The Greatest Bowman
A/N: I apologize for taking SO LONG to post an update to this fic. My other WIPs were easier to update in the midst of a hectic RL, and this was harder to write too. I hope that you are still there. Please let me know if you are. I surely will appreciate it.
Because it's been so long since the previous chapter, I am including a summary below. If you are binge-reading this for the first time, you may skip the summary.
Previously on "The Greatest Bowman"
Felicity Smoak is a Jewish immigrant in America during the time when P.T. Barnum's circus was rising in popularity in Starling City. As a brilliant young lady with dreams of success, she works as a teacher in an orphanage to save for a college education. She also secretly writes for the Sunday edition of the Herald under a masculine pseudonym to make more money, and only her friend Barry and their employer Dr. Harrison Wells knows about her sideline. Fascinated by Barnum's shows and hired talents, she is captivated by the mysterious hooded arches who goes by the title "The Green Arrow," who in turn, is just as captivated by her endearing charm. Their friendship grows with his nighttime visits during weekends via the fire escape just outside her bedroom window.
In a charity gala, Felicity also meets Oliver Queen, one of the richest, most eligible bachelors in the city, also known for having been marooned in an island for three years after a boating accident. Their acquaintance is strained at first due to a misunderstanding, much to Oliver's disappointment (because he develops affections for her), but they are able to reconcile and rekindle their interest in each other at the opera house after watching the concert of Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, which was produced by Barnum himself. Oliver asks permission from her mother to pursue a formal courtship and takes her on a romantic dinner date. The only problem is, Felicity does not know that Oliver and the Green Arrow are one and the same person - a secret that only his best friend Tommy Merlyn knows.
As Oliver and Felicity's feelings for each other grow, trouble brews. A chance encounter of Felicity's mother with her employers leads to an inquiry about the whereabouts of her estranged father, Noah Kuttler, who turns out to be a crook. The Herald demands that their contributing writer that goes by the same name turn himself in, which leads to the revelation that Felicity has been, in fact, the woman writing the controversial weekly articles in the paper under false pretenses. She and her mother lose their jobs. Felicity is humiliated and devastated but is able to get back to work at the orphanage. Oliver assures her that this does not change the way he feels about her. However, their relationship takes a wrong turn during the Christmas Eve Ball at the Queen mansion where invited guest Jenny Lind performs and puts Oliver in a compromising position, which Felicity misinterprets to mean that Oliver isn't sincere about his intentions towards her.
Chapter 9: Tightrope
Felicity's feet kept moving her forward down the cobbled streets of her neighborhood even though her mind was on something else entirely. It was a good thing she knew the streets in this part of the city by heart that she did not have to worry about missing a turn or getting lost as the remnant glows of sunset began to fade. She knew the safest shortcuts, as well as the precarious places that she needed to avoid, especially if it snowed again that evening. She had even memorized where the potholes and manholes were.
Starling had become her home. Or not.
She was starting to question whether or not this city was indeed where she planned to stay for the rest of her life. It was beginning to suffocate her. She did not know how long she could live with how unkind and prejudiced people can be, and by how unfair career opportunities were for women like her, however gifted and deserving they were of equitable chances to thrive in their chosen fields. She did not know if she could ever trust anyone – aside from her mother, Barry, and Dr. Wells – ever again. She knew that no city was perfect and that everywhere in the known world, society, in general, did not treat women with equality, yet she was still starting to justify why a move in the foreseeable future was something she should seriously consider…
…because her struggle was not just about social customs and society's prejudices and unfair practices. She also did not know if she could stay in the same city as Oliver Queen.
Since the Christmas Eve ball at the Queen family's mansion a week ago, which was followed by her breaking off their courtship the very next day in the form of a brief and somewhat impersonal handwritten note, which she had a courier deliver to him, she had been avoiding his avid suitor. He had attempted twice to call on her – once at her home, and just the other day, at the orphanage, but she had spurned both his efforts to explain his behavior towards Ms. Lind at the ball. Felicity was still hurt. She was disillusioned, and she felt humiliatingly gullible to believe that romance between someone like him and someone like her had a chance at all, when it turned out to be just an elusive dream, a fairy tale that she had been so foolish to consider becoming a reality. Why should he not welcome the bold advances of gorgeous women in the elite circles? Of course his family would prefer him marrying someone like Jenny Lind over a lowly Jewish immigrant like her with a tarnished work track record. It did not matter how Oliver felt about her. The rich and famous were known to marry for prestige, no love.
Felicity made her way to Barnum's theater. She wanted to be there for the show that night, not because there was a new act by the brother-sister trapeze artists that she had met when Tommy Merlyn had given her a backstage tour months ago, but because she could not wait until late evening for the Green Arrow to make his way to her fire escape after the show. She wanted to see him action again; maybe the entertainment would do her good. She wanted to surprise him at the rear exit for the cast and crew; maybe seeing his lips curl up to a smile beneath that hood upon seeing her would do her good. She wanted him to take her by the hand and walk her home that night; maybe an extended time of pouring out her heartaches to her dear friend would do her a world of good.
With just a few blocks remaining between her and Barnum's circus, panic in the atmosphere broke Felicity out of her musings. Some men, women, and children were shouting as they scurried towards her, coming from the direction of her destination. They seemed dreadfully concerned about something as they came nearer, and some of them stopped along the way to answer the queries of curious bystanders.
"Fire! Barnum's circus is on fire!" Felicity overheard a young man tell the newspaper vendor at the nearest street corner.
From a few feet away Felicity heard a middle-aged woman tell her companion, "Nobody knows how the blaze began or if the fire department has been alerted yet," to which her equally concerned female friend replied, "Oh, I hope the firemen arrive soon! It would be a shame if Barnum loses his theater."
Catching up to the pair, a third lady went on to say with a trembling voice, "I know Barnum has many critics, and there are still protesters picketing outside the circus every now and then. But I'd hate for the man to lose everything he's worked so hard for. My family's just starting to patronize the circus." The first lady remarked again with an anxious tone, "But more than that, I hope nobody gets hurt in this fire!" Her friend replied frantically, "I know! They say some of the circus performers are still trapped inside!"
Felicity was done listening. She approached the women in quick steps and asked them, "The circus is on fire, you say?" The women nod in unison. "Do you know if the performers are all safe? Is anyone hurt?"
One of the women, the one wearing a black, woolen, winter bonnet answered, "Some of the cast and crew members were already outside, watching the fire that they say started in the storage room, spread inwards and upwards. They said some of their friends are still trapped inside." The woman's friend added, "We could no longer bear to watch from across the street, and the smoke was getting thicker all around by the minute, so we decided to leave. We don't know it the others got out. The rescuers and firemen hadn't arrived yet when we left."
Felicity was not rude, yet this time she did not spare any second to pause and thank the kind strangers for sharing the information. She took off, running in the direction of Barnum's theater, breathing in the cold winter air. She was oblivious to the fact that it began to snow, and was not the slightest bit anxious that she might slip as she ran.
In less than two hundred meters, she could already smell the smoke. She could also hear the shouts of people from the next block and the peal of the bells of the firemen's trucks. As she ran past Church Street, which was parallel to the one where Barnum's theater was, she could see the brightness of the blaze behind the building of Starling National Bank and Trust. In that moment, fear gripped her heart. The fire was bigger than she thought. Looking up, the black pillar of smoke looked monstrous against the backdrop of the darkening sky.
The sight that greeted her as she stood in front of Barnum's theater rendered her speechless and scared. Thick, grayish black smoke hindered the naked eyes of onlookers like her from seeing how badly the interior of the structure was already damaged. She saw some of the circus performers standing a safe distance in front of the burning edifice, many of them in tears, looking utterly devastated. She made her way to them through the bewildered, frightened crowd.
Felicity stood beside little man Charles, whose Gen. Tom Thumb costume was covered in dirt and torn at the seams at the right shoulder. She put her hand on the man's shoulder and said to him, "I'm so glad you got out safely." Charles merely looked down at his boots.
"Most of us got out when the fire was still confined to the storage and prop rooms," said Josephine, in between sniffs. Felicity had not even noticed the bearded woman approach her from behind. "The others who were setting up in the theater were trapped at first. They came out one by one when some of men went back in and managed to get the huge wooden beam that blocked the main door out of the way." The woman paused, obviously trying to keep herself from crying. Shock was still evident in her voice and on her face.
Felicity looked around. Seeing the mixture of shock, fear, and devastation on the faces of Barnum's talents and production crew, her heart broke. Their lives would never be the same again after this, she thought. Tears began to pool in her eyes. She emphasized with their losses. She knew exactly that felt.
The sorrow and sympathy she had for them soon gave way to terror when she realized that she could not find her hooded archer-friend anywhere. She was about to ask them if they knew whether or not the Green Arrow had gotten out safely, when Charles spoke sadly, tugging at her arm. "Mr. Merlyn is still trapped inside," the little man told her.
Felicity gasped at the revelation. Tommy Merlyn was a good man and a really generous acquaintance. He did not deserve to die, not like this. "No one tried to get him out?"
"The Green Arrow did," Josephine immediately answered.
Felicity froze.
"The rescuers and firemen tried to keep him from going back inside to save Mr. Merlyn, but he wouldn't have it. He fought his way through the barricade they'd set up over there and climbed the brick wall to that second floor window. He still hasn't come out." The bearded woman's voice trembled as she spoke. She was obviously frightened and anxious for their fellow performer.
Felicity's heart pounded in her chest upon hearing everything that the woman had just recounted. Her hooded friend had gone back into the burning building to save his friend. "How long has he been in there?" she asked them, her voice quivering just as the first tear finally fell from her eyes.
"I don't know for sure. A couple of minutes maybe, just before you arrived here," Charles replied.
Five minutes. Her archer-friend had already been in there for five minutes, maybe longer. How could anyone survive in there that long? Surviving in there long enough to find Mr. Merlyn was one thing; getting Tommy and himself out of there alive was quite another. To say that Felicity feared for her dear friend was no doubt an understatement.
A barricade had been set up by the authorities to keep civilians from interfering with the firemen that worked hard to fight the raging fire and extinguish the blaze. From where Felicity and Barnum's cast and crew stood behind the barricade in front of the building, they could already feel the scorching heat. How much hotter could it be inside the blazing structure? Who could even breathe inside it? Mere seconds of inhaling the smoke and the fumes were enough to debilitate anyone, causing death by suffocation and asphyxiation in no time. It looked like the ceiling of the entire first floor was ready to give way and cave in any moment. When that happened, the second floor where Mr. Merlyn's office was located would surely go down with it. Had the Green Arrow found Tommy? How was he going to get Tommy out of there safely? Would they be able to come out before the monstrous blaze devoured what was left of the theater's structure?
Everything in her ached. Felicity could not bear any more loss in her life right now, especially not the lives of people who have shown nothing but kindness to her. What harsh and heartless joke was this? She had come to pour out her heart to a trusted confidant tonight, but she was going to lose even more in the process.
Tommy Merlyn was an amiable and magnanimous gentleman, despite what some people in Starling might think of him just because of his estrangement from his influential father.
And the Green Arrow… Felicity did not even dare think of losing the only friend she had gained in the past months, the one who had given her hope of a brighter future, the man who believed in her and encouraged her to be the best version of herself despite the odds. Based on the stories he had shared with her, she felt that he had already gone through enough suffering in life, and he did not deserve to leave this cruel world this way. If he perished in this catastrophe, how could she even properly grieve the loss of a dear friend when she did not even know his name? What grave would she visit? Which family would she condole with? The thought of losing him this way made her feel like she was being strangled. She could not breathe. She could not move. She could not do anything, and she hated it. She broke down sobbing beside Charles and the others.
She could not even call out his name.
She did not know his name.
She may never get to know his name.
Felicity was oblivious to the concern that Josephine and the others were showing her. The bearded woman took the weeping blonde in her comforting arms, but Felicity seemed inconsolable at the moment. Josephine, Charles, and the others did not even understand why she was lamenting in this way, as if she had known the trapped men all her life.
The next thing they knew, the sound of a man's voice echoed in the evening air. "Look! Over there!"
Everyone's eyes followed the direction to which the anonymous person was pointing, and there they were. A hooded figure bearing an unconscious man strapped on his back stood on the edge of the burning building's rooftop.
"Ms. Smoak, look!" Charles alerted Felicity, pointing to the rooftop.
Felicity lifted her chin from Josephine's chest and turned to where Charles was pointing to. Upon seeing the sight on the rooftop, she gasped in awestruck wonder. Was it really him?
She watched as the hooded man nocked an arrow with a rope tied to its end and shot it to a thick, wooden post across the street where the General Store was. The man tied the other end of the rope securely to a metal beam on the roof, and then after checking that the unconscious man was just as securely strapped to his back, he jumped over the rooftop, using his bow to slide them both down the rope into safety.
Yes, it was definitely him.
Felicity heaved a relieved sigh. Both of her friends were alive. They were going to make it through this. Or so she thought.
Felicity and the others were unable to come closer to the two men that had just escaped the burning building. The rescuers had gotten to them first, and the police made sure that no unauthorized civilian could come near and interfere. Before long, the rescuers lifted the archer and an unconscious Tommy into the nearest carriage that the police could commandeer to rush the injured men to the hospital. They watched as the carriage sped off, feeling both relieved, that their friends had escaped the fire, and anxious, because they had no idea what condition both men were really in.
Felicity walked home in silence, still struggling with a mixture of emotions. By the time she got home and finished telling her mother everything that had happened, she was still crying. Donna tried her best to comfort her daughter, even offering that they sleep beside each other in her room that night. Felicity acquiesced, falling asleep in her mother's embrace, after she opened up to Donna about how she had become best friends with the Green Arrow in the past months. She confessed that she still did not know his true identity, but that she had come to know him as the most sensitive, caring, and loving man she'd ever met, and that she had come to trust him and care about him as a bosom friend whom she would hate to lose because of an unfortunate tragedy.
All she could do that night was wait and pray for Tommy Merlyn and for the Green Arrow to be alright. They had to be alright. She decided that she would see them first thing in the morning when the visiting hours in the hospital began.
The next morning, Felicity got ready to go to the hospital early. She was already in the waiting area even before visiting hours were supposed to start. She was anxious to see Tommy and the Green Arrow even though she did not have a plan yet how she was going to locate her archer-friend's room, considering she did not even know his name. She thought that the receptionist behind the information desk might think it strange and suspicious if she asked to see the Green Arrow, the other man that was brought in from the fire at Barnum's theater the night before. She was not even family. Still, she decided that since there was no other way, so she was going to do exactly that.
Thirty minutes later, Felicity got the information she needed in order to find Tommy Merlyn's room. It was a private room, and it was too quiet. No one was there to watch over him. She shook her head upon realizing that Malcolm Merlyn was a hard-hearted father after all.
She sat on the stool beside Tommy's bed and spent a good ten minutes offering prayers for his healing and recovery. She waited for him to wake up so that she could let him know that she visited him and wished him well, but after five more minutes, she thought it best to leave. She had to go back to the information desk and bravely ask where she could find the circus archer that had gotten injured last night.
Just as she closed the door of Tommy's room behind her, a vaguely familiar voice called out to her in the hallway. "Ms. Smoak!"
Felicity turned to the direction of the man's voice and saw none other than Robert Queen approaching her with a pleasantly surprised look on his face. When Mr. Queen stopped in front of her, he said, "Ms. Smoak, what a surprise! I did not expect to see you here."
"Mr. Queen, sir," Felicity stuttered, unsure of what to say to the distinguished father of her former suitor. "Yes, I… I was here to see Mr. Thomas Merlyn. I learned that he'd been injured in the fire last night. He is a very good… acquaintance of mine."
"Oh, that's very kind and thoughtful of you," Robert Queen replied. A faint yet friendly smile adorned his face as he added, "Although, I must say… I most certainly thought that you were here to see my son Oliver."
"Oliver?" Felicity's heart sank as his name left her lips. "Has something happened to him? Is he ill?" she asked worriedly, her bewilderment undeniably evident in her voice and in her eyes.
"Oh…" was all that the Queen patriarch could utter. He was clearly putting together some puzzle pieces in his mind. After a few seconds, the older man sighed and then remarked, "I am so relieved that we are not the only ones in Oliver's life that he'd been keeping secrets from."
Felicity shook her head, stupefied at what Oliver's father was attempting to point out. With narrowed eyes and a creased forehead, she asked again, "I don't understand. What are you trying to say, Mr. Queen?"
A sad smile accompanied Robert's belabored words. "The fire… Oliver was injured in the fire last night," he began to explain.
"Oliver was there last night?" Felicity asked. "But why?"
"It appears my son has been living a double life for quite some time now. If it weren't for the fire last night, my family would not have found out that he is the Gr-"
"Robert! There you are!" a woman's voice suddenly caught their attention.
Turning in the direction of another familiar voice, Felicity saw Moira Queen emerge from inside the room two doors down the hallway from Tommy's room.
"Felicity!" Moira said with a gasp. "Oh, I am so glad that you're here!"
Moira was equally surprised to see Felicity speaking with her husband. Nevertheless, this time, she wore a distinctly different expression on her tired, haggard face. Obviously, the woman had been crying. Surprisingly, the woman seemed happy and relieved to see the young woman that her son had been courting against her wishes.
"Oliver's been running a fever since his emergency surgery late last night," Moira continued to say as she approached her in quick strides.
Surgery? How serious was Oliver's condition? Felicity was baffled, and her concern for the man, whom she had developed deep affections for, grew by the second.
"The doctors say that the burns have given him some kind of infection. He's barely conscious and he's been delirious. He's… he's actually been calling out your name. I was going to send Robert to get you."
Felicity's chest heaved as her heart pounded in her chest. She could not believe what she was hearing. The man who had hurt her, whom she had just recently decided to give up, and whom she still loved was seriously ill. Furthermore, as her mind processed the avalanche of information and revelations in the past few minutes, she realized that she could only come to one logical yet unbelievable conclusion.
"Oliver…" she whispered, covering her mouth with her fingers. She could barely keep herself together. She looked up and said to the Queen couple, "May I please go in and see him?"
"Of course, my dear," Robert answered. "Go right in. We'll be waiting out here." Moira nodded in approbation as well.
Felicity walked into Oliver's room. Slowly, she approached him, and when she was close enough, she gently touched his badly burned, bandaged hand.
"Oh, Oliver…"
She closed her eyes and allowed the tears to fall. She gave herself a moment to weep. It was as if the dam of pent up emotions had given way.
After a few minutes, she finally calmed down. She pulled out a handkerchief from her purse.
When she looked up, she saw his bow resting on the table on the other side of his bed. That was when she finally allowed herself to believe what she had suspected only moments ago. She was not supposed to find out this way. Not this way.
"Please, God, please get him through this. I can't lose him – not Oliver, and certainly not my best friend. I… I love him. Both sides of him. And he deserves the chance to know."
A/N: Please don't be mad that I left it at that. The final chapter that follows will resolve all issues and conflicts, and I assure you, the ending will be a satisfying one. :-) Thank you for reading and still following this story! I am grateful.