Fic: That's a noir, Chloe/Oliver, PG
Fic: That’s a noir
Rating: PG
Summary: Rewrite of the episode Noir in which Oliver helps Chloe solve the attempted murder of Lana with a little bit of help from Jimmy Olsen.
Spoilers: 6.20
Word Count: 4, 775
A/N: This was inspired by the picture below by alxnhnt22 but was also to be part of my big bang entry for scifiland.
Chloe sighed and continued her work. Knowing she would need coffee soon she raised a hand to stifle a yarn. Moving from her desk to get coffee she was pleasantly surprised when she discovered Oliver standing in the doorway holding two coffees in his hands. Smiling she headed over to him.
“What are you doing here?” Chloe whispered, grabbing his arm and pulling him into the copy room, “Jimmy’s around here somewhere and who knows what other reporters. It’s not smart for you to just walk straight into the pit like that.”
“Well I didn’t think you’re boyfriend or other reporters would be around,” Oliver protested, handing her the coffee cup, “So I need your help.”
Chloe laughed, “How did I know that was coming and Jimmy’s not my boyfriend.”
“Wait, he was when we left.”
Chloe rolled her eyes, “Yes I happen to know that but he’s not anymore.”
Oliver nodded, “Oh. I’m sorry.”
Chloe shook her head and laughed, “It’s not your fault. There was just one too many secrets between us.”
“And mine’s one of them.”
“This is not your fault. It’s mine. For ever thinking I could have a relationship with someone I wouldn’t be able to share my secrets with.” Chloe said with a shrug, “Now what do you need.”
Oliver sighed before handing her the file, “I need help finding my way into a 33.1 facility somewhere near Ohio. Normally I’d get Victor to do it but he’s already away on assignment checking out a different facility in France.”
“So you figured that I could use the challenge?” Chloe asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Exactly,” Oliver replied, dazzling his grin at her, “What else would I need you for sidekick?”
Chloe turned and left, calling over her shoulder, “I don’t know, to fetch your coffee perhaps.”
“Somehow I think I can find that on my own.”
“Great,” Chloe said as she sat down in her chair, “Bring me another cup while I start.”
Typing into the computer what she wanted it to find she smiled as she watched Oliver make her coffee. While manning the tip line wasn’t the most exciting job around Oliver always brought a little ray of sunshine into the reasonably dull nights when he called and asked her to look up something. Usually it became the highlight of her night and her bank account stopped hating her when she did these little favours. Not that she was planning on telling him that. While it was fun to work on the side of justice and get paid she still had a full time job in babysitting Clark and her work at the Planet on top of that sometimes made it a little hard to do what Oliver needed, especially when she had a boyfriend. Though now she was without a boyfriend she was very glad that she could do extra work, if only to inflate her bank account some more. The time spent with a handsome billionaire was just a bonus.
Smiling as Oliver started to bring more coffee to her she gave a startled gasp when she heard the gun go off. Looking at Oliver she could tell that it wasn’t in her imagination and both of them ran towards the source of the gunshot. Stopping just short of the elevator they found Jimmy standing there watching as the doors opened and closed around a foot encased in a silver heel.
Watching as Oliver stepped forward she suddenly found that she was glad that Oliver had decided to bring the information to her tonight. If it had just been her and Jimmy she probably would have had to be the one looking at the body, knowing that Jimmy was squeamish when it came to blood, but she didn’t really want to do that. Seeing him press the emergency stop button on the elevator she took a cautious step forward hoping that she would be able to help identify whoever it was, even though she really didn’t want to see the body.
Gasping she jumped back and into Jimmy when she saw who it was before she turned and ran back into the newsroom so that she could call for an ambulance.
*******
Oliver wanted to follow Chloe more than anything but he checked Lana’s pulse first to make sure she was alive. Breathing a sigh of relief as he found it he stood and left the photographer where he was as he happily snapped photos of Lana and the area around the elevator, probably hoping for a story to come out of this.
Standing in the doorway he watched as Chloe nodded her head along to whatever the other person was saying.
“Ok... Thank you. I’ll see you soon.”
When she hung up the phone he moved towards her placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. When he had shown up for her help he had honestly thought it was going to be easy. A little bit of research, some hacking, a bit of sharpening their wit on each other, a lot of coffee, nothing short of an exciting evening with one of his favourite people in the world. He hadn’t expected attempted murder mystery central to be upon them and for one of Chloe’s friends to be the victim.
Wrapping his arms around her he allowed her to cry into his shoulder briefly before pulling back and saying, “She’s still alive at the moment.”
“Oh, thank God. You found a pulse.”
He nodded quickly, “Yeah. It’s slow but it’s there and that’s the important thing.”
He watched as she nodded, accepting his answer as the truth. He was about to say something more but was cut off when her phone started to ring. Looking down at her caller ID he gave a sad sigh before moving away and allowing her to answer.
“Hey Lois,” she whispered, “Yeah. That’s happening here.... I was one of the people to discover the body... No I won’t give you an interview. This is all off the record and you know it... Ok. Come round if you like but I doubt the police will tell you anything... Bye Lois.”
Seeing her hang up he moved back to stand in front of her with a small smile, “I’m sure she’ll be ok.”
Chloe nodded, “Even with Jimmy out there snapping photos like its Christmas and Lois looking for a scoop.”
“Well we won’t have to get either of them presents,” Oliver replied with a small chuckle.
“I suppose so.”
Oliver opened his mouth to say something else when Jimmy entered the room.
“The EMT’s are here,” he said.
*******
Chloe stood next to Oliver watching as the EMT’s worked on Lana. Rubbing her forehead she still couldn’t believe that this was happening. Not only did it fill her with dread that Lana was lying in front of her, her almost lifeless form, it made her scared. She knew far too many people who could be hurt at any moment in time, one standing next to her right now, but she had never seen anything like this happening to Lana.
Turning as she heard someone come running down the stairs she smiled at Clark as he came to join her and Oliver.
“Is she going to be ok?” he asked, shooting a questioning look in Oliver’s direction.
Chloe shrugged, “She’s hurt pretty badly.” Grabbing her arm she guided Clark over to her desk and away from where Lana was lying. Without turning around she knew that both Oliver and Jimmy were following her, Oliver because he wanted to make sure they were both okay.
She wasn’t sure why Jimmy was following them. He’d been ignoring her since she had decided to end their relationship, obviously upset that she thought that they should be together and that she couldn’t really tell him why. Of course Jimmy following her now was even weirder because he had spent most of the time he had spent most of the time snapping photos of Lana and she hadn’t expected that to change anytime soon.
Clearing his throat so that the group would turn to face him Jimmy said, “The Luthor’s have arrived.”
Chloe nodded, “Thanks Jimmy. You can go back to taking photos now.”
Jimmy nodded before leaving quickly, most likely returning to the crime scene. Running a hand down Clark’s arm she smiled before saying, “I’m going to head back over there. Do a little eavesdropping on the Luthor’s conversation. See if we can’t start piecing this thing together.”
Not waiting for a response she left to stand in the doorway just as Lionel leaned down to whispered in Lana’s ear, “I’m sorry Lana. I’m sorry I got you caught up in all this. I’ll find whoever did this.”
Watching as Jimmy snapped photos of everything in the vicinity she wasn’t surprised to see Lex push him and Lionel out of the way to get to Lana himself. Finally the EMTs pushed Lana out of the building she tried to decipher the scared look on Lex’s face, unsure of whether or not it was really.
“Where are they taking her?” Lex asked his father.
“She’s being med-evacked to her specialist in Smallville.” Lionel replied, his eyes trailing Lana’s path as well.
“She was with you at the opera.”
“Yeah and you didn’t show up. So I dropped your wife at her car. That was about an hour ago.” Lionel replied with a simple shrug. Chloe, however, noticed a weird twinkle in his eye and knew that he was hiding more than what he was letting on.
“You better hope she’s all right,” was all Lex said before departing.
Turning to head back to Oliver and Clark she was shocked when she saw that Lois was already coming down the stairs. She had been hoping for a warning phone call so that Oliver would be able to hide if he wanted to but from where she was she could see into the bull pit and to her desk, where she had left Oliver. Holding her breath she breathed a sigh of relief when she realised that Lois was too caught up in her story to notice what was going on around her.
Stepping back a bit further she pulled out her phone quickly to send Oliver a fast message to let him know that Lois was here. Smiling when he replied that he had seen her and that he and Clark were still around her desk she realised that Oliver was slowly getting over her cousin, if only by baby steps.
Watching as Lois stepped forward and began to interrogate the officer she couldn’t help but shake her head at her cousin’s manner. Sure she was still new to the journalism game but her direct, flirting approach wasn’t going to get her as far as she thought in situations like this.
“Now, I know someone as alert and amazing at his job, as I’m sure you are, you must have some idea about what happened here,” Lois said dazzling him with her flirtiest smile while having her hip stuck at an a weird angle and trying to charm him with her voice.
The officer chuckled at her attempts before saying, “Nice try, Miss Lane but that’s not going to work.”
Lois kept it up saying, “Well, a girl’s got to try, right?”
The officer was about to reply when his partner called out to him, “Hey, Phil.”
Phil nodded his head humorously at Lois before saying, “Excuse me.”
Watching as Lois searched the general area around the elevator. Trying not to laugh as she watched her drop and spill her purse near the items that had been left by the elevator. Retrieving her items she also picked up a silver cigarette case that was on the ground but before she could do anything else the officer started to head back over to her, obviously thinking that she was too close to the crime scene
“Oh man, I’m such a klutz. I’m so sorry,” Lois said before turning and heading back up the stairs, the content of her purse and the cigarette case safely restored to where they belonged.
Smiling when she realised that Lois hadn’t even noticed that she was there Chloe turned and headed back to where Oliver and Clark were waiting.
“Ok, as far as I can tell the police think that it’s a mugging.” Chloe said with a sigh.
“A mugging inside the building?” Oliver replied, the scepticism in his voice not hidden well.
Chloe nodded, “Now, normally, I would be the first person to cry foul play but she was down town, in the middle of the night in fancy dress, with a stolen purse. He probably jumped her before she knew what was happening.”
“Ok then why was Lionel here. If she was out wouldn’t she be with Lex?” Oliver asked.
Clark had sat down on her desk not even trying to participate in their conversation. He looked like the world had crashed around, him which he probably thought it had.
Turning back to Oliver she said, “She was wining and dining with him. Apparently they met at the Opera where Lex was M.I.A. and Lionel took her back to her car.”
“Well that’s a little weird.” Oliver replied, trying to piece the puzzle together, “So the guy still has to be in the building somewhere. It wasn’t that long from the time the shot went off to when we got there.”
Chloe gasped, “And Jimmy beat us.”
Oliver nodded, “The police have the gun so all we would have to do is find the guy so that he doesn’t slip away.”
“I know,” Chloe agreed sitting down at her computer, “And if I know Jimmy he’ll be loading his photos onto the Planet’s server.”
“So you can copy them?” Oliver asked, rounding the desk and leaning against the back of her chair.
“I’m pretty sure that I can.”
“I should have been watching her.” Clark said, finally saying something, “Ever since she married Lex, I’ve been so angry -”
“Enough with the pity party Clark. This isn’t your fault.” Oliver said, “And now all we can do is try and find out who did this to her.”
Not listening to a word Clark continued, “I’ve always been there for her until now. I got to find out who did this.’
“Well there is nothing more that the police are saying. Now we just have to take what we have and run with it.” Chloe replied, as the photos slowly loaded onto her server.
Shaking his head Clark turned and left. Letting him go she smiled at Oliver, hoping that he would be able to do something but when all he did was shrug and grab a seat to sit next to her she realised that there was probably nothing either of them could say to make Clark feel better. All they could do was do their investigation, find the guy and have him brought to justice while Lana recovered in the hospital. Then Clark would be ok. At least that was what she had to believe to make it through this night. She was very glad though that Oliver was here with her so that she wasn’t alone.
*********
Sitting next to Chloe he couldn’t help but feel the warmth that was radiating off her. Staring at her Oliver couldn’t believe that she didn’t know that he could have found the information for himself but preferred to come and spend time with her, indulging in the real world every once in a while. Sadly his feelings for Lois seemed to have left the building about the same time that he had and while he knew that that would be inevitable he hadn’t thought that it would happen so quickly.
What he didn’t realise was that spending all this time with Chloe had started him feeling something new towards her. He had always known that she was hot and smart it wasn’t until he’d seen her actually use her smarts that he found out that the brainy hot girl using her skills in the pursuit of justice was a very big turn on. There were hints though, he’d always found the hot librarians at Halloween the hottest thing around, so it shouldn’t have come as such a big surprise. Having Chloe being that one to always turn him on was just a plus.
Now watching her scan through the pictures she had stolen he smiled as she bit the corner of her bottom lip. He didn’t think that she realised it but she seemed to do that whenever she had a big problem to solve.
“I’ve got it,” Jimmy said in the doorway with a slight pant. It was obvious that he ran to Chloe’s desk.
Raising an eyebrow Oliver asked, “Got what?”
“I must have taken a picture of the guy because he hit me over the head.” Jimmy replied moving to stand near them.
“Which photo?” Chloe questioned, “’Cause I downloaded all your photos as you loaded them.”
Watching as Jimmy moved around and leaned across Chloe to see the photos he couldn’t help but feel happy when Chloe tried to move out of Jimmy’s way. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable with the way he was leaning over her and it was also obvious that the photographer was too blind to care.
After a moment Chloe pushed her chair back, “You know what, I think the picture of Lana’s trigger happy friend is gone from here too.”
Jimmy sighed and continued to look at the photo of the cigarette case, “Gardenia. It was right in front of me the whole time and I didn’t see it.”
Oliver sighed, “Why does it matter?”
Seeming to ignore Oliver Jimmy turned to Chloe and said, “Did Lana know you were working tonight?”
“No,” Chloe said with a shake of her head, “It was a last minute decision.”
Jimmy stopped and looked over at Oliver confused, “So how did you find her then?”
“Lucky guess,” Oliver replied with a cheeky grin.
Faking hurt when Chloe slapped him on the arm he smiled at her as she answered, “He called first.”
Crossing his arms over his chest Jimmy replied, “Since when does a billionaire call you up out of the blue?”
“Since I have her number and I have a phone,” Oliver replied, grin still in place.
Jimmy shook his head and looked at Chloe who shrugged at him and waited for him to ask more questions so that they could keep lying to him. He opened his mouth to open the questions before shutting it quickly and turning back to the computer screen.
Exchanging a look with Chloe, Oliver pulled himself out of his chair to come to stand behind her, resting a hand on her lower back, and watching what Jimmy was looking for.
“Can we get back on topic?” Chloe asked Jimmy, knowing that Oliver’s mind had never really left the attempted murder. When Jimmy nodded she continued her line of questioning, “Why does it matter if Lana was here or not?”
Jimmy sighed, “Look I know that Lana’s your friend and you don’t want to think of her as a double crossing, two timing backstabber, but maybe she had something she couldn’t trust you with,” he said before moving out the pit, obviously heading towards the crime scene.
Oliver motioned with his hand, “Ladies first.”
Smiling he watched as Chloe left, taking a second to appreciate what that skirt did to her ass before following her into back to the scene. He rolled his eyes when he saw Jimmy bouncing excitedly from one foot to the other.
“The cigarette case is missing. Think about it,” Jimmy said, grabbing Chloe’s arms, “Lana doesn’t smoke. What would she be doing with it? What was inside?”
“A cigarette case? Lois took it earlier from the scene,” Chloe replied, not quite following his train of thought.
“Maybe there’s something in there big enough to get killed over. She could have been taking it to someone on the other floor when she was shot.”
Chloe nodded, “So she staggered into the elevator and ended up here?” She said then she smiled, “You know, the elevator has a memory, so its computer could tell us what floor it was on last.”
*********
Placing a hand on Oliver’s shoulder the pair of them followed Jimmy through the sixth floor, trying to figure out what had happened. She was forced to stay behind Oliver because that was part of the deal that had happened down stairs. She could come as long as she stayed behind Oliver at all times. Not that she minded the view, the boy did have a fine ass, but Jimmy kept shooting her these funny looks like she was doing something wrong.
“I was thinking more gossip column than political intrigue,” Oliver whispered so only she could hear.
Chloe shook her head and moved closer to Oliver, “My God. Lana what have you gotten yourself into.”
Stopping behind Jimmy they waited as the photographer tried to pick the lock but failed. Watching as Oliver pushed Jimmy out of the way she was amazed when he had the lock picked in about five seconds. Winking at her he stood and opened the door.
Moving back to her position behind him she whispered, “Where did you learn to do that ‘cause you’re going to have to teach me.”
Oliver gave a small chuckle, “Some girls go for sports cars or money but how did I not guess that you would be more of a lock picking girl.”
Chloe shrugged before moving to the computer and typing away. “According to the building’s exit records, Brennan was the only reporter left on this floor when Lana was shot.”
Jimmy shook his head, “That doesn’t make sense. Bowling trophies don’t scream killer.”
Oliver moved behind her and whispered in her ear, “Is it just me or is it really easy to forget he’s in the room?”
Chloe ignored the shiver that ran through her body at Oliver nearness and said, “No it’s really easy to forget he’s around.”
Before being able to get any further the door opened and in walked the Brennan to find them searching through his stuff.
“What are you doing in here?” Brennan demanded.
“We have reason to believe that you were with Lana Luthor tonight.” Jimmy accused.
“He has no subtle,” Oliver whispered in Chloe’s ear, causing her to laugh and both Brennan and Jimmy to send her a weird look.
Brennan crossed his arms over his chest before looking back at Jimmy, “Never met her.”
“Maybe you shot her and snagged her purse to make it look like a petty robbery,” Jimmy continued to accuse.
“I’m calling security,” Brennan said, heading to the closet phone, picking it up ready to dial.
“Great,” Jimmy said with a wide smile, “Then you can tell them how you knocked me out and erased the photo of you. The entire building was sealed off by the police so only someone with prior access to the building could have done it.”
Brennan looked shocked, “Look... Mrs Luthor said she had a story and wanted to meet. She must have been getting off the elevator when someone intercepted her. I... I heard a gunshot and I saw the elevator going down. So I took the stairs but by the time I got there I heard you three coming and I panicked. I’m sorry about your head but if the police had gotten that photo they never would have believed me.”
Chloe nodded, willing to accept him story, “What was she bringing you?”
Brennan shrugged, “All I know is that she said she needed help and it had -” he was cut off as a gun went off and the glass behind him shattered. Chloe barely had time to register what had happened as Oliver pulled her down behind the desk. Peaking around the corner she watched as the blood began to soak through Brennan’s shirt before he fell to the ground in a heap.
Jimmy ran straight through the door calling over his shoulder, “Call 911!”
Oliver growled, “Dam photographer. Call Clark, I’ll go save his ass.” He said before following Jimmy out the door.
Pulling her phone out, she called Clark quickly before follow both boys outside. Watching as Jimmy was rammed into a wall and fell down against it she ran over to where he was to check he was ok, leaving Oliver to deal with the shooter. Having her back to the wrestling she didn’t realise that something was wrong until the shooter was slammed into her body and she was falling over the rail.
“Oliver!” she cried trying desperately to grab onto something. Failing she screamed as she fell and waited for impact to occur.
******
Hearing Chloe’s scream Oliver turned to see her fall over the side of the stairs. Throwing one quick punch to one of his opponent’s pressure points before heading to the balcony and leaned over to see Chloe falling. Knowing he couldn’t do anything he still threw himself down six flights of stairs as quickly as he could. When he reached the bottom though he saw Chloe lying on the couch at that was conveniently placed right next to the stairs.
Sighing in relief he headed over to where she was, “Chloe! Are you ok? Tell me Clark saved you and I’m not going insane.”
Chloe laughed, pulling herself up on the couch, “Yes Clark, very conveniently caught me but he speed away ’cause we weren’t sure who was coming down the stairs. Did you get the guy?”
“Yeah he’s out cold. How about we actually call the police now?”
Chloe nodded but before she could respond Jimmy came hurtling down the stairs to where they were.
“Oh my God Chloe! Are you alright?” Jimmy asked pushing Oliver out of the way.
“I’m fine Jimmy.”
“It doesn’t look like you even have a scratch on you. I don’t understand, that’s not possible,” Jimmy said looking her over.
“It doesn’t matter,” Oliver said, “You should go make sure the police are on the way.”
Jimmy nodded shooting a confused look between the pair before he turned to leave.
Chloe laughed, “He is far too nosey.”
Oliver smiled, “More like that was far too close.”
**********
Walking into the pent house Chloe couldn’t help but feel a little sad when she saw the bags piled by the elevator. She knew that he would have to leave eventually but she hadn’t realised how soon it was going to be. Then again no one else was going to shut down Lex’s 33.1s and if she didn’t want to end up in one of those she had to let Oliver go. Not that she really had to let him go.
“Oliver!” she called out, merrily to distract herself from the thoughts that were circling around her head. She liked Oliver, more than she was willing to admit at most times, now being one of those times.
“Hey!” he said with a smiled as he descended down the stairs.
Opening the paper she showed it to him, “There’s my hero. And it looks like you’re Metropolis’s hero too, even when you’re not in green leather.”
Oliver laughed and took the paper from her, “My share holders are going to love this.”
“I’m sure they will.” Chloe replied, rocking on her heels, “So you’re heading to Star City.”
“Yeah I have to be at a share holders meeting then I’m meeting AC and Bart in Ohio. After we dismantle that 33.1 we’ll tackle the one in France.”
Chloe nodded, “Sounds like you’ve got a busy schedule. I’m afraid you’re not going to remember me.”
Oliver laughed, “I’m not sure that that’s possible Sidekick but just in case how about a photo,” he said pulling out a camera.
Chloe giggled, “Ok, one photo.”
Placing the camera on the table he quickly set the timer before joining Chloe and wrapping an arm around her waist. It felt more naturally than he thought possible. Counting to three he took a deep breath before shifting his position, grabbing Chloe by the waist, dipping her backwards slightly and kissing her soundly on the mouth. Ignoring the camera as it went off he was very glad when Chloe slowly started to kiss him back. Continuing with the kiss he figured he could do this for the half an hour he had to spare before he needed to be on the plane. And it was a very good way to spend time.
The end