Barry Allen was working at Sweet Justice as usual. He had two hours more in his turn and he was becoming anxious.

He had offered to walk Barbara home that night after her turn at the Burrito Bucket as Commisioner Gordon had something to tend to and was working late as usual.

Why had he done that? He didn't know.

Babs was more than capable to take care for herself but he had wanted to spend more time with her.

After the Valentines disaster they hadn't talked much, Babs was very occupied trying to discover Harley Quinn's secret identity, especially since the villain had shot her father a few weeks ago.

For a reason he felt that they have been overlooking something obvious.

Anyway he looked at the clock, one hour and fifty one minutes.

He looked around and the café was almost empty; there was only a couple by the corner, an old lady with her grandchild and finally there were Hal and some redheaded girl, a girl that looked a bit too much like Babs.

(He pretended not to notice that she noticed that he was looking at her)

He sometimes wondered why did his best friend (well one of them) dated a different girl every week if he was in love with Jessica.

He hated when people didn't come clear with their feelings.

Barry snorted while cleaning the counter, he wasn't clear with his feelings towards Babs either, he had tried to but since Leslie had turned off the lights...well it was a sign that it wasn't a good idea to tell her yet.

Or ever...

He shouldn't do it while she had feelings for other person, it would confuse her as he now knew that she had some feelings for him too.

He continued his cleaning until Hal came to pay the check and said "I think that it's already clean"

"Sorry, I was just thinking" He said sheepishly and then asked pointing at the redheaded girl who was waiting for Hal at the door "Who's her?"

"My best friend from Coast City, she is also my uncle"s ward, well one of thwm" He said shrugging and then asked with a smile "Thought that it was a date?"

"You usually bring your dates here" Barry shrugged "Also she is quite pretty"

"I didn't notice" His friends said and asked surprised"Are you checking out a girl that is not Gordon?"

"I wasn't checking her out" He defended himself "I was just pointing a fact"

Hal laughed and paid for their ice creams, he was about to turn when he said "You should tell Gordon about how you feel, if not she will fall for someone else"

Then he left and Barry snorted again thinking "The pot calling the kettle black"

He looked at the clock again and he had thirty minutes left. He sighed and waited for the other costumers to leave.

Then Babs entered Sweet Justice having just finished her turn and greeted him with a smile that made him feel warm "Hi Barry"

"Hi Babs" He said with a smile too.

"When do you finish your turn?"

"Half an hour"

"I'll wait then"

He passed her a "Candy Cake Triple Ripple Tower with the rainbow sprinkles" and said "I invite"

Her face lit up and said exictedly "Thank you!"

Then the couple left after paying their check and the old lady said while searching for her money "You are a good-looking couple"

Babs choked and said "We are just friends"

"Best friends" Barry said quickly.

The old lady just smiled and paid while her grandson said "Your girlfriend is pretty"

Barry blushed and hoped that Babs wouldn't notice, at the same time Babs blushed too and hid her face behind her cake.

His turn finally ended and he closed the café before putting away his apron in his locker, Mr. and trusted him enough to give him the keys to Sweet Justice si he was the one to usually closing.

They started their walk to Babs house in silence and with a little awkwardness between them. He got tired of the silence and asked "How have you been? Any leads to find "you-know-who" real name?"

"No, I haven't find anything about her" She sighed "It's a hard investigation"

"Hmm" He said.

"And... how are you?"

"I'm good...I don't have much time to hang out you know? We had the finals soon and I have been studying a lot"

"Yeah, me too" She said and then added "But you can read really fast, you should have more time four yourself"

"Yes, but I can also forget the things I read really fast...especially when studying for some reason"

"Oh"

They were silent again and she asked "Why did you accept to walk me to my house? You know I could walk alone...I can handle anything..." Then she whispered to his ear "I'm Batgirl"

"Your dad doesn't know that" He pointed out "And he is worried since that time some thugs were around...he wants you to be safe"

Babs rolled her eyes "Sometimes he is too overprotective"

"He is a dad"

"I know" She laughed lightly "Yours are not that bad"

"They don't want me near a lab outside school" He said " I already told you about the accident at STAR LABS and that I had been in a coma"

"Oh, right" She muttered.

They continued their walk in silence and they arrived at Babs' house a few minutes later, the lights were off so her parents had not yet arrived and so she said "I could have gone on patrol before coming"

"Yeah, but if you had not arrived before your dad he would have killed me"

"Don't be so dramatic" She nudged his arm "He would have just freaked out and called me to ask where did I go"

"And he would have hated me for not keeping my word"

She laughed a bit and said "Good night Barry, maybe I investigate more if I don't go patrolling tonight"

"Good night Babs" He said and turned his back, he was about to run to his house but Babs said "Barry...wait...I have been meaning to ask...what did you wanted to tell me at the dance?"

The blonde boy didn't turn to see her because he felt that his face became hot and so he said "It was nothing important"

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah...I don't remember what it was"

"Okay, then"

He heard her opening her door and he said turning to her "Wait...I want to ask you..."

"Yes?"

"If you want to hang out sometime after the finals"

"Yeah, it would be good, maybe we can ask the others if they want to join!" She said excitedly while Barry grimaced a little.

"I'm sure they would like to" He managed to say but then he had a surge of confidence and started to say "But I mean if you want to hang out..."

Then Harleen appeared out of nowhere in the sidewalk and said "Babsy-wabsy!"

"Leeny-Beenie!" The redheaded girl said excitedly passing by Barry's side and hugging her GBFF.

"Oh, hi Barry" Harleen said after being released from Babs' hug "Haven't see you in a while"

"Hi Harleen" He said and added "You haven't dropped by Sweet Justice in a while"

"We may hang out there after the finals" She said putting an arm around Babs "I haven't seen her in a while either and I have truly missed her"

"Hmm"

"Anyway, don't you have somewhere to go?" Harleen asked with a smile but with some urgency in her tone as if she didn't want him there.

"Oh, yeah, I gotta get home before my parents freak out" He said "Bye girls"

"Bye Barry" Babs said without looking at him as she was walking towards her door with Harleen.

Then he walked at a normal pace before running to his home. He took thirty seconds to arrive to his house, it was the double of the usual.

His dad was already sleep when he arrived as he always did when he worked late, but his mom was still awake and was waiting for him at the living room so he tried to sneak in the house through the kitchen's door and so he entered the kitchen trying to not make a sound.

Still his mom caught him and asked a bit angry "Where were you?"

"I walked Barbara home before coming, she works in the Burrito Bucket two streets down Sweet Justice"

"Oh" She said "How's her?"

"Good" He simply said.

"Next time you should call before going other places after work, God know what could happen to you even with those superheroes around"

"I'll call" He said "The heroes keep the city safer than before"

His mom nodded and said "Maybe I should invite Barbara to dinner sometime"

Barry stopped on his tracks and asked "Why?"

"You two seem close, I want to get to know her better…should you both become a couple in the future"

The blonde boy blushed "We are just friends…"

"Hmm" She said "Anyway, it would be good that I get to know your friends, especially the new ones"

"Okay…"

"Now go to sleep, you'll need it since tomorrow you have the morning shift"

"Goodnight mom"

"Goodnight Barry"

He changed his clothes and got in bed but he couldn't sleep, he was thinking about his feelings for Babs.

He thought that maybe he should forget about his romantic feelings and accept that they would be just friends. Or try to make her fall in love with him…

She already liked him but she also liked Harleen the same way.

Barry then shook his head and tried to sleep, he would think about it tomorrow.