A/N: I know that I seriously need to update my older stories, but I am really lacking the enthusiasm at this point. It's probably due to a lot of my depression, I guess, but I tend to get a good amount of writing done, and then I just stop. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I suppose I'll just have to try a bit harder in the meantime.

Last chapter: Barry is upset and very confused after his confrontation with Iris, and remembering everything that has happened since he decided to become the Flash. He appreciates everything that Oliver has done and is less than pleased with Joe and Wells, even if things have somewhat calmed down since.

This is the End of the Flash? Pt 2

"Hey, Slugger."

After some deliberation, Barry decided that he knew that telling his dad everything that had happened all the way from the moment he woke up was the best decision. It was the only way he could get any sound advice. He knew that Oliver would be giving him a 'you truly are an idiot' look for what he was doing, but there were plenty of lies in his life already and too many people were hurt because of it. To his father's credit, he merely shook his head like expected no less.

"It seems you've been a little busy lately, then?"

Barry looked at him and tried for a smile, which probably ended up coming across as a grimace, and nodded.

"I had uh, wanted to tell you, but they wanted me to keep it a secret," he said quietly, almost hoping he wouldn't be heard. He chanced a quick glance and winced at the look he saw.

"They?"

Barry suddenly wanted to shrink in his chair, feeling like he was a kid again who had been caught doing something he knew was wrong. Technically, he knew that it wasn't his fault this time and that he really didn't envy the next time one of them visited if he did decide to leave the city. Either way, the stare was almost as unnerving as the one Oliver gave him sometimes.

"There's Joe, who made me promise not to say anything and Wells may have um, decided he wanted to experiment on me?" he started, swallowing nervously. "Oliver told me when I told him after they said that, that I should wear a mask." he finished, unconsciously smiling at the memory.

"Oliver seems to be looking out for you, at least. Of course, he does seem a bit-" his father started, before Barry interrupted him.

"Please don't tell me he's dangerous or something. It's really not his fault." he pleaded.

"But Joe and Wells, huh? Joe has always been stubborn in his opinions, and I don't know anything about Wells. So tell me. Are you going back or are you leaving?"

Barry looked at dad, surprised and a little bit sad. He wanted to leave more than anything right now, but he also didn't want to leave his dad behind. He still wanted to prove his dad's innocence, and be a CSI. He leaned his head against the counter, overwhelmed and very frustrated. He needed Oliver's advice for sure.

"I think you should leave, Slugger," Henry told him, after knocking on the glass to get his attention. Barry shook his head in shock, willing to deal with anything for a while in order to get him free.

"Why do you want to send me away? Again?" Barry asked, holding in the tears that he knew would come eventually. "You know that I've been trying to prove that you didn't do it, so why?"

Henry sighed and shook his head.

"You can be a CSI anywhere and you know that. I don't trust Wells and I'm pretty sure that your friend would say the same thing. You shouldn't be experimented on and you shouldn't waste your time on things like this. Knowing you think I'm innocent is enough for me, you know that. You can come here whenever you want to, you just need to let go."

Barry nodded reluctantly, thinking of what Oliver had told him at Jitters.

"You can always talk to me."

"Yeah, thank you. And you're right. I still have a lot to learn."

Barry remembered Oliver looking fairly at ease right up until then, which is when he knew he was about to hear something he didn't want to.

"There is one more thing...and you're not going to like it."

Of course, he knew by the seriousness of his friend's tone that he wouldn't, but he wanted to pass it off as something that wasn't. Maybe it was to cut the tension, or maybe he was trying to just get one of Oliver's rare smiles that only a few people seemed to see.

"Does it involve you shooting me in the back?"

At least he succeeded on that front; making him smile for a moment, even if he knew that it wouldn't last that long.

"No. No, the heart." Oliver said, glancing over in the direction of Iris and Felicity by the counter. "That's not going to work out for you. You need to let her go, for both of your sakes. Guys like us don't get the girl."

Looking back at his Dad now, he supposed they were both telling him the same message, and one he had been avoiding all of this time. Slumping his shoulders a bit, feeling resigned and yet free at the same time. He made his decision, which was probably one that only a few people would be okay with. His dad looked at him and shook his head, with a small and yet relieved smile on his face.

"Does this mean that you're going?"

"Yeah, I think it does. I'm really not all that happy here, and I keep getting hints from people that are telling me I should try. Well, Oliver would probably never be that sentimental, unless he was maybe with his sister. Maybe that's one reason I want to go there.

He sighed, as he got a nonplussed look, which was probably because he really didn't know Oliver. Usually, his friend let people see only what he wanted you to see and nothing more, whereas Barry more or less wore his heart on his sleeve.

"Oliver is a public figure in many ways, and rarely lets his guard down around anyone. When he smiles or laughs, it's usually because he's supposed to and I guess that I find myself trying to make it more genuine whenever I can. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, slugger, it does. She'd be proud of you. You know that right?" he told Barry, with a determined look in his eyes. "I know that I am, which is why I want you to go. Come back once in a while and talk, but go and be happy for once."

Barry nodded, putting his hand to the glass along with Henry's and they said their goodbyes. He walked at a normal pace, which turned to running once he knew no one could see him. He had some things to do before he ran to Starling, and he wanted to get it done before he got there at around nightfall. Going to Star Labs, he took the suit as if he was going on a late patrol but took out the tracer and left a note hidden in Caitlyn's office where he knew she would find it. He knew he could probably trust Cisco to some degree, but for some reason, he knew that his friend was too close to Wells. Caitlyn was close to Wells, sure, but she was someone who believed in science and logic. She would understand his motives, and not contact him unless it was an emergency. And if she didn't seem to like his involvement in being the Flash at the beginning, even if she had softened around the edges a bit.

Going back to the house, he quickly packed mostly clothes and things he needed like energy bars and such, followed by going to work and packing up his more personal things and straightening up the lab as he wouldn't be working here anymore. It's not to say that he wouldn't miss the familiarity of it all, but he would definitely not miss the well-meaning jokes and teasing. He wouldn't have Joe at his next job to cover him, so he'd definitely have to work on getting better with his constant tardiness.*

Speeding back to the house for one last check, he went through the house and decided to take a train to Starling City, since it would give him time to send his resignation to Singh and an eventual text before probably buying a new phone altogether. He'd save a few contacts, sure, but he was looking for a fresh start and wasn't planning on making a search for him easy. In fact, he needed to make sure there were no traces of him on any cameras when he had even gone so far as to go in disguise until he got there. His plan had very little in the way of faults, as far as he was concerned. Sighing, he grimaced at the thought that he was actually thinking of agreeing to Oliver's thoughts for him to do physical training. Oliver was going to make him promise to not use his powers, he just knew it. He knew that just in case someone caught on to what he was doing he should probably err on the side of caution. Oliver would undoubtedly be able to pick up on the subtle and not so subtle clues he was leaving.

O~

I remembered to bring what to bring for that case you were asking about, but I don't think I'll get there fast enough to pick up what you asked. I know it's asking a little much, but maybe you can meet me at that place with that great view that you showed me a few months ago once I get there?

~B

Barry was sure that he could get rid of his phone once he arrived and use the Foundry computer to write his letter to Singh because it would be harder to backtrace. If he knew Oliver, the guy had more than likely had Felicity put on pretty high security that might get him shot by Dig or Oliver if he just sped in there. Plus, he kinda wanted to have a conversation with Oliver in private before Joe figured out where he went and started making phone calls. Not warning him about Joe when he probably already had his own problems was like asking to be shot again.

Fortunately, Oliver was already patrolling by the time Barry got to their designated meeting place. Admittedly, he was slightly confused as to why Barry wanted to see him as they usually could go for weeks at a time without meeting each other. Granted, sometimes a phone call or two was made; but other than that, they didn't see each other so often. And this time it hadn't even been a week, and that didn't include the obvious secrecy of it all. Despite what many people thought, he wasn't the brash and careless playboy he used to be before the island. Okay, maybe he was a tad bit too stubborn when it came to being protective, especially if it was about his sister; but he'd like to think he was more level-headed than he used to be. The cautious way

that Barry had asked to meet him, on top of the obvious sense of privacy between just the two of them had Oliver very skeptical about the situation. All things considered, there was nothing else he could do but wait for him to arrive and explain what was going on.

Barry was late, which wasn't that odd; but it was the fact that he just walked instead of his usual running that made Oliver even more curious about what had happened in the short amount of time since he'd seen him last. Everything about his body language screamed exhausted as he got closer, which wasn't something that fit the speedster's usual persona.

"I know I'm late, I just didn't feel like running I guess. It's been a busy day and I took the train." Barry told him, not even apologizing for his seemingly permanent knack for being late. He was pretty sure his friend actually considered that before picking a time and had only just gotten here a short while ago. Opening his mouth to say something about what happened, he found there weren't words to really describe what was going on. Luckily, it seemed that Oliver had picked up on his hesitancy and turned his com on while motioning for Barry to be quiet. After Barry's acknowledgment, he heard Oliver talk to Felicity and Dig and tuned it out for the most part.

"...am going to have another look around, but it looks quiet. We'll call it a night. You guys

head home and I'll see you tomorrow." Turning the com back off for the night, he turned back towards Barry and gave him his full attention. "Let's start with the message you sent me. You sent it while you were on a train, being extremely careful to not leave too much information as if you were afraid of being followed. Did you get rid of the phone?"

Barry nodded, fully expecting Oliver to pick up on his clues. It was somewhere no one would find it and in several pieces at that. The only way that someone would know it was his was if they spent days piecing it back together after retrieving it from who knows where.

"I don't know exactly where it is. I got rid of it after breaking it and throwing it near some lake or something. Someone would have to look for a long while to even find it. I am trying to throw some people off my trail as long as possible, even if I know it won't work for long." he replied to Oliver's unanswered question, looking out at the city he had chosen as a refuge.

"I take it that you mean Joe and Dr. Wells?"

At Barry's nod, he withheld a sigh. If there was one thing he didn't need, it was another detective after him. Starling had just been through another attack recently and he was starting to be seen in a decent light by most of the police force for now. Of course, now Joe West was going to almost immediately blame him for Barry leaving Central. As for Dr. Wells, he wasn't quite sure what to make of the man, but he definitely didn't trust him. Inwardly sighing, he looked at Barry who looked utterly miserable, and wondered what had happened.

"Dr. Wells, he wanted to do different tests and experiments since I can heal and he's in a wheelchair I guess. But I tried to talk about that night with Iris as the Flash and it-" Barry stopped, not really wanting to say out loud what he kept repeating in his mind.

"It didn't go so well and she didn't believe you." Oliver guessed, looking at the pain on Barry's face. After a moment, he felt going further into it would do more harm than good unless he wanted to talk about it. "So, what did your father say about you leaving?"

Barry's face went from glum and serious to shocked so fast it almost made Oliver laugh. Almost. He did look a little smug at being able to pull the information out of him so easily. He had guessed that he had gone to see him, but he wasn't sure until now.

"How did you know that?" Barry asked, looking amazed at his ability to guess. It was almost the same look he had when he was wandering around what Felicity had dubbed the "Arrow Cave".

"I wasn't sure until you told me, but I had a suspicion that you wouldn't have left without going to see him first." Oliver shot back, this time with a small smile at the sight of seeing the amazement turn to a 'I should've guessed' look.

"I think he was practically pushing me to leave. He was pretty angry about Dr. Wells though, and I can't say that Joe will get off without a tongue lashing the next time he sees him. I was wondering if I could ask a few favors.

At this, his friend merely stood there patiently as he waited to hear the said request.

"I was hoping you could try and put in a good word somehow so I can try and get a job as a CSI here. Plus, I also was wondering if we could do self-defense."

Oliver stared a few moments in disbelief for a moment at both statements. He barely had good standing with any of the police officers besides Quentin on a good day. Laurel would have better weight than he would if push came to shove. He could understand better than anyone about needing self-defense lessons for when you were in public. He had come to the decision just lately that he would use basic moves only that could easily be explained as him wanting to defend himself.

"Well, I'll teach you some moves that I've been using when I obviously have to be careful. For you, it's because you can't use your powers during the day where everyone can see you. You can say that you just took self-defense classes, with a few disarming techniques. No powers unless you are patrolling at night. That's if you still want to do that. Where are you staying by the way?"

"Um, I don't exactly-" Barry stuttered, his brain going into overload.

"We'll work on that. In the meantime, you can stay in the loft with me. We'll wait until later to work out some more permanent arrangements if you want."

A/N: Alright, I think I will just leave it here for now and hopefully work on this a little later. There are some things that need to be acknowledged about this because I frankly found the Arrow writers just shoving Olicity in our face by making certain choices that quite literally shoved Oliver in a corner. The list below should cover plenty, but feel free to ask.

Oliver didn't lose his money and is still the CEO because that ridiculous Isabel nonsense didn't happen. Let's face it. Oliver being with her was none of Felicity's business and that was half of the reason it even happened.

I'm still deciding where Ray will fit in this picture because how and why he took the business was plain wrong. Maybe as a business partner?

Felicity is still in IT, just the head of the department; mainly because of the unnecessary drama that no one needed.

Roy is on Team Arrow, no worries. He's just focused on keeping an eye on Thea since that mess with Malcolm started.

Thea does live with Oliver (like in the show) but there is extra room for Barry to stay. I'd like to think that she wouldn't mind him staying, especially since this all takes place in the middle of the League coming to Starling.