V for Victory

An: I do not own Arrow nor did I come up the name of the title. The title is from the TV series, V.

Summary: Sequel to Image. Moira has finally won the battle against Isabel and she chooses to celebrate with her children.

Moira Queen sat alone at the bar in the country club. She was waiting for her children and their partners to have lunch in the restaurant. Since QC had significantly recovered from that image nightmare, everyone wanted to get back into the good graces of the Queen family. The country club management offered to reinstate their membership free of charge but Moira didn't accept that offer so easily. She managed to secure life time membership for her, Robert, her children, their partners and future grandchildren. It wouldn't be so easy to kick them out again.

Once QC started rising again and it was clear that the Queens were once again a force to reckon with, she was invited back into the elite social circles. Moira graciously accepted the invitation. There was more to be gained by accepting than rejecting. She knew who her real friends were. She knew who she could count on. She knew her purpose in the social circles and she knew how to get what she wanted out of them. She would never trust anybody in those circles. They were merely a means to an end.

At that very moment the Board of QC was voting to fire Isabel. The woman had tried to overstep her role as Mistress and Moira had shut her down hard. Of course she had help in the form of her son's blonde genius girlfriend. Isabel had practically frothed at the mouth when Felicity was promoted to CTO. The Mistress then promptly set about trying undermine Felicity at every corner. What Isabel didn't realise was she had started a war that she had no chance of winning. Isabel was effectively fighting on two fronts, inside the company against Felicity and outside of it against Moira.

Moira, along with her children, also threw their support behind Felicity. That had been a critical move in her personal war with the Mistress that resulted in three great outcomes. Isabel was gone not only from QC but also from Robert's life, QC was almost fully recovered because of some genius technology Felicity helped pioneer and pretty soon she was going to have a daughter-in-law that she approved of.

The fight had been long. Isabel didn't just roll over. She put up a fight even getting pregnant to secure her hook in Robert. Moira hadn't survived as long as she had as his wife without knowing how to deal with the other woman. Granted Isabel was the first one to get pregnant but Moira hadn't been fazed. She was secure in the knowledge that Robert couldn't afford to divorce her. It would split the company between them, her children would side with her and the combination of her shares, Oliver's shares and Thea's shares would be more than Robert's giving them the controlling interest. Robert was not going to leave her for Isabel.

The pregnancy had been a good move on Isabel's part. For the first time ever, Robert had actually given a small amount of thought to leaving her but Moira had told him she didn't care about the child as long as the rights of her own children were not interfered with. When Robert didn't leave her, Isabel tried to step up her game by revealing Moira's affair with Walter Steele publicly. It wasn't anything Robert hadn't been aware of per their most recent agreement and it proved to be a major miscalculation by Isabel.

The publicity had pissed Robert off to the point that he made a public announcement that he and Moira had an open marriage and that they were very understanding of each other's physical needs and sometimes fulfillment of those needs was found outside of their marriage. They were blasted in conservative circles but at least they were being honest. Their marriage was what it was. Robert broke off his affair with Isabel and she miscarried, though Moira wondered if she was ever pregnant to begin with.

Isabel then tried to seek revenge through the company. Certain confidential e-mails were leaked to their competitors and she tried to make it look like Felicity was the one that released the information. A thorough investigation as well as the testimony of Isabel's staff revealed that Isabel had been the one behind the leak. With concrete evidence of malfeasance on her part, the Board was able to fire the person they had originally appointed.

Victory was glorious and Moira was going to enjoy it. She whirled the red wine in her glass and watched the legs form. She had felt like shocking her friends in the club and instead of ordering one of the more expensive brands she ordered the house wine. She had never done something like that before. The bartender had nearly dropped the bottle he had in his hand when she made the request. Felicity had told her that though the house wines were cheaper they weren't terrible. Some were quite pleasing. From the two sips Moira had taken it was pleasing.

After nearly two decades of drinking alone, she found the action no longer appealed to her. The genesis of that change was when Oliver gave Felicity a tour of the wine cellar. The young blonde picked out a bottle of expensive red wine and opened it for them to enjoy with dinner and possibly a little bit of conversation afterwards. Moira hadn't expected to enjoy the blonde's company but she had. Two weeks later Moira picked a bottle out of the cellar and invited Felicity to come and sample it with her. As soon as Moira got off the phone with Felicity, Oliver was calling her demanding to know why she wanted to drink wine with Felicity. She wasn't too surprised by his reaction. She had sent six of his previous flings screaming for the hills. She assured him that she had no ulterior motive but he still came with Felicity and hovered in the background. Felicity herself had been very cautious and awkward at the start of their tasting but once Moira got the blonde to feel comfortable, the wine might have had something to do with it as well, conversation between them started to flow better. She was able to build a rapport with the young woman.

They agreed to meet in two weeks again to sample a new chardonnay that Robert had brought back from a business trip to France. They soon settled into a routine of twice a month that then grew into every Sunday. Whenever Thea came home from university, she joined them and it turned into a nightly affair. They took turns picking the bottle that they would sample. Most nights they only had one glass but some nights, like Fridays or Saturdays, they would finish the entire bottle. It was because of that bond, that she now found drinking wine alone unacceptable.

Oliver's relationship with Felicity brought another person into her life, Donna Smoak. The woman was very colourful both in fashion and personality. She had made the initial mistake of judging Donna's work and position in life but she had soon learnt that despite their drastic differences they had two very important things in common. Both women put significant importance on their children's happiness and they would both do anything to protect them.

The incident that had endeared Donna to her was the first time that Donna had been introduced to Isabel. Unlike Moira, Isabel hadn't kept her judgements to herself and she openly tried to put Donna down. The fierce blonde was having none of that and it was the first time Moira ever heard anyone use designer brands to insult someone. It still brought a smile to her face.

Donna pulled Moira out of that elite circle and into a whole other shocking world. Every time she went out with Donna it was an adventure. On their most recent excursion, Donna had gotten a flat tire. The woman had no road side assistance and Moira had no idea how to change a tire. Donna didn't have an idea either but that didn't stop her from having fun while she was trying to flag down someone to help them. A young guy, who flirted shamelessly with them, helped and Moira hadn't felt so young in ages. She tipped him $100 just for his kind words.

She caught site of Oliver and Felicity entering along with Thea and Roy. They spotted her at the bar and Oliver whispered something into Felicity's ear before heading off to the restaurant. He was probably going to see if they could be seated now. Roy of course looked around uncomfortable. Even after dating Thea for over a year, he still didn't like places that exuded wealth. Felicity made her way over to her while Thea talked with her boyfriend. Moira looked at the bartender and ordered another glass of house wine for Felicity.

The younger girl hugged and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"We won," she said happily.

"I never had a doubt my dear," Moira admitted.

The bartender put the glass on the bar and Felicity took it and toasted to their happiness. Oliver soon returned and escorted them to their table in the restaurant. Thea pulled Roy along behind them.

"Are you going to come back to the company now that Isabel is gone?" Oliver asked once they were seated.

"No, I rather like what I've been doing with my time. In fact, I think I have time for something else now," Moira stated with a sly smile. As she expected her son fell for the bait and asked what.

"Grandchildren," Moira said looking at Felicity. She knew Felicity would really be the one she had to convince.

The young blonde spluttered, "I don't think we're ready for that. We aren't even married or engaged."

Moira looked at her son, "That will have to change soon,"she then turned her gaze back to Felicity, "Besides these days you don't need to be married to have children together."

"Mom," he said darkly.

"Oliver, I want what I want. Donna wants what she wants to and you should be happy we haven't joined forces yet," she threatened them.

While Felicity was perfectly capable of handling them individually, Moira knew she stood no chance against their combined forces.

Thea cleared her throat and Roy squeezed her hand for support.

"Since you just declared that you're ok with people not being married and having children together," Thea started and Moira reached for the glass of wine and downed the rest in one go.

"Mom I haven't even finished saying what I was going to," Thea said horrified.

"No you haven't dear but I'm fairly certain I know what you're going to say," Moira held up her hand to get the waiter's attention. When he arrived she ordered four scotch on the rocks. Two for her and two for Oliver.

"Roy," Oliver growled his hand encircling the steak knife. "Did you get my baby sister pregnant?"

"It wasn't my fault. She didn't tell me the doctor took her off her birth control because she started to get side effects!" Roy protested.

"Oliver," Felicity said softly her small hand encircling his much larger one. "You can't kill the father of your nephew/niece."

"Who says I can't? Isn't it nearly impossible to get a conviction without a body? We have boats and planes. No one will find him if I dispose of him in the middle of the pacific."

"Oliver!" Thea snapped. "You are not killing my boyfriend. We are pregnant and I'm going to really need Roy's support as well as the support of my family."

The waiter arrived and both Oliver and Moira downed the first glass in an instant.

Moira sighed heavily and look straight at Thea, "Bring on the grandchild. I'm ready now."

For the first time in a long time Moira was actually looking forward to the future.

An: Thanks for reading.