Chloe Sullivan

Chloe looked up from her laptop when she heard the elevator and barely had time to place the computer on the coffee table before Mocha jumped on the couch and on her lap, "hey, look who is home," she laughed, closing her eyes and turning her head as Mocha tried to lick her face.

She reached and started patting the dog until she calmed down and Chloe didn't have a ball of fur in front of her face anymore, so she finally saw Ollie, "and you're here too." She teased softly, smiling up at him.

She couldn't wait to get home, not only because she was incredibly curious about whatever gift Ollie had waiting for her, but also because she was on vacation and that meant time with him without worrying about work or anything, and then they would leave to Smallville, which she had no doubt would be nice, with Lois, Clark, Lucy, Mrs. Kent and her dad around, it would be a good Christmas.

Shifting restlessly between her feet, she watched the numbers as the elevator went up impatiently, stepping out and looking around, "Ollie?"

They had finally made it to Ireland and the trip had been amazing, they had done some sight-seeing but not a lot of it, mostly they had stayed in the cottage Oliver had found for them, and it had been exactly what he needed, it seemed, because she had never seen him so relaxed before.

The week had gone by quickly and before Chloe knew, they were already on the plane, on their way back to Metropolis. She had never really been one to take vacations like this, just to relax, but she could definitely see the advantages.

She glanced out the window of the plane then back at him, sighing deeply and smiling lazily, "I guess we're almost there.

Chloe was late by fifteen minute, she told Ollie she would be back to the clocktower at eight, but Lois caught her just as she was about to leave work and she couldn't exactly pretend not to notice her cousin, she had been getting suspicious by Chloe's evasiveness as it was.

To her surprise, Ollie hadn't called her the second she was late, he had been understandably tense by everything that was going on. As she stepped out of the elevator, she frowned at the darkness, all lights were off in the clocktower, something wasn't right.

"Ollie?" She called carefully, turning the living room light on. No sign of him, her heart started beating faster as she dropped her purse on the floor and started turning every light she could on, looking into each and every room, calling his name.

"Ollie!" Her voice was getting more desperate at every room she looked into, and then, finally, she went to the master bedroom, her stomach turning at what she saw there.

There was a big dark red stain on the sheets, the bedside lamp had been shattered to pieces, and in the middle of the messy bed lay a single piece of paper. Chloe rushed towards it, already dreading the worst.

You shouldn't have betrayed me, Chloe.

She gasped as she read the words, she didn't need a signature to know who the note was from. Davis. Davis had Ollie and he was hurt, bleeding, she had to find him, she had to help him, she only hoped she wasn't too late.

Email 1 (last night): I need to talk to you, someone just... showed up again. You're probably still out. Your cellphone is dead, by the way. Recharge it?

Email 2 (last night): Also, I'm fine, I don't think he remembers anything. Just... be careful, okay? Just in case. I'll give you more details when we can talk.

Email 3 (this morning): You suck for not reading your emails and apparently you're in a conference call right now. I really need to talk to you, Ollie... Clark is with Lois so he wouldn't be able to discuss any of this anyway, if you talk to him before I do, tell him to be careful. Something is off.

I'm going to see what I can find out, don't worry, I'll be careful. I'll be gone for a couple of hours, I should talk to you by noon or so, that is, if you recharged your phone or decided to check your emails. Yes, that was a disapproving tone.

Love you.

Chloe had managed to sleep for eleven hours, which, considering she hadn't slept at all the previous night, then had worked for ten hours before going to a party for the rest of the night and not to mention the other stuff she had put energy in, it wasn't really a surprise.

So she didn't exactly feel bad as she walked out of the bedroom at almost lunch time, wondering what Ollie could possibly be doing that was so noisy, it sounded like plastic bags and wrapping paper and it wasn't even Christmas morning.

"Ollie?" She called as she rubbed her face, looking around as she made her way to the kitchen, she smelled coffee.

A box was delivered to Oliver's office this morning with the following:

( click for presents! )

They were going to get them. Chloe held on to Oliver's hand as tightly as she could, they were running but it was getting so dark around them, she couldn't see the ground anymore, she was so afraid to trip, and then they would get them, they were so close and suddenly, Oliver was gone, she called out for him on top of her lungs, but her voice wouldn't come out and next thing she knew, everything around her was completely dark, she couldn't move her legs or her arms, she couldn't scream, she couldn't breathe.

There were walls around her now, it was all dark, but she could feel them closing in on her, on every side of her, moving in, close and closer, she was laying down and the wall above her was pressing down against her, it was going to crush her, so she tried screaming again and this time, it work, she was screaming on top of her lugs, so loud, it made her body shake.

And then she was sitting up in bed, breathlessly, shaking, her eyes wide as she looked around.

She was a few minutes late as she made her way into the elevator at the clock tower, she had left her apartment with plenty of time to get there, but it was six in the afternoon, in downtown Metropolis and regardless of the day of the week, traffic was always insane.

As soon as the elevator doors slid open, she sighed a little then called out, "I'm here, sorry I'm late, traffic was completely insane."

Things had just changed, but it felt like they had been doing this for a long time, it was so easy to be a like this, to really be with each other, in each other's arm. They had only admitted to having feelings for each other, they hadn't talked about anything else, but it was clear what they both wanted.

The ball was winding down, the guests were starting to leave, the band had just finished playing and they had actually managed to make their way inside for the second half of the concert, everything had been perfect.

Chloe looked up at Oliver after another couple said their goodbyes and smiled. She was happy.