Forever and Always - T - Chloe/Oliver (Prompt 4/100)
Title: Forever and Always
Rating: T
Genre: Angst/Romance
Pairing: Chloe/Oliver, mentioned Chloe/Bruce and Oliver/Dinah
Prompt: #004 - Regret
Word Count: 1,048
Summary: His biggest regret was letting her go.
Previous: #001 - Romance, #002 - Beauty, #003 - Forgiveness,
Forever and Always
1/1
His biggest regret was letting her go. How many years had he carried that same heartbreak? Too many.
He'd moved on, or he supposed it looked that way. But she did; she mended her heart and she found someone better, someone who could love her without fear of losing her, someone who would protect her to his dying day. Oliver wished he knew he'd so the same so many years back; when things had been more complicated, when loving her meant telling the world that if they wanted him, they could easily target the woman who caught his heart with a quick grin and an off-handed snarky remark. But he'd lost her; played the, "I'm doing this for you," card and walked away from the only woman who he'd ever truly loved.
He didn't cry, even when his eyes pricked with sorrow at seeing her tears flow freely. "Fine," she said, lifting her stubborn chin. "You play the hero like always, Oliver. Play it until you're dead and alone. Because I can't mend it anymore - my healing powers only go so far." And she turned on her heel, walked out of his life and never truly came back. He saw her still, saw her at League meetings and spoke to her briefly during missions. But it was never the same; they lost the love and it was hard to accept that.
He was used to having a different Chloe; the one he could touch and caress behind closed doors, kiss her body from head to toe, stroke her most sensitive areas knowingly and hold her from sunrise to sunset. The Chloe of his past; the woman he'd once thought "I could marry her and live happy," with. That day never came though, not for him. Now she stood next to her husband, another hero, much darker than him. She stood tall against adversity, helped turn around Gotham in her own way, spat in the face of all those death threats and the rage they threw at her and her scathing bylines. She held Bruce Wayne's hand now, kissed him with just as much passion as she ever did him. It was Bruce who caressed her now, knew her body like the back of his hand, understood those little quirks that Oliver had memorized so many years ago and never forgot.
And here he sat, staring out at the Metropolis landscape from his high-rise apartment, his gear put away, his wife fast asleep in their large bed, unknowing of the inner turmoil her beloved Ollie still went through. Dinah was a good woman and maybe before he fell for Chloe, he could've loved her like she deserved. And he did love her, to an extent, just never as much as he loved his Sidekick. The woman who could brighten his day with one of her enigmatic smiles; who could simply hug him after a bad night of patrolling and he felt it all melt away, felt all the frustration that had built up just leave him as he wrapped his arms back around her. This small woman who had so much spunk inside of her, so much of everything that he never really got past what he felt, what he still felt.
He saw her some nights, as he laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He saw her there above him, smiling down at him just before she'd swoop down and kiss his lips, too light, not real enough, because it was never truly happening. A brush of lips, faint like a memory, never enough to sate him. So he'd go on regretting ever letting her go; ever telling her that it was for her own good. Because really, he was hoping to save his own heart, hoping that he could get over her and that she'd be safe away from him. Instead she found another hero to soothe her wounds and love her like he'd always wanted to.
"If I never turned you away, do you think...?" he asked her once.
She stared up at him, head tipped to the side. She was dressed in her wedding dress, waiting for them to tell her that it was time for her to walk down the aisle, time for her to meet Bruce at the end, to become Mrs. Wayne.
She reached up, cupped his cheek and stroked it there. He closed his eyes, let himself melt into that feeling, that comforting embrace he'd missed for so long. "I would've loved you forever."
He felt his heartbreak.
"Chloe," Lois called through the door. "It's time."
Her hand fell and he wanted to tell her that he was sorry, that he made a mistake, that they could run now, that he'd never give her up again. "I..."
"I know," she whispered. He felt her lips against his, just a small, light brush, reminiscent of early mornings when he'd first wake up to find her sleepily smiling up at him, kissing him good morning before she rolled out of bed and left for the shower, beckoning him to follow with the sway of her naked hips. "It's too late."
He shook his head. It couldn't be.
"I'm sorry..." she murmured. "I love him. I'm marrying him."
"But..." He opened his eyes, stared at her with all the regret and pain he knew had been simmering inside for so long.
"You'll love again." She smiled at him, her lips shaking. "Don't let her go." She swiped a tear away and then turned around, hurrying toward the door, her satin dress hugging her beautifully.
"I love you," he whispered.
She paused at the door, her hand on the handle.
"I always will."
She looked at him over her shoulder. "I know."
He swallowed tightly, letting the tears fall as he closed his eyes, flinching as the door opened and closed. He could hear the music start outside; the wedding march. But he couldn't join in, couldn't pretend. He left; went back to his lonely apartment and stared up at the sky, just as he was now. Wished he could go back, right his wrong. No shooting star to be seen though and he continued to live the life he did, forever regretting that he never stayed with her. And he always would.
[ Next: #005 - Discovery.]