The Flash and Forever don't belong to me

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Fathers and Sons

Detective Joe West was still laughing as he made his way from Barry's lab to his office. That kid always managed to get a laugh out of him. Although he wasn't very sure of Barry's decision to meet and talk to Iris as the Streak, he was glad his son had done so, maybe now Iris would drop the whole thing and forget about the blog.

Even as that thought crossed his mind he instantly dismissed it, knowing his daughter as he did, and Joe definitely knew his baby girl, her resolve to find out more about the Streak and getting him to help Barry was now stronger than it had ever been. They just had to come up with a better way to protect her and hope that those pyscho meta-humans who were increasingly showing up in Central City would not think she really knew who the Streak was.

000

"I told him that you were busy but…"

"I insisted," another voice, British, finished the sentence.

Joe looked up from the file he was reading and stared at his visitor. "It's fine," he told Peters who was still trying to prevent the stranger from getting into the office.

"Hello Detective."

"Dr. Morgan," Joe replied, "what brings you to Central City?"

"You know me," Henry replied, removing his scarf and sitting across from Joe, "nothing much."

"Right."

The men stared at each for a moment and then they smiled at each other and shook hands.

"Where's Abe?"

"Jitters," Henry replied. "He said he needed a proper cup of coffee after the terrible ones he had on the flight over. Plus you know how much he loves Iris."

Henry and Joe had met in Central City five years earlier when Henry and Abe had been hiding out there. Henry had been working at a small rehab clinic in a forgotten part of town and their paths had crossed when one of the doctors there, Richard Prendergast, had begun killing the patients, 'ridding the world of worthless junk' as he had referred to people he had killed.

One evening Henry had been caught in the middle of a stand-off between Prendergast and his latest victim: Joe had been the first responder on the scene and as he watched Henry had stood between the victim and Prendergast and had been shot. Joe had shot Prendergast down and when he turned to Henry he was in time to see him disappear into thin air.

Henry and Abe had immediately begun to plan their departure from Central City; however by then Joe had managed to find out where they lived.

000

"Don't forget my notebooks," Henry called out.

"For the third time," Abe replied, grumpily, "they were the first thing I packed." Abe was aware of how important the books were to his father.

Henry and Abe were so busy carrying their belongings, which weren't that many admittedly, that they didn't notice that man standing by the side watching them.

"This is a surprise."

Henry dropped his bag and stared at the detective. "Detective West," he stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"You know," Joe shook his head, "I replayed the scene over and over in my head thinking that I must have imagined you at the scene. That you hadn't disappeared right before my eyes, that you had died and my mind somehow rejected that information. Yet here you are, alive and well."

Henry was standing in front of Abe, in a protective stance watching the detective wondering what he was going to do to them.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Joe asked.

Henry was silent for a while and taking a deep breath he asked, "How did you find us?"

"Really? That's what you want to know? How I found you?"

"I imagine you want answers from me," Henry said, "how I was shot and instead of bleeding to death I disappeared right before your eyes and yet here I am. You probably want to have me taken into custody and questioned and studied and locked up until you understand how this happened." Henry stopped looked at the detective and added, "Abe had nothing to do with this as you well know."

"You don't have to protect me," Abe protested.

"You know I have to," Henry smiled sadly at him.

Joe was staring at the two men infront of him.

"On the other hand," Henry said, "you really have nothing to arrest me for, I didn't kill those people and I could be a magician, of some sort, playing a trick," he laughed softly, "and I don't see any back-up detective, so why are you here?"

Joe was asking himself the same thing. When he had found out Dr. Henry Morgan's home address earlier he had wanted to talk to Abe, he'd found out from the clinic that Henry lived with an older man called Abe, although no one at the clinic knew for sure what their relationship was or where they lived exactly. Joe hadn't told anyone what had happened at the scene and the would-be victim had been so heavily dosed on drugs that he was still in some sort of coma.

But now staring at the man he thought had been shot, who had disappeared right before his eyes; he could only shake his head in disbelief.

"I hope you're not going to try and convince me that you're a magician," Joe said.

"Would you believe me if I did?"

"No. Seen enough magic acts to know when something's real."

"Okay." Henry nodded. "But just so I'm clear, you're not having me arrested or taken downtown for a chat or whatever, right?"

"No, of course not," Joe agreed. "Like you pointed out I have nothing to arrest you for. In fact I should be thanking you for helping me stop that pyscho."

"So?"

"Do you really want me to spell it out?" Joe asked.

"Can't answer a question unless it's asked," Henry joked.

000

"So, why are you really here?" Joe asked his friend.

"Can't a man travel a few thousand miles to visit his friend?" Henry replied. "You know I don't have too many of those."

"I know."

"And I hear that some interesting things have been happening here."

"You don't say."

"Word is your Barry can do some very special things."

Joe had been smiling but now he frowned at Henry. "Where did you hear that?"

"You know me," Henry said. "Can't reveal my sources."

"Are you telling me that people out there know who Barry is and what he can do?"

"Well I can't speak for people," Henry told him, "but Adam knows."

Joe shook his head. He knew all about Adam, the two men barely had any secrets between them – apart from Barry Allen's abilities, until now. "What does he know about Barry?"

"He knows that Iris is blogging about him and he's tickled that she doesn't know that her best friend is the subject of her blog."

"And what is he going to do about it?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Joe was intrigued.

"Those were his exact words," Henry replied. "He just thought he would share the information with me. Speaking of, how is Barry?"

"Fine."

000

"I couldn't help but notice the awkwardness between Iris and Barry at dinner," Henry said.

"They're going through a rough patch."

"Is it the boyfriend, your partner, Eddie?"

"No, I wish it were that simple," Joe said.

"It's that blog isn't it?" Henry asked. "You don't want her putting herself in danger."

"I wish she could see it the way you do."

"Children never do."

"Tell me about it."

"I tell myself that it's easier now that Abe looks older than me," Henry joked.

"Is it?"

"No. Now he's worried about dying and leaving me alone, which is why he so was excited about coming here to visit you."

"I thought you had abandoned your plans to try and end your life."

"Haven't you noticed how I have a new lease on life?"

"Can't say that I have," Joe teased his friend.

"Joke all you want," Henry told him, "you have bigger problems than my staid life, what will you do when Iris finds out that not only did Barry lie to her but that you did as well?"

"Maybe I'll finally visit you in New York."

000