The Line Between Living and Dying

Substitute Dinner

"All right, here we are." Barry opened the front door to the West house, letting Caitlin and Ronnie in. "Uh, all right. You guys can stay in Iris' old room. It's kind of small, but-- Hey." Barry cut himself off when he saw Joe.

"We have guests," Joe stated the obvious.

"Yeah, we do." Barry nodded. "I hope that's okay."

"Mi casa." Joe shrugged.

"This is Ronnie." Caitlin introduced Joe to her fiance.

"Nice to meet you." Joe shook his hand. The realization dawned on him. "Ronnie, the..."

"Dead fiance." Ronnie finished his sentence.

"Right," Joe said awkwardly. "Beer?" He offered the bottle in his hand.

"Thanks." Ronnie took it.

"Dad? Barry?" Iris called as she entered the house.

"Iris, hi." Caitlin greeted.

"Hi." Iris smiled.

"What are you doing here?" Joe questioned.

"Uh, it's Tuesday. I was gonna make us dinner, remember?" Iris reminded her father.

"Yep."

"Yeah." Joe and Barry answered in unison.

Barry stepped forward, taking the brown paper bag Iris was carrying. "Here, I'll help. Got it."

"I knew you'd forget," Iris said. "Well, there's plenty for everyone. Caitlin, what brings you by?"

"There's a gas leak in my apartment, so Barry said that we could stay here." Caitlin lied.

"Oh, that's sweet of him." Iris complimented. "And, uh, who's this?"

"This is, uh..."

"Her cousin," Barry answered for Caitlin.

"Sam." She added.

"Visiting from Coast City," Joe said.

Ronnie waved at Iris, figuring it best not to say anything.

"You look really familiar, Sam." Iris eyed him suspiciously.

"Yeah, I--I have one of those faces. So what's for dinner?" 

* * *

Dani stepped into her childhood home, bags of groceries hanging from each arm. "Dad, I'm here." She called, waddling to the kitchen.

"Hey, sweetheart-- why do you have so many bags?" Michael asked, helping his daughter unpack the groceries.

"Well, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to make. So, I bought ingredients for four different recipes." Dani explained.

"Dani, it's just me and Zander. We'd be perfectly happy with some burgers."

"I know, that's what my brain keeps telling me. But then there's this little Italian chef hidden back there that keeps suggesting things like risotto or porchetta or lasagna or prosciutto and then I end up buying what I need to make everything."

"That last one sounds good," Michael suggested.

"Prosciutto?"

"Yeah. Wait, that is the ham one right?"

Dani chuckled. "Yeah, Dad, it's the ham dish."

"Then there you go."

"All right. Prosciutto tonight and other Italian dishes for later this month."