Smallville Fic: All Will be Firm Without Us Part Two

[jesterladyfic]

Title: All Will be Firm Without Us
be Jesterlady
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The Queens had never had a real honeymoon. Point in fact; they'd never had a proper vacation. Throughout their long partnership and relatively short marriage, they didn't exactly remember adopting six children with superpowers and short attention spans. But they'd love to take a break, catch up with their old friend Zatanna and find out exactly how they'd gotten married.
Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville. Some lines are from the show. The title is by Pablo Neruda.
A/N: Spoilers for the finale. This fic was partly to have fun with the team being too dependent on Chlollie and partly to explore the episode of Fortune. I'm going pretty canon here, even with the post-finale stuff but the Fortune segments play with the timeline but I figure that's ok considering all the liberties they took and the whole camera only playing things in bits.

Part One



Part Two: Marriages Are Made of This

Oliver wrapped his arm around Chloe and took another sip from his champagne glass. They were all staying at the Kent farm until the champagne ran out before going on to their separate nights. The longer he got to stay with Chloe, the better. It was still hard for him to let her out of his sight. He knew he couldn’t hold onto her forever. She was her own person and she’d changed while she was away. His being possessive wouldn’t help keep her in Metropolis. But he’d been broken and alone for so long and to finally have her within his reach again, well, he couldn’t let go of that. She smiled up at him and he could feel his body loosening with the joy he could see in her eyes. That joy was somehow being transferred to him and he felt his own smile start to grow.

“Hey, guys, guys,” Lois said loudly, breaking into his internal monologue. “Guys, we
should stay here. Like, all of us.”

“I agree,” Tess said. “Segregation is stupid.” She giggled into her own glass and
almost fell backwards but Emil caught her, practically braining her in the head with the
camera. Everyone started laughing at the sight.

“More champagne!” Chloe declared, pouring more into Oliver’s glass and he couldn’t have
agreed more.

“Music!” Lois shouted. “I want hair metal!”

“No!” they all shouted in tandem. She pouted and ran her hands down Clark’s chest.

“Not even for your fiancée on her bachelorette night?”

“Lois,” Clark said, looking like he was having trouble focusing on her, “I will do
anything for you. I’ll run to Zan-Zanzibar, I’ll wear glasses, I’ll get you some pearls, some
diamonds, you want the Crown Jewels?” He hiccoughed and didn’t wait for her response. “But I
will not listen to hair metal.”

“Could you at least start a fire or something, it’s freezing in here.”

They all ducked and covered as fire bolts shot across the room. Oliver landed on top
of Chloe and looked deep into her eyes. Dimly he could hear Lois running for a fire
extinguisher, people talking, and the sounds of things being knocked over, but all he could see
was Chloe.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said, “whatcha doing tonight?”

“This and that,” she said.

“You wanna do this and that with me?”

“I could do this and that with you forever.”

“Forever?”

“Yeah, totally forever.”

He grinned and moved toward her lips, forgetting everyone else in the room.

“Ollie,” she whispered, “you’re squashing me all squashed.”

He blinked, trying to figure that out and then leapt up, extending his hand to her. He
overestimated his strength and sent her sailing into Tess who simply giggled and gave Chloe a
hug. Now there was a sight he thought he’d never see. Never ever.

He shambled over to Emil, who'd somehow lost both his camera and permanently serious
expression, and slung his arm around him.

“It doesn’t even affect me.” Then gravity started to betray him and he could hear
Chloe’s hysterical laughter from somewhere above him.


***


Chloe blinked a little and tried to remember why she was so cold. When her vision stopped swimming she saw she was standing outside on the Kent porch. Tess and Emil were having a thumb wrestling contest on the railing and Lois was attempting a cartwheel in the yard, giving everyone an unneeded view of the bride-to-be's underwear choices for the evening.

“Ollie,” Chloe called, “Ollie, I’m cold.”

There was a whooshing sound and a jacket dropped around her shoulders. She turned
around, expecting to see Clark, but it was Oliver standing there, grinning.

“I got whooshed,” he said. He had his cell phone in hand and clicked it closed. “Your
carriage, m’lady.”

“I’m a lady,” she said proudly and turned around again. She clapped her hands in glee
at the sight of the stretch Hummer waiting for them.

The others all yelled their own approval and after grabbing a few more bottles of
champagne, they all climbed inside their transportation.

“Why are we leaving again?” Tess asked, while they all rummaged around inside the
vehicle, throwing things around and exclaiming at their finds.

“Because the farm is boring,” Clark said firmly. “Farms are boring. Smallville is
boring. We want exciting.”

“Smallville’s right,” Lois slurred.

“I can think of some exciting things to do,” Oliver whispered in Chloe’s ear and she
shivered. She wrapped her arms around him, ignoring the others.

“Whisper them to me?”

He did and she giggled with approval at all of them, feeling very hot all of a sudden.
She had a brief desire to drag Oliver down to the unoccupied end of the car where it was mostly
dark and the others could just deal with it. But she had some sense of rationality; at least,
she thought she did.

“We can do that later,” she said. “We have the rest of our lives to do that.”

“The rest of our lives?” he asked. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure; I love you, Ollie Arrow.”

He gave her a silly smile.

“But you left, remember? You want the whole world. You want more than this provincial life.”

“You’ve been watching Disney again,” she cackled and he joined her.

“I’m not gonna hold you back,” he assured her.

“Don’t you want me to stay?” she asked, suddenly feeling morose.

Then he was kissing her and she could barely breathe, but she didn’t want him to stop.

“I want you to stay,” he said. “I want you to be with me forever. Forever.”

“Me too,” she said.

“Then it’s forever,” he said, clinking his glass to hers.

“Forever and ever.”

“Forever and ever.”

“Forever and ever.”

“Stop it!” cried Tess, leaning up against Chloe. “You’re forever-ing me out of my fun.”

“This is love, M-Mercy,” Oliver said. “It’s what love is.”

“I don’t know love,” she said sadly and Chloe patted her arm in sympathy.

Suddenly Emil was there and he got right up in Tess’ face.

“You’ve loved,” he said, practically shouting. “You’ll love again. I’m a doctor.”

They all burst out laughing at that and then Chloe turned to Oliver and found he was
looking at her. In that instant she discovered her true purpose.

“We should get married!” they shouted together.

And Chloe knew that it would be the best decision they’d ever made.

***

Lois sat on top of the car and cheered for the camera. Oliver tried his best to understand what she was saying but he couldn’t. Not that he was interested in Lois anymore, nope, no more Lois. He wanted to know what Chloe was doing. She was, she’d gone somewhere, where?

“Tess said she knew just the thing,” Lois shouted down to Oliver. “They’ll be back and
she’ll be perfect. Do you hear me?” she screamed, “perfect!”

Oliver grinned at the thought of Chloe getting ready to get married to him.

“What about me?” he asked Clark, feeling slightly more clear-headed than he had been.
It had been at least half an hour since he’d drank anything which was something he thought he
should probably rectify.

“What about you?” Clark said, turning from his attempts to get Lois to come down.

“What about my looks?” Oliver said. “I can’t get married like this. It’s gotta be
special, man, it’s gotta be memorable. Like, like, it should be green!”

“Green,” Emil said, throwing his hands up and almost dropping the camera. “I know the
perfect green. I know it.”

“Take me to it, man.”

Emil and Clark and Oliver went off while Lois turned the radio station on and fiddled
with it until she found the right song and started dancing on top of the car.

“Clark, Clark,” Oliver said. “You’re my best man.”

“You’re my best man,” Clark said, hugging Oliver. “You’re the best man.”

“Yeah, but, Clark, you’re my best man. Right now.”

“Oh, right now. Okay. Okay, I’ll get rings.”

“Rings are good.”

Emil almost tripped and Oliver caught him.

“You’re groomsman, kay, buddy?”

Emil choked up on his response and Oliver sighed, putting his arm around the man’s
shoulders.

“The guys are gonna be pissed,” Clark said suddenly, laughing.

“Yeah,” Oliver agreed, laughing too at the thought of what Bart, Victor and AC would
say when he showed up married to Chloe and he hadn’t included them.

“You could wait,” Emil suggested.

“No,” Oliver said, resolution in his voice, “Chloe and I are forever and I don’t want
to wait another minute.”


***


Chloe clapped her hands in joy and let Tess and Lois fuss with her hair some more.

“I should be really mad at you right now,” Lois said, but her hands didn’t falter once.

“I know, Lo,” Chloe said and started to inadvertently giggle at her rhyme.

“I’m serious,” Lois said. “I’m the bride-to-be and you’re cutting in on my dance.”

“I know, L-“

“Don’t say it!”

“Fine, I’m AWARE of that. But I can’t put this off, Lois. You’re going to get a big
day and lots of people and lots of presents, but I don’t even really exist. I’m just a nobody.”

“You’re not nobody, Chloe,” Tess put in. “You’re essential. We’d all be dead if it
wasn’t for you, millions of times. Millions.”

“But I don’t exist.”

“That’s not the point,” Lois said, stepping back to critique her work. “The point is
that you’re you and you’ve been you forever and you’ll be you forever and Ollie loves you and
he’ll love you forever. It’s forever, cuz.”

“That’s why it has to be now,” Chloe whispered, looking at herself in the women’s
bathroom mirror at the Chapel of Love in downtown Metropolis. “I’ve wasted enough of forever.”

“Then let’s get the groom.”

“No, no, there’s two more things I have to get. Without them I can’t get married.”

“What?” Tess asked, putting her fingers out as if expecting a tangible answer.

“ID.”

“But you don’t exist.” Tess' face turned thoughtful. “Which might actually put a
crimp on this marriage thing if I think about it.”

“I kinda exist,” Chloe said, starting to smile. She started running toward the door
and then the Hummer. “I kept my birth certificate and my yearbook. They’re in a super secret
place. Shh, let’s go.”

“Girl cat burglary time,” Lois crowed, running after her cousin. Tess ran past her and joined a laughing Chloe in the car. Chloe smiled and gestured to the driver to carry herself and her groom-to-be's two ex-girlfriends/her current bridesmaids off on a merry adventure.

***

Oliver looked with pride at his new jacket. Now this was fitting. This was the right color to be married in at his wedding. Green Arrow and Watchtower in wedded, green bliss. He checked his hair quickly and almost fell over. Clark caught him and then lifted him up and set him on his feet again.

“I’ve got rings!” he said triumphantly. “I’m the best man.”

Oliver eagerly turned to look at the items that were to be the symbol of his and
Chloe’s eternal love.

He glared in his inspection while Clark attempted a sales pitch.

“Oh, this is good, now, look at this one, this one…”

“Now, we’re two different-“ Oliver stopped as Clark’s fist almost brained his head.
“Now, you’re not thinking this through, okay? Now these are, these are-how much did this cost
you?

“Nothing.”

“That’s a woman’s ring! Alright? These are twenty dollar rings out of a vending
machine. She deserves better than that-better than that. Right?” Oliver turned to see Emil
with his blasted camera still in his face. “How about a little privacy there, Blairwitch?
Now!” He put his hand over the camera and pushed before turning back to Clark. “I wouldn’t be
caught dead in that thing.”

Clark smirked as he tried to pull it off.

“It’s stuck,” he said and laughed.

Oliver struck his hand to his forehead dramatically.

“I’m the groom now, Clark. Don’t go trying on the awful rings you picked out for me
and my bride.”

“I seriously can’t get it off,” Clark said, laughing almost hysterically.

“You’re like, like a superman,” Oliver said, blinking. “Be super-strength guy. Come
on.”

“I feel like I might rip my finger off,” Clark said seriously. “I’ll just, we’ll just
leave it.” His face brightened. “Maybe Lois will like it.”

Oliver shook his head.

“Thank God I’m a former billionaire with taste.”

“You’ve got Chloe,” Clark said, nodding sagely. Emil also nodded his head in agreement.

“A gem,” he said, his voice pitched loudly, then he started to sing to himself. Oliver
shook his head and focused on Clark.

“She’s mine,” he said, swaying a little. “Mine cause she wants to be. Cause she’s a gem.”

“I said it!” Email said loudly behind them.

“I just need to get good rings,” Oliver said. “I need good rings for a good woman. It
doesn’t have be really fancy; that’s not Chloe. I’ve never had to shower her with things.
She, she just wanted me. She wants someone who gets her,” he said, almost to himself,
remembering back when he’d heard her tell him that.

“I didn’t,” Clark said, solemnly, “but you do. And this ring speaks getting fluently.”

Oliver sighed and grabbed the ring from Clark’s hand. He would get her whatever ring
she wanted. In the meantime, his ring was stuck on Clark’s finger.

***

When Chloe finally arrived at the chapel, ready for the rest of her life, she was annoyed to find Oliver nowhere to be seen and Clark standing up at the front.

“A word,” she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him back down the aisle. Clark
blinked owlishly at her.

“You're really strong,” he said.

“Thank you. Listen, Clark, I know there's a lot of history in the Chloe/Clark
department, but that does not mean that I want to be Mrs. the Blur for the rest of my life.
Where's Oliver, the guy I want at the altar?”

“The preacher guy told me to stand there,” Clark protested. “Oliver's arranging
everything.”

Chloe's ire melted away and she started to laugh, especially when the most brilliant
idea she'd ever had came to her.

“We should totally play a prank on Lois,” she said.

“Like how?” Clark asked warily.

“Sh,” Chloe said, beckoning him to come with her, “Lois is still primping.”

They tiptoed to the office where they found Oliver arguing with the clerk on duty about
the chapel policy that only chapel employees could officially be witnesses, despite whoever was
standing up for the bride and groom. Chloe just stopped for a minute and admired the
belligerence she was about to bind herself to. He was amazingly stubborn. So was she. They
were going to have some fantastic battles in the future, but the thought didn't faze her a bit.

“Ollie,” she called. He turned around immediately, faced the wrong direction and then
shook his head.

“Over here,” Clark said.

Oliver turned the right way and the smile that came over his face when he saw her was
magnificent.

“My blushing bride,” he hiccoughed.

“My minty-fresh groom,” she replied. He kissed her and she could've stayed like that
for awhile if Clark hadn't butted in.

“What's the plan, Chloe?”

“Oh, the plan,” she said, pushing Oliver away before bringing them both in close and
explaining. Oliver's eyes narrowed when he heard it.

“You're not trying to satisfy some old dream with a fake scenario, are you?”

“No,” she said, quietly and simply, and glared at him.

“Right,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead and backing off. “Good enough for
me.”

She smiled only on the inside. Now was the time for sneaky, bad ass Chloe, not
melting, simpering bride Chloe.

When Lois walked into the room with Tess and Emil, Chloe was standing at the back of
the chapel and Oliver and Clark were at the altar. Emil hastened up to the front and Tess started down the aisle, followed by Lois. Chloe went next and before she'd gotten to the front she heard a great squawk from Lois.

“Wrong places, wrong places,” she hissed at the guys.

Oliver and Clark looked at their respective groomsman, groom places and shook their
heads.

“We decided to switch,” Oliver said.

“Chloe!” Lois yelled.

“We did,” Chloe said, smiling. “It's better this way. Blonde and brunette, blonde and
brunette.”

Lois glared daggers and Chloe couldn't hold the laughter in anymore. All three of them
burst out laughing and then everyone changed places while Lois vowed revenge all throughout the
ceremony.

“Do you, Chloe Anne Sullivan, take this man...”

“Do you, Oliver Jonas Queen, take this woman...”

Chloe listened to the words in a bit of a haze. To be honest it was hard to
concentrate. But she did know this was the happiest she'd ever been. She couldn't regret the
night, the timing, even the loss of important people like her dad, Lana or the team. Maybe
they should've considered Mia, but the girl was in school on the other side of the country.
This was right and Chloe had waited a long enough time for happiness. She was going to get
it. This marriage may not have been meticulously arranged like her last one, but she was
fairly confident no Kryptonian monsters were going to crash it.

“I now pronounce you man and wife.” Chloe snapped from her thoughts and launched
herself at Oliver, kissing him thoroughly. Even the crappy wedding ring didn't matter, only
him.


***

Oliver carried his bride over the threshold of the chapel and then promptly dropped her on her ass when he saw the Hummer's new decorative theme.

“Yes!” he cried. “It's perfect.”

Lois and Tess beamed as they came outside and saw him appreciating their handiwork.

“It was nothing.”

“We used your credit card,” Tess said, laughing. Oliver wasn't even annoyed. He was
used to being the meal ticket of the group. True, he didn’t really have any money anymore.
That’s what happens when there are things like hostile takeovers, but nothing was too good for
his and Chloe's night. And as much as he wanted to be alone with her right now, he also wanted
to celebrate.

“More champagne,” he cried, getting into the car. Everyone piled in after him, and
they all drank a toast to the newly wedded couple.

They made a quick stop to sing karaoke at Emil’s insistence and it soon became apparent
that it was his true calling in life. He gained the owner’s card within minutes and promised
to stop back later.

But with the renewed rowdiness it became quickly apparent that karaoke was no place for
them. They wandered the streets for a little bit and decided it was time for some
entertainment. Clark disappeared in a flash and returned with the Luthercorp sign.

“Who's got a permanent marker?” asked Tess. Clark disappeared again and then handed
her one when he reappeared.

They all took turns scribbling rude things on the sign before Clark whisked it away
somewhere.

“Monkey,” Clark suddenly said, pointing.

“Oh, monkey!” squealed Chloe, hurrying over to the armored truck in the midst of a
holdup.

“Watch this,” Clark said and the car was gone while the two men doing the robbery were
sprawled out behind their intended victim who was looking quite confused.

“Ta da!” Chloe cried, dancing around in the place where the truck had been. Oliver felt like he
needed to do something, but Clark had already taken care of it, and that wasn't his first
priority anymore. No, his first priority was getting Lois alone so he could ask her something.

“I need your help,” he told her urgently and they tiptoed off, even when Chloe and Tess
asked them where they were going.

“What's the big emergency, cuz-in-law?” Lois asked, slightly in his face.

“I didn't get Chloe anything.”

“It's not like you had a month to plan,” she told him. “She won't care.”

“But I wanna,” he whined. She rolled her eyes.

“Fine, we'll go do something and then I'll help. Okay?”

“It's a done deal,” he said, shaking her hand and then they rejoined the group where
Clark had introduced the new member of their crew, Dr. Lemur.

“We need to go do something,” Lois insisted.

“A place with a bedroom,” Chloe said, looking at Oliver with eyes that made him want to
take her right there and be done with it.

“Casino!” Lois shouted. “I'm feeling lucky tonight.”

Everyone agreed that it was the best idea they'd ever had and the driver was told to
take them to the best gambling casino with a hotel (and an Elvis impersonator, chimed in Emil)
that there was in Metropolis.

When they got there and Emil quickly became more popular than the resident impersonator
and got his own two groupies and a costume, the others decided that wasn't necessarily the best
thing. Tess thought differently and quickly used Oliver's credit card to buy herself a June
Carter Cash-esque dress and tried to join Emil on stage.

Oliver drew Chloe aside while Lois started gambling and Clark watched uneasily.

“I want to show you something,” he murmured in her ear.

“I can see that later,” she said, giggling.

“No, something else,” he insisted. “It's a new trick. An Arrow trick.”

“Okay,” Chloe said, wrapping her arm around his waist as they walked away.

He took her to a dimly lit corner and then showed her the toy bow and arrow he'd gotten
in the gift shop. He didn't know why they were selling those, but he was okay with that. He'd
figured out the best wedding gift ever and he'd done it without Lois Lane's help, thank you
very much.

“I'm going to make the most incredible shot in the world with the worst bow and arrow
in the world,” he told her. “All to prove my love for you.”

“Ollie, listen to me,” Chloe said urgently and he immediately stopped because whenever
she used that tone of voice he felt like falling down at her feet.

“Yes?”

“You already proved that when you asked me to be Watchtower and when you tried to
protect me from Doomsday and when you taught me how to shoot and when you bought me a spoon and
a satellite and crawled through ducts and when you tried to find me and when you let me go and
when you trusted me enough to leap off a building and when you let me steal a dinner
reservation and then came to rescue me and every day when you always get me and know exactly
who I am.”

Oliver blinked, he'd had a little trouble following all of that but he got the gist of
it.

“How about when you risk your life for me and bury me alive to teach me a point and fix
me up after I've been thrown through a window and go on hidden weekends with me cause I'm too
famous and trade your life for mine and erase your whole life so you can keep me safe and
rescue me from virtual worlds and get kidnapped when I'm being stupid and don't berate me for
it and when you agreed to be my wife?”

“We're really weird,” she said.

“Yeah. Now for the demonstration!” He drew the bow back dramatically and tried to
focus, forgetting where his target was supposed to be and he ended up hitting a security guard
square between the eyes, breaking the bow and bursting out into laughter. He quickly shoved
the bow in her hands and stepped in front of her.

“It was the blonde in the stupid dress,” a guard from behind them yelled. Chloe turned
around, ire on her face.

“This is the most beautiful dress I've ever had,” she said, taking the guard out.
“Don't you dare mock my wedding dress!”

Oliver smiled with pride and groaned as Chloe started a brawl.

“Run away!” he cried out, catching Lois’ and Clark's attention. Lois was starting her
own brawl over the loss of her engagement ring.

In the melee that broke out, Tess and Emil somehow got left behind or they’d gone
somewhere. Either way the Hummer was gone when they got outside the casino.

“Split up!” Chloe cried. Oliver and Lois banked left while Chloe and Clark turned
right.

“Meet you later,” Oliver cried out.

“For the rest of our lives,” Chloe answered, waving her newly ringed hand back in response.

***

Chloe slowly fluttered her eyes open, almost feeling like she had again woken up from that strange night, thankfully without the headache. She rolled over, rubbing her eyes and stared at Oliver for a moment. He wasn’t awake yet. He was very pretty in the mornings and she could probably look at him all day; in fact, she wanted to look at him all day. That hadn’t changed. It was a startling thought for her sleepy mind, but she realized nothing had actually changed. The love she felt for him was just as strong as it had been before she remembered. But she was glad they had done this; she was glad they’d remembered the wonderful and awful things that had happened that night. She groaned a little, recalling some of them. Now that she had the memories, she could feel what it had been like, not just watch herself in fragments on a screen, feeling like it hadn't really been her. Some of the things she’d said and done were so very stupid, but she realized a lot of them had come from her heart and were the things she’d always been too afraid or too mad to say.

“I’ll hand you this one, Zatanna,” she said thoughtfully, “we really were wound up
tight.”

“Cigar for you, honey,” said a voice from behind her. Chloe spun around too fast,
whacking Oliver on the head.

He was out of the bed in a flash, holding the sheet around him and brandishing the
phone as a weapon. Chloe had to laugh a little. He made quite a picture, like the Adonis of
phone vengeance.

“Easy there, Robin,” Zatanna said, holding up her hands. She was still dressed like
she was about to go on stage. “Just checking in to see how the transplant took.”

Oliver put the phone down and yawned, climbing back in bed behind Chloe, wrapping an
arm around her waist and putting his head on her lap.

“S’wonderful. Now go away.”

“He’s always a little grumpy in the mornings,” Chloe told Zatanna, patting the blonde
head in her lap.

“So, what did we learn?”

“That you are a confounded nuisance,” Oliver growled, turning his head the other way.

Chloe smiled.

“We learned that there was nothing to learn. I’m really glad we did it, but it doesn’t
change anything. I’m very grateful for your help.”

Oliver lifted his head up.

“Really?” he asked. “You’re grateful for all of that?”

“Yeah.” Chloe’s heart stopped for just a second. “Aren’t you?”

He looked at her for a second and then tilted his head.

“What do you think?”

“I think you’re insufferable,” she said and turned back to Zatanna. “Really, thank
you. We’ll be leaving this afternoon to go on our much deserved vacation, so good luck on the
show tonight.”

“Mmmm,” said Oliver, buried back in the bed.

Zatanna smirked and turned to leave.

“Just try not to mess it up,” she said and shut the door.

The phone started to ring as soon as she was gone. Oliver picked it up and looked like
he was going to throw it across the room but Chloe rescued it and said hello.

“Uh, Mrs. Queen?”

“This is she, she of the Mrs. Queens.”

“Okay…this is the front desk. You, you have 25 messages, would you like to hear them?”

“What’s the first and last one?”

“The first says: Hope you’re having a good time, the kid is driving me crazy. Love,
Lois. The last says: Argentina’s wide open and we’re going in.”

Chloe’s eyes widened.

“Second to last?”

“Bring me back stuff, Bart.”

Chloe rolled her eyes.

“Thank you. Please don’t send any more messages through.” They had their personal
cell phones and she would check those next. Anything truly important would be there and with
more details.

“Okay, ma’am.”

Chloe hung up the phone and checked her phone's messages, revealing no urgent requests
for backup and then shook Oliver.

“Ollie, they’ve gone into Argentina.”

“What?” Oliver opened his eyes, instantly awake. “That wasn’t scheduled for another
month.”

“That’s what the message said.”

“Did anything happen? Should we go?”

Chloe shook her head, a slow smile heading across her face.

“No offense to us, but what can we do that Superman can’t?”

Oliver sat up, his gaze moving over her tousled hair and earnest face.

“Good point, Mrs. Queen.” He slowly reached his hand across her stomach, sliding it
around her back as he kissed her.

“Good morning,” she said, kissing him back.

“It’s the best morning,” he agreed.

“I meant what I said,” she whispered. “It was all worth it.”

“I know,” he said. “But did I have to wear that jacket?”

“Hey, you woke up in that jacket, you already knew about it. How about we dish about
the things we didn’t know?”

“Well,” he said, smirking, “neither of us proposed.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she said, kissing his shoulder.

“I agree,” he said, putting his nose on her cheek.

“That’s cold,” she said, pushing him away. He pulled her with him and she landed on
top of him at the foot of the bed.

“I’ve never had complaints yet,” he told her.

“Well, I guess I can attest to that,” she said. “But hold on, none of that till we get
the debrief out of way.”

“This isn’t a mission, Chloe,” he protested. “I mean, I don’t really know what to say
here. I’m relieved that it happened the way it did. By the way, how did you end up back in
Clark’s closet?”

She groaned.

“We went back there to hide out from the cops and then Clark started complaining about
how he didn’t know how to dance for his wedding and we put the music on and then the monkey got
out and then I think Clark heard a noise and shoved me in there. Maybe I hit my head or it all
just finally hit me and I dozed off.”

“What a way to spend your wedding night.”

“Tell me about it because, apparently, my groom as of four hours was taking a nap on
the tracks with his ex-girlfriend and my maid of honor.”

“I don’t even know how we got there,” Oliver said, rubbing his face. “I’m surprised we
didn’t get run over. I remember running, Lois putting up a big fit the whole time, no shock
there, and then there was this homeless woman with big feet.”

“I guess some things are true blackouts,” she said, rubbing her nose against his. “We
can’t all get away with perfect recall.”

“Hey,” he said, “I know I’ve been on my share of binges, but you’re always there to
pull me out of them.”

“You won’t ever have to go on another one,” she told him.

“I’m so thankful for you,” he said, his voice breaking a little. “You’ve saved my life
in so many ways.”

“We’ve been over this,” she reminded him, “we save each other.”

“Every day.”

“Forever and ever,” she reminded him and he laughed, then sobered up.

“That was weird, seeing Tess again.”

“It was like she was alive,” Chloe agreed. He buried his head in her shoulder and took
a deep breath and she put her hand on his head, holding him to her. She knew how hard Tess’
death had been on him, how he felt like he hadn’t been there for her and that if only he hadn’t
been infected with the darkness, Tess would have been at the wedding with the rest of them and
the Luthor kidnapping would never have happened. She hadn’t been able to assuage him of that
guilt yet, but she was trying. She missed Tess too, surprisingly.

“That was the one bad thing about last night,” she said. “Or that night or however
this recall thing works.”

“No, no,” he said, coming up for air, “no, I loved seeing her like that. So happy,
like when I first met her. And I know she changed. Now I have happy memories of her. Maybe
we could have Emil contact Zatanna and she could give him back his memories of that night.”

“We can ask,” she said, “but I’m not sure he’s ready for that.”

“Yeah.”

“Ollie?”

“Hmm?”

“Are we okay now? Are we going to have large fights about the past and the present?”

“We never fight about the future, do we?” he mused.

“No, apparently we bought stock in only two of the three tenses.”

“Not like we can’t afford the third,” he offered.

“I think we should sell the two we have,” she told him.

“I agree. And yes, we are okay. I never doubted your love for me now, but after
knowing what happened that night, I can’t doubt then either. It’s you and me, Sullivan, to the
world’s end. You're stuck with me.”

“You forget I changed my name that night,” she told him, dipping her head closer to his.

“I can’t ever forget that night again,” he assured her, capturing her lips with his,
caressing them with a tenderness that she was used to, yet felt anew. She lowered herself to
feel more of him because, at that moment, she wanted nothing more than to be with him wholly
and forever.


***

Oliver held onto Chloe’s hand as they stepped onto the jet.

“Do we hafta?” he asked, like a petulant child.

“We’re going home, Ollie, not to jail.”

“Been there, done that, as long as we have our own cell, I’m good.” She simply smiled
at him and took her seat as the jet prepared to take off.

“We have to go home sometime and there is a world out there that needs us and Mia needs
us and Clark needs to get back to his own duties and now that Argentina’s been taken care of in
our absence we’ll have a lot more time to do the things we need to and be there for each other.”

“You make it all sound so easy,” he grumbled, sitting next to her.

“It’s not, but that’s what we do,” she said. “Now do I have to be the adult the entire
way or are you gonna take a turn?”

“I always take turns,” he said. “I’m one of the most generous billionaires in the
world.”

She rolled her eyes.

Oliver stretched and felt relaxed. It had been some of the most amazing weeks of his
life. After he and Chloe had recovered their memories they’d done practically nothing but stay
in with each other. They'd both been worried about the Argentina mission and checked their
phones frequently, but other than a few terse messages from Victor saying that they'd all made
it out okay, the only messages had been from a raving Lois about how she wasn't ready to have
kids yet, yet alone teenagers. They were both relieved and strangely surprised that the team
had cut back on their attempts to contact them. Oliver had suggested some sort of illegal
experimentation had been done on them. Chloe had laughed and told him not to be paranoid.

So, he'd stopped worrying about his team and they had gone on some walks and some
picnics and done some sight seeing and they’d brought back souvenirs for everyone, but mostly
they had reconnected and that was exactly what he had wanted when he’d suggested going away.
Now they just had to stay that way. He wasn’t as afraid of them drifting away from each other
now as he had been at the start of the trip, but he knew that, realistically, couples need
times like they’d just had in order to stay happy. And he intended to be happy. He was funny
that way.

“I’m so happy, Oliver,” she told him. “I haven’t been this happy in so long.”

“I know,” he said. “We just gotta come up with some ground rules for the team. If
they want a happy and sane Arrow and Watchtower then they gotta let them have vacations and
date nights and nights off and birthday celebrations that don’t get blown to smithereens.”

“I can’t believe you’re still bitter about that. AC and Mera apologized a thousand
times.”

“Bart hasn’t.”

“Bart won’t and you know it. And it’s not like you didn’t get a present that night.”

And that was all it took to put him back in his happy place. That night had been the
best present he’d ever gotten.

“We’re doing that again,” he told her, grabbing her and heading to the back of the
plane.

When they finally landed on the tarmac they were greeted by the entire team.

“Whoa, what’s the occasion?” Chloe asked, coming down the stairs. “Did something
happen?”

“Nope,” Victor said, giving her a hug and taking her bag. “We just felt like coming.”

Oliver wrapped Mia up in a big hug. He had really missed her.

“Miss me?” he asked, keeping his arm around her.

“No way,” she said, “not unless you brought me stuff.”

“First bag’s all yours,” he told her. She grinned but didn’t go running off, instead
keeping her arm around him. “So, how’s Connor?” he asked and smirked at her suddenly guilty
face.

“Fine,” she said, in a clipped tone.

When they had arrived back at the penthouse and Bart had super speed unpacked for them,
except for the gifts and Chloe’s personal things, they all gathered around in the living room
and got caught up.

“Well, I hate to break this up,” Chloe said a few hours later, “but if I’m going to get
anywhere with looking through all the Argentina stuff, I’d better get started.”

“It’s all done, sitting on your desk,” Victor said proudly.

“What? Are you serious?”

“Yup, we got to thinking while you were gone. At first, we all just kinda fell apart
and didn’t know what to do. Then the training and the common sense took over and despite the many times we all almost killed each other, we got the job done.”

“And we’re going to keep doing it,” Dinah said. “You guys can’t have all the fun.”

“Married life is tough,” AC said, taking Mera’s hand. “You need a break every now and
then and not just once a year to go away.”

“Wow!” Chloe said, exchanging glances with Oliver who couldn’t believe what he was
hearing.

“So, here’s the deal,” Victor said, “we divided all the work you guys have been doing
for the team. You still got all the power and the stuff you do best, but I’m taking over
security and programming. Bart’s gonna help you with reporting leads. AC’s gonna take over
Oliver’s patrols when he’s got real work stuff. Dinah and Mera are gonna help out with Mia.
And we’re all gonna take care of our own issues without acting like you’re the parents, deal?”

“Oh, deal,” Chloe said, taking his hand.

“We’re going away more often,” Oliver said, clasping Victor’s hand as well.

“And I’m not going to act like a brat anymore,” Mia said. “Besides, I’m a full-fledged
member of the team and I’m faster than you are now, Oliver.”

“No way, no how, Speedy,” he told her. “The student does not outstrip the teacher
until he says she does.”

“Practice tomorrow says you’re wrong,” she told him.

“Deal yourself.”

“But we’ve still got a lot of work to get caught up on that you guys can’t help us out
with,” Chloe said, “so we should get started on that.”

“Your secretary called,” Dinah told Oliver. “She said with a raise she’ll keep doing
the level of work she’s been doing while you were gone. Also, that she hired you two more
personal assistants so you should be able to cut back your work week from 80 hours to 60.”

“I’ll take that too,” Oliver said, feeling shocked. His secretary was more than
capable and he trusted her implicitly. He’d always felt like if he could delegate a bit more
he’d have more time and now was his chance.

“Bruce called,” Victor said, talking to Chloe. “He said he’s found someone who can
take over Asia. You shouldn’t have to be running out there so often now.”

Her eyes widened.

“All of you, get out of here now,” she said. “Oliver and I are going to celebrate and
I don’t think you want to be here when we do.”

The room emptied like they were all Bart that day and Chloe flung herself at him.
Oliver scooped her up and kissed her like he had all the time in the world.

“This is another Zatanna trick, right?” he asked.

“If it is, I’m okay with that,” she said. “Imagine it; we could actually have
normal-ish lives!”

“You going to admit I was right?” he asked.

“About what?” she asked incredulously.

“About taking that vacation.”

“Fine,” she said, “but I already knew that.”

He scooped her up and took her into the bedroom where he prepared to extend their
vacation by a good 24 hours.

“You know what we have time for now?” he asked, kissing her slowly and languidly.

“What’s that?” she asked, arching herself up into his touch.

He just smiled and kissed her belly.