The Queens Meet Felicity
Au: I do not own Arrow
Summary: Oliver's PoV to the events that happen in Meeting the Queens. The story also continues on to Big Belly Burger.
Oliver paced the foyer of the mansion he lived in with his parents and sister. He was supposed to be formally introducing his family to his beautiful girlfriend today and he knew she was already at the restaurant. He was never a prompt person but this was one event he didn't want to be late for but his family seemed to be dragging their heels. His father was the first one downstairs and he only laughed at him. His mother was next followed by his sister, who he was sure was purposely taking her time. The driver brought the limo around to the front of the house and he anxiously ushered his family into the limo. When they were halfway there, Thea declared she needed to change her shoes.
Oliver glared at his sister, "You don't need to change your shoes."
"I do, look this strap just came off. I can't go into the restaurant like this,"
"We will be late," Oliver pointed out angrily.
Moira sighed, "We can make a quick detour back and Thea can get a new pair of shoes,"
"I don't like being late," his father huffed.
"Would you prefer your daughter walk into an upscale restaurant bare foot?" Moira asked.
"Fine but next time Thea, ensure you don't have a wardrobe malfunction." Robert said sternly. "This reflects badly on the Queen family."
Thea rolled her eyes at her father. She and Oliver were always being reminded about the Queen family image. Soon they had returned and she at least made a quick effort to obtain a new pair of shoes. She tugged at the straps to ensure they were secure. When she returned Oliver was furiously rubbing this thumb and forefinger together.
"Relax Oliver, Felicity will understand," Thea said absently.
"You know she's Felicity," Oliver asked suspiciously.
"Oppps," Thea said. She was supposed to keep that a secret.
Moira sighed, "Did you really expect that you could pull off a secret girlfriend from us?"
"Yes I did. I did not want you to interfere with my relationship," he said angrily.
"And we didn't," Thea said.
"No you let me think that. How do I know that you didn't interfere?" Oliver asked her.
"I didn't, I swear. We were all curious about her so we each found a way to meet her on a purely professional basis."
Oliver raised an eyebrow at his sister, "I'm supposed to believe that none of you attempted to intimidate her, particularly you mother?"
"I can assure you, my dealings with Felicity have all been company related. I never once made her uneasy. If I did, I'm sure you would have known about it by now."
Oliver nodded. It was true. Felicity always told him when she had an encounter with his family. Though now that he knew that those had been intentionally arranged it put matters in a different light.
The driver lowered the divider between him and Queens, "Mr. Queen there seems to be a problem in front of the restaurant,"
Oliver looked out through the front windscreen and sure enough he saw a police cruiser parked in front of the restaurant. The officers were out of the car and they were talking to a woman he immediately recognised as Felicity. Before the limo came to a complete stop, he jumped out and headed straight to her. He started looking over her appearance as soon as he got close. There were no scrapes on her visible skin, her dress was in order and unsoiled, her makeup was all in place and all of her hair was perfectly styled, even that strand that he liked to tuck behind her ear was secured. After she had relayed the incident to him he decided to lead her back to the limo. He would not ask her to eat in a restaurant where the staff had insulted her. After his family's revelation about knowing Felicity he had no qualms leaving her with them. They would behave. He had matters to settle with the restaurant.
He marched back to the restaurant and roughly pushed the doors open, causing them to slam against the inside walls. The hostess was by his side in an instant.
"Mr. Queen," she said politely.
"I want to speak with the manager now," he said sternly.
"Mr. Queen, I can assure you," she said attempting to smooth over the incident.
"I WANT TO SEE THE MANAGER NOW!" Oliver yelled. He was at the end of his fuse.
She took a step back frightened, "Follow me,"
Oliver strode angrily through the restaurant behind the hostess until he heard a familiar voice calling out his name.
"Tommy?" Oliver asked turning to the source of the voice. There seated at the table was Tommy Merlyn, Laurel Lance, soon to be Merlyn, Sara Lance, Nysaa Raatko and Malcolm Merlyn.
"Hey," his friend replied a bit sheepishly.
"You're here to spy aren't you?" Oliver accused
"You were nervous, we couldn't help ourselves. We wanted to see how it went and it was also a good opportunity to have the family dinner Dad has been asking for,"
"I take it from the yelling things aren't going well," Laurel commented.
"Where's the rest of the family?" Sara asked curiously.
"It's not like Robert to be late," Malcolm added.
"We were late, I told Felicity to come in without us and order drinks and appetisers but despite my putting her name on the reservation, the restaurant threw her out and called the police,"
"They did what!" Tommy exclaimed his face going red with anger. All his friends looked angry as well. Oliver could only imagine what he looked like.
"I hope you give them hell Oliver," Sara said firmly.
"Oliver," Malcolm started, "feel free to use the Merlyn name if you need any additional leverage. I'm sure Merlyn Global can find a new restaurant to host business lunches."
Oliver nodded and turned back to find the hostess waiting for him a few feet away. He resumed following her to the swinging double doors that staff usually entered and exited out of. They were in a corridor that he could see the kitchen at the end. They turned left into a short dark corridor and she stopped at the end, knocking on the door labelled manager.
"Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Queen would like to see you,"
The door opened quickly and the Manager put on his charming smile.
"Mr. Queen to what do I owe this pleasure,"
"Oh I assure you this visit won't be a pleasure," he told the man angrily as he barged passed him into the office.
"Mr. Queen I assure you that whatever happened to upset you can be rectified immediately," the Manager said turning around to face him.
"I highly doubt that." Oliver replied immediately.
The hostess tried to leave but Oliver called her back in. She was not getting out of this. She entered the office, closing the door behind her. Oliver immediately launched into the description of the incident.
"Knowing Table Salt's exclusive clientele and your policy on persons that aren't regular customers, I took great care when I personally called and made the reservation to ensure my girlfriend's name was on it so that she would be allowed access to our private dining area. I had planned on getting here early but we had a slight delay. I asked her to go ahead and order for us. Instead of arriving to find her happily seated at our table with drinks and appetisers, I was most surprised to find the police talking to my girlfriend in front of the restaurant. Then I found out that she was unceremoniously thrown out this restaurant and had the police called for her, all because your hostess was too ignorant to open up the full booking,"
"I'm sorry Mr. Queen," the Manager said, his eyes cutting angrily to the hostess. The Queens were one of their best clients. Losing the support of the Queens had serious consequences for them.
"Sorry? I am not the one you should be apologising to. Your hostess humiliated and insulted my girlfriend. I expected a much higher standard of service than I have received. Even my dear friend Tommy Merlyn and his father are absolutely disgusted with the way you have treated her. We might have to re-think our patronage of this restaurant."
"I assure you Mr. Queen there is no need for that. Your mother will miss her salmon tartar."
"My mother does not approve of the slight that has been made against her son's girlfriend who was at the time a guest of the Queens and under our protection. She will easily forgo her salmon tartar. I suggest you think long and hard of a way to undo the damage you have caused. My family is hungry and we definitely will not be eating here tonight. Good night, I can see myself out."
Oliver pulled the door to the office open and exited. He could hear the Manager yelling at the hostess but he had no sympathy for the woman who would treat his girlfriend so horribly. He said a quick goodbye to his friends in the restaurant and immediately sought out his girlfriend in the limo. She seemed to be doing quite well. He would have liked to say that he was surprised that they were going to Big Belly Burger but he wasn't. A short while later the limo pulled up in front of burger place.
"I can't believe we are here," Felicity commented as she emerged from the limo.
"You guys take a booth, I'll order. Everyone wants the usual right?" Oliver asked.
There was a general nod of agreement and Thea lead them to a booth. The other customers inside the establishment gave them a curious look. It wasn't everyday you saw persons dressed for a fancy dinner come into Big Belly Burger. Robert, Moira and Thea all sat on one side while Felicity sat on the other side leaving the open spot for Oliver.
"This was not how I imagined tonight going," Felicity admitted.
"How did you imagine it?" Thea asked curiously.
"I thought that we would have eaten food that I couldn't pronounce, I would have babbled away embarrassing myself, Mrs. Queen would have glared at me the entire night for having the audacity to date her son, Thea might have been mean and Mr. Queen might have fired me."
"Nonsense dear, I had a background check done on you long ago. If I didn't like you then, I would have put a stop to this relationship," Moira revealed to her.
"I can't fire my best employee. Walter might quit if I let you go." Robert said to her.
"I could never be mean to my future sister-in-law," Thea said causing Felicity to blush. "Like mom, if I didn't like you, you would have been toast."
"Orders in," Oliver said sliding easily into his spot next to Felicity, "what did I miss?"
"Nothing," was the chorus of replies that he got as he placed his hand over Felicity's shoulders pulling her closer to him.
His mother leveled her gaze at him, "Oliver, I believe you invited us all to dinner for a reason."
"It was to introduce you to Felicity but you already knew it was her," Oliver said icily.
"That wasn't the only reason," his mother said confidently.
Oliver sighed, "As you're aware, Thea and I still live in the mansion because it has proven to be the safest place for us.
Everyone around the table nodded. They all remembered the incident with his stalker, Carrie Cutter, at Oliver's apartment that lead to him moving back in.
"I want to move in with Felicity. I would like for her to come and live in the mansion with me," he said.
"Are you sure you're ready for that son?" his father asked.
"We are," Oliver said.
Robert turn to Felicity, "Are you comfortable with this proposition?"
"I am," she said
"Good," his mother responded, "I wondered how long you two were going to continue with the sneaking in and out."
Felicity's jaw dropped for a moment before she clamped it shut. "You knew about that,"
"Dear there is nothing that goes on in my children's lives that I don't know about. And Thea you can wipe that grin off your face I know all about Roy and unlike Felicity, his background check isn't that clean."
"Roy?" Oliver asked. He hadn't heard about a Roy.
It was Thea's turn to look shocked.
"You know about Roy and you still let me date him?"
"Yes. Oliver hid Felicity because he didn't think I would approve of her. He was right but Robert told me to give her a chance and she's proven herself to be far better than any daughter-in-law that I would have chosen. I'm applying the same principle to Roy."
Felicity blushed at the compliment from Moira.
Thea beamed at her mother, "So I can bring him to family dinner?"
"For now, let's stick to the facade that I don't know about him. We will have Felicity joining us. Let's get accustomed to that first," she responded to her daughter.
Their order was called and Oliver collected it. Felicity marveled at Moria eating her burger with a knife and fork. Both Thea and Robert ignored Moira and happily used their hands, biting into their burgers immediately.
Oliver felt relieved that the night had gone much better than he planned with the exception of the restaurant incident. Felicity could officially move in. He already knew he was taking her home with him tonight. Starting tomorrow the mini cooper was going to have a for sale sign. He no longer had to force himself to fit into that car to stay under the radar with her. He was happy to enter the next phase of their relationship. Like his mother pointed out, Felicity was going to be the future matriarch of the Queen family and it was only fair that she should live in a place fit for a Queen.