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Iris picked up her phone again. She'd been doing that on and off the whole day; no one else had bothered to call her or even send her a text since Barry Allen's message the night before. It was as if she wasn't going to get any other messages until she dealt with Barry Allen.

She sighed; it wouldn't hurt to meet with him and talk. She had had fun with him and his enthusiasm was very contagious.

000

Iris watched in dismay and horror as the coroner's van drove away with Larkin's body. She still couldn't believe what had happened. She glanced at Linda who was still shaking, they couldn't believe it a metahuman, Doctor Light, a doppelganger of Linda Park, had tried to kill her and instead ended up shooting Larkin.

Her dad, and his partner, Patty were questioning Linda, while Iris stood nearby to offer support. Iris had actually been the one to save her friend's life by shooting at the metahumans but hadn't been able to save their boss.

"Are you sure you're fine?"

Iris turned and saw the Flash she obviously hadn't seen him enter. "I'm fine; dad taught me how to shoot."

The Flash smiled and then turned to the detectives. "I guess there's nothing for me to do here."

"Thank you Flash," Joe said, and the Flash left the office.

Iris stayed with Linda throughout her interview with the detectives and after they had finished she drove Linda home; Linda was shaken up and she booked the earliest train out of town, she was going back home for some much needed rest.

000

Barry was sitting on the roof above Jitters and staring into space; he loved that spot and whenever he could he went there to think and remind himself why he did what he did. He was so taken with his thoughts that he didn't realise that he wasn't alone until he saw Iris looking at him.

"Hi," she said.

"Iris," he replied, "what are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "I like this place, I come here to think and… stuff. What are you doing here?"

"Thinking, like you," he said.

"How did you get here?" Iris asked him. She had worked at Jitters for a while and she had a key but she wondered how he had managed to get there.

"I…I mean, my friend left it open for me," Barry replied mentally kicking himself, he should have known that anyone finding there would wonder how he'd ended up there. "How did you get here?"

She showed him her key. "I know I no longer work here but I still have the key and I needed a place to think."

"Are you okay?" he asked the question he'd been longing to ask her.

"You probably heard about what happened at the Picture News," Iris concluded, "I'm fine, I guess."

"Sorry about your boss," Barry said. "But from what I heard you saved the day."

"I didn't save him," Iris said, "and that metahuman, Doctor Light, nearly killed Linda."

"You saved your friend," Barry told her, "that's more than a lot of people would have done."

"It wasn't enough," she said sadly.

"Yeah," Barry agreed, he wished he had been in time to save everyone.

They sat in silence for a while; Iris had joined him on the edge of the roof and they were sitting side by side.

"I hope the Flash is okay."

Barry was startled by Iris's voice and her words. "What?"

"We both failed to save my boss, the Flash and I, and I am devastated by what happened I can only imagine that he feels worse."

"I'm sure he'll be fine."

"He's just a man," Iris continued, "and not a very old one from what I could tell."

"What do you mean, from what you could tell? Do you know who he is?" Barry couldn't believe that he was actually asking her that.

"I met him," Iris said, "okay, I didn't meet him; he saved me from some thugs with guns."

"Iris."

She could hear the silent rebuke in his voice.

"I didn't know that they carried guns," she defended her, "anyway I don't have to explain myself to you; what I'm telling you is that I met the Flash."

"So he's a young man?"

"He is," Iris said. "Do you think he has a family?"

"Who?"

Iris nudged his shoulder with hers. "Don't be daft, the Flash of course."

"I…" Barry stammered, "I've never given it much thought."

"I hope he does," Iris said, "I hope he has people who care about him and support him because he needs them."

"He does," Barry said without thinking.

"You seem pretty sure," Iris teased him, "for someone who's never given it much thought."

Barry could have jumped off the roof. "What I meant was that he must, everyone does, don't they?"

"No," Iris told him, "no they don't."

"No they don't," Barry agreed, "but I imagine he does."

"I hope he has someone to talk to, to encourage him, to let him know that even when he doesn't save everyone it's okay but mostly to tell him how grateful we are to have him."

"He has you," Barry reminded her, "I've read your blog and from what I see you do a pretty good job of encouraging him."

Iris laughed self-consciously. "I try."

"Why do you do it?" Barry asked her.

"How many metahumans have we seen since the particle accelerator exploded?" she asked him.

"I don't know, hundreds," he replied.

"How many do you see helping people every day?" when he didn't reply, she added, "he doesn't have to help people but he does anyway without even a thank you, so I decided that I would say thanks on behalf of the people in this city and show him how much he's appreciated."

"He's lucky to have you in his corner."

She shrugged.

"I meant to reply to your text but now I guess I don't have to."

"I thought you were never going to talk to me again," he confessed.

"So did I," she said, "but when I thought about it I figured that we all deserve second chances and you're such a dork I just had to give you one."

"That's good."

"So you wanted to talk," Iris reminded him, "or were those just words?"

"They weren't just words," Barry said, "but I didn't mean to suggest that I had major…uhm…thing or topic that I wanted to talk about."

"Okay," Iris could tell from the way he was talking that there was indeed a major thing that he wanted to talk about but she could wait until he was ready.

000

"He called me by name," she concluded.

"Get out."

Iris smiled at him, "he did and I was surprised which got me to thinking that maybe I know him."

"Maybe he knows everyone in the city."

"I doubt it," Iris said, "and he never called all the other people he saved by name."

"How do you know?"

"I'm an investigative reporter," Iris reminded him, "and I'll have you know that I'm great at it."

"Fine, fine," he mock surrendered.

"Enough about me and the Flash," Iris said, "What have you been to?"

"Nothing much," Barry said, "although I must say thanks, your review made my book very popular and I've been invited to a few engagements."

"You're welcome," without thinking about it, Iris put her arm around him and gave him a side hug. When he stiffened slightly, she apologised, "we're huggers in my family, and I guess I just got carried away."

"It's fine," Barry replied, "it was just unexpected, that's all."

"You better start to expect the unexpected," Iris told him.

"Why?"

Before Iris could answer they heard a voice. "There you are Iris, I was worried when I couldn't find you and you weren't answering your phone, and then I remembered how much you like this place."

Iris scrambled to her feet and looked at her father. "I didn't mean to stay out too long, Dad."

Joe West looked from his daughter to the young man who was standing next to her. Iris quickly made the introductions and after saying good night to Barry she walked off with her father.

"So who is he really?"

"I told you," Iris replied, "I met him when I was writing the about The Heart Of The Matter."

"So why were you out all hours with him?"

"I wasn't out all hours," she denied.

"What time do you call this?" Joe asked her.

"Let's just go home."

000

HAPPY NEW YEAR