Chapter Thirteen is up and running! Barry met Marla's family last chapter, now it's time for her to meet his! This is the last chapter of normalcy between the two before we're back in the thick of the action!

I do not own CW's Flash or any characters or places mentioned.

Chapter Thirteen

Dinner with the Cop

Marla

A Few Days Later

Len dropped me off in front of the West house, "I'm assuming Barry will give you a ride home. Call me if he can't."

I nodded, "Sounds good." I fiddled with the packages of cupcakes on my lap.

I couldn't cook for shit so, naturally, the cupcakes were store-bought.

Len gripped my wrist, "It's going to be fine. Trust me, the only one you'll have any real issue with is Detective West, but he'll warm up to you soon enough."

I took a deep breath before smiling at him gratefully, "I'll see you later, Len."

"Have fun, Marla."

I got out of the car and Len refused to leave until I knocked on the door.

Barry opened the door, his smile widened when he saw me, "You made it!" He waved to Len and the professional thief drove off.

I held up my bag of goodies, "I brought cupcakes. I can't cook, or bake, so they're store-bought."

"It was good of you to bring anything." He opened the door wider, "Come in." Once I was inside, Barry helped me take off my jacket before leading me deep into the house.

The laughter inside the living room quieted as I walked in.

The first person to greet me was a pretty, dark-haired woman with a smile that was almost, but not quite, as kind and bright as Barry's.

"You must be Marla, I'm Iris. Barry's sister." She held her hand out to me.

I gave Barry a look, remembering what he told me about her, before shaking her hand, "It's good to finally meet you, Iris. Barry's told me a lot about you."

"He's told us quite a bit about you, too." An older man came up to me.

Barry's smile told me exactly who he was. The love and relief that Barry felt when he saw this man was practically palpable.

"Marla, this is my dad, Henry Allen."

"It's nice to meet you, Mister Allen."

"You as well, Marla. And, please, just call me Henry." He pulled me into a tight hug, much to my surprise.

"This is Cisco, Cailtin, Wally, and Joe."

I shook everyone's hand and nodded to Detective West, "Detective, good to see you again."

"We'll see, McKinnon, we'll see."

Wally noticed the bag in my hand, "I heard you mention cupcakes?"

"Not homemade, but yes, cupcakes."

"Sweet!"

"Not until dinner." Joe reprimanded, "Both of you." He gave Barry a pointed look.

The Scarlet Speedster raised his hands in defense, "I didn't do anything!"

"You were thinking about it."

I couldn't keep my laughter hidden as Barry and Wally sported identical pouts. They may not have been related by blood, but there was no denying that they were family.

Barry

Dinner went, surprisingly, smoothly. Joe didn't even bring up Marla's criminal history, which I think shocked everyone.

After we finished dinner we took a break before dessert and just talked.

"So, Marla, do you mind if I ask how you got your abilities and how they work?" Caitlin asked, "We haven't really seen powers like yours before."

Marla nodded, "Yeah, okay. Um, so I worked in the music store downtown and, um, when the Particle Accelerator exploded, I was singing along to this song and the, uh, the blast knocked me out. I was cleared to leave the hospital a week later." I cleared my throat, "Basically when the song "I Dare You" is playing, I can make people fall asleep. I pretty much know everything there is to know about them, but I'm still not sure why it's that particular song or if there's another one that works."

"If you want, we could probably run some tests at S.T.A.R. Labs, try to figure it out." She offered.

Marla bit her lip and nodded, "I think about it, thanks."

"So, uh, how'd you find out that Barry was the Flash?" Wally asked.

She chuckled and took a sip of the water in front of her, "Cisco was actually the one who clued me in."

I turned to Cisco, shocked that he would blurt that out to her, "Dude!"

Cisco held up his hands as a sign of peace, "Man, I swear I didn't say anything."

I turned back to Marla as she laughed, "Maybe not intentionally. It was when we met in the hospital, you told me Barry got hit by lightning. I had forgotten about that until I saw him with Len in Saints and Sinners after I got my deal with him. But, I had also figured out that the powers that metas have came entirely based on what they were doing or how, exactly, they got hit. Like Mark Mardon, he was in a storm when he got flooded with dark matter, hence the control over the weather. I was singing and got knocked out, Barry got struck by lightning." She shrugged, "Honestly, I think it's a miracle other people haven't figured it out yet."

"What made you decide to rob banks?" Joe asked, condescendingly.

"Joe!"

Marla put a hand on my arm, "Barry, it's fine. I knew someone was bound to ask eventually." She cleared her throat and turned to Joe, "It's like I told Barry, I was an out-of-state college student going for a degree my parents didn't agree with. They didn't pay for any of my college education, so I had to take out loans, loans that I couldn't pay back on my own. Not with a job at the music store. If it's any consolation, I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have my powers."

"How did Snart manage to pick you up?" Iris asked.

"Oh, I guess when Barry set him on finding me, he had his guy, Hartley Rathaway, look me up. I guess he was interested in my abilities, so he recruited me for the Rogues."

"What exactly was your major, Marla? The one your parents didn't agree with?" Dad asked.

"English, I want to be a writer. My parents, on the other hand, wanted me to be a lawyer."

"Well, good on you for going with what you want."

After a little while longer of talking, we had dessert, but that was when my dad pulled me aside.

"You really like this girl, don't you?"

I sputtered, "I, uh, I'm not sure-"

"Don't think you can lie to me, Barry, I am your father after all."

I sighed and looked back to the dining room, when I saw Marla laughing at something Cisco said, "Truth be told, I'm not really sure what my feelings are for her. I mean, yeah, I like her, I even asked her out. But, a part of me is wondering if she only said yes because she feels like she owes me. I am the one protecting her at the moment."

Dad sighed, "I can't tell you what she's thinking, Slugger, but I can tell you this: Marla seems like the kind of girl to tell you how it is, she wouldn't agree to go out with you if she didn't like you in that way."

"You think?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I do. But, if you're so worried about it, ask her yourself."

As Marla went to get her coat so I could take her home, Joe caught my arm.

"I'll be the first to admit that I think I jumped the gun on Marla. She seems like a good kid."

I nodded with a smile, "She really is."

"Which is why I won't get mad when you finally tell me that you asked her out." He gave me a fatherly look.

I winced, "Iris told you."

He chuckled, "She did. I'm happy for you, you seemed kind of lost after Patty so it's nice to see you liking someone romantically again."

"Thanks, Joe." I turned to Marla, "Ready?"

She nodded, "When you are."

Dad pulled me into a hug, "See you later, Slugger." His voice dropped lower, "Remember what I said."

"I will. Thanks, Dad."

"It was nice officially meeting all of you. Henry, it was great to finally meet you."

"You as well, Marla." Dad replied with a smile.

"Remember what I said." Caitlin said, "If you want, come by S.T.A.R. Labs so we can figure out your powers a bit better."

Marla nodded, "Thank you."

I opened the door for Marla, "I'll see you guys later."

I sped Marla over to her apartment and walked her in.

"I had fun tonight."

"Yeah?" She nodded, "Good, I'm glad. Everyone really seemed to like you, even Joe."

"They're great, Barry! Honestly, they've shown me what a family is actually supposed to be like, rather than what I got." She put her coat on the island in the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools.

I just placed my hand on her shoulder, "You can't pick the family you're born to, but you can pick the one you want to join." I slowly moved my hand down her arm so it could rest on her hand as I stood directly next to her, "Say the word and you can join ours."

She stared down at our hands but made no move to pull them apart, "Thanks, Barry. Seriously. I honestly don't know where I'd be without you or Leonard."

I shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm here to help. Whenever and wherever you need me. I promise."

She finally looked up at me, her blue eyes piercing through mine. I couldn't read minds, but I could see that she was trying to figure out if I was lying.

When it looked like she was about to say something else, her eyes widened in terror, "Barry!"

Just as I turned around, something solid was smashed into my head with some serious force, causing me to fall unconscious.

As I mentioned above, we're back to action. Just a reminder: someone is out to get Marla.

Here's a preview of the next chapter!

"Marla knows not to leave her door unlocked, not with everything that's going on."

He slowly opened the door and held his weapon at the ready as we entered the apartment.

Snart went through Marla's kitchen and found a frying pan before handing it to me.

"Do I look like Rapunzel?" I hissed.

Snart rolled his eyes and glared at me, "Just check her bedroom, I'll look over here."

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See you next time!