Chlollie Fanfic: Love For Realsies, Chapter 24

[babydee1]

Some more Chlollie for ya!

And yes, I know you all want these two banging like bunnies again (I do, too!), but Ollie's heart needs reassurance and mending, so I'm taking care of that first.

If you're lucky though, and if y'all comment in a frenzy, I *might* have another chapter up pretty soon... ;-)

Enjoy!



Title:              Love for Realsies

Author:          BabyDee
Pairing:          Chlollie

Rating:           NC-17 (this chapter PG-13) Sequel to Just for Funsies.

Warnings:     None

Timeline:      Season 9 (Conspiracy- Checkmate) and beyond

Disclaimer:   All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.

Summary:     Chloe finds it increasingly difficult to resist Ollie’s affections.

Feedback:      …Will guarantee you another chapter within 24 hours! J

Read previous chapter here.

Read story from the beginning here.


Chapter 24

Oliver weighed her words carefully for what seemed like an eternity.  Finally he rose from the armchair and slowly walked in her direction, stopping when he was right before her.

Chloe would have given anything to get an inside scoop on the thoughts whirling around in that blond head of his.  She stared into his warm eyes, hoping he could see the honesty of her feelings as he gazed back at her.

After a few intense seconds he breathed deeply and cupped her cheek in his hand.

“I understand what you’re saying, Chloe,” he said softly, gazing at her.  “I do.  But…”  He paused and studied her searchingly before continuing.

“Maybe it’s old-fashioned of me, or maybe I’ve just loved you from afar for so long, keeping everything hidden, that…” he sighed.  “It’s selfish of me, I know.  But ever since I let it all out and told you how I felt about you, all I’ve been able to think about is hearing you say those words back to me.”

Her heart twisted, both in anguish at his pain and in reflexive terror of all that she feared to lose.  “Oliver, I want nothing more than to tell you everything that’s in my heart,” she said earnestly.  “But to say…what you want me to say…” she shuddered.  “I can’t begin to explain how much it terrifies me to think of losing you, and in my mind, it’s all…connected.”

“But you said the same words to Clark, and you said them without fear, I saw you,” he insisted bleakly.  “Chloe, I need to know that you can do the same with me, too.  Openly, honestly and with no holds barred, keeping nothing back.  Otherwise we’re not going to work.”

With those words, he dropped his hand and went to stand by his window, staring bleakly out at the night-time skyline.

Chloe took deep breaths to steady her nerves.  I can do this, she told herself.  I have to do this.

With calm fingers, she reached for the zipper down on her jacket and slowly slid it down.

***

Oliver heard the soft rasp of a zipper being pulled and turned, regarding her warily.  Chloe was standing on the other side of the room, looking…small;  small and oddly vulnerable as she slid her jacket off her arms and laid it on the back of a chair.  His eyes widened slightly as she unbuttoned her blouse, her face colouring slightly as she took it off and placed it on top of the jacket.

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen Chloe undress, far from it; but all those other times, she’d had seduction in mind.  Tonight, there seemed to be a purpose to the way she was taking everything off; as though she were peeling away layers to reveal a susceptible centre.  Oliver felt strangely guilty, almost as though he ought to look away, but he sat down in the chair by the window and kept his gaze focused on her as she untied the laces on her shoes and took them off,  then stepped out of her jeans.

He swallowed; heavens, she was so tiny.  Earlier he’d estimated that she’d lost about five or six pounds; it was more likely closer to seven or eight.  Maybe she really had missed him as much as he’d missed her.

Chloe picked up her jeans and straightened, folding them neatly. she turned to place them carefully on the seat of the chair that she’d hung her other articles of clothing.  Oliver’s gaze zeroed in on her backside by default, now clad in only floral panties, and he smiled wryly.  Thankfully, her gorgeous rear seemed didn’t seem the worse for wear from her sudden weight loss; any reductions to that ass would have been tantamount to a Greek tragedy.

He narrowed his gaze as he noticed a large bruise forming on her hip where she’d hit the wall.  Oliver shook his head in resignation.  He knew she’d been fibbing when she’d said she wasn’t hurting anywhere else.  He was just thinking he ought to get that seen to when she unwound the compress he’d taped around her injured wrist and flexed her hand, wiggling the fingers experimentally.

A slight frown worried his brow.  What on earth was she up to?

Now she was reaching between her shoulder blades to unclasp her bra, which she slid off her shoulders and down her arms.  Next she took her panties off - yes, the ass was definitely still all there - but she still wasn’t finished.  Deftly she unhooked the clasp of the necklace she was wearing and dropped it on the table, and also took out the small gold studs in her ears and set them down as well.

She was taking off everything.

Finally, she reached for the slim gold chain at her wrist and paused, brushing a finger over the sparkling green gems as her own emerald eyes twinkled with affection.  Eventually her fingers dropped away from the bracelet without removing it and she lifted her head and returned his gaze.

Okay, so not quite everything.  But he was thrilled to see that the only thing she’d held on to was the good luck bracelet that he’d picked out for her months ago.  He wished that he could have seen the look on her face when she’d found it.

He sighed wistfully, glancing up as Chloe slowly crossed the room and stood in front of him naked, a shy smile on her face.

“This is me, Oliver,” she said.  “Open and honest; no holds barred, hiding nothing.  Just me.”

He stared up at her, torn between defiant arousal and natural curiosity.  Chloe took his hand in her own small one and knelt in front of him, clasping his fingers tight.

“I haven’t been very good in letting you know exactly what you mean to me, have I?” she said ruefully.  “I’m going to try and change that.”

Oliver swallowed and nodded.  “I’m listening.”

She took a deep breath and started talking.

***

“Having someone as amazing as you express interest in me was…well, I’ve never really had that before,” she confessed.  “As close as Clark and I were, he was never really mine, and Jimmy…” she shrugged.  “To be honest, I only went out with him because he asked me, and he seemed to think I was pretty.”

“Chloe, if your feelings for Jimmy were so ambivalent, then why on earth did you marry him?” he asked, genuinely puzzled.

Her face hardened.  “That was all a product of Brainiac, I’m afraid, as was all things Davis.  I would never have married Jimmy if I’d had full control of all my faculties; we were never that close.”

Oliver stared at her in sudden comprehension.  He’d honestly never understood why Chloe had dated Jimmy, having never seen any true affection between them.  Now he knew why.

She went on in total honesty.  “It’s no secret that I loved Clark, so when he walked away from me, in spite of everything I’d given up to try and save his life…” she paused and made a wry face.  “Not gonna lie, I think I went a little bit crazy.”

“You were more than slightly unhinged, yes,” he agreed with a slight smile.  “But you’d just suffered one terrible loss, and suddenly found yourself facing another.  It’s only natural.”

She nodded, relieved at his understanding.  “When the person you love most in the world turns their back on you after you’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for them, you start to wonder if you’re good enough for anyone to love,” she said softly.  “Especially when that’s all that ever seems to happen around me.”

Oliver shook his head, his heart breaking for everything she’d had to go through.  “I don’t want you to ever think that, Chloe,” he said harshly.

She gave a short, mirthless laugh.  “Yeah, that’s what Clark said to me back in the day, along with a bunch of other semi-romantic stuff, and he’s now shacked up with my cousin.  Go figure,” she said derisively.

For the millionth time that day, Oliver wanted to slug Clark over and over with a green rock on his hand.  “Clark’s an idiot,” he said, summing it up as simply as he could.

Chloe shrugged.  “I’m over it.  Anyway, after that I decided to be the architect of my own destiny and lo and behold, Watchtower was born; something safe and of my own making; something I could control.”

She paused and grinned.

“And then along came you; gorgeous and sexy and offering me something I’d never had before,” she went on, squeezing his fingers.  “I thought that if I took love out of the equation, I could control that too, and have the perfect relationship.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

Oliver waited with bated breath as Chloe took his hand and pressed it against her thudding heart.

“I don’t know how or when you did it, but you found a way in here, Ollie,” she said, her eyes bright.  “I tried as hard as I could, but you just wouldn’t stay in the Bang Buddy box I was determined to stick you in.  You constantly breeched the emotional barriers I’d put in place, and what’s more, you were taking me along with you.”

She stroked the back of his hand with her thumb as she reached for his face with her other hand.

“You saved me, Oliver Queen,” she said, staring into his eyes.  “I know you thought it was the other way around, but the reality is that you saved me.”

Oliver’s brows rose in silent question, and she explained further.

“I mean, just look at me.  I was damaged goods at the start of this relationship; totally and completely messed up in the head, and you knew that, but you opened your heart to me nevertheless, and healed mine in the process.”

Oliver gave a painful smile and stroked her hair softly.  “Not as completely as I’d have liked, if you can’t tell me you love me.”

She sighed.  “Ollie…”

“They’re just words, Chloe,” he pleaded, threading his hands into her hair and gazing into her eyes.  “That’s all they are, you don’t need to be afraid of them.  Three tiny words…”

“Oliver, I can’t,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.  “Please understand…”

“You can,” he insisted, stroking her cheek with his thumb.  “You said it to Clark, didn’t you?  It’s exactly the same-”

She shook her head vehemently.  “No.  No, Ollie - it’s not.  Not even remotely.”

His eyes hardened.  “Of course not,” he said flatly, dropping his hands and leaning back in the chair.  “I don’t know how I ever thought I stood a chance against a ten-year relationship-”

“That’s not what I mean!” she insisted. “What I feel for Clark doesn’t even compare to my feelings for you!”

“No?” he challenged, and started ticking reasons off his fingers.  “Chloe, you kiss him, he tells you he loves you, you say you love him, too…” his voice cracked a little and he paused before continuing.  “Clark will always be your Achilles Heel, Chloe, and I can’t compete with that.  That decade of history between you-”

“…is exactly that - history!” she yelled.  “Oliver, don’t you get it?  I kissed Clark this afternoon, on the lips, and do you know what I felt?”

He stared at her, his heart thudding painfully in his chest as he waited for her answer.

“Nothing,” she whispered.  “Absolutely nothing.  Whatever I felt for him before, it’s all gone.  It was like kissing my brother, or something.  That’s why I immediately came to find you, because I know without a doubt that there’s nothing holding me back.”

He gulped.  “What if Clark wanted you back; what then?” he asked quietly.

She snorted.  “That is a joke, right?”

He hesitated, not sure how much of his suspicions he should voice.  After everything Clark had put her through, he could see why she’d think he didn’t have feelings for her, but the stricken look in Clark’s eyes on that monitor when he’d been negotiating with the White Queen for Chloe’s life had haunted Oliver for weeks.

He needed to know; once and for all.  So he took a deep breath and decided to bite the bullet.

“I’m just covering all bases here, Chloe, because if you say yes to me now, there’s no going back,” he warned.  “For ten years, Clark Kent was all you ever wanted.  What if he told you he loved you?”

“Er…Newsflash: he already did!” she exclaimed. “It was no big deal, like I said.”

Oliver swallowed.  “And if he said he was in love with you and wanted to be with you…what then?”

She smiled.  “It would be totally and completely irrelevant,” she said confidently.  “Why?  Because there’s this tall, blonde archer that’s completely stolen my heart, and for the life of me, I can’t get him out of my head!”

***

Chapter 25…