Everything Comes With A Price

15| The Happy Ending They Deserve

Barry's POV:

Two Days After:

I had to spend the next couple of days in the med bay. Caitlin wanted to make sure I was fully healthy, and that there were no side effects from when they saved me. I didn't mind it, I was thankful to finally be able to rest. Team Flash spent a lot of time visiting me, as did Kara, Felicity, some of the Legends, and Oliver.

When I was finally released, with two days no Flash policy, Iris and I headed home. It was weird to be here, after so many months of pain and torture. It had felt almost unreal to be stepping into the loft again. I could remember the night Merlyn kidnapped me so clearly. I stood with a fixed gaze on the couch.

"Babe?" Iris said from next to me. "You okay?"

I shook it off. "Yeah."

We laid together in the bedroom, cuddling. It felt nice to have warmth next to me when I slept again. I realized then how much I missed Iris, she truly was my lightning rod.

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Three Days After:

Over the next few days, everyone started to leave. First to leave was, surprisingly, Kara. She had to go home to her earth, as she needed to return to her duties there. She hugged me tight, promising to visit as soon as she could. Kate and Luke returned to Gotham next, Kate had to continue with Alice. She promised to visit us and told Oliver to stay away from Gotham, as they didn't need another vigilante. The Legends left next, apparently, a new time threat had arisen.

The last to leave was Oliver and Team Arrow. Oliver pulled me aside to talk to me about Merlyn. "Don't worry about Merlyn," he said, smiling at me. "I'm going to be hunting him down. Just keep an eye out, yes? Kate's agreed to do the same for me."

I nodded. "Got it. If you need me, man, just call, I'll come running."

Oliver smiled and gave me a one-arm hug.

I watched as he left the premises. So much had changed, there was still darkness residing through my heart.

Soon, I returned to work as the Flash, and I also returned to the precinct as a CSI. Julian and I worked through the cases that we needed to do, and then we worked to get ahead.

Julian was talking to me about his current relationship with Caitlin. I tried to give him as much advice as I could.

I took Iris on some dates, worked with Wally and Ralph after Jesse and Harry headed back to Earth-2 for a while, and I mostly just tried to spend as much time with my team as possible.

I stopped by Joe's at least twice a week, and we talked at Star Labs and the precinct.

Iris helped me through many rough days where I felt the weight of El Bariq weighing on me, but ultimately, I needed to go somewhere calming for a day.

The speed force had always been supportive of me, and I knew that as much as the team could help me, I needed to talk to it.

I took the day off work and told the team what I was doing. They seemed skeptical, as they hadn't been so lenient with not knowing where I was, lately. I'd even caught Cisco trying to place a tracker in my clothes when I came back from patrol. I promised to come back, assuring them that if I didn't return when I promised, they could send Wally after me. I took my earpiece that contained Gideon and started running as fast as needed to open a portal to the speed force.