Chapter 1

He stood in his father's 4th floor office at Central City Hospital. He gazed out the window admiring the view. He could see Central City Park, and as he watched the families play he got lost in thought.

He was jarred out of his daydreams when he heard a quick knock on the door. Without waiting for an invitation the door was opened by a pretty young women with auburn brown hair flowing around her face in waves. "Henry are you in here?" she said without looking up from the patient charts in her arms.

"He's not here yet." He said with a flirty smile.

She quickly looked up hearing the unfamiliar voice. She looked at the handsome young man with dark hair and a long thin frame, in front of her. "Oh. Sorry." She quickly looked him over then asked, "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Barry. Barry Allen. Henry's son." He held out his hand for a handshake and suddenly realized she was still holding the arm full of charts. He quickly put his hand down and flushed slightly with embarrassment. "Oh sorry. Can I help you with those?"

She looked down at the charts forgetting she was even holding them. She was mesmerized by his gorgeous green eyes. She stared into them a moment too long, then it was her turn to blush.

"Oh my yes. Thank you so much." She handed him the charts and as his fingers grazed her arm a zap of electricity shocked them both. "Ouch!" they said in unison. "I hate it when that happens." Barry said putting the charts on Henry's desk. She nodded her head in agreement, still unable to tear herself away from the emerald pools of his eyes.

He once again held out his hand to her, and she took it trying to remember her name.

"I'm Dr. Caitlin Snow. Its very nice to meet you." She finally said.

They shook hands slowly as he gave her a crooked smile and said, "It's very nice to meet you too, Dr. Snow." He gazed into her warm brown eyes and felt something stir deep inside.

They were still shaking hands when Barry's father walked into his office. They dropped their hands as soon as they heard him enter. His father stared at them for a moment, then said, "Barry, I see you've met our bright new star."

"Henry stop." Caitlin gave him a small shove then glanced between both men. "You're embarrassing me."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. You graduated top of your class. Nothing wrong with a little bragging about the best and brightest working for me. " He smiled brightly at her and gave her a friendly pat on the back.

Caitlin sighed heavily, and said "Well I best be going." She looked over at Barry, "It was nice to meet you and I hope to see you again." Barry nodded with a smile and gave her small wave. She turned to Henry, "Call me if you have any questions regarding those patients." She smiled shyly before exiting the room.

Once Caitlin was gone Henry turned to Barry, "Well son, you're late again." He started, a little irritation in his tone. "I was waiting for you here when I got a call to round on a patient, so I hope you weren't waiting long."

"Sorry Dad. I just got here when Cait, I mean Dr. Snow walked in. She seems nice." Barry fidgeted by running his hand through his hair.

"Yes, she's very nice and I like…working with her." Henry was browsing through the charts on his desk.

Barry waited for his dad to say something, but when he didn't, Barry cleared his throat and asked, "Where do you want to go for lunch today?" They had a traditional weekly lunch together ever since Barry's mother died when he was eleven.

"Someplace quick. I have a hectic afternoon. I have a board meeting then surgery at 4:00."

"How about Big Belly Burger. Their just down the street." Barry motioned out the window behind him.

"The doctor in me says that stuff will kill you, but I'm starving so lets go." Henry clapped Barry on back and they laughed happily.

They sitting, quietly eating, when Henry said, "So what do you think of Caitlin?" as he wiped special sauce off his chin.

"She seems nice. I only just met her. Why? You trying to set me up?" Barry said jokingly, then grabbed a mouthful of fries.

"No, no, nothing like that. I was just curious." Henry was silent for a few minutes while he carefully thought of the next thing he wanted to say. "You want to go out to dinner with me tonight?"

"I don't think I can handle big belly burger two meals straight." Barry said quietly releasing a belch.

"I mean a real restaurant. With cloth napkins and everything. What do you say?" Henry asked.

"I don't know." Barry got very suspicious. His dad was never good at giving news he thought Barry couldn't handle. "What's this all about anyway?"

"What a dad can't take his son out to for a nice meal? Just call it a make up for the quick lunch." Henry took a long drag off his soda.

"Ok." Barry said happily. "When and where Pop?"

"You know I hate it when you call me that. Lets go to that little Italian place on 10th street. I love their lasagna. How's 7:30?"

"Sounds good to me." Barry shoved the last bite of his burger in his mouth.

They finished their meal in silence then hugged their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Barry was working quietly in his lab at Central City police department. He was the head CSI for the forensics department.

"What's going on Barry?" The young uniformed cop said as he walked into the lab.

"Just working that evidence from the hit and run this morning." Barry looked up to greet his best friend. "What's up with you Joe?"

Joe had ebony skin with dark hair and dark eyes. He and Barry have been best friends since childhood. Joe had always been physically bigger than Barry, so he protected him from the bullies in school, and Barry in turn, helped Joe with his school work.

"Traffic duty, again." Joe said sadly. Joe stared off into nothing imagining the day he would get his detective shield. "I'm gonna be a detective one day. Just watch. And I'm gonna be the best detective in Central City." He smiled brightly.

"Well for right now you'll have to settle for being the best uniform cop in Central City. You know traffic duty is no joke. How else are people supposed to know when to go. Its not like they have these things with red and green lights, right?" Barry looked down trying to hide his laughter.

"I see you laughing white shadow. You better stop cause I may be on traffic duty but I still have a gun." Joe raised his eyebrow at Barry and they both started laughing till they cried.

"Hey uh…not to change the subject but…I met a girl today." Barry said wiping away a tear.

"Oh yeah…Its about time." Joe gave Barry a big smile, and motioned his hands in a come on action. "Details my man…details."

"She's a doctor over at my dad's hospital. She looks around my age really smart, nice legs, nice eyes." Barry said dreamily.

"Forget the eyes, how are the tits?" Joe held his hands up to his chest as if he was cradling a pair breasts.

Barry acted offended, "I'm a gentleman Joe. I wasn't paying attention to that."

"Bullshit!"

"Ok, OK." Barry said giving in. "She did have nice tits. Not too big not too small."

"Like Goldie Locks. Juuusssttt right." Joe nodded his head trying to picture them. Then they both laughed again.

Barry was running late to the restaurant. He knew his dad would already be waiting for him. He was led to the table where his dad was sitting, and he was accompanied by a woman with wavy brown hair. Her back was facing Barry so he wasn't sure who it was.

His dad caught sight of him, stood up, and waved him over. He gave his dad a hug then took his seat next to his dad. When he sat down he saw that the women was Caitlin.

Barry was caught off guard and said, "Dad I thought you said you weren't going to fix me up." He knew his dad was up to something. He turned to Caitlin and , "No offense. Your very nice and pretty but I'm just not looking for a girlfriend right now."

Caitlin blushed, and Henry laughed heavily. "No son. I'm not setting you up." He reached over and grabbed Caitlin's hand, "I'm introducing you to my new girlfriend." He smiled brightly and gazed lovingly at her.

Barry was dumbstruck. He stared from his dad to Caitlin to their embracing hands back to his dad.

"Oh…" was all he could say. He felt his face get hot and regretted opening his big mouth. Then he heaved heavily as he thought back to his comment about her tits.

"It's just, I haven't dated since your mother, and Caitlin reminds me of her." Henry continued. He looked back at his son and gave him a small smile. "She's smart and kind and beautiful. I just wasn't sure how you would feel about your old man dating again." He paused briefly, "And a younger woman at that."

"Dad you deserve to be happy. Really." Barry said faking a huge smile. He wanted his dad to happy, but not with someone his own age. Was that the only reason?

"I hope we can be friends." Caitlin chimed in reaching over and taking Barry's hand. He felt that stirring inside again. "I don't know a lot of people in Central City and I would really like to get to know you." She gave him a sweet smile that made his heart hurt.

Barry continued to smile as fake as he could manage. "I would like to get to know you too." He thought for sure they would see through him, but they didn't. They just stared at each other and Barry got a bad taste in his mouth.

"You know, I'm just the third wheel here." Barry said. "I think I'm gonna go and let you guys have a nice dinner alone." Barry couldn't get up fast enough.

"I'm sorry if this makes you feel uncomfortable son." Henry pleaded. He tried to grab Barry's hand but he was out of his chair too fast. "You can't help who you love."

"Its not that Dad." Barry lied. "I just don't want to intrude." He lend in and gave his dad a quick hug, then raised his hand to wave goodbye to Caitlin, "Very nice to see you again Dr. Snow."

He rushed out of the restaurant wishing he had some sort of supersonic running power, because all he wanted, was to get home and forget the fact that he had a crush on his dad's new girlfriend.