The Wager Chapter 19/23

[brittany2922]

Banner by miss_morrygan 


Title: The Wager
Author: brittany2922
Summary:  Oliver Queen meets a beautiful reporter named Chloe Sullivan and ends up making a bet with Bruce Wayne that he can seduce the young woman. But what happens when he falls for her?
Characters: Chloe, Oliver, Lois,Clark, and Bruce Wayne, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry
Rating: T

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!

Chloe stared at the door the Oliver had just walked out of and part of her wondered if she had made a terrible mistake by telling him they couldn't be any more then friends at this point.

When she told him that she didn't think that she could trust him it was the truth. She didn't doubt how he felt about her anymore, that was obvious from the way he was looking at her and even more so by the look of pain on his face when she told him that they couldn't be together. But just because she trusted him when he said he really cared for her didn't mean that she could believe that he wouldn't hurt her again.

Unfortunately realizing that was one thing, but taking the steps necessary for him not to get a chance was much more difficult. She almost hadn't had the strength to say the words to him, but in the end it was the right thing to do. She knew that. Didn't she?

Luckily before she could manage to talk herself out of her decision and reach for her phone Lois walked back in.

"Is he gone?" she asked looking around the room.

"Yes Lo, he left."

"Good," she walked over to Chloe and handed her a steaming cup of coffee.

Chloe leaned down and slowly inhaled the sweet aroma, "mmm, okay this is defiantly not hospital coffee," she said looking up at her cousin.

"All right you caught me, I went around the corner to a real coffee house," she said with small smirk, "there was no way that I could drink the sludge they have here when there's real coffee within walking distance." She let out a chuckle, "and if I know my favorite cousins as well as I think I do, then I know you feel the same way."

"I'll give you that much." She answered lifting the cup to her lips and taking a short sip, "Oh you were definitely right this is so much better then the 'hospital sludge' I was going to bribe an orderly into bringing me later."

Lois lifted her cup to her mouth and took a generous gulp, "so what was he really doing here?"

"Just what he said Lo, he was here to make sure I was all right. It really wasn't that big a deal."

Lois made her way around the hospital bed and flopped into the chair beside her cousin. "You know I don't believe that right?"

"Well, you wouldn't be you if you did."

"So are you going to tell me what happened, or am I going to have to guess."

"Lois it really was nothing, he just told me he was sorry for everything." Chloe said.

"That's it?"

"Pretty much."

"Well what did you say?"

"I told him that I forgave him for the whole betting Bruce thing, and that maybe we could still be friends… but nothing more." She felt her stomach clench at the memory of the pain on his face when she had told him.

"Are you sure about that?" Lois asked quietly.

Chloe lifted her head quickly and looked at her cousin, "Of course I am, and I thought that after everything that happened between us, you of all people would be happy to hear that I wasn't planning on giving him another chance."

"It won't make me happy if it makes you miserable."

"I'm fine Lois, really. But even if I was hurting right now it doesn't mean that I can risk letting him hurt me even worse down the road when he decides he's ready to move on from me."

"Is that what's stopping you?" She asked shocked.

"Yes." she admitted softly refusing to meet Lois's eyes.

"Chloe, that's just crazy."

"Lois, I really don't want to hear this right now."

"Fine, but it seems to me that you're putting yourself through pain right now on the chance that he might hurt you in the future, and that doesn't make any sense."

"Lois, please…"

"Fine, I'm stopping."

"Thank you."

"But let me just say…"

Chloe groaned and slammed her head back against her pillow as she listened to her cousin continue on about how she thought Chloe was avoiding what she was really feeling.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Oliver stepped off the elevator into his penthouse, and saw each of the members of his team and Bruce sitting in the living room all wearing sullen expressions.

"How's Chloe?" Bart asked.

"The doctors say she's going to be fine," he answered making his way toward the other men, "they're going to keep her for a few days just to be sure but after that she should be able to go home."

"That's great news," AC said finally breaking a smile.

"Yeah, it was a really close call." Victor added.

"Too close." Oliver said through clenched teeth, "Is there any word on Lex?"

"Nothing new, last we heard shortly after he was taken into custody, he dropped off the map." Victor answered, "I even did some cyber digging and big shock, there's now record whatsoever about the incident."

"Nothing?"

"Nope, even the explosion was listed as a faulty gas line." he answered shaking his head.

"Damn, Lex works fast." Oliver said rubbing his hands over his face. He walked across the room and plopped into a chair, "Did you guys get any information before the building went?"

"Just this," Bruce said finally breaking his silence. He lifted a thin folder and tossed it to Oliver, and pointed toward it, "there's just enough in there to tell us that he knows everything about us."

Oliver flipped through the contents of the folder and let out a deep breath, "Is this all you found?" he asked slamming the folder shut.

"At the warehouse, yes, but when you informed me that Lex had a recording of the two of us from your office I had Lucius do a sweep of both of our private offices. He found several surveillance devices and quickly destroyed them."

"Was he able to find out exactly what Lex managed to hear?" Oliver asked.

"Of course he was." Bruce reached in his pocket and pulled out a small flash drive, "all his recordings are on there." he reached over and placed the item in Oliver's outstretched hand.

Oliver placed it on top of the file in front of him and turned to Bart, AC, and Victor, "You guys should probably go get some sleep." he instructed when he saw how tired his men looked, "I got each of you your own rooms at a hotel a few blocks from here."

"Sounds good to me." AC answered and stood from the couch.

"Me too." Victor said following the other man toward the elevator.

"I'm more hungry then tired," Bart said hoping Oliver got the hint.

"I should have figured, "Oliver replied, "He stood, reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out four fifty dollar bills and handed them to the younger man, "I think that should feed you guys for the night."

"I don't know, this may be cutting it kinda close," Bart joked as he held out his hand expectantly.

"Make it work." Oliver said sternly.

"All right, all right," he said raising his hands in defeat. He turned and walked toward Victor and AC who were already waiting on the elevator, "Thanks boss man."

"Good work today guys," Oliver told them, "Thanks for your help."

"No problem." AC answered as the door closed.

Oliver turned to Bruce, "I appreciate what you did to help me." he said earnestly.

"I'm glad Chloe's okay." Bruce answered, "so what are we going to do about Lex?"

"We?"

"Well he's not just your problem to deal with, and he knows all about my nightly activities too. It makes sense for us to work together to take care of him."

"Welcome to the team." Oliver said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

"Mr., Luthor, we'll be taking off in ten minutes." the pilot said as he stood in front of him.

"Good." he answered simply.

The pilot walked to the cockpit and closed the door behind him.

Lex turned and stared out the window. This was his third flight in the past twenty-four hours, but all the travel was worth it. He had to make sure that Oliver Queen and his team of freaks had no way to find him.

He would be back, and when he re-emerged they would all pay.

---

 

 

Read Chapter 20 HERE!

Comments

[simply-steffv.livejournal.com]

Ok, now I love your rewritten version of the last chapter since it leads to this chapter.
Lol That probably didn't make sense hehe.

I loved how you used some of the same elements of the original version. :)
Great Chapter!

I'm off to read the next one.

[brittany2922.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy you liked the rewrite, and this chapter too!

Lots more good stuff to come!

Thanks for your feedback!