In the Eyes of the Law

By: Rhuben

Summary-After a long day at work, all Eddie wants to do is spend his anniversary with his girlfriend. [Not in canon with In a Flash] Eddie/Averey

Detective Eddie Thawne was good at what he did. Arrests went down without a hitch and gave him that little jolt that reminded him that he was doing a great job. Interrogations were fun. Ask questions a certain way and you could get two different answers. Getting people to crack was kind of a game to him. One he looked forward to playing every day.

"Great work today, Detective."

Eddie settled back in his chair, giving Captain Singh a bright smile as he chewed on the gum in his mouth. "Thanks, Captain," he replied with a two-fingered salute. He heard snorts sound around him, but that didn't matter.

He was new to the Central City Police Department. It was only natural that there was a sense of a "hazing" he had to go through. He saw all of the rolled eyes; he knew all the muttered conversations were about him. Not that he didn't know why. He was proud of his work and had no problem telling anyone about it or his track record for the years he spent on the police force.

"I agree; nice work today."

Eddie spun around in his chair to face his partner, Detective Joe West. Getting a compliment from him was a bit harder to receive, but not otherwise impossible. Joe was a great police detective and while on duty didn't stand for any horseplay. This often had the two of them rubbing each other's nerves if not butting heads. Eddie was serious about his work, but he couldn't deny that it gave him a certain adrenaline rush to be able to go out onto a call and to personally bring them in.

"Thanks, Joe," Eddie said, giving him a smile.

"Just don't let it go to your head," Joe replied.

"Don't worry, I won't."

Eddie's smile faded just slightly as Joe stopped what he was doing, lifting his gaze to look Eddie in the eye. He had done it again; put his foot in his mouth. For someone who was a well established detective—and it was possible that was just something he viewed about himself—there were times he didn't read the situation enough to know when to keep joking or to stay silent.

"Each case is a day to day thing, Thawne," Joe reminded him. "You can be doing well one day and off the next."

Eddie silently nodded, reaching for his shoulder. He could feel the puffy, raised skin where his surgery scar sat from the bullet that was removed. It had been a few months since he had been able to get out of the hospital and get back to work, but he could still feel his shoulder tighten up from time to time from the injury.

Joe often joked that soon he'd be able to predict the weather with how often it would hurt—there was some correlation to the pain and when it rained. The injury had slowed him down at first, keeping him behind his desk for the first week and a half before he was able to convince Captain Singh that he was ready to get back into the swing of things.

"Yeah, I know," Eddie said quietly. "I know."

"So, what had you so distracted today?" Joe asked. "I mean, you were able to keep your head, but I can tell there was something else that had your attention." He lifted a finger and tapped at his temple. "If I can see it, everyone else can, too."

Eddie settled back in his chair, a smile reappearing back on his face. He couldn't help it; he always smiled whenever she came to mind. "Anniversary is today," Eddie replied as he shifted his gaze over to his computer screen. Checking the time, he started loosening his tie, hearing Joe's deep "Ah, riiight."

"In fact, I should get going."

"All right," Joe said, waving his hand in the air as Eddie started packing up his stuff. "Have a nice evening. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget to clock out."

"See you later," Eddie replied. He lifted his hand in a wave before he clocked out, officially ending his shift, and making his way out of the precinct.

He hummed along to the music playing on the radio as he drove down the streets of Central City. He tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel to the beat of the music, and occasionally to the beat of his racing heart. A year together and his girlfriend was still able to give him butterflies in his stomach.

Minutes later, he was making his way down the street towards the agreed upon meeting site. A shorter woman came into view, her brown hair pulled up into a short ponytail, wisps of hair gently drifting around her face as a breeze blew. He watched her for a moment as she gazed through the shop window, taking in the antiques on display. She was unaware that he was there.

Smiling to himself, an idea came to his head. Walking quickly, yet as quietly as he could, he closed the distance between the two of them. He tried hard not to laugh as he came up behind her and…

"Freeze!" he said, grabbing onto the shoulders of the woman. "You're under arrest." The woman shrieked and he caught the reflection of her startled and scared look on her face. He pulled her arms behind her back and reached for the pair of handcuffs on his detective's belt before snapping them down around her small wrists.

"Bloody hell!" her accented voice reached his ears as she was hauled away from the store window. "For what?"

"Stealing," Eddie replied, hauling her around the corner. He tipped his head in a short nod at the few people he passed on the sidewalk who looked curiously on. As soon as he rounded the corner, he pressed her up against the brick building and gave her a charming smile. "My heart, anyway."

"Oh, get lost!"

"Can't do that, ma'am," Eddie said in the best authoritative voice he could muster. "I love you too much."

The woman matched his smile—Eddie could still see relief in her eyes from the fake arrest. "That is so cheesy," she said, flushing. "And I should know; you American s love your cheese. And your bacon." A thoughtful look crossed her face. "Speaking of, why is your cheese even orange?"

Eddie didn't answer and instead opted to kiss her. He had waited all day to be able to do that. She kissed him back with just as much passion, causing an ache to form in his stomach. He moved his head lower, kissing the spot where her shoulder and neck met, earning a sigh from her.

"I bloody hate it when you do that," she said into his ear. Her soft tone told him otherwise. Eddie stepped back to look into her eyes and Averey Moore frowned in response. "You scared me."

"Good thing you weren't actually stealing this time," Eddie commented with a half smile. He kissed her forehead and she twisted her mouth to the side.

"Just plotting out what I would swipe." She rolled her eyes. "Think I could make it with a lamp at least." She chuckled. "Yeah, that'd be a right laugh. Can you un-cuff me now?" Her eyebrows lifted. "I mean, I know you have a kink—but…"

"As you wish," Eddie replied, motioning for her to turn around. He quickly removed the handcuffs from her hands. She massaged her wrists as he tucked his handcuffs back into its pockets. He looped an arm around her waist, pulling her towards him. She stood on her tiptoes and placed her hands on his shoulders before she kissed him. "Mmm. Hi."

"Hi," Eddie replied just as quiet.

"Of all the things to get your attention and drag you away from work, I had to plan out a theft." She blinked her hazel eyes at him. "Why, Detective, I reckon this was how we first met," Averey commented with a smirk.

"And you say I'm not romantic," Eddie commented, his voice flat. He gave her a peaceful smile. "Happy anniversary, baby."

"Happy anniversary."

She hadn't even been stealing anything when he had first met and arrested her in Keystone City. It was all a big misunderstanding. He was on what others called a "power trip" trying to bring in members of the Royal Flush Gang and had arrested her for gang affiliation. He was sure the group of people she was hanging around with at the time were members. He arrested her for shoplifting as well as she had tried to walk out with a new pair of shoes, which she thought her friends had paid for.

The Australian woman hadn't been in Keystone that long but was already facing legal trouble. Despite his doing everything he could in his power to help her have a smooth court process, she had taken the punishment. Being her first criminal offence (and maybe the judge had gone easy on her due to her being from a different country), she got off fairly easily.

It was her willingness to accept the blame that made him take notice of her—and her knack for talking back to him; as if anyone could really ignore someone that made fun of him as often as she did. The more time he spent with her and supported her through it all, the more he got to know her, and eventually the more he loved her. Her accent didn't hurt, either. Now they could look back on their meeting as a joke, if not as the basis for a prank or two.

Guiding her out of the side street, the couple started making their way down the main streets of Central City.

"No flowers?" Averey asked, looking him up and down. He didn't miss the appreciative look in her eyes. "You treated me better when I was still in legal trouble."

"There's just something alluring about the bad girl," Eddie replied, lifting an eyebrow. "Now that we're together…" He pulled the corners of his lips down in a mocking apologetic look. "You're kind of boring."

Averey elbowed him in the stomach, eyes glowing in amusement. "This coming from the man who thinks good reading is looking over case files," she replied.

"Hey, you can find out a lot about people from reading case files," Eddie said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Liiiike, I happen to know that a certain Aussie who had problems with authority all throughout school." Averey pursed her lips and Eddie chuckled. Gotcha.

"And people wonder why I'm dating a police detective," she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Were you waiting long?" Eddie asked as his laughter subsided. "I was worried I was going to be late."

"Not really," Averey replied, waving her hand in the air. She placed a hand on the small of his back as she allowed him to guide her down the street. "Long day?"

"Naaah," Eddie waved his free hand in the air. "Knowing I'd spent the rest of the evening with you made the time go by fast."

"So, where are we going?" Averey asked. "You haven't told me anything and I'm dying to know." She then stopped and looked at him, a suspicious look on her face. "You're not taking me to an Outback Steakhouse are you? You've always had a laugh about it, but you know—"

"That it's 'tomato sauce' and not 'ketchup' and it's 'prawns' not 'shrimp'," Eddie said, giving his best Australian accent as he repeated her words. "The creators haven't ever been to Australia, and that everything in America is too sweet—including me." He grinned and kissed her on the cheek. "But, no, I'm not taking you to Outback."

"Good," Averey declared. "I swear, Outback should be against the law or something."

Eddie smiled in amusement.

"I'll get right on it," he promised.

Averey pretended to swoon. "Arrest my beating heart," she said.

"Gladly." Eddie cupped her face in his hands. Tilting her head back, he robbed her of her breath as he kissed her.

THE END

A/N: After seeing a guest reviewer talk about becoming an Eddie/Averey shipper, I decided to try that idea out. It was fun to write.