AN: Thank you also to those who have reviewed and also alerted to the story...

Thanks to Hellzz_on_Earth for the beta, however any mistakes are mine.


Chapter 6: I am what I am

I am what I am, I am my own special creation. So come take a look, Give me the hook or the ovation. There's one life, and there's no return and no deposit; One life, so it's time to open up your closet. Life's not worth a damn 'til you can say,"Hey world, I am what I am!" – La Cage Folles

Star City, 12th October 2008

Clark spotted Lionel heading out of the hospital wing as he headed back to Chloe's room. "Lionel. I didn't expect to see you here."

"I came to check on Ms Sullivan and Oliver."

"You could've just called me, I would have given you an update."

"I also had wanted to discuss some business with Oliver. However given his condition, I chose to speak to Ms Sullivan instead since she is his right hand."

"Since when?" he asked a little like a petulant child. Lionel raised his eyebrows.

"Now Clark there is no need to get your knickers in a twist. It's quiet obvious how close they are. Your mother approves by the way, thinks that they are 'adorable' together."

The scowl on Clark's face told Lionel that he thought it was anything but adorable. However Clark needed to get his head clear if he was ever to complete the training that Jor-El wanted him to do and now that Lana had gone to Paris he couldn't have him clinging to his best friend.

Yes they were all going to be furious at him when they put together the pieces of how much he had taken advantage of certain situations to his own ends. No doubt they would all miss the point that it was being done for the greater good and blame it on his last name. But to help Clark there was nothing that Lionel wasn't prepared to do and he really didn't have the time to dwell….Tempus Fugit and all that.

"When you are ready to leave here, we need to meet at the fortress. There's a lot we have to discuss, information you need to know to continue your journey to the man all your father's imagined you could be."

Clark nodded his head sullenly and turned to go back to see Chloe. Emil had been tied up with another patient and told him he would make his way to Chloe's room when he was free. Clark hadn't pressed the matter because the man looked exhausted.

"Chloe," Clark called when he realized the room he had left her in was empty. He listened for her heart beat, sure she couldn't have gone far. It was faint, fainter than it had been when he had left her. Walking as fast as he could without causing attention to himself he found himself outside of Oliver's room.

A flash of red stopped in front of him… "What's up stretch, want to go for a run?"

"No… I'm looking for Chloe."

Bart looked down dejectedly. "Ah 'licious, what a heart breaker."

"What does that mean?"

"See for yourself."

Opening the door ever so quietly, he peeked in not sure exactly what he would be seeing. Part of him was tempted to put his hands over his eyes before realizing he was being ridiculous.

The room was dimly lit, the window to the outside world letting in the moonlight. At first he just saw Oliver's silhouette, before he realized Chloe was safely nestled in his arms and they were both fast asleep.

For a man who had been shot he looked amazingly peaky and healthy, it was Chloe that looked a pale shade of death. Of course! She must have been able to heal him. That would explain why her heartbeat was so faint.

He backed out of the room quietly and shut the door to come face to face with Mary.

"Clark, come to check on Chloe?"

"She's sleeping," he said a little awkwardly.

"Yeah, it has been an exhausting day for her."

"Wouldn't she be more comfortable in her own bed."

"We'll move her later, but for right now I sense that leaving them together at the moment is the best thing to do. They've both been through a lot."

Looking at Bart, Victor, AC, John Jones and Mary, he realized that Chloe had a family here in Star City and that these people would take care of her. Then the truth hit him. This was the time for him to start training. Chloe didn't need him anymore and he had no-one else to stay for.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just realized that I am going up North for a while and don't know when I'll be back. Can you tell Chloe that I said goodbye."

Mary pursed her lips together and nodded. "I could do that... but I think you owe it to both of you to tell her yourself, even if she can't quiet hear you. It would mean a lot to her that you did, especially if you can't stay until she wakes up."

He nodded and heading back towards the private room, Clark opened the door again and knelt down beside Chloe, feeling a little awkward for intruding on Oliver.

Pushing back her hair from her face he took a moment to look at her peaceful expression and was comforted that he wasn't leaving her alone.

"I'm sorry you're not awake for me to tell you this and its crapy timing, but it's time for me to go up North and I've come to say goodbye…You've been the greatest best friend anyone could ever want."

He looked at her for a moment longer before kissing her cheek. "Stay safe and be happy Chloe."

As he turned to leave, he heard the flutter of eyelids and saw Oliver had partially opened his eyes and was watching him.

"Boy Scout."

"Oliver."

"Don't let ice dad turn you into a Popsicle."

He left the room smiling a little. He didn't think anyone was good enough for his best friend, but he had to admit Oliver had been watching out for her from the get go. While it might take his full arsenal of tricks, if anyone else had a chance at keeping her out of trouble it would be the leader of the Justice League.

"Clark."

He turned towards Mary. "Thank you, you've been a wonderful friend to my daughter and to me," she said as she embraced him. "Take care and know that you will always have a place with us if you need it."

-xxXxx-

Star City, 14th October, 2008

The back of her eyes felt scratchy, her throat was dry, her muscles ached and she felt a little clammy. Thankfully though she was in a pair of sweats rather than the dress she had worn to the party.

Mary saw her stirring and moved to the side of the bed. "Hey sweetheart."

"Hi Mom. Wow how long was I out this time?" she asked sitting up gingerly.

"Close to 36 hours. I thought you would be more comfortable in your own bed than staying at the hospital. Those beds aren't really made for two."

She couldn't disagree with that statement although she blushed a little remembering that she had asked Oliver to stay and that he had.

"Good to see you awake," Mary said kissing her and handing her a bottle of water to which Chloe drank thankfully. "The boys were going just a bit crazy with worry."

She attempted to get out of bed but felt a little woozy, her stomach reminding her that she hadn't eaten since the dinner at Sam's birthday, which was hours ago. Her mom handed her a large tub of yogurt, which she eagerly consumed.

"Thanks mom, and thanks for getting me out of that dress. I assume that was you."

"Yes, although Bart promised to keep his eyes closed if I let him."

"We so need to find him a girlfriend," she murmured shaking her head.

"That won't stop him from wanting to flirt with you."

She smiled a little. "I guess not. How's Ollie. Did Clark stay?"

"Oliver's been going a little crazy being cooped up as you can imagine. Clark did say goodbye before he left."

"Goodbye? We don't say goodbye, it's always see you later or I'll call you."

"He was headed up North."

"Really…." She flopped back into her pillow. "I guess it was goodbye then, at least for now."

"True friends are never really parted you know."

"I know, I just wish I could have thanked him. We didn't really get a chance to talk at the hospital."

"Well it's a conversation I'm sure you can have with him when you see him again." Mary gave her a quick hug. "I'm glad you're back with us. I'm going to put in a couple of hours at work. Call me if you need anything or want to talk."

"I will…thanks again mom. I just need a shower to feel a little more human and I'll make my way down."

Stepping into the spray she quickly ended up sitting on the tiles allowing the warm water to soothe her protesting muscles. Much to her chagrin she noticed that she had several new scars on her torso the size of bullet holes.

One more thing to add to her list of things to think about in depth when she felt up to it. Right now though her stomach was still quiet empty and she was anxious to see Oliver herself.

Putting on a pair of jeans, a gold sweater and applied bronzer and lip-gloss to give her a bit of color before heading to the living area.

The dinning room was littered with tulips but void of any people. "Hello," she called and she gasped a little as a pair of muscular arms that could only belong to one person encircled her from behind.

"Ollie," she turned and threw her arms around him "you're okay." She had to admit the whole greeting felt a like de-ja-vu.

"Thanks to you. How are you doin'?" She was real and she was awake. Oliver almost wanted to pinch himself to make sure her wasn't dreaming. She pulled away before he could tighten his grip on her.

"Starving, please tell me you have food."

He laughed at that, choosing not to feel slighted by her withdrawal. "Of course," he said heading over to the kitchen ready to dish up. "What would you like? We have Chinese, Thai and Italian."

"All my favorites. Can I have a bit of everything…?"

"Sure, hope you don't mind the others will be back later it's just us right now." He needed to spend some time with her, just the two of them. If he had had it his way he wouldn't have left her side at all, however Mary had pointed out that he wasn't the only one who cared about her. Mary was right of course and in the past he would have said he didn't really have a problem sharing. Until now. He had developed this possessive streak when it came to Chloe in the last 48 hours.

Her voice was soft. "No I don't mind. I'm glad you made a full recovery".

"I know this girl, has a pretty amazing gift, I owe her my life." His lips brushing against her cheek, causing her stomach to flip-flop in nervous excitement.

Then the flood of emotions at seeing him crumple to the ground, trying to use her powers, finding out that Lex had orchestrated the situation to test her and what happened just after she had called Clark to get Emil, that she had been holding back until she could deal with them overwhelmed her unexpectedly.

"Chloe!" he caught her before she hit the floor. "Hey, maybe you shouldn't be out of bed."

"I'm sure I'll be fine once I have more food in me," she said using the edge of the table to steady herself before sitting down. She wasn't sure why she was feeling ten shades of crap more than the other two times.

They ate in relative silence, her color slowly returning but the way she was looking at him, he could see the wheels in her head turning. He waited a while after she finished eating before the look on her face had him on edge. "What's going on in your head," he asked gently rubbing his thumb over her cheek.

"Lots of things."

"Like."

"Clark leaving."

He nodded, they had been friends for almost a decade that he had actually gone would have some kind of impact on her. "And?"

"How being as close as we are put you in the firing line for Lex's scientific experiment."

The knee jerk reaction to feel guilty for not protecting those that you care about was not unfamiliar to him. What was unfamiliar was being the person to whom one was worried about. He hadn't had that in a long time.

"What happened on Friday night is all Lex and his sick twisted mind trying to exploit those around him. You have nothing to feel guilty about and I'm fine."

"But you could've died, and it would have been my fault for being on Lex's radar."

"Chloe, not to make light of happened, but you know that any number of people aside from Lex could have decided to take a shot at me for completely different reasons. Not everyone thinks the sun shines when I smile."

"I guess. I can't help but feel that everyone would be safer if I wasn't around."

"We can be more careful in the future, but we shouldn't deliberately distance ourselves because of what Lex might do, we are stronger if we all work together. What would you tell me if our scenario was reversed? "

She looked him in the eye and then away. "That we can't let him win. The Luthor's have already taken so much from us."

"What else are you thinking?"

"That I don't want to lose you."

"Good, cause I feel the same way." He moved and captured her lips with his. She started kissing him back and as he was about to deepen the kiss she pulled away abruptly, her eyes now conflicted.

His heart slammed into his chest confused about what was happening as she put some distance between them. "I'm sorry, did I do something wrong? He edged towards her but resisted the urge to touch her, as he waited for her to respond.

Her breathing was shallow but she wanted to reassure him it wasn't him. "No. You didn't do anything wrong and for a couple of wonderful moments I got caught up in the idea of an us."

"Then what happened?" He could hear a million buts or an epiphany that she could do better than him coming and he steeled himself for the inevitable rejection.

"I just realized I was being unfair to you. You're ready to jump in and see where this spark will take us. But there is so much going on with me that I can't be all in, at least at the moment. I'm sorry." She averted her eyes.

The sensation of hitting a pavement at 100 miles an hour didn't come and he felt most of the tension leave his body. "Hey. Look at me," he said gently.

He could work with her response. Yes she had things going on. Her ability had scared the crap out of him after hour eight of being almost comatose and from his understanding it was something she was still very dealing with. Not to mention her best friend had left. Plus there were probably things he didn't know about and he'd be some kind of bastard if he didn't give her the time to work it all out.

"You are the amazing one Chloe, you've kept me sane through some of my darkest hours and you saved me. I don't know how things would have gone in my life if you hadn't been around. I've never had this kind of connection to anyone before, so thank you for being honest with me about how you're feeling." He bought her into his arms.

"For the record, I'm not asking for anything more than you can give. You get me and when I am with you it's like the best part of my day. Not to mention since Friday you have been the girl in my dreams."

She looked at him in surprise. Someone telling her that she was the woman of their dreams had been a fantasy since she was in high school. "Really?"

"Really. Cross my heart..."

She looked to him like she had made a further decision. "You know outside of crisis's that pop up, economic meltdowns and fighting evil megalomaniacs I don't really know you and I'd like to."

"I have no problem with that, but what does that mean exactly?"

"I'd like to date …get to know other facets of one another; movies, books… take things slow, allow us time to digest stuff before moving on to the next relationship milestones."

"And we're exclusive right?"

"Most definitely."

He bought her hand up to his lips. "I can work with that. Thank you for giving me a chance."

"Thank you for being understanding."

-xxXxx-

Star City, 23rd October 2008

Chloe sat on the balcony as Oliver did some of his mediation poses shirt on, grateful at least that Oliver could venture outside in his natural form rather than in all kinds of ridiculous disguises. He still had to be careful not to appear in perfect health cause the last thing anyone wanted was for Lex to think his recovery was miraculous.

"Still enjoying the view?" he smirked.

"Of course, I love how the morning sun reflects off the water" she teased.

It was his birthday today and Chloe had been working with the others on several surprises for him. Even though they were still planning on going to Vegas he deserved something special.

-xxXxx-

2:00pm Oliver's Penthouse

Everyone had been ignoring him…well everyone that was important him. Work had seemed to have no problem getting in contact with him.

He couldn't believe that the team had taken him at his word that he didn't want any birthday wishes. Unless they were pulling the 'we'll ignore him during the day and have a party in the evening' type deal.

The more he thought about it the more he was sure that's what was going on and it would be just like Chloe. Thinking of her bought an immediate smile to his face. It had been almost two weeks since they had gotten together and he was enjoying the subtle changes in their relationship. Like curling up on the couch with her in his arms when they watched a movie, lunch dates or texting each other during the day with short messages that weren't work related. Right now in his personal life he was the happiest he had been since the first Christmas he could remember.

The elevator signaled someone's arrival and he concealed himself in the corner, hoping he would catch someone out. Sure enough, Chloe's mom Mary was carrying a large box with Gourmet Bakery on it. Ha he was at least getting cake.

She cocked an eye in his direction "You can come out now Oliver and don't even think about pouting at being sprung."

He stepped out of the shadows and smiled. "So do I at least get to look at the cake."

"Not until after."

"After what?" As if to answer his question, Bart breezed in and he found himself being literally whisked away.

Not ten minutes later Oliver was hunched over trying not to loose the remaining contents of his stomach. Not the kind of surprise he was hoping for. "Sorry 'bout the motion sickness amigo," Bart said, his mouth full of food.

The taller blonde walked towards a window and was greeted by the sight of a harbor at night surrounded by buildings. He hadn't been here for business in a while but there was no mistaking the Two International Finance Centre building or the dazzling waterfront lit up in a myriad of colors.

"Someone want to tell me what the hell we are doing in Hong Kong!"

"Not me, we're just following orders." Bart gave him the comm link.

"Good Evening Arrow."

"Tower, why am I in Hong Kong?"

"There's a garment bag in closet, you might want to open it."

"Not going to tell me what's going on?" he asked as he made his way to the closet

"Trust me, you want to be a part of this."

He grabbed the bag and opened it, half expecting a rabbit outfit or something equally ridiculous. No way…..A dark green leather vest reinforced with a Kevlar weave, and black pants (not tights!) made of the same material.

"Suit up Arrow, your targets – Nicholas Crane and John Deleon. " The adrenaline kicked in immediately and she began to outline the plan for capture and returning them to the USA while he changed and checked the equipment.

Hours later back at the Penthouse

"I've always wanted to do that," laughed Bart

"Right on, his face was priceless," added Victor

"Pretty much describes the last couple of hours…." AC piped in.

"True that, neither of them looked to happy about being taken into custody," Chloe said.

"Yeah nuh, not feeling any pain for them after everything," Oliver replied tucking into his third piece of cake. "This is great cake. Thank you Mary and thank you everyone."

Chloe smiled and kissed him. "Happy Birthday Ollie."

He in turn pulled her closer to him, until she was almost sitting on his lap. "Stellar birthday if you ask me. A new suit, trick arrows, Robin Hood box set and two gift-wrapped villains. I don't know how were going to top that for your birthday."

"I don't know, you me, our friends and family could be rather eventful," she winked mischievously. "Doesn't something always happen in Vegas?"

-xxXxx-

Metropolis – Lionel Luthor's Penthouse

"Is everything as you wished Mr Luthor?"

Lionel finished reading the last page of the documents his attorney had drawn up

"Yes, everything appears to be in order. I of course will be in Las Vegas for the occasion."

"I have to ask again Mr Luthor you realize you will be disadvantaging your own heirs."

"I am what I am, and my children thrive on conflict."

He tapped the papers. "These are my wishes and should anything come up in the future you are entrusted to make sure that they are carried out to the letter."

To Be Continued


Next Chapter: Vegas and what Lionel's up to