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AN: I do not own Arrow.
Summary: An executive at Queen Consolidated used QC technology in a terrorist attack on Star City. After the dust settled, QC's overall image was in shreds. Robert Queen hires Isabel Rochev, a former intern at QC, now a renowned brand consultant, to improve the image of QC. Moira however has numerous reservations about Ms. Rochev.
Thea was home for the summer holidays and having passed her first year of college in flying colours, Moira decided to take her shopping at the upscale mall in downtown Star City to celebrate. Her daughter loved to shop. At one point Robert thought Thea would try to buy the entire mall on her black credit card. He was even considering sending her to a therapist because he feared she was a shopaholic. As Thea matured though, she eventually cut back on her spending as she gained more of an understanding of where their money came from and how other people were not as fortunate as them.
Up until earlier in the year, the Queens used to be treated like royalty in Star City but not anymore. Being a Queen had become bad thing. Moira was shunned in her social circles, the country club revoked Robert's membership and Oliver was no longer the most eligible bachelor in the city. Even in this mall, most people gave them a wide berth, their eyes darting to the large shopping bags in their hands.
"Gee mom, it's like they think we have sub-machine guns in our bags and at any moment they expect us to pull it out and start spraying the crowd with bullets," Thea quipped.
"Thea," Moira admonished, the disapproval clear in her voice.
Ever since Ray Palmer, former Chief Technical Officer at Queen Consolidated, used the armed drones and robots they had been developing for the military to attack the Glades, public confidence in QC and the Queen family had dropped dramatically. Five hundred and three persons died in the Glades. It would have been more if not for the quick thinking of a few QC employees that had figured out what was going on and how to stop it.
The trigger event for Palmer had been the death of his wife, Anna, and their unborn child exactly a year before he attacked the Glades. A group of thugs had ambushed her as she was trying to get in her car. Captain Lance informed Moira just after the incident that the details of the case were to heinous to ever repeat to anyone. Poor Ray had been looking forward to becoming a father. He had saved his vacation days to be home with Anna during her maternity leave. After Anna's death QC encouraged him to take his leave early but he refused. Instead he threw himself into his work. Their military liaison was very pleased with the results of Ray's hard work. They encouraged him to add more weapons to the drones and robots. It was the military that first suggested adding explosives to the robots so that they could bomb insurgent strongholds more accurately. They thought if they could walk the robot in under the cover of darkness and use the cameras on the robot to verify it was a stronghold and not a school, it would cut down on the collateral damage. Ray used that particular feature on an elementary school in the Glades. Ray's suicide video claimed that the elementary school was filled with future monsters. The psyches concluded that Ray had suffered a complete break from reality. The people in the Glades had become the insurgents that he was building his drones against.
QC was slammed with lawsuits, the military terminated all of their contracts, their partners withdrew from joint projects, and the stock price dropped dramatically. It was an awful time to be associated with QC. No one wanted to buy their products much less the citizens of Star City. They had to rely strictly on international sales to keep them afloat.
Since the incident Human Resources had only been able to attract three people to the company. Nobody wanted to work for the company that destroyed half of the Glades. The position of Chief Technical Officer was open but no one had applied for the job. Walter was suggesting promoting an internal person who worked under Ray and he made it known that his candidate was Felicity Smoak, the programmer who had acted quickly to shut down the drones and robots that Ray was using. She had the requisite degree from an Ivy League school, MIT in this case, a stable psyche report and the necessary leadership abilities to be CTO but Moira thought she was a bit too young for the position.
What really made her dislike Ms. Smoak was her son's apparent interest in the woman. She had overheard Tommy teasing Oliver one night that Felicity didn't think he was good enough for her. That was why she kept rejecting his requests for coffee. Moira saw red. How dare a little tart from Vegas, think her son wasn't worthy of her. It was the other way around. She was not worthy of Oliver and Moira would make her son see that. She would steer her son back to Ms. Lance who was a far more worthy candidate for the future Mrs. Queen. Also, there was no chance of a sexual harassment lawsuit since Ms. Lance was the Assistant District Attorney of Star City and not employed in the company that Oliver helped run.
The board was up in arms about the position that the company now found itself in. To appease them, her husband decided to hire a brand consultant to help re-establish the faith in the QC brand. He chose to hire Isabel Rochev, a former QC intern but Moira also knew her as the one mistress that had actually gave her cause for concern. Of course her husband had spun it to the board that Ms. Rochev's previous experience working in the company made her a perfect choice to help save QC. Moira tried, through Walter, to get a different consultant hired but she had failed.
Soon after Ms. Rochev's employment her husband started coming home very late, one of the signs that he had entered into a new fling. After a week of that behaviour she decided she had enough. She waited for him late one night with a glass of scotch, her liquid courage for what she was about to propose. She confronted him as soon as he entered the house. Of course the man denied everything and insisted he was tired from working all day and wanted to sleep. Moira surprised him with her next words. "I want an open marriage." The look on his face was priceless.
It only made sense to Moira. They had never been faithful to each other, Robert more so than her. It was time to be honest with each other. Neither of them wanted a divorce. That would just wound the company even more and the company was the legacy they were leaving to their children. She was completely fine with maintaining the image of a happily married couple as long as she was allowed the same privileges as him. It was hard work to cover up an affair from your husband. Between finding excuses for your absences and making sure you didn't run into him during your secret rendezvous, it was exhausting.
It took him a day or two but he eventually came around to the idea. She set down quite a few ground rules. They had to be honest with each other about who they were seeing and where they were going. If there was an emergency, they needed to know where the other was, and if they needed to give a fake story to the press to explain the whereabouts of the other. Robert admitted that he was seeing Isabel again at the apartment he thought was a secret but Moira knew all about. She told him she hadn't started an affair yet but she was thinking of starting something with Walter. He was Robert's best friend and a widower. She knew Walter wasn't looking for a serious relationship. He had lost his wife three years ago and he wasn't looking to replace her. However, Walter told her he was not opposed to finding a companion. Robert had been very surprised but he wasn't going to hold her back from finding some happiness. She had yet to inform her children about the new development.
They had just finished buying Thea a few suits that she could use for her presentations at school, when her daughter spotted a familiar figure.
"Mom isn't that Ms. Rochev," Thea said pointing out the store's window. Her daughter was well aware of the brand consultant her father hired for the company just not what went on between the CEO and brand consultant after hours.
Moira followed her daughter's line of sight to another boutique across from them that was filled with designer dresses. Isabel stood in the forefront critically reviewing a dress that was in the boutique's glass window. A clerk appeared next to her with a dress for her to try on.
"Why does she look like she's angry with the dress?" Thea asked curiously.
Moira checked the time on her phone. It was 2:00pm in the afternoon, she should have been at QC working like they paid her to. She would need to remind Robert that he was paying Isabel to save QC's reputation not to spread her legs for him.
A person in a dark green shirt with Queen Consolidated clearly written across the back caught her attention. Those were the shirts they provided to staff to conduct outreach to promote the company. Perhaps there was an event in the atrium but if there was why was the staff shopping instead of working?
Moira decided to investigate further. She exited the store and turned in the direction of the atrium but Thea stopped her,
"Aren't we going to say hello?" her daughter asked confused.
"Ms. Rochev looks quite busy dear, I have another idea in mind," Moira said to her daughter.
Thea nodded and followed after her. The atrium was packed with booths of various companies displaying all of their latest products for the mall's techie day. Kord Industries, Wayne Enterprises, Luthor Corp and QC were all there with displays. There were a lot of people gathered around the Wayne Enterprises booth. She noticed that they had some type of game that they were using to lure the crowd to them. She was disappointed to find hardly anybody was interested in the QC booth. She could clearly see the petite blond with a pony tail talking to one kid by herself.
"Mom, isn't that the girl that Ollie has a thing for?" Thea asked with her head tilted to the side, studying the blonde intently.
"I believe that is Ms. Smoak," Moira said calmly.
"What is she doing here? I thought she was going to be running her own department," Thea asked.
Moira hummed, "That decision hasn't been made yet."
"Let's go say hello," Thea said her whole face lighting up as she approached the unaware blonde.
Moira followed after her daughter in silence. She was curious to see what her daughter had up her sleeve.
"Hello Felicity," Thea said when she was close enough to the blonde.
Moira had to suppress the smirk that threatened to show when Felicity nearly jumped three feet in the air from fright. "Ms. Queen," Felicity said holding a hand to her heart.
"You look like you need some help," Thea offered.
"I'm fine Ms. Queen. I'm doing my job. Well not exactly my job since I'm in IT but they needed an IT person on site to answer complicated questions and run the VR machine. So really it is part of my job and I'm babbling again. My point is that I got it under control," Felicity said in an upbeat tone.
Just then a kid of about eight walked up to the table and picked up one of the freebies on the desk that were being given away if you could answer a question about QC.
"Can I get this?" the kid asked. Without waiting for an answer he walked off.
"Wait!" Felicity called out after him. "You need to answer a question first," she said as she watched his head disappear into the crowd.
"Yeah you need help," Thea said.
"Ms. Queen I don't think you're supposed to be doing this," Felicity told her.
Thea looked her brother's crush directly in the eye, "The purpose of these activities is to save the company my family has built. I've seen the news reports that talk about us Queens sitting safe and sound in our mansion while our worker bees destroyed the city. I might be a part of this company one day and I refuse to let people think that I sit in my mansion all day while there are worker bees doing everything. I have two hands, I can help. This isn't exactly rocket science is it!" Thea stated fiercely.
Felicity sighed, "No it isn't."
Moira looked proudly at her daughter as Thea stood by the desk and started to engage a few passers-by. She had matured into a lovely kind-hearted person that was dedicated to her family and the company. Thea would be a true asset to the company if she decided she wanted to work for QC. She turned her attention back to the blonde.
"Ms. Smoak," the petite woman jumped again, "Is there a game we have that we can use to encourage people to our booth?" she asked.
"Mrs. Queen, where did you come from?" Felicity blurted out now noticing the older woman for the first time. Her eyes suddenly widened when she realised what she had said and the verbal babble ensued, "Not that I meant where did you come from because I'm sure you were born the way the rest of us were born. I meant…"
"I understand what you meat Ms. Smoak. My daughter and I will be helping you today and I believe our booth could benefit from a game," Moira said trying to keep her tone even. She didn't have patience for the woman's babbles.
"Oh right, well we do have a game I just couldn't run it by myself because I have to supervise the game, the desk, ask and answer questions and also hand out these recruitment flyers for HR because we need more staff," Felicity said pointing to positions all over the booth that she was in charge of.
"You handle the game, Thea will handle the desk and I will handout the recruitment flyers," Moira said in a tone that indicated she was not to be questioned.
"Yes Mrs. Queen," Felicity said quickly getting the game loaded and ready.
Moira arched her eyebrow when her son appeared at the booth carrying a bag that said Big Belly Burger and a milkshake. She glanced at her watch, 3:30pm. Did all the employees at QC just leave when they wanted? She needed to have a word with the HR manager. Oliver looked sheepishly at his mother, very similar to when he and Tommy got caught doing something they clearly should not have been doing.
"Hello Oliver, is there a reason you aren't at work," Moira asked coolly.
"This is part of work. What are you and Thea doing here?" he asked with a downturn of his eyebrows.
"We saw the booth and decided to assist Ms. Smoak," Moira explained to her son while she stopped two teenage girls that were passing by and handed them the recruitment flyers. She politely asked them to think about joining the QC summer intern programme.
Oliver frowned, "She isn't supposed to be here by herself. If I remember the roster it was supposed to be Isabel, Carrie, Richard, Mark and Felicity."
"I realise that but I believe the others you mentioned are taking the day to shop," Moira explained in a clipped tone to her son.
"Shop?" Oliver repeated with a frown. "Isabel is supposed to be in charge of this event. With the exception of Felicity, our booth is manned by staff from her department."
"Is that for me?" Thea asked appearing next to him and grabbing hold of the bag.
"No," Oliver said pulling the bag away from her.
Thea pouted. "Please," she begged with her famous puppy eyes. Usually that look would work on him but he wasn't budging. He had brought the lunch for a particular person who he was 1000% sure had not eaten lunch yet.
"No, I'm sure you ate lunch already," Oliver told his sister.
"That was hours ago," Thea whined.
"But at least you ate," he replied.
"Are you saying you didn't eat lunch Oliver because I distinctly remember hearing about a lunch meeting you had today with some investors that Dad was hoping would be interested in the new battery," Thea responded while sneakily moving closer to steal the bag.
"This isn't for me," Oliver said tersely pulling away from Thea.
Moira watched her son walk over to the game where Felicity had a long line of teenage boys all waiting to play. He held the bag out to her but she refused to take it pointing to the long line of boys. Oliver walked back towards them with a frown on his face. He pulled one of the chairs from by the desk over to the game and forced her to sit on it and eat while he supervised the boys, or more accurately while he followed her instructions on how to supervise the boys.
"Interesting," Thea quipped her eyes glued to her brother and his crush.
"Get back to work Thea. Perhaps you should consider joining our summer intern programme," she said handing a leaflet to her daughter.
Thea flipped it open and skimmed it, "Perhaps I should. After all I can't have my mother encouraging people to join the programme when her own daughter is doing nothing but shop all day," she said wisely.
Moira gave her a proud smile before she spotted a group of girls with shopping bags and approached them about a career at QC.
At 5:00pm on the dot, according to Moira's phone, Ms. Rochev and the rest of the employees returned to the booth.
"Mrs. Queen?" Isabel drawled, "What a surprise to see you here?"
Moira gave her a tight smile, "It was indeed a surprise to discover that I am paying my employees to shop in the mall."
"I can assure you we just stepped away for a moment," Isabel said in what was supposed to be a reassuring tone.
"Ah I see," Moira said thinking it over before she turned to Felicity, "Ms. Smoak, is there a technical definition for 'a moment'?"
Felicity pushed her glasses onto the bridge of her nose, "I'm assuming you don't want the definition in relations to physics or statistics. A moment in relation to time is defined by the dictionary as a very brief period of time," she said. Oliver was still assisting her with the game and from the snippets of conversation she heard, she gathered her son was trying to figure out what the blonde was doing after work today.
Moira nodded her head and then looked down at her watch, "Is three hours considered a brief period of time?" she asked innocently.
"Not for a human. For planet earth yes, for the Universe yes, but not for a human," Ms. Smoak stated shaking her head from side to side, her pony tail flying behind her.
Moira turned back to Ms. Rochev, "I've been doing your job for the last three hours. This is completely unacceptable."
"I assure you Mrs. Queen, we have been working," Isabel insisted.
"Not when I saw you trying on dresses," Moira said before pointing to a red head behind her, "And you coming out of the lingerie store. I don't see how you possibly could have been working. Especially since the booth is here and based on the packing list in these boxes you didn't even take flyers with you to hand out!" Moira stated angrily.
Isabel visibly swallowed and her staff shifted uncomfortably behind her. Moira felt a thrill of victory shoot through her.
"I think I will need to talk to the board to nail down the specific deliverables that you are supposed to produce because I don't think a new wardrobe is one of them," Moira didn't wait for Isabel to reply instead turning to her daughter and son. "We can leave now that the staff has returned to pack up."
"Ok," Thea chirped while her son blushed. Thea grabbed their shopping bags that she had hidden under the table and then looped her hand through her mother's.
"It's nice to meet you Ms. Rochev, pity it wasn't under better circumstances," Thea said before guiding her mother away.
When they were almost to the exit she turned to her daughter, "Shouldn't we wait for your brother?"
"Oh, he's going to the movies with Felicity after this," Thea said with a proud smirk.
Moira arched her eyebrow.
"Mom don't give me that look. Give her a chance. He's only been pinning away for her for a year now," Thea revealed.
"A year? You mean this started before the attack on The Glades. How did I not know about this?" Moira asked thinking back on her son's activities over the past year.
"Way before the Glades. In fact, Oliver was in her office when she shut the droids down. She's helped him on quite a few projects at work. Walter thinks they gel well together," Thea informed her.
Moira pursed her lips. She didn't like the idea of her son pinning away for someone. Thea looked seriously at her.
"Mom don't judge her. She may not be what you wanted for Oliver but she may be what he needs. Image isn't everything," Thea said.
"Ok I'll give her one chance but if she hurts Oliver, she will feel my wrath!" Moira stated.
Thea hugged her mom, "Thanks, I think you're ready to meet my boyfriend Roy now," she said before walking off quickly to the driver who was waiting patiently at the entrance with a newspaper in his hands.
"Boyfriend? What boyfriend? What have my children been doing?" Moira said to herself before she followed after Thea.
That evening, Moira was again waiting for Robert to return home with a glass of scotch in her hand. This time she wasn't as apprehensive as the last. This time she had the upper hand in the conversation. He came through the door at minutes to midnight.
"Robert, I saw Ms. Rochev today in the mall," she said as soon as she closed the door.
"Yes she told me about the encounter," Robert said warily.
"Did she also tell you that I found Ms. Smoak working the booth all by herself while Ms. Rochev and her staff shopped to their hearts content?" Moira said taking a sip of scotch when she finished her question.
"Moira," Robert said in warning. Exactly the response she expected. He was blind to Isabel.
"I want to back Walter's suggestion for Ms. Smoak to become CTO of the company," Moira said seriously.
"I thought you didn't like her," Robert said with a frown. She knew he was trying to figure out what her angle was.
"I didn't," Moira admitted, "But after today I realised I may have misjudged her image. Ms. Smoak is a hard worker and most importantly these days, loyal. I understand what Oliver sees in her," she said. She also understood that Isabel didn't like Ms. Smoak, hence the ditching her to man the booth by herself. An ally against Isabel in the company that didn't bend to Isabel's will was something that Moira very much craved.
"I'll bring the matter up at the next board meeting for approval then," Robert accepted. He was not going to argue this matter with her so late at night.
"Great," Moira said with a wicked smile. She finished off the last of her scotch and placed the glass on the entry table by the door. A maid would move it the next morning. "One last thing Robert, you might want to keep your mistress on a tighter leash since it will be very bad for the company's image if she were caught shopping for lingerie in the middle of the day when she is supposed to be at work," she advised him.
Before Robert could get a word in the door opened and Oliver stepped inside. His head turned from his father to his mother, "Everything ok?" he asked suspiciously.
"Just splendid!" Moira said ignoring the fuchsia coloured lipstick her son was sporting on his collar that happened to be the exact shade Ms. Smoak was wearing at the mall. "I enjoyed working with my children today." Her eyes slid to the grandfather clock by the staircase, "It's late. We all need to be up early tomorrow because Thea has decided to join the intern programme at QC. It will be her first day of work and I want to make sure she has an extra special breakfast before she goes in with you two. Good night," she finished.
As she walked up the stairs she thought this was the best day she had in a long time. Her son got the girl he wanted, Thea decided to work at QC and introduce her boyfriend to her, Walter was amenable to her proposal and she had the upper hand on Isabel. It really was a fantastic day.
An: Thanks for reading. Tomorrow's story is called Umbrella.