"Hey, Princess," said Felicity's mom when Felicity walked into their apartment, and Felicity couldn't help but flinch at the second word. "How was your day?"
"Did you know?" Felicity's voice was filled with cold rage.
"Know what, sweetie?" came Donna's concerned reply, and Felicity felt her rage ebbing. Maybe her mother hadn't known.
"That there's a small country in Europe called Genovia, which is a monarchy," Felicity said as she walked into the kitchen. "The current ruler is Queen Clarisse Renaldi, who only had one son- in fact, only had one child, and as such was the sole heir to the throne. And said child died a few months ago, having only one child himself- a daughter, whose mother is a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas named Donna Smoak." Felicity smiled shakily. "So I'm guessing you weren't aware that I actually am a princess."
"Oh, baby," Donna said, opening her arms. "C'mere," and no sooner had she pulled Felicity into a hug than Felicity started crying. For all that Felicity usually had a good handle on her emotions, this news was earth-shattering. "It'll all be okay, Felicity. We'll be okay."
There wasn't much in life that surprised Clarisse Renaldi anymore, but apparently, her granddaughter hadn't gotten that memo. The only thing she'd known about the girl was that she was named Felicity Smoak, and that she was going into her junior year of high school. When Walter had escorted her in, she'd hadn't been expecting to see a small girl with messy brown hair, thick glasses, and Phillipe's face staring at her.
With Felicity, it was just shock after shock- she babbled, she had started card-counting a few months ago to save up for college, she built computers in her free time, she was Jewish...Clarisse had thought she'd been prepared to deal with her only granddaughter, had thought up multiple scenarios about how she'd tell the girl she was a princess and heir to the throne of Genovia, but after just half an hour with the girl, Clarisse knew she was woefully unprepared to deal with Felicity Smoak. It was probably why the girl had reacted as poorly as she did to the Clarisse's announcement, but after she'd stormed out and threatened to ruin Clarisse's life if she ever contacted her again, Walter had pointed out that Clarisse probably have done things differently.
Well, now there was a new shock- less than 24 hours after she'd left, Felicity Smoak was being escorted into Clarisse's suite, and only years of training had kept Clarisse from choking on her tea when Walter had told her that Felicity was here, and wanted to talk to her.
When Felicity marched in, she had a very familiar expression of resolve on her face- Clarisse had seen it a lot on her son's face, and knew that she should just let Felicity say what she was going to say.
"I'm sorry for- what I said yesterday," she said, and really, Clarisse should probably just give up any and all expectations and ideas concerning Felicity Smoak. "It's just- it was a shock, y'know? My dad- I remember that he was kind of a deadbeat dad who left us when I was seven, and all of a sudden, he wasn't even "Justin Smoak", he was royalty and now I'm a princess who lives in a crappy little apartment that we can only afford on my mom's two jobs as a cocktail waitress and the extra cash I get from fixing people's computers at school. It's- it was a surprise, and I don't react well to those."
"That being said, I'm not- ready to accept being heir to the crown of Genovia. I have a life, and I have plans that include going to MIT, and if I have to be a princess, it's going to be on my terms. And besides- I don't know how to be a princess, or- anything besides an overachieving genius with a propensity for babbling."
Clarisse smiled- Felicity was definitely Phillipe's daughter. "Of course, my dear," she said. "And you don't need to worry about if you're ready or not- in a few years, no one will even know you weren't a royal since your birth. I'll make sure of it myself."
Felicity gulped.