Fic: Start Over, Chloe/Oliver, PG
Fic: Start Over (5/17)
Author: me
Rating: PG
Spoilers: 5.15
Summary: What if Oliver had been a supporter of Senator Kent from the very beginning of his campaign?
Character/Pairing: Oliver/Chloe, Clark, Lana, Victor
Disclaimer: I’m an idiot who keeps forgetting to do this so please don’t sue me. I understand that these characters aren’t mine.
Author’s Note: I’m so so so sorry this took so long. I just hope you think it’s worth the wait and if it’s not have I mentioned how sorry I am : )
Enjoy! And feel free to comment.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4
Oliver walked up the stairs as fast as possible. He couldn’t believe that he was only hearing about the offer that the Governor’s office had made to Martha now. Not that he had expected her to call him but it would have been nice for a heads up from the office itself to let him know that the position that his candidate had been in. It was only courtesy as far as he was concerned. Jonathan’s death was unforseen but it had happened and he understood that there was a need for secrecy when it came to senate seats. He just liked to be informed.
Knocking on the door he smiled when Martha opened the door, “I was wondering when you would get here,” she said with a smile, opening the door wider for him.
“I thought we should talk,” Oliver said entering the house.
“Well I have freshly baked cookies in the kitchen.” Martha replied, ushering her in.
Following her to the kitchen he picked up the first file that sat on top of the pile. Smiling he took the plate with two cookies on it while opening the file. Smiling he took a bite from a cookie before saying, “Going over budgets already senator.”
“Well I have to start somewhere,” Martha replied with a shrug.
“Are you sure you want to do this? I’m sure they can find another senator who isn’t Lex.”
Martha sat across from him with a small smile, “Oliver, I’m doing this for a good reason.”
“We all have our reasons Martha but that doesn’t mean that it’s right.”
“Well I have a pretty good reason. I feel like he’s with me, like this is something I have to do for him, to keep his spirit alive not only in the senate but inside myself as well. You must have felt the same way to take over your father’s company.”
Oliver sighed, “I guess I can understand that but that shouldn’t be the only reason you do this.”
“It’s not. I believe in what Jonathon stood for and I want to do him justice, in this little way that I can.”
Oliver nodded, “Ok, if I can help in anyway just let me know,” he said as he stood to leave.
“I will Oliver, thank you.” Martha as they walked to the door together, “Now don’t forget dinner on Sunday night ok and see if you can’t drag Chloe with you.”
Oliver smiled, “I’ll do my best.”
******
Walking across the basement of the Planet with Lana she smiled, “So on a scale from one to Taye Diggs, where are we exactly?”
Lana smiled at Chloe with a subtle nod at Clark, “Um, he’s defiantly up there.”
Chloe raised an eyebrow, “Yeah? Tall, dark and bionic, you think he likes blondes?”
“His girlfriend’s a brunette. Sorry.” Clark butted in.
“Oh,” Chloe replied with a small pout.
Lana laughed, “I thought you had a thing going with a sexy blond billionaire.”
Clark cleared his throat, “Can we not stray into girl talk. We have a bionic man to help.”
“Sorry,” Chloe and Lana replied simultaneously.
“So, does the girlfriend know what happened?” Lana asked.
Clark shook his head, “No and he doesn’t want her to know. He’s afraid of how she’ll react.”
“Well what else is he going to do? He can’t keep lying to her and hope she doesn’t notice how different he is?” Lana replied with a roll of her eyes.
Heading to her desk Chloe sighed, “So I did some digging into Cyntechnics backyard and I came up with more flowers than dirt.”
“There’s got to be something,” Clark replied.
“Well their main focus has become the Machina project. ‘Cutting - edge prosthetics designed to replace damaged or severed limbs’.” Chloe said with a shrug.
“Well, what they did to Victor is much more extensive than a severed limb.”
Lana shrugged before asking, “Who owns Cyntechnics?”
Chloe turned back to the computer to make sure she had the right fact before giving her answer, “Um… Guess what. It’s owned by LutherCorp.”
Clark nodded, “Ok. I’m going to go and talk to Lex and if that doesn’t work we’ll talk to Oliver about what we can do,” he said before leaving the girls alone.
Sighing Lana turned to Chloe, “Does he take information and run like that a lot?”
“More than you think,” Chloe replied with a small laugh. “Is there anything else I can help you with Lana?”
“Yeah. Just a little girl talk, I feel like you’re never at the dorm so instead we’ll have this conversation here.”
“What conversation? There’s no conversation to have.”
“Well there are the flowers that are taking up far too much room in our dorm or the fact that a billionaire, who doesn’t even go to college let alone Met U, is constantly stopping by with coffee for you. Or how about that study session the other night where he quizzed you for 4 hours when he doesn’t know anything about journalism nor is he interested.” Lana suggested.
“I’m sure he’d do that for any friend,” Chloe replied with a shrug.
“Somehow I doubt it, especially when said friend didn’t ask for that help.”
“How do you know that?”
“Chloe I know you don’t have much experience with guys but Oliver likes you, a lot. And you’re kind of oblivious to it all.” Lana replied.
Chloe turned and snapped, “Like you are to Lex.”
Lana held her hands up in surrender, “Fine. We won’t talk about this then. But when you’re ready I’ll be here for you. And just so you know it doesn’t matter what Lex’s feelings for me are because I love Clark.” She said before turning and leaving Chloe alone with her work.
******
Smiling Oliver walked down the stairs of the Planet, holding two coffees and hoping that Chloe was at her desk. It was weird the way he was feeling for her but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to be around her all the time and he continued to find reasons to stop by. He brought coffee, helped with her studies, and sent her tulips when he knew special events in her life were coming up. He knew he was being a little high school with his approach but somehow he didn’t think that Chloe would be too receptive of him without a little bit of ground work being laid first.
His smile grew when he saw her, typing away, oblivious to the world around her. Stepping forward he placed the cup he’d gotten for her under her nose.
Smiling Chloe smelt the coffee and closed her eyes. Breathing in the aroma her hand slowly raised to take the cup before she said, “Whoever you are, you’re a God in my books.”
Chuckling Oliver replied, “That’s good to know gorgeous.”
Spinning around she smiled at him before saying, “What brings you to the neighbourhood?”
“Well other than the coffee, and you’re smile, Mrs Kent wanted me to remind you that you’re presence is required at dinner Sunday night.”
Nodding Chloe said, “Ok. I’ll try and remember. I take it this means she made a decision about the senate seat.”
Oliver groaned, “Yes, and I think I’m the last person to know.”
“Well I doubt it was intentional.”
“Yeah I do too. So I’ll pick you up at 5 on Sunday ok.”
“Why? I can make my own way to the Kent farm.”
“I’m sure you can but I’ve been given the task of making sure that you actually show up and I don’t take any task lightly.”
Chloe sighed, “Fine but you’ll have to pick me up from here.”
Nodding Oliver said, “That can be arranged,” before he left her to go back to her working. Smiling to himself he already felt ten times better about what the rest of the day had planned for him.
*******
Opening the door to the Talon apartment Clark did a quick check to make sure that it was empty before letting Lana and Victor in. Grabbing a towel for Victor he headed back into the lounge room as Lana was helping Victor to sit.
“All right, no one’s going to look for us here and Lois won’t be back til tomorrow. You should lie down,” Clark suggested.
Victor sighed wearily before pulling his hand back and looking at the goop that was coming out of his arm, “I’m sorry Kent. I never meant to bring my crazy world into your life.”
Clark shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, alright?” he handed over the towel, “Everything’s going to be ok.”
“Here,” Lana said, grabbing the towel and keep the pressure on his arm.
“I’m not so sure. This isn’t exactly something you can put duct tape on. The bionics in my biology are all connected and this goop coming out of my arm happens to be from my power cell. If it continues to drain like this then I’m a dead man,” Victor replied, trying not to show how concerned he really was.
******
Chloe sat at her desk, her fingers flying with ease as she wrote her story on auto pilot. An expose on jaywalking wasn’t exactly the most thrilling thing to cross her desk but it was a story and she would take what she could get. Typing as fast as possible as she wanted to help with the cyber man. She found it funny as it was like she couldn’t help but watch Doctor Who to try and remember what to do when cyber men got out of control but somehow she didn’t think that opening and closing a dimension portal trapping them in a parallel universe was really something she could do to Victor. Laughing to herself she was about to question her sanity when she was thinking of taking advice from the Doctor when Clark joined her at her desk.
Turning to him she smiled, “So my probing expose on jaywalking is going to have to wait, isn’t it?”
“Yeah I need you to find a Doctor from Cyntechnics. Victor doesn’t have much time left.”
Chloe shook her head in confusion as she listened to what had happened before commenting, “Clark you know we know that Lex likes to play hardball, but sending snipers into your backyard just doesn’t seem like his style.”
Clark shrugged, “Styles change. When I asked him about Cyntechnics he was probably lying through his teeth.”
“Maybe he was telling the truth. The lead scientist for the Machina project, Dr Alistair Krieg has a history of burning bridges. He was fired from both M.I.T. and Stanford for using their funding to conduct ethically challenged research.”
Clark looked weary before responding, “You think he’s doing the same thing to Lex?”
“Lex’s obsession with scientific advancement definitely makes him a target.”
“Right now, that doesn’t matter. What matters is finding the person who can save Victor’s life.”
Chloe nodded, “Ok, do you have a name?”
“Doctor Hong.”
“There are six Hongs with M.D.’s in the Metropolis area but I’m thinking we can cross off the ob-gyn of the list.”
Leaning over Clark scanned the list to see who else was on it, “What about the bioengineer right there.”
“There you go,” Chloe replied with a smile, “You don’t need my help at all.” As Clark speed away she shook her head. She still couldn’t believe that boy sometimes.
*****
Standing in his barn Clark looked around. After everything that had happened with Victor over the past couple of days he couldn’t believe that Lana was still around with all the craziness that had happened. It amazed him that she was trying to help and make everything easier but he was left with an uncertain feeling about why she was doing it. He felt it was because she wanted him to open up to her but he still wasn’t ready to do that, especially not after what had happened last time. The memory of that day still haunted him.
Waving as Victor entered he said, “Is everything working out all right?”
Victor nodded, “I feel like a billion dollars, which probably isn’t too far off of what I’m worth Do you really think to Luthor’s going to let that much of his money walk off into the sunset?”
Clark shrugged, “I didn’t give him a choice.”
“I’d like to say thank you but the words just seem too small compared to what you did,” Victor replied with a laugh.
“Well it’s completely unnecessary.”
“Your mom raised you modest, didn’t she? You’re a hero, Kent. I’m not going to forget how much I owe you”
Clark laughed, “Help someone else out when they’re in need and we’ll call it even”
Looking over Victor shoulder he smiled as Lana entered the barn with a brunette who was just smaller in height then she was. Realising who it could be he smiled and pointed over his shoulder so Victor could see who he was looking at.
Shocked Victor called out, “Katherine!”
With a shake of her head and a mega watt smile Katherine said, “Victor? What happened? What did those men do to you?”
Victor jogged over to where she was and pulled her into a hug as Lana moved past him to stand next to Clark.
“It’s a long story,” Victor whispered.
“We’ve got time,” Katherine replied as Victor scooped her up to spin her around.
Clark looked down at Lana and gave her a one armed hug before whispering in her ear, “That’s a good thing you did.”
Lana nodded, “I’m glad you think so.”
********
Standing on the roof Oliver smiled when he finally say the person he was tailing stop and turn to stare directly at him. Jumping down he landed in front of Victor Stone. He had been amazed when he had learnt that there really was a million dollar man out there, although it was technically more like six million dollar man. That had left him with a thought. What if he could get a group of people together, with the same goal he had but more talent in the area, and together they could stop crime? As far as he was concerned Victor was a great place to start when it came to forming a team. After all who would want to take on a man who was part robot?
Watching as Victor raised an eyebrow to him Oliver said, “This really isn’t the place I thought I’d find you.”
“Well that would mean that you were looking for me. Now why would a vigilante like you be looking for me?”
“I was thinking, we should put you’re special skills to help the greater good.”
Crossing his arms Victor looked at him suspiciously, “So you want us to join forces?”
“In a sense. I’m thinking of making it more of a team effort. Gather up some other people with extraordinary gifts and work together to save the world from evil.”
Victor nodded, “I’ll think about it. I take it there is no way to get in contact with you.”
Oliver smiled, “When you’re ready you can find me patrolling these streets. That’s all you need for now,” he said before shooting off his grappling hook and swinging away to a roof top.
Chapter 6