A/N: So, recently on tumblr I put myself open-for-requests in regards to westallen drabble prompts. I will post them on tumblr, but I thought I'd post them here as well, in case anybody wants to leave a comment. ;) I'm open to anyone giving me prompts on here in a comment too. Works either way! Just be aware that, as the synopsis for this fic suggests, each drabble will be roughly 500-800 words or less. If I really like how something turns out though, I may turn it into a one-shot or multi-chap eventually. Just depends.

Note: This prompt is actually the 4th one I got, but I thought since it relates so directly to the events in tonight's episode, I would post it first. If the episode lives up to all the hype it's going, I doubt I'd feel I could top a different version in a drabble rewrite.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

PROMPT: Can you do a one where Barry and Iris reunite after the 2nd particle accelerator? You might have already done one but I don't care. –Anon

"You're not going back."

The words thrummed in Barry's mind, making his head hurt.

He left the Joe look-a-like in the home that wasn't his and walked into a world parallel to his own, except it wasn't. His mother was there; his father, Iris, Joe…but they weren't really his. Some of them didn't even pretend to be. From what he could tell he was trapped in the speed force with no way of getting home. There was no way he could know if his friends and family back in STAR Labs, if Iris, were trying to find a way to get him back or if they just assumed he was dead.

The burning feeling he'd felt as the explosion hit him head on was unlike anything else he'd ever known. The fire of a thousand flames igniting him and then tearing him to shreds. It felt like a distant dream, but he knew it was real, despite the fact that when he'd woken up in this alternate universe, he was in one piece and not singed to a crisp.

He'd pleaded with the Iris look-a-like to let him go back, that his world was in danger and needed to be saved, but she'd given him even less than the Joe look-a-like. She'd been silent.

Frustration hit him harder than ever before, because he knew – unless he had his speed, if he could get back – there wasn't really a thing he could do about a world in danger. Time passed slowly here, but at what speed was it going back in the time he'd come from, the place he wanted to be right now?

There was no way to be certain.

Barry found himself walking faster and faster till he reached the park where he and Iris had played when they were kids. He saw scenes past before him, a shaky version of their younger selves playing. Iris showing him how to defend himself against bullies, or playing tag and him letting her win because he liked her. Or maybe that was just what he told himself, so he didn't have to admit he wasn't the fastest runner.

Slow.

That was amusing to think of now, for so many reasons.

But as the visions of the younger Barry and Iris faded away, he found himself thinking of Iris – his Iris – back home on Earth-1, out of this wretched speed force in between place.

He thought of what she'd said to him.

"No matter what happens, it will never change the way I feel about you."

He thought about the way he'd felt when she said that, his heart racing. It made him believe anything was possible, that the explosion would be a success, that Zoom would be defeated, and that Iris would finally be his. They could be together in a way he'd hardly dared to dream for over a year.

But that hadn't happen. The only thing keeping him grounded now were those words.

He focused on them as if nothing else mattered. He closed his eyes and pictured her saying them, pictured every moment they'd had together that led him to this point, pictured where she was right at this very moment and what she was doing.

Then, he felt himself start to shake.

He opened his eyes and looked around him. Everything appeared as it had before, but then very suddenly the ground beneath his feet vibrated. And then again, stronger.

He looked at his hand and saw the vibrations. He sensed a light ahead of him and looked up. It shone so brightly that he couldn't look away. Without thought he ran towards it and suddenly he was running, moving faster than he'd done even as the Flash with four times his initial speed. He ran into the light, still as fast as he could go. He saw memories flash around him, but he focused only on Iris, on her words.

Then on new words that he hadn't heard before.

"Come back, Barry. Come back to me."

Shocked, and hardly daring to believe the reality, he kept moving forward, until he was forced to stop.

Because he was back in STAR Labs. Home. And everyone in the room was moving around frantically, unaware of him.

He hoped this wasn't some wretched dream, or that he wasn't a ghostly vision from beyond that they couldn't see.

"Guys!" he said, and they all turned to him.

They all stopped and looked at him and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Barry?" Joe squeaked.

He nodded and walked further into the room, out of the chamber he'd been in when they saw him disappear into fiery oblivion.

"Yeah, it's me." He laughed in disbelief and they all started circling around him.

He smiled and hugged them and then realized Iris wasn't amongst them.

"Where's Iris?" he asked and they all turned around, looking for where she was and apparently mystified she wasn't in the room.

Then, as if she had been summoned from wherever it was she had disappeared to, she came running down the hall and burst into the room. She came to a sudden hall when she saw him.

"Barry?" she choked on sobs.

He nodded and then sped towards her with his restored flash speed, ignoring all the excited cheers of those now behind him.

Iris looked up at him with wide eyes.

"I…" she tried and couldn't seem to get out anything else.

"You brought me back, Iris," he said. "It was you."

Tears filled her eyes and she still couldn't speak. He cupped her face and felt them both shiver from the physical contact. Then, he lowered his head and took her lips in a kiss that barely kept its passion contained. When she pulled him closer, it exploded.

The cheers and clapping behind them hardly existed.

"I want that future, Iris," he breathed. "I want it with you."

She nodded and laughed and smiled and still said nothing, but the starstruck look in her eyes was enough. She pulled him in for another kiss and murmured the softest, most beautiful words when they finally parted.

"I love you, Barry."

His heart thrummed harder than ever and he wondered how he was still breathing.

How long had he waited for those words?

It felt like forever.

He cupped her face and held her gaze.

"I love you, Iris." He swallowed, tears forming in his own eyes. "You…saved…my life."

…

A/N: Haha. This is way too long for a 'drabble' – 1,073 words apparently – but here it is! Hope you guys enjoyed! :P