Chapter Two - Smoak Screen
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Felicity Meghan Smoak, liked to believe that she was a pretty open minded person. Tracking down shipments of arrows, helping save masked vigilantes, titanium door ripping mega-humans, fleets of super scary assassins all of that and she still wasn't fazed.
Today however, Felicity was quite definitely fazed.
Initially, Felicity hadn't really given much of a damn about what Oliver's crazy PR Head had had to say. Which was hardly surprising since, this man was singularly responsible, for drowning her in epic levels of office contempt, every time she had so much as tried to get herself a cup of coffee since she'd become Oliver's glorified secretary.
The irony that his entire plan to salvage the company image for Queen Consolidated, now hinged on that self-same glorified secretary was not lost on her.
The man wasn't exactly dumb, she grudgingly admitted, as she reasoned through his logic, he basically wanted to get ahead of the gossip she and Oliver had become central talking points of, by taking the sleazy boss-secretary affair', and turning it into some sort of romance novel, the redeemed playboy, who fell for his Girl Friday', and having lost his family was now trying to save the company they had left behind. It wasn't a particularly great spin story, but it was definitely better than, the drop-out playboy, still lusting after the sister he'd cheated on with another sister, before God smote' them, which was probably what the other team was going to go with.
Her hands twisting nervously in her lap, Felicity, carefully began to smooth down her skirt, wondering for the umpteenth time, if her skirts really were too short, as Ms. Russian Roulette, had claimed, only to have her chin tipped up gently, her eyes meeting icy blue one's less than a foot away.
"You still don't have to do this Felicity."
"I can't not."
And just like that, the ragged catch in her voice, as she ended her sentence, tore at him. He never wanted to put her through this - never wanted to use her, not when she was so vulnerable, not when she was one of the few people who he knew really cared.
"I wish there was another way."
A vision of Laurel Lance, flashed before Felicity's eyes, "I'm sure you do."
"Feli...- "
"Let's just not," she cut in, looking at his shoulder instead of at him, "bother with a bunch of meaningless explanations. I'm pretty sure I've heard them already," she added, with another one of her self-deprecating smiles, thinking back to that mega-awkward Isabelle Rochev conversation, Post-Russia.
Just one look at Oliver's face and the grimace now firmly in place assured her that he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"Look," She said, pushing herself out of her chair as she carefully approached a jaw clenched Oliver, only to place her hand on his forearm, as she always did, " All I want is, for you to promise me, that when this farce ends, we do it on my terms, no going with what the PR Team suggests - cause let's face it we all know how that one's going to end and ...I'd really just rather be an amiable ex, instead of another notch in Oliver Queen's bedpost, who he got bored with and cheated on with an impossibly gorgeous leggy brunette, cause you do prefer brunettes right? Not to mention if, I continue to work for you, which I would really like to do if you don't mind, or at least go back to IT, I would totally get it if it was weird if I stayed on as your Executive Assistant booking your new dates and ...and...um..." she faltered painfully as Oliver closed the gap between them, curled his hand around hers and used his free hand to push her glasses back up her nose, as if he had done it a million times before, before bending down ever so slightly and pulling her into a crushing hug of what felt like intense relief, as he solemnly whispered, "I promise, Felicity."
For a second, Felicity let herself pretend that they were in very different circumstances.
Only to have Diggle, cough discreetly, as he came back in.
As if shocked by lightning, not that she was thinking of lighting which was actually something she associated more with Barry, who was hardly going to be on her mind while she ended up extracting herself from Oliver's arms, only to tug self consciously on her skirt as he cleared her voice and added in what still came out in a decidedly squeaky tone, "Right, then...um...let's get back to getting engaged?"
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Four Hours Later,
The Boardroom, Queen Consolidated.
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"...Guys...guys...guys...GUYS!"
Surprised Thea looked up, as did the rest of the now damningly quiet boardroom, from where she was sitting perched on the corner of the table, in the middle of a heated argument with Walter about how big the engagement party should be, and which designer needed to be contacted for Felicity's engagement gown - she was leaning towards a classic bride-ish Vera Wang outfit, to tantalize the press with.
"I know I'm just the fianc here," Felicity quipped, her nervous laugh, echoing awkwardly through the room as she swiftly added, "...but...I think you guys are going about this all wrong. It's an engagement not a Ball - does it really need to be this elaborate?"
"You realize we are Queen's -" Thea pointed out, "... we don't really do not-elaborate."
"No you don't," agreed the blonde, only to put Thea uncomfortably on point as she added, "Flaunting your wealth has always been something you guys just - do, but aren't we working on changing that exact image?"
Walter leaned back, carefully turning towards Felicity's obviously strained voice, wondering they hadn't made a mistake and pushed the young lady too far. She wasn't Oliver's usual fare, and as such hardly suited to deal with the practical elements of the arrangement. Before, however, Walter could voice any of his doubts, the young blonde, with a swift apologetic look towards both him and Thea cut in -
"Look, we all want the same thing here - but, maybe we should try a different approach this time. I mean, I know, I'm not the social maven here," she admitted with a roll of her eyes, "- but if the entire point is to have a more relatable, stable Oliver Queen, who is as far removed from his party-playboy persona as can be - how does announcing he's engaged at a MET level Gala do that?"
"Go on." Encouraged Walter as he steepled his hands in front of him, the image Ms.Smoak's laid out before them, vividly in his mind.
Clearing her throat, Felicity distracted herself with the Queen Consolidated logo she was tracing with the nib of her ballpoint pen, and continued, with her babble-rant, careful to keep her eyes off Oliver and definitely far away from Diggle, who seemed to just know every time here feelings weren't entirely platonic in terms of their pseudo-Bossman.
"I just think...that...if we really want to make Oliver come off as a changed man, he needs to be seen acting like one. Like a regular citizen. No elaborate announcement, no Gala, just a simple diamond ring, nothing flashy, a stroll down to the pier and ...maybe a pint of mint-chocolate chip."
The second Felicity Smoak's mentioned the pier', Oliver realized with a flash of insight entirely uncharacteristic of him, exactly what she was up to. She didn't just want to make him come off as a regular guy, she wanted to contrast him with the man he had been, to revisit and basically rewrite the past - his past - the dock, the simple ring, the low profile - she wanted it to be the exact opposite of what his relationship with Laurel had been.
For the briefest of moments, Oliver found himself wondering what it would have been like if it was real - Felicity and him - what would it have been like, to be with a woman so oblivious not only to his name and wealth, but to social constraints and acceptability. How different would he have been - if he'd known her before?
His eyes taking everything from her stiff smile all the way down to her fidgety pink-panda faced flats, Oliver, shushed Thea's protest with a firm shake of his head, instead siding with Felicity, nodding at her as he said, "It sounds perfect. But - "
"But?" she intoned woodenly.
"But, if we really want this to work, we are going to have to take a few days and prepare before tipping the Press off,"
She nodded sagely, only to freeze seconds later as he added, " ...and we are going to have to move you into Queen Mansion - With me."
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Edited by Nmyra - 9 years ago
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