Turn the Page (8/20)
Author: 
serafina19
Title: Turn the Page
Rating: R
Summary: Oliver Queen meets Chloe Sullivan right before his life takes a turn for the worse. Together, they work to find peace in their lives and justice for the people they have lost.
Warning: coarse language, adult content, AU
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Even before opening his eyes, Oliver knew that this was going to be difficult to explain. He had heard footsteps in the main area, the way they stopped right in front of them, so it didn’t shock him to see Evie standing there.
“Morning,” she said, smile wide on her face as she glanced down at Chloe, whose head was resting against his side. Or at least, it was until he moved.
Her eyes opened slowly, as her memory of last night started to come back to her. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but Chloe wished she had if it meant avoiding this. At least it was Evie and not any other female in her life.
“Hey,” she said with squinted eyes as they adjusted to the light. Chloe knew that Evie would have her own conclusion about how her and Oliver got to this point, but at the moment, she didn’t have time to talk about it. Getting off from the couch, she straightened out her clothes. “I’ll see you after work.”
“Sounds good,” Oliver replied as he watched Chloe go to the elevator and get inside. Once he heard it activate, he brought his attention back to his grinning friend. Standing up, Oliver maintained his glare at Evie. “You could have waited for her to leave. You could have done just about anything else.”
Unfortunately for him, Evie just shrugged before saying, “But I didn’t and you know why.” Because it was clear as day that Oliver was interested. Chloe was trickier to read, but Evie had been around Oliver long enough to know how much effort he put into woman. Or rather, the lack of effort that he showed towards women until now.
That fact was something that Oliver was tempted to hide, but he knew better than that with Evie. So the glare weakened, knowing she had good intentions. “You know, I thought you’d be pushing Chloe more in this area.”
Evie laughed. “Are you kidding me? She has Lois Lane… you got off easy.” Which was true. Chloe pretty much vetoed this conversation whenever they had their girl nights. Chris and Evie listened, but Lois, not so much.
Comparatively, Evie had only teased Oliver a few times. That was a decision she was regretting based on the obvious chemistry she was seeing between him and Chloe and the lack of figuring out what they were to each other. “Seriously though…. what exactly are you waiting for?”
“She’s doing this for her fiancé,” Oliver said right away, surprising his company, but he didn’t regret his bluntness. He wasn’t blind, he had always been interested in Chloe since they met. They had a connection that he couldn’t figure out until recently. However, that didn’t make things any easier. “Clearly she’s not looking for more than friendship,” he added, watching Evie’s eyebrows raise, a reaction that he didn’t want to hear the resulting comment for. “Why are you here again?”
Only that deflection tactic wasn’t going to work on her. “The shoe’s fun on the other foot isn’t it?” True, Evie was also enjoying this more than she should, but the déjà vu was hard to ignore and she was more than happy to switch roles this time.
Except the parallel wasn’t as obvious to Oliver. “Catherine was different, she had been out of his life for years, there’s no guilt there.”
“How about self-doubt?” Evie countered, because Catherine was nothing next to her boyfriend’s confidence in what he was. “I love Vic, I do, but convincing him that I loved everything about him wasn’t easy.”
“While that’s true,” Victor called from across the room. “We had the benefit of time and knowing all the important skeletons.”
He had been in the kitchen the whole time, listening in on the conversations, waiting for when this visit got productive. Despite trying to convince Evie to join him until Chloe left, his girlfriend couldn’t resist, and Victor knew that there wasn’t much he could do to change her mind. However, that didn’t mean that he liked sitting back while they talked about him.
“Thank you,” Oliver said after a sigh, “finally some reason.”
It was that, but despite their differing tactics, Victor didn’t disagree with his girlfriend. “Yeah, well, if you’re planning on taking this slow, you have to work on your subtlety. A lot of people have bets going.”
That comment resulted in multiple glares in his direction. Oliver’s was a bit more justified, as he rolled his eyes soon after. “Please tell me that you’re kidding.”
Victor sighed, knowing that he couldn’t tell Oliver what he wanted to hear. “Bart’s crushed, of course, but I’m fine if you take your time. That way I get 50 bucks from Lois.”
“Funny,” Oliver replied sarcastically. He waited for the next quip to come out of their mouths, but instead he watched as the couple traded glances, which was never a good sign. “What?”
Evie took a deep breath before responding, “Thanks to Chris confiding in Chloe and I, we found a connection between Hetherington and Talia’s boyfriend.”
Oliver shook his head. It appeared that Chloe wasn't the only one who needed convincing to relax. “Already?”
Evie bit her lip, because she knew how Oliver had told her to take it easy, but she knew there was no way that she was sleeping once she left Chris'. Something told her based on his expression that she wasn't alone and she couldn't blame Chloe.
Looking down at the folder in her purse, she sighed. “Finding out about her sister," she said, pulling it out to hand it over to Oliver. "Finding out what might have really happened that night in Star City, it’s a strong motivating factor.”
Even before Oliver opened the file, he knew that any good news would be bittersweet at best. Yet as he looked through the pages inside, he wanted to collapse on the couch, unsure of how everything had come to this.
He settled for leaning against it. "You can’t be serious.”
Evie wished she wasn’t. “We debated telling anyone this, especially Chloe, but we did the research and I have a hard time believing this is a coincidence.” Leaning back as she stood next to Oliver, Evie shook her head. “Three trips where they’re at the same place at the same time. Bodies at each one.”
“You have to tell her,” Oliver said, shoving the closed folder against Evie’s chest before letting go of it.
Evie barely caught the folder before it all came apart. “Oliver -”
“I’m not lying to her about this.” Pushing himself from the couch, Oliver looked between Evie and Victor. “You’ve seen what this does to her. If this is what we need to bring them down, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“I agree with you," Evie replied, as that wasn't the reason she had objected earlier. "But I think we have to tell her everything.”
Victor could see Oliver about to object, but he beat him to it. “We can’t have it both ways anymore… and we hate lying to her about 33.1.”
“Then you tell her about both.”
Evie tilted her head, her eyes narrowing over how Oliver was handling this. This wasn’t the first time that they wanted to employ different strategies, but this time, this didn't make sense. “We can do this as a team.”
“No. That’s your story and your find.” Oliver turned around, hoping this would end the conversation. “Just let me know when it’s done.”
He wasn’t going to be so lucky, as Evie spoke up while her eyes focused on the folder. “Why?” She swallowed hard, as it was easy to hear the pain in his voice, but she couldn’t figure out why. “Why don’t you want to be part of this?”
Oliver sighed. “It’s not like that.” He turned his head over his shoulder, hoping she’d understand, that they both would. “I know the whole story and I know how much pain it caused both of you. I... don't want to hear it again.”
Evie pursed her lips, as her friend’s rationale became a bit clearer. "Oliver, you're like a brother to me, so I'm going to try to say this as politely as I can.” This time, her head shook, her eyes firmly on Oliver. “There is no way you could have known. I know you think that you should have, because you want to save everyone, but you can't."
Stepping forward, Victor took Evie’s hand in his. "Regardless, right now, we need to stand together as a team on this... it's the only way that she’ll believe us.”
“No matter the consequences?” Oliver’s eyes narrowed as he focused on Evie again. “You know that you haven’t told certain people everything.”
“I mean it when I say everything,” Evie replied. "Biting your tongue about certain details, it causes more problems than solutions. I know that now." It wouldn’t be easy to tell the truth, but with any luck, it would be the last time, and the team would understand, just like the first time when she came clean to Oliver years ago.
Evie knew it was her decision to stay quiet then, only giving the rest of the team the short version, as she didn’t want to burden anyone else. Heck, she had no intention of telling Oliver, but he caught her on the only night that she was looking up her old life... and part of her wanted someone else to know what really happened.
"Look,” Oliver said, “I'm not saying you're wrong here. I just..."
He just felt like things were getting back to normal with the team. There had been so much pain in the last while, and he hated the way it seemed to continue finding them. Especially after hearing Chloe talking about her father, about Jimmy last night. It was clear how much it still affected her and it wasn’t something Oliver wanted to see again so soon.
Both Evie and Victor seemed to sense that as Oliver’s voice trailed. Victor patted Evie’s hand before walking towards Oliver. "You care about her, we get it,” he said. “We're not going to say that this won't shake Chloe, and I know I won't like seeing it any more than you do."
When Oliver’s eyes came back up, Victor’s lips pursed into a grin before he sighed. "But I've seen what it's like to see someone lie to Chloe about something this big. Short term pain is the better option, because she will find out."
"With what we know,” Evie said softly, “there's no way this won't come up."
Oliver nodded. "I want to say that this can wait a couple of days, but if you found this in one night, then it's only a matter of time before Chloe figures the same thing out."
"That's our worry,” Victor replied, looking back towards Evie. “That's why this couldn't wait."
"Tonight then?"
Evie took a deep breath before answering. "I think so."
~0~
“So you’re doing this even though Oliver thinks this is a bad idea,” Hal said, staring ahead at the elevator door. “Are you sure that’s wise?” When Evie glared at him, he put his hands up in defence. "Hey don't look at me like that, I'm just pointing out the obvious."
“We know what we’re doing.” Evie leaned against the back wall, still trying to figure out where to start, how to fully come clean after all this time. She knew this was the right call, but that didn’t make this simple. “And I think Oliver's on board now.”
Hal looked around the elevator, faces seeming content, but he wasn’t sure that was a good thing. This whole thing didn’t seem to imply that good news was coming. "Fine... whatever that means.”
When the elevator stopped, the door opened up to an empty main room, but that wasn’t for long. Chloe came out of the kitchen, holding her laptop as she was heading to the couch to get some work done. “Hey guys, what’s going on?”
“Chloe, you should sit down,” Victor said, watching as his words caused Chloe to frown. “We’ve kept from telling you something and that changes tonight.”
“O…kay.” Chloe watched as each person came out the elevator. Oliver hadn’t mentioned a team meeting, yet when she saw him enter the room, it didn’t take long for Chloe to realize he knew what was going on. She left her laptop on Oliver’s desk, walking slowly to the couch, gauging each person’s reaction.
Once she had sat down, Evie walked in front of her, biting her lip before breaking the silence. “This is about Lex.”
Chloe shook her head, as suddenly, this made sense. She knew it was only a matter of time before their friendship would come up. “I know you guys have your reservations about him but -”
“We’ve never met Lionel Luthor in our lives,” Victor interjected. He had more anger in his voice than he wanted, but he supposed that it was fitting. When it came to the Luthors, there wasn’t much love there. “Our 33.1 facility was run by Lex… and he enjoyed it.”
His interruption had even caught Evie off-guard. “Vic…”
“C’mon Evie, we agreed. No more walking around the eggshells,” he said before he looking back at the group. “He made me this way. If that wasn’t enough, he was behind the accident that killed my family because he thought my skills would be useful in his experiments.”
It was two weeks after he blew his knee, ending any chance Victor had of getting a football scholarship. Apparently, Lex saw a chance to make his life better. The phrase made Victor sick. “Heck, he would have killed me ten times over if it wasn’t for Evie.”
That got Evie to swallow hard. “It didn’t take long for us to become each other’s leverage.” Victor was far from the first cyborg that Lex had made, but they would all fall once Evie’s powers failed her.
Then Lex decided to give Evie a name, a personality to go with his latest subject. “He was closest thing that I had to a cellmate, as they thought it would lead to better results." In a way, it was the best and worst decision Lex had made. “We didn’t realize that it was a set-up, but we probably didn't care because having each other allowed us to hold onto the last thread of sanity we had left.”
“But…” Chloe said, not believing what she was hearing. Her head felt like it was spinning, as Clark had always assumed that Lex was an inevitable case of like father, like son, but Chloe never saw that potential. He had helped her, he had saved her life, her father’s life. Yet when she looked at Evie’s and Victor’s face, she knew that they were dead serious. “I was there, I…”
Victor shook his head, knowing that Chloe believed that she saw Lex shut down 33.1, but it was a huge cover. All he did that night was shut down Lionel’s old facilities. Anything that Lex himself ran was still active, even today.
“We’re not saying that there isn’t good in him,” he said. It was one of the hardest things he had ever said, but Victor couldn’t deny what Lex had done to help Chloe. “But we didn’t want to lie anymore. You deserve to know what he did to us. Heck, next to Evie, I had it easy.”
Evie nodded slowly, knowing that she was lucky to be standing here right now. “I should be dead. Most captive metas don’t last more than two years, let alone five.”
Her breath became shaky as she looked away from Chloe, from everyone. “But he wanted to build an army and he wanted to use my abilities to make it happen. So time after time, he’d make me control metas, fighting to survive." Evie paused, not for effect, but because she had to. "Chloe, what I didn’t tell you is that my… abilities aren’t perfect. If I’m in someone’s head for too long, I pass out for hours.”
For as much as she fought, as much as she believed that she was making the rules, after awhile, Evie had no choice but to become a pawn in the game. “Each time,” she said, “he’d bring me down to an inch of living, only to build my strength back up.” Fingers curling around her arms, Evie tried to hold back her tears of the memory. “I tried to fight it, I wanted to let go, but between Victor and Bart, I never had a choice.”
“What?”
Evie bit her lip, cursing quietly as she realized how much she had admitted. That wasn’t the way she wanted to tell her cousin that. “This is why I wanted all of you here.” Turning towards her cousin, his shock still intact, she added, “He knows about Bart, has for years now.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me this?” Bart demanded. All this time, he thought he had known the whole story, he thought he deserved as much.
However, Bart had no idea how much it killed Evie not to tell him. “Bart, you saved my life,” she said. Evie walked over to him, pulling him into a hug before he could speed away. “I didn’t want you to think that saving you caused me pain. Because I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Bart returned the hug initially, but it didn’t take long for him to back away. “Damnit Evie, that’s not cool.”
Evie sighed as she shook her head. “Keeping you safe was one of the few good things that I did in there. Keeping you safe allowed you to find your way.” She never would have imagined that Bart would turn his life around this much. Like her, he talked a good game, but without a support system, she worried about him so much in her time in 33.1. Initially, the best part of getting out of there was the realization that Bart didn’t lose his way.
Bart smiled a little, giving Evie a sense of relief before someone else spoke up. “I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t feel like you have to,” Evie told Chloe as she turned around. Like she had done before, Chloe’s head was dipped. “We just wanted you to understand what we went through.”
“How did he find out about you? I know you’re not from Kansas.”
“The real reason that I don’t go home.” Evie wanted to, but she knew it wouldn't be right, that she couldn't go back anymore. “He fronted the operation as a place to cure metas. My parents found out about my abilities and turned me in.”
That resulted in a few people saying, “What?”
“There were so many things that I wanted to tell them if I got out, but they died before I ever got the chance.” Evie smiled, knowing that it wasn’t the right reaction, but it felt fitting. “My dad died in a car accident a few months before I got out, my mom from cancer years before, but Lex gave them Emily Hopkins’ death certificate seven years ago.”
“Shit,” Hal said. “I never realized...” He couldn’t finish that sentence, no matter how much he wanted to. He knew before that this whole thing was sick, but he respected their wishes when they said that they didn’t want to talk about it. Learning about it now, he fully understood their decision.
Trying to take some of the focus off Evie, Victor, said, “We decided a long time ago that not everyone needed the whole story, but it’s different now.”
“Why?”
“We found a connection between Councilman Hetherington and Harry Winters.” Evie grabbed the folder from the purse again and put it down on the coffee table in front of Chloe. “LuthorCorp.”
Watching Evie open it up, Victor said, “Atop of obvious cases of covered up insider trading, all three men are connected in various events.”
Moving forward on the couch, Chloe grabbed a few documents in the folder, hoping that she could find some loopholes in what they were saying. But there was one thing that she couldn’t deny. “Lex contributed towards Hetherington’s campaign before I told him to pull support.”
“Did he tell you that he did?” Oliver asked. He had tried to stay quiet, as tonight wasn’t about him, but he had to know.
“Yeah.”
“He lied.” Victor flipped past a few pages of the folder to grab what he needed. “LuthorCorp was the strongest contributor to the campaign, care to guess who was second?”
After Evie had put the folder down, Hal and Bart had come over to the coffee table. As Hal stood next to Victor, he rotated the document and put his finger under the second line. “Why would the law firm donate this much? It’s in Star City.”
“Eastern headquarters are in Metropolis,” Evie replied. “They’re also funding Lex’s eventual bid towards running for office.”
Chloe scoffed as she looked up, wondering how any of them knew that. But considering the technical expertise on the team, in getting these documents, it wasn’t a stretch for them to figure that out too. “It could just be a crazy coincidence,” she said.
They wanted to tell her that possible. Evie had opened her mouth to tell Chloe otherwise, but instead, Oliver interjected, “All three attended the party where Talia died. All three were in town when Jimmy was shot.”
Everyone had turned their head to look at Oliver, except Chloe. Noticing that, Evie met her eyes before adding, “Victor and I cross-referenced names, not many other overlaps.”
Chloe felt her head nod slightly, as the way Oliver had spoken up meant that there was too much evidence for this to be a coincidence. Granted, the papers Chloe was reading was almost enough for her to know that her earlier comment was only said out of desperation. Sighing as she put the documents back on the table, Chloe said, “It makes sense. Technology company with deep pockets, likeable lawyer and politician.”
When the room went dead quiet, Hal spoke up. “Makes sense for what?”
“All this. The taking of metas, the extent the story got buried,” Chloe replied quietly. “I think Chris may be right all along. Talia must have gotten too close to their initiative.”
After admitting that, Chloe knew that she couldn’t talk about this anymore. She got up from the couch and moved across the room, her stomach feeling sick as the truth settled in. Just how blind had she been?
Closing her eyes, she tried to match what she was hearing with the good times she had shared with Lex, the smiles he would give her. It didn’t work, no matter how hard she tried.
“Hey, if you want to go to Lois’, I can give you a ride.”
Chloe exhaled before replying to Oliver, who was now standing right behind her. “It’s nothing I haven’t heard about him before. People always thought that he kept some of Lionel's illegitimate businesses going, but…”
Oliver understood her confusion, so he tried to sympathize with it. “He saved your life Chloe. I can’t blame you for thinking that he was different from Lionel.”
“Umm guys,” Bart said, “We’re going to head out.” It seemed like things were winding down, and hearing what he did, he knew that he would need a long run to sort his head out.
Oliver nodded, but Chloe quickly walked past him. “Evie, can you stay a minute?”
“Sure,” Evie replied, slipping her hand out of Victor’s to approach Chloe. Oliver gave both women a grin before joining Victor in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry,” Chloe said, as she was realizing what Evie meant when she said that her skeletons were hard to bear. “I’m so sorry.”
Evie shook her head. “It’s not your fault.”
Chloe knew that, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t guilt there. “I should have known better. I should have… done something.”
Evie’s mouth gaped open, grateful that Chloe couldn’t see it. It was a little strange to see how similar Chloe and Oliver reacted to this news. However, her approach this time was much different.
“You are now, Chloe, that’s what matters.” With a shrug of a shoulder, Evie tried to lighten the mood with a smile. “More importantly, you accept me. You accept Victor knowing what he is. Bart, Clark… all of us.”
“How could I not?”
“The same way many people do,” Evie replied. She had seen it her whole life, the unacceptance of the truth, the sting of knowing that people would only accept someone if they hid that part of themselves. “But you don’t. It’s why I wanted to tell you everything. Because despite everything, I knew. I…”
Evie’s voice trailed as she felt her tears come loose, flashbacks of her parents faces coming to her. Apparently those old wounds hurt more than she thought. “You have no idea what that means to me, to us.”
“Hey,” Chloe said, putting a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
Bringing her head back up, Evie smiled. “I know.”
Because Chloe had been there almost since the beginning. After Victor found Chloe and Clark again, it was only a matter of time before Evie met them. She wasn’t dating Victor yet, but she never forgot the first time that Chloe realized she had feelings for him.
Evie was going to kill him. Well, not really, but Victor knew that she wasn't ready for this, to meet his friends from before the accident. Yet here she sat, next to one of them, drawing blanks on what to talk about.
On the plus side, it appeared that his friend Chloe had figured that part out. “So where did you meet?”
However, that wasn't the easiest question to answer. The only thing that made it easy was the fact that they had a mutual acquaintance. “You met my cousin, Bart Allen right?” When she nodded, Evie grinned. “He introduced us.”
“Bart Allen, the matchmaker?" Chloe replied with a laugh. "That’s almost hard to picture.” Then again, the only place it would make sense was with his family.
But Evie just blushed as she poked her straw in her drink. “We’re not… like that.” There were days that even she wondered if that was a lie, but it was a conversation that both of them were too afraid to start. “Even if we were, it wasn’t Bart’s intention.” If he had his way, she'd continue to be single, as instead of two overprotective older brothers, Evie now had an overprotective speedy younger cousin.
However, Chloe wasn't about to drop the point just yet. “You make him smile, he deserves that after everything he went through.”
“You mean his family?” Evie asked, knowing it was rhetorical for her.
Chloe smirked before taking a drink. “Among other things.” She could only imagine what it must have been like for him, but she had no idea that the woman next to her knew exactly what it was like.
“So you know? About his condition.” Evie hated wording it like that, but that was his word choice, so she went along with it.
“Yeah, he told Clark and I because we’d understand." Not wanting to get into the details of that, Chloe was quick to add, "You’d be surprised to hear some of the weird things we’ve encountered in Smallville.”
Evie nodded as she looked over to where the guys had walked to get their drinks. “It is a place for the weird and unexplained.”
Chloe tilted her head as a grin grew on her face. “And you know that too.”
Fortunately, Evie had an explanation for that knowledge too. “Part of the reason we met was because I want to start up a safe haven for metas.” It had a ways to go before it was ready, but with Oliver's help, she knew it would be a great thing for the future.
“Really?”
Evie chuckled, as she knew that it sounded strange, but after what had happened to her, it felt needed and she was tired of waiting for someone else to gain the guts to do it. “They deserve a voice," she said. "I want to know that there is somewhere that treats them like the people they are, instead of the monsters that people think they are.”
After a slow nod, Chloe had a feeling that she was really going to like this woman. “Except Victor isn’t a meta.”
“I know, but it could still apply.” With a shrug, Evie added, “Regardless, that doesn’t matter to me. Metal parts don't take away his humanity.”
Chloe leaned back in her seat, watching as Evie stared at her drink, which at this point, only contained ice cubes. She knew that look, that Evie’s circumstances were much better than Chloe wore that look herself. “Then tell him that.”
Evie shook her head, hating that she seemed that transparent in front of someone she had just met. “He’s looking for his ex.”
“No he’s not,” Chloe clarified, almost expecting to see Evie's head pop up. “He quit last week, probably realizing what was right in front of him. And I can’t say I blame him.”
Eyes narrowing, Evie said, “But you just met me.”
That was true, but the fact that she was here right now, knowing what she did, knowing what she wanted to do with metas, gave Chloe more than enough insight into Evie. “I know enough to say that you give him more than she ever could.” Seeing the guys approach the table, she knew that Evie wouldn't want them to overhear, so Chloe merely shrugged. “Think about it.”
“Thanks,” Evie said, taking a step back. “We should probably head home though. You want a lift to your place?”
Chloe shook her head, as she didn’t feel like going home tonight. The silence alone would eat her alive. “Thanks, but I don’t mind staying. Honestly, I don’t really want to be alone tonight.”
“Fair enough.” Evie picked up her purse by the couch, sitting down on the arm before adding, “I’m glad to see you two getting along so well.”
It didn’t take long for Chloe to laugh at that. “That was the intention, wasn’t it?” Although Evie was harder to read, that didn’t mean that she didn’t know that her friend didn’t have that motive behind Chloe getting to know Oliver better.
“More like a fringe benefit.” Chuckling back at Chloe, Evie stood back up, pausing in her step as she realized that she didn’t have to always play with one side of this situation. As her smile grew, she said, “But do think about it. It makes more sense than you think.”
~0~
Covering the bandage on his arm with his hand, Hal grinned. “Thanks again for this. I’m pretty sure if I come by with another cut to Emil, he’s going to lose it.”
Chloe shrugged as she closed the first aid kit. “What are friends for, right?”
“I’m glad you see us that way,” Hal said, grabbing his coat from the table as he stood up. As he put it on, he watched as Chloe’s attention moved to her surroundings. He knew that she hadn’t been to headquarters since that night at Oliver’s, so this probably wasn’t easy. Then again, he wasn’t the mind-reader of the group. “We haven’t exactly had much time to talk.”
Her head shook slightly before bringing her full attention back to Hal. “I suppose not, but things are crazy around here.” It didn’t help that Hal wasn’t always around, but that didn’t stop Chloe from being curious about Hal. Getting powers from an alien wasn’t the most unique origin story she had heard, but Chloe still wanted to understand him better, to be as helpful to the team as she could be.
However, as far as Hal was concerned, Chloe was already there. “That’s why I want to take a second to say thanks.”
“For what?”
He figured that much was obvious, but it appeared that Evie was right about Chloe being oblivious when it came to her impact on Oliver. “You bring something good out of Oliver. Something I haven’t seen in awhile.”
Chloe scoffed. “I highly doubt that.” Sure, they helped each other, but she didn’t see it as anything unique. “He’s got a good group of friends, including you. He told me how you confided in him, made him want to help people. It takes a special friend to do that.”
“That doesn’t diminish what you’ve done,” Hal replied, smirking as he watched Chloe’s expression change.
Eventually, she cleared her throat, a grin replacing the surprise in her eyes. “Then you’re welcome.”
Satisfied, Hal returned the smile before turning his back. “See you around, Chloe.”
~0~
Oliver knew that it wasn’t his night to patrol, but sitting around at home wasn’t doing him any favours. When he wasn’t working, he’d glance towards the elevator, hoping Chloe would come by. So when Victor mentioned that Chloe was heading towards headquarters with Hal, it confused him.
As he stood on the rooftop across the street, wondering if he should give her privacy, it wasn’t long before he caught Hal leaving the building. Next thing he knew, Oliver was standing in front of the building, knowing that he had to know how she was doing.
He knew that she would know he was coming when he got into the elevator, but he didn’t care. Instead, Oliver stood in silence as he felt the elevator take him up to the highest floor. When it opened, he took off his glasses, pausing momentarily before opening the door.
“Hey,” he said, smiling at the sight in front of him. ‘What brings you by tonight?”
“Hal saw me at my coffee cart and he asked me to patch him up after a mugger got a lucky shot. After that, I… I thought I’d catch up on what I missed.” Chloe narrowed her eyes as she continued looking at the screen. “Unless there’s a reason I shouldn’t be here.”
“No,” Oliver said, almost too quickly. “I… I’m glad you’re here.” Knowing that his clumsy recovery didn’t help, he shook his head, glad that she couldn’t see his expression.
But that didn’t stop him from walking closer to her. Once he stood right behind her, Chloe stopped typing. “I thought patrolling was done for the night.” In fact, she knew it was, as she had seen Victor leaving the building ten minutes before they got here.
He merely shrugged, not wanting to undermine her intelligence. “I just had a feeling that I wouldn’t sleep.”
“And you knew that I was here.” Chloe clarified, knowing that there was probably an alert of some sort whenever someone entered. Victor had mentioned something like that. “It’s okay Ollie, you’re allowed to be worried about me.”
“You’ve been radio silent for a few days now,” he replied. After spending the night at his place, Chloe left first thing in the morning, leaving only a note to say thanks. Other than that, the only correspondence any of them got was an email to say that she needed a bit of time to think.
“Because they’re right.” During the past few days, Chloe had taken some time to look over her files. Like she said that night, everything made so much sense. But Lex was her friend and she had ignored all the signs. It took a long time for her to accept that truth. “He’s involved and I feel… so stupid.”
Oliver hated seeing Chloe like this, especially because he had an idea of what she was feeling. After hearing that story from Evie years ago, he felt like he should have known the truth. The Luthors were in his life and he never got a good vibe from them. Yet he didn’t do anything, and even now, what he was doing didn’t feel like enough.
“Chloe -”
“Is it wrong that I still want to believe in him?” Chloe knew that Lex wasn't perfect. But she never saw him as the monster that people claimed. However, recent days had caught her wondering if she was the exception to everything he did. “I'm worried that I hear his side of the story, I’ll get it.”
“As much as it pains me to admit, that’s a possibility.” It was true the two men didn't get along, but Oliver could see how much Lex had done for Chloe in the past. That fact made things complicated, but that didn’t help them right now. Instead, Oliver walked up to Chloe, smoothing his hand on her face. “Either way, trust me, we’ll find the answer.”
With that, his hand fell to his side, ignorant of the look on Chloe’s face as Oliver left the console to get changed. However, for Chloe, moving didn’t come as naturally at that moment. Touching her fingertips to where his hand had been, her lips pursed. That little bit of contact wasn’t supposed to feel that rewarding. It was then that his words truly registered.
trust me…
Trust was a tricky word these days, but as she glanced momentarily at the most unexpected acquaintance in her life, she shook her head.
In all this time, Oliver had been a pleasant surprise, a welcome ear and comforting shoulder. With him, she could put her walls down, and he did the same. Chloe couldn't remember the last person she could do that with.
That was the other reason she had been quiet lately, as people’s voices couldn’t leave her mind. Even Hal’s words from earlier were sticking with her. However, the strongest voice was Evie’s reflecting Chloe’s own words at her.
But do think about it. It makes more sense than you think.
Chloe had, and while this was a rabbit hole that she was afraid of going down, she had this feeling that it wasn’t as scary as she thought. Tonight alone implied that. Oliver came here out of concern, but he didn’t make a big deal about it, and he gave her reassurance without pushing her in any way.
"I trust you, Oliver," she finally said, turning around to hide her face from Oliver before placing her fingers on the keyboard. "That's the strangest part."
"What do you mean?"
Her eyes focusing on the screen, Chloe bit the inside of her lip, trying to figure out how to approach this. "You are the only person I’m not lying to.”
"Really?" Oliver asked, pulling his shirt over his head. "What about Clark and Lois?" He walked over to the railing, wondering if she was looking at him again, but her head hadn't moved.
"I'm close with them.” Until recently, they were the only family that she knew. They were how she got through some of the toughest days in her life. But again, that was until recently. These past few months somehow had changed everything in Chloe’s life. “But they ask about one particular topic that you don't."
Oliver's head tilted at that. "Are you trying to be as cryptic as possible?" he asked, taking the steps down slowly.
“Sorry,” she said, as that wasn’t her intention, but this wasn’t easy for her. Biting her lip, she added, "They ask about you... about us.” The word us alone tripped her up for a second while she wafted her hand between them. "For awhile, I didn't think I was lying, but I'm not imagining things, am I?" After a scoff, she brought her eyes up, braving to meet his. "There's... something here."
He was tempted to blink, as he wasn’t sure that he was hearing her right. That was why he couldn’t completely answer her question. "That's one way of putting it."
"Look," Chloe said, putting her hands up as she turned around. "I know this sounds crazy, and I know what I told you, but... for the first time in a long time, I feel... okay." She let herself grin as she leaned against the console. "And you're a part of that."
But right now, he wasn't helping her. For the most part, Oliver was someone she could read. It felt selfish to say that she liked that, but as she stared at him, Chloe couldn't tell whether the confusion in his eyes was out of disbelief or disagreement.
So she took the safe route and rolled her eyes. "I mean, I'm not even sure that you do relationships because of what you do as Green Arrow, but..."
"I'm open to making an exception," he said, watching Chloe's eyes pop up. She clearly wasn't expecting that particular interjection. "I just didn't want to overstep or rush you."
Chloe nodded, her grin slowly returning. "A wise move, as this isn't normally me." This whole past year, she had recoiled into having as few people in her life as possible. Relationships were a liability, a complication she couldn't afford, not to mention the utter awkwardness of explaining how she spent her nights. But from day one, it seemed like Oliver broke all the reasons why not, as he did a lot of the same things.
That's why he could easily say, “I figured.” When she smiled at him, Oliver added, "Friday night then?"
As her smile maintained, Chloe felt a small weight lift her shoulders. For as much as she hated the teasing her friends gave her, it appeared that they were right. She dreaded the inevitable I told you so’s that were going to come her way, but there were worse things in the world. “Okay,” she said with a nod.
“I’ll pick you up at 7.”
With that, Oliver headed towards the door, but as he held the knob, he turned his head over the shoulder. Part of him knew that he shouldn’t push his luck, but that conversation felt like it was missing something.
Hearing his footsteps after the door had closed, Chloe turned around. “You’re back.” Granted, she could practically hear him thinking. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but him coming back meant that he wasn’t keeping it to himself.
“Forgot something,” he said, which felt like an understatement to Chloe based on what happened next.
Not letting himself second-guess this, Oliver walked right up to her, his hands resting on the small of her back and her neck, pulling her close. When their lips met, he could practically feel her smile against his skin and he knew it was the right call. It didn’t take long for her hands to pull at his shirt as it deepened, a piece of relief after a lot of internal questioning.
Chloe spoke up first as they finally backed away, grinning as her eyes opened. “I… can’t believe you used that line.”
True, it was clichéd as hell, but Oliver didn’t find himself regretting it. Leaning his forehead against hers, he smirked. “You loved it.”
“Uh, no,” she replied, her eyes moving up to meet his.
“Really? Let’s try again.” Oliver saw her mouth open, but he stopped any retort by kissing her again. “Yep, sensing no hostility there.”
She rolled her eyes before shoving Oliver lightly. “Get out of here,” she said, biting her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing.
Getting the hint, Oliver took a few steps backwards, satisfied that he was the reason she was smiling like that. “See you on Friday.”
Chapter 9
Sera's Scribbles: This chapter got a lot longer than I intended. I apologize if there are any errors, as I'm falling asleep editing this... but I'm hoping I caught them all.
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serafina19
Title: Turn the Page
Rating: R
Summary: Oliver Queen meets Chloe Sullivan right before his life takes a turn for the worse. Together, they work to find peace in their lives and justice for the people they have lost.
Warning: coarse language, adult content, AU
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Even before opening his eyes, Oliver knew that this was going to be difficult to explain. He had heard footsteps in the main area, the way they stopped right in front of them, so it didn’t shock him to see Evie standing there.
“Morning,” she said, smile wide on her face as she glanced down at Chloe, whose head was resting against his side. Or at least, it was until he moved.
Her eyes opened slowly, as her memory of last night started to come back to her. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but Chloe wished she had if it meant avoiding this. At least it was Evie and not any other female in her life.
“Hey,” she said with squinted eyes as they adjusted to the light. Chloe knew that Evie would have her own conclusion about how her and Oliver got to this point, but at the moment, she didn’t have time to talk about it. Getting off from the couch, she straightened out her clothes. “I’ll see you after work.”
“Sounds good,” Oliver replied as he watched Chloe go to the elevator and get inside. Once he heard it activate, he brought his attention back to his grinning friend. Standing up, Oliver maintained his glare at Evie. “You could have waited for her to leave. You could have done just about anything else.”
Unfortunately for him, Evie just shrugged before saying, “But I didn’t and you know why.” Because it was clear as day that Oliver was interested. Chloe was trickier to read, but Evie had been around Oliver long enough to know how much effort he put into woman. Or rather, the lack of effort that he showed towards women until now.
That fact was something that Oliver was tempted to hide, but he knew better than that with Evie. So the glare weakened, knowing she had good intentions. “You know, I thought you’d be pushing Chloe more in this area.”
Evie laughed. “Are you kidding me? She has Lois Lane… you got off easy.” Which was true. Chloe pretty much vetoed this conversation whenever they had their girl nights. Chris and Evie listened, but Lois, not so much.
Comparatively, Evie had only teased Oliver a few times. That was a decision she was regretting based on the obvious chemistry she was seeing between him and Chloe and the lack of figuring out what they were to each other. “Seriously though…. what exactly are you waiting for?”
“She’s doing this for her fiancé,” Oliver said right away, surprising his company, but he didn’t regret his bluntness. He wasn’t blind, he had always been interested in Chloe since they met. They had a connection that he couldn’t figure out until recently. However, that didn’t make things any easier. “Clearly she’s not looking for more than friendship,” he added, watching Evie’s eyebrows raise, a reaction that he didn’t want to hear the resulting comment for. “Why are you here again?”
Only that deflection tactic wasn’t going to work on her. “The shoe’s fun on the other foot isn’t it?” True, Evie was also enjoying this more than she should, but the déjà vu was hard to ignore and she was more than happy to switch roles this time.
Except the parallel wasn’t as obvious to Oliver. “Catherine was different, she had been out of his life for years, there’s no guilt there.”
“How about self-doubt?” Evie countered, because Catherine was nothing next to her boyfriend’s confidence in what he was. “I love Vic, I do, but convincing him that I loved everything about him wasn’t easy.”
“While that’s true,” Victor called from across the room. “We had the benefit of time and knowing all the important skeletons.”
He had been in the kitchen the whole time, listening in on the conversations, waiting for when this visit got productive. Despite trying to convince Evie to join him until Chloe left, his girlfriend couldn’t resist, and Victor knew that there wasn’t much he could do to change her mind. However, that didn’t mean that he liked sitting back while they talked about him.
“Thank you,” Oliver said after a sigh, “finally some reason.”
It was that, but despite their differing tactics, Victor didn’t disagree with his girlfriend. “Yeah, well, if you’re planning on taking this slow, you have to work on your subtlety. A lot of people have bets going.”
That comment resulted in multiple glares in his direction. Oliver’s was a bit more justified, as he rolled his eyes soon after. “Please tell me that you’re kidding.”
Victor sighed, knowing that he couldn’t tell Oliver what he wanted to hear. “Bart’s crushed, of course, but I’m fine if you take your time. That way I get 50 bucks from Lois.”
“Funny,” Oliver replied sarcastically. He waited for the next quip to come out of their mouths, but instead he watched as the couple traded glances, which was never a good sign. “What?”
Evie took a deep breath before responding, “Thanks to Chris confiding in Chloe and I, we found a connection between Hetherington and Talia’s boyfriend.”
Oliver shook his head. It appeared that Chloe wasn't the only one who needed convincing to relax. “Already?”
Evie bit her lip, because she knew how Oliver had told her to take it easy, but she knew there was no way that she was sleeping once she left Chris'. Something told her based on his expression that she wasn't alone and she couldn't blame Chloe.
Looking down at the folder in her purse, she sighed. “Finding out about her sister," she said, pulling it out to hand it over to Oliver. "Finding out what might have really happened that night in Star City, it’s a strong motivating factor.”
Even before Oliver opened the file, he knew that any good news would be bittersweet at best. Yet as he looked through the pages inside, he wanted to collapse on the couch, unsure of how everything had come to this.
He settled for leaning against it. "You can’t be serious.”
Evie wished she wasn’t. “We debated telling anyone this, especially Chloe, but we did the research and I have a hard time believing this is a coincidence.” Leaning back as she stood next to Oliver, Evie shook her head. “Three trips where they’re at the same place at the same time. Bodies at each one.”
“You have to tell her,” Oliver said, shoving the closed folder against Evie’s chest before letting go of it.
Evie barely caught the folder before it all came apart. “Oliver -”
“I’m not lying to her about this.” Pushing himself from the couch, Oliver looked between Evie and Victor. “You’ve seen what this does to her. If this is what we need to bring them down, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“I agree with you," Evie replied, as that wasn't the reason she had objected earlier. "But I think we have to tell her everything.”
Victor could see Oliver about to object, but he beat him to it. “We can’t have it both ways anymore… and we hate lying to her about 33.1.”
“Then you tell her about both.”
Evie tilted her head, her eyes narrowing over how Oliver was handling this. This wasn’t the first time that they wanted to employ different strategies, but this time, this didn't make sense. “We can do this as a team.”
“No. That’s your story and your find.” Oliver turned around, hoping this would end the conversation. “Just let me know when it’s done.”
He wasn’t going to be so lucky, as Evie spoke up while her eyes focused on the folder. “Why?” She swallowed hard, as it was easy to hear the pain in his voice, but she couldn’t figure out why. “Why don’t you want to be part of this?”
Oliver sighed. “It’s not like that.” He turned his head over his shoulder, hoping she’d understand, that they both would. “I know the whole story and I know how much pain it caused both of you. I... don't want to hear it again.”
Evie pursed her lips, as her friend’s rationale became a bit clearer. "Oliver, you're like a brother to me, so I'm going to try to say this as politely as I can.” This time, her head shook, her eyes firmly on Oliver. “There is no way you could have known. I know you think that you should have, because you want to save everyone, but you can't."
Stepping forward, Victor took Evie’s hand in his. "Regardless, right now, we need to stand together as a team on this... it's the only way that she’ll believe us.”
“No matter the consequences?” Oliver’s eyes narrowed as he focused on Evie again. “You know that you haven’t told certain people everything.”
“I mean it when I say everything,” Evie replied. "Biting your tongue about certain details, it causes more problems than solutions. I know that now." It wouldn’t be easy to tell the truth, but with any luck, it would be the last time, and the team would understand, just like the first time when she came clean to Oliver years ago.
Evie knew it was her decision to stay quiet then, only giving the rest of the team the short version, as she didn’t want to burden anyone else. Heck, she had no intention of telling Oliver, but he caught her on the only night that she was looking up her old life... and part of her wanted someone else to know what really happened.
"Look,” Oliver said, “I'm not saying you're wrong here. I just..."
He just felt like things were getting back to normal with the team. There had been so much pain in the last while, and he hated the way it seemed to continue finding them. Especially after hearing Chloe talking about her father, about Jimmy last night. It was clear how much it still affected her and it wasn’t something Oliver wanted to see again so soon.
Both Evie and Victor seemed to sense that as Oliver’s voice trailed. Victor patted Evie’s hand before walking towards Oliver. "You care about her, we get it,” he said. “We're not going to say that this won't shake Chloe, and I know I won't like seeing it any more than you do."
When Oliver’s eyes came back up, Victor’s lips pursed into a grin before he sighed. "But I've seen what it's like to see someone lie to Chloe about something this big. Short term pain is the better option, because she will find out."
"With what we know,” Evie said softly, “there's no way this won't come up."
Oliver nodded. "I want to say that this can wait a couple of days, but if you found this in one night, then it's only a matter of time before Chloe figures the same thing out."
"That's our worry,” Victor replied, looking back towards Evie. “That's why this couldn't wait."
"Tonight then?"
Evie took a deep breath before answering. "I think so."
~0~
“So you’re doing this even though Oliver thinks this is a bad idea,” Hal said, staring ahead at the elevator door. “Are you sure that’s wise?” When Evie glared at him, he put his hands up in defence. "Hey don't look at me like that, I'm just pointing out the obvious."
“We know what we’re doing.” Evie leaned against the back wall, still trying to figure out where to start, how to fully come clean after all this time. She knew this was the right call, but that didn’t make this simple. “And I think Oliver's on board now.”
Hal looked around the elevator, faces seeming content, but he wasn’t sure that was a good thing. This whole thing didn’t seem to imply that good news was coming. "Fine... whatever that means.”
When the elevator stopped, the door opened up to an empty main room, but that wasn’t for long. Chloe came out of the kitchen, holding her laptop as she was heading to the couch to get some work done. “Hey guys, what’s going on?”
“Chloe, you should sit down,” Victor said, watching as his words caused Chloe to frown. “We’ve kept from telling you something and that changes tonight.”
“O…kay.” Chloe watched as each person came out the elevator. Oliver hadn’t mentioned a team meeting, yet when she saw him enter the room, it didn’t take long for Chloe to realize he knew what was going on. She left her laptop on Oliver’s desk, walking slowly to the couch, gauging each person’s reaction.
Once she had sat down, Evie walked in front of her, biting her lip before breaking the silence. “This is about Lex.”
Chloe shook her head, as suddenly, this made sense. She knew it was only a matter of time before their friendship would come up. “I know you guys have your reservations about him but -”
“We’ve never met Lionel Luthor in our lives,” Victor interjected. He had more anger in his voice than he wanted, but he supposed that it was fitting. When it came to the Luthors, there wasn’t much love there. “Our 33.1 facility was run by Lex… and he enjoyed it.”
His interruption had even caught Evie off-guard. “Vic…”
“C’mon Evie, we agreed. No more walking around the eggshells,” he said before he looking back at the group. “He made me this way. If that wasn’t enough, he was behind the accident that killed my family because he thought my skills would be useful in his experiments.”
It was two weeks after he blew his knee, ending any chance Victor had of getting a football scholarship. Apparently, Lex saw a chance to make his life better. The phrase made Victor sick. “Heck, he would have killed me ten times over if it wasn’t for Evie.”
That got Evie to swallow hard. “It didn’t take long for us to become each other’s leverage.” Victor was far from the first cyborg that Lex had made, but they would all fall once Evie’s powers failed her.
Then Lex decided to give Evie a name, a personality to go with his latest subject. “He was closest thing that I had to a cellmate, as they thought it would lead to better results." In a way, it was the best and worst decision Lex had made. “We didn’t realize that it was a set-up, but we probably didn't care because having each other allowed us to hold onto the last thread of sanity we had left.”
“But…” Chloe said, not believing what she was hearing. Her head felt like it was spinning, as Clark had always assumed that Lex was an inevitable case of like father, like son, but Chloe never saw that potential. He had helped her, he had saved her life, her father’s life. Yet when she looked at Evie’s and Victor’s face, she knew that they were dead serious. “I was there, I…”
Victor shook his head, knowing that Chloe believed that she saw Lex shut down 33.1, but it was a huge cover. All he did that night was shut down Lionel’s old facilities. Anything that Lex himself ran was still active, even today.
“We’re not saying that there isn’t good in him,” he said. It was one of the hardest things he had ever said, but Victor couldn’t deny what Lex had done to help Chloe. “But we didn’t want to lie anymore. You deserve to know what he did to us. Heck, next to Evie, I had it easy.”
Evie nodded slowly, knowing that she was lucky to be standing here right now. “I should be dead. Most captive metas don’t last more than two years, let alone five.”
Her breath became shaky as she looked away from Chloe, from everyone. “But he wanted to build an army and he wanted to use my abilities to make it happen. So time after time, he’d make me control metas, fighting to survive." Evie paused, not for effect, but because she had to. "Chloe, what I didn’t tell you is that my… abilities aren’t perfect. If I’m in someone’s head for too long, I pass out for hours.”
For as much as she fought, as much as she believed that she was making the rules, after awhile, Evie had no choice but to become a pawn in the game. “Each time,” she said, “he’d bring me down to an inch of living, only to build my strength back up.” Fingers curling around her arms, Evie tried to hold back her tears of the memory. “I tried to fight it, I wanted to let go, but between Victor and Bart, I never had a choice.”
“What?”
Evie bit her lip, cursing quietly as she realized how much she had admitted. That wasn’t the way she wanted to tell her cousin that. “This is why I wanted all of you here.” Turning towards her cousin, his shock still intact, she added, “He knows about Bart, has for years now.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me this?” Bart demanded. All this time, he thought he had known the whole story, he thought he deserved as much.
However, Bart had no idea how much it killed Evie not to tell him. “Bart, you saved my life,” she said. Evie walked over to him, pulling him into a hug before he could speed away. “I didn’t want you to think that saving you caused me pain. Because I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Bart returned the hug initially, but it didn’t take long for him to back away. “Damnit Evie, that’s not cool.”
Evie sighed as she shook her head. “Keeping you safe was one of the few good things that I did in there. Keeping you safe allowed you to find your way.” She never would have imagined that Bart would turn his life around this much. Like her, he talked a good game, but without a support system, she worried about him so much in her time in 33.1. Initially, the best part of getting out of there was the realization that Bart didn’t lose his way.
Bart smiled a little, giving Evie a sense of relief before someone else spoke up. “I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t feel like you have to,” Evie told Chloe as she turned around. Like she had done before, Chloe’s head was dipped. “We just wanted you to understand what we went through.”
“How did he find out about you? I know you’re not from Kansas.”
“The real reason that I don’t go home.” Evie wanted to, but she knew it wouldn't be right, that she couldn't go back anymore. “He fronted the operation as a place to cure metas. My parents found out about my abilities and turned me in.”
That resulted in a few people saying, “What?”
“There were so many things that I wanted to tell them if I got out, but they died before I ever got the chance.” Evie smiled, knowing that it wasn’t the right reaction, but it felt fitting. “My dad died in a car accident a few months before I got out, my mom from cancer years before, but Lex gave them Emily Hopkins’ death certificate seven years ago.”
“Shit,” Hal said. “I never realized...” He couldn’t finish that sentence, no matter how much he wanted to. He knew before that this whole thing was sick, but he respected their wishes when they said that they didn’t want to talk about it. Learning about it now, he fully understood their decision.
Trying to take some of the focus off Evie, Victor, said, “We decided a long time ago that not everyone needed the whole story, but it’s different now.”
“Why?”
“We found a connection between Councilman Hetherington and Harry Winters.” Evie grabbed the folder from the purse again and put it down on the coffee table in front of Chloe. “LuthorCorp.”
Watching Evie open it up, Victor said, “Atop of obvious cases of covered up insider trading, all three men are connected in various events.”
Moving forward on the couch, Chloe grabbed a few documents in the folder, hoping that she could find some loopholes in what they were saying. But there was one thing that she couldn’t deny. “Lex contributed towards Hetherington’s campaign before I told him to pull support.”
“Did he tell you that he did?” Oliver asked. He had tried to stay quiet, as tonight wasn’t about him, but he had to know.
“Yeah.”
“He lied.” Victor flipped past a few pages of the folder to grab what he needed. “LuthorCorp was the strongest contributor to the campaign, care to guess who was second?”
After Evie had put the folder down, Hal and Bart had come over to the coffee table. As Hal stood next to Victor, he rotated the document and put his finger under the second line. “Why would the law firm donate this much? It’s in Star City.”
“Eastern headquarters are in Metropolis,” Evie replied. “They’re also funding Lex’s eventual bid towards running for office.”
Chloe scoffed as she looked up, wondering how any of them knew that. But considering the technical expertise on the team, in getting these documents, it wasn’t a stretch for them to figure that out too. “It could just be a crazy coincidence,” she said.
They wanted to tell her that possible. Evie had opened her mouth to tell Chloe otherwise, but instead, Oliver interjected, “All three attended the party where Talia died. All three were in town when Jimmy was shot.”
Everyone had turned their head to look at Oliver, except Chloe. Noticing that, Evie met her eyes before adding, “Victor and I cross-referenced names, not many other overlaps.”
Chloe felt her head nod slightly, as the way Oliver had spoken up meant that there was too much evidence for this to be a coincidence. Granted, the papers Chloe was reading was almost enough for her to know that her earlier comment was only said out of desperation. Sighing as she put the documents back on the table, Chloe said, “It makes sense. Technology company with deep pockets, likeable lawyer and politician.”
When the room went dead quiet, Hal spoke up. “Makes sense for what?”
“All this. The taking of metas, the extent the story got buried,” Chloe replied quietly. “I think Chris may be right all along. Talia must have gotten too close to their initiative.”
After admitting that, Chloe knew that she couldn’t talk about this anymore. She got up from the couch and moved across the room, her stomach feeling sick as the truth settled in. Just how blind had she been?
Closing her eyes, she tried to match what she was hearing with the good times she had shared with Lex, the smiles he would give her. It didn’t work, no matter how hard she tried.
“Hey, if you want to go to Lois’, I can give you a ride.”
Chloe exhaled before replying to Oliver, who was now standing right behind her. “It’s nothing I haven’t heard about him before. People always thought that he kept some of Lionel's illegitimate businesses going, but…”
Oliver understood her confusion, so he tried to sympathize with it. “He saved your life Chloe. I can’t blame you for thinking that he was different from Lionel.”
“Umm guys,” Bart said, “We’re going to head out.” It seemed like things were winding down, and hearing what he did, he knew that he would need a long run to sort his head out.
Oliver nodded, but Chloe quickly walked past him. “Evie, can you stay a minute?”
“Sure,” Evie replied, slipping her hand out of Victor’s to approach Chloe. Oliver gave both women a grin before joining Victor in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry,” Chloe said, as she was realizing what Evie meant when she said that her skeletons were hard to bear. “I’m so sorry.”
Evie shook her head. “It’s not your fault.”
Chloe knew that, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t guilt there. “I should have known better. I should have… done something.”
Evie’s mouth gaped open, grateful that Chloe couldn’t see it. It was a little strange to see how similar Chloe and Oliver reacted to this news. However, her approach this time was much different.
“You are now, Chloe, that’s what matters.” With a shrug of a shoulder, Evie tried to lighten the mood with a smile. “More importantly, you accept me. You accept Victor knowing what he is. Bart, Clark… all of us.”
“How could I not?”
“The same way many people do,” Evie replied. She had seen it her whole life, the unacceptance of the truth, the sting of knowing that people would only accept someone if they hid that part of themselves. “But you don’t. It’s why I wanted to tell you everything. Because despite everything, I knew. I…”
Evie’s voice trailed as she felt her tears come loose, flashbacks of her parents faces coming to her. Apparently those old wounds hurt more than she thought. “You have no idea what that means to me, to us.”
“Hey,” Chloe said, putting a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
Bringing her head back up, Evie smiled. “I know.”
Because Chloe had been there almost since the beginning. After Victor found Chloe and Clark again, it was only a matter of time before Evie met them. She wasn’t dating Victor yet, but she never forgot the first time that Chloe realized she had feelings for him.
Evie was going to kill him. Well, not really, but Victor knew that she wasn't ready for this, to meet his friends from before the accident. Yet here she sat, next to one of them, drawing blanks on what to talk about.
On the plus side, it appeared that his friend Chloe had figured that part out. “So where did you meet?”
However, that wasn't the easiest question to answer. The only thing that made it easy was the fact that they had a mutual acquaintance. “You met my cousin, Bart Allen right?” When she nodded, Evie grinned. “He introduced us.”
“Bart Allen, the matchmaker?" Chloe replied with a laugh. "That’s almost hard to picture.” Then again, the only place it would make sense was with his family.
But Evie just blushed as she poked her straw in her drink. “We’re not… like that.” There were days that even she wondered if that was a lie, but it was a conversation that both of them were too afraid to start. “Even if we were, it wasn’t Bart’s intention.” If he had his way, she'd continue to be single, as instead of two overprotective older brothers, Evie now had an overprotective speedy younger cousin.
However, Chloe wasn't about to drop the point just yet. “You make him smile, he deserves that after everything he went through.”
“You mean his family?” Evie asked, knowing it was rhetorical for her.
Chloe smirked before taking a drink. “Among other things.” She could only imagine what it must have been like for him, but she had no idea that the woman next to her knew exactly what it was like.
“So you know? About his condition.” Evie hated wording it like that, but that was his word choice, so she went along with it.
“Yeah, he told Clark and I because we’d understand." Not wanting to get into the details of that, Chloe was quick to add, "You’d be surprised to hear some of the weird things we’ve encountered in Smallville.”
Evie nodded as she looked over to where the guys had walked to get their drinks. “It is a place for the weird and unexplained.”
Chloe tilted her head as a grin grew on her face. “And you know that too.”
Fortunately, Evie had an explanation for that knowledge too. “Part of the reason we met was because I want to start up a safe haven for metas.” It had a ways to go before it was ready, but with Oliver's help, she knew it would be a great thing for the future.
“Really?”
Evie chuckled, as she knew that it sounded strange, but after what had happened to her, it felt needed and she was tired of waiting for someone else to gain the guts to do it. “They deserve a voice," she said. "I want to know that there is somewhere that treats them like the people they are, instead of the monsters that people think they are.”
After a slow nod, Chloe had a feeling that she was really going to like this woman. “Except Victor isn’t a meta.”
“I know, but it could still apply.” With a shrug, Evie added, “Regardless, that doesn’t matter to me. Metal parts don't take away his humanity.”
Chloe leaned back in her seat, watching as Evie stared at her drink, which at this point, only contained ice cubes. She knew that look, that Evie’s circumstances were much better than Chloe wore that look herself. “Then tell him that.”
Evie shook her head, hating that she seemed that transparent in front of someone she had just met. “He’s looking for his ex.”
“No he’s not,” Chloe clarified, almost expecting to see Evie's head pop up. “He quit last week, probably realizing what was right in front of him. And I can’t say I blame him.”
Eyes narrowing, Evie said, “But you just met me.”
That was true, but the fact that she was here right now, knowing what she did, knowing what she wanted to do with metas, gave Chloe more than enough insight into Evie. “I know enough to say that you give him more than she ever could.” Seeing the guys approach the table, she knew that Evie wouldn't want them to overhear, so Chloe merely shrugged. “Think about it.”
“Thanks,” Evie said, taking a step back. “We should probably head home though. You want a lift to your place?”
Chloe shook her head, as she didn’t feel like going home tonight. The silence alone would eat her alive. “Thanks, but I don’t mind staying. Honestly, I don’t really want to be alone tonight.”
“Fair enough.” Evie picked up her purse by the couch, sitting down on the arm before adding, “I’m glad to see you two getting along so well.”
It didn’t take long for Chloe to laugh at that. “That was the intention, wasn’t it?” Although Evie was harder to read, that didn’t mean that she didn’t know that her friend didn’t have that motive behind Chloe getting to know Oliver better.
“More like a fringe benefit.” Chuckling back at Chloe, Evie stood back up, pausing in her step as she realized that she didn’t have to always play with one side of this situation. As her smile grew, she said, “But do think about it. It makes more sense than you think.”
~0~
Covering the bandage on his arm with his hand, Hal grinned. “Thanks again for this. I’m pretty sure if I come by with another cut to Emil, he’s going to lose it.”
Chloe shrugged as she closed the first aid kit. “What are friends for, right?”
“I’m glad you see us that way,” Hal said, grabbing his coat from the table as he stood up. As he put it on, he watched as Chloe’s attention moved to her surroundings. He knew that she hadn’t been to headquarters since that night at Oliver’s, so this probably wasn’t easy. Then again, he wasn’t the mind-reader of the group. “We haven’t exactly had much time to talk.”
Her head shook slightly before bringing her full attention back to Hal. “I suppose not, but things are crazy around here.” It didn’t help that Hal wasn’t always around, but that didn’t stop Chloe from being curious about Hal. Getting powers from an alien wasn’t the most unique origin story she had heard, but Chloe still wanted to understand him better, to be as helpful to the team as she could be.
However, as far as Hal was concerned, Chloe was already there. “That’s why I want to take a second to say thanks.”
“For what?”
He figured that much was obvious, but it appeared that Evie was right about Chloe being oblivious when it came to her impact on Oliver. “You bring something good out of Oliver. Something I haven’t seen in awhile.”
Chloe scoffed. “I highly doubt that.” Sure, they helped each other, but she didn’t see it as anything unique. “He’s got a good group of friends, including you. He told me how you confided in him, made him want to help people. It takes a special friend to do that.”
“That doesn’t diminish what you’ve done,” Hal replied, smirking as he watched Chloe’s expression change.
Eventually, she cleared her throat, a grin replacing the surprise in her eyes. “Then you’re welcome.”
Satisfied, Hal returned the smile before turning his back. “See you around, Chloe.”
~0~
Oliver knew that it wasn’t his night to patrol, but sitting around at home wasn’t doing him any favours. When he wasn’t working, he’d glance towards the elevator, hoping Chloe would come by. So when Victor mentioned that Chloe was heading towards headquarters with Hal, it confused him.
As he stood on the rooftop across the street, wondering if he should give her privacy, it wasn’t long before he caught Hal leaving the building. Next thing he knew, Oliver was standing in front of the building, knowing that he had to know how she was doing.
He knew that she would know he was coming when he got into the elevator, but he didn’t care. Instead, Oliver stood in silence as he felt the elevator take him up to the highest floor. When it opened, he took off his glasses, pausing momentarily before opening the door.
“Hey,” he said, smiling at the sight in front of him. ‘What brings you by tonight?”
“Hal saw me at my coffee cart and he asked me to patch him up after a mugger got a lucky shot. After that, I… I thought I’d catch up on what I missed.” Chloe narrowed her eyes as she continued looking at the screen. “Unless there’s a reason I shouldn’t be here.”
“No,” Oliver said, almost too quickly. “I… I’m glad you’re here.” Knowing that his clumsy recovery didn’t help, he shook his head, glad that she couldn’t see his expression.
But that didn’t stop him from walking closer to her. Once he stood right behind her, Chloe stopped typing. “I thought patrolling was done for the night.” In fact, she knew it was, as she had seen Victor leaving the building ten minutes before they got here.
He merely shrugged, not wanting to undermine her intelligence. “I just had a feeling that I wouldn’t sleep.”
“And you knew that I was here.” Chloe clarified, knowing that there was probably an alert of some sort whenever someone entered. Victor had mentioned something like that. “It’s okay Ollie, you’re allowed to be worried about me.”
“You’ve been radio silent for a few days now,” he replied. After spending the night at his place, Chloe left first thing in the morning, leaving only a note to say thanks. Other than that, the only correspondence any of them got was an email to say that she needed a bit of time to think.
“Because they’re right.” During the past few days, Chloe had taken some time to look over her files. Like she said that night, everything made so much sense. But Lex was her friend and she had ignored all the signs. It took a long time for her to accept that truth. “He’s involved and I feel… so stupid.”
Oliver hated seeing Chloe like this, especially because he had an idea of what she was feeling. After hearing that story from Evie years ago, he felt like he should have known the truth. The Luthors were in his life and he never got a good vibe from them. Yet he didn’t do anything, and even now, what he was doing didn’t feel like enough.
“Chloe -”
“Is it wrong that I still want to believe in him?” Chloe knew that Lex wasn't perfect. But she never saw him as the monster that people claimed. However, recent days had caught her wondering if she was the exception to everything he did. “I'm worried that I hear his side of the story, I’ll get it.”
“As much as it pains me to admit, that’s a possibility.” It was true the two men didn't get along, but Oliver could see how much Lex had done for Chloe in the past. That fact made things complicated, but that didn’t help them right now. Instead, Oliver walked up to Chloe, smoothing his hand on her face. “Either way, trust me, we’ll find the answer.”
With that, his hand fell to his side, ignorant of the look on Chloe’s face as Oliver left the console to get changed. However, for Chloe, moving didn’t come as naturally at that moment. Touching her fingertips to where his hand had been, her lips pursed. That little bit of contact wasn’t supposed to feel that rewarding. It was then that his words truly registered.
trust me…
Trust was a tricky word these days, but as she glanced momentarily at the most unexpected acquaintance in her life, she shook her head.
In all this time, Oliver had been a pleasant surprise, a welcome ear and comforting shoulder. With him, she could put her walls down, and he did the same. Chloe couldn't remember the last person she could do that with.
That was the other reason she had been quiet lately, as people’s voices couldn’t leave her mind. Even Hal’s words from earlier were sticking with her. However, the strongest voice was Evie’s reflecting Chloe’s own words at her.
But do think about it. It makes more sense than you think.
Chloe had, and while this was a rabbit hole that she was afraid of going down, she had this feeling that it wasn’t as scary as she thought. Tonight alone implied that. Oliver came here out of concern, but he didn’t make a big deal about it, and he gave her reassurance without pushing her in any way.
"I trust you, Oliver," she finally said, turning around to hide her face from Oliver before placing her fingers on the keyboard. "That's the strangest part."
"What do you mean?"
Her eyes focusing on the screen, Chloe bit the inside of her lip, trying to figure out how to approach this. "You are the only person I’m not lying to.”
"Really?" Oliver asked, pulling his shirt over his head. "What about Clark and Lois?" He walked over to the railing, wondering if she was looking at him again, but her head hadn't moved.
"I'm close with them.” Until recently, they were the only family that she knew. They were how she got through some of the toughest days in her life. But again, that was until recently. These past few months somehow had changed everything in Chloe’s life. “But they ask about one particular topic that you don't."
Oliver's head tilted at that. "Are you trying to be as cryptic as possible?" he asked, taking the steps down slowly.
“Sorry,” she said, as that wasn’t her intention, but this wasn’t easy for her. Biting her lip, she added, "They ask about you... about us.” The word us alone tripped her up for a second while she wafted her hand between them. "For awhile, I didn't think I was lying, but I'm not imagining things, am I?" After a scoff, she brought her eyes up, braving to meet his. "There's... something here."
He was tempted to blink, as he wasn’t sure that he was hearing her right. That was why he couldn’t completely answer her question. "That's one way of putting it."
"Look," Chloe said, putting her hands up as she turned around. "I know this sounds crazy, and I know what I told you, but... for the first time in a long time, I feel... okay." She let herself grin as she leaned against the console. "And you're a part of that."
But right now, he wasn't helping her. For the most part, Oliver was someone she could read. It felt selfish to say that she liked that, but as she stared at him, Chloe couldn't tell whether the confusion in his eyes was out of disbelief or disagreement.
So she took the safe route and rolled her eyes. "I mean, I'm not even sure that you do relationships because of what you do as Green Arrow, but..."
"I'm open to making an exception," he said, watching Chloe's eyes pop up. She clearly wasn't expecting that particular interjection. "I just didn't want to overstep or rush you."
Chloe nodded, her grin slowly returning. "A wise move, as this isn't normally me." This whole past year, she had recoiled into having as few people in her life as possible. Relationships were a liability, a complication she couldn't afford, not to mention the utter awkwardness of explaining how she spent her nights. But from day one, it seemed like Oliver broke all the reasons why not, as he did a lot of the same things.
That's why he could easily say, “I figured.” When she smiled at him, Oliver added, "Friday night then?"
As her smile maintained, Chloe felt a small weight lift her shoulders. For as much as she hated the teasing her friends gave her, it appeared that they were right. She dreaded the inevitable I told you so’s that were going to come her way, but there were worse things in the world. “Okay,” she said with a nod.
“I’ll pick you up at 7.”
With that, Oliver headed towards the door, but as he held the knob, he turned his head over the shoulder. Part of him knew that he shouldn’t push his luck, but that conversation felt like it was missing something.
Hearing his footsteps after the door had closed, Chloe turned around. “You’re back.” Granted, she could practically hear him thinking. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but him coming back meant that he wasn’t keeping it to himself.
“Forgot something,” he said, which felt like an understatement to Chloe based on what happened next.
Not letting himself second-guess this, Oliver walked right up to her, his hands resting on the small of her back and her neck, pulling her close. When their lips met, he could practically feel her smile against his skin and he knew it was the right call. It didn’t take long for her hands to pull at his shirt as it deepened, a piece of relief after a lot of internal questioning.
Chloe spoke up first as they finally backed away, grinning as her eyes opened. “I… can’t believe you used that line.”
True, it was clichéd as hell, but Oliver didn’t find himself regretting it. Leaning his forehead against hers, he smirked. “You loved it.”
“Uh, no,” she replied, her eyes moving up to meet his.
“Really? Let’s try again.” Oliver saw her mouth open, but he stopped any retort by kissing her again. “Yep, sensing no hostility there.”
She rolled her eyes before shoving Oliver lightly. “Get out of here,” she said, biting her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing.
Getting the hint, Oliver took a few steps backwards, satisfied that he was the reason she was smiling like that. “See you on Friday.”
Chapter 9
Sera's Scribbles: This chapter got a lot longer than I intended. I apologize if there are any errors, as I'm falling asleep editing this... but I'm hoping I caught them all.
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