New Earth: Arrow

Chapter 23

Oliver took a deep breath as he entered the mansion and prepared himself for the long and most likely loud conversation he was about to have with his mother.

"Oliver, what a nice surprise." Moira said pleasantly.

"Can we talk? Privately?" Oliver asked and Moira was honestly a bit worried considering the tone of his voice, but nodded nonetheless as she led him into the parlour and gestured to her staff to leave them.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Moira asked.

"You'll know in a second." Oliver said as he pulled out the memory gun and before Moira could say anything, he fired and he had to admit, as much as he loved his mother, after everything he'd learned about her true nature, he took more pleasure than he should've in taking that shot.

"I imagine that is not the first time you've wanted to shoot me Oliver." Moira said as she recovered from the mind dump.

"You have no idea." Oliver said with a smile as he then hugged his mother.

"I'm so sorry I didn't save you mom. I should've stopped Slade." Oliver said.

"Don't apologize for that. Honestly, maybe a sword in the chest is what I deserve for all the pain I caused." Moira said and Oliver took a deep breath.

"Speaking of that, I didn't just come up here to restore your memories." Oliver said.

"I'm assuming that you did both to me in order to confront me about the skeletons in my closet. But before we do that, there is something that both you and Thea need to know." Moira said.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"I still have the memories of my counterpart from this earth and apparently I was a much more faithful wife to Robert than he was a husband to me in this world." Moira said and Oliver got the implications.

"Thea isn't Malcolm's daughter." Oliver said and Moira nodded.

"She'll be thrilled to hear that." Oliver said and Moira nodded.

"So, which skeleton do you want to confront me about first?" Moira asked.

"How about the one where you kept my son from me." Oliver said angrily.

"Oliver, you weren't ready to be a father." Moira said.

"That should've been my decision to make, not yours. Who knows, maybe having a kid could've been what forced me to get my act together. But you were more concerned about avoiding a scandal that would come with the oldest Queen child having an illegitimate child. You put our family's image and reputation over what was actually best for it." Oliver said angrily.

"Perhaps you're right." Moira agreed.

"Besides, I found out about it in the end and I actually did manage to have a relationship with my kid." Oliver said.

"You did." Moira said.

"Yes. I have a son and his name is William. And even though I haven't met him yet in this reality, I love him more than I ever thought possible." Oliver said and Moira smiled.

"I thought the same thing the first time I held you and Thea in my arms. And I shouldn't have deprived you of that with your son." Moira said.

"I thought I made my peace with it." Oliver said.

"When I was dead. But now I'm not. And Oliver, I am so sorry I denied you the chance to be in your son's life, but it sounds like you got to know him in the end." Moira said.

"Yeah, but it wasn't exactly easy balancing being a father and being the other thing." Oliver said.

"The hero." Moira said with a smile.

"Mom." Oliver said.

"Oliver, for all my faults, knowing the man that you've grown into and the woman that Thea's grown into, it proves that despite everything I did wrong, at least did one thing right. I raised my children to be heroes and I could not be prouder of either of you. You and Thea are my greatest accomplishments." Moira said and Oliver smiled before he took a deep breath, knowing that his mother needed to be made aware of the next thing.

"Except Thea and I aren't dad's only children are we?" Oliver asked.

"You know about Emiko." Moira said, not honestly surprised, since she should've known that Oliver, being the man he'd become, would've eventually found out about her.

"Yeah and I know what you and dad did to her and her mother." Oliver said.

"What exactly do you know about that situation?" Moira asked, taking Oliver aback.

"Enough. I know how dad had a daughter with a woman named Kazumi Adachi and her name is Emiko and that you forced him to abandon her when she was just a kid and left her and her mother to fend for themselves with no support, causing her to end up joining an international criminal enterprise called the Ninth Circle and she tried to kill me and destroy this entire city. And she knew that the Queen's Gambit was rigged. She knew and she had the opportunity to warn dad, but she didn't because of how angry she was at our family." Oliver said and Moira looked down in shame.

"I know there is nothing I can say to justify what I did." Moira said.

"You're right. Just like how you can't use Thea and I to justify your actions in the Undertaking. And you know what mom, I've recently realized something that you and dad have in common." Oliver said angrily.

"And what might that be?" Moira asked.

"You both have a tendency to make decisions based only on how they affect you and then you don't give a damn about the messes those choices make and leave them for someone else to clean up, usually me. Do you have any idea how hard I've had to work to redeem our family's name after all the terrible things that you and dad have done? How many times I have had to prove to everyone, including myself sometimes that I am not the same as either of you were." Oliver demanded.

"You're right." Moira said, taking Oliver aback, since honestly, he'd expected her to deny everything he'd just said.

"You're right Oliver. I never stopped to think about how my choices would affect other people, even my own children. And you shouldn't have to clean up the messes of my mistakes." Moira said.

"You can't do anything about it now mom. I managed to get through to Emiko once before and I'll do it again. But mom, you should think about whether or not all the choices you've made in both this world and old one were worth all the pain they caused." Oliver said as he walked away from his mother, honestly feeling a bit lighter now that he'd gotten that off his chest.