Author's Note: I realized recently that I started writing this story around April 18th, 2017. As I'm sitting here now, on March 13th, 2020, that is more than three years.
(FWIW, this specific chapter was written in October of 2019... chapter 48 was written closer to that 2020 date above)
I also realized that I had so many plot points in earlier chapters that I never resolved or came back to. Would it be crazy if I went back through 176 pages of writing just to jot down all the unresolved plot points?
Probably. Maybe I'm not gonna do that.
It was a good thing that the "Double Date Squad" hadn't planned anything for New Years Eve, because the day after they planned an outing, Thea got a text from Roy.
She stared at it in absolute shock. It was probably the first time Roy had texted her first.
(That wasn't strictly true but it honestly felt like it.)
'Hey Thea' the text read. 'U open on New Yrs Eve'
She hurried to text back. 'Yeah think so. Why?'
'Wanna go out? Dinner and watch fireworks?'
Thea let out a squeal. 'YES YES YES!' She wrote back, and a second later she called him.
"Did you seriously just initiate?" she asked as soon as he picked up. "Oh my gosh I'm so proud!"
"Uh huh," Roy grunted. "Can you check with your mom so we can figure out plans? I have homework."
"Yeah, yeah, yes, of course," Thea babbled, feeling like she could run a marathon and still do one hundred pushups. "Hang on one sec. MOM!"
Moria, thankfully, was home at the moment. She raised her eyebrow as her daughter tore down the stairs. "One of these days you're going to slip and there's going to be blood all over the floor," she sighed. "What's happening now?"
"Roy asked me out," Thea squealed.
"I thought you two were already dating?"
"Yes, we are, but it's always been me doing the asking," Thea explained hurriedly. "Can I go out with him? On New Years Eve? He wants to go to dinner and watch the fireworks and OMG mom this could be the night he kisses me OMG OMG OMG!"
Moria watched her, expressionless, until Thea had taken a few deep breaths and stopped flapping around the room.
"It... goes against my better judgement," she said finally. "But fine, you may go out with him on New Years Eve. I want you two to head home as soon as fireworks are done, understand?"
"But I can stay out until midnight with him?!" Thea asked breathlessly.
"You have to be careful driving," Moria cautioned. "People are drunk and crazy on New Years Eve. There are so many crashes."
"I'm a good driving mom; I'll be careful, I promise," Thea told her.
"And if Roy is driving?"
"I'm sure he's a good driver, too," Thea said reassuringly, though in truth she had no idea if that was true. "If you're more comfortable I can go pick him up though instead of the other way around. I mean, I think it'll be easier to find parking if it's only one car."
Moria smiled faintly. "When did you go and get practical, Thea?" she asked with a short laugh.
Thea beamed. "I kind of left him on the line; I'm going to go tell him you said yes. Thank you thank you thank you!"
"Don't make me regret it," Moria said sternly, but Thea was already charging up the stairs.
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Christmas had been really nice. Caitlin always liked Christmas, even though it was frustrating that her birthday was only a couple days before it. Her mom didn't have any work to do and sometimes they would even cook together or watch a movie after unwrapping gifts.
It was also a tough time of year. After gifts had been opened and Caitlin was content to clean up her stuff and try on new clothes, Dr. Snow closed herself in her room for about an hour. Her husband, Caitlin's father, had died just a couple years ago, only a few days after Christmas. Holidays were tough.
It was during that hour, when Caitlin herself hid in her room (and, unbeknownst to her mother, spent a good fifteen minutes looking through old photos and crying), when she received a call from Julian.
"Hey," she said, her voice soft. "Merry Christmas."
"Happy Christmas, Caitlin!" he chirped back. "I have... well, I have the best news."
Immediately, she was on alert. "You do? What is it? What's going on?"
"I want to tell you in person!" Julian cried, a large smile evident in his voice.
"JULIAN," Caitlin groaned. "That's not fair. I'm going to be dying to know now!"
"I didn't say you'd have to wait long," Julian protested. "Are you doing anything right now?"
"Not at the moment..." Caitlin said slowly. "I don't know if I should really leave my mom on Christmas, Julian. I mean, she's having her 'hour of grief' that I told you about, but still..."
"You, um, won't have to go far," Julian told her, laughing embarrassedly. "I might kind of be outside your house?"
Caitlin's eyes shot wide and she leapt toward her window. Julian was standing awkwardly in her driveway, peering up at the house, trying to guess which window was hers.
She flew down the stairs and out her front door. "Julian!" she cried.
He gave her a huge hug. "Happy Christmas! Again."
Caitlin gave him an impatient nod. "Okay, yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. What is your news?!"
"So..." Julian smiled widely. "You know how I overheard my parents saying that we were moving back to England?"
"Yes..."
"I was wrong," Julian exclaimed. "I overheard it all wrong! My parents weren't even talking about us. My cousins are moving to England. My cousins."
Caitlin's jaw fell open. She sat straight down on the frost covered grass. "No way. No way. You're not moving?"
"I'm not moving," Julian repeated. "I finally broke down and asked my parents straight out. I was about to launch into a carefully planned spiel about how I really didn't want to move, and didn't want to leave AV High or my friends or you, and they just gave me odd looks. 'Julian', they told me, 'We're not moving.' And so... there we go."
Caitlin bolted up from the grass and hugged him again, unable to stop squealing. "This is great news," she beamed. "This is really, really great news."
"Happy Christmas!" Julian repeated with a laugh, spinning her around.
"What is going on out here?"
Both of them turned toward the house. Julian awkwardly put Caitlin down and she removed her arms from around his neck, looking at her mother who was now standing in the doorway. Carla's face was drawn and her eyes were red-rimmed. She didn't look like the kind of person who had just celebrated Christmas with her daughter.
"Sorry, mom," Caitlin murmured, feeling incredibly guilty. This was their hour of mourning, and she was out in the lawn giggling with her boyfriend.
At the same time, she would have thought that her father, wherever he was, would have been happy that she was smiling instead of crying. He never liked it when either of his girls cried, especially over him.
"What is going on out here?" Carla asked again, her voice tense.
"You remember Julian, right?" Caitlin said. Carla nodded. "Right, so... I had told you, awhile ago, how he thought he was moving to England but it actually turns out that he isn't, and so he came to tell me as soon as he found out."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, that was disrespectful of me," Julian murmured. "I should have asked first if I could come over. Or just called her to tell her. I just really wanted to let her know the news in person."
There seemed to be some sort of a struggle on Carla's face, before she took a deep breath and stepped inside, opening up her door. "Why don't you two come on in? Yes, Mr. Albert, you too. And yes, I remember your last name. You seem to be rather important to my daughter so I figured I might as well learn it. Now hurry up; you're letting the cold air in."
Caitlin started beaming again and took Julian's hand, dragging him inside.
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Christmas at the West's house was even more special than usual this year.
This past year, Iris' little brother, Wally, had begun high school. He had decided that, instead of going to AV High, he wanted to boarding school in Keystone. Much to Joe's disappointment, he hadn't come home for Thanksgiving, and this Christmas break was the first time he had been back to the West's house all year.
"Wally!" Iris squealed as the doorbell rang. She sprinted down the stairs and flung open the door, attacking her brother with a hug.
"Iris!" he cried, hugging her tightly. "Where's dad?"
"Right here, son," Joe called, striding over and pulling Wally into a hug of his own. "It's so good to see you."
Wally grinned, throwing his duffle bag into the space right in front of the stairs as he walked into the house. "Ahhh, it's good to be home," he exclaimed, breathing in deeply. "Oh, hey man!"
"Hey, Wally!" Barry said, coming down the stairs and clapping Wally on the shoulder. "Good to see you!"
Wally smiled in agreement, letting Joe take his coat and wandering further into the house. "Okay, I hate to be that person, but I am starving," he groaned.
"Pizza's on it's way," Joe told him, headed toward the kitchen. "You kids want some drinks and then we can set up a Christmas movie?"
Iris nodded and followed her dad into the kitchen, reaching for three glasses. Wally went to the fridge and pulled out a jug of milk. "They don't have skim at Keystone," he explained. "And 2% is really gross, so it's been awhile since I've had milk."
"Put water in it," Iris advised, pouring some milk for her brother and taking apple cider out for herself. "What do you want to drink, babe?" she called into the living room, where Barry was looking through movies.
"Whatever you're having is fine," Barry replied, glancing up and smiling.
"Warm apple cider it is," Iris told him, sticking her and Barry's cups in the microwave.
As the microwave hummed slightly in the background, the doorbell rang. "That must be the pizza," Joe said, hurrying towards the door.
Soon, the four of them were spread across the living room, with the pizza box in front of them and a couple of plates in their laps.
"So, what have you been up to?" Joe asked. The movie was loading in the TV and he figured this was a good time as any to catch up with his son.
"You know, school, friends, the usual," Wally said casually. "I actually... I met this girl."
"Oh?" Iris asked, immediately latching on. "Details? Immediately?"
Wally smirked. "I forgot how much I missed you," he laughed, slinging his arm around Iris' shoulders. "Yes, Iris, she is my girlfriend. Her name is Jesse Wells, and-"
"Whoa, wait," Barry interrupted. "Could she possibly have any relation to Harrison Wells, the chemistry teacher at AV High?"
Wally nodded. "Yup," he said. "It's her dad."
While Barry choked on his cider and Iris patting his back, Joe nodded slowly. "Crazy how that happens," he commented. "Does she live nearby?"
"Yeah, about a half hour," Wally told him. "I was thinking I could have her and her dad over for dinner sometime. Her mom isn't... well, she died a couple years back, so they're alone."
"I really want to meet her," Iris said. "But honestly, Harrison Wells kind of terrifies me sooo..."
"Who doesn't he terrify?" Barry asked, clearing his throat a couple times as he finished recovering from his brief choking spell. "He's always been pretty nice to Cisco and Caitlin and I but that's just because we're science nerds. Winn says that whenever he mixes up atoms and molecules he gets super annoyed."
Wally shrugged. "He's not so bad." Then he paused. "Okay, yeah, he's low key terrifying," he admitted. "But, like, he's her dad, so too bad for me." He shrugged. "He could be worse, I guess. He cares about her. And besides, he knows you guys and likes Barry! So that'll give me points, right?"
He looked so adorably nervous that the other three were quick to reassure him that, yes of course that gave him points and they were all sure that Dr. Wells would love him.
That bit of nerves taken care of, Wally was more than willing to settle down and watch a Christmas movie.
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"Well, you can color me incredibly annoyed," Kara groaned from Winn's couch.
To the common passer-by, this would look like a very odd therapy session. Kara was stretched out on Winn's couch, arms splayed and legs crossed. Winn was in a chair next to her, tapping his chin with his fingers.
To Kara and Winn, however... it was also a very odd therapy session.
"I can't help you if you don't tell me what happened," Winn reminded her, crossing his legs patiently. "And considering all you've done for the past ten minutes is groan about how annoyed Mon-El makes you, it would also be a nice switch."
Kara groaned again. "Okay, so get this. Mon-El and I were on the phone together, and for some reasons Christmas gifts came up. He was all like, 'Oh, shoot, I forgot to get you a gift.' I don't even remember what exactly I said but it was probably like, 'whatever, don't worry about it.' But for whatever reason, Mon-El thought I was upset and started going off on how he didn't understand why girls thought that gifts were so necessary at birthdays and Christmas even though they always said that money and stuff didn't matter. And then I was like, 'I never said that money matters, and if you don't get me a gift you don't have to, but I got you one!' And he's like, 'See, this is what I mean! If I don't get you something now you're going to get all mad.' And I was like, 'I'm not going to get mad!' And he was like, 'You're already mad!' And then I hung up."
"Ah," was all Winn said.
"So now I don't even know where we are," Kara admitted. "Like, Winn. We texted each other a Merry Christmas. First Christmas together and we texted. And the worst part was I'm just so mad I didn't even want to call him!"
"Christmas is just a date, Kara," Winn told her, though it actually made him feel incredibly sad that they hadn't been able to get in a fight after Christmas instead of before. It was their first Christmas... it should have been special. And he knew that both of them would regret wasting it on being mad at each other.
"I know," Kara sighed, her face falling. "It just feels wrong somehow."
"What matters more is what's going on between you two," Winn said. "Worry about that later. I think that Mon-El was embarrassed and maybe even a little upset that he didn't get you a present, so he got defensive."
"But I didn't even attack him!" Kara protested. "And he could have just, you know, gotten me a present."
"He probably felt guilty and felt the need to tell you he hadn't, so you didn't think he was this all-star boyfriend or something," Winn shrugged. "I dunno. It's basic psychology, Kar."
Kara huffed. "Basic psychology," she muttered. "Well, Mr. Smart, what do you suggest I do?"
"Apologize...?" Winn suggested slowly. "I kind of thought that was obvious?"
"It wasn't my fault!" Kara cried.
Winn's mom pocked her head in through the door. "Is everything alright in here?"
"Yeah, mom, we're fine," Winn said quickly.
"Sorry, Mrs. Schott," Kara added.
As soon as Mrs. Schott went back into the kitchen, the therapy session resumed. "Anyway, Winn," Kara said, a little calmer. "None of this was my fault. Why should I have to be the one to apologize?"
"Well, you don't have to," Winn shrugged, crossing his legs the other way for a change of perspective (also one of his feet had fallen asleep). "It's really up to you. Mon-El strikes me as a prideful guy. He's not apt to go around apologizing to people. If you want to get back into a healthy working relationship with him, you might have to be the one to back down and be the bigger person."
"I guess so," Kara sighed. "The awful thing was... in the moment, and even a few days afterword... I didn't even want to apologize. I didn't even want him in my life!"
"Really?" Winn was skeptical. "Or is that just what you were telling yourself to excuse your actions? I'd say, because you were thinking about it at all, you did care. If you didn't care, you wouldn't be here right now, would you?"
"Well, I care now," Kara elaborated. "But I didn't then. And to be completely honest Winn, for awhile I thought I was falling in love with him. But now I can't be, right? Or this never would have happened."
Winn sighed. "Kara, just because you fight with someone doesn't mean you don't love them," he said patiently. "Think about... um... who's parents do we know that aren't separated or widowed?"
"Wow, that's encouraging me at my chance of a happy marriage," Kara muttered. "Ummm... I mean, Mon-El's parents are together."
"And do they fight?"
"I don't know, probably sometimes," Kara shrugged. "Point?"
"My guess is, they are in love," Winn explained. "Even though they fight, they're still in love. So yeah, maybe you're not quite at the love point with Mon-El yet, but that's not necessarily because you fought with him. Fights happen. They're apart of a healthy relationship. Heck- we fight sometimes, Kara!"
Kara sighed. "I guess so. So you really think I should apologize? Call him up?"
"No," Winn countered. When Kara turned to stare at him in confusion he added, "I think you should talk to him, in person. For starters, it makes sure he listens. For seconders- seconders? Seconds? Whatever. For seconders, neither of you can hang up to either make a dramatic effect or to stop yourself from saying something."
"What if he doesn't accept my apology?" Kara said, her voice small. "What if our entire relationship is ruined over something as small as an argument over a Christmas gift?"
Winn leaned over and patted her foot, the only part of her he could reach from his chair. "Kara, it's like you're saying: an argument over a gift is so incredibly small. If that is what ruins your relationship it means that your relationship is really just not meant to work out."
Kara nodded, sitting up. "Thanks, Winn," she sighed. "You'll make a really good boyfriend to some girl some day."
He chuckled, resisting the urge to say that he could have been a good boyfriend to her, if she had let him. He was over that now.
"Thanks, Kara. Glad I could help."
Author's Note: WINNN I LOVE WINNNNNNN
I didn't want to start Thea and Roy's date just yet... next chapter! NGL, it is probably one of my favorites in the entire story. So GET EXCITED! ;D
Just wait for New Years... we have a couple new students coming in that I think'll be a whole lot of fun :)
