"Hey Eddie."
"Hey Joe, my mom made Iris some chicken soup." He said passing it to Joe. Iris had gotten sick and left their apartment to stay at Joe's, telling him to stay away so she wouldn't make him sick.
"Thanks we will need it when she starts to eat."
"How is she?"
"Still sick, and a nightmare to handle."
"What?" Eddie asked not comprehending. Joe left to the kitchen without answering.
Eddie went upstairs to Iris's room. She looks miserable, sweaty, tire, bags under her eyes, her hair in disarray and Kleenex all over her bed.
Iris sneezed loudly. "Bless you."
Iris turn to Eddie looking pissed off. "What the hell do you want?" she said sounding congested. She sneezed again.
"I brought you some chicken soup my mom made and I just wanted to check you were okay."
"Do I look okay, no I'm not, so take your stupid chicken soup and get out."
"What?"
"Get the fuck out." She screamed throwing him an empty box of Kleenex.
Affronted and surprise by her behavior he leaves the room and goes downstairs.
"Hey Joe, sorry I'm late, I was…" Barry rushes in.
"I know son." Barry had been saving ship passengers stranded in the middle of the ocean.
Eddie interrupted "Maybe she should go to a doctor, she's acting…
"Moody, bitchy." Says Barry.
"Yeah."
"It's always been like that since she was little." Says Joe.
"Always?"
"Barry's the only one that can handle it."
"Seriously."
"When she was a little I would let her get away with it because she was little. Then Barry and Iris became friends and it was a god send."
"I wouldn't say that. I think this the first time I didn't make her sick."
Eddie looked at Barry with a questioning look.
"Whenever I got sick with the flu, Iris will get the flu too."
Ever since they were little, when he got sick Iris was sure to follow. Their parents would try to keep them apart, but she would end up sick anyway. Being best friends means they shared everything and Iris being a hugger and him being almost always the recipient of her hugs meant that they would share germs constantly. Now with his super healing the flu probably came and went within minutes. Iris wasn't so lucky.
"Yeah, but you're the only one that can make her eat and mellow out, that to me it's a miracle."
Joe pats Barry's shoulder "Okay Bear go upstairs and do you thing." Barry takes the bowl of soup Joe had made while shaking his head.
"What the hell could he possibly do that will not make her want to bite his head off." Eddie follow Barry upstairs.
"Hey flower."
"Why can't I be miserable in peace, is that too much to ask." She said burying her face on her pillow.
"I brought you some chicken soup."
"I don't want any." Screamed Iris.
"I'll sing for you." He knew she couldn't resist. He had discovered early in that Iris loves his voice. It was something he discover accidentally. He had been sick with the flu and soon after she was sick as well. He felt bad when he learned he had given it to her so as soon as he was better he ran to Iris's side. She was being really mean to him but he understood that she was sick and so he sang her a song that had been stuck in his head at the time. Almost immediately her mood changed.
She immediately turns to him giving him her full attention and he starts singing that same song he sang to her that first time.
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl, my girl, my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl
My girl
I've got so much honey, the bees envy me
I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees
Well, I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl, my girl, my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl
My girl
Eddie couldn't believe it, Barry can sing, like really sing. And his girlfriend loved it.
It was weird she looked physically sick but she was smiling brightly at Barry.
"Now will you eat."
"Will you sing to me again." She pleaded softly.
"Of course." Barry starts singing again as he feeds her.
I don't need no money, fortune or fame
I got all the riches baby, one man can claim
Well, I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl, my girl, my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl
My girl
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
With my girl
I've even got the month of may
With my girl
Talkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout
Talkin' 'bout my girl, my girl
That's all I can talk about
Is my girl
She was almost done with the soup and when she smiled and looked at him. She looked blissful despite being sick.
"I just got a flasforward."
"Did you? What do you see."
"We are in our home, our kids and grandkids have gone and we are alone in our house. We are in our eighties and we're exactly in this same position. I am sick with the flu and you sing to me while feeding me soup and thinking I never looked more beautiful, and I look at you with nothing but pure love and adoration in my eyes. And despite feeling physically miserable, there nowhere else I rather be." She whispers before falling asleep. Barry kisses her forehead before leaving the room.
He sees Eddie in the hallway looking heartbroken. He probably heard what Iris said. He feels bad for Eddie; he can't help it and though the hallucination was something he wanted in his and Iris future, he knew that it was nothing more than a hallucination.
"Don't worry Eddie, it's just a hallucination, she gets those when she's sick."
"Doesn't make me feel any better."
"I'm sorry, but it's the truth. Once she gets better she won't remember. So there's no point of making a big deal about it." Barry left downstairs, his heart as broken as Eddie's. Though her hallucinations always involved him somehow. This is the first time she's hallucinated of them as a couple in the future, and it breaks his heart because it feels that only in her subconscious will she chose him.