Story: Sequel to Drinking & Wallowing

Too Late?

It had been a few months since Kara had returned from her drunken night with Barry. In that time she had been keeping herself busy with reporting and superheroing. Not only that but Mon-El and she had begun recuperating their broken relationship. They weren't dating anymore but they had started fighting crime together again and Mon-El had become a lot better at it since he started. He was clearly trying to be a better person, despite his past. Kara was quite happy to see him work so hard but she had pretty much lost interest in him romantically. Something had changed, and it wasn't just what he did. It was something else but she wasn't sure what.

It was late at night when Kara found herself flipping through her phone's pictures. She was hanging out with Alex and Winn who were arguing about a movie or something. She didn't really pay attention as she had found herself staring at a picture of her with Barry. It was during their super hero after party following Earth 1's alien invasion. The picture had been taken by Felicity and they were both making goofy faces at the camera. She couldn't help but smile at the memory. That man always brought out the best in her and she liked to think she did the same for him.

"Kara," a voice suddenly said, making her almost drop her phone. It was Alex, who was standing right behind her with Winn next to her.

"Rao almighty, what's wrong with you? You scared the crap out of me," she half-shouted as she quickly closed the photo app on her phone. Both Alex and Winn started laughing.

"So why were you staring at a picture of Barry for several minutes?" Winn asked, with a smirk on his face

"I didn't do that," Kara said defensively. "I was just looking... at myself." Alex and Winn looked unconvinced. "What? Is a woman not supposed to appreciate how she looks?" Alex snickered at that comment.

"Yes, yes, of course, but," Alex admitted, "why look at a picture of you with your time traveling superhero friend with dashing good looks for several minutes straight?" Kara looked at her with confusion. "Hey, I might be gay but I know your type."

"I'm not interested in Barry. He's my friend," Kara insisted. "Besides, he's probably still hung up on Iris if he hasn't already gotten back with her again." At that, with a deep sigh, Alex went to sit down next to Kara on the couch, putting her arm around her sister, while Winn sat on the other side of the couch.

"I don't think you could have said that last part with more disgust if you had tried," Winn said jokingly, but deep down Kara knew what they said was true.

"Okay," she admitted after a while. "Maybe I have been having thoughts of me and him, but…"

"You don't want to have your heart broken again," Alex finished for her. Kara just nodded at that. "Kara, if you really feel this way, maybe it's best to talk to Barry about it. Even if he doesn't feel the same, you're probably gonna feel a lot better knowing for sure. Otherwise, you'll just drive yourself crazy thinking about it." She really couldn't argue with that.

After Alex and Winn left, Kara decided to take to the skies to clear her head. She knew they were right but she still wasn't sure if she could go through with it. What if he was still trying to figure things out. Adding herself to the mix would make things even more complicated. Not only that, but what if they put the wedding plans on again, she can't just get in the middle of that. She couldn't help but think of bad outcomes. But maybe, that was the problem. She was just thinking. The only way to know was to do something. So she made a decision. She would tell him tomorrow. She would simply do it. Get it over with, worst case scenario. The next day, she picked up her interdimensional travel device, set the frequency and walked through the portal leading to her good friend's dimension.

Once she arrived, she made her way to Cisco's place, hoping Barry would still be there. She nervously rang the bell, quaking on the inside for what might happen. However, no one answered the door. Weird, she thought. She then flew to the West household but she had no luck there either. She then checked out the CCPD building and STAR Labs but he was nowhere to be seen there either. Kara figured that he must just be at a crime scene or something, doing CSI work or maybe doing Flash-related work. Or, maybe her fears had came true and he and Iris were back together. Only one way to find out. She made her way to Barry Iris's apartment. She felt that same quaking while she rang the doorbell. But just like before, no answer. Where was he? In fact, where were any members of the west family or any of Barry's friends? What to do, she thought. She then, realized something. She could just ask Barry's boss. He'd probably know where she could find Barry or at least Joe.

She walked inside the CCPD building and asked around for the police captain; she was directed to Captain Singh's office.

"Captain Singh," she said with a welcoming smile as she entered the office. He didn't seem very occupied. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I won't be long. I'm Kara Danvers. I'm a friend of Barry Allen. I just got into town but I haven't been able to reach him, so… can you help me out?" The captain didn't look pleased.

"Yes," he said, looking curious all of the sudden. "He mentioned you before." Barry mentioned her? She couldn't help but blush a little at that. "National City, right?"

"Right," she replied with a nod, even though it was another Earth's National City.

"I guess the news didn't reach you over there," he said, puzzling Kara.

"What news?" Kara asked with utter confusion.

"Look," he started, while rubbing his forehead. "I'm sorry you have to hear this from a stranger but…" He paused.

"What happened?" she asked, now really concerned. "Did something happen… to Barry?"

"No, Miss Danvers, not him," he said, with a certain pain in his voice. Before he finished talking, Kara had a brief moment of relief. "It's his fiancee, Iris. She was murdered."

As she made her way to the funeral, Kara was in shock. Not only that but she felt guilty. This entire time, she had only thought about how this might turn out for her, that she didn't consider what Barry had told her about Savitar. That he had asked Iris to marry him in order to save her. It was clear to her now that Savitar had succeeded and even more so, how Barry must be feeling. Losing someone you love was not a foreign concept to either of them, but that didn't mean that it ever got any easier. Being as powerful as they were, not being able to save someone was especially devastating.

Kara had quickly bought herself some funeral attire before showing up at the funeral. When she arrived at the gate to the graveyard, she could see various people pay their respects. She recognized several, including some of the heroes she had fought with during the alien invasion, like Oliver, Sara, Felicity and Diggle. Of course all of Team Flash was there. Everyone looked devastated but no one was more distraught than Joe, Wally and of course Barry. She couldn't help but shed a few tears seeing one of her best friends so completely destroyed. As they all finished paying their respects, they began leaving the graveyard one by one. None of them even seemed to notice Kara, as they passed through the gate. Their thoughts were clearly only of Iris. However, after almost all of them had left, Barry remained. From afar, Kara watched him stare at Iris' gravestone, not taking his eyes off it for one second. From where she was standing, she couldn't see what his face looked like at the moment but it wasn't hard to imagine. She debated whether it was appropriate for her to try and talk with him, but the guilt she was feeling kept her from moving a muscle herself. He continued to not move an inch for a whole hour before Kara decided she couldn't just stand there and watch him anymore. She had to say something.

"Hey," she said solemnly as she slowly approached from the back. He didn't react. She couldn't tell if he was just ignoring her or if he was so caught up in his grief that the outside world no longer existed. "I'm sorry about what happened. I…" She paused for a second. "I can't imagine how you must be feeling, but I just want you to know that if you need to talk. I'm here for you. Always." Tears started flowing as she said this. Truth, she felt like she should have been here to help him stop Savitar, but she hadn't been and that guilt could not escape her. He still didn't respond. Suddenly, she knew what needed to be said. "This wasn't your fault, Barry. Please, please, don't blame yourself for her death. I know you are because you always put the world on your shoulders, but I know you did everything you could to try and save her." Her tearful words finally made him speak.

"No," he said with conviction, still staring at the gravestone. "It's all my fault, Kara. She's dead because I couldn't save her."

"No! She…" Kara began tearfully but before she could finish he yelled.

"Of course she is!" he shouted, now facing her, his eyes bloodshot from all the crying. "I killed her. I killed her. I killed…" but before he could finish, she interrupted him with a powerful embrace that almost knocked him over.

"No you didn't," Kara cried as she held her friend in desperation. "You fought to save her, Barry! You did everything you could, even going as far as pushing your relationship to the limit, only on the off chance that it might save her. You didn't give in and that's why she loved you. Because you…" She paused to catch her breath. "You were her hero, Barry." Barry was now weeping into her shoulder, unable to speak a single coherent word. The two of them stood by Iris West's gravestone for a long while, holding onto each other as if the guilt they felt could be contained by the powerful embrace they shared.

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