Barry sat in the passenger seat of Joe's car as they drove to work. Barry had woken up feeling ill and hadn't felt like running all the way there. His head was resting on the window and he felt really tired. It wasn't like he didn't get tired but he was feeling a bit sick and because of his fast metabolism he never got sick so it worried him.

If Joe knew he'd be beyond worried. It was enough that he had to worry about Barry being the Flash as it was but if he thought Barry was coming down with a cold, that would have meant that something was definitely wrong. Ever since Barry's father had been thrown in jail for the murder of his mother--which he didn't commit--Joe has been taking care of him.

And who knows? It might've been the simple fact that they had recently finished dealing with Savitar and he was just exhausted. H.R had taken Iris' place and had died to save her and make sure Savitar would never be born.

Barry missed him. A lot. H.R might have been immature and irresponsible at times but he brought something to the team that they had lost a long time ago. Barry felt his eyes tearing up and a couple tears escaped and rolled down his cheeks; he sniffled.

"Bar you okay?"Joe asked glancing over at him.

Barry didn't answer right away. He couldn't. If he said he was he'd be lying because he wasn't. Barry was sad and broken and he wished he had never created Flashpoint. He closed his eyes and just shook his head sniffling as more tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Oh Barry." Joe says.

"I miss him Joe. He gave his life for Iris and now he's gone." Barry struggled to say through his tears.

Joe looked at Barry and said, "Listen to me Barry. No matter how annoying or irresponsible H.R was, he knew what he was doing. He did it for Iris and for you."

Barry looked at him, his teary eyes filling with anger at himself. "But it's my fault any of this happened in the first place. All I do is screw everything up!"

Barry felt himself filling with anger and he put his head in his hands, trying not to cry any more than he was already. Joe didn't know what to do because after all he was driving so he placed his hand on Barry's hand and rubbed circles on the back to calm him down. By the time they reached the CCPD, Barry had calmed down enough to walk inside the building.

Despite his eyes being puffy and red from crying no one asked what was wrong. To be honest no one probably knew or cared about what was wrong. But that was fine with Barry. The less people who asked about his personal life the better.

Barry had his head down as he walked further into CCPD and he wasn't watching where he was going and rammed right into someone. Barry stumbled backwards and would have fallen but strong arms wrapped around his waist, keeping him from doing so.

Barry looked up and found himself staring at a man with brown hair, green eyes and a small smirk on his face. "Sorry." Barry muttered stepping back away from him.

The man let go of Barry and smiled slightly. "I'm Hal Jordan."

"Joe West." Joe introduced. "And this is Barry."

Hal's eyes widened. "As in Allen right? I'm supposed to be Joe's new partner."

Joe arched an eyebrow as Barry remained silent. "Is that right?"

Hal nodded towards Singhe's office. "Yeah. Um..."

Barry glanced at Joe briefly and walked to the stairs heading for the lab he and Julian shared together. When he entered the lab Julian looked up at him and immediately noticed his puffy red eyes.

"Barry..."

Barry smiled halfheartedly at Julian. "I'm fine Julian. Don't worry."

Julian nodded. "Okay."

Barry sat in his office chair staring at his computer unable to concentrate fully on the task at hand. He was too busy thinking about Joe's new partner, Hal. He was strange and Barry had an odd feeling about him. Maybe it was just his nerves but something seemed off about him.

Maybe he was just being paranoid.

🕸🕸🕸🕸

Hal couldn't help but notice how adorably cute Barry was when he met him just hours earlier. He had been quiet except when he apologized for walking into him but he already liked the kid. His brown hair, his green/hazel eyes, his smile that he only saw once and his voice was adorable as well.

The way that Barry carried himself Hal figured that the kid had gone through a lot in the past few years maybe more. He figured that once he earned Barry's trust he'd see the real Barry.

Hal couldn't lie to himself that he didn't like Barry. He wanted him as much as he would want a hot girl he'd probably meet at a nightclub. Hal was the Green Lantern for God's sake. How hard would it be to seduce Barry?

Hal smirked to himself as he saw Barry walking with his lab partner Julian to Lunch. It couldn't be that hard.

I'll definitely get him.