AC's visit had been short and sweet. He had promised Oliver that he would stay overnight and search the hospital grounds for the Dark Archer so he could rest at home that night.
Chloe drank her coffee within two minutes of it being set down in front of her. AC had just stared at her in mild amusement as she laughed at the possibility of burns. The muffins remained ignored until the last drop was gone.
She hadn't slept that night, and it hadn't been from the caffeine rush. That kiss had played on her mind until the early hours. Her brain seemed to have the memory stuck on repeat, and her skin wanted to keep the feeling the heat of his hands on her too. Every time she imagined his tongue moving with hers the sensation she could almost feel the sensation of his fingers squeezing her hip, or tightening in her hair.
Chloe had known what she was doing when she gave him that second kiss. The rational part of her mind wanted to call it a moment of weakness – that it was the natural response of any warm blooded woman. Who wouldn't want to kiss the ridiculously handsome guy who had the habit of saving her life? In her opinion, his reaction was the same as most men would in that position. It was automatic.
But he had remembered that blueberry muffins were her favourite.
"Oh, no." Chloe groaned to herself. She was falling for him, and to her, that was the worst emotion to suffer.
When she followed her heart, things never ended well – for her at least. Clark had been the centre of her world since she was a young girl; but the constant toying with her feelings, and the subsequent rejections, had knocked her down her self-confidence to nearly nothing.
Jimmy's treatment of her when they broke up had only kicked her while she was down. She didn't want to add Oliver to that list. It wasn't his fault that she had developed a crush.
'Then again, he was the one who initiated the kiss that kept me up all night.' She thought.
Hers had been an innocent kiss; it had been Oliver who had turned it into something that sent her heart racing and bones turning to jelly. Everything he was he put into that kiss.
Strength. Warmth. Passion.
Damn. There was going to be a conversation about this. She was going to be staying at his home, and that kiss was going to be the large, pink elephant in the room.
Maybe if she apologised for instigating this mess she could prevent any awkwardness between them.
"That's what I'll do. Say sorry; he'll understand and brush it off, and we'll be back to normal." She said to the empty room.
She knew that she'd feel crappy when Oliver would happily sweep everything under the carpet, but a touch of embarrassment would feel better than the pain of unrequited love. There was no chance of him not wanting things back to how they were - Oliver needed to be with the exotic beauties and debutantes of the world. Chloe knew that she was an ordinary plain Jane; she had been reminded enough.
There was, however, the small part of her that hoped. She didn't want that to be the case, and she could slap herself. Sometimes she was her own worst enemy. There were more important things that she needed to focus on – like the fact that her life was under serious threat.
If it hadn't been obvious to her before, it certainly was now. Merlyn's threat was as strong as ever, and he had no intention of letting her live. It was obvious now that the guys had been protecting her all along; the real puzzle was how they knew that she would remain a target.
That puzzle led to the other big question – why would Merlyn continue to pursue her when he could see how well protected she was? Was it a challenge for him?
Regardless, she needed to find a way for it to stop. It was what she needed to be focusing her thoughts and energy on.
Her meteor power was passive. She couldn't run at the speed of light, she wasn't an expert marksman, and she didn't have super strength. There was only one real weapon that she had at her disposal, and she wielded it well. The written word had gotten her into this mess, and it sure as hell could get her out of it.
Chloe was going to write the story that Merlyn wanted to prevent. She was going to write the article naming the Dark Archer as King, regardless of the lack of legitimate evidence.
The plan seemed to form itself and she was confident it would work. If he backed off, the story would remain hidden; if she was killed the story would be leaked to the press. Her death would give the article validity and King would have to face the backlash. Assassins needed their anonymity and she would strip him of it.
She just had to find a way of telling him before he could fire off another shot. Yeah. Easy.
A knock at the door snapped her from her inner monologue. Looking up she saw the smiling face of her nurse.
"I've got a flower delivery here for you, Miss Sullivan. Do you want me to send the delivery guy in?"
Chloe was genuinely surprised. The only man to ever give her flowers was Bart, but he preferred to deliver the hand-picked blooms himself.
"Sure."
She sat up straighter on the bed and considered who the sender could be. Maybe they were from Oliver?
The delivery guy placed the flowers on her table after she gave him a signature, and left the room. It took all of five seconds before she began sneezing. The flowers were hyacinths.
Chloe laughed. Only she would receive flowers that she was allergic to. She plucked the attached card before turning her attention back to her nurse.
"Could you give these to another patient in need of cheering up? I'm allergic."
"Of course." The nurse retrieved the small pot and left the room.
Chloe began to open the envelope. She was sure that they were from Oliver; how was he supposed to know of her allergy?
As she read the card she began to laugh bitterly.
Clark and Lana.
They really didn't pay any attention. Clark knew that the flowers sent her into sneezing fits.
She crumpled the card and threw it towards the trashcan, failing miserably.
"I'd say your aim needs some work."
Oliver pushed a wheelchair into the room before picking up the card and putting it into the bin for her.
"Not all of us are born marksmen." She smirked, knowing full well he could have made the shot.
"That's true." Oliver pushed the chair up to her bed and clicked the on. "The nurse has gone for your pain medication."
"Oh, okay."
Chloe could feel the tension in the air building; she could clearly see that elephant in the room now. Oliver, however, seemed perfectly relaxed as he stretched out in the nearby chair. He just gave her a smile and looked in the direction of the door for the nurse's approach.
"Bart's waiting outside. He's going to follow us just in case."
The normalcy was starting to drive her crazy.
"Oliver, I need to apologise." The words flew from her lips before she could even consider what she was going to say.
Oliver took in her stressed appearance with mild amusement. He had been expecting this - he was just surprised she had waited for him to sit down before starting 'the talk'. He sat forward, rested his elbows on his knees, and clasped his hands together.
"What do you have to apologise for?" He asked raising his eyebrows. He wasn't going to make this easy on her; in fact he was going to enjoy watching her squirm.
Chloe took a deep breath to steady her nerves, Oliver's chocolate brown eyes were fixed on her, and she couldn't help but think that he was finding this funny.
"I want to apologise for yesterday…I really shouldn't have kissed you like that. I think the 'damsel in distress' adrenaline had me a little crazy for a while there."
She had expected him to say something, anything, but all he did was stare at her with that same smirk on his face. It was starting to annoy her now.
"I'm sorry too, Chloe."
She sighed with relief. It was all going to be just fine between them; their friendship would remain intact. "It's fine, we can just pretend that it never happened."
Oliver shook his head. She really was prepared to fool herself into thinking that she could ignore the spark that existed between them.
"You don't get it, Chloe. I'm not sorry it happened – I'm just sorry you feel that awkward about it."
"Wha- huh?" She inwardly cringed at her lack of coherent speech.
"It wasn't the first time I've wanted to kiss you, and if I'm honest, given half a chance I will do it again."
She didn't trust her hearing. She was sure Oliver was saying what the little voice in her head wanted. So, she kept her mouth shut, not trusting that voice not to do the talking for her.
Oliver hadn't moved since she first started the conversation. Any swift movements from him and he was sure she would try to bolt – not like she could get very far. There was no need for her to injure herself further.
He caught her eyes with his gaze, and he could see the uncertainty there. "You told me not to change who I am, to take control of my life. This is me doing that. I know what I want, and I'll do what I can to make that happen."
Chloe was prevented from making her reply when her nurse, Rebecca, entered the room with her prescription in hand.
"Let's get you into the chair, Chloe. A few more minutes and you can make your break for freedom."
"Thank you." Chloe replied as the nurse slowly helped her to stand, keeping her weight on her good leg.
Oliver moved the wheelchair closer as Rebecca helped Chloe to turn. She bit her lip to stop the whimper threatening to escape as the pain shot through her injured knee. Oliver's hand gently rested on her hip as he guided her to sit. Rebecca knelt in front of her and adjusted the leg support so Chloe wouldn't have to bend her knee.
Chloe breathed a sigh of relief once the limb was supported. The next few days were going to be hell until the swelling went down.
"Okay, I'll just grab your physical therapy schedule and you'll be good to go!" Rebecca said brightly.
Oliver waited for her to leave before turning back to Chloe. "So what do you think?"
"I think it's clear I wasn't the only one who received a blow to the head in the accident. I don't think you realise what you're saying."
He had thrown her plans and expectations out of the window. She hadn't seriously dared to hope Oliver had really fallen for her. Maybe this was all a hallucination from the pain killers?
Oliver crouched next to her so he was at her eye level.
"I'm tired of denying myself the good things in my life because I am too scared to lose them. I'm not doing it anymore." He rested his hand on her uninjured leg before continuing, "I know this is probably freaking you out, but I'm going to be honest with you; and if you're honest with yourself you know you can feel that there's something between us too."
"Things are never as simple as that." She said softly, trying to avoid looking at him "I don't know if I can do this."
"Is it because of Bart? Are you -"
She held her hands up in front of him. "We're just friends. Although, I don't think he'd like the idea of me and you. I don't want to be a reason for tension in your home."
"I had already planned to speak to him once I had talked with you."
Oliver took her good hand in his and held it close to his chest. She could feel his steady heartbeat against her skin; its calm, rhythmic beat the complete opposite to her own racing heart.
"I don't want you to be thinking about anyone else right now. All I want you to do is carry on with the way you have been living recently – following your heart." He smiled as he saw the frown form on her face. "You have a beautiful mind. It's just, sometimes, you think far too goddamn much."
"In case you haven't noticed, my heart hasn't done me any favours so far. I don't trust it."
"It led you here, didn't it? I'm not asking you to jump into this, but I would like to see where we could go." He let go of her hand, but continued to stare deeply into her green eyes. "This is the first time I've wanted to date a best friend. I'm taking a rest too."
She had been completely selfish. Not once had she considered this from his point of view – not fairly anyway. Oliver's success rate with relationships was as good as her own. He had just as much to lose as she did, if not more. There were very few people who knew the real man behind his various identities, but he was willing to take the risk. For her.
She wanted to throw herself at him right there and give 'them' the green light.
Any declarations would have to wait as Rebecca re-entered the room, her professional smile still in place.
'God, that woman turns up at the worst moments', she thought to herself.
She handed an envelope to Chloe. "This is your schedule. Your physical therapist, Paul, will arrive tomorrow for your first session."
"Great. Can't wait." Chloe deadpanned.
"Alrighty then! Let's get you on your way."
Oliver laughed as Chloe's sarcasm seemed to go unnoticed. He grabbed her belongings as Rebecca began to wheel her towards the building's entrance.
He had parked the car as close to the doors as possible. Chloe guessed that he probably didn't worry about parking tickets and fines.
Oliver put her things in the car before he opened the passenger door for her. Rebecca helped to steady her as she moved from the wheelchair.
The nurse watched as Oliver got into the car. She had heard that he was the one behind the wheel when the car Chloe had been travelling in flipped.
"So, you sure that you can trust this guy not to get you hurt again?"
Chloe sat in the car and smiled back at the concerned nurse. If only she knew what a loaded question that could be.
"You ready to go, Sidekick?" Oliver asked her with a smile, to which she nodded in response.
Chloe looked up at Rebecca, showing her a smile of her own.
"Yeah. I think I do."