Assistant
I stormed my way down the marble steps of the CCPD lobby, literally seeing red on the edges of my vision as I took the steps two at a time. I took a moment to be glad I had decided to go with sneakers, otherwise this would be all kinds of difficult right now.
"Hey! Wait!" Allen's voice shouted from the top of the steps. He seemed determined to catch me, but I just had to get into Singh's office and shut the door behind me. He didn't get to be my knight in shining armor. He didn't get to haunt me. I just had to beat him there, and since he had just woken up from a coma today his ability to walk should be slightly impaired. Hey, actually now that the thought struck me how the hell was he fully functioning in my lab when he had just woken up a few hours earlier? What kind of witchcraft was that?
"Lindsey?" a voice caught my attention as I hit the bottom of the stairs. I saw Iris seemed to have been waiting at the bottom, wool jacket draped over her arm. Her face lit up with that warm smile at the sight of me, only to drop when she got a good look at me. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I tried to move past her, but she barred my way. Barry was about halfway down the stairs now, probably relieved that his adoptive sister managed to stall the current target of his attention- the crazy girl who had seemingly thrown a tissue box at him for no reason.
"You've been crying," she responded simply, clearly not buying my act at all. And why should she? I was completely off book and out of character right now. I was letting my emotions get the best of me in all the wrong ways. I was letting him get to me in all the wrong ways. Letting him under my skin with a smile and a few words. Letting him wreak havoc on the system of control I had long mastered when it came to projecting my emotions. If I was going to pull this off and remain here, I had to keep my own values in mind. I had to remember that I wasn't allowed to have a bad day.
I finally came to a halt in front of her, and she put a hand to each of my arms to keep me anchored just in case I decided to run. "Something's wrong. I can tell, so what's going on." Her eyes suddenly widened as a thought struck her. "Is something wrong with Aggie?"
The words struck me as quite odd, but I quickly was able to puzzle together why she had said them. In a world where I never had a bad day, something happening to Aggie was in her mind the only thing that could set me off like this. The Lindsey Porter she knew would never get like this over her job, so it had to be something much bigger. And these beliefs were making her show a level of concern I don't know if I was comfortable with. I didn't want nor need it in any capacity. The red faded from my view and I took a deep breath, steadying myself mentally and physically.
Her eyes had drifted to Allen now, who had abruptly turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and was but a few steps from us if the squeak of his shoes was to be believed. I only had a few moments before Iris might be looking at me a little different once she found out I assaulted her adoptive brother because he had the audacity to wake up from a coma. Despite not wanting the level of friendship it seemed we had, I certainly didn't want to lose any ground either.
Fire and rage wouldn't win this battle. It had been immature of me to think that. What I needed to do was the complete opposite- make it so that Barry Allen never sees me as a threat.
I needed to play this perfectly. It had to be the best performance of my life.
So I opened my mouth, but then pretended to notice him out of the corner of my eye. I quickly turned around, eyes narrowing and a finger pointing in his bewildered direction. "Listen, you need to stop following me. I don't know who you are, I don't know how you got in this building let alone my lab, but I will get a detective to escort you out of here, okay? So just... leave me alone."
I didn't think it was possible for him to look any more confused than before, but somehow his brow even knitted further together as his confusion only grew. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Iris give Barry a quick apologetic look before focusing on me. "Umm… Lindsey, do you know who that is?"
I shook my head emphatically, trying to make my voice a little panicky with a few stilted breaths. "I was just up in my lab, taking a moment after an admittedly rough murder case, and then he was just hovering above me and smiling." He took a step forward, both hands up, but I whirled back around on him quickly. "Don't-don't come closer." He halted, looking pleadingly at Iris once again. "I threw something and ran to get someone and he followed me shouting." I took a purposefully long breath, giving myself a moment to come to a realization before raising an eyebrow in her direction. "Wait, are you saying you know him?"
She stepped around me to come between us, hand slipping in mine as if it was the most natural thing in the world. I tried not to instantly reel back, completely uncomfortable with it. Physical contact as a form of comfort was completely outside my wheelhouse very purposefully. Iris and I were going to have to set up some boundaries after this, because she seemed to consider our friendship to be a completely different beast than how I saw it.
"Lindsey, this is Barry Allen." I brought both hands to cup my mouth, eyes widening hopefully enough to be effective but not too much to be comical. "Barry, this is Lindsey Porter. She's the CSI that was filling in for you."
"You're Barry Allen," I repeated. He nodded, small smile breaking across his face once again. "Oh, you're Barry Allen. I just… I just threw a tissue box at Barry Allen's head."
"You did," he nodded. He didn't appear to be upset in the slightest though, just as I suspected. "Probably not the best line of defense if ever really attacked, but I should give you points for thinking on your feet."
"I'm so sorry," I apologized, forcing down the bile that came with the words with a smile. "I am so sorry. You just scared me and I reacted." I put my hands down. "Please tell me you're okay. Hitting someone in the head after they just woke up from a coma cannot be good."
"I'm fine," he insisted, smile becoming wider. "Really. I'm sorry for scaring you like that. I just… I didn't think that someone else would be up there. People usually avoid it if they can help it."
Common ground. Get common ground. "I know. It's like the place is haunted or something." I took a step forward, extending my hand. "It's so good to see you awake. Iris told me all about you and I was really hoping we'd cross paths one day." I turned to see she was smiling now, clearly happy this moment had finally come to be. Her brother back in the CCPD- her complete and utter faith rewarded.
"Thanks for taking care of everything in the lab. I really appreciate it. Lindsey, right?"
And just like that, I had turned a disaster of a meeting into what he was probably considering an adorable misunderstanding. He obviously didn't suspect a thing, and that was just the way I liked it.
Sometimes I even scared myself.
"That's me. Lindsey Porter." He opened his mouth, but I already went to beat him to it with a knowing smirk. "Yes, he is my older brother. No, the name certainly wasn't my idea though."
Iris hit him on the arm repeatedly before he could answer. "Barry. I think my dad sees you." We all glanced through the glass doors to see Joe West, face alight in a way that finally drew comparisons between him and his daughter. Allen instantly started over that way without another word, Iris right behind him. As he got closer more detectives noticed his approach, and promptly annoyed me with just how enthusiastic they all looked about it. You give them the best nine months of your life and then they just forget about you.
I followed the other two, but hung back by the open door. I tried to look as delighted in the upcoming reunion as the rest of the station did though, mimicking their smiles right back at them. The last thing I needed was Joe West thinking I was trying to destroy a family reunion. We had grown to some sort of tolerance, though I expected that to sharply decline now that I was no longer his only option to solve cases. He pulled Allen in for a huge hug, looking to be almost in tears. "Oh, you scared the hell out of us, kid."
An older detective approached as Joe pulled back, keeping a firm hand on his shoulder though. This family seemed big on their physical contact. "Yeah, that was quite the nap you took there, baby face, and you still look twelve." Everyone chuckled along, clearly in a better mood than I was feeling.
Eddie had been hanging back at his desk as well, though the looks he was giving Iris were almost insulting in how obvious they were. His gaze drifted over and met mine, raising his hand in a silent wave. After a beat of debate, I did the same.
"You look okay," West took Allen in. "Are you really?"
"Yeah," he assured him. I don't know how though. It had literally been hours since he had awoken from his nine-month coma. How the hell was he this adjusted already? I mean, he could have at least had the decency to stay in bed catching up on everyone's Facebook feeds and the news.
A female officer popped in as well now, making her way right over to the group, clipboard in her hand. "Detective West, we've got a five one-five in progress at Gold City Bank. Two dead." Armed robbery. The third armed robbery since I'd been here in fact. The other two had been one person. The guy was good, seemed to time his robberies perfectly with big storms to erase any traces he left behind. The last bank had been nearly blown over with no hope of finding a print or accessing a camera. And despite not a drop of rain occurring, it was almost like a thick mist had come through and coated every surface a print could be left on. Even I in my frustration had admitted he knew has his weather patterns down to a science. He was like my brother if he ever went to the Dark Side.
"Storm's picking up on the South side. I'd grab your rain gear," the officer continued. So it had to be our guy then. Well, I was going to make sure he didn't win Round Three if I could help it. Time to go to work. I stepped forward from the wall, throwing my hair roughly back up in its ponytail.
"I'm sorry, Barry," West apologized. "I got to run."
"Do you need my help," Allen inquired, and I actually had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes. I was literally right here. Give me at least one day before you steal everything back.
"No, you take it easy," West thankfully disagreed. "There'll be plenty for you to do once you settle in. We'll let Porter handle this one." He grabbed his coat before finally turning to me. "Let's see if you can get him this time."
Detective West had a habit of saying that to me before we'd head out on a case. Pretty close to every time. Guaranteed if this was committed by a known repeat offender we hadn't put behind bars yet. I could never quite tell whether it was a dig or not. Part of me wanted to believe after the whole Dragon drug ring business that is was a sign of respect. The rest of me knew that little optimistic part had nothing to go on with that. But still, I had hope he wasn't being that obvious about how little he thought of me.
"Here's hoping," I answered, as I typically did. Maybe it was just our thing. Maybe we had a thing. A thing was good. A thing meant bonding. I quickly looked to Allen to see if the words we exchanged were at all familiar to him, but he showed no signs of it. So at least if it was a thing it wasn't a hand-me-down one from his days as CSI. Which was good, because I don't think I could add that to my day if it was. "Detective Thawne?" I asked, looking past the group to Eddie next to his desk.
"Grabbing it now." He bent down for a moment before emerging with one of my large cases of supplies. I had decided to store one downstairs in case I got called in while on lunch or something of that nature. Didn't want to waste time we didn't have running upstairs to grab mine. When looking for a place to store it, Eddie had of course volunteered to clear out the bottom drawer of his desk to help me out. I'd been hesitant at first, but of course he had insisted until finally I just handed it over to him. And now he practically served as its keeper, fetching it whenever necessary to hand off to me. Eventually I just started going with it. The constant willingness to help one out was just another thing someone annoyingly had to put up with when they had his friendship.
And also just another little way I had stream-lined a thing or two around here if I do say so myself.
"Then let's go, partner." Detective West announced before blowing past me right out the door. I waited for Eddie though, noticing the odd look Allen was giving him as he gave him a pat on the back.
"Hey, Allen. Good to see you."
Allen shook off his confusion to smile warmly at him. "Thanks, Eddie."
"Hey, Iris," he turned his attention to his secret girlfriend, making me roll my eyes once again at the clear underlying fondness in his tone. Subtlety was definitely not his strong suit. I would never be telling him any sort of secret, that's for certain. And not just because I never told anyone secrets.
Iris clearly had the same feeling as well, though her game face was a lot stronger in looking completely impartial to the man in front of her. "Detective, you should go. My dad doesn't like to be kept waiting."
He seemed to realize his error, quickly nodding and returning attention to Allen. "Glad you're back." He then made his way over, handing me my bag before we both started for the elevator. I gave Iris a last friendly wave before I did so, glad to leave her with Allen here.
"You know, if you want to keep your secret relationship that, maybe don't say her name like she's your girlfriend you're deeply and madly in love with in front of the group the secret is from," I couldn't help but rib him as I pulled a rain jacket from one of my side pockets. I had made sure to add it after the first robbery soaked me to the bone.
Just another demonstration of my efficiency- my strong capability to adapt.
"I did not," he shot back lamely as Detective West held the elevator door for us. I just shot him a look before the two of us stepped in, burying this conversation until we were alone again. Because my being the only one in on this secret meant I got to hear about Iris from Eddie every chance he got. In the lab when he could sneak up there, during lunch when West had the day off, when I was at home sometimes I would just get a random text about some wonderful attribute of hers. You'd think I was dating her with the stuff I knew.
Our drive started off in the usual comfortable silence- I combed through the bag making sure it had everything I thought I would need and what I could afford to restock when we got back to the CCPD. Mostly I tried to keep my mind off the situation with Barry Allen miraculously recovering from a coma in time to steal away everything I had like he had planned it.
It wasn't working very well.
But as a problem solver, an excellent one if I said so myself, that just meant I needed to focus my energies on finding a solution now. Because he was here. Oh boy, was he here. I needed to find a way to keep my job without flying into a blind rage in Detective Singh's office as I almost had. I also couldn't wave the six-month rule in his face because that would blow my cover when he asked how I was aware of it and why it hadn't been brought up before. I was also ruling out pushing Allen down a flight of stairs, though barely.
Mist started to cover the street in a way that made it near impossible to see in front of you, just like it had for the other two. Detective West switched on the light with a flick of his wrist. "Your brother failed to mention this this morning." I looked to see people running through the streets desperately ducking into alcoves or building as they feared the storm approaching. Not one had an umbrella.
"Well, trust me when I say he's going to hear about it." And he did. Hundreds of voicemails, e-mails, and even letters to the house demanding he pay for his heinous crimes or even be replaced for failing Central City in its moment of need. Some sent bills for dry-cleaning or replacing expensive purses. These last few storms had certainly proved the case, especially the second when he swore the sun would be so present he hadn't even brought his coat to work that day. Cue the fog. Cue the panic and complaints about the mist. Cue his bafflement because the radar showed every sign of being clear and this had come out of literally nowhere. Cue the letters for his head among other things. He had taken it quite hard the first few times from our phone calls, but now he had learned to roll with the punches and not even read any of them. No weatherman was perfect after all.
Yes, ladies, not even the famed Storm Reporter.
We pulled up to the bank, about six police cars having beat us here. Their lights were still blinking rapidly, which usually wasn't a good sign for me. An 'In Progress' crime meant one thing and one thing only. Detective West turned back to address me.
"I'll wait right here," I promised. I was never allowed anywhere near even perceived danger, which honestly was perfectly fine by me. I wasn't a cop or a detective. I was CSI. I was fragile.
The two of them climbed out of the car and proceeded towards the bank, waving me over a few moments later. I geared myself up, mentally putting the ghost of Allen and his work behind me, and made my way up the stairs to the interior of the bank. Third time was the charm.
Disappointment hit me the moment we entered. It looked pretty much the same as the other two- random citizens scattered about in shock, water soaking through my sneakers as I walked across the floor, and a general sense of misery that pervaded the enormous building. The difference in this one was the shards of stained glass that littered the ground, obviously having come from the huge opening in the ceiling above us. Everyone moved about carefully because of it, cops gently escorting people from the building through what looked to be the safest route.
"That face tells me we should be expecting more of the same," Detective West commented. I instantly shook the look off and narrowed my eyes in determination.
"I guess we won't know until I canvas every inch of this place, will we?" I squared my shoulders and made my way over to the desks, hoping our guy at least had the decency to touch it at some point. That would be really stellar of him. I glanced up through what had once been a skylight to see the clouds looked to waning just as quickly as they had come.
The desk was completely soaked, but it didn't stop my attempts to canvas it for any dry area and trying to print that spot once I found one. Naturally, nothing was going my way though and I found myself getting a bit frustrated at the whole situation as every possibility came up empty. I knew I was getting inside my own head and made for another room of the bank, needing a moment to just breathe because this day sucked. Like really sucked. I found an office and leaned against one of the tables, hand balling into a fist as I tried to get temper locked down. I couldn't go back out there like this. Lindsey Porter didn't have a bad day.
"You know; you shouldn't beat yourself up like this." I whirled around, ready to throw my brush as whoever had entered the room, only to find none other than Detective West in the doorway. Great. Apparently the day wasn't done with me yet. "If you can't find anything, then there's nothing to find. That's it. Nothing any of us can do." I of course wanted to disagree with him, but fearing it would come out in a very loud manner I held myself back, swallowing my words to only a couple.
"Not the best note to go out on though." There. I had admitted it out loud. And I hated myself for doing this, for showing West of all people some of my headspace. But I felt desperate to say it at this point, figuring it might make him happier than any other words I could have said to him. He didn't have to pretend to be nice to me, not now.
He took a few steps forward, closing the gap between us with a sigh. "I've been rough on you."
I instantly bristled, shaking my head. "You don't have to do this."
He seemed to ignore me though. "You did a lot of good work, Porter."
Even I wasn't this desperate for affirmation at this point. I was unable to take anymore and made my way around him, determined to just get back to work because anything would be better than this talk in this room right now. I wasn't his daughter. I wasn't his anything. I didn't need his platitudes, even at rock bottom. I was better than that. "I have work to do."
"Just- "I turned the corner before I could hear anymore, making sure to keep myself close to a cop at all times as I canvased the bank for the rest of the morning. I didn't want to give Detective West the opportunity to continue his sermon. This is why you never give anyone an inch, because they then have an excuse to take a mile. And judging by the look of indifference I was given when we did cross paths, it looked like whatever kindness he had been trying to show me was left in that office. We were back to how things were meant to be. No more inches. No more miles.
I finished an hour or so later with just as much luck as before in terms of prints or any sort of identification. The water had basically washed away any chance I had. I was half-tempted to call my brother myself and complain at his complete inability to prepare me for this day. Which just reminded me I still had to tell him. I started a text message but then deleted all of it, knowing this was the kind of thing someone did in person. Might as well wait to tell everyone at dinner before coming up with a diabolical evil plan to turn my luck around. Maybe Aggie would have something good that didn't involve flights of stairs.
I got a ride back with Detective West and Eddie, keeping mostly to myself as the sun started to peek out of the clouds once again. My shoes were completely soaked through to my socks, causing me to flinch internally every time I moved my toes around. Luckily, with me being who I was, I had a pair of perfectly comfortable flats tucked away up in the lab. I usually used them on long days of standing around, but they would work well enough to get me through the rest of the day. Bar Barry Allen hadn't poured chemicals over my desk and belongings yet.
Which he probably wouldn't. He seemed nice in the infuriating kind of way when you were trying to hate everything about him. But then again, you never really knew with the crazy ones. Reminder to myself to try and make sure I was with someone else around him at all times... just in case.
But no, the lab was empty when I stopped up there. It appeared Allen and Iris had left pretty quickly after the group of us did. I changed shoes, logged the complete lack of evidence I had in the form of a pen he might have used that had no obvious fingerprints, and then stocked my kit to take back downstairs. It had been quite crowded when we came in- seems the officers had brought over as many witnesses from the bank as were willing. Hopefully that would lead us somewhere, because it seemed the third strike was leaving us just as blind as the first two.
Eddie was by his desk as I dropped the bag into its assigned and labeled drawer. He seemed to be getting ready to interview someone from the paperwork he was putting together, but made a point of talking to me before he began. "Hey, so I was thinking we could go out and grab lunch today. My treat."
I rose an eyebrow at him skeptically. "What's the occasion?"
"Just... I know my friend." I scoffed, but he continued. "I know today's been a rough day for her with everything going on." I went to disagree, but apparently I was getting too predictable these days. "But I also know that she will never admit that in any degree out loud or... probably even to herself."
I crossed my arms, debating how to handle this. This could be my chance to set the record straight, make my point of view clear and crystal. I wanted to be on the same page finally. But somehow Eddie considered himself to be a good friend of mine, and something in me didn't want that to stop. I wish I knew what it was so I could stop it, but for the moment with all the feelings I had brewing in me I just couldn't bring myself to. So I finally settled on honesty, but with some biting wit and not actually admitting anything. "You're learning. That worries me greatly."
He actually had the gall to smile at that, the asshole. I shook my head, sighing to show my overdramatic reluctance in giving in. "I will meet you at Jitter's once you're wrapped up here."
"I didn't say it was going to be Jitter's."
I glanced at the clock. "Iris is working right now. I'm pretty positive you were going to suggest Jitter's."
I checked on my pen, no prints, and then walked my way over to Jitter's with my thermos of coffee in hand. It was a bit of a walk, but the fresh air was probably good for me. At least that's what I had heard. It was nice enough I even grabbed a table on the patio, taking in everyone walking this way and that as they went about their day. I wasn't usually one for people watching, but there was something kind of soothing in it- the constant rhythm and stream of people, their difference highlighted in millions of different little ways.
"I'd offer you a cup of coffee," Iris cut through my thoughts, smiling over me, "But I have a feeling you're set."
"Set for life," I agreed, taking a sip. "I swear I'm not just taking up a table. Eddie is meeting me here to treat me to lunch." She gave me a playful impressed look, and I waved a finger at her. "Better watch out. You might have some competition."
"I get the feeling I don't need to worry. Eddie doesn't seem like your type."
"My type? You don't know what my type is... or if I even have one."
"I know it isn't Eddie," she countered. "I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I will let you know when I find it." I took another sip of coffee, not having much else to say on the subject. I had no time to waste with my cousins and my job.
Well, that and no one had asked.
Maybe my winning personality was just too intimidating for them?
"I'm glad you stopped by though," she changed the topic of conversation, making sure no other table needed immediate service before continuing. "I just wanted to talk to you about earlier."
"I swear, if I had known it was Barry Allen I would not have thrown the tissue box."
She laughed. "No. I think you made that pretty clear. I just wanted to say you're not a horrible person for crying about it."
I took a cautious sip. This felt like some sort of trap. Like a dangerous, perilous trap. "I'm… I'm not sure what you mean, Iris."
"I figured it out after you headed out- watching you and Eddie as you walked to the elevator. And I didn't want you to feel bad about it… or that I would be angry at you for it." No. She couldn't know. She wasn't that good. "You got comfortable at the CCPD. You made friends. You love your job. But now… now everything's turned upside down. And it's all looking a little less clear. You finally find your groove just to lose it." Holy crap. She knew. "And that's perfectly understandable. It doesn't make you a bad person. You didn't actually want Barry to stay in a coma."
Leave it to the West's to keep ambushing me with all this emotional crap today. I didn't need it. Besides, I had nothing to apologize for. I was well aware I wasn't a bad person. I was just doing what I needed to do to keep my life going in the direction I wanted it to. There was nothing to apologize for when it came to that. I wasn't sorry for spending nine months wishing Barry would stay in his coma. If I could, I would put him back under right now if it meant I got to keep my dream job. That's just who I was. Nothing to be done about it. Nothing to be comforted about.
So rather than engage her I pulled out my phone. Because for once something overruled my desire to stay in Detective West's daughter's good graces. And that was my complete disinterest in discussing my feeling with someone who would never understand them. "I should see what's keeping Eddie." I literally just hit buttons at random as she frowned down at me, but not in the mad kind of way. Just in the raging disappointment that mirrored the usual looks I received from her father. She had clearly been expecting more out of my emotional range. I suppose it was good that she had learned the truth sooner rather than later though. Maybe this would help her better define our friendship a little closer to my terms.
"There's another table over there making a face at me," she clearly covered her exit so she wasn't just awkwardly hovering over me. "I'll be back once Eddie gets here."
Eddie arrived about a half hour later, patting me on the shoulder and getting my order before heading in to place it. He soon returned with two paninis with a double side of mac and cheese for myself. He had told me that I was taking advantage of his kindness, but had promptly shut me down when I then reached to pull out my wallet. He would not take any insult to his chivalry, thank you very much.
"So has Captain Singh talked to you about what happens now?" he asked after some brief discussions about the crazy weather and how our criminal mastermind was utilizing them so well. He mentioned how he had someone working with a sketch artist and was hopeful it could yield some results. I was a little more hesitant, knowing they tended to be pretty unhelpful. Memories weren't something that could be trusted like hard evidence.
I swallowed my bite of sandwich. "No. And quite frankly I've done enough talking for today."
He didn't get the hint, lost in his own thoughts. "I mean; he can't just let you go as soon as Barry is ready to come back."
"That's actually exactly what he can do," I disagreed. "I was brought in as the temporary CSI while Allen recovered. He's back and that means I've fulfilled my purpose. They let me go and I move on with a lot of new experience and some fun memories- like the time I nearly fell through a manhole."
"But you've been there for nine months, Lindsey. You're one of us."
I fought back the flutter of annoyance I felt. I tried to remember this was just Eddie being concerned about me. He wasn't trying to push the wrong buttons, though he was doing a great job in it. "And he's been with them for years. He's practically grown up with the place."
"You're just so good at your job though." He picked at his macaroni and cheese, the mood a bit dampened.
"And I'm sure Allen is too. You guys will be just fine." Those were lies coming out of my mouth, pure lies. But I had to give him at least some credit I suppose. This didn't seem to improve his mood though and I decided to perhaps say something I would regret. "I'm not just going to give up though. I do plan on talking to Captain Singh. Maybe we can work something out. Allen might just want a few days to start since he did just awaken from a nine-month coma. That takes some adjusting."
"Yeah," he agreed, perking up at that a bit. "I know I'm probably being silly, but… it just won't be the same without you there." He took the final bite of his sandwich. "I'll have no one to eat lunch with."
I smirked, polishing off the last of my mac and cheese. "Poor antisocial you. Let me remind you that I won't have a job."
"Can I help you, detective?" Iris had returned to the table, and it appeared she was in peak flirting mood. Eddie's smile immediately became dopier, a common trait whenever she was within his field of vision. But then it faded just a touch.
"You can stop acting like you can't stand me when your dad's around." He gestured towards me. "You've seen the way she looks at me right?"
I put my hands up. "As with all matters involving this secret relationship, I am not dignifying that with a response. Though I will say that I don't think the two of you are as good of actors as they pretend to be. Detective West honestly might know already."
"Trust me, he doesn't." Iris scooted closer to Eddie so she had an arm around him. He quickly put his around her waist. "If he did, I would hear about it."
"I'm just saying, your dad is a lot of things. Including a Detective. Not among the list: oblivious." Don't worry Detective West. I was giving you the credit you deserved. Only you will never know this conversation ever happened.
"She has a point," Eddie agreed. "He's bound to have picked up on a few things. Maybe it's time we just come clean and tell him."
Eddie had brought up this topic many times. And he had discussed his talks about this topic he had when I wasn't in the room even more times. Iris had a go-to defense though, completely insurmountable. It was to make a quip and then go in for the kiss. The quip putting him off guard enough to put his mind on other topics when the kiss came. And then I usually banished them both from my lab if they were going to carry on like that. There was a concrete law against making out in the lab.
"Well, I like having a boyfriend who isn't shot to death." There was the quip. And then she leaned in, planting one right on him. Once it had gone on a second too long, which was one second, I groaned.
"Guys, I just ate. Can we not do this? I'll answer that. Yes, we're going to stop doing this. Because the secret relationship isn't secret if you make out at work." They pulled away from each other, only Iris seemed to catch the sight of something over my shoulder.
I turned to look over my shoulder, and once again Barry Allen seemed to be haunting me. He stood outside the shrubs that closed in the patio, seemingly spying on the group of us. I was honestly a little weirded out at how he had somehow managed to seemingly just appear.
For once he wasn't smiling. In fact, it was quite the opposite. His face looked completely and utterly betrayed, like someone had just kicked a puppy off a cliff in front of him. But it wasn't directed at the group of us- I almost could buy he hadn't even noticed I was here. All of that pain was directed solely at Iris as she remained perched half on Eddie's lap.
It was so strong it was unsettling. I quickly averted my eyes from his face, half out of pity at how transparent he was and half out of the shiver running up my spine as I just thought that this is what a disturbed mind would look like.
I forced myself to move past it though. I couldn't help but look smug as I turned back and finished off my coffee. "I told you- no good out of making out in public."
Iris stared at him for a very long moment before rising. "I'm going to go talk to him."
"Alright," Eddie agreed. She stepped back into the building and when I turned around, Barry was gone. He must have followed her inside. Hopefully Iris was okay talking to him alone. I mean, I imagine she was safe. But you never knew. "We should be heading back anyway."
His chair scraped across the stones as he rose, and I followed in a much quieter manner. We threw out our trash and then began our walk back to the CCPD. "And then there were two," I muttered to myself, though Eddie clearly heard me from the elbow I got to my side. A little harsher than necessary in my opinion actually. I got the point just as well as if he had been gentle.
I couldn't help but think to myself during the rest of our walk in silence that at least I had beaten Barry Allen to something. Maybe it was the thing that mattered the absolute least, but I had done it. And I got the feeling that little swell of satisfaction it made me feel would be enough to get me through the rest of the day.
When we arrived back at the station, all the witnesses had mostly cleared out. Irene flagged Eddie down as we exited the elevator, informing us the bank teller had finished with the sketch artist. It was on a folder on his desk.
"Hopefully this helps blow this case wide open," he muttered as we made our way over. "Pun completely intended."
I crossed my arms. "If it does, I buy lunch next time. And you can three sides of mac and cheese."
He threw open the folder after a moment's pause, and a face stared up at us. The man wore a baseball cap and coat with the defining features appearing to be his sharp nose that appeared like a bar going down his face and a couple tufts of hair sticking out from his hat. His eyes were small and narrowed with quite the square jaw. He might be a looker if he wasn't a murderer and bank robber.
Eddie let out a sigh at the photo, hand running through his hair. "Maybe if I run it against the database we could find something."
I continued to look at it though. Believe it or not, there was something about it I recognized. Something clicked deep down in my brain in a way that had no other explanation than familiarity. "I think I've seen him before."
"What?!"
I tapped the picture. "I know this face. I've- I've seen it before." I tapped it again. "I've seen this before. Where have I seen this before?" I racked my brain, images and faces floating through it. "It wasn't in person. I don't know him. But I've seen him." Eddie just watched as I looked skyward, searching for something in my brain I didn't know how to locate. "Where have I seen him? How have I seen him?"
And then it clicked. A photo. A box. "I've seen his picture before." With that I took off towards the lab with the drawing under my arm, Eddie right behind me. I took the stairs two at a time before nearly skidding in the door. I ran to the corner of the room where the boxes from the Particle Accelerator Incident lay long forgotten. Luckily, I dusted them each week though so they weren't filthy when I grabbed the one emblazoned with a three and threw it open.
I had found the folder by the time Eddie reached me, throwing it open to see a face near identical to the drawing staring back at me. "Well, I'll be." I pulled the mugshot from the file and handed it up to Eddie. "It looks like I owe you lunch."
He stared between the two, quickly arriving to the same conclusion. "Who is it?"
I glanced at the name on the folder, the details coming back to me from when I had chronicled him. "Clyde Mardon. All… all the evidence said he died when his plane came down after the explosion. I was looking through this when I was ruling whether S.T.A.R. Labs was responsible or not for it."
"This was who Joe was going after that night. He was the one who witnessed it. He would have seen if someone managed to get out of there."
"Well, it's too big of a coincidence… and I'm usually the last to admit that when it comes to eyewitness sketches. That drawing is of Clyde Mardon. It's almost identical." I shut the box and rose, dusting my pants off. "I don't have the slightest idea how, but he's alive. And now he's using the newfound freedom of his death to rob banks and kill people."
"I need to get this to Joe," he decided, tucking the picture in the folder as well. "Anything else for me?"
I glanced through the folder once more, eyes skimming the pages. "Just that the last place they hid out was a farm west of the city. I mean, no sense in getting a new hideout if everyone thinks you're dead." I snapped the file shut. "I've done my part. Now go get him."
He nodded, starting for the door before pausing to come back. He held his hand in the air. "Stop trying to make this happen, Eddie."
"Lindsey. We just might have solved this case. We had nothing this morning and tonight we might be bringing Mardon in. We did that." He nodded towards the hand he still held aloft.
I squinted at him for a moment, but quickly gave in to my own excitement about the situation. "Fine." I quickly high-fived him, instantly returning my hand to my side. "Be sure to tell West that this was all me, okay?"
"I'll give you eighty percent of the credit," he called as he made his way out of the lab.
"Ninety-ten!" I shouted after him, smile on my face.
"Eighty-five!"
"Fine!" And with that, he was gone.
I finished up a couple more tests I was running before making the decision to head out early for once. There wasn't really anything to do around here, and I was starting to itch to talk about the dilemma I was currently experiencing with my brother. If there was anyone I trusted to have an answer that just might work, it was his wife Jenny.
I came home to find the both of them gathered in front of the television, looks of sadness on her face and disbelief on his. Roger was cradled in her arms, dozing away for once. I kicked off my shoes and made my way over. "What's going on?"
"I don't know how I missed it," Thomas muttered. "There's no way I should have missed it." The screen displayed an ambulance light flashing next to two cars that had flipped over on the road. I recognized the location- it was a half mile or so in the other direction from Jitter's. It was the way Iris probably would have taken Barry. The headline blared white across the screen.
ONE DEAD IN CRASH CAUSED BY WEATHER ANOMALY
"I mean, I'm not the only one," Thomas continued. "No one is seeing this." His laptop was perched on his lap and he started clicking like mad. "Not a single meteorologist predicted any storm today, nor any fog on the roads. No one. Sunny. Sunny. Sunny. Meteor shower wiping out humanity- but Brady's with Apocalypse Now. He says that every day."
I watched as it cut back to the two newscasters, bantering without any real conviction about the current weather situation in Central City and who should be held responsible. Thomas visibly paled at that.
"Oh, don't listen to them!" I changed the channel to a Spanish soap opera. "You are a weatherman who does the best you can with the science you're given! You try to make everyone's day a bit easier by telling them if they need an umbrella or not! And unless you've secretly been Zeus this whole time, then you have absolutely no control over it! It is not your responsibility. It is a kind service you provide to people."
"Someone died, Lindsey." He was trying to calm me, but it only worked me up more. I think I was transferring some of my feelings from the day onto this one event, and it felt pretty good right now.
"And that's awful. But that was the weather. Which as we've discussed, you don't control. So it was the weather. It wasn't you. And anyone like those two clowns who says something to the contrary doesn't deserve to be on a platform where they can talk to Central City at large." I took a steadying breath, still livid. "Oh, and they can suck it! So can every person who gives you crap for this! I'm serious. The first voicemail we get I will track them down and kick their ass so they can pay a visit to Zeus themselves!"
"Aunt Lindsey said a swear word!" Aggie shouted from the top of the staircase. She was looking through the wooden rungs of the bannister in curiosity. Having blown her cover, she made her way down them one exaggerated step at a time. "Plus, she was yelling in the house. You know we're not allowed to yell in the house."
Shoot. I glanced to Roger, but luckily he was still fast asleep. Aggie made her way over to me and I rested a hand in her hair. "Aunt Lindsey was just railing against the cruel injustices of media for her brother's honor. You'll get to do it someday too when you're an adult."
Jenny merely sighed fondly. "We'll just shut off the voicemail for a few days and ride this out. We've done it before. We'll do it again." She rose, rocking Roger gently. "if only I knew what I was getting into when I married the Storm Reporter."
He smirked, glancing up at her with a surprisingly serious expression. "You'd still do it again?"
"In a heartbeat." And then she leaned down to kiss him, causing to pick Aggie up and swing her around a rotation.
"And now kissing! Always the kissing!" she giggled wildly as I set her back down. "I don't know about you, but I've had more than enough kissing for one day. Right?"
"Right!" she shouted.
And then Roger started screaming. I was the one deemed culpable and thus tasked with putting him back to sleep. Two hours of my life I will never get back.
It was a quick dinner of leftovers where we kept conversation to pleasant topics. I didn't want to add to Thomas's day by burdening him with my issues, not when Aggie discussing the school talent show was so much intriguing. I would just deal with it and tell him how everything worked out tomorrow.
Soon enough I was tucking Aggie into bed after another chapter in our latest Junie B. Jones adventure. I think she was getting a bit advanced for them, and soon I might retire her collection in favor of something a little more fun. Yes, Harry Potter was coming and it was going to rock the Porter household to its core.
I texted Iris and got confirmation she was okay. Allen had somehow gotten tangled up in the accident, but she seemed very unsure as to how. It was a little confusing. So I texted her back that I was glad she was alright before turning my attention to other things. I typed on my computer a bit, head swirling with thoughts and research, before Thomas was knocking at my door. "I told you that if I put him to sleep all diapers for the rest of the night were yours. Godmother's don't change all the diapers. I looked it up in the official handbook."
He stepped in, taking a seat in the chair from my desk. "Lindsey, do you remember the time I got mad at Theresa and decided the proper reaction was to smash that toy guitar she carried everywhere against her lamp?"
I closed my laptop. "Of course. It was a pretty memorable day on the farm."
"And do you remember what you did to me?"
"Yeah. I took justice into my own tiny eight-year-old hands and proceeded throw the remains of the lamp at your head." It was the first and last time I had ever thrown something in the house. I learned my lesson fast when my mom gave me that look.
"And do you remember what had happened earlier that day?"
I sighed, instantly knowing where this was going. "I had wanted to hang out with Josh, particularly his hamster Wiggles, but he had promptly thrown me out because I wasn't his real sister." It still even kind of hurt to remember, silly as it sounded. "I was just half his sister. And that meant he didn't have to spend time with me since I ruined his life." I could tell he was going to keep going, so I beat him to it. "So them I promptly went to find Theresa in a state of grief over his guitar before nearly giving you a concussion because you made her upset."
"But you didn't throw the lamp because I made Theresa upset."
"No. I threw the lamp because Josh said I wasn't his real sister."
"And you didn't rail against newscasters everywhere because they said one thing that upset me."
And there is was. I played with the sleeve of my pajama shirt absently. "Barry Allen woke up today, right before I signed the contract making everything permanent." I felt the tears creeping up on me. "Which means I'm going to lose my job. And we know there's not really anything else left in Central City. I won't get my own place. I'll have to go home. I'll have to leave you guys."
He pulled me in for tight hug, springs of the bed squeaking as he sat on the edge of it. "Hey. Hey. It's okay. We'll figure this out, okay? If you do lose your job, then we'll work something out. I'll talk to Mom and Dad myself if I have to."
"This wasn't how it was supposed to happen," I mumbled.
"I know. I understand." He pulled back. "But I also know my sister. I have some sneaking suspicion she's not going to let Captain Singh push her out the door without fighting like hell first."
I wiped my eyes with my sleeve, tears barely creeping out before I banished them. "I was actually making a list of all the contributions I had made to cases in the last nine months. Give him statistics and numbers about how much I've done for the CCPD since he hired me." I flipped open my laptop and showed him what I had been typing. "I already have twelve pages."
He smirked. "Yeah, that had Lindsey Porter written all over it."
I closed it again. "I don't know what it'll do. At the very least let him keep me on for a few more weeks while Allen gets his footing, giving me more time to push. At the most… who knows?"
I knew. Barry Allen had run his course. Stop living in the past. Give him a severance package and send him off to Starling City or Coast City. He would be fine. His time was over when he had been struck by lightning. Mine was just beginning. Mine was the future.
"And like I said, if it doesn't… we figure something out. Maybe we can pay you for baby-sitting until you find something else. I get the feeling that now that Aggie has you in her grasp she's not letting go easily. Plus, Roger needs his Godmother around to do all the stupid things I'll be too strict to allow."
It comforted me to know I had a safety net. Really, it did. "It will though," I tried to remain confident. I had to have faith in my own abilities, in my skills, in every interaction I had in the last nine months. The trial was coming and I could bring nothing less than my best. "It's my dream job. That has to count for something."
He nodded with a smile, hands in his pockets as he rose. "I do appreciate it though- what you said about those newscasters."
"No one messes with my family," I made clear. "Not now. Not ever."
"Night, Lindsey."
"Night, Thomas."
I finished my list and notes somewhere around two in the morning. I then found it impossible to sleep and drifted off close to five only to be up at six-thirty. I hopped in the shower, curling my hair to perfection, and then selected the outfit I saved for emergency situations. A green sundress that made my eyes and hair pop like nothing else I owned. It made me kind of mesmerizing if I was allowed to toot my own horn, but while not being so formal that it looked out of place. I slipped into a pair of shiny black flats, printed my notes, grabbed the two thermoses of coffee in the kitchen, and caught my bus to the CCPD.
It turns out a lot had happened while I was preparing my speech as I learned from the newspaper held by the man sitting next to me. Clyde Mardon was dead, for real this time. He had been killed after an altercation with the CCPD at the farm he had used as his hideout previously. It made no mention of officers getting hurt, so I felt pretty confident that West and Eddie would be waiting for me when I walked in today. The only other thing of note was a tornado that had blossomed near the farm, but promptly vanished.
It looked like Zeus decided to screw you over this time, Mardon. Like I said, nobody has the power to control the weather after all. It was bound to let him down eventually.
I stepped off the elevator, squaring my shoulders and readying for battle. "Captain Singh's waiting for you in his office," Irene cut right through it. I looked to see she was indeed addressing me. "Again."
"Thanks." And I practically sprinted for the door, though I tried to display some modicum of decorum as I made my way through the bullpen. I managed to lock eyes with Detective West though, and was taken aback by the nod of complete respect he gave me. There wasn't a hint of distrust anywhere within it. Looks like Eddie had been a little more generous with the credit than he promised.
I took a deep breath before knocking on the door. After I received confirmation, I stepped in only to grind to a halt at who was waiting for me. It was Captain Singh sitting behind his desk, poised as always with his hands crossed over the desk.
Barry Allen was sitting in one of the two chairs on the other side of his desk.
Fine. I was hoping to spare him this, but I would just have to work my speech with him in the room. He wasn't going to like what he was about to hear, that's for sure.
"You asked to see me, Captain," I addressed him politely as I made my way over to the second chair. As much as I hated to, I turned my head just a bit to nod in Allen's direction. "Barry."
His face broke into one his annoyingly large smiles before he nodded back. We then both turned our full attention to Captain Singh.
"Yes, Porter, I did." He cleared his throat before beginning. "As you know, the agreement when you were hired was that you were serving in this position temporarily until Allen was able to return. And after nine months, it looks like that day is here."
And here's the window I needed to throw myself out of. I glanced down at my notes, locking onto my starting point before glancing back up. "Yes, and I wanted to say something about that if I may. Because-"
"Allen already did."
The words died on my lips.
Excuse me?
Singh took my frozen state as grounds to continue it seemed. "He looked over some of your work these past months, and like us at the time he was impressed."
"Seriously," my ghost spoke up. "The way you managed to track down the Dragon so quickly. The Fleaman Case- I don't know if I ever would have thought to check the dog's nails. And the way you found the one fingerprint in that diner." He was gushing. Barry Allen was actually gushing to me about my work. And all I wanted to do was punch him in the face for it. "Then there's the lab itself. I've never seen it so clean in there in my life. It looks even better than when I took it over. Your system is flawless. I could go on and on."
"What's happening?" Those were the only words I could manage.
Singh picked up where Allen had left off. "So he came to me with all this as soon as I got here and had one conclusion. That we would be out of our minds to let go of you. And I couldn't help but agree with him." He gestured to a piece of paper on his desk. "So I wanted to try this again. Offering you a permanent job at the CCPD that is."
It was like all the air had been kicked out of my lungs. I literally couldn't breathe. I couldn't speak. I couldn't do anything but stare at the piece of paper laid out before me. It was so close. It was happening. This time it was actually going to happen.
And then my blood boiled when I remembered it was completely because of Barry Allen.
"How-how is this going to work?" I finally managed after what must have been a minute of silence. Thankfully, they both let me have it to process. "I mean, is there a plan in place or precedence for something like this?"
"Admittedly, it's pretty old but we did find a similar situation. We've already made our rounds through Human Resources to clear this before you came in. There will be a reduction in pay for yourself, but you will keep the same hours full time. You'll be doing pretty much the same work, just perhaps being more detail based while Allen will be the big picture." I couldn't care less about the reduction. I had a decent amount saved up, and I figured it would still be steady enough to at least start looking at apartments again.
"I don't know what to say," I admitted.
"You don't have to say anything," Singh made clear, holding out that cursed pen from yesterday. "All you have to do is sign."
I did without a moment of hesitation, having to prevent a giggle from escaping me. I was signing a contract to become a CSI for the CCPD. Admittedly, it was one of two but even that wasn't enough to put me down right now. I slid the paper to Singh, huge smile on my face as he nodded at me.
"Congratulations, Ms. Porter. You are now permanently the official CSI Assistant of the CCPD."
Official CSI Assistant of the CCPD!
Wait. Official CSI Assistant of the CCPD.
CSI Assistant…
Assistant?!
I was only the assistant! When the hell had this precedence come from, the 1950's? My pay cut was coming about because I was being reduced to scheduling his appointments and helping him into his gloves?! There was no way in hell I was going to be Barry Allen's assistant. Over my dead body. Give me that contract back so I can rip it to pieces please. Let's try this again but with my speech. Maybe then we'll have some different results.
"I'll leave it to you two to decide and come up with a lot of the ground rules for making this work. Porter will defer to Allen, and naturally you will both defer to me."
Hell no.
"You're both dismissed then. Congrats again." We both rose, both is what seemed to be two very different frames of mind. My head was screaming, but I kept the illusion up. I knew I couldn't voice any of it. I may be pissed, but I still had a job right now. A steadier job at the one place I wanted to work. This was really the best offer that was going to be laid on the table, and it would be completely stupid of me to squander it. I smiled politely and exited his office promptly, making my ways up the stairs to my lab.
Our lab.
His lab that I assisted him with.
Kill me now.
I stepped over to my desk, giving it a solid kick that only managed to hurt my toe. Allen followed behind me, blissfully unaware as he went to his desk and took a seat.
"Why did you do that?" I questioned, not even giving him a moment.
He just shrugged. "It was the right thing to do. Like I said, you're really good at this. They told me how you helped ID Mardon yesterday just based off a photo you happened to glance at months ago." I would be flattered if I didn't want him to be struck by lightning where he stood again. "Plus, Iris talked to me last night."
I furrowed my brow. "Iris?"
"She told me about you, how you've helped her through everything and let her come up here sometimes, and how upset you were about potentially losing your job. I decided to see if there was something I could do about it."
So I had my job- somewhat. But it hadn't been given to me by my arguing of my merits. No. I had this job because Barry Allen took me on as his charity case and argued in my favor. That he felt the need to step in and help me out of my perilous situation.
"I didn't need you to do that," I spoke before I let my mind run over the words. Because there was no way I would have said them if I did. They did not fit the image I had projected in the slightest. The image that Barry Allen had bought to the point he had gone in this morning to freaking slay a dragon for me. "I had a plan." I threw my notes on my desk. "I could have done this on my own. I wanted to do this on my own. And you just had to go and take that from me too. Just hanging over my shoulder like you have been for the past nine months."
His brow furrowed, obviously confused at the sudden shift he was seeing. This wasn't the person he had met yesterday. This wasn't the person Iris must have described. Nope. I was letting him see the real thing. Here I was. Lindsey Porter, the girl who could not possibly hate him anymore in this moment.
So I kept going. "And for the record, I'm not going to be your Assistant, so get that notion out of your head right now. You get your own coffee and you run you own samples. I'm not here to serve you. I'm here to do my job and solve some puzzles like only I can do. I don't need you getting in my way."
He just stared at me, looked right at me for a long moment and I swore I could literally see the cogs moving in his head. He seemed to arrive at one conclusion though. "You knew who I was when you threw the tissue box."
I thought is best not to start off working together with a lie. "I did."
He nodded, coming to terms with something before taking a step back. "I'm going to step out for a minute, make sure I don't get in your way."
"I appreciate it," I told him bitterly.
He nodded, grabbing his coat from his chair and starting for the door. He came to a stop though, turning back towards me. "For the record, I tried to get him to remove the term assistant. But it was the only thing Human Resources would accept. I wasn't going to hold us to that though. You and were going to be equals, work together. I figured we would make a good team- planned on us being partners."
"You are a lot of things to me Allen, but my partner is never going to be one of them."
He left after that and if we had a door I'm sure he would slam it. A small part of me instantly regretted what I had done. I had just burned a bridge I would never be able to repair. We would never be able to go back in time to whatever we had before I opened my mouth. The illusion was gone.
But then I remembered the fact that he had fought my battle for me, like I was some kind of damsel in distress he needed to save.
I suppose it was a good thing he knew who I was then. Because hopefully now he understood that he shouldn't be trying to be my hero. I didn't need him to be. I didn't want him to be.
Let the partnership begin.
XXX
And there it is. Our Pilot is complete. Barry is officially here and things are off to an interesting start. Lindsey will start getting wrapped more into his world soon, but for the moment there's a lot she has to overcome before she's even a little open to it. BarSey as I call it is going to be a nice slow burn, which in my opinion is the best kind of romance. I honestly never expected her to have the temper she does, but it was just one of those instance where she wrote herself. The thunder to his lightning I suppose. Hopefully one day she just aims in with Barry rather than against him. I suppose we'll have to see though.
I want to thank everyone for such a huge outpouring of support. This thing has exploded in a manner I never expected. Your love just keeps me going and makes me believe this crazy idea had some legs. I can't wait to show you what I have in store for you as we make our way through this season. I mean, we still have three more main characters she doesn't even know exist yet!
Thank you to all those who followed this story to keep a finger to its pulse. Thank you TRONNOCK, TwilightNewMoonEclipseMidnight, captainclaris, Arya2013, BeneathTheWillow926, DEWFAL, HayabusaDragonFroce, IrisWestWrites, MissUnderstoodXOXO, TheBlondeMonster, amillionsstories, alayara, EllieDragon, RaspberryTroll, angelvoice15, evemarie07, dontwantto, bellexxxx, luvudramione, SylasPantz, BakuganShari, Narutoske, Ouat-in-vampirediaries, GGirll, Krystallian, kittycat310, Ankei-Kurai, DothrakiDovahkiin, jcscheidt, masqueraderose3, and waterflygirl.
Thank you to all those who without Barry meeting Lindsey took a leap of faith and made this a favorite. Thank you RAD092515, TRONNOCK, laadynaty, BeneathTheWillow926, HayabusaDragonForce, IrisWestWrites, MissUnderstoodXOXO, AnnaBanana27, mr. uroboros, angelvoice15, MysticRyter, beccuh, BakuganShari, Narutoske, TeamFreeWill2, TheLostPevensie, , Lulu Like Love, Kleoparda, Krystallian, Ankei-Kurais, and masqueraderose3.
And finally thanks to my reviewers. I have read every words more than once and treasure each one. Thank you Guest, TheLostPevensie, heroherondaletotherescue, IrisWestWrites, TRONNOCK, anon, vsncheze, and nora9gina.
See you next time.