Words

Ollie regularly dreamed of waking up with Lois at his side but in his dreams, his teeth didn't throb and she looked at him a touch more lovingly.

"You knocked up my cousin," she snarled.

"Good morning."

"Afternoon."

"I had a shareholders meeting."

"I told your assistant you had an emergency meeting with Mr. Brick Wall and Ms. My Bootheel that couldn't be rescheduled."

"That explains why my fillings are loose." Ollie pushed himself up by his elbows. He was in his apartment which meant Lois had to riffle around his pockets for the key and he'd slept through it all. Darn. "I should introduce you to Mia. You could teach her a lot about fighting dirty."

Lois just crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"I take it we're having words."

She nodded.

Ollie rubbed his eyes. "Chloe's a big girl. She doesn't need you to screen her boyfriends."

"Funny. Word is you're not even that."

"Jealous, Lane?" He had to ask, even though he knew the answer to the question. Even so, the way she rolled her eyes cut his heart in half. Ollie looked down to make sure there really wasn't an arrow through his chest.

"You're a great friend, Ollie, and a fantastic lover but you are a crap boyfriend. You know this. And also, Roy? We dated for half a year and you didn't even mention the fact that you had a kid?"

"Nosiness must be genetic."

"Damn straight. And I bounced the transmission you hacked into Chloe's phone into mine." She grinned ferally. "Clark was beside me. I'm pretty sure he heard 'cause he snapped his pen in half. I love the way we don't communicate except we do."

Great. Now Boyscout would definitely tap dance on his kidneys. The horror. Clark was an awful dancer. "What do you want, Lois? To tell me to do right by Chloe? I offered. She turned it down. In fact, when this all started, she's the one who told me she wasn't in the shop for anything serious."

"I don't care. She's my baby cousin and as honorary big sister, I have the right to grill you within an inch of your life. By the way, my cousin? Isn't that like incest?" Her eyes narrowed. "You'r not being some gross creeper and sleeping with her as a replacement for me because I'd hate to think you'd sunk that low."

"You think very highly of yourself, Legs."

Lois tossed her hair. "My awesomeness cannot be denied. Seriously, Ollie, I need to know that Chloe's going to be okay. I love her and she's been through so much already--"

"I know!" Ollie snapped. "I know, Lois. If you were really my friend, you'd know I'm not a complete asshole. She's my friend and an employee."

"I didn't say you were an asshole--"

"Right."

"--I said you're a crap boyfriend, which you are not because you mean to be. You're just married to the Green Arrow."

"So, now I'm a narcissist?"

"No, what you are is a man with a calling." Lois dropped down on the bed beside him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and Ollie's heart sped up so quickly, he couldn't quite breathe properly. "Oh, Ollie. What you do, what you want to do for the world and for people who're different or out on their luck, is great. I'll never slam you for that. But the more you invest yourself in the leather squad, the less you become Oliver Queen."

"Billionaire dilettante?"

"A good guy."

He inhaled the scent of her perfume. The knuckles of his fist went white. "I was never a good guy, Lois."

She smacked his chest. "Shut up, emo. Clark wouldn't be friends with you if you weren't a good guy."

"Clark's not the best judge of character."

"Huh. Point. Then I wouldn't be friends with you still if you weren't a good guy."

"Again, thinking very highly of yourself."

"Do you know why I'm with Clark?"

Yes, of course, I'd love to have my heart ground into cement with your stiletto heel, thank you. Would you like to pour acid on it as well? But because he was silent, Lois continued.

"Because even though he's got a billion other things to do, I know I'm always on his mind. Maybe not at the forefront-- that's kind of creepy-- but he never forgets I'm here. And I know if there's ever a time when he has to choose between me and the fate of the world, he'll get torn up about it even as he chooses the world."

"I hardly think a farm and a byline is fate of the world, Lane."

"Don't even start, Queen. I know. And he knows I know. And I know he knows I know. It's a game we play because normal foreplay's gotten old."

Oh yes. There went the acid all over his heart.

"And do you know why I'm still friends with you?"

"Because I can get you invites to all the good stories?"

"Besides that."

"I help pay for your medical insurance."

"Oh, thanks for the last one, by the way. MRIs are so pricey these days." She covered his hands with her own. "You're a good man, Oliver Queen. Not flawless-- that would just make you unbearable. But you try to do what's right and it eats you up inside when you can't. When you've done something wrong, you're the first one to own up and try to make up for it. You try even try to instill that responsibility to the world in your company. When you remember to attend board meetings."

He let out a laugh. "Mr. Wall and Ms. Boothill can't be ignored." Looking down at their hands on his lap, Ollie said, "I'll take care of her, Lois. If she has the baby, I swear to God, I'll do everything in my power to make sure both of them are safe and happy. They're family. You all are. You're... you're all I've got."

She kissed him again on the forehead, like a benediction. "And we're all you're ever going to need."