A/N: Hey guys thanks for all your responses to the last chapter it means a lot! Also a big thank you to my beta Rebekah99. Just to let you know that because I'm in the middle of revising and I have my A level exams coming up, unfortunately I wont be able to update as often :( I'm not going to abandon the story or go on a break but updates may take a bit longer depending on how I am going with my revision so probably every three weeks. Thank you all for sticking with the story so far and I will make it up to you all as I am planning on spending the summer holidays binge writing! Feel free to contact me on twitter on ndubletmixer and enjoy :)

When they reached the bottom of the stair case, a deep voice floated from the sitting room. The playful tone was one Oliver recognised but hadn't heard in weeks. Entering the room, a cautious Felicity following sharply behind, his eyes settled on the source. A small smirk tugged at the edges of his lips.

"Well if it isn't the legendary Oliver Queen. If I didn't know any better, I would say you were lost on that island again."

"Tommy Merlyn" Oliver breathed.

…

"Tommy? What are you doing here?"

A small grin tickled at the corners of Oliver's lips as he rushed forward, eager to be in his friend's presence. Felicity watched the exchange curiously, slowly piecing together the stories Oliver had told her of his childhood with the man grinning in front of her.

"It hurts me that you feel the need to ask." Tommy feigned mock hurt.

Oliver nodded slowly, "Thea. She's getting discharged today."

"Yep, that's why I'm here. Although, it would have been nice to hear she was okay from you rather than your mother." A small flash of hurt shot through his eyes.

"I've had a lot on..."

Tommy just nodded, knowing his friends excuse wouldn't be worth listening to. Catching a glance of blonde hair behind Oliver's shoulder, he piped up; "who's this?"

Felicity stepped out from behind Oliver. She knew it was ridiculous hiding behind him, yet she still craved the small sense of safety being near him gave her. "Felicity. Felicity Smoak" she spoke up, extending her hand out towards Tommy.

Instead of the warm welcome they expected, Tommy's face twisted from playful to serious, anger rippling across his body. "YOU."

Felicity stepped back, shocked.

"You were with Thea. Tell me why I had to see Thea wrapped up in tubes struggling to breathe because whoever took her beat her till she passed out, yet you're standing here, smiling, without a scratch. DID YOU NOT TRY AND HELP HER?"

Tommy's words sliced through her, tears prickled at her eyes as Oliver protectively stepped in Tommy's path. "Don't you dare say that to her. You have no idea what she went through there." He spat at his friend, hurt splashing across his face.

This time is was Tommy that was taken back by Oliver's sudden burst of anger, his protectiveness of the mysterious blonde shining through. "I'm sorry," Tommy immediately spoke, shocked by his outburst, "that was unfair".

Silence invaded the light shining through the huge double paned windows, filling the room as the two friends locked eyes, neither breaking contact.

It was the voice of the small blonde that finally eased the tension. "They tied me up." Both men snapped their heads to face her, a look of pure rage at her being hurt on Oliver's face and a look of horror on Tommy's. But Felicity continued, "That's why I couldn't help her. I tried but I just couldn't get to Thea."

Tommy came forward, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and squeezing comfortingly, "I'm sorry." After a moment he spoke up again in a light tone, trying to make up for his comment, "Hey, do you think that maybe we could all go to dinner or clubbing sometime. I'd like to get to know you blondie, you seem to be such a big part of Ollie's life now."

Felicity supressed a chuckle, just as Oliver's phone started to buzz. "As long as you don't call me blondie then yeah sure".

"Barbie?"

"No"

"Lissy"

"Absolutely not"

"OOhhh I got it! How about Smoaky?"

"I'm not a cat"

"Well what can I call you then?"

"Felicity!"

"Fine! Be like that then!" Tommy mock huffed, surprised at how easy it was to joke with this stranger.

"Felicity we have to go now." Oliver spoke quietly, indicating they were needed at the foundry and adding "something's come up at the office" to satisfy Tommy's raised eyebrow. Felicity collected her coat and walked towards the door, offering Tommy one last smile before nodding to him as he made plans to meet at Verdant that night.

Despite their rocky start Felicity had a good feeling about Tommy... maybe he wouldn't be that bad after all.

…

When they entered the lair, the extreme change from light to serious hit them square in the chest the second Oliver punched in the door's code. Dig stood at the bottom of the steps, his normally calm expression filtered with panic. He started briefing them before they had even reached halfway down the steps.

"There's been another attack."

Oliver caught on quickly, switching to arrow mode instantaneously, his voice lowering in pitch. "The Reaper Brothers? I thought they were spotted in Starling?"

"Yeah, well apparently they were only passing through" Roy chipped in. "Their last hit was on Central City."

Felicity gasped, grabbing the phone Oliver had given to her in case of emergencies and dialled Star Labs frantically. "Barry? Oh my God, Barry are you okay?" Felicity broke out, ignoring the confused expressions of her team. As far as they knew Barry worked at Star Labs and that was how she knew him.

Felicity hung up, assuring the team that thankfully the area around the labs seemed to have survived the blasts and that the rest of the team were ok. "How do you know Barry?" Oliver questioned softly.

"Oh from before. He volunteered at a local computer shop in Central, I saw him there a couple of times." She brushed off, even if she was relaying a good memory, talking about her past brought up an unease that even Oliver couldn't threaten off.

"I never knew you used to live in Central?" Roy continued further, oblivious to her hesitance.

Felicity paled, an icy theory cut through her, first Coast city, now Central? Silently pleading to whoever would listen, Felicity made her way over to the computers and began to pull up a list of the cities hit. As each name flashed onto the screen, the coldness slicing through her began to grab at her lungs, sucking away the air. With shaking hands she ordered the hits by date against a map to show their locations. The result dragged her under, plunging her now shaking body to the darkest place she knew. A tsunami of nausea struck her down, flooding her senses. The room grew smaller, the walls crushing her in as she clung onto the quickly thinning air.

Suddenly it grew too much, a wave of dizziness pulsing through her, blood pounding in her ears, blocking out the worried calls from the team. Grabbing the trashcan from under the desk she emptied her stomach contents, tears stinging the back of her eyes. Oliver reacted on instinct, pulling back her hair, his hand rubbing circles into her lower back. Wiping her mouth with the tissue Dig had hesitantly held out to her, she drew back on shaking legs, attempting to stand. Her legs grew numb and she collapsed on the ground next to Oliver's concerned crouched form. Unable to look the team in the eye she began to speak, her sobs barely making her words audible. "It's me."

"Felicity, what are you talking about?"

Glancing upwards, Felicity caught Oliver's confused gaze and tried to look away, guilt eating away at her but Oliver simply placed a gentle hand on her chin, stopping her from looking away.

"The path they took from each city. All this time we were trying to find a pattern but it was me all along. The Reaper Brothers, th-they were... they were following me," Felicity choked out, covering her face in her hands as if it would make everything disappear.

Oliver sat back, his face a mix of emotions matching his teams'. It was after he heard the next words Felicity muttered that he finally kicked himself out of his shocked state.

"It's all my fault. Hundreds, thousands of lives. I –I basically killed them all. Oh god!" Clamping a hand over her mouth she could no longer contain her pained sobs. Oliver reached forward, filling her senses as he engulfed her trembling form.

"No. Don't blame yourself Felicity. Even if it is your father doing all this, The Reaper Brothers are terrorists. If this was all to do with getting you don't you think your father would have done so already, rather than wasting all this money and time, risking exposure. He's only using this to mess with you Felicity. This is exactly what he wants so don't even think about blaming yourself." The irony of his words and the sudden role change didn't sit well with Oliver. Glancing upwards he released a tense breath at seeing his team nodding at his words.

"Look there's nothing else we can do down here now so how about we get ready and go meet Tommy upstairs?" Oliver suggested, hoping to relieve some of the tension in the room. He smiled at Felicity's small nod of her head and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush to his side. Placing small kisses along her bare shoulder, against the teams groans, he felt a weight lift from his chest as the depression drained from the room and Felicity' hesitant smile replaced it.

"Let's go."

…

Five hours had passed since Thea had returned to the mansion. After a temporary sweep of disappointment at Oliver's absence, she smiled warmly at Tommy. Tommy had helped her up to her room, taking the brunt of her weight to ease the pain from her ribs and the pair had spent the day sprawled across the bed watching films, carefree from the drama that had been surrounding her the past few weeks. By the time Tommy had announced his departure to meet Oliver and Felicity at Verdant, Thea was exhausted and collapsed onto her bed. After several minutes she wanted nothing more than fall back unconscious to the pain and craziness of her life but the burning fire in her ribs protested. Crawling out from the warmth, she sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of her bed. Placing her bare feet on the cool wooden floor, she stood up, letting out a gasp of pain as one hand went to clutch her side immediately. After standing there like stone for a minute or two, the shooting flare of pain began to subside, the black spots in her vision clearing. Cursing herself for leaving the prescribed painkillers downstairs, she slowly padded out in search of them.

As Thea reached the hallway, drifting voices caught her attention. Pausing in her step, she listened intently, recognising one as her mothers.

"Is it safe to talk here, Moira?"

"Thea's asleep and Oliver's god knows where."

"What about that blonde?"

Intrigued, Thea followed the sounds, slipping quietly into one of the spare rooms and peering through the crack left by the door at the two figures. Covering her hand over her mouth, Thea let out a silent gasp. The deep voice belonged to Malcom Merlyn and Thea watched, horrified, as he began to trace his hand along Moira's arm.

"I will contact you tonight, I can't risk anyone knowing our connection."

"See you then."

Tears stinging her eyes, Thea rushed back to her room, her pain now a dull ache compared to what she had just seen. The sudden noise caused Moira to glance in her direction but Thea didn't care. Shutting the door carefully behind her, she sunk to her knees, sobbing silently into her hands. She instinctively reached for her phone, ready to message Roy but flashes from the day before filled her head. Roy had unmasked himself, revealing his secret to her and Thea honestly had no idea whether to be angry, scared or happy that he trusted her. The stress of the kidnapping was really getting to her and now finding out her mother was having an affair with Tommy's dad just tipped her over the edge. Thea really needed to talk to someone but everything with Roy was still uncertain, the only chance he had to speak with her was at the hospital but her mother had barely left them alone for a second.

Her next thoughts drifted to Oliver and then back to two months ago when she had been curious of her mother's late night meetings and followed her. Oliver had never believed his mother would cheat on Walter, despite Thea's protests and then proceeded to tell their mother which lead to a rather awkward conversation that left her in tears.

The only other person she knew she could trust with something like this was Tommy; in the years Oliver was lost at sea, he had become the surrogate brother she had lost. Much like today, anytime something bad had gone on in either of their lives, they would meet, automatically switching to junk food and films in bed. But this was Tommy's father, if Thea even managed to persuade Tommy about the affair, his relationship with his father was rocky enough now and if Thea was wrong about this and she told Tommy, then she could be forcing Tommy to lose his father for no reason.

There was one other person she trusted despite only having known her a few months. Since the kidnapping she had not spoken to Felicity aside from receiving a simple text from her letting Thea know that she was okay. Thea began to dial her number, in hope she would pick up at Verdant.

…

Smoke billowed out from around the room, clouding Felicity's vision. The heat from the mass of bodies entwining in the centre of the floor flushed her skin. Flashes of different lights from above her rained down, illuminating the smoky aura. Searching frantically through the crowds her eyes made their way to Oliver deep in conversation with Tommy. Feeling a shiver of relaxation slip over her, Felicity turned back to the bar wishing for any excuse to leave. She was making an effort for Oliver's sake but loud noises and being enclosed in this space virtually breathing on top of someone else was something Felicity didn't think she would ever be comfortable with.

Suddenly the harsh grip on her shoulder spun her around to face a tall man, his friends cheering him on from behind. It was obvious from his aroma and the way his posture staggered by simply standing straight that he was drunk.

"C'mon lady. Let's have a dance"

Before Felicity could protest, she was dragged to her feet and hauled across the man's shoulder. Felicity immediately began kicking wildly but it only seemed to egg the group on, the alcohol blurring their sense of pain. Struggling to restrain the rage of the mirakuru in her with fear of hurting the man too much. She pummelled her fists against his back whilst biting down hard on his shoulder and finally managed to twist out of his grip. Landing head first in the sea of feet, panic fuelled her veins. She scrambled to get up, strangers trampling her body, oblivious to her pain. Suddenly the wave of panic became a tsunami, drowning her senses, leaving her numb to the world.

Felicity was moments away from blacking out, the edges of her vision darkening as her fear became too much. Then two hands reached down and pulled her from the sea of bodies pressed up together. She could feel herself being lifted upwards the air suddenly thinner which she greedily gulped down, she wrapped her arms in relief around her saver, knowing without having to look who it was.

"You alright Smoaky?" Tommy asked, concern dripping across his features as he watched Felicity cling to Oliver like a lifeline, while he planted kisses amongst her hair.

Nodding, Felicity pulled away only to find Tommy's arms now wrapping around her. Looking over his shoulder, she wiped the shock from her face, mouthing a meaningful thank you to Oliver, the slight tilt of his head was the only indication he had heard her. Suddenly Tommy released her, a blush spreading across his cheeks, paralleling Felicity's as he quickly recovered, brushing off his concern for her.

The vibrating of her phone, caught Felicity's attention as she noticed Thea's contact picture illuminating her screen. Placing a quick kiss to Oliver's cheek, she showed him her phone screen and walked out of Verdant in hope of regaining her hearing against the blaring music.

After hearing Thea's distressed call, Felicity sent a simple text to Oliver saying if he needed her she would be at the mansion, and called Dig.

…

Oliver tracked the light blonde hair pushing its ways through the crowd towards the door, resisting the urge to walk her out. When Oliver turned to face Tommy once again he was met by his friend's smirking grin. He raised one eye brow in question only to receive a sarcastic headshake in return. His attention was brought back when Tommy groaned dramatically, gesturing towards Oliver's now vibrating phone in his pocket.

After a temporary moment of frustration, he cursed at himself for being so distracted he didn't even feel the vibrations. Holding up one finger and offering an apologetic shrug to Tommy, he made his way towards the office ignoring Tommy's protests at them both walking out on his night. A brief glance at the screen showed the caller ID as Star Labs forcing him to sprint the last couple of steps and slam the door behind him.

"What's wrong?"

"It's the cure. We have managed to recover our tests in part but some of the experimental mixtures are still missing and others destroyed from the explosions."

"What does that mean?"

"Thankfully we managed to salvage just enough of the original formula so we will hopefully be able to remix the cure and have it mailed to you by the end of the week."

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief, thanking Caitlin, and hung up, running a hand in frustration across his face. Why did these things have to keep happening? Is it too much to ask for something to go right for once? Pushing his distressing thoughts to the back of his mind, he plastered his expression with the billionaire playboy smile he had spent so many years hiding behind and made his way out into the crowd again.

…

Felicity honestly had no idea what to expect when Thea had called her devastated; Moira supposedly cheating on Walter definitely didn't even come near her thoughts. She sat on the edge of Thea's bed, a protective arm around her side as she listened intently to Thea's story. Her innocent expression stared up at her, longing for Felicity to tell her what to do or take away the demons in her life.

Sighing, Felicity spoke, choosing her words carefully, "I think maybe you should just talk to your mom, you might have just misinterpreted it."

Thea groaned inwardly, retracting her hand from Felicity's as a wave of hurt flooded her face. "Why does no-one ever believe me?"

"No. Thea of course I believe you." Felicity was quick to correct herself, "I'm just saying don't you want to give Moira the benefit of the doubt?"

Thea shook her head violently, "The past years she has done nothing but lie to me. Why would this be any different?"

Felicity thought for a moment, "What if you spoke to the man?"

"That's the problem, it's Malcom Merlyn"

The name triggered a switch inside Felicity. Suddenly alert she gripped Thea by the shoulders, startling the girl. "No don't talk to him. Do not ever talk to him, okay? Especially if you are on your own."

"Why? He's just Tommy's dad."

Felicity's eyes widened in disbelief this was not good. The name Malcom Merlyn, the dark archer, had been brought up frequently by her father and from the stories she had heard, death and destruction followed him around.

Shaking away the memories, she just sighed and made Thea promised not to speak with him alone despite her confusion.

Dramatically collapsing against the headrest, Thea groaned loudly. "If I'm going to confront her about it then I need proof, something she can't lie her way out of."

"You said they were making contact tonight right?"

"Yeah? So?"

"Do you have a computer?" Felicity grinned.

…

The pair had spent the rest of the evening hunched over one of Thea's many laptops, with Felicity successfully dodging all questions about her computer skills. When the trace finally beeped, signalling an incoming call to Moira's cell, she fist pumped resulting in a smirk and sarcastic headshake from Thea.

Hushing her, Felicity attached a pair of headphone and handed one earplug to Thea. After a few more keystrokes, the distorted voices became clearer.

"What do you want, Malcom?"

"I want to make sure you haven't changed your mind on our plans."

"What make you think that?"

"I've seen first-hand the lengths people go to protect their family. Need I remind you what happened to your precious Walter last time you had a change of heart?"

"I haven't changed my mind Malcom, you do not have to threaten me."

"Good, our plans for the undertaking will still take place and I want Tommy and Thea with me, out of the city before anything happens."

"What about Oliver?"

"Oliver's not my son."

Thea gasped, ripping the headphones from their socket. Droplet of tears washed over her eyes, charging down her cheeks as if time had run out. "Do-does that mean that Malcom's m-my father? And Walter … he's dead?" Her voice came out as a muffled whisper, her eyes pleading with Felicity's to erase what had just happened.

"Thea…" Felicity began, with no idea where to go from there. "I think you seriously need to talk to your mom about this and find out definitely if any of this is true. If there was another way to help you then I would jump at it but there's nothing I can say that will change any of this."

Thea looked up at Felicity hopeful; "W-would you speak to her for me?"

"Thea… you know I can't"

"Please… I don't think I can even look at her right now but I need to know." Thea spat out, her voice growing in anger with every breath.

Felicity nodded, knowing she would regret this but apparently seeing Thea this broken forced her to make crazy decisions. Felicity knew that she couldn't just accuse Moira of cheating on her husband, one that she supposedly had killed, wow that was sentence she never thought she would say. So she had to prepare for this and that certainly involved stress eating a pint of mint chip whilst working up the courage to face her boyfriend's mother. But first she had to make a plan one that would definitely involve more hacking.

…

A maid entered the living quarters relaying a message to Moira that a Miss Felicity was here to see her. "Who?" Moira questioned, confused.

Taking a deep breath, Felicity stepped forward, "Me."

"If you're looking for Oliver, I'm afraid he's not here," Moira barely glanced up from the pages of her book.

"I know. I'm here to see you."

"So I finally get to meet the blonde my son is so fond of" Moira's ability to turn a friendly comment into an insult with her cold tone made Felicity shiver. "What is this about?"

"Malcom Merlyn." Moira raised an expectant eyebrow at her.

"Thea came to me convinced that you were lying to her about Malcom Merlyn, that he had something on you which didn't make any sense. So I looked into it myself because full disclosure, I don't trust you."

"Is there a point to this, I'm rather a busy woman" Moira narrowed her eyes, distaste apparent in her features.

"I went through both your accounts and flagged a large wire transfer. Malcom paid a substantial sum of money to a doctor Gill. He was the doctor who delivered Thea, which didn't make any sense to me so I went through like a dozen different theories until Thea told me that a few months ago she thought you were having an affair with Malcom Merlyn. Merlyn is Thea's father."

The look of shock lasted only momentarily before Moira expression turned to stone. "I can see why Thea and Oliver have such a high appraisal of your abilities. So, what are you going to do with this information Miss Smoak?" Felicity startled at the use of her surname, knowing that to find it out Moira must have researched her and that thought wasn't at all comforting.

"I don't know. Confronting you in your living room was as far as my plan went. I thought you deserved the chance to tell Oliver and Thea yourself. They should hear it from you."

"I'm not going to tell my children anything and neither are you"

Felicity blinked, blinded by the abrupt change in the direction of the conversation.

"If you won't keep my secret for their sake, you should keep it for your own. I see the way you look at my son. You tell him this, you will rip his world apart and a part of him will always blame you. Oh he will hate me for sure, but he will hate you too. "

Silence fell upon the room, a heated tension echoing off the huge walls and for a moment the only sound that could be heard was the continuous ticking of the great grandfather clock in the opposite room. Then Moira spoke with a certain grace that hid her cold nature too well. "We all have to keep secrets Miss Smoak."

Raising her chin Felicity countered, refusing to back down this easily for Thea's sake. "Maybe you're right, maybe they will always blame me but I can't lie to Oliver and Thea"

"Then you have pushed me to my last resort."

"If you tell Oliver or Thea or anyone for that matter then I will be forced to call in my associate."

Felicity frowned in confusion, sweat crawling across her skin at Moira's emotionless tone.

"I believe you are quite close. You see, ever since you walked through that door I've known who you are. In fact the only reason I haven't informed my associate of you yet is for my family's safety. I know he would go to great lengths to get to you."

Swallowing heavily, Felicity's breath quickened, hoping, pleading, praying that Moira's associate wasn't who she thought he was. It couldn't be, it was impossible.

"But sometimes things just have to get done and people have to get hurt, no matter how much you care for them."

"Like Walter," Felicity found herself muttering.

"Yes"

The revelation winded Felicity, if Moira had gotten rid of her own husband because he was in her way then she was so stuffed. What had she done? Without realising it, Felicity had kicked the beast before realising she had no escape, and was just left awaiting certain death.

"So, here is my offer; either you leave Starling today without as much as a single word to either of my children or I will call in the man that will tear this whole city apart without so much as blinking to get to you."

Taking note of the fear now running its course over Felicity's features she continued, "Oh, don't worry, I'm sure a family reunion can't be too bad."

The room began to spin, the air growing too heavy to breath. Felicity panicked, her head swimming in jumbled thoughts, the heat from her skin torching her. The blurred edges of the room danced, taunting her as white noise filled her ears. Black spots painfully buried their way into her vision, the last image she could make out was a cold smirk playing on Moira's lips.

A/N: Felicity confronting Moira is literally one of my favourite scenes on Arrow so I had to include it in here! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please let me know what you think!