I May Not Have Had A Plan …

Disclaimer: Arrow and its characters belong to a bunch of people who aren't me. I will return them to DC Entertainment, etc. when I am finished playing with them.

Author notes: This fic is a scene fix, a plot fix and something of a rant in fic form. Spoilers for Arrow 2.13 "Heir to the Demon."

Scene fix: I thought Felicity was too passive in the confrontation with Moira. I know that I have written her OOC here, But I felt like the writers ignored the growth of the character in that scene and wrote her like early season 1 Felicity.

Plot fix: The idea that anyone thinks Moira could run for mayor is ridiculous. C'mon, producers, there is suspension of disbelief and then there's drinking the kool-aid.

I don't think we've gotten any back story on Moira and where she came from, so I made up my own.

Dialogue in italics is directly quoted from the show.

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

I couldn't have been more shocked if she had slapped me in the face.

I don't know how I expected Mrs. Queen to react. I truly didn't have any plan past confronting her with my knowledge. But this patronizing pity combined with a heaping helping of contempt. I darn sure wasn't prepared for that.

I just stood there like a dumb blonde bunny in the headlights as she watched me absorb her words, her verbal arrow striking all the way to my heart.

This was not that terrorized woman from the witness stand. It wasn't even the lady who'd been lunching around town since her acquittal.

This was Moira. Dearden. Queen.

The Gotham debutante/Senator's daughter who'd run away from finishing school for a double first at Oxford and a Wharton MBA.

Who'd taken an entry-level job at Queen Consolidated and married the guy with his name on the building within a year.

"We all have to keep secrets, Miss Smoak."

The woman who had actively participated in a domestic terrorism plot while never missing a charity auction or fundraising gala.

She began to turn away, ready to show me the door. I guess I was supposed to slink off like a whipped puppy, cringing with the fear of losing Oliver and whatever the heck it is we are to each other.

My paralysis broke.

She may be Moira Dearden Queen, but I am Felicity Megan Smoak and I'm through being bullied.

"Secrets have a way of getting out, Mrs. Queen. It took me less than a day to figure out yours. And I wasn't even giving it my full attention."

Wow, I knew I had Loud Voice, but Cold, Disdainful Voice was new.

She froze, her hand half raised in some grande dame signal to the lurking house staff.

"How many people do you think Sebastian Blood will have examining every aspect of your life, Mrs. Queen, all the minutiae of your family's private business? None of them will be as good as I am, but there will be a lot of them."

"Buying your OB a house on Aruba or whatever won't protect you. Medical records are ridiculously easy to hack. Then it will only take one campaign staffer who remembers freshman Biology to realize that Thea's blood type means Robert Queen couldn't have been her biological father."

I circled around her, invading her personal space. Putting her at the disadvantage of having to turn and face me, just as she had done when she'd dropped my first name so pointedly.

"You admitted the timing of your affair with Malcolm Merlyn very publicly. I bet everyone in the Blood campaign can count to nine."

She rocked back on her heels. Was that shock in her eyes? Fear? Was that what I wanted?

I took a deep breath to calm myself and mentally counted down from three.

It's only important that she gets this message.

"I didn't come here tonight because I believe this is anyone's business, Mrs. Queen. But the truth is going to come out and when it does it will hurt Oliver and Thea immeasurably. The only control you have is how they learn your secret."

"So you'll tell him if I don't?"

"You've already made it clear that my poker face is pathetic. Just like my feelings were obvious to you, I won't be able to hide something this huge from Oliver. Even if I believed it was the right thing to do. He's become quite perceptive where the people he trusts are concerned."

"And if you think that Oliver will place any blame on me, Mrs. Queen, you don't have a clue about the kind of man your son has become."

It was a good exit line. I should have left it there. But I was so angry and hurt. She had coldly and calculatedly hit me at my most vulnerable point. I couldn't keep myself from striking back with all that I had discovered in my little jaunt through Moira Queen's private business.

"You realize your run for mayor is doomed, don't you?"

"My familiarity with criminal trials doesn't go any deeper than Law & Order marathons, but even I know how badly the prosecution" (don't say Laurel, don't say Laurel) "tanked the case against you."

"Let's recap your justification for participating in The Undertaking. You were in 'fear for the lives of your family'. Even before I knew about Thea, that was a whole lot to swallow."

"For five of those 'fearful' years you believed Oliver was already dead. And it was what, two years or three, before you married Walter? So you had all those months knowing what Merlyn was planning and the only 'family' you had to protect was Thea."

"Do you think the voters will buy that Merlyn would have killed his own daughter to keep you in line?"

She spluttered. "Malcolm would have killed me and then Thea would have been left alone and at his mercy."

"So you couldn't have gone to the police or the FBI? Gotten protective custody? A brilliant woman like you couldn't come up with any plan to keep yourself and your daughter safe? To prevent your company from building a weapon of mass destruction? Was collaboration really your only option?"

"Or was the Glades just too far away from this mansion, too low rent and dirty for you to make the effort? Were you too busy having tea with the DAR to save Tommy Merlyn's life?"

Her legs seemed to give out on her. She groped her way to the sofa and collapsed onto it, knocking her book to the floor.

I was too caught up to stop. It was like one of my babble-fests, only articulate … and vicious.

"Don't you think the press will be all over jurors from your trial? Four of them have had some pretty major life changes since they said 'not guilty' The four key jurors according to your legal team's assessment, another thing that can be hacked easily.

"Mr. Jameson now has a really sweet job at LexCorp that he's barely qualified for. Ms. Alonzo, the jury foreperson, is running a surprisingly well-funded startup out of her home."

"And the other two are just gone. Quit their jobs, sold all their stuff, took their families and disappeared, completely off the grid. Almost like they were afraid of something. Don't you think somebody is going to notice that?"

"Never get really smart people pissed at you, Mrs. Queen. We ask questions and we make connections. Questions, connections, those are things you shouldn't risk, ever, when you've gotten away with murder."

"You've made your point, Ms. Smoak. Please … just stop."

She looked shell shocked. I hated myself in that moment for going so far, much farther than I thought I was capable of.

But if it saved Oliver from any more pain, it was totally worth it.