*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing.

Chapter 8 -

While Linda embarked on her apparently genius mission to free Barry from the hospital – or at the very least keep him from confessing any sort of atrocity that could land him in serious trouble – Barry took some time to dwell on his situation, the lighter aspect of it at least.

He was grateful for how giving Linda was being on this particular matter. It was different in this timeline, because she didn't have feelings for him. He didn't feel like he was betraying her by actively pursuing Iris at the same time he was "with" her. She wanted Scott, which amused him to no end but also made him unspeakably happy because that meant the editor would never have a chance with Iris. Not even one date. He was sure Scott was bitter about that.

Linda was so easy, and in the best way. She wasn't complicated. She didn't overthink. She accepted people as they were. And she loved herself shamelessly, yet not in a way that was selfish. She was fun and pretty and everything you could ask for in a girlfriend. But, and this was always it for him, she wasn't Iris.

Things had never been so complicated with Iris. Not even in his original timeline. Barry felt like he was in a soap opera that wouldn't end. At every turn there was more drama, some that was sparked by him and some that wasn't. He didn't know how to make it stop, and he was growing weary of trying. It exhausted him.

All he knew was that he wanted Iris any way he could get her. If that meant pursuing an affair, so be it. If he was stuck in this timeline indefinitely, he wasn't going to live the rest of his ordinary Flash-less life without her as his romantic partner. It just wasn't happening.

Convincing her to divorce Eddie was a huge hurtle that would take a long time to overcome, but as long as he could capture her for stolen moments, that would be enough for now.

Iris was extremely loyal though. He knew now the fantasy that had unraveled before him while he stood in her doorway would never have been a reality. Not yet at least. Her restraint was too high, and she was too far in denial to believe she could have feelings for someone that wasn't her husband.

It had been hard enough to convince her she had feelings for him when Eddie was just her boyfriend, but now as her husband… He had ultimate control. Barry wondered how far that went.

"Knock, knock," a deep voice sounded as the being belonging to the voice walked in and shut the door behind him.

Barry felt chilled to the bone as he locked eyes with the blonde, blue-eyed detective at the center of his thoughts. He couldn't even summon the courage to say his name. He just stared, waiting for whatever horror Eddie would bring down on him.

Eddie's eyes traced over Barry's injured figure before meeting his eyes again.

"You look like shit."

Barry swallowed. Eddie's eyes narrowed.

"I know what you're thinking. That it was me who did this to you. That I was in such a rage over seeing you and Iris together at the gala that I beat the crap out of you until you wound up in the hospital."

Eddie took a seat on the far side of the room.

"Well?" Barry finally mustered. "Didn't you?"

"I've thought about it a time or two, I'll give you that. Beating you up until you're near paralyzed, teaching you a lesson to never come near Iris again."

"Nothing happened."

"I know that too. Iris told me. At first I thought she'd called you to take her since I wasn't…available."

"You're a shit husband, Eddie."

Eddie's hands clenched at his sides.

"Iris is devoted to you, and yet still you treat her as if she's cheating. All she wants is to openly be friends with me again. Is that so much to ask?"

"Do you regret kissing her at our wedding reception?"

Barry hesitated. "That feels like a lifetime ago, Eddie."

"You didn't answer the question."

Barry debated between lying to his face to save his relationship with Iris and saying the God's honest truth just so he could breathe again. The truth was he didn't remember kissing Iris at the reception, because he hadn't been in this timeline for that. The memory for it hadn't even surfaced for him. Not yet at least, which gave him a small ray of hope. Maybe there was still time to get back to where he belonged.

"I shouldn't have waited so long," he said at last. That was a truth he could always say wholeheartedly.

"Why, you little-" He rose up from his seat and strode across the room.

"What I mean is…before she met you," he was quick to say, not wanting to get pummeled some more. "I've been in love with her since I met her. I had plenty of time to tell her, and I didn't. I should've told her before."

Eddie's brows furrowed, apparently not knowing how to take that.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't, because she's my wife now, not yours."

Yeah, I know. Not my fiancée either, he thought glumly. But his eyes were wide open, not daring to look away from the madman unraveling before him.

"She was never anything but my best friend," Barry said.

"And now she's not even that," Eddie said. "Got it?"

Barry's brows narrowed.

"You're not just hurting me by keeping us apart. You're hurting her too."

"She'll get over it."

"After a year? Come on, Eddie. We've known each other since we were 10!"

"This is not why I came down here."

Barry shook his head in disbelief.

"Then why did you?"

Eddie wrapped his hand around one of the metal bars on the bed.

"To make sure you don't blame this incident on me. I'm not losing my job over you. I'm not losing Iris over a false confession."

"Who else could've done it?" Barry spat. "You punched me, Eddie. Multiple times. I blacked out. When I came to, I was in the hospital."

"That's not because of me. I didn't even know you blacked out. When I left you, you were still groaning on the floor. I figured you'd get up after a few minutes and go home. Besides, I had to deal with Iris."

"And how exactly did you 'deal with' Iris, Eddie?" Barry's brows narrowed. He had to fight from digging his nails into the bedsheet.

"I don't like what you're implying."

"Then set me straight. Tell me you didn't hit her."

Eddie's eyes widened in horror. He took a step back.

"I would never."

"The Eddie I thought I knew wouldn't throw more than one punch, and yet you threw several."

"Barry, I swear to God, I didn't come back later and beat the living daylights out of you. Iris snuck down after we'd gone to bed to see if you were gone, and when she found you barely breathing, I was the one who called 911. If I wanted you dead, I would've buried the evidence, not left you…half-alive just outside our loft."

Barry hated it, but he found himself believing Eddie.

"So, who did it then?"

Before Eddie could answer, the doctor strode in, Linda quick at his heels, trying to flirt but failing to thwart the doctor from his mission.

"Barry! You're up!" The doctor smiled proudly. "You should keep a watch on your girlfriend here. She's trying to sweep me off my feet!"

Linda laughed nervously.

"I'm sure she was just being nice." Barry sent her a look.

"Wait. Girlfriend?" Eddie looked between Barry and Linda. "I thought-"

"Are you ready to tell me what you remember, if anything?" The doctor interrupted.

Before Barry could answer, Iris and Joe barged through the door.

"Eddie!" said a scandalized Iris.

"Barry!" said a relieved Joe, who then glared at his daughter. "I told you he couldn't always be sleeping, Iris."

Iris swallowed hard.

"Barry?" The doctor asked again.

"Uh…yes, I'm ready."

"Great. Go ahead then." He pulled out his no pad and clicked his pen so he could write. "For the record."

Barry looked around the room at all the expectant faces.

"If you guys wouldn't mind?"

For a moment, none of them moved, and then with one big sweep from Joe they started to exit the room.

"Linda," Barry called out to her. She turned around. "Can you stay?"

Joe seemed somewhat wounded by his preference, but Iris tugged her dad with her.

"Yes, of course," Linda said, coming over to his side and taking a seat to hold his hand. "I'm nothing if not a supportive girlfriend."

The last thing Barry saw out of the corner of his eye was Iris watching with curiosity as he lifted Linda's hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.

…

Once everyone else was gone and the door shut, the doctor looked at Barry expectantly.

"Well, son, what do you remember, if anything?"

"I remember…"

Linda squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back, but he didn't catch her gaze and completely missed her intention.

"Doctor," she interrupted. "How important is it for Barry to remember something?"

"Well, very if you'd like the attacker caught and charges brought against him."

Barry sent her a look, which she ignored.

"And how often does that happen even with the right information?"

"Linda."

"What, Barry? I'm a reporter. Let me do my job."

The doctor was clearly amused.

"I take back what I said earlier, Barry. This one is clearly a keeper."

Barry smiled despite himself. Linda beamed.

"The truth of the matter is, dear, I have to put something down to send over and add to the police report or the police themselves will come in and ask."

"Do they really make that a top priority though?" Linda interjected again.

"Linda!"

The doctor waited for the mini-squabble to subside before continuing.

"Your girlfriend is right, Barry. The chances of this being at the top of the list are slim. In fact, the only way it would make it to the top I'd say is if you were accusing one of their own."

Linda's eyes widened, and she shot that gaze right at Barry.

"Are you?" the doctor asked.

"No," Barry said instinctively. "I thought…no." He shook his head.

"What did you think, son?"

"Tell him, Barry," Linda urged.

"I was jumped," he said. "I remember that." The doctor started taking notes.

"Do you know by who?"

Barry shook his head, and Linda held in a silent sigh of relief. He could feel that through the loosening of her grip on him.

"They sounded like someone I know, but I…I just can't place it now. I'm sorry."

"So, you're saying you didn't see who it was, you only heard them?"

Barry nodded. "Yes."

"What else do you remember? Anything? Where were you at the time? Outside the West-Thawne residence, correct?"

Barry tensed, and Linda smoothed her hand over his, so he'd relax.

"Yes," he made himself say.

"And why were you there?"

"To drop Iris off."

"That's Mrs. West-Thawne?"

Barry told himself to breathe silently.

"Yes."

"The two of you are close?"

"We grew up together." He paused, then decided to expound upon recent details. "We bumped into each other at a gala, and I didn't want her walking home alone. I offered to escort her, and she agreed."

"Sounds like you're a good guy to have around, Barry. If not for your presence, the attacker might've gone after Iris."

The idea of Eddie treating Iris the way he'd treated him made Barry feel sick to his stomach.

"I'm very glad she's okay."

"Does her husband like you?"

"Excuse me," Linda butt in. "How is that relevant?"

"Just a question," the doctor explained innocently, then turned to Barry.

"We tolerate each other," Barry said. "He's very…possessive of his wife."

The doctor eyed him carefully.

"You say the voice was familiar to you, but you can't pinpoint exactly who it was."

Barry nodded, avoiding eye contact now.

"That's right."

"Anything else?" Linda was quick to ask. "I think we've established what Barry does and does not know, and he does not know who attacked him."

The doctor's lips thinned in a humorless smile.

"You are quite right, dear. And persistent."

Linda smiled proudly right back at him.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"As you should."

With the tension in the room rising, Barry was eager to dissipate it. The last thing he needed was a full-out brawl between Linda and his doctor.

"Of course, it is up to you in the end if you want to file any charges," he said, looking at Barry.

Barry forced an acknowledging smile.

"I just know I would…in case it happens again."

Barry's eyes widened, and Linda's jaw dropped.

"Are you threatening him?!" Linda asked, outraged. She stood up.

The doctor held up his hands defensively.

"Not in the slightest. Sometimes attackers come back to-"

"Finish the job?"

They all turned to see Iris in the doorway.

"Iris." Barry frowned. "What are you-"

"Mrs. West-Thawne, your friend here requested your absence during his-"

"Interrogation?"

He sighed. "I was hardly interrogating-"

"Yeah, more like threatening," Linda muttered.

Iris' eyes went wide. "What?!"

The doctor waited a few beats then said, "I've overstayed my welcome." He looked at Barry. "I'll be in tomorrow morning to check in on you. Hopefully, we can get you in some protective wear and home soon. The nurses will probably stop by every couple of hours."

"That sounds good. Thank you, doctor."

The doctor nodded his appreciation, then exited the room, not so much as chancing a glance at the two women on either side of Barry who were glaring at him.

"You have a terrible doctor." Iris continued to glare.

"You're telling me," Linda practically growled.

"He's just doing his job," Barry offered pathetically.

"Thank you for being here for him," Iris told Linda. "I really appreciate it."

"Well, someone had to be," Linda practically barked, and Barry felt the tension go through the roof.

"What's that supposed to me-" Iris started, but Barry cut her off.

"Iris, could you get Joe for me? I'd like to see him now that I've finished talking with the doctor."

Iris bristled. "Well, yes, of course. But…about that-"

"Please?" He cut her off again. This time there was a hint of snark in his voice.

With Linda in his corner, he felt more secure.

Iris swallowed.

"Yes. Yes, of course. I'll go get him."

She turned to leave, then stopped at the door.

"I'll come visit you tomorrow, Barry."

If Eddie lets you, he almost said aloud, but he kept his mouth shut.

"No need," Linda spoke up for him. "The doctor said he should be getting out tomorrow. He'll probably need all the rest he can get."

"R-Right. Well… I'll get my dad."

She turned away, and Barry heard the hitch. She was near tears if not already crying. He glared at Linda after Iris left.

"What?" she demanded. "She deserved it."

"She did not deserve to cry."

"It means she's feeling guilty, and she should be. If she's determined to visit you other than to find out what you told the doctor, I'll be surprised. Just…relax. Your number one priority doesn't always have to be Iris. Especially with the way she's been treating you recently."

"It's Eddie that's the problem, not-"

"And yet you protected him."

"I protected Iris."

"Wait a minute, you don't think he's hurting her, do you?"

"I don't know. He told me he didn't come back later to beat me up, and Iris doesn't have a scratch on her, but-"

"You have a bad feeling."

He shrugged helplessly.

"Are your feelings usually right?"

Barry looked down before meeting her gaze again.

"Lately they've been all over the place."

Relief colored her face.

"Then let's hope this is one of those times where you're wrong."

She squeezed his hand.

"I'm sure the only thing escalating in that household is their voices. Let me go get you some water. I'll hand it to Joe when he's on his way in."

Barry nodded hesitantly.

"Okay. Thanks, Linda."

"What are fake girlfriends for?" She chuckled, and he felt his mood lighten.

It didn't last. The door closed, and he was plunged into his dark thoughts again.

Eddie wouldn't hurt Iris… Would he?