The Line Between Living and Dying

Growing Stronger

A week had passed since Dani and Barry's talk. Dani had been avoiding him but it was getting harder to do as she spent more time at the precinct to see her brother.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, allowing Dani to enter the precinct's main lobby. She stepped out, heading straight for Zander's desk. He wasn't there. Dani scanned the office area, finding no sign of him.

Then Dani saw the Captain. "Oh, Captain Singh!" She ran up to him.

"Danika, here to chew out your brother again?" Singh gave her a look.

Dani chuckled awkwardly. "No, actually. We, uh, we worked out our problems."

"Good. Cause you know I can't have civilians just storming in here and chewing out my guys. Even if they are related." Singh walked into his office, Dani following.

"Yeah, I know. But don't worry, we are back to being friendly." Dani assured. After a few moments of awkward silence, she cleared her throat. "Anyway, I am looking for him but I can't seem to find him. I'm supposed to pick him up to go to lunch with our dad. So, I was hoping you know where he is."

Captain Singh thought for a moment. "No, sorry. I haven't seen him since he first came in this morning. Joe might know where he is though."

"Okay, great. Thank you." Dani started walking off but turned around when she realized that she didn't know where Joe was.

"Forensics lab," Singh answered, already knowing what her question was going to be.

"Thanks." Dani smiled, jogging up the stairs. She found Joe in the lab with Barry, an evidence box in front of them. She cleared her throat, knocking on the doorframe.

"Dani..." Barry trailed off. He knew that she had been avoiding him and he felt so guilty for what he said just last week. It surprised him that she had shown up to CCPD, given that that was where he worked.

"Hey." Dani barely glanced at Barry. "Um, Joe, have you seen Zander recently?"

Joe looked between Barry and Dani, confusion in his eyes. "Uh, I think I saw him down in the file room."

"Thanks." Dani spun around and left without another word.

"What's going on between you two?" Joe turned to Barry.

"She asked me about my mom's murder last week because she thought that the streak was the guy who killed her." Barry sighed.

"What made her think that?" Joe asked.

"She saw me at the award ceremony and the lightning reminded her of what I said happened in my house that night." Barry scratched the back of his head. "And I kind of accused her of being drunk."

Joes face went slack. "You did what?"

"I know, I know. But she caught me off guard and right before that, Iris was talking to me about the streak and then she suggested that I had killed my mom--"

"But, Barry, she doesn't know you're the streak." Joe cut Barry off. "She didn't know that she was accusing you of anything."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Barry huffed. "This would just be a lot easier if I could just tell her."

"Man, you really want to tell her," Joe commented.

"Not just Dani but Iris too." Barry corrected. "I mean, I tell them everything."

"Mmmmm, you don't tell Dani everything." Joe shook his head.

Barry furrowed his eyebrows at Joe, not quite sure what he was getting at. Joe just gave Barry a knowing look.