Part 12

Something felt different. This wasn't the couch, nor the bed she had gotten used to. Opening her eyes, Chloe groggily looked around, and once the colours set in, Chloe jolted out of her bed.

She was back... in Smallville... in the Talon. Back in the world she knew. And it was quiet. Too quiet.

She had been gone for two, maybe three weeks in Metroville-land, and nothing looked out of place. Chloe's phone was still on the counter where she left it, right next to her car keys. Picking the phone up, she was curious about much she had missed, but turns out, she hadn't missed anything. It was 2 p.m., but somehow Chloe had only missed one morning.

Did that mean that everything that had happened was one big dream? That Zatanna had gotten in her head so much that Chloe made Metroville in her head?

"Great, now I really need therapy," Chloe muttered to herself as she put the phone back down, aimlessly walking forward.

The saddest part was that it wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen to her, and as Chloe slumped down on the couch, she closed her eyes, oddly wanting to open her eyes to see that stupid dream world just one last time. Instead, she saw the door opening, and Lois walking in with a tray of coffee.

"Oh good, you're finally up." Lois walked over, holding out one of the cups to Chloe. "Have to say...you missed quite the party cuz. Oliver really pulled all the stops."

Oliver.

Cursing inside, Chloe was reminded even more of the events that had transpired in the last...thirteen hours. When she first opened her eyes, she was looking forward to seeing Ollie next to her, but instead, she was left wondering what really happened.

How was she supposed to face him now? Before, Chloe's walls had suppressed any feelings she might have had, but now, they were right on the surface. She could claim everything was a dream, but the feelings she had, they were still there. The way her heart skipped a beat when Lois said his name, the reminder of the numerous things Oliver did for her, the smirk on his face she saw when Chloe closed her eyes again, not even caring about the coffee in her hand.

This whole thing was so messed up that Chloe wanted to take it all back, to not remember a second of it, but it didn't work, no matter how hard she tried.

Meanwhile, Lois could only stand back for so long as she watched her cousin give that statement an unexpected reaction. "Maybe it is a good thing you missed it. You look terrible cuz."

"Just a headache," Chloe said without thinking. It seemed to be her fallback excuse lately anyway.

Except this Lois wasn't buying it. "Yeah right," she said sarcastically, sitting down beside Chloe.

At this point, Chloe figured the best thing she could say was a shortened version of the truth. "Just a really weird dream, that's all."

I think.

~0~

Pulling apart the bookcases at Isis, Chloe stood in awe at the new set-up. Slightly baffled, she checked her phone again. Same day, understandable time since she got up. But everything was different, the keyboard, the monitors, the...

"Last month you got mad at me because I ordered the wrong monitors for Isis."

"There really was a negligible difference between the two," Chloe remarked, reminded of 'Oliver's' retort. Entering the area fully, Chloe took her place at the front of the module, powering up the system.

The installation from what Chloe could see was flawless, meaning Victor was involved. She would have to give him a call later, but first, this gesture had a different man's name all over it. She didn't really want to call him, as Chloe was still processing everything that happened. But she pulled out her phone nonetheless, dialling the number.

Putting the phone on speaker, Chloe pulled up the files she had been working on, when she heard a different vibrating sound from behind her. Furrowing her eyebrows, she turned her head around, and sure enough, there Oliver stood, holding his phone in the palm of his hand.

"You're late setting up today," he remarked as his phone stopped buzzing, prompting Oliver to put it back in his pocket.

Chloe laughed as she eyed the new set-up. "Which seemed to work in your favour."

Approaching the console, Oliver stood beside her as he watched Chloe start working. "Victor had that all set up last night once I knew you were heading back to Smallville." Smile widening, he added, "I was... hoping to surprise you."

"Mission accomplished on that front," Chloe quickly remarked. "But Oliver, the other ones were perfectly usable, there was no reason to get them replaced."

"They won't go to waste," he said, leaning against the console, wondering why Chloe was insisting on avoiding eye contact. "You deserve the best, and the monitors back at the clocktower needed to be updated anyway. Two birds, one stone."

"If you say so," Chloe said quietly. She wanted to act natural around Oliver, but despite how confident her words sounded, she felt... odd inside, and Chloe knew it would show in her face, so she hid it.

But Oliver was too smart for that. "Chloe... are you okay?"

"I..." Chloe tried to find a decent excuse, but that was before Oliver put a hand on her shoulder. The jolt it gave her stopped any word progress, causing her to finally risk looking up at him.

And there Oliver was, just staring back at her: his brown eyes of concern, his overall aura that pulled Chloe towards him. But to her surprise, she wasn't the only one moving. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed his hand sliding from her shoulder, closer to her neck, and Chloe could swear that Oliver moved forward a step too. Maybe, just maybe... it wasn't all a...

Click

Hearing the main door was all it took for them both take a step back. Somehow, Chloe managed to whisper, "Thank you," meeting his eyes only momentarily before turning back towards the monitors. Within seconds, Chloe could hear barely hear Oliver's retreating footsteps over the drumming of her own heartbeat, but instead of turning around, she clutched the console tightly, the stress leaving through her grip as she heard a different set of footsteps approaching her.

"So...," Victor said as he entered the room with a fresh cup of coffee for Chloe, "What do you think?"

"You did a great job," Chloe replied with as much of a smile that she could manage, tempted to chug the coffee this time as she curled her fingers around the cup.

~0~

You have got to be kidding me.

Hearing her phone vibrate, Chloe reached across her bedside table to turn it off, but not before catching a glimpse of the caller ID. Oliver. Perfect.

All Chloe wanted to do was sleep this whole thing off, but no, he had to call her at... three in the morning. She had left Isis early and everything, all to ensure she didn't make a complete fool of herself in front of him again. The move ended up working out, as Lois was called on assignment, causing her to board a plane that evening. So Chloe had the Talon to herself for some nice peace and quiet. But as always, the world never really cooperated on that front.

She just stared at her phone, so the call went to voicemail, but Chloe knew he would call back. Sure enough, his name lit up her phone again, but Chloe had no idea what to do. It wasn't like she was avoiding Oliver, it was just that... she... okay she was avoiding him. But it was temporary, or at least that was the plan. The problem was that Chloe knew if she didn't answer, she'd have an army of superheroes at her door within seconds, which wasn't the ideal scenario either. Regardless, it meant that she had to explain her weird behaviour, and to Chloe, only one person deserved an actual explanation, no matter how hard it was going to be.

So she took a deep breath and finally answered, "What is it Oliver?" It was harsh, but he was the one calling her so early in the morning. If Chloe could help it, she was going to avoid the conversation as long as possible.

There was a pause on the line, and Chloe actually considered hanging up before Oliver's voice came on the line. "Are you actually sleeping?"

Moving herself so that she was sitting up in bed, Chloe turned the light on, ready for whatever Oliver needed. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she replied, "That is the normal thing to do at this time."

"Not for you," Oliver was quick to point out, a valid one at that, but it didn't answer the question of why Oliver was calling. He sounded quite calm, erasing all possibilities of a league emergency. This wasn't a normal event, so Chloe just sat there, breathing into the phone, close to breaking, when Oliver asked, "What does the word Metroville mean to you?"

Chloe blinked, not entirely sure if she had heard him correctly. So she asked cautiously, "Why do you ask?"

"Does it..." Oliver started, and Chloe could practically hear him thinking on the other end, "ring any bells?"

Closing her eyes, Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. "So that really happened?"

She wasn't the only one, as she heard Oliver sigh too in response. "You remember."

"Everything," she was more than willing to admit. "From football games, getting caught in rain, and—" Her answer stopped when she heard a rock hitting her window, then another, and then another. "That." She pulled back her sheets, the phone cradled between her ear and her shoulder as she approached the window. Peeking out, she saw Oliver standing outside, about to throw another one, but he stopped upon seeing her there.

After giving Oliver a quick smile, Chloe hung up her phone, absentmindedly tossing it aside before opening the window. "Really?" she remarked, raising an eyebrow as she looked down at him.

Oliver gave her a cocky grin as he stuffed his phone in his pocket. "The door was locked."

"And that's stopped you in the past," Chloe pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's different," Oliver remarked with a shrug as he tossed the stone up towards Chloe. She hadn't been expecting it, but Oliver's pin-point accuracy made it easy to catch. "I'm trying to make one particular memory a little better."

It didn't take much Chloe to realize what memory that was. "And you decided to do this now?"

"The way I see it... it takes two, maybe three, hours to get here. I could have talked myself out of it, but here I am." She was right, Oliver could have 'broken in,' knocked on the door of the upstairs apartment, but he picked this route for a reason.

Oliver knew Chloe enough that she'd be more than willing to shove everything that happened aside, even with both of them remembering. So he drove the distance to get to her door, to tell her that everything in black in white mattered, that he wanted that for them here. "I told you Chloe... you're not getting rid of me that easily." In more ways than one, Oliver wanted her to let him in again.

But she was frozen to her spot. Chloe had no idea what to say to him as she stared down at Oliver, but he confidently sat on the hood of his car. "Don't worry, you can take all the time you need," he called out, moving his eyes away from the window and towards the door she'd have to go out to see him.

Oliver was so sure that she'd come down, so why couldn't Chloe move her feet? He remembered everything, and like he said, he drove all this way, so what was stopping her?

Turning her head, Chloe stared at the pebble in her hand, remembering all the memories they had created together, the opinions she had gotten of the people around them, but most importantly, how happy he had made her. Not just in Metroville, but in this world too. All those memories that Chloe desired to forget minutes ago were no longer laced with bittersweet. They were exactly what they were supposed to be, experiences that they went through together.

Looking towards the door, Chloe walked towards it, unlocking the first lock, and then working the deadbolt before opening it. Was she really doing this? Was this what she wanted?

Yes.

Chloe hated to admit it, but it appeared that she owed Zatanna two now.

Not bothering to look for shoes, Chloe walked out of the room, her pace quickening on the steps, heading to the door to unlock it. Hearing the click, Chloe reached for the doorknob, but she didn't have a chance to grab it, as Oliver had heard her and waited until the right moment to swing the door open.

"Hey," he said, smug grin on his face as he stood on the other side of the doorway.

"Hello," Chloe replied, catching her breath as she accepted the reality. The reality that also included the fact that she was standing in front of Oliver Queen in a very skimpy nightgown. Except she didn't feel she had to cover herself up, because Oliver wasn't taking in the view, he was looking her straight in the eyes. "Would you like to come in?"

"That depends," Oliver said, contradicting his words as he stepped inside the Talon.

Chloe waited for him to finish his sentence, as she wasn't a mind reader, but as the door clicked shut, she realized she had to ask, "On what?"

"On why you opened the door."

"You're the intelligent CEO," she quipped as she turned around to face him, "what do you think?"

Stepping closer, Oliver smirked, almost letting a chuckle out. "Always the cryptic answer."

Chloe shrugged as she replied, "You can't always get what you want Oliver." But that statement seemed to become less valid as Oliver kept coming towards her, and Chloe had no place to go, as her back was still inches from the door. "I mean..."

Oliver had to admit, there was something beautiful about making Chloe Sullivan speechless. "Yes?"

That single word allowed Chloe to shake out of her stupor and find her confidence again. Looking him straight in the eye, she tilted her head slightly, narrowing her eyes as she remarked, "You can't always have it so easy. Sometimes you have to work a little."

Little was an understatement when it came to gaining Chloe's attention, but he knew what she meant. "We work plenty, don't you think?" Reaching forward to move a loose strand of hair out of her eyes, Oliver added, "I think that the answer we need lies more in the realm of fun."

"And what might that be?"

"I want to give this a legitimate shot," Oliver replied immediately, figuring that 'this' was pretty obvious, but when Chloe didn't react his admission, he took both of her hands in his. "Not because of Zatanna or a dichromatic world, but because—"

"I know," Chloe interjected, because Oliver didn't have to explain himself anymore. He had more than convinced her by now. "But what do we do now?"

Oliver's smile widened as he kissed her softly. "That's the best part. Whatever we want." No rules from a certain mistress of magic, no quandaries from their friends, just them, living their own lives. "But first, I was thinking of cashing in that rain check."

~End~