Disclaimer - I do not own Arrow.
Twenty years ago.
They would never actually remember the first time they had met. It was a fleeting moment in a child's memory that would forever be forgotten.
The Starling City Central Park was huge and it was rare to find only two children on the playground, but neither noticed the absence of other kids. He had watched the little girl play in the sand box as he swung on the swings, with her being completely absorbed in the task at hand.
Her parents were passing through town on the way to East Coast, and had stopped to visit her aunt that lived in the city. They had decided that today was the perfect day to spend at the park and have a picnic, letting her explore the sand box while she was under their watchful and loving gaze.
Unbeknownst to her, he watched her unruly hair get in her face and was amused at the way she kept on brushing it out of her eyes with a frustrated sigh each time, all the while thinking that girls were stupid for having long hair as it would always get in the way of trying to play. Even if her hair was yellow like the sun.
He turned his head away from the little girl as he noticed his mother coming down the foot path after meeting his dad at the office to join him and Raisa, their housekeeper, taking out a loaf of bread from her bag.
He had walked up to her that day, startling the three year old out of her thoughts and the deep concentration that she was in from building sand castles as he offered to feed the ducks with him.
Neither would remember this day, but it was the beginning of something neither would have expected.
Seventeen years ago.
Though they had never actually spoken to each other at this particular meeting, fate had brought them again to the exact same place at the exact same time.
She was in the hospital for a check up on her recently broken arm. He was there for an annual flu shot.
They sat at opposite ends of the children's ward with the doctor prodding at her arm as she silently cried from the pain, and him trying to hold his tears at bay as the nurse got steadily closer with the needle. He tried acting like a big boy, not wanting to be seen as a child but the tears came unbidden anyway.
Oliver sat in the chair and tried to concentrate on anything else other than the needle that was about to be stabbed into his arm when the girl sitting across the room from him caught his attention. He thinks he's seen her before but can't seem to place her in his haze of childhood memories.
He tries to focus on her instead of what is about to happen, though the attempt becomes unsuccessful as the nurse blocks his view when she stands in front of him.
When the nurse is done with his arm and steps away the little girl with the yellow hair is already gone.
Eleven years ago.
Destiny brought them together once again, though under completely different and tragic circumstances.
They were at the same cemetery, though at two different burial plots.
He was holding his girlfriend as she cried into his arms over the loss of her best friend, while Felicity cried into the arms of her aunt as she buried her parents after losing them in a car accident.
Over his girlfriends head he saw a blond crying into the arms of an older woman and he was almost winded with the amount of pain she radiated, even from this distance.
He watched as her whole body shuddered and wracked from the sobs coming from her.
He watched as her blonde hair cascaded down her back in waves, all the while holding onto his own girlfriend tighter as she pressed herself closer to him. Seeking comfort from the grief of her own loss.
He watched until her friends and relatives obstructed his view as they pulled her away from the now freshly covered graves.
Five years ago.
Her first day of college.
He had just helped his little sister move into her dorm when he saw the vaguely familiar blonde seated in the campus café, surrounded by a group of what appeared to be freshmen.
The sun seemed to shine just on her, as her hair stood out bright among the masses of people around her. As if it was sunshine itself.
He wasn't sure where he had seen her before but he wasn't allowed to dwell on the fact too much as his little sister urged him along towards the waiting car and their parents.
Thea's excited ramblings and his tired mind and body worked quickly to make him forget the blonde he had seen in the café.
Three years ago.
He had been clubbing with his best friend Tommy Merlyn the next time fate had struck.
She had been dragged to go clubbing by her dorm roommate.
And Sarah was not someone to be argued with, the girl had a mean stare and an even meaner right hook. So Felicity endured the makeover for the night, not even bothering to argue over the skin tight red dress that Sarah had forced onto her, choosing to pick her battles and save her energy for what appeared to be a long night ahead.
She loved Sarah but there was just no getting through to her that she was not a party animal. She would so much rather stay on their worn out couch watching reruns of Doctor Who and getting more acquainted with two very close friends of hers named Ben and Jerry. If after two and a half years of living together Sarah didn't get the message, Felicity doubted she ever would.
And so she dressed up, danced and drank as Sarah expected her to. She even found that she had fun. There was no other option with Sarah, she was the life of the party in any room that she walked into, and living with her had always been entertaining.
It was thanks to Sarah that Felicity started to open up in college.
So that was how Oliver had found her with his eyes, in his far from sober state.
It was hard not to notice the blonde dancing seductively in her daring red dress on the dance floor, as he watched from the VIP lounge area above.
Being too intoxicated to even consider getting up and move away from the brunette firmly planted at his side, he just sat and observed her move to the rhythm of the music until the crowd eventually swallowed the vision of her up and she blended into the masses of dancing bodies.
Present Day.
Fate had finally decided it was time for them to properly meet. Though not in a way that either of them expected.
In the lobby of Queen Consolidated a girl hastened towards the direction of the elevators, her arms full of neatly stacked papers and reports. Everything carefully placed and sorted into the perfect order.
Fate wasn't on her side that day. When she had first woken up this morning she had gotten the feeling that she shouldn't get out of bed.
As the elevator doors opened and in her rush to get inside she collided with a firm body, pushing her back and her arms forward in a futile attempt to steady herself on the heels that Sarah had made her wear that day.
No matter how many times she tried to convince Sarah that the heels would have absolutely no impact on the interview for a new job in Queen Consolidated, Sarah had not budged. She was trying to get into the IT department for God's sake; nobody cares how anybody else looks in IT. But arguing with Sarah was fruitless as always.
So here she was, with her new heels, on her knees in the middle of the Queen Consolidated lobby, trying to pick up the scattered papers around her. She had not even bothered to look up at the man she had collided with, who was thankfully trying to help her pick up said papers.
"I'm so sorry! I'm just in a rush because I have a really important job interview in IT in five minutes and clearly fate hates me right now. I just heard that its kind of a great company to work for and clearly you don't need me telling you that as you obviously work here and you know how great it is. And I don't even know how they could possibly turn me down anyway! What with my hacking and IT skills…NOT that I ever hack anything, ever. Because that's illegal. But my IT skills are amazing, like off the charts to the point that my professor's kept on trying to figure out how I was cheating because my test scores were off the charts. Seriously its not my fault half of them wouldn't know a code if danced in front of them naked. Argh that was inappropriate, sorry. So yes. You clearly didn't need to hear me babble all of that so I'll stop in three, two, one…"
She finally looked up at him, her face crimson from embarrassment as she tried to raise herself up off the floor in the least embarrassing way possible in a pencil skirt and heels.
What she didn't expect was to meet the gaze of one of the most attractive men she had ever seen. That face should be illegal. And his immaculately fitted suit.
He had a smile on his face from her ramblings, that did nothing to stop her erratically beating heart, as he looked between her and the older man standing to his right side.
"Anyway, I am so sorry again for stampeding all over you, and thank you for your assistance, and I'll just be going now…"
She was backing away in the direction of the elevators as she talked but he didn't want to see her disappear just yet. At least not without getting her name first.
"No worries, I forgot to introduce myself with all the commotion, my name is Oliver Queen".
He watched as her jaw drops, observing her face as the wheels turned in her head.
In the back of her mind she registers that she has just made a complete fool of herself in front of Oliver Queen.
The man who owns the very building she's standing in.
The man who she hoped would be her boss.
His last name was probably plastered on all of their stationery.
For the love of….What had she done to deserve this?
Her mind drifted to all the word vomit that had just come out of her mouth, hoping the world would just swallow her up whole right now and save her any further embarrassment.
But the torture didn't end there.
She watched as he turned to the man at his side, both sharing the same amused expression.
"And also meet my father, Robert Queen".
Nope. She should have gone with her gut instinct. She shouldn't have even gotten out of bed this morning at all.
"Oh God" was all she managed to whisper.
Maybe she should just cut her loses and forget about the interview. Flee the building while she still had some semblance of sanity left? Surely no one would remember her the next day?
But the decision was made for her before her flight instinct kicked in when Robert Queen took her by the elbow and led her to the elevators, in what would seem to be an attempt to save the poor girl in front of him from the scene that had just played out before his eyes.
He had never seen someone look so genuinely shell shocked and embarrassed before. It was refreshing amongst all the false faces that he dealt with on a daily basis.
"I do think we'll need to show you the way to the IT department for your interview Miss….?"
"Smoak, Felicity Smoak" she whispered as she clutched her papers tightly to her chest as if they were the only thing holding her together. Either that or to stop her from saying anything else.
"Miss Smoak then. And then maybe you can show us those amazing hacking skills that you speak of?" his grin steadily growing wider as he took in her horrified expression.
"Oliver? Are you coming?"
Oliver threw a silent nod in his father direction and proceeded to trail behind them, trying to place the strangely familiar face of the girl currently being led by his father in front of him.
So I hope you like the first chapter! I need a break from the angst on the show so this was created.
As always please review and let me know if you love/hate/like everything or anything in the story.
Stay safe - love to all - Stace