Author: Silence
Disclaimer: I own nothing. FOX, Joss Whedon, Dark Horse Comics, DC, Warner Brothers, the CW, and anyone not me own everything. Doesn't it suck?
Spoilers: There might/will be spoilers for Season 6 of Smallville and all seasons of Buffy. This includes the season 8 comic.
Notes: There is a light ratings bump up in this part, though it is just for innuendo in dialog. If adult innuendo offends you, you may not want to read this.
And yes, this little fic is done. Finished. It was originally never to be more than a oneshot. The fact it even got this far is a shock. But.. it's part of an unfinished series. So there could be other stories connected to this when the desire hits me. It all depends on my mood and if I even like how they turn out. Also, I apologize for the delay in posting this. Life got in the way. And thanks to those of you that took the time to comment. I really appreciate it!
Buffy stared at Oliver Queen in shock. How.. what.. Words. Form words. It would help. "How did you find me?"
Oliver smiled at her. "You'd be amazed how easy it is when you're Star City's version of royalty, Miss Summers."
He even had her name. Buffy opened the door to her hotel room a bit wider and stepped to the side to allow him to enter the room. There would be no invite, after all, day light or not, Buffy wasn't chancing it.
Luckily, it seemed Oliver was a smart enough guy to know a silent invite when he saw one. He stepped inside and the first thing that Buffy did before shutting the door was hand him the bag of Snickers. He arched an eyebrow and she smirked.
"If you're going to stalk me, you can be of some use." Buffy explained.
"As what, your personal candy distributor?"
Buffy was leaning against the door, trying to look casual. She was ignoring the doughy feeling as best as possible, but it had been a while since anyone made her feel that way. And frankly, the fact that the one currently doing so had an actual beating heart made the situation a little brighter. Stupid five minute crushes. This was going to be hell. "I'll have you know, Snickers are a vital part of my daily diet these days. If I don't have my daily sugar intake, it's possible I could snap and cause the entire city's infrastructure to collapse in on itself due to the break in reality."
He gave her an amused look and tossed the bag of Snickers aside. "For the sake of my city, we can't have that. But how about instead of relying on packaged sugar, you let me take you to lunch?"
Was he asking her out? It sounded like it. Buffy blinked in surprise. He couldn't be serious. But then again, he had stalked her. "Do you always stalk women you want to take to lunch?"
"Only the ones that make an impression." Oliver said in what could be considered an honest tone.
"Oh really." Buffy stepped away from the door and folded her arms across her chest. "So I made an impression, did I? Good or bad?"
His reply was simple. "You're the one who left me wanting more,"
The man's smug look intrigued and irritated Buffy all at once. But she grabbed her bag that was on the table near the door. "Wherever you're taking me better have the required amount of sugar, otherwise your city is doomed."
Oliver chuckled and opened the door for her. "Trust me, you'll find yourself completely satisfied."
"And how many girls have you said that to today? Double digits yet?"
"Considering I spent the morning tracking you down, you're the lucky first."
Buffy breezed by him with a smirk. "So you're that hard up?" She received a laugh from him in reply and she tallied another point to her mental scorecard. She heard the door shut behind them and the pair headed down the hall.
"You mock me and yet here you are, coming with me."
She paused at the elevator and gave him a shifty look. His voice was filled with innuendo and the smirk he wore did not help his image. "You have a filthy mind."
Oliver was getting smug at this point. "Apparently so do you."
Buffy stared hard at him as they waited for the elevator. She knew she should have kept her mouth shut. In fact, she should just go right back to her room. Forget the food. Forget the fact that a handsome, breathing, and amusing guy had 'stalked' her. Forget it all.
Of course, as soon as the elevator doors opened, Buffy was on it. Even she didn't have that much will power these days. She lazily leaned against the wall and toned down her stare. "My mind is impeccably clean, Mr. Queen." There were absolutely no thoughts about the best way to use time when in an elevator with a guy like him. None at all.
Oliver pressed the button for the lobby once inside the elevator. His companion was playing it cool, but he wasn't oblivious or blind. "Why do I find that hard to believe?"
"Because you're a guy." Buffy was smirking at him. "And unless you're British, I'm afraid your ability to think coherently is stunted by the hive mind mentality of males in this country."
"Just why are the British exempt from the hive mind?"
"The best influence on me came from a British librarian."
Oh really. Oliver was even more interested the more he heard. "In other words, you play favorites."
She grinned at him. "Damn straight."
Buffy was feeling a little out of place in the restaurant Oliver had taken her to. She felt under dressed in her casual attire but pulled out her secret weapon. Slayer bravado. So here she was, sitting in a normally by reservation only restaurant with the so-called 'prince' of Star City. Her eyes widened at something on the menu. "Oh my god." So much for Slayer Bravado.
Oliver looked up at her quiet gasp. He couldn't tell if it was good or bad. "What's wrong?"
Awe filled her voice. "Snickers Cheesecake." Buffy broke into a grin and Oliver relaxed. "I think I love you."
He laughed heartily at her comment. "I think that's moving a little quickly, don't you?"
"For my current favorite dessert on the planet? No." Buffy resumed skimming the menu. "I may need to skip any idea of actual food and go straight for dessert." She kicked him very lightly under the table as soon as she realized how that might have sounded. "Don't even say it."
Her preemptive reaction just caused Oliver to laugh some more. "I wasn't going to say a word."
"Uh-huh. Right. Sure." She set the menu down, and focused on her date. Was it even a date? Lunch dates didn't really count as date dates. At least she didn't think so. It had been way too long since her last real date. Or any date. "Seriously, Oliver. You went to a lot of trouble just take me to lunch."
He smirked at her. "Nothing worth doing is ever easy."
"So you recognize that I'm not easy? How very.. astute of you to notice." Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. She absently began to drum her fingers on the table. "I'm serious. You can't possibly be the stalker you're pretending to be. So why are we really here?"
Oliver sighed inwardly. When he had come back to Star City, it hadn't been for a business venture as the public thought. He'd come here for a specific reason, and that was to try and recruit Buffy onto his team to dismantle Lex's level 33.1 facilities. On one of his team's last jobs, Victor Stone's download of files revealed some lost and extremely classified information of a former facility with similar motives in a town called Sunnydale. How the Luthors got a hold of such information was still unsure, but there had been files on those that survived the events leading to the Initiative's downfall. While he had intended for their first meeting to be all business from the safety of his Green Arrow disguise, his accidental run in that morning at the coffee shop was too good of an opportunity to miss.
It didn't help that she was actually likable. The last thing he needed was to- No, he wouldn't think back on that or how it ended.
But there she was, expecting an answer. He cleared his throat and put on a charming smile with just a hint of dashing rogue to it. "To be honest, I've known about you for years." Oliver took her stunned and confused expression as a sign to continue. "Your mother was an acquaintance of mine. She helped me locate a few pieces for my private gallery." Oliver found that he didn't enjoy how easily the lie spilled from his lips. Especially considering the woman was gone and unable to verify the story. Which of course was why he'd manufactured it in the first place.
Buffy stared at him in surprise. He knew her mom? "Really? Was that before or after Sunnydale?" While she wanted to probe for more information about his connection to her mom, warning bells were set off. If it was after Sunnydale, he could have gotten something with the 'personal' Sunnydale touch.
"A little bit before," Oliver was a little relieved that he could add some truth to his story now. "Although, I was on the official mailing list for her gallery after the move." And he had been. Or at least one of his subsidiaries was. "I never got around to buying anything else from her.." He readied himself to play the understanding of her loss card when Buffy held up her hand to cut him off.
"Don't say it." She said with a shake of her head. "I've heard it before, and it's not necessary. Really." Buffy hated hearing people say 'I was sorry to hear of her passing'. Or 'She was a wonderful person.' She already knew all of that. She was her mother, for god's sake.
There was an uncomfortable silence between the two that was luckily broken by the waitress. After placing their orders, with Buffy making sure that she was getting an entire Snickers cheesecake, not just one tiny sliver that would still send an anorexic model running for the hills.
"You really like your sugar, don't you." Oliver said with a wry smile.
"Just remember, it's all for the safety of your city."
Oliver couldn't help but chuckle. "Then it's a sacrifice I gladly pay."
Their topic of conversation changed to the usual things, their likes, dislikes, hobbies, but as they enjoyed their lunch, the topics eventually steered to a matter of utmost importance.
"You're not going to share any of that, are you."
Buffy didn't reply and merely savored her first bite of the cheesecake. She ignored the playfully hurt look on her companion's face. "You should have gotten your own." She finally said as she waved her fork at him.
Oliver leaned back in his chair. "Maybe I was hoping you'd share."
"Your hope was in vain, Ollipop." 'Ollipop'? Buffy had to wonder where the hell that newfound nickname had come from. She must have been high on the unusually nice time she was having. "I'm afraid you now have to suffer the true price of saving your city."
His eyebrow rose at Buffy's name for him, but he didn't actually make reference to it. "You're a truly cruel woman, Miss Summers.. but keep in mind, I haven't paid the bill yet."
That stopped Buffy in her tracks. Oh, he was good. She stared at him. He stared back. Her eyes narrowed, but he didn't back down.
Soon enough she had pushed the cheesecake toward him, if only so she could stop staring. Not that she disliked staring at him, but it was making the butterflies in her stomach do flips that would make an Olympic gymnastics team jealous. A victorious grin appeared on Oliver's face and Buffy nearly melted right there.
She was so doomed.