Part 4

Oliver had hoped that after a few days Chloe would go back to normal, or at least, a sense of normal since they had run into Clark at the hospital. However, it had been over a week, and that idea seemed the furthest thing from the truth. While she had embraced the gift of Watchtower, Chloe had also gone into overdrive, setting up the database, helping the team during patrolling, likely only taking a break to get her coffee to keep herself awake.

She had called the whole team over last night to confirm the proper elevator protocols before the really sensitive stuff was stored in Watchtower, so he knew that he shouldn't just stand here, watching her, worrying about her. Chloe knew he was there, but she didn't address him, as her fingers continued to click against the keyboard. In Oliver's mind, that was only part of the problem.

But he knew he couldn't stand there forever. If nothing else, the coffee he bought her would get cold. Walking up next to her, Oliver put the cup down, seeing her eyes light up momentarily. He was glad that he could still bring that expression to her face, as for that same time, Chloe had slept in Watchtower, probably not wanting to take advantage of his hospitality. Or at least... that would be how she would see it.

"Thank you," she said, putting the cup down after a long sip. Her last coffee had been finished over an hour ago, and as usual, Oliver's timing seemed to be spot on, as she was about to head out and get one.

'How's the database coming?"

"It's getting there. Now that the proper security protocols are in place, it's just a matter of transferring the files from Isis to here." Chloe swallowed hard, grabbing her coffee again to feel justified in her next swallow. "Remind me to thank Vic again for running that errand." He was about the only one Chloe trusted to do it, because as silly as it felt to admit, Oliver was right about one thing. She couldn't go back to Isis anymore.

Seeing Chloe's expression continue to fall, Oliver tried to change the subject. "How's Lois doing?" Despite his suspicions of her sleeping habits, there was a part of him that hoped that the Talon wasn't crossed off for her places to visit too, especially now that it wasn't empty anymore.

That was one of the more positive things that had happened in awhile, Lois grabbing her things and moving back with Chloe. But from the way her face remained stoic, Oliver knew that things weren't quite sunshine and roses.

"She's Blur-hunting." Chloe pursed her lips, trying to hold back a scoff. "Apparently Clark still talks to somebody after all."

Oliver rolled his eyes, mostly because he knew that Chloe couldn't see it. While her best friend status with Clark was questionable at best these days, Oliver didn't want to jump to conclusions either. "That's his loss."

This time, Chloe couldn't silence her scoff. "Is it really?"

"Well," Oliver replied, placing his hand on her shoulder, watching as her eyes looked over the same shoulder to meet his. "It's definitely our gain."

Chloe knew that he meant every word, and it was that knowledge that allowed the smallest of grins to sneak out. When he matched it, Chloe inhaled quickly, turning back to the computer. "Anyway, she's still Lois, so I'll never be completely off her radar. She wants to catch up... but I'm not sure what to tell her, especially because she wants to know how I lost Davis."

"What did you tell her?"

"That he's no longer a problem," Chloe said with a sigh. "His file is practically non-existent at the police thanks to the mayhem of that night and I don't exactly feel like explaining everything."

With Lois, that wouldn't be enough, Oliver knew that, but the situation wasn't the easiest to explain. He could offer to talk to Lois, but Oliver knew that would probably solve even less. That's when Oliver realized that there was no need to over-complicate things. "If she asks, I'll maintain your story, have the guys back you up too."

"Huh?"

Oliver merely shrugged as he recognized the confusion on her face. "Davis is no longer a problem. How and why don't matter now."

Chloe nodded. "Right."

Sensing a close on that conversation, Oliver decided to reveal the real reason for his visit. "So... I was thinking, it's a nice day and you probably could use a bit more to eat than your morning blueberry bagel." She stopped working again, clearly not sure where he was going with this. "Lunch on me, how does that sound?"

To Chloe, it sounded incredibly sweet, but there was no way she could leave Watchtower right now. In fact, his timing was oddly perfect in more ways than one. "Can't Ollie." She saw him frown, but she wasn't fazed by it, pulling up the picture she had noticed in the monorail crash photos. "Let's just say Lois wasn't the only one who mysteriously appeared on the monorail."

Oliver's head jerked back. "What?"

"Lois was jabbering something about a ninja lady at the hospital. I initially thought she hit her head too hard, but... then I found this."

He watched as Chloe effortlessly zoomed in on the marks on the wall. It took a second, but after a squint of his eyes, Oliver stepped forward to confirm his suspicions. "Scorch marks?"

"They're Kryptonian, I'm sure of it."

For something like that, Oliver knew he was best to trust her judgement. When it came to out-of-this-world phenomena, he was still trying to catch up. "Do you think that she's trying to get Clark's attention?"

Chloe merely shrugged as she minimized the photos, bringing back up what she needed. "No sign of the showdown yet, but I'm keeping an eye out."

Oliver looked outside, reminding himself of the time of day, and the small chance Clark would be out right now. "Likely nothing until after dark though, so I don't think you should say no to a free lunch."

Sound logic, but it wasn't enough to sway Chloe. She had too much work to do. "No, I'm... not really that hungry actually. Thanks though."

"Okay, but if you change your mind..."

"I'll call you." Hearing his footsteps retreat, she felt a hint of guilt, but she swallowed it back with another sip of her coffee. However, she broke the silence before he reached the door. "And Ollie?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you... keep an eye on the streets for me?" She hated asking him for another favour, but Oliver was her only option for patrolling right now. "Vic and AC have their own missions to attend to, Dinah's out of town and I don't want to rush Bart back into the field."

Oliver was tempted to shake his head, as he wanted to tell her that she didn't have to explain herself. But he held it back and told her what she wanted to hear, which fortunately coincided with the truth. "Sure, I'll be here."

~0~

Hearing the door open to the Talon, Chloe looked up from her work just as her cousin entered the room. "Hey Lois." When Lois didn't say anything back, Chloe added, "You're in late. Hot story?"

Lois scoffed as she placed her purse on the counter. "Yes, but to be honest cuz, I'm surprised you're even here."

Chloe narrowed her eyes at that comment, but continued to type away before saying her remark. "Live here, remember?"

"Yeah, but you've been oddly absent all week." Chloe felt Lois sit down beside her, so she changed what she was working on before facing her. Lois saw the quick movement and looked at Chloe with concern. "What's going on with you?"

Chloe tried to shrug it off, because she was fine. Sure, a couple bumps here and there, but overall, her days were getting a lot easier. "Nothing... just a lot of late nights working, I guess."

"Where?"

She rolled her eyes, as Chloe hoped Lois would finally believe her when she said, "I told you, Ollie sold the Isis office and while I still run it, he has me working software freelance work for him whenever I have time."

Unfortunately, that didn't help convince Lois in any way. Her expression hadn't changed because it didn't explain the late hours, or the fact that Lois had no idea where her office was these days. Chloe would hide everything with a smirk or a clichéd comment, so Lois couldn't help but be concerned at this point. But Lois also knew there was no point pushing the issue, so she tried the simplest question she had. "Okay, but where the heck are you sleeping?"

Chloe hadn't been sleeping, or at least, not much. She'd take the couches at Watchtower if she needed an hour of shut-eye, otherwise she would use coffee to keep her going. But of course, it wasn't like Chloe could tell Lois that. "Ollie offers one of his spare bedroom on nights I work late."

Lois' head jerked back upon hearing that response. "I didn't realize you and Oliver became so close."

"We're friends right?" Chloe sighed again as she closed up the laptop and headed for bed. "He insists, as the late-night jobs are the reasons I'm up so late, that I'm not driving home tired."

It was mostly the truth, as he had been looking out for her, but lately, Chloe was keeping him at an arms-length distance. She wasn't sure why, initially it was because she didn't need to be babysat, but even Chloe knew that wasn't the case anymore. Something had changed in their dynamic, and for some reason, Chloe was trying to prevent that change, even if it was positive, from happening.

~0~

Lois knew that what she was about to was overstepping, but she was tired of being treated with kids gloves. There was something clearly going on and Lois wanted to get down to the bottom of it once and for all. She only hoped that Oliver would provide the answers.

Walking up to his receptionist, Lois was able to worm her way to see him right away, so she wasted little time. After opening the door, she took a few steps towards his desk, clearing her throat when she stopped in front of it.

That reaction got Oliver to look up, his familiar smile forming as he pulled back his chair. "Long time no see Legs."

"Legs," Lois asked, raised eyebrow as she crossed her arms. "Really?" He hadn't used that nickname in a long time, but then again, for Oliver, it had been a long time since they had seen each other.

"What can I help you with?" he asked, reminding himself that he never did visit her in the hospital. He had meant to, but there was so much going on that he never had time. That, and whenever he saw the hospital, he thought about how he felt about what Clark had done. Because of that, Oliver never did end up in her hospital room that night, as he decided to remain outside to ensure he was okay when he saw Chloe again.

However, he knew that his behaviour was also unfair to Lois, as she didn't do anything to deserve that. Seeing her now, Oliver realized that maybe he could make that up to her now.

He could give her just about anything, anything except what she actually wanted.

"It's Chloe... she seems distracted." Lois watched as Oliver's mouth opened, an expression she knew too well. "And don't play dumb. I know I missed three weeks, but I read about the wreckage. I'm just wondering how it relates to my cousin."

"What did she tell you?"

"That she's getting better, that Davis Bloome was one of the people who died, and that Clark is nowhere to be found because he's visiting cousins in Iowa."

Oliver pretended to consider the story for a second, as he was slightly surprised that Lois had even answered his question, but maybe that was just a sign of how desperate she was. Unfortunately, filling in those blanks with the answers she wanted would only led to more questions. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to tell you."

Lois gritted her teeth at his nonchalance. It was the first sign that he was lying to her, as he could use that line on the paparazzi, on strangers, but she knew him too well. "No, you don't do this, not with me. Not when you've left me god knows how many messages about her. So I know this isn't nothing, it's the opposite of –"

She took her eyes away from him for a second, recognizing today's Daily Planet on the table, the story of Green Arrow stopping a bank robbery last night. "Of course, she knows, doesn't she?"

"What?"

"Ollie," Lois said as she picked up the paper, pointing her finger at the article. "She works with you. That's why she won't tell me everything… because it protects you and your team."

He wanted to lie to Lois, but she had seen through every attempt to lie before and right now, even he knew that his expression betrayed him. "Something like that."

He had closed his eyes, waiting for her barrage of questions, but instead, Lois said, "Okay."

"Okay?" he repeated, his eyes popping open in response.

Lois chuckled slightly at his surprise. She couldn't blame him for that, as she did want more answers, but she decided to at least settle for the reason why she wasn't getting them. "I trust you Oliver. I know you wouldn't hurt Chloe and even though you're clearly keeping something from me, if that means you're protecting her, then okay."

"Thanks Lois," he said, taking her hand in his.

~0~

If there was one thing that Chloe liked about Watchtower, it was that she was getting used to silence again. She could cancel out the noise around her, the noise in her head and focus on getting the job done. Even if the mystery assassin was nowhere to be found, it gave her a distraction, it reminded her of why she did this.

However, there were certain sounds that she couldn't ignore, especially when the source of it should be resting up. "Bart, you need to –" For a second, Chloe thought her heart had actually stopped upon seeing who actually stood in front of her. "Clark."

He tried to smile, but seeing the way her expression continued to sour, he decided to cut to the chase. "I… wanted to apologize."

Chloe scoffed before turning back towards the screen. "Okay, apology accepted." She kept an ear out for the familiar whoosh, the reliable hope that Clark would leave, but for once in his life, he didn't.

He stayed right where he was, hoping that he could find a way for his best friend to look at him again. "You were right... I shouldn't have left. At least not the way I did."

Knowing that she couldn't ignore him forever, Chloe closed her eyes as her head dipped down. "Then why did you?" He could have done anything. He could have left after saying goodbye, he could have done anything except what he did.

Clark mirrored her actions, as his gaze met his feet before giving her the best answer he could. "I felt guilty." He couldn't find himself to regret his actions entirely, but if he had done something sooner, then maybe Chloe wouldn't have had to kill Davis. In a way, he felt like he had failed her. Only when he came back to Metropolis did he realize that him leaving was the real failure.

"I needed you," Chloe reminded him, but the words felt different this time. At the hospital, she was in shock, she was too emotional, and she let her hopeless side show. This time, she wanted him to know that it wasn't as easy to walk back in her life and expect everything to be okay. "And I'm tired of this. I'm tired of fighting with you Clark." She scoffed after she spoke his name. "Or do I even call you that anymore?"

After a nod, Clark replied, "I'm back, Chloe. I'm going back to work tomorrow."

She bit the inside of her lip, wanting to be happy that her best friend had returned, but instead she still felt her anger rising. "Well, it's good to know that Lois means enough for you to make up your mind."

"Lois was my wake-up call, but she's not the only reason I'm back." It didn't look like it right now, but based on the fact that Chloe had left him access to this building, that meant there was a chance to repair their friendship. "I'm not expecting you to forgive and forget, I don't deserve that. With any luck, one day, we could have a fresh start."

Crossing her arms, Chloe broke eye contact, not sure what to say. After a sigh, she found her answer, "I'll need some time."

That was understandable in Clark's mind. He knew that he had hurt her, and that answer confirmed that there was hope here. "Whatever it takes, Chloe. I mean it."

"Sure you do," Chloe replied as he disappeared from her sight. It wasn't the first time he had said those words and let her down, and she was pretty sure it wouldn't be the last, but she had to hold onto that silver of hope.

Sera's Scribbles: I could regret posting this, as I'm trusting a lot of the words I wrote years ago, probably more than I should because my writing has changed a lot since this story. But if I don't post something soon, I'm not sure I will ever come back to this story… and there's a lot of stuff that I actually like ahead. That said, the next part's not close, and I'm going to focus on a few other fics first… but I hope this pushes me to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk.