Chloe hadn't been at all surprised when Oliver's secretary had led her straight into his office. The odds were high that he'd pre-warned the friendly woman of an unexpected visitor today.

It was a last minute decision to come to Metropolis that morning. She had spent most of the previous night pacing her small apartment, alternating through various emotions. Anger, indignation, embarrassment, and then back to anger again. Finally, at somewhere around four in the morning, exhaustion had taken over, allowing the reasonable voices in her head to make their way through her prickled pride.

The secretary opened the door to Oliver's office with a smile, and closed it behind Chloe once she'd entered the room. Oliver was stood behind his desk, reading the sheet of paper he held in his hand. Chloe cleared her throat to draw his attention to her.

"Chloe!"

He faked surprise well, she could give them that.

"Is everything alright?"

Chloe stepped further into his office, towards the chess set set up near his wet bar. She picked up the white king, and played with it in her fingers.

"I've come to apologise."

"Apologise?" Oliver looked at her with genuine confusion. "What do you have to apologise for?"

"I underestimated you, Oliver." She placed the little chess piece on the desk in front of him. "I forgot who you really were."

Oliver perched on the edge of his desk in front of her, and crossed his arms across his chest. "I'm still not any clearer here, Sidekick."

Chloe smirked and wagged a finger at him, "See, right there, that was a clue. I genuinely believed that you were only invested in reforming our friendship, but it wasn't about that at all."

He moved to protest, but Chloe held her hands up. "Okay, it wasn't just about our friendship."

"You know how important you are to me. What's this about, Chloe?"

"Somehow, I became too comfortable. I thought of you as Ollie, my friend. I also forgot that you are Oliver Queen - the Green Arrow. Both, great strategists."

Chloe watched his posture change, and a frown develop on his forehead. "What are you saying?"

"Your face is too pretty."

Oliver choked on the air he was breathing. "Excuse me?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You're a wise ass. When in difficult situations, you let your mouth run with whatever insult pops into your head first."

"It's a gift." He said smugly.

"You were in captivity for hours, and you only have a few cuts and scrapes to show for it." Chloe poked at the small cut just below his hairline to prove her point.

"Ow?"

She then slapped him round the head.

"Ow! Seriously, what the hell Chloe?"

Ignoring his complaints, she took a further step towards him to look directly in his eyes. She had her hands on her hips, just to prevent her from taking another jab at him.

"If you had genuinely been captured, you would have been beaten a pulp. You wouldn't have been able to hold back the attitude long enough to prevent a thorough beating. I know you hired Sinclair, Oliver!"

There was little surprise on his face as he rubbed his head. "I knew you would figure it out eventually. I just didn't think there would be this much pain involved."

So this time she punched him in the chest.

"Chloe!" He spluttered.

"That was for making me worry about you!"

"Alright, alright. I'll explain everything - but only if you promise no more violence. Some ribs are genuinely bruised here." He said as he rubbed his chest.

He led them both towards the couch at the far end of the office and they both sat down.

"Why did you do it?" She asked as she sat.

"You were lonely, miserable and bored. You were just too stubborn to see it."

She leaned forward. "You had yourself strapped onto a bomb, Oliver. Did you have to push things that far?"

"Would you have listened to me if you hadn't? I tried talking, remember? You had a gun pointed at me."

Chloe shrugged her shoulders and avoided making eye contact, embarrassed at the memory. "You broke into my apartment, the gun was justified."

Oliver waved her comment away, before continuing. "Everything I said to you that day was true."

He put his hand to her hair and gently tugged on one of the brown curls. "Anne didn't put herself out there to save people she'd cut out of her life. Anne wasn't willing to put herself in danger, and do what needed to be done. That was all you. It was Chloe who cared enough, and did what was right. You can't just hide away such an important part of yourself."

Leaning forward he gently took her hand in his. "You needed that reminder that no matter where you were, or what you were doing, you hadn't changed inside. You'll never be the person to entirely give up on the world and your friends. There's still that hero inside of you that needs to help people."

"I'm not a hero, Oliver. I'm just the girl who got caught up with them."

"Victoria told me how you virtually ripped her life to shreds. You tore through several secure servers and committed a handful of felonies to get to her - to get to me. I think that makes you a hero, or at least mine at any rate." He said with a small smile.

"I don't like to be misled."

"And I'm sorry that that was the only way I could snap you out of your funk. It was obvious that the only person who could pull you back, was you. No amount of begging or pleading was gonna cut it."

Chloe sat there in silence and looked down at her hands. "It felt like the right thing to do, leaving like that. There's been so much blood and death…"

"You're strong, you know that. We can get through everything that's happened, but we need to do it together. You've proven to yourself that you can still do this, that you're still that fighter."

"I didn't want to face the idea that I could lose anyone else, that I could be responsible. That's why I had to run."

"You don't have to explain yourself. If anyone gets it, it's me." Oliver tilted her chin up with a single finger so he could look into her eyes "But you need to know that you've left a giant hole here, and I'm not just talking about the team. Chloe Sullivan has been missed from the world."

Chloe rolled her eyes and let out a huff of disbelief.

"I'm not lying here, Chloe. The others can speak for themselves, but I know they feel the same. Not having you around made this city feel a whole lot emptier to me. I'm not sure when it happened, but you've become incredibly important to me. You're more than just a teammate, and I need for you to know that."

For once, Chloe genuinely didn't know what to say, so she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. She stayed there for several minutes, enjoying the warm embrace and the familiar scent of his aftershave.

"There's one thing I couldn't figure out. Bart." Chloe pulled away to look up at Oliver. "Was he in on it?"

"He took a lot of convincing, but he eventually agreed. He didn't approve of my methods." Oliver replied, reluctantly letting go.

Chloe nodded her head. She might not have agreed with his methods, but who was to say that she wouldn't have done the same if the roles were reversed.

"Thank you, Oliver. For everything."

She meant it. Even through her hurt pride, she really did mean it.

"No more running away, for either of us. If our lives become too much, we talk it out, okay?"

She nodded her head. "Agreed."

"Good." Oliver said with a genuine smile. "And as part of our newfound honesty policy, can i suggest something?"

"Sure." She replied warily.

Yet again his hand found their way to her brown curls. "As cute as you are as a brunette, I hear that blondes have way more fun."

"Is that right?" She said with a smirk.

"Come on, I'll show you." He stood up and offered his hand to her, helping Chloe to her feet. "There's a new Metro coffee shop that's opened a block from here. I hear their caramel macchiatos are good."

"Only if you're buying. I'm broke, remember?"

"I think I can manage a cup of coffee." He smiled at her. Putting his arm around her he let her towards the door.

"And a muffin. Bart ate all my food - also your fault."

"I can stretch to a few baked goods."

"Good." She gave him a smile and put her arms around him to.

Nothing was perfect. There was no magic switch that could turn back the last few months. Awful things had happened, and people had died. Now they all just needed to focus on the future, and for her part, Chloe knew that meant letting people in. Running away was never going to be an answer, at least not a permanent one. She knew that she had to trust that her friends would have her back, just as much as she had theirs.