Arrow
Felicity Flashback
"Returned"
"Felicity? Felicity! Have you heard?" A voice makes its way across the IT room. Kayla is standing in the doorway as her eyes project excitement.
"What are you so excited about?" I ask as I look up from the codes on my computer screen.
"The news! Haven't you been watching?"
"No? Why would I? I am busy." As the words leave my mouth, she moves towards me. I can tell she is anxious to share something. She takes hold of my keyboard and fiddles around for a while, before asking me how to open a new tab. "Do you want the news?" I ask, saving her from the immense embarrassment of not having a clue about the new QC software.
"Yes. Live though."
"Okay." As I open the live stream, her excitement passes onto me. I have no idea what i'm about to see, but it seems that all of QC is talking about it.
Breaking News: Billionaire's Son Found Alive!
"Wait…" My mind blanks as I look up at Kayla, who is hovering above me, "are they talking about?" Before I had a change to finish, she cut me off.
"Yup! Bachelor Oliver Queen is alive!"
"But how?"
"I have no idea, they said they found him on an island or something." She stood up and fixed her perfectly curled brown hair. "All I know is that he was alone on that island… and you know what that means!"
"No, I don't." With confusion plastered on my face, I continue, "what does that mean?"
"It means he hasn't been around a proper woman, well any woman, for five years."
"Okay…" Not sure where she is heading with this.
"That means that Oliver Queen is looking for someone! I COULD BE THAT SOMEONE!" Suddenly, her excitement made sense.
"Kayla, are you sure you want to go there?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Her entire body language transformed from ecstatic to offended in mere seconds.
"It's just… Oliver Queen is known for being a player, that's all."
"Are you trying to keep him all to yourself?" I wanted to laugh at the idea, the heir to Queen Consolidated having any interest in the IT girl… that is never going to happen. However, I was worried that she would take it the wrong way, so I tried to save myself. "He's not boyfriend material Kayla, you know that from everything we've heard about him. He's just not for you. Not that he's for me or anything." Why did I just say that, now she's going to think I want him to be for me! Her eyes widened with betrayal. "3…2…1…" I whispered to myself. "All I'm saying is that I don't want you to get hurt."
"Well, there's no need to worry. I am fully capable of taking care of myself!"
"May I ask why your interested in him? Purely for curiosity…" My ears wait to be greeted with an explanation for why someone would intentionally want to date a player.
"Well…" I could see her imagining her entire life on her head, "If I date him, then we will fall in love! Eventually he will ask me to marry him and I will say yes!" The way she was talking, made me believe (even if only for a second) that it was possible. "He's a billionaire so I will never have to work another day in my life!" I couldn't help but stare blankly at her. It was that, or laugh uncontrollably… I went with my poker face, figuring it would upset her the least.
"Okay, well good luck with that!" A tidbit of sarcasm lined my words.
"You know what Felicity?" Her tone taking a turn for the worst, "In a year when i'm Ollie's fiancé and you're just some IT girl, i'm sure you'll be regretting being so mean to me."
"Ollie?" I ask as my head uncontrollably tilts to the left, "Have you even met him?"
"Well… no. But he's bound to come back to QC and then I will meet him. I am the assistant to the head of the hiring department after all!" My eyebrows furrowed in confusion to how that was relevant. "Oh! Maybe, if he becomes CEO once Mr. Steele retires, than he will hire me to be his assistant! Then we can fall in love!" Her words became blurred after she waltzed into the hallway with high hopes of her future. My eyes stayed plastered open and staring where the misguided girl was standing moments earlier. My mouth slowly formed into a smile as I looked down and continued my work. That girl is crazy.
The next day, everyone was still buzzing about Oliver's return from the dead. I however, had work to get done. Unlike Kayla, and practically every girl in Starling City, I wasn't about to drop everything. As I finished up my paperwork, I looked around the IT room. No one is here. I knew it was unlikely that anyone would come in here today, unless they needed help getting their computers to get the live stream news on. I decided this was my only chance… I carefully surveyed the room for onlookers before I began typing.
C-A-M-E-R-O-N S-M-O-A-K
133,000 results.
C-A-M-E-R-O-N S-M-O-A-K, L-A-S V-E-G-A-S
364,000 results.
Knowing I would never find him this way, I pull out a picture of my father and I from when I was around 3 years old. It's the only one I managed to save after he left and my mother burned all the photos with him in them. I scanned the photo and isolated his face. Within minutes I had a facial recognition program running. Since I have no idea where he is, or has been for the last decade of my life, I compare with all international agencies… being sure to cover my tracks so that QC isn't openly associated with hacking. The software is just so much faster here than on my computers at home. I sit back in my chair as I let the program run on one screen. Knowing it will take forever for the system to find a match, my eyes slide over to the other screen where the live news feed from yesterday was still open, I stare at the caption.
Billionare's Son Found Alive: Robert Queen Confirmed Dead.
I feel bad for Mrs. Queen and her daughter Thea. Most of all for Oliver, who probably spent hours calling out for his father after the Queen's Gambit went down. I knew in that moment, that he must have come back a different person… anyone who has spent years alone and deserted from the world is bound to return a transformed person. I just wonder what kind of person he has become…