Hold Steady ⚡ The Flash

Dance of Trust

Rowan stands beside Felicity with a frown on her face. Her red lips tugged downwards as she observes everyone at the party. To say she was in a bad mood was an understatement. And all of her feelings could be pinned on one person. 

One Oliver Queen. 

The very person who was walking towards her now. "Hey, How is everything going in there?"

Rowan turns away at his voice, shooting Felicity a look before grabbing a glass of champagne and retreating into the mediocre party. 

"Good evening Queens, Oliver, may I have a word?" Felicity mutters with tight lips. Placing a hand on Felicity's shoulder Oliver moves her to the side. 

"I may have overreacted earlier." 

"You think? Right now you need to apologize to your mother. Not me. And maybe Rowan." 

"For what?"

"For being wrong."

Oliver glances towards his family just as they stop in their tracks. All of their high hopes collectively dropping at the small number of guests present. "I guess these days I only draw a crowd when I'm on trial for murder." 

"Mom- you don't have to-"

"We have guests." Moira interrupts her daughter, gesturing to the almost barren room. "However few of them there are." 

"This is not your fault Ollie," Thea whispers to her brother as she passes him. 

Oliver follows Thea with his eyes as she passes him, his gaze settling on the dressed up Rowan who miraculously shows up beside him. "I wonder what she could be talking about?"

"Listen, I was wrong okay?"

Rowan scoffs, "I don't care for your apologies O. How many times do I have to tell you apologies are meaningless?" 

"Which is why I called him." Oliver nods to the entrance, Rowan turning to see what he was talking about. 

Both Rowan and Barry stop in their tracks. The two of them catching each other's eye. Barry blinks back his shock, his mouth hanging open slightly at the appearance of Rowan.

She was absolutely stunning. Not that she wasn't stunning before, but that was while she was in her work gear, and casual wear. Now dressed up, Barry had never seen anything so beautiful. 

Rowan, however, wasn't that sappy. In fact, she was merely happy that the CSI was there. The fact that Oliver didn't completely scare him off meant something to the firefighter. She would admit that he was handsome but looks never really carried much weight in Rowan's mind. 

Oliver moved out of the way as Barry takes a step forward to stand in front of Rowan. Now standing beside Felicity, Oliver smiles as he watches the two interact. He disliked the boy. That much was true. However, he didn't particularly have negative feelings for the boy when it came to him being with Rowan. As crazy as that might sound. 

"Hi." Barry smiles, glancing down nervously before meeting Rowan's eyes.

Smiling, Rowan nods, "Hey. How are you?"

"I'm good- yeah- great."

"You sure about that?" Rowan laughs, tilting her head slightly. 

Laughing in response Barry nods again, "Yeah."

"I'm sorry about Oliver. He can go overboard." 

"No- no, I totally understand. I should have told the truth."

"The truth is overrated." Shrugging Rowan nods her head off to the side, walking off the dance floor with Barry following her. "Oliver invited you?"

"Yeah, originally Felicity did but after, what happened, I didn't think it would be a good idea to come. But yeah- Oliver did invite me- this time." 

"Barry?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to dance?" Holding her hand out, Rowan waits patiently for his response. From all the time the girl spent with the CSI it was obvious that he had a tendency to ramble and get nervous. So she was perfectly okay waiting for him to gather his thoughts in order to form a response.  

"I can't really dance...." He trails off, looking down sadly. 

Taking his hand in hers, Barry looks up at the firefighter, "Do you trust me?" Barry smiles, not even hesitating as he nods, "Just hold my hand and sway." 

"Okay." 

Moving back out onto the dance floor, Rowan adjusts her hand in his, using her other hand to place Barry's hand on the top of her hip. Once positioned she moves her hand to his shoulder, looking up and smiling at the nervous Barry. "See, not so hard." 

Nodding, Barry begins to sway to the rhythm of the song, his eyes darting across the beautiful girl's face before him. 

Barry knew he was falling fast. Faster than he's ever fallen into something before. But who could blame him? He had heard of the firefighter before. She was the closest thing to a real hero that he could find. And he didn't even know about her night job yet. 

So when he actually met the real-life superhero he was awestruck. Especially since he wasn't actively searching for her at that moment. She just showed up. As if it was fate. 

Well at least in Barry's mind it appeared that way. 

He didn't know that her night job required her to be on the scene. 

Stumbling a bit over his feet, Barry musters out a sorry, to which Rowan just smiles. 

The same smile that Barry finds himself loving minute after minute. 

As the song ends Barry bows, causing the firefighter to laugh. Retreating from the dance floor, Rowan swipes two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter. "I hope you're over twenty-one." 

Laughing Barry nodded, accepting the glass from her. "No need to worry." 

Clinking their glasses together the two took a sip from the bubbly liquid. Halfway through her tipping her drink back Rowan catches Felicity's eye. The firefighter pausing as she watches Felicity rapidly point to the exit. Nodding Rowan places her drink down, looking at Barry. 

"Sorry- I've got to go. I have a shift at the station soon." 

Nodding sadly Barry bids the girl farewell. 

Picking up the bottom of her dress to allow her self to move more freely, Rowan hurries out of the mansion, Felicity hot on her heels. 

"Sorry to interrupt but the result of the blood sample just came in." 

"I'll go suit up. You should call Barry, I'm sure he'll be able to help you out."

Parting ways, Felicity grabs her phone and calls the CSI, telling him to meet her at the lab as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Rowan hops in her car, driving towards what she liked to call the bird's nest. 

At the lab some minutes later, Felicity works on the computer while Barry talks to his boss on the phone. Apparently, his boss found out what was happening and was requiring Barry to return to his job. 

"I'll be on the next train. I'll be back tonight." Hanging up his phone Barry rounds the desk to grab his stuff. "Tell the SCPD that the sedative in thief's blood is Ketamine, a three control substance. Shouldn't be hard to track."

"Yeah, I'll make sure they get it." 

"Tell Rowan bye for me?"

"Sure."

"Bye Felicity." Leaving the room Barry's heart sinks to his feet. He didn't want to leave. Especially since the case wasn't done yet. But most of all Barry didn't want to leave Rowan. 

♋

A/N: I love this story so much. I can't wait for the plot to move into the Flash and Central City- there are going to be some plot twists and on my part mostly- a lot of tears. See you soon- hopefully (-: 

edited 9/20/18