Salvation. With chloeas.

[olliequeen]

It was past Midnight.

He'd spent hours on the balcony of the Ace of Clubs after Clark had left, staring over the city blankly but not really seeing it.

He only had one drink, and it hadn't been nearly strong enough for what his body was craving. The short night had been the longest amount of time he'd been sober in weeks. Since the day of Jimmy Olsen's funeral.

Thoughts of Jimmy had made him think of the one person he'd done his best to avoid. The one person who'd been hurt most by everything that had happened. Whose life had been utterly wrecked. Shutting his eyes against his thoughts hadn't made them go away and he'd sucked in a breath, trying to steel himself against the pain.

Now as he stood on the doorstep of what he knew was called, quite appropriately, the Watchtower, he rubbed a hand over his face, his stomach in knots.

He'd faced Lois. He'd faced Clark.

He'd even faced Tess.

And he'd pushed all of them away, some more subtlely than others.

But this?

He wasn't sure he was ready to do this. But he had to. He owed it to her. He owed a lot of people a lot of things, but no one as much as her.

Reaching out, he knocked loudly.

And waited.

Terrified.

Comments

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe took a deep breath after the silence had extended for a few minutes, if she let it go for much longer, she had the feeling he was just going to end up leaving and she wouldn't have done anything to help him.

She pushed herself away from the desk and motioned to the small couch under the huge window, "do you wanna sit down?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He glanced at her, then followed her gaze to the sofa, nodding a little and moving over to it slowly. He sat down, his muscles tired and yet still tense from the events of the evening. He rested his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together tightly and not looking up.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She hesitated for a moment then walked over to the couch, sitting down next to him but keeping enough space between them not to make him even more uncomfortable.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Her voice was soft when she asked the question, she was doing her best not to pressure him.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver was silent for a long moment, then he looked at her sideways before returning his gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry," he whispered. His voice was barely audible.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She closed her eyes for a second and shook her head, looking down too and holding her hands together on her lap, it took her a moment to reply, "it wasn't your fault, Oliver, no one blames you for what happened."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"I do." He swallowed hard, shutting his eyes, as well. "God, I do, Chloe." He rubbed his hands over his face again and rose to his feet, beginning to pace the floor.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"You're the only one who had it right from the beginning, Oliver." She kept her eyes on the ground for a moment then sighed deeply and turned her face up to look at him, "you shouldn't blame yourself."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He shook his head a little and continued to pace. "It doesn't matter," he murmured. "None of it matters anymore."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She didn't like the sound of that, at all. Normally, she wouldn't think Oliver would be the kind of person capable of thinking of himself so worthless, but the earlier events had proven her wrong and his words scared her.

There had been enough loss and death around, she had to help him out of this, "what makes you say that?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He raked a hand through his hair, but didn't stop pacing to look at her. "It shouldn't have been Jimmy," he murmured. His mind was clouded. Too clouded to focus. To try and put it all into words. He couldn't remember the last time his mind had been clear.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

His name alone made her chest tight, "no, it shouldn't have been." Her voice was so quiet, if the watchtower wasn't in completely silence, he probably wouldn't have heard her at all.

But this wasn't about her, it wasn't about Jimmy, it was about helping Oliver. She got up but didn't step any closer to him, "but Jimmy's death wasn't your fault, Oliver."