First of all, I'm sorry I didn't update within the time frame I set in the last chapter.
I didn't really know how to write this part, also there is a heatwave and I've been lying outside in the sun the last few days.
1 year later
Wally looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
Lia sighed.
She had seemed kind of since she got out of his house.
"It's … nothing..." She said as they walked through the school gate.
Wally gave her a look and she sighed again.
"My dad is moving back in."
Wally continued giving her a funny look. "But didn't he leave.
Lia shrugged, defeated. "Well, he's back now."
Wally gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as they entered the middle school building.
He was sad for her, but also partway curious about her dad, he had never seen him.
Lia smiled at him. "So, should we celebrate that we finally reached middle school, when we get home? I'm sure mom still have some ice cream left."
Wally made a face. "I … have to go to my aunt's house after school."
Lia gave him a skeptic look. "Why?"
"Both mom and dad were called to work the night shift." He said. "And Barry is picking me up."
Lia tried to hide a smile. "My sympathies … so, we'll celebrate tomorrow?"
Wally returned her smile. "You bet." Then he suddenly stopped and looked around the hallway, then turned to Lia. "Do you have any idea where we're supposed to go?"
Wally helped his aunt put the dishes from the dishwasher away.
"That's the last of the chores," his aunt said with a smile and wiped her hands against each other in a swift motion, making a clapping sound. "Do you want a snack, before Barry gets home?"
Wally nodded enthusiastically.
Her smile got wider, as she got up some cookies.
"Now, don't eat all of them, save some for your uncle." She said and turned away towards the fridge.
The cookie halfway in Wally's mouth broke in half at the word: uncle.
Aunt Iris turned back around with a milk carton and saw the 11-year-old's less than impressed expression.
Instead of getting angry, like his parents did when he showed his dislike for uncle Barry, she shook her hand and laughed. "I swear, you're only doing this out of spite."
Wally didn't say anything but put the rest of the cookie in his mouth and gave his aunt a look.
"He's not so bad..." She said still with a smile. "If you get to know him, you'll..." her cellphone rang.
"Sorry, got to take this," she said and walked into the living room.
Wally followed her.
"Yes … yes…" She said into the phone then froze. "Really?" She took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then glanced at Wally. "I'm sorry, but I'm watching my nephew right now, you'll have to send someone else. She then glanced at a pile of papers on the coffee table.
"Wait a moment," she said and took the phone away from her ear. "Wally, can you put these papers in Barry's office? It's at the top of the stairs."
Wally nodded and took the papers from the coffee table and went up the stairs.
The papers were on forensics, blood droplets, knife marks, and molecule composition of different materials.
What did Barry need these for?
He went into the small office and put the papers down on the desk, then something caught his eye.
An odd silver ring was just lying on the desk. He picked it up and looked at it, curious.
There was a small button on it. He pushed it and the top of the ring popped open and air was pushed up into his face from the ring.
He stumbled backward in surprise and slammed against a closet. The closet swayed backward, as Wally bounced off it and landed on the floor.
The closet swayed back into place and the door popped open, spilling papers onto the floor and Wally.
"That's great," Wally and started shaking the papers off of himself.
He picked up an opened notebook with some odd drawings in it.
Intrigued he flipped through some of the papers, but then stopped at one of the pages. Super speed?
He flipped through some more pages.
This … couldn't...?!
"Wally?" His aunt called as she came up the stairs. "I heard a bang, are you okay?"
He just stared at the book in disbelief.
Barry was...
Two weeks later
Lia slammed her locker shut and went to find Wally, with very bad luck, they had gotten lockers in different hallways.
"Hey Lia," a girl from one of the class called out to her and walked up to her and followed her down the hall.
"Hey," she smiled back, trying to remember what her name was.
"Where are you going?" The girl asked.
"Oh, just finding Wally, so we can go home."
The other girl sighed. "It's must be nice to have a boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Lia was confused for a moment, whether the girl had started talking about something else.
"Wally," The girl smiled at her coyly. "You hold hands, you're always together, it's just so romantic."
Lia blushed slightly at what the girl said. They did sound like a couple … when she said it like that.
Before she could continue Wally came into view.
"Hey," He said when the reached them and locked hands with Lia out of habit.
The girl smiled knowingly at Lia. "Don't let me interrupt you two." Then she kept walking down the hall with a smile on her face.
Wally looked at Lia with a raised eyebrow. "What was that about?"
"Oh, you know," Lia said as they walked towards the exit. "The whole, they think we're a couple thing."
"Oh, that," Wally said with a smile.
Lia glanced at him, as they walked outside. "It doesn't bother you?"
"No, of course not." He said smiling at her and shaking his head.
Lia blushed and felt her heart beat a little faster than normal.
"After all, we know that we're just friends, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks."
Three weeks later
"So ... are you gonna tell me what's wrong?" Wally asked on their way home.
Lia sighed. "Dad's still there, I keep hoping he'll leave again, but he … doesn't..."
Wally gave her a look. "Is your dad really that bad?"
Lia gave him an odd look. "He wasn't always, but … in the beginning he played with me a lot, but it wasn't always..."
She shook her head. She couldn't tell him, He had told her not too if she knew what was good for her.
"Can I come over for dinner?" She asked instead.
Wally fidgeted. "It's not good today, aunt Iris and uncle Barry are coming over."
"Uncle?" Lia said in shock.
She'd never heard Wally talk about the blond man like that. As far as she knew, Wally didn't even like the man, so why...?
They reached their houses.
"See you tomorrow?" Wally asked.
Still confused, she smiled and nodded. "Yes."
Wally smiled and squeezed her hand before he went towards his house.
She smiled as she walked inside. She didn't understand Wally at the moment, it was weird that he was suddenly friendly with Uncle Barry, but she could still feel where he had squeezed her hand.
He closed the door behind him silently.
He didn't want anyone to know he was angry, he just wanted to be alone for a bit.
Since he had found out, Barry had revealed that he was the Flash to the rest of the family. But his uncle had refused to tell him more about the experiment. When he had asked him time and time again, Barry had told him that he didn't need a sidekick.
He punched the air.
It made Wally angry for two reasons. One: Why couldn't he be a sidekick? Batman's Robin couldn't be older than Wally. And Two: Why did he assume that that was the reason why he wanted to know more about the experiment.
He had finally found something interesting he could share with Lea and Hiro, maybe it could help him cure deceases or something like that.
He smiled out into the night air, taking a few steps into the backyard.
Not that it mattered too much since he had taken the notebook with the description of the experiment from the closet in his uncle's office on another visit to his aunt and uncle's house.
"Ouch," he suddenly heard from over the fence. He stopped for a second.
The sound came again, and again, until it escalated to: "That's hurt."
It was Lia.
He peered over the fence.
It was dark, but he could make out two people standing in the dark backyard.
"Deal with it, it'll hurt a lot more in the future." A male voice said.
There was a clanking sound.
"How encouraging." Lia's voice sounded spiteful. "Why are we doing this."
"Your mother isn't giving me more children, so I have to make do with you."
Another clanking sound. Something hit hard against the fence, right where he was standing.
"And what if I don't want to?" Lia's voice came closer.
He dug down.
She picked something up but didn't move for a few seconds.
Suddenly the man laughed. "You don't have a choice..."
Wally swallowed and slowly made his way back to the door when Lia had walked away again.
He was pretty sure, he'd just seen Lia's father for the first time.
Two weeks later.
"What are you looking at?" Lia asked as she sat down at the lunch table.
"Look," he said excited and showed her his notebook.
The formulas were complex and didn't make sense, but as far as she understood, it was to create a serum that would increase the body's regenerative abilities.
"Wow, when do we start?" She asked excited.
Wally scratched his hair. "I'm … gonna do it … by myself..." he said slowly.
"What?" Lia asked in disbelief. "But I've always helped you with your experiments, ever since the crayon house."
"Yeah, I..." Wally stopped as Lia gave him the notebook back and winch in pain. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, " She said through gritted teeth and put a hand on her own arm. "I just..." She had to find a reason... "I just had to help my dad with something."
Wally gave her a look that told her, he didn't believe her. "Lia, does he … hit you?"
Lia froze for a second. She could see the concern in his eyes.
She smiled and shook her head. "If he ever did, I'll hit him back."
Wally smiled, knowing she probably would. He also remembered that he had seen her and her dad, or he thought it was her dad at least, fighting in the backyard. There was something more to this.
"Anyway, why do you want to do this alone?" She asked and nodded to the notebook.
"It's very dangerous, there's been made an attempt before that coursed an explosion."
"Sound cool," Lia said excited.
"Yes..." Wally drew out the word. "But I'd rather have a good result. so I'm trying it on a smaller scale."
He slit his hand across the table and squeezed her hand.
"I promise, I'll share the results as soon as I get them. Okay?"
Lia nodded.
"So, when do you begin?" She asked.
Wally smiled sheepishly. "I began last week I've completely taken over the garage."
Lia smiled grew wider. Of course, he had. Wally never waited to start an experiment.
Then the bell rang.
"You know," Wally said as they got up and put the lunch trays away. "I feel like I was saved by the bell."
Lia just laughed.
Three weeks later
"I swear, Barry the kid has just completely taken over the garage. I'm not allow to step foot in it."
"Oh, the silent Rudy." His wife said as she served Iris some tea. "He's just excited."
"What's he working on?" Iris asked and sipped the tea.
"He didn't, but something big, he doesn't even have Lia working with him."
"Ah, they are so cute together." Iris sighed.
"Aren't they?" Mary agreed.
"But considering how smart he is, it's got to be something revolutionary." Barry said.
"Ah, yes." Mary sigh. "Though sometimes it's difficult to deal with an 11-year-old that smarter than you, but we manage." She finished with a smile.
"I'd would be easier, if we put him in some advanced classes..." her husband said.
"Rudy." Mary warned him.
There was a slight buzzing sound.
"What's that?" Barry asked.
"Sounds like the garage door opening," Mary said and stood up from her chair. "Maybe he's finished."
All four adults went out into the front yard, just as Lia came walking up the sidewalk.
The garage door opened fully. Wally was standing inside with his back to the door.
Lia smiled as she walked towards the garage. The adults watched him from afar.
"Wally," Lia called excited.
Wally turned around at his name, holding something in his hand.
Barry recognized it.
"Wally!" He yelled out, but before he could even take a step, it exploded.
One month later
"So … math homework," Lia said, as they walked out of school, their hands locked together like always.
"My place?" he said.
"Fine by me," Lia said.
It had been a little over a week since he'd come back to school after the explosion, and everything had gone back to normal. Though there was something different about him about him. He was the same jokingly, funny and smart Wally, but he seemed even smarter than before. And the way he moved … sometimes he did things in half the time others did and he would sometimes catch thing before they even fell of his desk. It was like the explosion changed him.
Another change had been, that they hadn't really played together after school the entire week.
Then Wally stopped as they reached the gate.
Lia looked up and hid her frown.
"Uncle Barry," Wally called out to the blond man, who looked over the sea of middle schooler, clearly looking for him.
He let go of Lia's hand and ran towards him.
The way he ran, after the explosion … it also looked odd...
"Did your boyfriend just ditch you for his uncle?"
Lia glanced at the girl standing beside her. It was the same girl as that other time. What was her name again? Nina? … Lisa? … Maya?
She didn't answered but watched Wally and his uncle.
They talked, then Wally glanced at her and ran back to her.
"I'm sorry, something came up." He said as he reached her. "I have to go, sorry."
"It's fine," Lia said stiffly.
Wally gave her a strange smile, she wasn't sure what meant.
"Meet you by the bench?" He asked with that smile.
She smiled. "Meet you by the bench." She promised.
Wally disappeared into the crowd of middle schoolers and parents outside the gate.
The girl beside her sighed. "That was so romantic."
Lia ignored the other girl and smiled as she walked out of the gate.
No matter how Wally changed, nothing had changed between the two of them. For better or worse.
Please tell me what you think :)
I hope it was worth the wait.
I don't want this A/N to get too long, but just got around to reading your reviews, and they are so sweet :D
If there is something wrong with the way I have described the school system please let me know, tell me and I'll fix it :)
And I'm glad to see you are enjoying it SuperFlashman'z :)
To be on the safe side, the next update will come out before the end of the month.
