This chapter is a little shorter since I split one into two. I now realize I am never going to finish this story before we get new episodes, but I am really enjoying writing it and I just hope that new episodes don't mess me up too badly. (Once anything canon emerges I suddenly doubt if I even should finish what I had planned if it contradicts. Personal issue...working on it.) Thank you for all your wonderful comments and support. Special shout out to guest Brenda, since I can't reply to your comments. Your extra long review and feedback made me blush and feel very happy. Glad you are enjoying it!

As always, thanks to all for reading, hope you enjoy! Chapter 6 will follow soon. :)

Chapter 5

Now that she was prepared, Iris enjoyed the trip back into the city a little more. The Flash chose a loping pace that lent a calming, rocking feeling to his movement. She leaned her head on his chest, feeling more safe and secure than she had in a long time.

All too soon, the lights and sounds of the city returned, and she was abruptly standing on the rooftop of Jitters. It was late and all the nearby businesses were closed for the day. She glanced at her watch and was pretty sure the girl who worked the late shift tonight would be gone already. That was good. The Flash backed away into darkness and waited while she fished her keys to Jitters out of her coat pocket and unlocked the glass door leading downstairs. She held it open while she turned to say goodbye.

"Thanks for sharing the news with me, Flash. I'm so glad The Arrow's alive." He smiled and nodded in return. The memory of his blurred light running in the park tickled her consciousness. "Hey can I ask, are there more fast people like you around?"

His head lifted quickly, staring at her. "Why? Have you seen someone like me?" His tone was suddenly urgent.

She took note of his response as she replied. "No, it's just that I think maybe my friend saw something like you as a kid. Lightning, a blur, I don't know."

He opened his mouth to reply, but was saved from even attempting to field that question by a voice in his ear.

"Barry, you there?" Cisco's voice came through his comm.

He straightened up immediately, turning away from Iris. "I'm here. What have you got?"

"Someone tripped the laser sensor at a jewelry store sixty second ago. It gave off a silent alarm to the police. This might be our guy. If you get there fast enough you might catch him leaving."

"What store?"

"Harrington's, it's the one-"

"Right next to Jitters, yeah. I'm practically there now."

He turned to Iris. "I have to go."

She nodded. "Okay."

He smiled briefly and left, running down the side of Jitters to the narrow alleyway between it and the next building. Iris was smart enough to have picked up that wherever he was headed was really close by. She ran to the edge of the rooftop and tried to peer over the side into the alleyway below. There was no way she was going to miss seeing The Flash in action if possible.

The edge of the rooftop was actually quite wide; with short wrought iron fencing worked into the concrete to discourage exactly what Iris was trying to do. She grabbed the bars of the fencing and stepped up onto the concrete lip, which made a pretty secure perch. If she held on and leaned just far enough, she could see most of what lay below. The Flash was there, standing in the alleyway looking back and forth.

Barry left the rooftop and headed for the front door of the jewelry store, which sure enough was unlocked from the inside. The burglar had left already, but he couldn't have gotten very far. This alleyway was far closer than the one on the other side, making it a better getaway. He returned to it and looked up and down. Nothing. He thought about moving towards the wider alley behind the building where the dumpsters and recycling bins were, thinking maybe the burglar had made it that far, no matter how unlikely. Then he decided against it. Unless he had super speed too, the burglar just wouldn't have had the time. Not based on when the alarm had been tripped, not considering how fast Barry had arrived. Barry looked back and forth. He should be right here. Then a discussion with Joe came back to him.

"Or the guard didn't know the burglar was there."

He spun around, surveying the alleyway with more attention to detail. The buildings on both sides were made of brick. Neither looked sandy enough to make a good camouflage for someone made of sand. He looked at the ground. No piles of sand that he could see. But there was something small…farther down in the shadows. He cautiously moved closer as Cisco's voice echoed in his ear.

"Barry? Did you find anything?"

"There's something on the ground. It's a bag-"

Barry was leaning over, carefully assessing the small black bag before touching it, when the brick wall to his left suddenly came alive. Out of nowhere materialized a large man, eyes rolling, roaring like a bear. His sudden attack caught Barry off guard as the man rammed him with his own body, pushing him backwards and slamming him against the opposite building with incredible force. His head whipped back, striking the bricks hard. A sickening crack registered dimly amid the sudden blinding agony, and Barry was vaguely aware of his own cry of pain echoing through the alleyway before he sagged to the ground.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin gasped in horror as feedback from the suit registered on the computer. Caitlin and Cisco leaned into the comm microphones at the same time.

"Barry! Run!"

Still blinking to clear his vision, Barry avoided the hands reaching for him again and staggered to his feet, pain and pressure and the voices in his ears telling him to get out of there all he could take in. He raced to the end of the building before he stumbled, tried to run further, and became aware that his legs weren't working well at all. Darkness crowded the edges of his vision as he located a dumpster and, using his last bit of conscious thought, ducked behind it and slid down the wall into nothingness.

Up on her perch, Iris had unwittingly chosen a perfect view for the events that unfolded below. She was almost surprised into losing her grip on the fencing when the man suddenly appeared out of a brick wall. Her breath caught in her throat as The Flash was slammed into the building, which was good because a scream would have drawn attention. She watched The Flash as he turned the corner into the back alleyway, running like a backfiring, sputtering car. By the time she had climbed down and run to the back of the roof, she could only see darkness in the alley below. But something told her he hadn't made it very far. The darkness, the lack of blurred light, scared her more than anything else that had happened. She returned to her previous perch to look for the assailant, but either he had melted back into the building, or he had moved. Either thought left her unnerved.

Iris ran to the door and headed downstairs, making her way to the back door employees used to take out the trash. This way she could bypass the other alleyway altogether, just in case. She was at the back door, fumbling with the lock when as if on cue, her father's voice activated in the back of her head.

"If you see danger, run the other way."

Her hesitation lasted less than a second. "Sorry Dad," she whispered to herself. 'You should know me better than that by now." She wrenched the door open, peeked out to make sure no one was there, and crept out. She pulled the door shut as quietly as possible.

The darkness was very heavy, but thankfully several businesses had back doors to access the dumpsters, and each one had a light bulb on above their door. The small pools of light provided enough illumination for her to venture down the alley, looking for signs of a red suit. The only problem was that after witnessing a wall come alive, Iris didn't trust any walls in this alley either. She stayed in the middle of the road, away from the buildings. But after two passes and no sign of The Flash, she worked up enough courage to start checking behind dumpsters.

She found him behind the third one, his feet just barely hanging out.

"Flash?" Her voice was a raised whisper. There was no response.

She made her way to the other side of the dumpster and leaned in close enough to grab his wrist and check his pulse. The heavy fabric of his suit impeded that attempt, but by pushing hard enough, Iris could feel his rapid pulse through it. She breathed a sigh of relief. Good, he was alive. He was slumped in a half-sitting position, actually pretty well hidden in the darkness. When her eyes had adjusted to the change in light she could see that he was unconscious, but his chest rose and fell with regular breathing. Iris slapped the wall she was standing next to just to make sure, then leaned against it while she tried to figure out what to do. She anxiously scanned the shadows for any sign of movement.

That was when she heard the sirens. The police were on their way. Oh, no. It was very possible they'd search the area. She needed to get him out of here and not get caught at the same time.

Iris weighed her options. She debated pulling him out from behind the dumpster, but she wasn't sure what the point would be since she knew she'd never be able to drag him all the way around the block to her car. Even the back door of Jitters seemed miles away after she tried to lift him. He was much heavier than he looked. Desperation set in. The sirens were getting louder. She didn't dare leave him to go get her car. All she needed was Eddie discovering him, especially after the way she had ended things. Or even better, the brick wall man returning to finish what he started. She dragged some large pieces of cardboard from a nearby recycling bin and laid one at an angle over The Flash's feet, then pulled the other to the opposite side where his head was and crouched behind it, using it to shield both of them. Hopefully anyone looking would just see cardboard leaned up against a dumpster. She crouched down with her back to the wall, holding up a flimsy piece of cardboard that felt as thin as her options. She closed her eyes for a moment, fighting back panic.

Later she would realize it never even occurred to her to look under his mask, as he lay defenseless. Even later than that she would decide even if it had occurred, she never would have done it. It seemed to lack any element of fair play, and even though Iris could play dirty with the best of them, this just did not seem like the right time or the right person to do so. She was far more worried about what kind of damage he had undergone, when or if he would wake up, and how she was going to get them out of this. She was just wondering if there was any way to explain it that the police would believe when running footsteps started her heart hammering. Was it the police? That would be bad. The brick wall man? Even worse. She held her breath and tried not to bump the cardboard.

"…. should be here, but I don't see anything." A voice said in a tone that was slightly panicked. A flashlight beam shot back and forth, illuminating the ground and walls.

Iris's brows drew together as she searched her memory. She knew that voice. It was…

"Cisco?" Iris popped her head out from behind the cardboard.

Cisco jumped, almost dropping his flashlight. He gaped at her, his phone in one hand and his flashlight in the other, both clutched to his chest as if for protection. He pointed the flashlight at her as if to make sure of what his eyes were seeing. She put a hand up to shield her own.

Cisco's eyes went wider than they already were. Obviously he had finally accepted what his eyes told him. Without a word, he quickly hung up on whoever he was talking to and pocketed his phone, then lowered his flashlight to lessen the glare as he approached her.

"Iris? What…umm…what are you doing here?" He asked. His eyes flickered to both sides of her, searching.

She raised her eyebrows, knowing she was overly defensive but unable to stop it. "I could ask you the same."

"Oh, uh, I lost my watch when I was downtown earlier today and I was retracing my steps. What's with all the police cars out front?"

Mention of the police went a long way in helping her decide to trust him. There really was no time, and no other options. "Cisco, please don't freak out. But I really need your help, and I really need it to stay a secret."

He looked like he expected her to confess that she was a streetwalker any moment. His face looked utterly disturbed. "Oookay." He cautiously agreed.

Iris said a silent prayer to the heavens and pushed away the cardboard.

"Oh." Cisco said softly as the flashlight beam fell on a very obviously hurt and unconscious Flash. "Oh, crap."