When the sun rose Monday morning; Felicity was already awake. More accurately, Felicity was still awake from the night before. After she, more or less, kicked everyone out of her house and made an embarrassment of herself in front of Oliver she basically decided to screw the dishes. So, she plugged all of her electronic babies, including her phone, downstairs and grabbed the second bottle of wine Oliver had opened and shut herself in her room.
She could hear her phone chirping and ringing until about midnight but she hadn't cared. She had refused to talk to anyone. Sometime after she finished the second glass of wine Sin knocked on her door and called her name. It was about a minute later that she went away. That was about 8pm.
By ten she finished the bottle and she felt thoroughly buzzed with a couldn't care less attitude, and by midnight she felt like shit. Not from the alcohol, but from everything else so she started crying all over again. By 1AM she had almost convinced herself to call everyone to apologize, but talked herself into waiting till morning. By 2AM she felt sober enough that she considered driving to Oliver's because she felt she should not have kicked him out when he so obviously wanted to tell her something, even if she was sure he didn't even know what he was going to say, but after what her mother did to him; she had owed him to at least listen.
She had almost done it too, she knew he likely wasn't sleeping. She'd never actually known him to sleep without it being induced by injury. She had gotten up and even put her shoes on; but then something outside her window caught her eye. She had forgotten to close her curtains and her light had been on. Her room would have looked like a beacon to him as he had watched her. She reached the window, pulled it open, and grabbed the arrow dangling there. She looked out, and saw him sitting on the ledge of the roof of the brownstone across from hers; he was just watching her. Had he been there all night? She had kicked him out when he wanted to be there with her; but he hadn't really left. She bit her lip, as she looked at him.
Backing away from the window to sit on her bed, she only looked away to unravel the paper coiled around the shaft of the arrow. It was a simple handwritten note. Two sentences, six words, and it made her start crying all over again. 'I'm sorry. Please talk to me.' Hadn't that been her plan? Wasn't she just going to go to him and tell him she was sorry for her outburst? But the truth was; she didn't know what she would say. Maybe she could just open her window and he could come in and they could try to talk. She looked back out the window, and he was gone. She sat like that, staring out the window and glancing down at the note, until about three.
At 3AM she had, had enough self- pity. So what if her mother showed up out of nowhere, seeing her daughter for the first time in ten years and embarrassed her. She was a big girl and these people were her real family. She owed them and herself better than responding to the situation like a child. Hell, they took down criminals and supervillains. She's hacked into federal databases, planted bugs, gone undercover, and faced that bitch Isabel. What could her mom throw at her that she couldn't handle? Of course, none of those things she had done with Team Arrow involved facing the years of belittling and criticism that came with her mother. The years of emotional torment of not being what her mother wanted, and knowing she was always second in position to whatever it was her mother was trying to get at the moment. But, she wasn't seventeen anymore, and she had a family here to support her and remind her she was strong.
So, she made a plan and at five in the morning she went downstairs to her electronic babies. She booted up her tablet, her computer, and took her phone with her in the kitchen. She stopped short to see all the dishes done and the coffee pot ready. There was a note next to it with a smiley on it. She knew it was Sin because the smiley also had horns, a tail, a pitch fork, and made her laugh. She hit start, and checked her phone while she waited. There were a combined ten texts and two missed calls from Dig, Lyla, and Roy. They all stopped at about eleven when Sin sent her a text, knowing she wouldn't get it till she came downstairs, saying she told them all she was alive and stop texting and calling. Only, Oliver kept up after that, but he finally stopped at about midnight. Was that when he came to her window?
Her shoulders sagged. She was surprised how upset he seemed to be over this. He was never one to say sorry, but he had. Concern for her welfare she understood, even checking on her she could understand too; but a handwritten note after at least a dozen texts plus phone calls was not Oliver. At least not the Oliver she knew. It made her ache even more inside. She shouldn't have kicked him out.
She poured her coffee, doctored it, and went to her tablet to get to work. She had a plan to start on.
Last night had been one of the hardest in Oliver's life, and he wasn't really sure why. He had been tortured, nearly killed, fought armies of super soldiers, taken down Slade twice, but never in all those times had his chest hurt like this. When she had asked him to leave last night, he did; and he knew he should have told her how he felt instead. He should have held her, let her cry, and asked her why she was really so upset. He found himself, inadvertently following Dig and Lyla home instead of going to his own. He needed advice, and Dig seemed to be the best and only viable option.
Talking to Dig had mostly gotten him nowhere and he got the overall impression that although Dig wanted to help him, he wanted him to leave more so he could take care of Lyla. Oliver couldn't really fault him for that. In his wildest dreams that occurred only in the deepest part of his heart; he imagined Felicity stunningly swollen with his child and he doubted there was a single person in this world that could stop him from taking care of her every whim if he was ever that lucky.
Dig agreed with Oliver's assessment that something else lay underneath Felicity's outburst with her mother more than just her calling out Oliver's feelings and more or less calling her daughter a slut. Then Dig point blank told him he knew Oliver was in love with her probably long before Oliver himself figured it out and that he whole heartedly believed they were good for each other. Then he kicked him out, but not before threatening to dismember him if he screwed this up and hurt Felicity.
He sent his first text to Felicity then, 'Please call me'. She didn't respond, so he sent another 'Please?' than another 'Felicity?'. He tried calling her after that, and then his texts turned to 'You're scaring me' and 'Please answer' right before he tried calling her again. He didn't know how many times in total he texted her but he was sure it was somewhere around his tenth when Sin sent a group text, 'STOP IT! She is home, alive, and I'm trying to sleep'. Besides himself, she had sent it to Roy, Dig, and Lyla. Well, at least he wasn't the only one she was ignoring he guessed; but it wasn't enough. He sent two more pathetic texts, and tried calling one more time. This time Sin texted only him, 'She didn't take her phone to bed with her, idiot'.
His frowned deepened after that. Felicity never went to bed without her tablet and phone docked next to her. He knew this because she told him that 'she always wanted to be ready for him' and he remembered that her blush had made it down into the lines of her dress that day and when she started stammering about how she meant be ready for the arrow electronically, not sexually. Which had left him slightly distracted and grinning stupidly for an hour as he thought about coming into her window as the arrow and her waiting for him. He also knew this because sometimes, when he couldn't sleep or nights where she had been out in the field doing things for him; he would find himself perched on the roof across from hers and just watching her. Needing to see that she was okay.
The night after they returned from purgatory, he was really bad. He kept picturing Felicity with that sword at her neck and before he knew what he was doing; he found himself staring into her window. She had told him she was okay, but as he had sat there on that roof watching her cry that night. He knew she had lied to spare him. Then he couldn't help but wonder if there was anything she wouldn't do for him and how many times she had cried afterward. It was after that, he suggested that they needed fun days away from arrow and QC business. He had told her it was because he wanted them to have lighter moments to counteract the dark, but really it was because he wanted to spend more time with her away from all those things they did that made her cry. He wanted to see her smile more at him.
Tonight, had become like that night. He wasn't sure how it happened, but he had needed to see with his eyes that she was okay. He found himself perched in his usual spot, a part of himself was amazed that no one had seen him yet in the times he had perched here and another was slightly concerned that he had a place that was his 'usual perch' that allowed him to watch Felicity. Her light was on and he watched her crying in her bed for what felt like hours. He was torn between breaking into her room to try comforting her, and finding her mother and laying into her for doing this to her daughter. Although, he was well aware some of the blame was on him too. He just wasn't sure exactly how. So, he settled on trying to at least let her know he was sorry. It took less than ten minutes to write the note and sling to her window to hook up the arrow and get back. Then he waited. Shortly after, he watched her get up determined and put her shoes on, that's when she saw the arrow and seconds later, him. He couldn't look away even if he wanted to.
Even exhausted and blotchy from crying, he still thought she was beautiful. He watched as surprise and a bit of sadness crept onto her face while she stared at him and he wondered if he was right in letting her know he was there. That she wasn't alone, that she could talk to him. He wanted her to share her burden with him as he had done with her. When she finally had read the note, he could see the confusion and panic on her face, but mostly he saw her eyes well up with tears again. Something about the way she looked made him feel like he had been wrong. So he left, to give her the privacy she wanted. At least though, he knew she was physically okay.
He had made it to the foundry around 3 am, and was too keyed up to sleep. So worked out until he was guaranteed to pass out; which he did about 5 in the morning. At 7:30 he awoke with a start to the sound of his phone ringing Felicity's ringtone. He answered it without a second thought, "Felicity, are you okay?" he asked, his voice heavy with both sleep and exhaustion, as well as panic.
She hesitated for a moment, "I woke you up, didn't I?" He didn't know how he knew it, but he was willing to bet if he saw her now, she would be biting her lip that way she does when she was unsure of herself.
"It's fine, don't worry about it. Are you alright?"
She sighed, "Tired, but okay. I'm sorry about last night, I want to talk to you about it, and some other things if I can".
"Sure" he said a little too quickly as he pulled the blanket back to get up, "I can be there in twenty" he added, hoping he didn't sound despite to see her.
"No, not right now. I mean I would be okay with that. I'm not saying I wouldn't be or that I don't want to see you because I do, it's just that I'm not home right now and well I would rather we were alone. I mean not that kind of alone, but alone to talk…3…2…1" Oliver couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. He knew they would be okay. She was rambling, they would be ok.
He let out a laugh, "Felicity, whatever you want. It's fine".
She let out another sigh, "I'm on my way to see my mother. She should still be sleeping, so I plan to be that person that rudely wakes her, so very VERY rudely. Can I come over to your house around noon, with take out?"
"I'll pick up something. Just show up" he responded as he wiped the sleep out his eyes, grinned and then asked confused, "Why are you going to see your mother?"
"I'll explain when I meet you, I figured my mom came out here for a reason so I did some digging this morning when I got up". Oliver understood she really meant when she left her room because they both knew she didn't sleep last night. He frowned.
"Okay, do you want me to get Dig?" please say no, he thought.
She hesitated slightly, "No, not right now. I want to talk to you first". YES! He thought, and then silently wondered when he started acting like he was fourteen years old again. "I'll see you at noon" she added, then the line was dead.
He sat there for a moment, trying to get his bearings back. Then he smiled hopefully, before dressing and heading out of the foundry. This would be the first time Felicity was at his new place by herself, so he decided he was going to make lunch his personal mission, so when he asked her out on a real date and told her how he felt, she might believe it had nothing to do with her mother.
Felicity had been entering into the hotel her mother was staying at when she hung up on Oliver. She had already called and left messages to everyone else apologizing before she had called Oliver. Now that she felt better about that, all she had to do was confront her mother with what she found out this morning and find out why she came here with it.
She used the code she wrote on her tablet to unlock her mother's door; it wasn't the first time it was used. It came in handy on several smaller missions for the arrow. This time it was meant for silent access to her mother's suite in the one of the finer hotels in Starling City. A place like one she and Oliver stayed when they were on trips for QC; not the kind she remembered staying in when they took family vacations when she was a child.
She entered the hotel room as if she belonged there and called room service for a pot of coffee; by the time it got here she was sure they both would need it. She began to walk around and catalog all the electronics in the room. Quietly she opened her mother's bedroom to do the same. Her mother was still asleep as she predicted she would be. She stood at the foot of the bed as she modified another code in her tablet to include the electronics. Once she was done, she looked up at her mother and wondered if she was really being the better person by doing this. Then she thought about Oliver at dinner last night, her mother refusing to use her 'nest egg' to help her thru college, and all her mom's little digs about how she looked; and hit enter with considerable pleasure.
The room was rocked with noise. The TV's, radio, alarm clock, her mother's phone, and any other device working on frequencies blared as loud as possible. It was a good thing she had ear plugs in, she thought, as she watched her mother do something akin to cartoon jump as she leaped up and ran on air before falling on the floor. Felicity smiled widely, and turned everything off. Her mother was on all fours on the floor, panting rapidly from panic. She took her earplugs out as her mother slowly pulled herself to her feet and turned to face Felicity, wide eyed and stricken.
Felicity laid a smile fit for Isabel Rochev on her mother, said "Good! You're awake. I would like to talk to you in the living room when you're ready". She then spun on her heels, marched out of her mother's bedroom shut the door behind her, and sat in the couch like nothing happened. For a moment, she was giddy with her retaliation; but she sobered quickly. Mostly, she had done it because she wanted her mother off kilter when she started talking to her, but it gave her some small satisfaction for scaring her mother and recognized a bit of pettiness in her for it.
By the time her mother came out of her room the coffee had arrived and Felicity poured a cup, both for herself and her mother; thinking that Oliver might take personal offense that after what her mother did yesterday she brought her coffee and still wouldn't bring Oliver coffee. Donna looked more together now, she had slung a matching robe over her nightgown and Felicity guessed that there was probably a designer attached to the sexy set. Suddenly, Felicity was thrown back twenty years to when she first started tearing apart computers. It might have been about a year or so after her father had left and her mother's 'new fiancé' had just skipped town with the little nest egg she had just built up. Her mother was not smart about a lot of things, Felicity knew. But two things her mother was genuinely good at was money and men. Usually.
When Ralph, or was it Rob, maybe Rich, well she wasn't sure but when he skipped town with her mother's money. She had torn into the house on a rampage. Felicity didn't remember much about the guy other than he seemed fake. Even at the age of seven, Felicity couldn't keep her mouth shut so it had never occurred to her to not tell her mother that it was obvious the guy was out to rob them blind, and the guy was 'skeevy'. Her mother retorted, 'You don't know anything about men and you never will if you don't take your head out of those computers and start learning to be like other girls'.
Now, years later, she didn't know why she thought about that memory right now; but thought it was funny that her mother, who prided herself on being able to read and manipulate men, had been conned. Donna stuck to the men she met at the high roller games after that. Maybe, she thought about it because of what she had learned only this morning about her mother's newest husband, Mr. Donald Troy.
Her Mother sat down across from her, all poise and grace, taking the cup from Felicity without saying a word. There wasn't a lot that connected Felicity to her mother via style, habits, and opinions; but one thing was sure: nobody talked to a Smoak woman, until she had her coffee. So, Felicity let her mother have a few sips and then laid into her.
Her tone registering all the anger and resentment that she bottled up towards her mother for years and suddenly realized she never threw away. "What the hell is the matter with you? Who the hell do you think you are just showing up like that? You have no right to just show up on my front door and upheave my life after not even bothering to pick up the phone once in ten years. AND don't say you called me last week because we both know you called when I wouldn't answer, and didn't answer when I called. I lived with you, remember? I know how you like to play.
"You had no right to mess with Oliver like that last night. What were you getting at anyway? What were you possibly going to gain by needling Oliver like that. You don't know him, you don't know what he has been through. He isn't like one of your cli—" Felicity was cut off by her mother whose tone was venomous.
Her eyes rolled at Felicity, "Oh please, the whole world knows about Oliver Queen's rise from the dead only to fall from power after losing his families company. He is a joke. His whole family is, all rich people are. I met Robert Queen once at one of my games he's—"
"Shut up. You don't know anything about Oliver or his family. You have no right—"
"His daddy liked waitresses like me. He tried you know, but I told him—"
Felicity looked at her mother in disgust. Her mother could be lying, but she also knew Robert Queen's history too, she might not be lying. She could, however, be sure she didn't sleep with him. Her mother never slept with married men, she drew the line at that, at least. "I don't want to hear it. I am more aware than most about Robert Queens type". Shit! She thought, that came out really bad, and most like taken the wrong way. It was only that she couldn't, not think of Isabel Rochev and running over her with the van at that moment. She also couldn't help but wonder what she was about to say to Dig. Did told her she had a vendetta against her, she just didn't know why.
"Oh! And what would you know about Robert Queens preferences?" Her mother asked leaning forward and her tone taking on an accusatory tone.
Felicity gulped, she couldn't answer. Isabel's affair with Robert Queen wasn't public knowledge. Oliver could have used that knowledge to his advantage in getting the company back, but he said he didn't want Isabel's personal connection to his father public knowledge. Plus, allowing her mother to take control of this conversation would defeat one of her objectives here. To show her mother she cannot steamroll her. So, she calmed herself and decided to get to the point. "What I know is none of your concern and I don't care about your knowing Oliver's father. What I want to talk about is your husband and why you ran from him".
Her mother's face went white and the coffee cup started to shake in her hands, "How do you know about that already". The mere mention of Mr. Troy's name shattered Donna. Her eyes widened again and filled with slight panic.
Felicity hesitated for a second, surprised to see her mother fall apart so quickly, "You can find anything out on the internet when you know where to look, Mom. Why don't you tell me why you came here" she prompted with concern. Never in all the years had that she lived with her mother, had she seen her scared. Angry, cruel, vindictive even, but never scared. Her mother always seemed to be an unshakable force to her, so whatever this man did to her mother, had to be bad.
It was 11:30 and Oliver was fighting traffic back to his house on the outskirts of town. His house was nothing like the mansion, it didn't offer him the space the mansion did, but he had more privacy. It wasn't an overly large house, but it offered what he needed: a basement now set up as a possible backup shelter/relay station if necessary, the acreage easily defendable, beds enough for everyone to sleep in if necessary, and the house had no neighbors for miles. After he sold the mansion and bought this; there was a lot of downtime so Felicity and Dig helped him set everything up. Everything in the basement was hidden so if he were to suffer another cop raid, they would find nothing. The house and grounds were rigged with a security system more sophisticated than any company could offer and of Felicity's own making.
Dig recently bought a home for himself, Lyla, and the little Diglet as Felicity called it, so they were doing the same to his house now. Felicity would be next after that, and then Roy. He wanted her brownstone to be the next rigged, but she argued that Dig had a baby on the way, and the baby takes precedence over the single women with no dependents. Eventually, the plan was that all of their residences, the foundry, all back up stations, their offices, and all their possible relay stations would be hooked up to Felicity's security system to be monitored at all times. Her idea, and he had to admit, they should have done this sooner. Plus, he saw the look in her eyes as she put herself to the task of creating the un-hackable security system, and decided he would start having her put more input in the designs of things. They could really use her brain to help design new weapons.
He pulled into his drive that was about 200 yards long. His property was fenced and gated; something he saw as a necessity to simply ward out unwanted trespassers that had nothing to do with arrow business. He made it to his front door with about 10 minutes to spare to get lunch ready. He was starting to panic. He was running on two hours of sleep and while he had done it before, most nights lately he was lucky to get about 5 and he felt the exhaustion today. He hoped Felicity was doing okay given that she not only didn't sleep, but was likely hung-over, and emotional. When he left the foundry this morning he ran back here to clean, as he no longer had Raisa to do it for him and found that he was a bit of a slob on his own.
He thought about opening up a bottle of wine, but after last night, he figured better not. Then he left to go to the market and flower shop. It wasn't even a date, but to him it seemed so much more important than that. He needed to show her, well he wasn't sure what he needed to say or do, or what he was really about. He just knew he needed to be honest, have her be honest with him, and maybe they could figure it out from there.
He ran into the kitchen with his packages and kicked the door shut behind him. Originally, he thought he would pick up her favorite take out; but decided that wasn't good enough. He wanted to cook, but he really didn't know how to cook anything that didn't involve a microwave, or an open fire on the group and a spit, so he compromised. He picked up some things to throw together an easy salad with grilled chicken and picked up her favorite dessert from her favorite bakery. He figured he could grill a chicken breast, right? At least with his years on the island cooking food by open flame, taught when it would be done.
He was so caught up in what he was doing that he never heard the gate open, and was so caught up in trying to use the stove top grill that he never heard her car. He had just went to put the meat on the grill when the front opened and slammed against the wall. He turned so fast the chicken fell out of the tongs, hit the floor and skidded. He didn't even notice the chicken, he only noticed the tears running down her face. She must have been crying the entire way here. He sat the tongs down, and went to move toward her.
She put her hand up to stop him, and went to the cabinet where he kept some of the wine from the estate. She grabbed a bottle, paying no mind to what it was and slammed the cabinet shut behind her causing Oliver to wince. This was bad, this was really bad, was all he could think. He had no idea how to deal with this. He just watched as she dug through his drawers and pulled out the bottle opener, opened the bottle, grabbed a glass, poured herself a full glass, and took a very long sip.
He took in her disheveled appearance. She was wearing a casual light colored dress and her panda flats. Her hair was pulled back and she looked beautiful to him even though her hair was coming out, the makeup was smudged, her face was blotchy again, and she was standing on the chicken. He frowned, she was standing on their lunch.
"Felicity", he said quietly. She shook her head, obviously not ready to talk. He sighed, "Felicity, you don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, but your standing on chicken". Her eyes widened as she looked down at her feet. Her shoulders sagged in defeat and for the first time ever, Oliver actually heard her sob. It was a sound that tore at his heart. He didn't know what happened with her mother this morning, but all he wanted to do was hold her and put at an arrow in her mother. With a sigh, he settled for picking the tongs back up and approaching Felicity so he could pick the chicken up off the floor and toss it in the sink for now. "Take your shoes off here and let's go sit in the living room" She nodded.
Once he got her to the sofa, he sat and just waited for her to speak. He wasn't sure it would be anytime soon, but he decided he had all the patience in the world for her.
Finally, after a few more sips of wine, Felicity whispered between sobs, "Do you know why my mother is here?"
He shook his head, but whatever he thought Felicity's mothers motive's might have been. What Felicity told him, was far from it and it made his blood run cold.
She let out another sob, as she looked Oliver dead in the eyes with cold fury, "She wants to use me to blackmail the Arrow into killing her husband".
BIG thanks to Hipkarrma, you ROCK my friend!
Oh! and of course I don't own and rights to ARROW or DCcomics ;) !