Chapter Text
The circle of life. Felicity often wondered, why it was called a circle at the end of the day. People had given her a couple of answers-well, mostly Google but what came out was that what has started will end at some point or what has gone-will at some point appear again in your life, sooner or later.
Or well, to it say it simply karma is a bitch. It catches up, always.
Not, that Felicity did anything bad. She didn’t have anything to be afraid of-but the circle of life was catching up to her. Her past was catching up to her.
…
The sun was shining brightly, adding distinct colours to the sky. It was crisp sky blue with certain shades a vermillion peeking through it like a small child behind the curtains. The clock struck ten thirty am in the morning and the occupant of the house leaned against the peach couch and sniffed loudly.
The lights weren’t switched on-the big glass window allowing the sun light to penetrate her house and light it up. The atmosphere was upbeat in one sense, but it really wasn’t. The news that the occupant had just received had shattered her and the surroundings didn’t help much.
She sobbed softly, a part of her hurt because of the news and another one shattered because no one cared enough to tell her. Her petite body shook as she leaned against her sofa. Rubbing a tissue against her red nose, she sniffed. Her knees were buckled as she hid her head, her spectacles discarded long ago, back in her bedroom. The lone tissue fell to the floor accompanying the others. She didn’t even make an effort to rub her cheeks, she knew the tears would keep on falling no matter what.
A soft knock echoed as Felicity frowned, looking up. She blinked, the water in her eyes didn’t pour down though. It was eleven am on a Sunday, usually no one graced her house at this time. Standing up, she wore her fuzzy slippers before walking across the small path that led to her white door. Pulling the skin on her cheeks she tried to remove the trace of tears before taking a deep breath. She really wanted to be left alone at this point and she really hoped that the person on the other side wouldn’t notice the cluster of tissues on her floor.
Opening the door, she was ready to open her mouth-when her eyes widened momentarily, “Ray?”
Ray Palmer grinned lightly before stepping aside a little bit. Behind him stood, Iris West and Barry Allen. “What-what are you guys doing here?” She spoke, her voice wavering-which didn’t really go unnoticed by her friends.
“Do we really need a reason to be here?” It was Barry who spoke, his signature smile on his face that made him look like a child. Iris stepped forward, her hands opening as she embraced the blonde, “Sweetie, we saw the news.” Her voice was soft like a mother comforting her child and for a split second, Felicity missed her mother too. Her hands rubbed across her back and she tried to stop crying but the tears just wouldn’t stop.
She didn’t realise that the three had stepped inside-the door shutting promptly.
She didn’t know how long she cried.
At this point time didn’t really seem to be an important factor to her, and her friends thought so too.
She cried-cried for the family she had lost and for the supposed family who didn’t care enough .God, why can’t she ever have a father? Unchecked tears poured down her cheeks as she sobbed her heart out. Iris’ hand rubbed her back while Ray clutched her hand firmly, sitting on the maroon settee that he had pulled from the other end of the room. Barry chose to sit on the other side of Felicity, the recently engaged couple embracing Felicity.
What felt like hours later, her sobs had turned into hiccups. Barry got up as he made a beeline towards the kitchen bringing a glass of water for his blonde friend. “Here,” He spoke softly-as Felicity pulled away from Iris before taking the glass and shooting Barry a grateful smile.
“You okay now?” Ray asked softly and Felicity nodded. “Thank you.” She told her best friends, appreciative of their support. Deadly silence ensued for a split second as she placed the empty glass on the couch. No one knew what to say-afraid something might lead to a break down all over again.
A sudden realisation dawned on Felicity as she looked at Ray, “How did you guys know, again?” She murmured, “The news. It’s all over it.” He answered, squeezing her hand when a small tear trickled down her cheek, “He died a week ago. No one informed me.” She said, her voice breaking.
This was what hurt the most. People back in Starling were aware of how close she was to Robert Queen. Growing up, she had been devoid of fatherly love and when she met him-his father, he became her father. He became someone she looked up to and she called him dad. Initially, she thought that the word might seem foreign to her lips-but as it turned out, it wasn’t. Because he was her dad in every literal sense.
Even after she left Starling, he called her up to check on her. Sometimes he called Ray too-just to ask, what was up-because apparently, Felicity had a habit of not disclosing her problems. He thought she didn’t know, but she did. He supported her-
And now he was gone.
And as if the grief wasn’t enough, it was the fact that no one had the decency to call. If it hadn’t been for John-who Felicity was glad had called just to comfort her, only to discover that she wasn’t informed in the first place-she wouldn’t have known anything.
She knew they parted away at a sour note-but couldn’t he have called once? Ask someone else to do so?
“They didn’t call.” She spoke again as she cried, “I got to know along with the world, “ She leaned her head on Iris’ shoulder, “No one cared.”
The bell rung once again and this time it was Iris who got up. Opening the door-it was Courtney Palmer who stood on the other side, her hands in the air as she showed them the box of Dunkin Donuts she had bought along the way, “I come bearing gifts,” She said as she stepped inside.
Felicity smiled lightly as Barry spoke, “We will always care.”
Some people always care.
…
“Oliver,” The twenty nine year old looked up, his blue eyes looking at his friend, “Yes, Digg?” He spoke, pushing himself backwards as he stood. Reaching over, he switched off his computer before standing up.
“You didn’t tell her.” His words were crisp and to the point. This has always been his attitude and it was one of the qualities that he appreciated about him.
“I didn’t,” Oliver didn’t choose to elaborate further. He knew Digg was close to Felicity and he might have told her. Honestly, he had thought about calling her initially but then his thumb would just hover above her contact name, her beautiful smile enlightening his phone screen. There was a traitorous part of him that wanted to talk to her, to tell her, to just want to hear her voice while another just loathed her and he let the latter dominate. Even now, it was a matter of heart and mind.
No, he won’t call her just for him to get hurt further.
“She had the right to know, Oliver.” He looked at him, his arms crossed across his chest and Oliver chose that moment to escape the room-moving past him, “I figured out somebody else would tell her.”
Digg cursed under his breath, following him out of the room. Oliver stiffened momentarily but then relaxed, realising he wasn’t bringing the topic of her again.
“You are wrong, Oliver. That girl loved him and she deserved to know. Don’t you think after all that she has ever done for you, the least you could have done is call her?”
Needless to say, he was wrong.
Oliver bit back a growl-talking about her had always be his Achilles heel. He turned around, his blue eyes looking up for a split second before he closed them momentarily though. Even now the thought of her, brought out emotions that he had buried a long time ago. “It hurts too much.” He said trying to shrug off the topic. They reached near the stairs and Diggle didn’t talk further, which Oliver was grateful for.
“Good, you two are here.” It was Moira Queen’s voice that snapped their attention. Oliver furrowed his eyebrows, a small part of him happy when he saw her. For the past one week, she wasn’t in the right state of mind, no one was as a matter of fact.
Robert Queen was a great man. Sure, Oliver would admit he had his fair share of flaws, but in the end-who doesn’t? He was a great father. And his death had been a shock and shook the Queen family to the core. He never thought his father would leave them so suddenly, he hadn’t even watched Thea get married and his heart broke when he thought of his sister. She was the closest to him. If they would have known that his demise was so close, Oliver would have made sure that he spent every waking moment with him. If only. His father had died of a heart attack. When it did occur, of course it was a matter of concern and they made a mental note to take care him in every way possible. Only they didn’t get another chance when two days post his cardiac arrest, he died in his hospital bed.
Moira was devastated. Oliver was pretty sure she wouldn’t have been standing right here, looking presentable if it hadn’t been for Thea. A surge of pride washed over Oliver. At twenty one, even though she was the youngest-she still tried to be strong. She put her grief on one side to help her mother, and that was commendable.
“Jean is here, we need to discuss the will.”
Oliver nodded as he started his trip down the stairs. Diggle followed suit.
…
“We need to clean this area,” Felicity mumbled as she stood up. Her eyes wondered off to the discarded tissues, “So much of tissue papers. You know Walmart has a sale for these things? Along with others of course. And the price was so cheap and now I’ve just used it too much of it and they would literally rip me off of money-I don-“Her mind was trying to channel her emotions this way, which-eh, wasn’t really a surprise.
“Felicity,” Courtney placed her hands on her shoulder, “We’ll get you tissues. Now, take a deep breath.” Felicity did as she was told, “Iris and I will clean this up. The boys will get the donuts and get that Twister game.” She spoke with a smile.
“And what about me?”
“Go get a hot shower. We’ll spend the entire day together. A game of twister, lunch and then a movie night. We’ll watch toy story, catch up on Game of Thrones and then, the weird Sherlock and female show that you have been dying to show us.” Iris spoke, and Felicity couldn’t help but add.
“Elementary.”
“What?”
“The show, it’s called Elementary.” Iris chuckled and nodded. A sudden thought entered Felicity’s mind and a part of her knew that they were trying to cheer her up and she shouldn’t bring it up but she did, never the less. “You know, the funeral is day after tomorrow.”
“Then we’ll go with you.” Ray’s answer was almost instantaneous and Felicity nodded, running a hand through her hair. A small smile played on her lips, “I should probably get on with the shower.”
Courtney nodded, “Probably.” She turned and looked at her husband, “You call Caitlyn and Cisco too.”
Barry chose to interrupt at this point, “I did call them. Apparently they are stuck in traffic, on the other side of the town.”
Iris’ eyebrows hiked up, “What were they even doing there?” After seeing Barry shrug, all she did was roll her eyes.
“Get going now!” Courtney said as she pushed Felicity through the bathroom that was just behind her couch.
Felicity sighed as she stepped inside the white tiled room. Her gaze instantly turned towards the mirror and she let out an inaudible gasp as she saw herself. Her hair was messed up, her nose pitch red-which oddly reminded her of Rudolph the red nose rein deer-God, was her mind messed up? Shaking her head, she turned around-ready to take a shower.
She can get over this.
She will get over this.
…
“According to the will set up by Robert James Queen,” Jean began as she sat on the plush sofa, Walter Steele-the eldest Queen’s dear friend and CFO of QC, sat beside her-peeking through the papers every now and then.
“Thirty percent of the shares that belong to QC goes to Thea Deardan Queen,” Jean spoke, her tone informal-knowing she was talking to her friends. She spoke straight to the point. Thea seemed to nod at this while sitting on the opposite couch right beside her mother. Oliver sat on her other side. Laurel, Tommy and Diggle stood right behind them, ready for moral support. Laurel’s hand rested on Oliver’s shoulder-the diamond ring she wore on her ring finger sparkling bright. In normal situations, she would have tried to hide it, but Jean and Walter were friends. Ollie had recently proposed to her-two days back. It came of as a big surprise, after all they had been together for a only an year but Laurel knew she loved him and clearly, he loved her back. He wasn’t ready for her to reveal the news to the media though-Robert’s Queen death was already creating a scenario, which was surprising since the news was released earlier that day.
“Thirty five percent of the shares that belong to the company, I hand over to my beloved son Oliver Jonas Queen.” Jean read off and Oliver frowned. Wait, thirty five?-what about the other-“Jean,” Moira spoke-“You might have read something wrong, Darling. That is just sixty five percent.”
Jean smiled at Walter, as if asking him to take over. Walter chose to put this statement lightly. He had to think before he started speaking, “Moira, have you heard of the company Oracle?” The female in question nodded.
“Well, the company’s success rate has achieved another height due to the company’s power being shifted to two CEOs instead of one. Recent results have shown that having two CEOs instead of one, can help a company accomplish more by delegating different roles to each head. Robert presented this idea to the board of directors and they agreed to it,” He spoke-his British accent prominent. “It provides increased scope with broader capacity and since Oliver has been involved in the company for some time now, Robert thought his work load would become less and the company can achieve new heights even in his absence.” He took a deep breath, firmly ending his speech.
“I’m not sure where you are heading with this conversation, Walter.” Moira spoke, her eyebrows furrowed.
“I am saying that, Robert Queen has placed two CEOs to take his place after his demise. The first one being Oliver while the second person will stand by him and is also the owner of the left thirty five percent of the shares belonging to QC.”
“And who is that?” It was Laurel who put up the question.
“Felicity Smoak.”