chloesullivan | Reconnecting with dl

It had been a long time since she'd seen Oliver, not because they'd been arguing this time, but because they'd both been busy. They still talked on the phone and emailed back and forth but she'd been working a lot at the Planet and he'd been running a lot of missions with the guys, which she'd been helping with, but she'd been working out of the Clocktower on her own since the 33.1s they were looking into were mostly out of the country.

It had been at least four weeks at this point since he was last in town and last time she checked, they were in Argentina, so she was more than a little surprised when she got Oliver's text that said: Up for lunch, Sidekick?.

So a little after one, she made her way out of the Planet and over to the Italian restaurant Oliver had suggested. Since their trip to New York, everyone at work knew she was close with him and although she was sure most people suspected they were sleeping together, she didn't want to give them proof of anything and she'd rather not be the subject of office gossip anyway.

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"I do occasionally need adult conversation," he joked, taking a sip of his wine.

"Well, Vic isn't that bad," she pointed out, telling him and relaxing a little as she sipped on her own wine.

"No, not until he starts talking computer jargon. Then he might as well be talking to a brick wall." He smirked a bit.

"You realize I have a hard time understanding a lack of interest on all things computer, yes?" She asked, smirking a little back at him.

He met her eyes for a brief moment, smirking back. "Yes, well, it's not a lack of interest as much as a lack of understanding."

"Well, if anyone could teach you all about it, it would be him," she said sincerely, relaxing back against her seat.

"Frankly I think both of you know more than I'll ever need to know anyway. You're the brains." He shrugged. "I'm just the funding."

"Not really," Chloe said, "you're the leader. Our brains would be worthless without you finding us things to research."

He shrugged a little, taking another sip of his wine. "Are you ready to order?" he asked, leaning forward.

"Yeah," she told him, closing the menu, "what are you having?"

"I was thinking about going with spaghetti and meatballs," he told her, raising his eyebrows. "What about you?"

"You just made my decision for me, I was between that and the fettuccine alfredo, so I'll go with that one." She told him, smiling softly.

If things had been different, he would've suggested that she get the alfredo and they could each have some of each other's meal. But things weren't different. He smiled back, nodding a little and lifting his hand to get the waiter's attention once more.

That was exactly what she was planning on doing, not sharing so much but stealing a bite of his. Which is why when the waiter came by, she ordered the Alfredo.

He raised his eyebrows a little, but didn't question it. He pushed the basket of bread toward her when the waiter left it with them.

Chloe nodded a little, "thanks," she said, taking a piece of bread, "so everything went well last night?"

"Yeah, everything went fine," he assured her, nodding and taking a piece of bread, as well.

"Do you have any idea where the next one will be?" She asked curiously, talking about work was at least more comfortable than anything else.

He shook his head a little. "No, not yet, but I'll be starting on it later." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly.

"Let me know if you need help," Chloe told him, "I have a deadline at four today, then a meeting with my editor that shouldn't last more than fifteen minutes or so, but I'm free after that."

He nodded a little. "Maybe we can do a video conference then," he said, taking another drink.

"Right," she nodded a little and took a deep breath, maybe he had some self-preservation in him after all and didn't want to be alone with her somewhere.