It's short and sweet, and believe it or not, it's the final chapter. I feel like I've given birth after being in labor for two years. -phew- Love you all, thank you for the tremendous response to this story, and goodbye, FFN! Be seein' ya! :)

Sincerest Love,
Blue

—26—

"All right, Queen. I've had enough of your ambiguous texts. What is this about?" Dinah Lance-Curry said, crossing her legs and narrowing her eyes at Oliver across her living room.

"And by that, she means, 'Hey, Ollie. How've you been? Haven't seen much of you lately.'" A.C. said, handing Oliver a cold beer and clinking his own bottle with it. "Cheers," he said pleasantly before going to sit down on the sofa beside his wife. Tango the Canary tweeted cheerfully in the background.

Oliver opened his mouth, but Dinah spoke first. "Don't do that, A.C. Don't humanize him. We're still mad at him."

"You're still mad at him," A.C. chuckled. "Irrationally I might add. I happen to believe him and Chloe when they say it was mutual." He kissed her temple, amused when she jut clucked her tongue.

Oliver rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah…about that…that's why I'm here."

"See, Dinah," A.C. elbowed her smugly. "Called it."

She just raised an eyebrow at him stubbornly. Then she turned to look at Oliver. "So?" she said.

"Listen, Dinah…" Oliver said slowly. "I know you think I did something to screw this relationship up and you're pissed about it, but…you should know I love Chloe. And I know that I owe a lot of it to you for trying to push us together in the first place. I'm sorry you're upset with me, but…things with Chloe just…it's hard to explain what happened. But please, I'm asking friend-to-friends here for a little help."

Face softening a little because, after all, Oliver was every bit as much her friend as Chloe was, Dinah leaned forward. "What exactly is it you want from us?"

"Seeing Oliver Queen again, are we?" Edward asked casually, noticing the addition Chloe had just made to her calendar.

"Don't you raise your eyebrow at me with that tone, mister," Chloe said, dodging the question.

"I'm just curious is all. You've been spending a lot of time together ever since the Olsen wedding," Edward said.

"It's…strictly platonic, I swear," Chloe said with a little sigh, starting to open some of the mail on her desk.

"What's that?" Edward cupped a hand to his ear, "Is that a hint of frustration I hear? Is it possible you were hoping for more than platonic relations?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

Chloe chuckled but then sighed again, rubbing her temples. "To be honest? I have no idea. When he showed up at the wedding, it was like he rode in as my white knight. I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life. And I realized just how much I've missed having him around. So I should be grateful, right? I mean…he and I are genuinely friendly again."

"Friendly, not friends?"

She chewed her lip. "Yeah. It's still…there's still this whole…"

"'We faked an engagement together' thing?" Edward supplied humorously.

"Yeah," she said dryly. "We've been keeping our distance for a reason. I just…I don't know. I don't know if there will ever be a way to make things normal between us because I don't think anything about 'us' has ever been normal."

"And admit it, you want to be more than friends with him."

Chloe gave him a look that said it all.

Edward sighed and patted her shoulder. "These things have a way of working themselves out in the end." He glanced at her calendar. "And if they don't, by the way, I heard Harvey Dent is back in town," he teased.

Chloe glared. "Don't you have a job to do, or something?"

Chloe worked through the day, trying her best to banish thoughts of Oliver Queen from her mind. It had been a strange couple of weeks since Jimmy and Kara's wedding, spending time with him again and acting like there had never been anything romantic between them. The media had spotted them together a half dozen times now and everyone in Star City—Chloe included—was scratching their head, trying to figure out what it meant.

But it wasn't something she dared to complain about either. This friendly companionship and easy camaraderie…this was what they might have had if they'd given one another a chance when they first met. She doubted she and Oliver ever would have dated if the universe hadn't kept trying to force them onto each other, but they would have become friends eventually, she liked to think…once she had come to understand that he wasn't the cad she believed him to be, and after he figured out that she wasn't the ice queen he thought she was. It might have been nice.

But it was like having wine after whiskey, too, and it was difficult to tell her heart that this was how it should be, that Oliver had clearly come to his senses, as well, because he hadn't so much as dropped a single hint suggesting they be anything other than friends.

Well, not since the Kent wedding, she added mentally. But that was ages ago. He's obviously cleared his head and figured it out.

"Nice to see you working so hard," a voice interrupted her thoughts and Chloe jumped.

"Dinah!" she greeted with a smile, pushing back her desk chair to come around the desk and embrace her friend. "You're alive!" she joked.

"I know," Dinah said, squeezing her tightly. "I'm still mad at you, though," she added sulkily.

Chloe snorted. "How do you even have time to be mad at anyone? From what A.C. tells me, filming is taking up all of your free time. Have a seat," she tacked on casually, flicking her hand indicatively at the chair across from her desk.

Dinah planted herself in it and folded her arms judgmentally. "I multi-task," she said simply.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Dinah, I know you were really rooting for me and Ollie, and I'm sorry…really, truly sorry it didn't work out, but it just wasn't right in the end."

Dinah made a frustrated noise. "God, you two should be crowned king and queen of ambiguity. For the last time, will you please explain to me what happened? And not with some hyperbolic 'It got out of control,' nonsense. I'm so sick of hearing that line."

Chloe chewed the inside of her cheek. After coming out to Edward, she'd found herself sorely tempted to come clean to all of her friends, but she also realized that it would hurt them all for the sake of clearing her own conscience, which wasn't fair. She knew they deserved the truth, but sometimes the best way to serve your penance was to suffer in silence, and that was what she'd decided to do. "I don't really have a good explanation, Dinah. I know it looked like everything was okay from the outside, but behind closed doors it wasn't. We had a lot of issues, and at first the passion carried us through them, but then they came to a head and we just couldn't handle it." There, that was completely honest.

"What kind of issues?"

Damn it. She shrugged. "I'd rather not talk about it, Dinah. Ollie and I have worked through it all and we're friends again, so I don't really see the point in dragging out old pain, okay?" she gave her friend a serious look, and Dinah's frustration melted away.

"If you say so," she said compassionately. "So tell me then, now that you two are friends again…have you considered the possibility?"

Chloe resisted an urge to groan. Could she not escape this conversation? "Well, of course I've considered it, Dinah. It's only natural. But I just don't think it's in the cards for us."

Dinah's shapely eyebrow arched significantly higher. "Oh?"

Chloe shrugged. "Don't get me wrong…I wish it could work. But I don't know…I think the timing for me and Ollie was just never right or something. It's not meant to happen. And he's moved on now, which is good. It would be stupid to try to repeat history."

"Uh huh," Dinah said, not convinced. "But just…tell me something…because I've been thinking a lot about the fact that I was majorly responsible for you two getting together. Not like I'm patting myself on the back or trying to give myself all the credit," she added quickly, "Just that I know I had a big hand in it, and I know what a wreck you were…" she searched Chloe's face in concern, "and I just feel a little guilty. I just need to know that you don't blame me for any of that," she finished with a soft plea, giving Chloe an earnest look.

"Oh, Dinah, never! You only ever wanted what was best for both of us because you love us so much. Yeah, you pushed us together but we made our own choices at the end of the day. And even knowing that it didn't work out in the end…I'd do the whole thing over again, given the chance," Chloe said, surprising herself as the words came out. It was true, though. She would absolutely do it all over again. Right down to the stupid fake engagement, if it was a choice between having never been with Oliver at all.

Dinah looked relieved, and Chloe knew there were a lot of wheels turning behind her eyes, which was always cause for concern. "I'm glad," Dinah said after a moment. "I think you both turned out better for it. You miss him, though, don't you?" she added.

Chloe smiled softly. "Well, yeah, sometimes. We were surprisingly good for each other in a lot of ways."

Dinah nodded. "Mmhmm." She paused thoughtfully before checking her phone for the time. "Well, I can't stay long, honestly, I just wanted to drop in on you. I've missed you!"

"Me, too, Dinah!" Chloe said, rising with Dinah for another quick hug goodbye.

"Are you free this Saturday?" Dinah asked.

"I think so, why?"

"Diana just mentioned she's coming to town, and A.C.'s busy, so I thought the three of us could have wine night."

Chloe grinned. "Sounds great."

Wear something cute. I ended up inviting a couple more people from work, so it's gonna be a little more cocktail-party-like.

Chloe frowned at the text from Dinah. She'd been looking forward to a night of unwinding in sweat pants. She seriously debated canceling and ordering in takeout instead.

And no canceling on me!

Chloe chuckled. Well there went that plan. Dutifully, she slipped on a backless gold dress she'd just brought home from work, not too over-the-top, but just dressy enough that she could probably get away with it. Plus it was comfortable. Take that, fancy party.

She ruffled her hair in the mirror and threw on a little makeup, and decided that was going to have to be good enough.

Are you on your way?

Chloe sighed before typing back.

Yes dinah for goodness sake i'm coming

She shook her head, rounding the corner to hail a cab from a busier street. It was a short trip to Dinah's house, but if she was going to be drinking wine with the girls all night, she wasn't going to want to drive home.

She looked around after paying the driver and stepping out of the cab, and a fond smile graced her lips. She hadn't been spending much time here in the last year. One of the last times she'd been to the Curry's apartment was when she stopped by to pick up Tango. More memorably, it had been another one of Dinah's ludicrous attempts to set her up with Oliver, and here on the sidewalk was where some low-life photographer had managed to get photos of them together. Arguably, everything would have blown over after the leaked photos from Dinah's wedding if it hadn't been for that next story about them, making it look like they'd been sneaking around together.

Shaking her head at the reminiscence (She distinctly recalled throwing a shoe at Oliver.) Chloe made her way into the building and upstairs to Dinah's floor.

She knocked on Dinah's door, and for someone who had been texting her regularly for the last hour, Chloe thought Dinah was taking an awfully long time to open the door.

When the door finally swung open, Dinah was acting very oddly. "You're here!" she exclaimed, relieved, switching the hand holding a glass of wine so she could more easily give Chloe a hug.

Chloe frowned. "Um, yeah. Like I said I'd be. About eight times in the past couple of days, by the way. You okay?" she asked, looking around. "Where are Diana and your friends?"

"Living room," Dinah said, quickly ushering Chloe inside and closing the door behind her.

"You're, um, dressed awfully formally, Dinah," Chloe said, noticing her friends sparkling evening wear.

"You look perfect. Don't worry about it. Everyone!" she announced, rounding the corner and bringing into view a sight that had Chloe stopping dead in her tracks, "She's here!"

Standing in the middle of Dinah's living room was not a group of women with wine glasses in hand. It was Oliver Queen, surrounded by a large group of…just about everyone he and Chloe knew, it seemed. She spotted Hal and Carol in the corner, chatting with Lois and Clark. Bruce and Diana were talking to Barbara and Dick, and Bart and Courtney were laughing on the couch, talking animatedly to Edward and Mia. Chloe spotted the General and Lucy conversing with her parents as well as the Queens and Mr. and Mrs. Kent. A.C. was talking to Victor and Katherine, but had looked up when Chloe walked in, which was what everyone else was slowly beginning to do. But Oliver, Oliver was looking straight at her, and didn't seem to notice that anyone else was around.

"Dinah," Chloe murmured, glancing at Dinah but keeping one eye on Oliver, her heart pounding. "What's going on?"

"He begged me to do it," Dinah said, placing a comforting hand on Chloe's back to keep her from getting any ideas about sprinting away to safety. "He begged me to set you up one more time, that this…having everyone here, was the only way he knew for sure to win you back."

At the words, Chloe's attention snapped to Dinah fully, who was looking nervous, as though she were scared that after all, maybe she hadn't done the right thing.

The room had slowly gone quiet, and everyone was watching Oliver and Chloe to see what was going to happen next.

"Do something," Clark muttered to Oliver, leaning toward his friend's ear when he noticed that Oliver seemed to be hesitating.

It was the reminder Oliver needed. With clear intention, he crossed the room to Chloe and took her hands, and Dinah slipped away to join A.C.

"Chloe," he said quietly. "I still love you and I need to know something once and for all. Do you love me, too?"

"I…I…" she stammered, feeling tears forming in her eyes. "Well…yes, Oliver, but—"

He cut her off. "That was all I needed to hear." He gently reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. Then, he cleared his throat and spoke so everyone else could hear. "Chloe, we made a mistake last year. What everyone here doesn't know," he turned to look at them finally, stepping to Chloe's side but only dropping one of her hands, "is that our relationship was based on a lie."

She looked at him sharply, scared about where he was going with this. But then she realized something: Everyone in that room thought their relationship had started out with them pretending not to be in one.

"It started with a lie, and with hiding its true nature from the people we cared about and because of that mistake, I think you never understood where you stood with me. And I'll be honest, there were times when I didn't know either. I wish I could go back and make it right, but…" he swallowed. "You can't change the past. You can only move forward. For the past couple of months I've been trying to figure out how to make things right with you, and every scenario I came up with ended with me here, in front of you, asking you to take a leap of faith with me and do it right this time. So…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mother's ring—Laura and Moira clutched each other in anticipation as Oliver got down on one knee, still holding Chloe's hand. "So," he repeated, "I'm doing it right this time. I'm asking you, not in secret, but in front of everyone we know and love because I want all of them to understand how completely in love with you I am…Chloe, will you marry me?" he asked her, and the room held its breath, all eyes turning from Oliver to Chloe.

…which didn't matter in the least, because Chloe had forgotten that any of them were there. Tears streaming down her face, Chloe found herself speechless and instead nodded her head, hand reaching up to cover her mouth as Oliver slipped his mother's ring back onto her finger where it belonged.

And, without waiting to be told or encouraged, Oliver immediately stood up and planted an earth-shattering kiss on her lips, which she eagerly returned, leaning on him as her knees seemed to melt beneath her. Oliver wrapped his arms tightly around her for support, and they both grinned, finally turning their heads to notice their friends and family cheering for them, happy to see Chloe and Oliver finally figure out what they'd known all along.

Lois and Diana were hugging each other, while Dinah was sobbing and repeatedly hitting A.C.'s arm, saying over and over again to him, "I TOLD YOU!" The Queens, the Kents, and the Sullivans were shaking hands and hugging and congratulating each other, and everyone else was rushing forward to congratulate Oliver and Chloe, the latter of which had leaned up to whisper in the former's ear, "Don't ever let me go again. Got it?"

Smirking at her, Oliver kissed her in reply. "What do you think? Whole truth and nothing but the truth from here on out?"

She pressed her lips together and her eyes danced with laughter. "Oh, I think we're entitled to one or two secrets," she whispered. "For instance," she leaned in closer to his ear, "I don't think anyone ever needs to know what happens behind closed doors," she said suggestively before graciously accepting a congratulatory hug from Katherine.

"What do you plan to tell them?" he asked.

She gave him a look. "That it's none of their goddamn business."