Over the phone, Barry was only quiet for a split second, but it was long enough for her to doubt the facts that she'd assembled on New Year's Eve. Then he said, "What's happening?"

Iris almost fell to her knees. Yes. She'd been right. "Caitlin's the ice meta, and she's losing control of her powers."

With a whoosh, he stood next to her, tall and lean in his red suit. "Oh my god. Iris," he said, grabbing her arms. "Come on."

"Wait!" Iris yelped, slapping her hand to his chest. "We don't have time. Go to - " She looked at Caitlin.

"Fourth floor," Caitlin said. She didn't ask how Iris knew the Flash well enough to call him up like a pizza. Heavy, chilly mist swirled around her, and she pressed both palms against another tree. The ice poured out faster and the Flash gulped. "Psych ward," she continued, voice shaking. "They have the strongest and fastest-acting sedatives in the hospital." She pulled her hands free of the tree, now completely encased in ice, whimpering as the mist only paused for a moment.

"Iris," the Flash said. "You can't stay here with her like this."

"I damn well am."

"But - "

"I'm not arguing this with you! Now go!"

With another whoosh, he was gone.

Caitlin said into the stillness, "Thank you. I don't know why you're staying, but you don't have to."

"I'm not leaving you alone," Iris said, although what she really wanted to say was Your eyes are glowing and your hair is going white and some added oh shit oh shit oh shit for color.

"Iris," Caitlin said.

It caught Iris's attention, because the other woman's voice trembled like a leaf.

"If this doesn't work, tell him what I want."

"I - "

"Please," Caitlin said.

Before Iris could answer, the Flash was back, pausing next to Iris. "I got - " He peered at the label and sounded out something complicated and chemical-sounding.

"That should work. Just inject it anywhere," Caitlin said, shoving up her sleeves. "It doesn't matter."

"Me?"

"If I hold it, I'll freeze it! Do it now!"

Wind blasted again, tossing Iris's hair, and Caitlin jerked as if she'd been punched. The syringe had appeared, stuck into the crook of her elbow. For a moment, the mist still poured from her hands, heavy and thick, roiling in the turbulent air.

Iris's hand slipped into her pocket and curled around the utility knife.

Then the mist began to thin out, and finally it was gone. Caitlin let out a sigh as her knees buckled. The Flash caught her before she hit the ground, and lowered her the rest of the way. She huddled on the ice-patched ground, looking very small and vulnerable.

Before her eyes slid shut, Iris saw that they'd gone back to brown again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wow, cold cold cold," the Flash said, letting go of her and shaking his hands out like they'd been immersed in ice water. "Holy shit."

"Is she okay?"

"She's breathing." For a moment, he knelt next to the doctor. Iris couldn't see much of his face under the cowl, but his mouth looked sad. Then he sighed, climbed to his feet, and pulled a phone out from a hidden pocket. "Hey, man. I'm over at the park by the hospital and I need your help. You remember the ice meta? Uh-huh, yeah, you could say I'm a convert. I found her. You're never gonna believe who it is."

Iris jumped back as a glowing blue portal opened up in the air a few feet away. Vibe climbed through, his goggles on, his jacket hanging unzipped over a t-shirt that read Doctor's Orders, with a picture of somebody she remembered seeing on the Internet. He was tying his hair back, but paused when he saw Iris. "Is this her?"

"No, of course not," the Flash said.

Vibe shook his head. "Dude," he said. "A little warning about the civilian next time. Not all of us can get changed in a split second."

She was goggling at the portal. She'd seen pictures, blurry shots somebody had posted to Twitter and subsequently given her permission to repost on her blog. But that didn't come close to replicating the sheer strangeness of the tear in reality.

At his words, she tore her eyes away and leveled her gaze at Vibe. "Cisco," she said. "I know it's you."

He went still. Behind him, the portal sucked itself into nothingness. "Oh my god, you told her."

Barry hooked his thumbs under the bottom edge of his mask and peeled it off his face. "I didn't tell her," he said. His hair stuck up in every direction, and Iris wondered wildly what static electricity at six hundred miles an hour did. Nothing good, she was sure. "That doesn't matter right now. We need to do something for Caitlin."

"Caitlin? What's she - " He spotted her on the ground. "Oh, no way," he breathed, dropping down to one knee next to her. "Her? Really?"

"Yeah."

"Shit, how did I miss this? What'd you do? You knock her out?"

"Tranq," Barry said. "She's okay."

He checked her heartbeat with a couple of fingers on her wrist, and his shoulders relaxed. "Why didn't she tell us?"

"I don't know, man."

He lifted his head, taking in the ice-coated trees and grass. The surfaces had begun to shine with melt, slowly. "She did all this?"

Iris nodded. "We were arguing about - well, that doesn't matter. And then suddenly her hands just started pouring out mist. She couldn't control it. She said usually freezing something stopped it, but that wasn't working, so I called Barry and he brought a sedative and - well." She gestured.

Cisco reached out and brushed his finger over one of the iced-up trees. "Girl's got some serious firepower," he observed. "So to speak."

Iris looked from one superhero to the other. "What are you going to do to her?"

"Ideas?" Barry asked Cisco.

He braced his hands on his knees, sucking his teeth. It was hard to read his face behind the goggles. "I think I know a guy."

"She didn't do anything wrong," Iris said. "She lost control of the situation, that's all."

"Hey," Cisco said. "I know that. What do you take me for? We're not going to Iron Heights."

"Where are you going?"

"To see a friend of mine, let's say."

"She's afraid. She doesn't want these powers. She thinks she's going to end up hurting or killing somebody, and I - " I think she might be right. "Is there anything your friend can do to take them away?"

He shook his head. "I know that feeling. Really, I do. But I think we're all SOL on that. Best he can do is maybe figure out some way to modulate them."

"Okay," Iris said. "Just, um, take care of her, would you?"

"After the way she's looked after us? You can count on it." he said. He shook out his shoulders, muttered something like, "Let's see if I can do this without a migraine," and pushed his hand out in front of him, shooting blue light from his palm that poured into a new portal.

Even though Iris had only seen one in real life yet, this one still felt different, somehow. She didn't have time to ask before Cisco crouched, hefted Caitlin into his arms with a grunt, and stepped through it. The portal zipped closed behind him.

Iris turned to Barry. "What did he mean, after the way she's looked after you? Does Caitlin know about - " She waved her hand at his suit. "All this?"

"She's - uh, long story, but we come to her when we need patching up." He ran a hand over his hair, looking at all the ice. "I wish she'd told us about her powers earlier. We could have helped."

"How?"

"I don't know. Maybe just so she wouldn't feel so alone."

"Sometimes secrets get so big you can't find your way out," Iris murmured. "Where is he taking her?"

"Honestly? No idea." At her look of surprise, he said, "Cisco's got a lot more secrets than you'd think. But he'll make sure she's okay. You trust him, right?"

Iris wondered if she even knew him. But then she looked at Barry, who had reacted as Barry but come to her aid as the Flash. Just names, she thought. Just names for two faces of the same man. "Yeah," she said.

"Okay, then. Caitlin will be fine. She will. Listen," he said. "Did my aunt and uncle tell you?"

She blinked up at him, fighting a sense of unreality - as if this whole episode hadn't been unreal enough, what with the out-of-control ice meta and the portal in mid-air. With his cowl down and his suit on, she could see both Barry and the Flash at the same time, man and meta. Like one of those pictures with the different-colored layers that you had to combine to get the whole thing. "No," she said. "They know?"

"I told them last night. But then how did you figure it out?"

"Oh - little things. Your aunt and uncle kept saying they could never get ahold of you. You missed Christmas - "

He looked away.

"Which you wouldn't have done without a really good reason," she went on. "And, you know, I can use Google Maps. The sixteenth is nowhere near the hospital, or my place. It's across the city. And, really who walks everywhere in the middle of winter when they have a working car? Get a better story, Barry."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um."

She shrugged. "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't put it together until Cisco interrupted us fighting on New Year's Eve - "

He blushed.

"And then the next thing I heard, Flash and Vibe were together on the scene down at the waterfront. And I remembered that Flash and Vibe started working together after I introduced you to each other, and I started thinking about how weird Cisco's schedule is, and how he's always turning up with mysterious bruises and I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it earlier. Kind of like a lightning bolt, to be honest."

"You're amazing," he said.

She shrugged. "I was sitting in the hospital waiting room to hear about Eddie. It was nice to have something else to think about."

"Eddie," he said. "Listen, Iris, I've only told my aunt and uncle, nobody else. Can you let me tell Eddie? And everybody?"

She put her hand on his arm. "It's your story to tell. And that goes for my blog, too. I only report on the Flash and Vibe. Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon are off limits."

"Thanks," he said, smiling down at her. She felt her stomach quiver.

Both their phones went off at the same time. It was a text from Wally. Where r u? I'm eating all the pizza.

"Oh, god!" she said.

"What? What is it?"

"I - " She rubbed her eyes. "I was thinking about something I had to do. But I can put it off."

She'd had a terrible day already and it was only twelve-thirty. She could bask in this family's warmth and love for one more day, couldn't she? Tomorrow was soon enough.

"Okay," he said. "Uh - you want a ride? Wally's not kidding about the pizza, I can tell you that."'

"What? Like a speedy-back ride?"

"Yeah, sure." He laughed.

She laughed too. The hospital was right over there. It was ridiculous, but - "Sure," she said. "Okay."

"All right." He scooped her up, which she wasn't gonna lie, made her stomach flutter again. He smelled like the air after a lightning storm, clean and ozone-y. "Hold on," he said, and for a fraction of a second, the world blurred around them.

It resolved itself into a hospital hallway, empty of people. "We're right around the corner from Eddie's room," he said, setting her down. She let go of his shoulders reluctantly. "I'll be right there. Gotta go change."

She realized he was still wearing his suit. "Yeah, you're not inconspicuous."

He flashed a grin at her and was gone the next moment.

When she walked in the room, a little chorus of Iris! and there she is and finally went up.

"What took you so long?" Nora asked, giving her a hug.

"Oh, um, a friend needed help," Iris said. "That's why I called Barry." She didn't miss the look Henry and Nora exchanged, but they stayed quiet.

"Everything okay?" Joe asked, his brows pulled together.

"Just fine now," Barry said from behind her. "Hey, Wally, did you leave us any?" He ambled past her and peered into the box. "Oh, come on!"

Wally shook his head. "Too slow, man, too slow."

A gravelly voice said, "Should have known better, Bear."

Iris turned and blinked. "Eddie!" she exclaimed. "Hi. Wow. You look good." She gave him an awkward hug, and his arms were hesitant around her. He moved in a way that made her panic for an instant that he was about to kiss her, and she pulled away with a jerk. "How are you feeling?"

"Well-rested," he said dryly, and it made her laugh.

"Sit here, honey," Nora said brightly, and vacated her chair at Eddie's side.

"Oh, but - okay." She settled in, focused on peeling off her coat so she wouldn't have to look at her faux fiance.

"You were at work?" he asked her.

"Yeah, it's my lunch hour. I've got to go back in - " she checked her phone. "Ooof. Not very long. Sorry." She scrunched up her face.

"It's all right."

A slice of pizza on a paper plate appeared on her lap, and she glanced up to Barry's smile as he retreated.

Eddie's hand covered hers.

"Iris," he said in a low voice. "I can't imagine what you're feeling right now. And I want you to know, I'm working as hard as I can to remember you. Us. Our life together."

"You - " She swallowed. "Eddie. Please. Focus on healing. Your memories will come back on their own soon enough, and then you'll know - " she flailed "- everything you need to know."

The bite of pizza sat uneasily in her stomach. She set it down and plucked at the edge of the plate.

He smiled at her, his bright beautiful smile that would have brightened her entire day just two weeks ago. Now it just made her feel worse. "You may be the most generous person I've ever met."

"Oh, no," she said. "I'm no saint. I have a lot of personal flaws. Trust me."

"Not according to my family."

"Well, your family is amazing."

"They really are, aren't they?" He watched them for awhile, bickering happily over the last slice of pizza. "I'm sure you must know how much I've missed them. It was just stubbornness, staying away from them for so long. Waking up to find them here - and my mom tells me that you've spent so much of this past week with them that you already feel like one of the family."

"It was my pleasure. Really, it was."

"This is like a miracle. It's like we were never estranged. And I know it's one more thing I can thank you for. Besides, you know, agreeing to spend your life with me."

God, she wished he would stop saying things like that.

He shifted, tugging the hospital gown straight and giving it a rueful look. "Hey, uh, I don't know if we talked about this or what."

"It can wait," she said, without knowing what it was. Whatever it was, it could so wait.

"No," he said. "I think part of the reason I don't feel quite like this is real is - " He tapped her ring finger. "This. This is empty. I never gave you a ring."

"Really," she said curling her hand into a fist. "Honestly. I don't mind, I - "

He raised his voice. "Mom? Hey, Mom, can you bring me the bag on the chair there?"

Her face lit. "Yes. Absolutely." She grabbed it and handed it past Iris, who stared at it with nameless dread.

When Eddie pulled out a small, square box with worn velvet edges, the dread solidified.

Joe said in a low voice, "Eds, maybe now's not the time - "

"It's the perfect time," Eddie said. "The whole family's here. I want you all to see this." He opened the box.

Iris went numb all over. Her ears rang, her vision blurred.

The ring was old-fashioned, delicate, gold with a round diamond in the center. This wasn't some cocktail ring, some piece of Cracker Jack costume jewelry. This was -

"My grandmother's engagement ring," Eddie was saying, through the roaring in her ears. "My mom has been saving it for me all my life, until I met the woman that I couldn't live without. And from everything I've heard about you, Iris West, you're that woman. I know I'll remember it for myself soon enough, but you deserve this ring." He held it out to her.

It was his grandmother's engagement ring.

"I can't," she said.

His face flickered. "Do you want to wait? Until I remember?"

"No, I can't. I can't ever accept this. Eddie, you never loved me."

"Now, Iris," Henry said. "I know you must be feeling pretty raw because of the amnesia and everything, but trust me, that's no reflection on your relationship with Eddie. Brains are strange things, they - "

Iris cut him off. "It's not about the amnesia. It's - "

She looked at Joe. His eyes were sad, but he gave her the smallest of nods, like, Go on, baby. Do the right thing. It's time.

"Th-the day of the robbery," she said. "When Eddie got hurt? After it all happened, I came here, to the hospital, to see him. But there was a - " She gulped, thinking of Caitlin saying she could lose her license. "A mix-up. The hospital thought I was his fiancee, but it - it's not true."

Her words fell like stones into a still pond swallowed up by the aghast silence in Eddie's hospital room.

"We're not engaged?" Eddie asked at last.

She looked at him, biting her lips against the tears. "We're not engaged," she said. "We never dated. I'm not sure you even knew my name. I was your barista, Eddie. I saw you at Jitters every day, where you paid me for a cup of coffee, and that was the sum total of our relationship up to Christmas Day."

She swallowed. Her ears rang with the silence. The room was full of eyes, staring at her with varying degrees of disbelief and betrayal and -

She couldn't even look at Barry. She didn't want to know what was in his eyes.

"I know I should have been honest, but everything happened so fast that first day I didn't know what to say. And then - " She looked around at everyone, her eyes flickering from face to face too fast to take anything in. "Then you welcomed me. You made me feel like I belonged with you. And I loved it. I kept telling myself I was going to tell you the truth, but I didn't want to, because it felt so good to be part of a family again."

She pressed her lips together ordering herself not to cry. There would be time for that later.

"I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to see or speak to me ever again. I understand. All the time we spent together was under false pretenses, and I can't take that back. But please know that being part of your family has made this the most wonderful week of my life, and that's how I'll always remember it."

She looked at Eddie. He was staring down at the ring box, his face suffused with something like -

Relief?

"I have no excuse," she said. "I'm so sorry you got caught in the middle of this and that you thought, even for a moment, that you could forget about someone you loved. One day you'll find the woman that deserves to have that ring, and by that time, you really will have forgotten all about me."

He looked up. Whatever expression had been on his face was gone now. She looked away, at his family. Nora and Henry and Wally, devastated, rocked to the core. Joe, sadness all over him. Barry -

Her eyes threatened to well up even at the thought of trying to see Barry's expression.

"I'm sorry," she said again. She felt like she could never say it enough. "I'm so sorry. I have to go."

Leaving the Thawnes and the Wests and Barry - Barry , her heart mourned, Barry - she turned and walked out of the hospital room.