Lovely Arrangements

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Prelude

Okay. This shouldn't be that hard. Really. She had absolutely nothing to lose, except maybe her romantic fantasies being thrown down the drain. But fantasies didn't pay the bills.

The man in front of her eyed her tiredly. His emerald eyes, though seemingly uncaring, were analyzing her every move. "Do you still have questions?" He asked, sensing her —frustrating— hesitation.

She sighed and placed the document on the table. Without signing. "I just don't get it. Why would you marry me of all people?"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He asked himself the same question. "Look, it's only a temporary arrangement," hadn't Cisco explained everything to her?

Almost as if she read his mind, she answered, "Yes, I know. You need to get married to show your father that you are ready to take over the Allen chain of hospitals," she nodded to herself, "which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me anyway. I mean, marriage? How does that make you ready to take over hospitals? But okay, let's pretend I understand your father's reasoning, why me?"

She just didn't understand it. She didn't have the status, nor the education. Seriously, she was still working on her bachelors degree at the age of 27, she had 3 part time jobs, and was merely a volunteer for one of the many Allen hospitals. In fact, this was the first time she was meeting him in person. All previous communication about this 'arrangement' had been discussed with his right hand man, a Francisco -Cisco- Ramon.

"Does it matter? It's not like you are going empty handed," he raised an eyebrow at her almost accusingly. Whatever had made her agree to this, must be important enough that she'd agree to marry a stranger. He wouldn't be surprised if it was a hefty amount of money.

"Look," she leaned forward, "I can leave right here, right now. Pretend this never even happened. I don't need this, you know. I've been doing just fine on my own and can continue living my life that way."

He smirked, "Is that so? Then why did you accept this? You could've easily told Cisco you weren't in, and we wouldn't even have this discussion."

She leaned back and sighed, "I did, thirty-seven times. Yes, I counted. But he wouldn't give in, he insisted it had to be me, and that's why I want to know."

Thirty-seven times? Seriously Cisco? He'd have to talk to him about this, making him look like he needed her. Ha! "Ok, fine. Let's just say you fit the bill to what my old man wants. Does that work?"

She knitted her eyebrows in confusion, "Wow, he sure has low standards then," Barry almost snickered, but refrained, "Don't get me wrong. I am awesome. But I just don't fit in your world. Leaving social class aside —and that's a big one. I'm a twenty-seven year old in her junior year of college, still going for a bachelors. I don't have anything to my name but a whole lot of debt, and barely have time for anything other than work and school. I'm not even into social media for crying out loud." By today's standards, this girl was almost a ghost.

"He has something for underdogs. What can I say?" He finished with a nonchalant shrug

Even though it wasn't meant as a compliment, she took it as such, "Makes sense. It might take me a while, but my goal is to become the best neurosurgeon in Central City. Just you wait," she said with a smile.

And she also wanted to be a doctor. Wow, he definitely underestimated Cisco. "Okay, with all of your questions answered, can we move on with this? I have an appointment at three."

"One more question,"

This time he did roll his eyes.

"Hear me out, why did you add this clause?"

He knew exactly which one it was.

"What's the problem with it?"

"Should party B, meaning me, fall in love with party A, you, this arrangement is effectively void,"

"So?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "This is totally one sided. If we are being realistic, you could also fall in love with —"

"No."

"It could happen."

"It won't," he said definitively.

"Well I'm not signing until that is amended, to either party falling in love," she said with the same tone.

He looked at her, with a clear 'seriously?' written on his face. She even nodded at that.

He took the papers from her, trying and failing at hiding his frustration. He scratched off the party A and B, and wrote either party. "There, happy? Now can you sign this." He pushed the papers her way.

"One more thing,"

"Now what!" Wow, this woman was a specialist at getting under his skin.

"Can I have the pen?"

Author's Note

I've been on hiatus for...a while. I'm sure a lot of us can relate to life just getting in the way, but I didn't want that to take away the joy I have when I create something.

Last year I started writing for myself, with no intent of publishing, just for fun like I used to. A few words or scenes would come to mind and I would write them. I would be sitting in the evenings, in the darkness of my room, with a candle and amazing music and just type away. One thing led to another, and before I knew it I had this story that kept writing itself.

The concept isn't new, but this is my take on it. I'm eager to finally share this passion project with you.

This may be my only Author's Note, until we see each other at the end of this journey. For those that are used to my previous writing style, please note that I will no longer use chapters to respond to reviews and will use Fanfiction's reply function for that.

Be forewarned of that this is a slow burn romance.

And one final thing...

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking." – Steve Jobs