Author's Note: This story is number two on my all time alerts list, four more and it will be number one. I'm a bit overwhelmed by the response. . This one is a very long chapter and I debated cutting it into two pieces but I just couldn't figure out where was a good place to make the cut so you get it all at once.
I again thank firebirdgirl for looking this over being my beta.
I'm greatly looking forward the Wednesday's episode but Barry Allen won't be making an appearance because well I didn't know about him when I started this story and I'm not one change horses midstream.
4: Why Fight If You Can't Have the Person Who All the Fighting was For?
By the time Oliver walked off the elevator the next morning, it was almost noon. He'd meant to get here earlier, but it had been a mad house this morning with Thea and his mother rushing around getting things in order for what he had no idea.
The doors had barely closed behind him when Isabel Roshev pounced. "Oliver, I need to see you in my office right away. There is a problem that needs to be dealt with immediately."
Oliver resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He hadn't slept well after getting home due to Thea's slightly dramatic reception of him and his mother, and the memory of Felicity's lips on his didn't help either.
He was still at odds with himself over any involvement with her. For starters she was his friend; but he couldn't help feeling the way he did. Didn't his father tell him once that he should marry someone who was his best friend? But there were many other issues, The Arrow notwithstanding, that were strikes against them being together.
Since returning from the island, he'd made a lot of mistakes with intimate relationships. He'd hurt Laurel and other women but rushing into things before he was emotionally ready, and he didn't want to do the same thing to Felicity. But life on the island had taught him that life was short, and sometimes you had to take a chance, was it time to take that chance?
Rounding on Isabel, Oliver tried to be as polite as possible."Not now please. I had a long night, if you recall my mother was released from prison. I almost didn't come into work this morning, but I needed to attend the a board meeting later today. If you'll excuse me I need time to go over the agenda." Flashing a smile, he tried to head off to the sanctuary of his office but Isabel stepped into his path pressing her hand to his chest.
"No Oliver, we need to talk. I'm not taken in by your charms and there are issues we have to deal with. It has to do with the incident last night."
At the reminder of last night's incident, he closed his eyes as the pain and anguish, he'd felt last night knowing Felicity was in danger, that he had put her there. The Count had almost killed her. He couldn't imagine his life without her being there.
Opening his eyes he looked down the hall to where Felicity was working. Right now she was alive, and keeping her at arms length seemed the best way to do it. He smiled as she bit her lip as she studied her computer screen. He wondered what she'd been able to discover about Malcolm Merlyn? Had she gotten her four hours of sleep because she'd obviously come in earlier than he had.
Isabel followed his gaze. "Yes, that is exactly who we need to talk about, Felicity Smoak. This will not wait, Oliver." Wondering just what Isabel's problem with Felicity was, Oliver followed behind her into the office. He was pretty sure everything that needed to be said had been said last night, after all he'd made his position on Felicity clear the night before. He'd told Isabel that Felicity was important to this company and he wasn't going to let her go, no matter what this harpy said.
"Alright Isabel make this quick. We talked about this last night and I made my position clear, Felicity is not going anywhere."
"Yes you did, some more information has come to light. So come in and we'll discuss it in private or we can do it out here in the hallway."
Wondering what was going on Oliver closed the door, and crossed his arms waiting for Isabel to speak.
She moved to her desk and pulled a manila folder from her desk drawer and dropped it on the blotter. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but I this is evidence that you PA is aiding and abetting the Vigilante called The Hood. Open it up and see for yourself."
He reached out and took the folder and flipped through it. Inside were pictures of Felicity and him from last night. There was a very incriminating photo of him holding Felicity, luckily none of them gave his identity away.
"Oliver, you have got to see that this woman has got to go. I don't want Queen Consolidated to have any ties to that freak show. We get enough bad press courtesy of your family and yourself as it is."
Oliver dropped his arms and stepped toward Isabel."What are you talking about? I haven't done anything to give up bad press for-"
"A few weeks, need I remind you about the The Glades Fundraiser you arranged and then didn't attend, but we aren't talking about you. From what my source tell me, last night wasn't the first time Miss Smoak and the Hood have been seen together. As long as she's here, there is a chance we will be repairing the executive offices each week. And if we do it will be eating in our or shall I say your, profits very quickly. That woman is a criminal by association and I want her gone."
"What? These pictures prove nothing. The guy came and saved her, it doesn't mean that they know each other. Saving people, that is what he does. You have got to be kidding, if you think she'd be involved. That girl is pure as the driven snow. If there was any truth to this the police would have her in custody." Oliver tossed the photos onto the desk and stepped very close to Isabel's face. "I want to know where you got these pictures and unless you can provide with me the source, I won't believe it." He waited for her to present him with it. "Fine then we're done here."
He stormed out of the office slamming the door behind him.
As Isabel watched Oliver walk away, she realized that she really hated that man. She would destroy him and the rest of his family and wipe that smug smile off his face. Although she tried to reign in her anger, she snapped her pencil in half.
She had underestimated Oliver Queen, because she'd listened to the tabloids and had not taken stock of the man herself. If she had she would have noticed the hidden facets of him. Oliver may have been tossed out of more universities than she had degrees, and she had four. No this man was very intelligent, but he wasn't smart enough to see her true plans for Queen Consolidated.
Everyone thought her plan had been to buy up Queen Consolidated, one stock at a time and sell it off again piece by piece as she had all the other companies she'd acquired over the last five years.
But that wasn't what she wanted for QC, it was the jewel in her crown, the thing she had sought for five long years. She'd known that one day it would be hers; a goal she had for a very long time. It was her birthright and she would claim it, all she had to do was clear away the stumbling blocks that had been laid before her, she would just have to have patience.
Luckily patience was something she had in spades, it had been cultivated in a Siberian diamond mine before she was rescued by the only man she would ever love, Robert Queen. She had been eleven the day he came to her living hell and saved her. Queen Consolidated just purchased the mine along with three others in the area.
The mine manager had shown the smartly dressed American around the mine, but there had been no way to hide the harsh conditions- the hunger, sickness, and inadequate clothing, she and the other the slave children had been living in.
Robert had stopped to speak to Isabel, but when he did she didn't answer, instead she stared down at the ground between her toes. After all she had been beaten in the past for looking an adult in the eye. He had knelt down at her level and lifted her chin so they were looking eye to eye. His hand was warm, his voice was soft as he spoke to her. He asked her if she wanted to stay here or come with him.
She didn't speak, but offered her hand to him and her smaller one was enveloped in his. He led her out of the mine and onto his jet. On the way, he turned to the manager and ordered all the children to be taken to America, where he would find homes and families for them all. She was the only one who got to fly with Robert and he had personally found her a home while he hired staff to look after the other children, she was the only one Robert loved. She was his prodigy.
Robert Queen had picked her from among all the other slaves and pulled her from the ashes of her old life and made her a queen. She'd taken the scholarship from Queen Consolidated and made her own power, and become the daughter Robert Queen could be proud of. As his own children embarrassed him, Isabel pushed herself harder, to be more than them.
Then Robert died before she could show him what she'd become, and then she'd realized her true destiny. For the last five years her subsidiaries had been quietly buying up Queen Consolidated stocks and just as she was poised to make her final move, Oliver Queen returned from the dead tossing all her plans into disarray by driving up the stock prices and waiting had begun again. She knew that it was a matter of time and the price would come down.
Then the Undertaking and Moira Queen's confession happened causing QC stock prices to nose dive beautifully, but just when it seemed that it was going to tumble into her lap Oliver snatched it from her.
But out there she had an ally; someone else who wanted to take the Queen family down just as much as she did. Now that she had the power she needed, she just had to figure out how to use it wisely.
Sitting down at her desk, she pulled open the second file that mysteriously appeared on her desk this morning along with the photographs from last night's incident. This file was full of photographs of Felicity and the Vigilante, they obviously had been taken over the past year but her favorite was the one that gave her a full shot Arrow's face showing his identity to be none other than Oliver Queen. With this file her dream of owning her legacy seemed to be within her grasp once more.
Felicity knew the moment Oliver stepped off the elevator, and she tried to gage his mood as he walked towards the office. From his stoney expression as he looked her, she didn't think he it was a good one, but that may have been because the harpy ambushed him before he could get to their offices.
As he disappeared following Isabel, Felicity wondered what repercussions there might be from her actions last night. In the end, she decided to just follow Oliver's lead, whatever that might be.
She told herself when she kissed Oliver last night, that she'd gotten through to him. He had responded to her, even if it the reaction had only been the tightening of his hands on her arm. He hadn't totally given in, but Felicity knew he was thinking about her and their options. She touched the small pocket of her blouse over her heart where his note from the night before rested.
'Felicity, I know what you want but I'm not sure I'm ready for us in more ways than one. I meant what I said the other day. Being with me is too dangerous for both of us. Give me time and who knows…. '
She didn't have to look at it to know what it said, she'd memorized the night before. It gave her hope and for the moment that was all she needed to know that she could tear down his defences brick by brick.
Knowing that Oliver would want answers about Malcolm Merlyn's whereabouts, she turned her attention back to the computer to continue digging, but the more she searched the more annoyed she became. There seemed to be no word of the man, not even a whisper. She'd called in any and all favors but nothing. As far as the world was concerned, Malcolm Merlyn was dead, there had even been a body buried in the Merlyn family plot beside Tommy. She really hoped that Oliver wouldn't want to dig it up to see if it was him.
Leaning back in her chair, she blew the wispy pieces of hair out of her face as she tried to think of another angle to search, but nothing came to mind. Annoyed, she got to her feet and stalked towards the break room to get herself some coffee, and while she was at it she might as well get one for
Oliver as well. After being closeted with Isabel he might need it. Heading back toward the office she took a sip of her brew and then she had an epiphany. Merlyn had to be moving around and that meant a private jet. There was no way he'd travel any other way, that man was way too proud to take the train. That meant all she had to do was find all the private jets that had landed in Starling City over the past few days. Merlyn had to be on one of them. If she was lucky she might even find some CCTV footage to help her out with who picked him up.
Sitting back down at her computer, she searched through the FAA flight information. Private planes didn't have to give passenger lists but the planes that flew in and out of the airports had to be listed with their registration number. If she could find out who owned the plane, it would tell them who was helping Merlyn.
She became so engrossed in the hunt that Felicity didn't hear Oliver enter her office, and it wasn't until she felt his breath tickle her ear.
"So what have you found?"
She jumped slightly. "Nothing yet. All my contacts say that the man is dead. They even buried him in the family plot, and no I'm not digging him up with you, no matter what you say. I want a better first date than that."
Ignoring her comment, he picked up the second cup of coffee. "Is this for me?" And without waiting for an answer, he took a long sip. "Thank you, I needed this."
Casting a glance at Oliver, she tried to read his expression, but it was blank as he stared at the screen and drank his coffee. What was he thinking? Was it about the two of them, or was he consumed with finding Merlyn and keeping his family safe?
Putting down the now empty cup, Oliver turned to leave. "Just keep searching, and also when you get the chance tag all of Isabel's email accounts. She's up to something, and I don't know what, but I… anyway just find out what you can. Also she has photos of last night of you and the Hood. I want to know if her source contacts her again. Whoever they are, we need to stop him. It obvious they have the power to destroy The Arrow if they choose to because wherever those photos came from there must be more. I'll get into her office and get those pictures, and anything else tonight, but I need to know who the source is so we can cut it off. Whoever they are, they are very dangerous."
Felicity rolled her eyes. "As if I don't have enough to do. You know if you want me to keep doing all this Arrow stuff, you might want to hire me an assistant so that they can do the Queen Consolidated work I'm supposed to be doing."
Oliver laughed softly as he walked away. "I'll have to see what I can do. Now I'll leave you to it. I have work to do, and you do too."
His fingers brushed across her shoulder and neck as he walked passed her. It was something he'd done many times before but for some reason this time it felt different more intimate as his fingers lingered on her neck just where her ponytail ended.
Although she tried to surpass it she shivered. It worked in distracting her enough that Felicity couldn't come up with a comeback before he was gone.
Oliver got a second surprise of the day when his mother walked through the doors of Queen Consolidated amid a huge gauntlet of reporters. Oliver got a panicked call from the security on what to do, when the reporters tried to storm the building.
A few minutes later she strode off the elevator and into Oliver's office, formerly her own. "What do you want me to do?" She asked presenting herself.
Oliver rubbed the back of his neck, he really didn't need this on top of everything else today. "What do you mean, mom?"
"Well you don't think I'm going to sit around at home all day and do nothing? I was running this company a few months ago, and I don't see why I shouldn't help you now, especially with that she-wolf at our door. We need to get her out this company and get it back under our control. Where is she anyway, I want to get a look at her."
"Right here; the she-wolf would be me."
Oliver and Moira turned to see Isabel standing in the doorway. Moira opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind and closed it again, her eyes narrowing as Isabel entered the office.
Isabel stopped in front of Moira and studied the older woman. "So you are the woman who almost destroyed this company and allowed her love to kill her husband and kidnap the other." Isabel held out her hand for Moira to shake. "Nice to meet you."
Moira held out her hand hesitantly, and Oliver knew his mother wasn't sure how to respond for a moment.
"Do I know you? You look very familiar." Moira asked dropping Isabel's hand as if burned.
Isabel shook her head. "No, we've never met before officially but we do move in similar circles. There's no reason that our paths may not have crossed before. Now if you'll excuse me I have some work to do, Oliver the board is meeting a twenty minutes. You are expect to attend no matter what family or other matters get in the way." She didn't look at Moira as she walked away.
"Sorry about that mom, but she's here to stay until I can find a way to raise the funds to buy her out. Now about you working here… I don't know if that is a good idea yet. I mean you just got-"
She held up her hand to stop Oliver from speaking. "I know what happened last night but if I have to sit still any longer and dwell on my mistakes, I just might find myself going crazy." She reached out to Oliver laying her hand on his chest. "There has to be something I can do to help you here?"
Oliver sighed, he knew how his mom was feeling and he understood idleness wasn't good for her. "On my desk there is a stack of reports that need to be read over. I have been hoping to get to it but I haven't had the chance. If you could do that for me and give me the Cliff Notes, that would be great. If you get that done, talk to Felicity, I'm sure she can find some other work that I've neglected that needs to be done."
Moira kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you darling, you won't regret this."
Oliver walked away and he really hoped he wouldn't.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you liked it please let me know, I always try to respond if you do review.
Also if you like my writing and would like to see what else I have published take a look at my website by Googling my pen name. I have over 80 stories archived there and some have been posted here yet.