All the Right Moves 4/10

[ihearttvsnark]

Title: All the Right Moves
Author: ihearttvsnark
Chapter: 4/10
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Chloe Sullivan and Oliver Queen
Banners: geek_or_unique
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 6,747
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 | Three | 




Chapter 4: The Grass is Getting Greener

Chloe couldn’t help the anxiety that churned in her stomach as she stood in the elevator, watching the numbers climb closer and closer to Oliver’s penthouse. He’d been out of town the past two days for a conference and he’d left her a message earlier letting her know that he was back and he wanted her to stop by his place before she went to the command center for the night. Oliver hadn’t given her anything else to go on and Chloe’s mind seemed to be stuck on the last time he’d asked her to come over and she’d found him on the floor, drunk, and wallowing in his self-loathing.

She hated the thought of him doing that to her again and Chloe had come very close to calling him back and telling him that if he wanted to see her, he needed to meet her at the command center. But she was supposed to be learning to trust Oliver and he hadn’t given her any indication that he’d changed his mind about his training. There had to be a reason he’d wanted to meet at his place and she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. She just hoped she didn’t regret it.

Her resolve wavered once more when the elevator doors opened and she stepped into the foyer. The penthouse was quiet, but Chloe knew that was nothing new. Despite the active party boy lifestyle that Oliver was famous for, he never brought that into his home. Chloe had always assumed it was because of his paranoia about letting anyone get too close to him. There was a part of her that was still surprised he hadn’t bothered to change the access code once he’d given it to her.

“Oliver?” Chloe called as she hesitantly walked into the living room. Her eyes instantly went to the balcony doors and she breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw they were closed.

“I’ll be right there.” Oliver’s muffled voice came from down the hall. “Pour yourself a drink,” he called.

She opened her mouth to decline and then decided she might as well. Maybe it would calm her nerves that were still all over the place even though Oliver sounded normal; or as normal as anyone could sound from a different side of the apartment. She walked over to the wet bar, surveyed her choices and then poured herself a small tumbler of scotch, carried it to the couch and sat down. She’d just brought the glass to her lips when she heard Oliver making his way down the hall.

“So what’s the big emergency?” Chloe asked, not quite sure if she enjoyed the way the warm liquid burned her throat or not. She took another small sip. “Did you…” Her words were cut off when Oliver stepped into the room, the glass nearly slipping from her hand as she stared at him; momentarily too stunned to speak.

He was dressed from head to toe in green leather, the material molded to his body like a second skin. Chloe couldn’t seem to stop herself from gaping at him as her eyes took him in, trying to look everywhere at once. He wore simple black boots over the pants and she could see a holster strapped to his thigh and a utility belt around his waist. His arms were bare except for the black gloves he wore and the armbands that wrapped around his biceps.

She couldn’t see most of his face thanks to the shadows the hood he wore formed and his eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. If she didn’t know that it was Oliver under the costume, she’d never suspect him. Chloe’s eyes drifted back down to his arms and she couldn’t seem to help the way her heart was beating a little faster. She was used to seeing him in suits and lately he’d been wearing t-shirts occasionally, but she’d had no idea he was so…perfect. The sudden urge to touch him and feel that hard muscle beneath her fingertips nearly overwhelmed her.

“Chloe?” Oliver asked uncertainly, wincing behind his dark glasses when she jumped at the sound of his heavily distorted voice. “Sorry, I wanted to test this too.” He flicked off the distorter and spoke in his normal voice. “What do you think?” he asked, not sure what to make of the fact that she appeared to be speechless. He half-expected her to burst out laughing any second.

Swallowing hard, Chloe forced herself to stop picturing things that were never going to happen and focus. “Oliver, I don’t know what to say,” she admitted. Chloe set the glass down on the table and slowly moved toward him, wanting a closer look. She could see that there were small green arrows embedded in the gloves and he had a quiver on his back with larger arrows. “When did you do all of this?” she asked.

“I drew the design the night I got back,” Oliver replied. He pushed the hood down and slipped off his glasses, tucking them into one of the loops in his belt. “It wasn’t hard since I’d spent all that time wearing the other Oliver’s uniform. I found a guy to make a few custom suits for me and paid him enough that he’ll never mention it.” He pulled the crossbow from the holster, motioning for Chloe to move to the side so he could demonstrate.

“Since I tried to shoot the other Bart with this, they didn’t really let me keep it long but I’d seen that it was compact and folded into itself so I worked with that.” Oliver pushed the button and transformed it into an actual crossbow. “It’s a lot more portable than the compound bow but I altered that too.” He pushed another button and the bow expanded even further.

“Wow,” Chloe whispered and she wasn’t just referring to the crossbow. She was beyond impressed that Oliver had done all of this and that he’d been able to recall so much from his time in the other universe even though he’d admitted he’d been petulant and aggressive the entire time he’d been trapped there. She motioned to the small arrows in his gloves. “Are those electrified?” she asked.

Oliver nodded. Chloe had filled him in on some of the things the other Oliver had told her and Lois on the plane about his own journey to becoming Green Arrow, including the fact that he used a voice distorter and how he had an entire collection of trick arrows. He’d mentioned the taser arrows came in handy and Oliver had realized those were what he’d had in his gloves.

“They’re the only ones I have so far in addition to the normal arrows,” he explained. “They seemed the most practical.” He had ideas for other arrows, but Oliver figured he needed to concentrate more on his training than on the actual gadgets. He was already behind on his workouts since he hadn’t been able to practice archery when he’d been stuck in meetings and seminars for the past two days.

Chloe nodded. She was still having a hard time finding her voice and she couldn’t seem to stop her eyes from straying to Oliver’s arms. She wasn’t sure what the hell was wrong with her, but she needed to get it together. Oliver was her boss and he was sort of her friend and it wasn’t like she’d never noticed that he was gorgeous before. It was just one of those things that she didn’t really acknowledge or dwell on.

“You okay?” Oliver asked. He didn’t miss the fact that she was staring and if it were anyone other than Chloe, he’d probably smirk and make an arrogant comment about how obvious it was that she liked what she saw. But he wasn’t sure if she was impressed with him or with the Green Arrow uniform and since for the first time in a long time, he was feeling almost self-conscious, Oliver figured he’d take either one as a win.

She could feel her cheeks heating up and Chloe wished she’d finished her drink before she’d gotten off the couch. “Yes, sorry. I’m just distracted,” she mumbled, hoping he would leave it at that. Chloe forced herself to meet his gaze and she felt her face burning even more. “Does this mean you’re getting ready to start patrolling?” she asked, changing the subject away from her.

Oliver shrugged. He’d been asking himself the same question for the past week and now that he had the uniform, he knew it was probably time to get out there. “I’ve got to start sometime, right? I was considering a few quick patrols before I go to London next week to sort of test the waters,” he said as he watched her closely, wanting to see what she thought of the idea. It wasn’t that he was nervous; if anything, Oliver was anxious to get started. But he didn’t want to do anything rash which was why he was planning on a few more sessions with Clark.

Chloe bit her lip, not sure what to say. On the one hand, the whole point of all of the training was so Oliver could get out there and work to make the city a safer place. But on the other, there was a part of her that worried about him, especially since he’d been almost secretive about the training he’d been undergoing. She knew this was another one of those instances where she was going to have to trust him.

“You’re the only one who knows if you’re ready, Ollie,” she said softly. Chloe’s eyes widened a little as she wondered what had possessed her to call him that. “Sorry,” she said quickly, embarrassment coloring her cheeks once more.

He shook his head as he reached out to her, placing one of his gloved hands on her arm and squeezing it reassuringly. “It’s okay. My parents used to call me that and my friends when I was younger. I don’t mind,” Oliver added. They just looked at each other for a minute, an awkward tension settling between them and he dropped his hand from her arm motioned toward his uniform. “I’m going to go change out of this and then I thought I’d head to the command center with you so you can catch me up on the past few days.”

“Okay,” Chloe agreed, wanting to get past whatever had just happened. “Take your time,” she added as she turned away, making her way back to the couch. She picked up the glass of scotch and downed it in one gulp.

Oliver couldn’t help but smile as he watched her. It was rare to see Chloe flustered and it only made her more adorable. He was still smiling as he headed back down the hall to put on his regular clothes.

***

Lois fumbled with her key card as she tried to balance her cell phone and two cups of coffee in one hand. She let out a loud curse when the red light flashed, denying her access. She placed the card in the slot one more time and then pressed her thumb against the scanner. A few seconds later, the green light appeared and Lois shifted the coffee again so she could push the door open.

“Chlo, I know you’re secretive but we really need to talk about how annoying it is to get into this place,” she said as she kicked the door shut behind her. Lois moved further into the loft, frowning when she saw Clark sitting on the couch. “Farm Boy, what are you doing here?” she asked over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen and set the coffee down on the counter along with her phone and keycard.

“Chloe called me and asked me to stop by and help her with something. She got tied up at the office,” Clark added as he got to his feet. He’d promised Oliver that he would help Chloe out while he was out of the country, but this was the first time Chloe had called him in the two weeks Oliver had been gone.

Lois rolled her eyes. “Chloe has either been at the office or this place for the past week. I’m pretty sure she’s been sleeping here. She’s definitely avoiding me; probably because she knows I’m going to lecture her on actually remembering to take care of herself and not just work all the time. I swear she makes me feel lazy and I’m a workaholic.” She turned around and collided with Clark’s chest. Lois raised an eyebrow at his close proximity. “Is there a reason you’re in my personal space?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, Miss Lane,” Clark replied as he settled his hands on her hips and effortlessly lifted her onto the counter. Stepping forward, he moved to stand between her legs, his eyes never leaving hers. “I guess I need to pay more attention to where I’m going,” he said.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him even closer to her. “You really need to work on that, Farm Boy,” Lois said as she slid her hands across his chest and shoulders, enjoying the feeling of his muscles beneath her fingertips. She clasped her hands together on the back of his neck and tugged his head down until his lips were on hers.

Clark groaned softly against her warm mouth, one of his hands burying itself in her hair as he deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with hers as he savored the familiar taste of her mouth that somehow managed to be a combination of hot and sweet at the same time and he couldn’t get enough of it. He kissed her until he felt her lightly tugging on his hair, her subtle way of reminding him that her lung capacity wasn’t quite on par with his. Not wanting to stop just yet, Clark dropped his mouth to her neck, placing light kisses there as his mouth traveled up to her ear.

Lois moaned when he hit the spot that always sent a shudder down her spine. She was starting to think one of his superpowers was the ability to zero in on her erogenous zones because she was pretty sure he’d found each and every one of them - including ones she’d never known she’d had - that night he’d come to her apartment for dinner after he’d saved her and her phone from the speeding car. She tilted her head to the side, giving him more access as she lightly scraped her nails across the back of his neck.

“I thought you were going to come over last night,” she said, another moan falling from her lips as he sucked on her earlobe. “Emergency?” she guessed, her eyes drifting shut, the feel of his warm mouth on her ear sending another shudder down her spine.

“Bank robbery,” Clark replied. He claimed her mouth once more, speaking in between kisses. “There were hostages so it took extra time to get everyone out and then I had to run the bomb to an abandoned quarry.” His tongue teased the seam of her lips until she opened her mouth for him and let him deepen the kiss. “I did come out here,” he added, breaking the kiss to let her breathe. “But Chloe was already home so I left.”

Lois slipped her hands beneath his t-shirt, tracing his abs with her fingertips before she raked her nails over his skin, smirking at the pleasure that crossed his face at her touch. “It figures. That’s probably the only night she came home this week.” She reminded herself that she couldn’t be annoyed with her cousin for actually coming home, especially since she was always telling her that she needed to work less. Lois let her hands slide up his chest, exploring each indentation of his muscles. “So how long do you think we have before Chloe gets here?”

Clark swallowed hard. It was impossible for him to think clearly when Lois’s hands were on him. “She texted me about forty minutes ago and said she was still at the office. There was some kind of problem. But she didn’t say how long she’d be.” He couldn’t seem to stop himself from pulling Lois’s blouse from the waistband of her skirt and placing his hands on her bare skin.

“We probably have all night then,” Lois replied. She tugged Clark’s t-shirt up, motioning for him to take it off. He hesitated and she rolled her eyes. “Come on Farm Boy, live a little. My cousin is addicted to her job.” She dropped her hands to his belt and unbuckled it, her eyes still on his. When he still didn’t do what she wanted, Lois pressed herself tightly against him as she placed open-mouthed kisses along his next. “Clark,” she whispered between kisses. “I want you.”

He kissed her hard, his mouth moving urgently over hers with barely restrained need. Clark felt her tugging on his shirt again and he broke the kiss long enough to pull it over his head and toss it aside. Then his mouth was back on hers, his hands on her thighs as he pushed her skirt up, bunching it at her waist and groaning into her mouth when Lois arched into him, her body intimately rubbing his.

“Two days is too long,” Lois complained as the kiss broke and Clark’s mouth moved to her neck again. She got his belt undone and reached for the zipper on his pants, desperate to feel him inside of her. She’d just gotten the zipper pulled down when suddenly; Clark lifted his head from her neck, tilting his head to the side.

She opened her mouth to ask why he’d stopped, but he didn’t give her a chance. He yanked her skirt back into place and then he blurred before her eyes, a gust of wind going through the room and when Lois blinked, Clark was sitting on the couch fully dressed. Confused at what the hell had just happened, Lois opened her mouth again just as the door was pushed open and Chloe walked in.

“Hi Clark, sorry that took so long,” she said as she closed the door at her back and offered him a tired smile. Chloe had been trying to leave Queen Industries for the past two hours, but there had been a problem with one of the subsidiaries in Vancouver and she’d been on several conference calls trying to work things out. “How are you?” she asked. Chloe crossed the room and she raised an eyebrow when she spotted her cousin standing behind the kitchen counter, looking quite disheveled. “You okay there, Lois?”

Lois gave her cousin a tight smile. As soon as the door had opened, she’d scrambled off the counter and attempted to put her clothes back in order, but unlike some people, she didn’t have super speed. “It’s been a long day, cuz,” she replied, reaching for one of the coffee cups she had brought and wishing it was something stronger.

“I can see that,” Chloe replied, doing her best to bite back a smile. She seriously didn’t know who Lois and Clark thought they were kidding, but if they wanted to pretend that she hadn’t just walked in on an intimate moment, she wasn’t going to stop them. “Did you need something Lo, or are you just here to lecture me?” she asked.

“Excuse me for caring about your overall well-being,” Lois replied. She motioned to the second cup of coffee. “I thought I’d bring you coffee and see if you wanted to catch up but I didn’t realize Farm Boy would be here.” She turned her attention to Clark, trying not to think about how desperate her body was for his touch. “So did you run out of old ladies to help cross the street in Metropolis?” she asked.

Clark frowned, annoyed at how easy it was for her to act like they were casual acquaintances. “You’re the one who seems to have issues crossing the street,” he reminded her. “I’m here because Chloe called me. Is everything okay?” he asked Chloe.

She nodded, ignoring their bickering as she moved toward the computer and logged into her system. “Yes, this is more of a potential long term mission that I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve already sent some information to Victor and I’ll fill Oliver in when he gets back but I’d really like you to be on board too.” Chloe pulled up the information and motioned for him to join her at the computer terminal.

“What’s going on, cuz? Drug dealers, corrupt politicians, mob bosses?” Lois guessed as she carried both cups of coffee with her, handing one to her cousin as she moved closer to her, purposely brushing against Clark as she tried to see the screen better.

“None of the above,” Chloe replied. “Although I’m sure we can find issues with all of them if we look close enough but this is about the robberies,” she told her cousin, knowing she would have heard about them. Chloe’s fingers flew over the keyboard as she glanced back at Clark and nodded her head toward the screen.

“There’s been a series of robberies in the downtown area, but there’s something strange about them. There’s no rhyme or reason to place that gets robbed as far as I can see; there have been offices, homes, stores, a community center and a bank. But here’s the bizarre part. All of these places were robbed, usually late at night when they were either empty or when there was only one or two guards on duty and no one has reported anything missing,” Chloe said.

Clark’s brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of that. “Why would someone go through the trouble of breaking into these places and not take anything?” he asked.

“They wouldn’t,” Chloe replied. She turned around to face Lois and Clark, leaning back against the console. “Clearly whatever was stolen was either something these people weren’t supposed to have in the first place or something they don’t want to admit they have which means it was probably illegal.”

Lois nodded. She’d been looking into the story for the paper and had come up with nothing but dead ends. “Have you found anything yet that can tie these people together? Maybe if we know what connects them, we can figure out who would be interested in taking it from them,” she said.

“I’ve got Victor working on trying to find a connection. I tried too but I’ve been so swamped at work that I haven’t had time to give it my full attention. Clark, I know you have your own city to protect, but if you could spend a little extra time here and use those super senses of yours to see what you can find out, maybe we can stop the next robbery in progress,” Chloe said. She still thought whatever this was had a much wider scope, but they could only do one thing at a time until they had more information.

“I can do that,” Clark said. He looked at the map Chloe had pulled up on the screen, little red dots indicating which buildings had been robbed. While they were confined to the downtown area of Star City, they were still fairly spread out. “I’ll start tonight,” he offered.

Lois tapped her finger against one of the dots. “This is office building is right next to city hall. I’ve got a few contacts there that I can feel out and see if they have any idea what’s so special about that place,” she said.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Clark asked. “If you start asking a lot of questions, it might get back to the wrong people. It would probably be better if you just let Victor handle the investigating,” he suggested.

Chloe opened her mouth, wanting to diffuse the situation, but Lois cut her off before she had a chance. Narrowing her eyes at Clark, she stepped forward and jabbed her finger against his chest. “Really, Farm Boy?” she asked. “Is this about me being a woman? Do you think I can’t handle myself?” she demanded sharply.

“I didn’t say that,” Clark replied. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her, irritated that she was putting words in his mouth. “All I’m saying is that you might do more harm than good if you jump into the situation blindly.”

Her mouth dropped open. “I’m a reporter. It’s my job to investigate this kind of stuff; a job that I am very good at and have been doing for years without some chauvinistic farmer hovering over my shoulder to tell me to stay out of the way,” Lois snapped.

“Stop putting words in my mouth,” Clark repeated, exasperated. “Why does everything have to turn into a fight with you?” He gestured around them. “I thought the whole point of this was to work together and if Victor is already investigating, all I’m saying is that maybe you should hold off.”

“Guys, please,” Chloe interrupted before Lois had a chance to respond again. “I wasn’t actually finished with what I needed to show you,” she said as she attempted to get them to focus on the screen again.

Lois ignored her. “Since when is Mr. Loner all about the teamwork?” she asked. “What happened to all those ‘I work alone because it’s safer that way’ speeches? Why are you fine with Victor researching things but not me? That sounds like a sexist issue.”

Clark’s face was turning red as he struggled not to raise his voice. “This has nothing to do with you being a woman! We have no idea who these people are or what they’re after and you just want to rush into the situation without any kind of backup. This is why I do like to work alone,” he added.

“Welcome home to me.”

Three heads turned toward the doorway where Oliver stood, arching an eyebrow as he listened to the two of them bickering back and forth. That was certainly an interesting form of foreplay. He glanced at Chloe and saw the irritation written all over her face. “Is this a bad time?” he asked.

“No, welcome back,” Chloe said. She stepped between her cousin and Clark and pointed to the couch. “Why don’t you two have a seat while I fill Oliver in and then we can talk about the next step?” she suggested. Chloe was sorry the loft wasn’t big enough to send them to separate corners.

Lois shook her head. “Actually, I think I’ve got to go. I just wanted to drop off your coffee and now I’m going to go home and enjoy having the place to myself since I’m guessing you’ll be late.” She sent another glare in Clark’s direction as she went to the counter to grab her purse and phone. “Cuz, I’ll see you in the morning. Oliver,” she added as she walked past him and out the door.

“Always a pleasure, Lois,” Oliver replied, amused. He didn’t bother closing the door as he turned to Clark. “Hey man, how’s it going?” he asked.

“Fine,” Clark replied distractedly as he glared in the direction Lois had disappeared. “I should go too. Sirens,” he added quickly before he rushed out the door without giving either of them a chance to respond.

Oliver shook his head, smirking as he finally closed the door and crossed the room to Chloe. “Do they think we don’t know why they left in such a hurry?” he asked.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Apparently not,” she replied, not surprised that Oliver had picked up on what was going on as well. If she wasn’t so irritated with her cousin, Chloe might clue her into the fact that she was about as subtle as a freight train. She pushed her annoyance at Lois and Clark aside and focused on Oliver. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t seem happy to see me,” Oliver commented, trying to figure out if her annoyance extended to him or if it was just the Lois and Clark situation. “I thought maybe you would have missed me.” His tone was light, teasing, but the words were genuine. Oliver had hoped that she’d missed having him around. He’d certainly missed her the entire time he was gone.

“It’s been a long day, Oliver,” Chloe replied, not in the mood to feed his ego even though she had missed him a lot more than she thought she had any right to. But two weeks was a long time for him to be gone and now that he was a bigger part of her life, she had missed having him around. “What made you come back early?” she asked.

“All my meetings were done so I had the pilot change the flight plan,” Oliver replied. The truth was, he’d been anxious to get back, not only to see Chloe but to be Green Arrow again. He’d had two uneventful nights of patrolling before he’d left and he was more than ready to get back out there and do something other than just stand on rooftops searching for trouble. “So was that an impromptu meeting or is something going on?” he asked.

“A little bit of both,” Chloe replied. She motioned for Oliver to follow her over to the computer. “Come on, I’ll bring you up to speed.”

***

Oliver blinked as the words on the computer screen started to swim in front of his eyes. Leaning back in his chair, he rubbed his hands over his face in an attempt to clear the haze from his vision. He’d been reading a lengthy proposal for almost two hours, which would be bad enough on a normal day, but it was even worse when he was running on a three hours of sleep and he’d spent his entire day in meetings, trying to fix the Vancouver problem that had been plaguing them for almost a week now. Fighting the urge to bang his head against the desk, Oliver sat up and focused on the screen again.

Ten minutes later, he’d only read three more paragraphs and Oliver had no idea what he was reading. He rolled his head from side to side, attempting to ease the kink in his neck as he let out a loud sigh just as his office door opened and Chloe walked in. “Hey, what are you still doing here?” he asked, grateful for the interruption. It was after eight and he’d assumed she’d left a few hours ago.

Chloe held up the bag of Chinese food she was carrying. “I know you missed lunch and I thought you might want to take a break for dinner. Or I could just leave it if you’re in the zone,” she added. Chloe knew Oliver had been out late on patrol the night before and he’d been working overtime to try and solve the mess in Vancouver. She didn’t want to distract him from his work but she figured he needed to eat.

“No, stay,” Oliver said quickly as he got out of his chair and motioned toward the couch and table in the corner of the office. “I’m at that point where I’m looking at the screen and seeing a giant text blur,” he explained as he took the bag from her and started unpacking the food. Oliver set it on the table and then retrieved two bottles of water from the mini refrigerator, handing one to Chloe before he sat down on the couch. “Thanks for doing this.”

“You’re welcome,” Chloe replied as she reached for one of the food containers. She’d been alternating between working on returning emails and trying to research the robberies. There had been three more in the past week and once again, no one had reported anything stolen, just broken windows and doors or disabled alarms. It was frustrating and she’d needed to walk away before she started breaking things.

The smell of the food made Oliver realize just how hungry he was. He took a bite of his egg roll as he reached for the Mongolian beef container and added some rice to it. “So how come you’re still here?” he asked again after a few minutes of comfortable silence while they both focused on eating. “Are things still quiet out there?” Aside from the robberies they were investigating, there hadn’t been a lot going on the past few nights.

“Yes,” Chloe confirmed as she took a sip of water. “Bart’s running patrol tonight and since I can’t guide him, I figured I’d be of more use here. I thought about going home but I’m pretty sure Clark is there with Lois and I’d hate to ruin their fantasy bubble where they think I don’t hear Clark sneaking in and out. For a guy with super speed, he’s not very good at making a graceful exit. Two days in a row, I heard him trip over something in Lois’s room.”

“I can see that,” Oliver said, laughing. Clark was a good guy but he really didn’t possess any kind of poise. Oliver hadn’t had a chance to talk to Clark alone since he’d come back from London, but he had every intention of calling him out on whatever was going on between him and Lois. “Why do you think they’re so secretive?” he asked, curious to hear Chloe’s take on the situation.

She shrugged. “I’m not sure,” Chloe admitted as she added sweet and sour sauce to her rice. She’d been asking herself the same question and there was one possibility that she kept coming back to. “If I had to guess though, I’d say maybe they’re weird about it since the other version of Lois and Clark that you met were engaged.” Chloe still didn’t know Clark very well, but her cousin had always had a huge fear of commitment and Chloe had a feeling Lois thought keeping the relationship a secret would make it less real.

Oliver nodded. He’d been thinking along the same lines, especially after the conversation he and Clark had had about their alternate selves and their relationships. He glanced at Chloe, watching her as she stirred her food around the container. “It sounds like the other Oliver and Chloe are pretty close too,” he commented, studying her face carefully to see her reaction.

The chopsticks in her hand stilled and Chloe felt her cheeks heating even though she had no logical reason to be embarrassed, but she couldn’t help being caught off guard. Since Oliver had never mentioned anything about their other selves being involved, she’d just assumed he hadn’t known and she would have been more than happy to leave it that way. Chloe bit down on the corner of her lip as she met his gaze, noting that he was watching her closely. “I didn’t realize you knew about that,” she said.

“Clark told me,” Oliver replied. He could see that she was embarrassed and he felt the awkwardness creeping up between them again. But she didn’t seem like she was completely repulsed by the idea of a version of the two of them together, so he thought maybe that was a good sign. “He just assumed I knew and I realized I probably should have figured it out. The other Chloe was pretty upset by my presence,” he said.

“I didn’t realize it right away either and I definitely should have since Oliver tried to kiss me when he first saw me.” Chloe still couldn’t believe she had managed to forget that little tidbit to the point that she’d been stunned when Oliver had revealed their relationship when they’d been in the car. “He was really upset when I slapped him,” she added. The second the words were out of her mouth, Chloe regretted them; her face burning again when she realized how that probably sounded.

His face fell and he quickly took another bite of his food, forcing himself to get a grip and not overreact.  But Oliver was not happy with the fact that another version of him had tried to kiss Chloe and he really wasn’t happy that her first instinct had been to slap him. That didn’t bode well for him and his chances with getting her to see him as anything other than her boss and possible friend.

Chloe felt bad when she saw the flash of hurt on his face even as she tried to tell herself not to read too much into it. She figured it was more of an ego thing than him actually being upset that she hadn’t wanted him to kiss her. “I’m sorry, but come on, Ollie. You have to admit that would be strange for me if you’d just randomly walked in here and kissed me,” she said defensively, sorry she’d brought up that particular fact.

She’d been calling him ‘Ollie’ more and more lately and hearing the nickname eased some of the tension that had crept into his shoulders. He reminded himself that was a sign that they were making progress. But Oliver was used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it and he’d never really been the type to bother putting in the work because he’d never wanted anything that was worth it before. Chloe was special though and Oliver knew she wasn’t just going to magically start seeing him differently after everything he’d put her through over the years. He was going to have to be patient and take what he could get.

“Yeah, I can see why that would have thrown you especially since I was technically married to Tess at the time,” Oliver added, making a face at the memory. He was still kicking himself for agreeing to that terrible plan. “Do you want to try some of this?” he asked, holding out his container to her.

Chloe shook her head. “I don’t think I can eat another bite,” she admitted as she placed her own food down on the table. She could see that Oliver was trying to change the subject but she had a feeling he was still offended. Chloe didn’t really know what else she could say to make it better. “I guess I should probably let you get back to your proposals,” she said as she stood up and started to toss the containers back into the bag.

“You know I think I’m just going to save it for tomorrow morning. There’s nothing on my schedule until that conference call with Wingate at noon,” Oliver said. He stood as well and gently pulled the bag away from her, tossing the garbage in there himself. “You can take off if you want.” He could tell that he’d made Chloe uncomfortable and he didn’t want her to feel like she was obligated to stay.

“I can help you if you don’t mind the company,” Chloe offered. “It might go faster if we each take a few sections.” She knew what he was doing and she didn’t want him to think that she was trying to get away from him. Reaching out, she placed her hand on his arm and waited for him to turn and look at her. When she did, she offered him a small smile. “Come on, Ollie. It’ll go faster if we work together,” she pointed out.

Oliver returned her smile, happy that she wasn’t trying to get away from him after all. He reminded himself again that it was going to take time for him to get Chloe to completely trust him and let her walls down and he had to take the small wins and just be grateful they were moving in the right direction. “All right but I should warn you that the reading material is incredibly dull and you’ll probably be sorry you agreed to this.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “That’s what people told me about working for you and I’m still here,” she teased, sending him another bright smile before she patted his arm and walked around him toward his desk to get to work.

Five.