Arrow – Come Knock on My Door

A/N: So this is kind of where we really start to deviate from Season 3 canon. I've decided to bring in the Flash gang, so this will be fun :D

VII. Barry Allen

Barry Allen showed up at Felicity's apartment 9 months and 8 days after being struck by lightning, looking rather sheepish as Felicity opened her door.

"Barry?"

"Hey." Lifting his hand, he gave an awkward wave as Felicity silently stared at him before talking. "It's weird that I'm here, isn't it? I mean, Caitlin said you came and visited me when I was in a coma – which I appreciate, by the way, even though I obviously don't remember any of it – but this is weird, right? Just randomly showing up at your apartment like a stalker. Not that I'm a stalker!"

"Breathe, Barry," Felicity ordered as Barry's words started to run together.

"Right. Breathing."

"When did you wake up? Caitlin didn't call to tell me!" Felicity said as she stepped up to hug Barry before letting him into her apartment. A quick scan showed it was dirty, but not visible underwear dirty (that had been an embarrassing first date the one time she hadn't checked).

"Two days ago," Barry said, perching on the edge of her couch as he took in her place.

"Wow. Should you be here?" she asked as she took a seat next to him. "I mean, nine months in a coma – I'm surprised you were cleared to leave town and travel. Of course, you look really good. I mean, you always looked good, but you almost look healthier than before the coma."

"Yeah," Barry murmured, reaching up to rub the back of his neck as he stared down at the ground. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Felicity before standing. "Can I show you something?"

"Of course," Felicity said before gasping as she was hit by a sudden gust of wind, blowing her hair around her face. Once she was able to straighten her hair out and trying to figure where the wind had come from, she blinked up at Barry who was standing in front of her. "What was that?"

"I, um, cleaned your apartment," he said and Felicity spun on her couch to gape at her apartment. It was the cleanest she could ever recall it and she took a sniff, catching the smell of her lemon based cleaner.

"How… what?" she stuttered, turning back to stare at Barry.

"It's a bit of a story," he told her and Felicity nodded slowly.

"I'm going to need ice cream for this," she sighed only to jump as Barry suddenly disappeared from the living room, her front door barely closing before he re-appeared with two cartons of ice cream in hand from the local shop just down the road.

"Mint chip or Rocky Road?"

"Super speed," Felicity hummed a short time later as she licked mint chip ice cream from her spoon. "Huh."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I was expecting more – "

"Shock and awe?" Felicity finished and Barry nodded. Shrugging, she dug out another bite of ice cream before telling him, "It's hard to beat an uprising of prison escapees doped out on some mystic Japanese drug from World War II. But I appreciate the clean apartment."

Laughing, Barry collapsed back on the couch, digging into his own carton of ice cream.

"I heard about that. Cisco wouldn't stop talking about the fact he got to the help the Arrow," he grinned. "It sucked I couldn't tell him I know the Arrow's secret identity."

"Only if you want an arrow-toting vigilante with serious anger issues to come after you," Felicity quipped.

"I'll pass," Barry deadpanned before tilting his head, staring at Felicity. "How are things between you and Oliver now?"

Flushing because she had forgotten Barry guessed about her feelings about Oliver, Felicity stabbed her ice cream with extra vigor as she tried to think of a response.

"Depends on the day," she finally decided. All summer Oliver seemed to switch between hot and cold towards her. But last week he had suddenly distanced himself after nearly being blown up while taking down the new Count Vertigo. He refused to talk about what he had seen after being doused with the modified drug, but Felicity knew it had shaken him.

Barry just nodded as he finished off the last of his ice cream, not pushing. For several minutes they were both silent as Felicity finished off her ice cream as Barry seemed to gaze blankly at her living room wall.

"So," Felicity stated, setting her empty carton on her coffee table before turning to Barry, tucking her feet under her. "Are you finally going to tell me why you're here? I can't image that as soon as you woke up from a coma your first thought was, 'I really should go see Felicity Smoak.'"

"I think any red-blooded man who woke from a coma would want to see you," Barry said before groaning, burying his head in his hands. "Ignore I said that, would you?"

"As a fellow foot-in-mouther, sure," Felicity mumbled, blushing.

"Ever since my mom died, I always wanted to do more," Barry sighed a few minutes later. "When I woke up and realized I had this…power, I thought I could use my speed to help people. But all I seem to be doing is making a bigger mess of everything whenever I try. I tried to stop a robber, but I ended up killing someone – someone innocent – because I didn't know what I was doing!"

Bouncing up to his feet, Barry started to pace her limited living room and Felicity rushed to slap down the magazines that started to fly off her coffee table.

"And then Dr. Wells he thinks I'm some key to eternal life and wants to stick me under a giant microscope and study me, like a lab rat." Stopping, Barry sighed as his shoulders slouched before staring at Felicity. "What if Wells is right? What if I'm not a hero? Maybe all I am is just some guy who was struck by lightning."

"Listen, I'm not going to say something corny like the lightning 'chose´ you," Felicity told him and Barry's lips twitched briefly as he met her gaze. "I will tell you that the road you're looking down – of being a hero – is a hard one, and not everyone is going to be in your corner 100% of the time. And there are days when you lose, no matter how hard you try, when you think of giving up. But as long as you have a good heart and keep getting up, you, Barry Allen, can do amazing things."

Smiling, Barry felt the tension he had carried since his confrontation with Joe and Dr. Wells dissipate. Scooping up his ice cream, he wolfed it down now that he finally felt like he knew what to do.

"So, do you have a name yet?" Felicity asked, curious.

"What do you think of "The Streak"?"

"It sounds I'm about to be flashed by a creepy guy in a trench coat."

A/N: I thought about trying to pull in the Oliver/Barry scene, but I felt that the moment is more powerful in this version with Felicity helping Barry recognize how he can become the Flash. Obviously I tried to tie in some of the high points of the conversation, but I was surprised that Barry went to Oliver (except for the obvious main character to main character bonding) when he was closer to Felicity.

In other news – Caity Lotz will be in the spin off show coming in 2016! I'm happy to have her back and what this means for other characters (I can see Helena making a few appearances in connection with "Birds of Prey"). Also, rejoice! Brandon Routh is going to be in the spin off, which I think means Ray x Felicity will wrap up by the end of Season 3 when he's hopefully put on a bus, since he's not a Starling City DC character. And I think we need to see Ray when he's not a foil in the Felicity x Oliver UST, to give him a chance to actually be more.

My last rant is something I think as Arrow fans we need to support as a whole. There is a surprising amount of hate for Laurel in the Arrow-verse, which tends to go back to Katie Cassidy. I've mentioned it earlier, but I've also seen Stephen Amell shoot people down when they make rude comments about Laurel/Katie on his page. Katie is a good actor who is playing a character who is very hard to manage; her scene with Paul when Lance finally learns about Sara's death was great acting on both their part. The only thing I ask is that we start showing more support for Katie, or at least refrain from making comments like "I hate Laurel, bring back Sara!" I for one can't wait to see Katie continue to grow as the Black Canary over the next two (plus) seasons left – even if I think she needs to stay away from Oliver romantically because, my god, is their relationship a cluster-fuck at this point.

(TL;DR – Cyber bully/bashing is not something as fans we should support. Be nice to Katie Cassidy/Laurel even if you wish Sara was still on the show.)

Thanks for listening! Cisco or Caitlin will be next (or combined, depends on what I think of writing - it may be Dig since he hasn't made an appearance yet). Please review if I haven't managed to piss off half of my readers.

Disclaimer: Arrow and the Flash belong to DC Comics and the CW.