Prompt from Guest. Iris is looking for Barry in his lab but can't find him and sees his STAR Labs shirt and goes there to find out his secret after he's done on the treadmill.
Barry had left work an hour earlier to go to STAR Labs forgetting Iris was going to pick him up from work for family dinner at her house. Iris was getting really annoyed with how forgetful he was lately. She tried to be understanding because he had had a horrible year, but it seemed like something more. It seemed like he was hiding something, a big part of his life. He had never hidden anything from her before. Ever. So when she found that he was not in his lab, or anywhere in the station, or out at a crime scene, she was mad.
Iris looked around his lab for clues as to where he would have been. She tried to be quiet in case her father also came looking for Barry, but no one ever came.
She found the answer in plain sight. A sweatshirt sat his desk chair and spelled out the words STAR Labs. Now she had a place to look.
On the drive she thought about all the reasons why Barry would be back at the place he was treated during his coma. None of her thoughts were good. Were there lasting effects that he was afraid to tell her about? Was this why Barry kept forgetting things? Because he had brain damage from the lightning bolt? Was Barry still in danger? Could she still lose her best friend?
She walked into Star Labs and saw something she was not expecting. The Flash was on a treadmill. It seemed so ordinary other than the fact you could barely tell it was a human being running instead of just a normal person running five miles an hour trying to lose weight.
Caitlyn, Cisco, and Dr. Wells seemed to be monitoring his speed and vitals. Iris didn't understand the numbers on the various machines, but she doubted they were normal.
"Well, I came to find Barry. Where is he?" Iris said after a few minutes of no one noticing her presence.
Cisco yelped and turned to face her, but he seemed to have hit a few problematic buttons in the process because the Flash nearly doubled speed and seemed to be losing balance. After a few minutes he flew off the treadmill. Oops.
"What the heck, guys? What happened to gradually upping the speed? That was not gradual. I think I broke my ribs again. And I'm late for dinner. Iris is going to kill me. She was going to pick me up at the station. I've got to get over there. How am I going to do that with broken ribs? Now I'm babbling like Felicity."
"I'm not sure dinner is the worst of your problems right now Barry." Caitlyn said through his earpiece.
"You're going to need to clarify. I can't stand up to see what you're looking at."
"I'm going to call Joe." Dr. Wells said excusing himself.
"Hi, Bear." Iris said into the mic.
"My killer's last name is West. I don't know which one will be the one to kill me, but I'm sure both will participate."
"You're not helping your case Barry Allen." Iris said in that tone Barry had grown to fear. The sickly sweet voice that basically meant you were going to be lectured to death.
"If you come in here you can ask me all the questions you want. I promise to answer if you promise not to post it on your blog."
"Deal." Iris walked into the room where Barry lie writhing in pain on the floor. "Shouldn't you be under pain medication right now?"
"It doesn't work on me. My metabolism is too fast I burn right through it. I also can't get drunk for the same reason. Though Caitlyn is developing a super shot for me which might allow me to drink again."
"You said you broke your ribs again. I've never heard you talk about breaking your ribs. You would not have been able to hide that kind of injury at work or at home. I would have known."
"I heal quickly too. That's why no one really reacted when I flew off the treadmill again. My ribs are already starting to heal even though they still hurt." Iris noticed that he looked to be in less pain than when she walked into the room.
"Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend." Iris looked plain hurt. There was no hiding it. Barry's attempts to protect her hurt her in a completely different way, but at least she was alive.
"I wanted to protect you. You were in enough danger because of your blog. Telling you . . . I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you got hurt because of me. I just need you to be safe." Barry pleaded.
"You're still not off the hook, Barry. Get ready for dinner as soon as you can stand up."