Passion Leaves a Trace: A Day Alone
Author: serafina19
Title: Passion Leaves a Trace: A Day Alone
Series Summary: It started as a simple arrangement, but with their knowledge and understanding of each other, it left a trace of something more to come, something to build beyond what they expected.
Segment Summary: They had experienced so much alone, but today, that concept didn’t seem so appealing anymore.
Series Rating: PG-13 Segment Rating: PG-13
Series Timeline: Conspiracy-Fortune Segment Timeline: Checkmate
Thanks to: aradira for making the beautiful banner.
Prologue
This Night
Ghost in Your Mind
A Day Alone
Give a little of what could make you free
A day alone is wasted time for me
It used to be the way that she lived, thriving in her productivity at Watchtower, yet somewhere along the line, that silence she used to love, the serenity it used to bring, it was gone. He was gone.
Chloe didn’t want to admit that the two were related, but for the last half hour, it didn’t feel like her fingers were typing fast enough. It wasn’t enough that Oliver went off-grid seconds before it happened, making her feel helpless, no, the bonus was dealing with Clark ignoring his phone as usual before he finally got the hint.
It was rational to be worried about this, wasn’t it? It was completely normal for her to be this worried about the team leader getting captured by an unknown enemy. She’d been this worried about him before they got… involved. There was the belt buckle, the incident at Ace of Clubs, Roulette, all of those were…
Different from now.
Stopping her typing for a second, Chloe shook her head, wanting it to stop spinning, wanting it to stop convincing her of that idea. Looking back up at the screen, again, she reminded herself, He’s not gone. He’s just missing.
It didn’t matter how she was feeling, what made this different, what mattered was that she would find him and she would bring him back, even if it meant she had to barge down the door herself.
~0~
And the sight of your smile turns me inside out
It just breaks me down
“Considering what I pay out every year, it better not be for tax evasion.”
Chloe turned around, almost in disbelief in hearing his voice, but her face stilled as she watched him walking into the room.
“Oh my god,” she said, inhibitions at the way-side. “You’re safe.” In those moments, Chloe let her walls down slightly, no longer caring whether or not this was more than Watchtower being worried about the team. In the moment when she wrapped her arms around him, she lets herself show her worry, squeezing him tightly against her.
“Of course I’m safe,” he confirmed, the familiar confidence in his voice, the infectious grin that she can’t help but return. Still, she can’t help but place her hand on his face, moving it down his body, just to be sure, convincing her inner voice that everything is okay.
After Clark broke the silence, they both know it’s back to business, albeit with a slight amount of awkwardness in their expressions. But despite that, Chloe can’t help but feel relieved as things settle back to their sense of normal.
~0~
I make no sound and I remember why I shouldn’t trust my mind
It’s just a waste of time ‘cause without you I’d be lost
He should have seen this coming. It almost felt too good to be true that the leads were falling in their direction, and sure enough, once Tess had spoken the word Watchtower, it took everything he had not to lose it right in front of her. Fortunately, Tess’ fear for Clark gave Oliver what he needed to help, even if it was from the sidelines.
Granted, his reaction to Tess’ actions was probably a little overdramatic, but he knew that he didn’t have time to waste.
“Alright, I’m going to fix this, but you’re going to stay right here. If you follow me, I won’t hesitate to shoot a real arrow at you this time.”
It was the same urgency that allowed Oliver to get right to business instead of taking a second to dwell over the unfamiliar silence in Watchtower. All the pieces were in place, between what Tess had given him and getting a hold of Victor on the comms. The other man only had a few minutes to spare, as he had had a mission of his own, but even after Victor went silent, Oliver was confident that he could make this work. True, this wasn’t his usual role, but he would do it if it brought Chloe back.
Although Oliver did admit silently that he felt a lot more grateful that Chloe convinced him to have a better understanding of the database. With Clark already on route, all Oliver could hope for was that he would be usual punctual self when it came to saving the day.
Sure, Clark and him may not get along often, but one of the few things that the two men had in common was that they would do practically anything if it meant that Chloe was safe. So when Oliver eliminated the last firewall, he knew the only thing he could do right now was sit back and wait. He hated it, but he didn’t want to make the situation worse by going out in the field. Even if it meant that he would be infuriated by the sound of his own breathing taking up his hearing instead of the sound of her voice.
Closing his eyes, Oliver remembered the way she looked at him at him earlier today, the smile she tried to hide, the skeptical brow that she had likely perfected long before he met her, the fun quip that she used to hide her relief. The worst part of that memory was that, for as much offence he took to her earlier comment, Oliver was willing to admit just about anything to see that Chloe was alright.
They could be tights. It didn’t matter if she ever said it again, but goddamn it, they could be tights if she came back to him.
“Boyscout to Arrow, do you read me?”
Oliver sighed, leaning his head down before saying, “This is Arrow. What’s your status?”
“Hi,” a different voice called out on the comm, causing Oliver to smile.
“Hey,” he said back, knowing it would be all he would get before the comm went quiet. They had a long ways to travel, and while he wanted to see her right away, now that Chloe was safe, Oliver knew that he had some damage control to do.
~0~
A day alone is wasted time
I’m waiting here for you, you know what to do
Initially, Chloe was a little surprised that Oliver wasn’t in Watchtower, but one look into Clark’s eyes and she knew that they had to talk. Recognizing the way her friend was looking at her, knowing he had come through for her when she needed him, Chloe realized that she had probably been a little tough on him.
But sure enough, Clark picked that moment to say, “I’m sorry Chloe. I’m sorry for everything.”
She had lost track at how long she had waited to hear those words. Months, maybe even years, but Chloe held up her end of the fault. Even as Clark kept telling her everything she wanted to hear, the words didn’t have the effect she wanted.
However, that didn’t stop her from saying, “You didn’t abandon me, Clark. You pushed me out of the way.”
“Maybe I thought you’d be safer there.”
“Maybe you just didn’t trust me,” she countered, more than familiar with that concept when it came to their friendship, but Chloe knew their problem was deeper than that. “I’ve broken your confidence in me, Clark. You saw Watchtower as Big Brother and you turned away. And the less you confided in me, the less you have to depend on me.” Considering the mistakes she had made lately, she felt like she couldn’t completely blame him for his actions anymore. “Smart… probably.”
“I didn’t give you enough credit.” Clark took a step forward before adding, “You're the one who brought us together. You're the one who saw our potential.”
Chloe followed suit with a step of her own. “That potential's gonna be short-lived. Waller saw our faces and she's not gonna stop coming after us.”
She dipped her head before turning to begin working at Watchtower, ensuring that the database was safe. It was a pointless exercise, as Oliver wouldn’t have left Watchtower if it wasn’t, but she wanted to return to something that she felt like she could control… something she could help with, even if it brought her to her less favourable habits.
Then again, that didn’t stop Chloe from berating herself for letting herself get comfortable in these last few weeks. Even with the work she had been doing to control the Kandorian threat, no matter what she did, it seemed like comfort wasn’t a luxury she could afford anymore.
It wasn’t like she had it for that long, that hint of a moment as she told Oliver to go civilian, joking about him wearing tights. The banter that followed almost felt natural…too easy. For those few seconds, even though Ollie had just returned from his stint as Checkmate captive, things seemed okay. But she screwed up again, letting her guard down, underestimating how widespread the enemy was.
Taking her fingers off the keyboard, she glanced up at the cameras that showed the elevator and the entryway, but all it gave her was empty space. That made sense, but Chloe could feel a sense of lingering disappointment, quickly shifted to surprise when Clark’s hand moved over hers.
“Then we start working together, learn from our mistakes,” he said, smiling as Chloe looked up at him. “By the way, Oliver’s with Tess, ensuring that she doesn’t blow his cover, or any of ours.”
Chloe’s mouth gaped open. “Clark-”
“It’s not a bad thing that you want to see him right now. Why do you think his first move was to check in at Watchtower after being taken?” Chloe shrugged, as she had chocked that up to professional courtesy, a clear example of the team checking in, but there was another part of her that had considered Clark’s explanation too. When she didn’t reply, Clark took her other hand. “C’mon, I’ll give you a lift.”
Of course, Clark’s definition of a lift consisted of dropping her off a block away from Metro Coffee Stop, where Oliver was sitting across from Tess at a table outside of the cafe. After a grin, Clark wasted little time whooshing away, leaving Chloe standing alone, wondering what she was supposed to do.
It was clear that Oliver had words in mind for Tess, but it didn't take long for Chloe to flash back to a particular memory. The moment when he had told Chloe that she had saved his life, the moment when she knew that at least a hint of the Oliver she remembered still existed. Fittingly, there was even a chess piece involved.
However, despite the similarities, there were various differences, besides the obvious time of day. When Chloe saw Tess’ hand slightly cover Oliver’s, she could see it was done out of desperation. Because if Oliver’s face was anything to go by, this conversation felt a lot more heated than theirs. She couldn’t hear anything they were saying from where she was standing, but even from a distance, Chloe felt distracted by the chemistry the two had.
It wasn’t like she was jealous, because it was increasingly apparent that the word that best described Tess and Oliver was history, especially with Tess’ affiliation with Checkmate. But even in this moment, it was the simple reminder that Oliver’s last name was Queen, and he was meant to have this kind of pull with women. Before, Chloe didn’t want to let herself get caught in his charms, but the more she watched him, the more she realized that for her, the pull was something else.
“He’s gone, Chloe…Just like the old you.”
Oliver could say that all he wanted, but Chloe could see that wasn’t true. Some things were different about Oliver, but there were also things that never changed, and everything about this moment was the Oliver she knew. Despite all the turmoil that Oliver had faced over the past year, he was still a great leader, someone who looked out for his teammates, no matter the cost. Even if he didn’t believe it, Chloe did.
Be careful, he had told her, yet somehow the words carried more weight now than it did then. The world she could handle, dangers she could thwart with or without help, but for some reason, he was different. No one was supposed to get in, yet somewhere along the line, Oliver had been chipping away at her walls. She hadn’t noticed, maybe she didn’t want to notice, but while she was sitting in that chair at Checkmate headquarters, watching the gun move towards and away from her, Chloe had some time to think.
Think about the good things, in case these were her final moments, and in a lot of the recent ones... he was there. Simple things like waking up next to him, flirty banter over the comms...
“That’s Clark loss.”
“It’s all about your heart…”
“…the places that I had sunk to, the depths you must have had to go to bring me back. Thank you.”
Watching him stand up quickly took Chloe out of her trance, as she watched what she could only assume was a final threat from Oliver, his gaze even making her shiver. But then his eyes came up and it was as if his expression completely changed when he saw her, causing Chloe to finally lift her feet to approach him.
“Hi,” she said, the single word serving a hint of her curiosity. When she said that word on the comm, she had hoped to see his expression, but even though there was time for her return to settle in, seeing him smile at her again like this was everything she wanted.
“Hey,” he replied, wanting to do more, wanting to take her in his arms and never let go, but this time, they didn’t have the luxury of reuniting in Watchtower. Plus, with Tess behind him, Oliver knew he had to keep things simple, subtle.
But as they kept walking, the threats of the last twenty-four hours started to fade away and they could both feel that sense of comfort return, and while Chloe wanted nothing more than for it go away before, now, she had quieted that voice to let herself enjoy the happiness she felt while she was with Oliver.
A decision that he didn’t seem to mind at all.
~End~
The Real You
Sera’s Scribbles: I admit, I hadn’t started the next segment of this series until a few days ago, which was interesting because I never watched Hostage live… or…ever… until yesterday. As a head’s up, there is a slight chance I may steal a bit from my Something Missing series. It’ll be subtle, but if you want something to fill in the blanks from Checkmate to Hostage (or at least, my interpretation of that segment), that series should work perfectly.
.
Title: Passion Leaves a Trace: A Day Alone
Series Summary: It started as a simple arrangement, but with their knowledge and understanding of each other, it left a trace of something more to come, something to build beyond what they expected.
Segment Summary: They had experienced so much alone, but today, that concept didn’t seem so appealing anymore.
Series Rating: PG-13 Segment Rating: PG-13
Series Timeline: Conspiracy-Fortune Segment Timeline: Checkmate
Thanks to: aradira for making the beautiful banner.
Prologue
This Night
Ghost in Your Mind
A Day Alone
Give a little of what could make you free
A day alone is wasted time for me
It used to be the way that she lived, thriving in her productivity at Watchtower, yet somewhere along the line, that silence she used to love, the serenity it used to bring, it was gone. He was gone.
Chloe didn’t want to admit that the two were related, but for the last half hour, it didn’t feel like her fingers were typing fast enough. It wasn’t enough that Oliver went off-grid seconds before it happened, making her feel helpless, no, the bonus was dealing with Clark ignoring his phone as usual before he finally got the hint.
It was rational to be worried about this, wasn’t it? It was completely normal for her to be this worried about the team leader getting captured by an unknown enemy. She’d been this worried about him before they got… involved. There was the belt buckle, the incident at Ace of Clubs, Roulette, all of those were…
Different from now.
Stopping her typing for a second, Chloe shook her head, wanting it to stop spinning, wanting it to stop convincing her of that idea. Looking back up at the screen, again, she reminded herself, He’s not gone. He’s just missing.
It didn’t matter how she was feeling, what made this different, what mattered was that she would find him and she would bring him back, even if it meant she had to barge down the door herself.
~0~
And the sight of your smile turns me inside out
It just breaks me down
“Considering what I pay out every year, it better not be for tax evasion.”
Chloe turned around, almost in disbelief in hearing his voice, but her face stilled as she watched him walking into the room.
“Oh my god,” she said, inhibitions at the way-side. “You’re safe.” In those moments, Chloe let her walls down slightly, no longer caring whether or not this was more than Watchtower being worried about the team. In the moment when she wrapped her arms around him, she lets herself show her worry, squeezing him tightly against her.
“Of course I’m safe,” he confirmed, the familiar confidence in his voice, the infectious grin that she can’t help but return. Still, she can’t help but place her hand on his face, moving it down his body, just to be sure, convincing her inner voice that everything is okay.
After Clark broke the silence, they both know it’s back to business, albeit with a slight amount of awkwardness in their expressions. But despite that, Chloe can’t help but feel relieved as things settle back to their sense of normal.
~0~
I make no sound and I remember why I shouldn’t trust my mind
It’s just a waste of time ‘cause without you I’d be lost
He should have seen this coming. It almost felt too good to be true that the leads were falling in their direction, and sure enough, once Tess had spoken the word Watchtower, it took everything he had not to lose it right in front of her. Fortunately, Tess’ fear for Clark gave Oliver what he needed to help, even if it was from the sidelines.
Granted, his reaction to Tess’ actions was probably a little overdramatic, but he knew that he didn’t have time to waste.
“Alright, I’m going to fix this, but you’re going to stay right here. If you follow me, I won’t hesitate to shoot a real arrow at you this time.”
It was the same urgency that allowed Oliver to get right to business instead of taking a second to dwell over the unfamiliar silence in Watchtower. All the pieces were in place, between what Tess had given him and getting a hold of Victor on the comms. The other man only had a few minutes to spare, as he had had a mission of his own, but even after Victor went silent, Oliver was confident that he could make this work. True, this wasn’t his usual role, but he would do it if it brought Chloe back.
Although Oliver did admit silently that he felt a lot more grateful that Chloe convinced him to have a better understanding of the database. With Clark already on route, all Oliver could hope for was that he would be usual punctual self when it came to saving the day.
Sure, Clark and him may not get along often, but one of the few things that the two men had in common was that they would do practically anything if it meant that Chloe was safe. So when Oliver eliminated the last firewall, he knew the only thing he could do right now was sit back and wait. He hated it, but he didn’t want to make the situation worse by going out in the field. Even if it meant that he would be infuriated by the sound of his own breathing taking up his hearing instead of the sound of her voice.
Closing his eyes, Oliver remembered the way she looked at him at him earlier today, the smile she tried to hide, the skeptical brow that she had likely perfected long before he met her, the fun quip that she used to hide her relief. The worst part of that memory was that, for as much offence he took to her earlier comment, Oliver was willing to admit just about anything to see that Chloe was alright.
They could be tights. It didn’t matter if she ever said it again, but goddamn it, they could be tights if she came back to him.
“Boyscout to Arrow, do you read me?”
Oliver sighed, leaning his head down before saying, “This is Arrow. What’s your status?”
“Hi,” a different voice called out on the comm, causing Oliver to smile.
“Hey,” he said back, knowing it would be all he would get before the comm went quiet. They had a long ways to travel, and while he wanted to see her right away, now that Chloe was safe, Oliver knew that he had some damage control to do.
~0~
A day alone is wasted time
I’m waiting here for you, you know what to do
Initially, Chloe was a little surprised that Oliver wasn’t in Watchtower, but one look into Clark’s eyes and she knew that they had to talk. Recognizing the way her friend was looking at her, knowing he had come through for her when she needed him, Chloe realized that she had probably been a little tough on him.
But sure enough, Clark picked that moment to say, “I’m sorry Chloe. I’m sorry for everything.”
She had lost track at how long she had waited to hear those words. Months, maybe even years, but Chloe held up her end of the fault. Even as Clark kept telling her everything she wanted to hear, the words didn’t have the effect she wanted.
However, that didn’t stop her from saying, “You didn’t abandon me, Clark. You pushed me out of the way.”
“Maybe I thought you’d be safer there.”
“Maybe you just didn’t trust me,” she countered, more than familiar with that concept when it came to their friendship, but Chloe knew their problem was deeper than that. “I’ve broken your confidence in me, Clark. You saw Watchtower as Big Brother and you turned away. And the less you confided in me, the less you have to depend on me.” Considering the mistakes she had made lately, she felt like she couldn’t completely blame him for his actions anymore. “Smart… probably.”
“I didn’t give you enough credit.” Clark took a step forward before adding, “You're the one who brought us together. You're the one who saw our potential.”
Chloe followed suit with a step of her own. “That potential's gonna be short-lived. Waller saw our faces and she's not gonna stop coming after us.”
She dipped her head before turning to begin working at Watchtower, ensuring that the database was safe. It was a pointless exercise, as Oliver wouldn’t have left Watchtower if it wasn’t, but she wanted to return to something that she felt like she could control… something she could help with, even if it brought her to her less favourable habits.
Then again, that didn’t stop Chloe from berating herself for letting herself get comfortable in these last few weeks. Even with the work she had been doing to control the Kandorian threat, no matter what she did, it seemed like comfort wasn’t a luxury she could afford anymore.
It wasn’t like she had it for that long, that hint of a moment as she told Oliver to go civilian, joking about him wearing tights. The banter that followed almost felt natural…too easy. For those few seconds, even though Ollie had just returned from his stint as Checkmate captive, things seemed okay. But she screwed up again, letting her guard down, underestimating how widespread the enemy was.
Taking her fingers off the keyboard, she glanced up at the cameras that showed the elevator and the entryway, but all it gave her was empty space. That made sense, but Chloe could feel a sense of lingering disappointment, quickly shifted to surprise when Clark’s hand moved over hers.
“Then we start working together, learn from our mistakes,” he said, smiling as Chloe looked up at him. “By the way, Oliver’s with Tess, ensuring that she doesn’t blow his cover, or any of ours.”
Chloe’s mouth gaped open. “Clark-”
“It’s not a bad thing that you want to see him right now. Why do you think his first move was to check in at Watchtower after being taken?” Chloe shrugged, as she had chocked that up to professional courtesy, a clear example of the team checking in, but there was another part of her that had considered Clark’s explanation too. When she didn’t reply, Clark took her other hand. “C’mon, I’ll give you a lift.”
Of course, Clark’s definition of a lift consisted of dropping her off a block away from Metro Coffee Stop, where Oliver was sitting across from Tess at a table outside of the cafe. After a grin, Clark wasted little time whooshing away, leaving Chloe standing alone, wondering what she was supposed to do.
It was clear that Oliver had words in mind for Tess, but it didn't take long for Chloe to flash back to a particular memory. The moment when he had told Chloe that she had saved his life, the moment when she knew that at least a hint of the Oliver she remembered still existed. Fittingly, there was even a chess piece involved.
However, despite the similarities, there were various differences, besides the obvious time of day. When Chloe saw Tess’ hand slightly cover Oliver’s, she could see it was done out of desperation. Because if Oliver’s face was anything to go by, this conversation felt a lot more heated than theirs. She couldn’t hear anything they were saying from where she was standing, but even from a distance, Chloe felt distracted by the chemistry the two had.
It wasn’t like she was jealous, because it was increasingly apparent that the word that best described Tess and Oliver was history, especially with Tess’ affiliation with Checkmate. But even in this moment, it was the simple reminder that Oliver’s last name was Queen, and he was meant to have this kind of pull with women. Before, Chloe didn’t want to let herself get caught in his charms, but the more she watched him, the more she realized that for her, the pull was something else.
“He’s gone, Chloe…Just like the old you.”
Oliver could say that all he wanted, but Chloe could see that wasn’t true. Some things were different about Oliver, but there were also things that never changed, and everything about this moment was the Oliver she knew. Despite all the turmoil that Oliver had faced over the past year, he was still a great leader, someone who looked out for his teammates, no matter the cost. Even if he didn’t believe it, Chloe did.
Be careful, he had told her, yet somehow the words carried more weight now than it did then. The world she could handle, dangers she could thwart with or without help, but for some reason, he was different. No one was supposed to get in, yet somewhere along the line, Oliver had been chipping away at her walls. She hadn’t noticed, maybe she didn’t want to notice, but while she was sitting in that chair at Checkmate headquarters, watching the gun move towards and away from her, Chloe had some time to think.
Think about the good things, in case these were her final moments, and in a lot of the recent ones... he was there. Simple things like waking up next to him, flirty banter over the comms...
“That’s Clark loss.”
“It’s all about your heart…”
“…the places that I had sunk to, the depths you must have had to go to bring me back. Thank you.”
Watching him stand up quickly took Chloe out of her trance, as she watched what she could only assume was a final threat from Oliver, his gaze even making her shiver. But then his eyes came up and it was as if his expression completely changed when he saw her, causing Chloe to finally lift her feet to approach him.
“Hi,” she said, the single word serving a hint of her curiosity. When she said that word on the comm, she had hoped to see his expression, but even though there was time for her return to settle in, seeing him smile at her again like this was everything she wanted.
“Hey,” he replied, wanting to do more, wanting to take her in his arms and never let go, but this time, they didn’t have the luxury of reuniting in Watchtower. Plus, with Tess behind him, Oliver knew he had to keep things simple, subtle.
But as they kept walking, the threats of the last twenty-four hours started to fade away and they could both feel that sense of comfort return, and while Chloe wanted nothing more than for it go away before, now, she had quieted that voice to let herself enjoy the happiness she felt while she was with Oliver.
A decision that he didn’t seem to mind at all.
~End~
The Real You
Sera’s Scribbles: I admit, I hadn’t started the next segment of this series until a few days ago, which was interesting because I never watched Hostage live… or…ever… until yesterday. As a head’s up, there is a slight chance I may steal a bit from my Something Missing series. It’ll be subtle, but if you want something to fill in the blanks from Checkmate to Hostage (or at least, my interpretation of that segment), that series should work perfectly.
.