I'll Be There

By: Rhuben

Summary-On the anniversary of Averey being released from jail, she and Eddie meet up in Central City Park to catch up.

Eddie Thawne pushed his sunglasses up his nose as he settled back against the bench he was perched on in Central City Park. The sun trickled through the leaves of the tree nearby as he maneuvered his ice cream cone towards his mouth, licking at the quickly melting dessert. A drop landed on his wrist and he ran his tongue over the skin before he passed over the area again with his napkin.

"Heyyyy." Eddie looked up at the young brunette that moved to sit down on the bench next to him, careful not to squish the small teal box (Cake and Bake was written on the top in swirling gold lettering) next to his right thigh. "I was supposed to bring the cupcakes this time." She gently shook the white box she held in her hands to emphasize her point before holding it out to him. "And we didn't say anything about ice cream. I want some."

"Sorry, Averey." He gave a sheepish grin as he took the box. "I saw the ice cream truck on the way in and just grabbed some." He used the tips of the fingers on his free hand to push the teal box closer towards her. "But, I got you your favorite."

Averey Moore twisted her mouth to the side as she used her thumbs to flip open the top of the cupcake box. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of the contents. "Angel Food with marshmallow frosting," she breathed, removing the mini cake from the box. She loudly sniffed at the frosting and smiled. "I've gotta forgive you now, yeah?"

"You better, I went all the way to Keystone for it." Eddie smiled as the Australian girl took a bite of the dessert.

"Mmmmmm."

When deciding to join the police force, he never thought he'd ever strike up a friendship with someone he not only arrested, but had put them in jail when they were innocent of the charges.

Before transferring to Central City's police department in late 2012, he had been working in Keystone City trying to bring down the Royal Flush Gang. He had spent countless hours working over time, and off the clock, poring over case files, listening to interrogation tapes, and staking out locations he was sure members frequented.

Then one day, Averey Moore showed up in Keystone City; what's more, she spent a lot of her time with the young men and women he'd been keeping close tabs on. He didn't know it at the time, but her court case would be one he would consider the most important one he could cover. Looking back on it, he could agree that he had held onto a weak reason to arrest her—he had picked her up for shoplifting a pair of shoes and proceeded to slap a pair of handcuffs on her wrist and called it aiding in gang activity—but he had vowed to clear the streets of Keystone City free of violence when he was first named detective.

And it was all because he had an agenda. Yes, she did actually end up leaving the store with the shoes on her feet that she didn't pay for, but she didn't deserve her time spent in jail or repeated visits to court for sentencing. She didn't have to plead "guilty" for any of the charges against her but the damage had already been done. He had insisted that she was the newest recruit into the Royal Flush Gang and nothing could change his mind about it.

When he had figured out the truth, that she was in fact innocent, he did everything he could to make sure her court case ran as smoothly as possible. After long talks with his dad, he managed to hire the best lawyer he could for Averey, and went along with her to every meeting she had with them, all the while using his influences to rush her case through the court process as fast as possible. He didn't stop showing her support until everything was all over and she walked out of the courtroom for the final time with a year of probation sentenced to her. To celebrate it all being over, and to continue apologizing profusely, Eddie took her to get cupcakes.

After it was all said and done, he didn't expect much. Then one day, after transferring to Central City, he found himself returning to his desk to a special delivery box of cupcakes. The note attached was straight to the point ("I hope this finds you. Thought I'd return the favor. Thanks again. Averey") and he thought that was that…until she showed up at a crime scene he was canvassing with his partner, Joe West, and their CSI, Barry Allen.

Since then, he wanted to look out for her and make sure she was staying out of trouble. Maybe he was pushing too much when he asked her numerous times if she was in trouble, maybe it was just the detective side of him that wanted to see something that wasn't there, but he had a good reason behind it. His eagerness to bring in the Royal Flush Gang caused some dark periods; he inadvertently killed his previous partner during a raid. Now he was getting a second chance and he wasn't going to be the reason why she had any problems. He was going to be there for her again if anything happened.

"Wow, that far," Averey said, her words dripping with sarcasm before looking in the direction of the main road that took drivers out of Central City and straight into Keystone. She lifted her hand to her mouth and licked the white frosting that stuck to her fingers. "Remind me to reimburse you for the petrol you used."

"I'll hold you to that," Eddie replied before taking a bite out of the rim of his cone.

Averey laughed around the food in her mouth, lifting her hand to block the sight of mashed up food from him. "I got an extra cupcake for Iris, too," she said, nodding towards the white box she had handed him. "So, there are three in there."

Eddie nodded his head in thanks as he quickly continued to eat his ice cream. "So," he said, smacking his lips, "happy three years free. Close enough, anyway."

Averey's brown hair bobbed and swayed around her face as she tilted her head back and forth, rapidly chewing. "Thank you," she managed to get out. She lifted a finger in the air and Eddie waited for her to speak. He lifted his gaze towards the trees above them in lieu of an eye roll of amusement as she punched the air with her fists and said, "Whoop, whoop, three years free from jail."

"Woohoo," Eddie joined in with a fist pump of his own before he rested his arm on the back of the park bench. He crossed one jean clad leg over the other, relishing in a day off where he didn't have to dress up so much. Of course he was proud of his work, and proud to display his badge while on duty, but every now and then, he needed to take the time and relax and decompress from a hard day of cases.

"How are your parents doing?" Averey asked behind her hand.

"Good," Eddie replied, nodding his head as he used his napkin to wipe the dribbling ice cream from his hand. "Thanks for asking." Wrapping his lips around the cold treat, he quickly pulled a glob of the ice cream into his mouth. After swallowing the cold treat, he took a large bite out of the waffle cone. "Dad's travelling and mom's glad to have him out of the house long enough to redecorate."

"I'll bet." Averey laughed. "Travelling just because?"

"No, he's been helping this organization that advocates fighting childhood obesity and has been travelling around the US to visit schools," Eddie replied. Glancing at what was left of his ice cream cone he let out a short chuckle before he quickly ate it. If only he could see me now, stuffing my face with ice cream and cupcakes. "I used to be a chubby kid, in case you didn't know."

Averey's eyes moved down the length of his body before shifting upwards to lock eyes with him. "That's really hard to believe," she commented. A small smile hinted to him to not take her comment seriously.

Eddie snorted.

So he was often told. That was the most frequent response whenever people found out about that little fact from his childhood. He could credit two big moments in his life for the shape he was in. The first was constantly being picked on in elementary school that made his coach team him how to defend himself. The second was when he decided to sign up for the police academy.

The structure and discipline needed not only in boxing, but from the Police Academy taught him how to take care of his body and his mental health. A good boxing session allowed him to blow off steam and get out all of his frustrations from a hard day. And it was fun. No one at school ever bothered him once he shed all his baby fat and shot up like a tree. The other recruits at the Police Academy stopped making him the butt of their jokes when they realized how seriously he was taking his studies.

"Yeah, well," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. Comments about his physical form were appreciated in certain contexts (many of them involving being around Iris), but sometimes it made him a little uncomfortable. "It's going well. He's doing a lot of good things with it; some schools around the nation have adopted some new nutritional programs from it."

"That's great!"

"Yeah." Eddie popped open the box beside him and the smell of chocolate instantly hit his nose. There was even a Red Velvet for Iris. Averey's impeccable memory for little things he could mention as a passing comment always astounded him. He picked up the Devil's Food cupcake and removed the wax papering around it before pulling the bottom portion off. Sensing eyes on him, he lifted his head and looked over at Averey who was looking at him as if he said the grass was made out of frosting. "What?"

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Eating my cupcake."

"Like that?" Her upper lip curled as she watched Eddie place the bottom half of the cupcake onto the frosting, pressing the two pieces together before making a bite. "This isn't another American thing I have to get used to, is it, mate?"

"No, it's just how I eat it," Eddie replied, laughing at the look on her face round his bite of food. She looked like had just committed a cardinal sin. "I can knock out a lot of cupcakes this way." It's no wonder I was a chubby kid. He was a sucker for desserts and once he got a taste of it, he had to have more. The familiar ache in his jaw from the rush of sugar was almost, sadly, nostalgic.

With his parents being so busy, food was constantly there for the comfort he needed when he was home alone nursing the injuries he had received from another rough school day. Numerous days of the week he'd return home to an empty house, his parents tending to a special event in the city. Again. Whenever he did have time to go, all he wanted to do was leave. He was uncomfortable with himself and the cameras pointed at him clicking away.

With his weight, he didn't exactly project the image of being a Senator's son. At least, that's what all of the mean kids constantly told him. But food never talked back, or at all, and it made him feel full. Full of whatever it was he was looking for at the time, even now he wasn't entirely sure what that was. But eating made him feel good until he would see just how much he ate. Then he would feel even sadder and more depressed than he had before.

There was that slight feeling of guilt that flowed through him as he continued to eat his cupcake, but he was in a better place now. He had a job he loved, a girl he loved even more, and great friends. What more could he ask for?

"My parents were asking about you," he said, using his thumb to remove a crumb of chocolate cake from the side of his mouth. "They always do around this time of year. Wanted to see how you've been doing since everything."

"Just can't bring yourself to say it, eh?" Averey asked with a sardonic smile. She stressed the two syllables in the word making it sound like,"Jay-yul." It sounded even more ridiculous with her heavy accent.

She was one to talk. There were times where she could openly joke about it and times where he could see that she was embarrassed that she had been in jail and became somewhat subdued when it was brought up.

"That's nice of them." Averey grabbed the arms of her sunglasses, adjusting them over her ears. Eddie wondered if she actually needed to adjust them or was trying to figure out a way out of the conversation.

That was something that hadn't changed about her, when a conversation got too close for comfort, she would try and find a way out of it. Whether it was changing the subject or her eyes bouncing from exit to exit in the area, her whole body tensed as if she was going to jump up and start running at any moment. Every time he saw it, it made him want to keep an eye on her that much more, to make sure everything really was as ok as she tried to pass off.

"I'm ok." She clapped her hands together before holding them by her head, wiggling her fingers in a "ta-da" kind of way. "You can tell them thanks for asking."

"Sure."

The two of them finished their cupcakes before sitting in silence.

"Hey, Eddie?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you become a police officer?" Averey asked. Shifting her seated position and leaned against the backrest of the bench with her shoulder. She tucked one leg underneath her and pulled the other to her chest. "Don't think I've ever asked."

Eddie stretched his legs out in front of him before crossed them at the ankles as he thought of his answer. "For selfish reasons," he replied. "At first. I got beat up a lot as I grew up. I already told you that I was overweight as a kid—which is partially the reason why dad is working with that organization. I wanted to have some sort of power over them, to really nail it into their heads that they couldn't do that to me. I was their target because my father had closed one of the factories the city was dependent on."

"Why'd he close it?"

"He was blackmailed into it."

It was public knowledge that the closing of the factory was his father's own decision, but he knew the truth. Between hushed arguments behind closed doors, the frequency of his dad meeting with his accountant and the police, and phones ringing with no one on the other end, anyone was bound to wonder what was going on.

He knew his father; he worked for many people and wanted everyone to succeed. Senator Thawne knew a lot of the families that worked in the factory and was good friends with a few of them. Eddie didn't, and couldn't, believe that his father would ever turn his back on them and choose to close the factory without any forewarning. Afterwards, he had done his best to find jobs for the men and women who were struggling. The damage had been done and it only fueled his classmates' bullying.

"I don't know what they had on him, but he was coerced into shutting down that factory." Eddie shook his head back and forth, his jaw tightening as he clenched his teeth. His parents were so helpless and constantly looked worried. The whole time they would do their best to reassure him that everything was ok. But he wasn't blind. "The kids couldn't reach my dad, so they took out their anger on me. Things got better after a couple years, but they never really got over it. Not that I could blame them."

"You have any idea who could have blackmailed him?" Averey asked.

The three words were on the tip of his tongue. Everyone knew he had a history with the Royal Flush Gang and would do everything to try and take them down. In an odd way, they partially had a hand in his decision to become a police officer in the first place.

He remembered the night he had returned home from a day of school and sat in his car as long as he could, staring at the puffy bright red skin around his eye in the car visor mirror. There was only so much time he could spend trying to finger comb his hair to cover it. If his mom saw him coming home with any more injuries he'd be—

"Dead," Eddie muttered, shoving the car visor back into place, "I'm so dead. Dad's going to kill me."

Dropping his head back against the arm rest, he sucked in a breath of air and pushed his car door open. He reached for the letterman jacket behind the driver's seat and slid his arms through the rough material. After grabbing his backpack from the passenger seat, he used his hip to close the driver's side door, using his hands to pull his collar up past his cheek bones.

He started running a game plan through his mind. Every day, he would make a beeline to the kitchen for a snack (preferably a piece of fruit) and to talk to his mother before retiring to his room to do homework before dinner. But how would he get past her? It's already been hours since he would have normally been home, let alone the additional thirty minutes he had just spent sitting in his car. Bypassing that first step in his routine in favor of hiding his face would make her even more suspicious of him.

"Edward!"

Shoot. As if he could really hide anything from her.

He barely made it a step up the porch before his mother, whom Eddie didn't see sitting on the porch swing in the dark with a glass of wine in her hand, hurried to his side (after setting her wine down). "What happened?" A deep frown appeared on her face. "Did those boys give you a hard time again?"

"Not at first," Eddie replied, wincing as his mother's fingers pressed on the swollen area around his eye starting another round of throbbing and twitching from the injury. "They just decided it was a good idea to hit me even harder when I ignored them."

"What was it this time?"

"That I don't have to worry about what comes after graduation."

While Eddie hadn't ultimately decided on what he was going to do after graduation (he had a few ideas floating in his head) in half a year's time, a lot of the men he was graduating with were scrambling for jobs and gathering enough money to head to community college. The factory shutting down had caused a lot of families to scramble to find any decent form of income and some families were still having a hard time bouncing back.

"I have the mind to call their mothers this time," Mrs. Thawne said with a shake of her head before making her way up the stairs towards the house. "This has got to stop. I thought you had this settled, Edward."

"So did I," Eddie muttered, lowering himself to sit on the top stair on the porch.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Mrs. Thawne asked, standing at the door. "Oh, I can't believe this."

"Mom, I'm fine," Eddie insisted. Sure, his ribs were a little sore, and his bruises were sending pain signals up and down his legs, otherwise he was fine. He had gotten a few good hits in himself; it was going to take a couple days for his fingers to fully extend again. "It's ok."

"It's not ok," Mrs. Thawne insisted. Eddie twisted his body around to face her and his mother's gaze softened. "You know how your father feels about this, especially in a re-election year."

Yeah, because that's what's most important, mom, Eddie thought to himself. He stopped himself from rolling his eyes in his mother's presence. That would have made things worse. Re-election might not be important to him, but it was important to his parents.

"I'm going to have to tell him."

"Yeah, I know." Eddie pushed a breath of air through his nose before wetting his dry, cracked lips with his tongue. "I'll be right here." The cool night air blew across his face and he briefly closed his eyes before lifting them upwards to the darkened sky. The front door opened without even the slightest creak and he heard his mother call into the house, "Look at what those boys did to your son" before it was shut behind her.

Eddie closed his eyes, trying to relax the muscles in his body to prepare for his father. He barely heard the door behind him open or the footsteps on the porch approaching him. Feeling ice pressed to the side of his head, Eddie had jumped before taking the bag from his father.

"Hi, son."

"Hey, dad."

"It doesn't look that bad this time," Mr. Thawne said. He gripped Eddie's chin between his forefinger and thumb, angling his son's head this way and that under the porch light. "The skin isn't broken. You're going to have one heck of a black eye, though."

"Yeah." Eddie kept his gaze from his father, just waiting for the "public image" lecture. Only it never came. Peeking over at his father out of the corner of his eye, he caught his dad studying him, waiting patiently.

"So what happened?"

"They were talking about jobs and work and how I didn't even know how to get my hands dirty because I have everything given to me. Security was right there and they didn't even do anything." He rubbed his forehead with the pads of his fingers. "They probably think the senator's son needs to be knocked down a peg or two."

"Do you?" Eddie was silent. "What do you think, son?"

"I think I don't want to be the guy everyone makes fun of anymore or, or thinks that they won't amount to anything because I never had to work. I don't want everyone to think of me as just the senator's son and nothing more. I don't want them to think they can get away with what they did because someone doesn't want to step up and tell them they're doing something wrong."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm…" Eddie lifted his right elbow onto his knee, pressing his face harder into the ice as he angled his head to look at his dad. Mr. Thawne silently stared back at him, waiting for his answer. He had been thinking about it for a while, mulling it over, but never really coming to a decision on it until now. "I'm going to be a police officer. I'm going to stop people from using their power—however little it is to push people around or to try and force things to be easy for themselves."

"That's pretty admirable, son, but you need to be careful. It's thinking like that, that create the cops that take things too far."

"Dad." Eddie removed the ice from his eye. "I'm going to stop guys from doing what they did to you to other people."

Senator Thawne's mouth opened and closed as he tried to find something to say. He bowed his head for a moment before facing his son, pressing his lips together. "How…" the rest of his words died on his lips.

"I wasn't spying," Eddie explained, "I promise. Sometimes I'd pick up the phone to use it and hear part of conversations before I hung up. I watched the news, people talk. I could just tell something was going on so I kind of pieced it all together."

Senator Thawne slowly nodded his head before he placed a hand on his son's shoulder, shaking it. Eddie watched, confused, as his dad slowly started to laugh. It started out quietly, a mere shaking of his shoulders, before his whole upper half was shaking, and his laughter spilled out of his mouth and into the night air. "Well, if you could do all of that work, son; pay close attention, listen carefully, gather information, I think you'll make a fine police officer. I'm proud of you, Eddie."

Those words had never felt so good. From then on, Eddie had a plan and he stuck to it. He kept his focus on his school work and upon graduation applied for the police academy. He worked hard to rise through the ranks until he got to be the Detective he was today.

Through all of that, he had received accolade and recognition for his arrests and the way he acted out on the field. He knew people talked about his ego and how big it was, but he was proud of his work keeping his streets safe. It was all little steps until he could ultimately, one day, meet his goal and arrest any and all members of the Royal Flush Gang in his city.

"You really have to ask me that question?" Eddie said, answering her own question with one of his own. He rotated his head on his shoulders to give Averey a dry smile.

"Guess not," she replied, matching his smile with one of her own. She started twisting a lock of her hair around her index finger, using her other hand to push her sunglasses up into her hair. She blinked a couple times before squinting just slightly against the sunlight. "I think you make a good cop if my opinion means anything."

Eddie blinked in surprise at the sudden admission. It wasn't every day he was told how well he was doing in his line of work, especially from someone he had previously arrested. He removed them from his face. "That means a lot," he said sincerely, a true smile replacing his previous one as he shifted on the bench just slightly to face her. "Really. I appreciate that."

"Good, cause, in a weird way, I'm glad it was you that arrested me," Averey replied. "Not a lot of blokes would do what you did." She removed the hair from around her finger and playfully punched Eddie on the shoulder. "I got a mate I can trust out of it. Not to be mushy, but I reckon that's the best part. Even if you are a pain in the bum."

"Excuse me," Eddie said with a short laugh, "do you know how hard it is to make sure you stay out of trouble? I swear you're making me go gray."

Averey's shoulders shook in a laugh before she gave a mocking pout. "Aw, and we wouldn't want a single hair on your head to not be perfect, yeah?"

Eddie made a face at her before relaxing into a smile of amusement. "I appreciate that, too, Eddie." He lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "You looking out for me."

"Ahhh, right," he said, slowly nodding his head. He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "No problem, don't worry about it. I'm just doing my job." In all actuality, his job ended the second the paperwork was all done and an arrest was made (and sometimes not until taking the stand at a trial). But there was one case here and there that stood out against others that had even the most "by the book" cops keep an eye over until it reached a conclusion they were happy with.

"No, seriously, even if I get annoyed by it, you've proven to be a better mate than some of the other friends I've made since coming to America," Averey explained. "You continued to stick by me when I thought no one else cared." She extended her arm in the air, waving her hand around in circles. "I mean my mum and dad are thousands of kilometers away, and I didn't have anyone else here to help me out."

"Whatever it is you need, I'll do my best to help you any way I can," Eddie promised her. "I know this all started because of a mistake I made, but you deserve the best life you can. If I can help you do that in any way, then it's made all of this, my job, worthwhile."

The two of them hugged (as best as they could as they still were seated) and in that moment, Eddie found himself happy that it was she who had stumbled across his metahuman burn victim case in Central City. Despite his worries, he was happy to have her in his city. He was happy to have her as a friend.

Averey sat back as she broke the hug and a smirk appeared on her face. "Now who's getting mushy?" she asked with a teasing smile.

Eddie let out a loud laugh which she joined in on. "Hey, you started it," he reminded her. He lifted his fist towards her and she bumped it with her own, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." She twisted her wrist towards her and checked her watch. "I better get going; my shift at Jitters starts soon."

"Need a lift over there?" Eddie asked as he got to his feet, making sure to take the box of cupcakes in his hands. "I don't mind."

"I don't mind walking." Averey shook her head back and forth before pointing her thumb over her shoulder. "It's in the opposite direction you're going in. Thanks heaps, though." She turned to leave, lifting her hand in a wave. "Enjoy the cupcakes."

"Hey," Eddie called to her. "Stay out of trouble."

He said those exact same words to her the day she had been released from jail. And now, just like that day, she let out a small laugh and said, "I'll do my best."