An Origin Story: 16/23

[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 15)
Next (Chapter 17)

Chapter 16:

A Chat With the Lionheart

When Laura Queen went searching for her son the morning after the Make-A-Wish gala, it was with the intention of chewing his ear off for not showing up the night before. It wasn't just that she was frustrated with him for not showing up. That was immature. The thing that really bothered her was that he stood Chloe up. She'd seen Chloe roaming around looking abandoned half the night, and then she'd just disappeared. It was evident she'd given up on waiting for Oliver and gone home. Besides that, her husband had informed her that he'd seen Chloe dancing with the star pitcher for the Rockets. If Oliver wasn't careful, he was going to let that girl slip right through his fingers.

She shook her head, sighing wearily as she climbed the spiraling flight of stairs up to the second floor.

This punctuality issue her son was experiencing needed to be ended once and for all. He was persistently late, constantly missing from important events. She couldn't even begin to imagine where it was he went all the time, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know, but he really needed to determine where his priorities lay.

With that in mind, she opened the door to her son's room, prepared to drag him out of bed to scold him, but she stopped short, mouth opening slightly.

Oliver was not in his bed, although he was home. He was lying on his couch with none other than Chloe Sullivan lounging comfortably in his arms, both of them snoring, her son loudly enough to wake the dead.

She would have smiled, would have thought the scene sweet and endearing, but unfortunately, marring it was the large purple bruise that had blossomed on her son's face. She grimaced, trying to determine whether or not she was going to demand to know where it came from or not. She had led a rather long life, and she had a son who was sometimes less than model, and she had learned long ago that somethings were better left un-investigated.

She looked at him again, and then at Chloe, and for a moment, she did give into that smile. Finally, with a sigh, she shut the door of his room and backed out. She would talk to Oliver after Chloe had gone home.

---

That afternoon, Oliver walked out of the kitchen, tossing an apple in the air and catching it in one hand, about ready to start whistling he was in such a good mood. Lifting the apple to his lips he paused mid-oversized-bite, at the sight of his mother, standing at the bottom of the stair case, arms folded, fixing him with the ever-intimidating 'Mom-stare.'

Haphazardly catching the apple as it fell from his mouth, he blurted out, "I can explain," before he could stop himself.

Laura gave him a wry smile, amusement dancing in her eyes. "Oh?"

Expression contrite, he lifted a shoulder helplessly.

"I'm trying to decide where I want you to begin. How about with where you were last night?"

"Upstairs?" he suggested mildly.

She nodded, the corner of her lip twitching. "And before that?"

"Look, I'm sorry I was late, but when I got home, I figured you'd prefer it if I didn't show up looking like I just got pulled from a bar fight."

"Had you just been pulled from a bar fight?" she asked, eyeing the bruise on his cheek.

"Not-not exactly."

Laura sighed. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" She almost regretted saying it. She instantly noted the wheels turning behind Oliver's eyes as he sought out an explanation, and whatever he said next, she knew it wouldn't be the truth.

"Mugger. Saw him pull some older woman into an alley and I went to help her."

She looked him hard in the eyes, looking for some sign that he was wavering from his story. Oliver did his best not to look guilty. Technically it wasn't entirely untrue. That exact thing had happened the previous night, only it had been the Green Arrow rescuing her. It just wasn't where he had picked up the bruise, either.

Finally she sighed again and said, "Oh well, as long as you apologized to Chloe for making her wait on you-"

"I did."

"-and she was okay with it-"

"She was."

The corner of her lips tugged knowingly. "How is Chloe today?"

"She's...fine."

"Hmm. That's nice. Listen, Oliver, I wanted to tell you, your father and I will be going out of town for about a week. We're leaving tonight."

Oliver, who had once again made a failed attempt to take a bite from his apple, looked at her in surprise. "So urgent? Where are you going?"

"Metropolis. And then Seoul, South Korea."

"What are you doing in Metropolis?" he asked suspiciously.

Laura laughed. "That's the part you're curious about? Not the trip to another hemisphere?"

He continued to stare her down, not missing the way her eyes darted to the left corner when she answered next.

"We're stopping in Metropolis to see Lionel Luthor."

Oliver gaped unabashedly at her. "You're doing what?"

Laura rolled her eyes, turning to head upstairs. "You know, contrary to your personal sentiments, Oliver, one can carry on business without actually liking the person you're doing business with."

"Maybe," he said after her, "but you definitely can't do business with someone you don't trust."

Laura, several steps up now, glanced over her shoulder to look at him appraisingly. "Perhaps not, but sometimes you just have to trust people to be untrustworthy. It's almost the same thing," she told him in a tone that signaled the end of the conversation.

"Where's dad?" he forged on recklessly. "Is he here?"

"He's at the office, darling."

"On a Sunday?"

"Well, we are leaving on a last minute trip, Oliver. He had to tie up some loose ends," she said firmly before turning away.

Oliver watched her go warily before taking off for the office. He was getting to the bottom of this if it killed him.

---

"Oh, Miss Hart, what have I told you about fraternizing with that woman?" Oliver said, surprised when he walked outside the lobby of his father's office to see Chloe sitting cross-legged on top of Leanne's desk, leaning over to look at something on the computer screen. Chloe looked up and smirked. "How did you find me?" he asked.

"Who said I was looking for you?" she asked, grinning as he walked over and planted a quick kiss on her lips. "I might have just been commiserating with a certain over-worked secretary."

Leanne watched the exchange with raised eyebrows and an amused smile.

"Which brings me to my next question: How on earth did my father convince you to come in on a Sunday?" Oliver asked Leanne.

She shrugged. "Ever think maybe you're not the only one who knows what my favorite perfume is?" she asked, betraying herself with a smile. In spite of her off-hand reply, Oliver was sure his father had convinced her it was fairly urgent to bring her into the office.

"Right. Well, is he in?"

"As a matter of fact, he told me to send you in if you stopped by."

Oliver blinked. "I'm sorry, run that by me again?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"You just said you were going to let me in my father's office."

"So?" Chloe said, watching him with equal amusement.

"So in all the time I have known her, she has never let me in there that easily."

Chloe snorted, and Leanne rolled her eyes. "I do my job, Mr. Queen. If giving you a hard time happens to coincide with that job, that isn't my fault."

"Don't pretend you don't enjoy it."

"I never said I didn't," she told him, buzzing him in.

Oliver leaned over to kiss Chloe again. "I'll deal with you when I get out of there."

Brow arched skeptically, Chloe watched him walk into his father's office.

The door closed and Leanne threw a pad of sticky notes at Chloe. Chloe ducked in the nick of time. "Woah! What was that for?" she asked in surprise.

"Were you going to tell me that you two were suddenly all over each other?"

Chloe blushed. "We're not all over each other," she said indignantly.

Leanne sighed. "He is so wasted on you."

---

"Hello, Dad," Oliver said as he approached his father's desk.

Robert looked up from his computer. "Son," he greeted. "Judging by the sarcastic tone, I'd say you're upset about something."

"Yeah, I am," Oliver said, resting his hands on his father's desk to lean across it. "I'd like to know why, all of a sudden, after more than a decade of having absolutely nothing to do with Lionel Luthor, all of a sudden, you and Mom are paying him regular visits."

"It's b-"

"Don't you dare feed me the 'It's business' line! This is about something else and we both know it! Why are you and Mom keeping this from me? What the hell is going on?"

Robert watched as Oliver paced angrily back in forth in front of his desk. "Oliver, it's nothing to worry about. Lionel has some-" he hesitated, searching for the right word, "research," he settled on finally, "that I'm interested in. I'm attempting to persuade him to share it with me."

Oliver glared at him. "Research on what?"

Robert chuckled lightly. "Listen, Oliver," he said, rubbing his temple with a weary sigh. "I would love to spend all afternoon talking to you about the many things Lionel Luthor has that I'd rather he didn't, but I don't have time. I was going to call you in if you didn't stop by. I need you to take care of a few things while we're gone."

Oliver raised his brow grimly. "Oh?"

"Don't take that bleak attitude. There's a board of directors meeting tomorrow you need to head up, and I need you to take a couple of meetings for me."

"Uh huh," Oliver said, sitting down finally and giving in for the moment.

"And I figured while you're speaking with the board, you can go ahead and show them that proposal you gave me," Robert added casually, lifting his computer screen again.

Oliver looked up.

"The one you gave me last week," Robert said, noticing his confused expression. "I've been looking it over." He lifted a file from his desk and tossed it over to Oliver indicatively. "It's good stuff. I'm impressed. I think the board will be, too."

Oliver was silent, and Robert looked over at him, amused.

"You're always so shocked when I treat you like an adult. Now get out of here. I imagine Miss Sullivan is still waiting out there for you," he dismissed, looking back down to his computer and typing something.

Oliver rose to leave, still not sure what to say, but then he paused. "Hang on, what is it you're doing in South Korea, exactly?"

Robert looked up again and chuckled. "Visitng Oh Se-hoon."

"What's he up to these days? More water-purification projects?"

"Running for president, actually."

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Wish him luck for me," he said, turning to the door again and walking out.

Outside he found Chloe and Leanne gossiping about something. Both women stopped talking abruptly at the sight of him. He grinned. "Oh, please don't stop on my account. You'll make me think you were talking about me."

The women exchanged significant glances. And Oliver narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Right." He turned to Chloe. "You were looking for me?"

She nodded, hopping down from the desk. "Your mother figured you would probably be here. You're taking me to lunch," she informed him, straightening his tie before patting his shoulder affectionately. "Let's go."

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Next (Chapter 17)