While You Were Gone - Chlollie, Clois - NC17 - Part 5/5
Title: While You Were Gone
Category: Smallville
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Chloe/Oliver
Warning(s): Sexual Content
Word Count: 2,179
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, Part II, Part III, Part IV,
sarcastic_fina
V.
One Year Later
Clark Kent stood uncomfortably to the side, dressed in a tux that left little to the imagination. The next time he needed to rent a suit, he wasn’t bringing Lois along. For some reason, he had a feeling she tweaked the measurements a little. The smirk she sent his way every time she walked past him was only lending more suspicion to his thoughts.
A flash ran past and he didn’t need to squint to know it was Bart running amok. Victor and AC were quickly chasing after him, despite knowing neither would have a chance at actually catching him. “Did you see him?” they asked.
He nodded his head to the left. “Was he carrying flowers?” he wondered curiously.
“Chloe’s,” they explained before rushing away.
Shaking his head, Clark stepped further into the large white tent set up in the sprawling expanse of backyard situated behind Queen Manor. Rows of chairs sat on either side of the white rug spread from the flower-rimmed entrance to the front stage where a minister stood talking to someone. He spotted his mother sitting in the front row, her camera in her hands. Two bodyguards stood off to the side, mumbling into mics attached to their shirt cuffs. He wasn’t sure if they were for the guest of honor or his senator mom. Either way, the place was under extra security and he couldn’t dislike the atmosphere. People were chatting amongst themselves, faces he both recognized and didn’t. Socialites here or there, mixed in with friends and family.
Lois appeared next to him, dressed in a very attractive green gown that he had to force himself not to stare at too long.
She frowned at him. “Looking a little stiff, Smallville. This is a wedding, perk up!”
Clearing his throat, he rolled his shoulders. “I would if my suit didn’t feel like it was painted on.”
She chuckled slightly. “Not my fault the seamstress can’t read. Maybe they just don’t make suits in ‘super-muscle’ anymore…”
He rolled his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind next time.”
Pursing her lips, she glared at him. “Hey, this is the wedding of the year! I expect big smiles and hugs all around!”
Clark looked at her from the corner of his eyes, unexpectedly uncomfortable. “I don’t think either of them are going to appreciate me being here, let along my congratulations.”
“That depends,” she said, staring at him seriously. “Do you mean it?”
Without waiting for a reply, she turned around and left him deep in thought, snagging a glass of champagne off a platter as a waiter walked past.
“Miss… Those are for later… I have to insist that you-“
“Can it. Maid of honor gets a few passes, all right? Now I have to go make sure the bride isn’t making a run for it… Do you want to explain to the big guy why his bride-to-be isn’t standing in front of him at the altar?” She smirked. “That’s what I thought.” Continuing her arrogant swagger, she left the tent while Clark simply smiled to himself. Unbelievable; she really was.
It was ten minutes later that the groom had taken his place at the front; Victor, AC and a fidgety Bart at his side.
Clark took his seat next to his mother, feeling a pang of regret as he saw Lois walking down the aisle and knew that once upon a time, he might’ve been escorting her, having been asked to play an important part in this wedding. With a sly wink in his direction, Lois stopped at the front and turned to face the back.
Stepping forward beneath a beautiful array of colorful tulips, a bouquet of roses, lilies and baby’s breath in her hands as she walked slowly up the aisle, her arm hooked around her father Gabe’s, Chloe grinned with all the glow of the happiest woman alive. Clark remembered a moment much like this, where she walked to meet a very different man… And despite how incredibly excited she was at the idea of marrying Jimmy Olsen, it compared nothing to this, here, now.
He turned, wanting to see Oliver’s facial reply to find that the man he’d often misjudged was entirely absorbed in his soon-to-be-wife. A smile like never before graced the usually stoic face of Oliver Queen, the warmth in his eyes meant only for Chloe. He ignored the shove of his shoulder given by AC and held a hand out for her as she came near enough to take it. Stepping up the two white stairs to the platform, she passed her flowers to Lois before threading her fingers with Oliver’s and grinning up at him.
Clark glanced at Lois who was inconspicuously rubbing her nose and blinking her eyes rapidly. She glared at him when he smiled knowingly.
“Family, friends, guests and loved ones, we are gathered here today to witness the matrimonial bond between these two people. Marriage is a vow made between those who have looked toward the future and agreed that no other would suit to stand at their side, hold their hearts or love them quite as much or as dearly. It is a holy connection that a couple accepts as a lifetime of commitment, loyalty, friendship and love. Both Oliver and Chloe have written their own vows and so I will give them the opportunity to share what they have and what they will continue to nurture in the many years to come…”
Oliver cleared his throat, staying quiet a moment longer.
“I told him to write it on his hand,” Bart muttered impatiently.
There was a wave of quiet laughter that followed.
“I didn’t forget,” Oliver replied, turning his eyes upward.
“Then talk louder.”
“Bart!” Lois hissed, glaring.
Holding his hands up to ward off any attack, he shut up.
Shaking his head, Oliver grinned. “And that’s part of what you have to look forward to the next fifty years,” he joked lightly.
Chloe chuckled along with their guests.
As quiet dawned once more, he became serious.
“When I sat down to write my vows, I asked myself a few questions…” he began. “Why do I love you; why do you love me; where did we begin? And what makes us work… What means we’ll last a lifetime…?” He licked his lips. “If I was going to list all the ways I loved you, it’d take that whole lifetime… and Bart would get hungry, Lois would complain and the honeymoon would never come…” He grinned.
“Frankly, as arrogant as I am, I decided not to question why you love me. Partly because, I don’t want you to think yourself right out of it…” People chuckled and Chloe squeezed his hands, shaking her head at him. “Whatever you love about me, whatever I do that means you’ll be there every day of my life, I hope I keep it up.”
He shook his head, his expression softening. “I can’t pinpoint the exact moment we started. There were situations and complications that got in the way and… and my feelings for you started a long time before yours were even a passing thought,” he admitted. “But I know when I fell in love with you. I know when I admitted it to myself and you that that was it… You were it.”
He stared into her eyes searchingly, lovingly. “So Chloe Ann Sullivan, Sidekick, I ask that you keep seeing in me what only you see… That you keep loving me as long as I know I’ll love you… And that we spend a lifetime together, doing what we do best and enjoying every spectacular moment of it.”
Sniffling, she nodded happily.
“Does that qualify as an ‘I do’?” Oliver asked the minister, who simply chuckled.
Laughing the emotion out of her voice, Chloe looked out at the crowd. “See what I have to put up with?”
Clark grinned.
Taking the platinum wedding band Victor held aloft, lined with four rows of green emeralds and white diamonds, Oliver held her hand up to slide the ring onto her finger.
She ran her thumb across it affectionately before taking his hands in hers once more.
“Oliver,” she started, voice soft.
“Don’t forget Escape Plan B!” Bart whisper-shouted to her.
Throwing her hands in the air, Lois groaned. “You’re going to lose a vital organ if you don’t can it, Speedy!”
Making a motion to zip his mouth shut, Bart shrugged.
Shaking her head at the antics, Chloe smiled up at Oliver. “There has never been a person that I love, respect or trust more than I do you.” She licked her lips as they shook with emotion. “With all we’ve seen and done, all we’ve faced and conquered, I can look at you and know that whatever comes… we’ll make it through.” She blinked quickly, wrinkling her nose to keep her tears at bay.
“I love…” She breathed out a sigh, trying to stop her voice from quaking. “I love you for always being here… For making me feel like there is nothing and no one that you could or would love more… I love you for your honor, for the way you understand me, and how despite all else, you never stop. You never walk away or give up or forget all that you stand for.”
Swallowing tightly, she closed her eyes for a moment and then looked back up at him. “So Oliver Jonas Queen…” She smiled rapturously. “I ask that you live this life with me… That you’re there when I get myself in sticky situations, as I entirely too often do… That you continue to love me and be the man that I love for the rest of our lives… And I ask that you let me love, honor and cherish you until death finally does us in…”
He grinned, nodding swift and certain.
Taking the platinum band from Lois’ outstretched hand, she turned back to slide it onto Oliver’s finger, grinning widely.
Clearing his throat, the minister drew the attention back to him for a split-second. “Do you, Oliver Queen, take this woman, Chloe Sullivan, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself solely unto her for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.”
“And do you, Chloe Sullivan-“
“So do!” she exclaimed before he could finish.
With a short laugh, the minister nodded. “Then by the power vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife and wish upon you both a long-lasting love and marriage.” Smiling, he looked between them. “You may now kiss your bride.”
“Finally,” Oliver murmured before sliding an arm around her waist and drawing her into him. His free hand clasped the back of her neck, thumb stroking slow and gentle while her palms pressed flat against his chest.
“So this is it,” Chloe whispered. “The last piece of our grand puzzle.”
Nodding ever-so-slightly, he leaned forward, breathing against her lips, “The adventure’s only beginning.” With that, he kissed her; a long moment where lips meshed together, eyes fell closed, on-lookers sighed appreciatively and Lois pretended to be unaffected while fanning her face with the flowers.
As clapping rose, Oliver and Chloe parted, smiling out at the people around them. Their guests stood and Clark followed, nodding at the couple as they moved to walk past him. Chloe beamed at him, reminiscent of a time when he was her most trusted ally. They continued down the aisle while he watched from afar. Without warning Lois’ arm looped with his, making him turn to look at her.
“She forgave you a long time ago, you know…” she said without looking directly at him. “Maybe now it’s time you forgave yourself.”
He stared at her thoughtfully. “So this is what you saw then? They get their happily-ever-after?”
She smiled contently. “A lifetime of it.”
He nodded, brow furrowed as he accepted this truth. “You never told me about what you saw for yourself… Or me…”
Her expression was caught between shock and worry. “You? Me? Us? Uh, what do you mean? We just… We were there… Like usual… You know… Reporting…”
Clark frowned. “I know… But, what about everything else? You went six years into the future, Lois… Something had to be different.” He stared at her searchingly. He couldn’t help but wonder just how much she knew, what she’d seen.
Suddenly, her mask returned and she slapped his chest with bravado. “Other than you sporting a very tight red and blue spandex suit and geeky glasses for a disguise, Superman, there’s not much more to tell.” While he stood slack-jawed, she smirked triumphantly and walked past him. “I’ll save you a dance, just try not to crush my toes!” she called back.
Turning, astonished, he watched her go, the sway of her hips drawing his eyes. He laughed shortly, shaking his head. She really, truly was, and always would be… downright unbelievable.
[The End.]