Author's Note: Alright continuing on I purposefully left out the scene Joe will be mentioning in this chapter but if you've seen the show you'll know what he's talking about. I own nothing.

54. He's Back

Barry checked her watch from the chair near where Eddie and Iris were curled up on the couch admiring the fully decorated tree. She grabbed her jacket and slunk off to the kitchen to grab the bag of presents for her Star Labs friends. Someone cleared their throat behind her. Barry turned and found Iris standing behind her holding a thermos. Barry grinned sheepishly.

"You thought you could sneak past me?" Iris asked before wrapping her sister in a hug. Barry returned it. Iris handed her the thermos.

"Here, for the Star Labs crew." Barry's grin widened.

"Thanks sis." Iris caught her by her wrist before she could leave.

"Ummm… Kind of a weird question but do you like Eddie? Like as a person? You seem… I don't know, different since you woke up. I just wanna know what you think." Barry set down her bag and pulled her sister into a bear hug.

"I know things have been off since I woke up. I know I've been different, but one thing that will never change is that I love you Iris. You're my sister, you know that. If he makes you happy then I'm happy for you. He seems like a good guy. You let me know if he ever needs straightening out though." Barry said with a mock punch to her sister's shoulder. Iris wrapped her sister in a hug.

"Thank you Barry! Love you sis." Barry grinned and hugged her sister back before letting go and grabbing her bag. She snagged the thermos and grinned as her sister made her way back into the living room, flopping back on top of Eddie. Eddie raised an eyebrow at Barry.

"You ok to drive?" He asked glancing at the two mugs of eggnog Barry had already drunk and the thermos in her hands. Barry laughed.

"I'm not driving Eddie. Uber is a wonderful thing." Eddie nodded and Iris laid a kiss on his cheek as Barry closed the door behind her. She wasn't taking an Uber, she was running. She put the thermos in her bag and took off for Star Labs.

Soon she was standing in the Cortex a grin on her face, her hair a mess. She held up the bag not noticing that there were few Christmas decorations around. Cisco grinned and bounced like he always did when he was excited. Caitlin was smiling lightly as Barry pulled out presents from the bag.

"Cisco!" She handed him a long box wrapped in bright blue paper. Caitlin got a slightly smaller box that was distinctly book shaped. Dr. Wells got a box similar in size to Cisco's. Barry grinned running a brush through her hair.

"Just a little something to say thank you for everything you guys have done for me." Dr. Wells smiled slightly.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say you have been a gift for all of us Barry." Barry blushed slightly before pulling out the thermos Iris had given her. Cisco raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?" Barry grinned.

"This is compliments of Iris. Aunt Ester's famous eggnog. Well technically Great Aunt Ester but still." Cisco grinned.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Barry grinned as Cisco went to go get cups. Dr. Wells shook his head.

"Maybe later. I wouldn't want to drink and drive." He wheeled away, out of the cortex and Barry frowned at Caitlin.

"Was it something I said?" Caitlin shook her head.

"This used to be his favorite time of year but the accident with the accelerator happened too close to Christmas." Barry nodded. She had almost forgotten, the Christmas lights had just started to appear around the city when the accelerator had exploded. Caitlin laid a hand on her arm.

"I'm gonna go see if I can't pick up his Christmas present, maybe cheer him up a touch." Barry nodded as Caitlin left. Cisco frowned as he came back into the room triumphantly holding four plastic cups. Barry sat back behind the monitors and popped open the thermos.

"Looks like it's just you and me buddy." Cisco grinned handing Barry a cup which she filled with still warm eggnog before handing it to him. He handed her the second cup, having set the others down, before grinning and taking a swig coughing slightly as the bourbon hit.

"Ah well, I can think of far worse company to keep than my favorite hero." Barry grinned and clinked plastic cups with Cisco. Everything was going great until Barry's phone rang.

"Hello? Joe? Whoa, what? Mercury Labs? Alright I'm on my way." Barry took another swig of her eggnog before she shrugged at Cisco.

"Duty calls." Cisco raised his glass in a salute at Barry who snorted a laugh before she raced off. She stopped by her lab and grabbed her kit before she raced off to Mercury Labs. Ducking under the yellow tape, flashing her ID at the concerned looking security guard Barry swore under her breath. Two security guards were dead on the ground, blood streaking the floor and bits of the walls. Barry pulled the camera from her bag.

Nearly ten minutes later Barry was crouched next to one of the bodies. She'd pulled her hair up into a messy bun and had gloves on her hand as she examined the blood on the man's chest trying not to picture how it had been put there. It hadn't been a gun, of that she was certain, there was no hole, no discernable way for the blood to have exited his body at all. Joe stepped over to her.

"What do you have Barry?" Barry sighed and stood pulling Joe off to the side.

"Whatever did this, the blood splatter patterns, the way the bodies are laid out, the size of the room. This had to have been done at incredibly fast speeds." Joe raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded.

"I don't know what killed them though. Other than blood loss, but there's not a mark on them Joe." Barry was interrupted in her morbid pronouncement by Eddie who came jogging up to them.

"Get this the scientist sealed himself in that room." Eddie said pointing at the room behind them which looked like it was mostly made of glass, though Barry would guess that it was more reinforced than it appeared. "He says all he saw was a blur. Sound familiar." Barry's mind was going a mile a minute, faster than it even did normally. It couldn't be. She ignored Eddie and stepped over to the scientist.

"Hi I'm Barry Allen, CSI. You said you saw something? What was it?" The man shook his head.

"Whatever it was it was looking for something." Barry shook her head. She had to know, but it couldn't be… It had been sixteen years without so much as a whisper.

"No. What did it look like?" The man was shaking slightly.

"Like a man." Eddie cut in.

"You're sure it was a man." The scientist nodded.

"I'm sure. It was a man in some kind of yellow suit." Barry's eyes went wide and Joe nodded to the scientist before grabbing Barry by the elbow and steering her away from the crime scene. It was a mark of just how shocked Barry was that she didn't even protest.

"Barry? You alright?" Barry shook her head.

"He's back." Was all she could manage to get out. Her hands were shaking, she was shaking from head to toe. Tears stung her eyes. The man who had killed her mother had finally resurfaced. It took Barry a minute to get her barring's back.

"I need to check my files! If he's back he might have a new target. I need to." Joe grabbed her by her shoulders.

"Barry." Barry stared at him, confused and upset. He almost looked like he was going to try and talk her out of this.

"Joe you heard him! The man who killed my mother is back! We have to stop him." Joe nodded.

"I know. He's been in town for a few weeks now. He paid a visit to me at the house. He took all the evidence from your mom's case. The files are gone." Barry took a step back, away from her foster father.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Joe shook his head.

"He threatened to kill Iris." Barry went pale as a sheet.