"What am I supposed to say?"

"Anything but what you are currently thinking."

"Thanks, Caitlin. That helps."

"Look, Barry, listen. She is going to be as nervous as you but obviously for different reasons and she can't know that."

Barry buried his face in his hands, letting out a frustrated sigh. But he wasn't able to lament for long. He heard your sure steps down the hall and the sound of your beautiful singing voice. You usualy sang when you were happy. But for some reason, knowing that, Barry felt even more pressure to not screw this up.

"Here she comes! Take a deep breath and just pretend that it's just a normal day. Let it come out naturally and in the conversation. You know how she is with big news. Nice and causual." Caitlin gave him a big smile and two thumbs up as she rushed out of the room to leve the two of you alone.

You entered the big room to find Barry standing in the center, his back to you and his hands in his pockets, like usual. You smile as you tiptoed your way over to him, jumping onto his back, letting out a shout of excitement.

Barry let out a shout of surprise, but it quickly changed into laughter. He helped you down gently and so he could give you a proper hug. "(Y/n)! I am so glad you were able to make it!" He looked into your eyes and drank in your beauty. "God, I missed you."

You smiled wide, wrapping your arms around his neck effectivly pulling him closer. "Well, I couldn't say no to my boyfriend now could I?" You peck him on the nose. "Now, what is this special dinner you want me to attend?"

Barry had to blink a few times to regain his compoture. He nearly looses it when you kiss him like that. "Well, um...Joe is getting a promotion at the station and it's kind of a big thing and uh..." You giggle as he nervously scratched the back of his head, trying to find the words that you knew you were to blame for him losing. "I need a plus one and since you were in town for your cousin's wedding and the fact that you are my girlfriend and all, I was wondering if you could come with me?"

You giggled again at his uneasyness, moving your hands down to his waist, giving him a squeeze. "Of course I'll go with you, silly!" You kissed him on the cheek then turned to grab your bag you dropped. "I'll meet you at your place in half an hour. I need to drop my stuff of in my room." You turned around to look at him one more time, smiling wide, before you turned to leave for your hotel.

Barry smiled half-heartedly, weakly waving his hand before he let out a breath of air, running his hand through his hair again. He didn't move even after you had left the room. How was he going to pull this off without it becoming really embarrassing?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You looked in the mirror one last time to check your makeup before you heard a knock at your hotel door. A wide smile pulled at your lips as you grabbed your hand bag and opened the door. There stood your wonderful and handsome boyfriend.

"Wow...you, uh, you look amazing." Barry's face turned a touch pink, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

You laughed lightly, taking his free hand in yours. "As articulate as ever I can see." You winked then leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Barry smiled then instantly felt a bit better. "You ready for this? Joe would love to know you made it."

You smiled and closed your room door, giving him your full attention. "Of course I would come! He's like a father to you and me. The world would have to be ending for me to not see Joe. And you for that matter."

"Great. So how has your work been? It must be hard traveling everywhere." The two of you took the long walk to the car, but neither of you minded the time to catch up a bit.

"Well as a fashion designer's personal assistant, I can't complain too much. It has its perks. It just so happens to be that she wants me here to see the latest fashion back at home base." You rolled your eyes dramatically. " 'If it's not in my portfolio, it's not worth wearing.' She likes to think all of fashion-dom hangs on her word. But she pays well and I get to look like a decent human being for once!"

"Don't say that, you always looked good to me. But I do like the new shoes you have been wearing. They are, how do you say it, 'very you'." He winked at you.

You couldn't help but blush. "Well, thank you. The shoes have always been my choice. Now, tell me, why are so many people coming to Joe's recognition? Don't get me wrong, he deserves the attention but I saw the guest list and it looked huge!"

Barry about stopped in his tracks. She saw the guest list? "I, uh, guess he just wants to make a big get together party out of it or something. You know Joe, likes to make sure everyone is comfortable with people they know." Barry winced internally; Joe couldn't care less how others felt at a party, as long there was good music and stake.

But when Barry glanced at you, it looked like you wouldn't pry any deeper. "I guess. That's nice of him. There must be good stake there." You shrugged, giggling Barry a smile. Barry's rarely used car came up and you kissed his cheek again.

"Thank you for not flashing us there. I didn't want to look like we survived a tornado." You giggled to yourself. Barry smiled but opened the passenger door for you.

"I think I have learned my lesson on that one." The two of you laughed at the memory of him taking the two of you to a play and people giving you weird looks. It wasn't until after the play that Barry noticed that his means of getting the two of you there in time resulted in really badly wind swept hair and a few splatter bugs all over your fronts.

The drive was held in a comfortable silence and thankfully not too long. You looked out the window and let out a gasp at all the people who were meandering their way into the conference building. You reach over and lace your fingers with Barry's, needing the assurance with so many people around. You can handle crowds only if you had him around.

"I had no idea Joe was so well known." You whispered to yourself, knowing your boyfriend could hear you. Suddenly you spot your aunt and uncle from Canada. Turning to Barry, you squeeze his hand lightly. "Why are my aunt and uncle from Canada here? They don't even know Joe exists."

Barry swallowed and hoped his voice sounded sure. "Huh. They are here? How odd. I don't know." He turned to look at you, flashing you a smile.

You looked at him skeptically but nodded slowly. "Right. Odd." But the thought of your out of country family fled your mind as soon as you spotted your roommate from college, dressed to the nines and and on the arm of an equally impressive man. "Alexandra?" You asked under your breath in awe.

Still Barry drove past the party goers, making sure to keep your hand in his, as much for your sake as for his. Soon the people disappeared as he drove behind the big building, parking among a few other cars with special parking permits. Barry killed the engine, cleared his throat and turned to you.

"(Y/n)? You-you know I love you right?"

You looked at him again with worry. "Yes, Barry, I do. Is everything alright?" You reach with your free hand to smooth some of his hair and then stroke his cheek.

Barry smiled and gave your hand a kiss. "Oh yeah. Everything is fine. You just look amazing tonight."

You smiled and a bit of your worry dissolved. "You don't look to back yourself, speedster." You leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Come on, babe, lets go congratulate Joe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barry's leg kept bouncing as he sat at one of the many many tables in the conference room. Looking up at the stage, he did his best to listen to the monotone speaker saying something about the history of the police force stationed here. Barry checked his watch for the umpteenth time. Sitting next to him, you reach over and lay an hand on his leg. He flinched but relaxed when he noticed it was you.

"Barry, you are acting so strange. Are you sure you are feeling alright?" You whisper to him, your eyes searching for any signs of distress on his face.

Barry grinned and laid a hand on yours. "I'm fine. Just...excited, I guess, for Joe to get his reward."

You smiled sweetly and turned your hand upside down as to grasp his hand in yours. "Well don't look now, but I think the man of the hour is finally going to get his two sense in." You laughed a bit as you directed Barry's attention to the stage with your eyes.

Joe stood up from his chair and smiled, waving and walking across the stage to the podium. He cleared his throat and smiled to everyone in the audience. "Hello you wonderful friends and loving family. Thank you so much for coming out here tonight and for your love and support with me and my career." He holds up a plaque that he was given a while ago. "This here is not only for me but for the whole police force here. I am truly humbled and quite honestly thankful that I can stand up here and say you all are about to get some good served to you and we can all finally eat." The crowd gathered in collective laughs that soon died down. "But first there is something that I need to make sure gets done. Now before you all think I'm about to give you another history lesson, don't worry, this is going to be a lot more exciting." Joe smiled and looked right at Barry. "Come on son, it's your turn."

Barry swallowed hard and ignored your questioning looks. Nervously, he made his way to the podium, his tall lanky form swaying under the lights and the eyes of all the people sitting down. "He-hello. I'm Barry Allen and I, too, am part of the police force. I'm in the forensic side of things. But I'm not here to revive an award nor do I exspect to ever recive one. But there is something I need to take care of." He moves slightly and looks to you. "(Y/n)? Can you join me up here?"

You blanch. He is literally asking you to do one of the worst things ever. To stand in front of all those people. To be the center of attention?! You slowly stand, your roommate suddenly runs up to you to help you on stage. She hurried off and you were left alone with Barry.

Barry smiled at you but you couldn't find the energy to do much of anything but focus on breathing. "(Y/n), I'm not exactly sure how to say this. But you came here with me as my girlfriend and I'm sure you expected to leave that way too."

Suddenly your mind jumps to on possible conclusion. He's dumping you. And in the most humiliating way possible. You wonder if any one else you grew up with was in the audience. You shakily looked over at him, taking a deep breath and doing your best to blink back tears. What you didn't notice was his own shaky movements to grab something out of his pocket and then kneel down in front of you.

"(Y/n), would you do me the honor of being my wife?"

You blinked. Shaking your head you tried to make sense of the situation. Barry's nervous smile faltered when he saw tears in your eyes and you shaking your head. Quickly he stood up and grabbed your hands, the object in his hands forgotten on the floor.

"Man. I knew you would have hated this." Barry whispered to you. "But I just had-" You stop him with your finger to his lips.

"Say it again." You whisper back, not looking up at him yet.

Barry's smile grew again. "Marry me. Be my wife."

"Again." You lean forward a bit, hesitantly looking up.

"Please be my beautiful wife." Barry whispered into your ear.

Tears fell freely as you let a sob escape your lips as they pulled into a smile. You nodded and whispered yes over and over again as Barry enveloped you in his arms, twirling you around. Clapping and cheers erupted from below them, balloons dropping onto them.

You paid no attention to that because you were lost in the world of your fiancé. Barry pulled back but only enough to kiss you good and throughly. You smiled into the kiss as you reciprocated. After pulling away for air, Barry bent back down and grabbed the ring and slid it into your finger. You tackled him with another hug, your face already feeling sore from all the smiling.

"I hope Joe doesn't mind that you were the one who walked away with the best gift." You whispered to Barry.

Barry chuckled. "This was his idea."

You smiled. "Remind me to thank him later."

"Key word: later." And with that Barry kissed you soundly, not ready to face the crowd quite yet. You weren't complaining.

Ok so don't shoot me! I have been working on this off and on for a while and I had to finish it! Sorry it's so long! Y'all know what to do! Kisses!