Sweep Me Off My Feet(A Barry Allen/The Flash Fan-fiction)

Chapter Fourteen: I'm Fine

We met Joe in our Lab.

"Joe. We had him. The Metahuman. We were wrong. He's not controlling airborne toxins. He can literally transform himself into a poison gas."

"That's new." Joe said.

"I find myself saying that a lot these days." I told him. He stood up, walking over to us.

"The victim was a judge. We're checking old cases to see if there's a connection."

"It's too late. I should have been faster." I shook my head.

"Barry..."

"Focus on the job. Don't think about that right now." Joe reasoned.

"You don't wanna know what I'm thinking about." He walked over to the table by the window, putting his hands on the table with his back to us. "My dad has spent fourteen years in a six-by-eight foot cell for a crime he didn't commit. I couldn't save my mom, but I can save him."

"Did we promise you that we would get your father out of prison together? "

"I don't need your help, Joe. I could be in and out of there with him before anyone even sees me."

"But what then, Barry? Your father is  on the run for the rest of his life." I reasoned. "And I have a feeling he's not as fast as you."

"You don't know what it's like there. Either of you."

"You think I don't understand what you're feeling? I have been a cop for almost as long as you've been alive. So you should knw, putting on that suit does not make everybody safe. For every person you save, there's gonna be somebody you can't. And the hardest thing you're gonna have to face is not some monster out there with powers, it's gonna be that feeling of uselessness when you can't do anything...or the guilt that weighs on you when you make a mistake."

"Some things, Barry, you can't fight. Some things...you just have to live with." Joe handed him the file and left the lab without another word. I walked over to him, putting my hands on his face.

"He's got a point." I said, rubbing my thumbs back and forth.

"Yeah...I know." I went to follow Joe, but he grabbed my wrist, pulling me back, so that I was facing him, almost sitting on his lap.

"Stay." He said quietly.

"Or...we could go look through more of these at my apartment?" I asked. He nodded.

"Ok."

~~~

We walked through the door and I kicked my shoes off.

"You want anything?" I asked. I walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge and looking. "I've got Dr. Pepper, Milk, juice..." I shut the fridge and turned around to see Barry right behind me. I jumped back, my back hitting the counter. He pressed himself against me and reached above my head, opening the cabinet and getting out a glass. My breath caught in my throat.

"I can get it." He walked to the sink, filling up the glass with water. I regained my composure and walked back to the living room. I tied my hair up into a ponytail and sat on the couch, crisscross with my back against the arm and picked up the file. Barry soon sat across from me with his water. I started flipping through, rubbing my sore shoulder with one hand. "That bothering you?" I shrugged.

"Nah...I think I just landed on it wrong when you dropped me off at the Cortex." I said.

"Come here."

"What?" He smiled for the first time since we got back.

"Just come here." I stood up, walking over to him. He grabbed my waist, pulling me down on the couch with my back facing him. He started rubbing my shoulders. I winced. "Sorry."

"It's fine."

"Not just that...I'm sorry about...everything lately. I know this has been hard on you and...making up relationships and stuff I haven't really made it much easier."

"It's been fine. I mean...I can handle it. I'm a big tough girl." He laughed.

"Is that better?"

"Much. Thanks." I turned around, facing him. 

"I have a question for you." He said.

"Yeah?"

"I noticed this today, when I was talking to Caitlin. I realized that you are always the first to offer up advice when we're having a hard time but...you don't talk to others much about you." I averted my eyes to the file.

"Do I? I hadn't noticed."  I bit my lip.

"Karen..." I looked up at him now. "Do you have something you want to talk about?" I'm in love with you. You're in love with Iris, in fact, using me to get to her. My brother is alive after five years and I can't bring myself to go see him. None of these left my head though. I merely shook my head.

"Nope...I'm an open book. Nothing to talk about here."

"You sure?"

"Barry, honestly...I'm fine."

Story of my life.