Felicity was nervous, why the hell was it taking so long, a part of her was secretly hoping he turned her down so she could turn around and get the hell out of there. The door to the study opened and out came her father. She looked at the man her eyes questioning him, asking him what had just happened.
"He is talking it over with his father" Vitaly told her as he took a seat next to her. Felicity rolled her eyes and continued to think of what would happen if she was to get involved in this life. "You picked a nice sexy dress" Vitaly said.
Felicity looked at him, she punched him on the chest as he groaned in pain, "you better hope this works" she told him. Felicity turned her attention back to a small spot on the wall that she was looking at hoping it would distract her thoughts. Moments later the door to the study opened, she could hear footsteps, swallowing the lump in her throat she opened her eyes and looked up at man in a grey suit hovering above her. The first thing Felicity noticed was that pictures had not done him justice; he was beautiful, in the rough kind of way.
"Hi I'm Oliver Queen" he gestured out his hand for her to take.
Felicity stared at him and then stared at his hand, a hand which had taken many people's lives. This was it, the moment her life would change. She looked at him again and took his hand, giving it a small but firm handshake.
"Felicity, Felicity Smoak."
"Come Felicity Smoak, we have much to discuss, John please get the car, Ms Smoak and I will go to dinner," Oliver instructed the man. He held his hand out for Felicity to take so he could direct her towards the car.
Again she looked at his hand, counted to three in her head and took his hand. Felicity was very grateful that she had worn heels now realizing the just how short she was compared to him. Oliver took her hand and guided her outside through the manor doors where his car was waiting with big muscles holding the door open. Felicity got into the car smothering her hands through her dress making sure there were no creases. Oliver went the other way and got into the Bentley next to her; with a small nod of the head big muscles as Felicity had started to call him started driving.
They drove in silence; Oliver did not say anything to her, his focus clearly drawn to something he was seeing on his phone.
Felicity kept her attention drawn to what was happening outside through her window, looking at all the people they were passing who clearly did not have as much as she did on her shoulders. After a few more minutes Felicity had gotten suspicious as to where he was taking her. They were off the main roads and as far as she knew about Starling City was that there were no restaurants on the road they were on. Counting to three in her head she addressed Oliver, "Where are you taking me? There are no restaurants around here," she questioned, her fist clenched by her side. If this was one of those movie moments and he was bringing her here to kill her, well let's just say she was going to put up a good fight with blue eyes and big muscles.
"I know, I'm taking you to my place, it's a house of the main road, I thought we could talk in private, you can unclench Felicity, I'm not going to hurt you" he said sincerely.
Felicity unclenched her fist and looked back out of the window assessing exactly where she was and how she got there in case she needed to make a quick exist. When they stopped Oliver got out and before having a chance to open the door for Felicity she had already flung it opened and got out. Oliver managed to crack a small smile but quickly hid it. To say he say he was less than intrigued would be a lie, he was completely taken aback by her. He wanted to laugh remembering that his mother had always told him not to judge a book by its cover and that was exactly what was happening here with her. She was not what he had expected and he knew taking her as his wife would be interesting and something he might actually like. He knew they were getting married for the wrong reasons. Her father had offered her to him in exchange for an in with the brotherhood. His intentions were not sincere either; he was only marrying her so he did not have to marry Isabel. He was starting to think that maybe marrying her would not be so bad. He shook his head, he barely knew her, thinking like this so early on was insane. Right?
Diggle led them into the house he had purchased and Oliver then led her towards the kitchen. He noticed that she was observant, taking in her surroundings, with the life he and his family lead he was grateful that she was acknowledging her environment. He went to the kitchen and gestured for her to take a seat by the island as he pulled out a bottle of wine.
"I hope you like red" he said as he worked at opening the bottle.
"Yep, my favorite actually" she told him with a small pout of her lips.
Oliver poured some wine into the glass and handed it to her, repeating the process for himself. Felicity took the glass and held in her hand swirling it around. "I guess there's not much to toast to" she muttered.
Oliver chuckled, "there's us, we are getting married after all" he held his glass out to her. Again Oliver was able to identify just how observant, switched on and calculative she was. From watching her himself he knew that she was counting in her head due to the short hesitancy of her actions. Felicity clanked her glass to his and then two took a sip.
They sat in silence for a few moments neither knowing what to say nor begin.
"Can I ask you a question?" Oliver asked, his arms clenching as he leaned over the island looking at her.
He really was sexy she thought. Felicity shook her head at the thought, she needed to remember why she was doing this, and it was not to make gooey eyes at Oliver. "I think you just did" she said with a small roll of her eyes.
Oliver chuckled, "why did you let your father talk you into this?"
Felicity took a deep breath, "he asked nicely" she shrugged.
"Come on."
"My father has many enemies, people he owes money too, people he has wronged, he asked me to help him, being married to you believe it or not offers him that protection," she explained.
"So you agreed to this so your father is protected …" Oliver tried to get his head round it, she was doing this to protect her father, it was noble of her Oliver thought. "That's very noble of you" he said staring at her and trying to figure her out.
"I suppose so" she whispered taking another sip of her wine. "Why did you agree?"
"If I don't marry you I have to marry someone else who I really can't stand" he told her honestly.
Felicity laughed, really laughed. "Why don't you just say no?"
"Because she is the daughter of the Parkan, the leader of the Bratva"
"Won't you get in trouble for marrying someone else?"
"No, the unwritten rule is that nobody goes back on their word or on their favour, I owe your dad a favour" Oliver took a sip of his wine.
"Oh yeah and what favor is that?"
"That would be telling" he winks at her turning around and turning the stove on. Felicity blushed slightly when he winked at her; he was very charming for a deranged murdering leader of the American Bratva.
"What are you making?"
"Pasta, everyone loves Italian" he said, as he prepared a pot of water allowing it to boil before he added the pasta.
"Italians I thought the Bratva was against them" she teased causing Oliver to laugh.
"No one will know" he winked at her again.
Seriously what was with him and winking she asked herself? If she didn't know any better she would think that he was trying to flirt. She did not know what to prepare herself for but she certainly had not prepared herself for the Oliver Queen which was standing in front of her making food.
When Oliver was done he quickly served up the two plates filled with pasta to himself and Felicity, topping both of them up with some more wine. They both settled eating away in silence and avoiding any form of eye contact.
"So…" Felicity decides to break the ice. "Where do we go from here, what happens?" she questioned him.
"We get married as soon as possible… then we live our married lives" he answered as he continued eating.
"And what happens during our married lives?"
"You will have to move into my room- it will need to seem legit; you attend all the events I need to go to …"
"That's it?" she knew she was playing a dangerous game but she needed to find out some more information about their arrangements.
"Yes" he said, "look neither of us want this, but let's make the most out of this, you get security, clothes everything you could ever ask for. All you have to do is play the dotting wife."
Felicity listened to what he was saying, it was a pretty good deal, and he clearly was not expecting her to be getting naked anytime soon so that was a plus. "Great, here's to a successful marriage" she holds her glass up. Oliver chuckles and taps his glass with hers. If Oliver ever thought he had to marry someone he did not know and for the sake of his family he was glad it was Felicity Smoak.
When they had finished their meal Felicity helped Oliver clear up, when he was called away by a call on his cell, Felicity took this as an opportunity to look around. The place was pretty big, it had several rooms all of which were of a decent size. She could not help that her mind was trying to figure out what this was. Was it a place where he came to get some peace from everything or was it a place he came with prostitutes. Whichever it was she really did not care, she knew why she was doing this nothing- else mattered.
"Hey we should head back, you can meet my family properly and then we need to discuss wedding plans" Oliver informed her.
"Sure" she shrugged as she walked past him with a small sway of her hips. Oliver smirked, she sure was one firecracker.
When they arrived back at the mansion nerves had finally hit Felicity, it was real, she was actually going to get married and was now about to meet his parents. She was never great at meeting parents, she always said the wrong thing or did something wrong. When she met her first boyfriend's parents she almost choked on fruit, something which still haunted her. She was hoping that awkward side of her did not come out today, really hoping her mouth did not have a mind of its own.
When they walked into the mansion she was hit by the beauty again as her heels clanked on the marble floor. They were immediately greeted by Oliver's father and who she could only assume to be his mother. Felicity swallowed nerves taking over; she was praying she did not embarrass herself in front of them. Hell if she was honest she was a little intimated by them. Robert and especially Moira Queen oozed class, they carried themselves extraordinarily well, they were well groomed and both held their head high.
"Robert Queen, I think it is right that I formally introduce myself" Robert held his hand out for Felicity.
"Nice to meet you Mr Queen, Felicity… Felicity Smoak, spelled S-M-O-A-K, usually people think it is spelt S-M-O-K-E, but it's not, it's like that baseball player …." Oliver cups her elbow causing her to close her mouth.
"Felicity this is my mother Moira Queen" Oliver interrupts her gesturing to his mother then planted a kiss on her cheek.
Moira smiled up at her son with pure love and glee, she then faced Felicity and studied her thoroughly from head to toe. Moira shook her head in disapproval and Felicity could not help but feel even more nervous than before. "If you are to pass as a Queen we will need a complete makeover," she told Felicity already picturing all the changes she wanted to make.
"Oh," Felicity said her eyes widening nerves were now replaced with fear.
"The hair needs to be blonder" Moira walked up to Felicity and touched her ponytail; she then grabbed her hands and looked them over. "These hands they are so rough" she spat out.
"I type a lot" Felicity quickly said.
"You need to manicure, we will need to wax…"
"Oh I'm completely waxed, no hair like a baby" she lied, her eyebrows risen slowly. Moira, Oliver and Robert looked at her clearly not buying her lie. "Ok sometimes I forget, you know busy" she clenched her teeth and looked away embarrassed.
"We need to buy you new clothes, the heels, they are too low and you are far too short, you need …"
"To be honest, my feet are killing me I have never really worn heels, Vital… my father suggested I wear these today…"
Moira glared at Felicity clearly not liking the answer she had given. "Fantastic, more work" Moira exhaled clearly in frustration. "Don't worry my dear, 72hours with me and you will be worthy of the Queen title" Moira told her.
After the interaction with Moira, Oliver managed to pull his soon to be wife away from his mother so he could show her to his room. Their room. "So this is my room" Oliver opened the door allowing her to enter. Felicity looked around, his room was immaculate she could not fault it. It was massive, the bed looked comfortable and suddenly she was hit with reality of what she had gotten herself into.
"So… the bed…" Felicity started to say.
"We will be sharing, if you find that uncomfortable you can sleep on the couch" he said, Felicity who was still looking around did not see the amused look on Oliver's face. Of course he would be the gentleman and allow her to sleep on the bed but he really wanted to see her reaction.
"Oh" Felicity said when her eyes landed on the couch; it was beautiful, leather but really did not look comfortable. "Does this place not have like a million bedrooms…?"
"Felicity if we are to be man and wife, we need to sleep in the same room" Oliver reasoned.
"Right" Felicity sat on the sofa testing it out. "Not bad" she said.
Oliver chuckled, "of course you can sleep on the bed Felicity, I've slept on worse" he told her.
"Really like where?"
Oliver did not answer as he worked on removing his suit; his hand hesitated before he undid his shirt buttons. He had to do it sooner or later, she needed to see it. He took off his shirt and heard her gasp. Nearly all the women he had been with since accumulating his scars had always steered clear from them. Never touching them, running their fingers through them, choosing to keep their hands on his member or his face.
Felicity looked at his body memorizing his scars, she didn't mean to gasp it shocked her that was all. She stood up unconsciously walking towards Oliver. The two looked at each other and she slowly placed a hand over one of his scars. She gently glided her hand from his heart up to his collarbone and then his arm to where another scar was.
Felicity immediately realized what she was doing and pulled her hand back, "sorry" she quickly said. Oliver studied her closely, nobody had done that before. He didn't know what to make of what had just happened, he had just met this girl, it was decided that they were to wed. And here he did not know what was happening with this girl who had just done something which nobody else had done.
Felicity blushed and moved away looking out of the window extremely embarrassed at what she had just done. Oliver put on another shirt and went to stand beside her. "We need to move your things in, just remember not too many clothes my mother intends to fully hold her promise."
Felicity nodded, she knew that when she woke up in the morning everything would be different, so she planning on getting as much sleep as possible before everything changed.