My Forever and Always (Soulmate Aus)

Love notes- WestAllen

We need milk. Barry Allen wrote on his arm after checking the fridge for said item. Nora wants cereal for breakfast. With a soft sigh, he turned back to his five year old daughter who was waiting semi-patiently for her breakfast. He gave her an apologetic smile before he noticed the starts of loopy handwriting on his other arm. 

It was already on the list and in the cart. Iris West-Allen told her husband. His apologetic smile morphed into a soft, gushy one that Nora giggled at. She's always loved watching her parents write to each other through their soulconnection. I should be home soon. Barry's smile grew as he looked to the heart Iris drew after her message before watching the ink disappear as it normally does. 

"Daddy?" Nora asked, earning the forensic scientist's attention. "How did you and mommy find out you were soulmates?" Barry raised an eyebrow. "You said you would tell me when I'm older!" She added. He nodded, smiling softly. 

"Yes, I did." He agreed. "Do you think you're ready for the total awesome story that is how your mom and I found each other?" He asked her, picking her up from the chair and spinning her around. Nora giggled as she spun in the air. Pretending to be an airplane, Barry 'flew' her over to the couch and sat her down. "Alright, get comfortable because this is a long story." Nora grabbed her fuzzy red and yellow blanket from the other side of the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Even though we're born with the connection to our soulmates, for some reason we never decided to test ours out before that day. I was sitting in English class one day. . ."

~~~

I was sitting in English class one day during eighth grade and was bored out of my mind. Your Uncle Cisco and I had just been forced to sit on different sides of the classroom. Now, you know I've never been good at history so I was bored out of my mind. The teacher was going on and on about something Shakespeare used for his poetry and I just had enough of listening to her. So I picked up my pen and started writing on my arm. It was a simple message, just two words: Hi.

'Took you long enough.' Your mom responded with. 'I thought you'd never reach out.' I furrowed my brows, confused. If she wanted to talk to me, why had she never reached out before? The connection works both ways so she could've written down anything she wanted whenever she needed someone to talk to. Let me tell you one thing, Nora, your mom is very mysterious and confusing. 

'Took me long enough? This bond works both ways, you know.' I told her. The teacher paused her lesson as if she knew I wasn't paying attention. I looked up briefly but she went back to teaching so I went back to talking with your mom. 'You could've reached out WHENEVER you wanted.'

'Yes, well, I've been busy doing more important things.' She fired. Like I said, very mysterious and confusing. She had been waiting forever for me to say something but then she turned around and said she was doing more important things? Something didn't make sense. And I was determined to get down to it.

'Alright, Miss Soulmate, what's so important?' 

'I run the school newspaper.' She informed me. That would've been a HUGE clue as to who my soulmate really was if only I payed attention to the school newspaper. 

~~~ 

"You're silly, daddy." Nora pointed out, giggling. Barry nodded, kissing her forehead. 

"No one said I was the smartest person alive." He remarked. "But, onto the story!" Nora giggled again, snuggling into her blanket.

~~~

As I was saying, that would've been a HUGE clue as to who my soulmate really was if only I payed attention to the school newspaper. Unfortunately, Cisco thought the newspaper was stupid so I never got around to reading it. But after that day, I never missed a new addition. Mostly because I knew your mom would kill me if I didn't. She's always been scary. 

'What have you been doing that's been distracting you so much?' She asked. I didn't respond at first because, honestly, there really wasn't anything distracting me. Obviously there was always the death of your grandmother that blinded me when I thought about my soulmate because I didn't want to lose mine like your grandfather lost his. But I had barely met your mother so I wasn't exactly going to tell her something like this. 'No answer, huh?'

'It's complicated.' I finally decided. 'I just-' I never finished the sentence, just watched as it disappeared. 

'You just what?' 

~~~

"Did you tell her?!" Nora asked, jumping out of her blanket. Barry chuckled, smoothing out her hair and wrapping her blanket around her shoulders again. "Did you? Did you, did you, did you?!" He smiled down at his overenthusiastic daughter.

"I was getting to that part, Nora." He told her. "If you waited long enough you would've known." Nora pouted slightly. "Now, can I continue the story?" She nodded. Barry's smile grew.

~~~

'You just what?' Now, I didn't respond immediately because, again, I had just started talking to her. But we were soulmates, literally destined to be together since birth till death, so I should've been able to tell her anything. Here was the moment of truth. I carefully drew the pen over my arm.

'I've just been afraid of losing my soulmate like my father.' I informed her. 'I'm sorry it took me so long.' The words washed away before new ones replaced them; your mom didn't know what to say. It wasn't that surprising actually; I had kind of expected her not to respond immediately any way. 

'Meet me by the girl's locker room after class.' She instructed. Even though we were writing to one another, I knew that was the end of the conversation. So I sat through the rest of the boring lesson on something poetry related until the bell rang. Your Uncle Cisco waited for me by the door but I told him that I needed to go somewhere else. He understood, he had found his soulmate a long time ago, your Aunt Lisa. 

I made my way over to the girl's locker room which was fairly close to my English class to begin with. Many girls gave me strange looks except for one: your mom. She was beautiful the moment I laid eyes on her. I don't need to describe to you what your mother looks like because you know what she looks like, but just remember that she was stunning in her blue-ish green sweater and jeans. The only thing I regret about that moment was not kissing her. 

"Are you-?" She asked, holding up my arm. I nodded. Her lips pulled into a small smile. "I'm sorry about your mom." She told me. I smiled faintly. "But I promise you won't lose me." I raised an eyebrow. "At least, not yet." She rephrased. I nodded again as she held out her hand. "Iris West." 

"Barry Allen." I introduced, accepting her extended hand. 

~~~

"And that was the story of how your mom and I met." Barry concluded. Nora squealed, loving how perfect her dad made it sound. "From there our relationship began." She smiled brightly, throwing her arms around her dad. A few seconds later, the sound of keys jingling filled the room followed by footsteps. "I think your mom's home." Barry whispered into Nora's ear. She jumped off the couch and rushed over to the door. Iris stepped out a moment later, making sure she locked the door behind her and took her keys out of the door. 

"Mommy!" Nora cheered, reaching out for Iris to pick her up. However, her hands were full of grocery store bags so she couldn't at the moment. Barry swooped in and took the bags from his wife's hands so she could pick up their daughter. He started putting things away as Iris made her way over to the counter with Nora in her arms. "Daddy told me the story of how you found out you were soulmates!" Iris raised an eyebrow, turning to her husband.

"Is that so?" She asked. Barry shrugged, looking sheepish. "What else did your father tell you about us?"

"Just how we met." Barry assured her, giving her a quick kiss. Nora giggled. "Maybe the journalist in the family can tell our daughter about our first date?" He suggested. Nora's eyes widened as she looked between her mom and dad. Iris rolled her eyes, kissing her husband's cheek then her daughter's.

"Maybe some other time. Right now, I remember a certain someone wanting cereal for breakfast."