Hold It Against Me 1/3
Title: Hold It Against Me
Author: ihearttvsnark
Chapter: 1/3
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Chloe and Oliver Queen
Banner: geek_or_unique
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Oliver feels guilty about what happened at Lois and Clark’s wedding and despite Chloe’s repeated warnings, he decides to indebt himself to Lois.
Warnings: Canon through Finale
Chapter 1
Chloe sighed quietly in her sleep as she shifted and reached out for Oliver. Her hand found his thigh and she rested it there, her body instantly relaxing at the feel of him beside her. She started to drift back to sleep, but her mind was aware of the fact that he was sitting up and not sleeping, which seemed odd. She opened one eye and glanced at her husband. His attention was focused on the tablet in his hands. She shifted as she opened her other eye to get a better look and then frowned.
“Why are you looking at wedding flowers at…” She paused and lifted her head off the pillow to look at the clock on the nightstand beside Oliver. “Two-thirty in the morning?” she finished, confused.
“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” Oliver asked. She’d been sound asleep when he’d gotten back from patrol. He’d been too restless to sleep, but he’d decided against going back downstairs. Oliver hadn’t wanted Chloe to wake up and worry that something was wrong or think that he wasn’t back yet.
“No, I was just making sure you were home and then it seemed strange that you were sitting up.” Chloe sat up as well, her eyes going back to the tablet he held. “Are you planning to get married again?” she asked, “Because if you are, I can assure you that your current wife objects.”
Oliver snorted. “That’s very funny, but no.” He turned off the tablet and set it on the nightstand before he shifted to face Chloe. “I was thinking that we should invite Lois and Clark over for dinner.”
“Okay,” Chloe said slowly, more confused than ever by that strange transition. She was usually very good at reading Oliver, but she had no idea where he was going with any of this. “Ollie, I don’t know if it’s hormones that are causing me to be slower than usual on the uptake or if you’re being cryptic on purpose, but I need you to spell it out for me.”
He laughed at the impatience in her tone and leaned over to press a kiss to her lips. “Sorry, Sidekick, I wasn’t going for a brain teaser. I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened at Lois and Clark’s wedding. I know Clark is busy with his Superman gig and Lois just got another promotion so I thought I’d offer to help with their next wedding.”
“Ollie, that’s very sweet of you, but you know Lois and Clark don’t blame you for what happened,” Chloe said. She rubbed her hand over his arm, wishing she could do something to ease the guilt he was obviously still carrying. It had been about a month since the near apocalypse and things were finally settling down again. Oliver hadn’t mentioned the wedding or the darkness, but she realized she should have known he was still feeling guilty.
“I ruined their wedding, Chloe,” Oliver stated matter-of-factly. He knew Lois and Clark understood why he’d done it and that it had been out of his control, but that didn’t really make him feel better about it. “I have to do something to make it up to them,” he said.
“You didn’t ruin their wedding,” Chloe replied. She sighed when she saw the look he was giving her. “Okay,” she conceded. “So technically, you may have, but it wasn’t like you did it on purpose. They both know that. It’s not like the rest of us haven’t been possessed before. Things happen.”
Oliver arched an eyebrow at his wife. He knew she was trying to make him feel better, but there was no point in ignoring the facts. “Chloe, I threw the groom out the window and tried to kill the bride.”
Chloe pursed her lips at his blunt tone. It really did sound awful when he put it that way. But she still didn’t think it was necessary for him to go overboard trying to fix things. “Ollie, I know you mean well, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to indebt yourself to Lois. She’ll take advantage of it.” Chloe loved her cousin, but she tended to go to the extreme with everything and this whole idea was bound to blow up in Oliver’s face.
“I know,” Oliver agreed. “I’d probably be better off as one of Darkseid’s minions, but I need to do this.” He didn’t doubt that Chloe was right. He already had two jobs and a pregnant wife, but Lois and Clark were his friends and they deserved the same happiness he and Chloe had found. If he had to put up with Lois bossing him around for a few weeks, so be it.
Chloe nodded. “Okay,” she agreed. She leaned up and pressed another kiss to his lips. “Let’s get some sleep and I’ll call Lois about dinner in the morning,” she said even though she knew they were both going to regret it.
*** “Everything looks great, Chlo,” Lois said. She smiled at her cousin across the table before she dug into the Mediterranean stir fry on her dish. She nodded appreciatively as she chewed and reached for her wine. “This is really good.”
“You can praise Ollie because he made everything,” Chloe said. She sent a smile in her husband’s direction and lifted her fork to her mouth. She’d planned on helping him with the meal since he’d put in a full day at Queen Industries, but she’d had a terrible bout of morning sickness that had lasted well into the afternoon. She’d finally managed to drag herself off the bathroom floor around two and had gone straight to bed. Oliver had waked her up when he’d returned from the office. He’d offered to reschedule dinner, but Chloe had been feeling better at that point. Oliver had still insisted on handling everything so she could rest.
“It’s an easy recipe, but I’m glad you like it,” Oliver said. He glanced at Chloe as he took a sip of his wine, noting that she was still really pale. He knew the doctor had said the nausea and vomiting was perfectly normal, but he hated that Chloe was going through it and there was nothing he could do to make her feel better.
“An easy recipe is picking up the phone and ordering takeout,” Lois quipped. “Sorry about Clark cutting out,” she said as she gestured to the empty chair beside her. Clark had managed two bites of food before he’d apologized and sped away.
“Duty calls,” Oliver said with a shrug. They all understood how the job worked. “But there is a reason we invited you guys over.” He glanced at Chloe again and she simply raised an eyebrow, the look on her face clearly reminding him that it wasn’t too late to back out of this.
Lois frowned and set her fork down. “Is everything okay?” she asked, concerned. Lois knew Chloe had been getting sick a lot lately and she’d been complaining about being more tired than usual, but her last doctor’s visit had gone well. She shifted her gaze to Oliver, noting that he looked a little tired, but otherwise okay.
“Everything is fine,” Oliver assured her quickly. “But I wanted to talk to you about your wedding. I know you guys have been busy lately, but I’d like to help you any way I can, including paying for it,” he said.
“That’s really sweet, Ollie, but it’s completely unnecessary,” Lois replied. “It sucks that our first wedding was a disaster, but what can you do?” she asked, shrugging. “We all made it out alive and that’s all that matters. There’s nothing to get upset about.”
Chloe sent Oliver a look. She had said the same thing and she wasn’t surprised to hear her cousin echo her sentiments. But she also knew her husband and she doubted he was going to be pacified by that.
“I appreciate that you understand, but I’d still like to help,” Oliver said. He ignored the look Chloe sent him, even as he reached out and covered her hand with his. “You two got a raw deal,” he told Lois. “A lot of that was my fault and I’d like to make it up to you and Clark.”
“Oliver, I’m not mad at you and neither is Clark. We get it,” Lois stressed. She waved her hand dismissively. “Do you remember that time that banshee possessed me and I tried to kill you? We’re even now,” she teased, attempting to lighten the situation. She hated that everything had gone wrong, but who could have predicted a near-apocalypse would happen on their wedding day?
Chloe knew what Lois was trying to do, but she also knew her husband wasn’t going to let this go and she didn’t want to spend the rest of the meal going in circles. “Lois, I think you should take Ollie up on his offer. He’s got some fantastic resources and it’s not like I’ll be much help from my spot on the bathroom floor,” she pointed out.
“Well…” Lois said as she glanced between the two of them. “You might have a point. It is a lot of work and I wouldn’t mind the extra help.” She could see that this was important to Oliver and Lois certainly didn’t want him carrying around guilt for the rest of his life.
“Great,” Oliver said, flashing a genuine smile. “You just let me know whatever you and Clark need and I will take care of it,” he promised. Oliver squeezed Chloe’s hand, appreciating that she was supporting him even though she didn’t agree with his decision. He knew she was expecting the worst, but even if she turned out to be right, he could deal with Lois’s whims for a few weeks until she and Clark got married.
***
Oliver hit the ‘send’ button and swore under his breath when his email automatically refreshed and he saw that six new emails had appeared in the time it had taken him to send one. He glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen and winced when he saw it was already after six. It had been a hectic week at Queen Industries and if his email was any indication, it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. But the emails were going to have to wait until morning.
He logged out of the system and reached for his cell phone, sending a quick text to Chloe to let her know that he was on his way home. He had to patrol that night since Superman was handling an emergency several time zones away, but he wanted to spend a little time with Chloe first. Her morning sickness had been getting worse and she was having a hard time juggling her two jobs. Oliver knew she was frustrated even though she refused to complain.
Oliver grabbed his keys and was nearly at the elevator when the phone vibrated in his hand. Oliver pushed the ‘answer’ button and brought it to his ear while he reached out and hit the elevator button for the parking garage with his free hand. “Oliver Queen,” he answered, realizing a little too late that he should have checked the caller ID first.
“Hey Ollie, I hope you’re not busy,” Lois replied. She frowned as she sorted through the papers on her desk, searching for the notes she needed for her interview. “I need you to do me a favor and it really can’t wait.” She found the notes and stuffed them into her bag along with her notepad and tape recorder.
Of course it was Lois, Oliver thought as he berated himself for not being more careful. “What do you need?” he asked, hoping that it was something quick, but knowing that luck had not been on his side lately.
Helping Lois with the wedding details had somehow become a full time job all by itself. It had started out simple enough. Two weeks earlier, the day after she’d had dinner with them, Lois had emailed Oliver a link to the new invitations she had picked out as well as a list of people to send them to. It had seemed like an easy enough task especially since the list was much smaller for this wedding than the first one.
But when Oliver had picked up the invitations from the printer, they weren’t the same ones Lois had showed him online. Oliver had tried calling Lois, but she’d been at a press conference and Clark had been zero help. He’d taken the invitations home and Chloe had confirmed they were definitely the wrong ones and there was no way Lois would be okay with using them. Oliver had gone back to the printer and had ended up paying three times as much as the original amount to order new invitations and put a rush on them.
He’d helped Lois pick out flowers, tablecloths, place settings and centerpieces in what had been the longest afternoon of his life. Oliver had gone home afterward with every intention of relaxing for the rest of the night, but Chloe had gotten sick again and he’d had to fill in at Watchtower to guide Bart, Victor and AC through a mission. It had been almost three in the morning by the time he’d returned to the clock tower, only to be woken up by a phone call from Lois at six a.m.
Things had started getting hectic at Queen Industries right after that. There were issues with a planned merger and the fact that Lex Luthor had mysteriously returned from the dead and started his own company was making the board nervous. Oliver had been forced to spend more time at the office even as he continued to do more and more favors for Lois. He had to give Chloe credit for not saying ‘I told you so’ yet, but that could be due to the fact that he barely saw his wife.
“Oliver.” Lois’s impatient voice brought him out of his thoughts as the elevator doors opened into the parking garage. Oliver walked briskly toward his car, hitting the button to unlock the door. “Sorry, Lois, it’s been a long day. What were you saying?” he asked as he slid behind the wheel.
“I need you to pick up Chloe’s dress from the bridal shop. The seamstress made the adjustments, but Chloe needs to try it on again so she can do the final details. She’s going on vacation in three days so this can’t wait. The shop is open until six-thirty.”
Oliver started the car and looked at the clock. “That’s fifteen minutes from now and that place is on the opposite end of the city,” he pointed out. “Can’t this wait until tomorrow?” he asked.
“No,” Lois replied. She walked out of her office, her heels clicking loudly against the floor as she headed for the elevator. “She needs the dress back first thing in the morning or she won’t be able to finish it before her trip. Normally, I’d just ask Chloe to go there, but I know she hasn’t been feeling well. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that it’s pretty important for my matron-of-honor to have a dress that fits,” she added.
Rolling his eyes skyward, Oliver fought the urge to sigh as he pulled out of the parking garage. “All right, I’ll get the dress,” he said as he pressed down hard on the accelerator, knowing he was going to have to break a lot of traffic laws to get there before the shop closed for the night.
“Thanks, Ollie, you’re a lifesaver,” Lois said. “Say ‘hi’ to my cousin for me.”
Oliver opened his mouth to reply, but the line had already gone dead. He tossed the phone on the passenger seat and concentrated on driving. It wasn’t easy, but he made it across town, practically leapt out of the car and rushed into the dress shop. The seamstress got the dress for him, reminded him that she needed it back first thing in the morning and sent him on his way. Oliver carefully hung the dress in the backseat and let out a sigh of relief as he slid behind the wheel once again, happy that he could finally go home.
Traffic was a nightmare as he crossed the city once again to get to the clock tower. By the time he brought the car to a stop in the parking garage, it was well past seven. Oliver scooped up his phone, removed the dress from the backseat and strode to the elevator, quickly entering the code and waiting for the elevator to make its assent. The doors opened into the penthouse a minute later and he was greeted by the smell of smoke.
“Chloe?” Oliver called. He dropped the dress on the couch and hurried toward the kitchen. Smoke was pouring from the oven and Oliver covered his mouth with his hand as he turned the knob to shut it off and pulled open the door. He choked on the smoke, waving it away as he grabbed a potholder and pulled out the charred casserole. He set it on the stovetop and closed the oven before he moved out of the kitchen to search for his wife.
Her laptop and phone were on his desk, but the downstairs bathroom was empty. Oliver made his way upstairs and into the master bedroom and then into the adjoining bathroom. Chloe was sitting on the floor, her head resting against the bathtub as she slept. Oliver knelt down beside her, reaching out carefully to stroke her cheek as he tried not to startle her. “Hey, Sidekick, open your eyes,” he said quietly, slipping his other hand between her head and the tub.
Chloe jerked awake, her eyes flying open before she immediately closed them, one hand going to her stomach as the room spun around her. “Ollie?” she whispered hoarsely. Chloe made a face and swallowed a few times to moisten her throat. “What time is it?” she asked.
“It’s after seven,” Oliver replied. He got to his feet and went to the linen closet to grab a washcloth. He ran it under the cold water and then sat down on the floor again, gently pressing it against Chloe’s forehead. “How long have you been up here?” he asked.
“That feels good,” Chloe said. She shifted forward so she was leaning against Oliver’s chest instead of the tub. “I think it was around five. I threw up a few times and then I must have fallen asleep.” She had no recollection of that, but it seemed to be happening more and more lately. She closed her eyes again and started to relax until she remembered the casserole she’d put in the oven. “Ollie, you need to go turn off the oven!”
“I already did,” Oliver said. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and set the washcloth on the sink before he lifted Chloe into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, setting her down on the bed. “It’s safe to say that dinner is extremely well-done. I’m sorry I didn’t get home sooner,” he added.
“That’s okay,” Chloe said. She stretched out on the bed and patted the spot beside her. “Are things still chaotic at work?” she asked. Chloe knew he felt guilty for not being around more even though she told him repeatedly that it wasn’t a big deal. There was no rhyme or reason to her bouts of throwing up and it wasn’t like she expected him to rearrange his day to hold her hair back.
“Yes,” Oliver said. He stepped out of his shoes and shrugged off his jacket, tossing it over the chair before he moved onto the bed, careful not to jar the mattress too much and upset her. “But I would have been home sooner if Lois hadn’t called with a new errand for me.” He propped himself up on his elbow as he let his other hand trail over her arm. “Your dress is downstairs and needs to be tried on so I can bring it back tomorrow morning, by the way.”
Chloe rolled her eyes and reached out to undo his tie. “I’m not an invalid. I told Lois I would go there in the morning. There was no reason it had to be done tonight,” she said. Chloe got his tie undone and tossed it aside before bringing her hand up to his chest, brushing her thumb over his heart. “You should just tell her that you’re too busy.”
Oliver shook his head. “I got myself into this and I’m going to see it through. The wedding is less than a week away. She can’t possibly have that many more errands for me between now and then.” He saw Chloe raise an eyebrow and he placed his finger over her lips. “Don’t,” he said. “Let me live in this fantasy world for a little while.”
“I warned you that Lois would take advantage of you,” Chloe reminded him. “I know you feel guilty, Ollie, but you’ve done enough.” She shifted onto her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m glad you’re home.”
“Me too,” Oliver said. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned back against the pillows. “I’m going to call Bart and ask him to come out here and patrol tonight.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and let his eyes fall shut for a moment. “I know you were right, Chloe, but in a few days, Lois and Clark will be married and all of this will be over,” he said confidently.
Two.