Chapter Four; Wine Red

Chloe had just finished her meeting with her meteor enhanced group and returned back to her coffee maker and laptop. People would call it paranoid that she kept a screen up with GPS trackers of her heroes, she would call it a precaution so she wouldn't jump to the ceiling when one of them walked in without knocking. At the moment, there was a large red blob of dots around an orphanage. She smiled. Her heroes were out doing good again. Except… she moused over the sole stray dot. Green Arrow. Why was Ollie away from the group? And heading here? Chloe shrugged to herself and minimised the screen, Ollie didn't to see how 'precautious' she was these days, especially after the recent attempt on her life. Ever more so since they hadn't heard more about psycho voice guy. They really needed to find out his name.

As predicted the door burst open without so much as a single knock. Smiling to herself Chloe turned, expecting to see green leather. However, she was met by three others, none dressed in any green leather of any kind.

"Miss Sullivan." And that was definitely not Ollie's voice. She backed up to her table. Yet again, she was without footwear, it was hard to wear with bandaged feet and when she did it just hurt. Why did she get the feeling she was going to be running outside again?

"Can I help you?" Her voice was wavering again and she swallowed, trying to pull back some confidence. Slowly with her right hand she slipped it over the laptop and opened back up the GPS track. Green arrow's location was right on top of hers. She turned back from her quick glance and sure enough the three men were still there, a green leather belt dangling from the middle finger of the largest one.

"Elf boy was rather useful." he spoke, his voice booming, yet still not a match to Mr. Psycho voice. "The GPS chip led back to you. Now, not only will master be pleased that he can have quality time with you, but you'll be able to unmask all the vigilantes for him." He tossed the belt in his hand and caught it again. "He will be pleased he didn't kill you the first time around. You have so much knowledge."

Chloe felt her heart pound violently against her chest.

"You won't get a word out of me. And… I'm guarded 24/7, so you should leave now." Her bluff failed miserably. The smallest of the three sent off a shrill of laughter.

"You want to try that again with some confidence?" he jibed.

"I'm serious." She shuffled back despite her words. He stopped laughing and rolled his tongue past his teeth while the other small one, who could possibly be his twin took the floor, taking a huge step forward and Chloe yet again braced herself ready to run.

"You mean those idiots in costumes we saw running to evacuate children from a burning shelter… yeah, they're busy." he started.

"And Mr. Elf is a little tied up at the moment, trying to stay alive and conscious long enough for his friends to here his pleas and rescue him from the fire." Chloe gasped.

"Fire burns… it's really quite nasty."

"But when you add accelerant, it increases the temperature, and your shrimps cook so much faster." The two twins, or maybe brothers were laughing again and shoved aside by the burly larger man. Chloe dropped her worry for Ollie then and there, Clark would save him, she had no doubt in her mind. But right now… she was alone, and she needed saving.

"Miss Sullivan, you can either come peacefully, or we can just take you right now. Boss don't mind if we bang you about a bit either." He grinned. Stall him, she needed to buy herself time.

"How did you re-route the GPS chip? It's not an easy thing to do." The two twins grinned and again their voices came through.

"We're special, lady."

"Yeah, real special. It's not hard to hack into anything when you're mostly made of electricity." To prove their point they sent a shock of electricity to each other, watching them catch and collect.

"You're not human?" she asked, still stalling for time. Bart would come, or Dinah, to check on her.

"As human as you are, but we are more about downloading information than your average computer." Her brain clicked alive, she could deal with those two. Simply overloading them with her Brainiac leftovers. She just had to touch them. It wasn't something she liked doing, but situations sometimes called for such activity. The larger guy might be an issue though.

"What's special about you?" she asked, nudging her chin in his direction. He smirked.

"Me? I'm clever. Cleverer than these two brats, which means I'm not sharing to help you waste time. You're coming. Now!" He reached for her and she ducked running into the back office, slamming both doors shut and locking them. It wouldn't hold them for long, but hopefully, long enough. She raced to the window, her fingers pulling on the latch. She fumbled and clutched again, it was stiff. Suddenly, she felt the energy change in the room and remembered the twins. From what she could gather, they knew nothing of the group's identity…but if they downloaded the information she had here, they would know everything she did… including weaknesses. Chloe dropped her fingers from the window and her fingers danced across the keyboard to create an entire system wipe deleting everything that existed on all her computers. Her laptop would need to come with her as well, she thought as the bar filled on the computers. She yet again tucked the laptop under her arm and returned to the window. It budged, but only the slightest bit.

At the sound of the door cracking she closed her eyes and shot her elbow through the window pane. Pain stormed into her arm, warm blood flowing freely. She tried to knock out the shards left over, but really, with 3 bodies pounding on her door, she would have to apologise to her body later, and suffer scars if she wanted to get out alive. She sucked in a breath, trying to make herself smaller and passed out her laptop first, then following with her body. Glass ripped at her clothes, tore into her skin, and tugged at her chance of escape but finally she was through and running across the rooftops, bare foot, again, and hanging onto her laptop for dear life. Again.

Risking a glance back she saw the twins crashing through her door and pushing for the window to follow her. She kept on, ignoring the burning of her limbs and made quick work of the fire escape and yet again hit the pavements. But where could she go?

Her old apartment? No, that was silly, if they knew she was here, they probably had checked her apartment as well. She didn't really have anywhere.

Dinah! Dinah had told her she could always crash when she wanted… but her home was in the other direction and changing route right now would mean going back past the evil threesome. Clark's was nowhere near either. She kept pushing on, past the people in the street who just yelled at her. Sure she could get them involved, but that would be risking their lives as well. Taking another glance back she noticed she was no longer being followed, they had fallen behind, or lost her trail. She ducked into an alley and flattened herself against the dark wall for a breather. Her lungs were burning now. She couldn't keep running for much longer and she'd cut open her feet…again. She sighed and dropped her head back against the wall.

Oliver! Ollie lived close to here. A few streets over. Thank god. She even knew where he kept his spare key and the combination to go with it. With a hand over her heart she breathed deep. Of course, when she brought it back, it came back blood red. She sighed again and ran, flat out, toward Ollie's apartment.

She slammed her back against the door as she finally found sanctuary in Ollie's apartment. Her white blouse was increasingly reddening. She really needed to sort that out. Her body dropped as she stepped into the living area and she pulled the phone from the side table. Punching in Clark's number she stripped her blouse off and balled it against her worst cut. It had sliced her from shoulder to breast and was still bleeding. Her muscles ached, her breathing burned and she was shaking again. She slumped further back as the dial tone ended and Clark's voice filled the other end.

"Chloe, there's an arson at an orphanage, can this wait?" His tone was polite, but it was clear he had his hands full. The air sped past, flames roared and children cried.

"There was an attack on Arrow; he's trapped inside the fire." It was silent as Clark sped around. Chloe held onto the phone, trying to avoid the warm blackness dragging over her. Coughing sounded, followed by Oliver's rasping voice.

"They have my GPS, get to Chloe." he instructed between coughs of smoke.

"Chloe?" Clark was alert now. "Where are you?"

"Safe. I promise. Just take care of Ollie."

"You sure you're alright?" Chloe scanned the empty room then back to her bloodied blouse. She didn't need to frighten Clark, she would be fine. She would be… in a few minutes.

"I'm fine. Be careful."

The phone cut off and Clark returned to fight the flames. She breathed deep and closed her eyes for just a second. The second turned into something more, the warm atmosphere of Ollie's apartment along with previous insomnia and the blood loss dragging her deeper into the blackness.

At the clunk of the elevator Chloe shot awake and backed against the wall, hidden from view. She hoped to god she wouldn't have to run. She didn't even know if she could. With the phone still in hand she gripped tighter, ready for fight, if she could find the energy to act. She stayed quiet and tuned in to the voices.

"Bart. I'll be fine." Oliver coughed again. "You don't need to baby me, go back and help Clark. Call me when you find Chloe."

"Sure boss." Bart confirmed and the elevator kicked into gear. 'It's alright' she repeated to herself over and over, cooling her nerves and releasing the grip on the phone. Her eyes focussed on the elevator as it opened. A smoky Oliver leaned against the wall and limped in.

"Ollie." she whispered and he turned, eyes widened then he dropped crossbow and rushed to her. He smelled foul of smoke, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead and leather torn to show bruises and grazes.

"Jesus Chlo. What the hell happened? Com'on." He swung his arms under her and lifted her as she drooped against his chest. He was warm, soft and a perfect shape for her to curl against. Her head sank into his shoulder and she closed her eyes again. "Whoa. No. Stay with me Chlo. Open your eyes." She pried her eyes apart. "You need the hospital, not my kind of doctoring."

"No. I just need sleep. And bandages." she argued. He narrowed his eyes, then finally saw her.

"You haven't slept solidly since the last attack have you?" he didn't wait for an answer, he already knew it. "Jeez Chloe. Com'on, we'll get you cleaned up and do what we can for these wounds. Then we'll see about some real sleep, right?" She nodded, rubbing her nose against his chin as he carried her up the stairs. "What happened to you anyway?"

"Some meteor freaks working for psycho man came for me again." she mumbled and groaned as he moved her from his arms and sat her on a cabinet. She blinked and looked around as he kept an arm around her waist and pulled out a first aid kit with his other. White tiles lined the room. His bathroom, she presumed. A Jacuzzi in one corner and beautifully complicated shower cubical big enough for 2 in another.

"They sliced you up like this?" he asked shocked and lifted her left arm checking for scars, then doing the same with the right. Chloe shook her head in answer.

"They cornered me in my office and I had to escape through the window. It was stuck so I smashed it."

"That explains the cuts on your elbow. You didn't think to use to chair or something instead of your arm?" She smiled and dropped her head against him in comfort. "I'm sorry Chloe." he said after a few minutes of working silence.

"What for?" she blinked, watching as he finished with re-bandaging her feet.

"This is all my fault. It was my belt chip they used to-"

"Ollie I'm fine. It doesn't hurt that much anymore and I didn't cut any arteries. I'm in one piece."

"Barely." he muttered and sighed. "Com'on lets have a look at what you got up top." Chloe lifted away the now red blouse and Ollie threw it in the sink to join the first aid supplies also soiled with her blood. He sucked in a breath at the sight.

"That bad huh?" she looked down and followed the gash as it carved from her right shoulder and ended between her breasts. Ollie paused, not quite knowing how to tackle this. Chloe let out a single laugh and took the supplies from him. "I'll deal with this one."

"Yeah that might be… best" he mused "Do you need anything else?"

"Coffee would be good." He laughed

"What are you now? 80% coffee 20% blood?" Chloe smiled. "You need sleep so no more coffee. Anything else?"

"Nah. I'll be fine. I just need to clean up and find somewhere safe to stay." Ollie nodded.

"I agree; you're staying here." He tossed the bloodied cloths into the trash.

"Woah. I can't stay here."

"Why not? It's safe, I can protect you. I have computers for your Watchtower business and no-one will ever think to look here for you. You said they didn't know our identities" he confirmed, feeling more assure of his own decision by the second.

"But-"

"No buts. Bart will bring your stuff over later and we'll keep you here until these guys are finished with."

"Ollie, we have no idea how long that will take. I don't want to impose for that long."

"No imposition. I promise. You're welcome here for as long as needed." She smiled up at him, and then thought of something which erased it completely. "What's wrong?"

"Ollie, if this is going to be difficult for you because of…" she trailed off, hoping he would get the hint. He did.

"This is strictly a friend thing. One friend helping another."

"Oliver!" Clark's voice cut off any more conversation and he shot her an apologetic smile.

"I'll go deal with Clark. Clean up and there are clothes in the dresser you can borrow until your stuff comes. Shout if you need anything." Chloe nodded and watched as Ollie went out to find Clark. She finished doctoring her wounds and cleaned the majority of blood from her body. Slowly, to test her feet, she wandered into the bedroom to find a haven of white. The bed was a giant cloud, anchored why 4 dark wood posts. The curtains, thick, light blocking white things. The floor was dark shiny wood to match the furniture, but snowy white rugs scattered over them kept to his theme.

She froze at the thrill of the idea of sleeping in that bed gave her. It was not only Oliver Queen's bed, so who knows how many females it had seen, but she was pretty sure it was the only bedroom he had, which meant if she was to stay… she would get to slip into paradise each night. She wiped the thought from her head, realising she'd just warmed at the idea of cuddling next to Ollie, not the huge soft bed.

She thought this would be difficult for Ollie… maybe it would be more difficult for her. Maybe she could stay at Clark's, then again, the trek to Metropolis everyday would be quite long if your car had been blown to pieces and you couldn't super speed. There was always Dinah… but Dinah was experimenting with the whole dating principle again, and wouldn't be there a lot of the time at night, and if she was, she'd be busy. Sure Ollie might be busy with the girls, but he never kept them for longer than he had to.

She turned and caught the sight of herself in a full length mirror. She looked a mess. Her hair had blood in it, and her jeans were torn and also bloodied. She needed a bath, or shower. Of course that would ruin the bandaging she had finally settled into. Her underwear had survived. Well her panties had… the bra was now strapless and dyed red. She needed clothes. She frowned and decided to settle things one at a time. Clean, dry and clothe. In that order. She turned back into the bathroom and washed her hair in the sink wrapping it in a towel, then following with a strip wash and cleaning the remaining blood from her. Again, a fluffy towel gently wrapped around her, hugging her wonderfully. Male mumbled voices could still be heard from below telling her Clark was still here. She sighed, knowing she would have to retell her story again. Or maybe Ollie had already told them. She hoped he had.

Following Ollie's orders she pulled out a deep wine red dress shirt from a drawer. It was definitely large enough for her, and longer than some of Lois's dresses. And, as an added bonus, you couldn't see if she bled all over it. She gazed at herself in the mirror again, feeling slightly sinful simply just wearing her panties and Ollie's shirt. She looked into trousers, but Ollie had her beat in leg size about three times over and she just looked ridiculous. She brushed her drying hair behind her ears and turned again in the mirror. She sort of looked presentable. She could bend, sit and reach up without flashing anybody. Biting her lip she stood at the top of the stairs listening to Clark re-telling what he saw at Isis for the entire gang. She gulped and was just about to turn back and fall back asleep on the cloud when her ears caught a very very terrible word.

"-Fire. Everything was burnt. All the computers, all her belongings." Chloe couldn't hold back the groan. She was back to square one. She didn't even have any spare clothes she'd left anywhere. All she had was her laptop and what she was wearing now. And half of that was Ollie's.

"Chloe? You okay?" Damn, they clearly knew she was there. No turning back now. She turned, steeled another breath and padded bare foot down the stairs in nothing more than a wine-red shirt. That didn't quite seem as drastic to her, as all her belongings vanishing.

"It's all gone?" she asked as she met Clark's wide eyes. He blinked and apologised to her. Dinah coughed purposefully for all the guys to return their heads to the conversation at hand, and not thinking about other places their hands wanted to be. She had to admit though; Chloe had killer legs. Especially in… was that Oliver's shirt? The rest of the males all seemed to follow that exact thought, tilting heads.

"She was covered in blood and needed a place to stay… and also some clothes." Oliver explained to block the judgements flying around.

"There's nothing left?" Chloe continued, ignorant of the inner thoughts aimed her way.

"It was already burning when we got there, we put it out. But… it doesn't look like a lot survived. I'll go back tomorrow when it's light and have another look around."

"Thanks." she muttered to Clark "The computers? Were they all there?" Clark nodded though didn't see where Chloe was going with this, they were fried beyond repair. "Good, the wipe must have finished before they broke down the doors. They still don't know anything about you."

"But they know a lot about you.," Clark reflected back. "I thin-"

"I'll be careful. I promise." she interjected before Clark could start some protection rotation duty. They fell into recounts of what happened on each side for the rest of the night. Chloe didn't stay focussed; her eyelids were pulling her down every few seconds lulling her into sleep. Of course finding a spot to sleep wasn't easy; she had so many aches. She rubbed her shoulder, easing tension, where the worst of them all started. She remembered the feeling of it so clearly. It was her own fault it was that bad; she'd felt a scrape along her back, close to her spine and jolted forward to avoid any severe paralysing damage, of course that tore half her chest off. But between paralysis and torn skin; she would chose bloody chests every time. Finally she found a place to close her eyes without pain, and a catnap later everyone was giving their goodbyes and good wishes.

"We'll go out tomorrow and get you some clothes." Oliver promised, kneeling before her chair. "But for now, you really need some sleep." Chloe nodded, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"Yeah." She made it to her feet then remembered the only one bed issue. "I can go stay at Dinah's. You only really have the one bed and I don't think sofa's will agree with me tonight." Oliver laughed lightly at her.

"Are you scared Chloe? We're both adults, and despite what you may think; I can control myself. But if you prefer, I can take the sofa." She didn't want him to be uncomfortable, and really, they were both grown-ups.

"No, it's alright. You're right; we're both adults." she agreed and started up the steps to the fluffy cloud.

"I'm going to finish some work off, then I'll be right up to snuggle, sweetheart." he teased, watching without shame as she started up the stairs wearing his shirt. Call him possessive, but she looked delicious, nobody should have been able to cast eyes on her like that.

Chloe slipped into the bed and let sleep finally wash over her. It was peaceful, warm and smelled distinctly like Oliver. But above all, she felt safe and guarded, so much that she could let go of the paranoia and switch off her brain.

Oliver finished off a finance report over the next hour. It usually didn't take him half that time, but thoughts of Chloe asleep in his bed, in his shirt, well, it proved a brilliant distraction. After a quick shower, he crawled into bed, using a good percentage of restraint to keep to his own side. But as he felt himself finally starting to drift off, she crept closer and curled to his shape, snuggling against his side. He welcomed it with a smile and let himself drop into pleasant dreams.

"Ollie please, don't tease me anymore!" She sat before him in nothing but his shirt.

"Well, you are wearing my shirt" he stated "you did ask for it"

"I can take it off" Her fingers were already undoing the buttons "But you must promise you won't make me beg" He smiled cheekily.

"I won't make you beg. Not for me, never" He watched the shirt hit the floor. She pounced into his arms her lips catching his passionately. His fingers traced along her naked back following the shivers he knew he caused.

"I love you Ollie, forever." she breathed against him, her hands holding him to her, lips kissing his collar bone. She moaned against him as he found her sex, glistening with warmth and wet.

"Please, you said you wouldn't tease. I need you Ollie." He flipped her onto her back, his erection suddenly freed and poised ready to meet her. She clutched to him, nails across his back, lips to whatever she could reach.

"Ollie" she cried as he shoved forward surrounding and drowning in her tight heat.

"Ollie, Ollie, please. More" she chanted to him, and he could never deny her when she lay out like this for him. Her eyes closed with pleasure till she flung over the edge, pulling him with her, screaming his name. She lay across his chest, a welcome weight, as they both recovered.

"I love you Chloe, forever" he whispered as she slept.