AN: Hey Everyone! I want to thank everyone for reading, leaving reviews, favoriting and following the story. You're all so awesome and I really appreciate the support. I wanted to write a little more insight into Vivienne's life seeing as how I have been giving you all a lot of questions but not a lot of answer when it comes to her. So every other section here will be Vivienne's story with our group in between.

To answer a question I got on the last chapter: Johnnie knows who Oliver is because Oliver is a public figure who used to spend time (I assume) in Vegas. You'll also read a little more at the end of the story of why Johnnie knows Oliver.

Unfortunately, I've noticed the interest in this story has been steadily decreasing over the past few chapters. I've been going through a few negative life transitions these past few months and I feel as though it has reflected in recent chapters. I won't abandon this story or hold it hostage for more reviews and views, however I can't promise an update will be happening again for a little while at least. I want to finish the story before I post again so that those of you that are still reading and enjoying will be able to finish. I have the outline all formed out and I know where the story is going but now it is just about finding time to sit and write it all down.

Chapter warnings: Mentions of drug use and mild violence

Previously in Chapter 10:

"What is it?" Diggle asked as he twisted in his chair to take a look at the screen.

Felicity stood stock still beside him with her fingers pinched over her lips. Diggle stood from his seat to get a better look at the tablet and what had caused this reaction. The email had no subject line but the message read in all caps "YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT, $50,000, LEAVE QUEEN AT HOME."

There was also a picture to accompany the words – Vivienne Smoak, tied to a chair with a busted lip, a bloody nose, and a swollen eye.

Chapter 11

Five Years Ago

The postcard sat on the dressing room vanity awkwardly out of place in Vivienne's opinion. In all the places she would picture this particular postcard, it would not be in the back dressing room at Johnnie's casino.

The room itself was dark and depressing with a slight mildew and cigarette smoke smell around the edges. The air had become filled with an aerosol spray haze, the heavy industrial kind that could transform a person's hair into a masterpiece that would last well after day break. There were sequins and old abandoned rhinestones that lay haphazardly on the ground and on the linoleum vanity counter tops.

This room was the underbelly of an underbelly, Vivienne often thought, the things that the customers couldn't see without the fear of breaking the glamorous illusion that they believed. Johnnie was always very adamant that they take their breaks in the back room – never outside, never in the hallways – always hidden away so the customers couldn't see who the girls really were.

Vivienne had worked for Johnnie for longer than she cared to remember and longer than any of the current girls he had working the floors. About six years earlier, Johnnie found Vivienne crying in some back alley after she had been fired, yet again, and he took pity on her and hired her. The money was good and Johnnie treated her better than most casino owners treated their employees.

There was one time when one of the girls needed to take the night off because her five-year old son had the chicken pox. Normally in their line of work that meant the girl wouldn't be back the next night, but to Johnnie this woman was family. He not only gave the girl the night off but made sure she had enough money for cab fare home and to pick up her son's prescription medication on the way.

Johnnie never let the men get too handsy, and made sure that "his girls" were treated like ladies. Vivienne had watched him kick more than a dozen men out for even looking at one of them the wrong way. It was like having a protective older brother that always watched out for her.

Over the years, as Felicity grew up and went away to college, Johnnie made sure that Vivienne was taken care of. When Felicity left her, Johnnie eased the pain and promised her his continued support. He encouraged her to take Felicity's phone calls and promised Vivienne that if the whole school thing didn't work out for her Felicity would always be taken care of.

At the time, Vivienne thought it was kind and caring of him – her pseudo older brother – but as the years went on, and Johnnie still hadn't met Felicity, it became more disturbing. Vivienne couldn't place why it unnerved her so much that Johnnie took an interest in her daughter, but it did. He never made a lewd comment or held a tone that suggested his means were less than honorable, but every time Johnnie said Felicity's name it made Vivienne's skin crawl.

When the postcard came Vivienne had been asleep after a long night at work. She hadn't been able to check her mail until she was on her way to work that night, and after scanning the various bills that had come for her, she saw it. A picture of a very blond Felicity with a standard background of what looked like a college campus accompanied by the words:

Announcing the Graduation of

Felicity Meghan Smoak

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Class of 2009

She looks so smart, Vivienne found herself thinking as she stared down at the picture of her daughter. That's when it hit her that Felicity was never coming back. She had held onto hope for all those years and kept answering Felicity's phone calls because she kept thinking that maybe Felicity missed her and would come home. Looking down at the postcard in her hands, Vivienne knew that Felicity was gone for good.

She kept glancing at the picture at each red light and stared at that postcard during her break, having kept it folded up in her wallet so that she didn't lose it. Her baby looked so mature with her new glasses, they were black rimmed and square frames, and her blonde hair. She didn't look like her little Felicity anymore.

"Hey baby." The sound of Johnnie's voice entering the back room caused a flurry of unwarranted panic to rise up in her stomach. With a quick flick of her wrist, Vivienne tossed the post card into her purse that was laying open nearby. "Viv, my girl," Johnnie purred as he approached her from behind.

"Hey Johnnie," Vivienne smiled up at him, the graduation announcement pushed aside in her mind for the moment.

Johnnie gave her a soft smile and placed his large open palm on her shoulder, like a weight keeping her in her place. "Russell is outside, and he's asking for you again," he said with a wink and a gentle squeeze.

Vivienne gave a nod before she looked up at herself in the mirror. Her hair had lost its natural volume and her skin was an uneven color from her lack of sun exposure. There were bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, or too much sleep. She wasn't sure anymore. Vivienne was pretty sure that her diet of pills, vodka, and pretzels didn't help either, but she was under a lot of pressure to keep the clients entertained or else she was sure that Johnnie would fire her once and for all. If it wasn't for Russell she would have been out on the street a long time ago.

No matter how well Johnnie treated his girls, if they didn't turn a profit then they didn't last long.

She wondered, not for the first time, what Felicity would think if she saw her again.

"Hey," Roy announced his and Oliver's entrance to Diggle before catching sight of Felicity working furiously on her tablet. "What's going on?" he asked slowly while Oliver followed him into the room with their bags of supplies in each hand.

Diggle stood to his feet while Felicity kept her eyes fixed on the tablet in front of her. "We have a situation," Diggle spoke softly as he shifted his eyes between his teammates. "Turns out Vivienne was abducted by whoever it was that shot at you guys in the house."

Oliver let out a sigh of frustration while Roy turned his head to glance at Felicity. She still hadn't said anything and hadn't made a move when Diggle relayed the information. Roy wanted to reach out and put a hand on her shoulder like they would normally do back home, when they weren't fighting. But he wasn't sure if it would be too soon.

"What do we know?" Oliver asked as he dropped their supplies to the bed where Felicity sat.

While Oliver's question was directed to Diggle, Roy didn't miss the way that Oliver stepped closer to Felicity, putting himself within an arm's reach. He noticed that Oliver did that a lot – he would get closer to Felicity when things got dangerous.

"We just got an email, untraceable," Felicity began talking. "It was a picture of my mom, a demand for the $50,000 she owes, and we have to meet them by midnight."

Oliver looked down at Felicity before glancing at his watch. It was nearing on nine thirty now. While they hadn't always had a lot of time to form their plans when going on missions, they never cut it this close unless it was a last minute adjustment.

"Oh, and they know who you are," Diggle added and Felicity nodded. "They don't want Oliver Queen tagging along to the money drop, but at least they didn't make you as the Arrow."

Oliver sighed as he raked a hand over his face in frustration. Roy watched as Felicity turned to look up at him, her faithful protector. He could tell she wanted to say something to comfort Oliver, but Roy knew they were now being backed into a corner where their options were limited.

"Hey man, she still has me." Diggle nodded as he took a step closer. "I can be on the inside and watch to make sure that nothing happens."

"Diggle, what about Lyla?" Felicity told him earnestly. Diggle was about to become a father and a risk like this was too much for Felicity's comfort, they all knew that.

"Why can't I go into the sleazy underground casino?" Roy volunteered with a raised hand. "I mean if we're all volunteering."

Roy watched as Felicity reached out and poked his injured side, causing him to jump two steps away from Felicity and to take hold of the injury he only just received a few hours earlier.

"Ow, damn it, Felicity!" He exclaimed as she simply shrugged from her seat.

"Guess you won't be escorting me." Oliver held back a grin while Diggle coughed to hide a small chuckle. "I can go in there myself, it's no big deal."

"Absolutely not." "Are you out of your mind?" Came the dual responses of Diggle and Roy, respectively, who both stood a little taller at her statement.

"I've gone into a mob casino before, how difficult can this one be?" Felicity responded as if this were some menial task that she did every day. "Besides, the email said to come alone and I'll have the three of you sitting outside waiting to pounce if anything goes wrong."

"It's too big of a risk," Oliver asserted from his spot. "Let's just come up with a better plan."

"Wait," Roy's voice halted them as he glanced over Felicity's shoulder at the email on the screen. "It doesn't say to come alone; it just says to leave Oliver at home."

Diggle exchanged a glance with Oliver before nodding his head in silent agreement. "Felicity, do you really think Lyla would be OK with me letting you go into this alone?" Diggle watched as Felicity tucked her chin down before giving him a half smile. "I'm going with you because that's what partners do."

Three Years Ago

"Vivienne." Russell's voice broke through the haze in her mind. "Vivienne."

It was urgent, but she didn't care. It was Felicity's birthday and one of the girls at work gave her this powder that he swore she just had to try to lighten her mood. Apparently the high was amazing and coming down from it was very mellow. It was perfect for her after today. Johnnie got mad at her and screamed at her in front of the rest of the girls, and then told her to 'walk it off.' Whatever that meant.

She knew in the back of her mind that if she lost this job there was nothing else for her. All she was, was this – an aging cocktail waitress. There was hardly room for advancement.

On top of Johnnie's outburst, it was Felicity's birthday and she was too stubborn to call her own daughter. Vivienne was pretty sure that Felicity wouldn't have even taken the call after Vivienne didn't show up to Felicity's college graduation and stopped returning her phone calls. She then started moving around a lot. It was more out of necessity than she actually wanted too.

When she was evicted from her last place, Russell had taken her in. He told her when she showed up on his doorstep one night with a cardboard box of her things that he had a spare bedroom that had never been used. It was a place for her to stay until she got back on her feet. If it wasn't for Johnnie's attitude lately she would have gone to him, but he was under a lot of pressure, or so he kept saying, and her lack of enthusiasm for her work made his job more difficult.

In the past two months alone, Johnnie had called her into his office to complain about her using more of the product than selling it. Tonight's "discussion" had been in front of the rest of the girls which had made it worse. She already heard their whispers and their gossip about how she must have screwed someone pretty important to keep her job as long as she had. Vivienne Smoak was hardly employee of the month type of material.

She sent a text message to Russell saying that she was heading home early and she would see him later. He arrived back at the house not even a half hour after she arrived to find her passed out on the bathroom floor with a small plastic bag clutched tightly in her right hand. The drug was a white powder, an altered version of crack cocaine she had heard once, that Johnnie had just smuggled into Vegas from Mexico. Apparently Johnnie's son had done some international business and supplying his father with new contacts.

Russell had promised to make her life better. He had given her a place to live, food to eat, and someone to care for her when she had been at her lowest – but none of that changed the fact that her life wasn't what she wanted it to be. In a weird way he reminded her of Felicity – he was always taking care of her when she was low, and he continued to support her no matter how crazy she seemed. Felicity had always been that person for her. She had always provided Vivienne with a light that she thought she had lost a long time ago.

Then Felicity left, and the world became dark again. Nothing Russell did could change that.

The powder in her hand would help her feel the light again. It would help her be closer to the warmth and the happiness that Felicity used to bring her. She loved her daughter and hated her at the same time. Felicity left Vivienne alone, like her husband had done. Everyone always left Vivienne.

As she drifted off to ride the euphoric feeling this new substance provided she remembered a little dirty-blonde baby girl crying in her crib for her mommy, and Vivienne feeling more purpose in her life in that moment than in all the drinks she served or new drugs she tried.

As Russell shook her shoulder one more time in attempt to wake her up, his voice becoming more urgent, she knew she had taken too much. Vivienne began humming happy birthday to her baby girl and prayed that when she woke up, it would be Felicity's face that she saw.

"Let's run through the plan again," Dig sat on the bed with Roy while Oliver leaned against the TV console, eyes on Felicity.

She had just emerged from the bathroom after trying on three of her mother's dresses that Felicity assumed were for work. She was amazed that they even fit considering how much weight her mother had lost since she last saw her.

In middle school Felicity used to see her mother going to work at night and on occasion wondered what it must have felt like to wear one of those dresses. Her mother had always looked beautiful and had this amazing aura that just commanded attention. Granted they argued constantly, especially as Felicity grew older and realized that her mother's job wasn't all that glamorous., but she knew for certain that her mother was one of those people that others wanted to be around. At least that's what she always imagined her mother to be.

These dresses were different though. She couldn't just wear her street clothes into this casino, particularly not knowing who the clientele was. Oliver drove Felicity to her mother's house once more, and stood only five feet away from her at any given time while she rifled through her mother's very disorganized closet. The three dresses that she brought back to the hotel had cut outs in strategic areas with lace overlay to show a sense of modesty or were short enough that little was left to the imagination.

The dress Felicity ended up choosing, based on fit and that she felt like she was somewhat covered, was a maroon dress that stopped just above her knee. The bodice was a soft, pleated fabric that must have had a bit of elastic to it as it clung to Felicity's chest and abdomen giving her a fair amount of cleavage. It was her modest choice considering her other two options.

While Felicity had her own share of dresses with cut outs or figure forming fabrics, these outfits just didn't feel right. Maybe it was because they were her mother's dresses, or maybe it was because she was about to go into a place where her mother was being held captive by some sort of drug lord with only Diggle as immediate protection.

Either way Felicity did know that she couldn't wait until this night was over, and her mother was safely away from Johnnie.

"Roy will stay in the car with Felicity's tablet and monitor the security cameras once we set up our link into their systems. Roy you're also going to work on trying to get any documents about the operation and information on Vivienne's whereabouts." Roy nodded his agreement. "Oliver will be in place on the fire escape of the building across the alley and I will go in with Felicity for added backup." John stopped himself when he noticed Oliver's face tighten where he stood. "You ok?"

"Yeah." Oliver gave a tight-lipped nod which they all knew to mean that he was not ok with the plan.

"Diggle will keep me safe." Felicity addressed the nerves they were all feeling. "Besides if we have to make a quick exit it's better to have you on the outside waiting for us. They won't expect us to have back up."

Oliver sighed before pushing off the console to walk to where Felicity stood. He positioned himself near her but didn't move to touch her as he kept his arms at his sides.

"I don't like this," he said as he began to rub his fingers together as if he were itching to put an arrow into anything, or anyone. "There are too many things that could go wrong. This is obviously a trap since they must know that we wouldn't have had time enough to pull that kind of money together."

"So we follow the plan," Diggle interrupted calmly. "They'll move for their weapons, and I'll move for mine which will cause a fight to start. Felicity will get grabbed so they have more leverage," Diggle paused.

Felicity began speaking at Diggle's pause. "According to the city plans that we hacked, there is only one other possible exit near that location – which is where you and Roy will be waiting." Felicity nodded in his direction. "We've had worse plans."

Oliver shook his head at their attempts at assurance. Felicity knew that Oliver seemed to have some kind of need to always keep her safe in the lair. Probably because she didn't have the same kind of training as he and Dig, and now Roy, but she wasn't stupid either. Felicity had picked up on what they had been doing while she was waiting for the systems to reboot and when they had their brief lessons on slow nights. Felicity wasn't as badass as them but she was getting to the point where she felt more confident in her abilities to take care of herself. She was also a lot smarter than them.

"It could be worse." Roy gained their attention. "You could be the one having to sit in the car."

"Hey," Felicity said grabbing Roy's attention. "As someone who usually sits in the car, it's harder than it looks."

Roy gave her a half smile before turning to glance between Diggle and Oliver. "Well I guess we better get moving."

Felicity sighed as she looked down at her dress – her mother's dress – one last time before nodding. It was time to go get her mother back.

Twenty One Hours Earlier

The gunshot was louder than she expected. Granted she had never heard a gun go off except on television but she always expected it to happen and then be over. The ringing in her ears, however, kept going like one of those annoying kitchen clocks that her mother used to have that would chime that same annoying tune on the hour. She hated that clock.

"Look at what you made me do, Vivienne," Johnnie called out in anger. "Look at the mess you just made."

Johnnie pointed his 35 caliber pistol to the ground where Russell lay, unmoving. He was face down in the asphalt outside of the casino with a red pool of blood seeping out from beneath him. Just a minute ago he had been fighting with Johnnie about something – she didn't know what – and next he was on the ground and her ears were ringing.

"You know, I never would have shot him if you two just stuck with my arrangement," Johnnie said with a shake of his head.

"You shot him," Vivienne mumbled as she kept her eyes on Russell's still form. "You really shot him."

Johnnie let out a chuckle as he handed off his gun to the man standing to his right, the man who was seemingly unfazed at what had just occurred. Vivienne kept shaking her head as she stared down at her friend, her partner. Russell was dead.

Her Russell, the man who took her in when she was at her lowest, brought her to her highest, and then tried to help her recover. Russell found her three years ago after she overdosed on a new drug she brought home. She had combined it with Adderall that she had saved for a rainy day and Felicity's birthday seemed like a good enough occasion.

When Russell found her passed out on the bathroom floor she had been close enough to death to call for a trip to the ER before he took her to a rehab center ten miles outside the city limits only for her to check herself back out and return to Johnnie's waiting arms. Johnnie then took over as her protector, buying her a house and stocking it with essentials like food, alcohol, dresses, and drugs.

After that night Russell had changed. He didn't come visit her at work and he would vanish for days at a time and then just pop up and ask her to lunch out of nowhere. He never talked to her about his old life anymore, but kept asking her when she was going to turn hers around. He never asked her to move back in again, and she sometimes would see him when she met him for lunch, talking to a strange man that she had never seen before.

But the strangest thing that had changed about Russell was how much time he was spending with Johnnie. The only times that Russell would come to the casino was to see Johnnie. The two would sit and laugh in Johnnie's office while smoking really expensive Cuban cigars. Vivienne thought it was a little strange because Johnnie never really liked Russell, and used to blame him for taking her away.

Then one night Johnnie snapped. He pulled Vivienne into the back room and demanded that she tell him where his product was, he knew she was a junkie and that she took it. Russell stood beside him, with a blank stare on his face, as Johnnie slapped Vivienne across her face and told her that she was a "junkie whore whose own daughter didn't even love her."

While Vivienne felt her hackles rise at the mention of Felicity, she held back as she caught Russell's glance. His eyes begged her to stay quiet as Johnnie continued to rail into her for stealing from him and how she now had a debt to pay. Then Johnnie stopped and bent down to her level. With tears in his eyes he apologized and wiped away the stray tears from her eyes while kissing her forehead.

Johnnie promised never to hurt Vivienne again as long as she repaid her debt. Vivienne never did find out why Russell's eyes told her to stay quiet, or why Johnnie suddenly came after her for stealing product when she hadn't touched any of his drugs in months. She stayed with the ecstasy that kid from the university kept slipping her under the table that he bought with daddy's money.

Then her trips to Mexico started and she did start using again. Anything to dull the pain, she told herself as she swallowed some pill that one of the girls gave her, or brought home some crack that Johnnie was gracious enough to part with.

She thought things were getting better. Johnnie seemed happier and Russell stopped looking at her. The trips to Mexico became less frequent and she found herself breathing at night with only the alcohol to numb the pain.

But now Russell was face down on the ground with a hole in his chest while Vivienne desperately wished for something to make this all go away.

"Now, Vivienne," Johnnie cooed as he bent down to her level. "Sweetheart, I'm going to need your help now that you made me shoot Russell."

His voice didn't match his words, she thought, his tone was so calm and sweet while his words dripped acid. She didn't understand. She only just came outside when Johnnie began to punch Russell. She hadn't even heard their conversation before hand.

"Why?" Vivienne swallowed over the lump in her throat. "What do you need from me?"

Her eyes stayed on Russell, willing him to just stand up. If he stood up he could tell her what to do, he could fix this.

Johnnie smiled at her as he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear before grabbing the base of her neck in a fist.

"You are going to listen and you are going to listen good or a lot more people are going to get hurt," he promised with his face centimeters from hers. She could smell the tobacco on his breath. "My son needs to open up a trade port into a nearby city so that we can move a new product into the area."

Vivienne couldn't help but frown in confusion. What did any of this have to do with her?

"He found the perfect port, and the perfect workers who would look the other way for a reasonable fee, but now it seems he's encountered some trouble in the form of Robin Hood," Johnnie spit out as he drew only closer to Vivienne's face, pulling her hair so that her neck arched up. "Seems some son of a bitch with a bow and arrow has been blocking all trade in and out of Starling City."

There it was, Starling City. Vivienne struggled to put the pieces together and why that city was so important in her mind. God, that last pill was a mistake, she thought as she tried to figure out why this should matter to her.

"I don't understand," Vivienne choked out as Johnnie loosened his hold. "What does this have to do with me?"

Johnnie let go of Vivienne's neck and smiled wider than a crocodile. "Of course you don't know, sweet one. Your main task in life is to remain oblivious to anything that is not you."

The man beside Johnnie smirked at the last comment before sharing a quick laugh with Johnnie.

"Seems you know someone who lives in Starling City, a certain little blonde computer genius in fact," Johnnie crowed.

"No," Vivienne whispered as the pieces fell together.

"Oh yes," Johnnie smiled wider. "Look at you using that brain of yours, finally, after all these years." He rolled his eyes before placing both of his hands on Vivienne's shoulders. "It seems through one of my sources that your little girl has gone and got herself a nice cushy job banging the head of Queen Consolidated and getting promoted faster than anyone her age, ever. This also entitles her to at least some of his super-secret trust fund I'm sure. At least that's why I've heard."

"Felicity," Vivienne whispered as she let her head fall to her chest.

"Yes, indeed, your little Felicity is mommy's daughter after all," Johnnie said sardonically. "But oh wait, it gets better. Turns out my source also found a redacted police report, which that we could find it shows just how sloppy the SCPD really is with their records," he said with a wink. "This report goes on to state that your little bright sunshine of a daughter is working with the pain in my ass known as the Arrow."

"No," Vivienne urged. "Felicity doesn't do things like that, she's safe."

Johnnie gave out another little laugh before leaning closer to Vivienne's face, one hand reaching far enough up to grasp the back of her neck to keep her from moving.

"What is truly amusing about that statement is how you act like you know your daughter at all," Johnnie smirked. "How you think that after five years of shutting her out you have any idea who your daughter has become."

Vivienne shook her head and tried to climb further back in her chair than she reasonably thought possibly. How did Johnnie know all this? Had he been keeping track of Felicity all these years?

"So, Vivienne Smoak, I am going to need you to call your daughter and ask her to get on the first plane to Vegas to bail you out of the most recent mess that is your life," Johnnie told her as he pulled her cell phone from her pocket. It was a pay as you go phone, the only thing she could really afford at the moment.

"What if I say no?" Vivienne asked with more bravery than she felt. She may not have been the best mother, but like hell was she going to drag her daughter into this mess. "I don't even know how to get a hold of her."

Johnnie curled his lips in thought before turning and using what must have been all his weight to land a punch to Vivienne's cheek. The force of the hook knocked her over from her sitting position. Her face was not level with Russell's sad, vacant eyes.

"If you don't call your pretty little daughter out to Vegas to save her failure of a mother, then I am going to have to go all the way to Starling City and drag her here myself." She knew he wasn't lying but she couldn't think her way out of this one. "Either way, she is going to get on a plane and she is going to use her 'technical' skills to call off the man with the bow and arrow and I am going to get my product into that port."

"How do you even know that she'll come?" Vivienne tried. "You said it yourself, we haven't talked in years. What makes you think she would come here to help me?"

All the smiles were gone now as Johnnie bent down so that he was even with her on the floor, only a few inches away from Russell's body.

"I know that she will come because she is your daughter, and no matter how poorly you have treated her, she will come. She will come and she will help save her poor defenseless mommy from harm," Johnnie spoke in a low tone. "And, Viv, if she doesn't come I will go to get her and let's just say that your reunion will be a lot more bloody."

AN: Thank you all for reading. I'd love to hear what you think as constructive criticism is always welcome!