I turned to face Barry, his face occasionally scrunching up in pain, "Here, let me look."
"I told you guys, I'm fine, really." Barry said, moving back the way we came.
I rolled my eyes at his childish behavior. Why was it guys always seemed to lie when their injured? Oliver was the epitome of it; I once caught him with a stab wound that he neglected to tell me about. Tommy had done it too, but not nearly as bad.
"Barry, we're not going anywhere until I check you." I said firmly, gently
grasping his arm to stop his movement.
"I didn't realize you were a doctor Becca." Barry said, but moved his arms away from his body so I had better access.
"I work on a lot of bodies, Barry, the only difference between the living and the dead is that the living complain about being examined." I replied, squatting a little and lifting his sweater and undershirt to see better. I gently pressed a hand to his ribs, not applying pressure yet, just looking for bruising.
Barry jumped under my hand and shivered, "Gosh, your hands are like ice."
"Shut up." I replied but more out of habit than anything; Barry and I tossed insults back and forth whenever we were together, it was just how our friendship worked. I focused, pushing a little harder, "Tell me if it hurts."
"Not yet, it just feels kind of sore."
I pressed a little harder, feeling the outline of his bottom rib, I followed it off to the side and did the same with the next three where the bruising was prevalent. "How about any of that?'
"A little, but not bad."
"Then I have good news," I told him and Iris, who had remained silent and off to the side, "Nothing was broken, but your ribs are bruised so try to take it easy these next few days, okay?"
"Gotcha." Barry pulled his shirt back down and we continued back to the main area. The people had thinned a little, the approaching storm clouds giving off an ominous aura.
Suddenly Iris's phone dinged, Barry and I watched her check it before giving Barry a really apologetic look. "I'm so sorry guys, but Joe wants us back at the station. The cop we saw called him about the thief and he wants us to file a report before it gets too late. I'm really sorry, I know how bad you wanted to see this Barry."
Barry glanced between Iris and Star Labs before turning to her, "It's okay, at least now we might not get caught in the rain. Tell your dad we'll be there in a minute."
We grabbed a taxi and 15 minutes later we were sitting in the police station. Barry was resting in a chair, sitting a little uncomfortably with a tissue to stop the nosebleed that had started in the taxi from when the guy whacked him in the face with the laptop bag. I was sitting at Joe's desk, which he had left a little bit ago to go get something.
I was spinning on the swivel chair when Iris came over, "Who is that guy and what is he so proud of? So he caught a mugger, he didn't even get my bag back; that was all Becca."
Barry removed the tissue, hearing her voice and after glancing over to the blonde detective we had seen earlier replied, "He's a transfer from Keystone. Started a few weeks ago." He tilted his head towards him, "Eddie Thawne."
"Oh, that's detective pretty boy" Iris realized, sitting down in a nearby chair herself. Barry immediately turned to look at her, confused, before she continued, "That's what my dad calls him. Says he actually keeps score when it comes to arrests." She gave both of us a look at that, clearly unimpressed. I had to say I agreed with her.
"He is pretty, though." She added as an afterthought. Which I noticed made Barry look a little dejected.
We all hung out down there for a bit, when Joe came back we answered some questions for him, then Iris left saying she had to finish her dissertation.
Barry and I sat in silence for a minute before he spoke, "You were right."
"Hmm?" I asked confusedly, turning to face him.
"About Iris." He stated, turning away from me.
"No, Barry. That was my bad I shouldn't have said anything. You know Iris better than I do, you two grew up together, if you think that she has feelings for you then I should have kept my mouth shut." I told him, laying a hand on his arm.
"But see, that's the problem, I do know her. I should've seen that she wasn't interested; I guess a part of me just wanted there to be, you know, but tonight…" He trailed off, turning back to face me. "I could tell that she was never going to think of me that way. I think I've always known, deep down I just didn't want to believe it.
"Barry…" I started, unsure of what to say.
"If you're about to tell me that I should keep chasing her, I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that you think that there's a possibility her and I will ever get together."
"I just don't think you should be giving up this easily, you've been in love with her since second grade, it doesn't just all fade away in a night. I just want you to think about this before you just stop." I told him, gently squeezing his arm and offering a smile.
He closed his eyes and tilted his head back a little as if debating something before opening his eyes again and looking at me, "You're right, again. I'll think about it for a little bit, maybe spend a little less time around her."
"Sounds good... you know I'm always on your side Barry? I just want you to be happy if Iris makes you happy then I'm not going to keep you from chasing her, what I told you the other week was me just trying to keep you from getting lost too far down the road."
He smiled and began to stretch a little and stand up, "Thanks Bec, I needed that." He glanced over at the clock on the far wall. "I'm going to head upstairs and see if I can still catch the particle accelerator on the news. Wanna come?"
I stood up and went to follow before my phone started to buzz in my pocket. I
pulled it out and saw Oliver's name again. Feeling a little uneasy now I looked
back up at him, "Sorry Barry, maybe another night."
I gave him a quick hug as we parted by the elevator before answering the call.
