Another shoutout, and this one goes to AngelOfThursday67. So, so sorry I didn't include you last time! You have also been such a huge motivator. Love you so much!

Iris exhaled a long breath of air and dropped her head against the back of the couch. She rubbed her hand, the throbbing in it starting to die down, but still prominent enough to irritate her—a strong left hook unfortunately came with consequences.

She lifted her phone in front of her face, squinting a little from the bright light in the dark living room. She was hoping to see a note on her blog from The Flash telling her he was recovered, that his team got the cuff off of his ankle and he could heal. She also hoped to see a text from Barry, some sort of sign that he was out there. She would start looking for him tomorrow when she was well-rested.

The feeling of a weight dropped to the pit of her stomach, tears burned her eyes. She felt like the worst human ever at the moment. Barry wasn't on her mind enough considering the circumstances.

Keeping in mind what she had just been through, though, she tried to cut herself some slack.

"Baby," Joe said softly, breaking Iris' train of thought, "you need to get some rest. You just got back." He set a mug down of what Iris could only assume was tea, and took a seat beside her.

The reported shook her head slowly. "I'm okay, dad, really. Nothing really happened there. You made sure of that."

"We did. Flash team helped."

Iris gave an amused scoff. "Right. I forgot considering I never actually saw them."

Joe gave her a stern look. "You know why that is."

Iris grit her teeth, working her jaw. She shook her head slowly and narrowed her eyes. "I don't see why I can't know, dad! This is getting ridiculous." Iris was spending so much time with the man, it was only fair she knew who he was. Hell, she even kissed him! Sure, it wasn't the most romantic kiss ever, more of a heat of the moment sort of thing, but her point still stood.

The detective sighed and dropped his head. "You know why that is as well," he said in a strained voice. Iris was constantly nagging him about this. It especially got worse after she learned that he knew who The Flash was under that mask.

"To protect me? You're still going with that excuse after everything that just happened!?"

Joe shook his head and muttered, "I told him to stay away from you, but he can be stubborn." He exhaled. "Listen, Iris. Things could have been a lot worse. Do you know how many times in the past your life would have been in danger if a bad guy knew you were connected to The Flash? If they knew you knew his identity?"

Iris took in a sharp breath of air, irritated. Deciding she wasn't going to keep fighting about that, she switched to a different topic. "Tell me how I know his teammates."

She could have sworn Joe paled. Good. She hit the nail right on the head.

This was something that had been bugging Iris for a long time, ever since that time in the alley when she recognized their voices. She dropped it for a long while and eventually sort of forgot about the whole thing. They were probably some acquaintance she had talked to on the job. But judging by the way her father's jaw was hanging open, she figured maybe it was something more.

"Wha-what do you mean?" he rasped. Joe rearranged his facial expression to a look a little less freaked and a little more composed.

Iris took a sip from her tea, which was already starting to grow cold. She set it down and crossed her arms. "Flash, when he was battling that water meta a few weeks back, passed out in an alley. I thought it best to tell his team, and in doing so I learned they knew my name. I recognized their voices. The woman claimed she only knew because of the constant rendezvous The Flash and I have, but she is a terrible liar to be frank."

Joe sputtered a bit, then closed his eyes for a moment. "I don't know what to tell you, Iris. I certainly didn't know them when we first started working together, so you probably don't either," he lied. "I don't know, maybe you shared a conversation with them at Jitters, or…"

"Wow," she scoffed. Iris pushed herself up from the couch. "You are a terrible liar, too, you know."

Joe stood as well, ready to follow his daughter, but she bolted up the stairs. From the top, he heard her yell, "We're going to get Barry back tomorrow."

-ooo-

"How have you not seen the Harry Potter movies!? That's like saying...someone has never seen...well, THE HARRY POTTER MOVIES!" Cisco yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.

Caitlin watched him, amused at his antics. He stopped abruptly and pointed his index finger in her direction. "Okay, we're having a Harry Potter movie marathon tonight, no exceptions!" The engineer crossed his arms then, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground. Caitlin took it as her cue to respond.

"Alright, Cisco! Calm down before you give yourself an aneurysm!" The half-worried doctor gestured at the chair next to her.

The engineer sat with a huff and folded his arms across his chest like a petulant child. "Barry would understand."

Caitlin bit her lip, their gaze settled on the man sleeping in the medical bay. Getting the power dampening cuff off of his leg was the hardest thing to take care of for the two, other than that he just had to get cleaned up and bandaged and get some rest. Cisco had to come up with a corrosive that would eat through the special metal, since tools didn't work.

He had been asleep for a few hours now.

"What...would I understand?" A groggy voice said, and the doctor stood, a small smile on her face. Cisco straight up ran into the room, grinning and everything.

"Hey, man!" he laughed, patting his friend's leg. "Welcome back."

Being Barry, his first instinct was to push himself up with his elbows. Normally Caitlin would be against it, but Barry's injuries were already almost healed up.

He squinted his eyes from the bright light, and Caitlin took that as a sign to dim them a little. "How long have I been out?"

Cisco shrugged. "Few hours. It's ten at night right now," he said, glancing at his watch.

Barry nodded, taking that information in.

"How are you feeling, Barry?" Caitlin asked, peeling up his shirt to look at his wounds. They were already starting to scab over.

The speedster dropped his head to the pillow and exhaled, then threw an arm over his eyes. "Much better without that cuff on me." He looked back up at the two. "How's Iris?"

Caitlin smiled. "Resting. She's alright. Mostly just a little battered."

Cisco decided to change the subject then. "Barry, guess what this girl hasn't seen?"

The speedster chuckled at how loud Cisco was being, before looking at Caitlin, who was shaking her head in amusement. "Uh, what would that be?"

"Harry Potter." Cisco enunciated every syllable.

Barry whipped his head to the left to look at the doctor. She was now blushing profusely at all the attention. "You really don't have a life, do you?" He laughed, and the doctor narrowed her eyes playfully.

Caitlin placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Go back to bed, Barry. You're healing has been slowed from the cuff. You need the rest."

Barry shook his head immediately. "No. No, I need to see Iris."

"That is definitely not going to happen." The voice from the cortex drew the three friend's attention in that direction. Joe was standing there, arms crossed. He closed the distance between them, stopping on the right of Barry's bed. "Good to see you awake, Bear."

The speedster nodded, then furrowed his eyebrows. Joe continued before Barry could ask any questions.

"How suspicious is it going to look if you show up right after The Flash returns?"

Realization dawned in Barry's eyes, and Cisco and Caitlin suddenly looked nervous. The engineer had occupied himself with fiddling with a syringe, which Caitlin snatched from his hands almost immediately, she herself then awkwardly stood to the side of the room.

"The Flash hasn't just been missing-" Barry started.

Joe sighed, and finished for him, "-so has Barry Allen."

"Shit," he muttered, and ran a hand through his hair. "She must be worried."

Joe cocked his head from side to side, then nodded slowly. "That's an understatement. She's been freaked all week. Iris never mentioned it to The Flash while you two were...you know?"

Barry furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, then swiped a hand down his face. "Yeah, you know what, she did. Must have...slipped my mind. So, what's the game plan? Stage a kidnapping for me?"

Cisco stepped forward then, interrupting whatever Joe was about to say. "Why not just show up? Say...I don't know...you were working some stuff out?"

"Iris did think you were just upset with her? Maybe you can say you were just...I don't know...staying with Cisco to try and figure some stuff out?"

Barry cringed. "How am I supposed to get away with not calling you guys? If I had done that, don't you think I'd let you two know?"

Caitlin shrugged. "Doing a walkabout? Trying to clear your head, figure things out with yourself? You generally go in areas with zero cell service on those things, right?"

Barry nodded thoughtfully, and Joe sighed. "We'll figure out the details tomorrow. I'm exhausted."

The detective smiled and patted the speedster's cheek. "Glad you're okay."

-ooo-

Iris stood up from her laptop, getting ready to take a break from all of the research she had been doing over the past day and a half. Really, she didn't have much to go off of. The only evidence on where Barry could possibly be included an inconclusive blood sample that a CSI had ran and possible security footage of the direction Barry went in when he left the precinct.

She needed help.

And she knew who to go to.

-ooo-

"Barry! Dude, you overshot it by six blocks. That's so five months ago!" Cisco earned a glare from Caitlin at his remark. Apparently humor wasn't allowed when Barry was heading into possible danger. And really, a robbery wasn't exactly danger for The Flash, considering.

"Sorry, kind of excited to be back on my feet."

Caitlin leaned forward into the mic. "That's okay, just be careful."

"I think I'm good, Cait. This guy's got nothing against The-WHOA! Holy shit!"

"Barry? Talk to us, what's going on."

The speedsters breathing suddenly quickened. "Okay...I take back what I said. This guy's a meta."

Cisco leaned back in his chair, exasperated. "Great. We can't just have a normal-"

"Guys?"

Cisco and Caitlin spun around in their chair, the engineer slamming his hand onto the keyboard, praying he pressed the button that would shut down the electronics system. He suddenly thanked his laziness for keeping that feature in, even after Caitlin became more okay with the idea of the two pairing up to help with petty crimes in secret. There was a click of static that said the screens shut off, and he let out a breath of relief.

Caitlin jumped to her feet, sending Cisco a panicked glance before addressing the woman in front of her. "Iris! What are you doing here?"

The reporter slung her purse over her shoulder and took in a deep breath. "I need your help."

And suddenly Cisco remembered the last time he had to shut everything down when Caitlin walked in, sometime around their second week. The screens may have shut off, but the comms didn't. It's what gave him away then. He scooted his chair subtly towards the microphone and prayed whatever trouble Barry was in, he wouldn't be yelling for their help in the next minute or so.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me, I know my updates have been a little sporadic, but I'll try to get back on track, so *raises wine glass* here's to hoping!