HEY. I'm back. And so is the story! I finally got all my crap figured out and am determined to finish this story so here is a new chapter! AGAIN IMPORTANT NOTE: I REWROTE MOST OF THE CHAPTERS BECAUSE I WASNT HAPPY WITH THE WRITING STYLE. SO ITS NOT NECESSARY TO REREAD THEM ALL BUT IT MIGHT HELP.
Thanks to anyone who will still read this story after about two years :P Let me know what you think!
The light of day was fading fast as they got out of the car in front of the apartment building. Blues and pinks bled across the sky like ink in water. The Smoaks each pulled out a large bowl covered in plastic wrap and started towards the building in front of them.
Felicity watched out of the corner of her eye as Emaline struggled with the obscenely large bowl of potato salad in her hands as they both walked up to Dig and Lylas building. Felicity tried her damnedest to control the smile that kept finding its way onto her face. No matter how the brunette seemed to hold the damn thing, she couldn't get a good enough grip.
"OK, so let me get this straight." Emaline said with a frown set into her forehead. "Roy use to date Thea, who is Olivers little sister, but somehow Roy and Oliver are good friends?... And they are close with Diggle, who is Olivers body guard, or ex-bodyguard or some shit…"
"Language" Now it was Felicity's turn to frown. Emaline just rolled her eyes.
"And he's married to his ex-wife Lyla… 'cause that makes sense…" Emaline murmured sarcastically. "…and they have a baby girl named Sara, who is named after one of your friends… who was Olivers ex-girlfriend… and Laurels sister….who is also one of Olivers ex-girlfriends. Shocker." More sarcasm. Add an eye roll. "Is that right?" Felicity could almost see they wheels turning in Emalines head as she tried to understand the relationship between team arrow, sans arrow work.
"uh Ya, that about sums it up." Felicity said, shifting her own plate of food.
"Great…. Then who the hell is Sin?" Emaline cocked an eyebrow in question to her sister next to her, frustrated that she couldn't get all the puzzle pieces of Felicitys life to fit. Felicity quietly laughed at the young girls obvious frustration at her lack of understanding of the situation. Guess it was true, not liking mysteries was a family trait.
"Sin is a friend of... Roys, but we kinda adopted her into the family." Family. Her family without Emaline.
Nice going Felicity… she mentally chastised. She peeked out of the corner of her eye to make sure her sister wasn't hurt by her choice of words and found that she seemed to be intently adjusting the plastic wrap over the ridiculously oversized salad bowl she was carrying. She then ran her hand through her hair.
Red Flag. Crap, Felicity had really started to love the easiness between the two of them recentlyand the lat thing she wanted to do was disrupt it. Three months ago, Emaline walking into Felicitys Starling City life was her worst nightmare but now she couldn't imagine what it would be like now without her sarcastic shadow. The energy that radiated from Emaline was enough to intrigue everyone that met her. She was Las Vagas personified. She was the vibrant, colourful personality and spark of wild fire that carried the lie that there was nothing more to them both than the show they put on. But like the City of Sin, it is all a game of smoke and mirrors. And in the game of smoke and mirrors the truth lies with the shadows. Its only when you pull back the curtain do you realize how corrupt it all is and suddenly the devilishly sweet tastes of mischief that Vagas prides itself on, turn to ash in your mouth. Emaline wore that kind of darkness like a cloak, allowing it to hide the vulnerable girl beneath it. The past few months had allowed Felicity to glimpse under Emalines hood to see the girl it clung to. Despite Felicitys fears she couldn't help falling in love with the girl like she had already done once before. Felicity often found herself smiling as she silently watched Emaline scowling down at her crossword puzzles in the morning or contemplating a strategic move during one of their board game nights. It was ironic how someone who was known to cause trouble, brought her so much peace in her life, even if the circumstances surrounding her terrified Felicity.
They continued into the building and up the elevator, the only sounds were Emalines frustrated grunts and sighs as she readjusted the giant bowl in her arms.
They when they reached the right floor they stepped out and walked to the apartment door. Felicity knocked.
Bang.
Both women jumped and heard fast approaching footsteps to the door, following the sound that could only be described as something hard hitting something harder. Dread settled in Felicitys stomach as she slowly began to angle her body so she covered Emaline from the door. The cold, dark eyes of the man she had seen in the foundry flashed through her mind and her heart started gaining speed.
The door flew open and Sin stood there with a 'kid on Christmas morning' look in her eyes. Felicity let out a sign of relief and shook her head at the girl.
"This is so cool you have a sister. Holy shit, you could be twins!" Sin said, not bothering with pleasantries. She couldn't hide her amusement as she looked between the Smoak women.
"I'm insulted. I don't look 30." Emaline said deadpanned.
"I'm 28!" Felicity looked at her sister defensively.
"Your 29 in less than a month and I'm rounding up." Emaline shuggred.
Sin snorted a laugh and looked at Felicity with a sly smile. "I like her."
"Yeah I was afraid of that." Felicity looked between the two of them, clearly unimpressed. " Sin, this is Emaline, Emaline this is Sin."
"The friend of Roy's" Emaline said, still trying to piece together Felicitys friend group. Sin suddenly looked confused and went to speak.
"Yup. Yup. The friend of Roys. Is that pie I smell?" Felicity said quickly ushering Emaline into the apartment before Sin had the chance to blow her little white lie.
Inside the apartment, the smell of warm food swirled in the air. Felicity and Emaline walked into the open dining room to see an angered Roy rubbing his foot.
"You could have waited until we put the table down before getting the door, Sin" He gritted out. Sin just shrugged it off and the two went back to their conversation. Oliver walked into the room and his eyes landed on Felicity and Emaline.
"Hi."
"Yoooour Majesty" Oliver rolled his eyes at Emalines quip.
"How are you doing?" He spoke.
Felicity went to speak but before she could get a word out, Emaline spoke.
"Well, I've been holding a ridiculous amount of potato salad so long I think my arms might fall off and I've been trying to figure out who the hell every one is, I swear, there are less complicated groups of friends on those high school TV drama shows…"
"You have no idea" Felicity mumbled.
"but other than that I'm swell, thanks for asking" Emaline said with a glint of humour in her eyes and a touch of mischief in her grin. Oliver rolled his eyes with the hint of a smile on his mouth and turned to felicity.
"I was hoping to speak with your for a minute…" He touched her elbow gently and then his eyes swung to Emaline who was looking up at them, her big brown eyes wide, a sugary sweet smile and the classic Smoak head tilt, obviously wanting to hear whatever Oliver had to say.
"Don't you have detaching limbs to deal with?" Oliver levelled. Emalines innocent routine instantly dropped into a scowl.
"You know, a true gentleman would offer to take this for me." Emaline jabbed.
"I can promise you that is not a word anyone has ever used to describe me. " Oliver countered.
"Reformed playboy, my ass. Probably failed Etiquette School…" Emaline mumbled and stalked off. Oliver and Felicity watched her walk away and place the salad bowl on the dining room table. Diggle pulled her into conversation with Lyla and Laurel, who had just entered the room. Felicity watched as Diggle introduced her to Roy and saw Emaline run her fingers through her hair.
"She's nervous." Felicitys eyes never left Emaline, even as she saw Oliver look at her in her peripheral vision. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "The hair. It's her tell."
"You know, the glasses are your tell" Felicity looked at him surprised. Olivers fingers gently followed one of the arms on her glasses behind her ear where he tucked away some hair that had fallen into her face. Felicity didn't move but looked cautiously into his eyes that always seemed to see right through her.
Felicity looked down at the floor and cleared her throat. She raised a hand to adjust her glasses but quickly dropped it. "You wanted to speak to me?"
"I wanted to see how you were doing. You seemed really upset the other day at the club."
"I'm fine."
"Felicity…"
"Oliver, I don't ask you to talk about the island." She said looking into his eyes making sure he knew just how serious she was. "Don't push me on this."
The last light of day slipped under the city skyline and the deep blue smothered the last remaining streaks of gold. The rest of the group started preparing for dinner, laughing and talking unaware of the tension on the other side of the room.
"Emaline isn't your island, Felicity." Concern etched into his forehead. "Whatever has you spooked clearly has something to do with her but… She's just a kid, Felicity." Emalines laugh rang out at something Lyla said from across the room, as she laid plates at every setting. Felicity knew he was right. Emaline had no control over the what had happened, nor did did she have any idea.
Laurel broke off from the rest of group and started towards the couple. She was wearing, as usual, a very appropriate pantsuit.
"Oliver. Felicity. I'm glad I caught you alone, I need to talk to you both." She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one else was listening.
"SO glad we are keeping this night light and causal..." Felicity said to herself.
"I met my dad for lunch today, he mentioned something I think you might want to know." She started in a low voice and looking seriously between the two of them. "Something is happening with the Russian Mafia…"
"The Bratva." Oliver stated.
"Good, so you know them, …" Laurel confirmed.
Felicity snorted.
"Knows them? The man speaks fluent Russian, which, by the way, is hard to learn on a deserted island in China. That and he has that tattoo on his chest which I definitely know you have seen since you know… you two…"
"Felicity."
"Yup, I'm done. Sorry."
Laurel looked wide eyed between the two, clearly not yet used to the Smoaks ramblings.
"Right… well anyways, something has them rattled. That's all I know. Thought you should know in case you wanted to look into it." Oliver nodded with a small frown.
"Come on, lets go help the others get ready for dinner, we will deal with this later." Felicity said motioning towards their friends who were setting cutlery, napkins and drinks. Felicity took a step towards the table when Laurel grabbed her arm holding her back.
"Actually, there is one more thing I need to tell you, Felicity." Felicity turned to Oliver who had stopped making his way to the table as well and was looking at Felicity. She gave him a nod to tell him to go and turned back to Laurel as he walked away.
"My dad mentioned you were asking about your mom. About when you could contact her. He called the clinic she is supposed to be at… and she wasn't there."
Cold swept through Felicity.
"What do you mean she's not there? That's impossible." Felicity knew it wasn't but the idea that she hadn't know where her mother was for the past two months had fear flooding her at full force.
"She is at a rehab clinic, that we know for sure, but which one is apparently classified. Not even my dad could find out." Laurels watched the other woman with concern as she processed what she had just been told. She reached forward and rubbed one of Felicitys arms.
"Look, we both know you can find her in five minutes with a computer, right? I don't want this worrying you for the rest of the night but I thought I should tell you as soon as I could."
"No, I appreciate it thank you." Felicity said, her mind still reeling.
"Come on, let's go have dinner. Lets go be with friends right now." Felicity nodded and followed Laurel into the dining room and started helping pull the plastic wrapping off dishes on the table.
Laurel was right. If Donna was at a rehab center, there would be electronic files and Felicity would be able to find them within minutes. But that didn't stop the nagging voice at the back of her mind. Why was her location classified? How could Felicity not have known where her mother was? Thoughts ran through her head as she placed a cup at every setting. Everyone moved around her laughing, talking as they worked. Sin grabbed a baby carrot from one of the salads and Roy continued talking with her. Diggle was holding Sara as she gurgled happily. Felicity worked quietly, while nagging questions bugged her like an itch. It was like putting together a puzzle with missing and odd pieces. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the pieces to fit or figure out what the big picture was.
"Is that your natural hair colour?" Oliver whispered in her ear, his eyes darting between Emaline and Felicity. Felicity saw him trying to hide a smile. She shot him an unimpressed look.
"Remember I still keep your secret." She said pointing a finger at him,
"So Emaline, do you have any fun stories to tell about Felicity?" Roy asked.
Well that snapped Felicity out of her funk.
Oliver took a seat next to Felicity and everyone started serving up the food laid out in front of them. Emaline looked up at Roy across the table and then slowly slid her gaze to Felicity, her grin spreading as she did. She opened her mouth to speak.
" NO, you don't. She-she doesn't" Felicity shook her head franticly at Emaline and then around the table at the amused faces. No way were they discussing embarrassing stories from her past.
"Ask her who was Miss Vagas Sweetheart 1992." Emaline fake whispered to Roy and took a sip of water obviously avoiding a fuming Felicitys death glare.
Well, looks like her sister decided to shoot that horse in the face.
Sin and Roy barked out laughing, Diggle almost choked on his food, Lyla and Laurel were trying their best not to laugh and Oliver, well even Oliver's well school face shows signs of laughter.
"In my defense, I was five and I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter." Felicity stated, feeling that that definitely needed to be on the record.
"Please tell me there are pictures." Diggle asked.
" Oh yeah. It's still hanging on our wall along with her sash." Emaline added.
"This makes me so happy. I bet there are pictures online" Roy said, whipping out his smartphone.
"HA. Those came down the second I learned my way around the Internet." Felicity assured. "Remember I don't need to use my fists to make you suffer, Harper, all I need is five minutes and a laptop. Put the phone down."
When she turned her death glare in his direction he conceded by putting his phone away in his pocket and raised his hands in mock surrender. Felicity caught Oliver still looking at her trying to hide his smile, which was a shame because the man had a beautiful smile but not in this particular instant because this. Was. Not. Funny.
"You. You I will hurt physically." Felicity said pointing a finger at him. Woah, when did their faces get so close? " Stop looking at me like that."
"Pageant Queen?"
"Pain, Queen. Pain." She shoved his shoulder playfully and with that the conversation moved on around them.
"Lyla." Felicity turned to her friend at the head of the table. "Oh so much more wine, please."
Lyla threw her head back and laughed and filled Felicitys glass again.
Thanks for reading! I'll post again as soon as I can. Also I THRIVE off of reviews so let me know what you thought!
