A/N: Barry's POV. :)

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

...

She Said Yes - Barry's POV

For all his confidence and certainty, Barry Allen had never been so nervous as when he looked up at Iris West and waited for her response. He'd put it all out there just now, not declaring how much he loved her and why, as he did on a daily basis, but showing her that what she meant to him. What he wanted for them was as sacred as what his ancestor had felt all those years ago when he trudged across the countries to be with the love he knew he was destined for.

"Yes," Iris said, eyes shining down at him as she smiled and nodded.

And just like that, Barry could breathe again.

He knew his smile was out of control. It was so wide that his cheeks hurt, but he didn't care.

"…until the day she says I do" flitted through his mind, a proud captain from another timeline happy for his CSI to have gotten a date with a pretty girl.

Then he'd brushed it off even to himself, saying it'd be a while till that happened. Though if he'd known then that he'd propose to his Iris just after Valentine's Day and that she would say yes, he would've been so overwhelmed with happiness that he might have been tempted to propose on their first date.

Staring deep into each other's eyes, Barry almost forgot he still had a ring to put on her finger. His eyes finally shifted down to her left hand, which was still clutching the roses he'd given her. He glanced up at her again, seeking permission.

"May I?" he asked, the hint of a bashful boy brimming at the surface.

Iris nodded again, her smile soft. It was nowhere near as wide as his, but he sensed she was just as overjoyed. He saw the movement in her throat and the raw emotion in her face. This moment would forever be immortalized for both of them.

He felt tears start to well in his eyes as he took the roses from her, a small zap crackling visibly through him when their fingers brushed against each other. He knew she felt it too because she jumped a little just as his hand flinched from the impact. The last time he'd felt a zap like that between them was just after Eddie's almost proposal. He didn't dwell on that for more than a moment, only on how electricity hummed between the two of them during monumental moments. And this one, for sure, qualified. This one was everything.

Not wanting to wait another second, Barry set the bouquet on the floor amidst all the other rose petals and took her hand in his own. No jolt of electricity this time, but his heart raced and his breathing quickened as he slid the monumental, exquisite family heirloom onto her finger. He'd dreamed of this moment for as long as he could remember. It was beyond surreal that it was actually happening – and finally, after he'd waited so long for her to see him the same way and move beyond seeing where this thing goes' to 'I hope every day is with you.'

What would Barry from three years ago have thought about this moment right here right now?

Barry almost laughed aloud. His younger self wouldn't believe him. There was no way. He would need proof.

Iris's laugh took him out of his stupor, and he wondered if she'd read his thoughts. He looked up at her, grinning like a fool again at how in sync they were.

"What?" he asked. The sight of her struggling to contain her laughter made him dizzy with delight.

"I just got engaged to the Flash."

Well. Not exactly what he'd been thinking, but it kept him smiling all the same. He was on his feet not two seconds later, basking in the joy spilling out of her, looking at her the way the Flash did when he flirted, when he deliberately made it his sole priority to make her melt.

Iris draped her arms around his neck, practically bouncing.

"Every woman in Central City is going to be insanely jealous of me," she beamed. "Or, they would be if they knew."

Giddy with delight and wanting his woman closer, Barry wrapped his arms around her back.

"Think you'll mind not being a West anymore?" he teased.

Iris's giddy demeanor subsided, but in its place there was only softness and warmth.

"Iris West-Allen," she whispered on a breath that he swore had been pulled from the heavens. The name made his head spin. The fact that it was being said in response to his proposal was enough to question if this was even real. He knew he wouldn't care if it wasn't. Not in this moment. Not right now when they were both so happy and wrapped up in each other.

"Going to hyphenate, huh?" he asked, his teasing voice masking the echo of his past self having just found out this future and having to deal with the fact that Eddie was on the brink of proposing to the woman that 2024 newspaper claimed he would end up with.

"I have a feeling she's going to want to hyphenate…"

But the memory evaporated almost instantly again, and Iris's face beaming up at him the only thing that mattered now.

"That is one future detail I don't mind keeping," she said.

Me either, he couldn't help thinking. It was the only detail he'd seen in any future that he'd wanted to make a reality.

Then without warning and without slowing down, Iris West kissed him.

It was a heavy, drugging kiss that made him pull her closer, as close as he could without ripping their clothes off so they could be joined in the most intimate way. Iris's tongue tangled with his, and her hands threaded through his hair. He felt her breasts lift and fall pressed as they were against his chest and knew he wouldn't last much longer, not at this rate.

"You're not going to outdo this one, Barry," he heard her say. She was panting and trembling, and he would have been concerned if not for the knowledge that her sounds came from pure joy, just the same as his. He wondered how they were both still standing.

He brushed his nose against hers, breathing hard himself but so blissfully happy he didn't care.

"Wait till you hear my wedding vows," he said without thinking.

He didn't take it back though, not even when Iris reared her head back and stared at him with wide eyes and a gaping expression. He wouldn't tell her now, but he'd first written his vows to her when he was twelve, and he'd carefully edited them since then, keeping each draft separate and planning to give them all to her one day, even as he only spoke the final piece on their wedding day.

He initiated the kiss now, but she was still the most vocal one by far.

"I love you so much," she whispered between more kisses. "I can't wait to marry you."

She would be the death of him if she kept going like this.

Was this how she felt when he professed his love to her on the daily and made it more obvious than ever that she was his entire world?

He didn't think about it too much because she was still kissing him and his hands were coming alongside her face without his permission and her name was escaping her lips in lustful tones. Her leg creeping up the side of his made him hard immediately, making him pull away because they were going so fast and where they were heading was supposed to come last, not first.

"Why are you stopping?" she demanded, actually sounding pained.

If only she knew just how painful it was for him to stop them. He tried to refocus.

"I…uh…" He licked his lips and cleared his throat, trying to remember why he'd put a halt to their very hot encounter. "Don't you want to eat first?"

He saw her blink and admitted to himself what a dumb idea it had been to pull away from his fiancée who was always raring and ready to go. She had a sex drive that matched his own and under normal circumstances, he took full advantage of it.

But he persisted.

"Your Grandma Esther's noodles just aren't as good warmed up. I believe you've told me that in the past," he said.

Iris cleared her throat.

"Barry," she purred, completely undoing whatever resolve he'd had. She started to sway, and he swayed with her. He couldn't help it. She was his kryptonite.

His eyes were pinned to hers, so he couldn't see it, but he sensed her hands slipping beneath the collar of the jacket that he'd gone out and bought specifically for this occasion. When her hands covered the back of his neck, he had to close his eyes briefly just to retain some semblance of self-control.

It's too soon, the part of him that had so carefully planned for this evening said.

No, it's not! the other part said, though it very clearly had wavered from his voice to Iris's. Give in. She wants you.

They shivered together, and he knew it was over.

He pulled her closer than before and whispered, "Iris," against her lips as she pushed his jacket off his shoulders, so it fell into a heap on the floor.

"All I want right now," she said against his mouth, pressing a finger to his parted lips, cutting off a small portion of his air supply, "is you."

The hell with it, he thought, throwing all his carefully laid plans to the wind. His hands settled on her ass and wrapped her legs around him. Then he carefully walked across the petals to the couch facing the fireplace and laid her gently down on the piece of furniture that had gotten plenty of attention from them for as long as it had been there.

He drew back for a moment to undress himself and then returned to her. He peppered her body with kisses and slowly stripped her of the last barriers between them. Then he made love to her in the midst of all the single flames and roaring fire, knowing that no matter what he would never forget this night for as long as he lived.