Fic: Start Over (4/?), PG, Chloe/Oliver
Fic: Start Over (4/?)
Rating: PG (may be subject to change)
Summary: What if Oliver had been a supporter of Senator Kent from the very beginning of his campaign?
Character/Pairing: Oliver/Chloe, Clark, Lois, Martha, Jonathon.
Spoilers: 5.13 and 5.14
A/N So firstly sorry this took so long but it’s coming to the end of semester for me so updates may not be regular for the next couple of months. Secondly thanks to chloesilvers who beta’d this for me.
Anyway Enjoy and feel free to comment!!
chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3
“Hey,” Oliver said from his place in the doorway of the Daily Planet’s basement.
Chloe spun around quickly. She had gotten into her own little world after Clark had left and whether she wanted it or not it was because of the obits. They needed to be finished before she could get back to her story on the masked vigilante.
“Hey”, she greeted. “You shouldn’t sneak up on people, you know?”
“Really, and here I was just thinking that this is what people should do for fun. I was standing there for five minutes before I even said anything.” Oliver said, shaking his head slightly
Chloe let out a laugh. “Well my keen reporter senses aren’t really being kept up to date when all I’m doing is writing obits.”
“Ah, well as long as there’s a reason for it.”
“Well is there a reason for your visit?”
He shook his head, “No not really. I just realized that I hadn’t seen you in a while. Thought maybe I should drop by.”
Chloe laughed. “If I had realized that you would miss me, I probably would have called.”
He chuckled. “More like I remembered that you still owe me a dance.”
“Well I can’t make it up to you now, but maybe in a couple of days,” Chloe replied, a silly grin lighting up her face.
Reaching over her he grabbed a pen and took her hand, “Well give me a call when you’ve got time to dance,” he said, writing his number on her palm with a flourish before turning it over, kissing it and leaving without another word.
Smiling, she pulled out her phone and typed the number in. Oliver Queen was mystery, alright. One she was looking forward to solving.
*********
Chloe walked to her car wearing a nervous look on her face. Glancing from side to side, she pulled her car keys out and tried to put them in the car door just as she knew Clark was running out to take her bag.
Grabbing the strap and pretending to pull back she started to scream.
“No! No! Please, help! No, no!”
“Give me your purse!” Clark said in a gruff voice that almost made her laugh.
“No! No! Please, help!” she screamed again
Just as she was about to pull off her hat and drop the act, an arrow brushed past her shoulder, barely grazing Clark’s.
“What the hell?” Clark yelled pulling off his mask as a green leathered person jumped down off the roof top.
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Oliver replied very glad for the voice distorter that he had invested in, “Now why don’t you leave the lady alone, and we’ll call it a night at the police station.”
Chloe stepped forward, “Look. Thanks for this, whoever you are. But you’re not the vigilante we’re looking for.”
Oliver did a double take. “Wait, this is fake.”
“Yeah, sorry. We’re really best friends. So if you could be on your way, we may actually find who we’re looking for.” She explained
Oliver looked cautiously between the pair, and was about to speak when a caped woman jumped down from one of the rooftops. Watching for a moment as Clark got into a fight with the woman; he quickly decided to make a quick exit so that no one here would find out his identity.
Chloe gasped as she saw Andrea behind the mask. Watching as the pair of superheroes in front of her left she turned back to the green leather hero only to see that he had disappeared. Walking over to the wall, she picked up the arrow he had fired before turning and heading to her car as quickly as she could.
******
Noticing Clark standing by Andrea’s desk, she walked over to him with a small smile.
“Hey. I found her desk like this when I got in this morning. I called her home and her cell, but it looks like she’s pulled an Amelia Earhart on us.”
Clark smiled before replying. “She’s never going to let anyone find her now.”
“Yeah, well I guess exile is the price you have to pay when you play judge, jury and executioner.” Chloe answered as she walked back to her desk.
“Yeah.”
“Clark, what really happened out there?” Chloe whispered, desperately wanting to help her best friend.
He sighed, “I should have listened to you, Chloe. You tried to warn me. I had my hand around that guy’s throat and I thought that if I just kept squeezing the life out of him, it would make everything right again.”
“God, Clark, but you didn’t.”
“No.”
“What made you stop?”
“My dad’s voice,” Clark whispered, shutting his eyes. “This is gonna sound weird, but I... I could hear him. He was the one who always kept me from going over the edge when I was too close.”
“It’s too bad Andrea didn’t step back in time,” Chloe said with a sigh before pulling out the arrow, “But lucky for Metropolis, there’s still the green leathered hero to help out.”
“Lucky us,” Clark whispered.
*******
Oliver ran down the hall as fast as he could. He couldn’t believe it when he had gotten the call from Clark but nevertheless he was still here. Running into Clark in the hallway the pair of them made their way over to Lois and the doctor she was talking to.
“Lois, where’s Chloe?” Clark asked.
“Is she alright?” Oliver questioned a second later.
“Well, that’s what we’re just trying to determine. And you two are?” The doctor asked.
“Clark Kent, and he’s Oliver Queen,” Clark replied quickly.
“And you are?” Oliver said.
“He’s Doctor Siedel. He’s Chloe’s psychiatrist.” Lois sighed. “Look, I found her on the bathroom floor. She had slit her wrists.”
Oliver gasped as Clark let out a strangled “What?”
Lois blinked and struggled to hold back her tears, “I feel so guilty. I should’ve seen it coming. She... she hasn’t been getting much sleep between, you know, school and her job at the Planet.”
“Is there any history of mental illness?” Doctor Seidel inquired
“No,” Lois shook her head, “I would know if there were any bats in the belfry, I’m her cousin.”
Doctor Seidel nodded, “Fine. That will give us something to start with.” Grabbing an orderly by the arm he said, “Orderly, would you take Miss Sullivan from the E.R. to room 258, please? Make sure she’s comfortable.”
“Uh, yes, sir”, the man said with a nod before leaving to do as instructed.
“Doctor I don’t understand. Why would Chloe do this to herself?” Oliver asked.
“It’s a culmination of a number of factors- family history, stress, loss of a loved one. Sometimes a person has a secret they feel they can’t share, but whatever it is, I’ll uncover it and I will treat it aggressively.” Doctor Seidel said before leaving.
Turning to Lois, Oliver said, “Look I can have the best doctors in the world here in an hour or less.”
Lois rubbed Oliver bicep before replying. “That’s very sweet of you, Oliver but I think we’ll just stick with Doctor Seidel for the time being.”
********
“Hey,” Oliver said knocking lightly on the doorway.
Chloe smiled, “Hey. What are you doing here?”
“Clark called. Though, if you wanted to get out of the dance you should have just said so.” Oliver replied as he stepped into the room.
She laughed. “Please. For some reason, I’m looking forward to you stepping on my toes.”
“Firstly, I wouldn’t have stepped on your toes. I know how to dance- quite well in fact.”
“Is that all?”
“No. I’m glad you were looking forward to something, though it’s weird that you’d try to off yourself when you obviously have something you want to live for.”
She sighed. “I know how this is going to sound, but it’s the truth.”
“Chloe, I’ll believe anything that comes out of your mouth until you give me a reason not to.”
“Ok, I didn’t do this to myself. I don’t actually know how it happened.”
“Chloe, as much as I don’t want to believe that you could do, this there was no one else in the room with you. There was no one else to do this to you unless you’re hiding something.”
“I’m not,” Chloe whispered, “And I didn’t do this. Now I’d like some sleep if you don’t mind Mr. Queen,” she continued before turning her back to him.
Oliver sighed before turning to leave. He knew that he should have faith in her. She hadn’t given him a reason not to, but her theory was too absurd, even for him. Heading home, he decided to do some research of his own hoping to find some answers to too many questions.
********
Clark walked into the main office building of Queen Industries, praying that Oliver would be willing to help him. Even though Chloe had told him she had kicked Oliver out, he knew that the billionaire would want to help. Especially if what Lois had told him about said billionaire’s feelings were true.
He placed a hand on the assistant’s desk. “I need to see Mr. Queen.”
“I’m sorry sir. Mr. Queen is in a meeting.”
“Can you tell him that it’s Clark Kent, and that I’m here about Chloe.”
The assistant sighed. “Fine but I don’t see how that’s going to help.”
Watching as the assistant picked up the phone he turned away, not needing to hear what she was saying. He took a deep breath, still not believing what was going to happen. Lex wanted to put Chloe in Belle Reve. He couldn’t let that happen, but he knew that going to Lois wouldn’t be a good idea. She would be probably see the good in that plan, but as far as he was concerned Belle Reve was no place for Chloe whether or not she was suicidal.
“Clark.”
He turned around and gave Oliver a small smile. “Listen, I need your help.”
“Anything, especially if it’s for Chloe.”
“Well, Lex wants to move her to Belle Reve, which is an extremely bad idea.”
Oliver nodded. “So what do you need me to do?”
“Well...” he started
********
Lois threw open the door to be confronted with Oliver Queen and Clark Kent, the latter holding her unconscious cousin in his arms. She moved to the side in order to let them in. She followed them as Clark laid Chloe down on the bed. Standing in the doorway with Oliver, she waited until Clark had joined them before unleashing her anger.
“What are you doing?!” she demanded “She should be in the hospital.”
“Lex wanted to transfer her to Belle Reve.” He explained
“Well Clark, maybe that’s what she needs right now,” Lois argued, placing her hands on her hips.
“See, this is why I went to Oliver and not you before doing this.”
“And what did rich boy do, huh? Pay a nurse?” She asked
“No, actually, I drove the getaway car”, Oliver said under his breath in an attempt to defend himself.
Clark sighed. “Lois, you don’t know what goes on in there. Do you really want Lex and these doctors getting inside of Chloe’s head?”
“If it makes her feel better, I don’t care if Daffy Duck whacks her with a mallet”, she argued.
Chloe sat up from the bed. She rubbed her hand over her face and sighed. “You guys, I’m drugged, not deaf.”
Oliver stepped into the room and sat down on the bed next to her. “Hey. How are you feeling?”
“I’m thirsty,” she whispered.
“I’ll get you some water,” Clark offered.
“Actually, um, can I just get a cappuccino? I think it might help clear the cobwebs.”
Lois nodded. “I’ll go downstairs and whip you up a double.” She turned to Clark and
Oliver. “Can I trust you guys to not do anything ridiculous for five minutes?” she asked
Clark exhaled sharply as Oliver answered. “I might just come with you. I could use some coffee too.”
After the pair left, Chloe turned to Clark, “They’re not too happy about the breakout huh?”
“Lois isn’t”, he corrected. “Oliver actually helped, so I don’t know why you had him running for the hills.”
“I was a bit of a bitch”, she admitted.
“Well we’re all worried about you, even Oliver, for some reason.”
“Clark, I know what I saw. I didn’t imagine anything and I didn’t hurt myself. I wouldn’t do that. I’m not my mother.” Chloe whispered.
“I know,” he replied. “But you’ve got us all worried and you can’t really blame us for our doubt with your wrists the way they are.”
Before Chloe could reply, she looked over her shoulder and into the bathroom before seeing the woman she had seen the night before standing in front of her bathroom door.
Her eyes widened. “Did you hear that?” she asked
Clark looked around confused, “Hear what?”
“She-she’s here.” Her voice was trembling.
“Chloe, are you ok?” he asked as he examined her closely
“She’s in the wall.” Chloe pulled herself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. She stepped over to the front wall, and ran her hand over it. She quickly glanced at Clark before focusing her attention to the wall.
“Who?”
“The girl I keep seeing. We have to help her!”
“Chloe, just calm down alright? We’ll get her out of the wall.” Clark replied before using his x-ray vision on the wall.
He saw the outline of a skeleton behind it. He punched the wall, forming a hole. He pulled out all of the dry wall surrounding the hole, and stepped back for a moment.
Chloe leaned forward, and saw the young woman trapped inside. She took a deep breath and smiled to herself. She was glad that there was actually a person in the wall. She wasn’t ready to admit it but she was more than a little scared that she was going to wind up like her mom in the future, not that she was really sure what it was her mother had. Her thoughts were interrupted when Clark looked inside the wall and let out a disgusted moan, moving away from the skeleton. She pulled him away before moving closer to inspect it. Running her hand over the bracelet she inhaled sharply as she felt warmth suddenly envelop her. And then, she felt nothing at all.
******
Clark was pacing around the room as he continued his attempt to get through to the officer he had on the phone.
“Yes, it was in the bathroom wall.” He listened to the man’s response. “No, I don’t know how long it’s been.” He pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers, as he tried to stay calm. “No, this isn’t a prank. Would you just send the sheriff over?” he finally asked
When he finally hung up the phone, he turned around as Lois and Oliver returned with coffee.
“The sheriff?” Lois raised an eyebrow “Clark what did you do now?” she grumbled
Oliver moved past the pair and to Chloe who was still in the bathroom. “Oh my god!” he exclaimed when he saw the skeleton in the wall
Lois pushed her way into the bathroom. “I can’t believe this”, she said as she walked. “What’s-holy crap.” She was rooted to her place. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Yeah,” Oliver whispered before moving over to Chloe. He ran a hand down her arm gently. “Are you alright?”
Chloe smiled and looked at herself in the mirror, only to have the reflection of a pale white, black haired person staring back, “Yeah. I feel much better now.”
*********
Chloe headed down the stairs with a smile on her face. She had learned her own name from her id, and was planning on heading to ‘her’ dorm. As she walked down the stairs, she looked around as she took in the changes to this place. It was still bizarre to her- that the cinema she had been murdered in had been turned into a coffee shop. It amazed her that things that had happened while she had been dead and all this time, no one had noticed her own body in the wall with all the renovation that had taken place. She stopped at the bottom of the stares and stared at the gorgeous specimen of a man that was standing at the counter. Smiling to herself, she couldn’t help but think that it had been far too long since she had been anywhere near a man, let alone hit on one. Heading to the counter she placed a flirtatious grin on her face before tapping him on the shoulder.
“Well aren’t you a fine specimen of the male kind,” Chloe said with a smile as the man turned around.
Looking confused, Oliver looked her up and down before asking, “Are you feeling alright, Chloe?”
“I’m fine,” she answered keeping her smile in place, “Why wouldn’t I be when you are around?”
“I don’t know. Chloe you’re really starting to worry me,” Oliver replied running a hand down her arm.
“I’m more than fine,” she assured him before gently placing her lips to his.
She broke the kiss, and started walking away. “Later, stud”, she called over her shoulder before heading over to her car. She wanted to find out what other fascinating secrets this ‘Chloe’ was hiding.
******
Standing in the doorway, Chloe wasn’t sure whether she should knock or not. She wanted to explain to Oliver what had happened but now that she was here, she was having a little trouble finding the words. Smiling as she watched him run a hand through his hair she couldn’t help but feel nervous at the flutter that ran through her heart at the simple movement. She knew that something was happening between her and Oliver but she wasn’t sure if she was ready for it. To once again fall for the unattainable guy only to have the Lana Lang’s of the world turn them away so fast her head spun for years. She sighed and finally raised her hand to knock on the door before taking a tentative step inside.
Oliver looked up with a smile, “I was wondering when you were going to knock.”
She laughed. “Of course you knew I was there.”
“What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to apologize, for my behavior.”
“Chloe, Clark explained it too me. Being possessed by a girl who wanted revenge on her murderer is acceptable. It’s acceptable to tell me that I’m hot and kiss me.”
Chloe shook head. “I knew that hot comment was going to bite me in the butt.”
He let out a laugh. “It’s ok Chloe, I understand that it wasn’t you,” he said as he rounded his desk to stand in front of her, “Though if you wanted to be the one to say that I was hot, from you, I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”
“Yeah, I doubt that I would do that in fear that your ego won’t fit through the door and you’d be stuck here tonight.”
“Well since I’m stuck here, how about giving me that dance you owe me.”
“Oh, so now I owe you a debt,” Chloe said with a devilish grin.
“Yes, in fact, you owe me a dance from the election party.”
Chloe nodded, “Well I’d like to pay that back but there’s no music.”
Walking past her Oliver grabbed a remote and aimed it in the direction of his stereo before turning back to her and offering her his arm, “Easily fixed.”
Smiling Chloe allowed Oliver to pull her into his arms as a slow song began to play through the speakers. Laughing as he spun her she couldn’t help but feel content as he pulled her back into his arms. Sighing she rested her head on his shoulder and couldn’t help but think that she was, sadly, really starting to fall for Oliver but hopefully he would be her fresh start.
Chapter 5