The song for this chapter is Groove Amanda -Think Twice

BARRY'S POV:

I walked over to the stove where Iris was scrambling the last of the eggs. She had a few spots of flour on her face and clothes. "You didn't have to cook us all breakfast."

She gave a tight smile. "I did." She flung out the spatula, almost hitting me in the face. "How do you like your eggs?" She rolled her eyes. "Over easy, of course." She dumped the cooked eggs onto the plate and started on my eggs.

I placed my hand on her shoulder.

She jumped, her big brown eyes met mine. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, taking a large sip of the vanilla nut coffee she was obsessed with. "Never been better." Her voice unconvincing. "I need you to finish help setting the plates. How do you know Felicity?"

My brow rose. Was she really jealous?

"Uh, I met her when I was away." My eyes went to find her and Oliver talking in the corner.

"Oh, okay. She's pretty. Do you think she's pretty? Certainly, a little edgy and dark, but still pretty, right?"

I blew out a breath. I had a feeling I couldn't answer this without being wrong. "Yeah, she is. Are you sure you're okay?"

She shoved my plate of personalized eggs to my chest. "If you ask me that one more time I'm going to stab you with this fork." She fake grinned.

I gave her a look. "Okay. Thanks for the breakfast."

While we ate, I noticed Cisco shaking his head in warning at Felicity. She just waved him off with a laugh. My eyes found Iris and Eddie talking at the other side of the table. She kept eyeing Felicity. Maybe I should've watched her make all the food. No, Iris wasn't crazy. She definitely seemed off, but I had a feeling last night was catching up to her now.

"So, Oliver," Eddie started. "What's it like to be a billionaire in Starling City?"

My eyes went to Iris. I knew she kept tabs on The Flash while I was gone and I hoped she didn't make the connection if she hadn't already. I swear she could tell. But if she knew, why wouldn't she confront me about it? Maybe I was being paranoid.

Oliver faced him. "To say the least, it has its advantages. Although, there are a lot of citizens that rather not have my family in a position of power. We are trying to rejuvenate the city, a rebranding of the company so to speak."

"How do you know Barry?"

Oliver looked at me with a warm grin that I knew was for show. "I gave him some work to do in the community for a few months. He actually worked a lot with Felicity, as well. She's in the IT department at Queen Consolidated."

They all nodded in unison, then looked at me.

I looked at Cisco for help. "You and Felicity should talk tech sometime."

"Right," He nodded. "I'll put it on my calendar."

I gave him a look.

"Or we could do it now." He turned to Felicity.

They started talking about a bunch of stuff that went over everybody else's heads so they turned back to their own conversations.

After we finished I started collecting plates.

Joe stood. "I got it. You enjoy your company."

"It's okay, I can handle it."

He gave me a stern look. "Barry,"

I raised my hands in caution. "Okay."

Oliver patted me on the back. "I needed to talk to you anyway." He walked to the hall where we could have some privacy. "We're going to find out who did this."

I shook my head. "I don't want anybody else getting hurt, Oliver. Let the police handle it."

"It won't be a problem." He insisted.

"Oliver, leave it alone. It's not your business to handle."

Hurt flashed in his blue eyes. "You're my business, Barry."

I sighed, my hand ran through my hair. "I'm not Thea. I'm not your responsibility."

He took a step back and gave a curt nod. "My mistake for caring too much."

I sagged. Hurting his feelings wasn't the goal. I just wanted him to leave my dad's case alone. I could handle it myself. He'd only be in the way.

"I didn't mean that. I just...you've already done so much for me and this could be dealt with my Joe and Eddie."

He nodded. "Okay, if you're sure. You seem to be doing okay."

I shrugged. "I have all these amazing people around me, how could I not be?"

"You mean, you have Iris?"

"I don't have Iris."

Now was not the time to focus on anything besides my dad. We both knew it. Starting something now felt wrong. Like she said last night, she'd be there for me this time. I was trusting that she would. Even if I pushed her away, I hoped she'd remain strong.

Oliver looked back at her helping out Joe with the dishes. "I think you do have Iris. And it's scaring you both."

I came to watch her. Even in pj's and her messy bun she was still gorgeous. Maybe she was more beautiful this way than when she dressed up.

"How am I supposed to pursue something with her right now? She knows I'm hiding something. She won't buy that I was working for your company. She's going to figure out my secret," I whispered. "When she does it's not going to be pretty. I don't know how to handle this one."

She laughed at something Joe said as they finished loading the dishwasher.

I felt a smile fall on my lips.

"Look, I trained you so you could keep your family safe. If you think telling Iris would keep her safer than not telling her then it's your decision. I just wanted you to have the right tools to be better at your job."

I nodded. "What if she hates me afterward? What if I lose her?"

"You won't. I see the way she looks at you. She's very protective of you. You should probably tell Felicity to cool it down a bit."

I grinned. "Maybe you should tell her. You're the jealous one."

His face turned red, something I'd never seen happen. "Please, I am not jealous of you and Felicity."

My brow arched. "Really, dude?"

"Dude, what are we in high school?" He playfully punched my arm. "Oh, I forgot. One of us is."

I laughed. It was rare to see Oliver in such a happy mood. He didn't have the best family situation either. I knew his job as the Arrow was a filler, he needed to feel useful like I did. Although, his need was a little more deep seeded than mine.

"You know you always have a place in Starling City. Come by whenever you need to." He offered a half smile.

I nodded. "Thanks, for everything."

He held out his hand for a shake.

IRIS' POV:

Linda came over as I finished putting the corn pudding in the stove. "You sure are fast at cooking."

I shrugged. "My dad prepped half of it."

We turned to lean against the counter. The sound of Felicity's laughter drew our attention. Her and Cisco were talking animatedly about science stuff, with Barry chiming in often.

I couldn't help but feel some form of unrequited love. My eyes narrowed.

"She has got to go." Linda chimed, obviously jealous of how excited Cisco was to talk to her.

"Yup." I agreed.

Cisco and Linda left to change and let their families know they would be spending half of their Thanksgiving dinner here. I mean, I know Barry needs support right now, but I didn't think it was that serious that they needed to miss their Thanksgiving with their families. My dad and I were enough to comfort Barry. Okay, I wanted Barry to myself. But I couldn't be selfish with him. Besides, this must've been how he felt when he saw me with Eddie, and I was the one that made a big deal about not trusting him and not knowing enough. So basically, I had no room to talk.

When I got out the shower the last person I expected to see was Barry sitting on my bed.

I jumped about ten feet in the air, mainly because I only had on a bra and undies. In that moment I was incredibly glad I didn't pick any granny panties.

"What are you doing in here?" I rushed to put on the clothes I had layed on my bed. A green dress and browns boots.

His eyes never left me. "I just wanted to talk."

He wore a black dress shirt and dark jeans. Yum.

"About what?" I reached behind me to zip up the dress but it wouldn't budge.

He rose. His hand easily worked the zipper. His warm breath on the back of my neck. "Have I told you how much I love your hair like this?" He turned me toward him, his hands on my waist. "You look beautiful."

I couldn't keep the grin from my face. I'd been feeling pretty useless the last few hours. I didn't think he'd been paying attention to me at all.

"What did you want to tell me?" I tried to stay focused.

His forehead creased. "I think you already know."

"I'd rather you tell me."

He cleared his throat. "I know now isn't the right time with everything going on, but I needed you to know." He looked all shy and vulnerable. "I'm in love with you, Iris."

All I could do was stare at him with wide eyes. Not at all what I thought he was going to say.

"Please, say something."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. Of course, I felt the same way. Of course, I wanted to say it back. But I honestly thought Barry trusted me enough to tell me he was The Flash. I was beyond thinking it could be anybody else. The way my body reacted to Barry the same way it did The Flash's, I couldn't imagine it being anyone different. It just made sense.

I knew it would look like I was being a bitch, but I wanted him to share everything with me. Well, not everything, but the really important stuff. This was important. So my spike of anger wasn't unjustified. Was it?

My eyes stung as I looked down. "I know who you are."

"What do you mean?"

I pushed him a few feet back as my eyes glared at him. "I know you're The Flash, Barry." I angrily whispered.

His jaw hardened. "How long have you known?"

My arms folded across my chest. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

He closed the distance between us, his green eyes pleading. "I didn't want you to get hurt."

"I'm going to need a better explanation than that, Barry."

He ran his hand through his hair as he fought for a better answer. "You mean a lot to me, you always have. When it happened, I didn't think we'd be friends again, so there was no need to tell you. Then we became more and you were writing about me and it was dangerous and I had to keep you safe and away from it, but you kept showing up and putting yourself in danger. Once I knew you actually cared about me I couldn't tell you because I knew you'd show up at every sighting to make I was okay. And if you got hurt again because of me I don't what I'd do."

I tried to take all that in, tried to stow my anger and listen to what he had to say. "Is that why you left? You thought you were protecting me?"

"It's not that simple, but the short version is yes."

I think part of me wanted it to not be true, I didn't want to believe he wouldn't tell me something like this, but I could understand his reasoning's. If I were in his position I couldn't say I wouldn't do the same.

"Who else knows?"

"Everyone down there expect Linda and Eddie."

I nodded. "So how do you and Felicity really know each other? Don't give me that look, I'm not jealous."

He didn't looked convinced. "She helped figure some stuff out. So did Oliver."

"So, did you do anything with her?"

He grinned, clearly amused that I was now the jealous one. "Not when all I thought about was you."

"Iris." A familiar voice called.

My eyes squeezed tight. "What?"

"Dinner's ready, wake up." Barry shook my sleeping form.

I shot him a dirty look. "How long was I asleep?"

"Like an hour and a half."

I groaned once I realized that conversation was only a dream. Fuck me!

"What's going on with you?" He sat down next to me.

I groaned into the pillow. "I had a dream and you were perfect."

His brow lifted suggestively. "Another one?"

"What? Not a sex dream, Bear. Wait, what do you mean another one?"

He laughed. "You're very vocal when you sleep."

I threw the pillow at him. "Bite me!"

"Not today," He picked me up out the bed with a strength that could only be classified as sexy. "You gotta hold me together, remember?"

He wore the same black t-shirt and jeans from my dream. Freaky.

"You should change your clothes." I suggested.

He set me down on my feet. I looked down at my green dress and went to my closet.

"Why is that?"

"Because you stink."

He came to lean against my open closet door. "I don't stink. I smell great, Ms. I have drool on my face."

My eyes widened. "Well, get it off." I combed through my dresses.

His hand wiped at my face. "Why are you changing? You look nice."

"Because," I held up a blue dress to my body. He shook his head. I put it back. "I was wearing this in my dream." I grabbed a purple dress. He looked interested. I turned around for him to unzip me. I stepped out the dress and threw on the purple one. "Besides, I don't think I'm ready for what happened."

His eyes narrowed. "Do I want to know?"

Barry deserved some time to grieve, time to heal. I wasn't right of me to push him on this silly fixation. Honestly, at this point, if he told me I wouldn't even be angry.

"Probably not." I stood in front of the door length mirror. "Yea or nay?"

He came to stand behind me. His eyes met mine in the mirror as his hands grabbed my hips. "I think you're still the most beautiful girl in the world, no matter what you have on."

My heart.

I turned back to him, his hands still on my waist. "How are you doing?"

"I want everyone to stop talking about it, I know that sounds bad, but that's what I want." He sighed. "My aunt Jessie called, she's on her way now. She said she had a big surprise for me."

"Don't you hate your aunt Jessie?"

He nodded. "So much, it's not even funny. I hope she doesn't want me to move with her."

Worry sprouted. What if she did want to take Barry away?

"But that's all the way in Wisconsin."

I tried to think about life without Barry. It seemed really dull. I'd still have my friends, but Barry was irreplaceable.

"Hey," He hugged me to him. "I'm not going anywhere."

When we finally made our way downstairs everyone was sitting around the table. My dad zeroed in on Barry holding my hand. He cleared his throat and I turned red. Barry pulled away with a chuckle. We sat next to each other.

"Who'd like to say grace?"

"I will," Barry stood.

We all looked up at Barry's unexpected volunteer.

"Okay," Joe nodded. "Thank you, son."

"I'll make it quick, I know we're all hungry."

The food did smell good. Kudos to my dad.

A few chuckled.

"I'm thankful for having each of you in my life." He looked at each of us. "Without you, I don't know what I'd be going through right now." He gave a soft smile. "Joe, you've looked out for me a lot over the years. Taught me how to shave. Talked to me about girls."

A light laughter filled the room. Linda and I locked eyes. She winked. I grinned.

"Each of you has been there for me through tough times and I really appreciate the support. I'm sure you all had better things to do than spend time babying me,"

"Not really, no." Cisco grinned.

We laughed.

"I love you guys," Barry looked down at me, his eyes piercing.

Did he just say that and mean what I thought he meant in front of everybody?

He sat down and I could feel all eyes on me.

Well, I think it's safe to say he didn't have any feelings for Felicity, so where did that feeling of unrequited love come from?

After we finished dinner the boys cleaned up dinner, leaving Linda, Felicity, and I alone to socialize.

"So," She started. "I get the feeling you two don't like me very much."

Linda and I shared a look.

"Yeah, that's right." Linda said.

I couldn't help but laugh at the look on Felicity's face.

"Look," I pulled her closer so we were out of the boy's ear range. "It's nothing personal. You just sort of showed up and stepped on our territory."

She pursed her lips. "That's what I thought this was about." She gestured behind her. "I'm not here to steal your men, I promise." She turned to Linda. "Cisco has a brilliant mind and it's rare I get to meet someone that's on my level. You should be lucky. He's really into you, he stares at you every five seconds."

Linda grinned. "Really?"

She nodded, then turned towards me. "And since the day I met Barry he's done nothing but talk about you and only you, and I wouldn't admit it to him, but I got tired of hearing your name." She offered a small smile. "So are we cool now?"

Linda and I nodded.

"Sorry, I was a bitch." I offered.

"Yeah, she's sorry she was a bitch."

I glared at Linda. She cracked a smile. Now I could see how I confused her sarcasm with bitchiness.

"Besides, I have my eye on someone else." Felicity looked back at Oliver.

My eyes widened. "You and Oliver Queen?" I gave her a funny look.

Her eyes flared. "Everyone always says it like that. I know a goth and a preppy boy doesn't make sense."

"No, it doesn't." Linda agreed. "But he is really hot. And rich."

My brow rose. "What about Cisco?"

"Oh, Oliver's not my type." She waved it off. "Too many muscles, not enough brains. I like em scrawny and nerdy." She cut her eye at Cisco, who was stuffing his face with pumpkin pie. She rolled her eyes as she tried to hide her smile.

"Attraction rarely makes sense." I added.

Felicity shrugged. "It seems to make sense between you and Barry." She seemed a little sad. "I can't even get Oliver to ask me out, let alone see me that way."

Now I felt bad about wanting to scratch her eyes out.

"Have you tried not dressing so depressingly?" Linda asked. "I mean, you're a cute girl, but all that black does nothing for your figure. How long are you planning on staying?"

"A few days. Why?"

Linda smiled. "I think we can help you."

She waved it off. "Oh, you don't have to do that."

Linda nodded. "Yes, we do. Trust me, you'll look fabulous."

"What are you girls talking about?" Cisco asked, hanging his arm around Linda's shoulders.

She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You didn't bring me any pie."

"You can get a taste." He leaned down to kiss her and I almost jumped up and down with joy.

Damn. I didn't know Cisco has game. I did not know.

My eyes flew to Barry, worried he'd feel some type of way about it.

He walked this way, two pieces of pumpkin pie in his hands. He noticed Cisco and Linda and grinned as he walked by them to get to me. "Pie?"

"Thanks." I took it as I followed him to the couch. "Are you okay with that?" I pointed behind us.

He nodded. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

My brow rose. "Maybe because you used to date her? And Cisco's your best friend." I whispered.

He pulled me onto his lap. "If they're happy then I'm happy. Besides, I don't really have my eye on Linda."

My eyes went to my dad, he was talking to Oliver by the fireplace. I looked back at Barry. "What's going on with you? My dad's right there."

"Joe knows one way or another we'll end up together."

I wanted to be mad at him for thinking I'd always be available to him, but my dad supporting whatever we were made me happy. Now I was wondering if he talked to Barry about it because just yesterday he told me we couldn't pursue anything because he would be staying here.

"If my dad becomes your legal guardian then we're going to be kind of like brother and sister." I took a bite of the pie. Damn good pie.

"Thankfully, no one will look at us and think we're related."

Someone turned on the game and for a while we were all plugged into the tv. The doorbell rung.

"I think that's Caitlin and Ronnie." I jumped up.

"Are we too late for dessert?" Ronnie asked.

Caitlin rolled her eyes.

"Come on in." I hugged them both.

When I looked around the room I noticed how content everyone was. Cisco and Linda holding hands, Oliver and Felicity chatting closely, and my dad sipping on a beer with Eddie. Despite the death that still hung in the air, today ended up pretty nice.

I went go sit back down, thinking this was one of the best Thanksgiving's I've had in a long time. A lot could change in a few months.

Car sirens went off as the windows broke. Shards of glass flew into the air as a few screamed. I was pushed to the ground inhumanly fast as Barry hovered over me.

A/N: Legit been writing this all day, hope yall like it :)