Summary: Iris was fine with her life the way it was. She was a superhero, working with her brother, she had her dad firmly in her life again after being released from prison, she had a fulfilling day and night job and her friends. Her time was occupied. She had stories to chase and villains to stop, The Chemist not being the least of them.

Then she met Barry Allen.

Characters: Iris West, Barry Allen, Wally West, Linda Parks, Cisco Ramon, Joe West, Cecile Horton, Patty Spivot, Joanie Horton, Killer Frost

Relationships: Barry/Iris, minor Linda/Wally, minor Joe/Cecile, past Eddie/Iris, past Ronnie/Caitlin

Tags: Alternate Universe, villain!Barry, hero!Iris

Iris stood on the roof of Barry's apartment building, looking out at Central City below her. This wasn't the first time she found herself standing here watching the city alive hundreds of feet down. It brought her peace to slow down occasionally and take in the city moving, rebuilding, existing. With her speed, sometimes things passed her by because she was moving too fast to appreciate it, but she wasn't standing here to admire the city, but to confront hard truths. She heard the door open behind her and close softly.

"I didn't know if you would come or not." She said quietly, not turning around.

"I didn't know if I would come," Barry said behind her. There was something in his voice, something sad and yet dangerous that made her turn to face him. As she did, she found herself staring down the barrel of the gun he had pointed at her face.

"Bear..." He stared her down with conflicting emotions written all over his face before he steeled himself and pulled the trigger.

Six Months Earlier

Iris ran through the city, the wind rushing past her face and through her hair, electricity and warmth flooding her body. Running had quickly become one of her favorite things to do ever since she had gotten her powers. The sensations that coursed through her limbs, the rush, it wasn't like anything she had felt before or since. She looked to her left as yellow lightning appeared in her peripheral.

"I'll race you back to the lab." Wally said before blasting off. Iris smirked and ran after her brother. They were neck and neck through most of the city, but Iris managed to eke out a victory, skidding to a stop in the main hub three seconds before her younger brother.

"You cheated." Wally accused.

"You're just too slow, Super." She teased in return, pulling her purple mask off from where it covered her face from her hairline to her nose, only leaving her nostrils down to her jaw visible to keep her identity hidden. She had insisted on style though, so it wasn't a cowl that covered her head but let her hair hang loosely or in a ponytail, if she so chose. Helmet hair wasn't sexy or cool.

"What's the count looking like, Cisco?" She asked.

"That's 130 crimes stopped by Supersonic and 142 by Hypersonic. Considering you guys are speedsters, this competish is really heating up. Maybe Wally will finally take the lead." Wally gave Cisco a look of betrayal.

"Why do you make it sound like it's so impossible to do?"

"Maybe because in the three years you two have been heroes, you've been in the lead a total of zero times."

"That's not true, Cisco. He was in the lead once... for about five seconds." Iris said. She and Cisco shared a laugh as Wally rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. I've gotta meet Linda for our date. We're going to the basketball game tonight. Dating a sports reporter has its perks, but superspeed makes being late impossible unless I want to hear a lecture for twenty minutes."

"And I've got a hot date with a bartender named Camilla that I'm pretty excited about."

"Nice. Cisco Ramon back on the market." Wally complimented, giving the mechanical engineer a fist-bump.

"I figured it was time. Cynthia made her choice, I can't keep moping over it. That's what Patty said anyway when she forced me out to this weird bar with a bunch of women that have serious leather fetishes, not that Patty minded. She was drowning in ladies all night. I think they were passing her around."

"Cisco." Iris chastised.

"It's true. Patty is a playa." Iris giggled at the emphasis he put on the word.

"I'll hold things down here. You guys have fun on your dates. Tell Linda I said hi." Wally zoomed out of his yellow suit and into his casual wear.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Big Sis. And good job today. We were awesome."

"Of course we were. No one stands a chance against the Sonic Siblings." Iris and Wally did their special handshake before Wally zoomed out of the lab. Iris sat down at the main computer as Cisco grabbed his jacket off the hook.

"Have fun on your date and don't do anything too weird, like go off on a tangent about Star Trek vs. Star Wars."

"I'll have you know that I can be very smooth." Iris gave him a doubtful look.

"I didn't keep Cynthia for so long because of my big brain, honey."

"That's not something I needed to know." Iris deadpanned.

"I don't know, it felt like pertinent information. I was thinking though." Cisco started. Iris knew that voice immediately.

"Cisco, no."

"He's a great guy. I'm telling you, you'll love him, and he'll love you."

"The last guy you set me up with was some muscle-bound jock who spent the whole date bragging about how much he could bench press and trying to convince me to have sex with him."

"Okay, that was a miscalculation on my part, but this guy is nothing like that, I promise. He's a really great guy."

"I've got so much on my plate right now. Between my work at CCPN and as Hypersonic, dating is kind of impossible. Besides, I like sticking around here. It gives me time to track leads on the Chemist."

"Don't tell me you're still on that. The guy is a ghost story. He strikes once a month, then he disappears. It's a waste of time."

"It's not a waste to me. He didn't just vanish in a puff of smoke."

"Maybe he did. He probably has a pretty good idea of the chemical compounds needed to make that kind of ninja escape." Iris ignored the sass, looking through reports on the screen.

The last time the Chemist struck had been at the Federal Reserve three days ago. An acid bomb had blown the heavy duty door wide open and allowed a bunch of goons to wipe the vault clean. The Chemist was the figure behind the scenes. He developed the weapons and scrubbed the crime scenes so CCPD couldn't follow the tracks of the perpetrators. No one who worked with him had been arrested on a job involving him, and if they were arrested for something else they never gave him up, not really. They had a general description pieced together from multiple accounts: a Caucasian male, at least 6 feet tall, brown or red hair depending on who you asked, in his late 20s. No one had been willing to sit down to do a sketch. Many of his known associates hadn't even seen his face. Snart had told her he wore a gas mask decorated with flames over his face and didn't talk when he met up with him for help on one of his jobs. Lisa had seen him, though she refused to give a description, even to her brother. The guy wasn't actively killing people, but he was still a thief, and his weapons posed a dangerous threat to innocent bystanders.

"I hear you about your hectic schedule, and that's valid, but is it really that or is it Eddie?" Iris resolutely kept her eyes on the screen. The situation with Eddie and Eobard happened two years prior. Iris had dated since they both died along with Ronnie but had never felt the same about anyone as she had Eddie.

"What happened sucks, royally."

"Yeah, understatement of the century." Iris scoffed.

"But you got through it. You survived without going all crazy villain on us like Caitlin. Which, I know, I know, Ronnie dying again really messed her up and we are still giving her the benefit of the doubt two years and multiple arrests later, but the point I'm making is that Eddie loved you, and he would want you to be happy. You deserve it. You shouldn't be camped out here waiting for crime to happen while the rest of us get to live our lives. I can't remember the last time me, Wally, Hartley, Patty or Harry stayed back at the hub watching over things."

"Harry has his weird side projects that I don't bother asking about, Wally has Linda, you are putting yourself out there to start dating again, Patty spends her days at CCPD, it's unfair to have her cooped up in here at night, and Hartley is... Hartley. I don't want to know what he gets up to outside of the lab and our hang-outs."

"I'm just saying, you deserve to have a life outside of here too." She watched him strut out of the room before looking back at the screen. She was fine with her life the way it was. She was a superhero and working with her brother. She had her dad firmly in her life again after he had come back from exploring the world following his release from prison and he was dating DA Horton. She had a fulfilling career at CCPN, and she had her friends. What else did she really need? This was enough. It could be enough.

WAWAWAWA

She only agreed to Cisco's blind date to get him off her back, and that was it.

She sat at the restaurant Cisco told her to go to, Carillion's. It was a new fine-dining spot that didn't break the bank but was usually booked for weeks in advance. Iris had been dying to visit ever since CCPN's food critic had given it 4 stars out of 5, which was unheard of considering Charles' picky palette. She, Cecile, Joanie, and Linda were even going to make a girl's night of it if their schedules permitted. She had no idea how Cisco managed to pull a reservation.

Iris had already looked over the menu four times waiting for Cisco's friend. Figures the mystery man would show up late. She was starting to feel ridiculous sitting there on her own, only a glass of water in front of her. She had put in more effort than she had initially thought she would into the occasion. She had gone shopping with Linda and Patty and got a deep plunge red halter jumpsuit and black kitten heels. She pulled her hair back in a half-up, half-down do secured with a red flower accessory, one that was supposed to match the one pinned to her date's lapel, if he ever showed up. She wasn't dressed up too much, but she wasn't casual either. She knew she looked hot, so if Cisco's friend didn't show, she was going to give him hell for it.

Maybe she was overreacting. She had arrived ten minutes early to give herself enough time should disaster strike, even though Wally said he would hold down the fort tonight. The guy was technically only eight minutes late, even though Iris had been waiting closer to twenty. She glanced at the menu again. She was starving and had only been nibbling on garlic bread sticks. Her speedster body needed something more substantial.

She continued waiting, feeling like the seconds were crawling by and inching pass her. She felt her annoyance growing deeper and deeper as time passed. She hadn't been stood up since junior high, but as it got to minute 45 of waiting, she was pretty sure she was on her own.

"Ma'am, can I get you something other than water?" The waitress asked, coming to her side. She was giving her a look of pity that Iris didn't like.

"You know what? You can. I'm starving, and it looks like I'm going to be by myself. The chicken alfredo looks great, but can I get the beef wellington with a side of mash and broccoli? And I'd love a refill of these breadsticks. And a glass of Chardonnay. I need it." The waitress looked surprised for a moment before nodding.

"Of course. I'll take your order to the chef." Iris picked up her phone to text her abuse at Cisco when a voice grabbed her attention.

"That's very brave of you." Iris glanced to her left at the brunette man sitting beside her. He was a tall, slight man. Gangly looking, but his rolled-up sleeves revealed toned arms. He had messy brunette hair that looked auburn in the light overhead and the clearest light green eyes and his jawline... Iris snapped herself out of her daze with a mental rebuke.

"What is?"

"Sticking around after being stood up. Everyone's been looking at you with the pity eyes for over half-an-hour now." He advised her, leaning close to whisper like he was telling her some big secret.

"Trust me, I felt the piercing gazes. Truth be told, I might just be sticking around out of spite to show them I'm not as sad as I look. Then again, eating alone in a fine-dining restaurant at a table for two might be pushing it." The guy held his hands in surrender.

"I won't judge you. I was on my way out of here actually. I'm afraid I'm not as brave as you are. I don't think I can take the pity."

"You've been stood up too?" He looked dressed for a date in dark gray slacks with a black button up opened at the top.

"Well, I've been waiting around for about an hour for her to come back from the bathroom and the waitress didn't see her when she went back there, so I think she might've crawled out of the window." Iris screwed her face up a little in displeasure.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, at least she didn't saddle me with a bill. We didn't order yet." She felt terrible for the guy. He'd been sitting down waiting for a girl to come back who obviously ditched him, and he was probably ravenous. He looked like he could stand to gain a few pounds. Iris looked at him indecisively. She didn't know him, but she didn't know who her would-be-date was either and the guy wasn't unattractive.

"Hey, why don't you join me?" The man rose an eyebrow at her.

"You're alone, and I'm alone. I'd hate for you to have wasted your time. Plus, I hear the food here is to die for. I'd love the company." The man gave her a searching look. His eyes really were something. They were smoldering.

"Yeah, sure. It'll free up a table for the restaurant if nothing else." Iris smiled brightly as he got up, adjusted his black button up and sat opposite her.

"I'm Iris West, by the way." She said, shaking his hand. His hand felt warm in hers and strong.

"Barry Allen." He pulled away, and their fingertips brushed against each other, creating a spark of electricity that zinged through her skin. She glanced up at him and could tell he felt it too. A hesitant smile formed on her lips. After a long moment, the corner of his mouth tilted in reply.

WAWAWAWA

Iris speed-walked around CCPN, packing up as it was time for her to go. She would give anything to be able to use her speed, but she held off, putting her things away and texting Hartley to confirm he was holding things down tonight.

"What lighted a fire under your ass?" Linda asked as she walked past her. Iris debated with herself for a moment. If she told Linda the truth, it would open her up to more questions than she cared to answer, but if she lied, Linda would sniff it out a mile away. The other woman was like a bloodhound when it came to things like that. She wasn't a reporter for nothing, sports entertainment or not.

"If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone. Not even Wally."

"Ooh, is it that juicy?"

"Maybe. Promise me."

"I promise. Now, spill."

"I have a date tonight." Iris relayed, her face betraying her excitement.

"Wait, seriously? Like a Cisco blind date or a real, honest-to-god date?"

"A real date, that I initiated. His name's Barry. I met him at Carillion's three weeks ago on the night Cisco's friend stood me up. We ate dinner together and talked. We've been texting ever since, and I finally decided to ask him out on a proper date. We're going to the opera tonight, then we're eating dinner at his place. He's cooking."

"You're going to a guy's house on the first date?" Linda asked incredulously.

"Technically, the second date and it's not as if I can't defend myself."

"I know you can. This all just feels so sudden. I didn't even know you were talking to anyone, let alone seriously putting yourself out there."

"That's the thing, I wasn't. He just... kind of came out of nowhere. I don't know, I just have this feeling about him, a good feeling. I haven't felt like that since Eddie. It feels like a waste to not at least consider that it might be a good idea to give this a chance." Linda smiled before pulling Iris into a hug.

"I'm happy for you. Even if things don't work out with this guy, I'm glad you're giving yourself another chance."

"Thanks, Lin. I'm going to get out of here before Scott magically finds some pressing issue he needs me to stick around for. I'll text you later, tell you how it goes."

"You better. Don't do anything I would." Iris shot her friend another smile before hurrying out the door and to her car.

She sat in the driver's seat with a smile on her face. After the last few weeks of texting and talking to Barry, she felt an almost foreign optimism growing in her. They spoke of their interests in movies and food and music, argued the merits of mint chip ice cream over cookie dough, he told corny jokes, and she made fun of him for being a dork. It felt comfortable, and their conversations flowed naturally. She hadn't thought she would feel this after Eddie died in her arms thanks to Thawne, but Barry made her feel light and unburdened, like she wasn't a superhero who saved the city daily or a tough-as-nails reporter willing to put herself out on the line for a story. She just felt like Iris when she spoke with him, and he was just Barry. No complications, not even real expectations. There were definitely worse things she could imagine having come from Cisco's friend standing her up.

WAWAWAWA

"Hot damn." Iris breathed as she walked into Barry's apartment, though that was an understatement. It was a penthouse complete with bay windows letting in natural light, an open floor plan and modern furnishings.

"What did you say you did for a living again?" She asked, stepping further inside.

"I work in chemical development," Barry answered, amusement coloring his voice.

"You sure you don't rob banks? If I knew chemistry could be so lucrative, I would've paid more attention in science class. I'm a journalist, and my place is maybe a third of this. I think all of my friend's places could fit inside here, except Hartley and that's because his parents are filthy, stinking rich and could buy him an apartment building if he wanted it."

"No rich parents, just... smart investments," Barry said, helping her out of her jacket. She smoothed down her light pink cocktail dress and accepted his hand as he led her to the island in the kitchen.

"I should hire you as my financial advisor. Although, the job would just be you stopping me from spending 30% of my earnings on brownies."

"Sounds like valid expenses to me." Barry teased, pulling the chair out for her to sit.

"My bank account would beg to differ."

"I hope you're hungry. I've been watching those Gordon Ramsay cooking videos on YouTube, and I have perfected the art of pan-searing scallops and making butternut squash risotto."

"Trust me, I'm always hungry." She watched him cook for a while, his movements fluid in a way hers never were in a kitchen. Superspeed couldn't fix her ineptitude when it came to cooking. She got up when he told her she could explore if she wanted. She walked around the living room. The couch was comfy, and the television was large, sitting on a stand with an artificial fireplace installed in it. She could see three framed photos set on the shelves. One was of a younger Barry, about ten, with a red-haired woman and a brunette man on either side smiling brightly at the camera. Below that was him and another tall, lanky man sitting by a bar and below that was the couple from the first picture smiling at one another. Iris picked up the last frame. She could tell how much they loved each other just from the photo.

"My parents." Iris jumped a little as she turned to see Barry standing there. She hadn't heard him approach her.

"They look happy together." She said after she calmed down.

"They were."

"Were?"

"They died when I was twelve. A car accident. My father was a doctor, and he would make house calls to people who didn't have medical insurance, trying to help. He and my mom went out to dinner one night. He got a call, and he went running but, on the way, a drunk driver hit them. My dad died instantly. My mom stayed alive long enough to help the guy who hit them out of his burning car and then she died at the hospital."

"I'm so sorry." She said, sympathy coloring her voice.

"I went into the system and eventually ended up fostering with the Dibnys. They just wanted a check for me. Once I was 18, I was on my own, but I met Ralph, my foster brother. Him and his wife, Sue, are all the family I have now." He continued, pointing to the second picture.

"What about your family? You mentioned a brother before."

"Yeah, I have a family. Father, brother, Dad's pregnant girlfriend, and her daughter. Typical family." Her voice hedged on sarcastic to her own ears.

"Sounds like there's a story there."

"There's a lot of drama there is what there is. You should back out now, save yourself." Barry looked at her curiously, and Iris sighed.

"My mom was a drug addict for a lot of my childhood. She was always in and out of the house. The last time she came back, she said that she was staying for real. A week after that she was murdered. A man broke into our house and killed her." Iris relayed, flashing back to that moment in her childhood when Eobard killed her mother while Wally and Iris could only watch.

"That must've been awful."

"Yeah. People ended up thinking it was my dad who did it. He was arrested and convicted falsely. My brother and I were raised by a man named Harrison Wells for a long time after that."

"The guy who blew up the Particle Accelerator and made all those metahumans?"

"Yeah." Barry's eyebrows scrunched.

"I remember hearing something about a dying confession. It's fuzzy." He mumbled under his breath.

"Yeah, his dying confession that he was the one who killed my mother and raised my brother and me out of some misguided sense of guilt and probably a load of other things we don't need to get into. Wells is dead now, and my father was released from prison. He's been moving on with his life since then. He joined a jazz band, he goes exploring and him and his girlfriend, Cecile, are expecting a little girl." She finished, looking down. She didn't want to get too deep into everything that happened, this was a second date after all. How was she supposed to explain to the guy that her foster dad, a man she had trusted with her and Wally's lives, wasn't really Harrison Wells but Eobard Thawne wearing his face? On top of that, Thawne was from hundreds of years in the future and the descendant of her fiancé, who killed himself to erase Eobard from existence, and all that without telling Barry she was Hypersonic? He would think she was insane.

"Wow, that's… a lot." He said, voicing her thoughts.

"Yeah. Not really second date material, huh?" She said, pushing her hair behind her ear and keeping her eyes on the ground.

"I shouldn't have brought it up." She said regretfully. She could have said anything else. Maybe she should've lied or bent the truth or just kept her explanation as brief as possible.

"I was interested, so I asked. I'm interested in everything about you, not just the good. All of this just confirms what I knew about you when we met at the restaurant."

"And what's that?"

"You're a beautiful, strong, brave woman, Iris West." Iris looked up from her feet into his green eyes. He was standing much closer than she thought. It made her heart beat faster.

"You know, from any other guy that would sound like a line to get into my pants. Hell, I've probably heard some variation of it before. But it doesn't sound like a put on when you say it." Barry stared down at her silently. His eyes were so soulful and expressive. It was too much to keep staring into.

"I never do this on a second date, but the way you look at me..." Barry was still quiet as Iris stepped into his space. She felt like electricity was flowing around her and through her and between them. She had to glance down at herself to make sure her purple lightning wasn't visible. Barry gently took her chin to raise her face, so they were staring into each other's eyes again. He didn't make a move on her though, waiting for Iris to decide. This was insane and out-of-character for her. She hadn't given a guy a serious chance since Eddie, but three weeks of talking to Barry and two dates, one of them unplanned, and she was already ready to jump feet first into something that could blow up in her face, but what Cisco told her replayed in her head,

'Eddie loved you, and he would want you to be happy. You deserve it.'

Iris didn't like thinking she was owed anything for the work she and Wally did, but meeting Barry made her feel like the universe was paying her something forward. How could she turn away from a chance like this?

She closed the space between them and pressed her lips to his. Her lips felt like they were tingling as they met his. They hung there in the moment before he responded to her with a surprising amount of passion, but it didn't scare her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and silently thanked God she hadn't taken off her heels or else this would've been significantly more awkward. She felt his hands on her waist, pulling her closer, so their bodies were flush against one another. She didn't mind.

By the time they were done with each other, their food was cold, but she didn't regret it. She didn't regret anything she had done with him that night.

WAWAWAWA

IRIS: I did something you would.

LINDA: Iris West, I am scandalized.

IRIS: And I'm satisfied.

WAWAWAWA

They had their third date at her apartment, and Barry cooked again. This time they ate before they ended up in bed together. Barry was a great cook.

WAWAWAWA

Their fourth date was spent at Barry's place again after she had mentioned to him that she had fallen asleep in the theatre at a midnight showing of 'Mad Max: Fury Road' and never attempted to watch the movie again. They sat on his comfy couch eating a bowl of popcorn while watching his large television and ended up making out on the couch by the time the credits rolled before moving to his bedroom.

WAWAWAWA

In an attempt to not end up sleeping with each other, they went to Central City Park where an orchestra was putting on a show for their fifth date. Iris sat between Barry's legs on their blanket listening to the music, enjoying the feel of Barry's chest behind her back. They managed to find the will to go to their separate homes that night with only a kiss, but it still sent Iris soaring.

WAWAWAWA

Iris sat at the main computer in Star labs, her files on the Chemist open in front of her. She had been distracted from her chase by her burgeoning relationship with Barry, but she decided to renew her efforts. She looked through the files, hoping to see something new that would jump out at her, but it was all still the same info. Male, 6'0, Caucasian, brunette or red hair, late 20s, operating since before the particle accelerator exploded but jumped in notoriety while Wally and Iris were still in their comas. He was linked to several bank heists and attacks on armored vehicles. He had created several chemical based devices and sold them on the black market. He had even worked on the weapons Captain Cold, Golden Glider and Heatwave stole from Cisco. He was an expert with chemical compounds, which enabled him to manipulate the crime scenes to cover his and others' tracks and send CCPD on wild goose chases. He was not a murderer or a meta, which was why he wasn't high on the priority list for Team Sonic or CCPD until he struck, but it stuck in Iris' craw that she couldn't figure this guy out, not as a reporter or a superhero. She hadn't even managed to be face-to-face with him in a fight yet.

"You know, this has become a concerning obsession by now," Patty said, walking into the room.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had the day off."

"I do, but I wanted to check on things here. It's a good thing I did. When are you going to stop staring at this file like the words and clues are suddenly going to change?"

"Says the woman who takes a tally of all her arrests."

"Touché. I wasn't expecting to find you here. According to Cisco, you've been walking around with a sex-glow for weeks. He thought you had a boyfriend you were spending nights with, or you've finally created a Tinder profile." Iris couldn't help but to blush and look away from the blonde. Patty's smile widened as she sat on the desk beside her.

"Do tell."

"We haven't defined it yet, but he's pretty great. I just feel… good when I'm with him. He can cook, he's a funny dork, and he's great in bed. What's not to like? Sometimes I forget there's a life outside the lab and the suit and the next story, but he makes me not want to forget again." A look of surprise came over Patty's face.

"Wow, Iris. It sounds serious."

"Not that much. It's been a little over two months, we're still in the early stages, but it could be something serious. I'm open to it." Patty's smile softened and her blue eyes sparkled with delight.

"I'm happy for you. So what are you doing here if you could be out with this guy? Everyone here knows you've been pulling your weight. You've been pulling more than your weight actually, we'd take over for a few nights if you asked."

"This is important to me too. I'm still Hypersonic. It isn't just a distraction or something to do in my free time. The Chemist is highly skilled, and we know so little about him. He can't just be left on the streets."

"I agree, but all anyone knows about him is in this file, and it's hardly illuminating. You need more than this; otherwise, you're just going to run yourself in circles. Superfast circles, but still."

"I—" Iris was cut off as the warning alarm started blaring. She looked at the screen to see someone was attacking building E of Folston Tech. She zoomed out of the chair and into her suit, securing her mask on her face and her hair back into a ponytail.

"I've got you." Patty nodded. Iris nodded in return and ran out of the lab towards Folston.

"What are we looking at?"

"Folston Tech is trying to introduce a new line of highly experimental guns that can instantly immobilize a person, metahuman or not. They brought prototypes to the station to sell to Singh, but he refused because they're still highly experimental. They have the potential to turn volatile, so be careful."

"I've got this," Iris mumbled as she reached the building. There were several floors of building E on fire and what few people stuck around so late were running from the front entrance.

"Call CCFD." She raced up the stairs to make sure there were no innocent people still inside or stuck in the flames. She found an unconscious woman in one of the smoky rooms and raced her outside, leaving her in the hands of a security guard before rushing back upstairs.

"Tell me where I'm going."

"The guns should be in the corridor opposite the fire. You're going to go down a long hall with the Folston Tech logo at the end of it. Make a left and you'll see a glass lab door that you're going to have to phase through. It's too reinforced. The guns are through there. They need to be kept cool."

"Otherwise?"

"Otherwise, they explode." Iris scoffed with a shake of the head.

"And they offered these to the police?"

"In their defense, they did explicitly state it's still experimental."

"Someone should've told these idiots." She mumbled, flashing down the hall and making her way to the lab door. The reinforced glass was meant to be set into steel fixtures in the wall. It should've been impenetrable. The glass looked like it had been melted, a noxious smell wafting off it.

"The Chemist. Looks like he gave these guys the goods they needed to get past the door to get the weapons." Iris groused, ignoring the significant temperature drop once she passed the door.

"I..s? Ir… I can't… spe… hea… me."

"Patty?" Iris said questioningly as the voice in her ear began breaking up. The building must be secure enough to be scrambling her comms. She decided to venture forward, even without her eyes in the sky. She was cautious, not flashing through the rooms as she heard noises coming from not too far away. She crept past the corner and saw the guys, six of them, shoving the guns into industrial coolers. The room was practically a freezer, being kept cool with various tubes stuck into the walls insulating it with a constant rush of cold air.

"I don't think those belong to you." The men turned around and immediately began shooting at her. She smirked and used her speed to dodge the bullets easily, relishing the way the speedforce drew on the energy flowing inside her to allow her to move at hyperspeed, her purple lightning trailing around her and behind her as she punched one of the guys out and elbowed another in the face, breaking his nose with her force. She dodged the third guy trying to shoot her from behind and flashed behind him, pulling his arm behind his back hard enough to dislocate it before flipping him on his back and kicking him in the face, knocking him out. She slid under the arm of the fourth guy, ignoring the light and smoke from the muzzle of his gun as she threw her knee into the fifth guy's face, grabbing the fourth guy by his shirt to pull him along with her before throwing him into a wall. He hit one of the tubes and a loud hissing noise filled the room as it disconnected from the wall. She paid it no mind as she used the industrial cooler they brought as a jumping off point to wrap her legs around the sixth guy's neck, and used the momentum and her weight to flip him down to the ground before kicking him as well, knocking him out. It all took seconds to execute but gave her a deep sense of satisfaction.

She was just about to go and check the other rooms for any more goons when a blast hit her in the back. She grunted at the feel of it and quickly turned to see who it was. The space was smokier than before thanks to the tube dislodged from the wall pumping out cold air into the warmer room, but she saw the man through the fog. He was tall and wearing black jeans and a black jacket. He had on a bastardized version of a gas mask except it was black with red flames painted over it and pulled over his head with a strap that revealed his chestnut hair. The mask had two respirators and he wore dark-tinted goggles that effectively hid his identity from her.

The Chemist.

"This day just keeps getting better and better." She mumbled to herself. She glared at the man across from her.

"Hypersonic. We meet at long last." He said, his voice distorted in the mask.

"To your detriment." She replied over the noise of the hissing tube. It was getting louder and it was hard to even hear herself. She made to zoom over to him, but she wasn't moving as fast as she usually did. She was surprised enough that he managed to hit her with another blast before she could dodge it. She shook her head, feeling like she was moving underwater, but she was still functional.

"I guess they didn't take into account slowing down someone with superspeed when they made these things." The Chemist said with disappointment. Iris shook her head to get her bearings before glaring at him again and charging him. She didn't need her speed to kick his ass. Her father had taught her boxing since she was four years old, she was on her high school wrestling team, she could take this guy.

They met in a clash of punches and kicks. He didn't go easy on her because she was a woman and Iris preferred it that way, taking satisfaction in her gloved fist meeting his abdomen as she took body shots at him. She wished he didn't have that mask on so she could punch him right in the face. She brought her knee up to kick him between the legs, but he blocked it. She moved to elbow him, but he caught that as well and kicked under her other leg to send her to the floor. She managed to grab ahold of him to take him down with her. They wrestled around on the floor for a bit, each trying to get the upper hand and not adverse to taking cheap shots. He went for her unprotected eyes. She punched him in the throat. He kicked her in the chest, sending her into a wall and dislodging another cooling tube just as she was managing to get back up. She kicked him in the shin as hard as she could when he approached her and sent him to his knees in front of her.

They both were breathing heavily as they got back up to their feet and raised their fists to fight again, but a whining sound kicked up in the room. They both were distracted and looked to the gun he had used to slow her down, which had been discarded when they started fighting. It was smoking and glowing red where before it was an ice blue. It was going to explode.

Iris tried to speed towards the guys on the floor to save them, but her speed was still gone and she and the Chemist were closer to the door. She felt him grab her arm and start pulling her from the room.

"What are you doing?" She demanded, fighting against his hold.

"It's gonna blow."

"They're gonna die."

"So will you. Come on!" He tugged on her arm again and pulled her out of the room just as the gun exploded. The reinforced glass did not break from the blast, but fire shot through the open door. The Chemist pushed Iris down to the left, so she was not in the way of the explosion, while he ducked right. She kept her head tucked until the initial burst abated. The fire continued to rage in the room as she got up and glanced inside, but she knew it was too late for all the men within. The sprinklers went off and Iris sighed as the water started dripping down her leather suit and onto the charred remains. She suddenly felt a wealth of angry grow in her and she looked at the Chemist across from her, the fire pouring from the door separating them.

"Why did you do that?" She demanded over the noise of the sprinklers and the fire as he slowly stood back up.

"Why did I save your life, you mean? You should be thanking me."

"I could've saved them."

"A speedster without her speed seemed pretty ineffectual to me given the situation. You would've died." He taunted. The distorted voice the mask created grated on her nerves and made her even angrier.

"My speed would've kicked in."

"Is it back now?" She didn't answer but she could feel in her veins that it was still suppressed.

"Why are you mourning them? They were criminals. What do you think they were gonna do with those guns? Use them for philanthropic work? If the roles were reversed, they would've left you to burn."

"And you're so much better than them? You're stealing with them."

"I didn't come here for the guns, I just came to make sure those dumbasses didn't make a mess of the crime scene. Doesn't look like there's much for me to clean up now and I already got paid." Iris shook her head, her lip curling in revulsion at his cavalier attitude at the dead men in the room.

"You're disgusting. What happened to honor among thieves? Or is even that much of a moral code above you?" The Chemist let out a twisted laugh.

"Let me give you some advice, hero. You need to reexamine the people you let yourself give a damn about. You should start watching out for yourself more often; otherwise, the only thing you're going to be is a headline in the paper and a memorial statue in the park."

"Why'd you save me then, Mr. Numero Uno?" Iris asked before she could stop herself.

"Because… you remind me of someone." Iris almost couldn't make it out for how low he spoke, but the tone of it sounded almost familiar. Before she could linger on that thought, the Chemist turned around and started down the hall.

"You should get out of here, Hypersonic. Those other guns will start blowing up any second." Iris opened her mouth to demand he not move before deciding it was futile and her speed still wasn't back anyway. She heard one of the guns in the room start whining and took off down the hall to get away from the scene, trying not to think of the burning bodies left in her wake.

WAWAWAWA

She didn't plan to go to Barry's that night. They usually texted each other this late, but after the way things went down at Folston Tech and Iris' growing guilt at the unintentional deaths of those goons, she couldn't think of another place to go.

Patty had reassured her as soon as she saw Iris' face that it wasn't her fault, that if anything it was those men's for trying to steal the guns in the first place. Iris knew that, but a part of her couldn't help but think that that line of thinking strayed too close to the Chemist's for her liking. It wasn't even as if Iris had never killed before: she had had to take down Tony Woodward twice, and there was Bette, which was more like assisting a suicide, but Iris was not squeaky clean. There was also Zoom. She all but killed him by draining the life out of him and condemning him to be the Black Flash, and she had never regretted it. This was different for her though. She couldn't help but keep thinking what would've happened if she hadn't thrown one of the guys into the wall and dislodged one of the cooling tubes or if she hadn't dislodged another being kicked into the wall herself. What if she replaced the tubes as soon as they fell out? What if she hadn't taken a moment to almost gloat at her victory against six powerless thieves, so she was aware enough to dodge the Chemist's blast? She hadn't done any of that though, those men were dead, and she wasn't.

Because the Chemist saved me.

The thought came without prompting. She could hardly process that information. They were enemies. They had been fighting each other beforehand, viciously going at the other, but as soon as he figured out her speed was still gone and she was going to try to save his comrades, he forced her out of the room, saving her life, because she reminded him of someone. She didn't peg a man like him, who looked the death of his associates in the face with a shrug, to be sentimental about anyone. She couldn't understand it, understand him. She didn't really want to keep trying. She was getting more and more frightened of what she might find.

She arrived obscenely late to Barry's penthouse. The security guard let her in because he recognized her by now. She knocked on the door when she got to the top floor, anxious energy thrumming through her veins.

"Who is it?" She heard Barry ask suspiciously on the other side.

Of course, he's suspicious. It's past 1 AM.

"It's Iris." There was a pause and shuffling on the other side before Barry opened the door wearing pajama pants and a long-sleeved shirt. He gave her a questioning look.

"Hey. I know it's late and I didn't call ahead of time, you were probably sleeping, but..." Iris trailed off when she felt tears rapidly coming to her eyes.

"What's the matter? Is it your family? Is everything okay?" Barry asked with concern, reaching out with his right hand which she noticed was bandaged.

"They're fine, but something bad happened tonight and I just... Have you ever done something, or not done something, and people ended up getting hurt in the process?" Barry's face morphed into guilt and shame before it disappeared into a neutral expression.

"I have." He answered shortly.

"I just really wanted... I needed to see you." Barry didn't say anything, staring at her indecisively.

"It's okay. I should've called first. I can go." Iris said, getting ready to walk away, but Barry stopped her.

"No, come in. I could use the company." Iris walked into the dark penthouse and took her jacket and shoes off before turning to Barry and walking towards him, resting her head on his chest for comfort. Barry wrapped his right arm around her after a while, rubbing his left hand slowly up and down her back. It was disturbing the bruise from the first blast the Chemist gave her, which, according to Harry, had slowed down the molecules in that spot, so her speed-healing hadn't kicked in there yet even though her speed was back. She ignored the discomfort. She needed to be here in Barry's arms so she could come around to just being Iris again and not Hypersonic who just inadvertently got six people killed.

Barry held her the whole night. Iris felt safe laying with him, trying to banish the day from her mind and lingering thoughts of the Chemist. She did her best not to dwell on what it meant that it was Barry she went to for this peace of mind.

WAWAWAWA

"You never said what happened to your back. You flinch whenever I get too low."

"I hit myself pretty hard on the edge of a desk at work. No big deal. What about your hand?"

"Burned it cooking. It'll heal."

WAWAWAWA

"Hey, I was walking down the street, and I thought why don't we take a break from your cooking and make it a takeout night? I stopped by the Chinese buffet and viola, dinner date." Iris announced when Barry opened his penthouse door, strutting inside with a quick press of the lips. She didn't ponder on how comfortable she was walking into his apartment like it was nothing. Three months of dating and she felt totally at ease. It had taken her twice as long with Eddie, but then again Harrison… Eobard hadn't been very supportive of the relationship, and that had hindered how much time Iris spent with him until she decided she didn't care what her foster father thought about Eddie because she loved him.

She went to the kitchen island after toeing her shoes off and started pulling out takeout containers.

"I got you the shrimp lo mein with an eggroll, but if you want to mooch off some of my bourbon chicken, I won't freak out too much, as long as I get control of the remote tonight." She continued and only noticed how non-verbal Barry was after the silence extended for too long. She turned around to see him standing there with a disturbed expression on his face as he looked at her.

"What's up?" She asked with concern. Barry looked at her for a moment before he walked to the living room. He came back holding a CCPN newspaper and pointed to the headlining story.

Fast, Furious and Dangerous: The Unknown World of Underground Drag-racing
By Iris West

"I know, right? Front paper, baby. I worked my ass off for this story and got into a car with a guy named Tank, which, if that isn't putting the story first then I don't know what is." She commented with a smile, opening her bourbon chicken container, but Barry still didn't speak. She looked at him again. He didn't seem amused.

"What's the matter?"

"What's the matter? You mean, besides you infiltrating a dangerous group of people who could've killed you, getting into some stranger named Tank's car to drag-race and apparently ending up in the hospital for stitches if this story is to be believed—"

"Some creative license might've been taken, it was much more of a scratch," Iris mumbled, but Barry carried on like she hadn't spoken.

"And all that for a scoop." Iris narrowed her eyes at that.

"It wasn't just for a "scoop"." I'm not writing stories about celebrity gossip."

"No, just about your lack of self-preservation apparently." Barry threw the paper onto the island and moved to walk away, but Iris stopped him.

"If you have something to say, Barry, say it."

"You're the reporter, sorry, investigative journalist, why don't you figure it out?"

"You know what? How about you figure out how to stop being a jackass and then I'll tell you all my illuminating theories on where you can shove it." Iris turned around, covered her food and shoved it back into the bag before storming out of the penthouse, slamming the door behind her. She was so pissed off that she didn't even speed-run, stomping home at regular speed to punctuate her anger. Where did he come off acting like her career was just some side job, some little hobby she did to feed CCPN gossip and fluff pieces? She had put her all into this story, putting herself on the line and giving up nights as Hypersonic so she could investigate why drag-racing suddenly made its way to Central City. She had managed to impress Scott, which she had thought impossible given how much he usually doubted her abilities and his disdain for her alter-ego. It put her on a high and to have Barry of all people tear it down with his negativity was surprising, frustrating and hurtful.

Iris sped to her apartment the rest of the way, wanting to be in the safety of her home rather than out on the street as her anger gave way to hurt. She ate her food while moping in front of the television, wishing she was on speedster duty tonight and not Wally. It was her and Barry's first fight, and she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. Her first fight with Eddie had been about… she didn't even remember what anymore. She was sure it felt like the end of the world then too, but they survived it. Barry wasn't Eddie though. This relationship was different and new, and she didn't know what Barry's deal was. He knew she was a journalist, she never hid it. Why did he have a problem now?

She was still staring sightlessly at the television when her phone started ringing. She glanced at it and saw Barry's name. She hesitated but dropped her phone on her stomach, resolving to ignore it. It stopped ringing but then buzzed with a message. She sighed and picked it up.

BARRY: Iris, please pick up the phone.

She sighed again but decided to text him back.

IRIS: Why?

BARRY: Because I need to talk to you.

IRIS: Does what you have to say involve an apology?

BARRY: Yes.

Iris fiddled with her phone indecisively before pressing the call button.

"You've got two minutes before I hang up," Iris said when Barry picked up.

"I'm sorry."

"…Continue."

"I… I shouldn't have come on so strong. I didn't mean to imply your career was somehow less than any other valid career. I just… you don't know how much reading that story scared me."

"Why?" Iris asked, not sure what his issue was.

"Seriously? The entire article was chockfull of ways you put yourself in danger. You're not superhuman. You could've been seriously hurt or killed more than once: if your cover was blown, if that car crashed or if you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I… I don't know what I would've done."

"I…" Iris trailed off. This wasn't what she was expecting. Eddie knew she was Hypersonic and with her father having been a cop before his arrest, she wasn't as uninitiated to the dangers the career presented. She and Eddie never talked about it, so she was slightly stumped by this.

"I do these stories because they're important to me and because I could help people by exposing something like this. I could save lives."

"At the expense of your own? I… I sometimes wonder about the price people have to pay to help others." Iris was taken aback at that.

"Barry, you don't mean that." She said softly.

"Don't I? My parents died because they were so busy helping other people. You could've—"

"It really was just a scratch."

"It's not just this. This won't be the last story, and I'm not arrogant enough to try to demand you to not be who you are. I'm not even your boyfriend, not really."

"Aren't you?" Iris asked, tired of being without a label after three months.

"It feels really boyfriend-like to freak out over me risking my life." She continued.

"I…" Barry trailed off with a sigh.

"I care about you, Iris West. I care more than I thought I could. I don't know what it is about you, but if I keep caring like this then…"

"Then what?" She asked, her voice coming out lower than she intended.

"Then I'm going to fall in love with you, and if I do that, then there's no turning back." Iris felt her heart beating faster at his words.

"So don't turn back."

"There are things you don't know about me." Iris almost laughed at that but just smiled sardonically.

"There are things you don't know about me either, but if you stick around long enough, we can learn about one another properly, and it might not be as bad as you're making it out to be in your head. It's not a life sentence to love and care about someone, you know? And even if it is, it's not an unpleasant one."

"You might be on to something, Iris West."

WAWAWAWA

Things moved faster after that than even Iris, as a speedster, anticipated.

They still talked and texted each other whenever they could and went on frequent dates. She and Barry had toothbrushes at each other's place and forgotten clothing items that they didn't bother taking with them upon discovering. They had keys to the other's apartment, for emergencies of course. She had met Ralph and Sue when they visited from Opal City for Barry's birthday. She liked the two of them. They were chattier than she was expecting, and Sue was definitely the smarter of the two, but Ralph was intuitive, and she enjoyed spending time with them. She had been hanging out with Sue when the Chemist hit Central City Bank with a meta with stretching abilities. They melted their way into the vault, stretched in and stole a third of the vault's contents. Iris hadn't been able to get away from Sue to pursue the case, to her ire.

Barry had run into Iris, Patty and Cisco at Jitters and met the two of them. Somehow, numbers were exchanged and sometimes when she was laying down beside Barry she could peek over and see him texting the two about some dorky pop culture thing that Iris wasn't privy to.

Occasionally, she would get flower deliveries at CCPN with little love notes that she always saved.

Four months down the line and she was content. She was more than content, she was happy.

WAWAWAWA

Iris sped around the dining table, setting things up for dinner. She was usually the one giving Wally a lecture about their speed not being for menial tasks, but she was nervous, and when she was nervous, she couldn't help but be speedy.

Barry was coming over to meet her family tonight. Iris hadn't been expecting it, hadn't even really wanted it so soon. Five months felt soon. But while she and Barry were at the hockey game, they ran into Wally and Linda, which she should've known would happen. Wally just had to play the role of annoying little brother and insist that Dad would love to meet Iris' boyfriend and they should make a family dinner of it. Barry, who had been asking about her family more lately, had agreed and now here Iris was, freaking out. Even when she was standing still, purple sparks crackled around her, making the air turn static in her vicinity.

"Hey, not cool! I spent hours doing my hair." Joanie complained as she passed Iris and her hair started standing on end from Iris' abundant energy.

"Yeah, it looks like it took hours." She replied sarcastically.

"Boo bitch, this level of perfection doesn't happen in a flash. Not all of us have superspeed." Iris sighed, worrying her lip between her teeth.

"Sorry, Joan, I'm just—"

"Freaking the fuck out? I noticed."

"Language. There will be young ears who can hear you soon and very soon." Cecile warned, walking into the room with the salad bowl.

"Iris, honey, you've gotta calm down. You're messing with the bulbs." The older woman continued, coming to Iris' side with a look of motherly concern. She never had much of a problem with Cecile. She would always have reservations where her mother was concerned, but Francine West was dead and had never been a present mother to begin with. Cecile made her father happy. Sure, sometimes the fact that they were having a little girl made her feel some existential crisis about being replaced, but mostly she was just happy for them.

"Does the guy have gills and a forked tongue or something, Iris?" Joe asked, coming into the room with Wally and Linda trailing behind with the rest of the food to place on the table.

"No, I just… I really want you to like him."

"I said I'd give him a fair chance and I will. I'm gonna be cautious of anybody looking to steal away my baby girl though." Iris couldn't help but smile at her father's words, the purple light around her dissipating as she calmed down. She walked over and gave him a hug.

"You're such a sap." She teased.

"Aww, but you love it." Her father pressed a kiss to her head just as a knock came at the door. Iris steeled herself and walked over, opening the door to see Barry standing there with a metal pan in one hand and a gift bag in the other.

"Hey, I'm sorry I'm late, I got a little turned around."

"You're right on time. We just set the table. Come on. I'll introduce you to everyone." Iris took another steadying breath as Barry stepped inside and pressed a kiss to her cheek before whispering in her ear.

"Relax, you look like you're sending me to the slaughter. I want to be here." Iris let out a chuckle at how well he could read her and nodded for him to come in further. Everyone was lined up in front of the table with bright smiles on their faces when Iris turned the corner. She wanted to chastise them for looking weird but decided to get the introductions over with.

"Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Barry Allen. Bear, this is my father, Joe West, his girlfriend, Cecile Horton and her daughter Joanie. And you already met Wally and Linda."

"Hi, it's really nice to meet everyone. I'd shake your hands, but they're pretty full."

"I'll take this," Cecile said, taking the pan from Barry.

"It's dessert. Fudge brownies." Iris perked up at that.

"Your secret recipe brownies?" Barry nodded, and Iris stared at the pan like she could levitate it towards herself.

"Brownies after dinner, baby girl," Joe said without missing a beat. Iris pouted but sat in the chair when Barry pulled it out for her.

"So, Barry, I can't help but notice that gift bag in your hands," Joanie said suggestively, nosily trying to peep inside it. Barry let out a chuckle.

"Well, my parents always told me it was rude to show up to someone's house empty-handed, so it's just a few things I made in my spare time. I've got aromatherapy candles in here for DA Horton. Iris told me the baby could get rambunctious, they should help."

"Oh, Barry that's so sweet."

"I've got this for Joanie for your dorm room. It's a dino sphere. It's bioluminescent." Joanie practically snatched the sphere, shaking it and smiling widely when it glowed blue.

"I've gotta date a guy into dorky DIYs next so I can get gifts like this all the time."

"Joanie!" Cecile chastised.

"What? It was a compliment." Iris shook her head as Barry chuckled good-naturedly.

"I made this for you, Mr. West. Iris told me you liked hiking and collecting things you find in nature, I thought you might appreciate these titanium quartz crystals. And these soaps are for Linda." Joe took the offered items and examined the crystals before looking back at Barry.

"You sure know how to make a good first impression, but the night is still young." He said, but Iris could tell he was already looking at Barry in a softer light.

"By the way, that part for the engine we were talking about is coming next week, Wally."

"Nice," Wally said, offering his fist to bump Barry's easily. Iris could not contain her smile. She was worried for no reason. Barry came in and made everything better like he usually did for her. The dinner went well, better than she had allowed herself to think it would. The conversation flowed, and it never got awkward. For a moment, things got tense when Iris and Wally's phone went off, telling them that there was a robbery in progress, but Vibe was holding things down tonight, and so the two siblings played it off. Not long after, Barry's phone buzzed, and he frowned when he read a message, but he had said it was just a work thing that wasn't worth leaving for. After dinner, she and Joanie washed the plates together and then she took Barry on a tour of the house, showing him her childhood bedroom and stopping to explain pictures hanging on the wall. Her graduation picture, childhood photos of she and Wally, her mother and father's wedding picture. There were no pictures of her and Wally with who she thought was Harrison Wells. Those were locked away in a closet in her apartment. They both stopped at one of her and Eddie together at a New Year's Eve party. Eddie was grinning at the camera, and Iris was smiling up at Eddie. Most of her pictures of him were hidden at her place too. She hadn't wanted to see them at first because it was too painful and then she just never took them out again.

"Who's this?"

"That's Eddie. He was my fiancé." Barry gave her a look of surprise. She mentioned there was someone once, but not in full details, it hadn't seemed the time. There was probably never going to be a good time though.

"He died two and a half years ago when the singularity opened above Central City."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah. He was a good guy. No, not just a good guy, he was a hero. He died protecting people." Barry's lips twisted into a bitter smile.

"Isn't that how it always ends up?" He said lowly. Iris frowned, not sure what to do with that question. Before she could say anything, Joanie appeared behind Barry.

"Your dad's looking for you. It's time for dessert." Iris nodded and pulled Barry along, pushing what he said from her mind.

WAWAWAWA

Iris wasn't sure of a time when she spent so long in a state of pure bliss. Since she got her powers, there was always turmoil in some part of her life, but there were no big bads to deal with as Hypersonic and no real drama in her personal life right now either. So, of course, those two worlds would have to clash in the worst way possible. Iris thought nothing of it when Harry told her to get her ass down to Central City Museum to deal with a heist in progress, four goons with hostages.

"How'd they manage to break in? That place has been outfitted to resemble ARGUS by now."

"Looks like they got some help from our elusive friend, the Chemist. Does it matter? Who's taking it?" She traded a look with Wally. They had been dealing with a burning apartment complex. They had evacuated everyone and was dealing with the fires. The apartment went up like a powder keg. She doubted the building was up to code and no fire alarms went off or sprinklers while they were inside. She already knew what her next story was going to be.

"Go. I'll catch up with you when this is taken care of." Wally told her. She nodded in agreement and took off towards the museum, sure it wouldn't take very long to deal with. She rushed inside and stood on the balcony overlooking the central area of the wing for British monarchs. Two men were holding twenty people captive. They had guns and gas masks on. There was smoke floating around the room, and as she looked closer, all of the hostages appeared to be knocked out. She steeled herself to strike before whatever gas was released could affect her. She flashed over to one guy and quickly disarmed him, knocking him out. The second one was alerted and fired in her direction, but she flashed out of the way, making sure the bullets weren't going to hit any of the innocent bystanders, and then knocked goon #2 out as well.

"Where are the other two, Harry?" She asked, holding her hand over her nose and mouth as she hustled out of the room after checking a few of the hostages on the ground. She was right. They were all merely asleep, some even snoring or drooling, and none looked worse for wear.

"Well, I don't know. If I was a thief interested in British jewels, where would my next stop be?" Iris rolled her eyes at his sarcasm.

"You could've just said the vault, jackass."

"I had faith you were smart enough to figure it out on your own." She ran over towards the vault, fully prepared to take these last two guys down, maybe even question one about the Chemist and then call it a day. She wasn't prepared for the scene she saw.

Barry was there.

They had him strapped to a chair in the metallic room, ropes pulled tight around his arms and legs and his face covered in bruises, blood dripping from a gash on his forehead. Iris was frozen in shock at the sight of him like that.

"Hypersonic." One of the goons hissed at her.

"Let him go." She demanded in a voice deeper than normal and colored by rage she hadn't felt since she found out about Thawne's deception.

"Not happening and don't come any closer. This is a dead man's switch, if I let go of this button, enough watts of electricity will go coursing through his body to stop his heart instantly." She felt her nostrils flare.

"You don't need him."

"Oh, but we do. Imagine our surprise when these microbombs didn't blow this damn door open like the Chemist promised. We were lucky he was in the crowd. He's going to fix it and open the vault for us."

"I already told you, I can't fix it. Not here. I don't have anything in front of me that would help you, and in case you didn't notice, I'm a little tied up right now, can't exactly move my hands." Barry snapped back, glaring darkly at the man. Iris, for her part, was partly shaking from her repressed anger and fear. She never wanted Barry to be involved in this part of her life, that was the point of not telling him the truth up to this point. Now here he was, thrown straight into the jaws of danger while she could only stand there staring. The second man came up behind Iris to grab her and she reacted without thinking, flipping him over her shoulder and raising her vibrating hand over her head. She didn't realize what she had done or what she was doing until she heard Barry's aborted grunts and looked up to see him convulsing in his chair.

"No!" She shouted as he suddenly went limp, his body unnaturally still. She ran towards him and pulled him from the seat, taking off the ropes as quickly as she could. She pressed her finger to his neck, but couldn't feel a pulse.

This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't be. She couldn't lose him, not now, not like this.

She rubbed her hands together, creating purple static lightning between them and pressed them to his chest, hoping to shock him back to life, not giving a damn about the perps who took her distraction as an opportunity to escape.

"Come on, baby. Come back to me." She urged, shocking him again. He remained still.

"Barry, please." She shocked him again and again and again until his eyes popped open and he gasped for breath. Iris let out a giant sigh of relief and couldn't stop herself from pressing her lips to Barry's. He was looking at her with a dazed, confused expression when she pulled away.

There was suddenly a commotion outside of the room, and she heard voices shouting, proclaiming to be CCPD. She pulled away from Barry and stood up.

"I'm going to go get help, stay here." She sped out to the officers and directed them to the vault, before leaving the museum.

"Where are those two assholes, Harry?"

"Looks like they went down Lenox." Iris ran after them, not willing to let them get away after nearly killing her boyfriend. She caught up to them quickly and managed to restrain herself enough not to kill them, though they would have bruises for weeks after she was finished. She dropped them off at CCPD and impatiently went through the motions of helping Wally, Cisco and Hartley to deal with their perps before she changed and ran to the hospital.

"My name is Iris West, I'm looking for Barry Allen."

"Are you a family member?" The nurse behind the front desk asked.

"I'm his girlfriend."

"I'm sorry, but it's family or next of kin only."

"You're kidding, right? He doesn't have any family. Please, he almost died." The nurse sighed and looked around before typing away at the computer.

"He's in trauma bay five. Walk through the doors and make a left."

"Thank you so much," Iris said gratefully before running down the hall towards the trauma bay. She walked down the curtained-off beds until she got to the fifth one and stepped inside. Barry was awake and sitting up, hooked up to machines. He obviously hadn't been attended to yet. His face was still caked with blood, and he was wearing street clothes. He didn't get a word out before Iris threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck with relief.

"Iris, what— how'd you get here so quickly? I didn't even have a chance to change yet, let alone call anyone." Iris thought quickly on her feet before answering.

"Patty was at the scene, she called me. She told me what happened." She explained, pulling back to examine Barry. He looked remarkably calm for a man whose heart had stopped not even an hour ago. That thought brought tears to Iris' eyes.

"Hey…" Barry started, reaching out a rope-burned hand to caress her cheek. Iris held a hand to her mouth, trying to quell her sobs but to no avail.

"I was so scared for you. I thought I was gonna lose you." She managed to express despite the emotion clogging up her throat.

"Hey, I'm right here. I'm fine. It's going take more than a couple of inept dumbasses who can't even rob a museum right to take me out and… Hypersonic saved me." Iris looked up into Barry's reassuring eyes. He gave her a small smile and Iris could feel a wave of feelings crashing over her, sweeping through her and overwhelming her to the point where she had no choice but to admit what she had subconsciously already known to be true.

"I love you." Barry's thumb stilled on her cheek, and his expression turned dumbstruck for a moment before his face went unreadable.

"You don't have to say that just because I got hurt."

"It's not that. I've felt this way for a while now, maybe since the moment I met you. There was something about you that grabbed my attention and won't let me go now. If something happens to you, I don't know what I would—"

"It won't."

"It could. It almost did, and I would've never gotten the chance to tell you that I'm in love with you, Barry Allen. I love everything about you, the way I feel when I'm with you, how happy and at peace I am, and I only get that in short bursts anywhere else in my life. It's like there's this… roaring in my head of all the things I have to be worried about and the hurts of the past I could be dwelling on and all the people in this city who could be hurting or in danger, and all the ways I can help them and save them—"

"That's not on you, Iris," Barry commented softly, cutting through her mini-rant.

"But sometimes I feel like it is. My mind starts going so fast. Sometimes, I need to be going fast because I'll lose my mind any other way. Other times, I'm running with no destination, just running because if I stand too still I'll think too much, and that roaring comes back, and I can't appreciate the present and all the good things I have in my life or the good that I've done, because it never feels like I've done enough. But when I'm with you, it all just… quiets. It stops and it's just you and me, you know?" Barry's face was a mixture of wonder, denial and… hope? Iris leaned down and pressed her forehead to his, ignoring the dried blood brushing uncomfortably against her skin.

"I know how I feel, and I'm not saying this because of stress or guilt or whatever else you might think. I'm not even saying it because I want you to say it back, I'm saying it because I need to tell you before it's too late. I love you, Barry." Barry's breath hitched a little.

"I—"

"Mr. Allen— what are you doing in here?" Iris stood up to see a doctor and a police officer looking at her judgmentally.

"I just wanted to see my boyfriend."

"You can't be in here. You'll have to wait until he's moved to a proper room." Iris hesitated but nodded.

"I'm going to go see if I can get a seat in the waiting area."

"You don't have to stay." Barry mumbled. Iris shrugged.

"I know." She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips and turned to walk away but his hold tightened on her hand. He glanced at the doctor and the officer before looking back at her, his expression troubled before all the cloudiness abruptly cleared.

"I love you, Iris." A smile spread over her face, and she squeezed his hand one more time. That electric feeling she had grown accustomed to sparked between their fingertips as their hands slipped out of one another's.

"I'm gonna go wait for you." She walked out of the room and held a hand over her chest as she walked towards the waiting room, warring emotions battling away in her. She was relieved that he was alive, happy that he reciprocated her feelings, but angry that he was in danger in the first place. She managed to get the guys that physically hurt him, but the Chemist put him in danger as well. The next time she saw that son of a bitch was going to be last time he was a free man in Central City.

WAWAWAWA

"You ready, babe?"

"I'm ready."

"I don't know, are you sure you can handle it? Last chance to back out." Iris asked, smirking at Barry. He quirked an eyebrow at her, sweat coating his forehead.

"Oh, I can handle it."

The two of them raised their hands, their wrapped fists clenched in front of their faces as they threw themselves back into their sparring session. It let them both blow off steam, and Iris had been adamant that Barry be able to defend himself after what happened at the museum. He had claimed he could handle himself and they had regularly been sparring ever since he recovered. They had been going at it for about half an hour now, Barry's gray tank top clinging to his skin and loose strands from Iris' french braid sticking onto the back of her neck. She enjoyed this. The fluidity of their fight was like a dance that they both knew without learning beforehand. He was skilled though, and a lot of the times, they ended up in draws, or their win-loss ratio was balanced between the two.

Iris ducked down, dodging the punch being thrown at her. They threw and blocked punches and kicks for a while, only their grunts filling her apartment. She managed to get Barry in a hold, but he shook her off, resetting himself with an inviting smirk. She thrust a kick at his leg, but he grabbed it. She threw her elbow at his neck, but he caught that as well. This position felt familiar to her, but she couldn't put her finger on why. She tugged on her foot, pulling him towards her, so her knee was tucked into his chest and grabbed ahold of his arm before using her weight to take him down, flipping him into an armbar. Barry tapped his hand on her leg after a while, and Iris let him go, standing back up with a smile on her face.

"I win." She gloated.

"Yeah, yeah." Barry grumbled, standing up and going to the fridge to get them water. Iris walked towards her dining table to get her towel to wipe the sweat on her forehead. She eyed the mess sprawled across it that she had forgotten to clear last night after her late-night ponderings.

Iris had always held herself in some esteem as an investigative reporter. Confidence was not a thing she lacked, but it was continually being shaken whenever she looked over the Chemist's files. She had gathered information on all his known associates. Most of his former acquaintances were dead or imprisoned or MIA themselves. There were the guys from the museum's vault, but they didn't give her a name when she interrogated them as Hypersonic, just a physical description that she already knew, though she could clarify now that he was a brunette and had green or blue eyes and a lanky figure, which did fuck-all to narrow down her options. She also knew that he had worked with Goldface before, but that man was ever elusive. She did know where she could get information on Goldface and his associates, and that was hoping Killer Frost was feeling up to a chat with an old friend and none of her weird new buddies were around. Especially Norvak, that guy was especially creepy.

"What is all this?" Barry asked, walking into Iris' dining room/kitchen to see all the files, pictures and connections spread out on the table before her.

"Stuff for a case I'm working on." She mumbled, taking the water bottle he offered her.

"One I won't have anxiety about you pursuing?"

"Doubtful." It was quiet for a moment as Iris wondered how she could get Caitlin alone for a chat without involving Amunet.

"Wait, is this stuff about the Chemist?"

"What I've managed to scrape together anyway."

"Your new case is the Chemist?"

"He almost killed you." Iris said by way of answer.

"He didn't almost kill me, those idiots at the museum almost killed me."

"They were at the museum because he gave them the means to rob it and when his tech failed, they went after you. Hypersonic got those four goons, but the Chemist is just as guilty. He should be rotting for what he's done too." Iris retorted, anger seeping into her voice.

"It's not like he's a murderer and he doesn't hurt people like a lot of other criminals do."

"Are you defending this guy?" She asked incredulously. Barry scoffed in reply.

"Of course not, I just don't think it's healthy for you to obsess over this. I'm fine, and the guys who hurt me are in jail. I just want to move on, I don't want to dwell on all of this. Besides, this guy keeps a pretty good track of his trail, I'd like to have my girlfriend with me, not jumping down a rabbit hole she may not come out of chasing down all this guy's false clues and red herrings. It'd be more fun to take a shower together and then catch up on some Netflix." Iris sighed and turned fully to face Barry.

"I know how much some of the stories I investigate worry you, but how can I claim to do what I do to protect people and not be able to protect my own boyfriend?" She asked, thinking of it both as a reporter and a superhero.

"Iris, how many times do I have to tell you that saving the world isn't on you?"

"Saving you is on me. I'm not going to do anything too dangerous, I'm just going to talk to a former friend. Besides, I can take care of myself."

"I can take care of myself too. I don't want you following after this guy for me." Iris sighed again before pressing a kiss to his lips and fiddling with the silver chain hanging from his neck. It was shaped like a molecule. Iris had bought it for him for their six-month anniversary.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll drop this." Iris hugged him, ignoring the way their sticky skin clung to each other. She didn't like lying to him, but she would do what was necessary to protect him.

WAWAWAWA

The club Caitlin worked at was as unappealing inside as it was on the outside. Iris pulled at the tight leather black shirt she wore. She needed to blend in, and so she had to dress the part, no matter how uncomfortable it was. The lighting inside was vomit-inducing, flashing strobe lights making the room a ghastly neon blue. It was enough to give her a headache, not to mention the smoke that filled the air from machines and cigarettes. Iris wrinkled her nose at it as her throat tickled uncomfortably, but she ignored it as she spotted her target behind the bar serving drinks. If she timed this correctly, Caitlin would be going on her break in two minutes. Iris pushed her way through the thrashing bodies doing what she supposed passed as dancing, cringing as her feet were stepped on and she was continually squished between taller patrons. She finally managed to get through them by shoving people and shocking the more stubborn ones until she collapsed on a stool in front of the bar.

Caitlin, or Frost given the white hair, gave her an unimpressed look.

"Didn't know you were such a party animal." She commented in her usually icy tone.

"I need to talk to you." Iris said without preamble.

"I'm busy, as you can see."

"You have a break in… 30 seconds. I can wait." Frost shot her a glare meant to freeze her over, but Iris was made of stronger stuff, holding her gaze challengingly. Frost rolled her eyes after a moment and went to go serve someone at the other end of the bar. Iris sat tapping her fingers impatiently, ignoring the guy beside her who was trying to chat her up. She hopped up when a man came to relieve Frost, who didn't glance back at Iris before making her way to the back exit. Iris followed close behind her, ignoring the clearly illegal activity going on behind the scenes. The farther she was from the actual club, the better.

"So, what's so important that you dragged yourself to my neck of the woods?" Frost asked once they got outside.

"I need some information, you were the only person I could think of." Frost let out a chuckle.

"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that you show up only when you need something." Iris narrowed her eyes.

"If you need reminding, I tried to reach out to you, you weren't exactly appreciative of my concern."

"What I wasn't appreciative of was you treating me like I'm diseased. There is nothing wrong with me. Killer Frost is who I am. You and Cisco are the ones who have a problem with it, not me."

"We were trying to be good friends to you."

"You're not my friend though Iris, you never were, you were just my boss's daughter." Iris didn't let on how much that hurt her to hear. She hadn't ever been as close to Caitlin as she was to Cisco or even to Ronnie when he was alive, but she had thought she and Caitlin were friends.

"Now what do you want?" Iris roused herself. She was here for one reason and one only.

"The Chemist. I want to know what you know about him." Frost let out a laugh like sound waves vibrating against icicles.

"You really came down here to waste your time and mine, huh?"

"One of his known associates is Goldface, and I know he and Amunet were involved."

"That's one word for it."

"You and the Chemist must've crossed paths at some point or another, and you have a closer ear to the underground than I do."

"Why do you want the Chemist? He's not a meta, and he doesn't kill people."

"He's a thief and a weapons trafficker and… and he nearly got my boyfriend killed, so the sooner I get my hands on him, the better."

"Boyfriend, huh?" Something in Frost's voice gave Iris pause and made her feel like she had to be even more on the defensive.

"It must be nice, getting a second chance, moving on, forgetting the past." Frost said in an innocent tone, but Iris caught the double-meaning.

"I don't forget the past, I never could. You lost your husband, and Ronnie was a great guy but—"

"He wasn't just my husband, he was my soulmate. He was everything to me… to Caitlin." The other woman burst out, her eyes rapidly switching from Caitlin's green orbs to Frost's ice blue ones.

"I know that. I understand, even though you think I don't. Losing Eddie was a wound I never thought would heal. Even now, it's still… if I think about it too much, all I can hear is the sound of the bullet ripping through his chest and hitting the wall of the pipeline. And now? Now my dreams aren't just of Eddie dying in my arms, or seeing Eobard disappear and trying to reconcile how sad I was that my foster dad was dying even though he was my mother's murderer, but now whenever I sleep, I see my boyfriend covered in blood, his heart not beating thanks to the Chemist. I know you don't owe me anything, but I'm asking as your friend if you can help me catch this guy and I won't ask you for anything else after that." Frost's eyes stayed on her for a moment, warring emotions playing over her face.

"I don't know who the Chemist really is, but there's going to be a heist tonight at Ivo Labs. Goldface wants to steal this 3-D printer, it can print organs. He's conscripted the Chemist to help scrub the crime scene after his men steal it. It's not really the Chemist's style, but he owes Goldface for getting some of the guy's people killed at Folston Tech." Iris jolted at that, remembering the burning bodies from three months prior. She shook the thought away, she had a heading now. She could take the Chemist down tonight.

"Thank you, Frost." They held eyes for a moment before the ivory-haired woman's face shuttered and she went back to being cold as ice.

"Make sure you keep good on your promise and don't bother me again, or next time I see you, I'm shooting an icicle at you first and asking questions later." Iris watched her strut to the door and walk back inside, slamming it behind her.

Iris looked sadly at the door before determination filled her and she ran to STAR labs, got her suit on and ran towards Ivo Labs.

She ran inside and cased the place, finding it full of security guards. They tensed when she breezed in before relaxing when they recognized her. She alerted them to the incoming attack and then took up residence on a roof across from the lab while some of the guards moved the printer discretely to a secondary location. She waited impatiently, pacing and wondering exactly how she was going to do this when the armored car pulled up to the back. It opened, and about fifteen goons came out, all carrying high-tech rifles. They filed in and used a keycard to open the door. She knew the guards inside were ready for them if they hadn't evacuated already. She was about to join them when the Chemist walked out of the truck and leaned against the side of the cab, nonchalantly holding the rifle in his hand like he didn't have a care in the world.

She couldn't let him get away, not now.

She ran down the building and stopped in front of him. He pushed off the truck when he saw her.

"Hypersonic, it's been a while." His distorted voice carried an air of caution. Iris glared at him silently.

"Not in the mood to chat, I see." Iris sped towards him and punched him in the stomach before throwing him across the way, watching him hit a wall. She didn't give him time to recover before she kicked him in the stomach, watching him writhe in pain.

"Some hero, kicking a man while he's down." Iris pulled him up on his feet and held her fists up, nodding for him to come at her. He was right, she didn't want to use her powers for this, she wanted to savor kicking his ass before she dumped him at the precinct. He came at her fiercely, just like he did at Folston Tech, not holding back in his strength. She needed to get some anger out, and so she didn't hold back either. She was seeing red as they traded blows, neither letting the other get more than an inch. It reminded her of her fight with Eobard, how angry she was with him for his betrayal, how much she wanted to inflict her pain on to him. She hadn't known she was capable of that much negative emotion and bloodlust until then. Once she came back to herself, she had sworn to never feel like that again, but here she was, driven beyond reason to hatred, anger, and fear thanks to the Chemist.

She reeled back as he struck her mouth hard enough to bust her lip and cause the iron tang of blood to appear on her tongue.

"I don't want to fight you." The Chemist admitted as Iris spit on the ground and grit her teeth, ignoring the blood in her mouth. She wordlessly went at him again. A blocked punch. A thwarted knee. A dodged headbutt. Iris grew more and more frustrated as he played the defensive, not going after her anymore, but instead sidestepping and maneuvering around her. One more deflected knee found her leg lodged in his chest. She used her position to take him down into an armbar. She didn't let him go, even when he tapped on her leg or when his distorted grunts turned to a shout of pain when something in his arm dislocated or broke, she didn't stop, not until something grabbed her attention and cut through the haze that fell over her mind.

His chain. He was wearing Barry's chain.

"Where did you get that? How did you get that?" She mumbled as she let him go. He continued grunting in pain on the ground, practically ignoring her.

"Where did you get that chain?!" She shouted at him. His head snapped up to look at her. He stood up and stared at her through his goggles. They were still opaque enough that she couldn't see through them, but if she stared hard enough…

Suddenly he reached out and grabbed one of her arms. She should pull away from him, she wanted to pull away, but she was frozen to the spot and so was he. They were so still that time slipped away from them and everything around them faded until the back door suddenly opened with a bang and some of the goons started running out of the building, the sounds of gunfire following them.

"Shit, it's Hypersonic!" One of them said and opened fire on her, but she ran out of the way just before any of the blasts could hit her. The Chemist still had ahold of her arm as she ran and his fingers ended up slipping down until they brushed against her own fingertips, causing a spark of electricity to flow between them.

Barry?

WAWAWAWA

Iris skidded to a stop as she burst into the main hub of STAR labs, thoughts flying through her mind faster than she could catch them. Cisco, Wally, Patty, Hartley and Harry looked at her with surprise as she appeared.

"Hey, are you okay?" Patty asked with concern as she noticed Iris' heaving chest, her shaking form and the emotional disturbance clear in her eyes. Iris spared her a glance as she ripped her mask off, trying to calm down enough to answer or even to think clearly but she couldn't. Everything felt like it was crashing down around her. Puzzle pieces were fitting together that she didn't want to see, because she couldn't have been betrayed this way, not again.

She ran out of the hub and to the pipeline, running as fast as she could push herself until her body caught up with her mind and she was able to finally reach a sense of equilibrium again. Wally was standing there watching her when she stopped, a look of worry on his face. He didn't ask her anything, he just approached her and pulled her into a hug. Iris squeezed her eyes shut, feeling tears leaking down her cheek and returned the embrace, allowing herself to enjoy the comfort for a moment before she pulled away and wiped her face clean.

"You want to talk about it?" Iris shook her head.

"There's someone else I need to talk to first." She resolved before she ran out of her suit and put on her regular clothes. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Barry.

IRIS: I need to see you.

It took a few minutes before her phone chimed.

BARRY: Meet me on the roof of my apartment.

Iris hesitated before agreeing, she could handle herself against the Chemist.

WAWAWAWA

Iris stood on the roof of Barry's apartment building, looking out at Central City below her. This wasn't the first time she found herself standing here watching the city alive hundreds of feet down. It brought her peace to slow down occasionally and take in the city moving, rebuilding, existing. With her speed, sometimes things passed her by because she was moving too fast to appreciate it, but she wasn't standing here to admire the city, but to confront hard truths.

When she first started sparring with Barry, she had thought it felt strangely familiar. Now she knew it was because she fought the Chemist at Folston Tech. The night she went to Barry's apartment after Folston, his hand was burned, which must've happened when the gun exploded. At the museum's vault, the thieves hadn't directly said Barry was the Chemist, but they made remarks about how lucky they were that Barry had been at the museum when they attacked. He was wearing Barry's chain and, sure it could be that someone else had bought the same chain, but what were the odds of that? And she had never felt the spark that erupted on her fingertips with anyone besides Barry, not even with Eddie. Hell, Barry had told her that he worked in "chemical development", why hadn't she pressed harder about what he meant? She felt like an idiot. All this time…

She tensed up as she heard the door open behind her and close softly.

"I didn't know if you would come or not." She said quietly, not turning around.

"I didn't know if I would come." Barry said behind her. There was something in his voice, something sad and yet dangerous that made her turn to face him. As she did, she found herself staring down the barrel of the gun he had pointed at her face.

"Bear..." He stared her down with conflicting emotions written all over his face before he steeled himself and pulled the trigger. Iris used her speed to sidestep it and looked back at Barry with shock alighting her face.

"You just tried to shoot me." She shouldn't have been as shocked as she felt given what she knew about him now but seeing Barry's face while he performed the action changed everything.

"I knew you would dodge it. You're Hypersonic." Barry mumbled under his breath with wonder, shock and betrayal.

"And you're the Chemist." Barry nodded his head in confirmation after a second, lowering the gun in his left hand. His right arm was in a sling, from Iris' armbar, she figured. She shook her head in disbelief.

"You lied to me. This whole time—"

"And you lied to me. Don't act like you have such a moral high ground over me." Barry retorted, his eyes narrowed.

"It is not the same thing," Iris replied defensively.

"Isn't it? You lied to me about who you are, what you do, what you're capable of."

"It's different because I'm not a criminal. I don't steal from people or put their lives in danger for my own personal gain."

"It's not like I kill people."

"And that's your hard line in the sand, that's how you justify what you do? You were going to steal a printer that would've saved people's lives. What? Just because you don't pull the trigger, you think you're not culpable for people being hurt by your actions?"

"Oh, spare me the sanctimonious, holier-than-thou speech. You're really going to look me in the eye and tell me you don't do what you do because you get something out of it? It must make you feel better about yourself, being the hero. Poor little Iris. You couldn't save your mother from death, couldn't save your father from prison, so you run around in a suit saving people, but you get something out of it too. It's something to ease your guilty conscience." Iris felt like she had been slapped in the face at that before anger overtook everything else.

"You know what? Fuck you, Barry. You think you're not wrong for what you do, why? Because of your little sob story. Parents died helping other people, so you made a vow to never help anyone in your life."

"Why not? No one's ever helped me, might as well help myself."

"It's a bullshit excuse for your actions. Plenty of people lose their parents or have a rough childhood, and they don't become criminals because of it."

"Well, we didn't all have a rich scientist with a guilt complex pick us up and stick us in a house with a picket fence to grow up behind. Some of us have to find ways to make it on our own." Iris bit back a retort, rubbing at her throbbing head.

"Did you know when you met me that I was Hypersonic? Is that why you pursued me?"

"How would I have known that? And if you need reminding, you're the one that invited me to sit with you and asked me out on a second date. Did you know who I was? You're the investigative journalist."

"Obviously, I didn't know. I thought… I thought you were my second chance. After Eddie…" Iris turned away as tears came to her eyes, not liking the idea of being vulnerable in front of Barry anymore. She walked to the other end of the roof and stared sightlessly down at the city below through blurred vision.

"I never even looked at another man after Eddie died. I threw myself into finding…" Iris cut herself off with a humorless chuckle.

"I threw myself into finding the elusive Chemist, and I was failing. Then I met you at the restaurant and… I figured it must be the law of averages, you know? I thought I was finally getting something back. Figures things would turn out this way." Iris turned around to look at Barry. There were a plethora of emotions playing over his face. Iris watched the inner conflict on display, waiting for him to say something else, anything else but Barry looked down and away. After a moment of stalling, he went to the door and walked back inside the building, not looking back at her.

Iris nodded to herself. What was she expecting? She didn't even know what she wanted anymore, she didn't know how to feel. Her throat closed as her tears fell hot and heavy. She sat heavily on the side of the roof, the cold concrete scratching her skin, crying alone.

WAWAWAWA

Iris was under no delusions that her sullen nature would go unnoticed among her team. She threw herself more into her work at CCPN and as Hypersonic than ever. She had been churning out stories for the last month quicker than she had before, but it wasn't as if her work was suffering for it, so Scott didn't comment. She still hadn't given any details to anyone about what had happened, but they deduced she and Barry had broken up. Linda and Patty had shown up to her apartment more than once with ice cream and brownies to have a girl's night in with her, Harry didn't bring it up around her, Cisco kept giving her sympathetic looks, and Hartley offered to smash Barry's windows with his powers. She was tempted to allow it but ultimately hadn't.

She hadn't seen Barry since that night on his roof. A part of her ached at the absence. She had not spent so long apart from him since they met, but another part of her was still angry that he had lied to her about who he was. Another part of her acknowledged that she lied to him about herself too, but she didn't think her lie was as big as his.

She sighed to herself and shook her head. This was not the time to be thinking about this, she should be focusing on her investigation. Iris had been tailing Nico Milano for a week now. She was sure he would lead her directly to the Castiglione crime family. She sat in a window of an abandoned building on the wharf where Milano was meeting with a high-profile individual according to her sources. If Iris was lucky, she would be able to finally connect Milano, and the Castigliones by virtue, to a big-time benefactor. She suspected they must have a political ally or someone with deep enough pockets to influence policy.

Her ears perked up as a car pulled up to where Milano waited and out stepped the mayor's assistant. Iris quirked a smile and started taking pictures while trying to read the lips of the men to figure out what they were saying. She was wholly absorbed in their interaction, so she didn't notice the man coming up behind her until he had a gun pointed at her head.

"If you're going to follow members of the mob, it might do you good to actually pay attention to your surroundings." She turned around and looked up at Barry, well, the Chemist, as he put his gun away.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed at him.

"Probably the same thing as you, gathering information. Where's your suit?" He asked, his distorted voice ringing in the empty space.

"I'm here investigating, no powers necessary. And be quiet before they hear you."

"Too late." She whipped around as a few of Milano's buddies stood across the empty room from them, guns held in the air.

"Drop your weapons and stand slowly." One of the men said. Iris threw her taser to the side and watched Barry drop his gun before the men approached them.

"Chemist. Mr. Castiglione's gonna love to have a word with you." The man said. Iris glanced over at Barry and met his eyes through his goggles. She gave him a look and hoped he understood what she meant. As soon as one of the guys got behind her, she stomped on his foot and threw her elbow into his face, knocking him out. She pulled the gun out of his belt and shot one of the guys in the knee. Barry grabbed the other one in a chokehold and held him until he went limp, dropping the man on the floor.

"What happened to not killing people?" Iris asked sardonically.

"He's unconscious. What about you?" He asked, nodding to the gun.

"He won't die from a kneecap."

"What about your powers?"

"I'd rather a group of mobsters didn't know my true identity." Before they could continue their little tete-a-tete, more guys came into the room, their guns raised. Barry pulled something out of his pocket that looked a bit like a grenade and threw it at the men. It started spewing out gas, quickly obscuring everyone's vision. She felt hands grab her and only didn't panic when she recognized the feel of Barry's hand on her waist, the other held over her nose to block the gas from affecting her. Some of the men started shooting blindly towards them, and Iris felt Barry grunt and tense before whisking her out of the room and towards the back exit.

"Were you hit?" She asked with more worry than she cared to express.

"I'm fine." He mumbled, holding his right shoulder.

"It just healed." She heard him mutter. Iris glanced around before grabbing him by the hand.

"Close your eyes, or else you'll get sick."

"Wha—" She sped out of the warehouse and towards Barry's apartment, arriving in seconds. He stumbled to the couch as his body and gravity caught back up with him. Iris hustled to the bathroom and got his first aid kit. She had never thought to question why he had it before. It hadn't seemed that strange. She returned to him to see he had taken off his mask and indicated for him to take off his jacket.

"I can handle myself. Consider this a one-off, we were both in the same place at the same time. You can go." Iris considered taking him up on that, but instead, she started removing his jacket impatiently.

"Stop being an idiot. You're shot, and I can help you." Barry stared at her before taking his jacket off as well as his shirt to allow her to examine the wound. She did her best not to stare at his chest or his abs.

"There's no exit wound." She muttered, opening the kit.

"There are needles and stitches in there."

"I'm sure you made good use of it over your… career." She commented sarcastically.

"I have. I'm sure you've done the same; otherwise, you would've wracked up a hell of a lot of medical bills, if not hiked up your premium for your insurance." Barry retorted. Iris' hands stilled before she got up and got a washrag and a basin of warm water along with a bottle of whiskey. She took a swig before pouring it over Barry's wound. A part of her got satisfaction from his hiss of pain. The look on his face said he noticed as much. She sat on the table in front of him and grabbed the tweezers to remove the bullet. She couldn't help the heat that rose in her sitting so close to him, and she couldn't help but notice he was still wearing the chain she got for him.

"Do you want it back?" Barry asked, his voice quiet as if to not disturb the stillness of the apartment.

"Why are you still wearing it?" She asked, pushing the tweezer to pass his skin, shushing him when he grunted and flinched. He didn't answer her as she dug around and found the bullet, carefully pulling it out.

"You gave it to me, so I kept it." He said once she dropped the bloody bullet on the table. She glanced at his face as she cleaned the blood dripping from the hole in his shoulder.

"Because it means so much." She said cynically.

"It does to me. Iris—" He reached forward, but Iris pushed him back.

"Don't move, I need to start your stitches." Barry let out a humorless chuckle but sat in silence, letting her stitch his wound closed. It should've been a quick in and out thing, get it over with as soon as she could. She owed him for helping her out, so she helped him out, that was that. However, she took her time, prolonging the moment by cleaning his wound much more than necessary, dressing it afterward with painstaking care. She unconsciously got closer as she worked on him under the guise of needing to see better. His leg brushed against hers, and her heart beat faster, her cheeks warming up. She smoothed a bandage over his wound and held her hand there for a moment as she felt Barry's breath brush against her face.

"Iris…" He whispered. She felt him press his forehead against hers and their breathing mingled for a long moment before his lips were against hers. Part of her wanted to pull away, but the greater part of her missed the feel of his lips on hers and returned the kiss, her body alighting in flame. Her fingertips sparked when he grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers. The moment was overwhelming and too much too soon. Iris pulled away and stood up, but their locked hands would not let her go far. They were silent for a long moment again, neither looking at the other.

"Wally came to see me the other day," Barry said unprompted. That got Iris' attention.

"What? Why?"

"He wanted to know what happened between us. I told him it was between the two of us and if you hadn't told him, then there was a reason. I figured you would've. I thought I was going to be the next headline of CCPN. I even went to hide out at Opal City for a while. Ralph and I were expecting to have the cops banging down the door any second. Sue said you weren't going to give me up, that you weren't scorned, you were just hurt and that you felt betrayed as much as I did." Iris shrugged a shoulder.

"What would be the point of giving you up? You can hold my identity over my head too."

"And that's all it is?"

"Doesn't matter if it's anything else."

"Yes, it does."

"Why? I'm a superhero and an investigative reporter, stopping criminals is what I do. How can I keep doing what I do and stay with you without compromising myself? And you were right in a way, it's not like I have too much of a moral high ground over you. I lied to you about who I am too. How can there be any trust between us now?" Barry sighed before standing up across from her.

"You were a second chance for me too, you know? I wasn't expecting you when I met you. I wasn't looking for you. I was fine with my life the way it was. I had a sure income. I had Ralph and Sue. I didn't need anything else. I had had relationships before, but I never felt anything like this. Never this. I think you felt that too."

"Barry…"

"I love you. I didn't want to. When you told me, I… I wanted to protect you from me and my life. You're better than me. Better than most. If I were a selfless man, I would push you away, but I think we would both appreciate 100% honesty from each other now." Barry said it almost like a question, and Iris nodded in agreement.

"I love you. That wasn't a lie. It could never be a lie. If you doubt anything else about me, don't ever doubt that. Wally told me when he stopped by that if I really loved you, then I would be willing to fight for you and not let anything keep us apart, that if our love was true, then we could get through just about anything." Iris bit her lip as a tear left her eye.

"I love you too. But Barry—"

"That's all I need to know. Everything else can come later and it'll be hard. We're going to have to learn to trust each other again. I know I'll have to make sacrifices and changes, but I'm willing to do that for you. If you want me." Iris' breath stuttered as Barry looked into her eyes. His eyes were still so deep, soulful and green and she couldn't help but think of all the times she got lost in them, the safety she felt being with him. It hadn't dissipated even now that she knew the truth. She leaned in and pressed her lips to his softly before pulling back slowly, their noses bumping against each other.

"I want you." Barry wrapped his uninjured arm around her waist, and Iris returned the embrace, pressing her face into his shoulder. He was right, it was going to be hard for them to move on from this point, but love could be made new, and Barry was worth it enough for her to fight for them, to fight for her second chance at a happy life.

AN: This hit me like a ton of bricks and it was a load of fun to write. Writing the fight scenes was the hardest part for me as well as deciding where I wanted them to end up, but I wanted to end things on a hopeful note. I would love to see an alternate-Earth on the show where Iris is a speedster and Barry is on the darker side. Comments are welcome. :)