Notes: Here is the last chapter. Hope everyone enjoys it.

"Chloe?"

Oliver's eyes shot open in surprise, not even really registering the name called out or the voice, instead throwing his hand out for a gun he knew wasn't there, making him realize quickly enough that he wasn't in his bed, but Chloe's. Clark. Cursing quickly he untangled himself from Chloe's body and jumped out of the bed, rushing around the barely lit room for his clothes.

"Chloe you here?"

"Fuck," Oliver whispered harshly. Not only did he not want Clark waking Chloe up because, luckily, she was still sleeping, but he was currently without any clothes and if Clark got curious enough he was going to walk in and get the shock of a lifetime.

He hurried out of bed, stumbling on the edge of the rug and cursing again.

"Chloe?"

"Shut the fuck up," Oliver said through gritted teeth and started scrambling for his clothes. Pants alone just wouldn't do; he had to at least appear dressed so that Clark wouldn't be suspicious. Even though he and Chloe had come to an understanding about a relationship, he was pretty sure she wouldn't be happy with Clark knowing. So he settled for the essentials. Pants, skipping the boxer briefs, shirt, disregarding the undershirt, and then shoes, minus the socks.

It was just as he was about to go searching for her that Oliver pushed open the doors into the tower, coming from the direction were Chloe actually lived in the tower. "Where's Chloe?"

"Sleeping," Oliver said simply, and fought the urge to tug on his shirt. His normally neat attire was slightly rumpled and he didn't even want to know what his hair looked like. Of course Clark didn't exactly have a subscription to GQ, so hopefully he wouldn't notice.

"I told her I was coming by in the morning," Clark said, but it came out more as a question than a statement. "Is something wrong?"

He started to say no, he honestly did. Because brushing things off, the things no one really wanted to talk about, was normal for all of them. Talking about the end of the world, dangerous villains, that was easy, but talking about real feelings, hurt feelings, that didn't happen often. So he almost said no, and if it had just pertained to just himself, he would have, but this time it didn't. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Is this about Tess? Chloe told you?" Clark began and stepped forward. "I'm sorry about that, I'm only glad Chloe showed up when she did."

"Tess?" Oliver asked, genuinely confused and shook his head. "Are you serious? This is about your best friend."

"Chloe?"

The total lack of understanding on Clark's face almost surprised Oliver, almost. "Yes Chloe." He didn't even want to get into the fact that Clark seemed to think that he would have been actually upset about what happened with Tess.

For a moment Clark paused before responding, trying to recall the previous days events to remember if something had happened to Chloe besides the effect of the Kryptonite. "She was fine. After the effects of the kryptonite was gone, we were all fine."

"Clark, she's not fine. You always think she's fine, that this kind of stuff just rolls off her back, well it doesn't." He sighed and rubbed the stubble on his cheek, making him wonder how put together he really looked. "It bothers her, and you don't even see it."

"Chloe knows she can come to me. I asked her after it was all over with. She said she was okay."

"Well she's not!" For a brief moment he stopped, cursing himself for his outburst and possibly waking Chloe up. Taking a few steps forward he closed some of the distance between himself and Clark. "Don't you think she tried to tell me everything was okay? Well I didn't listen. Sometimes you might actually have to try a little harder. Not only does she feel guilty about Lois and scared as hell that she almost lost her life fighting with Tess, but she's still trying to pull back together the watchtower because of your selfish wish." For a brief moment he regretted his last words, but someone had to say it, and if Chloe wouldn't then he would.

Clark narrowed his eyes in response to Oliver's words. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're serious, right?" Oliver laughed and turned away from Clark, taking a couple of steps away and then turning back to face him again. Holding out a hand at the other man he laughed again. "You really are serious aren't you?" Oliver shook his head in disbelief. "You want Chloe to look out for you more. You want a girl who has spent the majority of her life looking out for you, to look out for you more. You want a girl who has been through things that no human being has ever been through, who has lost people close to her to protect you, who has had to hide things from her own family, to spend more time looking out for you? Are you serious Clark? Have you been exposed to too much kryptonite? Because here on Earth, we call that selfish."

"Do you think I wanted any of that? How many times have I tried to get Chloe out? How many times have I tried to stop her from getting involved? You brought her into this too," Clark snapped back and threw his hand out. "You enable her to do this. It's you and your money that enable her to stay cooped up in this tower all day long, never seeing the light of day."

Oliver wished he could have ignored Clark, he really did, denied everything he said, but there was some truth in it. Oliver had brought Chloe on board, putting her into more danger, getting her involved. And every piece of equipment in her tower was paid for with Queen money. "You're probably right, maybe we're both a bit at fault. But I'm allowing her to do what she wants to do. And as for the fact that she doesn't step out of here, don't act like I don't see that. Trust me Clark, I'm over here a lot more then you are, and I'm doing my best to fix it. Who do you think it was that forced her into bed last night Clark? I called Victor to get him out here today and scheduled an appointment with an IT guy to fix this mess. If I hadn't she would have been up all night."

"How am I going to know any of this unless she tells me?!" Clark exclaimed. "I don't know anything she does anymore. She hides things from me. I don't even know what she is thinking anymore."

"Talk to her for longer than five minutes to use her for information! And don't tell a girl who has willingly sacrificed her life for you that you need her to do more!" They stared at one another, a fight between wills, and for a moment Oliver thought Clark really might just hit him, then the fight seemed to leave him and he was walking past him.

"Tell Chloe I came by." Clark said evenly and headed the door.

As the double doors swung with his exit Oliver groaned and rubbed his face. It wasn't apparent yet if he'd made a bad situation better or worse, but something had to be said. Clark was blind to it, and Chloe just assumed it would go away. The last place Oliver wanted to be was in the middle, but they needed to work it out.

With a sigh he headed back to Chloe's room, unbuttoning his shirt as he went, fearing that she woke up. It wasn't until his eyes adjusted to the darkness of her room did he see her eyes open. She was still curled underneath the blanket, bare shoulders exposed, but now her green eyes were peering up at him. "Come on, let me have it. I know it's coming."

"I know you think you're doing the right thing for me, but you can't make all my decisions. I'm an adult last time I checked," She said softly. For a moment when she'd awoken to the outburst in the tower she had moved to dress, to go out and try to diffuse the situation. It was the total lack of understanding on Clark's part that stopped her. She couldn't bear to have that directed at herself.

"You're an adult that makes some bad decisions," Oliver countered and kicked off his shoes.

"So do you," Chloe responded a little more sharply. He was the last person that should have been talking about bad decisions.

He stopped from taking off his jeans and walked towards her, stopped at her side of the bend, and squatting down so that he was looking into her eyes. "And what did you do when you didn't like the bad decisions I was making?" He cocked an eyebrow and waited for her response. "Took matters into your own hands didn't you?"

"You wouldn't have listened," Chloe argued, but her voice didn't hold the conviction she had hoped it would. He wouldn't have, that she knew for sure, but that didn't make her decisions necessarily right.

"And neither would you," Oliver countered. When she didn't respond he took that as a sign that she at least partially agreed and stood up. As he rounded the bed he undid his jeans and kicked them off. Once he was settled behind her again under the covers, arm wrapped around her waist he pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Chloe released a shuddered breath, relaxing into his hold at his admission. "No, it's okay." She was tired, too tired, at that moment to even work herself up to being annoyed with him. The last couple of days had been rough. Between Clark, Lois, Tess, and the sudden and unexpected change in her relationship with Oliver, she was exhausted. For the first time she just wanted to stay in bed and sleep for a week. "What time is Victor coming?"

"Should be here in about three hours." He heard her sigh. "Is it a problem?"

"I'm just tired," she admitted for what felt like the first time. She never admitted to being tired, but for some reason he made it so easy for her to admit to her weaknesses. At some point over the past twelve hours she had begin to believe that he would take care of the things she couldn't handle.

"You don't have to get up," he mumbled into her neck, already closing his eyes and relaxing against the soft, warmth of her body.

"Yes I do. Although Victor is more than capable, I need to make sure it's all back the way it was before."

"Then go to sleep now," he pressed a kiss behind her ear, "help Victor and then let me take you out of here."

"Oliver..." she started, but he gave her hip a firm squeeze.

"Staying cooped up in here isn't doing you any good. And as much as I hate to admit it, Clark was right about one thing. He said I enabled you to coop yourself up in here, shut out the world."

"You didn't-"

"I did. I gave you everything you wanted for the tower, allowed you to stay here, never having to go outside unless absolutely necessary. That's got to stop." He waited for a few moments, hoping to gauge her reaction, but she remained silent. "So after Victor leaves, shower, put on something decent, and at least let me take you somewhere for dinner."

She turned in his arms to stare up into his face, cocking an eyebrow in amusement. "Like a date?"

"Well," he slid his hand over her stomach to wrap around her ribs, "that was the plan."

"And other people? What if people notice?" It was only right to ask. They didn't go out in public together unless it was absolutely necessary. And if they went out once or twice to eat it could be shrugged off as friends if they kept their hands to themselves. But if it became a habit...and someone was a bit too affectionate in public, then people would know. People like Clark, Lois, and even Tess.

"That's up to you." He slid a hand over the underside of her bare breast. Her breasts weren't covered by the blanket, giving him full view of them now that she was lying on her back. It was hard, but he fought back the sudden urge that shot through his groin. Seducing her would have been no problem, except for the fact that she really did need to sleep. He had all night to do the things he really wanted to do.

"Do you want to?"

"Well I certainly don't want to be locked up in here with you all the time. What do you want?" She seemed to think it over for a bit, her eyes staring up into his, almost searching for something.

"My face..." Chloe reached up and touched her bruised cheek.

"Is fine." He pushed her hand out the way and cradled her cheek with his hand. "If it bothers you we don't have to, but I think you'd be fine."

It surprised her how anxious she was about going out with him in public. She was almost fearful of it. For a long time she had avoided going out, doing anything just for fun. Now he wanted to take her out, do things that normal couples did. It frightened and excited her at the same time. "Okay."

Her apprehension was obvious. Lowering his head he pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. It was meant to be brief, but as usual it never remained that way. She was the one that deepened it, slipping her tongue passed his lips. For a moment he forgot himself, letting her pull him down over her body. Her hands were all over him, sliding over his chest and back, her body arching up against him, pressing her bare breasts against his chest. It was just as he considered sliding his leg between hers and parting them that he remembered his earlier decision. "Okay." He whispered against her lips and grabbed her hip to push her back down onto the mattress. "You are getting some sleep." He noted her sigh of disappointment and couldn't help but be slightly pleased with himself. "And then I'm taking you out tonight and when we get back, we have all night."

She couldn't help but smirk at his promise. "You promise?"

"Trust me." Oliver rolled onto his back and urged her to follow him. As she turned onto her side and propped her head on his chest he felt a renewed sense of need rush through him at the feeling of her naked body against him. "You won't be getting any sleep.