Sorry it's a day late! There will probably only be one or two more chapters after this one. Thanks for reading, and thank you all so much for your wonderful comments and support! :)

Iris was on a high for hours after her talk with Robert. She couldn't stop grinning. She felt so good, she was sure everyone could see the light that had to be bursting out of her. Even Eddie remarked on it. "Wow, babe, what's up with you today?" Not wanting to divulge her recent activities and the hero they centered around, she had just smiled a breezy smile and answered. "Sometimes the world can be a beautiful place."

When she'd started her blog on The Flash, her aim had been to investigate the impossible. Something about a streak of red saving people had set her on fire in a way that nothing Barry had ever investigated had. She had wanted to give Barry hope that the impossible was out there, and maybe even find a lead on his mother's murder. (Okay, that last one was a long shot.)

But soon after she got started, the idea that this hero could give people in the city hope became her almost all consuming goal. The Arrow had been right. The Flash could inspire people. Nothing anyone in her life could say would disabuse her of that idea. He had definitely inspired her, and he had given her hope. She had wanted to share that with anyone in the city who would read her blog.

After a face-to-face conversation with Robert, she felt like her blog had breathed itself to life and given Robert a huge, hope filled hug. She had left him on the phone with his daughter at the coffee shop, and exited onto cloud nine. It felt incredible to give someone hope like that. She could serve coffee with the best of them, but this was what she felt like she wanted to actually do for the rest of her life.

Was this what The Flash felt every time he pulled someone out of danger? She could see the appeal. Their first conversation on the rooftop rang back in her ears. "Can you stop? Running into buildings and rescuing people without them even knowing that you're there?" They were more alike than she'd ever thought. She couldn't run fast, and she didn't have a red suit, but their aims were the same. Helping people. He wanted to inspire, she wanted to give hope. Maybe hope wasn't as impossible as she'd thought.

When she finally started to come down a cloud or two, her thoughts ran in a host of other directions. Robert's mention of his own feelings coming into play brought up a whole new dimension of The Flash's behavior that night. Things he'd said now made much more sense.

"You think you can just come along and have whatever you want? What gives you the right?" For someone who had been regularly saving people and helping his city, it must have been very upsetting to learn that a cop thought he was dangerous and trying to arrest him and bring him in. He had even helped the police catch criminals several times. A task force out to get him was like a slap in the face. He hadn't even killed people like The Arrow had early in his hero career. She could see how he might feel betrayed by the very people he was trying to help.

"You don't know me! You don't know who I am! You never did." Does anyone really know a hero? Iris wondered as she served customers at Jitters the next day. Sure they must have some kind of real life to live in their off time as a hero, but did anyone have a view of both sides of their lives together? Even if they did, how did they know which was the real identity? Heroes really were complex. It sounded a bit lonely.

It was obvious to Iris that The Flash had some kind of inner circle. She'd seen him talk into the comm in his suit. Someone was clearly feeding him intel on the other side. But she had the feeling the things he'd said while he was so angry came closer to the truth than he'd realized at the time. He felt like the mask he wore prevented her from truly knowing him, and he probably didn't feel understood by others. "What other girls?" he'd said, and she had blushed. But if the only person he felt he could talk to after The Arrow's death was someone who had told him never to contact her again, he had a much smaller circle of people he felt he could open up to than she'd thought. Obviously The Arrow had been in that circle in some way, even if he did live in another city.

The Arrow. That guy was still a bit of an enigma to her. She hit the computer again.

Iris spent her break and the rest of her evening after work on her laptop. Before she had done a cursory search for news of The Arrow. Now she started digging. She spent several hours combing through lesser known news sites and personal blogs. Anything that gave her an idea of what this man had done. She found accounts of hostages saved, people assisted in a burning building after a bombing, another bombing prevented, and a story about a young man named Roy saved from a vigilante killing people live on camera. The siege on the city last year unfolded in news stories, and while there were differing versions of what exactly happened, every account unanimously reported the police department rallying behind The Arrow in the attempt to take back their city. He had saved Oliver Queen and his friend from kidnappers, helped shipments of medical supplies actually reach desperate hospitals, and rescued a kidnapped man by the name of Walter Steele. The Arrow was quite a busy man. Yes, there were deaths he was responsible for. But there were also so many lives saved.

Even with all she found, Iris had the feeling she was just scratching the surface of all this man had done. She was pretty sure that for every reported thing he'd done, there were probably three more unconfirmed or unrealized actions. Some stories never made it to the media's eye.

The Flash was right, he really was a hero. She was deep into an eyewitness account of The Arrow heading off a cross-town bus before a train creamed it, when a voice jarred her out of her focus.

"Hey, babe."

Iris jumped and automatically put her hand on her laptop, half closing it. "Oh, hey babe." She attempted a casual smile.

She was planted at a spare desk in the precinct, waiting for Eddie to be finished for the night. Eddie's eyes flickered to her hand, still resting on her laptop, before he continued. "I still have to do some more paperwork to do, it'll probably be another 45 minutes. You okay waiting that long? We can go to dinner another night this week if you want."

Iris smiled for real. "No problem, babe. I'm just killing time on my laptop."

Eddie hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Okay I'll try to hurry."

"Okay." The second he was gone she had her laptop open again. She finished the eyewitness account and sat back, reflecting.

This particular hero had many more rough edges, it seemed, but his heart was in the right place. She was glad she had taken time to inspect his activities closer. She had The Flash to thank for that. Except that now she was truly sad that The Arrow was gone. Starling City was sure to be a much more dangerous place now. And The Flash had lost a vital part of his support system, it seemed.

Iris frowned. She had once been part of The Flash's support system. It was disturbing to realize how quickly she'd lost it after that night. The Flash had told her the truth of what really happened. Why hadn't that been enough for her? Yes, his actions had been horrifying and frightening. But she hadn't even given him another chance after that. She closed her laptop for good this time and sat back in her chair.

He had saved her from Tony, and she had put him on a pedestal. In truth, she had probably put him there before Tony. In her eyes he had been the hero who would always be there. She had expected him to come when The Clock King had taken hostages at the police station. But he hadn't. In the end, Eddie's gun and her own actions had taken care of that problem. The Flash had apologized, but she hadn't even been that disturbed. He said it couldn't be helped, and she believed him. She had realized that even with his incredible abilities, he was not an all-powerful omniscient being. He was still human. She'd still been planted firmly on his side. In fact she hadn't even thought twice about warning him when Eddie's task force idea started to emerge. It hadn't bothered her to view him less as an unbeatable force and more as a man. Even as a man, she had believed in him as a hero.

A man.

"You're worth being on time for." "What other girls?" Thinking about his flirty responses made her blush again.

And then it hit her.

She was attracted to The Flash.

She exhaled like she'd been punched in the gut. Secretly meeting him had gotten her more and more invested emotionally, and the attraction felt like mental cheating on Eddie. She looked up quickly, afraid that her thoughts showed on her face somehow. Her hands went to her mouth of their own accord. That was why she had dropped him so fast after that night, without letting him explain or justify his actions. It was the perfect excuse to break off any contact, because just being in contact with him was getting more and more confusing. She had felt guilty.

Iris felt her pulse quicken the more she dwelt on it. The Flash had flustered her so much at the hospital she had forgotten her coffee. Their last meeting before the attack he hadn't even wanted to leave. Eddie was a good person and she loved him. But the fact remained that she had dropped The Flash less because of what had happened that night, even though it had been terrifying and upsetting, and more because she hadn't wanted to deal with her feelings.

Well she was dealing with them now. Now she felt guilty about both. She was drifting away from Eddie and withdrawing support from someone she had really believed in. Someone who seemed to really need it. Attraction or not, she still believed in him as a hero and helper for the city. She couldn't just drop him again. Not after the other night, not after the death of his friend.

Great. Now she was in the middle of a huge problem with no easy answers. Might as well chuck in Barry on top of it all and have a huge guilt fest of difficult situations.

"Iris?"

She started and looked up. There was Barry, as if her thoughts had just conjured him there. Her best friend. Her best friend who loved her. She stared at him for a second, mouth open, until she registered the look of concern on his face as he stared back.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You look upset."

Iris couldn't help but smile. Barry was dealing with plenty lately she was sure, and yet his first concern was her. "I'm fine. There's just a lot going on right now."

His gaze flickered and dropped. "Yeah, I guess there is." He attempted a reassuring smile that would have fooled most people. It didn't fool Iris.

"Are you okay?" She countered. "You look…sad." It was true. He had the same look he'd worn for much of the first year after his mother had been killed. She didn't like that at all. Feelings or no feelings, he was still her best friend.

He smiled wider this time, putting more effort into his act. "Yeah…no, I was just worried about you. And work stuff was really hard today, so…"

She stood up, came around the desk, and tilted her head up to look him straight in the eye. "Barry Allen, I don't believe you."

His eyes skittered away from hers. "I'm fine. I'm okay. I should head up." He gestured to the stairs as he backed away.

Iris grabbed his arm. "Barry, wait. I know things are really weird lately. I'm sorry we haven't seen each other much. Maybe we should have lunch or go to a movie soon."

He hesitated a fraction of a second before he nodded, but it was enough for Iris to know that he didn't really believe it would happen. He looked spent. Like he'd run a long race and still come in last. He turned away with a half smile and headed for the stairs, looking more defeated by the moment.

Iris spotted her father headed out of the Captain's office and hurried over. "Hey, Dad."

"Hi, honey. How was work today?"

"Dad, is Barry okay?"

Joe's head came up from the file he'd been reading. A crease formed between his eyebrows as he answered. "Yeah, as far as I know. You haven't been around very much lately. Everything okay between you two?"

Iris refused to be distracted from her original question. "He just looks…different. Like something really bad happened." She tried to ignore the one thing she knew had happened recently in Barry's life, she already knew plenty about that. She worried there was something else.

Joe looked towards the stairs Barry had just climbed, carefully phrasing his reply. "The world can be a cruel place, Iris. And nobody seems to know it better than Barry." He gave her a rueful smile and headed to his desk as if the matter was settled.

Iris headed back for her laptop, feeling more unsettled by the second. First The Flash and now her best friend. Was there some terrible cloud of depression settling over the world?

The hope she'd given Robert seemed so far away now. She stopped at the desk and gripped its edge, resisting the urge to stamp her feet.

Enough. It was time to start doing something. She'd hidden too long now. She took a deep breath as she thought about what she was about to do.

Minutes later she had hastily told Eddie she didn't feel well and was heading home. She'd promised not to write about The Arrow's death. But people needed hope. And she was going to give it to them.