The sun was just about to set for the day when there was a knock at Oliver's door. Making his way to the door, Oliver grabbed a hunting knife and checked to see who it was. He put the knife in a nearby drawer, before opening the door for the Central City detective.

"Mr Queen, its good to see you. I apologise if this is a bit late..." Joe said, extending his hand to him.

"You too, Detective West," Oliver greeted, shaking the man's hand, "and please call me Oliver."

"Oliver then. You can keep calling me Detective West," Joe told him in a serious tone. Oliver straightened up, nodding his head. He thought the detective was serious till he saw the mocking grin on the man's face.

"I'm kidding. Lighten up. You can call me Joe."

Immediately the atmosphere relaxed between the two men.

"Where is Ba-" Joe's question was cut off by a very excited voice calling his name from the direction of the living room.

"Uncle Joe!" Suddenly a small four-year old was hugging Joe, who was caught by surprise, and before he could return the hug, the kid was already bouncing excitedly in front of him.

"Why are you here? Is dad with you? Did you bring the cop car? Can I ride in the cop car? Is Iris here?" Barry started asking questions one after the other, not giving Joe the chance to answer.

"Barry, calm down," Oliver tried calming the kid down," and why are you out of bed? You're sick."

Barry crossed his arms denying all facts that he's sick, unfortunately his statement was ruined when a row of coughs escaped at the end. Honestly, how the kid was even standing is astonishing considering how weak he was earlier the day. How kid's work will always be a mystery to Oliver. Joe bent down to give Barry a proper hug.

"Hey, kiddo. I came to get you. Are you okay? You look a little pale." Joe asked, concern lacing his voice. Oliver noticed the kid's face did pale and he also seemed light headed. Out of some paternal instinct Joe took Barry by the shoulders, guiding him in a chair to sit down. Oliver immediately went to fetch the kid a glass of water. When he came back Joe was talking softly to a still pale looking, but smiling, Barry.

"Take it easy, Barry. You can't get so excited. Want to watch cartoons?" Joe asked. Oliver handed the water over to Barry, before moving in search for the TV's remote control. Finally finding it he skipped through channels till he found cartoons.

"What do you say?" Joe asked, pointedly looking at Barry. The kid mumbled a 'thank you' before his attention was entirely fixed on the colourful figures. Joe was definitely taking this well, immediately switching to 'parent mode'. Its not hard for Oliver to see that this man was a father.

When the two men moved to the kitchen Felicity finally made an appearance. She gave the detective a friendly greeting and the three of them began discussing Barry. Oliver informed them about Caitlin's message.

"Right. So I guess you can get your things together and we can hit the road. Its better not to waste time," Joe said. Oliver nodded, turning to Felicity.

"Will you be fine? I can stay..." Oliver began, but the look Felicity sent him shut him up.

"No, go! We'll be fine. Arsenal and Diggle can handle Starling for a little while longer. I'm sure no mega, evil bad guy is planning something and even if there is, like I said, we can handle it," Felicity reassured him. He tried protesting again, but the blonde just rolled her eyes not hearing any of it. Reluctantly he caved in, going to pack a duffle bag.

-TA-TF-

It was already dark out when they finally hit the road. Usually at this time Oliver would either be in Verdant or out patrolling around Starling. The lack of work these last two days got Oliver more worked up than relaxed. He can't help but feel like this is the calm before the storm. Like Starling was just too quiet. Starling City was bad, not as bad as Gotham, but definitely worse than Central City. So of course it being this quiet ,with only one amature jewel thief, got Oliver worked up. Looking at the lights of passing cars, Oliver shook the feeling off. He'll deal with it as soon as he gets back.

Oliver glanced into the rear view mirror, watching Barry fidget in the back seat. Since its already dark, and will take them a couple of hours to get to Central, Felicity insisted in packing a pillow and blanket for Barry, so he could sleep if he wants to. He's pretty sure the makeshift bed is against traffic rules. Speaking of which...

"Shouldn't he be in a car seat?" Oliver asked, turning his attention to Joe. Joe glanced at Barry through the rear view mirror, before sending Oliver a sheepish smile.

"I...forgot the car seat. Actually I don't think we have one..." Joe said.

"Does that mean you have to pull yourself over for a ticket?" The joke made the detective laugh.

"Its not like I'm speeding- plus I'm sure Oliver Queen can talk anyone out of getting a ticket," Oliver wanted to object, but his response just died down when Joe gave him a knowing look, "don't act like you never talked yourself out of a ticket. I've seen you break record time driving that motorbike of yours from Starling to Central."

Oliver gave a short laugh, not having any good response to that. The atmosphere settled after that and the two men, and kid, drove further in companionable silence. A couple of miles further, he heard a whimper from the back seat. He turned, asking Barry if he was okay. The kid was stretched out over the entire length of the back seat, clutching his abdomen. Barry shook his that no he was not okay. After a little more probing they found out that at least they did not need to stop, because Barry was not about to throw up, but the kid only felt 'icky' (Barry's wording). And like any four-year old, Barry wanted to be close to a parental figure, but since neither of his parents were here and Joe was driving that meant Oliver. At first both Joe and Oliver refused, but the kid pulled out the puppydog eyes and damn it no one can resist those, so that's how the billionaire found himself with a giggling four-year old in his lap...again. Joe chuckled, seeing Oliver's frown.

"At least if we get in an accident he's safer in your lap then back there with no seatbelt," Joe commented.

"I have to go against that and say that this is more dangerous." Oliver tightened his hold on Barry, suddenly paranoid. The kid leaning forward, started fiddling with the radio's volume button. Both grown men flinched when Lady Gaga's voice suddenly blared out at full volume. Joe sent Barry a disapproving look while Oliver quickly tried lowering the volume.

"If you want to sit in front you'll have to behave, Bar." Joe says, causing Barry to pout sadly. The kid leaned back, settling in Oliver's lap. After two more occurrences where Barry refused to behave -and almost managed to lose Joe's phone out the window- they heard a siren go off behind them. Seeing the red and blue lights, Oliver turned to give Joe an I-told-you-so-look. He received a shut-up-smartass-look in return.

After about fifteen minutes they drove away ticket free.

"I told you we are going to get pulled over."

"And I told you, you can talk yourself out of getting a ticket."

-TA-TF-

"When did they say they we're going to get here?" Caitlin heard Cisco ask from behind her.

"They got back in Central City late last night and Joe said that they'll be here first thing in the morning," Caitlin answered, turning to face Cisco, "Shouldn't be long now."

A few minutes later they both heard laughter, before a small kid ran into the lab. The kid froze when he saw them. They all just stared at each other and the kid brought his hand up, starting to chew on his thumb. Two figures appeared behind him; Joe and Oliver.

Soon ,after introductions were made, Caitlin found herself staring at the kid. She can't believe this four-year old was Barry. Well, she could, because the kid seemed familiar, but it didn't change the fact that the situation was weird. This was the same person she kissed when she got drunk. (Barry told her and she can't believe that happened. She was so embarrassed when she found out) The kid, probably noticing her stare, turned staring right back at her. Okay this was getting creepy. She turned her attention back on Oliver who was explaining ,once again, what exactly happened. An excited bark interrupted him. The German Shepard made its way to Joe, happily greeting the man by licking his hand.

"Hey, boy. Nice to see you too." Joe said bending dow to rub the dogs ears. Barry, who was standing next to Joe, was staring at the dog with a nervous look, but with an encouraging nod from the detective the kid came forward slowly stretching his hand out to the dog. The German Shepard immediately drew his attention from Joe to Barry, pushing his snout under the kid's hand. Barry gave a gleeful laugh, petting the dog.

"The dog's name is Ginger. He's one of my friends' in the precincts dog. He had to go out of town for a week and asked if I could look after Ginger." Joe explained to Oliver and Barry. The scene made Caitlin want to 'awww' from the cuteness. The dog was sitting in front of Barry, almost as tall as the kid, wagging its tail whenever the kid spoke to him.

"Why did you ask me to come? Did you find a way to-" Oliver glanced at Barry, but luckily the kid was distracted by his new furry friend, "- help Barry?"

"Oh yeah that. Well we managed to get samples, which was hard and I don't want to know how Joe managed that, from one of the other officers Fisher changed and ran some tests, but what we saw was so weird-and worrisome- when the cells were put under-" Cisco started explaining, but was cut off by Caitlin:

"Long story short we can't find anything to turn Barry back ourselves." Caitlin sent Cisco an apologetic look, but right now the details were not important, "and you mentioned Barry was sick right?"

"Yes, but he seems better now. How's this relevant? Kenneth got him sick." Oliver said, confused.

"Well, that's the thing: its not some common cold that got him sick. To put it simply, we noticed that after a while the de aging cells would slowly begin to suffocate, before dying out completely." Cisco's grim tone seemed so out of place for the usually happy man.

"So Barry's...?" Joe couldn't finish the sentence. At Caitlin's nod Joe felt cold fear grip his heart. He can't believe this. If Barry d- if Barry left- what was he supposed to tell Iris? Barry came into their lives so suddenly and now he was going to leave just the same. He remembered that night when he found Barry outside the kid's house. He was in a squad car when the call came through that there was a possible homicide. The address was familiar and at first Joe thought he heard wrong, but then the same address came through a second time. He had thought someone must have made a mistake- there's not a chance it was his long time friend's house- but then he got to the location. Other officers had already arrived and Joe came just in time to see Henry being cuffed. Everyone was busy running around, apparently the kid was missing. Barry was missing? Eventually it was Joe who found the kid, crying in the yard, watching his dad being arrested.

The kid became a permanent figure in their, his and Iris', lives and Joe will be damned if he let the kid go without a fight. He fought for custody over the kid all those years back, he'll fight again.

"What about Fisher? He must know how to reverse whatever he did." Joe asked, determination setting in.

"We tried, but he refuses to say anything." Caitlin answered. She frowned, angry at the man. How could someone be so heartless and refuse to help when people were dying?

"Let me talk to him." Oliver suggested, but Caitlin shook her head.

"Like I said; we tried talking to him. He won't help."

"You couldn't get him to talk. He hasn't been interrogated by the Arrow yet." A dark gleam flickered over Oliver's eyes, making Caitlin swallow nervously.

-TA-TF-

All the adults were busy and Barry was bored. Oliver went to talk to a man and Joe followed him. Caitlin and Cisco were too busy on computers to pay him attention. When they talked they sounded nervous so Barry didn't want to disturb them. He learned that when adults sound nervous its better to leave them alone or they might get mad.

Barry stood up from where he was sitting on the floor and, glancing to make sure no one noticed, made his way out of the room. Ginger picked his head up watching the kid walk away. The dog stood up and started following Barry curiously. The lab was huge! Everything looked like something out of those sci-fi movies that Barry's dad likes to watch. He felt something furry brush his hands and saw Ginger walking next to him. Sliding his fingers in the dog's thick fur, Barry tangled them in the back of Ginger's neck. The two of them made their way through the lab's hallways, glancing into rooms. Walking past a doorway on his right something flashed in the corner of his eye. Barry stopped, turning to look into the room. His fingers slid from the dog's neck and he slowly made his way in. It smelt bad in here. It smelt like burned rubber and the garage. The room was big and filled with metallic shelves. On the shelves were strange looking gadgets. Sliding his fingers along the shelves he scanned through everything in the room. The objects on the tables made him think of the weapons the Kraang used in his TMNT comics. Astonished by everything, Barry failed to notice where he was going and accidentally knocked his knee on a shelf. Something fell off and hit the ground hard.

"Uh oh." Barry mumbled. He quickly ducked out of the room and made his way back down the hall. No matter how far they walked, it felt like the hallways never ended. Another large doorway peeked Barry's interest. The door was closed so Barry reached up, fingers barely brushing the door knob. Finally grabbing hold of the knob, he twisted it and pushed at the same time. The door swung open revealing another large room- only this time there was only one large machine in the middle of the floor. The machine was either half-built or smashed, because there were wires sticking out everywhere. (If he was his normal age; he would've remembered that this was the first prototype of the treadmill Cisco built. They noticed early into the building process that it wouldn't work- so they abandoned it and moved on to built the one he was currently using in Star labs).

Curious, Barry walked closer to the machine. He failed to notice that some of the wire's rubber coatings were off-and that the machine was plugged into a power source. Something shiny on the floor under the machine drew his eye. If he wanted to get it out, he needed to stick his arm between different wires and metallic limbs. Rolling his sleeve back, he reached between all the debree searching for the coin. His bare arm brushed up against a couple of wires. Something sharp caught on his hand and he pulled back. Blood was forming in a scratch on the side of his palm. He wiped it off on his jeans, before reaching back in. His fingers brushed against the coin barely out of reach. Shuffling closer, he reached further grasping the edge of the coin. A triumphant sound escaped and he pulled back with the coin firmly grasped in his palm. He turned to Ginger, holding up his prize.

"Got it!" The dog wagged its tail. Barry tucked the coin safely in his pocket. Knowing he was gone for awhile, Barry made his way back to Caitlin and Cisco. He didn't want to get into trouble for wandering off and disappearing. He remembered how mad his mom had been when he once walked away from her in the supermarket and disappeared for ten minutes.

He was close to the lab when he heard his name being called. He picked up his pace, running towards where the person was calling from. Halfway down a short staircase he suddenly felt lightheaded and tripped over his own feet. He brought his arms up trying to get his balance, but gravity already caught him and he was falling. Fear filled him as the floor loomed closer. Suddenly something yanked him back on his collar. Instead of falling forward, and down the stairs, he fell backwards on his rear. Ginger released his hold-where he bit down on Barry's collar to save him from falling- and gently licked the kid's cheek as an apology. Barry sat stunned for a few moments, waiting for the lightheadedness to clear.

"Thank you, Ginger." Barry said, rubbing the dog's neck. The person called his name again and Barry stood up, carefully making his way down the stairs.

"Where have you been?" Was the first thing he was asked when he met up with the others.

"Exploring with Ginger." Barry replied. Oliver and Joe were also there. Everyone had a weird look on their face. Barry couldn't figure out what it meant, but he knew it was a bad look. At first he thought it was because he wandered off, but then he noticed Cisco glancing at Oliver, who either didn't notice or pretended he didn't, with the bad look. He pulled the coin out of his pocket, hoping that showing his treasure would cheer everyone up.

"Look what I found!" Barry exclaimed, happily holding up the coin. Joe gave him a smile saying that it was awesome.

"Well, we know how to get him back to normal. Maybe we should do it now?" Cisco suggested.

-TA-TF-

AN: I'm soo sorry it took so long to write this chapter . The chapter might be confusing since I did write half of it while being sick :/ sorry about that. Also I skipped writing the interrogation scene and instead wrote a Barry-and-Ginger adventure! I just wanted something with those two x3. Ginger was an idea suggested by a guest :3 Another thing thanks to the guest who pointed out my mistake in the previous chapter! ^.^

Whelp, thanks for reading and sticking with me through such a long wait!*