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The Stages of Felicity Smoak

Summary:

Felicity Smoak's life told through the key moments that defined it.
Some AU later on in the story (because I don't like the direction the show went)

Chapter 1: Childhood

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Noah Kuttler had initially been anxious when Donna Smoak had informed him that she was pregnant. He wasn't entirely sure what to do with a baby. He was a certified genius and had little patience for explaining things. He needn't have worried.

Felicity Megan Smoak was born on July 24th 1989. She was an easy child and her parents loved her very much. Felicity was remarkable and developed at incredible rate. By the age of two and half, she was talking in full sentences, and by the age of thee it was clear to everyone around her that she possessed an astounding intellect.

Noah loved spending time with Felicity. She would routinely climb into his lap whilst he worked on projects and stare fascinated at the lines of code appearing on the screen. For her fourth birthday he gifted Felicity her very own computer. It was nothing but an outer case, and nothing fancy, but it allowed him to teach his little Felicity everything he knew about technology; and she loved every minute of it.

A year later, Felicity was five, and it was time to start school. She was extremely excited. A whole part of her day dedicated to learning new things. That morning she pulled on her rainbow shoes and matching backpack and hurried down the road tugging her parents after her.

Unfortunately, she soon realised that school wasn't exactly what she had expected. They spent most of the day 'learning' things she already knew and found out that people (especially other children) didn't like it when she voiced that. Apparently, being a genius wasn't a good thing. She tried to spend time with the other children, but she spoke twice as fast as them and at least three times as much, and they looked at her like she had grown a second head every time she mentioned anything to do with computers.

She tried explaining this to her mum, but she didn't seem to fully understand. Donna Smoak had always been a social butterfly and had no trouble fitting in at school. Her father had been a bit more understanding and had explained that she was different; she was special. That encouraged Felicity to dive further into technology and the world of computers.

When Felicity was seven, she built her first computer from scratch. She had scavenged parts from her father's stash and had saved up enough pocket money to buy the last few special pieces. It was the proudest day of her life. Her father had taken her out for burgers as a reward and although her mum hadn't really understood all the 'tech-speak' between the two of them she was happy for her daughter.

By this point Felicity was in 3rd Grade, having skipped a grade, and was already top of the class. Her academic achievements continued to advance at an immense pace, and her teachers were struggling to keep up. However, the only part of Felicity Smoak's life that wasn't at least on average with her peers was her social life. What little friends Felicity had had at the start of school, disappeared when she skipped a grade. She was now surrounded by kids at least a year older than her who wanted nothing to do with the frizzly-haired know-it-all who sat at the front of every class and aced every test.

This didn't really bother Felicity that much. She had her computers and technology, and could spend every day after school tinkering with hard drives, microchips and anything else she found in her father's spare boxes. She was happy.

Until she wasn't.

On March 19, Felicity went to bed with her favourite book; her parents said goodnight and closed the door. Everything the same as always. Until she woke up.

Her father was gone. No trace he had ever been in the house. Her mum wouldn't answer any of her questions, except to say that he was gone and not coming back.

Felicity retreated to her room and refused to leave for the next three days. He had to come back. She needed him. No one else understood her like he did.

But he never did.

Life moved on, and eventually Felicity accepted that he was gone and that this was her new reality. She and Donna moved from their family house into a tiny apartment with one bedroom. Donna started a second, then third job to pay the bills and Felicity grew steadily more alone. No friends at school; no parent that was ever home except to sleep. Felicity learnt to become self-sufficient and from the age of seven and three quarters, she essentially raised herself.

Chapter 2: Teenage Years

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Felicity started middle school at age 10 and high school at age 12. The age gap between Felicity and her classmates grew, and with it, so did the friendships; or lack of. Felicity spent classes at the front of the room focused on the lessons and breaks in the library doing homework and extra assignments.

What little she did interact with her other classmates, was generally negative and more often than not resulted in her being bullied. She was picked on for her intellect, her second-hand clothes, her mother's job, her father's abandonment.

Felicity hid it as best she could, but their words hurt her and made her wonder even more why her father had left her. Was it something she had done? How could anyone love her if her own parents couldn't?

The gap between Felicity and her classmates wasn't the only one that grew. Felicity and Donna fell even more out of sync than they used to be; Donna didn't understand most of what Felicity said when it came to technology and Felicity didn't care about bright dresses, make-up and parties.

Felicity graduated high school at 16 and left for MIT without looking back. Anything to get away from Vegas, a place that held so many painful memories.

College was better than high school. People, especially the lecturers, seemed to appreciate her intellect, and while there were a few classmates that resented her for being the best on a course that was mainly male, she was happy for the first time in what seemed like forever. Sure, there was still the divide that she couldn't go out with any of the girls in her dorm because she was far too young to get into any of the bars, but by this point she was used to being alone and at least this way she couldn't say anything embarrassing; her lack of brain-to-mouth filter had started when she learnt to talk and had unfortunately never gone away. She dyed her hair black and changed her entire wardrobe; new place, new look.

She was 18 when she met Cooper Seldon. He loved computers as much as she did, and was almost as good as her - almost. They started dating and over the next few months, Felicity could feel herself falling in love with him. They planned to open their own tech company after they had finished college and for the first time since her father had left, Felicity could picture her future with someone else in it.

Together, along with Cooper's roommate, they started a hacktivist group and spent their free time hacking into various private and government servers posting on hacking forums. Felicity finally felt like she was using her abilities to their fullest potential and secretly enjoyed the admiration she received on the dark net under her alias Ghost Fox Goddess.

Everything was good. Until history repeated itself.

Cooper got himself arrested and hung himself leaving her alone again, just like her father had done all those years ago. She dyed her hair blonde, changed her wardrobe once again, this time to cute, colourful dresses, and finished off her time at MIT alone, only leaving her dorm to go to class and interacting only with her lecturers.

She graduated summa cum laude at 19 with Masters degrees in Computer Sciences and Cyber Security. Felicity turned down many offers for high level technology positions at various companies, not trusting herself to work in those environments after everything with Cooper. She settled on a basic I.T. position at Queen Consolidated and moved to Starling City to start the next chapter of her life.

Chapter 3: Life with Team Arrow

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

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Felicity settled into life in Starling City easily. Wake up, go to work, eat lunch at her desk, more work, head home, takeout whilst watching Netflix, then bed. Much like the rest of her life had been, it was solitary, and she only interacted with people at work, and only when she needed to. She refused to let herself get attached to anyone again. That only led to disappointment and heartbreak. She'd learnt that lesson twice over now.

For the next three years, she kept to that and was polite but distant to anyone she interacted with. She refused a promotion as she didn't want to receive any more attention. That all changed the day she met Oliver Queen.

For the first time since her father, someone had actually smiled at one of her embarrassing babbles. Oliver Queen was as handsome and charming as she had heard and was seeming remarkably put-together in her opinion considering he had spent the last five years on a deserted island. There was something about Oliver that made her instinctively trust him and somehow, she found herself agreeing to help him extract data from a bullet-ridden laptop. This had definitely not been in the job description when she had taken the job three years ago.

Later that evening, as she curled up on her couch and flipped through the TV channels, her mind drifted back to Oliver Queen. She guessed that having the surname he did, allowed him to do as he pleased, but she found it odd that someone who had recently returned from the 'dead' would be heading into the Glades without some form of protection, especially considering the mini army of bodyguards that followed Moira Queen around.

She pushed the handsome billionaire from her mind and headed up to bed. No use wasting brain cells thinking about a man she wouldn't be interacting with again. How wrong she was.

Over the next few months, Oliver continued to appear unannounced in her office, handing her puzzling objects for her to trace or pull information off of, and all of these visits were accompanied by the most ridiculous excuses Felicity had ever heard. Not once, did she believe any of the stories he spun her, yet for some reason that Felicity could not explain, she always did as he asked. She tried to tell herself she was just doing her job, helping the boss's son ensured she didn't get fired, but she knew that wasn't true.

Felicity curiosity about Oliver Queen was answered late one night when she found him bleeding in the back of her car, his body covered in green leather. The Hood. She had been helping the Hood all this time and she'd never even realised. That thought was pushed to the back of mind along with the hundreds of questions that stemmed from the realisation of his identity. For the next few hours she fetched and carried, applied pressure, fixed wires, and tried not to throw up over the alarming amount of blood coming out the man lying on the table in front of her.

Once he was stable, she walked around his 'lair' and took everything in. She chatted to John Diggle, a man she had seen but never officially been introduced to, and decided that 'Dig' was a much better name for the man instead of 'Giant Bear Man' as she had previously been calling him in her head. When Dig offered her a place on the team, her mind was pulled back to the realisation she had come to earlier in the evening. The Hood killed, and she had no interest in becoming an accessory to murder. If she was going to stick around and help Oliver with his crusade, some things would have to change.

And change they did.

Team Arrow, as Felicity had taken to calling them, went from Oliver on his one-man killing crusade against corrupt businessmen, to a team including John and Felicity lowering the crime rate and handing the criminals to the SCPD, very much alive.

Somewhere between the Undertaking and Slade Wilson arriving in Starling City, Felicity Smoak fell in love in Oliver Queen. She hadn't planned on it, and she wasn't sure the feelings in her heart were entirely welcome. Yet another chance for her heart to be broken. At least this time it would be unrequited love. Unlike with her father and Cooper, she was fairly certain that Oliver would never return those feelings. Why would he when the likes of Laurel Lance, Helena Bertinelli and Isabel Rochev surrounded him on a daily basis? That belief only intensified when Sara Lance came back from the dead and joined the team. Felicity revelled in the added female energy in the lair, but watching Oliver and Sara together hurt in a way she hadn't been expecting it to. Still, Sara and Felicity formed a fast friendship and after Sara returned to the world of the living officially, the two frequently ended up having movie-pizza nights on the weekend at Felicity's apartment.

The team continued to grow and change; the addition and then departure of Sara, Roy Harper joined the team and Felicity soon found herself surrounded by a family she had never known she wanted. All the things she had secretly dreamed about when she was younger (the friendships, the family, the love) had finally come true.

Her and Oliver continued to grow steadily closer and for a moment, when she and Oliver had been alone at the Queen Mansion, she had actually believed him when he had told her he loved her. But she was wrong. Of course, it was just a ruse to trick Slade. Why would he choose her when Laurel Lance was stood right there; a Laurel who now knew and accepted him for his biggest secret.

So, she moved on. She decided to finally, after all these years, put her abilities to use and took a job at the new Palmer Tech as its Vice President. She agreed to a business dinner with Ray and then took their relationship one step further; out of the business and into the personal. She could tell that her relationship with Ray bothered Oliver, but he had had plenty of opportunities to ask her out and she was done sitting back and having her heart broken over and over again, every time Oliver chose someone else over her.

She was happy with Ray, but she was still in love with Oliver. He mother had made her see that. In a flash from the past, Cooper had turned up (not as dead as she had thought) and her relationship with her mother now seemed better than ever. Felicity had always been one to do the right thing, even if it wasn't easy. It was one of the reasons she had joined Team Arrow. And it was for this reason that she broke up with Ray. It wasn't fair to him to continue this relationship when her heart belonged to another.

It took the entire city almost dying, and Oliver nearly dying several times over, but he finally saw sense. He and Felicity packed their bags and headed out of the now Star City to explore their relationship. After travelling the world together, they bought a house in Ivy Town and settled down to a life of domesticity.

Their return to Star City hadn't been as smooth as Felicity had hoped. The team, which now included Thea and Laurel, had asked for their help but didn't exactly seem eager for it now that they were there.

Felicity took comfort that Oliver was beside her and that things would work out the way they should. Or so she hoped. Things got worse before they got better. Damien Darhk terrorised the city with his ghosts, Felicity was shot and paralysed, and they lost Laurel during an ambush. But eventually, Darhk was defeated and the city flourished once more.

A few good things had come from those dreadful months however. Oliver was made Mayor of Star City and Felicity couldn't have been prouder. Oliver proposed to her, and on the night of their engagement party Curtis Holt provided her with the news that would change her life; a microchip to help her walk again.

Oliver and Felicity found out that Oliver had a son from before the island, and whilst it caused a few bumps in their relationship, they persevered and came out of it stronger than ever. Oliver visited William in Central City once a month, whilst Felicity stayed at home to run Team Arrow in his absence. She wished she could go and see William with Oliver, but Samantha Clayton had made it clear the terms of Oliver's visitation; and they didn't include Felicity.

That all changed when Adrian Chase showed up to punish the Arrow for killing his father. Felicity convinced Oliver to talk to John and Thea and both agree to come back and help save the city. After a quick phone call from Felicity, Roy also returns undercover to help them, but remains in the new lair most of the time to avoid detection by the SCPD.

The team rallied together and defeated Chase, but not before being kidnapped and taken to Lian Yu along with William and Samantha. The team survived unharmed; however, Samantha lost her life and William ended up going home with Felicity and Oliver.

Life continued on with a few adjustments here and there. Felicity turned Palmer Tech into Smoak Tech and continued running it as CEO and now owner, with Alena Whitlock as Vice President and Curtis Holt as Head of Applied Sciences. Oliver continued as Mayor of Star City and under his leadership the city flourished. William settled into his new school and life with his dad. Life was good.

Notes:

Ricardo Diaz and the New Team Arrow (NTA) do not appear in this story as I hate the entire Diaz story line and I think the NTA are a poor replacement for the original team, so I decided to have the original team stick around because I love them.

(please no hate for the changes, they are just my opinion on the show. I am aware some people see it differently)

Chapter 4: The Future

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Felicity walked down the aisle to Oliver thirteen months after William moved in with them. Surrounded by their friends and family, she and Oliver said their vows and spent the rest of the evening eating and dancing. Well, Felicity danced. Oliver obediently took to the floor for their first dance and then promptly headed towards the bar with John to escape. William held the rings; John was best man and Thea was maid of honour; everyone was happy. Especially Donna, who seemed quite taken with Laurel's father Quentin and, much to Felicity's embarrassment, spent the evening flirting with him in front of everyone.

Six months later Felicity found out she was pregnant. It was a bit of a shock as they hadn't been trying for children. In fact, they hadn't really discussed the fact. They already had William (who was just as much Felicity's kid as Oliver's) and it had never crossed Felicity's mind that they might have more children one day.

So, here she was, in her private bathroom at Smoak Tech, trying to decide how to tell Oliver. And William. They would have to tell him as well. She decided she would tell Oliver after dinner, once William had gone to bed. She headed back to her desk and tried to put the topic out of her mind. No use worrying about in right now. She had other important things to do.

Felicity sighed as she entered their house that evening. She had spent the better part of four hours going over the micro-chip specs to see how they could best reduce the cost of manufacturing. Their goal was to make the chip universally available to those who needed it, not just the mega-rich of Star City.

Oliver greeted her with a kiss as she entered the kitchen. He was already cooking dinner as usual. They had slipped into a rhythm of Felicity waking William up for school while Oliver headed to City Hall early and Felicity leaving work late while Oliver left around 4 to be home early. Felicity generally did all her Team Arrow work from home now, so that William wasn't left alone. Oliver still suited up and patrolled the city five nights a week, but was thinking about cutting back. Crime levels in the city were at an all-time low and Thea, Roy, Sara (who had returned, bringing Nyssa with her) and Nyssa were more than capable of taking care of a few small crimes.

Dinner was peaceful, filled with chatter about their days and two very typical Felicity babbles. It still amazed her that Oliver and William found her babbles 'cute'. Cute, was the last word she would use. Annoying, embarrassing and weird - yes. Cute - no.

Oliver took the news of her pregnancy extremely well. They agreed to wait till the end of the first trimester before telling William, just in case the worst should happen.

They shouldn't have worried. Felicity's pregnancy was perfectly normal, and aside from the occasional bout of morning sickness and sore ankles, it was a relatively easy pregnancy.

William was thrilled with the idea of a younger sibling and enthusiastically helped Oliver decorate the spare bedroom and turn it into a nursery. They decided to keep the gender of the baby a surprise and so they painted the walls a pale green, as a reference to how this family had started.

Mia Rebecca Queen was born January 4 2019 two days after her due date. There were a lot of sleepless nights and long, tired days, but they wouldn't have changed a single thing. It had only been a few months since Mia had been born yet Felicity could already see a lot of Oliver in her and she knew it would only become more pronounced as she grew older. She had Oliver's eyes, but a soft brown hair that she knew was the same as hers had been.

The relationship between Mia and William was the loveliest thing Felicity had ever seen. Mia adored her older brother and would routinely follow him around the house and demand that William help her with things instead of her parents. In turn, William became his sister's best friend. He loved her following him, and would tell her about everything he did. Felicity was sure that nobody would ever mess with Mia. They would have William to deal with if they did.

Felicity worried about her relationship with Mia as she grew up. She had clearly inherited Oliver's intellect. And whilst Oliver was far from stupid, Felicity feared she wouldn't be able to help her daughter with her schoolwork. Like Noah, Felicity had never been good as explaining things simply. Either you understood what she was talking about or you didn't. Oliver assured that Mia would love her whether she helped her with her homework or not. He also pointed out that she would probably ask for William first anyway.

When Mia was five, Felicity fell pregnant again. This time they had a boy. Thomas John Queen came screaming into the world July 12 2025. Unlike Mia, Tommy had Felicity's eyes and Oliver's hair, but like Mia, he had Oliver's intellect. Both of them had inherited Oliver's agility and sporting ability. Felicity spent every spare minute she wasn't working ferrying the two of them from soccer to archery to karate and back home again. Somehow, in the middle of all this, Felicity found time to help William look at colleges. Despite him not being her son biologically, his intellect was the closest to hers. He decided on Cal Tech, with MIT as his second choice.

Dropping William off at college was one of the hardest things Felicity had even done. She had raised the boy for the last seven years and it felt wrong to leave him all alone in a place that was hours away from home. It didn't help that she had Tommy attached to her hip constantly and Mia clinging to her older brother like this was the last time they would ever see each other.

Eventually, Oliver and Felicity got their two youngest children back in the car and home to Star City. Both children fell asleep on the journey back so after a long, emotional day, Felicity curled up on the couch in the arms of her husband and closed her eyes. Oliver had officially given up the hood shortly after Mia had been born, so she now got to fall asleep in her husband's arms at a sensible time each night.

Months and then years past and the Queen household carried on with their lives. Oliver started his third term as Mayor. Smoak Tech was now the foremost provider of technology in Star City and in the top 10 nationwide. William graduated from Cal Tech with a joint major in Engineering and Computer Science. Mia and Tommy continued to grow and develop. Mia joined the city's archery team at age 9 and Tommy was determined to follow in her footsteps as soon as he was old enough. Felicity admitted to herself that having her children learn from the Green Arrow, might give them a slight advantage over other children, but as long as they were happy she was fine with it.

2029 brought a surprise for Felicity and the rest of the Queens. She was pregnant again and little Meghan Laurel Queen was born on November 29th. Whilst Mia and Tommy had shown physical characteristics of both their parents; Megan Queen was a mini Felicity. Her hair was lighter than any of her siblings, looking remarkably like Felicity's dyed hair and her eyes were the same pale blue. And the physical characteristics weren't the only ones. It was clear that Meghan was developing far quicker than her older brother and sister and Felicity guessed it wouldn't be long before they had a literal mini Felicity to deal with.

But Meghan would have something that Felicity never had. A father who would stick around and love her unconditionally. She would have a mother who would understand and nurture her intellect. And above all, she would have two brothers and a sister who would stick up for and give her a chance at socialising with other children. She would have a good life.

Chapter 5: The Last Stage

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

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Felicity sat in an armchair in the living room of William's house. She looked out into the room over at her family. They were all grown up now. William was now the CEO of Smoak Tech and was married to a man named Michael that he had met at Cal Tech. Together they had adopted a little boy called Jake.

Mia was now 42 and had opened up her own chain of community centers across Star City. They catered to everyone aged 4 and up. Each one ran kids self-defense classes, archery courses, had a fully-equipped gym and rec-room as a safe place for children to go to after school if their parents had to work late. She was even considering adding a nursery section for young children of working parents. She was married to John Jr (JJ) Diggle, Dig's eldest who helped her run the centers. They had a daughter named Kayla who was three and were expecting another little girl in a couple of months.

Thomas had enlisted in the army after graduating high school and had just finished his third tour overseas. Like Tommy Merlyn, his namesake, he was a life-long bachelor and had no intention of settling down with anyone any time soon.

Meghan had taken her inherited intellect and was now a neurosurgeon at Star City Memorial Hospital. At 33, she had three PhDs, spoke 4 languages fluently and guest lectured at Star City University once a month. Meghan had come out as bisexual at the age of 22 and was currently living with her girlfriend who ran an animal shelter on the edge of the Glades.

All her family. Except Oliver. Her husband had died two years ago in a car crash aged 74. She mourned that most of their grandchildren would never remember their grandfather; the most incredible man she had ever met. A man who had changed her life in every way imaginable and absolutely for the best. She prayed that wherever he was, he had found peace.

5 years later, at the age of 77 Felicity Megan Queen passed away in her sleep and was reunited with Oliver.

Notes:

So that's it. Sorry if the ending got to you, it was a little deeper than I originally planned it.

This is only part 1 of the series with future parts coming focusing on Oliver, Laurel and many more.

All feedback is welcome.

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