The back story revealed on the Flash recently is obviously different from this, so remember it's an AU. I'll use the show's version as I see fit creatively. Thanks for reading! This chapter is longer, and I hope you like it!

Chapter 2: Secrets

*****The Next Day*****

Patty was awaken from a deep sleep by the ringing of the phone. With blurry eyes, she reached for it.

"H-hello," she said. Then she cleared her throat.

"Good morning sleepyhead!" Xander said.

She smiled and sat up. "You got my message," she said.

"Of course," he said. "So you think there's a demon loose? Any sightings?"

"Not yet. I patrolled but didn't find any clues," she told him.

"Do you need us to send in a team to assist?" he asked. He always worried about her when she was in the field alone. She'd been in her hometown now for months. It was hard to keep his distance, but he knew she needed to be in her hometown without him hovering over her shoulder.

"What kind of slayer would I be if I couldn't handle one measly demon?" she asked.

"You know I'm looking for an excuse to come to the metahuman capital!" he replied.

"The Flash does seem to always be on hand to deal with anything big, but I don't know how he'd handle a demon," she remarked.

"Well, if he's handled guys that were stronger than him with powers he doesn't have, I think he'll probably handle himself fine," Xander said.

"Yeah, but he doesn't kill. He captures. Demons need to be killed," Patty pointed out.

"So you'll Scooby it out and make it toast!" Xander assured her. "Any idea who the Flash guy is?"

"No. Not really," she said with a sigh. "I'm convinced he's connected somehow to our police department, though. I suspect Joe knows something."

"Your partner?" Xander asked in surprise.

"Yes. He's the one who created the task force. The Flash has saved him a few times. He's always at crimes scenes saving people really fast," she said.

"Well, that is his thing, right?" Xander pointed out.

"Yea, but, how does he know so fast? I don't think he's psychic, too," she said thoughtfully. "As far as I know, none of the metahumans have shown that type of power."

"You know if the Flash comes upon you while you're fighting a demon, he might have some questions," Xander said.

"I've thought about that. He may just think I'm a metahuman. He may not need the full spiel," she said.

"Would that be better?" Xander wondered.

"Maybe. Joe treats me like I'm this fragile little thing. It's really annoying," she remarked.

"So you let him think you're just a meta," Xander said. "It's probably for the best. The poor guy has his hands full with all those crazy metas. He doesn't need to worry about the supernatural big bads that are out there, too."

"I think you're right. It might make Joe trust me more, too. Maybe he'll tell me who the Flash is!" Patty said, excited about the idea.

"You'll tell me, right?" Xander asked eagerly.

"Depends. Can you keep a secret?" Patty asked, giggling. It was nearly impossible for Xander to keep things from Willow and Buffy. Those two couldn't keep a secret to save their lives. They'd tell one person they trusted, who'd tell one other, and it was just a chain reaction of secret sharing. It made Giles crazy.

"I never told Willow it was you that broke her laptop that one time. I blamed it on Andrew," Xander pointed out.

She laughed. "True. You did keep a secret that one time!" she acknowledged. "Okay, well, I need to get some coffee in me since I'll never get back to sleep now."

"Keep me posted!" Xander said.

"I will. Love you," she said.

"Love you, too," Xander replied. "Don't forget rule number one."

"Never," she said, hanging up.

Don't die was the most important rule after all.

******That Night******

Patty tried to convince Joe that she could patrol on her own. However, he was convinced that there was a metahuman on the loose that was capable of tearing apart a human like it was nothing. He refused to leave her side. So he drove the car slowly while she scanned the streets, hoping and not hoping to spot the demon. It made her nuts that she didn't even know for sure what kind of demon that she was dealing with.

Her eye caught something. "Stop the car!" she ordered.

"What?" Joe asked.

Instead of answering, she jumped out of the car and shot down the road. Then she turned into the alley. It was dark, but there was just enough overhead light to make out her prey. It was a polgara demon. Its arm skewers had just stabbed someone.

"Stop!" she called out.

It threw down the body and faced her, letting out a challenging roar.

Since she was a cop, she pulled out he gun. "Police. Stop or I'll shoot!" she called out, going through the motions. Joe was a minute or two behind her. Her instinct was to hide the supernatural from him. However, he would assume the demon was a metahuman. It wasn't like she could freeze time and make Joe not see what he was about to see.

"Patty! What is it?" Joe called out, running toward her. When he saw the creature she was facing, he didn't hesitate. He fired his weapon several times.

"I don't think bullets are going to work, Joe," Patty said. Her instinct was telling her to press forward and attack, but she knew that Joe would go nuts.

Luckily, the demon jumped up and grabbed a fire escape ladder and slithered up it.

"He's getting away!" Joe exclaimed. He continued firing his gun at the thing.

"You're wasting your bullets," Patty said. "Go around to the other side and see where he heads. I'll climb up the ladder."

"Be careful!" Joe advised before taking off. He pulled out his phone to call Barry as he ran to the other side of the building.

Patty jumped onto the ladder, pulling it all the way down. She quickly moved up the ladder. The demon was running to the other side of the roof. Then it jumped to the building next door. Patty didn't hesitate, running at top speed. She flew across the roof, jumping after him and landing on the building next to it.

Joe, who was waiting on the other side, saw her and gasped. "She's done lost her freakin' mind!" he exclaimed.

Barry arrived. "Where's it at?" he asked.

"It's on the roof. Patty already went up after it," Joe said, pointing.

Barry didn't hesitate and raced up the building, stopping at the edge to take in the scene. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His new girlfriend was fighting the large demon. She was fighting with skills he didn't know she had. When a roundhouse kick knocked the demon through air toward him, Barry was frozen in shock. How had she done that? Before he could he react, she ran toward the downed demon and snap its neck.

Barry wanted to take off his mask and run toward her. Instead, he walked slowly toward her. Using his vibrating voice, he said, "Wow! I guess you didn't need me after all."

Patty looked up. It was the Flash. Her heart beat faster. Xander was going to be so jealous!

"Oh, well, uh, I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do," she said, hoping to convince him.

"Really?" he asked. "Are you sure that you're not a metahuman with superstrength?"

She laughed. "One lucky kick, and I'm a metahuman? Cool!" she said, trying to play it off.

Barry debated on what to say. How did he not notice his girlfriend had superstrength? Or was she just a really good fighter that got lucky?

"I'll take care of this meta," the Flash said, looking down at the body. He frowned. "What is this? I've not seen anything like it before."

Patty thought the city's superhero deserved more than a cover story. "Well, I'm not sure it was ever human. It looks kind of demony to me," she said slowly.

Barry blinked, not expecting her to say that. "A demon? You think it's a demon?" he asked.

Joe had made his way up the side of the building and heard Barry's remark. "So we have demon's now?" he asked with a sigh.

"I don't know," Patty said quickly. "I just think it's too weird looking to be a metahuman."

"Wasn't the sharkman pretty freaky?" the Flash reminded her.

"True," she conceded.

"Well, I get this to Star labs and have their people analyze it," the Flash told her. He bent down and lifted the very heavy demony meta.

"Can you handle it?" Joe asked, not sure Barry was strong enough. The thing was really big. And ugly.

"I got it," Barry assured him. With a grunt, he held on to the creature and sped away.

"So what happened?" Joe asked Patty. "How did you beat it?"

"I managed to knock it down and get the jump on it," she said. "The Flash finished it off." Of course, she couldn't know that Joe had a very personal relationship with the Flash and would learn the truth.

"That was very foolish of you," Joe said with disapproval.

"I managed just fine," she said flatly. His lack of faith in her was growing tiresome.

"You were lucky," Joe said sternly.

Patty didn't waste energy arguing. "Well, we should head back down," she said, turning to get to the ladder.

After they got down, Joe looked up one last time, judging the distance between the two buildings. "That was an incredible jump you made, though," he said, squeezing her shoulder. "Don't ever scare me like that again! I don't want to lose another partner."

Patty felt a twinge of guilt at the reminder that he had lost Eddie, a man she never met. However, she'd heard a lot of stories. Joe's daughter had loved him, so she knew that his death was very hard.

"I'll be more careful," she promised. It was nice that he cared so much. He was a good man. Since she was close to his daughter's age, she knew it was hard for him to not be overly protective. It wouldn't be fair to get upset with him. He just had a huge heart.

As soon as they went to the precinct to file their report, Joe slipped away to go to the lab.

"So what are they thinking?" he asked Barry. Caitlin and Cisco were arguing as they examined x-rays of the meta.

"Cisco is going with the demon theory, and Caitlin is arguing that demons aren't real," Barry said with a rueful smile.

"Are there demons on earth 2? Maybe some crossed over?" Joe wondered.

"Good question. We'll have to ask Jay or Dr. Wells," Barry said.

"Where exactly is Dr. Wells?" Joe asked, not trusting the man still.

"Somewhere," Barry said with a shrug. "So can you believe Patty? She was incredible."

"Yea, the jump between those two buildings was pretty insane," Joe said.

"She jumped between the buildings?" Barry asked in surprise.

Joe nodded. "Yes. She told me that you managed to take out the creature. Not as tough as it looks, huh?" he asked.

Barry blinked. "What? She told you that I killed it?" Barry asked in surprise. "I didn't lay a hand on it. When I arrived, she was fighting it like a ninja. Then she kicked it so hard and with such force it went air born and landed by me. I was so shocked that I just stood there. Then she pounced and broke the thing's neck."

Joe was stunned. "What? You're joking!" he exclaimed.

"No," Barry said.

Joe walked over to Caitlin and looked down at the creature. It had some type of pointing bone sticking out of its hands. Its neck was thick. "Caitlin, how much strength would it take to break this thing's neck?" Joe asked her.

"A lot," she said.

"Could you do it?" Joe asked her. She was close to Patty's size and build.

Caitlin laughed. "No way," she said.

"What if you had fighting skills? Would you still be strong enough to break a neck?" Joe asked, trying to figure out what happened.

"Contrary to what it's shows on action movies, breaking a person's neck is credibly hard to do. When people would be executed by hanging, it would sometimes take a while for the weight of their own body to snap their necks," she explained. "So no, I wouldn't be strong enough to do so. I don't even know if you or Barry could do it. A normal human neck, probably. But this," she pointed down at the creature, "meta has enlarged everything. I don't even know how it's alive. It's physiology is completely foreign to human. I just don't understand!"

"It's not human!" Cisco announced excited. "It's a blade demon!"

"A blade demon?" Joe asked, unable to hide his smile.

"Look at it's cool blades!" Cisco said, pointing to its hands.

"So Patty actually killed this?" Caitlin asked.

Cisco blinked in surprise and looked at Barry with a huge grin. "You're dating a metahuman!" he declared.

Barry frowned. It seemed that he didn't know Patty as well as he thought he did. What else was she hiding? He had his own big secret, so could he really fault her for her secrecy?

Joe shook his head. "How do we handle this?" he asked Barry.

"I don't know. I really don't," he said flatly.

"Looks like you both have secrets," Cisco said happily. "Maybe you should let her in on your own."

Barry wondered the same.

*****Chapter End*****

Well, I think I have another chapter or two to write. I figured if they saw Patty fight, they'd come to the logical conclusion. I'd love reviews for Christmas! ;)