.:3:.

"Becky Cooper?" Iris's nose wrinkled. She leaned forward to place a plate on the dining room table, doing a double take when she realized she was about to drop it on the floor. "The Becky Cooper?"

Barry, who was on the other side of table setting up the silverware, gave her a funny look. "Since when does her name have a 'the' in front of it?" he demanded.

"Since she's the only girl you dated in high school," Iris pointed out.

"It's not a big deal," Barry said. He looked up as Joe West walked into the dining room with oven mitts covering his hands to protect him from the steaming glass pan in his hands. "Joe, do you think it's weird that I ran into Becky Cooper today?"

Joe put down the glass dish and looked at Barry. Then he looked at Iris and looked back at Barry. "The Becky Cooper?" Barry rolled his eyes. "The one you dated in high school?" Iris smiled smugly and motioned towards her father as he corroborated her statement. "The one that broke your heart when you stopped dating."

"Okay, she did not break my heart," Barry defended himself. He cleared his throat then crossed his arms. "But she did break my CD collection when she threw it at my head." He leaned out of the way as Iris hurried around to his side of the table and pushed his bangs back. "Ow! What are you doing?"

"I want to see if you still have the scar," Iris said. She continued to reach towards Barry's head but he ducked and leaned out of her way. Finally, she gave up and backed away as Barry moved to the other side of the table for protection. "Who knew CDs were so sharp?"

"Who knew Barry's reflexes were that bad?" Joe added, starting to grin. He lost it when Iris laughed and Barry ran his hands through his hair before resting them on his head.

"Are you done embarrassing me?" Barry asked.

"Oh, Barry. We could never be done embarrassing you."

Joe and Iris laughed again.

Barry ignored them. "Anyway, I don't think it's that weird that she's back in Central City. She grew up here like we did. Except she was the only one with enough sense to stay away." He laughed a little bit.

"Okay. But that's the question of the day," Iris pointed out. She rested her finger on her chin and turned her gaze towards the ceiling as she thought. Barry smiled, immediately recognizing it as her 'investigator' face. "Why would she decide to come back all of a sudden? Now offense, Barry, but I don't think it would be to see you."

"I don't know, honestly. I was just as surprised to see her as she was to see me. We talked a little bit and she said she was back here to see some of her family before she went off to work again."

"And what's she doing?"

"She's a pharmacist."

Iris nodded and finished setting the table. "Well, it's good that she's found something she really likes doing." She sat down in her seat and draped her napkin across her lap. Then she noticed the silence around her and looked up to see Barry and Joe both staring at her with amused expressions on their faces. "What?"

Joe took his time filling his plate with their dinner that night—steak, beans, and a salad—before pointing at her with his fork. "It's just really funny that you're being very…supportive of her."

"Why's that funny?"

Now Barry smirked. "Because you never liked her, Iris."

She shook her head. "That's not true. I liked her as a person. I just didn't like her with you." Joe and Barry exchanged a glance. Iris rolled her eyes. "Seriously. I thought she wasn't right for you. I'm surprised you managed to go out for so long."

"Off and on for two years isn't that long if you think about it," Barry pointed out. "Especially since we were 'off' more than when we were 'on'. And I never knew what you didn't like about her. She was nice to you."

"That was the part that bothered her," Joe joked. Iris stuck her tongue out at her father as the front door to the house opened and Eddie came flying inside. "Hey Eddie," he greeted, causing his partner to freeze mid-stride. "You're dating my daughter, at some point we're going to have to get over it and at least be civil with each other. I invited you to dinner didn't?"

"Yeah…" Eddie lowered himself into his seat, loosening his tie as he did so. Despite Iris smiling over at him and giving him a kiss on the cheek he still seemed ready to bolt out of his chair when the time came for it.

"We were just talking about Barry running into his ex-girlfriend today," Iris piped up, effectively changing the conversation topic away from her boyfriend lest he became a nervous wreck. Barry dropped his fork to his plate and gave her a look that said, 'for real?'. "So, Barry, do you think she'll ask you out?"

Now his eyebrows rose. He hadn't thought about that. Why would he? He hadn't thought about Becky in a long time. Did he blame her for that? Absolutely not. He blamed himself for it, really. Their relationship had been rocky; she was the first girl he really allowed himself to open up to after his mother's death other than Iris. And she didn't care he was still haunted by his past and tried to help him as much as she could. But he was still haunted by it and no matter how well things were going between them there was a point where he would block himself off and immerse himself in his schoolwork while ignoring her.

Then he'd apologize and it'd start all over again. Becky had given him a lot of chances but the last time he took advantage of it and they broke up for the last time had been when she was so angry she threw things at him. Next thing he knew it was time for graduation. Barry apologized to her and she had forgiven him and they hadn't spoken since.

"Why would she ask me out?" Barry asked.

"It's common place for exes when they see each other again," Eddie piped up as Iris nodded. "I don't mean it has to be a romantic thing. But a way for you two to catch up, to see how things have changed over the years…"

Oh yeah, things definitely have changed, Barry thought, his mind immediately going towards his powers. Instead, he shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I don't even know how long she'll be here in Central City, just that she's visiting her family."

"Oh. Is she cute?"

Barry smiled and Joe slapped his hand over his face as Iris turned her rapt attention to her boyfriend. It might've been an innocent question but no matter how Eddie meant it, by his luck it wasn't going to come out that way.

"Does it matter?" Iris asked pointedly.

"I was just wondering. I mean, to know how Barry felt about her. I mean, to see if he had a type or anything like that. He doesn't really talk about dating a lot." He turned to Barry with wide eyes, silently pleading for help. "You don't really talk about dating a lot."

To diffuse the situation Barry shrugged. "I haven't really met anyone…" he trailed off, starting to smile.

That wasn't entirely true.

"Look, you're smiling," Iris pointed out. "What're you thinking about?"

"Nothing in particular. But Cisco and I were supposed to hang out tonight, so…" he made a show of shoving a forkful of food into his mouth. Thankfully that changed the subject once more and the conversation topic of him and his non-existent love life shifted to the cases Joe and Eddie dealt with that day.

Once finished with dinner and heading out to Cisco's apartment, Barry was stopped by his phone ringing. Glancing at the phone, he paused when he realized he didn't recognize the number, and answered. "Hello?"

"Is this Barry Allen?"

"Speaking."

"Oh! Barry, it's me, Becky"

Becky? Barry's eyebrows came together and he looked over his shoulder as if to find a microphone hovering over his head. What a strange coincidence. "Hey, Becky." He paused, unsure of what to say. He had just seen her that morning. "What's up?"

"Well, we didn't have a lot of time to talk this morning. I was thinking maybe we could get some breakfast tomorrow or maybe some lunch and catch up," Becky said, her voice as cheerful as ever. She clearly held no animosity towards him. "If you have the time. If not, I understand."

"Uh, well…" Barry thought for a minute. There was no harm in meeting up with her. It wasn't as if he still had feelings for her and it would be nice to see how things had been since graduation. And it was good to have some friends outside of what he was doing with STAR Labs. "You know what, that sounds like a good idea."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but it's going to have to be fast." His eyes shone with lightning.

The next day Barry lifted a pair of goggles off his face and rubbed his eyes. Then he glanced at the machine that sat in front of him, waiting for the chemical mixtures to be finalized and bring the results back to Captain Singh.

How was he able to deal with it every day before he got his powers? Most of the time he needed to something quickly he would just use his powers, finish out his day, and head out to STAR Labs for whatever training was needed.

This time around, he had to do his work while at STAR Labs just in case Captain Singh called for him. It wasn't his fault there was a small-time metahuman he had to stop in the middle of the day. He had to leave and help out. But it had been finished fairly quickly and he needed to buy some time before going back. What was a better way to do that than use the equipment at STAR Labs and hang out with his friends as he did so?

It helped that STAR Labs and the CCPD were basically working with each other—despite Captain Singh's initial hesitance—most excuses to leave the precinct were simply his telling the truth. What he had to do with the Flash? That was another subject matter entirely.

"Hey, man." Barry looked up as Cisco walked into the Cortex, digging into a box of Chinese food with chopsticks. "How's the work going?"

"Slow," Barry replied. "But these machines can only go so fast."

Cisco looked him with an offended expression. "We can't all be fast, Barry."

"Ain't that the truth. I just hope it's done in enough time so I can get back before he realizes how long I've been gone."

"So just take your lunch break."

Now Barry sighed heavily, his palms starting to sweat for some reason. "I can't, I'm meeting someone for lunch and I don't want to be late for that." He bobbed his head. "Well, actually, she knows I can be late so maybe it's a good thing."

Cisco's eyes immediately lit up at the mention of 'she'. "Who? Oh, is it that Becky girl we saw at the park yesterday? It is isn't it? Okay, I can see that. Personally, I think she's a little out of your league but I can see it."

"And she's right in your league, right?"

"You said it, not me."

A laugh escaped Barry's lips. Then he shook his head, now fiddling with the goggles in his hands. "It's not like that. We used to date and now we're just going to catch up before she leaves Central City again. It's nothing." He cleared his throat. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Lunch break," Cisco said. "Dr. Wells said he would take care of watching over the city. Or whatever it is he's doing in his office."

"He's taking his lunch break too," Caitlin announced her arrival, holding onto a carton of Chinese food as well. "But if anything goes on we'll know." She looked back and forth from Cisco to Barry. "I couldn't help but overhear, you said you were going to be going out to lunch with your ex?"

"Oh come on, it's not that weird," Barry defended himself. He paused. "Is it? I mean, you guys have gone out to see how things are going with your exes right?"

Caitlin's lips turned to the side. She then busied herself with her food. "I mean, hypothetically I guess it wouldn't be so weird. It's not like you still have any feelings for her or anything, right?"

"Right, yeah, what Caitlin said," Cisco agreed.

Barry started to laugh then cut himself off. He calmed down and managed to ask, "You don't have exes do you?" Then he realized his mistake and turned to Caitlin with an apologetic look. "I mean, other than Ronnie."

Caitlin shook her head. "I didn't date anyone before Ronnie. I was too busy with my studies."

"Yeah and I was just too much for a lot of women," Cisco added.

"Yeah, okay." Barry ran a hand through his hair.

"Why don't you ask Cade? Now that Ryder's here in Central City she has to talk to him sometime," Caitlin pointed out.

For some reason this made Barry pause. Then he made a face, tilting his head to the side. "I don't know…" he said slowly. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

It wasn't that he didn't like Ryder, Brady's father and Cadence's ex-boyfriend, he just didn't know him. And it was hard to have someone who was so close to the group not know his secret. Sort of the way he was with Iris. But different, too. He and Iris had started to drift apart over the last year as he had gained his powers, but Ryder continued to get closer and closer because of his familiar relationship with Brady and Cadence.

"Because you have the hots for Cade?" Cisco broke in, startling Barry. "Pun intended."

Barry blinked in surprise before he crossed his arms. His head raced with a million thoughts as he tried to figure out what to say. Then he became embarrassed when he realized he was stuck in the same predicament as last night. His mouth wasn't working. He opened and closed his mouth over and over again as he tried to formulate a response. Instead a smiling image of his friend popped into his head and his brain shut down.

Finally, he managed the very lame sounding, "Whaaat?" holding out the word a bit longer than he originally intended.

"Oh come on," Cisco continued. "I know it. Caitlin knows it." Caitlin nodded in agreement. "I'm not sure Harrison really knows it. And I think Brady knows. It's obvious. You look at her the way you used to look at Iris, the only difference being that you're completely open with Cade."

This time, Barry decided to go on the defensive. "What would you know? You haven't had a date in, I don't know, five years?"

Caitlin laughed as Cisco held up a finger. "Oh, no. Oh, no my friend. We're not talking about me right now. We're talking about you. But that was very clever to try and change the subject like that. And for your information I have a few prospects lined up that are very high on the list of girls that I could only dream of."

Barry turned to Caitlin, silently pleading for some help. She shrugged sheepishly. "I kind of agree with him," she said.

"We just don't want anyone to get hurt," Cisco said honestly. "Besides, I totally ship you and Cade together."

"Ship?" Barry repeated.

"It's—"Cisco cut himself off. "You know what? Never mind. You need to learn more about pop culture. I'm going to set up a crash course for you. Instead of sticking your head in all of those science textbooks and memoirs, you're going to watch the entire series of Keeping up with the Kardashians with me."

Barry's upper lip curled. "I think I would prefer to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding with Iris again," he said. "And this was when she loved it so much that she watched it every day for a year."

"It's got to be better than Wrath of Khan," Caitlin pointed out. She jerked in surprise as Cisco let out al loud gasp, covering his open mouth with one hand and pointing at Caitlin with the other.

"It's official; I'm not friends with you!" Cisco declared. "Don't be dissing one of the best movies of all time. It's a classic, never gets old." He reached over and slapped Barry on the chest. "We just watched it for the fifth time last night."

"And you still haven't gotten bored of it?"

"You get bored of a lot of things, Cait, but not Wrath of Khan." Cisco coughed and waved a hand in front of his face as smoke filled the room and Cadence teleported next to them. "Like that. That gets tiring very easily."

"Do you think I haven't tried everything in my power to not become a smoke bomb when I teleport?" Cadence asked, pulling her hair back from her face. She rolled her eyes. "It's one of the reasons I prefer to use my car to get around. Either that or I set off a bunch of smoke alarms."

"Or it just means you're hot," Cisco pointed out.

Barry tried to stop his knee-jerk reaction of frowning but failed, causing Cisco's smile to widen.

"Surprisingly that's not the first time I've heard that," Cadence said with a wave of her hand. Caitlin held out her box of Chinese and Cadence took a bite of it.

"What are you doing here?" Caitlin asked.

"Ah, I got tired of trying to dodge Captain Singh's questions as to where Barry was. Plus I can only look at a dead body for so long." Despite the dark humor, Barry laughed. Then he got a good look at her face and noticed she suddenly looked very annoyed. Much different than the upbeat and teasing personality she normally exhibited. One that made his days working at the CCPD go by faster. "Plus, I had something that I wanted to ask you guys. And it's perfectly fine if you say 'no'. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you did."

"What's going on?" Barry asked.

"Nothing too important. But my mom called earlier saying my dad's company is having this sort of celebration thing for having been open for about 25 years or so. And they really want me to be there." She looked at each of her friends before her gaze rested on Barry, a slight smile came to her lips.

"So, do you want to come to Metropolis with me?"

A/N: I wonder what'll happen with Team Flash being in Metropolis rather than Central City? I mean, I know but I wonder what you guys think will happen. Or want to happen. ;)

So as you can see this is a story that I don't want to focus on their powers as much though they're still a part of the plot.

Cheers,

-Riles