"He's my Brandy Alexander,
Always gets me into trouble.
But that's another matter,
Brandy Alexander."
- Brandy Alexander, Feist
Wally lay flat out on his back watching the exceedingly slow blades of the ceiling fan spin irresistibly round, his duvet cover had been flung to one side in the night along with his tee shirt and pyjama bottoms. It was Saturday, so long live the weekend; no work at the lab for two glorious days and he'd been owed favours by both Booster Gold and Elongated Man so Watchtower would not be calling on him. Unless it was a matter of impending doom courtesy of invading aliens, despotic leaders from fire consumed planets or a good old fashioned nuclear strike signed those at the 'We-Hate-The-Justice-League' penthouse. All that was left was the occasional patrol of Central City and its surrounding areas. Easy. But with Flash's speed surrounding area did tend to mean continental North America, bearing in mind a slight detour around Gotham City. There was no telling what Bruce would did if a red blur was spotted on his streets, a dressing down followed by a very thorough disembowelment sprang to mind. Still, pretty easy.
Wally wiggled his toes, savouring the few seconds of responsibility free indulgence. Glancing over at his alarm clock the electronic face blinked at him, 9 am. It was high time he got up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed Wally rose to his feet, stretching out his arms the red head yawned; summer sun hitting his face through the partially drawn blinds and casting a pleasant glow across his cheeks. He shuffled towards the bathroom and a shower, super speed could wait until after breakfast. Less than ten minutes later Wally emerged clean and refreshed on the pavement, turning on his heel Wally smiled at the old Chinese lady from the ground floor apartment waiting patiently for the number 11 bus. She met his greeting with a toothless grin, pleasantries dispensed of Wally headed towards his local diner. Bacon, eggs, pancakes and coffee – stat.
Linda shifted in her ergonomical chair; it had been bought on whim, a small splurge when she had gotten her first paid job. The footage she had managed to collect thanks to Marla's handy camera was pure gold. It looked like Mr Richards was that much closer to forgiving her indiscretions and Linda was that much closer to buying a new desk. For a lot of girls it was clothes, makeup or handbags. But for Linda Park and her relative lack of concern over her single status, it was office equipment. Stuffing a spoon full of cereal in her mouth she stared at the quietly whirring laptop, one window was open - the Facebook page of Wally West. Linda frowned, unwilling to acknowledge her sudden urge to cyber-stalk; when it came to public figures like the Flash, trawling the internet for hours on end seemed fine (they were like public property that way). But with Wally, with someone she was likely to have proper conversations with, the whole thing seemed a little creepy. Especially seeing as Linda and Wally were not Facebook friends; lucky for Linda he had an open profile. The reporter's phone buzzed against the desk, a distracted hand raised it to her face but within seconds of reading the sender's name Linda jumped in her seat. Slamming down her laptop lid and splashing copious amounts of milk drenched cereal on herself thanks to the sudden jolt, Linda gazed distrustfully at her phone. Receiving a text from Wally seemed tantamount to being caught out by the man himself. Hurriedly dumping the bowl on the desk in front of her and kicking off her flannel shorts into the wash basket Linda opened up the message.
'Hey –
There's a new exhibit at the Science and Industry Museum and so I was wondering if you want to make like a geek and go see it with me. Of course to sweeten the deal, I can promise you ice cream and lunch by way of Central City park.'
Linda did a little jig on the spot before coming an abrupt halt; shaking off her odd behaviour she looked down to the small phone and composed her replying message. With that sent Linda flew towards the bathroom, she might not care all that much about the latest Parisian fashions but she sure wasn't going to claim that the well cultured smell of curdled milk and day old cereal was the latest fragrance offered up by a Hollywood starlet.
Wally stood at the foot of some stairs leading up to a neo classical building, dozens of children were haring past him; frazzled and coffee stained parents running doggedly after them. Wally gave what he hoped to be reassuring, bolstering smiles but he rather suspected he looked like a smug, childless, 20 something with an uber-babe girlfriend. Well, maybe he made up the girlfriend bit. Wally glanced at his reflection in a parked car: shorts, flip-flops and a tee shirt. He flinched, before leaving the house he hadn't really considered what he was wearing. Maybe Linda didn't like Abercrombie & Fitch models? He could go home and change, he was the fastest man alive after all; nixing that idea he decided to wait. It was the middle of summer; if Linda was expecting a three-piece suit she had another thing coming. Glancing out onto the busy street Wally grinned, the woman in question was coming up the pavement, every so often pulling down her sundress. Wally checked himself just in time to prevent a whistle escaping his newly pursed lips – boy did he love summer.
Linda beamed upon noticing Wally and his state of dress; he'd gone for casual. Rushing up the steps she smiled breathlessly adding a hair toss for good measure. Linda stopped mid motion, what was she doing? She didn't do this sort of stuff, well in front of the Flash she did, but that was different, he was a super-powered crime fighter with great shoulders. This was Wally. The same Wally she had spent a good hour stalking earlier that morning, a small voice gently reminded. Giggling nervously she offered Wally a smaller of version of the smile she previously assailed him with.
"Hi," Linda breathed, doing her best to ignore the butterflies that were bombing rather than fluttering round her stomach.
"Hey," Wally offered her a casual grin; the butterflies heightened their assault. "So you wanna go in?"
Linda nodded to the affirmative and was soon following the red head into the cool interior of the museum.
The couple had gradual worked their way round the museum, Wally every so often clarifying something or adding a comment that seemed at odds with his goofy personality. But Linda didn't have too much time to dwell on her thoughts as she was soon being lead into another room. Drawing up in front of an exhibit there were what appeared to be several rocks laid out. Small, non-descript rocks. Quickly reading the placard Linda's eyes widened.
"They're from the moon?"
"Sure are," Wally confirmed, his blue eyes observing the girl rather than the exhibit.
"Wow." Linda paused, crouching closer to the glass.
Wally grinned to himself, "I dare you touch them..."
"What?" Linda started backwards; apparently Wally favoured girls with a touch of delinquency.
"You can reach over the glass easy, they haven't even put them in a proper case. If they didn't want you to touch them they would have put them in a better cabinet."
Linda glanced over her shoulder making sure they were going unobserved. "There's a sign," the Asian woman gestured rather pointedly to small white piece of cardboard with the words, 'Please Do Not Touch' emboldened across it.
"What's it they say about rules?" Wally questioned cavalierly, his head cocked to one side as he gave Linda a challenging look.
Linda chewed her lip, her hand gradually creeping up and over the glass partition; she could feel the black velvet at her fingertips and a wave of exhilaration swept over her.
"Hey lady! Can't you read?" A sharp, authoritative voice echoed across the hall.
Linda had gone past the point of no return, her fingers were just millimetres away from the small rocks. Just one more stretch! Finally her skin brushed against their rough surface, a shudder of excitement ran through her.
"Lady I wont tell you again, get your hands off those rocks. They were gifted by..."
Wally sneaked a look over his shoulder; the guard was slowly waddling towards them, his sizable girth holding him up just enough. Glancing back at Linda he opened his mouth to speak only to be beaten to it. The reporter had snatched her hand back from its previous incriminating position and she looked to be on the verge of hyperventilating. Wally once more cast a look backwards; the guard was closing in on them.
"Come on, run!"
And without further warning Wally pulled Linda away from the moon rock exhibit and towards the clearly marked exit. A stream of excitable laughter was threatening to bubble over and within seconds Linda was in fits of uncontrolled giggles as she was dragged behind the fleet of foot red head. Wally gritted his teeth, itching to kick it up a notch, but of course that would raise unwanted questions so he kept it to a he-must-of-run-track-in-college level.
It was only until they reached the shops across from the museum and far from the threat of angry retribution that Wally slowed the pace down. Linda to her credit had barely broken into a sweat; there was only a slight hint of a flush about her cheeks. Quickly disengaging her hand from Wally's she shoved his shoulder with her own.
"I bet I'm banned from that place for life, they'll tape my picture to the wall!" Linda cried before glaring half-heartedly at the man next to her.
"Hey! I didn't make you do anything," came Wally's straightforward answer. "I just pointed out how easy it was, you did all the grabbing."
Linda was about to retort when Wally cut her off by coming to a full stop at the traffic lights.
"Where are we going?" Linda had the sense to ask.
"There's this great little deli a couple of blocks from here. So how about we go grab lunch and take it to the park?"
"So long as you don't make me dine and dash, its not exactly what I'd call a classy date."
Wally leant down so he could be heard above the traffic, "I can be classy..."
"You made me touch a moon rock and then run away!" Linda indignantly retorted.
"I did not! We covered this. Besides, it was a good ice breaker."
"Ice breaker? How about what have you been up to Linda? Oh me Wally? Not much..."
Wally couldn't help but smile as Linda proceeded to have a conversation with herself and 'Wally'.
"Ok, so what have you been doing recently?" Wally quickly interjected, putting a stop to Linda's monologue.
Momentarily silence Linda looked up at Wally; in return he sent her a blinding grin. Linda blinked, a thought suddenly popping to the forefront of her mind: who had the better smile, Wally or the Flash?
"Oh um, quite a lot of work stuff. Went to this Gala thing though, ended up being threatened by a gunman but the Flash ran in to save the day." Despite being on a date with another man Linda smiled, for a moment starry eyed.
"The Flash huh?" Wally questioned as he opened to the door to their desired port of call. "He save you from the bad guys then? Again?"
"Yeah..." Linda sighed wistfully before coughing and hastily adding. "It was nothing special though, I mean, he would have done it for anyone else. He's great like that..."
Wally's mouth twitched. Clearing his throat he gestured towards the menu affixed to the back wall, "So what'll it be?"
Linda bit her lip.
A/N: I know nothing of museums and curators but I assume if they had moon rocks [I dont recall actually ever seeing any at a museum, then again, they might be closely guarded by NASA or something] that they would be more looked after. Can I claim artistic licence? Anyway, hope you liked this chapter! An appearance by Wally. Anyway... let me know your thoughts