A/N: And here I come again with some updates. I hope you enjoy them!

*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 13 -

The tension between the four of them could be cut with a knife. Iris stayed staring at her brother, and Jesse didn't know which one to look at or which choice would be more dangerous in the end. Stacy stood her ground by Iris, ready to defend her if any more accusations came her way, but inevitably there were complaints from the customers behind Wally and Jesse in line, so she had to open another register and start taking orders.

"What are you doing here?" Iris asked finally, not accusatory, almost scared.

Wally raised his eyebrows, coldly amused.

"I mean…" Iris cleared her throat. "I haven't seen you in Central City in years."

Regrettably, Jesse blushed.

"That…would be on me."

Iris switched her gaze to the pretty girl next to her brother, waiting for more of an explanation.

"It's not your fault, Jesse," Wally said, though he was barely looking at her. "You didn't know. Hell, I didn't know, or I would've suggested someplace else."

Iris felt as if he'd kicked her in the gut. The fact that he would've gone to such lengths just to avoid seeing her hurt like nothing else. The last time they'd spoken he'd at least sympathized with her. But now it felt like he was on the verge of telling her to go to hell.

"Wally," Jesse scolded, and Iris was grateful. She felt some hope rise within her.

Wally, to Iris' great surprise, didn't come back with anything. He actually looked down for a moment, as if embarrassed.

Iris wanted to talk to him one-on-one, see what had changed. But she couldn't do that in the middle of a rush the first week back at her old job. Instead, she summoned all the courage she could muster and returned to a topic that she hoped was safer.

"Well, there's no need to go anywhere else," she said. "The least I can do is take your orders and give you a quality drink."

She looked at Jesse who offered a smile and dared to tease Wally.

"Whatever else you think of me, you can't say I don't make one hell of a latte."

Wally looked at her and nodded.

"Okay."

Jesse looked at him and waited for him to say what he was going to order, but he didn't so much as look at the menu and Iris was already pressing buttons on the register.

"Wally?"

He sighed and reluctantly said, "She knows what I like."

Jesse gave him a curious look, but he said nothing more. After he'd paid, ignoring Iris' slightly slumped shoulders when he pulled out cash and then changed to a credit card so he could avoid touching her, Jesse gave him a stern look that he purposefully ignored. Instead, he guided her to the far side of the counter where they'd await their drinks from the blonde standing next to her who had gone through the rest of the customers that had been standing in line.

After Wally and Jesse had left and the rush had calmed down some, Stacy came to stand beside Iris who was just barely holding it together.

"Hey, girl, how are you holding up?" she asked, wrapping an arm around her waist.

Iris sighed shakily. "Like I'm going to break if I think too hard or stop…being busy."

"Maybe you need a break," she suggested.

"Uh…did you not hear what I just said? A break will probably make me start crying, and…I don't know if I'll be able to stop."

"What if you called Barry? Talk about it with him?"

"Oh, God, no."

Stacy frowned. "Why not?"

"We just started dating, Stace. He doesn't know the whole story, and I don't want him to. Not yet." She sighed again. "I'm just…going to have to get through this one on my own."

"Not on your own." She pulled her closer. "You've still got me."

Iris forced a smile. "Thanks. I appreciate that, but…"

Stacy shook her head. "Why don't you do refills. I'll clean up back here, and by the time we're both done, I'm sure there will be a heap of new customers here to make us lose our minds in how the hell we got so many menu items that are so different, and yet…so the same."

Iris laughed, and Stacy smiled.

"That sounds absolutely wonderful."

Stacy kissed the side of her forehead and released her.

"Go get 'em, Babe."

Iris ducked her head with a little smile and then grabbed the pitcher of coffee to start making the rounds.

…

They rounded the block for the third time. Just like every time before, whenever they passed Jitters, Wally made a point to only look straight ahead. He would not look inside to see if his sister was still there. He would not.

Jesse, however, was no idiot. And even if she had been slightly out of the loop, she figured out exactly what was going on when her boyfriend nearly crushed her hand in his grip whenever they went by the coffee shop. Not only that, but Wally's jaw locked, and he ground his teeth. All of these things abruptly stopped when they turned the corner.

She hadn't made a single comment about it, but enough was enough. They didn't talk about his family much because she knew it was hard for him to talk about, and a lot of the time she was a distraction for him, so he didn't have to think about it. She was glad she could be that for him, but there was a point when things had to be discussed. Plus, if she took one more walk around this particular block, she thought she might just go crazy.

"You know, if you want to go in and talk to her, I don't think there are many customers right now."

"Talk to who?" he asked, his grip growing tighter.

"Ow!"

He stopped and looked down at what he'd done to his girlfriend's hand. Immediately, he released her.

"Oh, God, sorry, Jess. I didn't mean to-"

"I know," she said, immediately flexing her fingers. "Your body's acting on its own involuntarily." She massaged her hurting hand with the other. "It's because you're not dealing with your feelings, so your body is taking matters into its own hands."

He took her hands into his and kissed each one.

"How'd you get so smart?"

"Psychology major, remember?"

"Ah, yeah, that's right…and a genius father who hates my guts."

She rolled her eyes. "My dad hates everyone. It's in his DNA. You're lucky all I got from him is his brain, or I'd probably be intolerable."

He smirked and leaned in to kiss her. "Lucky me."

She savored the kiss for a moment more, the heat ever-present between them before returning to the original topic.

"So, as I was saying, your body is-"

But he cut her off.

"I know something else my body could be doing right now," he teased with a grin.

She barked a laugh and shook her head.

"That was a switch."

He shrugged and looked at her with a boyish charm. She linked her arm through his and crossed the street with him when the walk sign lit up.

"Why are we crossing?" he asked, confused.

"Because we went around that block three times, Wally West. And if you refuse to admit you want to make things right with your sister, the least you can do is take me down another block."

He smiled. "Yes, ma'am."

It wasn't the end to the conversation she'd wanted, but she knew she'd get no more out of him right now. He didn't do well when pushed. Hell, neither did she. But the hurt look on Iris' face was eating at her. She didn't know the girl at all, but she doubted she was as bad as Wally let on. From the six months they'd been dating, Jesse had learned a few things about Wally West. One was that the things that made him the angriest, that he projected onto others, he usually at least partially blamed himself for.

That left two options on the table. Either Wally blamed himself for Iris' actions or he blamed himself for the way the family had basically driven her away. And Jesse, well, as fond as she was of Wally, she wasn't about to let him brood over this when it could be fixed. He'd thank her later.

At least, she hoped he would. Regardless, she needed the whole story.

…

Barry stared at his phone and wondered if there was something wrong with it.

He'd been trying to get a hold of Iris all day. While he missed her every day, today was particularly lonesome because he'd finished up his latest assignment and was free both today and tomorrow. His body was aching for her. His heart was aching for her. His mind was aching for her. His soul was aching for her. It was unlike anything he'd experienced since his parents died his first year in the military. Or, that's what the organization called themselves.

Later down the line he'd have it drilled into him that he'd been taken advantage of, and he shouldn't blame himself. He was living a better life now. But wasn't he being taken advantage of by that person even now? Wasn't he just being passed from one organization to the next, each one claiming to be the right one, the "good" people he should be "proud" to work for?

He'd heard it all before, and no matter what anyone said, he just knew his parents would be so ashamed of him. And beyond that, he knew if he'd been home, they wouldn't have died. His martial arts skills would've stopped that robber in the night, and he'd have him pinned to the floor and arrested in seconds. Instead, the robber was never caught because there had been no witnesses and no real evidence in the aftermath.

It made Barry so angry inside, and for so long he'd used that anger to hurt nameless, faceless people. They had to be that way to him, or the guilt would build up even more. He shut down emotionally. He didn't feel love and he didn't feel pain. There was only the job.

It took Felicity a full year to break through that hard exterior, and even she hadn't broken through the hardest parts. Yet somehow, despite lying to her occasionally, as most spies needed to for those in their families uninvolved with that part of their life, Iris had broken through all of it. She'd shattered that exterior, so all his soft parts glowed brilliantly and came alive. And damn, if it wasn't the best feeling he'd felt in the longest time.

So, he didn't give up.

He dialed her number again and waited.

This time she picked up.

"Hello?"

Her voice sounded off, sad maybe, or tired. But he couldn't concentrate on that immediately, because all he knew was that she had answered.

"Iris!"

His excitement burst through the line, causing a genuine giggle out of her.

"Hi, Barry."

"You picked up!" he informed her gleefully, but much to his disappointment that comment brought the return of her saddened/exhausted tone of voice.

"Yeah…I'm sorry about that, Barry. Today has been…well, it hasn't been good."

His face fell. "Tell me about it. What happened?"

She sighed. "I don't…really want to talk about it."

"Iris."

"I know you want to help, Barry. I know. And I appreciate it. But this is just…this is family stuff."

Barry felt as if he'd gotten a blow to the chest.

Family stuff.

She hadn't meant to wound him, but she had. Unintentionally, of course.

Because he didn't have a family anymore, and after her mere presence had revealed his softer side, he didn't like being reminded of that fact.

But she was oblivious to his inner struggle.

"Can we just…talk about something else?" she asked on a sad sigh.

And he wanted so badly to give her what she wanted, but he couldn't just…switch like that. Not when his walls had all fallen down, not when he'd just been thinking about the sad fate of his own family.

But still, he tried. For her.

"I understand," he said, and he really tried to. "What would you like to talk about instead?"

She sighed. "I don't know… Just, not that."

He fought to think of something else. He didn't want their conversation to be over, no matter how many feelings were buzzing through him right now. This is not what he wanted their one interaction today to be about.

"I love you, Iris."

Static filled the line, and he wondered if she hadn't heard him, and maybe he shouldn't have said it over the phone an ocean away. But he missed her, and he wanted her, and he wanted to help her, to make everything better. And he was so sure now, positive, and he wanted her to know.

But maybe it was too soon.

The line cleared up.

"Barry? Are you there?"

She hadn't heard.

"Uh, yeah? I'm here."

"Did you hear the static?"

His head was spinning, but he forced himself to answer her question.

"Yeah. What's the last thing you heard?"

"I think we were trying to come up with a topic?"

"Oh." He paused. She hadn't heard it. "Right."

"You said something after that, but I couldn't make it out. Can you say it again?"

He cleared his throat.

"Right. I…uh, just said that I miss you."

She crumbled on the other end.

"Oh, Barry, I miss you too."