In A Blink ➳ Barry Allen/The Flash

09.

chapter nine ; taking the leap

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Two weeks have gone by since Natalie and Barry had that conversation on the phone and still, neither one had decided to leap forward and take the risk they both had thought about. They had spoken often, but they were scared to open up and admit their attraction to the other. The risk of being rejected fell heavily on both. But in that time, Natalie had gotten even closer to Barry, Cisco, Iris, and Eddie. She even got to know Detective Joe West a bit more. Everyday, she felt more and more apart of this family in Central City.

As Natalie waited on Iris to finish up talking with Eddie at the CCPD, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. Her lips spread into a smile when she saw Barry standing there.

"Barry! What are you doing here? Wait, you work here, never mind," Natalie felt her cheeks heat up and intently stared down at her shoes to hide it.

She heard Barry laugh and looked back up at his smiling face. "I saw you so I thought I'd say hi. What are you doing here?" he asked.

Natalie turned around and gestured to Iris to which Barry let out a small nod of understanding.

Barry suddenly looked a bit nervous and shoved his hands in his front pockets, " I um..I remember a while ago you said you didn't have a job? Is that still true?" Natalie blinked in surprise, thrown off guard by the sudden change of conversation and nodded.

Barry removed his right hand and scratched the back of his neck, "Well I really need an assistant in my lab-"

"Barry, I don't need help getting-"

Barry started waving his hands around frantically and rushed to explain himself before Natalie could deny his offer, "No, Nat, I really do need an assistant. I'm not the most organized person. And I thought maybe we could help each other out. It's what friends do. Please, Nat. Will you do it?"

Natalie stared at Barry trying to read him, "Are you making this job up?"

Barry shook his head no, "I asked Singh about it and he said he approved. He said, and I quote, "Maybe your new assistant will get on your ass and you'll actually get your work done on time"'.

Natalie tilted her head from side to side, considering the offer, "And what would I do?"

"You would organize papers for cases, make copies, nothing too crazy. Mostly just keep me company up in the lab and get paid for it. You would assist me, of course. It just..it gets a bit lonely up there sometimes," Barry said with a sad smile.

Natalie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Fine, Allen."

Barry let out a loud yes and pumped a fist in the air before he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and walked her over to Iris and Eddie, "Guess who's gonna be working together?"

Eddie grinned and raised an eyebrow, "You found your assistant?"

Iris just looked back and forth between the three of them, "Wait what? What exactly is going on?"

Barry grinned, "Natalie now has a job as my assistant."

Iris simply cocked her head and smiled, "So the CSI assistant needs his own assistant? Well I'm glad this happened. Now Nat has a job and Barry finally has someone to keep him in line. We should celebrate! The three of us were going to go have dinner together at our house, why don't you come, Barry."

Barry again shoved his hands into his front pockets and rocked a little bit on his heels before shaking his head no, "I-I wouldn't want to intrude on your dinner."