⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥

CHAPTER TWO
not alone, never alone

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

JULIET STOOD BEHIND Cisco as he sat at Joe's computer in the precinct, her arms crossed across her chest as she stared back at the picture of a dead Al Rothstein. Her eyebrows were knit in both thought and confusion — how was any of this possible?

Barry hadn't joined them. After what had happened, it was evident to Juliet that he needed some time alone, including her. So she left him upstairs in his lab while she stayed downstairs.

"According to the coroner's office, Al Rothstein's body was in the morgue all night, so we can scratch of zombie attack," Cisco stated.

"Rothstein have a twin brother?" Joe asked.

"Nope. Only child. And get this, the night the Accelerator exploded, Rothstein was on his honeymoon in Hawaii."

"Huh. So we're looking for a guy who's really strong, can grow twice his size, and just happens to look exactly like the guy he murdered?"

"Average day," Juliet commented with a sigh.

"I would think this Meta was really cool if everything about him didn't just terrify me to my core," Cisco admitted.

Joe looked at him. "Is that what happened to you? You looked really spooked there for a minute."

"Wait, what happened?" Juliet questioned in concern before turning her attention to the boy in front of her. "Did you freeze up?"

"Uh . . ." Cisco trailed off.

"I actually see the guy that I can ask about it right now," Iris' voice began, and Juliet turned to see her walking into the cortex, talking on the phone. "I'll call you back, okay?" She hung up the phone when she stopped in front of them. "Hey. So, the hospital next to the Flash and Scarlet Day rally, the x-ray and CT machines all failed at once." She looked at Cisco. "Was that because of you?"

"I did not do anything that would cause that," Cisco answered. He thought about it for a second. "I'm ninety-two percent sure." He then noticed the blank stares on Juliet, Joe, and Iris' faces. "I'm gonna go make that a hundred. Excuse me."

Joe put a hand on Iris' back. "You okay?"

"We need to talk," Iris said. "You too, Jules."

"Okay."

Joe led the two of them over to a window, a more secluded part of the precinct.

Iris shook her head. "Barry can't do this alone anymore. Jules, I know you've tried to convince him otherwise, but he's even doing it without you."

"Heavy emphasis on tried," Juliet agreed. "You know how incredibly stubborn he is. Endearing, yet annoying. No matter what I say or do, I can't snap him out of it. I'm afraid that if I keep trying it'll drive him away."

"Well, maybe Barry has been so successful at pushing all of us away except you because we keep letting him. You're truly the only person who's held on tighter when he started to slip away." She got a look of determination on her face. "Let's not let him."

Joe shrugged. "What do you suggest?"

"Well, if you keep getting no for an answer, stop asking questions," Iris recited, making Juliet slightly smile at the familiar phrase.

Joe gasped and pointed at himself. "I say that. You quoting me to me?"

"What can I say? You are a very smart man."

"True," Juliet added.

Joe laughed and put one arm around Iris and one arm around Juliet. Together, the three of them walked out of the precinct together, heading to the one place they all hadn't gathered in in months.

Now, listen. Juliet was sure that Barry wouldn't exactly be happy with the situation that was going on. Like, at all. But as a kind of loving girlfriend, she didn't want to see him crash and burn by isolating himself any longer, especially not against a threat like this.

She stood behind the computer desk, hearing Cisco explain what he had found when he went to go visit Caitlin at Mercury Labs. Professor Stein and Iris were there too, and Joe was standing in the entrance of the medbay. Cisco sent a fake security alert to Barry's computer at work, which they all knew was a sure plan to make him show up.

And show up, he did. Barry's familiar yellow lightning sped into the cortex. Juliet looked up for a moment, only to see him standing there in shock at the sight in front of him.

"What are you guys doing here?" Barry demanded.

"Working," Iris replied.

"So, Caitlin was right," Cisco announced.

"Yes, all humans contain small amounts of radiation due to contact with cell phones, microwaves, televisions, et cetera," Professor Stein explained. "Our bodies are natural conductors."

"I think our Meta's been sucking up all the radiation around him and using it to power himself."

"Which is why the x-ray machines at the hospital failed the day of the rally," Iris voiced.

"So if we want to find him, we gotta look for places without radiation," Cisco finished.

"All right, guys, I — I don't want any of you here right now," Barry insisted. Juliet raised an eyebrow at him, and his eyes softened a little. "Most of you."

"Tough," Joe replied. "You need your partners. You need your friends."

"Barry, everyone in this room cares about you, but we also care about this city," Iris said. "We all want to make a difference, and that means fighting Metahumans, and that means working with the Flash." She put a hand on Juliet's shoulder. "And Scarlet. Together, not separately. You can't deny us that. Not anymore."

"Got him," Cisco stated. "There's a three block dead zone near a hazardous waste reclamation plant. It should be blooming with rads, and right now it's at zero."

"That's where you'll find your atom smasher," Professor Stein added. Juliet slowly looked over at him. "B-Because he absorbs atomic power, and he, well, smashes."

"Come here," Cisco urged, pulling him into a hug, making Juliet laugh a little. "That's a great name. Welcome to the team."

Professor Stein shook his hand. "Thank you."

"Great, guys, thank you," Barry cut in. "Um, can you go now, all right?"

"Barry, you need to let Cisco and Stein figure out a way to stop this guy," Joe told him.

"No, I don't." He then turned and pointed at Juliet. "You, stay here."

"Um, no," Juliet protested.

"Um, yes. I can do this by myself."

"Barry, come on—"

She was cut off by a gust of wind and a flash of yellow lightning. Juliet blinked, and she saw his suit was gone. She looked over at Joe.

Joe shrugged. "Guess he'll learn the hard way."

Cisco then picked up an earbud, his eyes widening. "Barry left his comm system behind. We can't talk to him. He's on his own."

Juliet really didn't want to leave him alone. But maybe, just maybe, letting him see that going off and doing everything by himself wasn't going to work. As much as it pained her, this could be his wake up call, especially against a guy as powerful as this. Plus, he had speed healing. He would be fine.

Did that make her a terrible person? Probably.

"Cisco?" Juliet inquired.

He sat down at the computers, knowing what she was insinuating. "I'm on it, JJ." He typed for a moment. "I'm looking for the security cameras. Booyah."

A black-and-white surveillance footage came up on the screen. She saw Barry facing Rothstein in the plant. Barry started to turn his arms in circles, creating wind, but Rothstein merely stayed in place, fighting against it and screaming in concentration. He then stopped turning his arms, and Rothstein stood up straight. Barry sped up to Rothstein and threw multiple punches at him, but Rothstein blocked them and punched Barry in the chest, sending him to the ground. Barry stumbled up.

"My turn," Rothstein said.

He then grew larger and grabbed Barry by the neck, lifting him up off of the ground. Juliet's eyes widened.

"Nah, fuck it," Juliet voiced. "I have to go."

"Jules, no," Iris protested. "Your powers didn't work on him last time."

"And this time, they might."

"Wait, alarm!" Professor Stein exclaimed.

Cisco slowly turned to him. "Believe me, we're all alarmed."

"No, the alarm system. You've tapped into the surveillance cameras, correct?"

"Correct!" Cisco started furiously typing. "Come on, feel the noise."

Juliet's heart rate increased as she watched Rothstein slam Barry into the wall multiple times. If Cisco didn't turn on the alarm in the next couple of seconds, she was booking it the hell out of there.

"He said you were some kind of big hero, but you don't seem worthy of him, or this city," Rothstein taunted, making Juliet clench her jaw.

Well, Cisco did. The alarm started to blare throughout the plant, and Juliet watched on the screen as Barry phased out of Rothstein's grasp and ran away. She sighed in relief. Oh God, this was such a mess.

"Professor Stein, you are a genius," Cisco stated.

"I believe that's already been well established," Professor Stein replied, accepting Iris' high-five.

All of the sudden, Juliet heard stumbling footsteps in the hallway. Her eyebrows knit in confusion and she turned, walking fast out of the cortex. She saw Barry's stumbling figure in the elevator lobby before he ultimately fell to the floor. Juliet gasped, and her eyes widened as she ran up to him. She immediately dropped to her knees and put her hands on his face, which was bloody from being beat up.

The very familiar tingling feeling spread throughout her entire body, and she teleported them into the med bay, placing Barry's body on top of the bed. Cisco, knowing what do to after working with Caitlin, helped Juliet set him up on vitals, also knowing her mind was a little scrambled at seeing him so hurt.

She pulled the hood of his suit down and took off his gloves, placing them on the side table. Juliet sat down in the chair by the bed, telling everyone that she was staying, no matter what. All of them left the cortex to give them their space . . . everyone besides Joe.

"Will you be making the speech?" Joe asked, because one definitely had to be made.

Juliet sighed. "Will you allow me to? I have a feeling he'll listen."

"I agree." Joe patted her shoulder encouragingly before walking away. "Good luck."

Her eyes scanned the bruises on his face. They had started to fade — thanks to his speed healing. Juliet started to feel the guilt start to sink her down. She could've stopped this, she could've helped, but she didn't. All she did was stand there helplessly as her boyfriend got pounded against the wall.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Barry's figure started to stir. Juliet lifted her head up, watching his eyes flutter open. However, his eyes then widened and he went to sit up in panic.

Juliet held up her hand, red energy traveling through her hand as well as around Barry's figure to hold him in place. "No way, not so fast." Barry's eyes found her, and he immediately relaxed, making Juliet lower her hand and let him go. "You're okay, I've got you."

Barry rolled his head over to face forwards away from her. "Where is everyone?"

Juliet scrunched her nose up the tiniest bit. "Thought you'd be more inclined to talk to me."

He nodded against the pillow. "You were right."

"I'm glad." Her gaze suddenly got serious. "This is the last time I'm going to tell you this, because this is the end of the cycle. You cannot do this alone. For the past six months, you've pushed everyone else away besides me because I'm stubborn and held on tight. And even through me holding on tight, you've managed to still go out on your own. Today, that only proved that you'd just rather get yourself killed then ask for help if you need it. I'll be damned if I'm going to let you keep doing that. I'd rather not see my boyfriend dead, thank you very much."

Barry let out a humorless laugh. "Well, it's a whole lot better than seeing my friends — our friends killed."

"You think I don't understand that? Baby, I have felt everything you're feeling. I would die for them, too. But the difference between you and me is that I know I wouldn't be a superhero without them by my side." She breathed deeply for a second. "Look, I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. Yeah, sure, the singularity happened because of you. I know that, you know that. But not every decision that day was made by you. We were all there. I was there. Eddie and Ronnie chose to help us stop Thawne and stop that stupid black hole. Trust me, I didn't want to believe it, either. It finally took enough of Joe knocking it into my head to understand it. All of us are to blame."

Juliet stood up, watching as a tear dripped down his cheek. She stood over him and wiped the tear away before moving her hand to his hair, running her fingers through it. Barry stared up at her with big eyes, and Juliet was sure she melted.

"Not all of this is because of you," Juliet said quietly. "The guilt eats me up inside, but I'm finding ways to live with it. You have to, too."

"What do we do now?" Barry questioned.

She smiled a little at the we. "Well, first of all, you can actually invite me to help you rebuild Central City." Barry laughed, actually laughed, and Juliet's smile grew. "But first, rebuild the things that matter."

"Will you come with me?"

"Of course. I have to rebuild things, too."

After letting Barry heal a little bit more, he got back into his regular clothes. Together, him and Juliet went to Mercury Labs, only to see the one person they had seen the least. Juliet walked into the lab, hand-in-hand with Barry, seeing Caitlin standing at a microscope. She looked so in her element that it made Juliet grin.

Caitlin finally looked over at the two of them. "What are you two doing here?"

"Rebuilding," Juliet answered simply. "Sorry we didn't call or anything. We just wanted to come see you.

"It's been a while."

"Yeah, Cisco said that he saw you at the Flash and Scarlet Day celebration," Barry added. "I was surprised. You, better than anyone, know that J and I weren't the heroes that day."

"Of course you were," Caitlin insisted.

"No." Barry sighed, gripping onto Juliet's hand a little tighter. "Cait, Ronnie died saving Juliet and I, and I should've saved him, and I'm — I'm so sorry."

Juliet nodded. "Even though I wasn't in the singularity, I could've at least done something."

"Barry, Juliet, I know that you did everything you could," Caitlin replied. "It wasn't your fault. I don't blame either of you for Ronnie's death. I blame myself."

Juliet frowned. "What? Why?"

"When Ronnie first became Firestorm, he asked me to leave Central City and go somewhere that we could have a normal life. And I said no. I couldn't leave S.T.A.R. Labs, Dr. Wells . . . you two. If I had gone with him, Ronnie would still be alive. Being at S.T.A.R. Labs just made me think of that every single day."

Barry then rummaged in his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief. "Here."

Caitlin laughed a little through her tears. "Oh, you carry a handkerchief now? What are you, eighty?"

"Old man at heart, truly," Juliet commented. Something else then clattered to the floor, and Juliet's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. She bent down to the ground and picked up a flash drive. "What's this?"

"Ah, it's uh . . . apparently, in, uh, case of his death, Wells had some kind of a living will," Barry revealed, making Juliet's eyes slightly widen.

"When'd you get it?"

"This morning. Somebody came to our lab while you were gone."

"And you haven't watched it yet?" Caitlin inquired.

"No," Barry answered. "No, I've . . . been too afraid." He looked down at his girlfriend. "I was going to come find you after he gave it to me, but then the whole thing happened.

"Well, I'm here now," Juliet responded softly. "Let's watch it together, yeah?"

Barry nodded a little. He handed the flash drive off to Caitlin, who plugged it into the computer she had. She pulled up three chairs in front of the computer screen, and Juliet sat in between Caitlin and Barry, her and Barry's interlocked hands resting on her lap. Her thumb ran across Barry's knuckles, trying to provide him with at least some comfort.

The video then started to play. Juliet's jaw immediately clenched at the sight of Wells — Thawne — whoever he was. He was holding a remote in his hand, zooming the camera in closer to him. Barry's grip on her hand involuntarily tightened.

Thawne removed his glasses. "Hello, Barry. If you're watching this, presumably with Juliet, that means something has gone horribly wrong. I'm dead and the last fifteen years have been for nothing. Bummer. Fifteen years. You know, when I realize that in all those years helping raise you, we were never truly enemies, Barry. I'm not the thing you hate."

Juliet scoffed quietly. Yeah, okay.

"And so, I want to give you the thing that you want most. It won't matter. You'll never be truly happy, Barry Allen, trust me. I know you. Now . . ." He cleared his throat, putting his glasses back on and using the remote to zoom in closer to him. "Erase everything I said up to this point. Give the following message to the police." He looked straight into the camera. "My name is Harrison Wells. Being of sound mind and body, I freely confess to the murder of Nora Allen, in her home, on the night of March eighteenth, in the year 2000. I attacked Nora Allen in her dining room . . ."

Juliet's eyes widened and she sat up straighter, slowly looking at Barry. "Holy shit."

"Oh my God," Caitlin let out. "He confessed."

"This is it," Barry admitted, staring at the screen in shock and letting out a laugh of amazement. "This is what I need to free my dad." He immediately stood up, letting go of Juliet's hand and pulling out his phone. "Hey, Joe. Yeah, hey. Um, can you have everybody meet me at S.T.A.R. Labs? Yeah. All right, thanks. Yeah, all right, bye."

Caitlin looked up with a smile. "I'll drive."

The three of them went back downstairs. It was a short drive to S.T.A.R. Labs, and sure enough, when they got there, everyone else was there. Barry quickly explained what had happened. Joe immediately excused himself to go take a phone call, and Barry was out in the hallway with him, anxiously pacing around.

Juliet stayed right in the entrance of the cortex, playing with her fingers nervously. This could truly change Barry's life. It was all he had ever wanted. Suddenly, she heard footsteps, and she looked up from the ground to see Barry walking towards her.

"Is it good news?" Caitlin asked.

Barry smiled wide. "I think so."

"Henry's coming home?" Iris questioned.

He nodded. Juliet giggled a little and grinned brightly before rushing up to her boyfriend, throwing her arms around his neck excitedly. Barry wrapped his arms around Juliet's waist and picked her up off the floor, spinning her around. She laughed louder, holding on tight until he put her back down on the floor. Juliet then pressed up onto her toes and planted a quick kiss to his lips. She fell back onto her flat feet, and the two of them stood in front of everyone, still holding onto each other like their lives depended on it.

"Okay, well . . . that still leaves Atom Smasher to deal with," Barry announced, looking a little dazed.

"Last time you faced him, it did not go well," Professor Stein voiced.

"No, it did not. I clearly can't stop him by myself. So how are we gonna beat him?"

"Well, ever since I was shown a drained radiation tag, which I haven't been able to stop thinking about," Caitlin said, sending a pointed look to the boy next to her. "Thank you, Cisco."

He pointed at her. "You're welcome, Caitlin."

"If this guy likes radiation so much, I say we give it to him."

And so, they had come up with their plan. In order to lure Atom Smasher to them, Cisco had created two lights with their symbols — a lightning bolt for Barry and the m-shaped crown for Juliet. When pointed upwards to the sky, it would cast their symbols onto the clouds, calling for the one person they wanted to see most.

It had worked. As Juliet and Barry stood by their lights, Atom Smasher came walking up to them, his face full of malice. Juliet merely flicked her hand, and the lights slowly turned off.

"What's up?" Barry greeted with a smirk.

(Juliet would be lying if she said that wasn't attractive.)

"I see you got our message."

"That light was perfect bait," Caitlin told Cisco over the comms. "What made you think of that?"

"I don't know, I think I saw it in a comic book somewhere," Cisco responded.

"You want us?" Barry inquired. "You're gonna have to catch us."

Juliet gave him a small smile, but it looked sickly from how sweet she was making it. "Try and keep up, big guy."

Barry then sped off. Juliet teleported away, doing small jumps at a time in order to taunt him. Rothstein was following them quite quickly as well.

"It's working, dudes," Cisco said. "Rothstein's following you."

"I must say, he's quite agile for a man his size," Professor Stein added.

Juliet tuned them out. All she focused on was her teleportation and keeping herself away from Rothstein. Finally, her and Barry lured Rothstein to the nuclear power plant, all the way inside. The two heroes paused, glancing around when they didn't notice Rothstein was there. Suddenly, he burst through the side of the building, sending bits of concrete, metal, and glass everywhere.

He was taller, way taller than the both of them. Rothstein walked towards the two, each footstep he took shaking the building. Juliet swallowed a little and inclined her head to look at him. She backed away into the reactor with Barry, which was a part of their plan, but she felt very small and insignificant as she pressed her back into the wall.

Rothstein climbed into the reactor with them, staring down at them like they were pesky flies in his way. "Didn't think I could catch you, huh?"

"No, we knew you could," Barry replied casually. "Now, Cisco!"

Cisco, from S.T.A.R. Labs, turned on the reactor. The door started to shut, and Juliet quickly reached out, grabbing Barry's arm. She teleported them out of the reactor, and they watched the door fully shut. Atom Smasher crouched down, looking through the window at them.

"The amount of radiation about to flood that room—" Caitlin began.

"Atom Smasher won't be able to absorb it all," Professor Stein finished.

Juliet continued to hold onto Barry's arm as all the radiation started to seep into Atom Smasher. He growled as he grew bigger and bigger before he finally went back down to his normal size. The reactor shut off, and Atom Smasher laid on his back.

"The radiation's been cleared," Cisco said. "It's safe for you to go in."

The door opened. Juliet slowly walked inside, crouching down next to Rothstein as he withered in pain and was practically choking from all the radiation he had consumed. Barry crouched down on the other side of him.

"We're sorry," Barry stated. "We couldn't let you hurt anyone else. Why? Why did you want to kill me, or Scarlet?"

Rothstein gasped for air. "He promised he'd take me home . . ." His head rolled over to Barry. "If I killed you."

Juliet shared a quick look with Barry for a second. "Who is he? The one who made the promise?"

Rothstein's eyes got wide, and he struggled for a second. "Zoom."

He then went completely still. Juliet's eyes met Barry's again, and she knew they were both thinking the same thing — who the hell was Zoom?

ϟ ···················· ϟ ···················· ϟ

THE MESSAGE HAD been fully approved, which meant that Henry Allen was coming home.

Barry had gone to get Henry from Iron Heights while the rest of them set up his surprise party at Joe's house. Juliet could barely keep the excited smile off of her face as she waited by the door. Finally, after what seemed like years, Barry opened the door, Henry right behind him.

"Welcome home!" everyone chorused.

They all cheered for Henry. Of course, the first person he hugged was Joe, and then Iris, who was next in line. Juliet clasped her hands in front of her as she waited, and finally, Henry turned to her.

"Hi, Jules," Henry said.

Juliet hugged him tightly. "Hi. Welcome home."

They hugged for a moment longer before Henry moved on. Juliet then looked up at her boyfriend, who instantly walked towards her and put an arm around her shoulders. She reached up, holding onto the hand that was dangling by her side.

"Everything went okay?" Juliet asked.

"It was perfect," Barry answered. He leaned down and pressed a long kiss to the top of her head. "Just like you."

"I'm so glad we're back to a cheesy Barry Allen. I've missed him."

They had champagne and cake, and Cisco even got his own police badge. Basically, they just spend time with each other, enjoying being in each other's presence.

Professor Stein then tapped his champagne glass, gaining everyone's attention. "Gather round, everyone, please. Looking at all of you, thinking how far we've all come, and remembering those who are no longer with us, I'm reminded of a Hebrew word used during times of graduation. Kadima. It means, forward." He lifted up his glass. "Forward."

Joe lifted up his glass. "Forward."

"Forward," Iris repeated.

"Forward," Cisco said.

"Forward," Caitlin added.

Henry lifted up his glass. "Forward."

Barry smiled — and after six months, it seemed really genuine. "Forward."

Juliet nodded. "Forward."

Henry looked at Juliet. "Jules, could you spare us a minute, please?"

"Of course," she agreed, grinning to herself as Barry gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she walked over to Iris. "Hey, you."

"Hi, Jules," Iris replied, slinging an arm around her shoulders and resting their heads together as they walked into the dining room. "I know I haven't said it in a while, but I appreciate you so much."

"Aw, I appreciate you too. I know these past six months have been hard, especially for you."

Iris let out a deep breath. "Yeah, for sure."

The two of them let each other go and engaged in pleasant conversation with the others. Barry then came back into the dining room. However, his face

Juliet frowned as she looked up at him, placing a hand on his back and rubbing it softly. "You okay?"

"Can I spend the night with you?" Barry pleaded.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Not like that." He then paused for a moment. "Maybe like that."

Her face flushed as red as her energy. "Oh my God. Okay, sure, yep. Cool."

So when Juliet walked into S.T.A.R. Labs the next morning holding hands with Barry, she had made sure that the bruise on her collarbone was covered up. Especially because they had seen Henry off at the train station, who had said he wanted to leave Central City — that's why Barry seemed so sad.

(And let her tell you, that bruise was not from Atom Smasher.)

"Hey," Barry greeted to Joe, who met them in the elevator lobby.

"Hey," Joe responded. "Your dad get off okay?"

"Yeah, we just dropped him at the station."

"You good?"

Barry shrugged. "I don't know, I — just feels like every time I win, I still lose."

"Well . . ." Joe trailed off. He reached into his pockets, pulling out two golden keys. "It's not bad."

Juliet gasped excitedly and let go of Barry's hand so she could take her key. "Oh my God, we're so cool." She looked up at Barry, smiling brightly. "We're so official now."

Barry laughed a little at her and kissed her forehead. "Well, I also know I haven't lost with you, J."

"Obviously not, I'm the ultimate win." She elbowed his side playfully. "Forever lover."

Juliet smiled to herself as she walked away towards the cortex. Barry shook his head, also grinning, because he had truly scored with her. When Juliet entered the cortex, she saw Caitlin, Cisco, Iris, and Professor Stein were already there.

"Hey!" Caitlin exclaimed.

"Hey," Joe replied.

"Hey, guess what?" Cisco questioned. "I added a little upgrade to your suits."

Cisco turned on the spotlights over their mannequins. It revealed that Juliet's long red jacket and corset was a brighter shade of red now, and Barry's symbol on his chest now had white in the back of the lightning bolt instead of red.

"It's just like the one from the future newspaper Gideon showed us, Barry. And JJ, well . . . I thought you would look better in bright red. I was thinking, you know, you shouldn't fear the future anymore, right?"

"No," Barry agreed. His eyes flickered to Juliet for a moment, which she didn't notice because she was enamored by the red jacket. "And it'll be here faster than we think."

"Well, see, I like it," Professor Stein admitted. "The lightning definitely pops more against the white, and the bright red top contrasts more against the black of everything else."

"And S.T.A.R. Labs is now safer than ever," Caitlin added. "Increased security and surveillance."

"Re-coded, double firewalled, electronic lock sets," Cisco stated. "Nothing is getting through here without us knowing."

"So people can't just waltz in and out of here," Iris said.

"Exactly."

Well, much to their luck, somebody did just waltz in.

Caitlin gasped, catching Juliet's attention. An unfamiliar man, was coming into the cortex, stopping into the shadows so he didn't show his face. Juliet walked closer to the computer desks to stand in front of all of them, Barry right by her side.

Cisco stared at him. "For real?"

Joe pulled his gun out. "Stay where you are."

"Who are you?" Barry demanded.

"You don't know me, but I know you . . . Barry Allen," the man said. His head then slightly turned towards Juliet's direction. "Juliet St. James."

The couple shared a look. How did he know their names?

"Take one more step, it'll be the last step you take," Joe threatened. "The man asked you a question. Who the hell are you?"

The man stepped out of the shadows. Juliet tilted her head in curiosity. He had blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing all black.

He stared at all of them seriously. "My name is Jay Garrick, and your world is in danger."

〖 ϟ 〗

I actually cannot believe the flash premiered for its final season yesterday. this show means so much to me in so many ways — it was the first show I fell in love with, it gave me my first comfort character, and it's always been something consistent. I can't believe it's ending and I can't believe that we won't get new barry allen content after this, like that's my #1 boy fr. it's been such a pleasure to rewatch as I wrote state of grace and now write this. thank you flash for giving me so many amazing memories, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for this season <3

anyways. back to our regularly scheduled programming

MY CUTIES UGH I LOVE THEM TO DEATH

also . . . not the slight spiciness . . . whoopsies

this book might be a TAD more suggestive than state of grace bc they're like really in a relationship now yk but I won't write anything FULLY bc I'm just not into that, you'll get some hints here and there