Barry had helped us get Iris settled back in at the West Household faster than we thought.

My guest bedroom was back to normal, my place more empty than it used to be after Iris moved in. Barry walks over to me, letting out a sigh, fixing his button up, grabbing my hands.

"My place feels more empty than usual." I say, as he smiles lightly.

"You know-" Barry trails off, "I was thinking about getting my own place."

"I thought you were getting kicked out." I laugh lightly, due to what Iris had told me.

"Well- technically- but also technically not-" He shrugs, "Joe told me I was grown and it was about time I got a place for myself right after I brought up the topic."

"Is that so?" I question.

"Yeah- so I was wondering-" He starts, "If maybe- possibly- if you could find the kindness in your heart- I could stay here until I actually get a place?"

A grin crosses my lips, "I think that'd be great."

"Really?" He smiles, wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me into him.

"Yeah-" I laugh quietly, my hands going to his face because of how close he pulled me into him, as he leans forward lightly, causing me to arch my back with him.

He hums before pressing his lips into mine. I melt into the kiss, him picking me up, walking right into my room with breaking the kiss, lightly kicking the door close, laying me back on my bed, pulling away, climbing on top of me.

I grip onto his collar, pressing my lips into his once more, unbuttoning his shirt, his lips breaking into a smile during the kiss.

The light of the moon shined through my window, as Barry slipped off his button up, along with his t shirt, tossing it on the ground, kissing down my neck, pulling the hem off my t shirt.

He pulls away, allowing me to slip it off and toss it by his clothes, his hands moving to my jeans, unbutton them while reconnecting his lips with mine.

-

The smell of breakfast woke me up the next day, as I slowly sat up, a yawn leaving my lips. I slipped out of bed, dressed in only underwear and one of Barry's oversized t shirts, walking into my kitchen, seeing Barry stood in front of the stove, shirtless, scratches on his back, in only sweatpants, making breakfast.

"Hey-" my voice comes out raspy, my hand touching the wall, my hair slightly messy and tangled, his t shirt fitting me like a dress.

His head immediately snaps in my direction at the sound of my voice, a smile taking over my his lips, his teeth showing, "Hey-"

Within seconds, he ran around the kitchen, setting a plate of breakfast for me, placing it in my hands with a glass of orange juice, before returning back to the stove, my eyes wide at the sudden movement, my eyes flickering down to the plate and back at him, as he spoke, "Blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, and cut up fruit- and some oj."

"Well- I've always admired how good of a cook you are." I set down the plate and glass on the table, walking over to him.

"And I've always admired how amazing you look in my clothes." Barry spoke, flipping a few pancakes.

I walk over to him, my hand touching his forearm, "Hey- look at me."

His hand stays on the handle of the pan, making eye contact with me as I put my head on his shoulder, leaning up, standing on my tippy toes, pressing my lips into his.

He kisses back, his free hand on my waist, as I pull away, but not my face, my nose rubbing against his, "I didn't get to do that today."

"Well, I'm glad you did." He smiles, turning back to the pancakes it was making.

I kiss his cheek, moving to the table, sitting down, starting to eat breakfast. He soon joins me, as we ate breakfast, then moved into my room. I changed into a white sweater, it being slowly oversized on me, leading me to not tucking it in, blue jeans with a few rips here and my normal black ankle heeled boots, leaving my hair straight, applying on some chapstick.

Barry comes by me, already dressed. After a few minutes, we leave and go to Star Labs, all of us standing in the cortex, watching HR in amusement, the man playing loud music and uncovering a few plates of food, a tray of coffee from Jitters next to him.

I fix my badge and holster, before crossing my arms, standing still next to Barry.

"Sumptuous day." HR exclaimed, looking at us. "Oh no- on this Earth, I believe you say-"

Cisco cuts him off, finishing for him, "Good morning."

"Good morning." HR smiles at us, "And it is, isn't it? I mean- the music on your Earth, well, it strikes a chord, no pun intended. Please, help yourself." He points to the food, "I heard a crew works best when it's well-fed and well-rested."

"Then I'm gonna go take a nap-" I start to walk away, as Barry is quick to grabs my forearms, pulling me back into him, my back hitting his chest, as I tilt my head back, looking up at him as he looks down at me.

"You didn't sleep well last night?" Barry questions, a confused expression on his face.

"Well. I slept well for the time I was asleep." I shrug lightly.

"You were up?" He questions, messing with me, acting as if he had no idea about the events that had went on last night, "Why?"

"For real?" I stare at him, as he shrugs innocently.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me-" I start to walk away once more, trying to pull away from him as he lets out a quiet laugh, pulling me back into him, wrapping a arm around me.

"Are those coffee's for us too?" Iris questions.

"Yes, indeed, Miss West." HR chuckles, pushing the cart with the coffees on the flat surface by us, "I took the liberty of reading through your ledgers last night. A lot of information to absorb, but let's see how I did."

He picks up a iced coffee up from the cart, holding it out in front of me, "Caramel iced coffee for Miss Detective Young."

"You know you can call me Zee, right?" I slowly take the coffee from him, taking a sip through the straw, my eyes closing in delight, the flavoring taste stuck on my tongue, this being much needed as I lean back into Barry's chest, holding the iced coffee to my chest, my voice coming out quiet, and full of satisfaction, "Good job-"

"Skim milk, chai latte." He hands Iris her coffee, Iris smiling, impressed, "Okay."

"An Iced Americano with two- no- three espresso shots." HR hands Wally his drink, Wally wearing a similar smile to Iris', "Boom."

"That happened, Walter." HR spoke, grabbing another drink.

"It's Wally-" Wally corrects.

HR corrects himself, walking over to Barry, "And for my fleet of foot, friend, you'd best stick to decaf."

"Probably for the best, yeah." Barry chuckles, sipping his coffee, as I lean up, kissing his cheek as he does.

"San Francisco," HR calls for Cisco, his tone moving to a completely different accent, "I have prepared a French Roast with a touch of creamer." He hands Cisco a drink.

"Thank you." Cisco smiles, pleased.

HR goes on about how he wanted to gain the team's trust in a series of games, which is where Cisco broke out and told him that he should just observe and see how everything went on here to decide how he was going to get our trust and help us.

"As much- as I appreciate this-" I look at the time on my watch, "I need to get to work."

"Me too- I'm running late." Barry takes my hand, leading me out of the room.

-

"What can I do for you, Julian?" I ask him, flipping through pages in a case folder, not making eye contact with him.

"Do I even want to question where the man you fancy has been for the past hour?" Julian questions, looking at me, this being the fourth time he's spoken to me about Barry since I've gotten here.

I look up at him, "No, you don't."

"The rules never apply to him, do they?" Julian shot at me, fixing his blazer, "The man has you wrapped around his finger, making up excuses for him every single time he disappears. Then Captain Singh gives him a 15 second talk- and that's it. You need to keep him in check."

"I don't wanna hear it, Julian." I roll my eyes, as I felt a spark of anger in my chest, not wanting to deal with him.

He opens his mouth to speak but I stop him, pointing my folder at him, "I don't."

I drop the folder, before leaving my desk, walking up to the lab Julian and Barry shared, noticing Julian leave, walking right over to Barry, "He's driving me insane- he's making me go crazy, Barry-"

His hands go to my waist, as we rock back and forth, my hands balled into fists, my eyes wide, as I felt like either jumping around in anger, or punching my anger away, "Who's driving you insane?"

"Julian- he keeps- parading over me about you- how the rules don't apply to you- and how I need to keep you in check." I vent, "He's talked to me four times, today. Four. I can't tolerate him at two- I'm gonna explode- I'm telling you- I'm gonna explode-"

"Okay- okay-" He presses a kiss to my forehead, "Take a breath."

I took a breath, staring at him as he continued to instruct, "Unclench your fists."

I slowly unclench my fists as he grabs my hand, leading to his desk, pulling a chair for me, sitting in his own, as I slowly sat down also, is not letting go of each other's hands.

"How have things been going on with you and Julian?" I question, letting my anger ease, just being with Barry calming me down.

"Oh my gosh It's like- every time I try to get to know the guy, he does something that makes it really hard to." Barry sighs. "All I know now is that he dislikes meta-humans, just about as much as he dislikes me."

"Well, how did you try to get the know the guy?" I question, "He doesn't seem very fond of you- or anyone who's ever associated with you."

"I-" Barry trails off, "I negotiated with him and told him I would give him the lab and set up in another space downstairs, if he let me shadow him on this case."

"You did what?" The words slip out of my mouth in shock, my eyes slightly wide, "You're gonna give him the lab?"

"I mean- yeah-" He barely shrugs, "If that's what it's gonna take to make him at least- on good terms with me- and stop complaining to my girlfriend- then yes."

"You're insane." I hold his hand in both of mine, bringing it up to my lips, kissing it lightly.

"No- no." He smiles lightly at my reaction, his phone buzzing, seeing that Julian had texted him, "It's time for me to see everything from his perspective right now- I'll see you later." He gets up, pecking my lips before leaving me alone in his lab.

-

I stood next to Joe, everyone's gun aimed at the monster that was terrorizing Central City, many snipers around us. The creature roared, resulting me in shoving my gun back into my holster, not wanting to shoot at it, in fear of hurting it and making it more angry.

"I have a lock on the target. Fire when ready." We heard through the talkies, before two shots were fired, both coming from two different snipers, both bullets going right through the monster, aiming right at two people.

My adrenaline kicked in, moving from my assigned spot, running to the woman I was closest to that had the bullet aimed right for her, Joe letting out a shout for me to stop, as I pushed her out the way, the bullet piercing right into my left arm, as we both fell to the ground.

Everything felt like it was going in slow motion as Barry runs in, just getting the address from Cisco, catching the second bullet from shooting another woman in the head, his eyes falling onto me, running to me, crouching, his hands grabbing onto me lightly to check my injuries, looking that I had gotten shot, his head snapping back as his scream echoing in the cold night, "Stop! Stop firing! It's a hologram!"

"Hold your fire-" shouts came from the one who instructed to fire when ready, as Barry's head snaps towards me, concern full in his eyes, the monster disappearing.

"I really liked this sweater-" I mutter, trying to lighten the mood slightly, this not being the best time as Joe runs over.

"I need to get you to a hospital now-" Barry's voice spoke, as I caught the small tears in his eyes, starting to help me up.

"I'm fine- it's just my arm-" I stood on my feet, my body turning as I helped the woman I had just taken a bullet for up, bombarding her with questions to ask her if she was okay, as Barry pulls me to face him.

"Zee-" Joe stares at my bloody sleeve that was once white.

"I'm fine-" I look at Barry, "You need to go stop whoever is controlling that-"

"Detective-" Barry stares at me, his eyes wide and already disapproving, wanting to get me hospitalized first.

I shook my head, pushing him away slightly, feeling myself stumbling, as I caught my balance, feeling slightly light headed, knowing I was losing blood. He was already ignoring my attempts to push me away as he was quick to scoop me up into his arms, speeding back to Star Labs, stopping in the middle of the cortex where everyone was.

"She got shot-" Barry's voice was loud and clear, as you could sense how worried he was by his tone, "She took a bullet for someone- She's losing blood-"

"Lay her down here-" Caitlin points to a operation bed, as Barry does just that, Caitlin starting to work on me almost immediately, Iris standing next to her, everything go down. Barry had left after Cisco had told him they had found a location.

The pain I felt was unbearable, but I let her continue with whatever she needed to do, the lightheadedness I felt strengthening. My entire vision goes black, as I felt myself pass out.

-

[ barry's pov ]

I set a cardboard box on my desk, starting to place a few things into the box, cleaning out my desk, my mind not fully focused on what I was doing, my thoughts completely on Zee.

Caitlin had called me a few hours earlier, and told me that she passed out during the procedure to get the bullet out of her arm due to the blood loss, but regardless, she would be fine. But, I couldn't find myself relived until I heard her voice.

I had gone in to check up on her, and saw that she was still unconscious. I stayed there for a while, up until I realized I had to clean out of my lab at ccpd and move downstairs, which lead me here.

"I nearly killed a kid tonight." Julian's voice sounded the lab, my head snapping up, my gaze landing on him, seeing how tired out and stressed he looked. I stop placing things in the box, looking at him. "The monster we were chasing. It turns out- it was just a hologram, operated by a 15 year old boy. Flash came to save the day, and he saved me from doing something."

"I heard." I admit, swallowing, my gaze falling on my desk once more, "My girlfriend took a bullet for a civilian today. She's still unconscious. I'm really worried about her."

"Detective Young, right?" Julian asks, "I knew the two of you had something going on. With all the excuses she makes for you when you disappear- how well she covers everything I question up. It was clear."

"Yeah-" I sigh quietly, my gaze tearing my desk.

"I'm sorry, mate." He apologizes, a sigh also falling from his lips, as he looks at his feet, "She's one of the strongest women I've met here. She'll pull through."

I barely nod, the two of us going silent again.

"You know what's sad?" Julian breaks the silence, "That kid, he's just acting 'cause he's scared, you know? He wants everyone to be terrified and to run away from the monster so he can feel powerful. I know what that's like."

"How do you mean?" I question.

"I come from a pretty wealthy family, back in England." He admits with a small laugh, "It's a long line of generations of old money, tradition nonsense, really. And I was the heir. I was their firstborn son. I was supposed to inherit the lot. But I was the odd duck."

Another small laugh leaves his mouth as I realize that Julian Albert was actually opening up to me, as he continued, "-who would rather go in the garden and collect samples of insects. Rather than learn how to tie a Windsor knot or which fork to use first at dinner. Yeah. No, I wanted more. You know? I came here to do the one thing that they couldn't stop me from doing. Becoming a scientist becoming a great scientist."

He continued, "And then just as I got to the top of my field, poof, the world changes overnight. Meta-humans. I don't know a single thing about meta-humans. I don't know how they talk. I don't know how they walk. I certainly don't know the first thing about stopping them, so rendered useless."

He sits down in his chair, "I suppose that's the monster I'm running from now; feeling powerless."

"Yeah, I feel the same way some days, Julian." I admit. "I lost my mom when I was a kid. Lost my dad recently. It's a scary world. People die. Trusts are betrayed. Things change. But change can be a good thing, you know? It can bring new experiences, new opportunities, people. You can treat 'em like a potential enemy or like a new friend. Just trust that everything's gonna be okay."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." He chuckles lightly, standing back up.

I don't respond, as I start to continue to place my things into the box, my eyes landing on a framed picture of Zee and I, that I kept on my desk, of her and I making silly faces, stood in the middle of a beautiful clear road, my hoodie fitting her like a dress, her ripped mom jeans only showing from mid thigh, down. I admired her appearance in the picture, my heart feeling warmth and happiness all at once just looking at the picture.

"You can stop." Julian spoke out, as my head snaps up, "You can stay. I was really wrong about The Flash. Maybe I was wrong about you too."

I stay silent, just watching him, a small smile forming on my lips as I felt like I was getting somewhere with him.

"Good night, mate." He grabs his coat.

"Julian-" I call out, "Do you wanna go get a drink?"

He stops, "Yeah- yeah id like that."

"Alright-" I set the photo down, grabbing my jacket and phone, "Let's do it."

-

[ zee's pov ]

I had put on Barry's Star Laboratories sweatshirt due to my white sweater's sleeve being completely soaked in my own blood.

"Hey, how ya feelin?" I heard a voice, my head slowly turning to see Iris West, a smile of relief on her face.

I slowly walked over to her, "I don't know how to answer that."

"I'm glad you're up." She gives me a light hug, before whipping out her phone, typing away.

"Is this your way of showing me that you're glad I survived a bullet?" I question, referring to her immediately typing away on her phone.

"I just texted Barry to come back here." She admits, "He needed to leave a little while ago to give up his side of the lab to Julian."

"Oh no-" I mutter, as she gives me a nod in agreement before leaving me alone in the room, as Barry rushes in, looking around in alert, before his eyes land on him, a sigh of relief leaving his lips as he jumps the two steps, wrapping his arms around my figure.

"Thank god you're okay-" He lets out another sigh of relief, kissing my cheek repeatedly.

I grab his face, pulling his face away from mine, a hint of worry in my tone, "You didn't give him the lab, did you?"

"Is that really what you're worried about?" A small chuckle leaves his mouth, his eyes filled with amusement, "You just woke up after being shot. And you're worried if I gave Julian Albert my csi lab?"

"Yes-" I nod, rubbing the pad of my thumb across his cheekbone.

"You never fail to amuse me, Zee Young." Barry admits.

"We're not talking about amusement right now-" I start, wanting him to tell me if he did or not.

He shook his head lightly, "He let me stay. He told me to tell you that he's happy you're okay."

I gave him a sly nod, not wanting to question this any further due to me not being in the mood to.

"How do you feel now?" Barry questions me, referring to my injury.

"I feel like a badass-" I began, the events of me taking the bullet flashing in my mind.

"You're definitely a badass-" Barry admits, "But next time- let me handle things like this?"

"I feel like I've heard you tell me to stay out of situations like this too many times to count- and I proceed to just- not listen every time." I shrug lightly.

He lets out a light chuckle, "It's worth trying."

I hum in response, as he connects our lips in a kiss.

authors note:

when I see people reacting to this book through comments and actually taking time out of their day to comment on these books with questions and reactions, it makes me so happy lolol