The Flash: Lost...

Chapter XI

The next day Barry gets in to work.
Wenn is already there.
She greets him with a smile, but he barely acknowledges her.
She's a bit confused, but upon closer inspection she notices the bags under his eyes, he hasn't shaved or combed his hair and he looks so tired.
She walks over to his desk.
"I told you to call me when you couldn't sleep"
"I'm fine Wenn." He answers. His tone distant.

Wenn hesitantly walks back to her desk and gets back to work, but keeps one eye on Barry.
He goes through the motion. Going to crime scenes, analizing evidence, writing it up and turning in the reports. In between he flashes through town to stop the crimes taking place or rescue people from fires and help with accident evacuation.
He barely speaks to her.
This goes on for days. And every day he looks worse, not just tired, but he seems be losing weight as well. Seeing as he isn't that much to begin with, that is not a good thing.

After two weeks, Iris walks in to the lab.
"Hi, you're Gwendolyn, right?"
"Wenn" she gets up and extends her hand.
"You must be Iris, nice to finally meet you."
"Same here, dad says you're doing a great job!" Iris replies.

Wenn smiles, "Thanks!"

"I'm looking for Barry, he isn't here?" Iris asks her.

Heatwave was sighted and the Flash went to help. Not knowing whether or not Iris was in on his secret, she says "He had to go inspect a crimescene."

"Oh..." Iris is disappointed "well, I see if I can catch him later."

Iris head for the door, Wenn hesitates but then calls after her. 

"Iris!"
Iris turns "Yes?"
"I...I wanted to ask you what is wrong with Barry. He's not... well not what I was told he was like. I thought I got him to open up a few weeks ago, but he suddenly clammed up again and... he isn't properly taking care of himself. I'm worried."
Iris sighs, "Me too. He's... He's been through a lot in his life and something happened a couple of months ago that hit him hard. It hit us all hard, but he feels he is to blame."
"May I ask what exactly happened?" Wenn asks Iris.
Iris hesitates. She doesn't know Wenn knows about Barry being the Flash so she bends the truth a bit.
"There was... a security breach at S.T.A.R. Labs and my dad, his partner Eddie and Barry went to check it out. There was a huge fight. The guy had Barry pinned down. Eddie... uhm, went to help him. He died doing so." Iris has to swallow her tears after that last sentence.
"Eddie was... also my boyfriend" Iris adds "So Barry feels like he's not only failed Eddie, but also me. And my dad, cause he lost both his partner and future son-in-law."
"Oh god, I'm so sorry Iris!" Wenn puts a hand on her shoulder.
"After that Barry started distancing himself from us, as if being around him would put us in danger"
"So that's what he meant by 'I just want to keep them safe'" Wenn whispers to herself.

"Hmm?" Iris asks.

"It's nothing" Wenn answers, she knows Iris deliberately left out some things. She also realizes that Iris must know Barry is the Flash. She doesn't tell her that she knows as well.
"Thank you for sharing that with me."
"You are welcome." Iris smiles sadly
She starts walking away but turns back. "Wenn?"
"Yes?"
"Could you maybe try and talk to him again? We've been trying to get him to open up, but he doesn't let anyone in. Maybe you, someone who isn't so close, are able to get through to him."
Wenn sees the despair in her eyes. "I'm not sure I can... But I'll try." Wenn gives Iris a warm smile.
"Thanks."
Iris leaves the lab and Wenn sit down at her desk.
"Security breach at S.T.A.R. Labs, huh" She mumbles.
She searches the CCPD database for anything concerning S.T.A.R. Labs in the past months. Nothing, the only thing she finds is files that date back to before the accelerator explosion. She sits back.
Then she starts searching the Internet. That has a better result. After reading some news articles, cross referencing them with CCPD files she concludes that whatever really happened at S.T.A.R. Labs and has spun Barry in to this downward spiral is all connected to that damn black hole.

"Tonight, Barry Allen, we will have a good heart to heart."