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"I'm gonna do one more sweep and call it a night."

"Okay." Cisco told his friend. "And this time you better call it a night for real."

"I'm going home after this," Barry said, laughing. "I promise."

He went by Linear street, 42nd and 9th and was about to head off towards the train station – there had been a number of cases of people almost falling onto the tracks recently – when he heard the gunshots. He stopped and looked up.

The shots had come from the Baldwin building. He was almost sure of it.

He looked up and tried to gauge which level they were coming from. He looked around and decided that there was nothing for it but to run up the side of the building. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before, and it would be quicker than running up the stairs.

He took a deep breath and as he about to run up the building he saw someone falling out of the window. Without thinking about it he rushed up halfway to catch the person before they fell to the ground.

As he put her – it was definitely a woman – on ground he took a good look at her.

It was Iris West.

000

Iris stared at the Flash. She couldn't believe it.

"You're really him," she said stupidly, and then, "there are two men with guys on the top floor."

He smiled and nodded and then run up to the top. A few seconds later he was back, "They'll be asleep until CCPD gets here."

Iris was staring at him still awed by his presence. She couldn't believe she had finally met the Flash. She had so many things that she wanted to ask him.

"How are you doing that?" she asked.

"What?" Barry asked.

"That thing with your voice," Iris said. "It's pretty crazy."

"Yeah," Barry agreed. He didn't know what had made him vibrate his voice; he just done it as soon he'd found out that Iris West was the person he'd rescued.

"Thank you," Iris told him and before he knew it she had put both her arms around him. "Thank you for saving my life."

"You're welcome, Iris."

Iris stepped back and stared at him. The Flash knew her name. "You know my name." It was a statement not a question.

"Yes." Barry could have shot himself in the mouth. He couldn't believe he'd said her name. "I've read a few of your pieces."

"You've read my work?" she couldn't help but feel excited that the Flash had read her work.

"Yes." He said again.

"I didn't take you for the fashion show and dog race type."

"You don't know me," Barry told her.

"So why don't you tell me about yourself," Iris invited.

"There's nothing to tell," he replied.

"I know that you got your powers after the particle accelerator exploded," Iris said, "that's when all the metahumans I've heard about got their powers."

"I guess you do know my story after all," he quipped.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you save people?"

"People need help and I can provide it," Barry replied.

"So you're just a good guy, then?"

He shrugged and then remembered what had been bugging him all along. "What were you doing in that building?"

"I got a tip that there were some thugs scamming people," Iris replied, "I came to find out for myself."

"You did this for a story?"

"You don't have to sound so disapproving," Iris told him, "I get enough of that from my father."

"Iris," Barry said, "You could have been killed."

"I wasn't," Iris reminded him. "Thanks to you."

"What if I hadn't been here?"

"We'll never know now, will we?"

"Iris, I'm serious," Barry wanted to shake her. He didn't know her at all but somehow he knew that his life would be less bright without her in it. "No story is worth getting killed over."

Iris nodded.

Barry eyed her and shook his head. "You're not going to stop, are you?"

"Would you stop running into burning buildings?"

"No," Barry told her, "but that's not the same thing."

"Because you have powers and I don't?" Iris asked him.

"Yes," Barry told her. "You have to be more careful."

"I'll be more careful," Iris promised. "I don't believe I'm saying this but I have to go, I have a story to write." She had to work on the story while it was still fresh in her mind. "Besides, you'll always be there to save me, right?" she said as she hurried off.

000

"You called her Iris?"

"It just slipped out," Barry told Cisco. They were sitting in a booth at the Pitbull. "I told her that I'd read her work."

"And she bought it?" Cisco was incredulous. "You do realise that she's mostly covered dog races and fashion shows."

"So she told me," Barry replied. "How do you know?"

"I looked her up," Cisco admitted. "You couldn't stop talking about her."

"I think she believed me," Barry said, "I'm getting pretty good at this lying thing."

"You're not as good a liar as you think you are," Cisco told him.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

000

"You'll never believe what happened to me," Iris told Linda.

She was back at the Picture News and the office was as full as it'd been when she'd left earlier.

"Try me," Linda said.

"I met the Flash."

"Get out."

"Linda, I'm serious," Iris said, "he saved my life."

"What? When? How?"

"I was at the Baldwin building," Iris began, only to be interrupted by Linda's, "you didn't. Iris. What were you thinking?"

"That I would get the story," Iris replied, "and help some people. Having a byline above the fold wouldn't hurt either."

"I heard that those thugs were killing people," Linda said. "I heard that four people had been killed by those thugs and at least two people have been hospitalized."

"And now I have proof and they have been stopped," Iris concluded. "My dad arrested them and I've just finished writing the story."

"Iris, no story is worth risking your life for," Linda said.

"So I've been told," Iris shrugged.

"What happened?"

Iris told her friend the whole story and Linda listened in shock and horror and told her never to follow up a lead on her own.

Iris purposely didn't tell her friend about the fact that the Flash had called her by name. She was still reveling in that knowledge. She hadn't believed him when he'd said that he knew her name because of her articles on the dog races and fashion shows. He had to have found out in another way and she was going to find out how.

She opened up her blog on the Flash. She'd been collecting internet posts about the Flash sightings and rescues, as well as other metahumans that had been spotted in Central City. She hadn't added anything new in a week – she'd been swamped with assignments – but now she added her own story to the collection.

Thank you, Flash, for saving my life.

She hit send.

"You're welcome, Iris West."

She heard his voice but he was gone in a flash. She would have convinced herself that she'd imagined it if it wasn't for the red flower that had been tucked behind her ear.

Iris smiled to herself and stood up. "Linda, let's go."

"Finally, West," Linda said, "I thought you were never going to leave the office today."

"Haha, for that you're buying."

000

Barry had almost talked himself out of it. Iris had made it clear that she never wanted to have anything to do with him but he also couldn't discount her reaction when he'd saved her. She had obviously flirted with him as the Flash. It was ridiculous, but he was almost jealous of the Flash.

Stop it; he told himself, you are the Flash.

But she doesn't know that, another voice reminded him.

He wrote a quick message and sent it before he could talk himself out of it.

Iris, it's Barry Allen. Can we talk?

000