In A Blink ➳ Barry Allen/The Flash

22.

chapter twenty-two ; time works in mysterious ways

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The next morning, Natalie sat in front of Captain Singh's office, waiting anxiously and bouncing her foot up and down to focus on something. She watched through the glass as Singh, Joe, Barry, and Eddie spoke but could only hear muffled voices and yells. Ever since the threat Mark Mardon had made to Joe, everyone has been tense and angry with each other, consumed by worry. It was funny the way time worked, Natalie thought, how five minutes could feel like so much more than that.

As soon as the door to Singh's office swung open, Natalie jumped up and walked towards the three men, under the wary eye of Singh himself from his desk inside. Natalie began to open her mouth but stopped when she saw Joe's expression change and his line of eye led to Iris, who was walking off the elevator doors. He motioned for the three to move closer and lowered his voice, "If you want to keep that smile on that pretty face, she doesn't hear about any of this." Barry, Eddie, and Natalie nodded their heads and put on fake smiles as Iris approached them.

Natalie felt Barry's arm wrap around her shoulder tightly and he brought his lips down to her ear, "Just remember what we talked about last night, okay? You're my present." He pressed his lips to her cheek and leaned back up, waiting for Iris to get to them.

"Hey, sweetheart," Joe said as he welcomed Iris with a hug.

Iris moved her attention from her dad to Eddie, "Hi-"

"Hey," Eddie greeted coldly before walking off to his desk. Natalie looked at Barry and figured they weren't the only ones who had noticed the way Iris was acting around Barry last night.

Iris turned back to Joe, Barry and Natalie after watching Eddie, "So, what are you guys working on? Any good leads for an honest reporter?"

Barry casually leaned against a cabinet, removing his arm slung around Natalie's shoulder and opted to hold her hand, "Uh..things are actually pretty quiet around here right now."

Iris nodded her head and looked back at Eddie, "Can you guys give me a minute?"

Joe looked between his daughter and her boyfriend before motioning to the three of them, "We were all actually gonna go grab lunch."

"We were?" Barry asked looking up from the floor and Natalie nudged him with a slight smirk on her face, "Right, right duh." He gave a forced smile before starting to walk off, still holding on to Natalie's hand.

"I uh, have to take a rain check on lunch, guys. There's some stuff upstairs I still have to finish. Just bring me back some food," Natalie said letting go of Barry's hand. Joe nodded and Natalie gave Barry a quick kiss before jogging up the stairs to Barry's lab.

Natalie went straight to work, organizing some of the files and papers Barry had strewn across the place, most likely from the wind that results from his speed. Placing them in their correct folders, Natalie moved from organizing to analyzing, looking over the photos of the Mark Mardon case. She knew she shouldn't be doing it, but she couldn't help but feel like she wasn't contributing to Team Flash. Most importantly, she was more worried about Joe, who treated her with the utmost care and respect. She just wished that by looking over the photos she could find something that was a clue. A clue to stopping Mardon or finding him.

Too focused on the photos, the knock at the door caused Natalie to leap, clutching her chest as the photos fell back on the desk. Her heart racing, Natalie looked up to see Iris standing in the doorway and quickly but casually placed the photos in their folder and set them in the crate, moving to another folder and "assure" the contents were correct.