but Lana wasn't listening, her eyes were back on the news, a live reporter broadcasting from Smallville Power Plant. The second most popular report of the day, also tied to Lex.
"-All that is known at the moment is that the police have seized evidence from the labs and wish to speak to Mr Luthor. There is speculation about the purpose of the underground laboratory; a lot of the gossip is that it was used for experimental purposes into research of meteor enhanced individuals. Not all ethically approved. But as we have said, it is merely gossip at this point and we cannot make assumptions." The field anchor was reporting back in to the studio and her words chilled over Lana. Lex was nothing like she thought. Murder? Experimentation?
"He can't get you here, Lana." Jason's arms came around her, exactly when she needed them most and he held her while her mind raced. She was lucky to have left when she did.
Chloe dried herself in the tiny bathroom, trying to keep her eyes from the mirror. It showed nothing desirable. Although the water had warmed her, she was chilled all over the second she was out of the spray, and she was as pale as death, her eyes looked blackened, like a drug addict forgone sleep for weeks. Then there was her muscles. Everything ached, to bend down, to straighten up; they hadn't been used for a long time. She was grateful for the clothes, they even fit quite well, except the jeans which were a little too big, sitting low on her hips and showing the black lace of the underwear. But the thing was… the size… before, she would have struggled to fit herself into this size, now, whatever Lex had dosed her with over the weeks had barely kept her alive, her body starved for energy and taking it from anywhere she had spare. Her ribs looked like a cage pushing against her skin, her hips were no longer beautifully shaped; they were skeletal and clunky. She looked terrible, it was miracle she was alive, another few days and she'd probably be dead.
Chloe had always said she had a few pounds she wanted to lose, a few places she didn't like the shape of… what woman didn't have them? But, this… it was unhealthy. She covered herself quickly with the clothes, not wanting to catch the sight of another bone threatening to push out of her skin. In the back of her mind, she was vain enough to wish she had make-up, even if just for her eyes, they looked hollow and empty; lifeless.
But she knew it was time to get back out and finish grilling Victor. As usual, her mind had gone wild while she'd been alone to think in the shower and she'd lined up another few thousand questions she wanted answers to. He hadn't denied her anything yet, and with hope, he wouldn't now. She had a few questions for the Doctor too.
But… she blinked back up to the reflection… she wanted to get out of here before Oliver woke up and saw her. She didn't look pretty, she didn't look beautiful, and she didn't want his eyes raking over her while she could barely look at herself without recoiling. She'd be back, but… for now, she was vain enough to want the colour back in her cheeks, some meat on her bones.
The Doctor had tried to encourage her to eat something, but, she felt far too sick to try, she still did. But later, after the side effects, maybe she'd be back to her old self. That was another question she had lined for the Doc; how long before she finally felt warm again?
Chloe wrapped her arms around her small frame, wishing she hadn't left the blanket so far away.
She tugged on the door handle, heading straight for the coffee and warmth, but there, right before her eyes as she opened the door, she saw him.
The him that haunted her, the him that had plagued her hallucinated mind. The him that stood in nothing more than green leather pants and cream bandages across his chest. The him that sank his brown eyes from the top of her head to the toes on her feet. The him that had her heart pounding inside her weak chest.
The him that had clearly been waiting for her.
His eyes instantly hit her. Her pale lips dropped open softly, a shivering breath escaped her mouth. Oliver.
Her shower had been filled with questions about this moment; what would she do? What would she say? What would he say?
In the end, she decided it came down to how she felt in the moment.
And in this moment, she cracked apart, throwing her arms around him, pressing her face to his bandaged chest and releasing a torrent of tears.
Every emotion shivered through her, ripping her apart from the inside, clouding her mind with the pain she'd been holding back. Chloe considered herself a strong woman, one that could fight everything, but the moment she saw his eyes, all the damage behind her stone wall came flooding out.
He was instantly there, his arms tight around her, pulling her closer, closer still. To feel she was real, to soothe the ache, to take her pain. He held her like he'd never touched another woman in his life, like he never wished to touch another. She was it.
"Chloe." he breathed, his voice choked up. Her sobs continued, her fingers pressing like icicles against his back, but for nothing in the world would he let her go. He held her to him, whispering her name in awed fascination. She was here, finally here. In his arms. On his side. His lips pressed to the top of her head, the tight pull of his healing scars nothing compared to the pain in his heart. What if she left? Could he bare it?
Each second he was waiting, convincing himself not to break down the door and envelope her in his arms, he was pacing, preparing for a conversation he didn't know how to speak.
His arms held her tighter. Her hitch of breath alerted him to being too tight, but the second his warmth started to pull away she squeezed herself to him, refusing to let it be over yet. Refusing to let him see the shadow of death clinging to her features, to her bones, to the little of muscle she had. To how weak she was…
As she cried, for no reason, and every reason, she found comfort, she found him holding her together, holding her where she fit perfectly. This was where she belonged, or at least it felt like she did. The brush of his fingers along her arms brought back the sweetest of memories with him. Every tease… every kiss… that one beautiful night he'd taken her with nothing but love in his heart.
He was it; everything.
"You're freezing." he mumbled against her hair. She didn't offer a reply between the desperate gulps of oxygen. The fear was pushing its way out of her, the bad seeping out as she cried, and he was fully prepared to accept what was left, however broken it might be. "Chloe." His fingers curled their way from her back to hook under her chin, to try and meet those soulful eyes that had sparked him into insanity and love. She refused, unhooking her chin. "Chloe, please." The worry was killing him, why wouldn't she let him see those beautiful eyes. She took another few steadying breaths, calmed herself for what was needed and brought her face from the sodden bandages, her eyes still crying tears, but she lifted her face to him, pained by the reaction she would get. And she did, he couldn't hold back the shock, the dark circles under her once shining eyes, the pale cream cheeks that swallowed her beautiful blush, the full rouge of her lips faded to the lightest version of pink he'd ever seen.
Chloe was prepared for the shock, not the way his hands squeezed around whatever they held, trying to form the fists he wanted to pummel into Lex.
"Ol-" she squeaked and he quickly released her.
"He did this?" His temper wavered his voice. While she'd been held in his arms, he'd told himself she'd be restored the second she woke… but this… this was beyond even Lex's twisted mind.
"Not now. Please." she pleaded softly. Not now… now she needed him here to hold her together, not abandon her.
But Oliver's hands dropped from her, like the care for his alter ego or identity, he just let her go. "I'll kill him." he threatened, storming back to the small bedroom he'd awoke in, where his crossbow sat. Chloe chased his large strides, her vision blurred by still pouring tears. She was falling apart without him, shivering inside her skin now his warmth was gone… cracking down the seams.
Oliver?
His feet kept walking, her tiny steps rushed to follow him, to be back in those arms, to feel whole again…
Oliver… she needed him… where was he going?
Was her hero letting her down now?
A cold shadow swamped her, this time having nothing to do with the after effects of the drug. He was going to hunt down Lex now. Even as she stood, tears pouring down her face, heart on the line… without so much as a kiss on her lips.
"Oliver, you can't ju-" she tried to make him see sense, tried to find the comfort she needed.
Red was the only thing he saw. The anger. How could Lex do this to her? He thought he could hold on until she woke up, and then, she'd be back to herself, she'd be strong willed, she'd be his perfect princess. She'd step out of the shower, smile on her face, happy to be free, happy to have been freed.
But Lex had done more than just drug her, he'd killed her spirit… he'd made her ashamed of herself. He thought he could wait… but seeing her, touching her… how could he even think of kissing her while her torturer lived? "Oliver." His mind spun and stopped on a very odd detail, here he was pulling on a spare Green Arrow jacket and hood from under the bottom bunk and she wasn't even saying a word about it. How long had she known?!
He shook his head minutely, right now, he had more important problems. Tonight would be the last time she ever cried. Tonight would be the last night Lex lived. "Oliver…" This he heard with perfect clarity, her broken whisper of panic, the need. He turned fast back to her, had something else happened?
It took all of her pride, but she forced out the needy words. "Stay with me… please." 'I need you'.
"He needs to pay. Now." His tunnel vision was forcing out everything else important in his life, even her desperate plea. Even the fresh tear that dropped from the harsh cut of his words.
"Oliv-" She stopped her lips, watching him hike the crossbow onto his wounded back. She could start to list all the reasons he shouldn't go, she could worry about the damage he could do to himself, the risk of further injury. But, she knew he wouldn't listen. There was perhaps only one thing she could do to make him stay, and she did it instantly.
Her tiny fingers latched onto his arm as he tried to leave. He must have barely felt the small digits, but she moved herself in front of him, her other hand slipped between his stubble and leather hood. This time, he paused, ready to soothe her with as little words as needed before he took down the dragon imprisoning his princess.
There, in her eyes, he saw the twinkle of blue in her oceans. The woman that would slap him for saving her from thugs. His lips pulled into a smile from the memory, then, before he could catch himself, she pushed herself onto her tiptoes, threw herself into his arms and kissed him.
It was a kiss of legends, the kind that made the history books. But this kiss was private, it was the centre of his world, spinning shooting stars above his head. This kiss was love.
He dropped the bow, her place against him more valuable. All he could feel was her, all he could breathe was his damn shower gel cascading around her, all he was; was her.
"Chloe." he groaned, breaking away from the kiss and throwing his eyes back open. And there she was, the unbreakable woman, the fists of fury… the one who made his heart beat faster than any extreme sport. He worshipped her. The fire in her eyes flickered, playing with his emotions.
His lips came back to hers, his tongue slipping into her mouth, dancing and twirling with her own. It was peace, serenity, hope and just a dangerous edge of lust. She was in his arms, where she belonged, where he craved her to be. The dragon's lady was hungry for his lips, desperate for his attention. She was his.
Oliver lifted her from the floor, her frame lighter than he remembered, but her legs fitting just as well around his hips. His hands found the smooth skin of her back, the curve of her spine where she'd giggled when he'd kissed oh so long ago, the arch of her as his lips touched to the base of her neck. His. Chloe was his. She was here, with him.
As fast as he'd dressed, he stumbled back onto the bed, his hood thrown down, her tiny fingers tugging at the stiff zipper. She needed him.
His lips crashed back to hers, bruising her with the pressure. The overhead light cast her as his own personal angel and he couldn't agree more, not when she was there, with him, her lips desperate over his, tasting him like a drug she couldn't quit.
"I need you." he croaked around her lips. "I missed you." The words continued to spill, continuous declarations as he helped her with tackling clothing. "I thought I'd lost you." His hands roamed the contours of her bodice, the short she wore thrown to the floor. Eyes followed his fingers, the rage bubbling as he saw the damage she wore. "Never again." he breathed, holding her tight to him. "I promise."
Chloe let him say what he needed, her heart soaring, her pulse pounding and a heat finally flooding through her system. She crashed back against him, his lips against her cleavage, stirring her desire, summoning the heat she relished. Every inch of her skin tingled alive with sparks. He touched and she melted. He kissed and she moaned. He played her like an orchestra of love, every place she wanted him to be, he was. Skillful hands unclasped the bra, lavished her breasts and shed the jeans and panties, leaving her uncomfortably exposed under loving eyes. But then came his lips again, those beautiful lips, as talented as his hands, driving all of her worries to the back of her mind, heating the core of her being, chasing away the shadows and fears.
He took a hand from her, only for those seconds necessary to remove the leather bottoms, but as he tugged her back to him, their newly naked bodies colliding, he couldn't help but ask between kisses. "You know?"
"…What?" She wasn't paying attention to much more than the way his fingers smoothed down her bony skeleton, soothing her fears and tracing a circle on her hips, too far from where she wanted him.
"Arrow?"
"Yeah." she breathed, re-joining their lips quickly, barely remembering to keep her hands from his back as they naturally wanted to be.
"How long?"
"A while." she answered just as quickly as before, her hips rolling against his, her legs hooked around his hips, the arches of her feet resting on his muscular quads.
"Di-"
"Not important." she finished for him, a flash of a smile on her lips as she pressed them back to his. And it wasn't important. Not to her. Not any longer. He was here, he was with her, he was holding her like she was the most precious thing on the planet. How could she care for anything he did?
"Lex knew… he did this just for my identity…" Oliver started again, his mind spiralling from the place it needed to be.
"Please." A whispered plea never ever registered in his ears. "Oliver, please. Don't."
"It's my fault… all of this." His blonde hair tickled her shoulder, his head dropping in guilt.
"No, please. Stay with me, be here." Her hands tried to soothe him, to bring him back to her, to stroke against the blonde spikes and make him understand the truth. "Look at me, I'm here, I'm with you. Be here with me."
It took him a few seconds, but he blinked up to meet her eyes. Her eyes spoke volumes of comfort and love and he swallowed them whole. She was here, she was with him… she was his.
Chloe was with him.
Chloe found herself thrust back into the moment they had almost lost, his sole finger diving into her tight, wet, heat. She arched up against him, a gasp drawn from her parted lips.
"Chloe." he breathed in a short stroke, his lips crushed against her neck in the sensual way she loved, the way he'd threaten to mark her, yet never leave a scratch. His kisses peppered her skin, his second finger dove into her, speeding to summon the calls of her moans that stirred his darkest desires. She was here. She was with him. "Chloe… please."
Nothing more needed to be explained, she simply wrapped her fingers around his pulsing erection, positioned him to replace his fingers and met him with the first thrust. She didn't think she'd come apart so easily, but all too soon she was biting down on her lip, snapping her hands back onto the bedposts instead of his back and gripping until her knuckles went white. Perhaps the drugs had made her extra sensitive, perhaps the heat he'd seared her with had been more potent than expected, but she found herself at the top of a cresting orgasm before she could even find her rhythm.
"Oliver!" she gasped out his name, she couldn't hold it back. His eyes meet hers and there was that cocky grin she loved, the lopsided smirk that pressed to her lips. He was flaring that damn grin as his pressed him thumb to her clit and circled no more than twice, breaking her last barrier and throwing her into her bliss. He was watching her face, watching as her lips dropped open, her eyes squeezed shut and she clamped down around him, her legs locking over his back, her inner muscles begging for him to fall with her. He held, by some miracle, he didn't crumble and crash with him. But something else inside him cracked.
"I love you."
Chloe's eyes flew open, her orgasm flown from her body. Had he said…?
"I love you Chloe." Holy shit… "I should have fucking said it sooner, but I love you." Her heart was beating a mile a minute. This was it, it was the happily ever after she'd worked so hard to get. "I want it all with you." he continued, her equal response lingering on her tongue for the right moment. "I want marriage, I want kids, I want you by my side."
He'd stilled inside her, the adoration taking precedent. "I want you with me forever. Always with me." Chloe knew exactly how he meant the words, but it did nothing but panic her, slamming a cage door shut in her mind, sliding manacles around her sore wrists. Forever? Always with him? "Yeah?" His eyes met hers and she found herself numbly nodding, pressing her lips to his silently.
His hips slammed into her and she broke the kiss for another gasp. It may have just been poor choice of words, but her moment was lost entirely as he paired his thrusts with his next words. "You and me Chloe." he started again. "I'm never letting you go again." The darkness in her heart threw her back into a gilded cell she'd only just left. Trapped? "You're mine." The possessive claim left his lips seconds before he arched into her, finding his own release.
His head came against hers, his lips pressed to her neck softly. "I love you."
Chloe swallowed hard against her fears but she couldn't push them down. Not when her heart was pounding inside her throat, not when her nerves were all on end, ready to run.
She wasn't even free of Lex and she already had another claim laid against her. Her chest ached, her body ran cold all over again and she suddenly found herself wanting as far from Oliver as she could get.
He was meant to save her, not enslave her all over again.
What the hell was he keeping her locked up for anyway?! Would he again? Would she be locked up the second she fought against him? Was she nothing but property exchanged to satisfy a man's curiosity.
Her mind fought it, but it always came back to the same conclusion; she wasn't free. She was locked to a man, but force or love… where was Chloe?
"Chloe?"
Chloe build herself up instantly, but even she couldn't have predicted the tears that slid down her cheeks, the tears that were the first thing he saw. "Woah, what's wrong?" He held himself above her, a thumb stroking clean her cheeks. "I… you don't have to say it back. I just wanted you to… know…" He was nervous; had he spoke too soon and ruined everything? "Chloe?" Her eyes turned from him, she couldn't bare to look into those beautiful eyes and see a captor rather than a prince.
"I need to go." she whispered, she couldn't stay here, waiting for him to give her an order, waiting for his claim to bind her hands again.
"Go? Go where?" His panic rose as fast as hers had. "You only just got out of that hell!" His upset at the thought of her leaving did nothing to help her stay, she saw controlling in his fear of losing her. She saw crushing power in the heartache of his love.
"I need to sort some things out. I have to go." But her weak struggles met no success as he pushed her back onto the bed, forcing her watery eyes back to his.
"What things? Where?" What had he done wrong? "Please, Chloe… stay with me."
"Let me up Ollie, please." The please broke through and he sat back, worried and curious.
"Chloe…?" Even as she started dressing in the clothes she felt the cold creep up on her, the fear and panic swallow her whole and the boiling eyes never giving her an inch of freedom. "Your scars…" he noted quietly.
"Lex." Was her sole explanation and she tugged on the t-shirt next, the jeans following quickly.
"Chloe. Talk to me, tell me what's going on." His fingers manacled her wrist, halting her. Chloe was already fleeing though, her mind had raced out with logic and she saw panic. He was already making demands from her.
Fresh tears rolled like searing acid down her cheeks. "Chloe!" he demanded, pulling her back to him, the covers of the bed the only scrap over his nakedness as he yanked her down to his lap. "Tell me. Now!" more demands. "Is this because of what I said? Look, you don't have to run, it's ju-"
"No." she quickly answered.
"God damn it! I'm not asking you to sign your life away, I just… it's…" Oliver stumbled over his words. What was he to say? It was heat of the moment and all his feelings finally pushed past his trust issues and overspilled out of his mouth. He didn't regret them at the time, not when she looked back at him with a mirrored expression. But now, he was wondering if he'd ruined everything. Or was she just as scared by the words as he had been?
"Yes you are!" she snapped, her strength still broken from earlier, not giving her a chance to think. "I'm not your property! I refuse!" she cried and tugged herself free. The surprise at her words let her free, his fingers numbly grasping air.
"What?!" he muttered. "Look, it doesn't have to happen now… we can talk, we c-" but his rationalisation for his lost words of their future were cut down.
"No!" She tugged open the door, setting herself out towards the elevator. He was hot on her heels, yanking up the leather pants as he chased her down.
"Then what do you want?" he shouted to her, easily trapping her against a wall as he pulled her to a stop. Their audience fled instantly, leaving them once again alone.
What did she want?
She wanted him, she truly did. He looked at her with everything she ever wanted from life. But… his words… she wanted her freedom more. She wanted to answer to no-one, she wanted to run wherever she liked, do whatever she cared for, talk to anyone she desired without constant policing. She wanted to leave at the drop of a hat, tell no-one and not need to. She wanted to live the years she was denied!
Oliver…
Her eyes lifted to his solemnly. He couldn't let her do that.
"I want to be free." she whispered, her eyes stuck to his.
"You are!" he fought, but even now he could tell it was a losing battle.
"No. I'm not." Her voice was calm, resigned… pained.
"Lex will be found, he'll be arrested. You'll be free." he argued, unable to see her leave him like this.
The truth slipped before she could stop it.
"Free from you." He stopped. It felt like his entire body stopped. His arms held against the wall, caged her still, but froze, the hurt shattering down him. She hurried to fix things. "I don't want to belong to you… please…" she implored him to understand, to let her go, to wait. But the longer he stayed quiet, the less it looked like a possibility. "Oliver…"
"Don't walk away from us Chloe." he finally spoke, a plea that barely made sound, she'd cut him as deep as he'd cut her. "Whatever you need, I'll give you. Space, money, travel… anything. But don't leave me like this."
"I have to." she answered.
"Then come back." He knew he'd get no better offer. "A week, a month… a year. But come back…" He hurt to speak the request, but without her… how could he go on? If she needed space, he'd give her that. But she had to come back.
Her cold fingers touched to his cheek. She closed to him and pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss. Just a second, barely giving him a touch. He opened his eyes to her ducking his arm, stepping closer to the elevator, her finger tapping the call button. "Stay for today?" he pleaded, clinging to any last hope. "Just give me today…" he felt the moisture grow in his eyes as she stayed where she was, as she looked back at him, resigned to walking away. The doors opened. "Chloe… please…" She stepped away though. Further from him, away into the elevator. He could force her, drag her back, lock her up until she changed her mind! His mind snapped into action but stopped short again, her pale pink lips speaking words he'd begged for.
"I'll come back." she whispered and the elevator closed around her, leaving him numb, a tear sliding down his face.
Back in the bedroom -as Oliver slammed his fist into the wall beside the elevator- between the forgotten hooded leather and weapon array, the empty vial of RL-65 rolled from the end table to the plush floors, silently dropping. Its juice: shot into Oliver Queen the instant he woke, too pained to stand. Too desperate to admit his injury, too needy to hold his woman like he had before… too involved to trust anyone else to keep her safe, too impulsive to consider the consequences.
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I know you may have been expecting a bit more of an explosion at the revelation of Chloe knowing about their identities, but it wouldn't work with what I wanted to occur, so it was smothered over. Apologies if you wanted more of a blow out.
I'm so sad to see this fanfiction go out of my hands, but... It does make room for others I suppose.
As always feel free to chose to review or not, I don't mind.
I guess i'll see you on the 24th when this all ends. Much love, you've all been simply fantastic :D I will miss you dearly.
Xx