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16. Let it Snow

"Uh, these ornaments are not gonna hang themselves," Iris walked in with a tray of mugs. It's that time of the year where the temperature drops to below freezing and many people die of frostbite.

It's Christmas.

A month and a half have passed and the snow started to fall hard. Joe and Barry started decorating the tree while Iris and I made some hot chocolate for everyone.

"Mm-hmm," Barry hummed in delight, a small smile on his far.

"Grandma Esther's recipe... Light on the bourbon," I handed Joe and Barry a mug each before taking one for myself, leaving Iris with the last mug and the tray.

"I always loved her definition of light," Joe joked referring to the very full mug of hot cocoa. Iris and I chuckled at the irony.

"And the Christmas tradition continues," Joe placed his mug on a coffee table before answering his ringing phone. "Detective West. Yeah?... All right."

He ended the call and sighed, "Sorry, kids, the D.A. wants to ask me some questions."

He grabbed his jacket. "Make sure there's some nog left for me when I get back."

"No promises," I said before moaning in delight. Joe went out the door before Iris grabbed both Barry's and my right hands before pulling us to the floor near the tree.

"What's happening?" I asked curiously. I was forced to set down my mug on the coffee table.

"Come on!"

"We're doing this already? Christmas isn't until tomorrow," Barry laughed at her cheerful behavior.

"I couldn't wait any longer," The excitement was practically glowing off her skin.

"Here you go," Barry gave Iris a small box.

Iris opened the box with a gasp. "My mother's wedding band?"

"A replica, yeah. You were devastated when you lost the real one," Barry explained with a goofy smile. He got her a golden ring that hung on a golden chain.

Barry gestured for Iris to turn around, when she did, he put the necklace on her. "Our fifth-grade field trip..." Iris remembered.

"To the zoo," Barry remembered. "You cried for weeks. You remembered."

Iris said, "I don't know what to say. My gift so sucks in comparison..."

Barry opened his gift, "It's supposed to be the best one on the market. I thought you could maybe use a new one. It's lame, I know."

Iris got him a sciency-microscope thing. It looked very expensive.

"No, no, this is great. I love it," Barry thanked Iris.

"Unlike you tradition breakers, I'm only opening my gifts on Christmas Day," I got up and grabbed my mug again, gulping the whole thing.

There was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Iris shot up and ran to the door.

"Hey, babe," Iris smiled at Eddie.

"Hey," he greeted back, giving her a kiss on her cheek. "Barry."

"Nice ring," Eddie complimented. He walked further into the house.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? It's an exact replica of my mom's. Barry got it for me," Iris went on excited about the gift.

I cleared my throat, "Um, Hey Eddie, how kind of you to greet me," I greeted sarcastically. A matching smile to go with the statement.

"Hey, Dani, Sorry, Seth's outside–"

Before he could even utter the last word of his sentence, I sprinted outside. At the boot of the car in the driveway, I jumped onto the first tall brunette male I saw. My legs wrapped around his waist. My lips pressed against his. I wrapped my arms around his neck, the warmth of his body radiated onto mine.

He happily kissed me back, I swear I could feel him smile. He held both of my thighs, making sure I didn't fall. "Hello to you too."

I pulled back and smiled sheepishly, "Hi."

I started into his amazing dark green eyes before jumping off of him and helping him with the grocery bags he was about to take.

"What took you so long?" I asked, walking back into the house. My arms full of the grocery.

"Eddie and I had to finish some business," Seth explained, as we entered the kitchen.

I set the bags on the counter. "Oh, well I missed you," I turned to see him grinning at me.

"What?"

"I saw you like 30 minutes ago," he set his bags down and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck.

I smirked as he slowly started to lean in,"So? Isn't that what couples usually say to each other?"

"Maybe. But we could do something else that couples do. If you know what I mean," he smiled, teasing me as he leaned down excruciatingly slowly.

"Yeah, I think we could do that," I smiled as I leaned in and pecked his lips. "But not now," I quickly said before sprinting into the kitchen. Unfortunately, my clumsy side surface as I tripped on the carpet edge and fell into someone's arms.

"Woah! Slow down Speedy Gonzales," Barry laughed. I looked up into his eyes and smiled cheekily.

"Thanks, Bar," I regained my balance and patted his shoulder in a friendly way.

Seth walked up behind me, wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. "Hey, Barry!"

"Hey Seth, good to see you," Barry spoke so unenthusiastically. "Well, I'm going to S.T.A.R Labs and go give them my presents."

He grabbed his coat. "Alright bye, guys."

"Bye Barry!" Seth and I both chimed at the same time.

Once he left, Seth spun me around. "Barry seemed a little odd today."

"What do you mean?" I asked, picking up a blanket and folding it up.

"I'm pretty sure he wasn't psyched I came by," he s "You ever think... I don't know. He maybe might like you?"

"What? No. Why makes you say something like that?" I asked, picking up some ornaments and placing them on the Christmas Tree.

"Friends don't look at friends the way he looked at you earlier," Seth accused. He walked back in with a bottle of water.

"He was... he wasn't proposing to me, silly," I laughed at his accusation. "He and I are just best friends."

"Well, then he seems pretty bothered everytime I do this," he kissed the nook of my neck. "...or this," he kissed along my jawline. "...or this," his lips pecked my cheek but nowhere else.

He drew back and grabbed the bottle of water, "Eddie! We have to go!"

My eyes widened at his actions. "You little tease."

Seth winked and opened the door. "You know you love me."

He left with Eddie strolling behind. Iris entered the room with a huge smile on her face. "Eddie and I are going to talk later at Jitters."

"Did I ask?"

Her smile dropped as she picked up a pillow and threw it at me. I laughed and she continued to throw numerous pillows in different shapes and sizes at me. I stood my ground and stayed absolutely still as she continued to throw them.

"If you don't stop you might just–"

Iris taunted,"Might what? Make Daniella angry?"

I sighed, my expression on my face must have looked completely uninterested. "No, you might–"

Before I could complete my sentence, Iris grabbed the biggest cushion and hurled it towards me. My reflexes kicked in as this pillow looked like it was going to hurt, I moved to the side as the pillow hit the object behind me.

The Christmas Tree.

The tree moved as if it were in slow motion. It slowly tipped to the side crashing on the other Christmas Tree, causing it to fall over as well. Once they were both on the fall, Iris and I hadn't said anything.

"–Tip over the Christmas Tree."

After an hour of trying to redecorate the two fallen trees, Iris and I nearly finished one of them.

"Hey, I've got to go meet Eddie at Jitters. Can you finish the rest?" Iris questioned, grabbing her things in the dining table.

I stopped and laughed at her. "No way honey! You tipped it over, it was in the kindness of my heart–"

"You mean me bribing you with food?" Iris laughed.

"–That too! Anyway, I've also got to somewhere. I'll drop you off," I offered, getting my coat and car keys.

"Let's roll!"

We locked the door to the house and got in the car. I drove Iris to Jitters and headed off to my meeting. I parked outside the building. I got out and entered the reception, the dark atmosphere darkened my mood. I waited in line before it was finally my turn to speak.

"Hi, I'm here to visit Henry Allen."

"Daniella Queen! Always a pleasure to see you," Barry's dad greeted as he sat down and picked up his phone. The huge smile on his face mirrored mine.

"Hi Henry," I spoke softly to the elder man.

"No Barry? Is he in trouble?" his face filled with worry and despair.

"No! Barry is fine. The reason why he isn't here is that I wanted to surprise him. As you know, it's Christmas time and when I give presents, I always try to make it worthwhile so I've been struggling to find the perfect gift for Barry and I was wondering if you could help me," my tone was almost inaudible near the end.

His eyes went wide at my request, he looked down at the ground before looking back up at me with tears in his eyes, "Of course! No one has ever done something like that for him!" he reached up and wiped away the runaway tear that escaped his eye, "Thank you, Daniella!"

"It's a pleasure! I know it will mean a lot to him if I could get a letter from you to him so I thought it would be great to write one now. I know you can't physically write it but I do write pretty fast..."

He laughed deeply, "That's a great idea, get your pen out."

✦✦✦✦

"I hope he loves the present."

"Oh, he definitely will. Thanks again Henry," I gathered all my things and shot him one last bright smile which he happily returned. I exited the building and hopped back into my car. As I started the engine, I heard a soft buzzing sound from my handbag. I quickly connected my car to my phone and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

Iris said, "Hey Dani, Where are you? Could you pick me up from Jitters?"

"Sup girl, Yeah I'm on my way."

"Great, I have some news for you!"

I snickered, "Am I going to be a godmother?"

She gasped, "No! We're not there yet!"

"Yet?"

"Shut up and just get your ass over here!"

"Look up you fool," I stopped the car right in front of Iris who was looking at her boots. She looked up, ended the call and opened the passenger door.

"To the Police Department!"

I nodded and drove off. She told me that she spoke to Caitlin about Barry & I and why he's been acting strange lately but Caitlin said that there's nothing he's hiding and if we felt like he was hiding something then we should talk to him. When we got there, we walked straight to Barry's lab.

"Hi, Barry!" I greeted as Iris and I walked in. Barry sat down at his desk, staring at his board with a lot of intensity.

"Barry?" Iris tried but no answer. I looked at Iris with a raised eyebrow.

"Barry!" he snapped out of his trance and turned to us. "We called your name so many times..." I sat on his desk so that my feet were swinging forwards and backward.

"You mom's case," Iris whispered. Her eyes dashed from place to place around the board. On it was newspaper articles and pictures of Barry's family, his dad, and mom.

"I used to study this board every day. Lately, I haven't looked at it as much as I should have," Barry sighed deeply.

"I didn't know you did that," I whispered, running a hand through my hair. A habit I realized I did when I was sad or stressed.

"I guess there's still some stuff about me you don't know," he said rather bluntly, moving his chair further into the desk.

"Eddie asked me to move in with him... and I said yes," Iris announced by changing the subject.

I gasped, "Woah!"

"You guys are moving pretty fast, huh?" Barry acknowledged. He turned to me. "What are you getting married as well?"

Iris quickly defended herself. "Well, I mean, it's been a year!"

"July 15, 2015! To be exact," I sarcastically answered his question. When his eyes widened I assured him that I was kidding.

"Seth told me and Eddie what happened earlier at my house. When you fell into Barry's arms and you two were super close to each other," Iris changed the focus once again.

"Wha... I don't... why would he say that?" Barry nervously shuffled in his seat.

"He thinks that you... Like me romantically. I mean, honestly, it sounds even silly suggesting it," I know that Barry only thinks of me as a friend and nothing more but my feelings were still there but very minuscule.

"Um... I mean, Eddie's wrong. I... and if I've seemed weird before, it's just that this year has gone by really fast, and I guess I didn't realize how far along in
your relationship you guys were," he explained his recent behavior.

"That's what I told him," I smiled, giving him a fist bump.

"Well, I guess we should get going," Iris smiled at Barry. I got off the desk and took my handbag.

"See you later Bar," I waved as we walked out of the lab and into the cool winter air.

✦✦✦✦

"You know you could help me," Iris complained while she fiddled with the decorations on the tree.

"I wasn't the one who went batshit crazy and took down two huge trees with a single pillow," I chuckled as she struggled with an ornament further towards the top.

"You finish the rest while I make dinner, it looks like it's just going to be us three tonight. My dad, Eddie, and Seth all sent somewhere!" she shouted from the kitchen.

I stood up and decorated the tree. I finished hanging up ornaments and my OCD side wouldn't let me rest until I made sure each the tree was balanced.

The front door opened, "Hey Dani,"

"Hey. Just in time. I am almost done and Iris went to make dinner," I said, picking up a red little Santa and placing him next to the reindeers. "Are there awards for tree trimming? Because this is award-worthy."

Barry sighed before walking up to me and pulling me into a hug.

"Are you okay, Bar?" I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as he slipped his around my waist.

"I love you, Daniella."

"Oh, I love you too."

He pulled away and looked deep into my eyes. "When we first met, I was naive and thought I loved you before I even knew what love felt like. And then you moved here and I got to see the girl that I had a crush on every day. Look, I... there was so many times that I wanted to tell you... When you were in the hospital, when you started the blog with Iris, the nights that we stayed up talking, your birthday, but I... I never did. I just... I kept it in," I felt completely overwhelmed, I had to sit down.

"After you met Seth, I was going to tell you how I felt but I was afraid that if you didn't feel the same way, I would lose you. That's the irony," he bitterly chuckled as he sent next to me. "I was so scared of losing you that I did. I know I've had basically our whole lives to tell you this, and you're with Seth now, and I know that, and I know my timing couldn't be any worse, but I just... I couldn't lie to you anymore. I'm sorry."

I couldn't speak.

"I... I'm sorry," he got up and left. My heart broke and I felt completely torn between Seth and Barry. I didn't even realize that I was crying until I felt something drop on my hand that laid on my lap.

Iris sat next to me on the couch with her hand rubbing my back, "Dani... I heard everything, I'm so sorry. If I didn't–"

"Just hold me," my head laid on her chest as she softly hummed and stroked my hair.

"Merry Christmas Eve."

✦✦✦✦

"Where did you go last night? The whole of you disappeared," I asked Seth when I sat down right next to him.

"Nothin' that you need to worry your pretty little head about," he picked me up and dropped me in his lap before pecking my temple. Eddie, Seth, Iris and I were joined by Caitlin and Cisco at the West Resident to celebrate Christmas. Seth and I thought it would be cute to be matching so we bought matching Mickey&Minnie onesies with Santa Claus hats. I got more so that everyone had one.

"Aren't you guys adorable!" Iris squealed as she and Eddie mimicked the way we were sitting on the couch next to us.

"Forever Alone," Cisco dramatically sighed while plopping on the seat in front of us.

"You will find the right girl someday," I encouraged him. He stuck his tongue out and smiled at me. We all conversed, keeping ourselves all entertained.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Joe and Barry entered the house. Barry seemed to be surprised that Caitlin and Cisco were here.

"I invited them!" Joe admitted. They both hung their coats on the coat rack. "Where's Dr. Wells?"

"Uh, he wasn't feeling up to a social gathering, but he appreciated the invitation," Caitlin stood up to explain.

Cisco offered, "Eggnog?"

"Yes," Joe gladly accepted. Barry's gaze caught mine after he confessed his feelings to me yesterday I admit that I shed a few tears but that was all. I haven't told Seth yet but I know that I should tell him soon.

"Merry Christmas Barry!" Seth said. Barry came to sit on the coffee table in front of us.

"You too, Seth," he smiled weakly. Barry's eyes never left mine. I guess Seth noticed this and gripped tighter onto my waist.

"I just wanted to apologize for my behavior recently, I'm sorry if it seemed like I was coming on to you Dani," Barry spoke lowly, trying to avoid any conflicts this conversation could create.

"It's fine Barry, we completely understand," Seth smiled, fist bumping with him. Barry shot him a weak smile. I copied his smile.

"Dad, it's time!" Iris's eyes lit up. Everyone stood up and gather around the main tree. Joe did the honors of putting the star on the top of the tree. Seth's fingers intertwined with me which made me blush. I turned around to find Barry still looking at me. I mouthed 'Thank You' to him while he simply nodded in response. You would have to be blind to not see the hurt on his face that he tried to hide but failed terribly.

My heart's with Seth now.

Well, that's what I would like to think.

"Let's exchange presents!" I suggested, a little too eager to open mine. "I'll give mine out first!"

I handed Iris hers which were a pair of earrings that I caught her staring at a while ago, "I didn't know you saw me looking at these. Thanks, Dani!"

I gave Joe his box that contained a mug and a funky black and red ties, "I really appreciate this Dani, thanks!

Eddie was given a brand new pen holder that had his name engraved on it, "Dani, this is absolutely amazing! Thank you so much!"

Cisco and Caitlin's gifts were picked so last minute, I hope they like them. I bought Cisco the first set of the Superman comic books. He said he hadn't heard of them and I couldn't look at him the same. For Caitlin, I gave her a mini First Aid Kit that first comfortable in any handbag, I also made sure that the bag came in her favorite color– blue.

I was excited to give Barry his gift. I handed him the small box with the envelope that had the letter from his father inside. He ripped opened the letter and began reading. We all waited in anticipation, eager to see his reaction to the gift. When he was finished, he looked up into my eyes, I smiled when I saw tears in them, "It's from my dad."

"I went to visit him yesterday and we thought of the gift together. It was mainly him though."

He opened the small box to find a small ring inside.

"Don't worry, I'm not proposing. It's–"

Barry whispered. "My mother's engagement ring."

I smiled."Your dad wanted to give it to you."

Barry pulled me into a friendly hug. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome!"

Last but not least, I handed Seth his present, an identical size box to the one I gave Barry. He opened the box with a curious expression on his face. Inside the box was a spare key to my house.

"Okay, I know you don't want to leave your apartment and I completely understand but I felt bad that I could waltz up to your apartment but you had to make sure I was home before you could come over so here is the other key to my house. Use it wisely and not wake me up at 5:30 am," I said, glaring at Iris when I said the last part.

He pecked my lips, "I love it! Thank you, babe."

"You're welcome, honey!"

It seems like everyone else had exchange presents yesterday except me so everyone was watching me as I unwrapped my gifts. I got a new camera bag from Iris, two bottles of cappuccino flavored shampoo from Joe and a new phone cover and cushion pillow from Eddie. Caitlin and Cisco didn't have any gifts for me but insisted that they would get me some, I kindly rejected them.

"Okay, Barry where's s yours?" I asked the green-eyed dork.

"Well you have to stand up for mine," I stood up and walked over the extremely wide and flat wrapped gift. It had a huge pink bow on top of it. I opened the gift and gasped. Barry had collected my pictures from my polaroid and put them all on a blue board. I even recognized some pictures from the picture frames back home.

"I asked Oliver for some of the pictures and got the rest of them from your camera bag," he explained, scratching the back of his neck with his hand.

"This is perfect Barry! I absolutely love it!" I pulled him into a quick hug. "Thank you, Bar!"

My last gift was from Seth. I picked up his box and savagely ripped open the present. But to my surprise, I found another layer of wrapping paper.

"I thought I would have some fun with this and wrapped the box like six times," he smirked evilly. My eyes narrowed at him before I proceeded to unwrap the gift. When I finally got to the last layer, I looked at the pictures on the brown box with a thin piece of rope that kept it from opening. The pictures were all of Seth and me. I even saw the picture of me that he took before we started dating.

"This is beautiful!" I gently untied the box and opened it. Inside of the box was a smaller velvet covered box. I lifted the cover up to see a small crown-shaped ring.

"Wow..." Everyone around me gasped as they set their eyes on the gift.

Seth cleared his throat. "Read, what it says on the inside."

'Nobody's perfect but you are to me'

A huge grin snuck up on my face as I remembered the Hannah Montana song we sang when we first met. "Oh, my goodness babe... This is breathtaking. I love it so much! Thank you, babe."

I leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips. Everyone around us fake groaned in disgust and turned away in 'disgust'.

"You are more than welcome sweetheart."

✦✦✦✦

Over four thousand words. *wipes sweat from forehead*

Know that I wrote most of the chapter at 2 am in the morning because I felt guilty and couldn't go to sleep until it was done.

Barry finally grew balls and told Dani how he felt!

I'm in love with #Sethiella rn but tbh #Bariella rules!

Which gift did you guys like the best? Comment and let me know

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Deuces

Ore Adesanmi x