Chlollie Fanfic: Beauty in the Breakdown IX, 'Fessing Up
More Chlollie in the House, WOOT!
Back with the next instalment of the BITB Series, titled 'Fessing Up. My apologies for the white lines of text; it seems I have formatting gremlins tonight, and no matter what I try, I can't get rid of them. Hope it doesn't hinder your enjoyment of the chapter, though.
Have fun! Feedback is always welcome. :-)
Awesomely luvved-up Chlollie banner by the creative and talented alxnhnt22. Thank you so much for this awesome gift, Alex! *cuddles* :-)
Title: Beauty in the Breakdown IX - ‘Fessing Up
Author: BabyDee
Pairing: Chlollie
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: A Re-telling of Chlollie post-Warrior
Timeline: Season 9
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Series Summary: With Oliver by her side, Chloe learns to let go, find peace, and fall in love.
Story Summary: Chlollie upped and got married. Lois is not amused. :)
Feedback: …Always. :)
Previous works in the Series:
Beauty in the Breakdown I: Letting Go
Beauty in the Breakdown II: Taking Hold
Beauty in the Breakdown III: Reaching Out
Beauty in the Breakdown IV: Falling In
Beauty in the Breakdown V: Feeling Good
Beauty in the Breakdown VI: Private Chats
Beauty in the Breakdown VII: Sacred Words
Beauty in the Breakdown VIII: Living Life
***
This story is for lilmoochie aka Stacey, one of the first Chlolliers I met in fandom and certainly one of the nicest. Hope you had a wonderful birthday, babes, and many happy returns! *hugs* :)
‘Fessing Up
I needed the shelter of someone's arms…there you were
I needed someone to understand my ups and downs…there you were
With sweet love and devotion
Deeply touching my emotions
I want to stop and thank you baby…
…How sweet it is to be loved by you
- James Taylor, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)
Chapter 1
Her husband was singing again. Loudly.
“I close my eyes at night…and wonder, ‘what would I be without you in my life?’…”
Chloe groaned. “Oliver, not again...”
He flashed her a bright smile and politely ignored her request, raising his voice further as he drove around the corner into Smallville’s Main Street and headed straight down the road towards the coffee shop.
“Everything was just a bore,” he crooned, “…and all the things I did, seems I'd done'em before…”
Chloe tilted her head and pondered. “Hmm…substitute the word things with wimmins, and you just might be onto something.”
The crooning - and the car - screeched to a sudden halt. “Oh, nice,” he complained, looking suitably hurt. “Way to wreck the groove, Mrs Queen!”
Chloe giggled and stroked his hair tenderly. “You know I’m only kidding, my love. And it did have the desired effect.” She ducked as he playfully swatted at her, and then frowned. “What’s with the cheesy love songs anyway?”
“Can’t I sing a cheesy love song to my lovely wife?” he challenged with a grin as he got out of the car, walked around to her side and opened her door with exaggerated flourish for her to step out. “It’s a married man’s prerogative to serenade his lady love with fine music.”
Chloe snorted. “Fine music, yes. Cheesy ballads…” she made a wry face. “Not so much.”
He looked crushed. “Don’t you like that song?”
“It’s cheesy!”
“Meh. Indulge me.” He cleared his throat and continued as he ushered her into the thankfully non-functional shop floor of the Talon. At least she was spared the embarrassment of curious glances.
“But you brighten up for me all of my days,” he sang, “…with a love so sweet in so many ways…”
“Oh, here we go again,” Chloe muttered.
“I just want to stop…and thank you baby, yeah, I want to stop…and thank you babyyyy…” he paused, and pouted, folding his arms like a petulant child. “Come on, Chloe, you gotta sing the last line with me. Please?”
She moaned. “Do we have to sing it right here and now?” she pleaded.
He gave an emphatic nod. “Yep.”
“But Lois will probably hear us.”
“I’m counting on it.”
“Why?”
He flashed her a cheeky grin as they ascended the stairs. “Because I know it’ll piss her off, more than she is already.”
Chloe raised a curious brow. Lois was bound to be furious with them for their two-week radio silence. She and Oliver had sent the same wedding picture text message around to the entire Justice League team, leaving instructions for Victor Stone to hold the forte at Watchtower in his absence and for Dr Hamilton to authorise any and all necessary League expenditures while they enjoyed a fortnight-long honeymoon with no interruptions whatsoever.
The result of that was little stunt was over two-hundred missed calls and messages by the time they finally switched their cells back on - seventy-five per-cent of which came from Lois alone.
So Oliver deliberately rattling her cage didn’t sound like a sound plan, in her opinion.
“And that’s a good thing, how?” she asked him, and he sighed.
“Just…humor me, and sing with me,” he pleaded. “Just one little line. Come on, Chloe…please…?” he stuck his lower lip out, and made his chin wobble.
That last one was her undoing; she could never resist that chin. With a roll of her eyes and a reluctant smile, she gave in. “Fine.”
Oliver’s grin spread widely across his face, and he lifted his voice with hers - though significantly louder - to sing the final, iconic line of the song. “…‘How sweet it is to be loved by you!’ There, see that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Depends on who’s listening,” came an icy reply from beyond the Talon apartment door. Chloe made a worrisome face at her cousin’s voice, but Oliver simply cocked his head at the closed door and grinned.
“Hello, Lois,” he said with exaggerated sweetness. “May we come in?”
He flashed Chloe a leery wink which almost had her sputtering with laughter. She had to cover her mouth with her hand and smothered the giggle that had managed to escape.
“Door’s open,” Lois said flatly from within.
“Let me handle this, okay?” Chloe whispered. “Please. I don’t want you to antagonise her more than she already seems to be.”
Oliver shrugged and nodded. “If that’s what you want. I’ll be right behind you if you need me.”
He drew Chloe to his side and opened the door, and together they walked into the Talon apartment. Lois stood in the centre of the room scowling darkly, arms folded and one foot tapping impatiently on the tiled floor. Clark was across the room, leaning against the kitchenette counter with a nondescript expression on his face. It was as if he suspected two elephants were about to do battle, and he didn’t want to risk getting trampled when it happened.
“Hey Lois,” Chloe greeted. “I, um…I got your message.”
Lois’s eyes narrowed into tiny slits and the tapping foot stopped. “Which one?” she asked in clipped tones.
Oops. “All one-hundred and fifty-two of them,” she said sheepishly. “And I would have replied sooner, but in my defence, we were on our honeymoon, and---”
“Honeymoon?” she bellowed with rage. “You got married again, just like that? Chloe Ann Sullivan, what the hell were you thinking?”
She couldn’t resist. “Sullivan-Queen, actually.”
She heard Oliver chuckle quietly behind her, and his arms tightened around her waist with a gentle squeeze, silently offering support.
Lois was not amused. “So,” she said, tapping her foot sternly. “You fly off to Florida on the spur of the moment for a quick service to…y’know, get your itch scratched…and come back married?”
Chloe giggled and cast a sheepish glance at her husband. “It’s never quick. Nor to our credit has it ever itched.”
Oliver gave up all pretence of trying to hide his amusement and guffawed out loud. Clark promptly turned red as a beetroot, and Lois predictably exploded.
“Don’t you dare laugh about this, either of you!” she seethed, enraged by his flippancy. “You think this is funny?”
“Of course not,” Chloe said indignantly. “We both take our marriage very seriously, thank you very much.”
Lois’s eyes narrowed into tiny little slits. “Bitch, don’t make me hurt you!”
“Hey, you can’t talk to her like that!” Oliver exclaimed, coming to stand in front of her.
Lois pointed a shaky finger in his face. “And you stay out of it, you cradle-robber. This is between me and my cousin!” she shot back, trying to shove him out of the way, but he didn’t budge.
“Don’t you mean, you and my wife?” he challenged smartly.
“Don’t get smart with me, Oliver Queen, I’m so mad at you right now. How could you take advantage of my cousin like that?” Lois cried.
“Are you suggesting I coerced her into marrying me?” Oliver said, his voice rising dangerously.
Chloe opened her mouth several times and tried to get a word in edgeways, but there never seemed to be an opening. After several jabs and insults were traded back and forth between her husband and her cousin, she shrugged and folded her arms and watched the unfolding spat with mild disinterest.
Clark, ever the peacemaker, finally stepped forward and added his voice to the conversation for the first time since she and Oliver had walked in.
“Calm down, Oliver,” he said gently, resting a hand on Ollie’s shoulder. “And Lois, he’s right. You shouldn’t talk to her like that.”
Lois turned and stared at Clark as if he’d gone nuts. “How can you be on his side?” she demanded. “She’s my baby cousin, and he---”
“She’s not,” Clark said calmly. “Chloe may be younger than you, but she’s hardly a baby. She’s a grown woman who makes her own decisions, and this latest one has made her very happy. I mean, look at her; look at both of them. Did you ever see either of them smile like that before they found each other?”
Oliver tightened his arms around her as Lois glared at them from one to the other, but her gaze softened as she allowed herself to really see them as Clark had directed. Eventually she lowered her gaze and folded her arms, trailing her foot idly along the floor.
“Was there cake?” she finally mumbled, and Chloe heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.
“No,” she replied quietly. “Lots of celebratory champagne and trays of finger food, but surprisingly no cake.”
“Well, there hasn’t been a wedding until we’ve had cake,” she declared. “I’ll put the oven on, and we can make one and celebrate this thing properly - with your family present.” She strode past them towards the cupboard, glaring pointedly at Oliver all the way, and pulled out a large cookbook which she started thumbing through.
“Well, we did briefly - very briefly - think of sending you an invite,” Oliver said with a mocking smirk.
“Don’t push it, Queen,” Lois replied with a threatening scowl. “I’m still gonna have words with you. Chloe - what kind of cake do you want?”
“Lois, there’s no need to go to such---”
“Cradle-robber?” Oliver exclaimed, looking scandalised as it finally registered in his brain.
“You’re almost a decade older than she is, you pervert!” Lois accused. “Like ‘em young, do ya?”
“What the---!” Oliver growled, clenched his fists and lunged for her before Clark jumped between them and held him back.
Chloe sighed and shook her head. This was precisely why she’d wanted to handle things, because both Oliver and Lois were quick-tempered. From the look of things, the bickering was far from over.
“Whoa, steady, Oliver!” Clark exclaimed.
“She called me a pervert!”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean it---”
“Yes, I did!” Lois piped up.
“Lois, that’s enough,” Clark said sternly. “Oliver, let’s you and me go for a walk, pick up a few drinks…”
Chloe nodded and rested a hand on his arm. “Clark’s right, honey; you two go out for a while.”
“But you---”
“I’ll be fine,” she reassured him. “Go on.”
He frowned silently for a moment before lowering his head to hers to give her a quick kiss. “We’ll be back soon, okay?” he whispered, and she nodded.
Oliver turned and pointed at Lois with a hard stare. “This isn’t over, you.”
“Oh blow it out the other end, Queen,” she retorted, and Oliver lunged again. Clark restrained him and steered him the other way.
“Drinks, remember?” he said. “Let’s go. Come on.”
“Nah, leave him be, Clark!” Lois yelled from the other end of the room, brandishing a rolling pin in one hand and an egg whisk in the other. “I can take him!”
“Lois, shut up!” Clark grated. “Oliver, we’re outta here.”
“But didn’t you hear what she said?” he said, dragging his heels as Clark dragged him away.
Clark sighed. “Let it go, Ollie…”
“She made it sound like I hunted Chloe down when she was like ten years old---!” Oliver complained as Clark ushered him out the door.
“Yeah, and you were twice her age, like twenty!” Lois yelled before the door slammed shut.
Chloe kept a level-headed silence, listening to the descent down the Talon steps. As soon as she heard Oliver and Clark drive off, she turned and walked slowly towards her cousin with folded arms.
“You’re going to apologise to Oliver for that,” she said softly.
Lois tipped sugar into a bowl and shrugged one listless shoulder. “Well he started it,” she mumbled petulantly.
“I know he did, and he’s going to apologise for that when he comes back,” Chloe replied. “But your remark was cruel and uncalled for, and you will say you’re sorry for making it.”
Lois didn’t reply; at least, not immediately. Instead she vigorously whisked the butter and sugar together before cracking two eggs into the bowl which she blended into the mixture.
“You never said what kind of cake you wanted,” Lois finally replied quietly, glancing up at her. The apology, whilst not yet verbally expressed, was clear in her cousin’s eyes.
They would talk later, no doubt. Right now, they had a cake to bake.
Chloe walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a pack of flour and a sieve, then walked over to Lois’s side.
“Chocolate sponge,” she replied with a smile. “Triple layer.”
Lois’s eyes lit up. “With chocolate frosting?”
Chloe grinned. “And filling.”
***
Chapter 2…