Chlollie Fanfic: Love For Realsies, Chapter 23
Man, it's been a monster of a week. I've been so busy...!
...but I still managed to find time to eke out a chapter of Realsies. Not finished yet, but nearly there!
Enjoy. :-)
Title: Love for Realsies
Author: BabyDee
Pairing: Chlollie
Rating: NC-17 (this chapter PG-13) Sequel to Just for Funsies.
Warnings: None
Timeline: Season 9 (Conspiracy- Checkmate) and beyond
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Summary: Chloe finds it increasingly difficult to resist Ollie’s affections.
Feedback: …is *almost* better than sex. J
Read previous chapter here.
Read story from the beginning here.
Chapter 23
“Jesus Christ,” Oliver whispered hoarsely, his hands still shaking. “Jesus…”
“Nah, it’s just me,” she said dryly, holding a hand to the side of her head. “Youchie, that hurt…”
“Jesus Holy Christ, Chloe, are you certifiably insane?” he blazed. “I almost killed you, for heaven’s sake!”
“You’re a better archer than that, Oliver Queen,” she mumbled as she struggled to get to a sitting position. “You’d never have shot me.”
“Maybe not, but you flying through the window? What kind of fucked up stunt was that?” he bellowed. “Were you trying to slice yourself to ribbons?”
“Oh, credit me with some common sense, Ollie,” she snapped, grimacing as she rubbed her hip. “I know all your windows are made of tempered safety glass; have been for years ever since Dinah screamed the original windows down.”
He refused to acknowledge her logic. “And what would you have done if you’d gone splat into the wall, huh? What then?”
“Hey, it’s not my fault your stupid zip wire’s defective!” she shot back defensively. “I calibrated it like you taught me, but instead of depositing me on the balcony, it decided to take me on the scenic route.” She struggled to her feet and brushed the pebbled plexi-glass from her clothing, stumbling a little. Quickly Oliver held out a hand to steady her.
“You calibrated it wrong,” he said shortly, pulling off her glove and studying the purpling bruise on her wrist.
“I did not! I set it to my exact weight and height, just like you taught me-”
“You’ve easily lost five or six pounds since then,” he replied, taking her hand and leading her to his en suite bathroom. “That’s why your trajectory was off.”
“Oh,” she said numbly as he easily lifted her onto the countertop. “I guess I didn’t think about that…”
“You didn’t think, period,” he snapped, narrowing his eyes at the gash on her forehead. “And you’re bleeding. Are you hurt anywhere else?”
She shook her head. “Not really, no.”
Oliver glanced at her suspiciously, and then grabbed a bottle of antiseptic and some cotton from the bathroom cabinet. He unscrewed the cap, poured a small amount of the pungent fluid onto the cotton pad and unceremoniously pressed it against her forehead, without giving her time to brace herself. She winced as the cut on her head stung, clenching her fists tight.
“Fuck, that hurts,” she hissed.
“Serves you right,” he said without remorse. “Maybe next time you’ll think twice before embarking on stupid suicide missions-”
“I needed to see you, Ollie!” she cried.
“And you couldn’t just…just…”
“Just what, huh? Use the door, like normal people?” she supplied sarcastically. “Or ring the bell, call on the phone, take the elevator…gee, I wonder why not?”
Oliver flushed and had the good grace to look slightly contrite as he discarded the soiled cotton pad and doused a fresh one, applying it to another small gash on her collarbone.
“You could have gotten Clark to drop you off,” he said grudgingly.
She snorted. “Not likely. Don’t get me wrong; I did ask, but he had visions of you planting chunks of kryptonite all over your balcony, and politely declined. Either way, there was a risk of me going splat, wouldn’t you say?”
Oliver studiously avoided her gaze as he deftly wrapped an ice pack around her wrist. “I wouldn’t have done that.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
He swallowed, that guilty flush creeping up his neck again as he recalled the way he’d wanted to beat Clark to a bloody pulp earlier.
“He said you shot him in the back with a kryptonite arrow,” she said gently. “When you were trying to get me away from Davis.”
“He was dithering,” he said curtly. “I didn’t have time to listen to Clark’s amendment to the Declaration of Independence on how all monsters are created equal.”
“It was that all it was?” she queried. “Or was there more to it than that?”
Oliver didn’t answer. He focused on the task at hand, cleaning the last of her cuts with a gentle touch.
“I just wanted you back,” he finally said quietly. “I didn’t care how, but I needed to get you away from that creature.”
Chloe’s expression softened, and her other hand curled warmly around his forearm. Oliver stiffened, determined to ignore the welcoming feel of her touch.
“I never thanked you for putting your own life in danger for me,” she said gently. “Thank you, Oliver.”
He didn’t answer. Stoically pulled his hand away and tidied up all the gauze and cotton he’d used to clean her wounds, swearing softly as he spotted another faint cut just behind her left ear. He prepared another antiseptic wad and pressed it to the broken skin. Chloe tensed, gripping his arm again as the antiseptic did its painful but necessary work.
“Almost done,” he said, lifting her hair out of the way to clean the cut properly. Chloe’s hand shifted until it rested softly on his shoulder, her fingers brushing his neck.
It was like tossing gasoline on a fire. Oliver’s skin instantly skin tingled where she touched him, his heart thumping wildly as her thumb stroked his earlobe.
“Onyx misses you,” she said, breaking the silence.
Despite himself, a small smile tilted the corner of his mouth. “I saw him earlier, down on the farm. He looks well; he’s gotten so big.”
She smiled back. “He’s such a delight. But he’s not the only one that missed you like crazy.” Her thumb swept lightly over his dimpled chin and Oliver tensed, clenching his jaw hard as her light touch evoked emotions within him that he was desperately trying to bury.
“Don’t do that,” he said gruffly, pulling away from her hand. She stubbornly refused to let go and went one further, burrowing her fingers in the hair at his nape.
“Why not?” she challenged softly, her fingertips soothing his scalp just the way he liked it. His lashes drifted shut briefly before he snapped out of it and glared at her, grabbing her wrist and lifting her hand away from him.
“Because I don’t want to be the person to put a strain on your relationship with Clark,” he said gruffly. “That’s why not.”
“But that’s impossible,” she responded, curling her fingers around his.
“I’m warning you, Chloe: stop touching me,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
“Or else what?” she whispered, her voice like a breathy caress.
He swallowed. “Just…just don’t, Chloe. Please. I won’t be the wedge between you and the man you love.”
She raised a delicate blonde eyebrow. “And you think that’s Clark, do you?”
He glared at her. “I’m not daft, neither am I deaf,” he replied darkly. “I can’t pretend I didn’t hear the words you said to him, and vice versa.”
She folded her arms and nodded sarcastically. “Right. ’Kay. I love Clark so much, I risked life and limb just to get in here to talk to you.”
He glanced down at the floor silently, lifting his gaze back to hers when he felt her warm hand at his cheek again. “Ollie, sometimes…” she sighed. “I guess you need to listen to the words that I don’t say.”
Oliver stared into her earnest green eyes, almost but not quite daring to hope. Of course, the thought had occurred to him as soon as she’d come flying through his window that her tactics were perhaps a little extreme for someone who just wanted to apologise, or give him the ‘we can still be friends/it’s not you, it’s me’ speech. But after everything he’d been through…
He sighed and took her hand away from his face. “If you don’t say them, then there’s nothing for me to listen to, Chloe,” he said, walking out of the bathroom.
“I want to be with you!” she called after him.
Oliver stopped at the door of the bathroom and swivelled round to face her. “What did you say?”
“The last time we were standing in this room, you asked me if I wanted to be with you,” she said, walking towards him.
“I remember,” he said, his voice a touch harsh. “I also remember that you emphatically said no.”
“I lied,” she said simply. “I do want to be with you, Oliver.” She took his hand and curled her fingers into his. “For real. For as long as you’ll have me, I’m yours.”
Joy flared within him briefly, but he remained cautious. “Why?” he asked. “What’s changed between now and a fortnight ago?”
“I didn’t want to accept how I really feel about you,” she replied. “But now I have.”
His heart beat fast within his chest in anticipation. “And how’s that?”
She took a deep breath. “You mean everything to me, Oliver,” she said. “I can’t imagine my life without you.”
He stared at her evenly, waiting for more. “Go on,” he prompted.
“I’m…I’m sorry I got sick when you told me you loved me,” she whispered. “I haven’t had much luck with love in my life, and…I was terrified of losing you, too.”
Oliver sighed and took her hands in his. “I told you then, Chloe, and I’ll tell you now: you’re not gonna lose me,” he insisted. “I’m not Clark. I will never walk away from you. I love you, Chloe.”
She nodded, smiling. “I know.”
“And…?” he prompted.
“And I’m not afraid to hear you say it anymore.”
He made a wry face. “So you won’t be blowing chunks on my carpet, then? That’s a relief.”
She chuckled. “You’re the best person I could have ever wished for, Oliver Queen,” she said warmly.
“I’ll take it. And…?” he repeated, cupping his ear dramatically.
She knew what he was waiting for. “And I can’t say what you want me to say, Oliver, not just yet,” she said softly.
He dropped his hand and his smile faded, along with the hope in his heart. “I don’t see why not; you said them to Clark.”
“It’s different with Clark,” she began, but he shook his head.
“They’re just words, Chloe,” he said stubbornly. “If you can say it to Clark, you can say it to me.”
She took a deep breath. “Oliver, I love Clark, but not the way you think,” she stated.
“You kissed him,” he said curtly. “On the mouth. I haven’t forgotten that, Chloe.”
She swallowed. “That wasn’t-”
“…what it looked like, yeah. You said that before.” He sank tiredly into an armchair and rested his forehead on his palm. “So what was it, then? Because it sure as hell looked like a major lip-lock to me.”
She sighed. “It was something I had to do.”
Oliver closed his eyes, feeling defeated. “Why?”
“Because I had to be sure that anything I ever felt for Clark romantically was well and truly gone,” she explained.
He laughed shortly. “That’s no excuse. I don’t need to lay one on Lois to know that I’m completely over her.”
“You don’t have a decade of yearning to put behind you,” she pointed out softly.
His eyes widened in sudden realisation as the picture immediately became a hell of a lot clearer. Chloe and Clark shared a detailed history that had lasted longer than most marriages. For her to truly turn her back on the feelings that she’d had for him, she would have had to put herself through the ultimate test.
“And now?” he asked quietly. “How do you feel about him now?”
Chloe face broke into a slow grin. “I just zipped through the sky at heights of over a hundred feet and crashed through a window to get to you,” she said evenly. “Does that answer your question?”
***
Chapter 24…