Chaos. That's all Iris could register. Screaming; people running around frantically; things moving so fast her vision blurred. And above everything else, Caitlin's shouts.

Then suddenly, someone was holding her by the shoulders asking her something about a cake. So she pointed towards the table in the middle of the room and made her way to Caitlin.

"This is crazy," she said.

"Tell me about it. Those ornaments with that tabletop?" Caitlin replied.

Iris chuckled. "I mean it's crazy what you're doing."

"What's so crazy about wanting to throw Barry a surprise birthday party?" she asked, her eyes searching the room for someone.

"Throwing Barry a surprise birthday party? Nothing. The amount of panic it has caused... batshit."

Caitlin turned her attention to her friend. "I know I'm going a bit overboard..."

"A bit?" Iris interrupted, raising a teasing eyebrow.

"But..." she continued, returning a smile, "I just want everything to be perfect, I want him to have the best birthday ever. I know that's probably what people say every year, but, you know, I just..."

"I understand," Iris said, relieving her from an unnecessary explanation. When you loved someone that much, you wanted to offer them the world. You wanted them to have the best of everything, shield them from the worst. And a birthday party should fall nothing short of magnificent.

Caitlin excused herself, apparently finding the person she was looking for, so Iris went back to trying to keep people from having panic driven breakdowns.


The moment was near. In a few minutes, Barry was going to walk through the doors of the small house Iris's friend let her use for the occasion. It had a swimming pool on the outside, and that's where all the decorations had been set up. Tables enough for the people there, fairy lights hanging everywhere, champagne ready to be dramatically opened and a big cake, in the shape of a lightning bolt, in the middle of the backyard. (One of Barry's CCPD co-workers had asked why that particular figure and Cisco had chimed in, with a huge grin on his face, saying that the birthday boy was the Flash's biggest fan and that he knew every single thing about the superhero.)

When Barry was ushered inside the house by Iris to "give her friend advice on what to get her boyfriend for his birthday" - Iris honestly couldn't believe that Barry had fallen for that, but then again, he always trusted her blindly - the lights in the backyard were suddenly turned on as shouts of "Happy birthday" echoed all around. Someone popped the champagne open, and glasses filled with it were passed around.

A grin made its way on Barry's lips as he went out to hug everyone there absentmindedly. They all said something to him, probably along the lines of 'Happy Birthday', but he wasn't really listening. All he was focused on was making his way towards one particular person.

"Hey beautiful," he said when he reached her, and he clinked his glass with hers. "You didn't have to do all this."

"True, but I wanted to." She smiled softly. "You deserve it. And you deserve so much more."

He looked down, blushing and smiling like a little kid. "Thank you," he told her. He didn't need to say anything more. His eyes conveyed sincerity, and she understood from his tone that it meant a lot to him.

Her smile broadened. "Anytime."

"Well, a surprise birthday party anytime sort of defeats the purpose," he shrugged.

She sighed. "You just had to ruin the moment."

"But you still love me," he said smugly.

"No, I don't," she stated, and with that, she turned her back to him, and pretended to be extremely interested in the plant next to her, acting as a kid he wished he could have with her some day.

"Cait..." There was a hint of mischief in his carefully elongated syllables. "Say that you love me..."

"I do not, and I will not," she refused, oblivious to him putting down his glass of champagne on the grass a few steps away.

"Last chance," he warned.

"No, I... BARRY!" she screamed as he suddenly picked her up and held her dangerously close to the pool. "Put me down. Put me down now! Barry!"

"Tell me that you love me or I'll drop you in the water," he continued.

"The glass, it's about to fall, Barry!"

"It's a pretty easy choice, really," he continued, ignoring her weak excuse. "Don't you think, Iris?" he turned to his best friend who had gotten closer with a few other guests and was watching their interaction, bemused. Caitlin basically shoved the champagne glass she was carrying in Iris's direction in order not to drop it.

"This is expensive crystal, Barry," Iris mock reproached, taking the glass and ignoring his rhetorical question.

"Barry Allen, if I go down, I'm taking you with me," Caitlin threatened.

"Trust me, you won't be able to," he smirked then addressed the surrounding people. "I'm afraid our time is up, ladies and gentlemen. Let us all bid our farewells to Dr. Snow." One of his arms let go of her, and she squealed, holding onto him tighter.

"Oh.. Oh God, alright, OK, I love you! I love you! Oh, shit. I LOVE HIM!" she shouted to the people in the backyard. "I FREAKING LOVE HIM!" He grinned. "Happy now?"

"I think I should still drop you, for good measure."

"Barry Allen don't you dare."

He laughed, and when he finally put her down, panicked shrieks dialed down to heavy breathing and ended with a slap on the shoulder, but she didn't release her grip on him. Instead, she brought him closer to her and leaned her forehead against his. "I love you," she whispered. "I honestly love you so much."

And God did he love her too. He loved her more than he had ever loved anything, and he wished he could ignore the world forever and just focus on her. But he didn't tell her any of this. Instead he carried her by the waist, and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his torso. She towered a few inches over him, but he didn't mind.

And then eagerly, giddily, he reached up and kissed her. Her hands cupped his cheeks, ran through his hair, finally settled on his neck. When they pulled apart, his eyes were glinting with something Caitlin recognized as euphoria. Maybe she had the same look.

She definitely had the same look.

Without breaking eye contact with her, Barry shouted to the crowd, "You all heard the high pitched declarations of love. She loves me, people! She loves me!"

Claps and whistles emanated from all around, but all he could hear was his heart, beating wildly from overwhelming joy.