A/N: I must have written and rewritten this chapter four or five times. Thankfully, I'm finally satisfied with it. Thank you for being so patient!

Oh, and on a sidenote, I also wrote on a one-shot. It contains Clark's thoughts during the Chlollie reunion at Watchtower during the Checkmate episode. So if you're interested, that's always there.

Here's the next chapter- it takes place during the Conspiracy episode. Please review: feedback is always appreciated.

Chapter Twelve: Virtues

Chloe was tapping away on her laptop. She decided to work from the Talon today- Lois was chasing down a lead, so there was no way to be interrupted or for her work to be questioned. The door suddenly opened, and Oliver walked in. She smiled at the sight of him.

"Just the interruption I was hoping for" she said, temporarily abandoning her work and walking to the door to greet him.

Something was off- she could tell. He silently closed the door behind him and started looking around the apartment. She was about to question him when he pressed a couple of buttons on her laptop and turned up the volume. A loud song started playing.

He walked over to her with a fierce look in his eyes and she leaned close to him. "I like where this is going Romeo, but you might want to put on some softer music", she said, leaning over for a kiss.

"It's not a booty-call."

His words stung and she stepped back, trying to process this. After everything they had been through together: the development of their friendship and their work together in the League, it meant nothing right now. Right now, all she was to him now was a booty-call.

She blinked twice. Something had happened- she knew Oliver. He would never take advantage of their relationship. Whatever this was, it had changed his perspective of her. And that scared her.

"I think Tess Mercer might be listening. She's up to something that involves you", he explained. She looked at him questioningly. She should have expected Tess to respond to their fight. What was it this time?

"She came by my office today with evidence that somebody's been siphoning money from my company." She felt her stomach sink- it was about the Kryptonite weapons, and the money. She knew she should have told him, but didn't know how.

Dinah had been telling her throughout the entire development process. Chloe should have listened to her. And now she couldn't even defend herself. All of this was a Plan B- that was it.

"You're stealing from me." He said simply, looking at her with contempt. She looked at him guiltily. It wasn't selfish, what she had done. But on paper, it looked that way.

"It's not like that." She told him, trying to find some way to make the situation better.

"Right. A lot of women have used me for my money. I never expected it from you." He held hatred in his eyes and bitterness in his words. He had never looked at her like that. When Davis had taken him hostage, he looked at her with disappointment.

She remembered what he had said to her that day: When did you become one of the bad guys, huh?

She wasn't going to lie to Oliver the way that she had lied to Clark back then. She wasn't one of the bad guys- far from that.

"I wasn't stealing from you, Oliver. I was borrowing the cash and buying insurance for the entire planet", she told him.

She was about to explain everything when the song concluded. She remembered the possibility that Tess had the apartment bugged and reached for a piece of paper and a pen. Let me show you, she wrote.

He nodded, and proceeded to follow her. She reached for his hand, but he shoved both hands in his pockets and continued to walk.

They got in her car, and she drove them to the site. It was a long journey to the site, but they travelled in silence. It was dark when they arrived. She parked the car. They walked, and she showed him the Kryptonite weapon container. She opened the doors, and they turned on their flashlights.

Chloe paused outside of the container as Oliver walked in and looked around. There were sealed liquid Kryptonite containers and suitcases everywhere. Oliver picked up a dagger and shone light on it.

"Kryptonite weapons. This is what you've been spending all of my money on? Something that could kill Clark?" He asked in disbelief

"They're to protect all of us, including Clark- from Zod and all those other Kandorians." She clarified, stepping into the container.

"I don't understand. I thought you were helping set them all up with licenses and passports."

"All the IDs I gave Clark have computer tracking chips on them", she admitted.

He turned around and looked at her as if she were a monster. Clark was one of her oldest friends, and even though the two weren't on the best of terms right now, Chloe was casually lying to him.

Oliver was also in the dark about this entire thing, and that made matters worse. After all that he had been through over the past months, after she had brought him back, she still kept this from him.

"I want to keep an eye on the visitors from another planet" he heard her say.

"Well, welcome to 1984- the Sullivan edition." He said wryly, taking another look around.

"Look Ollie, I'm sorry, okay? But I didn't have a choice. Our friend's moral compass has gotten us lost more than once. I'm not okay with just sitting back and trusting Clark again."

He looked at her and saw the insecurity, but it didn't make him feel better. It didn't help that Chloe walked away before he could say anything else. He walked out of the container too, and they closed the doors and drove back. They parted ways without another word, and Oliver drove back to the Clock Tower.

He felt betrayed. They promised each other a long time ago that there would be honesty in their relationship, and she broke that promise.

He would have given her the money if she had asked him- they discussed the Kryptonite weapons before, but after they talked about them the first time, he wasn't sure if they were a good idea. The topic wasn't brought up again, so he didn't give it any more thought.

It was too late to discuss it now- the weapons were already created. Now, he had a decision to make- was he going to support Chloe, or was he going to destroy the weapons?

Oliver hated that she had two sides of her these days- there was the witty, playful, laughing Chloe. She was the woman that cleaned his cuts and helped him investigate the JSA.

She was always concerned for Clark, and the general safety of the team. She made him think on his toes, and made him smile. Most importantly, she trusted him with her life.

And then, there was cold, ruthless Chloe. She is the one who leads the resistance team in the future, and kills Mercy without remorse. In the future, she takes over completely.

She does the right thing, but does not trust anyone, and has no restrictions. It wasn't laughing Chloe that hid the weapons from him, it was merciless Chloe. And he was going to prevent ruthless Chloe from taking over his Chloe.

He called in a personal favor and had the stock-pile of Kryptonite weapons and had them scattered to different locations around the globe. He needed to protect Chloe from herself, and that was exactly what he did.

Chloe couldn't sleep. She couldn't concentrate on her work, and sat aimlessly at her desk in front of her laptop, which was displaying a screensaver rather than its usual blueprints or video-feeds.

She was sipping on a glass of red wine, thinking about the past. Coffee wasn't going to help her, not now.

She wondered how she had transformed from the reporter digging for a story on meteor freaks to the cold navigator trapping herself in her tower. The only person that knew exactly what she was going through right now was Lana, and she wasn't even here anymore. Nobody could help her- there was nobody left.

***Flashback***

Chloe watched from a corner as Lana entered the Isis Foundation. Lana saw that the computer screens showed only static now and Chloe stepped into plain view.

"I didn't realize Big Sister was watching", she said as Lana turned around.

"I guess Lex cut me off", Lana rationalized.

"It wasn't Lex." Chloe told her

"After everything he's done, I have a right to protect myself", Lana said.

Chloe walked forward. "It would have been nice to know the impressive operation you're running."

Regardless of her closer relationship to Clark, she was Lana's best friend too. Granted, Chloe kept his secret from her every day. But she would have thought that Lana would have come to her with something this big.

"I'm sorry I lied. I didn't think that you would understand if you saw the whole picture."

"Well, it's in crystal-clear HD now", Chloe smiled. "Isis seemed to make a lot of sense when I thought you were just out to help people", she motioned towards the logo that was on the wall.

"In textbook talk, Isis is the goddess of love and life and healing. She even marched to the ends of the Earth to help jump-start the man she loved. I want Clark to have that kind of loyalty in his life. But I'm just not sure it's from you", she continued.

"I would do anything for Clark", Lana said with a tone of finality.

"Even kill." Chloe clarified. "What a lucky guy."

"What the textbook left out is that Isis is also the goddess of the underworld. She's responsible for bringing the great god Ra to his knees", Chloe told her.

"You believe that I would do that to Clark", Lana said, following her friend's logic.

"Not intentionally", Chloe said, shaking her head. "But I realize now that you're capable of it."

She waited for Lana to respond with a retort. There was none. "You should just know that I'm not going to let that happen", Chloe finished determinedly, walking away.

***End of Flashback***

Chloe got up from the chair, and walked over to the bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror. The constant look of formality was plastered on her face, her curls and makeup perfect. She didn't used to curl her hair or apply makeup regularly- when did that become a habit?

It was all a mask, her appearance- it was all an attempt to make it seem as if everything was okay. Things were far from okay. Lines were blurring very quickly, and she didn't know how she was going to redefine them.

She remembered Lionel Luther approaching her at the Daily Planet shortly before his death. Rather than listening to what he was saying, she told him to seek absolution at a church. At the time, she had truly believed that it was the only thing that could save him.

It had been years since Chloe had believed in religion. Her faith in a higher power had quickly dissolved when she discovered that her best friend had almost god-like abilities. And now, she was just as bad as the Luthors were. Was it too late for her to be saved?

She took off her heels, and turned on the shower head, letting the water run freely. She didn't even bother to remove her clothing- she stepped into the shower, and let the water strike her face.

Her makeup washed away, her hair was wet, and her clothes were ruined with the water, but Chloe still didn't feel any different. She didn't feel cleansed, or as carefree as she did years ago. Defeated, she slid down onto the floor of the shower, and let the water hit her.

Oliver wanted to avoid Chloe so that he could further process what had just happened, but he could never stay away from her for very long. He found himself driving over to the Watchtower, and letting himself inside.

He took off his jacket, and was about to head over to the computers, when he heard the shower running. Chloe showered in the mornings, and it was ten o'clock at night. It was unusual, but not crazy, so Oliver waited for her to come out of the shower.

He waited for 40 minutes until he started to worry. He knocked on the bathroom door. "Chloe? Is everything okay?"

There was no response. He opened the door, and walked inside. He saw the image of her body at the floor of the shower through the shower door.

She looked drained, as if she had been fighting a losing battle for years. Her makeup had washed off, and her wet hair had stuck to the side of her face.

That was when he had realized why there was broken glass in the kitchen a week ago. Why Bart had such an intense reaction when he saw it, and why AC had reacted the same.

Keeping the weapons a secret, borrowing money from his company- it was disturbing her soul.

Now that everything was out in the open, she had finally seen who she had become. And she needed him right now.

He silently took off his shoes and socks. He opened the shower door, and stepped inside.

He sat down beside her, and reached over to turn off the water.

She grabbed his arm, stopping him. "I can't get rid of it", she said helplessly.

"What are you trying to wash away?" he asked, letting the water fall

"What I've become."

"How so?" he asked her

"I've changed Oliver, and not necessarily in a good way. I'm different from the girl you met years ago who was just trying to help Clark."

"You've grown." He told her

"I may have more of a grasp on my role in the world, but emotionally? I've been going on a downward spiral for years now. I'm just…not a good person anymore."

"You've been helping people. That doesn't make you a bad person."

"I would love to think that way. But I have betrayed everyone." She told him

He sent her a questioning glance.

"When I got the league back together months ago, I promised everyone that this time would be different- that we would be a team. I truly believed that. But now, here we are: it's been months since the Roulette mission, and the only person that I've been in contact with other than you is Dinah. And even that's just business."

"I'm sure you didn't expect them to drop their old lifestyles." Oliver reasoned

She shook her head. "I didn't, but I believed that there could be some sort of a balance. We worked as a team to help you, and worked together to bring everyone back. And in the end, it didn't matter." She finished with bitterness in her tone.

"I don't think that's true. You went to different parts of the country to bring them back. During your time with the team, you forged a special bond. No amount of distance can change that", Oliver told her, remembering Bart and AC.

"It doesn't help the fact that I broke my promises. I promised Victor and AC that they would always have a vote- that I would always include them. And I didn't do that. I created Kryptonite weapons without even asking for their opinions. I don't even think that they know that the Kandorians are a threat. That's a pretty huge thing to keep from them."

"Communication is a two way street. They didn't call or pop in either."

"That just means that they assumed that I would contact them if something was wrong. I failed to do even that. And it's more than just communication. It's emotional involvement. Canary went through Chinese water torture, and I never asked about the psych evaluation. My own cousin went to a psychiatrist to get her dreams analyzed, and what did I do? I paid off the psychiatrist so that Lois wouldn't connect the Blur to Clark."

"You were just trying to protect him." Oliver explained

"I stole money from you! We both know that that's not okay!"

He simply held her in his arms. He stretched an arm over their heads and turned the water off. She didn't stop him.

They sat there for a moment, their clothing still drenched from the water.

"I understand if you hate me because of what I did. If you want to leave right now, I won't blame you." Chloe told him

"I'm not going to leave."

"I don't blame him, you know." she whispered

"Who?" Oliver asked

"Clark. I don't blame him for shutting me out. For leaving."

"Chloe, you have every reason to be angry with him. It's okay", Oliver told her.

"No, I don't. I ran away from my problems when I left with Davis. My marriage was destroyed and Clark was busy with his job at the Daily Planet with Lois. I hated feeling like the third wheel, feeling…powerless. I left because I wanted to protect him, but Davis made me feel needed again. It's selfish, I know."

"The cameras and tracking devices- they were a part of that too, weren't they?" he asked

She nodded. "I put the cameras around the barn right after Clark left. I had no job, no money, no family, and no team. I hoped that Clark would drop by the Barn to pick something up. Even if he super-sped in and out, I wanted to see him for that millisecond. Knowing that he was still around, and that he was safe-"

"It meant that he was still in your life, and that you still had a place in it", he finished.

"Yes. And when he came back, I wasn't entirely convinced that it was for good. I was so afraid that he would leave again that I didn't even think to turn the cameras off until Clark told me to. That's not normal. He drifted away from me, but I could have pulled him closer. A real friend would have gone to the Barn in person, not look through video feeds", she explained.

"The tracking devices were a good idea, Chloe. I want you to know that."

"They were put on the team for the same reasons. I just wanted to keep you guys safe while you were separated from each other. And it would have been easy to just ask permission, but I didn't. Just like how I didn't ask for your permission before I went ahead and purchased Kryptonite weapons in bulk."

Oliver shook his head. "You don't need my permission to do anything. I just want to know what's going on, to be more than just a financial backer."

"You are more than just the League's financial backer", she said firmly. "I'll take another loan out or I'll get a second job, you can destroy the weapons- whatever it takes to make this right."

He reached over and put a wet lock of her hair behind her ear. "It's okay, Chloe. I have enough money. It's the principle of the matter."

"I don't ever want you to think that you're just a financial backer because of me. I'm crossing lines that shouldn't be crossed. I don't think I can do everything by myself anymore. I need my family by my side."

He wanted to look into her eyes and tell her that she wasn't alone- that he would always be there. Since childhood, she had been used to complete independence. He knew that she wouldn't believe him.

He got up, and stepped out of the shower. He turned around to face her, and held out his hand.

"Let's bring them home."

She took his hand, and he pulled her out of the shower, away from her self-loathing.

They changed into dry clothes, and Chloe dried her hair.

"Not that I don't appreciate the rescuing of this young damsel in distress, Ollie, I do. But how exactly are you going to get the entire team here?" She asked, confused

He mentally sighed. For such an independent woman, Chloe underestimated herself time after time.

"First of all, you are the farthest thing from a damsel in distress." He started.

She turned around to face a monitor in an attempt to hide her blushing face and smile. It had been the first time in weeks that she had truly smiled like this.

"Second of all," he continued. "Now that we're getting all of our secrets out in the open, there's something that you should know."

She turned around as he walked over to the bookcase and removed a copy of War and Peace. The vacancy of the book had revealed the silver button that he had pushed months ago when he found her running herself ragged. He pressed the button and stepped back as the bookcase opened.

He walked around the treadmill and sat down at a small desk. He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out a tiny gold key. He unlocked a drawer and pulled it open. He picked up a small flash drive and a device containing a single button.

"What is this?" she asked him

"You told me ages ago that the team needed structure. That we needed a universal trouble alert."

"So you created one, and didn't tell me because…?" she inquired

"Because I didn't want you to feel as if I was intruding", he said nervously. He waited for her reaction. She smiled at him.

"How does it work?"

They stepped out of the room and closed the bookcase. Oliver approached the nearest computer, and inserted the flash drive, and started typing.

"It's a beacon. It lets everyone on the team know that there's trouble at the home-base. It makes the tracking devices get warm." He said.

She stared at the screen.

"Not hot enough to scorch flesh or anything", he clarified quickly. "Just warm enough for someone to notice a difference from typical Miami heat."

She nodded. "And then what?"

"And then the Impulse Express picks everyone up and brings them here after making sure that there isn't an immediate emergency. I would use the jet, but it's just not fast enough. Or well hidden, for that matter."

He handed her the device for the button. "So Watchtower, do you want to see your family again?"

"Now?" she asked. "I don't know. They can't just drop everything that they're doing and come here. I can't handle that much power. I don't want to invade their lives." She started rambling.

He walked behind her and held her shoulders in his hands.

"Remember what you said about communication? It's a two way street. You can do this, Chloe."

She took a deep breath and pressed the button.