*Beta'd by sendtherain

...

Part 2 -

A flurry of memories flew by on the film, but before HR could ask why they were skipping so many, Nora broke in with her beautiful narrator's voice.

"Years passed, and Barry Allen grew up. He took up a position at his father's Allen Brothers' Building and Loan after high school, so he could save up money to go to college and a trip around the world before that. He wanted to see it all and do it all, and as a mother, well…I wanted it all for him."

The film paused on Barry's adult face.

"Is that him?" HR asked.

"Yes, it is," Nora said warmly. "Just 21 years old. Can you believe it?"

"Twenty-one…" he repeated. "That's a good face for 21."

The ornery angel rolled his eyes.

"You were saying, Nora?" he drawled.

"Yes, of course. This here is a big day for Barry. He's looking to buy a suitcase for his travels…and here, look, Mr. Singh bought him the biggest one and had his name embroidered on it."

"What a guy!" HR declared.

"Yes, indeed. And see, here he's talking with old friends."

"He's pretty popular, that Barry."

"Mhmm. And here…well, here's Linda."

"Wow! What a looker! That dress is-"

"Yes, she's pretty, alright. And I'm afraid to say my baby boy fell victim to her charms just like every other hopeless fool in town."

"But…But what about Iris? Doesn't he end up with her?" HR frowned, and Nora smiled.

"Just wait and see."

Nora went quiet and the film resumed.

.

Dancing around with Barry in her room upstairs, Jesse was all giggles and stolen champagne as they celebrated her high school graduation.

"Can you believe it, Barry? Can you really believe I did?"

Barry snorted, even as he danced and downed some champagne himself.

"Are you kidding, Jess? You're 10 times smarter than I am. You're 16 and graduated! You're going to knock 'em dead in college."

She sobered up a bit.

"When I get there."

"Hey now, it's just a little over four years."

"But in the meantime, I have to work in that shabby, little office where Dad does. Barry, you can't stand it either!"

He ran his hands down her arms and took her hands in his.

"Let's not think about that tonight, okay? I promise I'll get through school as quick as I possibly can, so your genius mind can flourish." He leaned in when her mood didn't appear to change. "You're graduated, Jess, remember? And you look absolutely beautiful."

Despite herself, Jesse lit up.

"I do look pretty stunning, don't I?" She spun a bit in her dress.

"The most stunning," he assured her.

"Prettier than Linda?" she dared, and to his chagrin he hesitated a moment too long.

"Who's Linda?" he asked, with a grin, saving himself.

She smacked him lightly, and they began to dance again, until their mother called for dinner, and they regretfully had to put a stop to their celebrations to go down and eat.

Barry came down the stairs first and held out his arm in a low bow for Jesse to follow.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…Jesse Quick."

"Quick, huh?" Nora raised her eyebrows. "If you'd taken any longer, your father and I would be old and gray."

Henry Allen reached up to touch his own hair, covering the bits of gray that were starting to show through.

"That's on me, mom, not Jess." Barry turned and winked at Jesse. "Besides, doesn't she look beautiful?"

Jesse blushed a little and Nora nodded.

"She does." She went over to the young girl and cupped her face in her hands. "My shining star."

"Mom," Jesse choked, her voice thick with emotion.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," HR said, causing Nora to stop the film.

"I thought Jesse wasn't her- your daughter. Doesn't she…know that?"

"She knows." Nora nodded. "But she was also very young when she came to live with us."

"You're the only mother she really knew?" HR asked.

"Two years old is a young age to lose both parents."

HR sighed, now depressed.

"Okay, enough frowns, you guys," the ornery angel surprisingly interrupted, picking up the remote. "Let's watch what comes next."

The film resumed.

"Jesse, darling, are you staying for dinner or going ahead to the party? I haven't seen you eat a thing since breakfast."

"Well, I've been busy, mom…graduating." She smiled and snatched up a couple carrots from the dish in the center of the table.

"Yes, I know, honey, but-"

"Aww, mom, she'll be all right. Won't you, Jess?"

"Mhmm. They'll have snacks there."

"You see, mom. They'll have snacks there."

Nora's thick frown disappeared in a heartbeat, and she laughed.

"Oh, you two." She shook her head. "Give me a hug and a kiss, Jesse, and then go have fun. Don't come back until you have!"

She grinned widely, then did as she was told and followed suit with Henry.

"Thanks, guys." She turned towards Barry. "Are you coming later?"

"Oh, I don't know…"

"Linda will probably be there." She winked.

Barry turned a bright red. "Why…why would that matter to me?"

Jesse laughed and reached for her jacket.

"I'll see you later."

HR ripped the remote from the ornery angel's hand and paused the film again, huffing dramatically.

"Barry is supposed to end up with Iris."

"Patience-"

"He will-"

Nora turned and glared at the other angel, who had the decency to pale.

"Sorry." He paused. "But he does."

"Are there no surprises anymore?"

There was a moment of silence, then HR turned to the other angel.

"He does, though?"

All previous attitude disappeared, and the angel genuinely smiled.

"He does."

Nora stole back the remote and pressed play.

"Watch," she ordered, and the two focused back on the screen.

Silence fell in the Allen household as Nora tended to the rest of the food in the kitchen. Henry broached the subject he'd long waited to, always searching for the perfect moment. But he knew there would be no perfect moment. No time when his son would show enthusiasm for what he was about to propose. Still, it had to be said. He could only hope that in this moment Barry would see the light, see things the way his father did and follow that dream instead.

"Barry, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah, dad? What is it?" He inhaled a mouthful of food and chewed quietly.

"Well, first of all, I'm going to miss you. I'm happy for you and your travels, following your dream, but I will miss you."

"Aww, dad, it'll only be a few months. Then I'll be back attending college right here in town."

"Mm."

He knew it was a risk, but Barry asked it anyway, "What?"

"Well, it's just…Jesse's so young to be filling your shoes at the family business while you're away and then at college. I wish…I wish you could take her to college with you."

"They'd swallow her alive, Dad. She's only 16, like you said. Besides, the Building and Loan is a great job…for her. It'll teach her…life skills. That's something you don't learn in high school."

Henry raised his eyebrows.

"For the most part," he muttered.

"Do you really feel that way, son?"

"Well, I suppose you learn some life skills in high schoo-"

"No, not about that. About the business. You think it's a good job?"

"Well…sure, Dad. For some people. For Jesse maybe, even though she doesn't think so right now," he said without thinking.

"Ah."

"Dad, it's not that- We're cut from the same cloth in a way. But Jesse will learn to love it. She doesn't have big dreams like I do. She just wants to be able to use her smarts wherever she ends up. I think she can do that there."

"Mmm."

"You have big dreams, Barry… to see the world, to build things that can't be built in this little town."

"I want to be a part of something big. Calculating numbers and living out of a shabby office, that- Well, I mean…that's not what I mean…I-"

"I know, Barry. I know. I was only hoping…you might consider taking the business for me when you finish college."

Barry was shell-shocked and hurt by the pressure he felt welling up in him. And yet, the thought of disappointing his father so gravely hurt too.

"Dad, I…can't."

Henry nodded, not meeting his eyes.

"I understand."

Barry swallowed hard.

"You're the best man I know," he said, and Henry looked up at him.

"Thank you, son. That means a lot."

He paused a beat, then slipped in his escape.

"I think I'm going to go to Jesse's party."

Henry forced a smile. "Have a good time, son."

Barry got to his feet and put away his dishes, but he couldn't bring himself to do any more than kiss his mother goodbye before heading out the door.

…

As soon as Barry stepped foot in the covered swimming pool-turned dance floor room of Central Hills high, he was transported to another time and place. As people mingled to talk and drink and dance, all his worries concerning his father and his career and the rest of his life flitted away. To improve his spirits even more, Barry spotted his whole gang of friends – who had either come with younger dates or crashed the party just for kicks.

"Cisco!" he called out immediately when he saw him.

"Hey, Barry," Cisco replied gleefully, receiving him warmly when he joined him.

"Barry?" Ralph asked.

"Hey, Ralph! Where's Julian?"

"Oh, brooding over Caitlin by the drinks. Can you blame him?"

Barry's brows furrowed.

"No, what happened?"

"Well, he deliberately went to the same college as her, hoping she'd 'see the light' and give him a chance. Yeah, and? Did she?"

"What do you think?" came a deep voice, and they all turned to see Oliver coming over with a pretty brunette on his arm.

"Oliver!" They all cheered, politely smiling and nodding when he introduced his girlfriend, Laurel, to them.

Out of nowhere, Linda butt in, her dance card in hand.

"Well, hello, fellas. Gossiping, are we?"

"Linda." Barry's eyes went wide.

"Hello, Barry." She smiled prettily. Her dress was form-fitting and her make-up enhanced her eyes and lips. She was riveting.

"Hello!" he said a little too loudly, and her pretty smile turned smug.

"You know, I still have room on my dance car-"

"Barry! Barry!"

From a little distance came the kid that had been homeschooled all his life until middle school. It turned out he was incredibly good at sports and practically a genius intellectually. Barry and his friends had taken to him right away in their senior year when they met in all the same after school extra curriculars. He was the runt of the group, but they'd all adopted him in their own way, and they all called out his name happily as he approached.

"Wally!"

"Hey, guys!" He came up and side-hugged each of them. He had to be the youngest guy in the whole room, but he didn't seem to mind, and no one else did either.

"We've missed you, Wally," Barry said.

"I've been here the whole time," he said, teasing the man towering over him. After a beat, he continued, "Say, Barry. You remember my big sister, Iris, right?"

Barry's brows furrowed, trying to remember. Vaguely he recalled a dark-skinned, curly raven-haired girl from his youth.

"Uh…yeah, I think I do. Why?"

"Well, she's here tonight, and it would just mean so much if you could steal her away from her awful date and dance with her."

Barry winced. "Now, Wally, I love ya, man, but…I barely know, Iris. I don't really want to spend my ti-"

"Aww, come on, Barry. Be a good sport. It's only one dance."

He was still wary, but all his friends were starting to drift away to dance as well, leaving him alone with Linda and a Wally who would surely come back disappointed if he saw him dancing with anyone that wasn't his sister.

"You know you don't have to, Barry," Linda said, luring him towards her so they were nearly flush up against each other. "I'm right here, and I have no one to dance with."

"I…I'm sure you could find someo-"

"But you're the one I want." She batted her eyelashes.

He gulped, growing weak in the knees. Linda had always been very affectionate and flirtatious with him, but this was a whole other level.

"Hey, Barry!" Wally called out again, and Barry sighed, turning to look in the direction the voice was coming from.

Time stopped. Life as he knew it disintegrated into oblivion. It was if a spotlight shown down on Iris West. He couldn't see a single other person in the room. Even Linda's protests fell on deaf ears.

Was that really Iris?

He waded through the crowd until he reached her. When their eyes first locked, she looked incredibly flustered, but it looked adorable on her because she was so beautiful that he was only more entranced.

"This is Iris, Barry," Wally announced, though it was clear the two of them weren't really hearing anything anyone else was saying.

"Hello, Iris." He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.

Iris herself was practically in shambles.

"Hello, Barry."

"May I have this dance?" He smiled tenderly, invading her personal space.

Iris could hardly breathe, but she was aware of a particularly annoying sound in her left ear.

Oh, right. The date she'd been stuck with because she'd had no one else to go with except her baby brother. Her "date", if you could call him that, was nerdy and annoying, and she had only barely been tolerating him so as not to come across mean.

"You may." She smiled and let him lead her away.

"Hey! Now, wait just a minute! She's my date! You can't just-"

Wally nonchalantly walked by and stomped on his foot before discreetly melting into the crowd again.

"Who did that? Who did that?" The abandoned date spun around, accusing any potential male who so much as glanced in his direction.

By the time he decided to abandon his search, Barry and Iris were far, far away, melting into each other on the other side of the dance floor.

"You look at me as if you don't know me," Iris said, drowning herself in his eyes.

"I don't," he said on half-laugh.

"Sure you do. I used to come by your ice cream shop every day after school and during the summer."

He shook his head, smiling.

"That was someone else. That was…that was a little girl. You're no little girl, Iris West."

Heat flooded her cheeks from the awe in his voice and the heated look in his eyes.

"I don't know what to tell you, Barry Allen. I am and always have been Iris West."

"Could've fooled me," he murmured and pulled her into a slow dance.

Just as his hand was slipping down her back to rest at her waist, making Iris so completely weak in the knees and wondering how she had lived before this moment, the music abruptly switched to an upbeat tune and Barry dropped his arms to his side.

"I'm not good with this kind of dancing," Barry said, blushing.

Iris didn't think she'd ever seen him blush.

"Then how about I show you," she suggested with a wink and pulled him to her, intertwining their fingers and moving her feet quickly in a particular pattern. To her great relief and excitement, he copied the pattern, only tripping over his feet a few times. She giggled to herself.

"I suck at this."

She shook her head, laughing. "You don't."

He untangled one of his hands from her, momentarily worrying her, but then he spun her away and into him and held her in place.

"You're so beautiful, Iris. The most beautiful woman I've ever met."

"Barry, I…"

But whatever she would've said went unanswered, as the floor opened up beneath them and they fell into the now-uncovered high school swimming pool.

…

If you had told Iris West when she was 12 years old that at 18 she'd be spending the evening with Barry Allen, she probably wouldn't have believed you. But now, hours after attempting to continue dancing with him in the swimming pool, soaking their clothes in the process and laughing as if they were kids again, she was prone to believe anything was possible.

Walking down the street now – her in a robe, him in mismatched clothes he found in the boys' locker room – Barry gave her a devilish grin and began again with the Disney song he'd caught her requesting at the end of the night.

"I know you…" He skipped ahead of her and walked backwards slowly, extending his arms to her. "I walked with you once upon a dream."

Smiling, and so helplessly in love, Iris grabbed his hands with the tips of her fingers.

"I know you…" She sang. "That gleam in your eyes seems so familiar to me."

He spun her towards him and held her against his body, rocking her back and forth as her face pressed against his cheek.

"And I know it's true," he sang. "That visions are seldom what they seem." He spun her away, never letting go of her hand. "But if I know you…"

"I know what you'll do," Iris joined in. "You'll love me at once. The way you did once upon a dream…"

When they finished, they were close together again, clasping each other's hands and looking deep into each other's eyes, their lips inches apart, barely breathing.

"Oh, look! Look at that old house!"

Iris turned around reluctantly.

"Me and the guys used to throw a rock at the glass after we made a wish. If we hit the glass, our wish was bound to come true."

"Oh, don't throw rocks at that house, Barry." She pulled his arm down just as he'd started to lift it. "I love that house. I wish I lived there."

"Lived there? But it's…it's an abandoned, spooky mansion."

"No, it's lovely and romantic…a historic relic made for the movies."

He shook his head at her, entranced but not dissuaded.

He threw his rock at a window on the second floor and it smashed threw into the old room.

"Would you look at that? My wish is going to come true! I knew it would."

"And what did you wish for, Barry?"

"I wished for my future, Iris. I'm going to explore and build and make a lifetime of memories away from this crummy old town."

Iris' shoulders slumped in disappointment, but before Barry could notice, she threw her own rock and it smashed into a glass window on the first floor.

"Hey, that's pretty good." Barry smiled proudly at her. "What did you wish for?"

She started humming the Disney tune again and walked further down the road.

"Aww, come on, Iris. Tell me what you wished for!"

She stopped, making him do the same, and looked up into his eyes.

"And I know it's true…that visions are seldom what they seem…" she sang softly.

"But if I know you," he sang.

"I know what you'll do," she returned. "You'll love me at once…the way you did-"

"Once upon a dream," he finished.

The wind whistled around them, ruffling their hair, shutting out the entire world but each other.

"Iris…"

"Barry…"

"What do you want, Iris?"

She tilted her head in confusion, having nearly forgotten about the wish.

"What do you want?" he asked again. This time he broke his gaze with her to look towards the sky. "Do you want the moon?" He paused to think about it and look up at its brilliance. "Yeah, I think that's what I'll do. I'll give you the moon."

She smiled wide, happier than she'd ever been. She turned to look at the moon too.

"I'll take it." She glanced back at him. "How will you get it for me, though?"

"Oh, I'll lasso it, of course. Barry Allen lasso extraordinaire, haven't you heard of me?"

She giggled. "Not that part."

"Oh, well, you should see me…"

"Maybe you'll show me sometime."

He stopped and looked at her, just looked at her, amazed by her beauty and how magnetically he was drawn to her.

"Maybe I will."

She bit her bottom lip.

"So, what happens next?"

"Next?"

"With the moon."

"Oh. Well, you'd swallow it whole."

Her eyes widened. "I would?"

"Not like…like eating it, Iris, I mean…" He licked his lips, trying to think of how to backtrack out of the pit he'd fallen into. "I mean…your skin would absorb it. Yeah, that's right. Your skin would! And it would glow, and light would spread to your toes and your fingertips and it would light up every hair on your head until you looked like an angel."

Iris was breathless from the description.

"I'm not talking too much, am I?" He frowned.

She laughed, was about to say 'no', when a nearby eavesdropper yelled out a frantic 'yes!'

Barry and Iris turned to look at the frustrated gentleman sitting out on his porch.

"Just kiss her already instead of talking her to death!"

Iris gasped. She didn't mind one bit all the talking Barry was doing. She was mesmerized by it, in fact. But…a kiss? It was what she'd always dreamt of.

"You want me to kiss her?" Barry called back as if he hadn't heard, when Iris knew for a fact his deaf ear had been facing the other direction.

The disgruntled man grew more so, mumbling something and then going inside his house.

"Now, what was that all about?" he asked Iris, and she shrugged helplessly.

Before any continued conversation could continue or restart however, a car drove up, honking its horn madly.

"Barry! Barry!" Cisco popped his head out of the front passenger window.

"Cisco? What's going on?"

"It's your mother!" he shouted, looking down briefly to unlock the back door of the car.

"My mother… What about her?"

"She's been shot!" Ralph said from the driver's seat.

"Shot!"

"They're rushing her to the hospital right now, come on!"

Barry turned to Iris.

"I'm sorry, Iris, I gotta go."

"No, it's fine, go."

She would hardly keep him here on her account.

Though, it was a little saddening that he left with little more than a wave.

Iris now forgotten, Barry asked what happened once inside the car.

"Was it a burglary or something? I can't imagine anyone shooting my mother on purpose. She's… I mean…"

Cisco and Ralph were silent in the front seat.

"You guys aren't telling me something. What is it?" he demanded.

Cisco gulped. "They saw they caught the shooter already, Barry."

His eyes went wide. "Well, that's a relief at least. Why do you look so depressed? Who is it? Who did they catch?"

Cisco and Ralph shared a look, then Cisco said, "Your father."