"we both like walking in the park at night and I think you're a stalker so I accidentally attack you and give you a black eye sorry" AU

"You're sure you want to walk about the park on your own?" Linda asked for the umpteenth time.

Iris just rolled her eyes. "I've told you, Linda, I actually do enjoy wandering about the park at night, I do it all the time. Besides, this is the shortest way to my apartment, so relax," she assured her co-worker and friend. Linda and Iris were on their way home from their infamous girls night out and apparently, despite Iris's numerous affirmations that she would be fine walking the park alone, Linda still seemed reluctant to let her go.

Iris was getting impatient now: "Look, I've walked around the park many nights and I've never, ever saw anyone there. Ever... But if it makes you happy, you can call me when you get home safely and check up on me, okay?" Iris conceded, just wanting to get home and finally take off her shoes that were slowly, but surely, killing her feet.

"Fine," Linda sighed in agreement, bidding Iris good-bye and reminding her friend that she would call her soon.

Rolling her eyes, Iris waved to Linda and entered the park. It was a surprisingly mild night for spring-time, the warmth of the recent sunny days still lingering, even though it was way past midnight.

Iris leisurely followed the path before her, appreciating the silence of the night after hours of being blasted with loud music. She made a small detour to her favorite place in the park: the pond. It wasn't anything particularly special, but Iris loved watching the reflection of the moon in the waters, only disturbed by soft ripples caused by the occasional breeze.

She sat down on a nearby bench to enjoy the view. After a couple of minutes, Iris dug out her cellphone from her purse to check how much time she had left before she was to receive Linda's call. As she had dawdled quite a lot, she would actually have to hurry if she wanted to be home on time. Iris quickly shoved her phone back into her purse and hastily got up from the bench, barely registering the rustle coming from the bushes behind her.

She returned to the path that was the shortest way to her apartment, making a mental note to never wear these shoes from hell again, when she suddenly heard steps following her. Iris couldn't help but feel apprehension bubbling up inside her – "I've never, ever seen anyone there. Ever"?! That's what she gets for talking so big...

She picked up the pace a bit and tried to sneak an inconspicuous peak over her shoulder. Her "shadow" appeared to be a tall, lean figure, most likely male, who was also quickening his pace.

'Great, I'm running around a park at night, chased by some kind of slender man,' Iris thought bitterly, her heart hammering against her ribcage. In her mind, she was going over everything she ever learned in the self-defense lessons her dad had given her, especially as she could hear the person slowly gaining on her. How was shouting gonna help her, though? The entire park was completely deserted around this time of the day... Iris decided to skip the first step of self-defense, instead reaching for her cell, hoping that this would maybe scare off her persecutor; but as she was reaching for her phone she realized that it must have fallen out of her purse – damn, she had planned on fixing that stupid clasp for a while now... The steps were getting closer...' Just keep the moves in mind that daddy taught you and you will be fine' she tried to calm herself down, mentally preparing for what was to come... A hand landed on her left shoulder.

"HeeeEEY – OOWW!"

Iris had already turned to the outside, looped her arm over her stalker's arm to lock it up and jabbed the guy in the face.

"Oww, oh I'm sorry, so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you – oh my gosh, ow, I'm really, really sorry!" Iris's 'attacker' rambled frantically, holding his face with his left hand.

Iris gaped at the man in front of her, who was still spluttering apologies; He was still very young, maybe around her age, lanky, had brown hair (as far as Iris could make that out in the dim light) and was doubled over in pain, clutching his left eye.

She knew that her first instinct should be running away, but instead she stood completely still, frozen, until it dawned on her that he hadn't had any intention of hurting her.

"Are you – are you okay?" Iris asked tentatively, unsure what she should do.

The strange man straightened up – he was really tall – and gave Iris a shaky smile (from what she could see of his face, he actually looked quite handsome, Iris observed). "I'm fine. I guess I had it coming... – Nice cross, by the way," he complimented her with a strained voice, apparently trying to suppress a groan.

At first, Iris wanted to apologize, but what exactly had she to apologize for? He was right, he'd had it coming, creeping around in the middle of the night... So, she settled for an innocuous "thanks".

"Ehm.. anyway, I just wanted to give you this... I think you lost it at the pond..." He fumbled for something in the pocket of his cardigan and there it was – Iris's cellphone.

"Oh." Iris stared at him wide-eyed, suddenly feeling guilty for punching him so hard.

Just as he was about to hand the phone over to her, it started ringing, causing him to flinch and the cellphone to drop unceremoniously into Iris's hand. The display showed that it was Linda.

"I have got to take this, but don't run away, okay?" Iris instructed and the young man nodded dutifully, bearing a striking resemblance to a puppy. A soft smile stole its way unto Iris's lips.

"Hi," she answered the phone. "Umm, no, I'm not home yet, but don't worry... I just ran into someone and got a little held up..." She smirked at he man next to her and he blushed a little at her choice of words. "What? I really don't think that this will be necessary..." Iris objected, but Linda wouldn't yield... To top it off, the stranger standing next to her had finally moved his hand from his face to the back of his neck to rub it nervously. He exposed a slightly swollen eye that surely would turn into a beautiful shiner, especially if he wasn't going to put some ice on it soon.

"Fine," Iris sighed, seeing no use in fighting about this point with Linda, "I'll hand you over to...?" She send a questioning look to the guy next to her, who was so taken aback by being included into this conversation that at first, he didn't understand that Iris wanted to know his name.

At last, he forced out a raspy "Barry... Allen."

Iris nodded, "I'll hand you over to Barry." She gave him the cellphone.

"Hello?" He answered it cautiously, looking utterly afraid. His eyes widened in a comical manner, another, much more vibrant blush, making its way unto his face. "Mhm... yes... of course, yeah... yes ma'am," he stuttered, glowing bright red. He handed the phone over to Iris, hand slightly shaking. Iris listened to the last couple of words Linda had to say, let out a tiny laugh and said good-bye.

"Sooo..." Iris began, fumbling with her cellphone, not wanting to put it back into her pocket, "you just wanted to get this back to me?"

Barry nodded sheepishly, shuffling his feet: "I do realize that just following you without saying a peep was a bad idea now, though..." – Iris let out another laugh – "I'm sorry, Iris," he added, carefully repeating the name her friend had said when she had been talking about the woman in front of him.

"It's okay," she reassured him, "I think you've learned your lesson."

The earnest look he gave her was enough to reaffirm her belief.

"Oh well, let's go," Iris suggested, motioning towards the park's exit, "Linda made you promise to take me home safely and I can assure you that you don't want to get on her bad side."

The mere thought of incuring Linda's wrath made Barry shudder, who was trotting alongside Iris loyally.

"And if you keep behaving like the good boy you are, I might give you some ice for your eye," Iris teased, earning herself a soft chuckle from the man beside her.

Fin.

Soo... I hope you guys enjoy this little AU fic :) I have another chapter nearly ready and it will be more like the first two chapters again... I hope you will like that as well ^^
Oh, and if anyone is interested in the self-defense move Iris used (I'm not sure if my description of it is visual enough) you can watch it here: www. ehow . c o m [slash] video_4970707 _ womens-selfdefense-escaping-grab-from. html [I added some spaces, just so you know]