Christmas At the West House.

Silent Night

Previously...

"And waking up from my coma just to see you moved on and fell in love with Eddie Thawne felt like someone literally put a dagger through my heart."

"Stop!" Iris begins to scream.

"Iris, I haven't even started. My paren --"

"BARRY JUST STOP!!!!!" She finally screams at the top of her lungs.

SILENT NIGHT

Iris isn't wearing much. The weather is getting really bad. When the winds blew, if you listened closely you could hear a howl.

She hugs her frame very tightly while teardrops ran down her cheeks. She's trying really hard to get the words out but all that comes out is the sound of her teeth chattering.

She's shaking and hugging herself even more tightly.

From where Barry is standing, he notices that if she hugged herself any tighter she would crush all the bones in her body.

He quickly takes off his jacket and covers her back with it. Then he takes off the scarf around his neck and wraps it all around her hands. He holds them tight and tries to blow more heat into the little scarf cocoon he just created.

"Is that warm enough?"He says staring at her while he continues to blow warm air into her scarf covered hands.

"No Barry." Iris starts to take off the jacket he had put around her and unravels the scarf he earlier covered her hands with. "Here." she slowly hands them over to him. She wipes her tears and stares into his eyes for a few seconds.

"Iris what are you doing? If your skin is exposed to the cold any longer you're going to get frostbite." Barry reassures her in a serious tone.

"Well, I don't give a shit Barry!" Iris yells at him. "Besides, taking your jacket and letting you freeze isn't exactly fair. Is it?" She whispers turning to look across the street.

"Iris, I'm serious. If we don't get you home as soon as possible you're ..." he starts but remembers forcing Iris to do anything against her will is futile. "I'm sorry." He says looking at her directly. "I'm sorry for lashing out like that. It was completely out of line and I'm making this all about me. It's just ... I've kept all these feelings buried inside for a really long time and I just need to let it out somehow you know?"

He takes his eyes away from her. "That's why I left. I felt like I... like I couldn't breathe watching you two. I didn't expect you to walk out and start a manhunt in the middle of the night wearing close to nothing." He points at her clothes and starts to giggle.

Iris joins him. Her eyes are still teary but now she's smiling.

"I just needed to be alone." He admits. "Now can I PLEASE take you home before I have to explain to Joe why his daughter looks like a character from Frozen?" He begs her.

Iris looks up at him and smiles. She's still hugging herself and shaking like she just had a bucket of cold water dumped on her.

Barry walks over to her and puts his jacket around her and wraps her hands with the scarf just like he did before. He then looks at her and motions with his hand, "After you."

They start to walk side by side in the silent night.

Iris notices Barry starting to hug himself and rubbing his hands together.

She steps closer to his side and puts her hand behind his waist. He then brings her entire body closer to him to keep him warm as well as they walked side by side.

Barry stops to look at her and smiles nervously. "I don't ... think we should be..."

"What do you mean?" Iris asks without a clue about what he's trying to say.

Barry looks at her hand around his waist and looks back at her.

"I'm not letting you freeze because of me, Barry. Besides, it's not like we've never done this before." She says as she lifts his hand and puts it around her neck. "Now stay close if you wanna keep warm."

They walk in silence all the way home until they get to the front porch.

Barry quickly lets go of her and steps to the opposite side. He's about to ring the door bell but Iris stops him. She faces him and starts.

"Honestly, I have no idea how to respond to everything you told me. I just need time to process. You have no idea how much its killing me knowing that you had all these feelings and I was clueless. I should have known. Lately, it's been like I barely know you anymore and that scares the shit out of me." She looks him straight in the eye and says. "I love Eddie. I'm sorry, but I do."

Barry puts his hand behind his head and says, "Iris, if you're trying to make me feel better, you're doing a horrible job."

"I love him and I love you too. You are like my favorite person in the whole world and I don't know what I'd do if we ever stopped being friends. I can't imagine life without you in it."

She pauses. "God, I have no idea if I'm saying all the wrong things here but I'm being honest and you at least deserve that. I'm really hoping we can move past this. I'm really sorry Bear."

She starts crying and walks closer to him and hugs him tightly.

"It's not your fault Iris, my timing wasn't exactly pristine. I had fourteen years to tell you and..."

"No." Iris cuts him off. "I should have known. It's my fault for not knowing. What kind of friend doesn't know when the other is hurting?"

She pulls back from him and looks him in the eye. "Promise me we'll get through this. Promise me you'll tell me everything from now onwards. No more secrets."

Barry breaks the eye contact and looks the other way as he says, "No ... no more secrets."

"I'm so sorry." Iris whispers.

"Iris, stop apologizing. You didn't do anything wrong. Its only making it worse." Barry reassures her.

"Oh, I'm..." Iris starts but catches herself.

"It's Christmas ever. Now stop crying. I don't want Eddie thinking I hurt you or something."

They both giggle. Iris turns and rings the door bell. Eddie opens the door and immediately hugs her.

"God you're freezing." He whispers behind her ear.

Caitlin and Cisco walk over and hand's them a blanket.

They all walk to the couch and sit down.

Eddie brings Iris closer to him in attempts of keeping her warm and they start cuddling.

"So Barry, why did you run out unannounced? You should have seen Iris. She had us all freaked out." Eddie looks at him curiously.

FIN

THANKS FOR READING

Hopefully you guys don't hate me after reading this!

Barry will be just fine. He didn't lose Iris and that's all that matters.

What do you like? What do you hate? Let me know in the comments.

I just want to thank all of you who leave feedback after reading every chapter.

Its means a lot to me and motivates me to write more and I couldn't thank you guys enough!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Until next time,

xxxxsplendidjaniexxxx