"This is where my team monitors the police bands for activity." Barry explained as we entered the Cortex with Felicity.

"We can track anything that's happening. Check this out: We have our own satellite!" I said with a smile as I pulled up a live video feed of the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite dish.

"I know. I hack into it from time to time." Felicity said as Cisco and I'd mouths dropped.

"Rude!" We said together as Felicity have us a "sorry" look. I knew I couldn't stay mad at her. Felicity was way to nice.

"It is, of course, so wonderful to see you again, Felicity." Caitlin said, earning a bashful look from the blond. "I'm just wondering how much of our operation she needs to know about." SHe continued, eyeing me and Barry.

"I'm really good at keeping secrets." Felicity said as Barry nodded.

"She works with the Arrow." I said as Ciscos mouth dropped.

"Now it all makes sense! You know who the Arrow is!" Cisco said as Felicity's eyes widened nervously.

"Do you- know who the Arrow is?" I asked as her head snapped my way. Well now she's kind of intimidating. I like it.

"Um..." She said before blurting, "Let's just say that my team has a similar setup but . . .with more pointy objects." She said as I let out a chuckle.

And then I remembered something I had forgotten to ask Barry. "I'm Barry.. could I. . . Could I talk to you privately?" I asked as his brows raised, and I could faintly see a blush crossing his cheeks.

"Um yeah.. yeah sure." He said as I pressed my lips into a smile, dragging my feet as I walked out of the cortex near the elevator with him.

"So what is it. . . What is it you want to talk about?" Barry asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Our um. . . Would you call it a date? Because I don't want you to think I think it's a date if you don't want it to be a date. It can just be two friends. . . Co-workers if you want to call us that, going out to eat. . ." I rambled as Barry chuckled. "W-What?"

"Oh um nothing. Yeah I guess it could be a date. If you want it to be, too. I'll uh. . . Pick you up at 7 tonight?" He said with a nervous smile as I smiled back, clasping my hands together as I nodded.

"It's a date." We walked back to the cortex with a smile on our faces, stopping when everyone suddenly began to do random things.

"We're you guys listening to our conversation?!" Barry asked as I cross d my arms.

"Whaaaaaat? No!" Cisco said as he set down the upside down book. I raised a suspicious brow as I frowned at them.

I groaned as Cisco gave us a "yeah we did" look before we all heard the wheels of Dr. Wells chair go round and round over to us.

"Welcome, Miss Smoak." He said with a warm smile as Felicity stared in shock.

"Dr. Wells? The Dr. Wells?" She said, letting out an gasp.

"Please, call me Harrison, Felicity."

"You know my name?!"

"Ranked second in the National Informative Technology competition at age 19. Graduated MIT with master's degree in cyber security and computer sciences."Dr Wells said as I dropped my mouth.

"So you're SMART smart." I said as Felicity looked down at her heels, blushing if embarrassment.

"I keep an eye out for promising talent in scientific fields. That's brought me Cisco and Caitlin." Dr. Wells said before he turned to me, a smile still on his face. "And Cora."

"You seem to have a thing for employees whose names start with 'C'." I joked as everyone let out a chuckle.

"And I foresaw great things from you, Cora. That's why I let you work here." He said, but it sounded slightly cold.

"Speaking of great things, want to see something cool?" Barry said as Felicity nodded. Barry walked into the treadmill room as we all stood behind the glass.

Barry looked over at Felicity before he looked at me, the straight face he had turning to a smile as he winked, before he turned to a speeding blur.

"How fast can he run?" Felicity asked.

"He hasn't reached his top speed, I presume. But he's getting there." I said as Dr. Wells nodded. Caitlin was going over his vitals while Cisco went off rambling something about a movie he recently watched.

"Cisco. You're talking about Jaws." I said as he turned to me, nodding.

"That came out in 1975. And you're just now seeing it?" I said as Cisco went to talk, but closed his mouth in defeat.

"And you call yourself a movie fanatic." I joked with a chuckle as Cisco gasped dramatically.

"So... is he really okay?" Felicity asked as Caitlin looked at her then the vitals.

"His heart rate is in normal range for him." Caitlin said as Felicity shook her head.

"No i mean.. is he okay? the lightning bolt changed him. Do any of you know how much?" She asked as I looked between the three scientists.

"If you're talking personality wise, no. None of us got the chance to know Barry before he was struck by lightning. I met him a few hours after he woke up, Dr. Wells, Cisco and Caitlin had known him for 9 months but he was in a coma at the time." I said as Felicity looked back to watch Barry.

"Other than that, we know a fair amount." Harrison said as Felicity frowned.

"Do you think everything about him is sped up, is he gonna age faster? What if he runs too fast? Would he just be running... and then poof, he's dust in a red costume?" Felicity asked as I felt my heart sink.

I had only known Barry for around a month, but him and I have grown fairly close. Considering we work together in two jobs, I would like to assume we would grow to be friends.

But the thought of something like that actually happening to Barry, him being here one second and then just... Vanishing in a cloud of dust... It scared me.

"Wanna see how fast I can run backwards?!" Barry asked as I widened my eyes.

"Barry don't-!" And then he was hurtling into the boxes. "Do it..." I finished with an annoyed grunt. Felicity yelped, her concern for the speedster growing as I turned to her.

"Don't worry. He heals fast. His thoughts on the other hand..." I said, turning to see a Barry in a box. "Do not." Everyone looked at me, confused as to what I meant.

"Really guys? Y'all are the smartest in this Lab and you can't get that I was telling a joke about Barry making dumb ideas to fast, and his brain doesn't slow down for him to think?" I said as Cisco and Caitlin made  an 'o'  with their mouths before Cisco let out an awkward yet real chuckle.

I rolled my eyes, walking into the treadmill room to hear Barry groaning in pain. "Smart idea?" I joked as I helped him up.

"Definitely not." He said as we both let out a chuckle.

"Maybe next time you should slow down, think before you act, Barry Allen." I said as I swung one of his arms over my shoulder, helping him limp out of the room.

Cisco was giving us a weird happy look, a frown on my face before he made a heart with his hands and pointed at me and Barry with a grin.

I glared at him before setting Barry down on the stretcher. "I think I may have done something with my ankles." Barry said as I frowned at him.

"Obviously. You were clocking in at 824 miles an hour, and then you didn't take the time to slow down before running backwards, and that ended up with two sprained ankles." I said as everyone looked at me in surprise.

"What? I may not be a scientist, but I'm not an idiot. I'm a forensics analyst for Christ's sake." I said as Barry held back a smile, wincing in pain ads he tried to move his legs and feet.

After a few hours, Felicity went out back to her hotel to pick something up while Barry and I went to Jitters for coffee. . . And hot chocolate.

"Hey you two." Iris said as we walked in. I shoved my hands into my burgundy trench coat, a smile on my face as I looked at Iris, who walked up to us.

"Hey Iris." Barry and I said almost in sync. "What's up?" I asked as she smiled, grabbing something off the table.

"This is something that I don't think that you're gonna wanna miss." She answered, handing me a small pamphlet.

"Trivia Night at Jitters?" I said, showing it to Barry as Iris nodded.

"Eddies not really excited about it, I admit, but could be our night, guys." Iris said as I looked at Barry, shrugging.

"Our night to win $75 worth of cappuccinos?" Barry said as I looked at the pamphlet again, frowning.

"Ah... yum." I said as Iris smiled.

"So, are you guys coming tonight?" She asked as I looked at Barry.

"We had. . . Plans tonight but I don't see the harm in it?" I started as Barry gave me a sad look before I turned to Iris. "It gives me more time to get to know Barry's best friend and one of my co workers." I finished as Iris smiled widely. Barry looked somewhat annoyed, walking towards Iris and grabbing her arm gently, dragging her away to talk.

3rd person

Barry dragged Iris away from Cora, who sat down at one of the couches, ordering a large hot chocolate. "Why are you doing this?!" Barry said in an annoyed tone as Iris rolled her eyes.

"Doing what?"

"Trivia Night with you and Eddie, forcing this double-date thing." Barry replied as Iris sighed.

"Because that girl over there ordering a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream is great! And she happens to come from your very rare species of adorable nerds." Iris said as Barry rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you tel me more about her?" Iris asked as Barry looked at her like she had two heads.

"Because Iris, you already know about Cora.. and she's just a friend."

"A friend who happens to have asked you on a date." Iris said as Barry's mouth dropped open.

"How do you-"

"Cisco." Iris said as Barry held back the urge to clench his fists. "Barry, it's obvious that you like her, and I have the feeling that she likes you too. So bring her tonight!" Iris pushed as Barry sighed, looking over at Cora, who sipped on her hot chocolate as she waited for Barry.

He sighed, running a hand over his face. "Alright fine. I'll bring her." He said as Iris smiled, clapping her hands before walking away.

Barry's heart was racing. . . Faster than usual, at least. The thought of actually taking Cora on a double date with his former crush and her boyfriend made him nervous.

But, he had to think past that, and made sure he would let her have a good time tonight.

Cora

I looked up from my phone to see Barry walking towards me, a nervous look on his face as I stood up. "What's the matter?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Nothing. Iris wants to know if you'd like to go here tonight for trivia." Barry asked as I felt my eyes beam with excitement.

"Of course I would! I'm great at trivia!" I said as we walked out of Jitters.

☀︎︎

"Party people, whose ready to get their trivia on!?" A Jitters worker said into the microphone as everyone cheered. I walked up to our table, where Eddie, Barry and Iris sat.

"E = MC Hammer?" I said as the worker called our team name. I laughed, quite obviously getting the joke as Eddie and Iris looked at Barry and I in confusion.

"What?" They said in unison as I sat down next to Barry.

"I did it because E = MC squared is Einstein's formula for kinetic energy, right?" Barry said with a smile.

"And, you know," I started as Barry and I finished together with a small dance, ""Can't touch this."" Barry and I laughed together as Eddie and Iris gave us a confused look before both sighed.

☀︎︎

"Three is Pasteur. Mhm." Barry said as I shook my head.

"Three is Erdel, and four is Pasteur." I corrected.

"Right.." Barry muttered as Eddie and Iris stared at us.

"Five?" I said as Barry and I thought for a moment.

"Descartes." We said in unison as Eddie frowned.

"Are they even speaking English?" He asked as Iris gave an unsure look.

"And the points go to E = MC Hammer!" The Jitters worker said as Barry and I smiled, high-giving one another as Iris grinned.

"I knew you two would make a good team." She said as I felt my cheeks burn up.

"So Cora, do you have another job outside of CCPD?" Eddie asked as I looked over at Barry, who gave me a nervous look as I cleared my throat.

"Oh um.. no. I don't. I just tend to spend a lot of my time at home, or helping Barry with-" I quickly shit my mouth as Iris raised a brow. "Helping Barry with um... a few cases that haven't been closed yet..." I lied as I internally slapped my forehead.

Good job, dumbass.

"Ah." Was all Eddie said as I sipped on my lemonade

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Iris asked out of no where, causing me to inhale sharply and choke on my lemonade. Thankfully, I had choked on enough liquids as a child due to my clumsyness and was able to suppress the coughing fit.

"Oh uh.. no... no I don't." I answered as Iris looked over at Barry with a smirk.

"I think I'm going to get more drinks." Eddie said, getting up. I nodded, getting up myself as I fixed the golden dress I was in, knowing for a fact I had overdressed but I still looked good.

"And I've had 4 too many lemonades. I'll be back." I said before practically darting to the bathroom.

Barry

I couldn't help the fact I stared at Cora when she left. The dress she wore was definitely a perfect outfit. I couldn't even begin to describe how amazing she looked it it.

Suddenly, I felt a slap on my arm, snapping my attention to Iris. "Dude!"

"'Dude?' What..?" I said, confused with Iris.

"Are you still gonna tell me she's not into you? Look at that dress!" Iris said as I rolled my eyes.

"It was probably the dress she was going to wear at dinner and didn't want it to go to waste!" I said, trying to make myself believe the lie.

"Yeah. Okay. And when I asked her the boyfriend question, she froze." Iris continued as I frowned at her.

"Yeah. You were particularly sly with that one. You made Cora choke on her lemonade." I said as Iris made a "pfft" sound.

"Cora is smart, nice and pretty. And most importantly she is the first girl that I have seen you with... that understands and appreciates you for the amazing person... that I am always telling you that you are. She's perfect for you. So, what are you waiting for, Barry?" Iris said as I stared at her, trying to think why in fact I was waiting.

"Because I've only known her for a month, Iris. I don't want to push our relationship. I want to take things slow..." I said before forcing myself to not crack a smile.

"Barry. . . Guys will be all over Cora soon if you don't get to her first." Iris said as Cora returned with a smile.

"Hey." She said as I gave her a nervous one.

"Hey." I answered.

I knew Iris was right, but like I said. . . I want to take it slow with Cora. I had to listen to her advice. Go slow, don't speed things up.