Chapter 2: I Can Hear The Bells

Fourteen-year-old Barry Allen sat on the couch beside Iris West. They were currently enjoying the sounds of classical jazz music on an old phonograph.

She was the same age, and they were each other's soulmates. Back in elementary school, when they'd just been neighbors, they had already been the very best of friends. That friendship had only strengthened three years ago when Barry had needed to start living in the same house as her.

Both kids had known all about soulmates for as long as they could remember because of their parents. Both Barry's and Iris' parents had been lucky enough to be bonded in that way that all married couples wish they could be.

Barry's dad had liked to repeatedly explain how it worked. He'd always said, "Son, when you know someone the way you know the back of your own hand? That's when the universe'll decide it's time you know their voice too. That is the point at which spendin' time with 'em will make everything echo."

So Barry wasn't even surprised when, two weeks after moving in, the universe had confirmed just how deep his connection with Iris was. Because Iris really did know Barry as well as the back of her own hand. Iris knew everything about him. She knew not just what had happened on the worst night of his life – the truth, and not the lies published in all those newspapers – but she also knew how he felt about all of it too. She'd even seen him cry.

And Barry? Well, he knew more about Iris than he knew about anyone. He moved into the same house as her, and before long, he'd seen all five pairs of pajamas that she owned. He knew that her favorite type of sandwich was 'grilled cheese', followed closely by 'peanut butter and banana'. He was aware of how badly she wished their family might someday get a pet – preferably a cat, but she'd love a dog too.

So yeah, Barry hadn't been surprised. It had simply made sense that the two of them would be other's platonic soulmates.

Losing his whole world at the young age of eleven was something no child should ever have to go through. Barry had needed something to soften the blow, at least in a small way. It had been the most awful thing to hear his mom's screams. For a while, Barry struggled with PTSD flashbacks to those streaks of red and yellow and his terrified mother behind them, moments before when she'd been murdered.

And then his dad – a man who would never in a million years want to hurt his own soulmate – had been put on trial and later convicted of purposely killing her. That was a nightmare he couldn't wake up from, no matter how hard he tried. Even three years later, that truth crushed him.

But despite all of those clouds being dark and gloomy, getting Iris as a soulmate had definitely been a silver lining. The universe had given him a gift. It had been the first good thing to happen after all of the bad. He was able to share in the new experience of hearing with Iris. Both of them reveled in the beauty of sound together, and continued to do so. And for that, Barry was very grateful.

But the thing was, Barry thought of Iris as so much more than just a best friend. He'd had a crush on her even before his mom had died. Once they'd started to live together, Barry became completely smitten with her. He was sure he was in love. He felt butterflies when he looked at her. He felt tempted to lean over and kiss her whenever he was sitting on the couch beside her, as he was right now. He knew it'd be inappropriate to ever act on his feelings, now that she was his foster sister, but there was a part of him that secretly hoped one day, maybe, the type of soulmates they were would turn out to be 'romantic'. That maybe, all along, the universe had actually been saying they were meant to date, and even get married and live happily ever after. A young teenage boy could hope, couldn't he? God, he felt like such a girl sometimes.

"Your dad had pretty good taste in music," Barry said fondly. He was trying to steer his thoughts into a better direction. He knew Joe hadn't been able to listen to any music in a very long time. Joe had lost the ability to hear sound at the same time he'd lost his wife. But Barry loved his foster father so much that when Barry found himself appreciating the music, his mind instantly jumped to assuming that amazing man must've been the one to purchase this delightful record.

"I think this was one of my mom's favorites, actually," Iris commented slowly, correcting him.

Barry knew how it felt to lose both of his parents. He knew Iris missed her mom. Barry had experience with how easily people could forget he had a dad who was still suffering, trapped in prison. Or how easily people made false assumptions about the guy, such as thinking he was a murderer. Now that Barry was fourteen, he had begun to meet some new people who had no idea that Barry's beloved biological father had been a doctor. They neglected to appreciate that Barry's love for studying science had started with Henry's influence. It hurt every time Barry had to bring up of those facts. It hurt to know that the vast majority of new people who entered his life would never even get a chance to meet either of his parents.

Even if it was just accidental, Barry hated that he had just done to Iris what so many people did to him. Barry would've had no way of knowing that this wonderful record had belonged to that woman – a woman he'd never met – but he still felt really bad about forgetting it was a possibility. Of course Iris's mom had lived in this house, and of course she would've been a partner in putting all of the now dusty records on that bookshelf.

"I'm so sorry," he said softly, hoping Iris would forgive him. "I didn't-"

"It's okay," Iris interrupted.

Barry never ceased to be amazed by how she was always so understanding. He smiled appreciatively, and then, since he was sincerely curious, asked, "If you don't mind telling me… I was just wondering, how do you know this one belonged to her?"

Iris stared intently at the album's cover, but he could tell she wasn't really looking at it. Her mind was elsewhere. She took a few moments before answering.

"Because my dad told me that this-" –she looked up and pointed – "was my mom's side of the bookshelf. They each had their own favorites. And then the middle was for the albums they both liked."

"Oh," Barry replied. "Cool." He still felt guilty about inadvertently reminding Iris of her mom. He knew that usually made her a bit sad. Right now, Iris probably wished her mom was here, joining them in listening to all of the impressively improvised saxophone solos, and the syncopated drum beats.

Iris turned toward Barry and shot him a smile. He could tell she wanted to lighten the mood.

"I'm just glad my parents' old record player still works!" she said brightly.

Barry grinned back at her. "Yeah."

Not many kids their age cared about music, since most people only really had four fundamental senses, not this special fifth one. If they did, the vast majority of them only had CDs, as even cassette tapes were outdated at this point. But when you lived in a house with both your soulmate and a collection of vinyl records, it was extremely nice to discover a turntable that was still in working condition. Especially if it only took a small amount of rummaging in your foster family's basement.

The music wasn't playing very loudly, so when a key began to jangle in the lock, they could hear it. Then, the door creaked open.

"Kids, I'm home!" Joe bellowed cheerfully, knowing even if they weren't looking at him, they could hear him. Iris got up from where she was sitting, walked to the record player, and then carefully began to lift the stylus. Barry approached the front door, needing to face Joe in order to properly greet him.

"Hi," Barry said, once they were in view of each other. He noticed the bag of groceries in his hands. "What's for dinner?" he asked, excitedly.

"I'm going to attempt to make you kids my grandmother's old recipe for salmon patties," Joe answered. "I just bought all of the ingredients, plus some other things we were out of. Come on, help me put this stuff away."

Barry grabbed one of the bags and proceeded to carry it over toward the fridge. Unlike Joe, he could actually hear the hum the refrigerator made, and hear the sound of the bag rustling as he pulled the new carton of orange juice out of it. So much of the time, Barry could hear everything that happened to produce sound. Barry shared most of his classes at school with Iris, and they spent so much time together at home too. He was so used to hearing those sounds of the world that he almost took them for granted. But he didn't. Because Barry knew how lucky he was. How few people got to experience such a rich experience of sound around them. And how easily something could happen to make it all go away, just like it had for Joe. So Barry tried his best to cherish the fact that Iris was his soulmate, and cherish all that it entailed.

A decade passed by, and Barry and Iris got used to spending a bit less time around each other, going to separate colleges, living in separate places as adults, working in separate jobs…. but they still hung out almost every day. They still were each other's best friends. And Barry was still hoping that maybe one day, their soul bond would turn out to be romantic, not platonic.

Barry was struck by lightning. He did survive, but was in a coma for an entire nine months. When he eventually awoke, he had been heartbroken to learn that Iris had started dating Joe's partner, Eddie.

But it had broken his heart more to realize that because he was her soulmate, the only times she'd hear anything for almost a whole year had been when she'd come to visit him. She'd heard the beeping of the monitors in the hospital and later, when his condition had seemed to worsen, the audio from the machines hooked up to him in S.T.A.R. labs. He could only imagine how painful it'd be to hear the doctors, in their own voices, encouraging her to give up hope that he'd ever wake up. She would've been able to hear their voices, but not Barry's. She would've been able to still hear her own voice! But only when she was in the presence of a Barry who wasn't even aware she was there. Discovering that all of that had gone on while he was unconscious was what truly broke Barry's heart.

Eddie? He could learn to live with that. So what if Iris was dating him? Iris had been forced to live with something so much more difficult.

Thankfully, Barry was out of his coma now, and Iris didn't have to endure it any longer. But the thing was, after the particle accelerator had exploded, he had also developed an ability. And quite a number of scary people in his city had also developed some similar… talents. Him now possessing incredible speed was awesome. The criminals running around seemingly breaking the laws of physics as they hurt innocent people? Significantly less awesome. And possibly the least awesome thing of all? Not being able to share any of this with Iris, especially since his entire life was starting to revolve around meta-human abilities.

These secrets were beginning to strain his relationship with Iris, regardless of their soul bond. It was even happening tonight.

He was sitting in Jitters across from Iris. She was employed there, and was still wearing her apron. She was merely taking a break with her friend, and had just brought over two full mugs of delicious coffee.

"Barry, did you read my latest blog post about The Streak? Just this morning there was a sighting outside of-"

Barry cut her off. "Actually, I kind of wanted to talk to you about that. I don't think this is the most... professional way for you to spend your time. Don't you want to be hired by a reputable newspaper, not the Metropolis Inquisitor?"

Iris scowled at him, clearly hurt by the insinuation that it was silly to invest her time researching The Streak.

"Come on, Barry," she pressed. "This stuff matters. This Streak, he… he's a hero. And he clearly can do something no human should be able to do. This might be the key to solving your mother's murder, after all of this time!"

Barry sighed. "Do you really have to call him… The Streak? I hate that."

Barry started to hear a siren in the distance.

"Well what would you call him?" Iris asked, easily ignoring the sound, which was far enough away that it clearly was nothing for her to get too concerned over.

But Barry needed to check out what was happening. There might be something he could do to help if someone was in trouble.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just got a text," he lied, pulling out his phone.

Iris waited patiently for him to pretend to read it. "Yeah I gotta go. I'm sorry," he said, not even looking at Iris as he got up and turned away from her, walking briskly. It was difficult to resist the urge to actually run at supersonic speeds until he was out of Iris' sight. He hated doing this to Iris – leaving without a real explanation, without their conversation being finished. He knew how rude it must seem. But he'd promised Joe he wouldn't put her in any more danger by telling her the truth. He'd also promised Joe he'd try to talk her out of her recent blogging endeavors. So he was trying to keep his word. He quickly changed into his aerodynamic disguise.

Barry had lost all ability to hear the siren as soon as he was out of Iris' vicinity, so he ran toward the general area of where he knew it had been, scanning with his eyes for the red and blue lights. He spotted the cop car within milliseconds.

As he slowed down, he looked directly at the female officer who was pointing her gun at a man wearing a black ski mask, wielding a bloody knife.

"Drop your weapon," she demanded of him, and Barry only heard her because he was staring at her. He followed her gaze to see if the man would, indeed, drop his weapon. As he turned his head, Barry noticed another man grasping his side, his face contorted in pain.

Barry sped over to the man with the knife and grabbed it and threw it into some bushes, removed the man's mask, and then picked up the man in need of medical assistance. He stopped speeding long enough to look at the officer and give her a terse nod. He didn't wait to see if she responded before carrying the man to the hospital.

He rushed toward the automatic doors of the emergency room – 'rushed' being quite the understatement – but was forced to slow all the way down when he got there. He needed the automatic doors to open, and that took time, plus he also had to stop being 'The Streak' long enough in order to announce to the workers there that this man required medical attention.

It was then that Barry noticed Eddie and Joe down the hall, just exiting the elevator and heading his way.

As the bleeding man was taken out of Barry's arms, Eddie said to his partner, "It's almost like this guy is… teleporting. It must be a team of robbers, right?"

Barry was still in his red costume, and Joe had spotted him, but Eddie wasn't facing his way.

"Um…" Joe replied, faltering, both because he didn't know how to cover up the stuff out of a sci-fi movie that was actually happening in their city, and also because his foster son's presence was very distracting. "Yeah, probably a team," he finally said, feigning equal confusion over everything.

Barry sped away before Eddie could notice him, heading toward S.T.A.R. labs and hoping Cisco or Caitlin would still be there.

Cisco and Caitlin actually heard him enter, because they were working late, and because they were together. Barry had been given a brief explanation of how her fiancé – Ronnie – had been her soulmate before his death. But remarkably soon after that particle accelerator explosion, Cisco became another soulmate for her – she's sure one of the platonic variety, because she just doesn't see him 'that way'. Whether that would prove true in the long run was something no one could know yet. Just like Barry, hoped Iris might be his romantic soulmate one day, he suspected Cisco was hoping for the same thing.

"Barry?" Cisco asked, wondering why he was rushing in, still in uniform.

"Have you heard anything about robberies happening in various places, far away from each other throughout the city? Possibly being committed by a… teleporter?"

Caitlin, on the other side of the room, scowled. "Oh no."

Months passed with Barry still keeping Iris in the dark, him working with Cisco, Caitlin, Dr. Wells, Joe, and sometimes Eddie too to try to keep the city as safe as they could.

Barry had been extremely careful to avoid Iris whenever he was in The Flash uniform. She got hired at Central City Picture News because of her blog, and was still very interested in not just the phenomenon of this "superhero", but she had caught on to some of the things that seemed to be straight out of a sci-fi novel that were happening on the streets. She didn't call him The Streak anymore, mainly at Barry's urging, but she longed to meet the guy, having no idea that she was the one person who The Flash would never meet. He didn't want her to hear things when in The Flash's presence and figure out that he and Barry were one and the same. He didn't want to betray Joe.

Barry was in his lab at the moment, sharing some take-out Chinese food with Joe at the desk. It had – thankfully – been a slow night for both the police and also, subsequently, forensic work. Joe was paying for this dinner not just as a fatherly thing to do, but also as a 'thank you' for Barry saving his life the night before. Barry had literally prevented Joe from getting shot, and although Joe had been wearing his vest, Barry had seen that the bullet's trajectory was heading straight toward his foster father's head. Barry had tried to insist that saving him wasn't really a big deal – he was just glad to have been in the right place at the right time to be able to. But Joe wasn't accepting that. Hence the moo shu pork they were enjoying together.

Joe swallowed a bite, and then put down his chopsticks.

"Are you done already?" Barry asked. He was a bit surprised, since Joe hadn't eaten very much.

"No," Joe replied. "I just… I have to admit something to you, Barry," he said slowly.

Barry tensed up, nervous at what Joe could possibly need to confess.

"A few weeks ago… I got another soulmate."

Barry's eyes went wide. "Wow, really?" he exclaimed. "That's amazing. I didn't even know you had time to meet anybody."

Barry certainly hadn't had much of a dating life ever since awaking from his coma to a world ravaged by meta-humans. Not that he had interest in anyone other than Iris. Still, Iris was taken, and maybe if he was less busy, he would make an effort to see if he could fall for someone else.

"No…" Joe corrected. "I haven't met anyone knew. It's… you," he said. Barry could tell from his eyes that he felt guilty about it for some reason.

Barry wasn't sure how to react. He blinked a few times.

"I know you already have a father, and I never wanted to take his place, you know that, Barry," Joe began to explain, the words spilling out. He broke eye contact with Barry, but Barry remained intently focused on him, not wanting to miss a word.

"And obviously we're not each other's soulmates, and that's okay," Joe added. "I just… I love you like… well, like more than just a son. You're so special to me. And I guess the universe decided it was time I was able to hear some things again."

"Wow," Barry replied softly. "I don't know what to say." He realized he was beginning to tear up. It was beyond touching to learn just how much Joe loved him. "Thank you for telling me." He wondered how hard it had been for Joe to hold onto this for weeks.

Neither of them brought up the awkward fact that his own biological daughter was apparently not quite as important in his life. Barry wondered how Joe would ever break the news to her. He hoped she'd be as amazingly understanding as she usually was, and not take it personally. He wondered if it'd be better for her if he, her soulmate, was there when she learned of this particular truth.

"So when you stopped that bullet… I know you didn't, but I actually heard the gunshot," Joe explained softly. "I try not to let myself feel fear when on the job, but…" he trailed off, and Barry understood the part he'd left unspoken. That must've been terrifying for him.

"I'm guessing you're bringing this up now so that I know to be more careful about slurping my food?" Barry joked, knowing from experience eating with Iris that the activity could make a surprising amount of noise if you weren't paying attention.

Joe laughed. "Yeah, that was the only reason."

Barry smiled, glad they shared a similar enough sense of humor. He also kept smiling as he realized now, if he, Joe, and Iris ate together, they all would be able to hear each other.

Soulmates were such a weird phenomenon. You couldn't control them. If you could, Barry was sure he'd choose to have Joe be his soulmate too in a reciprocal fashion. Except… if he really was limited to only two in his life… maybe he wouldn't want to use it on Joe. He loved his dad just as much. And what if Iris was always destined to just be his platonic soulmate? What if he had new soulmate, one of the romantic variety, destined for his future?

His heart went out to Caitlin, who had recently learned that Ronnie was actually still alive, but was merged with Professor Martin Stein. Somehow that had meant he was no longer her soulmate. She could only hear him if around Cisco too, still. Barry had never dreamed that someone could be your soulmate and then later, not be your soulmate anymore. He'd never heard of that happening, and maybe it was just the unprecedented merging of two people into one body that caused it, but it was still really awful to think about. It's devastating when your soulmate dies. But when they're still alive, you just have lost that amazing connection to them? That must suck on an entirely different level.

A couple of weeks later, one of Central City's most prominent philanthropists was to be giving a speech.

Iris waved goodbye to Barry and placed her official 'Press' badge around her neck. She wasn't overly excited about this particular event, but Barry knew she was a skilled reporter and could make anything sound exciting once she put her fingers to a keyboard.

They parted ways, Barry wanting to be on alert for any 911 call that might come in, anyway. There were always more at night. He returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, hoping maybe they'd be lucky and no one would need his help tonight. Caitlin smiled and pulled out a deck of cards.

"What do you want to play?" Barry asked. "Go Fish?"

"What are we, a bunch of five-year-olds?" Cisco asked, turning a corner.

"Well, what would you want to play?" Barry asked, sincerely curious. They had already agreed no poker – really, no gambling of any kind while at the Labs.

He never did get to find out what casual game they might get to play, because just then, emergency dispatch came through on the radio channel.

"A very suspicious fire has broken out at the Swan Hotel," the voice said.

Barry's heart stopped. That was where Iris had been heading!

"Just one row of chairs seems to be lit." Barry hoped it wasn't Iris' row. He didn't have time to hear more. He sped over there.

Unfortunately, even getting there as soon as he could, all of the journalists had already sustained burns. There had been several 911 calls from various non-journalists in attendance, but none of those calls had been able to be placed fast enough. The blur of red first swooped in to save his gorgeous soulmate from the fire. He could only save people one at a time, much to his frustration. By the time he had gotten the final person in the press row out, it had been a good 30 seconds since he'd arrived at the hotel – a good 30 seconds of being in the same room as Iris, and being able to hear for the first time in his life the horrifying sizzle flames make when burning through chairs and fragile human skin. He knew she was hearing it too. He hated that she was hearing that awful sound even more than he hated how likely it was that Iris would know be able to put two-and-two together and deduce that he and The Flash were one and the same.

He let the ambulances come and treat these people's wounds as he sped toward the police station, hoping maybe Joe would forgive him if Iris figured it out, and for not getting there in time to prevent Iris from getting some minor burns.

It was Eddie who did some great detective work and figured out that a person named Gary Avery, who had been in attendance, had a vendetta against one of the reporters, and decided to set just that row of chairs on fire. What confused the arson investigators was that they could find no traces of the fuel. Barry and Joe knew this Gary Avery guy must be a meta-human, and they locked him up beneath S.T.A.R. Labs, wanting to protect the public in the only way they currently knew how.

Iris was still in the hospital, and as soon as Eddie was done visiting for the night, Barry approached her room.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern. He saw some bandages on her hands and wondered where else she had sustained burns. She probably had some under her hospital gown.

"I am," she assured him. "I… I'm actually kind of great."

Barry was confused. A night in the hospital where you can't even properly use your hands because you need to let them heal was not a typical person's idea of being "great".

Seeing his confusion, Iris elaborated. "You see, I think I just figured out something tonight. The Flash is my soulmate."

Barry's expression fell. She knew. Of course she knew. But then she continued.

"I can't believe it! All this time investigating The Flash from a distance and all along he's been my second soulmate. I need to meet him. Whoever he is!"

Barry couldn't believe it. She still had no idea.