Being alone with Iris in her hotel room her was akin to lighting a fuse, but expecting no sparks to fly. Considering everything that had happened over the last few days, Barry hadn't known whether those sparks would be angry or amorous in nature. Of course, they had been a mixture of both, which shouldn't have surprised him, but somehow did.

The fire that had always burned within Iris had grown exponentially during her time away. Trying to pry information out her was hellishly arduous. She'd evolved into this flawed and complicated woman, who worked on his nerves like she never had before, which said a lot, considering that he lived with her during her moody, teenage phase. But there was a tradeoff, an upside to that stubborn passion, and he was experiencing it, live and in color, as she loved on him just as intensely as she'd she'd fought him just a few hours before.

Engrossed in their needy kisses, he knows he should have never come up to her hotel room, never asked to stay. Now that he was here, though, he hadn't the willpower to leave, to stop kissing her, and definitely not to stop touching her as she sat atop him, ready to let him devour her and to do the same to him in return. He broke their kiss just to take in her beauty and the look on her face, because ten or fifteen years from now, no matter what happened after this moment, he wanted this time with her etched into his memories.

A harsh look of offense followed when he pulled away from her. Iris didn't speak, but her eyes said every bit of, "No. Don't ruin this. Just kiss me." Before he could respond, verbally or otherwise, her hands were back in his hair, and her tongue was again making the plunge inside of his mouth, just as his own hands grew restless. First, they went for her thick, brown thighs, which were playing peek-a-boo underneath the blue, wrap dress she was wearing. She had always been curvy, but with age had come weight, distributed in all of the right places, that made her body absolutely sinful these days.

Despite his outward calmness, inside, Barry was still a little nervous. At 31, he was well versed in the ways of sex. It had taken him longer than most to grow out of that awkward adolescent thing that had survived well past his college years, but eventually, with time and experience, he'd grown confident in his ability to please a woman and to be vocal about what he wanted in return.

But this was Iris, the one woman in the world who had a death grip on his heart. All she had to do was squeeze it with enough pressure, and he would have dropped dead onto the floor. It was only a miracle that he'd survived her wedding, five years ago, or what she hadn't known would be their last official time hanging out as friends, a year later. Heaven only knew if he could survive having sex with her in this emotional, morally bereft, lust driven state, but damn it, if he wasn't going to go for it.

God knows she seemed to be more than ready by the way her hips undulated on his lap, her womanhood, pressed right against the bulge in between his legs. It took everything in him not to groan into her mouth, as their tongues continued to do a forbidden dance. His hands rose to from her thighs to her ass, first gently, then with more force, kneading at that the fullness of it. All he could think about was wanting to feel all of it it, without the barrier of her thong, and what lay underneath it.

Not wanting to take things too fast, but unable to resist, his hands slid from her ass to her front, his thumbs slipping underneath the seat of her thong. He wasn't sure what to expect, but Iris grabbing his hands, and saying, "Barr. No," wasn't it.

"No?" He asked.

"No." She shook her head. "I want you, God knows I want you," she said, glancing down at his lust-ridden eyes, and exposed chest, "but I'm not ready for this yet," she continued, forcing herself away from his hopeful, hypnotizing gaze. "And I don't think you are either," she added, alluding once again to that elephant that continued to follow them around, alluding to Patty-his wife.

He sighed, sitting up, his motion, nearly causing her to fall over out of his lap. It prompted her to grab onto his shoulders to steady herself, but she made no effort to crawl off of him completely. He couldn't help but smile, figuring that she was becoming acquainted with touching him, and didn't want to let him go. But she didn't return his smile. Instead, she pouted and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Have you changed your mind about us?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I just don't want our first time to be like this. While we're."

"While we're both still married."

"Are you mad?"

"Yes," he said, bluntly.

She swallowed. "Well, I'm sorry."

"Not because you're not ready, Iris. I'd wait forever for you if I had to. I'm mad because you kept you how felt about me. But more than anything, I'm mad at myself for doing the same, and that I now have to hurt the woman I love, for the love of my life."

Iris looked down at him with a stoic gleam in her eyes, like hearing him say the words "the woman I love" hadn't stung, even though Barry knew they had. And he knew because they'd hurt him to say. Neither of those things changed the fact that they were the truth. He loved Patty, dearly. She'd been a beacon of light for him when he was in a dark place, trying to reconcile his feelings about Iris, and even Joe, after he and Cecile got married and started their own little family.

With each passing year, Barry felt like he was losing more and more of who he was. His life was nearly unrecognizable by the time he met Patty. WIth Iris gone, and Cisco in a serious relationship with Gypsy, Patty helped him have something–a relationship–that he could call his own. As their relationship progressed, he'd convinced himself that he could get over how he felt about Iris, and spend the rest of his life with her. But after being back around Iris, all of one day, and feeling, touching, and smelling what wholeness felt like, Barry knew that he couldn't go back to feeling half-live.

"What?" Barry asked when he noticed Iris's lethargic expression had transformed into worry, which she made no effort to hide. "We've come too far for you to hide things from me now," he coaxed her, pushing her hair out of her beautiful face. "Talk to me."

Iris's bottom lip was swept up in her teeth, and he could see she was teetering on the line between continuing to be withholding and finally, completely opening up to him. She wasn't always this difficult to read, so he figured these newly found walls she had up were a side effect of being married to Scott—that fucking bastard. "You can talk to me, Iris," he said again. If this was going to work, she was eventually going to have to trust him. "What's on your mind."

"Okay," she said, releasing a harsh breath. "I just. Patty is a great woman, who you love. I just wanna know. Are you absolutely sure this is what you want? That…I'm."

"Yes, Iris," he said, cutting her off before she could finish her sentence. "I've never been surer of anything in the world."

"Really, Barry? I'm not exactly the girl you grew up with anymore. I've changed a great deal over the past five years."

"Tell me about it," he said, rolling his eyes in jest. "But you're still the love of my life."

A wide smile spread across her face, as tears filled her eyes.

"Well then, Mr. Allen, we're on the same accord."

"Finally."

"Which means we don't have to rush into sex."

"No…we don't," he said, trying to match her energy, which would have been easy if she wasn't still sitting on his manhood, looking like a dream.

Iris laughed. "God, you're so cute."

"But seriously," he said, smiling, "I don't mind waiting."

"Good."

"So what now, Ms. 'I-have-all-the-answers."

"Now? We order that room service you wanted, you must be starving."

"Yeah," he said, nodding, "but not for food."

Iris blushed, covering her face with her hands, and he smiled. And she smiled then looked away, and he kissed her again because this was all new and amazing, and they'd both been talking for way too long, about obstacles neither wanted to deal with at the moment. The past five years had been about all of the reasons they couldn't be together. Tonight would be about why they could.

"Barry," she said, pushing him away from her with firm hand to his chest. "Come on, babe."

"Alright. alright. I'm sorry," he said, unable to contain his grin. "I just can't help myself when I'm around you."

"Don't be sorry, babe. Trust, me I understand," she said, finally climbing off of his lap. She smoothed her hand down her dress, and settled on the bed next to him. "Which is why we needn't tempt ourselves."

Barry chuckled. "You're right, you're always right."

"Aren't I," she laughed, before letting her weight fall backward onto her bed, and pressing her eyes shut. For the first time that night, Iris seemed to feel the effects of a full day of shopping, professions of love, and lots and lots of kissing.

"I think I'm gonna take a bit of a nap before room service gets here," she said, yawning. Barry followed her on the way down and snuggled up against her. She smiled when he felt his strong arm wrap around her waist, then rested her hand on top of his.

"Okay. And then?"

"And then, you get back to my dad's house. Because I do not feel like explaining to him why you never came home from my hotel room."

"Oh, right."

"And after that," Iris added, slowly turning over so that they were face to face. "You go back home, figure out what the next step is for you. And Patty. This isn't an ideal situation, and I know this won't be easy for you, Barry."

"No, it won't," he said, sadly. "I don't want to hurt her. But hurting you isn't an option."

"Don't worry about me right now," she said, smiling gently. "I want you to take your time. You've waited for me my entire life; it's my turn to wait for you. Okay?

"You'd do that for me?" He asked, genuinely touched.

"I'd do absolutely anything for you, Barry Allen. She continued, quickly, "Except have sex with you tonight," when she saw a hint of that lustful glint in his eye.

He laughed. "I got it.'

"I know, babe," she said, swiping a thumb over his cheek.

"So, what does all of this mean for you and Scott?"

"Scott is not a factor–at all–you are the only man that I love, and want to be with." She ran a hand through his hair and kissed his cheek.

Barry smiled, knowing there would come a day when he'd get used to hearing her say these words, but hoping that it didn't come anytime soon. He wanted to bask in the newness of it all for as long as possible.

"I love you too."

It was right after 4 Am when Barry entered the West Home. He and Iris had made good on their decision to abstain from sexual intercourse, but after they ate dinner, it was no time before they were again making out. An innocent peck on the lips had led to grazing fingers and nipping lips, then deeper, more intimate touching that eventually ignited sounds out of Iris, he'd heard only in his dreams. Forcing himself away from her had been damn near impossible, but eventually, his legs started to cooperate with the logical part of his brain that told him he needed to get the Hell away from her before they crossed another, even bigger line.

Barry gently eased the front door open, walked inside, and wiggled his key out of the lock. Patty may have been gone back to Romanville, but Joe West, prying ass detective extraordinaire, was right upstairs.

Barry was a walking, talking mess of emotions right now, and there was no way in Hell he'd be able to skirt Joe's intrusive questions.

At the staircase, Barry started to ascend the stairs, ready to make love to his bed for the night.

"That you, Barry?"

Fuck. "Yeah," he said turning towards the voice of Joe, who was walking out of the kitchen with a sandwich on a plate.

"You're getting home pretty late, there huh?"

"Yeah, well. Iris-uh, had a lot of errands to run. And it got late, so we just. Stayed in her room."

"Together?" Joe asked, brow raised, as he walked over to where Barry was stood.

"Um, yeah," Barry said, running a hand through his hair.

Joe let out a deep, guttural laugh. "That's great. Really great."

"Really? Why?"

"You two been acting so weird, it's just nice that you were able to spend a little time together."

"O-oh. Right," Barry said relieved. "Well, you know. Things get weird when you spend so much time apart."

"Indeed. Which is why both of you should come home more often."

"Right. Well, I have a feeling that you may eventually get what you want, old man."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Well, you know. We had a talk about…uh-stuff. And, you know, we both agreed that we don't come home enough," he said.

"Hmm. Did you now?" Joe asked, voice stern. "Well, I hope you two make good on it." He placed a loving hand on Barry's shoulder. "I really miss my kids."

Barry smiled, weakly, happy that the lie he'd pulled out of his ass seemed to suffice. "We will try. I mean, I will try. I can't control what Iris does," he added quickly, "but she did seem to be receptive."

"Let's hope," Joe said, passing Barry to ascend the stairs. "Oh and Barry?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful. Trouble brews at this hour of the night. Trouble, that not even a Speedster can run from," he added, before disappearing up the stairs.