PLEASE SEE THE AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END FOR TRANSLATIONS AND FURTHER NOTES
Felicity Smoak never really knew what kind of man her father was. She'd heard stories of course. Never missing the people praising her for her brains (which she would have acquired from his side of the family) or how different she looked from her mother. Her father had left them when she was young, abandoning them to the inevitable struggle of a single mother working as a cocktail waitress in Vegas and her young daughter.
Sure she was able to get out of Vegas, taking her chance with MIT and moving to Starling City where she worked various IT gigs that kept her sustained at best. A part of her, however, would always be stuck in that small apartment she shared with her mother in Vegas. Everything she did from the moment her father left was to prove herself above the life he left for her. She could barely remember him. He was now just a ghost in her earliest memories, always fuzzy around the edges and never occupying too much of her thoughts.
But she would never forget the day she learned what kind of man her father truly was.
He had come back the year before her 25th birthday, begging forgiveness of his absence. Her mother welcomed him back easily, with the gifts that he showered her with it was no wonder she was persuaded. Felicity wasn't as easily swayed. She still refused to talk to her father but knew she would have to see him when she was flown home for her birthday. His treat of course.
She was reluctant to attend the dinner that would change her life. The only push was her mother's tears at her stubbornness. She agreed on the condition that her father would not buy her new clothing for the occasion. She'd rather show up for a five star restaurant in a potato sack than having her father drop more money than she made in a month on a scrap of cloth. It wasn't that she was concerned about his financial situation, she really couldn't care less honestly, but she didn't want to feel like she owed him anything.
When they arrived at the restaurant they were greeted by a friend of her fathers. He was apparently someone she had met when she was younger but held no recognition for the man making her birthday dinner even more uncomfortable for her. He introduced himself as Anatoly Kynazev, his accent contorting the words he was clearly not native in.
She sat silently, watching her mother entertain her father and his strange friend with stories of Felicity's childhood. She ground her teeth together, ignoring the way her father commented on them, pretending to have forgotten he had abandoned them long ago. As their main course arrive her father and Anatoly began speaking in Russian to one another, something Felicity glanced at her mother for, silently asking for an answer to the sudden change. Her mother shook her head and looked down, silently eating her own meal.
"Ваша дочь выросла в прекрасную женщину," Anatoly commented, sending a smile to Felicity that made her spine crawl.
"Я сказал вам, что она будет расти из ее неудобной фазы с учетом времени," her father replied. Anatoly laughed, nodding and smiling some more.
"Она сделает прекрасный женщину к Братва капитана."
It was this moment that she noticed her father tense and wondered where the conversation was going. He cleared his throat and looked over at Felicity. She stared back, daring him to look away first. He did as he turned to Anatoly.
"Есть ли у вас кто-нибудь в виду для моего Фелисити?" Felicity perked up as she heard her name mentioned in the strange language.
Anatoly nodded, " Братва Капитан родным для ее Starling-Сити. Он сильный человек и она будет голой сильные сыновей." Felicity strained to make out any more familiar words when she heard Starling City.
Her father coughed, stumbling for his water as the waiter returned for their dishes. Felicity continued to watch the exchange between the two men, hoping for a sign that would clue her into their secret conversation.
"Думая детей так скоро Анатолий?" Her father muttered and Anatoly laughed once more.
"Я всегда думаю о будущем Братва. Не забывайте нашей сделки Михаил. Когда она возвращается к Старлинг она будет жениться."
Her father looked over at her and then back to Anatoly. He motion for the doors and then looked pointedly at her. Anatoly nodded and stood, moving toward the front doors as her father also stood.
"Forgive the interruption but Anatoly and I have some business to discuss it. Order the dessert but don't wait on us," he smiled and headed after Anatoly.
"Okay what the frack mom?" Felicity hissed as soon as her father was out of the restaurant.
"Oh Felicity don't start on this now," her mother grabbed the dessert menu and began browsing her options, "your father is trying and you are meeting him with a brick wall every time."
"I'm sorry I don't want to welcome the man who left us with open arms right away. I don't trust him."
Her mother sighed, "you have every right to feel the way you do but start trying Felicity. He really is just looking for a second chance."
Felicity snorted, gather her napkin and tossing it on the plate. "I've had enough of this awkward dinner. I'm going to head home and get lost in a bottle of wine."
Her mother just continued browsing the menu, waving her hand half heartedly, "if you want to be melodramatic then fine, be my guest. But don't take it out on me Felicity. If you want to go home you're an adult and can make your own choices but at least thank your father for the meal."
Felicity glared at her, angrily pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, before walking toward the doors. Her father and Anatoly returned just as she was getting her coat from the front.
"Felicity leaving so soon?" Her father asked, stepping in her path to the door.
"Yeah well I've had enough pretend family fun for one night. I'll see you back at Mom's. I guess thanks for dinner."
"Oh I shall be paying for your dinner tonight," Anatoly interrupted before her father could say anything.
"Oh," Felicity turned to him, fake smile plastered to her face, "well then thank you but you shouldn't."
"No, no," he argued, clapping her father on the back, "anything for a beautiful bride to be such as yourself. I must give my congratulations."
He moved to kiss her hand but Felicity stepped back.
"I'm sorry I must have misheard you. Bride to be?"
Her father interjected quickly, whisper harshly in her ear, "Felicity we'll talk when we get home."
He turned to Anatoly, laughing and speaking in Russian once more. The older man grabbed her hands, kissing both before wishing her well. They walked off toward the table once more and Felicity stalked to her car, anger bubbling for whatever lie her father thought of now.
She was halfway through her bottle of wine by the time her parents returned home. She sat on the couch, never changing out of her dress from earlier, waiting for them to find her. When they did they sat on the love seat across the room. Her mother's makeup was smudged, a sign she had been crying on the way over. She sat on the other side of the small couch, clearly not pleased with Felicity's father. They sat for a long moment, letting awkward silence fill the void between them. Felicity was the first to break it.
"So are you going to tell me exactly what the hell happened in that restaurant?"
Her father cleared his throat, "Felicity I need you to understand. When you were younger I had no choice. I owed a lot of money to some people that wouldn't think twice about hurting you. I went to Anatoly for help, he knew my father and was willing to help us but for a price. It was a sacrifice I had to make to keep this family alive."
It was this moment that Felicity found out exactly the kind of man her father was. He was a man, so engrossed with his guilt, that left because every time he saw her he was reminded of his choice. He was a man who tried to worm his way into her life once more so he could try to smooth over his mistakes. He was a man who claims to have made a sacrifice but was not paying the price, she was. He was a man who sold his own daughter as a future bride to a man neither had met, a man who was a Bratva Captain.
Through further research that Felicity embarked on after crying for the night she found out exactly the type of man her father has sold her to. Her future husband was a leader within the Solntsevskaya Bratva, the Russian mob.
AUTHORS NOTE:
Welcome to my first Arrow fic. I've been a veteran of writing fanfiction for 8 years now and have found yet another couple that inspires me to write. This will be a Bratva AU that will be slow going for now. I plan to write ahead several chapters while I'm on break for school but won't update for a few weeks if I can't write enough. As always please leave your thoughts and love. Hope you enjoy the rest of this adventure.
Google Translations:
" Ваша дочь выросла в прекрасную женщину. " Your daughter has grown into a beautiful woman
" Я сказал вам, что она будет расти из ее неудобной фазы с учетом времени." I told you that she will grow out of her awkward phase with respect to time.
" Она сделает прекрасный женщину к Братва капитана." She will make a wonderful woman to a Bratva captain.
" Есть ли у вас кто-нибудь в виду для моего Фелисити?" Do you have someone in mind for my Felicity?
"Братва Капитан родным для ее Starling-Сити. Он сильный человек и она будет голой сильные сыновей" A Bratva Captain native to her Starling City. He is a strong man and she will bare strong sons.
" Думая детей так скоро Анатолий?" Thinking of children so soon Anatoly?
" Я всегда думаю о будущем Братва. Не забывайте нашей сделки Михаил. Когда она возвращается к Старлинг она будет жениться" I always think about the future of The Bratva. Do not forget our deal, Mikhail. When she returns to Starling she would marry.