Chapter 2 [West Household—an hour later]
[A/N: I'll admit I drew some of this off of the advance trailer for the next episode in January. Hope it works!]
Barry slowly opened his eyes on that Christmas morning. For the first time in years, his heart soared on that blessed day. His father no longer languished at Iron Heights. His friends were happy. Caitlin seemed to be moving on with Jay. Iris' career was taking off. He was back home….
Overhead a sprig of mistletoe beckoned mischievously. In a stray bit of breeze it seemed to wave in greetings….
…greetings toward the previous night….
…toward his lady fair…toward his detective….
His eyes sparkled at the little bit of plant. He chuckled warmly allowing himself to relax and indulge. While he had resisted his heart thus far for various reasons, he'd definitely raised her flag above his ramparts on the previous evening.
"What are you doing?" he queried in disbelief. Given the moment going on between the Wests on the one hand and Caitlin and Jay on the other, she'd requested a retreat of sorts.
The cascading moonbeams lit her up. Their imbedded pixie dust caught the sparkle in her eyes and the electric flash in her smile. "Just leaving a souvenir of the great night for my boyfriend. I didn't think he'd mind." She smirked at him mischievously while waving the piece of mistletoe at him. She tied a piece of string to its base before grabbing a chair and standing on it. With a quick loop of the string around the beam over the bed, she'd secured the sprig right over his pillow. "There. Sorry I have my shift tomorrow otherwise well…."
He smiled at her. "I *could* take a raincheck, you know."
"Oh you could huh?" She eyed the two glasses of egg nog sitting on his nightstand. "How about we seal it with a toast then?"
"Okay. Whatever the lady wants." He handed her one of the glasses and then raised the other. "To us then."
"To us. To the guy who makes me feel special and alive finally. May we be able to sustain this great moment," she declared affectionately.
"I'll drink to that. I'll also drink to the woman who makes me feel like I'm more than just a genius. Thanks, Patty," he affirmed. "Cheers?"
"Cheers." She drank three gulps down before setting down the glass. "I need a memory to fix this moment in my mind."
"I think I know just the one," he agreed while embracing her. He gazed deeply into her eyes allowing him to flow as much on Amor's breeze as he normally did on the speed force. Then he slowly moved his face toward hers. His lips first brushed hers before locking on in their special bond.
A stray shock stirred them both for a second before they settled into the moment.
Before he relaxed a bit. It felt great for him to be so open in that moment and uninhibited in his feelings for her.
"Wow," she gasped when they came up for air.
"Hope that's a great memory," he supposed with a grin for her.
"Just think of it when you look at that mistletoe. Merry Christmas, Barry," she wished him.
"Merry Christmas, Patty," he wished in turn and kissing her yet again…..
"She's finally my girl. Nice Christmas present!" He rose from his bed and threw his robe on over his red t-shirt and blue sweats. He crept down the stairs not wanting to wake anyone. Still he smelled the coffee perking from the kitchen. "Joe would've left an hour ago. Iris should still be asleep."
"Maybe I decided not to sleep through a great morning? Lots to think about," Iris supposed from the dining room table. "Merry Christmas, Barry. You doing okay this morning?"
"Doing great. Yeah it's a great morning," he replied with a grin. "Merry Christmas, Iris. Have to go in?"
"Nope. I have the day off. Dad has our usual gift exchange later along with the ham later," she noted. "He said you weren't going in either."
"I might run in." He shrugged while super speeding to the coffee maker and back with the freshly brewed pot in one hand and a mug in the other. "Speedy refill anyone?"
She chuckled. "You'd be a hit at Jitters. Wonder what Guinness would think?"
"I'll break that record easy," he replied flippantly. "Dust all the orders off in under a half a minute around the room and break the time barrier too."
"Yeah. Any of that speed reserved for a certain blonde detective?" she suggested.
He nodded and sipped on his coffee. Inspired by the mistletoe, his mind had already begun formulating such an idea. 'I was possibly planning a picnic later. If Patty has to work, I'll brighten the day." His grin swelled another half inch or so and grew admittedly dreamier. "Your Dad's in on it."
"Oh I bet he is. He's so happy for you both." She headed back over for the fridge and opened the door. There, on the bottom shelf, she eyed the leftover cold cuts from the previous night's spread. "Just that?"
He shrugged. "She loves a great turkey and Swiss on wheat. I came up with this knockout blend of mayo and Italian dressing that she keeps going on about. Don't want to ruin the dinner later but I figured she could use some real TLC."
She smiled at him. "Any girl in this situation can use it. Great for you, Barry. As I said the other day, I'm so happy for you. Given what happened with Linda last year, I was worried that you were so absorbed in your hero stuff. You know?"
He looked around the room, trying to avoid her eyes at that statement. She was right about Linda of course. Then again there was the whole deal between Iris and him too which his messing with the timeline to stop the tidal wave had derailed as well. You have no idea. "Yeah that. It's all a balance. Got to learn to deal with it. I was hoping that you would find someone too. I know you still miss Eddie. Sorry."
"It's all right," she conceded with a heavy sigh. "When it happens, it'll happen. Seriously though, there's the big question. Have you talked to her about the speed stuff?"
"Iris, it's called a secret identity for a reason," he pointed out. "I figure I'd see where things go. That's something for later."
She rolled her eyes at that assessment.
He felt the great mood balloon suddenly deflating. "Oh I know that look."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Barry," she denied even if he'd hit the mark squarely.
"You're doing the whole stewing and won't face me thing. Iris, why does Patty have to know? What if it ruins everything?"
Iris turned to face him. "Because it's not fair to her not knowing. Look, Barry, ever since she's been Dad's partner and met you, Patty has been thrown into one situation after another. Dad told me she faced off with a shark-thing. There's the whole Martin deal. She saw Zoom holding you up like a broken rag doll at the precinct much as he did in front of Linda, our co-workers and me. You just saved her from the Trickster and stopped her from dealing with Martin. Hell, Snart was waiting for us the other night, remember? Look at how Zoom used Linda to get to you. I lost Eddie because of our version of Wells." She took another sip of her coffee to let the point soak in before pressing on. "You take on a lot of risk. That's great for you. You're such an awesome hero. However each of us has to choose whether or not to be close to you. Dad, Cisco, Caitlin and I choose to be close to you. You've get people like the Arrow to ally themselves with you. Still look at Linda. She needs time away to deal with things. People have different reactions to situations."
He ground his teeth. He so wanted to protect Patty from the truth not only for the sake of their relationship but for their jobs too with the CCPD. Still he trusted Iris to have a valid perspective on such things. "You really think she has to know?"
"Barry, any girl's who's with you is going to be doing the whole waiting for you to come home thing," she pointed out. "That's a decision the person in question has to make. I had to do that with Eddie. I lost him but the time we had was really, really special. I want you to have that with Patty. Okay? You two have something special going. By the way, I told Linda about Patty and you."
"Great. She's really going to be ticked," he groused.
"Actually Linda's really happy you're with someone who's getting you grounded. She saw a difference in you during the whole Zoom thing. She wanted you to know that she wished you'd been honest with her when you two were dating about the Flash. She agrees with me, Barry. Tell Patty. Okay?" Iris finished her coffee and washed the cup out before putting it away. "I have faith in her." She rubbed him on the shoulder. "Trust in the egg nog and mistletoe, right?" She checked her watch. "Sorry. I promised Wally I'd meet him for a coffee. He'll be here later by the way."
"That's cool. Glad that you decided to accept him," he expressed.
"Despite what Francine did, he's my brother. Dad's so excited about this. I'm glad you're good with him. Anyhow you let me deal with Wally this afternoon. You take care of Patty. Okay? Maybe put on that sweater again and work some of that fast magic?" She chuckled at him. "Have faith." With that she headed up the stairs again.
For several minutes, Barry sat at the table muddling over the situation. He still didn't want to tell Patty about his double life. He didn't want to wreck what they had built. However he still remembered what his detective had told him after the second Grodd encounter:
You won't always get away with being a wiseass. I'm disappointed that you didn't enough faith in yourself to share the truth with me about your Dad being in town….
And in that, he had his answer. Patty would want the truth. Where they went from there was up to them both.
Risk comes with my being a cop. That goes with the job…..
He sighed. This was going to be a helluva picnic. That was for sure…..