Part III

Chloe hurried down the sidewalk on Tuesday afternoon, shifting her heavy tote bag as she walked. Her class had run longer than usual and she was now fifteen minutes late meeting Lois for lunch. Of course, with her cousin's lax concept of punctual, it was possible she wouldn't be there yet. She pushed open the door to their favorite diner and looked around, finally spotting Lois in a booth to the right.

Lois looked up as Chloe approached. "You're late," she said almost gleefully.

"Yes, one time – not to be compared to the many, many times I've had to wait for you," Chloe replied with a raised brow. "My class went long."

"Honestly, I just got here about three minutes ago," Lois confessed. "I was looking at dresses online for your hot date."

"Would you please stop calling it that? It's just a date – nothing fancy. Dinner and dancing at the new salsa club downtown."

"Chlo, anything not involving your bunny slippers and laptop on a Friday night constitutes a hot date at this point. I'm just happy to see you moving on from Jimbo and getting out there again, and I'm excited to be helping you pick out a dress, and I want it to be the most awesome dress Detective Dean has ever seen so that he falls madly in love with you. So don't ruin my fun, ok?" Lois shot Chloe her best you-know-you-love me smile.

Chloe couldn't help laughing because it had been this way since they were children – Lois' mad dashes into life tempered by Chloe's more cautious approaches. But the one thing she always knew was that Lois loved her and had her back no matter what; and with the little family she had left, that connection meant more to her than anything else in the world. A little mad cap she might be, but Chloe wouldn't actually change her cousin. The balance worked for them.

"Just keep my budget in mind and I'm open to suggestions," Chloe remarked, lifting her hand to get the waitress' attention. They ordered quickly before Lois picked up the conversation.

"For the right dress, I'll chip in. I have an adult paying job, and we'll call it an early Christmas present or something. I just want you to be happy, and you've been seriously stressed this year. You're too young for that – that's supposed to come later when you've got screaming kids, a husband, a dog, and a mortgage. Right now you should be going to frat parties or clubs or just, I don't know - something fun. But you're barely twenty-two and you look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders half the time."

Chloe leaned her chin on her palm and stared at her cousin. She hadn't realized that Lois was that observant. And she did have a lot of stress; dealing with aliens, vigilante heroes, juggling school, work and helping said heroes. It was a little overwhelming at times, but she knew she was making a valuable contribution to their cause. Then there was her meteor ability. Nothing like learning you could heal mortal wounds and raise the dead at the expense of your own life for a few hours to make you question your own mortality.

"Lois, I know it seems like my life gets a little intense sometimes, but I really am ok. Most of the time I'm dealing better than you might think."

"I know you can deal Chloe, but that's not the point I'm making. We've both been dealing with life's craziness since we were kids. I let it all out and you hold it all in – since we were little, it's always been that way. I just want you to have more of a balance, I guess. And I know I'm pushy and mouthy, but I'm also here for you whenever it gets to be too much. I won't even ask questions."

Chloe raised a brow at that.

Lois sighed. "Ok, I won't ask too many questions. I'm just saying that when you need me, I'll buy the ice cream and we'll veg out and watch movies and gossip about all the people we don't like, and all the guys we do like. You can sleep over and complain about how I kick too much, and it'll be just like those sleepovers we had during the summers when I visited you or you visited me."

It was times like this that reminded Chloe how much she loved Lois, even when she was driving her crazy. She blinked rapidly against sudden moisture in her eyes and reached out to squeeze her cousin's hand. "Thanks, Lo."

"Oh, and keep your schedule open for that bachelorette party in a few weeks. By then you'll probably have had a few dates with Dean, and that will be the perfect time to get out and consider your options."

And pushy Lois is back, she thought in amusement. But Chloe realized she didn't mind so much this afternoon. Maybe a little push was what she needed now and then.

They finished their lunch and began hitting all the stores on Lois' list. Two hours in, Lois insisted that they had found 'the dress.'

"This one," Lois said, holding out what Chloe could only assume was a fire engine red napkin masquerading as part of a dress.

"Lois, I agreed to go on another date with George; I did not agree to go dressed like a prostitute."

Lois pouted and sighed. "Seriously, cuz, you're no fun."

"And if you had your way, I'd be a little too much fun," Chloe replied drily. She continued flipping through the racks.

"This one?"

She turned to see Lois holding up an off the shoulder leopard print mini. "A little too 'Tarzan meets Jane' for me. You could pull that off – I couldn't."

An hour later they were in another of Lois' favorite consignment shops. "I love this one," Chloe said, holding up a black halter dress with a short skirt in a funky yellow, black, and white floral design.

"Ooh, I like it. But I think that one would be good for the bachelorette party. You need more of a wow factor for your date. What about this one? It looks more like you, I think."

Chloe reached for the dress and held it in front of her as she looked in the mirror. "I'll try both of them on."

A few minutes later when she stepped out to show Lois, she knew Lois' choice was the right dress for her date. It was a simple design in a muted purple silk. It was short with the hem well above the knee, but it wasn't too low cut. The bodice had a sequined border running along the top and one strap went across her left shoulder, leaving her right shoulder bare.

Lois nodded in satisfaction. "A silver heel, a smoky eye, some nice earrings or maybe a bracelet – you will be the hottest chica at Bongo's on Friday night."

Chloe smoothed her hand down the material. It was sexy and had a young feel while still being sophisticated. "I like it. I'm going to try on the other one, too."

A few minutes later she stood in front of the mirror again, biting her lip. "I like this one too – it looks fun and flirty. But I really can't afford to buy both of them."

Lois whipped out a card. "The purple one is on me."

"Isn't that the card Uncle Sam gave you for emergencies?"

"Trust me, cuz – your love life is an emergency. And as long as I don't go crazy, and I occasionally contribute to the bill, the General doesn't care what I charge. He always sends us shopping with his card when he visits anyway – you are his favorite niece, you know." Lois nodded to the dress Chloe was holding. "You can swing that one, right?"

Chloe smiled. "Yeah – and thanks, Lo."

An hour later they had purchased the necessary accessories and were on their way back to Chloe's dorm. When they arrived, Clark was waiting.

"Hey, Clark. Something wrong?" Chloe opened the door and waved Lois and Clark in ahead of her.

"No, I just wanted to talk to you about researching something for me," Clark replied. He glanced at Lois. "Just a story idea, nothing solid yet."

"You know, Smallville, we have Google at the office. Maybe if Chloe didn't spend so much time being your personal search engine, she'd have more time to date," Lois pointed out. She held up the purple mini in one hand and the silver heels they'd purchased in the other. "What do you think? Detective Dean won't know what hit him."

Clark looked over at Chloe in surprise. "I thought you weren't going to see him again."

"I changed my mind," she said.

He cleared his throat, looking at the dress again. "And you're wearing that? Where are you going?"

"He's taking me to dinner on Friday at the new salsa club," Chloe answered. She raised a curious brow. "Is something wrong with me wearing that?"

"Uhm… no, it's just…" he paused, pushing up the glasses he'd begun wearing after making the move to Metropolis to work at the Daily Planet. "It's kind of short."

"And I'm an adult, and wearing a short skirt is my prerogative." She suddenly felt just as irritated with Clark as she had with Jimmy and Oliver. Seriously, did every man on the planet think she was a sexless, work-a-holic, goody-two-shoes type? Because if they did, it was beyond pathetic and she was tired of it.

"But it might give him the wrong idea or something." Clark shifted, clearly a bit uncomfortable with the conversation.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "The idea that what? I'm a woman? Maybe I want him to get that idea." She sighed and grabbed her tote. "I have to get to work. Lock the door on your way out."

Clark waited until Chloe left before turning to Lois. "This is just her second date with this guy, right? I mean, she's not really thinking about… you know…"

"It's Chloe, so I doubt it, but what if she is? George Dean is a great guy, and he'll treat her with respect. I'd never have set him up with my baby cousin if I thought otherwise. And seriously, the fact that her only sexual experience is with Jimmy freaking Olsen at the age of twenty-two is just sad – sad, I tell you."

"Lois, can you please not tell me that kind of thing about Chloe? She's been my best friend since we were kids," he said with a pained expression. "But she and Jimmy only broke up a couple of months ago. I just don't want to see her get hurt again."

Lois' expression softened. She kind of had to love Clark for looking out for Chloe the way he did. "I think you need to give her more credit, Clark. She's a smart girl. Now, what's this story idea you need help with?"

Clark sighed, straightening his tie. Maybe he'd try to talk to Chloe at the League meeting the following night. And he was sure Victor could look up everything there was to know about Detective George Dean.

Oliver ran a hand over the back of his neck, frustrated. "You're telling me there's nothing at all on this guy that's out of the ordinary?"

Victor shrugged. "I dug deep, and George Dean is solid, man. He's a decorated officer with the MPD, and the youngest detective in the history of the department. Parents live in Grandville, he has an older sister who's married and a couple of nieces, one nephew. He's still Facebook friends with two of his ex-girlfriends, and he seems to like monogamous relationships. His reputation rivals Clark's for being a Boy Scout in that department."

Oliver scowled at the computer. "Ok thanks. I'll see you at the meeting later." He ended the video call and leaned back in his chair. He'd been so sure that Victor was going to find dirt on this guy, and it irritated him that he hadn't. This was definitely not a good week.

He'd been slammed by business concerns during the first part of the week. He'd finally managed to carve out a little time to meet Lois for a late lunch earlier that day. It was nice that after their brief dating history, they could still be friends. But their relationship hadn't been very serious, and they'd both moved on more quickly than they thought they would. There was no drama between them, and lunch was lighthearted, giving them time to catch up on each other's lives.

When Oliver casually brought up the subject of Chloe, Lois was eager to fill him in on Chloe's date with Detective Dean on Friday night. Apparently the young detective was taking Chloe to dinner at the new salsa club in town. It sounded innocent enough until he remembered that salsa dancing included a lot of touching. That always led him back to Chloe's kinky cop costume, and that inevitably led to things he really shouldn't be thinking about at all. He'd had more sex dreams about Chloe this week than he could ever remember having about another woman.

Meanwhile, Chloe adamantly refused to answer his calls. She had emailed him the research she completed, and she had texted him once to say she was busy with classes and work, but he knew that was an excuse. She was probably embarrassed that he'd seen her purchases. He guessed she was probably also angry that he'd questioned her about them. Looking back on it, he probably could have handled it better.

But she really couldn't avoid him tonight because they had a League meeting with everyone required to be in attendance. There was a new mission to plan for, and Chloe's research and input were both key to the planning process. As much as she might want to, he was sure she would never ditch a meeting when she knew her presence was necessary – it would be a waste of everyone else's time if she wasn't there to explain the information she had found. There was really no way for her to avoid him.

Oliver was forced to adjust his ideas regarding Chloe's avoidance tactics by that evening. She had arrived at his penthouse with Clark and throughout the entire meeting, she managed to keep half a room and at least two League members between them. Short of blatantly calling her out on it in front of everyone, there wasn't much he could do about it.

And did she have to wear those little skirts to the meetings? He knew she was probably working that night, but the black pencil skirt paired with her very feminine pink blouse was making it hard to concentrate. The collar was high, but the blouse had a deep V-neck that showed a lot of cleavage, and the ribbon tie holding it together was driving him nuts. One little pull of the satin ribbon, and... he took a deep breath, shifting his folder to hide the evidence of his growing arousal.

Then there were her shoes - black, peep-toe, and high enough to add a good three inches to her petite frame. He could see pink polish on her toes, and when she turned, the underside of her heels was a similar shade of pink. Fuck-me-heels without a doubt. Oliver noticed Bart staring at her ass and was about to hit him, but Clark beat him to it. He was going to have to have a talk with Bart about his concentration at meetings. His own wasn't much better though.

He leaned against the wall and stared at Chloe moodily as she began to wrap up. They had a solid plan in place for the mission which wouldn't go down for a couple more weeks. He knew that she and Victor would have several online sessions together as they nailed down the finer points of getting into the medical research facility that they suspected held information about meteor infected patients.

At this point Oliver was less concerned about the mission and more concerned about Chloe's date the following night. He'd been thinking a lot about Chloe's apparent desire to broaden her sexual horizons, and he'd realized something. He wouldn't mind being the one to help her do it. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he wanted her.

It was a crazy idea when he thought about it rationally – there were so many potential pitfalls in starting that sort of relationship with Chloe Sullivan. If things went south, Lois would kill him. Clark would kill him. The rest of the League would probably help. But right or wrong, he didn't like the idea of Chloe getting kinky with George Dean. Or anyone else, for that matter. He had the experience, a lot more than he'd need to use the things she'd bought. He knew that he could make it a good experience for her. He wouldn't hurt her; at least, not intentionally. And if at any point she wanted to stop, he'd listen to her.

Now he just needed to convince Chloe. But it looked like she had already worked out her escape route as the meeting concluded.

Turning to Bart, Chloe smiled. "Think I could get a lift back to the dorm?"

"Anywhere for you, Chloelicious," Bart replied with a grin. "The speedster is always at your service."

Oliver pushed away from the wall. "Chloe, I'd like a minute before you leave."

Without meeting his eyes, she said, "Sorry, gotta get to work. Later, ok?"

Bart lifted Chloe into his arms and in a blur of red, they were gone.

Damn it. Oliver turned back to his desk and shoved his hands in his pockets. He knew Chloe's date was the following night. It also looked like she had no intention of talking to him anytime soon. Given those two factors, the odds of getting her to cancel her date were rapidly decreasing.

"Hey, Victor, would you mind running background on someone for me?" Clark asked.

Victor turned back to the mainframe. "Hit me."

"George Dean. He's a detective with the…"

"Metropolis Police Department?" Victor finished Clark's sentence, glancing over at Oliver.

"How did you know?" Clark asked in surprise.

"Lucky guess. Mind me asking why George Dean is on your radar?"

"Chloe is seeing him. Tomorrow is date number two, I think," Clark answered. "I just want to make sure he's the guy Lois thinks he is – she set them up."

"Ah, I see," Victor murmured, his eyes speculative as he watched Oliver. "Let me see what I can dig up for you and I'll give you a call later tonight."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll talk to you later." Clark blurred off, leaving Oliver with Victor, AC and Dinah.

Dinah stood up. "About time Chloe got back out in the dating world. Girl lives like a nun."

"Because you'd know all about living like a nun," AC said playfully. "You guys want to grab a drink?"

Oliver shook his head. "I have some more work to do this evening."

"I'll catch up if you want to grab a table," Victor suggested. As soon as they left, he turned to Oliver. "Something you want to talk about?"

"Since I don't pay you to 'Dear Abby' me, the answer is hell, no," Oliver replied shortly.

"Testy, aren't we? And that has nothing to do with Chloe's date with the hot detective?" At Oliver's derisive snort, Victor smirked. "Hey, he's a good looking guy." He turned the monitor toward Oliver to show him the detective's DMV photo.

Clean cut, dark hair, brown eyes - George Dean probably had little trouble with the ladies. And that irritated him even more. "Don't you have somewhere to be? Or are we going to braid each other's hair while we talk about girls?"

"Ok, fine, backing off," Victor said, hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Just saying dog in the manger doesn't suit you, Ollie. Man up and admit you like her, or someone like George is going to beat you to it."

After Victor left, Oliver stood at the floor-to-ceiling window in his home office, staring out at the Metropolis skyline. Of course he liked Chloe, and he was attracted to her. And contrary to Victor's broad hints, it didn't have to be the love affair of the century. Chloe had all but said that she was swearing off serious dating for a while after the breakup. But that didn't mean they couldn't explore something that fell in between casual and serious.

If Chloe wouldn't talk to him, though, it really left him with only one choice. He grabbed his phone and looked up the number for Bongo's Cuban Cafe. "Hi, this is Oliver Queen. I want to reserve a table for tomorrow night."

A/N: I added a lot to Part III – the whole section with Lois, actually. Hope you like it. I'll get the next part up as soon as I can, but just know that I'm having massive Internet problems here in Saudi. Sometimes pages just won't load and even when they do, I can't always upload. Oh, and there is a real Bongo's in Miami – Orlando, too I think, but I've only ever been to the one in Miami. Fun, fun, fun!

Up Next: Oliver crashes date night. Let the games begin!