Action Time (Chapter Eight)

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Chloe, it's just dinner."

"No, it isn't," she said, keeping in step with him. "It's dinner on this specific day. Why didn't you want to go to dinner yesterday or tomorrow?"

He shrugged, grinning a little. "I'm hungry today."

She glanced sideways at him as they walked down Third Street. He had a sneaky look about him. "Okay. But we're going dutch."

"No, we're not. Not on your bir..."

She grabbed his jacket and pulled him to a stop. "Don't say it. And I knew it. I just knew you weren't listening when I very specifically said I didn't want to recognize my..." She stopped herself. "...this particular day," she finished carefully.

He turned to her, rolling his eyes. "Because all women say they don't need anything and don't want a fuss and they totally mean it."

"This one does." Why was he torturing her? Hell, even Lois had the good manners to be on assignment in Kenosha. Chloe had told her they could go to dinner when she got back on whatever day as long as it wasn't this day. This day could pass her by unmarked and peaceful for once. It was what she wanted and Lois, having been a witness to quite a few of her birthdays, seemed to understand. As for Clark... Well, he usually had to be reminded, anyway. So she just didn't do it -- not that she saw him much. But Oliver... he wasn't getting it. "I was completely serious, Oliver. I refuse to recognize this day."

He shook his head. "Aren't you about six years too young to be holding at twenty-nine?"

"This isn't about that. I'm perfectly fine with my age."

"So much so that you refuse to celebrate it." He took her arm and pulled her along. "Come on! You made it. Another year. In our line of work, that's actually something to celebrate."

"It's not my birthday," she said firmly, letting him lead her into Little Italy. "It's just the anniversary of the day I happen to have been born on based on the Gregorian calendar."

He chuckled. "Oh, that's different."

"I'm serious, Oliver."

He stopped again. "I'm starting to get that." He sighed and took her by the shoulders. "Chloe, is this about us? I mean, does this hit your panic button? Is me taking you out for fancy pasta and cake equivalent to me putting a ring on your finger..."

She shrugged him off. "Stop it. You know I'm done with rules. I'm perfectly fine with just... letting things be and going with the flow. You know, just... Maybe if we just pay for our own meals and not treat this like some special occasion..."

"Oh, yeah. You're going with the flow like crazy, here." He smiled and leaned in. "What if I treat it like a special occasion and you roll your eyes and pretend to be put upon? We both win."

"Treat it like Arbor Day, for all I care, but just don't call it my... you know."

He smiled wider. "I don't think I can help it."

"Don't even..."

"Happy B..."

"No!" She put her hand over his mouth. "Oliver, please!"

He pulled her hand away. "You really are freaked out. Chloe... What's this about?"

She took a deep breath, knowing it would sound stupid, but he had to know. "If you call it a birthday, something terrible will happen. Okay?"

"Like what? Bad cake?"

"Like being possessed by a witch or turned into my cousin or dating a heat seeking ice mutant or Clark going on a silver kryptonite fueled paranoid rampage," she said in a rush, "all of which happened either on or around my birthday."

He let out a huff of laughter. "Wow. Stuff like that definitely doesn't happen all year round when you live in Smallville."

"Well, it... I mean that..." She shook herself. "Okay, fine, but..."

"Some crazy stuff happens around Christmas and New Years, too. Maybe we should give them the slip."

"Don't think I haven't considered it," she muttered, then chuckled. "I don't know. I guess you have a point." She looked ahead at Bessolo's lit sign. "But can't we go somewhere less special-occasion-ey. I could really go for a Big Mac or some chicken wings..."

"And miss the overpriced pasta? Never." He grinned and grabbed her hand, pulling her along, then turning... into an alleyway.

"Oliver, the entrance is up there."

"I got my own entrance," he said, pulling her behind him. "I know a guy."

"Great. And now you're leading me down a dark alley on my unluckiest day?" She dug in her heels and jerked him to a stop. "No. No way. We are not tempting fate."

"Chloe," he sighed. "Okay. I'm starting to figure out that you and surprises don't mix. So I might as well tell you that the back room of this restaurant has been rented out for a private party."

Her eyes widened as it sunk in. "A surprise party?"

"Which I've just ruined. Fact is, I really didn't think you were serious about this birthday ban and there's a certain rag tag group of vigilantes who really want to show some appreciation for the woman who keeps them all in line."

Her shoulders slumped. "They didn't have to..."

"Also, if anything were to happen, practically everyone in that room at this moment has superpowers. So..."

She stared at his pleading face, then took a deep breath. "Okay. I'll act surprised."

He smiled and pulled her forward. "Atta girl."

"But if we all turn into gnomes or get attacked by gelatinous cubes..."

"Gelatinous cubes?"

"If this all goes south, you'll be the one getting twenty-three punches and one for good luck."

"Can we make it spankings?" He winked and pulled open the door, pushing her into the dark room. For just a second, she was afraid everything had gone south before it started. Then came the lights and the roar. She actually did startle and stumbled back into Oliver when Bart zoomed up and blew a paper horn right in her face.

"Isn't it awesome?" He appeared on the other side of her. "Were you surprised?"

"I still am," she said, trying to shake the buzzing from her ears as Oliver prodded her forward. It was kind of nice, though, knowing they cared. Cake, balloons, banner, oversized sandwich included.

Dinah handed her a tube. "Birthday shot for the birthday girl?"

She stared into it, leery. "What's in it?"

"More booze than you'd think." She clinked her own to it. "Emil invented it. Drink up."

Why the hell not? She swallowed it down, thinking it tasted like a gummy bear until it hit her stomach with a small series of explosions. "Wow."

"Right?" AC grabbed her in next. "Hell of a turn out."

"That, too," she said, still feeling unsettled.

"Everyone responded to the evite. Even those weird kids." He gestured to Zan and Jayna, hovering near Emil and his tray of tube shots.

"The twins?" Dinah laughed. "I think they're adorable little... Oh, no." She moved toward them. "Emil, do not listen to them. They get soda."

She looked around. It was a surprising turn-out. "Is Zatanna showing up, too?"

Victor put an arm around her. "Well, she's not a full-on team member, but we invited her. Didn't respond either way. Must be busy. But we can track her down if you..."

"No," Chloe cut in quickly. "You know, we don't want to disturb her or anything," she said, trying to sound extremely casual.

Oliver chuckled from behind her and she felt him lean in. "That and, between her turning you into Lois and putting you on a date with a preteen, you've probably had all the surprises you can handle from her."

She rolled her eyes. "Why don't you make an announcement? I really want everyone to know."

"Don't worry. Everyone already knows that." She turned to face John, who shrugged. "Stuff like that gets around." He pulled her in. "Happy Birthday."

"What gets around?" Bart was suddenly right there. "Is this about the freaky Friday or the girlfight with that Mercer chick?"

She turned to glare at Oliver.

He put up his hands. "I never said a word about anything."

Bart giggled. "I've run into Zatanna in my many travels. Plus, I do my homework. And if you were that eager for a younger guy..."

"Bro," AC hissed. "Too soon."

"But it's been weeks," he wailed. "I have about a million bits saved up for my roast." He pulled a stack of index cards from his jacket. "You, my blushing birthday girl are in for a..."

"I told you no roast." Victor cut in. "Curry's right. It's way too soon."

"What? But it won't be half as funny if I don't do it on her birthday."

"Oh, God," Chloe groaned.

Oliver slipped through. "Hey, is that a big sandwich? We'll never finish that."

"That little thing?" Bart scoffed. "You should have seen the one I really wanted to order." He sped to the table with what must be six feet of sandwich.

"I'll talk to him," Oliver muttered, moving after Bart.

Chloe grabbed John's sleeve. "Does everyone know my business?"

"Hey, I'm practically all-knowing. Can't help it. But yeah. You're kind of like the glue around here, so you're a common topic of conversation and, seems like, if one knows, the rest soon follow." He leaned in. "Hey, no one knows the other thing."

She stiffened. "What other thing?"

"Exactly." He nodded toward Oliver, looking suspiciously at Emil's tubes before taking one. "So stop worrying."

"I wasn't worried." But she had been, a little. Still, why would they know? Lois didn't know any of them and Clark wasn't exactly a gossip.

Clark also wasn't here. But why should she be surprised?

Chloe crawled out of her metaphorical hole and nudged AC. "I thought I had you in Florida tonight."

"Dude, it's fine. Clark volunteered to check in there, few other places, too, so we could all come."

"Oh." Chloe stared into her empty shot. "You know, I'm gonna get another."

She supposed she had no right to be upset, considering she didn't want a birthday in the first place. And maybe she should even think it nice of Clark, pulling more patrol time so she could have a party. But there was a time when he would have been the first one blowing a paper horn at her party and she couldn't help wondering if he'd volunteered his services just to avoid her.

She moved to Emil. "Doctor?"

He smiled. "Miss Sullivan?"

"What do you got for terminal embarrassment?"

He held up a rack of tubes. "Take one of these and repeat as necessary."

"Don't mind if I do," she sighed, downing one. She gasped and shook herself. "It's amazing. I don't taste any alcohol, but I feel..."

He grinned. "My own invention. I managed it with a combination of chemicals that..." She grabbed another. "Hey, slow down."

"You said as necessary." She drank it down.

"These are more powerful than you know. They..."

"Let me tell you about the year I've had..."

Emil shrugged and backed away. "As long as you aren't driving."

"Don't think I will." Now that Lois knew about her and Oliver, she had an airtight excuse to stay at Watchtower, so why not take advantage of it? Really, keeping up that cramped little place with the long drive seemed silly now. It had seemed necessary once, having that tie to her hometown and her best... She took a deep breath, feeling a little better already and grinned at Emil. "I like the orange ones." She grabbed one and turned, surveying her party. It wasn't so bad. So she was, apparently, the main gossip topic and everyone knew all her little screw-ups. They still loved her enough to throw her a party and, mostly, actually show up. She put a certain former best friend out of her mind with his stupid long coat which looked totally stupid and who'd want be best friends with a stupid guy like that? "Stupid," she muttered, then giggled, knocking back her shot and dropping into a chair next to Victor.

"Who's stupid?" Victor asked.

"Not you." She leaned on his shoulder. "Guess why?"

"Why?"

"Because I used to love Inspector Gadget when I was little, but he was kind of dumb and Penny and Brain always did all the work, but you're like a smart version of him, so you're now like the smartest coolest guy I know who's half a robot. And you don't even need a Penny and Brain."

Victor chuckled and stood. "I think I'm gonna get you some food."

"Can you get me another one of these?" she said, holding her empty tube up.

"We'll see about that."

"You do that," she said, mimicking his deeper voice, then giggling again. Why didn't she ever notice Victor was funny, too?

Zan and Jayna dropped into the chairs on either side of her. "Hey, Miss Watchtower," Zan started.

"It's just Watchtower," Jayna hissed. "She's not a teacher."

"Aw, hey, Cuties." She put an arm around each. "Thanks for coming."

"Okay," Jayna drawled. "You know, speaking of cute... about those little baby assignments you keep giving us..."

"Not that we aren't totally knocking them out," Zan cut in.

"Totally. I think we've put most kids in the general area off jaywalking and shoplifting."

"Wedgies, too. Like forever, but I think we've more than proven ourselves to be..."

"Guys, no shop talk." She knew by the voice, it was Oliver. But it took her a while to get her eyes up for absolute confirmation.

"But..."

"She's got the night off."

"You're so tall," Chloe said with some satisfaction as Zan and Jayna started to slump off.

Oliver stopped them. "Hey, guys. Wait. I got a real big assignment for you." They glanced at each other, then leaned in. "You got ipods?"

Jayna scoffed. "Duh."

Zan sighed. "She means yes."

"I want you to rescue this party... with music," he finished on a hiss.

Zan stood straighter. "I got this."

"He meant me," Jayna said, fumbling in her pocket.

"Aw!" Chloe sighed as they moved off, pushing at each other. "We should have more kids."

"Wow." Oliver leaned down. "You're a little drunk, aren't you?"

"No. But you're a little..." She giggled. "You're not a little anything."

"Okay," He chuckled and grasped her hands, pulling her up. "Let's go find the food."

"No. I'm good. Victor's getting me food. And more tubes." She tapped her empty one against his nose.

"I don't think you need any more tubes. You've had a few too many."

"How dare you!" She giggled and leaned into him and whispered. "Just for that, you don't get any sex tonight."

His face seemed to lose all color. "Chloe..."

"Okay. Fine. But only a little bit."

His face seemed to color up, then--bright red. He gave a short bark of a laugh and then turned away from her. "Uh... Heh..."

She turned her face, too, then saw all the other faces. "Why are they looking at me?"

"That wasn't the quietest whisper," she heard him say tightly.

She pushed away from him quickly, wondering what color her face was.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER
CHAPTER NINE