While You Were Gone - NC17 - Part 2/5
Title: While You Were Gone
Category: Smallville
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Chloe/Oliver
Warning(s): Sexual Content
Word Count: 2,598
Summary: With Clark and Lois gone Chloe is left to her own devices, but there’s someone else willing to help pick up the pieces and in the process, heal himself along the way.
Previous: Part I,
sarcastic_fina
II.
The day one year dawned, she was surprised to wake up and find him sleeping in. He’d kicked off his half of the blanket, lying on his back in his low-slung plaid pajama pants, with one hand tossed across his bare stomach and his free arm lying above her pillow, fingers still in her hair.
She stared at him a long while, noticing how sleep took away the stoic professionalism that plagued his handsome features. His mouth was relaxed, no longer in the frown he often sported or the smile she’d gained in friendly conversation. His hair was ruffled, free of product and falling loosely across his forehead.
“Stare any longer and I’ll be officially creeped out.”
Rolling her eyes, she replied, “I wasn’t staring… I was simply in shock that you slept past me… I was questioning whether you were, in fact, a pod person.” She smiled as he opened his eyes to look up at her with lazy amusement. “You never know these days…”
He grinned, shaking his head. “Occasionally, I do sleep past six.”
Her brows rose with mocking emphasis. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Stretching his arms out, he shrugged. “Haven’t had a lot of time for that.”
Returned from a three week mission in Prague, she couldn’t really blame him for taking a little while longer to lie around. But the boys were likely already at his penthouse, wondering where he was.
As if reading her mind he said, “I told them I’d call them when I was ready for us to all debrief.”
“So you were planning on hogging my bed for a sleep-in all this time?” she teased.
His mouth curled. “If you could pick between a cold, empty bed and one with a beautiful hero, which would you go for?”
“How beautiful?”
He laughed, turning over onto his stomach but staying as relaxed as she’d ever seen him. “Three weeks is a long time, Sidekick,” he murmured, looking up at her from the perch of his balled up pillow.
“Admittedly, the bed was unusually empty.” In fact, she’d spent a lot of time tossing and turning, trying to find a place to lie comfortably. She wasn’t used to not having him right there, her arm slung over his waist and her face buried in his chest. And what sleep she did get was little and left her feeling drained the next day.
He smiled. “You missed me,” he decided rather smugly.
“I had the blanket to myself for once,” she replied easily. “Why steal it if you’re not going to use it?” she asked, motioning toward the mess he’d made.
He simply went on smiling. “Bet you couldn’t get a goodnight’s rest without me here,” he joked.
“I slept better than ever. This bed is much bigger than I remember and I had the whole of it to sprawl out on. Without your gigantic body there to take it all up, I’m practically on an island of comfort!”
“Deny all you want.”
Rolling her eyes, she stood up from the bed. “While you get a few more minutes, I’m making coffee.”
“Who am I supposed to cuddle with?” he called out to her, amused.
“Your ego is always up to a little stroking,” she returned, making her way to her kitchen.
…
Arriving together at the penthouse, they found the team already there. Bart was submerged in the fridge, half of its contents spread across the island counter top, AC was crashed out on the couch listening to his iPod, Victor was on his laptop and Dinah was pacing the length of the living room boredly.
“No, don’t start without us,” he called out, a brow lifted.
Bart grinned through a wad of cheese sandwich crammed in his mouth. He sped across the room, appearing next to Chloe and slinging a flirty arm around her waist. “Like we’d start without the very soul of the League present…”
With an amused roll of her eyes, Chloe shook her head. “I’m flattered, really. But let’s save this love story until after work, all right?”
“Here that?” Bart exclaimed brightly. “She said she loved me!”
“If we could focus,” Oliver implied.
“All right, all right, everybody take a seat. I want a full report and-“ She held up a hand as Bart eagerly sat forward, ready to tell his end. “We’ll start with Cyborg,” she said, shaking her head. “What’ve you got, Victor?”
Grinning smugly, he sat forward to give her his part.
Bored and twitchy, Bart waited impatiently for his turn, but in the process found his attention on Chloe. Usually, he could content himself with simply looking at her, listening to her mumble and hum to herself as she took notes, but his eyes were drawn away by the hand that was currently stroking up and down her back absently. Eyes narrowing, Bart followed the hand up the arm to the recipient and found Oliver was nodding along as he too listened intently to Victor, however his hand was keenly running up and down and massaging circles along Chloe’s back. His mind wandered, trying to place a time when the two of them started being so affectionate and comfortable with each other.
Things had changed since Lois went missing and Clark had essentially abandoned all of his friends, the JLA included. Chloe had become more essential to the League and with that came her close friendship with Oliver, which seemed to build outside of headquarters as dad by day, the two of them appeared with more inside jokes and a connection between them that nobody had bore witness to. But there it was, in all of its obvious perfection. And suddenly, reality slapped him hard in the face. It wasn’t so much when it had started as it was when it’d become so second-nature it didn’t draw the eye any longer.
Neither Victor nor A.C. blinked at the affection displayed between the two, even Dinah who was always quick to point out the flaws in having any sort’ve connection or partnership paid no mind. It was a bit of a sting to his ego, Bart had to admit, but he wasn’t as put out as he might’ve once been. His brow furrowed; he loved Chloe, she was his ‘licious, but when it came down to it, they had more of a friendship and she and Oliver were… right together. But enough of that sappy crap, he thought, bouncing in his seat. It was his turn to remind all of his awesomeness while regaling Chloelicious with his adventure in Prague. If it made her smile, laugh or even roll her eyes, mission accomplished. She and Ollie might have something serious going, but Bart lived for those moments where all of her attention was solely on him.
“All right, so it all started at the taco vendor early Monday morning,” he began, grinning.
…
“No. Freaking. Way.” Lois looked around with wide, shocked eyes. “Twilight Zone much, Smallville? What the hell was all that?”
Clark frowned to himself, keeping the stoic façade he’d carefully constructed well in place. “I don’t have time to explain, so if we could-“
“Ha! Yeah right! If you think you’re going to talk yourself out of this one, you’re sadly mistaken!” she exclaimed, crossing her arms and stepping into his personal space with stubborn intensity. “I want to know what I just saw and I don’t want any glazing of the facts.” Her chin jutted out menacingly as she poked him in the chest. “Spill it.”
He sighed. How the hell was he going to get out of this one?
They stood silently in a battle of wills, people walking past without glancing at them, careless of the imposing figures they cut in the center of the sidewalk. A lot had changed in a year, evident in the architecture around him. Yes, it was still the same Metropolis it had been when he’d left, but there were new buildings and faces all around. The date on a newspaper nearby had him squinting to magnify his vision.
September 9th, 2010
Right, even if he managed to explain away what she’d managed to see and remember of the future, he couldn’t explain how an entire year had passed… Not without explaining a whole lot of truths he had no desire to share with her. Or at least, he shouldn’t want to and yet… Despite his training, his convincing of himself, he couldn’t help but stare at her with the same hopes and regrets of the past. An entire year spent working hard to become what destiny desired of him and simultaneously fighting to get her back to the present. And here she was, in all of her angry and curious glory, expecting a whole lot of answers.
He cleared his throat, wishing his training had covered how best to lie to someone that could spot a fib from three planets over.
…
With the debriefing over and the team out of his penthouse, Oliver was left cleaning up the mess left in their wake. Chloe carried a garbage bag around his living room, gathering up pizza boxes and stray pop bottles. “Did you see Bart sneak in a Red Bull?” she called out to him, wonderingly. “I thought we put that on his ‘banned’ list.”
Oliver snorted. “Might as well ban him from running altogether.”
Shaking her head, she entered the kitchen, holding the heavy bag in one hand. “How did you manage all this time in Prague without me?”
“I want to say effortlessly,” he replied, mouth curling with amusement. “But, you were truly missed, Sidekick.” Taking the garbage from her, he tied it up and placed it next to the recycling bin. “What’s it going to take to convince you to travel the world at my side?”
A sliver of a shiver crept up her spine, but she ignored it as well as she had in the past. “Don’t think I can be bought, Queen. That’d be your first mistake.”
“No…” He grinned. “All right, I’ll have to find some other weakness of yours then.”
Her eyes thinned playfully. “Supposing I have any.”
His hands found her hips as they often naturally did and he drew her close; her own lifted, clasping around his forearms as her body so easily catered to his own. “Almond mocha…”
She hummed, enticed.
“Extra whip…”
She bit her lip, eyes fluttering.
“Brought to you every morning, courtesy of room service, wherever we might be…”
“Close.” She sighed, looking up at him thoughtfully. “But… I can just buy myself one every morning and keep in touch with all of you via satellite.”
His head tipped agreeably to the side. “True… But then you spend weeks on end in that very large, very empty bed…” He frowned as if this was a torturous means of living.
She snorted. “Are you looking out for me or yourself here? Because I think if anybody was missing anybody, you were missing me.”
Squeezing her sides, he nodded ever-so-slightly. “Hm. Well… I could be looking out for the both of us. If only you would admit that you missed me too.”
Her palms splayed across his chest, fingers absently stroking his tie. “And if we agree that we missed each other, what then?”
His brow quirked. “We take precautions so that at later dates we don’t have to suffer.”
Her lips pursed knowingly. “Which is code for you getting your way and taking me along for the ride… isn’t it?”
He stared at her searchingly. “Would that be so bad?”
“No… But I kind of like hearing you beg,” she teased, smiling.
Laughing lightly, he drew her a few inches nearer. “Please, oh please, come with me… us next time.”
She was caught for a moment by the sincere hope in his dark brown eyes and lost all sense of speech. It’d been a long three weeks, she told herself, which was the only reason she wanted to wrap her arms around him and spend the rest of the day simply cuddled up. There was no other explanation for the desires plaguing her mind. When his hands slid up her back, fingers kneading her flesh as he waited rather impatiently, she drew herself out of her thoughts. “I will definitely think about it.”
He half-smiled. “Fine, milk it all you want, but I will get you in the end.”
That persistent shiver snuck up her spine once more and to hide it, she squeezed his shoulders. “How about as a way of further encouraging me, you take me out for dinner?”
“Anywhere you like,” he agreed easily.
With that, she assured herself that they were on the same page. Close and good friends, just out to enjoy his arrival home. Still, she couldn’t stop the wonder at the back of her mind as they left the building and began the walk down the road to their favorite Italian restaurant, hand in hand.
…
Lois blinked, speechless.
“I know it’s not what you want to hear…” Clark trailed off uncertainly.
“Not what I want to hear?” Her brow furrowed. “You just told me the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard… And I worked at the Inquisitor!”
Shrugging, he felt a flush creep up his neck. “Look, Lois… I know it’s hard, but I need you not to dig into this too much.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Her eyes widened. “Did you hit your head on our way back to reality?” She reached out and, without hesitation, slapped him across the face hard enough to knock some sense into him.
Glaring, he took a step back. “Was that necessary?”
“Uh, were you listening? You just spilled some senseless crap about comas and realistic dreams. If anybody needs to go see a doctor, it’s you!” Shaking her head, she whirled around and began stomping away from him. “In fact, you know what? I don’t need your explanation. I think I can put this together on my own. When you feel like joining me here in the present, why don’t you meet me at Chloe’s place, all right?”
“The pres-Chloe’s?” He stopped, expression widening. “Lois, you can’t just show up at Chloe’s!”
“What? Why?” she snapped over her shoulder. “In case you have memory loss, my little cousin hasn’t seen me in what feels like, oh I dunno, a year! And trust me; we’ve got a lot to discuss!”
Hurrying to catch up to her, he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him. “Listen… Things have… changed since…” He trailed off, not sure how to word it right.
“Since I disappeared into the future a year ago? Uh, yeah, I figured that.” Rolling her eyes, she yanked away from him and continued down the road. “Don’t worry about me, Smallville, I’m resourceful enough for the both of us.”
Sighing, Clark shook his head and instead of fighting, he followed. He wasn’t sure what to expect or even where to go. He hadn’t seen the likes of Chloe Sullivan since over a year ago, when he’d chosen his rightful destiny over his friendship with her. The pang in his chest was reminiscent of his old self, but he was reminded that he couldn’t be who he was, he had to be better. Even if he had very little idea of how.
“Hurry up, I wanna see what and who Chloe’s been doing…” Lois shouted back to him.
With a frown, Clark only hoped things wouldn’t seriously blow up in his face as they were oft to do.
[ Next: Part III.]