All the Right Moves 3/10

[ihearttvsnark]

Title: All the Right Moves
Author: ihearttvsnark
Chapter: 3/10
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Chloe Sullivan and Oliver Queen
Banners: geek_or_unique
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 7,096
Summary: This is the sequel to  Everybody Loves M e. When Oliver returns from the other universe, he realizes that he wants the kind of life the other Oliver has. Chloe is determined to help him become the man she knows he’s capable of being, but it’s not an easy road for either one of them. 
Previous Chapters: | One | Two |





The King of Hearts and the You’re the Queen of Spades

Chloe quickly scanned the email she’d just finished writing, making sure that everything was in order for the next day. She glanced at her computer calendar and verified that all of Oliver’s meetings were listed in the schedule she’d compiled for him. Satisfied, she clicked send as her eyes drifted to the clock in the corner of the screen. It was almost six and she was already getting ready to leave the office for the day. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d left work this early, aside from the day the other Oliver had shown up, but she didn’t think that counted.

Things had been different over the past week since Oliver had returned from Metropolis. After their talk on the roof, she’d seen a noticeable improvement in his work ethic and he reminded her of the man she had first started working for. He’d handled everything with the board and he hadn’t missed a meeting or a phone call or even an email lately and the fact that Oliver was so on top of things was making her job a lot easier which gave her more time for her other job.

She was planning on heading to the command center as soon as she finished the process of logging out of her programs. AC had recovered some documents for her that she was fairly certain would prove that one of the city councilmen was involved with a black market art heist and she wanted to get all of the evidence in place while she guided Victor through his nightly patrol. Chloe had just flipped on her screensaver when she heard the familiar sound of the mail cart just before Bart appeared in the doorway.

“Hey Gorgeous,” Bart greeted her with his usual grin as he placed two envelopes on the corner of her desk. “Are you shutting down for the night?” he asked, nodding toward her computer before catching her gaze. “It just so happens that this was my last stop before I’m done for the day too. What do you say we get that dinner we talked about?”

“Bart,” Chloe said with a hint of warning in her tone. She still wanted to kill Lois for promising Bart she would go to dinner with him if he let her into the building. Chloe had already explained to Bart that her cousin shouldn’t have done that and they were just friends.

As usual, he had taken her rejection in stride and he’d told her that he would just have to change her mind. She felt bad constantly telling him ‘no’ but she knew nothing was ever going to happen between them and she wanted to make that clear. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel like she’d led him on.

“We’ve been over this,” she reminded him. “I’m flattered that you keep asking, but I don’t see you that way,” Chloe said gently. “Besides, we work together,” she stressed, wishing he knew that she wasn’t just talking about in the office.

“I know this really great Mexican place,” Bart said, blatantly ignoring what Chloe had just told him. There was a hint of mischief in his eyes and she wondered if he was actually talking about a place in Mexico. “We can…” His voice trailed off abruptly and he stood up straighter. “Hey Bossman, I didn’t see you there. Did you have something that needs to go to the mailroom?” he asked.

Oliver was leaning against the doorframe of his office, quietly watching the two of them. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard Bart flirting with Chloe, but this was the first time he’d seen them interact since he’d found out about Bart’s ability. He’d always assumed Chloe was just too nice to give Bart the kind of brush off that he actually needed to hear, but now he understood that her reasons went deeper than just being polite. He offered Bart a brief smile as he shook his head.

“No, I think we’re good for the night. You should take off,” he said. Oliver tried not to smirk when he saw Bart’s eyes widen in surprise. He couldn’t really blame the kid since he’d actually let him get away with calling him ‘Bossman’ without snapping at him.

“Uh…sure, thanks,” Bart said uncertainly. He waved at Chloe before turning and pushing the cart out the door, still looking confused as he made his way to the elevator.

Chloe raised an eyebrow at Oliver as she reached for her purse. She hadn’t heard him come out of his office and she wondered how much of her conversation with Bart he’d overheard. “Did you get the schedule I sent you for tomorrow?” she asked.

Oliver nodded as he shifted his gaze from the doorway Bart had just disappeared through to Chloe. “Everything looks good,” he said, slipping his hands into his pockets as he moved closer to her desk. “So what’s the deal with the mailroom kid?” he asked. His tone was casual, but his brown eyes were intense when they met Chloe’s. “Do you keep turning him down just because you work together or…?” His voice trailed off and Oliver realized he wasn’t exactly sure what question he was trying to ask her.

“Or…?” Chloe’s brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to figure out what Oliver was asking her. He looked uncomfortable with whatever he was trying to say and that was unusual for him. She waited for him to expand the question.

He was sorry he’d brought it up. Oliver knew it wasn’t really any of his business and there was a part of him that didn’t want the answer to the question. But he knew Chloe wasn’t going to let it go until he explained himself. “I just wasn’t sure if you were saying no to Bart because you weren’t interested and just using work as an excuse or if there was another reason you don’t want to date him. Are you seeing someone else?” he asked.

Chloe had not been expecting that question and she couldn’t seem to stop her cheeks from heating up. “I don’t exactly have time for a social life, Oliver,” she pointed out as she kept herself busy searching her purse for her keys so she wouldn’t have to look at him. “Bart’s a good guy but he’s too young for me and we do work together.” She finally forced herself to meet Oliver’s eyes again and she relaxed a little when she saw that he looked as uncomfortable as she felt.

“Right,” Oliver said. He brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck, trying to ease the tension that had settled there. He was probably more relieved than he had any right to be that Chloe wasn’t seeing anyone but he didn’t want to dwell on that. “So are you heading over to the loft?” he asked.

“Yes,” Chloe replied, grateful for the subject change. She still couldn’t believe Oliver had asked her if she was seeing anyone. “What about you? Are you training tonight?” One of the things Oliver had done when he’d returned to Star City was purchase an old warehouse that he was using as a training facility since the home gym in his penthouse wasn’t big enough for him to practice archery and he didn’t want to risk doing it where someone might see him.

Oliver nodded. He didn’t have any fundraisers or events to attend that week so he was trying to get as much practice in as possible. “I was going to head over there in awhile but I thought maybe I could go with you first.” He saw the surprise on her face and he pressed on before she had a chance to say anything. “I didn’t really get a chance to see much the last time I was there. Would you mind?” he asked.

Chloe bit her lip as she considered his question. It wasn’t that she’d mind Oliver being there; she thought it might be good for him to see what she did and how she communicated with the guys. But there was a part of her that still wasn’t used to having him be this involved with her life and she couldn’t help the apprehension that she felt. “Okay,” she said. “Why don’t you meet me there?”

He opened his mouth to tell her that they could just go together, but Oliver decided against it. He supposed it did make more sense for them to take separate cars since that would make it easier for him to head to his training facility afterward. “Sounds good,” he agreed, flashing a quick smile. “Do you want me to leave first or are you willing to ride in the elevator with me?” Oliver had been going for a teasing tone, but his words had more bite than he’d intended.

She simply raised an eyebrow at him. “Oliver, I ride in the elevator with you all the time. I wasn’t trying to offend you but you know it’s important that no one finds out what we’re doing. It’s easier for you to fly under the radar when you’re on your own and you said yourself that you were training later.” Chloe wasn’t sure why he was taking her words so personally. It wasn’t like she’d told him that she didn’t want him to go with her.

“Right,” Oliver said. He wasn’t sure what the hell was wrong with him. “Are you ready to go?” he asked, hoping to push past the awkwardness.

Chloe nodded. She pulled her purse onto her shoulder, scooping up her phone and her keys in her hand before she moved toward the door with Oliver right behind her. He was quiet during the elevator ride and she wasn’t sure what to say. Once they reached the lobby, they went their separate ways and she watched him for a moment as he crossed the street to the parking garage. She wasn’t sure if his sudden interest in her life was due to his new hobbies or if there was something more going on.

She couldn’t seem to stop the other Oliver’s words from echoing through her mind and Chloe immediately rolled her eyes. She was being ridiculous. Oliver did not see her that way. He was probably just testing his boundaries since they were still making adjustments after his disappearing act. Anything more than that was just a figment of her imagination and she was wasting time analyzing every word out of his mouth. They had work to do.

Twenty minutes later, Chloe was standing in front of the computer terminal with Oliver at her side as she showed him the GPS tracking system, the various security camera feeds she had hacked into around the city and the scanner she used to monitor police activity. “All three of the guys do their own thing most nights. Victor is the only one who lets me know ahead of time when he’s planning to patrol.” She pulled up another screen and logged into the communication system.

“This feed goes directly to his internal hard drive. It allows me to send instant messages to him, which makes things a lot easier for me when he’s on patrol,” Chloe explained. She left the link open and switched screens again to show him the Eye in the Sky message tracker. “This is how I communicate with Bart and AC and vice versa but it’s not instant because it has to go through several servers to bounce back to their phones.” She bit her lip, still unhappy with the slow system. “I haven’t come up with anything faster yet.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow as he studied the various screens. It was obvious how much work Chloe had put into the operating systems. It looked like she had every corner of Star City covered on her feed but there was one thing he didn’t understand. “Victor having a computer system inside his head seems like it comes in handy, but isn’t Bart the speedy one? I would think he’d be the one you’d want to be able to instant message,” he commented.

“That would make things easier,” Chloe agreed. Her eyes were on the screen as she checked the various feeds. It was still fairly early so most of the information coming from the scanner was about fender benders and the occasional domestic dispute. “I have a few ideas to speed up the communication, but it’s hard to implement them. I’ve used drop boxes in the past to send stuff to the guys but it takes time to do that and then alert them so we don’t cross paths,” she said.

“Chloe, you work in the same building as all three of these guys,” Oliver said. He knew Chloe communicated with Victor all day long on various things and Bart came up to the executive floor at least two or three times a day. Oliver had told AC to keep his job with Victor since he really didn’t need a bodyguard. Technically, he’d never really needed one but it had been easier to have someone else handle people he didn’t want to talk to than to deal with them on his own.

“I know that Oliver, but I can’t exactly use the company mail system to send this kind of stuff,” Chloe replied. She saw a dot pop up for a robbery in progress and quickly passed the information along to Victor. “I’ve thought about it but there’s just too much risk even with Bart delivering the mail.” She frowned when she saw another dot started flashing. Maybe it was going to be a busy night after all. Chloe sent that one to Victor too.

Oliver shook his head. “That’s not really what I meant. Chloe, why don’t you just tell them that you’re the one helping them?” he asked. Oliver thought it was the simplest solution and from what he’d seen in the other universe, petty fighting aside, the other versions of Bart, Victor and AC worked well together so he assumed the people they knew were capable of the same kind of teamwork.

Chloe hesitated, her fingers pausing over the keys. She’d asked herself the same question hundreds of times, but she couldn’t seem to convince herself that it was the right thing to do, even if it was the most logical. “It’s not that simple. I think it’s better if they don’t know that I’m the one helping them,” she said.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Oliver replied. He covered her wrist with his hand, stopping her from typing and waited for her to look at him before he continued. “From what I’ve seen, all the guys are fond of you. AC likes his new job working for Victor and Bart is pretty easygoing.” Oliver didn’t understand why she wouldn’t want them to know the truth. “What are you afraid of?” he asked.

She opened her mouth to tell him that she wasn’t afraid, but Chloe stopped herself. She was afraid and Oliver obviously knew that if he was calling her out on it. “I don’t want them to feel like I misled them. Sometimes I think Vic already knows, but he and I went to school together in Metropolis. We didn’t know each other very well but we interacted and I helped him out of an ugly situation so it might have been easier for him to put the pieces together.” Chloe shrugged and turned her attention back to the screen.

Oliver could see that she was uncomfortable talking about this, but he wasn’t ready to let it go. He placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “I know my opinion probably doesn’t mean much to you, but I’m a lot more observant than people give me credit for. I don’t think any of those guys will be angry or upset with you. They obviously like doing the hero thing or they would have checked out a long time ago. You don’t give yourself enough credit, Chloe,” he said softly.

Her face flushed at his words and she managed to give him a small smile. Chloe appreciated that he seemed to have faith in her, but she really didn’t want to talk about this anymore. “Thank you for saying that. I’m just not ready to tell them yet. Let’s just focus on getting you battle ready,” Chloe suggested.

“It’s your call,” Oliver said. He still didn’t think it was the right one, but he also knew he was in no position to push her on this. “Why don’t you show me the rest of the magic that goes on beyond the curtain?”

Chloe nodded, grateful that he was letting it go. “Wait until you see just what your satellites can do,” she said.

***

“Lane. Lois Lane. It really doesn’t get any simpler than that,” Lois said testily into her cell phone as she hurried across the street, barely making it before the light changed and traffic started moving again. “I’ve already left five messages.” She rolled her eyes, her heels clicking loudly against the sidewalk as she rushed to the next corner. “I don’t doubt that the councilman is busy; we’re all busy.” She crossed the next street as the person on the other end of the phone continued to stonewall her and tell her that someone would call her back.

“Look, I get that you’re just doing your job so I’m doing my best not to tell you that I think you’re completely useless, but if someone doesn’t call me back today, I’m going to stop by city hall and park myself across from your desk until I get the answers I need.” Lois smirked when the assistant finally agreed to give her a call time. “Was that so hard?” she asked as she started moving faster again to cross another intersection. Her heel caught in a grate and she stumbled, nearly losing her grip on the phone.

“Damnit,” Lois muttered, shifting the phone to rest between her ear and her shoulder as she bent down to try and dislodge her heel. She managed to free herself and she started to step forward to finish crossing the street. A loud horn sounded and Lois turned her head to see a car heading straight for her. Suddenly, there was a large gust of wind and before Lois could blink, the car was gone and her back was against a wall as two strong hands gripped her shoulders, a voice asking her if she was all right.

“What…?” Dazed, Lois looked up and found herself staring at a familiar face. “Farm Boy, what are you doing here? Where is here?” She turned her head and she could see the street she’d been attempting to cross but it looked like it was now several blocks over from the alley they were currently standing in. Lois focused on Clark again, raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

“You almost got hit by a car,” Clark replied. His brow furrowed as he watched her carefully, trying to determine if she was in a state of shock. “You weren’t looking where you were going and if I hadn’t been there…” His voice trailed off as he waited for her to say something. He’d heard the car horn and then the sound of a woman gasping so he’d sped over and just barely managed to get her out of the way.

“I was on the phone,” Lois recalled. Her eyes widened when she realized her phone wasn’t in her hands and it obviously wasn’t in his either since he was still holding her shoulders. “You made me drop my phone! I need that!” She groaned at the effort it was going to take to replace all of her contacts. She could already hear Chloe’s voice in her head telling her that she should have listened all those times she had warned her to back up her data.

Clark’s mouth fell open. “I saved your life and you’re mad because of a phone? Lois, you do understand that if the car had hit you, you wouldn’t be standing here, right?” he asked. The car had been speeding and there was no way she would have gotten out of the way in time. “You could at least say thank you,” he grumbled.

“Thank you for saving my life and making it more difficult at the same time.” Lois rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. “This is that stupid assistant’s fault. If she would have just put my call through none of this would have happened. She never did give me a time either, not like it matters since my phone is probably roadkill by now. I can’t…” She blinked when there was another gust of wind and Clark disappeared. Before Lois could turn her head, he was back in front of her, holding out her phone.

“It doesn’t look like it was damaged,” Clark said. He really hoped it wasn’t because he wasn’t sure he could handle listening to another one of her tangents. “Since you’re obviously fine and you have your phone now, I need to go.” He was already late to begin with since he’d ended up stopping a bank robbery in Nevada on his way there.

“Wait.” Lois grabbed his arm and her eyes widened again when she felt his strong bicep beneath her palm. Apparently working on a farm did a body good. She shook away her thoughts and forced her eyes from his muscles to his face. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

Clark frowned, exasperated. “We already went through this. I saved you and then I went back and saved your phone,” he reminded her. Clark knew Lois was a reporter but he didn’t understand why she was asking the same questions over and over again.

Lois rolled her eyes. “I know that, Farm Boy.” Her tone was just as exasperated as his. “I meant what are you doing in Star City? Were you just out for a run and felt the need to see if anyone needed saving?” she asked.

“Oh,” Clark said sheepishly. “I’m meeting Oliver to help him with his training.” He saw the surprise cross her face and he wondered if he’d said too much. Oliver had mentioned that he and Lois were far from being friends. “Did you know about Oliver’s training?” he asked uncertainly.

“Chloe mentioned it,” Lois replied. Her cousin had also told her to keep her opinion to herself when Lois told her that she still didn’t believe Oliver was capable of change and she wasn’t going to until the day she saw Green Arrow on the streets doing something to help someone other than himself. “So he’s got you running all the way out here to do what exactly? Do you let him aim at you?”

Clark glared at her. “I know that you don’t like Oliver but it seems like he’s trying to turn his life around and I can’t fault him for that. He asked me to help him and I’m helping him. I need to go now,” he said, pointedly looking at her hand that was still wrapped around his bicep.

“In a minute,” Lois replied, refusing to be rushed. “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing to help him. Are you planning on coming to the city often?” she asked, unable to resist stroking her thumb along the indentation of his muscle.

He watched the movement of her thumb, his mouth going dry. Clark swallowed hard a few times before he met her gaze. “I’m not sure Oliver would want me to talk about his training,” he said. “But I will probably be out here fairly often. Why?” he asked.

Why indeed, Lois wondered. She bit into her bottom lip, her eyes still on his as she finally let go of his arm. “Maybe we’ll run into each other again. Chloe usually works pretty late if you ever want to stop by for dinner or something.” She reached into her purse, scribbled down her address on a piece of paper and handed it to Clark.

His eyes were wide as he reached for it, letting his hand linger over hers for longer than necessary. “Maybe I’ll see you around,” Clark said, attempting to keep his tone nonchalant as he slipped the paper into his pocket. “Watch out for cars,” he added before speeding off.

The breeze he left in his wake blew her hair around her face and Lois blinked again, looking for any trace of Clark and seeing nothing to indicate he’d been there. She had to admit that whole speed thing was pretty hot; almost as hot as those muscles of his. Lois chewed on her lip again; her face flushing as she realized she’d invited Clark to her apartment and had pretty much implied that there would be more than dinner on the table. Either she’d been single a little too long or she was losing her mind.

Lois decided she wasn’t going to dwell on it. Clark more than likely wouldn’t even show up. He didn’t really strike her as the forward type. Besides, he was so wholesome he probably thought dinner meant dinner. She smoothed down her hair and walked purposefully out of the alley, careful to look both ways before she crossed the street this time. As she walked back to her apartment, Lois’s mind drifted to Clark’s hands on her shoulders and the feel of his muscle beneath her fingertips once again and by the time she unlocked the door and let herself in, she was seriously contemplating a cold shower.

Chloe was sitting on the couch with her laptop and a mug of coffee when her cousin walked through the door. Not seeming to notice that Chloe was in the room, Lois leaned against the door, closed her eyes and sighed loudly. “You okay there, Lois?” Chloe asked.

Lois’s eyes flew open and she felt herself turning red when she saw her cousin looking at her strangely. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said quickly as she made her way to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. It’s just been a long, weird day. What are you doing home?” She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her cousin in the apartment at a normal hour.

“It is Saturday,” Chloe pointed out. She rarely worked at Queen Industries on the weekends and she’d already turned over all the evidence on the city councilmen to the police so she had some free time before she needed to head to the command center for the nightly patrols. “Do you want to tell me about your day?” she asked as she took a sip of her coffee, curious to see what had her cousin so riled up.

“The usual,” Lois replied. She took a long sip of water, but the cool liquid did nothing to soothe the heat in her throat. “I was trying to get an interview with a city official, his assistant was giving me the runaround, and my heel got caught in a grate as I was crossing the street. I would have been flattened by a speeding car if a certain farmer hadn’t swept in and pulled me out of the way.” She stepped out of said heels and took a seat on the couch across from Chloe, folding her legs underneath her body as she took another sip of water.

Chloe gaped at her cousin. “Clark Kent saved you from getting hit by a car? Way to bury the lead, Lois,” she said.  No wonder her cousin was so shaken up. “Were you on the phone? Is that why you weren’t paying attention?” Chloe knew how easily Lois tended to get distracted, especially when she was berating someone.

Lois rolled her eyes. “My heel was caught,” she reminded her, pointedly ignoring the fact that she had been on the phone too. “Did you know that he was still working with Oliver?” she asked.

“No, but Oliver doesn’t tell me much about his actual training,” Chloe replied quietly. She was sort of surprised that Clark had agreed to come to Star City to help him. She knew it only took him a few minutes to travel between states, but she also remembered how reluctant he had seemed to help them in the first place until Lois had practically bulldozed him into it. She wondered how Oliver had managed to convince him so easily.

“What’s going on, Chlo?” Lois asked. She’d heard the change in her cousin’s voice and Chloe had a far off look in her eyes. Something was definitely on her mind and Lois had a pretty good guess what it was. She started to open her mouth, but stopped herself when Clark’s words about Oliver came back to her. Even if she was skeptical about his life changes, Lois knew Chloe wanted things to work and she wanted to be there for her cousin. She reached out, placing her hand on Chloe’s arm.

“You can talk to me about Oliver. I promise I’ll keep my comments to myself,” she offered. The two of them had always been able to tell each other everything and Lois wasn’t going to let her hatred for Oliver get in the way of her love for her cousin. “Talk to me, Chloe,” she urged.

Chloe hesitated as she leaned forward and set her computer and her coffee down on the table before she shifted on the couch so she was facing her cousin. “Oliver has been so different since he came back from Metropolis. He’s still Oliver; he’s as arrogant as ever but he’s trying, Lois. He’s focused at the office and he’s training at night and he’s been helping me with stuff at the command center. But…” Her voice trailed off. Chloe felt guilty enough for her thoughts without voicing them out loud.

Lois knew her cousin well enough that she didn’t have to. “You’re waiting for the other shoe to drop,” she stated. “You think he’ll get bored or he’ll decide it’s too hard and he’ll run off again and you’ll be back to square one and feeling silly for trusting him.” There was no malice or judgment in her voice as she spoke, but they both knew Oliver didn’t have a history of being reliable.

“Pretty much,” Chloe confirmed. She knew Lois wasn’t trying to be harsh and it was true; Chloe was afraid that Oliver was going to change his mind again. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d let her down but she knew she wouldn’t be able to recover if he did it one more time. “I know you’ve never understood why I’ve stood by him all this time, but I think a part of me always knew that this Oliver was in there and I was right but that doesn’t mean his demons will just go away,” she said.

“True,” Lois agreed. She knew she had to tread carefully so she didn’t upset her cousin with her next question, but she needed to ask. “If he falls apart again, can you walk away?”

Chloe chewed on her lip as her chest tightened. She really didn’t want to consider the possibility, but she’d only be lying to herself if she said she’d never thought about it. “I’d have to,” she admitted. “I don’t want to abandon Oliver but I can only hit my head against a brick wall so many times before it breaks.”

Lois nodded, but didn’t say anything as she squeezed Chloe’s hand. For her cousin’s sake, she damn well hoped that Oliver finally had his head screwed on straight or God help him because Lois would destroy him if he hurt Chloe again.

***

Oliver studied the target on the other side of the warehouse, his eyes focused on the center. He lifted the bow in his hands, closing his eyes and visualizing the target in his head. His heartbeat was steady as he listened to the air around him. Oliver let the arrow fly, heard it whiz through the air before a loud thwack indicated it had pierced the target. Opening his eyes, Oliver grinned when he saw it was in the dead center.

“Impressive.”

“I know,” Oliver replied, smirking as he turned to face Clark. He’d heard him come in about two seconds before he’d released the arrow. “I was beginning to think you’d changed your mind about coming out here.” He set the bow down on the table and picked up a bottle of water, taking a long sip before he turned back to Clark. “Is everything okay on your end?” he asked.

Clark nodded. “I stopped a bank robbery in Nevada and then I saved Lois from getting hit by a car. She yelled at me,” he said, still confused by their entire encounter. Lois had obviously been annoyed with him and then she’d invited him to have dinner with her. But Clark was pretty sure dinner hadn’t been the only thing she’d been talking about. He felt his face growing hot at the thought.

“Lois is usually yelling,” Oliver said. He noticed Clark blushing and wondered if he’d missed something. “What was she yelling at you about?” he asked as he set down the water and picked up the bow again, starting to nock another arrow.

“She was angry that I made her drop her phone when I pulled her out of the car’s path. I saved her life and she was really mad about the phone and she just kept going on and on so I went back and got it for her,” Clark said. He watched Oliver as he turned and aimed for a target that was hanging from the ceiling, half-concealed by one of the support beams. Oliver let the arrow fly and Clark’s eyes widened when it curved around the beam and hit the center of the target. “How did you do that?” he asked.

“Trade secret,” Oliver joked. He saw that Clark looked confused and wondered if the guy had any sense of humor at all. “Actually, it comes with doing nothing but practicing for almost three months now and some natural talent,” he added with his familiar arrogance as he grabbed another arrow. Clark still had the same look on his face and Oliver figured a subject change was in order.

“So was Lois surprised to see you?” he asked. Oliver assumed Chloe had told her cousin about his decision to become Green Arrow and he could only imagine what Lois thought of it. But he hadn’t mentioned to Chloe that Clark had been coming to Star City to help him when he had free time so he figured Lois probably had a million questions about the arrangement.

“She was. I told her that I was training with you but I didn’t really go into details,” Clark said quickly. He was uncomfortable again, not really sure how things worked between Oliver and Lois and Chloe. It seemed like the more people involved in keeping secrets, the more complicated things got which was another reason he’d always preferred to work alone.

Oliver shrugged. “Lois doesn’t have much use for me. I’m not sure how much Chloe has told her.” He sent another arrow flying toward his original target and then set the bow down. “How’d you two leave things? I’m surprised Lois didn’t follow you here to ask more questions,” he commented.

Clark’s face flushed again as he thought about Lois’s address that was sitting in his pocket. He still wasn’t sure if she actually wanted him to use that or if she’d been joking. But why would she give it to him if it was a joke? He realized Oliver was staring at him and awkwardly ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Do you want to get started with the simulations?” he asked, not quite meeting the other man’s eyes.

“We could do that,” Oliver said. “Or you could tell me what’s got you so keyed up,” he countered. For the most part, Oliver was a ‘mind his own business’ kind of guy because he’d spent so many years with people deconstructing his personal and professional life in the headlines like it was a sporting event. But he’d spent a fair amount of time with Clark lately and it seemed like the guy had something he needed to get off his chest.

“Lois confuses me,” Clark replied. He didn’t want to tell Oliver about the piece of paper in his pocket because he knew Lois wouldn’t appreciate that, but there was something else he wanted to get his take on and Oliver was probably the only person who would understand considering their unusual circumstances. “Do you think she might be weird around me because she knows that the other universe versions of us were engaged?” he asked.

Oliver frowned, trying to remember if he had known that or not. He did recall seeing the other Lois and Clark talking quietly, but he hadn’t really given either of them much thought. “I don’t know,” he said. “I mean the whole situation is weird no matter how you look at it because there are other versions of us out there. That messes with your head. A lot,” he said pointedly as he reached for his water bottle again.

Clark nodded. “That’s an understatement.” He was an alien and he still felt like the last two months had been the strangest of his life. But he kept going back to what the other Oliver had told him about how he should get to know Lois and Chloe. Clark hadn’t planned on following through on that but the thought had crossed his mind more than once since Oliver had asked him for help.

He watched him as he took a sip of water, another question occurring to him. “Well is it weird for you knowing that the other Oliver was involved with Chloe?”

Oliver’s eyes widened and he choked on the water he’d been drinking. “What?” He coughed a few times, attempting to get the water out of his lungs. Oliver set the bottle down and stared at Clark, convinced he’d misheard him. “Would you like to run that by me again?”

“I thought you knew,” Clark said dumbly. It was obvious from the shock on Oliver’s face that he’d had no clue. “Lois told me when they first showed up at the farm and explained what had happened with the mirror box. She kept saying that the other Chloe was that Oliver’s girlfriend. I think she was just doing it to tease Chloe because it was obvious she didn’t like…” He clamped his mouth shut, his face turning red again.

“Me?” Oliver finished, eyeing Clark warily. He shook his head, struggling not to be offended. He couldn’t really blame Chloe for being horrified at the thought of the two of them together since he hadn’t exactly been the greatest guy before he’d gotten sucked into the other universe.

“I guess it makes sense that those two were together,” Oliver said. He remembered how stricken the other Chloe had been when he’d mentioned being married to Tess and now he could understand why being around him had been so difficult for her that she’d had to leave the room. At the time when he’d thought she was his Chloe, Oliver had just assumed that she’d been feeling guilty about betraying him. AC had made a comment too about how the situation was particularly hard for Chloe.

“Sorry about that,” Clark said. “I didn’t mean to just spring that on you and things have changed between you and Chloe, right? You’re closer now,” he pointed out. The last time he’d been in town, Oliver had mentioned that he’d been to Chloe’s command center a few times and that she was keeping him informed on some of the stuff she worked on with the team.

“Yeah,” Oliver said. “Chloe still doesn’t trust me but I can’t blame her for that after all the times I screwed up in the past.” He saw the walls that Chloe was putting up between them and Oliver had every intention of proving to her that he could do this; that he would do this, and then hopefully he’d finally have her trust.

Clark hesitated, not sure he should say anything else after he’d already put his foot in his mouth. But they’d started down this road because of his question about the other universe and Oliver hadn’t really answered it. “So does knowing that the other Oliver and Chloe are together change the way you feel about Chloe?” he asked.

“No,” Oliver replied firmly. “Whether or not alternate universe versions of Chloe and me are together doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not there’s something between us here. Our lives are not the same and maybe that sounds weird considering I’m training to become more like the other Oliver, but I don’t expect Chloe to want to be with me because those two are a couple.”

“That’s a good point,” Clark said as he considered his situation with Lois again. Even if he did take her up on her dinner offer, he still didn’t see the two of them having any kind of lasting relationship. She was brash and annoying and ungrateful and she talked way too much. She called him Farm Boy. They didn’t have anything in common and they lived in different states. None of that really added up to Lois Lane being the love of his life.

“I wasn’t finished,” Oliver said as he watched Clark getting lost in his thoughts. He waited for the other man to meet his eyes again before he continued. “I want Chloe to want to be with me because of me; because of the person that I am.”

Clark’s eyes widened as surprise crossed his face once again. “So you do have feelings for Chloe,” he said.

“Yes,” Oliver replied. It was the first time he’d said it out loud, but it wasn’t the first time it had crossed his mind; not by a long shot. “Chloe has been the only person in my life I can count on since my parents died. Now it’s time for me to prove to her that I’m not going to let her down again. She means too much to me.”

Four.