Here we go again. Thanks to lateVMlover for the constructive criticism. You are absolutely correct; I obviously overused the startling tactic by including it in consecutive chapters. I actually had forgotten about it since it had been so long since I wrote that part of Chapter 2. Thank you for the heads-up. I appreciate ALL of the reviews, and have thick skin, so if anyone else has some advice, positive or critical, feel free to post. I'm curious what people think about getting the Barry/Flash thing right out there - did I move that along too quickly? I was going to originally keep him in a coma for a bit longer, but wanted to get the Felicity/Barry shipping out of the way. Again, feedback is much appreciated.
Oliver arrived at the hospital with Diggle in time to see a large group of reporters questioning Moira Queen as she exited the front doors. He got out of the vehicle, making his way toward the crowd but stopping back a ways to take in the scene in front of him. His mother was speaking to the press with a smile on her face, but the way her eyes were darting through the crowd told him despite her confidence, she was clearly on guard for something else to happen. He was torn about whether to step in and escort her to her car, his protective instincts kicking in, or letting her flounder a bit more to let his underlying anger with her simmer a bit. Oliver decided enough was enough, stepping forward to extract her from the throngs and safely into the vehicle in front of them. Moira's campaign manager, Mark Francis, was just about to join them when Oliver shut the door, having Diggle drive him and his mother away.
"Oliver," Moira exclaimed, "that was extremely rude of you to cut off Mark like that. The man is my campaign manager after all," she finished, straightening the wrap around her shoulders that had become skewed upon her entrance into the car.
Oliver stared at her, trying to read into the little tell-tale signs that showed she was truly affected by the attempted abduction, wondering if they were real or a ruse. "Are you all right?" he finally asked.
Moira looked up in surprise, assessing if her son was genuine or not. "I'm surprised you actually care," she responded flippantly, turning away from his penetrating gaze to look out the window.
Oliver let out a frustrated sigh, turning away from her and mimicking her gesture to look out his side of the vehicle. Slightly disappointed that Oliver had not immediately pressed her further for an answer, Moira decided if she was going to try to regain any type of relationship with him, honesty was the best policy. "I'm fine physically," she stated quietly, still looking away from him, "but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still shaken by the whole thing."
Relief swept over Oliver, although he held back on making any physical contact with Moira. He was still unsure how he wanted to manage their relationship on a long-term basis given what he had learned, regardless of what had just happened. A thought occurred to him.
"You didn't set this whole thing up as a low-handed vote-grabbing tactic, did you?" he asked her point-blank. That got her attention. She swung her head around to face him, her mouth wide open in shock at his accusation. He immediately regretted his question.
"How dare you accuse me of setting up something as serious as an abduction to gain votes," she yelled at him. "John, pull this car over immediately. I can find my way to the hotel from here," she yelled up front, reaching toward the door handle. Oliver quickly leaned over, grabbing hold of her arm.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I had no right to ask that," he finally stated, noting the tension slightly easing from her. Digg had pulled the car over, but she made no attempt to get out. Oliver quickly instructed him to keep driving.
Moira still refused to look at him, but didn't ask to have the car pulled over again. "I may have made a mistake when I was younger and more vulnerable, but that does not make me a monster, despite what you think," she said quietly, still looking out the window.
"I didn't call you a monster," Oliver began.
She turned to face him. "Well you might as well have, Oliver. If Miss Smoak had just minded her own business instead of meddling in our family affairs...".
"STOP," Oliver yelled, startling both her and Diggle. His mother jumped back slightly in her seat at the look he was giving her. "This has nothing to do with Felicity! You know as well as I do that this would have gotten out eventually, so don't try to put this on her," he said, clearly shaken by his mother's attack on his partner in crime.
"Then what is she doing looking into transactions that are part of a fund that is completely off the grid of Queen Consolidated?" she demanded angrily.
Oliver tried to keep his cool. "She had been asked to watch that fund by your husband at the time, Mother. From what I heard she got pulled into it because of Walter, and no other reason."
Moira moved forward to get right up into Oliver's face. "Are you going to tell me that you believe there was no ulterior motive for her to watch that fund months after Walter and I had divorced? Do you really believe she is an innocent in all of this? Because from my viewpoint she will do anything and everything to get closer to you. Are you so clueless that you don't see that the girl is in love with you, Oliver?"
Oliver felt like he had been slapped. In love with him? He knew she cared about him, but they were partners; he relied on her to complete their team with her intelligence and computer savvy. She couldn't be in love with him.
"You really don't know, do you," Moira said quietly, taking in the stunned look on his face.
"She's not...," he started. He looked in the rearview mirror to see Diggle glancing at him, a knowing look in his eyes. "No," he said. "She's my friend," he defended loudly, glancing between his mother and Digg. John had looked away, but Moira looked at him with sympathy.
"Oliver, honey, you need to stop leading the poor girl on. Everyone else can see it; even the gossip at Queen Consolidated has gotten out of control."
Oliver sat stunned; he heard what his mother was saying, but the thought of not having Felicity with him, at his side helping him do the work that he did, both during the day and outside of the office, terrified him. He couldn't imagine having accomplished any of the things they had done without her being a part of it. It had pained him enough when Felicity had been in Central City while Barry had been in a coma, he couldn't imagine her permanently being out of the picture. He shook his head.
"No."
"Oliver..." his mother started.
"No," he declared emphatically, staring his mother straight in the eye. "I am not discussing Felicity with you or anyone else, and if I hear you try to pin any of the blame on her again, you can forget about me showing my support for you during this campaign."
Moira glared at him, but knew better than to push him. She felt emotionally drained from the events of the day, particularly regretting bringing up Felicity's name. She knew Oliver was right; it was just a matter of time before someone had put the pieces of the puzzle together based on her courtroom confession about Malcolm Merlyn. She hated the secrets that had already torn apart her family, and wondered how long some others could stay hidden. She decided it was time to stop keeping things from Oliver.
"Oliver, there's something I need to tell you about Malcolm Merlyn," she said quietly, her heart rate accelerating out of fear at the thought of the mad man.
Her son turned to her, obvious discomfort at the topic.
Moira gazed nervously toward the front of the vehicle at Diggle.
"I assure you, there is no need to worry about Diggle overhearing us. He's become quite astute at keeping secrets," he added, giving a knowing glance to John in the rearview mirror. Moira caught the knowing look between the two men, comforted at the thought that Oliver had someone near him who could be trusted. She told him as much, grouping in both Diggle AND Felicity in her statement. Oliver saw it as a step in the right direction that his mother would hopefully not continue her personal attacks on Felicity.
"I know I should have said something eariler," she started. They were interrupted by Oliver's phone ringing in his suit coat. He held up a finger to his mother to hold her thought, then answered the call seeing it was Felicity. He turned toward the window.
"Do you have something?" he asked.
"Is your mom okay?" Felicity asked.
Oliver glanced at Moira, thinking that Felicity was being all together too generous with her concern given what the woman thought of her. "She's fine. Diggle and I are escorting her to the hotel. She's going forward with the campaign dinner."
"You two may want to cut your dinner short given what I just found," Felicity stated, reviewing the information on her computer monitor a fourth time, not sure she was believing what was there.
Oliver tensed at her words, then leaned forward in his seat. "Just tell me what you found," he stated almost harshly, the hair standing up on the back of his neck at the unease in her voice. He hoped whatever she had found she was overreacting to.
"One of the blood samples they pulled from the kidnapping scene was processed by the SCPD CSI unit. It had high concentrations of Mirakuru in it," she finished, wishing she could be standing next to him for this news. She knew he wouldn't be pleased about it.
"What?!" he stated. Diggle pulled them up to the back entrance of the hotel. Moira looked at Oliver with concern as she took in his expression. Clearly whatever he was hearing on the phone was not good news. Collecting himself, Oliver held his hand over the phone for a moment as hotel security opened the car door to escort them to the campaign event.
"Mom, you go ahead. I've got to take this call," he added, trying to give her a reassuring smile that never reached his eyes.
"Is everything all right, Oliver?" she asked, frowning at him.
"It's fine, really," he lied. "I promise I'll be right behind you," he added, motioning for the security guard to take her in directly. After the car door had closed Oliver put the phone on speaker as Diggle turned around, aware that something was going on. "It's just me and Diggle now, Felicity. What are the details," he asked.
She went over the results with them, noting that it couldn't have been from Roy, who may have driven in the limo that Moira had been in at an earlier time, since the blood type of the sample did not match Roy's. She also stated that she had removed any trace of the rare compound from the test results before they had been accessed by anyone else in the CSI unit. "There's still someone out there with this stuff in their system, Oliver," she finished.
"Why don't I head back to the lair to help Felicity get more information, then be back here in an hour to pick you up. There's nothing we can do at this point until we know more," Diggle suggested to Oliver.
Oliver agreed, then hung up with Felicity. He exited the car and entered the hotel, finding his mother right away to let her know he was there. Moira quickly excused herself from the group she had been with, claiming to need to talk to her son regarding some official Queen Consolidated business. They stepped out of the dining area into a deserted hallway.
"Everything is fine, really," Oliver stated, assuming his mother wanted to ask more about the call that had delayed him.
"I don't care about the call," she stated. Oliver looked at her more closely, realizing that the calm demeanor she had portrayed just moments ago was not real. He looked at her, giving her his full attention. She let out a deep sigh, glancing around to ensure they were still alone. "I have something to tell you that I want you to keep between the two of us, do you understand?" He nodded. "I don't know where to start," she trailed off, closing her eyes to try to maintain her composure.
"Mother," Oliver growled, "just spit it out."
She opened her eyes, hoping he could see the sincerity in what she was about to tell him. "Malcolm Merlyn is alive, Oliver. He came to me just after my trial. He was the one who arranged the not guilty verdict."
"What?! Does he know about Thea?" Oliver asked, a ball forming in the pit of his stomach.
"Yes," Moira responded, her shoulders sagging at the thought of Malcolm corrupting her sweet Thea.
"When did you see him last?"
"I saw him after the trial, and one other time when he showed up at the mansion," she responded, feeling sick at the thought of him being in her home. "Oliver, what are we going to do? You have to help protect your sister!"
He stood there for a moment, then stepped away from his mother to pull out his phone. He hit the speed dial button for Felicity.
"We don't have anything new yet..." she started when she picked up.
"Stop whatever you're doing," he bit out, trying to remain calm.
"What's going on, Oliver. Are you okay?" Felicity asked, the tension in his voice evident. If he wanted her to stop digging into the Mirakuru, she knew it had to be something major.
"Malcolm Merlyn; he's alive. We need to find him. I'm on my way," he finsihed, ending the call abruptly.
Diggle noticed Felicity's face go white as she slowly brought the phone away from her ear. "Felicity, what's going on?"
"Oliver's on his way back. I think he just said..." She hesitated, hoping that what she heard was wrong.
"I think he just said Malcolm Merlyn is alive."
