Fic: Start Over (7/17)
Author: me
Rating: PG
Spoilers: 5.20 and 5.21
Summary: What if Oliver had been a supporter of Senator Kent from the very beginning of his campaign?
Character/Pairing: Oliver/Chloe, Clark, Lana, Martha, Lois
Disclaimer: I’m an idiot who keeps forgetting to do this so please don’t sue me. I understand that these characters aren’t mine.
Author’s Note: I’m sorry this took so long. I was finishing off uni then I packed up my unit in 4 days and travelled for 9 hours to spend the summer at home. So I’m really sorry but the good thing is that now I have nothing to do but write, yay!!! Also thanks to
miss_morrygan who made me the banner below. I really do love it and thanks so much again : )
Enjoy and feel free to comment.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chpater 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
“So you go on one date with the guy and he disappears. That doesn’t equal a good date.”
Chloe sighed and sipped her coffee before responding, “Lois, he had to go to work in Star City for a couple of weeks.”
“Have you spoken to him since he left?”
“Yes he calls a least once a day and texts whenever he can.”
“Ah ha! If he really liked you he’d be trying Skype out with you.”
Chloe scoffed, “How can you make Skyping sound so dirty?”
“’Cause it could be, if you lived a little,” Lois replied with a sly smile.
Chloe laughed, “We’ve only been on one date.”
“And what if he doesn’t remember it or you? Oh my God, what if he returns to his playboy ways?” Lois said in a mild panic.
Before Chloe could reply a bouquet of tulips was placed under her nose. Smiling she took them before turning around to be greeted with Oliver’s smiling face.
“Like I could forget this girl,” Oliver said before handing another bouquet of flowers to Lois, “But these are for you. So you have to go upstairs for five minutes.”
Lois stood, “Fine, I can take a hint.”
“Really, since when?” Chloe asked as Lois retreated up the stairs to her apartment.
Oliver laughed as he took Lois’s seat and Chloe’s hand. Smiling he looked into her eyes for a long moment until she spoke.
“So why did you travel all the way to Smallville. I hope not just to give me these flowers.”
“No,” Oliver said with a small shake of his head, “I wanted to see you’re smile too and make sure that we still had a date.”
“I don’t know. What’s the protocol when you go on one date with a guy then he goes away on business for two weeks.”
Oliver sighed, “Well that depends, did he bring you flowers?”
“Let’s say he did then what.”
“Well did he keep in constant contact while he was away?” Oliver asked leaning forward slightly.
“Yeah, he did pretty well at keeping in contact,” Chloe replied leaning forward as well.
“Then I’d say you’d have to go out with this guy. Especially since he’s really sorry,” Oliver replied leaning so close that their lips almost touched when Lois interrupted.
“Hey, no making out,” she called out as she came back to the table. “I’ve given the two of you enough time to make lovey dovey faces to each other, now I get my cousin back. Got it Queen?”
Oliver laughed while standing, “I guess those flowers didn’t last as long as I thought.”
“You should be happy though, I expected her to come back sooner,” Chloe joked.
Kissing the back of her hand Oliver left her to hang out with her cousin, knowing that she was going to be all his tomorrow night.
******
Sitting back down at her desk Chloe sighed. Pulling up her investigation again wasn’t helping. Usually when the day got to dry and dull she would pull up her investigation into Metropolis’s new vigilante and her day would be better. Today however that didn’t seem to be working.
Maybe it was because he had personally saved her now or maybe she was starting to lose her spark, she didn’t know, but she didn’t like the feeling.
Looking at the clock she noticed that she still had a couple of hours before she had to head back to her dorm to get ready for her date. It still surprised her that Oliver could want to be with someone like her when it was obvious that her cousin had had a crush on the billionaire when he first entered their lives. It was a new feeling. Being picked over the Lois Lane’s and Lana Lang’s of the world but somehow she was glad that someone like Oliver was willing to take a chance on her.
Going back to her photos of the vigilante she shifted through them. She really did need a name for him soon; he couldn’t just be vigilante for the rest of his life. She was sure that it should have the world arrow in the title but all she could come up with was Green Arrow and she wasn’t too sure if he would like to be referred to in such an obvious way. If there was a way to contact him she’d ask but she hadn’t really thought to ask when she was being rescued.
Shifting through the photos she paused when she came to photo of his neck. Zooming in she cropped around a ring that was hanging from a necklace, noticing that there was some kind of inscription on it. Zooming in further she started a rendering program to bring out the picture when Clark was suddenly standing next to her.
Noticing his grim look she pulled him into the copy room hoping that whatever he wanted wouldn’t mean that she would have to miss her date.
******
Watching as Chloe stabbed her burger again Oliver put his fork down. There was obviously something bugging her and it was ruining her ability to have a good time out on a date with him.
“Chloe,” he said grabbing her hand, “What’s wrong.”
Looking up she smiled, “Nothing.”
Oliver laughed, “Then why have you stabbed your burger more times than necessary.”
Chloe sighed, “It’s not you. I promise.”
“I didn’t think it was.” Oliver said with a nod, “But are you going to tell me what it is.”
“Clark.”
“Yeah, I’m going to need more than that.”
“He accused me of being a bad friend,” she whispered.
“What did you do to deserve this title?”
“Well, Lana’s been kissing Lex.”
Oliver raised an eyebrow, “Lex Luther?”
Chloe nodded, “Yeah and I found out by accident and Lana wanted a chance to tell Clark herself but before she could he went to the mansion, for some reason, and saw them kissing.”
“And when he came to complain to you, you couldn’t act surprised.”
“No, guilty would describe how I acted.”
Taking her hand Oliver smiled softly, “Sometimes, in these situations, you just have to stay as far out of the middle as possible.”
“I know but it’s hard.”
“It’s for the best though. If you get too far in the middle it could destroy your relationship with both of them and I know you don’t want that.”
“How did you get so wise in your age,” Chloe said.
“Considering I’m six years older than you I’m allowed to be wise sometimes,” he replied, dazzling her with his charming smile, “Though it helps that a few years ago some friends of mine broke up and I was landed right in the middle. It was awful. At one stage one of them wanted me to spy on the other.”
“What did you do?”
Oliver shrugged, “I removed myself from the situation. I told them I could be both their friends and they could both confide in me but I was no longer their go between and if they wanted to know about each other they were going to have to cut out the middle man.”
Chloe laughed, “Well that makes sense. I kinda said the same thing to Clark.”
Oliver nodded, “Good. Now can we eat without you stabbing your dinner to death and have some pleasant conversation before trying to convince you to share desert with me.”
Chloe gasped in mock surprise, “Share a desert. No way.”
“Well I’m glad I know where I fall on the spectrum of importance from now on.”
“Yes, yes,” Chloe replied mockingly, “It goes coffee, desert, Lois, Clark, my dad, Mrs Kent then you.”
“Seventh, I think you’ve wounded my pride.”
“Somehow I think you’ll live.”
********
Standing in the Kent kitchen Oliver kept a hand Chloe’s lower back as they stood waiting for Clark to arrive. Hearing the door opened they waited for Clark to notice them.
“Mom?” Clark called out as he looked around preparing to leave.
“Happy birthday Clark!” They called out together, ignoring the look that crossed Clark’s face.
Stepping forward Martha said, “Happy birthday, sweet heart. Thank God you didn’t leave. We got you didn’t we?”
“Yeah you did,” Clark said, “I never expected Oliver Queen to be at one of my birthday parties.”
Chloe rolled her eyes as Clark headed to the kitchen, “Look.” She said grabbing the cake, “Lois even made you her world famous rum cake.”
Lois looked on proud at the lopsided cake, “From scratch.”
Clark gave a nervous laugh, “Wow, I never would have guessed.”
Oliver chuckled, “You should have seen the first two.”
Lois spun around and shot Oliver a death glare before saying, “Ah. Come on, presents before cake.”
“Come on birthday boy,” Martha said wrapping an arm around him and pulling him into the kitchen where the presents were, “Sit down.”
Lois grabbed her present and held it out as Oliver and Chloe moved to stand on the opposite side of the table. Smiling at each other quickly they turned back to Clark to watch as he opened his present. As if his hand had a mind of its own it moved back to Chloe’s lower back as Clark ripped open his present.
The shock was evident on Clark’s face as he flipped through the book, “Wow, Lois. Just... Wow.”
Lois shrugged, “I know you’re not the ‘dear diary’ type but since you keep everything to yourself I thought this might help.”
“And since I’m on an intern budget, I figured I could just comp you a couple of this IOU’s that you owe me,” Chloe replied with a devious grin, leaning back into Oliver.
Pulling an envelope out of his pocket he handed it to Clark, “Since I didn’t know what to get you I figured this would be a safe bet.”
Pulling open the envelope Clark smiled when he saw two tickets the first two home games of the Metropolis Bulldogs. Clark laughed, “They’re prefect and on the fifty yard line as well.”
Chloe chuckled, “I told you they would go over well,” she whispered so that only Oliver could hear. He was about to respond when Clark said.
“That’s dad’s handwriting,” while picking up the envelope.
Martha nodded, “I found it on his desk.”
Opening it slowly Clark pulled out a card and two tickets fell into his hand. Turning them over he gave a small smile when he saw what they were for, “Two tickets to the Wolverines game in Milwaukee.” He whispered, showing them to his mother, “Right behind the home plate.”
Martha smiled a sad glaze in her eyes, “Yeah, your dad and his baseball. There was no one in the world that he’d rather watch a game with.”
Lois shook her head and clapped her hands, “Ok, how about cake.”
Clark gave a weak smile, “As long as there is no singing.”
“I think that can be arranged,” Chloe said with a slight laugh. “Why don’t you guys go relax in the lounge room? Oliver and I will bring out the cake.”
“Thanks Chlo,” Clark said as he ushered his mother and Lois out of the room.
Grabbing the plates Chloe suppressed a squeal as Oliver wrapped his arms around her.
“Remind me why I’m here again?”
“’Cause I needed a lift,” Chloe replied, turning in his arms so that she could see his face.
Laughing Oliver lowered his lips to hers gently. She returned the kiss before moving out of his grasp.
“Will you stop? I need to cut the cake.” Chloe complained.
“Maybe, if I had the right incentive.”
“And what would that be?”
“A kiss,” Oliver replied, his devilish grin in place.
“Fine, one, and I’ll determine the length and you have sit and smile through the rest of the evening.” Chloe replied as she placed pieces of cake onto plates.
“Deal,” Oliver replied coming up behind her. Grabbing her hips he gently turned her towards him before lowering his mouth to hers. Smiling Chloe kissed back gently for a couple of minutes before pulling back and handing him plates to take out.
“Now scat,” she said with a happy grin on her face.
Oliver laughed, “Just as long as you remember you are all mine tomorrow night.”
“Deal,” Chloe replied with a wink before taking the other plates of cake into the lounge room with her.
*********
Taking a seat back down at her desk Chloe couldn’t believe that she had to work after her date but that was the life an intern. It wouldn’t be that bad though. She’d be able to get her obits out of the way before trying to make some more head way on the Green Arrow investigation.
She knew that she was getting close to discovering who the Green Arrow actually was. Having looked into what he had done in the past she was really looking forward to being able to approach him and help out. He was doing a lot of good after all.
Clicking on the photo she was surprised to see that the inscription had cleared itself up. Seeing that it was a crest of some variety she ran it through a database. Figuring her answer would be a while she went to start copying her obits while waiting when her phone rang.
Answering without looking she said, “Hello.”
“Is that the only greeting you have for me? I think I’m a little hurt.”
“Ollie,” she said with a smile, “I didn’t realise that it was.”
Oliver laughed, “I missed you.’
“Now I know your joking.”
“Only a little. I was hoping to bring you coffee.”
Chloe couldn’t help the grin that had fallen onto her face as she headed back to her desk. “Well I can’t say no to coffee.”
Oliver laughed, “One of these days I’m going to make it so you can’t say no to me.”
Pausing Chloe clicked on the link that the computer had just brought up. Looking at the full crest in colour was amazing and the arrow integration.
Smiling she said, “We’ll see how simple it is for you.” Clicking to see who the crest belonged to she listened as Oliver continued to speak.
“Well I’ll be in 20 minutes.”
Gasping as she saw the name it barely registered when Oliver tried to get her attention again. “Yeah I’m fine, I’ll see you then.” She said quickly before hanging up the phone.
Doubling checking the information in front of her she sighed. Of course it was the Queen crest passed on from father to son, the last two being Robert and Oliver Queen. She always had a thing for heroes. She just didn’t know how true that was until now.
Chapter 8