Author's Note: Alright I need fluff in my life…. So here we go again. I own nothing.
9. Friends
It took a few moments for the small family to separate. They smiled at each other as Caitlin and Cisco took their leave, heading out to Star Labs. Joe, Barry and Iris all loaded into Joe's car and headed for home. With everything that had happened Barry had almost forgotten that Iris was moving out in two days. There were boxes everywhere. Barry took a step and something squashy met her foot. She looked down and grabbed the turtle off the floor. She held it up and Iris laughed.
"Aww. Mcsnurtle the turtle." Barry laughed handing the turtle to Iris. Iris grinned and pulled Barry into another hug. When she pulled back she stepped over to the couch.
"I found something of yours in my stuff while I was packing. I tried to call you earlier but you were busy getting kidnaped again." Iris picked up a red backpack and held it out to her sister. Barry blushed and laughed as Iris handed over the bag.
"I haven't seen this in years!" Iris laughed as Barry began to dig into the bag.
"I figured those might be worth something." Barry grinned at the comics in her hands.
"They're worth something to me." Iris pulled her into another hug while Joe went to see about what they could do for dinner. They hung out for most of the night. Eddie called once to make sure everyone was ok. All three of them spent the night in the same house that night for the first time in years. The next day Iris headed out to work and Barry flopped onto the couch. Captain Singh had given her a few days off after everything that had happened. She was kinda glad of that as she pushed a suitcase out of the way so she could put her feet up. Joe laughed as he looked around.
"You know she's gonna take forever to get all this cleaned up." Barry glanced up at her foster father and laughed before flashing around the room. It only took her a few seconds to get everything gathered up in a neat pile by the door. Joe laughed slightly and shook his head as Barry flopped back down onto the couch. Joe handed her a beer and she laughed.
"You know this does nothing for me right?" Joe rolled his eyes and popped the top on his beer. Barry shrugged and took a swig. It didn't taste all that bad and the fleeting buzz of the alcohol was nice. Joe was silent for a moment before he cleared his throat and spoke.
"So… You and Snart." Barry sighed and took a longer swig of her beer. Joe glanced at her.
"When did that happen?" Barry sighed.
"A day or so after Oliver broke up with me." Joe nodded taking a drink of his own beer.
"So he was a rebound guy huh?" Barry paused, looking down at the brown bottle in her hand.
"That's kinda how it started." Joe raised an eyebrow.
"But not how it ended?" Barry ran a hand through her hair. She sighed.
"I didn't know he was a criminal… He said he was in art acquisition, he was really nice. He took care of me when my lungs were healing after I fought Nimbus. I told him it was just a cold. He brought me soup, and ginger ale. He introduced me to his sister. I don't… I don't think he knew I'm a CSI. And I wasn't lying when I said it wasn't him that took me out of the alley. It was his partner." Barry took a long draw on the beer she sniffled slightly and scrubbed at her face.
"I cared about him. And I think maybe he cared about me. But he doesn't know I'm the Flash. I figured out he was a criminal after the theater, and broke it off." Joe set down his beer and pulled Barry into a hug. Barry burrowed herself into her foster fathers embrace for a moment. She should tell him that Len knew where she lived. But something stopped her as she pulled back.
"I haven't heard from him since. Well up until today." Joe nodded, he'd had his share of bad relationships. He could understand that. Barry checked her watch her eyes still glimmering slightly.
"I promised Caitlin I'd go into the lab today for a checkup. I gotta run." Joe chuckled slightly at her pun and Barry lit up, the grin on her face finally reaching her eyes. She hugged him quickly and raced off to Star Labs. Joe sighed as he looked around. His girls were moving on with their lives, he smiled to himself.
Barry had finished her checkup and was stepping off the treadmill and snagging her bottle of water when a voice from the doorway made her jump slightly.
"I we're not enemies." She looked to her left and spotted Dr. Wells wheeling into the room.
"What? No, of course we're not." Dr. Wells smiled slightly.
"I thought you might blame me." Barry looked at him beyond lost. He continued. "For pushing you to pursue your training instead of going after Snart." Barry nodded comprehension finally crossing her face. She mopped her brow with the towel she kept on the rack in the room.
"Look, I'm an adult, I make my own choices. I chose to run from this problem until I couldn't run anymore. I make my own mistakes, and I think he was one of them. I don't think you are. I'm glad you pushed me, to get better at this, to get faster." Barry laughed and Dr. Wells raised an eyebrow.
"It's so weird. There was a time when I would literally have paid money to be in the same room as you, let alone to have your autograph. I used to have the biggest crush on you when I was younger." Barry blushed slightly. "It's kinda embarrassing. But you were this big brilliant scientist, everything I wanted to be. But then everything with my mom happened and I guess over time I realized it was kinda silly. And now here we are…" Dr. Wells smiled.
"Partners." Barry grinned and held out a fist to him. He rolled his eyes and fist bumped her. She grinned at him.
"I was gonna say friends." Dr. Wells smiled and began to wheel away.
"In case you ever doubt it, you push me to be better too. I'm glad you made it out of this alright." Barry nodded.
"Thank you Dr. Wells." Cisco skipped into the room and hugged Barry.
"Noooo! I'm sweaty!" Cisco laughed, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the Cortex.
"You gotta see this!" Cisco dragged her off to the Cortex. Barry tried to ask him what he was talking about but he just kept shushing her. When they reached the Cortex Cisco nodded to Caitlin who was grinning. Caitlin hit a button and the blonde reporter began speaking.
'And once again this is footage taken last night during the confrontation between arch criminal Captain Cold and the individual calling herself the Flash.' The screen switched and they were treated to a view that had clearly been from the building to the left of the fight. A streak of yellow gold lightning raced around and beat the two villains. But the streak only paused long enough to make out a feminine shape in a red suit. The blonde came back on.
'Witnesses described a female figure shrouded in lightning.' Cisco laughed loudly.
"All the news stations are going crazy. I mean its essentially the same footage from different angles, but everyone's talking about the Flash! You are officially Central Cities biggest news story!" Barry laughed as Cisco snagged the remote from Caitlin and began to flick through channels.
