Arrowverse One Shots

WestAllen - A Scream in the Night

Barry couldn't sleep. Sometimes it felt as though his thoughts moved as fast as his feet, even late into the night when the rest of the world went quiet. During those sleepless nights he usually found himself pacing the halls or channel surfing downstairs.

On this particular night, he had just flipped off the TV when he heard a faint thump come from the floor above him. That's strange, he thought to himself. Iris was sound asleep when I left. Barry paused for a moment, only to hear another thump, followed by the sound of glass breaking. He immediately shot up to his feet and sped up the stairs, not even bothering to open the bedroom door and instead just phasing through. Inside he saw Iris still in bed, thrashing about under the tangled sheets and a shattered water glass spilled on the floor beside her. As he moved closer to his still sleeping wife, Barry could see the beads of sweat sparkling across her forehead, her mouth creased with what looked like pure terror.

At that moment Iris suddenly let out a shriek, "No!" She cried, her eyes still shut tightly."Please!" Barry immediately reached for his wife, his instinct being to pull her away from the invisible threat. The second his hand made contact with her skin, her eyes shot open and she tried to skitter away.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Barry whispered, still standing at the side of the bed. Her eyes flicked back and forth, terror etched across her face as she took in her surroundings. Barry had never seen her look so terrified by him before, and it broke him. "Iris, it's me," he said again. "It's Barry." The sound of his name seemed to wash over her as Iris came back to her senses. She slowly came to the realization that whatever was happening before was no more.

"Barry," she finally gasped, collapsing towards him. He caught her just as her face became buried in his chest.

"It's okay," he repeated. "You were just dreaming." He continued to hold her against him as her small body shook with sobs.

"Barry," Iris cried. "It was so bad. It was so bad."

"I know," he cooed, gently stroking her hair. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"They took you," she said as she continued to tremble. "They took you and they killed you, right in front of me. And I couldn't stop it. Barry, the things they did to you-" her voice gave out as she was overcome again with sobs.

"Baby," Barry whispered, his voice breaking. He gently pulled Iris back down on to the bed with him and wrapped his arms around her trembling body, her head still pressed against his chest. "It's okay, Iris, it's okay" he continued to whisper in her ears as she rode out her panic attack. "I've got you." After a little while, her breathing began to slow and her tears came to a lull. Barry continued to hold her, whispering in her ears and brushing his hand across her cheek, anything to bring her back to reality. Sometimes the most terrifying villains were your own imaginations, and even the Flash didn't know how to stop this one. And it killed him inside.

"Barry?" She finally whispered after a while.

"I'm here," he replied, gently lifting her chin so their eyes met. "I'm always here."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Iris stammered. "It just felt so real."

"I know," he said, brushing a few stray strands of her from her face. "But I'm still here. And I'm not going anywhere."

"I know. Now I'm just embarrassed. God I feel like such a burden, like I'm weighing you down." she mumbled.

"Hey," Barry commanded. He placed a hand on her cheek and turned her head to face him. "You are not a burden. You're my wife, and we lean on each other because we love each other. Okay?" Iris sniffled and gave a small nod. "I promise you, no matter how heavy you feel right now, it's never too much and you're not weighing anyone down." As Barry clung to Iris he felt her body switch from trembling to shivering. He crawled out of bed and picked up a large fluffy blanket, wrapped it tightly around her body, and scooped her up bridal style before heading down the stairs. A movie by the warm fireplace was just what she needed.

"We hold each other up," he whispered in her ear as he gently set her down on the couch and brushed the last lingering tear from her face.

"We hold each other up," Iris repeated with a nod.

"Always and forever."