An Origin Story: 11/23

[bluesuedeshoes]

Author:  BlueSuede
Title:  An Origin Story
Rating: R/M
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings:  Chloe/Oliver
Summary:  AU in which Oliver's parents never died
Warnings: minor spoilers for most early seasons



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Prologue

Previous (Chapter 10)
Next (Chapter 12)

Chapter 11:

The Return of John Little

It had been weeks since the trip and what Chloe had dubbed in her mind as 'the incident,' Chloe and Oliver had returned to a state of comfortable normalcy almost immediately afterward, both following a silent agreement not to talk about what had happened in Oliver's room. Not that it prevented Oliver from thinking about it every five seconds or stopped Chloe from blushing every so often when she caught herself staring at him unconsciously.

Currently, the two of them were preparing for Christmas, which Chloe had been invited to spend at the Queen mansion.

She knew the invitation was due to the fact that Laura Queen had been putting at least 90% of her energy into forcing Chloe and Oliver to become a couple, but she couldn't help but be grateful. Apparently the General was whisking Lois away for the holidays, and the Kents had been invited along. Even though she was welcome to go off and visit the General, for some reason she wasn't able to excite herself about the idea. Her own father was-much as she tried not to think about it-seeing someone, and it was going to be their first Christmas together. Chloe was of course welcome in her own home, but even though Chloe didn't expect their relationship to last, when Mrs. Queen made Chloe the offer, she'd decided to let her dad and his...friend have some space.

With a week until Christmas, Chloe was helping Laura decorate, which was an even more daunting task than it had originally seemed. However, Chloe was throwing herself into the matter heart and soul. She didn't want to admit it, but the hole Kent-Lane Christmas, not to mention her father's new found...friendship, had left her feeling somewhat lonely.

At least I've got Ollie and his parents, she thought fondly, standing alongside Mrs. Queen as they directed and redirected Oliver on exactly where to hang a wreath. Sure, they had hired professionals to decorate the house, but it was just too much fun telling Oliver what to do to let anyone else handle certain tasks.

Oliver was a good sport, of course. Laughing at the women's indecisiveness, he wiped the sweat from his brow and warned them that he was going on strike in thirty seconds if they hadn't found the dead center of the banister yet. Chloe swallowed hard. For the past ten minutes it had been difficult not to stare at the incredibly well-defined muscles on Oliver's arms.

"Can't I just get a tape measurer to find the center?" he called down to them, hanging haphazardly from the balcony to reposition the giant wreath again.

"Why didn't we think of that in the first place?" Chloe asked, laughing in turn.

"Because this was much more fun," Laura pointed out, grabbing a tape measurer from her jean pocket, at which Chloe laughed even harder. She took it from Laura and tossed it up to Oliver.

"You women are going to be my demise," he warned them as he caught it.

"Only if you stop following instructions, darling," Laura called back.

Oliver shook his head.

"So, Chloe, how are things at the paper?" Laura asked. "Oliver tells me you work nonstop."

"Well," Chloe said, sitting down on the floor to watch Oliver (she'd been on her feet all day), "I know he thinks I burn the candle at both ends, but I promise, occasionally I go home at night. It's just difficult to keep the balance when any given moment something world-altering could be happening and I might be missing the story." She grinned to herself. It really was difficult to tell herself to stop being a journalist sometimes.

"Well, I admire your passion. It's so nice to see that. It seems to be a dying quality to be both ambitious and not mind hard work these days."

Chloe's cheeks tinged pink. Oliver's parents praised her constantly, and she wasn't always certain she was as amazing as they made her out to be, but it was nice to hear nonetheless.

"So," Oliver said, dusting his hands off as he headed down the stairs toward them. "Lunch?" he asked Chloe, throwing his arm over her shoulder.

"I thought you'd never ask," Chloe laughed, putting an arm around his waist in return and ignoring the sudden flush in her cheeks. Her stomach had been rumbling for hours.

"Oh, good. I was starting to get concerned you only kept me around for my muscles," he teased, walking her toward the kitchen.

"Cheeky thing," his mother muttered, smiling nonetheless.

"Coming, Mom?" Oliver asked over his shoulder.

"You two go ahead," she said, waving them off and heading upstairs.

"I feel like the greatest mistake I ever made was allowing my mother to be in the same room as you," Oliver joked on the way down the hall. "I never thought I'd see the day where I met someone as into Christmas as her."

Chloe shrugged. "I like the holidays."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

She swatted the back of his head and ducked from under his arm. "Hi, Mike," she greeted cheerfully upon entering the kitchen and finding the chef there.

"Miss Chloe," he beamed. "Lunch?" he asked. She nodded. "I made reubens. I figured you two would be in here any minute." He indicated a couple of sandwiches already waiting for them.

"Aw, we could have made something for ourselves," Chloe said, throwing her arms around Mike's neck and planting an affectionate kiss on his cheek. Oliver pushed aside the instant but slight tinge of jealousy for the gesture. Chloe had not been in the Queen manor for three minutes before making intimate friends with every staff member there. After knowing Oliver for close to a year, the staff had grown to love her. As a matter of fact, as Oliver was constantly mentioning, he had the sneaking suspicion that they all liked her better than him.

To which she always replied, "Well duh."

"So what are you getting Chloe for Christmas?" Chloe asked in the third person, being as nonchalant as possible.

"Absolutely nothing," Oliver replied. "Why? You think she deserves a present?" he smirked at her as he took a bite of his sandwich, which was still hot from the frying pan.

Chloe rolled her eyes, grinning nonetheless. Ever curious, she'd been trying to surprise the answer out of him for days.

---

Christmas Eve had arrived, and Oliver had been cursing another of Chloe's cocktail dresses in his mind as they sat around with his parents, sipping champagne after dinner, just talking and relaxing.

They'd had a party, of course, and Oliver had danced with Chloe several songs, wondering all the while whether she'd had more to drink than he realized, or if there were another reason for the increasing blush in her cheeks. He'd watched with a slight pang of annoyance as other men flirted with her, and Chloe never properly discouraged them, mostly because she was oblivious to the motive of their attentions. He couldn't help but remember one of the first things he ever said to her: that she had no idea how beautiful she was. It just didn't occur to Chloe that she was attractive.

Chloe, meanwhile, had spent a great portion of the evening wondering if she were imagining Oliver's eyes on her constantly. Eventually she brushed it off as him being overprotective, not unlike the way he handled her talking to Bruce. She did note, however, when the guests had gone home, that he looked especially nice that evening, his sleeves rolled up, his tie carelessly loosened, shirt tail hanging out, and the top buttons undone. She liked him like that. He looked so relaxed and at ease, but at the same time, he exuded a power and control over everything around him. He owned the room without having to so much as lift a finger.

As it reached later and later hours, Chloe finally excuse herself for bed rising to head up to the guest room she'd been staying in, and Oliver decided to follow after. Until his father cleared his throat and stopped them in their tracks with two words. "Kids," he said, a hint of pleasure in his voice, "tradition."

His eyes were above their heads, and Oliver and Chloe closed their eyes in disbelief. Mistletoe. Laura had been putting up new sprigs everyday for unstated but rather obvious reasons, but Chloe and Oliver had successfully avoided it.

Until that moment, apparently. They looked back at each other embarrassedly, but then to Chloe's surprise, Oliver shrugged, leaned down, and planted a friendly kiss on Chloe's lips. Chloe looked mildly astonished, but he just grinned. "They never would have left us alone if we hadn't," he whispered. "Night, Mom. Night, Dad. Merry Christmas," he said more loudly, before turning to leave the room.

Chloe followed after, eyebrows still slightly raised. She lifted her fingers and traced them along her lips.

Well that was unexpected, she thought.

Oliver meanwhile, was glad no one could see his face because he was sure his face was on fire.

Damn dresses, he thought.

---

It was a quarter to midnight when Chloe rolled over, still wide awake. She had the strangest feeling that someone was in the house who hadn't been there before.

Once upon a time, she would have told herself it was Santa Claus. At the moment, however, she just didn't think so. Wrapping herself in a robe, she slowly opened her door and walked down the hallway, her ears picking up the sound of male voices now that she'd left her room. She followed them down to Oliver's room, the voices growing sharper and sharper. She was about to knock on his door to see what was going on, but at the sound of an unknown voice, she stopped.

"I'm telling you, Oliver, you need to let this 'traveler' thing go. I don't know why you didn't tell me about the Teagues and the Swanns, but if you think I'm going to let you become the next on Lionel's hit list, you're more of an idiot than I realized."

Chloe recognized that voice. She was sure of it. She couldn't place it, though, and there were more important matters at hand, like Oliver knowing about the Traveler.

"Look, Hal, I'm not letting this go, and that's exactly why. Luthor tried to off my parents. He's willing to go to any lengths to make sure he's the only one who has any influence on this guy, and I can't let that happen. Now tell me what you found out in Metropolis."

Chloe stifled a gasp.

"I think you're right about the Kent kid," Oliver's friend responded wearily. "Don't know how you pegged it to him, but I kept an eye on him for a couple of days, and he was constantly disappearing. I finally caught him in the act. I was stopping a robbery when he showed up to do the exact same thing. Pretended I had no idea who he was. Nice guy actually," he added.

"I can't believe it. So it really is him, then?"

"I'd put good money on it, man. Especially when you consider the fact that he's from Smallville. Sounds like there was another motive behind shipping Lex to that particular small town back when. Then there's that whole meteor shower thing. The timing's all a little too convenient to ignore."

Chloe couldn't-refused-to believe what she was hearing. It couldn't be. It just couldn't.

---

To say Oliver was getting concerned would be an understatement. Chloe barely acknowledged him all day Christmas day. She spoke to him only when it was absolutely necessary and she was avoiding eye contact. Even when she unwrapped his gift, a beautiful leather bound journal accompanied by a stunning silver pen, she gave him only a forced smile and empty-sounding "Thank you." When he opened her gift, a framed photograph of them, she'd returned his hug but stiffly, and he'd had the distinct impression his gesture was unwelcome at best.

It had to be something to do with him. She was still acting perfectly fine around his parents.

He'd begun to think maybe she had really had a problem with him kissing her under the mistletoe the night before when he headed upstairs that night. He didn't see why it would be such a big deal. The kiss had barely lasted one or two seconds-however nice it might have been-and it wasn't as though there were any real reason to feel awkward about it. They'd been friends long enough that it shouldn't have mattered.

He shook his head wearily, thinking all women were nuts when he opened the door of his bedroom and his eyebrows shot up in complete shock.

Chloe was sitting at his desk, her legs crossed and arms folded. His laptop was open, and she was shooting daggers at him.

"Chloe?" he asked, confused.

"Want to explain to me why you've been doing a background check on my best friend?" She gestured the computer, on which she had pulled up several files related to Clark Kent. He didn't have the stomach to wonder how she'd managed to crack the passwords involved in accessing those.

Oliver's feet grew roots. Lightning could have struck and he wouldn't have flinched as he stared at her in horror. "What?" he managed.

"Why have you been researching Clark? How in God's name did you find out he was-" she stopped herself, swallowing tightly. Tears were welling in her eyes and Oliver started to panic. There was no way he could explain this. "Please," she closed her eyes, speaking quietly, "please, please tell me-" she choked, "that we are not friends because you were using me to get to Clark. Please tell me I was not just some pawn."

She opened her eyes and looked into his defiantly.

"Chloe, no. It's not like that. I-" but she was already getting up from the chair and brushing past him.

"My bags are packed and I'm leaving. Please apologize to your parents for me in the morning."

Oliver chased after her. He grabbed her arm and swung her around. "Chloe, listen-"

"No, you listen!" she said loudly, a tremor in her voice. "You've got a lot of gall even speaking to me. I can't believe that you would stoop so low as to-" she shook her head. "I guess I don't really know you at all, do I?You're just as bad as Lex, aren't you? He used to do the same kind of things: using people, spying on people, keeping secrets. It never occurred to him to just ask a direct question, either."

And she wrenched her arm free of his hold, walking away, ice crystallizing on the ground beneath every tread of her feet, leaving Oliver alone in horror.

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Next (Chapter 12)