Because there's nothing Barry won't do for Iris, a little bit of fluff from their childhood.

(My heartfelt thanks to BlackBellaDanna for her quick review and edit of this chapter! Thanks for being so gracious with your time and assistance!)

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Barry Allen loved Iris West before he knew what love was.

He loved everything about her. He loved the way she ate dinner, one item on her plate at a time. He loved how she sang in the car, loud and off-key, when her favorite song came on the radio. He loved the way her eyelashes curved at the ends and how when she laughed, her eyes smiled before her lips did. He loved the way the entire house smelled of the apple-scented lotion she used when she got out of the shower.

He especially loved that she was just, so pretty, inside and out.

He found her endlessly fascinating and watched her so closely that Joe's concerned-father radar went off . . . for all of about 24-hours until he realized that Barry's adoration of his daughter was innocent and heartfelt, and meant his baby girl had one more champion ready to slay dragons for her.

And Barry was ready, no matter what kind of dragon he had to take on. So when he heard a frustrated growl coming from the living room on his way downstairs one Saturday morning, he immediately detoured in that direction. Breakfast could wait.

He found Iris sitting at the computer, the big, clunky desktop that took up most of the surface of an equally big clunky desk that Joe had deliberately placed in front of the center window, right out in the open. Joe reasoned that if his kids were going to be playing around on that new "internet" thing, he was going to be able to see what they were up to.

Only, Iris didn't look like she was playing or if she was, she didn't seem to be having much fun. She was still in her pajamas and robe, with the bright green fuzzy slippers he'd given her for Christmas kicked haphazardly aside. On the monitor, small, somewhat blurry images of intricate hairstyles featuring braids and twists scrolled past; judging by the way her hair stuck out at wild angles, not to mention the assortment of styling tools and products scattered across the desk beside her she was attempting to recreate one of those hairstyles, and failing miserably.

Looking at all the hair stuff, Barry was almost afraid to speak up. "Iris? What are you doing?"

Her hands slammed down on the keyboard. "I'm trying to do my hair! These are supposed to be easy!" The screen flew by as she scrolled back to the top. "Look! See right there? It says, Easy Styles! Easy!"

They didn't look easy to him.

"Why don't you print out what you want and take it to that place you go to with Officer Morris? I bet they could do it." He didn't know much about the mysterious beauty salon she sometimes disappeared to, but it seemed to him the perfect solution. Every couple of weeks, one of the women in Joe's squad would pick her up on Saturday morning and even though she was gone for hours, she seemed to enjoy whatever they did there and somehow always came home looking more beautiful than she left.

"I wanted to do it myself." She hunched inward, her head bowed low. The pose, and the uneven bunches she'd gathered her hair into, left the nape of her neck exposed. Barry found himself unable to look away from that small, vulnerable patch of soft brown skin. "If my mom were still alive . . ."

He wasn't prepared for the little sniff she gave, but the sound immediately straightened his spine. He spoke before he even knew what he was going to say.

"Don't cry, I'll help you."

"You're going to help me with my hair?"

Iris looked at him over her shoulder. Her gaze was skeptical but her eyes were damp and that sparkle of tears strengthened Barry's resolve. The 12-year-old's narrow shoulders squared.

"Why not? It's just geometry."

Outrage replaced skepticism. "You think my hair's a math problem?"

"No." He automatically took a step back, then shrugged and stepped up beside her to point at the hairstyle in the middle of the computer screen. "Well, yea, kind of. I mean, look at that one. See how it's divided into quadrants? Then it looks like all you have to do is braid it so -"

"Those are twists, not braids." Iris made the correction as if she expected him to understand.

He didn't.

"What's the difference?" When she just sighed, he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Just tell me what to do. I can figure it out." When she still seemed uncertain he held up his hands. "Four hands are better than two, right?"

Biting her lip, Iris considered him thoughtfully.

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Two hours later, the front door opened. Joe dropped his keys into the ceramic bowl on the table just inside the foyer.

"Hey, I'm home. Where are -"

He came to a dead stop. Barry was on the couch with Iris on the floor in front of him, sitting between his knees. Paper was scattered all over the sofa and the coffee table, pages and pages printed from the computer with pictures and instructions for a variety of braided hairstyles, along with two wide-tooth combs, coconut oil, hair ties and a small spray bottle. Iris held an oversized mirror in one hand while behind her, Barry held another, angled so that the back of her head was reflected in the other mirror.

"How about that? Is that straight enough?" His voice was muffled by the end of a large clip he'd stuck in his mouth.

Before Iris could answer, Joe interrupted.

"What is going on here?"

Neither child looked back at him. Instead, Barry tilted the mirror a shade to the right and released the clip in his mouth.

"I'm helping Iris with her hair," he said.

"You're helping I-" Joe's chin dropped. Stunned into silence he simply watched the two of them for a few minutes until, following more instructions from Iris, Barry dropped the mirror, removed a clip from another section of hair and picked up the spray bottle.

"Two squirts, right?"

"Yep!"

Joe shook his head and backed away, leaving the two of them alone.

"Helping Iris with her hair. Oh, that boy's got it bad," he muttered, as he headed upstairs. "That boy's got it real bad."

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I thought Barry could use a little practice before Dawn arrived. :-D

Thanks again to BlackBellaDanna for taking the time to look this over for me. Your advice and suggestions were excellent and very much appreciated!

Thanks for reading!