Episode 20 - Flash Fanfiction - A Snowy Flashmas

Chapter 1

It was a week until Christmas and Barry sat in his living room. He had been waiting for Joe to arrive home, and for Iris to come round so that the three of them could hang up Christmas decorations. He had been tempted to do the decorating himself, but he knew that it would mean a lot to Joe to have them all do it together.

It had been weeks since the night he had spent with Caitlin. Neither one of them had spoken much, since that night and Barry knew that it would be wise to give her the space she needed. He knew that she was still grieving over Ronnie, and that knowing Caitlin, she would talk when she was ready.

Nothing had gotten by Astrid and Cisco, though. They had figured it all out and had interrogated Barry until he had given them the truth and nothing but the truth. They had even brought up the name Felicity a couple of times. But she and Barry only ever kissed, nothing really came from it. The truth was that they were concerned for Caitlin, which made Barry feel that she regretted being with him. So avoiding her was his best way to deal with things, instead of running head on as he usually would... no pun intended.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. That had to be Iris, Barry thought. But why would she knock, when she still had a key? Nonetheless, he got up and answered the door. But it was not Iris, nor was it Joe or anyone else he had ever met.

It was a young man, roughly Jefferson Jackson's age and he bore a striking resemblance to Joe.
He also looked very uncomfortable, being there. "Er... I'm sorry I must be at the wrong house. Does Joe West live here?" the kid asked Barry.

"Yeah, of course he does!" Barry said, "He's just not here right now, who are you? I can let him know you stopped by."

"I really shouldn't have imposed," the man said, preparing to turn away, but Barry stopped him.

"It's okay, come in. Sit down!" Barry said, as he looked at his phone, "Joe's at work, but he shouldn't be long. What was your name?"

The kid hesitantly stepped through the door and looked around. "My name is Wally... Wally West."

"What are you doing?" Cisco demanded of Astrid as she stood on the top step of the ladder trying to put the golden star on the very large Christmas tree in the very center of the cortex.

"What does it look like?" she asked him, reaching even further, almost losing her balance.

"Like you're going to fall down and break your neck!" he told her, he looked at Wells who was just standing around with a tablet in his hands. "Hey, you're the tallest one around here... You saw her doing it and you didn't stop her? Why didn't you help?"

"Because, I don't do holidays... I don't do Christmas! Besides, she's a little bossy. I thought it would be better to stay out of her way!" DR Wells said.

Caitlin, who was hanging tinsel across the desks added "I tried to offer to help, but she refused."
"That's because you did it wrong. Astrid, get that butt of yours down here, now, before you fall!" Cisco said barking at her from the foot of the ladder.

Astrid stepped down at him and smirked. "Right... Dad. You know sometimes I wish that you wouldn't keep mimicking my father! It just creeps me out how well you do it!"

He took the star from her and bounded up the steps, "It works every time, doesn't it?" he laughed.

Astrid shook her head, frustrated at him and headed towards Harry. "So, what kind of man doesn't do Christmas?" she asked him.

"One who has no reason to... I don't believe in it." Harry said.

"Is that for religious purposes?" Caitlin asked him, as she had finished with the tinsel.

"No. I just don't." Harry said.

Cisco who had succeeded in putting the star on to the tree made his way towards them. "Is that because you have no friends or family?" he asked.

"Cisco, that's not a nice thing to say!" Caitlin snapped.

"Actually, it's the truth." Harry said. "So, can we drop the subject, now?" he made his way towards his office and closed the door behind him.

"Nice one." Astrid said sarcastically to Cisco. He shrugged and went after the man to attempt an apology, he didn't mean to offend the man... that much.

Caitlin and Astrid were left in the cortex. "Are you ready for the Christmas ball this weekend?" Astrid asked her friend.

"I know where you're going with this, Astrid. Cisco already tried." Caitlin said walking away.

"What? I only wanted to know if you had something picked out." Astrid said with a smile, "You and I need another shopping trip."

"Yeah... because, you have your motives. You want to ask me about Barry again, don't you?"

"Look, I know you don't want to talk about it. But you and he have been so odd since it happened. You're still his doctor and I know, that even though you love Ronnie and you're still grieving over him, you also have feelings for Barry. It doesn't take a scientist to figure that out – I should know!" Astrid said as she stood beside her friend in her med-bay.

"Okay, you're right! But I shouldn't feel this way. Ronnie died a couple months ago, and even then we only had a few months together since we found him in Smallville, we were still married." Caitlin said. She was really beating herself up over the whole situation.

"Caitlin, you're allowed to feel the way you feel. Nobody can take that away from you. Besides, you and Barry have bonded a lot. Every time he gets hurt, he puts his life in your hands, you've never let him down because you care about him. You're..." Astrid began.

"Yeah. I'm his doctor... This is a breach of my authority, Astrid!" Caitlin argued.

"Caitlin, you're also his friend! You sealed that deal when you joined our fold outside of work hours. He's hurting too. Because just as you have feelings for him..." Astrid's conversation was interrupted by Cisco slamming the door to Harry's office.

"That is one difficult hombre!" Cisco said raising his voice, "I tried to apologize... and he just turned it into another argument! No wonder he doesn't have any friends!"

Astrid and Caitlin raised their eyebrows as they saw Harry leave his office behind Cisco, "...and it's because of people like you, Cisco Ramon, that makes me not want friends to begin with!" he said angrily. Cisco was taken aback. He wasn't expecting Harry to follow him out and hear him.

"Ouch!" Caitlin said.

"Look, can we all just play nice for one day? Our Christmas ball... which, let me remind you, is to raise money for the poor children. It is this weekend, and we have a lot of work to do!" Astrid said trying to rally her friends, "We have toys being donated today, and yes this time I have organized a caterer... and decorators, unlike last time! Because Christmas is a stressful time as it is!"

Harry and Cisco continued to glare at each other, so she took hold of Cisco's hands and made him look at her. "Please... this will also be the first Christmas I'm spending without my father... So please, just do it for me, at least?" she pleaded with him.

"Okay fine... You know I can't resist that face." He said with a smile.

"Good, because I have a job for the both of you... It will give the two of you a little bonding time." She said with a smile.

"What? I should have known there was a catch!" Cisco replied.

"You need me to work with him?" Harry asked, "Have I just been demoted or..."

"Nope, not demoted. But, I am supposed to be at a board meeting in ten minutes... and dealing with the guy who has been organizing all of our donations, down town, at the same time. So, I need you – Harry to meet with the man in charge of the donations... and Cisco, you'll like this bit. You get to ensure that the toys arrive in one piece."

"Ok... I like that bit!" Cisco said with a smile.

"You would... you over grown man-child!" Harry replied.

"Hey!" Astrid said, "Play nice, the both of you! You're representing STAR Labs!"