Wally West was finally in his apartment after another long hard day of fighting bad guys. Since John had decided to spend more time with Shayera in the last months of her pregnancy (apparently all those birthing classes were not optional. Whatever), Wally had been picking up his field assignments. It really didn't bother him to do the work, but he was starting to miss his time with Linda. They hadn't had a date since before Bruce's house blew up which was weeks ago. It had been eleven days since they had sat down together to have a meal, and the last lunch they ate was a box of energy bars and some oreos in Linda's car outside her work. Their last more than five sentences conversation had been six days ago when he called to tell her he would be home late yet again. And most importantly, they hadn't had sex in three weeks. Three long weeks. But at that moment, the Flash only wanted to cuddle his girlfriend while he enjoyed the twelve glorious hours of sleep the Batman had guaranteed him.

Linda had told him she would be home around eight, and it was ten after the hour with no sign of her. The hero laid in his bed between the rumpled blankets neither he nor Linda ever bothered to fold, and stared at his clock. After what seemed like an eternity, the ten changed to an eleven, but still nothing in the apartment moved. The quiet hum of the streets below were the only noises which echoed off the walls and the lights remained unilluminated. Despite his exhaustion, the thin redhead pulled his arms behind his head as a makeshift pillow and fought to stay awake. Linda had said the washer had been making some weird noises for the last week. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to give it a look.

Linda carefully slid the key Wally had given her into the door and twisted it to the right so it made only the tiniest of clicks before releasing the latch to the apartment. Then, holding her breathe as to not make a sound, she turned the knob and slowly allowed the heavy door to move inwards. She cringed slightly when it let out a piercing creak in protest, but luckily, there was no response from inside the abode. She assumed Wally was still working on his case and he might not be home until late.

It was difficult to get the two duffels she was carrying, which stuffed to the brim with party supplies, through the slim doorway but she managed to do it without dropping anything, which she thought was a major accomplishment. She gently kicked the door shut, and then dumped her load on the kitchen counter before turning towards the hallway. It surprised her when she could see streaks of light coming from the laundry room at the end of the hall. Perhaps she had left it on when she washed her boyfriend's uniforms that afternoon. She shrugged to herself and slipped off her flats before meandering towards the beams peaking out beneath the closed door.

As she opened the door, though, she was surprised to find Wally sitting on the floor, amongst various parts of what she supposed must be the washer. At least, she was guessing that's what it was because the space where her appliance had been before only held a skeleton of the contraption, with bits and pieces hanging out. The door wasn't even attached any longer. While the image of the broken machine filled her with horror, the sleeping form of her love, leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed in sleep, made her so happy she thought she might burst. He sure as hell didn't know how to fix things around the house, but it was sweet that he still tried.

She bent down next to him and shook his shoulder gently, "Wally. Wally, wake up."

Immediately, he sat straight up, though his eyes kept their sleepy haze, and muttered, "I'm awake."

She smiled and motioned to the machine, "So, hotshot. How's your work coming."

He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his fists, "God, I'm so fucking done. I don't even care anymore. I'm calling mercy. Tomorrow, I'll go see if Greg downstairs can come up and maybe he can figure it out. God knows that he's better with this shit that I am."

She nodded in agreement, "It's probably better to put the washer out of its misery for the night."

He let his head fall back against the wall once again and asked, "Hey, I thought you were going to be home earlier. Where were you?"

She sighed and sat down beside him. Without question, he tossed his long arm over her slender shoulders and pulled her against his chest. She kicked a few of the screws and cords aside with her legs as she said, "John asked me to help plan a baby shower for Shayera. She refuses to put one on herself, but he thinks that if he surprises her, she'll suck it up. I've been helping her get the baby's room ready and things have been going well so he thought I could make a get together that she could tolerate."

"She's still not going to like it." Wally said confidently.

"Oh, she's going to hate it." Linda agreed completely.

"How bad?" He asked while pressing a kiss to her hair.

Linda laughed and said, "Well, let's just say I finished the invitations, which he wanted specially printed. They are lavender, with white ribbon trim, and the words are written in old lady calligraphy. Then, there's the balloons, gift bags, party games, name suggestion box, and about a million other things he wants there. Plus, even though he said not to, I set up a gift registry because who knows what League members would bring if they didn't have suggestions. They'd probably just get her a weapon of some sort, which would really put John out. Oh, and did I mention that he got her a huge, fluffy, lacy dress to wear for the occasion. It's pink."

Wally faked choking, "She's going to murder him."

"I've already have a plan on where to hide the body." Linda agreed, "But I ordered lot of cake and sweets to make up for it. Otherwise, homicide really puts a wrench in a party."

"You are literally the best girlfriend ever." Wally sighed contently.

"I am, aren't I?" She giggled. Then, her smile fell as she looked into his eyes and asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah." He said hesitantly.

"So." She started slowly, "I know we haven't been together that long, but I really like you. I mean, like, really like you, and I think you like me too. At least, you've given me a key to your apartment and we hang out a lot. And I know that you're idea of a long term commitment is making a box of cookies last for longer than a week, but I've been spending a lot of time with Shayera and John, and...well…" She sighed as she struggled to the words, "I'm just going to come out and say it. Do you want a baby someday?"

Wally's heart felt like it stopped in his chest. Every word in his brain was jumbled together, and although he was trying to piece together a coherent thought, all that came out was, "Um...well...you see…"

"Wally, it's okay." The disappointment in her voice was clear. She looked away and pulled back from his embrace. However, he refused to release her, using his arm to keep her close to him.

"Do you think you're…?" He trailed off and looked pointedly at her stomach.

Realizing what he thought, her face contorted in horror and she practically screamed, "Oh, god! No! That's not what this is about at all!"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Wally said happily, "Someday. Someday in the far off future I would like to have a baby with you, Linda, but right now I'm kind of a hot mess. Yeah, I got the hero thing going for me, but I just…. I want to have longer with just you and me before I think about making another little Flash. Plus, you know, maybe get a house first with a working washer and dryer."

"But when you do have a baby...you want it to be with me?" She asked hopefully.

"Yeah." Wally said happily, "I think I'd like that."

Linda smiled in victory and said, "Alright then. In the far off future it is."

Wally smiled. He wasn't sure what had just happened, but he had avoided a fight, and for now that was enough to keep him from worrying. Looking at the open door, he asked, "So, is there anyway we could finish this conversation in bed?"

"What do you have in mind?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

Wally looked at her sadly and said, "I want to so bad, but I'm so tired."

"In the morning then." She said with a playful shrug.

"I adore you." Wally said as he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.