Reflections of a Mother
Donna Smoak sat in first class enjoying a glass of champagne as she scrolled through the entertainment being offered. It felt so good to recline in her chair and have drinks brought to her for a change. She had slaved away for years to provide for her daughter and it was time that she enjoyed at least a little bit of comfort. This was the first time in years that she felt her relationship with her daughter was in a good place. They had spent a wonderful day together and hadn't fought once. That was unusual for them. Usually conversations with Felicity were filled with friction but something in her daughter seemed to have changed recently. The Cooper incident might have been a catalyst for it but even before those men took them, Felicity had seemed to be genuinely trying to hold a decent conversation with her.
A small smile crossed her face as she thought of the three men she had met in her daughter's life. The easiest one to contemplate was John Diggle, and his adorable little daughter, Sara. For a moment she thought she would end up spending more time with his daughter than her own. He was a decent man which, quite frankly were hard to find these days. If he wasn't already married, she might have been pushing her daughter in that direction. Felicity had also told her that she had learned some self defense moves from him and that gave her the confidence to handle the situation with Cooper. Diggle was indeed a very positive influence in her daughter's life and she was glad that Felicity had someone like that. She had certainly lacked any time of positive male influence growing up.
Then there was Ray Palmer. The shock of finding a man in Felicity's apartment that early in the morning, had made her think that maybe her daughter had been holding back a lot of details about her personal life. But on closer inspection, he was fully dressed, while her daughter was still in her pajamas. If he had spent the night, they would have both been dressed to go to work. As charming as he was, she had not missed his question to Felicity about if she was adopted. Most of Felicity's friends from high school and MIT had always made snide comments about her and many had suggested that Felicity get a maternity test. Donna Smoak had become accustomed to the comments and though it did hurt, she could easily brush it aside in the interest of her daughter's social life. Ray was a techie like her daughter and though he could probably understand Felicity and the tech world she lived in, she felt her daughter needed someone different to her, someone to ground her and remind her there is a life outside of her computers. She didn't think Ray was that man judging by the fact that he had visited her daughter before work hours to discuss work! But that didn't mean, she was opposed to her daughter having some fun with him. He certainly looked like he worked out.
Now Oliver Queen, that man was handsome but the most important thing was he showed her respect. His final parting comment to her had been it was nice to finally meet her. That implied that he knew about her, that her daughter had mentioned her to him and he didn't seem the least bit phased by how different she was to her daughter. She hadn't realised until that moment that it felt good to have your daughter's friends accept you. His gaze didn't even drop from her eyes to check out her cleavage. He had genuinely been excited to meet her though her daughter didn't seem too pleased. From what she knew about him, he definitely wasn't a techie and his life seemed to exist outside of that world. He ran a club. He was a business man. She had noticed when Cooper had Felicity's phone that it was Oliver who was calling her, not Ray and she wondered if that was a regular thing between them. If she was right about her suspicions that her daughter had opened up to him about her family, it would be the first time she did that before her friends had met her mother. Oliver was definitely someone very close to her daughter and she wondered if it was him who brought out the inner strength in her daughter.
She would definitely be returning to Starling City soon. Perhaps she would give John Diggle a personal visit and fish for some more information about Felicity and Oliver. There was definitely more there and Diggle definitely knew the answer. The stewardess came around offering glasses of wine and Donna gladly helped herself. She silently toasted to her daughter and her future blond haired grand children.
The End
An: Hope you enjoyed this little ficlet