Talking Things Through. With chloeas.

[olliequeen]

The drive back to the clock tower was long and silent. He wanted to ask her what had happened, but he knew her well enough to know she needed some time to sort it out in her own mind before he started asking questions. It was no secret to anyone who knew them that Chloe and Tess pretty much hated one another, and had since they'd first met. He knew there were a lot of reasons behind that hatred, and frankly he didn't think it was something either of them were going to be getting past anytime in the near future.

He shut the car off once it was in the underground parking lot beneath the tower, and glanced over at her. When she didn't make a move, he slowly climbed out of the car and moved around to the passenger side, opening the door silently and unfastening her seatbelt.

"Put your arms around my neck," he said softly, wincing at the large bruise that was already forming beneath her right eye.

Comments

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"I can walk," she told him, taking a deep breath bit still not moving as he leaned closer, "I'm fine," her back was hurting quite a bit, probably from hitting the knife block and her head was exploding but otherwise, she was physically okay.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Humor me?" he asked quietly, gazing at her. "Please."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head against his shoulder.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He pulled her gently from the car, kicking the door shut behind him before making his way over toward the elevator. "Got quite a bruise under your eye," he told her, pressing the button for the top floor of the clock tower.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe made a face at that and sighed, "great."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver managed a small smile, falling silent until the elevator reached its destination. Then he carried her off of it and moved over to the sofa, gently setting her down there. "Gonna grab some ice."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She winced a little as she leaned back against the arm of the couch so she sat up once more, "need to check on Conner."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

His eyebrows furrowed a little bit as he watched her wince. Holding his breath, he makes a spinning motion with his index finger, indicating for her to turn around.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

With a deep breath she turned sideways and pulled her shirt up, "how bad is it?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He winced at the amount of bruising. "Bad," he said quietly. He leaned down, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You call Lois and see how Conner's doing, I'm going to get that ice and get you some aspirin."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"Okay," she nodded, getting up from the couch and reaching for her phone.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He returned a few moments later, carrying an ice pack, a glass of water, and a bottle of painkillers. "Conner okay?" he asked.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," she breathed, tossing her phone back down on the couch but not bothering with sitting down, "Lois had taken him to go see a movie."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He watched her for a moment. "Which is hurting worse right now? Cheek or your back?"

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe looked at him for a moment then took her shirt off, "I think I hurt it when I hit the stuff that was over the counter."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Lie down," he said softly, nodding toward the sofa once more. "And get comfortable."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She sighed softly and laid down on her stomach, shaking her head a little, "you realize this isn't fair, right?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"What isn't?" he asked quietly, gently settling the ice pack on her back and smoothing the hair back from her face.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe winced at the cold ice against her back and let her breath out slowly, "you do this to yourself every night, you never let me ice your bruises."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

A small smile touched his mouth and he raised his eyebrows. "I don't usually come back quite this bruised up, Chloe." He sat down on the floor beside the sofa, his fingers tangled gently in her hair as he massaged her scalp.

"Tell me what happened."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She let out a breath slowly, closing her eyes as she felt his fingers against her head, "I'm not sure," she admitted, even though this felt like a familiar conversation.

"I saw her there and... we started bickering and it escalated."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"What did she say?" he asked softly, watching her.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"Something about me manipulating you and trying to manipulate Clark into doing things my way," she told him, blowing out a breath and closing her eyes again, "something about how I didn't know what was best for the two of you, like I hadn't with Davis and Jimmy."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He winced at that. Well, now it all made sense in his head. No wonder she'd slapped Tess. He slid his hand down to her neck, gently massaging it with his fingers. "She doesn't know what she's talking about." His voice was quiet. "She really has no clue about any of it."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"I know," Chloe sighed, relaxing slightly under his touch but opening her eyes to look at him, "I would never expect someone like her to understand it."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver met her eyes, keeping his touch light and gentle against her neck. "It doesn't matter. It's none of her business anyway."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Nodding, she keep her eyes on him, "I just wish she would just... go away and not be a part of our lives anymore."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He stroked her cheek lightly with his thumb, gazing at her. "Soon enough. We'll be in Star City permanently before you know it." He smiled softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"I can't wait," she said quietly, closing her eyes and sighing softly. She just wanted to get the wedding part over with and leave Metropolis with Ollie, every day she wanted that more and more.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Me either," he said just as quietly, resting his forehead against hers.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe looked at him then shifted slightly on the couch, pressing her lips against his softly, "thank you."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"For what?" His eyebrows furrowed even as he kissed her back.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"For taking care of me," she whispered, taking a deep breath, "for believing me."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He smiled softly, smoothing the hair back out of her eyes once more and kissing her gently on the mouth. "Just part of the deal," he murmured.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"Well," she said quietly, her expression sincere, "it means a lot to me, I know the past few days weren't easy on you either and we still don't have answers for most of it," mainly, for Jimmy.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"We will. I promise. We'll figure out what's going on and we'll deal with it and everything will be fine." He gazed back at her.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"I know we will," she said, brushing her nose against his then shifting further against the back of the couch, "lay down with me?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Nodding, he shifted so he was on the sofa beside her, letting her make herself comfortable before resting his hand on the back of her head once more. "I love you."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe took a deep breath once she was comfortable and let it out slowly, "I love you too."