Chapter 13– Tommy Merlyn
An: I do not own Arrow. Thanks to my beta missmeagan666 at Ao3.
This is the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed the ride.
Felicity eyes slowly fluttered open. Even with her blurry vision she knew Oliver was staring at her again. This would be the fifth night in a row she spent in Oliver's secret loft. They seemed to be developing a habit of going to the loft after they finished their Arrow business and Felicity quite liked it.
"Must you stare at me while I sleep?" she asked him as she stretched out besides him. Did she really need to get out of bed today? She was in a nice warm bed with a naked Oliver next to her.
"You're the most beautiful creature on this planet," he replied. "How can I not stare at you?"
"Your charm does not work on me," she mumbled.
"Really, then how did I get you into bed?" he boasted.
"You got me into bed because you're my boyfriend and I like having sex with my boyfriend,"
Felicity promptly informed him.
"Your boyfriend likes having sex with you too," he said wrapping his arms around her to pull her closer so that he could trail kisses along her neck.
"You know I hate it when you use the third person to describe yourself," she admonished.
His scruff tickled her neck as he nodded causing her to giggle, so he did it again.
"Oliver! It tickles!" she protested.
"What was that?" Oliver asked feigning deafness, "You want tickles?"
His large hand that was resting on her back started to curl against her skin. His fingers began to make their way to her sides where she was especially sensitive to tickles.
"Don't you dare!" she threatened placing her hands flat against his hard chest and trying to push away from him. She didn't know why she was even bothering; he was much stronger than her.
"Or what?" he challenged her, his fingers resting lightly on her sides.
"Or I change my mind about sex and go have a shower instead," she countered looking him in
the eyes.
"You wouldn't! You just said you liked having sex with me," Oliver reminded her brushing his fingers lightly on her sides for a second. She immediately jerked at the contact and he gave her a satisfied smirk.
"So what?" she grumbled. "A girl can change her mind."
"My girlfriend wants sex. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I deprived her of some fun sex?" he said trailing his hands down to cup her butt.
Before Felicity could respond Oliver's phone started ringing with his father's ring tone.
"Hmm, cock-blocked by your own father," Felicity teased.
"I'm sure we can get a quickie in," he said enthusiastically.
"Uh uh," Felicity shook her head, "This girlfriend does not accept quickies, only mind blowing sex."
"It really is strange when you refer to yourself in the third person," Oliver commented.
"See," Felicity said punching his shoulder. "Now answer your phone before your dad goes ballistic!"
Oliver groaned and rolled over to his bedside table. He picked up the phone and answered, "What?"
Felicity slapped his arm. That was no way to speak to his father. He rolled his eyes.
"I'll be there in half an hour," Oliver said and hung up.
"I bought us half an hour," Oliver said wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Felicity rolled quickly off the bed and ran to the bathroom, "I call dibbs!"
Oliver chased right after her.
Felicity was happy she was the boss and she kept her own hours because Oliver was going to get one hell of a lecture from his father for being very late this morning. She did warn him that she didn't accept quickies. She much preferred it when he took his time.
The office was open when she arrived and her first client had arrived early to meet with her. Roy gave her five minutes to settle herself before he sent the client in. After that she had three other preset appointments and two walk-ins. She was given two more cheating husbands to catch and a missing bird to find. She rather suspected the bird might be the hardest case.
At five minutes to five, her official closing time on the door was five o'clock, the buzzer rang.
That meant she had another walk-in or a current client coming in to demand information about their case. She was hoping to leave at five on the dot that day. She wanted to go to the lair early to check up on her searches. Oliver had nothing big planned for the night but at the end of the week he wanted to shut down one of the Triad's warehouses that they were using as a base to traffic humans. Based on information they had collected earlier, a ship was scheduled to arrive and she needed to make sure she had all her ducks in a row for that mission.
Her phone started ringing and she knew it was Roy calling.
"Yes Roy?" she answered the phone.
"Tommy's here to see you?" he informed her.
"Who?" she asked confused. He said it with such familiarity she assumed he was talking about
an existing client.
"Tommy," he repeated.
"I don't have any clients named Tommy?" Felicity answered dumbfounded.
"Tommy Merlyn," he clarified exasperated.
Oh, that Tommy. Felicity didn't interact much with Tommy. He was Oliver's best friend and she didn't want to intrude on that relationship.
"What does he want?" she asked Roy.
"Gee I don't know usually the client sees you first but if you want me to handle my very first case," Roy said sarcastically.
"Oh its Smoak Detective Agency related," Felicity said finally understanding.
"Duh, what else would it be," Roy asked.
"Gee I don't know, Oliver related?" Felicity replied. "Send him in."
Felicity sat up straight, opened a new client file on her computer and waited for Tommy to enter. The first thing she noticed was the usual charming smile. She swore that look was permanently tattooed on to his face.
"Smoak," he greeted her.
"Tommy," she replied pleasantly.
He walked forward and sat down on the chair opposite her.
"So how does this usually work?" he asked.
"Well generally the client tells me what they want done," Felicity explained.
"Oh, right well I best get to it then, I need you to follow my father," he stated.
Felicity blinked, "You want me to follow Malcolm Merlyn?"
"Yes, I heard you followed Oliver's dad and caught him cheating," Tommy explained.
Felicity narrowed her eyes, "And who told you that."
"Oliver," Tommy responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh." She glanced at the screen of the laptop and typed in what service Tommy requested.
"It was Oliver who suggested that I come and see you," Tommy elaborated.
"Your father can't possibly be cheating on you unless you think he had an outside child?" Felicity asked.
"Oh nothing like that. He has a girlfriend. He's been seeing her for a few months and he refuses to let me meet her. He thinks I'll ruin what he has. I mean me," Tommy said using both of his hands to point to himself, "What could I possibly say that would scare her away. She's met my father and been intimate with him, what on Earth could be worse than that?"
"I can think of over a hundred things that are worse than that Tommy," Felicity said dryly. Oh the sheltered life of a billionaire.
"That's because you're a genius," Tommy said brushing her comment aside.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't your father a grown man?" Felicity asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked confused.
"Well he has the right to have a girlfriend and it's his choice if he wants to keep her a secret from you," Felicity advised.
"What if she's some gold digging woman and the next thing I know, I've lost my trust fund and inheritance to her," Tommy panicked.
"So that's what this is about your inheritance. Tommy, I sincerely doubt your father is the type to fall for a gold digger. I'm sure your trust fund is well protected," she assured him while she typed in that the client was concerned about their inheritance.
"It's protected from outsiders but not from him!" Tommy replied. "Please Felicity. This woman could be dangerous."
"Ok, I'll look into it but if I don't find anything wrong with her, I'm not telling you who it is," she stated her condition to him.
"Ok, fair enough," Tommy agreed.
As soon as Tommy left her office she wondered why billionaires kept coming to her to investigate their loved ones.
That night, after the Arrow made a few rounds in The Glades, they returned to Oliver's loft to settle down for the night. Felicity was still feeling wide awake so she decided to look through Oliver's DVD collection for a movie while Oliver worked on pouring them a glass of wine.
"I understand we have a case," Oliver said to her from the kitchen.
"We?" Felicity questioned turning away from the DVDs to look at Oliver.
"Tommy," he answered as he popped the cork open on the wine bottle.
"I believe Tommy came to me," Felicity stated with narrowed eyes.
"Yes I sent him there. I thought it would be nice for us to work together," Oliver confessed pouring Felicity a generous amount of wine. She would say her large wine glass was about three quarters full.
"We work together on our night job?" Felicity reminded him.
"Can't we work together on your day job occasionally?" he asked pouring himself a normal serving of wine.
"Are you trying to liquor me up to say yes?" she asked watching him walk towards her with the wine glasses. There was a very clear difference between her glass and his.
Oliver looked innocently down at the wine glasses, "You love your wine," he defended.
"No Oliver," she said firmly turning back to the DVD collection and picking up the one she knew would annoy him the most before swinging around to face him again. "You're not employed with Smoak Detective Agency just like I'm not employed at QC. I can't do QC work and you can't do Smoak Detective Agency work."
"I could hire you at QC," Oliver offered.
"No Oliver I am very happy where I am. I like helping people," she said. "And between my PI work and our night job, I have more than enough work to keep me occupied. I also have a new boyfriend that I would very much like to have at least some time to spend with him."
"Your new boyfriend loves spending time with you too. It's why he wants to go out on this case with you. Here," he said holding out her glass to her, "Have some wine."
Felicity eyed the glass dubiously but she couldn't pass up good wine. She lifted the glass to her mouth and took a tentative sip. It was really good.
"What bottle is this?" Felicity asked curiously.
"Lafite Rothschild 1982," Oliver answered with a cocky smirk. He had planned this!
"You know I love that wine," she said. "You really want to work on this case with me?" she asked.
"Yes," he stated.
"Ok, I'll make you a temporary employee but I'm not paying you and we do it my way!" she stated her terms.
"Great, now that that is settled," Oliver said eyeing her glass. "Perhaps I should pour some of that wine into another glass for later."
"Oliver you touch my wine and your cell phone will be playing fart noises all day long," Felicity threatened.
"Ok," Oliver said sitting down on the couch. "What movie are we watching tonight?"
Felicity walked with her wine glass towards his DVD player, "It's a surprise."
She switched on the TV, the flashing breaking news sign caught her attention and she paused to listen. Detective Lance had been promoted to Captain after the arrest of several officials within the Police department. A reporter was standing inside the press room at City Hall where the Mayor was about to address the public.
"About damn time! I gave them the list one month ago," Felicity grumbled.
"You knew about this?" Oliver asked.
"Detective Lance approached me about some of my cases but I told him no," she revealed.
"Yes you very strict about confidentiality," Oliver muttered.
"I have to build my reputation as a trust worthy investigator. If I hand over your information just because people ask, no one will trust me," Felicity said, "Besides, I gave him the information I had been personally working on. It was more complete than what he wanted anyway."
The Mayor introduced Captain Lance and next to him she saw Officer Boland, only the Mayor had introduced her as Detective Dinah Drake.
"That's Laurel's cousin," Oliver stated pointing at the TV screen.
"Who?" Felicity asked.
"Dinah, she's named after Laurel's mother. I met her on a trip to Central City once. Last I heard she was working as a cop there. I guess Quentin wanted someone in the department he could trust."
"I guess so," Felicity said switching the TV over to the DVD.
"Empire Strikes Back again!" Oliver groaned.
Felicity gave him a very wide smile.
Saturday morning Felicity awoke to the pleasant smell of breakfast. She got out of bed, threw on Oliver's shirt and padded her way towards the kitchen where she saw Oliver focusing intently on the frying pan. With a flick of his wrist he sent the contents up in the air and then caught them in the frying pan. Form what she could see it looked like he was making her an omelette.
She briefly considered walking up behind him and wrapping her arms around him but with him that close to the stove something might go wrong. So, instead she walked around the island into his line of sight and jumped on the stool by the island.
"So what's smells so yummy?" she asked. Oliver loved it when she complimented his cooking skills. He preened with all the attention.
He looked up at her with a wide smile, "I thought this morning we could have an omelette."
Felicity nodded but she knew Oliver well. This wasn't just any omelette; this was going to be a gourmet omelette.
"And what's in this omelette," she asked putting her elbow down on the counter and resting her head on it while she watched him. She loved watching Oliver cook. He looked so free and happy.
"Oh a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but no nuts. This is absolutely a nut free loft!" he said seriously.
"Oliver, you can have nuts if you want nuts," Felicity reminded him.
Oliver furiously shook his head negatively. "No, your allergy, is my allergy."
Felicity sighed. There was no point arguing with Oliver about this. He was adamant that no nuts should ever enter her presence again.
He picked up a plate he had nearby and rolled the omelette out of the pan onto the plate and placed it in front of her.
"This one is yours," he said to her.
"Where is yours?" she asked.
He reached behind him to open the stove and pulled out a plate with an omelette already on it. "Just keeping it warm while I did yours," he told her. He opened the cutlery draw, took out two knives and forks and then sat down besides her.
She took a knife and fork from him and cut into her omelette while Oliver anxiously awaited her reaction. She placed a small amount on her fork, Oliver had loaded it with cheese because she loved cheese and as she moved the fork up to her mouth the cheese stretched thin just like when you pull a slice of pizza from a crust. She blew on the bite to cool it down a bit and then ingested it. A burst of flavour hit her palette. Besides the cheese she could pick out, bell peppers, garlic and lamb. He must have used the left over lamb from the lamb leg he roasted the night before. Felicity made sure to over emphasis her positive reaction. When Oliver was satisfied that she was enjoying the meal he started to eat his.
"So are we following Malcolm today?" he asked excitedly.
Felicity had to force herself not to roll her eyes. Ever since she agreed to let him help he had been throwing out ideas constantly about how they should go about finding Malcolm's secret girlfriend.
"Yes Oliver, we are following Malcolm today. As soon as we finish breakfast we'll check the location of his phone and follow him," she repeated blandly.
"Good," his excitement hadn't waned at all with her tone.
When they had finished breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, showered and changed, Felicity pulled up her cell phone tracking programme. She had already hacked into Malcolm's phone earlier in the week. It showed he was still home.
She looked up at Oliver, "He's still home. We can either wait here till he leaves, or we can wait somewhere outside his house."
"Could the girlfriend be there?" Oliver asked.
"No you know Tommy's tried dropping in the house at all odd hours and he's never found anything. Malcolm either has another apartment he meets her at or he goes to her place."
"So we just sit here and wait?" he asked.
"Yeap," Felicity replied popping the P.
Oliver looked crestfallen.
"You could get some of your QC paperwork done while we wait," she suggested.
"That's even worse than waiting," he groaned. "I rather raid the Triad warehouse successfully again."
Felicity cocked a disapproving eyebrow.
"Alright, alright, I'll do the work my assistant sent me home with," Oliver agreed dejectedly.
"Excellent."
At minutes to twelve Malcolm was on the move and Oliver was more than happy to get down to the car to start their surveillance.
"Someone has a lunch date," Felicity mused as she sat in the car with Oliver.
They picked up Malcolm on a street with several high end restaurants. Felicity thought he would be meeting his date there in a private room but she was surprised when he collected takeout and returned to his car. They followed Malcolm to an area of town that Felicity knew very well.
"This is your street," Oliver said taking the turn that led him to her house.
"Yes but where is he going?" Felicity asked. "There are no high end apartments in this area."
"Uh Felicity," Oliver said a bit uncomfortable, "He's stopping in front of your house."
"You don't think he could be seeing my, nah, not possible," Felicity said with a shake of her head.
Oliver pulled aside a few houses away and they watched Malcolm get out of the car and head up to her door, where it opened and her mother jumped into Malcolm's arms.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," Felicity said shutting her eyes tightly.
"If you're gonna puke, please do it outside the car. I can't go home with vomit in the car again," Oliver deadpanned.
"Gee thanks for the support," Felicity said sarcastically. "Let's get out of here. I've seen enough."
It took Felicity all of Saturday and Sunday to process what she had seen. Her mother was Malcolm Merlyn's secret girlfriend. According to Tommy the relationship had been going on a while. Felicity had no clue her mother was seeing anyone. That was probably due to the fact that Felicity always shut down any talk about her mother's love life because it always led to her mother prying into hers.
She had told Tommy that if the girlfriend checked out she wouldn't tell him who it was but now that she knew it was her mother, she felt like she had to tell him. She decided to do it on Monday with Oliver. He used his lunch hour to meet her at Verdant. They would tell Tommy together.
Oliver stopped Felicity from opening the door to Tommy's office.
"I've learnt the hard way to knock first, announce your presence then give him a minute, before entering," he advised her.
"Oh," Felicity said dropping her hand to the side.
Oliver knocked loudly on the door, "Tommy it's me. I have Felicity with me. We need to talk."
"Give me a minute," came Tommy's reply.
"You see," Oliver said softly to her.
They heard what sounded like some giggling and opening and closing of draws.
"You can come in now," Tommy said a few minutes later.
They walked into the office to find it completely in order with a composed Tommy sitting behind his desk. Felicity was about to explain why they were there when Oliver stopped her.
"Tommy we have something confidential to discuss with you," Oliver stated before nodding at the desk, "Whoever is under the desk, should leave."
"Oliver, I have no one under the desk," Tommy replied innocently.
"It's about your father," Oliver stated seriously.
Tommy looked under the desk, "It's time for you to go," he said.
Felicity's jaw dropped open when a redhead girl appeared.
"Can you pass me my panties?" she asked shyly.
Tommy opened the top draw of his desk and passed her a blouse as well as her red thong.
Oliver turned away looking up at the ceiling and Felicity followed suit.
"He hid her clothes in his draw?" Felicity whispered to Oliver.
"This isn't the first time he's done this. Don't be surprised if he isn't wearing pants below the desk," Oliver told her.
"Seriously!"
When a fully clothed girl walked passed them and exited the office they turned back to Tommy.
"Lay it on me," he said.
Felicity arched her eyebrow at him.
"I didn't mean it like that," Tommy insisted.
"Really? It's hard to believe that considering you just had a naked woman under your desk and you're not wearing any pants!" Felicity commented dryly.
"Smoak!" Tommy's eyes widened. "How did you know I'm not wearing pants?"
"Tommy get dressed we will meet you outside. I need a drink," she said.
She exited the office and walked straight to the area the whiskey was kept. Oliver arched an eyebrow.
"What? I feel like I need something harder if I have to deal with Tommy. Were you this bad?" she asked.
Oliver smirked, "Oh I was much worse."
Worse! How could Oliver be worse than Tommy? She suspected that it was much easier to take a shot of the whiskey than to try to figure that out.
"I've driven you to drink Smoak?" Tommy's teasing voice drifted down to her from his office doorway.
She turned to look at him and was satisfied that he was fully dressed. She picked up the bottle and started walking down the bar, to the back room that would lead her back into the club. Oliver was already seated at a table waiting for them.
"You going to pay for that Smoak?" Tommy asked eyeing the bottle dubiously.
"I'll deduct it from your bill," Felicity snarked.
"My bill? You mean you didn't do this for free?" Tommy asked genuinely shocked.
Felicity narrowed her eyes at him, he couldn't be serious. "Tommy you don't meet any of my criteria for pro-bono work."
"A favour for your boyfriend's best friend?" Tommy pushed.
"Tommy, just shut up and pay Felicity for her work. You can more than afford it," Oliver said annoyed.
"Hey, I may not have that money anymore with the girlfriend on the scene," Tommy said prompting Felicity to break the news to him.
"Speaking of which, I don't know how to say this Tommy but your dad is dating ..."
"Oh God, its bad isn't it. It's some floozy!" Tommy interrupted her.
"She is not a floozy!" Felicity replied upset.
Oliver placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
"Let me do this," he said and she nodded.
"Wait is my father seeing you!" Tommy said aghast. "Is that why you look so serious? Is Felicity just a cover to hide the fact you're seeing an older man?"
"I am in no way romantically involved with your father," Oliver said with a pained expression on his face. "Felicity is my girlfriend Tommy. You know that."
"Who is he seeing then?" Tommy asked curiously.
"My mother," Felicity said horrified.
Tommy stared at Felicity, "Repeat that please because it sounded like you said your mother."
"That's exactly what she said Tommy," Oliver said.
"Oh," was all the response that Tommy could muster.
Felicity and Tommy decided to confront their parents on a Saturday. She had casually asked her neighbours about strange cars in the neighbourhood and some said they saw a high end vehicle parked in front of her house on Saturdays. She assumed they had a standing Saturday lunch date. Tommy waited with Felicity down the street behind a tree for Malcolm to arrive.
After about ten minutes Malcolm arrived in a different car and exited the vehicle with takeout.
Felicity didn't look at the front door scene but Tommy did.
"Gross! My eyes! Why didn't you warn me your mother was going to stick her tongue down my father's throat?" Tommy complained.
"Well what did you think was going to happen?" Felicity snapped at him.
"I don't know, the door opens and he enters without the whole PDA!"
Felicity ignored Tommy and started walking towards her house. His hand enclosed around her wrist and he pulled her back.
"Do we have to go in there now? It's probably my dad's turn to stick something in your mother," he said with wide horrified eyes.
"Tommy I did not need that mental image," Felicity said trying to shake it from her head.
"Sorry," Tommy replied.
"Look it's better to do this before they start than after," Felicity explained to him.
"Why?" Tommy asked not understanding her logic.
"Do you want to see them all high on each other?" Felicity asked him.
"No," he responded firmly.
"Then let's get our feet moving." Felicity marched right up to the door and entered. She was positive her mother would want to eat first and then do whatever they did after. She found her mom and Malcolm seated around their little dining table about to start to eat.
"Great we need to talk," Felicity said.
Tommy appeared behind her, "Oh Lasagne from the Bertinelli's, my favourite."
"Tommy we are here to talk not eat," Felicity admonished.
"We can do both," Tommy said taking the seat next to his father.
Felicity sighed. There was plenty of food. He probably bought food for after they ... Felicity stopped her train of thought right there. She went into the kitchen collected two plates and cutlery. She placed them on the table and then went back for four wine glasses and the bottle of wine Oliver had given her mother as a birthday present. She briefly wondered what Malcolm had given her and then decided that it was probably best not to know. Malcolm took the bottle from her opened it and filled the glasses. Felicity took a seat next to her mother.
"How long have you known?" Malcolm asked getting straight to the point while Tommy helped himself to garlic bread.
"A week," Felicity revealed.
"How did you figure it out?" Donna asked. "I was very careful. I cleaned up all the evidence that Malcolm was ever here, even burnt scented candles to hide the scent of his cologne. Was it one of the neighbours asking about his cars? He always changed which one he came in."
"No Tommy knew he had a girlfriend and he hired me to find out who she was. It was fairly simple to follow Malcolm here," Felicity informed them.
"I should probably pay closer attention when I'm driving," Malcolm admitted.
They fell into silence while everyone helped themselves to food. Tommy seemed so invested in the food; he had forgotten what they wanted to ask them.
"So how long has this been going on?" Felicity asked pointing between Malcolm and Donna.
"Nine months and guess what?" Donna said excitedly her pitch getting higher. "We're getting married," she thrust her hand out for Felicity to see a beautiful large princess cut diamond on her ring finger.
Tommy spit the food out of his mouth in shock.
"Manners Tommy, the way you've been eating Donna will think I raised a pig!" Tommy scowled.
"Oh he's just a bit surprised Colm," Donna said using her pet name for Malcolm. "Give him a few minutes."
"Isn't it kind of soon to be getting married? I mean your children just found out you've been seeing each other," Tommy pointed out.
"Soon? You're one to talk. I remember an incident where you married a Vegas stripper after knowing her for one hour," Malcolm countered.
"I was drunk," Tommy defended.
"I'm not. I know what I have with Donna and this is the first time since your mother passed away that I actually feel happy." Malcolm seemed very sincere in his speech. "I love her and she loves me."
Tommy deflated immediately.
"Felicity," Donna said taking her hand in hers, "I'm happy and I want this."
Who was Felicity to stand in the way of her mother's happiness?
"Ok," Felicity relented.
"Great our first family meal together," Donna chirped happily. "We'll have to invite Oliver to the next one." She stopped and looked at Tommy, "Do you have a girlfriend?"
Felicity's mind was immediately thrust back to the redhead that came out of Tommy's office.
Malcolm snorted at the question.
"No," Tommy said. "I'm still sowing my wild oats."
"Whenever you're ready, I know some very nice girls."
Felicity smirked. Her mother was so going to poke her nose into Tommy's love life. At least she was no longer the sole target of her mother's prying.
"There's something I've been thinking about and as we are all here I would like to discuss it. I want Donna to move in with me. Tommy lives in his own apartment and I hear you spend all your time by Oliver," Malcolm stated.
"Oh that's a wonderful idea Colm," Donna said reaching across the table to hug Malcolm.
Felicity quickly grabbed a hold of her wine glass to save it from the fate of the others which were knocked over from Donna's actions. Tommy was busy on his phone.
"Oh I've made a mess of things," Donna said looking at the toppled glasses while Felicity took a sip of her wine.
"I'll clean up," Malcolm volunteered.
"My dad is being domestic. He's never domestic."
"I guess he really is in love," Felicity said.
"Oh by the way, I sent a message to Oliver that you're moving in with him," Tommy smirked.
"You did what!" Felicity screeched.
Her phone pinged with a message from Oliver. It had a large smiley face and he was asking when he could swing by to pick up her things.
The seasons change and Hanukkah/Christmas arrived. Hanukkah was celebrated first at Malcolm's with a close family gathering. The wedding was three months away and that dominated most of the talk. Her mother and Thea had also taken to dropping very large hints that Oliver should pop the question. The dinner was also a good opportunity for the rest of the family to meet Helena, Tommy's girlfriend of three months set up by Donna.
After their family get together was the Queen's Gala. Felicity and Oliver had managed to keep their relationship on the down low for a long time but Oliver wanted to go public. It had to happen eventually and Felicity agreed to do it at the Gala. Moira informed her that during the first hour of the Gala she had to stand with the Queen family and greet the guests as they arrived.
Felicity had plans to lounge about the loft all day in her pyjamas and then get ready in the evening but those plans were nixed when her mother, along with Thea, Moira and Helena knocked on the door and promptly dragged her to a spa day. They got facials, manicures and pedicures. Afterwards, with a slight detour for Felicity to collect her dress at the loft, Felicity was taken back to Queen Mansion with Thea and Moira. There were hairdressers and make-up artists waiting to attend to them.
Felicity was instructed to get dressed in one of the guest bedrooms because Moira was sure if she tried to get ready in Oliver's room, they wouldn't make it down to the Gala at all. Felicity had to agree that Moira had a point after all there was a precedent set when they failed to make it to Tommy's huge Halloween party for precisely that reason.
Felicity had selected a deep green gown for the Gala. It was strapless with a fitted bodice on top and a skirt that flowed outwards from her hips. She felt a bit like a Disney princess but she was told she had to dress like a Queen for the Gala. Moira had taken one look at the dress and then disappeared. She returned about ten minutes later with an emerald and diamond jewellery set from the Queen family vault. The set alone was worth more than Felicity had in the bank but Moira refused to take no for an answer. She had to admit the expensive set added to her look.
At the appointed time, Felicity opened the door to head downstairs to greet the guests with the rest of the family.
"I've been waiting for you," Oliver said as soon as she stepped out of the room. He was leaning against the wall besides her door dressed in a tux. It was unfair how good he looked. His own eyes turned headed as he looked her up and down.
"You're wearing my colour. I like it," he growled in a deep sexy tone.
"I thought green was for Christmas," she replied innocently.
"Let's get going. If we wait any longer I'm only going to push you back into the bedroom and ravish you," Oliver admitted.
"No we can't have that. Your mother would go ballistic," Felicity replied.
"She does have grand plans for us tonight," Oliver reluctantly admitted.
He offered her his arm and Felicity looped her arm through his.
"You know my mother really does like you," Oliver said thoughtfully as he guided her down the corridor to the stairs that led to the foyer.
"What makes you say that?" she asked looking up at him.
"Well, one, she invited you to greet the guests with us. She's never done that before, not even with Laurel," Oliver told her.
Felicity snorted, "You didn't really have any steady relationship before me."
"Touché," Oliver admitted as they took the first step down.
"What's two?" she asked using her free hand to hold on to the railing. The last thing she wanted to do was go crashing down the stairs.
"Those emeralds you're wearing," Oliver said. "They belonged to my maternal Great
Grandmother. My mother was very close to her and she wouldn't just give that set to anyone."
"She just lent it to me to wear tonight," Felicity brushed off.
Oliver shook his head, "Nope, she's given them to you. Thea isn't fond of emeralds so my mother always said the set would go to my wife."
Felicity paused on the steps and Oliver stopped with her.
"You ok," he asked.
"Oliver, Felicity, stop dilly dallying and join us. The first guests are about to walk through the door," Moira said at the base of the stairs.
"I'm fine," Felicity assured him.
They met Moira, Robert and Thea at the bottom of the stairs. While Roy was at the Gala he wasn't quite up to greet the guests level yet. Robert gave her a stiff nod and she acknowledged his presence. They had agreed long ago for Oliver's sake to put the past behind them and move forward. They would most likely never be friends but at least they could be polite to each other.
Those first guests were unsurprisingly her mother, Malcolm, Tommy and Helena. They were followed by a series of QC corporate execs, her favourite of which was Walter Steele. Lately he had taken to trying to convince her to take up the Chief Technical Officer post on the technology side of the business. That position had been suspiciously vacant for a while. From the glint in his eyes she knew he had a new offer for her.
His last proposal detailed a way for her to keep Smoak Detective Agency running and work at QC. He proposed that she could change the organisational structure of Smoak Detective Agency and run it similar to a law firm. She would be the senior partner that could pick and choose her cases and Roy would be the junior partner. The new girl she had hired a month ago, Sin, would be the equivalent of an Associate. Roy had obtained his private detective license and they were working on getting Sin her GED, then her license. Sin had come to work for her as a favour to Sara, who had found the girl homeless in the Glades. Roy had moved out of the apartment above the office and moved into Felicity's old place which had become available when Felicity moved in with Oliver. She was then able to offer Sin the place and the responsibility of opening the office up every day. Walter argued that with that structure she could still help people and work on developing cutting edge technology with QC which was what she always wanted to do.
His proposals were becoming more and more tempting. It didn't help that Oliver was 1000% for the idea of her working at QC. Felicity thought they might be together too much but he assured her he would only see her at meetings, much like in the lair when he saw her before and after missions. During missions they both switched over to their alter personas of Arrow and Overwatch, a name he had given her to hide her identity over the comms. Their night personas were all business and Oliver didn't count that as quality time spent as a couple. He was positive they could handle a working relationship at QC as well.
The next guests in line were Captain Lance and his family inclusive of Detective Drake. Sara wasted no time in hugging her.
"You're looking gorgeous, right Oliver?" Sara teased her while glancing at Oliver for his reaction.
"She is always gorgeous," Oliver told her.
"Oooh someone wants brownie points," Sara said mischievously.
"I don't need any brownie points," Oliver boasted.
"So you claim," Sara said before turning to Felicity, "Can you..."
"I will," Felicity cut her off knowing she was asking her to let Nyssa know where to find her when Nyssa arrived. "I'll tell her you're conspiring with my mother."
"It's not our fault that the real blondes know how to have fun," Sara jabbed at her before walking off in search of Donna. Those two were quite a handful and Felicity regrets the day that she introduced Sara to her mother.
Laurel had come with her fiancé, Ted Grant, the person whom she had been sneaking off to meet with regularly. Ted owned a gym in the Glades. He was a retired boxer and a surprisingly good match for Laurel. Oliver had his reservations but the man had slowly grown on him.
After the Lances, Felicity didn't recognise anyone else. The arrivals were either friends of Robert and Moira, or important clients of QC. Felicity felt like a prized pony that Moira showed off to them. At the end of the hour, she and Oliver were instructed to go inside and mingle.
Felicity garnered an inordinate amount of attention from everyone. Oliver did his best to shield her as much as possible but there were so many questions about her and Oliver that she felt very overwhelmed. Oliver took the decision to cut their night short when he felt she had had enough. They didn't stay at the Mansion that night, instead Oliver borrowed one of his father's sports cars and they went for a nice drive along the country road to relax. Felicity found herself unwinding easily. Oliver eventually pulled over at a small bed and breakfast and they remained there till the next day.
The papers in the morning all covered the news about Oliver Queen's new girlfriend and darling of the Queen family, Felicity Smoak. There was a lot of gossip about her and her mother each bagging a billionaire. Her mother had the owner of Merlyn Global and she had the heir to Queen Consolidated. Oliver didn't let her read any of the nasty comments reassuring her that the only thing that mattered was their love for each other.
Three months later, Oliver would bend down on one knee in Felicity's corner office at QC and ask her to marry him. In the euphoria of her yes, he would finally get her to cave on the no sex in the office rule.
An: Thanks for reading the story.
