Barry sat on his couch, staring at a dark cell phone.

Just call her, he thought. She literally told you to. You shouldn't be nervous.

He kept staring.

Just then, Cisco burst through the front door, and Barry jumped as if he were up to something.

"Are you still staring at that goddamn cell phone?" asked Cisco, walking towards him.

"Look, I'm nervous, okay! It's been a long time since my last date, and I'm kinda freaking out!" said Barry. With that, Cisco grabbed the phone.

"My passcode is..."

"I know it," mumbled Cisco, with the phone already to his ear. "It's ringing." Barry snatched the phone back, just in time to hear Kara's voice.

"Hello?"

Barry held back a moment before exclaiming, "Hey! It's, uh, Barry! Allen!" Smooth. Kara laughed softly.

"Oh! From the party, right?"

"Yeah, that's me." Barry started pacing, while Cisco clutched the back of the couch like a koala, listening intently. "How's your day going?"

"Uh, I'm doing okay. My sister has to leave town for work, so she and I had breakfast this morning. You?"

"I've been..." Barry paused as he realized that he had basically woken up, taken a shower, got dressed, and then stared at his phone for about 3 hours. "...busy. I was wondering if you wanted to maybe grab a coffee later?" He held his breath, bracing himself.

"Absolutely! I have a few errands to run, but how about 3?"

His eyes lit up. Cisco leapt the couch, tripping and falling before nearly tackling Barry. "OOPH! Uh, yeah! 3 should be fine! Do you know where CC Jitters is?"

"Oh, totally! I love Jitters!"

"Great! I'll see you there!"

"It's a date!" Kara and Barry exchanged good-byes. Cisco stared at him, mouth ajar.

"DUDE!"

"I know!" said Barry.

"DUDE! That is how it's freaking done!" Cisco slapped him on the back.

"Thanks, man," Barry said. He looked at the ground and couldn't help but smile to himself.

"You really deserve this, man. I know ever since the whole super speed thing, your personal life has been all out of whack. It's good to see you so happy."

"Come on, Cisco. It's coffee, not my wedding day."

"Really? You gonna try to play coy with me? Like I didn't just watch that whole thing?" Cisco sounded almost offended. Barry chuckled, his mind racing.

Barry arrived an hour early, had three cups of coffee, and accidentally phased through his chair twice before Kara showed up. He was nervous; every time a person opened the door, he jumped. He tried to burn off some of his excess energy by running around the block 100 times, but that only made him sweat, so he ran back to his apartment, showered and changed, and ran to Jitters. As he contemplated going and getting another shirt, she walked in the door. Barry hadn't gotten a good look at her at the party, but she was very beautiful. She was wearing a blue sweater and a polka-dot shirt underneath. As she adjusted her glasses, Barry took three deep breaths, and said, "Kara!"

She turned to him, and once she located Barry, she gave him a big smile. Wow. Barry felt like a stupid cliche, but he felt her smile actually brighten the whole room. She strolled over to him, and laid her purse on the chair opposing him.

"Hi, Barry." He was kind of staring at her, and she blushed.

"Hi, Kara. You look incredible."

She chuckled."Really? I've been up since like 6, and I've been flying from appointment to appointment all day. Have you been waiting long?"

"No, not at all."

"Great! I'm going to grab a coffee, I'll be right back."

"I'll be left front," Barry said, and Kara snorted and giggled.

"I've never heard that one before!" She walked away, still laughing. Barry felt his phone buzz in his pocket. It's going pretty well so far. From Cisco? Barry responded, What do you mean? Cisco typed for a while, and said, Look behind you. When he turned around, Barry saw Cisco, in a gray hoodie, wearing sunglasses and a fake mustache, while he pretended to type on his laptop.

"Goddamnit."

Barry rushed over to the table, making a scoot-scoot motion with his hands.

"Leave. No. Go. Hate. Kill. Fight. Stab."

"Aw, come on, man," whined Cisco, "I just wanted to make sure my baby boy was doing okay." He waved as Kara returned to the table.

"Hi! It's Cisco, right?"

"That's me. I saw you at Gypsy's the other night, yeah?"

Kara's eyes lit up in recognition. "Yeah! That was fun. I really needed a break."

"Don't we all," Barry chimed in. Cisco turned and placed his computer and disguise into his bag.

"It was nice to see you," he said, "but I'm afraid I was just leaving."

"I didn't think I smelled THAT bad." Kara joked. Cisco shot Barry a look, as if to say that terrible jokes were a good sign. He gave his exit pleasantries, walked outside, and left, but not before mashing his face on the glass like Ralphie looking at a Red Rider BB Gun.

"He seems cool," Kara said, breaking a 10-second silence, which, for a speedster, felt like a lifetime. Barry smiled. "He is… something. He was definitely here to spy on us."

"I kinda guessed. What with the Groucho glasses."

"Actually, those were unrelated."

"Early Halloween celebration, or horrible disfigurement?"

"Weird kink, actually." They both stared for a moment, then bust out laughing. When they finally recovered, Barry recommended a short walk in the nearby park. Grabbing their things, they started over, the summer sun defeated by a cool breeze.

"So, are you a student?" Barry asked.

"Yup. Journalism. I actually just put up for an internship over at Catco."

"Wow. That's pretty major! Let me know how that goes."

"I will!" She smiled, as she gave a pebble a small kick. She almost seemed worried about hurting the pebble, which was odd, but not uncute.

"What made you want to be a journalist?" Barry continued.

"I have a cousin, he's a reporter," Kara explained. "Maybe you know him. Clark Kent? Of the Daily Planet?" Barry shrugged.

"I don't read the Planet much."

Kara looked up at the clouds for a moment. "He's the only other member of my biological family. My parents… they aren't around anymore. He made sure I had a good home, visited a lot, and he'd always tell me these stories of all the good he was doing with his job. I really admire him, and I guess I hope I can help people just like him." She blushed a little. "Sorry, I feel like I'm rambling."

"Not at all. I know what you mean. My mother, she died a long time ago. My dad is…" Barry had a little trouble getting the words out. "He's in jail for her murder. I started school to try and get him out; I'm a CSI major, I forgot to mention that. So I start, and I'm so focused on helping save him, I'm not eating, I'm barely sleeping, I'm skipping classes so I can work on experiments for other classes. I burnt myself out. Then, my foster dad picks me up for lunch, and I fall asleep in the middle of my Big Belly Burger. I'm talking face-first into my fries." They both chuckled softly at the image.

"So he sits me down in front of the news, and there's a story about some case, where a man was saved from the electric chair because there was conclusive DNA evidence that proved he didn't kill his wife. Joe-that's my foster dad's name, he looks at me, like all dads do." With that, Barry made a serious dad face.

"He says that doing what we do isn't like painting, or writing, or geology. Being a CSI means keeping innocent people alive. And that if lives hang in the balance, I owe those people my best self. So I promised him I'd take better care of myself." Barry was the one who looked embarrassed now. "And you thought you were a rambler."

"No, that was a great story! And…" Kara hesitated. "It's not a good thing… but I'm glad to meet someone who knows what it's like to live without their biological family. Everyone says you can tell them anything, but…"

"You can't, really." Barry continued. "I mean, if they knew all the things you were really thinking or feeling…"

"They would tell you not to think about it. Or to move on. Or to stop using it as an excuse," Kara finished. "Exactly." They both stood, realizing although they had started a peaceful walk in the park, they had stopped about 3 feet from the entrance for their entire conversation, and had finished all their coffee. What's worse, their conversation had taken a somewhat dark detour, which was exactly when Barry offered to walk Kara home. She accepted, and hooked her own arm around his. "Buddy system," she said.

By the time they had arrived at Kara's apartment, the two of them went through all sorts of favorites. Foods (Doughnuts, potstickers, and pizza), movies (a long arduous list of musicals), places (Barry mentioned his time at S.T.A.R. Labs, while Kara talked about a place called Argo he had never heard of), they had covered the entire getting-to-know-you spectrum.

"Well," said Kara, "this is my place." She gestured to a large brownstone building with blue shutters and a slightly dinged green door.

"Alrighty," Barry replied, pausing a moment to say, "I had a great time. I'd love to take you out again sometime. If you'd like."

"Nope. I had a horrible time, I hate you, and frankly, if I never see you again, it'll be too soon," Kara said, with a deadly straight face which cracked once she saw Barry's reaction. "I'm kidding! I had a great time. I would love to go out again." Her eyes flicked quickly towards his lips, then back to match his gaze.

"It's a date…" he trailed off, as their faces inched closer until the two embraced in a kiss. Barry's perception was always screwy when he was emotional, but it seemed as though that kiss went on forever, right until the moment it ended, where it seems to have gone by in a...well, he wasn't going to say.

"I'll call you."

Kara winked at him. "Not if I call you first." She slowly walked the steps up to the door, turned to look at him once more, then disappeared behind it. Just before Barry could walk away, she opened the door again, and said, "I'm sorry, that felt confusing. Let's just stick with the you-call-me plan." She smiled at him, and slammed the door.

Barry was on Cloud 9; he felt so good, he walked the whole way home, savoring every moment between her door and his, until he got home to see Cisco reheating Chinese.

"Hey, I'm sorry about the mustache thing, but I think it might be a real hit with the ladies. Seriously, you should take it on your next date. Assuming…?" Cisco gave Barry a meaningful look.

"It went well, Cisco. She's great. We have a lot in common, she's sweet, and a little self-conscious, but very funny. I'm seeing her again. For sure."

"That's my boy! Come eat with me. I left you the Pork Fried Rice, I know you like it."

The two young men ate Chinese food and talked, talked and ate Chinese food, for hours, until one or both of them decided that it was time to sleep. As they snoozed in their beds, they had no idea that a few blocks away, at Kara Danvers apartment, a young woman slipped on a red and blue outfit with a red S shield on the front, pushed open a window, and sped high into the night air.