Secret Identities
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Floating, suspended, weightless. There was such peace in it. No time existed, no space. Only a sense of oneness with all that had ever existed, and all that ever would be. Closer and closer to the Source, closer to Love, yet too far away to rejoin it. In some gray area, unable to go forward, unable to go back. Love was the source of all, and all returned to the Source, and everything was connected. But it was love too, that pulled her back and the notion that she still had much to learn in her earthly body. And so, now… falling, weighted, time, space, matter, landing, and finally settling back into the shell that was her body.
* * * * *
Chloe gasped, her intake of breath filling her lungs deeply. She blinked, opening her eyes. She was thirsty, hungry and needed to use the bathroom. She vaguely wondered what time it was, because these were the things one concerned themselves with when corporeal once again. But of course, she’d have no memory of any other existence but this earthly one.
“Chloe?” Two masculine voices rang in her ears. “Chloe?”
She moved to sit up, and felt strong hands on both sides support her. “I’m okay.” She said, not wanting to be fawned over, smothered, waving their hands away. Coming back from the dead always made her feel disoriented and empty somehow. Hollow. She glanced around realizing she was in Oliver’s guest room.
“How long this time?” she asked Clark.
“Ten hours.”
She looked up at Oliver. He looked tired, but his face was unmarred. He reached for her hand, and she began to pull back self-consciously, casting a furtive glance at Clark. “It’s okay, Chloe,” he said indicating Clark with a nod of his head. “He knows.”
Chloe glanced from one to the other. Clark looked uncomfortable, shifting on his feet. He looked down briefly, then back up at her. “Oliver told me,” he said simply.
“Secrets,” she murmured, lowering her head to gaze her and Oliver’s hands clasped together. “Too many secrets.” She looked up again. “Clark, can you get me some water please?”
Clark realized she was asking him to give them some privacy. “I’ll bring you something to eat, too,” he said as he headed for the door.
Once Clark had gone, Chloe cast her eyes downward, not meeting Oliver’s gaze. “Now you know,” she said softly.
“Not exactly the way I would have wanted to find out,” he answered quietly, stroking her the back of her hand with a thumb.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
"I don't know how you thank someone whose brought you back from death," he whispered, lifting her chin with a gentle forefinger, wanting her to look at him. “You scared the hell out of me. But I realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“That I don’t want to lose you.”
“Ollie…,” she paused, swallowing hard. “I don’t know if I can do this. All the secrets. From Lois, from the League, from the world.”
“It’s for your protection, Chloe.” His hand moved to cup her cheek. “If too many people connect you with Oliver Queen, with the League, with the Green Arrow… you could be in danger. Lex has already been keeping tabs on you at the Planet. It’s a risk I’m not willing to take. Anyone knowing would target you, because of me. I won’t have that.”
She grasped his hand from her face and placed it in her lap, holding it. “There will always be danger, Ollie. I’ve never run from it before, and I’m tired of hiding. Tired of trying to remember which lie I’ve told to whom.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed, her eyes searched the floor for her shoes. “How long do you think we’d be able to keep this up? Don’t you think some are suspicious already?” Finding her shoes, she bent to put them on. How could she make him understand that the lies she had to tell every day, to Lois, to the other League members, and until recently Clark, were eating away at her? “I need to get back to Smallville.”
“Chloe.” This conversation was not going how he’d wanted it to at all. How could he make her understand that keeping their relationship secret was for her safety? No, he couldn’t abide it. He’d already had to go through her “death” because of him. He couldn’t do it, wouldn’t let her be hurt because of anyone possibly linking her to the Green Arrow.
She stood and headed for the door, placing her hand on the knob. He followed behind closely. “Chloe, wait.”
Chloe stopped, deciding to simply throw caution to the wind, come what may. She turned to look up at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “I love you, Oliver Queen… and I can’t live pretending to the rest of the world, that I don’t.”
As she opened the door, Clark was there with a water bottle and a white paper bag of food, noting her distraught expression.
"Clark, please take me home."
Before Oliver could utter a word, they were gone.
End Chapter 8
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