Even Heroes Need to be Saved

Title: Even Heroes Need To be Saved
Rating: PG-13
Author: Sxymami0909
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Oliver, Clark implied Oliver/Chloe
Word Count: 2135
Prompt: Tag to Episode 10.2 ‘Shield’





“We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it…”

A wave of thunder crashed through the darkened Watchtower as Oliver sat, crouched on the spiral staircase, staring down at the small vile his fingers were rotating around. Anger. His first reaction once piecing things together had been anger.

He was furious that she had given up her life for his, as if she was somehow less important. He understood all too well why she did it, but that didn’t make the ache in his chest go away. If anything it deepened it.

Her actions were extreme and if she hadn’t been able to stand the thought of being without him, of not knowing where he was and if he was okay then how did she expect him to do it? How did she expect him to sit in this…sanctuary that he had built for her without slowly losing his mind?

Her email had done nothing to assuage his guilt or calm his anxiety at her disappearance. Her words made the agonizing pain clawing through his gut more real. They were so finite…as if she truly planned on never coming back to him.

Deep down he had known Tess didn’t write it, but he wanted to believe she did. If Tess had erased Chloe’s existence and pretended to write him a letter from her, then that would mean Chloe didn’t really leave him.

He didn’t want to believe she was gone. That she wouldn’t be by his side when he walked into Watchtower or woke up early on a Saturday morning.

His jaw clenched, eyes boring into the amber colored bottle. But those were her words. He couldn’t count the number of times they’d lay in bed together as she traced his chest with dainty fingers whispering how he was her hero…her knight in shining leather with an impish grin on her pouty lips.

Gut wrenching Pain. He was still in the process of his second reaction. Everything hurt, he was pretty sure the emotional turmoil he was feeling at the moment was a lot worse than any physical wounds he had endured in his life.

Ever since he started things with Chloe…he had known she was the one. There had been many woman in his life, but he had never felt about any of them the way he did about Chloe. She was his heart. Everything good about himself he owed to her and her unyielding faith in the person he was.

Thunder sounded, and Oliver couldn’t help but think the weather was fitting. Even the cosmos were unsettled with the loss of her as the skies split, heavens form of tears falling on the world as it mourned the gaping hole left in the wake of an amazing young woman who had helped so many.

The one person in the world he counted on completely…the one woman where he’d rather die than see a hair harmed on her head…his heart…the one human being he wasn’t sure he could go on without. But as he gazed at the vial in his hands a glimmer of hope underneath layers of grief blossomed.

She was alive. He could feel it. She’d left this for him to find…new the first thing he’d do upon his return was seek her out. And so she’d left him hints…bits and pieces of a plan she’d concocted to buy him his freedom, knowing that eventually he’d put the pieces together and get on board like he always did.

After all…they were a team. But she’d misjudged the cost this time. The price had far outweighed what was given in return. The sound of footsteps startled him out of his thoughts, but he didn’t turn. Oliver didn’t care who it was…all he knew was that it wasn’t her.

“Oliver…”

He knew Clark would come eventually…he always did. He spun the object in his hands once again as he gathered his voice, “Chloe is…ah…gone.”

“What do you mean?”

He could hear the confusion in his friends voice and he swallowed hard as he finally spoke the truth out loud.

“Those people who were holding me at that old brewery…she uh…she traded herself in so I could be free.”

He could see Clark move closer to him out of the corner of his eye. “But who are these people? What do they want with Chloe?”

Oliver wished he knew. He finally looked away from the vial in his hands and at his friend giving him a lost gesture while speaking. “Just a group of people that call themselves crime fighters. They think we should all remain hidden in the shadows.”

He stared at the man in front of him, pressure welling in his chest, “They tried to torture her Clark…but she beat them at their own game. She took a cyanide pill.”

Clark shook his head, disbelief covering his features, “No, Chloe wouldn’t…”

Oliver cut him off and spoke as he tossed the bottle towards Clark, “And then she took this. I found that at her apartment. I had it tested and there’s traces of a cyanide antidote in there….she faked her own death.”

Oliver watched Clark turn away from him glancing at the bottle and when he spoke there was pride in his voice.

“She was planning to go…she saw the future. She put on Doctor Fate’s helmet trying to find you and said it was gonna be okay.”

Oliver gripped the railing of the staircase and stood slowly, an icy chill going up his spine as a wave of anger surged through him. “You just let her go?”

Clark spun around, “I had no idea she was leaving.”

He wanted to scream. Clark had known Chloe for close to ten years…how had he not known? If Oliver had been there he would have realized it immediately and stopped her. “She put on the fate helmet Clark…that should have told you something.”

“Look I understand how much she means to you Oliver, but for years she’s been asking us to treat her as one of us. She begged me to trust her and the decisions she made. If she put this much planning and thought into leaving she knew what she was doing.”

Clark could see then pain in Oliver’s every move, but his friend needed to here this, needed to accept what was going on. Oliver was tired of being calm, he scowled at Clark, a humorless laugh leaving his throat as his voice echoed in the empty room.

“No you don’t! You have no idea how much she means to me…want we mean to each other.” His jaw clenched, voice shaky knowing he was close to breaking down.

“I go out there every night and protect unfamiliar faces so that they can go home and be with the people they love…” his voice grew louder as he took a step towards Clark, “the one person who I love, who I should have been protecting the most…”

He paused his anger deflating for the moment as emotion bubbled up in his throat causing him to stop speaking for a minute. Clark watched Oliver as he composed himself, before moving around him tone lower now. “I failed her.”

“We didn’t choose this…we both know this is what we were born to do.”

Oliver turned, eyebrow raised his anger once again renewed. “You playing the fate card? Is that what you’re doing again, that’s what gets you through the day? You sit around and do nothing while these people that we protect, they paint us as vigilantes Clark.”

He gestured toward the window, veins in his neck popping slightly as he yelled. “The woman you love ran away.”

“You think I don’t wanna go get Lois and bring her back? They left us Oliver. With our lives we can’t blame them.”

He stared at Clark, mouth slightly open irritation on his face, voice sharp as a humorless laugh left his throat.

“At least you know where Lois is! And I’m sorry Clark, but Chloe didn’t leave me…there’s a distinct difference between our two situations…She traded herself for me. I have no doubt that if I hadn’t been taken she’d be here by my side right now because this is her life too.”

Oliver shook his head brown eyes boring into blue, “You think everything is black and white, but it’s not. What if we hadn’t remained hidden? Huh? What if we didn’t put our identities out there to be held hostage?”

He took a step forward voice impassioned as he spoke, “Would this still be happening?”

Clark swallowed hard as Oliver’s words washed over him and he realized the truth in them. But either way what was done was done and Chloe had made her choice. Oliver continued voice slightly lower, but no less forceful.

“I think we have to forge a new fate here…we’ve lost way too much…I’ve lost too much. Something’s gotta change.”

Worry filled Clark at Oliver’s words and he hesitated before trying to speak calmly and rationalize the situation for the man in front of him. “Oliver…you shouldn’t make any rash decisions.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Like the one you let Chloe make?”

Clark glared, “Chloe has a plan. We need to trust that.”

Oliver nodded. “I do. I trust Chloe with everything I have…but I’m making my own plan. Chloe would sacrifice everything she is for who we are Clark…her identity…her happiness…her life…and I won’t let her do it. She saved my life not long ago…brought me back to the man that’s standing before you and now I’m going to do the same for her.”

He turned heading for the door before pausing and glancing over his shoulder at Clark. “I’ll follow the plan that she’s laid out for me…I’ll do what she wants…I’ll be the hero she thinks I am…but I’ll do it my way. This,” he motioned around him.

“It ends now…I’m bringing Chloe home. You can help me or not, but I’m not giving up on her. If she saw the future then she would know that…and if what she saw told her I’d eventually give up…well then I’m about to create a new future.”

He straightened and nodded at Clark before moving to the door. He called out to Oliver, stopping him before he moved through the doorway.

“Why? Why are you fighting so hard to bring her back when she doesn’t want to be found Oliver? You know Chloe…this is what she wanted…she’s doing what she always does…protecting us and who we are.”

Oliver spun around on his heel, hands in his pocket, a ghost of a smile appearing on his lips.

“Because Clark, Chloe is my heart. She keeps me going. Brings out the hero inside of me. She’s constantly telling me how I’m her hero…how I do so much good for the world when the truth is none of it would be possible without her. There isn’t anyone in the world I respect more. She’s my hero…and sometimes even heroes need to be saved…”

He gave Clark a simple shrug, “Maybe for once instead of Chloe protecting us…we should try protecting her. I’m fighting because she’s worth the fight and when I get her back…I’m never letting that stubborn pain in my ass leave my side again.”

He pushed his tongue against his cheek before tilting his head to the side, “Chloe and I agreed a long time ago that we were in this together…and I’m not letting her break her promise. She means too much to me. I will not lose someone else I love and I’m sorry if you don’t agree with that, but honestly…I don’t care.”

The anger was gone from his voice, all Clark could see was his determination and the slight spark in his eye. Oliver gave him one more glance before disappearing down the hallway, head held high. Clark glanced around the empty Watchtower as a light ache settled in his chest.

Chloe was gone…it hadn’t really hit him until this moment, but as Oliver’s words reverberated through his head the tightness around his heart loosened. He believed the conviction in the older man’s voice. Clark hadn’t always been a supporter of Chloe and Oliver’s relationship.

He thought the way it had started spoke for itself and they’d never last. He didn’t take it seriously, but now he could see how wrong he was. Their bond went deeper than he could have imagined. It was like Chloe always used to say; even heroes need to be saved sometimes.

Oliver was right, Chloe was a hero…probably the biggest one out of all of them and for once it was her turn to be saved…There wasn’t any doubt in his mind that if anyone could bring Chloe home…it was Oliver.