In my Life

Chapter XII

BARRY POV:

I admit that these last few days, especially these last two days, have not been easy. From the visit of Caitlin's mother, which shook her up a lot, although she tries to show the opposite, to the reappearance of Jessie, who came to bring up feelings and fears from the past.

"Barry." Caitlin shouted, as she ran to get to my side.- I know it's a little short in terms of time, but what do you say about going out to dinner today? And then we can even go for a walk. I think we're both desperately in need of a break.

- I think it's a brilliant idea and where are we going?

- There is a very good restaurant, well it's more like a dinner, which is fifteen minutes from the airport that has very good food and then we can even go for a walk in the park next to it.

"And would you rather go home and change clothes or are we going there right away?" I asked showing a smile to which Caitlin returned it.

"As far as I'm concerned, we can go there right away." Caitlin replied and the two of us headed towards her car that was parked in the laboratory parking lot.

The truth is that the airport, which is near the dinner, was a little far from our houses, because although it belonged to Central City, it was on the edge of the city, however from time to time it feels good to leave our surroundings and explore new spaces. Almost forty minutes after leaving STAR Labs, we were parking in the small parking lot that gave access to both the dinner and the park.

- I found this place the day I came to Central City, because I admit that after a long plane trip, it always feels good to eat something and I ended up here. - Caitlin said as we got out of the car.

After entering the dinner, we went to sit at one of the tables that were free and then we studied the menu. About five minutes after we were seated, a waitress came by named Sarah who took our orders.

"There want two chicken burgers, with fries and salad and two ice teas, please." Caitlin replied smiling as Sarah noted our order in her small notebook.

As soon as Sarah brought us our order, we attacked our food and at the end, before going to pay, we still ordered two milkshakes, mine was chocolate and Caitlin's was strawberry. After we went to pay our bill, we left dinner and went for a walk in the park.

"How are you?" Caitlin asked as we sat on one of the free park benches.

- Honestly, I don't know.

- What happened yesterday shook you a lot, didn't it?!

- It was a shock when I learned that the metahuman we were going to face was Jessie and, although I hate to admit it, fear ended up taking over my actions. I felt paralyzed! It was as if my head was giving me completely opposite signals. On the one hand I knew that I had to fight and save all the hostages but on the other I was afraid that what happened in the past would happen again.

- It is normal that you were afraid, because it was a very strong experience in your past.

- If Killer Frost hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened.

- But she was and everything went well. He's back in the metahuman prison and I don't think he's getting out of there anytime soon. Now I don't want you to have any doubts about your decision to return to the superhero life, understand?!

- How did you know?

- I know you Barry, in addition to being my patient, you are my best friend and I know how to recognize when things are not going well. And I realized that these doubts arose after that meeting. And yes, I think it was the right choice! In fact, I have no doubts about that!

- So what about you? Do you still think about the offer your mother made you?

- I'm not going to lie to you and say that I don't think, but I don't intend, in any way, to accept. The offer is very good and if it were a few years ago I would have accepted it without a second thought, but my life is here in Central City.

- And you never regretted the decision you made? I mean, you gave up your whole life to come to a city where you didn't know anyone.

- I admit that the first few days were quite complicated, but I never regretted it. I thought a lot about the decision I made and I have always had a clear conscience. I didn't leave much behind either... My relationship with my mother, since my father passed away, has never been very good. And my social life was almost non-existent.

- I'm glad you chose to come here. If you hadn't, we wouldn't be like this at the moment.- I said looking into her eyes and then I turned to the front.

- You know what's the funniest thing about all this? It's just that I can't imagine my life without Central City... without STAR Labs... without you!- said Caitlin smiling.

- Me neither! And honestly I don't even want to imagine!

"I told you it would do us good to clear our heads," Caitlin said as she took in the scenery.

-Thank you Cait, this is exactly what I needed. To get out of the routine a little.

"Hey what if we made a promise?" Caitlin asked turning to me as she smiled. My God, what a beautiful smile this woman has!

- What kind of promise?

- Starting today, every week, we both take a day off from our routine. That is, every week, one day we see our heads clear.

- I think I understand what you're trying to propose to me and you know what? I think it's a brilliant idea and I accept! It's a deal!

- Good! And we don't always have to come to the same place, we can explore Central City, or even, who knows, go to the neighboring city for a walk.

- Sounds pretty good to me.

And so it was, every week, Caitlin and me always took a day off to unwind. Sometimes we went to the movies, other times we went to dinner and ended up walking through a garden or a park and we even went to the neighboring city to have dinner and explore a little and let me tell you that it is one of the best moments of my week.