Facets of Felicity

By Cortexikid

Chapter 1: Auburn

A/N: Hey Olicity fans! So, word around the blogosphere is we're gonna find out more about Felicity's background in the new year. This is my own interpretation of that. It probably won't be anywhere near accurate but hope you enjoy anyway!

Time-Line: Spoilers up to 2x09. Set some time in the future.

Disclaimer: Arrow is not mine.

"Wow."

Oliver Queen looked over his shoulder at Diggle's exclamation, eyebrows rising and breath catching as his eyes locked onto Felicity Smoak, walking attentively towards them with a sheepish expression on her face.

"So...it's noticeable then?" she almost grimaced, reaching out and catching a tendril of hair in her fingers, biting her lip nervously.

Oliver tried to control his features as his eyes raked in the now deep auburn tresses spilling onto his friend's shoulders.

Noticeable wasn't the word.

"Yeah...you could say that," he heard Diggle reply as he swallowed deeply, trying to quench his suddenly dry throat.

"Why the sudden change?" Diggle continued, something which Oliver was eternally grateful for, as he turned back to tending to his bow, trying to wash the vision that was Felicity with red hair from his mind.

It wasn't working.

"Uh, well," Felicity was grumbling somewhere to his left, sounding hesitant, "my uh...grandmother Gloria always preferred my natural hair colour and this was the closest I could get to it so—"

"You're a natural red-head?" Oliver blurted, whirling around to face her before he knew what was happening.

She gaped at him, his sudden movement causing her to start a little.

"I keep your secret, remember?" she merely responded, grabbing tendrils of hair and pulling them up into a ponytail before squaring her shoulders and sitting down at her computers.

Oliver stared at the back of Felicity's head for a moment, eyes drinking in her new hair as it shone brightly off the glare of the screens.

It was mesmerizing.

He'd have to remember to buy Gloria an even bigger bouquet of flowers than he intended before tonight's dinner. After all, it was down to her that he now knew the true colour of her granddaughter's hair...

1 WEEK EARLIER

"No, no, you said this time I was coming to you. You did. Elise—I know, I know, but it's just—there's a lot going on and—I don't work too much. I don't! It's just—I—well, I'm sure if you—no, no, of course I want to see you guys...okay then...okay...give her my love. See you on Monday..."

Felicity heaved a sigh as she hung up the phone and spun her chair around, only to come face to torso with one Oliver Queen.

"Oliver!" she exclaimed, her cerulean eyes trailing up to his face, pen falling onto her desk from her lips, where she'd been chewing it throughout her entire phone call, "sorry, I didn't hear you come in. How was the meeting?"

He fixed her with a slightly narrowed gaze and a tilt of his head.

She did not find this adorable.

"Who were you talking to?"

Her stomach fluttered at his inquiry. She really wanted to avoid this conversation at all costs but...she'd been caught. It was better to just get it over with than have Oliver suspect her lie and go investigating. Call it knowing from experience. One of the many things she'd learned under Oliver Queen the last three years.

Before her mind could wander at the words under Oliver Queen, Felicity shook the titillating thoughts out of her head and fixed him with a stare.

"That was my grandmother Elise. Apparently, I'm going to be entertaining her and my grandmother Gloria for the holidays," she shrugged, hoping he'd drop the subject.

The vigilante turned CEO froze at her words. It was in that moment that it truly hit him just how little he knew about his IT-wiz, turned partner-in-crime, turned friend, turned reluctant-executive assistant turned...more than he was willing to admit's family.

The desire to know everything and anything about her life outside their Queens-Consolidated-and-nightly-activities cascaded down on him like a waterfall, a small smile gracing his face.

Felicity stared up at him, not liking the glint in his eye one bit.

Well, maybe a little bit.

"I look forward to meeting them," he smirked, before turning on his heel and walking into his office without a backwards glance.

"Oliver? Oliver! They're not—" she cut herself off, watching him ignore her, knowing well it was a lost cause.

"Yep. Never trust that glint," the blonde grumbled, wondering what fresh hell would erupt for her once Oliver Queen was in a room with Elise Verde and Gloria Smoak.

"This will probably sting..."

He barely contained a hiss as she pressed the alcohol-soaked gauze to his shoulder, his face morphing into a wince against his wishes.

"Sorry," she half-whispered, her breath bouncing off his jaw as she angled him back against the overhead light, her eyebrows knitted in concentration as she cleaned his wound.

After a solid minute of listening to sighing and murmurs of discontent, Oliver felt the urge to speak up.

"Felicity...I'm fine, really," he said quietly, hyper-aware of Diggle moving around behind them as he caught her elbow, his gaze finding hers, "it's just a scratch."

She glared at him, a little line forming on the bridge of her nose that he tried not to stare too long at.

"It's at least two inches deep, Oliver. It is not 'just a scratch,'" she bit out, her jaw set, "I thought this was just recon anyway? How did you guys find trouble—"

"Trouble found us," he cut across her, watching as she looked to Diggle for confirmation. At his nod, she glanced back at her patient.

"It tends to do that when The Arrow's involved," she grumbled, offering a needle and thread to her friend, standing up and walking over to lean against her desk, keeping an eye on the diagnostics her computers were running.

"I'm sorry you had to run out on dinner," he murmured as he began to stitch himself up.

She was always transfixed when he did that. And a little grossed out.

"It's okay. My grandmother Gloria had just gotten to the always wonderful part of the conversation where she reminds me that I'm destined to die alone surrounded by a dozen cats, even though she knows I'm more of a dog person because dogs are just friendlier you know? And I read this article once about this guy that had half his face eaten off Harvey-Dent-style by his tabby and that just turned me off felines for life so really, if I were to die alone I think I'd be safe from creepy Garfield," she rambled, picking at her nails, not really paying attention to the bemused expression on Oliver's face.

"Don't worry Felicity, you won't die alone surrounded by creepy Garfields," he smirked, "creepy Odies though, that's definitely a possibility."

He catches the pen she throws at him.

"I can't believe you actually understood a pop-culture reference. That's gotta be a first," she snorted with a roll of her eyes.

"Not all of us can have pop-culture-knowledge as our super-power," he shrugged, wincing as he jostled his injured shoulder.

"With great power, comes great responsibility," Felicity smirked.

"What?"

"Oh you have got to be kidding!"

He was just about to step into the elevator the next morning at Queen's Consolidated when he caught sight of the familiar blonde hair out of the corner of his eye. Gingerly, he stepped out and was surprised to find her with his back to him, apparently pleading with two older women, one a tall, slender, African-American woman and the other, the one Felicity was arguing with, a shorter, curvier woman that looked remarkably what he imagined Felicity would look like in thirty years.

"But Bubbie I have a lot of work—"

"It's just lunch Lissy...what's wrong with some lunch, huh? You look like you haven't been eating properly. And you ran out on dinner last night! Just what about work was so important that you had to run off and—"

"Good morning Ms. Smoak," Oliver had walked over to them before really thinking about it, offering the three women his most dazzling smile. "And who would these lovely ladies be?"

Felicity's eyes widened as she caught sight of him holding out his hand and smiling at her grandmother Gloria.

"Uh...Olive—Mr. Queen. This is—"

"Gloria Smoak, Felicity's grandmother," the elder woman cut across her, shaking his hand, her grip firm, "and this," she gestured to the woman beside her, "is my better half, Elise."

Oliver shook Elise's hand, "it's very nice to meet you both."

Gloria took a step towards him then, squinting up at him, her gaze a little over her glasses with a pensive expression on her face, "Queen, was it? So...you must be the man that's been riding my granddaughter so hard then, huh?"

There was a beat of silence. Oliver was truly lost for words.

To his right, he heard Felicity softly murmur under her breath, "three, two, one..."

Looks like he finally knew where she got her zero-brain-to-mouth filter from.

A/N: So Gloria and Elise are two wonderful women who raised Felicity. The reason she has kept them a secret from Oliver and Diggle is because of the whole event of what happened to her parents etc. I plan on going more into the back story and her relationship with the two women who were responsible for helping make her into the awesome genius she is today. Gloria is going to be particularly fun to write. She's like a less filtered Felicity XD Oh and don't worry, an explanation about Felicity's hair will come in the next chapter. And it won't be permanent. More to come over the holidays :D ~Ck

NEXT CHAPTER TEASER:

"No grandma, I can't have that, remember, I'm allergic to nuts."

"Me too honey," Gloria replied, sharing a knowing glance with Elise before erupting into laughter.

Oliver hid a smile behind his napkin as Diggle chuckled and Felicity's cheeks shone bright red.

It was official. This was the best family dinner ever.