Sorry it took so long! A deeper explanation of my absence will be posted after this chapter. Happy reading!


Barry Allen was currently sitting next to his boss, lazily tapping his pen as the man proceeded with his lecture on the police departments' upcoming community festival. It was an annual gathering of civilians and the police bodies alike to interact with one another on a friendly level and truly connect with the community. Unlike Gotham, Central City had a decent moral police force that prided themselves in protecting the common man as well as being friendly towards one another. Their villains were also cut from a completely different cloth than those residing in the larger city. While they were indeed "villains", hardly any of them were "evil", at least compared to the Joker. Having a community gathering sponsored by the police force created a friendly bridge towards civilian and officer, which continued to sponsor camaraderie between all citizens of Central. Flash had made it a point to attend these things as well, it was important for him to communicate with his citizens and fellow good-doers to help promote the image of justice in his neighborhood. He enjoyed greeting and talking to people as the Flash when no lives were in danger, and others' appreciated it as well because it made him more human, and not just a superhero from the Justice League. Barry Allen would also be making an appearance, but at a much smaller scale. He was planning on spending some quality time with his wife Iris, hoping that the world wouldn't need his immediate saving while he enjoyed a quiet park picnic with the woman that put up with so much.

He felt guilty, so guilty, on how he continued to silently struggle to balance the life of husband and forensic scientist Barry Allen and the superhero Flash. The time split seemed to quadruple when his nephew Wally gave himself superpowers, and while it was exciting to have a new partner it also gave Barry a new cause for concern and inner turmoil. He loved mentoring Wally, but sometimes, and he'd hate to admit it, he'd rather spend some time at home with Iris. His love life had already been complicated since before they got married, with him working as a scientist for the police and she as a news reporter any normal couple would already be struggling making time for one another. Throw in a vigilante outfit and one would wonder why they even attempted a relationship. It had helped that he was the "the fastest man alive" so he could quickly complete assignments, but it didn't grant him the abilities to stop time completely. Lots of superheroes had dabbled with civilian relationships, most failed, but there were several successful stories that continued to give the young couple motivation to steer through the rough patches. Hopefully after parading around in his Flash outfit for a little while, the two of them would be allowed some time to relax.

As his boss continued to ramble about the upcoming festivities and who would volunteer for what, Barry's phone started to vibrate in his pants pocket. Now normally he wouldn't dare to answer his phone during a meeting, but the endless powerpoint presentation was beginning to drown him in boredom. Leaning back in his chair he tried to skillfully pull out his phone to check the caller I.D., but unfortunately Barry still had a lot to learn when it came to ninja phone answering abilities.

"Allen." His boss spoke, voice rough with slight frustration. "If you think answering a phone call is more important than paying attention to the stations' biggest community event then I suggest you take your call outside. Non-negotiable." A deep blush sprouted on Barry's face as he hastily apologized.

"I'm really sorry Chief! I was just seeing who-"

"Get out." His boss said, none too kindly. Hearing a few giggles from his coworkers, Barry gingerly left the room feeling like a student who just got sent to the principal's office.

By this time, he figured that he'd better quickly answer his still vibrating phone but the name gave him a moments pause. Brock Payne. Barry dumbly stared at the glowing name until his phone clicked off, indicating the caller had hung up. The name haunted him for a few seconds before he prepared to call back. Brock Payne was the name that Barry gave to Bruce after getting his personal cell phone number. It was when their boys became inseperateable did the older vigilantes realize that they needed to engage in some normal interaction besides hunting bad guys at night. Bruce hesitantly agreed, but had a few stipulations. Being the ever-paranoid person he is, Bruce refused to give out the number unless he was called someone else. At first Barry thought it was a ridiculous request, but upon further thinking he realized that in case someone got a hold of his phone it would be rather suspicious on why a forensic scientist from Central had billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne's phone number on speed dial. Barry remembered the slight smirk of satisfaction while he typed in "Payne", because, well, sometimes the big bat could be a giant one.

The other condition pertained to what content they could talk about while on the phone. Bruce made Barry memorize a bunch of keywords they would use while in public so listening ears wouldn't become suspicious. The vocabulary varied, pertaining towards the kids', the Justice League, and a 'code red' that would be used in case of an emergency. This was afterall their civilian line and they would mostly use the Justice League comm-link in case of a real emergency so Barry hadn't really put too much worry into it. They had talked on the phone maybe twice in the months since they exchanged numbers and neither were for serious reasons. Bruce had grumbled and slightly complained on the pivotal explanations for Barry's two calls, so it was shocking to see the other man's name as the caller.

As Barry was about to call back his phone once again lit up with Brock Payne's name for a mere moment before Barry with no hesitation answered the call.

"Hello?" What's going on? Barry asked.

"You need to come to Sunday's barbeque at 12." You need to come over, now.

Barry looked over at the conference room as people shuffled out, noticing his boss walk away to his office in a sneer. Hesitating a bit he replied, "Oh, well, I can probably stop by at 1." I'll be there in 10 minutes.

"Negative, you need to come at 12."Bruce replied with a growl. You need to come now, or else.

Barry gulped and absentmindedly nodded at the phone. "Alright, I'll be there. Save me a beer will ya?" Calm down, I'm on my way. Barry's attempt at the light joke rewarded him with silence, indicating the other man had hung up on him.

As Barry looked back at his boss's office, he stilled a sigh before walking normally towards the stairs leading to the exit. The nervousness of getting a personal phone call from Bruce, no Batman, had made the speedster worried and perplexed. If it was official Justice League business they would have summoned him on his comm-link, and Bruce had made it clear that he would only contact him through his mobile if it was an emergency. Normally it was Flash who contacted Brock Payne, never the other way around. This made his already racing heart beat faster in his quivering chest as possibilities swarmed in his mind of what the call could mean.

Barry closed the police door behind him, and made a tight turn towards the adjacent office building on the right. He sprinted into a casual jog as he took cover by means of the large dumpster and pressed his ring to spring forth his Flash uniform. A normal human eye would have seen a flash of red and yellow for a mere moment, but it would disappear as quickly as it came. The security camera on the wall couldn't even record the quick movement when it had a clear view of the change.

Blood rushed through Flash's vibrating body as he made his journey to Gotham. The wind current and speed always brought a silent thrill as if you were driving a limitless race car. Over the years Barry thought that this feeling would go away, but the youthful excitement as he ran never faded. He could be running from a giant freeze ray or beating up a handful of baddies, the colossus magnitude of his mission never truly went away, but the adrenaline and high did take care of the nervousness.

As the Flash hit the county line of Gotham, a tidal wave of pollution cascaded into him. The air was dirtier, the sky darker, and atmosphere overall reeking of doom and gloom. Even though Flash had visited the dirtier city many times before, he never got used to the vast difference between his own sunny territory and this wasteland. He could only imagine what type of experiences the other man faced on a daily basis, and frankly he figured he was better off not knowing.

The Flash took a sharp turn to enter the hidden entrance where the Batmobile usually used, impatiently waiting the second it took for the hidden computer to recognize his ID number. The tunnels were dark, and it was because of experience from having done this many times before that prevented the speedster from running into the walls of the cave or step into one of the numerous booby-traps that were spread throughout. Batman had the strength of a strongman when it came to his stubbornness and had originally denied the speedster's access into the pathway towards his home. If it wasn't for Robin that was able to lower the walls of the bats unrelenting heart, it was all too possible that the Flash would have been electrocuted by taking a small misstep the first time he had attempted the route a few months ago. A millisecond later, the Flash finally reached the end and gave a frantic knock on the kryptonite lined door.

The man who had promptly opened it was something that set the Flash back for a second. Usually it was Alfred or Dick who let him inside, and instead a very serious Bruce Wayne had taken the pivotal task himself. A wordless exchange passed through the two men, consisting of recognition and greeting as they made their way inside the cave dome.

The silence was soon broken with the Flash spouting everything that had ran through his mind the moment he had ended their call promptly 2 minutes ago at rapid speed.

"What's-going-on? What's-the-emergency? Is-someone-hurt? Why-did-you-want-me-to-come-over? I'm-not-like-you-who-can-skip-work-whenever-he-wants-I-have-a-day-job-you-know. Wh-" A glare protruding from the other man quickly shut the speedster's mouth. An untrained ear would have taken the speedster's words undecipherable, but to the Batman he could just make them out. Bruce looked on and let the glare drop, returning to his neutral expression

"There's something you must know before you enter the cave any further," Bruce said with a slightly raspy voice. "No matter what you see down here I want you to know that the situation has been handled to the best of Alfred and I's ability. We will continue to be of aid until you deem it not necessary." Placing a firm hand on the Flash's shoulder, Bruce led the stunned speedster deeper into the cave.

"What do you mean? What's going on Bruce?" Barry asked, now nearly crippled with worry. Bruce paused at the doorway of the infirmary before once again turning towards him.

"Wallace ran away from his home tonight. It is not my story to tell, so I cannot share the details." His voice grew quiet in a whisper, "This may come with a shock Barry, but remember you are the adult in this situation and you cannot show weakness. Be strong for him, be strong for you." And with that, Bruce opened the shut door and revealed a Wally with a healing bruise plastered on his face.

In a shaky voice the boy whispered, "Hi, Uncle Barry."

Life would never be the same for Barry Allen after that night.


I am really sorry that it took so long to post this chapter. A series of events consisting of illness, computer breakage, 18 page papers/finals, graduating from college, etc kept me away. I'm hoping to post more chapters as rapidly as I can. I know this chapter was a bit shorter, hopefully my next few chapters will be of regular length for this story. I am unsure on when I can post more, but rest assured this story will never be abandoned. I look forward to hearing your critiques and comments, thank you for the continued support!