Blindsided
Summary: Felicity has an early morning interview on television and spends most of the time trying to make sure she doesn't babble something inappropriate but is instead surprised by some breaking news about her husband, the Mayor.
An: I do not own Arrow
Felicity nervously ran through the cue cards in front of her for the millionth time that morning, her tablet long forgotten in her purse. She had to go on stage in five minutes for an interview on the "Good Morning Starling City," news programme. She was promoting the latest fund raising effort for the Glades and she was trying to drum up support from residents in the city. Her publicist had given the presenter a list of questions that she was allowed to ask, as well as a list of topics she was not allowed to broach. At the top of the do not ask list, was her marriage to Oliver Queen, the Mayor of Starling City, but this presenter was known for subtly drawing in her guests into topics that weren't up for discussion and Felicity knew, with the way she babbled, she was an easy target. Oliver was always on her mind and it would be easy to get her to broach that topic herself. Felicity wanted to do a different show, but "Good Morning Starling City" was the most popular morning programme in the city with 75% of residents watching it.
Her interview was up first, right as residents would be receiving their newspapers and settling in with a morning cup of coffee. It started off well enough and the presenter had managed to highlight the background of the project really well. Felicity had only babbled away once but she had remained on topic firmly clamping down on any stray comments or mentions of Oliver. She had three more minutes till the end of her interview and she was getting anxious. She really wished Oliver were standing somewhere behind one of the cameras to reassure her that everything was going ok. Instead she had Diggle with his steady gaze to calm her.
Suddenly, the presenter was announcing breaking news about the Mayor and Felicity felt her stomach sink. Her first thought being that someone had attacked and injured him. She looked for one of the screens that showed what was being broadcast live. She could see a picture was on display of the back of naked man between the legs of an unknown woman. She recognised the desk the woman was on and the painting behind the desk. That was Oliver's office. The picture was not the best quality but she could see the faint outline of the Arrow brand on her husband's back and the red high heeled peep toe shoes the woman was wearing. Felicity's jaw dropped and she barely registered the presenter asking her to comment.
"Your thoughts Mrs. Queen?"
Felicity's jaw snapped shut and anger coursed through her system, "Where did you get that picture?"
"It's on the front page of Starling City's online newspaper. According to the paper, it's taken in the mayor's office and it shows what he's doing on tax payer's time or should I say who he's doing. It's rumoured to be his secretary, Mrs. Lyla Diggle." the presenter said smugly.
Felicity stared at the screen some more. "I am so going to sue the Starling City Newspaper and whoever took this picture."
"Don't you think people have the right to know what goes on in that office?"
"I think the Mayor has a right to privacy after hours. He works hard for this city and he has accomplished a lot. Crime is down, unemployment is down, the economy is up, three major corporations have invested in the city and another one is going to set up their headquarters here. All of this is because of Oliver. With successes like that, he is allowed a little relaxation time."
"Is that how you justify him cheating on you?"
"Cheating on me?" Felicity asked that thought had never even crossed her mind.
"Its public knowledge that you were away at a meeting and you only came back early this morning,"
"I came back and headed straight to my husband's office because when I'm away he usually works himself to death."
"Are you claiming that's you in the picture?"
"Of course it's me. My husband is a very faithful and loyal man. Since we started dating I have never once thought that he would cheat on me. Mrs. Diggle is also very loyal to her husband who happens to be my personal bodyguard. She would never do anything to jeopardize her marriage to John or inflict the emotional pain of an affair on their children."
At the presenter's sceptical look Felicity raised her red high heeled peep toe shoes in the air, "See, same shoes as in the picture. I'm wearing the same shoes I had on last night. That picture had to have been taken early this morning. I hadn't seen my husband in a week and when your husband is the sexiest man in the city, who can blame a girl for wanting a little time with him. After all, I'm the only woman that can look and touch. Granted his office was probably a bad choice but I really missed him. I'm sorry Starling City but you can't have your mayor 24/7. You have to share him with me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a newspaper to sue."
Felicity marched off the stage to meet Diggle who was already holding back other reporters that wanted to talk to her. She knew the drill well and immediately started heading for the car parked in the basement of the building. Once in the elevators they had a bit of privacy.
"Digg, are you ok?" she asked.
"I'm fine. It wasn't my naked ass that was displayed for all to see." Diggle replied.
"Point, what are the chances that Oliver's killed the photographer already?"
"I would say they are pretty high. You know he doesn't like outsiders intruding on his relationship with you."
Felicity nodded. Oliver was fiercely protective of her and it came as no surprise to them that Oliver was downstairs with his security team keeping a horde of reporters at bay while he waited for the elevator to open. His arm easily slipped around her waist and he guided her to his car leaving Diggle behind.
He gave her a guilty smile, "It's not your fault Oliver,"
"I was the one that couldn't wait until we were home,"
"I couldn't wait either. You would think that your office would have been safe at one o'clock in the morning. When I find the person that took that picture I'm going to strangle them!"
"I already fired him or well Lyla did the firing for me. For some strange reason she would not let me do it myself," Oliver commented.
Felicity was thankful that Lyla was able to handle Oliver so well.
"And you might want to hack the newspapers servers," he said to her.
"Oh I will. No naked photo of us is being kept anywhere but our house."
Oliver pulled her closer and she rested her head against his shoulder.
"I feel bad for Diggle. I left him there with those sharks," his wife confessed.
"He needed to get your car." Oliver reminded her.
Felicity closed her eyes and let her husband's warmth envelope her.
"Were you able to make the announcement?" Oliver asked.
"No and I don't think I'm going to make one. The press can watch my belly grow."
"You know they are probably going to say that our child was conceived on my office desk," He suggested.
Felicity snorted, "Simple math will prove that inaccurate, however your office chair might be a different story."
Oliver chuckled.
"At least they didn't catch us going into the Arrow Lair. This probably reinforces the image that you spend your nights at the Mayor's office and not running around in green leather."
"Always my positive ray of sunshine, finding the silver lining in the grey cloud," Oliver said placing a kiss to her temple.
Over the next few days pictures surfaced of Felicity exiting the Queen private airstrip in red high heels and entering and leaving the mayor's office in the wee hours of the morning in red high heels. The newspaper settled quickly having public opinion turn against them as a lot of women came out in support of Felicity and a public married couple having a healthy relationship. As soon as the dust settled over that story another one over the growing bulge of Felicity's stomach began.